247 research outputs found

    Effective Lagrangian and Quantum Screening in Charged Condensate

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    A condensate of charged scalars in a neutralizing background of fermions (e.g., condensed helium-4 nuclei in an electron background in white dwarf cores) is investigated further. We discuss an effective Lagrangian approach to this system and show that the strong screening of an electric charge found previously in arXiv:0806.3692 in a mean-field approximation, is a consequence of a cancellation due to a phonon. The resulting propagators contain terms that strongly modify their infrared behavior. Furthermore, we evaluate a one-loop fermion quantum correction to the screened potential, and find that it is also suppressed by the phonon subtraction. Therefore, charged impurities (e.g., hydrogen or helium-3 nuclei) will be screened efficiently by the condensate.Comment: 1+16 pages; v2: typos & minor improvements; v3: one reference and one footnote added; two comments streamline

    Reproducing Kernels of Generalized Sobolev Spaces via a Green Function Approach with Distributional Operators

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    In this paper we introduce a generalized Sobolev space by defining a semi-inner product formulated in terms of a vector distributional operator P\mathbf{P} consisting of finitely or countably many distributional operators PnP_n, which are defined on the dual space of the Schwartz space. The types of operators we consider include not only differential operators, but also more general distributional operators such as pseudo-differential operators. We deduce that a certain appropriate full-space Green function GG with respect to L:=P∗TPL:=\mathbf{P}^{\ast T}\mathbf{P} now becomes a conditionally positive definite function. In order to support this claim we ensure that the distributional adjoint operator P∗\mathbf{P}^{\ast} of P\mathbf{P} is well-defined in the distributional sense. Under sufficient conditions, the native space (reproducing-kernel Hilbert space) associated with the Green function GG can be isometrically embedded into or even be isometrically equivalent to a generalized Sobolev space. As an application, we take linear combinations of translates of the Green function with possibly added polynomial terms and construct a multivariate minimum-norm interpolant sf,Xs_{f,X} to data values sampled from an unknown generalized Sobolev function ff at data sites located in some set X⊂RdX \subset \mathbb{R}^d. We provide several examples, such as Mat\'ern kernels or Gaussian kernels, that illustrate how many reproducing-kernel Hilbert spaces of well-known reproducing kernels are isometrically equivalent to a generalized Sobolev space. These examples further illustrate how we can rescale the Sobolev spaces by the vector distributional operator P\mathbf{P}. Introducing the notion of scale as part of the definition of a generalized Sobolev space may help us to choose the "best" kernel function for kernel-based approximation methods.Comment: Update version of the publish at Num. Math. closed to Qi Ye's Ph.D. thesis (\url{http://mypages.iit.edu/~qye3/PhdThesis-2012-AMS-QiYe-IIT.pdf}

    Low field vortex matter in YBCO: an atomic beam magnetic resonance study

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    We report measurements of the low field structure of the magnetic vortex lattice in an untwinned YBCO single-crystal platelet. Measurements were carried out using a novel atomic beam magnetic resonance (ABMR) technique. For a 10.7 G field applied parallel to the c-axis of the sample, we find a triangular lattice with orientational order extending across the entire sample. We find the triangular lattice to be weakly distorted by the a-b anisotropy of the material and measure a distortion factor, f = 1.16. Model-experiment comparisons determine a penetration depth, lambda_ab = 140 (+-20) nm. The paper includes the first detailed description of the ABMR technique. We discuss both technical details of the experiment and the modeling used to interpret the measurements.Comment: 44 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. B Revision includes Postscript wrapped figures + minor typo

    Ultracold molecules for quantum simulation: rotational coherence in CaF and RbCs

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    Polar molecules offer a new platform for quantum simulation of systems with long-range interactions, based on the electrostatic interaction between their electric dipole moments. Here, we report the development of coherent quantum state control using microwave fields in 40^{40}Ca19^{19}F and 87^{87}Rb133^{133}Cs molecules, a crucial ingredient for many quantum simulation applications. We perform Ramsey interferometry measurements with fringe spacings of ∌1 kHz\sim 1~\rm kHz and investigate the dephasing time of a superposition of N=0N=0 and N=1N=1 rotational states when the molecules are confined. For both molecules, we show that a judicious choice of molecular hyperfine states minimises the impact of spatially varying transition-frequency shifts across the trap. For magnetically trapped 40^{40}Ca19^{19}F we use a magnetically insensitive transition and observe a coherence time of 0.61(3)~ms. For optically trapped 87^{87}Rb133^{133}Cs we exploit an avoided crossing in the AC Stark shifts and observe a maximum coherence time of 0.75(6)~ms

    SN1A data and the CMB of Modified Curvature at short and long distances

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    The SN1a data, although inconclusive, when combined with other observations makes a strong case that our universe is presently dominated by dark energy. We investigate the possibility that large distance modifications of the curvature of the universe would perhaps offer an alternative explanation of the observation. Our calculations indicate that a universe made up of no dark energy but instead, with a modified curvature at large scales, is not scale-invariant, therefore quite likely it is ruled out by the CMB observations. The sensitivity of the CMB spectrum is checked for the whole range of mode modifications of large or short distance physics. The spectrum is robust against modifications of short-distance physics and the UV cutoff when: the initial state is the adiabatic vacuum, and the inflationary background space is de Sitter.Comment: 13 pages, 2 eps figures, typos corrected, references added; to appear in Phys. Rev.

