6,219 research outputs found
Oxidative Heck desymmetrisation of 2,2-disubstituted cyclopentene-1,3-diones
Oxidative Heck couplings have been successfully developed for 2,2-disubstituted cyclopentene-1,3-diones. The direct coupling onto the 2,2-disubstituted cyclopentene-1,3-dione core provides a novel expedient way of enantioselectively desymmetrising all-carbon quaternary centres
Three New Long Period X-ray Pulsars Discovered in the Small Magellanic Cloud
The Small Magellanic Cloud is increasingly an invaluable laboratory for
studying accreting and isolated X-ray pulsars. We add to the class of compact
SMC objects by reporting the discovery of three new long period X-ray pulsars
detected with the {\it Chandra X-ray Observatory}. The pulsars, with periods of
152, 304 and 565 seconds, all show hard X-ray spectra over the range from 0.6 -
7.5 keV. The source positions of the three pulsars are consistent with known
H-alpha emission sources, indicating they are likely to be Be type X-ray binary
star systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Lowest Landau-level description of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a rapidly rotating anisotropic trap
A rapidly rotating Bose-Einstein condensate in a symmetric two-dimensional
trap can be described with the lowest Landau-level set of states. In this case,
the condensate wave function psi(x,y) is a Gaussian function of r^2 = x^2 +
y^2, multiplied by an analytic function P(z) of the single complex variable z=
x+ i y; the zeros of P(z) denote the positions of the vortices. Here, a similar
description is used for a rapidly rotating anisotropic two-dimensional trap
with arbitrary anisotropy (omega_x/omega_y le 1). The corresponding condensate
wave function psi(x,y) has the form of a complex anisotropic Gaussian with a
phase proportional to xy, multiplied by an analytic function P(zeta), where
zeta is proportional to x + i beta_- y and 0 le beta_- le 1 is a real parameter
that depends on the trap anisotropy and the rotation frequency. The zeros of
P(zeta) again fix the locations of the vortices. Within the set of lowest
Landau-level states at zero temperature, an anisotropic parabolic density
profile provides an absolute minimum for the energy, with the vortex density
decreasing slowly and anisotropically away from the trap center.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figur
Cross-sections of Andreev scattering by quantized vortex rings in 3He-B
We studied numerically the Andreev scattering cross-sections of
three-dimensional isolated quantized vortex rings in superfluid 3He-B at
ultra-low temperatures. We calculated the dependence of the cross-section on
the ring's size and on the angle between the beam of incident thermal
quasiparticle excitations and the direction of the ring's motion. We also
introduced, and investigated numerically, the cross-section averaged over all
possible orientations of the vortex ring; such a cross-section may be
particularly relevant for the analysis of experimental data. We also analyzed
the role of screening effects for Andreev reflection of quasiparticles by
systems of vortex rings. Using the results obtained for isolated rings we found
that the screening factor for a system of unlinked rings depends strongly on
the average radius of the vortex ring, and that the screening effects increase
with decreasing the rings' size.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures ; submitted to Physical Review
Optical and X-ray Observations of the Afterglow to XRF030723
The X-ray-flash XRF030723 was detected by the HETE satellite and rapidly
disseminated, allowing for an optical transient to be detected ~1 day after the
burst. We discuss observations in the optical with Magellan, which confirmed
the fade of the optical transient. In a 2-epoch ToO observation with Chandra,
we discovered a fading X-ray source spatially coincident with the optical
transient. We present spectral fits to the X-ray data. We also discuss the
possibility that the source underwent a rebrightening in the X-rays, as was
observed in the optical. We find that the significance of a possible
rebrightening is very low (~1 sigma).Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Santa Fe GRB Conference Proceedings,
200
Electromagnetically induced switching of ferroelectric thin films
We analyze the interaction of an electromagnetic spike (one cycle) with a
thin layer of ferroelectric medium with two equilibrium states. The model is
the set of Maxwell equations coupled to the undamped Landau-Khalatnikov
equation, where we do not assume slowly varying envelopes. From linear
scattering theory, we show that low amplitude pulses can be completely
reflected by the medium. Large amplitude pulses can switch the ferroelectric.
