1,213 research outputs found
How to Track Protists in Three Dimensions
We present an apparatus optimized for tracking swimming microorganisms in the
size range 10-1000 microns, in three dimensions (3D), far from surfaces, and
with negligible background convective fluid motion. CCD cameras attached to two
long working distance microscopes synchronously image the sample from two
perpendicular directions, with narrowband dark-field or bright-field
illumination chosen to avoid triggering a phototactic response. The images from
the two cameras can be combined to yield 3D tracks of the organism. Using
additional, highly directional broad-spectrum illumination with millisecond
timing control the phototactic trajectories in 3D of organisms ranging from
Chlamydomonas to Volvox can be studied in detail. Surface-mediated hydrodynamic
interactions can also be investigated without convective interference. Minimal
modifications to the apparatus allow for studies of chemotaxis and other taxes.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figure
Fluid dynamics of bacterial turbulence
Self-sustained turbulent structures have been observed in a wide range of
living fluids, yet no quantitative theory exists to explain their properties.
We report experiments on active turbulence in highly concentrated 3D
suspensions of Bacillus subtilis and compare them with a minimal fourth-order
vector-field theory for incompressible bacterial dynamics. Velocimetry of
bacteria and surrounding fluid, determined by imaging cells and tracking
colloidal tracers, yields consistent results for velocity statistics and
correlations over two orders of magnitude in kinetic energy, revealing a
decrease of fluid memory with increasing swimming activity and linear scaling
between energy and enstrophy. The best-fit model parameters allow for
quantitative agreement with experimental data.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Oscillatory Flows Induced by Microorganisms Swimming in Two-dimensions
We present the first time-resolved measurements of the oscillatory velocity
field induced by swimming unicellular microorganisms. Confinement of the green
alga C. reinhardtii in stabilized thin liquid films allows simultaneous
tracking of cells and tracer particles. The measured velocity field reveals
complex time-dependent flow structures, and scales inversely with distance. The
instantaneous mechanical power generated by the cells is measured from the
velocity fields and peaks at 15 fW. The dissipation per cycle is more than four
times what steady swimming would require.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Meso-scale turbulence in living fluids
Turbulence is ubiquitous, from oceanic currents to small-scale biological and
quantum systems. Self-sustained turbulent motion in microbial suspensions
presents an intriguing example of collective dynamical behavior amongst the
simplest forms of life, and is important for fluid mixing and molecular
transport on the microscale. The mathematical characterization of turbulence
phenomena in active non-equilibrium fluids proves even more difficult than for
conventional liquids or gases. It is not known which features of turbulent
phases in living matter are universal or system-specific, or which
generalizations of the Navier-Stokes equations are able to describe them
adequately. Here, we combine experiments, particle simulations, and continuum
theory to identify the statistical properties of self-sustained meso-scale
turbulence in active systems. To study how dimensionality and boundary
conditions affect collective bacterial dynamics, we measured energy spectra and
structure functions in dense Bacillus subtilis suspensions in quasi-2D and 3D
geometries. Our experimental results for the bacterial flow statistics agree
well with predictions from a minimal model for self-propelled rods, suggesting
that at high concentrations the collective motion of the bacteria is dominated
by short-range interactions. To provide a basis for future theoretical studies,
we propose a minimal continuum model for incompressible bacterial flow. A
detailed numerical analysis of the 2D case shows that this theory can reproduce
many of the experimentally observed features of self-sustained active
turbulence.Comment: accepted PNAS version, 6 pages, click doi for Supplementary
Informatio
Direct measurement of the flow field around swimming microorganisms
Swimming microorganisms create flows that influence their mutual interactions
and modify the rheology of their suspensions. While extensively studied
theoretically, these flows have not been measured in detail around any
freely-swimming microorganism. We report such measurements for the microphytes
Volvox carteri and Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The minute ~0.3% density excess
of V. carteri over water leads to a strongly dominant Stokeslet contribution,
with the widely-assumed stresslet flow only a correction to the subleading
source dipole term. This implies that suspensions of V. carteri have features
similar to suspensions of sedimenting particles. The flow in the region around
C. reinhardtii where significant hydrodynamic interaction is likely to occur
differs qualitatively from a "puller" stresslet, and can be described by a
simple three-Stokeslet model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PR
Ultrasonic Methods for Characterizing the Interface in Composites
