1,704 research outputs found
Robust propagation direction of stresses in a minimal granular packing
By employing the adaptive network simulation method, we demonstrate that the
ensemble-averaged stress caused by a local force for packings of frictionless
rigid beads is concentrated along rays whose slope is consistent with unity:
forces propagate along lines at 45 degrees to the horizontal or vertical. This
slope is shown to be independent of polydispersity or the degree to which the
system is sheared. Further confirmation of this result comes from fitting the
components of the stress tensor to the null stress constitutive equation. The
magnitude of the response is also shown to fall off with the -1/2 power of
distance. We argue that our findings are a natural consequence of a system that
preserves its volume under small perturbations.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures. Some extra clarification and minor improvements.
To appear in EPJ-
Tkachenko modes as sources of quasiperiodic pulsar spin variations
We study the long wavelength shear modes (Tkachenko waves) of triangular
lattices of singly quantized vortices in neutron star interiors taking into
account the mutual friction between the superfluid and the normal fluid and the
shear viscosity of the normal fluid. The set of Tkachenko modes that propagate
in the plane orthogonal to the spin vector are weakly damped if the coupling
between the superfluid and normal fluid is small. In strong coupling, their
oscillation frequencies are lower and are undamped for small and moderate shear
viscosities. The periods of these modes are consistent with the observed
~100-1000 day variations in spin of PSR 1828-11.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, uses RevTex, v2: added discussion/references,
matches published versio
Pinning and collective modes of a vortex lattice in a Bose-Einstein condensate
We consider the ground state of vortices in a rotating Bose-Einstein
condensate that is loaded in a corotating two-dimensional optical lattice. Due
to the competition between vortex interactions and their potential energy, the
vortices arrange themselves in various patterns, depending on the strength of
the optical potential and the vortex density. We outline a method to determine
the phase diagram for arbitrary vortex filling factor. Using this method, we
discuss several filling factors explicitly. For increasing strength of the
optical lattice, the system exhibits a transition from the unpinned hexagonal
lattice to a lattice structure where all the vortices are pinned by the optical
lattice. The geometry of this fully pinned vortex lattice depends on the
filling factor and is either square or triangular. For some filling factors
there is an intermediate half-pinned phase where only half of the vortices is
pinned. We also consider the case of a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate,
where the possible coexistence of the above-mentioned phases further enriches
the phase diagram. In addition, we calculate the dispersion of the low-lying
collective modes of the vortex lattice and find that, depending on the
structure of the ground state, they can be gapped or gapless. Moreover, in the
half-pinned and fully pinned phases, the collective mode dispersion is
anisotropic. Possible experiments to probe the collective mode spectrum, and in
particular the gap, are suggested.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures, changes in section
Colloids with key-lock interactions: non-exponential relaxation, aging and anomalous diffusion
The dynamics of particles interacting by key-lock binding of attached
biomolecules are studied theoretically. Experimental realizations of such
systems include colloids grafted with complementary single-stranded DNA
(ssDNA), and particles grafted with antibodies to cell-membrane proteins.
Depending on the coverage of the functional groups, we predict two distinct
regimes. In the low coverage localized regime, there is an exponential
distribution of departure times. As the coverage is increased the system enters
a diffusive regime resulting from the interplay of particle desorption and
diffusion. This interplay leads to much longer bound state lifetimes, a
phenomenon qualitatively similar to aging in glassy systems. The diffusion
behavior is analogous to dispersive transport in disordered semiconductors:
depending on the interaction parameters it may range from a finite
renormalization of the diffusion coefficient to anomalous, subdiffusive
behavior. We make connections to recent experiments and discuss the
implications for future studies.Comment: v2: substantially revised version, new treatment of localized regime,
19 pages, 10 figure
Kinetic limitations of cooperativity based drug delivery systems
We study theoretically a novel drug delivery system that utilizes the
overexpression of certain proteins in cancerous cells for cell specific
chemotherapy. The system consists of dendrimers conjugated with "keys" (ex:
folic acid) which "key-lock" bind to particular cell membrane proteins (ex:
folate receptor). The increased concentration of "locks" on the surface leads
to a longer residence time for the dendrimer and greater incorporation into the
cell. Cooperative binding of the nanocomplexes leads to an enhancement of cell
specificity. However, both our theory and detailed analysis of in-vitro
experiments indicate that the degree of cooperativity is kinetically limited.
We demonstrate that cooperativity and hence the specificity to particular cell
type can be increased by making the strength of individual bonds weaker, and
suggest a particular implementation of this idea. The implications of the work
for optimizing the design of drug delivery vehicles are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, v3: minor revision
Energy losses of fast heavy-ion projectiles in dense hydrogen plasmas
It has been recently shown that the Bethe-Larkin formula for the energy
losses of fast heavy-ion projectiles in dense hydrogen plasmas is corrected by
the electron-ion correlations [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{101}, 075002 (2008)].
We report numerical estimates of this correction based on the values of
obtained by numerical simulations in [Phys. Rev. E \textbf{61},
3470 (2000)]. We also extend this result to the case of projectiles with
dicluster charge distribution. We show that the experimental visibility of the
electron-ion correlation correction is enhanced in the case of dicluster
projectiles with randomly orientated charge centers. Although we consider here
the hydrogen plasmas to make the effect physically more clear, the
generalization to multispecies plasmas is straightforward.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. International Conference on Strongly Coupled
Coulomb Systems 2008, Camerino (Italy). To appear in J. Phys.
Subject self-determination of the philosophy of evil
В статье дается набросок философии зла, исследующей силы, воздействующей на морального субъекта. Автор дает определение зла как силы, лишенной принципа ее применения.The article gives an outline of the philosophy of evil, which studies forced exerted on the moral subject. The author gives the definition of evil as force without principle of its application
Coulomb Charging Effects in an Open Quantum Dot
Low-temperature transport properties of a lateral quantum dot formed by
overlaying finger gates in a clean one-dimensional channel are investigated.
Continuous and periodic oscillations superimposed upon ballistic conductance
steps are observed, when the conductance G of the dot changes within a wide
range 0<G<6e^2/h. Calculations of the electrostatics confirm that the measured
periodic conductance oscillations correspond to successive change of the total
charge of the dot by . By modelling the transport it is shown that the
progression of the Coulomb oscillations into the region G>2e^2/h may be due to
suppression of inter-1D-subband scattering. Fully transmitted subbands
contribute to coherent background of conductance, while sequential tunneling
via weakly transmitted subbands leads to Coulomb charging of the dot.Comment: 12 pages, RevTeX, 15 eps figures included, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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