Common Mitochondrial DNA Mutations Generated through DNA-Mediated Charge Transport

Mutation sites that arise in human mitochondrial DNA as a result of oxidation by a rhodium photooxidant have been identified. HeLa cells were incubated with [Rh(phi)2bpy]Cl3 (phi is 9,10-phenanthrenequinone diimine), an intercalating photooxidant, to allow the complex to enter the cell and bind mitochondrial DNA. Photoexcitation of DNA-bound [Rh(phi)2bpy]3+ can promote the oxidation of guanine from a distance through DNA-mediated charge transport. After two rounds of photolysis and growth of cells incubated with the rhodium complex, DNA mutations in a portion of the mitochondrial genome were assessed via manual sequencing. The mutational pattern is consistent with dG to dT transversions in the repetitive guanine tracts. Significantly, the mutational pattern found overlaps oxidative damage hot spots seen previously. These mutations are found within conserved sequence block II, a critical regulatory element involved in DNA replication, and these have been identified as sites of low oxidation potential to which oxidative damage is funneled. On the basis of this mutational analysis and its correspondence to sites of long-range oxidative damage, we infer a critical role for DNA charge transport in generating these mutations and, thus, in regulating mitochondrial DNA replication under oxidative stress

Effects of anisotropy in spin molecular-orbital coupling on effective spin models of trinuclear organometallic complexes

We consider layered decorated honeycomb lattices at two-thirds filling, as realized in some trinuclear organometallic complexes. Localized $S=1$ moments with a single-spin anisotropy emerge from the interplay of Coulomb repulsion and spin molecular-orbit coupling (SMOC). Magnetic anisotropies with bond dependent exchange couplings occur in the honeycomb layers when the direct intracluster exchange and the spin molecular-orbital coupling are both present. We find that the effective spin exchange model within the layers is an XXZ + 120$^\circ$ honeycomb quantum compass model. The intrinsic non-spherical symmetry of the multinuclear complexes leads to very different transverse and longitudinal spin molecular-orbital couplings, which greatly enhances the single-spin and exchange coupling anisotropies. The interlayer coupling is described by a XXZ model with anisotropic biquadratic terms. As the correlation strength increases the systems becomes increasingly one-dimensional. Thus, if the ratio of SMOC to the interlayer hopping is small this stabilizes the Haldane phase. However, as the ratio increases there is a quantum phase transition to the topologically trivial `$D$-phase'. We also predict a quantum phase transition from a Haldane phase to a magnetically ordered phase at sufficiently strong external magnetic fields.Comment: 22 pages, 11 figures. Final version of paper to be published in PRB. Important corrections to appendix

Heisenberg and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions controlled by molecular packing in tri-nuclear organometallic clusters

Motivated by recent synthetic and theoretical progress we consider magnetism in crystals of multi-nuclear organometallic complexes. We calculate the Heisenberg symmetric exchange and the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya antisymmetric exchange. We show how, in the absence of spin-orbit coupling, the interplay of electronic correlations and quantum interference leads to a quasi-one dimensional effective spin model in a typical tri-nuclear complex, Mo$_3$S$_7$(dmit)$_3$, despite its underlying three dimensional band structure. We show that both intra- and inter-molecular spin-orbit coupling can cause an effective Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Furthermore, we show that, even for an isolated pair of molecules the relative orientation of the molecules controls the nature of the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya coupling. We show that interference effects also play a crucial role in determining the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Thus, we argue, that multi-nuclear organometallic complexes represent an ideal platform to investigate the effects of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interactions on quantum magnets.Comment: This update incorporates the corrections described in a recently submitted erratum. Changes are confined to sections IV.A and B. The conclusions of the paper are unchanged. 12 + 4 pages, 9 figure

Spin-orbit coupling in {Mo3_3S7_7(dmit)3_3}

Spin-orbit coupling in crystals is known to lead to unusual direction dependent exchange interactions, however understanding of the consequeces of such effects in molecular crystals is incomplete. Here we perform four component relativistic density functional theory computations on the multi-nuclear molecular crystal {Mo$_3$S$_7$(dmit)$_3$} and show that both intra- and inter-molecular spin-orbit coupling are significant. We determine a long-range relativistic single electron Hamiltonian from first principles by constructing Wannier spin-orbitals. We analyse the various contributions through the lens of group theory. Intermolecular spin-orbit couplings like those found here are known to lead to quantum spin-Hall and topological insulator phases on the 2D lattice formed by the tight-binding model predicted for a single layer of {Mo$_3$S$_7$(dmit)$_3$}

