Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Scar Development Following Pulmonary Vein Isolation: A Prospective Study

Aims Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (MR) provides non-invasive assessment of early (24-hour) edema and injury following pulmonary vein isolation (by ablation) and subsequent scar formation. We hypothesize that 24-hours after ablation, cardiovascular MR would demonstrate a pattern of edema and injury due to ablation and the severity would correlate with subsequent scar. Methods: Fifteen atrial fibrillation patients underwent cardiovascular MR prior to pulmonary vein isolation, 24-hours post (N = 11) and 30-days post (N = 7) ablation, with T2-weighted (T2W) and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging. Left atrial wall thickness, edema enhancement ratio and LGE enhancement were assessed at each time point. Volumes of LGE and edema enhancement were measured, and the circumferential presence of injury was assessed at 24-hours, including comparison with LGE enhancement at 30 days. Results: Left atrial wall thickness was increased 24-hours post-ablation (10.7±4.1 mm vs. 7.0±1.8 mm pre-PVI, p<0.05). T2W enhancement at 24-hours showed increased edema enhancement ratio (1.5±0.4 for post-ablation, vs. 0.9±0.2 pre-ablation, p<0.001). Edema and LGE volumes at 24-hours were correlated with 30-day LGE volume (R = 0.76, p = 0.04, and R = 0.74, p = 0.09, respectively). Using a 16 segment model for assessment, 24-hour T2W had sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 82%, 63%, and 79% respectively, for predicting 30-day LGE. 24-hour LGE had sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 91%, 47%, and 84%. Conclusions: Increased left atrial wall thickening and edema were characterized on cardiovascular MR early post-ablation, and found to correlate with 30-day LGE scar

Phase Modulated Thermal Conductance of Josephson Weak Links

We present a theory for quasiparticle heat transport through superconducting weak links. The thermal conductance depends on the phase difference ($\phi$) of the superconducting leads. Branch conversion processes, low-energy Andreev bound states near the contact and the suppression of the local density of states near the gap edge are related to phase-sensitive transport processes. Theoretical results for the influence of junction transparency, temperature and disorder, on the phase modulation of the conductance are reported. For high-transmission weak links, $D\to 1$, the formation of an Andreev bound state at $\epsilon_{\text{\tiny b}}=\Delta\cos(\phi/2)$ leads to suppression of the density of states for the continuum excitations that transport heat, and thus, to a reduction in the conductance for $\phi\simeq\pi$. For low-transmission ($D\ll 1$) barriers resonant scattering at energies $\epsilon\simeq(1+D/2)\Delta$ leads to an increase in the thermal conductance as $T$ drops below $T_c$ (for phase differences near $\phi=\pi$).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures Expanded discussion of boundary conditions for Ricatti amplitude

Synchronization of active mechanical oscillators by an inertial load

Motivated by the operation of myogenic (self-oscillatory) insect flight muscle, we study a model consisting of a large number of identical oscillatory contractile elements joined in a chain, whose end is attached to a damped mass-spring oscillator. When the inertial load is small, the serial coupling favors an antisynchronous state in which the extension of one oscillator is compensated by the contraction of another, in order to preserve the total length. However, a sufficiently massive load can sychronize the oscillators and can even induce oscillation in situations where isolated elements would be stable. The system has a complex phase diagram displaying quiescent, synchronous and antisynchrononous phases, as well as an unsual asynchronous phase in which the total length of the chain oscillates at a different frequency from the individual active elements.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Experimental Designs for Binary Data in Switching Measurements on Superconducting Josephson Junctions

We study the optimal design of switching measurements of small Josephson junction circuits which operate in the macroscopic quantum tunnelling regime. Starting from the D-optimality criterion we derive the optimal design for the estimation of the unknown parameters of the underlying Gumbel type distribution. As a practical method for the measurements, we propose a sequential design that combines heuristic search for initial estimates and maximum likelihood estimation. The presented design has immediate applications in the area of superconducting electronics implying faster data acquisition. The presented experimental results confirm the usefulness of the method. KEY WORDS: optimal design, D-optimality, logistic regression, complementary log-log link, quantum physics, escape measurement

