1,100 research outputs found
Conformally related massless fields in dS, AdS and Minkowski spaces
In this paper we write down the equation for a scalar conformally coupled
field simultaneously for de Sitter (dS), anti-de Sitter (AdS) and Minkowski
spacetime in d-dimensions. The curvature dependence appears in a very simple
way through a conformal factor. As a consequence the process of curvature free
limit, including wave functions limit and two-points functions, turns to be a
straightforward issue. We determine a set of modes, that we call de Sitter
plane waves, which become ordinary plane waves when the curvature vanishes.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figur
Dynamic force spectroscopy of DNA hairpins. II. Irreversibility and dissipation
We investigate irreversibility and dissipation in single molecules that
cooperatively fold/unfold in a two state manner under the action of mechanical
force. We apply path thermodynamics to derive analytical expressions for the
average dissipated work and the average hopping number in two state systems. It
is shown how these quantities only depend on two parameters that characterize
the folding/unfolding kinetics of the molecule: the fragility and the
coexistence hopping rate. The latter has to be rescaled to take into account
the appropriate experimental setup. Finally we carry out pulling experiments
with optical tweezers in a specifically designed DNA hairpin that shows
two-state cooperative folding. We then use these experimental results to
validate our theoretical predictions.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure
Conformal use of retarded Green's functions for the Maxwell field in de Sitter space
We propose a new propagation formula for the Maxwell field in de Sitter space
which exploit the conformal invariance of this field together with a conformal
gauge condition. This formula allows to determine the classical electromagnetic
field in the de Sitter space from given currents and initial data. It only uses
the Green's function of the massless Minkowskian scalar field. This leads to
drastic simplifications in practical calculations. We apply this formula to the
classical problem of the two charges of opposite signs at rest at the North and
South Poles of the de Sitter space.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, Revte
Influence of water availability in the distributions of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraether in soils of the Iberian Peninsula
The combined application of the MBT (degree of methylation) and CBT (degree
of cyclization) indices, based on the distribution of branched glycerol
dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) in soils, has been proposed as a
paleoproxy to estimate mean annual temperature (MAT). CBT quantifies the
degree of cyclization of brGDGTs and relates to soil pH. MBT and the
simplified version MBT' quantify the degree of methylation of brGDGTs and
relate to MAT and soil pH. However, other factors such as soil water
availability have also been suggested to influence MBT' and possibly restrict
the combined application of the MBT' and CBT indices as a paleotemperature
proxy. To assess the effect of hydrological conditions on MBT' and CBT, a set
of 23 Iberian Peninsula soil samples, covering a MAT range from
10 to 18 °C and a mean annual precipitation (MAP) range of 405 mm to
1455 mm, was analyzed. We found that the CBT was indeed significantly
correlated with soil pH in our sample set. In contrast, MBT' was not correlated
with MAT but had a significant correlation with the aridity index (AI), a
parameter related to water availability in soils. The AI can explain 50%
of the variation of the MBT', and 70% of the residuals of MAT estimated
with the MBT/CBT proxy as compared to instrumentally measured MAT. We propose
that, in arid settings, where water may be an ecologically limiting factor,
MBT' is influenced by hydrological conditions rather than temperature. Thus,
our results suggest that the combination of MBT' and CBT indices should be
applied with caution in paleotemperature reconstructions in soils from dry
subhumid to hyperarid environments
Adhesive Contact to a Coated Elastic Substrate
We show how the quasi-analytic method developed to solve linear elastic
contacts to coated substrates (Perriot A. and Barthel E. {\em J. Mat. Res.},
{\bf 2004}, {\em 19}, 600) may be extended to adhesive contacts. Substrate
inhomogeneity lifts accidental degeneracies and highlights the general
structure of the adhesive contact theory. We explicit the variation of the
contact variables due to substrate inhomogeneity. The relation to other
approaches based on Finite Element analysis is discussed
Dynamic force spectroscopy of DNA hairpins. I. Force kinetics and free energy landscapes
We investigate the thermodynamics and kinetics of DNA hairpins that
fold/unfold under the action of applied mechanical force. We introduce the
concept of the molecular free energy landscape and derive simplified
expressions for the force dependent Kramers-Bell rates. To test the theory we
have designed a specific DNA hairpin sequence that shows two-state cooperative
folding under mechanical tension and carried out pulling experiments using
optical tweezers. We show how we can determine the parameters that characterize
the molecular free energy landscape of such sequence from rupture force kinetic
studies. Finally we combine such kinetic studies with experimental
investigations of the Crooks fluctuation relation to derive the free energy of
formation of the hairpin at zero force.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure
Pairing in high-density neutron matter including short- and long-range correlations
Pairing gaps in neutron matter need to be computed in a wide range of densities to address open questions in neutron-star phenomenology. Traditionally, the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer approach has been used to compute gaps from bare nucleon-nucleon interactions. Here we incorporate the influence of short-and long-range correlations in the pairing gaps. Short-range correlations are treated, including the appropriate fragmentation of single-particle states, and substantially suppress the gaps. Long-range correlations dress the pairing interaction via density and spin modes and provide a relatively small correction. We use different interactions, some with three-body forces, as a starting point to control for any systematic effects. Results are relevant for neutron-star cooling scenarios, in particular in view of the recent observational data on Cassiopeia A
Preconditioned iterative methods for convection diffusion and related boundary value problems
AbstractWe develop and analyze preconditioners for the iterative solution of the system of equations arising from the discretization of multi-dimensional singularity perturbed boundary value problems. This includes a class of convection diffusion models. The choice of preconditioner is crucial for the efficient solution of the system of equations. In particular, it is necessary to choose a preconditioner that substantially reduces the condition number κ both for small grid size h and for large values of the parameter K multiplying the convection terms. A class of preconditioners is analyzed that is inexpensive to implement and for which κ = 0(1) as h→0 and κ = (1 + K12) as K → ∞ for some convection diffusion problems with positive definite symmetric part. This result is then used to develop an algorithm with work estimate 0(1 + K12as K → ∞ for a more general class of convection diffusion problems including those with indefinite symmetric part. Numerical experiments using a symmetric multigrid preconditioner demonstrate the effectiveness of the numerical method even for large problems
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