A 5.5-year robotic optical monitoring of Q0957+561: substructure in a non-local cD galaxy

New light curves of the gravitationally lensed double quasar Q0957+561 in the gr bands during 2008-2010 include densely sampled, sharp intrinsic fluctuations with unprecedentedly high signal-to-noise ratio. These relatively violent flux variations allow us to very accurately measure the g-band and r-band time delays between the two quasar images A and B. Using correlation functions, we obtain that the two time delays are inconsistent with each other at the 2sigma level, with the r-band delay exceeding the 417-day delay in the g band by about 3 days. We also studied the long-term evolution of the delay-corrected flux ratio B/A from our homogeneous two-band monitoring with the Liverpool Robotic Telescope between 2005 and 2010. This ratio B/A slightly increases in periods of violent activity, which seems to be correlated with the flux level in these periods. The presence of the previously reported dense cloud within the cD lensing galaxy, along the line of sight to the A image, could account for the observed time delay and flux ratio anomalies.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables, to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic

New two-colour light curves of Q0957+561: time delays and the origin of intrinsic variations

We extend the gr-band time coverage of the gravitationally lensed double quasar Q0957+561. New gr light curves permit us to detect significant intrinsic fluctuations, to determine new time delays, and thus to gain perspective on the mechanism of intrinsic variability in Q0957+561. We use new optical frames of Q0957+561 in the g and r passbands from January 2005 to July 2007. These frames are part of an ongoing long-term monitoring with the Liverpool robotic telescope. We also introduce two photometric pipelines that are applied to the new gr frames of Q0957+561. The transformation pipeline incorporates zero-point, colour, and inhomogeneity corrections to the instrumental magnitudes, so final photometry to the 1-2% level is achieved for both quasar components. The two-colour final records are then used to measure time delays. The gr light curves of Q0957+561 show several prominent events and gradients, and some of them (in the g band) lead to a time delay between components of 417 +/- 2 d (1 sigma). We do not find evidence of extrinsic variability in the light curves of Q0957+561. We also explore the possibility of a delay between a large event in the g band and the corresponding event in the r band. The gr cross-correlation reveals a time lag of 4.0 +/- 2.0 d (1 sigma; the g-band event is leading) that confirms a previous claim of the existence of a delay between the g and r band in this lensed quasar. The time delays (between quasar components and between optical bands) from the new records and previous ones in similar bands indicate that most observed variations in Q0957+561 (amplitudes of about 100 mmag and timescales of about 100 d) are very probably due to reverberation within the gas disc around the supermassive black hole.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Quantum critical behavior of electrons at the edge of charge order

We consider quantum critical points (QCP) in which quantum fluctuations associated with charge rather than magnetic order induce unconventional metallic properties. Based on finite-T calculations on a two-dimensional extended Hubbard model we show how the coherence scale T* characteristic of Fermi liquid behavior of the homogeneous metal vanishes at the onset of charge order. A strong effective mass enhancement reminiscent of heavy fermion behavior indicates the possible destruction of quasiparticles at the QCP. Experimental probes on quarter-filled layered organic materials are proposed for unveiling the behavior of electrons across the quantum critical region.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

Collider production of Electroweak resonances from photon-photon states

We estimate production cross sections for 2-body resonances of the Electroweak Symmetry Breaking sector (in $W_LW_L$ and $Z_LZ_L$ rescattering) from $\gamma\gamma$ scattering. We employ unitarized Higgs Effective Field Theory amplitudes previously computed coupling the two photon channel to the EWSBS. We work in the Effective Photon Approximation and examine both $e^-e^+$ collisions at energies of order 1-2 TeV (as relevant for future lepton machines) and $pp$ collisions at LHC energies. Dynamically generating a spin-0 resonance around 1.5 TeV (by appropriately choosing the parameters of the effective theory) we find that the differential cross section per unit $s$, $p_t^2$ is of order 0.01 fbarn/TeV$^4$ at the LHC. Injecting a spin-2 resonance around 2 TeV we find an additional factor 100 suppression for $p_t$ up to 200 GeV. The very small cross sections put these $\gamma\gamma$ processes, though very clean, out of reach of immediate future searches.Comment: 36 pages, 20 plot