Molecular ratchets - verification of the principle of detailed balance

We argue that the recent experiments of Kelly et. al.(Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. Engl. 36, 1866 (1997)) on molecular ratchets, in addition to being in agreement with the second law of thermodynamics, is a test of the principle of detailed balance for the ratchet. We suggest new experiments, using an asymmetric ratchet, to further test the principle. We also point out methods involving a time variation of the temperature to to give it a directional motion

Adhesion-induced phase separation of multiple species of membrane junctions

A theory is presented for the membrane junction separation induced by the adhesion between two biomimetic membranes that contain two different types of anchored junctions (receptor/ligand complexes). The analysis shows that several mechanisms contribute to the membrane junction separation. These mechanisms include (i) the height difference between type-1 and type-2 junctions is the main factor which drives the junction separation, (ii) when type-1 and type-2 junctions have different rigidities against stretch and compression, the ``softer'' junctions are the ``favored'' species, and the aggregation of the softer junction can occur, (iii) the elasticity of the membranes mediates a non-local interaction between the junctions, (iv) the thermally activated shape fluctuations of the membranes also contribute to the junction separation by inducing another non-local interaction between the junctions and renormalizing the binding energy of the junctions. The combined effect of these mechanisms is that when junction separation occurs, the system separates into two domains with different relative and total junction densities.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figure

Southward expansion: The myth of the West in the promotion of Florida, 1876–1900

This article examines the ways in which promoters and developers of Florida, in the decades after Reconstruction, engaged with a popular myth of the West as a means of recasting and selling their state to prospective settlers in the North and Midwest. The myth envisaged a cherished region to the west where worthy Americans could migrate and achieve social and economic independence away from the crowded confines of the East, or Europe. According to state immigration agents, land-promoters and other booster writers, Florida, although a Southern ex-Confederate state, offered precisely these 'western' opportunities for those hard-working Northerners seeking land and an opening for agrarian prosperity. However, the myth, which posited that, in the west, an individual's labour and thrift were rewarded with social and economic improvement, meshed awkwardly with the contemporary emergence of Florida as a popular winter destination for wealthy tourists and invalids seeking leisure and healthfulness away from the North. Yet it also reflected and reinforced promotional notions of racial improvement which would occur with an influx of enterprising Anglo-Americans, who would effectively displace the state's large African American population. In Florida, the myth of the West supported the linked post-Reconstruction processes of state development and racial subjugation

Engineering Analysis of Intermediate Loop and Process Heat Exchanger Requirements to Include Configuration Analysis and Materials Needs

The need to locate advanced hydrogen production facilities a finite distance away from a nuclear power source necessitates the need for an intermediate heat transport loop (IHTL). This IHTL must not only efficiently transport energy over distances up to 500 meters but must also be capable of operating at high temperatures (>850oC) for many years. High temperature, long term operation raises concerns of material strength, creep resistance and general material stability (corrosion resistance). IHTL design is currently in the initial stages. Many questions remain to be answered before intelligent design can begin. The report begins to look at some of the issues surrounding the main components of an IHTL. Specifically, a stress analysis of a compact heat exchanger design under expected operating conditions is reported. Also the results of a thermal analysis performed on two ITHL pipe configurations for different heat transport fluids are presented. The configurations consist of separate hot supply and cold return legs as well as annular design in which the hot fluid is carried in an inner pipe and the cold return fluids travels in the opposite direction in the annular space around the hot pipe. The effects of insulation configurations on pipe configuration performance are also reported. Finally, a simple analysis of two different process heat exchanger designs, one a tube in shell type and the other a compact or microchannel reactor are evaluated in light of catalyst requirements. Important insights into the critical areas of research and development are gained from these analyses, guiding the direction of future areas of research

Simplest random K-satisfiability problem

We study a simple and exactly solvable model for the generation of random satisfiability problems. These consist of $\gamma N$ random boolean constraints which are to be satisfied simultaneously by $N$ logical variables. In statistical-mechanics language, the considered model can be seen as a diluted p-spin model at zero temperature. While such problems become extraordinarily hard to solve by local search methods in a large region of the parameter space, still at least one solution may be superimposed by construction. The statistical properties of the model can be studied exactly by the replica method and each single instance can be analyzed in polynomial time by a simple global solution method. The geometrical/topological structures responsible for dynamic and static phase transitions as well as for the onset of computational complexity in local search method are thoroughly analyzed. Numerical analysis on very large samples allows for a precise characterization of the critical scaling behaviour.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E (Feb 2001). v2: minor errors and references correcte

Instability of a Bose-Einstein Condensate with Attractive Interaction

We study the stability of a Bose-Einstein condensate of harmonically trapped atoms with negative scattering length, specifically lithium 7. Our method is to solve the time-dependent nonlinear Schrodinger equation numerically. For an isolated condensate, with no gain or loss, we find that the system is stable (apart from quantum tunneling) if the particle number N is less than a critical number N_c. For N > N_c, the system collapses to high-density clumps in a region near the center of the trap. The time for the onset of collapse is on the order of 1 trap period. Within numerical uncertainty, the results are consistent with the formation of a "black hole" of infinite density fluctuations, as predicted by Ueda and Huang. We obtain numerically N_c approximately 1251. We then include gain-loss mechanisms, i.e., the gain of atoms from a surrounding "thermal cloud", and the loss due to two- and three-body collisions. The number N now oscillates in a steady state, with a period of about 145 trap periods. We obtain N_c approximately 1260 as the maximum value in the oscillations.Comment: Email correspondence to [email protected] ; 18 pages and 9 EPS figures, using REVTeX and BoxedEPS macro

CMB polarization from secondary vector and tensor modes

We consider a novel contribution to the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background induced by vector and tensor modes generated by the non-linear evolution of primordial scalar perturbations. Our calculation is based on relativistic second-order perturbation theory and allows to estimate the effects of these secondary modes on the polarization angular power-spectra. We show that a non-vanishing B-mode polarization unavoidably arises from pure scalar initial perturbations, thus limiting our ability to detect the signature of primordial gravitational waves generated during inflation. This secondary effect dominates over that of primordial tensors for an inflationary tensor-to-scalar ratio $r<10^{-6}$. The magnitude of the effect is smaller than the contamination produced by the conversion of polarization of type E into type B, by weak gravitational lensing. However the lensing signal can be cleaned, making the secondary modes discussed here the actual background limiting the detection of small amplitude primordial gravitational waves.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, minor changes matching the version to be published in Phys. Rev.

Spectral method for the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation with a harmonic trap

We study the numerical resolution of the time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii equation, a non-linear Schroedinger equation used to simulate the dynamics of Bose-Einstein condensates. Considering condensates trapped in harmonic potentials, we present an efficient algorithm by making use of a spectral Galerkin method, using a basis set of harmonic oscillator functions, and the Gauss-Hermite quadrature. We apply this algorithm to the simulation of condensate breathing and scissors modes.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figure

Concept of temperature in multi-horizon spacetimes: Analysis of Schwarzschild-De Sitter metric

In case of spacetimes with single horizon, there exist several well-established procedures for relating the surface gravity of the horizon to a thermodynamic temperature. Such procedures, however, cannot be extended in a straightforward manner when a spacetime has multiple horizons. In particular, it is not clear whether there exists a notion of global temperature characterizing the multi-horizon spacetimes. We examine the conditions under which a global temperature can exist for a spacetime with two horizons using the example of Schwarzschild-De Sitter (SDS) spacetime. We systematically extend different procedures (like the expectation value of stress tensor, response of particle detectors, periodicity in the Euclidean time etc.) for identifying a temperature in the case of spacetimes with single horizon to the SDS spacetime. This analysis is facilitated by using a global coordinate chart which covers the entire SDS manifold. We find that all the procedures lead to a consistent picture characterized by the following features: (a) In general, SDS spacetime behaves like a non-equilibrium system characterized by two temperatures. (b) It is not possible to associate a global temperature with SDS spacetime except when the ratio of the two surface gravities is rational (c) Even when the ratio of the two surface gravities is rational, the thermal nature depends on the coordinate chart used. There exists a global coordinate chart in which there is global equilibrium temperature while there exist other charts in which SDS behaves as though it has two different temperatures. The coordinate dependence of the thermal nature is reminiscent of the flat spacetime in Minkowski and Rindler coordinate charts. The implications are discussed.Comment: 12 page

Large-scale magnetic fields from inflation in dilaton electromagnetism

The generation of large-scale magnetic fields is studied in dilaton electromagnetism in inflationary cosmology, taking into account the dilaton's evolution throughout inflation and reheating until it is stabilized with possible entropy production. It is shown that large-scale magnetic fields with observationally interesting strength at the present time could be generated if the conformal invariance of the Maxwell theory is broken through the coupling between the dilaton and electromagnetic fields in such a way that the resultant quantum fluctuations in the magnetic field has a nearly scale-invariant spectrum. If this condition is met, the amplitude of the generated magnetic field could be sufficiently large even in the case huge amount of entropy is produced with the dilution factor $\sim 10^{24}$ as the dilaton decays.Comment: 28 pages, 5 figures, the version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D; some references are adde