2,988 research outputs found
The Many Hats of Sonic Hedgehog Signaling in Nervous System Development and Disease.
Sonic hedgehog (Shh) signaling occurs concurrently with the many processes that constitute nervous system development. Although Shh is mostly known for its proliferative and morphogenic action through its effects on neural stem cells and progenitors, it also contributes to neuronal differentiation, axonal pathfinding and synapse formation and function. To participate in these diverse events, Shh signaling manifests differently depending on the maturational state of the responsive cell, on the other signaling pathways regulating neural cell function and the environmental cues that surround target cells. Shh signaling is particularly dynamic in the nervous system, ranging from canonical transcription-dependent, to non-canonical and localized to axonal growth cones. Here, we review the variety of Shh functions in the developing nervous system and their consequences for neurodevelopmental diseases and neural regeneration, with particular emphasis on the signaling mechanisms underlying Shh action
An amplitude-phase (Ermakov-Lewis) approach for the Jackiw-Pi model of bilayer graphene
In the context of bilayer graphene we use the simple gauge model of Jackiw
and Pi to construct its numerical solutions in powers of the bias potential V
according to a general scheme due to Kravchenko. Next, using this numerical
solutions, we develop the Ermakov-Lewis approach for the same model. This leads
us to numerical calculations of the Lewis-Riesenfeld phases that could be of
forthcoming experimental interest for bilayer graphene. We also present a
generalization of the Ioffe-Korsch nonlinear Darboux transformationComment: FTC, 11 pp, 5 figure
Blurred Lines Between Competition and Parasitism
Accurately describing the ecological relationships between species is more than mere semantics-doing so has profound practical and applied implications, not the least of which is that inaccurate descriptions can lead to fundamentally incorrect predicted outcomes of community composition and functioning. Accurate ecological classifications are particularly important in the context of global change, where species interactions can change rapidly following shifts in species composition. Here, we argue that many common ecological interactions-particularly competition and parasitism-can be easily confused and that we often lack empirical evidence for the full reciprocal interaction among species. To make our case and to propose a theoretical framework for addressing this problem, we use the interactions between lianas and trees, whose outcomes have myriad implications for the ecology and conservation of tropical forests (e.g., Schnitzer et al. 2015)
Influence of Coulomb and Phonon Interaction on the Exciton Formation Dynamics in Semiconductor Heterostructures
A microscopic theory is developed to analyze the dynamics of exciton
formation out of incoherent carriers in semiconductor heterostructures. The
carrier Coulomb and phonon interaction is included consistently. A cluster
expansion method is used to systematically truncate the hierarchy problem. By
including all correlations up to the four-point (i.e. two-particle) level, the
fundamental fermionic substructure of excitons is fully included. The analysis
shows that the exciton formation is an intricate process where Coulomb
correlations rapidly build up on a picosecond time scale while phonon dynamics
leads to true exciton formation on a slow nanosecond time scale.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figure
Observation of Coulomb-Assisted Dipole-Forbidden Intraexciton Transitions in Semiconductors
We use terahertz pulses to induce resonant transitions between the
eigenstates of optically generated exciton populations in a high-quality
semiconductor quantum-well sample. Monitoring the excitonic photoluminescence,
we observe transient quenching of the exciton emission, which we attribute
to the terahertz-induced -to- excitation. Simultaneously, a pronounced
enhancement of the -exciton emission is observed, despite the -to-
transition being dipole forbidden. A microscopic many-body theory explains the
experimental observations as a Coulomb-scattering mixing of the 2 and 2
states, yielding an effective terahertz transition between the 1 and 2
populations.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Dynamics of individual Brownian rods in a microchannel flow
We study the orientational dynamics of heavy silica microrods flowing through
a microfluidic channel. Comparing experiments and Brownian dynamics simulations
we identify different particle orbits, in particular in-plane tumbling
behavior, which cannot be explained by classical Jeffery theory, and we relate
this behavior to the rotational diffusion of the rods. By constructing the
full, three-dimensional, orientation distribution, we describe the rod
trajectories and quantify the persistence of Jeffery orbits using temporal
correlation functions of the Jeffery constant. We find that our colloidal rods
lose memory of their initial configuration in about a second, corresponding to
half a Jeffery period.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
An introduction to the spectrum, symmetries, and dynamics of spin-1/2 Heisenberg chains
Quantum spin chains are prototype quantum many-body systems. They are
employed in the description of various complex physical phenomena. The goal of
this paper is to provide an introduction to the subject by focusing on the time
evolution of a Heisenberg spin-1/2 chain and interpreting the results based on
the analysis of the eigenvalues, eigenstates, and symmetries of the system. We
make available online all computer codes used to obtain our data.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
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