225 research outputs found
Coulomb interactions within Halo Effective Field Theory
I present preliminary results of effective field theory applied to nuclear
cluster systems, where Coulomb interactions play a significant role.Comment: Talk given at the 20th European Conference on Few-Body Problems in
Physics, Pisa, Italy, September 10-14, 200
Photoemission "experiments" on holographic superconductors
We study the effects of a superconducting condensate on holographic Fermi
surfaces. With a suitable coupling between the fermion and the condensate,
there are stable quasiparticles with a gap. We find some similarities with the
phenomenology of the cuprates: in systems whose normal state is a non-Fermi
liquid with no stable quasiparticles, a stable quasiparticle peak appears in
the condensed phase.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figures; v2: typos corrected and some clarification
adde
Additive Anti-Tumor Effects of Lovastatin and Everolimus In Vitro through Simultaneous Inhibition of Signaling Pathways
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are creditedThis work was supported by a research grant from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich (Förderprogramm für Forschung und Lehre [FöFoLe], grant number 865/829)
Proportionate vs disproportionate distribution of wealth of two individuals in a tempered Paretian ensemble
We study the distribution P(\omega) of the random variable \omega = x_1/(x_1
+ x_2), where x_1 and x_2 are the wealths of two individuals selected at random
from the same tempered Paretian ensemble characterized by the distribution
\Psi(x) \sim \phi(x)/x^{1 + \alpha}, where \alpha > 0 is the Pareto index and
is the cut-off function. We consider two forms of \phi(x): a bounded
function \phi(x) = 1 for L \leq x \leq H, and zero otherwise, and a smooth
exponential function \phi(x) = \exp(-L/x - x/H). In both cases \Psi(x) has
moments of arbitrary order.
We show that, for \alpha > 1, P(\omega) always has a unimodal form and is
peaked at \omega = 1/2, so that most probably x_1 \approx x_2. For 0 < \alpha <
1 we observe a more complicated behavior which depends on the value of \delta =
L/H. In particular, for \delta < \delta_c - a certain threshold value -
P(\omega) has a three-modal (for a bounded \phi(x)) and a bimodal M-shape (for
an exponential \phi(x)) form which signifies that in such ensembles the wealths
x_1 and x_2 are disproportionately different.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, to appear in Physica
Efimov effect in quantum magnets
Physics is said to be universal when it emerges regardless of the underlying
microscopic details. A prominent example is the Efimov effect, which predicts
the emergence of an infinite tower of three-body bound states obeying discrete
scale invariance when the particles interact resonantly. Because of its
universality and peculiarity, the Efimov effect has been the subject of
extensive research in chemical, atomic, nuclear and particle physics for
decades. Here we employ an anisotropic Heisenberg model to show that collective
excitations in quantum magnets (magnons) also exhibit the Efimov effect. We
locate anisotropy-induced two-magnon resonances, compute binding energies of
three magnons and find that they fit into the universal scaling law. We propose
several approaches to experimentally realize the Efimov effect in quantum
magnets, where the emergent Efimov states of magnons can be observed with
commonly used spectroscopic measurements. Our study thus opens up new avenues
for universal few-body physics in condensed matter systems.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures; published versio
Isospin breaking corrections to low-energy pi-K scattering
We evaluate the matrix elements for the processes pi^0 K^0 -> pi^0 K^0 and
pi^- K^+ -> pi^0 K^0 in the presence of isospin breaking terms at leading and
next-to-leading order. As a direct application the releveant combination of the
S-wave scattering lengths involved in the pion-kaon atom lifetime is
determined. We discuss the sensitivity of the results with respect to the input
parameters.Comment: 33 pages, plain latex, 2 figure
Fluvastatin synergistically enhances the antiproliferative effect of gemcitabine in human pancreatic cancer MIAPaCa-2 cells
