Self-Assembly of Polyhedral Hybrid Colloidal Particles

We have developed a new method to produce hybrid particles with polyhedral shapes in very high yield (liter quantities at up to 70% purity) using a combination of emulsion polymerization and inorganic surface chemistry. The procedure has been generalized to create complex geometries, including hybrid line segments, triangles, tetrahedra, octahedra, and more. The optical properties of these particles are tailored for studying their dynamics and self-assembly. For example, we produce systems that consist of index-matched spheres allowing us to define the position of each elementary particle in three-dimensional space. We present some preliminary studies on the self-assembly of these complex shaped systems based on electron and optical microscopy.Engineering and Applied SciencesPhysic

Odd-even mass differences from self-consistent mean-field theory

We survey odd-even nuclear binding energy staggering using density functional theory with several treatments of the pairing interaction including the BCS, Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov, and the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov with the Lipkin-Nogami approximation. We calculate the second difference of binding energies and compare with 443 measured neutron energy differences in isotope chains and 418 measured proton energy differences in isotone chains. The particle-hole part of the energy functional is taken as the SLy4 Skyrme parametrization and the pairing part of the functional is based on a contact interaction with possible density dependence. An important feature of the data, reproduced by the theory, is the sharp gap quenching at magic numbers. With the strength of the interaction as a free parameter, the theory can reproduce the data to an rms accuracy of about 0.25 MeV. This is slightly better than a single-parameter phenomenological description but slightly poorer than the usual two-parameter phenomenological form C/A^alpha . The following conclusions can be made about the performance of common parametrization of the pairing interaction: (i) there is a weak preference for a surface-peaked neutron-neutron pairing, which might be attributable to many-body effects; (ii) a larger strength is required in the proton pairing channel than in the neutron pairing channel; (iii) pairing strengths adjusted to the well-known spherical isotope chains are too weak to give a good overall fit to the mass differences.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure

Microscopically-based energy density functionals for nuclei using the density matrix expansion: Implementation and pre-optimization

In a recent series of papers, Gebremariam, Bogner, and Duguet derived a microscopically based nuclear energy density functional by applying the Density Matrix Expansion (DME) to the Hartree-Fock energy obtained from chiral effective field theory (EFT) two- and three-nucleon interactions. Due to the structure of the chiral interactions, each coupling in the DME functional is given as the sum of a coupling constant arising from zero-range contact interactions and a coupling function of the density arising from the finite-range pion exchanges. Since the contact contributions have essentially the same structure as those entering empirical Skyrme functionals, a microscopically guided Skyrme phenomenology has been suggested in which the contact terms in the DME functional are released for optimization to finite-density observables to capture short-range correlation energy contributions from beyond Hartree-Fock. The present paper is the first attempt to assess the ability of the newly suggested DME functional, which has a much richer set of density dependencies than traditional Skyrme functionals, to generate sensible and stable results for nuclear applications. The results of the first proof-of-principle calculations are given, and numerous practical issues related to the implementation of the new functional in existing Skyrme codes are discussed. Using a restricted singular value decomposition (SVD) optimization procedure, it is found that the new DME functional gives numerically stable results and exhibits a small but systematic reduction of our test $\chi^2$ function compared to standard Skyrme functionals, thus justifying its suitability for future global optimizations and large-scale calculations.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figure

Instabilities in the Nuclear Energy Density Functional

In the field of Energy Density Functionals (EDF) used in nuclear structure and dynamics, one of the unsolved issues is the stability of the functional. Numerical issues aside, some EDFs are unstable with respect to particular perturbations of the nuclear ground-state density. The aim of this contribution is to raise questions about the origin and nature of these instabilities, the techniques used to diagnose and prevent them, and the domain of density functions in which one should expect a nuclear EDF to be stable.Comment: Special issue "Open Problems in Nuclear Structure Theory" of Jour.Phys.G - accepted. 7 pages, 2 figure

Recent breakthroughs in Skyrme-Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov mass formulas

We review our recent achievements in the construction of microscopic mass tables based on the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method with Skyrme effective interactions. In the latest of our series of HFB-mass models, we have obtained our best fit ever to essentially all the available mass data, by treating the pairing more realistically than in any of our earlier models. The rms deviation on the 2149 measured masses of nuclei with N and Z>8 has been reduced for the first time in a mean field approach to 0.581 MeV. With the additional constraint on the neutron-matter equation of state, this new force is thus very well-suited for the study of neutron-rich nuclei and for the description of astrophysical environments like supernova cores and neutron-star crusts.Comment: Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Exotic Nuclei and Atomic Masses, September 7-13 2008, Ryn (Poland). To appear in the European Physical Journal

