Observation of forbidden phonons and dark excitons by resonance Raman scattering in few-layer WS2_2

The optical properties of the two-dimensional (2D) crystals are dominated by tightly bound electron-hole pairs (excitons) and lattice vibration modes (phonons). The exciton-phonon interaction is fundamentally important to understand the optical properties of 2D materials and thus help develop emerging 2D crystal based optoelectronic devices. Here, we presented the excitonic resonant Raman scattering (RRS) spectra of few-layer WS$_2$ excited by 11 lasers lines covered all of A, B and C exciton transition energies at different sample temperatures from 4 to 300 K. As a result, we are not only able to probe the forbidden phonon modes unobserved in ordinary Raman scattering, but also can determine the bright and dark state fine structures of 1s A exciton. In particular, we also observed the quantum interference between low-energy discrete phonon and exciton continuum under resonant excitation. Our works pave a way to understand the exciton-phonon coupling and many-body effects in 2D materials.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

A controllable superconducting electromechanical oscillator with a suspended membrane

We fabricate a microscale electromechanical system, in which a suspended superconducting membrane, treated as a mechanical oscillator, capacitively couples to a superconducting microwave resonator. As the microwave driving power increases, nonmonotonic dependence of the resonance frequency of the mechanical oscillator on the driving power has been observed. We also demonstrate the optical switching of the resonance frequency of the mechanical oscillator. Theoretical models for qualitative understanding of our experimental observations are presented. Our experiment may pave the way for the application of a mechanical oscillator with its resonance frequency controlled by the electromagnetic and/or optical fields, such as a microwave-optical interface and a controllable element in a superqubit-mechanical oscillator hybrid system.Comment: 8 pages,4 figure

Robustness of quantum correlations against decoherence

We study dynamics of nonclassical correlations by exactly solving a model consisting of two atomic qubits with spontaneous emission. We find that the nonclassical correlations defined by different measures give different qualitative characterizations of those correlations. The relative behaviors of those correlation measures are presented explicitly for various quantum states in the two-qubit atomic system. In particular, we find that the robustness of quantum correlations can be greatly enhanced by performing appropriate local unitary operations on the initial state of the system.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Efficient derivation of dopaminergic neurons from SOX1(-) floor plate cells under defined culture conditions.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a severe neurodegenerative disease associated with loss of dopaminergic neurons. Derivation of dopaminergic neurons from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) could provide new therapeutic options for PD therapy. Dopaminergic neurons are derived from SOX(-) floor plate (FP) cells during embryonic development in many species and in human cell culture in vitro. Early treatment with sonic hedgehog (Shh) has been reported to efficiently convert hESCs into FP lineages. METHODS: In this study, we attempted to utilize a Shh-free approach in deriving SOX1(-) FP cells from hESCs in vitro. Neuroectoderm conversion from hESCs was achieved with dual inhibition of the BMP4 (LDN193189) and TGF-β signaling pathways (SB431542) for 24 h under defined culture conditions. RESULTS: Following a further 5 days of treatment with LDN193189 or LDN193189 + SB431542, SOX1(-) FP cells constituted 70-80 % of the entire cell population. Upon treatment with Shh and FGF8, the SOX1(-) FP cells were efficiently converted to functional Nurr1(+) and TH(+) dopaminergic cells (patterning), which constituted more than 98 % of the entire cell population. However, when the same growth factors were applied to SOX1(+) cells, only less than 4 % of the cells became Nurr1(+), indicating that patterning was effective only if SOX1 expression was down-regulated. After transplanting the Nurr1(+) and TH(+) cells into a hemiparkinsonian rat model, significant improvements were observed in amphetamine induced ipslateral rotations, apomorphine induced contra-lateral rotations and Rota rod motor tests over a duration of 8 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings thus provide a convenient approach to FP development and functional dopaminergic neuron derivation.published_or_final_versio