The new combination between the nucleoside analogue gemcitabine and the cholesterol-lowering drug fluvastatin was investigated in vitro and in vivo on the human pancreatic tumour cell line MIAPaCa-2. The present study demonstrates that fluvastatin inhibits proliferation, induces apoptosis in pancreatic cancer cells harbouring a p21ras mutation at codon 12 and synergistically potentiates the cytotoxic effect of gemcitabine. The pharmacologic activities of fluvastatin are prevented by administration of mevalonic acid, suggesting that the shown inhibition of geranyl-geranylation and farnesylation of cellular proteins, including p21rhoA and p21ras, plays a major role in its anticancer effect. Fluvastatin treatment also indirectly inhibits the phosphorylation of p42ERK2/mitogen-activated protein kinase, the cellular effector of ras and other signal transduction peptides. Moreover, fluvastatin administration significantly increases the expression of the deoxycytidine kinase, the enzyme required for the activation of gemcitabine, and simultaneously reduces the 5′-nucleotidase, responsible for deactivation of gemcitabine, suggesting a possible additional role of these enzymes in the enhanced cytotoxic activity of gemcitabine. Finally, a significant in vivo antitumour effect on MIAPaCa-2 xenografts was observed with the simultaneous combination of fluvastatin and gemcitabine, resulting in an almost complete suppression and a marked delay in relapse of tumour growth. In conclusion, the combination of fluvastatin and gemcitabine is an effective cytotoxic, proapoptotic treatment in vitro and in vivo against MIAPaCa-2 cells by a mechanism of action mediated, at least in part, by the inhibition of p21ras and rhoA prenylation. The obtained experimental findings might constitute the basis for a novel translational research in humans
Lovastatin sensitized human glioblastoma cells to TRAIL-induced apoptosis
Synergy study with chemotherapeutic agents is a common in vitro strategy in the search for effective cancer therapy. For non-chemotherapeutic agents, efficacious synergistic effects are uncommon. Here, we have examined two non-chemotherapeutic agents for synergistic effects: lovastatin and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF)-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) for synergistic effects; on three human malignant glioblastoma cell lines, M059K, M59J, and A172. Cells treated with lovastatin plus TRAIL for 48 h showed 50% apoptotic cell death, whereas TRAIL alone (1,000 ng/ml) did not, suggesting that lovastatin sensitized the glioblastoma cells to TRAIL attack. Cell cycle analysis indicated that lovastatin increased G0–G1 arrest in these cells. Annexin V study demonstrated that apoptosis was the predominant mode of cell death. We conclude that the combination of lovastatin and TRAIL enhances apoptosis synergistically. Moreover, lovastatin sensitized glioblastoma cells to TRAIL, suggesting a new strategy to treat glioblastoma
Josephson Junctions and AdS/CFT Networks
We propose a new holographic model of Josephson junctions (and networks
thereof) based on designer multi-gravity, namely multi-(super)gravity theories
on products of distinct asymptotically AdS spacetimes coupled by mixed boundary
conditions. We present a simple model of a Josephson junction (JJ) that
exhibits the well-known current-phase sine relation of JJs. In one-dimensional
chains of holographic superconductors we find that the Cooper-pair condensates
are described by a discretized Schrodinger-type equation. Such non-integrable
equations, which have been studied extensively in the past in condensed matter
and optics applications, are known to exhibit complex behavior that includes
periodic and quasiperiodic solutions, chaotic dynamics, soliton and kink
solutions. In our setup these solutions translate to holographic configurations
of strongly-coupled superconductors in networks with weak site-to-site
interactions that exhibit interesting patterns of modulated superconductivity.
In a continuum limit our equations reduce to generalizations of the
Gross-Pitaevskii equation. We comment on the many possible extensions and
applications of this new approach.Comment: 39 pages, 11 figures; v2 clarified the nature and computation of the
Josephson current in subsec. 3.2 and specific properties of the two-site
system, analogous minor modifications in subsec. 4.4 and added a new subsec.
4.5 with a new fig.
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