545 research outputs found
A simple mechanism for the reversals of Earth's magnetic field
We show that a model, recently used to describe all the dynamical regimes of
the magnetic field generated by the dynamo effect in the VKS experiment [1],
also provides a simple explanation of the reversals of Earth's magnetic field,
despite strong differences between both systems.Comment: update version, with new figure
An analysis of the fluctuations of the geomagnetic dipole
The time evolution of the strength of the Earth's virtual axial dipole moment
(VADM) is analyzed by relating it to the Fokker-Planck equation, which
describes a random walk with VADM-dependent drift and diffusion coefficients.
We demonstrate first that our method is able to retrieve the correct shape of
the drift and diffusion coefficients from a time series generated by a test
model. Analysis of the Sint-2000 data shows that the geomagnetic dipole mode
has a linear growth time of 13 to 33 kyr, and that the nonlinear quenching of
the growth rate follows a quadratic function of the type [1-(x/x0)^2]. On
theoretical grounds, the diffusive motion of the VADM is expected to be driven
by multiplicative noise, and the corresponding diffusion coefficient to scale
quadratically with dipole strength. However, analysis of the Sint-2000 VADM
data reveals a diffusion which depends only very weakly on the dipole strength.
This may indicate that the magnetic field quenches the amplitude of the
turbulent velocity in the Earth's outer core.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Spin Currents Induced by Nonuniform Rashba-Type Spin-Orbit Field
We study the spin relaxation torque in nonmagnetic or ferromagnetic metals
with nonuniform spin-orbit coupling within the Keldysh Green's function
formalism. In non-magnet, the relaxation torque is shown to arise when the
spin-orbit coupling is not uniform. In the absence of an external field, the
spin current induced by the relaxation torque is proportional to the vector
chirality of Rashba-type spin-orbit field (RSOF). In the presence of an
external field, on the other hand, spin relaxation torque arises from the
coupling of the external field and vector chirality of RSOF. Our result
indicates that spin-sink or source effects are controlled by designing RSOF in
junctions.Comment: 3 figure
Decreased resistin expression in mice with different sensitivities to a high-fat diet
The regulation of resistin, a new adipose-derived circulating factor, is the subject of controversy. In particular, the question of its modulation in obesity led to opposite results reported by two different groups. In the current study, we assayed adipocyte resistin mRNA using fluorescent real-time RT-PCR. We studied the expression of resistin in mice which are differently sensitive to diet-induced obesity: the FVB/n strain, which poorly responds to high-fat diet and transgenic mice that express human alpha 2A-AR in adipose tissue in the absence of beta 3-adrenergic receptor (AR) under the FVB genetic background which are highly sensitive to high-fat diet and develop hyperplastic obesity. We observed that FVB mice, which have no significant increased body weight after an 8-week high-fat diet period, exhibited no alteration of resistin expression. In contrast, the transgenic mice developing high-fat diet-induced obesity exhibited markedly downregulated adipocyte resistin mRNA. We also showed that obesity induced by gold thioglucose injection in FVB/n mice reduces the expression of resistin in isolated adipocytes. This argues for decreased expression of resistin as a hallmark of obesity. Moreover, our data show that feeding a high-fat diet is not a primary determinant of resistin regulation
Different steady states for spin currents in noncollinear multilayers
We find there are at least two different steady states for transport across
noncollinear magnetic multilayers. In the conventional one there is a
discontinuity in the spin current across the interfaces which has been
identified as the source of current induced magnetic reversal; in the one
advocated herein the spin torque arises from the spin accumulation transverse
to the magnetization of a magnetic layer. These two states have quite different
attributes which should be discerned by current experiments.Comment: 8 pages, no figure. Accepted for publication in Journal of Physics:
Condensed Matte
The use of urinary proteomics in the assessment of suitability of mouse models for ageing
Ageing is a complex process characterised by a systemic and progressive deterioration of biological functions. As ageing is associated with an increased prevalence of age-related chronic disorders, understanding its underlying molecular mechanisms can pave the way for therapeutic interventions and managing complications. Animal models such as mice are commonly used in ageing research as they have a shorter lifespan in comparison to humans and are also genetically close to humans. To assess the translatability of mouse ageing to human ageing, the urinary proteome in 89 wild-type (C57BL/6) mice aged between 8–96 weeks was investigated using capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry (CE-MS). Using age as a continuous variable, 295 peptides significantly correlated with age in mice were identified. To investigate the relevance of using mouse models in human ageing studies, a comparison was performed with a previous correlation analysis using 1227 healthy subjects. In mice and humans, a decrease in urinary excretion of fibrillar collagens and an increase of uromodulin fragments was observed with advanced age. Of the 295 peptides correlating with age, 49 had a strong homology to the respective human age-related peptides. These ortholog peptides including several collagen (N = 44) and uromodulin (N = 5) fragments were used to generate an ageing classifier that was able to discriminate the age among both wild-type mice and healthy subjects. Additionally, the ageing classifier depicted that telomerase knock-out mice were older than their chronological age. Hence, with a focus on ortholog urinary peptides mouse ageing can be translated to human ageing
Mechanisms of spin-polarized current-driven magnetization switching
The mechanisms of the magnetization switching of magnetic multilayers driven
by a current are studied by including exchange interaction between local
moments and spin accumulation of conduction electrons. It is found that this
exchange interaction leads to two additional terms in the
Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation: an effective field and a spin torque. Both
terms are proportional to the transverse spin accumulation and have comparable
magnitudes
Current driven switching of magnetic layers
The switching of magnetic layers is studied under the action of a spin
current in a ferromagnetic metal/non-magnetic metal/ferromagnetic metal spin
valve. We find that the main contribution to the switching comes from the
non-equilibrium exchange interaction between the ferromagnetic layers. This
interaction defines the magnetic configuration of the layers with minimum
energy and establishes the threshold for a critical switching current.
Depending on the direction of the critical current, the interaction changes
sign and a given magnetic configuration becomes unstable. To model the time
dependence of the switching process, we derive a set of coupled Landau-Lifshitz
equations for the ferromagnetic layers. Higher order terms in the
non-equilibrium exchange coupling allow the system to evolve to its
steady-state configuration.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure. Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Spin accumulation induced resistance in mesoscopic ferromagnet/ superconductor junctions
We present a description of spin-polarized transport in mesoscopic
ferromagnet-superconductor (F/S) systems, where the transport is diffusive, and
the interfaces are transparent. It is shown that the spin reversal associated
with Andreev reflection generates an excess spin density close to the F/S
interface, which leads to a spin contact resistance. Expressions for the
contact resistance are given for two terminal and four terminal geometries. In
the latter the sign depends on the relative magnetization of the ferromagnetic
electrodes.Comment: RevTeX 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev. Let
Current induced switching of magnetic domains to a perpendicular configuration
In a ferromagnet--normal-metal--ferromagnet trilayer, a current flowing
perpendicularly to the layers creates a torque on the magnetic moments of the
ferromagnets. When one of the contacts is superconducting, the torque not only
favors parallel or antiparallel alignment of the magnetic moments, as is the
case for two normal contacts, but can also favor a configuration where the two
moments are perpendicular. In addition, whereas the conductance for parallel
and antiparallel magnetic moments is the same, signalling the absence of giant
magnetoresistance in the usual sense, the conductance is greater in the
perpendicular configuration. Thus, a negative magnetoconductance is predicted,
in contrast with the usual giant magnetoresistance.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, major rewriting of the technical par
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