Low-lying excitations and magnetization process of coupled tetrahedral systems

We investigate low-lying singlet and triplet excitations and the magnetization process of quasi-1D spin systems composed of tetrahedral spin clusters. For a class of such models, we found various exact low-lying excitations; some of them are responsible for the first-order transition between two different ground states formed by local singlets. Moreover, we find that there are two different kinds of magnetization plateaus which are separated by a first-order transition.Comment: To appear in Phys.Rev.B (Issue 01 August 2002). A short comment is adde

Attenuation of ischemic liver injury by prostaglandin E<inf>1</inf> analogue, misoprostol, and prostaglandin I<inf>2</inf> analogue, OP-41483

Background: Prostaglandin has been reported to have protective effects against liver injury. Use of this agent in clinical settings, however, is limited because of drugrelated side effects. This study investigated whether misoprostol, prostaglandin E1 analogue, and OP-41483, prostaglandin I2 analogue, which have fewer adverse effects with a longer half-life, attenuate ischemic liver damage. Study Design: Thirty beagle dogs underwent 2 hours of hepatic vascular exclusion using venovenous bypass. Misoprostol was administered intravenously for 30 minutes before ischemia and for 3 hours after reperfusion. OP-41483 was administered intraportally for 30 minutes before ischemia (2 μg/kg/min) and for 3 hours after reperfusion (0.5 μg/kg/min). Animals were divided into five groups: untreated control group (n = 10); high-dose misoprostol (total 100 μg/kg) group (MP-H, n = 5); middle-dose misoprostol (50 μg/kg) group (MP-M, n = 5); low-dose misoprostol (25 μg/kg) group (MP-L, n = 5); and OP-41483 group (OP, n = 5). Animal survival, hepatic tissue blood flow (HTBF), liver function, and histology were analyzed. Results: Two-week animal survival rates were 30% in control, 60% in MP-H, 100% in MP-M, 80% in MP-L, and 100% in OP. The treatments with prostaglandin analogues improved HTBF, and attenuated liver enzyme release, adenine nucleotrides degradation, and histologic abnormalities. In contrast to the MP-H animals that exhibited unstable cardiovascular systems, the MP- M, MP-L, and OP animals experienced only transient hypotension. Conclusions: These results indicate that misoprostol and OP-41483 prevent ischemic liver damage, although careful dose adjustment of misoprostol is required to obtain the best protection with minimal side effects

Attenuation of ischemic liver injury by monoclonal anti-endothelin antibody, awETN40

Background: Enhanced production of endothelin-1 (ET1), vasoconstrictive 21 amino acids produced by endothelial cells during ischemia and after reperfusion of the liver, is known to cause sinusoidal constriction and microcirculatory disturbances, which lead to severe tissue damage. Using a 2- hour hepatic vascular exclusion model in dogs, we tested our hypothesis that neutralization of ET-1 by monoclonal anti-ET-1 and anti-ET-2 antibody (AwETN40) abates vascular dysfunction and ameliorates ischemia/reperfusion injury of the liver. Study Design: After skeletonization, the liver was made totally ischemic by cross-clamping the portal vein, the hepatic artery, and the vena cava (above and below the liver). Venovenous bypass was used to decompress splanchnic and inferior systemic congestion. AwETN40, 5 mg/kg, was administered intravenously 10 minutes before ischemia (treatment group, n = 5). Nontreated animals were used as controls (control group, n = 10). Animal survival, hepatic tissue blood flow, liver function tests; total bile acid, high-energy phosphate, ET-1 levels, and liver histopathology were studied. Results: Treatment with AwETN40 improved 2-week animal survival from 30% to 100%. Hepatic tissue blood flow after reperfusion was significantly higher in the treatment group. The treatment significantly attenuated liver enzyme release, total bile acid, and changes in adenine nucleotides. Immunoreactive ET-1 levels in the hepatic venous blood of the control group showed a significant increase and remained high for up to 24 hours after reperfusion. Histopathologic alterations were significantly lessened in the treatment group. Conclusions: These results indicate that ET-1 is involved in ischemia/reperfusion injury of the liver, which can be ameliorated by the monoclonal anti-ET-1 and antiET-2 antibody AwETN40

Dilute-Bose-Gas Approach to ground state phases of 3D quantum helimagnets under high magnetic field

