1,025 research outputs found
Local Electronic Structure of a Single Magnetic Impurity in a Superconductor
The electronic structure near a single classical magnetic impurity in a
superconductor is determined using a fully self-consistent Koster-Slater
algorithm. Localized excited states are found within the energy gap which are
half electron and half hole. Within a jellium model we find the new result that
the spatial structure of the positive-frequency (electron-like) spectral weight
(or local density of states), can differ strongly from that of the negative
frequency (hole-like) spectral weight. The effect of the impurity on the
continuum states above the energy gap is calculated with good spectral
resolution for the first time. This is also the first three-dimensional
self-consistent calculation for a strong magnetic impurity potential.Comment: 13 pages, RevTex, change in heuristic picture, no change in numerical
result
Local Electronic Structure of Defects in Superconductors
The electronic structure near defects (such as impurities) in superconductors
is explored using a new, fully self-consistent technique. This technique
exploits the short-range nature of the impurity potential and the induced
change in the superconducting order parameter to calculate features in the
electronic structure down to the atomic scale with unprecedented spectral
resolution. Magnetic and non-magnetic static impurity potentials are
considered, as well as local alterations in the pairing interaction. Extensions
to strong-coupling superconductors and superconductors with anisotropic order
parameters are formulated.Comment: RevTex source, 20 pages including 22 figures in text with eps
CHILES: HI morphology and galaxy environment at z=0.12 and z=0.17
We present a study of 16 HI-detected galaxies found in 178 hours of
observations from Epoch 1 of the COSMOS HI Large Extragalactic Survey (CHILES).
We focus on two redshift ranges between 0.108 <= z <= 0.127 and 0.162 <= z <=
0.183 which are among the worst affected by radio frequency interference (RFI).
While this represents only 10% of the total frequency coverage and 18% of the
total expected time on source compared to what will be the full CHILES survey,
we demonstrate that our data reduction pipeline recovers high quality data even
in regions severely impacted by RFI. We report on our in-depth testing of an
automated spectral line source finder to produce HI total intensity maps which
we present side-by-side with significance maps to evaluate the reliability of
the morphology recovered by the source finder. We recommend that this become a
common place manner of presenting data from upcoming HI surveys of resolved
objects. We use the COSMOS 20k group catalogue, and we extract filamentary
structure using the topological DisPerSE algorithm to evaluate the \hi\
morphology in the context of both local and large-scale environments and we
discuss the shortcomings of both methods. Many of the detections show disturbed
HI morphologies suggesting they have undergone a recent interaction which is
not evident from deep optical imaging alone. Overall, the sample showcases the
broad range of ways in which galaxies interact with their environment. This is
a first look at the population of galaxies and their local and large-scale
environments observed in HI by CHILES at redshifts beyond the z=0.1 Universe.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figures, 1 interactive 3D figure, accepted to MNRA
Ultrahigh Energy Cosmic Rays: The state of the art before the Auger Observatory
In this review we discuss the important progress made in recent years towards
understanding the experimental data on cosmic rays with energies \agt 10^{19}
eV. We begin with a brief survey of the available data, including a description
of the energy spectrum, mass composition, and arrival directions. At this point
we also give a short overview of experimental techniques. After that, we
introduce the fundamentals of acceleration and propagation in order to discuss
the conjectured nearby cosmic ray sources. We then turn to theoretical notions
of physics beyond the Standard Model where we consider both exotic primaries
and exotic physical laws. Particular attention is given to the role that
TeV-scale gravity could play in addressing the origin of the highest energy
cosmic rays. In the final part of the review we discuss the potential of future
cosmic ray experiments for the discovery of tiny black holes that should be
produced in the Earth's atmosphere if TeV-scale gravity is realized in Nature.Comment: Final version. To be published in Int. J. Mod. Phys.
