At the right time in the right place: How do luminal gradients position the microbiota along the gut?

The gastrointestinal system is highly compartmentalized, where individual segments perform separate tasks to achieve common physiological goals. The gut luminal content, chyme, changes its chemical and physical properties as it passes through different intestinal segments. Together, the chyme composition, mucus, pH and oxygen gradients along the gut create a variety of highly distinct ecological niches that form, maintain and reinforce the symbiosis with the particular microbiota. Hosting different microbiota members at specific locations creates one of the most complex and sophisticated gradient - gradient of the local ecosystems that live and interact with each other, providing advantages and challenges to the host and creating our microbial self. Here, we discuss how intestinal luminal gradients are created and maintained in homeostasis, their role in a correct microbiota positioning, and their change upon inflammation and cancer.

Spin fluctuation induced Weyl semimetal state in the paramagnetic phase of EuCd2As2

Weyl fermions as emergent quasiparticles can arise in Weyl semimetals (WSMs) in which the energy bands are nondegenerate, resulting from inversion or time-reversal symmetry breaking. Nevertheless, experimental evidence for magnetically induced WSMs is scarce. Here, using photoemission spectroscopy, we observe that the degeneracy of Bloch bands is already lifted in the paramagnetic phase of EuCd2As2. We attribute this effect to the itinerant electrons experiencing quasi-static and quasi-long-range ferromagnetic fluctuations. Moreover, the spin-nondegenerate band structure harbors a pair of ideal Weyl nodes near the Fermi level. Hence, we show that long-range magnetic order and the spontaneous breaking of time-reversal symmetry are not essential requirements for WSM states in centrosymmetric systems and that WSM states can emerge in a wider range of condensed matter systems than previously thought.

Divalent EuRh2Si2 as a reference for the Luttinger theorem and antiferromagnetism in trivalent heavy-fermion YbRh2Si2

Application of the Luttinger theorem to the Kondo lattice YbRh2Si2 suggests that its large 4f-derived Fermi surface (FS) in the paramagnetic (PM) regime should be similar in shape and volume to that of the divalent local-moment antiferromagnet (AFM) EuRh2Si2 in its PM regime. Here we show by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy that paramagnetic EuRh2Si2 has a large FS essentially similar to the one seen in YbRh2Si2 down to 1 K. In EuRh2Si2 the onset of AFM order below 24.5 K induces an extensive fragmentation of the FS due to Brillouin zone folding, intersection and resulting hybridization of the Fermi-surface sheets. Our results on EuRh2Si2 indicate that the formation of the AFM state in YbRh2Si2 is very likely also connected with similar changes in the FS, which have to be taken into account in the controversial analysis and discussion of anomalies observed at the quantum critical point in this system.

Three-Dimensional Fermi Surface of Overdoped La-Based Cuprates

We present a soft x-ray angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study of overdoped high-temperature superconductors. In-plane and out-of-plane components of the Fermi surface are mapped by varying the photoemission angle and the incident photon energy. No k_{z} dispersion is observed along the nodal direction, whereas a significant antinodal k_{z} dispersion is identified for La-based cuprates. Based on a tight-binding parametrization, we discuss the implications for the density of states near the van Hove singularity. Our results suggest that the large electronic specific heat found in overdoped La_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4} cannot be assigned to the van Hove singularity alone. We therefore propose quantum criticality induced by a collapsing pseudogap phase as a plausible explanation for observed enhancement of electronic specific heat.

Transient microfluidic compartmentalization using actionable microfilaments for biochemical assays, cell culture and organs-on-chip

We report here a simple yet robust transient compartmentalization system for microfluidic platforms. Cylindrical microfilaments made of commercially available fishing lines are embedded in a microfluidic chamber and employed as removable walls, dividing the chamber into several compartments. These partitions allow tight sealing for hours, and can be removed at any time by longitudinal sliding with minimal hydrodynamic perturbation. This allows the easy implementation of various functions, previously impossible or requiring more complex instrumentation. In this study, we demonstrate the applications of our strategy, firstly to trigger chemical diffusion, then to make surface co-coating or cell co-culture on a two-dimensional substrate, and finally to form multiple cell-laden hydrogel compartments for three-dimensional cell co-culture in a microfluidic device. This technology provides easy and low-cost solutions, without the use of pneumatic valves or external equipment, for constructing well-controlled microenvironments for biochemical and cellular assays.

Fermi-surface reconstruction and complex phase equilibria in CaFe2As2

Fermi-surface topology governs the relationship between magnetism and superconductivity in iron-based materials. Using low-temperature transport, angle-resolved photoemission, and x-ray diffraction, we show unambiguous evidence of large Fermi-surface reconstruction in CaFe2As2 at magnetic spin-density-wave and nonmagnetic collapsed-tetragonal (cT) transitions. For the cT transition, the change in the Fermi-surface topology has a different character with no contribution from the hole part of the Fermi surface. In addition, the results suggest that the pressure effect in CaFe2As2 is mainly leading to a rigid-band-like change of the valence electronic structure. We discuss these results and their implications for magnetism and superconductivity in this material.

Interplay of Dirac fermions and heavy quasiparticles in solids

Many-body interactions in crystalline solids can be conveniently described in terms of quasiparticles with strongly renormalized masses as compared with those of non-interacting particles. Examples of extreme mass renormalization are on the one hand graphene, where the charge carriers obey the linear dispersion relation of massless Dirac fermions, and on the other hand heavy-fermion materials where the effective electron mass approaches the mass of a proton. Here we show that both extremes, Dirac fermions, like they are found in graphene and extremely heavy quasiparticles characteristic for Kondo materials, may not only coexist in a solid but can also undergo strong mutual interactions. Using the example of EuRh₂Si₂, we explicitly demonstrate that these interactions can take place at the surface and in the bulk. The presence of the linear dispersion is imposed solely by the crystal symmetry, whereas the existence of heavy quasiparticles is caused by the localized nature of the 4f states.