166 research outputs found
Spontaneous chirality via long-range electrostatic forces
We consider a model for periodic patterns of charges constrained over a
cylindrical surface. In particular we focus on patterns of chiral helices,
achiral rings or vertical lamellae, with the constraint of global
electroneutrality. We study the dependence of the patterns' size and pitch
angle on the radius of the cylinder and salt concentration. We obtain a phase
diagram by using numerical and analytic techniques. For pure Coulomb
interactions, we find a ring phase for small radii and a chiral helical phase
for large radii. At a critical salt concentration, the characteristic domain
size diverges, resulting in macroscopic phase segregation of the components and
restoring chiral symmetry. We discuss possible consequences and generalizations
of our model.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages, 4 figure
Electrostatic attraction between cationic-anionic assemblies with surface compositional heterogeneities
Electrostatics plays a key role in biomolecular assembly. Oppositely charged
biomolecules, for instance, can co-assembled into functional units, such as DNA
and histone proteins into nucleosomes and actin-binding protein complexes into
cytoskeleton components, at appropriate ionic conditions. These
cationic-anionic co-assemblies often have surface charge heterogeneities that
result from the delicate balance between electrostatics and packing
constraints. Despite their importance, the precise role of surface charge
heterogeneities in the organization of cationic-anionic co-assemblies is not
well understood. We show here that co-assemblies with charge heterogeneities
strongly interact through polarization of the domains. We find that this leads
to symmetry breaking, which is important for functional capabilities, and
structural changes, which is crucial in the organization of co-assemblies. We
determine the range and strength of the attraction as a function of the
competition between the steric and hydrophobic constraints and electrostatic
interactions.Comment: JCP June/200
Pattern formation on the surface of cationic-anionic cylindrical aggregates
Charged pattern formation on the surfaces of self--assembled cylindrical
micelles formed from oppositely charged heterogeneous molecules such as
cationic and anionic peptide amphiphiles is investigated. The net
incompatibility among different components results in the formation of
segregated domains, whose growth is inhibited by electrostatics. The transition
to striped phases proceeds through an intermediate structure governed by
fluctuations, followed by states with various lamellar orientations, which
depend on cylinder radius and . We analyze the specific heat,
susceptibility , domain size and morphology as a
function of and .Comment: Sent to PRL 11Jan05 Transferred from PRL to PRE 10Jun0
An alternative method for phase-unwrapping of interferometric data
In this paper we present a novel algorithm for phase unwrapping where only a subset of data from the wrapped phase map is used to reconstruct the unwrapped phase map as a linear combination of radial basis functions (RBF’s). For noisy phase maps this algorithm gives better results than three reference algorithms based on radial basis functions, Zernike polynomials and path dependent phase unwrapping strategies
Dynamics of Collapse of flexible Polyelectrolytes and Polyampholytes
We provide a theory for the dynamics of collapse of strongly charged
polyelectrolytes (PEs) and flexible polyampholytes (PAs) using Langevin
equation. After the initial stage, in which counterions condense onto PE, the
mechanism of approach to the globular state is similar for PE and PA. In both
instances, metastable pearl-necklace structures form in characteristic time
scale that is proportional to N^{4/5} where N is the number of monomers. The
late stage of collapse occurs by merger of clusters with the largest one
growing at the expense of smaller ones (Lifshitz- Slyozov mechanism). The time
scale for this process T_{COLL} N. Simulations are used to support the proposed
collapse mechanism for PA and PE.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure
CO and C 3
ZnSb2O6 has been synthesized by a microwave-assisted solution method in order to test its possible application as a gas sensor. Zinc nitrate, antimony trichloride, and ethylenediamine were used as precursors and deionized water as solvent. Microwave radiation, with a power of ~350 W, was applied for solvent evaporation. The thermal decomposition of the precursors leads to the formation of ZnSb2O6 at 600°C. This oxide crystallized in a tetragonal structure with cell parameters a=4.66 Å, c=9.26 Å and space group P42/mnm. Microwires and microrods formed by nanocrystals were observed by means of scanning and transmission electron microscopies (SEM and TEM, resp.). Pellets of the oxide were tested as gas sensors in flowing atmospheres of carbon monoxide (CO) and propane (C3H8). Sensitivity increased with the gas concentration (0–300 ppm) and working temperatures (ambient, 150 and 250°C) increase. The results indicate high sensitivity of ZnSb2O6 in both gases at different concentrations and operating temperatures
Collapse of Stiff Polyelectrolytes due to Counterion Fluctuations
The effective elasticity of highly charged stiff polyelectrolytes is studied
in the presence of counterions, with and without added salt. The rigid polymer
conformations may become unstable due to an effective attraction induced by
counterion density fluctuations. Instabilities at the longest, or intermediate
length scales may signal collapse to globule, or necklace states, respectively.
In the presence of added-salt, a generalized electrostatic persistence length
is obtained, which has a nontrivial dependence on the Debye screening length.Comment: 4 pages RevTex, 3 ps figures included using epsf, final version as
appeared in PR
Conformational Instability of Rodlike Polyelectrolytes due to Counterion Fluctuations
The effective elasticity of highly charged stiff polyelectrolytes is studied
in the presence of counterions, with and without added salt. The rigid polymer
conformations may become unstable due to an effective attraction induced by
counterion density fluctuations. Instabilities at the longest, or intermediate
length scales may signal collapse to globule, or necklace states, respectively.
In the presence of added-salt, a generalized electrostatic persistence length
is obtained, which has a nontrivial dependence on the Debye screening length.
It is also found that the onset of conformational instability is a re-entrant
phenomenon as a function of polyelectrolyte length for the unscreened case, and
the Debye length or salt concentration for the screened case. This may be
relevant in understanding the experimentally observed re-entrant condensation
of DNA.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
A Modified Random Phase Approximation of Polyelectrolyte Solutions
We compute the phase diagram of salt-free polyelectrolyte solutions using a
modified Debye-Huckel Approach. We introduce the chain connectivity via the
Random Phase Approximation with two important modifications. We modify the
electrostatic potential at short distances to include a bound on the
electrostatic attractions at the distance of closest approach between charges.
This modification is shown to act as a hard core in the phase diagram of
electrolyte solutions. We also introduce a cut-off on the integration of the
modes of wave length smaller than the size over which the chains are strongly
perturbed by the electrostatic interactions. This cut-off is shown to be
essential to predict physical phase diagram in long chain solutions
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