994 research outputs found
Unusual behaviours and Impurity Effects in the Noncentrosymmetric Superconductor CePt3Si
We report a study in which the effect of defects/impurities, growth process,
off-stoichiometry, and presence of impurity phases on the superconducting
properties of noncentrosymmetric CePt3Si is analysed by means of the
temperature dependence of the magnetic penetration depth. We found that the
linear low-temperature response of the penetration depth -indicative of line
nodes in this material- is robust regarding sample quality, in contrast to what
is observed in unconventional centrosymmetric superconductors with line nodes.
We discuss evidence that the broadness of the superconducting transition may be
intrinsic, though not implying the existence of a second superconducting
transition. The superconducting transition temperature systematically occurs
around 0.75 K in our measurements, in agreement with resistivity and ac
magnetic susceptibility data but in conflict with specific heat, thermal
conductivity and NMR data in which Tc is about 0.5 K. Random defects do not
change the linear low-temperature dependence of the penetration depth in the
heavy-fermion CePt3Si with line nodes, as they do in unconventional
centrosymmetric superconductors with line nodes.Comment: To appear in New Journal of Physic
Vaccinia virus protein A46R targets multiple Toll-like-interleukin-1 receptor adaptors and contributes to virulence
Viral immune evasion strategies target key aspects of the host antiviral response. Recently, it has been recognized that Toll-like receptors (TLRs) have a role in innate defense against viruses. Here, we define the function of the vaccinia virus (VV) protein A46R and show it inhibits intracellular signalling by a range of TLRs. TLR signalling is triggered by homotypic interactions between the Toll-like-interleukin-1 resistance (TIR) domains of the receptors and adaptor molecules. A46R contains a TIR domain and is the only viral TIR domain-containing protein identified to date. We demonstrate that A46R targets the host TIR adaptors myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88), MyD88 adaptor-like, TIR domain-containing adaptor inducing IFN-beta (TRIF), and the TRIF-related adaptor molecule and thereby interferes with downstream activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases and nuclear factor kappaB. TRIF mediates activation of interferon (IFN) regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) and induction of IFN-beta by TLR3 and TLR4 and suppresses VV replication in macrophages. Here, A46R disrupted TRIF-induced IRF3 activation and induction of the TRIF-dependent gene regulated on activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted. Furthermore, we show that A46R is functionally distinct from another described VV TLR inhibitor, A52R. Importantly, VV lacking the A46R gene was attenuated in a murine intranasal model, demonstrating the importance of A46R for VV virulence
Optical absorption spectra in SrCu_2O_3 two-leg spin ladder
We calculate the phonon-assisted optical-absorption spectra in SrCu_2O_3
two-leg spin-ladder systems. The results for two models proposed for SrCu_2O_3
are compared. In the model including the effects of a cyclic four-spin
interaction, the shoulder structure appears at 978 cm^{-1} and the peak appears
at 1975 cm^{-1} in the spectrum for polarization of the electric field parallel
to the legs. In the other model which describes a pure two-leg ladder, the peak
appears around the lower edge of the spectrum at 1344 cm^{-1}. The feature can
be effective in determining the proper model for SrCu_2O_3.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, to appear in PRB vol. 67 (2003
Digestion of timothy silage and hay in reindeer
Leafy timothy (Phleum pratense) silage (S), silage mixed with molasses (SM) and hay (H) were fed to nine male reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) calves in winter to investigate rumen function and digestion. Three calves were given S with 18.5% dry matter (DM), three were given SM (21.9% DM) and three were given H (85.0% DM). The content of water soluble carbohydrates (in % of DM) was 8.2% in S, 16.0% in SM and 8.5% in H. Median (range) daily DM food intake per kg BM was 12.9 (9-2-14.4) g in calves fed S, 19.0 (19-0-21.9) g in calves fed SM and 21.0 (19.2¬21.1) g in calves fed H. In vivo digestion of S and SM DM ranged from 78.5-83.1% compared to only 69-9-72.9% in calves fed H. In vitro DM digestion (IVDMD) of cellulose (median) incubated for 48 hours in rumen fluid was, however, significantly (F = 0.05) lower in calves fed S (24.4%) compared to calves fed SM (42.2%). Median IVDMD of cellulose (48 hours) in calves fed H was 36.4%. Total concentration of VFA (range) in the rumen fluid from reindeer fed H (99.7-113.6 mM) and was significantly (P<0.05) higher compared to animals fed S (57.7-85.9 mM) or SM (51.4-72.0 mM). Likewise, the pH of the rumen fluid (range) was significantly (P<0.05) lower in reindeer fed H (6.40-6.78) compared to animals fed S (6.97-7.30) or SM (6.79-7.27). Based on this study it is concluded that leafy timothy preserved as hay seems to be more suitable as emergency feed compared to silage. Supplementation of molasses to silage seems to stimulate food intake and ruminal cellulose digestion in reindeer. The lower intake of S compared to SM or H by reindeer may be explained by ruminal energy deficiency
