375 research outputs found
Magnetic susceptibility anisotropies in a two-dimensional quantum Heisenberg antiferromagnet with Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions
The magnetic and thermodynamic properties of the two-dimensional quantum
Heisenberg antiferromagnet that incorporates both a Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and
pseudo-dipolar interactions are studied within the framework of a generalized
nonlinear sigma model (NLSM). We calculate the static uniform susceptibility
and sublattice magnetization as a function of temperature and we show that: i)
the magnetic-response is anisotropic and differs qualitatively from the
expected behavior of a conventional easy-axis QHAF; ii) the Neel second-order
phase transition becomes a crossover, for a magnetic field B perpendicular to
the CuO(2) layers. We provide a simple and clear explanation for all the
recently reported unusual magnetic anisotropies in the low-field susceptibility
of La(2)CuO(4), L. N. Lavrov et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 017007 (2001), and we
demonstrate explicitly why La(2)CuO(4) can not be classified as an ordinary
easy-axis antiferromagnet.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Revtex4, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Dynamics of topological defects in a spiral: a scenario for the spin-glass phase of cuprates
We propose that the dissipative dynamics of topological defects in a spiral
state is responsible for the transport properties in the spin-glass phase of
cuprates. Using the collective-coordinate method, we show that topological
defects are coupled to a bath of magnetic excitations. By integrating out the
bath degrees of freedom, we find that the dynamical properties of the
topological defects are dissipative. The calculated damping matrix is related
to the in-plane resistivity, which exhibits an anisotropy and linear
temperature dependence in agreement with experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, as publishe
Optimización del comportamiento
El comportamiento satisface u optimiza la obtención de un recurso en función de su abundancia y de la capacidad de utilizarlo por parte del individuo. La optimización del comportamiento se puede conseguir maximizando la tasa neta de obtención y manejo del recurso, la eficiencia o un valor intermedio entre la tasa neta y la eficiencia, dependiendo de las circunstancias en las que el individuo ejecuta una pauta de comportamiento. Los tipos de comportamiento más frecuentes en los análisis de optimización son la composición de la dieta, el tiempo de permanencia en un lugar y cualquier decisión que incluya el retorno a un lugar central. En todos ellos se debe estimar la diferencia entre el valor del recurso que el individuo ha seleccionado con respecto al valor promedio de ese recurso en el ambiente donde el animal puede desplazarse. La variabilidad temporal y en cantidad del recurso que se puede obtener favorece a los animales que son sensibles a la variabilidad o riesgo, los cuales maximizan la tasa de obtención del recurso a corto plazo. Dependiendo de sus reservas y expectativas de obtención del recurso, los individuos sensibles al riesgo evitan las situaciones con alta variabilidad temporal cuando sus reservas son altas y las expectativas bajas. Cuando la variabilidad afecta a la cantidad de recurso, los animales con pocas reservas pueden optar por el riesgo para la obtención del recurso, pero este fenómeno de sensibilidad al riesgo en cantidad de recurso es menos frecuente a la sensibilidad al riesgo temporal. La optimización del comportamiento en presencia de otros individuos se puede clasificar en dos grandes categorías: economías de agregación (tasa de obtención de recursos aumenta en ciertos tamaños de grupo) y economías de dispersión (tasa de obtención de recursos disminuye con el tamaño de grupo). En una economía de agregación, la tasa de obtención de recursos suele tener un pico máximo a un tamaño de grupo óptimo, aunque los grupos pueden agrandarse hasta llegar al tamaño estable. Sin embargo, grupos mayores que el tamaño estable se consideran dentro de un equilibrio inestable debido a que la tasa de obtención de recursos es menor que si el individuo se alimentara solitariamente. En una economía de dispersión, la presencia de otros individuos induce cambios en la selección del lugar de obtención del recurso, de manera que en circunstancias de renovación constante del recurso y tiempo suficiente para el cambio de lugar se produce una distribución de los individuos entre zonas hasta alcanzar un equilibrio en, por ejemplo, la maximización de la tasa neta de obtención del recurso, lo que se denomina una distribución libre-ideal de los individuos. En general, la optimización del comportamiento no suele ser perfecta, lo que se traduce en una distribución subóptima de los individuos, que ocupan en mayor proporción las zonas con menor cantidad de recurso. Con independencia de las circunstancias en los que los animales optimizan el comportamiento y de las reglas que maximizan el beneficio obtenido, los modelos de optimización se han revelado como una herramienta útil para investigar el comportamiento. La posibilidad de que el individuo maximice la tasa de obtención de un recurso induce al investigador a plantear tal posibilidad como una hipótesis nula en su trabajo, de manera que es preciso estimar el valor del recurso que el animal intenta conseguir, los tiempo de obtención y manejo y los costes de su obtención, así como su valor marginal y el efecto que puede tener la competencia o simplemente la interferencia con otros individuos del grupo en la optimización del comportamiento. El rechazo de la optimización como hipótesis nula puede llevar a nuevos descubrimientos sobre las restricciones, límites e incluso nuevas reglas de comportamiento, que de manera contraintuitiva pueden revelar pautas de comportamiento subóptimas pero adaptativasPeer reviewe
Derivation of the generalized Non Linear Sigma Model in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction
We derive the long-wavelength non-linear sigma model for a two-dimensional
