873 research outputs found
Device measures conductivity and velocity of ionized gas streams
Coaxial arrangement of primary coil and two sensing secondary coils contained inside slender quartz tube inserted into ionized stream permits simultaneous determination of conductivity and linear velocity. System results agree favorably with theory
Soft disks in a narrow channel
The pressure components of "soft" disks in a two dimensional narrow channel
are analyzed in the dilute gas regime using the Mayer cluster expansion and
molecular dynamics. Channels with either periodic or reflecting boundaries are
considered. It is found that when the two-body potential, u(r), is singular at
some distance r_0, the dependence of the pressure components on the channel
width exhibits a singularity at one or more channel widths which are simply
related to r_0. In channels with periodic boundary conditions and for
potentials which are discontinuous at r_0, the transverse and longitudinal
pressure components exhibit a 1/2 and 3/2 singularity, respectively. Continuous
potentials with a power law singularity result in weaker singularities of the
pressure components. In channels with reflecting boundary conditions the
singularities are found to be weaker than those corresponding to periodic
boundaries
Kinetochore alignment within the metaphase plate is regulated by centromere stiffness and microtubule depolymerases
During mitosis in most eukaryotic cells, chromosomes align and form a metaphase plate halfway between the spindle poles, about which they exhibit oscillatory movement. These movements are accompanied by changes in the distance between sister kinetochores, commonly referred to as breathing. We developed a live cell imaging assay combined with computational image analysis to quantify the properties and dynamics of sister kinetochores in three dimensions. We show that baseline oscillation and breathing speeds in late prometaphase and metaphase are set by microtubule depolymerases, whereas oscillation and breathing periods depend on the stiffness of the mechanical linkage between sisters. Metaphase plates become thinner as cells progress toward anaphase as a result of reduced oscillation speed at a relatively constant oscillation period. The progressive slowdown of oscillation speed and its coupling to plate thickness depend nonlinearly on the stiffness of the mechanical linkage between sisters. We propose that metaphase plate formation and thinning require tight control of the state of the mechanical linkage between sisters mediated by centromeric chromatin and cohesion
The Kolmogorov-Sinai Entropy for Dilute Gases in Equilibrium
We use the kinetic theory of gases to compute the Kolmogorov-Sinai entropy
per particle for a dilute gas in equilibrium. For an equilibrium system, the KS
entropy, h_KS is the sum of all of the positive Lyapunov exponents
characterizing the chaotic behavior of the gas. We compute h_KS/N, where N is
the number of particles in the gas. This quantity has a density expansion of
the form h_KS/N = a\nu[-\ln{\tilde{n}} + b + O(\tilde{n})], where \nu is the
single-particle collision frequency and \tilde{n} is the reduced number density
of the gas. The theoretical values for the coefficients a and b are compared
with the results of computer simulations, with excellent agreement for a, and
less than satisfactory agreement for b. Possible reasons for this difference in
b are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Lyapunov Exponents from Kinetic Theory for a Dilute, Field-driven Lorentz Gas
Positive and negative Lyapunov exponents for a dilute, random,
two-dimensional Lorentz gas in an applied field, , in a steady state
at constant energy are computed to order . The results are:
where
are the exponents for the field-free Lorentz gas,
, is the mean free time between collisions,
is the charge, the mass and is the speed of the particle. The
calculation is based on an extended Boltzmann equation in which a radius of
curvature, characterizing the separation of two nearby trajectories, is one of
the variables in the distribution function. The analytical results are in
excellent agreement with computer simulations. These simulations provide
additional evidence for logarithmic terms in the density expansion of the
diffusion coefficient.Comment: 7 pages, revtex, 3 postscript figure
Anomalous diffusion as a signature of collapsing phase in two dimensional self-gravitating systems
A two dimensional self-gravitating Hamiltonian model made by
fully-coupled classical particles exhibits a transition from a collapsing phase
(CP) at low energy to a homogeneous phase (HP) at high energy. From a dynamical
point of view, the two phases are characterized by two distinct single-particle
motions : namely, superdiffusive in the CP and ballistic in the HP. Anomalous
diffusion is observed up to a time that increases linearly with .
