290 research outputs found
Comment on "Deuterium--tritium fusion reactors without external fusion breeding" by Eliezer et al
Inclusion of inverse Compton effects in the calculation of
deuterium-deuterium burn under the extreme conditions considered by Eliezer et
al. [Phys. Lett. A 243 (1998) 298] are shown to decrease the maximum burn
temperature from about 300 keV to only 100--150 keV. This decrease is such that
tritium breeding by the DD --> T + p reaction is not sufficient to replace the
small amount of tritium that is initially added to the deuterium plasma in
order to trigger ignition at less than 10 keV.Comment: 6 pages, 1 tabl
The classical point-electron in Colombeau's theory of nonlinear generalized functions
The electric and magnetic fields of a pole-dipole singularity attributed to a
point-electron-singularity in the Maxwell field are expressed in a Colombeau
algebra of generalized functions. This enables one to calculate dynamical
quantities quadratic in the fields which are otherwise mathematically
ill-defined: The self-energy (i.e., `mass'), the self-angular momentum (i.e.,
`spin'), the self-momentum (i.e., `hidden momentum'), and the self-force. While
the total self-force and self-momentum are zero, therefore insuring that the
electron-singularity is stable, the mass and the spin are diverging integrals
of delta-squared-functions. Yet, after renormalization according to standard
prescriptions, the expressions for mass and spin are consistent with quantum
theory, including the requirement of a gyromagnetic ratio greater than one. The
most striking result, however, is that the electric and magnetic fields differ
from the classical monopolar and dipolar fields by delta-function terms which
are usually considered as insignificant, while in a Colombeau algebra these
terms are precisely the sources of the mechanical mass and spin of the
electron-singularity.Comment: 30 pages. Final published version with a few minor correction
Generalized second-order partial derivatives of 1/r
The generalized second-order partial derivatives of 1/r, where r is the
radial distance in 3D, are obtained using a result of the potential theory of
classical analysis. Some non-spherical regularization alternatives to the
standard spherical-regularization expression for the derivatives are derived.
The utility of a spheroidal-regularization expression is illustrated on an
example from classical electrodynamics.Comment: 12 pages; as accepted for publication by European Journal of Physic
Matter effects in the D0-D0bar system
We discuss the impact of matter effects in the D0-D0bar system. We show that
such effects could, in principle, be measured, but that they cannot be used to
probe the mass difference x_D or the lifetime difference y_D. This occurs
because the mixing effects and the matter effects decouple at short times. We
also comment briefly on the B systems.Comment: 6 pages, RevTe
Cornelius Lanczos's derivation of the usual action integral of classical electrodynamics
The usual action integral of classical electrodynamics is derived starting
from Lanczos's electrodynamics -- a pure field theory in which charged
particles are identified with singularities of the homogeneous Maxwell's
equations interpreted as a generalization of the Cauchy-Riemann regularity
conditions from complex to biquaternion functions of four complex variables. It
is shown that contrary to the usual theory based on the inhomogeneous Maxwell's
equations, in which charged particles are identified with the sources, there is
no divergence in the self-interaction so that the mass is finite, and that the
only approximation made in the derivation are the usual conditions required for
the internal consistency of classical electrodynamics. Moreover, it is found
that the radius of the boundary surface enclosing a singularity interpreted as
an electron is on the same order as that of the hypothetical "bag" confining
the quarks in a hadron, so that Lanczos's electrodynamics is engaging the
reconsideration of many fundamental concepts related to the nature of
elementary particles.Comment: 16 pages. Final version to be published in "Foundations of Physics
Rsp5/​Nedd4 is the main ubiquitin ligase that targets cytosolic misfolded proteins following heat stress
The heat-shock response is a complex cellular program that induces major changes in protein translation, folding and degradation to alleviate toxicity caused by protein misfolding. Although heat shock has been widely used to study proteostasis, it remained unclear how misfolded proteins are targeted for proteolysis in these conditions. We found that ​Rsp5 and its mammalian homologue ​Nedd4 are important E3 ligases responsible for the increased ubiquitylation induced by heat stress. We determined that ​Rsp5 ubiquitylates mainly cytosolic misfolded proteins upon heat shock for proteasome degradation. We found that ubiquitylation of heat-induced substrates requires the Hsp40 co-chaperone ​Ydj1 that is further associated with ​Rsp5 upon heat shock. In addition, ubiquitylation is also promoted by PY ​Rsp5-binding motifs found primarily in the structured regions of stress-induced substrates, which can act as heat-induced degrons. Our results support a bipartite recognition mechanism combining direct and chaperone-dependent ubiquitylation of misfolded cytosolic proteins by ​Rsp5
Maxwell Fields and Shear-Free Null Geodesic Congruences
We study and report on the class of vacuum Maxwell fields in Minkowski space
that possess a non-degenerate, diverging, principle null vector field (null
eigenvector field of the Maxwell tensor) that is tangent to a shear-free null
geodesics congruence. These congruences can be either surface forming (the
tangent vectors proportional to gradients) or not, i.e., the twisting
