1,789 research outputs found
Weakening of the stratospheric polar vortex by Arctic sea-ice loss
Successive cold winters of severely low temperatures in recent years have had critical social and economic impacts on the mid-latitude continents in the Northern Hemisphere. Although these cold winters are thought to be partly driven by dramatic losses of Arctic sea-ice, the mechanism that links sea-ice loss to cold winters remains a subject of debate. Here, by conducting observational analyses and model experiments, we show how Arctic sea-ice loss and cold winters in extra-polar regions are dynamically connected through the polar stratosphere. We find that decreased sea-ice cover during early winter months (November-December), especially over the Barents-Kara seas, enhances the upward propagation of planetary-scale waves with wavenumbers of 1 and 2, subsequently weakening the stratospheric polar vortex in mid-winter (January-February). The weakened polar vortex preferentially induces a negative phase of Arctic Oscillation at the surface, resulting in low temperatures in mid-latitudes.open11167174Ysciescopu
Arginase from kiwifruit: properties and seasonal variation
The in vitro activity of arginase (EC 3.5.3.1) was investigated in youngest-mature leaves and roots (1-3 mm diameter) of kiwifruit vines (Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa) during an annual growth cycle, and enzyme from root material partially purified. No seasonal trend in the specific activity of arginase was observed in roots. Measurements in leaves, however, rose gradually during early growth and plateaued c. 17 weeks after budbreak. Changes in arginase activity were not correlated with changes in the concentration of arginine (substrate) or glutamine (likely end-product of arginine catabolism) in either tissue during the growth cycle. Purification was by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The kinetic properties of the enzyme, purified 60-fold over that in crude extracts, indicated a pH optimum of 8.8, and a Km (L-arginine) of 7.85 mM. Partially-purified enzyme was deactivated by dialysis against EDTA, and reactivated in the presence of MnĀ²āŗ, CoĀ²āŗ, and NiĀ²āŗ
Microstructure-dependent DC set switching behaviors of Ge-Sb-Te-based phase-change random access memory devices accessed by in situ TEM
Phase-change random access memory (PCRAM) is one of the most promising nonvolatile memory devices. However, inability to secure consistent and reliable switching operations in nanometer-scale programing volumes limits its practical use for highdensity applications. Here, we report in situ transmission electron microscopy investigation of the DC set switching of Ge-Sb-Te (GST)-based vertical PCRAM cells. We demonstrate that the microstructure of GST, particularly the passive component surrounding the dome-shaped active switching volume, plays a critical role in determining the local temperature distribution and is therefore responsible for inconsistent cell-to-cell switching behaviors. As demonstrated by a PCRAM cell with a highly crystallized GST matrix, the excessive Joule heat can cause melting and evaporation of the switching volume, resulting in device failure. The failure occurred via two-step void formation due to accelerated phase separation in the molten GST by the polaritydependent atomic migration of constituent elements. The presented real-time observations contribute to the understanding of inconsistent switching and premature failure of GST-based PCRAM cells and can guide future design of reliable PCRAM.1176Ysciescopu
Electrified plasma in AdS/CFT correspondence
We construct new gravity backgrounds holographic dual to neutral plasma with
U(1) global symmetry in the presence of constant electric field, considering
its full back-reactions to the metric. As the electric field and the induced
current cause a net energy in-flow to the system, the plasma is continually
heated up and the corresponding gravity solution has an expanding horizon.