Symmetry and Topology in Superconductors - Odd-frequency pairing and edge states -
Superconductivity is a phenomenon where the macroscopic quantum coherence
appears due to the pairing of electrons. This offers a fascinating arena to
study the physics of broken gauge symmetry. However, the important symmetries
in superconductors are not only the gauge invariance. Especially, the symmetry
properties of the pairing, i.e., the parity and spin-singlet/spin-triplet,
determine the physical properties of the superconducting state. Recently it has
been recognized that there is the important third symmetry of the pair
amplitude, i.e., even or odd parity with respect to the frequency. The
conventional uniform superconducting states correspond to the even-frequency
pairing, but the recent finding is that the odd-frequency pair amplitude arises
in the spatially non-uniform situation quite ubiquitously. Especially, this is
the case in the Andreev bound state (ABS) appearing at the surface/interface of
the sample. The other important recent development is on the nontrivial
topological aspects of superconductors. As the band insulators are classified
by topological indices into (i) conventional insulator, (ii) quantum Hall
insulator, and (iii) topological insulator, also are the gapped
superconductors. The influence of the nontrivial topology of the bulk states
appears as the edge or surface of the sample. In the superconductors, this
leads to the formation of zero energy ABS (ZEABS). Therefore, the ABSs of the
superconductors are the place where the symmetry and topology meet each other
which offer the stage of rich physics. In this review, we discuss the physics
of ABS from the viewpoint of the odd-frequency pairing, the topological
bulk-edge correspondence, and the interplay of these two issues. It is
described how the symmetry of the pairing and topological indices determines
the absence/presence of the ZEABS, its energy dispersion, and properties as the
Majorana fermions.Comment: 91 pages, 38 figures, Review article, references adde
A Hydrophobic Gate in an Ion Channel: The Closed State of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor
The nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is the prototypic member of the
`Cys-loop' superfamily of ligand-gated ion channels which mediate synaptic
neurotransmission, and whose other members include receptors for glycine,
gamma-aminobutyric acid, and serotonin. Cryo-electron microscopy has yielded a
three dimensional structure of the nAChR in its closed state. However, the
exact nature and location of the channel gate remains uncertain. Although the
transmembrane pore is constricted close to its center, it is not completely
occluded. Rather, the pore has a central hydrophobic zone of radius about 3 A.
Model calculations suggest that such a constriction may form a hydrophobic
gate, preventing movement of ions through a channel. We present a detailed and
quantitative simulation study of the hydrophobic gating model of the nicotinic
receptor, in order to fully evaluate this hypothesis. We demonstrate that the
hydrophobic constriction of the nAChR pore indeed forms a closed gate.
Potential of mean force (PMF) calculations reveal that the constriction
presents a barrier of height ca. 10 kT to the permeation of sodium ions,
placing an upper bound on the closed channel conductance of 0.3 pS. Thus, a 3 A
radius hydrophobic pore can form a functional barrier to the permeation of a 1
A radius Na+ ion. Using a united atom force field for the protein instead of an
all atom one retains the qualitative features but results in differing
conductances, showing that the PMF is sensitive to the detailed molecular
interactions.Comment: Accepted by Physical Biology; includes a supplement and a
supplementary mpeg movie can be found at
http://sbcb.bioch.ox.ac.uk/oliver/download/Movies/watergate.mp
Colossal dielectric constants in transition-metal oxides
Many transition-metal oxides show very large ("colossal") magnitudes of the
dielectric constant and thus have immense potential for applications in modern
microelectronics and for the development of new capacitance-based
energy-storage devices. In the present work, we thoroughly discuss the
mechanisms that can lead to colossal values of the dielectric constant,
especially emphasising effects generated by external and internal interfaces,
including electronic phase separation. In addition, we provide a detailed
overview and discussion of the dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 and related
systems, which is today's most investigated material with colossal dielectric
constant. Also a variety of further transition-metal oxides with large
dielectric constants are treated in detail, among them the system La2-xSrxNiO4
where electronic phase separation may play a role in the generation of a
colossal dielectric constant.Comment: 31 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. for publication in
