7,841 research outputs found
Recurrent microblazar activity in Cygnus X-1?
Recurrent flaring events at X- and soft gamma-ray energies have been recently
reported for the galactic black hole candidate Cygnus X-1. The observed fluxes
during these transient outbursts are far higher than what is observed in
``normal'' episodes. Here we suggest that the origin of this radiation is
non-thermal and produced by inverse Compton interactions between relativistic
electrons in the jet and external photon fields, with a dominant contribution
from the companion star field. The recurrent and relatively rapid variability
could be explained by the precession of the jet, which results in a variable
Doppler amplification.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics Letter
Self-consistent analytic solution for the current and the access resistance in open ion channels.
A self-consistent analytic approach is introduced for the estimation of the access resistance and the current through an open ion channel for an arbitrary number of species. For an ion current flowing radially inward from infinity to the channel mouth, the Poisson-Boltzmann-Nernst-Planck equations are solved analytically in the bulk with spherical symmetry in three dimensions, by linearization. Within the channel, the Poisson-Nernst-Planck equation is solved analytically in a one-dimensional approximation. An iterative procedure is used to match the two solutions together at the channel mouth in a self-consistent way. It is shown that the currentvoltage characteristics obtained are in good quantitative agreement with experimental measurements
Stochastic dynamics of remote knock-on permeation in biological ion channels
Brownian dynamics simulations provide evidence for a remote knock-on mechanism facilitating the permeation of a biological ion channel by an ion that is initially trapped at the selectivity filter (SF). Unlike the case of conventional direct knock-on, the second ion that instigates permeation does not need to enter the channel. Nor does it necessarily take the place of the permeating ion at the SF, and it can even be of a different ionic species. The study is based on the simultaneous, self-consistent, solution of the coupled Poisson and Langevin equations for a simple generic model, taking account of all the charges present. The new permeation mechanism involves electrostatic amplification attributable to the permittivity mismatch between water and protein: the arrival of the instigating ion at the channel entrance reduces the exit barrier for the ion trapped at the SF, facilitating escape
Self-organized enhancement of conductivity in biological ion channels
We discuss an example of self-organization in a biological system. It arises from long-range ion–ion interactions, and it leads us to propose a new kind of enhanced conduction in ion channels. The underlying mechanism involves charge fluctuations near the channel mouth, amplified by the mismatch between the relative permittivities of water and the protein of the channel walls. We use Brownian dynamics simulations to show that, as in conventional 'knock on' permeation, these interactions can strongly enhance the channel current; but unlike the conventional mechanism, the enhancement occurs without the instigating bath ion entering the channel. The transition between these two mechanisms is clearly demonstrated, emphasizing their distinction. A simple model accurately reproduces the observed phenomena. We point out that electrolyte plus protein of low relative permittivity are universal in living systems, so that long-range ion–ion correlations of the kind considered must be common
Ray helicity: a geometric invariant for multi-dimensional resonant wave conversion
For a multicomponent wave field propagating into a multidimensional
conversion region, the rays are shown to be helical, in general. For a
ray-based quantity to have a fundamental physical meaning it must be invariant
under two groups of transformations: congruence transformations (which shuffle
components of the multi-component wave field) and canonical transformations
(which act on the ray phase space). It is shown that for conversion between two
waves there is a new invariant not previously discussed: the intrinsic helicity
of the ray
Hormone trafficking. A case study of growth regulator dynamics
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74950/1/j.1399-3054.1993.tb01811.x.pd
Target mass number dependence of subthreshold antiproton production in proton-, deuteron- and alpha-particle-induced reactions
Data from KEK on subthreshold \bar{\mrm{p}} as well as on and
\mrm{K}^\pm production in proton-, deuteron- and -induced reactions
at energies between 2.0 and 12.0 A GeV for C, Cu and Pb targets are described
within a unified approach. We use a model which considers a nuclear reaction as
an incoherent sum over collisions of varying numbers of projectile and target
nucleons. It samples complete events and thus allows for the simultaneous
consideration of all final particles including the decay products of the
nuclear residues. The enormous enhancement of the \bar{\mrm{p}} cross
section, as well as the moderate increase of meson production in deuteron and
induced compared to proton-induced reactions, is well reproduced for
all target nuclei. In our approach, the observed enhancement near the
production threshold is mainly due to the contributions from the interactions
of few-nucleon clusters by simultaneously considering fragmentation processes
of the nuclear residues. The ability of the model to reproduce the target mass
dependence may be considered as a further proof of the validity of the cluster
concept.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
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