10,807 research outputs found
Bose-Hubbard model with attractive interactions
We consider the Bose-Hubbard model of atoms in an optical lattice potential
when the atom-atom interactions are attractive. If the lowest energy lattice
sites are degenerate (such as in the homogeneous case), then, at a critical
value of the interaction strength, a phase-coherent condensate becomes unstable
to a quantum superposition such that the number distribution of each of the
degenerate sites becomes double peaked. In the limit when the interaction
dominates, the superposition becomes macroscopic and has the form
, where
is the total number of atoms and the sum ranges over the energy-degenerate
sites.Comment: 4 pager, 5 figures, accepted for publication in PR
Maximal entanglement of two spinor Bose-Einstein condensates
Starting with two weakly-coupled anti-ferromagnetic spinor condensates, we
show that by changing the sign of the coefficient of the spin interaction,
, via an optically-induced Feshbach resonance one can create an
entangled state consisting of two anti-correlated ferromagnetic condensates.
This state is maximally entangled and a generalization of the Bell state from
two anti-correlated spin-1/2 particles to two anti-correlated spin atomic
samples, where is the total number of atoms.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in PR
Few-Body Effects in Cold Atoms and Limit Cycles
Physical systems with a large scattering length have universal properties
independent of the details of the interaction at short distances. Such systems
can be realized in experiments with cold atoms close to a Feshbach resonance.
They also occur in many other areas of physics such as nuclear and particle
physics. The universal properties include a geometric spectrum of three-body
bound states (so-called Efimov states) and log-periodic dependence of
low-energy observables on the physical parameters of the system. This behavior
is characteristic of a renormalization group limit cycle. We discuss
universality in the three- and four-body sectors and give an overview of
applications in cold atoms.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, plenary talk at the 18th International IUPAP
Conference on Few-Body Problems in Physics (FB18), Santos, Brazil, August
200
On-demand single-photon state generation via nonlinear absorption
We propose a method for producing on-demand single-photon states based on
collision-induced exchanges of photons and unbalanced linear absorption between
two single-mode light fields. These two effects result in an effective
nonlinear absorption of photons in one of the modes, which can lead to single
photon states. A quantum nonlinear attenuator based on such a mechanism can
absorb photons in a normal input light pulse and terminate the absorption at a
single-photon state. Because the output light pulses containing single photons
preserve the properties of the input pulses, we expect this method to be a
means for building a highly controllable single photon source.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to appear in PRA. To be published in PR
Isotropic, Nematic and Smectic A Phase Behaviour in a Fictitious Field
Phase behaviours of liquid crystals under external fields, conjugate to the
nematic order and smectic order, are studied within the framework of mean field
approximation developed by McMillan. It is found that phase diagrams, of
temperature vs interaction parameter of smectic A order, show several
topologically different types caused by the external fields. The influences of
the field conjugate to the smectic A phase, which is fictitious field, are
precisely discussed.Comment: To be published in J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. vol.73 No.
Identification of several novel Neurospora genes in the lambda-ZAP I and lambda-ZAP II libraries
Polyclonal antibodies to and oligonucleotides derived from N-terminal sequences of media proteins of Neurospora crassa were both used to screen the FGSC lambda-ZAP I and lambda-ZAP II cDNA libraries. Primary sequencing of the identified phagemids revealed homologies to a number of known genes. These genes are listed and the cDNA clones are available from our laboratory to interested parties
Optimal flexibility for conformational transitions in macromolecules
Conformational transitions in macromolecular complexes often involve the
reorientation of lever-like structures. Using a simple theoretical model, we
show that the rate of such transitions is drastically enhanced if the lever is
bendable, e.g. at a localized "hinge''. Surprisingly, the transition is fastest
with an intermediate flexibility of the hinge. In this intermediate regime, the
transition rate is also least sensitive to the amount of "cargo'' attached to
the lever arm, which could be exploited by molecular motors. To explain this
effect, we generalize the Kramers-Langer theory for multi-dimensional barrier
crossing to configuration dependent mobility matrices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Antiferromagnetic Quantum Spins on the Pyrochlore Lattice
The ground state of the S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet on the pyrochlore
lattice is theoretically investigated. Starting from the limit of isolated
tetrahedra, I include interactions between the tetrahedra and obtain an
effective model for the spin-singlet ground state multiplet by third-order
perturbation. I determine its ground state using the mean-field approximation
and found a dimerized state with a four-sublattice structure, which agrees with
the proposal by Harris et al. I also discuss chirality correlations and spin
correlations for this state.Comment: 4 pages in 2-column format, 5 figures; To appear in J. Phys. Soc.
Jpn. (Mar, 2001
Wnt/beta-catenin signaling activates microRNA-181 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignant cancer with an observable heterogeneity and microRNAs are functionally associated with the tumorigenesis of HCC. We recently identified that EpCAM (CD326)-positive cells isolated from alpha-fetoprotein (AFP)-positive HCC samples are hepatic cancer stem cells (HepCSCs). EpCAM<sup>+</sup>AFP<sup>+ </sup>HepCSCs have an activated Wnt/β-catenin signaling with a parallel increased expression of all four microRNA-181 family members. We hypothesized that Wnt/β-catenin signaling transcriptionally activates microRNA-181s in HCC.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Using both western blot and quantitative reverse transcriptase-PCR analyses, we found that the expression of all four microRNA-181 family members was positively correlated with β-catenin expression in HCC cell lines. MicroRNA-181 expression could be directly induced upon an activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling, which includes Wnt10B overexpression, inhibition of GSK3β signaling by LiCl, or forced expression of β-catenin/Tcf4. Moreover, microRNA-181 expression was inhibited upon an inactivation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling by an induction of adenomatosis polyposis coli (APC) expression or silencing β-catenin via RNA interference. In addition, seven putative β-catenin/Tcf4 binding sites were identified in the promoter region of the microRNA-181a-2 and microRNA-181b-2 transcripts. Consistently, we found that Tcf4 interacted with these regions <it>in vivo </it>using chromatin immunoprecipitation assay.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Taken together, our results demonstrate that microRNA-181s are transcriptionally activated by the Wnt/beta-catenin signaling pathway in HCC.</p
Origin of intrinsic dark count in superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors
The origin of the decoherence in superconducting nanowire single-photon
detectors, the so-called dark count, was investigated. We measured the
direct-current characteristics and bias-current dependencies of the dark count
rate in a wide range of temperatures from 0.5 K to 4 K, and analyzed the
results by theoretical models of thermal fluctuations of vortices. Our results
indicate that the current-assisted unbinding of vortex-antivortex pairs is the
dominant origin of the dark count.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
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