91 research outputs found
Qualitative Analysis of Isotropic Curvature String Cosmologies
A complete qualitative study of the dynamics of string cosmologies is
presented for the class of isotopic curvature universes. These models are of
Bianchi types I, V and IX and reduce to the general class of
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes in the limit of vanishing shear isotropy.
A non-trivial two-form potential and cosmological constant terms are included
in the system. In general, the two-form potential and spatial curvature terms
are only dynamically important at intermediate stages of the evolution. In many
of the models, the cosmological constant is important asymptotically and
anisotropy becomes dynamically negligible. There also exist bouncing
cosmologies.Comment: Accepted to Classical and Quantum Gravity, 40 pages, 12 figures (uses
"graphicx" package for figures
Correction: Structure of the Malaria Antigen AMA1 in Complex with a Growth-Inhibitory Antibody
Identifying functionally critical regions of the malaria antigen AMA1 (apical membrane antigen 1) is necessary to understand the significance of the polymorphisms within this antigen for vaccine development. The crystal structure of AMA1 in complex with the Fab fragment of inhibitory monoclonal antibody 1F9 reveals that 1F9 binds to the AMA1 solvent-exposed hydrophobic trough, confirming its importance. 1F9 uses the heavy and light chain complementarity-determining regions (CDRs) to wrap around the polymorphic loops adjacent to the trough, but uses a ridge of framework residues to bind to the hydrophobic trough. The resulting 1F9-AMA1–combined buried surface of 2,470 Å2 is considerably larger than previously reported Fab–antigen interfaces. Mutations of polymorphic AMA1 residues within the 1F9 epitope disrupt 1F9 binding and dramatically reduce the binding of affinity-purified human antibodies. Moreover, 1F9 binding to AMA1 is competed by naturally acquired human antibodies, confirming that the 1F9 epitope is a frequent target of immunological attack
Linearization of homogeneous, nearly-isotropic cosmological models
Homogeneous, nearly-isotropic Bianchi cosmological models are considered.
Their time evolution is expressed as a complete set of non-interacting linear
modes on top of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background model. This connects
the extensive literature on Bianchi models with the more commonly-adopted
perturbation approach to general relativistic cosmological evolution.
Expressions for the relevant metric perturbations in familiar coordinate
systems can be extracted straightforwardly. Amongst other possibilities, this
allows for future analysis of anisotropic matter sources in a more general
geometry than usually attempted.
We discuss the geometric mechanisms by which maximal symmetry is broken in
the context of these models, shedding light on the origin of different Bianchi
types. When all relevant length-scales are super-horizon, the simplest Bianchi
I models emerge (in which anisotropic quantities appear parallel transported).
Finally we highlight the existence of arbitrarily long near-isotropic epochs
in models of general Bianchi type (including those without an exact isotropic
limit).Comment: 31 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to CQ
On the Asymptotic Behaviour of Cosmological Models in Scalar-Tensor Theories of Gravity
We study the qualitative properties of cosmological models in scalar-tensor
theories of gravity by exploiting the formal equivalence of these theories with
general relativity minimally coupled to a scalar field under a conformal
transformation and field redefinition. In particular, we investigate the
asymptotic behaviour of spatially homogeneous cosmological models in a class of
scalar-tensor theories which are conformally equivalent to general relativistic
Bianchi cosmologies with a scalar field and an exponential potential whose
qualitative features have been studied previously. Particular attention is
focussed on those scalar-tensor theory cosmological models, which are shown to
be self-similar, that correspond to general relativistic models that play an
important r\^{o}le in describing the asymptotic behaviour of more general
models (e.g., those cosmological models that act as early-time and late-time
attractors).Comment: 22 pages, submitted to Phys Rev
Gravitational Collapse of Phantom Fluid in (2+1)-Dimensions
This investigation is devoted to the solutions of Einstein's field equations
for a circularly symmetric anisotropic fluid, with kinematic self-similarity of
the first kind, in -dimensional spacetimes. In the case where the radial
pressure vanishes, we show that there exists a solution of the equations that
represents the gravitational collapse of an anisotropic fluid, and this
collapse will eventually form a black hole, even when it is constituted by the
phantom energy.Comment: 10 page
Dynamics of M-Theory Cosmology
A complete global analysis of spatially-flat, four-dimensional cosmologies
derived from the type IIA string and M-theory effective actions is presented. A
non--trivial Ramond-Ramond sector is included. The governing equations are
written as a dynamical system. Asymptotically, the form fields are dynamically
negligible, but play a crucial role in determining the possible intermediate
behaviour of the solutions (i.e. the nature of the equilibrium points). The
only past-attracting solution (source in the system) may be interpreted in the
eleven-dimensional setting in terms of flat space. This source is unstable to
the introduction of spatial curvature.Comment: 13 pages, 4 Postscript figures, uses graphics.sty, submitted to Phys.
Rev.
Exponential potentials and cosmological scaling solutions
We present a phase-plane analysis of cosmologies containing a barotropic
fluid with equation of state , plus a scalar
field with an exponential potential where . In addition to the well-known inflationary
solutions for in which the scalar field energy density tracks that of the barotropic
fluid (which for example might be radiation or dust). We show that the scaling
solutions are the unique late-time attractors whenever they exist. The
fluid-dominated solutions, where at late times, are
always unstable (except for the cosmological constant case ). The
relative energy density of the fluid and scalar field depends on the steepness
of the exponential potential, which is constrained by nucleosynthesis to
. We show that standard inflation models are unable to solve
this `relic density' problem.Comment: 6 pages RevTeX file with four figures incorporated (uses RevTeX and
epsf). Matches published versio
Qualitative Analysis of String Cosmologies
A qualitative analysis is presented for spatially flat, isotropic and
homogeneous cosmologies derived from the string effective action when the
combined effects of a dilaton, modulus, two-form potential and central charge
deficit are included. The latter has significant effects on the qualitative
dynamics. The analysis is also directly applicable to the anisotropic Bianchi
type I cosmology.Comment: 13 pages, 4 postscript figures, accepted to Physical Review
Plant Community Diversity Influences Allocation to Direct Chemical Defence in Plantago lanceolata
Background: Forecasting the consequences of accelerating rates of changes in biodiversity for ecosystem functioning requires a mechanistic understanding of the relationships between the structure of biological communities and variation in plant functional characteristics. So far, experimental data of how plant species diversity influences the investment of individual plants in direct chemical defences against herbivores and pathogens is lacking. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used Plantago lanceolata as a model species in experimental grasslands differing in species richness and composition (Jena Experiment) to investigate foliar concentrations of the iridoid glycosides (IG), catalpol and its biosynthetic precursor aucubin. Total IG and aucubin concentrations decreased, while catalpol concentrations increased with increasing plant diversity in terms of species or functional group richness. Negative plant diversity effects on total IG and aucubin concentrations correlated with increasing specific leaf area of P. lanceolata, suggesting that greater allocation to light acquisition reduced the investment into these carbon-based defence components. In contrast, increasing leaf nitrogen concentrations best explained increasing concentrations of the biosynthetically more advanced IG, catalpol. Observed levels of leaf damage explained a significant proportion of variation in total IG and aucubin concentrations, but did not account for variance in catalpol concentrations. Conclusions/Significance: Our results clearly show that plants growing in communities of varying species richness an
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