Curve crossing in linear potential grids: the quasidegeneracy approximation

The quasidegeneracy approximation [V. A. Yurovsky, A. Ben-Reuven, P. S. Julienne, and Y. B. Band, J. Phys. B {\bf 32}, 1845 (1999)] is used here to evaluate transition amplitudes for the problem of curve crossing in linear potential grids involving two sets of parallel potentials. The approximation describes phenomena, such as counterintuitive transitions and saturation (incomplete population transfer), not predictable by the assumption of independent crossings. Also, a new kind of oscillations due to quantum interference (different from the well-known St\"uckelberg oscillations) is disclosed, and its nature discussed. The approximation can find applications in many fields of physics, where multistate curve crossing problems occur.Comment: LaTeX, 8 pages, 8 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX and psfig, submitted to Physical Review

Quest for a potent antimalarial drug lead: synthesis and evaluation of 6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline-2,4-diamines

Quinazolines have long been known to exert varied pharmacologic activities that make them suitable for use in treating hypertension, viral infections, tumors, and malaria. Since 2014, we have synthesized approximately 150 different 6,7-dimethoxyquinazoline-2,4-diamines and evaluated their antimalarial activity via structure-activity relationship studies. Here, we summarize the results and report the discovery of 6,7-dimethoxy-N(4)-(1-phenylethyl)-2-(pyrrolidin-1-yl)quinazolin-4-amine (20, SSJ-717), which exhibits high antimalarial activity as a promising antimalarial drug lead

Consistency tests of AMPCALCULATOR and chiral amplitudes in SU(3) Chiral Perturbation Theory: A tutorial based approach

Ampcalculator is a Mathematica based program that was made publicly available some time ago by Unterdorfer and Ecker. It enables the user to compute several processes at one-loop (upto $O(p^4)$) in SU(3) chiral perturbation theory. They include computing matrix elements and form factors for strong and non-leptonic weak processes with at most six external states. It was used to compute some novel processes and was tested against well-known results by the original authors. Here we present the results of several thorough checks of the package. Exhaustive checks performed by the original authors are not publicly available, and hence the present effort. Some new results are obtained from the software especially in the kaon odd-intrinsic parity non-leptonic decay sector involving the coupling $G_{27}$. Another illustrative set of amplitudes at tree level we provide is in the context of $\tau$-decays with several mesons including quark mass effects, of use to the BELLE experiment. All eight meson-meson scattering amplitudes have been checked. Kaon-Compton amplitude has been checked and a minor error in published results has been pointed out. This exercise is a tutorial based one, wherein several input and output notebooks are also being made available as ancillary files on the arXiv. Some of the additional notebooks we provide contain explicit expressions that we have used for comparison with established results. The purpose is to encourage users to apply the software to suit their specific needs. An automatic amplitude generator of this type can provide error-free outputs that could be used as inputs for further simplification, and used in varied scenarios such as applications of chiral perturbation theory at finite temperature, density and volume. This can also be used by students as a learning aid in low-energy hadron dynamics.Comment: 25 pages, plain latex, corresponds to version to appear in EPJA, additional ancillary files adde

Universal temperature dependence of electron number in one-dimensional Hubbard model

We investigate the temperature region in which a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) description of the charge sector of the one-dimensional Hubbard model is valid. By using the thermodynamic Bethe ansatz method, electron number is calculated at finite temperatures and fixed chemical potential. We observe maximum electron number as a function of temperature close to the chemical potential of the upper critical value that corresponds to half filling. As the chemical potential approaches the upper critical value from below, the temperature $(T_{\rm M})$ at which the electron number shows its maximum asymptotically approaches a universal relation. We show that, below the energy corresponding to $T_{\rm M}$, the charge excitation spectrum nearly obeys a linear dispersion relation. The results demonstrate that $T_{\rm M}$ marks the important temperature below which TLL is realized.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Middle-Field Cusp Singularities in the Magnetization Process of One-Dimensional Quantum Antiferromagnets

