Spatial fluctuations in an optical parametric oscillator below threshold with an intracavity photonic crystal

We show how to control spatial quantum correlations in a multimode degenerate optical parametric oscillator type I below threshold by introducing a spatially inhomogeneous medium, such as a photonic crystal, in the plane perpendicular to light propagation. We obtain the analytical expressions for all the correlations in terms of the relevant parameters of the problem and study the number of photons, entanglement, squeezing, and twin beams. Considering different regimes and configurations we show the possibility to tune the instability thresholds as well as the quantumness of correlations by breaking the translational invariance of the system through a photonic crystal modulation.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure

Analytic theory of correlation energy and spin polarization in the 2D electron gas

We present an analytic theory of the pair distribution function and the ground-state energy in a two-dimensional (2D) electron gas with an arbitrary degree of spin polarization. Our approach involves the solution of a zero-energy scattering Schr\"odinger equation with an effective potential which includes a Fermi term from exchange and kinetic energy and a Bose-like term from Jastrow-Feenberg correlations. The form of the latter is assessed from an analysis of data on a 2D gas of charged bosons. We obtain excellent agreement with data from quantum Monte Carlo studies of the 2D electron gas. In particular, our results for the correlation energy show a quantum phase transition occurring at coupling strength $r_s\approx 24$ from the paramagnetic to the fully spin-polarized fluid.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Biological Applications of Synthetic Binders Isolated from a Conceptually New Adhiron Library

Background: Adhirons are small (10 kDa) synthetic ligands that might represent an alternative to antibody fragments and to alternative scaffolds such as DARPins or affibodies. Methods: We prepared a conceptionally new adhiron phage display library that allows the presence of cysteines in the hypervariable loops and successfully panned it against antigens possessing different characteristics. Results: We recovered binders specific for membrane epitopes of plant cells by panning the library directly against pea protoplasts and against soluble C-Reactive Protein and SpyCatcher, a small protein domain for which we failed to isolate binders using pre-immune nanobody libraries. The best binders had a binding constant in the low nM range, were produced easily in bacteria (average yields of 15 mg/L of culture) in combination with different tags, were stable, and had minimal aggregation propensity, independent of the presence or absence of cysteine residues in their loops. Discussion: The isolated adhirons were significantly stronger than those isolated previously from other libraries and as good as nanobodies recovered from a naïve library of comparable theoretical diversity. Moreover, they proved to be suitable reagents for ELISA, flow cytometry, the western blot, and also as capture elements in electrochemical biosensors

The permeation mechanism of organic cations through a CNG mimic channel

Several channels, ranging from TRP receptors to Gap junctions, allow the exchange of small organic solute across cell membrane. However, very little is known about the molecular mechanism of their permeation. Cyclic Nucleotide Gated (CNG) channels, despite their homology with K+channels and in contrast with them, allow the passage of larger methylated and ethylated ammonium ions like dimethylammonium (DMA) and ethylammonium (EA). We combined electrophysiology and molecular dynamics simulations to examine how DMA interacts with the pore and permeates through it. Due to the presence of hydrophobic groups, DMA enters easily in the channel and, unlike the alkali cations, does not need to cross any barrier. We also show that while the crystal structure is consistent with the presence of a single DMA ion at full occupancy, the channel is able to conduct a sizable current of DMA ions only when two ions are present inside the channel. Moreover, the second DMA ion dramatically changes the free energy landscape, destabilizing the crystallographic binding site and lowering by almost 25 kJ/mol the binding affinity between DMA and the channel. Based on the results of the simulation the experimental electron density maps can be re-interpreted with the presence of a second ion at lower occupancy. In this mechanism the flexibility of the channel plays a key role, extending the classical multi-ion permeation paradigm in which conductance is enhanced by the plain interaction between the ions

Semiclassical theory for spatial density oscillations in fermionic systems

We investigate the particle and kinetic-energy densities for a system of $N$ fermions bound in a local (mean-field) potential V(\bfr). We generalize a recently developed semiclassical theory [J. Roccia and M. Brack, Phys. Rev.\ Lett. {\bf 100}, 200408 (2008)], in which the densities are calculated in terms of the closed orbits of the corresponding classical system, to $D>1$ dimensions. We regularize the semiclassical results $(i)$ for the U(1) symmetry breaking occurring for spherical systems at $r=0$ and $(ii)$ near the classical turning points where the Friedel oscillations are predominant and well reproduced by the shortest orbit going from $r$ to the closest turning point and back. For systems with spherical symmetry, we show that there exist two types of oscillations which can be attributed to radial and non-radial orbits, respectively. The semiclassical theory is tested against exact quantum-mechanical calculations for a variety of model potentials. We find a very good overall numerical agreement between semiclassical and exact numerical densities even for moderate particle numbers $N$. Using a "local virial theorem", shown to be valid (except for a small region around the classical turning points) for arbitrary local potentials, we can prove that the Thomas-Fermi functional $\tau_{\text{TF}}[\rho]$ reproduces the oscillations in the quantum-mechanical densities to first order in the oscillating parts.Comment: LaTeX, 22pp, 15 figs, 1 table, to be published in Phys. Rev.