congruences. In the non-twisting case, the associated Maxwell fields are
precisely the Lienard-Wiechert fields, i.e., those Maxwell fields arising from
an electric monopole moving on an arbitrary worldline. The null geodesic
congruence is given by the generators of the light-cones with apex on the
world-line. The twisting case is much richer, more interesting and far more
complicated. In a twisting subcase, where our main interests lie, it can be
given the following strange interpretation. If we allow the real Minkowski
space to be complexified so that the real Minkowski coordinates x^a take
complex values, i.e., x^a => z^a=x^a+iy^a with complex metric g=eta_abdz^adz^b,
the real vacuum Maxwell equations can be extended into the complex and
rewritten as curlW =iWdot, divW with W =E+iB. This subcase of Maxwell fields
can then be extended into the complex so as to have as source, a complex
analytic world-line, i.e., to now become complex Lienard-Wiechart fields. When
viewed as real fields on the real Minkowski space, z^a=x^a, they possess a real
principle null vector that is shear-free but twisting and diverging. The twist
is a measure of how far the complex world-line is from the real 'slice'. Most
Maxwell fields in this subcase are asymptotically flat with a time-varying set
of electric and magnetic moments, all depending on the complex displacements
and the complex velocities.Comment: 3
Topological dissection of the membrane transport protein Mhp1 derived from cysteine accessibility and mass spectrometry
Cys accessibility and quantitative intact mass spectrometry (MS) analyses have been devised to study the topological transitions of Mhp1, the membrane protein for sodium-linked transport of hydantoins from Microbacterium liquefaciens. Mhp1 has been crystallised in three forms (outward-facing open, outward-facing occluded with substrate bound, and inward-facing open). We show that one natural cysteine residue, Cys327, out of three, has an enhanced solvent accessibility in the inward-facing (relative to the outward-facing) form. Reaction of the purified protein, in detergent, with the thiol-reactive N-ethylmalemide (NEM), results in modification of Cys327, suggesting that Mhp1 adopts predominantly inward-facing conformations. Addition of either sodium ions or the substrate 5-benzyl-L-hydantoin (L-BH) does not shift this conformational equilibrium, but, systematic co-addition of the two results in an attenuation of labelling, indicating a shift toward outward-facing conformations that can be interpreted using conventional enzyme kinetic analyses. Such measurements can afford the Km for each ligand as well as the stoichiometry of ion-substrate coupled conformational changes. Mutations that perturb the substrate binding site either result in the protein being unable to adopt outward-facing conformations or in a global destabilisation of structure. The methodology combines covalent labeling, mass spectrometry and kinetic analyses in a straightforward workflow applicable to a range of systems, enabling the interrogation of changes in a protein’s conformation required for function at varied concentrations of substrates, and the consequences of mutations on these conformational transitions
Multiplication of Distributions and Nonperturbative Calculations of Transition Probabilities
In a mathematical context in which one can multiply distributions the
"`formal"' nonperturbative canonical Hamiltonian formalism in Quantum Field
Theory makes sense mathematically, which can be understood a priori from the
fact the so called "`infinite quantities"' make sense unambiguously (but are
not classical real numbers). The perturbation series does not make sense. A
novelty appears when one starts to compute the transition probabilities. The
transition probabilities have to be computed in a nonperturbative way which, at
least in simplified mathematical examples (even those looking like
nonrenormalizable series), gives real values between 0 and 1 capable to
represent probabilities. However these calculations should be done numerically
and we have only been able to compute simplified mathematical examples due to
the fact these calculations appear very demanding in the physically significant
situation with an infinite dimensional Fock space and the QFT operators
Color Transparency versus Quantum Coherence in Electroproduction of Vector Mesons off Nuclei
So far no theoretical tool for the comprehensive description of exclusive
electroproduction of vector mesons off nuclei at medium energies has been
developed. We suggest a light-cone QCD formalism which is valid at any energy
and incorporates formation effects (color transparency), the coherence length
and the gluon shadowing. At medium energies color transparency (CT) and the
onset of coherence length (CL) effects are not easily separated. Indeed,
although nuclear transparency measured by the HERMES experiment rises with Q^2,
it agrees with predictions of the vector dominance model (VDM) without any CT
effects. Our new results and observations are: (i) the good agreement with the
VDM found earlier is accidental and related to the specific correlation between
Q^2 and CL for HERMES kinematics; (ii) CT effects are much larger than have
been estimated earlier within the two channel approximation. They are even
stronger at low than at high energies and can be easily identified by HERMES or
at JLab; (iii) gluon shadowing which is important at high energies is
calculated and included; (iv) our parameter-free calculations explain well
available data for variation of nuclear transparency with virtuality and energy
of the photon; (v) predictions for electroproduction of \rho and \phi are
provided for future measurements at HERMES and JLab.Comment: Latex 57 pages and 17 figure
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