156 research outputs found
Translocation of structured polynucleotides through nanopores
We investigate theoretically the translocation of structured RNA/DNA
molecules through narrow pores which allow single but not double strands to
pass. The unzipping of basepaired regions within the molecules presents
significant kinetic barriers for the translocation process. We show that this
circumstance may be exploited to determine the full basepairing pattern of
polynucleotides, including RNA pseudoknots. The crucial requirement is that the
translocation dynamics (i.e., the length of the translocated molecular segment)
needs to be recorded as a function of time with a spatial resolution of a few
nucleotides. This could be achieved, for instance, by applying a mechanical
driving force for translocation and recording force-extension curves (FEC's)
with a device such as an atomic force microscope or optical tweezers. Our
analysis suggests that with this added spatial resolution, nanopores could be
transformed into a powerful experimental tool to study the folding of nucleic
acids.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure
Charmonium suppression from purely geometrical effects
The extend to which geometrical effects contribute to the production and
suppression of the and minijet pairs in general is
investigated for high energy heavy ion collisions at SPS, RHIC and LHC
energies. For the energy range under investigation, the geometrical effects
referred to are shadowing and anti-shadowing, respectively. Due to those
effects, the parton distributions in nuclei deviate from the naive
extrapolation from the free nucleon result; . The strength
of the shadowing/anti-shadowing effect increases with the mass number. The
consequences of gluonic shadowing effects for the distribution of
's at GeV, GeV and TeV are
calculated for some relevant combinations of nuclei, as well as the
distribution of minijets at midrapidity for in the final state.Comment: corrected some typos, improved shadowing ratio
Single Cell Kinetics of Phenotypic Switching in the Arabinose Utilization System of E. coli
Inducible switching between phenotypes is a common strategy of bacteria to adapt to fluctuating environments. Here, we analyze the switching kinetics of a paradigmatic inducible system, the arabinose utilization system in E. coli. Using time-lapse fluorescence microscopy of microcolonies in a microfluidic chamber, which permits sudden up-and down-shifts in the inducer arabinose, we characterize the single-cell gene expression dynamics of the araBAD operon responsible for arabinose degradation. While there is significant, inducer-dependent cell-to-cell variation in the timing of the on-switching, the off-switching triggered by sudden removal of arabinose is homogeneous and rapid. We find that rapid off-switching does not depend on internal arabinose degradation. Because the system is regulated via the internal arabinose level sensed by AraC, internal arabinose must be rapidly depleted by leakage or export from the cell, or by degradation via a non-canonical pathway. We explored whether the poorly characterized membrane protein AraJ, which is part of the arabinose regulon and has been annotated as a possible arabinose efflux protein, is responsible for rapid depletion. However, we find that AraJ is not essential for rapid switching to the off-state. We develop a mathematical model for the arabinose system, which quantitatively describes both the heterogeneous on-switching and the homogeneous off-switching. The model also predicts that mutations which disrupt the positive feedback of internal arabinose on the production of arabinose uptake proteins change the heterogeneous on-switching behavior into a homogeneous, graded response. We construct such a mutant and confirm the graded response experimentally. Taken together, our results indicate that the physiological switching behavior of this sugar utilization system is asymmetric, such that off-switching is always rapid and homogeneous, while on-switching is slow and heterogeneously timed at sub-saturating inducer levels
Fano effect of a strongly interacting quantum dot in contact with superconductor
The physics of a system consisting of an Aharonov Bohm (AB) interferometer
containing a single level interacting quantum dot (QD) on one of its arms, and
attached to normal (N) and superconducting (S) leads is studied and elucidated.
