Quantum phase transition in an atomic Bose gas near a Feshbach resonance

We study the quantum phase transition in an atomic Bose gas near a Feshbach resonance in terms of the renormalization group. This quantum phase transition is characterized by an Ising order parameter. We show that in the low temperature regime where the quantum fluctuations dominate the low-energy physics this phase transition is of first order because of the coupling between the Ising order parameter and the Goldstone mode existing in the bosonic superfluid. However, when the thermal fluctuations become important, the phase transition turns into the second order one, which belongs to the three-dimensional Ising universality class. We also calculate the damping rate of the collective mode in the phase with only a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate near the second-order transition line, which can serve as an experimental signature of the second-order transition.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, published version in Phys. Rev.

Sustained Id2 regulation of E proteins is required for terminal differentiation of effector CD8+ T cells.

CD8+ T cells responding to infection differentiate into a heterogeneous population composed of progeny that are short-lived and participate in the immediate, acute response and those that provide long-lasting host protection. Although it is appreciated that distinct functional and phenotypic CD8+ T cell subsets persist, it is unclear whether there is plasticity among subsets and what mechanisms maintain subset-specific differences. Here, we show that continued Id2 regulation of E-protein activity is required to maintain the KLRG1hi CD8+ T cell population after lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus infection. Induced deletion of Id2 phenotypically and transcriptionally transformed the KLRG1hi "terminal" effector/effector-memory CD8+ T cell population into a KLRG1lo memory-like population, promoting a gene-expression program that resembled that of central memory T cells. Our results question the idea that KLRG1hi CD8+ T cells are necessarily terminally programmed and suggest that sustained regulation is required to maintain distinct CD8+ T cell states

Investigating Forest Inventory and Analysis-Collected Tree-Ring Data from Utah as a Proxy for Historical Climate

Increment cores collected as part of the periodic inventory in the Intermountain West were examined for their potential to represent growth and be a proxy for climate (precipitation) over a large region (Utah). Standardized and crossdated time-series created from pinyon pine (n=249) and Douglas-fir (n=274) increment cores displayed spatiotemporal patterns in growth differences both between species and by region within Utah. However, the between-species interrelationship of growth was strong over much of the state and indicated both species respond similarly to climate variations. Indeed, pinyon pine and Douglas-fir exhibited a significant and spatially coherent response to instrumental precipitation data. Previous water year (5-month lag) exhibited the strongest relationship to tree-ring increment for both species. Results suggest increment cores collected by Forest Inventory and Analysis are excellent proxies for historical precipitation

Using Inventory-based Tree-ring Data as a Proxy for Historical Climate: Investigating the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and teleconnections.

In 2009, the Interior West Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program of the U.S. Forest Service started to archive approximatel y 11 000 increment cores collected in the Interior West states during the periodic inventories of the 1980s and 1990s. The two primary goals for use of the data were to provide a plot-linked database of radial growth to be used for growth model development and other biometric analyses, and to develop a gridded dendroecological database that could be used to analyze regional patterns of climate, disturbance, and other ecosystem-scale processes. Early analysis related to the latter goal showed that the fi nely gridded data could be used to map past climatic patterns with more detail than is possible using traditional chronologies. FIA-based Douglas-fi r and pinyon pine chronologies showed high temporal coherence with previously published tree-ring chronologies, and the spatial and temporal coherence between the FIA data and water year precipitation was strong. FIA data also captured the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) dipole and revealed considerable latitudinal fl uctuation over the past three centuries. Finally, the FIA data confi rmed the coupling between wet/dry cycles and Pacifi c decadal variability known to exist for the Intermountain West. These results highlight the further potential for high-spatial-resolution climate proxy data sets for the western United States

Compositions and Methods for Inhibiting Gene Expressions

A combined packing and assembly method that efficiently packs ribonucleic acid (RNA) into virus like particles (VLPs) has been developed. The VLPs can spontaneously assemble and load RNA in vivo, efficiently packaging specifically designed RNAs at high densities and with high purity. In some embodiments the RNA is capable of interference activity, or is a precursor of a RNA capable of causing interference activity. Compositions and methods for the efficient expression, production and purification of VLP-RNAs are provided. VLP-RNAs can be used for the storage of RNA for long periods, and provide the ability to deliver RNA in stable form that is readily taken up by cells

