Modulation of the distance dependence of paramagnetic relaxation enhancements by CSA × DSA cross-correlation

Paramagnetic metal ions with fast-relaxing electronic spin and anisotropic susceptibility tensor provide a rich source of structural information that can be derived from pseudo-contact shifts, residual dipolar couplings, dipole-dipole Curie spin cross-correlation, and paramagnetic relaxation enhancements. The present study draws attention to a cross-correlation effect between nuclear relaxation due to anisotropic chemical shielding (CSA) and due to the anisotropic dipolar shielding (DSA) caused by the electronic Curie spin. This CSA x DSA cross-correlation contribution seems to have been overlooked in previous interpretations of paramagnetic relaxation enhancements. It is shown to be sufficiently large to compromise the 1/r6 distance dependence usually assumed. The effect cannot experimentally be separated from auto-correlated DSA relaxation. It can increase or decrease the observed paramagnetic relaxation enhancement. Under certain conditions, the effect can dominate the entire paramagnetic relaxation, resulting in nuclear resonances narrower than in the absence of the paramagnetic center. CSAxDSA cross-correlation becomes important when paramagnetic relaxation is predominantly due to the Curie rather than the Solomon mechanism. Therefore the effect is most pronounced for relaxation by metal ions with large magnetic susceptibility and fast-relaxing electron spin. It most strongly affects paramagnetic enhancements of transverse relaxation in macromolecules and of longitudinal relaxation in small molecules.     

Singular reduction of implicit Hamiltonian systems

This paper develops the theory of singular reduction for implicit Hamiltonian systems admitting a symmetry Lie group. The reduction is performed at a singular value of the momentum map. This leads to a singular reduced topological space which is not a smooth manifold. A topological Dirac structure on this space is defined in terms of a generalized Poisson bracket and a vector space of derivations, both being defined on a set of smooth functions. A corresponding Hamiltonian formalism is described. It is shown that solutions of the original system descend to solutions of the reduced system. Finally, if the generalized Poisson bracket is nondegenerate, then the singular reduced space can be decomposed into a set of smooth manifolds called pieces. The singular reduced system restricts to a regular reduced implicit Hamiltonian system on each of these pieces. The results in this paper naturally extend the singular reduction theory as previously developed for symplectic or Poisson Hamiltonian systems.     

Melting of bosonic stripes

We use quantum Monte Carlo simulations to determine the finite temperature phase diagram and to investigate the thermal and quantum melting of stripe phases in a two-dimensional hard-core boson model. At half filling and low temperatures the stripes melt at a first order transition. In the doped system, the melting transitions of the smectic phase at high temperatures and the superfluid smectic (supersolid) phase at low temperatures are either very weakly first order, or of second order with no clear indications for an intermediate nematic phase.     

Supersolids versus phase separation in two-dimensional lattice bosons

We study the nature of the ground state of the two-dimensional extended boson Hubbard model on a square lattice by quantum Monte Carlo methods. We demonstrate that strong but finite on-site interaction U along with a comparable nearest-neighbor repulsion V result in a thermodynamically stable supersolid ground state for densities larger than 1/2, in contrast to fillings less than 1/2 or for very large U, where the checkerboard supersolid is unstable towards phase separation. We discuss the relevance of our results to realizations of supersolids using cold bosonic atoms in optical lattices.     

Quantum signatures in laser-driven relativistic multiple scattering

The dynamics of an electronic Dirac wave packet evolving under the influence of an ultraintense laser pulse and an ensemble of highly charged ions is investigated numerically. Special emphasis is placed on the evolution of quantum signatures from single to multiple scattering events. We quantify the occurrence of quantum relativistic interference fringes in various situations and stress their significance in multiple-particle systems, even in the relativistic range of laser-matter interaction.     

From Ecology to Finance (and Back?): A Review on Entropy-Based Null Models for the Analysis of Bipartite Networks

Journal of Statistical Physics - Bipartite networks provide an insightful representation of many systems, ranging from mutualistic networks of species interactions to investment networks in...     

