Localized surface states in HTSC: Alternative mechanism of zero-bias conductance peaks

It is shown that the quasiparticle states localized in the vicinity of surface imperfections of atomic size can be responsible for the zero-bias tunneling conductance peaks in high-Tc superconductors. The contribution from these states can be easily separated from other mechanisms using their qualitatively different response on an external magnetic field.Comment: REVTeX, 4 pages, 2 figs; to be published in PR

Evidence for hadronic deconfinement in pˉ\bar{p}-p collisions at 1.8 TeV

We have measured deconfined hadronic volumes, $4.4 < V < 13.0$ fm$^{3}$, produced by a one dimensional (1D) expansion. These volumes are directly proportional to the charged particle pseudorapidity densities $6.75 < dN_{c}/d\eta < 20.2$. The hadronization temperature is $T = 179.5 \pm 5$ (syst) MeV. Using Bjorken's 1D model,the hadronization energy density is $\epsilon_{F} = 1.10 \pm 0.26$ (stat) GeV/fm$^{3}$ corresponding to an excitation of $24.8 \pm 6.2$ (stat) quark-gluon degrees of freedom.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

Fermi liquid interactions and the superfluid density in d-wave superconductors

We construct a phenomenological superfluid Fermi liquid theory for a two-dimensional d-wave superconductor on a square lattice, and study the effect of quasiparticle interactions on the superfluid density. Using simple models for the dispersion and the Landau interaction function, we illustrate the deviation of these results from those for the isotropic superfluid. This allows us to reconcile the value and doping dependence of the superfluid density slope at low temperature obtained from penetration depth measurements, with photoemission data on nodal quasiparticles.Comment: 5 latex pages, 1 eps-figure. submitted to PR

Influence of impurity scattering on tunneling conductance in normal metal- d -wave superconductor junctions

Tunneling conductance spectra between a normal metal / d-wave superconductor junction under the presence of bulk impurities in the superconductor are studied. The quasiclassical theory has been applied to calculate the spatial variation of the pair potential and the effect of impurity scattering has been introduced by t-matrix approximation. The magnitude of a subdominant s-wave component at the interface is shown to robust against the impurity scattering while that for a subdominant $d_{xy}$-wave component is largely suppressed with the increase of the impurity scattering rate. The zero-bias conductance peak due to the zero-energy Andreev bound states is significantly broadened for the case of Born limit impurity compared with that of unitary limit impurity.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure

On a Light Spinless Particle Coupled to Photons

A pseudoscalar or scalar particle $\phi$ that couples to two photons but not to leptons, quarks and nucleons would have effects in most of the experiments searching for axions, since these are based on the $a \gamma \gamma$ coupling. We examine the laboratory, astrophysical and cosmological constraints on $\phi$ and study whether it may constitute a substantial part of the dark matter. We also generalize the $\phi$ interactions to possess $SU(2) \times U(1)$ gauge invariance, and analyze the phenomenological implications.Comment: LaTex, 20p., 6 figures. Changes in sections 4, 5 and figure 2, our bounds are now more stringent. To be published in Physical Review

Gravitational excitons from extra dimensions

Inhomogeneous multidimensional cosmological models with a higher dimensional space-time manifold are investigated under dimensional reduction. In the Einstein conformal frame, small excitations of the scale factors of the internal spaces near minima of an effective potential have a form of massive scalar fields in the external space-time. Parameters of models which ensure minima of the effective potentials are obtained for particular cases and masses of gravitational excitons are estimated.Comment: Revised version --- 12 references added, Introduction enlarged, 20 pages, LaTeX, to appear in Phys.Rev.D56 (15.11.97

Effect of magnetic field on impurity bound states in high-temperature superconductors

We consider the influence of a magnetic field H on the quasiparticle bound states near scalar impurities in d-wave superconductors. A ``Doppler shift'' in the excitation energies induced by the supercurrent leads to several important effects. At large but finite impurity strength, there are corrections to the energy and width of the impurity-induced resonance, proportional to H^2. On the other hand, in the limit of very strong impurity potential (unitary limit), the bound state is destroyed and acquires a finite width proportional to H/ln H. There are also considerable changes in the asymptotic behaviour of the bound state wave functions.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, 2 figure

Ral and Rheb GTPase Activating Proteins Integrate mTOR and GTPase Signaling in Aging, Autophagy, and Tumor Cell Invasion

Diverse environmental cues converge on and are integrated by the mTOR signaling network to control cellular growth and homeostasis. The mammalian Tsc1-Tsc2 GTPase activating protein (GAP) heterodimer is a critical negative regulator of Rheb and mTOR activation. The RalGAPα-RalGAPβ heterodimer shares sequence and structural similarity with Tsc1-Tsc2. Unexpectedly, we observed that C. elegans expresses orthologs for the Rheb and RalA/B GTPases, and for RalGAPα/β but not Tsc1/2. This prompted our investigation to determine whether RalGAPs additionally modulate mTOR signaling. We determined that C. elegans RalGAP loss decreased lifespan, consistent with a Tsc-like function. Additionally, RalGAP suppression in mammalian cells caused RalB-selective activation and Sec5- and exocyst-dependent engagement of mTORC1 and suppression of autophagy. Unexpectedly, we also found that Tsc1-Tsc2 loss activated RalA/B independently of Rheb-mTOR signaling. Finally, RalGAP suppression caused mTORC1-dependent pancreatic tumor cell invasion. Our findings identify an unexpected crosstalk and integration of the Ral and mTOR signaling networks

Conserved Quasilocal Quantities and General Covariant Theories in Two Dimensions

General matterless--theories in 1+1 dimensions include dilaton gravity, Yang--Mills theory as well as non--Einsteinian gravity with dynamical torsion and higher power gravity, and even models of spherically symmetric d = 4 General Relativity. Their recent identification as special cases of 'Poisson--sigma--models' with simple general solution in an arbitrary gauge, allows a comprehensive discussion of the relation between the known absolutely conserved quantities in all those cases and Noether charges, resp. notions of quasilocal 'energy--momentum'. In contrast to Noether like quantities, quasilocal energy definitions require some sort of 'asymptotics' to allow an interpretation as a (gauge--independent) observable. Dilaton gravitation, although a little different in detail, shares this property with the other cases. We also present a simple generalization of the absolute conservation law for the case of interactions with matter of any type.Comment: 21 pages, LaTeX-fil

Radiative Decay of a Long-Lived Particle and Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis

The effects of radiatively decaying, long-lived particles on big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) are discussed. If high-energy photons are emitted after BBN, they may change the abundances of the light elements through photodissociation processes, which may result in a significant discrepancy between the BBN theory and observation. We calculate the abundances of the light elements, including the effects of photodissociation induced by a radiatively decaying particle, but neglecting the hadronic branching ratio. Using these calculated abundances, we derive a constraint on such particles by comparing our theoretical results with observations. Taking into account the recent controversies regarding the observations of the light-element abundances, we derive constraints for various combinations of the measurements. We also discuss several models which predict such radiatively decaying particles, and we derive constraints on such models.Comment: Published version in Phys. Rev. D. Typos in figure captions correcte