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In spontaneous parametric down conversion (SPDC) based quantum information processing (QIP) experiments, there is a tradeoff between the coincidence count rates (i.e. the pumping power of the SPDC), which limits the rate of the protocol, and the visibility of the quantum interference, which limits the quality of the protocol. This tradeoff is mainly caused by the multi-photon pair emissions from the SPDCs. In theory, the problem is how to model the experiments without truncating these multi-photon emissions while including practical imperfections. In this paper, we establish a method to theoretically simulate SPDC-based QIPs which fully incorporates the effect of multi-photon emissions and various practical imperfections. The key ingredient in our method is the application of the characteristic function formalism which has been used in continuous variable QIPs. We apply our method to three examples, the Hong-Ou-Mandel interference and the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen interference experiments, and the concatenated entanglement swapping protocol. For the first two examples, we show that our theoretical results quantitatively agree with the recent experimental results. Also we provide the closed expressions for these interference visibilities with the full multi-photon components and various imperfections. For the last example, we provide the general theoretical form of the concatenated entanglement swapping protocol in our method and show the numerical results up to five concatenations. Our method requires only a small computational resource (a few minutes by a commercially available computer), which was not possible in the previous theoretical approach. Our method will have applications in a wide range of SPDC-based QIP protocols with high accuracy and a reasonable computational resource.

A generation method of new metric in the case of static spherically symmetric space-time is derived. Using this approach, we construct a metric which describes Euler–Heisenberg black hole surrounded by perfect fluid dark matter and investigate its optical and thermodynamic properties. We found that radius of shadow will increase with the increase of dark matter effect, and more strong dark matter will diminish the light intensity of accretion disk generally. Moreover, in thermodynamics, when quantum electrodynamic parameter is positive, there will be a critical value of dark matter parameter, which determine the number of black hole’s critical points.

As the heart and kidneys are closely connected by the circulatory system, primary dysfunction of either organ usually leads to secondary dysfunction or damage to the other organ. These interactions play a major role in the pathogenesis of a clinical entity named cardiorenal syndrome (CRS). The pathophysiology of CRS is complicated and involves multiple body systems. In early studies, CRS was classified into five subtypes according to the organs associated with the vicious cycle and the acuteness and chronicity of CRS. Increasing evidence shows that CRS is associated with a variety of pathological mechanisms, such as haemodynamics, neurohormonal changes, hypervolemia, hypertension, hyperuraemia and hyperuricaemia. In this review, we summarize the classification and currently available diagnostic biomarkers of CRS. We highlight the recently revealed molecular pathogenesis of CRS, such as oxidative stress and inflammation, hyperactive renin‒angiotensin‒aldosterone system, maladaptive Wnt/β-catenin signalling pathway and profibrotic TGF‒β1/Smad signalling pathway, as well as other pathogeneses, such as dysbiosis of the gut microbiota and dysregulation of noncoding RNAs. Targeting these CRS-associated signalling pathways has new therapeutic potential for treating CRS. In addition, various chemical drugs, natural products, complementary therapies, blockers, and agonists that protect against CRS are summarized. Since the molecular mechanisms of CRS remain to be elucidated, no single intervention has been shown to be effective in treating CRS. Pharmacologic therapies designed to block CRS are urgently needed. This review presents a critical therapeutic avenue for targeting CRS and concurrently illuminates challenges and opportunities for discovering novel treatment strategies for CRS.

Having infected by Helicobacter pylori , the infection often leads to gastritis, gastric ulcer, or even gastric cancer. The disease is typically treated with antibiotics as they used to effectively inhibit or kill H. pylori , thus reducing the incidence of gastric adenoma and cancer to significant extent. H. pylori , however, has developed drug resistance to many clinically used antibiotics over the years, highlighting the crisis of antibiotic failure during the H. pylori treatment. We report here that the fucoidan from Sargassum hemiphyllum can significantly reduce the infection of H. pylori without developing to drug resistance. Fucoidan appears to be a strong anti-inflammation agent as manifested by the RAW264.7 cell model examination. Fucoidan can prohibit H. pylori adhesion to host cells, thereby reducing the infection rate by 60%, especially in post treatment in the AGS cell model assay. Mechanistically, fucoidan intervenes the adhesion of BabA and AlpA of H. pylori significantly lowering the total count of H. pylori and the level of IL-6 and TNF-α in vivo. These results all converge on the same fact that fucoidan is an effective agent in a position to protect the stomach from the H. pylori infection by reducing both the total count and induced inflammation.

