322 research outputs found
A novel architecture for all-optical add-drop multiplexing of OFDM signals
We propose a novel architecture for all-optical add-drop multiplexing of OFDM signals. Extensive numerical simulations have been carried out to benchmark the performance of the architecture against critical design parameters
Correlating nuclear morphology and external force with combined atomic force microscopy and light sheet imaging separates roles of chromatin and lamin A/C in nuclear mechanics
Nuclei are often under external stress, be it during migration through tight constrictions or compressive pressure by the actin cap, and the mechanical properties of nuclei govern their subsequent deformations. Both altered mechanical properties of nuclei and abnormal nuclear morphologies are hallmarks of a variety of disease states. Little work, however, has been done to link specific changes in nuclear shape to external forces. Here, we utilize a combined atomic force microscope and light sheet microscope to show SKOV3 nuclei exhibit a two-regime force response that correlates with changes in nuclear volume and surface area, allowing us to develop an empirical model of nuclear deformation. Our technique further decouples the roles of chromatin and lamin A/C in compression, showing they separately resist changes in nuclear volume and surface area, respectively; this insight was not previously accessible by Hertzian analysis. A two-material finite element model supports our conclusions. We also observed that chromatin decompaction leads to lower nuclear curvature under compression, which is important for maintaining nuclear compartmentalization and function. The demonstrated link between specific types of nuclear morphological change and applied force will allow researchers to better understand the stress on nuclei throughout various biological processes
The Chiral Phase Transition in Dissipative Dynamics
Numerical simulations of the chiral phase transition in the (3+1)dimensional
O(4)-model are presented. The evolutions of the chiral field follow purely
dissipative dynamics, starting from random chirally symmetric initial
configurations down to the true vacuum with spontaneously broken symmetry. The
model stabilizes topological textures which are formed together with domains of
disoriented chiral condensate (DCC) during the roll-down phase. The classically
evolving field acts as source for the emission of pions and mesons.
The exponents of power laws for the growth of angular correlations and for
emission rates are extracted. Fluctuations in the abundance ratios for neutral
and charged pions are compared with those for uncorrelated sources as potential
signature for the chiral phase transition after heavy-ion collisions. It is
found that the presence of stabilizing textures (baryons and antibaryons)
prevents sufficiently rapid growth of DCC-domain size, so observability of
anomalous tails in the abundance ratios is unlikely. However, the transient
formation of growing DCC domains causes sizable broadening of the distributions
as compared to the statistical widths of generic sources.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure
DCC Dynamics in (2+1)D-O(3) model
The dynamics of symmetry-breaking after a quench is numerically simulated on
a lattice for the (2+1)-dimensional O(3) model. In addition to the standard
sigma-model with temperature-dependent Phi^4-potential the energy functional
includes a four-derivative current-current coupling to stabilize the size of
the emerging extended topological textures. The total winding number can be
conserved by constraint. As a model for the chiral phase transition during the
cooling phase after a hadronic collision this allows to investigate the
interference of 'baryon-antibaryon' production with the developing disoriented
aligned domains. The growth of angular correlations, condensate, average
orientation is studied in dependence of texture size, quench rate, symmetry
breaking. The classical dissipative dynamics determines the rate of energy
emitted from the relaxing source for each component of the 3-vector field which
provides a possible signature for domains of Disoriented Chiral Condensate. We
find that the 'pions' are emitted in two distinct pulses; for sufficiently
small lattice size the second one carries the DCC signal, but it is strongly
suppressed as compared to simultaneous 'sigma'-meson emission. We compare the
resulting anomalies in the distributions of DCC pions with probabilities
derived within the commonly used coherent state formalism.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures; several minor insertions in the text; two
references adde
A vortex description of the first-order phase transition in type-I superconductors
Using both analytical arguments and detailed numerical evidence we show that
the first order transition in the type-I 2D Abelian Higgs model can be
understood in terms of the statistical mechanics of vortices, which behave in
this regime as an ensemble of attractive particles. The well-known
instabilities of such ensembles are shown to be connected to the process of
phase nucleation. By characterizing the equation of state for the vortex
