Atomic Fermi gas in the trimerized Kagom\'e lattice at the filling 2/3

We study low temperature properties of an atomic spinless interacting Fermi gas in the trimerized Kagom\'e lattice for the case of two fermions per trimer. The system is described by a quantum spin 1/2 model on the triangular lattice with couplings depending on bonds directions. Using exact diagonalizations we show that the system exhibits non-standard properties of a {\it quantum spin-liquid crystal}, combining a planar antiferromagnetic order with an exceptionally large number of low energy excitations.Comment: 4 pages & 4 figures + 2 tables, better version of Fig.

Comparison of Saturated Hydraulic Conductivity Measurement Methods for a Glacial-Till Soil

Hydraulic conductivity is the single most important hydraulic parameter for flow and transport-related phenomena in soil, but the results from different measuring methods vary under different field conditions. To evaluate the performance of four in situ saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) measuring methods, Ks measurements were made at four depths (15, 30, 60, and 90 cm) and five locations on a glacial-till soil of Nicollet (fine-loamy, mixed, mesic Aquic Hapludoll)-Clarion (fine-loamy, mixed, mesic Typic Hapludoll) association. The four in situ methods were: (i) Guelph permeameter, (ii) velocity permeameter, (iii) disk permeameter, and (iv) double-tube method. The Ks was also determined in the laboratory on undisturbed soil cores collected from all the five sites and four depths. The Guelph permeameter method gave the lowest Ks values, possibly because of small sample size, whereas the disk permeameter and double-tube methods gave maximum values for Ks with minimum variability, possibly because of large sample size. Maximum variability in Ks values for soil cores at shallow depths may have occurred because of the presence or absence of open-ended macropores. Estimates of Ks, however, are most comparable for the velocity permeameter and the laboratory method using a constant-head permeameter

Quantum gases in trimerized kagom\'e lattices

We study low temperature properties of atomic gases in trimerized optical kagom\'{e} lattices. The laser arrangements that can be used to create these lattices are briefly described. We also present explicit results for the coupling constants of the generalized Hubbard models that can be realized in such lattices. In the case of a single component Bose gas the existence of a Mott insulator phase with fractional numbers of particles per trimer is verified in a mean field approach. The main emphasis of the paper is on an atomic spinless interacting Fermi gas in the trimerized kagom\'{e} lattice with two fermions per site. This system is shown to be described by a quantum spin 1/2 model on the triangular lattice with couplings that depend on the bond directions. We investigate this model by means of exact diagonalization. Our key finding is that the system exhibits non-standard properties of a quantum spin-liquid crystal: it combines planar antiferromagnetic order in the ground state with an exceptionally large number of low energy excitations. The possibilities of experimental verification of our theoretical results are critically discussed.Comment: 19 pages/14 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. A., numerous minor corrections with respect to former lanl submissio

Monte Carlo Simulation of the Heisenberg Antiferromagnet on a Triangular Lattice: Topological Excitations

We have simulated the classical Heisenberg antiferromagnet on a triangular lattice using a local Monte Carlo algorithm. The behavior of the correlation length $\xi$, the susceptibility at the ordering wavevector $\chi(\bf Q)$, and the spin stiffness $\rho$ clearly reflects the existence of two temperature regimes -- a high temperature regime $T > T_{th}$, in which the disordering effect of vortices is dominant, and a low temperature regime $T < T_{th}$, where correlations are controlled by small amplitude spin fluctuations. As has previously been shown, in the last regime, the behavior of the above quantities agrees well with the predictions of a renormalization group treatment of the appropriate nonlinear sigma model. For $T > T_{th}$, a satisfactory fit of the data is achieved, if the temperature dependence of $\xi$ and $\chi(\bf Q)$ is assumed to be of the form predicted by the Kosterlitz--Thouless theory. Surprisingly, the crossover between the two regimes appears to happen in a very narrow temperature interval around $T_{th} \simeq 0.28$.Comment: 13 pages, 8 Postscript figure

Fatty acid oxidation is essential for egg production by the parasitic flatworm Schistosoma mansoni

