320 research outputs found
Phosphoproteins and protein-kinase activity in isolated envelopes of pea (Pisum sativum L.) chloroplasts
A protein kinase was found in envelope membranes of purified pea (Pisum sativum L.) chloroplasts. Separation of the two envelope membranes showed that most of the enzyme activity was localized in the outer envelope. The kinase was activated by Mg2+ and inhibited by ADP and pyrophosphate. It showed no response to changes in pH in the physiological range (pH 7-8) or conventional protein substrates. Up to ten phosphorylated proteins could be detected in the envelope-membrane fraction. The molecular weights of these proteins, as determined by polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis were: two proteins higher than 145 kDa, 97, 86, 62, 55, 46, 34 and 14 kDa. The 86-kDa band being the most pronounced. Experiments with separated inner and outer envelopes showed that most labeled proteins are also localized in the outer-envelope fraction. The results indicate a major function of the outer envelope in the communication between the chloroplast and the parent cell
Adenylate effects on protein phosphorylation in the interenvelope lumen of pea chloroplasts
A 64-kilodalton (kDa) protein, situated in the lumen between the inner and outer envelopes of pea (Pisum sativum L.) chloroplasts (Soll and Bennett 1988, Eur. J. Biochem., 175, 301â307) is shown to undergo reversible phosphorylation in isolated mixed envelope vesicles. It is the most conspicuously labelled protein after incubation of envelopes with 33 nmol·1-1 [-32P]ATP whereas incubation with 50 mol·1-1 [-32P]ATP labels most prominently two outer envelope proteins (86 and 23 kDa). Half-maximum velocity for phosphorylation of the 64-kDa protein occurs with 200 nmol·1-1 ATP, and around 40 mol·1-1 ATP for phosphorylation of the 86- and 23-kDa proteins, indicating the operation of two distinct kinases. GGuanosine-, uridine-, cytidine 5-triphosphate and AMP are poor inhibitors of the labelling of the 64-kDa protein with [-32P]ATP. On the other hand, ADP has a potent influence on the extent of labelling (half-maximal inhibition at 1â5 mol·1-1). The ADP-dependent appearance of 32P in ATP indicates that ADP acts by reversal of kinase activity and not as a competitive inhibitor. However, the most rapid loss of 32P from pre-labelled 64-kDa protein occurs when envelope vesicles are incubated with ATP t1/2=15 s at 20 molsd1-1 ATP). This induced turnover of phosphate appears to be responsible for the rapid phosphoryl turnover seen in situ
Suppression of inhomogeneous broadening in rf spectroscopy of optically trapped atoms
We present a novel method for reducing the inhomogeneous frequency broadening
in the hyperfine splitting of the ground state of optically trapped atoms. This
reduction is achieved by the addition of a weak light field, spatially
mode-matched with the trapping field and whose frequency is tuned in-between
the two hyperfine levels. We experimentally demonstrate the new scheme with Rb
85 atoms, and report a 50-fold narrowing of the rf spectrum
Classical and Quantum Consistency of the DGP Model
We study the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model by the method of the boundary
effective action. The truncation of this action to the bending mode \pi
consistently describes physics in a wide range of regimes both at the classical
and at the quantum level. The Vainshtein effect, which restores agreement with
precise tests of general relativity, follows straightforwardly. We give a
simple and general proof of stability, i.e. absence of ghosts in the
fluctuations, valid for most of the relevant cases, like for instance the
spherical source in asymptotically flat space. However we confirm that around
certain interesting self-accelerating cosmological solutions there is a ghost.
