A Dynamical Quantum Cluster Approach to Two-Particle Correlation Functions in the Hubbard Model

We investigate the charge- and spin dynamical structure factors for the 2D one-band Hubbard model in the strong coupling regime within an extension of the Dynamical Cluster Approximation (DCA) to two-particle response functions. The full irreducible two-particle vertex with three momenta and frequencies is approximated by an effective vertex dependent on the momentum and frequency of the spin/charge excitation. In the spirit of the DCA, the effective vertex is calculated with quantum Monte Carlo methods on a finite cluster. On the basis of a comparison with high temperature auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo data we show that near and beyond optimal doping, our results provide a consistent overall picture of the interplay between charge, spin and single-particle excitations.Comment: 8 pages, 11 figure

MxA Gene Expression after Live Virus Vaccination: A Sensitive Marker for Endogenous Type I Interferon

MxA gene expression is known to be regulated tightly and exclusively by type I interferons (IFNs). The kinetics of MxA gene expression was analyzed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 11 healthy volunteers vaccinated with the 17-D strain of yellow fever virus. A reliable induction of MxA RNA and MxA protein was found in the absence of easily detectable serum IFN activity. Thus, steady-state MxA RNA levels were elevated 8- to 30-fold above prevaccination levels on day 5 after vaccination. The average increase of MxA protein was ∼50-fold. In contrast, no induction of MxA RNA or MxA protein was detectable in 3 similarly vaccinated controls who were immune because of previous vaccinations. The IFN marker 2′-5′-oligoadenylate (2-5A) synthetase known to react to both type I and type II IFNs showed a similar response but did not differentiate equally well between nonimmune and immune vaccinees. β2-microglobulin and neopterin reacted poorly, remaining at low levels within the normal range. These results demonstrate that MxA gene expression is a good marker for detecting minute quantities of biologically active type I IFN during viral infection

The 3-Band Hubbard-Model versus the 1-Band Model for the high-Tc Cuprates: Pairing Dynamics, Superconductivity and the Ground-State Phase Diagram

One central challenge in high-$T_c$ superconductivity (SC) is to derive a detailed understanding for the specific role of the $Cu$-$d_{x^2-y^2}$ and $O$-$p_{x,y}$ orbital degrees of freedom. In most theoretical studies an effective one-band Hubbard (1BH) or t-J model has been used. Here, the physics is that of doping into a Mott-insulator, whereas the actual high-$T_c$ cuprates are doped charge-transfer insulators. To shed light on the related question, where the material-dependent physics enters, we compare the competing magnetic and superconducting phases in the ground state, the single- and two-particle excitations and, in particular, the pairing interaction and its dynamics in the three-band Hubbard (3BH) and 1BH-models. Using a cluster embedding scheme, i.e. the variational cluster approach (VCA), we find which frequencies are relevant for pairing in the two models as a function of interaction strength and doping: in the 3BH-models the interaction in the low- to optimal-doping regime is dominated by retarded pairing due to low-energy spin fluctuations with surprisingly little influence of inter-band (p-d charge) fluctuations. On the other hand, in the 1BH-model, in addition a part comes from "high-energy" excited states (Hubbard band), which may be identified with a non-retarded contribution. We find these differences between a charge-transfer and a Mott insulator to be renormalized away for the ground-state phase diagram of the 3BH- and 1BH-models, which are in close overall agreement, i.e. are "universal". On the other hand, we expect the differences - and thus, the material dependence to show up in the "non-universal" finite-T phase diagram ($T_c$-values).Comment: 17 pages, 9 figure

Typing of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis cases in Australia and India

