138 research outputs found
Role of C in MgC_xNi_3 investigated from first principles
The influence of vacancies in the sub-lattice of , on its
structural, electronic and magnetic properties are studied by means of the
density-functional based Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker Green's function method
formulated in the atomic sphere approximation. Disorder is taken into account
by means of coherent-potential approximation. Characterizations representing
the change in the lattice properties include the variation in the equilibrium
lattice constants, bulk modulus and pressure derivative of the bulk modulus,
and that of electronic structure include the changes in the, total, partial and
-resolved density of states. The incipient magnetic properties are
studied by means of fixed-spin moment method of alloy theory, together in
conjunction with the phenomenological Ginzburg-Landau equation for magnetic
phase transition. The first-principles calculations reveal that due to the
breaking of the - bonds, some of the 3d states, which were lowered
in energy due to strong hybridization, are transfered back to higher energies
thereby increasing the itinerant character in the material. The Bloch spectral
densities evaluated at the high symmetry points however reveal that the charge
redistribution is not uniform over the cubic Brillouin zone, as new states are
seen to be created at the point, while a shift in the states on the
energy scale are seen at other high symmetry points
Compositional disorder and its influence on the structural, electronic and magnetic properties of MgC(Ni_{1-x}Co_{x})_{3} alloys using first-principles
First-principles, density-functional based electronic structure calculations
are carried out for MgC(Ni_{1-x}Co_{x})_{3} alloys over the concentration range
0\leq x\leq1, using Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent-potential approximation
(KKR CPA) method in the atomic sphere approximation (ASA). The self-consistent
calculations are used to study the changes as a function of x in the equation
of state parameters, total and partial densities of states, magnetic moment and
the on-site exchange interaction parameter. To study the magnetic properties as
well as its volume dependence, fixed-spin moment calculations in conjunction
with the phenomenological Landau theory are employed. The salient features that
emerge from these calculations are (i) a concentration independent variation in
the lattice parameter and bulk modulus at x~0.75 with an anomaly in the
variation of the pressure derivative of bulk modulus, (ii) the fixed-spin
moment based corrections to the overestimated magnetic ground state for 0.0\leq
x\leq0.3 alloys, making the results consistent with the experiments, and (iii)
the possibility of multiple magnetic states at x~0.75, which, however, requires
further improvements in the calculations
A first-principles comparison of the electronic properties of MgC_{y}Ni_{3} and ZnC_{y}Ni_{3} alloys
First-principles, density-functional-based electronic structure calculations
are employed to study the changes in the electronic properties of ZnC_{y}Ni_{3}
and MgC_{y}Ni_{3} using the Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker coherent-potential
approximation method in the atomic sphere approximation (KKR-ASA CPA). As a
function of decreasing C at%, we find a steady decrease in the lattice constant
and bulk modulus in either alloys. However, the pressure derivative of the bulk
modulus displays an opposite trend. Following the Debye model, which relates
the pressure derivative of the bulk modulus with the average phonon frequency
of the crystal, it can thus be argued that ZnCNi_{3} and its disordered alloys
posses a different phonon spectra in comparison to its MgCNi_{3} counterparts.
This is further justified by the marked similarity we find in the electronic
structure properties such as the variation in the density of states and the
Hopfield parameters calculated for these alloys. The effects on the equation of
state parameters and the density of states at the Fermi energy, for partial
replacement of Mg by Zn are also discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figure
Non-relativistic effective theory of dark matter direct detection
Dark matter direct detection searches for signals coming from dark matter
scattering against nuclei at a very low recoil energy scale ~ 10 keV. In this
paper, a simple non-relativistic effective theory is constructed to describe
interactions between dark matter and nuclei without referring to any underlying
high energy models. It contains the minimal set of operators that will be
tested by direct detection. The effective theory approach highlights the set of
distinguishable recoil spectra that could arise from different theoretical
models. If dark matter is discovered in the near future in direct detection
experiments, a measurement of the shape of the recoil spectrum will provide
valuable information on the underlying dynamics. We bound the coefficients of
the operators in our non-relativistic effective theory by the null results of
current dark matter direct detection experiments. We also discuss the mapping
between the non-relativistic effective theory and field theory models or
operators, including aspects of the matching of quark and gluon operators to
nuclear form factors.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures, Appendix C.3 revised, acknowledgments and
references adde
Effective AdS/renormalized CFT
For an effective AdS theory, we present a simple prescription to compute the
renormalization of its dual boundary field theory. In particular, we define
anomalous dimension holographically as the dependence of the wave-function
renormalization factor on the radial cutoff in the Poincare patch of AdS. With
this definition, the anomalous dimensions of both single- and double- trace
operators are calculated. Three different dualities are considered with the
field theory being CFT, CFT with a double-trace deformation and spontaneously
broken CFT. For the second dual pair, we compute scaling corrections at the UV
and IR fixed points of the RG flow triggered by the double-trace deformation.
