1,599 research outputs found
Measurements of Heavy Flavor and Di-electron Production at STAR
Heavy quarks are produced early in the relativistic heavy ion collisions, and
provide an excellent probe into the hot and dense nuclear matter created at
RHIC. In these proceedings, we will discuss recent STAR measurements of heavy
flavor production, to investigate the heavy quark interaction with the medium.
Electromagnetic probes, such as electrons, provide information on the various
stages of the medium evolution without modification by final stage
interactions. Di-electron production measurements by STAR will also be
discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures, proceedings for CPOD201
The relativistic precession of the orbits
The relativistic precession can be quickly inferred from the nonlinear polar
orbit equation without actually solving it.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc
Search and study of Quark Gluon Plasma at the CERN-LHC
The major aim of nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC is to study the
physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark gluon plasma (QGP), formed
in extreme conditions of temperature and energy density. We give a brief
overview of the experimental program and discuss the signatures and observables
for a detailed study of QGP matter.Comment: 15 pages, Invited article for the volume on LHC physics to celebrate
the Platinum Jubilee of the Indian National Science Academy, Edited by
Amitava Datta, Biswarup Mukhopadhyaya and Amitava Raychaudhuri (Jan 2009
An Agent-Based Model of Collective Emotions in Online Communities
We develop a agent-based framework to model the emergence of collective
emotions, which is applied to online communities. Agents individual emotions
are described by their valence and arousal. Using the concept of Brownian
agents, these variables change according to a stochastic dynamics, which also
considers the feedback from online communication. Agents generate emotional
information, which is stored and distributed in a field modeling the online
medium. This field affects the emotional states of agents in a non-linear
manner. We derive conditions for the emergence of collective emotions,
observable in a bimodal valence distribution. Dependent on a saturated or a
superlinear feedback between the information field and the agent's arousal, we
further identify scenarios where collective emotions only appear once or in a
repeated manner. The analytical results are illustrated by agent-based computer
simulations. Our framework provides testable hypotheses about the emergence of
collective emotions, which can be verified by data from online communities.Comment: European Physical Journal B (in press), version 2 with extended
introduction, clarification
Biochemical characterisation of a PL24 ulvan lyase from seaweed-associated Vibrio sp. FNV38
Ulvan is a green macroalgal cell wall polysaccharide that has tremendous potential for valorisation due to its unique composition of sulphated rhamnose, glucuronic acid, iduronic acid and xylose. Several potential applications such as production of biofuels, bioplastics and other value-added products necessitate the breakdown of the polysaccharide to oligomers or monomers. Research on ulvan saccharifying enzymes has been continually increasing over the last decade, with the increasing focus on valorisation of seaweed biomass for a biobased economy. Lyases are the first of several enzymes that are involved in saccharifying the polysaccharide and several ulvan lyases have been structurally and biochemically characterised to enable their effective use in the valorisation processes. This study investigates the whole genome of Vibrio sp. FNV38, an ulvan metabolising organism and biochemical characteristics of a PL24 ulvan lyase that it possesses. The genome of Vibrio sp. FNV38 has a diverse CAZy profile with several genes involved in the metabolism of ulvan, cellulose, agar, and alginate. The enzyme exhibits optimal activity at pH 8.5 in 100 mM Tris–HCl buffer and 30 °C. However, its thermal stability is poor with significant loss of activity after 2 h of incubation at temperatures above 25 °C. Breakdown product analysis reveals that the enzyme depolymerised the polysaccharide predominantly to disaccharides and tetrasaccharides.</p
Apolipoprotein A–I binding to anionic vesicles and lipopolysaccharides: Role for lysine residues in antimicrobial properties
AbstractHuman apolipoprotein A–I (apoA–I) is a 28kDa protein and a major component of high-density lipoproteins, mediating several essential metabolic functions related to heart disease. In the present study the potential protective role against bacterial pathogens was explored. ApoA–I suppressed bacterial growth of Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae. The protein was able to bind lipopolysaccharides and showed a strong preference for bilayer vesicles made of phosphatidylglycerol over phosphatidylcholine. Lysine side chains of apoA–I were acetylated to evaluate the importance of electrostatic forces in the binding interaction with both membrane components. Electrophoresis properties, dot blot analysis, circular dichroism, and fluorescence spectroscopy to probe for changes in protein structure indicated that the acetylated protein displayed a strongly reduced lipopolysaccharide and phosphatidylglycerol binding. A mutant containing only the N-terminal domain of apoA–I also showed a reduced ability to interact with the membrane components, although to a lesser extent. These results indicate the potential for apoA–I to function as an antimicrobial protein and exerts this function through lysine residues
Limiting fragmentation in hadron-hadron collisions at high energies
Limiting fragmentation in proton-proton, deuteron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus
collisions is analyzed in the framework of the Balitsky-Kovchegov equation in
high energy QCD. Good agreement with experimental data is obtained for a wide
range of energies. Further detailed tests of limiting fragmentation at RHIC and
the LHC will provide insight into the evolution equations for high energy QCD.Comment: 28 pages, 10 figures (2 new figures, text slightly expanded, and some
additional references
Final State Interactions in Hypernuclear Decay
We present an update of the One-Meson-Exchange (OME) results for the weak
decay of s- and p-shell hypernuclei (Ref. Phys. Rev. C {\bf 56}, 339 (1997)),
paying special attention to the role played by final state interactions between
the emitted nucleons. The present study also corrects for a mistake in the
inclusion of the and exchange mechanisms, which substantially
increases the ratio of neutron-induced to proton-induced transitions,
. With the most up-to-date model ingredients, we find that
the OME approach is able to describe very satisfactorily most of the measured
observables, including the ratio .Comment: 20 pages, 2 eps figure
Multiplicity Distributions in Canonical and Microcanonical Statistical Ensembles
The aim of this paper is to introduce a new technique for calculation of
observables, in particular multiplicity distributions, in various statistical
ensembles at finite volume. The method is based on Fourier analysis of the
grand canonical partition function. Taylor expansion of the generating function
is used to separate contributions to the partition function in their power in
volume. We employ Laplace's asymptotic expansion to show that any equilibrium
distribution of multiplicity, charge, energy, etc. tends to a multivariate
normal distribution in the thermodynamic limit. Gram-Charlier expansion allows
additionally for calculation of finite volume corrections. Analytical formulas
are presented for inclusion of resonance decay and finite acceptance effects
directly into the system partition function. This paper consolidates and
extends previously published results of current investigation into properties
of statistical ensembles.Comment: 53 pages, 7 figure
Regularization of Non-commutative SYM by Orbifolds with Discrete Torsion and SL(2,Z) Duality
We construct a nonperturbative regularization for Euclidean noncommutative
supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories with four (N= (2,2)), eight (N= (4,4)) and
sixteen (N= (8,8)) supercharges in two dimensions. The construction relies on
orbifolds with discrete torsion, which allows noncommuting space dimensions to
be generated dynamically from zero dimensional matrix model in the
deconstruction limit. We also nonperturbatively prove that the twisted
topological sectors of ordinary supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory are equivalent
to a noncommutative field theory on the topologically trivial sector with
reduced rank and quantized noncommutativity parameter. The key point of the
proof is to reinterpret 't Hooft's twisted boundary condition as an orbifold
with discrete torsion by lifting the lattice theory to a zero dimensional
matrix theory.Comment: 36 pages, references added, minor typos fixe
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