8,281 research outputs found
Non-local fluctuation correlations in active gels
Many active materials and biological systems are driven far from equilibrium
by embedded agents that spontaneously generate forces and distort the
surrounding material. Probing and characterizing these athermal fluctuations is
essential for understanding the properties and behaviors of such systems. Here
we present a mathematical procedure to estimate the local action of
force-generating agents from the observed fluctuating displacement fields. The
active agents are modeled as oriented force dipoles or isotropic compression
foci, and the matrix on which they act is assumed to be either a compressible
elastic continuum or a coupled network-solvent system. Correlations at a single
point and between points separated by an arbitrary distance are obtained,
giving a total of three independent fluctuation modes that can be tested with
microrheology experiments. Since oriented dipoles and isotropic compression
foci give different contributions to these fluctuation modes, ratiometric
analysis allows us characterize the force generators. We also predict and
experimentally find a high-frequency ballistic regime, arising from individual
force generating events in the form of the slow build-up of stress followed by
rapid but finite decay. Finally, we provide a quantitative statistical model to
estimate the mean filament tension from these athermal fluctuations, which
leads to stiffening of active networks.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures; some clarifications and ammended figure
notation
A statistical analysis of product prices in online markets
We empirically investigate fluctuations in product prices in online markets
by using a tick-by-tick price data collected from a Japanese price comparison
site, and find some similarities and differences between product and asset
prices. The average price of a product across e-retailers behaves almost like a
random walk, although the probability of price increase/decrease is higher
conditional on the multiple events of price increase/decrease. This is quite
similar to the property reported by previous studies about asset prices.
However, we fail to find a long memory property in the volatility of product
price changes. Also, we find that the price change distribution for product
prices is close to an exponential distribution, rather than a power law
distribution. These two findings are in a sharp contrast with the previous
results regarding asset prices. We propose an interpretation that these
differences may stem from the absence of speculative activities in product
markets; namely, e-retailers seldom repeat buy and sell of a product, unlike
traders in asset markets.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 table, proceedings of APFA
Ac Susceptibility and Static Magnetization Measurements of CeRuSi at Small Magnetic Fields and Ultra Low Temperatures
The magnetic properties of CeRuSi at microkelvin temperatures (down
to 170 K) and ultra small magnetic fields ( mT) are
investigated experimentally for the first time. The simultaneously measured ac
susceptibility and static magnetization show neither evidence of the magnetic
ordering, superconductivity down to the lowest temperatures nor conventional
Landau Fermi-Liquid behavior. The results imply the magnetic transition
temperature in undoped CeRuSi is very close to absolute 0 K. The
possibility for proximity of CeRuSi to the quantum critical point
without any doping is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B (Rapid
Communication) and scheduled issue on 1st of May 200
Cosmological Dynamics of a Dirac-Born-Infeld field
We analyze the dynamics of a Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) field in a cosmological
set-up which includes a perfect fluid. Introducing convenient dynamical
variables, we show the evolution equations form an autonomous system when the
potential and the brane tension of the DBI field are arbitrary power-law or
exponential functions of the DBI field. In particular we find scaling solutions
can exist when powers of the field in the potential and warp-factor satisfy
specific relations. A new class of fixed-point solutions are obtained
corresponding to points which initially appear singular in the evolution
equations, but on closer inspection are actually well defined. In all cases, we
perform a phase-space analysis and obtain the late-time attractor structure of
the system. Of particular note when considering cosmological perturbations in
DBI inflation is a fixed-point solution where the Lorentz factor is a finite
large constant and the equation of state parameter of the DBI field is .
Since in this case the speed of sound becomes constant, the solution can
be thought to serve as a good background to perturb about.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, minor corrections, references adde
The Second Survey of the Molecular Clouds in the Large Magellanic Cloud by NANTEN. II. Star Formation
We studied star formation activities in the molecular clouds in the Large
Magellanic Cloud. We have utilized the second catalog of 272 molecular clouds
obtained by NANTEN to compare the cloud distribution with signatures of massive
star formation including stellar clusters, and optical and radio HII regions.
We find that the molecular clouds are classified into three types according to
the activities of massive star formation; Type I shows no signature of massive
star formation, Type II is associated with relatively small HII region(s) and
Type III with both HII region(s) and young stellar cluster(s). The radio
continuum sources were used to confirm that Type I GMCs do not host optically
hidden HII regions. These signatures of massive star formation show a good
spatial correlation with the molecular clouds in a sense they are located
within ~100 pc of the molecular clouds. Among possible ideas to explain the GMC
Types, we favor that the Types indicate an evolutionary sequence; i.e., the
youngest phase is Type I, followed by Type II and the last phase is Type III,
where the most active star formation takes place leading to cloud dispersal.
