3,328 research outputs found
Hard exclusive photoproduction of and mesons
We present predictions for differential cross sections for the reaction
and give an outlook to which extent our calculations may
be generalized to the photoproduction of mesons. Our results are
obtained within perturbative QCD treating the proton as a quark-diquark system.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, uses Elsevier style espcrc1.st
Non-equilibrium condensation and coarsening of field-driven dipolar colloids
In colloidal suspensions, self-organization processes can be easily fueled by
external fields. One particularly interesting class of phenomena occurs in
monolayers of dipolar particles that are driven by rotating external fields.
Here we report results from a computer simulation study of such systems
focusing on the clustering behavior also observed in recent experiments. The
key result of this paper is a novel interpretation of this pattern formation
phenomenon: We show the clustering to be a by-product of a vapor-liquid first
order phase transition. In fact, the observed dynamic coarsening process
corresponds to the spindodal demixing that occurs during such a transitionComment: 6 pages, 5 figure
Formation of PAHs and Carbonaceous Solids in Gas-Phase Condensation Experiments
Carbonaceous grains represent a major component of cosmic dust. In order to
understand their formation pathways, they have been prepared in the laboratory
by gas-phase condensation reactions such as laser pyrolysis and laser ablation.
Our studies demonstrate that the temperature in the condensation zone
determines the formation pathway of carbonaceous particles. At temperatures
lower than 1700 K, the condensation by-products are mainly polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs), that are also the precursors or building blocks for the
condensing soot grains. The low-temperature condensates contain PAH mixtures
that are mainly composed of volatile 3-5 ring systems. At condensation
temperatures higher than 3500 K, fullerene-like carbon grains and fullerene
compounds are formed. Fullerene fragments or complete fullerenes equip the
nucleating particles. Fullerenes can be identified as soluble components.
Consequently, condensation products in cool and hot astrophysical environments
such as cool and hot AGB stars or Wolf Rayet stars should be different and
should have distinct spectral properties.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
A priori convergence estimates for a rough Poisson-Dirichlet problem with natural vertical boundary conditions
Stents are medical devices designed to modify blood flow in aneurysm sacs, in
order to prevent their rupture. Some of them can be considered as a locally
periodic rough boundary. In order to approximate blood flow in arteries and
vessels of the cardio-vascular system containing stents, we use multi-scale
techniques to construct boundary layers and wall laws. Simplifying the flow we
turn to consider a 2-dimensional Poisson problem that conserves essential
features related to the rough boundary. Then, we investigate convergence of
boundary layer approximations and the corresponding wall laws in the case of
Neumann type boundary conditions at the inlet and outlet parts of the domain.
The difficulty comes from the fact that correctors, for the boundary layers
near the rough surface, may introduce error terms on the other portions of the
boundary. In order to correct these spurious oscillations, we introduce a
vertical boundary layer. Trough a careful study of its behavior, we prove
rigorously decay estimates. We then construct complete boundary layers that
respect the macroscopic boundary conditions. We also derive error estimates in
terms of the roughness size epsilon either for the full boundary layer
approximation and for the corresponding averaged wall law.Comment: Dedicated to Professor Giovanni Paolo Galdi 60' Birthda
QCD Corrections to Vector-Boson Fusion Processes in Warped Higgsless Models
We discuss the signatures of a representative Higgsless model with ideal
fermion delocalization in vector-boson fusion processes, focusing on the gold-
and silver-plated decay modes of the gauge bosons at the CERN-Large Hadron
Collider. For this purpose, we have developed a fully-flexible parton-level
Monte-Carlo program, which allows for the calculation of cross sections and
kinematic distributions within experimentally feasible selection cuts at
NLO-QCD accuracy. We find that Kaluza-Klein resonances give rise to very
distinctive distributions of the decay leptons. Similar to the Standard Model
case, within the Higgsless scenario the perturbative treatment of the
vector-boson scattering processes is under excellent control.Comment: 22 pages, 20 figure
Vector Boson Pair Production via Vector Boson Fusion at NLO QCD
NLO QCD corrections to Vector Boson Pair Production via Vector Boson Fusion
have recently been calculated and implemented in a parton-level Monte-Carlo
program with full experimental cuts. We briefly sketch the elements of the
