3,545 research outputs found
Limits of quantum speedup in photosynthetic light harvesting
It has been suggested that excitation transport in photosynthetic light
harvesting complexes features speedups analogous to those found in quantum
algorithms. Here we compare the dynamics in these light harvesting systems to
the dynamics of quantum walks, in order to elucidate the limits of such quantum
speedups. For the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) complex of green sulfur bacteria,
we show that while there is indeed speedup at short times, this is short lived
(70 fs) despite longer lived (ps) quantum coherence. Remarkably, this time
scale is independent of the details of the decoherence model. More generally,
we show that the distinguishing features of light-harvesting complexes not only
limit the extent of quantum speedup but also reduce rates of diffusive
transport. These results suggest that quantum coherent effects in biological
systems are optimized for efficiency or robustness rather than the more elusive
goal of quantum speedup.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures. To appear in New Journal Physics, special issue
on "Quantum Effects and Noise in Biomolecules." Updated to accepted versio
Nutrient Limitation of Periphyton in a Spring-Fed, Coastal Stream in Florida, USA.
There is strong evidence to suggest that ground-water
nitrate concentrations have increased in recent years and
further increases are expected along portions of the central
Gulf coast of Florida. Much of the nitrate enriched groundwater
is discharged into surface waters through numerous
freshwater springs that are characteristic of the area and the
potential for eutrophication of their receiving waters is a
legitimate concern. To test the potential effects of elevated
nutrient concentrations on the periphyton community an
in
situ
nutrient addition experiment was conducted in the
spring-fed Chassahowitzka River, FL, USA, during the summer
of 1999. Plastic tubes housing arrays of glass microscope
slides were suspended in the stream. Periphyton colonizing
the microscope slides was subjected to artificial increases in
nitrogen, phosphorus or a combination of both. Slides from
each tube were collected at 3- to 4- day intervals and the
periphyton communities were measured for chlorophyll concentration.
The addition of approximately 10 ÎĽg/L of phosphate
above ambient concentrations significantly increased
the amount of periphyton on artificial substrates relative to
controls; the addition of approximately 100 ÎĽg/L of nitrate
above ambient concentrations did not. The findings from
this experiment implicated phosphorus, rather than
nitrogen, as the nutrient that potentially limits periphyton
growth in this system.(PDF contains 4 pages.
Polarization as a Probe to the Production Mechanisms of Charmonium in Collisions
Measurements of the polarization of \jp produced in pion-nucleus collisions
are in disagreement with leading twist QCD prediction where \jp is observed
to have negligible polarization whereas theory predicts substantial
polarization. We argue that this discrepancy cannot be due to poorly known
structure functions nor the relative production rates of \jp and .
The disagreement between theory and experiment suggests important higher twist
corrections, as has earlier been surmised from the anomalous non-factorized
nuclear -dependence of the \jp cross section.Comment: 8 page
Complete spectral energy distribution of the hot, helium-rich white dwarf RX J0503.9-2854
In the line-of-sight toward the DO-type white dwarf RX J0503.9-2854, the
density of the interstellar medium (ISM) is very low, and thus the
contamination of the stellar spectrum almost negligible. This allows us to
identify many metal lines in a wide wavelength range from the extreme
ultraviolet to the near infrared. In previous spectral analyses, many metal
lines in the ultraviolet spectrum of RX J0503.9-2854 have been identified. A
complete line list of observed and identified lines is presented here. We
compared synthetic spectra that had been calculated from model atmospheres in
non-local thermodynamical equilibrium, with observations. In total, we
identified 1272 lines (279 of them were newly assigned) in the wavelength range
from the extreme ultraviolet to the near infrared. 287 lines remain
unidentified. A close inspection of the EUV shows that still no good fit to the
observed shape of the stellar continuum flux can be achieved although He, C, N,
O, Al, Si, P, S, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Cr, Ni Zn, Ga, Ge, As, Kr, Zr, Mo,
Sn, Xe, and Ba are included in the stellar atmosphere models. There are two
possible reasons for the deviation between observed and synthetic flux in the
EUV. Opacities from hitherto unconsidered elements in the model-atmosphere
calculation may be missing and/or the effective temperature is slightly lower
than previously determined.Comment: 92 pages, 45 figure
Stellar laboratories. IX. New Se V, Sr IV - VII, Te VI, and I VI oscillator strengths and the Se, Sr, Te, and I abundances in the hot white dwarfs G191-B2B and RE 0503-289
To analyze spectra of hot stars, advanced non-local thermodynamic equilibrium
(NLTE) model-atmosphere techniques are mandatory. Reliable atomic data is for
the calculation of such model atmospheres.