Heisenberg system in the presence of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya and
pseudodipolar interactions. We show that the system is a non-conventional
easy-axis antiferromagnet, displaying an anomalous coupling between the
magnetic field and the staggered order parameter. Our results are in good
agreement with recent experimental data for undoped La2CuO4 compounds.Comment: Proceedings of SCES05, to appear on Physica
Dissipative dynamics of topological defects in frustrated Heisenberg spin systems
We study the dynamics of topological defects of a frustrated spin system
displaying spiral order. As a starting point we consider the SO(3) nonlinear
sigma model to describe long-wavelength fluctuations around the noncollinear
spiral state. Besides the usual spin-wave magnetic excitations, the model
allows for topologically non-trivial static solutions of the equations of
motion, associated with the change of chirality (clockwise or counterclockwise)
of the spiral. We consider two types of these topological defects, single
vortices and vortex-antivortex pairs, and quantize the corresponding solutions
by generalizing the semiclassical approach to a non-Abelian field theory. The
use of the collective coordinates allows us to represent the defect as a
particle coupled to a bath of harmonic oscillators, which can be integrated out
employing the Feynman-Vernon path-integral formalism. The resulting effective
action for the defect indicates that its motion is damped due to the scattering
by the magnons. We derive a general expression for the damping coefficient of
the defect, and evaluate its temperature dependence in both cases, for a single
vortex and for a vortex-antivortex pair. Finally, we consider an application of
the model for cuprates, where a spiral state has been argued to be realized in
the spin-glass regime. By assuming that the defect motion contributes to the
dissipative dynamics of the charges, we can compare our results with the
measured inverse mobility in a wide range of temperature. The relatively good
agreement between our calculations and the experiments confirms the possible
relevance of an incommensurate spiral order for lightly doped cuprates.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, final published versio
Can experience reduce collisions between birds and vehicles?
Bird collisions with vehicles cause serious safety, financial and conservation concerns worldwide, but the causes of such collisions are poorly described. We investigated how experience with vehicles influenced avian avoidance responses. We trained three groups of vehicle-naiıve rock pigeons Columba livia with 32 near-miss vehicle approaches over 4 weeks at 60 and 120 km h-1, and also included individuals that heard but did not see the approaches (control group). We subsequently measured flight initiation distance (FID) and whether individuals ‘collided’ with a virtual vehicle directly approaching at 120 or 240 km h-1 using video playback. We found that inexperienced individuals (i.e. the control group) had longer FIDs than experienced birds, although only one of 90 individuals across groups successfully avoided virtual collision. Vehicle approach speed during video playback and the interaction of approach speed and training group did not influence FID. Our results suggest that a habituation-like effect based on repeated observations of passing vehicles could contribute to ineffective vehicle avoidance responses by birds when collisions are imminent. Novel strategies should be developed to enhance avoidance responses to high-speed vehicles to minimize bird mortality
Antiferromagnetic Ising spin glass competing with BCS pairing interaction in a transverse field
The competition among spin glass (SG), antiferromagnetism (AF) and local
pairing superconductivity (PAIR) is studied in a two-sublattice fermionic Ising
spin glass model with a local BCS pairing interaction in the presence of an
applied magnetic transverse field . In the present approach, spins in
different sublattices interact with a Gaussian random coupling with an
antiferromagnetic mean and standard deviation . The problem is
formulated in the path integral formalism in which spin operators are
represented by bilinear combinations of Grassmann variables. The saddle-point
Grand Canonical potential is obtained within the static approximation and the
replica symmetric ansatz. The results are analysed in phase diagrams in which
the AF and the SG phases can occur for small ( is the strength of the
local superconductor coupling written in units of ), while the PAIR phase
appears as unique solution for large . However, there is a complex line
transition separating the PAIR phase from the others. It is second order at
high temperature that ends in a tricritical point. The quantum fluctuations
affect deeply the transition lines and the tricritical point due to the
presence of .Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted Eur. Phys. J.
Antiproliferative activity and mode of action analysis of novel amino and amido substituted phenantrene and naphtho[2,1-b]thiophene derivatives
Herein we present and describe the design and synthesis of novel phenantrene derivatives substituted with either amino or amido side chains and their biological activity. Antiproliferative activities were assessed in vitro on a panel of human cancer cell lines. Tested compounds showed moderate activity against cancer cells in comparison with 5-fluorouracile. Among all tested compounds, some compounds substituted with cyano groups showed a pronounced and selective activity in the nanomolar range of inhibitory concentrations against HeLa and HepG2. The strongest selective activity against HeLa cells was observed for acrylonitriles 8 and 11 and their cyclic analogues 15 and 17 substituted with two cyano groups with a corresponding IC50 = 0.33, 0.21, 0.65 and 0.45 μM, respectively. Compounds 11 showed the most pronounced selectivity being almost non cytotoxic to normal fibroblasts. Additionally, mode of biological action analysis was performed in silico and in vitro by Western blot analysis of HIF-1-α relative expression for compounds 8 and 11
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