1,052 research outputs found
Correlation length of hydrophobic polyelectrolyte solutions
The combination of two techniques (Small Angle X-ray Scattering and Atomic
Force Microscopy) has allowed us to measure in reciprocal and real space the
correlation length of salt-free aqueous solutions of highly charged
hydrophobic polyelectrolyte as a function of the polymer concentration ,
charge fraction and chain length . Contrary to the classical behaviour
of hydrophilic polyelectrolytes in the strong coupling limit, is strongly
dependent on . In particular a continuous transition has been observed from
to when decreased from 100% to
35%. We interpret this unusual behaviour as the consequence of the two features
characterising the hydrophobic polyelectrolytes: the pearl necklace
conformation of the chains and the anomalously strong reduction of the
effective charge fraction.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Europhysics Letter
On the pearl size of hydrophobic polyelectrolytes
Hydrophobic polyelectrolytes have been predicted to adopt an unique
pearl-necklace conformation in aqueous solvents. We present in this Letter an
attempt to characterise quantitatively this conformation with a focus on ,
the pearl size. For this purpose polystyrenesulfonate (PSS) of various
effective charge fractions and chain lengths has been adsorbed
onto oppositely charged surfaces immersed in water in condition where the bulk
structure is expected to persist in the adsorbed state. \emph{In situ}
ellipsometry has provided an apparent thickness of the PSS layer. In
the presence of added salts, we have found:
( is the monomer size) in agreement with the scaling predictions for
in the pearl-necklace model if one interprets as a measure of the
pearl size. At the lowest charge fractions we have found
for the shorter chains, in agreement with a necklace/globule transition.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. Published in Europhysics Letters, Vol.
62, Number 1, pp. 110-116 (2003
CHARIS Science: Performance Simulations for the Subaru Telescope's Third-Generation of Exoplanet Imaging Instrumentation
We describe the expected scientific capabilities of CHARIS, a high-contrast
integral-field spectrograph (IFS) currently under construction for the Subaru
telescope. CHARIS is part of a new generation of instruments, enabled by
extreme adaptive optics (AO) systems (including SCExAO at Subaru), that promise
greatly improved contrasts at small angular separation thanks to their ability
to use spectral information to distinguish planets from quasistatic speckles in
the stellar point-spread function (PSF). CHARIS is similar in concept to GPI
and SPHERE, on Gemini South and the Very Large Telescope, respectively, but
will be unique in its ability to simultaneously cover the entire near-infrared
, , and bands with a low-resolution mode. This extraordinarily broad
wavelength coverage will enable spectral differential imaging down to angular
separations of a few , corresponding to 0.\!\!''1. SCExAO
will also offer contrast approaching at similar separations,
0.\!\!''1--0.\!\!''2. The discovery yield of a CHARIS survey will
depend on the exoplanet distribution function at around 10 AU. If the
distribution of planets discovered by radial velocity surveys extends unchanged
to 20 AU, observations of 200 mostly young, nearby stars targeted
by existing high-contrast instruments might find 1--3 planets. Carefully
optimizing the target sample could improve this yield by a factor of a few,
while an upturn in frequency at a few AU could also increase the number of
detections. CHARIS, with a higher spectral resolution mode of , will
also be among the best instruments to characterize planets and brown dwarfs
like HR 8799 cde and And b.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, proceedings from SPIE Montrea
Optimizing end-labeled free-solution electrophoresis by increasing the hydrodynamic friction of the drag-tag
We study the electrophoretic separation of polyelectrolytes of varying
lengths by means of end-labeled free-solution electrophoresis (ELFSE). A
coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulation model, using full electrostatic
interactions and a mesoscopic Lattice Boltzmann fluid to account for
hydrodynamic interactions, is used to characterize the drag coefficients of
different label types: linear and branched polymeric labels, as well as
transiently bound micelles.
It is specifically shown that the label's drag coefficient is determined by
its hydrodynamic size, and that the drag per label monomer is largest for
linear labels. However, the addition of side chains to a linear label offers
the possibility to increase the hydrodynamic size, and therefore the label
efficiency, without having to increase the linear length of the label, thereby
simplifying synthesis. The third class of labels investigated, transiently
bound micelles, seems very promising for the usage in ELFSE, as they provide a
significant higher hydrodynamic drag than the other label types.
