Mechanical response of a self avoiding membrane: fold collisions and the birth of conical singularities

An elastic membrane that is forced to reside in a container smaller than its natural size will deform and, upon further volume reduction, eventually crumple. The crumpled state is characterized by the localization of energy in a complex network of highly deformed crescent-like regions joined by line ridges. Previous studies have focused on the onset of the crumpled state by analyzing the mechanical response and stability of a conical dislocation, while others have simulated the highly packed regime neglecting the importance of the connectivity of the membrane. Here we show, through a combination of experiments, numerical simulations, and analytic approach, that the emergence of new regions of high stretching is a generic outcome when a self avoiding membrane is subject to a severe geometrical constraint. We demonstrate that, at moderate packing fraction, interlayer interactions produce a response equivalent to the one of a thicker membrane that has the shape of the deformed one. Evidence is found that friction plays a key role stabilizing the folded structures.Comment: 10 page

The effect of a velocity barrier on the ballistic transport of Dirac fermions

We propose a novel way to manipulate the transport properties of massless Dirac fermions by using velocity barriers, defining the region in which the Fermi velocity, $v_{F}$, has a value that differs from the one in the surrounding background. The idea is based on the fact that when waves travel accross different media, there are boundary conditions that must be satisfied, giving rise to Snell's-like laws. We find that the transmission through a velocity barrier is highly anisotropic, and that perfect transmission always occurs at normal incidence. When $v_{F}$ in the barrier is larger that the velocity outside the barrier, we find that a critical transmission angle exists, a Brewster-like angle for massless Dirac electrons.Comment: 4.3 pages, 5 figure

IFNγ-induced PD-L1 expression is JAK2 but not JAK1 dependent and its inhibition enhances NK-cetuximab mediated ADCC of HNSCC cells

Programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) is an immunosuppressive molecule expressed by many cancer types, including a large proportion of head and neck cancers (HNC), and ligation of its receptor, programmed death 1 (PD-1), induces exhaustion of effector T cells. It has been shown that interferon gamma (IFNγ) induces PD-L1 expression in many cancer types including glioblastoma, melanoma, lung and kidney cancer. Importantly, the stimuli and mechanism for PD-L1 upregulation in HNC cells are not well characterized. IFNγ signals through Janus Kinase 1/2 (JAK1/2) heterodimer complex and mediates signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) phosphorylation, leading to type I cytokine expression, upregulation of antigen presentation, and tumor cell recognition by cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL). We investigated basal PD-L1 expression and the mechanism by which IFNγ signaling upregulates PD-L1 in HNC cells including dependence on JAK/STAT pathway. We observed that IFNγ signaling increased PD-L1 expression in a JAK2 but not JAK1 dependent fashion. In addition, interferon alpha (IFNα), which signals via JAK1/TYK2 did not upregulate PD-L1 expression while still upregulated HLA class I. Specific JAK2 inhibition downregulated NK cell-derived IFNγ induced PD-L1 expression and enhanced cetuximab mediated ADCC. Our data suggest a crucial role for JAK2/STAT1 in IFNγ mediated PD-L1 upregulation. JAK2 inhibition provides a promising strategy to increase tumor cell lysis through maintaining HLA class I while suppressing tumor cell expressed PD-L1 in combination with anti-EGFR cetuximab therapy

On the supersymmetry invariance of flat supergravity with boundary

The supersymmetry invariance of flat supergravity (i.e., supergravity in the absence of any internal scale in the Lagrangian) in four dimensions on a manifold with non-trivial boundary is explored. Using a geometric approach we find that the supersymmetry invariance of the Lagrangian requires to add appropriate boundary terms. This is achieved by considering additional gauge fields to the boundary without modifying the bulk Lagrangian. We also construct an enlarged supergravity model from which, in the vanishing cosmological constant limit, flat supergravity with a non-trivial boundary emerges properly

Three-dimensional non-relativistic extended supergravity with cosmological constant

In this paper, we present two novel non-relativistic superalgebras which correspond to supersymmetric extensions of the enlarged extended Bargmann algebra. The three-dimensional non-relativistic Chern–Simons supergravity actions invariant under the aforementioned superalgebras are constructed. The new non-relativistic superalgebras allow to accommodate a cosmological constant in a non-relativistic supergravity theory. Interestingly, we show that one of the non-relativistic supergravity theories presented here leads to the recently introduced Maxwellian exotic Bargmann supergravity when the flat limit ℓ→ ∞ is considered. Besides, we show that both descriptions can be written in terms of a supersymmetric extension of the Nappi–Witten algebra or the extended Newton–Hooke superalgebra

Three-dimensional Maxwellian extended Bargmann supergravity

We present a novel three-dimensional non-relativistic Chern-Simons supergravity theory invariant under a Maxwellian extended Bargmann superalgebra. We first study the non-relativistic limits of the minimal and the N = 2 Maxwell superalgebras. We show that a well-defined Maxwellian extended Bargmann supergravity requires to construct by hand a supersymmetric extension of the Maxwellian extended Bargmann algebra by introducing additional fermionic and bosonic generators. The new non-relativistic supergravity action presented here contains the extended Bargmann supergravity as a sub-case

Three-dimensional exotic Newtonian gravity with cosmological constant

In this work we introduce a cosmological constant in the extended Newtonian gravity theory. To this end, we extend the exotic Newton-Hooke algebra by introducing new generators and central charges. The new algebra obtained here has been denoted as exotic Newtonian algebra and reproduces the extended Newtonian one in the flat limit ℓ→∞. A three-dimensional Chern-Simons action for the exotic Newtonian algebra is presented. We show that the non-relativistic gravity theory proposed here reproduces the most general extended Newtonian gravity theory in the flat limit

Three-dimensional non-relativistic supergravity and torsion

In this paper we present a torsional non-relativi-stic Chern–Simons (super)gravity theory in three spacetime dimensions. We start by developing the non-relativistic limit of the purely bosonic relativistic teleparallel Chern–Simons formulation of gravity. On-shell the latter yields a non-Riemannian setup with non-vanishing torsion, which, at non-relativistic level, translates into a non-vanishing spatial torsion sourced by the cosmological constant. Then we consider the three-dimensional relativistic N= 2 teleparallel Chern–Simons supergravity theory and obtain its non-relativistic counterpart by exploiting a Lie algebra expansion method. The non-relativistic supergravity theory is characterized, on-shell, by a non-vanishing spatial super-torsion, again sourced by the cosmological constant