1,877 research outputs found
Introduction to topological superconductivity and Majorana fermions
This short review article provides a pedagogical introduction to the rapidly
growing research field of Majorana fermions in topological superconductors. We
first discuss in some details the simplest "toy model" in which Majoranas
appear, namely a one-dimensional tight-binding representation of a p-wave
superconductor, introduced more than ten years ago by Kitaev. We then give a
general introduction to the remarkable properties of Majorana fermions in
condensed matter systems, such as their intrinsically non-local nature and
exotic exchange statistics, and explain why these quasiparticles are suspected
to be especially well suited for low-decoherence quantum information
processing. We also discuss the experimentally promising (and perhaps already
successfully realized) possibility of creating topological superconductors
using semiconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling, proximity-coupled to
standard s-wave superconductors and exposed to a magnetic field. The goal is to
provide an introduction to the subject for experimentalists or theorists who
are new to the field, focusing on the aspects which are most important for
understanding the basic physics. The text should be accessible for readers with
a basic understanding of quantum mechanics and second quantization, and does
not require knowledge of quantum field theory or topological states of matter.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figure
Mouse hypothalamic GT1-7 cells demonstrate AMPK-dependent intrinsic glucose-sensing behaviour.
AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: Hypothalamic glucose-excited (GE) neurons contribute to whole-body glucose homeostasis and participate in the detection of hypoglycaemia. This system appears defective in type 1 diabetes, in which hypoglycaemia commonly occurs. Unfortunately, it is at present unclear which molecular components required for glucose sensing are produced in individual neurons and how these are functionally linked. We used the GT1-7 mouse hypothalamic cell line to address these issues. METHODS: Electrophysiological recordings, coupled with measurements of gene expression and protein levels and activity, were made from unmodified GT1-7 cells and cells in which AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) catalytic subunit gene expression and activity were reduced. RESULTS: Hypothalamic GT1-7 neurons express the genes encoding glucokinase and ATP-sensitive K(+) channel (K(ATP)) subunits K ( ir ) 6.2 and Sur1 and exhibit GE-type glucose-sensing behaviour. Lowered extracellular glucose concentration hyperpolarised the cells in a concentration-dependent manner, an outcome that was reversed by tolbutamide. Inhibition of glucose uptake or metabolism hyperpolarised cells, showing that energy metabolism is required to maintain their resting membrane potential. Short hairpin (sh)RNA directed to Ampkα2 (also known as Prkaa2) reduced GT1-7 cell AMPKα2, but not AMPKα1, activity and lowered the threshold for hypoglycaemia-induced hyperpolarisation. shAmpkα1 (also known as Prkaa1) had no effect on glucose-sensing or AMPKα2 activity. Decreased uncoupling protein 2 (Ucp2) mRNA was detected in AMPKα2-reduced cells, suggesting that AMPKα2 regulates UCP2 levels. CONCLUSIONS/INTERPRETATION: We have demonstrated that GT1-7 cells closely mimic GE neuron glucose-sensing behaviour, and reducing AMPKα2 blunts their responsiveness to hypoglycaemic challenge, possibly by altering UCP2 activity. These results show that suppression of AMPKα2 activity inhibits normal glucose-sensing behaviour and may contribute to defective detection of hypoglycaemia.This study was funded by: grants from the Wellcome Trust
(grant numbers 068692 and 086989) and Diabetes UK (grant number
RD08/0003681) to M.L.J. Ashford; a Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation (JDRF) Postdoctoral Fellowship to C. Beall (grant number
3-576-2010); grants from JDRF and European Foundation for the
study of Diabetes to R.J. McCrimmon, and from the British Heart
Foundation to A. JovanoviÄ
Dipole Blockade and Quantum Information Processing in Mesoscopic Atomic Ensembles
We describe a technique for manipulating quantum information stored in
collective states of mesoscopic ensembles. Quantum processing is accomplished
by optical excitation into states with strong dipole-dipole interactions. The
resulting ``dipole blockade'' can be used to inhibit transitions into all but
singly excited collective states. This can be employed for a controlled
generation of collective atomic spin states as well as non-classical photonic
states and for scalable quantum logic gates. An example involving a cold
Rydberg gas is analyzed
Patterning graphene nanostripes in substrate-supported functionalized graphene: A promising route to integrated, robust, and superior transistors
It is promising to apply quantum-mechanically confined graphene systems in
field-effect transistors. High stability, superior performance, and large-scale
integration are the main challenges facing the practical application of
graphene transistors. Our understandings of the adatom-graphene interaction
combined with recent progress in the nanofabrication technology indicate that
very stable and high-quality graphene nanostripes could be integrated in
substrate-supported functionalized (hydrogenated or fluorinated) graphene using
electron-beam lithography. We also propose that parallelizing a couple of
graphene nanostripes in a transistor should be preferred for practical
application, which is also very useful for transistors based on graphene
nanoribbon.Comment: Frontiers of Physics (2012) to be publishe
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Observations of ice multiplication in a weakly convective cell embedded in supercooled mid-level stratus
Simultaneous observations of cloud microphysical properties were obtained by in-situ aircraft measurements and ground based Radar/Lidar. Widespread mid-level stratus cloud was present below a temperature inversion (~5 °C magnitude) at 3.6 km altitude. Localised convection (peak updraft 1.5 m sâ1) was observed 20 km west of the Radar station. This was associated with convergence at 2.5 km altitude. The convection was unable to penetrate the inversion capping the mid-level stratus.