ensemble we show that the temperature for the onset of a clustering instability
is in qualitative agreement with the critical temperature. Below this point the
vortex ensemble collapses to a single cluster, which is a non-extensive phase,
and disappears in the absence of net topological charge. The vortex description
provides a detailed mechanism for the first order transition, which applies at
arbitrarily weak type-I and is gauge invariant unlike the usual field-theoretic
considerations, which rely on asymptotically large gauge coupling.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, uses RevTex. Additional references added, some
small corrections to the tex
Enhanced superchannel transmission using phase conjugation
We demonstrate polarisation insensitive dual-band optical phase conjugation for multiple 400Gbit/s optical superchannels using a Raman amplified transmission link with a realistic span length of 75km. The resultant increase in transmission distance is confirmed analytically
Improved W boson mass measurement with the D0 detector
We have measured the W boson mass using the D0 detector and a data sample of
82 pb^-1 from the Tevatron collider. This measurement used W -> e nu decays,
where the electron is close to a boundary of a central electromagnetic
calorimeter module. Such 'edge' electrons have not been used in any previous D0
analysis, and represent a 14% increase in the W boson sample size. For these
electrons, new response and resolution parameters are determined, and revised
backgrounds and underlying event energy flow measurements are made. When the
current measurement is combined with previous D0 W boson mass measurements, we
obtain M_W = 80.483 +/- 0.084 GeV. The 8% improvement from the previous D0
measurement is primarily due to the improved determination of the response
parameters for non-edge electrons using the sample of Z bosons with non-edge
and edge electrons.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev. D; 20 pages, 18 figures, 9 table
Advances in ab-initio theory of Multiferroics. Materials and mechanisms: modelling and understanding
Within the broad class of multiferroics (compounds showing a coexistence of
magnetism and ferroelectricity), we focus on the subclass of "improper
electronic ferroelectrics", i.e. correlated materials where electronic degrees
of freedom (such as spin, charge or orbital) drive ferroelectricity. In
particular, in spin-induced ferroelectrics, there is not only a {\em
coexistence} of the two intriguing magnetic and dipolar orders; rather, there
is such an intimate link that one drives the other, suggesting a giant
magnetoelectric coupling. Via first-principles approaches based on density
functional theory, we review the microscopic mechanisms at the basis of
multiferroicity in several compounds, ranging from transition metal oxides to
organic multiferroics (MFs) to organic-inorganic hybrids (i.e. metal-organic
frameworks, MOFs)Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure
Search for R-Parity Violating Decays of Scalar Fermions at LEP
A search for pair-produced scalar fermions under the assumption that R-parity
is not conserved has been performed using data collected with the OPAL detector
at LEP. The data samples analysed correspond to an integrated luminosity of
about 610 pb-1 collected at centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) 189-209 GeV. An
important consequence of R-parity violation is that the lightest supersymmetric
particle is expected to be unstable. Searches of R-parity violating decays of
charged sleptons, sneutrinos and squarks have been performed under the
assumptions that the lightest supersymmetric particle decays promptly and that
only one of the R-parity violating couplings is dominant for each of the decay
modes considered. Such processes would yield final states consisting of
leptons, jets, or both with or without missing energy. No significant
single-like excess of events has been observed with respect to the Standard
Model expectations. Limits on the production cross- section of scalar fermions
in R-parity violating scenarios are obtained. Constraints on the supersymmetric
particle masses are also presented in an R-parity violating framework analogous
to the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.Comment: 51 pages, 24 figures, Submitted to Eur. Phys. J.
Measurement of the Hadronic Photon Structure Function F_2^gamma at LEP2
The hadronic structure function of the photon F_2^gamma is measured as a
function of Bjorken x and of the factorisation scale Q^2 using data taken by
the OPAL detector at LEP. Previous OPAL measurements of the x dependence of
F_2^gamma are extended to an average Q^2 of 767 GeV^2. The Q^2 evolution of
F_2^gamma is studied for average Q^2 between 11.9 and 1051 GeV^2. As predicted
by QCD, the data show positive scaling violations in F_2^gamma. Several
parameterisations of F_2^gamma are in agreement with the measurements whereas
the quark-parton model prediction fails to describe the data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of Photon 2001,
Ascona, Switzerlan
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