10,846 research outputs found
Defect Modes in One-Dimensional Granular Crystals
We study the vibrational spectra of one-dimensional statically compressed
granular crystals (arrays of elastic particles in contact) containing defects.
We focus on the prototypical settings of one or two spherical defects
(particles of smaller radii) interspersed in a chain of larger uniform
spherical particles. We measure the near-linear frequency spectrum within the
spatial vicinity of the defects, and identify the frequencies of the localized
defect modes. We compare the experimentally determined frequencies with those
obtained by numerical eigen-analysis and by analytical expressions based on
few-site considerations. We also present a brief numerical and experimental
example of the nonlinear generalization of a single-defect localized mode
Molecular Mechanism Involved in the Pathogenesis of Early-Onset Epileptic Encephalopathy
Recent studies have shown that neurologic inflammation may both precipitate and sustain seizures, suggesting that inflammation may be involved not only in epileptogenesis but also in determining the drug-resistant profile. Extensive literature data during these last years have identified a number of inflammatory markers involved in these processes of "neuroimmunoinflammation" in epilepsy, with key roles for pro-inflammatory cytokines such as: IL-6, IL-17 and IL-17 Receptor (IL-17R) axis, Tumor-Necrosis-Factor Alpha (TNF-α) and Transforming-Growth-Factor Beta (TGF-β), all responsible for the induction of processes of blood-brain barrier (BBB) disruption and inflammation of the Central Nervous System (CNS) itself. Nevertheless, many of these inflammatory biomarkers have also been implicated in the pathophysiologic process of other neurological diseases. Future studies will be needed to identify the disease-specific biomarkers in order to distinguish epilepsies from other neurological diseases, as well as recognize different epileptic semiology. In this context, biological markers of BBB disruption, as well as those reflecting its integrity, can be useful tools to determine the pathological process of a variety of neurological diseases. However; how these molecules may help in the diagnosis and prognostication of epileptic disorders remains yet to be determined. Herein, authors present an extensive literature review on the involvement of both, systemic and neuronal immune systems, in the early onset of epileptic encephalopathy
Adsorption of Externally Stretched Two-Dimensional Flexible and Semi-flexible Polymers near an Attractive Wall
We study analytically a model of a two dimensional, partially directed,
flexible or semiflexible polymer, attached to an attractive wall which is
perpendicular to the preferred direction. In addition, the polymer is stretched
by an externally applied force. We find that the wall has a dramatic effect on
the polymer. For wall attraction smaller than the non-sequential nearest
neighbor attraction, the fraction of monomers at the wall is zero and the model
is the same as that of a polymer without a wall. However, for greater than, the
fraction of monomers at the wall undergoes a first order transition from unity
at low temperature and small force, to zero at higher temperatures and forces.
We present phase diagram for this transition. Our results are confirmed by
Monte-Carlo simulations.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure
Limits on MeV Dark Matter from the Effective Number of Neutrinos
Thermal dark matter that couples more strongly to electrons and photons than
to neutrinos will heat the electron-photon plasma relative to the neutrino
background if it becomes nonrelativistic after the neutrinos decouple from the
thermal background. This results in a reduction in N_eff below the
standard-model value, a result strongly disfavored by current CMB observations.
