8,852 research outputs found
Prediction of a surface state and a related surface insulator-metal transition for the (100) surface of stochiometric EuO
We calculate the temperature and layer-dependent electronic structure of a
20-layer EuO(100)-film using a combination of first-principles and model
calculation based on the ferromagnetic Kondo-lattice model. The results suggest
the existence of a EuO(100) surface state which can lead to a surface
insulator-metal transition.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, Phys. Rev. Lett. (in press
Self-diffusion of polymers in cartilage as studied by pulsed field gradient NMR
Pulsed field gradient (PFG) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) was used to investigate the self-diffusion behaviour of polymers in cartilage. Polyethylene glycol and dextran with different molecular weights and in different concentrations were used as model compounds to mimic the diffusion behaviour of metabolites of cartilage. The polymer self-diffusion depends extremely on the observation time: The short-time self-diffusion coefficients (diffusion time Delta approximately 15 ms) are subjected to a rather non-specific obstruction effect that depends mainly on the molecular weights of the applied polymers as well as on the water content of the cartilage. The observed self-diffusion coefficients decrease with increasing molecular weights of the polymers and with a decreasing water content of the cartilage. In contrast, the long-time self-diffusion coefficients of the polymers in cartilage (diffusion time Delta approximately 600 ms) reflect the structural properties of the tissue. Measurements at different water contents, different molecular weights of the polymers and varying observation times suggest that primarily the collagenous network of cartilage but also the entanglements of the polymer chains themselves are responsible for the observed restricted diffusion. Additionally, anomalous restricted diffusion was shown to occur already in concentrated polymer solutions
Coulomb blockade and Non-Fermi-liquid behavior in quantum dots
The non-Fermi-liquid properties of an ultrasmall quantum dot coupled to a
lead and to a quantum box are investigated. Tuning the ratio of the tunneling
amplitudes to the lead and box, we find a line of two-channel Kondo fixed
points for arbitrary Coulomb repulsion on the dot, governing the transition
between two distinct Fermi-liquid regimes. The Fermi liquids are characterized
by different values of the conductance. For an asymmetric dot, spin and charge
degrees of freedom are entangled: a continuous transition from a spin to a
charge two-channel Kondo effect evolves. The crossover temperature to the
two-channel Kondo effect is greatly enhanced away from the local-moment regime,
making this exotic effect accessible in realistic quantum-dot devices.Comment: 5 figure
Renormalization-group study of a magnetic impurity in a Luttinger liquid
A generalized Anderson model for a magnetic impurity in an interacting
one-dimensional electron gas is studied via a mapping onto a classical Coulomb
gas. For weak potential scattering, the local-moment parameter regime expands
as repulsive bulk interactions become stronger, but the Kondo scale for the
quenching of the impurity moment varies nonmonotonically. There also exist two
regimes dominated by backward potential scattering: one in which the impurity
is nonmagnetic, and another in which an unquenched local moment survives down
to very low temperatures.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages, 3 epsf-embedded EPS figure
Spin distribution of nuclear levels using static path approximation with random-phase approximation
We present a thermal and quantum-mechanical treatment of nuclear rotation
using the formalism of static path approximation (SPA) plus random-phase
approximation (RPA). Naive perturbation theory fails because of the presence of
zero-frequency modes due to dynamical symmetry breaking. Such modes lead to
infrared divergences. We show that composite zero-frequency excitations are
properly treated within the collective coordinate method. The resulting
perturbation theory is free from infrared divergences. Without the assumption
of individual random spin vectors, we derive microscopically the spin
distribution of the level density. The moment of inertia is thereby related to
the spin-cutoff parameter in the usual way. Explicit calculations are performed
for 56^Fe; various thermal properties are discussed. In particular, we
demonstrate that the increase of the moment of inertia with increasing
temperature is correlated with the suppression of pairing correlations.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Kondo-lattice model: Application to the temperature-dependent electronic structure of EuO(100) films
We present calculations for the temperature-dependent electronic structure
and magnetic properties of thin ferromagnetic EuO films. The treatment is based
on a combination of a multiband-Kondo lattice model with first-principles
TB-LMTO band structure calculations. The method avoids the problem of
double-counting of relevant interactions and takes into account the correct
symmetry of the atomic orbitals. We discuss the temperature-dependent
electronic structures of EuO(100) films in terms of quasiparticle densities of
states and quasiparticle band structures. The Curie temperature T_C of the EuO
films turns out to be strongly thickness-dependent, starting from a very low
value = 15K for the monolayer and reaching the bulk value at about 25 layers
Functional consequences of sphingomyelinase-induced changes in erythrocyte membrane structure.
Inflammation enhances the secretion of sphingomyelinases (SMases). SMases catalyze the hydrolysis of sphingomyelin into phosphocholine and ceramide. In erythrocytes, ceramide formation leads to exposure of the removal signal phosphatidylserine (PS), creating a potential link between SMase activity and anemia of inflammation. Therefore, we studied the effects of SMase on various pathophysiologically relevant parameters of erythrocyte homeostasis. Time-lapse confocal microscopy revealed a SMase-induced transition from the discoid to a spherical shape, followed by PS exposure, and finally loss of cytoplasmic content. Also, SMase treatment resulted in ceramide-associated alterations in membrane-cytoskeleton interactions and membrane organization, including microdomain formation. Furthermore, we observed increases in membrane fragility, vesiculation and invagination, and large protein clusters. These changes were associated with enhanced erythrocyte retention in a spleen-mimicking model. Erythrocyte storage under blood bank conditions and during physiological aging increased the sensitivity to SMase. A low SMase activity already induced morphological and structural changes, demonstrating the potential of SMase to disturb erythrocyte homeostasis. Our analyses provide a comprehensive picture in which ceramide-induced changes in membrane microdomain organization disrupt the membrane-cytoskeleton interaction and membrane integrity, leading to vesiculation, reduced deformability, and finally loss of erythrocyte content. Understanding these processes is highly relevant for understanding anemia during chronic inflammation, especially in critically ill patients receiving blood transfusions
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