833 research outputs found
Writhing Geometry of Open DNA
Motivated by recent experiments on DNA torsion-force-extension
characteristics we consider the writhing geometry of open stiff molecules. We
exhibit a cyclic motion which allows arbitrarily large twisting of the end of a
molecule via an activated process. This process is suppressed for forces larger
than femto-Newtons which allows us to show that experiments are sensitive to a
generalization of the Calugareanu-White formula for the writhe. Using numerical
methods we compare this formulation of the writhe with recent analytic
calculations.Comment: 12 pages 10 figures. Revtex
Fluctuation-induced interactions between dielectrics in general geometries
We study thermal Casimir and quantum non-retarded Lifshitz interactions
between dielectrics in general geometries. We map the calculation of the
classical partition function onto a determinant which we discretize and
evaluate with the help of Cholesky factorization. The quantum partition
function is treated by path integral quantization of a set of interacting
dipoles and reduces to a product of determinants. We compare the approximations
of pairwise additivity and proximity force with our numerical methods. We
propose a ``factorization approximation'' which gives rather good numerical
results in the geometries that we study
Congress and Literacy Tests: A Comment on Constitutional Power and Legislative Abnegation
Numerical methods for fluctuation driven interactions between dielectrics
We develop a discretized theory of thermal Casimir interactions to
numerically calculate the interactions between fluctuating dielectrics. From a
constrained partition function we derive a surface free energy, while handling
divergences that depend on system size and discretization. We derive analytic
results for parallel plate geometry in order to check the convergence of the
numerical methods. We use the method to calculate vertical and lateral Casimir
forces for a set of grooves.Comment: revtex, 20 page
Modification of turbulent transport with continuous variation of flow shear in the Large Plasma Device
Continuous control over azimuthal flow and shear in the edge of the Large
Plasma Device (LAPD) has been achieved using a biasable limiter which has
allowed a careful study of the effect of flow shear on pressure-gradient-driven
turbulence and transport in LAPD. LAPD rotates spontaneously in the ion
diamagnetic direction (IDD); positive limiter bias first reduces, then
minimizes (producing a near-zero shear state), and finally reverses the flow
into the electron diamagnetic direction (EDD). Degradation of particle
confinement is observed in the minimum shearing state and reduction in
turbulent particle flux is observed with increasing shearing in both flow
directions. Near-complete suppression of turbulent particle flux is observed
for shearing rates comparable to the turbulent autocorrelation rate measured in
the minimum shear state. Turbulent flux suppression is dominated by amplitude
reduction in low-frequency (kHz) density fluctuations. An increase in
fluctuations for the highest shearing states is observed with the emergence of
a coherent mode which does not lead to net particle transport. The variations
of density fluctuations are fit well with power-laws and compare favorably to
simple models of shear suppression of transport.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures; Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Comment on "Elasticity Model of a Supercoiled DNA Molecule"
We perform simulations to numerically study the writhe distribution of a
stiff polymer. We compare with analytic results of Bouchiat and Mezard (PRL 80
1556- (1998); cond-mat/9706050).Comment: 1 page, 1 figure revtex
Observation of exponential spectra and Lorentzian pulses in the TJ-K stellarator
An experimental investigation of the low-frequency density fluctuations in the plasma edge region of the TJ-K stellarator [N. Krause et al., Rev. Sci. Inst. 73, 3474 (2002)] finds that the ensemble- averaged frequency spectra exhibit a near exponential frequency dependence whose origin can be traced to individual pulses having a Lorentzian temporal shape. Similar features have been previously observed [D. C. Pace et al., Phys. Plasmas 15, 122304 (2008)] in a linear magnetized device under conditions in which cross-field pressure gradients are present. The reported observation of such features within the turbulent environment of a toroidal confinement device provides support for the conjecture that the underlying processes are a general feature of pressure gradients. Also presented is the magnetic field strength dependence of the pulse widths and the waiting time distribution between pulses
Correlation effects and the high-frequency spin susceptibility of an electron liquid: Exact limits
Spin correlations in an interacting electron liquid are studied in the
high-frequency limit and in both two and three dimensions. The third-moment sum
rule is evaluated and used to derive exact limiting forms (at both long- and
short-wavelengths) for the spin-antisymmetric local-field factor, . In two dimensions is found to diverge as at long wavelengths,
and the spin-antisymmetric exchange-correlation kernel of time-dependent spin
density functional theory diverges as in both two and three dimensions.
These signal a failure of the local-density approximation, one that can be
redressed by alternative approaches.Comment: 5 page
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