After proposing a consistent late-time expansion scheme, we present analytic
solutions in the scheme up to next-leading order, and our solutions are new
time-dependent solutions of 5D asymptotic AdS Einstein-Maxwell(-Chern-Simons)
theory. To extract dual CFT stress tensor and U(1) current from the solutions,
we perform a rigorous holographic renormalization of
Einstein-Maxwell-Chern-Simons theory including full back-reactions, which can
in itself be an interesting addition to literatures. As by-products, we obtain
interesting modifications of energy-momentum/current Ward identities due to the
U(1) symmetry and its triangle anomaly.Comment: 27 pages, no figure, v3, minor typos fixed, matches with published
versio
Holographic chiral magnetic spiral
We study the ground state of baryonic/axial matter at zero temperature
chiral-symmetry broken phase under a large magnetic field, in the framework of
holographic QCD by Sakai-Sugimoto. Our study is motivated by a recent proposal
of chiral magnetic spiral phase that has been argued to be favored against
previously studied phase of homogeneous distribution of axial/baryonic currents
in terms of meson super-currents dictated by triangle anomalies in QCD. Our
results provide an existence proof of chiral magnetic spiral in strong coupling
regime via holography, at least for large axial chemical potentials, whereas we
don't find the phenomenon in the case of purely baryonic chemical potential.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figure
Eft for DFT
These lectures give an overview of the ongoing application of effective field
theory (EFT) and renormalization group (RG) concepts and methods to density
functional theory (DFT), with special emphasis on the nuclear many-body
problem.Comment: 57 pages, to appear in the proceedings of the ECT* school on
"Renormalization Group and Effective Field Theory Approaches to Many-Body
Systems", Springer Lecture Notes in Physics; acknowledgment adde
Holographic RG flow of the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio in strongly coupled anisotropic plasma
We study holographic RG flow of the shear viscosity tensor of anisotropic,
strongly coupled N=4 super-Yang-Mills plasma by using its type IIB supergravity
dual in anisotropic bulk spacetime. We find that the shear viscosity tensor has
three independent components in the anisotropic bulk spacetime away from the
boundary, and one of the components has a non-trivial RG flow while the other
two have a trivial one. For the component of the shear viscosity tensor with
non-trivial RG flow, we derive its RG flow equation, and solve the equation
analytically to second order in the anisotropy parameter 'a'. We derive the RG
equation using the equation of motion, holographic Wilsonian RG method, and
Kubo's formula. All methods give the same result. Solving the equation, we find
that the ratio of the component of the shear viscosity tensor to entropy
density 'eta/s' flows from above '1/4pi' at the horizon (IR) to below '1/4pi'
at the boundary (UV) where it violates the holographic shear viscosity
(Kovtun-Son-Starinets) bound and where it agrees with the other longitudinal
component.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, slight change on the title, more background
material added, references added, accepted for publication in JHE
Holographic GB gravity in arbitrary dimensions
We study the properties of the holographic CFT dual to Gauss-Bonnet gravity
in general dimensions. We establish the AdS/CFT dictionary and in
particular relate the couplings of the gravitational theory to the universal
couplings arising in correlators of the stress tensor of the dual CFT. This
allows us to examine constraints on the gravitational couplings by demanding
consistency of the CFT. In particular, one can demand positive energy fluxes in
scattering processes or the causal propagation of fluctuations. We also examine
the holographic hydrodynamics, commenting on the shear viscosity as well as the
relaxation time. The latter allows us to consider causality constraints arising
from the second-order truncated theory of hydrodynamics.Comment: 48 pages, 9 figures. v2: New discussion on free fields in subsection
3.3 and new appendix B on conformal tensor fields. Added comments on the
relation between the central charge appearing in the two-point function and
the "central charge" characterizing the entropy density in the discussion.
References adde
Distribution of CD133 reveals glioma stem cells self-renew through symmetric and asymmetric cell divisions
Malignant gliomas contain a population of self-renewing tumorigenic stem-like cells; however, it remains unclear how these glioma stem cells (GSCs) self-renew or generate cellular diversity at the single-cell level. Asymmetric cell division is a proposed mechanism to maintain cancer stem cells, yet the modes of cell division that GSCs utilize remain undetermined. Here, we used single-cell analyses to evaluate the cell division behavior of GSCs. Lineage-tracing analysis revealed that the majority of GSCs were generated through expansive symmetric cell division and not through asymmetric cell division. The majority of differentiated progeny was generated through symmetric pro-commitment divisions under expansion conditions and in the absence of growth factors, occurred mainly through asymmetric cell divisions. Mitotic pair analysis detected asymmetric CD133 segregation and not any other GSC marker in a fraction of mitoses, some of which were associated with Numb asymmetry. Under growth factor withdrawal conditions, the proportion of asymmetric CD133 divisions increased, congruent with the increase in asymmetric cell divisions observed in the lineage-tracing studies. Using single-cell-based observation, we provide definitive evidence that GSCs are capable of different modes of cell division and that the generation of cellular diversity occurs mainly through symmetric cell division, not through asymmetric cell division
String Theory on Warped AdS_3 and Virasoro Resonances
We investigate aspects of holographic duals to time-like warped AdS_3
space-times--which include G\"odel's universe--in string theory. Using
worldsheet techniques similar to those that have been applied to AdS_3
backgrounds, we are able to identify space-time symmetry algebras that act on
the dual boundary theory. In particular, we always find at least one Virasoro
algebra with computable central charge. Interestingly, there exists a dense set
of points in the moduli space of these models in which there is actually a
second commuting Virasoro algebra, typically with different central charge than
the first. We analyze the supersymmetry of the backgrounds, finding related
enhancements, and comment on possible interpretations of these results. We also
perform an asymptotic symmetry analysis at the level of supergravity, providing
additional support for the worldsheet analysis.Comment: 24 pages + appendice
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