147,028 research outputs found
Transition state theory and the dynamics of hard disks
The dynamics of two and five disk systems confined in a square has been
studied using molecular dynamics simulations and compared with the predictions
of transition state theory. We determine the partition functions Z and
Z^\ddagger of transition state theory using a procedure first used by Salsburg
and Wood for the pressure. Our simulations show this procedure and transition
state theory are in excellent agreement with the simulations. A generalization
of the transition state theory to the case of a large number of disks N is made
and shown to be in full agreement with simulations of disks moving in a narrow
channel. The same procedure for hard spheres in three dimensions leads to the
Vogel-Fulcher-Tammann formula for their alpha relaxation time.Comment: 1 new author, new simulations and figures, less speculation. Now 6
pages, 6 figures, 1 animation. Animation may be viewed at
http://www.theory.physics.manchester.ac.uk/~godfrey/supplement/activated_dynamics2.htm
A Search for Biomolecules in Sagittarius B2 (LMH) with the ATCA
We have used the Australia Telescope Compact Array to conduct a search for
the simplest amino acid, glycine (conformers I and II), and the simple chiral
molecule propylene oxide at 3-mm in the Sgr B2 LMH. We searched 15 portions of
spectrum between 85 and 91 GHz, each of 64 MHz bandwidth, and detected 58
emission features and 21 absorption features, giving a line density of 75
emission lines and 25 absorption lines per GHz stronger than the 5 sigma level
of 110 mJy. Of these, 19 are transitions previously detected in the
interstellar medium, and we have made tentative assignments of a further 23
features to molecular transitions. However, as many of these involve molecules
not previously detected in the ISM, these assignments cannot be regarded with
confidence. Given the median line width of 6.5 km/s in Sgr B2 LMH, we find that
the spectra have reached a level where there is line confusion, with about 1/5
of the band being covered with lines. Although we did not confidently detect
either glycine or propylene oxide, we can set 3 sigma upper limits for most
transitions searched. We also show that if glycine is present in the Sgr B2 LMH
at the level of N = 4 x 10^{14} cm^{-2} found by Kuan et al. (2003) in their
reported detection of glycine, it should have been easily detected with the
ATCA synthesized beam size of 17.0 x 3.4 arcsec^{2}, if it were confined to the
scale of the LMH continuum source (< 5 arcsec). This thus puts a strong upper
limit on any small-scale glycine emission in Sgr B2, for both of conformers I
and II.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, 5 tables, accepted by MNRA
Finite size scaling of the correlation length above the upper critical dimension
We show numerically that correlation length at the critical point in the
five-dimensional Ising model varies with system size L as L^{5/4}, rather than
proportional to L as in standard finite size scaling (FSS) theory. Our results
confirm a hypothesis that FSS expressions in dimension d greater than the upper
critical dimension of 4 should have L replaced by L^{d/4} for cubic samples
with periodic boundary conditions. We also investigate numerically the
logarithmic corrections to FSS in d = 4.Comment: 5 pages, 6 postscript figure
A Nearly Scale Invariant Spectrum of Gravitational Radiation from Global Phase Transitions
Using a large N sigma model approximation we explicitly calculate the power
spectrum of gravitational waves arising from a global phase transition in the
early universe and we confirm that it is scale invariant, implying an
observation of such a spectrum may not be a unique feature of inflation.
