58 research outputs found
Screening current effects in Josephson junction arrays
The purpose of this work is to compare the dynamics of arrays of Josephson
junctions in presence of magnetic field in two different frameworks: the so
called XY frustrated model with no self inductance and an approach that takes
into account the screening currents (considering self inductances only). We
show that while for a range of parameters the simpler model is sufficiently
accurate, in a region of the parameter space solutions arise that are not
contained in the XY model equations.Comment: Figures available from the author
Giant Shapiro steps for two-dimensional Josephson-junction arrays with time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau dynamics
Two-dimensional Josephson junction arrays at zero temperature are
investigated numerically within the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model
and the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) model with global conservation of
current implemented through the fluctuating twist boundary condition (FTBC).
Fractional giant Shapiro steps are found for {\em both} the RSJ and TDGL cases.
This implies that the local current conservation, on which the RSJ model is
based, can be relaxed to the TDGL dynamics with only global current
conservation, without changing the sequence of Shapiro steps. However, when the
maximum widths of the steps are compared for the two models some qualitative
differences are found at higher frequencies. The critical current is also
calculated and comparisons with earlier results are made. It is found that the
FTBC is a more adequate boundary condition than the conventional uniform
current injection method because it minimizes the influence of the boundary.Comment: 6 pages including 4 figures in two columns, final versio
Extragenic suppressor mutations in ΔripA disrupt stability and function of LpxA
Background: Francisella tularensis is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects hundreds of species including humans, and has evolved to grow efficiently within a plethora of cell types. RipA is a conserved membrane protein of F. tularensis, which is required for growth inside host cells. As a means to determine RipA function we isolated and mapped independent extragenic suppressor mutants in ΔripA that restored growth in host cells. Each suppressor mutation mapped to one of two essential genes, lpxA or glmU, which are involved in lipid A synthesis. We repaired the suppressor mutation in lpxA (S102, LpxA T36N) and the mutation in glmU (S103, GlmU E57D), and demonstrated that each mutation was responsible for the suppressor phenotype in their respective strains. We hypothesize that the mutation in S102 altered the stability of LpxA, which can provide a clue to RipA function. LpxA is an UDP-N-acetylglucosamine acyltransferase that catalyzes the transfer of an acyl chain from acyl carrier protein (ACP) to UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (UDP-GlcNAc) to begin lipid A synthesis. Results: LpxA was more abundant in the presence of RipA. Induced expression of lpxA in the ΔripA strain stopped bacterial division. The LpxA T36N S102 protein was less stable and therefore less abundant than wild type LpxA protein. Conclusion: These data suggest RipA functions to modulate lipid A synthesis in F. tularensis as a way to adapt to the host cell environment by interacting with LpxA
Transverse phase-locking in fully frustrated Josephson junction arrays: a new type of fractional giant steps
We study, analytically and numerically, phase locking of driven vortex
lattices in fully-frustrated Josephson junction arrays at zero temperature. We
consider the case when an ac current is applied {\it perpendicular} to a dc
current. We observe phase locking, steps in the current-voltage
characteristics, with a dependence on external ac-drive amplitude and frequency
qualitatively different from the Shapiro steps, observed when the ac and dc
currents are applied in parallel. Further, the critical current increases with
increasing transverse ac-drive amplitude, while it decreases for longitudinal
ac-drive. The critical current and the phase-locked current step width,
increase quadratically with (small) amplitudes of the ac-drive. For larger
amplitudes of the transverse ac-signal, we find windows where the critical
current is hysteretic, and windows where phase locking is suppressed due to
dynamical instabilities. We characterize the dynamical states around the
phase-locking interference condition in the curve with voltage noise,
Lyapunov exponents and Poincar\'e sections. We find that zero temperature
phase-locking behavior in large fully frustrated arrays is well described by an
effective four plaquette model.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure
Domain Walls Motion and Resistivity in a Fully-Frustrated Josephson Array
