1,424 research outputs found
Maternal Influenza: Infection, Vaccination, and Compelling Questions
Influenza presents a significant risk for increased morbidity and mortality to pregnant women and infants based on evidence from previous influenza pandemics, seasonal epidemics, and the recent H1N1 pandemic. Since 2004, influenza vaccine has been recommended for pregnant women during any trimester of pregnancy to reduce this risk. This chapter presents an overview of influenza risks associated with pregnancy as well as a review of our current understanding of vaccine effectiveness in pregnant women, neonates, and young infants. In addition, some of the current compelling questions related to influenza risk and prevention across all trimesters of pregnancy are explored
Andreev spectroscopy and surface density of states for a three-dimensional time-reversal invariant topological superconductor
A topological superconductor is a fully gapped superconductor that exhibits
exotic zero-energy Andreev surface states at interfaces with a normal metal. In
this paper we investigate the properties of a three-dimensional time reversal
invariant topological superconductor by means of a two-band model with
unconventional pairing in both the inter- and intraband channels. Due to the
bulk-boundary correspondence the presence of Andreev surface states in this
system is directly related to the topological structure of the bulk
wavefunctions, which is characterized by a winding number. Using quasiclassical
scattering theory we construct the spectrum of the Andreev bound states that
appear near the surface and compute the surface density of states for various
surface orientations. Furthermore, we consider the effects of band splitting,
i.e., the breaking of an inversion-type symmetry, and demonstrate that in the
absence of band splitting there is a direct transition between the fully gapped
topologically trivial phase and the nontrivial phase, whereas in the presence
of band splitting there exists a finite region of a gapless nodal
superconducting phase between the fully gapped topologically trivial and
nontrivial phases.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, typos corrected, two footnotes adde
Renormalization of the elementary excitations in hole- and electron-doped cuprates due to spin fluctuations
Extending our previous studies we present results for the doping-, momentum-,
frequency-, and temperature- dependence of the kink-like change of the
quasiparticle velocity resulting from the coupling to spin fluctuations. In the
nodal direction a kink is found in both the normal and superconducting state
while in the antinodal direction a kink occurs only below due to the
opening of the superconducting gap. A pronounced kink is obtained only for
hole-doped, but not for electron-doped cuprates and is characteristically
different from what is expected due to electron-phonon interaction. We further
demonstrate that the kink structure is intimately connected to the resonance
peak seen in inelastic neutron scattering. Our results suggest similar effects
in other unconventional superconductors like .Comment: revised version, 12 pages, 19 figures. accepted for publication in
PR
Spin-orbital coupling in a triplet superconductor-ferromagnet junction
We study a novel type of coupling between spin and orbital degrees of freedom
which appears at triplet superconductor-ferromagnet interfaces. Using a
self-consistent spatially-dependent mean-field theory, we show that increasing
the angle between the ferromagnetic moment and the triplet vector order
parameter enhances or suppresses the p-wave gap close to the interface,
according as the gap antinodes are parallel or perpendicular to the boundary,
respectively. The associated change in condensation energy establishes an
orbitally-dependent preferred orientation for the magnetization. When both gap
components are present, as in a chiral superconductor, we observe a first-order
transition between different moment orientations as a function of the exchange
field strength.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures and Supplemental Material (3 pages
One-electron self energies and spectral functions for the t-J model in the large-N limit
Using a recently developed perturbative approach, which considers Hubbard
operators as fundamental excitations, we have performed electronic self-energy
and spectral function calculations for the model on the square lattice.
