Surface alignment and anchoring transitions in nematic lyotropic chromonic liquid crystal

The surface alignment of lyotropic chromonic liquid crystals (LCLCs) can be not only planar (tangential) but also homeotropic, with self-assembled aggregates perpendicular to the substrate, as demonstrated by mapping optical retardation and by three-dimensional imaging of the director field. With time, the homeotropic nematic undergoes a transition into a tangential state. The anchoring transition is discontinuous and can be described by a double-well anchoring potential with two minima corresponding to tangential and homeotropic orientation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Lett. (Accepted Wednesday Jun 02, 2010

Antiferromagnetic and van Hove Scenarios for the Cuprates: Taking the Best of Both Worlds

A theory for the high temperature superconductors is proposed. Holes are spin-1/2, charge e, quasiparticles strongly dressed by spin fluctuations. Based on their dispersion, it is claimed that the experimentally observed van Hove singularities of the cuprates are likely originated by antiferromagnetic (AF) correlations. From the two carriers problem in the 2D t-J model, an effective Hamiltonian for holes is defined with %no free parameters. This effective model has superconductivity in the ${\rm d_{x^2-y^2}}$ channel, a critical temperature ${\rm T_c \sim 100K}$ at the optimal hole density, ${\rm x=0.15}$, and a quasiparticle lifetime linearly dependent with energy. Other experimental results are also $quantitatively$ reproduced by the theory.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures (on request), RevTeX (version 3.0), preprint NHMF

Influence of next-nearest-neighbor electron hopping on the static and dynamical properties of the 2D Hubbard model

Comparing experimental data for high temperature cuprate superconductors with numerical results for electronic models, it is becoming apparent that a hopping along the plaquette diagonals has to be included to obtain a quantitative agreement. According to recent estimations the value of the diagonal hopping $t'$ appears to be material dependent. However, the values for $t'$ discussed in the literature were obtained comparing theoretical results in the weak coupling limit with experimental photoemission data and band structure calculations. The goal of this paper is to study how $t'$ gets renormalized as the interaction between electrons, $U$, increases. For this purpose, the effect of adding a bare diagonal hopping $t'$ to the fully interacting two dimensional Hubbard model Hamiltonian is investigated using numerical techniques. Positive and negative values of $t'$ are analyzed. Spin-spin correlations, $n(\bf{k})$, $\langle n\rangle$ vs $\mu$, and local magnetic moments are studied for values of $U/t$ ranging from 0 to 6, and as a function of the electronic density. The influence of the diagonal hopping in the spectral function $A(\bf{k},\omega)$ is also discussed, and the changes in the gap present in the density of states at half-filling are studied. We introduce a new criterion to determine probable locations of Fermi surfaces at zero temperature from $n(\bf{k})$ data obtained at finite temperature. It appears that hole pockets at ${\bf{k}}=(\pi/2,\pi/2)$ may be induced for negative $t'$ while a positive $t'$ produces similar features at ${\bf{k}}=(\pi,0)$ and $(0,\pi)$. Comparisons with the standard 2D Hubbard ($t'=0$) model indicate that a negative $t'$ hopping amplitude appears to be dynamically generated. In general, we conclude that it is very dangerous to extract a bare parameter of the Hamiltonian $(t')$ from PES data whereComment: 9 pages (RevTex 3.0), 12 figures (postscript), files packed with uufile

Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy of Sr_2CuO_2Cl_2 - a revisit

We have investigated the lowest binding-energy electronic structure of the model cuprate Sr_2CuO_2Cl_2 using angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Our data from about 80 cleavages of Sr_2CuO_2Cl_2 single crystals give a comprehensive, self-consistent picture of the nature of the first electron-removal state in this model undoped CuO_2-plane cuprate. Firstly, we show a strong dependence on the polarization of the excitation light which is understandable in the context of the matrix element governing the photoemission process, which gives a state with the symmetry of a Zhang-Rice singlet. Secondly, the strong, oscillatory dependence of the intensity of the Zhang-Rice singlet on the exciting photon-energy is shown to be consistent with interference effects connected with the periodicity of the crystal structure in the crystallographic c-direction. Thirdly, we measured the dispersion of the first electron-removal states along G->(pi,pi) and G->(pi,0), the latter being controversial in the literature, and have shown that the data are best fitted using an extended t-J-model, and extract the relevant model parameters. An analysis of the spectral weight of the first ionization states for different excitation energies within the approach used by Leung et al. (Phys. Rev. B56, 6320 (1997)) results in a strongly photon-energy dependent ratio between the coherent and incoherent spectral weight. The possible reasons for this observation and its physical implications are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Parameters of the Effective Singlet-Triplet Model for Band Structure of High-TcT_c Cuprates by Different Approaches

