46,929 research outputs found
Spin relaxation and decoherence of two-level systems
We revisit the concepts of spin relaxation and spin decoherence of two level
(spin-1/2) systems. From two toy-models, we clarify two issues related to the
spin relaxation and decoherence: 1) For an ensemble of two-level particles each
subjected to a different environmental field, there exists an ensemble
relaxation time which is fundamentally different from . When the
off-diagonal coupling of each particle is in a single mode with the same
frequency but a random coupling strength, we show that is finite while
the spin relaxation time of a single spin and the usual ensemble
decoherence time are infinite. 2) For a two-level particle under only a
random diagonal coupling, its relaxation time shall be infinite but its
decoherence time is finite.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Dynamics of ultra-intense circularly polarized solitons under inhomogeneous plasmas
The dynamics of the ultra-intense circularly polarized solitons under
inhomogeneous plasmas are examined. The interaction is modeled by the Maxwell
and relativistic hydrodynamic equations and is solved with fully implicit
energy-conserving numerical scheme. It is shown that a propagating weak soliton
can be decreased and reflected by increasing plasma background, which is
consistent with the existing studies based on hypothesis of weak density
response. However it is found that ultra-intense soliton is well trapped and
kept still when encountering increasing background. Probably, this founding can
be applied for trapping and amplifying high-intensity laser-fields.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Plasma
A switch element in the autophagy E2 Atg3 mediates allosteric regulation across the lipidation cascade
Autophagy depends on the E2 enzyme, Atg3, functioning in a conserved E1-E2-E3 trienzyme cascade that catalyzes lipidation of Atg8-family ubiquitin-like proteins (UBLs). Molecular mechanisms underlying Atg8 lipidation remain poorly understood despite association of Atg3, the E1 Atg7, and the composite E3 Atg12-Atg5-Atg16 with pathologies including cancers, infections and neurodegeneration. Here, studying yeast enzymes, we report that an Atg3 element we term E123IR (E1, E2, and E3-interacting region) is an allosteric switch. NMR, biochemical, crystallographic and genetic data collectively indicate that in the absence of the enzymatic cascade, the Atg3(E123IR) makes intramolecular interactions restraining Atg3's catalytic loop, while E1 and E3 enzymes directly remove this brace to conformationally activate Atg3 and elicit Atg8 lipidation in vitro and in vivo. We propose that Atg3's E123IR protects the E2 similar to UBL thioester bond from wayward reactivity toward errant nucleophiles, while Atg8 lipidation cascade enzymes induce E2 active site remodeling through an unprecedented mechanism to drive autophagy
Suppressing longitudinal double-layer oscillations by using elliptically polarized laser pulses in the hole-boring radiation pressure acceleration regime
It is shown that well collimated mono-energetic ion beams with a large
particle number can be generated in the hole-boring radiation pressure
acceleration regime by using an elliptically polarized laser pulse with
appropriate theoretically determined laser polarization ratio. Due to the
effect, the double-layer charge separation region is
imbued with hot electrons that prevent ion pileup, thus suppressing the
double-layer oscillations. The proposed mechanism is well confirmed by
Particle-in-Cell simulations, and after suppressing the longitudinal
double-layer oscillations, the ion beams driven by the elliptically polarized
lasers own much better energy spectrum than those by circularly polarized
lasers.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Phys. Plasmas (2013) accepte
- …