4,144 research outputs found
Nuclear fragmentation: sampling the instabilities of binary systems
We derive stability conditions of Asymmetric Nuclear Matter () and
discuss the relation to mechanical and chemical instabilities of general
two-component systems. We show that the chemical instability may appear as an
instability of the system against isoscalar-like rather than isovector-like
fluctuations if the interaction between the two constituent species has an
attractive character as in the case of . This leads to a new kind of
liquid-gas phase transition, of interest for fragmentation experiments with
radioactive beams.Comment: 4 pages (LATEX), 3 Postscript figures, improved version, added
reference
Slowing heavy, ground-state molecules using an alternating gradient decelerator
Cold supersonic beams of molecules can be slowed down using a switched
sequence of electrostatic field gradients. The energy to be removed is
proportional to the mass of the molecules. Here we report deceleration of YbF,
which is 7 times heavier than any molecule previously decelerated. We use an
alternating gradient structure to decelerate and focus the molecules in their
ground state. We show that the decelerator exhibits the axial and transverse
stability required to bring these molecules to rest. Our work significantly
extends the range of molecules amenable to this powerful method of cooling and
trapping.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Dimension of interaction dynamics
A method allowing to distinguish interacting from non-interacting systems
based on available time series is proposed and investigated. Some facts
concerning generalized Renyi dimensions that form the basis of our method are
proved. We show that one can find the dimension of the part of the attractor of
the system connected with interaction between its parts. We use our method to
distinguish interacting from non-interacting systems on the examples of
logistic and H\'enon maps. A classification of all possible interaction schemes
is given.Comment: 15 pages, 14 (36) figures, submitted to PR
Measurement of the electron electric dipole moment using YbF molecules
The most sensitive measurements of the electron electric dipole moment d_e
have previously been made using heavy atoms. Heavy polar molecules offer a
greater sensitivity to d_e because the interaction energy to be measured is
typically 10^3 times larger than in a heavy atom. We report the first
measurement of this kind, for which we have used the molecule YbF. Together,
the large interaction energy and the strong tensor polarizability of the
molecule make our experiment essentially free of the systematic errors that
currently limit d_e measurements in atoms. Our first result d_e = (- 0.2 \pm
3.2) x 10^-26 e.cm is less sensitive than the best atom measurement, but is
limited only by counting statistics and demonstrates the power of the method.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. v2. Minor corrections and clarifications made in
response to referee comment
Electrokinetic behavior of two touching inhomogeneous biological cells and colloidal particles: Effects of multipolar interactions
We present a theory to investigate electro-kinetic behavior, namely,
electrorotation and dielectrophoresis under alternating current (AC) applied
fields for a pair of touching inhomogeneous colloidal particles and biological
cells. These inhomogeneous particles are treated as graded ones with physically
motivated model dielectric and conductivity profiles. The mutual polarization
interaction between the particles yields a change in their respective dipole
moments, and hence in the AC electrokinetic spectra. The multipolar
interactions between polarized particles are accurately captured by the
multiple images method. In the point-dipole limit, our theory reproduces the
known results. We find that the multipolar interactions as well as the spatial
fluctuations inside the particles can affect the AC electrokinetic spectra
significantly.Comment: Revised version with minor changes: References added and discussion
extende
Cascade Failure in a Phase Model of Power Grids
We propose a phase model to study cascade failure in power grids composed of
generators and loads. If the power demand is below a critical value, the model
system of power grids maintains the standard frequency by feedback control. On
the other hand, if the power demand exceeds the critical value, an electric
failure occurs via step out (loss of synchronization) or voltage collapse. The
two failures are incorporated as two removal rules of generator nodes and load
nodes. We perform direct numerical simulation of the phase model on a
scale-free network and compare the results with a mean-field approximation.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure
Measurement of the electron's electric dipole moment using YbF molecules: methods and data analysis
We recently reported a new measurement of the electron's electric dipole
moment using YbF molecules [Nature 473, 493 (2011)]. Here, we give a more
detailed description of the methods used to make this measurement, along with a
