259 research outputs found
Spinons and triplons in spatially anisotropic frustrated antiferromagnets
The search for elementary excitations with fractional quantum numbers is a
central challenge in modern condensed matter physics. We explore the
possibility in a realistic model for several materials, the spin-1/2 spatially
anisotropic frustrated Heisenberg antiferromagnet in two dimensions. By
restricting the Hilbert space to that expressed by exact eigenstates of the
Heisenberg chain, we derive an effective Schr\"odinger equation valid in the
weak interchain-coupling regime. The dynamical spin correlations from this
approach agree quantitatively with inelastic neutron measurements on the
triangular antiferromagnet Cs_2CuCl_4. The spectral features in such
antiferromagnets can be attributed to two types of excitations: descendents of
one-dimensional spinons of individual chains, and coherently propagating
"triplon" bound states of spinon pairs. We argue that triplons are generic
features of spatially anisotropic frustrated antiferromagnets, and arise
because the bound spinon pair lowers its kinetic energy by propagating between
chains.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figure
Systemic lupus erythematosus associated with type 4 renal tubular acidosis: a case report and review of the literature
Noisy Kondo impurities
The anti-ferromagnetic coupling of a magnetic impurity carrying a spin with
the conduction electrons spins of a host metal is the basic mechanism
responsible for the increase of the resistance of an alloy such as
CuFe at low temperature, as originally suggested by
Kondo . This coupling has emerged as a very generic property of localized
electronic states coupled to a continuum . The possibility to design artificial
controllable magnetic impurities in nanoscopic conductors has opened a path to
study this many body phenomenon in unusual situations as compared to the
initial one and, in particular, in out of equilibrium situations. So far,
measurements have focused on the average current. Here, we report on
\textit{current fluctuations} (noise) measurements in artificial Kondo
impurities made in carbon nanotube devices. We find a striking enhancement of
the current noise within the Kondo resonance, in contradiction with simple
non-interacting theories. Our findings provide a test bench for one of the most
important many-body theories of condensed matter in out of equilibrium
situations and shed light on the noise properties of highly conductive
molecular devices.Comment: minor differences with published versio
Gene expression drives the evolution of dominance.
Dominance is a fundamental concept in molecular genetics and has implications for understanding patterns of genetic variation, evolution, and complex traits. However, despite its importance, the degree of dominance in natural populations is poorly quantified. Here, we leverage multiple mating systems in natural populations of Arabidopsis to co-estimate the distribution of fitness effects and dominance coefficients of new amino acid changing mutations. We find that more deleterious mutations are more likely to be recessive than less deleterious mutations. Further, this pattern holds across gene categories, but varies with the connectivity and expression patterns of genes. Our work argues that dominance arises as a consequence of the functional importance of genes and their optimal expression levels
High field level crossing studies on spin dimers in the low dimensional quantum spin system NaT(CO)(HO) with T=Ni,Co,Fe,Mn
In this paper we demonstrate the application of high magnetic fields to study
the magnetic properties of low dimensional spin systems. We present a case
study on the series of 2-leg spin-ladder compounds
NaT(CO)(HO) with T = Ni, Co, Fe and Mn. In all
compounds the transition metal is in the high spin configuation. The
localized spin varies from S=1 to 3/2, 2 and 5/2 within this series. The
magnetic properties were examined experimentally by magnetic susceptibility,
pulsed high field magnetization and specific heat measurements. The data are
analysed using a spin hamiltonian description. Although the transition metal
ions form structurally a 2-leg ladder, an isolated dimer model consistently
describes the observations very well. This behaviour can be understood in terms
of the different coordination and superexchange angles of the oxalate ligands
along the rungs and legs of the 2-leg spin ladder. All compounds exhibit
magnetic field driven ground state changes which at very low temperatures lead
to a multistep behaviour in the magnetization curves. In the Co and Fe
compounds a strong axial anisotropy induced by the orbital magnetism leads to a
nearly degenerate ground state and a strongly reduced critical field. We find a
monotonous decrease of the intradimer magnetic exchange if the spin quantum
number is increased
Fractional quantum Hall effect in a quantum point contact at filling fraction 5/2
Recent theories suggest that the excitations of certain quantum Hall states
may have exotic braiding statistics which could be used to build topological
quantum gates. This has prompted an experimental push to study such states
using confined geometries where the statistics can be tested. We study the
transport properties of quantum point contacts (QPCs) fabricated on a
GaAs/AlGaAs two dimensional electron gas that exhibits well-developed
fractional quantum Hall effect, including at bulk filling fraction 5/2. We find
