710 research outputs found
Dynamics of a classical gas including dissipative and mean field effects
By means of a scaling ansatz, we investigate an approximated solution of the
Boltzmann-Vlasov equation for a classical gas. Within this framework, we derive
the frequencies and the damping of the collective oscillations of a
harmonically trapped gas and we investigate its expansion after release of the
trap. The method is well suited to studying the collisional effects taking
place in the system and in particular to discussing the crossover between the
hydrodynamic and the collisionless regimes. An explicit link between the
relaxation times relevant for the damping of the collective oscillations and
for the expansion is established.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
How different experimental models of secondary hyperalgesia change the nociceptive flexion reflex
In this neurophysiological study in healthy humans, we assessed how central sensitization induced by either high-frequency stimulation (HFS) or topical capsaicin application modulates features of the RIII reflex response. The ability of these stimuli to engage the endogenous pain modulatory system was also tested. In 26 healthy participants we elicited an RIII reflex using suprathreshold stimulation of the sural nerve. Subsequently HFS or capsaicin were applied to the foot and the RIII reflex repeated after 15 minutes. Contact heating of the volar forearm served as the heterotopic test stimulus to probe activation of the endogenous pain modulatory system. HFS significantly reduced the pain threshold by 29% and the RIII reflex threshold by 20%. Capsaicin significantly reduced the pain threshold by 17% and the RIII reflex threshold by 18%. Both HFS and capsaicin left RIII reflex size unaffected. Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) pain scores elicited by the heterotopic noxious heat stimulus were unaffected by capsaicin and slightly increased by HFS. HFS and capsaicin similarly modulated the pain threshold and RIII reflex threshold, without a concomitant inhibitory effect of the endogenous pain modulatory system. Our neurophysiological study supports the use of the RIII reflex in investigating central sensitization in humans
A novel autotransporter of uropathogenic Proteus mirabilis is both a cytotoxin and an agglutinin
One of the six predicted Proteus mirabilis autotransporters (ATs), ORF c2341, is predicted to contain a serine protease motif and was earlier identified as an immunogenic outer membrane protein in P. mirabilis . The 3.2 kb gene encodes a 117 kDa protein with a 58-amino-acid-long signal peptide, a 75-kDa-long N-terminal passenger domain and a 30-kDa-long C-terminal translocator. Affinity-purified 110 kDa AT exhibited chymotrypsin-like activity and hydrolysed N -Suc–Ala–Ala–Pro–Phe– p Na and N -Suc–Ala–Ala–Pro–Leu– p Na with a K M of 22 μM and 31 μM, respectively, under optimal pH of 8.5–9.0 in a Ca 2+ -dependent manner. Activity was inhibited by subtilase-specific inhibitors leupeptin and chymostatin. Both the cell-associated and purified form elicited cytopathic effects on cultured kidney and bladder epithelial cells. Substrate hydrolysis as well as cytotoxicity was associated with the passenger domain and was compromised upon mutation of any of the catalytic residues (Ser366, His147 and Asp533). At alkaline pH and optimal cell density, the AT also promoted autoaggregation of P. mirabilis and this function was independent of its protease activity. Cytotoxicity, autoaggregation and virulence were significantly reduced in an isogenic pta mutant of P. mirabilis . Proteus toxic agglutinin (Pta) represents a novel autotransported cytotoxin with no bacterial homologues that works optimally in the alkalinized urinary tract, a characteristic of urease-mediated urea hydrolysis during P. mirabilis infection.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73221/1/j.1365-2958.2008.06199.x.pd
Collective excitations of a two-dimensional interacting Bose gas in anti-trap and linear external potentials
We present a method of finding approximate analytical solutions for the
spectra and eigenvectors of collective modes in a two-dimensional system of
interacting bosons subjected to a linear external potential or the potential of
a special form , where is the chemical
potential. The eigenvalue problem is solved analytically for an artificial
model allowing the unbounded density of the particles. The spectra of
collective modes are calculated numerically for the stripe, the rare density
valley and the edge geometry and compared with the analytical results. It is
shown that the energies of the modes localized at the rare density region and
at the edge are well approximated by the analytical expressions. We discuss
Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) in the systems under investigations at and find that in case of a finite number of the particles the regime of BEC
can be realized, whereas the condensate disappears in the thermodynamic limit.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures include
Stability of trapped Bose-Einstein condensates
In three-dimensional trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC), described by the
time-dependent Gross-Pitaevskii-Ginzburg equation, we study the effect of
initial conditions on stability using a Gaussian variational approach and exact
numerical simulations. We also discuss the validity of the criterion for
stability suggested by Vakhitov and Kolokolov. The maximum initial chirp
(initial focusing defocusing of cloud) that can lead a stable condensate to
collapse even before the number of atoms reaches its critical limit is obtained
for several specific cases. When we consider two- and three-body nonlinear
terms, with negative cubic and positive quintic terms, we have the conditions
for the existence of two phases in the condensate. In this case, the magnitude
of the oscillations between the two phases are studied considering sufficient
large initial chirps. The occurrence of collapse in a BEC with repulsive
two-body interaction is also shown to be possible.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figure
Mean field effects in a trapped classical gas
In this article, we investigate mean field effects for a bosonic gas
harmonically trapped above the transition temperature in the collisionless
regime. We point out that those effects can play also a role in low dimensional
system. Our treatment relies on the Boltzmann equation with the inclusion of
the mean field term.