We study the zero-temperature magnetization process (M-H curve) of one-dimensional quantum antiferromagnets using a variant of the density-matrix renormalization group method. For both the S=1/2 zig-zag spin ladder and the S=1 bilinear-biquadratic chain, we find clear cusp-type singularities in the middle-field region of the M-H curve. These singularities are successfully explained in terms of the double-minimum shape of the energy dispersion of the low-lying excitations. For the S=1/2 zig-zag spin ladder, we find that the cusp formation accompanies the Fermi-liquid to non-Fermi-liquid transition.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 3 figures, some mistakes in references are correcte

Search for Lepton-Flavor-Violating tau Decays into a Lepton and an f0(980) Meson

We search for lepton-flavor-violating tau decays into a lepton (electron or muon) and an f0(980) meson using 671 fb-1 of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. No events are observed and we set the following 90% C.L. upper limits on the branching fraction products: B(tau- -> e-f0(980))*B(f0(980)->pi+pi-) mu-f0(980))*B(f0(980) -> pi+pi-)<3.4x10^-8. This is the first search performed for these modes.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett.

Precise measurement of hadronic tau-decays with an eta meson

We have studied hadronic tau decay modes involving an eta meson using 490 fb^{-1} of data collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. The following branching fractions have been measured: B(tau- -> K- eta nu)=(1.58 +- 0.05 +- 0.09)x 10^{-4}, B(tau- -> K- pi0 eta nu)=(4.6 +- 1.1 +- 0.4)x 10^{-5}, B(tau- -> pi- pi0 eta nu)=(1.35 +- 0.03 +- 0.07)x 10^{-3}, B(tau- -> pi- KS eta nu)=(4.4 +- 0.7 +- 0.2)x 10^{-5}, and B(tau- -> K^{*-} eta nu)=(1.34 +- 0.12 +- 0.09)x 10^{-4}. These results are substantially more precise than previous measurements. The new measurements are compared with theoretical calculations based on the CVC hypothesis or the chiral perturbation theory. We also set upper limits on branching fractions for tau decays into K- KS eta nu, pi- KS pi0 eta nu, K- eta eta nu, pi- eta eta nu and non-resonant K- pi^0 eta nu final states.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figure

Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid in quasi-one-dimensional antiferromagnet BaCo2V2O8 in magnetic fields

Motivated by recent studies on the quasi-one-dimensional (1D) antiferromagnet BaCo2V2O8, we investigate the Tomonaga-Luttinger-liquid properties of the 1D S=1/2 XXZ Heisenberg-Ising model in magnetic fields. By using the Bethe ansatz solution, thermodynamic quantities and the divergence exponent of the NMR relaxation rate are calculated. We observe a magnetization minimum as a function of temperature (T) close to the critical field. As the magnetic field approaches the critical field, the minimum temperature asymptotically approaches the universal relation in agreement with the recent results by Maeda et al. in Phys. Rev. Lett. 99 (2007) 057205. We observe T-linear specific heat below the temperature of the magnetization minimum. The field dependence of its coefficient agrees with the results based on conformal field theory. The field dependence of the divergence exponent of the NMR relaxation rate with decreasing temperature is obtained, indicating a change in the critical properties. The results are discussed in connection with experiments on BaCo2V2O8.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, J. Phy. Soc. Jpn 77, 074717 (2008

Antibody Recognition of Cancer-Related Gangliosides and Their Mimics Investigated Using in silico Site Mapping

Modified gangliosides may be overexpressed in certain types of cancer, thus, they are considered a valuable target in cancer immunotherapy. Structural knowledge of their interaction with antibodies is currently limited, due to the large size and high flexibility of these ligands. In this study, we apply our previously developed site mapping technique to investigate the recognition of cancer-related gangliosides by anti-ganglioside antibodies. The results reveal a potential ganglioside-binding motif in the four antibodies studied, suggesting the possibility of structural convergence in the anti-ganglioside immune response. The structural basis of the recognition of ganglioside-mimetic peptides is also investigated using site mapping and compared to ganglioside recognition. The peptides are shown to act as structural mimics of gangliosides by interacting with many of the same binding site residues as the cognate carbohydrate epitopes. These studies provide important clues as to the structural basis of immunological mimicry of carbohydrates