2,050 research outputs found
Random Walks on a Fluctuating Lattice: A Renormalization Group Approach Applied in One Dimension
We study the problem of a random walk on a lattice in which bonds connecting
nearest neighbor sites open and close randomly in time, a situation often
encountered in fluctuating media. We present a simple renormalization group
technique to solve for the effective diffusive behavior at long times. For
one-dimensional lattices we obtain better quantitative agreement with
simulation data than earlier effective medium results. Our technique works in
principle in any dimension, although the amount of computation required rises
with dimensionality of the lattice.Comment: PostScript file including 2 figures, total 15 pages, 8 other figures
obtainable by mail from D.L. Stei
Prospects for observations of high-energy cosmic tau neutrinos
We study prospects for the observations of high-energy cosmic tau neutrinos
(E \geq 10^6 GeV) originating from proton acceleration in the cores of active
galactic nuclei. We consider the possibility that vacuum flavor neutrino
oscillations induce a tau to muon neutrino flux ratio greatly exceeding the
rather small value expected from intrinsic production. The criterias and event
rates for under water/ice light Cerenkov neutrino telescopes are given by
considering the possible detection of downgoing high-energy cosmic tau
neutrinos through characteristic double shower events.Comment: 10 pages, Revtex, 3 figures included with eps
Noncommutative cosmological models coupled to a perfect fluid and a cosmological constant
In this work we carry out a noncommutative analysis of several
Friedmann-Robert-Walker models, coupled to different types of perfect fluids
and in the presence of a cosmological constant. The classical field equations
are modified, by the introduction of a shift operator, in order to introduce
noncommutativity in these models. We notice that the noncommutative versions of
these models show several relevant differences with respect to the
correspondent commutative ones.Comment: 27 pages. 7 figures. JHEP style.arXiv admin note: substantial text
overlap with arXiv:1104.481
Stability of the monoclinic phase in the ferroelectric perovskite PbZr(1-x)TixO3
Recent structural studies of ferroelectric PbZr(1-x)TixO3 (PZT) with x= 0.48,
have revealed a new monoclinic phase in the vicinity of the morphotropic phase
boundary (MPB), previously regarded as the the boundary separating the
rhombohedral and tetragonal regions of the PZT phase diagram. In the present
paper, the stability region of all three phases has been established from high
resolution synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction measurements on a series of
highly homogeneous samples with 0.42 <=x<= 0.52. At 20K the monoclinic phase is
stable in the range 0.46 <=x<= 0.51, and this range narrows as the temperature
is increased. A first-order phase transition from tetragonal to rhombohedral
symmetry is observed only for x= 0.45. The MPB, therefore, corresponds not to
the tetragonal-rhombohedral phase boundary, but instead to the boundary between
the tetragonal and monoclinic phases for 0.46 <=x<= 0.51. This result provides
important insight into the close relationship between the monoclinic phase and
the striking piezoelectric properties of PZT; in particular, investigations of
poled samples have shown that the monoclinic distortion is the origin of the
unusually high piezoelectric response of PZT.Comment: REVTeX file, 7 figures embedde
Detection of solar-like oscillations from Kepler photometry of the open cluster NGC 6819
Asteroseismology of stars in clusters has been a long-sought goal because the
assumption of a common age, distance and initial chemical composition allows
strong tests of the theory of stellar evolution. We report results from the
first 34 days of science data from the Kepler Mission for the open cluster NGC
6819 -- one of four clusters in the field of view. We obtain the first clear
detections of solar-like oscillations in the cluster red giants and are able to
measure the large frequency separation and the frequency of maximum oscillation
power. We find that the asteroseismic parameters allow us to test
cluster-membership of the stars, and even with the limited seismic data in
hand, we can already identify four possible non-members despite their having a
better than 80% membership probability from radial velocity measurements. We
are also able to determine the oscillation amplitudes for stars that span about
two orders of magnitude in luminosity and find good agreement with the
prediction that oscillation amplitudes scale as the luminosity to the power of
0.7. These early results demonstrate the unique potential of asteroseismology
of the stellar clusters observed by Kepler.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ (Lett.
Therapeutic Effect of a Poly(ADP-Ribose) Polymerase-1 Inhibitor on Experimental Arthritis by Downregulating Inflammation and Th1 Response
Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) synthesizes and transfers ADP ribose polymers to target proteins, and regulates DNA repair and genomic integrity maintenance. PARP-1 also plays a crucial role in the progression of the inflammatory response, and its inhibition confers protection in several models of inflammatory disorders. Here, we investigate the impact of a selective PARP-1 inhibitor in experimental arthritis. PARP-1 inhibition with 5-aminoisoquinolinone (AIQ) significantly reduces incidence and severity of established collagen-induced arthritis, completely abrogating joint swelling and destruction of cartilage and bone. The therapeutic effect of AIQ is associated with a striking reduction of the two deleterious components of the disease, i.e. the Th1-driven autoimmune and inflammatory responses. AIQ downregulates the production of various inflammatory cytokines and chemokines, decreases the antigen-specific Th1-cell expansion, and induces the production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Our results provide evidence of the contribution of PARP-1 to the progression of arthritis and identify this protein as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis
Noncommutative quantum mechanics and Bohm's ontological interpretation
We carry out an investigation into the possibility of developing a Bohmian
interpretation based on the continuous motion of point particles for
noncommutative quantum mechanics. The conditions for such an interpretation to
be consistent are determined, and the implications of its adoption for
noncommutativity are discussed. A Bohmian analysis of the noncommutative
harmonic oscillator is carried out in detail. By studying the particle motion
in the oscillator orbits, we show that small-scale physics can have influence
at large scales, something similar to the IR-UV mixing
A tetragonal-to-monoclinic phase transition in a ferroelectric perovskite: the structure of PbZr(0.52)Ti(0.48)O3
The perovskite-like ferroelectric system PbZr(1-x)Ti(x)O3 (PZT) has a nearly
vertical morphotropic phase boundary (MPB) around x=0.45-0.50. Recent
synchrotron x-ray powder diffraction measurements by Noheda et al. [Appl. Phys.
Lett. 74, 2059 (1999)] have revealed a new monoclinic phase between the
previously-established tetragonal and rhombohedral regions. In the present work
we describe a Rietveld analysis of the detailed structure of the tetragonal and
monoclinic PZT phases on a sample with x= 0.48 for which the lattice parameters
are respectively: at= 4.044 A, ct= 4.138 A, at 325 K, and am= 5.721 A, bm=
5.708 A, cm= 4.138 A, beta= 90.496 deg., at 20K. In the tetragonal phase the
shifts of the atoms along the polar [001] direction are similar to those in
PbTiO3 but the refinement indicates that there are, in addition, local
disordered shifts of the Pb atoms of ~0.2 A perpendicular to the polar axis..
The monoclinic structure can be viewed as a condensation along one of the
directions of the local displacements present in the tetragonal phase. It
equally well corresponds to a freezing-out of the local displacements along one
of the directions recently reported by Corker et al.[J. Phys. Condens.
Matter 10, 6251 (1998)] for rhombohedral PZT. The monoclinic structure
therefore provides a microscopic picture of the MPB region in which one of the
"locally" monoclinic phases in the "average" rhombohedral or tetragonal
structures freezes out, and thus represents a bridge between these two phases.Comment: REVTeX, 7 figures. Modifications after referee's suggestion: new
figure (figure 5), comments in 2nd para. (Sect.III) and in 2nd & 3rd para.
(Sect. IV-a), in the abstract: "...of ~0.2 A perpendicular to the polar
axis.
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