Response of thin-film SQUIDs to applied fields and vortex fields: Linear SQUIDs

In this paper we analyze the properties of a dc SQUID when the London penetration depth \lambda is larger than the superconducting film thickness d. We present equations that govern the static behavior for arbitrary values of \Lambda = \lambda^2/d relative to the linear dimensions of the SQUID. The SQUID's critical current I_c depends upon the effective flux \Phi, the magnetic flux through a contour surrounding the central hole plus a term proportional to the line integral of the current density around this contour. While it is well known that the SQUID inductance depends upon \Lambda, we show here that the focusing of magnetic flux from applied fields and vortex-generated fields into the central hole of the SQUID also depends upon \Lambda. We apply this formalism to the simplest case of a linear SQUID of width 2w, consisting of a coplanar pair of long superconducting strips of separation 2a, connected by two small Josephson junctions to a superconducting current-input lead at one end and by a superconducting lead at the other end. The central region of this SQUID shares many properties with a superconducting coplanar stripline. We calculate magnetic-field and current-density profiles, the inductance (including both geometric and kinetic inductances), magnetic moments, and the effective area as a function of \Lambda/w and a/w.Comment: 18 pages, 20 figures, revised for Phys. Rev. B, the main revisions being to denote the effective flux by \Phi rather than

Avoided Critical Behavior in O(n) Systems

Long-range frustrating interactions, even if their strength is infinitesimal, can give rise to a dramatic proliferations of ground or near-ground states. As a consequence, the ordering temperature can exhibit a discontinuous drop as a function of the frustration. A simple model of the doped Mott insulator, where the short-range tendency of the holes to phase separate competes with long-range Coulomb effects, exhibits this "avoided critical" behavior. This model may serve as a paradigm for many other systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Topological properties of superconducting junctions

Motivated by recent developments in the field of one-dimensional topological superconductors, we investigate the topological properties of s-matrix of generic superconducting junctions where dimension should not play any role. We argue that for a finite junction the s-matrix is always topologically trivial. We resolve an apparent contradiction with the previous results by taking into account the low-energy resonant poles of s-matrix. Thus no common topological transition occur in a finite junction. We reveal a transition of a different kind that concerns the configuration of the resonant poles

Macroscopic Symmetry Group Describes Josephson Tunneling in Twinned Crystals

A macroscopic symmetry group describing the superconducting state of an orthorhombically twinned crystal of YBCO is introduced. This macroscopic symmetry group is different for different symmetries of twin boundaries. Josephson tunneling experiments performed on twinned crystals of YBCO determine this macroscopic symmetry group and hence determine the twin boundary symmetry (but do not experimentally determine whether the microscopic order parameter is primarily d- or s-wave). A consequence of the odd-symmetry twin boundaries in YBCO is the stability of vortices containing one half an elementary flux quantum at the intersection of a twin boundary and certain grain boundaries.Comment: 6 pages, to be published in the Proceedings of the MOS96 Conference in the Journal of Low Temperature Physic

Mean Field Theory of Josephson Junction Arrays with Charge Frustration

Using the path integral approach, we provide an explicit derivation of the equation for the phase boundary for quantum Josephson junction arrays with offset charges and non-diagonal capacitance matrix. For the model with nearest neighbor capacitance matrix and uniform offset charge $q/2e=1/2$, we determine, in the low critical temperature expansion, the most relevant contributions to the equation for the phase boundary. We explicitly construct the charge distributions on the lattice corresponding to the lowest energies. We find a reentrant behavior even with a short ranged interaction. A merit of the path integral approach is that it allows to provide an elegant derivation of the Ginzburg-Landau free energy for a general model with charge frustration and non-diagonal capacitance matrix. The partition function factorizes as a product of a topological term, depending only on a set of integers, and a non-topological one, which is explicitly evaluated.Comment: LaTex, 24 pages, 8 figure