Coupled superconductors and beyond

This paper describes the events leading to the discovery of coupled superconductors, the author's move in the 1970s to a perspective where mind plays a role comparable to matter, and the remarkable hostility sometimes encountered by those who venture into unconventional areas.Comment: Invited paper for special issue of Low Temperature Physics/Fizika Nizkikh Temperatur devoted to "Quantum Coherent Effects in Superconductors and New Materials". 6pp. v5: open-access published versio

The Predicted RNA-Binding Protein ETR-1/CELF1 Acts in Muscles To Regulate Neuroblast Migration in Caenorhabditis elegans

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.Neuroblast migration is a critical aspect of nervous system development (e.g., neural crest migration). In an unbiased forward genetic screen, we identified a novel player in neuroblast migration, the ETR-1/CELF1 RNA binding protein. CELF1 RNA binding proteins are involved in multiple aspects of RNA processing including alternative splicing, stability, and translation. We find that a specific mutation in alternatively-spliced exon 8 results in migration defects of the AQR and PQR neurons, and not the embryonic lethality and body wall muscle defects of complete knockdown of the locus. Surprisingly, ETR-1 was required in body wall muscle cells for AQR/PQR migration (i.e., it acts cell non-autonomously). Genetic interactions indicate that ETR-1 acts with Wnt signaling, either in the Wnt pathway or in a parallel pathway. Possibly, ETR-1 is involved in the production of a Wnt signal or a parallel signal by the body wall muscles that controls AQR and PQR neuronal migration. In humans, CELF1 is involved in a number of neuromuscular disorders. If the role of ETR-1/CELF1 is conserved, these disorders might also involve cell or neuronal migration. Finally, we describe a technique of amplicon sequencing to detect rare, cell-specific genome edits by CRISPR/Cas9 in vivo (CRISPR-seq) as an alternative to the T7E1 assay.NIH P40 OD010440National Institute of General Medical Sciences (P20GM103638)Madison and Lila Self Graduate Fellowship progra

The Josephson effect throughout the BCS-BEC crossover

We study the stationary Josephson effect for neutral fermions across the BCS-BEC crossover, by solving numerically the Bogoliubov-de Gennes equations at zero temperature. The Josephson current is found to be considerably enhanced for all barriers at about unitarity. For vanishing barrier, the Josephson critical current approaches the Landau limiting value which, depending on the coupling, is determined by either pair-breaking or sound-mode excitations. In the coupling range from the BCS limit to unitarity, a procedure is proposed to extract the pairing gap from the Landau limiting current.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; improved version 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

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

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

Universal Magnetic Properties of La2−δSrδCuO4La_{2-\delta} Sr_{\delta} Cu O_4 at Intermediate Temperatures

We present the theory of two-dimensional, clean quantum antiferromagnets with a small, positive, zero temperature ($T$) stiffness $\rho_s$, but with the ratio $k_B T / \rho_s$ arbitrary. Universal scaling forms for the uniform susceptibility ($\chi_u$), correlation length($\xi$), and NMR relaxation rate ($1/T_1$) are proposed and computed in a $1/N$ expansion and by Mont\'{e}-Carlo simulations. For large $k_B T/\rho_s$, $\chi_u (T)/T$ and $T\xi(T)$ asymptote to universal values, while $1/T_{1}(T)$ is nearly $T$-independent. We find good quantitative agreement with experiments and some numerical studies on $La_{2-\delta} Sr_{\delta} Cu O_4$.Comment: 14 pages, REVTEX, 1 postscript figure appende

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

Pion Propagation near the QCD Chiral Phase Transition

We point out that, in analogy with spin waves in antiferromagnets, all parameters describing the real-time propagation of soft pions at temperatures below the QCD chiral phase transition can be expressed in terms of static correlators. This allows, in principle, the determination of the soft pion dispersion relation on the lattice. Using scaling and universality arguments, we determine the critical behavior of the parameters of pion propagation. We predict that when the critical temperature is approached from below, the pole mass of the pion drops despite the growth of the pion screening mass. This fact is attributed to the decrease of the pion velocity near the phase transition.Comment: 8 pages (single column), RevTeX; added references, version to be published in PR

Voltage rectification by a SQUID ratchet

We argue that the phase across an asymmetric dc SQUID threaded by a magnetic flux can experience an effective ratchet (periodic and asymmetric) potential. Under an external ac current, a rocking ratchet mechanism operates whereby one sign of the time derivative of the phase is favored. We show that there exists a range of parameters in which a fixed sign (and, in a narrower range, even a fixed value) of the average voltage across the ring occurs, regardless of the sign of the external current dc component.Comment: 4 pages, 4 EPS figures, uses psfig.sty. Revised version, to appear in Physical Review Letters (26 August 1996