    Diminished Neural and Cognitive Responses to Facial Expressions of Disgust in Patients with Psoriasis: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

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    Psoriasis produces significant psychosocial disability; however, little is understood about the neurocognitive mechanisms that mediate the adverse consequences of the social stigma associated with visible skin lesions, such as disgusted facial expressions of others. Both the feeling of disgust and the observation of disgust in others are known to activate the insula cortex. We investigated whether the social impact of psoriasis is associated with altered cognitive processing of disgust using (i) a covert recognition of faces task conducted using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and (ii) the facial expression recognition task (FERT), a decision-making task, conducted outside the scanner to assess the ability to recognize overtly different intensities of disgust. Thirteen right-handed male patients with psoriasis and 13 age-matched male controls were included. In the fMRI study, psoriasis patients had significantly (P<0.005) smaller signal responses to disgusted faces in the bilateral insular cortex compared with healthy controls. These data were corroborated by FERT, in that patients were less able than controls to identify all intensities of disgust tested. We hypothesize that patients with psoriasis, in this case male patients, develop a coping mechanism to protect them from stressful emotional responses by blocking the processing of disgusted facial expressions

    An Orally Active Galectin-3 Antagonist Inhibits Lung Adenocarcinoma Growth and Augments Response to PD-L1 Blockade

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    A combination therapy approach is required to improve tumor immune infiltration and patient response to immune checkpoint inhibitors that target negative regulatory receptors. Galectin-3 is a ÎČ-galactoside-binding lectin that is highly expressed within the tumor microenvironment of aggressive cancers and whose expression correlates with poor survival particularly in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). To examine the role of galectin-3 inhibition in NSCLC, we tested the effects of galectin-3 depletion using genetic and pharmacologic approaches on syngeneic mouse lung adenocarcinoma and human lung adenocarcinoma xenografts. Galectin-3-/- mice developed significantly smaller and fewer tumors and metastases than syngeneic C57/ Bl6 wild-type mice. Macrophage ablation retarded tumor growth, whereas reconstitution with galectin-3-positive bone marrow restored tumor growth in galectin-3-/- mice, indicating that macrophages were a major driver of the antitumor response. Oral administration of a novel small molecule galectin-3 inhibitor GB1107 reduced human and mouse lung adenocarcinoma growth and blocked metastasis in the syngeneic model. Treatment with GB1107 increased tumor M1 macrophage polarization and CD8 + T-cell infiltration. Moreover, GB1107 potentiated the effects of a PD-L1 immune checkpoint inhibitor to increase expression of cytotoxic (IFNÎł, granzyme B, perforin-1, Fas ligand) and apoptotic (cleaved caspase-3) effector molecules. In summary, galectin-3 is an important regulator of lung adenocarcinoma progression. The novel galectin-3 inhibitor presented could provide an effective, nontoxic monotherapy or be used in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors to boost immune infiltration and responses in lung adenocarcinoma and potentially other aggressive cancers. Significance: A novel and orally active galectin-3 antagonist inhibits lung adenocarcinoma growth and metastasis and augments response to PD-L1 blockade

    A High Statistics Search for Ultra-High Energy Gamma-Ray Emission from Cygnus X-3 and Hercules X-1

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    We have carried out a high statistics (2 Billion events) search for ultra-high energy gamma-ray emission from the X-ray binary sources Cygnus X-3 and Hercules X-1. Using data taken with the CASA-MIA detector over a five year period (1990-1995), we find no evidence for steady emission from either source at energies above 115 TeV. The derived upper limits on such emission are more than two orders of magnitude lower than earlier claimed detections. We also find no evidence for neutral particle or gamma-ray emission from either source on time scales of one day and 0.5 hr. For Cygnus X-3, there is no evidence for emission correlated with the 4.8 hr X-ray periodicity or with the occurrence of large radio flares. Unless one postulates that these sources were very active earlier and are now dormant, the limits presented here put into question the earlier results, and highlight the difficulties that possible future experiments will have in detecting gamma-ray signals at ultra-high energies.Comment: 26 LaTeX pages, 16 PostScript figures, uses psfig.sty to be published in Physical Review

    Gravitational radiation from gamma-ray bursts as observational opportunities for LIGO and VIRGO

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    Gamma-ray bursts are believed to originate in core-collapse of massive stars. This produces an active nucleus containing a rapidly rotating Kerr black hole surrounded by a uniformly magnetized torus represented by two counter-oriented current rings. We quantify black hole spin-interactions with the torus and charged particles along open magnetic flux-tubes subtended by the event horizon. A major output of Egw=4e53 erg is radiated in gravitational waves of frequency fgw=500 Hz by a quadrupole mass-moment in the torus. Consistent with GRB-SNe, we find (i) Ts=90s (tens of s, Kouveliotou et al. 1993), (ii) aspherical SNe of kinetic energy Esn=2e51 erg (2e51 erg in SN1998bw, Hoeflich et al. 1999) and (iii) GRB-energies Egamma=2e50 erg (3e50erg in Frail et al. 2001). GRB-SNe occur perhaps about once a year within D=100Mpc. Correlating LIGO/Virgo detectors enables searches for nearby events and their spectral closure density 6e-9 around 250Hz in the stochastic background radiation in gravitational waves. At current sensitivity, LIGO-Hanford may place an upper bound around 150MSolar in GRB030329. Detection of Egw thus provides a method for identifying Kerr black holes by calorimetry.Comment: to appear in PRD, 49
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