Electron-doped phosphorene: A potential monolayer superconductor

We predict by first-principles calculations that the electron-doped phosphorene is a potential BCS-like superconductor. The stretching modes at the Brillouin-zone center are remarkably softened by the electron-doping, which results in the strong electron-phonon coupling. The superconductivity can be introduced by a doped electron density ($n_{2D}$) above $1.3 \times10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$, and may exist over the liquid helium temperature when $n_{2D}>2.6 \times10^{14}$ cm$^{-2}$. The maximum critical temperature is predicted to be higher than 10 K. The superconductivity of phosphorene will significantly broaden the applications of this novel material

Entanglement entropy of the ν=1/2\nu=1/2 composite fermion non-Fermi liquid state

The so-called ``non-Fermi liquid'' behavior is very common in strongly correlated systems. However, its operational definition in terms of ``what it is not'' is a major obstacle against theoretical understanding of this fascinating correlated state. Recently there has been much interest in entanglement entropy as a theoretical tool to study non-Fermi liquids. So far explicit calculations have been limited to models without direct experimental realizations. Here we focus on a two dimensional electron fluid under magnetic field and filling fraction $\nu=1/2$, which is believed to be a non-Fermi liquid state. Using the composite fermion (CF) wave-function which captures the $\nu=1/2$ state very accurately, we compute the second R\'enyi entropy using variational Monte-Carlo technique and an efficient parallel algorithm. We find the entanglement entropy scales as $L\log L$ with the length of the boundary $L$ as it does for free fermions, albeit with a pre-factor twice that of the free fermion. We contrast the results against theoretical conjectures and discuss the implications of the results.Comment: 4+ page

Probing non-Abelian statistics of Majorana fermions in ultracold atomic superfluid

We propose an experiment to directly probe the non-Abelian statistics of Majorana fermions by braiding them in an s-wave superfluid of ultracold atoms. We show different orders of braiding operations give orthogonal output states that can be distinguished through Raman spectroscopy. Realization of Majorana bound states in an s-wave superfluid requires strong spin-orbital coupling and a controllable Zeeman field in the perpendicular direction. We present a simple laser configuration to generate the artificial spin-orbital coupling and the required Zeeman field in the dark state subspace.Comment: 4 pages; Add detailed discussion of feasibility of the scheme;add ref

The Palomar Testbed Interferometer

The Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI) is a long-baseline infrared interferometer located at Palomar Observatory, California. It was built as a testbed for interferometric techniques applicable to the Keck Interferometer. First fringes were obtained in July 1995. PTI implements a dual-star architecture, tracking two stars simultaneously for phase referencing and narrow-angle astrometry. The three fixed 40-cm apertures can be combined pair-wise to provide baselines to 110 m. The interferometer actively tracks the white-light fringe using an array detector at 2.2 um and active delay lines with a range of +/- 38 m. Laser metrology of the delay lines allows for servo control, and laser metrology of the complete optical path enables narrow-angle astrometric measurements. The instrument is highly automated, using a multiprocessing computer system for instrument control and sequencing.Comment: ApJ in Press (Jan 99) Fig 1 available from http://huey.jpl.nasa.gov/~bode/ptiPicture.html, revised duging copy edi

Feasibility studies for quarkonium production at a fixed-target experiment using the LHC proton and lead beams (AFTER@LHC)

Used in the fixed-target mode, the multi-TeV LHC proton and lead beams allow for studies of heavy-flavour hadroproduction with unprecedented precision at backward rapidities - far negative Feyman-x - using conventional detection techniques. At the nominal LHC energies, quarkonia can be studies in detail in p+p, p+d and p+A collisions at sqrt(s_NN) ~ 115 GeV as well as in Pb+p and Pb+A collisions at sqrt(s_NN) ~ 72 GeV with luminosities roughly equivalent to that of the collider mode, i.e. up to 20 fb-1 yr-1 in p+p and p+d collisions, up to 0.6 fb-1 yr-1 in p+A collisions and up to 10 nb-1 yr-1 in Pb+A collisions. In this paper, we assess the feasibility of such studies by performing fast simulations using the performance of a LHCb-like detector.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure

Growth inhibition of cytosolic Salmonella by caspase-1 and caspase-11 precedes host cell death

Sensing bacterial products in the cytosol of mammalian cells by NOD-like receptors leads to the activation of caspase-1 inflammasomes, and the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-18 and IL-1β. In addition, mouse caspase-11 (represented in humans by its orthologs, caspase-4 and caspase-5) detects cytosolic bacterial LPS directly. Activation of caspase-1 and caspase-11 initiates pyroptotic host cell death that releases potentially harmful bacteria from the nutrient-rich host cell cytosol into the extracellular environment. Here we use single cell analysis and time-lapse microscopy to identify a subpopulation of host cells, in which growth of cytosolic Salmonella Typhimurium is inhibited independently or prior to the onset of cell death. The enzymatic activities of caspase-1 and caspase-11 are required for growth inhibition in different cell types. Our results reveal that these proteases have important functions beyond the direct induction of pyroptosis and proinflammatory cytokine secretion in the control of growth and elimination of cytosolic bacteria