The mid-level stratus cloud was vertically thin (~400 m), horizontally extensive (covering 100 s of km) and persisted for more than 24 h. The cloud consisted of supercooled water droplets and small concentrations of large (~1 mm) stellar/plate like ice which slowly precipitated out. This ice was nucleated at temperatures greater than â12.2 °C and less than â10.0 °C, (cloud top and cloud base temperatures, respectively). No ice seeding from above the cloud layer was observed. This ice was formed by primary nucleation, either through the entrainment of efficient ice nuclei from above/below cloud, or by the slow stochastic activation of immersion freezing ice nuclei contained within the supercooled drops. Above cloud top significant concentrations of sub-micron aerosol were observed and consisted of a mixture of sulphate and carbonaceous material, a potential source of ice nuclei. Particle number concentrations (in the size range 0.1<D<3.0 ÎŒm) were measured above and below cloud in concentrations of ~25 cmâ3. Ice crystal concentrations in the cloud were constant at around 0.2 Lâ1. It is estimated that entrainment of aerosol particles into cloud cannot replenish the loss of ice nuclei from the cloud layer via precipitation.
Precipitation from the mid-level stratus evaporated before reaching the surface, whereas rates of up to 1 mm hâ1 were observed below the convective feature. There is strong evidence for the Hallett-Mossop (HM) process of secondary ice particle production leading to the formation of the precipitation observed. This includes (1) Ice concentrations in the convective feature were more than an order of magnitude greater than the concentration of primary ice in the overlaying stratus, (2) Large concentrations of small pristine columns were observed at the ~â5 °C level together with liquid water droplets and a few rimed ice particles, (3) Columns were larger and increasingly rimed at colder temperatures. Calculated ice splinter production rates are consistent with observed concentrations if the condition that only droplets greater than 24 ÎŒm are capable of generating secondary ice splinters is relaxed.
This case demonstrates the importance of understanding the formation of ice at slightly supercooled temperatures, as it can lead to secondary ice production and the formation of precipitation in clouds which may not otherwise be considered as significant precipitation sources
Star Formation from Galaxies to Globules
The empirical laws of star formation suggest that galactic-scale gravity is
involved, but they do not identify the actual triggering mechanisms for
clusters in the final stages. Many other triggering processes satisfy the
empirical laws too, including turbulence compression and expanding shell
collapse. The self-similar nature of the gas and associated young stars
suggests that turbulence is more directly involved, but the small scale
morphology of gas around most embedded clusters does not look like a random
turbulent flow. Most clusters look triggered by other nearby stars. Such a
prominent local influence makes it difficult to understand the universality of
the Kennicutt and Schmidt laws on galactic scales. A unified view of
multi-scale star formation avoids most of these problems. Ambient self-gravity
produces spiral arms and drives much of the turbulence that leads to
self-similar structures, while localized energy input from existing clusters
and field supernovae triggers new clusters in pre-existing clouds. The
hierarchical structure in the gas made by turbulence ensures that the
triggering time scales with size, giving the Schmidt law over a wide range of
scales and the size-duration correlation for young star fields. The efficiency
of star formation is determined by the fraction of the gas above a critical
density of around 10^5 m(H2)/cc. Star formation is saturated to its largest
possible value given the fractal nature of the interstellar medium.Comment: accepted for ApJ, 42 pages, Dannie Heineman prize lecture, January
200
Star Formation Thresholds in Galactic Disks
We report the first results of a detailed study of the star formation law in
a sample of 32 nearby spiral galaxies with well-measured rotation curves, HI
and H (as traced by CO) surface density profiles, and new \Ha CCD
photometry. Our results strongly support the view that the formation of
gravitationally bound interstellar clouds regulates the onset of widespread
star formation -- at least in the outer regions of galactic disks.Comment: Will appear in July 1 ApJ. Abbreviated abstract. Postscript version
available at http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~clm
Methods to Determine Neutrino Flux at Low Energies:Investigation of the Low Method
We investigate the "low-" method (developed by the CCFR/NUTEV
collaborations) to determine the neutrino flux in a wide band neutrino beam at
very low energies, a region of interest to neutrino oscillations experiments.
