1,000 research outputs found
Decoherence in a Josephson junction qubit
The zero-voltage state of a Josephson junction biased with constant current
consists of a set of metastable quantum energy levels. We probe the spacings of
these levels by using microwave spectroscopy to enhance the escape rate to the
voltage state. The widths of the resonances give a measurement of the coherence
time of the two states involved in the transitions. We observe a decoherence
time shorter than that expected from dissipation alone in resonantly isolated
20 um x 5 um Al/AlOx/Al junctions at 60 mK. The data is well fit by a model
including dephasing effects of both low-frequency current noise and the escape
rate to the continuum voltage states. We discuss implications for quantum
computation using current-biased Josephson junction qubits, including the
minimum number of levels needed in the well to obtain an acceptable error limit
per gate.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Nernst Effect and Anomalous Transport in Cuprates: A Preformed-Pair Alternative to the Vortex Scenario
We address those puzzling experiments in underdoped high
superconductors which have been associated with normal state "vortices" and
show these data can be understood as deriving from preformed pairs with onset
temperature . For uncorrelated bosons in small magnetic fields, and
arbitrary , we present the exact contribution to \textit{all}
transport coefficients. In the overdoped regime our results reduce to those of
standard fluctuation theories (). Semi-quantitative agreement
with Nernst, ac conductivity and diamagnetic measurements is quite reasonable.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures; Title, abstract and contents modified, new
references added, figures changed, one more figure added; to be published on
PR
An Exact Algorithm for Side-Chain Placement in Protein Design
Computational protein design aims at constructing novel or improved functions
on the structure of a given protein backbone and has important applications in
the pharmaceutical and biotechnical industry. The underlying combinatorial
side-chain placement problem consists of choosing a side-chain placement for
each residue position such that the resulting overall energy is minimum. The
choice of the side-chain then also determines the amino acid for this position.
Many algorithms for this NP-hard problem have been proposed in the context of
homology modeling, which, however, reach their limits when faced with large
protein design instances.
In this paper, we propose a new exact method for the side-chain placement
problem that works well even for large instance sizes as they appear in protein
design. Our main contribution is a dedicated branch-and-bound algorithm that
combines tight upper and lower bounds resulting from a novel Lagrangian
relaxation approach for side-chain placement. Our experimental results show
that our method outperforms alternative state-of-the art exact approaches and
makes it possible to optimally solve large protein design instances routinely
Radiative capture and electromagnetic dissociation involving loosely bound nuclei: the B example
Electromagnetic processes in loosely bound nuclei are investigated using an
analytical model. In particular, electromagnetic dissociation of B is
studied and the results of our analytical model are compared to numerical
calculations based on a three-body picture of the B bound state. The
calculation of energy spectra is shown to be strongly model dependent. This is
demonstrated by investigating the sensitivity to the rms intercluster distance,
the few-body behavior, and the effects of final state interaction. In contrast,
the fraction of the energy spectrum which can be attributed to E1 transitions
is found to be almost model independent at small relative energies. This
finding is of great importance for astrophysical applications as it provides us
with a new tool to extract the E1 component from measured energy spectra. An
additional, and independent, method is also proposed as it is demonstrated how
two sets of experimental data, obtained with different beam energy and/or
minimum impact parameter, can be used to extract the E1 component.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. C. 10 pages, 7 figure
Dynamical Structure Factor for the Alternating Heisenberg Chain: A Linked Cluster Calculation
We develop a linked cluster method to calculate the spectral weights of
many-particle excitations at zero temperature. The dynamical structure factor
is expressed as a sum of exclusive structure factors, each representing
contributions from a given set of excited states. A linked cluster technique to
obtain high order series expansions for these quantities is discussed. We apply
these methods to the alternating Heisenberg chain around the dimerized limit
(), where complete wavevector and frequency dependent spectral
weights for one and two-particle excitations (continuum and bound-states) are
obtained. For small to moderate values of the inter-dimer coupling parameter
, these lead to extremely accurate calculations of the dynamical
structure factors. We also examine the variation of the relative spectral
weights of one and two-particle states with bond alternation all the way up to
the limit of the uniform chain (). In agreement with Schmidt and
Uhrig, we find that the spectral weight is dominated by 2-triplet states even
at , which implies that a description in terms of triplet-pair
excitations remains a good quantitative description of the system even for the
uniform chain.Comment: 26 pages, 17 figure
An analysis of the FIR/RADIO Continuum Correlation in the Small Magellanic Cloud
The local correlation between far-infrared (FIR) emission and radio-continuum
(RC) emission for the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is investigated over scales
from 3 kpc to 0.01 kpc. Here, we report good FIR/RC correlation down to ~15 pc.