Micromechanical modeling studies of composite materials have highlighted the need for better characterization of the interface zone in composite materials. Bulk behavior in composites has been predicted to be strongly influenced by the local elastic properties, residual stresses, and adhesion of the interface. Techniques to nondestructively measure these newly perceived quantities of importance do not exist. Thus it is not possible experimentally to (i) confirm the micromechanical model predictions, (ii) explore the relationships between interface properties and processing variables, and (iii) ensure acceptable interface properties in commercially fabricated composites. We report here the current status of a SDIO/ONR funded research program directed at developing experimental techniques for characterizing the interface zone in composites through the use of ultrasonic interface waves [1]
Cronin Effect and High Transver Momentum Suppression in D+Au Collisions
Great interest has attached to recent D+Au, s^(1/2) = 200 A GeV data at RHIC,
obtained with the BRAHMS detector. Between pseudorapidity eta=0 and eta=3.2 the
appropriately defined ratio R[DAu/PP], comparing transverse momentum spectra of
D+Au to P+P exhibits a steady decrease with eta. This diminuition is examined
within a two-stage simulation, the last stage being a purely hadronic, reduced
energy cascade. The result is an adequate description of the data including the
so-called Cronin effect. Additionally there is clear evidence for suppression,
in the second stage, of relatively high transverse momentum, eta=0, leading
mesons, i.e. the Cronin effect, only near mid-rapidity, is appreciably muted by
final state interactions.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure
Fluid dynamics and noise in bacterial cell-cell and cell-surface scattering
Bacterial processes ranging from gene expression to motility and biofilm
formation are constantly challenged by internal and external noise. While the
importance of stochastic fluctuations has been appreciated for chemotaxis, it
is currently believed that deterministic long-range fluid dynamical effects
govern cell-cell and cell-surface scattering - the elementary events that lead
to swarming and collective swimming in active suspensions and to the formation
of biofilms. Here, we report the first direct measurements of the bacterial
flow field generated by individual swimming Escherichia coli both far from and
near to a solid surface. These experiments allowed us to examine the relative
importance of fluid dynamics and rotational diffusion for bacteria. For
cell-cell interactions it is shown that thermal and intrinsic stochasticity
drown the effects of long-range fluid dynamics, implying that physical
interactions between bacteria are determined by steric collisions and
near-field lubrication forces. This dominance of short-range forces closely
links collective motion in bacterial suspensions to self-organization in driven
granular systems, assemblages of biofilaments, and animal flocks. For the
scattering of bacteria with surfaces, long-range fluid dynamical interactions
are also shown to be negligible before collisions; however, once the bacterium
swims along the surface within a few microns after an aligning collision,
hydrodynamic effects can contribute to the experimentally observed, long
residence times. As these results are based on purely mechanical properties,
they apply to a wide range of microorganisms.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, http://www.pnas.org/content/108/27/1094
Strangeness Suppression in Proton-Proton Collisions
We analyse strangeness production in proton-proton (pp) collisions at SPS and
RHIC energies, using the recently advanced NeXus approach. After having
verified that the model reproduces well the existing data, we interpret the
results: strangeness is suppressed in proton-proton collisions at SPS energy as
compared to electron-positron (e+e-) annihilation due to the limited masses of
the strings produced in the reaction, whereas high energy pp and e+e-
collisions agree quantitatively . Thus strangeness suppression at SPS energies
is a consequence of the limited phase-space available in string fragmentation.Comment: 7 Figures, 4 Page
Consistent Treatment of Soft and Hard Processes in Hadronic Interactions
The QCD improved parton model is a very successful concept to treat processes
in hadronic interactions, whenever large partonic transverse momenta are
involved. However, cross sections diverge in the limit p_T -> 0, and the usual
treatment is the definition of a lower cutoff p_T_min, such that processes with
a smaller p_T -- so-called soft processes -- are simply ignored, which is
certainly not correct for example at RHIC energies. A more consistent procedure
amounts to introduce a technical parameter Q_0^2, referred to as soft
virtuality scale, which is nothing but an artificial borderline between soft
and hard physics. We will discuss such a formalism, which coincides with the
improved parton model for high p_T processes and with the phenomenological
treatment of soft scattering, when only small virtualities are involved. The
most important aspect of our approach is that it allows to obtain a smooth
transition between soft and hard scattering, and therefore no artificial
dependence on a cutoff parameter should appear.Comment: 19 pages, 19 figure
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