Gravitational Fluctuations as an Alternative to Inflation

The ability to reproduce the observed matter power spectrum $P(k)$ to high accuracy is often considered as a triumph of inflation. In this work, we explore an alternative explanation for the power spectrum based on nonperturbative quantum field-theoretical methods applied to Einstein's gravity, instead of ones based on inflation models. In particular the power spectral index, which governs the slope on the $P(k)$ graph, can be related to critical scaling exponents derived from the Wilson renormalization group analysis. We find that the derived value fits favorably with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey telescope data. We then make use of the transfer functions, based only on the Boltzmann equations which describe states out of equilibrium, and Einstein's General Relativity, to extrapolate the power spectrum to the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) regime. We observe that the results fit rather well with current data. Our approach contrasts with the conventional explanation which uses inflation to generate the scale invariant Harrison-Zel'dovich spectrum on CMB scales, and uses the transfer function to extrapolate it to galaxy regime. The results we present here only assume quantum field theory and Einstein's Gravity, and hence provide a competing explanation of the power spectrum, without relying on the assumptions usually associated with inflationary models. At the end, we also outline several testable predictions in this picture that deviate from the conventional picture of inflation, and which hopefully will become verifiable in the near future with increasingly accurate measurements.Comment: 33 pages, 6 figures. One figure added following the July 2018 release of new Planck data. Typos fixed, more references added. Paper now conforms to the published versio

Dyson's Equations for Quantum Gravity in the Hartree-Fock Approximation

Unlike scalar and gauge field theories in four dimensions, gravity is not perturbatively renormalizable and as a result perturbation theory is badly divergent. Often the method of choice for investigating nonperturbative effects has been the lattice formulation, and in the case of gravity the Regge-Wheeler lattice path integral lends itself well for that purpose. Nevertheless, lattice methods ultimately rely on extensive numerical calculations, leaving a desire for alternate calculations that can be done analytically. In this work we outline the Hartree-Fock approximation to quantum gravity, along lines which are analogous to what is done for scalar fields and gauge theories. The starting point is Dyson's equations, a closed set of integral equations which relate various physical amplitudes involving graviton propagators, vertex functions and proper self-energies. Such equations are in general difficult to solve, and as a result not very useful in practice, but nevertheless provide a basis for subsequent approximations. This is where the Hartree-Fock approximation comes in, whereby lowest order diagrams get partially dressed by the use of fully interacting Green's function and self-energies, which then lead to a set of self-consistent integral equations. Specifically, for quantum gravity one finds a nontrivial ultraviolet fixed point in Newton's constant G for spacetime dimensions greater than two, and nontrivial scaling dimensions between d=2 and d=4, above which one obtains Gaussian exponents. In addition, the Hartree-Fock approximation gives an explicit analytic expression for the renormalization group running of Newton's constant, suggesting gravitational antiscreening with Newton's G slowly increasing on cosmological scales.Comment: 71 pages, 21 figures. More typos fixed, references adde

Gravitational Fluctuations as an Alternative to Inflation II. CMB Angular Power Spectrum

Power spectra always play an important role in the theory of inflation. In particular, the ability to reproduce the galaxy matter power spectrum and the CMB temperature angular power spectrum coefficients to high accuracy is often considered a triumph of inflation. In our previous work, we presented an alternative explanation for the matter power spectrum based on nonperturbative quantum field-theoretical methods applied to Einstein's gravity, instead of inflation models based on scalar fields. In this work, we review the basic concepts and provide further in-depth investigations. We first update the analysis with more recent data sets and error analysis, and then extend our predictions to the CMB angular spectrum coefficients, which we did not consider previously. Then we investigate further the potential freedoms and uncertainties associated with the fundamental parameters that are part of this picture, and show how recent cosmological data provides significant constraints on these quantities. Overall, we find good general consistency between theory and data, even potentially favoring the gravitationally-motivated picture at the largest scales. We summarize our results by outlining how this picture can be tested in the near future with increasingly accurate astrophysical measurements.Comment: 43 pages, 8 figures (typos fixed, references added

Resonant relaxation and the warp of the stellar disc in the Galactic centre

Observations of the spatial distribution and kinematics of young stars in the Galactic centre can be interpreted as showing that the stars occupy one, or possibly two, discs of radii ~0.05-0.5 pc. The most prominent (`clockwise') disc exhibits a strong warp: the normals to the mean orbital planes in the inner and outer third of the disc differ by ~60 deg. Using an analytical model based on Laplace-Lagrange theory, we show that such warps arise naturally and inevitably through vector resonant relaxation between the disc and the surrounding old stellar cluster.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, accepted by MNRA