5,005 research outputs found
Spatial structures and dynamics of kinetically constrained models for glasses
Kob and Andersen's simple lattice models for the dynamics of structural
glasses are analyzed. Although the particles have only hard core interactions,
the imposed constraint that they cannot move if surrounded by too many others
causes slow dynamics. On Bethe lattices a dynamical transition to a partially
frozen phase occurs. In finite dimensions there exist rare mobile elements that
destroy the transition. At low vacancy density, , the spacing, ,
between mobile elements diverges exponentially or faster in . Within the
mobile elements, the dynamics is intrinsically cooperative and the
characteristic time scale diverges faster than any power of (although
slower than ). The tagged-particle diffusion coefficient vanishes roughly
as .Comment: 4 pages. Accepted for pub. in Phys. Rev. Let
Lattice Glass Models
Motivated by the concept of geometrical frustration, we introduce a class of
statistical mechanics lattice models for the glass transition. Monte Carlo
simulations in three dimensions show that they display a dynamical glass
transition which is very similar to that observed in other off-lattice systems
and which does not depend on a specific dynamical rule. Whereas their analytic
solution within the Bethe approximation shows that they do have a discontinuous
glass transition compatible with the numerical observations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; minor change
Spectral geometry as a probe of quantum spacetime
Employing standard results from spectral geometry, we provide strong evidence
that in the classical limit the ground state of three-dimensional causal
dynamical triangulations is de Sitter spacetime. This result is obtained by
measuring the expectation value of the spectral dimension on the ensemble of
geometries defined by these models, and comparing its large scale behaviour to
that of a sphere (Euclidean de Sitter). From the same measurement we are also
able to confirm the phenomenon of dynamical dimensional reduction observed in
this and other approaches to quantum gravity -- the first time this has been
done for three-dimensional causal dynamical triangulations. In this case, the
value for the short-scale limit of the spectral dimension that we find is
approximately 2. We comment on the relevance of these results for the
comparison to asymptotic safety and Horava-Lifshitz gravity, among other
approaches to quantum gravity.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures. Version 2: references to figures added,
acknowledgment added
A new continuum limit of matrix models
We define a new scaling limit of matrix models which can be related to the
method of causal dynamical triangulations (CDT) used when investigating
two-dimensional quantum gravity. Surprisingly, the new scaling limit of the
matrix models is also a matrix model, thus explaining why the recently
developed CDT continuum string field theory (arXiv:0802.0719) has a
matrix-model representation (arXiv:0804.0252).Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
K-edge X-ray absorption spectra in transition metal oxides beyond the single particle approximation: shake-up many body effects
The near edge structure (XANES) in K-edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS)
is a widely used tool for studying electronic and local structure in materials.
The precise interpretation of these spectra with the help of calculations is
hence of prime importance, especially for the study of correlated materials
which have a complicated electronic structure per se. The single particle
approach, for example, has generally limited itself to the dominant dipolar
cross-section. It has long been known however that effects beyond this approach
should be taken into account, both due to the inadequacy of such calculations
when compared to experiment and the presence of shake-up many-body satellites
in core-level photoemission spectra of correlated materials. This effect should
manifest itself in XANES spectra and the question is firstly how to account for
it theoretically and secondly how to verify it experimentally. By using
state-of-the-art first principles electronic structure calculations and 1s
photoemission measurements we demonstrate that shake-up many-body effects are
present in K-edge XAS dipolar spectra of NiO, CoO and CuO at all energy scales.
We show that shake-up effects can be included in K-edge XAS spectra in a simple
way by convoluting the single-particle first-principles calculations including
core-hole effects with the 1s photoemission spectra. We thus describe all
features appearing in the XAS dipolar cross-section of NiO and CoO and obtain a
dramatic improvement with respect to the single-particle calculation in CuO.
