1,772 research outputs found
Unraveling the phase behavior, mechanical stability, and protein reconstitution properties of polymer-lipid hybrid vesicles
Hybrid vesicles consisting of natural phospholipids and synthetic amphiphilic copolymers have shown remarkable material properties and potential for biotechnology, combining the robustness of polymers with the biocompatibility of phospholipid membranes. To predict and optimize the mixing behavior of lipids and copolymers, as well as understand the interaction between the hybrid membrane and macromolecules like membrane proteins, a comprehensive understanding at the molecular level is essential. This can be achieved by a combination of molecular dynamics simulations and experiments. Here, simulations of POPC and PBD22-b-PEO14 hybrid membranes are shown, uncovering different copolymer configurations depending on the polymer-to-lipid ratio. High polymer concentrations created thicker membranes with an extended polymer conformation, while high lipid content led to the collapse of the polymer chain. High concentrations of polymer were further correlated with a decreased area compression modulus and altered lateral pressure profiles, hypothesized to result in the experimentally observed improvement in membrane protein reconstitution and resistance toward destabilization by detergents. Finally, simulations of a WALP peptide embedded in the bilayer showed that only membranes with up to 50% polymer content favored a transmembrane configuration. These simulations correlate with previous and new experimental results and provide a deeper understanding of the properties of lipid-copolymer hybrid membranes
A New Phase of Matter: Quark-Gluon Plasma Beyond the Hagedorn Critical Temperature
I retrace the developments from Hagedorn's concept of a limiting temperature
for hadronic matter to the discovery and characterization of the quark-gluon
plasma as a new state of matter. My recollections begin with the transformation
more than 30 years ago of Hagedorn's original concept into its modern
interpretation as the "critical" temperature separating the hadron gas and
quark-gluon plasma phases of strongly interacting matter. This was followed by
the realization that the QCD phase transformation could be studied
experimentally in high-energy nuclear collisions. I describe here my personal
effort to help develop the strangeness experimental signatures of quark and
gluon deconfinement and recall how the experimental program proceeded soon to
investigate this idea, at first at the SPS, then at RHIC, and finally at LHC.
As it is often the case, the experiment finds more than theory predicts, and I
highlight the discovery of the "perfectly" liquid quark-gluon plasma at RHIC. I
conclude with an outline of future opportunities, especially the search for a
critical point in the QCD phase diagram.Comment: To appear in {\em Melting Hadrons, Boiling Quarks} by Rolf Hagedorn
and Johan Rafelski (editor), Springer Publishers, 2015 (open access
Spectroscopic parameters for silacyclopropynylidene, SiC, from extensive astronomical observations toward CW Leo (IRC +10216) with the Herschel satellite
A molecular line survey has been carried out toward the carbon-rich
asymptotic giant branch star CW Leo employing the HIFI instrument on board of
the Herschel satellite. Numerous features from 480 GHz to beyond 1100 GHz could
be assigned unambiguously to the fairly floppy SiC molecule. However,
predictions from laboratory data exhibited large deviations from the observed
frequencies even after some lower frequency data from this survey were
incorporated into a fit. Therefore, we present a combined fit of all available
laboratory data together with data from radio-astronomical observations.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, J. Mol. Spectrosc., appeared; CDMS links corrected
(version 2; current version: 3; may be updated later this year
Dissipation in ferrofluids: Mesoscopic versus hydrodynamic theory
Part of the field dependent dissipation in ferrofluids occurs due to the
rotational motion of the ferromagnetic grains relative to the viscous flow of
the carrier fluid. The classical theoretical description due to Shliomis uses a
mesoscopic treatment of the particle motion to derive a relaxation equation for
the non-equilibrium part of the magnetization. Complementary, the hydrodynamic
approach of Liu involves only macroscopic quantities and results in dissipative
Maxwell equations for the magnetic fields in the ferrofluid. Different stress
tensors and constitutive equations lead to deviating theoretical predictions in
those situations, where the magnetic relaxation processes cannot be considered
instantaneous on the hydrodynamic time scale. We quantify these differences for
two situations of experimental relevance namely a resting fluid in an
oscillating oblique field and the damping of parametrically excited surface
waves. The possibilities of an experimental differentiation between the two
theoretical approaches is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, to appear in PR
Phylogenetic inferences of Atelinae (Platyrrhini) based on multi-directional chromosome painting in Brachyteles arachnoides, Ateles paniscus paniscus and Ateles b. marginatus
We performed multi-directional chromosome painting in a comparative cytogenetic study of the three Atelinae species Brachyteles arachnoides, Ateles paniscus paniscus and Ateles belzebuth marginatus, in order to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships within this Platyrrhini subfamily. Comparative chromosome maps between these species were established by multi-color fluorescence in situ hybridization ( FISH) employing human, Saguinus oedipus and Lagothrix lagothricha chromosome-specific probes. The three species included in this study and four previously analyzed species from all four Atelinae genera were subjected to a phylogenetic analysis on the basis of a data matrix comprised of 82 discrete chromosome characters. The results confirmed that Atelinae represent a monophyletic clade with a putative ancestral karyotype of 2n = 62 chromosomes. Phylogenetic analysis revealed an evolutionary branching sequence \{Alouatta \{Brachyteles \{Lagothrix and Ateles\}\}\} in Atelinae and \{Ateles belzebuth marginatus \{Ateles paniscus paniscus \{Ateles belzebuth hybridus and Ateles geoffroyi\}\}\} in genus Ateles. The chromosomal data support a re-evaluation of the taxonomic status of Ateles b. hybridus. Copyright (C) 2005 S. Karger AG, Basel
Two-spinon dynamic structure factor of the one-dimensional S=1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet
The exact expression derived by Bougourzi, Couture, and Kacir for the
2-spinon contribution to the dynamic spin structure factor
of he one-dimensional =1/2 Heisenberg antiferromagnet at is evaluated
for direct comparison with finite-chain transition rates () and an
approximate analytical result previously inferred from finite- data, sum
rules, and Bethe-ansatz calculations. The 2-spinon excitations account for
72.89% of the total intensity in . The singularity structure
of the exact result is determined analytically and its spectral-weight
distribution evaluated numerically over the entire range of the 2-spinon
continuum. The leading singularities of the frequency-dependent spin
autocorrelation function, static spin structure factor, and -dependent
susceptibility are determined via sum rules.Comment: 6 pages (RevTex) and 5 figures (Postscript
Parton interactions in the Bjorken limit of QCD
We consider the Bjorken limit in the framework of the effective action
approach and discuss its similarities to the Regge limit. The proposed
effective action allows for a rather simple calculation of the known evolution
kernels. We represent the result in terms of two-parton interaction operators
involving gluon and quark operators depending on light-ray position and
helicity and analyze their symmetry properties.Comment: 32 pages LaTex, 4 eps-figures, comments added, minor correction
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