C-Terminal Domain of the Human Zinc Transporter hZnT8 Is Structurally Indistinguishable from Its Disease Risk Variant (R325W)

The human zinc transporter 8 (hZnT8) plays important roles in the storage of insulin in the secretory vesicles of pancreatic β cells. hZnT8 consists of a transmembrane domain, with its N- and C-termini protruding into the cytoplasm. Interestingly, the exchange of arginine to tryptophan at position 325 in the C-terminal domain (CTD) increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D). In the present study, the CTDs of hZnT8 (the wild-type (WT) and its disease risk variant (R325W)) were expressed, purified, and characterized in their native forms by biophysical techniques. The data reveal that the CTDs form tetramers which are stabilized by zinc binding, and exhibit negligible differences in their secondary structure content and zinc-binding affinities in solution. These findings provide the basis for conducting further structural studies aimed at unravelling the molecular mechanism underlying the increased susceptibility to develop T2D, which is modulated by the disease risk variant

Unisolvency for Multivariate Polynomial Interpolation in Coatmèlec Configurations of Nodes

A new and straightforward proof of the unisolvability of the problem of multivariate polynomial interpolation based on Coatmèlec configurations of nodes, a class of properly posed set of nodes defined by hyperplanes, is presented. The proof generalizes a previous one for the bivariate case and is based on a recursive reduction of the problem to simpler ones following the so-called Radon–Bézout process.The authors thank to Drs. Mariano Gasca and Juan I. Ramos for pointing us some references and for their useful comments which have greatly improved the presentation. The authors also thank a reviewer for pointing out a mistake in the original Proof of Lemma 5. The research reported in this paper was partially supported by Project MTM2010-19969 from the Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion of Spain and Grant PAID-06-09-2734 from the Universidad Politecnica de Valencia. M. A. G. M. acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education (MEC), Fulbright Commission, and FECYT.García March, MÁ.; Gimenez Palomares, F.; Villatoro, FR.; Pérez Quiles, MJ.; Fernández De Córdoba Castellá, PJ. (2011). Unisolvency for Multivariate Polynomial Interpolation in Coatmèlec Configurations of Nodes. Applied Mathematics and Computation. 217(18):7427-7431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amc.2011.02.034S742774312171

Dynamics of supercooled liquids: density fluctuations and Mode Coupling Theory

We write equations of motion for density variables that are equivalent to Newtons equations. We then propose a set of trial equations parameterised by two unknown functions to describe the exact equations. These are chosen to best fit the exact Newtonian equations. Following established ideas, we choose to separate these trial functions into a set representing integrable motions of density waves, and a set containing all effects of non-integrability. It transpires that the static structure factor is fixed by this minimum condition to be the solution of the Yvon-Born-Green (YBG) equation. The residual interactions between density waves are explicitly isolated in their Newtonian representation and expanded by choosing the dominant objects in the phase space of the system, that can be represented by a dissipative term with memory and a random noise. This provides a mapping between deterministic and stochastic dynamics. Imposing the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem (FDT) allows us to calculate the memory kernel. We write exactly the expression for it, following two different routes, i.e. using explicitly Newtons equations, or instead, their implicit form, that must be projected onto density pairs, as in the development of the well-established Mode Coupling Theory (MCT). We compare these two ways of proceeding, showing the necessity to enforce a new equation of constraint for the two schemes to be consistent. Thus, while in the first `Newtonian' representation a simple gaussian approximation for the random process leads easily to the Mean Spherical Approximation (MSA) for the statics and to MCT for the dynamics of the system, in the second case higher levels of approximation are required to have a fully consistent theory

Hidden sector effects on double higgs production near threshold at the LHC

In this letter we study a novel effect of a hidden sector coupling to the standard model Higgs boson: an enhancement of the Higgs pair production cross section near threshold due to bound state effects. After summing the ladder contributions of the hidden sector to the effective $ggHH$ coupling, we find the amplitude for gluon-gluon scattering via a Higgs loop. We relate this amplitude to the double Higgs production cross section via the optical theorem. We find that enhancements of the order of 100 for the partonic cross section near the threshold region can be obtained for a hidden sector strongly coupled to the Higgs boson. The corresponding cross section at the LHC can be as large as a factor of 10 times the SM result for extreme values of the coupling. The detection of such an effect could in principle lead to important information about the hidden sector.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Matches published versio

Closing in on Asymmetric Dark Matter I: Model independent limits for interactions with quarks

It is argued that experimental constraints on theories of asymmetric dark matter (ADM) almost certainly require that the DM be part of a richer hidden sector of interacting states of comparable mass or lighter. A general requisite of models of ADM is that the vast majority of the symmetric component of the DM number density must be removed in order to explain the observed relationship $\Omega_B\sim\Omega_{DM}$ via the DM asymmetry. Demanding the efficient annihilation of the symmetric component leads to a tension with experimental limits if the annihilation is directly to Standard Model (SM) degrees of freedom. A comprehensive effective operator analysis of the model independent constraints on ADM from direct detection experiments and LHC monojet searches is presented. Notably, the limits obtained essentially exclude models of ADM with mass 1GeV$\lesssim m_{DM} \lesssim$ 100GeV annihilating to SM quarks via heavy mediator states. This motivates the study of portal interactions between the dark and SM sectors mediated by light states. Resonances and threshold effects involving the new light states are shown to be important for determining the exclusion limits.Comment: 18+6 pages, 18 figures. v2: version accepted for publicatio