71 research outputs found
Classical double-layer atoms: artificial molecules
The groundstate configuration and the eigenmodes of two parallel
two-dimensional classical atoms are obtained as function of the inter-atomic
distance (d). The classical particles are confined by identical harmonic wells
and repel each other through a Coulomb potential. As function of d we find
several structural transitions which are of first or second order. For first
(second) order transitions the first (second) derivative of the energy with
respect to d is discontinuous, the radial position of the particles changes
discontinuously (continuously) and the frequency of the eigenmodes exhibit a
jump (one mode becomes soft, i.e. its frequency becomes zero).Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 5 ps figures, to appear in Phys.Rev.Let
Rectangular quantum dots in high magnetic fields
We use density-functional methods to study the effects of an external
magnetic field on two-dimensional quantum dots with a rectangular hard-wall
confining potential. The increasing magnetic field leads to spin polarization
and formation of a highly inhomogeneous maximum-density droplet at the
predicted magnetic field strength. At higher fields, we find an oscillating
behavior in the electron density and in the magnetization of the dot. We
identify a rich variety of phenomena behind the periodicity and analyze the
complicated many-electron dynamics, which is shown to be highly dependent on
the shape of the quantum dot.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Quasiperiodic Hubbard chains
Low energy properties of half-filled Fibonacci Hubbard models are studied by
weak coupling renormalization group and density matrix renormalization group
method. In the case of diagonal modulation, weak Coulomb repulsion is
irrelevant and the system behaves as a free Fibonacci chain, while for strong
Coulomb repulsion, the charge sector is a Mott insulator and the spin sector
behaves as a uniform Heisenberg antiferromagnetic chain. The off-diagonal
modulation always drives the charge sector to a Mott insulator and the spin
sector to a Fibonacci antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chain.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; Final version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Risk of haemolytic uraemic syndrome caused by shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli infection in adult women in Japan
Shiga-toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) infections usually cause haemolytic uraemic syndrome (HUS) equally in male and female children. This study investigated the localization of globotriaosylceramide (Gb3) in human brain and kidney tissues removed from forensic autopsy cases in Japan. A fatal case was used as a positive control in an outbreak of diarrhoeal disease caused by STEC O157:H7 in a kindergarten in Urawa in 1990. Positive immunodetection of Gb3 was significantly more frequent in female than in male distal and collecting renal tubules. To correlate this finding with a clinical outcome, a retrospective analysis of the predictors of renal failure in the 162 patients of two outbreaks in Japan was performed: one in Tochigi in 2002 and the other in Kagawa Prefecture in 2005. This study concludes renal failure, including HUS, was significantly associated with female sex, and the odds ratio was 4·06 compared to male patients in the two outbreaks. From 2006 to 2009 in Japan, the risk factor of HUS associated with STEC infection was analysed. The number of males and females and the proportion of females who developed HUS were calculated by age and year from 2006 to 2009. In 2006, 2007 and 2009 in adults aged >20 years, adult women were significantly more at risk of developing HUS in Japan
Electronic structure of rectangular quantum dots
We study the ground state properties of rectangular quantum dots by using the
spin-density-functional theory and quantum Monte Carlo methods. The dot
geometry is determined by an infinite hard-wall potential to enable comparison
to manufactured, rectangular-shaped quantum dots. We show that the electronic
structure is very sensitive to the deformation, and at realistic sizes the
non-interacting picture determines the general behavior. However, close to the
degenerate points where Hund's rule applies, we find spin-density-wave-like
solutions bracketing the partially polarized states. In the
quasi-one-dimensional limit we find permanent charge-density waves, and at a
sufficiently large deformation or low density, there are strongly localized
stable states with a broken spin-symmetry.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to PR
Measuring Black Hole Formations by Entanglement Entropy via Coarse-Graining
We argue that the entanglement entropy offers us a useful coarse-grained
entropy in time-dependent AdS/CFT. We show that the total von-Neumann entropy
remains vanishing even when a black hole is created in a gravity dual, being
consistent with the fact that its corresponding CFT is described by a
time-dependent pure state. We analytically calculate the time evolution of
entanglement entropy for a free Dirac fermion on a circle following a quantum
quench. This is interpreted as a toy holographic dual of black hole creations
and annihilations. It is manifestly free from the black hole information
problem.Comment: 25 pages, Latex, 8 figure
Holographic Fermi Surfaces and Entanglement Entropy
We argue that Landau-Fermi liquids do not have any gravity duals in the
purely classical limit. We employ the logarithmic behavior of entanglement
entropy to characterize the existence of Fermi surfaces. By imposing the null
energy condition, we show that the specific heat always behaves anomalously. We
also present a classical gravity dual which has the expected behavior of the
entanglement entropy and specific heat for non-Fermi liquids.Comment: 23 pages, 4 figures, latex, references added, minor corrections
(v2,3), figures improved and typos corrected (v4
Luttinger's theorem, superfluid vortices, and holography
Strongly coupled field theories with gravity duals can be placed at finite
density in two ways: electric field flux emanating from behind a horizon, or
bulk charged fields outside of the horizon that explicitly source the density.
We discuss field-theoretical observables that are sensitive to this
distinction. If the charged fields are fermionic, we discuss a modified
Luttinger's theorem that holds for holographic systems, in which the sum of
boundary theory Fermi surfaces counts only the charge outside of the horizon.
If the charged fields are bosonic, we show that the the resulting superfluid
phase may be characterized by the coefficient of the transverse Magnus force on
a moving superfluid vortex, which again is sensitive only to the charge outside
of the horizon. For holographic systems these observables provide a
field-theoretical way to distinguish how much charge is held by a dual horizon,
but they may be useful in more general contexts as measures of deconfined (i.e.
"fractionalized") charge degrees of freedom.Comment: 21 pages; version 2: minor changes, version to be published in CQG;
version 3: minor change
Murine but Not Human Basophil Undergoes Cell-Specific Proteolysis of a Major Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone
Basophil has been implicated in anti-parasite defense, allergy and in polarizing T(H)2 response. Mouse model has been commonly used to study basophil function although the difference between human and mouse basophils is underappreciated. As an essential chaperone for multiple Toll-like receptors and integrins in the endoplasmic reticulum, gp96 also participates in general protein homeostasis and in the ER unfolded protein response to ensure cell survival during stress. The roles of gp96 in basophil development are unknown.We genetically delete gp96 in mice and examined the expression of gp96 in basophils by Western blot and flow cytometry. We compared the expression pattern of gp96 between human and mouse basophils.We found that gp96 was dispensable for murine basophil development. Moreover, gp96 was cleaved by serine protease(s) in murine but not human basophils leading to accumulation of a nun-functional N-terminal âŒ50 kDa fragment and striking induction of the unfolded protein response. The alteration of gp96 was unique to basophils and was not observed in any other cell types including mast cells. We also demonstrated that the ectopic expression of a mouse-specific tryptase mMCP11 does not lead to gp96 cleavage in human basophils.Our study revealed a remarkable biochemical event of gp96 silencing in murine but not human basophils, highlighting the need for caution in using mouse models to infer the function of basophils in human immune response. Our study also reveals a novel mechanism of shutting down gp96 post-translationally in regulating its function
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