8,922 research outputs found
A statistical mechanics description of environmental variability in metabolic networks
Many of the chemical reactions that take place within a living cell are irreversible. Due to evolutionary pressures, the number of allowable reactions within these systems are highly constrained and thus the resulting metabolic networks display considerable asymmetry. In this paper, we explore possible evolutionary factors pertaining to the reduced symmetry observed in these networks, and demonstrate the important role environmental variability plays in shaping their structural organization. Interpreting the returnability index as an equilibrium constant for a reaction network in equilibrium with a hypothetical reference system, enables us to quantify the extent to which a metabolic network is in disequilibrium. Further, by introducing a new directed centrality measure via an extension of the subgraph centrality metric to directed networks, we are able to characterise individual metabolites by their participation within metabolic pathways. To demonstrate these ideas, we study 116 metabolic networks of bacteria. In particular, we find that the equilibrium constant for the metabolic networks decreases significantly in-line with variability in bacterial habitats, supporting the view that environmental variability promotes disequilibrium within these biochemical reaction system
Heavy Quark Fluorescence
Heavy hadrons containing heavy quarks (for example, Upsilon-mesons) feature a
scale separation between the heavy quark mass (about 4.5 GeV for the b-quark)
and the QCD scale (about 0.3 GeV}) that controls effective masses of lighter
constituents. Therefore, as in ordinary molecules, the de-excitation of the
lighter, faster degrees of freedom leaves the velocity distribution of the
heavy quarks unchanged, populating the available decay channels in
qualitatively predictable ways. Automatically an application of the
Franck-Condon principle of molecular physics explains several puzzling results
of Upsilon(5S) decays as measured by the Belle collaboration, such as the high
rate of Bs*-anti Bs* versus Bs*-anti Bs production, the strength of three-body
B-anti B + pion decays, or the dip in B momentum shown in these decays. We
argue that the data is showing the first Sturm-Liouville zero of the
Upsilon(5S) quantum mechanical squared wavefunction, and providing evidence for
a largely b-anti b composition of this meson.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, Figure 2 updated and some typos corrected. To be
published in Physical Review Letter
On the determination of quantum numbers and other topics of exotic baryons
In this talk I look into three different topics, addressing first a method to
determine the quantum numbers of the , then exploiting the
possibility that the is a bound state of and in the third
place I present results on a new resonant exotic baryonic state which appears
as dynamically generated by the Weinberg Tomozawa interaction.Comment: 9 pags. Talk in the NSTAR04 Workshop, Grenoble, march 200
Hadronic aspects of exotic baryons
In this talk I look into three different topics, addressing first the
possibility that the is a bound state of , exploiting the
results of this study to find out the contribution of two meson and one baryon
components in the baryon antidecuplet and in the third place I present results
on a new resonant exotic baryonic state which appears as dynamically generated
by the Weinberg Tomozawa interaction.Comment: Talk at the International Workshop PENTAQUARK0
Thermal Risk Mitigation Testing of the DarkNESS Observatory for Fermi NationalAccelerator Laboratory
This paper presents the prototype design and laboratory test results of the thermal control system for the Dark matter as sterile Neutrino Search Satellite (DarkNESS). A collaboration between Fermilab, CU Aerospace, and the University of Illinois Department of Aerospace Engineeringâs Laboratory for Advanced Space Systems (LASSI), the 6U satellite uses a Skipper CCD to detect weak 3.55 â 3.57 keV X-ray emissions, previously discovered by the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observatories. To minimize read-out noise, the thermal control system incorporates a 10 W integral rotary cryocooler and passive heat transfer elements, maintaining the CCD at an operating temperature of 170 K. Analyses of the Earth\u27s obstruction of the instrumentâs field of view and the impact of external heating on the instrument aperture established performance requirements and attitude constraints for the thermal control system. A high-fidelity test of a preliminary design was performed in a thermal vacuum chamber, prompting modifications to improve the thermal system design margins. This effort precedes the Critical Design Review milestone
"Clumpiness" Mixing in Complex Networks
Three measures of clumpiness of complex networks are introduced. The measures
quantify how most central nodes of a network are clumped together. The
assortativity coefficient defined in a previous study measures a similar
characteristic, but accounts only for the clumpiness of the central nodes that
are directly connected to each other. The clumpiness coefficient defined in the
present paper also takes into account the cases where central nodes are
separated by a few links. The definition is based on the node degrees and the
distances between pairs of nodes. The clumpiness coefficient together with the
assortativity coefficient can define four classes of network. Numerical
calculations demonstrate that the classification scheme successfully
categorizes 30 real-world networks into the four classes: clumped assortative,
clumped disassortative, loose assortative and loose disassortative networks.
The clumpiness coefficient also differentiates the Erdos-Renyi model from the
Barabasi-Albert model, which the assortativity coefficient could not
differentiate. In addition, the bounds of the clumpiness coefficient as well as
the relationships between the three measures of clumpiness are discussed.Comment: 47 pages, 11 figure
"Clumpiness" Mixing in Complex Networks
Three measures of clumpiness of complex networks are introduced. The measures
quantify how most central nodes of a network are clumped together. The
assortativity coefficient defined in a previous study measures a similar
characteristic, but accounts only for the clumpiness of the central nodes that
are directly connected to each other. The clumpiness coefficient defined in the
present paper also takes into account the cases where central nodes are
separated by a few links. The definition is based on the node degrees and the
distances between pairs of nodes. The clumpiness coefficient together with the
assortativity coefficient can define four classes of network. Numerical
calculations demonstrate that the classification scheme successfully
categorizes 30 real-world networks into the four classes: clumped assortative,
clumped disassortative, loose assortative and loose disassortative networks.
The clumpiness coefficient also differentiates the Erdos-Renyi model from the
Barabasi-Albert model, which the assortativity coefficient could not
differentiate. In addition, the bounds of the clumpiness coefficient as well as
the relationships between the three measures of clumpiness are discussed.Comment: 47 pages, 11 figure
Twisted Covariant Noncommutative Self-dual Gravity
A twisted covariant formulation of noncommutative self-dual gravity is
presented. The formulation for constructing twisted noncommutative Yang-Mills
theories is used. It is shown that the noncommutative torsion is solved at any
order of the -expansion in terms of the tetrad and some extra fields of
the theory. In the process the first order expansion in for the
Pleba\'nski action is explicitly obtained.Comment: 23+1 pages, no figures, corrected typos, references and Appendix B is
adde
Electromagnetic semitransparent -function plate: Casimir interaction energy between parallel infinitesimally thin plates
We derive boundary conditions for electromagnetic fields on a
-function plate. The optical properties of such a plate are shown to
necessarily be anisotropic in that they only depend on the transverse
properties of the plate. We unambiguously obtain the boundary conditions for a
perfectly conducting -function plate in the limit of infinite
dielectric response. We show that a material does not "optically vanish" in the
thin-plate limit. The thin-plate limit of a plasma slab of thickness with
plasma frequency reduces to a -function plate
for frequencies () satisfying . We show that the Casimir interaction energy between two parallel perfectly
conducting -function plates is the same as that for parallel perfectly
conducting slabs. Similarly, we show that the interaction energy between an
atom and a perfect electrically conducting -function plate is the usual
Casimir-Polder energy, which is verified by considering the thin-plate limit of
dielectric slabs. The "thick" and "thin" boundary conditions considered by
Bordag are found to be identical in the sense that they lead to the same
electromagnetic fields.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures, references adde
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