3,098 research outputs found
Evidence for a long-lived superheavy nucleus with atomic mass number A=292 and atomic number Z=~122 in natural Th
Evidence for the existence of a superheavy nucleus with atomic mass number
A=292 and abundance (1-10)x10^(-12) relative to 232Th has been found in a study
of natural Th using inductively coupled plasma-sector field mass spectrometry.
The measured mass matches the predictions [1,2] for the mass of an isotope with
atomic number Z=122 or a nearby element. Its estimated half-life of t1/2 >=
10^8 y suggests that a long-lived isomeric state exists in this isotope. The
possibility that it might belong to a new class of long-lived high spin super-
and hyperdeformed isomeric states is discussed.[3-6]Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Gene expression changes in a tumor xenograft by a pyrrole-imidazole polyamide
Gene regulation by DNA binding small molecules could have important therapeutic applications. This study reports the investigation of a DNA-binding pyrrole-imidazole polyamide targeted to bind the DNA sequence 5′-WGGWWW-3′ with reference to its potency in a subcutaneous xenograft tumor model. The molecule is capable of trafficking to the tumor site following subcutaneous injection and modulates transcription of select genes in vivo. An FITC-labeled analogue of this polyamide can be detected in tumor-derived cells by confocal microscopy. RNA deep sequencing (RNA-seq) of tumor tissue allowed the identification of further affected genes, a representative panel of which was interrogated by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and correlated with cell culture expression levels
Antitumor activity of a pyrrole-imidazole polyamide
Many cancer therapeutics target DNA and exert cytotoxicity through the induction of DNA damage and inhibition of transcription. We report that a DNA minor groove binding hairpin pyrrole-imidazole (Py-Im) polyamide interferes with RNA polymerase II (RNAP2) activity in cell culture. Polyamide treatment activates p53 signaling in LNCaP prostate cancer cells without detectable DNA damage. Genome-wide mapping of RNAP2 binding shows reduction of occupancy, preferentially at transcription start sites, but occupancy at enhancer sites is unchanged. Polyamide treatment results in a time- and dose-dependent depletion of the RNAP2 large subunit RPB1 that is preventable with proteasome inhibition. This polyamide demonstrates antitumor activity in a prostate tumor xenograft model with limited host toxicity
Stability of narrow beams in bulk Kerr-type nonlinear media
We consider (2+1)-dimensional beams, whose transverse size may be comparable
to or smaller than the carrier wavelength, on the basis of an extended version
of the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation derived from the Maxwell`s equations.
As this equation is very cumbersome, we also study, in parallel to it, its
simplified version which keeps the most essential term: the term which accounts
for the {\it nonlinear diffraction}. The full equation additionally includes
terms generated by a deviation from the paraxial approximation and by a
longitudinal electric-field component in the beam. Solitary-wave stationary
solutions to both the full and simplified equations are found, treating the
terms which modify the nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation as perturbations.
Within the framework of the perturbative approach, a conserved power of the
beam is obtained in an explicit form. It is found that the nonlinear
diffraction affects stationary beams much stronger than nonparaxiality and
longitudinal field. Stability of the beams is directly tested by simulating the
simplified equation, with initial configurations taken as predicted by the
perturbation theory. The numerically generated solitary beams are always stable
and never start to collapse, although they display periodic internal
vibrations, whose amplitude decreases with the increase of the beam power.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures Accepted for publication in PR
Impact of oceanic circulation on biological carbon storage in the ocean and atmospheric pCO2
Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Global Biogeochemical Cycles 22 (2008): GB3007, doi:10.1029/2007GB002958.We use both theory and ocean biogeochemistry models to examine the role of the soft-tissue biological pump in controlling atmospheric CO2. We demonstrate that atmospheric CO2 can be simply related to the amount of inorganic carbon stored in the ocean by the soft-tissue pump, which we term (OCS soft ). OCS soft is linearly related to the inventory of remineralized nutrient, which in turn is just the total nutrient inventory minus the preformed nutrient inventory. In a system where total nutrient is conserved, atmospheric CO2 can thus be simply related to the global inventory of preformed nutrient. Previous model simulations have explored how changes in the surface concentration of nutrients in deepwater formation regions change the global preformed nutrient inventory. We show that changes in physical forcing such as winds, vertical mixing, and lateral mixing can shift the balance of deepwater formation between the North Atlantic (where preformed nutrients are low) and the Southern Ocean (where they are high). Such changes in physical forcing can thus drive large changes in atmospheric CO2, even with minimal changes in surface nutrient concentration. If Southern Ocean deepwater formation strengthens, the preformed nutrient inventory and thus atmospheric CO2 increase. An important consequence of these new insights is that the relationship between surface nutrient concentrations, biological export production, and atmospheric CO2 is more complex than previously predicted. Contrary to conventional wisdom, we show that OCS soft can increase and atmospheric CO2 decrease, while surface nutrients show minimal change and export production decreases.While at MIT, I.M. was supported by the
