Multiple Superconducting Gaps, Anisotropic Spin Fluctuations and Spin-Orbit Coupling in Iron-Pnictides

This article reviews the NMR and NQR studies on iron-based high-temperature superconductors by the IOP/Okayama group. It was found that the electron pairs in the superconducting state are in the spin-singlet state with multiple fully-opened energy gaps. The antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations in the normal state are found to be closely correlated with the superconductivity. Also the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations are anisotropic in the spin space, which is different from the case in copper oxide superconductors. This anisotropy originates from the spin-orbit coupling and is an important reflection of the multiple-bands nature of this new class of superconductors.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figure

On the nature of the lightest scalar resonances

We briefly review the recent progresses in the new unitarization approach being developed by us. Especially we discuss the large $N_c$ $\pi\pi$ scatterings by making use of the partial wave $S$ matrix parametrization form. We find that the $\sigma$ pole may move to the negative real axis on the second sheet of the complex $s$ plane, therefore it raises the interesting question that this `$\sigma$' pole may be related to the $\sigma$ in the linear $\sigma$ model.Comment: Talk presented by Zheng at ``Quark Confinement and Hadron Spectroscopy VI'', 21--25 Sept. 2004, Cagliari, Italy. 3 pages with 2 figure

Intrinsic Percolative Superconductivity in Heavily Overdoped High Temperature Superconductors

Magnetic measurements on heavily overdoped $La_{2-x}Sr_xCuO_4$, $Tl_2Ba_2CuO_6$, $Bi_2Sr_2CuO_6$ and $Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8$ single crystals reveal a new type magnetization hysteresis loops characterized by the vanishing of usual central peak near zero field. Since this effect has been observed in various systems with very different structural details, it reflects probably a generic behavior for all high temperature superconductors. This easy penetration of magnetic flux can be understood in the picture of percolative superconductivity due to the inhomogeneous electronic state in heavily overdoped regime.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

ZIKV infection activates the IRE1-XBP1 and ATF6 pathways of unfolded protein response in neural cells.

BACKGROUND: Many viruses depend on the extensive membranous network of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) for their translation, replication, and packaging. Certain membrane modifications of the ER can be a trigger for ER stress, as well as the accumulation of viral protein in the ER by viral infection. Then, unfolded protein response (UPR) is activated to alleviate the stress. Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne flavivirus and its infection causes microcephaly in newborns and serious neurological complications in adults. Here, we investigated ER stress and the regulating model of UPR in ZIKV-infected neural cells in vitro and in vivo. METHODS: Mice deficient in type I and II IFN receptors were infected with ZIKV via intraperitoneal injection and the nervous tissues of the mice were assayed at 5 days post-infection. The expression of phospho-IRE1, XBP1, and ATF6 which were the key markers of ER stress were analyzed by immunohistochemistry assay in vivo. Additionally, the nuclear localization of XBP1s and ATF6n were analyzed by immunohistofluorescence. Furthermore, two representative neural cells, neuroblastoma cell line (SK-N-SH) and astrocytoma cell line (CCF-STTG1), were selected to verify the ER stress in vitro. The expression of BIP, phospho-elF2α, phospho-IRE1, and ATF6 were analyzed through western blot and the nuclear localization of XBP1s was performed by confocal immunofluorescence microscopy. RT-qPCR was also used to quantify the mRNA level of the UPR downstream genes in vitro and in vivo. RESULTS: ZIKV infection significantly upregulated the expression of ER stress markers in vitro and in vivo. Phospho-IRE1 and XBP1 expression significantly increased in the cerebellum and mesocephalon, while ATF6 expression significantly increased in the mesocephalon. ATF6n and XBP1s were translocated into the cell nucleus. The levels of BIP, ATF6, phospho-elf2α, and spliced xbp1 also significantly increased in vitro. Furthermore, the downstream genes of UPR were detected to investigate the regulating model of the UPR during ZIKV infection in vitro and in vivo. The transcriptional levels of atf4, gadd34, chop, and edem-1 in vivo and that of gadd34 and chop in vitro significantly increased. CONCLUSION: Findings in this study demonstrated that ZIKV infection activates ER stress in neural cells. The results offer clues to further study the mechanism of neuropathogenesis caused by ZIKV infection

Short-time critical dynamics at perfect and non-perfect surface

We report Monte Carlo simulations of critical dynamics far from equilibrium on a perfect and non-perfect surface in the 3d Ising model. For an ordered initial state, the dynamic relaxation of the surface magnetization, the line magnetization of the defect line, and the corresponding susceptibilities and appropriate cumulant is carefully examined at the ordinary, special and surface phase transitions. The universal dynamic scaling behavior including a dynamic crossover scaling form is identified. The exponent $\beta_1$ of the surface magnetization and $\beta_2$ of the line magnetization are extracted. The impact of the defect line on the surface universality classes is investigated.Comment: 11figure