1,458 research outputs found
Decrumpling membranes by quantum effects
The phase diagram of an incompressible fluid membrane subject to quantum and
thermal fluctuations is calculated exactly in a large number of dimensions of
configuration space. At zero temperature, a crumpling transition is found at a
critical bending rigidity . For membranes of fixed lateral
size, a crumpling transition occurs at nonzero temperatures in an auxiliary
mean field approximation. As the lateral size L of the membrane becomes large,
the flat regime shrinks with .Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure
A novel method for measuring the bending rigidity of model lipid membranes by simulating tethers
The tensile force along a cylindrical lipid bilayer tube is proportional to
the membrane's bending modulus and inversely proportional to the tube radius.
We show that this relation, which is experimentally exploited to measure
bending rigidities, can be applied with even greater ease in computer
simulations. Using a coarse-grained bilayer model we efficiently obtain bending
rigidities that compare very well with complementary measurements based on an
analysis of thermal undulation modes. We furthermore illustrate that no
deviations from simple quadratic continuum theory occur up to a radius of
curvature comparable to the bilayer thickness.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Fluctuation induced interactions between domains in membranes
We study a model lipid bilayer composed of a mixture of two incompatible
lipid types which have a natural tendency to segregate in the absence of
membrane fluctuations. The membrane is mechanically characterized by a local
bending rigidity which varies with the average local lipid
composition . We show, in the case where varies weakly with
, that the effective interaction between lipids of the same type can
either be everywhere attractive or can have a repulsive component at
intermediate distances greater than the typical lipid size. When this
interaction has a repulsive component, it can prevent macro-phase separation
and lead to separation in mesophases with a finite domain size. This effect
could be relevant to certain experimental and numerical observations of
mesoscopic domains in such systems.Comment: 9 pages RevTex, 1 eps figur
Gravity-Induced Shape Transformations of Vesicles
We theoretically study the behavior of vesicles filled with a liquid of
higher density than the surrounding medium, a technique frequently used in
experiments. In the presence of gravity, these vesicles sink to the bottom of
the container, and eventually adhere even on non - attractive substrates. The
strong size-dependence of the gravitational energy makes large parts of the
phase diagram accessible to experiments even for small density differences. For
relatively large volume, non-axisymmetric bound shapes are explicitly
calculated and shown to be stable. Osmotic deflation of such a vesicle leads
back to axisymmetric shapes, and, finally, to a collapsed state of the vesicle.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX, 3 Postscript figures uuencode
In-plane deformation of a triangulated surface model with metric degrees of freedom
Using the canonical Monte Carlo simulation technique, we study a Regge
calculus model on triangulated spherical surfaces. The discrete model is
statistical mechanically defined with the variables , and , which
denote the surface position in , the metric on a two-dimensional
surface and the surface density of , respectively. The metric is
defined only by using the deficit angle of the triangles in {}. This is in
sharp contrast to the conventional Regge calculus model, where {} depends
only on the edge length of the triangles. We find that the discrete model in
this paper undergoes a phase transition between the smooth spherical phase at
and the crumpled phase at , where is the bending
rigidity. The transition is of first-order and identified with the one observed
in the conventional model without the variables and . This implies
that the shape transformation transition is not influenced by the metric
degrees of freedom. It is also found that the model undergoes a continuous
transition of in-plane deformation. This continuous transition is reflected in
almost discontinuous changes of the surface area of and that of ,
where the surface area of is conjugate to the density variable .Comment: 13 pages, 7 figure
Turnover of soil monosaccharides: Recycling versus Stabilization
Soil organic matter (SOM) represents a mixture of differently degradable compounds. Each of these compounds are characterised by different dynamics due to different chemical recalcitrance, transformation or stabilisation processes in soil. Carbohydrates represent one of these compounds and contribute up to 25 % to the soil organic matter. Vascular plants are the main source of pentose sugars (Arabinose and Xylose), whereas hexoses (Galactose and Mannose) are primarily produced by microorganisms. Several studies suggest that the mean turnover times of the carbon in soil sugars are similar to the turnover dynamics of the bulk carbon in soil.
The aim of the study is to characterise the influence of stabilisation and turnover of soil carbohydrates. Soil samples are collected from (i)a continuous maize cropping experiment (âHöhere Landbauschuleâ RotthalmĂŒnster, Bavaria) established 1979 on a Stagnic Luvisol and (ii) from a continuous wheat cropping, established 1969, as reference site. The effect of stabilisation is estimated by the comparison of turnover times of microbial and plant derived soil carbohydrates. As the dynamics of plant derived carbohydrate are solely influenced by stabilisation processes, whereas the dynamics of microbial derived carbohydrates are affected by recycling of organic carbon compounds derived from C3 plant substrate as well as stabilisation processes.
The compound specific isotopic analysis (CSIA) of soil carbohydrates was performed using a HPLC/o/IRMS system. The chromatographic and mass spectrometric subunits were coupled with a LCâIsolink interface. Soil sugars were extracted after mild hydrolysis using 4 M triïŹuoroacetic acid (TFA)
Fluctuations of the Casimir-like force between two membrane inclusions
Although Casimir forces are inseparable from their fluctuations, little is
known about these fluctuations in soft matter systems. We use the membrane
stress tensor to study the fluctuations of the membrane-mediated Casimir-like
force. This method enables us to recover the Casimir force between two
inclusions and to calculate its variance. We show that the Casimir force is
dominated by its fluctuations. Furthermore, when the distance d between the
inclusions is decreased from infinity, the variance of the Casimir force
decreases as -1/d^2. This distance dependence shares a common physical origin
with the Casimir force itself.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Statistical mechanics of a colloidal suspension in contact with a fluctuating membrane
Surface effects are generally prevailing in confined colloidal systems. Here
we report on dispersed nanoparticles close to a fluid membrane. Exact results
regarding the static organization are derived for a dilute solution of
non-adhesive colloids. It is shown that thermal fluctuations of the membrane
broaden the density profile, but on average colloids are neither accumulated
nor depleted near the surface. The radial correlation function is also
evaluated, from which we obtain the effective pair-potential between colloids.
This entropically-driven interaction shares many similarities with the familiar
depletion interaction. It is shown to be always attractive with range
controlled by the membrane correlation length. The depth of the potential well
is comparable to the thermal energy, but depends only indirectly upon membrane
rigidity. Consequenses for stability of the suspension are also discussed
Observation of an Efimov resonance in an ultracold mixture of atoms and weakly bound dimers
We discuss our recent observation of an atom-dimer Efimov resonance in an
ultracold mixture of Cs atoms and Cs_2 Feshbach molecules [Nature Phys. 5, 227
(2009)]. We review our experimental procedure and present additional data
involving a non-universal g-wave dimer state, to contrast our previous results
on the universal s-wave dimer. We resolve a seeming discrepancy when
quantitatively comparing our experimental findings with theoretical results
from effective field theory.Comment: Conference Proceeding ICPEAC 2009 Kalamazoo, to appear in Journal of
Physics: Conference Serie
Interface-mediated interactions: Entropic forces of curved membranes
Particles embedded in a fluctuating interface experience forces and torques
mediated by the deformations and by the thermal fluctuations of the medium.
Considering a system of two cylinders bound to a fluid membrane we show that
the entropic contribution enhances the curvature-mediated repulsion between the
two cylinders. This is contrary to the usual attractive Casimir force in the
absence of curvature-mediated interactions. For a large distance between the
cylinders, we retrieve the renormalization of the surface tension of a flat
membrane due to thermal fluctuations.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; final version, as appeared in Phys. Rev.
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