NOAA Postdoctoral Program in Climate and Global Change, administered
by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research
Damping of electromagnetic waves due to electron-positron pair production
The problem of the backreaction during the process of electron-positron pair
production by a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave propagating in a
plasma is investigated. A model based on the relativistic Boltzmann-Vlasov
equation with a source term corresponding to the Schwinger formula for the pair
creation rate is used. The damping of the wave, the nonlinear up-shift of its
frequency due to the plasma density increase and the effect of the damping on
the wave polarization and on the background plasma acceleration are
investigated as a function of the wave amplitude.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; revtex
Hilbert--Schmidt volume of the set of mixed quantum states
We compute the volume of the convex N^2-1 dimensional set M_N of density
matrices of size N with respect to the Hilbert-Schmidt measure. The hyper--area
of the boundary of this set is also found and its ratio to the volume provides
an information about the complex structure of M_N. Similar investigations are
also performed for the smaller set of all real density matrices. As an
intermediate step we analyze volumes of the unitary and orthogonal groups and
of the flag manifolds.Comment: 13 revtex pages, ver 3: minor improvement
Fluorescence (TALIF) measurement of atomic hydrogen concentration in a coplanar surface dielectric barrier discharge
Spatially and temporally resolved measurements of atomic hydrogen concentration above the dielectric of coplanar barrier discharge are presented for atmospheric pressure in 2.2% H2/Ar. The measurements were carried out in the afterglow phase by means of two-photon absorption laser-induced fluorescence (TALIF). The difficulties of employing the TALIF technique in close proximity to the dielectric surface wall were successfully addressed by taking measurements on a suitable convexly curved dielectric barrier, and by proper mathematical treatment of parasitic signals from laser–surface interactions. It was found that the maximum atomic hydrogen concentration is situated closest to the dielectric wall from which it gradually decays. The maximum absolute concentration was more than 10^22 m-3. In the afterglow phase, the concentration of atomic hydrogen above the dielectric surface stays constant for a considerable time (10 us - 1 ms), with longer times for areas situated farther from the dielectric surface. The existence of such a temporal plateau was explained by the presented 1D model: the recombination losses of atomic hydrogen farther from the dielectric surface are compensated by the diffusion of atomic hydrogen from regions close to the dielectric surface. The fact that a temporal plateau exists even closest to the dielectric surface suggests that the dielectric surface acts as a source of atomic hydrogen in the afterglow phase
Spherical model of the Stark effect in external scalar and vector fields
The Bohr-Sommerfeld quantization rule and the Gamow formula for the width of
quasistationary level are generalized by taking into account the relativistic
effects, spin and Lorentz structure of interaction potentials. The relativistic
quasi-classical theory of ionization of the Coulomb system (V_{Coul}=-\xi/r) by
radial-constant long-range scalar (S_{l.r.}=(1-\lambda)(\sigma r+V_0)) and
vector (V_{l.r.}=\lambda(\sigma r+V_0)) fields is constructed. In the limiting
cases the approximated analytical expressions for the position E_r and width
\Gamma of below-barrier resonances are obtained. The strong dependence of the
width \Gamma of below-barrier resonances on both the bound level energy and the
mixing constant \lambda is detected. The simple analytical formulae for
asymptotic coefficients of the Dirac radial wave functions at zero and infinity
are also obtained.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures. Submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys.
A light-fronts approach to electron-positron pair production in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions
We perform a gauge-transformation on the time-dependent Dirac equation
describing the evolution of an electron in a heavy-ion collision to remove the
explicit dependence on the long-range part of the interaction. We solve, in an
ultra-relativistic limit, the gauged-transformed Dirac equation using
light-front variables and a light-fronts representation, obtaining
non-perturbative results for the free pair-creation amplitudes in the collider
frame. Our result reproduces the result of second-order perturbation theory in
the small charge limit while non-perturbative effects arise for realistic
charges of the ions.Comment: 39 pages, Revtex, 7 figures, submitted to PR
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