322 research outputs found
Microscopic model for Bose-Einstein condensation and quasiparticle decay
Sufficiently dimerized quantum antiferromagnets display elementary S=1
excitations, triplon quasiparticles, protected by a gap at low energies. At
higher energies, the triplons may decay into two or more triplons. A strong
enough magnetic field induces Bose-Einstein condensation of triplons. For both
phenomena the compound IPA-CuCl3 is an excellent model system. Nevertheless no
quantitative model was determined so far despite numerous studies. Recent
theoretical progress allows us to analyse data of inelastic neutron scattering
(INS) and of magnetic susceptibility to determine the four magnetic couplings
J1=-2.3meV, J2=1.2meV, J3=2.9meV and J4=-0.3meV. These couplings determine
IPA-CuCl3 as system of coupled asymmetric S=1/2 Heisenberg ladders
quantitatively. The magnetic field dependence of the lowest modes in the
condensed phase as well as the temperature dependence of the gap without
magnetic field corroborate this microscopic model.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Absence of the Z-disc protein α-actinin-3 impairs the mechanical stability of Actn3KO mouse fast-twitch muscle fibres without altering their contractile properties or twitch kinetics
Background: A common polymorphism (R577X) in the ACTN3 gene results in the complete absence of the Z-disc protein α-actinin-3 from fast-twitch muscle fibres in ~ 16% of the world’s population. This single gene polymorphism has been subject to strong positive selection pressure during recent human evolution. Previously, using an Actn3KO mouse model, we have shown in fast-twitch muscles, eccentric contractions at L0 + 20% stretch did not cause eccentric damage. In contrast, L0 + 30% stretch produced a significant ~ 40% deficit in maximum force; here, we use isolated single fast-twitch skeletal muscle fibres from the Actn3KO mouse to investigate the mechanism underlying this. Methods: Single fast-twitch fibres are separated from the intact muscle by a collagenase digest procedure. We use label-free second harmonic generation (SHG) imaging, ultra-fast video microscopy and skinned fibre measurements from our MyoRobot automated biomechatronics system to study the morphology, visco-elasticity, force production and mechanical strength of single fibres from the Actn3KO mouse. Data are presented as means ± SD and tested for significance using ANOVA. Results: We show that the absence of α-actinin-3 does not affect the visco-elastic properties or myofibrillar force production. Eccentric contractions demonstrated that chemically skinned Actn3KO fibres are mechanically weaker being prone to breakage when eccentrically stretched. Furthermore, SHG images reveal disruptions in the myofibrillar alignment of Actn3KO fast-twitch fibres with an increase in Y-shaped myofibrillar branching. Conclusions: The absence of α-actinin-3 from the Z-disc in fast-twitch fibres disrupts the organisation of the myofibrillar proteins, leading to structural weakness. This provides a mechanistic explanation for our earlier findings that in vitro intact Actn3KO fast-twitch muscles are significantly damaged by L0 + 30%, but not L0 + 20%, eccentric contraction strains. Our study also provides a possible mechanistic explanation as to why α-actinin-3-deficient humans have been reported to have a faster decline in muscle function with increasing age, that is, as sarcopenia reduces muscle mass and force output, the eccentric stress on the remaining functional α-actinin-3 deficient fibres will be increased, resulting in fibre breakages
Strange meson production in Al+Al collisions at 1.9A GeV
The production of K, K and (1020) mesons is studied in Al+Al
collisions at a beam energy of 1.9A GeV which is close or below the production
threshold in NN reactions. Inverse slopes, anisotropy parameters, and total
emission yields of K mesons are obtained. A comparison of the ratio of
kinetic energy distributions of K and K mesons to the HSD transport
model calculations suggests that the inclusion of the in-medium modifications
of kaon properties is necessary to reproduce the ratio. The inverse slope and
total yield of mesons are deduced. The contribution to K production
from meson decays is found to be [17 3 (stat) (syst)]
%. The results are in line with previous K and data obtained for
different colliding systems at similar incident beam energies.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figure
Centrality dependence of subthreshold meson production in Ni+Ni collisions at 1.9A GeV
We analysed the meson production in central Ni+Ni collisions at the
beam kinetic energy of 1.93A GeV with the FOPI spectrometer and found the
production probability per event of . This new data point allows for the first time
to inspect the centrality dependence of the subthreshold meson
production in heavy-ion collisions. The rise of meson multiplicity per
event with mean number of participants can be parameterized by the power
function with exponent . The ratio of to
production yields seems not to depend within the experimental
uncertainties on the collision centrality, and the average of measured values
was found to be .Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
An SU(N) Mott insulator of an atomic Fermi gas realized by large-spin Pomeranchuk cooling
