Wrapped fluxbranes

We consider the construction of fluxbranes in certain curved geometries, generalizing the familiar construction of the Melvin fluxtube as a quotient of flat space. The resulting configurations correspond to fluxbranes wrapped on cycles in curved spaces. The non-trivial transverse geometry leads in some instances to solutions with asymptotically constant dilaton profiles. We describe explicitly several supersymmetric solutions of this kind. The solutions inherit some properties from their flat space cousins, like flux periodicity. Interestingly type IIA/0A fluxbrane duality holds near the core of these fluxbranes, but does not persist in the asymptotic region, precisely where it would contradict perturbative inequivalence of IIA/0A theories.Comment: 22 pages, latex, no figures. Added reference

Explosive welding technique for joining aluminum and steel tubes

Silver sheet is wrapped around aluminum portion of joint. Mylar powder box is wrapped over silver sheet. Explosion welds silver to aluminum. Stainless-steel tube is placed over silver-aluminum interface. Mylar powder box, covered with Mylar tape, is wrapped around steel member. Explosion welds steel to silver-aluminum interface

Wrapped branes as qubits

Recent work has established a correspondence between the tripartite entanglement measure of three qubits and the macroscopic entropy of the four-dimensional 8-charge STU black hole of supergravity. Here we consider the configurations of intersecting D3-branes, whose wrapping around the six compact dimensions T^6 provides the microscopic string-theoretic interpretation of the charges, and associate the three-qubit basis vectors |ABC>, (A,B,C=0 or 1) with the corresponding 8 wrapping cycles. In particular, we relate a well-known fact of quantum information theory, that the most general real three-qubit state can be parameterized by four real numbers and an angle, to a well-known fact of string theory, that the most general STU black hole can be described by four D3-branes intersecting at an angle.Comment: Version appearing in Phys. Rev. Lett, includes Type IIA description as well as Type II

Wrapping of ellipsoidal nano-particles by fluid membranes

Membrane budding and wrapping of particles, such as viruses and nano-particles, play a key role in intracellular transport and have been studied for a variety of biological and soft matter systems. We study nano-particle wrapping by numerical minimization of bending, surface tension, and adhesion energies. We calculate deformation and adhesion energies as a function of membrane elastic parameters and adhesion strength to obtain wrapping diagrams. We predict unwrapped, partially-wrapped, and completely-wrapped states for prolate and oblate ellipsoids for various aspect ratios and particle sizes. In contrast to spherical particles, where partially-wrapped states exist only for finite surface tensions, partially-wrapped states for ellipsoids occur already for tensionless membranes. In addition, the partially-wrapped states are long-lived, because of an increased energy cost for wrapping of the highly-curved tips. Our results suggest a lower uptake rate of ellipsoidal particles by cells and thereby a higher virulence of tubular viruses compared with icosahedral viruses, as well as co-operative budding of ellipsoidal particles on membranes.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure

Wrapped membranes, matrix string theory and an infinite dimensional Lie algebra

We examine the algebraic structure of the matrix regularization for the wrapped membrane on $R^{10}\times S^1$ in the light-cone gauge. We give a concrete representation for the algebra and obtain the matrix string theory having the boundary conditions for the matrix variables corresponding to the wrapped membrane, which is referred to neither Seiberg and Sen's arguments nor string dualities. We also embed the configuration of the multi-wrapped membrane in matrix string theory.Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure, references added, minor change