480 research outputs found
Nonmonotonic temperature dependence of critical current in diffusive d-wave junctions
We study the Josephson effect in D/I/DN/I/D junctions, where I, DN and D
denote an insulator, a diffusive normal metal and a d-wave superconductor,
respectively.The Josephson current is calculated based on the quasiclassical
Green's function theory with a general boundary condition for unconventional
superconducting junctions. In contrast to s-wave junctions, the product of the
Josephson current and the normal state resistance is enhanced by making the
interface barriers stronger. The Josephson current has a nonmonotonic
temperature dependence due to the competition between the proximity effect and
the midgap Andreev resonant states.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Angular dependence of Josephson currents in unconventional superconducting junctions
Josephson effect in junctions between unconventional superconductors is
studied theoretically within the model describing the effects of interface
roughness. The particularly important issue of applicability of the frequently
used Sigrist-Rice formula for Josephson current in d-wave superconductor /
insulator / d-wave superconductor junctions is addressed. We show that although
the SR formula is not applicable in the ballistic case, it works well for rough
interfaces when the diffusive normal metal regions exist between the d-wave
superconductor and the insulator. It is shown that the SR approach only takes
into account the component of the d-wave pair potential symmetric with respect
to an inversion around the plane perpendicular to the interface. Similar
formula can be derived for general unconventional superconductors with
arbitrary angular momentum l.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Resolving stepping rotation in Thermus thermophilus H+-ATPase/synthase with an essentially drag-free probe
Vacuole-type ATPases (VoV1) and FoF1 ATP synthases couple ATP hydrolysis/synthesis in the soluble V1 or F1 portion with proton (or Na+) flow in the membrane-embedded Vo or Fo portion through rotation of one common shaft. Here we show at submillisecond resolutions the ATP-driven rotation of isolated V1 and the whole VoV1 from Thermus thermophilus, by attaching a 40-nm gold bead for which viscous drag is almost negligible. V1 made 120° steps, commensurate with the presence of three catalytic sites. Dwells between the steps involved at least two events other than ATP binding, one likely to be ATP hydrolysis. VoV1 exhibited 12 dwell positions per revolution, consistent with the 12-fold symmetry of the Vo rotor in T. thermophilus. Unlike F1 that undergoes 80°–40° substepping, chemo-mechanical checkpoints in isolated V1 are all at the ATP-waiting position, and Vo adds further bumps through stator–rotor interactions outside and remote from V1
Quantum transport in a normal metal/odd-frequency superconductor junction
Recent experimental results indicate the possible realization of a bulk
odd-frequency superconducting state in the compounds CeCuSi, and
CeRhIn. Motivated by this, we present a study of the quantum transport
properties of a normal metal/odd-frequency superconductor junctions in a search
for probes to unveil the odd-frequency symmetry. From the Eliashberg equations,
we perform a quasiclassical approximation to account for the transport
formalism of an odd-frequency superconductor with the Keldysh formalism.
Specifically, we consider the tunneling charge conductance and tunneling
thermal conductance. We find qualitatively distinct behaviour in the
odd-frequency case as compared to the conventional even-frequency case, in both
the electrical and thermal current. This serves as a useful tool to identify
the possible existence of a bulk odd-frequency superconducting state.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Seasonal variation of serum KL-6 concentrations is greater in patients with hypersensitivity pneumonitis
Tracking Performance of the Scintillating Fiber Detector in the K2K Experiment
The K2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment uses a Scintillating
Fiber Detector (SciFi) to reconstruct charged particles produced in neutrino
interactions in the near detector. We describe the track reconstruction
algorithm and the performance of the SciFi after three years of operation.Comment: 24pages,18 figures, and 1 table. Preprint submitted to NI
Characterization of a Novel Proteinous Toxin from Sea Anemone Actineria villosa.
The sea anemone Actineria villosa expresses a lethal protein toxin. We isolated a novel 120-kDa protein, Avt120, from partially purified toxin and found it to possess extremely strong lethal activity. The 3,453-bp Avt120 gene translates to a 995-amino acid protein. The 50% lethal dose (LD(50)) of purified Avt120 in mice was 85.17Â ng. Among several tested cell lines, Colo205 cells were most sensitive to Avt120: 50% of them were damaged by 38.4Â ng/mL Avt120. Avt120 exerted ATP degradation activity (10Â ÎĽmol ATPÂ h(-1)Â mg(-1)), which was strongly inhibited by ganglioside GM1 to decrease the cytotoxicity of Avt120
Symmetry and Topology in Superconductors - Odd-frequency pairing and edge states -
Superconductivity is a phenomenon where the macroscopic quantum coherence
appears due to the pairing of electrons. This offers a fascinating arena to
study the physics of broken gauge symmetry. However, the important symmetries
in superconductors are not only the gauge invariance. Especially, the symmetry
properties of the pairing, i.e., the parity and spin-singlet/spin-triplet,
determine the physical properties of the superconducting state. Recently it has
been recognized that there is the important third symmetry of the pair
amplitude, i.e., even or odd parity with respect to the frequency. The
conventional uniform superconducting states correspond to the even-frequency
pairing, but the recent finding is that the odd-frequency pair amplitude arises
in the spatially non-uniform situation quite ubiquitously. Especially, this is
the case in the Andreev bound state (ABS) appearing at the surface/interface of
the sample. The other important recent development is on the nontrivial
topological aspects of superconductors. As the band insulators are classified
by topological indices into (i) conventional insulator, (ii) quantum Hall
insulator, and (iii) topological insulator, also are the gapped
superconductors. The influence of the nontrivial topology of the bulk states
appears as the edge or surface of the sample. In the superconductors, this
leads to the formation of zero energy ABS (ZEABS). Therefore, the ABSs of the
superconductors are the place where the symmetry and topology meet each other
which offer the stage of rich physics. In this review, we discuss the physics
of ABS from the viewpoint of the odd-frequency pairing, the topological
bulk-edge correspondence, and the interplay of these two issues. It is
described how the symmetry of the pairing and topological indices determines
the absence/presence of the ZEABS, its energy dispersion, and properties as the
Majorana fermions.Comment: 91 pages, 38 figures, Review article, references adde
Experimental study of the atmospheric neutrino backgrounds for proton decay to positron and neutral pion searches in water Cherenkov detectors
The atmospheric neutrino background for proton decay to positron and neutral
pion in ring imaging water Cherenkov detectors is studied with an artificial
accelerator neutrino beam for the first time. In total, about 314,000 neutrino
events corresponding to about 10 megaton-years of atmospheric neutrino
interactions were collected by a 1,000 ton water Cherenkov detector (KT). The
KT charged-current single neutral pion production data are well reproduced by
simulation programs of neutrino and secondary hadronic interactions used in the
Super-Kamiokande (SK) proton decay search. The obtained proton to positron and
neutral pion background rate by the KT data for SK from the atmospheric
neutrinos whose energies are below 3 GeV is about two per megaton-year. This
result is also relevant to possible future, megaton-scale water Cherenkov
detectors.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figure
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