5,496 research outputs found
Theoretical Study on Coexistence of Ferromagnetism and Superconductivity
On the basis of a two-dimensional t-t' Hubbard model in ferromagnetic and
paramagnetic states, the triplet superconducting mechanism is investigated by
the third-order perturbation theory with respect to the on-site Coulomb
interaction U. In general, the superconducting state is more stable in the
paramagnetic state than in the ferromagnetic state. As a special case, the
dominant ferromagnetic superconductivity is obtained by the electron-electron
correlation between the electronlike majority and holelike minority bands.
Furthermore, it is pointed out that in some cases the two bands play an
essential role for the coexistence of superconductivity and ferromagnetism.Comment: 5 pages, 10 figure
Cancellation of probe effects in measurements of spin polarized momentum density by electron positron annihilation
Measurements of the two dimensional angular correlation of the
electron-positron annihilation radiation have been done in the past to detect
the momentum spin density and the Fermi surface. We point out that the momentum
spin density and the Fermi Surface of ferromagnetic metals can be revealed
within great detail owing to the large cancellation of the electron-positron
matrix elements which in paramagnetic multiatomic systems plague the
interpretation of the experiments. We prove our conjecture by calculating the
momentum spin density and the Fermi surface of the half metal CrO2, who has
received large attention due to its possible applications as spintronics
material
Positron-electron autocorrelation function study of E-center in silicon
A study was conducted on the positron-electron autocorrelation function of defect center in silicon. The positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) spectra taken on the as-grown and defected samples of silicon were studied. It was found that the positron binding energy to the defect could be estimated from the ratio of the positron-electron autocorrelates for bulk crystal and defect trapped positron states.published_or_final_versio
Fermi Surface as the Driving Mechanism for Helical Antiferromagnetic Ordering in Gd-Y Alloys
The first direct experimental evidence for the Fermi surface (FS) driving the
helical antiferromagnetic ordering in a gadolinium-yttrium alloy is reported.
The presence of a FS sheet capable of nesting is revealed, and the nesting
vector associated with the sheet is found to be in excellent agreement with the
periodicity of the helical ordering.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Spin moment over 10-300 K and delocalization of magnetic electrons above the Verwey transition in magnetite
In order to probe the magnetic ground state, we have carried out temperature
dependent magnetic Compton scattering experiments on an oriented single crystal
of magnetite (FeO), together with the corresponding first-principles
band theory computations to gain insight into the measurements. An accurate
value of the magnetic moment associated with unpaired spins is obtained
directly over the temperature range of 10-300K. is found to be
non-integral and to display an anomalous behavior with the direction of the
external magnetic field near the Verwey transition. These results reveal how
the magnetic properties enter the Verwey energy scale via spin-orbit coupling
and the geometrical frustration of the spinel structure, even though the Curie
temperature of magnetite is in excess of 800 K. The anisotropy of the magnetic
Compton profiles increases through the Verwey temperature and indicates
that magnetic electrons in the ground state of magnetite become delocalized on
Fe B-sites above .Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Journal of Physics and Chemistry of
Solid
THE REALIZATION OF A NEW GEOMAGNETIC OBSERVATORY IN CENTRAL ITALY, REPLACING L'AQUILA GEOMAGNETIC OBSERVATORY
The geomagnetic Observatory of L'Aquila was founded by Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) in 1958, on the occasion of the International Geophysical Year. It is the main Italian geomagnetic observatory and since 1999 is part of the Intermagnet network. In 2009 L’Aquila was struck by a strong earthquake; the town was seriously damaged, and since then many activities moved to the suburbs; close to the Geomagnetic Observatory new activities were planned. Then the necessity to find in the surroundings a new place, suitable for the installation of a Geomagnetic Observatory, arose. Several tests were made and a possible location was found in Castel Del Monte, 40km from L’Aquila; a preliminary analysis of the electromagnetic background noise and of the spatial magnetic field gradients has shown that the place can meet the requirements for a Geomagnetic Observatory. Meanwhile, in 2010, a new Geomagnetic Observatory was installed in Duronia, 130 km South-East from L’Aquila and since 2012 it is part of the Intermagnet network