Objective: To determine the prevalence of the different capsular polysaccharide (CP) and major surface-associated non-CP antigen 336 (SP-336) types among Staphylococcus aureus isolated from bovine mastitis cases in Australia and India. Methods: A total of 414 strains (154 from Australia, 260 from India) isolated from clinical bovine mastitis were included in the study. Mouse antisera raised against CP types (CP1, CP2, CP5, and CP8) or SP-336 were used in slide agglutination tests and compared with detection of cap1, cap5 and cap8 gene fragments by PCR. Results: Serological studies revealed the presence of CP2, CP5, CP8 and SP-336 in 9.1%, 23.4%, 31.8%, and 5.8% of the Australian versus 0.8%, 46.9%, 13.1% and 0% of the Indian isolates, respectively. By PCR, CP1, CP5 and CP8 accounted for 0%, 26.6% and 32.4% of the Australian versus 3.9%, 85% and 8.1% of the Indian isolates, respectively. Conclusions: Both PCR and the serological method demonstrated that CP5 and CP8 are the predominant capsular types in Australia, whereas CP5 is the predominant capsular type in India. The study also demonstrated a strong correlation between both methods of typing for CP1, CP5, CP8 and non-typeable S. aureus strains. High-percentage prevalence of non-typeable isolates in both the countries highlights the importance of continued investigations of the identification of unique surface-associated polysaccharide antigens prevalent among S. aureus isolates for the formulation of CP- and SP-based vaccines for bovine mastitis

Ein- und Zwei-Teilchen Korrelationsfunktionen in der Dynamischen Quanten Cluster Näherung

