10,341 research outputs found
Fear from the heart: sensitivity to fear stimuli depends on individual heartbeats
Cognitions and emotions can be influenced by bodily physiology. Here, we investigated whether the processing of brief fear stimuli is selectively gated by their timing in relation to individual heartbeats. Emotional and neutral faces were presented to human volunteers at cardiac systole, when ejection of blood from the heart causes arterial baroreceptors to signal centrally the strength and timing of each heartbeat, and at diastole, the period between heartbeats when baroreceptors are quiescent. Participants performed behavioral and neuroimaging tasks to determine whether these interoceptive signals influence the detection of emotional stimuli at the threshold of conscious awareness and alter judgments of emotionality of fearful and neutral faces. Our results show that fearful faces were detected more easily and were rated as more intense at systole than at diastole. Correspondingly, amygdala responses were greater to fearful faces presented at systole relative to diastole. These novel findings highlight a major channel by which short-term interoceptive fluctuations enhance perceptual and evaluative processes specifically related to the processing of fear and threat and counter the view that baroreceptor afferent signaling is always inhibitory to sensory perception
Inverse Symmetry Breaking in Multi-Scalar Field Theories
We review how the phenomena of inverse symmetry breaking (and symmetry
nonrestoration) may arise in the context of relativistic as well as
nonrelativistic multi-scalar field theories. We discuss how the consideration
of thermal effects on the couplings produce different transition patterns for
both theories. For the relativistic case, these effects allow the appearance of
inverse symmetry breaking (and symmetry nonrestoration) at arbitrarily large
temperatures. On the other hand, the same phenomena are suppressed in the
nonrelativistic case, which is relevant for condensed matter physics. In this
case, symmetry nonrestoration does not happen while inverse symmetry is allowed
only to be followed by symmetry restoration characterizing a reentrant phase.
The aim of this paper is to give more insight concerning the, qualitatively
correct, results obtained by using one loop perturbation theory in the
evaluation of thermal masses and couplings.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, talk given at the workshop on Quantum Fields
Under the Influence of External Conditions, QFEXT05, Barcelona, sep-200
Observation of correlations up to the micrometer scale in sliding charge-density waves
High-resolution coherent x-ray diffraction experiment has been performed on
the charge density wave (CDW) system KMoO. The satellite
reflection associated with the CDW has been measured with respect to external
dc currents. In the sliding regime, the satellite reflection displays
secondary satellites along the chain axis which corresponds to correlations up
to the micrometer scale. This super long range order is 1500 times larger than
the CDW period itself. This new type of electronic correlation seems inherent
to the collective dynamics of electrons in charge density wave systems. Several
scenarios are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures Typos added, references remove
Hopping on the Bethe lattice: Exact results for densities of states and dynamical mean-field theory
We derive an operator identity which relates tight-binding Hamiltonians with
arbitrary hopping on the Bethe lattice to the Hamiltonian with nearest-neighbor
hopping. This provides an exact expression for the density of states (DOS) of a
non-interacting quantum-mechanical particle for any hopping. We present
analytic results for the DOS corresponding to hopping between nearest and
next-nearest neighbors, and also for exponentially decreasing hopping
amplitudes. Conversely it is possible to construct a hopping Hamiltonian on the
Bethe lattice for any given DOS. These methods are based only on the so-called
distance regularity of the infinite Bethe lattice, and not on the absence of
loops. Results are also obtained for the triangular Husimi cactus, a recursive
lattice with loops. Furthermore we derive the exact self-consistency equations
arising in the context of dynamical mean-field theory, which serve as a
starting point for studies of Hubbard-type models with frustration.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures; introduction expanded, references added;
published versio
Distinct Signatures For Coulomb Blockade and Aharonov-Bohm Interference in Electronic Fabry-Perot Interferometers
Two distinct types of magnetoresistance oscillations are observed in two
electronic Fabry-Perot interferometers of different sizes in the integer
quantum Hall regime. Measuring these oscillations as a function of magnetic
field and gate voltages, we observe three signatures that distinguish the two
types. The oscillations observed in a 2.0 square micron device are understood
to arise from the Coulomb blockade mechanism, and those observed in an 18
square micron device from the Aharonov-Bohm mechanism. This work clarifies,
provides ways to distinguish, and demonstrates control over, these distinct
physical origins of resistance oscillations seen in electronic Fabry-Perot
interferometers.Comment: related papers at http://marcuslab.harvard.ed
Shot-Noise Signatures of 0.7 Structure and Spin in a Quantum Point Contact
We report simultaneous measurement of shot noise and dc transport in a
quantum point contact as a function of source-drain bias, gate voltage, and
in-plane magnetic field. Shot noise at zero field exhibits an asymmetry related
to the 0.7 structure in conductance. The asymmetry in noise evolves smoothly
into the symmetric signature of spin-resolved electron transmission at high
field. Comparison to a phenomenological model with density-dependent level
splitting yields good quantitative agreement.Comment: related papers at http://marcuslab.harvard.ed
Voltage-Controlled Superconducting Quantum Bus
We demonstrate the ability of an epitaxial semiconductor-superconductor
nanowire to serve as a field-effect switch to tune a superconducting cavity.
