3,526 research outputs found
Energy Density of Vortices in the Schroedinger Picture
The one-loop energy density of an infinitely thin static magnetic vortex in
SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is evaluated using the Schroedinger picture. Both the
gluonic fluctuations as well as the quarks in the vortex background are
included. The energy density of the magnetic vortex is discussed as a function
of the magnetic flux. The center vortices correspond to local minima in the
effective potential. These minima are degenerated with the perturbative vacuum
if the fermions are ignored. Inclusion of fermions lifts this degeneracy,
raising the vortex energy above the energy of the perturbative vacuum.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figure
Writhe of center vortices and topological charge -- an explicit example
The manner in which continuum center vortices generate topological charge
density is elucidated using an explicit example. The example vortex
world-surface contains one lone self-intersection point, which contributes a
quantum 1/2 to the topological charge. On the other hand, the surface in
question is orientable and thus must carry global topological charge zero due
to general arguments. Therefore, there must be another contribution, coming
from vortex writhe. The latter is known for the lattice analogue of the example
vortex considered, where it is quite intuitive. For the vortex in the
continuum, including the limit of an infinitely thin vortex, a careful analysis
is performed and it is shown how the contribution to the topological charge
induced by writhe is distributed over the vortex surface.Comment: 33 latex pages, 10 figures incorporating 14 ps files. Furthermore,
the time evolution of the vortex line discussed in this work can be viewed as
a gif movie, available for download by following the PostScript link below --
watch for the cute feature at the self-intersection poin
Dissection of the amyloid formation pathway in AL amyloidosis
In antibody light chain (AL) amyloidosis, overproduced light chain (LC) fragments accumulate as fibrils in organs and tissues of patients. In vitro, AL fibril formation is a slow process, characterized by a pronounced lag phase. The events occurring during this lag phase are largely unknown. We have dissected the lag phase of a patient-derived LC truncation and identified structural transitions that precede fibril formation. The process starts with partial unfolding of the V-L domain and the formation of small amounts of dimers. This is a prerequisite for the formation of an ensemble of oligomers, which are the precursors of fibrils. During oligomerization, the hydrophobic core of the LC domain rearranges which leads to changes in solvent accessibility and rigidity. Structural transitions from an anti-parallel to a parallel beta-sheet secondary structure occur in the oligomers prior to amyloid formation. Together, our results reveal a rate-limiting multi-step mechanism of structural transitions prior to fibril formation in AL amyloidosis, which offers, in the long run, opportunities for therapeutic intervention. AL amyloidosis is caused by the accumulation of overproduced light chain (LC) fragments as fibrils in patient organs and it is the most prevalent systemic amyloidosis. Here, the authors combine biochemical and biophysical experiments to characterise the lag phase of a patient-derived truncated LC and they identify structural transitions that precede fibril formation
Restorative Justice-Informed Moral Acquaintance: Resolving the Dual Role Problem in Correctional and Forensic Practice
The issue of dual roles within forensic and correctional fields has typically been conceptualized as dissonance—experienced by practitioners— when attempting to adhere to the conflicting ethical requirements associated with client well-being and community protection. In this paper, we argue that the dual role problem should be conceptualized more broadly; to incorporate the relationship between the offender and their victim. We also propose that Restorative Justice (RJ) is able to provide a preliminary ethical framework to deal with this common ethical oversight. Furthermore, we unite the RJ framework with that of Ward’s (2013) moral acquaintance model to provide a more powerful approach—RJ informed moral acquaintance—aimed at addressing the ethical challenges faced by practitioners within forensic and correctional roles
A Minimum-Labeling Approach for Reconstructing Protein Networks across Multiple Conditions
The sheer amounts of biological data that are generated in recent years have
driven the development of network analysis tools to facilitate the
interpretation and representation of these data. A fundamental challenge in
this domain is the reconstruction of a protein-protein subnetwork that
underlies a process of interest from a genome-wide screen of associated genes.
Despite intense work in this area, current algorithmic approaches are largely
limited to analyzing a single screen and are, thus, unable to account for
information on condition-specific genes, or reveal the dynamics (over time or
condition) of the process in question. Here we propose a novel formulation for
network reconstruction from multiple-condition data and devise an efficient
integer program solution for it. We apply our algorithm to analyze the response
to influenza infection in humans over time as well as to analyze a pair of ER
export related screens in humans. By comparing to an extant, single-condition
tool we demonstrate the power of our new approach in integrating data from
multiple conditions in a compact and coherent manner, capturing the dynamics of
the underlying processes.Comment: Peer-reviewed and presented as part of the 13th Workshop on
Algorithms in Bioinformatics (WABI2013
Topological Susceptibility of Yang-Mills Center Projection Vortices
The topological susceptibility induced by center projection vortices
extracted from SU(2) lattice Yang-Mills configurations via the maximal center
gauge is measured. Two different smoothing procedures, designed to eliminate
spurious ultraviolet fluctuations of these vortices before evaluating the
topological charge, are explored. They result in consistent estimates of the
topological susceptibility carried by the physical thick vortices
characterizing the Yang-Mills vacuum in the vortex picture. This susceptibility
is comparable to the one obtained from the full lattice Yang-Mills
configurations. The topological properties of the SU(2) Yang-Mills vacuum can
thus be accounted for in terms of its vortex content.Comment: 12 revtex pages, 6 ps figures included using eps
Vortex critical behavior at the de-confinement phase transition
The de-confinement phase transition in SU(2) Yang-Mills theory is revisited
in the vortex picture. Defining the world sheets of the confining vortices by
maximal center projection, the percolation properties of the vortex lines in
the hypercube consisting of the time axis and two spatial axis are studied.
Using the percolation cumulant, the temperature for the percolation transition
is seen to be in good agreement with the critical temperature of the thermal
transition. The finite size scaling function for the cumulant is obtained. The
critical index of the finite size scaling function is consistent with the index
of the 3D Ising model.Comment: 4 pages, 4 PS figures, using revtex4, paragraph and refs added, typo
correcte
Ice XII in its second regime of metastability
We present neutron powder diffraction results which give unambiguous evidence
for the formation of the recently identified new crystalline ice phase[Lobban
et al.,Nature, 391, 268, (1998)], labeled ice XII, at completely different
conditions. Ice XII is produced here by compressing hexagonal ice I_h at T =
77, 100, 140 and 160 K up to 1.8 GPa. It can be maintained at ambient pressure
in the temperature range 1.5 < T < 135 K. High resolution diffraction is
carried out at T = 1.5 K and ambient pressure on ice XII and accurate
structural properties are obtained from Rietveld refinement. At T = 140 and 160
K additionally ice III/IX is formed. The increasing amount of ice III/IX with
increasing temperature gives an upper limit of T ~ 150 K for the successful
formation of ice XII with the presented procedure.Comment: 3 Pages of RevTeX, 3 tables, 3 figures (submitted to Physical Review
Letters
Vortex waistlines and long range fluctuations
We examine the manner in which a linear potential results from fluctuations
due to vortices linked with the Wilson loop. Our discussion is based on exact
relations and inequalities between the Wilson loop and the vortex and electric
flux order parameters. We show that, contrary to the customary naive picture,
only vortex fluctuations of thickness of the order of the spatial linear size
of the loop are capable of producing a strictly linear potential. An effective
theory of these long range fluctuations emerges naturally in the form of a
strongly coupled Z(N) lattice gauge theory. We also point out that dynamical
fermions introduced in this medium undergo chiral symmetry breaking.Comment: 17 pages, LaTex file with 7 eps figures, revised references, minor
comments adde
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