4,268 research outputs found
Field-induced Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid phase of a two-leg spin-1/2 ladder with strong leg interactions
We study the magnetic-field-induced quantum phase transition from a gapped
quantum phase that has no magnetic long-range order into a gapless phase in the
spin-1/2 ladder compound bis(2,3-dimethylpyridinium) tetrabromocuprate (DIMPY).
At temperatures below about 1 K, the specific heat in the gapless phase attains
an asymptotic linear temperature dependence, characteristic of a
Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid. Inelastic neutron scattering and the specific heat
measurements in both phases are in good agreement with theoretical
calculations, demonstrating that DIMPY is the first model material for an S=1/2
two-leg spin ladder in the strong-leg regime.Comment: 4.1 pages, 4 figures (Fig. 4 updated), to appear in Physical Review
Letter
A Model of Tuberculosis Screening for Pregnant Women in Resource-Limited Settings Using Xpert MTB/RIF
Timely diagnosis and treatment of maternal tuberculosis (TB) is important to reduce morbidity and mortality for both the mother and child, particularly in women who are coinfected with HIV. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the integration of TB/HIV screening into antenatal services but available diagnostic tools are slow and insensitive, resulting in delays in treatment initiation. Recently the WHO endorsed Xpert MTB/RIF, a highly sensitive, real-time PCR assay for Mycobacterium tuberculosis that simultaneously detects rifampicin resistance directly from sputum and provides results within 100 minutes. We propose a model for same-day TB screening and diagnosis of all pregnant women at antenatal care using Xpert MTB/RIF. Pilot studies are urgently required to evaluate strategies for the integration of TB screening into antenatal clinics using new diagnostic technologies
A model of tuberculosis screening for pregnant women in resource-limited settings using Xpert MTB/RIF
Timely diagnosis and treatment of maternal tuberculosis (TB) is important to reduce morbidity and mortality for both the mother and child, particularly in women who are coinfected with HIV. TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) recommends the integration of TB/HIV screening into antenatal services but available diagnostic tools are slow and insensitive, resulting in delays in treatment initiation. Recently the WHO endorsed Xpert MTB/RIF, a highly sensitive, real-time PCR assay for Mycobacterium tuberculosis that simultaneously detects rifampicin resistance directly from sputum and provides results within 100 minutes. We propose a model for same-day TB screening and diagnosis of all pregnant women at antenatal care using Xpert MTB/RIF. Pilot studies are urgently required to evaluate strategies for the integration of TB screening into antenatal clinics using new diagnostic technologies
A Model of Tuberculosis Screening for Pregnant Women in Resource-Limited Settings Using Xpert MTB/RIF
Timely diagnosis and treatment of maternal tuberculosis (TB) is important to reduce morbidity and mortality for both the mother and child, particularly in women who are coinfected with HIV. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the integration of TB/HIV screening into antenatal services but available diagnostic tools are slow and insensitive, resulting in delays in treatment initiation. Recently the WHO endorsed Xpert MTB/RIF, a highly sensitive, real-time PCR assay for Mycobacterium tuberculosis that simultaneously detects rifampicin resistance directly from sputum and provides results within 100 minutes. We propose a model for same-day TB screening and diagnosis of all pregnant women at antenatal care using Xpert MTB/RIF. Pilot studies are urgently required to evaluate strategies for the integration of TB screening into antenatal clinics using new diagnostic technologies
Chirped pulse Raman amplification in warm plasma: towards controlling saturation
Stimulated Raman backscattering in plasma is potentially an efficient method of amplifying laser pulses to reach exawatt powers because plasma is fully broken down and withstands extremely high electric fields. Plasma also has unique nonlinear optical properties that allow simultaneous compression of optical pulses to ultra-short durations. However, current measured efficiencies are limited to several percent. Here we investigate Raman amplification of short duration seed pulses with different chirp rates using a chirped pump pulse in a preformed plasma waveguide. We identify electron trapping and wavebreaking as the main saturation mechanisms, which lead to spectral broadening and gain saturation when the seed reaches several millijoules for durations of 10's - 100's fs for 250 ps, 800 nm chirped pump pulses. We show that this prevents access to the nonlinear regime and limits the efficiency, and interpret the experimental results using slowly-varying-amplitude, current-averaged particle-in-cell simulations. We also propose methods for achieving higher efficiencies.close0
Neutron scattering from a coordination polymer quantum paramagnet
Inelastic neutron scattering measurements are reported for a powder sample of
the spin-1/2 quantum paramagnet . Magnetic neutron
scattering is identified above an energy gap of 1.9 meV. Analysis of the sharp
spectral maximum at the onset indicates that the material is magnetically
quasi-one-dimensional. Consideration of the wave vector dependence of the
scattering and polymeric structure further identifies the material as a
two-legged spin-1/2 ladder. Detailed comparison of the data to various models
of magnetism in this material based on the single mode approximation and the
continuous unitary transformation are presented. The latter theory provides an
excellent account of the data with leg exchange meV and
rung exchange meV.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures, 1 tabl
Numerical Study of a Mixed Ising Ferrimagnetic System
We present a study of a classical ferrimagnetic model on a square lattice in
which the two interpenetrating square sublattices have spins one-half and one.
