4,940 research outputs found
Mass, radius, and composition of the outer crust of nonaccreting cold neutron stars
The properties and composition of the outer crust of nonaccreting cold
neutron stars are studied by applying the model of Baym, Pethick, and
Sutherland, which was extended by including higher order corrections of the
atomic binding, screening, exchange and zero-point energy. The most recent
experimental nuclear data from the atomic mass table of Audi, Wapstra, and
Thibault from 2003 is used. Extrapolation to the drip line is utilized by
various state-of-the-art theoretical nuclear models (finite range droplet,
relativistic nuclear field and non-relativistic Skyrme Hartree-Fock
parameterizations). The different nuclear models are compared with respect to
the mass and radius of the outer crust for different neutron star
configurations and the nuclear compositions of the outer crust.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, submitted to J. Phys. G, part of the proceedings
of the Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics III conference in Dresde
Some properties of convection in hybrid stars
It is shown that the unusual thermodynamic properties of matter within the
region of two-phase coexistence in hybrid stars result in a change of the
standard condition for beginning of convection. In particular, the thermal flux
transported by convection may be directed towards the stellar center. We
discuss favorable circumstances leading to such an effect of "inverse
convection" and its possible influence on the thermal evolution of hybrid
stars.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. The discussion is extended according to referees
suggestions. New references added. Accepted to MNRA
A potential route to hydrogel multifunctionalization utilizing encapsulation of acrylate-conjugated streptavidin
Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (p. 18).Biologically active materials providing a range of applications from tissue engineering to microdevices have begun to revolutionize biomedical science. New chemistries, however, must be developed for functionalization of these materials with each different molecule. This paper explores a technique for developing multi-functional, biologically active hydrogels utilizing the high streptavidin-biotin binding affinity. Streptavidin was conjugated to acryl-PEG-N-hydroxysuccinimide, a commercially available molecule that allows chemical binding to poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) diacrylate and dextran acrylate hydrogels. Such gels were made by photocrosslinking solutions of APN and streptavidin conjugated at various molar ratios, along with a gelling polymer under an ultraviolet (UV) lamp. Acryl group conjugation was confirmed through high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and mass spectrometry. Protein binding was assayed through the use of rhodamine-labeled streptavidin and fluorescent microscopy. Gels were incubated overnight in solution to determine diffusion. After 7 days, PEG showed no diffusion while dextran acrylate demonstrated 100% protein loss.by Elizabeth Hempel.S.B
Cellular excitability and the regulation of functional neuronal identity: from gene expression to neuromodulation
The intrinsic properties of a neuron determine the translation of synaptic input to axonal output. It is this input– output relationship that is the heart of all nervous system activity. As such, the overall regulation of the intrinsic excitability of a neuron directly determines the output of that neuron at a given point in time, giving the cell a unique “functional identity.” To maintain this distinct functional output, neurons must adapt to changing patterns of synaptic excitation. These adaptations are essential to prevent neurons from either falling silent as synaptic excitation falls or becoming saturated as excitation increases. In the absence of stabilizing mechanisms, activity-dependent plasticity could drive neural activity to saturation or quiescence. Furthermore, as cells adapt to changing patterns of synaptic input, presumably the overall balance of intrinsic conductances of the cell must be maintained so that reliable output is achieved (Daoudal and Debanne, 2003; Turrigiano and Nelson, 2004; Frick and Johnston, 2005). Although these regulatory phenomena have been well documented, the molecular and physiological mechanisms involved are poorly understood
Experimental quantum verification in the presence of temporally correlated noise
Growth in the complexity and capabilities of quantum information hardware
mandates access to practical techniques for performance verification that
function under realistic laboratory conditions. Here we experimentally
characterise the impact of common temporally correlated noise processes on both
randomised benchmarking (RB) and gate-set tomography (GST). We study these
using an analytic toolkit based on a formalism mapping noise to errors for
arbitrary sequences of unitary operations. This analysis highlights the role of
sequence structure in enhancing or suppressing the sensitivity of quantum
verification protocols to either slowly or rapidly varying noise, which we
treat in the limiting cases of quasi-DC miscalibration and white noise power
spectra. We perform experiments with a single trapped Yb ion as a
qubit and inject engineered noise () to probe protocol
performance. Experiments on RB validate predictions that the distribution of
measured fidelities over sequences is described by a gamma distribution varying
between approximately Gaussian for rapidly varying noise, and a broad, highly
skewed distribution for the slowly varying case. Similarly we find a strong
gate set dependence of GST in the presence of correlated errors, leading to
significant deviations between estimated and calculated diamond distances in
the presence of correlated errors. Numerical simulations demonstrate
that expansion of the gate set to include negative rotations can suppress these
discrepancies and increase reported diamond distances by orders of magnitude
for the same error processes. Similar effects do not occur for correlated
or errors or rapidly varying noise processes,
highlighting the critical interplay of selected gate set and the gauge
optimisation process on the meaning of the reported diamond norm in correlated
noise environments.Comment: Expanded and updated analysis of GST, including detailed examination
of the role of gauge optimization in GST. Full GST data sets and
supplementary information available on request from the authors. Related
results available from
http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~mbiercuk/Publications.htm
Manifolds associated with -colored regular graphs
In this article we describe a canonical way to expand a certain kind of
-colored regular graphs into closed -manifolds by
adding cells determined by the edge-colorings inductively. We show that every
closed combinatorial -manifold can be obtained in this way. When ,
we give simple equivalent conditions for a colored graph to admit an expansion.
In addition, we show that if a -colored regular graph
admits an -skeletal expansion, then it is realizable as the moment graph of
an -dimensional closed -manifold.Comment: 20 pages with 9 figures, in AMS-LaTex, v4 added a new section on
reconstructing a space with a -action for which its moment graph is
a given colored grap
Lens Spaces and Handlebodies in 3D Quantum Gravity
We calculate partition functions for lens spaces L_{p,q} up to p=8 and for
genus 1 and 2 handlebodies H_1, H_2 in the Turaev-Viro framework. These can be
interpreted as transition amplitudes in 3D quantum gravity. In the case of lens
spaces L_{p,q} these are vacuum-to-vacuum amplitudes \O -> \O, whereas for
the 1- and 2-handlebodies H_1, H_2 they represent genuinely topological
transition amplitudes \O -> T^2 and \O -> T^2 # T^2, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures, uses eps
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