1,047 research outputs found
Four-states phase diagram of proteins
A four states phase diagram for protein folding as a function of temperature
and solvent quality is derived from an improved 2-d lattice model taking into
account the temperature dependence of the hydrophobic effect. The phase diagram
exhibits native, globule and two coil-type regions. In agreement with
experiment, the model reproduces the phase transitions indicative of both warm
and cold denaturations. Finally, it predicts transitions between the two coil
states and a critical point.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Europhysics Letter
Inelastic O+H collisions and the OI 777nm solar centre-to-limb variation
The OI 777 nm triplet is a key diagnostic of oxygen abundances in the
atmospheres of FGK-type stars; however it is sensitive to departures from local
thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE). The accuracy of non-LTE line formation
calculations has hitherto been limited by errors in the inelastic O+H
collisional rate coefficients: several recent studies have used the so-called
Drawin recipe, albeit with a correction factor that is
calibrated to the solar centre-to-limb variation of the triplet. We present a
new model oxygen atom that incorporates inelastic O+H collisional rate
coefficients using an asymptotic two-electron model based on linear
combinations of atomic orbitals, combined with a free electron model, based on
the impulse approximation. Using a 3D hydrodynamic stagger model solar
atmosphere and 3D non-LTE line formation calculations, we demonstrate that this
physically-motivated approach is able to reproduce the solar centre-to-limb
variation of the triplet to 0.02 dex, without any calibration of the inelastic
collisional rate coefficients or other free parameters. We infer
from the triplet alone, strengthening
the case for a low solar oxygen abundance.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures; published in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Dynamics of Triangulations
We study a few problems related to Markov processes of flipping
triangulations of the sphere. We show that these processes are ergodic and
mixing, but find a natural example which does not satisfy detailed balance. In
this example, the expected distribution of the degrees of the nodes seems to
follow the power law
Warm and Cold Denaturation in the Phase Diagram of a Protein Lattice Model
Studying the properties of the solvent around proteins, we propose a much
more sophisticated model of solvation than temperature-independent pairwise
interactions between monomers, as is used commonly in lattice representations.
We applied our model of solvation to a 16-monomer chain constrained on a
two-dimensional lattice. We compute a phase diagram function of the temperature
and a solvent parameter which is related to the pH of the solution. It exhibits
a native state in which the chain coalesces into a unique compact conformation
as well as a denatured state. Under certain solvation conditions, both warm and
cold denaturations occur between the native and the denatured states. A good
agreement is found with the data obtained from calorimetric experiments,
thereby validating the proposed model.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
New Abundances for Old Stars - Atomic Diffusion at Work in NGC 6397
A homogeneous spectroscopic analysis of unevolved and evolved stars in the
metal-poor globular cluster NGC 6397 with FLAMES-UVES reveals systematic trends
of stellar surface abundances that are likely caused by atomic diffusion. This
finding helps to understand, among other issues, why the lithium abundances of
old halo stars are significantly lower than the abundance found to be produced
shortly after the Big Bang.Comment: 8 pages, 7 colour figures, 1 table; can also be downloaded via
http://www.eso.org/messenger
Hierarchical pinning models, quadratic maps and quenched disorder
We consider a hierarchical model of polymer pinning in presence of quenched
disorder, introduced by B. Derrida, V. Hakim and J. Vannimenius in 1992, which
can be re-interpreted as an infinite dimensional dynamical system with random
initial condition (the disorder). It is defined through a recurrence relation
for the law of a random variable {R_n}_{n=1,2,...}, which in absence of
disorder (i.e., when the initial condition is degenerate) reduces to a
particular case of the well-known Logistic Map. The large-n limit of the
sequence of random variables 2^{-n} log R_n, a non-random quantity which is
naturally interpreted as a free energy, plays a central role in our analysis.
The model depends on a parameter alpha>0, related to the geometry of the
hierarchical lattice, and has a phase transition in the sense that the free
energy is positive if the expectation of R_0 is larger than a certain threshold
value, and it is zero otherwise. It was conjectured by Derrida et al. (1992)
that disorder is relevant (respectively, irrelevant or marginally relevant) if
1/2<alpha<1 (respectively, alpha<1/2 or alpha=1/2), in the sense that an
arbitrarily small amount of randomness in the initial condition modifies the
critical point with respect to that of the pure (i.e., non-disordered) model if
alpha is larger or equal to 1/2, but not if alpha is smaller than 1/2. Our main
result is a proof of these conjectures for the case alpha different from 1/2.
We emphasize that for alpha>1/2 we find the correct scaling form (for weak
disorder) of the critical point shift.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures. v3: Theorem 1.6 improved. To appear on Probab.
Theory Rel. Field
Concentration inequalities for random fields via coupling
We present a new and simple approach to concentration inequalities for
functions around their expectation with respect to non-product measures, i.e.,
for dependent random variables. Our method is based on coupling ideas and does
not use information inequalities. When one has a uniform control on the
coupling, this leads to exponential concentration inequalities. When such a
uniform control is no more possible, this leads to polynomial or
stretched-exponential concentration inequalities. Our abstract results apply to
Gibbs random fields, in particular to the low-temperature Ising model which is
a concrete example of non-uniformity of the coupling.Comment: New corrected version; 22 pages; 1 figure; New result added:
stretched-exponential inequalit
The chemical composition of red giants in 47 Tucanae I: Fundamental parameters and chemical abundance patterns
Context: The study of chemical abundance patterns in globular clusters is of
key importance to constrain the different candidates for intra-cluster
pollution of light elements. Aims: We aim at deriving accurate abundances for a
large range of elements in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae (NGC 104) to add new
constraints to the pollution scenarios for this particular cluster, expanding
the range of previously derived element abundances. Methods: Using tailored 1D
LTE atmospheric models together with a combination of equivalent width
measurements, LTE, and NLTE synthesis we derive stellar parameters and element
abundances from high-resolution, high signal-to-noise spectra of 13 red giant
stars near the tip of the RGB. Results: We derive abundances of a total 27
elements (O, Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Sc, Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Zn, Y, Zr,
Mo, Ru, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Eu, Dy). Departures from LTE were taken into
account for Na, Al and Ba. We find a mean [Fe/H] = and
in good agreement with previous studies. The
remaining elements show good agreement with the literature, but the inclusion
of NLTE for Al has a significant impact on the behaviour of this key element.
Conclusions: We confirm the presence of an Na-O anti-correlation in 47 Tucanae
found by several other works. Our NLTE analysis of Al shifts the [Al/Fe] to
lower values, indicating that this may be overestimated in earlier works. No
evidence for an intrinsic variation is found in any of the remaining elements.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
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