96,822 research outputs found
Multipole polarizability of a graded spherical particle
We have studied the multipole polarizability of a graded spherical particle
in a nonuniform electric field, in which the conductivity can vary radially
inside the particle. The main objective of this work is to access the effects
of multipole interactions at small interparticle separations, which can be
important in non-dilute suspensions of functionally graded materials. The
nonuniform electric field arises either from that applied on the particle or
from the local field of all other particles. We developed a differential
effective multipole moment approximation (DEMMA) to compute the multipole
moment of a graded spherical particle in a nonuniform external field. Moreover,
we compare the DEMMA results with the exact results of the power-law graded
profile and the agreement is excellent. The extension to anisotropic DEMMA will
be studied in an Appendix.Comment: LaTeX format, 2 eps figures, submitted for publication
Limits from Weak Gravity Conjecture on Dark Energy Models
The weak gravity conjecture has been proposed as a criterion to distinguish
the landscape from the swampland in string theory. As an application in
cosmology of this conjecture, we use it to impose theoretical constraint on
parameters of two types of dark energy models. Our analysis indicates that the
Chaplygin-gas-type models realized in quintessence field are in the swampland,
whereas the power-low decay model of the variable cosmological constant can
be viable but the parameters are tightly constrained by the conjecture.Comment: Revtex4, 8 pages, 5 figures; References, minor corrections in
content, and acknowledgement adde
Elastic energy of proteins and the stages of protein folding
We propose a universal elastic energy for proteins, which depends only on the
radius of gyration and the residue number . It is constructed using
physical arguments based on the hydrophobic effect and hydrogen bonding.
Adjustable parameters are fitted to data from the computer simulation of the
folding of a set of proteins using the CSAW (conditioned self-avoiding walk)
model. The elastic energy gives rise to scaling relations of the form
in different regions. It shows three folding stages
characterized by the progression with exponents , which we
identify as the unfolded stage, pre-globule, and molten globule, respectively.
The pre-globule goes over to the molten globule via a break in behavior akin to
a first-order phase transition, which is initiated by a sudden acceleration of
hydrogen bonding
Observational constraints on patch inflation in noncommutative spacetime
We study constraints on a number of patch inflationary models in
noncommutative spacetime using a compilation of recent high-precision
observational data. In particular, the four-dimensional General Relativistic
(GR) case, the Randall-Sundrum (RS) and Gauss-Bonnet (GB) braneworld scenarios
are investigated by extending previous commutative analyses to the infrared
limit of a maximally symmetric realization of the stringy uncertainty
principle. The effect of spacetime noncommutativity modifies the standard
consistency relation between the tensor spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar
ratio. We perform likelihood analyses in terms of inflationary observables
using new consistency relations and confront them with large-field inflationary
models with potential V \propto \vp^p in two classes of noncommutative
scenarios. We find a number of interesting results: (i) the quartic potential
(p=4) is rescued from marginal rejection in the class 2 GR case, and (ii) steep
inflation driven by an exponential potential (p \to \infty) is allowed in the
class 1 RS case. Spacetime noncommutativity can lead to blue-tilted scalar and
tensor spectra even for monomial potentials, thus opening up a possibility to
explain the loss of power observed in the cosmic microwave background
anisotropies. We also explore patch inflation with a Dirac-Born-Infeld tachyon
field and explicitly show that the associated likelihood analysis is equivalent
to the one in the ordinary scalar field case by using horizon-flow parameters.
It turns out that tachyon inflation is compatible with observations in all
patch cosmologies even for large p.Comment: 16 pages, 11 figures; v2: updated references, minor corrections to
match the Phys. Rev. D versio
Nonlinear alternating current responses of graded materials
When a composite of nonlinear particles suspended in a host medium is
subjected to a sinusoidal electric field, the electrical response in the
composite will generally consist of alternating current (AC) fields at
frequencies of higher-order harmonics. The situation becomes more interesting
when the suspended particles are graded, with a spatial variation in the
dielectric properties. The local electric field inside the graded particles can
be calculated by the differential effective dipole approximation, which agrees
very well with a first-principles approach. In this work, a nonlinear
differential effective dipole approximation and a perturbation expansion method
have been employed to investigate the effect of gradation on the nonlinear AC
responses of these composites. The results showed that the fundamental and
third-harmonic AC responses are sensitive to the dielectric-constant and/or
nonlinear-susceptibility gradation profiles within the particles. Thus, by
measuring the AC responses of the graded composites, it is possible to perform
a real-time monitoring of the fabrication process of the gradation profiles
within the graded particles.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure
A Tracker Solution for a Holographic Dark Energy Model
We investigate a kind of holographic dark energy model with the future event
horizon the IR cutoff and the equation of state -1. In this model, the
constraint on the equation of state automatically specifies an interaction
between matter and dark energy. With this interaction included, an accelerating
expansion is obtained as well as the transition from deceleration to
acceleration. It is found that there exists a stable tracker solution for the
numerical parameter , and smaller than one will not lead to a physical
solution. This model provides another possible phenomenological framework to
alleviate the cosmological coincidence problem in the context of holographic
dark energy. Some properties of the evolution which are relevant to
cosmological parameters are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; accepted for publication in Int.J.Mod.Phys.
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