Bare vs effective pairing forces. A microscopic finite-range interaction for HFB calculations in coordinate space

We propose a microscopic effective interaction to treat pairing correlations in the $^{1}S_0$ channel. It is introduced by recasting the gap equation written in terms of the bare force into a fully equivalent pairing problem. Within this approach, the proposed interaction reproduces the pairing properties provided by the realistic $AV18$ force very accurately. Written in the canonical basis of the actual Bogolyubov transformation, the force takes the form of an off-shell in-medium two-body matrix in the superfluid phase multiplied by a BCS occupation number $2 \rho_{m}$. This interaction is finite ranged, non local, total-momentum dependent and density dependent. The factor $2 \rho_{m}$ emerging from the recast of the gap equation provides a natural cut-off and makes zero-range approximations of the effective vertex meaningful. Performing such an approximation, the roles of the range and of the density dependence of the interaction can be disentangled. The isoscalar and isovector density-dependences derived ab-initio provide the pairing force with a strong predictive power when extrapolated toward the drip-lines. Although finite ranged and non local, the proposed interaction makes HFB calculations of finite nuclei in coordinate space tractable. Through the two-basis method, its computational cost is of the same order as for a zero-range force.Comment: 43 pages, 13 figures. Published versio

Observation of the lowest energy gamma-ray in any superdeformed nucleus : 196Bi

New results on the superdeformed $^{196}$Bi nucleus a re reported. We have observed with the EUROBALL IV $\gamma$-ray spectrometer array a superdeformed trans ition of 124 keV which is the lowest observed energy $\gamma$-ray in any superdeformed nucleus. We have de velopped microscopic cranked Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations using the SLy4 effective force and a realistic surface p airing which strongly support the $K^\pi=2^-$($\pi$[651]1/2$\otimes \nu$[752]5/2) assignment of this su perdeformed band

On the decay of turbulence in plane Couette flow

The decay of turbulent and laminar oblique bands in the lower transitional range of plane Couette flow is studied by means of direct numerical simulations of the Navier--Stokes equations. We consider systems that are extended enough for several bands to exist, thanks to mild wall-normal under-resolution considered as a consistent and well-validated modelling strategy. We point out a two-stage process involving the rupture of a band followed by a slow regression of the fragments left. Previous approaches to turbulence decay in wall-bounded flows making use of the chaotic transient paradigm are reinterpreted within a spatiotemporal perspective in terms of large deviations of an underlying stochastic process.Comment: ETC13 Conference Proceedings, 6 pages, 5 figure

Recent Duplication and Functional Divergence in Parasitic Nematode Levamisole-Sensitive Acetylcholine Receptors

Helminth parasites rely on fast-synaptic transmission in their neuromusculature to experience the outside world and respond to it. Acetylcholine plays a pivotal role in this and its receptors are targeted by a wide variety of both natural and synthetic compounds used in human health and for the control of parasitic disease. The model, Caenorhabditis elegans is characterized by a large number of acetylcholine receptor subunit genes, a feature shared across the nematodes. This dynamic family is characterized by both gene duplication and loss between species. The pentameric levamisole-sensitive acetylcholine receptor has been characterized from C. elegans, comprised of five different subunits. More recently, cognate receptors have been reconstituted from multiple parasitic nematodes that are found to vary in subunit composition. In order to understand the implications of receptor composition change and the origins of potentially novel drug targets, we investigated a specific example of subunit duplication based on analysis of genome data for 25 species from the 50 helminth genome initiative. We found multiple independent duplications of the unc-29, acetylcholine receptor subunit, where codon substitution rate analysis identified positive, directional selection acting on amino acid positions associated with subunit assembly. Characterization of four gene copies from a model parasitic nematode, Haemonchus contortus, demonstrated that each copy has acquired unique functional characteristics based on phenotype rescue of transgenic C. elegans and electrophysiology of receptors reconstituted in Xenopus oocytes. We found evidence that a specific incompatibility has evolved for two subunits co-expressed in muscle. We demonstrated that functional divergence of acetylcholine receptors, driven by directional selection, can occur more rapidly than previously thought and may be mediated by alteration of receptor assembly. This phenomenon is common among the clade V parasitic nematodes and this work provides a foundation for understanding the broader context of changing anthelmintic drug targets across the parasitic nematodes