5,115 research outputs found
Microscopic basis for pattern formation and anomalous transport in two-dimensional active gels
Active gels are a class of biologically-relevant material containing embedded
agents that spontaneously generate forces acting on a sparse filament network.
In vitro experiments of protein filaments and molecular motors have revealed a
range of non- equilibrium pattern formation resulting from motor motion along
filament tracks, and there are a number of hydrodynamic models purporting to
describe such systems. Here we present results of extensive simulations
designed to elucidate the microscopic basis underpinning macroscopic flow in
active gels. Our numerical scheme includes thermal fluctuations in filament
positions, excluded volume interactions, and filament elasticity in the form of
bending and stretching modes. Motors are represented individually as bipolar
springs governed by rate-based rules for attachment, detachment and
unidirectional motion of motor heads along the filament contour. We
systematically vary motor density and speed, and uncover parameter regions
corresponding to unusual statics and dynamics which overlap but do not
coincide. The anomalous statics arise at high motor densities and take the form
of end-bound localized filament bundles for rapid motors, and extended clusters
exhibiting enhanced small-wavenumber density fluctuations and power-law
cluster-size distributions for slow, processive motors. Anomalous dynamics
arise for slow, processive motors over a range of motor densities, and are most
evident as superdiffusive mass transport, which we argue is the consequence of
a form of effective self-propulsion resulting from the polar coupling between
motors and filaments.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures. Minor clarifications and updated/additional
references. To appear in Soft Matte
Zero temperature phase diagram of the square-shoulder system
Particles that interact via a square-shoulder potential, consisting of an
impenetrable hard core with an adjacent, repulsive, step-like corona, are able
to self-organize in a surprisingly rich variety of rather unconventional
ordered structures. Using optimization strategies that are based on ideas of
genetic algorithms we encounter, as we systematically increase the pressure,
the following archetypes of aggregates: low-symmetry cluster and columnar
phases, followed by lamellar particle arrangements, until at high pressure
values compact, high-symmetry lattices emerge. These structures are
characterized in the NPT ensemble as configurations of minimum Gibbs free
energy. Based on simple considerations, i.e., basically minimizing the number
of overlapping coronae while maximizing at the same time the density, the
sequence of emerging structures can easily be understood.Comment: Submitted to J. Chem. Phy
Full-analytic frequency-domain 1pN-accurate gravitational wave forms from eccentric compact binaries
The article provides ready-to-use 1pN-accurate frequency-domain gravitational
wave forms for eccentric nonspinning compact binaries of arbitrary mass ratio
including the first post-Newtonian (1pN) point particle corrections to the
far-zone gravitational wave amplitude, given in terms of tensor spherical
harmonics. The averaged equations for the decay of the eccentricity and growth
of radial frequency due to radiation reaction are used to provide stationary
phase approximations to the frequency-domain wave forms.Comment: 28 pages, submitted to PR
Reconstructing Three-dimensional Structure of Underlying Triaxial Dark Halos From Xray and Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Effect Observations of Galaxy Clusters
While the use of galaxy clusters as {\it tools} to probe cosmology is
established, their conventional description still relies on the spherical
and/or isothermal models that were proposed more than 20 years ago. We present,
instead, a deprojection method to extract their intrinsic properties from X-ray
and Sunyaev--Zel'dovich effect observations in order to improve our
understanding of cluster physics. First we develop a theoretical model for the
intra-cluster gas in hydrostatic equilibrium in a triaxial dark matter halo
with a constant axis ratio. In this theoretical model, the gas density profiles
are expressed in terms of the intrinsic properties of the dark matter halos.