We obtained the metric of the Schwarzschild-like black hole with loop quantum gravity (LQG) corrections in anti-de Sitter (AdS) space-time, under the assumption that the cosmological constant is decoupled in LQG. We investigated its thermodynamics, including the equation of state, criticality, heat capacity, and Gibbs free energy. The P - v graph was plotted, and the critical behavior was calculated. It was found that, due to the LQG effect, the quantum-corrected Schwarzschild-AdS black hole exhibits a critical point and a critical ratio of 7/18, which differs from the Reissner–Nordstr o ¨ m-AdS black hole’s ratio of 3/8 (the same as that of the Van der Waals system) slightly. However, there are still some similarities compared to the Van der Waals system, such as the same critical exponents and a similar P - v graph. Moreover, it is concluded that the energy-momentum tensor related to the black hole’s mass could violate the conventional first law of thermodynamics. This modified first law may violate the conservation of Gibbs free energy during the small black hole-large black hole phase transitions, potentially indicating the occurrence of the zeroth-order phase transition. The Joule–Thomson expansion was also studied. Interestingly, compared to the Schwarzschild-AdS black hole, the LQG effect leads to inversion points. The inversion curve divides the P , T coordinate system into two regions: a heating region and a cooling region, as shown in detail by the inversion curves and isenthalpic curves. The results indicated that there is a minimum inversion mass, below which any black hole will not possess an inversion point.

As one of the detection targets of all gravitational wave detectors today, the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) provides an important means of understanding the evolution of our universe. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of detecting the SGWB generated by the loops arising throughout the cosmological evolution of the cosmic string network, using both individual space detectors (LISA and TAIJI) and joint space detectors (LISA-TAIJI). For the joint detectors, we choose three different configurations of TAIJI, namely TAIJIm, TAIJIp, and TAIJIc, to form the LISA-TAIJI networks, and we investigate their ability to detect the SGWB. By comparing the power-law sensitivity (PLS) curves of individual space detectors and joint detectors with the energy density spectrum of SGWB, we find that LISA-TAIJIc has the best sensitivity for detecting the SGWB from cosmic string loops. It thus holds promise for further constraining the tension of cosmic strings G μ = O ( 10 - 17 ) .

Hafnia-based ferroelectrics hold significant promise for next-generation non-volatile memory. However, their functional properties are critically limited by uncontrollable phase transitions due to the poorly understood atomistic mechanisms driving specific transformations. Here, using single-crystalline HfO 2 -based superlattice films as the prototype system, we propose an asynchronous sublattice distortion mechanism underlying the complex phase transitions in HfO 2 -based materials. Aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy reveals that sublattice preferential distortion behaviors trigger various phase transitions among orthorhombic, tetragonal and monoclinic phases, processes governed by the direction of orthorhombic phase. Critically, the complex lattice distortion pathways underlying the orthorhombic-to-monoclinic transition are elucidated, revealing their fundamental dependence on the monoclinic projection direction. Furthermore, polar-antipolar transition within the orthorhombic phase requires only oxygen sub-lattice dipole-order reversal, enabling polarization flipping. This work systematically clarifies the core mechanisms of structural phase transitions in HfO 2 -based films, resolving previous controversies and providing a guidance for designing high-performance HfO 2 -based electronic devices. The authors propose an asynchronous sublattice distortion mechanism to elucidate the complex phase transitions in HfO 2 -based materials. The phase transitions among the orthorhombic, tetragonal, and monoclinic phases are governed by the orientation of the orthorhombic phase.

