Joshua N. Milstein

Neuronal Shot Noise and Brownian 1/f2 Behavior in the Local Field Potential

We demonstrate that human electrophysiological recordings of the local field potential (LFP) from intracranial electrodes, acquired from a variety of cerebral regions, show a ubiquitous 1/f2 scaling within the power spectrum. We develop a quantitative model that treats the generation of these fields in an analogous way to that of electronic shot noise, and use this model to specifically address the cause of this 1/f2 Brownian noise. The model gives way to two analytically tractable solutions, both displaying Brownian noise: 1) uncorrelated cells that display sharp initial activity, whose extracellular fields slowly decay in time and 2) rapidly firing, temporally correlated cells that generate UP-DOWN states.

Resonance superfluidity : renormalization of resonance scattering theory

We derive a theory of superfluidity for a dilute Fermi gas that is valid when scattering resonances are present. The treatment of a resonance in many-body atomic physics requires a novel mean-field approach starting from an unconventional microscopic Hamiltonian. The mean-field equations incorporate the microscopic scattering physics, and the solutions to these equations reproduce the energy-dependent scattering properties. This theory describes the high-T/sub c/ behavior of the system, and predicts a value of T/sub c/ that is a significant fraction of the Fermi temperature. It is shown that this mean-field approach does not break down for typical experimental circumstances, even at detunings close to resonance. As an example of the application of our theory, we investigate the feasibility for achieving superfluidity in an ultracold gas of fermionic /sup 6/Li.

Signatures of resonance superfluidity in a quantum Fermi gas

We predict a direct and observable signature of the superfluid phase in a quantum Fermi gas, in a temperature regime already accessible in current experiments. We apply the theory of resonance superfluidity to a gas confined in a harmonic potential and demonstrate that a significant increase in density will be observed in the vicinity of the trap center.

Resonance theory of the crossover from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer superfluidity to Bose-Einstein condensation in a dilute Fermi gas

We present a description of the behavior of a superfluid gas of fermions in the presence of a Feshbach resonance over the complete range of magnetic field detunings. Starting from a resonance Hamiltonian, we exploit a functional method to describe the continuous behavior from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer to Bose-Einstein condensation type superfluidity. Our results show an ability for a resonance system to exhibit a high critical temperature comparable to the Fermi temperature. The results are derived in a manner that is shown to be consistent with the underlying microscopic scattering physics.

Nature of superfluidity in ultracold Fermi gases near Feshbach resonances

We study the superfluid state of atomic Fermi gases using a BCS-Bose-Einstein-condensation crossover theory. Our approach emphasizes noncondensed fermion pairs which strongly hybridize with their (Feshbach-induced) molecular boson counterparts. These pairs lead to pseudogap effects above

Dynamic moment analysis of the extracellular electric field of a biologically realistic spiking neuron

{T}_{c}

Protein-mediated DNA loop formation and breakdown in a fluctuating environment.

and non-BCS characteristics below. We discuss how these effects influence the experimental signatures of superfluidity.

Xenogeneic Silencing and Its Impact on Bacterial Genomes

Based on the membrane currents generated by an action potential in a biologically realistic model of a pyramidal, hippocampal cell within rat CA1, we perform a moment expansion of the extracellular field potential. We decompose the potential into both inverse and classical moments and show that this method is a rapid and efficient way to calculate the extracellular field both near and far from the cell body. The action potential gives rise to a large quadrupole moment that contributes to the extracellular field up to distances of almost 1 cm. This method will serve as a starting point in connecting the microscopic generation of electric fields at the level of neurons to macroscopic observables such as the local field potential.

On the role of DNA biomechanics in the regulation of gene expression

Living cells provide a fluctuating, out-of-equilibrium environment in which genes must coordinate cellular function. DNA looping, which is a common means of regulating transcription, is very much a stochastic process; the loops arise from the thermal motion of the DNA and other fluctuations of the cellular environment. We present single-molecule measurements of DNA loop formation and breakdown when an artificial fluctuating force, applied to mimic a fluctuating cellular environment, is imposed on the DNA. We show that loop formation is greatly enhanced in the presence of noise of only a fraction of k_{B}T, yet find that hypothetical regulatory schemes that employ mechanical tension in the DNA-as a sensitive switch to control transcription-can be surprisingly robust due to a fortuitous cancellation of noise effects.

Bead size effects on protein-mediated DNA looping in tethered-particle motion experiments.

The H-NS (heat-stable nucleoid structuring) protein affects both nucleoid compaction and global gene regulation. H-NS appears to act primarily as a silencer of AT-rich genetic material acquired by horizontal gene transfer. As such, it is key in the regulation of most genes involved in virulence and in adaptation to new environmental niches. Here we review recent progress in understanding the biochemistry of H-NS and how xenogeneic silencing affects bacterial evolution. We highlight the strengths and weaknesses of some of the models proposed in H-NS-mediated nucleoprotein complex formation. Based on recent single-molecule studies, we also propose a novel mode of DNA compaction by H-NS termed intrabridging to explain over two decades of observations of the H-NS molecule.