The present paper covers the problem of parameters determination for High-$T_c$ superconductive copper oxides. Different approaches, {\it ab initio} LDA and LDA+U calculations and Generalized Tight-Binding (GTB) method for strongly correlated electron systems, are used to calculate hopping and exchange parameters of the effective singlet-triplet model for $CuO_2$-layer. The resulting parameters are in remarkably good agreement with each other and with parameters extracted from experiment. This set of parameters is proposed for proper quantitative description of physics of hole doped High-$T_c$ cuprates in the framework of effective models.Comment: PACS 74.72.h; 74.20.z; 74.25.Jb; 31.15.A

Doped bilayer antiferromagnets: Hole dynamics on both sides of a magnetic ordering transition

The two-layer square lattice quantum antiferromagnet with spins 1/2 shows a magnetic order-disorder transition at a critical ratio of the interplane to intraplane couplings. We investigate the dynamics of a single hole in a bilayer antiferromagnet described by a t-J Hamiltonian. To model the spin background we propose a ground-state wave function for the undoped system which covers both magnetic phases and includes transverse as well as longitudinal spin fluctuations. The photoemission spectrum is calculated using the spin-polaron picture for the whole range of the ratio of the magnetic couplings. This allows for the study of the hole dynamics of both sides of the magnetic order-disorder transition. For small interplane coupling we find a quasiparticle with properties known from the single-layer antiferromagnet, e.g., the dispersion minimum is at (pi/2,pi/2). For large interplane coupling the hole dispersion is similar to that of a free fermion (with reduced bandwidth). The cross-over between these two scenarios occurs inside the antiferromagnetic phase which indicates that the hole dynamics is governed by the local environment of the hole.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figs, minor changes, discussion of spin correlations added, accepted for publication in PR

Associations of genes of DNA repair systems with Parkinson’s disease

Background. Approximately 5–10 % of cases of Parkinson’s disease (PD) are monogenic, in other cases the pathology has a multifactorial etiology. One of recognized pathogenetic pathways of PD is mitochondrial dysfunction, in particular the accumulation of damage in mitochondrial DNA. Hence, the genes of DNA repair proteins are promising candidate genes for multifactorial forms of PD.The aim. To study the involvement of genes of DNA repair proteins in the development of Parkinson’s disease.Materials and methods. The associative analysis was carried out while comparing a group of patients with PD (n = 133) with a Tomsk population sample (n = 344). SNaPshot analysis was used to study 8 SNPs in genes of DNA repair proteins (rs560191 (TP53BP1); rs1805800 and rs709816 (NBN); rs473297 (MRE11A); rs1189037 and rs1801516 (ATM); rs1799977 (MLH1); rs1805321 (PMS2)).Results. Common alleles and homozygous rs1801516 genotypes in the ATM gene predispose the development of PD (odds ratio (OR) – 3.27 (p = 0.000004) and OR = 3.46 (p = 0.00008) for risk alleles and genotype respectively) and rs1799977 in the MLH1 gene (OR = 1.88 (p = 0.0004) and OR = 2.42 (p = 0.00007) respectively); heterozygotes have a protective effect (OR = 0.33 (p = 0.0007) and OR = 0.46 (p = 0.0007) for ATM and MLH1, respectively). The rare rs1805800 allele in the NBN gene (OR = 1.62 (p = 0.019)) and a homozygous genotype for it (OR = 2.28 (p = 0.016)) also predispose to PD. Associations with PD of the ATM, MLH1, NBN genes were revealed for the first time.Conclusion. Mitochondrial dysfunction is one of the key factors in the pathogenesis of PD, while at least two of the three protein products of associated genes are involved in the development of mitochondrial dysfunction. Accordingly, it can be assumed that associated genes are involved in the pathogenesis of PD precisely through mitochondrial dysfunction

Spatial Structure of Spin Polarons in the t-J Model

The deformation of the quantum Neel state induced by a spin polaron is analyzed in a slave fermion approach. Our method is based on the selfconsistent Born approximation for Green's and the wave function for the quasiparticle. The results of various spin-correlation functions relative to the position of the moving hole are discussed and shown to agree with those available from small cluster calculations. Antiferromagnetic correlations in the direct neighborhood of the hole are reduced, but they remain antiferromagnetic even for J as small as 0.1 t. These correlation functions exhibit dipolar distortions in the spin structure, which sensitively depend on the momentum of the quasiparticle. Their asymptotic decay with the distance from the hole is governed by power laws, yet the spectral weight of the quasiparticles does not vanish.Comment: 12 pages, 2 postscipt files with figures; uses REVTeX, to be published in Phys. Rev. B, Feb. 199