Noise Enhanced Stability in Fluctuating Metastable States

We derive general equations for the nonlinear relaxation time of Brownian diffusion in randomly switching potential with a sink. For piece-wise linear dichotomously fluctuating potential with metastable state, we obtain the exact average lifetime as a function of the potential parameters and the noise intensity. Our result is valid for arbitrary white noise intensity and for arbitrary fluctuation rate of the potential. We find noise enhanced stability phenomenon in the system investigated: the average lifetime of the metastable state is greater than the time obtained in the absence of additive white noise. We obtain the parameter region of the fluctuating potential where the effect can be observed. The system investigated also exhibits a maximum of the lifetime as a function of the fluctuation rate of the potential.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E vol. 69 (6),200

Localized thinning for strain concentration in suspended germanium membranes and optical method for precise thickness measurement

We deposited Ge layers on (001) Si substrates by molecular beam epitaxy and used them to fabricate suspended membranes with high uniaxial tensile strain. We demonstrate a CMOS-compatible fabrication strategy to increase strain concentration and to eliminate the Ge buffer layer near the Ge/Si hetero-interface deposited at low temperature. This is achieved by a two-steps patterning and selective etching process. First, a bridge and neck shape is patterned in the Ge membrane, then the neck is thinned from both top and bottom sides. Uniaxial tensile strain values higher than 3% were measured by Raman scattering in a Ge membrane of 76 nm thickness. For the challenging thickness measurement on micrometer-size membranes suspended far away from the substrate a characterization method based on pump-and-probe reflectivity measurements was applied, using an asynchronous optical sampling technique.EC/FP7/628197/EU/Heat Propagation and Thermal Conductivity in Nanomaterials for Nanoscale Energy Management/HEATPRONAN

Optical Absorption Study by Ab initio Downfolding Approach: Application to GaAs

We examine whether essence and quantitative aspects of electronic excitation spectra are correctly captured by an effective low-energy model constructed from an {\em ab initio} downfolding scheme. A global electronic structure is first calculated by {\em ab initio} density-functional calculations with the generalized gradient approximation. With the help of constrained density functional theory, the low-energy effective Hamiltonian for bands near the Fermi level is constructed by the downfolding procedure in the basis of maximally localized Wannier functions. The excited states of this low-energy effective Hamiltonian ascribed to an extended Hubbard model are calculated by using a low-energy solver. As the solver, we employ the Hartree-Fock approximation supplemented by the single-excitation configuration-interaction method considering electron-hole interactions. The present three-stage method is applied to GaAs, where eight bands are retained in the effective model after the downfolding. The resulting spectra well reproduce the experimental results, indicating that our downfolding scheme offers a satisfactory framework of the electronic structure calculation, particularly for the excitations and dynamics as well as for the ground state.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, and 1 tabl

Pattern formation of reaction-diffusion system having self-determined flow in the amoeboid organism of Physarum plasmodium

The amoeboid organism, the plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum, behaves on the basis of spatio-temporal pattern formation by local contraction-oscillators. This biological system can be regarded as a reaction-diffusion system which has spatial interaction by active flow of protoplasmic sol in the cell. Paying attention to the physiological evidence that the flow is determined by contraction pattern in the plasmodium, a reaction-diffusion system having self-determined flow arises. Such a coupling of reaction-diffusion-advection is a characteristic of the biological system, and is expected to relate with control mechanism of amoeboid behaviours. Hence, we have studied effects of the self-determined flow on pattern formation of simple reaction-diffusion systems. By weakly nonlinear analysis near a trivial solution, the envelope dynamics follows the complex Ginzburg-Landau type equation just after bifurcation occurs at finite wave number. The flow term affects the nonlinear term of the equation through the critical wave number squared. Contrary to this, wave number isn't explicitly effective with lack of flow or constant flow. Thus, spatial size of pattern is especially important for regulating pattern formation in the plasmodium. On the other hand, the flow term is negligible in the vicinity of bifurcation at infinitely small wave number, and therefore the pattern formation by simple reaction-diffusion will also hold. A physiological role of pattern formation as above is discussed.Comment: REVTeX, one column, 7 pages, no figur

