2,452 research outputs found
Non-destructive imaging of an individual protein
The mode of action of proteins is to a large extent given by their ability to
adopt different conformations. This is why imaging single biomolecules at
atomic resolution is one of the ultimate goals of biophysics and structural
biology. The existing protein database has emerged from X-ray crystallography,
NMR or cryo-TEM investigations. However, these tools all require averaging over
a large number of proteins and thus over different conformations. This of
course results in the loss of structural information. Likewise it has been
shown that even the emergent X-FEL technique will not get away without
averaging over a large quantity of molecules. Here we report the first
recordings of a protein at sub-nanometer resolution obtained from one
individual ferritin by means of low-energy electron holography. One single
protein could be imaged for an extended period of time without any sign of
radiation damage. Since ferritin exhibits an iron core, the holographic
reconstructions could also be cross-validated against TEM images of the very
same molecule by imaging the iron cluster inside the molecule while the protein
shell is decomposed
Many-body approach to proton emission and the role of spectroscopic factors
The process of proton emission from nuclei is studied by utilizing the
two-potential approach of Gurvitz and Kalbermann in the context of the full
many-body problem. A time-dependent approach is used for calculating the decay
width. Starting from an initial many-body quasi-stationary state, we employ the
Feshbach projection operator approach and reduce the formalism to an effective
one-body problem. We show that the decay width can be expressed in terms of a
one-body matrix element multiplied by a normalization factor. We demonstrate
that the traditional interpretation of this normalization as the square root of
a spectroscopic factor is only valid for one particular choice of projection
operator. This causes no problem for the calculation of the decay width in a
consistent microscopic approach, but it leads to ambiguities in the
interpretation of experimental results. In particular, spectroscopic factors
extracted from a comparison of the measured decay width with a calculated
single-particle width may be affected.Comment: 17 pages, Revte
The geometry of a vorticity model equation
We provide rigorous evidence of the fact that the modified
Constantin-Lax-Majda equation modeling vortex and quasi-geostrophic dynamics
describes the geodesic flow on the subgroup of orientation-preserving
diffeomorphisms fixing one point, with respect to right-invariant metric
induced by the homogeneous Sobolev norm and show the local existence
of the geodesics in the extended group of diffeomorphisms of Sobolev class
with .Comment: 24 page
The curvature of semidirect product groups associated with two-component Hunter-Saxton systems
In this paper, we study two-component versions of the periodic Hunter-Saxton
equation and its -variant. Considering both equations as a geodesic flow
on the semidirect product of the circle diffeomorphism group \Diff(\S) with a
space of scalar functions on we show that both equations are locally
well-posed. The main result of the paper is that the sectional curvature
associated with the 2HS is constant and positive and that 2HS allows for a
large subspace of positive sectional curvature. The issues of this paper are
related to some of the results for 2CH and 2DP presented in [J. Escher, M.
Kohlmann, and J. Lenells, J. Geom. Phys. 61 (2011), 436-452].Comment: 19 page
Right-invariant Sobolev metrics of fractional order on the diffeomorphism group of the circle
In this paper, we study the geodesic flow of a right-invariant metric induced
by a general Fourier multiplier on the diffeomorphism group of the circle and
on some of its homogeneous spaces. This study covers in particular
right-invariant metrics induced by Sobolev norms of fractional order. We show
that, under a certain condition on the symbol of the inertia operator (which is
satisfied for the fractional Sobolev norm for ), the
corresponding initial value problem is well-posed in the smooth category and
that the Riemannian exponential map is a smooth local diffeomorphism.
Paradigmatic examples of our general setting cover, besides all traditional
Euler equations induced by a local inertia operator, the Constantin-Lax-Majda
equation, and the Euler-Weil-Petersson equation.Comment: 40 pages. Corrected typos and improved redactio
Necrotic tumor growth: an analytic approach
The present paper deals with a free boundary problem modeling the growth
process of necrotic multi-layer tumors. We prove the existence of flat
stationary solutions and determine the linearization of our model at such an
equilibrium. Finally, we compute the solutions of the stationary linearized
problem and comment on bifurcation.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
The time singular limit for a fourth-order damped wave equation for MEMS
We consider a free boundary problem modeling electrostatic microelectromechanical systems. The model consists of a fourth-order damped wave equation for the elastic plate displacement which is coupled to an elliptic equation for the electrostatic potential. We first review some recent results on existence and non-existence of steady-states as well as on local and global well-posedness of the dynamical problem, the main focus being on the possible touchdown behavior of the elastic plate. We then investigate the behavior of the solutions in the time singular limit when the ratio between inertial and damping effects tends to zero
Toward a complete theory for predicting inclusive deuteron breakup away from stability
We present an account of the current status of the theoretical treatment of
inclusive reactions in the breakup-fusion formalism, pointing to some
applications and making the connection with current experimental capabilities.
Three independent implementations of the reaction formalism have been recently
developed, making use of different numerical strategies. The codes also
originally relied on two different but equivalent representations, namely the
prior (Udagawa-Tamura, UT) and the post (Ichimura-Austern-Vincent, IAV)
representations.
The different implementations have been benchmarked, and then applied to the
Ca isotopic chain. The neutron-Ca propagator is described in the Dispersive
Optical Model (DOM) framework, and the interplay between elastic breakup (EB)
and non-elastic breakup (NEB) is studied for three Ca isotopes at two different
bombarding energies. The accuracy of the description of different reaction
observables is assessed by comparing with experimental data of on
Ca. We discuss the predictions of the model for the extreme case of
an isotope (Ca) currently unavailable experimentally, though possibly
available in future facilities (nominally within production reach at FRIB). We
explore the use of reactions as surrogates for processes,
by using the formalism to describe the compound nucleus formation in a
reaction as a function of excitation energy, spin, and parity.
The subsequent decay is then computed within a Hauser-Feshbach formalism.
Comparisons between the and induced gamma decay
spectra are discussed to inform efforts to infer neutron captures from
reactions. Finally, we identify areas of opportunity for future
developments, and discuss a possible path toward a predictive reaction theory
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