The number of the three types of GMCs should be proportional to the time scale
of each evolutionary stage if a steady state of massive star and cluster
formation is a good approximation. By adopting the time scale of the youngest
stellar clusters, 10 Myrs, we roughly estimate the timescales of Types I, II
and III to be 6 Myrs, 13 Myrs and 7 Myrs, respectively, corresponding to a
lifetime of 20-30 Myrs for the GMCs with a mass above the completeness limit, 5
x 10^4 Msun.Comment: accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. 20 figures
and 4 tables. Higher resolution color PDF is found at
http://www.a.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~kawamura/research/NANTEN_LMC_2_preprint.pdf
(47 pages,32MB
Protein arginine methyltransferases interact with intraflagellar transport particles and change location during flagellar growth and resorption
© The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Molecular Biology of the Cell 28 (2017): 1208-1222, doi:10.1091/mbc.E16-11-0774.Changes in protein by posttranslational modifications comprise an important mechanism for the control of many cellular processes. Several flagellar proteins are methylated on arginine residues during flagellar resorption; however, the function is not understood. To learn more about the role of protein methylation during flagellar dynamics, we focused on protein arginine methyltransferases (PRMTs) 1, 3, 5, and 10. These PRMTs localize to the tip of flagella and in a punctate pattern along the length, very similar, but not identical, to that of intraflagellar transport (IFT) components. In addition, we found that PRMT 1 and 3 are also highly enriched at the base of the flagella, and the basal localization of these PRMTs changes during flagellar regeneration and resorption. Proteins with methyl arginine residues are also enriched at the tip and base of flagella, and their localization also changes during flagellar assembly and disassembly. PRMTs are lost from the flagella of fla10-1 cells, which carry a temperature-sensitive mutation in the anterograde motor for IFT. The data define the distribution of specific PRMTs and their target proteins in flagella and demonstrate that PRMTs are cargo for translocation within flagella by the process of IFT.This work was supported by National Science Foundation Award MCB 0950402 (R.D.S.), the Ira Allen Eastman (Class of 1829) Professorship at Dartmouth (R.D.S.), which was established in 1910 through a gift to the College by his widow, Jane Eastman, and by a Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research Abroad from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (K.M.)
Dynamics of a scalar field in Robertson-Walker spacetimes
We analyze the dynamics of a single scalar field in
Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with spatial curvature. We obtain the
fixed point solutions which are shown to be late time attractors. In
particular, we determine the corresponding scalar field potentials which
correspond to these stable solutions. The analysis is quite general and
incorporates expanding and contracting universes with both positive and
negative scalar potentials. We demonstrate that the known power law,
exponential, and de-Sitter solutions are certain limits of our general set of
solutions.Comment: 10 pages, v2:references added. Accepted for publication in PR
Finite-Time Singularity Signature of Hyperinflation
We present a novel analysis extending the recent work of Mizuno et al. [2002]
on the hyperinflations of Germany (1920/1/1-1923/11/1), Hungary
(1945/4/30-1946/7/15), Brazil (1969-1994), Israel (1969-1985), Nicaragua
(1969-1991), Peru (1969-1990) and Bolivia (1969-1985). On the basis of a
generalization of Cagan's model of inflation based on the mechanism of
``inflationary expectation'' or positive feedbacks between realized growth rate
and people's expected growth rate, we find that hyperinflations can be
characterized by a power law singularity culminating at a critical time .
Mizuno et al.'s double-exponential function can be seen as a discrete time-step
approximation of our more general nonlinear ODE formulation of the price
dynamics which exhibits a finite-time singular behavior. This extension of
Cagan's model, which makes natural the appearance of a critical time , has
the advantage of providing a well-defined end of the clearly unsustainable
hyperinflation regime. We find an excellent and reliable agreement between
theory and data for Germany, Hungary, Peru and Bolivia. For Brazil, Israel and
Nicaragua, the super-exponential growth seems to be already contaminated
significantly by the existence of a cross-over to a stationary regime.Comment: Latex 21 pages including 2 tables and 7 eps figure
Particle Acceleration, Magnetic Field Generation, and Associated Emission in Collisionless Relativistic Jets
Nonthermal radiation observed from astrophysical systems containing
relativistic jets and shocks, e.g., active galactic nuclei (AGNs), gamma-ray
bursts (GRBs), and Galactic microquasar systems usually have power-law emission
spectra. Recent PIC simulations using injected relativistic electron-ion
(electro-positron) jets show that acceleration occurs within the downstream
jet. Shock acceleration is a ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas.
Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Buneman instability,
other two-streaming instability, and the Weibel instability) created in the
shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration.
The simulation results show that the Weibel instability is responsible for
generating and amplifying highly nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields. These
magnetic fields contribute to the electron's transverse deflection behind the
jet head. The ``jitter'' radiation from deflected electrons has different
properties than synchrotron radiation which assumes a uniform magnetic field.
This jitter radiation may be important to understanding the complex time
evolution and/or spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets, and
supernova remnants.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, contributed talk at the workshop: High Energy
Phenomena in Relativistic Outflows (HEPRO), Dublin, 24-28 September 2007.
Fig. 3 is replaced by the correct versio
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