Measurement of collective flow in heavy ion collisions using particle pair correlations

We present a new type of flow analysis, based on a particle-pair correlation function, in which there is no need for an event-by-event determination of the reaction plane. Consequently, the need to correct for dispersion in an estimated reaction plane does not arise. Our method also offers the option to avoid any influence from particle misidentification. Using this method, streamer chamber data for collisions of Ar+KCl and Ar+BaI2 at 1.2 GeV/nucleon are compared with predictions of a nuclear transport model

Nonlinear terahertz metamaterials via field-enhanced carrier dynamics in GaAs

We demonstrate nonlinear metamaterial split ring resonators (SRRs) on GaAs at terahertz frequencies. For SRRs on doped GaAs films, incident terahertz radiation with peak fields of ~20 - 160 kV/cm drives intervalley scattering. This reduces the carrier mobility and enhances the SRR LC response due to a conductivity decrease in the doped thin film. Above ~160 kV/cm, electric field enhancement within the SRR gaps leads to efficient impact ionization, increasing the carrier density and the conductivity which, in turn, suppresses the SRR resonance. We demonstrate an increase of up to 10 orders of magnitude in the carrier density in the SRR gaps on semi-insulating GaAs substrate. Furthermore, we show that the effective permittivity can be swept from negative to positive values with increasing terahertz field strength in the impact ionization regime, enabling new possibilities for nonlinear metamaterials.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Antioxidant effects of sulforaphane in human HepG2 cells and immortalised hepatocytes

Sulforaphane (SFN) has shown anti-cancer effects in cellular and animal studies but its effectiveness has been limited in human studies. Here, the effects of SFN were measured in both human hepatocyte (HHL5) and hepatoma (HepG2) cells. Results showed that SFN inhibited cell viability and induced DNA strand breaks at high doses (≥ 20 µM). It also activated the nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2), and increased intracellular glutathione (GSH) levels at 24 hours. Pre-treatment with a low dose SFN (≤5 µM) protected against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced cell damage. High doses of SFN were more toxic towards HHL5 compared to HepG2 cells; the difference is likely due to the disparity in the responses of Nrf2-driven enzymes and -GSH levels between the two cell lines. In addition, HepG2 cells hijacked the cytoprotective effect of SFN over a wider dose range (1.25 - 20 µM) compared to HHL5. Manipulation of levels of GSH and Nrf2 in HepG2 cells confirmed that both molecules mediate the protective effects of SFN against H2O2. The non-specific nature of SFN in the regulation of cell death and survival could present undesirable risks, i.e. be more toxic to normal cells, and cause chemo-resistance in tumor cells. These issues should be addressed in the context for cancer prevention and treatment before large scale clinical trials are undertaken

A Short Review of the S4S_4 Symmetric Microscopic Model for Iron-Based High Temperature Superconductors

We briefly review the recently constructed two orbital microscopic model for iron-based superconductors based on $S_4$ symmetry (PRX 2 021009(2012)). With this faithful representation of the kinematics of the tri-layer FeAs or FeSe structure, the model provides answers and physical pictures to fundamental questions related to the robustness of superconductivity and pairing symmetry, unifies different families of iron-based superconductors, casts new insight into the connections to the other high $T_c$ superconductors, cuprates, and reveals why an s-wave pairing can be stabilized by repulsive interactions. Further progresses include that the model provides a clean understanding of band reconstruction observed in magnetically ordered states, which is a strong support to the kinematics of the $S_4$ model, and captures the essential low energy physics of iron-based superconductors based on numerical results from unbiased quantum Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: 15 pages, invited submission to Journal of Physics (Conference series) for M2s conferenc