Schistosomes, parasitic flatworms that cause the neglected tropical disease schistosomiasis, have been considered to have an entirely carbohydrate based metabolism, with glycolysis playing a dominant role in the adult parasites. However, we have discovered a close link between mitochondrial oxygen consumption by female schistosomes and their ability to produce eggs. We show that oxygen consumption rates (OCR) and egg production are significantly diminished by pharmacologic inhibition of carnitine palmitoyl transferase 1 (CPT1), which catalyzes a rate limiting step in fatty acid β-oxidation (FAO) and by genetic loss of function of acyl CoA synthetase, which complexes with CPT1 and activates long chain FA for use in FAO, and of acyl CoA dehydrogenase, which catalyzes the first step in FAO within mitochondria. Declines in OCR and egg production correlate with changes in a network of lipid droplets within cells in a specialized reproductive organ, the vitellarium. Our data point to the importance of regulated lipid stores and FAO for the compartmentalized process of egg production in schistosomes

Magneto-thermodynamics of the spin-1/2 Kagome antiferromagnet

In this paper, we use a new hybrid method to compute the thermodynamic behavior of the spin-1/2 Kagome antiferromagnet under the influence of a large external magnetic field. We find a T^2 low-temperature behavior and a very low sensitivity of the specific heat to a strong external magnetic field. We display clear evidence that this low temperature magneto-thermal effect is associated to the existence of low-lying fluctuating singlets, but also that the whole picture (T^2 behavior of Cv and thermally activated spin susceptibility) implies contribution of both non magnetic and magnetic excitations. Comparison with experiments is made.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX 2.09 and RevTeX with 3 figures embedded in the text. Version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Size Dependence In The Disordered Kondo Problem

We study here the role randomly-placed non-magnetic scatterers play on the Kondo effect. We show that spin relaxation effects (with time $\tau_s^o$)in the vertex corrections to the Kondo self-energy lead to an exact cancellation of the singular temperature dependence arising from the diffusion poles. For a thin film of thickness $L$ and a mean-free path $\ell$, disorder provides a correction to the Kondo resistivity of the form $\tau_s^o/(k_FL\ell^2)\ln T$ that explains both the disorder and sample-size depression of the Kondo effect observed by Blachly and Giordano (PRB {\bf 51}, 12537 (1995)).Comment: 11 pages, LaTeX, 2 Postscript figure

Green's Function Approach to the Edge Spectral Density

It is shown that the conventional many-body techniques to calculate the Green's functions can be applied to the wide, compressible edge of a quantum Hall bar. The only ansatz we need is the existence of stable density modes that yields a simple equation of motion of the density operators. We derive the spectral density at a finite temperature and show how the tunneling characteristics of a sharp edge can be deduced as a limiting case.Comment: Revised and Enlarged. Submitted to Phys. Rev.

Dendritic cell metabolism

The past 15 years have seen enormous advances in our understanding of the receptor and signalling systems that allow dendritic cells (DCs) to respond to pathogens or other danger signals and initiate innate and adaptive immune responses. We are now beginning to appreciate that many of these pathways not only stimulate changes in the expression of genes that control DC immune functions, but also affect metabolic pathways, thereby integrating the cellular requirements of the activation process. In this Review, we focus on this relatively new area of research and attempt to describe an integrated view of DC immunometabolism

Multi-particle structure in the Z_n-chiral Potts models

We calculate the lowest translationally invariant levels of the Z_3- and Z_4-symmetrical chiral Potts quantum chains, using numerical diagonalization of the hamiltonian for N <= 12 and N <= 10 sites, respectively, and extrapolating N to infinity. In the high-temperature massive phase we find that the pattern of the low-lying zero momentum levels can be explained assuming the existence of n-1 particles carrying Z_n-charges Q = 1, ... , n-1 (mass m_Q), and their scattering states. In the superintegrable case the masses of the n-1 particles become proportional to their respective charges: m_Q = Q m_1. Exponential convergence in N is observed for the single particle gaps, while power convergence is seen for the scattering levels. We also verify that qualitatively the same pattern appears for the self-dual and integrable cases. For general Z_n we show that the energy-momentum relations of the particles show a parity non-conservation asymmetry which for very high temperatures is exclusive due to the presence of a macroscopic momentum P_m=(1-2Q/n)/\phi, where \phi is the chiral angle and Q is the Z_n-charge of the respective particle.Comment: 22 pages (LaTeX) plus 5 figures (included as PostScript), BONN-HE-92-3