315 research outputs found
Optical Properties of Guanine Nanowires: Experimental and Theoretical Study
International audienceLong nanowires formed by ca. 800 guanine tetrads (G4-wires) are studied in phosphate buffer containing sodium cations. Their room temperature optical properties are compared to those of the monomeric chromophore 2-deoxyguanine monophosphate (dGMP). When going from dGMP to G4-wires, both the absorption and the fluorescence spectra change. Moreover, the fluorescence quantum yield increases by a factor of 7.3 whereas the average fluorescence lifetime increases by more than 2 orders of magnitude, indicating emission associated with weakly allowed transitions. The behavior of G4-wires is interpreted in the light of a theoretical study performed in the frame of the exciton theory combining data from molecular dynamics and quantum chemistry. These calculations, carried out for a quadruplex composed of three tetrads, reveal the existence of various exciton states having different energies and oscillator strengths. The degree of delocalization of the quadruplex Franck−Condon excited states is larger than those found for longer duplexes following the same methodology. The slower excited-state relaxation in G4-wires compared to dGMP is explained by emission from exciton states, possibly limited on individual tetrads, whose coherence is reserved by the reduced mobility of guanines due to multiple Hoogsteen hydrogen bonds
Coherent Resonant Tunneling Through an Artificial Molecule
Coherent resonant tunneling through an artificial molecule of quantum dots in
an inhomogeneous magnetic field is investigated using an extended Hubbard
model. Both the multiterminal conductance of an array of quantum dots and the
persistent current of a quantum dot molecule embedded in an Aharanov-Bohm ring
are calculated. The conductance and persistent current are calculated
analytically for the case of a double quantum dot and numerically for larger
arrays using a multi-terminal Breit-Wigner type formula, which allows for the
explicit inclusion of inelastic processes. Cotunneling corrections to the
persistent current are also investigated, and it is shown that the sign of the
persistent current on resonance may be used to determine the spin quantum
numbers of the ground state and low-lying excited states of an artificial
molecule. An inhomogeneous magnetic field is found to strongly suppress
transport due to pinning of the spin-density-wave ground state of the system,
and giant magnetoresistance is predicted to result from the ferromagnetic
transition induced by a uniform external magnetic field.Comment: 23 pages, 12 figure
Reversibility of Frailty After Bridge-to-Transplant Ventricular Assist Device Implantation or Heart Transplantation.
BACKGROUND: We recently reported that frailty is independently predictive of increased mortality in patients with advanced heart failure referred for heart transplantation (HTx). The aim of this study was to assess the impact of frailty on short-term outcomes after bridge-to-transplant ventricular assist device (BTT-VAD) implantation and/or HTx and to determine if frailty is reversible after these procedures. METHODS: Between August 2013 and August 2016, 100 of 126 consecutive patients underwent frailty assessment using Fried's Frailty Phenotype before surgical intervention: 40 (21 nonfrail, 19 frail) BTT-VAD and 77 (60 nonfrail, 17 frail) HTx-including 17 of the 40 BTT-VAD supported patients. Postprocedural survival, intubation time, intensive care unit, and hospital length of stay were compared between frail and nonfrail groups. Twenty-six frail patients were reassessed at 2 months or longer postintervention. RESULTS: Frail patients had lower survival (63 ± 10% vs 94 ± 3% at 1 year, P = 0.012) and experienced significantly longer intensive care unit (11 vs 5 days, P = 0.002) and hospital (49 vs 25 days, P = 0.003) length of stay after surgical intervention compared with nonfrail patients. Twelve of 13 frail patients improved their frailty score after VAD (4.0 ± 0.8 to 1.4 ± 1.1, P < 0.001) and 12 of 13 frail patients improved their frailty score after HTx (3.2 ± 0.4 to 0.9 ± 0.9, P < 0.001). Handgrip strength and depression improved postintervention. Only a slight improvement in cognitive function was seen postintervention. CONCLUSIONS: Frail patients with advanced heart failure experience increased mortality and morbidity after surgical intervention with BTT-VAD or HTx. Among those who survive frailty is partly or completely reversible underscoring the importance of considering this factor as a dynamic not fixed entity
Quantum railroads and directed localization at the juncture of quantum Hall systems
The integer quantum Hall effect (QHE) and one-dimensional Anderson
localization (AL) are limiting special cases of a more general phenomenon,
directed localization (DL), predicted to occur in disordered one-dimensional
wave guides called "quantum railroads" (QRR). Here we explain the surprising
results of recent measurements by Kang et al. [Nature 403, 59 (2000)] of
electron transfer between edges of two-dimensional electron systems and
identify experimental evidence of QRR's in the general, but until now entirely
theoretical, DL regime that unifies the QHE and AL. We propose direct
experimental tests of our theory.Comment: 11 pages revtex + 3 jpeg figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Zero-point fluctuations in the ground state of a mesoscopic normal ring
We investigate the persistent current of a ring with an in-line quantum dot
capacitively coupled to an external circuit. Of special interest is the
magnitude of the persistent current as a function of the external impedance in
the zero temperature limit when the only fluctuations in the external circuit
are zero-point fluctuations. These are time-dependent fluctuations which
polarize the ring-dot structure and we discuss in detail the contribution of
displacement currents to the persistent current. We have earlier discussed an
exact solution for the persistent current and its fluctuations based on a Bethe
ansatz. In this work, we emphasize a physically more intuitive approach using a
Langevin description of the external circuit. This approach is limited to weak
coupling between the ring and the external circuit. We show that the zero
temperature persistent current obtained in this approach is consistent with the
