Nuclear forces and their impact on neutron-rich nuclei and neutron-rich matter

We review the impact of nuclear forces on matter at neutron-rich extremes. Recent results have shown that neutron-rich nuclei become increasingly sensitive to three-nucleon forces, which are at the forefront of theoretical developments based on effective field theories of quantum chromodynamics. This includes the formation of shell structure, the spectroscopy of exotic nuclei, and the location of the neutron dripline. Nuclear forces also constrain the properties of neutron-rich matter, including the neutron skin, the symmetry energy, and the structure of neutron stars. We first review our understanding of three-nucleon forces and show how chiral effective field theory makes unique predictions for many-body forces. Then, we survey results with three-nucleon forces in neutron-rich oxygen and calcium isotopes and neutron-rich matter, which have been explored with a range of many-body methods. Three-nucleon forces therefore provide an exciting link between theoretical, experimental and observational nuclear physics frontiers.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, 1 tabl

Signatures of Dark Matter Scattering Inelastically Off Nuclei

Direct dark matter detection focuses on elastic scattering of dark matter particles off nuclei. In this study, we explore inelastic scattering where the nucleus is excited to a low-lying state of 10-100 keV, with subsequent prompt de-excitation. We calculate the inelastic structure factors for the odd-mass xenon isotopes based on state-of-the-art large-scale shell-model calculations with chiral effective field theory WIMP-nucleon currents. For these cases, we find that the inelastic channel is comparable to or can dominate the elastic channel for momentum transfers around 150 MeV. We calculate the inelastic recoil spectra in the standard halo model, compare these to the elastic case, and discuss the expected signatures in a xenon detector, along with implications for existing and future experiments. The combined information from elastic and inelastic scattering will allow to determine the dominant interaction channel within one experiment. In addition, the two channels probe different regions of the dark matter velocity distribution and can provide insight into the dark halo structure. The allowed recoil energy domain and the recoil energy at which the integrated inelastic rates start to dominate the elastic channel depend on the mass of the dark matter particle, thus providing a potential handle to constrain its mass.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Matches resubmitted version to Phys. Rev. D. One figure added; supplemental material (fits to the structure functions) added as an Appendi

Spin-dependent WIMP scattering off nuclei

Chiral effective field theory (EFT) provides a systematic expansion for the coupling of WIMPs to nucleons at the momentum transfers relevant to direct cold dark matter detection. We derive the currents for spin-dependent WIMP scattering off nuclei at the one-body level and include the leading long-range two-body currents, which are predicted in chiral EFT. As an application, we calculate the structure factor for spin-dependent WIMP scattering off 129,131Xe nuclei, using nuclear interactions that have been developed to study nuclear structure and double-beta decays in this region. We provide theoretical error bands due to the nuclear uncertainties of WIMP currents in nuclei.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, published versio

Inelastic light scattering and the excited states of many-electron quantum dots

A consistent calculation of resonant inelastic (Raman) scattering amplitudes for relatively large quantum dots, which takes account of valence-band mixing, discrete character of the spectrum in intermediate and final states, and interference effects, is presented. Raman peaks in charge and spin channels are compared with multipole strengths and with the density of energy levels in final states. A qualitative comparison with the available experimental results is given.Comment: 5 pages, accepted in J. Phys.: Condens. Matte

Nonlinear Breathing-like Localized Modes in C60 Nanocrystals

We study the dynamics of nanocrystals composed of C60 fullerene molecules. We demonstrate that such structures can support long-lived strongly localized nonlinear oscillatory modes, which resemble discrete breathers in simple lattices. We reveal that at room temperatures the lifetime of such nonlinear localized modes may exceed tens of picoseconds; this suggests that C60 nanoclusters should demonstrate anomalously slow thermal relaxation when the temperature gradient decays in accord to a power law, thus violating the Cattaneo-Vernotte law of thermal conductivity.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

The influence of pairing on the nuclear matrix elements of the neutrinoless double beta decays

We study in this letter the behavior of the neutrinoless double beta decay nuclear matrix elements (NME's) in the framework of the Interacting Shell Model. We analize them in terms of the total angular momentum of the decaying neutron pair and as a function of the seniority truncations in the nuclear wave functions. This point of view turns out to be very adequate to gauge the accuracy of the NME's predicted by different nuclear structure models. In addition, it gives back the due protagonism in this process to the pairing interaction, the interaction which is responsible for the very existence of double beta decay emitters. We show that low seniority approximations, comparable to those implicit in the quasiparticle RPA in an spherical basis, tend to overestimate the values of the NME's in several decays.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, added discussion

Role of Heme and Heme-Proteins in Trypanosomatid Essential Metabolic Pathways

Around the world, trypanosomatids are known for being etiological agents of several highly disabling and often fatal diseases like Chagas disease (Trypanosoma cruzi), leishmaniasis (Leishmania spp.), and African trypanosomiasis (Trypanosoma brucei). Throughout their life cycle, they must cope with diverse environmental conditions, and the mechanisms involved in these processes are crucial for their survival. In this review, we describe the role of heme in several essential metabolic pathways of these protozoans. Notwithstanding trypanosomatids lack of the complete heme biosynthetic pathway, we focus our discussion in the metabolic role played for important heme-proteins, like cytochromes. Although several genes for different types of cytochromes, involved in mitochondrial respiration, polyunsaturated fatty acid metabolism, and sterol biosynthesis, are annotated at the Tritryp Genome Project, the encoded proteins have not yet been deeply studied. We pointed our attention into relevant aspects of these protein functions that are amenable to be considered for rational design of trypanocidal agents