Equilibrium properties of a Josephson junction ladder with screening effects

In this paper we calculate the ground state phase diagram of a Josephson Junction ladder when screening field effects are taken into account. We study the ground state configuration as a function of the external field, the penetration depth and the anisotropy of the ladder, using different approximations to the calculation of the induced fields. A series of tongues, characterized by the vortex density $\omega$, is obtained. The vortex density of the ground state, as a function of the external field, is a Devil's staircase, with a plateau for every rational value of $\omega$. The width of each of these steps depends strongly on the approximation made when calculating the inductance effect: if the self-inductance matrix is considered, the $\omega=0$ phase tends to occupy all the diagram as the penetration depth decreases. If, instead, the whole inductance matrix is considered, the width of any step tends to a non-zero value in the limit of very low penetration depth. We have also analyzed the stability of some simple metastable phases: screening fields are shown to enlarge their stability range.Comment: 16 pp, RevTex. Figures available upon request at [email protected] To be published in Physical Review B (01-Dec-96

Discrete breathers in nonlinear lattices: Experimental detection in a Josephson array

We present an experimental study of discrete breathers in an underdamped Josephson-junction array. Breathers exist under a range of dc current biases and temperatures, and are detected by measuring dc voltages. We find the maximum allowable bias current for the breather is proportional to the array depinning current while the minimum current seems to be related to a junction retrapping mechanism. We have observed that this latter instability leads to the formation of multi-site breather states in the array. We have also studied the domain of existence of the breather at different values of the array parameters by varying the temperature.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Revie

Experimental analysis of a coiled stirred tank containing a low cost PCM emulsion as a thermal energy storage system

This article presents the results of heat transfer coefficient and volumetric energy density measurements in an agitated tank containing a low-cost phase change material emulsion, heated by water flowing in a coil. For the stirring a three-stage impeller is placed in the central axis of a 46 l commercial tank. By measuring the temperature dependency on time and solving the transient enthalpy balance, the heat transfer coefficient between the helical coil and the agitated phase change material emulsion is determined, based on the impeller Reynolds number. The thermal energy storage efficiency has also been analysed. This phase change material emulsion shows a phase change temperature range between 30 and 50 °C. Its solid content is about 60% with an average size of 1 µm. The results have shown that the overall heat transfer coefficient is around 3.5–5.5 times higher when a stirring rate of 290–600 rpm is used. Furthermore, even at the lowest stirring rate, the thermal energy storage efficiency improves from 76-77%–100%, without detriment to the energy consumption of the stirrer

Xenobiotic-induced activation of human aryl hydrocarbon receptor target genes in Drosophila is mediated by the epigenetic chromatin modifiers

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) is the key transcription factor that controls animal development and various adaptive processes. The AHR\u27s target genes are involved in biodegradation of endogenous and exogenous toxins, regulation of immune response, organogenesis, and neurogenesis. Ligand binding is important for the activation of the AHR signaling pathway. Invertebrate AHR homologs are activated by endogenous ligands whereas vertebrate AHR can be activated by both endogenous and exogenous ligands (xenobiotics). Several studies using mammalian cultured cells have demonstrated that transcription of the AHR target genes can be activated by exogenous AHR ligands, but little is known about the effects of AHR in a living organism. Here, we examined the effects of human AHR and its ligands using transgenic Drosophila lines with an inducible human AhR gene. We found that exogenous AHR ligands can increase as well as decrease the transcription levels of the AHR target genes, including genes that control proliferation, motility, polarization, and programmed cell death. This suggests that AHR activation may affect the expression of gene networks that could be critical for cancer progression and metastasis. Importantly, we found that AHR target genes are also controlled by the enzymes that modify chromatin structure, in particular components of the epigenetic Polycomb Repressive complexes 1 and 2. Since exogenous AHR ligands (alternatively - xenobiotics) and small molecule inhibitors of epigenetic modifiers are often used as pharmaceutical anticancer drugs, our findings may have significant implications in designing new combinations of therapeutic treatments for oncological diseases. © Akishina et al

