30,285 research outputs found
Renormalisation group determination of the order of the DNA denaturation transition
We report on the nature of the thermal denaturation transition of homogeneous
DNA as determined from a renormalisation group analysis of the
Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois model. Our approach is based on an analogy with the
phenomenon of critical wetting that goes further than previous qualitative
comparisons, and shows that the transition is continuous for the average
base-pair separation. However, since the range of universal critical behaviour
appears to be very narrow, numerically observed denaturation transitions may
look first-order, as it has been reported in the literature.Comment: 6 pages; no figures; to appear in Europhysics Letter
Recurrent microblazar activity in Cygnus X-1?
Recurrent flaring events at X- and soft gamma-ray energies have been recently
reported for the galactic black hole candidate Cygnus X-1. The observed fluxes
during these transient outbursts are far higher than what is observed in
``normal'' episodes. Here we suggest that the origin of this radiation is
non-thermal and produced by inverse Compton interactions between relativistic
electrons in the jet and external photon fields, with a dominant contribution
from the companion star field. The recurrent and relatively rapid variability
could be explained by the precession of the jet, which results in a variable
Doppler amplification.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics Letter
On the time variability of gamma-ray sources: A numerical analysis of variability indices
We present a Monte Carlo analysis of the recently introduced variability
indices (Tompkins 1999) and (Zhang et al. 2000 & Torres et al. 2001)
for -ray sources. We explore different variability criteria and prove
that these two indices, despite the very different approaches used to compute
them, are statistically correlated (5 to 7). This conclusion is
maintained also for the subset of AGNs and high latitude ( deg)
sources, whereas the correlation is lowered for the low latitude ones, where
the influence of the diffuse galactic emission background is strong.Comment: Small changes to match published version in Astronomische Nachrichten
(2001). Paper accepted in July 200
Modeling the thermal evolution of enzyme-created bubbles in DNA
The formation of bubbles in nucleic acids (NAs) are fundamental in many
biological processes such as DNA replication, recombination, telomeres
formation, nucleotide excision repair, as well as RNA transcription and
splicing. These precesses are carried out by assembled complexes with enzymes
that separate selected regions of NAs. Within the frame of a nonlinear dynamics
approach we model the structure of the DNA duplex by a nonlinear network of
coupled oscillators. We show that in fact from certain local structural
distortions there originate oscillating localized patterns, that is radial and
torsional breathers, which are associated with localized H-bond deformations,
being reminiscent of the replication bubble. We further study the temperature
dependence of these oscillating bubbles. To this aim the underlying nonlinear
oscillator network of the DNA duplex is brought in contact with a heat bath
using the Nos-Hoover-method. Special attention is paid to the
stability of the oscillating bubbles under the imposed thermal perturbations.
It is demonstrated that the radial and torsional breathers, sustain the impact
of thermal perturbations even at temperatures as high as room temperature.
Generally, for nonzero temperature the H-bond breathers move coherently along
the double chain whereas at T=0 standing radial and torsional breathers result.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figure
Variable gamma-ray emission from the Be/X-ray transient A0535+26?
We present a study of the unidentified gamma-ray source 3EG J0542+2610. This
source is spatially superposed to the supernova remnant G180.0-1.7, but its
time variability makes unlikely a physical link. We have searched into the
EGRET location error box for compact radio sources that could be the low energy
counterpart of the gamma-ray source. Although 29 point-like radio sources were
detected and measured, none of them is strong enough as to be considered the
counterpart of a background gamma-ray emitting AGN. We suggest that the only
object within the 95 % error box capable of producing the required gamma-ray
flux is the X-ray transient A0535+26. We show that this Be/accreting pulsar can
produce variable hadronic gamma-ray emission through the mechanism originally
proposed by Cheng & Ruderman (1989), where a proton beam accelerated in a
magnetospheric electrostatic gap impacts the transient accretion disk.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Astronomy & Astrophysics in pres
Nonthermal processes and neutrino emission from the black hole GRO J0422+32 in a bursting state
GRO J0422+32 is a member of the class of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs). It
was discovered during an outburst in 1992. During the entire episode a
persistent power-law spectral component extending up to MeV was
observed, which suggests that nonthermal processes should have occurred in the
system. We study relativistic particle interactions and the neutrino production
in the corona of GRO J0422+32, and explain the behavior of GRO J0422+32 during
its recorded flaring phase. We have developed a magnetized corona model to fit
the spectrum of GRO J0422+32 during the low-hard state. We also estimate
neutrino emission and study the detectability of neutrinos with 1 km
detectors, such as IceCube. The short duration of the flares ( hours) and
an energy cutoff around a few TeV in the neutrino spectrum make neutrino
detection difficult. There are, however, many factors that can enhance neutrino
emission. The northern-sky coverage and full duty cycle of IceCube make it
possible to detect neutrino bursts from objects of this kind through
time-dependent analysis.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&
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