Fully Gapped Single-Particle Excitations in the Lightly Doped Cuprates

The low-energy excitations of the lightly doped cuprates were studied by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. A finite gap was measured over the entire Brillouin zone, including along the d_{x^2 - y^2} nodal line. This effect was observed to be generic to the normal states of numerous cuprates, including hole-doped La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} and Ca_{2-x}Na_{x}CuO_{2}Cl_{2} and electron-doped Nd_{2-x}Ce_{x}CuO_{4}. In all compounds, the gap appears to close with increasing carrier doping. We consider various scenarios to explain our results, including the possible effects of chemical disorder, electronic inhomogeneity, and a competing phase.Comment: To appear in Phys. Rev.

Pinned Balseiro-Falicov Model of Tunneling and Photoemission in the Cuprates

The smooth evolution of the tunneling gap of Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8 with doping from a pseudogap state in the underdoped cuprates to a superconducting state at optimal and overdoping, has been interpreted as evidence that the pseudogap must be due to precursor pairing. We suggest an alternative explanation, that the smoothness reflects a hidden SO(N) symmetry near the (pi,0) points of the Brillouin zone (with N = 3, 4, 5, or 6). Because of this symmetry, the pseudogap could actually be due to any of a number of nesting instabilities, including charge or spin density waves or more exotic phases. We present a detailed analysis of this competition for one particular model: the pinned Balseiro-Falicov model of competing charge density wave and (s-wave) superconductivity. We show that most of the anomalous features of both tunneling and photoemission follow naturally from the model, including the smooth crossover, the general shape of the pseudogap phase diagram, the shrinking Fermi surface of the pseudogap phase, and the asymmetry of the tunneling gap away from optimal doping. Below T_c, the sharp peak at Delta_1 and the dip seen in the tunneling and photoemission near 2Delta_1 cannot be described in detail by this model, but we suggest a simple generalization to account for inhomogeneity, which does provide an adequate description. We show that it should be possible, with a combination of photoemission and tunneling, to demonstrate the extent of pinning of the Fermi level to the Van Hove singularity. A preliminary analysis of the data suggests pinning in the underdoped, but not in the overdoped regime.Comment: 18 pages LaTeX, 26 ps. figure

Dispersion of Ordered Stripe Phases in the Cuprates

A phase separation model is presented for the stripe phase of the cuprates, which allows the doping dependence of the photoemission spectra to be calculated. The idealized limit of a well-ordered array of magnetic and charged stripes is analyzed, including effects of long-range Coulomb repulsion. Remarkably, down to the limit of two-cell wide stripes, the dispersion can be interpreted as essentially a superposition of the two end-phase dispersions, with superposed minigaps associated with the lattice periodicity. The largest minigap falls near the Fermi level; it can be enhanced by proximity to a (bulk) Van Hove singularity. The calculated spectra are dominated by two features -- this charge stripe minigap plus the magnetic stripe Hubbard gap. There is a strong correlation between these two features and the experimental photoemission results of a two-peak dispersion in La$_{2-x}$Sr$_x$CuO$_4$, and the peak-dip-hump spectra in Bi$_2$Sr$_2$CaCu$_2$O$_{8+\delta}$. The differences are suggestive of the role of increasing stripe fluctuations. The 1/8 anomaly is associated with a quantum critical point, here expressed as a percolation-like crossover. A model is proposed for the limiting minority magnetic phase as an isolated two-leg ladder.Comment: 24 pages, 26 PS figure

Knowledge-based energy functions for computational studies of proteins

This chapter discusses theoretical framework and methods for developing knowledge-based potential functions essential for protein structure prediction, protein-protein interaction, and protein sequence design. We discuss in some details about the Miyazawa-Jernigan contact statistical potential, distance-dependent statistical potentials, as well as geometric statistical potentials. We also describe a geometric model for developing both linear and non-linear potential functions by optimization. Applications of knowledge-based potential functions in protein-decoy discrimination, in protein-protein interactions, and in protein design are then described. Several issues of knowledge-based potential functions are finally discussed.Comment: 57 pages, 6 figures. To be published in a book by Springe

Measurement of (anti)deuteron and (anti)proton production in DIS at HERA

The first observation of (anti)deuterons in deep inelastic scattering at HERA has been made with the ZEUS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of 300--318 GeV using an integrated luminosity of 120 pb-1. The measurement was performed in the central rapidity region for transverse momentum per unit of mass in the range 0.3<p_T/M<0.7. The particle rates have been extracted and interpreted in terms of the coalescence model. The (anti)deuteron production yield is smaller than the (anti)proton yield by approximately three orders of magnitude, consistent with the world measurements.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, 5 tables, submitted to Nucl. Phys.

Forward jet production in deep inelastic ep scattering and low-x parton dynamics at HERA

Differential inclusive jet cross sections in neutral current deep inelastic ep scattering have been measured with the ZEUS detector. Three phase-space regions have been selected in order to study parton dynamics where the effects of BFKL evolution might be present. The measurements have been compared to the predictions of leading-logarithm parton shower Monte Carlo models and fixed-order perturbative QCD calculations. In the forward region, QCD calculations at order alpha_s^1 underestimate the data up to an order of magnitude at low x. An improved description of the data in this region is obtained by including QCD corrections at order alpha_s^2, which account for the lowest-order t-channel gluon-exchange diagrams, highlighting the importance of such terms in parton dynamics at low x.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure

Measurement of dijet photoproduction for events with a leading neutron at HERA

Differential cross sections for dijet photoproduction and this process in association with a leading neutron, e+ + p -> e+ + jet + jet + X (+ n), have been measured with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 40 pb-1. The fraction of dijet events with a leading neutron was studied as a function of different jet and event variables. Single- and double-differential cross sections are presented as a function of the longitudinal fraction of the proton momentum carried by the leading neutron, xL, and of its transverse momentum squared, pT^2. The dijet data are compared to inclusive DIS and photoproduction results; they are all consistent with a simple pion-exchange model. The neutron yield as a function of xL was found to depend only on the fraction of the proton beam energy going into the forward region, independent of the hard process. No firm conclusion can be drawn on the presence of rescattering effects.Comment: 40 pages, 18 figure

Deep inelastic inclusive and diffractive scattering at Q2Q^2 values from 25 to 320 GeV2^2 with the ZEUS forward plug calorimeter

Deep inelastic scattering and its diffractive component, $ep \to e^{\prime}\gamma^* p \to e^{\prime}XN$, have been studied at HERA with the ZEUS detector using an integrated luminosity of 52.4 pb$^{-1}$. The $M_X$ method has been used to extract the diffractive contribution. A wide range in the centre-of-mass energy $W$ (37 -- 245 GeV), photon virtuality $Q^2$ (20 -- 450 GeV$^2$) and mass $M_X$ (0.28 -- 35 GeV) is covered. The diffractive cross section for $2 < M_X < 15$ GeV rises strongly with $W$, the rise becoming steeper as $Q^2$ increases. The data are also presented in terms of the diffractive structure function, $F^{\rm D(3)}_2$, of the proton. For fixed $Q^2$ and fixed $M_X$, \xpom F^{\rm D(3)}_2 shows a strong rise as \xpom \to 0, where \xpom is the fraction of the proton momentum carried by the Pomeron. For Bjorken-$x < 1 \cdot 10^{-3}$, \xpom F^{\rm D(3)}_2 shows positive $\log Q^2$ scaling violations, while for $x \ge 5 \cdot 10^{-3}$ negative scaling violations are observed. The diffractive structure function is compatible with being leading twist. The data show that Regge factorisation is broken.Comment: 89 pages, 27 figure