547 research outputs found
Hard sphere-like dynamics in a non hard sphere liquid
The collective dynamics of liquid Gallium close to the melting point has been
studied using Inelastic X-ray Scattering to probe lengthscales smaller than the
size of the first coordination shell. %(momentum transfers, , 15
nm). Although the structural properties of this partially covalent
liquid strongly deviate from a simple hard-sphere model, the dynamics, as
reflected in the quasi-elastic scattering, are beautifully described within the
framework of the extended heat mode approximation of Enskog's kinetic theory,
analytically derived for a hard spheres system. The present work demonstrates
the applicability of Enskog's theory to non hard- sphere and non simple
liquids.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
On the origin of the -transition in liquid Sulphur
Developing a novel experimental technique, we applied photon correlation
spectroscopy using infrared radiation in liquid Sulphur around ,
i.e. in the temperature range where an abrupt increase in viscosity by four
orders of magnitude is observed upon heating within few degrees. This allowed
us - overcoming photo-induced and absorption effects at visible wavelengths -
to reveal a chain relaxation process with characteristic time in the ms range.
These results do rehabilitate the validity of the Maxwell relation in Sulphur
from an apparent failure, allowing rationalizing the mechanical and
thermodynamic behavior of this system within a viscoelastic scenario.Comment: 5 pages, 4 eps figures, accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
Microscopic dynamics and relaxation processes in liquid Hydrogen Fluoride
Inelastic x-ray scattering and Brillouin light scattering measurements of the
dynamic structure factor of liquid hydrogen fluoride have been performed in the
temperature range. The data, analysed using a viscoelastic
model with a two timescale memory function, show a positive dispersion of the
sound velocity between the low frequency value and the high
frequency value . This finding confirms the existence of
a structural () relaxation directly related to the dynamical
organization of the hydrogen bonds network of the system. The activation energy
of the process has been extracted by the analysis of the temperature
behavior of the relaxation time that follows an Arrhenius law.
The obtained value for , when compared with that observed in another
hydrogen bond liquid as water, suggests that the main parameter governing the
-relaxation process is the number of the hydrogen bonds per molecule.Comment: 9 pages and 12 figure
How does fusion hindrance show up in medium-light systems? The case of 48Ca + 48Ca
The fusion excitation function of 48Ca + 48Ca has been measured above and well below the Coulomb barrier, thereby largely extending the energy range of a previous experiment down to very low cross sections. This system has a negative Q-value for compound nucleus formation. The fusion cross section decreases steadily below the barrier with no conspicuous change of slope below 300 μb. Coupled-channels calculations using a Woods–Saxon potential indicate that a large diffuseness parameter is needed to reproduce the sub-barrier cross sections. A close analogy with the case of 36S + 48Ca, with Q>0, is pointed out. The sign of the Q-value does not influence fusion cross sections down to the 300–600 nb leve
Exploring the performance of the spectrometer prisma in heavy zirconium and xenon mass regions
We present results from two recent runs which illustrate the performance of the PRISMA spectrometer in the proximity of the upper limit of its operational interval, namely 96Zr + 124Sn at Elab = 500 MeV and 136Xe + 208Pb at Elab = 930 MeV. In the latter run, the γ array CLARA also allowed us to identify previously unknown γ transitions in the nuclides 136Cs and 134I
On the origine of the Boson peak
We show that the phonon-saddle transition in the ensemble of generalized
inherent structures (minima and saddles) happens at the same point as the
dynamical phase transition in glasses, that has been studied in the framework
of the mode coupling approximation. The Boson peak observed in glasses at low
temperature is a remanent of this transition.Comment: Proceeding of the Pisa conference September 2002, 13 pages+ 4
figures, To be publiched by Journal of Physic
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Viscoelasticity of amyloid plaques in transgenic mouse brain studied by Brillouin microspectroscopy and correlative Raman analysis
Amyloidopathy is one of the most prominent hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the leading cause of dementia worldwide, and is characterized by the accumulation of amyloid plaques in the brain parenchyma. The plaques consist of abnormal deposits mainly composed of an aggregation-prone protein fragment, β-amyloid 1-40/1-42, into the extracellular matrix. Brillouin microspectroscopy is an all-optical contactless technique that is based on the interaction between visible light and longitudinal acoustic waves or phonons, giving access to the viscoelasticity of a sample on a subcellular scale. Here, we describe the first application of micromechanical mapping based on Brillouin scattering spectroscopy to probe the stiffness of individual amyloid plaques in the hippocampal part of the brain of a β-amyloid overexpressing transgenic mouse. Correlative analysis based on Brillouin and Raman microspectroscopy showed that amyloid plaques have a complex structure with a rigid core of β-pleated sheet conformation (β-amyloid) protein surrounded by a softer ring-shaped region richer in lipids and other protein conformations. These preliminary results give a new insight into the plaque biophysics and biomechanics, and a valuable contrast mechanism for the study and diagnosis of amyloidopathy
Remarks on the notion of quantum integrability
We discuss the notion of integrability in quantum mechanics. Starting from a
review of some definitions commonly used in the literature, we propose a
different set of criteria, leading to a classification of models in terms of
different integrability classes. We end by highlighting some of the expected
physical properties associated to models fulfilling the proposed criteria.Comment: 22 pages, no figures, Proceedings of Statphys 2
Beam Test Performance and Simulation of Prototypes for the ALICE Silicon Pixel Detector
The silicon pixel detector (SPD) of the ALICE experiment in preparation at
the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is designed to provide the precise
vertex reconstruction needed for measuring heavy flavor production in heavy ion
collisions at very high energies and high multiplicity. The SPD forms the
innermost part of the Inner Tracking System (ITS) which also includes silicon
drift and silicon strip detectors. Single assembly prototypes of the ALICE SPD
have been tested at the CERN SPS using high energy proton/pion beams in 2002
and 2003. We report on the experimental determination of the spatial precision.
We also report on the first combined beam test with prototypes of the other ITS
silicon detector technologies at the CERN SPS in November 2004. The issue of
SPD simulation is briefly discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, prepared for proceedings of 7th International
Position Sensitive Detectors Conference, Liverpool, Sept. 200
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