Then, we incorporate the projection effect into the gas profiles, and show that
the gas surface brightness profiles are expressed in terms of the
eccentricities and the orientation angles of the dark halos. For the practical
purpose of our theoretical model, we provide several empirical fitting formulae
for the gas density and temperature profiles, and also for the surface
brightness profiles relevant to X-ray and Sunyaev--Zel'dovich effect
observations. Finally, we construct a numerical algorithm to determine the halo
eccentricities and orientation angles using our model, and demonstrate that it
is possible in principle to reconstruct the 3D structures of the dark halos
from the X-ray and/or Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect cluster data alone without
requiring priors such as weak lensing informations and without relying on such
restrictive assumptions as the halo axial symmetry about the line-of-sight.Comment: Accepted version, new discussions added, typos and minor mistakes
corrected, ApJ in press (2004, Feb. 1 scheduled, Vol. 601, No. 2 issue),26
pages, 7 postscript figure
Deprojection of Rich Cluster Images
We consider a general method of deprojecting 2D images to reconstruct the 3D
structure of the projected object, assuming axial symmetry. The method consists
of the application of the Fourier Slice Theorem to the general case where the
axis of symmetry is not necessarily perpendicular to the line of sight, and is
based on an extrapolation of the image Fourier transform into the so-called
cone of ignorance. The method is specifically designed for the deprojection of
X-ray, Sunyaev-Zeldovich (SZ) and gravitational lensing maps of rich clusters
of galaxies. For known values of the Hubble constant, H0, and inclination
angle, the quality of the projection depends on how exact is the extrapolation
in the cone of ignorance. In the case where the axis of symmetry is
perpendicular to the line of sight and the image is noise-free, the
deprojection is exact. Given an assumed value of H0, the inclination angle can
be found by matching the deprojected structure out of two different images of a
given cluster, e.g., SZ and X-ray maps. However, this solution is degenerate
with respect to its dependence on the assumed H0, and a third independent image
of the given cluster is needed to determine H0 as well. The application of the
deprojection algorithm to upcoming SZ, X-ray and weak lensing projected mass
images of clusters will serve to determine the structure of rich clusters, the
value of H0, and place constraints on the physics of the intra-cluster gas and
its relation to the total mass distribution.Comment: 7 pages, LaTeX, 2 Postscript figures, uses as2pp4.sty. Accepted for
publication in ApJ Letters. Also available at:
http://astro.berkeley.edu:80/~squires/papers/deproj.ps.g
Snell's law for surface electrons: Refraction of an electron gas imaged in real space
On NaCl(100)/Cu(111) an interface state band is observed that descends from
the surface-state band of the clean copper surface. This band exhibits a
Moire-pattern-induced one-dimensional band gap, which is accompanied by strong
standing-wave patterns, as revealed in low-temperature scanning tunneling
microscopy images. At NaCl island step edges, one can directly see the
refraction of these standing waves, which obey Snell's refraction law.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Kinematics of massive star ejecta in the Milky Way as traced by Al
Context. Massive stars form in groups and their winds and supernova explosions create superbubbles up to kpc in size. The fate of their ejecta is of vital importance for the dynamics of the interstellar medium, for chemical evolution models, and the chemical enrichment of galactic halos and the intergalactic medium. However, ejecta kinematics and the characteristic scales in space and time have not been explored in great detail beyond ~10 Ka. Aims: Through measurement of radioactive 26Al with its decay time constant at ~106 years, we aim to trace the kinematics of cumulative massive-star and supernova ejecta independent of the uncertain gas parameters over million-year time scales. Our goal is to identify the mixing time scale and the spatio-kinematics of such ejecta from the pc to kpc scale in our Milky Way. Methods: We use the SPI spectrometer on the INTEGRAL observatory and its observations along the Galactic ridge to trace the detailed line shape systematics of the 1808.63 keV gamma-ray line from 26Al decay. We determine line centroids and compare these to Doppler shift expectations from large-scale systematic rotation around the Galaxy centre, as observed in other Galactic objects. Results: We measure the radial velocities of gas traced by 26Al, averaged over the line of sight, as a function of Galactic longitude. We find substantially higher velocities than expected from Galactic rotation, the average bulk velocity being ~200 km s-1 larger than predicted from Galactic rotation. The observed radial velocity spread implies a Doppler broadening of the gamma-ray line that is consistent with our measurements of the overall line width. We can reproduce the observed characteristics with 26Al sources located along the inner spiral arms, when we add a global blow-out preference into the forward direction away from arms into the inter-arm region, as is expected when massive stars are offset towards the spiral-arm leading edge. With the known connection of superbubbles to the gaseous halo, this implies angular-momentum transfer in the disk-halo system and consequently also radial gas flows. The structure of the interstellar gas above the disk affects how ionizing radiation may escape and ionize intergalactic gas.Peer reviewe
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