Bloch inductance in small-capacitance Josephson junctions

We show that the electrical impedance of a small-capacitance Josephson junction includes besides the capacitive term $-i/\omega C_B$ also an inductive term $i\omega L_B$. Similar to the known Bloch capacitance $C_B(q)$, the Bloch inductance $L_B(q)$ also depends periodically on the quasicharge $q$, and its maximum value achieved at $q=e (\textrm{mod} 2e)$ always exceeds the value of the Josephson inductance of this junction $L_J(\phi)$ at fixed $\phi=0$. The effect of the Bloch inductance on the dynamics of a single junction and a one-dimensional array is described.Comment: 5 pages incl. 3 fig

A hybrid superconductor-normal metal electron trap as a photon detector

A single-electron trap built with two Superconductor (S) - Insulator (I) - Normal (N) metal tunnel junctions and coupled to a readout SINIS-type single-electron transistor A (SET A) was studied in a photon detection regime. As a source of photon irradiation, we used an operating second SINIS-type SET B positioned in the vicinity of the trap. In the experiment, the average hold time of the trap was found to be critically dependent on the voltage across SET B. Starting in a certain voltage range, a photon-assisted electron escape was observed at a rate roughly proportional to the emission rate of the photons with energies exceeding the superconducting gap of S-electrodes in the trap. The discussed mechanism of photon emission and detection is of interest for low-temperature noise spectrometry and it can be of relevance for the ampere standard based on hybrid SINIS turnstiles.Comment: submitted, 3 pages, 3 figure

Assessing T cell clonal size distribution: a non-parametric approach

Clonal structure of the human peripheral T-cell repertoire is shaped by a number of homeostatic mechanisms, including antigen presentation, cytokine and cell regulation. Its accurate tuning leads to a remarkable ability to combat pathogens in all their variety, while systemic failures may lead to severe consequences like autoimmune diseases. Here we develop and make use of a non-parametric statistical approach to assess T cell clonal size distributions from recent next generation sequencing data. For 41 healthy individuals and a patient with ankylosing spondylitis, who undergone treatment, we invariably find power law scaling over several decades and for the first time calculate quantitatively meaningful values of decay exponent. It has proved to be much the same among healthy donors, significantly different for an autoimmune patient before the therapy, and converging towards a typical value afterwards. We discuss implications of the findings for theoretical understanding and mathematical modeling of adaptive immunity.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 2 table

The system and methods of forest fund inventory on the bases of information technologies providing sustainable forest management

The article is dedicated to introduction of new methods, means and techniques of forest growing, its pro-tection, sustainable forest treatment, providing increase of forest productivity and resistance, development of forest resource and social-economic role, and rational mu ltifunctional application of forest resources. The author describes newly introduced systems and methods of forest inventory fund on the bases of information technologies providing conversion of the Belarusian state forestry data base into the European one. Models of planning of forest stand growth and actualization are described. Also the article contains information on some mobile means of obtaining taxation data, indexes / indicators for inventory of forest fund with the help of new methods and technologies. The following aspects are under investigation: computer tablet sand forest taxation data input, system of taxation data transfer (by Internet), satellite navigation, and delimitation of forest areas. The author analyses forest growth forecast models and regression models

Cooper pair cotunneling in single charge transistors with dissipative electromagnetic environment

We observed current-voltage characteristics of superconducting single charge transistors with on-chip resistors of R about R_Q = h/4e^2 = 6.45 kOhm, which are explained in terms of Cooper-pair cotunneling. Both the effective strength of Josephson coupling and the cotunneling current are modulated by the gate-induced charge on the transistor island. For increasing values of the resistance R we found the Cooper pair current at small transport voltages to be dramatically suppressed.Comment: 4 pages and 2 figure