Geomagnetic field observations at a new Antarctic site, within the AIMNet project
During the 2007-2008 antarctic campaign, the Italian PNRA installed a Low Power Magnetometer within the
framework of the AIMNet (Antarctic International Magnetometer Network) project, proposed and coordinated
by BAS. The magnetometer is situated at Talos Dome, around 300 km geographically North-West from Mario
Zucchelli Station (MZS), and approximately at the same geomagnetic latitude as MZS. In this work we present a
preliminary analysis of the geomagnetic field 1-min data, and a comparison with simultaneous data from different
Antarctic stations
Mutant PrP is delayed in its exit from the endoplasmic reticulum, but neither wild-type nor mutant PrP undergoes retrotranslocation prior to proteasomal degradation
The cellular mechanisms by which prions cause neurological dysfunction are poorly understood. To address this issue, we have been using cultured cells to analyze the localization, biosynthesis, and metabolism of PrP molecules carrying mutations associated with familial prion diseases. We report here that mutant PrP molecules are delayed in their maturation to an endoglycosidase H-resistant form after biosynthetic labeling, suggesting that they are impaired in their exit from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, we find that proteasome inhibitors have no effect on the maturation or turnover of either mutant or wild-type PrP molecules. Thus, in contrast to recent studies from other laboratories, our work indicates that PrP is not subject to retrotranslocation from the ER into the cytoplasm prior to degradation by the proteasome. We find that in transfected cells, but not in cultured neurons, proteasome inhibitors cause accumulation of an unglycosylated, signal peptide-bearing form of PrP on the cytoplasmic face of the ER membrane. Thus, under conditions of elevated expression, a small fraction of PrP chains is not translocated into the ER lumen during synthesis, and is rapidly degraded in the cytoplasm by the proteasome. Finally, we report a previously unappreciated artifact caused by treatment of cells with proteasome inhibitors: an increase in PrP mRNA level and synthetic rate when the protein is expressed from a vector containing a viral promoter. We suggest that this phenomenon may explain some of the dramatic effects of proteasome inhibitors observed in other studies. Our results clarify the role of the proteasome in the cell biology of PrP, and suggest reasonable hypotheses for the molecular pathology of inherited prion diseases
Immunopurification of Pathological Prion Protein Aggregates
Background: Prion diseases are fatal neurodegenerative disorders that can arise sporadically, be genetically inherited or acquired through infection. The key event in these diseases is misfolding of the cellular prion protein (PrP) into a pathogenic isoform that is rich in β-sheet structure. This conformational change may result in the formation of PrP, the prion isoform of PrP, which propagates itself by imprinting its aberrant conformation onto PrP molecules. A great deal of effort has been devoted to developing protocols for purifying PrP for structural studies, and testing its biological properties. Most procedures rely on protease digestion, allowing efficient purification of PrP27-30, the protease-resistant core of PrP. However, protease treatment cannot be used to isolate abnormal forms of PrP lacking conventional protease resistance, such as those found in several genetic and atypical sporadic cases. Principal Findings: We developed a method for purifying pathological PrP molecules based on sequential centrifugation and immunoprecipitation with a monoclonal antibody selective for aggregated PrP. With this procedure we purified full-length PrP and mutant PrP aggregates at electrophoretic homogeneity. PrP purified from prion-infected mice was able to seed misfolding of PrP in a protein misfolding cyclic amplification reaction, and mutant PrP aggregates from transgenic mice were toxic to cultured neurons. Significance: The immunopurification protocol described here isolates biologically active forms of aggregated PrP. These preparations may be useful for investigating the structural and chemico-physical properties of infectious and neurotoxic PrP aggregates
Search for Branons at LEP
We search, in the context of extra-dimension scenarios, for the possible
existence of brane fluctuations, called branons. Events with a single photon or
a single Z-boson and missing energy and momentum collected with the L3 detector
in e^+ e^- collisions at centre-of-mass energies sqrt{s}=189-209$ GeV are
analysed. No excess over the Standard Model expectations is found and a lower
limit at 95% confidence level of 103 GeV is derived for the mass of branons,
for a scenario with small brane tensions. Alternatively, under the assumption
of a light branon, brane tensions below 180 GeV are excluded
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