8,913 research outputs found
Quantum Stress Tensor Fluctuations and their Physical Effects
We summarize several aspects of recent work on quantum stress tensor
fluctuations and their role in driving fluctuations of the gravitational field.
The role of correlations and anticorrelations is emphasized. We begin with a
review of the properties of the stress tensor correlation function. We next
consider some illuminating examples of non-gravitational effects of stress
tensors fluctuations, specifically fluctuations of the Casimir force and
radiation pressure fluctuations. We next discuss passive fluctuations of
spacetime geometry and some of their operational signatures. These include
luminosity fluctuations, line broadening, and angular blurring of a source
viewed through a fluctuating gravitational field. Finally, we discuss the
possible role of quantum stress tensor fluctuations in the early universe,
especially in inflation. The fluctuations of the expansion of a congruence of
comoving geodesics grows during the inflationary era, due to non-cancellation
of anticorrelations that would have occurred in flat spacetime. This results in
subsequent non-Gaussian density perturbations and allows one to infer an upper
bound on the duration of inflation. This bound is consistent with adequate
inflation to solve the horizon and flatness problems.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure; invited talk presented at the 3rd Mexican Meeting
on Experimental and Theoretical Physics, Mexico City, September 10-14, 200
From Collapse to Freezing in Random Heteropolymers
We consider a two-letter self-avoiding (square) lattice heteropolymer model
of N_H (out ofN) attracting sites. At zero temperature, permanent links are
formed leading to collapse structures for any fraction rho_H=N_H/N. The average
chain size scales as R = N^{1/d}F(rho_H) (d is space dimension). As rho_H -->
0, F(rho_H) ~ rho_H^z with z={1/d-nu}=-1/4 for d=2. Moreover, for 0 < rho_H <
1, entropy approaches zero as N --> infty (being finite for a homopolymer). An
abrupt decrease in entropy occurs at the phase boundary between the swollen (R
~ N^nu) and collapsed region. Scaling arguments predict different regimes
depending on the ensemble of crosslinks. Some implications to the protein
folding problem are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, figs upon request. New interpretation and emphasis.
Submitted to Europhys.Let
Continuous distribution of frequencies and deformed dispersion relations
The possibilities that, in the realm of the detection of the so--called
deformed dispersion relation, a light source with a continuous distribution of
frequencies offers is discussed. It will be proved that the presence of finite
coherence length entails the emergence of a new term in the interference
pattern. This is a novel trait, which renders a new possibility in the quest
for bounds associated with these deformed dispersion relations.Comment: Accepted in Classical and Quantum Gravit
Interaction of silver nanoparticles with HIV-1
The interaction of nanoparticles with biomolecules and microorganisms is an expanding field of research. Within this field, an area that has been largely unexplored is the interaction of metal nanoparticles with viruses. In this work, we demonstrate that silver nanoparticles undergo a size-dependent interaction with HIV-1, with nanoparticles exclusively in the range of 1–10 nm attached to the virus. The regular spatial arrangement of the attached nanoparticles, the center-to-center distance between nanoparticles, and the fact that the exposed sulfur-bearing residues of the glycoprotein knobs would be attractive sites for nanoparticle interaction suggest that silver nanoparticles interact with the HIV-1 virus via preferential binding to the gp120 glycoprotein knobs. Due to this interaction, silver nanoparticles inhibit the virus from binding to host cells, as demonstrated in vitro
Fluid--Gravity Correspondence under the presence of viscosity
The present work addresses the analogy between the speed of sound of a
viscous, barotropic, and irrotational fluid and the equation of motion for a
non--massive field in a curved manifold. It will be shown that the presence of
viscosity implies the introduction, into the equation of motion of the
gravitational analogue, of a source term which entails the flow of energy from
the non--massive field to the curvature of the spacetime manifold. The
stress-energy tensor is also computed and it is found not to be constant, which
is consistent with such energy interchange
Shallow structure beneath the Central Volcanic Complex of Tenerife from new gravity data: implications for its evolution and recent reactivation
We present a new local Bouguer anomaly map of the Central Volcanic Complex (CVC) of Tenerife, Spain, constructed from the amalgamation of 323 new high precision gravity measurements with existing gravity data from 361 observations. The new anomaly map images the high-density core of the CVC and the pronounced gravity low centred in the Las Cañadas caldera in greater detail than previously available. Mathematical construction of a sub-surface model from the local anomaly data, employing a 3D inversion based on 'growing' the sub-surface density distribution via the aggregation of cells, enables mapping of the shallow structure beneath the complex, giving unprecedented insights into the sub-surface architecture. We find the resultant density distribution in agreement with geological and other geophysical data. The modelled sub-surface structure supports a vertical collapse origin of the caldera, and maps the headwall of the ca. 180 ka Icod landslide, which appears to lie buried beneath the Pico Viejo–Pico Teide stratovolcanic complex. The results allow us to put into context the recorded ground deformation and gravity changes at the CVC during its reactivation in spring 2004 in relation to its dominant structural building blocks. For example, the areas undergoing the most significant changes at depth in recent years are underlain by low-density material and are aligned along long-standing structural entities, which have shaped this volcanic ocean island over the past few million years
Entropic Barriers, Frustration and Order: Basic Ingredients in Protein Folding
We solve a model that takes into account entropic barriers, frustration, and
the organization of a protein-like molecule. For a chain of size , there is
an effective folding transition to an ordered structure. Without frustration,
this state is reached in a time that scales as , with
. This scaling is limited by the amount of frustration which
leads to the dynamical selectivity of proteins: foldable proteins are limited
to monomers; and they are stable in {\it one} range of temperatures,
independent of size and structure. These predictions explain generic properties
of {\it in vivo} proteins.Comment: 4 pages, 4 Figures appended as postscript fil
Performance of Sensitivity based NMPC Updates in Automotive Applications
In this work we consider a half car model which is subject to unknown but
measurable disturbances. To control this system, we impose a combination of
model predictive control without stabilizing terminal constraints or cost to
generate a nominal solution and sensitivity updates to handle the disturbances.
For this approach, stability of the resulting closed loop can be guaranteed
using a relaxed Lyapunov argument on the nominal system and Lipschitz
conditions on the open loop change of the optimal value function and the stage
costs. For the considered example, the proposed approach is realtime applicable
and corresponding results show significant performance improvements of the
updated solution with respect to comfort and handling properties.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
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