We briefly analyzed the equation of state and critical points of the quantum-corrected-AdS black hole and used the Melnikov method to study its thermal chaotic behavior in the extended phase space of flat, closed, and open universes. The results show that the black hole’s thermodynamic behavior is similar to that of the Van der Waals system. Although the critical ratios at the critical points in the three types of universes differ, they are all independent of the quantum correction parameter. Only an open universe can attain the critical ratio of 3 8 corresponding to the Van der Waals system, while in the other two universes, the critical ratio is always greater than this value. For chaos, time perturbations will lead to chaotic behavior when their amplitude exceeds a critical value that depends on the quantum correction parameter and the radius of the dust sphere in the FRW model. Based on this, we found that the chaotic behavior of the black hole varies across different universes depending on the quantum correction parameter, but this parameter always makes chaos more likely. Using the value of the quantum correction parameter determined by Meissner, chaos is always more difficult to occur in an open universe compared to the other two types of universes. Which universe is most prone to chaos depends on the radius of the dust sphere. Finally, chaotic behavior is always present under spatial perturbations.

Summer heatwaves have caused a distinct mortality between urban greening and native plants. However, there are insufficient studies revealing the underlying mechanisms. We hypothesized that differentiation in hydraulic traits and their integration cause the varied heatwave-induced damages between the two plant types. To prove it, three desert native species and five urban greening species were selected as the experimental objects. Then, the number of damaged individuals caused by summer heatwaves were investigated based on the 100 individuals for each species. The hydraulic traits (including hydraulic transport, photosynthetic and leaf traits) of 3–5 mature individuals were measured for each species. The comparative analysis (independent sample t test and one-way ANOVA) and the collaborative analysis (Pearson correlation and network analysis) were used to reveal the differences in heatwave-induced damage, hydraulic traits and their integration between urban greening and native plants. Our results showed that the heatwave-induced damage to urban greening plants was larger than that to native species. Water potentials of leaf and branch in pre-dawn and midday, P 50 , leaf dry matter content, net photosynthetic rate, transpiration rate and stomatal conductance of desert native species were significantly lower than those of urban greening plants ( P < 0.05), while twig specific hydraulic conductivity, Huber value, wood density, intrinsic water use efficiency and the specific leaf area showed opposite patterns ( P < 0.05). Trait integration of desert native species (0.63) was much higher than greening plants (0.24). Our results indicate that artificial urban greening plants are more susceptible to drought stress caused by heatwaves than native desert species. In the context of global climate change, in order to maintain the stability and function of urban ecosystems in extreme climate, the screening of greening plants should start from the perspective of hydraulics and trait integration, and more native species with strong drought adaptability should be planted.

Entanglement swapping at telecom wavelengths is at the heart of quantum networking in optical fiber infrastructures. Although entanglement swapping has been demonstrated experimentally so far using various types of entangled photon sources both in near-infrared and telecom wavelength regions, the rate of swapping operation has been too low to be applied to practical quantum protocols, due to limited efficiency of entangled photon sources and photon detectors. Here we demonstrate drastic improvement of the efficiency at telecom wavelength by using two ultra-bright entangled photon sources and four highly efficient superconducting nanowire single photon detectors. We have attained a four-fold coincidence count rate of 108 counts per second, which is three orders higher than the previous experiments at telecom wavelengths. A raw (net) visibility in a Hong-Ou-Mandel interference between the two independent entangled sources was 73.3 ± 1.0% (85.1 ± 0.8%). We performed the teleportation and entanglement swapping and obtained a fidelity of 76.3% in the swapping test. Our results on the coincidence count rates are comparable with the ones ever recorded in teleportation/swapping and multi-photon entanglement generation experiments at around 800 nm wavelengths. Our setup opens the way to practical implementation of device-independent quantum key distribution and its distance extension by the entanglement swapping as well as multi-photon entangled state generation in telecom band infrastructures with both space and fiber links.