We have found that the spectral functions along the Fermi surface are
isotropic, even close to the critical doping where the -density wave phase
takes place. Fermi liquid behavior with scattering rate and a
finite quasiparticle weight was obtained. decreases with decreasing
doping taking low values for low doping. Results are compared with other ones,
analytical and numerical like slave-boson and Lanczos diagonalization finding
agreement. We discuss our results in the light of recent experiments in
cuprates.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Physiology and phylogeny of green sulfur bacteria forming a monospecific phototrophic assemblage at a depth of 100 meters in the Black Sea
The biomass, phylogenetic composition, and photoautotrophic metabolism of green sulfur bacteria in the Black Sea was assessed in situ and in laboratory enrichments. In the center of the western basin, bacteriochlorophyll e (BChl e) was detected between depths of 90 and 120 m and reached maxima of 54 and 68 ng liter−1. High-pressure liquid chromatography analysis revealed a dominance of farnesyl esters and the presence of four unusual geranyl ester homologs of BChl e. Only traces of BChl e (8 ng liter−1) were found at the northwestern slope of the Black Sea basin, where the chemocline was positioned at a significantly greater depth of 140 m. Stable carbon isotope fractionation values of farnesol indicated an autotrophic growth mode of the green sulfur bacteria. For the first time, light intensities in the Black Sea chemocline were determined employing an integrating quantum meter, which yielded maximum values between 0.0022 and 0.00075 μmol quanta m−2 s−1 at the top of the green sulfur bacterial layer around solar noon in December. These values represent by far the lowest values reported for any habitat of photosynthetic organisms. Only one 16S rRNA gene sequence type was detected in the chemocline using PCR primers specific for green sulfur bacteria. This previously unknown phylotype groups with the marine cluster of the Chlorobiaceae and was successfully enriched in a mineral medium containing sulfide, dithionite, and freshly prepared yeast extract. Under precisely controlled laboratory conditions, the enriched green sulfur bacterium proved to be capable of exploiting light intensities as low as 0.015 μmol quanta m−2 s−1 for photosynthetic 14CO2 fixation. Calculated in situ doubling times of the green sulfur bacterium range between 3.1 and 26 years depending on the season, and anoxygenic photosynthesis contributes only 0.002 to 0.01% to total sulfide oxidation in the chemocline. The stable population of green sulfur bacteria in the Black Sea chemocline thus represents the most extremely low-light-adapted and slowest-growing type of phototroph known to date
Dynamic spin susceptibility in the t-J model
A relaxation-function theory for the dynamic spin susceptibility in the
-- model is presented. By a sum-rule-conserving generalized mean-field
approximation (GMFA), the two-spin correlation functions of arbitrary range,
the staggered magnetization, the uniform static susceptibility, and the
antiferromagnetic correlation length are calculated in a wide region of hole
doping and temperaturs. A good agreement with available exact diagonalization
(ED) data is found. The correlation length is in reasonable agreement with
neutron-scattering experiments on La_{2-\delta}Sr_\delta)CuO_4. Going beyond
the GMFA, the self-energy is calculated in the mode-coupling approximation. The
spin dynamics at arbitrary frequencies and wave vectors is studied for various
temperatures and hole doping. At low doping a spin-wave-type behavior is found
as in the Heisenberg model, while at higher doping a strong damping caused by
hole hopping occurs, and a relaxation-type spin dynamics is observed in
agreement with the ED results. The local spin susceptibility and its (\omega/T)
scaling behavior are calculated in a reasonable agreement with experimental and
ED data.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure
0- transition in magnetic triplet superconductor Josephson junctions
We examine a Josephson junction involving two arbitrary equal-spin-pairing
unitary triplet superconductors and a ferromagnetic tunneling barrier. Using
perturbation theory, we show how the interaction of the barrier moment with the
spin of the tunneling triplet Cooper pairs can reverse the sign of the
Josephson charge current. This also results in a Josephson spin current, which
contains a phase-independent contribution due to reflection processes at the
barrier. We verify our analytic predictions using a non-perturbative
Bogoliubov-de Gennes method.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX, version accepted to PR
Dissipationless Spin Current between Two Coupled Ferromagnets
We demonstrate the general principle which states that a dissipationless spin
current flows between two coupled ferromagnets if their magnetic orders are
misaligned. This principle applies regardless the two ferromagnets are metallic
or insulating, and also generally applies to bulk magnetic insulators. On a
phenomenological level, this principle is analogous to Josephson effect, and
yields a dissipationless spin current that is independent from scattering. The
microscopic mechanisms for the dissipationless spin current depend on the
systems, which are elaborated in details. A uniform, static magnetic field is
further proposed to be an efficient handle to create the misaligned
configuration and stabilize the dissipationless spin current.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
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