3,100 research outputs found
Curvature estimates for Weingarten hypersurfaces in Riemannian manifolds
We prove curvature estimates for general curvature functions. As an
application we show the existence of closed, strictly convex hypersurfaces with
prescribed curvature , where the defining cone of is \C_+. is only
assumed to be monotone, symmetric, homogeneous of degree 1, concave and of
class C^{m,\al}, .Comment: 9 pages, v2:final version, to be publishe
Critical properties of the one-dimensional spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model in the presence of a uniform field
In the presence of a uniform field the one-dimensional spin-
antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model develops zero frequency excitations at
field-dependent 'soft mode' momenta. We determine three types of critical
quantities, which we extract from the finite-size dependence of the lowest
excitation energies, the singularities in the static structure factors and the
infrared singularities in the dynamical structure factors at the soft mode
momenta. We also compare our results with the predictions of conformal field
theory.Comment: 12 pages, REVTEX, 7 figures, submitted to Physical Review
VEGF guides angiogenic sprouting utilizing endothelial tip cell filopodia
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-A) is a major regulator of blood vessel formation and function. it controls several processes in endothelial cells, such as proliferation, survival, and migration, but it is not known how these are coordinately regulated to result in more complex morphogenetic events, such as tubular sprouting, fusion, and network formation. We show here that VEGF-A controls angiogenic sprouting in the early postnatal retina by guiding filopodial extension from specialized endothelial cells situated at the tips of the vascular sprouts. The tip cells respond to VEGF-A only by guided migration; the proliferative response to VEGF-A occurs in the sprout stalks. These two cellular responses are both mediated by agonistic activity of VEGF-A on VEGF receptor 2. Whereas tip cell migration depends on a gradient of VEGF-A, proliferation is regulated by its concentration. Thus, vessel patterning during retinal angiogenesis depends on the balance between two different qualities of the extracellular VEGF-A distribution, which regulate distinct cellular responses in defined populations of endothelial cells
The Metal-Enriched Outer Disk of NGC 2915
We present optical emission-line spectra for outlying HII regions in the
extended neutral gas disk surrounding the blue compact dwarf galaxy NGC 2915.
Using a combination of strong-line R23 and direct oxygen abundance
measurements, we report a flat, possibly increasing, metallicity gradient out
to 1.2 times the Holmberg radius. We find the outer-disk of NGC 2915 to be
enriched to a metallicity of 0.4 Z_solar. An analysis of the metal yields shows
that the outer disk of NGC 2915 is overabundant for its gas fraction, while the
central star-foming core is similarly under-abundant for its gas fraction. Star
formation rates derived from very deep ~14 ks GALEX FUV exposures indicate that
the low-level of star formation observed at large radii is not sufficient to
have produced the measured oxygen abundances at these galactocentric distances.
We consider 3 plausible mechanisms that may explain the metal-enriched outer
gaseous disk of NGC 2915: radial redistribution of centrally generated metals,
strong galactic winds with subsequent fallback, and galaxy accretion. Our
results have implications for the physical origin of the mass-metallicity
relation for gas-rich dwarf galaxies.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, accepted to ApJ April 8th, 201
Simulated dynamics of optically pumped dilute nitride 1300 nm spin vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers
The authors report a theoretical analysis of optically pumped 1300 nm dilute nitride spin-polarised vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) using the spin-flip model to determine the regions of stability and instability. The dependence of the output polarisation ellipticity on that of the pump is investigated, and the results are presented in twodimensional contour maps of the pump polarisation against the magnitude of the optical pump. Rich dynamics and various forms of oscillatory behaviour causing self-sustained oscillations in the polarisation of the spin-VCSEL subject to continuouswave pumping have been found because of the competition of the spin-flip processes and birefringence. The authors also reveal the importance of considering both the birefringence rate and the linewidth enhancement factor when engineering a device for high-frequency applications. A very good agreement is found with the experimental results reported by the authors' group. © The Institution of Engineering and Technology 2014
Efficient coupling of photons to a single molecule and the observation of its resonance fluorescence
Single dye molecules at cryogenic temperatures display many spectroscopic
phenomena known from free atoms and are thus promising candidates for
fundamental quantum optical studies. However, the existing techniques for the
detection of single molecules have either sacrificed the information on the
coherence of the excited state or have been inefficient. Here we show that
these problems can be addressed by focusing the excitation light near to the
absorption cross section of a molecule. Our detection scheme allows us to
explore resonance fluorescence over 9 orders of magnitude of excitation
intensity and to separate its coherent and incoherent parts. In the strong
excitation regime, we demonstrate the first observation of the Mollow triplet
from a single solid-state emitter. Under weak excitation we report the
detection of a single molecule with an incident power as faint as 150 attoWatt,
paving the way for studying nonlinear effects with only a few photons.Comment: 6 figure
Importance of exposure route for behavioural responses in Lumbriculus variegatus Müller (Oligochaeta: Lumbriculida) in short-term exposures to Pb
Abstract Goal, Scope and Background Lumbriculus variegatus Müller (Oligochaeta), a common freshwater sediment-dweller, has frequently been used in toxicokinetic studies, although has been less used in ecotoxicity tests. Methods For the first time the Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor® (MFB) was applied in a short-term whole-sediment toxicity test. The MFB automatically and quantitatively recorded the spontaneous locomotory behaviour of Lumbriculus variegatus in exposures with two compartments, water and sediment. The study questioned, whether the animals altered their locomotion depending on the compartment which was spiked with lead (Pb). Results and Discussion As in the exposures to Pb-contaminated water/clean sediment, the animals exposed to Pb-contaminated sediment/clean water showed higher activities in intermediate Pb-concentrations. This indicates, that spontaneous locomotory activity is affected by Pb-concentrations at sublethal levels regardless of whether the Pb-concentration is found in the water or in the sediment, because these animals use both environmental compartments simultaneously. However, within the same Pb-levels, the animals showed higher locomotory activity in contaminated water compared with contaminated sediment. This indicates a possible tendency to withdraw from (‘avoidance’) contaminated water into the clean sediment compartment, whereas there was no withdrawal from contaminated sediment into clean water. The latter might be explained by the fact that withdrawal from sediment to water might increase the risk of predation and drift in nature, whereas retracting to sediment might provide shelter. Conclusions The study showed that spontaneous locomotory responses of L. variegatus to Pb depend on whether the water or sediment is contaminated. The study also concluded that the Multispecies Freshwater Biomonitor® can be applied effectively in sediment toxicity testing. Recommendations and Perspectives More emphasis should be given to the interactions of water/sediment in sediment ecotoxicity tests to better simulate field conditions and increase ecological realism in risk assessment, especially as quantitative recording methods exisit
Global existence problem in -Gowdy symmetric IIB superstring cosmology
We show global existence theorems for Gowdy symmetric spacetimes with type
IIB stringy matter. The areal and constant mean curvature time coordinates are
used. Before coming to that, it is shown that a wave map describes the
evolution of this system
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