347 research outputs found
Micromagnetic Simulation of Nanoscale Films with Perpendicular Anisotropy
A model is studied for the theoretical description of nanoscale magnetic
films with high perpendicular anisotropy. In the model the magnetic film is
described in terms of single domain magnetic grains with Ising-like behavior,
interacting via exchange as well as via dipolar forces. Additionally, the model
contains an energy barrier and a coupling to an external magnetic field.
Disorder is taken into account in order to describe realistic domain and domain
wall structures. The influence of a finite temperature as well as the dynamics
can be modeled by a Monte Carlo simulation.
Many of the experimental findings can be investigated and at least partly
understood by the model introduced above. For thin films the magnetisation
reversal is driven by domain wall motion. The results for the field and
temperature dependence of the domain wall velocity suggest that for thin films
hysteresis can be described as a depinning transition of the domain walls
rounded by thermal activation for finite temperatures.Comment: Revtex, Postscript Figures, to be published in J. Appl.Phy
Influence of the temperature on the depinning transition of driven interfaces
We study the dynamics of a driven interface in a two-dimensional random-field
Ising model close to the depinning transition at small but finite temperatures
T using Glauber dynamics. A square lattice is considered with an interface
initially in (11)-direction. The drift velocity v is analyzed for the first
time using finite size scaling at T = 0 and additionally finite temperature
scaling close to the depinning transition. In both cases a perfect data
collapse is obtained from which we deduce beta = 1/3 for the exponent which
determines the dependence of v on the driving field, nu = 1 for the exponent of
the correlation length and delta = 5 for the exponent which determines the
dependence of v on T.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, Figures included, to appear in Europhys. Let
Domain wall mobility in nanowires: transverse versus vortex walls
The motion of domain walls in ferromagnetic, cylindrical nanowires is
investigated numerically by solving the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation for a
classical spin model in which energy contributions from exchange, crystalline
anisotropy, dipole-dipole interaction, and a driving magnetic field are
considered. Depending on the diameter, either transverse domain walls or vortex
walls are found. The transverse domain wall is observed for diameters smaller
than the exchange length of the given material. Here, the system behaves
effectively one-dimensional and the domain wall mobility agrees with a result
derived for a one-dimensional wall by Slonczewski. For low damping the domain
wall mobility decreases with decreasing damping constant. With increasing
diameter, a crossover to a vortex wall sets in which enhances the domain wall
mobility drastically. For a vortex wall the domain wall mobility is described
by the Walker-formula, with a domain wall width depending on the diameter of
the wire. The main difference is the dependence on damping: for a vortex wall
the domain wall mobility can be drastically increased for small values of the
damping constant up to a factor of .Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
Circulating calcitonin and carcinoembryonic antigen m-RNA detected by RT-PCR as tumour markers in medullary thyroid carcinoma
Detection of local relapse or metastasis in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) continue to pose a major diagnostic challenge. Besides established diagnostic studies such as serum calcitonin (CT) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), molecular detection of circulating tumour cells may be an additional diagnostic tool for the early detection of disease recurrence. We performed reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on blood samples from patients diagnosed with MTC disease using primers specific for CT and CEA, respectively. CT mRNA was not detectable in peripheral blood of all patients with MTC (n = 11) and all controls (n = 32). CEA mRNA was significantly more often detected patients with MTC (72.7%) than in controls (34.4%; p = 0.038; Fisher exact test). With an example of a patient with MTC and massive tumour mass in the neck we demonstrate the failure of detection of CT mRNA over a period of 6 months, whereas CEA mRNA could be detected in peripheral blood of this patient. As a consequence, CT mRNA detected by RT-PCR in the peripheral blood can not be recommended as a tumour marker in MTC. However, the use of carcinoembryonic mRNA may provide a significant improvement in diagnosis of recurrent disease in MTC. © 2001 Cancer Research Campaign   http://www.bjcancer.co
Supercurrent in a mesoscopic proximity wire
Recent experiments on the proximity induced supercurrent in mesoscopic normal
wires revealed a surprising temperature dependence. They suggest clean-limit
behavior although the wires are strongly disordered. We demonstrate that this
unexpected scaling is actually contained in the conventional description of
diffusive superconductors and find excellent agreement with the experimental
results. In addition we propose a SQUID-like proximity structure for further
experimental investigations of the effects in question.Comment: 6 pages LaTeX, 4 postscript figures; to appear in J. Low Temp. Phys.
