A flexible polymer chain in a critical solvent: Coil or globule?

We study the behavior of a flexible polymer chain in the presence of a low-molecular weight solvent in the vicinity of a liquid-gas critical point within the framework of a self-consistent field theory. The total free energy of the dilute polymer solution is expressed as a function of the radius of gyration of the polymer and the average solvent number density within the gyration volume at the level of the mean-field approximation. Varying the strength of attraction between polymer and solvent we show that two qualitatively different regimes occur at the liquid-gas critical point. In case of weak polymer-solvent interactions the polymer chain is in a globular state. On the contrary, in case of strong polymer-solvent interactions the polymer chain attains an expanded conformation. We discuss the influence of the critical solvent density fluctuations on the polymer conformation. The reported effect could be used to excert control on the polymer conformation by changing the thermodynamic state of the solvent. It could also be helpful to estimate the solvent density within the gyration volume of the polymer for drug delivery and molecular imprinting applications

Estimation of reliability of seismic and electromagnetic monitoring in seismic active areas by diffraction tomography

International audienceThis paper presents the algorithms and results of the numerical simulation of the solution of a 2-D inverse problem on the restoration of seismic parameters and electrical conductivity of local inhomogeneities by the diffraction tomography method based upon the first order Born approximation. The direct problems for the Lame and Maxwell equations are solved by the finite difference method. Restoration of inhomogeneities which are not very weak is implemented with the use of a small number of receivers (source-receiver pairs)

The local phase transitions of the solvent in the neighborhood of a solvophobic polymer at high pressures

We investigate local phase transitions of the solvent in the neighborhood of a solvophobic polymer chain which is induced by a change of the polymer-solvent repulsion and the solvent pressure in the bulk solution. We describe the polymer in solution by the Edwards model, where the conditional partition function of the polymer chain at a fixed radius of gyration is described by a mean-field theory. The contributions of the polymer-solvent and the solvent-solvent interactions to the total free energy are described within the mean-field approximation. We obtain the total free energy of the solution as a function of the radius of gyration and the average solvent number density within the gyration volume. The resulting system of coupled equations is solved varying the polymer-solvent repulsion strength at high solvent pressure in the bulk. We show that the coil-globule (globule-coil) transition occurs accompanied by a local solvent evaporation (condensation) within the gyration volum

Semileptonic Bc−→D∗0ℓνB_{c}^{-}\to D^{*0}\ell\nu transition in three--point QCD sum rules and HQET with gluon condensate corrections

Taking into account the gluon condensate contributions, the form factors of the semileptonic $B_c^- \to D^{*0}\ell\nu$ transition with $l=\tau, e$ are calculated in the framework of the three point QCD sum rules. The heavy quark effective theory limit of the form factors are also computed. The relevant total decay width as well as the branching ratio are evaluated and compared with the predictions of the other non-perturbative approaches.Comment: 27 Pages, 4 Figures and 4 Table

Subthreshold and near-threshold kaon and antikaon production in proton-nucleus reactions

The differential production cross sections of K^+ and K^- mesons have been measured at the ITEP proton synchrotron in p+Be, p+Cu collisions under lab angle of 10.5^0, respectively, at 1.7 and 2.25, 2.4 GeV beam energies. A detailed comparison of these data with the results of calculations within an appropriate folding model for incoherent primary proton-nucleon, secondary pion-nucleon kaon and antikaon production processes and processes associated with the creation of antikaons via the decay of intermediate phi mesons is given. We show that the strangeness exchange process YN->NNK^- gives a small contribution to the antikaon yield in the kinematics of the performed experiment. We argue that in the case when antikaon production processes are dominated by the channels with KK^- in the final state, the cross sections of the corresponding reactions are weakly influenced by the in-medium kaon and antikaon mean fields.Comment: 24 pages. accepted for publication at J.Phys.

Two-particle decays of B_c meson into charmonium states

The factorization of hard and soft contributions into the hadronic decays of B_c meson at large recoils is explored in order to evaluate the decay rates into the S, P and D-wave charmonia associated with rho and pi. The constraints of approach applicability and uncertainties of numerical estimates are discussed. The mode with the J/psi in the final state is evaluated taking into account the cascade radiative electromagnetic decays of excited P-wave states, that enlarges the branching ratio by 20-25%.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX axodraw-style, 1 figure, 2 table

Reply to the "Comment on `Once more about the KKˉK\bar{K} molecule approach to the light scalars' "

The need to regularize loop integrals in a manner that preserves gauge invariance, for example, using the Pauli-Villars method, requires a subtraction that in the large mass limit hides its high momentum origin. This gives rise to the illusion that only nonrelativistic kaon loop momenta are relevant, when in fact this is not the case, as we show.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, there are specified the title, the abstract, and the first paragraph, typos are remove

Variational Lie algebroids and homological evolutionary vector fields

We define Lie algebroids over infinite jet spaces and establish their equivalent representation through homological evolutionary vector fields.Comment: Int. Workshop "Nonlinear Physics: Theory and Experiment VI" (Gallipoli, Italy; June-July 2010). Published v3 = v2 minus typos, to appear in: Theoret. and Mathem. Phys. (2011) Vol.167:3 (168:1), 18 page