Gamow-Teller sum rule in relativistic nuclear models

Relativistic corrections are investigated to the Gamow-Teller(GT) sum rule with respect to the difference between the $\beta_-$ and $\beta_+$ transition strengths in nuclei. Since the sum rule requires the complete set of the nuclear states, the relativistic corrections come from the anti-nucleon degrees of freedom. In the relativistic mean field approximation, the total GT strengths carried by the nucleon sector is quenched by about 12% in nuclear matter, while by about 8% in finite nuclei, compared to the sum rule value. The coupling between the particle-hole states with the nucleon-antinucleon states is also discussed with the relativistic random phase approximation, where the divergence of the response function is renormalized with use of the counter terms in the Lagrangian. It is shown that the approximation to neglect the divergence, like the no-sea approximation extensively used so far, is unphysical, from the sum-rule point of view.Comment: 12 pages, Brief review for Mod. Phys. Lett. A, using ws-mpla.cl

Simultaneously optimizing the interdependent thermoelectric parameters in Ce(Ni1−x_{1-x}Cux_x)2_2Al3_3

Substitution of Cu for Ni in the Kondo lattice system CeNi$_2$Al$_3$ results in a simultaneous optimization of the three interdependent thermoelectric parameters: thermoelectric power, electrical and thermal conductivities, where the electronic change in conduction band induced by the extra electron of Cu is shown to be crucial. The obtained thermoelectric figure of merit $zT$ amounts to 0.125 at around 100 K, comparable to the best values known for Kondo compounds. The realization of ideal thermoelectric optimization in Ce(Ni$_{1-x}$Cu$_x$)$_2$Al$_3$ indicates that proper electronic tuning of Kondo compounds is a promising approach to efficient thermoelectric materials for cryogenic application.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Josephson junction in cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 epitaxial thin films on (La, Sr)(Al, Ta)O3 bicrystal substrates

Josephson junctions were fabricated in epitaxial films of cobalt-doped BaFe2As2 on [001]-tilt (La,Sr)(Al,Ta)O3 bicrystal substrates. 10m-wide microbridges spanning a 30-degrees-tilted bicrystal grain boundary (BGB bridge) exhibited resistively-shunted-junction (RSJ)-like current-voltage characteristics up to 17 K, and the critical current was suppressed remarkably by a magnetic field. Microbridges without a BGB did not show the RSJ-like behavior, and their critical current densities were 20 times larger than those of BGB bridges, confirming BGB bridges display a Josephson effect originating from weakly-linked BGB

The Gamow-Teller States in Relativistic Nuclear Models

The Gamow-Teller(GT) states are investigated in relativistic models. The Landau-Migdal(LM) parameter is introduced in the Lagrangian as a contact term with the pseudo-vector coupling. In the relativistic model the total GT strength in the nucleon space is quenched by about 12% in nuclear matter and by about 6% in finite nuclei, compared with the one of the Ikeda-Fujii-Fujita sum rule. The quenched amount is taken by nucleon-antinucleon excitations in the time-like region. Because of the quenching, the relativistic model requires a larger value of the LM parameter than non-relativistic models in describing the excitation energy of the GT state. The Pauli blocking terms are not important for the description of the GT states.Comment: REVTeX4, no figure

Organization of multisynaptic inputs to the dorsal and ventral dentate gyrus: retrograde trans-synaptic tracing with rabies virus vector in the rat

Behavioral, anatomical, and gene expression studies have shown functional dissociations between the dorsal and ventral hippocampus with regard to their involvement in spatial cognition, emotion, and stress. In this study we examined the difference of the multisynaptic inputs to the dorsal and ventral dentate gyrus (DG) in the rat by using retrograde trans-synaptic tracing of recombinant rabies virus vectors. Three days after the vectors were injected into the dorsal or ventral DG, monosynaptic neuronal labeling was present in the entorhinal cortex, medial septum, diagonal band, and supramammillary nucleus, each of which is known to project to the DG directly. As in previous tracing studies, topographical patterns related to the dorsal and ventral DG were seen in these regions. Five days after infection, more of the neurons in these regions were labeled and labeled neurons were also seen in cortical and subcortical regions, including the piriform and medial prefrontal cortices, the endopiriform nucleus, the claustrum, the cortical amygdala, the medial raphe nucleus, the medial habenular nucleus, the interpeduncular nucleus, and the lateral septum. As in the monosynaptically labeled regions, a topographical distribution of labeled neurons was evident in most of these disynaptically labeled regions. These data indicate that the cortical and subcortical inputs to the dorsal and ventral DG are conveyed through parallel disynaptic pathways. This second-order input difference in the dorsal and ventral DG is likely to contribute to the functional differentiation of the hippocampus along the dorsoventral axis.© 2013 Ohara et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Complex Intramolecular Mechanics of G-actin - An Elastic Network Study

Systematic numerical investigations of conformational motions in single actin molecules were performed by employing a simple elastic-network (EN) model of this protein. Similar to previous investigations for myosin, we found that G-actin essentially behaves as a strain sensor, responding by well-defined domain motions to mechanical perturbations. Several sensitive residues within the nucleotide-binding pocket (NBP) could be identified, such that the perturbation of any of them can induce characteristic flattening of actin molecules and closing of the cleft between their two mobile domains. Extending the EN model by introduction of a set of breakable links which become effective only when two domains approach one another, it was observed that G-actin can possess a metastable state corresponding to a closed conformation and that a transition to this state can be induced by appropriate perturbations in the NBP region. The ligands were roughly modeled as a single particle (ADP) or a dimer (ATP), which were placed inside the NBP and connected by elastic links to the neighbors. Our approximate analysis suggests that, when ATP is present, it stabilizes the closed conformation of actin. This may play an important role in the explanation why, in the presence of ATP, the polymerization process is highly accelerated

Influence of Mo on the Fe:Mo:C nano-catalyst thermodynamics for single-walled carbon nanotube growth

We explore the role of Mo in Fe:Mo nanocatalyst thermodynamics for low-temperature chemical vapor deposition growth of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). By using the size-pressure approximation and ab initio modeling, we prove that for both Fe-rich (~80% Fe or more) and Mo-rich (~50% Mo or more) Fe:Mo clusters, the presence of carbon in the cluster causes nucleation of Mo2C. This enhances the activity of the particle since it releases Fe, which is initially bound in a stable Fe:Mo phase, so that it can catalyze SWCNT growth. Furthermore, the presence of small concentrations of Mo reduce the lower size limit of low-temperature steady-state growth from ~0.58nm for pure Fe particles to ~0.52nm. Our ab initio-thermodynamic modeling explains experimental results and establishes a new direction to search for better catalysts.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. submitte