Two superconducting gatemon qubits are coupled to the cavity, which acts as a
quantum bus. Using a gate voltage to control the superconducting switch yields
up to a factor of 8 change in qubit-qubit coupling between the on and off
states without detrimental effect on qubit coherence. High-bandwidth operation
of the coupling switch on nanosecond timescales degrades qubit coherence
Statistical Properties of Level Widths and Conductance Peaks in a Quantum Dot
We study the statistics of level widths of a quantum dot with extended
contacts in the absence of time-reversal symmetry. The widths are determined by
the amplitude of the wavefunction averaged over the contact area. The
distribution function of level widths for a two-point contact is evaluated
exactly. The distribution resembles closely the result obtained when the
wavefunction fluctuates independently at each point, but differs from the
one-point case. Analytical calculations and numerical simulations show that the
distribution for many-point contacts has a power-law behavior at small level
widths. The exponent is given by the number of points in the lead and diverges
in the continuous limit. The distribution of level widths is used to determine
the distribution of conductance peaks in the resonance regime. At intermediate
temperatures, we find that the distribution tends to normal and fluctuations in
the height of the peaks are suppressed as the lead size is increased.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX 3, six uuencoded postscript figures, CMT-ERM-940
Quasars: a supermassive rotating toroidal black hole interpretation
A supermassive rotating toroidal black hole (TBH) is proposed as the
fundamental structure of quasars and other jet-producing active galactic
nuclei. Rotating protogalaxies gather matter from the central gaseous region
leading to the birth of massive toroidal stars whose internal nuclear reactions
proceed very rapidly. Once the nuclear fuel is spent, gravitational collapse
produces a slender ring-shaped TBH remnant. These events are typically the
first supernovae of the host galaxies. Given time the TBH mass increases
through continued accretion by several orders of magnitude, the event horizon
swells whilst the central aperture shrinks. The difference in angular
velocities between the accreting matter and the TBH induces a magnetic field
that is strongest in the region of the central aperture and innermost
ergoregion. Due to the presence of negative energy states when such a
gravitational vortex is immersed in an electromagnetic field, circumstances are
near ideal for energy extraction via non-thermal radiation including the
Penrose process and superradiant scattering. This establishes a self-sustaining
mechanism whereby the transport of angular momentum away from the quasar by
relativistic bi-directional jets reinforces both the modulating magnetic field
and the TBH/accretion disk angular velocity differential. Quasar behaviour is
extinguished once the BH topology becomes spheroidal. Similar mechanisms may be
operating in microquasars, SNe and GRBs when neutron density or BH tori arise.
In certain circumstances, long-term TBH stability can be maintained by a
negative cosmological constant, otherwise the classical topology theorems must
somehow be circumvented. Preliminary evidence is presented that Planck-scale
quantum effects may be responsible.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figs, various corrections and enhancements, final
versio
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