fuller analysis of the data. We show how our methods isolate the electric
dipole moment from imperfections in the experiment that might mimic it. We
describe the systematic errors that we discovered, and the small corrections
that we made to account for these. By making a set of additional measurements
with greatly exaggerated experimental imperfections, we find upper bounds on
possible uncorrected systematic errors which we use to determine the systematic
uncertainty in the measurement. We also calculate the size of some systematic
effects that have been important in previous electric dipole moment
measurements, such as the motional magnetic field effect and the geometric
phase, and show them to be negligibly small in the present experiment. Our
result is consistent with an electric dipole moment of zero, so we provide
upper bounds to its size at various confidence levels. Finally, we review the
prospects for future improvements in the precision of the experiment.Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure
Physical activity in children with Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis compared to controls
BACKGROUND: To compare physical activity (PA) in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) with controls and to analyse the effect of disease specific factors on PA in children with JIA treated according to current treatment regimes. METHODS: PA was measured with a 7-day activity diary and expressed as physical activity level (PAL). Moderate to vigorous physical activity (MVPA) (hours/day) and sedentary time (hours/day) was determined. In children with JIA, medication, the number of swollen and/or painful joints, disease activity, functional ability, pain and well-being was determined. Multivariate regression analysis was performed to analyze differences in PA between JIA and controls, adjusted for influences of age, gender, season, Body Mass Index (BMI) and to analyze predictors of PA in JIA patients. RESULTS: Seventy-six children with JIA (26 boys and 50 girls, mean ± SD age 10.0 ± 1.4 years) and 131 controls (49 boys and 82 girls, mean ± SD age 10.4 ± 1.2 years) participated in this study. Children with JIA had a significantly lower PAL (0.10, p = 0.01) corrected for age, BMI, gender and season. They spent less time in MVPA (0.41 h/day, p = 0.06) and had a significantly higher mean time spent in sedentary activities (0.59 h/day, p 0.02) compared to controls. The activity level of children with JIA was related to age, gender, season, feeling of well-being and pain. CONCLUSION: Children with JIA have a lower PAL, spent less time in MVPA and spent more time on sedentary activities compared to controls despite current medical treatment and PA encouragement. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Data of the children with JIA are from the Rheumates@work study ISRCTN92733069
Photophysics of phycoerythrocyanins from the cyanobacterium Westiellopsis prolifica studied by time-resolved fluorescence and coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering spectroscopy
Three building blocks of the antenna complexes of the cyanobacterium Westiellopsis prolifica were studied: PEC(X), which is similar to the α-subunit of phycoerythrocyanin (PEC), trimers of PEC and monomers derived from these by deaggregation with KSCN. The fit of the fluorescence decay curve of PEC(X) requires at least four exponentials, although it supposedly contains only one chromophore. The coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS) spectra indicate that the heterogeneity observed is due to geometrical isomers, which are in part generated by photoinduced processes. A similar heterogeneity in chromophore structure and properties is also found in the monomers, where four exponentials are needed to fit the fluorescence decay curve. As in trimers, there is a long-lived, low-amplitude component, which can be assigned to impurities and/or oxidation products. The energy transfer time between the two phyocyanobilin chromophores in the β-subunit is about 500 ps; the lifetime of the fluorescing β-chromophore is 1.5 ns. The phycoviolobilin chromophore in the α-subunit adopts different geometries characterized by fluorescence lifetimes of about 240 and 800 ps. No evidence was found for energy transfer between the α-chromophore and the β-chromophores. This energy transfer occurs in trimers on a time scale of less than 20 ps; the energy transfer time between the two different types of β-chromophore is about 250 ps and the lifetime of the terminal emitter is about 1.5 ns. The excited state kinetics are therefore similar to those of PEC trimers from Mastigocladus laminosus, as are the CARS spectra, indicating a similar chromophore—protein arrangement. In comparison with phycocyanin, the ordering of the excited states of chromophores β84 and β155 may be changed. Although PEC trimers of Westiellopsis prolifica show almost as good a photostability as trimers of Mastigocladus laminosus, monomers are so photolabile that no CARS spectra could be recorded
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