189 research outputs found
High-transition-temperature superconductivity in the absence of the magnetic-resonance mode
The fundamental mechanism that gives rise to high-transition-temperature
(high-Tc) superconductivity in the copper oxide materials has been debated
since the discovery of the phenomenon. Recent work has focussed on a sharp
'kink' in the kinetic energy spectra of the electrons as a possible signature
of the force that creates the superconducting state. The kink has been related
to a magnetic resonance and also to phonons. Here we report that infrared
spectra of Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+d), (Bi-2212) show that this sharp feature can be
separated from a broad background and, interestingly, weakens with doping
before disappearing completely at a critical doping level of 0.23 holes per
copper atom. Superconductivity is still strong in terms of the transition
temperature (Tc approx 55 K), so our results rule out both the magnetic
resonance peak and phonons as the principal cause of high-Tc superconductivity.
The broad background, on the other hand, is a universal property of the copper
oxygen plane and a good candidate for the 'glue' that binds the electrons.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Locally critical quantum phase transitions in strongly correlated metals
When a metal undergoes a continuous quantum phase transition, non-Fermi
liquid behaviour arises near the critical point. It is standard to assume that
all low-energy degrees of freedom induced by quantum criticality are spatially
extended, corresponding to long-wavelength fluctuations of the order parameter.
However, this picture has been contradicted by recent experiments on a
prototype system: heavy fermion metals at a zero-temperature magnetic
transition. In particular, neutron scattering from CeCuAu has
revealed anomalous dynamics at atomic length scales, leading to much debate as
to the fate of the local moments in the quantum-critical regime. Here we report
our theoretical finding of a locally critical quantum phase transition in a
model of heavy fermions. The dynamics at the critical point are in agreement
with experiment. We also argue that local criticality is a phenomenon of
general relevance to strongly correlated metals, including doped Mott
insulators.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures; extended version, to appear in Natur
An angle-resolved photoemission spectral function analysis of the electron doped cuprate Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4
Using methods made possible by recent advances in photoemission technology,
we perform an indepth line-shape analysis of the angle-resolved photoemission
spectra of the electron doped (n-type) cuprate superconductor
Nd_1.85Ce_0.15CuO_4. Unlike for the p-type materials, we only observe weak mass
renormalizations near 50-70 meV. This may be indicative of smaller
electron-phonon coupling or due to the masking effects of other interactions
that make the electron-phonon coupling harder to detect. This latter scenario
may suggest limitations of the spectral function analysis in extracting
electronic self-energies when some of the interactions are highly momentum
dependent.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Nonlinear Sigma Model for Disordered Media: Replica Trick for Non-Perturbative Results and Interactions
In these lectures, given at the NATO ASI at Windsor (2001), applications of
the replicas nonlinear sigma model to disordered systems are reviewed. A
particular attention is given to two sets of issues. First, obtaining
non-perturbative results in the replica limit is discussed, using as examples
(i) an oscillatory behaviour of the two-level correlation function and (ii)
long-tail asymptotes of different mesoscopic distributions. Second, a new
variant of the sigma model for interacting electrons in disordered normal and
superconducting systems is presented, with demonstrating how to reduce it,
under certain controlled approximations, to known ``phase-only'' actions,
including that of the ``dirty bosons'' model.Comment: 25 pages, Proceedings of the NATO ASI "Field Theory of Strongly
Correlated Fermions and Bosons in Low - Dimensional Disordered Systems",
Windsor, August, 2001; to be published by Kluwe
Antiferromagnetism and single-particle properties in the two-dimensional half-filled Hubbard model: a non-linear sigma model approach
We describe a low-temperature approach to the two-dimensional half-filled
Hubbard model which allows us to study both antiferromagnetism and
single-particle properties. This approach ignores amplitude fluctuations of the
antiferromagnetic (AF) order parameter and is valid below a crossover
temperature which marks the onset of AF short-range order. Directional
fluctuations (spin waves) are described by a non-linear sigma model
(NLM) that we derive from the Hubbard model. At zero temperature and
weak coupling, our results are typical of a Slater antiferromagnet. The AF gap
is exponentially small; there are well-defined Bogoliubov quasi-particles
(QP's) (carrying most of the spectral weight) coexisting with a high-energy
incoherent excitation background. As increases, the Slater antiferromagnet
progressively becomes a Mott-Heisenberg antiferromagnet. The Bogoliubov bands
evolve into Mott-Hubbard bands separated by a large AF gap. A significant
fraction of spectral weight is transferred from the Bogoliubov QP's to
incoherent excitations. At finite temperature, there is a metal-insulator
transition between a pseudogap phase at weak coupling and a Mott-Hubbard
insulator at strong coupling. Finally, we point out that our results
straightforwardly translate to the half-filled attractive Hubbard model, where
the charge and pairing fluctuations combine to
form an order parameter with SO(3) symmetry.Comment: Revtex4, 19 pages, 14 figures; (v2) final version as publishe
Quantum phase transitions
In recent years, quantum phase transitions have attracted the interest of
both theorists and experimentalists in condensed matter physics. These
transitions, which are accessed at zero temperature by variation of a
