Charge carrier injection into insulating media: single-particle versus mean-field approach

Self-consistent, mean-field description of charge injection into a dielectric medium is modified to account for discreteness of charge carriers. The improved scheme includes both the Schottky barrier lowering due to the individual image charge and the barrier change due to the field penetration into the injecting electrode that ensures validity of the model at both high and low injection rates including the barrier dominated and the space-charge dominated regimes. Comparison of the theory with experiment on an unipolar ITO/PPV/Au-device is presented.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures; revised version accepted to PR

Spatial distribution of superconducting and charge-density-wave order parameters in cuprates and its influence on the quasiparticle tunnel current (Review Article)

The state of the art concerning tunnel measurements of energy gaps in cuprate oxides has been analyzed. A detailed review of the relevant literature is made, and original results calculated for the quasiparticle tunnel current J(V) between a metallic tip and a disordered d-wave superconductor partially gapped by charge density waves (CDWs) are reported, because it is this model of high-temperature superconductors that becomes popular owing to recent experiments in which CDWs were observed directly. The current was calculated suggesting the scatter of both the superconducting and CDW order parameters due to the samples' intrinsic inhomogeneity. It was shown that peculiarities in the current-voltage characteristics inherent to the case of homogeneous superconducting material are severely smeared, and the CDW-related features transform into experimentally observed peak-dip-hump structures. Theoretical results were used to fit data measured for YBa₂Cu₃O₇–δ and Bi₂Sr₂CaCu₂O₈₊δ. The fitting demonstrated a good qualitative agreement between the experiment and model calculations. The analysis of the energy gaps in high- Tc superconductors is important both per se and as a tool to uncover the nature of superconductivity in cuprates not elucidated so far despite of much theoretical effort and experimental progress

Nonlinear excitation of kinetic Alfven waves and whistler waves by electron beam-driven Langmuir waves in the solar corona

© ESO 2003We study a new nonlinear excitation mechanism of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) and whistler waves (Ws) by electron beam-driven Langmuir waves (Ls). The generation conditions for the parametric decay instability L W + KAW are determined and the growth rate is calculated. We show that the resonant pairs of KAWs and whistler waves are nonlinearly coupled to the pump Langmuir waves and their amplitudes undergo exponential growth from the thermal level. The perpendicular dispersion of KAWs strongly increases the coupling due to the nonlinear current parallel to the ambient magnetic field. Our study suggests that the nonlinear coupling of Langmuir wave energy into KAWs and whistlers can provide an efficient sink for weakly dispersive Langmuir waves excited by fast electron beams in the solar corona when the electron plasma frequency is lower than the electron gyrofrequency. This condition can be satisfied in the low-density magnetic filaments that are rooted in the depleted patches at the coronal base and extend to the high corona. At the same time, the Langmuir-driven KAWs and whistlers give rise to scattering and/or thin structures of radio emission penetrating through, or generated in these regions. Since the decay into sunward propagating KAWs is strongest, the nonlinearly driven KAWs can be easily distinguished from the waves generated at the coronal base and propagating away from the Sun. Our results may be used in the analysis of solar radio data and for remote probing of the coronal plasma, magnetic fields, and waves.Yu. Voitenko, M. Goossens, O. Sirenko and A. C.-L. Chia

Stable, synthetic analogs of diadenosine tetraphosphate inhibit rat and human P2X3 receptors and inflammatory pain

© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.Background: A growing body of evidence suggests that ATP-gated P2X3 receptors (P2X3Rs) are implicated in chronic pain. We address the possibility that stable, synthetic analogs of diadenosine tetraphosphate (Ap4A) might induce antinociceptive effects by inhibiting P2X3Rs in peripheral sensory neurons. Results: The effects of two stable, synthetic Ap4A analogs (AppNHppA and AppCH2ppA) are studied firstly in vitro on HEK293 cells expressing recombinant rat P2XRs (P2X2Rs, P2X3Rs, P2X4Rs, and P2X7Rs) and then using native rat brain cells (cultured trigeminal, nodose, or dorsal root ganglion neurons). Thereafter, the action of these stable, synthetic Ap4A analogs on inflammatory pain and thermal hyperalgesia is studied through the measurement of antinociceptive effects in formalin and Hargreaves plantar tests in rats in vivo. In vitro inhibition of rat P2X3Rs (not P2X2Rs, P2X4Rs nor P2X7Rs) is shown to take place mediated by high-affinity desensitization (at low concentrations; IC50 values 100–250 nM) giving way to only weak partial agonism at much higher concentrations (EC50 values ≥ 10 µM). Similar inhibitory activity is observed with human recombinant P2X3Rs. The inhibitory effects of AppNHppA on nodose, dorsal root, and trigeminal neuron whole cell currents suggest that stable, synthetic Ap4A analogs inhibit homomeric P2X3Rs in preference to heteromeric P2X2/3Rs. Both Ap4A analogs mediate clear inhibition of pain responses in both in vivo inflammation models. Conclusions: Stable, synthetic Ap4A analogs (AppNHppA and AppCH2ppA) being weak partial agonist provoke potent high-affinity desensitization-mediated inhibition of homomeric P2X3Rs at low concentrations. Therefore, both analogs demonstrate clear potential as potent analgesic agents for use in the management of chronic pain associated with heightened P2X3R activation

НОВА СИМЕТРІЯ ЕЛЕКТРОСЛАБКОГО ЛАГРАНЖІАНУ

Аналізуються проблеми стандартної моделі, пов'язані з введенням електромагнітного поля як лінійної комбінації полів, на яких реалізуються представлення різних калібрувальних груп. В роботі звертається увага на те що в будь-якій моделі із калібрувальними полями, генератори, які входять до коваріантних похідних, можуть бути задані лише з точністю до переходу до еквівалентного представлення. Пропонується вважати що динамічні моделі з еквівалентними представленнями генераторів повинні бути фізично еквівалентними. Це означає вимогу симетрії лагранжіану відносно переходу від одного з еквівалентних представлень генераторів до іншого. Зокрема в лагранжіані стандартної моделі маємо підвищуючий і понижуючий генератори групи SU(2). Закон групового множення визначає лише модулі  матричних елементів цих генераторів, в той час як аргументи залишаються невизначеними. В роботі така невизначеність розглядається як локальна. В різних точках простору-часу генератори можуть задаватися в різних еквівалентних представленнях. Компенсація невизначених аргументів матричних елементів генераторів групи SU(2) може бути проведена за допомогою локального U(1) - перетворення з введенням відповідного калібрувального поля, яке може розглядатися як електромагнітне. Аналізуються переваги такого введення електромагнітного поля у порівнянні з методом, використаним в стандартній моделі