Electric and magnetic form factors of strange baryons

Predictions for the electromagnetic form factors of the Lambda$, Sigma and Xi hyperons are presented. The numerical calculations are performed within the framework of the fully relativistic constituent-quark model developed by the Bonn group. The computed magnetic moments compare favorably with the experimentally known values. Most magnetic form factors G_M(Q^2) can be parametrized in terms of a dipole with cutoff masses ranging from 0.79 to 1.14 GeV.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Coherent Pair State of Pion in Constituent Quark Model

A coherent state of pions is introduced to the nonrelativistic quark model. The coherent pair approximation is employed for the pion field in order to maintain the spin-isospin symmetry. In this approximation the pion is localized in the momentum space, and the vertex form factor in the pion-quark interaction is derived from this localization. The nucleon masses and wave functions are calculated using this model, and our results are compared to those of the quark model with the one pion exchange potential. Similar result is obtained for the mass spectrum, but there exists a clear difference in the internal structure of nucleon resonances.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures, revtex, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Microscopic elasticity of complex systems

Lecture Notes for the Erice Summer School 2005 Computer Simulations in Condensed Matter: from Materials to Chemical Biology. Perspectives in celebration of the 65th Birthday of Mike Klein organized by Kurt Binder, Giovanni Ciccotti and Mauro Ferrari

Experimental Evidence of Time Delay Induced Death in Coupled Limit Cycle Oscillators

Experimental observations of time delay induced amplitude death in a pair of coupled nonlinear electronic circuits that are individually capable of exhibiting limit cycle oscillations are described. In particular, the existence of multiply connected death islands in the parameter space of the coupling strength and the time delay parameter for coupled identical oscillators is established. The existence of such regions was predicted earlier on theoretical grounds in [Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5109 (1998); Physica 129D, 15 (1999)]. The experiments also reveal the occurrence of multiple frequency states, frequency suppression of oscillations with increased time delay and the onset of both in-phase and anti-phase collective oscillations.Comment: 4 aps formatted RevTeX pages; 6 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Functional characterization of a melon alcohol acyl-transferase gene family involved in the biosynthesis of ester volatiles. Identification of the crucial role of a threonine residue for enzyme activity

Volatile esters, a major class of compounds contributing to the aroma of many fruit, are synthesized by alcohol acyl-transferases (AAT). We demonstrate here that, in Charentais melon (Cucumis melo var. cantalupensis), AAT are encoded by a gene family of at least four members with amino acid identity ranging from 84% (Cm-AAT1/Cm-AAT2) and 58% (Cm-AAT1/Cm-AAT3) to only 22% (Cm-AAT1/Cm-AAT4). All encoded proteins, except Cm-AAT2, were enzymatically active upon expression in yeast and show differential substrate preferences. Cm-AAT1 protein produces a wide range of short and long-chain acyl esters but has strong preference for the formation of E-2-hexenyl acetate and hexyl hexanoate. Cm-AAT3 also accepts a wide range of substrates but with very strong preference for producing benzyl acetate. Cm-AAT4 is almost exclusively devoted to the formation of acetates, with strong preference for cinnamoyl acetate. Site directed mutagenesis demonstrated that the failure of Cm-AAT2 to produce volatile esters is related to the presence of a 268-alanine residue instead of threonine as in all active AAT proteins. Mutating 268-A into 268-T of Cm-AAT2 restored enzyme activity, while mutating 268-T into 268-A abolished activity of Cm-AAT1. Activities of all three proteins measured with the prefered substrates sharply increase during fruit ripening. The expression of all Cm-AAT genes is up-regulated during ripening and inhibited in antisense ACC oxidase melons and in fruit treated with the ethylene antagonist 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP), indicating a positive regulation by ethylene. The data presented in this work suggest that the multiplicity of AAT genes accounts for the great diversity of esters formed in melon