Here the focus is directed mainly on N-AB-S junctions but the theory is capable
of studying S-AB-S junctions as well. The interesting physics comes into play
under the conditions that both the Kondo effect in the QD and the the Fano
effect are equally important.It is found the conductance of the junction is
suppressed as the Fano effect becomes more dominant.Comment: 4 pages, Talk to be given at the NATO Conference MQO, Bled, Slovenia
7-10 September 200
The Numerical Renormalization Group Method for correlated electrons
The Numerical Renormalization Group method (NRG) has been developed by Wilson
in the 1970's to investigate the Kondo problem. The NRG allows the
non-perturbative calculation of static and dynamic properties for a variety of
impurity models. In addition, this method has been recently generalized to
lattice models within the Dynamical Mean Field Theory. This paper gives a brief
historical overview of the development of the NRG and discusses its application
to the Hubbard model; in particular the results for the Mott metal-insulator
transition at low temperatures.Comment: 14 pages, 7 eps-figures include
Spectral Statistics and Dynamical Localization: sharp transition in a generalized Sinai billiard
We consider a Sinai billiard where the usual hard disk scatterer is replaced
by a repulsive potential with close to the
origin. Using periodic orbit theory and numerical evidence we show that its
spectral statistics tends to Poisson statistics for large energies when
, while for
it is independent of energy, but depends on . We apply the approach of
Altshuler and Levitov [Phys. Rep. {\bf 288}, 487 (1997)] to show that the
transition in the spectral statistics is accompanied by a dynamical
localization-delocalization transition. This behaviour is reminiscent of a
metal-insulator transition in disordered electronic systems.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Aharonov-Bohm interferometry with quantum dots: scattering approach versus tunneling picture
We address the question of how to model electron transport through closed
Aharonov-Bohm interferometers which contain quantum dots. By explicitly
studying interferometers with one and two quantum dots, we establish the
connection between a tunneling-Hamiltonian formulation on the one hand and a
scattering-matrix approach on the other hand. We prove that, under certain
circumstances, both approaches are equivalent, i.e., both types of models can
describe the same experimental setups. Furthermore, we analyze how the
interplay of the Aharonov-Bohm phase and the orbital phase associated with the
lengths of the interferometers' arms affect transport properties.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, published versio
Fano and Kondo resonance in electronic current through nanodevices
Electronic transport through a quantum dot strongly coupled to electrodes is
studied within a model with two conduction channels. It is shown that multiple
scattering and interference of transmitted waves through both channels lead to
Fano resonance associated with Kondo resonance. Interference effects are also
pronouncedly seen in transport through the Aharonov-Bohm ring with the Kondo
dot, where the current characteristics continuously evolve with the magnetic
flux.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures,a typing error has been correcte
Mutation, selection, and ancestry in branching models: a variational approach
We consider the evolution of populations under the joint action of mutation
and differential reproduction, or selection. The population is modelled as a
finite-type Markov branching process in continuous time, and the associated
genealogical tree is viewed both in the forward and the backward direction of
time. The stationary type distribution of the reversed process, the so-called
ancestral distribution, turns out as a key for the study of mutation-selection
balance. This balance can be expressed in the form of a variational principle
that quantifies the respective roles of reproduction and mutation for any
possible type distribution. It shows that the mean growth rate of the
population results from a competition for a maximal long-term growth rate, as
given by the difference between the current mean reproduction rate, and an
asymptotic decay rate related to the mutation process; this tradeoff is won by
the ancestral distribution.
Our main application is the quasispecies model of sequence evolution with
mutation coupled to reproduction but independent across sites, and a fitness
function that is invariant under permutation of sites. Here, the variational
principle is worked out in detail and yields a simple, explicit result.Comment: 45 pages,8 figure
Correlation effects on electronic transport through dots and wires
We investigate how two-particle interactions affect the electronic transport
through meso- and nanoscopic systems of two different types: quantum dots with
local Coulomb correlations and quasi one-dimensional quantum wires of
interacting electrons. A recently developed functional renormalization group
scheme is used that allows to investigate systems of complex geometry.
Considering simple setups we show that the method includes the essential
aspects of Luttinger liquid physics (one-dimensional wires) as well as of the
physics of local correlations, with the Kondo effect being an important
example. For more complex systems of coupled dots and Y-junctions of
interacting wires we find surprising new correlation effects.Comment: to appear in "Advances in Solid State Physics" Volume 46, Ed. R. Haug
(Springer, 2006
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