Shot noise free conductance reduction in quantum wires

We show that a shot noise free current at conductance below 2 e^2/h is possible in short interacting quantum wires without spin-polarization. Our calculation is done for two exactly solvable limits of the ``Coulomb Tonks gas'', a one-dimensional gas of impenetrable electrons that can be realized in ultra-thin quantum wires. In both cases we find that charge transport through such a wire is noiseless at zero temperature while the conductance is reduced to e^2/h.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Probing biological interactions one molecule at a time:An optical tweezers analysis of protein-mediated membrane fusion and DNA repair

Wuite, G.J.L. [Promotor]Peterman, E.J.G. [Promotor

Contrarian Investment Strategies in a European Context

In this paper we study value strategies for four European countries (France, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom).We find an outperformance for all four value variables which are investigated: the earnings-to-price (E/P) ratio, the cash-flow-to-price (CF/P) ratio, the book-to-market (B/M) ratio and the dividend yield.This outperformance is especially remarkable for the CF/P ratio, which amounts to 20.8% between the top and bottom quintiles in an univariate model.In a regression analysis, in which all four value variables as well as a correction for the size effect are taken into account, we find a difference of 11.8% for the CF/P ratio.We demonstrate that this result can not be explained by risk differences alone.Our findings confirm the outperformance of value strategies as found earlier by Chan, Hamao and Lakonishok (1991) and Lakonishok, Shleifer and Vishny (1994) for Japan and the United States respectively.international financial markets;capital asset pricing;investment

Rectification of displacement currents in an adiabatic electron pump

Rectification of ac displacement currents generated by periodic variation of two independent gate voltages of a quantum dot can lead to a dc voltage linear in the frequency. The presence of this rectified displacement current could account for the magnetic field symmetry observed in a recent measurement on an adiabatic quantum electron pump by Switkes et al. [Science 283, 1905 (1999)].Comment: 2 pages, RevTeX; 1 figur

Rotating saddle trap as Foucault's pendulum

One of the many surprising results found in the mechanics of rotating systems is the stabilization of a particle in a rapidly rotating planar saddle potential. Besides the counterintuitive stabilization, an unexpected precessional motion is observed. In this note we show that this precession is due to a Coriolis-like force caused by the rotation of the potential. To our knowledge this is the first example where such force arises in an inertial reference frame. We also propose an idea of a simple mechanical demonstration of this effect.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Structure of human transthyretin complexed with bromophenols: a new mode of binding

The binding of two organohalogen substances, pentabromophenol (PBP) and 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP), to human transthyretin (TTR), a thyroid hormone transport protein, has been studied by in vitro competitive binding assays and by X-ray crystallography. Both compounds bind to TTR with high affinity, in competition with the natural ligand thyroxine (

Andreev reflection from non-centrosymmetric superconductors and Majorana bound state generation in half-metallic ferromagnets

We study Andreev reflection at an interface between a half metal and a superconductor with spin-orbit interaction. While the absence of minority carriers in the half metal makes singlet Andreev reflection impossible, the spin-orbit interaction gives rise to triplet Andreev reflection, i.e., the reflection of a majority electron into a majority hole or vice versa. As an application of our calculation, we consider a thin half metal film or wire laterally attached to a superconducting contact. If the half metal is disorder free, an excitation gap is opened that is proportional to the spin-orbit interaction strength in the superconductor. For electrons with energy below this gap a lateral half-metal--superconductor contact becomes a perfect triplet Andreev reflector. We show that the system supports localized Majorana end states in this limit.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure