Travelling waves in hyperbolic chemotaxis equations

Mathematical models of bacterial populations are often written as systems of partial differential equations for the densities of bacteria and concentrations of extracellular (signal) chemicals. This approach has been employed since the seminal work of Keller and Segel in the 1970s [Keller and Segel, J. Theor. Biol., 1971]. The system has been shown to permit travelling wave solutions which correspond to travelling band formation in bacterial colonies, yet only under specific criteria, such as a singularity in the chemotactic sensitivity function as the signal approaches zero. Such a singularity generates infinite macroscopic velocities which are biologically unrealistic. In this paper, we formulate a model that takes into consideration relevant details of the intracellular processes while avoiding the singularity in the chemotactic sensitivity. We prove the global existence of solutions and then show the existence of travelling wave solutions both numerically and analytically

Stoichiometry control of the electronic properties of the LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 heterointerface

We investigate the effect of the laser parameters of pulsed laser deposition on the film stoichiometry and electronic properties of LaAlO_3/SrTiO_3 (001) heterostructures. The La/Al ratio in the LaAlO_3 films was varied over a wide range from 0.88 to 1.15, and was found to have a strong effect on the interface conductivity. In particular, the carrier density is modulated over more than two orders of magnitude. The film lattice expansion, caused by cation vacancies, is found to be the important functional parameter. These results can be understood to arise from the variations in the electrostatic boundary conditions, and their resolution, with stoichiometry.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted for publicatio

Conserved cosmological structures in the one-loop superstring effective action

A generic form of low-energy effective action of superstring theories with one-loop quantum correction is well known. Based on this action we derive the complete perturbation equations and general analytic solutions in the cosmological spacetime. Using the solutions we identify conserved quantities characterizing the perturbations: the amplitude of gravitational wave and the perturbed three-space curvature in the uniform-field gauge both in the large-scale limit, and the angular-momentum of rotational perturbation are conserved independently of changing gravity sector. Implications for calculating perturbation spectra generated in the inflation era based on the string action are presented.Comment: 5 pages, no figure, To appear in Phys. Rev.

A conserved variable in the perturbed hydrodynamic world model

We introduce a scalar-type perturbation variable $\Phi$ which is conserved in the large-scale limit considering general sign of three-space curvature ($K$), the cosmological constant ($\Lambda$), and time varying equation of state. In a pressureless medium $\Phi$ is {\it exactly conserved} in all scales.Comment: 4 pages, no figure, To appear in Phys. Rev.

Swift Observations of the Be/X-ray Transient System 1A 1118-615

We report results of Swift observations for the high mass Be/X-ray binary system 1A 1118-615, during an outburst stage in January, 2009 and at a flaring stage in March, 2009. Using the epoch-folding method, we successfully detected a pulsed period of 407.69(2) sec in the outburst of January and of 407.26(1) sec after the flare detection in March. We find that the spectral detection for the source during outburst can be described by a blackbody model with a high temperature (kT ~ 1-3 keV) and a small radius (R ~ 1 km), indicating that the emission results from the polar cap of the neutron star. On the other hand, the spectra obtained after the outburst can further be described by adding an additional component with a lower temperature (kT ~ 0.1-0.2 keV) and a larger emission radius (R ~ 10-500 km), which indicates the emission from around the inner region of an accretion disk. We find that the thermal emission from the hot spot of the accreting neutron star dominates the radiation in outburst; the existence of both this X-ray contribution and the additional soft component suggest that the polar cap and the accretion disk emission might co-exist after the outburst. Because the two-blackbody signature at the flaring stage is a unique feature of 1A 1118-615, our spectral results may provide a new insight to interpret the X-ray emission for the accreting neutron star. The time separation between the three main outbursts of this system is ~17 years and it might be related to the orbital period. We derive and discuss the associated physical properties by assuming the elongated orbit for this specific Be/X-ray transient.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures and 4 tables; accepted by MNRA

Cosmological perturbations in a gravity with quadratic order curvature couplings

We present a set of equations describing the evolution of the scalar-type cosmological perturbation in a gravity with general quadratic order curvature coupling terms. Equations are presented in a gauge ready form, thus are ready to implement various temporal gauge conditions depending on the problems. The Ricci-curvature square term leads to a fourth-order differential equation for describing the spacetime fluctuations in a spatially homogeneous and isotropic cosmological background.Comment: 5 pages, no figure, To appear in Phys. Rev.

Transport properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors: Dynamical mean field theory and Boltzmann theory

The transport properties of diluted magnetic semiconductors (DMS) are calculated using dynamical mean field theory (DMFT) and Boltzmann transport theory. Within DMFT we study the density of states and the dc-resistivity, which are strongly parameter dependent such as temperature, doping, density of the carriers, and the strength of the carrier-local impurity spin exchange coupling. Characteristic qualitative features are found distinguishing weak, intermediate, and strong carrier-spin coupling and allowing quantitative determination of important parameters defining the underlying ferromagnetic mechanism. We find that spin-disorder scattering, formation of bound state, and the population of the minority spin band are all operational in DMFT in different parameter range. We also develop a complementary Boltzmann transport theory for scattering by screened ionized impurities. The difference in the screening properties between paramagnetic ($T>T_c$) and ferromagnetic ($T<T_c$) states gives rise to the temperature dependence (increase or decrease) of resistivity, depending on the carrier density, as the system goes from the paramagnetic phase to the ferromagnetic phase. The metallic behavior below $T_c$ for optimally doped DMS samples can be explained in the Boltzmann theory by temperature dependent screening and thermal change of carrier spin polarization.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figure

Anisotropic strains and magnetoresistance of La_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3}

Thin films of perovskite manganite La_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3} were grown epitaxially on SrTiO_3(100), MgO(100) and LaAlO_3(100) substrates by the pulsed laser deposition method. Microscopic structures of these thin film samples as well as a bulk sample were fully determined by x-ray diffraction measurements. The unit cells of the three films have different shapes, i.e., contracted tetragonal, cubic, and elongated tetragonal for SrTiO_3, MgO, and LaAlO_3 cases, respectively, while the unit cell of the bulk is cubic. It is found that the samples with cubic unit cell show smaller peak magnetoresistance than the noncubic ones do. The present result demonstrates that the magnetoresistance of La_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3} can be controlled by lattice distortion via externally imposed strains.Comment: Revtex, 10 pages, 2 figure