7,351 research outputs found
A critical Mach number for electron injection in collisionless shocks
Electron acceleration in collisionless shocks with arbitrary magnetic field
orientations is discussed. It is shown that the injection of thermal electrons
into diffusive shock acceleration process is achieved by an electron beam with
a loss-cone in velocity space that is reflected back upstream from the shock
through shock drift acceleration mechanism. The electron beam is able to excite
whistler waves which can scatter the energetic electrons themselves when the
Alfven Mach number of the shock is sufficiently high. A critical Mach number
for the electron injection is obtained as a function of upstream parameters.
The application to supernova remnant shocks is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Non-collinear magnetism in Al-Mn topologically disordered systems
We have performed the first ab-initio calculations of a possible complex
non-collinear magnetic structure in aluminium-rich Al-Mn liquids within the
real-space tight-binding LMTO method. In our previous work we predicted the
existence of large magnetic moments in Al-Mn liquids [A.M. Bratkovsky, A.V.
Smirnov, D. N. Manh, and A. Pasturel, \prb {\bf 52}, 3056 (1995)] which has
been very recently confirmed experimentally. Our present calculations show that
there is a strong tendency for the moments on Mn to have a non-collinear
(random) order retaining their large value of about 3~. The d-electrons
on Mn demonstrate a pronounced non-rigid band behaviour which cannot be
reproduced within a simple Stoner picture. The origin of the magnetism in these
systems is a topological disorder which drives the moments formation and
frustrates their directions in the liquid phase.Comment: 10 pages, RevTex 3.0, 24kb. 3 PS figures available on request from
[email protected] The work has been presented at ERC
``Electronic Structire of Solids'' (Lunteren, The Netherlands, 9-14 September
1995
Electronic Orders Induced by Kondo Effect in Non-Kramers f-Electron Systems
This paper clarifies the microscopic nature of the staggered scalar order,
which is specific to even number of f electrons per site. In such systems,
crystalline electric field (CEF) can make a singlet ground state. As exchange
interaction with conduction electrons increases, the CEF singlet at each site
gives way to Kondo singlets. The collective Kondo singlets are identified with
itinerant states that form energy bands. Near the boundary of itinerant and
localized states, a new type of electronic order appears with staggered Kondo
and CEF singlets. We present a phenomenological three-state model that
qualitatively reproduces the characteristic phase diagram, which have been
obtained numerically with use of the continuous-time quantum Monte Carlo
combined with the dynamical mean-field theory. The scalar order observed in
PrFe_4P_{12} is ascribed to this staggered order accompanying charge density
wave (CDW) of conduction electrons. Accurate photoemission and tunneling
spectroscopy should be able to probe sharp peaks below and above the Fermi
level in the ordered phase.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
X-Ray Study of the Outer Region of Abell 2142 with Suzaku
We observed outer regions of a bright cluster of galaxies A2142 with Suzaku.
Temperature and brightness structures were measured out to the virial radius
() with good sensitivity. We confirmed the temperature drop from 9 keV
around the cluster center to about 3.5 keV at , with the density
profile well approximated by the model with . Within
0.4\r_{200}, the entropy profile agrees with , as predicted by the
accretion shock model. The entropy slope becomes flatter in the outer region
and negative around . These features suggest that the intracluster
medium in the outer region is out of thermal equilibrium. Since the relaxation
timescale of electron-ion Coulomb collision is expected to be longer than the
elapsed time after shock heating at , one plausible reason of the low
entropy is the low electron temperature compared to that of ions. Other
possible explanations would be gas clumpiness, turbulence and bulk motions of
ICM\@. We also searched for a warm-hot intergalactic medium around
and set an upper limit on the oxygen line intensity. Assuming a line-of-sight
depth of 2 Mpc and oxygen abundance of 0.1 solar, the upper limit of an
overdensity is calculated to be 280 or 380, depending on the foreground
assumption.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figure
Massive Dirac fermions and the zero field quantum Hall effect
Through an explicit calculation for a Lagrangian in quantum electrodynamics
in (2+1)-space--time dimensions (QED), making use of the relativistic Kubo
formula, we demonstrate that the filling factor accompanying the quantized
electrical conductivity for massive Dirac fermions of a single species in two
spatial dimensions is a half (in natural units) when time reversal and parity
symmetries of the Lagrangian are explicitly broken by the fermion mass term. We
then discuss the most general form of the QED Lagrangian, both for
irreducible and reducible representations of the Dirac matrices in the plane,
with emphasis on the appearance of a Chern-Simons term. We also identify the
value of the filling factor with a zero field quantum Hall effect (QHE).Comment: 15 pages. Accepted in Jour. Phys.
The role of TBX22 in craniofacial development
Cleft lip and/or cleft palate are a heterogeneous group of disorders that rank among
the commonest birth defects known, affecting 1 in 700 births worldwide. The
underlying cause is poorly understood, with a complex interaction of genes and
environmental factors being implicated. Nevertheless, several important genetic
causes have been identified, including that of X-linked cleft palate and
ankyloglossia (CPX). CPX is a semi-dominant condition caused by mutations in
TBX22 which encodes a T-box containing transcription factor. TBX22/Tbx22 is
highly conserved and expressed in the developing palatal shelves as well as at the
base of the tongue, medial and lateral nasal prominences and periocular
mesenchyme in both human and mouse embryos.
This project set out to better understand the functional role of TBX22 using Tbx22
null mouse model that is characterised by overt or submucous cleft palate,
ankyloglossia and choanal atresia. Microarray analysis of E13.5 palatal shelves
dissected from wild type and Tbx22 null mice revealed a global upregulation of
muscle genes such as myosin and muscle actin in the null palatal shelves. Key
myogenic regulatory factors MyoD and myogenin were moderately upregulated.
Increased expression was independently confirmed using real-time PCR. In vitro
analysis in a mammalian cell line using luciferase reporter assays and chromatin
immunoprecipitation showed that TBX22 could repress the MyoD promoter and
was capable of interacting with its promoter regions. This may provide a link
between lack of Tbx22 and upregulation of muscle markers. These results support a
hypothesis that MyoD is a possible direct target gene of TBX22. In addition,
decreased cell proliferation in the Tbx22 null palatal shelves was observed, along
with reduced expression of Cyclin D2. This indicates that TBX22 has a role in the
regulation of cell proliferation during palate development as well as a previously
identified role in osteoblast differentiation and maturation
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