It is identified numerically that the resistivity of a fully-frustrated
Josephson-junction array is due to motion of domain walls in vortex lattice
rather than to motion of single vortices
Spatiotemporal Stochastic Resonance in Fully Frustrated Josephson Ladders
We consider a Josephson-junction ladder in an external magnetic field with
half flux quantum per plaquette. When driven by external currents, periodic in
time and staggered in space, such a fully frustrated system is found to display
spatiotemporal stochastic resonance under the influence of thermal noise. Such
resonance behavior is investigated both numerically and analytically, which
reveals significant effects of anisotropy and yields rich physics.Comment: 8 pages in two columns, 8 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Vortex Pinball Under Crossed AC Drives in Superconductors with Periodic Pinning Arrays
Vortices driven with both a transverse and a longitudinal AC drive which are
out of phase are shown to exhibit a novel commensuration-incommensuration
effect when interacting with periodic substrates. For different AC driving
parameters, the motion of the vortices forms commensurate orbits with the
periodicity of the pinning array. When the commensurate orbits are present,
there is a finite DC critical depinning threshold, while for the incommensurate
phases the vortices are delocalized and the DC depinning threshold is absent.Comment: 4 pages, 4 postscript figure
Synchronization in a System of Globally Coupled Oscillators with Time Delay
We study the synchronization phenomena in a system of globally coupled
oscillators with time delay in the coupling. The self-consistency equations for
the order parameter are derived, which depend explicitly on the amount of
delay. Analysis of these equations reveals that the system in general exhibits
discontinuous transitions in addition to the usual continuous transition,
between the incoherent state and a multitude of coherent states with different
synchronization frequencies. In particular, the phase diagram is obtained on
the plane of the coupling strength and the delay time, and ubiquity of
multistability as well as suppression of the synchronization frequency is
manifested. Numerical simulations are also performed to give consistent
results
Glassy Vortex State in a Two-Dimensional Disordered XY-Model
The two-dimensional XY-model with random phase-shifts on bonds is studied.
The analysis is based on a renormalization group for the replicated system. The
model is shown to have an ordered phase with quasi long-range order. This
ordered phase consists of a glass-like region at lower temperatures and of a
non-glassy region at higher temperatures. The transition from the disordered
phase into the ordered phase is not reentrant and is of a new universality
class at zero temperature. In contrast to previous approaches the disorder
strength is found to be renormalized to larger values. Several correlation
functions are calculated for the ordered phase. They allow to identify not only
the transition into the glassy phase but also an additional crossover line,
where the disconnected vortex correlation changes its behavior on large scales
non-analytically. The renormalization group approach yields the glassy features
without a breaking of replica symmetry.Comment: latex 12 pages with 3 figures, using epsf.sty and multicol.st
Transverse Phase Locking for Vortex Motion in Square and Triangular Pinning Arrays
We analyze transverse phase locking for vortex motion in a superconductor
with a longitudinal DC drive and a transverse AC drive. For both square and
triangular arrays we observe a variety of fractional phase locking steps in the
velocity versus DC drive which correspond to stable vortex orbits. The locking
steps are more pronounced for the triangular arrays which is due to the fact
that the vortex motion has a periodic transverse velocity component even for
zero transverse AC drive. All the steps increase monotonically in width with AC
amplitude. We confirm that the width of some fractional steps in the square
arrays scales as the square of the AC driving amplitude. In addition we
demonstrate scaling in the velocity versus applied DC driving curves at
depinning and on the main step, similar to that seen for phase locking in
charge-density wave systems. The phase locking steps are most prominent for
commensurate vortex fillings where the interstitial vortices form symmetrical
ground states. For increasing temperature, the fractional steps are washed out
very quickly, while the main step gains a linear component and disappears at
melting. For triangular pinning arrays we again observe transverse phase
locking, with the main and several of the fractional step widths scaling
linearly with AC amplitude.Comment: 10 pages, 14 postscript figure
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