1,757 research outputs found
Rectification in one--dimensional electronic systems
Asymmetric current--voltage () curves, known as the diode or
rectification effect, in one--dimensional electronic conductors can have their
origin from scattering off a single asymmetric impurity in the system. We
investigate this effect in the framework of the Tomonaga--Luttinger model for
electrons with spin. We show that electron interactions strongly enhance the
diode effect and lead to a pronounced current rectification even if the
impurity potential is weak. For strongly interacting electrons and not too
small voltages, the rectification current, , measuring
the asymmetry in the current--voltage curve, has a power--law dependence on the
voltage with a negative exponent, , leading to a bump in the
current--voltage curve.Comment: 9 pages; 3 figure
Strong Correlations in Actinide Redox Reactions
Reduction-oxidation (redox) reactions of the redox couples An(VI)/An(V),
An(V)/An(IV), and An(IV)/An(III), where An is an element in the family of early
actinides (U, Np, and Pu), as well as Am(VI)/Am(V) and Am(V)/Am(III), are
modeled by combining density functional theory with a generalized Anderson
impurity model that accounts for the strong correlations between the 5f
electrons. Diagonalization of the Anderson impurity model yields improved
estimates for the redox potentials and the propensity of the actinide complexes
to disproportionate.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure, 3 tables. Corrections and clarifications; this
version has been accepted for publication in The Journal of Chemical Physic
Investigations into the Sarcomeric Protein and Ca2+-Regulation Abnormalities Underlying Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy in Cats (Felix catus).
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common single gene inherited cardiomyopathy. In cats (Felix catus) HCM is even more prevalent and affects 16% of the outbred population and up to 26% in pedigree breeds such as Maine Coon and Ragdoll. Homozygous MYBPC3 mutations have been identified in these breeds but the mutations in other cats are unknown. At the clinical and physiological level feline HCM is closely analogous to human HCM but little is known about the primary causative mechanism. Most identified HCM causing mutations are in the genes coding for proteins of the sarcomere. We therefore investigated contractile and regulatory proteins in left ventricular tissue from 25 cats, 18 diagnosed with HCM, including a Ragdoll cat with a homozygous MYBPC3 R820W, and 7 non-HCM cats in comparison with human HCM (from septal myectomy) and donor heart tissue. Myofibrillar protein expression was normal except that we observed 20â44% MyBP-C haploinsufficiency in 5 of the HCM cats. Troponin extracted from 8 HCM and 5 non-HCM cat hearts was incorporated into thin filaments and studied by in vitro motility assay. All HCM cat hearts had a higher (2.06 ± 0.13 fold) Ca2+-sensitivity than non-HCM cats and, in all the HCM cats, Ca2+-sensitivity was not modulated by troponin I phosphorylation. We were able to restore modulation of Ca2+-sensitivity by replacing troponin T with wild-type protein or by adding 100 ÎŒM Epigallocatechin 3-gallate (EGCG). These fundamental regulatory characteristics closely mimic those seen in human HCM indicating a common molecular mechanism that is independent of the causative mutation. Thus, the HCM cat is a potentially useful large animal model
Post-Foucauldian governmentality: what does it offer critical social policy analysis?
