Study of non-equilibrium effects and thermal properties of heavy ion collisions using a covariant approach

Non-equilibrium effects are studied using a full Lorentz-invariant formalism. Our analysis shows that in reactions considered here, no global or local equilibrium is reached. The heavier masses are found to be equilibrated more than the lighter systems. The local temperature is extracted using hot Thomas Fermi formalism generalized for the case of two interpenetrating pieces of nuclear matter. The temperature is found to vary linearly with bombarding energy and impact parameter whereas it is nearly independent of the mass of the colliding nuclei. This indicates that the study of temperature with medium size nuclei is also reliable. The maximum temperatures obtained in our approach are in a nice agreement with earlier calculations of other approaches. A simple parametrization of maximal temperature as a function of the bombarding energy is also given.Comment: LaTex-file, 17 pages, 8 figures (available upon request), Journal of Physics G20 (1994) 181

Nuclear Dynamics at the Balance Energy

We study the mass dependence of various quantities (like the average and maximum density, collision rate, participant-spectator matter, temperature as well as time zones for higher density) by simulating the reactions at the energy of vanishing flow. This study is carried out within the framework of Quantum Molecular Dynamics model. Our findings clearly indicate an existence of a power law in all the above quantities calculated at the balance energy. The only significant mass dependence was obtained for the temperature reached in the central sphere. All other quantities are rather either insensitive or depend weakly on the system size at balance energy. The time zone for higher density as well as the time of maximal density and collision rate follow a power law inverse to the energy of vanishing flow.Comment: 9 figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev.

A role for von Hippel-Lindau protein in pancreatic beta-cell function.

ObjectiveThe Vhlh gene codes for the von Hippel-Lindau protein (VHL), a tumor suppressor that is a key player in the cellular response to oxygen sensing. In humans, a germline mutation in the VHL gene leads to the von Hippel-Lindau disease, a familial syndrome characterized by benign and malignant tumors of the kidney, central nervous system, and pancreas.Research design and methodsWe use Cre-lox recombination to eliminate Vhlh in adult mouse pancreatic beta-cells. Morphology of mutant islets is assessed by immunofluorescence analysis. To determine the functional state of Vhlh(-/-) islets, insulin secretion is measured in vivo and in vitro, and quantitative PCR is used to identify changes in gene expression.ResultsLoss of VHL in beta-cells leads to a severe glucose-intolerant phenotype in adult animals. Although VHL is not required for beta-cell specification and development, it is critical for beta-cell function. Insulin production is normal in beta-cells lacking VHL; however, insulin secretion in the presence of high concentrations of glucose is impaired. Furthermore, the loss of VHL leads to dysregulation of glycolytic enzymes, pointing to a perturbation of the intracellular energy homeostasis.ConclusionsWe show that loss of VHL in beta-cells leads to defects in glucose homeostasis, indicating an important and previously unappreciated role for VHL in beta-cell function. We believe that the beta-cell-specific Vhlh-deficient mice might be a useful tool as a "genetic hypoxia" model, to unravel the possible link between hypoxia signaling and impairment of beta-cell function

Scaling Behavior of Response Functions in the Coarsening Dynamics of Disordered Ferromagnets

We study coarsening dynamics in the ferromagnetic random bond Ising model in d = 1; 2. We focus on the validity of super-universality and the scaling properties of the response functions. In the d = 1 case, we obtain a complete understanding of the evolution, from pre- asymptotic to asymptotic behavior. The corresponding response function shows a clear violation of super-universality. Further, our results for d = 1; 2 settle the controversy regarding the decay exponent which characterizes the response function

Domain Growth in Random Magnets

We study the kinetics of domain growth in ferromagnets with random exchange interactions. We present detailed Monte Carlo results for the nonconserved random-bond Ising model, which are consistent with power-law growth with a variable exponent. These results are interpreted in the context of disorder barriers with a logarithmic dependence on the domain size. Further, we clarify the implications of logarithmic barriers for both nonconserved and conserved domain growth.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

On the balance energy and nuclear dynamics in peripheral heavy-ion collisions

We present here the system size dependence of balance energy for semi-central and peripheral collisions using quantum molecular dynamics model. For this study, the reactions of $Ne^{20}+Ne^{20}$, $Ca^{40}+Ca^{40}$, $Ni^{58}+Ni^{58}$, $Nb^{93}+Nb^{93}$, $Xe^{131}+Xe^{131}$ and $Au^{197}+Au^{197}$ are simulated at different incident energies and impact parameters. A hard equation of state along with nucleon-nucleon cross-sections between 40 - 55 mb explains the data nicely. Interestingly, balance energy follows a power law $\propto{A^{\tau}}$ for the mass dependence at all colliding geometries. The power factor $\tau$ is close to -1/3 in central collisions whereas it is -2/3 for peripheral collisions suggesting stronger system size dependence at peripheral geometries. This also suggests that in the absence of momentum dependent interactions, Coulomb's interaction plays an exceedingly significant role. These results are further analyzed for nuclear dynamics at the balance point.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures Accepted in IJMPE (in press

Crossover in Growth Law and Violation of Superuniversality in the Random Field Ising Model

We study the nonconserved phase ordering dynamics of the d = 2, 3 random field Ising model, quenched to below the critical temperature. Motivated by the puzzling results of previous work in two and three di- mensions, reporting a crossover from power-law to logarithmic growth, together with superuniversal behavior of the correlation function, we have undertaken a careful investigation of both the domain growth law and the autocorrelation function. Our main results are as follows: We confirm the crossover to asymptotic logarithmic behavior in the growth law, but, at variance with previous findings, the exponent in the preasymptotic power law is disorder-dependent, rather than being the one of the pure system. Furthermore, we find that the autocorre- lation function does not display superuniversal behavior. This restores consistency with previous results for the d = 1 system, and fits nicely into the unifying scaling scheme we have recently proposed in the study of the random bond Ising model.Comment: To be published in Physical Review

Dynamical Casimir Effect in two-atom cavity QED

We study analytically and numerically the dynamical Casimir effect in a cavity containing two stationary 2-level atoms that interact with the resonance field mode via the Tavis-Cummings Hamiltonian. We determine the modulation frequencies for which the field and atomic excitations are generated and study the corresponding dynamical behaviors in the absence of damping. It is shown that the two-atom setup allows for monitoring of photon generation without interrupting the growth, and different entangled states can be generated during the process.Comment: 4+ pages, 2 figure

Growth Law and Superuniversality in the Coarsening of Disordered Ferromagnets

We present comprehensive numerical results for domain growth in the two-dimensional {\it Random Bond Ising Model} (RBIM) with nonconserved Glauber kinetics. We characterize the evolution via the {\it domain growth law}, and two-time quantities like the {\it autocorrelation function} and {\it autoresponse function}. Our results clearly establish that the growth law shows a crossover from a pre-asymptotic regime with "power-law growth with a disorder-dependent exponent" to an asymptotic regime with "logarithmic growth". We compare this behavior with previous results on one-dimensional disordered systems and we propose a unifying picture in a renormalization group framework. We also study the corresponding crossover in the scaling functions for the two-time quantities. Super-universality is found not to hold. Clear evidence supporting the dimensionality dependence of the scaling exponent of the autoresponse function is obtained.Comment: Thoroughly revised manuscript. The Introduction, Section 2 and Section 4 have been largely rewritten. References added. Final version accepted for publication on Journal of Statistical Mechanics: Theory and Experimen