The equilibrium state is first discussed. The dispersion relation for
collective oscillations (monopole, quadrupole, dipole modes) is then derived.
In particular, our treatment gives the frequency of the monopole mode in an
isotropic and harmonic trap in the presence of mean field in all dimensions.Comment: 4 pages, no figure submitted to Phys. Rev.
Model Independent Evolution of Transverse Momentum Dependent Distribution Functions (TMDs) at NNLL
We discuss the evolution of the eight leading twist transverse momentum
dependent parton distribution functions, which turns out to be universal and
spin independent. By using the highest order perturbatively calculable
ingredients at our disposal, we perform the resummation of the large logarithms
that appear in the evolution kernel of transverse momentum distributions up to
next-to-next-to-leading logarithms (NNLL), thus obtaining an expression for the
kernel with highly reduced model dependence. Our results can also be obtained
using the standard CSS approach when a particular choice of the
prescription is used. In this sense, and while restricted to the perturbative
domain of applicability, we consider our results as a "prediction" of the
correct value of which is very close to . We
explore under which kinematical conditions the effects of the non-perturbative
region are negligible, and hence the evolution of transverse momentum
distributions can be applied in a model independent way. The application of the
kernel is illustrated by considering the unpolarized transverse momentum
dependent parton distribution function and the Sivers function.Comment: To appear in EPJC. 17 pages, 7 figure
Fusion product losses due to fishbone instabilities in deuterium JET plasmas
During development of a high-performance hybrid scenario for future deuterium–tritium experiments on the Joint European Torus, an increased level of fast ion losses in the MeV energy range was observed during the instability of high-frequency n = 1 fishbones. The fishbones are excited during deuterium neutral beam injection combined with ion cyclotron heating. The frequency range of the fishbones, 10–25 kHz, indicates that they are driven by a resonant interaction with the NBI-produced deuterium beam ions in the energy range ≤120 keV. The fast particle losses in a much higher energy range are measured with a fast ion loss detector, and the data show an expulsion of deuterium plasma fusion products, 1 MeV tritons and 3 MeV protons, during the fishbone bursts. An MHD mode analysis with the MISHKA code combined with the nonlinear wave-particle interaction code HAGIS shows that the loss of toroidal symmetry caused by the n = 1 fishbones affects strongly the confinement of non-resonant high energy fusion-born tritons and protons by perturbing their orbits and expelling them. This modelling is in a good agreement with the experimental data.This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under grant agreement No 633053 and from the RCUK Energy Programme [grant No EP/P012450/1]. To obtain further information on the data and models underlying this paper please contact [email protected] . The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European CommissionPeer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
Polarization phenomena in open charm photoproduction processes
We analyze polarization effects in associative photoproduction of
pseudoscalar () charmed mesons in exclusive processes , , . Circularly polarized photons
induce nonzero polarization of the -hyperon with - and -components
(in the reaction plane) and non vanishing asymmetries and for polarized nucleon target. These polarization observables can be
predicted in model-independent way for exclusive -production processes
in collinear kinematics. The T-even -polarization and asymmetries for
non-collinear kinematics can be calculated in framework of an effective
Lagrangian approach. The depolarization coefficients , characterizing
the dependence of the -polarization on the nucleon polarization are also
calculated.Comment: 36 pages 13 figure
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