These materials being prototype correlated magnetic oxides, our work points to
the presence of shake-up effects in K-edge XANES of most correlated transition
metal compounds and shows how to account for them, paving the way to a precise
understanding of their electronic structure.Comment: 6 pages, 4 picture
Characterization of chenopodin isoforms from quinoa seeds and assessment of their potential anti-inflammatory activity in Caco-2 cells
Several food-derived molecules, including proteins and peptides, can show bioactivities toward the promotion of well-being and disease prevention in humans. There is still a lack of information about the potential effects on immune and inflammatory responses in mammalian cells following the ingestion of seed storage proteins. This study, for the first time, describes the potential immunomodulation capacity of chenopodin, the major protein component of quinoa seeds. After characterizing the molecular features of the purified protein, we were able to separate two different forms of chenopodin, indicated as LcC (Low charge Chenopodin, 30% of total chenopodin) and HcC (High charge Chenopodin, 70% of total chenopodin). The biological effects of LcC and HcC were investigated by measuring NF-\u3baB activation and IL-8 expression studies in undifferentiated Caco-2 cells. Inflammation was elicited using IL-1\u3b2. The results indicate that LcC and HcC show potential anti-inflammatory activities in an intestinal cell model, and that the proteins can act differently, depending on their structural features. Furthermore, the molecular mechanisms of action and the structural/functional relationships of the protein at the basis of the observed bioactivity were investigated using in silico analyses and structural predictions
Relaxation times of kinetically constrained spin models with glassy dynamics
We analyze the density and size dependence of the relaxation time for
kinetically constrained spin systems. These have been proposed as models for
strong or fragile glasses and for systems undergoing jamming transitions. For
the one (FA1f) or two (FA2f) spin facilitated Fredrickson-Andersen model at any
density and for the Knight model below the critical density at which
the glass transition occurs, we show that the persistence and the spin-spin
time auto-correlation functions decay exponentially. This excludes the
stretched exponential relaxation which was derived by numerical simulations.
For FA2f in , we also prove a super-Arrhenius scaling of the form
. For FA1f in = we
rigorously prove the power law scalings recently derived in \cite{JMS} while in
we obtain upper and lower bounds consistent with findings therein.
Our results are based on a novel multi-scale approach which allows to analyze
in presence of kinetic constraints and to connect time-scales and
dynamical heterogeneities. The techniques are flexible enough to allow a
variety of constraints and can also be applied to conservative stochastic
lattice gases in presence of kinetic constraints.Comment: 4 page
Eukaryotic initiation factor-4E in superficial and muscle invasive bladder cancer and its correlation with vascular endothelial growth factor expression and tumour progression
Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is an important factor mediating tumour angiogenesis. VEGF mRNA is differentially expressed in bladder cancer with high expression in superficial tumours (stage pTaand pT1) contrasting with low expression in muscle invasive tumours (stage ≥ pT2). To investigate mechanisms regulating VEGF expression in bladder cancer, VEGF mRNA and protein were measured in normal bladder (n = 12) and primary bladder cancers (n = 57). VEGF protein levels correlated with mRNA expression in normal bladder (r = 0.68, P = 0.02) and bladder cancer (r = 0.46, P = 0.0007). Whilst VEGF mRNA expression was threefold higher in superficial compared to muscle invasive bladder cancers (P = 0.0001) there was no difference in VEGF protein (P = 0.81). Accordingly, the median protein:mRNA ratios increased more than 15-fold with increasing tumour stage (P< 0.0001) suggesting translational regulation. Expression of the eukaryotic initiation factor-4E (eIF-4E), a factor implicated in the translational regulation of VEGF, was greater in tumours than normal bladder (P< 0.0001) and correlated with VEGF protein:mRNA ratios (n = 43, r = 0.54, P = 0.0004) pointing to its role in the regulation of VEGF. In superficial tumours (n = 37) high expression of eIF-4E was associated with a poor prognosis and reduced stage progression-free survival (P = 0.04, Cox proportional hazards model). The study demonstrates that eIF-4E may be involved in translational regulation of VEGF in bladder cancer and might have a role as a prognostic factor in bladder cancer. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig
Analytic computation of the Instantaneous Normal Modes spectrum in low density liquids
We analytically compute the spectrum of the Hessian of the Hamiltonian for a
system of N particles interacting via a purely repulsive potential in one
dimension. Our approach is valid in the low density regime, where we compute
the exact spectrum also in the localized sector. We finally perform a numerical
analysis of the localization properties of the eigenfunctions.Comment: 4 RevTeX pages, 4 EPS figures. Revised version to appear on Phys.
Rev. Let
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