Instabilities in Josephson Ladders with Current Induced Magnetic Fields

We report on a theoretical analysis, consisting of both numerical and analytic work, of the stability of synchronization of a ladder array of Josephson junctions under the influence of current induced magnetic fields. Surprisingly, we find that as the ratio of the mutual to self inductance of the cells of the array is increased a region of unstable behavior occurs followed by reentrant stable synchronization. Analytic work tells us that in order to understand fully the cause of the observed instabilities the behavior of the vertical junctions, sometimes ignored in analytic analyses of ladder arrays, must be taken into account.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 3 figure

Langevin formulation for single-file diffusion

We introduce a stochastic equation for the microscopic motion of a tagged particle in the single file model. This equation provides a compact representation of several of the system's properties such as Fluctuation-Dissipation and Linear Response relations, achieved by means of a diffusion noise approach. Most important, the proposed Langevin Equation reproduces quantitatively the \emph{three} temporal regimes and the corresponding time scales: ballistic, diffusive and subdiffusive.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, to appear in Physical Review

Photonic superdiffusive motion in resonance line radiation trapping - partial frequency redistribution effects

The relation between the jump length probability distribution function and the spectral line profile in resonance atomic radiation trapping is considered for Partial Frequency Redistribution (PFR) between absorbed and reemitted radiation. The single line Opacity Distribution Function [M.N. Berberan-Santos et.al. J.Chem.Phys. 125, 174308 (2006)] is generalized for PFR and used to discuss several possible redistribution mechanisms (pure Doppler broadening, combined natural and Doppler broadening and combined Doppler, natural and collisional broadening). It is shown that there are two coexisting scales with a different behavior: the small scale is controlled by the intricate PFR details while the large scale is essentially given by the atom rest frame redistribution asymptotic. The pure Doppler and combined natural, Doppler and collisional broadening are characterized by both small and large scale superdiffusive Levy flight behaviors while the combined natural and Doppler case has an anomalous small scale behavior but a diffusive large scale asymptotic. The common practice of assuming complete redistribution in core radiation and frequency coherence in the wings of the spectral distribution is incompatible with the breakdown of superdiffusion in combined natural and Doppler broadening conditions

Delayed Accumulation of H3K27me3 on Nascent DNA Is Essential for Recruitment of Transcription Factors at Early Stages of Stem Cell Differentiation

Recruitment of transcription factors (TFs) to repressed genes in euchromatin is essential to activate new transcriptional programs during cell differentiation. However, recruitment of all TFs, including pioneer factors, is impeded by condensed H3K27me3-containing chromatin. Single-cell and gene-specific analyses revealed that, during the first hours of induction of differentiation of mammalian embryonic stem cells (ESCs), accumulation of the repressive histone mark H3K27me3 is delayed after DNA replication, indicative of a decondensed chromatin structure in all regions of the replicating genome. This delay provides a critical “window of opportunity” for recruitment of lineage-specific TFs to DNA. Increasing the levels of post-replicative H3K27me3 or preventing S phase entry inhibited recruitment of new TFs to DNA and significantly blocked cell differentiation. These findings suggest that recruitment of lineage-specifying TFs occurs soon after replication and is facilitated by a decondensed chromatin structure. This insight may explain the developmental plasticity of stem cells and facilitate their exploitation for therapeutic purposes

Resonant steps and spatiotemporal dynamics in the damped dc-driven Frenkel-Kontorova chain

Kink dynamics of the damped Frenkel-Kontorova (discrete sine-Gordon) chain driven by a constant external force are investigated. Resonant steplike transitions of the average velocity occur due to the competitions between the moving kinks and their radiated phasonlike modes. A mean-field consideration is introduced to give a precise prediction of the resonant steps. Slip-stick motion and spatiotemporal dynamics on those resonant steps are discussed. Our results can be applied to studies of the fluxon dynamics of 1D Josephson-junction arrays and ladders, dislocations, tribology and other fields.Comment: 20 Plain Latex pages, 10 Eps figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.