542 research outputs found
The role of long-range forces in the phase behavior of colloids and proteins
The phase behavior of colloid-polymer mixtures, and of solutions of globular
proteins, is often interpreted in terms of a simple model of hard spheres with
short-ranged attraction. While such a model yields a qualitative understanding
of the generic phase diagrams of both colloids and proteins, it fails to
capture one important difference: the model predicts fluid-fluid phase
separation in the metastable regime below the freezing curve. Such demixing has
been observed for globular proteins, but for colloids it appears to be
pre-empted by the appearance of a gel. In this paper, we study the effect of
additional long-range attractions on the phase behavior of spheres with
short-ranged attraction. We find that such attractions can shift the
(metastable) fluid-fluid critical point out of the gel region. As this
metastable critical point may be important for crystal nucleation, our results
suggest that long-ranged attractive forces may play an important role in the
crystallization of globular proteins. However, in colloids, where refractive
index matching is often used to switch off long-ranged dispersion forces,
gelation is likely to inhibit phase separation.Comment: EURO-LATEX, 6 pages, 2 figure
Three-Dimensional Simulations of Mixing Instabilities in Supernova Explosions
We present the first three-dimensional (3D) simulations of the large-scale
mixing that takes place in the shock-heated stellar layers ejected in the
explosion of a 15.5 solar-mass blue supergiant star. The outgoing supernova
shock is followed from its launch by neutrino heating until it breaks out from
the stellar surface more than two hours after the core collapse. Violent
convective overturn in the post-shock layer causes the explosion to start with
significant asphericity, which triggers the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor (RT)
instabilities at the composition interfaces of the exploding star. Deep inward
mixing of hydrogen (H) is found as well as fast-moving, metal-rich clumps
penetrating with high velocities far into the H-envelope of the star as
observed, e.g., in the case of SN 1987A. Also individual clumps containing a
sizeable fraction of the ejected iron-group elements (up to several 0.001 solar
masses) are obtained in some models. The metal core of the progenitor is
partially turned over with Ni-dominated fingers overtaking oxygen-rich bullets
and both Ni and O moving well ahead of the material from the carbon layer.
Comparing with corresponding 2D (axially symmetric) calculations, we determine
the growth of the RT fingers to be faster, the deceleration of the dense
metal-carrying clumps in the He and H layers to be reduced, the asymptotic
clump velocities in the H-shell to be higher (up to ~4500 km/s for the
considered progenitor and an explosion energy of 10^{51} ergs, instead of <2000
km/s in 2D), and the outward radial mixing of heavy elements and inward mixing
of hydrogen to be more efficient in 3D than in 2D. We present a simple argument
that explains these results as a consequence of the different action of drag
forces on moving objects in the two geometries. (abridged)Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 30 eps files; significantly extended and more
figures added after referee comments; accepted by The Astrophysical Journa
Thin Ice Target for O(p,p') experiment
A windowless and self-supporting ice target is described. An ice sheet with a
thickness of 29.7 mg/cm cooled by liquid nitrogen was placed at the target
position of a magnetic spectrometer and worked stably in the O
experiment at MeV. Background-free spectra were obtained.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, Nucl. Instr. & Meth. A (in press
Anomalous Spin Dynamics observed by High Frequency ESR in Honeycomb Lattice Antiferromagnet InCu2/3V1/3O3
High-frequency ESR results on the S=1/2 Heisenberg hexagonal antiferromagnet
InCu2/3V1/3O3 are reported. This compound appears to be a rare model substance
for the honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet with very weak interlayer couplings.
