Late Gas accretion onto Primordial Minihalos: a Model for Leo T, Dark Galaxies and Extragalactic High-Velocity Clouds

In this letter we revisit the idea of reionization feedback on dwarf galaxy formation. We show that primordial minihalos with v_cir<20 km/s stop accreting gas after reionization, as it is usually assumed, but in virtue of their increasing concentration and the decreasing temperature of the intergalactic medium as redshift decreases below z=3, they have a late phase of gas accretion and possibly star formation. We expect that pre-reionization fossils that evolved on the outskirts of the Milky Way or in isolation show a bimodal star formation history with 12 Gyr old and <10 Gyr old population of stars. Leo T fits with this scenario. Another prediction of the model is the possible existence of a population of gas rich minihalos that never formed stars. More work is needed to understand whether a subset of compact high-velocity clouds can be identified as such objects or whether an undiscovered population exists in the voids between galaxies.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted version MNRAS 392, L4

Magnetoelectric coupling, Berry phase, and Landau level dispersion in a biased bilayer graphene

We study the energy spectrum of a graphene bilayer in the presence of transverse electric and magnetic fields. We find that the resulting Landau levels exhibit a nonmonotonic dependence on the electric field, as well as numerous level crossings. This behavior is explained using quasiclassical quantization rules that properly take into account the pseudospin of the quasiparticles. The pseudospin generates the Berry phase, which leads to a shift in energy quantization and results in a pseudo-Zeeman effect. The latter depends on the electric field, alternates in sign among the two valleys, and also reduces the band gap. Analytic formulas for other pseudospin-related quantities, such as the anomalous Hall conductivity, are derived and compared with prior theoretical work.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figure

Infrared nanoscopy of Dirac plasmons at the graphene-SiO2 interface

We report on infrared (IR) nanoscopy of 2D plasmon excitations of Dirac fermions in graphene. This is achieved by confining mid-IR radiation at the apex of a nanoscale tip: an approach yielding two orders of magnitude increase in the value of in-plane component of incident wavevector q compared to free space propagation. At these high wavevectors, the Dirac plasmon is found to dramatically enhance the near-field interaction with mid-IR surface phonons of SiO2 substrate. Our data augmented by detailed modeling establish graphene as a new medium supporting plasmonic effects that can be controlled by gate voltage.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Draft genome sequence of the Tibetan antelope

The Tibetan antelope (Pantholops hodgsonii) is endemic to the extremely inhospitable high-altitude environment of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, a region that has a low partial pressure of oxygen and high ultraviolet radiation. Here we generate a draft genome of this artiodactyl and use it to detect the potential genetic bases of highland adaptation. Compared with other plain-dwelling mammals, the genome of the Tibetan antelope shows signals of adaptive evolution and gene-family expansion in genes associated with energy metabolism and oxygen transmission. Both the highland American pika, and the Tibetan antelope have signals of positive selection for genes involved in DNA repair and the production of ATPase. Genes associated with hypoxia seem to have experienced convergent evolution. Thus, our study suggests that common genetic mechanisms might have been utilized to enable high-altitude adaptation

The Complete Mitochondrial Genomes of Six Heterodont Bivalves (Tellinoidea and Solenoidea): Variable Gene Arrangements and Phylogenetic Implications

BACKGROUND: Taxonomy and phylogeny of subclass Heterodonta including Tellinoidea are long-debated issues and a complete agreement has not been reached yet. Mitochondrial (mt) genomes have been proved to be a powerful tool in resolving phylogenetic relationship. However, to date, only ten complete mitochondrial genomes of Heterodonta, which is by far the most diverse major group of Bivalvia, have been determined. In this paper, we newly sequenced the complete mt genomes of six species belonging to Heterodonta in order to resolve some problematical relationships among this subclass. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: The complete mt genomes of six species vary in size from 16,352 bp to 18,182. Hairpin-like secondary structures are found in the largest non-coding regions of six freshly sequenced mt genomes, five of which contain tandem repeats. It is noteworthy that two species belonging to the same genus show different gene arrangements with three translocations. The phylogenetic analysis of Heterodonta indicates that Sinonovacula constricta, distant from the Solecurtidae belonging to Tellinoidea, is as a sister group with Solen grandis of family Solenidae. Besides, all five species of Tellinoidea cluster together, while Sanguinolaria diphos has closer relationship with Solecurtus divaricatus, Moerella iridescens and Semele scaba rather than with Sanguinolaria olivacea. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: By comparative study of gene order rearrangements and phylogenetic relationships of the five species belonging to Tellinoidea, our results support that comparisons of mt gene order rearrangements, to some extent, are a useful tool for phylogenetic studies. Based on phylogenetic analyses of multiple protein-coding genes, we prefer classifying the genus Sinonovacula within the superfamily Solenoidea and not the superfamily Tellinoidea. Besides, both gene order and sequence data agree that Sanguinolaria (Psammobiidae) is not monophyletic. Nevertheless, more studies based on more mt genomes via combination of gene order and phylogenetic analysis are needed to further understand the phylogenetic relationships in subclass Heterodonta

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Interaction and transport in low-dimensional carbon nanostructures

Mono and bilayer graphene are novel carbon materials with many remarkable properties. Their electronic properties, including the basic band structure, can be tuned by electrostatic gating. Calculation of the effect of the gate requires solving self-consistent screening problem. An overview of the electronic properties of graphene system is given in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 illustrates the physics of Dirac fermion on the example of a graphene p-n junction. The results are shown to be essential for experimental verification of Klein tunneling in graphene. Chapter 3 discusses the effect of gating on bilayer graphene and how their signatures have been observed by the IR spectroscopy. Chapter 4 discusses the theory of semiclassical Landau quantization in bilayer subject to both electric and magnetic fields. This explains the role of the Berry phase, valley polarizatio