7,164 research outputs found
C/O white dwarfs of very low mass: 0.33-0.5 Mo
The standard lower limit for the mass of white dwarfs (WDs) with a C/O core
is roughly 0.5 Mo. In the present work we investigated the possibility to form
C/O WDs with mass as low as 0.33 Mo. Both the pre-WD and the cooling evolution
of such nonstandard models will be described.Comment: Submitted to the "Proceedings of the 16th European White Dwarf
Workshop" (to be published JPCS). 7 pages including 13 figure
Condensate fraction in liquid 4He at zero temperature
We present results of the one-body density matrix (OBDM) and the condensate
fraction n_0 of liquid 4He calculated at zero temperature by means of the Path
Integral Ground State Monte Carlo method. This technique allows to generate a
highly accurate approximation for the ground state wave function Psi_0 in a
totally model-independent way, that depends only on the Hamiltonian of the
system and on the symmetry properties of Psi_0. With this unbiased estimation
of the OBDM, we obtain precise results for the condensate fraction n_0 and the
kinetic energy K of the system. The dependence of n_0 with the pressure shows
an excellent agreement of our results with recent experimental measurements.
Above the melting pressure, overpressurized liquid 4He shows a small condensate
fraction that has dropped to 0.8% at the highest pressure of p = 87 bar.Comment: 12 pages. 4 figures. Accepted for publication on "Journal of Low
Temperature Physics
Role of magnetic dopants in the phase diagram of Sm1111 pnictides: The Mn case
The deliberate insertion of magnetic Mn dopants in the Fe sites of the
optimally-doped SmFeAsO0.88-F0.12 iron-based superconductor can modify in a
controlled way its electronic properties. The resulting phase diagram was
investigated across a wide range of manganese contents (x) by means of
muon-spin spectroscopy (muSR), both in zero- and in transverse fields,
respectively, to probe the magnetic and the superconducting order. The pure
superconducting phase (at x < 0.03) is replaced by a crossover region at
intermediate Mn values (0.03 =< x < 0.08), where superconductivity coexists
with static magnetic order. After completely suppressing superconductivity for
x = 0.08, a further increase in Mn content reinforces the natural tendency
towards antiferromagnetic correlations among the magnetic Mn ions. The sharp
drop of Tc and the induced magnetic order in the presence of magnetic
disorder/dopants, such as Mn, are both consistent with a recent theoretical
model of unconventional superconductors [M. Gastiasoro et al., ArXiv
1606.09495], which includes correlation-enhanced RKKY-couplings between the
impurity moments.Comment: 10 pages, 13 figures. Accepted on Physical Review
A local density functional for the short-range part of the electron-electron interaction
Motivated by recent suggestions --to split the electron-electron interaction
into a short-range part, to be treated within the density functional theory,
and a long-range part, to be handled by other techniques-- we compute, with a
diffusion Monte Carlo method, the ground-state energy of a uniform electron gas
with a modified, short-range-only electron-electron interaction \erfc(\mu
r)/r, for different values of the cutoff parameter and of the electron
density. After deriving some exact limits, we propose an analytic
representation of the correlation energy which accurately fits our Monte Carlo
data and also includes, by construction, these exact limits, thus providing a
reliable ``short-range local-density functional''.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Co-Release of GABA Does Not Occur at Glycinergic Synapses onto Lumbar Motoneurons in Juvenile Mice
The fast inhibitory neurotransmitters glycine and GABA are co-localized in synaptic terminals of inhibitory interneurons in the spinal cord and co-released onto lumbar motoneurons in neonatal rats. We performed whole-cell voltage-clamp experiments on spinal cord preparations obtained from juvenile (P8–14) mice to determine whether inhibitory currents exhibited GABAergic components in motoneurons of animals of weight-bearing age. Subsequently we established whether or not GABA is co-released at glycinergic synapses onto motoneurons by determining if it conferred modulatory effects on the kinetics of glycinergic currents. Exponential fitting analysis showed that evoked and miniature inhibitory post-synaptic currents (IPSCs) were best-fitted with a single decay time constant. Responses recorded from connected interneuron-motoneuron pairs showed no effect of a benzodiazepine or a GABAA receptor antagonist. Similarly IPSCs evoked by extracellular stimulation and miniature IPSCs were not affected by either agent, indicating the absence of co-detection. Experimental manipulation of the relative content of pre-synaptic GABA and glycine conferred no effect on post-synaptic responses. It is thus unlikely that GABA is co-released in biologically relevant amounts at glycinergic synapses onto lumbar motoneurons in mice of this age
