27,257 research outputs found
Interfaces between highly incompatible polymers of different stiffness: Monte Carlo simulations and self-consistent field calculations
We investigate interfacial properties between two highly incompatible
polymers of different stiffness. The extensive Monte Carlo simulations of the
binary polymer melt yield detailed interfacial profiles and the interfacial
tension via an analysis of capillary fluctuations. We extract an effective
Flory-Huggins parameter from the simulations, which is used in self-consistent
field calculations. These take due account of the chain architecture via a
partial enumeration of the single chain partition function, using chain
conformations obtained by Monte Carlo simulations of the pure phases. The
agreement between the simulations and self-consistent field calculations is
almost quantitative, however we find deviations from the predictions of the
Gaussian chain model for high incompatibilities or large stiffness. The
interfacial width at very high incompatibilities is smaller than the prediction
of the Gaussian chain model, and decreases upon increasing the statistical
segment length of the semi-flexible component.Comment: to appear in J.Chem.Phy
A model for melting of confined DNA
When DNA molecules are heated they denature. This occurs locally so that
loops of molten single DNA strands form, connected by intact double-stranded
DNA pieces. The properties of this "melting" transition have been intensively
investigated. Recently there has been a surge of interest in this question,
caused by experiments determining the properties of partially bound DNA
confined to nanochannels. But how does such confinement affect the melting
transition? To answer this question we introduce, and solve a model predicting
how confinement affects the melting transition for a simple model system by
first disregarding the effect of self-avoidance. We find that the transition is
smoother for narrower channels. By means of Monte-Carlo simulations we then
show that a model incorporating self-avoidance shows qualitatively the same
behaviour and that the effect of confinement is stronger than in the ideal
case.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, supplementary materia
Universal scaling behavior of the single electron box in the strong tunneling limit
We perform a numerical analysis of recently proposed scaling functions for
the single electron box. Specifically, we study the ``magnetic'' susceptibility
as a function of tunneling conductance and gate charge, and the effective
charging energy at zero gate charge as a function of tunneling conductance in
the strong tunneling limit. Our Monte Carlo results confirm the accuracy of the
theoretical predictions.Comment: Published versio
Plasma levels of human granulocytic elastase-alpha1-proteinase inhibitor complex (E-alpha1PI) in patients with septicemia and acute leukemia
Measurement uncertainty relations
Measurement uncertainty relations are quantitative bounds on the errors in an
approximate joint measurement of two observables. They can be seen as a
generalization of the error/disturbance tradeoff first discussed heuristically
by Heisenberg. Here we prove such relations for the case of two canonically
conjugate observables like position and momentum, and establish a close
connection with the more familiar preparation uncertainty relations
constraining the sharpness of the distributions of the two observables in the
same state. Both sets of relations are generalized to means of order
rather than the usual quadratic means, and we show that the optimal constants
are the same for preparation and for measurement uncertainty. The constants are
determined numerically and compared with some bounds in the literature. In both
cases the near-saturation of the inequalities entails that the state (resp.
observable) is uniformly close to a minimizing one.Comment: This version 2 contains minor corrections and reformulation
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