Taking conservative lower bounds on N_eff and on the decoupling temperature of
the neutrinos, we derive a bound on the dark matter particle mass of m_\chi >
3-9 MeV, depending on the spin and statistics of the particle. For p-wave
annihilation, our limit on the dark matter particle mass is stronger than the
limit derived from distortions to the CMB fluctuation spectrum produced by
annihilations near the epoch of recombination.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, discussion added, references added and updated,
labels added to figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Thirty-fold: Extreme gravitational lensing of a quiescent galaxy at
We report the discovery of eMACSJ1341-QG-1, a quiescent galaxy at
located behind the massive galaxy cluster eMACSJ1341.92442 (). The
system was identified as a gravitationally lensed triple image in Hubble Space
Telescope images obtained as part of a snapshot survey of the most X-ray
luminous galaxy clusters at and spectroscopically confirmed in
ground-based follow-up observations with the ESO/X-Shooter spectrograph. From
the constraints provided by the triple image, we derive a first, crude model of
the mass distribution of the cluster lens, which predicts a gravitational
amplification of a factor of 30 for the primary image and a factor of
6 for the remaining two images of the source, making eMACSJ1341-QG-1 by
far the most strongly amplified quiescent galaxy discovered to date. Our
discovery underlines the power of SNAPshot observations of massive, X-ray
selected galaxy clusters for lensing-assisted studies of faint background
populations
Quantum Speed Limit for Perfect State Transfer in One Dimension
The basic idea of spin chain engineering for perfect quantum state transfer
(QST) is to find a set of coupling constants in the Hamiltonian, such that a
particular state initially encoded on one site will evolve freely to the
opposite site without any dynamical controls. The minimal possible evolution
time represents a speed limit for QST. We prove that the optimal solution is
the one simulating the precession of a spin in a static magnetic field. We also
argue that, at least for solid-state systems where interactions are local, it
is more realistic to characterize the computation power by the couplings than
the initial energy.Comment: 5 pages, no figure; improved versio
Interplay between antiferromagnetic order and spin polarization in ferromagnetic metal/electron-doped cuprate superconductor junctions
Recently we proposed a theory of point-contact spectroscopy and argued that
the splitting of zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in electron-doped cuprate
superconductor point-contact spectroscopy is due to the coexistence of
antiferromagnetic (AF) and d-wave superconducting orders [Phys. Rev. B {\bf
76}, 220504(R) (2007)]. Here we extend the theory to study the tunneling in the
ferromagnetic metal/electron-doped cuprate superconductor (FM/EDSC) junctions.
In addition to the AF order, the effects of spin polarization, Fermi-wave
vector mismatch (FWM) between the FM and EDSC regions, and effective barrier
are investigated. It is shown that there exits midgap surface state (MSS)
contribution to the conductance to which Andreev reflections are largely
modified due to the interplay between the exchange field of ferromagnetic metal
and the AF order in EDSC. Low-energy anomalous conductance enhancement can
occur which could further test the existence of AF order in EDSC. Finally, we
propose a more accurate formula in determining the spin polarization value in
combination with the point-contact conductance data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
Inherent Structures for Soft Long-Range Interactions in Two-Dimensional Many-Particle Systems
We generate inherent structures, local potential-energy minima, of the
"-space overlap potential" in two-dimensional many-particle systems using a
cooling and quenching simulation technique. The ground states associated with
the -space overlap potential are stealthy ({\it i.e.,} completely suppress
single scattering of radiation for a range of wavelengths) and hyperuniform
({\it i.e.,} infinite wavelength density fluctuations vanish). However, we show
via quantitative metrics that the inherent structures exhibit a range of
stealthiness and hyperuniformity depending on the fraction of degrees of
freedom that are constrained. Inherent structures in two dimensions typically
contain five-particle rings, wavy grain boundaries, and vacancy-interstitial
defects. The structural and thermodynamic properties of inherent structures are
relatively insensitive to the temperature from which they are sampled,
signifying that the energy landscape is relatively flat and devoid of deep
wells. Using the nudged-elastic-band algorithm, we construct paths from
ground-state configurations to inherent structures and identify the transition
points between them. In addition, we use point patterns generated from a random
sequential addition (RSA) of hard disks, which are nearly stealthy, and examine
the particle rearrangements necessary to make the configurations absolutely
stealthy. We introduce a configurational proximity metric to show that only
small local, but collective, particle rearrangements are needed to drive
initial RSA configurations to stealthy disordered ground states. These results
lead to a more complete understanding of the unusual behaviors exhibited by the
family of "collective-coordinate" potentials to which the -space overlap
potential belongs.Comment: 36 pages, 16 figure
A method to find quantum noiseless subsystems
We develop a structure theory for decoherence-free subspaces and noiseless
subsystems that applies to arbitrary (not necessarily unital) quantum
operations. The theory can be alternatively phrased in terms of the
superoperator perspective, or the algebraic noise commutant formalism. As an
application, we propose a method for finding all such subspaces and subsystems
for arbitrary quantum operations. We suggest that this work brings the
fundamental passive technique for error correction in quantum computing an
important step closer to practical realization.Comment: 5 pages, to appear in Physical Review Letter
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