Production of a Discrete, Infectious, Double-stranded DNA by Reverse Transcription in Virions of Moloney Murine Leukemia Virus

One of the most unique viral replication schemes is that of the retroviruses (a class that includes the RNA tumor viruses). These viruses synthesize a double-stranded (DS) DNA copy of their single-stranded (SS) RNA genome as the initial event following infection of susceptible cells (see Weinberg 1977). The details of this process—called reverse transcription—are still obscure, but the general outlines have become clear during the last few years

The ground-based FTIR network's potential for investigating the atmospheric water cycle

We present tropospheric H<sub>2</sub><sup>16</sup>O and HD<sup>16</sup>O/H<sub>2</sub><sup>16</sup>O vapour profiles measured by ground-based FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) spectrometers between 1996 and 2008 at a northern hemispheric subarctic and subtropical site (Kiruna, Northern Sweden, 68° N and Izaña, Tenerife Island, 28° N, respectively). We compare these measurements to an isotope incorporated atmospheric general circulation model (AGCM). If the model is nudged towards meteorological fields of reanalysis data the agreement is very satisfactory on time scales ranging from daily to inter-annual. Taking the Izaña and Kiruna measurements as an example we document the FTIR network's unique potential for investigating the atmospheric water cycle. At the subarctic site we find strong correlations between the FTIR data, on the one hand, and the Arctic Oscillation index and the northern Atlantic sea surface temperature, on the other hand. The Izaña FTIR measurements reveal the importance of the Hadley circulation and the Northern Atlantic Oscillation index for the subtropical middle/upper tropospheric water balance. We document where the AGCM is able to capture these complexities of the water cycle and where it fails

Pressure-induced and Composition-induced Structural Quantum Phase Transition in the Cubic Superconductor (Sr/Ca)_3Ir_4Sn_{13}

We show that the quasi-skutterudite superconductor Sr_3Ir_4Sn_{13} undergoes a structural transition from a simple cubic parent structure, the I-phase, to a superlattice variant, the I'-phase, which has a lattice parameter twice that of the high temperature phase. We argue that the superlattice distortion is associated with a charge density wave transition of the conduction electron system and demonstrate that the superlattice transition temperature T* can be suppressed to zero by combining chemical and physical pressure. This enables the first comprehensive investigation of a superlattice quantum phase transition and its interplay with superconductivity in a cubic charge density wave system.Comment: 4 figures, 5 pages (excluding supplementary material). To be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Dilaton Black Holes with Electric Charge

Static spherically symmetric solutions of the Einstein-Maxwell gravity with the dilaton field are described. The solutions correspond to black holes and are generalizations of the previously known dilaton black hole solution. In addition to mass and electric charge these solutions are labeled by a new parameter, the dilaton charge of the black hole. Different effects of the dilaton charge on the geometry of space-time of such black holes are studied. It is shown that in most cases the scalar curvature is divergent at the horizons. Another feature of the dilaton black hole is that there is a finite interval of values of electric charge for which no black hole can exist.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX file + 1 figure, CALT-68-1885. (the postscript file is improved

The Future of Neutrino Mass Measurements: Terrestrial, Astrophysical, and Cosmological Measurements in the Next Decade. Highlights of the NuMass 2013 Workshop. Milano, Italy, February 4 - 7, 2013

The third Workshop of the NuMass series ("The Future of Neutrino Mass Measurements: Terrestrial, Astrophysical, and Cosmological Measurements in the Next Decade: NuMass 2013") was held at Dipartimento di Fisica "G. Occhialini, University of Milano-Bicocca in Milano, Italy, on 4-7 February 2013. The goal of this international workshop was to review the status and future of direct and indirect neutrino mass measurements in the laboratory as well as from astrophysical and cosmological observations. This paper collects most of the contributions presented during the Workshop