Effects of 3-d and 4-d-transition metal substitutional impurities on the electronic properties of CrO2

We present first-principles based density functional theory calculations of the electronic and magnetic structure of CrO2 with 3d (Ti through Cu) and 4d (Zr through Ag) substitutional impurities. We find that the half-metallicity of CrO2 remains intact for all of the calculated substitutions. We also observe two periodic trends as a function of the number of valence electrons: if the substituted atom has six or fewer valence electrons (Ti-Cr or Zr-Mo), the number of down spin electrons associated with the impurity ion is zero, resulting in ferromagnetic (FM) alignment of the impurity magnetic moment with the magnetization of the CrO2 host. For substituent atoms with eight to ten (Fe-Ni or Ru-Pd with the exception of Ni), the number of down spin electrons contributed by the impurity ion remains fixed at three as the number contributed to the majority increases from one to three resulting in antiferromagnetic (AFM) alignment between impurity moment and host magnetization. The origin of this variation is the grouping of the impurity states into 3 states with approximate "t2g" symmetry and 2 states with approximate "eg" symmetry. Ni is an exception to the rule because a Jahn-Teller-like distortion causes a splitting of the Ni eg states. For Mn and Tc, which have 8 valence electrons, the zero down spin and 3 down spin configurations are very close in energy. For Cu and Ag atoms, which have 11 valence electrons, the energy is minimized when the substituent ion contributes 5 Abstract down-spin electrons. We find that the interatomic exchange interactions are reduced for all substitutions except for the case of Fe for which a modest enhancement is calculated for interactions along certain crystallographic directions.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures, 2 table

Longevity of supersymmetric flat directions

We examine the fate of supersymmetric flat directions. We argue that the non-perturbative decay of the flat direction via preheating is an unlikely event. In order to address this issue, first we identify the physical degrees of freedom and their masses in presence of a large flat direction VEV (Vacuum Expectation Value). We explicitly show that the (complex) flat direction and its fermionic partner are the only light {\it physical} fields in the spectrum. If the flat direction VEV is much larger than the weak scale, and it has a rotational motion, there will be no resonant particle production at all. The case of multiple flat directions is more involved. We illustrate that in many cases of physical interest, the situation becomes effectively the same as that of a single flat direction, or collection of independent single directions. In such cases preheating is not relevant. In an absence of a fast non-perturbative decay, the flat direction survives long enough to affect thermalization in supersymmetric models as described in hep-ph/0505050 and hep-ph/0512227. It can also ``terminate'' an early stage of non-perturbative inflaton decay as discussed in hep-ph/0603244.Comment: 9 revtex pages, v3: expanded discussion on two flat directions, minor modifications, conclusions unchange

Cross-Sender Bit-Mixing Coding

Scheduling to avoid packet collisions is a long-standing challenge in networking, and has become even trickier in wireless networks with multiple senders and multiple receivers. In fact, researchers have proved that even {\em perfect} scheduling can only achieve $\mathbf{R} = O(\frac{1}{\ln N})$. Here $N$ is the number of nodes in the network, and $\mathbf{R}$ is the {\em medium utilization rate}. Ideally, one would hope to achieve $\mathbf{R} = \Theta(1)$, while avoiding all the complexities in scheduling. To this end, this paper proposes {\em cross-sender bit-mixing coding} ({\em BMC}), which does not rely on scheduling. Instead, users transmit simultaneously on suitably-chosen slots, and the amount of overlap in different user's slots is controlled via coding. We prove that in all possible network topologies, using BMC enables us to achieve $\mathbf{R}=\Theta(1)$. We also prove that the space and time complexities of BMC encoding/decoding are all low-order polynomials.Comment: Published in the International Conference on Information Processing in Sensor Networks (IPSN), 201

Comment on "Origin of Giant Optical Nonlinearity in Charge-Transfer--Mott Insulators: A New Paradigm for Nonlinear Optics"

Comment on Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 2086 (2001)Comment: 1 page, 1 eps figur

The SOX11 transcription factor is a critical regulator of basal-like breast cancer growth, invasion, and basal-like gene expression.

Basal-like breast cancers (BLBCs) are aggressive breast cancers associated with poor survival. Defining the key drivers of BLBC growth will allow identification of molecules for targeted therapy. In this study, we performed a primary screen integrating multiple assays that compare transcription factor expression and activity in BLBC and non-BLBC at the RNA, DNA, and protein levels. This integrated screen identified 33 transcription factors that were elevated in BLBC in multiple assays comparing mRNA expression, DNA cis-element sequences, or protein DNA-binding activity. In a secondary screen to identify transcription factors critical for BLBC cell growth, 8 of the 33 candidate transcription factors (TFs) were found to be necessary for growth in at least two of three BLBC cell lines. Of these 8 transcription factors, SOX11 was the only transcription factor required for BLBC growth, but not for growth of non-BLBC cells. Our studies demonstrate that SOX11 is a critical regulator of multiple BLBC phenotypes, including growth, migration, invasion, and expression of signature BLBC genes. High SOX11 expression was also found to be an independent prognostic indicator of poor survival in women with breast cancer. These results identify SOX11 as a potential target for the treatment of BLBC, the most aggressive form of breast cancer

Deducing correlation parameters from optical conductivity in the Bechgaard salts

Numerical calculations of the kinetic energy of various extensions of the one-dimensional Hubbard model including dimerization and repulsion between nearest neighbours are reported. Using the sum rule that relates the kinetic energy to the integral of the optical conductivity, one can determine which parameters are consistent with the reduction of the infrared oscillator strength that has been observed in the Bechgaard salts. This leads to improved estimates of the correlation parameters for both the TMTSF and TMTTF series.Comment: 12 pages, latex, figures available from the author

A-term inflation and the smallness of the neutrino masses

The smallness of the neutrino masses may be related to inflation. The minimal supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with small Dirac neutrino masses already has all the necessary ingredients for a successful inflation. In this model the inflaton is a gauge-invariant combination of the right-handed sneutrino, the slepton, and the Higgs field, which generate a flat direction suitable for inflation if the Yukawa coupling is small enough. In a class of models, the observed microwave background anisotropy and the tilted power spectrum are related to the neutrino masses.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, uses JHEP3.cls, minor modifications, final version accepted for publication in JCA

Efimov states and their Fano resonances in a neutron-rich nucleus

Asymmetric resonances in elastic n+$^{19}$C scattering are attributed to Efimov states of such neutron-rich nuclei, that is, three-body bound states of the n+n+$^{18}$C system when none of the pairs is bound or some of them only weakly bound. By fitting to the general resonance shape described by Fano, we extract resonance position, width, and the "Fano profile index". While Efimov states have been discussed extensively in many areas of physics, there is only one very recent experimental observation in trimers of cesium atoms. The conjunction that we present of the Efimov and Fano phenomena may lead to experimental realization in nuclei.Comment: 4 double-column pages, 3 figure

Asteroseismic estimate of helium abundance of a solar analog binary system

16 Cyg A and B are among the brightest stars observed by Kepler. What makes these stars more interesting is that they are solar analogs. 16 Cyg A and B exhibit solar-like oscillations. In this work we use oscillation frequencies obtained using 2.5 years of Kepler data to determine the current helium abundance of these stars. For this we use the fact that the helium ionization zone leaves a signature on the oscillation frequencies and that this signature can be calibrated to determine the helium abundance of that layer. By calibrating the signature of the helium ionization zone against models of known helium abundance, the helium abundance in the envelope of 16 Cyg A is found to lie in the range 0.231 to 0.251 and that of 16 Cyg B lies in the range 0.218 to 0.266.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap