Interplay of quasiparticle-vibration coupling and pairing correlations on β-decay half-lives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Niu, Y. F.; Niu, Z. M.; Colò, G.; Vigezzi, E.

2018-05-01

The nuclear β-decay half-lives of Ni and Sn isotopes, around the closed shell nuclei 78Ni and 132Sn, are investigated by computing the distribution of the Gamow-Teller strength using the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation (QRPA) with quasiparticle-vibration coupling (QPVC), based on ground-state properties obtained by Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) calculations. We employ the effective interaction SkM* and a zero-range effective pairing force. The half-lives are strongly reduced by including the QPVC. We study in detail the effects of isovector (IV) and isoscalar (IS) pairing. Increasing the IV strength tends to increase the lifetime for nuclei in the proximity of, but lighter than, the closed-shell ones in QRPA calculations, while the effect is significantly reduced by taking into account the QPVC. On the contrary, the IS pairing mainly plays a role for nuclei after the shell closure. Increasing its strength decreases the half-lives, and the effect at QRPA and QRPA+QPVC level is comparable. The effect of IS pairing is particularly pronounced in the case of the Sn isotopes, where it turns out to be instrumental to obtain good agreement with experimental data.

Novel Quantum States with Exotic Spin Properties - Unconventional Generalization of Magnetism

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-30

including journal references, in the following categories: PaperReceived Wei-Cheng Lee, D. P. Arovas, Congjun Wu. Quasiparticle interference in the...Zhang. Quasiparticle interference on the surface of the topological insulator Bi2Te3, Physical Review B, (12 2009): . doi: 2010/01/29 14:52:09 7 W... quasiparticle excitations. A successful observation of such mode will be a demonstration of the completion between s± and dx2−y2 pairings. 4.2

Sign Reversal of Coulom Interaction Between Two Quasiparticles in Momentum Space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, J. D.; Malozovsky, Yuriy M.

2013-06-01

The main misconception regarding the interaction between quasiparticles stems from the assertion that the interaction energy between two quasiparticles is exactly identical to that of the renormalized interaction between two particles due to interparticle interaction in the Fermi system. If the main concept regarding the definition of quasiparticle as a weakly excited state of the Fermi system with conservation of charge and spin is paramount (except for the charge and spin separation models), the concept of the interaction between quasiparticles is very different from the assumption in the common sense. In this paper, we will prove a general theorem that the interaction between two quasiparticles is very much different from the renormalized interaction between two particles. The major difference lies in two places: the interaction between two quasiparticles is just negative to the renormalized interaction between two particles, and the interaction energy between the two particles is proportional to the product of two Fermi liquid renormalization factors. The result shed light on the reinterpretation of Cooper's pairing without invoking electron-photon interaction.

Doping dependence of low-energy quasiparticle excitations in superconducting Bi2212.

PubMed

Ino, Akihiro; Anzai, Hiroaki; Arita, Masashi; Namatame, Hirofumi; Taniguchi, Masaki; Ishikado, Motoyuki; Fujita, Kazuhiro; Ishida, Shigeyuki; Uchida, Shinichi

2013-12-05

: The doping-dependent evolution of the d-wave superconducting state is studied from the perspective of the angle-resolved photoemission spectra of a high-Tc cuprate, Bi2Sr2CaCu2 O8+δ (Bi2212). The anisotropic evolution of the energy gap for Bogoliubov quasiparticles is parametrized by critical temperature and superfluid density. The renormalization of nodal quasiparticles is evaluated in terms of mass enhancement spectra. These quantities shed light on the strong coupling nature of electron pairing and the impact of forward elastic or inelastic scatterings. We suggest that the quasiparticle excitations in the superconducting cuprates are profoundly affected by doping-dependent screening.

Electron Heating and Quasiparticle Tunnelling in Superconducting Charge Qubits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Shaw, M. D.; Bueno, J.; Delsing, P.; Echternach, P. M.

2008-01-01

We have directly measured non-equilibrium quasiparticle tunnelling in the time domain as a function of temperature and RF carrier power for a pair of charge qubits based on the single Cooper-pair box, where the readout is performed with a multiplexed quantum capacitance technique. We have extracted an effective electron temperature for each applied RF power, using the data taken at the lowest power as a reference curve. This data has been fit to a standard T? electron heating model, with a reasonable correspondence with established material parameters.

Doping dependence of low-energy quasiparticle excitations in superconducting Bi2212

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

The doping-dependent evolution of the d-wave superconducting state is studied from the perspective of the angle-resolved photoemission spectra of a high-Tc cuprate, Bi2Sr2CaCu2 O8+δ (Bi2212). The anisotropic evolution of the energy gap for Bogoliubov quasiparticles is parametrized by critical temperature and superfluid density. The renormalization of nodal quasiparticles is evaluated in terms of mass enhancement spectra. These quantities shed light on the strong coupling nature of electron pairing and the impact of forward elastic or inelastic scatterings. We suggest that the quasiparticle excitations in the superconducting cuprates are profoundly affected by doping-dependent screening. PMID:24314035

Atomic-scale Visualization of Electronic Nematicity and Cooper Pairing in Iron-based Superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allan, Milan P.

2013-03-01

The mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity in the relatively novel iron-based high-Tc superconductors is unresolved, both in terms of how the phases evolve with doping, and in terms of the actual Cooper pairing process. To explore these issues, we used spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling microscopy to study the electronic structure of CaFe2As2 in the antiferromagnetic-orthorhombic `parent' state from which the superconductivity emerges. We discovered and visualized the now widely studied electronic `nematicity' of this phase, whose suppression is associated with the emergence of superconductivity (Science 327, 181, 2010). As subsequent transport experiments discovered a related anisotropic conductance which increases with dopant concentration, the interplay between the electronic structure surrounding each dopant atom, quasiparticle scattering therefrom, and the transport nematicity has become a pivotal focus of research. We find that substituting Co for Fe atoms in underdoped Ca(Fe1-xCox)2As2 generates a dense population of identical and strongly anisotropic impurity states that are distributed randomly but aligned with the antiferromagnetic a-axis. We also demonstrate, by imaging their surrounding interference patterns, that these impurity states scatter quasiparticles and thus influence transport in a highly anisotropic manner (M.P. Allan et al., 2013). Next, we studied the momentum dependence of the energy gaps of iron-based superconductivity, now focusing on LiFeAs. If strong electron-electron interactions mediate the Cooper pairing, then momentum-space anisotropic superconducting energy gaps Δi (k) were predicted by multiple techniques to appear on the different electronic bands i. We introduced intraband Bogoliubov quasiparticle scattering interference (QPI) techniques for the determination of anisotropic energy gaps to test these hypotheses and discovered the anisotropy, magnitude, and relative orientations of the energy gaps on multiple bands (Science 336, 563 (2012)). Finally, the electron-electron interactions generating Cooper pairing are often conjectured to involve bosonic spin fluctuations generated by interband scattering of electrons. We explore the STM signatures of both the interband scattering and the electron-boson coupling self-energy in LiFeAs, and detect the signatures of the electron-boson coupling (M.P. Allan et al., in preparation). In collaboration with A.W. Rost, T.-M. Chuang, F. Massee, M.S. Golden, Y. Xie, M.H. Fisher, E.-A. Kim, K. Lee, Ni Ni, S.L. Bud'ko, P.C. Canfield, Q. Wang, D.S. Dessau, K. Kihou, C.H. Lee, A. Iyo, H. Eisaki, D.J. Scalapino, A.P. Mackenzie and J.C. Davis

Cooper pair tunnelling and quasiparticle poisoning in a galvanically isolated superconducting double dot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esmail, A. A.; Ferguson, A. J.; Lambert, N. J.

2017-12-01

We increase the isolation of a superconducting double dot from its environment by galvanically isolating it from any electrodes. We probe it using high frequency reflectometry techniques, find 2e-periodic behaviour, and characterise the energy structure of its charge states. By modelling the response of the device, we determine the time averaged probability that the device is poisoned by quasiparticles, and by comparing this with previous work, we conclude that quasiparticle exchange between the dots and the leads is an important relaxation mechanism.

Bell pair creation in current of Kondo-correlated dot

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakano, Rui; Oguri, Akira; Nishikawa, Yunori; Abe, Eisuke

Recently, local-Fermi-liquid properties in non-linear currents and shot noises through the Kondo dot have been investigated both theoretically and experimentally. We suggest a new entangled-electron-pair generator utilizing mechanism of quasiparticle-pair creation which has been observed as enhancement of shot noise in the quantum dot. Using the renormalized perturbation theory for an orbital-degenerate impurity Anderson model and the full counting statistics, we calculate the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt type Bell's correlator for currents through correlated two different channels of a Kondo correlated dot. It is shown that residual exchange-interactions of the local-Fermi-liquid create spin-entangled quasiparticle-pairs in nonlinear current and this results in violation of the Bell's inequality. This work was partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP26220711, JP26400319, JP15K05181 and JP16K17723.

In-gap quasiparticle excitations induced by non-magnetic Cu impurities in Na(Fe0.96Co0.03Cu0.01)As revealed by scanning tunnelling spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Yang, Huan; Wang, Zhenyu; Fang, Delong; Deng, Qiang; Wang, Qiang-Hua; Xiang, Yuan-Yuan; Yang, Yang; Wen, Hai-Hu

2013-01-01

The origin of superconductivity in the iron pnictides remains unclear. One suggestion is that superconductivity in these materials has a magnetic origin, which would imply a sign-reversal s± pairing symmetry. Another suggests it is the result of orbital fluctuations, which would imply a sign-equal s++ pairing symmetry. There is no consensus yet which of these two distinct and contrasting pairing symmetries is the right one in iron pnictide superconductors. Here we explore the nature of the pairing symmetry in the superconducting state of Na(Fe0.97−xCo0.03Cux)As by probing the effect of scattering of Cooper pairs by non-magnetic Cu impurities. Using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy, we identify the in-gap quasiparticle states induced by the Cu impurities, showing signatures of Cooper pair breaking by these non-magnetic impurities–a process that is only consistent with s± pairing. This experiment provides strong evidence for the s± pairing. PMID:24248097

Quasi-particles ultrafastly releasing kink bosons to form Fermi arcs in a cuprate superconductor.

PubMed

Ishida, Y; Saitoh, T; Mochiku, T; Nakane, T; Hirata, K; Shin, S

2016-01-05

In a conventional framework, superconductivity is lost at a critical temperature (Tc) because, at higher temperatures, gluing bosons can no longer bind two electrons into a Cooper pair. In high-Tc cuprates, it is still unknown how superconductivity vanishes at Tc. We provide evidence that the so-called ≲ 70-meV kink bosons that dress the quasi-particle excitations are playing a key role in the loss of superconductivity in a cuprate. We irradiated a 170-fs laser pulse on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8+δ) and monitored the responses of the superconducting gap and dressed quasi-particles by time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We observe an ultrafast loss of superconducting gap near the d-wave node, or light-induced Fermi arcs, which is accompanied by spectral broadenings and weight redistributions occurring within the kink binding energy. We discuss that the underlying mechanism of the spectral broadening that induce the Fermi arc is the undressing of quasi-particles from the kink bosons. The loss mechanism is beyond the conventional framework, and can accept the unconventional phenomena such as the signatures of Cooper pairs remaining at temperatures above Tc.

Quasi-particles ultrafastly releasing kink bosons to form Fermi arcs in a cuprate superconductor

PubMed Central

Ishida, Y.; Saitoh, T.; Mochiku, T.; Nakane, T.; Hirata, K.; Shin, S.

2016-01-01

In a conventional framework, superconductivity is lost at a critical temperature (Tc) because, at higher temperatures, gluing bosons can no longer bind two electrons into a Cooper pair. In high-Tc cuprates, it is still unknown how superconductivity vanishes at Tc. We provide evidence that the so-called ≲70-meV kink bosons that dress the quasi-particle excitations are playing a key role in the loss of superconductivity in a cuprate. We irradiated a 170-fs laser pulse on Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ and monitored the responses of the superconducting gap and dressed quasi-particles by time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We observe an ultrafast loss of superconducting gap near the d-wave node, or light-induced Fermi arcs, which is accompanied by spectral broadenings and weight redistributions occurring within the kink binding energy. We discuss that the underlying mechanism of the spectral broadening that induce the Fermi arc is the undressing of quasi-particles from the kink bosons. The loss mechanism is beyond the conventional framework, and can accept the unconventional phenomena such as the signatures of Cooper pairs remaining at temperatures above Tc. PMID:26728626

The non-equilibrium response of a superconductor to pair-breaking radiation measured over a broad frequency band

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Visser, P. J. de, E-mail: p.j.devisser@tudelft.nl; Yates, S. J. C.; Guruswamy, T.

2015-06-22

We have measured the absorption of terahertz radiation in a BCS superconductor over a broad range of frequencies from 200 GHz to 1.1 THz, using a broadband antenna-lens system and a tantalum microwave resonator. From low frequencies, the response of the resonator rises rapidly to a maximum at the gap edge of the superconductor. From there on, the response drops to half the maximum response at twice the pair-breaking energy. At higher frequencies, the response rises again due to trapping of pair-breaking phonons in the superconductor. In practice, this is a measurement of the frequency dependence of the quasiparticle creationmore » efficiency due to pair-breaking in a superconductor. The efficiency, calculated from the different non-equilibrium quasiparticle distribution functions at each frequency, is in agreement with the measurements.« less

Quasiparticle Level Alignment for Photocatalytic Interfaces.

PubMed

Migani, Annapaoala; Mowbray, Duncan J; Zhao, Jin; Petek, Hrvoje; Rubio, Angel

2014-05-13

Electronic level alignment at the interface between an adsorbed molecular layer and a semiconducting substrate determines the activity and efficiency of many photocatalytic materials. Standard density functional theory (DFT)-based methods have proven unable to provide a quantitative description of this level alignment. This requires a proper treatment of the anisotropic screening, necessitating the use of quasiparticle (QP) techniques. However, the computational complexity of QP algorithms has meant a quantitative description of interfacial levels has remained elusive. We provide a systematic study of a prototypical interface, bare and methanol-covered rutile TiO2(110) surfaces, to determine the type of many-body theory required to obtain an accurate description of the level alignment. This is accomplished via a direct comparison with metastable impact electron spectroscopy (MIES), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), and two-photon photoemission (2PP) spectroscopy. We consider GGA DFT, hybrid DFT, and G0W0, scQPGW1, scQPGW0, and scQPGW QP calculations. Our results demonstrate that G0W0, or our recently introduced scQPGW1 approach, are required to obtain the correct alignment of both the highest occupied and lowest unoccupied interfacial molecular levels (HOMO/LUMO). These calculations set a new standard in the interpretation of electronic structure probe experiments of complex organic molecule/semiconductor interfaces.

Stability of the Superconducting d-Wave Pairing Toward the Intersite Coulomb Repulsion in CuO_2 Plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Val'kov, V. V.; Dzebisashvili, D. M.; Korovushkin, M. M.; Barabanov, A. F.

2018-06-01

Taking into account the real crystalline structure of the CuO_2 plane and the strong spin-fermion coupling, we study the influence of the intersite Coulomb repulsion between holes on the Cooper instability of the spin-polaron quasiparticles in cuprate superconductors. The analysis shows that only the superconducting d-wave pairing is implemented in the whole region of doping, whereas the solutions of the self-consistent equations for the s-wave pairing are absent. It is shown that intersite Coulomb interaction V_1 between the holes located at the nearest oxygen ions does not affect the d-wave pairing, because its Fourier transform V_q vanishes in the kernel of the corresponding integral equation. The intersite Coulomb interaction V_2 of quasiparticles located at the next-nearest oxygen ions does not vanish in the integral equations, however, but it is also shown that the d-wave pairing is robust toward this interaction for physically reasonable values of V_2.

Stability of the Superconducting d-Wave Pairing Toward the Intersite Coulomb Repulsion in CuO_2 Plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Val'kov, V. V.; Dzebisashvili, D. M.; Korovushkin, M. M.; Barabanov, A. F.

2018-03-01

Taking into account the real crystalline structure of the CuO_2 plane and the strong spin-fermion coupling, we study the influence of the intersite Coulomb repulsion between holes on the Cooper instability of the spin-polaron quasiparticles in cuprate superconductors. The analysis shows that only the superconducting d-wave pairing is implemented in the whole region of doping, whereas the solutions of the self-consistent equations for the s-wave pairing are absent. It is shown that intersite Coulomb interaction V_1 between the holes located at the nearest oxygen ions does not affect the d-wave pairing, because its Fourier transform V_q vanishes in the kernel of the corresponding integral equation. The intersite Coulomb interaction V_2 of quasiparticles located at the next-nearest oxygen ions does not vanish in the integral equations, however, but it is also shown that the d-wave pairing is robust toward this interaction for physically reasonable values of V_2.

Beyond triplet: Unconventional superconductivity in a spin-3/2 topological semimetal

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kim, Hyunsoo; Wang, Kefeng; Nakajima, Yasuyuki

In all known fermionic super fluids, Cooper pairs are composed of spin-1/2 quasi-particles that pair to form either spin-singlet or spin-triplet bound states. The "spin" of a Bloch electron, however, is xed by the symmetries of the crystal and the atomic orbitals from which it is derived, and in some cases can behave as if it were a spin-3/2 particle. The superconducting state of such a system allows pairing beyond spin-triplet, with higher spin quasi-particles combining to form quintet or even septet pairs. Here, we report evidence of unconventional superconductivity emerging from a spin-3/2 quasiparticle electronic structure in the half-Heuslermore » semimetal YPtBi, a low-carrier density noncentrosymmetric cubic material with a high symmetry that preserves the p-like j = 3/2 manifold in the Bi-based Γ 8 band in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. With a striking linear temperature dependence of the London penetration depth, the existence of line nodes in the superconducting order parameter Δ is directly explained by a mixed-parity Cooper pairing model with high total angular momentum, consistent with a high-spin fermionic super fluid state. We propose a k ∙ p model of the j = 3/2 fermions to explain how a dominant J=3 septet pairing state is the simplest solution that naturally produces nodes in the mixed even-odd parity gap. Together with the underlying topologically non-trivial band structure, the unconventional pairing in this system represents a truly novel form of super fluidity that has strong potential for leading the development of a new generation of topological superconductors.« less

Beyond triplet: Unconventional superconductivity in a spin-3/2 topological semimetal

DOE PAGES

Kim, Hyunsoo; Wang, Kefeng; Nakajima, Yasuyuki; ...

2018-04-06

In all known fermionic super fluids, Cooper pairs are composed of spin-1/2 quasi-particles that pair to form either spin-singlet or spin-triplet bound states. The "spin" of a Bloch electron, however, is xed by the symmetries of the crystal and the atomic orbitals from which it is derived, and in some cases can behave as if it were a spin-3/2 particle. The superconducting state of such a system allows pairing beyond spin-triplet, with higher spin quasi-particles combining to form quintet or even septet pairs. Here, we report evidence of unconventional superconductivity emerging from a spin-3/2 quasiparticle electronic structure in the half-Heuslermore » semimetal YPtBi, a low-carrier density noncentrosymmetric cubic material with a high symmetry that preserves the p-like j = 3/2 manifold in the Bi-based Γ 8 band in the presence of strong spin-orbit coupling. With a striking linear temperature dependence of the London penetration depth, the existence of line nodes in the superconducting order parameter Δ is directly explained by a mixed-parity Cooper pairing model with high total angular momentum, consistent with a high-spin fermionic super fluid state. We propose a k ∙ p model of the j = 3/2 fermions to explain how a dominant J=3 septet pairing state is the simplest solution that naturally produces nodes in the mixed even-odd parity gap. Together with the underlying topologically non-trivial band structure, the unconventional pairing in this system represents a truly novel form of super fluidity that has strong potential for leading the development of a new generation of topological superconductors.« less

Quantitative analysis of valence photoemission spectra and quasiparticle excitations at chromophore-semiconductor interfaces.

PubMed

Patrick, Christopher E; Giustino, Feliciano

2012-09-14

Investigating quasiparticle excitations of molecules on surfaces through photoemission spectroscopy forms a major part of nanotechnology research. Resolving spectral features at these interfaces requires a comprehensive theory of electron removal and addition processes in molecules and solids which captures the complex interplay of image charges, thermal effects, and configurational disorder. Here, we develop such a theory and calculate the quasiparticle energy-level alignment and the valence photoemission spectrum for the prototype biomimetic solar cell interface between anatase TiO(2) and the N3 chromophore. By directly matching our calculated photoemission spectrum to experimental data, we clarify the atomistic origin of the chromophore peak at low binding energy. This case study sets a new standard in the interpretation of photoemission spectroscopy at complex chromophore-semiconductor interfaces.

Imaginary parts of coupled electron and phonon propagators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schwartzman, K.; Lawrence, W. E.

1988-01-01

Quasiparticle and phonon damping rates due to the electron-phonon and Coulomb interactions are obtained directly from the self-energy formalism of strong-coupling theory. This accounts for all processes involving phonon or quasiparticle decay into a single particle-hole pair, or quasiparticle decay by emission or absorption of a single real phonon. The two quasiparticle decay modes are treated on a common footing, without ad hoc separation, by accounting fully for the dynamics of the phonon propagator and the Coulomb vertex-the latter by expansion of the four-point Coulomb vertex function. The results are shown to be expressible in terms of only the physical (i.e., fully renormalized) energies and coupling constants, and are written in terms of spectral functions such as α2F(ω) and its generalizations. Expansion of these in powers of a phonon linewidth parameter distinguishes (in lowest orders) between quasiparticle decay modes involving real and virtual phonons. However, the simplest prescription for calculating decay rates involves an effective scattering amplitude in which this distinction is not made.

Nodal quasiparticle dynamics in the heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn₅ revealed by precision microwave spectroscopy.

PubMed

Truncik, C J S; Huttema, W A; Turner, P J; Ozcan, S; Murphy, N C; Carrière, P R; Thewalt, E; Morse, K J; Koenig, A J; Sarrao, J L; Broun, D M

2013-01-01

CeCoIn₅ is a heavy fermion superconductor with strong similarities to the high-Tc cuprates, including quasi-two-dimensionality, proximity to antiferromagnetism and probable d-wave pairing arising from a non-Fermi-liquid normal state. Experiments allowing detailed comparisons of their electronic properties are of particular interest, but in most cases are difficult to realize, due to their very different transition temperatures. Here we use low-temperature microwave spectroscopy to study the charge dynamics of the CeCoIn₅ superconducting state. The similarities to cuprates, in particular to ultra-clean YBa₂Cu₃O(y), are striking: the frequency and temperature dependence of the quasiparticle conductivity are instantly recognizable, a consequence of rapid suppression of quasiparticle scattering below T(c); and penetration-depth data, when properly treated, reveal a clean, linear temperature dependence of the quasiparticle contribution to superfluid density. The measurements also expose key differences, including prominent multiband effects and a temperature-dependent renormalization of the quasiparticle mass.

Landau-Zener transitions for Majorana fermions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khlebnikov, Sergei

2018-05-01

One-dimensional systems obtained as low-energy limits of hybrid superconductor-topological insulator devices provide means of production, transport, and destruction of Majorana bound states (MBSs) by variations of the magnetic flux. When two or more pairs of MBSs are present in the intermediate state, there is a possibility of a Landau-Zener transition wherein even a slow variation of the flux leads to production of a quasiparticle pair. We study numerically a version of this process with four MBSs produced and subsequently destroyed and find that, quite universally, the probability of quasiparticle production in it is 50%. This implies that the effect may be a limiting factor in applications requiring a high degree of quantum coherence.

Doping dependence of the anisotropic quasiparticle interference in NaFe(1-x)Co(x)As iron-based superconductors.

PubMed

Cai, Peng; Ruan, Wei; Zhou, Xiaodong; Ye, Cun; Wang, Aifeng; Chen, Xianhui; Lee, Dung-Hai; Wang, Yayu

2014-03-28

We use scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the doping dependence of quasiparticle interference (QPI) in NaFe1-xCoxAs iron-based superconductors. The goal is to study the relation between nematic fluctuations and Cooper pairing. In the parent and underdoped compounds, where fourfold rotational symmetry is broken macroscopically, the QPI patterns reveal strong rotational anisotropy. At optimal doping, however, the QPI patterns are always fourfold symmetric. We argue this implies small nematic susceptibility and, hence, insignificant nematic fluctuation in optimally doped iron pnictides. Since TC is the highest this suggests nematic fluctuation is not a prerequistite for strong Cooper pairing.

Using Quasiparticle Poisoning To Detect Photons

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Echternach, Pierre; Day, Peter

2006-01-01

According to a proposal, a phenomenon associated with excitation of quasiparticles in certain superconducting quantum devices would be exploited as a means of detecting photons with exquisite sensitivity. The phenomenon could also be exploited to perform medium-resolution spectroscopy. The proposal was inspired by the observation that Coulomb blockade devices upon which some quantum logic gates are based are extremely sensitive to quasiparticles excited above the superconducting gaps in their leads. The presence of quasiparticles in the leads can be easily detected via the charge states. If quasiparticles could be generated in the leads by absorption of photons, then the devices could be used as very sensitive detectors of electromagnetic radiation over the spectral range from x-rays to submillimeter waves. The devices in question are single-Cooper-pair boxes (SCBs), which are mesoscopic superconducting devices developed for quantum computing. An SCB consists of a small superconducting island connected to a reservoir via a small tunnel junction and connected to a voltage source through a gate capacitor. An SCB is an artificial two-level quantum system, the Hamiltonian of which can be controlled by the gate voltage. One measures the expected value of the charge of the eigenvectors of this quantum system by use of a radio-frequency single-electron transistor. A plot of this expected value of charge as a function of gate voltage resembles a staircase that, in the ideal case, consists of steps of height 2 e (where e is the charge of one electron). Experiments have shown that depending on the parameters of the device, quasiparticles in the form of "broken" Cooper pairs present in the reservoir can tunnel to the island, giving rise to steps of 1 e. This effect is sometimes called "poisoning." Simulations have shown that an extremely small average number of quasiparticles can generate a 1-e periodic signal. In a device according to the proposal, this poisoning would be turned to advantage. Depending on the wavelength, an antenna or other component would be used to couple radiation into the reservoir, wherein the absorption of photons would break Cooper pairs, thereby creating quasiparticles that, in turn, would tunnel to the island, creating a 1-e signal. On the basis of conservative estimates of device parameters derived from experimental data and computational simulations that fit the data, it has been estimated that the noise equivalent power of a device according to the proposal could be as low as 6 10(exp -22) W/Hz(exp 1/2). It has also been estimated that the spectroscopic resolution (photon energy divided by increment of photon energy) of such a device in visible light would exceed 100.

High spin states in 162Lu

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, S. L.; Pancholi, S. C.; Juneja, P.; Mehta, D.; Kumar, Ashok; Bhowmik, R. K.; Muralithar, S.; Rodrigues, G.; Singh, R. P.

1997-09-01

An experimental investigation of the odd-odd 162Lu nucleus, following the 148Sm(19F,5n) reaction at beam energy Elab=112 MeV, has been performed through in-beam gamma-ray spectroscopy. It revealed three signature-split bands. The yrast band based on πh11/2⊗νi13/2 configuration exhibits anomalous signature splitting (the unfavored signature Routhian lying lower than the favored one) whose magnitude Δe'~25 keV, is considerably reduced in contrast to sizable normal signature splitting Δe'~125 and 60 keV observed in the yrast πh11/2 bands of the neighboring odd-A 161,163Lu nuclei, respectively. The signature inversion in this band occurs at spin ~20ħ (frequency=0.37 MeV). The second signature-split band, observed above the band crossing associated with the alignment of a pair of i13/2 quasineutrons, is a band based on the four-quasiparticle [πh11/2[523]7/2-⊗νh9/2[521]3/2-⊗(νi13/2)2], i.e., EABAp(Bp), configuration. The third signature-split band is also likely to be a four-quasiparticle band with configuration similar to the second band but involving F quasineutron, i.e., FABAp(Bp). The experimental results are discussed in comparison with the existing data in the neighboring nuclei and in the framework of the cranking shell model.

Three-Dimensional Majorana Fermions in Chiral Superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozii, Vladyslav; Venderbos, Jorn; Fu, Liang

Through a systematic symmetry and topology analysis we establish that three-dimensional chiral superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling and odd-parity pairing generically host low-energy nodal quasiparticles that are spin-non-degenerate and realize Majorana fermions in three dimensions. By examining all types of chiral Cooper pairs with total angular momentum J formed by Bloch electrons with angular momentum j in crystals, we obtain a comprehensive classification of gapless Majorana quasiparticles in terms of energy-momentum relation and location on the Fermi surface. We show that the existence of bulk Majorana fermions in the vicinity of spin-selective point nodes is rooted in the non-unitary nature of chiral pairing in spin-orbit-coupled superconductors. We address experimental signatures of Majorana fermions, and find that the nuclear magnetic resonance spin relaxation rate is significantly suppressed for nuclear spins polarized along the nodal direction as a consequence of the spin-selective Majorana nature of nodal quasiparticles. Furthermore, Majorana nodes in the bulk have nontrivial topology and imply the presence of Majorana bound states on the surface that form arcs in momentum space. This work is supported by DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering under Award de-sc0010526 (LF and VK), and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO) through a Rubicon Grant (JV).

Three-dimensional Majorana fermions in chiral superconductors

DOE PAGES

Kozii, Vladyslav; Venderbos, Jorn W. F.; Fu, Liang

2016-12-07

Using a systematic symmetry and topology analysis, we establish that three-dimensional chiral superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling and odd-parity pairing generically host low-energy nodal quasiparticles that are spin-nondegenerate and realize Majorana fermions in three dimensions. By examining all types of chiral Cooper pairs with total angular momentum J formed by Bloch electrons with angular momentum j in crystals, we obtain a comprehensive classification of gapless Majorana quasiparticles in terms of energy-momentum relation and location on the Fermi surface. We show that the existence of bulk Majorana fermions in the vicinity of spin-selective point nodes is rooted in the nonunitary naturemore » of chiral pairing in spin-orbit–coupled superconductors. We address experimental signatures of Majorana fermions and find that the nuclear magnetic resonance spin relaxation rate is significantly suppressed for nuclear spins polarized along the nodal direction as a consequence of the spin-selective Majorana nature of nodal quasiparticles. Furthermore, Majorana nodes in the bulk have nontrivial topology and imply the presence of Majorana bound states on the surface, which form arcs in momentum space. We conclude by proposing the heavy fermion superconductor PrOs 4Sb 12 and related materials as promising candidates for nonunitary chiral superconductors hosting three-dimensional Majorana fermions.« less

Three-dimensional Majorana fermions in chiral superconductors.

PubMed

Kozii, Vladyslav; Venderbos, Jörn W F; Fu, Liang

2016-12-01

Using a systematic symmetry and topology analysis, we establish that three-dimensional chiral superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling and odd-parity pairing generically host low-energy nodal quasiparticles that are spin-nondegenerate and realize Majorana fermions in three dimensions. By examining all types of chiral Cooper pairs with total angular momentum J formed by Bloch electrons with angular momentum j in crystals, we obtain a comprehensive classification of gapless Majorana quasiparticles in terms of energy-momentum relation and location on the Fermi surface. We show that the existence of bulk Majorana fermions in the vicinity of spin-selective point nodes is rooted in the nonunitary nature of chiral pairing in spin-orbit-coupled superconductors. We address experimental signatures of Majorana fermions and find that the nuclear magnetic resonance spin relaxation rate is significantly suppressed for nuclear spins polarized along the nodal direction as a consequence of the spin-selective Majorana nature of nodal quasiparticles. Furthermore, Majorana nodes in the bulk have nontrivial topology and imply the presence of Majorana bound states on the surface, which form arcs in momentum space. We conclude by proposing the heavy fermion superconductor PrOs 4 Sb 12 and related materials as promising candidates for nonunitary chiral superconductors hosting three-dimensional Majorana fermions.

Three-dimensional Majorana fermions in chiral superconductors

PubMed Central

Kozii, Vladyslav; Venderbos, Jörn W. F.; Fu, Liang

2016-01-01

Using a systematic symmetry and topology analysis, we establish that three-dimensional chiral superconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling and odd-parity pairing generically host low-energy nodal quasiparticles that are spin-nondegenerate and realize Majorana fermions in three dimensions. By examining all types of chiral Cooper pairs with total angular momentum J formed by Bloch electrons with angular momentum j in crystals, we obtain a comprehensive classification of gapless Majorana quasiparticles in terms of energy-momentum relation and location on the Fermi surface. We show that the existence of bulk Majorana fermions in the vicinity of spin-selective point nodes is rooted in the nonunitary nature of chiral pairing in spin-orbit–coupled superconductors. We address experimental signatures of Majorana fermions and find that the nuclear magnetic resonance spin relaxation rate is significantly suppressed for nuclear spins polarized along the nodal direction as a consequence of the spin-selective Majorana nature of nodal quasiparticles. Furthermore, Majorana nodes in the bulk have nontrivial topology and imply the presence of Majorana bound states on the surface, which form arcs in momentum space. We conclude by proposing the heavy fermion superconductor PrOs4Sb12 and related materials as promising candidates for nonunitary chiral superconductors hosting three-dimensional Majorana fermions. PMID:27957543

Stability, diffusion and interactions of nonlinear excitations in a many body system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coste, Christophe; Jean, Michel Saint; Dessup, Tommy

2017-04-01

When repelling particles are confined in a quasi-one-dimensional trap by a transverse potential, a configurational phase transition happens. All particles are aligned along the trap axis at large confinement, but below a critical transverse confinement they adopt a staggered row configuration (zigzag phase). This zigzag transition is a subcritical pitchfork bifurcation in extended systems and in systems with cyclic boundary conditions in the longitudinal direction. Among many evidences, phase coexistence is exhibited by localized nonlinear patterns made of a zigzag phase embedded in otherwise aligned particles. We give the normal form at the bifurcation and we show that these patterns can be described as solitary wave envelopes that we call bubbles. They are stable in a large temperature range and can diffuse as quasi-particles, with a diffusion coefficient that may be deduced from the normal form. The potential energy of a bubble is found to be lower than that of the homogeneous bifurcated phase, which explains their stability. We observe also metastable states, that are pairs of solitary wave envelopes which spontaneously evolve toward a stable single bubble. We evidence a strong effect of the discreteness of the underlying particles system and introduce the concept of topological frustration of a bubble pair. A configuration is frustrated when the particles between the two bubbles are not organized in a modulated staggered row. For a nonfrustrated (NF) bubble pair configuration, the bubbles interaction is attractive so that the bubbles come closer and eventually merge as a single bubble. In contrast, the bubbles interaction is found to be repulsive for a frustrated (F) configuration. We describe a model of interacting solitary wave that provides all qualitative characteristics of the interaction force: it is attractive for NF-systems, repulsive for F-systems, and decreases exponentially with the bubbles distance.

Multi-Quasiparticle Gamma-Band Structure in Neutron-Deficient Ce and Nd Isotopes

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sheikh, Javid; Bhat, G. H.; Palit, R.

2009-01-01

The newly developed multi-quasiparticle triaxial projected shell-model approach is employed to study the high-spin band structures in neutron-deficient even-even Ce and Nd isotopes. It is observed that gamma bands are built on each intrinsic configuration of the triaxial mean-field deformation. Due to the fact that a triaxial configuration is a superposition of several K states, the projection from these states results in several low-lying bands originating from the same intrinsic configuration. This generalizes the well-known concept of the surface gamma oscillation in deformed nuclei based on the ground state to gamma bands built on multi-quasiparticle configurations. This new feature providesmore » an alternative explanation on the observation of two I=10 aligning states in ^{134}Ce and both exhibiting a neutron character.« less

Spin-polaron nature of fermion quasiparticles and their d-wave pairing in cuprate superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Val'kov, V. V.; Dzebisashvili, D. M.; Barabanov, A. F.

2016-11-01

In the framework of the spin-fermion model, to which the Emery model is reduced in the limit of strong electron correlations, it is shown that the fermion quasiparticles in cuprate high- T c superconductors (HTSCs) arise under a strong effect of exchange coupling between oxygen holes and spins of copper ions. This underlies the spin-polaron nature of fermion quasiparticles in cuprate HTSCs. The Cooper instability with respect to the d-wave symmetry of the order parameter is revealed for an ensemble of such quasiparticles. For the normal phase, the spin-polaron concept allows us to reproduce the fine details in the evolution of the Fermi surface with the changes in the doping level x observed in experiment for La2-xSrxCuO4. The calculated T-x phase diagram correlates well with the available experimental data for cuprate HTSCs.

Quasiparticle properties of DNA bases from GW calculations in a Wannier basis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qian, Xiaofeng; Marzari, Nicola; Umari, Paolo

2009-03-01

The quasiparticle GW-Wannier (GWW) approach [1] has been recently developed to overcome the size limitations of conventional planewave GW calculations. By taking advantage of the localization properties of the maximally-localized Wannier functions and choosing a small set of polarization basis we reduce the number of Bloch wavefunctions products required for the evaluation of dynamical polarizabilities, and in turn greatly reduce memory requirements and computational efficiency. We apply GWW to study quasiparticle properties of different DNA bases and base-pairs, and solvation effects on the energy gap, demonstrating in the process the key advantages of this approach. [1] P. Umari,G. Stenuit, and S. Baroni, cond-mat/0811.1453

Amplitude fluctuations driven by the density of electron pairs within nanosize granular structures inside strongly disordered superconductors: evidence for a shell-like effect.

PubMed

Ghosh, Sanjib; Mandal, Sudhansu S

2013-11-15

Motivated by the recent observation of the shell effect in a nanoscale pure superconductor by Bose et al. [Nat. Mater. 9, 550 (2010)], we explore the possible shell-like effect in a strongly disordered superconductor as it is known to produce nanosize superconducting puddles (SPs). We find a remarkable change in the texture of the pairing amplitudes that is responsible for forming the SP, upon monotonic tuning of the average electron density, , and keeping the disorder landscape unaltered. Both the spatially averaged pairing amplitude and the quasiparticle excitation gap oscillate with . This oscillation is due to a rapid change in the low-lying quasiparticle energy spectra and thereby a change in the shapes and positions of the SPs. We establish a correlation between the formation of SPs and the shell-like effect. The experimental consequences of our theory are also discussed.

Relaxation of a High-Energy Quasiparticle in a One-Dimensional Bose Gas

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tan, Shina; Glazman, Leonid I.; Pustilnik, Michael

2010-08-27

We evaluate the relaxation rate of high-energy quasiparticles in a weakly interacting one-dimensional Bose gas. Unlike in higher dimensions, the rate is a nonmonotonic function of temperature, with a maximum at the crossover to the state of suppressed density fluctuations. At the maximum, the relaxation rate may significantly exceed its zero-temperature value. We also find the dependence of the differential inelastic scattering rate on the transferred energy. This rate yields information about temperature dependence of local pair correlations.

Nonrotational states in isotonic chains of heavy nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamian, G. G.; Malov, L. A.; Antonenko, N. V.; Jolos, R. V.

2018-03-01

The ground-state deformations of heavy nuclei are explored with the microscopic-macroscopic approach using the single-particle Woods-Saxon potential of the quasiparticle-phonon model. The calculations of the energies of low-lying nonrotational states take into account the residual pairing and phonon-quasiparticle interactions. The spectra of these states are presented for the N =147 -161 isotones. The sensitivity of the calculated results to the parameters of the model is studied. A rather good description of the available experimental data is demonstrated.

Metallic quantum critical points with finite BCS couplings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raghu, Srinivas

The problem of superconductivity near quantum critical points (QCPs) remains a central topic of modern condensed matter physics. In such systems, there is a competition between the enhanced pairing tendency due to the presence of long-range attractive interactions near criticality, and the suppression of superconductivity due to the destruction of Landau quasiparticles. I will describe some recent work that addresses these competing effects in the context of a solvable model of a metallic quantum critical point. I will show that the two effects - namely the enhanced pairing and the destruction of Landau quasiparticles - can offset one another, resulting in stable ''naked'' quantum critical points without superconductivity. However, the resulting quantum critical metal exhibits strong superconducting fluctuations on all length scales. Reference: S.R., Gonzalo Torroba, and Huajia Wang, arXiv1507.06652, PRB(2015).

Spin-sensitive interference due to Majorana state on the interface between normal and superconducting leads

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barański, J.; Kobiałka, A.; Domański, T.

2017-02-01

We investigate the subgap spectrum and transport properties of the quantum dot on the interface between the metallic and superconducting leads and additionally side-coupled to the edge of the topological superconducting (TS) chain, hosting the Majorana quasiparticle. Due to the chiral nature of the Majorana states only one spin component of the quantum dot electrons (say \\uparrow ) is directly affected, however the proximity induced on-dot pairing transmits its influence on the opposite spin as well. We investigate the unique interferometric patterns driven by the Majorana quasiparticle that are different for each spin component. We also address the spin-sensitive interplay with the Kondo effect manifested at the same zero-energy and we come to the conclusion that quantum interferometry can unambiguously identify the Majorana quasiparticle.

Thermal Pairing in Nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dang, Nguyen Dinh

2008-04-01

The modified Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (MHFB) theory at finite temperature is derived for finite nuclei.1 In the limit of constant pairing parameter, the MHFB theory yields the modified BCS (MBCS) theory.2 These are the microscopic theories that can describe the crossover region at temperature T around the critical value Tc of the BCS superfluid-normal (SN) phase transition. By requiring the unitarity conservation of the particle-density matrix, the derivation of these theories is achieved by constructing a modified quasiparticle density matrix, where the fluctuation of the quasiparticle number is microscopically built in. This matrix can be directly obtained from the usual quasiparticle-density matrix by applying the secondary Bogoliubov transformation, which includes the quasiparticle occupation number. The calculations of the thermal pairing gap, total energy, heat capacity, quasiparticle and pairing correlation functions were carried out within MBCS theory for the Richardson model3 as well as realistic single-particle spectra. The Richardson model under consideration has varying Ω equidistant levels and N particles with a level distant equal to 1 MeV. It is shown that the limitation of the configuration space sets a limiting temperature TM up to which the MBCS theory can be applied. Enlarging the space in the half-filled case (Ω = N) by one valence level (Ω = N + 1) extends TM to a much higher temperature so that the predictions by the MBCS theory can be compared directly with the exact results up to T ~ 4 - 5 MeV even for small N. The MBCS gap does not collapse, but decreases monotonously with increasing T. The total energy and heat capacity predicted by the MBCS theory are closer to the exact results than those predicted by the BCS theory, especially in the region of the SN phase transition predicted within the BCS theory. The discontinuity in the BCS heat capacity at the critical temperature Tc is smoothed out within the MBCS theory, especially for small N, showing the disappearance of SN phase transition in very light systems. With increasing N the peak at Tc in the heat capacity becomes more pronounced, showing a phase-transition-like behavior in heavy systems. The effect of approximated particle-number projection using the Lipkin-Nogami method is also discussed. An application of the MBCS theory to the description of the damping of giant dipole resonances (GDR) in hot nuclei shows that, because of the existence of the pseudo gap, the GDR width remains nearly constant at temperatures up to around 1 MeV in tin isotopes in good agreement with the recent experimental systematic.4

Vertex functions at finite momentum: Application to antiferromagnetic quantum criticality

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wölfle, Peter; Abrahams, Elihu

2016-02-01

We analyze the three-point vertex function that describes the coupling of fermionic particle-hole pairs in a metal to spin or charge fluctuations at nonzero momentum. We consider Ward identities, which connect two-particle vertex functions to the self-energy, in the framework of a Hubbard model. These are derived using conservation laws following from local symmetries. The generators considered are the spin density and particle density. It is shown that at certain antiferromagnetic critical points, where the quasiparticle effective mass is diverging, the vertex function describing the coupling of particle-hole pairs to the spin density Fourier component at the antiferromagnetic wave vector is also divergent. Then we give an explicit calculation of the irreducible vertex function for the case of three-dimensional antiferromagnetic fluctuations, and show that it is proportional to the diverging quasiparticle effective mass.

Excitonic condensation with different pairing symmetries in double quantum wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jamell, Christopher

2009-03-01

Double quantum wells with one containing electrons and the other containing holes as carriers are a promising candidate for condensation of dipolar excitons with lifetime much larger than lifetime of excitons in bulk semiconductors. When the inter-well distance is comparable to the interparticle distance within a single well, d <=rsaB, inter-well coherence is expected to lead to an excitonic condensation. We explore the ground state of a balanced system as a function of inter-well distance d and the carrier density n2D. We present Hartree-Fock mean-field results for the quasiparticle and order parameter dispersion with different pairing symmetries. We obtain the quasiparticle density of states in each case. These results lay the ground work for mean-field study of excitonic condensate states with spontaneously broken translational symmetry.

Calculation of Quasi-Particle Energies of Aromatic Self-Assembled Monolayers on Au(111).

PubMed

Li, Yan; Lu, Deyu; Galli, Giulia

2009-04-14

We present many-body perturbation theory calculations of the electronic properties of phenylene diisocyanide self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) on a gold surface. Using structural models obtained within density functional theory (DFT), we have investigated how the SAM molecular energies are modified by self-energy corrections and how they are affected by the presence of the surface. We have employed a combination of GW (G = Green's function; W = screened Coulomb interaction) calculations of the SAM quasi-particle energies and a semiclassical image potential model to account for surface polarization effects. We find that it is essential to include both quasi-particle corrections and surface screening in order to provide a reasonable estimate of the energy level alignment at a SAM-metal interface. In particular, our results show that within the GW approximation the energy distance between phenylene diisocyanide SAM energy levels and the gold surface Fermi level is much larger than that found within DFT, e.g., more than double in the case of low packing densities of the SAM.

Configurations and decay hindrances of high- K states in Hf 180

DOE PAGES

Tandel, S. K.; Chowdhury, P.; Kondev, F. G.; ...

2016-12-02

Multi-quasiparticle high-K states, several of which are isomeric, were observed in Hf-180 with the Gammasphere array. We determined the lifetimes in the ns-μs range using centroid-shift and decay measurements within a mu s coincidence time window. The configurations of high-K states involve two and four quasiparticles, with states up to K π = (18 -) established. High-K excitations are found to be progressively more favored with increasing excitation energy. The K quantum number is quite robust up to the highest spins observed, as evidenced by the large values of the reduced hindrance for isomeric decays. Furthermore, rotational bands built onmore » three high-K states are identified, and the measured branching ratios in these sequences enable the assignment of underlying configurations. Multi-quasiparticle calculations using the Lipkin-Nogami approach for pairing, with blocking included, reproduce the observed high-K energies quite well.« less

Configurations and decay hindrances of high-K states in 180Hf

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tandel, S. K.; Chowdhury, P.; Kondev, F. G.; Janssens, R. V. F.; Khoo, T. L.; Carpenter, M. P.; Lauritsen, T.; Lister, C. J.; Seweryniak, D.; Zhu, S.; Deacon, A.; Freeman, S. J.; Hammond, N. J.; Jones, G. D.; Moore, E. F.; Smith, J. F.

2016-12-01

Multi-quasiparticle high-K states, several of which are isomeric, were observed in 180Hf with the Gammasphere array. Lifetimes in the ns-μ s range were determined using centroid-shift and decay measurements within a μ s coincidence time window. The configurations of high-K states involve two and four quasiparticles, with states up to Kπ=(18-) established. High-K excitations are found to be progressively more favored with increasing excitation energy. The K quantum number is quite robust up to the highest spins observed, as evidenced by the large values of the reduced hindrance for isomeric decays. Rotational bands built on three high-K states are identified, and the measured branching ratios in these sequences enable the assignment of underlying configurations. Multi-quasiparticle calculations using the Lipkin-Nogami approach for pairing, with blocking included, reproduce the observed high-K energies quite well.

Configurations and decay hindrances of high- K states in Hf 180

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tandel, S. K.; Chowdhury, P.; Kondev, F. G.

Multi-quasiparticle high-K states, several of which are isomeric, were observed in Hf-180 with the Gammasphere array. We determined the lifetimes in the ns-μs range using centroid-shift and decay measurements within a mu s coincidence time window. The configurations of high-K states involve two and four quasiparticles, with states up to K π = (18 -) established. High-K excitations are found to be progressively more favored with increasing excitation energy. The K quantum number is quite robust up to the highest spins observed, as evidenced by the large values of the reduced hindrance for isomeric decays. Furthermore, rotational bands built onmore » three high-K states are identified, and the measured branching ratios in these sequences enable the assignment of underlying configurations. Multi-quasiparticle calculations using the Lipkin-Nogami approach for pairing, with blocking included, reproduce the observed high-K energies quite well.« less

Stimulated emission of Cooper pairs in a high-temperature cuprate superconductor

DOE PAGES

Zhang, Wentao; Miller, Tristan; Smallwood, Christopher L.; ...

2016-07-01

The concept of stimulated emission of bosons has played an important role in modern science and technology, and constitutes the working principle for lasers. In a stimulated emission process, an incoming photon enhances the probability that an excited atomic state will transition to a lower energy state and generate a second photon of the same energy. It is expected, but not experimentally shown, that stimulated emission contributes significantly to the zero resistance current in a superconductor by enhancing the probability that scattered Cooper pairs will return to the macroscopically occupied condensate instead of entering any other state. Here, we usemore » time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to study the initial rise of the non-equilibrium quasiparticle population in a Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8+δ cuprate superconductor induced by an ultrashort laser pulse. Our finding reveals significantly slower buildup of quasiparticles in the superconducting state than in the normal state. The slower buildup only occurs when the pump pulse is too weak to deplete the superconducting condensate, and for cuts inside the Fermi arc region. We propose this is a manifestation of stimulated recombination of broken Cooper pairs, and signals an important momentum space dichotomy in the formation of Cooper pairs inside and outside the Fermi arc region.« less

The birth of a quasiparticle in silicon observed in time-frequency space.

PubMed

Hase, Muneaki; Kitajima, Masahiro; Constantinescu, Anca Monia; Petek, Hrvoje

2003-11-06

The concept of quasiparticles in solid-state physics is an extremely powerful tool for describing complex many-body phenomena in terms of single-particle excitations. Introducing a simple particle, such as an electron, hole or phonon, deforms a many-body system through its interactions with other particles. In this way, the added particle is 'dressed' or 'renormalized' by a self-energy cloud that describes the response of the many-body system, so forming a new entity--the quasiparticle. Using ultrafast laser techniques, it is possible to impulsively generate bare particles and observe their subsequent dressing by the many-body interactions (that is, quasiparticle formation) on the time and energy scales governed by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Here we describe the coherent response of silicon to excitation with a 10-femtosecond (10(-14) s) laser pulse. The optical pulse interacts with the sample by way of the complex second-order nonlinear susceptibility to generate a force on the lattice driving coherent phonon excitation. Transforming the transient reflectivity signal into frequency-time space reveals interference effects leading to the coherent phonon generation and subsequent dressing of the phonon by electron-hole pair excitations.

Topological Weyl superconductor to diffusive thermal Hall metal crossover in the B phase of UPt3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goswami, Pallab; Nevidomskyy, Andriy H.

2015-12-01

The recent phase-sensitive measurements in the superconducting B phase of UPt3 provide strong evidence for the triplet, chiral kz(kx±i ky) 2 pairing symmetries, which endow the Cooper pairs with orbital angular momentum projections Lz=±2 along the c axis. In the absence of disorder such pairing can support both line and point nodes, and both types of nodal quasiparticles exhibit nontrivial topology in the momentum space. The point nodes, located at the intersections of the closed Fermi surfaces with the c axis, act as the double monopoles and the antimonopoles of the Berry curvature, and generalize the notion of Weyl quasiparticles. Consequently, the B phase should support an anomalous thermal Hall effect, the polar Kerr effect, in addition to the protected Fermi arcs on the (1 ,0 ,0 ) and the (0 ,1 ,0 ) surfaces. The line node at the Fermi surface equator acts as a vortex loop in the momentum space and gives rise to the zero-energy, dispersionless Andreev bound states on the (0 ,0 ,1 ) surface. At the transition from the B phase to the A phase, the time-reversal symmetry is restored, and only the line node survives inside the A phase. As both line and double-Weyl point nodes possess linearly vanishing density of states, we show that weak disorder acts as a marginally relevant perturbation. Consequently, an infinitesimal amount of disorder destroys the ballistic quasiparticle pole, while giving rise to a diffusive phase with a finite density of states at the zero energy. The resulting diffusive phase exhibits T -linear specific heat, and an anomalous thermal Hall effect. We predict that the low-temperature thermodynamic and transport properties display a crossover between a ballistic thermal Hall semimetal and a diffusive thermal Hall metal. By contrast, the diffusive phase obtained from a time-reversal-invariant pairing exhibits only the T -linear specific heat without any anomalous thermal Hall effect.

Theory of superconductivity with non-Hermitian and parity-time reversal symmetric Cooper pairing symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghatak, Ananya; Das, Tanmoy

2018-01-01

Recently developed parity (P ) and time-reversal (T ) symmetric non-Hermitian systems govern a rich variety of new and characteristically distinct physical properties, which may or may not have a direct analog in their Hermitian counterparts. We study here a non-Hermitian, PT -symmetric superconducting Hamiltonian that possesses a real quasiparticle spectrum in the PT -unbroken region of the Brillouin zone. Within a single-band mean-field theory, we find that real quasiparticle energies are possible when the superconducting order parameter itself is either Hermitian or anti-Hermitian. Within the corresponding Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, we find that several properties are characteristically distinct and novel in the non-Hermitian pairing case than its Hermitian counterpart. One of our significant findings is that while a Hermitian superconductor gives a second-order phase transition, the non-Hermitian one produces a robust first-order phase transition. The corresponding thermodynamic properties and the Meissner effect are also modified accordingly. Finally, we discuss how such a PT -symmetric pairing can emerge from an antisymmetric potential, such as the Dzyloshinskii-Moriya interaction, but with an external bath, or complex potential, among others.

Possible superconductivity in Sr₂IrO₄ probed by quasiparticle interference.

PubMed

Gao, Yi; Zhou, Tao; Huang, Huaixiang; Wang, Qiang-Hua

2015-03-18

Based on the possible superconducting (SC) pairing symmetries recently proposed, the quasiparticle interference (QPI) patterns in electron- and hole-doped Sr₂IrO₄ are theoretically investigated. In the electron-doped case, the QPI spectra can be explained based on a model similar to the octet model of the cuprates while in the hole-doped case, both the Fermi surface topology and the sign of the SC order parameter resemble those of the iron pnictides and there exists a QPI vector resulting from the interpocket scattering between the electron and hole pockets. In both cases, the evolution of the QPI vectors with energy and their behaviors in the nonmagnetic and magnetic impurity scattering cases can well be explained based on the evolution of the constant-energy contours and the sign structure of the SC order parameter. The QPI spectra presented in this paper can be compared with future scanning tunneling microscopy experiments to test whether there are SC phases in electron- and hole-doped Sr₂IrO₄ and what the pairing symmetry is.

ac Josephson effect and resonant Cooper pair tunneling emission of a single Cooper pair transistor.

PubMed

Billangeon, P-M; Pierre, F; Bouchiat, H; Deblock, R

2007-05-25

We measure the high-frequency emission of a single Cooper pair transistor (SCPT) in the regime where transport is only due to tunneling of Cooper pairs. This is achieved by coupling on chip the SCPT to a superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction and by measuring the photon assisted tunneling current of quasiparticles across the junction. This technique allows a direct detection of the ac Josephson effect of the SCPT and provides evidence of Landau-Zener transitions for proper gate voltage. The emission in the regime of resonant Cooper pair tunneling is also investigated. It is interpreted in terms of transitions between charge states coupled by the Josephson effect.

Temperature dependence of a superconducting tunnel junction x-ray detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hiller, Lawrence J.; Labov, Simon E.; Mears, Carl A.; Barfknecht, Andrew T.; Frank, Matthias A.; Netel, Harrie; Lindeman, Mark A.

1995-09-01

Superconducting tunnel junctions can be used as part of a high-resolution, energy-dispersive x- ray detector. The energy of the absorbed x ray is used to break superconducting electron pairs, producing on the order of 10(superscript 6) excitations, called quasiparticles. The number of quasiparticles produced is proportional to the energy of the absorbed x ray. When a bias voltage is maintained across the barrier, these quasiparticles produce a net tunneling current. Either the peak tunneling current or the total tunneled charge may be measured to determine the energy of the absorbed x ray. The tunneling rate, and therefore the signal, is enhanced by the use of a quasiparticle trap near the tunnel barrier. The trapping efficiency is improved by decreasing the energy gap, though this reduces the maximum temperature at which the device may operate. In our niobium/aluminum configuration, we can very the energy gap in the trapping layer by varying its thickness. This paper examines the performance of two devices with 50 nm aluminum traps at temperatures ranging from 100 mK to 700 mK. We found that this device has a very good energy resolution of about 12 eV FWHM at 1 keV. This energy resolution is independent of temperature for much of this temperature range.

Narrow-band microwave radiation from a biased single-Cooper-pair transistor.

PubMed

Naaman, O; Aumentado, J

2007-06-01

We show that a single-Cooper-pair transistor (SCPT) electrometer emits narrow-band microwave radiation when biased in its subgap region. Photoexcitation of quasiparticle tunneling in a nearby SCPT is used to spectroscopically detect this radiation in a configuration that closely mimics a qubit-electrometer integrated circuit. We identify emission lines due to Josephson radiation and radiative transport processes in the electrometer and argue that a dissipative superconducting electrometer can severely disrupt the system it attempts to measure.

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

Orbital selective pairing and gap structures of iron-based superconductors

DOE PAGES

Kreisel, Andreas; Andersen, Brian M.; Sprau, P. O.; ...

2017-05-08

We discuss the in uence on spin-fluctuation pairing theory of orbital selective strong correlation effects in Fe-based superconductors, particularly Fe chalcogenide systems. We propose that a key ingredient for an improved itinerant pairing theory is orbital selectivity, i.e., incorporating the reduced coherence of quasiparticles occupying specific orbital states. This modifies the usual spin-fluctuation via suppression of pair scattering processes involving those less coherent states and results in orbital selective Cooper pairing of electrons in the remaining states. We show that this paradigm yields remarkably good agreement with the experimentally observed anisotropic gap structures in both bulk and monolayer FeSe, asmore » well as LiFeAs, indicating that orbital selective Cooper pairing plays a key role in the more strongly correlated iron-based superconductors.« less

Interplay between proton-neutron pairing and deformation in self-conjugated medium mass nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gambacurta, Danilo; Lacroix, Denis

2016-05-01

We employ a model combining self-consistent mean-field and shell model techniques to study the competition between particle-like and proton-neutron pairing correlations in fp-shell even-even self-conjugate nuclei. Deformation effects are realistically and microscopically described. The resulting approach can give a precise description of pairing correlations and eventually treat the coexistence of different condensate formed of pairs with different total spin/ isospin. The standard BCS calculations are systematically compared with approaches including correlation effects beyond the independent quasi-particle picture. The competition between proton-neutron correlations in the isoscalar and isovector channels is also analyzed, as well as their dependence on the deformation properties.

The influence of pairing correlations on the isospin symmetry breaking corrections of superallowed Fermi beta decays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cal Latin-Small-Letter-Dotless-I k, A. E., E-mail: engincalik@yahoo.com; Gerceklioglu, M.; Selam, C.

2013-05-15

Within the framework of quasi-particle random phase approximation, the isospin breaking correction of superallowed 0{sup +} {yields} 0{sup +} beta decay and unitarity of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing matrix have been investigated. The broken isotopic symmetry of nuclear part of Hamiltonian has been restored by Pyatov's method. The isospin symmetry breaking correction with pairing correlations has been compared with the previous results without pairing. The effect of pairing interactions has been examined for nine superallowed Fermi beta decays; their parent nuclei are {sup 26}Al, {sup 34}Cl, {sup 38}K, {sup 42}Sc, {sup 46}V, {sup 50}Mn, {sup 54}Co, {sup 62}Ga, {sup 74}Rb.

QRPA plus phonon coupling model and the photoabsorption cross section for 18,20,22O

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Colò, G.; Bortignon, P. F.

2001-12-01

We have calculated the electric dipole strength distributions in the unstable neutron-rich oxygen isotopes 18,20,22O, in a model which include up to four quasiparticle-type configurations. The model is the extension, to include the effect of the pairing correlations, of a previous model very successful around closed shell nuclei, and it is based on the quasiparticle-phonon coupling. Low-lying dipole strength is found, which exhausts between 5 and 10% of the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn (TRK) energy-weighted sum rule (EWSR) below 15 MeV excitation energy, in rather good agreement with recent experimental data. The role of the phonon coupling is shown to be crucial in order to obtain this result.

Emergence of superconductivity in heavy-electron materials

PubMed Central

Yang, Yi-feng; Pines, David

2014-01-01

Although the pairing glue for the attractive quasiparticle interaction responsible for unconventional superconductivity in heavy-electron materials has been identified as the spin fluctuations that arise from their proximity to a magnetic quantum critical point, there has been no model to describe their superconducting transition at temperature Tc that is comparable to that found by Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer (BCS) for conventional superconductors, where phonons provide the pairing glue. Here we propose such a model: a phenomenological BCS-like expression for Tc in heavy-electron materials that is based on a simple model for the effective range and strength of the spin-fluctuation-induced quasiparticle interaction and reflects the unusual properties of the heavy-electron normal state from which superconductivity emerges. We show that it provides a quantitative understanding of the pressure-induced variation of Tc in the “hydrogen atoms” of unconventional superconductivity, CeCoIn5 and CeRhIn5, predicts scaling behavior and a dome-like structure for Tc in all heavy-electron quantum critical superconductors, provides unexpected connections between members of this family, and quantifies their variations in Tc with a single parameter. PMID:25489102

Possible superconductivity in Sr2IrO4 probed by quasiparticle interference

PubMed Central

Gao, Yi; Zhou, Tao; Huang, Huaixiang; Wang, Qiang-Hua

2015-01-01

Based on the possible superconducting (SC) pairing symmetries recently proposed, the quasiparticle interference (QPI) patterns in electron- and hole-doped Sr2IrO4 are theoretically investigated. In the electron-doped case, the QPI spectra can be explained based on a model similar to the octet model of the cuprates while in the hole-doped case, both the Fermi surface topology and the sign of the SC order parameter resemble those of the iron pnictides and there exists a QPI vector resulting from the interpocket scattering between the electron and hole pockets. In both cases, the evolution of the QPI vectors with energy and their behaviors in the nonmagnetic and magnetic impurity scattering cases can well be explained based on the evolution of the constant-energy contours and the sign structure of the SC order parameter. The QPI spectra presented in this paper can be compared with future scanning tunneling microscopy experiments to test whether there are SC phases in electron- and hole-doped Sr2IrO4 and what the pairing symmetry is. PMID:25783417

Optical Lattice Bose-Einstein Condensates and the dd Fusion - Iwamura Connection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chubb, Talbot

2003-03-01

My conjecture: LENR dd fusion occurs in PdDx when a subset of the interstitial deuterons occupy tetrahedral sites in a PdDx crystallite. The tetrahedral deuterons(d's), which occupy shallow potential wells, behave as a superfluid, similar to ultracold Na atoms in shallow-well optical traps, as modeled by Jaksch et al.(D. Jaksch, et al, Phys. Rev. Lett., 81, 3108 (1998).) The tetrahedral d's form a deuteron (d) subsystem, which is neutralized by an electron subsystem containing an equal number of electrons. In the superfluid all the properties of each quasiparticle d are partitioned among N_s_i_te equivalent sites. The partitioning of the d point charge reduces the Coulomb self-repulsion within each quasiparticle pair, which causes wave function overlap at large N_s_i_t_e, allowing d-d fusion. Similarly, partitioning of the point charge of each single quasiparticle d reduces the Coulomb repulsion between it and an obstructing impurity atom, which causes wave function overlap between quasiparticle and atom at large N_s_i_t_e, allowing transmutation of the impurity atom. The Iwamura reaction(Y. Iwamura, et al, Japan J. of Appl. Physics, 41A, 4642 (2002).) is 4 ^2D^+_B_l_o_ch + 4 e^-_B_l_o_ch + ^1^3^3Cs arrow ^1^4^1Pr, with the reaction energy incoherently transferred to the lattice.

Electrothermal feedback in kinetic inductance detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guruswamy, T.; Thomas, C. N.; Withington, S.; Goldie, D. J.

2017-06-01

In kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) and other similar applications of superconducting microresonators, both the large and small-signal behaviour of the device may be affected by electrothermal feedback. Microwave power applied to read out the device is absorbed by and heats the superconductor quasiparticles, changing the superconductor conductivity and hence the readout power absorbed in a positive or negative feedback loop. In this work, we explore numerically the implications of an extensible theoretical model of a generic superconducting microresonator device for a typical KID, incorporating recent work on the power flow between superconductor quasiparticles and phonons. This model calculates the large-signal (changes in operating point) and small-signal behaviour of a device, allowing us to determine the effect of electrothermal feedback on device responsivity and noise characteristics under various operating conditions. We also investigate how thermally isolating the device from the bath, for example by designing the device on a membrane only connected to the bulk substrate by thin legs, affects device performance. We find that at a typical device operating point, positive electrothermal feedback reduces the effective thermal conductance from the superconductor quasiparticles to the bath, and so increases responsivity to signal (pair-breaking) power, increases noise from temperature fluctuations, and decreases the noise equivalent power (NEP). Similarly, increasing the thermal isolation of the device while keeping the quasiparticle temperature constant decreases the NEP, but also decreases the device response bandwidth.

Cooper-pair size and binding energy for unconventional superconducting systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dinóla Neto, F.; Neto, Minos A.; Salmon, Octavio D. Rodriguez

2018-06-01

The main proposal of this paper is to analyze the size of the Cooper pairs composed by unbalanced mass fermions from different electronic bands along the BCS-BEC crossover and study the binding energy of the pairs. We are considering an interaction between fermions with different masses leading to an inter-band pairing. In addiction to the attractive interaction we have an hybridization term to couple both bands, which in general acts unfavorable for the pairing between the electrons. We get first order phase transitions as the hybridization breaks the Cooper pairs for the s-wave symmetry of the gap amplitude. The results show the dependence of the Cooper-pair size as a function of the hybridization for T = 0 . We also propose the structure of the binding energy of the inter-band system as a function of the two-bands quasi-particle energies.

Scattering of quasiparticles in $sup 3$He--$sup 4$He mixtures

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bagchi, A.; Ruvalds, J.

Considering the elementary excitation spectrum of /sup 3/He -/sup 4/He mixtures to be of the form proposed by Landau and Pomeranchuk, the scattering cross section for roton and /sup 3/He quasiparticle collisions was calculated taking final-state interactions into account. The theory demonstrates the importance of final-state interactions in renormalizing the roton energy and lifetime. Previous theories based on the Porn approximation are shown to give unreliable results for the change of the energy and lifetime for rotons in dilute /sup 3/He --/sup 4/He mixtures owing to roton-/sup 3/He scattering. Upper bound s on the changes in the energy and lifetimemore » of a roton as a function of the roton- /sup 3/He coupling strength were obtained using a simplified model for the coupling. These bounds give an insignificant change of the roton energy with the iHe eoncentration and thus explain recent neutron-seattering and Raman data on the mixtures. Effects of level repulsion between rotons and the /sup 3/He quasiparticle-hole continuum are calculated, and estimated to be small on the basis of recent Raman data, However, decay of a roton into a iHe quasiparticle- hole pair may live rise to an interesting concentration dependence of the roton linewidth. Further experimental studies of the mixtures are suggested, which may check the detailed predictions of the theory and provide insight into the momentum dependence of the coupling parameters. The present analysis represents an essential link between microscopic theories of the quasiparticle coupling and related experiments on dilute /sup 3/He --/sup 4/He mixtures. (auth)« less

Experimental Observation of Three-Component New Fermions in Topological Semimetal MoP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, B. Q.; Feng, Z.-L.; Xu, Q.-N.; Ma, J.-Z.; Kong, L.-Y.; Richard, Pierre; Huang, Y.-B.; Strocov, V. N.; Fang, C.; Weng, H.-M.; Shi, Y.-G.; Qian, Tian; Ding, Hong; Paul Scherrer Institute, Swiss Light Source, CH-5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland Team; Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics Team; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China Team; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing, China Collaboration; Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China Team

Condensed matter systems can host quasiparticle excitations that are analogues to elementary particles such as Majorana, Weyl, and Dirac fermions. Recent advances in band theory have expanded the classification of fermions in crystals, and revealed crystal symmetry-protected electron excitations that have no high-energy counterparts. Here, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we demonstrate the existence of a triply degenerate point in the electronic structure of MoP crystal, where the quasiparticle excitations are beyond the Majorana-Weyl-Dirac classification. Furthermore, we observe pairs of Weyl points in the bulk electronic structure coexisting with the new fermions, thus introducing a platform for studying the interplay between different types of fermions. We thank Binbin Fu, Nan Xu, and Xin Gao for the assistance in the ARPES experiments.

Influence of the spatially inhomogeneous gap distribution on the quasiparticle current in c-axis junctions involving d-wave superconductors with charge density waves.

PubMed

Ekino, T; Gabovich, A M; Suan Li, Mai; Szymczak, H; Voitenko, A I

2016-11-09

The quasiparticle tunnel current J(V) between the superconducting ab-planes along the c-axis and the corresponding conductance [Formula: see text] were calculated for symmetric junctions composed of disordered d-wave layered superconductors partially gapped by charge density waves (CDWs). Here, V is the voltage. Both the checkerboard and unidirectional CDWs were considered. It was shown that the spatial spread of the CDW-pairing strength substantially smears the peculiarities of G(V) appropriate to uniform superconductors. The resulting curves G(V) become very similar to those observed for a number of cuprates in intrinsic junctions, e.g. mesas. In particular, the influence of CDWs may explain the peak-dip-hump structures frequently found for high-T c oxides.

Characterization of the IMF By-dependent field-aligned currents in the cleft region based on DE 2 observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Taguchi, S.; Sugiura, M.; Winningham, J. D.; Slavin, J. A.

1993-01-01

The magnetic field and plasma data from 47 passes of DE-2 are used to study the IMF By-dependent distribution of field-aligned currents in the cleft region. It is proposed that the low-latitude cleft current (LCC) region is not an extension of the region 1 or region 2 current system and that a pair of LCCs and high-latitude cleft currents (HCCs) constitutes the cleft field-aligned current regime. The proposed pair of cleft field-aligned currents is explained with a qualitative model in which this pair of currents is generated on open field lines that have just been reconnected on the dayside magnetopause. The electric fields are transmitted along the field lines to the ionosphere, creating a poleward electric field and a pair of field-aligned currents when By is positive; the pair of field-aligned currents consists of a downward current at lower latitudes and an upward current at higher latitudes. In the By negative case, the model explains the reversal of the field-aligned current direction in the LCC and HCC regions.

Band Alignment in MoS2/WS2 Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Heterostructures Probed by Scanning Tunneling Microscopy and Spectroscopy.

PubMed

Hill, Heather M; Rigosi, Albert F; Rim, Kwang Taeg; Flynn, George W; Heinz, Tony F

2016-08-10

Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), we examine the electronic structure of transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures (TMDCHs) composed of monolayers of MoS2 and WS2. STS data are obtained for heterostructures of varying stacking configuration as well as the individual monolayers. Analysis of the tunneling spectra includes the influence of finite sample temperature, yield information about the quasi-particle bandgaps, and the band alignment of MoS2 and WS2. We report the band gaps of MoS2 (2.16 ± 0.04 eV) and WS2 (2.38 ± 0.06 eV) in the materials as measured on the heterostructure regions and the general type II band alignment for the heterostructure, which shows an interfacial band gap of 1.45 ± 0.06 eV.

Energy level alignment at hybridized organic-metal interfaces from a GW projection approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yifeng; Tamblyn, Isaac; Quek, Su Ying

Energy level alignments at organic-metal interfaces are of profound importance in numerous (opto)electronic applications. Standard density functional theory (DFT) calculations generally give incorrect energy level alignments and missing long-range polarization effects. Previous efforts to address this problem using the many-electron GW method have focused on physisorbed systems where hybridization effects are insignificant. Here, we use state-of-the-art GW methods to predict the level alignment at the amine-Au interface, where molecular levels do hybridize with metallic states. This non-trivial hybridization implies that DFT result is a poor approximation to the quasiparticle states. However, we find that the self-energy operator is approximately diagonal in the molecular basis, allowing us to use a projection approach to predict the level alignments. Our results indicate that the metallic substrate reduces the HOMO-LUMO gap by 3.5 4.0 eV, depending on the molecular coverage/presence of Au adatoms. Our GW results are further compared with those of a simple image charge model that describes the level alignment in physisorbed systems. Syq and YC acknowledge Grant NRF-NRFF2013-07 and the medium-sized centre program from the National Research Foundation, Singapore.

Pair aligning improved motility of Quincke rollers.

PubMed

Lu, Shi Qing; Zhang, Bing Yue; Zhang, Zhi Chao; Shi, Yan; Zhang, Tian Hui

2018-06-06

Density-dependent speed is studied in a two-dimensional active colloid in which the colloidal particles are propelled by an external electric field via a Quincke rotation. Above the critcal electric field, dense dynamic clusters form spotaneously, in which the particles are highly aligned in velocity and move much faster than isolated units. Detailed observations on pair collision reveal that the alignment of velocity is induced by the long-ranged hydrodynamic interactions and the improvement of speed in the clusters arises from pair aligning in which two particles are closely paired and rotate synchronically. In the aligning state, the short-range in-plane dipole-dipole attraction enhances the rotation torque and gives rises to a larger rolling speed. The pair aligning becomes difficult and unstable at high electric field where the normal dipole-dipole repulsion becomes dominant. As a consequence, the dependence of speed on density becomes weak increasingly upon the increase of the electric field. This result offers an interpretation for the discrepancy between our and previous observations on Quincke rollers.

Chiral phases of superfluid 3He in an anisotropic medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sauls, J. A.

2013-12-01

Recent advances in the fabrication and characterization of anisotropic silica aerogels with exceptional homogeneity provide new insight into the nature of unconventional pairing in disordered anisotropic media. I report theoretical analysis and predictions for the equilibrium phases of superfluid 3He infused into a low-density, homogeneous uniaxial aerogel. Ginzburg-Landau (GL) theory for a class of equal-spin-pairing (ESP) states in a medium with uniaxial anisotropy is developed and used to analyze recent experiments on uniaxially strained aerogels. For 3He in an axially “stretched” aerogel, GL theory predicts a transition from normal liquid into a chiral Anderson-Morel phase at Tc1 in which the chirality axis l̂ is aligned along the strain axis. This orbitally aligned state is protected from random fluctuations in the anisotropy direction, has a positive nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) frequency shift, a sharp NMR resonance line, and is identified with the high-temperature ESP-1 phase of superfluid 3He in axially stretched aerogel. A second transition into a biaxial phase is predicted to onset at a slightly lower temperature Tc2

Regime of validity of the pairing Hamiltonian in the study of Fermi gases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang, S. Y.; Pandharipande, V. R.

2006-06-01

The ground state energy and pairing gap of the interacting Fermi gases calculated by the ab initio stochastic method are compared with those estimated from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer pairing Hamiltonian. We discuss the ingredients of this Hamiltonian in various regimes of interaction strength. In the weakly interacting (1/ak{sub F}<<0) regime the BCS Hamiltonian should describe Landau quasiparticle energies and interactions, on the other hand, in the strongly pairing regime, that is, 1/ak{sub F} > or approx. 0, it becomes part of the bare Hamiltonian. However, the bare BCS Hamiltonian is not adequate for describing atomic gases in the regime of weakmore » to moderate interaction strength -{infinity}<1/ak{sub F}<0 such as ak{sub F}{approx}-1.« less

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Monney, Claude; Bisogni, Valentina; Zhou, Ke-Jin

Cuprate materials, such as those hosting high-temperature superconductivity, represent a famous class of materials where the correlations between the strongly entangled charges and spins produce complex phase diagrams. Several years ago, the Zhang-Rice singlet was proposed as a natural quasiparticle in hole-doped cuprates. The occurrence and binding energy of this quasiparticle, consisting of a pair of bound holes with antiparallel spins on the same CuO 4 plaquette, depends on the local electronic interactions, which are fundamental quantities for understanding the physics of the cuprates. Here, we employ state-of-the-art resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to probe the correlated physics of themore » CuO 4 plaquettes in the quasi-one-dimensional chain cuprate Li 2CuO 2. By tuning the incoming photon energy to the O K edge, we populate bound states related to the Zhang-Rice quasiparticles in the RIXS process. Both intra- and interchain Zhang-Rice singlets are observed and their occurrence is shown to depend on the nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlations, which are readily probed in this experiment. Finally, we also extract the binding energy of the Zhang-Rice singlet and identify the Zhang-Rice triplet excitation in the RIXS spectra.« less

Observation of van Hove singularity and quasiparticle interference in KFe2 As2 superconductors revealed by STM/STS measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Hai-Hu; Fang, Delong; Du, Zengyi; Wang, Zhenyu; Yang, Huan; Ding, Xiaxin

2015-03-01

We have conducted STM/STS investigations on the KFe2As2 superconducting single crystals down to 0.45 K under magnetic field. Clear electronic standing waves have been observed allowing us to investigate the quasiparticle interference (QPI). Interestingly we observed a sharp peak of local density of states (LDOS) near the Fermi energy showing evidence of strongly enhanced DOS both below and above Tc. We demonstrate that this is induced by a van Hove singularity with the saddle point locating only 4 meV below the Fermi energy. Below Tc it is found that only 20% of the normal state DOS is gapped away by superconductivity, with the major part of DOS due to VHS ungapped. Combing with the ARPES data, we find that the VHS points locate on the (π,0) point, which gives strong constraint on the gap function and pairing mechanism. In the mixed state we clearly observed the mixture of vortices and the standing waves due to quasiparticle interference, giving support to above picture. In collaboration with X. Shi, P. Richard, T. Qian and H. Ding et al. in Institute of Physics, CAS.

Quantum oscillations in the mixed state of d -wave superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Melikyan, Ashot; Vafek, Oskar

2008-07-01

We show that the low-energy density of quasiparticle states in the mixed state of ultraclean dx2-y2 -wave superconductors exhibits quantum oscillations even in the regime where the cyclotron frequency ℏωc≪Δ0 , the d -wave pairing gap. Such oscillations as a function of magnetic field B are argued to be due to the internodal scattering of the nodal quasiparticles near wave vectors (±kD,±kD) by the vortex lattice as well as their Zeeman coupling. While the nominal periodicity of the oscillations is set by the condition kD[hc/(eB)]1/2≡kD'[hc/(eB')]1/2(mod2π) , we find that there is additional structure within each period that grows in complexity as the Dirac node anisotropy increases.

In-beam γ -ray spectroscopy studies of medium-spin states in the odd-odd nucleus 186Re

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Matters, D. A.; Kondev, F. G.; Aoi, N.; Ayyad, Y.; Byrne, A. P.; Carpenter, M. P.; Carroll, J. J.; Chiara, C. J.; Davidson, P. M.; Dracoulis, G. D.; Fang, Y. D.; Hoffman, C. R.; Hughes, R. O.; Ideguchi, E.; Janssens, R. V. F.; Kanaya, S.; Kay, B. P.; Kibédi, T.; Lane, G. J.; Lauritsen, T.; McClory, J. W.; Nieminen, P.; Noji, S.; Odahara, A.; Ong, H. J.; Stuchbery, A. E.; Tran, D. T.; Watanabe, H.; Wilson, A. N.; Yamamoto, Y.; Zhu, S.

2017-07-01

Excited states in 186Re with spins up to J =12 ℏ were investigated in two separate experiments using 186W(d ,2 n ) reactions at beam energies of 12.5 and 14.5 MeV. Two- and threefold γ -ray coincidence data were collected using the CAESAR and CAGRA spectrometers, respectively, each composed of Compton-suppressed high-purity germanium detectors. Analysis of the data revealed rotational bands built on several two-quasiparticle intrinsic states, including a long-lived Kπ=(8+) isomer. Configuration assignments were supported by an analysis of in-band properties, such as |gK-gR| values. The excitation energies of the observed intrinsic states were compared with results from multi-quasiparticle blocking calculations, based on the Lipkin-Nogami pairing approach, that included contributions from the residual proton-neutron interactions.

Scalable designs for quasiparticle-poisoning-protected topological quantum computation with Majorana zero modes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karzig, Torsten; Knapp, Christina; Lutchyn, Roman M.; Bonderson, Parsa; Hastings, Matthew B.; Nayak, Chetan; Alicea, Jason; Flensberg, Karsten; Plugge, Stephan; Oreg, Yuval; Marcus, Charles M.; Freedman, Michael H.

2017-06-01

We present designs for scalable quantum computers composed of qubits encoded in aggregates of four or more Majorana zero modes, realized at the ends of topological superconducting wire segments that are assembled into superconducting islands with significant charging energy. Quantum information can be manipulated according to a measurement-only protocol, which is facilitated by tunable couplings between Majorana zero modes and nearby semiconductor quantum dots. Our proposed architecture designs have the following principal virtues: (1) the magnetic field can be aligned in the direction of all of the topological superconducting wires since they are all parallel; (2) topological T junctions are not used, obviating possible difficulties in their fabrication and utilization; (3) quasiparticle poisoning is abated by the charging energy; (4) Clifford operations are executed by a relatively standard measurement: detection of corrections to quantum dot energy, charge, or differential capacitance induced by quantum fluctuations; (5) it is compatible with strategies for producing good approximate magic states.

Imaging the effects of individual zinc impurity atoms on superconductivity in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta

PubMed

Pan; Hudson; Lang; Eisaki; Uchida; Davis

2000-02-17

Although the crystal structures of the copper oxide high-temperature superconductors are complex and diverse, they all contain some crystal planes consisting of only copper and oxygen atoms in a square lattice: superconductivity is believed to originate from strongly interacting electrons in these CuO2 planes. Substituting a single impurity atom for a copper atom strongly perturbs the surrounding electronic environment and can therefore be used to probe high-temperature superconductivity at the atomic scale. This has provided the motivation for several experimental and theoretical studies. Scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) is an ideal technique for the study of such effects at the atomic scale, as it has been used very successfully to probe individual impurity atoms in several other systems. Here we use STM to investigate the effects of individual zinc impurity atoms in the high-temperature superconductor Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+delta. We find intense quasiparticle scattering resonances at the Zn sites, coincident with strong suppression of superconductivity within approximately 15 A of the scattering sites. Imaging of the spatial dependence of the quasiparticle density of states in the vicinity of the impurity atoms reveals the long-sought four-fold symmetric quasiparticle 'cloud' aligned with the nodes of the d-wave superconducting gap which is believed to characterize superconductivity in these materials.

Building up the spin - orbit alignment of interacting galaxy pairs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moon, Jun-Sung; Yoon, Suk-Jin

2018-01-01

Galaxies are not just randomly distributed throughout space. Instead, they are in alignment over a wide range of scales from the cosmic web down to a pair of galaxies. Motivated by recent findings that the spin and the orbital angular momentum vectors of galaxy pairs tend to be parallel, we here investigate the spin - orbit orientation in close pairs using the Illustris cosmological simulation. We find that since z ~ 1, the parallel alignment has become progressively stronger with time through repetitive encounters. The pair Interactions are preferentially in prograde at z = 0 (over 5 sigma significance). The prograde fraction at z = 0 is larger for the pairs influenced more heavily by each other during their evolution. We find no correlation between the spin - orbit orientation and the surrounding large-scale structure. Our results favor the scenario in which the alignment in close pairs is caused by tidal interactions later on, rather than the primordial torquing by the large-scale structures.

Quantum entanglement and quantum information in biological systems (DNA)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hubač, Ivan; Švec, Miloslav; Wilson, Stephen

2017-12-01

Recent studies of DNA show that the hydrogen bonds between given base pairs can be treated as diabatic systems with spin-orbit coupling. For solid state systems strong diabaticity and spin-orbit coupling the possibility of forming Majorana fermions has been discussed. We analyze the hydrogen bonds in the base pairs in DNA from this perspective. Our analysis is based on a quasiparticle supersymmetric transformation which couples electronic and vibrational motion and includes normal coordinates and the corresponding momenta. We define qubits formed by Majorana fermions in the hydrogen bonds and also discuss the entangled states in base pairs. Quantum information and quantum entropy are introduced. In addition to the well-known classical information connected with the DNA base pairs, we also consider quantum information and show that the classical and quantum information are closely connected.

Superfluid response in heavy fermion superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, Yin; Zhang, Lan; Shao, Can; Luo, Hong-Gang

2017-10-01

Motivated by a recent London penetration depth measurement [H. Kim, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 027003 (2015)] and novel composite pairing scenario [O. Erten, R. Flint, and P. Coleman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 027002 (2015)] of the Yb-doped heavy fermion superconductor CeCoIn5, we revisit the issue of superfluid response in the microscopic heavy fermion lattice model. However, from the literature, an explicit expression for the superfluid response function in heavy fermion superconductors is rare. In this paper, we investigate the superfluid density response function in the celebrated Kondo-Heisenberg model. To be specific, we derive the corresponding formalism from an effective fermionic large- N mean-field pairing Hamiltonian whose pairing interaction is assumed to originate from the effective local antiferromagnetic exchange interaction. Interestingly, we find that the physically correct, temperature-dependent superfluid density formula can only be obtained if the external electromagnetic field is directly coupled to the heavy fermion quasi-particle rather than the bare conduction electron or local moment. Such a unique feature emphasizes the key role of the Kondo-screening-renormalized heavy quasi-particle for low-temperature/energy thermodynamics and transport behaviors. As an important application, the theoretical result is compared to an experimental measurement in heavy fermion superconductors CeCoIn5 and Yb-doped Ce1- x Yb x CoIn5 with fairly good agreement and the transition of the pairing symmetry in the latter material is explained as a simple doping effect. In addition, the requisite formalism for the commonly encountered nonmagnetic impurity and non-local electrodynamic effect are developed. Inspired by the success in explaining classic 115-series heavy fermion superconductors, we expect the present theory will be applied to understand other heavy fermion superconductors such as CeCu2Si2 and more generic multi-band superconductors.

AlignMe—a membrane protein sequence alignment web server

PubMed Central

Stamm, Marcus; Staritzbichler, René; Khafizov, Kamil; Forrest, Lucy R.

2014-01-01

We present a web server for pair-wise alignment of membrane protein sequences, using the program AlignMe. The server makes available two operational modes of AlignMe: (i) sequence to sequence alignment, taking two sequences in fasta format as input, combining information about each sequence from multiple sources and producing a pair-wise alignment (PW mode); and (ii) alignment of two multiple sequence alignments to create family-averaged hydropathy profile alignments (HP mode). For the PW sequence alignment mode, four different optimized parameter sets are provided, each suited to pairs of sequences with a specific similarity level. These settings utilize different types of inputs: (position-specific) substitution matrices, secondary structure predictions and transmembrane propensities from transmembrane predictions or hydrophobicity scales. In the second (HP) mode, each input multiple sequence alignment is converted into a hydrophobicity profile averaged over the provided set of sequence homologs; the two profiles are then aligned. The HP mode enables qualitative comparison of transmembrane topologies (and therefore potentially of 3D folds) of two membrane proteins, which can be useful if the proteins have low sequence similarity. In summary, the AlignMe web server provides user-friendly access to a set of tools for analysis and comparison of membrane protein sequences. Access is available at http://www.bioinfo.mpg.de/AlignMe PMID:24753425

The Alignment Test System for AXAF-I's High Resolution Mirror Assembly

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Waldman, Mark

1995-01-01

The AXAF-1 High Resolution Mirror Assembly (HRMA) consists of four nested mirror pairs of Wolter Type-1 grazing incidence optics. The HRMA assembly and alignment will take place in a vibration-isolated, cleanliness class 100, 18 meter high tower at an Eastman Kodak Company facility in Rochester, NY. Each mirror pair must be aligned such that its image is coma-free, and the four pairs must be aligned such that their images are coincident. In addition, both the HRMA optical axis and focal point must be precisely known with respect to physical references on the HRMA. The alignment of the HRMA mirrors is measured by the HRMA Alignment Test System (HATS), which is an integral part of the tower facility. The HATS is configured as a double-pass, autocollimating Hartmann test where each mirror aperture is scanned to determine the state of alignment. This paper will describe the design and operation of the HATS.

Quasiparticle interference of Fermi arc states in the type-II Weyl semimetal candidate WT e2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Yuan; Yang, Xing; Peng, Lang; Wang, Zhi-Jun; Li, Jian; Yi, Chang-Jiang; Xian, Jing-Jing; Shi, You-Guo; Fu, Ying-Shuang

2018-04-01

Weyl semimetals possess linear dispersions through pairs of Weyl nodes in three-dimensional momentum spaces, whose hallmark arclike surface states are connected to Weyl nodes with different chirality. WT e2 was recently predicted to be a new type of Weyl semimetal. Here, we study the quasiparticle interference (QPI) of its Fermi arc surface states by combined spectroscopic-imaging scanning tunneling spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations. We observed the electron scattering on two types of WT e2 surfaces unambiguously. Its scattering signal can be ascribed mainly to trivial surface states. We also address the QPI feature of nontrivial surface states from theoretical calculations. The experimental QPI patterns show some features that are likely related to the nontrivial Fermi arc states, whose existence is, however, not conclusive. Our study provides an indispensable clue for studying the Weyl semimetal phase in WT e2 .

Isomer-delayed γ -ray spectroscopy of A =159 -164 midshell nuclei and the variation of K -forbidden E 1 transition hindrance factors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, Z.; Walker, P. M.; Podolyák, Zs.; Regan, P. H.; Berry, T. A.; Söderström, P.-A.; Watanabe, H.; Ideguchi, E.; Simpson, G. S.; Nishimura, S.; Wu, Q.; Xu, F. R.; Browne, F.; Doornenbal, P.; Lorusso, G.; Rice, S.; Sinclair, L.; Sumikama, T.; Wu, J.; Xu, Z. Y.; Aoi, N.; Baba, H.; Bello Garrote, F. L.; Benzoni, G.; Daido, R.; Dombrádi, Zs.; Fang, Y.; Fukuda, N.; Gey, G.; Go, S.; Gottardo, A.; Inabe, N.; Isobe, T.; Kameda, D.; Kobayashi, K.; Kobayashi, M.; Komatsubara, T.; Kojouharov, I.; Kubo, T.; Kurz, N.; Kuti, I.; Li, Z.; Matsushita, M.; Michimasa, S.; Moon, C.-B.; Nishibata, H.; Nishizuka, I.; Odahara, A.; Şahin, E.; Sakurai, H.; Schaffner, H.; Suzuki, H.; Takeda, H.; Tanaka, M.; Taprogge, J.; Vajta, Zs.; Yagi, A.; Yokoyama, R.

2017-09-01

Excited states have been studied in 159Sm, 161Sm, 162Sm (Z =62 ), 163Eu (Z =63 ), and 164Gd (Z =64 ), populated by isomeric decay following 238U projectile fission at RIBF, RIKEN. The isomer half-lives range from 50 ns to 2.6 μ s . In comparison with other published data, revised interpretations are proposed for 159Sm and 163Eu. The first data for excited states in 161Sm are presented, where a 2.6-μ s isomer is assigned a three-quasiparticle, Kπ=17 /2- structure. The interpretation is supported by multi-quasiparticle Nilsson-BCS calculations, including the blocking of pairing correlations. A consistent set of reduced E 1 hindrance factors is obtained. Limited evidence is also reported for isomeric decay in 163Sm, 164Eu, and 165Eu.

Three-component fermions with surface Fermi arcs in tungsten carbide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ma, J.-Z.; He, J.-B.; Xu, Y.-F.; Lv, B. Q.; Chen, D.; Zhu, W.-L.; Zhang, S.; Kong, L.-Y.; Gao, X.; Rong, L.-Y.; Huang, Y.-B.; Richard, P.; Xi, C.-Y.; Choi, E. S.; Shao, Y.; Wang, Y.-L.; Gao, H.-J.; Dai, X.; Fang, C.; Weng, H.-M.; Chen, G.-F.; Qian, T.; Ding, H.

2018-04-01

Topological Dirac and Weyl semimetals not only host quasiparticles analogous to the elementary fermionic particles in high-energy physics, but also have a non-trivial band topology manifested by gapless surface states, which induce exotic surface Fermi arcs1,2. Recent advances suggest new types of topological semimetal, in which spatial symmetries protect gapless electronic excitations without high-energy analogues3-11. Here, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we observe triply degenerate nodal points near the Fermi level of tungsten carbide with space group P 6 ¯m 2 (no. 187), in which the low-energy quasiparticles are described as three-component fermions distinct from Dirac and Weyl fermions. We further observe topological surface states, whose constant-energy contours constitute pairs of `Fermi arcs' connecting to the surface projections of the triply degenerate nodal points, proving the non-trivial topology of the newly identified semimetal state.

Low-lying dipole modes in 26,28Ne in the quasiparticle relativistic random phase approximation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cao, Li-Gang; Ma, Zhong-Yu

2005-03-01

The low-lying isovector dipole strengths in the neutron-rich nuclei 26Ne and 28Ne are investigated in the quasiparticle relativistic random phase approximation. Nuclear ground-state properties are calculated in an extended relativistic mean field theory plus Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) method where the contribution of the resonant continuum to pairing correlations is properly treated. Numerical calculations are tested in the case of isovector dipole and isoscalar quadrupole modes in the neutron-rich nucleus 22O. It is found that in the present calculation, low-lying isovector dipole strengths at Ex<10MeV in nuclei 26Ne and 26Ne exhaust about 4.9% and 5.8% of the Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn dipole sum rule, respectively. The centroid energy of the low-lying dipole excitation is located at 8.3 MeV in 26Ne and 7.9 MeV in 28Ne.

Charge of a quasiparticle in a superconductor

PubMed Central

Ronen, Yuval; Cohen, Yonatan; Kang, Jung-Hyun; Haim, Arbel; Rieder, Maria-Theresa; Heiblum, Moty; Mahalu, Diana; Shtrikman, Hadas

2016-01-01

Nonlinear charge transport in superconductor–insulator–superconductor (SIS) Josephson junctions has a unique signature in the shuttled charge quantum between the two superconductors. In the zero-bias limit Cooper pairs, each with twice the electron charge, carry the Josephson current. An applied bias VSD leads to multiple Andreev reflections (MAR), which in the limit of weak tunneling probability should lead to integer multiples of the electron charge ne traversing the junction, with n integer larger than 2Δ/eVSD and Δ the superconducting order parameter. Exceptionally, just above the gap eVSD ≥ 2Δ, with Andreev reflections suppressed, one would expect the current to be carried by partitioned quasiparticles, each with energy-dependent charge, being a superposition of an electron and a hole. Using shot-noise measurements in an SIS junction induced in an InAs nanowire (with noise proportional to the partitioned charge), we first observed quantization of the partitioned charge q = e*/e=n, with n = 1–4, thus reaffirming the validity of our charge interpretation. Concentrating next on the bias region eVSD∼2Δ, we found a reproducible and clear dip in the extracted charge to q ∼0.6, which, after excluding other possibilities, we attribute to the partitioned quasiparticle charge. Such dip is supported by numerical simulations of our SIS structure. PMID:26831071

Probing inter- and intrachain Zhang-Rice excitons in Li 2 CuO 2 and determining their binding energy

DOE PAGES

Monney, Claude; Bisogni, Valentina; Zhou, Ke-Jin; ...

2016-10-10

Cuprate materials, such as those hosting high-temperature superconductivity, represent a famous class of materials where the correlations between the strongly entangled charges and spins produce complex phase diagrams. Several years ago, the Zhang-Rice singlet was proposed as a natural quasiparticle in hole-doped cuprates. The occurrence and binding energy of this quasiparticle, consisting of a pair of bound holes with antiparallel spins on the same CuO 4 plaquette, depends on the local electronic interactions, which are fundamental quantities for understanding the physics of the cuprates. Here, we employ state-of-the-art resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) to probe the correlated physics of themore » CuO 4 plaquettes in the quasi-one-dimensional chain cuprate Li 2CuO 2. By tuning the incoming photon energy to the O K edge, we populate bound states related to the Zhang-Rice quasiparticles in the RIXS process. Both intra- and interchain Zhang-Rice singlets are observed and their occurrence is shown to depend on the nearest-neighbor spin-spin correlations, which are readily probed in this experiment. Finally, we also extract the binding energy of the Zhang-Rice singlet and identify the Zhang-Rice triplet excitation in the RIXS spectra.« less

Charge of a quasiparticle in a superconductor.

PubMed

Ronen, Yuval; Cohen, Yonatan; Kang, Jung-Hyun; Haim, Arbel; Rieder, Maria-Theresa; Heiblum, Moty; Mahalu, Diana; Shtrikman, Hadas

2016-02-16

Nonlinear charge transport in superconductor-insulator-superconductor (SIS) Josephson junctions has a unique signature in the shuttled charge quantum between the two superconductors. In the zero-bias limit Cooper pairs, each with twice the electron charge, carry the Josephson current. An applied bias VSD leads to multiple Andreev reflections (MAR), which in the limit of weak tunneling probability should lead to integer multiples of the electron charge ne traversing the junction, with n integer larger than 2Δ/eVSD and Δ the superconducting order parameter. Exceptionally, just above the gap eVSD ≥ 2Δ, with Andreev reflections suppressed, one would expect the current to be carried by partitioned quasiparticles, each with energy-dependent charge, being a superposition of an electron and a hole. Using shot-noise measurements in an SIS junction induced in an InAs nanowire (with noise proportional to the partitioned charge), we first observed quantization of the partitioned charge q = e*/e = n, with n = 1-4, thus reaffirming the validity of our charge interpretation. Concentrating next on the bias region eVSD ~ 2Δ, we found a reproducible and clear dip in the extracted charge to q ~ 0.6, which, after excluding other possibilities, we attribute to the partitioned quasiparticle charge. Such dip is supported by numerical simulations of our SIS structure.

Non-Equilibrium Superconductivity and Magnetic Pair Breaking in Perovskite Half-Metallic Ferromagnet-Insulator-Superconductor (F-I-S) Heterostructures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fu, C.-C.; Yeh, N.-C.; Samoilov, A. V.; Vakili, K.; Li, Y.; Vasquez, R. P.

1999-01-01

The effect of spin-polarized quasiparticle currents on the critical current density (J-c) of cuprate superconductors is studied in perovskite F-I-S heterostructures as a function of insulator thickness and of underlying magnetic materials. A pulsed current technique is employed to minimize extraneous Joule heating on the superconductor. At temperatures near T-c, F-I-S samples with insulator thicknesses\\1e2nm show precipitous decrease in J_c as current injection (I_m) is increased. In contrast, J_c in a controlled sample with a substituted non-magnetic material (N-I-S) exhibit no dependence on I_m. Similarly, a F-I-S sample with a 10 mn insulating barrier also show little J_c effect versus I_m. At low temperatures with I_m = 0, significant suppression of J-c is observed only in the thin barrier F-I-S samples, although T_c and the normal-state resistivity of all samples are comparable. These phenomena can be attributed to the Cooper pair breaking induced by externally-injected and internally-reflected spin-polarized quasiparticle currents. We estimate an order of magnitude range for the spin diffusion length of 100 nm to 100\\ mum.

Interaction and particle{endash}hole symmetry of Laughlin quasiparticles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wojs, Arkadiusz

2001-06-15

The pseudopotentials describing interaction of Laughlin quasielectrons (QE) and quasiholes (QH) in an infinite fractional quantum Hall system are studied. The QE and QH pseudopotentials are similar, which suggests the (approximate) particle{endash}hole symmetry recovered in the thermodynamical limit. The problem of the hypothetical symmetry-breaking QE hard-core repulsion is resolved by the estimate that the {open_quotes}forbidden{close_quotes} QE pair state has too high an energy and is unstable. Strong oscillations of the QE and QH pseudopotentials persist in an infinite system, and the analogous QE and QH pair states with small relative angular momentum and nearly vanishing interaction energy are predicted.

CAMPways: constrained alignment framework for the comparative analysis of a pair of metabolic pathways.

PubMed

Abaka, Gamze; Bıyıkoğlu, Türker; Erten, Cesim

2013-07-01

Given a pair of metabolic pathways, an alignment of the pathways corresponds to a mapping between similar substructures of the pair. Successful alignments may provide useful applications in phylogenetic tree reconstruction, drug design and overall may enhance our understanding of cellular metabolism. We consider the problem of providing one-to-many alignments of reactions in a pair of metabolic pathways. We first provide a constrained alignment framework applicable to the problem. We show that the constrained alignment problem even in a primitive setting is computationally intractable, which justifies efforts for designing efficient heuristics. We present our Constrained Alignment of Metabolic Pathways (CAMPways) algorithm designed for this purpose. Through extensive experiments involving a large pathway database, we demonstrate that when compared with a state-of-the-art alternative, the CAMPways algorithm provides better alignment results on metabolic networks as far as measures based on same-pathway inclusion and biochemical significance are concerned. The execution speed of our algorithm constitutes yet another important improvement over alternative algorithms. Open source codes, executable binary, useful scripts, all the experimental data and the results are freely available as part of the Supplementary Material at http://code.google.com/p/campways/. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Thermal detection of single e-h pairs in a biased silicon crystal detector

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Romani, R. K.; Brink, P. L.; Cabrera, B.

We demonstrate that individual electron-hole pairs are resolved in a 1 cm 2 by 4 mm thick silicon crystal (0.93 g) operated at ~35 mK. One side of the detector is patterned with two quasiparticle-trap-assisted electro-thermal-feedback transition edge sensor arrays held near ground potential. The other side contains a bias grid with 20% coverage. Bias potentials up to ±160 V were used in the work reported here. A fiber optic provides 650 nm (1.9 eV) photons that each produce an electron-hole (e –h +) pair in the crystal near the grid. The energy of the drifting charges is measured withmore » a phonon sensor noise σ ~0.09 e – h + pair. In conclusion, the observed charge quantization is nearly identical for h +s or e –s transported across the crystal.« less

Thermal detection of single e-h pairs in a biased silicon crystal detector

DOE PAGES

Romani, R. K.; Brink, P. L.; Cabrera, B.; ...

2018-01-23

We demonstrate that individual electron-hole pairs are resolved in a 1 cm 2 by 4 mm thick silicon crystal (0.93 g) operated at ~35 mK. One side of the detector is patterned with two quasiparticle-trap-assisted electro-thermal-feedback transition edge sensor arrays held near ground potential. The other side contains a bias grid with 20% coverage. Bias potentials up to ±160 V were used in the work reported here. A fiber optic provides 650 nm (1.9 eV) photons that each produce an electron-hole (e –h +) pair in the crystal near the grid. The energy of the drifting charges is measured withmore » a phonon sensor noise σ ~0.09 e – h + pair. In conclusion, the observed charge quantization is nearly identical for h +s or e –s transported across the crystal.« less

Thermal detection of single e-h pairs in a biased silicon crystal detector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romani, R. K.; Brink, P. L.; Cabrera, B.; Cherry, M.; Howarth, T.; Kurinsky, N.; Moffatt, R. A.; Partridge, R.; Ponce, F.; Pyle, M.; Tomada, A.; Yellin, S.; Yen, J. J.; Young, B. A.

2018-01-01

We demonstrate that individual electron-hole pairs are resolved in a 1 cm2 by 4 mm thick silicon crystal (0.93 g) operated at ˜35 mK. One side of the detector is patterned with two quasiparticle-trap-assisted electro-thermal-feedback transition edge sensor arrays held near ground potential. The other side contains a bias grid with 20% coverage. Bias potentials up to ±160 V were used in the work reported here. A fiber optic provides 650 nm (1.9 eV) photons that each produce an electron-hole (e- h+) pair in the crystal near the grid. The energy of the drifting charges is measured with a phonon sensor noise σ ˜0.09 e- h+ pair. The observed charge quantization is nearly identical for h+s or e-s transported across the crystal.

Quasiparticles in condensed matter systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wölfle, Peter

2018-03-01

Quasiparticles are a powerful concept of condensed matter quantum theory. In this review, the appearence and the properties of quasiparticles are presented in a unifying perspective. The principles behind the existence of quasiparticle excitations in both quantum disordered and ordered phases of fermionic and bosonic systems are discussed. The lifetime of quasiparticles is considered in particular near a continuous classical or quantum phase transition, when the nature of quasiparticles on both sides of a transition into an ordered state changes. A new concept of critical quasiparticles near a quantum critical point is introduced, and applied to quantum phase transitions in heavy fermion metals. Fractional quasiparticles in systems of restricted dimensionality are reviewed. Dirac quasiparticles emerging in so-called Dirac materials are discussed. The more recent discoveries of topologically protected chiral quasiparticles in topological matter and Majorana quasiparticles in topological superconductors are briefly reviewed.

Numerical simulation of large-scale field-aligned current generation from finite-amplitude magnetosonic waves

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yamauchi, M.

1994-01-01

A two-dimensional numerical simulation of finite-amplitude magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) magnetosonic waves is performed under a finite-velocity background convection condition. Isothermal cases are considered for simplicity. External dissipation is introduced by assuming that the field-aligned currents are generated in proportion to the accumulated charges. The simulation results are as follows: Paired field-aligned currents are found from the simulated waves. The flow directions of these field-aligned currents depend on the angle between the background convection and the wave normal, and hence two pairs of field-aligned currents are found from a bowed wave if we look at the overall structure. The majority of these field-aligned currents are closed within each pair rather than between two wings. These features are not observed under slow background convection. The result could be applied to the cusp current system and the substorm current system.

Two-Particle Interference of Electron Pairs on a Molecular Level

DOE PAGES

Waitz, M.; Metz, D.; Lower, J.; ...

2016-08-15

Here, wWe investigate the photodouble ionization of H 2 molecules with 400 eV photons. We find that the emitted electrons do not show any sign of two-center interference fringes in their angular emission distributions if considered separately. Conversely, the quasiparticle consisting of both electrons (i.e., the "dielectron") does. The work highlights the fact that nonlocal effects are embedded everywhere in nature where many-particle processes are involved.

Sonic analog of gravitational black holes in bose-einstein condensates

PubMed

Garay; Anglin; Cirac; Zoller

2000-11-27

It is shown that, in dilute-gas Bose-Einstein condensates, there exist both dynamically stable and unstable configurations which, in the hydrodynamic limit, exhibit a behavior resembling that of gravitational black holes. The dynamical instabilities involve creation of quasiparticle pairs in positive and negative energy states, as in the well-known suggested mechanism for black-hole evaporation. We propose a scheme to generate a stable sonic black hole in a ring trap.

Density-dependent covariant energy density functionals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lalazissis, G. A.

2012-10-20

Relativistic nuclear energy density functionals are applied to the description of a variety of nuclear structure phenomena at and away fromstability line. Isoscalar monopole, isovector dipole and isoscalar quadrupole giant resonances are calculated using fully self-consistent relativistic quasiparticle randomphase approximation, based on the relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubovmodel. The impact of pairing correlations on the fission barriers in heavy and superheavy nuclei is examined. The role of pion in constructing desnity functionals is also investigated.

DIALIGN P: fast pair-wise and multiple sequence alignment using parallel processors.

PubMed

Schmollinger, Martin; Nieselt, Kay; Kaufmann, Michael; Morgenstern, Burkhard

2004-09-09

Parallel computing is frequently used to speed up computationally expensive tasks in Bioinformatics. Herein, a parallel version of the multi-alignment program DIALIGN is introduced. We propose two ways of dividing the program into independent sub-routines that can be run on different processors: (a) pair-wise sequence alignments that are used as a first step to multiple alignment account for most of the CPU time in DIALIGN. Since alignments of different sequence pairs are completely independent of each other, they can be distributed to multiple processors without any effect on the resulting output alignments. (b) For alignments of large genomic sequences, we use a heuristics by splitting up sequences into sub-sequences based on a previously introduced anchored alignment procedure. For our test sequences, this combined approach reduces the program running time of DIALIGN by up to 97%. By distributing sub-routines to multiple processors, the running time of DIALIGN can be crucially improved. With these improvements, it is possible to apply the program in large-scale genomics and proteomics projects that were previously beyond its scope.

Alignment and Integration Techniques for Mirror Segment Pairs on the Constellation X Telescope

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hadjimichael, Theo; Lehan, John; Olsen, Larry; Owens, Scott; Saha, Timo; Wallace, Tom; Zhang, Will

2007-01-01

We present the concepts behind current alignment and integration techniques for testing a Constellation-X primary-secondary mirror segment pair in an x-ray beam line test. We examine the effects of a passive mount on thin glass x-ray mirror segments, and the issues of mount shape and environment on alignment. We also investigate how bonding and transfer to a permanent housing affects the quality of the final image, comparing predicted results to a full x-ray test on a primary secondary pair.

Overcoming Sequence Misalignments with Weighted Structural Superposition

PubMed Central

Khazanov, Nickolay A.; Damm-Ganamet, Kelly L.; Quang, Daniel X.; Carlson, Heather A.

2012-01-01

An appropriate structural superposition identifies similarities and differences between homologous proteins that are not evident from sequence alignments alone. We have coupled our Gaussian-weighted RMSD (wRMSD) tool with a sequence aligner and seed extension (SE) algorithm to create a robust technique for overlaying structures and aligning sequences of homologous proteins (HwRMSD). HwRMSD overcomes errors in the initial sequence alignment that would normally propagate into a standard RMSD overlay. SE can generate a corrected sequence alignment from the improved structural superposition obtained by wRMSD. HwRMSD’s robust performance and its superiority over standard RMSD are demonstrated over a range of homologous proteins. Its better overlay results in corrected sequence alignments with good agreement to HOMSTRAD. Finally, HwRMSD is compared to established structural alignment methods: FATCAT, SSM, CE, and Dalilite. Most methods are comparable at placing residue pairs within 2 Å, but HwRMSD places many more residue pairs within 1 Å, providing a clear advantage. Such high accuracy is essential in drug design, where small distances can have a large impact on computational predictions. This level of accuracy is also needed to correct sequence alignments in an automated fashion, especially for omics-scale analysis. HwRMSD can align homologs with low sequence identity and large conformational differences, cases where both sequence-based and structural-based methods may fail. The HwRMSD pipeline overcomes the dependency of structural overlays on initial sequence pairing and removes the need to determine the best sequence-alignment method, substitution matrix, and gap parameters for each unique pair of homologs. PMID:22733542

Investigating phonon-mediated interactions with polar molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sous, John; Madison, Kirk; Berciu, Mona; Krems, Roman

2017-04-01

We show that an ensemble of polar molecules in an optical lattice realizes the Peierls polaron model for hard-core particles/ pseudospins. We analyze the quasiparticle spectrum in the one-particle subspace, the two-particle subspace and at finite concentrations. We derive an effective model that describes the low-energy behavior of the system. We show that the Hamiltonian includes phonon-mediated repulsions and phonon-mediated ``pair-hopping'' terms which move the particle pair as a whole. We show that microwave excitations of the system exhibit signatures of these interactions. These results pave the way for the experimental observation of phonon-mediated repulsion. This work was supported by NSERC of Canada and the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute.

Direct evidence for a magnetic f-electron–mediated pairing mechanism of heavy-fermion superconductivity in CeCoIn5

PubMed Central

Van Dyke, John S.; Massee, Freek; Allan, Milan P.; Davis, J. C. Séamus; Petrovic, Cedomir; Morr, Dirk K.

2014-01-01

To identify the microscopic mechanism of heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is an unresolved challenge in quantum matter studies; it may also relate closely to finding the pairing mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity. Magnetically mediated Cooper pairing has long been the conjectured basis of heavy-fermion superconductivity but no direct verification of this hypothesis was achievable. Here, we use a novel approach based on precision measurements of the heavy-fermion band structure using quasiparticle interference imaging to reveal quantitatively the momentum space (k-space) structure of the f-electron magnetic interactions of CeCoIn5. Then, by solving the superconducting gap equations on the two heavy-fermion bands Ekα,β with these magnetic interactions as mediators of the Cooper pairing, we derive a series of quantitative predictions about the superconductive state. The agreement found between these diverse predictions and the measured characteristics of superconducting CeCoIn5 then provides direct evidence that the heavy-fermion Cooper pairing is indeed mediated by f-electron magnetism. PMID:25062692

Superconductivity driven by pairing of the coherent parts of the physical electrons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Su, Yuehua; Zhang, Chao

2018-03-01

How the superconductivity in unconventional superconductors emerges from the diverse mother normal states is still a big puzzle. Whatever the mother normal states are the superconductivity is normal with BCS-like behaviours of the paired quasiparticles in condensation. To reconcile the diverse mother normal states and the normal superconductivity in unconventional superconductors, we revisit a proposal that the emergence of the low-energy coherent parts of the physical electrons, which survive from the interaction correlations, is an essential prerequisite for superconductivity. The superconductivity is driven by the pair condensation of these coherent parts of the physical electrons. Moreover the incoherent parts of the physical electrons can enhance the superconducting transition temperature Tc although they are not in driving role in the emergence of the superconductivity. Some experimental responses of the coherent parts of the physical electrons are predicted.

The rate of quasiparticle recombination probes the onset of coherence in cuprate superconductors.

PubMed

Hinton, J P; Thewalt, E; Alpichshev, Z; Mahmood, F; Koralek, J D; Chan, M K; Veit, M J; Dorow, C J; Barišić, N; Kemper, A F; Bonn, D A; Hardy, W N; Liang, Ruixing; Gedik, N; Greven, M; Lanzara, A; Orenstein, J

2016-04-13

In the underdoped copper-oxides, high-temperature superconductivity condenses from a nonconventional metallic "pseudogap" phase that exhibits a variety of non-Fermi liquid properties. Recently, it has become clear that a charge density wave (CDW) phase exists within the pseudogap regime. This CDW coexists and competes with superconductivity (SC) below the transition temperature Tc, suggesting that these two orders are intimately related. Here we show that the condensation of the superfluid from this unconventional precursor is reflected in deviations from the predictions of BSC theory regarding the recombination rate of quasiparticles. We report a detailed investigation of the quasiparticle (QP) recombination lifetime, τqp, as a function of temperature and magnetic field in underdoped HgBa2CuO(4+δ) (Hg-1201) and YBa2Cu3O(6+x) (YBCO) single crystals by ultrafast time-resolved reflectivity. We find that τqp(T) exhibits a local maximum in a small temperature window near Tc that is prominent in underdoped samples with coexisting charge order and vanishes with application of a small magnetic field. We explain this unusual, non-BCS behavior by positing that Tc marks a transition from phase-fluctuating SC/CDW composite order above to a SC/CDW condensate below. Our results suggest that the superfluid in underdoped cuprates is a condensate of coherently-mixed particle-particle and particle-hole pairs.

The rate of quasiparticle recombination probes the onset of coherence in cuprate superconductors

PubMed Central

Hinton, J. P.; Thewalt, E.; Alpichshev, Z.; Mahmood, F.; Koralek, J. D.; Chan, M. K.; Veit, M. J.; Dorow, C. J.; Barišić, N.; Kemper, A. F.; Bonn, D. A.; Hardy, W. N.; Liang, Ruixing; Gedik, N.; Greven, M.; Lanzara, A.; Orenstein, J.

2016-01-01

In the underdoped copper-oxides, high-temperature superconductivity condenses from a nonconventional metallic ”pseudogap” phase that exhibits a variety of non-Fermi liquid properties. Recently, it has become clear that a charge density wave (CDW) phase exists within the pseudogap regime. This CDW coexists and competes with superconductivity (SC) below the transition temperature Tc, suggesting that these two orders are intimately related. Here we show that the condensation of the superfluid from this unconventional precursor is reflected in deviations from the predictions of BSC theory regarding the recombination rate of quasiparticles. We report a detailed investigation of the quasiparticle (QP) recombination lifetime, τqp, as a function of temperature and magnetic field in underdoped HgBa2CuO4+δ (Hg-1201) and YBa2Cu3O6+x (YBCO) single crystals by ultrafast time-resolved reflectivity. We find that τqp(T ) exhibits a local maximum in a small temperature window near Tc that is prominent in underdoped samples with coexisting charge order and vanishes with application of a small magnetic field. We explain this unusual, non-BCS behavior by positing that Tc marks a transition from phase-fluctuating SC/CDW composite order above to a SC/CDW condensate below. Our results suggest that the superfluid in underdoped cuprates is a condensate of coherently-mixed particle-particle and particle-hole pairs. PMID:27071712

Matt: local flexibility aids protein multiple structure alignment.

PubMed

Menke, Matthew; Berger, Bonnie; Cowen, Lenore

2008-01-01

Even when there is agreement on what measure a protein multiple structure alignment should be optimizing, finding the optimal alignment is computationally prohibitive. One approach used by many previous methods is aligned fragment pair chaining, where short structural fragments from all the proteins are aligned against each other optimally, and the final alignment chains these together in geometrically consistent ways. Ye and Godzik have recently suggested that adding geometric flexibility may help better model protein structures in a variety of contexts. We introduce the program Matt (Multiple Alignment with Translations and Twists), an aligned fragment pair chaining algorithm that, in intermediate steps, allows local flexibility between fragments: small translations and rotations are temporarily allowed to bring sets of aligned fragments closer, even if they are physically impossible under rigid body transformations. After a dynamic programming assembly guided by these "bent" alignments, geometric consistency is restored in the final step before the alignment is output. Matt is tested against other recent multiple protein structure alignment programs on the popular Homstrad and SABmark benchmark datasets. Matt's global performance is competitive with the other programs on Homstrad, but outperforms the other programs on SABmark, a benchmark of multiple structure alignments of proteins with more distant homology. On both datasets, Matt demonstrates an ability to better align the ends of alpha-helices and beta-strands, an important characteristic of any structure alignment program intended to help construct a structural template library for threading approaches to the inverse protein-folding problem. The related question of whether Matt alignments can be used to distinguish distantly homologous structure pairs from pairs of proteins that are not homologous is also considered. For this purpose, a p-value score based on the length of the common core and average root mean squared deviation (RMSD) of Matt alignments is shown to largely separate decoys from homologous protein structures in the SABmark benchmark dataset. We postulate that Matt's strong performance comes from its ability to model proteins in different conformational states and, perhaps even more important, its ability to model backbone distortions in more distantly related proteins.

Iterative non-sequential protein structural alignment.

PubMed

Salem, Saeed; Zaki, Mohammed J; Bystroff, Christopher

2009-06-01

Structural similarity between proteins gives us insights into their evolutionary relationships when there is low sequence similarity. In this paper, we present a novel approach called SNAP for non-sequential pair-wise structural alignment. Starting from an initial alignment, our approach iterates over a two-step process consisting of a superposition step and an alignment step, until convergence. We propose a novel greedy algorithm to construct both sequential and non-sequential alignments. The quality of SNAP alignments were assessed by comparing against the manually curated reference alignments in the challenging SISY and RIPC datasets. Moreover, when applied to a dataset of 4410 protein pairs selected from the CATH database, SNAP produced longer alignments with lower rmsd than several state-of-the-art alignment methods. Classification of folds using SNAP alignments was both highly sensitive and highly selective. The SNAP software along with the datasets are available online at http://www.cs.rpi.edu/~zaki/software/SNAP.

Ecology of dark matter haloes - II. Effects of interactions on the alignment of halo pairs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

L'Huillier, Benjamin; Park, Changbom; Kim, Juhan

2017-04-01

We use the Horizon Run 4 cosmological N-body simulation to study the effects of distant and close interactions on the alignments of the shapes, spins and orbits of targets haloes with their neighbours, and their dependence on the local density environment and neighbour separation. Interacting targets have a significantly lower spin and higher sphericity and oblateness than all targets. Interacting pairs initially have antiparallel spins, but the spins develop parallel alignment as time goes on. Neighbours tend to evolve in the plane of rotation of the target, and in the direction of the major axis of prolate haloes. Moreover, interactions are preferentially radial, while pairs with non-radial orbits are preferentially prograde. The alignment signals are stronger at high mass and for close separations, and independent of the large-scale density. Positive alignment signals are found at redshifts up to 4, and increase with decreasing redshifts. Moreover, the orbits tend to become prograde at low redshift, while no alignment is found at high redshift (z = 4).

Quantum Phase Transitions and Collective Modes in d-Wave Superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vojta, Matthias; Sachdev, Subir

Fluctuations near second-order quantum phase transitions in d-wave superconductors can cause strong damping of fermionic excitations, as observed in photoemission experiments. The damping of the gapless nodal quasiparticles can arise naturally in the quantum-critical region of a transition with an additional spin-singlet, zero momentum order parameter; we argue that the transition to a dx^2-y^2+ i dxy pairing state is the most likely possibility in this category. On the other hand, the gapped antinodal quasiparticles can be strongly damped by the coupling to antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations arising from the proximity to a Neel-ordered state. We review some aspects of the low-energy field theories for both transitions and the corresponding quantum-critical behavior.In addition, we discuss the spectral properties of the collective modes associated with the proximity to a superconductor with dx^2-y^2+ i dxy symmetry, and implications for experiments.

Thermal Hall conductivity in the spin-triplet superconductor with broken time-reversal symmetry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imai, Yoshiki; Wakabayashi, Katsunori; Sigrist, Manfred

2017-01-01

Motivated by the spin-triplet superconductor Sr2RuO4 , the thermal Hall conductivity is investigated for several pairing symmetries with broken time-reversal symmetry. In the chiral p -wave phase with a fully opened quasiparticle excitation gap, the temperature dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity has a temperature linear term associated with the topological property directly and an exponential term, which shows a drastic change around the Lifshitz transition. Examining f -wave states as alternative candidates with d =Δ0z ̂(kx2-ky2) (kx±i ky) and Δ0z ̂kxky(kx±i ky) with gapless quasiparticle excitations, we study the temperature dependence of the thermal Hall conductivity, where for the former state the thermal Hall conductivity has a quadratic dependence on temperature, originating from the linear dispersions, in addition to linear and exponential behavior. The obtained result may enable us to distinguish between the chiral p -wave and f -wave states in Sr2RuO4 .

Magnetic monopole dynamics in spin ice.

PubMed

Jaubert, L D C; Holdsworth, P C W

2011-04-27

One of the most remarkable examples of emergent quasi-particles is that of the 'fractionalization' of magnetic dipoles in the low energy configurations of materials known as 'spin ice' into free and unconfined magnetic monopoles interacting via Coulomb's 1/r law (Castelnovo et al 2008 Nature 451 42-5). Recent experiments have shown that a Coulomb gas of magnetic charges really does exist at low temperature in these materials and this discovery provides a new perspective on otherwise largely inaccessible phenomenology. In this paper, after a review of the different spin ice models, we present detailed results describing the diffusive dynamics of monopole particles starting both from the dipolar spin ice model and directly from a Coulomb gas within the grand canonical ensemble. The diffusive quasi-particle dynamics of real spin ice materials within the 'quantum tunnelling' regime is modelled with Metropolis dynamics, with the particles constrained to move along an underlying network of oriented paths, which are classical analogues of the Dirac strings connecting pairs of Dirac monopoles.

Exploring the performance of thin-film superconducting multilayers as kinetic inductance detectors for low-frequency detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Songyuan; Goldie, D. J.; Withington, S.; Thomas, C. N.

2018-01-01

We have solved numerically the diffusive Usadel equations that describe the spatially varying superconducting proximity effect in Ti-Al thin-film bi- and trilayers with thickness values that are suitable for kinetic inductance detectors (KIDs) to operate as photon detectors with detection thresholds in the frequency range of 50-90 GHz. Using Nam’s extension of the Mattis-Bardeen calculation of the superconductor complex conductivity, we show how to calculate the surface impedance for the spatially varying case, and hence the surface impedance quality factor. In addition, we calculate energy-and spatially-averaged quasiparticle lifetimes at temperatures well-below the transition temperature and compare to calculation in Al. Our results for the pair-breaking threshold demonstrate differences between bilayers and trilayers with the same total film thicknesses. We also predict high quality factors and long multilayer-averaged quasiparticle recombination times compared to thin-film Al. Our calculations give a route for designing KIDs to operate in this scientifically-important frequency regime.

Robust prediction of consensus secondary structures using averaged base pairing probability matrices.

PubMed

Kiryu, Hisanori; Kin, Taishin; Asai, Kiyoshi

2007-02-15

Recent transcriptomic studies have revealed the existence of a considerable number of non-protein-coding RNA transcripts in higher eukaryotic cells. To investigate the functional roles of these transcripts, it is of great interest to find conserved secondary structures from multiple alignments on a genomic scale. Since multiple alignments are often created using alignment programs that neglect the special conservation patterns of RNA secondary structures for computational efficiency, alignment failures can cause potential risks of overlooking conserved stem structures. We investigated the dependence of the accuracy of secondary structure prediction on the quality of alignments. We compared three algorithms that maximize the expected accuracy of secondary structures as well as other frequently used algorithms. We found that one of our algorithms, called McCaskill-MEA, was more robust against alignment failures than others. The McCaskill-MEA method first computes the base pairing probability matrices for all the sequences in the alignment and then obtains the base pairing probability matrix of the alignment by averaging over these matrices. The consensus secondary structure is predicted from this matrix such that the expected accuracy of the prediction is maximized. We show that the McCaskill-MEA method performs better than other methods, particularly when the alignment quality is low and when the alignment consists of many sequences. Our model has a parameter that controls the sensitivity and specificity of predictions. We discussed the uses of that parameter for multi-step screening procedures to search for conserved secondary structures and for assigning confidence values to the predicted base pairs. The C++ source code that implements the McCaskill-MEA algorithm and the test dataset used in this paper are available at http://www.ncrna.org/papers/McCaskillMEA/. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Multiscale registration algorithm for alignment of meshes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vadde, Srikanth; Kamarthi, Sagar V.; Gupta, Surendra M.

2004-03-01

Taking a multi-resolution approach, this research work proposes an effective algorithm for aligning a pair of scans obtained by scanning an object's surface from two adjacent views. This algorithm first encases each scan in the pair with an array of cubes of equal and fixed size. For each scan in the pair a surrogate scan is created by the centroids of the cubes that encase the scan. The Gaussian curvatures of points across the surrogate scan pair are compared to find the surrogate corresponding points. If the difference between the Gaussian curvatures of any two points on the surrogate scan pair is less than a predetermined threshold, then those two points are accepted as a pair of surrogate corresponding points. The rotation and translation values between the surrogate scan pair are determined by using a set of surrogate corresponding points. Using the same rotation and translation values the original scan pairs are aligned. The resulting registration (or alignment) error is computed to check the accuracy of the scan alignment. When the registration error becomes acceptably small, the algorithm is terminated. Otherwise the above process is continued with cubes of smaller and smaller sizes until the algorithm is terminated. However at each finer resolution the search space for finding the surrogate corresponding points is restricted to the regions in the neighborhood of the surrogate points that were at found at the preceding coarser level. The surrogate corresponding points, as the resolution becomes finer and finer, converge to the true corresponding points on the original scans. This approach offers three main benefits: it improves the chances of finding the true corresponding points on the scans, minimize the adverse effects of noise in the scans, and reduce the computational load for finding the corresponding points.

Active alignment/contact verification system

DOEpatents

Greenbaum, William M.

2000-01-01

A system involving an active (i.e. electrical) technique for the verification of: 1) close tolerance mechanical alignment between two component, and 2) electrical contact between mating through an elastomeric interface. For example, the two components may be an alumina carrier and a printed circuit board, two mating parts that are extremely small, high density parts and require alignment within a fraction of a mil, as well as a specified interface point of engagement between the parts. The system comprises pairs of conductive structures defined in the surfaces layers of the alumina carrier and the printed circuit board, for example. The first pair of conductive structures relate to item (1) above and permit alignment verification between mating parts. The second pair of conductive structures relate to item (2) above and permit verification of electrical contact between mating parts.

Spectroscopic signatures of different symmetries of the superconducting order parameter in metal-decorated graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saari, Timo; Nieminen, Jouko; Bansil, Arun

2017-06-01

Motivated by the recent experiments indicating superconductivity in metal-decorated graphene sheets, we investigate their quasi-particle structure within the framework of an effective tight-binding Hamiltonian augmented by appropriate BCS-like pairing terms for p-type order parameter. The normal state band structure of graphene is modified not only through interaction with adsorbed metal atoms, but also due to the folding of bands at Brillouin zone boundaries resulting from a \\sqrt{3}× \\sqrt{3}R{{30}\\circ} reconstruction. Several different types of pairing symmetries are analyzed utilizing Nambu-Gorkov Green’s function techniques to show that p+\\text{i}p -symmetric nearest-neighbor pairing yields the most enhanced superconducting gap. The character of the order parameter depends on the nature of the atomic orbitals involved in the pairing process and exhibits interesting angular and radial asymmetries. Finally, we suggest a method to distinguish between singlet and triplet type superconductivity in the presence of magnetic substitutional impurities using scanning tunneling spectroscopy.

Nonequilibrium enhancement of Cooper pairing in cold fermion systems

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robertson, Andrew; Galitski, Victor M.

2009-12-15

Nonequilibrium stimulation of superfluidity in trapped Fermi gases is discussed by analogy to the work of Eliashberg [Nonequilibrium Superconductivity, edited by D. N. Langenberg and A. I. Larkin (North-Holland, New York, 1986)] on the microwave enhancement of superconductivity. Optical excitation of the fermions balanced by heat loss due to thermal contact with a boson bath and/or evaporative cooling enables stationary nonequilibrium states to exist. Such a state manifests as a shift of the quasiparticle spectrum to higher energies and this effectively raises the pairing transition temperature. As an illustration, we calculate the effective enhancement of Cooper pairing and superfluidity inmore » both the normal and superfluid phases for a mixture of {sup 87}Rb and {sup 6}Li in the limit of small departure from equilibrium. It is argued that in experiment the desirable effect is not limited to such small perturbations and the effective enhancement of the pairing temperature may be quite large.« less

Alignment of RNA molecules: Binding energy and statistical properties of random sequences

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Valba, O. V., E-mail: valbaolga@gmail.com; Nechaev, S. K., E-mail: sergei.nechaev@gmail.com; Tamm, M. V., E-mail: thumm.m@gmail.com

2012-02-15

A new statistical approach to the problem of pairwise alignment of RNA sequences is proposed. The problem is analyzed for a pair of interacting polymers forming an RNA-like hierarchical cloverleaf structures. An alignment is characterized by the numbers of matches, mismatches, and gaps. A weight function is assigned to each alignment; this function is interpreted as a free energy taking into account both direct monomer-monomer interactions and a combinatorial contribution due to formation of various cloverleaf secondary structures. The binding free energy is determined for a pair of RNA molecules. Statistical properties are discussed, including fluctuations of the binding energymore » between a pair of RNA molecules and loop length distribution in a complex. Based on an analysis of the free energy per nucleotide pair complexes of random RNAs as a function of the number of nucleotide types c, a hypothesis is put forward about the exclusivity of the alphabet c = 4 used by nature.« less

Perceiving and Acting on Complex Affordances: How Children and Adults Bicycle Across Two Lanes of Opposing Traffic

PubMed Central

Grechkin, Timofey Y.; Chihak, Benjamin J.; Cremer, James F.; Kearney, Joseph K.; Plumert, Jodie M.

2014-01-01

This investigation examined how children and adults negotiate a challenging perceptual-motor problem with significant real-world implications – bicycling across two lanes of opposing traffic. Twelve- and 14-year-olds and adults rode a bicycling simulator through an immersive virtual environment. Participants crossed intersections with continuous cross traffic coming from opposing directions. Opportunities for crossing were divided into aligned (far gap opens with or before near gap) and rolling (far gap opens after near gap) gap pairs. Children and adults preferred rolling to aligned gap pairs, though this preference was stronger for adults than for children. Crossing aligned versus rolling gap pairs produced substantial differences in direction of travel, speed of crossing, and timing of entry into the near and far lanes. For both aligned and rolling gap pairs, children demonstrated less skill than adults in coordinating self and object movement. These findings have implications for understanding perception-action-cognition links and for understanding risk factors underlying car-bicycle collisions. PMID:22924952

Surveying alignment-free features for Ortholog detection in related yeast proteomes by using supervised big data classifiers.

PubMed

Galpert, Deborah; Fernández, Alberto; Herrera, Francisco; Antunes, Agostinho; Molina-Ruiz, Reinaldo; Agüero-Chapin, Guillermin

2018-05-03

The development of new ortholog detection algorithms and the improvement of existing ones are of major importance in functional genomics. We have previously introduced a successful supervised pairwise ortholog classification approach implemented in a big data platform that considered several pairwise protein features and the low ortholog pair ratios found between two annotated proteomes (Galpert, D et al., BioMed Research International, 2015). The supervised models were built and tested using a Saccharomycete yeast benchmark dataset proposed by Salichos and Rokas (2011). Despite several pairwise protein features being combined in a supervised big data approach; they all, to some extent were alignment-based features and the proposed algorithms were evaluated on a unique test set. Here, we aim to evaluate the impact of alignment-free features on the performance of supervised models implemented in the Spark big data platform for pairwise ortholog detection in several related yeast proteomes. The Spark Random Forest and Decision Trees with oversampling and undersampling techniques, and built with only alignment-based similarity measures or combined with several alignment-free pairwise protein features showed the highest classification performance for ortholog detection in three yeast proteome pairs. Although such supervised approaches outperformed traditional methods, there were no significant differences between the exclusive use of alignment-based similarity measures and their combination with alignment-free features, even within the twilight zone of the studied proteomes. Just when alignment-based and alignment-free features were combined in Spark Decision Trees with imbalance management, a higher success rate (98.71%) within the twilight zone could be achieved for a yeast proteome pair that underwent a whole genome duplication. The feature selection study showed that alignment-based features were top-ranked for the best classifiers while the runners-up were alignment-free features related to amino acid composition. The incorporation of alignment-free features in supervised big data models did not significantly improve ortholog detection in yeast proteomes regarding the classification qualities achieved with just alignment-based similarity measures. However, the similarity of their classification performance to that of traditional ortholog detection methods encourages the evaluation of other alignment-free protein pair descriptors in future research.

Bloch oscillating transistor-a new mesoscopic amplifier

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delahaye, J.; Hassel, J.; Lindell, R.; Sillanpää, M.; Paalanen, M.; Seppä, H.; Hakonen, P.

2003-05-01

Bloch oscillating transistor (BOT) is a novel, three-terminal Josephson junction device. Its operating principle utilizes the fact that Zener tunneling up to a higher band will lead to a blockade of coherent Cooper-pair tunneling, Bloch oscillation, in a suitably biased Josephson junction. The Bloch oscillation is resumed only after the junction has relaxed to the lowest band by quasiparticle tunneling. In this paper we present a simple model for the operation of the BOT and calculate its gain in terms of the interband transition rates.

Discovery of orbital-selective Cooper pairing in FeSe

DOE PAGES

Sprau, P. O.; Kostin, A.; Kreisel, A.; ...

2017-07-07

The superconductor iron selenide (FeSe) is of intense interest owing to its unusual nonmagnetic nematic state and potential for high-temperature superconductivity. But its Cooper pairing mechanism has not been determined. Here, we used Bogoliubov quasiparticle interference imaging to determine the Fermi surface geometry of the electronic bands surrounding the Γ = (0,0) and X = (π/a Fe, 0) points of FeSe and to measure the corresponding superconducting energy gaps. We show that both gaps are extremely anisotropic but nodeless and that they exhibit gap maxima oriented orthogonally in momentum space. Moreover, by implementing a novel technique, we demonstrate that thesemore » gaps have opposite sign with respect to each other. This complex gap configuration reveals the existence of orbital-selective Cooper pairing that, in FeSe, is based preferentially on electrons from the d yz orbitals of the iron atoms.« less

Very high frequency spectroscopy and tuning of a single-cooper-pair transistor with an on-chip generator.

PubMed

Billangeon, P-M; Pierre, F; Bouchiat, H; Deblock, R

2007-03-23

A single-Cooper-pair transistor (SCPT) is coupled capacitively to a voltage biased Josephson junction, used as a high-frequency generator. Thanks to the high energy of photons generated by the Josephson junction, transitions between energy levels, not limited to the first two levels, were induced and the effect of this irradiation on the dc Josephson current of the SCPT was measured. The phase and gate bias dependence of energy levels of the SCPT at high energy is probed. Because the energies of photons can be higher than the superconducting gap we can induce not only transfer of Cooper pairs but also transfer of quasiparticles through the island of the SCPT, thus controlling the poisoning of the SCPT. This can both decrease and increase the average Josephson energy of the SCPT: its supercurrent is then controlled by high-frequency irradiation.

Discovery of orbital-selective Cooper pairing in FeSe

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sprau, P. O.; Kostin, A.; Kreisel, A.

The superconductor iron selenide (FeSe) is of intense interest owing to its unusual nonmagnetic nematic state and potential for high-temperature superconductivity. But its Cooper pairing mechanism has not been determined. Here, we used Bogoliubov quasiparticle interference imaging to determine the Fermi surface geometry of the electronic bands surrounding the Γ = (0,0) and X = (π/a Fe, 0) points of FeSe and to measure the corresponding superconducting energy gaps. We show that both gaps are extremely anisotropic but nodeless and that they exhibit gap maxima oriented orthogonally in momentum space. Moreover, by implementing a novel technique, we demonstrate that thesemore » gaps have opposite sign with respect to each other. This complex gap configuration reveals the existence of orbital-selective Cooper pairing that, in FeSe, is based preferentially on electrons from the d yz orbitals of the iron atoms.« less

Accelerated probabilistic inference of RNA structure evolution

PubMed Central

Holmes, Ian

2005-01-01

Background Pairwise stochastic context-free grammars (Pair SCFGs) are powerful tools for evolutionary analysis of RNA, including simultaneous RNA sequence alignment and secondary structure prediction, but the associated algorithms are intensive in both CPU and memory usage. The same problem is faced by other RNA alignment-and-folding algorithms based on Sankoff's 1985 algorithm. It is therefore desirable to constrain such algorithms, by pre-processing the sequences and using this first pass to limit the range of structures and/or alignments that can be considered. Results We demonstrate how flexible classes of constraint can be imposed, greatly reducing the computational costs while maintaining a high quality of structural homology prediction. Any score-attributed context-free grammar (e.g. energy-based scoring schemes, or conditionally normalized Pair SCFGs) is amenable to this treatment. It is now possible to combine independent structural and alignment constraints of unprecedented general flexibility in Pair SCFG alignment algorithms. We outline several applications to the bioinformatics of RNA sequence and structure, including Waterman-Eggert N-best alignments and progressive multiple alignment. We evaluate the performance of the algorithm on test examples from the RFAM database. Conclusion A program, Stemloc, that implements these algorithms for efficient RNA sequence alignment and structure prediction is available under the GNU General Public License. PMID:15790387

Quasiparticle-continuum level repulsion in a quantum magnet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Plumb, K. W.; Hwang, Kyusung; Qiu, Y.

2015-11-30

When the energy eigenvalues of two coupled quantum states approach each other in a certain parameter space, their energy levels repel each other and level crossing is avoided. Such level repulsion, or avoided level crossing, is commonly used to describe the dispersion relation of quasiparticles in solids. But, little is known about the level repulsion when more than two quasiparticles are present; for example, in a strongly interacting quantum system where a quasiparticle can spontaneously decay into a many-particle continuum. Here we show that even in this case level repulsion exists between a long-lived quasiparticle state and a continuum. Here,more » we observe a renormalization of the quasiparticle dispersion relation due to the presence of the continuum of multi-quasiparticle states, in our fine-resolution neutron spectroscopy study of magnetic quasiparticles in the frustrated quantum magnet BiCu 2PO 6.« less

Non-Poissonian Quantum Jumps of a Fluxonium Qubit due to Quasiparticle Excitations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vool, U.; Pop, I. M.; Sliwa, K.; Abdo, B.; Wang, C.; Brecht, T.; Gao, Y. Y.; Shankar, S.; Hatridge, M.; Catelani, G.; Mirrahimi, M.; Frunzio, L.; Schoelkopf, R. J.; Glazman, L. I.; Devoret, M. H.

2014-12-01

As the energy relaxation time of superconducting qubits steadily improves, nonequilibrium quasiparticle excitations above the superconducting gap emerge as an increasingly relevant limit for qubit coherence. We measure fluctuations in the number of quasiparticle excitations by continuously monitoring the spontaneous quantum jumps between the states of a fluxonium qubit, in conditions where relaxation is dominated by quasiparticle loss. Resolution on the scale of a single quasiparticle is obtained by performing quantum nondemolition projective measurements within a time interval much shorter than T1 , using a quantum-limited amplifier (Josephson parametric converter). The quantum jump statistics switches between the expected Poisson distribution and a non-Poissonian one, indicating large relative fluctuations in the quasiparticle population, on time scales varying from seconds to hours. This dynamics can be modified controllably by injecting quasiparticles or by seeding quasiparticle-trapping vortices by cooling down in a magnetic field.

Non-Poissonian quantum jumps of a fluxonium qubit due to quasiparticle excitations.

PubMed

Vool, U; Pop, I M; Sliwa, K; Abdo, B; Wang, C; Brecht, T; Gao, Y Y; Shankar, S; Hatridge, M; Catelani, G; Mirrahimi, M; Frunzio, L; Schoelkopf, R J; Glazman, L I; Devoret, M H

2014-12-12

As the energy relaxation time of superconducting qubits steadily improves, nonequilibrium quasiparticle excitations above the superconducting gap emerge as an increasingly relevant limit for qubit coherence. We measure fluctuations in the number of quasiparticle excitations by continuously monitoring the spontaneous quantum jumps between the states of a fluxonium qubit, in conditions where relaxation is dominated by quasiparticle loss. Resolution on the scale of a single quasiparticle is obtained by performing quantum nondemolition projective measurements within a time interval much shorter than T₁, using a quantum-limited amplifier (Josephson parametric converter). The quantum jump statistics switches between the expected Poisson distribution and a non-Poissonian one, indicating large relative fluctuations in the quasiparticle population, on time scales varying from seconds to hours. This dynamics can be modified controllably by injecting quasiparticles or by seeding quasiparticle-trapping vortices by cooling down in a magnetic field.

The rate of quasiparticle recombination probes the onset of coherence in cuprate superconductors

DOE PAGES

Hinton, J. P.; Thewalt, E.; Alpichshev, Z.; ...

2016-04-13

In the underdoped copper-oxides, high-temperature superconductivity condenses from a nonconventional metallic ”pseudogap” phase that exhibits a variety of non-Fermi liquid properties. Recently, it has become clear that a charge density wave (CDW) phase exists within the pseudogap regime. This CDW coexists and competes with superconductivity (SC) below the transition temperature T c, suggesting that these two orders are intimately related. Here we show that the condensation of the superfluid from this unconventional precursor is reflected in deviations from the predictions of BSC theory regarding the recombination rate of quasiparticles. We report a detailed investigation of the quasiparticle (QP) recombination lifetime,more » τ qp, as a function of temperature and magnetic field in underdoped HgBa 2CuO 4+δ (Hg-1201) and YBa 2Cu 3O 6+x (YBCO) single crystals by ultrafast time-resolved reflectivity. We find that τ qp(T) exhibits a local maximum in a small temperature window near T c that is prominent in underdoped samples with coexisting charge order and vanishes with application of a small magnetic field. We explain this unusual, non-BCS behavior by positing that T c marks a transition from phase-fluctuating SC/CDW composite order above to a SC/CDW condensate below. Lastly, our results suggest that the superfluid in underdoped cuprates is a condensate of coherently-mixed particle-particle and particle-hole pairs.« less

SP-Designer: a user-friendly program for designing species-specific primer pairs from DNA sequence alignments.

PubMed

Villard, Pierre; Malausa, Thibaut

2013-07-01

SP-Designer is an open-source program providing a user-friendly tool for the design of specific PCR primer pairs from a DNA sequence alignment containing sequences from various taxa. SP-Designer selects PCR primer pairs for the amplification of DNA from a target species on the basis of several criteria: (i) primer specificity, as assessed by interspecific sequence polymorphism in the annealing regions, (ii) the biochemical characteristics of the primers and (iii) the intended PCR conditions. SP-Designer generates tables, detailing the primer pair and PCR characteristics, and a FASTA file locating the primer sequences in the original sequence alignment. SP-Designer is Windows-compatible and freely available from http://www2.sophia.inra.fr/urih/sophia_mart/sp_designer/info_sp_designer.php. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Dual origin of pairing in nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idini, A.; Potel, G.; Barranco, F.; Vigezzi, E.; Broglia, R. A.

2016-11-01

The pairing correlations of the nucleus 120Sn are calculated by solving the Nambu-Gor'kov equations, including medium polarization effects resulting from the interweaving of quasiparticles, spin and density vibrations, taking into account, within the framework of nuclear field theory (NFT), processes leading to self-energy and vertex corrections and to the induced pairing interaction. From these results one can not only demonstrate the inevitability of the dual origin of pairing in nuclei, but also extract information which can be used at profit to quantitatively disentangle the contributions to the pairing gap Δ arising from the bare and from the induced pairing interaction. The first is the strong 1 S 0 short-range NN potential resulting from meson exchange between nucleons moving in time reversal states within an energy range of hundreds of MeV from the Fermi energy. The second results from the exchange of vibrational modes between nucleons moving within few MeV from the Fermi energy. Short- ( v p bare) and long-range ( v p ind) pairing interactions contribute essentially equally to nuclear Cooper pair stability. That is to the breaking of gauge invariance in open-shell superfluid nuclei and thus to the order parameter, namely to the ground state expectation value of the pair creation operator. In other words, to the emergent property of generalized rigidity in gauge space, and associated rotational bands and Cooper pair tunneling between members of these bands.

Quasiparticle breakdown in a quantum spin liquid.

PubMed

Stone, Matthew B; Zaliznyak, Igor A; Hong, Tao; Broholm, Collin L; Reich, Daniel H

2006-03-09

Much of modern condensed matter physics is understood in terms of elementary excitations, or quasiparticles--fundamental quanta of energy and momentum. Various strongly interacting atomic systems are successfully treated as a collection of quasiparticles with weak or no interactions. However, there are interesting limitations to this description: in some systems the very existence of quasiparticles cannot be taken for granted. Like unstable elementary particles, quasiparticles cannot survive beyond a threshold where certain decay channels become allowed by conservation laws; their spectrum terminates at this threshold. Such quasiparticle breakdown was first predicted for an exotic state of matter--super-fluid 4He at temperatures close to absolute zero, a quantum Bose liquid where zero-point atomic motion precludes crystallization. Here we show, using neutron scattering, that quasiparticle breakdown can also occur in a quantum magnet and, by implication, in other systems with Bose quasiparticles. We have measured spin excitations in a two-dimensional quantum magnet, piperazinium hexachlorodicuprate (PHCC), in which spin-1/2 copper ions form a non-magnetic quantum spin liquid, and find remarkable similarities with excitations in superfluid 4He. We observe a threshold momentum beyond which the quasiparticle peak merges with the two-quasiparticle continuum. It then acquires a finite energy width and becomes indistinguishable from a leading-edge singularity, so that excited states are no longer quasiparticles but occupy a wide band of energy. Our findings have important ramifications for understanding excitations with gapped spectra in many condensed matter systems, ranging from band insulators to high-transition-temperature superconductors.

PARTS: Probabilistic Alignment for RNA joinT Secondary structure prediction

PubMed Central

Harmanci, Arif Ozgun; Sharma, Gaurav; Mathews, David H.

2008-01-01

A novel method is presented for joint prediction of alignment and common secondary structures of two RNA sequences. The joint consideration of common secondary structures and alignment is accomplished by structural alignment over a search space defined by the newly introduced motif called matched helical regions. The matched helical region formulation generalizes previously employed constraints for structural alignment and thereby better accommodates the structural variability within RNA families. A probabilistic model based on pseudo free energies obtained from precomputed base pairing and alignment probabilities is utilized for scoring structural alignments. Maximum a posteriori (MAP) common secondary structures, sequence alignment and joint posterior probabilities of base pairing are obtained from the model via a dynamic programming algorithm called PARTS. The advantage of the more general structural alignment of PARTS is seen in secondary structure predictions for the RNase P family. For this family, the PARTS MAP predictions of secondary structures and alignment perform significantly better than prior methods that utilize a more restrictive structural alignment model. For the tRNA and 5S rRNA families, the richer structural alignment model of PARTS does not offer a benefit and the method therefore performs comparably with existing alternatives. For all RNA families studied, the posterior probability estimates obtained from PARTS offer an improvement over posterior probability estimates from a single sequence prediction. When considering the base pairings predicted over a threshold value of confidence, the combination of sensitivity and positive predictive value is superior for PARTS than for the single sequence prediction. PARTS source code is available for download under the GNU public license at http://rna.urmc.rochester.edu. PMID:18304945

Quasiparticle relaxation in superconducting nanostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savich, Yahor; Glazman, Leonid; Kamenev, Alex

2017-09-01

We examine energy relaxation of nonequilibrium quasiparticles in "dirty" superconductors with the electron mean free path much shorter than the superconducting coherence length. Relaxation of low-energy nonequilibrium quasiparticles is dominated by phonon emission. We derive the corresponding collision integral and find the quasiparticle relaxation rate. The latter is sensitive to the breaking of time reversal symmetry (TRS) by a magnetic field (or magnetic impurities). As a concrete application of the developed theory, we address quasiparticle trapping by a vortex and a current-biased constriction. We show that trapping of hot quasiparticles may predominantly occur at distances from the vortex core, or the constriction, significantly exceeding the superconducting coherence length.

Electrically Controlled Coherent Excitonic Steady States in Semiconductor Bilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Ming; MacDonald, Allan

Spatially indirect excitons are long lived bosonic quasiparticles that can form quasi-equilibrium condensed states. Optical access to these excitons has been limited by their small optical matrix elements. Here we propose a promising electrical process that can be used both to populate and to probe fluids of indirect excitons, and is analogous to the crossed Andreev reflection (CAR) process of Cooper pairs in superconductors. We consider vertically stacked multilayer heterostructures containing two transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) layers that host the indirect excitons, graphene layers on the top and the bottom of the heterostructure, and hBN tunnel barrier layers of variable thickness. When the bias voltage between the graphene leads is smaller than the indirect gap, tunneling between the graphene leads and the TMD hetero-bilayer is possible only through the CAR process. Both DC and low frequency AC bias cases are explored and establish that electrical measurements can be used to determine crucial properties such as the condensate density, interaction strength and CAR tunneling amplitudes. We have also proposed a way to electrically manipulate another type of bosonic quasiparticles, cavity exciton-polaritons, in a laterally contacted structure.

Evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopoles in quantum spin ice.

PubMed

Sarte, P M; Aczel, A A; Ehlers, G; Stock, C; Gaulin, B D; Mauws, C; Stone, M B; Calder, S; Nagler, S E; Hollett, J W; Zhou, H D; Gardner, J S; Attfield, J P; Wiebe, C R

2017-10-19

Magnetic monopoles are hypothesised elementary particles connected by Dirac strings that behave like infinitely thin solenoids (Dirac 1931 Proc. R. Soc. A 133 60). Despite decades of searching, free magnetic monopoles and their Dirac strings have eluded experimental detection, although there is substantial evidence for deconfined magnetic monopole quasiparticles in spin ice materials (Castelnovo et al 2008 Nature 326 411). Here we report the detection of a hierarchy of unequally-spaced magnetic excitations via high resolution inelastic neutron spectroscopic measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text]. These excitations are well-described by a simple model of monopole pairs bound by a linear potential (Coldea et al Science 327 177) with an effective tension of 0.642(8) K [Formula: see text] at 1.65 K. The success of the linear potential model suggests that these low energy magnetic excitations are direct spectroscopic evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopole quasiparticles in the quantum spin ice candidate [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text] [Formula: see text].

0 ν β β -decay nuclear matrix element for light and heavy neutrino mass mechanisms from deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation calculations for 76Ge, 82Se, 130Te, 136Xe, and 150Nd with isospin restoration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fang, Dong-Liang; Faessler, Amand; Šimkovic, Fedor

2018-04-01

In this paper, with restored isospin symmetry, we evaluated the neutrinoless double-β -decay nuclear matrix elements for 76Ge, 82Se, 130Te, 136Xe, and 150Nd for both the light and heavy neutrino mass mechanisms using the deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation approach with realistic forces. We give detailed decompositions of the nuclear matrix elements over different intermediate states and nucleon pairs, and discuss how these decompositions are affected by the model space truncations. Compared to the spherical calculations, our results show reductions from 30 % to about 60 % of the nuclear matrix elements for the calculated isotopes mainly due to the presence of the BCS overlap factor between the initial and final ground states. The comparison between different nucleon-nucleon (NN) forces with corresponding short-range correlations shows that the choice of the NN force gives roughly 20 % deviations for the light exchange neutrino mechanism and much larger deviations for the heavy neutrino exchange mechanism.

Pygmy dipole mode in deformed neutron-rich Mg isotopes close to the drip line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshida, Kenichi

2009-10-01

We investigate the microscopic structure of the low-lying isovector-dipole excitation mode in neutron-rich Mg36,38,40 close to the drip line by means of the deformed quasiparticle random-phase approximation employing the Skyrme and the local pairing energy-density functionals. It is found that the low-lying bump structure above the neutron emission-threshold energy develops when the drip line is approached, and that the isovector dipole strength at Ex<10 MeV exhausts about 6.0% of the classical Thomas-Reiche-Kuhn dipole sum rule in Mg40. We obtained the collective dipole modes at around 8-10 MeV in Mg isotopes, that consist of many two-quasiparticle excitations of the neutron. The transition density clearly shows an oscillation of the neutron skin against the isoscalar core. We found significant coupling effects between the dipole and octupole excitation modes due to the nuclear deformation. It is also found that the responses for the compressional dipole and isoscalar octupole excitations are much enhanced in the lower energy region.

Magnetic Field Effects on the Fluctuation Corrections to the Sound Attenuation in Liquid ^3He

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Erhai; Sauls, James A.

2002-03-01

We investigated the effect of a magnetic field on the excess sound attenuation due to order parameter fluctuations in bulk liquid ^3He and liquid ^3He in aerogel for temperatures just above the corresponding superfluid transition temperatures. The fluctuation corrections to the acoustic attenuation are sensitive to magnetic field pairbreaking, aerogel scattering as well as the spin correlations of fluctuating pairs. Calculations of the corrections to the zero sound velocity, δ c_0, and attenuation, δα_0, are carried out in the ladder approximation for the singular part of the quasiparticle-quasiparticle scattering amplitude(V. Samalam and J. W. Serene, Phys. Rev. Lett. \\underline41), 497 (1978). as a function of frequency, temperature, impurity scattering and magnetic field strength. The magnetic field suppresses the fluctuation contributions to the attenuation of zero sound. With increasing magnetic field the temperature dependence of δα_0(t) crosses over from δα_0(t) ~√ t to δα_0(t) ~ t, where t=T/Tc -1 is the reduced temperature.

Signatures of Fermi Arcs in the Quasiparticle Interferences of the Weyl Semimetals TaAs and NbP.

PubMed

Chang, Guoqing; Xu, Su-Yang; Zheng, Hao; Lee, Chi-Cheng; Huang, Shin-Ming; Belopolski, Ilya; Sanchez, Daniel S; Bian, Guang; Alidoust, Nasser; Chang, Tay-Rong; Hsu, Chuang-Han; Jeng, Horng-Tay; Bansil, Arun; Lin, Hsin; Hasan, M Zahid

2016-02-12

The recent discovery of the first Weyl semimetal in TaAs provides the first observation of a Weyl fermion in nature. Such a topological semimetal features a novel type of anomalous surface state, the Fermi arc, which connects a pair of Weyl nodes through the boundary of the crystal. Here, we present theoretical calculations of the quasiparticle interference (QPI) patterns that arise from the surface states including the topological Fermi arcs in the Weyl semimetals TaAs and NbP. Most importantly, we discover that the QPI exhibits termination points that are fingerprints of the Weyl nodes in the interference pattern. Our results, for the first time, propose a universal interference signature of the topological Fermi arcs in TaAs, which is fundamental for scanning tunneling microscope (STM) measurements on this prototypical Weyl semimetal compound. More generally, our work provides critical guideline and methodology for STM studies on new Weyl semimetals. Further, the scattering channels revealed by our QPIs are broadly relevant to surface transport and device applications based on Weyl semimetals.

Structure based alignment and clustering of proteins (STRALCP)

DOEpatents

Zemla, Adam T.; Zhou, Carol E.; Smith, Jason R.; Lam, Marisa W.

2013-06-18

Disclosed are computational methods of clustering a set of protein structures based on local and pair-wise global similarity values. Pair-wise local and global similarity values are generated based on pair-wise structural alignments for each protein in the set of protein structures. Initially, the protein structures are clustered based on pair-wise local similarity values. The protein structures are then clustered based on pair-wise global similarity values. For each given cluster both a representative structure and spans of conserved residues are identified. The representative protein structure is used to assign newly-solved protein structures to a group. The spans are used to characterize conservation and assign a "structural footprint" to the cluster.

Novel voltage signal at proximity-induced superconducting transition temperature in gold nanowires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jian; Tang, JunXiong; Wang, ZiQiao; Sun, Yi; Sun, QingFeng; Chan, Moses H. W.

2018-08-01

We observed a novel voltage peak in the proximity-induced superconducting gold (Au) nanowire while cooling the sample through the superconducting transition temperature. The voltage peak turned dip during warming. The voltage peak or dip was found to originate respectively from the emergence or vanishing of the proximity-induced superconductivity in the Au nanowire. The amplitude of the voltage signal depends on the temperature scanning rate, and it cannot be detected when the temperature is changed slower than 0.03 K/min. This transient feature suggests the non-equilibrium property of the effect. Ginzburg-Landau model clarified the voltage peak by considering the emergence of Cooper pairs of relatively lower free energy in superconducting W contact and the non-equilibrium diffusion of Cooper pairs and quasiparticles.

Coupling of a high-energy excitation to superconducting quasiparticles in a cuprate from coherent charge fluctuation spectroscopy

PubMed Central

Mansart, Barbara; Lorenzana, José; Mann, Andreas; Odeh, Ahmad; Scarongella, Mariateresa; Chergui, Majed; Carbone, Fabrizio

2013-01-01

Dynamical information on spin degrees of freedom of proteins or solids can be obtained by NMR and electron spin resonance. A technique with similar versatility for charge degrees of freedom and their ultrafast correlations could move the understanding of systems like unconventional superconductors forward. By perturbing the superconducting state in a high-Tc cuprate, using a femtosecond laser pulse, we generate coherent oscillations of the Cooper pair condensate that can be described by an NMR/electron spin resonance formalism. The oscillations are detected by transient broad-band reflectivity and are found to resonate at the typical scale of Mott physics (2.6 eV), suggesting the existence of a nonretarded contribution to the pairing interaction, as in unconventional (non-Migdal–Eliashberg) theories.

Creating a medical dictionary using word alignment: the influence of sources and resources.

PubMed

Nyström, Mikael; Merkel, Magnus; Petersson, Håkan; Ahlfeldt, Hans

2007-11-23

Automatic word alignment of parallel texts with the same content in different languages is among other things used to generate dictionaries for new translations. The quality of the generated word alignment depends on the quality of the input resources. In this paper we report on automatic word alignment of the English and Swedish versions of the medical terminology systems ICD-10, ICF, NCSP, KSH97-P and parts of MeSH and how the terminology systems and type of resources influence the quality. We automatically word aligned the terminology systems using static resources, like dictionaries, statistical resources, like statistically derived dictionaries, and training resources, which were generated from manual word alignment. We varied which part of the terminology systems that we used to generate the resources, which parts that we word aligned and which types of resources we used in the alignment process to explore the influence the different terminology systems and resources have on the recall and precision. After the analysis, we used the best configuration of the automatic word alignment for generation of candidate term pairs. We then manually verified the candidate term pairs and included the correct pairs in an English-Swedish dictionary. The results indicate that more resources and resource types give better results but the size of the parts used to generate the resources only partly affects the quality. The most generally useful resources were generated from ICD-10 and resources generated from MeSH were not as general as other resources. Systematic inter-language differences in the structure of the terminology system rubrics make the rubrics harder to align. Manually created training resources give nearly as good results as a union of static resources, statistical resources and training resources and noticeably better results than a union of static resources and statistical resources. The verified English-Swedish dictionary contains 24,000 term pairs in base forms. More resources give better results in the automatic word alignment, but some resources only give small improvements. The most important type of resource is training and the most general resources were generated from ICD-10.

Creating a medical dictionary using word alignment: The influence of sources and resources

PubMed Central

Nyström, Mikael; Merkel, Magnus; Petersson, Håkan; Åhlfeldt, Hans

2007-01-01

Background Automatic word alignment of parallel texts with the same content in different languages is among other things used to generate dictionaries for new translations. The quality of the generated word alignment depends on the quality of the input resources. In this paper we report on automatic word alignment of the English and Swedish versions of the medical terminology systems ICD-10, ICF, NCSP, KSH97-P and parts of MeSH and how the terminology systems and type of resources influence the quality. Methods We automatically word aligned the terminology systems using static resources, like dictionaries, statistical resources, like statistically derived dictionaries, and training resources, which were generated from manual word alignment. We varied which part of the terminology systems that we used to generate the resources, which parts that we word aligned and which types of resources we used in the alignment process to explore the influence the different terminology systems and resources have on the recall and precision. After the analysis, we used the best configuration of the automatic word alignment for generation of candidate term pairs. We then manually verified the candidate term pairs and included the correct pairs in an English-Swedish dictionary. Results The results indicate that more resources and resource types give better results but the size of the parts used to generate the resources only partly affects the quality. The most generally useful resources were generated from ICD-10 and resources generated from MeSH were not as general as other resources. Systematic inter-language differences in the structure of the terminology system rubrics make the rubrics harder to align. Manually created training resources give nearly as good results as a union of static resources, statistical resources and training resources and noticeably better results than a union of static resources and statistical resources. The verified English-Swedish dictionary contains 24,000 term pairs in base forms. Conclusion More resources give better results in the automatic word alignment, but some resources only give small improvements. The most important type of resource is training and the most general resources were generated from ICD-10. PMID:18036221

Beamlike photon pairs entangled by a 2x2 fiber

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lo, Hsin-Pin; Department of Electrophysics, National Chiao-Tung University, Hsinchu, 300, Taiwan; Yabushita, Atsushi

Polarization-entangled photon pairs have been widely used as a light source of quantum communication. The polarization-entangled photon pairs are generally obtained at the crossing points of the light cones that are generated from a type-II nonlinear crystal. However, it is hard to pick up the photon pairs coming out from the crossing points because of their invisible wavelength and low intensity. In our previous work, we succeeded in generating polarization-entangled photon pairs by overlapping two light paths for the photon-pair generation. The photon pairs could be entangled in all of the generated photon pairs without clipping the crossing points, evenmore » with some difficulty in its alignment to overlap the two light paths. In this paper, we have developed an optical system which generates polarization-entangled photon pairs using a beamlike photon pair, without the difficulty in alignment. The measured results show that the photon pairs generated in the system are entangled in their polarizations.« less

Bimodal and multimodal plant biomass particle mixtures

DOEpatents

Dooley, James H.

2013-07-09

An industrial feedstock of plant biomass particles having fibers aligned in a grain, wherein the particles are individually characterized by a length dimension (L) aligned substantially parallel to the grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) normal to W and L, wherein the L.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel side surfaces characterized by substantially intact longitudinally arrayed fibers, the W.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel end surfaces characterized by crosscut fibers and end checking between fibers, and the L.times.W dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces, and wherein the particles in the feedstock are collectively characterized by having a bimodal or multimodal size distribution.

Pairing States of Spin-3/2 Fermions: Symmetry-Enforced Topological Gap Functions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venderbos, Jörn W. F.; Savary, Lucile; Ruhman, Jonathan; Lee, Patrick A.; Fu, Liang

2018-01-01

We study the topological properties of superconductors with paired j =3/2 quasiparticles. Higher spin Fermi surfaces can arise, for instance, in strongly spin-orbit coupled band-inverted semimetals. Examples include the Bi-based half-Heusler materials, which have recently been established as low-temperature and low-carrier density superconductors. Motivated by this experimental observation, we obtain a comprehensive symmetry-based classification of topological pairing states in systems with higher angular momentum Cooper pairing. Our study consists of two main parts. First, we develop the phenomenological theory of multicomponent (i.e., higher angular momentum) pairing by classifying the stationary points of the free energy within a Ginzburg-Landau framework. Based on the symmetry classification of stationary pairing states, we then derive the symmetry-imposed constraints on their gap structures. We find that, depending on the symmetry quantum numbers of the Cooper pairs, different types of topological pairing states can occur: fully gapped topological superconductors in class DIII, Dirac superconductors, and superconductors hosting Majorana fermions. Notably, we find a series of nematic fully gapped topological superconductors, as well as double- and triple-Dirac superconductors, with quadratic and cubic dispersion, respectively. Our approach, applied here to the case of j =3/2 Cooper pairing, is rooted in the symmetry properties of pairing states, and can therefore also be applied to other systems with higher angular momentum and high-spin pairing. We conclude by relating our results to experimentally accessible signatures in thermodynamic and dynamic probes.

Majorana surface modes of nodal topological pairings in spin-3/2 semimetals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Wang; Xiang, Tao; Wu, Congjun

2017-10-01

When solid state systems possess active orbital-band structures subject to spin-orbit coupling, their multicomponent electronic structures are often described in terms of effective large-spin fermion models. Their topological structures of superconductivity are beyond the framework of spin singlet and triplet Cooper pairings for spin-1/2 systems. Examples include the half-Heusler compound series of RPtBi, where R stands for a rare-earth element. Their spin-orbit coupled electronic structures are described by the Luttinger-Kohn model with effective spin-3/2 fermions and are characterized by band inversion. Recent experiments provide evidence to unconventional superconductivity in the YPtBi material with nodal spin-septet pairing. We systematically study topological pairing structures in spin-3/2 systems with the cubic group symmetries and calculate the surface Majorana spectra, which exhibit zero energy flat bands, or, cubic dispersion depending on the specific symmetry of the superconducting gap functions. The signatures of these surface states in the quasiparticle interference patterns of tunneling spectroscopy are studied, which can be tested in future experiments.

Experimental demonstration of wavelength domain rogue-free ONU based on wavelength-pairing for TDM/WDM optical access networks.

PubMed

Lee, Jie Hyun; Park, Heuk; Kang, Sae-Kyoung; Lee, Joon Ki; Chung, Hwan Seok

2015-11-30

In this study, we propose and experimentally demonstrate a wavelength domain rogue-free ONU based on wavelength-pairing of downstream and upstream signals for time/wavelength division-multiplexed optical access networks. The wavelength-pairing tunable filter is aligned to the upstream wavelength channel by aligning it to one of the downstream wavelength channels. Wavelength-pairing is implemented with a compact and cyclic Si-AWG integrated with a Ge-PD. The pairing filter covered four 100 GHz-spaced wavelength channels. The feasibility of the wavelength domain rogue-free operation is investigated by emulating malfunction of the misaligned laser. The wavelength-pairing tunable filter based on the Si-AWG blocks the upstream signal in the non-assigned wavelength channel before data collision with other ONUs.

Surface Andreev Bound States and Odd-Frequency Pairing in Topological Superconductor Junctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanaka, Yukio; Tamura, Shun

2018-04-01

In this review, we summarize the achievement of the physics of surface Andreev bound states (SABS) up to now. The route of this activity has started from the physics of SABS of unconventional superconductors where the pair potential has a sign change on the Fermi surface. It has been established that SABS can be regarded as a topological edge state with topological invariant defined in the bulk Hamiltonian. On the other hand, SABS accompanies odd-frequency pairing like spin-triplet s-wave or spin-singlet p-wave. In a spin-triplet superconductor junction, induced odd-frequency pairing can penetrate into a diffusive normal metal (DN) attached to the superconductor. It causes so called anomalous proximity effect where the local density of states of quasiparticle in DN has a zero energy peak. When bulk pairing symmetry is spin-triplet px-wave, the anomalous proximity effect becomes prominent and the zero bias voltage conductance is always quantized independent of the resistance in DN and interface. Finally, we show that the present anomalous proximity effect is realized in an artificial topological superconducting system, where a nanowire with spin-orbit coupling and Zeeman field is put on the conventional spin-singlet s-wave superconductor.

Incorporating evolution of transcription factor binding sites into annotated alignments.

PubMed

Bais, Abha S; Grossmann, Stefen; Vingron, Martin

2007-08-01

Identifying transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs) is essential to elucidate putative regulatory mechanisms. A common strategy is to combine cross-species conservation with single sequence TFBS annotation to yield "conserved TFBSs". Most current methods in this field adopt a multi-step approach that segregates the two aspects. Again, it is widely accepted that the evolutionary dynamics of binding sites differ from those of the surrounding sequence. Hence, it is desirable to have an approach that explicitly takes this factor into account. Although a plethora of approaches have been proposed for the prediction of conserved TFBSs, very few explicitly model TFBS evolutionary properties, while additionally being multi-step. Recently, we introduced a novel approach to simultaneously align and annotate conserved TFBSs in a pair of sequences. Building upon the standard Smith-Waterman algorithm for local alignments, SimAnn introduces additional states for profiles to output extended alignments or annotated alignments. That is, alignments with parts annotated as gaplessly aligned TFBSs (pair-profile hits)are generated. Moreover,the pair- profile related parameters are derived in a sound statistical framework. In this article, we extend this approach to explicitly incorporate evolution of binding sites in the SimAnn framework. We demonstrate the extension in the theoretical derivations through two position-specific evolutionary models, previously used for modelling TFBS evolution. In a simulated setting, we provide a proof of concept that the approach works given the underlying assumptions,as compared to the original work. Finally, using a real dataset of experimentally verified binding sites in human-mouse sequence pairs,we compare the new approach (eSimAnn) to an existing multi-step tool that also considers TFBS evolution. Although it is widely accepted that binding sites evolve differently from the surrounding sequences, most comparative TFBS identification methods do not explicitly consider this.Additionally, prediction of conserved binding sites is carried out in a multi-step approach that segregates alignment from TFBS annotation. In this paper, we demonstrate how the simultaneous alignment and annotation approach of SimAnn can be further extended to incorporate TFBS evolutionary relationships. We study how alignments and binding site predictions interplay at varying evolutionary distances and for various profile qualities.

Perturbation Theory of Spin-Triplet Superconductivity for Sr 2RuO 4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nomura, Takuji; Yamada, Kosaku

2000-11-01

We discuss the possibility of spin-triplet superconductivity within the third order perturbation theory with respect to on-site Coulomb repulsion U. Critical temperature T c for spin-triplet pairing state is calculated in a single-band two-dimensional Hubbard modeland relatively high T c is obtained for moderately large U. The present situation considered here is particularly intended for the main branch γ in Sr2RuO4. According to the calculation, third order vertex correction terms, which are not direct contribution from spin fluctuation, are important, while the bare susceptibility χ0(q) need not always have a prominent peak at q=0 for the spin-triplet pairing state. The picture that strong ferromagnetic spin fluctuations mainly induce the spin-triplet superconductivity in Sr2RuO4 may not be appropriate, and such momentum dependence of renormalized effective interaction between quasi-particles as is not sufficiently taken into accountin spin fluctuation mediated interaction is essential for realizing the spin-triplet pairing.

Octupole deformations in high-K isomeric states of heavy and superheavy nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Minkov, N.; Walker, P. M.

2016-01-01

We study the effects of quadrupole-octupole deformations on the energy and magnetic properties of high-K isomeric states in even-even heavy and superheavy nuclei. The neutron two-quasiparticle (2qp) isomeric energies and magnetic dipole moments are calculated within a deformed shell model with the Bardeen-Cooper- Schrieffer (BCS) pairing interaction over a wide range of quadrupole and octupole deformations. We found that in most cases the magnetic moments exhibit a pronounced sensitivity to the octupole deformation, while the 2qp energies indicate regions of nuclei in which the presence of high-K isomeric states may be associated with the presence of octupole softness or even with octupole deformation. In the present work we also examine the influence of the BCS pairing strength on the energy of the blocked isomer configuration. We show that the formation of 2qp energy minima in the space of quadrupole-octupole and eventually higher multipolarity deformations is a subtle effect depending on nuclear pairing correlations.

Enhanced spin pumping into superconductors provides evidence for superconducting pure spin currents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jeon, Kun-Rok; Ciccarelli, Chiara; Ferguson, Andrew J.; Kurebayashi, Hidekazu; Cohen, Lesley F.; Montiel, Xavier; Eschrig, Matthias; Robinson, Jason W. A.; Blamire, Mark G.

2018-06-01

Unlike conventional spin-singlet Cooper pairs, spin-triplet pairs can carry spin1,2. Triplet supercurrents were discovered in Josephson junctions with metallic ferromagnet spacers, where spin transport can occur only within the ferromagnet and in conjunction with a charge current. Ferromagnetic resonance injects a pure spin current from a precessing ferromagnet into adjacent non-magnetic materials3,4. For spin-singlet pairing, the ferromagnetic resonance spin pumping efficiency decreases below the critical temperature (Tc) of a coupled superconductor5,6. Here we present ferromagnetic resonance experiments in which spin sink layers with strong spin-orbit coupling are added to the superconductor. Our results show that the induced spin currents, rather than being suppressed, are substantially larger in the superconducting state compared with the normal state; although further work is required to establish the details of the spin transport process, we show that this cannot be mediated by quasiparticles and is most likely a triplet pure spin supercurrent.

Fluctuations in the electron system of a superconductor exposed to a photon flux

PubMed Central

de Visser, P. J.; Baselmans, J. J. A.; Bueno, J.; Llombart, N.; Klapwijk, T. M.

2014-01-01

In a superconductor, in which electrons are paired, the density of unpaired electrons should become zero when approaching zero temperature. Therefore, radiation detectors based on breaking of pairs promise supreme sensitivity, which we demonstrate using an aluminium superconducting microwave resonator. Here we show that the resonator also enables the study of the response of the electron system of the superconductor to pair-breaking photons, microwave photons and varying temperatures. A large range in radiation power (at 1.54 THz) can be chosen by carefully filtering the radiation from a blackbody source. We identify two regimes. At high radiation power, fluctuations in the electron system caused by the random arrival rate of the photons are resolved, giving a straightforward measure of the optical efficiency (48±8%) and showing an unprecedented detector sensitivity. At low radiation power, fluctuations are dominated by excess quasiparticles, the number of which is measured through their recombination lifetime. PMID:24496036

Study of Proximity Effect at D-Wave Superconductors in Quasiclassical Methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tanuma, Y.; Tanaka, Y.; Kashiwaya, S.

2005-08-01

Tunneling spectra via Andreev bound states between a normal metal (N) / dx2-y2-wave superconductor (S) (in the presence of a subdominant s-wave pair potential) junction are investigated. In the present work, in order to study the role of proximity effect, we employ quasiclassical Green's function methods. This merit is that we can determine the spatial variation of the pair potentials self-consistently, where the leaking of pair potentials into the N side is involved. In the N/S junction with orientational angle θ = π/4, we can regard as the isolated d-wave superconductor, where attractive interaction in the N side is negligible. On the other hand, in the case of a high transparent contact to the d-wave superconductor (θ = 0), the pair potential penetrates into the inside of the N due to the proximity effect, where the is-wave is not indued at all. Then, the tunneling spectra has a very sharp zero-energy peak (ZEP). This ZEP originates from the fact that quasiparticles feel different sign of the pair potentials between normal metals and d-wave superconductors through Andreev reflections. We show that the spatial dependence of pair potentials is significantly sensitive to the transparency of the junction.

Majorana neutrino and the vacuum of Bogoliubov quasiparticle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fujikawa, Kazuo

2018-06-01

The Lagrangian of the seesaw mechanism is C violating but the same Lagrangian when re-written in terms of Majorana neutrinos is manifestly C invariant. To resolve this puzzling feature, a relativistic analogue of Bogoliubov transformation, which preserves CP but explicitly breaks C and P separately, was introduced together with the notions of a Bogoliubov quasiparticle and an analogue of the energy gap in BCS theory. The idea of Majorana neutrino as Bogoliubov quasiparticle was then suggested. In this paper, we study the vacuum structure of the Bogoliubov quasiparticle which becomes heavy by absorbing the C-breaking. By treating an infinitesimally small C violating term as an analogue of the chiral symmetry breaking nucleon mass in the model of Nambu and Jona-Lasinio, we construct an explicit form of the vacuum of the Bogoliubov quasiparticle which defines Majorana neutrinos in seesaw mechanism. The vacuum of the Bogoliubov quasiparticle thus constructed has an analogous condensate structure as the vacuum of the quasiparticle (nucleon) in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model.

Quasiparticle interference, quasiparticle interactions, and the origin of the charge density wave in 2 H – NbSe 2

DOE PAGES

Arguello, C. J.; Rosenthal, E. P.; Andrade, E. F.; ...

2015-01-21

We show that a small number of intentionally introduced defects can be used as a spectroscopic tool to amplify quasiparticle interference in 2H-NbSe₂ that we measure by scanning tunneling spectroscopic imaging. We show, from the momentum and energy dependence of the quasiparticle interference, that Fermi surface nesting is inconsequential to charge density wave formation in 2H-NbSe₂. We demonstrate that, by combining quasiparticle interference data with additional knowledge of the quasiparticle band structure from angle resolved photoemission measurements, one can extract the wave vector and energy dependence of the important electronic scattering processes thereby obtaining direct information both about the fermiologymore » and the interactions. In 2H-NbSe₂, we use this combination to confirm that the important near-Fermi-surface electronic physics is dominated by the coupling of the quasiparticles to soft mode phonons at a wave vector different from the charge density wave ordering wave vector.« less

Quasiparticle interference, quasiparticle interactions, and the origin of the charge density wave in 2H-NbSe2.

PubMed

Arguello, C J; Rosenthal, E P; Andrade, E F; Jin, W; Yeh, P C; Zaki, N; Jia, S; Cava, R J; Fernandes, R M; Millis, A J; Valla, T; Osgood, R M; Pasupathy, A N

2015-01-23

We show that a small number of intentionally introduced defects can be used as a spectroscopic tool to amplify quasiparticle interference in 2H-NbSe2 that we measure by scanning tunneling spectroscopic imaging. We show, from the momentum and energy dependence of the quasiparticle interference, that Fermi surface nesting is inconsequential to charge density wave formation in 2H-NbSe2. We demonstrate that, by combining quasiparticle interference data with additional knowledge of the quasiparticle band structure from angle resolved photoemission measurements, one can extract the wave vector and energy dependence of the important electronic scattering processes thereby obtaining direct information both about the fermiology and the interactions. In 2H-NbSe2, we use this combination to confirm that the important near-Fermi-surface electronic physics is dominated by the coupling of the quasiparticles to soft mode phonons at a wave vector different from the charge density wave ordering wave vector.

Shooting quasiparticles from Andreev bound states in a superconducting constriction

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Riwar, R.-P.; Houzet, M.; Meyer, J. S.

2014-12-15

A few-channel superconducting constriction provides a set of discrete Andreev bound states that may be populated with quasiparticles. Motivated by recent experimental research, we study the processes in an a.c. driven constriction whereby a quasiparticle is promoted to the delocalized states outside the superconducting gap and flies away. We distinguish two processes of this kind. In the process of ionization, a quasiparticle present in the Andreev bound state is transferred to the delocalized states leaving the constriction. The refill process involves two quasiparticles: one flies away while another one appears in the Andreev bound state. We notice an interesting asymmetrymore » of these processes. The electron-like quasiparticles are predominantly emitted to one side of the constriction while the hole-like ones are emitted to the other side. This produces a charge imbalance of accumulated quasiparticles, that is opposite on opposite sides of the junction. The imbalance may be detected with a tunnel contact to a normal metal lead.« less

Quasiparticle Aggregation in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect

DOE R&D Accomplishments Database

Laughlin, R. B.

1984-10-10

Quasiparticles in the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect behave qualitatively like electrons confined to the lowest landau level, and can do everything electrons can do, including condense into second generation Fractional Quantum Hall ground states. I review in this paper the reasoning leading to variational wavefunctions for ground state and quasiparticles in the 1/3 effect. I then show how two-quasiparticle eigenstates are uniquely determined from symmetry, and how this leads in a natural way to variational wavefunctions for composite states which have the correct densities (2/5, 2/7, ...). I show in the process that the boson, anyon and fermion representations for the quasiparticles used by Haldane, Halperin, and me are all equivalent. I demonstrate a simple way to derive Halperin`s multiple-valued quasiparticle wavefunction from the correct single-valued electron wavefunction. (auth)

Effect of fluctuations on the NMR relaxation beyond the Abrikosov vortex state

DOE PAGES

Glatz, A.; Galda, A.; Varlamov, A. A.

2015-08-25

Here, the effect of fluctuations on the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxation rate W = T –1 1 is studied in a complete phase diagram of a two-dimensional superconductor above the upper critical field line H c2(T). In the region of relatively high temperatures and low magnetic fields, the relaxation rate W is determined by two competing effects. The first one is its decrease in the result of suppression of the quasiparticle density of states (DOS) due to formation of fluctuation Cooper pairs (FCPs). The second one is a specific, purely quantum relaxation process of the Maki-Thompson (MT) type, whichmore » for low field leads to an increase of the relaxation rate. The latter describes particular fluctuation processes involving self-pairing of a single electron on self-intersecting trajectories of a size up to phase-breaking length ℓ Φ which becomes possible due to an electron spin-flip scattering event at a nucleus. As a result, different scenarios with either growth or decrease of the NMR relaxation rate are possible upon approaching the normal-metal–type-II superconductor transition. The character of fluctuations changes along the line H c2(T) from the thermal long-wavelength type in weak magnetic fields to the clusters of rotating FCPs in fields comparable to Hc2(0). We find that below the well-defined temperature T* 0 ≈ 0.6T c0, the MT process becomes ineffective even in the absence of intrinsic pair breaking. The small scale of the FCP rotations ξ xy in such high fields impedes formation of long (≲ℓ Φ) self-intersecting trajectories, causing the corresponding relaxation mechanism to lose its efficiency. This reduces the effect of superconducting fluctuations in the domain of high fields and low temperatures to just the suppression of quasiparticle DOS, analogous to the Abrikosov vortex phase below the H c2(T) line.« less

Covariant Evolutionary Event Analysis for Base Interaction Prediction Using a Relational Database Management System for RNA.

PubMed

Xu, Weijia; Ozer, Stuart; Gutell, Robin R

2009-01-01

With an increasingly large amount of sequences properly aligned, comparative sequence analysis can accurately identify not only common structures formed by standard base pairing but also new types of structural elements and constraints. However, traditional methods are too computationally expensive to perform well on large scale alignment and less effective with the sequences from diversified phylogenetic classifications. We propose a new approach that utilizes coevolutional rates among pairs of nucleotide positions using phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships of the organisms of aligned sequences. With a novel data schema to manage relevant information within a relational database, our method, implemented with a Microsoft SQL Server 2005, showed 90% sensitivity in identifying base pair interactions among 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from Bacteria, at a scale 40 times bigger and 50% better sensitivity than a previous study. The results also indicated covariation signals for a few sets of cross-strand base stacking pairs in secondary structure helices, and other subtle constraints in the RNA structure.

Covariant Evolutionary Event Analysis for Base Interaction Prediction Using a Relational Database Management System for RNA

PubMed Central

Xu, Weijia; Ozer, Stuart; Gutell, Robin R.

2010-01-01

With an increasingly large amount of sequences properly aligned, comparative sequence analysis can accurately identify not only common structures formed by standard base pairing but also new types of structural elements and constraints. However, traditional methods are too computationally expensive to perform well on large scale alignment and less effective with the sequences from diversified phylogenetic classifications. We propose a new approach that utilizes coevolutional rates among pairs of nucleotide positions using phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships of the organisms of aligned sequences. With a novel data schema to manage relevant information within a relational database, our method, implemented with a Microsoft SQL Server 2005, showed 90% sensitivity in identifying base pair interactions among 16S ribosomal RNA sequences from Bacteria, at a scale 40 times bigger and 50% better sensitivity than a previous study. The results also indicated covariation signals for a few sets of cross-strand base stacking pairs in secondary structure helices, and other subtle constraints in the RNA structure. PMID:20502534

Proposal to probe quantum nonlocality of Majorana fermions in tunneling experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sau, Jay D.; Swingle, Brian; Tewari, Sumanta

2015-07-01

Topological Majorana fermion (MF) quasiparticles have been recently suggested to exist in semiconductor quantum wires with proximity induced superconductivity and a Zeeman field. Although the experimentally observed zero bias tunneling peak and a fractional ac-Josephson effect can be taken as necessary signatures of MFs, neither of them constitutes a sufficient "smoking gun" experiment. Since one pair of Majorana fermions share a single conventional fermionic degree of freedom, MFs are in a sense fractionalized excitations. Based on this fractionalization we propose a tunneling experiment that furnishes a nearly unique signature of end state MFs in semiconductor quantum wires. In particular, we show that a "teleportation"-like experiment is not enough to distinguish MFs from pairs of MFs, which are equivalent to conventional zero energy states, but our proposed tunneling experiment, in principle, can make this distinction.

Nonmagnetic impurity resonances as a signature of sign-reversal pairing in FeAs-based superconductors.

PubMed

Zhang, Degang

2009-10-30

The energy band structure of FeAs-based superconductors is fitted by a tight-binding model with two Fe ions per unit cell and two degenerate orbitals per Fe ion. Based on this, superconductivity with extended s-wave pairing symmetry of the form cosk(x)+cosk(y) is examined. The local density of states near an impurity is also investigated by using the T-matrix approach. For the nonmagnetic scattering potential, we found that there exist two major resonances inside the gap. The height of the resonance peaks depends on the strength of the impurity potential. These in-gap resonances are originated in the Andreev's bound states due to the quasiparticle scattering between the hole Fermi surfaces around Gamma point with positive order parameter and the electron Fermi surfaces around M point with negative order parameter.

Dual origin of pairing in nuclei

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Idini, A.; Potel, G.; Barranco, F.

The pairing correlations of the nucleus {sup 120}Sn are calculated by solving the Nambu–Gor’kov equations, including medium polarization effects resulting from the interweaving of quasiparticles, spin and density vibrations, taking into account, within the framework of nuclear field theory (NFT), processes leading to self-energy and vertex corrections and to the induced pairing interaction. From these results one can not only demonstrate the inevitability of the dual origin of pairing in nuclei, but also extract information which can be used at profit to quantitatively disentangle the contributions to the pairing gap Δ arising from the bare and from the induced pairingmore » interaction. The first is the strong {sup 1}S{sub 0} short-range NN potential resulting from meson exchange between nucleons moving in time reversal states within an energy range of hundreds of MeV from the Fermi energy. The second results from the exchange of vibrational modes between nucleons moving within few MeV from the Fermi energy. Short- (v{sub p}{sup bare}) and long-range (v{sub p}{sup ind}) pairing interactions contribute essentially equally to nuclear Cooper pair stability. That is to the breaking of gauge invariance in open-shell superfluid nuclei and thus to the order parameter, namely to the ground state expectation value of the pair creation operator. In other words, to the emergent property of generalized rigidity in gauge space, and associated rotational bands and Cooper pair tunneling between members of these bands.« less

Normal-metal quasiparticle traps for superconducting qubits

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Riwar, R.-P.; Hosseinkhani, A.; Burkhart, L. D.; Gao, Y. Y.; Schoelkopf, R. J.; Glazman, L. I.; Catelani, G.

2016-09-01

The presence of quasiparticles in superconducting qubits emerges as an intrinsic constraint on their coherence. While it is difficult to prevent the generation of quasiparticles, keeping them away from active elements of the qubit provides a viable way of improving the device performance. Here we develop theoretically and validate experimentally a model for the effect of a single small trap on the dynamics of the excess quasiparticles injected in a transmon-type qubit. The model allows one to evaluate the time it takes to evacuate the injected quasiparticles from the transmon as a function of trap parameters. With the increase of the trap size, this time decreases monotonically, saturating at the level determined by the quasiparticles diffusion constant and the qubit geometry. We determine the characteristic trap size needed for the relaxation time to approach that saturation value.

Measurements of quasiparticle tunneling dynamics in a band-gap-engineered transmon qubit.

PubMed

Sun, L; DiCarlo, L; Reed, M D; Catelani, G; Bishop, Lev S; Schuster, D I; Johnson, B R; Yang, Ge A; Frunzio, L; Glazman, L; Devoret, M H; Schoelkopf, R J

2012-06-08

We have engineered the band gap profile of transmon qubits by combining oxygen-doped Al for tunnel junction electrodes and clean Al as quasiparticle traps to investigate energy relaxation due to quasiparticle tunneling. The relaxation time T1 of the qubits is shown to be insensitive to this band gap engineering. Operating at relatively low-E(J)/E(C) makes the transmon transition frequency distinctly dependent on the charge parity, allowing us to detect the quasiparticles tunneling across the qubit junction. Quasiparticle kinetics have been studied by monitoring the frequency switching due to even-odd parity change in real time. It shows the switching time is faster than 10  μs, indicating quasiparticle-induced relaxation has to be reduced to achieve T1 much longer than 100  μs.

Sequence analysis of Leukemia DNA

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nacong, Nasria; Lusiyanti, Desy; Irawan, Muhammad. Isa

2018-03-01

Cancer is a very deadly disease, one of which is leukemia disease or better known as blood cancer. The cancer cell can be detected by taking DNA in laboratory test. This study focused on local alignment of leukemia and non leukemia data resulting from NCBI in the form of DNA sequences by using Smith-Waterman algorithm. SmithWaterman algorithm was invented by TF Smith and MS Waterman in 1981. These algorithms try to find as much as possible similarity of a pair of sequences, by giving a negative value to the unequal base pair (mismatch), and positive values on the same base pair (match). So that will obtain the maximum positive value as the end of the alignment, and the minimum value as the initial alignment. This study will use sequences of leukemia and 3 sequences of non leukemia.

Unsupervised image matching based on manifold alignment.

PubMed

Pei, Yuru; Huang, Fengchun; Shi, Fuhao; Zha, Hongbin

2012-08-01

This paper challenges the issue of automatic matching between two image sets with similar intrinsic structures and different appearances, especially when there is no prior correspondence. An unsupervised manifold alignment framework is proposed to establish correspondence between data sets by a mapping function in the mutual embedding space. We introduce a local similarity metric based on parameterized distance curves to represent the connection of one point with the rest of the manifold. A small set of valid feature pairs can be found without manual interactions by matching the distance curve of one manifold with the curve cluster of the other manifold. To avoid potential confusions in image matching, we propose an extended affine transformation to solve the nonrigid alignment in the embedding space. The comparatively tight alignments and the structure preservation can be obtained simultaneously. The point pairs with the minimum distance after alignment are viewed as the matchings. We apply manifold alignment to image set matching problems. The correspondence between image sets of different poses, illuminations, and identities can be established effectively by our approach.

Harmonic and reactive behavior of the quasiparticle tunnel current in SIS junctions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Rashid, H., E-mail: hawal@chalmers.se; Desmaris, V.; Pavolotsky, A.

In this paper, we show theoretically and experimentally that the reactive quasiparticle tunnel current of the superconductor tunnel junction could be directly measured at specific bias voltages for the higher harmonics of the quasiparticle tunnel current. We used the theory of quasiparticle tunneling to study the higher harmonics of the quasiparticle tunnel current in superconducting tunnel junction in the presence of rf irradiation. The impact of the reactive current on the harmonic behavior of the quasiparticle tunnel current was carefully studied by implementing a practical model with four parameters to model the dc I-V characteristics of the superconducting tunnel junction.more » The measured reactive current at the specific bias voltage is in good agreement with our theoretically calculated reactive current through the Kramers-Kronig transform. This study also shows that there is an excellent correspondence between the behavior of the predicted higher harmonics using the previously established theory of quasiparticle tunnel current in superconducting tunnel junctions by J.R. Tucker and M.J. Feldman and the measurements presented in this paper.« less

Detecting stray microwaves and nonequilibrium quasiparticles in thin films by single-electron tunneling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saira, Olli-Pentti; Maisi, Ville; Kemppinen, Antti; Möttönen, Mikko; Pekola, Jukka

2013-03-01

Superconducting thin films and tunnel junctions are the building blocks of many state-of-the-art technologies related to quantum information processing, microwave detection, and electronic amplification. These devices operate at millikelvin temperatures, and - in a naive picture - their fidelity metrics are expected to improve as the temperature is lowered. However, very often one finds in the experiment that the device performance levels off around 100-150 mK. In my presentation, I will address three common physical mechanisms that can cause such saturation: stray microwaves, nonequilibrium quasiparticles, and sub-gap quasiparticle states. The new experimental data I will present is based on a series of studies on quasiparticle transport in Coulomb-blockaded normal-insulator-superconductor tunnel junction devices. We have used a capacitively coupled SET electrometer to detect individual quasiparticle tunneling events in real time. We demonstrate the following record-low values for thin film aluminum: quasiparticle density nqp < 0 . 033 / μm3 , normalized density of sub-gap quasiparticle states (Dynes parameter) γ < 1 . 6 ×10-7 . I will also discuss some sample stage and chip designs that improve microwave shielding.

System for testing bearings

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gibson, John C. (Inventor)

1993-01-01

Disclosed here is a system for testing bearings wherein a pair of spaced bearings provides support for a shaft on which is mounted a bearing to be tested, this bearing being mounted in a bearing holder spaced from and in alignment with the pair of bearings. The bearing holder is provided with an annular collar positioned in an opening in the bearing holder for holding the bearing to be tested. A screw threaded through the bearing holder into engagement with the annular collar can be turned to force the collar radially out of alignment with the pair of bearings to apply a radial load to the bearing.

Quasiparticle lifetime in a mixture of Bose and Fermi superfluids.

PubMed

Zheng, Wei; Zhai, Hui

2014-12-31

In this Letter, we study the effect of quasiparticle interactions in a Bose-Fermi superfluid mixture. We consider the lifetime of a quasiparticle of the Bose superfluid due to its interaction with quasiparticles in the Fermi superfluid. We find that this damping rate, i.e., the inverse of the lifetime, has quite a different threshold behavior at the BCS and the BEC side of the Fermi superfluid. The damping rate is a constant near the threshold momentum in the BCS side, while it increases rapidly in the BEC side. This is because, in the BCS side, the decay process is restricted by the constraint that the fermion quasiparticle is located near the Fermi surface, while such a restriction does not exist in the BEC side where the damping process is dominated by bosonic quasiparticles of the Fermi superfluid. Our results are related to the collective mode experiment in the recently realized Bose-Fermi superfluid mixture.

Skyrme RPA description of γ-vibrational states in rare-earth nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nesterenko, V. O.; Kartavenko, V. G.; Kleinig, W.; Kvasil, J.; Repko, A.; Jolos, R. V.; Reinhard, P.-G.

2016-01-01

The lowest γ-vibrational states with Kπ = 2+γ in well-deformed Dy, Er and Yb isotopes are investigated within the self-consistent separable quasiparticle random-phase-approximation (QRPA) approach based on the Skyrme functional. The energies Eγ and reduced transition probabilities B(E2)γ of the states are calculated with the Skyrme force SV-mas10. We demonstrate the strong effect of the pairing blocking on the energies of γ-vibrational states. It is also shown that collectivity of γ-vibrational states is strictly determined by keeping the Nilsson selection rules in the corresponding lowest 2qp configurations.

Model Prediction of Self-Rotating Excitons in Two-Dimensional Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trushin, Maxim; Goerbig, Mark Oliver; Belzig, Wolfgang

2018-05-01

Using the quasiclassical concept of Berry curvature we demonstrate that a Dirac exciton—a pair of Dirac quasiparticles bound by Coulomb interactions—inevitably possesses an intrinsic angular momentum making the exciton effectively self-rotating. The model is applied to excitons in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides, in which the charge carriers are known to be described by a Dirac-like Hamiltonian. We show that the topological self-rotation strongly modifies the exciton spectrum and, as a consequence, resolves the puzzle of the overestimated two-dimensional polarizability employed to fit earlier spectroscopic measurements.

Nonequilibrium Phase Transition in a Periodically Driven XY Spin Chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Prosen, Tomaž; Ilievski, Enej

2011-08-01

We present a general formulation of Floquet states of periodically time-dependent open Markovian quasifree fermionic many-body systems in terms of a discrete Lyapunov equation. Illustrating the technique, we analyze periodically kicked XY spin-(1)/(2) chain which is coupled to a pair of Lindblad reservoirs at its ends. A complex phase diagram is reported with reentrant phases of long range and exponentially decaying spin-spin correlations as some of the system’s parameters are varied. The structure of phase diagram is reproduced in terms of counting nontrivial stationary points of Floquet quasiparticle dispersion relation.

Strongly disordered TiN and NbTiN s-wave superconductors probed by microwave electrodynamics.

PubMed

Driessen, E F C; Coumou, P C J J; Tromp, R R; de Visser, P J; Klapwijk, T M

2012-09-07

We probe the effects of strong disorder (2.4

Evidence for the Confinement of Magnetic Monopoles in Quantum Spin Ice.

PubMed

Sarte, Paul Maximo; Aczel, Adam; Ehlers, Georg; Stock, Christopher; Gaulin, Bruce D; Mauws, Cole; Stone, Matthew B; Calder, Stuart; Nagler, Stephen; Hollett, Joshua; Zhou, Haidong; Gardner, Jason S; Attfield, J Paul; Wiebe, Christopher R

2017-09-25

Magnetic monopoles are hypothesised elementary particles connected by Dirac strings that behave like infinitely thin solenoids [Dirac 1931 Proc. Roy. Soc. A 133 60]. Despite decades of searches, free magnetic monopoles and their Dirac strings have eluded experimental detection, although there is substantial evidence for deconfined magnetic monopole quasiparticles in spin ice materials [Castelnovo, Moessner & Sondhi 2008 Nature 326 411]. Here we report the detection of a hierarchy of unequally-spaced magnetic excitations via high resolution inelastic neutron spectroscopic measurements on the quantum spin ice candidate Pr₂Sn₂O₇. These excitations are well-described by a simple model of monopole pairs bound by a linear potential [Coldea et al. Science 327 177] with an effective tension of 0.7(1) K/Angstrom. The success of the linear potential model suggests that these low energy magnetic excitations are direct spectroscopic evidence for the confinement of magnetic monopole quasiparticles in the quantum spin ice candidate Pr₂Sn₂O₇. © 2017 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Fractional excitations in the square-lattice quantum antiferromagnet

DOE PAGES

Dalla Piazza, Bastien; Mourigal, M.; Christensen, N. B.; ...

2014-12-15

Quantum magnets have occupied the fertile ground between many-body theory and low-temperature experiments on real materials since the early days of quantum mechanics. However, our understanding of even deceptively simple systems of interacting spins-1/2 is far from complete. The quantum square-lattice Heisenberg antiferromagnet (QSLHAF), for example, exhibits a striking anomaly of hitherto unknown origin in its magnetic excitation spectrum. This quantum effect manifests itself for excitations propagating with the specific wave vector (π, 0). Here, we use polarized neutron spectroscopy to fully characterize the magnetic fluctuations in the metal-organic compound CFTD, a known realization of the QSLHAF model. Our experimentsmore » reveal an isotropic excitation continuum at the anomaly, which we analyse theoretically using Gutzwiller-projected trial wavefunctions. The excitation continuum is accounted for by the existence of spatially-extended pairs of fractional S=1/2 quasiparticles, 2D analogues of 1D spinons. Away from the anomalous wave vector, these fractional excitations are bound and form conventional magnons. Lastly, our results establish the existence of fractional quasiparticles in the high-energy spectrum of a quasi-two-dimensional antiferromagnet, even in the absence of frustration.« less

Orbital-selective pairing and superconductivity in iron selenides

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nica, Emilian M.; Yu, Rong; Si, Qimiao

2017-12-01

An important challenge in condensed matter physics is understanding iron-based superconductors. Among these systems, the iron selenides hold the record for highest superconducting transition temperature and pose especially striking puzzles regarding the nature of superconductivity. The pairing state of the alkaline iron selenides appears to be of d-wave type based on the observation of a resonance mode in neutron scattering, while it seems to be of s-wave type from the nodeless gaps observed everywhere on the Fermi surface. Here we propose an orbital-selective pairing state, dubbed sτ3, as a natural explanation of these disparate properties. The pairing function, containing a matrix τ3 in the basis of 3d-electron orbitals, does not commute with the kinetic part of the Hamiltonian. This dictates the existence of both intraband and interband pairing terms in the band basis. A spin resonance arises from a d-wave-type sign change in the intraband pairing component, whereas the quasiparticle excitation is fully gapped on the FS due to an s-wave-like form factor associated with the addition in quadrature of the intraband and interband pairing terms. We demonstrate that this pairing state is energetically favored when the electron correlation effects are orbitally selective. More generally, our results illustrate how the multiband nature of correlated electrons affords unusual types of superconducting states, thereby shedding new light not only on the iron-based materials but also on a broad range of other unconventional superconductors such as heavy fermion and organic systems.

Quasiparticle explanation of the weak-thermalization regime under quench in a nonintegrable quantum spin chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lin, Cheng-Ju; Motrunich, Olexei I.

2017-02-01

The eigenstate thermalization hypothesis provides one picture of thermalization in a quantum system by looking at individual eigenstates. However, it is also important to consider how local observables reach equilibrium values dynamically. Quench protocol is one of the settings to study such questions. A recent numerical study [Bañuls, Cirac, and Hastings, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 050405 (2007), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.050405] of a nonintegrable quantum Ising model with longitudinal field under such a quench setting found different behaviors for different initial quantum states. One particular case called the "weak-thermalization" regime showed apparently persistent oscillations of some observables. Here we provide an explanation of such oscillations. We note that the corresponding initial state has low energy density relative to the ground state of the model. We then use perturbation theory near the ground state and identify the oscillation frequency as essentially a quasiparticle gap. With this quasiparticle picture, we can then address the long-time behavior of the oscillations. Upon making additional approximations which intuitively should only make thermalization weaker, we argue that the oscillations nevertheless decay in the long-time limit. As part of our arguments, we also consider a quench from a BEC to a hard-core boson model in one dimension. We find that the expectation value of a single-boson creation operator oscillates but decays exponentially in time, while a pair-boson creation operator has oscillations with a t-3 /2 decay in time. We also study dependence of the decay time on the density of bosons in the low-density regime and use this to estimate decay time for oscillations in the original spin model.

Coupled Atom-Polar Molecule Condensate Systems: A Theoretical Adventure

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-14

second uses the linear-response theory more familiar to people working in the �eld of condensed-matter physics. We have introduced a quasiparticle ...picture and found that in this picture the bare EIT model in Fig. 2 (a) can be compared to a double EIT system shown in Fig. 2 (b). The quasiparticle ...energy levels consists of a particle (with positive quasiparticle energy ) and a hole (with negative quasiparticle energy) branch. The double EIT

A quasiparticle-based multi-reference coupled-cluster method.

PubMed

Rolik, Zoltán; Kállay, Mihály

2014-10-07

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a quasiparticle-based multi-reference coupled-cluster (MRCC) approach. The quasiparticles are introduced via a unitary transformation which allows us to represent a complete active space reference function and other elements of an orthonormal multi-reference (MR) basis in a determinant-like form. The quasiparticle creation and annihilation operators satisfy the fermion anti-commutation relations. On the basis of these quasiparticles, a generalization of the normal-ordered operator products for the MR case can be introduced as an alternative to the approach of Mukherjee and Kutzelnigg [Recent Prog. Many-Body Theor. 4, 127 (1995); Mukherjee and Kutzelnigg, J. Chem. Phys. 107, 432 (1997)]. Based on the new normal ordering any quasiparticle-based theory can be formulated using the well-known diagram techniques. Beyond the general quasiparticle framework we also present a possible realization of the unitary transformation. The suggested transformation has an exponential form where the parameters, holding exclusively active indices, are defined in a form similar to the wave operator of the unitary coupled-cluster approach. The definition of our quasiparticle-based MRCC approach strictly follows the form of the single-reference coupled-cluster method and retains several of its beneficial properties. Test results for small systems are presented using a pilot implementation of the new approach and compared to those obtained by other MR methods.

Particle Number Conserving Approach to the Collective States in a Small Fermi-System

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Glick, Jennifer; Zelevinsky, Vladimir

2014-03-01

The standard Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) description of pairing theory, random phase approximation (RPA) and Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) methods, routinely used in macroscopic many-body physics when the dimension of the Hamiltonian matrix is prohibitively large, include features which are not well suited to describe mesoscopic systems such as nuclei or cold atoms in traps. Two important disadvantages are the non-conservation of exact particle number through the introduction of quasiparticles, and the absence of a non-trivial paired solution in the discrete spectrum with weak pairing. We develop the pairing theory based on the exact particle number conservation, whose first applications to the ground state physics presented in [A. Volya and V. Zelevinsky, in 50 Years of Nuclear BCS, World Scientific, 2012] demonstrated that such an approach avoids well known deficiencies of the standard treatment, especially in the region of weak pairing. Now, we use the method for low-lying collective excitations which in many cases are even more sensitive to conservation laws. We show that the RPA version based on solving the operator equations of motion is reduced to the set of recurrence relations for neighboring systems which precisely conserve the exact particle number. Supported by the NSF grant PHY-1068217.

The place of the Local Group in the cosmic web

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forero-Romero, Jaime E.; González, Roberto

2016-10-01

We use the Bolshoi Simulation to find the most probable location of the Local Group (LG) in the cosmic web. Our LG simulacra are pairs of halos with isolation and kinematic properties consistent with observations. The cosmic web is defined using a tidal tensor approach. We find that the LG's preferred location is regions with a dark matter overdensity close to the cosmic average. This makes filaments and sheets the preferred environment. We also find a strong alignment between the LG and the cosmic web. The orbital angular momentum is preferentially perpendicular to the smallest tidal eigenvector, while the vector connecting the two halos is strongly aligned along the the smallest tidal eigenvector and perpendicular to the largest tidal eigenvector; the pair lies and moves along filaments and sheets. We do not find any evidence for an alignment between the spin of each halo in the pair and the cosmic web.

Diversity Measures in Environmental Sequences Are Highly Dependent on Alignment Quality—Data from ITS and New LSU Primers Targeting Basidiomycetes

PubMed Central

Fischer, Christiane; Daniel, Rolf; Wubet, Tesfaye

2012-01-01

The ribosomal DNA comprised of the ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 regions is widely used as a fungal marker in molecular ecology and systematics but cannot be aligned with confidence across genetically distant taxa. In order to study the diversity of Agaricomycotina in forest soils, we designed primers targeting the more alignable 28S (LSU) gene, which should be more useful for phylogenetic analyses of the detected taxa. This paper compares the performance of the established ITS1F/4B primer pair, which targets basidiomycetes, to that of two new pairs. Key factors in the comparison were the diversity covered, off-target amplification, rarefaction at different Operational Taxonomic Unit (OTU) cutoff levels, sensitivity of the method used to process the alignment to missing data and insecure positional homology, and the congruence of monophyletic clades with OTU assignments and BLAST-derived OTU names. The ITS primer pair yielded no off-target amplification but also exhibited the least fidelity to the expected phylogenetic groups. The LSU primers give complementary pictures of diversity, but were more sensitive to modifications of the alignment such as the removal of difficult-to align stretches. The LSU primers also yielded greater numbers of singletons but also had a greater tendency to produce OTUs containing sequences from a wider variety of species as judged by BLAST similarity. We introduced some new parameters to describe alignment heterogeneity based on Shannon entropy and the extent and contents of the OTUs in a phylogenetic tree space. Our results suggest that ITS should not be used when calculating phylogenetic trees from genetically distant sequences obtained from environmental DNA extractions and that it is inadvisable to define OTUs on the basis of very heterogeneous alignments. PMID:22363808

Ultrafast electron-optical phonon scattering and quasiparticle lifetime in CVD-grown graphene.

PubMed

Shang, Jingzhi; Yu, Ting; Lin, Jianyi; Gurzadyan, Gagik G

2011-04-26

Ultrafast quasiparticle dynamics in graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been studied by UV pump/white-light probe spectroscopy. Transient differential transmission spectra of monolayer graphene are observed in the visible probe range (400-650 nm). Kinetics of the quasiparticle (i.e., low-energy single-particle excitation with renormalized energy due to electron-electron Coulomb, electron-optical phonon (e-op), and optical phonon-acoustic phonon (op-ap) interactions) was monitored with 50 fs resolution. Extending the probe range to near-infrared, we find the evolution of quasiparticle relaxation channels from monoexponential e-op scattering to double exponential decay due to e-op and op-ap scattering. Moreover, quasiparticle lifetimes of mono- and randomly stacked graphene films are obtained for the probe photon energies continuously from 1.9 to 2.3 eV. Dependence of quasiparticle decay rate on the probe energy is linear for 10-layer stacked graphene films. This is due to the dominant e-op intervalley scattering and the linear density of states in the probed electronic band. A dimensionless coupling constant W is derived, which characterizes the scattering strength of quasiparticles by lattice points in graphene.

SATe-II: very fast and accurate simultaneous estimation of multiple sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees.

PubMed

Liu, Kevin; Warnow, Tandy J; Holder, Mark T; Nelesen, Serita M; Yu, Jiaye; Stamatakis, Alexandros P; Linder, C Randal

2012-01-01

Highly accurate estimation of phylogenetic trees for large data sets is difficult, in part because multiple sequence alignments must be accurate for phylogeny estimation methods to be accurate. Coestimation of alignments and trees has been attempted but currently only SATé estimates reasonably accurate trees and alignments for large data sets in practical time frames (Liu K., Raghavan S., Nelesen S., Linder C.R., Warnow T. 2009b. Rapid and accurate large-scale coestimation of sequence alignments and phylogenetic trees. Science. 324:1561-1564). Here, we present a modification to the original SATé algorithm that improves upon SATé (which we now call SATé-I) in terms of speed and of phylogenetic and alignment accuracy. SATé-II uses a different divide-and-conquer strategy than SATé-I and so produces smaller more closely related subsets than SATé-I; as a result, SATé-II produces more accurate alignments and trees, can analyze larger data sets, and runs more efficiently than SATé-I. Generally, SATé is a metamethod that takes an existing multiple sequence alignment method as an input parameter and boosts the quality of that alignment method. SATé-II-boosted alignment methods are significantly more accurate than their unboosted versions, and trees based upon these improved alignments are more accurate than trees based upon the original alignments. Because SATé-I used maximum likelihood (ML) methods that treat gaps as missing data to estimate trees and because we found a correlation between the quality of tree/alignment pairs and ML scores, we explored the degree to which SATé's performance depends on using ML with gaps treated as missing data to determine the best tree/alignment pair. We present two lines of evidence that using ML with gaps treated as missing data to optimize the alignment and tree produces very poor results. First, we show that the optimization problem where a set of unaligned DNA sequences is given and the output is the tree and alignment of those sequences that maximize likelihood under the Jukes-Cantor model is uninformative in the worst possible sense. For all inputs, all trees optimize the likelihood score. Second, we show that a greedy heuristic that uses GTR+Gamma ML to optimize the alignment and the tree can produce very poor alignments and trees. Therefore, the excellent performance of SATé-II and SATé-I is not because ML is used as an optimization criterion for choosing the best tree/alignment pair but rather due to the particular divide-and-conquer realignment techniques employed.

Automated Registration of Multimodal Optic Disc Images: Clinical Assessment of Alignment Accuracy.

PubMed

Ng, Wai Siene; Legg, Phil; Avadhanam, Venkat; Aye, Kyaw; Evans, Steffan H P; North, Rachel V; Marshall, Andrew D; Rosin, Paul; Morgan, James E

2016-04-01

To determine the accuracy of automated alignment algorithms for the registration of optic disc images obtained by 2 different modalities: fundus photography and scanning laser tomography. Images obtained with the Heidelberg Retina Tomograph II and paired photographic optic disc images of 135 eyes were analyzed. Three state-of-the-art automated registration techniques Regional Mutual Information, rigid Feature Neighbourhood Mutual Information (FNMI), and nonrigid FNMI (NRFNMI) were used to align these image pairs. Alignment of each composite picture was assessed on a 5-point grading scale: "Fail" (no alignment of vessels with no vessel contact), "Weak" (vessels have slight contact), "Good" (vessels with <50% contact), "Very Good" (vessels with >50% contact), and "Excellent" (complete alignment). Custom software generated an image mosaic in which the modalities were interleaved as a series of alternate 5×5-pixel blocks. These were graded independently by 3 clinically experienced observers. A total of 810 image pairs were assessed. All 3 registration techniques achieved a score of "Good" or better in >95% of the image sets. NRFNMI had the highest percentage of "Excellent" (mean: 99.6%; range, 95.2% to 99.6%), followed by Regional Mutual Information (mean: 81.6%; range, 86.3% to 78.5%) and FNMI (mean: 73.1%; range, 85.2% to 54.4%). Automated registration of optic disc images by different modalities is a feasible option for clinical application. All 3 methods provided useful levels of alignment, but the NRFNMI technique consistently outperformed the others and is recommended as a practical approach to the automated registration of multimodal disc images.

Topological superconductivity and the fractional Josephson effect in quasi-one dimensional wires on a plane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakhmedov, E.; Mammadova, S.; Alekperov, O.

2016-01-01

A time-reversal invariant topological superconductivity is suggested to be realized in a quasi-one-dimensional structure on a plane, which is fabricated by filling the superconducting materials into the periodic channel of dielectric matrices like zeolite and asbestos under high pressure. The topological superconducting phase sets up in the presence of large spin-orbit interactions when intra-wire s-wave and inter-wire d-wave pairings take place. Kramers pairs of Majorana bound states emerge at the edges of each wire. We analyze effects of the Zeeman magnetic field on Majorana zero-energy states. In-plane magnetic field was shown to make asymmetric the energy dispersion, nevertheless Majorana fermions survive due to protection of a particle-hole symmetry. Tunneling of Majorana quasiparticle from the end of one wire to the nearest-neighboring one yields edge fractional Josephson current with 4π-periodicity.

Bosonic Confinement and Coherence in Disordered Nanodiamond Arrays.

PubMed

Zhang, Gufei; Samuely, Tomas; Du, Hongchu; Xu, Zheng; Liu, Liwang; Onufriienko, Oleksandr; May, Paul W; Vanacken, Johan; Szabó, Pavol; Kačmarčík, Jozef; Yuan, Haifeng; Samuely, Peter; Dunin-Borkowski, Rafal E; Hofkens, Johan; Moshchalkov, Victor V

2017-11-28

In the presence of disorder, superconductivity exhibits short-range characteristics linked to localized Cooper pairs which are responsible for anomalous phase transitions and the emergence of quantum states such as the bosonic insulating state. Complementary to well-studied homogeneously disordered superconductors, superconductor-normal hybrid arrays provide tunable realizations of the degree of granular disorder for studying anomalous quantum phase transitions. Here, we investigate the superconductor-bosonic dirty metal transition in disordered nanodiamond arrays as a function of the dispersion of intergrain spacing, which ranges from angstroms to micrometers. By monitoring the evolved superconducting gaps and diminished coherence peaks in the single-quasiparticle density of states, we link the destruction of the superconducting state and the emergence of bosonic dirty metallic state to breaking of the global phase coherence and persistence of the localized Cooper pairs. The observed resistive bosonic phase transitions are well modeled using a series-parallel circuit in the framework of bosonic confinement and coherence.

A direct method for computing extreme value (Gumbel) parameters for gapped biological sequence alignments.

PubMed

Quinn, Terrance; Sinkala, Zachariah

2014-01-01

We develop a general method for computing extreme value distribution (Gumbel, 1958) parameters for gapped alignments. Our approach uses mixture distribution theory to obtain associated BLOSUM matrices for gapped alignments, which in turn are used for determining significance of gapped alignment scores for pairs of biological sequences. We compare our results with parameters already obtained in the literature.

Quasiparticle Energies and Band Gaps in Graphene Nanoribbons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Li; Park, Cheol-Hwan; Son, Young-Woo; Cohen, Marvin L.; Louie, Steven G.

2007-11-01

We present calculations of the quasiparticle energies and band gaps of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) carried out using a first-principles many-electron Green’s function approach within the GW approximation. Because of the quasi-one-dimensional nature of a GNR, electron-electron interaction effects due to the enhanced screened Coulomb interaction and confinement geometry greatly influence the quasiparticle band gap. Compared with previous tight-binding and density functional theory studies, our calculated quasiparticle band gaps show significant self-energy corrections for both armchair and zigzag GNRs, in the range of 0.5 3.0 eV for ribbons of width 2.4 0.4 nm. The quasiparticle band gaps found here suggest that use of GNRs for electronic device components in ambient conditions may be viable.

Measurement and control of quasiparticle dynamics in a superconducting qubit.

PubMed

Wang, C; Gao, Y Y; Pop, I M; Vool, U; Axline, C; Brecht, T; Heeres, R W; Frunzio, L; Devoret, M H; Catelani, G; Glazman, L I; Schoelkopf, R J

2014-12-18

Superconducting circuits have attracted growing interest in recent years as a promising candidate for fault-tolerant quantum information processing. Extensive efforts have always been taken to completely shield these circuits from external magnetic fields to protect the integrity of the superconductivity. Here we show vortices can improve the performance of superconducting qubits by reducing the lifetimes of detrimental single-electron-like excitations known as quasiparticles. Using a contactless injection technique with unprecedented dynamic range, we quantitatively distinguish between recombination and trapping mechanisms in controlling the dynamics of residual quasiparticle, and show quantized changes in quasiparticle trapping rate because of individual vortices. These results highlight the prominent role of quasiparticle trapping in future development of superconducting qubits, and provide a powerful characterization tool along the way.

Isotropic Kink and Quasiparticle Excitations in the Three-Dimensional Perovskite Manganite La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}MnO_{3}.

PubMed

Horiba, Koji; Kitamura, Miho; Yoshimatsu, Kohei; Minohara, Makoto; Sakai, Enju; Kobayashi, Masaki; Fujimori, Atsushi; Kumigashira, Hiroshi

2016-02-19

In order to reveal the many-body interactions in three-dimensional perovskite manganites that show colossal magnetoresistance, we performed an in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy on La_{0.6}Sr_{0.4}MnO_{3} and investigated the behavior of quasiparticles. We observed quasiparticle peaks near the Fermi momentum in both the electron and the hole bands, and clear kinks throughout the entire hole Fermi surface in the band dispersion. This isotropic behavior of quasiparticles and kinks suggests that polaronic quasiparticles produced by the coupling of electrons with Jahn-Teller phonons play an important role in the colossal magnetoresistance properties of the ferromagnetic metallic phase of three-dimensional manganites.

Scaling analysis of the non-Abelian quasiparticle tunneling in Z}}_k FQH states

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Qi; Jiang, Na; Wan, Xin; Hu, Zi-Xiang

2018-06-01

Quasiparticle tunneling between two counter propagating edges through point contacts could provide information on its statistics. Previous study of the short distance tunneling displays a scaling behavior, especially in the conformal limit with zero tunneling distance. The scaling exponents for the non-Abelian quasiparticle tunneling exhibit some non-trivial behaviors. In this work, we revisit the quasiparticle tunneling amplitudes and their scaling behavior in a full range of the tunneling distance by putting the electrons on the surface of a cylinder. The edge–edge distance can be smoothly tuned by varying the aspect ratio for a finite size cylinder. We analyze the scaling behavior of the quasiparticles for the Read–Rezayi states for and 4 both in the short and long tunneling distance region. The finite size scaling analysis automatically gives us a critical length scale where the anomalous correction appears. We demonstrate this length scale is related to the size of the quasiparticle at which the backscattering between two counter propagating edges starts to be significant.

Anomalous Electron Spectrum and Its Relation to Peak Structure of Electron Scattering Rate in Cuprate Superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Deheng; Mou, Yingping; Feng, Shiping

2018-02-01

The recent discovery of a direct link between the sharp peak in the electron quasiparticle scattering rate of cuprate superconductors and the well-known peak-dip-hump structure in the electron quasiparticle excitation spectrum is calling for an explanation. Within the framework of the kinetic-energy-driven superconducting mechanism, the complicated line-shape in the electron quasiparticle excitation spectrum of cuprate superconductors is investigated. It is shown that the interaction between electrons by the exchange of spin excitations generates a notable peak structure in the electron quasiparticle scattering rate around the antinodal and nodal regions. However, this peak structure disappears at the hot spots, which leads to that the striking peak-dip-hump structure is developed around the antinodal and nodal regions, and vanishes at the hot spots. The theory also confirms that the sharp peak observed in the electron quasiparticle scattering rate is directly responsible for the remarkable peak-dip-hump structure in the electron quasiparticle excitation spectrum of cuprate superconductors.

Decay of Bogoliubov excitations in one-dimensional Bose gases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ristivojevic, Zoran; Matveev, K. A.

For this research, we study the decay of Bogoliubov quasiparticles in one-dimensional Bose gases. Starting from the hydrodynamic Hamiltonian, we develop a microscopic theory that enables one to systematically study both the excitations and their decay. At zero temperature, the leading mechanism of decay of a quasiparticle is disintegration into three others. We find that low-energy quasiparticles (phonons) decay with the rate that scales with the seventh power of momentum, whereas the rate of decay of the high-energy quasiparticles does not depend on momentum. In addition, our approach allows us to study analytically the quasiparticle decay in the whole crossovermore » region between the two limiting cases. When applied to integrable models, including the Lieb-Liniger model of bosons with contact repulsion, our theory confirms the absence of the decay of quasiparticle excitations. Finally, we account for two types of integrability-breaking perturbations that enable finite decay: three-body interaction between the bosons and two-body interaction of finite range.« less

Decay of Bogoliubov excitations in one-dimensional Bose gases

DOE PAGES

Ristivojevic, Zoran; Matveev, K. A.

2016-07-11

For this research, we study the decay of Bogoliubov quasiparticles in one-dimensional Bose gases. Starting from the hydrodynamic Hamiltonian, we develop a microscopic theory that enables one to systematically study both the excitations and their decay. At zero temperature, the leading mechanism of decay of a quasiparticle is disintegration into three others. We find that low-energy quasiparticles (phonons) decay with the rate that scales with the seventh power of momentum, whereas the rate of decay of the high-energy quasiparticles does not depend on momentum. In addition, our approach allows us to study analytically the quasiparticle decay in the whole crossovermore » region between the two limiting cases. When applied to integrable models, including the Lieb-Liniger model of bosons with contact repulsion, our theory confirms the absence of the decay of quasiparticle excitations. Finally, we account for two types of integrability-breaking perturbations that enable finite decay: three-body interaction between the bosons and two-body interaction of finite range.« less

Surface impedance and optimum surface resistance of a superconductor with an imperfect surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gurevich, Alex; Kubo, Takayuki

2017-11-01

We calculate a low-frequency surface impedance of a dirty, s -wave superconductor with an imperfect surface incorporating either a thin layer with a reduced pairing constant or a thin, proximity-coupled normal layer. Such structures model realistic surfaces of superconducting materials which can contain oxide layers, absorbed impurities, or nonstoichiometric composition. We solved the Usadel equations self-consistently and obtained spatial distributions of the order parameter and the quasiparticle density of states which then were used to calculate a low-frequency surface resistance Rs(T ) and the magnetic penetration depth λ (T ) as functions of temperature in the limit of local London electrodynamics. It is shown that the imperfect surface in a single-band s -wave superconductor results in a nonexponential temperature dependence of Z (T ) at T ≪Tc which can mimic the behavior of multiband or d -wave superconductors. The imperfect surface and the broadening of the gap peaks in the quasiparticle density of states N (ɛ ) in the bulk give rise to a weakly temperature-dependent residual surface resistance. We show that the surface resistance can be optimized and even reduced below its value for an ideal surface by engineering N (ɛ ) at the surface using pair-breaking mechanisms, particularly by incorporating a small density of magnetic impurities or by tuning the thickness and conductivity of the normal layer and its contact resistance. The results of this work address the limit of Rs in superconductors at T ≪Tc , and the ways of engineering the optimal density of states by surface nanostructuring and impurities to reduce losses in superconducting microresonators, thin-film strip lines, and radio-frequency cavities for particle accelerators.

THE LOCAL GROUP IN THE COSMIC WEB

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Forero-Romero, J. E.; González, R., E-mail: je.forero@uniandes.edu.co, E-mail: regonzar@astro.puc.cl

We explore the characteristics of the cosmic web around Local-Group (LG)-like pairs using a cosmological simulation in the ΛCDM cosmology. We use the Hessian of the gravitational potential to classify regions on scales of ∼2 Mpc as a peak, sheet, filament, or void. The sample of LG counterparts is represented by two samples of halo pairs. The first is a general sample composed of pairs with similar masses and isolation criteria as observed for the LG. The second is a subset with additional observed kinematic constraints such as relative pair velocity and separation. We find that the pairs in the LGmore » sample with all constraints are: (1) preferentially located in filaments and sheets, (2) located in a narrow range of local overdensity 0 < δ < 2, web ellipticity 0.1 < e < 1.0, and prolateness –0.4 < p < 0.4, (3) strongly aligned with the cosmic web. The alignments are such that the pair orbital angular momentum tends to be perpendicular to the smallest tidal eigenvector, e-hat {sub 3}, which lies along the filament direction or the sheet plane. A stronger alignment is present for the vector linking the two halos with the vector e-hat {sub 3}. Additionally, we fail to find a strong correlation between the spin of each halo in the pair with the cosmic web. All of these trends are expected to a great extent from the selection of LG total mass in the general sample. Applied to the observed LG, there is a potential conflict between the alignments of the different satellite planes and the numerical evidence for satellite accretion along filaments; the direction defined by e-hat {sub 3}. This highlights the relevance of achieving a precise characterization for the location of the LG in the cosmic web in the cosmological context provided by ΛCDM.« less

New powerful statistics for alignment-free sequence comparison under a pattern transfer model.

PubMed

Liu, Xuemei; Wan, Lin; Li, Jing; Reinert, Gesine; Waterman, Michael S; Sun, Fengzhu

2011-09-07

Alignment-free sequence comparison is widely used for comparing gene regulatory regions and for identifying horizontally transferred genes. Recent studies on the power of a widely used alignment-free comparison statistic D2 and its variants D*2 and D(s)2 showed that their power approximates a limit smaller than 1 as the sequence length tends to infinity under a pattern transfer model. We develop new alignment-free statistics based on D2, D*2 and D(s)2 by comparing local sequence pairs and then summing over all the local sequence pairs of certain length. We show that the new statistics are much more powerful than the corresponding statistics and the power tends to 1 as the sequence length tends to infinity under the pattern transfer model. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

New Powerful Statistics for Alignment-free Sequence Comparison Under a Pattern Transfer Model

PubMed Central

Liu, Xuemei; Wan, Lin; Li, Jing; Reinert, Gesine; Waterman, Michael S.; Sun, Fengzhu

2011-01-01

Alignment-free sequence comparison is widely used for comparing gene regulatory regions and for identifying horizontally transferred genes. Recent studies on the power of a widely used alignment-free comparison statistic D2 and its variants D2∗ and D2s showed that their power approximates a limit smaller than 1 as the sequence length tends to infinity under a pattern transfer model. We develop new alignment-free statistics based on D2, D2∗ and D2s by comparing local sequence pairs and then summing over all the local sequence pairs of certain length. We show that the new statistics are much more powerful than the corresponding statistics and the power tends to 1 as the sequence length tends to infinity under the pattern transfer model. PMID:21723298

CAB-Align: A Flexible Protein Structure Alignment Method Based on the Residue-Residue Contact Area.

PubMed

Terashi, Genki; Takeda-Shitaka, Mayuko

2015-01-01

Proteins are flexible, and this flexibility has an essential functional role. Flexibility can be observed in loop regions, rearrangements between secondary structure elements, and conformational changes between entire domains. However, most protein structure alignment methods treat protein structures as rigid bodies. Thus, these methods fail to identify the equivalences of residue pairs in regions with flexibility. In this study, we considered that the evolutionary relationship between proteins corresponds directly to the residue-residue physical contacts rather than the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates of proteins. Thus, we developed a new protein structure alignment method, contact area-based alignment (CAB-align), which uses the residue-residue contact area to identify regions of similarity. The main purpose of CAB-align is to identify homologous relationships at the residue level between related protein structures. The CAB-align procedure comprises two main steps: First, a rigid-body alignment method based on local and global 3D structure superposition is employed to generate a sufficient number of initial alignments. Then, iterative dynamic programming is executed to find the optimal alignment. We evaluated the performance and advantages of CAB-align based on four main points: (1) agreement with the gold standard alignment, (2) alignment quality based on an evolutionary relationship without 3D coordinate superposition, (3) consistency of the multiple alignments, and (4) classification agreement with the gold standard classification. Comparisons of CAB-align with other state-of-the-art protein structure alignment methods (TM-align, FATCAT, and DaliLite) using our benchmark dataset showed that CAB-align performed robustly in obtaining high-quality alignments and generating consistent multiple alignments with high coverage and accuracy rates, and it performed extremely well when discriminating between homologous and nonhomologous pairs of proteins in both single and multi-domain comparisons. The CAB-align software is freely available to academic users as stand-alone software at http://www.pharm.kitasato-u.ac.jp/bmd/bmd/Publications.html.

Probabilistic biological network alignment.

PubMed

Todor, Andrei; Dobra, Alin; Kahveci, Tamer

2013-01-01

Interactions between molecules are probabilistic events. An interaction may or may not happen with some probability, depending on a variety of factors such as the size, abundance, or proximity of the interacting molecules. In this paper, we consider the problem of aligning two biological networks. Unlike existing methods, we allow one of the two networks to contain probabilistic interactions. Allowing interaction probabilities makes the alignment more biologically relevant at the expense of explosive growth in the number of alternative topologies that may arise from different subsets of interactions that take place. We develop a novel method that efficiently and precisely characterizes this massive search space. We represent the topological similarity between pairs of aligned molecules (i.e., proteins) with the help of random variables and compute their expected values. We validate our method showing that, without sacrificing the running time performance, it can produce novel alignments. Our results also demonstrate that our method identifies biologically meaningful mappings under a comprehensive set of criteria used in the literature as well as the statistical coherence measure that we developed to analyze the statistical significance of the similarity of the functions of the aligned protein pairs.

Alignment and Integration of Lightweight Mirror Segments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Evans, Tyler; Biskach, Michael; Mazzarella, Jim; McClelland, Ryan; Saha, Timo; Zhang, Will; Chan, Kai-Wing

2011-01-01

The optics for the International X-Ray Observatory (IXO) require alignment and integration of about fourteen thousand thin mirror segments to achieve the mission goal of 3.0 square meters of effective area at 1.25 keV with an angular resolution of five arc-seconds. These mirror segments are 0.4 mm thick, and 200 to 400 mm in size, which makes it difficult not to impart distortion at the sub-arc-second level. This paper outlines the precise alignment, permanent bonding, and verification testing techniques developed at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Improvements in alignment include new hardware and automation software. Improvements in bonding include two module new simulators to bond mirrors into, a glass housing for proving single pair bonding, and a Kovar module for bonding multiple pairs of mirrors. Three separate bonding trials were x-ray tested producing results meeting the requirement of sub ten arc-second alignment. This paper will highlight these recent advances in alignment, testing, and bonding techniques and the exciting developments in thin x-ray optic technology development.

A configuration space of homologous proteins conserving mutual information and allowing a phylogeny inference based on pair-wise Z-score probabilities.

PubMed

Bastien, Olivier; Ortet, Philippe; Roy, Sylvaine; Maréchal, Eric

2005-03-10

Popular methods to reconstruct molecular phylogenies are based on multiple sequence alignments, in which addition or removal of data may change the resulting tree topology. We have sought a representation of homologous proteins that would conserve the information of pair-wise sequence alignments, respect probabilistic properties of Z-scores (Monte Carlo methods applied to pair-wise comparisons) and be the basis for a novel method of consistent and stable phylogenetic reconstruction. We have built up a spatial representation of protein sequences using concepts from particle physics (configuration space) and respecting a frame of constraints deduced from pair-wise alignment score properties in information theory. The obtained configuration space of homologous proteins (CSHP) allows the representation of real and shuffled sequences, and thereupon an expression of the TULIP theorem for Z-score probabilities. Based on the CSHP, we propose a phylogeny reconstruction using Z-scores. Deduced trees, called TULIP trees, are consistent with multiple-alignment based trees. Furthermore, the TULIP tree reconstruction method provides a solution for some previously reported incongruent results, such as the apicomplexan enolase phylogeny. The CSHP is a unified model that conserves mutual information between proteins in the way physical models conserve energy. Applications include the reconstruction of evolutionary consistent and robust trees, the topology of which is based on a spatial representation that is not reordered after addition or removal of sequences. The CSHP and its assigned phylogenetic topology, provide a powerful and easily updated representation for massive pair-wise genome comparisons based on Z-score computations.

ELECTRODYNAMICS OF AXISYMMETRIC PULSAR MAGNETOSPHERE WITH ELECTRON-POSITRON DISCHARGE: A NUMERICAL EXPERIMENT

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chen, Alexander Y.; Beloborodov, Andrei M., E-mail: amb@phys.columbia.edu

2014-11-01

We present the first self-consistent global simulations of pulsar magnetospheres with operating e {sup ±} discharge. We focus on the simple configuration of an aligned or anti-aligned rotator. The star is spun up from a zero (vacuum) state to a high angular velocity, and we follow the coupled evolution of its external electromagnetic field and plasma particles using the ''particle-in-cell'' method. A plasma magnetosphere begins to form through the extraction of particles from the star; these particles are accelerated by the rotation-induced electric field, producing curvature radiation and igniting e {sup ±} discharge. We follow the system evolution for severalmore » revolution periods, longer than required to reach a quasi-steady state. Our numerical experiment puts to test previous ideas for the plasma flow and gaps in the pulsar magnetosphere. We first consider rotators capable of producing pairs out to the light cylinder through photon-photon collisions. We find that their magnetospheres are similar to the previously obtained force-free solutions with a Y-shaped current sheet. The magnetosphere continually ejects e {sup ±} pairs and ions. Pair creation is sustained by a strong electric field along the current sheet. We observe powerful curvature and synchrotron emission from the current sheet, consistent with Fermi observations of gamma-ray pulsars. We then study pulsars that can only create pairs in the strong-field region near the neutron star, well inside the light cylinder. We find that both aligned and anti-aligned rotators relax to the ''dead'' state with suppressed pair creation and electric currents, regardless of the discharge voltage.« less

Calculations of the β-decay half-lives of neutron-deficient nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tan, Wenjin; Ni, Dongdong; Ren, Zhongzhou

2017-05-01

In this work, β+/EC decays of some medium-mass nuclei are investigated within the extended quasiparticle random-phase approximation (QRPA), where neutron-neutron, proton-proton and neutron-proton (np) pairing correlations are taken into consideration in the specialized Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) transformation. In addition to the pairing interaction, the Brückner G-matrix obtained with the charge-dependent Bonn nucleon-nucleon force is used for the residual particle-particle and particle-hole interactions. Calculations are performed for even-even proton-rich isotopes ranging from Z=24 to Z=34. It is found that the np pairing interaction plays a significant role in β-decay for some nuclei far from stability. Compared with other theoretical calculations, our calculations show good agreement with the available experimental data. Predictions of β-decay half-lives for some very neutron-deficient nuclei are made for reference. Supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (11535004, 11375086, 11120101005, 11175085 and 11235001), 973 Nation Major State Basic Research and Development of China (2013CB834400) and Science and Technology Development Fund of Macau (020/2014/A1 and 039/2013/A2)

Engineered plant biomass feedstock particles

DOEpatents

Dooley, James H [Federal Way, WA; Lanning, David N [Federal Way, WA; Broderick, Thomas F [Lake Forest Park, WA

2012-04-17

A new class of plant biomass feedstock particles characterized by consistent piece size and shape uniformity, high skeletal surface area, and good flow properties. The particles of plant biomass material having fibers aligned in a grain are characterized by a length dimension (L) aligned substantially parallel to the grain and defining a substantially uniform distance along the grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) normal to W and L. In particular, the L.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel side surfaces characterized by substantially intact longitudinally arrayed fibers, the W.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel end surfaces characterized by crosscut fibers and end checking between fibers, and the L.times.W dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces. The L.times.W surfaces of particles with L/H dimension ratios of 4:1 or less are further elaborated by surface checking between longitudinally arrayed fibers. The length dimension L is preferably aligned within 30.degree. parallel to the grain, and more preferably within 10.degree. parallel to the grain. The plant biomass material is preferably selected from among wood, agricultural crop residues, plantation grasses, hemp, bagasse, and bamboo.

Community detection in sequence similarity networks based on attribute clustering

DOE PAGES

Chowdhary, Janamejaya; Loeffler, Frank E.; Smith, Jeremy C.

2017-07-24

Networks are powerful tools for the presentation and analysis of interactions in multi-component systems. A commonly studied mesoscopic feature of networks is their community structure, which arises from grouping together similar nodes into one community and dissimilar nodes into separate communities. Here in this paper, the community structure of protein sequence similarity networks is determined with a new method: Attribute Clustering Dependent Communities (ACDC). Sequence similarity has hitherto typically been quantified by the alignment score or its expectation value. However, pair alignments with the same score or expectation value cannot thus be differentiated. To overcome this deficiency, the method constructs,more » for pair alignments, an extended alignment metric, the link attribute vector, which includes the score and other alignment characteristics. Rescaling components of the attribute vectors qualitatively identifies a systematic variation of sequence similarity within protein superfamilies. The problem of community detection is then mapped to clustering the link attribute vectors, selection of an optimal subset of links and community structure refinement based on the partition density of the network. ACDC-predicted communities are found to be in good agreement with gold standard sequence databases for which the "ground truth" community structures (or families) are known. ACDC is therefore a community detection method for sequence similarity networks based entirely on pair similarity information. A serial implementation of ACDC is available from https://cmb.ornl.gov/resources/developments« less

Community detection in sequence similarity networks based on attribute clustering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chowdhary, Janamejaya; Loeffler, Frank E.; Smith, Jeremy C.

Networks are powerful tools for the presentation and analysis of interactions in multi-component systems. A commonly studied mesoscopic feature of networks is their community structure, which arises from grouping together similar nodes into one community and dissimilar nodes into separate communities. Here in this paper, the community structure of protein sequence similarity networks is determined with a new method: Attribute Clustering Dependent Communities (ACDC). Sequence similarity has hitherto typically been quantified by the alignment score or its expectation value. However, pair alignments with the same score or expectation value cannot thus be differentiated. To overcome this deficiency, the method constructs,more » for pair alignments, an extended alignment metric, the link attribute vector, which includes the score and other alignment characteristics. Rescaling components of the attribute vectors qualitatively identifies a systematic variation of sequence similarity within protein superfamilies. The problem of community detection is then mapped to clustering the link attribute vectors, selection of an optimal subset of links and community structure refinement based on the partition density of the network. ACDC-predicted communities are found to be in good agreement with gold standard sequence databases for which the "ground truth" community structures (or families) are known. ACDC is therefore a community detection method for sequence similarity networks based entirely on pair similarity information. A serial implementation of ACDC is available from https://cmb.ornl.gov/resources/developments« less

Noise of a Chargeless Fermi Liquid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moca, Cǎtǎlin Paşcu; Mora, Christophe; Weymann, Ireneusz; Zaránd, Gergely

2018-01-01

We construct a Fermi liquid theory to describe transport in a superconductor-quantum dot-normal metal junction close to the singlet-doublet (parity changing) transition of the dot. Though quasiparticles do not have a definite charge in this chargeless Fermi liquid, in the case of particle-hole symmetry, a mapping to the Anderson model unveils a hidden U(1) symmetry and a corresponding pseudocharge. In contrast to other correlated Fermi liquids, the back scattering noise reveals an effective charge equal to the charge of Cooper pairs, e*=2 e . In addition, we find a strong suppression of noise when the linear conductance is unitary, even for its nonlinear part.

Scaling analysis of the non-Abelian quasiparticle tunneling in [Formula: see text] FQH states.

PubMed

Li, Qi; Jiang, Na; Wan, Xin; Hu, Zi-Xiang

2018-06-27

Quasiparticle tunneling between two counter propagating edges through point contacts could provide information on its statistics. Previous study of the short distance tunneling displays a scaling behavior, especially in the conformal limit with zero tunneling distance. The scaling exponents for the non-Abelian quasiparticle tunneling exhibit some non-trivial behaviors. In this work, we revisit the quasiparticle tunneling amplitudes and their scaling behavior in a full range of the tunneling distance by putting the electrons on the surface of a cylinder. The edge-edge distance can be smoothly tuned by varying the aspect ratio for a finite size cylinder. We analyze the scaling behavior of the quasiparticles for the Read-Rezayi [Formula: see text] states for [Formula: see text] and 4 both in the short and long tunneling distance region. The finite size scaling analysis automatically gives us a critical length scale where the anomalous correction appears. We demonstrate this length scale is related to the size of the quasiparticle at which the backscattering between two counter propagating edges starts to be significant.

A Quasiparticle Detector for Imaging Quantum Turbulence in Superfluid He-B

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahlstrom, S. L.; Bradley, D. I.; Fisher, S. N.; Guénault, A. M.; Guise, E. A.; Haley, R. P.; Holt, S.; Kolosov, O.; McClintock, P. V. E.; Pickett, G. R.; Poole, M.; Schanen, R.; Tsepelin, V.; Woods, A. J.

2014-06-01

We describe the development of a two-dimensional quasiparticle detector for use in visualising quantum turbulence in superfluid He-B at ultra-low temperatures. The detector consists of a matrix of pixels, each a 1 mm diameter hole in a copper block containing a miniature quartz tuning fork. The damping on each fork provides a measure of the local quasiparticle flux. The detector is illuminated by a beam of ballistic quasiparticles generated from a nearby black-body radiator. A comparison of the damping on the different forks provides a measure of the cross-sectional profile of the beam. Further, we generate a tangle of vortices (quantum turbulence) in the path of the beam using a vibrating wire resonator. The vortices cast a shadow onto the face of the detector due to the Andreev reflection of quasiparticles in the beam. This allows us to image the vortices and to investigate their dynamics. Here we give details of the design and construction of the detector and show some preliminary results for one row of pixels which demonstrates its successful application to measuring quasiparticle beams and quantum turbulence.

Quasiparticle semiconductor band structures including spin-orbit interactions.

PubMed

Malone, Brad D; Cohen, Marvin L

2013-03-13

We present first-principles calculations of the quasiparticle band structure of the group IV materials Si and Ge and the group III-V compound semiconductors AlP, AlAs, AlSb, InP, InAs, InSb, GaP, GaAs and GaSb. Calculations are performed using the plane wave pseudopotential method and the 'one-shot' GW method, i.e. G(0)W(0). Quasiparticle band structures, augmented with the effects of spin-orbit, are obtained via a Wannier interpolation of the obtained quasiparticle energies and calculated spin-orbit matrix. Our calculations explicitly treat the shallow semicore states of In and Ga, which are known to be important in the description of the electronic properties, as valence states in the quasiparticle calculation. Our calculated quasiparticle energies, combining both the ab initio evaluation of the electron self-energy and the vector part of the pseudopotential representing the spin-orbit effects, are in generally very good agreement with experimental values. These calculations illustrate the predictive power of the methodology as applied to group IV and III-V semiconductors.

Strong lattice correlation of non-equilibrium quasiparticles in a pseudospin-1/2 Mott insulator Sr 2IrO 4

DOE PAGES

Li, Yuelin; Schaller, Richard D.; Zhu, Mengze; ...

2016-01-20

In correlated oxides the coupling of quasiparticles to other degrees of freedom such as spin and lattice plays critical roles in the emergence of symmetry-breaking quantum ordered states such as high temperature superconductivity. We report a strong lattice coupling of photon-induced quasiparticles in spin-orbital coupling Mott insulator Sr 2IrO 4 probed via optical excitation. Combining time-resolved x-ray diffraction and optical spectroscopy techniques, we reconstruct a spatiotemporal map of the diffusion of these quasiparticles. Lastly, due to the unique electronic configuration of the quasiparticles, the strong lattice correlation is unexpected but extends the similarity between Sr 2IrO 4 and cuprates tomore » a new dimension of electron-phonon coupling which persists under highly non-equilibrium conditions.« less

Measuring Three-Dimensional Thorax Motion Via Biplane Radiographic Imaging: Technique and Preliminary Results.

PubMed

Baumer, Timothy G; Giles, Joshua W; Drake, Anne; Zauel, Roger; Bey, Michael J

2016-01-01

Measures of scapulothoracic motion are dependent on accurate imaging of the scapula and thorax. Advanced radiographic techniques can provide accurate measures of scapular motion, but the limited 3D imaging volume of these techniques often precludes measurement of thorax motion. To overcome this, a thorax coordinate system was defined based on the position of rib pairs and then compared to a conventional sternum/spine-based thorax coordinate system. Alignment of the rib-based coordinate system was dependent on the rib pairs used, with the rib3:rib4 pairing aligned to within 4.4 ± 2.1 deg of the conventional thorax coordinate system.

Engineered plant biomass particles coated with biological agents

DOEpatents

Dooley, James H.; Lanning, David N.

2014-06-24

Plant biomass particles coated with a biological agent such as a bacterium or seed, characterized by a length dimension (L) aligned substantially parallel to a grain direction and defining a substantially uniform distance along the grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) normal to W and L. In particular, the L.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel side surfaces characterized by substantially intact longitudinally arrayed fibers, the W.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel end surfaces characterized by crosscut fibers and end checking between fibers, and the L.times.W dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces.

Kondo dynamics of quasiparticle tunneling in a two-reservoir Anderson model.

PubMed

Hong, Jongbae

2011-07-13

We study the Kondo dynamics in a two-reservoir Anderson impurity model in which quasiparticle tunneling occurs between two reservoirs. We show that singlet hopping is an essential component of Kondo dynamics in the quasiparticle tunneling. We prove that two resonant tunneling levels exist in the two-reservoir Anderson impurity model and the quasiparticle tunnels through one of these levels when a bias is applied. The Kondo dynamics is explained by obtaining the retarded Green's function. We obtain the analytic expressions of the spectral weights of coherent peaks by analyzing the Green's function at the atomic limit.

DNA sequence alignment by microhomology sampling during homologous recombination

PubMed Central

Qi, Zhi; Redding, Sy; Lee, Ja Yil; Gibb, Bryan; Kwon, YoungHo; Niu, Hengyao; Gaines, William A.; Sung, Patrick

2015-01-01

Summary Homologous recombination (HR) mediates the exchange of genetic information between sister or homologous chromatids. During HR, members of the RecA/Rad51 family of recombinases must somehow search through vast quantities of DNA sequence to align and pair ssDNA with a homologous dsDNA template. Here we use single-molecule imaging to visualize Rad51 as it aligns and pairs homologous DNA sequences in real-time. We show that Rad51 uses a length-based recognition mechanism while interrogating dsDNA, enabling robust kinetic selection of 8-nucleotide (nt) tracts of microhomology, which kinetically confines the search to sites with a high probability of being a homologous target. Successful pairing with a 9th nucleotide coincides with an additional reduction in binding free energy and subsequent strand exchange occurs in precise 3-nt steps, reflecting the base triplet organization of the presynaptic complex. These findings provide crucial new insights into the physical and evolutionary underpinnings of DNA recombination. PMID:25684365

What difference reveals about similarity.

PubMed

Sagi, Eyal; Gentner, Dedre; Lovett, Andrew

2012-08-01

Detecting that two images are different is faster for highly dissimilar images than for highly similar images. Paradoxically, we showed that the reverse occurs when people are asked to describe how two images differ--that is, to state a difference between two images. Following structure-mapping theory, we propose that this disassociation arises from the multistage nature of the comparison process. Detecting that two images are different can be done in the initial (local-matching) stage, but only for pairs with low overlap; thus, "different" responses are faster for low-similarity than for high-similarity pairs. In contrast, identifying a specific difference generally requires a full structural alignment of the two images, and this alignment process is faster for high-similarity pairs. We described four experiments that demonstrate this dissociation and show that the results can be simulated using the Structure-Mapping Engine. These results pose a significant challenge for nonstructural accounts of similarity comparison and suggest that structural alignment processes play a significant role in visual comparison. Copyright © 2012 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

The Wildcat Corpus of Native- and Foreign-Accented English: Communicative Efficiency across Conversational Dyads with Varying Language Alignment Profiles

PubMed Central

Van Engen, Kristin J.; Baese-Berk, Melissa; Baker, Rachel E.; Choi, Arim; Kim, Midam; Bradlow, Ann R.

2012-01-01

This paper describes the development of the Wildcat Corpus of native- and foreign-accented English, a corpus containing scripted and spontaneous speech recordings from 24 native speakers of American English and 52 non-native speakers of English. The core element of this corpus is a set of spontaneous speech recordings, for which a new method of eliciting dialogue-based, laboratory-quality speech recordings was developed (the Diapix task). Dialogues between two native speakers of English, between two non-native speakers of English (with either shared or different L1s), and between one native and one non-native speaker of English are included and analyzed in terms of general measures of communicative efficiency. The overall finding was that pairs of native talkers were most efficient, followed by mixed native/non-native pairs and non-native pairs with shared L1. Non-native pairs with different L1s were least efficient. These results support the hypothesis that successful speech communication depends both on the alignment of talkers to the target language and on the alignment of talkers to one another in terms of native language background. PMID:21313992

Strong coupling between localized 5f moments and itinerant quasiparticles in the ferromagnetic superconductor UGe2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Wen; Liu, Yi; Wang, Xiaoying; Zhang, Yun; Xie, Donghua

2018-03-01

The heavy fermion physics arises from the complex interplay of nearly localized 4f/5f electrons and itinerant band-like ones, yielding heavy quasiparticles with an effective mass about 100 times (or more) of the bare electrons. Recently, experimental and theoretical investigations point out a localized and delocalized dual nature in actinide compounds, where itinerant quasiparticles account for the unconventional superconductivity in the vicinity of a magnetic instability. Here we report the strong coupling between localized 5f moments and itinerant quasiparticles in the ferromagnetic superconductor UGe2. The coupling is nearly antiferromagnetic. As embedded in the ferromagnetic matrix of localized 5f moments below {T}{{C}}≈ 52 {{K}}, this coupling leads to short-range dynamic correlations of heavy quasiparticles, characterized by fluctuations of magnetic clusters. Those cluster-like spins of itinerant quasiparticles show a broad hump of magnetization at {T}X≈ 28 {{K}}, which is typical for the spin-glass freezing. Thus, our results present the direct observation of itinerant quasiparticles coexisting with localized 5f moments by conventional magnetic measurements, providing a new route into the coexistence between ferromagnetism and superconductivity in heavy fermion systems. Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11404297), the Science Challenge Project (Grant No. TZ2016004), and the Science and Technology Foundation of China Academy of Engineering Physics (Grant Nos. 2013B0301050 and 2014A0301013).

StructAlign, a Program for Alignment of Structures of DNA-Protein Complexes.

PubMed

Popov, Ya V; Galitsyna, A A; Alexeevski, A V; Karyagina, A S; Spirin, S A

2015-11-01

Comparative analysis of structures of complexes of homologous proteins with DNA is important in the analysis of DNA-protein recognition. Alignment is a necessary stage of the analysis. An alignment is a matching of amino acid residues and nucleotides of one complex to residues and nucleotides of the other. Currently, there are no programs available for aligning structures of DNA-protein complexes. We present the program StructAlign, which should fill this gap. The program inputs a pair of complexes of DNA double helix with proteins and outputs an alignment of DNA chains corresponding to the best spatial fit of the protein chains.

RF Control and Measurement of Superconducting Qubits

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-02-14

Schoelkopf, Leonid I. Glazman, Michel H. Devoret. Coherent suppression of electromagnetic dissipation due to superconducting quasiparticles ...Frunzio, L.?I. Glazman, M.?H. Devoret. Non-Poissonian Quantum Jumps of a Fluxonium Qubit due to Quasiparticle Excitations, Physical Review Letters...Devoret, G. Catelani, L. I. Glazman, R. J. Schoelkopf. Measurement and control of quasiparticle dynamics in a superconducting qubit, Nature

Genetically improved BarraCUDA.

PubMed

Langdon, W B; Lam, Brian Yee Hong

2017-01-01

BarraCUDA is an open source C program which uses the BWA algorithm in parallel with nVidia CUDA to align short next generation DNA sequences against a reference genome. Recently its source code was optimised using "Genetic Improvement". The genetically improved (GI) code is up to three times faster on short paired end reads from The 1000 Genomes Project and 60% more accurate on a short BioPlanet.com GCAT alignment benchmark. GPGPU BarraCUDA running on a single K80 Tesla GPU can align short paired end nextGen sequences up to ten times faster than bwa on a 12 core server. The speed up was such that the GI version was adopted and has been regularly downloaded from SourceForge for more than 12 months.

Measurement of filling factor 5/2 quasiparticle interference with observation of charge e/4 and e/2 period oscillations.

PubMed

Willett, R L; Pfeiffer, L N; West, K W

2009-06-02

A standing problem in low-dimensional electron systems is the nature of the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state: Its elementary excitations are a focus for both elucidating the state's properties and as candidates in methods to perform topological quantum computation. Interferometric devices may be used to manipulate and measure quantum Hall edge excitations. Here we use a small-area edge state interferometer designed to observe quasiparticle interference effects. Oscillations consistent in detail with the Aharonov-Bohm effect are observed for integer quantum Hall and FQH states (filling factors nu = 2, 5/3, and 7/3) with periods corresponding to their respective charges and magnetic field positions. With these factors as charge calibrations, periodic transmission through the device consistent with quasiparticle charge e/4 is observed at nu = 5/2 and at lowest temperatures. The principal finding of this work is that, in addition to these e/4 oscillations, periodic structures corresponding to e/2 are also observed at 5/2 nu and at lowest temperatures. Properties of the e/4 and e/2 oscillations are examined with the device sensitivity sufficient to observe temperature evolution of the 5/2 quasiparticle interference. In the model of quasiparticle interference, this presence of an effective e/2 period may empirically reflect an e/2 quasiparticle charge or may reflect multiple passes of the e/4 quasiparticle around the interferometer. These results are discussed within a picture of e/4 quasiparticle excitations potentially possessing non-Abelian statistics. These studies demonstrate the capacity to perform interferometry on 5/2 excitations and reveal properties important for understanding this state and its excitations.

Justifying quasiparticle self-consistent schemes via gradient optimization in Baym-Kadanoff theory.

PubMed

Ismail-Beigi, Sohrab

2017-09-27

The question of which non-interacting Green's function 'best' describes an interacting many-body electronic system is both of fundamental interest as well as of practical importance in describing electronic properties of materials in a realistic manner. Here, we study this question within the framework of Baym-Kadanoff theory, an approach where one locates the stationary point of a total energy functional of the one-particle Green's function in order to find the total ground-state energy as well as all one-particle properties such as the density matrix, chemical potential, or the quasiparticle energy spectrum and quasiparticle wave functions. For the case of the Klein functional, our basic finding is that minimizing the length of the gradient of the total energy functional over non-interacting Green's functions yields a set of self-consistent equations for quasiparticles that is identical to those of the quasiparticle self-consistent GW (QSGW) (van Schilfgaarde et al 2006 Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 226402-4) approach, thereby providing an a priori justification for such an approach to electronic structure calculations. In fact, this result is general, applies to any self-energy operator, and is not restricted to any particular approximation, e.g., the GW approximation for the self-energy. The approach also shows that, when working in the basis of quasiparticle states, solving the diagonal part of the self-consistent Dyson equation is of primary importance while the off-diagonals are of secondary importance, a common observation in the electronic structure literature of self-energy calculations. Finally, numerical tests and analytical arguments show that when the Dyson equation produces multiple quasiparticle solutions corresponding to a single non-interacting state, minimizing the length of the gradient translates into choosing the solution with largest quasiparticle weight.

Measurement of filling factor 5/2 quasiparticle interference with observation of charge e/4 and e/2 period oscillations

PubMed Central

Willett, R. L.; Pfeiffer, L. N.; West, K. W.

2009-01-01

A standing problem in low-dimensional electron systems is the nature of the 5/2 fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state: Its elementary excitations are a focus for both elucidating the state's properties and as candidates in methods to perform topological quantum computation. Interferometric devices may be used to manipulate and measure quantum Hall edge excitations. Here we use a small-area edge state interferometer designed to observe quasiparticle interference effects. Oscillations consistent in detail with the Aharonov–Bohm effect are observed for integer quantum Hall and FQH states (filling factors ν = 2, 5/3, and 7/3) with periods corresponding to their respective charges and magnetic field positions. With these factors as charge calibrations, periodic transmission through the device consistent with quasiparticle charge e/4 is observed at ν = 5/2 and at lowest temperatures. The principal finding of this work is that, in addition to these e/4 oscillations, periodic structures corresponding to e/2 are also observed at 5/2 ν and at lowest temperatures. Properties of the e/4 and e/2 oscillations are examined with the device sensitivity sufficient to observe temperature evolution of the 5/2 quasiparticle interference. In the model of quasiparticle interference, this presence of an effective e/2 period may empirically reflect an e/2 quasiparticle charge or may reflect multiple passes of the e/4 quasiparticle around the interferometer. These results are discussed within a picture of e/4 quasiparticle excitations potentially possessing non-Abelian statistics. These studies demonstrate the capacity to perform interferometry on 5/2 excitations and reveal properties important for understanding this state and its excitations. PMID:19433804

Scattering of a vortex pair by a single quantum vortex in a Bose–Einstein condensate

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Smirnov, L. A., E-mail: smirnov-lev@allp.sci-nnov.ru; Smirnov, A. I., E-mail: smirnov@appl.sci-nnov.ru; Mironov, V. A.

We analyze the scattering of vortex pairs (the particular case of 2D dark solitons) by a single quantum vortex in a Bose–Einstein condensate with repulsive interaction between atoms. For this purpose, an asymptotic theory describing the dynamics of such 2D soliton-like formations in an arbitrary smoothly nonuniform flow of a ultracold Bose gas is developed. Disregarding the radiation loss associated with acoustic wave emission, we demonstrate that vortex–antivortex pairs can be put in correspondence with quasiparticles, and their behavior can be described by canonical Hamilton equations. For these equations, we determine the integrals of motion that can be used tomore » classify various regimes of scattering of vortex pairs by a single quantum vortex. Theoretical constructions are confirmed by numerical calculations performed directly in terms of the Gross–Pitaevskii equation. We propose a method for estimating the radiation loss in a collision of a soliton-like formation with a phase singularity. It is shown by direct numerical simulation that under certain conditions, the interaction of vortex pairs with a core of a single quantum vortex is accompanied by quite intense acoustic wave emission; as a result, the conditions for applicability of the asymptotic theory developed here are violated. In particular, it is visually demonstrated by a specific example how radiation losses lead to a transformation of a vortex–antivortex pair into a vortex-free 2D dark soliton (i.e., to the annihilation of phase singularities).« less

Differences between the insulating limit quasiparticles of one-band and three-band cuprate models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ebrahimnejad, H.; Sawatzky, G. A.; Berciu, M.

2016-03-01

We study the charge dynamics of the quasiparticle that forms when a single hole is doped in a two-dimensional antiferromagnet as described by the one-band t-{{t}\\prime} -{{t}\\prime \\prime} -J model, using a variational approximation that includes spin fluctuations in the vicinity of the hole. We explain why the spin fluctuations and the longer range hopping have complementary contributions to the quasiparticle dynamics, and thus why both are essential to obtain a dispersion in agreement with that measured experimentally. This is very different from the three-band Emery model in the strongly-correlated limit, where the same variational approximation shows that spin fluctuations have a minor effect on the quasiparticle dynamics. This difference proves that these one-band and three-band models describe qualitatively different quasiparticles in the insulating limit, and therefore that they cannot both be suitable to describe the physics of very underdoped cuprates.

GW quasiparticle bandgaps of anatase TiO2 starting from DFT + U.

PubMed

Patrick, Christopher E; Giustino, Feliciano

2012-05-23

We investigate the quasiparticle band structure of anatase TiO(2), a wide gap semiconductor widely employed in photovoltaics and photocatalysis. We obtain GW quasiparticle energies starting from density-functional theory (DFT) calculations including Hubbard U corrections. Using a simple iterative procedure we determine the value of the Hubbard parameter yielding a vanishing quasiparticle correction to the fundamental bandgap of anatase TiO(2). The bandgap (3.3 eV) calculated using this optimal Hubbard parameter is smaller than the value obtained by applying many-body perturbation theory to standard DFT eigenstates and eigenvalues (3.7 eV). We extend our analysis to the rutile polymorph of TiO(2) and reach similar conclusions. Our work highlights the role of the starting non-interacting Hamiltonian in the calculation of GW quasiparticle energies in TiO(2) and suggests an optimal Hubbard parameter for future calculations.

Tunable quasiparticle trapping in Meissner and vortex states of mesoscopic superconductors.

PubMed

Taupin, M; Khaymovich, I M; Meschke, M; Mel'nikov, A S; Pekola, J P

2016-03-16

Nowadays, superconductors serve in numerous applications, from high-field magnets to ultrasensitive detectors of radiation. Mesoscopic superconducting devices, referring to those with nanoscale dimensions, are in a special position as they are easily driven out of equilibrium under typical operating conditions. The out-of-equilibrium superconductors are characterized by non-equilibrium quasiparticles. These extra excitations can compromise the performance of mesoscopic devices by introducing, for example, leakage currents or decreased coherence time in quantum devices. By applying an external magnetic field, one can conveniently suppress or redistribute the population of excess quasiparticles. In this article, we present an experimental demonstration and a theoretical analysis of such effective control of quasiparticles, resulting in electron cooling both in the Meissner and vortex states of a mesoscopic superconductor. We introduce a theoretical model of quasiparticle dynamics, which is in quantitative agreement with the experimental data.

Tunable quasiparticle trapping in Meissner and vortex states of mesoscopic superconductors

PubMed Central

Taupin, M.; Khaymovich, I. M.; Meschke, M.; Mel'nikov, A. S.; Pekola, J. P.

2016-01-01

Nowadays, superconductors serve in numerous applications, from high-field magnets to ultrasensitive detectors of radiation. Mesoscopic superconducting devices, referring to those with nanoscale dimensions, are in a special position as they are easily driven out of equilibrium under typical operating conditions. The out-of-equilibrium superconductors are characterized by non-equilibrium quasiparticles. These extra excitations can compromise the performance of mesoscopic devices by introducing, for example, leakage currents or decreased coherence time in quantum devices. By applying an external magnetic field, one can conveniently suppress or redistribute the population of excess quasiparticles. In this article, we present an experimental demonstration and a theoretical analysis of such effective control of quasiparticles, resulting in electron cooling both in the Meissner and vortex states of a mesoscopic superconductor. We introduce a theoretical model of quasiparticle dynamics, which is in quantitative agreement with the experimental data. PMID:26980225

Backbendings of superdeformed bands in 36;40Ar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, Xu-Hui; He, Xiao-Tao

2018-05-01

Experimentally observed superdeformed (SD) rotational bands in 36Ar and 40Ar are studied by the cranked shell model (CSM) with the pairing correlations treated by a particle-number-conserving (PNC) method. This is the first time that PNC-CSM calculations have been performed on the light nuclear mass region around A=40. The experimental kinematic moments of inertia J (1) versus rotational frequency are reproduced well. The backbending of the SD band at frequency around ℏω=1.5 MeV in 36Ar is attributed to the sharp rise of the simultaneous alignments of the neutron and proton 1d 5/2[202]5/2 pairs and 1f 7/2[321]3/2 pairs, which is a consequence of the band crossing between the 1d 5/2[202]5/2 and 1f 7/2[321]3/2 configuration states. The gentle upbending at low frequency of the SD band in 40Ar is mainly affected by the alignments of the neutron 1f 7/2[321]3/2 pairs and proton 1d 5/2[202]5/2 pairs. The PNC-CSM calculations show that besides the diagonal parts, the off-diagonal parts of the alignments play an important role in the rotational behavior of the SD bands. Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (11775112 and 11275098) and the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions

(DARPA) Topologically Protected Quantum Information Processing In Spin-Orbit Compled Semiconductors

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-12-17

expression for the disorder suppression of the superconducting quasiparticle gap in the topological superconducting states carrying MFs. Our principle...assisted electron transfer amplitude (derived from the fractionalization property of the MFs) the quasiparticle tunneling from to through the...mesoscopic rings, the energy-level of such a quasiparticle excitation spectrum in the ring is expected to develop a periodic dependence on

Irrational Charge from Topological Order

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moessner, R.; Sondhi, S. L.

2010-10-01

Topological or deconfined phases of matter exhibit emergent gauge fields and quasiparticles that carry a corresponding gauge charge. In systems with an intrinsic conserved U(1) charge, such as all electronic systems where the Coulombic charge plays this role, these quasiparticles are also characterized by their intrinsic charge. We show that one can take advantage of the topological order fairly generally to produce periodic Hamiltonians which endow the quasiparticles with continuously variable, generically irrational, intrinsic charges. Examples include various topologically ordered lattice models, the three-dimensional resonating valence bond liquid on bipartite lattices as well as water and spin ice. By contrast, the gauge charges of the quasiparticles retain their quantized values.

Study of transionospheric signal scintillation: Quasi- particle approach

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyle, Ruthie D.

1998-07-01

A quasi-particle approach is applied to study amplitude scintillation of transionospheric signals caused by Bottomside Sinusoidal (BSS) irregularities. The quasi- particle method exploits wave-particle duality, viewing the wave as a distribution of quasi-particles. This is accomplished by transforming the autocorrelation of the wave function into a Wigner distribution function, which serves as a distribution of quasi-particles in the (/vec r,/ /vec k) phase space. The quasi-particle distribution at any instant of time represents the instantaneous state of the wave. Scattering of the signal by the ionospheric irregularities is equivalent to the evolution of the quasi-particle distribution, due to the collision of the quasi-particles with objects arising from the presence of the BSS irregularities. Subsequently, the perturbed quasi-particle distribution facilitates the computation of average space time propagation properties of the wave. Thus, the scintillation index S4 is determined. Incorporation of essential BSS features in the analysis is accomplished by analytically modeling the power spectrum of the BSS irregularities measured in-situ by the low orbiting Atmosphere-E (AE - E) Satellite. The effect of BSS irregularities on transionospheric signals has been studied. The numerical results agree well with multi-satellite scintillation observations made at Huancayo Peru in close time correspondence with BSS irregularities observed by the AE - E satellite over a few nights (December 8-11, 1979). During this period, the severity of the scintillation varied from moderate to intense, S4 = 0.1-0.8.

Engineered plant biomass particles coated with bioactive agents

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dooley, James H; Lanning, David N

Plant biomass particles coated with a bioactive agent such as a fertilizer or pesticide, characterized by a length dimension (L) aligned substantially parallel to a grain direction and defining a substantially uniform distance along the grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) normal to W and L. In particular, the L.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel side surfaces characterized by substantially intact longitudinally arrayed fibers, the W.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel end surfaces characterized by crosscut fibers and end checking between fibers, and the L.times.Wmore » dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel top and bottom surfaces.« less

Self-energy of an impurity in an ideal Fermi gas to second order in the interaction strength

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trefzger, Christian; Castin, Yvan

2014-09-01

We study in three dimensions the problem of a spatially homogeneous zero-temperature ideal Fermi gas of spin-polarized particles of mass m perturbed by the presence of a single distinguishable impurity of mass M. The interaction between the impurity and the fermions involves only the partial s wave through the scattering length a and has negligible range b compared to the inverse Fermi wave number 1/kF of the gas. Through the interactions with the Fermi gas the impurity gives birth to a quasiparticle, which will be here a Fermi polaron (or more precisely a monomeron). We consider the general case of an impurity moving with wave vector K ≠0: Then the quasiparticle acquires a finite lifetime in its initial momentum channel because it can radiate particle-hole pairs in the Fermi sea. A description of the system using a variational approach, based on a finite number of particle-hole excitations of the Fermi sea, then becomes inappropriate around K =0. We rely thus upon perturbation theory, where the small and negative parameter kFa→0- excludes any branches other than the monomeronic one in the ground state (as, e.g., the dimeronic one), and allows us a systematic study of the system. We calculate the impurity self-energy Σ(2)(K,ω) up to second order included in a. Remarkably, we obtain an analytical explicit expression for Σ(2)(K,ω), allowing us to study its derivatives in the plane (K,ω). These present interesting singularities, which in general appear in the third-order derivatives ∂3Σ(2)(K,ω). In the special case of equal masses, M =m, singularities appear already in the physically more accessible second-order derivatives ∂2Σ(2)(K,ω); using a self-consistent heuristic approach based on Σ(2) we then regularize the divergence of the second-order derivative ∂K2ΔE(K) of the complex energy of the quasiparticle found in Trefzger and Castin [Europhys. Lett. 104, 50005 (2013), 10.1209/0295-5075/104/50005] at K =kF, and we predict an interesting scaling law in the neighborhood of K =kF. As a by product of our theory we have access to all moments of the momentum of the particle-hole pair emitted by the impurity while damping its motion in the Fermi sea at the level of Fermi's golden rule.

Properties of isoscalar-pair condensates

DOE PAGES

Van Isacker, P.; Macchiavelli, A. O.; Fallon, P.; ...

2016-08-17

In this work, it is pointed out that the ground state of $n$ neutrons and n protons in a single-$j$ shell, interacting through an isoscalar ($T=0$) pairing force, is not paired, $J=0$, but rather spin aligned, $J=n$. This observation is explained in the context of a model of isoscalar $P(J=1)$ pairs, which is mapped onto a system of $p$ bosons, leading to an approximate analytic solution of the isoscalar-pairing limit in $jj$ coupling.

Comminution process to produce wood particles of uniform size and shape with disrupted grain structure from veneer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dooley, James H.; Lanning, David N.

Comminution process of wood veneer to produce wood particles, by feeding wood veneer in a direction of travel substantially normal to grain through a counter rotating pair of intermeshing arrays of cutting discs arrayed axially perpendicular to the direction of wood veneer travel, wherein the cutting discs have a uniform thickness (Td), to produce wood particles characterized by a length dimension (L) substantially equal to the Td and aligned substantially parallel to grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) aligned normal to W and L, wherein the W.times.H dimensions definemore » a pair of substantially parallel end surfaces with end checking between crosscut fibers.« less

Recombinant transfer in the basic genome of E. coli

DOE PAGES

Dixit, Purushottam; Studier, F. William; Pang, Tin Yau; ...

2015-07-07

An approximation to the ~4-Mbp basic genome shared by 32 strains of E. coli representing six evolutionary groups has been derived and analyzed computationally. A multiple-alignment of the 32 complete genome sequences was filtered to remove mobile elements and identify the most reliable ~90% of the aligned length of each of the resulting 496 basic-genome pairs. Patterns of single bp mutations (SNPs) in aligned pairs distinguish clonally inherited regions from regions where either genome has acquired DNA fragments from diverged genomes by homologous recombination since their last common ancestor. Such recombinant transfer is pervasive across the basic genome, mostly betweenmore » genomes in the same evolutionary group, and generates many unique mosaic patterns. The six least-diverged genome-pairs have one or two recombinant transfers of length ~40–115 kbp (and few if any other transfers), each containing one or more gene clusters known to confer strong selective advantage in some environments. Moderately diverged genome pairs (0.4–1% SNPs) show mosaic patterns of interspersed clonal and recombinant regions of varying lengths throughout the basic genome, whereas more highly diverged pairs within an evolutionary group or pairs between evolutionary groups having >1.3% SNPs have few clonal matches longer than a few kbp. Many recombinant transfers appear to incorporate fragments of the entering DNA produced by restriction systems of the recipient cell. A simple computational model can closely fit the data. As a result, most recombinant transfers seem likely to be due to generalized transduction by co-evolving populations of phages, which could efficiently distribute variability throughout bacterial genomes.« less

Recombinant transfer in the basic genome of E. coli

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dixit, Purushottam; Studier, F. William; Pang, Tin Yau

An approximation to the ~4-Mbp basic genome shared by 32 strains of E. coli representing six evolutionary groups has been derived and analyzed computationally. A multiple-alignment of the 32 complete genome sequences was filtered to remove mobile elements and identify the most reliable ~90% of the aligned length of each of the resulting 496 basic-genome pairs. Patterns of single bp mutations (SNPs) in aligned pairs distinguish clonally inherited regions from regions where either genome has acquired DNA fragments from diverged genomes by homologous recombination since their last common ancestor. Such recombinant transfer is pervasive across the basic genome, mostly betweenmore » genomes in the same evolutionary group, and generates many unique mosaic patterns. The six least-diverged genome-pairs have one or two recombinant transfers of length ~40–115 kbp (and few if any other transfers), each containing one or more gene clusters known to confer strong selective advantage in some environments. Moderately diverged genome pairs (0.4–1% SNPs) show mosaic patterns of interspersed clonal and recombinant regions of varying lengths throughout the basic genome, whereas more highly diverged pairs within an evolutionary group or pairs between evolutionary groups having >1.3% SNPs have few clonal matches longer than a few kbp. Many recombinant transfers appear to incorporate fragments of the entering DNA produced by restriction systems of the recipient cell. A simple computational model can closely fit the data. As a result, most recombinant transfers seem likely to be due to generalized transduction by co-evolving populations of phages, which could efficiently distribute variability throughout bacterial genomes.« less

Sign reversal of the order parameter in (Li1-xFex)OHFe1-yZnySe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Du, Zengyi; Yang, Xiong; Altenfeld, Dustin; Gu, Qiangqiang; Yang, Huan; Eremin, Ilya; Hirschfeld, Peter J.; Mazin, Igor I.; Lin, Hai; Zhu, Xiyu; Wen, Hai-Hu

2018-02-01

Iron pnictides are the only known family of unconventional high-temperature superconductors besides cuprates. Until recently, it was widely accepted that superconductivity is driven by spin fluctuations and intimately related to the fermiology, specifically, hole and electron pockets separated by the same wavevector that characterizes the dominant spin fluctuations, and supporting order parameters (OP) of opposite signs. This picture was questioned after the discovery of intercalated or monolayer form of FeSe-based systems without hole pockets, which seemingly undermines the basis for spin-fluctuation theory and the idea of a sign-changing OP. Using the recently proposed phase-sensitive quasiparticle interference technique, here we show that in LiOH-intercalated FeSe compound the OP does change sign, albeit within the electronic pockets. This result unifies the pairing mechanism of iron-based superconductors with or without the hole Fermi pockets and supports the conclusion that spin fluctuations play the key role in electron pairing.

Prediction of Ideal Topological Semimetals with Triply Degenerate Points in the NaCu3 Te2 Family

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Jianfeng; Sui, Xuelei; Shi, Wujun; Pan, Jinbo; Zhang, Shengbai; Liu, Feng; Wei, Su-Huai; Yan, Qimin; Huang, Bing

2017-12-01

Triply degenerate points (TDPs) in band structure of a crystal can generate novel TDP fermions without high-energy counterparts. Although identifying ideal TDP semimetals, which host clean TDP fermions around the Fermi level (EF) without coexisting with other quasiparticles, is critical to explore the intrinsic properties of this new fermion, it is still a big challenge and has not been achieved up to now. Here, we disclose an effective approach to search for ideal TDP semimetals via selective band crossing between antibonding s and bonding p orbitals along a line in the momentum space with C3 v symmetry. Applying this approach, we have successfully identified the NaCu3 Te2 family of compounds to be ideal TDP semimetals, where two, and only two, pairs of TDPs are located around the EF. Moreover, we demonstrate a fundamental mechanism to modulate energy splitting between a pair of TDPs, and we illustrate the intrinsic features of TDP Fermi arcs in these ideal TDP semimetals.

Multiple topological electronic phases in superconductor MoC

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Angus; Smith, Adam D.; Schwinn, Madison; Lu, Qiangsheng; Chang, Tay-Rong; Xie, Weiwei; Jeng, Horng-Tay; Bian, Guang

2018-05-01

The search for a superconductor with non-s -wave pairing is important not only for understanding unconventional mechanisms of superconductivity but also for finding new types of quasiparticles such as Majorana bound states. Materials with both topological band structure and superconductivity are promising candidates as p +i p superconducting states can be generated through pairing the spin-polarized topological surface states. In this work, the electronic and phonon properties of the superconductor molybdenum carbide (MoC) are studied with first-principles methods. Our calculations show that nontrivial band topology and s -wave Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superconductivity coexist in two structural phases of MoC, namely the cubic α and hexagonal γ phases. The α phase is a strong topological insulator and the γ phase is a topological nodal-line semimetal with drumhead surface states. In addition, hole doping can stabilize the crystal structure of the α phase and elevate the transition temperature in the γ phase. Therefore, MoC in different structural forms can be a practical material platform for studying topological superconductivity.

Theory of superconductivity in a three-orbital model of Sr2RuO4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Q. H.; Platt, C.; Yang, Y.; Honerkamp, C.; Zhang, F. C.; Hanke, W.; Rice, T. M.; Thomale, R.

2013-10-01

In conventional and high transition temperature copper oxide and iron pnictide superconductors, the Cooper pairs all have even parity. As a rare exception, Sr2RuO4 is the first prime candidate for topological chiral p-wave superconductivity, which has time-reversal breaking odd-parity Cooper pairs known to exist before only in the neutral superfluid 3He. However, there are several key unresolved issues hampering the microscopic description of the unconventional superconductivity. Spin fluctuations at both large and small wave vectors are present in experiments, but how they arise and drive superconductivity is not yet clear. Spontaneous edge current is expected but not observed conclusively. Specific experiments point to highly band- and/or momentum-dependent energy gaps for quasiparticle excitations in the superconducting state. Here, by comprehensive functional renormalization group calculations with all relevant bands, we disentangle the various competing possibilities. In particular, we show the small wave vector spin fluctuations, driven by a single two-dimensional band, trigger p-wave superconductivity with quasi-nodal energy gaps.

An elastic dimpling instability with Kosterlitz-Thouless character and a precursor role in creasing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Engstrom, Tyler; Paulsen, Joseph; Schwarz, Jennifer

Creasing instability, also known as sulcification, occurs in a variety of quasi-2d elastic systems subject to compressive plane strain, and has been proposed as a mechanism of brain folding. While the dynamics of pre-existing creases can be understood in terms of crack propagation, a detailed critical phenomena picture of the instability is lacking. We show that surface dimpling is an equilibrium phase transition, and can be described in a language of quasi-particle excitations conceptualized as ``ghost fibers'' within the shear lag model. Tension-compression pairs (dipoles) of ghost fibers are energetically favorable at low strains, and the pairs unbind at a critical compressive plane strain, analogously to vortices in the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. This dimpling transition bears strong resemblance to the creasing instability. We argue that zero-length creases are ghost fibers, which are a special case of ``ghost slabs''. Critical strain of a ghost slab increases linearly with its length, and is independent of both shear modulus and system thickness.

Modeling tunneling for the unconventional superconducting proximity effect

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Zareapour, Parisa; Xu, Jianwei; Zhao, Shu Yang F.

Recently there has been reinvigorated interest in the superconducting proximity effect, driven by predictions of the emergence of Majorana fermions. To help guide this search, we have developed a phenomenological model for the tunneling spectra in anisotropic superconductor-normal metal proximity devices. We combine successful approaches used in s-wave proximity and standard d-wave tunneling to reproduce tunneling spectra in d-wave proximity devices, and clarify the origin of various features. Different variations of the pair potential are considered, resulting from the proximity-induced superconductivity. Furthermore, the effective pair potential felt by the quasiparticles is momentum-dependent in contrast to s-wave superconductors. The probabilities ofmore » reflection and transmission are calculated by solving the Bogoliubov equations. Our results are consistent with experimental observations of the unconventional proximity effect and provide important experimental parameters such as the size and length scale of the proximity induced gap, as well as the conditions needed to observe the reduced and full superconducting gaps.« less

Order, criticality, and excitations in the extended Falicov-Kimball model.

PubMed

Ejima, S; Kaneko, T; Ohta, Y; Fehske, H

2014-01-17

Using exact numerical techniques, we investigate the nature of excitonic (electron-hole) bound states and the development of exciton coherence in the one-dimensional half-filled extended Falicov-Kimball model. The ground-state phase diagram of the model exhibits, besides band-insulator and staggered orbital ordered phases, an excitonic insulator (EI) with power-law correlations. The criticality of the EI state shows up in the von Neumann entropy. The anomalous spectral function and condensation amplitude provide the binding energy and coherence length of the electron-hole pairs which, on their part, point towards a Coulomb interaction driven crossover from BCS-like electron-hole pairing fluctuations to tightly bound excitons. We show that while a mass imbalance between electrons and holes does not affect the location of the BCS-BEC crossover regime, it favors staggered orbital ordering to the disadvantage of the EI. Within the Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) regime, the quasiparticle dispersion develops a flat valence-band top, in accord with the experimental finding for Ta2NiSe5.

Modeling tunneling for the unconventional superconducting proximity effect

DOE PAGES

Zareapour, Parisa; Xu, Jianwei; Zhao, Shu Yang F.; ...

2016-10-12

Recently there has been reinvigorated interest in the superconducting proximity effect, driven by predictions of the emergence of Majorana fermions. To help guide this search, we have developed a phenomenological model for the tunneling spectra in anisotropic superconductor-normal metal proximity devices. We combine successful approaches used in s-wave proximity and standard d-wave tunneling to reproduce tunneling spectra in d-wave proximity devices, and clarify the origin of various features. Different variations of the pair potential are considered, resulting from the proximity-induced superconductivity. Furthermore, the effective pair potential felt by the quasiparticles is momentum-dependent in contrast to s-wave superconductors. The probabilities ofmore » reflection and transmission are calculated by solving the Bogoliubov equations. Our results are consistent with experimental observations of the unconventional proximity effect and provide important experimental parameters such as the size and length scale of the proximity induced gap, as well as the conditions needed to observe the reduced and full superconducting gaps.« less

Single magnetic adsorbates on s-wave superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heinrich, Benjamin W.; Pascual, Jose I.; Franke, Katharina J.

2018-02-01

In superconductors, magnetic impurities induce a pair-breaking potential for Cooper pairs, which locally affects the Bogoliubov quasiparticles and gives rise to Yu-Shiba-Rusinov (YSR or Shiba, in short) bound states in the density of states (DoS). These states carry information on the magnetic coupling strength of the impurity with the superconductor, which determines the many-body ground state properties of the system. Recently, the interest in Shiba physics was boosted by the prediction of topological superconductivity and Majorana modes in magnetically coupled chains and arrays of Shiba impurities. Here, we review the physical insights obtained by scanning tunneling microscopy into single magnetic adsorbates on the s-wave superconductor lead (Pb). We explore the tunneling processes into Shiba states, show how magnetic anisotropy affects many-body excitations, and determine the crossing of the many-body ground state through a quantum phase transition. Finally, we discuss the coupling of impurities into dimers and chains and their relation to Majorana physics.

Superconductivity in metal coated graphene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Uchoa, Bruno; Castro Neto, Antonio

2007-03-01

Graphene, a single atomic layer of graphite, is a two dimensional (2D) zero gap insulator with a high electronic mobility between nearest neighbor carbon sites. The unique electronic properties of graphene, from the semi-metallic behavior to the observation of an anomalous quantum Hall effect and a zero field quantized minimum of conductivity derive from the relativistic nature of its quasiparticles. By doping graphene, it behaves in several aspects as a conventional Fermi liquid, where electrons may form Cooper pairs by coupling with a bosonic mode. In this talk, we develop a mean-field phenomenology of superconductivity in a honeycomb lattice. We predict the possibility of two distinct phases, a singlet s-wave phase and a novel p+ip wave phase in the singlet channel. At half filling, the p+ip phase is gapless and superconductivity is a hidden order. We propose a few possible sources of Cooper pairing instability in graphene coated with alkaline and transition metals, and similar low dimensional graphene based devices.

Theoretical approach to resonant inelastic x-ray scattering in iron-based superconductors at the energy scale of the superconducting gap

PubMed Central

Marra, Pasquale; van den Brink, Jeroen; Sykora, Steffen

2016-01-01

We develop a phenomenological theory to predict the characteristic features of the momentum-dependent scattering amplitude in resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) at the energy scale of the superconducting gap in iron-based super-conductors. Taking into account all relevant orbital states as well as their specific content along the Fermi surface we evaluate the charge and spin dynamical structure factors for the compounds LaOFeAs and LiFeAs, based on tight-binding models which are fully consistent with recent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) data. We find a characteristic intensity redistribution between charge and spin dynamical structure factors which discriminates between sign-reversing and sign-preserving quasiparticle excitations. Consequently, our results show that RIXS spectra can distinguish between s± and s++ wave gap functions in the singlet pairing case. In addition, we find that an analogous intensity redistribution at small momenta can reveal the presence of a chiral p-wave triplet pairing. PMID:27151253

Quasiparticle Interfacial Level Alignment of Highly Hybridized Frontier Levels: H2O on TiO2(110)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Migani, Annapaola; Mowbray, Duncan J.; Zhao, Jin

Knowledge of the frontier levels’ alignment prior to photoirradiation is necessary to achieve a complete quantitative description of H2O photocatalysis on TiO2(110). Although H2O on rutile TiO2(110) has been thoroughly studied both experimentally and theoretically, a quantitative value for the energy of the highest H2O occupied levels is still lacking. For experiment, this is due to the H2O levels being obscured by hybridization with TiO2(110) levels in the difference spectra obtained via ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). For theory, this is due to inherent difficulties in properly describing many-body effects at the H2O–TiO2(110) interface. Using the projected density of states (DOS)more » from state-of-the-art quasiparticle (QP) G0W0, we disentangle the adsorbate and surface contributions to the complex UPS spectra of H2O on TiO2(110). We perform this separation as a function of H2O coverage and dissociation on stoichiometric and reduced surfaces. Due to hybridization with the TiO2(110) surface, the H2O 3a1 and 1b1 levels are broadened into several peaks between 5 and 1 eV below the TiO2(110) valence band maximum (VBM). These peaks have both intermolecular and interfacial bonding and antibonding character. We find the highest occupied levels of H2O adsorbed intact and dissociated on stoichiometric TiO2(110) are 1.1 and 0.9 eV below the VBM. We also find a similar energy of 1.1 eV for the highest occupied levels of H2O when adsorbed dissociatively on a bridging O vacancy of the reduced surface. In both cases, these energies are significantly higher (by 0.6 to 2.6 eV) than those estimated from UPS difference spectra, which are inconclusive in this energy region. Finally, we apply self-consistent QPGW (scQPGW1) to obtain the ionization potential of the H2O–TiO2(110) interface.« less

Quasiparticle interfacial level alignment of highly hybridized frontier levels: H2O on TiO2(110).

PubMed

Migani, Annapaola; Mowbray, Duncan J; Zhao, Jin; Petek, Hrvoje

2015-01-13

Knowledge of the frontier levels' alignment prior to photoirradiation is necessary to achieve a complete quantitative description of H2O photocatalysis on TiO2(110). Although H2O on rutile TiO2(110) has been thoroughly studied both experimentally and theoretically, a quantitative value for the energy of the highest H2O occupied levels is still lacking. For experiment, this is due to the H2O levels being obscured by hybridization with TiO2(110) levels in the difference spectra obtained via ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy (UPS). For theory, this is due to inherent difficulties in properly describing many-body effects at the H2O-TiO2(110) interface. Using the projected density of states (DOS) from state-of-the-art quasiparticle (QP) G0W0, we disentangle the adsorbate and surface contributions to the complex UPS spectra of H2O on TiO2(110). We perform this separation as a function of H2O coverage and dissociation on stoichiometric and reduced surfaces. Due to hybridization with the TiO2(110) surface, the H2O 3a1 and 1b1 levels are broadened into several peaks between 5 and 1 eV below the TiO2(110) valence band maximum (VBM). These peaks have both intermolecular and interfacial bonding and antibonding character. We find the highest occupied levels of H2O adsorbed intact and dissociated on stoichiometric TiO2(110) are 1.1 and 0.9 eV below the VBM. We also find a similar energy of 1.1 eV for the highest occupied levels of H2O when adsorbed dissociatively on a bridging O vacancy of the reduced surface. In both cases, these energies are significantly higher (by 0.6 to 2.6 eV) than those estimated from UPS difference spectra, which are inconclusive in this energy region. Finally, we apply self-consistent QPGW (scQPGW1) to obtain the ionization potential of the H2O-TiO2(110) interface.

Probing the non-locality of Majorana fermions via quantum correlations

PubMed Central

Li, Jun; Yu, Ting; Lin, Hai-Qing; You, J. Q.

2014-01-01

Majorana fermions (MFs) are exotic particles that are their own anti-particles. Recently, the search for the MFs occurring as quasi-particle excitations in solid-state systems has attracted widespread interest, because of their fundamental importance in fundamental physics and potential applications in topological quantum computation based on solid-state devices. Here we study the quantum correlations between two spatially separate quantum dots induced by a pair of MFs emerging at the two ends of a semiconductor nanowire, in order to develop a new method for probing the MFs. We find that without the tunnel coupling between these paired MFs, quantum entanglement cannot be induced from an unentangled (i.e., product) state, but quantum discord is observed due to the intrinsic nonlocal correlations of the paired MFs. This finding reveals that quantum discord can indeed demonstrate the intrinsic non-locality of the MFs formed in the nanowire. Also, quantum discord can be employed to discriminate the MFs from the regular fermions. Furthermore, we propose an experimental setup to measure the onset of quantum discord due to the nonlocal correlations. Our approach provides a new, and experimentally accessible, method to study the Majorana bound states by probing their intrinsic non-locality signature. PMID:24816484

Coexistent three-component and two-component Weyl phonons in TiS, ZrSe, and HfTe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Jiangxu; Xie, Qing; Ullah, Sami; Li, Ronghan; Ma, Hui; Li, Dianzhong; Li, Yiyi; Chen, Xing-Qiu

2018-02-01

In analogy to various fermions of electrons in topological semimetals, topological mechanical states with two types of bosons, Dirac and Weyl bosons, were reported in some macroscopic systems of kHz frequency, and those with a type of doubly-Weyl phonons in atomic vibrational framework of THz frequency of solid crystals were recently predicted. Here, through first-principles calculations, we have reported that the phonon spectra of the WC-type TiS, ZrSe, and HfTe commonly host the unique triply degenerate nodal points (TDNPs) and single two-component Weyl points (WPs) in THz frequency. Quasiparticle excitations near TDNPs of phonons are three-component bosons, beyond the conventional and known classifications of Dirac, Weyl, and doubly-Weyl phonons. Moreover, we have found that both TiS and ZrSe have five pairs of type-I Weyl phonons and a pair of type-II Weyl phonons, whereas HfTe only has four pairs of type-I Weyl phonons. They carry nonzero topological charges. On the (10 1 ¯0 ) crystal surfaces, we observe topological protected surface arc states connecting two WPs with opposite charges, which host modes that propagate nearly in one direction on the surface.

Kondo physics from quasiparticle poisoning in Majorana devices

DOE PAGES

Plugge, S.; Tsvelik, A. M.; Zazunov, A.; ...

2016-03-24

Here, we present a theoretical analysis of quasiparticle poisoning in Coulomb-blockaded Majorana fermion systems tunnel-coupled to normal-conducting leads. Taking into account finite-energy quasiparticles, we derive the effective low-energy theory and present a renormalization group analysis. We find qualitatively new effects when a quasiparticle state with very low energy is localized near a tunnel contact. For M = 2 attached leads, such “dangerous” quasiparticle poisoning processes cause a spin S = 1/2 single-channel Kondo effect, which can be detected through a characteristic zero-bias anomaly conductance peak in all Coulomb blockade valleys. For more than two attached leads, the topological Kondo effectmore » of the unpoisoned system becomes unstable. A strong-coupling bosonization analysis indicates that at low energy the poisoned lead is effectively decoupled and hence, for M > 3, the topological Kondo fixed point re-emerges, though now it involves only M–1 leads. As a consequence, for M = 3, the low-energy fixed point becomes trivial corresponding to decoupled leads.« less

Large quasiparticle thermal Hall conductivity in the superconductor Ba1-xKxFe2As2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Checkelsky, Joseph; Li, Lu; Chen, G. F.; Luo, J. L.; Wang, N. L.; Ong, N. P.

2009-03-01

We have measured the thermal conductivity κxx and thermal Hall conductivity κxy in single-crystal Ba1-xKxFe2As2. Below the superconducting transition temperature Tc (˜ 30 K), we observe a large peak in the weak-field κxy . A corresponding peak in the zero-field thermal conductivity κxx is also observed. Together, these imply the existence of a large population of hole-like quasiparticles below Tc . In magnetic fields H approaching 35 T, the peaks in κxx are strongly suppressed. A fit of the κxx vs. H curves shows that the data are consistent with the scattering of long-lived quasiparticles by vortices. Using these fits, we have extracted estimates of the quasiparticle mean-free-path, and separated the zero-field electronic and phononic terms κe and κph, respectively. We discuss the origin of the large quasiparticle population in terms a strongly anisotropic gap parameter or a gap with nodes.

Quasiparticle engineering and entanglement propagation in a quantum many-body system.

PubMed

Jurcevic, P; Lanyon, B P; Hauke, P; Hempel, C; Zoller, P; Blatt, R; Roos, C F

2014-07-10

The key to explaining and controlling a range of quantum phenomena is to study how information propagates around many-body systems. Quantum dynamics can be described by particle-like carriers of information that emerge in the collective behaviour of the underlying system, the so-called quasiparticles. These elementary excitations are predicted to distribute quantum information in a fashion determined by the system's interactions. Here we report quasiparticle dynamics observed in a quantum many-body system of trapped atomic ions. First, we observe the entanglement distributed by quasiparticles as they trace out light-cone-like wavefronts. Second, using the ability to tune the interaction range in our system, we observe information propagation in an experimental regime where the effective-light-cone picture does not apply. Our results will enable experimental studies of a range of quantum phenomena, including transport, thermalization, localization and entanglement growth, and represent a first step towards a new quantum-optic regime of engineered quasiparticles with tunable nonlinear interactions.

Quasiparticle Scattering in the Rashba Semiconductor BiTeBr: The Roles of Spin and Defect Lattice Site.

PubMed

Butler, Christopher John; Yang, Po-Ya; Sankar, Raman; Lien, Yen-Neng; Lu, Chun-I; Chang, Luo-Yueh; Chen, Chia-Hao; Wei, Ching-Ming; Chou, Fang-Cheng; Lin, Minn-Tsong

2016-09-28

Observations of quasiparticle interference have been used in recent years to examine exotic carrier behavior at the surfaces of emergent materials, connecting carrier dispersion and scattering dynamics to real-space features with atomic resolution. We observe quasiparticle interference in the strongly Rashba split 2DEG-like surface band found at the tellurium termination of BiTeBr and examine two mechanisms governing quasiparticle scattering: We confirm the suppression of spin-flip scattering by comparing measured quasiparticle interference with a spin-dependent elastic scattering model applied to the calculated spectral function. We also use atomically resolved STM maps to identify point defect lattice sites and spectro-microscopy imaging to discern their varying scattering strengths, which we understand in terms of the calculated orbital characteristics of the surface band. Defects on the Bi sublattice cause the strongest scattering of the predominantly Bi 6p derived surface band, with other defects causing nearly no scattering near the conduction band minimum.

Observation of Spin-Polarons in a strongly interacting Fermi liquid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zwierlein, Martin

2009-03-01

We have observed spin-polarons in a highly imbalanced mixture of fermionic atoms using tomographic RF spectroscopy. Feshbach resonances allow to freely tune the interactions between the two spin states involved. A single spin down atom immersed in a Fermi sea of spin up atoms can do one of two things: For strong attraction, it can form a molecule with exactly one spin up partner, but for weaker interaction it will spread its attraction and surround itself with a collection of majority atoms. This spin down atom ``dressed'' with a spin up cloud constitutes the spin-polaron. We have observed a striking spectroscopic signature of this quasi-particle for various interaction strengths, a narrow peak in the spin down spectrum that emerges above a broad background. The narrow width signals a long lifetime of the spin-polaron, much longer than the collision rate with spin up atoms, as it must be for a proper quasi-particle. The peak position allows to directly measure the polaron energy. The broad pedestal at high energies reveals physics at short distances and is thus ``molecule-like'': It is exactly matched by the spin up spectra. The comparison with the area under the polaron peak allows to directly obtain the quasi-particle weight Z. We observe a smooth transition from polarons to molecules. At a critical interaction strength of 1/kFa = 0.7, the polaron peak vanishes and spin up and spin down spectra exactly match, signalling the formation of molecules. This is the same critical interaction strength found earlier to separate a normal Fermi mixture from a superfluid molecular Bose-Einstein condensate. The spin-polarons determine the low-temperature phase diagram of imbalanced Fermi mixtures. In principle, polarons can interact with each other and should, at low enough temperatures, form a superfluid of p-wave pairs. We will present a first indication for interactions between polarons.

Scalable quantum computer architecture with coupled donor-quantum dot qubits

DOEpatents

Schenkel, Thomas; Lo, Cheuk Chi; Weis, Christoph; Lyon, Stephen; Tyryshkin, Alexei; Bokor, Jeffrey

2014-08-26

A quantum bit computing architecture includes a plurality of single spin memory donor atoms embedded in a semiconductor layer, a plurality of quantum dots arranged with the semiconductor layer and aligned with the donor atoms, wherein a first voltage applied across at least one pair of the aligned quantum dot and donor atom controls a donor-quantum dot coupling. A method of performing quantum computing in a scalable architecture quantum computing apparatus includes arranging a pattern of single spin memory donor atoms in a semiconductor layer, forming a plurality of quantum dots arranged with the semiconductor layer and aligned with the donor atoms, applying a first voltage across at least one aligned pair of a quantum dot and donor atom to control a donor-quantum dot coupling, and applying a second voltage between one or more quantum dots to control a Heisenberg exchange J coupling between quantum dots and to cause transport of a single spin polarized electron between quantum dots.

Sentence alignment using feed forward neural network.

PubMed

Fattah, Mohamed Abdel; Ren, Fuji; Kuroiwa, Shingo

2006-12-01

Parallel corpora have become an essential resource for work in multi lingual natural language processing. However, sentence aligned parallel corpora are more efficient than non-aligned parallel corpora for cross language information retrieval and machine translation applications. In this paper, we present a new approach to align sentences in bilingual parallel corpora based on feed forward neural network classifier. A feature parameter vector is extracted from the text pair under consideration. This vector contains text features such as length, punctuate score, and cognate score values. A set of manually prepared training data has been assigned to train the feed forward neural network. Another set of data was used for testing. Using this new approach, we could achieve an error reduction of 60% over length based approach when applied on English-Arabic parallel documents. Moreover this new approach is valid for any language pair and it is quite flexible approach since the feature parameter vector may contain more/less or different features than that we used in our system such as lexical match feature.

Microwave control of the superconducting proximity effect and minigap in magnetic and normal metals

PubMed Central

Linder, Jacob; Amundsen, Morten; Ouassou, Jabir Ali

2016-01-01

We demonstrate theoretically that microwave radiation applied to superconducting proximity structures controls the minigap and other spectral features in the density of states of normal and magnetic metals, respectively. Considering both a bilayer and Josephson junction geometry, we show that microwaves with frequency ω qualitatively alters the spectral properties of the system: inducing a series of resonances, controlling the minigap size Emg, and even replacing the minigap with a strong peak of quasiparticle accumulation at zero energy when ω = Emg. The interaction between light and Cooper pairs may thus open a route to active control of quantum coherent phenomena in superconducting proximity structures. PMID:27982128

Plasmon excitations with a semi-integer angular momentum.

PubMed

Mendonça, J T; Serbeto, A; Vieira, J

2018-05-18

We provide an explicit model for a spin-1/2 quasi-particle, based on the superposition of plasmon excitations in a quantum plasmas with intrinsic orbital angular momentum. Such quasi-particle solutions can show remarkable similarities with single electrons moving in vacuum: they have spin-1/2, a finite rest mass, and a quantum dispersion. We also show that these quasi-particle solutions satisfy a criterium of energy minimum.

Topological Quantum Entanglement

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-19

quantum Hall (FQH) state – the most likely FQH state to host such quasiparticles – is the so-called even-odd effect predicted for quantum interference...interferometer, in which case the oscillations result from the interference of (fractionalized) edge quasiparticles taking two possible paths, or the...even and odd numbers of charge e/4 quasiparticles enclosed within the loop as a function of side gate voltage, which is a clear signature of a non

A reductionist perspective on quantum statistical mechanics: Coarse-graining of path integrals

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sinitskiy, Anton V.; Voth, Gregory A., E-mail: gavoth@uchicago.edu

2015-09-07

Computational modeling of the condensed phase based on classical statistical mechanics has been rapidly developing over the last few decades and has yielded important information on various systems containing up to millions of atoms. However, if a system of interest contains important quantum effects, well-developed classical techniques cannot be used. One way of treating finite temperature quantum systems at equilibrium has been based on Feynman’s imaginary time path integral approach and the ensuing quantum-classical isomorphism. This isomorphism is exact only in the limit of infinitely many classical quasiparticles representing each physical quantum particle. In this work, we present a reductionistmore » perspective on this problem based on the emerging methodology of coarse-graining. This perspective allows for the representations of one quantum particle with only two classical-like quasiparticles and their conjugate momenta. One of these coupled quasiparticles is the centroid particle of the quantum path integral quasiparticle distribution. Only this quasiparticle feels the potential energy function. The other quasiparticle directly provides the observable averages of quantum mechanical operators. The theory offers a simplified perspective on quantum statistical mechanics, revealing its most reductionist connection to classical statistical physics. By doing so, it can facilitate a simpler representation of certain quantum effects in complex molecular environments.« less

A reductionist perspective on quantum statistical mechanics: Coarse-graining of path integrals.

PubMed

Sinitskiy, Anton V; Voth, Gregory A

2015-09-07

Computational modeling of the condensed phase based on classical statistical mechanics has been rapidly developing over the last few decades and has yielded important information on various systems containing up to millions of atoms. However, if a system of interest contains important quantum effects, well-developed classical techniques cannot be used. One way of treating finite temperature quantum systems at equilibrium has been based on Feynman's imaginary time path integral approach and the ensuing quantum-classical isomorphism. This isomorphism is exact only in the limit of infinitely many classical quasiparticles representing each physical quantum particle. In this work, we present a reductionist perspective on this problem based on the emerging methodology of coarse-graining. This perspective allows for the representations of one quantum particle with only two classical-like quasiparticles and their conjugate momenta. One of these coupled quasiparticles is the centroid particle of the quantum path integral quasiparticle distribution. Only this quasiparticle feels the potential energy function. The other quasiparticle directly provides the observable averages of quantum mechanical operators. The theory offers a simplified perspective on quantum statistical mechanics, revealing its most reductionist connection to classical statistical physics. By doing so, it can facilitate a simpler representation of certain quantum effects in complex molecular environments.

The power of change: interpersonal attraction as a function of attitude similarity and attitude alignment.

PubMed

Reid, Chelsea A; Davis, Jody L; Green, Jeffrey D

2013-01-01

Does attitude alignment predict attraction? Would you like a stranger more who shifts her/his attitudes to more closely align with yours? In pairs, participants (N = 77) discussed social issues about which they disagreed and received false feedback on whether the partner engaged in attitude alignment (shifted her/his attitudes toward the participant's attitude) following discussion. Participants also received false feedback about the proportion of similarity to the partner on a set of issues (i.e., 25%, 50%, or 75%). Participants reported greater attraction to partners who engaged in attitude alignment and who were more similar. Moreover, similarity and attitude alignment interacted. Similarity predicted attraction when attitude alignment did not occur, but did not predict attraction when attitude alignment did occur. Finally, partner attitude alignment led to participant attitude alignment, and perceived reasoning ability mediated the attitude alignment-attraction relationship.

Combining symmetry breaking and restoration with configuration interaction: A highly accurate many-body scheme applied to the pairing Hamiltonian

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ripoche, J.; Lacroix, D.; Gambacurta, D.; Ebran, J.-P.; Duguet, T.

2017-01-01

Background: Ab initio many-body methods have been developed over the past ten years to address mid-mass nuclei. In their best current level of implementation, their accuracy is of the order of a few percent error on the ground-state correlation energy. Recently implemented variants of these methods are operating a breakthrough in the description of medium-mass open-shell nuclei at a polynomial computational cost while putting state-of-the-art models of internucleon interactions to the test. Purpose: As progress in the design of internucleon interactions is made, and as questions one wishes to answer are refined in connection with increasingly available experimental data, further efforts must be made to tailor many-body methods that can reach an even higher precision for an even larger number of observable quantum states or nuclei. The objective of the present work is to contribute to such a quest by designing and testing a new many-body scheme. Methods: We formulate a truncated configuration-interaction method that consists of diagonalizing the Hamiltonian in a highly truncated subspace of the total N -body Hilbert space. The reduced Hilbert space is generated via the particle-number projected BCS state along with projected seniority-zero two- and four-quasiparticle excitations. Furthermore, the extent by which the underlying BCS state breaks U(1 ) symmetry is optimized in the presence of the projected two- and four-quasiparticle excitations. This constitutes an extension of the so-called restricted variation after projection method in use within the frame of multireference energy density functional calculations. The quality of the newly designed method is tested against exact solutions of the so-called attractive pairing Hamiltonian problem. Results: By construction, the method reproduces exact results for N =2 and N =4 . For N =(8 ,16 ,20 ) , the error in the ground-state correlation energy is less than (0.006%, 0.1%, 0.15%) across the entire range of internucleon coupling defining the pairing Hamiltonian and driving the normal-to-superfluid quantum phase transition. The presently proposed method offers the advantage of automatic access to the low-lying spectroscopy, which it does with high accuracy. Conclusions: The numerical cost of the newly designed variational method is polynomial (N6) in system size. This method achieves unprecedented accuracy for the ground-state correlation energy, effective pairing gap, and one-body entropy as well as for the excitation energy of low-lying states of the attractive pairing Hamiltonian. This constitutes a sufficiently strong motivation to envision its application to realistic nuclear Hamiltonians in view of providing a complementary, accurate, and versatile ab initio description of mid-mass open-shell nuclei in the future.

Conversion Gain in MM-Wave Quasiparticle Heterodyne Mixers,

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

superconductor-insulating oxide -superconductor SIS (Josephson) tunnel junc- tions [4-141. Due to the singularity in density of states of quasiparticles in the...superconductors on two sides of the oxide barrier, there is a sudden onset of quasiparticle tunneling current at bias voltage near the full...Phillips, and D. P. Woody, ’Low noise 115 GHz mixing in supercon- ducting oxide barrier tunnel junctions,’ App. Phys. Lett., vol. 34, pp. 347-349, March

Quasi-particle spectrum in trilayer graphene: Role of onsite coulomb interaction and interlayer coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kumar, Sanjay; Ajay

2015-01-01

Stacking dependent quasi-particle spectrum and density of states (DOS) in trilayer (ABC-, ABA- and AAA-stacked) graphene are analyzed using mean-field Green's function equations of motion method. Interlayer coupling (t1) is found to be responsible for the splitting of quasi-particle peaks in each stacking order. Coulomb interaction suppresses the trilayer splitting and generates a finite gap at Fermi level in ABC- while a tiny gap in ABA-stacked trilayer graphene. Influence of t⊥ is prominent for AAA-stacking as compared to ABC- and ABA-stacking orders. The theoretically obtained quasi-particle energies and DOS has been viewed in terms of recent angle resolved photoemission spectroscopic (ARPES) and scanning tunneling microscopic (STM) data available on these systems.

Quasiparticle and optical properties of strained stanene and stanane.

PubMed

Lu, Pengfei; Wu, Liyuan; Yang, Chuanghua; Liang, Dan; Quhe, Ruge; Guan, Pengfei; Wang, Shumin

2017-06-20

Quasiparticle band structures and optical properties of two dimensional stanene and stanane (fully hydrogenated stanene) are studied by the GW and GW plus Bethe-Salpeter equation (GW-BSE) approaches, with inclusion of the spin-orbit coupling (SOC). The SOC effect is significant for the electronic and optical properties in both stanene and stanane, compared with their group IV-enes and IV-anes counterparts. Stanene is a semiconductor with a quasiparticle band gap of 0.10 eV. Stanane has a sizable band gap of 1.63 eV and strongly binding exciton with binding energy of 0.10 eV. Under strain, the quasiparticle band gap and optical spectrum of both stanene and stanane are tunable.

Anisotropic breakdown of Fermi liquid quasiparticle excitations in overdoped La₂-xSrxCuO₄.

PubMed

Chang, J; Månsson, M; Pailhès, S; Claesson, T; Lipscombe, O J; Hayden, S M; Patthey, L; Tjernberg, O; Mesot, J

2013-01-01

High-temperature superconductivity emerges from an un-conventional metallic state. This has stimulated strong efforts to understand exactly how Fermi liquids breakdown and evolve into an un-conventional metal. A fundamental question is how Fermi liquid quasiparticle excitations break down in momentum space. Here we show, using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, that the Fermi liquid quasiparticle excitations of the overdoped superconducting cuprate La1.77Sr0.23CuO4 is highly anisotropic in momentum space. The quasiparticle scattering and residue behave differently along the Fermi surface and hence the Kadowaki-Wood's relation is not obeyed. This kind of Fermi liquid breakdown may apply to a wide range of strongly correlated metal systems where spin fluctuations are present.

Quasi-particle properties from tunneling in the v = 5/2 fractional quantum Hall state.

PubMed

Radu, Iuliana P; Miller, J B; Marcus, C M; Kastner, M A; Pfeiffer, L N; West, K W

2008-05-16

Quasi-particles with fractional charge and statistics, as well as modified Coulomb interactions, exist in a two-dimensional electron system in the fractional quantum Hall (FQH) regime. Theoretical models of the FQH state at filling fraction v = 5/2 make the further prediction that the wave function can encode the interchange of two quasi-particles, making this state relevant for topological quantum computing. We show that bias-dependent tunneling across a narrow constriction at v = 5/2 exhibits temperature scaling and, from fits to the theoretical scaling form, extract values for the effective charge and the interaction parameter of the quasi-particles. Ranges of values obtained are consistent with those predicted by certain models of the 5/2 state.

Phase-driven collapse of the Cooper condensate in a nanosized superconductor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ronzani, Alberto; D'Ambrosio, Sophie; Virtanen, Pauli; Giazotto, Francesco; Altimiras, Carles

2017-12-01

Superconductivity can be understood in terms of a phase transition from an uncorrelated electron gas to a condensate of Cooper pairs in which the relative phases of the constituent electrons are coherent over macroscopic length scales. The degree of correlation is quantified by a complex-valued order parameter, whose amplitude is proportional to the strength of the pairing potential in the condensate. Supercurrent-carrying states are associated with nonzero values of the spatial gradient of the phase. The pairing potential and several physical observables of the Cooper condensate can be manipulated by means of temperature, current bias, dishomogeneities in the chemical composition, or application of a magnetic field. Here we show evidence of complete suppression of the energy gap in the local density of quasiparticle states (DOS) of a superconducting nanowire upon establishing a phase difference equal to π over a length scale comparable to the superconducting coherence length. These observations are consistent with a complete collapse of the pairing potential in the center of the wire, in accordance with theoretical modeling based on the quasiclassical theory of superconductivity in diffusive systems. Our spectroscopic data, fully exploring the phase-biased states of the condensate, highlight the profound effect that extreme phase gradients exert on the amplitude of the pairing potential. Moreover, the sharp magnetic response (up to 27 mV/Φ0) observed near the onset of the superconducting gap collapse regime is exploited to realize magnetic flux detectors with noise-equivalent resolution as low as 260 n Φ0/√{Hz} .

Superconductivity in three-dimensional spin-orbit coupled semimetals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Savary, Lucile; Ruhman, Jonathan; Venderbos, Jörn W. F.; Fu, Liang; Lee, Patrick A.

2017-12-01

Motivated by the experimental detection of superconductivity in the low-carrier density half-Heusler compound YPtBi, we study the pairing instabilities of three-dimensional strongly spin-orbit coupled semimetals with a quadratic band touching point. In these semimetals the electronic structure at the Fermi energy is described by spin j =3/2 quasiparticles, which are fundamentally different from those in ordinary metals with spin j =1/2 . For both local and nonlocal pairing channels in j =3/2 materials we develop a general approach to analyzing pairing instabilities, thereby providing the computational tools needed to investigate the physics of these systems beyond phenomenological considerations. Furthermore, applying our method to a generic density-density interaction, we establish that: (i) The pairing strengths in the different symmetry channels uniquely encode the j =3/2 nature of the Fermi surface band structure—a manifestation of the fundamental difference with ordinary metals. (ii) The leading odd-parity pairing instabilities are different for electron doping and hole doping. Finally, we argue that polar phonons, i.e., Coulomb interactions mediated by the long-ranged electric polarization of the optical phonon modes, provide a coupling strength large enough to account for a Kelvin-range transition temperature in the s -wave channel, and are likely to play an important role in the overall attraction in non-s -wave channels. Moreover, the explicit calculation of the coupling strengths allows us to conclude that the two largest non-s -wave contributions occur in nonlocal channels, in contrast with what has been commonly assumed.

Aligning Optical Fibers by Means of Actuated MEMS Wedges

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morgan, Brian; Ghodssi, Reza

2007-01-01

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) of a proposed type would be designed and fabricated to effect lateral and vertical alignment of optical fibers with respect to optical, electro-optical, optoelectronic, and/or photonic devices on integrated circuit chips and similar monolithic device structures. A MEMS device of this type would consist of a pair of oppositely sloped alignment wedges attached to linear actuators that would translate the wedges in the plane of a substrate, causing an optical fiber in contact with the sloping wedge surfaces to undergo various displacements parallel and perpendicular to the plane. In making it possible to accurately align optical fibers individually during the packaging stages of fabrication of the affected devices, this MEMS device would also make it possible to relax tolerances in other stages of fabrication, thereby potentially reducing costs and increasing yields. In a typical system according to the proposal (see Figure 1), one or more pair(s) of alignment wedges would be positioned to create a V groove in which an optical fiber would rest. The fiber would be clamped at a suitable distance from the wedges to create a cantilever with a slight bend to push the free end of the fiber gently to the bottom of the V groove. The wedges would be translated in the substrate plane by amounts Dx1 and Dx2, respectively, which would be chosen to move the fiber parallel to the plane by a desired amount Dx and perpendicular to the plane by a desired amount Dy. The actuators used to translate the wedges could be variants of electrostatic or thermal actuators that are common in MEMS.

Comminution process to produce engineered wood particles of uniform size and shape with disrupted grain structure from veneer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dooley, James H; Lanning, David N

Comminution process of wood veneer to produce wood particles, by feeding wood veneer in a direction of travel substantially normal to grain through a counter rotating pair of intermeshing arrays of cutting discs arrayed axially perpendicular to the direction of veneer travel, wherein the cutting discs have a uniform thickness (Td), to produce wood particles characterized by a length dimension (L) substantially equal to the Td and aligned substantially parallel to grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) substantially equal to the veneer thickness (Tv) and aligned normal to Wmore » and L, wherein the W.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel end surfaces with end checking between crosscut fibers.« less

Absence of paired crossing in the positive parity bands of 124Cs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, A. K.; Basu, A.; Nag, Somnath; Hübel, H.; Domscheit, J.; Ragnarsson, I.; Al-Khatib, A.; Hagemann, G. B.; Herskind, B.; Elema, D. R.; Wilson, J. N.; Clark, R. M.; Cromaz, M.; Fallon, P.; Görgen, A.; Lee, I.-Y.; Ward, D.; Ma, W. C.

2018-02-01

High-spin states in 124Cs were populated in the 64Ni(64Ni,p 3 n ) reaction and the Gammasphere detector array was used to measure γ -ray coincidences. Both positive- and negative-parity bands, including bands with chiral configurations, have been extended to higher spin, where a shape change has been observed. The configurations of the bands before and after the alignment are discussed within the framework of the cranked Nilsson-Strutinsky model. The calculations suggest that the nucleus undergoes a shape transition from triaxial to prolate around spin I ≃22 of the positive-parity states. The alignment gain of 8 ℏ , observed in the positive-parity bands, is due to partial alignment of several valence nucleons. This indicates the absence of band crossing due to paired nucleons in the bands.

MSuPDA: A Memory Efficient Algorithm for Sequence Alignment.

PubMed

Khan, Mohammad Ibrahim; Kamal, Md Sarwar; Chowdhury, Linkon

2016-03-01

Space complexity is a million dollar question in DNA sequence alignments. In this regard, memory saving under pushdown automata can help to reduce the occupied spaces in computer memory. Our proposed process is that anchor seed (AS) will be selected from given data set of nucleotide base pairs for local sequence alignment. Quick splitting techniques will separate the AS from all the DNA genome segments. Selected AS will be placed to pushdown automata's (PDA) input unit. Whole DNA genome segments will be placed into PDA's stack. AS from input unit will be matched with the DNA genome segments from stack of PDA. Match, mismatch and indel of nucleotides will be popped from the stack under the control unit of pushdown automata. During the POP operation on stack, it will free the memory cell occupied by the nucleotide base pair.

Theoretical prediction of the band offsets at the ZnO/anatase TiO2 and GaN/ZnO heterojunctions using the self-consistent ab initio DFT/GGA-1/2 method.

PubMed

Fang, D Q; Zhang, S L

2016-01-07

The band offsets of the ZnO/anatase TiO2 and GaN/ZnO heterojunctions are calculated using the density functional theory/generalized gradient approximation (DFT/GGA)-1/2 method, which takes into account the self-energy corrections and can give an approximate description to the quasiparticle characteristics of the electronic structure of semiconductors. We present the results of the ionization potential (IP)-based and interfacial offset-based band alignments. In the interfacial offset-based band alignment, to get the natural band offset, we use the surface calculations to estimate the change of reference level due to the interfacial strain. Based on the interface models and GGA-1/2 calculations, we find that the valence band maximum and conduction band minimum of ZnO, respectively, lie 0.64 eV and 0.57 eV above those of anatase TiO2, while lie 0.84 eV and 1.09 eV below those of GaN, which agree well with the experimental data. However, a large discrepancy exists between the IP-based band offset and the calculated natural band offset, the mechanism of which is discussed. Our results clarify band alignment of the ZnO/anatase TiO2 heterojunction and show good agreement with the GW calculations for the GaN/ZnO heterojunction.

Automatic registration of multi-modal microscopy images for integrative analysis of prostate tissue sections.

PubMed

Lippolis, Giuseppe; Edsjö, Anders; Helczynski, Leszek; Bjartell, Anders; Overgaard, Niels Chr

2013-09-05

Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer related deaths. For diagnosis, predicting the outcome of the disease, and for assessing potential new biomarkers, pathologists and researchers routinely analyze histological samples. Morphological and molecular information may be integrated by aligning microscopic histological images in a multiplex fashion. This process is usually time-consuming and results in intra- and inter-user variability. The aim of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using modern image analysis methods for automated alignment of microscopic images from differently stained adjacent paraffin sections from prostatic tissue specimens. Tissue samples, obtained from biopsy or radical prostatectomy, were sectioned and stained with either hematoxylin & eosin (H&E), immunohistochemistry for p63 and AMACR or Time Resolved Fluorescence (TRF) for androgen receptor (AR). Image pairs were aligned allowing for translation, rotation and scaling. The registration was performed automatically by first detecting landmarks in both images, using the scale invariant image transform (SIFT), followed by the well-known RANSAC protocol for finding point correspondences and finally aligned by Procrustes fit. The Registration results were evaluated using both visual and quantitative criteria as defined in the text. Three experiments were carried out. First, images of consecutive tissue sections stained with H&E and p63/AMACR were successfully aligned in 85 of 88 cases (96.6%). The failures occurred in 3 out of 13 cores with highly aggressive cancer (Gleason score ≥ 8). Second, TRF and H&E image pairs were aligned correctly in 103 out of 106 cases (97%).The third experiment considered the alignment of image pairs with the same staining (H&E) coming from a stack of 4 sections. The success rate for alignment dropped from 93.8% in adjacent sections to 22% for sections furthest away. The proposed method is both reliable and fast and therefore well suited for automatic segmentation and analysis of specific areas of interest, combining morphological information with protein expression data from three consecutive tissue sections. Finally, the performance of the algorithm seems to be largely unaffected by the Gleason grade of the prostate tissue samples examined, at least up to Gleason score 7.

Recoil distance lifetime measurements in82Kr

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brüssermann, S.; Keinonen, J.; Hellmeister, H. P.; Lieb, K. P.

1982-12-01

The lifetimes τ=124±12, 6{-2/+4} and 380±100 ps of the E x ( I π )=3.46(8+), 2.92(6+) and 3.04(6-) MeV states, respectively, populated by the reaction76Ge(12C, α2 n) were measured with the recoil distance method. In addition upper lifetime limits were obtained for nine states. The measured lifetimes and energies indicate a band crossing at about I π =8+, probably arising from the alignment of two g 9/2 neutrons. For the 3.04 MeV 6- state as a second member of a band built on the 2.65 MeV 4- state the measured lifetime points to a two-quasiparticle configuration. The positive-parity states have been discussed in the frame of the interacting boson approximation, nuclear field theory and the cranked shell model.

Sequence-similar, structure-dissimilar protein pairs in the PDB.

PubMed

Kosloff, Mickey; Kolodny, Rachel

2008-05-01

It is often assumed that in the Protein Data Bank (PDB), two proteins with similar sequences will also have similar structures. Accordingly, it has proved useful to develop subsets of the PDB from which "redundant" structures have been removed, based on a sequence-based criterion for similarity. Similarly, when predicting protein structure using homology modeling, if a template structure for modeling a target sequence is selected by sequence alone, this implicitly assumes that all sequence-similar templates are equivalent. Here, we show that this assumption is often not correct and that standard approaches to create subsets of the PDB can lead to the loss of structurally and functionally important information. We have carried out sequence-based structural superpositions and geometry-based structural alignments of a large number of protein pairs to determine the extent to which sequence similarity ensures structural similarity. We find many examples where two proteins that are similar in sequence have structures that differ significantly from one another. The source of the structural differences usually has a functional basis. The number of such proteins pairs that are identified and the magnitude of the dissimilarity depend on the approach that is used to calculate the differences; in particular sequence-based structure superpositioning will identify a larger number of structurally dissimilar pairs than geometry-based structural alignments. When two sequences can be aligned in a statistically meaningful way, sequence-based structural superpositioning provides a meaningful measure of structural differences. This approach and geometry-based structure alignments reveal somewhat different information and one or the other might be preferable in a given application. Our results suggest that in some cases, notably homology modeling, the common use of nonredundant datasets, culled from the PDB based on sequence, may mask important structural and functional information. We have established a data base of sequence-similar, structurally dissimilar protein pairs that will help address this problem (http://luna.bioc.columbia.edu/rachel/seqsimstrdiff.htm).

Heat capacity of the neutron star inner crust within an extended nuclear statistical equilibrium model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Burrello, S.; Gulminelli, F.; Aymard, F.; Colonna, M.; Raduta, Ad. R.

2015-11-01

Background: Superfluidity in the crust is a key ingredient for the cooling properties of proto-neutron stars. Present theoretical calculations employ the quasiparticle mean-field Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory with temperature-dependent occupation numbers for the quasiparticle states. Purpose: Finite temperature stellar matter is characterized by a whole distribution of different nuclear species. We want to assess the importance of this distribution on the calculation of heat capacity in the inner crust. Method: Following a recent work, the Wigner-Seitz cell is mapped into a model with cluster degrees of freedom. The finite temperature distribution is then given by a statistical collection of Wigner-Seitz cells. We additionally introduce pairing correlations in the local density BCS approximation both in the homogeneous unbound neutron component, and in the interface region between clusters and neutrons. Results: The heat capacity is calculated in the different baryonic density conditions corresponding to the inner crust, and in a temperature range varying from 100 KeV to 2 MeV. We show that accounting for the cluster distribution has a small effect at intermediate densities, but it considerably affects the heat capacity both close to the outer crust and close to the core. We additionally show that it is very important to consider the temperature evolution of the proton fraction for a quantitatively reliable estimation of the heat capacity. Conclusions: We present the first modelization of stellar matter containing at the same time a statistical distribution of clusters at finite temperature, and pairing correlations in the unbound neutron component. The effect of the nuclear distribution on the superfluid properties can be easily added in future calculations of the neutron star cooling curves. A strong influence of resonance population on the heat capacity at high temperature is observed, which deserves to be further studied within more microscopic calculations.

Investigating the Materials Limits on Coherence in Superconducting Charge Qubits

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-12-04

Brecht, R. W. Heeres, L. Frunzio, M. H. Devoret, G. Catelani, L. I. Glazman, R. J. Schoelkopf. Measurement and control of quasiparticle dynamics in a... quasiparticles injection on the ac response of a superconductor, Physical Review B, (10 2010): 0. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevB.82.134502 M H Devoret, R J Schoelkopf...Frunzio, R. J. Schoelkopf, M. H. Devoret, L. I. Glazman. Quasiparticle Relaxation of Superconducting Qubits in the Presence of Flux, Physical

Controlling Decoherence in Superconducting Qubits: Phenomenological Model and Microscopic Origin of 1/f Noise

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-04-28

quasiparticle poisoning which include a completely novel physical origin of these noises. We also proposed a model for excess low frequency flux noise which...and quasiparticle poisoning which include a completely novel physical origin of these noises. We also proposed a model for excess low frequency flux...metallic nanomechanical resonators, Phys. Rev. B 81, 184112 (2010). 3) L. Faoro, A. Kitaev and L. B. Ioffe, Quasiparticle poisoning and Josephson current

Observation of three-component fermions in the topological semimetal molybdenum phosphide.

PubMed

Lv, B Q; Feng, Z-L; Xu, Q-N; Gao, X; Ma, J-Z; Kong, L-Y; Richard, P; Huang, Y-B; Strocov, V N; Fang, C; Weng, H-M; Shi, Y-G; Qian, T; Ding, H

2017-06-29

In quantum field theory, Lorentz invariance leads to three types of fermion-Dirac, Weyl and Majorana. Although the existence of Weyl and Majorana fermions as elementary particles in high-energy physics is debated, all three types of fermion have been proposed to exist as low-energy, long-wavelength quasiparticle excitations in condensed-matter systems. The existence of Dirac and Weyl fermions in condensed-matter systems has been confirmed experimentally, and that of Majorana fermions is supported by various experiments. However, in condensed-matter systems, fermions in crystals are constrained by the symmetries of the 230 crystal space groups rather than by Lorentz invariance, giving rise to the possibility of finding other types of fermionic excitation that have no counterparts in high-energy physics. Here we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to demonstrate the existence of a triply degenerate point in the electronic structure of crystalline molybdenum phosphide. Quasiparticle excitations near a triply degenerate point are three-component fermions, beyond the conventional Dirac-Weyl-Majorana classification, which attributes Dirac and Weyl fermions to four- and two-fold degenerate points, respectively. We also observe pairs of Weyl points in the bulk electronic structure of the crystal that coexist with the three-component fermions. This material thus represents a platform for studying the interplay between different types of fermions. Our experimental discovery opens up a way of exploring the new physics of unconventional fermions in condensed-matter systems.

Observation of three-component fermions in the topological semimetal molybdenum phosphide

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lv, B. Q.; Feng, Z.-L.; Xu, Q.-N.; Gao, X.; Ma, J.-Z.; Kong, L.-Y.; Richard, P.; Huang, Y.-B.; Strocov, V. N.; Fang, C.; Weng, H.-M.; Shi, Y.-G.; Qian, T.; Ding, H.

2017-06-01

In quantum field theory, Lorentz invariance leads to three types of fermion—Dirac, Weyl and Majorana. Although the existence of Weyl and Majorana fermions as elementary particles in high-energy physics is debated, all three types of fermion have been proposed to exist as low-energy, long-wavelength quasiparticle excitations in condensed-matter systems. The existence of Dirac and Weyl fermions in condensed-matter systems has been confirmed experimentally, and that of Majorana fermions is supported by various experiments. However, in condensed-matter systems, fermions in crystals are constrained by the symmetries of the 230 crystal space groups rather than by Lorentz invariance, giving rise to the possibility of finding other types of fermionic excitation that have no counterparts in high-energy physics. Here we use angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to demonstrate the existence of a triply degenerate point in the electronic structure of crystalline molybdenum phosphide. Quasiparticle excitations near a triply degenerate point are three-component fermions, beyond the conventional Dirac-Weyl-Majorana classification, which attributes Dirac and Weyl fermions to four- and two-fold degenerate points, respectively. We also observe pairs of Weyl points in the bulk electronic structure of the crystal that coexist with the three-component fermions. This material thus represents a platform for studying the interplay between different types of fermions. Our experimental discovery opens up a way of exploring the new physics of unconventional fermions in condensed-matter systems.

Landau quantization and quasiparticle interference in the three-dimensional Dirac semimetal Cd₃As₂.

PubMed

Jeon, Sangjun; Zhou, Brian B; Gyenis, Andras; Feldman, Benjamin E; Kimchi, Itamar; Potter, Andrew C; Gibson, Quinn D; Cava, Robert J; Vishwanath, Ashvin; Yazdani, Ali

2014-09-01

Condensed-matter systems provide a rich setting to realize Dirac and Majorana fermionic excitations as well as the possibility to manipulate them for potential applications. It has recently been proposed that chiral, massless particles known as Weyl fermions can emerge in certain bulk materials or in topological insulator multilayers and give rise to unusual transport properties, such as charge pumping driven by a chiral anomaly. A pair of Weyl fermions protected by crystalline symmetry effectively forming a massless Dirac fermion has been predicted to appear as low-energy excitations in a number of materials termed three-dimensional Dirac semimetals. Here we report scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements at sub-kelvin temperatures and high magnetic fields on the II-V semiconductor Cd3As2. We probe this system down to atomic length scales, and show that defects mostly influence the valence band, consistent with the observation of ultrahigh-mobility carriers in the conduction band. By combining Landau level spectroscopy and quasiparticle interference, we distinguish a large spin-splitting of the conduction band in a magnetic field and its extended Dirac-like dispersion above the expected regime. A model band structure consistent with our experimental findings suggests that for a magnetic field applied along the axis of the Dirac points, Weyl fermions are the low-energy excitations in Cd3As2.

Heuristics for multiobjective multiple sequence alignment.

PubMed

Abbasi, Maryam; Paquete, Luís; Pereira, Francisco B

2016-07-15

Aligning multiple sequences arises in many tasks in Bioinformatics. However, the alignments produced by the current software packages are highly dependent on the parameters setting, such as the relative importance of opening gaps with respect to the increase of similarity. Choosing only one parameter setting may provide an undesirable bias in further steps of the analysis and give too simplistic interpretations. In this work, we reformulate multiple sequence alignment from a multiobjective point of view. The goal is to generate several sequence alignments that represent a trade-off between maximizing the substitution score and minimizing the number of indels/gaps in the sum-of-pairs score function. This trade-off gives to the practitioner further information about the similarity of the sequences, from which she could analyse and choose the most plausible alignment. We introduce several heuristic approaches, based on local search procedures, that compute a set of sequence alignments, which are representative of the trade-off between the two objectives (substitution score and indels). Several algorithm design options are discussed and analysed, with particular emphasis on the influence of the starting alignment and neighborhood search definitions on the overall performance. A perturbation technique is proposed to improve the local search, which provides a wide range of high-quality alignments. The proposed approach is tested experimentally on a wide range of instances. We performed several experiments with sequences obtained from the benchmark database BAliBASE 3.0. To evaluate the quality of the results, we calculate the hypervolume indicator of the set of score vectors returned by the algorithms. The results obtained allow us to identify reasonably good choices of parameters for our approach. Further, we compared our method in terms of correctly aligned pairs ratio and columns correctly aligned ratio with respect to reference alignments. Experimental results show that our approaches can obtain better results than TCoffee and Clustal Omega in terms of the first ratio.

Quasiparticle energies and lifetimes in a metallic chain model of a tunnel junction.

PubMed

Szepieniec, Mark; Yeriskin, Irene; Greer, J C

2013-04-14

As electronics devices scale to sub-10 nm lengths, the distinction between "device" and "electrodes" becomes blurred. Here, we study a simple model of a molecular tunnel junction, consisting of an atomic gold chain partitioned into left and right electrodes, and a central "molecule." Using a complex absorbing potential, we are able to reproduce the single-particle energy levels of the device region including a description of the effects of the semi-infinite electrodes. We then use the method of configuration interaction to explore the effect of correlations on the system's quasiparticle peaks. We find that when excitations on the leads are excluded, the device's highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital quasiparticle states when including correlation are bracketed by their respective values in the Hartree-Fock (Koopmans) and ΔSCF approximations. In contrast, when excitations on the leads are included, the bracketing property no longer holds, and both the positions and the lifetimes of the quasiparticle levels change considerably, indicating that the combined effect of coupling and correlation is to alter the quasiparticle spectrum significantly relative to an isolated molecule.

The effect of exchange interaction on quasiparticle Landau levels in narrow-gap quantum well heterostructures.

PubMed

Krishtopenko, S S; Gavrilenko, V I; Goiran, M

2012-04-04

Using the 'screened' Hartree-Fock approximation based on the eight-band k·p Hamiltonian, we have extended our previous work (Krishtopenko et al 2011 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 23 385601) on exchange enhancement of the g-factor in narrow-gap quantum well heterostructures by calculating the exchange renormalization of quasiparticle energies, the density of states at the Fermi level and the quasiparticle g-factor for different Landau levels overlapping. We demonstrate that exchange interaction yields more pronounced Zeeman splitting of the density of states at the Fermi level and leads to the appearance of peak-shaped features in the dependence of the Landau level energies on the magnetic field at integer filling factors. We also find that the quasiparticle g-factor does not reach the maximum value at odd filling factors in the presence of large overlapping of spin-split Landau levels. We advance an argument that the behavior of the quasiparticle g-factor in weak magnetic fields is defined by a random potential of impurities in narrow-gap heterostructures. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd

Algorithm for Aligning an Array of Receiving Radio Antennas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rogstad, David

2006-01-01

A digital-signal-processing algorithm (somewhat arbitrarily) called SUMPLE has been devised as a means of aligning the outputs of multiple receiving radio antennas in a large array for the purpose of receiving a weak signal transmitted by a single distant source. As used here, aligning signifies adjusting the delays and phases of the outputs from the various antennas so that their relatively weak replicas of the desired signal can be added coherently to increase the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for improved reception, as though one had a single larger antenna. The method was devised to enhance spacecraft-tracking and telemetry operations in NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN); the method could also be useful in such other applications as both satellite and terrestrial radio communications and radio astronomy. Heretofore, most commonly, alignment has been effected by a process that involves correlation of signals in pairs. This approach necessitates the use of a large amount of hardware most notably, the N(N - 1)/2 correlators needed to process signals from all possible pairs of N antennas. Moreover, because the incoming signals typically have low SNRs, the delay and phase adjustments are poorly determined from the pairwise correlations. SUMPLE also involves correlations, but the correlations are not performed in pairs. Instead, in a partly iterative process, each signal is appropriately weighted and then correlated with a composite signal equal to the sum of the other signals (see Figure 1). One benefit of this approach is that only N correlators are needed; in an array of N much greater than 1 antennas, this results in a significant reduction of the amount of hardware. Another benefit is that once the array achieves coherence, the correlation SNR is N - 1 times that of a pair of antennas.

HAL-2 Promotes Homologous Pairing during Caenorhabditis elegans Meiosis by Antagonizing Inhibitory Effects of Synaptonemal Complex Precursors

PubMed Central

Zhang, Weibin; Miley, Natasha; Zastrow, Michael S.; MacQueen, Amy J.; Sato, Aya; Nabeshima, Kentaro; Martinez-Perez, Enrique; Mlynarczyk-Evans, Susanna; Carlton, Peter M.; Villeneuve, Anne M.

2012-01-01

During meiosis, chromosomes align with their homologous pairing partners and stabilize this alignment through assembly of the synaptonemal complex (SC). Since the SC assembles cooperatively yet is indifferent to homology, pairing and SC assembly must be tightly coordinated. We identify HAL-2 as a key mediator in this coordination, showing that HAL-2 promotes pairing largely by preventing detrimental effects of SC precursors (SYP proteins). hal-2 mutants fail to establish pairing and lack multiple markers of chromosome movement mediated by pairing centers (PCs), chromosome sites that link chromosomes to cytoplasmic microtubules through nuclear envelope-spanning complexes. Moreover, SYP proteins load inappropriately along individual unpaired chromosomes in hal-2 mutants, and markers of PC-dependent movement and function are restored in hal-2; syp double mutants. These and other data indicate that SYP proteins can impede pairing and that HAL-2 promotes pairing predominantly but not exclusively by counteracting this inhibition, thereby enabling activation and regulation of PC function. HAL-2 concentrates in the germ cell nucleoplasm and colocalizes with SYP proteins in nuclear aggregates when SC assembly is prevented. We propose that HAL-2 functions to shepherd SYP proteins prior to licensing of SC assembly, preventing untimely interactions between SC precursors and chromosomes and allowing sufficient accumulation of precursors for rapid cooperative assembly upon homology verification. PMID:22912597

HAL-2 promotes homologous pairing during Caenorhabditis elegans meiosis by antagonizing inhibitory effects of synaptonemal complex precursors.

PubMed

Zhang, Weibin; Miley, Natasha; Zastrow, Michael S; MacQueen, Amy J; Sato, Aya; Nabeshima, Kentaro; Martinez-Perez, Enrique; Mlynarczyk-Evans, Susanna; Carlton, Peter M; Villeneuve, Anne M

2012-01-01

During meiosis, chromosomes align with their homologous pairing partners and stabilize this alignment through assembly of the synaptonemal complex (SC). Since the SC assembles cooperatively yet is indifferent to homology, pairing and SC assembly must be tightly coordinated. We identify HAL-2 as a key mediator in this coordination, showing that HAL-2 promotes pairing largely by preventing detrimental effects of SC precursors (SYP proteins). hal-2 mutants fail to establish pairing and lack multiple markers of chromosome movement mediated by pairing centers (PCs), chromosome sites that link chromosomes to cytoplasmic microtubules through nuclear envelope-spanning complexes. Moreover, SYP proteins load inappropriately along individual unpaired chromosomes in hal-2 mutants, and markers of PC-dependent movement and function are restored in hal-2; syp double mutants. These and other data indicate that SYP proteins can impede pairing and that HAL-2 promotes pairing predominantly but not exclusively by counteracting this inhibition, thereby enabling activation and regulation of PC function. HAL-2 concentrates in the germ cell nucleoplasm and colocalizes with SYP proteins in nuclear aggregates when SC assembly is prevented. We propose that HAL-2 functions to shepherd SYP proteins prior to licensing of SC assembly, preventing untimely interactions between SC precursors and chromosomes and allowing sufficient accumulation of precursors for rapid cooperative assembly upon homology verification.

Recombination Proteins Mediate Meiotic Spatial Chromosome Organization and Pairing

PubMed Central

Storlazzi, Aurora; Gargano, Silvana; Ruprich-Robert, Gwenael; Falque, Matthieu; David, Michelle; Kleckner, Nancy; Zickler, Denise

2010-01-01

SUMMARY Meiotic chromosome pairing involves not only recognition of homology but also juxtaposition of entire chromosomes in a topologically regular way. Analysis of filamentous fungus Sordaria macrospora reveals that recombination proteins Mer3, Msh4 and Mlh1 play direct roles in all of these aspects, in advance of their known roles in recombination. Absence of Mer3 helicase results in interwoven chromosomes, thereby revealing the existence of features that specifically ensure “entanglement avoidance”. Entanglements that remain at zygotene, i.e. “interlockings”, require Mlh1 for resolution, likely to eliminate constraining recombinational connections. Patterns of Mer3 and Msh4 foci along aligned chromosomes show that the double-strand breaks mediating homologous alignment have spatially separated ends, one localized to each partner axis, and that pairing involves interference among developing interhomolog interactions. We propose that Mer3, Msh4 and Mlh1 execute all of these roles during pairing by modulating the state of nascent double-strand break/partner DNA contacts within axis-associated recombination complexes. PMID:20371348

Pion quasiparticle in the low-temperature phase of QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandt, Bastian B.; Francis, Anthony; Meyer, Harvey B.; Robaina, Daniel

2015-11-01

We investigate the properties of the pion quasiparticle in the low-temperature phase of two-flavor QCD on the lattice with support from chiral effective theory. We find that the pion quasiparticle mass is significantly reduced compared to its value in the vacuum, in contrast with the static screening mass, which increases with temperature. By a simple argument, near the chiral limit the two masses are expected to determine the quasiparticle dispersion relation. Analyzing two-point functions of the axial charge density at nonvanishing spatial momentum, we find that the predicted dispersion relation and the residue of the pion pole are consistent with the lattice data at low momentum. This test, based on fits to the correlation functions, is confirmed by a second analysis using the Backus-Gilbert method.

Charge qubit coupled to an intense microwave electromagnetic field in a superconducting Nb device: evidence for photon-assisted quasiparticle tunneling.

PubMed

de Graaf, S E; Leppäkangas, J; Adamyan, A; Danilov, A V; Lindström, T; Fogelström, M; Bauch, T; Johansson, G; Kubatkin, S E

2013-09-27

We study a superconducting charge qubit coupled to an intensive electromagnetic field and probe changes in the resonance frequency of the formed dressed states. At large driving strengths, exceeding the qubit energy-level splitting, this reveals the well known Landau-Zener-Stückelberg interference structure of a longitudinally driven two-level system. For even stronger drives, we observe a significant change in the Landau-Zener-Stückelberg pattern and contrast. We attribute this to photon-assisted quasiparticle tunneling in the qubit. This results in the recovery of the qubit parity, eliminating effects of quasiparticle poisoning, and leads to an enhanced interferometric response. The interference pattern becomes robust to quasiparticle poisoning and has a good potential for accurate charge sensing.

Using Variable-Length Aligned Fragment Pairs and an Improved Transition Function for Flexible Protein Structure Alignment.

PubMed

Cao, Hu; Lu, Yonggang

2017-01-01

With the rapid growth of known protein 3D structures in number, how to efficiently compare protein structures becomes an essential and challenging problem in computational structural biology. At present, many protein structure alignment methods have been developed. Among all these methods, flexible structure alignment methods are shown to be superior to rigid structure alignment methods in identifying structure similarities between proteins, which have gone through conformational changes. It is also found that the methods based on aligned fragment pairs (AFPs) have a special advantage over other approaches in balancing global structure similarities and local structure similarities. Accordingly, we propose a new flexible protein structure alignment method based on variable-length AFPs. Compared with other methods, the proposed method possesses three main advantages. First, it is based on variable-length AFPs. The length of each AFP is separately determined to maximally represent a local similar structure fragment, which reduces the number of AFPs. Second, it uses local coordinate systems, which simplify the computation at each step of the expansion of AFPs during the AFP identification. Third, it decreases the number of twists by rewarding the situation where nonconsecutive AFPs share the same transformation in the alignment, which is realized by dynamic programming with an improved transition function. The experimental data show that compared with FlexProt, FATCAT, and FlexSnap, the proposed method can achieve comparable results by introducing fewer twists. Meanwhile, it can generate results similar to those of the FATCAT method in much less running time due to the reduced number of AFPs.

Precise Alignment and Permanent Mounting of Thin and Lightweight X-ray Segments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Biskach, Michael P.; Chan, Kai-Wing; Hong, Melinda N.; Mazzarella, James R.; McClelland, Ryan S.; Norman, Michael J.; Saha, Timo T.; Zhang, William W.

2012-01-01

To provide observations to support current research efforts in high energy astrophysics. future X-ray telescope designs must provide matching or better angular resolution while significantly increasing the total collecting area. In such a design the permanent mounting of thin and lightweight segments is critical to the overall performance of the complete X-ray optic assembly. The thin and lightweight segments used in the assemhly of the modules are desigued to maintain and/or exceed the resolution of existing X-ray telescopes while providing a substantial increase in collecting area. Such thin and delicate X-ray segments are easily distorted and yet must be aligned to the arcsecond level and retain accurate alignment for many years. The Next Generation X-ray Optic (NGXO) group at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center has designed, assembled. and implemented new hardware and procedures mth the short term goal of aligning three pairs of X-ray segments in a technology demonstration module while maintaining 10 arcsec alignment through environmental testing as part of the eventual design and construction of a full sized module capable of housing hundreds of X-ray segments. The recent attempts at multiple segment pair alignment and permanent mounting is described along with an overview of the procedure used. A look into what the next year mll bring for the alignment and permanent segment mounting effort illustrates some of the challenges left to overcome before an attempt to populate a full sized module can begin.

Breathers in systems with intrinsic and extrinsic nonlinearities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cruzeiro-Hansson, L.; Eilbeck, J. C.; Marín, J. L.; Russell, F. M.

2000-08-01

We study the interplay between nonlinearity and localization in a model consisting of a quantum quasiparticle interacting with a nonlinear extended lattice. The isolated lattice can support discrete breathers, and the coupling of the quasiparticle to the lattice leads to localized quasiparticle states. Minimum energy states of the full system can have both a breather and a solitonic character. Excited states lead to interesting new phenomena, such as full breather states, which arise from the combination of intrinsic and extrinsic nonlinearity.

Vorticity equation for MHD fast waves in geospace environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yamauchi, M.; Lundin, R.; Lui, A. T. Y.

1993-01-01

The MHD vorticity equation is modified in order to apply it to nonlinear MHD fast waves or shocks when their extent along the magnetic field is limited. Field-aligned current (FAC) generation is also discussed on the basis of this modified vorticity equation. When the wave normal is not aligned to the finite velocity convection and the source region is spatially limited, a longitudinal polarization causes a pair of plus and minus charges inside the compressional plane waves or shocks, generating a pair of FACs. This polarization is not related to the separation between the electrons and ions caused by their difference in mass, a separation which is inherent to compressional waves. The resultant double field-aligned current structure exists both with and without the contributions from curvature drift, which is questionable in terms of its contribution to vorticity change from the viewpoint of single-particle motion.

MSuPDA: A memory efficient algorithm for sequence alignment.

PubMed

Khan, Mohammad Ibrahim; Kamal, Md Sarwar; Chowdhury, Linkon

2015-01-16

Space complexity is a million dollar question in DNA sequence alignments. In this regards, MSuPDA (Memory Saving under Pushdown Automata) can help to reduce the occupied spaces in computer memory. Our proposed process is that Anchor Seed (AS) will be selected from given data set of Nucleotides base pairs for local sequence alignment. Quick Splitting (QS) techniques will separate the Anchor Seed from all the DNA genome segments. Selected Anchor Seed will be placed to pushdown Automata's (PDA) input unit. Whole DNA genome segments will be placed into PDA's stack. Anchor Seed from input unit will be matched with the DNA genome segments from stack of PDA. Whatever matches, mismatches or Indel, of Nucleotides will be POP from the stack under the control of control unit of Pushdown Automata. During the POP operation on stack it will free the memory cell occupied by the Nucleotide base pair.

Image alignment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Dowell, Larry Jonathan

Disclosed is a method and device for aligning at least two digital images. An embodiment may use frequency-domain transforms of small tiles created from each image to identify substantially similar, "distinguishing" features within each of the images, and then align the images together based on the location of the distinguishing features. To accomplish this, an embodiment may create equal sized tile sub-images for each image. A "key" for each tile may be created by performing a frequency-domain transform calculation on each tile. A information-distance difference between each possible pair of tiles on each image may be calculated to identify distinguishingmore » features. From analysis of the information-distance differences of the pairs of tiles, a subset of tiles with high discrimination metrics in relation to other tiles may be located for each image. The subset of distinguishing tiles for each image may then be compared to locate tiles with substantially similar keys and/or information-distance metrics to other tiles of other images. Once similar tiles are located for each image, the images may be aligned in relation to the identified similar tiles.« less

The quasiparticle zoo

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Venema, Liesbeth; Verberck, Bart; Georgescu, Iulia; Prando, Giacomo; Couderc, Elsa; Milana, Silvia; Maragkou, Maria; Persechini, Lina; Pacchioni, Giulia; Fleet, Luke

2016-12-01

Quasiparticles are an extremely useful concept that provides a more intuitive understanding of complex phenomena in many-body physics. As such, they appear in various contexts, linking ideas across different fields and supplying a common language.

Joint for deployable structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Craighead, N. D., II; Preliasco, R. J.; Hult, T. D. (Inventor)

1985-01-01

A joint is described for connecting a pair of beams to pivot them between positions in alignment or beside one another, which is of light weight and which operates in a controlled manner. The joint includes a pair of fittings and at least one center link having opposite ends pivotally connected to opposite fittings and having axes that pass through centerplates of the fittings. A control link having opposite ends pivotally connected to the different fittings controls their relative orientations, and a toggle assemly holds the fittings in the deployed configuration wherein they are aligned. The fittings have stops that lie on one side of the centerplane opposite the toggle assembly.

Polarity mechanisms such as contact inhibition of locomotion regulate persistent rotational motion of mammalian cells on micropatterns

PubMed Central

Camley, Brian A.; Zhang, Yunsong; Zhao, Yanxiang; Li, Bo; Ben-Jacob, Eshel; Levine, Herbert; Rappel, Wouter-Jan

2014-01-01

Pairs of endothelial cells on adhesive micropatterns rotate persistently, but pairs of fibroblasts do not; coherent rotation is present in normal mammary acini and kidney cells but absent in cancerous cells. Why? To answer this question, we develop a computational model of pairs of mammalian cells on adhesive micropatterns using a phase field method and study the conditions under which persistent rotational motion (PRM) emerges. Our model couples the shape of the cell, the cell’s internal chemical polarity, and interactions between cells such as volume exclusion and adhesion. We show that PRM can emerge from this minimal model and that the cell-cell interface may be influenced by the nucleus. We study the effect of various cell polarity mechanisms on rotational motion, including contact inhibition of locomotion, neighbor alignment, and velocity alignment, where cells align their polarity to their velocity. These polarity mechanisms strongly regulate PRM: Small differences in polarity mechanisms can create significant differences in collective rotation. We argue that the existence or absence of rotation under confinement may lead to insight into the cell’s methods for coordinating collective cell motility. PMID:25258412

Higgs Boson: god particle or divine comedy?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rangacharyulu, Chary

2013-10-01

While particle physicists around the world rejoice the announcement of discovery of Higgs particle as a momentous event, it is also an opportune moment to assess the physicists' conception of nature. Particle theorists, in their ingenious efforts to unravel mysteries of the physical universe at a very fundamental level, resort to macroscopic many body theoretical methods of solid state physicists. Their efforts render the universe a superconductor of correlated quasi-particle pairs. Experimentalists, devoted to ascertain the elementary constituents and symmetries, depend heavily on numerical simulations based on those models and conform to theoretical slang in planning and interpretation of measurements . It is to the extent that the boundaries between theory/modeling and experiment are blurred. Is it possible that they are meandering in Dante's Inferno?

Momentum-resolved spectroscopy of a Fermi liquid

PubMed Central

Doggen, Elmer V. H.; Kinnunen, Jami J.

2015-01-01

We consider a recent momentum-resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy experiment, in which Fermi liquid properties of a strongly interacting atomic Fermi gas were studied. Here we show that by extending the Brueckner-Goldstone model, we can formulate a theory that goes beyond basic mean-field theories and that can be used for studying spectroscopies of dilute atomic gases in the strongly interacting regime. The model hosts well-defined quasiparticles and works across a wide range of temperatures and interaction strengths. The theory provides excellent qualitative agreement with the experiment. Comparing the predictions of the present theory with the mean-field Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory yields insights into the role of pair correlations, Tan's contact, and the Hartree mean-field energy shift. PMID:25941948

Effects of magnetic impurity scattering on superfluid 3He in aerogel

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aoyama, Kazushi; Ikeda, Ryusuke

2009-02-01

We investigate impurity effects on superfluid 3He in aerogel whose surface is not coated with 4He, different from most experimental situations. In systems with no 4He coating, spins of solid 3He absorbed on the aerogel surface are active and interact with spins of quasiparticles relevant to superfluidity and, for this reason, such an aerogel is treated as magnetic scatterers. It is found that, in the ABM pairing state affected by magnetic scatterings, not only the l-vector but also the d-vector has no long-ranged orientational order, and that the strong-coupling correction due to impurity scatterings is less suppressed than that in the nonmagnetic case, implying an expansion of the A-like phase region.

Hybrid Semiclassical Theory of Quantum Quenches in One-Dimensional Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moca, Cǎtǎlin Paşcu; Kormos, Márton; Zaránd, Gergely

2017-09-01

We develop a hybrid semiclassical method to study the time evolution of one-dimensional quantum systems in and out of equilibrium. Our method handles internal degrees of freedom completely quantum mechanically by a modified time-evolving block decimation method while treating orbital quasiparticle motion classically. We can follow dynamics up to time scales well beyond the reach of standard numerical methods to observe the crossover between preequilibrated and locally phase equilibrated states. As an application, we investigate the quench dynamics and phase fluctuations of a pair of tunnel-coupled one-dimensional Bose condensates. We demonstrate the emergence of soliton-collision-induced phase propagation, soliton-entropy production, and multistep thermalization. Our method can be applied to a wide range of gapped one-dimensional systems.

Level structure of 154Ho

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moon, Chang-Bum; Komatsubara, Tetsuro; Furuno, Kohei

2013-10-01

The excited states of the odd-odd 154Ho nucleus have been studied by using in-beam γ-ray spectroscopy with the 141Pr (16O, 3n) 154Ho reaction at Elab=75 MeV. The beam was provided by the 12UD Pelletron accelerator at the University of Tsukuba. In this work, the complicated decay pattern of low energy transitions just above the T1/2=3.10 min isomer have been established. In addition, a number of new states and γ-ray transitions, especially those associated with energetically favored band termination, have been observed for the first time in 154Ho. A negative collective band and its signature partner built on the 11- level are interpreted as being based on the πh11/2⊗νi13/2 configuration. A positive band built on the 10+ level is based on the πh11/2⊗νh9/2 configuration while another positive band built on the 9+ level is being associated with the πh11/2⊗νf7/2 configuration. An energetically favored level Jπ=19- can be interpreted as being attributed to the πh11/2⊗νi13/2 configuration coupled to the 8+ state in neighboring core 152Dy, namely, a four-quasiparticle alignment based on the [πh11/2νi13/2]11-⊗[ν(h9/2f7/2)]8- configuration. Another energetically favored state at Jπ=27- is assigned the six-quasiparticle [π(h11/2)3]27/2-⊗[ν(f7/2h9/2i13/2)]27/2- configuration.

Fusion bonding and alignment fixture

DOEpatents

Ackler, Harold D.; Swierkowski, Stefan P.; Tarte, Lisa A.; Hicks, Randall K.

2000-01-01

An improved vacuum fusion bonding structure and process for aligned bonding of large area glass plates, patterned with microchannels and access holes and slots, for elevated glass fusion temperatures. Vacuum pumpout of all the components is through the bottom platform which yields an untouched, defect free top surface which greatly improves optical access through this smooth surface. Also, a completely non-adherent interlayer, such as graphite, with alignment and location features is located between the main steel platform and the glass plate pair, which makes large improvements in quality, yield, and ease of use, and enables aligned bonding of very large glass structures.

Out-of-equilibrium spin transport in mesoscopic superconductors.

PubMed

Quay, C H L; Aprili, M

2018-08-06

The excitations in conventional superconductors, Bogoliubov quasi-particles, are spin-[Formula: see text] fermions but their charge is energy-dependent and, in fact, zero at the gap edge. Therefore, in superconductors (unlike normal metals) spin and charge degrees of freedom may be separated. In this article, we review spin injection into conventional superconductors and focus on recent experiments on mesoscopic superconductors. We show how quasi-particle spin transport and out-of-equilibrium spin-dependent superconductivity can be triggered using the Zeeman splitting of the quasi-particle density of states in thin-film superconductors with small spin-mixing scattering. Finally, we address the spin dynamics and the feedback of quasi-particle spin imbalances on the amplitude of the superconducting energy gap.This article is part of the theme issue 'Andreev bound states'. © 2018 The Author(s).

Shot-noise evidence of fractional quasiparticle creation in a local fractional quantum Hall state.

PubMed

Hashisaka, Masayuki; Ota, Tomoaki; Muraki, Koji; Fujisawa, Toshimasa

2015-02-06

We experimentally identify fractional quasiparticle creation in a tunneling process through a local fractional quantum Hall (FQH) state. The local FQH state is prepared in a low-density region near a quantum point contact in an integer quantum Hall (IQH) system. Shot-noise measurements reveal a clear transition from elementary-charge tunneling at low bias to fractional-charge tunneling at high bias. The fractional shot noise is proportional to T(1)(1-T(1)) over a wide range of T(1), where T(1) is the transmission probability of the IQH edge channel. This binomial distribution indicates that fractional quasiparticles emerge from the IQH state to be transmitted through the local FQH state. The study of this tunneling process enables us to elucidate the dynamics of Laughlin quasiparticles in FQH systems.

Quasiparticle band gap of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites: Crystal structure, spin-orbit coupling, and self-energy effects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Weiwei; Gao, Xiang; Abtew, Tesfaye A.; Sun, Yi-Yang; Zhang, Shengbai; Zhang, Peihong

2016-02-01

The quasiparticle band gap is one of the most important materials properties for photovoltaic applications. Often the band gap of a photovoltaic material is determined (and can be controlled) by various factors, complicating predictive materials optimization. An in-depth understanding of how these factors affect the size of the gap will provide valuable guidance for new materials discovery. Here we report a comprehensive investigation on the band gap formation mechanism in organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites by decoupling various contributing factors which ultimately determine their electronic structure and quasiparticle band gap. Major factors, namely, quasiparticle self-energy, spin-orbit coupling, and structural distortions due to the presence of organic molecules, and their influences on the quasiparticle band structure of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites are illustrated. We find that although methylammonium cations do not contribute directly to the electronic states near band edges, they play an important role in defining the band gap by introducing structural distortions and controlling the overall lattice constants. The spin-orbit coupling effects drastically reduce the electron and hole effective masses in these systems, which is beneficial for high carrier mobilities and small exciton binding energies.

Ab initio quasiparticle bandstructure of ABA and ABC-stacked graphene trilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menezes, Marcos; Capaz, Rodrigo; Louie, Steven

2013-03-01

We obtain the quasiparticle band structure of ABA and ABC-stacked graphene trilayers through ab initio density functional theory (DFT) and many-body quasiparticle calculations within the GW approximation. To interpret our results, we fit the DFT and GW π bands to a low energy tight-binding model, which is found to reproduce very well the observed features near the K point. The values of the extracted hopping parameters are reported and compared with available theoretical and experimental data. For both stackings, the quasiparticle corrections lead to a renormalization of the Fermi velocity, an effect also observed in previous calculations on monolayer graphene. They also increase the separation between the higher energy bands, which is proportional to the nearest neighbor interlayer hopping parameter γ1. Both features are brought to closer agreement with experiment through the quasiparticle corrections. Finally, other effects, such as trigonal warping, electron-hole assymetry and energy gaps are discussed in terms of the associated parameters. This work was supported by the Brazilian funding agencies: CAPES, CNPq, FAPERJ and INCT-Nanomateriais de Carbono. It was also supported by NSF grant No. DMR10-1006184 and U.S. DOE under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

FLASHFLOOD: A 3D Field-based similarity search and alignment method for flexible molecules

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pitman, Michael C.; Huber, Wolfgang K.; Horn, Hans; Krämer, Andreas; Rice, Julia E.; Swope, William C.

2001-07-01

A three-dimensional field-based similarity search and alignment method for flexible molecules is introduced. The conformational space of a flexible molecule is represented in terms of fragments and torsional angles of allowed conformations. A user-definable property field is used to compute features of fragment pairs. Features are generalizations of CoMMA descriptors (Silverman, B.D. and Platt, D.E., J. Med. Chem., 39 (1996) 2129.) that characterize local regions of the property field by its local moments. The features are invariant under coordinate system transformations. Features taken from a query molecule are used to form alignments with fragment pairs in the database. An assembly algorithm is then used to merge the fragment pairs into full structures, aligned to the query. Key to the method is the use of a context adaptive descriptor scaling procedure as the basis for similarity. This allows the user to tune the weights of the various feature components based on examples relevant to the particular context under investigation. The property fields may range from simple, phenomenological fields, to fields derived from quantum mechanical calculations. We apply the method to the dihydrofolate/methotrexate benchmark system, and show that when one injects relevant contextual information into the descriptor scaling procedure, better results are obtained more efficiently. We also show how the method works and include computer times for a query from a database that represents approximately 23 million conformers of seventeen flexible molecules.

Field-aligned current sources in the high-latitude ionosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Barbosa, D. D.

1979-01-01

The paper determines the electric potential in a plane which is fed current from a pair of field-aligned current sheets. The ionospheric conductivity is modelled as a constant with an enhanced conductivity annular ring. It is shown that field-aligned current distributions are arbitrary functions of azimuth angle (MLT) and thus allow for asymmetric potential configurations over the pole cap. In addition, ionospheric surface currents are computed by means of stream functions. Finally, the discussion relates these methods to the electrical characteristics of the magnetosphere.

fRMSDPred: Predicting Local RMSD Between Structural Fragments Using Sequence Information

DTIC Science & Technology

2007-04-04

machine learning approaches for estimating the RMSD value of a pair of protein fragments. These estimated fragment-level RMSD values can be used to construct the alignment, assess the quality of an alignment, and identify high-quality alignment segments. We present algorithms to solve this fragment-level RMSD prediction problem using a supervised learning framework based on support vector regression and classification that incorporates protein profiles, predicted secondary structure, effective information encoding schemes, and novel second-order pairwise exponential kernel

An Effective Big Data Supervised Imbalanced Classification Approach for Ortholog Detection in Related Yeast Species

PubMed Central

Galpert, Deborah; del Río, Sara; Herrera, Francisco; Ancede-Gallardo, Evys; Antunes, Agostinho; Agüero-Chapin, Guillermin

2015-01-01

Orthology detection requires more effective scaling algorithms. In this paper, a set of gene pair features based on similarity measures (alignment scores, sequence length, gene membership to conserved regions, and physicochemical profiles) are combined in a supervised pairwise ortholog detection approach to improve effectiveness considering low ortholog ratios in relation to the possible pairwise comparison between two genomes. In this scenario, big data supervised classifiers managing imbalance between ortholog and nonortholog pair classes allow for an effective scaling solution built from two genomes and extended to other genome pairs. The supervised approach was compared with RBH, RSD, and OMA algorithms by using the following yeast genome pairs: Saccharomyces cerevisiae-Kluyveromyces lactis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae-Candida glabrata, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae-Schizosaccharomyces pombe as benchmark datasets. Because of the large amount of imbalanced data, the building and testing of the supervised model were only possible by using big data supervised classifiers managing imbalance. Evaluation metrics taking low ortholog ratios into account were applied. From the effectiveness perspective, MapReduce Random Oversampling combined with Spark SVM outperformed RBH, RSD, and OMA, probably because of the consideration of gene pair features beyond alignment similarities combined with the advances in big data supervised classification. PMID:26605337

An Effective Big Data Supervised Imbalanced Classification Approach for Ortholog Detection in Related Yeast Species.

PubMed

Galpert, Deborah; Del Río, Sara; Herrera, Francisco; Ancede-Gallardo, Evys; Antunes, Agostinho; Agüero-Chapin, Guillermin

2015-01-01

Orthology detection requires more effective scaling algorithms. In this paper, a set of gene pair features based on similarity measures (alignment scores, sequence length, gene membership to conserved regions, and physicochemical profiles) are combined in a supervised pairwise ortholog detection approach to improve effectiveness considering low ortholog ratios in relation to the possible pairwise comparison between two genomes. In this scenario, big data supervised classifiers managing imbalance between ortholog and nonortholog pair classes allow for an effective scaling solution built from two genomes and extended to other genome pairs. The supervised approach was compared with RBH, RSD, and OMA algorithms by using the following yeast genome pairs: Saccharomyces cerevisiae-Kluyveromyces lactis, Saccharomyces cerevisiae-Candida glabrata, and Saccharomyces cerevisiae-Schizosaccharomyces pombe as benchmark datasets. Because of the large amount of imbalanced data, the building and testing of the supervised model were only possible by using big data supervised classifiers managing imbalance. Evaluation metrics taking low ortholog ratios into account were applied. From the effectiveness perspective, MapReduce Random Oversampling combined with Spark SVM outperformed RBH, RSD, and OMA, probably because of the consideration of gene pair features beyond alignment similarities combined with the advances in big data supervised classification.

Quasiparticle entropy in superconductor/normal metal/superconductor proximity junctions in the diffusive limit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Virtanen, P.; Vischi, F.; Strambini, E.; Carrega, M.; Giazotto, F.

2017-12-01

We discuss the quasiparticle entropy and heat capacity of a dirty superconductor/normal metal/superconductor junction. In the case of short junctions, the inverse proximity effect extending in the superconducting banks plays a crucial role in determining the thermodynamic quantities. In this case, commonly used approximations can violate thermodynamic relations between supercurrent and quasiparticle entropy. We provide analytical and numerical results as a function of different geometrical parameters. Quantitative estimates for the heat capacity can be relevant for the design of caloritronic devices or radiation sensor applications.

Tunneling spectroscopy of quasiparticle bound states in a spinful Josephson junction.

PubMed

Chang, W; Manucharyan, V E; Jespersen, T S; Nygård, J; Marcus, C M

2013-05-24

The spectrum of a segment of InAs nanowire, confined between two superconducting leads, was measured as function of gate voltage and superconducting phase difference using a third normal-metal tunnel probe. Subgap resonances for odd electron occupancy-interpreted as bound states involving a confined electron and a quasiparticle from the superconducting leads, reminiscent of Yu-Shiba-Rusinov states-evolve into Kondo-related resonances at higher magnetic fields. An additional zero-bias peak of unknown origin is observed to coexist with the quasiparticle bound states.

Spatiotemporal configuration dependent pairing of nerve events in dark-adapted human vision

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouman, Maarten A.

2002-02-01

In the model presented here, in the dark any single quantum absorption in a rod or cone produces a subliminal excitation. Subliminal excitations from both halves of a twin unit pair in the retina for the perception of light from the stimulus. A twin unit contains either two red or two green cones. The twin units are intertwined in triples of two red units and one green unit in a hexagon called a trion. P satellite rods surround each cone, P being approximately proportional to the square of eccentricity. A successful pairing for light perception represents-through the points of time and locations of the creation of its partners in the retina-a direction event with two possible polarities and with the orientation of the elongated shape of the twin unit. The polarity of the event depends on which of the two partners arrives first at the twin's pairing facility. Simultaneous events and successive events with the same polarity in adjacent units that are aligned along one of the three orientations of the hexagonal retinal mosaic pair in the cortex for the perception of edge and of movement. Inter-twin pairing products of the three differently oriented sets of aligned twins are independent of each other and sum vectorially in the cortex. This system of three sub-retinas is called the retrinet. Two one-quantum excitations in any of a twin's receptors make the percept colored. The odd blue cone produces already a blue signal for a single one-quantum excitation. Intra-receptor pairing in a rod, a red cone and a green cone is for white, red, and green respectively. Red and green cone products of a trion cross-pair in the retina and produce a yellow signal. Red and green cone products of a hexagon of adjacent trions cross-pair in the cortex and produce a white signal. This large hexagon with a total of seven trions is called a persepton. After subliminal excitations in a twin have paired successfully, further subliminal receptor excitations in neighboring and aligned twins are expressed to a certain extent in the percept's area, duration and color. Earlier experiments on absolute and color thresholds are the basis for this theory, which is developed in this paper.

TMRG studies on spin alignment in molecule-based ferrimagnetics [rapid communication

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Q. M.; Yao, K. L.; Liu, Z. L.

2005-05-01

A physical picture of spin alignment in organic molecule-based ferrimagnets is presented from studying the thermal effective magnetic moment of the sublattice by use of the transfer matrix renormalization group. We conclude that the classical antiparallel spin alignment is not the most stable state. The three-spin system tends to parallel alignment when the exchange interaction between the biradical and the monoradical molecules is much weaker than that within the biradical, which can result in the decrease of the effective magnetic moment upon lowering the temperature. More importantly, we give the theoretical evidence that even the antiparallel spin alignment in the biradical monoradical alternating chain does not necessarily lead to ferrimagnetic spin ordering due to the formation of the spin singlet pairs, which suppresses the ferrimagnetic spin alignment.

A survey and evaluations of histogram-based statistics in alignment-free sequence comparison.

PubMed

Luczak, Brian B; James, Benjamin T; Girgis, Hani Z

2017-12-06

Since the dawn of the bioinformatics field, sequence alignment scores have been the main method for comparing sequences. However, alignment algorithms are quadratic, requiring long execution time. As alternatives, scientists have developed tens of alignment-free statistics for measuring the similarity between two sequences. We surveyed tens of alignment-free k-mer statistics. Additionally, we evaluated 33 statistics and multiplicative combinations between the statistics and/or their squares. These statistics are calculated on two k-mer histograms representing two sequences. Our evaluations using global alignment scores revealed that the majority of the statistics are sensitive and capable of finding similar sequences to a query sequence. Therefore, any of these statistics can filter out dissimilar sequences quickly. Further, we observed that multiplicative combinations of the statistics are highly correlated with the identity score. Furthermore, combinations involving sequence length difference or Earth Mover's distance, which takes the length difference into account, are always among the highest correlated paired statistics with identity scores. Similarly, paired statistics including length difference or Earth Mover's distance are among the best performers in finding the K-closest sequences. Interestingly, similar performance can be obtained using histograms of shorter words, resulting in reducing the memory requirement and increasing the speed remarkably. Moreover, we found that simple single statistics are sufficient for processing next-generation sequencing reads and for applications relying on local alignment. Finally, we measured the time requirement of each statistic. The survey and the evaluations will help scientists with identifying efficient alternatives to the costly alignment algorithm, saving thousands of computational hours. The source code of the benchmarking tool is available as Supplementary Materials. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

Multiple reaction monitoring-ion pair finder: a systematic approach to transform nontargeted mode to pseudotargeted mode for metabolomics study based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry.

PubMed

Luo, Ping; Dai, Weidong; Yin, Peiyuan; Zeng, Zhongda; Kong, Hongwei; Zhou, Lina; Wang, Xiaolin; Chen, Shili; Lu, Xin; Xu, Guowang

2015-01-01

Pseudotargeted metabolic profiling is a novel strategy combining the advantages of both targeted and untargeted methods. The strategy obtains metabolites and their product ions from quadrupole time-of-flight (Q-TOF) MS by information-dependent acquisition (IDA) and then picks targeted ion pairs and measures them on a triple-quadrupole MS by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM). The picking of ion pairs from thousands of candidates is the most time-consuming step of the pseudotargeted strategy. Herein, a systematic and automated approach and software (MRM-Ion Pair Finder) were developed to acquire characteristic MRM ion pairs by precursor ions alignment, MS(2) spectrum extraction and reduction, characteristic product ion selection, and ion fusion. To test the reliability of the approach, a mixture of 15 metabolite standards was first analyzed; the representative ion pairs were correctly picked out. Then, pooled serum samples were further studied, and the results were confirmed by the manual selection. Finally, a comparison with a commercial peak alignment software was performed, and a good characteristic ion coverage of metabolites was obtained. As a proof of concept, the proposed approach was applied to a metabolomics study of liver cancer; 854 metabolite ion pairs were defined in the positive ion mode from serum. Our approach provides a high throughput method which is reliable to acquire MRM ion pairs for pseudotargeted metabolomics with improved metabolite coverage and facilitate more reliable biomarkers discoveries.

Tilted-axis wobbling in odd-mass nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Budaca, R.

2018-02-01

A triaxial rotor Hamiltonian with a rigidly aligned high-j quasiparticle is treated by a time-dependent variational principle, using angular momentum coherent states. The resulting classical energy function has three unique critical points in a space of generalized conjugate coordinates, which can minimize the energy for specific ordering of the inertial parameters and a fixed angular momentum state. Because of the symmetry of the problem, there are only two unique solutions, corresponding to wobbling motion around a principal axis and, respectively, a tilted axis. The wobbling frequencies are obtained after a quantization procedure and then used to calculate E 2 and M 1 transition probabilities. The analytical results are employed in the study of the wobbling excitations of 135Pr nucleus, which is found to undergo a transition from low angular momentum transverse wobbling around a principal axis toward a tilted-axis wobbling at higher angular momentum.

Dirac strings and magnetic monopoles in the spin ice Dy2Ti2O7.

PubMed

Morris, D J P; Tennant, D A; Grigera, S A; Klemke, B; Castelnovo, C; Moessner, R; Czternasty, C; Meissner, M; Rule, K C; Hoffmann, J-U; Kiefer, K; Gerischer, S; Slobinsky, D; Perry, R S

2009-10-16

Sources of magnetic fields-magnetic monopoles-have so far proven elusive as elementary particles. Condensed-matter physicists have recently proposed several scenarios of emergent quasiparticles resembling monopoles. A particularly simple proposition pertains to spin ice on the highly frustrated pyrochlore lattice. The spin-ice state is argued to be well described by networks of aligned dipoles resembling solenoidal tubes-classical, and observable, versions of a Dirac string. Where these tubes end, the resulting defects look like magnetic monopoles. We demonstrated, by diffuse neutron scattering, the presence of such strings in the spin ice dysprosium titanate (Dy2Ti2O7). This is achieved by applying a symmetry-breaking magnetic field with which we can manipulate the density and orientation of the strings. In turn, heat capacity is described by a gas of magnetic monopoles interacting via a magnetic Coulomb interaction.

Coherent Interlayer Tunneling and Negative Differential Resistance with High Current Density in Double Bilayer Graphene-WSe2 Heterostructures.

PubMed

Burg, G William; Prasad, Nitin; Fallahazad, Babak; Valsaraj, Amithraj; Kim, Kyounghwan; Taniguchi, Takashi; Watanabe, Kenji; Wang, Qingxiao; Kim, Moon J; Register, Leonard F; Tutuc, Emanuel

2017-06-14

We demonstrate gate-tunable resonant tunneling and negative differential resistance between two rotationally aligned bilayer graphene sheets separated by bilayer WSe 2 . We observe large interlayer current densities of 2 and 2.5 μA/μm 2 and peak-to-valley ratios approaching 4 and 6 at room temperature and 1.5 K, respectively, values that are comparable to epitaxially grown resonant tunneling heterostructures. An excellent agreement between theoretical calculations using a Lorentzian spectral function for the two-dimensional (2D) quasiparticle states, and the experimental data indicates that the interlayer current stems primarily from energy and in-plane momentum conserving 2D-2D tunneling, with minimal contributions from inelastic or non-momentum-conserving tunneling. We demonstrate narrow tunneling resonances with intrinsic half-widths of 4 and 6 meV at 1.5 and 300 K, respectively.

Efficient pairwise RNA structure prediction using probabilistic alignment constraints in Dynalign

PubMed Central

2007-01-01

Background Joint alignment and secondary structure prediction of two RNA sequences can significantly improve the accuracy of the structural predictions. Methods addressing this problem, however, are forced to employ constraints that reduce computation by restricting the alignments and/or structures (i.e. folds) that are permissible. In this paper, a new methodology is presented for the purpose of establishing alignment constraints based on nucleotide alignment and insertion posterior probabilities. Using a hidden Markov model, posterior probabilities of alignment and insertion are computed for all possible pairings of nucleotide positions from the two sequences. These alignment and insertion posterior probabilities are additively combined to obtain probabilities of co-incidence for nucleotide position pairs. A suitable alignment constraint is obtained by thresholding the co-incidence probabilities. The constraint is integrated with Dynalign, a free energy minimization algorithm for joint alignment and secondary structure prediction. The resulting method is benchmarked against the previous version of Dynalign and against other programs for pairwise RNA structure prediction. Results The proposed technique eliminates manual parameter selection in Dynalign and provides significant computational time savings in comparison to prior constraints in Dynalign while simultaneously providing a small improvement in the structural prediction accuracy. Savings are also realized in memory. In experiments over a 5S RNA dataset with average sequence length of approximately 120 nucleotides, the method reduces computation by a factor of 2. The method performs favorably in comparison to other programs for pairwise RNA structure prediction: yielding better accuracy, on average, and requiring significantly lesser computational resources. Conclusion Probabilistic analysis can be utilized in order to automate the determination of alignment constraints for pairwise RNA structure prediction methods in a principled fashion. These constraints can reduce the computational and memory requirements of these methods while maintaining or improving their accuracy of structural prediction. This extends the practical reach of these methods to longer length sequences. The revised Dynalign code is freely available for download. PMID:17445273

Interlayer excitons in a bulk van der Waals semiconductor.

PubMed

Arora, Ashish; Drüppel, Matthias; Schmidt, Robert; Deilmann, Thorsten; Schneider, Robert; Molas, Maciej R; Marauhn, Philipp; Michaelis de Vasconcellos, Steffen; Potemski, Marek; Rohlfing, Michael; Bratschitsch, Rudolf

2017-09-21

Bound electron-hole pairs called excitons govern the electronic and optical response of many organic and inorganic semiconductors. Excitons with spatially displaced wave functions of electrons and holes (interlayer excitons) are important for Bose-Einstein condensation, superfluidity, dissipationless current flow, and the light-induced exciton spin Hall effect. Here we report on the discovery of interlayer excitons in a bulk van der Waals semiconductor. They form due to strong localization and spin-valley coupling of charge carriers. By combining high-field magneto-reflectance experiments and ab initio calculations for 2H-MoTe 2 , we explain their salient features: the positive sign of the g-factor and the large diamagnetic shift. Our investigations solve the long-standing puzzle of positive g-factors in transition metal dichalcogenides, and pave the way for studying collective phenomena in these materials at elevated temperatures.Excitons, quasi-particles of bound electron-hole pairs, are at the core of the optoelectronic properties of layered transition metal dichalcogenides. Here, the authors unveil the presence of interlayer excitons in bulk van der Waals semiconductors, arising from strong localization and spin-valley coupling of charge carriers.

Scrutinizing the double superconducting gaps and strong coupling pairing in (Li1−xFex)OHFeSe

PubMed Central

Du, Zengyi; Yang, Xiong; Lin, Hai; Fang, Delong; Du, Guan; Xing, Jie; Yang, Huan; Zhu, Xiyu; Wen, Hai-Hu

2016-01-01

In the field of iron-based superconductors, one of the frontier studies is about the pairing mechanism. The recently discovered (Li1−xFex)OHFeSe superconductor with the transition temperature of about 40 K provides a good platform to check the origin of double superconducting gaps and high transition temperature in the monolayer FeSe thin film. Here we report a scanning tunnelling spectroscopy study on the (Li1−xFex)OHFeSe single crystals. The tunnelling spectrum mimics that of the monolayer FeSe thin film and shows double gaps at about 14.3 and 8.6 meV. Further analysis based on the quasiparticle interference allows us to rule out the d-wave gap, and for the first time assign the larger (smaller) gap to the outer (inner) Fermi pockets (after folding) associating with the dxy (dxz/dyz) orbitals, respectively. The gap ratio amounts to 8.7, which demonstrates the strong coupling mechanism in the present superconducting system. PMID:26822281

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors: Large Format X-ray Spectral Imagers for the Next Generation of X-ray Telescopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eckart, Megan E.; Mazin, B. A.; Bumble, B.; Golwala, S. R.; Zmuidzinas, J.; Day, P. K.; Harrison, F. A.

2006-09-01

Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) have the potential to provide megapixel imagers with few eV spectral resolution for future X-ray missions such as Gen-X. MKIDs offer the advantage over many other cryogenic detector technologies that they can be easily multiplexed, so that arrays with many thousand pixels are readily achievable. In addition, the readout electronics can be operated at room temperature, a significant advantage for space applications. MKIDs exploit the dependence of surface impedance of a superconductorwith the quasiparticle density. Quasiparticles are created by absorption of X-rays, with number proportional to the X-ray energy. The impedance change may be sensitively measured using a thin-film resonant circuit. The practical application of MKIDs for photon detection requires a method of efficiently coupling the photon energy to the MKID. To apply the MKID scheme to X-ray detection we pattern tantalum strips with aluminum MKIDs attached at each end. An incident X-ray is absorbed in the Ta and creates millions of quasiparticle excitations, which diffuse to each end of the strip, finally entering the Al resonators where they are trapped and sensed. Simultaneous monitoring of the signal at both ends of the strip allow position and energy determination for each photon. We have demonstrated working strip detectors in the laboratory, and will present our measurements of the quasiparticle diffusion constant and the quasiparticle lifetime in tantalum, the aluminum quasiparticle lifetime, and the energy resolution of the detector. We will also discuss ideas for future detector designs and suggest ultimate performance goals for X-ray astronomy applications.

Multi-Instrument Analysis of a Traveling Convection Vortex Event on July 24, 1996 Coordinated with the Polar UVI

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sitar, R. J.; Clauer, C. R.; Baker, J. B.; Ridley, A. J.; Cumnock, J.; Germany, G. A.; Spann, J. F., Jr.; Brittnacher, M. J.; Parks, G. K.

1998-01-01

We present the analysis of a coordinated set of observations from the POLAR Ultraviolet Imager (UVI), ground magnetometers, incoherent scatter radar, solar wind monitors, DMSP and GOES satellites, focused on a traveling convection vortex (TCV) event on 24th July 1996. Starting at approximately 10:48 UT, around magnetometers in Greenland and northern Canada observe pulsations consistent with the passing overhead of a series of alternating TCV filed-aligned current pairs. Azimuthal scans by the Sondrestrom incoherent scatter radar located near Kangerlussuaq (formerly Sondrestrom), Greenland, at this time show strong modulation in the strength and direction of ionospheric plasma flow. The magnetometer pulsations grow in magnitude over the next hour, peaking in intensity at 11:39 UT, at which time images form the UVI instrument show a localized intensification of auroral emissions over central and western Greenland. Subsequent images show the intensification grow in strength and propagate westward (tailward) until approximately 11:58 UT at which time the intensification fades. These observations are consistent with the westward passage of two pairs of moderately intense TCVs over central Greenland followed by a third very intense TCV pair. The intensification of auroral emissions at 11:39 UT is associated with the trailing vortex of the third TCV pair, thought to be the result of an upward field aligned current. The modulated flow observed by the radar is the result of the strong electric fields associated with the impulsive TCV related field aligned current systems as they pass through the field of view of the radar. Measurements of the solar wind from the V;IND and IMP-8 spacecraft suggest that a pressure change may be responsible for triggering the first two pairs of TCVS, and that a subsequent sudden change in the orientation of the interplanetary magnetic field may have produced the intensification of the third TCV pair and the associated auroral brightening. Magnetometer data from the GOES satellite located over the eastern United States at geostationary orbit is consistent with a series of field-aligned moving tailward past the satellite. DMSP particle data indicated that the TCVs occur on field lines which map to the boundary plasma sheet (BPS).

Mass distribution and spatial organization of the linear bacterial motor of Spiroplasma citri R8A2.

PubMed

Trachtenberg, Shlomo; Andrews, S Brian; Leapman, Richard D

2003-03-01

In the simple, helical, wall-less bacterial genus Spiroplasma, chemotaxis and motility are effected by a linear, contractile motor arranged as a flat cytoskeletal ribbon attached to the inner side of the membrane along the shortest helical line. With scanning transmission electron microscopy and diffraction analysis, we determined the hierarchical and spatial organization of the cytoskeleton of Spiroplasma citri R8A2. The structural unit appears to be a fibril, approximately 5 nm wide, composed of dimers of a 59-kDa protein; each ribbon is assembled from seven fibril pairs. The functional unit of the intact ribbon is a pair of aligned fibrils, along which pairs of dimers form tetrameric ring-like repeats. On average, isolated and purified ribbons contain 14 fibrils or seven well-aligned fibril pairs, which are the same structures observed in the intact cell. Scanning transmission electron microscopy mass analysis and sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of purified cytoskeletons indicate that the 59-kDa protein is the only constituent of the ribbons.

Two Simple and Efficient Algorithms to Compute the SP-Score Objective Function of a Multiple Sequence Alignment.

PubMed

Ranwez, Vincent

2016-01-01

Multiple sequence alignment (MSA) is a crucial step in many molecular analyses and many MSA tools have been developed. Most of them use a greedy approach to construct a first alignment that is then refined by optimizing the sum of pair score (SP-score). The SP-score estimation is thus a bottleneck for most MSA tools since it is repeatedly required and is time consuming. Given an alignment of n sequences and L sites, I introduce here optimized solutions reaching O(nL) time complexity for affine gap cost, instead of O(n2L), which are easy to implement.

Multianode Photomultiplier Tube Alignment for the MINERvA Experiment at Fermilab

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bruno, Jorge

2006-10-01

The MINERvA experiment (Main INjector ExpeRiment vA) at FNAL will study the neutrino-nucleon and neutrino-nucleus interaction. The light collection from the detector will be done via optic fibers using Hamamatsu H8804 64-channel photomultiplier tubes (PMT). Each PMT channel needs to be precisely aligned with the corresponding optic fiber. The MINERvA PMT optical boxes contain precision machined optic ``cookies'' which capture the 8x8 array of optic fibers. Each PMT-cookie pair needs to be aligned as precisely as possible. This contribution will describe the alignment setup and procedure implemented at James Madison University.

High-speed all-optical DNA local sequence alignment based on a three-dimensional artificial neural network.

PubMed

Maleki, Ehsan; Babashah, Hossein; Koohi, Somayyeh; Kavehvash, Zahra

2017-07-01

This paper presents an optical processing approach for exploring a large number of genome sequences. Specifically, we propose an optical correlator for global alignment and an extended moiré matching technique for local analysis of spatially coded DNA, whose output is fed to a novel three-dimensional artificial neural network for local DNA alignment. All-optical implementation of the proposed 3D artificial neural network is developed and its accuracy is verified in Zemax. Thanks to its parallel processing capability, the proposed structure performs local alignment of 4 million sequences of 150 base pairs in a few seconds, which is much faster than its electrical counterparts, such as the basic local alignment search tool.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Radzihovsky, Leo

Motivated by a realization of imbalanced Feshbach-resonant atomic Fermi gases, we formulate a low-energy theory of the Fulde-Ferrell and the Larkin-Ovchinnikov (LO) states and use it to analyze fluctuations, stability, and phase transitions in these enigmatic finite momentum-paired superfluids. Focusing on the unidirectional LO pair-density-wave state, which spontaneously breaks the continuous rotational and translational symmetries, we show that it is characterized by two Goldstone modes, corresponding to a superfluid phase and a smectic phonon. Because of the liquid-crystalline ''softness'' of the latter, at finite temperature the three-dimensional state is characterized by a vanishing LO order parameter, quasi-Bragg peaks in themore » structure and momentum distribution functions, and a ''charge''-4, paired-Cooper-pairs, off-diagonal long-range order, with a superfluid-stiffness anisotropy that diverges near a transition into a nonsuperfluid state. In addition to conventional integer vortices and dislocations, the LO superfluid smectic exhibits composite half-integer vortex-dislocation defects. A proliferation of defects leads to a rich variety of descendant states, such as the charge-4 superfluid and Fermi-liquid nematics and topologically ordered nonsuperfluid states, that generically intervene between the LO state and the conventional superfluid and the polarized Fermi liquid at low and high imbalance, respectively. The fermionic sector of the LO gapless superconductor is also quite unique, exhibiting a Fermi surface of Bogoliubov quasiparticles associated with the Andreev band of states, localized on the array of the LO domain walls.« less

Skyrme random-phase-approximation description of lowest Kπ=2γ+ states in axially deformed nuclei

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nesterenko, V. O.; Kartavenko, V. G.; Kleinig, W.; Kvasil, J.; Repko, A.; Jolos, R. V.; Reinhard, P.-G.

2016-03-01

The lowest quadrupole γ -vibrational Kπ=2+ states in axially deformed rare-earth (Nd, Sm, Gd, Dy, Er, Yb, Hf, W) and actinide (U) nuclei are systematically investigated within the separable random-phase-approximation (SRPA) based on the Skyrme functional. The energies Eγ and reduced transition probabilities B (E 2 ) of 2γ+ states are calculated with the Skyrme forces SV-bas and SkM*. The energies of two-quasiparticle configurations forming the SRPA basis are corrected by using the pairing blocking effect. This results in a systematic downshift of Eγ by 0.3-0.5 MeV and thus in a better agreement with the experiment, especially in Sm, Gd, Dy, Hf, and W regions. For other isotopic chains, a noticeable overestimation of Eγ and too weak collectivity of 2γ+ states still persist. It is shown that domains of nuclei with low and high 2γ+ collectivity are related to the structure of the lowest two-quasiparticle states and conservation of the Nilsson selection rules. The description of 2γ+ states with SV-bas and SkM* is similar in light rare-earth nuclei but deviates in heavier nuclei. However SV-bas much better reproduces the quadrupole deformation and energy of the isoscalar giant quadrupole resonance. The accuracy of SRPA is justified by comparison with exact RPA. The calculations suggest that a further development of the self-consistent calculation schemes is needed for a systematic satisfactory description of the 2γ+ states.

Thermal transitions, pseudogap behavior, and BCS-BEC crossover in Fermi-Fermi mixtures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karmakar, Madhuparna

2018-03-01

We study the mass imbalanced Fermi-Fermi mixture within the framework of a two-dimensional lattice fermion model. Based on the thermodynamic and species-dependent quasiparticle behavior, we map out the finite-temperature phase diagram of this system and show that unlike the balanced Fermi superfluid, there are now two different pseudogap regimes as PG-I and PG-II. While within the PG-I regime both the fermionic species are pseudogapped, PG-II corresponds to the regime where pseudogap feature survives only in the light species. We believe that the single-particle spectral features that we discuss in this paper are observable through the species-resolved radio-frequency spectroscopy and momentum-resolved photoemission spectroscopy measurements on systems such as 6Li-40K mixture. We further investigate the interplay between the population and mass imbalances and report that at a fixed population imbalance, the BCS-BEC crossover in a Fermi-Fermi mixture would require a critical interaction (Uc) for the realization of the uniform superfluid state. The effect of imbalance in mass on the exotic Fulde-Ferrell-Larkin-Ovchinnikov superfluid phase has been probed in detail in terms of the thermodynamic and quasiparticle behavior of this phase. It has been observed that in spite of the s -wave symmetry of the pairing field, a nodal superfluid gap is realized in the Larkin-Ovchinnikov regime. Our results on the various thermal scales and regimes are expected to serve as benchmarks for the experimental observations on 6Li-40K mixture.

Development of phonon-mediated cryogenic particle detectors with electron and nuclear recoil discrimination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nam, Sae Woo

1999-10-01

Observations have shown that galaxies, including our own, are surrounded by halos of ``dark matter''. One possibility is that this may be an undiscovered form of matter, weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). This thesis describes the development of silicon based cryogenic particle detectors designed to directly detect interactions with these WIMPs. These detectors are part of a new class of detectors which are able to reject background events by simultaneously measuring energy deposited into phonons versus electron hole pairs. By using the phonon sensors with the ionization sensors to compare the partitioning of energy between phonons and ionizations we can discriminate between electron recoil events (background radiation) and nuclear recoil events (dark matter events). These detectors with built-in background rejection are a major advance in background rejection over previous searches. Much of this thesis will describe work in scaling the detectors from / g prototype devices to a fully functional prototype 100g dark matter detector. In particular, many sensors were fabricated and tested to understand the behavior of our phonon sensors, Quasipartice trapping assisted Electrothermal feedback Transition edge sensors (QETs). The QET sensors utilize aluminum quasiparticle traps attached to tungsten superconducting transition edge sensors patterned on a silicon substrate. The tungsten lines are voltage biased and self-regulate in the transition region. Phonons from particle interactions within the silicon propogate to the surface where they are absorbed by the aluminum generating quasiparticles in the aluminum. The quasiparticles diffuse into the tungsten and couple energy into the tungsten electron system. Consequently, the tungsten increases in resistance and causes a current pulse which is measured with a high bandwidth SQUID system. With this advanced sensor technology, we were able to demonstrate detectors with xy position sensitivity with electron and nuclear recoil discrimination. Furthermore, early results from running the 100g detector in the Stanford Underground Facility (SUF) indicate that competitive dark matter results are achievable with the current detector design. Much of the design and testing of the experimental apparatus and instrumentation is described as well.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yang, K.; Yang, H; Johnson, P

Recent angle-resolved photoemission (Yang H.-B. et al., Nature, 456 (2008) 77) and scanning tunneling microscopy (Kohsaka Y. et al., Nature, 454 (2008) 1072) measurements on underdoped cuprates have yielded new spectroscopic information on quasiparticles in the pseudogap phase. New features of the normal state such as particle-hole asymmetry, maxima in the energy dispersion, and accompanying drops in the spectral weight of quasiparticles agree with the ansatz of Yang et al. for the single-particle propagator in the pseudogap phase. The coherent quasiparticle dispersion and reduced asymmetry in the tunneling density of states in the superconducting state can also be described bymore » this propagator.« less

Magnetic phase diagram of a frustrated spin ladder

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sugimoto, Takanori; Mori, Michiyasu; Tohyama, Takami; Maekawa, Sadamichi

2018-04-01

Frustrated spin ladders show magnetization plateaux depending on the rung-exchange interaction and frustration defined by the ratio of first and second neighbor exchange interactions in each chain. This paper reports on its magnetic phase diagram. Using the variational matrix-product state method, we accurately determine phase boundaries. Several kinds of magnetization plateaux are induced by the frustration and the strong correlation among quasiparticles on a lattice. The appropriate description of quasiparticles and their relevant interactions are changed by a magnetic field. We find that the frustration differentiates the triplet quasiparticle from the singlet one in kinetic energy.

Quasi-particle Interference of Heavy Fermions in Resonant X-ray Scattering

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gyenis, Andras; da Silva Neto, Eduardo H.; Sutarto, Ronny

Resonant x-ray scattering (RXS) has recently become an increasingly important tool for the study of ordering phenomena in correlated electron systems. Yet, the interpretation of RXS experiments remains theoretically challenging because of the complexity of the RXS cross section. Central to this debate is the recent proposal that impurity-induced Friedel oscillations, akin to quasi-particle interference signals observed with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), can lead to scattering peaks in RXS experiments. The possibility that quasi-particle properties can be probed in RXS measurements opens up a new avenue to study the bulk band structure of materials with the orbital and elementmore » selectivity provided by RXS. We test these ideas by combining RXS and STM measurements of the heavy fermion compound CeMIn5 (M = Co, Rh). Temperature- and doping-dependent RXS measurements at the Ce-M4 edge show a broad scattering enhancement that correlates with the appearance of heavy f-electron bands in these compounds. The scattering enhancement is consistent with the measured quasi-particle interference signal in the STM measurements, indicating that the quasi-particle interference can be probed through the momentum distribution of RXS signals. Overall, our experiments demonstrate new opportunities for studies of correlated electronic systems using the RXS technique.« less

Relativistic quasiparticle band structures of Mg2Si, Mg2Ge, and Mg2Sn: Consistent parameterization and prediction of Seebeck coefficients

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Guangsha; Kioupakis, Emmanouil

2018-02-01

We apply density functional and many-body perturbation theory calculations to consistently determine and parameterize the relativistic quasiparticle band structures of Mg2Si, Mg2Ge, and Mg2Sn, and predict the Seebeck coefficient as a function of doping and temperature. The quasiparticle band gaps, including spin-orbit coupling effects, are determined to be 0.728 eV, 0.555 eV, and 0.142 eV for Mg2Si, Mg2Ge, and Mg2Sn, respectively. The inclusion of the semicore electrons of Mg, Ge, and Sn in the valence is found to be important for the accurate determination of the band gaps of Mg2Ge and Mg2Sn. We also developed a Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian and determined a set of band parameters to model the near-edge relativistic quasiparticle band structure consistently for all three compounds that can be applied for thermoelectric device simulations. Our calculated values for the Seebeck coefficient of all three compounds are in good agreement with the available experimental data for a broad range of temperatures and carrier concentrations. Our results indicate that quasiparticle corrections are necessary for the accurate determination of Seebeck coefficients at high temperatures at which bipolar transport becomes important.

Spin transfer torque in non-collinear magnetic tunnel junctions exhibiting quasiparticle bands: a non-equilibrium Green's function study

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jaya, Selvaraj Mathi

2017-06-01

A non-equilibrium Green's function formulation to study the spin transfer torque (STT) in non-collinear magnetic tunnel junctions (MTJs) exhibiting quasiparticle bands is developed. The formulation can be used to study the magnetoresistance and spin current too. The formulation is used to study the STT in model tunnel junctions exhibiting multiple layers and quasiparticle bands. The many body interaction that gives rise to quasiparticle bands is assumed to be a s - f exchange interaction at the electrode regions of the MTJ. The quasiparticle bands are obtained using a many body procedure and the single particle band structure is obtained using the tight binding model. The bias dependence of the STT as well as the influence of band occupancy and s - f exchange coupling strength on the STT are studied. We find from our studies that the band occupancy plays a significant role in deciding the STT and the s - f interaction strength too influences the STT significantly. Anomalous behavior in both the parallel and perpendicular components of the STT is obtained from our studies. Our results obtained for certain values of the band occupation are found to show the trend observed from the experimental measurements of STT.

Quasi-particle interference of heavy fermions in resonant x-ray scattering

PubMed Central

Gyenis, András; da Silva Neto, Eduardo H.; Sutarto, Ronny; Schierle, Enrico; He, Feizhou; Weschke, Eugen; Kavai, Mariam; Baumbach, Ryan E.; Thompson, Joe D.; Bauer, Eric D.; Fisk, Zachary; Damascelli, Andrea; Yazdani, Ali; Aynajian, Pegor

2016-01-01

Resonant x-ray scattering (RXS) has recently become an increasingly important tool for the study of ordering phenomena in correlated electron systems. Yet, the interpretation of RXS experiments remains theoretically challenging because of the complexity of the RXS cross section. Central to this debate is the recent proposal that impurity-induced Friedel oscillations, akin to quasi-particle interference signals observed with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), can lead to scattering peaks in RXS experiments. The possibility that quasi-particle properties can be probed in RXS measurements opens up a new avenue to study the bulk band structure of materials with the orbital and element selectivity provided by RXS. We test these ideas by combining RXS and STM measurements of the heavy fermion compound CeMIn5 (M = Co, Rh). Temperature- and doping-dependent RXS measurements at the Ce-M4 edge show a broad scattering enhancement that correlates with the appearance of heavy f-electron bands in these compounds. The scattering enhancement is consistent with the measured quasi-particle interference signal in the STM measurements, indicating that the quasi-particle interference can be probed through the momentum distribution of RXS signals. Overall, our experiments demonstrate new opportunities for studies of correlated electronic systems using the RXS technique. PMID:27757422

Quasi-particle Interference of Heavy Fermions in Resonant X-ray Scattering

DOE PAGES

Gyenis, Andras; da Silva Neto, Eduardo H.; Sutarto, Ronny; ...

2016-10-14

Resonant x-ray scattering (RXS) has recently become an increasingly important tool for the study of ordering phenomena in correlated electron systems. Yet, the interpretation of RXS experiments remains theoretically challenging because of the complexity of the RXS cross section. Central to this debate is the recent proposal that impurity-induced Friedel oscillations, akin to quasi-particle interference signals observed with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), can lead to scattering peaks in RXS experiments. The possibility that quasi-particle properties can be probed in RXS measurements opens up a new avenue to study the bulk band structure of materials with the orbital and elementmore » selectivity provided by RXS. We test these ideas by combining RXS and STM measurements of the heavy fermion compound CeMIn5 (M = Co, Rh). Temperature- and doping-dependent RXS measurements at the Ce-M4 edge show a broad scattering enhancement that correlates with the appearance of heavy f-electron bands in these compounds. The scattering enhancement is consistent with the measured quasi-particle interference signal in the STM measurements, indicating that the quasi-particle interference can be probed through the momentum distribution of RXS signals. Overall, our experiments demonstrate new opportunities for studies of correlated electronic systems using the RXS technique.« less

Quasi-particle interference of heavy fermions in resonant x-ray scattering.

PubMed

Gyenis, András; da Silva Neto, Eduardo H; Sutarto, Ronny; Schierle, Enrico; He, Feizhou; Weschke, Eugen; Kavai, Mariam; Baumbach, Ryan E; Thompson, Joe D; Bauer, Eric D; Fisk, Zachary; Damascelli, Andrea; Yazdani, Ali; Aynajian, Pegor

2016-10-01

Resonant x-ray scattering (RXS) has recently become an increasingly important tool for the study of ordering phenomena in correlated electron systems. Yet, the interpretation of RXS experiments remains theoretically challenging because of the complexity of the RXS cross section. Central to this debate is the recent proposal that impurity-induced Friedel oscillations, akin to quasi-particle interference signals observed with a scanning tunneling microscope (STM), can lead to scattering peaks in RXS experiments. The possibility that quasi-particle properties can be probed in RXS measurements opens up a new avenue to study the bulk band structure of materials with the orbital and element selectivity provided by RXS. We test these ideas by combining RXS and STM measurements of the heavy fermion compound Ce M In 5 ( M = Co, Rh). Temperature- and doping-dependent RXS measurements at the Ce- M 4 edge show a broad scattering enhancement that correlates with the appearance of heavy f -electron bands in these compounds. The scattering enhancement is consistent with the measured quasi-particle interference signal in the STM measurements, indicating that the quasi-particle interference can be probed through the momentum distribution of RXS signals. Overall, our experiments demonstrate new opportunities for studies of correlated electronic systems using the RXS technique.

Quasiparticle interference in ZrSiS: Strongly band-selective scattering depending on impurity lattice site

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Butler, Christopher J.; Wu, Yu-Mi; Hsing, Cheng-Rong; Tseng, Yi; Sankar, Raman; Wei, Ching-Ming; Chou, Fang-Cheng; Lin, Minn-Tsong

2017-11-01

Scanning tunneling microscopy visualizations of quasiparticle interference (QPI) enable powerful insights into the k -space properties of superconducting, topological, Rashba, and other exotic electronic phases, but their reliance on impurities acting as scattering centers is rarely scrutinized. Here, we investigate QPI at the vacuum-cleaved (001) surface of the Dirac semimetal ZrSiS. We find that interference patterns around impurities located on the Zr and S lattice sites appear very different, and can be ascribed to selective scattering of different subsets of the predominantly Zr 4 d -derived band structure, namely, the m =0 and ±1 components. We show that the selectivity of scattering channels requires an explanation beyond the different bands' orbital characteristics and their respective charge density distributions over Zr and S lattice sites. Importantly, this result shows that the usual assumption of generic scattering centers allowing observations of quasiparticle interference to shed light indiscriminately and isotropically upon the q space of scattering events does not hold, and that the scope and interpretation of QPI observations can therefore be be strongly contingent on the material defect chemistry. This finding promises to spur new investigations into the quasiparticle scattering process itself, to inform future interpretations of quasiparticle interference observations, and ultimately to aid the understanding and engineering of quantum electronic transport properties.

Measuring the scale dependence of intrinsic alignments using multiple shear estimates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Leonard, C. Danielle; Mandelbaum, Rachel

2018-06-01

We present a new method for measuring the scale dependence of the intrinsic alignment (IA) contamination to the galaxy-galaxy lensing signal, which takes advantage of multiple shear estimation methods applied to the same source galaxy sample. By exploiting the resulting correlation of both shape noise and cosmic variance, our method can provide an increase in the signal-to-noise of the measured IA signal as compared to methods which rely on the difference of the lensing signal from multiple photometric redshift bins. For a galaxy-galaxy lensing measurement which uses LSST sources and DESI lenses, the signal-to-noise on the IA signal from our method is predicted to improve by a factor of ˜2 relative to the method of Blazek et al. (2012), for pairs of shear estimates which yield substantially different measured IA amplitudes and highly correlated shape noise terms. We show that statistical error necessarily dominates the measurement of intrinsic alignments using our method. We also consider a physically motivated extension of the Blazek et al. (2012) method which assumes that all nearby galaxy pairs, rather than only excess pairs, are subject to IA. In this case, the signal-to-noise of the method of Blazek et al. (2012) is improved.

MICA: Multiple interval-based curve alignment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mann, Martin; Kahle, Hans-Peter; Beck, Matthias; Bender, Bela Johannes; Spiecker, Heinrich; Backofen, Rolf

2018-01-01

MICA enables the automatic synchronization of discrete data curves. To this end, characteristic points of the curves' shapes are identified. These landmarks are used within a heuristic curve registration approach to align profile pairs by mapping similar characteristics onto each other. In combination with a progressive alignment scheme, this enables the computation of multiple curve alignments. Multiple curve alignments are needed to derive meaningful representative consensus data of measured time or data series. MICA was already successfully applied to generate representative profiles of tree growth data based on intra-annual wood density profiles or cell formation data. The MICA package provides a command-line and graphical user interface. The R interface enables the direct embedding of multiple curve alignment computation into larger analyses pipelines. Source code, binaries and documentation are freely available at https://github.com/BackofenLab/MICA

Determinants of Chromosome Architecture: Insulator Pairing in cis and in trans

PubMed Central

Fujioka, Miki; Mistry, Hemlata; Schedl, Paul; Jaynes, James B.

2016-01-01

The chromosomes of multicellular animals are organized into a series of topologically independent looped domains. This domain organization is critical for the proper utilization and propagation of the genetic information encoded by the chromosome. A special set of architectural elements, called boundaries or insulators, are responsible both for subdividing the chromatin into discrete domains and for determining the topological organization of these domains. Central to the architectural functions of insulators are homologous and heterologous insulator:insulator pairing interactions. The former (pairing between copies of the same insulator) dictates the process of homolog alignment and pairing in trans, while the latter (pairing between different insulators) defines the topology of looped domains in cis. To elucidate the principles governing these architectural functions, we use two insulators, Homie and Nhomie, that flank the Drosophila even skipped locus. We show that homologous insulator interactions in trans, between Homie on one homolog and Homie on the other, or between Nhomie on one homolog and Nhomie on the other, mediate transvection. Critically, these homologous insulator:insulator interactions are orientation-dependent. Consistent with a role in the alignment and pairing of homologs, self-pairing in trans is head-to-head. Head-to-head self-interactions in cis have been reported for other fly insulators, suggesting that this is a general principle of self-pairing. Homie and Nhomie not only pair with themselves, but with each other. Heterologous Homie-Nhomie interactions occur in cis, and we show that they serve to delimit a looped chromosomal domain that contains the even skipped transcription unit and its associated enhancers. The topology of this loop is defined by the heterologous pairing properties of Homie and Nhomie. Instead of being head-to-head, which would generate a circular loop, Homie-Nhomie pairing is head-to-tail. Head-to-tail pairing in cis generates a stem-loop, a configuration much like that observed in classical lampbrush chromosomes. These pairing principles provide a mechanistic underpinning for the observed topologies within and between chromosomes. PMID:26910731

Design and implementation of a hybrid MPI-CUDA model for the Smith-Waterman algorithm.

PubMed

Khaled, Heba; Faheem, Hossam El Deen Mostafa; El Gohary, Rania

2015-01-01

This paper provides a novel hybrid model for solving the multiple pair-wise sequence alignment problem combining message passing interface and CUDA, the parallel computing platform and programming model invented by NVIDIA. The proposed model targets homogeneous cluster nodes equipped with similar Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) cards. The model consists of the Master Node Dispatcher (MND) and the Worker GPU Nodes (WGN). The MND distributes the workload among the cluster working nodes and then aggregates the results. The WGN performs the multiple pair-wise sequence alignments using the Smith-Waterman algorithm. We also propose a modified implementation to the Smith-Waterman algorithm based on computing the alignment matrices row-wise. The experimental results demonstrate a considerable reduction in the running time by increasing the number of the working GPU nodes. The proposed model achieved a performance of about 12 Giga cell updates per second when we tested against the SWISS-PROT protein knowledge base running on four nodes.

Entanglement growth after a global quench in free scalar field theory

DOE PAGES

Cotler, Jordan S.; Hertzberg, Mark P.; Mezei, Márk; ...

2016-11-28

We compute the entanglement and Rényi entropy growth after a global quench in various dimensions in free scalar field theory. We study two types of quenches: a boundary state quench and a global mass quench. Both of these quenches are investigated for a strip geometry in 1, 2, and 3 spatial dimensions, and for a spherical geometry in 2 and 3 spatial dimensions. We compare the numerical results for massless free scalars in these geometries with the predictions of the analytical quasiparticle model based on EPR pairs, and find excellent agreement in the limit of large region sizes. As amore » result, at subleading order in the region size, we observe an anomalous logarithmic growth of entanglement coming from the zero mode of the scalar.« less

Entanglement growth after a global quench in free scalar field theory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Cotler, Jordan S.; Hertzberg, Mark P.; Mezei, Márk

We compute the entanglement and Rényi entropy growth after a global quench in various dimensions in free scalar field theory. We study two types of quenches: a boundary state quench and a global mass quench. Both of these quenches are investigated for a strip geometry in 1, 2, and 3 spatial dimensions, and for a spherical geometry in 2 and 3 spatial dimensions. We compare the numerical results for massless free scalars in these geometries with the predictions of the analytical quasiparticle model based on EPR pairs, and find excellent agreement in the limit of large region sizes. As amore » result, at subleading order in the region size, we observe an anomalous logarithmic growth of entanglement coming from the zero mode of the scalar.« less

A ballistic two-dimensional-electron-gas Andreev interferometer

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Amado, M., E-mail: mario.amadomontero@sns.it; Fornieri, A.; Sorba, L.

2014-06-16

We report the realization and investigation of a ballistic Andreev interferometer based on an InAs two dimensional electron gas coupled to a superconducting Nb loop. We observe strong magnetic modulations in the voltage drop across the device due to quasiparticle interference within the weak-link. The interferometer exhibits flux noise down to ∼80 μΦ{sub 0}/√(Hz) and a robust behavior in temperature with voltage oscillations surviving up to ∼7 K. Besides this remarkable performance, the device represents a crucial first step for the realization of a fully-tunable ballistic superconducting magnetometer and embodies a potential advanced platform for the investigation of Majorana bound states, non-localmore » entanglement of Cooper pairs, as well as the manipulation and control of spin triplet correlations.« less

Quantum-Fluctuation Effects in the Transport Properties of Ultrathin Films of Disordered Superconductors above the Paramagnetic Limit

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khodas, M.; Levchenko, A.; Catelani, G.

2012-06-01

We study the transport in ultrathin disordered film near the quantum critical point induced by the Zeeman field. We calculate corrections to the normal state conductivity due to quantum pairing fluctuations. The fluctuation-induced transport is mediated by virtual rather than real quasiparticle excitations. We find that at zero temperature, where the corrections come from purely quantum fluctuations, the Aslamazov-Larkin paraconductivity term, the Maki-Thompson interference contribution, and the density of states effects are all of the same order. The total correction leads to the negative magnetoresistance. This result is in qualitative agreement with the recent transport observations in the parallel magnetic field of the homogeneously disordered amorphous films and superconducting two-dimensional electron gas realized at the oxide interfaces.

Nuclear Storage Overpack Door Actuator and Alignment Apparatus

DOEpatents

Andreyko, Gregory M.

2005-05-11

The invention is a door actuator and alignment apparatus for opening and closing the 15,000-pound horizontally sliding door of a storage overpack. The door actuator includes a ball screw mounted horizontally on a rigid frame including a pair of door panel support rails. An electrically powered ball nut moves along the ball screw. The ball nut rotating device is attached to a carriage. The carriage attachment to the sliding door is horizontally pivoting. Additional alignment features include precision cam followers attached to the rails and rail guides attached to the carriage.

Nuclear storage overpack door actuator and alignment apparatus

DOEpatents

Andreyko, Gregory M.

2005-05-10

The invention is a door actuator and alignment apparatus for opening and closing the 15,000-pound horizontally sliding door of a storage overpack. The door actuator includes a ball screw mounted horizontally on a rigid frame including a pair of door panel support rails. An electrically powered ball nut moves along the ball screw. The ball nut rotating device is attached to a carriage. The carriage attachment to the sliding door is horizontally pivoting. Additional alignment features include precision cam followers attached to the rails and rail guides attached to the carriage.

ChimeRScope: a novel alignment-free algorithm for fusion transcript prediction using paired-end RNA-Seq data

PubMed Central

Li, You; Heavican, Tayla B.; Vellichirammal, Neetha N.; Iqbal, Javeed

2017-01-01

Abstract The RNA-Seq technology has revolutionized transcriptome characterization not only by accurately quantifying gene expression, but also by the identification of novel transcripts like chimeric fusion transcripts. The ‘fusion’ or ‘chimeric’ transcripts have improved the diagnosis and prognosis of several tumors, and have led to the development of novel therapeutic regimen. The fusion transcript detection is currently accomplished by several software packages, primarily relying on sequence alignment algorithms. The alignment of sequencing reads from fusion transcript loci in cancer genomes can be highly challenging due to the incorrect mapping induced by genomic alterations, thereby limiting the performance of alignment-based fusion transcript detection methods. Here, we developed a novel alignment-free method, ChimeRScope that accurately predicts fusion transcripts based on the gene fingerprint (as k-mers) profiles of the RNA-Seq paired-end reads. Results on published datasets and in-house cancer cell line datasets followed by experimental validations demonstrate that ChimeRScope consistently outperforms other popular methods irrespective of the read lengths and sequencing depth. More importantly, results on our in-house datasets show that ChimeRScope is a better tool that is capable of identifying novel fusion transcripts with potential oncogenic functions. ChimeRScope is accessible as a standalone software at (https://github.com/ChimeRScope/ChimeRScope/wiki) or via the Galaxy web-interface at (https://galaxy.unmc.edu/). PMID:28472320

76 FR 67514 - Self-Regulatory Organizations; Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Inc.; Notice of Filing and Order...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-11-01

.../Chilean Peso (``USD/CLP'') foreign currency (``FX'') contracts. The USD/CLP FX contracts are comprised of... suite of new OTC FX cleared-only currency pairs (which will be included as part of a separate regulatory... consistent with observed levels of volatility in the particular currency pairing and generally aligned with...

A geometric viewpoint on generalized hydrodynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Doyon, Benjamin; Spohn, Herbert; Yoshimura, Takato

2018-01-01

Generalized hydrodynamics (GHD) is a large-scale theory for the dynamics of many-body integrable systems. It consists of an infinite set of conservation laws for quasi-particles traveling with effective ("dressed") velocities that depend on the local state. We show that these equations can be recast into a geometric dynamical problem. They are conservation equations with state-independent quasi-particle velocities, in a space equipped with a family of metrics, parametrized by the quasi-particles' type and speed, that depend on the local state. In the classical hard rod or soliton gas picture, these metrics measure the free length of space as perceived by quasi-particles; in the quantum picture, they weigh space with the density of states available to them. Using this geometric construction, we find a general solution to the initial value problem of GHD, in terms of a set of integral equations where time appears explicitly. These integral equations are solvable by iteration and provide an extremely efficient solution algorithm for GHD.

Quasiparticle band structure of rocksalt-CdO determined using maximally localized Wannier functions.

PubMed

Dixit, H; Lamoen, D; Partoens, B

2013-01-23

CdO in the rocksalt structure is an indirect band gap semiconductor. Thus, in order to determine its band gap one needs to calculate the complete band structure. However, in practice, the exact evaluation of the quasiparticle band structure for the large number of k-points which constitute the different symmetry lines in the Brillouin zone can be an extremely demanding task compared to the standard density functional theory (DFT) calculation. In this paper we report the full quasiparticle band structure of CdO using a plane-wave pseudopotential approach. In order to reduce the computational effort and time, we make use of maximally localized Wannier functions (MLWFs). The MLWFs offer a highly accurate method for interpolation of the DFT or GW band structure from a coarse k-point mesh in the irreducible Brillouin zone, resulting in a much reduced computational effort. The present paper discusses the technical details of the scheme along with the results obtained for the quasiparticle band gap and the electron effective mass.

Kinetic Inductance Photodetectors Based on Nonequilibrium Response in Superconducting Thin-Film Structures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sergeev, A. V.; Karasik, B. S.; Gogidze, I. G.; Mitin, V. V.

2001-01-01

While experimental studies of kinetic-inductance sensors have been limited so far by the temperature range near the superconducting transition, these detectors can be very sensitivity at temperatures well below the transition, where the number of equilibrium quasiparticles is exponentially small. In this regime, a shift of the quasiparticle chemical potential under radiation results in the change of the kinetic inductance, which can be measured by a sensitive SQUID readout. We modeled the kinetic inductance response of detectors made from disordered superconducting Nb, NbC, and MoRe films. Low phonon transparency of the interface between the superconductor and the substrate causes substantial re-trapping of phonons providing high quantum efficiency and the operating time of approximately 1 ms at 1 K. Due to the small number of quasiparticles, the noise equivalent power of the detector determined by the quasiparticle generation-recombination noise can be as small as approximately 10(exp -19) W/Hz(exp 1/2) at He4 temperatures.

A dynamic programming approach for the alignment of signal peaks in multiple gas chromatography-mass spectrometry experiments.

PubMed

Robinson, Mark D; De Souza, David P; Keen, Woon Wai; Saunders, Eleanor C; McConville, Malcolm J; Speed, Terence P; Likić, Vladimir A

2007-10-29

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a robust platform for the profiling of certain classes of small molecules in biological samples. When multiple samples are profiled, including replicates of the same sample and/or different sample states, one needs to account for retention time drifts between experiments. This can be achieved either by the alignment of chromatographic profiles prior to peak detection, or by matching signal peaks after they have been extracted from chromatogram data matrices. Automated retention time correction is particularly important in non-targeted profiling studies. A new approach for matching signal peaks based on dynamic programming is presented. The proposed approach relies on both peak retention times and mass spectra. The alignment of more than two peak lists involves three steps: (1) all possible pairs of peak lists are aligned, and similarity of each pair of peak lists is estimated; (2) the guide tree is built based on the similarity between the peak lists; (3) peak lists are progressively aligned starting with the two most similar peak lists, following the guide tree until all peak lists are exhausted. When two or more experiments are performed on different sample states and each consisting of multiple replicates, peak lists within each set of replicate experiments are aligned first (within-state alignment), and subsequently the resulting alignments are aligned themselves (between-state alignment). When more than two sets of replicate experiments are present, the between-state alignment also employs the guide tree. We demonstrate the usefulness of this approach on GC-MS metabolic profiling experiments acquired on wild-type and mutant Leishmania mexicana parasites. We propose a progressive method to match signal peaks across multiple GC-MS experiments based on dynamic programming. A sensitive peak similarity function is proposed to balance peak retention time and peak mass spectra similarities. This approach can produce the optimal alignment between an arbitrary number of peak lists, and models explicitly within-state and between-state peak alignment. The accuracy of the proposed method was close to the accuracy of manually-curated peak matching, which required tens of man-hours for the analyzed data sets. The proposed approach may offer significant advantages for processing of high-throughput metabolomics data, especially when large numbers of experimental replicates and multiple sample states are analyzed.

Attitude sensor alignment calibration for the solar maximum mission

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pitone, Daniel S.; Shuster, Malcolm D.

1990-01-01

An earlier heuristic study of the fine attitude sensors for the Solar Maximum Mission (SMM) revealed a temperature dependence of the alignment about the yaw axis of the pair of fixed-head star trackers relative to the fine pointing Sun sensor. Here, new sensor alignment algorithms which better quantify the dependence of the alignments on the temperature are developed and applied to the SMM data. Comparison with the results from the previous study reveals the limitations of the heuristic approach. In addition, some of the basic assumptions made in the prelaunch analysis of the alignments of the SMM are examined. The results of this work have important consequences for future missions with stringent attitude requirements and where misalignment variations due to variations in the temperature will be significant.

Magneto thermal conductivity of superconducting Nb with intermediate level of impurity

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

L.S. Sharath Chandra, M.K. Chattopadhyay, S.B. Roy, V.C. Sahni, G.R. Myneni

2012-03-01

Niobium materials with intermediate purity level are used for fabrication of superconducting radio frequency cavities (SCRF), and thermal conductivity is an important parameter influencing the performance of such SCRF cavities. We report here the temperature and magnetic field dependence of thermal conductivity {kappa} for superconducting niobium (Nb) samples, for which the electron mean free path I{sub e}, the phonon mean free path I{sub g}, and the vortex core diameter 2r{sub C} are of the same order of magnitude. The measured thermal conductivity is analyzed using the effective gap model (developed for I{sub e} >> 2r{sub C} (Dubeck et al 1963more » Phys. Rev. Lett. 10 98)) and the normal core model (developed for I{sub e} << 2r{sub C} (Ward and Dew-Hughes 1970 J. Phys. C: Solid St. Phys. 3 2245)). However, it is found that the effective gap model is not suitable for low temperatures when I{sub e} {approx} 2r{sub C}. The normal core model, on the other hand, is able to describe {kappa}(T,H) over the entire temperature range except in the field regime between H{sub C1} and H{sub C2} i.e. in the mixed state. It is shown that to understand the complete behavior of {kappa} in the mixed state, the scattering of quasi-particles from the vortex cores and the intervortex quasi-particle tunneling are to be invoked. The quasi-particle scattering from vortices for the present system is understood in terms of the framework of Sergeenkov and Ausloos (1995 Phys. Rev. B 52 3614) extending their approach to the case of Nb. The intervortex tunneling is understood within the framework of Schmidbauer et al (1970 Z. Phys. 240 30). Analysis of the field dependence of thermal conductivity shows that while the quasi-particle scattering from vortices dominates in the low fields, the intervortex quasi-particle tunneling dominates in high fields. Analysis of the temperature dependence of thermal conductivity shows that while the quasi-particle scattering is dominant at low temperatures, the intervortex quasi-particle tunneling is dominant at high temperatures.« less

Pairing matrix elements and pairing gaps with bare, effective, and induced interactions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barranco, F.; Bortignon, P.F.; Colo, G.

2005-11-01

The dependence on the single-particle states of the pairing matrix elements of the Gogny force and of the bare low-momentum nucleon-nucleon potential v{sub low-k}--designed so as to reproduce the low-energy observables avoiding the use of a repulsive core--is studied for a typical finite, superfluid nucleus ({sup 120}Sn). It is found that the matrix elements of v{sub low-k} follow closely those of v{sub Gogny} on a wide range of energy values around the Fermi energy e{sub F}, those associated with v{sub low-k} being less attractive. This result explains the fact that around e{sub F} the pairing gap {delta}{sub Gogny} associated withmore » the Gogny interaction (and with a density of single-particle levels corresponding to an effective k mass m{sub k}{approx_equal}0.7 m) is a factor of about 2 larger than {delta}{sub low-k}, being in agreement with {delta}{sub exp}=1.4 MeV. The exchange of low-lying collective surface vibrations among pairs of nucleons moving in time-reversal states gives rise to an induced pairing interaction v{sub ind} peaked at e{sub F}. The interaction (v{sub low-k}+v{sub ind}) Z{sub {omega}} arising from the renormalization of the bare nucleon-nucleon potential and of the single-particle motion ({omega}-mass and quasiparticle strength Z{sub {omega}}) associated with the particle-vibration coupling mechanism, leads to a value of the pairing gap at the Fermi energy {delta}{sub ren} that accounts for the experimental value. An important question that remains to be studied quantitatively is to what extent {delta}{sub Gogny}, which depends on average parameters, and {delta}{sub ren}, which explicitly depends on the parameters describing the (low-energy) nuclear structure, display or not a similar isotopic dependence and whether this dependence is borne out by the data.« less

Coincidence theory: Seeking a perceptual preference for just intonation, equal temperament, and Pythagorean intonation in excerpts for wind instruments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Long, Derle Ray

Coincidence theory states that when the components of harmony are in enhanced alignment the sound will be more consonant to the human auditory system. An objective method of examining the components of harmony is by investigating alignment of the mathematics of a particular sound or harmony. The study examined preference responses to excerpts tuned in just intonation, Pythagorean intonation, and equal temperament. Musical excerpts were presented in pairs and study subjects simply picked one version from the pair that they perceived as the most consonant. Results of the study revealed an overall preference for equal temperament in contradiction to coincidence theory. Several additional areas for research are suggested to further investigate the results of this study.

Kinematic Alignment and Bonding of Silicon Mirrors for High-Resolution Astronomical X-Ray Optics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chan, Kai-Wing; Mazzarella, James R.; Saha, Timo T.; Zhang, William W.; Mcclelland, Ryan S.; Biskack, Michael P.; Riveros, Raul E.; Allgood, Kim D.; Kearney, John D.; Sharpe, Marton V.;

Creating a medical English-Swedish dictionary using interactive word alignment.

PubMed

Nyström, Mikael; Merkel, Magnus; Ahrenberg, Lars; Zweigenbaum, Pierre; Petersson, Håkan; Ahlfeldt, Hans

2006-10-12

This paper reports on a parallel collection of rubrics from the medical terminology systems ICD-10, ICF, MeSH, NCSP and KSH97-P and its use for semi-automatic creation of an English-Swedish dictionary of medical terminology. The methods presented are relevant for many other West European language pairs than English-Swedish. The medical terminology systems were collected in electronic format in both English and Swedish and the rubrics were extracted in parallel language pairs. Initially, interactive word alignment was used to create training data from a sample. Then the training data were utilised in automatic word alignment in order to generate candidate term pairs. The last step was manual verification of the term pair candidates. A dictionary of 31,000 verified entries has been created in less than three man weeks, thus with considerably less time and effort needed compared to a manual approach, and without compromising quality. As a side effect of our work we found 40 different translation problems in the terminology systems and these results indicate the power of the method for finding inconsistencies in terminology translations. We also report on some factors that may contribute to making the process of dictionary creation with similar tools even more expedient. Finally, the contribution is discussed in relation to other ongoing efforts in constructing medical lexicons for non-English languages. In three man weeks we were able to produce a medical English-Swedish dictionary consisting of 31,000 entries and also found hidden translation errors in the utilized medical terminology systems.

Creating a medical English-Swedish dictionary using interactive word alignment

PubMed Central

Nyström, Mikael; Merkel, Magnus; Ahrenberg, Lars; Zweigenbaum, Pierre; Petersson, Håkan; Åhlfeldt, Hans

2006-01-01

Background This paper reports on a parallel collection of rubrics from the medical terminology systems ICD-10, ICF, MeSH, NCSP and KSH97-P and its use for semi-automatic creation of an English-Swedish dictionary of medical terminology. The methods presented are relevant for many other West European language pairs than English-Swedish. Methods The medical terminology systems were collected in electronic format in both English and Swedish and the rubrics were extracted in parallel language pairs. Initially, interactive word alignment was used to create training data from a sample. Then the training data were utilised in automatic word alignment in order to generate candidate term pairs. The last step was manual verification of the term pair candidates. Results A dictionary of 31,000 verified entries has been created in less than three man weeks, thus with considerably less time and effort needed compared to a manual approach, and without compromising quality. As a side effect of our work we found 40 different translation problems in the terminology systems and these results indicate the power of the method for finding inconsistencies in terminology translations. We also report on some factors that may contribute to making the process of dictionary creation with similar tools even more expedient. Finally, the contribution is discussed in relation to other ongoing efforts in constructing medical lexicons for non-English languages. Conclusion In three man weeks we were able to produce a medical English-Swedish dictionary consisting of 31,000 entries and also found hidden translation errors in the utilized medical terminology systems. PMID:17034649

The role of engineered materials in superconducting tunnel junction X-ray detectors - Suppression of quasiparticle recombination losses via a phononic band gap

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rippert, Edward D.; Ketterson, John B.; Chen, Jun; Song, Shenian; Lomatch, Susanne; Maglic, Stevan R.; Thomas, Christopher; Cheida, M. A.; Ulmer, Melville P.

1992-01-01

An engineered structure is proposed that can alleviate quasi-particle recombination losses via the existence of a phononic band gap that overlaps the 2-Delta energy of phonons produced during recombination of quasi-particles. Attention is given to a 1D Kronig-Penny model for phonons normally incident to the layers of a multilayered superconducting tunnel junction as an idealized example. A device with a high density of Bragg resonances is identified as desirable; both Nb/Si and NbN/SiN superlattices have been produced, with the latter having generally superior performance.

Quasiparticle mass enhancement close to the quantum critical point in BaFe2(As(1-x)P(x))2.

PubMed

Walmsley, P; Putzke, C; Malone, L; Guillamón, I; Vignolles, D; Proust, C; Badoux, S; Coldea, A I; Watson, M D; Kasahara, S; Mizukami, Y; Shibauchi, T; Matsuda, Y; Carrington, A

2013-06-21

We report a combined study of the specific heat and de Haas-van Alphen effect in the iron-pnictide superconductor BaFe2(As(1-x)P(x))2. Our data when combined with results for the magnetic penetration depth give compelling evidence for the existence of a quantum critical point close to x=0.30 which affects the majority of the Fermi surface by enhancing the quasiparticle mass. The results show that the sharp peak in the inverse superfluid density seen in this system results from a strong increase in the quasiparticle mass at the quantum critical point.

Non-Local Propagation of Correlations in Quantum Systems with Long-Range Interactions

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-10

interferencepathways13.Thisprocessdiffers substantially from local quenches21, where a single site emits quasiparticles thatmay travel ballistically3,13...Preprint at http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.6174 (2014). 21. Jurcevic, P. et al. Quasiparticle engineering and entanglement propagation in a quantummany-body

Sensing the THz Field by an Array of Carbon Nanotube Quantum Wells

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-31

semiconductors. They are rather quasiparticles which are characterized by chirality and pseudospins. (iii) The electron transport occurs through numerous...approaches. (ii) The elementary excitations in the CNT are not mere electrons and holes as it is in regular semiconductors. They are rather quasiparticles

Dynamics of Cancer Cell near Collagen Fiber Chain

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Jihan; Sun, Bo

Cell migration is an integrated process that is important in life. Migration is essential for embryonic development as well as homeostatic processes such as wound healing and immune responses. When cell migrates through connective extracellular matrix (ECM), it applies cellular traction force to ECM and senses the rigidity of their local environment. We used human breast cancer cell (MDA-MB-231) which is highly invasive and applies strong traction force to ECM. As cancer cell applies traction force to type I collage-based ECM, it deforms collagen fibers near the surface. Patterns of deforming collagen fibers are significantly different with pairs of cancer cells compared to a single cancer cell. While a pair of cancer cells within 60 um creates aligned collagen fiber chains between them permanently, a single cancer cell does not form any fiber chains. In this experiment we measured a cellular response and an interaction between a pair of cells through the chain. Finally, we analyzed correlation of directions between cancer cell migration and the collagen chain alignment.

Features of Superconducting Gaps Revealed by STM/STS in Iron Based Superconductors With and Without Hole Pockets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wen, Hai-Hu; Hai-Hu Wen Team

The pairing mechanism and gap structure in iron based superconductors (IBS) remains unresolved. We have conducted extensive STM/STS study on the Na(Fe1-xTx) As (T =Co, Cu, Mn), Ba1-xKxFe2As2KFe2As2, and Li1-xFexOHFeSe single crystals. We found the clear evidence of the in-gap quasi-particle states induced by the non-magnetic Cu impurities in Na(Fe0.97- x Co0.03Cux) As, giving strong evidence of the S+/- pairing. Furthermore, we show the presence of the bosonic mode with the energy identical to that of the neutron resonance and a simple linear relation Ω/kBTc ~ 4.3, being explained a consequence of the S+/-pairing. The STS spectrum in Li1-x FexOHFeSe clearly indicates the presence of double superconducting gaps with Δ1 ~ 14.3 meV and Δ2 ~ 8.6 meV. Further analysis based on QPI allows us to assign the larger (smaller) gap to the outer (inner) hybridized electron pockets. The huge value 2Δ1/kBTc = 8.7 discovered here undoubtedly proves the strong coupling mechanism. This work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Effects of the coupling of quasiparticle and collective vibrations on the properties of 120Sn

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vigezzi, Enrico

2018-03-01

Assuming quasiparticles and collective vibrations as fundamental modes of excitation and taking into account their interplay within the framework of Nuclear Field Theory, it is possible to give an accurate and comprehensive description of the low-energy spectrum of the superfluid nucleus 120Sn.

Quark and Gluon Relaxation in Quark-Gluon Plasmas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heiselberg, H.; Pethick, C. J.

1993-01-01

The quasiparticle decay rates for quarks and gluons in quark-gluon plasmas are calculated by solving the kinetic equation. Introducing an infrared cutoff to allow for nonperturbative effects, we evaluate the quasiparticle lifetime at momenta greater than the inverse Debye screening length to leading order in the coupling constant.

Anomalous Photon-Assisted Tunneling in Graphene

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-01-01

is not simply due to linear electron dispersion but may be observed for both mass- less and massive quasiparticles [4]. In this paper, we consider a...325221 [22] Mildenberger A, Evers F, Mirlin A D and Chalker J T 2007 Density of quasiparticle states for a two-dimensional disordered system: metallic

Automatic Configuration of Programmable Logic Controller Emulators

DTIC Science & Technology

2015-03-01

25 11 Example tree generated using UPGMA [Edw13] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 12 Example sequence alignment for two... UPGMA Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean URL uniform resource locator VM virtual machine XML Extensible Markup Language xx List of...appearance in the ses- sion, and then they are clustered again using Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic Mean ( UPGMA ) with a distance matrix based

Secure alignment of coordinate systems using quantum correlation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezazadeh, F.; Mani, A.; Karimipour, V.

2017-08-01

We show that two parties far apart can use shared entangled states and classical communication to align their coordinate systems with a very high fidelity. Moreover, compared with previous methods proposed for such a task, i.e., sending parallel or antiparallel pairs or groups of spin states, our method has the extra advantages of using single-qubit measurements and also being secure, so that third parties do not extract any information about the aligned coordinate system established between the two parties. The latter property is important in many other quantum information protocols in which measurements inevitably play a significant role.

Method for vacuum fusion bonding

DOEpatents

Ackler, Harold D.; Swierkowski, Stefan P.; Tarte, Lisa A.; Hicks, Randall K.

2001-01-01

An improved vacuum fusion bonding structure and process for aligned bonding of large area glass plates, patterned with microchannels and access holes and slots, for elevated glass fusion temperatures. Vacuum pumpout of all components is through the bottom platform which yields an untouched, defect free top surface which greatly improves optical access through this smooth surface. Also, a completely non-adherent interlayer, such as graphite, with alignment and location features is located between the main steel platform and the glass plate pair, which makes large improvements in quality, yield, and ease of use, and enables aligned bonding of very large glass structures.

biobambam: tools for read pair collation based algorithms on BAM files

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Sequence alignment data is often ordered by coordinate (id of the reference sequence plus position on the sequence where the fragment was mapped) when stored in BAM files, as this simplifies the extraction of variants between the mapped data and the reference or of variants within the mapped data. In this order paired reads are usually separated in the file, which complicates some other applications like duplicate marking or conversion to the FastQ format which require to access the full information of the pairs. Results In this paper we introduce biobambam, a set of tools based on the efficient collation of alignments in BAM files by read name. The employed collation algorithm avoids time and space consuming sorting of alignments by read name where this is possible without using more than a specified amount of main memory. Using this algorithm tasks like duplicate marking in BAM files and conversion of BAM files to the FastQ format can be performed very efficiently with limited resources. We also make the collation algorithm available in the form of an API for other projects. This API is part of the libmaus package. Conclusions In comparison with previous approaches to problems involving the collation of alignments by read name like the BAM to FastQ or duplication marking utilities our approach can often perform an equivalent task more efficiently in terms of the required main memory and run-time. Our BAM to FastQ conversion is faster than all widely known alternatives including Picard and bamUtil. Our duplicate marking is about as fast as the closest competitor bamUtil for small data sets and faster than all known alternatives on large and complex data sets.

Influence of solvent and salt concentration on the alignment properties of acrylamide copolymer gels for the measurement of RDC.

PubMed

Trigo-Mouriño, Pablo; Navarro-Vázquez, Armando; Sánchez-Pedregal, Víctor M

2012-12-01

The dependence of molecular alignment with solvent nature and salt concentration has been investigated for mechanically stretched polyacrylamide copolymer gels. Residual dipolar couplings (RDCs) were recorded for D(2)O, DMSO-d(6), and DMSO-d(6)/D(2)O solutions containing different proportions of the solvents and different sodium chloride concentrations. Alignment tensors were determined by fitting the experimental RDCs to the DFT-computed structure of N-methylcodeinium ion. Analysis of the tensors shows that the degree of alignment decreases with the proportion of DMSO-d(6) as well as with the concentration of sodium chloride, most likely due to enhanced ion-pair aggregation. Furthermore, rotation of the alignment tensor is observed when increasing the salt concentration. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Quasiparticle renormalization in ABC graphene trilayers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dou, Xu; Jaefari, Akbar; Barlas, Yafis; Uchoa, Bruno

2015-03-01

We investigate the effect of electron-electron interactions in ABC stacked graphene trilayers. In the gapless regime, we show that the self-energy corrections lead to the renormalization of the dynamical exponent z = 3 +α1 / N , with α1 ~ 0 . 52 and N is the number of fermionic species. Although the quasiparticle residue is suppressed near the neutrality point, the lifetime has a sublinear scaling with the energy and the quasiparticles are well defined even at zero energy. We calculate the renormalization of a variety of physical observables, which can be directly measured in experiments. X.D., A.J., and B.U. acknowledge University of Oklahoma for support. B.U. acknowledges NSF Career Grant No. DMR-1352604 for partial support.

Non-Abelian states of matter.

PubMed

Stern, Ady

2010-03-11

Quantum mechanics classifies all elementary particles as either fermions or bosons, and this classification is crucial to the understanding of a variety of physical systems, such as lasers, metals and superconductors. In certain two-dimensional systems, interactions between electrons or atoms lead to the formation of quasiparticles that break the fermion-boson dichotomy. A particularly interesting alternative is offered by 'non-Abelian' states of matter, in which the presence of quasiparticles makes the ground state degenerate, and interchanges of identical quasiparticles shift the system between different ground states. Present experimental studies attempt to identify non-Abelian states in systems that manifest the fractional quantum Hall effect. If such states can be identified, they may become useful for quantum computation.

Interband quasiparticle scattering in superconducting LiFeAs reconciles photoemission and tunneling measurements.

PubMed

Hess, Christian; Sykora, Steffen; Hänke, Torben; Schlegel, Ronny; Baumann, Danny; Zabolotnyy, Volodymyr B; Harnagea, Luminita; Wurmehl, Sabine; van den Brink, Jeroen; Büchner, Bernd

2013-01-04

Several angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies reveal a poorly nested Fermi surface of LiFeAs, far away from a spin density wave instability, and clear-cut superconducting gap anisotropies. On the other hand a very different, more nested Fermi surface and dissimilar gap anisotropies have been obtained from quasiparticle interference (QPI) data, which were interpreted as arising from intraband scattering within holelike bands. Here we show that this ARPES-QPI paradox is completely resolved by interband scattering between the holelike bands. The resolution follows from an excellent agreement between experimental quasiparticle scattering data and T-matrix QPI calculations (based on experimental band structure data), which allows disentangling interband and intraband scattering processes.

Exploring Novel Forms of Superconductivity

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-19

quasiparticle peak is absent at ω = 0 even in the thickest slab because out-of-plane correlations are treated on a mean-field level. To see the relation between...carriers transforming from an insulator to a metal through a ”bad” metal phase. Notice, the sharp quasiparticle peak is absent at ω = 0 even in the

Relaxation of Fermionic Excitations in a Strongly Attractive Fermi Gas in an Optical Lattice

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-09-27

decreases both with temperature and deviation of the fermion density from half filling. We show that quasiparticle and phase degrees of freedom are...the interaction strength to the bandwidth of the system. Thus, at strong coupling, the fermionic quasiparticles and the motion of the bosonic molecules

Linearized self-consistent GW approach satisfying the Ward identity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuwahara, Riichi; Ohno, Kaoru

2014-09-01

We propose a linearized self-consistent GW approach satisfying the Ward identity. The vertex function derived from the Ward-Takahashi identity in the limit of q =0 and ω -ω'=0 is included in the self-energy and the polarization function as a consequence of the linearization of the quasiparticle equation. Due to the energy dependence of the self-energy, the Hamiltonian is a non-Hermitian operator and quasiparticle states are nonorthonormal and linearly dependent. However, the linearized quasiparticle states recover orthonormality and fulfill the completeness condition. This approach is very efficient, and the resulting quasiparticle energies are greatly improved compared to the nonlinearized self-consistent GW approach, although its computational cost is not much increased. We show the results for atoms and dimers of Li and Na compared with other approaches. We also propose convenient ways to calculate the Luttinger-Ward functional Φ based on a plasmon-pole model and calculate the total energy for the ground state. As a result, we conclude that the linearization improves overall behaviors in the self-consistent GW approach.

High-K isomers and rotational structures in {sup 174}W

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tandel, S.K.; Chowdhury, P.; Seabury, E.H.

2006-04-15

High-spin states in {sup 174}W (Z = 74) have been populated using the reaction {sup 128}Te({sup 50}Ti, 4n){sup 174}W at beam energies of 215 and 225 MeV. The Gammasphere array was used to detect the {gamma} rays emitted by the evaporation residues. Four previously known collective band structures have been extended, and 16 new rotational sequences observed. Two are built upon isomeric states, one corresponding to a two-quasiparticle K = 8 isomer, the other to a four-quasiparticle K = 12 isomer, with the latter exhibiting strong K-violating {delta}K=12 decays to the ground state band. Nucleonic configurations for the two- andmore » four-quasiparticle excitations are proposed, and Woods-Saxon cranking calculations are presented to understand the rotational structures. Decay mechanisms of multi-quasiparticle K isomers are discussed in terms of the prevalent phenomenological models, with special emphasis on {gamma}-tunneling calculations. Surprisingly, the latter underpredict the decay hindrance for the K = 12 isomer by three orders of magnitude, unlike all other isomer decays in this mass region.« less

Quasiparticle interference in multiband superconductors with strong coupling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dutt, A.; Golubov, A. A.; Dolgov, O. V.; Efremov, D. V.

2017-08-01

We develop a theory of the quasiparticle interference (QPI) in multiband superconductors based on the strong-coupling Eliashberg approach within the Born approximation. In the framework of this theory, we study dependencies of the QPI response function in the multiband superconductors with the nodeless s -wave superconductive order parameter. We pay special attention to the difference in the quasiparticle scattering between the bands having the same and opposite signs of the order parameter. We show that at the momentum values close to the momentum transfer between two bands, the energy dependence of the quasiparticle interference response function has three singularities. Two of these correspond to the values of the gap functions and the third one depends on both the gaps and the transfer momentum. We argue that only the singularity near the smallest band gap may be used as a universal tool to distinguish between the s++ and s± order parameters. The robustness of the sign of the response function peak near the smaller gap value, irrespective of the change in parameters, in both the symmetry cases is a promising feature that can be harnessed experimentally.

Decay and Fission Hindrance of Two- and Four-Quasiparticle K Isomers in Rf 254

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

David, H. M.; Chen, J.; Seweryniak, D.

2015-09-01

Two isomers decaying by electromagnetic transitions with half-lives of 4.7(1.1) and 247 ( 73 ) μ s have been discovered in the heavy 254 Rf nucleus. The observation of the shorter-lived isomer was made possible by a novel application of a digital data acquisition system. The isomers were interpreted as the K π = 8 - , ν 2 ( 7 / 2 + [ 624 ] , 9 / 2 - [ 734 ] ) two-quasineutron and the K π = 1 6 + , 8 - ν 2 ( 7 / 2 + [ 624 ] , 9more » / 2 - [ 734 ] ) Ⓧ 8 - π 2 ( 7 / 2 -[ 514 ] , 9 / 2 + [ 624 ] ) four-quasiparticle configurations, respectively. Surprisingly, the lifetime of the two-quasiparticle isomer is more than 4 orders of magnitude shorter than what has been observed for analogous isomers in the lighter N = 150 isotones. The four-quasiparticle isomer is longer lived than the 254 Rf ground state that decays exclusively by spontaneous fission with a half-life of 23.2 ( 1.1 ) μ s . The absence of sizable fission branches from either of the isomers implies unprecedented fission hindrance relative to the ground state.« less

Quasiparticle energy bands and Fermi surfaces of monolayer NbSe2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Sejoong; Son, Young-Woo

2017-10-01

A quasiparticle band structure of a single layer 2 H -NbSe2 is reported by using first-principles G W calculation. We show that a self-energy correction increases the width of a partially occupied band and alters its Fermi surface shape when comparing those using conventional mean-field calculation methods. Owing to a broken inversion symmetry in the trigonal prismatic single layer structure, the spin-orbit interaction is included and its impact on the Fermi surface and quasiparticle energy bands are discussed. We also calculate the doping dependent static susceptibilities from the band structures obtained by the mean-field calculation as well as G W calculation with and without spin-orbit interactions. A complete tight-binding model is constructed within the three-band third nearest neighbor hoppings and is shown to reproduce our G W quasiparticle energy bands and Fermi surface very well. Considering variations of the Fermi surface shapes depending on self-energy corrections and spin-orbit interactions, we discuss the formations of charge density wave (CDW) with different dielectric environments and their implications on recent controversial experimental results on CDW transition temperatures.

Decay and Fission Hindrance of Two- and Four-Quasiparticle K Isomers in ^{254}Rf.

PubMed

David, H M; Chen, J; Seweryniak, D; Kondev, F G; Gates, J M; Gregorich, K E; Ahmad, I; Albers, M; Alcorta, M; Back, B B; Baartman, B; Bertone, P F; Bernstein, L A; Campbell, C M; Carpenter, M P; Chiara, C J; Clark, R M; Cromaz, M; Doherty, D T; Dracoulis, G D; Esker, N E; Fallon, P; Gothe, O R; Greene, J P; Greenlees, P T; Hartley, D J; Hauschild, K; Hoffman, C R; Hota, S S; Janssens, R V F; Khoo, T L; Konki, J; Kwarsick, J T; Lauritsen, T; Macchiavelli, A O; Mudder, P R; Nair, C; Qiu, Y; Rissanen, J; Rogers, A M; Ruotsalainen, P; Savard, G; Stolze, S; Wiens, A; Zhu, S

2015-09-25

Two isomers decaying by electromagnetic transitions with half-lives of 4.7(1.1) and 247(73) μs have been discovered in the heavy ^{254}Rf nucleus. The observation of the shorter-lived isomer was made possible by a novel application of a digital data acquisition system. The isomers were interpreted as the K^{π}=8^{-}, ν^{2}(7/2^{+}[624],9/2^{-}[734]) two-quasineutron and the K^{π}=16^{+}, 8^{-}ν^{2}(7/2^{+}[624],9/2^{-}[734])⊗8^{-}π^{2}(7/2^{-}[514],9/2^{+}[624]) four-quasiparticle configurations, respectively. Surprisingly, the lifetime of the two-quasiparticle isomer is more than 4 orders of magnitude shorter than what has been observed for analogous isomers in the lighter N=150 isotones. The four-quasiparticle isomer is longer lived than the ^{254}Rf ground state that decays exclusively by spontaneous fission with a half-life of 23.2(1.1) μs. The absence of sizable fission branches from either of the isomers implies unprecedented fission hindrance relative to the ground state.

Tunable sub-gap radiation detection with superconducting resonators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dupré, O.; Benoît, A.; Calvo, M.; Catalano, A.; Goupy, J.; Hoarau, C.; Klein, T.; Le Calvez, K.; Sacépé, B.; Monfardini, A.; Levy-Bertrand, F.

2017-04-01

We have fabricated planar amorphous indium oxide superconducting resonators ({T}{{c}}˜ 2.8 K) that are sensitive to frequency-selective radiation in the range of 7-10 GHz. Those values lay far below twice the superconducting gap that is worth about 200 GHz. The photon detection consists in a shift of the fundamental resonance frequency. We show that the detected frequency can be adjusted by modulating the total length of the superconducting resonator. We attribute those observations to the excitation of higher-order resonance modes. The coupling between the fundamental lumped and the higher order distributed resonance is due to the kinetic inductance nonlinearity with current. These devices, that we have called sub-gap kinetic inductance detectors, are to be distinguished from the standard kinetic inductance detectors in which quasi-particles are generated when incident light breaks down Cooper pairs.

Protection layers on a superconducting microwave resonator toward a hybrid quantum system

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lee, Jongmin, E-mail: jongmin.lee@sandia.gov; Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87123; Park, Dong Hun, E-mail: leomac@umd.edu

2015-10-07

We propose a protection scheme of a superconducting microwave resonator to realize a hybrid quantum system, where cold neutral atoms are coupled with a single microwave photon through magnetic dipole interaction at an interface inductor. The evanescent field atom trap, such as a waveguide/nanofiber atom trap, brings both surface-scattered photons and absorption-induced broadband blackbody radiation which result in quasiparticles and a low quality factor at the resonator. A proposed multiband protection layer consists of pairs of two dielectric layers and a thin nanogrid conductive dielectric layer above the interface inductor. We show numerical simulations of quality factors and reflection/absorption spectra,more » indicating that the proposed multilayer structure can protect a lumped-element microwave resonator from optical photons and blackbody radiation while maintaining a reasonably high quality factor.« less

Spectroscopic scanning tunneling microscopy insights into Fe-based superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoffman, Jennifer E.

2011-12-01

In the first three years since the discovery of Fe-based high Tc superconductors, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and spectroscopy have shed light on three important questions. First, STM has demonstrated the complexity of the pairing symmetry in Fe-based materials. Phase-sensitive quasiparticle interference (QPI) imaging and low temperature spectroscopy have shown that the pairing order parameter varies from nodal to nodeless s± within a single family, FeTe1-xSex. Second, STM has imaged C4 → C2 symmetry breaking in the electronic states of both parent and superconducting materials. As a local probe, STM is in a strong position to understand the interactions between these broken symmetry states and superconductivity. Finally, STM has been used to image the vortex state, giving insights into the technical problem of vortex pinning, and the fundamental problem of the competing states introduced when superconductivity is locally quenched by a magnetic field. Here we give a pedagogical introduction to STM and QPI imaging, discuss the specific challenges associated with extracting bulk properties from the study of surfaces, and report on progress made in understanding Fe-based superconductors using STM techniques.

Nonequilibrium parton dynamics in the strongly interacting QGP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cassing, W.; Bratkovskaya, E. L.

2011-12-01

The dynamics of partons, hadrons and strings in relativistic nucleus-nucleus collisions is analyzed within the novel Parton-Hadron-String Dynamics (PHSD) transport approach, which is based on a dynamical quasiparticle model for partons (DQPM) matched to reproduce recent lattice-QCD results—including the partonic equation of state—in thermodynamic equilibrium. The transition from partonic to hadronic degrees of freedom is described by covariant transition rates for the fusion of quark-antiquark pairs or three quarks (antiquarks), respectively, obeying flavor current-conservation, color neutrality as well as energymomentum conservation. Since the dynamical quarks and antiquarks become very massive close to the phase transition, the formed resonant `pre-hadronic' color-dipole states ( q bar q or qqq) are of high invariant mass, too, and sequentially decay to the groundstate meson and baryon octets increasing the total entropy. When applying the PHSD approach to Pb + Pb colllisions at 158 A GeV we find a significant effect of the partonic phase on the production of multi-strange antibaryons due to a slightly enhanced s bar q pair production from massive time-like gluon decay and a larger formation of antibaryons in the hadronization process.

Quantum Monte Carlo studies of superfluid Fermi gases

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang, S.Y.; Pandharipande, V.R.; Carlson, J.

2004-10-01

We report results of quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the ground state of dilute Fermi gases with attractive short-range two-body interactions. The strength of the interaction is varied to study different pairing regimes which are characterized by the product of the s-wave scattering length and the Fermi wave vector, ak{sub F}. We report results for the ground-state energy, the pairing gap {delta}, and the quasiparticle spectrum. In the weak-coupling regime, 1/ak{sub F}<-1, we obtain Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) superfluid and the energy gap {delta} is much smaller than the Fermi gas energy E{sub FG}. When a>0, the interaction is strong enough tomore » form bound molecules with energy E{sub mol}. For 1/ak{sub F} > or approx. 0.5, we find that weakly interacting composite bosons are formed in the superfluid gas with {delta} and gas energy per particle approaching E{sub mol}/2. In this region, we seem to have Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of molecules. The behavior of the energy and the gap in the BCS-to-BEC transition region, -0.5<1/ak{sub F}<0.5, is discussed.« less

Molecular dynamics and charge transport in organic semiconductors: a classical approach to modeling electron transfer

DOE PAGES

Pelzer, Kenley M.; Vázquez-Mayagoitia, Álvaro; Ratcliff, Laura E.; ...

2017-01-01

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are a promising carbon-neutral energy conversion technology, with recent improvements pushing power conversion efficiencies over 10%. A major factor limiting OPV performance is inefficiency of charge transport in organic semiconducting materials (OSCs). Due to strong coupling with lattice degrees of freedom, the charges form polarons, localized quasi-particles comprised of charges dressed with phonons. These polarons can be conceptualized as pseudo-atoms with a greater effective mass than a bare charge. Here we propose that due to this increased mass, polarons can be modeled with Langevin molecular dynamics (LMD), a classical approach with a computational cost much lower thanmore » most quantum mechanical methods. Here we present LMD simulations of charge transfer between a pair of fullerene molecules, which commonly serve as electron acceptors in OSCs. We find transfer rates consistent with experimental measurements of charge mobility, suggesting that this method may provide quantitative predictions of efficiency when used to simulate materials on the device scale. Our approach also offers information that is not captured in the overall transfer rate or mobility: in the simulation data, we observe exactly when and why intermolecular transfer events occur. In addition, we demonstrate that these simulations can shed light on the properties of polarons in OSCs. In conclusion, much remains to be learned about these quasi-particles, and there are no widely accepted methods for calculating properties such as effective mass and friction. Lastly, our model offers a promising approach to exploring mass and friction as well as providing insight into the details of polaron transport in OSCs.« less

Anomalous Hall effect in semiconductor quantum wells in proximity to chiral p -wave superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, F.; Yu, T.; Wu, M. W.

2018-05-01

By using the gauge-invariant optical Bloch equation, we perform a microscopic kinetic investigation on the anomalous Hall effect in chiral p -wave superconducting states. Specifically, the intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity in the absence of the magnetic field is zero as a consequence of Galilean invariance in our description. As for the extrinsic channel, a finite anomalous Hall current is obtained from the impurity scattering with the optically excited normal quasiparticle current even at zero temperature. From our kinetic description, it can be clearly seen that the excited normal quasiparticle current is due to an induced center-of-mass momentum of Cooper pairs through the acceleration driven by ac electric field. For the induced anomalous Hall current, we show that the conventional skew-scattering channel in the linear response makes the dominant contribution in the strong impurity interaction. In this case, our kinetic description as a supplementary viewpoint mostly confirms the results of Kubo formalism in the literature. Nevertheless, in the weak impurity interaction, this skew-scattering channel becomes marginal and we reveal that an induction channel from the Born contribution dominates the anomalous Hall current. This channel, which has long been overlooked in the literature, is due to the particle-hole asymmetry by nonlinear optical excitation. Finally, we study the case in the chiral p -wave superconducting state with a transverse conical magnetization, which breaks the Galilean invariance. In this situation, the intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity is no longer zero. Comparison of this intrinsic channel with the extrinsic one from impurity scattering is addressed.

Rapid enhancement of nodal quasiparticle mass with heavily underdoping in Bi2212

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anzai, Hiroaki; Arita, Masashi; Namatame, Hirofumi; Taniguchi, Masaki; Ishikado, Motoyuki; Fujita, Kazuhiro; Ishida, Shigeyuki; Uchida, Shin-ichi; Ino, Akihiro

2018-05-01

We report substantial advance of our low-energy angle-resolved photoemission study of nodal quasiparticles in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O8+δ. The new data cover the samples from underdoped down to heavily underdoped levels. We also present the nodal Fermi velocities that determined by using an excitation-photon energy of hν = 7.0 eV over a wide doping range. The consistency between the results with hν = 8.1 and 7.0 eV allows us to rule out the effect of photoemission matrix elements. In comparison with the data previously reported, the nodal effective mass increases by a factor of ∼ 1.5 in going from optimally doped to heavily underdoped levels. We find a rapid enhancement of the nodal quasiparticle mass at low doping levels near the superconductor-to-insulator transition. The effective coupling spectrum, λ (ω) , is extracted directly from the energy derivatives of the quasiparticle dispersion and scattering rate, as a causal function of the mass enhancement factor. A steplike increase in Reλ (ω) around ∼ 65 meV is demonstrated clearly by the Kramers-Kronig transform of Imλ (ω) . To extract the low-energy renormalization effect, we calculated a simple model for the electron-boson interaction. This model reveals that the contribution of the renormalization at | ω | ≤ 15 meV to the quasiparticle mass is larger than that around 65 meV in underdoped samples.

Measuring alignment of loading fixture

DOEpatents

Scavone, Donald W.

1989-01-01

An apparatus and method for measuring the alignment of a clevis and pin type loading fixture for compact tension specimens include a pair of substantially identical flat loading ligaments. Each loading ligament has two apertures for the reception of a respective pin of the loading fixture and a thickness less than one-half of a width of the clevis opening. The pair of loading ligaments are mounted in the clevis openings at respective sides thereof. The loading ligaments are then loaded by the pins of the loading fixture and the strain in each loading ligament is measured. By comparing the relative strain of each loading ligament, the alignment of the loading fixture is determined. Preferably, a suitable strain gage device is located at each longitudinal edge of a respective loading ligament equidistant from the two apertures in order to determine the strain thereat and hence the strain of each ligament. The loading ligaments are made substantially identical by jig grinding the loading ligaments as a matched set. Each loading ligament can also be individually calibrated prior to the measurement.

Quasiparticle Tunneling in the Fractional Quantum Hall effect at filling fraction ν=5/2

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radu, Iuliana P.

2009-03-01

In a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG), in the fractional quantum Hall regime, the quasiparticles are predicted to have fractional charge and statistics, as well as modified Coulomb interactions. The state at filling fraction ν=5/2 is predicted by some theories to have non-abelian statistics, a property that might be exploited for topological quantum computing. However, alternative models with abelian properties have been proposed as well. Weak quasiparticle tunneling between counter-propagating edges is one of the methods that can be used to learn about the properties of the state and potentially distinguish between models describing it. We employ an electrostatically defined quantum point contact (QPC) fabricated on a high mobility GaAs/AlGaAs 2DEG to create a constriction where quasiparticles can tunnel between counter-propagating edges. We study the temperature and dc bias dependence of the tunneling conductance, while preserving the same filling fraction in the constriction and the bulk of the sample. The data show scaling of the bias-dependent tunneling over a range of temperatures, in agreement with the theory of weak quasiparticle tunneling, and we extract values for the effective charge and interaction parameter of the quasiparticles. The ranges of values obtained are consistent with those predicted by certain models describing the 5/2 state, indicating as more probable a non-abelian state. This work was done in collaboration with J. B. Miller, C. M. Marcus, M. A. Kastner, L. N. Pfeiffer and K. W. West. This work was supported in part by the Army Research Office (W911NF-05-1-0062), the Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center program of NSF (PHY-0117795), NSF (DMR-0701386), the Center for Materials Science and Engineering program of NSF (DMR-0213282) at MIT, the Microsoft Corporation Project Q, and the Center for Nanoscale Systems at Harvard University.

Image correlation method for DNA sequence alignment.

PubMed

Curilem Saldías, Millaray; Villarroel Sassarini, Felipe; Muñoz Poblete, Carlos; Vargas Vásquez, Asticio; Maureira Butler, Iván

2012-01-01

The complexity of searches and the volume of genomic data make sequence alignment one of bioinformatics most active research areas. New alignment approaches have incorporated digital signal processing techniques. Among these, correlation methods are highly sensitive. This paper proposes a novel sequence alignment method based on 2-dimensional images, where each nucleic acid base is represented as a fixed gray intensity pixel. Query and known database sequences are coded to their pixel representation and sequence alignment is handled as object recognition in a scene problem. Query and database become object and scene, respectively. An image correlation process is carried out in order to search for the best match between them. Given that this procedure can be implemented in an optical correlator, the correlation could eventually be accomplished at light speed. This paper shows an initial research stage where results were "digitally" obtained by simulating an optical correlation of DNA sequences represented as images. A total of 303 queries (variable lengths from 50 to 4500 base pairs) and 100 scenes represented by 100 x 100 images each (in total, one million base pair database) were considered for the image correlation analysis. The results showed that correlations reached very high sensitivity (99.01%), specificity (98.99%) and outperformed BLAST when mutation numbers increased. However, digital correlation processes were hundred times slower than BLAST. We are currently starting an initiative to evaluate the correlation speed process of a real experimental optical correlator. By doing this, we expect to fully exploit optical correlation light properties. As the optical correlator works jointly with the computer, digital algorithms should also be optimized. The results presented in this paper are encouraging and support the study of image correlation methods on sequence alignment.

High precision in protein contact prediction using fully convolutional neural networks and minimal sequence features.

PubMed

Jones, David T; Kandathil, Shaun M

2018-04-26

In addition to substitution frequency data from protein sequence alignments, many state-of-the-art methods for contact prediction rely on additional sources of information, or features, of protein sequences in order to predict residue-residue contacts, such as solvent accessibility, predicted secondary structure, and scores from other contact prediction methods. It is unclear how much of this information is needed to achieve state-of-the-art results. Here, we show that using deep neural network models, simple alignment statistics contain sufficient information to achieve state-of-the-art precision. Our prediction method, DeepCov, uses fully convolutional neural networks operating on amino-acid pair frequency or covariance data derived directly from sequence alignments, without using global statistical methods such as sparse inverse covariance or pseudolikelihood estimation. Comparisons against CCMpred and MetaPSICOV2 show that using pairwise covariance data calculated from raw alignments as input allows us to match or exceed the performance of both of these methods. Almost all of the achieved precision is obtained when considering relatively local windows (around 15 residues) around any member of a given residue pairing; larger window sizes have comparable performance. Assessment on a set of shallow sequence alignments (fewer than 160 effective sequences) indicates that the new method is substantially more precise than CCMpred and MetaPSICOV2 in this regime, suggesting that improved precision is attainable on smaller sequence families. Overall, the performance of DeepCov is competitive with the state of the art, and our results demonstrate that global models, which employ features from all parts of the input alignment when predicting individual contacts, are not strictly needed in order to attain precise contact predictions. DeepCov is freely available at https://github.com/psipred/DeepCov. d.t.jones@ucl.ac.uk.

Centromere pairing precedes meiotic chromosome pairing in plants.

PubMed

Zhang, Jing; Han, Fangpu

2017-11-01

Meiosis is a specialized eukaryotic cell division, in which diploid cells undergo a single round of DNA replication and two rounds of nuclear division to produce haploid gametes. In most eukaryotes, the core events of meiotic prophase I are chromosomal pairing, synapsis and recombination. To ensure accurate chromosomal segregation, homologs have to identify and align along each other at the onset of meiosis. Although much progress has been made in elucidating meiotic processes, information on the mechanisms underlying chromosome pairing is limited in contrast to the meiotic recombination and synapsis events. Recent research in many organisms indicated that centromere interactions during early meiotic prophase facilitate homologous chromosome pairing, and functional centromere is a prerequisite for centromere pairing such as in maize. Here, we summarize the recent achievements of chromosome pairing research on plants and other organisms, and outline centromere interactions, nuclear chromosome orientation, and meiotic cohesin, as main determinants of chromosome pairing in early meiotic prophase.

Switchable radioactive neutron source device

DOEpatents

Boyar, Robert E.; DeVolpi, Alexander; Stanford, George S.; Rhodes, Edgar A.

1989-01-01

This invention is a switchable neutron generating apparatus comprised of a pair of plates, the first plate having an alpha emitter section on it and the second plate having a target material portion on it which generates neutrons when its nuclei absorb an alpha particle. In operation, the alpha portion of the first plate is aligned with the neutron portion of the second plate to produce neutrons and brought out of alignment to cease production of neutrons.

Electronic structure of PPP@ZnO from all-electron quasiarticle calculations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Höffling, Benjamin; Nabok, Dimitri; Draxl, Claudia; Condensed Matter Theory Group, Humboldt University Berlin Team

We investigate the electronic properties of poly(para-phenylene) (PPP) adsorbed on the non-polar (001) surface of rocksalt (rs) ZnO using all-electron density functional theory (DFT) as well as quasiparticle (QP) calculations within the GW approach. A particular focus is put on the electronic band discontinuities at the interface, where we investigate the impact of quantum confinement, molecular polarization, and charge rearrangement. For our prototypical system, PPP@ZnO, we find a type-I heterostructure. Comparison of the band offsets derived from a QP-treatment of the hybrid system with predictions based on mesoscopic methods, like the Shockley-Anderson model or alignment via the electrostatic potential, reveals the inadequacy of these simple approaches for the prediction of the electronic structure of such inorganic/organic heterosystems. Finally, we explore the optical excitations of the interface compared to the features of the pristine components and discuss the methodological implications for the ab-initio treatment of interface electronics.

Tunneling Spectroscopy Study of Spin-Polarized Quasiparticle Injection Effects in Cuparate/Manganite Heterostructures

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wei, J. Y. T.; Yeh, N. C.; Vasquez, R. P.

1998-01-01

Scanning tunneling spectroscopy was performed at 4.2K on epitaxial thin-film heterostructures comprising YBa2Cu3O7 and La0.7Ca0.3MnO3, to study the microscopic effects of spin-polarized quasiparticle injection from the half-metallic ferromagnetic manganite on the high-Tc cuprate superconductor.

Quasiparticle and excitonic gaps of one-dimensional carbon chains.

PubMed

Mostaani, E; Monserrat, B; Drummond, N D; Lambert, C J

2016-06-01

We report diffusion quantum Monte Carlo (DMC) calculations of the quasiparticle and excitonic gaps of hydrogen-terminated oligoynes and extended polyyne. The electronic gaps are found to be very sensitive to the atomic structure in these systems. We have therefore optimised the geometry of polyyne by directly minimising the DMC energy with respect to the lattice constant and the Peierls-induced carbon-carbon bond-length alternation. We find the bond-length alternation of polyyne to be 0.136(2) Å and the excitonic and quasiparticle gaps to be 3.30(7) and 3.4(1) eV, respectively. The DMC zone-centre longitudinal optical phonon frequency of polyyne is 2084(5) cm(-1), which is consistent with Raman spectroscopic measurements for large oligoynes.

Quasi-Particle Self-Consistent GW for Molecules.

PubMed

Kaplan, F; Harding, M E; Seiler, C; Weigend, F; Evers, F; van Setten, M J

2016-06-14

We present the formalism and implementation of quasi-particle self-consistent GW (qsGW) and eigenvalue only quasi-particle self-consistent GW (evGW) adapted to standard quantum chemistry packages. Our implementation is benchmarked against high-level quantum chemistry computations (coupled-cluster theory) and experimental results using a representative set of molecules. Furthermore, we compare the qsGW approach for five molecules relevant for organic photovoltaics to self-consistent GW results (scGW) and analyze the effects of the self-consistency on the ground state density by comparing calculated dipole moments to their experimental values. We show that qsGW makes a significant improvement over conventional G0W0 and that partially self-consistent flavors (in particular evGW) can be excellent alternatives.

Turbine nozzle attachment system

DOEpatents

Norton, Paul F.; Shaffer, James E.

1995-01-01

A nozzle guide vane assembly having a preestablished rate of thermal expansion is positioned in a gas turbine engine and being attached to conventional metallic components. The nozzle guide vane assembly includes a pair of legs extending radially outwardly from an outer shroud and a pair of mounting legs extending radially inwardly from an inner shroud. Each of the pair of legs and mounting legs have a pair of holes therein. A plurality of members attached to the gas turbine engine have a plurality of bores therein which axially align with corresponding ones of the pair of holes in the legs. A plurality of pins are positioned within the corresponding holes and bores radially positioning the nozzle guide vane assembly about a central axis of the gas turbine engine.

Turbine nozzle attachment system

DOEpatents

Norton, P.F.; Shaffer, J.E.

1995-10-24

A nozzle guide vane assembly having a preestablished rate of thermal expansion is positioned in a gas turbine engine and is attached to conventional metallic components. The nozzle guide vane assembly includes a pair of legs extending radially outwardly from an outer shroud and a pair of mounting legs extending radially inwardly from an inner shroud. Each of the pair of legs and mounting legs have a pair of holes therein. A plurality of members attached to the gas turbine engine have a plurality of bores therein which axially align with corresponding ones of the pair of holes in the legs. A plurality of pins are positioned within the corresponding holes and bores radially positioning the nozzle guide vane assembly about a central axis of the gas turbine engine. 3 figs.

G-Anchor: a novel approach for whole-genome comparative mapping utilizing evolutionary conserved DNA sequences.

PubMed

Lenis, Vasileios Panagiotis E; Swain, Martin; Larkin, Denis M

2018-05-01

Cross-species whole-genome sequence alignment is a critical first step for genome comparative analyses, ranging from the detection of sequence variants to studies of chromosome evolution. Animal genomes are large and complex, and whole-genome alignment is a computationally intense process, requiring expensive high-performance computing systems due to the need to explore extensive local alignments. With hundreds of sequenced animal genomes available from multiple projects, there is an increasing demand for genome comparative analyses. Here, we introduce G-Anchor, a new, fast, and efficient pipeline that uses a strictly limited but highly effective set of local sequence alignments to anchor (or map) an animal genome to another species' reference genome. G-Anchor makes novel use of a databank of highly conserved DNA sequence elements. We demonstrate how these elements may be aligned to a pair of genomes, creating anchors. These anchors enable the rapid mapping of scaffolds from a de novo assembled genome to chromosome assemblies of a reference species. Our results demonstrate that G-Anchor can successfully anchor a vertebrate genome onto a phylogenetically related reference species genome using a desktop or laptop computer within a few hours and with comparable accuracy to that achieved by a highly accurate whole-genome alignment tool such as LASTZ. G-Anchor thus makes whole-genome comparisons accessible to researchers with limited computational resources. G-Anchor is a ready-to-use tool for anchoring a pair of vertebrate genomes. It may be used with large genomes that contain a significant fraction of evolutionally conserved DNA sequences and that are not highly repetitive, polypoid, or excessively fragmented. G-Anchor is not a substitute for whole-genome aligning software but can be used for fast and accurate initial genome comparisons. G-Anchor is freely available and a ready-to-use tool for the pairwise comparison of two genomes.

Score distributions of gapped multiple sequence alignments down to the low-probability tail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fieth, Pascal; Hartmann, Alexander K.

2016-08-01

Assessing the significance of alignment scores of optimally aligned DNA or amino acid sequences can be achieved via the knowledge of the score distribution of random sequences. But this requires obtaining the distribution in the biologically relevant high-scoring region, where the probabilities are exponentially small. For gapless local alignments of infinitely long sequences this distribution is known analytically to follow a Gumbel distribution. Distributions for gapped local alignments and global alignments of finite lengths can only be obtained numerically. To obtain result for the small-probability region, specific statistical mechanics-based rare-event algorithms can be applied. In previous studies, this was achieved for pairwise alignments. They showed that, contrary to results from previous simple sampling studies, strong deviations from the Gumbel distribution occur in case of finite sequence lengths. Here we extend the studies to multiple sequence alignments with gaps, which are much more relevant for practical applications in molecular biology. We study the distributions of scores over a large range of the support, reaching probabilities as small as 10-160, for global and local (sum-of-pair scores) multiple alignments. We find that even after suitable rescaling, eliminating the sequence-length dependence, the distributions for multiple alignment differ from the pairwise alignment case. Furthermore, we also show that the previously discussed Gaussian correction to the Gumbel distribution needs to be refined, also for the case of pairwise alignments.

Alignments of Dark Matter Halos with Large-scale Tidal Fields: Mass and Redshift Dependence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Sijie; Wang, Huiyuan; Mo, H. J.; Shi, Jingjing

2016-07-01

Large-scale tidal fields estimated directly from the distribution of dark matter halos are used to investigate how halo shapes and spin vectors are aligned with the cosmic web. The major, intermediate, and minor axes of halos are aligned with the corresponding tidal axes, and halo spin axes tend to be parallel with the intermediate axes and perpendicular to the major axes of the tidal field. The strengths of these alignments generally increase with halo mass and redshift, but the dependence is only on the peak height, ν \\equiv {δ }{{c}}/σ ({M}{{h}},z). The scaling relations of the alignment strengths with the value of ν indicate that the alignment strengths remain roughly constant when the structures within which the halos reside are still in a quasi-linear regime, but decreases as nonlinear evolution becomes more important. We also calculate the alignments in projection so that our results can be compared directly with observations. Finally, we investigate the alignments of tidal tensors on large scales, and use the results to understand alignments of halo pairs separated at various distances. Our results suggest that the coherent structure of the tidal field is the underlying reason for the alignments of halos and galaxies seen in numerical simulations and in observations.

Exact calculation of distributions on integers, with application to sequence alignment.

PubMed

Newberg, Lee A; Lawrence, Charles E

2009-01-01

Computational biology is replete with high-dimensional discrete prediction and inference problems. Dynamic programming recursions can be applied to several of the most important of these, including sequence alignment, RNA secondary-structure prediction, phylogenetic inference, and motif finding. In these problems, attention is frequently focused on some scalar quantity of interest, a score, such as an alignment score or the free energy of an RNA secondary structure. In many cases, score is naturally defined on integers, such as a count of the number of pairing differences between two sequence alignments, or else an integer score has been adopted for computational reasons, such as in the test of significance of motif scores. The probability distribution of the score under an appropriate probabilistic model is of interest, such as in tests of significance of motif scores, or in calculation of Bayesian confidence limits around an alignment. Here we present three algorithms for calculating the exact distribution of a score of this type; then, in the context of pairwise local sequence alignments, we apply the approach so as to find the alignment score distribution and Bayesian confidence limits.

SATCHMO-JS: a webserver for simultaneous protein multiple sequence alignment and phylogenetic tree construction.

PubMed

Hagopian, Raffi; Davidson, John R; Datta, Ruchira S; Samad, Bushra; Jarvis, Glen R; Sjölander, Kimmen

2010-07-01

We present the jump-start simultaneous alignment and tree construction using hidden Markov models (SATCHMO-JS) web server for simultaneous estimation of protein multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) and phylogenetic trees. The server takes as input a set of sequences in FASTA format, and outputs a phylogenetic tree and MSA; these can be viewed online or downloaded from the website. SATCHMO-JS is an extension of the SATCHMO algorithm, and employs a divide-and-conquer strategy to jump-start SATCHMO at a higher point in the phylogenetic tree, reducing the computational complexity of the progressive all-versus-all HMM-HMM scoring and alignment. Results on a benchmark dataset of 983 structurally aligned pairs from the PREFAB benchmark dataset show that SATCHMO-JS provides a statistically significant improvement in alignment accuracy over MUSCLE, Multiple Alignment using Fast Fourier Transform (MAFFT), ClustalW and the original SATCHMO algorithm. The SATCHMO-JS webserver is available at http://phylogenomics.berkeley.edu/satchmo-js. The datasets used in these experiments are available for download at http://phylogenomics.berkeley.edu/satchmo-js/supplementary/.

Optical and x-ray alignment approaches for off-plane reflection gratings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allured, Ryan; Donovan, Benjamin D.; DeRoo, Casey T.; Marlowe, Hannah R.; McEntaffer, Randall L.; Tutt, James H.; Cheimets, Peter N.; Hertz, Edward; Smith, Randall K.; Burwitz, Vadim; Hartner, Gisela; Menz, Benedikt

2015-09-01

Off-plane reflection gratings offer the potential for high-resolution, high-throughput X-ray spectroscopy on future missions. Typically, the gratings are placed in the path of a converging beam from an X-ray telescope. In the off-plane reflection grating case, these gratings must be co-aligned such that their diffracted spectra overlap at the focal plane. Misalignments degrade spectral resolution and effective area. In-situ X-ray alignment of a pair of off-plane reflection gratings in the path of a silicon pore optics module has been performed at the MPE PANTER beamline in Germany. However, in-situ X-ray alignment may not be feasible when assembling all of the gratings required for a satellite mission. In that event, optical methods must be developed to achieve spectral alignment. We have developed an alignment approach utilizing a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and diffraction of an ultraviolet laser. We are fabricating the necessary hardware, and will be taking a prototype grating module to an X-ray beamline for performance testing following assembly and alignment.

Engineered plant biomass feedstock particles

DOEpatents

Dooley, James H [Federal Way, WA; Lanning, David N [Federal Way, WA; Broderick, Thomas F [Lake Forest Park, WA

2011-10-11

A novel class of flowable biomass feedstock particles with unusually large surface areas that can be manufactured in remarkably uniform sizes using low-energy comminution techniques. The feedstock particles are roughly parallelepiped in shape and characterized by a length dimension (L) aligned substantially with the grain direction and defining a substantially uniform distance along the grain, a width dimension (W) normal to L and aligned cross grain, and a height dimension (H) normal to W and L. The particles exhibit a disrupted grain structure with prominent end and surface checks that greatly enhances their skeletal surface area as compared to their envelope surface area. The L.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel side surfaces characterized by substantially intact longitudinally arrayed fibers. The W.times.H dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel end surfaces characterized by crosscut fibers and end checking between fibers. The L.times.W dimensions define a pair of substantially parallel top surfaces characterized by some surface checking between longitudinally arrayed fibers. The feedstock particles are manufactured from a variety of plant biomass materials including wood, crop residues, plantation grasses, hemp, bagasse, and bamboo.

Multi-port valve assembly

DOEpatents

Guggenheim, S. Frederic

1986-01-01

A multi-port fluid valve apparatus is used to control the flow of fluids through a plurality of valves and includes a web, which preferably is a stainless steel endless belt. The belt has an aperture therethrough and is progressed, under motor drive and control, so that its aperture is moved from one valve mechanism to another. Each of the valve mechanisms comprises a pair of valve blocks which are held in fluid-tight relationship against the belt. Each valve block consists of a block having a bore through which the fluid flows, a first seal surrounding the bore and a second seal surrounding the first seal, with the distance between the first and second seals being greater than the size of the belt aperture. In order to open a valve, the motor progresses the belt aperture to where it is aligned with the two bores of a pair of valve blocks, such alignment permitting a flow of the fluid through the valve. The valve is closed by movement of the belt aperture and its replacement, within the pair of valve blocks, by a solid portion of the belt.

Dense depth maps from correspondences derived from perceived motion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kirby, Richard; Whitaker, Ross

2017-01-01

Many computer vision applications require finding corresponding points between images and using the corresponding points to estimate disparity. Today's correspondence finding algorithms primarily use image features or pixel intensities common between image pairs. Some 3-D computer vision applications, however, do not produce the desired results using correspondences derived from image features or pixel intensities. Two examples are the multimodal camera rig and the center region of a coaxial camera rig. We present an image correspondence finding technique that aligns pairs of image sequences using optical flow fields. The optical flow fields provide information about the structure and motion of the scene, which are not available in still images but can be used in image alignment. We apply the technique to a dual focal length stereo camera rig consisting of a visible light-infrared camera pair and to a coaxial camera rig. We test our method on real image sequences and compare our results with the state-of-the-art multimodal and structure from motion (SfM) algorithms. Our method produces more accurate depth and scene velocity reconstruction estimates than the state-of-the-art multimodal and SfM algorithms.

Generation of field-aligned currents and Alfven waves by 3D magnetic reconnection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ma, Z.W.; Lee, L.C.; Otto, A.

1995-07-01

The authors have carried out a three-dimensional compressible MHD simulation to study the generation of field-aligned currents (FAC`s) and Alfven waves by magnetic reconnection for locally antiparallel magnetic fields across the current sheet. Reconnection is triggered by a localized resistivity. The results indicate that both FAC`s and Alfven waves are generated by the three-dimensional reconnection process. Two pairs of FAC`s are generated on each side of current sheet. The polarities of the resulting FAC pair in the leading bulge region are opposite to those of a FAC pair in the trailing quasi-steady region. It is further found that a largemore » portion of the FAC`s ({approximately}40%) is located in the closed field line region. They examine the Walen relation between FAC and parallel vorticity and find that Alfven waves are generated and propagate away from the reconnection site. They discuss the relevance of the results to the observed Region 1 FAC`s at noon. 15 refs., 4 figs.« less

CO-ORBITING PLANES OF SUB-HALOS ARE SIMILARLY UNLIKELY AROUND PAIRED AND ISOLATED HOSTS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pawlowski, Marcel S.; McGaugh, Stacy S., E-mail: marcel.pawlowski@case.edu

2014-07-01

Sub-halos in dark-matter-based cosmological simulations tend to be distributed approximately isotropically around their host. The existence of highly flattened, co-orbiting planes of satellite galaxies has therefore been identified as a possible problem for these cosmological models, but so far studies have not considered the hosts' environments. That satellite planes are now known around both major galaxies in the Local Group raises the question whether they are more likely to be found around paired hosts. In a first attempt to investigate this possibility, we focus on the flattening and orbital coherence of the 11 brightest satellite galaxies of the vast polarmore » structure (VPOS) around the Milky Way (MW). We search for VPOS analogs in the ''Exploring the Local Volume in Simulations'' suite of cosmological simulations, which consist of 24 paired and 24 isolated host halos. We do not find significant differences between the properties of sub-halo distributions around paired and isolated hosts. The observed flattening and the observed orbital alignment are each reproduced by only 0.2%-2% of paired and isolated systems incorporating the obscuration of satellites by randomly oriented galactic disks. Only 1 of all 4800 analyzed realizations (0.02%) reproduces both parameters simultaneously, but the average orbital pole of this sub-halo system does not align as well with the normal to the plane fit as observed. That the MW is part of a galaxy pair thus does not help to explain the existence of the VPOS if the satellite galaxies are identified with sub-halos found in dissipationless simulations.« less

Spin-orbit coupling in quasiparticle studies of topological insulators

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aguilera, Irene; Friedrich, Christoph; Blügel, Stefan

2013-10-01

We present one-shot GW calculations of the bulk electronic structure of the topological insulators Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 within the all-electron full-potential linearized augmented-plane-wave formalism. We compare three different ways of treating the spin-orbit interaction in calculating the quasiparticle energies: (i) The spin-orbit coupling (SOC) is already incorporated in the noninteracting system that serves as starting point for the quasiparticle correction. (ii) The SOC is added in a second-variation approach only after the quasiparticle calculation has been performed in the absence of SOC. We found that the approximate treatment (ii) yields most quasiparticle bands with reasonable accuracy but does fail in the important band-gap region, where the SOC gives rise to a band inversion relevant for the topological properties of these materials. For example, Bi2Se3 is just on the brink of becoming a trivial semiconductor within this approximate approach, while it maintains its topological properties in the case of the consistent treatment (i). Finally, we consider another approach (iii), in which the SOC is included in the Green function G as in (i), but neglected in the calculation of the screened Coulomb potential W. This approach gives results in very good agreement with the full treatment (i), but with a smaller numerical effort. We conclude that, in the high-symmetry directions studied, bulk Bi2Se3 is a direct-gap and Bi2Te3 an indirect-gap semiconductor with band gaps of 0.20 and 0.19 eV, respectively.

Modeling the evolution of regulatory elements by simultaneous detection and alignment with phylogenetic pair HMMs.

PubMed

Majoros, William H; Ohler, Uwe

2010-12-16

The computational detection of regulatory elements in DNA is a difficult but important problem impacting our progress in understanding the complex nature of eukaryotic gene regulation. Attempts to utilize cross-species conservation for this task have been hampered both by evolutionary changes of functional sites and poor performance of general-purpose alignment programs when applied to non-coding sequence. We describe a new and flexible framework for modeling binding site evolution in multiple related genomes, based on phylogenetic pair hidden Markov models which explicitly model the gain and loss of binding sites along a phylogeny. We demonstrate the value of this framework for both the alignment of regulatory regions and the inference of precise binding-site locations within those regions. As the underlying formalism is a stochastic, generative model, it can also be used to simulate the evolution of regulatory elements. Our implementation is scalable in terms of numbers of species and sequence lengths and can produce alignments and binding-site predictions with accuracy rivaling or exceeding current systems that specialize in only alignment or only binding-site prediction. We demonstrate the validity and power of various model components on extensive simulations of realistic sequence data and apply a specific model to study Drosophila enhancers in as many as ten related genomes and in the presence of gain and loss of binding sites. Different models and modeling assumptions can be easily specified, thus providing an invaluable tool for the exploration of biological hypotheses that can drive improvements in our understanding of the mechanisms and evolution of gene regulation.

Functional annotation by sequence-weighted structure alignments: statistical analysis and case studies from the Protein 3000 structural genomics project in Japan.

PubMed

Standley, Daron M; Toh, Hiroyuki; Nakamura, Haruki

2008-09-01

A method to functionally annotate structural genomics targets, based on a novel structural alignment scoring function, is proposed. In the proposed score, position-specific scoring matrices are used to weight structurally aligned residue pairs to highlight evolutionarily conserved motifs. The functional form of the score is first optimized for discriminating domains belonging to the same Pfam family from domains belonging to different families but the same CATH or SCOP superfamily. In the optimization stage, we consider four standard weighting functions as well as our own, the "maximum substitution probability," and combinations of these functions. The optimized score achieves an area of 0.87 under the receiver-operating characteristic curve with respect to identifying Pfam families within a sequence-unique benchmark set of domain pairs. Confidence measures are then derived from the benchmark distribution of true-positive scores. The alignment method is next applied to the task of functionally annotating 230 query proteins released to the public as part of the Protein 3000 structural genomics project in Japan. Of these queries, 78 were found to align to templates with the same Pfam family as the query or had sequence identities > or = 30%. Another 49 queries were found to match more distantly related templates. Within this group, the template predicted by our method to be the closest functional relative was often not the most structurally similar. Several nontrivial cases are discussed in detail. Finally, 103 queries matched templates at the fold level, but not the family or superfamily level, and remain functionally uncharacterized. 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Switchable radioactive neutron source device

DOEpatents

Stanford, G.S.; Rhodes, E.A.; Devolpi, A.; Boyar, R.E.

1987-11-06

This invention is a switchable neutron generating apparatus comprised of a pair of plates, the first plate having an alpha emitter section on it and the second plate having a target material portion on it which generates neutrons when its nuclei absorb an alpha particle. In operation, the alpha portion of the first plate is aligned with the neutron portion of the second plate to produce neutrons and brought out of alignment to cease production of neutrons. 3 figs.

Apparatus for diffusion controlled dialysis under microgravity conditions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carter, Daniel C. (Inventor)

1995-01-01

Apparatus for implementing crystal growth by allowing mixing of solutions under microgravity conditions includes a housing within which a number of pairs of chambers are formed. The chambers of each pair are aligned and a rotary valve is positioned between the chambers of each pair. When the valve is in a first position one chamber of each pair may communicate with the other chamber. A separate valve is provided for each pair of chambers so that each pair of chambers may be activated independently of the others and sequentially at selected intervals. Protein solution may be located within a small cavity in a cap which closes one of the chambers of a pair, and the cavity in the cap is closed by a dialysis membrane. The length of certain pairs of chambers may differ from the length of other pairs of chambers to optimize conditions for various dialysis productions, and wicking material may be incorporated into selected chambers for controlling the critical approach to supersaturation.

Hotspot relaxation dynamics in a current-carrying superconductor

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Marsili, F.; Stevens, M. J.; Kozorezov, A.; Verma, V. B.; Lambert, Colin; Stern, J. A.; Horansky, R. D.; Dyer, S.; Duff, S.; Pappas, D. P.; Lita, A. E.; Shaw, M. D.; Mirin, R. P.; Nam, S. W.

2016-03-01

We experimentally studied the dynamics of optically excited hotspots in current-carrying WSi superconducting nanowires as a function of bias current, bath temperature, and excitation wavelength. We observed that the hotspot relaxation time depends on bias current, temperature, and wavelength. We explained this effect with a model based on quasiparticle recombination, which provides insight into the quasiparticle dynamics of superconductors.

Theoretical Studies of Light Scattering from Solids, Films and Surfaces

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-05-18

Quasiparticles for a quantum dot array in graphene and associated magnetoplasmons…………………………………………………………11...2DEG between a source and drain. 2.2.1 Quasiparticles for a quantum dot array in graphene and the associated magnetoplasmons We calculated the low

Distinct evolutions of Weyl fermion quasiparticles and Fermi arcs with bulk band topology in Weyl semimetals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Nan; Autes, Gabriel; Matt, Christian; Lv, Baiqing; Bisti, Federico; Strocov, Vladimir; Gawryluk, Dariusz; Pomjakushina, Ekaterina; Conder, Kazimierz; Plumb, Nicholas; Radovic, Milan; Qian, Tian; Yazyev, Oleg; Mesot, Joel; Ding, Hong; Shi, Ming

By performing ARPES and first-principle calculations, we demonstrate that Weyl fermions quasiparticles in bulk and Fermi arc on surface show distinct evolutions with the bulk band topology in transition-metal monophosphides. While Weyl fermion quasiparticles exist only when the chemical potential is located between two saddle points of the Weyl cone features, the Fermi arc states extend in a larger energy scale and are robust across the bulk Lifshitz transitions associated with the recombination of two non-trivial Fermi surfaces enclosing one Weyl point into a single trivial Fermi surface enclosing two Weyl points of opposite chirality. Therefore, in some systems (NbP), Fermi arc states are preserved even if Weyl fermion quasiparticles are absent in the bulk. Our findings not only provide insight into the relationship between the exotic physical phenomena and the intrinsic bulk band topology in Weyl semimetals, but also resolve the apparent puzzle of the different magneto-transport properties observed in TaAs, TaP and NbP, where the Fermi arc states are similar. The Sino-Swiss Science and Technology Cooperation (No. IZLCZ2138954), NCCR-MARVEL funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Accurate Determination of the Quasiparticle and Scaling Properties Surrounding the Quantum Critical Point of Disordered Three-Dimensional Dirac Semimetals.

PubMed

Fu, Bo; Zhu, Wei; Shi, Qinwei; Li, Qunxiang; Yang, Jinlong; Zhang, Zhenyu

2017-04-07

Exploiting the enabling power of the Lanczos method in momentum space, we determine accurately the quasiparticle and scaling properties of disordered three-dimensional Dirac semimetals surrounding the quantum critical point separating the semimetal and diffusive metal regimes. We unveil that the imaginary part of the quasiparticle self-energy obeys a common power law before, at, and after the quantum phase transition, but the power law is nonuniversal, whose exponent is dependent on the disorder strength. More intriguingly, whereas a common power law is also found for the real part of the self-energy before and after the phase transition, a distinctly different behavior is identified at the critical point, characterized by the existence of a nonanalytic logarithmic singularity. This nonanalytical correction serves as the very basis for the unusual power-law behaviors of the quasiparticles and many other physical properties surrounding the quantum critical point. Our approach also allows the ready and reliable determination of the scaling properties of the correlation length and dynamical exponents. We further show that the central findings are valid for both uncorrelated and correlated disorder distributions and should be directly comparable with future experimental observations.

Accurate Determination of the Quasiparticle and Scaling Properties Surrounding the Quantum Critical Point of Disordered Three-dimensional Dirac Semimetals

DOE PAGES

Fu, Bo; Zhu, Wei; Shi, Qinwei; ...

2017-04-03

Exploiting the enabling power of the Lanczos method in momentum space, we determine accurately the quasiparticle and scaling properties of disordered three-dimensional Dirac semimetals surrounding the quantum critical point separating the semimetal and diffusive metal regimes. We unveil that the imaginary part of the quasiparticle self-energy obeys a common power law before, at, and after the quantum phase transition, but the power law is nonuniversal, whose exponent is dependent on the disorder strength. More intriguingly, whereas a common power law is also found for the real part of the self-energy before and after the phase transition, a distinctly different behaviormore » is identified at the critical point, characterized by the existence of a nonanalytic logarithmic singularity. This nonanalytical correction serves as the very basis for the unusual power-law behaviors of the quasiparticles and many other physical properties surrounding the quantum critical point. Our approach also allows the ready and reliable determination of the scaling properties of the correlation length and dynamical exponents. Furthermore, we show that the central findings are valid for both uncorrelated and correlated disorder distributions and should be directly comparable with future experimental observations.« less

Origin of intrinsic Josephson coupling in the cuprates and its relation to order parameter symmetry: An incoherent hopping model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Radtke, R. J.; Levin, K.

1995-02-01

Experiments on the cuprate superconductors demonstrate that these materials may be viewed as a stack of Josephson junctions along the direction normal to the CuO 2 planes (the c-axis). In this paper, we present a model which describes this intrinsic Josephson coupling in terms of incherent quasiparticle hopping along the c-axis arising from wave-function overlap, impurity-assisted hopping, and boson-assised hopping. We use this model to compute the magnitude and temperature T dependence of the resulting Josephson critical current jc( T) for s- and d-wave superconductors. Contrary to other approaches, d-wave pairing in this model is compatible with an intrinsic Josephson effect at all hole concentrations and leads to jc( T) αT at low T. By parameterizing our theory with c-axis resistivity data from YBa 2Cu 3O 7-δ (YBCO), we estimate jc( T) for optimally doped and underdoped members of this family. jc( T) can be measured either directly or indirectly through microwave penetration depth experiments, and current measurements on Bi 2Sr 2CaCu 2O 8 and La 2- xSr xCuO 4 are found to be consistent with s-wave pairing and the dominance of assisted hopping processes. The situation in YBCO is still unclear, but our estimates suggest that further experiments on this compound would be of great help in elucidating the validity of our model in general and the pairing symmetry in particular.

Quasiparticle spectra from molecules to bulk

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vlček, Vojtěch; Rabani, Eran; Neuhauser, Daniel

We present a stochastic cumulant GW method, allowing us to map the evolution of photoemission spectra, quasiparticle energies, lifetimes, and emergence of collective excitations from molecules to bulklike systems with up to thousands of valence electrons, including Si nanocrystals and nanoplatelets. The quasiparticle energies rise due to their coupling with collective shake-up (plasmon) excitations, and this coupling leads to significant spectral weight loss (up to 50% for the low-energy states), shortening the lifetimes and shifting the spectral features to lower energies by as much as 0.6 eV. Such features are common to all the systems studied irrespective of their sizesmore » and shapes. For small and low-dimensional systems the surface plasmon resonances affect the frequency of the collective excitation and position of the satellites.« less

Quasiparticle spin resonance and coherence in superconducting aluminium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quay, C. H. L.; Weideneder, M.; Chiffaudel, Y.; Strunk, C.; Aprili, M.

2015-10-01

Conventional superconductors were long thought to be spin inert; however, there is now increasing interest in both (the manipulation of) the internal spin structure of the ground-state condensate, as well as recently observed long-lived, spin-polarized excitations (quasiparticles). We demonstrate spin resonance in the quasiparticle population of a mesoscopic superconductor (aluminium) using novel on-chip microwave detection techniques. The spin decoherence time obtained (~100 ps), and its dependence on the sample thickness are consistent with Elliott-Yafet spin-orbit scattering as the main decoherence mechanism. The striking divergence between the spin coherence time and the previously measured spin imbalance relaxation time (~10 ns) suggests that the latter is limited instead by inelastic processes. This work stakes out new ground for the nascent field of spin-based electronics with superconductors or superconducting spintronics.

Quasiparticle spectra from molecules to bulk

DOE PAGES

Vlček, Vojtěch; Rabani, Eran; Neuhauser, Daniel

2018-03-16

We present a stochastic cumulant GW method, allowing us to map the evolution of photoemission spectra, quasiparticle energies, lifetimes, and emergence of collective excitations from molecules to bulklike systems with up to thousands of valence electrons, including Si nanocrystals and nanoplatelets. The quasiparticle energies rise due to their coupling with collective shake-up (plasmon) excitations, and this coupling leads to significant spectral weight loss (up to 50% for the low-energy states), shortening the lifetimes and shifting the spectral features to lower energies by as much as 0.6 eV. Such features are common to all the systems studied irrespective of their sizesmore » and shapes. For small and low-dimensional systems the surface plasmon resonances affect the frequency of the collective excitation and position of the satellites.« less

Projected quasiparticle theory for molecular electronic structure

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Scuseria, Gustavo E.; Jiménez-Hoyos, Carlos A.; Henderson, Thomas M.; Samanta, Kousik; Ellis, Jason K.

2011-09-01

We derive and implement symmetry-projected Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB) equations and apply them to the molecular electronic structure problem. All symmetries (particle number, spin, spatial, and complex conjugation) are deliberately broken and restored in a self-consistent variation-after-projection approach. We show that the resulting method yields a comprehensive black-box treatment of static correlations with effective one-electron (mean-field) computational cost. The ensuing wave function is of multireference character and permeates the entire Hilbert space of the problem. The energy expression is different from regular HFB theory but remains a functional of an independent quasiparticle density matrix. All reduced density matrices are expressible as an integration of transition density matrices over a gauge grid. We present several proof-of-principle examples demonstrating the compelling power of projected quasiparticle theory for quantum chemistry.

Large thermopower from dressed quasiparticles in the layered cobaltates and rhodates

DOE PAGES

Chen, Su-Di; He, Yu; Zong, Alfred; ...

2017-08-15

The origin of the large thermopower in Na x CoO 2 is complicated by correlation phenomena. To disentangle the effects from multiple interactions, we use angle-resolved photoemission to study K x RhO 2, an isostructural analogy of Na xCoO 2 with large thermopower and weak electron correlation. In using the experimentally measured electronic structure, we demonstrate that the thermopower in K xRhO 2 can be quantitatively explained within the quasiparticle framework after including an electron-phonon mass enhancement effect. Extending the analysis to the cobaltate, we find the doubling in thermopower is well accounted for by additional band renormalization frommore » electron correlation. Thus, the large thermopower emerges from the itinerant quasiparticles dressed by hierarchical electron-phonon and electron-electron interactions.« less

Zn-VI quasiparticle gaps and optical spectra from many-body calculations.

PubMed

Riefer, A; Weber, N; Mund, J; Yakovlev, D R; Bayer, M; Schindlmayr, Arno; Meier, C; Schmidt, W G

2017-06-01

The electronic band structures of hexagonal ZnO and cubic ZnS, ZnSe, and ZnTe compounds are determined within hybrid-density-functional theory and quasiparticle calculations. It is found that the band-edge energies calculated on the [Formula: see text] (Zn chalcogenides) or GW (ZnO) level of theory agree well with experiment, while fully self-consistent QSGW calculations are required for the correct description of the Zn 3d bands. The quasiparticle band structures are used to calculate the linear response and second-harmonic-generation (SHG) spectra of the Zn-VI compounds. Excitonic effects in the optical absorption are accounted for within the Bethe-Salpeter approach. The calculated spectra are discussed in the context of previous experimental data and present SHG measurements for ZnO.

Suppressing relaxation in superconducting qubits by quasiparticle pumping.

PubMed

Gustavsson, Simon; Yan, Fei; Catelani, Gianluigi; Bylander, Jonas; Kamal, Archana; Birenbaum, Jeffrey; Hover, David; Rosenberg, Danna; Samach, Gabriel; Sears, Adam P; Weber, Steven J; Yoder, Jonilyn L; Clarke, John; Kerman, Andrew J; Yoshihara, Fumiki; Nakamura, Yasunobu; Orlando, Terry P; Oliver, William D

2016-12-23

Dynamical error suppression techniques are commonly used to improve coherence in quantum systems. They reduce dephasing errors by applying control pulses designed to reverse erroneous coherent evolution driven by environmental noise. However, such methods cannot correct for irreversible processes such as energy relaxation. We investigate a complementary, stochastic approach to reducing errors: Instead of deterministically reversing the unwanted qubit evolution, we use control pulses to shape the noise environment dynamically. In the context of superconducting qubits, we implement a pumping sequence to reduce the number of unpaired electrons (quasiparticles) in close proximity to the device. A 70% reduction in the quasiparticle density results in a threefold enhancement in qubit relaxation times and a comparable reduction in coherence variability. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

SSR_pipeline--computer software for the identification of microsatellite sequences from paired-end Illumina high-throughput DNA sequence data

USGS Publications Warehouse

Miller, Mark P.; Knaus, Brian J.; Mullins, Thomas D.; Haig, Susan M.

2013-01-01

SSR_pipeline is a flexible set of programs designed to efficiently identify simple sequence repeats (SSRs; for example, microsatellites) from paired-end high-throughput Illumina DNA sequencing data. The program suite contains three analysis modules along with a fourth control module that can be used to automate analyses of large volumes of data. The modules are used to (1) identify the subset of paired-end sequences that pass quality standards, (2) align paired-end reads into a single composite DNA sequence, and (3) identify sequences that possess microsatellites conforming to user specified parameters. Each of the three separate analysis modules also can be used independently to provide greater flexibility or to work with FASTQ or FASTA files generated from other sequencing platforms (Roche 454, Ion Torrent, etc). All modules are implemented in the Python programming language and can therefore be used from nearly any computer operating system (Linux, Macintosh, Windows). The program suite relies on a compiled Python extension module to perform paired-end alignments. Instructions for compiling the extension from source code are provided in the documentation. Users who do not have Python installed on their computers or who do not have the ability to compile software also may choose to download packaged executable files. These files include all Python scripts, a copy of the compiled extension module, and a minimal installation of Python in a single binary executable. See program documentation for more information.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gyenis, András; Inoue, Hiroyuki; Jeon, Sangjun

Following the intense studies on topological insulators, significant efforts have recently been devoted to the search for gapless topological systems. These materials not only broaden the topological classification of matter but also provide a condensed matter realization of various relativistic particles and phenomena previously discussed mainly in high energy physics. Weyl semimetals host massless, chiral, low-energy excitations in the bulk electronic band structure, whereas a symmetry protected pair of Weyl fermions gives rise to massless Dirac fermions.Weemployed scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy to explore the behavior of electronic states both on the surface and in the bulk of topological semimetal phases. Bymore » mapping the quasiparticle interference (QPI) and emerging Landau levels at high magnetic field in Dirac semimetals Cd 3As 2 and Na 3Bi, we observed extended Dirac-like bulk electronic bands. QPI imaged on Weyl semimetal TaAs demonstrated the predicted momentum dependent delocalization of Fermi arc surface states in the vicinity of the surface projected Weyl nodes.« less

Extracting entangled qubits from Majorana fermions in quantum dot chains through the measurement of parity

PubMed Central

Dai, Li; Kuo, Watson; Chung, Ming-Chiang

2015-01-01

We propose a scheme for extracting entangled charge qubits from quantum-dot chains that support zero-energy edge modes. The edge mode is composed of Majorana fermions localized at the ends of each chain. The qubit, logically encoded in double quantum dots, can be manipulated through tunneling and pairing interactions between them. The detailed form of the entangled state depends on both the parity measurement (an even or odd number) of the boundary-site electrons in each chain and the teleportation between the chains. The parity measurement is realized through the dispersive coupling of coherent-state microwave photons to the boundary sites, while the teleportation is performed via Bell measurements. Our scheme illustrates localizable entanglement in a fermionic system, which serves feasibly as a quantum repeater under realistic experimental conditions, as it allows for finite temperature effect and is robust against disorders, decoherence and quasi-particle poisoning. PMID:26062033

Disorder-induced topological phase transitions in two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled superconductors

PubMed Central

Qin, Wei; Xiao, Di; Chang, Kai; Shen, Shun-Qing; Zhang, Zhenyu

2016-01-01

Normal superconductors with Rashba spin-orbit coupling have been explored as candidate systems of topological superconductors. Here we present a comparative theoretical study of the effects of different types of disorder on the topological phases of two-dimensional Rashba spin-orbit coupled superconductors. First, we show that a topologically trivial superconductor can be driven into a chiral topological superconductor upon diluted doping of isolated magnetic disorder, which close and reopen the quasiparticle gap of the paired electrons in a nontrivial manner. Secondly, the superconducting nature of a topological superconductor is found to be robust against Anderson disorder, but the topological nature is not, converting the system into a topologically trivial state even in the weak scattering limit. These topological phase transitions are distinctly characterized by variations in the topological invariant. We discuss the central findings in connection with existing experiments, and provide new schemes towards eventual realization of topological superconductors. PMID:27991541

Nonequilibrium theory of tunneling into a localized state in a superconductor

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Martin, Ivar; Mozyrsky, Dmitry

2014-09-01

A single static magnetic impurity in a fully gapped superconductor leads to the formation of an intragap quasiparticle bound state. At temperatures much below the superconducting transition, the energy relaxation and spin dephasing of the state are expected to be exponentially suppressed. The presence of such a state can be detected in electron tunneling experiments as a pair of conductance peaks at positive and negative biases. Here we show that, for an arbitrarily weak tunneling strength, the peaks have to be symmetric with respect to the applied bias. This is in contrast to the standard result in which the tunnelingmore » conductance is proportional to the local (in general, particle-hole asymmetric) density of states. The asymmetry can be recovered if one allows for either a finite density of impurity states, or if impurities are coupled to another, nonsuperconducting, equilibrium bath.« less

In-beam γ -ray spectroscopy studies of medium-spin states in the odd-odd nucleus Re 186

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Matters, D. A.; Kondev, F. G.; Aoi, N.

2017-07-01

Excited states in 186Re with spins up to J = 12~ were investigated in two separate experiments using 186W(d, 2n) reactions at beam energies of 12.5 MeV and 14.5 MeV. Two- and three-fold γ-ray coincidence data were collected using the CAESAR and CAGRA spectrometers, respectively, each composed of Compton-suppressed HpGe detectors. Analysis of the data revealed rotational bands built on several two-quasiparticle intrinsic states, including a long-lived Kπ = (8+) isomer. Configuration assignments were supported by an analysis of in-band properties, such as |gK - gR| values. The excitation energies of the observed intrinsic states were compared with results frommore » multiquasiparticle blocking calculations, based on the Lipkin-Nogami pairing approach, that included contributions from the residual proton-neutron interactions.« less

Disorder-induced topological phase transitions in two-dimensional spin-orbit coupled superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qin, Wei; Xiao, Di; Chang, Kai; Shen, Shun-Qing; Zhang, Zhenyu

2016-12-01

Normal superconductors with Rashba spin-orbit coupling have been explored as candidate systems of topological superconductors. Here we present a comparative theoretical study of the effects of different types of disorder on the topological phases of two-dimensional Rashba spin-orbit coupled superconductors. First, we show that a topologically trivial superconductor can be driven into a chiral topological superconductor upon diluted doping of isolated magnetic disorder, which close and reopen the quasiparticle gap of the paired electrons in a nontrivial manner. Secondly, the superconducting nature of a topological superconductor is found to be robust against Anderson disorder, but the topological nature is not, converting the system into a topologically trivial state even in the weak scattering limit. These topological phase transitions are distinctly characterized by variations in the topological invariant. We discuss the central findings in connection with existing experiments, and provide new schemes towards eventual realization of topological superconductors.

Quantum-statistical theory of microwave detection using superconducting tunnel junctions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deviatov, I. A.; Kuzmin, L. S.; Likharev, K. K.; Migulin, V. V.; Zorin, A. B.

1986-09-01

A quantum-statistical theory of microwave and millimeter-wave detection using superconducting tunnel junctions is developed, with a rigorous account of quantum, thermal, and shot noise arising from fluctuation sources associated with the junctions, signal source, and matching circuits. The problem of the noise characterization in the quantum sensitivity range is considered and a general noise parameter Theta(N) is introduced. This parameter is shown to be an adequate figure of merit for most receivers of interest while some devices can require a more complex characterization. Analytical expressions and/or numerically calculated plots for Theta(N) are presented for the most promising detection modes including the parametric amplification, heterodyne mixing, and quadratic videodetection, using both the quasiparticle-current and the Cooper-pair-current nonlinearities. Ultimate minimum values of Theta(N) for each detection mode are compared and found to be in agreement with limitations imposed by the quantum-mechanical uncertainty principle.

Mixed-pairing superconductivity in 5 d Mott insulators with antisymmetric exchange: Application to Sr2IrO4

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zare, Mohammad-Hossein; Biderang, Mehdi; Akbari, Alireza

2017-11-01

We study the symmetry of the potential superconducting order parameter in 5 d Mott insulators with an eye toward hole-doped Sr2IrO4 . Using a mean-field method, a mixed singlet-triplet superconductivity, d +p , is observed due to the antisymmetric exchange originating from a quasi-spin-orbit coupling. Our calculation on ribbon geometry shows the possible existence of the topologically protected edge states, because of the nodal structure of the superconducting gap. These edge modes are spin polarized and emerge as zero-energy flat bands, supporting a symmetry-protected Majorana state, verified by evaluation of the winding number and Z2 topological invariant. At the end, a possible experimental approach for observation of these edge states and determination of the superconducting gap symmetry is discussed based on the quasiparticle interference technique.

Ultrafast studies of coexisting electronic order in cuprate superconductors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hinton, James; Thewalt, Eric; Alpichshev, Zhanybek; Sternbach, Aaron; McLeod, Alex; Ji, L.; Veit, Mike; Dorrow, Chelsey; Koralek, Jake; Xhao, Xudong; Barisic, Neven; Kemper, Alexander; Gedik, Nuh; Greven, Martin; Basov, Dimitri; Orenstein, Joe

The cuprate family of high temperature superconductors displays a variety of electronic phases which emerge when charge carriers are added to the antiferromagnetic parent compound. These electronic phases are characterized by subtle differences in the low energy electronic excitations. Ultrafast time-resolved reflectivity (TRR) provides an ideal tool for investigating the cuprate phase diagram, as small changes in the electronic structure can produce significant contrast in the non-equilibrium reflectivity. Here we present TRR measurements of cuprate superconductors, focusing on the model single-layer cuprate HgBa2CuO4+δ. We observe a cusp-like feature in the quasiparticle lifetime near the superconducting transition temperature Tc. This feature can be understood using a model of coherently-mixed charge-density wave and superconducting pairing. We propose extending this technique to the nanoscale using ultrafast scattering scanning near-field microscopy (u-SNOM). This will allow us to explore how these electronic phases coexist and compete in real-space.

Nuclear quantum shape-phase transitions in odd-mass systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Quan, S.; Li, Z. P.; Vretenar, D.; Meng, J.

2018-03-01

Microscopic signatures of nuclear ground-state shape-phase transitions in odd-mass Eu isotopes are explored starting from excitation spectra and collective wave functions obtained by diagonalization of a core-quasiparticle coupling Hamiltonian based on energy density functionals. As functions of the physical control parameter—the number of nucleons—theoretical low-energy spectra, two-neutron separation energies, charge isotope shifts, spectroscopic quadrupole moments, and E 2 reduced transition matrix elements accurately reproduce available data and exhibit more-pronounced discontinuities at neutron number N =90 compared with the adjacent even-even Sm and Gd isotopes. The enhancement of the first-order quantum phase transition in odd-mass systems can be attributed to a shape polarization effect of the unpaired proton which, at the critical neutron number, starts predominantly coupling to Gd core nuclei that are characterized by larger quadrupole deformation and weaker proton pairing correlations compared with the corresponding Sm isotopes.

Topological gapped edge states in fractional quantum Hall-superconductor heterostructures

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cook, Ashley; Repellin, Cécile; Regnault, Nicolas; Neupert, Titus

We propose and implement a numerical setup for studying edge states of fractional quantum Hall droplets with a superconducting instability. We focus on a time-reversal symmetric bilayer fractional quantum Hall system of Laughlin ν = 1 / 3 states. The fully gapped edges carry a topological parafermionic degree of freedom that can encode quantum information protected against local perturbations. We numerically simulate such a system using exact diagonalization by restricting the calculation to the Laughlin quasihole subspace. We study the quantization of the total charge on each edge and show that the ground states are permuted by spin flux insertion and the parafermionic Josephson effect, evidencing their topological nature and the Cooper pairing of fractionalized quasiparticles. The full affiliation for Author 3 is: Laboratoire Pierre Aigrain, Ecole Normale Supérieure-PSL Research University, CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie-Sorbonne Universités, Université Paris Diderot-Sorbonne Paris Cité, 24 rue Lhomond, 75231 Paris.

Radiographic assessment of knee-ankle alignment after total knee arthroplasty for varus and valgus knee osteoarthritis.

PubMed

Gao, Fuqiang; Ma, Jinhui; Sun, Wei; Guo, Wanshou; Li, Zirong; Wang, Weiguo

2017-01-01

There are unanswered questions about knee-ankle alignment after total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for varus and valgus osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee. The aim of this retrospective study was to assess knee-ankle alignment after TKA. The study consisted of 149 patients who had undergone TKA due to varus and valgus knee OA. The alignment and angles in the selected knees and ankles were measured on full-length standing anteroposterior radiographs, both pre-operatively and post-operatively. The paired t-test and Pearson's correlation tests were used for statistical analysis. The results showed that ankle alignment correlated with knee alignment both pre-operatively and postoperatively (P<0.05). The pre-operative malalignment of the knee was corrected (P<0.05), and the ankle tilt angle was accordingly improved in the operative side after TKA (P<0.05). In addition, TKA had little effect on knee-ankle alignment on the non-operative side (P>0.05). These findings indicated that routine TKA could correct the varus or valgus deformity of a knee, and improve the tilt of the ankle. Ankle alignment correlated with knee alignment both pre-operatively and postoperatively. Both pre-operative knee and ankle malalignment can be simultaneously corrected following TKA. Level III. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Laser-driven clockwise molecular rotation for a transient spinning waveplate.

PubMed

York, Andrew G

2009-08-03

Our simulations show a copropagating pair of laser pulses polarized in two different directions can selectively excite clockwise or counterclockwise molecular rotation in a gas of linear molecules. The resulting birefringence of the gas rotates on a femtosecond timescale and shows a periodic revival structure. The total duration of the pulse pair can be subpicosecond, allowing molecular alignment at the high densities and temperatures necessary to create a transient spinning waveplate.

Determination of preferred parameters for multichannel compression using individually fitted simulated hearing AIDS and paired comparisons.

PubMed

Moore, Brian C J; Füllgrabe, Christian; Stone, Michael A

2011-01-01

To determine preferred parameters of multichannel compression using individually fitted simulated hearing aids and a method of paired comparisons. Fourteen participants with mild to moderate hearing loss listened via a simulated five-channel compression hearing aid fitted using the CAMEQ2-HF method to pairs of speech sounds (a male talker and a female talker) and musical sounds (a percussion instrument, orchestral classical music, and a jazz trio) presented sequentially and indicated which sound of the pair was preferred and by how much. The sounds in each pair were derived from the same token and differed along a single dimension in the type of processing applied. For the speech sounds, participants judged either pleasantness or clarity; in the latter case, the speech was presented in noise at a 2-dB signal-to-noise ratio. For musical sounds, they judged pleasantness. The parameters explored were time delay of the audio signal relative to the gain control signal (the alignment delay), compression speed (attack and release times), bandwidth (5, 7.5, or 10 kHz), and gain at high frequencies relative to that prescribed by CAMEQ2-HF. Pleasantness increased with increasing alignment delay only for the percussive musical sound. Clarity was not affected by alignment delay. There was a trend for pleasantness to decrease slightly with increasing bandwidth, but this was significant only for female speech with fast compression. Judged clarity was significantly higher for the 7.5- and 10-kHz bandwidths than for the 5-kHz bandwidth for both slow and fast compression and for both talker genders. Compression speed had little effect on pleasantness for 50- or 65-dB SPL input levels, but slow compression was generally judged as slightly more pleasant than fast compression for an 80-dB SPL input level. Clarity was higher for slow than for fast compression for input levels of 80 and 65 dB SPL but not for a level of 50 dB SPL. Preferences for pleasantness were approximately equal with CAMEQ2-HF gains and with gains slightly reduced at high frequencies and were lower when gains were slightly increased at high frequencies. Speech clarity was not affected by changing the gain at high frequencies. Effects of alignment delay were small except for the percussive sound. A wider bandwidth was slightly preferred for speech clarity. Speech clarity was slightly greater with slow compression, especially at high levels. Preferred high-frequency gains were close to or a little below those prescribed by CAMEQ2-HF.

Advanced Space-Based Detectors

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-07-17

to surface-plasmon- polariton interactions on nanopatterned metal surfaces. A plasmon is the quasiparticle resulting from the quantization of plasma...excited by an optical field, a polariton is the result. Polaritons are quasiparticles resulting from a strong coupling of EM waves with an electric...dipole-carrying excitation. Thus, a polariton is the result of the mixing of a photon with an excitation of a material. Phonon- polaritons result from

Pairagon: a highly accurate, HMM-based cDNA-to-genome aligner.

PubMed

Lu, David V; Brown, Randall H; Arumugam, Manimozhiyan; Brent, Michael R

2009-07-01

The most accurate way to determine the intron-exon structures in a genome is to align spliced cDNA sequences to the genome. Thus, cDNA-to-genome alignment programs are a key component of most annotation pipelines. The scoring system used to choose the best alignment is a primary determinant of alignment accuracy, while heuristics that prevent consideration of certain alignments are a primary determinant of runtime and memory usage. Both accuracy and speed are important considerations in choosing an alignment algorithm, but scoring systems have received much less attention than heuristics. We present Pairagon, a pair hidden Markov model based cDNA-to-genome alignment program, as the most accurate aligner for sequences with high- and low-identity levels. We conducted a series of experiments testing alignment accuracy with varying sequence identity. We first created 'perfect' simulated cDNA sequences by splicing the sequences of exons in the reference genome sequences of fly and human. The complete reference genome sequences were then mutated to various degrees using a realistic mutation simulator and the perfect cDNAs were aligned to them using Pairagon and 12 other aligners. To validate these results with natural sequences, we performed cross-species alignment using orthologous transcripts from human, mouse and rat. We found that aligner accuracy is heavily dependent on sequence identity. For sequences with 100% identity, Pairagon achieved accuracy levels of >99.6%, with one quarter of the errors of any other aligner. Furthermore, for human/mouse alignments, which are only 85% identical, Pairagon achieved 87% accuracy, higher than any other aligner. Pairagon source and executables are freely available at http://mblab.wustl.edu/software/pairagon/