Quantum phase transitions in the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model

We study the two-dimensional Kane-Mele-Hubbard model at half filling by means of quantum Monte Carlo simulations. We present a refined phase boundary for the quantum spin liquid. The topological insulator at finite Hubbard interaction strength is adiabatically connected to the groundstate of the Kane-Mele model. In the presence of spin-orbit coupling, magnetic order at large Hubbard U is restricted to the transverse direction. The transition from the topological band insulator to the antiferromagnetic Mott insulator is in the universality class of the three-dimensional XY model. The numerical data suggest that the spin liquid to topological insulator and spin liquid to Mott insulator transitions are both continuous.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures; final version; new Figs. 4(b) and 8(b

Comment on "Novel Superfluidity in a Trapped Gas of Fermi Atoms with Repulsive Interaction Loaded on an Optical Lattice"

In a recent letter Machida et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 200402 (2004)] concluded that in a trapped gas of fermions with repulsive interactions a superfluid phase appears around the Mott-insulator at the center of the trap. They base their conclusion on a negative binding energy, and a large weight for a singlet formed by particles located at opposite sides of the Mott-insulator. We show here that the observed effects are not related to superfluidity.Comment: Revtex file, 1 page, 1 figure, published versio

Robertsonian chromosome polymorphism found in a local herd of the Japanese Black cattle

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Midkine in Inflammation

The 13 kDa heparin-binding growth factor midkine (MK) was originally identified as a molecule involved in the orchestration of embryonic development. Recent studies provided evidence for a new role of MK in acute and chronic inflammatory processes. Accordingly, several inflammatory diseases including nephritis, arthritis, atherosclerosis, colitis, and autoimmune encephalitis have been shown to be alleviated in the absence of MK in animal models. Reduced leukocyte recruitment to the sites of inflammation was found to be one important mechanism attenuating chronic inflammation when MK was absent. Furthermore, MK was found to modulate expression of proinflammatory cytokines and the expansion of regulatory T-cells. Here, we review the current understanding of the role of MK in different inflammatory disorders and summarize the knowledge of MK biology

Mott Domains of Bosons Confined on Optical Lattices

In the absence of a confining potential, the boson Hubbard model in its ground state is known to exhibit a superfluid to Mott insulator quantum phase transition at commensurate fillings and strong on-site repulsion. In this paper, we use quantum Monte Carlo simulations to study the ground state of the one dimensional bosonic Hubbard model in a trap. We show that some, but not all, aspects of the Mott insulating phase persist when a confining potential is present. The Mott behavior is present for a continuous range of incommensurate fillings, a very different situation from the unconfined case. Furthermore the establishment of the Mott phase does not proceed via a quantum phase transition in the traditional sense. These observations have important implications for the interpretation of experimental results for atoms trapped on optical lattices. Initial results show that, qualitatively, the same results persist in higher dimensions.Comment: Revtex file, five figures, include

New Superconducting and Magnetic Phases Emerge on the Verge of Antiferromagnetism in CeIn3_3

We report the discovery of new superconducting and novel magnetic phases in CeIn$_3$ on the verge of antiferromagnetism (AFM) under pressure ($P$) through the In-nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) measurements. We have found a $P$-induced phase separation of AFM and paramagnetism (PM) without any trace for a quantum phase transition in CeIn$_3$. A new type of superconductivity (SC) was found in $P=2.28-2.5$ GPa to coexist with AFM that is magnetically separated from PM where the heavy fermion SC takes place. We propose that the magnetic excitations such as spin-density fluctuations induced by the first-order magnetic phase transition might mediate attractive interaction to form Cooper pairs.Comment: 4 pages, 4 EPS figures, submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp