3,420 research outputs found
Vortex avalanches and self organized criticality in superconducting niobium
In 1993 Tang proposed [1] that vortex avalanches should produce a self
organized critical state in superconductors, but conclusive evidence for this
has heretofore been lacking. In the present paper, we report extensive
micro-Hall probe data from the vortex dynamics in superconducting niobium,
where a broad distribution of avalanche sizes scaling as a power-law for more
than two decades is found. The measurements are combined with magneto-optical
imaging, and show that over a widely varying magnetic landscape the scaling
behaviour does not change, hence establishing that the dynamics of
superconducting vortices is a SOC phenomenon.Comment: 3 pages + 4 figures, a reference added, citation typos fixe
Restriction of GAGE protein expression to subpopulations of cancer cells is independent of genotype and may limit the use of GAGE proteins as targets for cancer immunotherapy
The GAGE cancer testis antigen gene family encodes products that can be recognized by autologous T cells, and GAGE proteins have been suggested as potential targets for cancer immunotherapy. Analysis of GAGE expression in tumours has primarily been performed at the level of gene transcription, whereas little is known about GAGE expression at the protein level. To evaluate the potential of GAGE proteins as targets for cancer-specific immunotherapy, we studied the expression of these proteins in normal and malignant cells/tissues using a novel panel of monoclonal antibodies. Immunohistochemical analysis of more than 250 cancer specimens demonstrated that GAGE proteins were frequently expressed in numerous cancer types and correlated with the expression of the cancer testis antigens MAGE-A1 and NY-ESO-1. Significant intercellular and subcellular differences in GAGE protein levels were observed, and most GAGE-positive tumours also contained cancer cells lacking GAGE expression. Studies of genetically homogenous cell lines with similar intercellular heterogeneous GAGE expression showed that GAGE expression was not associated with a specific genotype, but defined a phenotypically distinct population of cells. Surprisingly, in normal tissues we found that GAGE proteins were not restricted to testis, but were also present in a subset of oocytes of resting primordial follicles and in maturing oocytes. This is the first time that a cancer testis antigen has been reported in postfoetal oocytes. The lack of GAGE expression in a subset of cancer cells within GAGE-positive tumours has decisive implications for the development of GAGE-targeted cancer therapy
Level Crossing Analysis of the Stock Markets
We investigate the average frequency of positive slope ,
crossing for the returns of market prices.
The method is based on stochastic processes which no scaling feature is
explicitly required. Using this method we define new quantity to quantify stage
of development and activity of stocks exchange. We compare the Tehran and
western stock markets and show that some stocks such as Tehran (TEPIX) and New
Zealand (NZX) stocks exchange are emerge, and also TEPIX is a non-active market
and financially motivated to absorb capital.Comment: 6 pages and 4 figure
Central peak position in magnetization loops of high- superconductors
Exact analytical results are obtained for the magnetization of a
superconducting thin strip with a general behavior J_c(B) of the critical
current density. We show that within the critical-state model the magnetization
as function of applied field, B_a, has an extremum located exactly at B_a=0.
This result is in excellent agreement with presented experimental data for a
YBCO thin film. After introducing granularity by patterning the film, the
central peak becomes shifted to positive fields on the descending field branch
of the loop. Our results show that a positive peak position is a definite
signature of granularity in superconductors.Comment: $ pages, 6 figure
Unexpected stability of aqueous dispersions of raspberry-like colloids
Aqueous colloidal suspensions, both man-made and natural, are part of our everyday life. The applicability of colloidal
suspensions, however, is highly limited by the range of conditions over which they are stable. Here, we report a novel type of
highly monodisperse âraspberryâ colloids, which are prepared in a single-step synthesis that relies on simultaneous dispersion
and emulsion polymerisation. The resulting raspberry colloids behave almost like hard spheres. In aqueous solutions such
prepared raspberries show unprecedented stability against aggregation over large variations of added salt concentrations
without addition of surfactants or other stabilisers. We present simple DLVO-calculations performed on raspberries and smooth
colloids showing that this stability results from our raspberriesâ unique morphology preventing salt-induced colloidal aggregation,
which extends our understanding of colloidal stability against salting. Our calculations are supported by salting experiments
using a variety of salts and differently sized colloids with varying âroughnessâ. Further, the raspberiesâ stability facilitates the
formation of superspheres and thin films in which the raspberry colloids self-assemble into hexagonally close-packed photonic
crystals with exquisite reproducibility.Y.L. thanks the CSC Cambridge scholarship for financial support. A.C. thanks D. Frenkel for discussions and acknowledges the ETN-COLLDENSE (H2020-MCSA-ITN-2014, Grant No. 642774). S.V. acknowledges the BBSRC David Phillips fellowship (BB/K014617/1), the European Research Council (ERC-2014-STG H2020 639088) and B. Frka-Petesic for discussions. G.G. thanks the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, 1525292), V.E.J. the European Commission (Marie Curie Fellowship LODIS, 701455), J.L. the Marie Curie FP7 SASSYPOL ITN (607602) and M.K. EPSRC (EP/L027151/1) for financial support. E.E., Y.L. and S.V. thank the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability
An Instanton Toolbox for F-Theory Model Building
Several dimensionful parameters needed for model building can be engineered
in a certain class of SU(5) F-theory GUTs by adding extra singlet fields which
are localized along pairwise intersections of D7-branes. The values of these
parameters, however, depend on dynamics external to the GUT which causes the
singlets to acquire suitable masses or expectation values. In this note, we
demonstrate that D3-instantons which wrap the same 4-cycle as one of the
intersecting D7's can provide precisely the needed dynamics to generate several
important scales, including the supersymmetry-breaking scale and the
right-handed neutrino mass. Furthermore, these instantons seem unable to
directly generate the \mu term suggesting that, at least in this class of
models, it should perhaps be tied to one of the other scales in the problem.
More specifically, we study the simple system consisting of a pair of D7-branes
wrapping del Pezzo surfaces which intersect along a curve of genus 0
or 1 and classify all instanton configurations which can potentially contribute
to the superpotential. This allows one to formulate topological conditions
which must be imposed on \Sigma for various model-building applications. Along
the way, we also observe that the construction of arXiv:0808.1286 which
engineers a linear superpotential in fact realizes an O'Raifeartaigh model at
the KK scale whose 1-loop Coleman-Weinberg potential generically leads to a
metastable, long-lived SUSY-breaking vacuum.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures; v2: updated to reflect corrections in v2 of
0808.128
Experiments in vortex avalanches
Avalanche dynamics is found in many phenomena spanning from earthquakes to
the evolution of species. It can be also found in vortex matter when a type II
superconductor is externally driven, for example, by increasing the magnetic
field. Vortex avalanches associated with thermal instabilities can be an
undesirable effect for applications, but "dynamically driven" avalanches
emerging from the competition between intervortex interactions and quenched
disorder constitute an interesting scenario to test theoretical ideas related
with non-equilibrium dynamics. However, differently from the equilibrium phases
of vortex matter in type II superconductors, the study of the corresponding
dynamical phases - in which avalanches can play a role - is still in its
infancy. In this paper we critically review relevant experiments performed in
the last decade or so, emphasizing the ability of different experimental
techniques to establish the nature and statistical properties of the observed
avalanche behavior.Comment: To be published in Reviews of Modern Physics April 2004. 17 page
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