51,959 research outputs found
Role of aldehyde chemistry and NO_x concentrations in secondary organic aerosol formation
Aldehydes are an important class of products from atmospheric oxidation of hydrocarbons. Isoprene (2-methyl-1,3-butadiene), the most abundantly emitted atmospheric non-methane hydrocarbon, produces a significant amount of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) via methacrolein (a C_4-unsaturated aldehyde) under urban high-NO_x conditions. Previously, we have identified peroxy methacryloyl nitrate (MPAN) as the important intermediate to isoprene and methacrolein SOA in this NO_x regime. Here we show that as a result of this chemistry, NO_2 enhances SOA formation from methacrolein and two other α, β-unsaturated aldehydes, specifically acrolein and crotonaldehyde, a NO_x effect on SOA formation previously unrecognized. Oligoesters of dihydroxycarboxylic acids and hydroxynitrooxycarboxylic acids are observed to increase with increasing NO_2/NO ratio, and previous characterizations are confirmed by both online and offline high-resolution mass spectrometry techniques. Molecular structure also determines the amount of SOA formation, as the SOA mass yields are the highest for aldehydes that are α, β-unsaturated and contain an additional methyl group on the α-carbon. Aerosol formation from 2-methyl-3-buten-2-ol (MBO232) is insignificant, even under high-NO_2 conditions, as PAN (peroxy acyl nitrate, RC(O)OONO_2) formation is structurally unfavorable. At atmospherically relevant NO_2/NO ratios (3–8), the SOA yields from isoprene high-NO_x photooxidation are 3 times greater than previously measured at lower NO_2/NO ratios. At sufficiently high NO_2 concentrations, in systems of α, β-unsaturated aldehydes, SOA formation from subsequent oxidation of products from acyl peroxyl radicals+NO_2 can exceed that from RO_2+HO_2 reactions under the same inorganic seed conditions, making RO_2+NO_2 an important channel for SOA formation
Topological dilaton black holes
In four-dimensional spacetime, when the two-sphere of black hole event
horizons is replaced by a two-dimensional hypersurface with zero or negative
constant curvature, the black hole is referred to as a topological black hole.
In this paper we present some exact topological black hole solutions in the
Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory with a Liouville-type dilaton potential.Comment: 8 pages, Revtex, no figure
SUSY Production From TeV Scale Blackhole at LHC
If the fundamental Planck scale is near a TeV, then we should expect to see
TeV scale black holes at the LHC. Similarly, if the scale of supersymmetry
breaking is sufficiently low, then we might expect to see light supersymmetric
particles in the next generation of colliders. If the mass of the
supersymmetric particle is of order a TeV and is comparable to the temperature
of a typical TeV scale black hole, then such sparticles will be copiously
produced via Hawking radiation: The black hole will act as a resonance for
sparticles, among other things. In this paper we compared various signatures
for SUSY production at LHC, and we contrasted the situation where the
sparticles are produced directly via parton fusion processes with the situation
where they are produced indirectly through black hole resonances. We found that
black hole resonances provide a larger source for heavy mass SUSY (squark and
gluino) production than the direct pQCD-SUSY production via parton fusion
processes depending on the values of the Planck mass and blackhole mass. Hence
black hole production at LHC may indirectly act as a dominant channel for SUSY
production. We also found that the differential cross section d\sigma/dp_t for
SUSY production increases as a function of the p_t (up to p_t equal to about 1
TeV or more) of the SUSY particles (squarks and gluinos), which is in sharp
contrast with the pQCD predictions where the differential cross section
d\sigma/dp_t decreases as p_t increases for high p_t about 1 TeV or higher.
This is a feature for any particle emission from TeV scale blackhole as long as
the temperature of the blackhole is very high (~ TeV). Hence measurement of
increase of d\sigma/dp_t with p_t for p_t up to about 1 TeV or higher for final
state particles might be a useful signature for blackhole production at LHC.Comment: Final Version, To Appear in Phys. Rev.