calculation and show numerical results for the Large Hadron Collider.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, presented by G.Bozzi at IFAE 2007 (Napoli, April
2007) and HEP 2007 (Manchester, July 2007
New insights into the dynamics of the glutathione-ascorbate redox system of plants
The Hallilwell-Asada-Foyer redox cascade (HAF) is viewed as a H2O2 detoxifying system with a great variety of responses against environmental changes. The functional consequences of these responses are interpreted intuitively because a systemic analysis of the inherent dynamic potential of the HAF is lacking. With the help of numerical modelling we show that in wheat roots parameter patterns are established which result in homeostatic states of HAF over a vast range of environmental changes. The reduced fractions glutathione (GSH) and ascorbate (ASC) remain on high levels even during dramatic changes in the enzyme activity ratios of glutathione reductase, dehydroascorbate reductase and ascorbat peroxidase. Necessarily their oxidised counterparts dithioglutathione (GSSG) and dehydroascorbate (DHA) stay in these buffered regions on very low concentration levels. Our modelling shows that redox ratios GSH/GSSG and ASC/DHA can be modified additionally via changes in NADPH/H2O2 ratios. Thus, the redox states of GSH and ASC can not simply be regarded as indicators for oxidative stress with respect to H2O2 levels. The involvement of the redox variables in other redox processes than the HAF reaction (redox proteome) and / or their utilisation in metabolism (protein modification, detoxification of xenobiotics) are viewed to cause system relaxations of the redox variables. The re-establishment of their homeostatic ratios follow time courses which are redox moiety specific and are balanced according to the existing parameter patterns. Despite of its detoxification function the HAF balances the glutathione / ascorbate redox state in cells according to the prevailing physiological conditions
On the relevance of polyynyl-substituted PAHs to astrophysics
We report on the absorption spectra of the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
(PAH) molecules anthracene, phenanthrene, and pyrene carrying either an ethynyl
(-C2H) or a butadiynyl (-C4H) group. Measurements were carried out in the mid
infrared at room temperature on grains embedded in CsI pellets and in the near
ultraviolet at cryogenic temperature on molecules isolated in Ne matrices. The
infrared measurements show that interstellar populations of
polyynyl-substituted PAHs would give rise to collective features in the same
way non-substituted PAHs give rise to the aromatic infrared bands. The main
features characteristic of the substituted molecules correspond to the
acetylenic CH stretching mode near 3.05 mum and to the almost isoenergetic
acetylenic CCH in- and out-of-plane bending modes near 15.9 mum.
Sub-populations defined by the length of the polyynyl side group cause
collective features which correspond to the various acetylenic CC stretching
modes. The ultraviolet spectra reveal that the addition of an ethynyl group to
a non-substituted PAH molecule results in all its electronic transitions being
redshifted. Due to fast internal energy conversion, the bands at shorter
wavelengths are significantly broadened. Those at longer wavelengths are only
barely affected in this respect. As a consequence, their relative peak
absorption increases. The substitution with the longer butadiynyl chain causes
the same effects with a larger magnitude, resulting in the spectra to show a
prominent if not dominating pi-pi* transition at long wavelength. After
discussing the relevance of polyynyl-substituted PAHs to astrophysics, we
conclude that this class of highly conjugated, unsaturated molecules are valid
candidates for the carriers of the diffuse interstellar bands.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ 2 April 201
IL7RA haplotype-associated alterations in cellular immune function and gene expression patterns in multiple sclerosis
Interleukin-7 receptor alpha (IL7RA) is among the top listed candidate genes influencing the risk to develop multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. Soluble IL-7RA (sIL-7RA) protein and mRNA levels vary among the four common IL7RA haplotypes. Here we show and confirm that protective haplotype carriers have three times lower sIL-7RA serum levels than the other three haplotypes. High sIL-7RA concentrations significantly decrease IL-7-mediated STAT5 phosphorylation in CD4(+) T cells. Transcriptome analysis of unstimulated and stimulated CD4(+) T cells of MS patients carrying the different IL7RA haplotypes revealed complex and overlapping patterns in genes participating in cytokine signaling networks, apoptosis, cell cycle progression and cell differentiation. Our findings indicate that genetic variants of IL7RA result in haplotype-associated differential responsiveness to immunological stimuli that influence MS susceptibility not exclusively by varying levels of sIL-7RA
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