Therefore, the finite particle number acts like a white noise source for the
system, inhibiting anomalous transport at longer times.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex - 3 Figs - Submitted to Physical Review
Viscosity in the escape-rate formalism
We apply the escape-rate formalism to compute the shear viscosity in terms of
the chaotic properties of the underlying microscopic dynamics. A first passage
problem is set up for the escape of the Helfand moment associated with
viscosity out of an interval delimited by absorbing boundaries. At the
microscopic level of description, the absorbing boundaries generate a fractal
repeller. The fractal dimensions of this repeller are directly related to the
shear viscosity and the Lyapunov exponent, which allows us to compute its
values. We apply this method to the Bunimovich-Spohn minimal model of viscosity
which is composed of two hard disks in elastic collision on a torus. These
values are in excellent agreement with the values obtained by other methods
such as the Green-Kubo and Einstein-Helfand formulas.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures (accepted in Phys. Rev. E; October 2003
Aluminum-, Calcium- And Titanium-Rich Oxide Stardust In Ordinary Chondrite Meteorites
We report isotopic data for a total of 96 presolar oxide grains found in
residues of several unequilibrated ordinary chondrite meteorites. Identified
grain types include Al2O3, MgAl2O4, hibonite (CaAl12O19) and Ti oxide. This
work greatly increases the presolar hibonite database, and is the first report
of presolar Ti oxide. O-isotopic compositions of the grains span previously
observed ranges and indicate an origin in red giant and asymptotic giant branch
(AGB) stars of low mass (<2.5 MSun) for most grains. Cool bottom processing in
the parent AGB stars is required to explain isotopic compositions of many
grains. Potassium-41 enrichments in hibonite grains are attributable to in situ
decay of now-extinct 41Ca. Inferred initial 41Ca/40Ca ratios are in good
agreement with model predictions for low-mass AGB star envelopes, provided that
ionization suppresses 41Ca decay. Stable Mg and Ca isotopic ratios of most of
the hibonite grains reflect primarily the initial compositions of the parent
stars and are generally consistent with expectations for Galactic chemical
evolution, but require some local interstellar chemical inhomogeneity. Very
high 17O/16O or 25Mg/24Mg ratios suggest an origin for some grains in binary
star systems where mass transfer from an evolved companion has altered the
parent star compositions. A supernova origin for the hitherto enigmatic
18O-rich Group 4 grains is strongly supported by multi-element isotopic data
for two grains. The Group 4 data are consistent with an origin in a single
supernova in which variable amounts of material from the deep 16O-rich interior
mixed with a unique end-member mixture of the outer layers. The Ti oxide grains
primarily formed in low-mass AGB stars. They are smaller and rarer than
presolar Al2O3, reflecting the lower abundance of Ti than Al in AGB envelopes.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 47 pages, 13 figure
A discretized integral hydrodynamics
Using an interpolant form for the gradient of a function of position, we
write an integral version of the conservation equations for a fluid. In the
appropriate limit, these become the usual conservation laws of mass, momentum
and energy. We also discuss the special cases of the Navier-Stokes equations
for viscous flow and the Fourier law for thermal conduction in the presence of
hydrodynamic fluctuations. By means of a discretization procedure, we show how
these equations can give rise to the so-called "particle dynamics" of Smoothed
Particle Hydrodynamics and Dissipative Particle Dynamics.Comment: 10 pages, RevTex, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Chaotic Scattering Theory, Thermodynamic Formalism, and Transport Coefficients
The foundations of the chaotic scattering theory for transport and
reaction-rate coefficients for classical many-body systems are considered here
in some detail. The thermodynamic formalism of Sinai, Bowen, and Ruelle is
employed to obtain an expression for the escape-rate for a phase space
trajectory to leave a finite open region of phase space for the first time.
This expression relates the escape rate to the difference between the sum of
the positive Lyapunov exponents and the K-S entropy for the fractal set of
trajectories which are trapped forever in the open region. This result is well
known for systems of a few degrees of freedom and is here extended to systems
of many degrees of freedom. The formalism is applied to smooth hyperbolic
systems, to cellular-automata lattice gases, and to hard sphere sytems. In the
latter case, the goemetric constructions of Sinai {\it et al} for billiard
systems are used to describe the relevant chaotic scattering phenomena. Some
applications of this formalism to non-hyperbolic systems are also discussed.Comment: 35 pages, compressed file, follow directions in header for ps file.
Figures are available on request from [email protected]
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