The results are compared to theoretical predictions, and we investigate how
the efficiency of the ELFSE method can be improved by using smartly designed
drag-tags.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Macromolecule
The Tensor-Vector-Scalar theory and its cosmology
Over the last few decades, astronomers and cosmologists have accumulated vast
amounts of data clearly demonstrating that our current theories of fundamental
particles and of gravity are inadequate to explain the observed discrepancy
between the dynamics and the distribution of the visible matter in the
Universe. The Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) proposal aims at solving the
problem by postulating that Newton's second law of motion is modified for
accelerations smaller than ~10^{-10}m/s^2. This simple amendment, has had
tremendous success in explaining galactic rotation curves. However, being
non-relativistic, it cannot make firm predictions for cosmology.
A relativistic theory called Tensor-Vector-Scalar (TeVeS) has been proposed
by Bekenstein building on earlier work of Sanders which has a MOND limit for
non-relativistic systems.
In this article I give a short introduction to TeVeS theory and focus on its
predictions for cosmology as well as some non-cosmological studies.Comment: 44 pages, topical review for Classical and Quantum Gravit
Ortho-to-para ratio of interstellar heavy water
Despite the low elemental deuterium abundance in the Galaxy, enhanced
molecular D/H ratios have been found in the environments of low-mass star
forming regions, and in particular the Class 0 protostar IRAS 16293-2422. The
CHESS (Chemical HErschel Surveys of Star forming regions) Key Program aims at
studying the molecular complexity of the interstellar medium. The high
sensitivity and spectral resolution of the HIFI instrument provide a unique
opportunity to observe the fundamental 1,1,1 - 0,0,0 transition of the
ortho-D2O molecule, inaccessible from the ground, and to determine the
ortho-to-para D2O ratio. We have detected the fundamental transition of the
ortho-D2O molecule at 607.35 GHz towards IRAS 16293-2422. The line is seen in
absorption with a line opacity of 0.62 +/- 0.11 (1 sigma). From the previous
ground-based observations of the fundamental 1,1,0 - 1,0,1 transition of
para-D2O seen in absorption at 316.80 GHz we estimate a line opacity of 0.26
+/- 0.05 (1 sigma). We show that the observed absorption is caused by the cold
gas in the envelope of the protostar. Using these new observations, we estimate
for the first time the ortho to para D2O ratio to be lower than 2.6 at a 3
sigma level of uncertainty, to be compared with the thermal equilibrium value
of 2:1.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted the A&A HIFI Special Issue as a lette
Superconductivity in Fullerides
Experimental studies of superconductivity properties of fullerides are
briefly reviewed. Theoretical calculations of the electron-phonon coupling, in
particular for the intramolecular phonons, are discussed extensively. The
calculations are compared with coupling constants deduced from a number of
different experimental techniques. It is discussed why the A_3 C_60 are not
Mott-Hubbard insulators, in spite of the large Coulomb interaction. Estimates
of the Coulomb pseudopotential , describing the effect of the Coulomb
repulsion on the superconductivity, as well as possible electronic mechanisms
for the superconductivity are reviewed. The calculation of various properties
within the Migdal-Eliashberg theory and attempts to go beyond this theory are
described.Comment: 33 pages, latex2e, revtex using rmp style, 15 figures, submitted to
Review of Modern Physics, more information at
http://radix2.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/fullerene/fullerene.htm
Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is
derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the
calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and
compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at
centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009
and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter
response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged
pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo
predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by
propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles
to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3%
for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table,
submitted to European Physical Journal
Measurement of χ c1 and χ c2 production with s√ = 7 TeV pp collisions at ATLAS
The prompt and non-prompt production cross-sections for the χ c1 and χ c2 charmonium states are measured in pp collisions at s√ = 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using 4.5 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. The χ c states are reconstructed through the radiative decay χ c → J/ψγ (with J/ψ → μ + μ −) where photons are reconstructed from γ → e + e − conversions. The production rate of the χ c2 state relative to the χ c1 state is measured for prompt and non-prompt χ c as a function of J/ψ transverse momentum. The prompt χ c cross-sections are combined with existing measurements of prompt J/ψ production to derive the fraction of prompt J/ψ produced in feed-down from χ c decays. The fractions of χ c1 and χ c2 produced in b-hadron decays are also measured
Search for squarks and gluinos in events with isolated leptons, jets and missing transverse momentum at s√=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector
The results of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing at least one isolated lepton (electron or muon), jets and large missing transverse momentum with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider are reported. The search is based on proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy s√=8 TeV collected in 2012, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 fb−1. No significant excess above the Standard Model expectation is observed. Limits are set on supersymmetric particle masses for various supersymmetric models. Depending on the model, the search excludes gluino masses up to 1.32 TeV and squark masses up to 840 GeV. Limits are also set on the parameters of a minimal universal extra dimension model, excluding a compactification radius of 1/R c = 950 GeV for a cut-off scale times radius (ΛR c) of approximately 30
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