non-thermal control parameter, can influence the behavior of electronic systems
over a wide range of the phase diagram. Quantum phase transitions occur as a
result of competing ground state phases. The cuprate superconductors which can
be tuned from a Mott insulating to a d-wave superconducting phase by carrier
doping are a paradigmatic example. This review introduces important concepts of
phase transitions and discusses the interplay of quantum and classical
fluctuations near criticality. The main part of the article is devoted to bulk
quantum phase transitions in condensed matter systems. Several classes of
transitions will be briefly reviewed, pointing out, e.g., conceptual
differences between ordering transitions in metallic and insulating systems. An
interesting separate class of transitions are boundary phase transitions where
only degrees of freedom of a subsystem become critical; this will be
illustrated in a few examples. The article is aimed on bridging the gap between
high-level theoretical presentations and research papers specialized in certain
classes of materials. It will give an overview over a variety of different
quantum transitions, critically discuss open theoretical questions, and
frequently make contact with recent experiments in condensed matter physics.Comment: 50 pages, 7 figs; (v2) final version as publishe
Quantum Criticality in Heavy Fermion Metals
Quantum criticality describes the collective fluctuations of matter
undergoing a second-order phase transition at zero temperature. Heavy fermion
metals have in recent years emerged as prototypical systems to study quantum
critical points. There have been considerable efforts, both experimental and
theoretical, which use these magnetic systems to address problems that are
central to the broad understanding of strongly correlated quantum matter. Here,
we summarize some of the basic issues, including i) the extent to which the
quantum criticality in heavy fermion metals goes beyond the standard theory of
order-parameter fluctuations, ii) the nature of the Kondo effect in the quantum
critical regime, iii) the non-Fermi liquid phenomena that accompany quantum
criticality, and iv) the interplay between quantum criticality and
unconventional superconductivity.Comment: (v2) 39 pages, 8 figures; shortened per the editorial mandate; to
appear in Nature Physics. (v1) 43 pages, 8 figures; Non-technical review
article, intended for general readers; the discussion part contains more
specialized topic
Prediction of catalytic residues using Support Vector Machine with selected protein sequence and structural properties
BACKGROUND: The number of protein sequences deriving from genome sequencing projects is outpacing our knowledge about the function of these proteins. With the gap between experimentally characterized and uncharacterized proteins continuing to widen, it is necessary to develop new computational methods and tools for functional prediction. Knowledge of catalytic sites provides a valuable insight into protein function. Although many computational methods have been developed to predict catalytic residues and active sites, their accuracy remains low, with a significant number of false positives. In this paper, we present a novel method for the prediction of catalytic sites, using a carefully selected, supervised machine learning algorithm coupled with an optimal discriminative set of protein sequence conservation and structural properties. RESULTS: To determine the best machine learning algorithm, 26 classifiers in the WEKA software package were compared using a benchmarking dataset of 79 enzymes with 254 catalytic residues in a 10-fold cross-validation analysis. Each residue of the dataset was represented by a set of 24 residue properties previously shown to be of functional relevance, as well as a label {+1/-1} to indicate catalytic/non-catalytic residue. The best-performing algorithm was the Sequential Minimal Optimization (SMO) algorithm, which is a Support Vector Machine (SVM). The Wrapper Subset Selection algorithm further selected seven of the 24 attributes as an optimal subset of residue properties, with sequence conservation, catalytic propensities of amino acids, and relative position on protein surface being the most important features. CONCLUSION: The SMO algorithm with 7 selected attributes correctly predicted 228 of the 254 catalytic residues, with an overall predictive accuracy of more than 86%. Missing only 10.2% of the catalytic residues, the method captures the fundamental features of catalytic residues and can be used as a "catalytic residue filter" to facilitate experimental identification of catalytic residues for proteins with known structure but unknown function
Immunosuppressive effects of radiation on human dendritic cells: reduced IL-12 production on activation and impairment of naïve T-cell priming
Dendritic cells (DC) are professional antigen-presenting cells (APC) of the immune system, uniquely able to prime naïve T-cell responses. They are the focus of a range of novel strategies for the immunotherapy of cancer, a proportion of which include treating DC with ionising radiation to high dose. The effects of radiation on DC have not, however, been fully characterised. We therefore cultured human myeloid DC from CD14+ precursors, and studied the effects of ionising radiation on their phenotype and function. Dendritic cells were remarkably resistant against radiation-induced apoptosis, showed limited changes in surface phenotype, and mostly maintained their endocytic, phagocytic and migratory capacity. However, irradiated DC were less effective in a mixed lymphocyte reaction, and on maturation produced significantly less IL-12 than unirradiated controls, while IL-10 secretion was maintained. Furthermore, peptide-pulsed irradiated mature DC were less effective at naïve T-cell priming, stimulating fewer effector cells with lower cytotoxicity against antigen-specific targets. Hence irradiation of DC in vitro, and potentially in vivo, has a significant impact on their function, and may shift the balance between T-cell activation and tolerisation in DC-mediated immune responses
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