The Hubbard model, containing only the minimum ingredients of nearest
neighbor hopping and on-site interaction for correlated electrons, has
succeeded in accounting for diverse phenomena observed in solid-state
materials. One of the interesting extensions is to enlarge its spin symmetry to
SU(N>2), which is closely related to systems with orbital degeneracy. Here we
report a successful formation of the SU(6) symmetric Mott insulator state with
an atomic Fermi gas of ytterbium (173Yb) in a three-dimensional optical
lattice. Besides the suppression of compressibility and the existence of charge
excitation gap which characterize a Mott insulating phase, we reveal an
important difference between the cases of SU(6) and SU(2) in the achievable
temperature as the consequence of different entropy carried by an isolated
spin. This is analogous to Pomeranchuk cooling in solid 3He and will be helpful
for investigating exotic quantum phases of SU(N) Hubbard system at extremely
low temperatures.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Nature Physic
Comparison of three rapid and easy bacterial DNA extraction methods for use with quantitative real-time PCR
The development of fast and easy on-site molecular detection and quantification methods for hazardous microbes on solid surfaces is desirable for several applications where specialised laboratory facilities are absent. The quantification of bacterial contamination necessitates the assessment of the efficiency of the used methodology as a whole, including the preceding steps of sampling and sample processing. We used quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qrtPCR) for Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus to measure the recovery of DNA from defined numbers of bacterial cells that were subjected to three different DNA extraction methods: the QIAamp® DNA Mini Kit, Reischl et al.’s method and FTA® Elute. FTA® Elute significantly showed the highest median DNA extraction efficiency of 76.9% for E. coli and 108.9% for S. aureus. The Reischl et al. method and QIAamp® DNA Mini Kit inhibited the E. coli qrtPCR assay with a 10-fold decrease of detectable DNA. None of the methods inhibited the S. aureus qrtPCR assay. The FTA® Elute applicability was demonstrated with swab samples taken from the International Space Station (ISS) interior. Overall, the FTA® Elute method was found to be the most suitable to selected criteria in terms of rapidity, easiness of use, DNA extraction efficiency, toxicity, and transport and storage conditions
Evidence for Quark-Hadron Duality in the Proton Spin Asymmetry
Spin-dependent lepton-nucleon scattering data have been used to investigate
the validity of the concept of quark-hadron duality for the spin asymmetry
. Longitudinally polarised positrons were scattered off a longitudinally
polarised hydrogen target for values of between 1.2 and 12 GeV and
values of between 1 and 4 GeV. The average double-spin asymmetry in
the nucleon resonance region is found to agree with that measured in
deep-inelastic scattering at the same values of the Bjorken scaling variable
. This finding implies that the description of in terms of quark
degrees of freedom is valid also in the nucleon resonance region for values of
above 1.6 GeV.Comment: 5 pages, 1 eps figure, table added, new references added, in print in
Phys. Rev. Let
Single-spin asymmetries in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering on a transversely polarized hydrogen target
Single-spin asymmetries for semi-inclusive electroproduction of charged pions
in deep-inelastic scattering of positrons are measured for the first time with
transverse target polarization. The asymmetry depends on the azimuthal angles
of both the pion () and the target spin axis () about the virtual
photon direction and relative to the lepton scattering plane. The extracted
Fourier component \cmpi is a signal of the previously unmeasured quark
transversity distribution, in conjunction with the so-called Collins
fragmentation function, also unknown. The Fourier component \smpi of the
asymmetry arises from a correlation between the transverse polarization of the
target nucleon and the intrinsic transverse momentum of quarks, as represented
by the previously unmeasured Sivers distribution function. Evidence for both
signals is observed, but the Sivers asymmetry may be affected by exclusive
vector meson productio
Double hadron leptoproduction in the nuclear medium
First measurement of double-hadron production in deep-inelastic scattering
has been measured with the HERMES spectrometer at HERA using a 27.6 GeV
positron beam with deuterium, nitrogen, krypton and xenon targets. The
influence of the nuclear medium on the ratio of double-hadron to single-hadron
yields has been investigated. Nuclear effects are clearly observed but with
substantially smaller magnitude and reduced -dependence compared to
previously measured single-hadron multiplicity ratios. The data are in fair
agreement with models based on partonic or pre-hadronic energy loss, while they
seem to rule out a pure absorptive treatment of the final state interactions.
Thus, the double-hadron ratio provides an additional tool for studying
modifications of hadronization in nuclear matter
- …