A Kinetic Contribution to the Knowledge of Carbon-rings

A mechanism involving a cyclic intermediate has been suggested by Welsh and Fodor independently. To obtain a deeper insight acyl shifts with (1) 2-acylamidocyclopentanol-cis (2) 2-benzamidocyclohexanol-cis and (3) trans have been -investigated kinetically with hydrochloric acid in dry dioxan

A Kinetic Contribution to the Knowledge of Carbon-rings

A mechanism involving a cyclic intermediate has been suggested by Welsh and Fodor independently. To obtain a deeper insight acyl shifts with (1) 2-acylamidocyclopentanol-cis (2) 2-benzamidocyclohexanol-cis and (3) trans have been -investigated kinetically with hydrochloric acid in dry dioxan

Autonomous engines driven by active matter: Energetics and design principles

Because of its nonequilibrium character, active matter in a steady state can drive engines that autonomously deliver work against a constant mechanical force or torque. As a generic model for such an engine, we consider systems that contain one or several active components and a single passive one that is asymmetric in its geometrical shape or its interactions. Generally, one expects that such an asymmetry leads to a persistent, directed current in the passive component, which can be used for the extraction of work. We validate this expectation for a minimal model consisting of an active and a passive particle on a one-dimensional lattice. It leads us to identify thermodynamically consistent measures for the efficiency of the conversion of isotropic activity to directed work. For systems with continuous degrees of freedom, work cannot be extracted using a one-dimensional geometry under quite general conditions. In contrast, we put forward two-dimensional shapes of a movable passive obstacle that are best suited for the extraction of work, which we compare with analytical results for an idealised work-extraction mechanism. For a setting with many noninteracting active particles, we use a mean-field approach to calculate the power and the efficiency, which we validate by simulations. Surprisingly, this approach reveals that the interaction with the passive obstacle can mediate cooperativity between otherwise noninteracting active particles, which enhances the extracted power per active particle significantly.Comment: 21 pages, 8 figure

Variable - temperature scanning optical and force microscope

The implementation of a scanning microscope capable of working in confocal, atomic force and apertureless near field configurations is presented. The microscope is designed to operate in the temperature range 4 - 300 K, using conventional helium flow cryostats. In AFM mode, the distance between the sample and an etched tungsten tip is controlled by a self - sensing piezoelectric tuning fork. The vertical position of both the AFM head and microscope objective can be accurately controlled using piezoelectric coarse approach motors. The scanning is performed using a compact XYZ stage, while the AFM and optical head are kept fixed, allowing scanning probe and optical measurements to be acquired simultaneously and in concert. The free optical axis of the microscope enables both reflection and transmission experiments to be performed.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, submitted to the journal "Review of Scientific Instruments

Screening of heavy quark free energies at finite temperature and non-zero baryon chemical potential

We analyze the dependence of heavy quark free energies on the baryon chemical potential (mu_b) in 2-flavour QCD using improved (p4) staggered fermions with a bare quark mass of m/T = 0.4. By performing a 6th order Taylor expansion in the chemical potential which circumvents the sign problem. The Taylor expansion coefficients of colour singlet and colour averaged free energies are calculated and from this the expansion coefficients for the corresponding screening masses are determined. We find that for small mu_b the free energies of a static quark anti-quark pair decrease in a medium with a net excess of quarks and that screening is well described by a screening mass which increases with increasing mu_b. The mu_b-dependent corrections to the screening masses are well described by perturbation theory for T > 2 T_c. In particular, we find for all temperatures above T_c that the expansion coefficients for singlet and colour averaged screening masses differ by a factor 2.Comment: 14 page

Modeling the dynamics of a tracer particle in an elastic active gel

The internal dynamics of active gels, both in artificial (in-vitro) model systems and inside the cytoskeleton of living cells, has been extensively studied by experiments of recent years. These dynamics are probed using tracer particles embedded in the network of biopolymers together with molecular motors, and distinct non-thermal behavior is observed. We present a theoretical model of the dynamics of a trapped active particle, which allows us to quantify the deviations from equilibrium behavior, using both analytic and numerical calculations. We map the different regimes of dynamics in this system, and highlight the different manifestations of activity: breakdown of the virial theorem and equipartition, different elasticity-dependent "effective temperatures" and distinct non-Gaussian distributions. Our results shed light on puzzling observations in active gel experiments, and provide physical interpretation of existing observations, as well as predictions for future studies.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

The QCD phase diagram: A comparison of lattice and hadron resonance gas model calculations

We compare the lattice results on QCD phase diagram for two and three flavors with the hadron resonance gas model (HRGM) calculations. Lines of constant energy density $\epsilon$ have been determined at different baryo-chemical potentials $\mu_B$. For the strangeness chemical potentials $\mu_S$, we use two models. In one model, we explicitly set $\mu_S=0$ for all temperatures and baryo-chemical potentials. This assignment is used in lattice calculations. In the other model, $\mu_S$ is calculated in dependence on $T$ and $\mu_B$ according to the condition of vanishing strangeness. We also derive an analytical expression for the dependence of $T_c$ on $\mu_B/T$ by applying Taylor expansion of $\epsilon$. In both cases, we compare HRGM results on $T_c-\mu_B$ diagram with the lattice calculations. The agreement is excellent, especially when the trigonometric function of $\epsilon$ is truncated up to the same order as done in lattice simulations. For studying the efficiency of the truncated Taylor expansion, we calculate the radius of convergence. For zero- and second-order radii, the agreement with lattice is convincing. Furthermore, we make predictions for QCD phase diagram for non-truncated expressions and physical masses. These predictions are to be confirmed by heavy-ion experiments and future lattice calculations with very small lattice spacing and physical quark masses.Comment: 25 pages, 8 eps figure

Technicolor and Beyond: Unification in Theory Space

The salient features of models of dynamical electroweak symmetry breaking are reviewed. The ideal walking idea is introduced according to which one should carefully take into account the effects of the extended technicolor dynamics on the technicolor dynamics itself. The effects amount at the enhancement of the anomalous dimension of the mass of the techniquarks allowing to decouple the Flavor Changing Neutral Currents problem from the one of the generation of the top mass. Precision data constraints are reviewed focussing on the latest crucial observation that the S-parameter can be computed exactly near the upper end of the conformal window (Conformal S-parameter) with relevant consequences on the selection of nature's next strong force. We will then introduce the Minimal Walking Technicolor (MWT) models. In the second part of this review we consider the interesting possibility to marry supersymmetry and technicolor. The reason is to provide a unification of different extensions of the standard model. For example, this means that one can recover, according to the parameters and spectrum of the theory distinct extensions of the standard model, from supersymmetry to technicolor and unparticle physiscs. A surprising result is that a minimal (in terms of the smallest number of fields) supersymmetrization of the MWT model leads to the maximal supersymmetry in four dimensions, i.e. N=4 SYM.Comment: Extended version of the PASCOS10 proceedings for the Plenary Tal