Using numerical simulations and analysis, we study this switching for long and
short pulses, estimate the switching times and provide useful information for
experiments
Bifurcations of periodic orbits with spatio-temporal symmetries
Motivated by recent analytical and numerical work on two- and three-dimensional convection with imposed spatial periodicity, we analyse three examples of bifurcations from a continuous group orbit of spatio-temporally symmetric periodic solutions of partial differential equations. Our approach is based on centre manifold reduction for maps, and is in the spirit of earlier work by Iooss (1986) on bifurcations of group orbits of spatially symmetric equilibria. Two examples, two-dimensional pulsating waves (PW) and three-dimensional alternating pulsating waves (APW), have discrete spatio-temporal symmetries characterized by the cyclic groups Z_n, n=2 (PW) and n=4 (APW). These symmetries force the Poincare' return map M to be the nth iterate of a map G: M=G^n. The group orbits of PW and APW are generated by translations in the horizontal directions and correspond to a circle and a two-torus, respectively. An instability of pulsating waves can lead to solutions that drift along the group orbit, while bifurcations with Floquet multiplier +1 of alternating pulsating waves do not lead to drifting solutions. The third example we consider, alternating rolls, has the spatio-temporal symmetry of alternating pulsating waves as well as being invariant under reflections in two vertical planes. This leads to the possibility of a doubling of the marginal Floquet multiplier and of bifurcation to two distinct types of drifting solutions. We conclude by proposing a systematic way of analysing steady-state bifurcations of periodic orbits with discrete spatio-temporal symmetries, based on applying the equivariant branching lemma to the irreducible representations of the spatio-temporal symmetry group of the periodic orbit, and on the normal form results of Lamb (1996). This general approach is relevant to other pattern formation problems, and contributes to our understanding of the transition from ordered to disordered behaviour in pattern-forming systems
Laboratory and Field Studies of Resistance of Crab Apple Clones to Rhagoletis pomonella (Diptera: Tephritidae)
Oviposition and larval survival of Rhagoletis pomonella (Walsh) varied significantly among fruit from 25 crab apple speciesand clones evaluated in field and laboratory studies. In general, the relative oviposition preference and larval survival was similar in fruit infested naturally in the field and fruit tested in the laboratory. Flies oviposited more in clones with larger fruit, although this relationship was more pronounced in laboratory tests when fruit was infested by laboratory-reared flies than in fruit infested in the field by wild flies. ‘Aldenhamensis,' ‘Fuji,' ‘Vilmorin,' Malus zumi calocarpa Rehd., and M. hupehensis (Pamp) Rehd. fruit was not infested in the field, but flies oviposited in fruit of all 25 species and clones in choice tests in the laboratory. Eggs hatched but larvae did not survive in fruit of ‘Henry F. DuPont,' ‘Frettingham,' ‘Fuji,' ‘Sparkler,' M. hupehensis, and M. zumi calocarpa. Larval mortality was very high in fruit from ‘Vilmorin,' ‘Sparkler,' ‘NA 40298,' ‘Henrietta Crosby,' ‘Golden Gem,' ‘Almey,' M. baccata L. (Borkh.), and M. sikktmensis (Hook.) Koehn
A systematically coarse-grained model for DNA, and its predictions for persistence length, stacking, twist, and chirality
We introduce a coarse-grained model of DNA with bases modeled as rigid-body
ellipsoids to capture their anisotropic stereochemistry. Interaction potentials
are all physicochemical and generated from all-atom simulation/parameterization
with minimal phenomenology. Persistence length, degree of stacking, and twist
are studied by molecular dynamics simulation as functions of temperature, salt
concentration, sequence, interaction potential strength, and local position
along the chain, for both single- and double-stranded DNA where appropriate.
The model of DNA shows several phase transitions and crossover regimes in
addition to dehybridization, including unstacking, untwisting, and collapse
which affect mechanical properties such as rigidity and persistence length. The
model also exhibits chirality with a stable right-handed and metastable
left-handed helix.Comment: 30 pages, 20 figures, Supplementary Material available at
http://www.physics.ubc.ca/~steve/publications.htm
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