The Razumov-Stroganov conjecture: Stochastic processes, loops and combinatorics

A fascinating conjectural connection between statistical mechanics and combinatorics has in the past five years led to the publication of a number of papers in various areas, including stochastic processes, solvable lattice models and supersymmetry. This connection, known as the Razumov-Stroganov conjecture, expresses eigenstates of physical systems in terms of objects known from combinatorics, which is the mathematical theory of counting. This note intends to explain this connection in light of the recent papers by Zinn-Justin and Di Francesco.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, JSTAT News & Perspective

The role of orthogonal polynomials in the six-vertex model and its combinatorial applications

The Hankel determinant representations for the partition function and boundary correlation functions of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions are investigated by the methods of orthogonal polynomial theory. For specific values of the parameters of the model, corresponding to 1-, 2- and 3-enumerations of Alternating Sign Matrices (ASMs), these polynomials specialize to classical ones (Continuous Hahn, Meixner-Pollaczek, and Continuous Dual Hahn, respectively). As a consequence, a unified and simplified treatment of ASMs enumerations turns out to be possible, leading also to some new results such as the refined 3-enumerations of ASMs. Furthermore, the use of orthogonal polynomials allows us to express, for generic values of the parameters of the model, the partition function of the (partially) inhomogeneous model in terms of the one-point boundary correlation functions of the homogeneous one.Comment: Talk presented by F.C. at the Short Program of the Centre de Recherches Mathematiques: Random Matrices, Random Processes and Integrable Systems, Montreal, June 20 - July 8, 200

Bethe roots and refined enumeration of alternating-sign matrices

The properties of the most probable ground state candidate for the XXZ spin chain with the anisotropy parameter equal to -1/2 and an odd number of sites is considered. Some linear combinations of the components of the considered state, divided by the maximal component, coincide with the elementary symmetric polynomials in the corresponding Bethe roots. It is proved that those polynomials are equal to the numbers providing the refined enumeration of the alternating-sign matrices of order M+1 divided by the total number of the alternating-sign matrices of order M, for the chain of length 2M+1.Comment: LaTeX 2e, 12 pages, minor corrections, references adde

Large N Quantum Time Evolution Beyond Leading Order

For quantum theories with a classical limit (which includes the large N limits of typical field theories), we derive a hierarchy of evolution equations for equal time correlators which systematically incorporate corrections to the limiting classical evolution. Explicit expressions are given for next-to-leading order, and next-to-next-to-leading order time evolution. The large N limit of N-component vector models, and the usual semiclassical limit of point particle quantum mechanics are used as concrete examples. Our formulation directly exploits the appropriate group structure which underlies the construction of suitable coherent states and generates the classical phase space. We discuss the growth of truncation error with time, and argue that truncations of the large-N evolution equations are generically expected to be useful only for times short compared to a ``decoherence'' time which scales like N^{1/2}.Comment: 36 pages, 2 eps figures, latex, uses revtex, epsfig, float

Fixed points in frustrated magnets revisited

We analyze the validity of perturbative renormalization group estimates obtained within the fixed dimension approach of frustrated magnets. We reconsider the resummed five-loop beta-functions obtained within the minimal subtraction scheme without epsilon-expansion for both frustrated magnets and the well-controlled ferromagnetic systems with a cubic anisotropy. Analyzing the convergence properties of the critical exponents in these two cases we find that the fixed point supposed to control the second order phase transition of frustrated magnets is very likely an unphysical one. This is supported by its non-Gaussian character at the upper critical dimension d=4. Our work confirms the weak first order nature of the phase transition occuring at three dimensions and provides elements towards a unified picture of all existing theoretical approaches to frustrated magnets.Comment: 18 pages, 8 figures. This article is an extended version of arXiv:cond-mat/060928