Events with low hadronic final state energy (of 1, 2 and 5 GeV)
were used by the MINOS collaboration to determine the neutrino flux in their
measurements of neutrino () and antineutrino (\nub_\mu) total cross
sections. The lowest energy for which the method was used in MINOS is
3.5 GeV, and the lowest \nub_\mu energy is 6 GeV. At these energies, the
cross sections are dominated by inelastic processes. We investigate the
application of the method to determine the neutrino flux for ,
\nub_\mu energies as low as 0.7 GeV where the cross sections are dominated by
quasielastic scattering and (1232) resonance production. We find that
the method can be extended to low energies by using values of 0.25
and 0.50 GeV, which is feasible in fully active neutrino detectors such as
MINERvA.Comment: 25 pages, 32 figures, to be published in European Physics Journal
Spitzer Sage Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud. III. Star Formation and ~1000 New Candidate Young Stellar Objects
We present ~1000 new candidate Young Stellar Objects (YSOs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud selected from Spitzer Space Telescope data, as part of the Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) Legacy program. The YSOs, detected by their excess infrared (IR) emission, represent early stages of evolution, still surrounded by disks and/or infalling envelopes. Previously, fewer than 20 such YSOs were known. The candidate YSOs were selected from the SAGE Point Source Catalog from regions of color-magnitude space least confused with other IR-bright populations. The YSOs are biased toward intermediate- to high-mass and young evolutionary stages, because these overlap less with galaxies and evolved stars in color-magnitude space. The YSOs are highly correlated spatially with atomic and molecular gas, and are preferentially located in the shells and bubbles created by massive stars inside. They are more clustered than generic point sources, as expected if star formation occurs in filamentary clouds or shells. We applied a more stringent color-magnitude selection to produce a subset of "high-probability" YSO candidates. We fitted the spectral-energy distributions (SEDs) of this subset and derived physical properties for those that were well fitted. The total mass of these well-fitted YSOs is ~2900 M_â and the total luminosity is ~2.1 Ă 10^6 L_â . By extrapolating the mass function with a standard initial mass function and integrating, we calculate a current star-formation rate of ~0.06 M_â yr^(â1), which is at the low end of estimates based on total ultraviolet and IR flux from the galaxy (~0.05 â 0.25 M_â yr^(â1)), consistent with the expectation that our current YSO list is incomplete. Follow-up spectroscopy and further data mining will better separate the different IR-bright populations and likely increase the estimated number of YSOs. The full YSO list is available as electronic tables, and the SEDs are available as an electronic figure for further use by the scientific community
Spitzer SAGE survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud II: Evolved Stars and Infrared Color Magnitude Diagrams
Color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) are presented for the Spitzer SAGE (Surveying
the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution) survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
IRAC and MIPS 24 um epoch one data are presented. These data represent the
deepest, widest mid-infrared CMDs of their kind ever produced in the LMC.
Combined with the 2MASS survey, the diagrams are used to delineate the evolved
stellar populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud as well as Galactic
foreground and extragalactic background populations. Some 32000 evolved stars
brighter than the tip of the red giant branch are identified. Of these,
approximately 17500 are classified as oxygen-rich, 7000 carbon-rich, and
another 1200 as ``extreme'' asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars. Brighter
members of the latter group have been called ``obscured'' AGB stars in the
literature owing to their dusty circumstellar envelopes. A large number (1200)
of luminous oxygen--rich AGB stars/M supergiants are also identified. Finally,
there is strong evidence from the 24 um MIPS channel that previously
unexplored, lower luminosity oxygen-rich AGB stars contribute significantly to
the mass loss budget of the LMC (1200 such sources are identified).Comment: LaTex, 31 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in the
Astronomical Journa
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