2,659 research outputs found
On quantum and parallel transport in a Hilbert bundle over spacetime
We study the Hilbert bundle description of stochastic quantum mechanics in
curved spacetime developed by Prugove\v{c}ki, which gives a powerful new
framework for exploring the quantum mechanical propagation of states in curved
spacetime. We concentrate on the quantum transport law in the bundle,
specifically on the information which can be obtained from the flat space
limit. We give a detailed proof that quantum transport coincides with parallel
transport in the bundle in this limit, confirming statements of Prugove\v{c}ki.
We furthermore show that the quantum-geometric propagator in curved spacetime
proposed by Prugove\v{c}ki, yielding a Feynman path integral-like formula
involving integrations over intermediate phase space variables, is Poincar\'e
gauge covariant (i.e. is gauge invariant except for transformations at the
endpoints of the path) provided the integration measure is interpreted as a
``contact point measure'' in the soldered stochastic phase space bundle raised
over curved spacetime.Comment: 25 pages, Plain TeX, harvmac/lanlma
Host Gene Expression of Macrophages in Response to Feline Coronavirus Infection
Feline coronavirus is a highly contagious virus potentially resulting in feline infectious peritonitis (FIP), while the pathogenesis of FIP remains not well understood, particularly in the events leading to the disease. A predominant theory is that the pathogenic FIPV arises from a mutation, so that it could replicate not only in enterocytes of the intestines but also in monocytes, subsequently systemically transporting the virus. The immune status and genetics of affected cats certainly play an important role in the pathogenesis. Considering the importance of genetics and host immune responses in viral infections, the goal of this study was to elucidate host gene expression in macrophages using RNA sequencing. Macrophages from healthy male cats infected with FIPV 79-1146 ex vivo displayed a differential host gene expression. Despite the virus uptake, aligned viral reads did not increase from 2 to 17 h. The overlap of host gene expression among macrophages from different cats was limited, even though viral transcripts were detected in the cells. Interestingly, some of the downregulated genes in all macrophages were involved in immune signaling, while some upregulated genes common for all cats were found to be inhibiting immune activation. Our results highlight individual host responses playing an important role, consistent with the fact that few cats develop feline infectious peritonitis despite a common presence of enteric FCoV
The strength of frustration and quantum fluctuations in LiVCuO4
For the 1D-frustrated ferromagnetic J_1-J_2 model with interchain coupling
added, we analyze the dynamical and static structure factor S(k,omega), the
pitch angle phi of the magnetic structure, the magnetization curve of
edge-shared chain cuprates, and focus on LiCuVO4 for which neither a perturbed
spinon nor a spin wave approach can be applied. phi is found to be most
sensitive to the interplay of frustration and quantum fluctuations. For LiVCuO4
the obtained exchange parameters J are in accord with the results for a
realistic 5-band extended Hubbard model and LSDA + U predictions yielding
alpha=J_2/|J_1| about 0.75 in contrast to 5.5 > alpha > 1.42 suggested in the
literature. The alpha-regime of the empirical phi-values in NaCu2O2 and
linarite are considered, too.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, (1 figure added), improved text including also
the abstract (the present second version has been submitted to EPL
26.10.2011, so far with one missing first referee report
Saturation field of frustrated chain cuprates: broad regions of predominant interchain coupling
An efficient and precise thermodynamic method to extract the interchain
coupling (IC) of spatially anisotropic 2D or 3D spin-1/2 systems from their
empirical saturation field H_s (T=0) is proposed. Using density-matrix
renormalization group, hard-core boson, and spin-wave theory we study how H_s
is affected by an antiferromagnetic (AFM) IC between frustrated chains
described in the J_1-J_2-spin model with ferromagnetic 1st and AFM 2nd neighbor
in-chain exchange. A complex 3D-phase diagram has been found. For Li2CuO2 and
Y2Ca2Cu5O10, we show that H_s is solely determined by the IC and predict H_s
approx 61 T for the latter.Using H_s approx 55 T from our high-field pulsed
measurements one reads out a weak IC for Li2CuO2 close to that from neutron
scattering.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, slightly revised version including a slightly
changed title and abstract, one new figure and an EPAPS-supplementatary part
have been adde
Specific heat of CaNaFeAs single crystals: unconventional s multi-band superconductivity with intermediate repulsive interband coupling and sizable attractive intraband couplings
We report a low-temperature specific heat study of high-quality single
crystals of the heavily hole doped superconductor
CaNaFeAs. This compound exhibits bulk
superconductivity with a transition temperature \,K, which is
evident from the magnetization, transport, and specific heat measurements. The
zero field data manifests a significant electronic specific heat in the normal
state with a Sommerfeld coefficient mJ/mol K. Using a
multi-band Eliashberg analysis, we demonstrate that the dependence of the zero
field specific heat in the superconducting state is well described by a
three-band model with an unconventional s pairing symmetry and gap
magnitudes of approximately 2.35, 7.48, and -7.50 meV. Our analysis
indicates a non-negligible attractive intraband coupling,which contributes
significantly to the relatively high value of . The Fermi surface averaged
repulsive and attractive coupling strengths are of comparable size and outside
the strong coupling limit frequently adopted for describing high- iron
pnictide superconductors. We further infer a total mass renormalization of the
order of five, including the effects of correlations and electron-boson
interactions.Comment: 8 Figures, Submitted to PR
Magnetic properties of the low-dimensional spin-1/2 magnet \alpha-Cu_2As_2O_7
In this work we study the interplay between the crystal structure and
magnetism of the pyroarsenate \alpha-Cu_2As_2O_7 by means of magnetization,
heat capacity, electron spin resonance and nuclear magnetic resonance
measurements as well as density functional theory (DFT) calculations and
quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations. The data reveal that the magnetic Cu-O
chains in the crystal structure represent a realization of a quasi-one
dimensional (1D) coupled alternating spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain model with
relevant pathways through non-magnetic AsO_4 tetrahedra. Owing to residual 3D
interactions antiferromagnetic long range ordering at T_N\simeq10K takes place.
Application of external magnetic field B along the magnetically easy axis
induces the transition to a spin-flop phase at B_{SF}~1.7T (2K). The
experimental data suggest that substantial quantum spin fluctuations take place
at low magnetic fields in the ordered state. DFT calculations confirm the
quasi-one-dimensional nature of the spin lattice, with the leading coupling J_1
within the structural dimers. QMC fits to the magnetic susceptibility evaluate
J_1=164K, the weaker intrachain coupling J'_1/J_1 = 0.55, and the effective
interchain coupling J_{ic1}/J_1 = 0.20.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review
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