that a plateau at effective QPC filling factor 5/2 is identifiable in point
contacts with lithographic widths of 1.2 microns and 0.8 microns, but not 0.5
microns. We study the temperature and dc-current-bias dependence of the 5/2
plateau in the QPC, as well as neighboring fractional and integer plateaus in
the QPC while keeping the bulk at filling factor 3. Transport near QPC filling
factor 5/2 is consistent with a picture of chiral Luttinger liquid edge-states
with inter-edge tunneling, suggesting that an incompressible state at 5/2 forms
in this confined geometry
Mathematizing Darwin
Ernst Mayr called the first part of the evolutionary synthesis the ‘Fisherian synthesis’ on account of the dominant role played by R.A. Fisher in forging a mathematical theory of natural selection together with J.B.S. Haldane and Sewall Wright in the decade 1922–1932. It is here argued that Fisher’s contribution relied on a close reading of Darwin’s work to a much greater extent than did the contributions of Haldane and Wright, that it was synthetic in contrast to their analytic approach and that it was greatly influenced by his friendship with the Darwin family, particularly with Charles’s son Leonard
Electron quantum metamaterials in van der Waals heterostructures
In recent decades, scientists have developed the means to engineer synthetic
periodic arrays with feature sizes below the wavelength of light. When such
features are appropriately structured, electromagnetic radiation can be
manipulated in unusual ways, resulting in optical metamaterials whose function
is directly controlled through nanoscale structure. Nature, too, has adopted
such techniques -- for example in the unique coloring of butterfly wings -- to
manipulate photons as they propagate through nanoscale periodic assemblies. In
this Perspective, we highlight the intriguing potential of designer
sub-electron wavelength (as well as wavelength-scale) structuring of electronic
matter, which affords a new range of synthetic quantum metamaterials with
unconventional responses. Driven by experimental developments in stacking
atomically layered heterostructures -- e.g., mechanical pick-up/transfer
assembly -- atomic scale registrations and structures can be readily tuned over
distances smaller than characteristic electronic length-scales (such as
electron wavelength, screening length, and electron mean free path). Yet
electronic metamaterials promise far richer categories of behavior than those
found in conventional optical metamaterial technologies. This is because unlike
photons that scarcely interact with each other, electrons in subwavelength
structured metamaterials are charged, and strongly interact. As a result, an
enormous variety of emergent phenomena can be expected, and radically new
classes of interacting quantum metamaterials designed
Ultracold atomic gases in optical lattices: mimicking condensed matter physics and beyond
We review recent developments in the physics of ultracold atomic and
molecular gases in optical lattices. Such systems are nearly perfect
realisations of various kinds of Hubbard models, and as such may very well
serve to mimic condensed matter phenomena. We show how these systems may be
employed as quantum simulators to answer some challenging open questions of
condensed matter, and even high energy physics. After a short presentation of
the models and the methods of treatment of such systems, we discuss in detail,
which challenges of condensed matter physics can be addressed with (i)
disordered ultracold lattice gases, (ii) frustrated ultracold gases, (iii)
spinor lattice gases, (iv) lattice gases in "artificial" magnetic fields, and,
last but not least, (v) quantum information processing in lattice gases. For
completeness, also some recent progress related to the above topics with
trapped cold gases will be discussed.Comment: Review article. v2: published version, 135 pages, 34 figure
Homozygosity Mapping on Homozygosity Haplotype Analysis to Detect Recessive Disease-Causing Genes from a Small Number of Unrelated, Outbred Patients
Genes involved in disease that are not common are often difficult to identify; a method that pinpoints them from a small number of unrelated patients will be of great help. In order to establish such a method that detects recessive genes identical-by-descent, we modified homozygosity mapping (HM) so that it is constructed on the basis of homozygosity haplotype (HM on HH) analysis. An analysis using 6 unrelated patients with Siiyama-type α1-antitrypsin deficiency, a disease caused by a founder gene, the correct gene locus was pinpointed from data of any 2 patients (length: 1.2–21.8 centimorgans, median: 1.6 centimorgans). For a test population in which these 6 patients and 54 healthy subjects were scrambled, the approach accurately identified these 6 patients and pinpointed the locus to a 1.4-centimorgan fragment. Analyses using synthetic data revealed that the analysis works well for IBD fragment derived from a most recent common ancestor (MRCA) who existed less than 60 generations ago. The analysis is unsuitable for the genes with a frequency in general population more than 0.1. Thus, HM on HH analysis is a powerful technique, applicable to a small number of patients not known to be related, and will accelerate the identification of disease-causing genes for recessive conditions
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