7,586 research outputs found
Evolution of YidC/Oxa1/Alb3 insertases: three independent gene duplications followed by functional specialization in bacteria, mitochondria and chloroplasts
Members of the YidC/Oxa1/Alb3 protein family facilitate the insertion, folding and assembly of proteins of the inner membranes of bacteria and mitochondria and the thylakoid membrane of plastids. All homologs share a conserved hydrophobic core region comprising five transmembrane domains. On the basis of phylogenetic analyses, six subgroups of the family can be distinguished which presumably arose from three independent gene duplications followed by functional specialization. During evolution of bacteria, mitochondria and chloroplasts, subgroup-specific regions were added to the core domain to facilitate the association with ribosomes or other components contributing to the substrate spectrum of YidC/Oxa1/Alb3 proteins
3D AMR hydrosimulations of a compact source scenario for the Galactic Centre cloud G2
The nature of the gaseous and dusty cloud G2 in the Galactic Centre is still
under debate. We present three-dimensional hydrodynamical adaptive mesh
refinement (AMR) simulations of G2, modeled as an outflow from a "compact
source" moving on the observed orbit. The construction of mock
position-velocity (PV) diagrams enables a direct comparison with observations
and allow us to conclude that the observational properties of the gaseous
component of G2 could be matched by a massive () and slow ()
outflow, as observed for T Tauri stars. In order for this to be true, only the
material at larger () distances from the source must be
actually emitting, otherwise G2 would appear too compact compared to the
observed PV diagrams. On the other hand, the presence of a central dusty source
might be able to explain the compactness of G2's dust component. In the present
scenario, 5-10 years after pericentre the compact source should decouple from
the previously ejected material, due to the hydrodynamic interaction of the
latter with the surrounding hot and dense atmosphere. In this case, a new
outflow should form, ahead of the previous one, which would be the smoking gun
evidence for an outflow scenario.Comment: resubmitted to MNRAS after referee report, 16 pages, 11 figure
Dynamics of a Bose-Einstein Condensate in an Anharmonic Trap
We present a theoretical model to describe the dynamics of Bose-Einstein
condensates in anharmonic trapping potentials. To first approximation the
center-of-mass motion is separated from the internal condensate dynamics and
the problem is reduced to the well known scaling solutions for the Thomas-Fermi
radii. We discuss the validity of this approach and analyze the model for an
anharmonic waveguide geometry which was recently realized in an experiment
\cite{Ott2002c}
The onset of synchronization in large networks of coupled oscillators
We study the transition from incoherence to coherence in large networks of
coupled phase oscillators. We present various approximations that describe the
behavior of an appropriately defined order parameter past the transition, and
generalize recent results for the critical coupling strength. We find that,
under appropriate conditions, the coupling strength at which the transition
occurs is determined by the largest eigenvalue of the adjacency matrix. We show
how, with an additional assumption, a mean field approximation recently
proposed is recovered from our results. We test our theory with numerical
simulations, and find that it describes the transition when our assumptions are
satisfied. We find that our theory describes the transition well in situations
in which the mean field approximation fails. We study the finite size effects
caused by nodes with small degree and find that they cause the critical
coupling strength to increase.Comment: To appear in PRE; Added an Appendix, a reference, modified two
figures and improved the discussion of the range of validity of perturbative
approache
Experimental realization of strange nonchaotic attractors in a quasiperiodically forced electronic circuit
We have identified the three prominent routes, namely Heagy-Hammel,
fractalization and intermittency routes, and their mechanisms for the birth of
strange nonchaotic attractors (SNAs) in a quasiperiodically forced electronic
system constructed using a negative conductance series LCR circuit with a diode
both numerically and experimentally. The birth of SNAs by these three routes is
verified from both experimental and their corresponding numerical data by
maximal Lyapunov exponents, and their variance, Poincar\'e maps, Fourier
amplitude spectrum, spectral distribution function and finite-time Lyapunov
exponents. Although these three routes have been identified numerically in
different dynamical systems, the experimental observation of all these
mechanisms is reported for the first time to our knowledge and that too in a
single second order electronic circuit.Comment: 21 figure
Ordering of small particles in one-dimensional coherent structures by time-periodic flows
Small particles transported by a fluid medium do not necessarily have to
follow the flow. We show that for a wide class of time-periodic incompressible
flows inertial particles have a tendency to spontaneously align in
one-dimensional dynamic coherent structures. This effect may take place for
particles so small that often they would be expected to behave as passive
tracers and be used in PIV measurement technique. We link the particle tendency
to form one-dimensional structures to the nonlinear phenomenon of phase
locking. We propose that this general mechanism is, in particular, responsible
for the enigmatic formation of the `particle accumulation structures'
discovered experimentally in thermocapillary flows more than a decade ago and
unexplained until now
Hydrodynamical simulations of a compact source scenario for G2
The origin of the dense gas cloud G2 discovered in the Galactic Center
(Gillessen et al. 2012) is still a debated puzzle. G2 might be a diffuse cloud
or the result of an outflow from an invisible star embedded in it. We present
here detailed simulations of the evolution of winds on G2's orbit. We find that
the hydrodynamic interaction with the hot atmosphere present in the Galactic
Center and the extreme gravitational field of the supermassive black hole must
be taken in account when modeling such a source scenario. We find that the
hydrodynamic interaction with the hot atmosphere present in the Galactic Center
and the extreme gravitational field of the supermassive black hole must be
taken in account when modeling such a source scenario. We also find that in
this scenario most of the Br\gamma\ luminosity is expected to come from the
highly filamentary densest shocked wind material. G2's observational properties
can be used to constrain the properties of the outflow and our best model has a
mass outflow rate of Mdot,w=8.8 x 10^{-8} Msun/yr and a wind velocity of vw =
50 km/s. These values are compatible with those of a young TTauri star wind, as
already suggested by Scoville & Burkert (2013).Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; Proceeding of the IAU 303: "The GC: Feeding and
Feedback in a Normal Galactic Nucleus" / September 30 - October 4, 2013,
Santa Fe, New Mexico (USA
Walls Inhibit Chaotic Mixing
We report on experiments of chaotic mixing in a closed vessel, in which a
highly viscous fluid is stirred by a moving rod. We analyze quantitatively how
the concentration field of a low-diffusivity dye relaxes towards homogeneity,
and we observe a slow algebraic decay of the inhomogeneity, at odds with the
exponential decay predicted by most previous studies. Visual observations
reveal the dominant role of the vessel wall, which strongly influences the
concentration field in the entire domain and causes the anomalous scaling. A
simplified 1D model supports our experimental results. Quantitative analysis of
the concentration pattern leads to scalings for the distributions and the
variance of the concentration field consistent with experimental and numerical
results.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
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