For the last case, we discuss whether our prescription is sensitive to the AdS
interior or equivalently, the IR physics of the dual field theory.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure
A Stealth Supersymmetry Sampler
The LHC has strongly constrained models of supersymmetry with traditional
missing energy signatures. We present a variety of models that realize the
concept of Stealth Supersymmetry, i.e. models with R-parity in which one or
more nearly-supersymmetric particles (a "stealth sector") lead to collider
signatures with only a small amount of missing energy. The simplest realization
involves low-scale supersymmetry breaking, with an R-odd particle decaying to
its superpartner and a soft gravitino. We clarify the stealth mechanism and its
differences from compressed supersymmetry and explain the requirements for
stealth models with high-scale supersymmetry breaking, in which the soft
invisible particle is not a gravitino. We also discuss new and distinctive
classes of stealth models that couple through a baryon portal or Z' gauge
interactions. Finally, we present updated limits on stealth supersymmetry in
light of current LHC searches.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figure
Fluorescence characterization of clinically-important bacteria
Healthcare-associated infections (HCAI/HAI) represent a substantial threat to patient health during hospitalization and incur billions of dollars additional cost for subsequent treatment. One promising method for the detection of bacterial contamination in a clinical setting before an HAI outbreak occurs is to exploit native fluorescence of cellular molecules for a hand-held, rapid-sweep surveillance instrument. Previous studies have shown fluorescence-based detection to be sensitive and effective for food-borne and environmental microorganisms, and even to be able to distinguish between cell types, but this powerful technique has not yet been deployed on the macroscale for the primary surveillance of contamination in healthcare facilities to prevent HAI. Here we report experimental data for the specification and design of such a fluorescence-based detection instrument. We have characterized the complete fluorescence response of eleven clinically-relevant bacteria by generating excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) over broad wavelength ranges. Furthermore, a number of surfaces and items of equipment commonly present on a ward, and potentially responsible for pathogen transfer, have been analyzed for potential issues of background fluorescence masking the signal from contaminant bacteria. These include bedside handrails, nurse call button, blood pressure cuff and ward computer keyboard, as well as disinfectant cleaning products and microfiber cloth. All examined bacterial strains exhibited a distinctive double-peak fluorescence feature associated with tryptophan with no other cellular fluorophore detected. Thus, this fluorescence survey found that an emission peak of 340nm, from an excitation source at 280nm, was the cellular fluorescence signal to target for detection of bacterial contamination. The majority of materials analysed offer a spectral window through which bacterial contamination could indeed be detected. A few instances were found of potential problems of background fluorescence masking that of bacteria, but in the case of the microfiber cleaning cloth, imaging techniques could morphologically distinguish between stray strands and bacterial contamination
Heavy Squarks at the LHC
The LHC, with its seven-fold increase in energy over the Tevatron, is capable
of probing regions of SUSY parameter space exhibiting qualitatively new
collider phenomenology. Here we investigate one such region in which first
generation squarks are very heavy compared to the other superpartners. We find
that the production of these squarks, which is dominantly associative, only
becomes rate-limited at mSquark > 4(5) TeV for L~10(100) fb-1. However,
discovery of this scenario is complicated because heavy squarks decay primarily
into a jet and boosted gluino, yielding a dijet-like topology with missing
energy (MET) pointing along the direction of the second hardest jet. The result
is that many signal events are removed by standard jet/MET anti-alignment cuts
designed to guard against jet mismeasurement errors. We suggest replacing these
anti-alignment cuts with a measurement of jet substructure that can
significantly extend the reach of this channel while still removing much of the
background. We study a selection of benchmark points in detail, demonstrating
that mSquark= 4(5) TeV first generation squarks can be discovered at the LHC
with L~10(100)fb-1
Single Molecule In Vivo Analysis of Toll-Like Receptor 9 and CpG DNA Interaction
Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) activates the innate immune system in response to oligonucleotides rich in CpG whereas DNA lacking CpG could inhibit its activation. However, the mechanism of how TLR9 interacts with nucleic acid and becomes activated in live cells is not well understood. Here, we report on the successful implementation of single molecule tools, constituting fluorescence correlation/cross-correlation spectroscopy (FCS and FCCS) and photon count histogram (PCH) with fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) to study the interaction of TLR9-GFP with Cy5 labeled oligonucleotide containing CpG or lacking CpG in live HEK 293 cells. Our findings show that i) TLR9 predominantly forms homodimers (80%) before binding to a ligand and further addition of CpG or non CpG DNA does not necessarily increase the proportion of TLR9 dimers, ii) CpG DNA has a lower dissociation constant (62 nM±9 nM) compared to non CpG DNA (153 nM±26 nM) upon binding to TLR9, suggesting that a motif specific binding affinity of TLR9 could be an important factor in instituting a conformational change-dependant activation, and iii) both CpG and non CpG DNA binds to TLR9 with a 1∶2 stoichiometry in vivo. Collectively, through our findings we establish an in vivo model of TLR9 binding and activation by CpG DNA using single molecule fluorescence techniques for single cell studies
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