(Proceedings of WSS '96
Proximity-induced superconductivity in graphene
We propose a way of making graphene superconductive by putting on it small
superconductive islands which cover a tiny fraction of graphene area. We show
that the critical temperature, T_c, can reach several Kelvins at the
experimentally accessible range of parameters. At low temperatures, T<<T_c, and
zero magnetic field, the density of states is characterized by a small gap
E_g<T_c resulting from the collective proximity effect. Transverse magnetic
field H_g(T) E_g is expected to destroy the spectral gap driving graphene layer
to a kind of a superconductive glass state. Melting of the glass state into a
metal occurs at a higher field H_{g2}(T).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Quantum Effects in Neural Networks
We develop the statistical mechanics of the Hopfield model in a transverse
field to investigate how quantum fluctuations affect the macroscopic behavior
of neural networks. When the number of embedded patterns is finite, the Trotter
decomposition reduces the problem to that of a random Ising model. It turns out
that the effects of quantum fluctuations on macroscopic variables play the same
roles as those of thermal fluctuations. For an extensive number of embedded
patterns, we apply the replica method to the Trotter-decomposed system. The
result is summarized as a ground-state phase diagram drawn in terms of the
number of patterns per site, , and the strength of the transverse
field, . The phase diagram coincides very accurately with that of the
conventional classical Hopfield model if we replace the temperature T in the
latter model by . Quantum fluctuations are thus concluded to be quite
similar to thermal fluctuations in determination of the macroscopic behavior of
the present model.Comment: 34 pages, LaTeX, 9 PS figures, uses jpsj.st
Molecular detection of thyroglobulin mRNA transcripts in peripheral blood of patients with thyroid disease by RT-PCR
The sensitive detection of circulating tumour cells in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer may precede the detection of relapse by other diagnostic studies – such as serum thyroglobulin – and thus may have important therapeutic and prognostic implications. We performed reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) on blood samples from patients diagnosed with thyroid disease using two different RT-PCR sensitivities. Additionally, tissue specificity of TG mRNA-expression was determined using RNA extracts from 27 different human tissues. The lower limit of detection was 50–100 TG mRNA producing cells/ml blood using a ‘normal’ RT-PCR sensitivity and 10–20 cells/ml blood using a ‘high’ sensitivity. With the normal sensitivity TG mRNA was detected in 9/13 patients with thyroid cancer and metastasis, 63/137 patients with a history of thyroid cancer and no metastasis, 21/85 with non-malignant thyroid disease and 9/50 controls. With the high sensitivity TG mRNA was detected in 11/13 patients with thyroid cancer and metastasis, 111/137 patients with a history of thyroid cancer and no metastasis, 61/85 with non-malignant thyroid disease and 41/50 controls. Interestingly, using the normal RT-PCR sensitivity TG mRNA transcripts are specific for thyroid tissue and detectable in the peripheral blood of controls and patients with thyroid disease, which correlates with a diagnosis of metastasized thyroid cancer. However, with a high RT-PCR sensitivity, TG mRNA expression was found not to be specific for thyroid tissue and was not correlated with a diagnosis of thyroid cancer in patients. As a consequence, to date TG mRNA detected by RT-PCR in the peripheral blood cannot be recommended as a tumour marker superior to TG serum-level. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig
Quantum effects in a superconducting glass model
We study disordered Josephson junctions arrays with long-range interaction
and charging effects. The model consists of two orthogonal sets of positionally
disordered parallel filaments (or wires) Josephson coupled at each crossing
and in the presence of a homogeneous and transverse magnetic field. The large
charging energy (resulting from small self-capacitance of the ultrathin wires)
introduces important quantum fluctuations of the superconducting phase within
each filament. Positional disorder and magnetic field frustration induce
spin-glass like ground state, characterized by not having long-range order of
the phases. The stability of this phase is destroyed for sufficiently large
charging energy. We have evaluated the temperature vs charging energy phase
diagram by extending the methods developed in the theory of infinite-range spin
glasses, in the limit of large magnetic field. The phase diagram in the
different temperature regimes is evaluated by using variety of methods, to wit:
semiclassical WKB and variational methods, Rayleigh-Schr\"{o}dinger
perturbation theory and pseudospin effective Hamiltonians. Possible
experimental consequences of these results are briefly discussed.Comment: 17 pages REVTEX. Two Postscript figures can be obtained from the
authors. To appear in PR
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