5,642 research outputs found
Analysis of Accordion DNA Stretching Revealed by The Gold Cluster Ruler
A promising new method for measuring intramolecular distances in solution
uses small-angle X-ray scattering interference between gold nanocrystal labels
(Mathew-Fenn et al, Science, 322, 446 (2008)). When applied to double stranded
DNA, it revealed that the DNA length fluctuations are strikingly strong and
correlated over at least 80 base pair steps. In other words, the DNA behaves as
accordion bellows, with distant fragments stretching and shrinking concertedly.
This hypothesis, however, disagrees with earlier experimental and computational
observations. This Letter shows that the discrepancy can be rationalized by
taking into account the cluster exclusion volume and assuming a moderate
long-range repulsion between them. The long-range interaction can originate
from an ion exclusion effect and cluster polarization in close proximity to the
DNA surface.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Endotaxial Si nanolines in Si(001):H
We present a detailed study of the structural and electronic properties of a
self-assembled silicon nanoline embedded in the H-terminated silicon (001)
surface, known as the Haiku stripe. The nanoline is a perfectly straight and
defect free endotaxial structure of huge aspect ratio; it can grow micrometre
long at a constant width of exactly four Si dimers (1.54nm). Another remarkable
property is its capacity to be exposed to air without suffering any
degradation. The nanoline grows independently of any step edges at tunable
densities, from isolated nanolines to a dense array of nanolines. In addition
to these unique structural characteristics, scanning tunnelling microscopy and
density functional theory reveal a one-dimensional state confined along the
Haiku core. This nanoline is a promising candidate for the long sought after
electronic solid-state one-dimensional model system to explore the fascinating
quantum properties emerging in such reduced dimensionality.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure
Characteristic Energy of the Coulomb Interactions and the Pileup of States
Tunneling data on crystals confirm
Coulomb interaction effects through the dependence of the
density of states. Importantly, the data and analysis at high energy, E, show a
pileup of states: most of the states removed from near the Fermi level are
found between ~40 and 130 meV, from which we infer the possibility of universal
behavior. The agreement of our tunneling data with recent photoemission results
further confirms our analysis.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
One dimensional Si-in-Si(001) template for single-atom wire growth
Single atom metallic wires of arbitrary length are of immense technological
and scientific interest. We describe a novel silicon-only template enabling the
self-organised growth of isolated micrometer long surface and subsurface
single-atom chains. It consists of a one dimensional, defect-free
reconstruction - the Haiku core, here revealed for the first time in details -
self-assembled on hydrogenated Si(001) terraces, independent of any step edges.
We discuss the potential of this Si-in-Si template as an appealing alternative
to vicinal surfaces for nanoscale patterning.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figure
A Quantum Mechanical Model of the Reissner-Nordstrom Black Hole
We consider a Hamiltonian quantum theory of spherically symmetric,
asymptotically flat electrovacuum spacetimes. The physical phase space of such
spacetimes is spanned by the mass and the charge parameters and of the
Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black hole, together with the corresponding canonical
momenta. In this four-dimensional phase space, we perform a canonical
transformation such that the resulting configuration variables describe the
dynamical properties of Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m black holes in a natural manner.
The classical Hamiltonian written in terms of these variables and their
conjugate momenta is replaced by the corresponding self-adjoint Hamiltonian
operator, and an eigenvalue equation for the ADM mass of the hole, from the
point of view of a distant observer at rest, is obtained. Our eigenvalue
equation implies that the ADM mass and the electric charge spectra of the hole
are discrete, and the mass spectrum is bounded below. Moreover, the spectrum of
the quantity is strictly positive when an appropriate self-adjoint
extension is chosen. The WKB analysis yields the result that the large
eigenvalues of the quantity are of the form , where
is an integer. It turns out that this result is closely related to
Bekenstein's proposal on the discrete horizon area spectrum of black holes.Comment: 37 pages, Plain TeX, no figure
Lunar radiation environment and space weathering from the Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER)
[1] The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) measures linear energy transfer by Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCRs) and Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs) on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) Mission in a circular, polar lunar orbit. GCR fluxes remain at the highest levels ever observed during the space age. One of the largest SEP events observed by CRaTER during the LRO mission occurred on June 7, 2011. We compare model predictions by the Earth-Moon-Mars Radiation Environment Module (EMMREM) for both dose rates from GCRs and SEPs during this event with results from CRaTER. We find agreement between these models and the CRaTER dose rates, which together demonstrate the accuracy of EMMREM, and its suitability for a real-time space weather system. We utilize CRaTER to test forecasts made by the Relativistic Electron Alert System for Exploration (REleASE), which successfully predicts the June 7th event. At the maximum CRaTER-observed GCR dose rate (∼11.7 cGy/yr where Gy is a unit indicating energy deposition per unit mass, 1 Gy = 1 J/kg), GCRs deposit ∼88 eV/molecule in water over 4 billion years, causing significant change in molecular composition and physical structure (e.g., density, color, crystallinity) of water ice, loss of molecular hydrogen, and production of more complex molecules linking carbon and other elements in the irradiated ice. This shows that space weathering by GCRs may be extremely important for chemical evolution of ice on the Moon. Thus, we show comprehensive observations from the CRaTER instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter that characterizes the radiation environment and space weathering on the Moon
Macroscopic detection of the strong stochasticity threshold in Fermi-Pasta-Ulam chains of oscillators
The largest Lyapunov exponent of a system composed by a heavy impurity
embedded in a chain of anharmonic nearest-neighbor Fermi-Pasta-Ulam oscillators
is numerically computed for various values of the impurity mass . A
crossover between weak and strong chaos is obtained at the same value
of the energy density (energy per degree of freedom)
for all the considered values of the impurity mass . The threshold \epsi
lon_{_T} coincides with the value of the energy density at which a
change of scaling of the relaxation time of the momentum autocorrelation
function of the impurity ocurrs and that was obtained in a previous work ~[M.
Romero-Bastida and E. Braun, Phys. Rev. E {\bf65}, 036228 (2002)]. The complete
Lyapunov spectrum does not depend significantly on the impurity mass . These
results suggest that the impurity does not contribute significantly to the
dynamical instability (chaos) of the chain and can be considered as a probe for
the dynamics of the system to which the impurity is coupled. Finally, it is
shown that the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy of the chain has a crossover from weak
to strong chaos at the same value of the energy density that the crossover
value of largest Lyapunov exponent. Implications of this result
are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, revtex4 styl
Building blocks of a black hole
What is the nature of the energy spectrum of a black hole ? The algebraic
approach to black hole quantization requires the horizon area eigenvalues to be
equally spaced. As stressed long ago by by Mukhanov, such eigenvalues must be
exponentially degenerate with respect to the area quantum number if one is to
understand black hole entropy as reflecting degeneracy of the observable
states. Here we construct the black hole states by means of a pair of "creation
operators" subject to a particular simple algebra, a slight generalization of
that for the harmonic oscillator. We then prove rigorously that the n-th area
eigenvalue is exactly 2 raised to the n-fold degenerate. Thus black hole
entropy qua logarithm of the number of states for fixed horizon area comes out
proportional to that area.Comment: PhysRevTeX, 14 page
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