The reciprocal slope of the FIR/RC emission correlation (RC/FIR) in the SMC is
shown to be greatest in the most active star forming regions with a power law
slope of ~1.14 indicating that the RC emission increases faster than the FIR
emission. The slope of the other regions and the SMC are much flatter and in
the range of 0.63-0.85. The slopes tend to follow the thermal fractions of the
regions which range from 0.5 to 0.95. The thermal fraction of the RC emission
alone can provide the expected FIR/RC correlation. The results are consistent
with a common source for ultraviolet (UV) photons heating dust and Cosmic Ray
electrons (CRe-s) diffusing away from the star forming regions. Since the CRe-s
appear to escape the SMC so readily, the results here may not provide support
for coupling between the local gas density and the magnetic field intensity.Comment: 19 pages, 7 Figure
Spectral properties of the dimerized and frustrated chain
Spectral densities are calculated for the dimerized and frustrated S=1/2
chain using the method of continuous unitary transformations (CUTs). The
transformation to an effective triplon model is realized in a perturbative
fashion up to high orders about the limit of isolated dimers. An efficient
description in terms of triplons (elementary triplets) is possible: a detailed
analysis of the spectral densities is provided for strong and intermediate
dimerization including the influence of frustration. Precise predictions are
made for inelastic neutron scattering experiments probing the S=1 sector and
for optical experiments (Raman scattering, infrared absorption) probing the S=0
sector. Bound states and resonances influence the important continua strongly.
The comparison with the field theoretic results reveals that the sine-Gordon
model describes the low-energy features for strong to intermediate dimerization
only at critical frustration.Comment: 21 page
Cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab as second-line therapy for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma in Sweden
Background: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is the most common subtype of bladder cancer. The randomized phase 3 KEYNOTE-045 trial showed that pembrolizumab, used as second-line therapy significantly prolonged overall survival with fewer treatment-related adverse events than chemotherapy for advanced UC. Pembro- lizumab has been approved by the European Medicines Agency for the treatment of locally advanced or metastatic UC in adults who have received platinum-contain- ing chemotherapy. Many European countries use cost-effectiveness analysis to inform reimbursement decisions.
Objective: To assess the cost-effectiveness of pembrolizumab as second-line ther- apy for the treatment of advanced UC from a Swedish health care perspective. Design, setting, and participants: We developed a partitioned-survival model to assess the costs and effectiveness of pembrolizumab compared with vinflunine (base case), paclitaxel, or docetaxel monotherapy in patients with advanced UC over a 15-yr time horizon. We obtained Kaplan-Meier estimates for survival end- points, adverse events, and utility data from KEYNOTE-045.
Outcome measurements and statistical analysis: We performed parametric extra- polations to estimate overall and progression-free survival beyond the clinical trial period. Swedish costs and utility weights were used to estimate total costs, quality- adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios (ICERs). We performed deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses to assess the ro- bustness of the model results.
Results and limitations: In the base-case analysis, pembrolizumab resulted in a mean survival gain of 1.66 years (1.38 QALYs) at an incremental cost of s69 852 and an ICER of s50 529/QALY gained versus vinflunine monotherapy. ICERs for other chemotherapies were s81 356/QALY for pembrolizumab versus paclitaxel or doc- etaxel monotherapy, and s71924/QALY for pembrolizumab versus paclitaxel, docetaxel, or vinflunine monotherapy. Long-term follow-up from KEYNOTE-045 and real-world data are needed to validate the extrapolations
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