Exterior optical cloaking and illusions by using active sources: a boundary element perspective
Recently, it was demonstrated that active sources can be used to cloak any
objects that lie outside the cloaking devices [Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{103},
073901 (2009)]. Here, we propose that active sources can create illusion
effects, so that an object outside the cloaking device can be made to look like
another object. invisibility is a special case in which the concealed object is
transformed to a volume of air. From a boundary element perspective, we show
that active sources can create a nearly "silent" domain which can conceal any
objects inside and at the same time make the whole system look like an illusion
of our choice outside a virtual boundary. The boundary element method gives the
fields and field gradients (which can be related to monopoles and dipoles) on
continuous curves which define the boundary of the active devices. Both the
cloaking and illusion effects are confirmed by numerical simulations
Quantitation of mitochondrial dynamics by photolabeling of individual organelles shows that mitochondrial fusion is blocked during the Bax activation phase of apoptosis
A dynamic balance of organelle fusion and fission regulates mitochondrial morphology. During apoptosis this balance is altered, leading to an extensive fragmentation of the mitochondria. Here, we describe a novel assay of mitochondrial dynamics based on confocal imaging of cells expressing a mitochondrial matrix–targeted photoactivable green fluorescent protein that enables detection and quantification of organelle fusion in living cells. Using this assay, we visualize and quantitate mitochondrial fusion rates in healthy and apoptotic cells. During apoptosis, mitochondrial fusion is blocked independently of caspase activation. The block in mitochondrial fusion occurs within the same time range as Bax coalescence on the mitochondria and outer mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, and it may be a consequence of Bax/Bak activation during apoptosis
Nearly Optimal Private Convolution
We study computing the convolution of a private input with a public input
, while satisfying the guarantees of -differential
privacy. Convolution is a fundamental operation, intimately related to Fourier
Transforms. In our setting, the private input may represent a time series of
sensitive events or a histogram of a database of confidential personal
information. Convolution then captures important primitives including linear
filtering, which is an essential tool in time series analysis, and aggregation
queries on projections of the data.
We give a nearly optimal algorithm for computing convolutions while
satisfying -differential privacy. Surprisingly, we follow
the simple strategy of adding independent Laplacian noise to each Fourier
coefficient and bounding the privacy loss using the composition theorem of
Dwork, Rothblum, and Vadhan. We derive a closed form expression for the optimal
noise to add to each Fourier coefficient using convex programming duality. Our
algorithm is very efficient -- it is essentially no more computationally
expensive than a Fast Fourier Transform.
To prove near optimality, we use the recent discrepancy lowerbounds of
Muthukrishnan and Nikolov and derive a spectral lower bound using a
characterization of discrepancy in terms of determinants
Lattice model theory of the equation of state covering the gas, liquid, and solid phases
The three stable states of matter and the corresponding phase transitions were obtained with a single model. Patterned after Lennard-Jones and Devonshires's theory, a simple cubic lattice model containing two fcc sublattices (alpha and beta) is adopted. The interatomic potential is taken to be the Lennard-Jones (6-12) potential. Employing the cluster variation method, the Weiss and the pair approximations on the lattice gas failed to give the correct phase diagrams. Hybrid approximations were devised to describe the lattice term in the free energy. A lattice vibration term corresponding to a free volume correction is included semi-phenomenologically. The combinations of the lattice part and the free volume part yield the three states and the proper phase diagrams. To determine the coexistence regions, the equalities of the pressure and Gibbs free energy per molecule of the coexisting phases were utilized. The ordered branch of the free energy gives rise to the solid phase while the disordered branch yields the gas and liquid phases. It is observed that the triple point and the critical point quantities, the phase diagrams and the coexistence regions plotted are in good agreement with the experimental values and graphs for argon
Charge sensing in carbon nanotube quantum dots on microsecond timescales
We report fast, simultaneous charge sensing and transport measurements of
gate-defined carbon nanotube quantum dots. Aluminum radio frequency single
electron transistors (rf-SETs) capacitively coupled to the nanotube dot provide
single-electron charge sensing on microsecond timescales. Simultaneously, rf
reflectometry allows fast measurement of transport through the nanotube dot.
Charge stability diagrams for the nanotube dot in the Coulomb blockade regime
show extended Coulomb diamonds into the high-bias regime, as well as even-odd
filling effects, revealed in charge sensing data.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Yields of oxidized volatile organic compounds during the OH radical initiated oxidation of isoprene, methyl vinyl ketone, and methacrolein under high-NO_x conditions
We present first-generation and total production yields of glyoxal, methylglyoxal, glycolaldehyde, and hydroxyacetone from the oxidation of isoprene, methyl vinyl ketone (MVK), and methacrolein (MACR) with OH under high NO_x conditions. Several of these first-generation yields are not included in commonly used chemical mechanisms, such as the Leeds Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) v. 3.2. The first-generation yield of glyoxal from isoprene was determined to be 2.1 (±0.6)%. Inclusion of first-generation production of glyoxal, glycolaldehyde and hydroxyacetone from isoprene greatly improves performance of an MCM based model during the initial part of the experiments. In order to further improve performance of the MCM based model, higher generation glyoxal production was reduced by lowering the first-generation yield of glyoxal from C5 hydroxycarbonyls. The results suggest that glyoxal production from reaction of OH with isoprene under high NO_x conditions can be approximated by inclusion of a first-generation production term together with secondary production only via glycolaldehyde. Analogously, methylglyoxal production can be approximated by a first-generation production term from isoprene, and secondary production via MVK, MACR and hydroxyacetone. The first-generation yields reported here correspond to less than 5% of the total oxidized yield from isoprene and thus only have a small effect on the fate of isoprene. However, due to the abundance of isoprene, the combination of first-generation yields and reduced higher generation production of glyoxal from C5 hydroxycarbonyls is important for models that include the production of the small organic molecules from isoprene
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