the Special Topics volume "Cooperative Phenomena in Solids: Metal-Insulator
Transitions and Ordering of Microscopic Degrees of Freedom
Multiplexed and scalable super-resolution imaging of three-dimensional protein localization in size-adjustable tissues
The biology of multicellular organisms is coordinated across multiple size scales, from the subnanoscale of molecules to the macroscale, tissue-wide interconnectivity of cell populations. Here we introduce a method for super-resolution imaging of the multiscale organization of intact tissues. The method, called magnified analysis of the proteome (MAP), linearly expands entire organs fourfold while preserving their overall architecture and three-dimensional proteome organization. MAP is based on the observation that preventing crosslinking within and between endogenous proteins during hydrogel-tissue hybridization allows for natural expansion upon protein denaturation and dissociation. The expanded tissue preserves its protein content, its fine subcellular details, and its organ-scale intercellular connectivity. We use off-the-shelf antibodies for multiple rounds of immunolabeling and imaging of a tissue's magnified proteome, and our experiments demonstrate a success rate of 82% (100/122 antibodies tested). We show that specimen size can be reversibly modulated to image both inter-regional connections and fine synaptic architectures in the mouse brain.United States. National Institutes of Health (1-U01-NS090473-01
Computer Controlled Automated Assay for Comprehensive Studies of Enzyme Kinetic Parameters
Stability and biological activity of proteins is highly dependent on their physicochemical environment. The development of realistic models of biological systems necessitates quantitative information on the response to changes of external conditions like pH, salinity and concentrations of substrates and allosteric modulators. Changes in just a few variable parameters rapidly lead to large numbers of experimental conditions, which go beyond the experimental capacity of most research groups. We implemented a computer-aided experimenting framework (“robot lab assistant”) that allows us to parameterize abstract, human-readable descriptions of micro-plate based experiments with variable parameters and execute them on a conventional 8 channel liquid handling robot fitted with a sensitive plate reader. A set of newly developed R-packages translates the instructions into machine commands, executes them, collects the data and processes it without user-interaction. By combining script-driven experimental planning, execution and data-analysis, our system can react to experimental outcomes autonomously, allowing outcome-based iterative experimental strategies. The framework was applied in a response-surface model based iterative optimization of buffer conditions and investigation of substrate, allosteric effector, pH and salt dependent activity profiles of pyruvate kinase (PYK). A diprotic model of enzyme kinetics was used to model the combined effects of changing pH and substrate concentrations. The 8 parameters of the model could be estimated from a single two-hour experiment using nonlinear least-squares regression. The model with the estimated parameters successfully predicted pH and PEP dependence of initial reaction rates, while the PEP concentration dependent shift of optimal pH could only be reproduced with a set of manually tweaked parameters. Differences between model-predictions and experimental observations at low pH suggest additional protonation-sites at the enzyme or substrates critical for enzymatic activity. The developed framework is a powerful tool to investigate enzyme reaction specifics and explore biological system behaviour in a wide range of experimental conditions
Observation of a J^PC = 1-+ exotic resonance in diffractive dissociation of 190 GeV/c pi- into pi- pi- pi+
The COMPASS experiment at the CERN SPS has studied the diffractive
dissociation of negative pions into the pi- pi- pi+ final state using a 190
GeV/c pion beam hitting a lead target. A partial wave analysis has been
performed on a sample of 420000 events taken at values of the squared
4-momentum transfer t' between 0.1 and 1 GeV^2/c^2. The well-known resonances
a1(1260), a2(1320), and pi2(1670) are clearly observed. In addition, the data
show a significant natural parity exchange production of a resonance with
spin-exotic quantum numbers J^PC = 1-+ at 1.66 GeV/c^2 decaying to rho pi. The
resonant nature of this wave is evident from the mass-dependent phase
differences to the J^PC = 2-+ and 1++ waves. From a mass-dependent fit a
resonance mass of 1660 +- 10+0-64 MeV/c^2 and a width of 269+-21+42-64 MeV/c^2
is deduced.Comment: 7 page, 3 figures; version 2 gives some more details, data unchanged;
version 3 updated authors, text shortened, data unchange
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