107 research outputs found
Structural Properties of the Sliding Columnar Phase in Layered Liquid Crystalline Systems
Under appropriate conditions, mixtures of cationic and neutral lipids and DNA
in water condense into complexes in which DNA strands form local 2D smectic
lattices intercalated between lipid bilayer membranes in a lamellar stack.
These lamellar DNA-cationic-lipid complexes can in principle exhibit a variety
of equilibrium phases, including a columnar phase in which parallel DNA strands
from a 2D lattice, a nematic lamellar phase in which DNA strands align along a
common direction but exhibit no long-range positional order, and a possible new
intermediate phase, the sliding columnar (SC) phase, characterized by a
vanishing shear modulus for relative displacement of DNA lattices but a
nonvanishing modulus for compressing these lattices. We develop a model capable
of describing all phases and transitions among them and use it to calculate
structural properties of the sliding columnar phase. We calculate displacement
and density correlation functions and x-ray scattering intensities in this
phase and show, in particular, that density correlations within a layer have an
unusual dependence on separation r. We
investigate the stability of the SC phase with respect to shear couplings
leading to the columnar phase and dislocation unbinding leading to the lamellar
nematic phase. For models with interactions only between nearest neighbor
planes, we conclude that the SC phase is not thermodynamically stable.
Correlation functions in the nematic lamellar phase, however, exhibit SC
behavior over a range of length scalesComment: 28 pages, 4 figure
The 0 and the pi phase Josephson coupling through an insulating barrier with magnetic impurities
We have studied temperature and field dependencies of the critical current
in the Nb-FeSi-Nb Josephson junction with tunneling
barrier formed by paramagnetic insulator. We demonstrate that in these
junctions the co-existence of both the 0 and the states within one tunnel
junction takes place which leads to the appearance of a sharp cusp in the
temperature dependence similar to the cusp found for the
transition in metallic junctions. This cusp is not related to the
temperature induced transition itself, but is caused by the different
temperature dependencies of the opposing 0 and supercurrents through the
barrier.Comment: Accepted in Physical Review
Mutual intelligibility between closely related languages in Europe
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school
Mutual intelligibility between closely related languages in Europe
By means of a large-scale web-based investigation, we established the degree of mutual intelligibility of 16 closely related spoken languages within the Germanic, Slavic and Romance language families in Europe. We first present the results of a selection of 1833 listeners representing the mutual intelligibility between young, educated Europeans from the same 16 countries where the test languages are spoken. Next, we present the data from a sub-group of listeners who had not learned the test language and had had minimal exposure to it. This allows us to investigate how well the listeners understand the test language on the basis of structural similarities between their own language and the test languages. Finally, we compare the results of the two data sets to the traditional genealogic characterisation of the three language groups. We expect the intelligibility results from the second group of listeners who had had minimal exposure to the test language to be a better reflection of the genealogical characterisation than the results from the larger group who had sometimes been exposed to the test language or had learned it at school
Sliding Phases in XY-Models, Crystals, and Cationic Lipid-DNA Complexes
We predict the existence of a totally new class of phases in weakly coupled,
three-dimensional stacks of two-dimensional (2D) XY-models. These ``sliding
phases'' behave essentially like decoupled, independent 2D XY-models with
precisely zero free energy cost associated with rotating spins in one layer
relative to those in neighboring layers. As a result, the two-point spin
correlation function decays algebraically with in-plane separation. Our
results, which contradict past studies because we include higher-gradient
couplings between layers, also apply to crystals and may explain recently
observed behavior in cationic lipid-DNA complexes.Comment: 4 pages of double column text in REVTEX format and 1 postscript
figur
Stochastic Model for Surface Erosion Via Ion-Sputtering: Dynamical Evolution from Ripple Morphology to Rough Morphology
Surfaces eroded by ion-sputtering are sometimes observed to develop
morphologies which are either ripple (periodic), or rough (non-periodic). We
introduce a discrete stochastic model that allows us to interpret these
experimental observations within a unified framework. We find that a periodic
ripple morphology characterizes the initial stages of the evolution, whereas
the surface displays self-affine scaling in the later time regime. Further, we
argue that the stochastic continuum equation describing the surface height is a
noisy version of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation.Comment: 4 pages, 7 postscript figs., Revtex, to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Classical motion in force fields with short range correlations
We study the long time motion of fast particles moving through time-dependent
random force fields with correlations that decay rapidly in space, but not
necessarily in time. The time dependence of the averaged kinetic energy and
mean-squared displacement is shown to exhibit a large degree of universality;
it depends only on whether the force is, or is not, a gradient vector field.
When it is, p^{2}(t) ~ t^{2/5} independently of the details of the potential
and of the space dimension. Motion is then superballistic in one dimension,
with q^{2}(t) ~ t^{12/5}, and ballistic in higher dimensions, with q^{2}(t) ~
t^{2}. These predictions are supported by numerical results in one and two
dimensions. For force fields not obtained from a potential field, the power
laws are different: p^{2}(t) ~ t^{2/3} and q^{2}(t) ~ t^{8/3} in all dimensions
d\geq 1
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