The Role of Radial Electric Fields in the Tokamaks TEXTOR-94, CASTOR, and T-10

Radial electric fields (E _r) and their role in the establishment of edge transport barriers and improved confinement have been studied in the tokamaks TEXTOR-94 and CASTOR, where E _r is externally applied to the plasma in a controlled way using a biased electrode, as well as in the tokamak T-10 where an edge transport barrier (H-mode) is obtained during electron-cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of the plasma.The physics of radial currents was studied and the radial conductivity in the edge of TEXTOR-94 (R = 1.75 m, a = 0.46 m) was found to be dominated by recycling (ion-neutral collisions) at the last closed flux surface (LCFS) and by parallel viscosity inside the LCFS. From a performance point of view (edge engineering), such electrode biasing was shown to induce a particle transport barrier, a reduction of particle transport, and a concomitant increase in energy confinement. An H-mode-like behaviour can be induced both with positive and negative electric fields. Positive as well as negative electric fields were shown to strongly affect the exhaust of hydrogen, helium, and impurities, not only in the H-mode-like regime.The impact of sheared radial electric fields on turbulent structures and flows at the plasma edge is investigated on the CASTOR tokamak (R = 0.4 m, a = 0.085 m). A non-intrusive biasing scheme that we call "separatrix biasing" is applied whereby the electrode is located in the scrape-off layer (SOL) with its tip just touching the LCFS. There is evidence of strongly sheared radial electric field and E×B flow, resulting in the formation of a transport barrier at the separatrix. Advanced probe diagnosis of the edge region has shown that the E×B shear rate that arises during separatrix biasing is larger than for standard edge plasma biasing. The plasma flows, especially the poloidal E×B drift velocity, are strongly modified in the sheared region, reaching Mach numbers as high as half the sound speed. The corresponding shear rates ( 5×10⁶ s^-1) derived from both the flow and electric field profiles are in excellent agreement and are at least an order of magnitude higher than the growth rate of unstable turbulent modes as estimated from fluctuation measurements.During ECRH in the tokamak T-10 (R = 1.5 m, a = 0.3 m), a regime of improved confinement is obtained with features resembling those in the H-mode in other tokamaks. Using a heavy ion beam probe, a narrow potential well is observed near the limiter together with the typical features of the L-H transition. The time evolution of the plasma profiles during L-H and H-L transitions is clearly correlated with that of the density profile and the formation of a transport barrier near the limiter. The edge electric field is initially positive after the onset of ECRH. It changes its sign during the L-H transition and grows till a steady condition is reached. Similar to the biasing experiments in TEXTOR-94 and CASTOR, the experimentally observed transport barrier is a barrier for particles.     

Periodic Solutions for Completely Resonant Nonlinear Wave Equations with Dirichlet Boundary Conditions

We consider the nonlinear string equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions u_tt–u_xx=(u), with (u)=u³+O(u⁵) odd and analytic, 0, and we construct small amplitude periodic solutions with frequency for a large Lebesgue measure set of close to 1. This extends previous results where only a zero-measure set of frequencies could be treated (the ones for which no small divisors appear). The proof is based on combining the Lyapunov-Schmidt decomposition, which leads to two separate sets of equations dealing with the resonant and non-resonant Fourier components, respectively the Q and the P equations, with resummation techniques of divergent powers series, allowing us to control the small divisors problem. The main difficulty with respect to the nonlinear wave equations u_tt–u_xx+Mu=(u), M0, is that not only the P equation but also the Q equation is infinite-dimensional.     

Sensitivity of a tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis guianensis) to airborne sound

Auditory systems of cetaceans are considered highly specialized for underwater sound processing, whereas the extent of their hearing capacity in air is still a point of issue. In this study, the sensitivity to airborne sound in a male tucuxi (Sotalia fluviatilis guianensis) was tested by means of a go/no go response paradigm. Auditory thresholds were obtained from 2 to 31.5 kHz. Compared to the hearing thresholds of other dolphins as well as of amphibian mammals, the sensitivity to airborne sound of the test subject is low from 2 to 8 kHz, with the highest threshold at 4 kHz. Thresholds at 16 and 31.5 kHz reveal a sharp increase in hearing sensitivity. Thus, although not obtained in this study, the upper aerial hearing limit is in the ultrasonic range. A comparison of the present data with the underwater audiogram of the same test subject referred to sound intensity indicates that the sensitivity of Sotalia to underwater sound is generally better than to airborne sound.     

Scaling laws and memory effects in the dynamics of liquids and proteins

Recent progress in the numerical calculation of memory functions from molecular dynamics simulations allowed the gaining of deeper insight into the relaxation dynamics of liquids and proteins. The concept of memory functions goes back to the work of R. Zwanzig on the generalized Langevin equation, and it was the basis for the development of various dynamical models for liquids. In this article we present briefly a method for the numerical calculation of memory functions, which is then applied to study their scaling behavior in normal and fractional Brownian dynamics. It has been shown recently that the model of fractional Brownian dynamics constitutes effectively a link between protein dynamics on the nanosecond time scale, which is accessible to molecular dynamics simulations and thermal neutron scattering, and the much longer time scale of functional protein dynamics, which can be studied by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy. The text was submitted by the authors in English. Affiliated with the University of Orléans.