183 research outputs found
Isotopomer Fractionation in the UV Photolysis of N_2O: 3. 3D Ab Initio Surfaces and Anharmonic Effects
The wavelength-dependent isotopic fractionation of N_2O is calculated, extending our previous work, Parts 1 and 2, in several aspects: (1) the fully three-dimensional ab initio electronic potential and transition dipole moment surfaces of S. Nanbu and M. S. Johnson (J. Chem. Phys. A 2004, 108, 8905) are used to calculate the absorption cross sections, instead of a 2D surface and (2) the vibrational frequencies and wave functions with anharmonicity correction are used for the ground electronic state. The results for the absorption spectrum and for the isotopic fractionation of the different isotopomers are discussed. One difference between experiments measuring the absorption coefficient (von Hessberg et al. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 2004, 4, 1237) and the others that measure instead the photodissociation is also discussed. Experiments on the quantum yield for wavelengths longer than 200 nm (>50000 cm^(β1)) would be helpful in treating the observed difference
Solving the Boltzmann equation in N log N
In [C. Mouhot and L. Pareschi, "Fast algorithms for computing the Boltzmann
collision operator," Math. Comp., to appear; C. Mouhot and L. Pareschi, C. R.
Math. Acad. Sci. Paris, 339 (2004), pp. 71-76], fast deterministic algorithms
based on spectral methods were derived for the Boltzmann collision operator for
a class of interactions including the hard spheres model in dimension three.
These algorithms are implemented for the solution of the Boltzmann equation in
two and three dimension, first for homogeneous solutions, then for general non
homogeneous solutions. The results are compared to explicit solutions, when
available, and to Monte-Carlo methods. In particular, the computational cost
and accuracy are compared to those of Monte-Carlo methods as well as to those
of previous spectral methods. Finally, for inhomogeneous solutions, we take
advantage of the great computational efficiency of the method to show an
oscillation phenomenon of the entropy functional in the trend to equilibrium,
which was suggested in the work [L. Desvillettes and C. Villani, Invent. Math.,
159 (2005), pp. 245-316].Comment: 32 page
Investigation of initiation of gigantic jets connecting thunderclouds to the ionosphere
The initiation of giant electrical discharges called as "gigantic jets"
connecting thunderclouds to the ionosphere is investigated by numerical
simulation method in this paper. Using similarity relations, the triggering
conditions of streamer formation in laboratory situations are extended to form
a criterion of initiation of gigantic jets. The energy source causing a
gigantic jet is considered due to the quasi-electrostatic field generated by
thunderclouds. The electron dynamics from ionization threshold to streamer
initiation are simulated by the Monte Carlo technique. It is found that
gigantic jets are initiated at a height of ~18-24 km. This is in agreement with
the observations. The method presented in this paper could be also applied to
the analysis of the initiation of other discharges such as blue jets and red
sprites.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004,
Nice (France
The Moment Guided Monte Carlo method for the Boltzmann equation
In this work we propose a generalization of the Moment Guided Monte Carlo
method developed in [11]. This approach permits to reduce the variance of the
particle methods through a matching with a set of suitable macroscopic moment
equations. In order to guarantee that the moment equations provide the correct
solutions, they are coupled to the kinetic equation through a non equilibrium
term. Here, at the contrary to the previous work in which we considered the
simplified BGK operator, we deal with the full Boltzmann operator. Moreover, we
introduce an hybrid setting which permits to entirely remove the resolution of
the kinetic equation in the limit of infinite number of collisions and to
consider only the solution of the compressible Euler equation. This
modification additionally reduce the statistical error with respect to our
previous work and permits to perform simulations of non equilibrium gases using
only a few number of particles. We show at the end of the paper several
numerical tests which prove the efficiency and the low level of numerical noise
of the method.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:0908.026
A Monte Carlo simulation of ion transport at finite temperatures
We have developed a Monte Carlo simulation for ion transport in hot
background gases, which is an alternative way of solving the corresponding
Boltzmann equation that determines the distribution function of ions. We
consider the limit of low ion densities when the distribution function of the
background gas remains unchanged due to collision with ions. A special
attention has been paid to properly treat the thermal motion of the host gas
particles and their influence on ions, which is very important at low electric
fields, when the mean ion energy is comparable to the thermal energy of the
host gas. We found the conditional probability distribution of gas velocities
that correspond to an ion of specific velocity which collides with a gas
particle. Also, we have derived exact analytical formulas for piecewise
calculation of the collision frequency integrals. We address the cases when the
background gas is monocomponent and when it is a mixture of different gases.
The developed techniques described here are required for Monte Carlo
simulations of ion transport and for hybrid models of non-equilibrium plasmas.
