496 research outputs found
Phonon distributions of a single bath mode coupled to a quantum dot
The properties of an unconventional, single mode phonon bath coupled to a
quantum dot, are investigated within the rotating wave approximation. The
electron current through the dot induces an out of equilibrium bath, with a
phonon distribution qualitatively different from the thermal one. In selected
transport regimes, such a distribution is characterized by a peculiar selective
population of few phonon modes and can exhibit a sub-Poissonian behavior. It is
shown that such a sub-Poissonian behavior is favored by a double occupancy of
the dot. The crossover from a unequilibrated to a conventional thermal bath is
explored, and the limitations of the rotating wave approximation are discussed.Comment: 21 Pages, 7 figures, to appear in New Journal of Physics - Focus on
Quantum Dissipation in Unconventional Environment
Correlations in one dimensional quantum impurity problems with an external field
We study response functions of integrable quantum impurity problems with an
external field at using non perturbative techniques derived from the
Bethe ansatz. We develop the first steps of the theory of excitations over the
new, field dependent ground state, leading to renormalized (or ``dressed'')
form-factors. We obtain exactly the low frequency behaviour of the dynamical
susceptibility in the double well problem of dissipative
quantum mechanics (or equivalently the anisotropic Kondo problem),and the low
frequency behaviour of the AC noise for tunneling between edges
in fractional quantum Hall devices. We also obtain exactly the structure of
singularities in and . Our results differ
significantly from previous perturbative approaches.Comment: harvmac, epsf, 37pgs, 2figs. modified some reference
Tomonaga-Luttinger features in the resonant Raman spectra of quantum wires
The differential cross section for resonant Raman scattering from the
collective modes in a one dimensional system of interacting electrons is
calculated non-perturbatively using the bosonization method. The results
indicate that resonant Raman spectroscopy is a powerful tool for studying
Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid behaviour in quasi-one dimensional electron systems.Comment: 4 pages, no figur
Negative differential conductance in quantum dots in theory and experiment
Experimental results for sequential transport through a lateral quantum dot
in the regime of spin blockade induced by spin dependent tunneling are compared
with theoretical results obtained by solving a master equation for independent
electrons. Orbital and spin effects in electron tunneling in the presence of a
perpendicular magnetic field are identified and discussed in terms of the
Fock-Darwin spectrum with spin. In the nonlinear regime, a regular pattern of
negative differential conductances is observed. Electrical asymmetries in
tunnel rates and capacitances must be introduced in order to account for the
experimental findings. Fast relaxation of the excited states in the quantum dot
have to be assumed, in order to explain the absence of certain structures in
the transport spectra.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Tunneling between two Luttinger liquids with long range interaction
The non linear charge transfer through a tunnel junction between two
Luttinger systems is studied for repulsive, finite range interaction between
electrons on the same, V_{11}, and on different,V_{12}, sides of the junction.