Moreover, the predicted amplitude can be over 3 orders of magnitude larger than
the naive dimensional estimate, implying that even a transition that occurs
after inflation may dominate in Cosmic Microwave Background polarization or
other gravity wave signals.Comment: 4 pages, PRL published versio
Mopra CO Observations of the Bubble HII Region RCW120
We use the Mopra radio telescope to test for expansion of the molecular gas
associated with the bubble HII region RCW120. A ring, or bubble, morphology is
common for Galactic HII regions, but the three-dimensional geometry of such
objects is still unclear. Detected near- and far-side expansion of the
associated molecular material would be consistent with a three-dimensional
spherical object. We map the transitions of CO,
CO, CO, and CO, and detect emission from all
isotopologues. We do not detect the masing lines of
CHOH at 108.8939 GHz. The strongest CO emission is from the
photodissociation region (PDR), and there is a deficit of emission toward the
bubble interior. We find no evidence for expansion of the molecular material
associated with RCW120 and therefore can make no claims about its geometry. The
lack of detected expansion is roughly in agreement with models for the
time-evolution of an HII region like RCW120, and is consistent with an
expansion speed of . Single-position CO spectra show
signatures of expansion, which underscores the importance of mapped spectra for
such work. Dust temperature enhancements outside the PDR of RCW120 coincide
with a deficit of emission in CO, confirming that these temperature
enhancements are due to holes in the RCW120 PDR. H emission shows that
RCW120 is leaking of the ionizing photons into the interstellar
medium (ISM) through PDR holes at the locations of the temperature
enhancements. H-alpha emission also shows a diffuse "halo" from leaked photons
not associated with discrete holes in the PDR. Overall of all
ionizing photons are leaking into the nearby ISM.Comment: 35 pages, 14 figures. Accepted to Ap
Turning the Quantum Group Invariant XXZ Spin-Chain Hermitian: A Conjecture on the Invariant Product
This is a continuation of a previous joint work with Robert Weston on the
quantum group invariant XXZ spin-chain (math-ph/0703085). The previous results
on quasi-Hermiticity of this integrable model are briefly reviewed and then
connected with a new construction of an inner product with respect to which the
Hamiltonian and the representation of the Temperley-Lieb algebra become
Hermitian. The approach is purely algebraic, one starts with the definition of
a positive functional over the Temperley-Lieb algebra whose values can be
computed graphically. Employing the Gel'fand-Naimark-Segal (GNS) construction
for C*-algebras a self-adjoint representation of the Temperley-Lieb algebra is
constructed when the deformation parameter q lies in a special section of the
unit circle. The main conjecture of the paper is the unitary equivalence of
this GNS representation with the representation obtained in the previous paper
employing the ideas of PT-symmetry and quasi-Hermiticity. An explicit example
is presented.Comment: 12 page
A view of Large Magellanic Cloud HII regions N159, N132, and N166 through the 345 GHz window
We present results obtained towards the HII regions N159, N166, and N132 from
the emission of several molecular lines in the 345 GHz window. Using ASTE we
mapped a 2.4' 2.4' region towards the molecular cloud N159-W in the
CO J=3-2 line and observed several molecular lines at an IR peak very
close to a massive young stellar object. CO and CO J=3-2 were
observed towards two positions in N166 and one position in N132. The CO
J=3-2 map of the N159-W cloud shows that the molecular peak is shifted
southwest compared to the peak of the IR emission. Towards the IR peak we
detected emission from HCN, HNC, HCO, CH J=4-3, CS J=7-6, and
tentatively CO J=3-2. This is the first reported detection of these
molecular lines in N159-W. The analysis of the CH line yields more
evidence supporting that the chemistry involving this molecular species in
compact and/or UCHII regions in the LMC should be similar to that in Galactic
ones. A non-LTE study of the CO emission suggests the presence of both cool and
warm gas in the analysed region. The same analysis for the CS, HCO, HCN,
and HNC shows that it is very likely that their emissions arise mainly from
warm gas with a density between to some cm. The
obtained HCN/HNC abundance ratio greater than 1 is compatible with warm gas and
with an star-forming scenario. From the analysis of the molecular lines
observed towards N132 and N166 we propose that both regions should have similar
physical conditions, with densities of about 10 cm.Comment: accepted in MNRAS (October 5, 2015
Modulation of endoglin expression in islets of langerhans by VEGF reveals a novel regulator of islet endothelial cell function
BACKGROUND: Endoglin/CD105 is an auxiliary receptor for transforming growth factor-β with established roles in vascular remodelling. It has recently been shown that heterozygous endoglin deficiency in mice decreases insulin secretion in an animal model of obesity, highlighting a potential role for endoglin in the regulation of islet function. We have previously identified two different populations of endoglin expressing cells in human and mouse islets which are: (i) endothelial cells (ECs) and (ii) islet mesenchymal stromal cells. The contribution of islet EC endoglin expression to islet development and sensitivity to VEGF is unknown and is the focus of this study. RESULTS: In vitro culture of mouse islets with VEGF164 for 48 h increased endoglin mRNA levels above untreated controls but VEGF did not modulate VEGFR2, CD31 or CD34 mRNA expression or islet viability. Removal of EC-endoglin expression in vivo reduced islet EC area but had no apparent effect on islet size or architecture. CONCLUSION: EC-specific endoglin expression in islets is sensitive to VEGF and plays partial roles in driving islet vascular development, however such regulation appears to be distinct to mechanisms required to modulate islet viability and size
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