123 research outputs found
Fatty acid droplet self-division driven by a chemical reaction
Division of a millimeter-sized and compartmentalized fatty acid droplet is triggered by a chemical pH clock reaction operating on the ten-second time scale. The autonomous pH change inside the compartment translates into the deprotonation of the fatty acid molecules, leading to a negative interfacial tension at the water-oil interface inside the droplet. This phenomenon induces the expansion of the droplet, which is followed by its division into daughter droplets governed by the Plateau-Rayleigh instability. © 2014 the Owner Societies
Unfolded Description of Kerr Black Hole
It is shown that Kerr black hole is a solution of simple unfolded
differential equations that form a deformation of the zero-curvature
description of empty space-time. Our construction uses the Killing
symmetries of the Kerr solution. All known and some new algebraic properties of
the Kerr-Schild solution result from the obtained black hole unfolded system in
the coordinate-independent way. Kerr Schild type solutions of free equations in
for massless fields of any spin, associated to the proposed black hole
unfolded system, are found.Comment: 18 page
Work probability distribution in single molecule experiments
We derive and solve a differential equation satisfied by the probability
distribution of the work done on a single biomolecule in a mechanical unzipping
experiment. The unzipping is described as a thermally activated escape process
in an energy landscape. The Jarzynski equality is recovered as an identity,
independent of the pulling protocol. This approach allows one to evaluate
easily, by numerical integration, the work distribution, once a few parameters
of the energy landscape are known.Comment: To appear on EP
Reducing vortex density in superconductors using the ratchet effect
A serious obstacle that impedes the application of low and high temperature
superconductor (SC) devices is the presence of trapped flux. Flux lines or
vortices are induced by fields as small as the Earth's magnetic field. Once
present, vortices dissipate energy and generate internal noise, limiting the
operation of numerous superconducting devices. Methods used to overcome this
difficulty include the pinning of vortices by the incorporation of impurities
and defects, the construction of flux dams, slots and holes and magnetic
shields which block the penetration of new flux lines in the bulk of the SC or
reduce the magnetic field in the immediate vicinity of the superconducting
device. Naturally, the most desirable would be to remove the vortices from the
bulk of the SC. There is no known phenomenon, however, that could form the
basis for such a process. Here we show that the application of an ac current to
a SC that is patterned with an asymmetric pinning potential can induce vortex
motion whose direction is determined only by the asymmetry of the pattern. The
mechanism responsible for this phenomenon is the so called ratchet effect, and
its working principle applies to both low and high temperature SCs. As a first
step here we demonstrate that with an appropriate choice of the pinning
potential the ratchet effect can be used to remove vortices from low
temperature SCs in the parameter range required for various applications.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, Nature (in press
Triangle percolation in mean field random graphs -- with PDE
We apply a PDE-based method to deduce the critical time and the size of the
giant component of the ``triangle percolation'' on the Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi random
graph process investigated by Palla, Der\'enyi and VicsekComment: Summary of the changes made: We have changed a remark about k-clique
percolation in the first paragraph. Two new paragraphs are inserted after
equation (4.4) with two applications of the equation. We have changed the
names of some variables in our formula
Stratified horizontal flow in vertically vibrated granular layers
A layer of granular material on a vertically vibrating sawtooth-shaped base
exhibits horizontal flow whose speed and direction depend on the parameters
specifying the system in a complex manner. Discrete-particle simulations reveal
that the induced flow rate varies with height within the granular layer and
oppositely directed flows can occur at different levels. The behavior of the
overall flow is readily understood once this novel feature is taken into
account.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, submitte
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