We aim to calculate new Sr IV - VII oscillator strengths to identify for the
first time Sr spectral lines in hot white dwarf (WD) stars and to determine the
photospheric Sr abundances. o measure the abundances of Se, Te, and I in hot
WDs, we aim to compute new Se V, Te VI, and I VI oscillator strengths.
To consider radiative and collisional bound-bound transitions of Se V, Sr IV
- VII, Te VI, and I VI in our NLTE atmosphere models, we calculated oscillator
strengths for these ions.
We newly identified four Se V, 23 Sr V, 1 Te VI, and three I VI lines in the
ultraviolet (UV) spectrum of RE0503-289. We measured a photospheric Sr
abundance of 6.5 +3.8/-2.4 x 10**-4 (mass fraction, 9500 - 23800 times solar).
We determined the abundances of Se (1.6 +0.9/-0.6 x 10**-3, 8000 - 20000), Te
(2.5 +1.5/-0.9 x 10**-4, 11000 - 28000), and I (1.4 +0.8/-0.5 x 10**-5, 2700 -
6700). No Se, Sr, Te, and I line was found in the UV spectra of G191-B2B and we
could determine only upper abundance limits of approximately 100 times solar.
All identified Se V, Sr V, Te VI, and I VI lines in the UV spectrum of
RE0503-289 were simultaneously well reproduced with our newly calculated
oscillator strengths.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figure
Realistic and verifiable coherent control of excitonic states in a light harvesting complex
We explore the feasibility of coherent control of excitonic dynamics in light
harvesting complexes, analyzing the limits imposed by the open nature of these
quantum systems. We establish feasible targets for phase and phase/amplitude
control of the electronically excited state populations in the
Fenna-Mathews-Olson (FMO) complex and analyze the robustness of this control
with respect to orientational and energetic disorder, as well as decoherence
arising from coupling to the protein environment. We further present two
possible routes to verification of the control target, with simulations for the
FMO complex showing that steering of the excited state is experimentally
verifiable either by extending excitonic coherence or by producing novel states
in a pump-probe setup. Our results provide a first step toward coherent control
of these complex biological quantum systems in an ultrafast spectroscopy setup.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure
Transition of amorphous to crystalline oxide film in initial oxide overgrowth on liquid metals
It is important to understand the mechanism of oxidation in the initial stage on the free surface of liquid metals. Mittemeijer and co-workers recently developed a thermodynamic model to study the oxide overgrowth on a solid metal surface. Based on this model, we have developed a thermodynamic model to analyse the thermodynamic stability of oxide overgrowth on liquid metals. The thermodynamic model calculation revealed that the amorphous oxide phase is thermodynamically preferred up to 1.3 and 0.35 nm respectively, in the initial oxide overgrowth on liquid Al and Ga at the corresponding melting point. However, the amorphous phase is thermodynamically unstable in the initial oxide overgrowth on liquid Mg. The thermodynamic stability of amorphous phase in the Al and Ga oxide systems is attributed to lower sums of surface and interfacial energies for amorphous phases, compared to that of the corresponding crystalline phases.Financial support under grant EP/H026177/1 from the EPSRC was used
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