Remark on Pauli-Villars Lagrangian on the Lattice
It is interesting to superimpose the Pauli-Villars regularization on the
lattice regularization. We illustrate how this scheme works by evaluating the
axial anomaly in a simple lattice fermion model, the Pauli-Villars Lagrangian
with a gauge non-invariant Wilson term. The gauge non-invariance of the axial
anomaly, caused by the Wilson term, is remedied by a compensation among
Pauli-Villars regulators in the continuum limit. A subtlety in Frolov-Slavnov's
scheme for an odd number of chiral fermions in an anomaly free complex gauge
representation, which requires an infinite number of regulators, is briefly
mentioned.Comment: 14 pages, Phyzzx. The final version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Extremely Large and Anisotropic Upper Critical Field and the Ferromagnetic Instability in UCoGe
Magnetoresistivity measurements with fine tuning of the field direction on
high quality single crystals of the ferromagnetic superconductor UCoGe show
anomalous anisotropy of the upper critical field H_c2. H_c2 for H // b-axis
(H_c2^b) in the orthorhombic crystal structure is strongly enhanced with
decreasing temperature with an S-shape and reaches nearly 20 T at 0 K. The
temperature dependence of H_c2^a shows upward curvature with a low temperature
value exceeding 30 T, while H_c2^c at 0 K is very small (~ 0.6 T). Contrary to
conventional ferromagnets, the decrease of the Curie temperature with
increasing field for H // b-axis marked by an enhancement of the effective mass
of the conduction electrons appears to be the origin of the S-shaped H_c2^b
curve. These results indicate that the field-induced ferromagnetic instability
or magnetic quantum criticality reinforces superconductivity.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. Soc. Jp
The development of a program analysis environment for Ada
A unit level, Ada software module testing system, called Query Utility Environment for Software Testing of Ada (QUEST/Ada), is described. The project calls for the design and development of a prototype system. QUEST/Ada design began with a definition of the overall system structure and a description of component dependencies. The project team was divided into three groups to resolve the preliminary designs of the parser/scanner: the test data generator, and the test coverage analyzer. The Phase 1 report is a working document from which the system documentation will evolve. It provides history, a guide to report sections, a literature review, the definition of the system structure and high level interfaces, descriptions of the prototype scope, the three major components, and the plan for the remainder of the project. The appendices include specifications, statistics, two papers derived from the current research, a preliminary users' manual, and the proposal and work plan for Phase 2
Effective Crystalline Electric Field Potential in a j-j Coupling Scheme
We propose an effective model on the basis of a - coupling scheme to
describe local -electron states for realistic values of Coulomb interaction
and spin-orbit coupling , for future development of microscopic
theory of magnetism and superconductivity in -electron systems, where
is the number of local electrons. The effective model is systematically
constructed by including the effect of a crystalline electric field (CEF)
potential in the perturbation expansion in terms of . In this paper,
we collect all the terms up to the first order of . Solving the
effective model, we show the results of the CEF states for each case of
=25 with symmetry in comparison with those of the Stevens
Hamiltonian for the weak CEF. In particular, we carefully discuss the CEF
energy levels in an intermediate coupling region with in the order
of 0.1 corresponding to actual -electron materials between the and
- coupling schemes. Note that the relevant energy scale of is the
Hund's rule interaction. It is found that the CEF energy levels in the
intermediate coupling region can be quantitatively reproduced by our modified
- coupling scheme, when we correctly take into account the corrections in
the order of in addition to the CEF terms and Coulomb interactions
which remain in the limit of =. As an application of the
modified - coupling scheme, we discuss the CEF energy levels of filled
skutterudites with symmetry.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Typeset with jpsj2.cl
Perturbation theory for the one-dimensional optical polaron
The one-dimensional optical polaron is treated on the basis of the
perturbation theory in the weak coupling limit. A special matrix diagrammatic
technique is developed. It is shown how to evaluate all terms of the
perturbation theory for the ground-state energy of a polaron to any order by
means of this technique. The ground-state energy is calculated up to the eighth
order of the perturbation theory. The effective mass of an electron is obtained
up to the sixth order of the perturbation theory. The radius of convergence of
the obtained series is estimated. The obtained results are compared with the
results from the Feynman polaron theory.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev. B (2001)
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