Elastic Tensor of Sr2_2RuO4_4

The six independent elastic constants of Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ were determined using resonant ultrasound spectroscopy on a high-quality single-crystal specimen. The constants are in excellent agreement with those obtained from pulse-echo experiments performed on a sample cut from the same ingot. A calculation of the Debye temperature using the measured constants agrees well with values obtained from both specific heat and M\"{o}ssbauer measurements.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, submitted to PR

Exploiting tumor epigenetics to improve oncolytic virotherapy

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) comprise a versatile and multi-mechanistic therapeutic platform in the growing arsenal of anticancer biologics. These replicating therapeutics find favorable conditions in the tumor niche, characterized among others by increased metabolism, reduced anti-tumor/antiviral immunity, and disorganized vasculature. Through a self-amplification that is dependent on multiple cancer-specific defects, these agents exhibit remarkable tumor selectivity. With several OVs completing or entering Phase III clinical evaluation, their therapeutic potential as well as the challenges ahead are increasingly clear. One key hurdle is tumor heterogeneity, which results in variations in the ability of tumors to support productive infection by OVs and to induce adaptive anti-tumor immunity. To this end, mounting evidence suggests tumor epigenetics may play a key role. This review will focus on the epigenetic landscape of tumors and how it relates to OV infection. Therapeutic strategies aiming to exploit the epigenetic identity of tumors in order to improve OV therapy are also discussed

Symmetry of the order parameter in superconducting ZrZn_2

We apply symmetry considerations to study the possible superconducting order parameters in ferromagnetic ZrZn_2. We predict that the presence and the location of the superconducting gap nodes depend on the direction of magnetization M. In particular, if M is directed along the z axis, then the order parameter should always have zeros. We also discuss how to determine the gap symmetry in ZrZn_2 using ultrasound attenuation measurements.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to PRB; some corrections and discussion adde

Interlayer pair tunneling and gap anisotropy in YBa2_2Cu3_3O7−δ_{7-\delta}

Recent ARPES measurement observed a large $ab$-axis gap anisotropy, $\Delta(0,\pi)/\Delta(\pi,0)=1.5$, in clean YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7-\delta}$. This indicates that some sub-dominant component may exist in the $d_{x^2-y^2}$-wave dominant gap. We propose that the interlayer pairing tunneling contribution can be determined through the investigation of the order parameter anisotropy. Their potentially observable features in transport and spin dynamics are also studied.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Transport and the Order Parameter of Superconducting Sr2_2RuO4_4

Recent experiments make it appear more likely that the order parameter of the unconventional superconductor Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ has a spin-triplet $f$-wave symmetry. We study ultrasonic absorption and thermal conductivity of superconducting Sr$_2$RuO$_4$ and fit to the recent data for various $f$-wave candidates. It is shown that only $f_{x^2-y^2}$-wave symmetry can account qualitatively for the transport data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, references added and update

An Intrinsic Bond-Centered Electronic Glass with Unidirectional Domains in Underdoped Cuprates

Removing electrons from the CuO2 plane of cuprates alters the electronic correlations sufficiently to produce high-temperature superconductivity. Associated with these changes are spectral weight transfers from the high energy states of the insulator to low energies. In theory, these should be detectable as an imbalance between the tunneling rate for electron injection and extraction - a tunneling asymmetry. We introduce atomic-resolution tunneling-asymmetry imaging, finding virtually identical phenomena in two lightly hole-doped cuprates: Ca1.88Na0.12CuO2Cl2 and Bi2Sr2Dy0.2Ca0.8Cu2O8+d. Intense spatial variations in tunneling asymmetry occur primarily at the planar oxygen sites; their spatial arrangement forms a Cu-O-Cu bond centered electronic pattern without long range order but with 4a0-wide unidirectional electronic domains dispersed throughout (a0: the Cu-O-Cu distance). The emerging picture is then of a partial hole-localization within an intrinsic electronic glass evolving, at higher hole-densities, into complete delocalization and highest temperature superconductivity.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, published version is available at http://people.ccmr.cornell.edu/~jcdavis/mK_stm/publications/domains/index.ht

Ultrasonic attenuation in magnetic fields for superconducting states with line nodes in Sr2RuO4

We calculate the ultrasonic attenuation in magnetic fields for superconducting states with line nodes vertical or horizontal relative to the RuO_2 planes. This theory, which is valid for fields near Hc2 and not too low temperatures, takes into account the effects of supercurrent flow and Andreev scattering by the Abrikosov vortex lattice. For rotating in-plane field H(theta) the attenuation alpha(theta)exhibits variations of fourfold symmetry in the rotation angle theta. In the case of vertical nodes, the transverse T100 sound mode yields the weakest(linear)H and T dependence of alpha, while the longitudinal L100 mode yields a stronger (quadratic) H and T dependence. This is in strong contrast to the case of horizontal line nodes where alpha is the same for the T100 and L100 modes (apart from a shift of pi/4 in field direction) and is roughly a quadratic function of H and T. Thus we conclude that measurements of alpha in in-plane magnetic fields for different in-plane sound modes may be an important tool for probing the nodal structure of the gap in Sr_2RuO_4.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, replaced in non-preprint form, to appear in Phys. Rev.