Critical Behavior of Light

Light is shown to exhibit critical and tricritical behavior in passive mode-locked lasers with externally injected pulses. It is a first and unique example of critical phenomena in a one-dimensional many body light-mode system. The phase diagrams consist of regimes with continuous wave, driven para-pulses, spontaneous pulses via mode condensation, and heterogeneous pulses, separated by phase transition lines which terminate with critical or tricritical points. Enhanced nongaussian fluctuations and collective dynamics are observed at the critical and tricritical points, showing a mode system analog of the critical opalescence phenomenon. The critical exponents are calculated and shown to comply with the mean field theory, which is rigorous in the light system.Comment: RevTex, 5 pages, 3 figure

Metamagnetism in the 2D Hubbard Model with easy axis

Although the Hubbard model is widely investigated, there are surprisingly few attempts to study the behavior of such a model in an external magnetic field. Using the Projector Quantum Monte Carlo technique, we show that the Hubbard model with an easy axis exhibits metamagnetic behavior if an external field is turned on. For the case of intermediate correlations strength $U$, we observe a smooth transition from an antiferromagnetic regime to a paramagnetic phase. While the staggered magnetization will decrease linearly up to a critical field $B_c$, uniform magnetization develops only for fields higher than $B_c$.Comment: RevTeX 5 pages + 2 postscript figures (included), accepted for PRB Rapid Communication

Large Orbital Magnetic Moment and Coulomb Correlation effects in FeBr2

We have performed an all-electron fully relativistic density functional calculation to study the magnetic properties of FeBr2. We show for the first time that the correlation effect enhances the contribution from orbital degrees of freedom of $d$ electrons to the total magnetic moment on Fe$^{2+}$ as opposed to common notion of nearly total quenching of the orbital moment on Fe$^{2+}$ site. The insulating nature of the system is correctly predicted when the Hubbard parameter U is included. Energy bands around the gap are very narrow in width and originate from the localized Fe-3$d$ orbitals, which indicates that FeBr2 is a typical example of the Mott insulator.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, revtex4, PRB accepte

Metamagnetism and critical fluctuations in high quality single crystals of the bilayer ruthenate Sr3Ru2O7

We report the results of low temperature transport, specific heat and magnetisation measurements on high quality single crystals of the bilayer perovskite Sr3Ru2O7, which is a close relative of the unconventional superconductor Sr2RuO4. Metamagnetism is observed, and transport and thermodynamic evidence for associated critical fluctuations is presented. These relatively unusual fluctuations might be pictured as variations in the Fermi surface topography itself. No equivalent behaviour has been observed in the metallic state of Sr2RuO4.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Revtex 3.

Competing Ground States in Triple-layered Sr4Ru3O10: Verging on Itinerant Ferromagnetism with Critical Fluctuations

Sr4Ru3O10 is characterized by a sharp metamagnetic transition and ferromagnetic behavior occurring within the basal plane and along the c-axis, respectively. Resistivity at magnetic field, B, exhibits low-frequency quantum oscillations when B||c-axis and large magnetoresistivity accompanied by critical fluctuations driven by the metamagnetism when B^c-axis. The complex behavior evidenced in resistivity, magnetization and specific heat presented is not characteristic of any obvious ground states, and points to an exotic state that shows a delicate balance between fluctuations and order.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

Multiple Field-Induced Phase Transitions in a Geometrically-Frustrated Dipolar Magnet - Gd2Ti2O7

Field-driven phase transitions generally arise from competition between Zeeman energy and exchange or crystal-field anisotropy. Here we present the phase diagram of a frustrated pyrochlore magnet Gd2Ti2O7, where crystal field splitting is small compared to the dipolar energy. We find good agreement between zero-temperature critical fields and those obtained from a mean-field model. Here, dipolar interactions couple real-space and spin-space, so the transitions in Gd2Ti2O7 arise from field-induced "cooperative anisotropy" reflecting the broken spatial symmetries of the pyrochlore lattice.Comment: 10pages,5figures: pdf file attached PACS 75.30.Kz, 75.50.Ee, 75.10.-

Prospective cohort study of procalcitonin levels in children with cancer presenting with febrile neutropenia

BACKGROUND: Febrile neutropenia (FNP) causes significant morbidity and mortality in children undergoing treatment for cancer. The development of clinical decision rules to help stratify risks in paediatric FNP patients and the use of inflammatory biomarkers to identify high risk patients is an area of recent research. This study aimed to assess if procalcitonin (PCT) levels could be used to help diagnose or exclude severe infection in children with cancer who present with febrile neutropenia, both as a single measurement and in addition to previously developed clinical decision rules. METHODS: This prospective cohort study of a diagnostic test included patients between birth and 18 years old admitted with febrile neutropenia to the Paediatric Oncology and Haematology Ward in Leeds between 1(st) October 2012 and 30(th) September 2013. Each admission with FNP was treated as a separate episode. Blood was taken for a procalcitonin level at admission with routine investigations. 'R' was used for statistical analysis. Likelihood ratios were calculated and multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Forty-eight episodes from 27 patients were included. PCT >2 ng/dL was strongly associated with increased risk of severe infection (likelihood ratio of 26 [95% CI 3.5, 190]). The data suggests that the clinical decision rules are largely ineffective at risk stratification, frequently over-stating the risk of individual episodes. High procalcitonin levels on admission are correlated with a greatly increased risk of severe infection. CONCLUSIONS: This study does not show a definitive benefit in using PCT in FNP though it supports further research on its use. The benefit of novel biomarkers has not been proven and before introducing new tests for patients it is important their benefit above existing features is proven, particularly due to the increasing importance of health economics

Daptomycin versus vancomycin plus gentamicin for treatment of bacteraemia and endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus: subset analysis of patients infected with methicillin-resistant isolates

Objectives: In a prospective, randomized trial, daptomycin was non-inferior to standard therapy for Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and right-sided endocarditis. Since rates of infection due to methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) infection are increasing and treatment outcomes for bacteraemia caused by MRSA are generally worse than those observed with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bacteraemia, clinical characteristics and treatment results in the trial’s pre-specified subset of patients with MRSA were analysed. Methods: Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients receiving daptomycin were compared with those receiving vancomycin plus low-dose gentamicin. Success was defined as clinical improvement with clearance of bacteraemia among patients who completed adequate therapy, received no potentially effective non-study antibiotics and had negative blood cultures 6 weeks after end of therapy. Results: Twenty of the 45 (44.4%) daptomycin patients and 14 of the 43 (32.6%) vancomycin/gentamicin patients were successfully treated (difference 11.9%; confidence interval −8.3 to 32.1). Success rates for daptomycin versus vancomycin/gentamicin were 45% versus 27% in complicated bacteraemia, 60% versus 45% in uncomplicated bacteraemia and 50% versus 50% in right-sided MRSA endocarditis. Cure rates in patients with septic emboli and in patients who received pre-enrolment vancomycin were similar between treatment groups. However, in both treatment groups, success rates were lower in the elderly (≥75 years). Persisting or relapsing bacteraemia occurred in 27% of daptomycin and 21% of vancomycin/gentamicin patients; among these patients, MICs of ≥2 mg/L occurred in five daptomycin and four vancomycin/gentamicin patients. The clinical course of several patients may have been influenced by lack of surgical intervention. Conclusions: Daptomycin was an effective alternative to vancomycin/gentamicin for MRSA bacteraemia or right-sided endocarditis