1,557 research outputs found
Simplifying the mosaic description of DNA sequences
By using the Jensen-Shannon divergence, genomic DNA can be divided into
compositionally distinct domains through a standard recursive segmentation
procedure. Each domain, while significantly different from its neighbours, may
however share compositional similarity with one or more distant
(non--neighbouring) domains. We thus obtain a coarse--grained description of
the given DNA string in terms of a smaller set of distinct domain labels. This
yields a minimal domain description of a given DNA sequence, significantly
reducing its organizational complexity. This procedure gives a new means of
evaluating genomic complexity as one examines organisms ranging from bacteria
to human. The mosaic organization of DNA sequences could have originated from
the insertion of fragments of one genome (the parasite) inside another (the
host), and we present numerical experiments that are suggestive of this
scenario.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
On the reliability of merger-trees and the mass growth histories of dark matter haloes
We have used merger trees realizations to study the formation of dark matter
haloes. The construction of merger-trees is based on three different pictures
about the formation of structures in the Universe. These pictures include: the
spherical collapse (SC), the ellipsoidal collapse (EC) and the non-radial
collapse (NR). The reliability of merger-trees has been examined comparing
their predictions related to the distribution of the number of progenitors, as
well as the distribution of formation times, with the predictions of analytical
relations. The comparison yields a very satisfactory agreement. Subsequently,
>.........Comment: A&SS Accepte
Merger rates of dark matter haloes: a comparison between EPS and N-body results
We calculate merger rates of dark matter haloes using the Extended
Press-Schechter approximation (EPS) for the Spherical Collapse (SC) and the
Ellipsoidal Collapse (EC) models.
Merger rates have been calculated for masses in the range
to and for
redshifts in the range 0 to 3 and they have been compared with merger rates
that have been proposed by other authors as fits to the results of N-body
simulations. The detailed comparison presented here shows that the agreement
between the analytical models and N-body simulations depends crucially on the
mass of the descendant halo. For some range of masses and redshifts either SC
or EC models approximate satisfactory the results of N-body simulations but for
other cases both models are less satisfactory or even bad approximations. We
showed, by studying the parameters of the problem that a disagreement --if it
appears-- does not depend on the values of the parameters but on the kind of
the particular solution used for the distribution of progenitors or on the
nature of EPS methods.
Further studies could help to improve our understanding about the physical
processes during the formation of dark matter haloes.Comment: 29 pages, 9 figure
On the spin distributions of CDM haloes
We used merger trees realizations, predicted by the extended Press-Schechter
theory, in order to study the growth of angular momentum of dark matter haloes.
Our results showed that: 1) The spin parameter resulting from the
above method, is an increasing function of the present day mass of the halo.
The mean value of varies from 0.0343 to 0.0484 for haloes with
present day masses in the range of to
. 2)The distribution of is close to
a log-normal, but, as it is already found in the results of N-body simulations,
the match is not satisfactory at the tails of the distribution. A new
analytical formula that approximates the results much more satisfactorily is
presented. 3) The distribution of the values of depends only weakly
on the redshift. 4) The spin parameter of an halo depends on the number of
recent major mergers. Specifically the spin parameter is an increasing function
of this number.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
Temporal, spatial, and structural patterns of adult trembling aspen and white spruce mortality in Quebec's boreal forest
Temporal, spatial, and structural patterns of adult trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) and white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) mortality were studied in intact 150-year-old stands in the southwestern boreal forest of Quebec. For both species, mortality decreases (number of dead trees/total number of trees) with distance from the lake edge until 100-150 m, from which point it slightly increases. Strong peaks in mortality were found for 40- to 60-year-old aspen mainly between 1974 and 1992. Such mortality in relatively young aspen is likely related to competition for light from the dominant canopy trees. Also, the recruitment of this young aspen cohort is presumably the result of a stand breakup that occurred when the initial aspen-dominated stand was between 90 and 110 years old. For spruce, strong peaks in mortality were found in 110- to 150-year-old trees and they occurred mainly after 1980. No clear explanation could be found for these peaks, but we suggest that they may be related to senescence or weakening of the trees following the last spruce budworm outbreak. Suppressed and codominant aspen had a much higher mortality ratio than spruce in the same height class, while more surprisingly, no difference in mortality rate was found between dominant trees of the two species. Most spruce trees were found as standing dead, which leads us to reject the hypothesis that windthrow is an important cause of mortality for spruce in our forests
Correlations of structural, magnetic, and dielectric properties of undoped and doped CaCu3Ti4O12
The present work reports synthesis, as well as a detailed and careful
characterization of structural, magnetic, and dielectric properties of
differently tempered undoped and doped CaCu3Ti4O12 (CCTO) ceramics. For this
purpose, neutron and x-ray powder diffraction, SQUID measurements, and
dielectric spectroscopy have been performed. Mn-, Fe-, and Ni-doped CCTO
ceramics were investigated in great detail to document the influence of
low-level doping with 3d metals on the antiferromagnetic structure and
dielectric properties. In the light of possible magnetoelectric coupling in
these doped ceramics, the dielectric measurements were also carried out in
external magnetic fields up to 7 T, showing a minor but significant dependence
of the dielectric constant on the applied magnetic field. Undoped CCTO is
well-known for its colossal dielectric constant in a broad frequency and
temperature range. With the present extended characterization of doped as well
as undoped CCTO, we want to address the question why doping with only 1% Mn or
0.5% Fe decreases the room-temperature dielectric constant of CCTO by a factor
of ~100 with a concomitant reduction of the conductivity, whereas 0.5% Ni
doping changes the dielectric properties only slightly. In addition,
diffraction experiments and magnetic investigations were undertaken to check
for possible correlations of the magnitude of the colossal dielectric constants
with structural details or with magnetic properties like the magnetic ordering,
the Curie-Weiss temperatures, or the paramagnetic moment. It is revealed, that
while the magnetic ordering temperature and the effective moment of all
investigated CCTO ceramics are rather similar, there is a dramatic influence of
doping and tempering time on the Curie-Weiss constant.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figure
The dynamics of quark-gluon plasma and AdS/CFT
In these pedagogical lectures, we present the techniques of the AdS/CFT
correspondence which can be applied to the study of real time dynamics of a
strongly coupled plasma system. These methods are based on solving
gravitational Einstein's equations on the string/gravity side of the AdS/CFT
correspondence. We illustrate these techniques with applications to the
boost-invariant expansion of a plasma system. We emphasize the common
underlying AdS/CFT description both in the large proper time regime where
hydrodynamic dynamics dominates, and in the small proper time regime where the
dynamics is far from equilibrium. These AdS/CFT methods provide a fascinating
arena interrelating General Relativity phenomenae with strongly coupled gauge
theory physics.Comment: 35 pages, 3 figures. Lectures at the 5th Aegean summer school, `From
gravity to thermal gauge theories: the AdS/CFT correspondence'. To appear in
the proceedings in `Lecture Notes in Physics
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