persistent current calculated from a Bethe ansatz solution. In the absence of
coupling our system is a two level system consisting of the ground state and
the first excited state. In the presence of coupling we investigate the
projection of the actual state on the ground state and the first exited state
of the decoupled ring. With each of these projections we can associate a phase
diffusion time. In the zero temperature limit we find that the phase diffusion
time of the excited state projection saturates, whereas the phase diffusion
time of the ground state projection diverges.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Flat-band ferromagnetism in quantum dot superlattices
Possibility of flat-band ferromagnetism in quantum dot arrays is
theoretically discussed. By using a quantum dot as a building block, quantum
dot superlattices are possible. We consider dot arrays on Lieb and kagome
lattices known to exhibit flat band ferromagnetism. By performing an exact
diagonalization of the Hubbard Hamiltonian, we calculate the energy difference
between the ferromagnetic ground state and the paramagnetic excited state, and
discuss the stability of the ferromagnetism against the second nearest neighbor
transfer. We calculate the dot-size dependence of the energy difference in a
dot model and estimate the transition temperature of the
ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition which is found to be accessible within
the present fabrication technology. We point out advantages of semiconductor
ferromagnets and suggest other interesting possibilities of electronic
properties in quantum dot superlattices.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures (low resolution). High-resolution figures are
available at
http://www.brl.ntt.co.jp/people/tamura/Research/PublicationPapers.htm
Metal-insulator Crossover Behavior at the Surface of NiS_2
We have performed a detailed high-resolution electron spectroscopic
investigation of NiS and related Se-substituted compounds
NiSSe, which are known to be gapped insulators in the bulk at all
temperatures. A large spectral weight at the Fermi energy of the room
temperature spectrum, in conjunction with the extreme surface sensitivity of
the experimental probe, however, suggests that the surface layer is metallic at
300 K. Interestingly, the evolution of the spectral function with decreasing
temperature is characterized by a continuous depletion of the single-particle
spectral weight at the Fermi energy and the development of a gap-like structure
below a characteristic temperature, providing evidence for a metal-insulator
crossover behavior at the surfaces of NiS and of related compounds. These
results provide a consistent description of the unusual transport properties
observed in these systems.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure
Hilbert space structure of a solid state quantum computer: two-electron states of a double quantum dot artificial molecule
We study theoretically a double quantum dot hydrogen molecule in the GaAs
conduction band as the basic elementary gate for a quantum computer with the
electron spins in the dots serving as qubits. Such a two-dot system provides
the necessary two-qubit entanglement required for quantum computation. We
determine the excitation spectrum of two horizontally coupled quantum dots with
two confined electrons, and study its dependence on an external magnetic field.
In particular, we focus on the splitting of the lowest singlet and triplet
states, the double occupation probability of the lowest states, and the
relative energy scales of these states. We point out that at zero magnetic
field it is difficult to have both a vanishing double occupation probability
for a small error rate and a sizable exchange coupling for fast gating. On the
other hand, finite magnetic fields may provide finite exchange coupling for
quantum computer operations with small errors. We critically discuss the
applicability of the envelope function approach in the current scheme and also
the merits of various quantum chemical approaches in dealing with few-electron
problems in quantum dots, such as the Hartree-Fock self-consistent field
method, the molecular orbital method, the Heisenberg model, and the Hubbard
model. We also discuss a number of relevant issues in quantum dot quantum
computing in the context of our calculations, such as the required design
tolerance, spin decoherence, adiabatic transitions, magnetic field control, and
error correction.Comment: 22 2-column pages, 11 figures. Published versio
Faddeev Calculations of Proton-Deuteron Radiative Capture with Exchange Currents
pd capture processes at various energies have been analyzed based on
solutions of 3N-Faddeev equations and using modern NN forces. The application
of the Siegert theorem is compared to the explicit use of - and
-like exchange currents connected to the AV18 NN interaction. Overall
good agreement with cross sections and spin observables has been obtained but
leaving room for improvement in some cases. Feasibility studies for 3NF's
consistently included in the 3N continuum and the 3N bound state have been
performed as well.Comment: Minor changes in notation, ps files for figure
The IMEx coronavirus interactome: an evolving map of Coronaviridae-host molecular interactions
The current coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV)-2, has spurred a wave of research of nearly unprecedented scale. Among the different strategies that are being used to understand the disease and develop effective treatments, the study of physical molecular interactions can provide fine-grained resolution of the mechanisms behind the virus biology and the human organism response. We present a curated dataset of physical molecular interactions focused on proteins from SARS-CoV-2, SARS-CoV-1 and other members of the Coronaviridae family that has been manually extracted by International Molecular Exchange (IMEx) Consortium curators. Currently, the dataset comprises over 4400 binarized interactions extracted from 151 publications. The dataset can be accessed in the standard formats recommended by the Proteomics Standards Initiative (HUPO-PSI) at the IntAct database website (https://www.ebi.ac.uk/intact) and will be continuously updated as research on COVID-19 progresses
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