This model is relevant for understanding bimetallic molecular ferrimagnets that
are currently being synthesized by several experimental groups. We perform
exact ground-state calculations for the model and employ Monte Carlo and
numerical transfer-matrix techniques to obtain the finite-temperature phase
diagram for both the transition and compensation temperatures. When only
nearest-neighbor interactions are included, our nonperturbative results
indicate no compensation point or tricritical point at finite temperature,
which contradicts earlier results obtained with mean-field analysis.Comment: Figures can be obtained by request to [email protected] or
[email protected]
Searching for Earth analogues around the nearest stars: the disk age-metallicity relation and the age distribution in the Solar Neighbourhood
The chemical composition of Earth's atmosphere has undergone substantial
evolution over the course of its history. It is possible, even likely, that
terrestrial planets in other planetary systems have undergone similar changes;
consequently, the age distribution of nearby stars is an important
consideration in designing surveys for Earth-analogues. Valenti & Fischer
(2005) provide age and metallicity estimates for 1039 FGK dwarfs in the Solar
Neighbourhood. Using the Hipparcos catalogue as a reference to calibrate
potential biases, we have extracted volume-limited samples of nearby stars from
the Valenti-Fischer dataset. Unlike other recent investigations, our analysis
shows clear evidence for an age-metallicity relation in the local disk, albeit
with substantial dispersion at any epoch. The mean metallicity increases from
-0.3 dex at a lookback time of ~10 Gyrs to +0.15 dex at the present day.
Supplementing the Valenti-Fischer measurements with literature data to give a
complete volume-limited sample, the age distribution of nearby FGK dwarfs is
broadly consistent with a uniform star-formation rate over the history of the
Galactic disk. In striking contrast, most stars known to have planetary
companions are younger than 5 Gyrs; however, stars with planetary companions
within 0.4 AU have a significantly flatter age distribution, indicating that
those systems are stable on timescales of many Gyrs. Several of the older,
lower metallicity host stars have enhanced [alpha/Fe] ratios, implying
membership of the thick disk. If the frequency of terrestrial planets is also
correlated with stellar metallicity, then the median age of such planetary
system is likely to be ~3 Gyrs. We discuss the implications of this hypothesis
in designing searches for Earth analogues among the nearby stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Direct calculation of the hard-sphere crystal/melt interfacial free energy
We present a direct calculation by molecular-dynamics computer simulation of
the crystal/melt interfacial free energy, , for a system of hard
spheres of diameter . The calculation is performed by thermodynamic
integration along a reversible path defined by cleaving, using specially
constructed movable hard-sphere walls, separate bulk crystal and fluid systems,
which are then merged to form an interface. We find the interfacial free energy
to be slightly anisotropic with = 0.62, 0.64 and
0.58 for the (100), (110) and (111) fcc crystal/fluid
interfaces, respectively. These values are consistent with earlier density
functional calculations and recent experiments measuring the crystal nucleation
rates from colloidal fluids of polystyrene spheres that have been interpreted
[Marr and Gast, Langmuir {\bf 10}, 1348 (1994)] to give an estimate of
for the hard-sphere system of , slightly lower
than the directly determined value reported here.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
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