446 research outputs found
Self-consistent description of Andreev bound states in Josephson quantum dot devices
We develop a general perturbative framework based on a superconducting atomic
limit for the description of Andreev bound states (ABS) in interacting quantum
dots connected to superconducting leads. A local effective Hamiltonian for
dressed ABS, including both the atomic (or molecular) levels and the induced
proximity effect on the dot is argued to be a natural starting point. A
self-consistent expansion in single-particle tunneling events is shown to
provide accurate results even in regimes where the superconducting gap is
smaller than the atomic energies, as demonstrated by a comparison to recent
Numerical Renormalization Group calculations. This simple formulation may have
bearings for interpreting Andreev spectroscopic experiments in superconducting
devices, such as STM measurements on carbon nanotubes, or radiative emission in
optical quantum dots.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. Last version: we added several extra
references, modified two figures, and discussed recent proposals for Andreev
spectroscop
Nonparametric instrumental regression with non-convex constraints
This paper considers the nonparametric regression model with an additive
error that is dependent on the explanatory variables. As is common in empirical
studies in epidemiology and economics, it also supposes that valid instrumental
variables are observed. A classical example in microeconomics considers the
consumer demand function as a function of the price of goods and the income,
both variables often considered as endogenous. In this framework, the economic
theory also imposes shape restrictions on the demand function, like
integrability conditions. Motivated by this illustration in microeconomics, we
study an estimator of a nonparametric constrained regression function using
instrumental variables by means of Tikhonov regularization. We derive rates of
convergence for the regularized model both in a deterministic and stochastic
setting under the assumption that the true regression function satisfies a
projected source condition including, because of the non-convexity of the
imposed constraints, an additional smallness condition
Determining Protein Complex Connectivity Using a Probabilistic Deletion Network Derived from Quantitative Proteomics
Protein complexes are key molecular machines executing a variety of essential cellular processes. Despite the availability of genome-wide protein-protein interaction studies, determining the connectivity between proteins within a complex remains a major challenge. Here we demonstrate a method that is able to predict the relationship of proteins within a stable protein complex. We employed a combination of computational approaches and a systematic collection of quantitative proteomics data from wild-type and deletion strain purifications to build a quantitative deletion-interaction network map and subsequently convert the resulting data into an interdependency-interaction model of a complex. We applied this approach to a data set generated from components of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae Rpd3 histone deacetylase complexes, which consists of two distinct small and large complexes that are held together by a module consisting of Rpd3, Sin3 and Ume1. The resulting representation reveals new protein-protein interactions and new submodule relationships, providing novel information for mapping the functional organization of a complex
Spectroscopic signatures of a bandwidth-controlled Mott transition at the surface of 1T-TaSe
High-resolution angle-resolved photoemission (ARPES) data show that a
metal-insulator Mott transition occurs at the surface of the quasi-two
dimensional compound TaSe. The transition is driven by the narrowing of the
Ta band induced by a temperature-dependent modulation of the atomic
positions. A dynamical mean-field theory calculation of the spectral function
of the half-filled Hubbard model captures the main qualitative feature of the
data, namely the rapid transfer of spectral weight from the observed
quasiparticle peak at the Fermi surface to the Hubbard bands, as the
correlation gap opens up.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; one modified figure, added referenc
Quantum impurity solvers using a slave rotor representation
We introduce a representation of electron operators as a product of a
spin-carry ing fermion and of a phase variable dual to the total charge (slave
quantum rotor). Based on this representation, a new method is proposed for
solving multi-orbital Anderson quantum impurity models at finite interaction
strength U. It consists in a set of coupled integral equations for the
auxiliary field Green's functions, which can be derived from a controlled
saddle-point in the limit of a large number of field components. In contrast to
some finite-U extensions of the non-crossing approximation, the new method
provides a smooth interpolation between the atomic limit and the weak-coupling
limit, and does not display violation of causality at low-frequency. We
demonstrate that this impurity solver can be applied in the context of
Dynamical Mean-Field Theory, at or close to half-filling. Good agreement with
established results on the Mott transition is found, and large values of the
orbital degeneracy can be investigated at low computational cost.Comment: 18 pages, 15 figure
The Out-of-Equilibrium Time-Dependent Gutzwiller Approximation
We review the recently proposed extension of the Gutzwiller approximation, M.