Features of the Coulomb blockade effect are observed if V_{12}=0. We predict a
novel interaction induced enhancement of the current if V_{12}>0. When
V_{12}=V_{11}, the current is suppressed at small bias, but the ``charging
energy'', obtained from the asymptotic behavior at high bias voltage, vanishes.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, to be published in Physical Review B (Brief Report
Colored noise in the fractional Hall effect: duality relations and exact results
We study noise in the problem of tunneling between fractional quantum Hall
edge states within a four probe geometry. We explore the implications of the
strong-weak coupling duality symmetry existent in this problem for relating the
various density-density auto-correlations and cross-correlations between the
four terminals. We identify correlations that transform as either ``odd'' or
``anti-symmetric'', or ``even'' or ``symmetric'' quantities under duality. We
show that the low frequency noise is colored, and that the deviations from
white noise are exactly related to the differential conductance. We show
explicitly that the relationship between the slope of the low frequency noise
spectrum and the differential conductance follows from an identity that holds
to {\it all} orders in perturbation theory, supporting the results implied by
the duality symmetry. This generalizes the results of quantum supression of the
finite frequency noise spectrum to Luttinger liquids and fractional statistics
quasiparticles.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
Phosphorylation on PstP controls cell wall metabolism and antibiotic tolerance in Mycobacterium smegmatis [preprint]
The mycobacterial cell wall is a dynamic structure that protects Mycobacterium tuberculosis and its relatives from environmental stresses. Modulation of cell wall metabolism under stress is thought to be responsible for decreased cell wall permeability and increased tolerance to antibiotics. The signaling pathways that control cell wall metabolism under stress, however, are poorly understood. Here, we examine the signaling capacity of a cell wall master regulator, the Serine Threonine Phosphatase PstP, in the model organism Mycobacterium smegmatis. We studied how interference with a regulatory phosphorylation site on PstP affects growth, cell wall metabolism and antibiotic tolerance. We find that a phospho-mimetic mutation, pstP T171E, slows growth, misregulates both mycolic acid and peptidoglycan metabolism in different conditions, and interferes with antibiotic tolerance. These data suggest that phosphorylation on PstP controls its substrate specificity and is important in the transition between growth and stasis
Exactly solvable model of quantum diffusion
We study the transport property of diffusion in a finite translationally
invariant quantum subsystem described by a tight-binding Hamiltonian with a
single energy band and interacting with its environment by a coupling in terms
of correlation functions which are delta-correlated in space and time. For weak
coupling, the time evolution of the subsystem density matrix is ruled by a
quantum master equation of Lindblad type. Thanks to the invariance under
spatial translations, we can apply the Bloch theorem to the subsystem density
matrix and exactly diagonalize the time evolution superoperator to obtain the
complete spectrum of its eigenvalues, which fully describe the relaxation to
equilibrium. Above a critical coupling which is inversely proportional to the
size of the subsystem, the spectrum at given wavenumber contains an isolated
eigenvalue describing diffusion. The other eigenvalues rule the decay of the
populations and quantum coherences with decay rates which are proportional to
the intensity of the environmental noise. On the other hand, an analytical
expression is obtained for the dispersion relation of diffusion. The diffusion
coefficient is proportional to the square of the width of the energy band and
inversely proportional to the intensity of the environmental noise because
diffusion results from the perturbation of quantum tunneling by the
environmental fluctuations in this model. Diffusion disappears below the
critical coupling.Comment: Submitted to J. Stat. Phy
The Phagocyte Oxidase Controls Tolerance to Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. [preprint]
Protection from infectious disease relies on two distinct mechanisms. \u27Antimicrobial resistance\u27 directly inhibits pathogen growth, whereas \u27infection tolerance\u27 controls tissue damage. A single immune-mediator can differentially contribute to these mechanisms in distinct contexts, confounding our understanding of protection to different pathogens. For example, the NADPH-dependent phagocyte oxidase complex (Phox) produces anti-microbial superoxides and protects from tuberculosis in humans. However, Phox-deficient mice do not display the expected defect in resistance to M. tuberculosis leaving the role of this complex unclear. We re-examined the mechanisms by which Phox contributes to protection from TB and found that mice lacking the Cybb subunit of Phox suffered from a specific defect in tolerance, which was due to unregulated Caspase1 activation, IL-1β production, and neutrophil influx into the lung. These studies demonstrate that Phox-derived superoxide protect against TB by promoting tolerance to persistent infection, and highlight a central role for Caspase1 in regulating TB disease progression
Spin projected unrestricted Hartree-Fock ground states for harmonic quantum dots
We report results for the ground state energies and wave functions obtained
by projecting spatially unrestricted Hartree Fock states to eigenstates of the
total spin and the angular momentum for harmonic quantum dots with
interacting electrons including a magnetic field states with the correct
spatial and spin symmetries have lower energies than those obtained by the
unrestricted method. The chemical potential as a function of a perpendicular
magnetic field is obtained. Signature of an intrinsic spin blockade effect is
found.Comment: 12 pages, 5 tables, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
- …