Exploiting conformational dynamics in drug discovery: design of C-terminal inhibitors of Hsp90 with improved activities
The interaction that occurs between molecules is a dynamic process that impacts both structural and conformational properties of the ligand and the ligand binding site. Herein, we investigate the dynamic cross-talk between a protein and the ligand as a source for new opportunities in ligand design. Analysis of the formation/disappearance of protein pockets produced in response to a first-generation inhibitor assisted in the identification of functional groups that could be introduced onto scaffolds to facilitate optimal binding, which allowed for increased binding with previously uncharacterized regions. MD simulations were used to elucidate primary changes that occur in the Hsp90 C-terminal binding pocket in the presence of first-generation ligands. This data was then used to design ligands that adapt to these receptor conformations, which provides access to an energy landscape that is not visible in a static model. The newly synthesized compounds demonstrated anti-proliferative activity at ~150 nanomolar concentration. The method identified herein may be used to design chemical probes that provide additional information on structural variations of Hsp90 C-terminal binding site
Nonlocal density functionals and the linear response of the homogeneous electron gas
The known and usable truly nonlocal functionals for exchange-correlation
energy of the inhomogeneous electron gas are the ADA (average density
approximation) and the WDA (weighted density approximation). ADA, by design,
yields the correct linear response function of the uniform electron gas. WDA is
constructed so that it is exact in the limit of one-electron systems. We derive
an expression for the linear response of the uniform gas in the WDA, and
calculate it for several flavors of WDA. We then compare the results with the
Monte-Carlo data on the exchange-correlation local field correction, and
identify the weak points of conventional WDA in the homogeneous limit. We
suggest how the WDA can be modified to improve the response function. The
resulting approximation is a good one in both opposite limits, and should be
useful for practical nonlocal density functional calculations.Comment: 4 pages, two eps figures embedde
Design of Allosteric Stimulators of the Hsp90 ATPase as New Anticancer Leads
Allosteric compounds that stimulate Hsp90 adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) activity were rationally designed, showing anticancer potencies in the low micromolar to nanomolar range. In parallel, the mode of action of these compounds was clarified and a quantitative model that links the dynamic ligand-protein cross-talk to observed cellular and in vitro activities was developed. The results support the potential of using dynamics-based approaches to develop original mechanism-based cancer therapeutics
Spin-Polarization transition in the two dimensional electron gas
We present a numerical study of magnetic phases of the 2D electron gas near
freezing. The calculations are performed by diffusion Monte Carlo in the fixed
node approximation. At variance with the 3D case we find no evidence for the
stability of a partially polarized phase. With plane wave nodes in the trial
function, the polarization transition takes place at Rs=20, whereas the best
available estimates locate Wigner crystallization around Rs=35. Using an
improved nodal structure, featuring optimized backflow correlations, we confirm
the existence of a stability range for the polarized phase, although somewhat
shrunk, at densities achievable nowadays in 2 dimensional hole gases in
semiconductor heterostructures . The spin susceptibility of the unpolarized
phase at the magnetic transition is approximately 30 times the Pauli
susceptibility.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Momentum distribution of liquid helium
We have obtained the one--body density matrix and the momentum distribution
of liquid He at K from Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC)
simulations, using trial functions optimized via the Euler Monte Carlo (EMC)
method. We find a condensate fraction smaller than in previous calculations.
Though we do not explicitly include long--range correlations in our
calculations, we get a momentum distribution at long wavelength which is
compatible with the presence of long--range correlations in the exact wave
function. We have also studied He, using fixed--node DMC, with nodes and
trial functions provided by the EMC. In particular, we analyze the momentum
distribution with respect to the discontinuity as well as the
singular behavior, at the Fermi surface. We also show that an approximate
factorization of the one-body density matrix
holds, with and respectively the density matrix of the
ideal Fermi gas and the density matrix of a Bose He.Comment: 10 pages, REVTeX, 12 figure
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