We study high-field phase diagram and low-energy excitations of three-dimensional quantum helimagnets. Slightly below the saturation field, the emergence of magnetic order may be mathematically viewed as Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of magnons. The method of dilute Bose gas enables an unbiased quantitative analysis of quantum effects in three-dimensional helimagnets and thereby three phases are found: cone, coplanar fan and an attraction-dominant one. To investigate the last phase, we extend the usual BEC approach so that we can handle 2-magnon bound states. In the case of 2-magnon BEC, the transverse magnetization vanishes and long-range order occurs in the quadrupolar channel (spin-nematic phase). As an application, we map out the phase diagram of a 3D helimagnet which consists of frustrated J1-J2 chains coupled by an interchain interaction J3.Comment: 4pages, 3figures, International Conference on Magnetism (ICM) 2009 (Karlsruhe, Germany, July 26-31, 2009)

Magnetization plateaus as insulator-superfluid transitions in quantum spin systems

We study the magnetization process in two-dimensional S=1/2 spin systems, to discuss the appearance of a plateau structure. The following three cases are considered: (1) the Heisenberg antiferromagnet and multiple-spin exchange model on the triangular lattice, (2) Shastry-Sutherland type lattice, [which is a possible model for SrCu2(BO3)2,] (3) 1/5-depleted lattice (for CaV4O9). We find in these systems that magnetization plateaus can appear owing to a transition from superfluid to a Mott insulator of magnetic excitations. The plateau states have CDW order of the excitations. The magnetizations of the plateaus depend on components of the magnetic excitations, range of the repulsive interaction, and the geometry of the lattice.Comment: 5 pages, RevTeX, 7 figures, note and reference adde

Magnetization Plateau of an S=1 Frustrated Spin Ladder

We study the magnetization plateau at 1/4 of the saturation magnetization of the S=1 antiferromagnetic spin ladder both analytically and numerically, with the aim of explaining recent experimental results on BIP-TENO by Goto et al. We propose two mechanisms for the plateau formation and clarify the plateau phase diagram on the plane of the coupling constants between spins

Ground-state phase diagram and magnetic properties of a tetramerized spin-1/2 J_1-J_2 model: BEC of bound magnons and absence of the transverse magnetization

We study the ground state and the magnetization process of a spin-1/2 $J_1$-$J_2$ model with a plaquette structure by using various methods. For small inter-plaquette interaction, this model is expected to have a spin-gap and we computed the first- and the second excitation energies. If the gap of the lowest excitation closes, the corresponding particle condenses to form magnetic orders. By analyzing the quintet gap and magnetic interactions among the quintet excitations, we find a spin-nematic phase around $J_1/J_2\sim -2$ due to the strong frustration and the quantum effect. When high magnetic moment is applied, not the spin-1 excitations but the spin-2 ones soften and dictate the magnetization process. We apply a mean-field approximation to the effective Hamiltonian to find three different types of phases (a conventional BEC phase, ``striped'' supersolid phases and a 1/2-plateau). Unlike the BEC in spin-dimer systems, this BEC phase is not accompanied by transverse magnetization. Possible connection to the recently discovered spin-gap compound (CuCl)LaNb2O7 is discussed.Comment: 18pages, 17figures; title changed, typos correcte

Massive and Massless Behavior in Dimerized Spin Ladders

We investigate the conditions under which a gap vanishes in the spectrum of dimerized coupled spin-1/2 chains by means of Abelian bosonization and Lanczos diagonalization techniques. Although both interchain ($J'$) and dimerization ($\delta$) couplings favor a gapful phase, it is shown that a suitable choice of these interactions yields massless spin excitations. We also discuss the influence of different arrays of relative dimerization on the appearance of non-trivial magnetization plateaus.Comment: 5 pages, RevTex, 5 Postscript figure

Do Solar Neutrino Experiments Imply New Physics?

None of the 1000 solar models in a full Monte Carlo simulation is consistent with the results of the chlorine or the Kamiokande experiments. Even if the solar models are forced artifically to have a \b8 neutrino flux in agreeement with the Kamiokande experiment, none of the fudged models agrees with the chlorine observations. The GALLEX and SAGE experiments, which currently have large statistical uncertainties, differ from the predictions of the standard solar model by $2 \sigma$ and $3 \sigma$, respectively.Comment: 7 pages (figures not included), Institute for Advanced Study number AST 92/51. For a hard copy with the figures, write: [email protected]

Magnetization plateaux in dimerized spin ladder arrays

We investigate the ground state magnetization plateaux appearing in spin 1/2 two-leg ladders built up from dimerized antiferromagnetic Heisenberg chains and dimerized zig-zag interchain couplings. Using both Abelian bosonization and Lanczos methods we find that the system yields rather unusual plateaux and exhibits massive and massless phases for specific choices or ``tuning'' of exchange interactions. The relevance of this behavior in the study of NH_4CuCl_3 is discussed.Comment: 9 pages, RevTeX, 11 postscript figure