Optimization of energy transport in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex via site-varying pigment-protein interactions

Energy transport in photosynthetic systems can be tremendously efficient. In particular we study exciton transport in the Fenna-Mathews-Olsen (FMO) complex found in green sulphur bacteria. The exciton dynamics and energy transfer efficiency is dependent upon the interaction with the system environment. Based upon realistic, site-dependent, models of the system-bath coupling, we show that this interaction is highly optimised in the case of FMO. Furthermore we identify two transport pathways and note that one is dominated by coherent dynamics and the other by classical energy dissipation. In particular we note a strong correlation between energy transport efficiency and coherence for exciton transfer from bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) 8 to BChl 4. The existence of two clear pathways and the role played by BChl 4 also challenges assumptions around the coupling of the FMO complex to the reaction centre.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Electroweak phase transition in the MSSM with four generations

By assuming the existence of the sequential fourth generation to the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), we study the possibility of a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition. We find that there is a parameter region of the MSSM where the electroweak phase transition is strongly first order. In that parameter region, the mass of the lighter scalar Higgs boson is calculated to be above the experimental lower bound, and the scalar quarks of the third and the fourth generations are heavier than the corresponding quarks.Comment: 12 pages, 2 tables, 2 figure

Current and noise expressions for radio-frequency single-electron transistors

We derive self-consistent expressions of current and noise for single-electron transistors driven by time-dependent perturbations. We take into account effects of the electrical environment, higher-order co-tunneling, and time-dependent perturbations under the two-charged state approximation using the Schwinger-Kedysh approach combined with the generating functional technique. For a given generating functional, we derive exact expressions for tunneling currents and noises and present the forms in terms of transport coefficients. It is also shown that in the adiabatic limit our results encompass previous formulas. In order to reveal effects missing in static cases, we apply the derived results to simulate realized radio-frequency single-electron transistor. It is found that photon-assisted tunneling affects largely the performance of the single-electron transistor by enhancing both responses to gate charges and current noises. On various tunneling resistances and frequencies of microwaves, the dependence of the charge sensitivity is also discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Absorption cross section in the topologically massive gravity at the critical point

The absorption cross section for the the warped AdS$_3$ black hole background shows that it is larger than the area even if the s-wave limit is considered. It raises some question whether the deviation from the areal cross section is due to the warped configuration of the geometry or the rotating coordinate system, where these two effects are mixed up in the warped AdS$_3$ black hole. So, we study the low-frequency scattering dynamics of propagating scalar fields under the warped AdS$_3$ background at the critical point which reduces to the BTZ black hole in the rotating frame without the warped factor, which shows that the deformation effect at the critical point does not appear.Comment: 12 pages, LaTe

Observation of quantum oscillations between a Josephson phase qubit and a microscopic resonator using fast readout

We have detected coherent quantum oscillations between Josephson phase qubits and microscopic critical-current fluctuators by implementing a new state readout technique that is an order of magnitude faster than previous methods. The period of the oscillations is consistent with the spectroscopic splittings observed in the qubit's resonant frequency. The results point to a possible mechanism for decoherence and reduced measurement fidelity in superconducting qubits and demonstrate the means to measure two-qubit interactions in the time domain

Higgs bosons of a supersymmetric U(1)′U(1)' model at the ILC

We study the scalar Higgs sector of the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model with an extra U(1), which has two Higgs doublets and a Higgs singlet, in the light leptophobic $Z'$ scenario where the extra neutral gauge boson $Z'$ does not couple to charged leptons. In this model, we find that the sum of the squared coupling coefficients of the three neutral scalar Higgs bosons to $ZZ$, normalized by the corresponding SM coupling coefficient is noticeably smaller than unity, due to the effect of the extra U(1), for a reasonable parameter space of the model, whereas it is unity in the next-to-minimal supersymmetric standard model. Thus, these two models may be distinguished if the coupling coefficients of neutral scalar Higgs bosons to $ZZ$ are measured at the future International Linear Collider by producing them via the Higgs-strahlung, $ZZ$ fusion, and $WW$ fusion processes.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, PR

Surface versus bulk characterization of the electronic inhomogeneity in a VO_{2} film

We investigated the inhomogeneous electronic properties at the surface and interior of VO_{2} thin films that exhibit a strong first-order metal-insulator transition (MIT). Using the crystal structural change that accompanies a VO_{2} MIT, we used bulk-sensitive X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements to estimate the fraction of metallic volume p^{XRD} in our VO_{2} film. The temperature dependence of the p$^{XRD}$ was very closely correlated with the dc conductivity near the MIT temperature, and fit the percolation theory predictions quite well: $\sigma$ $\sim$ (p - p_{c})^{t} with t = 2.0$\pm$0.1 and p_{c} = 0.16$\pm$0.01. This agreement demonstrates that in our VO$_{2}$ thin film, the MIT should occur during the percolation process. We also used surface-sensitive scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) to investigate the microscopic evolution of the MIT near the surface. Similar to the XRD results, STS maps revealed a systematic decrease in the metallic phase as temperature decreased. However, this rate of change was much slower than the rate observed with XRD, indicating that the electronic inhomogeneity near the surface differs greatly from that inside the film. We investigated several possible origins of this discrepancy, and postulated that the variety in the strain states near the surface plays an important role in the broad MIT observed using STS. We also explored the possible involvement of such strain effects in other correlated electron oxide systems with strong electron-lattice interactions.Comment: 27 pages and 7 figure

A Hard Look at NGC 5347: Revealing a Nearby Compton-thick AGN

Current measurements show that the observed fraction of Compton-thick (CT) active galactic nuclei (AGN) is smaller than the expected values needed to explain the cosmic X-ray background. Prior fits to the X-ray spectrum of the nearby Seyfert-2 galaxy NGC 5347 (z = 0.00792, D = 35.5 Mpc ) have alternately suggested a CT and Compton-thin source. Combining archival data from Suzaku, Chandra, and—most importantly—new data from NuSTAR, ... See full text for complete abstrac