The range of energies where it is necessary to apply the technique has been
defined. The results we obtained are in excellent agreement with the existing
ones obtained by complementary methods. Having verified our algorithm, we were
able to produce calculations for Ar ions in Ar and propose them as a new
benchmark for thermal effects. The developed method is widely applicable for
solving the Boltzmann equation that appears in many different contexts in
physics.Comment: 14 page
Gravothermal collapse of isolated self-interacting dark matter haloes: N-body simulation versus the fluid model
Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM) is a collisional form of cold dark matter
(CDM), originally proposed to solve problems that arose when the collisionless
CDM theory of structure formation was compared with observations of galaxies on
small scales. The quantitative impact of the proposed elastic collisions on
structure formation has been estimated previously by Monte Carlo N-body
simulations and by a conducting fluid model, with apparently diverging results.
To improve this situation, we make direct comparisons between new Monte Carlo
N-body simulations and solutions of the conducting fluid model, for isolated
SIDM haloes of fixed mass. This allows us to separate cleanly the effects of
gravothermal relaxation from those of continuous mass accretion in an expanding
background universe. When these two methods were previously applied to halo
formation with cosmological boundary conditions, they disagreed by an order of
magnitude about the size of the scattering cross section required to solve the
so-called 'cusp-core problem.' We show here, however, that the methods agree
with each other within 20 per cent for isolated haloes. This suggests that the
two methods are consistent, and that their disagreement for cosmological haloes
is not caused by a breakdown of their validity.
The isolated haloes studied here undergo gravothermal collapse. We compare
the solutions calculated by these two methods for gravothermal collapse
starting from several initial conditions. This allows us to calibrate the heat
conduction which accounts for the effect of elastic hard-sphere scattering in
the fluid model. The amount of tuning of the thermal conductivity parameters
required to bring the two methods into close agreement for isolated haloes,
however, is too small to explain the discrepancy found previously in the
cosmological context.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on MNRA
Modelling opinion formation by means of kinetic equations
In this chapter, we review some mechanisms of opinion dynamics that can be modelled by kinetic equations. Beside the sociological phenomenon of compromise, naturally linked to collisional operators of Boltzmann kind, many other aspects, already mentioned in the sociophysical literature or no, can enter in this framework. While describing some contributions appeared in the literature, we enlighten some mathematical tools of kinetic theory that can be useful in the context of sociophysics
Prolactin Receptor Signaling Is Essential for Perinatal Brown Adipocyte Function: A Role for Insulin-like Growth Factor-2
BACKGROUND: The lactogenic hormones prolactin (PRL) and placental lactogens (PL) play central roles in reproduction and mammary development. Their actions are mediated via binding to PRL receptor (PRLR), highly expressed in brown adipose tissue (BAT), yet their impact on adipocyte function and metabolism remains unclear. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: PRLR knockout (KO) newborn mice were phenotypically characterized in terms of thermoregulation and their BAT differentiation assayed for gene expression studies. Derived brown preadipocyte cell lines were established to evaluate the molecular mechanisms involved in PRL signaling on BAT function. Here, we report that newborn mice lacking PRLR have hypotrophic BAT depots that express low levels of adipocyte nuclear receptor PPARgamma2, its coactivator PGC-1alpha, uncoupling protein 1 (UCP1) and the beta3 adrenoceptor, reducing mouse viability during cold challenge. Immortalized PRLR KO preadipocytes fail to undergo differentiation into mature adipocytes, a defect reversed by reintroduction of PRLR. That the effects of the lactogens in BAT are at least partly mediated by Insulin-like Growth Factor-2 (IGF-2) is supported by: i) a striking reduction in BAT IGF-2 expression in PRLR KO mice and in PRLR-deficient preadipocytes; ii) induction of cellular IGF-2 expression by PRL through JAK2/STAT5 pathway activation; and iii) reversal of defective differentiation in PRLR KO cells by exogenous IGF-2. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings demonstrate that the lactogens act in concert with IGF-2 to control brown adipocyte differentiation and growth. Given the prominent role of brown adipose tissue during the perinatal period, our results identified prolactin receptor signaling as a major player and a potential therapeutic target in protecting newborn mammals against hypothermia
Hybrid method coupling molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations to study the properties of gases in microchannels and nanochannels
Promoter Complexity and Tissue-Specific Expression of Stress Response Components in Mytilus galloprovincialis, a Sessile Marine Invertebrate Species
The mechanisms of stress tolerance in sessile animals, such as molluscs, can offer fundamental insights into the adaptation of organisms for a wide range of environmental challenges. One of the best studied processes at the molecular level relevant to stress tolerance is the heat shock response in the genus Mytilus. We focus on the upstream region of Mytilus galloprovincialis Hsp90 genes and their structural and functional associations, using comparative genomics and network inference. Sequence comparison of this region provides novel evidence that the transcription of Hsp90 is regulated via a dense region of transcription factor binding sites, also containing a region with similarity to the Gamera family of LINE-like repetitive sequences and a genus-specific element of unknown function. Furthermore, we infer a set of gene networks from tissue-specific expression data, and specifically extract an Hsp class-associated network, with 174 genes and 2,226 associations, exhibiting a complex pattern of expression across multiple tissue types. Our results (i) suggest that the heat shock response in the genus Mytilus is regulated by an unexpectedly complex upstream region, and (ii) provide new directions for the use of the heat shock process as a biosensor system for environmental monitoring
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