The high-temperature magnetic susceptibility can be interpreted by the S=1/2
honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet, and it shows a magnetic-order-like anomaly
at TN=38 K. Although, the resonance field of our high-frequency ESR shows the
typical behavior of the antiferromagnetic resonance, the linewidth of our
high-frequency ESR continues to increase below TN, while it tends to decrease
as the temperature in a conventional three-dimensional antiferromagnet
decreases. In general, a honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet is expected to show
a simple antiferromagnetic order similar to that of a square lattice
antiferromagnet theoretically because both antiferromagnets are bipartite
lattices. However, we suggest that the observed anomalous spin dynamics below
TN is the peculiar feature of the honeycomb lattice antiferromagnet that is not
observed in the square lattice antiferromagnet.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Supramolecular assemblies involving metal organic ring interactions: Heterometallic Cu(II)-Ln(III) two dimensional coordination polymers
Three isostructural two-dimensional coordination polymers of the general formula [Ln2(CuL)3(H2O)9]$5.5H2O, where Ln is La (1), Nd (2), and Gd (3), have been synthesized and isolated from aqueous solutions and their single-crystal structures determined by X-ray diffraction. The supramolecular interaction between the non-aromatic metallorings plays an important role in stabilizing the structure of these compounds. The thermal stability, reversible solvent uptake, electronic properties and magnetic studies of these compounds are also reported
Polarization transfer in the O reaction at forward angles and structure of the spin-dipole resonances
Cross sections and polarization transfer observables in the O
reactions at 392 MeV were measured at several angles between
0 and 14. The non-spin-flip () and spin-flip
() strengths in transitions to several discrete states and broad
resonances in O were extracted using a model-independent method. The
giant resonances in the energy region of 27 MeV were found to be
predominantly excited by transitions. The strength distribution
of spin-dipole transitions with and were deduced.
The obtained distribution was compared with a recent shell model calculation.
Experimental results are reasonably explained by distorted-wave impulse
approximation calculations with the shell model wave functions.Comment: 28 pages RevTex, including 9 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.
C.; a typo in Eq. (3b) was correcte
Phase equilibria and glass transition in colloidal systems with short-ranged attractive interactions. Application to protein crystallization
We have studied a model of a complex fluid consisting of particles
interacting through a hard core and a short range attractive potential of both
Yukawa and square-well form. Using a hybrid method, including a self-consistent
and quite accurate approximation for the liquid integral equation in the case
of the Yukawa fluid, perturbation theory to evaluate the crystal free energies,
and mode-coupling theory of the glass transition, we determine both the
equilibrium phase diagram of the system and the lines of equilibrium between
the supercooled fluid and the glass phases. For these potentials, we study the
phase diagrams for different values of the potential range, the ratio of the
range of the interaction to the diameter of the repulsive core being the main
control parameter. Our arguments are relevant to a variety of systems, from
dense colloidal systems with depletion forces, through particle gels,
nano-particle aggregation, and globular protein crystallization.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figure
Neutron Scattering study of Sr_2Cu_3O_4Cl_2
We report a neutron scattering study on the tetragonal compound
Sr_2Cu_3O_4Cl_2, which has two-dimensional (2D) interpenetrating Cu_I and
Cu_{II} subsystems, each forming a S=1/2 square lattice quantum Heisenberg
antiferromagnet (SLQHA). The mean-field ground state is degenerate, since the
inter-subsystem interactions are geometrically frustrated. Magnetic neutron
scattering experiments show that quantum fluctuations lift the degeneracy and
cause a 2D Ising ordering of the Cu_{II} subsystem. Due to quantum fluctuations
a dramatic increase of the Cu_I out-of-plane spin-wave gap is also observed.
The temperature dependence and the dispersion of the spin-wave energy are
quantitatively explained by spin-wave calculations which include quantum
fluctuations explicitly. The values for the nearest-neighbor superexchange
interactions between the Cu_I and Cu_{II} ions and between the Cu_{II} ions are
determined experimentally to be J_{I-II} = -10(2)meV and J_{II}= 10.5(5)meV,
respectively. Due to its small exchange interaction, J_{II}, the 2D dispersion
of the Cu_{II} SLQHA can be measured over the whole Brillouin zone with thermal
neutrons, and a novel dispersion at the zone boundary, predicted by theory, is
confirmed. The instantaneous magnetic correlation length of the Cu_{II} SLQHA
is obtained up to a very high temperature, T/J_{II}\approx 0.75. This result is
compared with several theoretical predictions as well as recent experiments on
the S=1/2 SLQHA.Comment: Figures and equations are rearrange
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