We consider the issue of quantum corrections. Around flat space \pi becomes
strongly coupled below a macroscopic length of 1000 km, thus impairing the
predictivity of the model. Indeed the tower of higher dimensional operators
which is expected by a generic UV completion of the model limits predictivity
at even larger length scales. We outline a non-generic but consistent choice of
counterterms for which this disaster does not happen and for which the model
remains calculable and successful in all the astrophysical situations of
interest. By this choice, the extrinsic curvature K_{\mu\nu} acts roughly like
a dilaton field controlling the strength of the interaction and the cut-off
scale at each space-time point. At the surface of Earth the cutoff is \sim 1 cm
but it is unlikely that the associated quantum effects be observable in table
top experiments.Comment: 26 pages, 1 eps figur
Variable-Speed-of-Light Cosmology from Brane World Scenario
We argue that the four-dimensional universe on the TeV brane of the
Randall-Sundrum scenario takes the bimetric structure of Clayton and Moffat,
with gravitons traveling faster than photons instead, while the radion varies
with time. We show that such brane world bimetric model can thereby solve the
flatness and the cosmological constant problems, provided the speed of a
graviton decreases to the present day value rapidly enough. The resolution of
other cosmological problems such as the horizon problem and the monopole
problem requires supplementation by inflation, which may be achieved by the
radion field provided the radion potential satisfies the slow-roll
approximation.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, revised version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Ghost Condensation and a Consistent Infrared Modification of Gravity
We propose a theoretically consistent modification of gravity in the
infrared, which is compatible with all current experimental observations. This
is an analog of Higgs mechanism in general relativity, and can be thought of as
arising from ghost condensation--a background where a scalar field \phi has a
constant velocity, = M^2. The ghost condensate is a new kind of
fluid that can fill the universe, which has the same equation of state, \rho =
-p, as a cosmological constant, and can hence drive de Sitter expansion of the
universe. However, unlike a cosmological constant, it is a physical fluid with
a physical scalar excitation, which can be described by a systematic effective
field theory at low energies. The excitation has an unusual low-energy
dispersion relation \omega^2 \sim k^4 / M^2. If coupled to matter directly, it
gives rise to small Lorentz-violating effects and a new long-range 1/r^2 spin
dependent force. In the ghost condensate, the energy that gravitates is not the
same as the particle physics energy, leading to the possibility of both sources
that can gravitate and antigravitate. The Newtonian potential is modified with
an oscillatory behavior starting at the distance scale M_{Pl}/M^2 and the time
scale M_{Pl}^2/M^3. This theory opens up a number of new avenues for attacking
cosmological problems, including inflation, dark matter and dark energy.Comment: 42 pages, LaTeX 2
Absence of resonant enhancements in some inclusive rates
A toy model is defined and solved perturbatively with the aim of examining
some claimed "resonant" enhancements of certain reaction rates that enter
popular models of leptogenesis. We find: a) that such enhancements are absent;
and b) that the perturbative solution, as done correctly using finite-
temperature field theory, is well defined without the "resumming" procedures
found in the literature. The pathologies that led to the perceived need for
these procedures are an artifact of uncritical use of weighted vacuum cross-
sections in the determination of rates, without adequate attention to the
effects of the medium upon the single particle states within it.Comment: 11 pages, no figures. Some typos corrected. More typos correcte
MSSM Higgs sector CP violation at photon colliders: Revisited
We present a comprehensive analysis on the MSSM Higgs sector CP violation at
photon colliders including the chargino contributions as well as the
contributions of other charged particles. The chargino loop contributions can
be important for the would-be CP odd Higgs production at photon colliders.
Polarization asymmetries are indispensable in determining the CP properties of
neutral Higgs bosons.Comment: 24 pages, 40 figure
Charting the Landscape of Modified Gravity
We explore brane induced gravity on a 3-brane in six locally flat dimensions.
To regulate the short distance singularities in the brane core, we resolve the
thin brane by a cylindrical 4-brane, with the geometry of 4D Minkowski
a circle, which has an axion flux to cancel the vacuum pressure in the compact
direction. We discover a large diversity of possible solutions controlled by
the axion flux, as governed by its boundary conditions. Hence brane induced
gravity models really give rise to a {\it landscape} of vacua, at least
semiclassically. For sub-critical tensions, the crossover scale, below which
gravity may look 4D, and the effective 4D gravitational coupling are sensitive
to vacuum energy. This shows how the vacuum energy problem manifests in brane
induced gravity: instead of tuning the 4D curvature, generically one must tune
the crossover scale. On the other hand, in the near-critical limit, branes live
inside very deep throats which efficiently compactify the angular dimension. In
there, 4D gravity first changes to , and only later to . The crossover
scale saturates at the gravitational see-saw scale, independent of the tension.
Using the fields of static loops on a wrapped brane, we check the perturbative
description of long range gravity below the crossover scale. In sub-critical
cases the scalars are strongly coupled already at the crossover scale even in
the vacuum, because the brane bending is turned on by the axion flux. Near the
critical limit, linearized perturbation theory remains under control below the
crossover scale, and we find that linearized gravity around the vacuum looks
like a scalar-tensor theory.Comment: 47 LaTeX pages, 3 .eps figures, typos fixed to match the published
versio
Neutrino Masses in the Supersymmetric Standard Model with Right-Handed Neutrinos and Spontaneous R-Parity Violation
We propose an extension of the supersymmetric standard model with
right-handed neutrinos and a singlet Higgs field, and study the neutrino masses
in this model. The Majorana masses for the right-handed neutrinos are generated
around the supersymmetry breaking scale through the vacuum expectation value of
the singlet Higgs field. This model may induce spontaneous R-parity violation
via the vacuum expectation value of the right-handed sneutrino. In the case,
the effective theory is similar to a bilinear R-parity violating model. There
are two sources for the neutrino masses: one is this bilinear R-parity breaking
effect, and the other is the ordinary seesaw effect between left- and
right-handed neutrinos. Combining these two effects, the hierarchical neutrino
mass pattern arises even when the neutrino Yukawa matrices are not
hierarchical. We acquire appropriate masses and mixings to explain both the
solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillations.Comment: 22pages, RevTeX, 3 ps figures; a reference adde
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