This thesis is dedicated to a theoretical study of the 1-band Hubbard model in the strong coupling limit. The investigation is based on the Dynamical Cluster Approximation (DCA) which systematically restores non-local corrections to the Dynamical Mean Field approximation (DMFA). The DCA is formulated in momentum space and is characterised by a patching of the Brillouin zone where momentum conservation is only recovered between two patches. The approximation works well if k-space correlation functions show a weak momentum dependence. In order to study the temperature and doping dependence of the spin- and charge excitation spectra, we explicitly extend the Dynamical Cluster Approximation to two-particle response functions. The full irreducible two-particle vertex with three momenta and frequencies is approximated by an effective vertex dependent on the momentum and frequency of the spin and/or charge excitations. The effective vertex is calculated by using the Quantum Monte Carlo method on the finite cluster whereas the analytical continuation of dynamical quantities is performed by a stochastic version of the maximum entropy method. A comparison with high temperature auxiliary field quantum Monte Carlo data serves as a benchmark for our approach to two-particle correlation functions. Our method can reproduce basic characteristics of the spin- and charge excitation spectrum. Near and beyond optimal doping, our results provide a consistent overall picture of the interplay between charge, spin and single-particle excitations: a collective spin mode emerges at optimal doping and sufficiently low temperatures in the spin response spectrum and exhibits the energy scale of the magnetic exchange interaction J. Simultaneously, the low energy single-particle excitations are characterised by a coherent quasiparticle with bandwidth J. The origin of the quasiparticle can be quite well understood in a picture of a more or less antiferromagnetic ordered background in which holes are dressed by spin-excitations to allow for a coherent motion. By increasing doping, all features which are linked to the spin-polaron vanish in the single-particle as well as two-particle spin response spectrum. In the second part of the thesis an analysis of superconductivity in the Hubbard model is presented. The superconducting instability is implemented within the Dynamical Cluster Approximation by essentially allowing U(1) symmetry breaking baths in the QMC calculations for the cluster. The superconducting transition temperature T_c is derived from the d-wave order parameter which is directly estimated on the Monte Carlo cluster. The critical temperature T_c is in astonishing agreement with the temperature scale estimated by the divergence of the pair-field susceptibility in the paramagnetic phase. A detailed study of the pseudo and superconducting gap is continued by the investigation of the local and angle-resolved spectral function.In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird das zwei-dimensionale Hubbard Modell im Bereich stark wechselwirkender Elektronen mit Hilfe der Dynamischen Cluster Approximation (DCA) untersucht. Im Rahmen der DCA wird das gegebene Gitter-Problem auf einen Cluster, der selbst-konsistent in einem effektiven Medium eingebettet ist, abgebildet. Somit stellt die DCA eine Erweiterung zur Dynamischen Molekularfeld-Theorie dar, indem nicht-lokale Korrelationen berücksichtigt werden. Ein Ziel dieser Arbeit stellt die Untersuchung von dynamischen Korrelationsfunktionen für das Hubbard Modell dar. Dazu wird die Dynamische Cluster Approximation auf die Untersuchung von Zwei-Teilchen Korrelationsfunktionen erweitert. Der volle irreduzible Zweiteilchen-Vertex mit drei Impulsen und Frequenzen wird durch einen effektiven Vertex, dessen Impuls und Frequenzabhängigkeit durch das Spin- bzw. Ladungs-Anregungsspektrum gegeben ist, approximiert. Der effektive Vertex wird mit Hilfe der Quanten Monte Carlo Technik auf einem endlichen Cluster bestimmt, wobei die dynamischen Grössen durch eine stochastische Version der Maximum Entropie Methode auf die reelle Frequenz-Achse analytisch fortgesetzt werden. Ein Vergleich mit dem gewöhnlichen BSS Quanten Monte Carlo Verfahren dient als Maßstab für unsere Näherung der Zwei-Teilchen Korrelationsfunktionen. Der Vergleich zeigt auf, dass unsere Methode grundlegende Eigenschaften des Spin- und Ladungs-Anregungsspektrums reproduzieren kann. Für optimale bzw. höhere Dotierungen erhalten wir ein übereinstimmendes Gesamtbild zwischen Ladungs-, Spin-, und Ein-Teilchen-Anregungsspektrum: bei optimaler Dotierung und hinreichend niedriger Temperatur tritt eine kollektive Spin-Mode im Spin-Anregungsspektrum auf und zeigt einen Energiezweig mit der Energieskala J, wobei J die magnetische Austauschenergie beschreibt. Gleichzeitig werden die Niederenergie-Anregungen im Ein-Teilchen-Spektrum durch ein Quasiteilchenband mit Bandbreite J beschrieben. Der Ursprung des Quasiteilchens lässt sich durch das Bild eines mehr oder weniger geordneten antiferromagnetischen Hintergrundes erklären, in dem sich Löcher umgeben von einer Wolke von Spin-Anregungen kohärent durch das Gitter bewegen. Bei zunehmender Dotierung verschwinden sowohl im Ein-Teilchen, als auch im Zwei-Teilchen Spin-Spektrum alle Anzeichen, die im Zusammenhang mit der Niederenergie-Skala J und dem oben beschriebenen Spin-Polaron stehen. Die Änderung der Dotierung führt des weiteren zu einem Transfer von spektralem Gewicht im Ein-Teilchen Spektrum, der sich ebenfalls im Ladungs-Anregungsspektrum bemerkbar macht. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit wird eine Analyse über die supraleitenden Eigenschaften des Hubbard Modells präsentiert. Die supraleitende Instabilität wird im Rahmen der Dynamischen Cluster Approximation durch die Implementierung eines U(1)-Symmetrie brechenden Mediums in der Monte Carlo Rechnung für den Cluster berücksichtigt. Die supraleitende Übergangstemperatur T_c wird von dem Wert des auf dem Cluster bestimmten d-Wellen Ordnungsparameters abgeleitet. Die kritische Temperatur T_c ist in überraschend guter Übereinstimmung mit der Energieskala, die durch eine Divergenz der Paarfeld-Suszeptibilität in der paramagnetischen Phase bestimmt worden ist. Die Temperaturabhängigkeit der Pseudo- und supraleitenden Lücke wird mit der Bestimmung der Zustandsdichte und der Impuls-aufgelösten Spektralfunktion untersucht. Im Gegensatz zur der Herausbildung einer supraleitenden Lücke unterhalb der Sprungtemperatur, kann die Bildung einer Pseudo-Lücke in der Impuls-abhängigen Spektraldichte nicht aufgelöst werden