This article considers the theoretical perspective of post-Foucauldian governmentality, especially the insights and challenges it poses for applied researchers within the critical social policy tradition. The article firstly examines the analytical strengths of this approach to understanding power and rule in contemporary society, before moving on to consider its limitations for social policy. It concludes by arguing that these insights can be retained, and some of the weaknesses overcome, by adopting a ârealist governmentalityâ approach (Stenson 2005, 2008). This advocates combining traditional discursive analysis with more ethnographic methods in order to render visible the concrete activity of governing, and unravel the messiness, complexity and unintended consequences involved in the struggles around subjectivity
The "Square Kagome" Quantum Antiferromagnet and the Eight Vertex Model
We introduce a two dimensional network of corner-sharing triangles with
square lattice symmetry. Properties of magnetic systems here should be similar
to those on the kagome lattice. Focusing on the spin half Heisenberg quantum
antiferromagnet, we generalise the spin symmetry group from SU(2) to SU(N). In
the large N limit, we map the model exactly to the eight vertex model, solved
by Baxter. We predict an exponential number of low-lying singlet states, a
triplet gap, and a two-peak specific heat. In addition, the large N limit
suggests a finite temperature phase transition into a phase with ordered
``resonance loops'' and broken translational symmetry.Comment: 5 pages, revtex, 5 eps figures include
The Phylogeography of Rabies in Grenada, West Indies, and Implications for Control
In Grenada, West Indies, rabies is endemic, and is thought to be maintained in a wildlife host, the small Indian mongoose (Herpestes auropunctatus) with occasional spillover into other hosts. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to improve understanding of rabies epidemiology in Grenada and to inform rabies control policy. Mongooses were trapped island-wide between April 2011 and March 2013 and examined for the presence of Rabies virus (RABV) antigen using the direct fluorescent antibody test (dFAT) and PCR, and for serum neutralizing antibodies (SNA) using the fluorescent antibody virus neutralization test (FAVN). An additional cohort of brain samples from clinical rabies suspects submitted between April 2011 and March 2014 were also investigated for the presence of virus. Two of the 171 (1.7%) live-trapped mongooses were RABV positive by FAT and PCR, and 20 (11.7%) had SNAs. Rabies was diagnosed in 31 of the submitted animals with suspicious clinical signs: 16 mongooses, 12 dogs, 2 cats and 1 goat. Our investigation has revealed that rabies infection spread from the northeast to the southwest of Grenada within the study period. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the viruses from Grenada formed a monophyletic clade within the cosmopolitan lineage with a common ancestor predicted to have occurred recently (6â23 years ago), and are distinct from those found in Cuba and Puerto Rico, where mongoose rabies is also endemic. These data suggest that it is likely that this specific strain of RABV was imported from European regions rather than the Americas. These data contribute essential information for any potential rabies control program in Grenada and demonstrate the importance of a sound evidence base for planning interventions
Staggered orbital currents in the half-filled two-leg ladder
Using Abelian bosonization with a careful treatment of the Klein factors, we
show that a certain phase of the half-filled two-leg ladder, previously
identified as having spin-Peierls order, instead exhibits staggered orbital
currents with no dimerization.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures. Final versio
Dirac, Anderson, and Goldstone on the Kagome
We show that there exists a long-range RVB state for the kagome lattice
spin-1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet for which the spinons have a massless Dirac
spectrum. By considering various perturbations of the RVB state which give mass
to the fermions by breaking a symmetry, we are able to describe a wide-ranging
class of known states on the kagome lattice, including spin-Peierls solid and
chiral spin liquid states. Using an RG treatment of fluctuations about the RVB
state, we propose yet a different symmetry breaking pattern and show how
collective excitations about this state account for the gapless singlet modes
seen experimentally and numerically. We make further comparison with numerics
for Chern numbers, dimer-dimer correlation functions, the triplet gap, and
other quantities. To accomplish these calculations, we propose a variant of the
SU(N) theory which enables us to include many of the effects of Gutzwiller
projection at the mean-field level.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures; added references, minor correction
Electron spectral function and algebraic spin liquid for the normal state of underdoped high superconductors
We propose to describe the spin fluctuations in the normal state of
underdoped high superconductors as a manifestation of an algebraic spin
liquid. We have performed calculations within the slave-boson model to support
our proposal. Under the spin-charge separation picture, the normal state (the
spin-pseudogap phase) is described by massless Dirac fermions, charged bosons,
and a gauge field. We find that the gauge interaction is a marginal
perturbation and drives the mean-field free-spinon fixed point to a more
complicated spin-quantum-fixed-point -- the algebraic spin liquid, where
gapless excitations interact at low energies. The electron spectral function in
the normal state was found to have a Luttinger-liquid-like line shape as
observed in experiments. The spectral function obtained in the superconducting
state shows how a coherent quasiparticle peak appears from the incoherent
background as spin and charge recombine.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. published versio
Deconfinement transition in three-dimensional compact U(1) gauge theories coupled to matter fields
It is shown that permanent confinement in three-dimensional compact U(1)
gauge theory can be destroyed by matter fields in a deconfinement transition.
This is a consequence of a non-trivial infrared fixed point caused by matter,
and an anomalous scaling dimension of the gauge field. This leads to a
logarithmic interaction between the defects of the gauge-fields, which form a
gas of magnetic monopoles. In the presence of logarithmic interactions, the
original electric charges are unconfined. The confined phase which is permanent
in the absence of matter fields is reached at a critical electric charge, where
the interaction between magnetic charges is screened by a pair unbinding
transition in a Kosterlitz-Thouless type of phase-transition.Comment: RevTex4, 4 pages, no figures; version accepted for publication in PR
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