Schiro' and M. Fabrizio, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 076401 (2010), designed to
describe the out-of-equilibrium time-evolution of a Gutzwiller-type variational
wave function for correlated electrons. The method, which is strictly
variational in the limit of infinite lattice-coordination, is quite general and
flexible, and it is applicable to generic non-equilibrium conditions, even far
beyond the linear response regime. As an application, we discuss the quench
dynamics of a single-band Hubbard model at half-filling, where the method
predicts a dynamical phase transition above a critical quench that resembles
the sharp crossover observed by time-dependent dynamical mean field theory. We
next show that one can actually define in some cases a multi-configurational
wave function combination of a whole set of mutually orthogonal Gutzwiller wave
functions. The Hamiltonian projected in that subspace can be exactly evaluated
and is equivalent to a model of auxiliary spins coupled to non-interacting
electrons, closely related to the slave-spin theories for correlated electron
models. The Gutzwiller approximation turns out to be nothing but the mean-field
approximation applied to that spin-fermion model, which displays, for any
number of bands and integer fillings, a spontaneous symmetry breaking
that can be identified as the Mott insulator-to-metal transition.Comment: 25 pages. Proceedings of the Hvar 2011 Workshop on 'New materials for
thermoelectric applications: theory and experiment
Metal-insulator transition in the two-orbital Hubbard model at fractional band fillings: Self-energy functional approach
We investigate the infinite-dimensional two-orbital Hubbard model at
arbitrary band fillings. By means of the self-energy functional approach, we
discuss the stability of the metallic state in the systems with same and
different bandwidths. It is found that the Mott insulating phases are realized
at commensurate band fillings. Furthermore, it is clarified that the orbital
selective Mott phase with one orbital localized and the other itinerant is
stabilized even at fractional band fillings in the system with different
bandwidths.Comment: 7 pages, 10 figure
Histone H3 Methylation by Set2 Directs Deacetylation of Coding Regions by Rpd3S to Suppress Spurious Intragenic Transcription
SummaryYeast Rpd3 histone deacetylase plays an important role at actively transcribed genes. We characterized two distinct Rpd3 complexes, Rpd3L and Rpd3S, by MudPIT analysis. Both complexes shared a three subunit core and Rpd3L contains unique subunits consistent with being a promoter targeted corepressor. Rco1 and Eaf3 were subunits specific to Rpd3S. Mutants of RCO1 and EAF3 exhibited increased acetylation in the FLO8 and STE11 open reading frames (ORFs) and the appearance of aberrant transcripts initiating within the body of these ORFs. Mutants in the RNA polymerase II-associated SET2 histone methyltransferase also displayed these defects. Set2 functioned upstream of Rpd3S and the Eaf3 methyl-histone binding chromodomain was important for recruitment of Rpd3S and for deacetylation within the STE11 ORF. These data indicate that Pol II-associated Set2 methylates H3 providing a transcriptional memory which signals for deacetylation of ORFs by Rpd3S. This erases transcription elongation-associated acetylation to suppress intragenic transcription initiation
Relationship between gene co-expression and probe localization on microarray slides
BACKGROUND: Microarray technology allows simultaneous measurement of thousands of genes in a single experiment. This is a potentially useful tool for evaluating co-expression of genes and extraction of useful functional and chromosomal structural information about genes. RESULTS: In this work we studied the association between the co-expression of genes, their location on the chromosome and their location on the microarray slides by analyzing a number of eukaryotic expression datasets, derived from the S. cerevisiae, C. elegans, and D. melanogaster. We find that in several different yeast microarray experiments the distribution of the number of gene pairs with correlated expression profiles as a function of chromosomal spacing is peaked at short separations and has two superimposed periodicities. The longer periodicity has a spacing of 22 genes (~42 Kb), and the shorter periodicity is 2 genes (~4 Kb). CONCLUSION: The relative positioning of DNA probes on microarray slides and source plates introduces subtle but significant correlations between pairs of genes. Careful consideration of this spatial artifact is important for analysis of microarray expression data. It is particularly relevant to recent microarray analyses that suggest that co-expressed genes cluster along chromosomes or are spaced by multiples of a fixed number of genes along the chromosome
Mott physics and band topology in materials with strong spin-orbit interaction
Recent theory and experiment have revealed that strong spin-orbit coupling
can have dramatic qualitative effects on the band structure of weakly
interacting solids. Indeed, it leads to a distinct phase of matter, the
topological band insulator. In this paper, we consider the combined effects of
spin-orbit coupling and strong electron correlation, and show that the former
has both quantitative and qualitative effects upon the correlation-driven Mott
transition. As a specific example we take Ir-based pyrochlores, where the
subsystem of Ir 5d electrons is known to undergo a Mott transition. At weak
electron-electron interaction, we predict that Ir electrons are in a metallic
phase at weak spin-orbit interaction, and in a topological band insulator phase
at strong spin-orbit interaction. Very generally, we show that with increasing
strength of the electron-electron interaction, the effective spin-orbit
coupling is enhanced, increasing the domain of the topological band insulator.
Furthermore, in our model, we argue that with increasing interactions, the
topological band insulator is transformed into a "topological Mott insulator"
phase, which is characterized by gapless surface spin-only excitations. The
full phase diagram also includes a narrow region of gapless Mott insulator with
a spinon Fermi surface, and a magnetically ordered state at still larger
electron-electron interaction.Comment: 10+ pages including 3+ pages of Supplementary Informatio
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