950 research outputs found
Influence of point defects on magnetic vortex structures
We employed micro-Hall magnetometry and micromagnetic simulations to
investigate magnetic vortex pinning at single point defects in individual
submicron-sized permalloy disks. Small ferromagnetic particles containing
artificial point defects can be fabricated by using an image reversal electron
beam lithography process. Corresponding micromagnetic calculations, modeling
the defects within the disks as holes, give reasonable agreement between
experimental and simulated pinning and depinning field values
Activity of ancestral restriction factors against ancient retroviruses
Analysis of TRIM5α and APOBEC3G genes suggests that these two restriction factors underwent strong positive selection throughout primate evolution. This pressure was possibly imposed by ancient exogenous retroviruses, of which endogenous retroviruses are remnants. Our study aims to assess in vitro the activity of these factors against ancient retroviruses by reconstructing their ancestral gag sequences, as well as the ancestral TRIM5α and APOBEC3G for primates. Based on evolutionary genomics approach, we reconstructed ancestors of the two largest families of human endogenous retroviruses (HERV), namely HERV-K and HERV-H, as well as primate ancestral TRIM5α and APOBEC3G variants. The oldest TRIM5α sequence was the catarhinne TRIM5α, common ancestor of Old World monkeys and hominoids, dated from 25 million years ago (mya). From the oldest, to the youngest, ancestral TRIM5α variants showed less restriction of HIV-1 in vitro [1]. Likewise three ancestral APOBEC3Gs sequences common to hominoids (18 mya), Old World monkeys, and catarhinnes (25 mya) were reconstructed. All ancestral APOBEC3G variants inhibited efficiently HIV-1Δvif in vitro, compared to modern APOBEC3Gs. The ability of Vif proteins (HIV-1, HIV-2, SIVmac and SIVagm) to counteract their activity tallied with the residue 128 on ancestral APOBEC3Gs. Moreover we are attempting to reconstruct older ancestral sequences of both restriction factors by using prosimian orthologue sequences. An infectious onemillion- years-old HERV-KCON previously reconstituted was shown to be resistant to modern TRIM5α and APOBEC3G [2]. Our ancestral TRIM5α and APOBEC3G variants were inactive against HERV-KCON. Besides we reconstructed chimeric HERV-K bearing ancestral capsids (up to 7 mya) that resulted in infectious viruses resistant to modern and ancestral TRIM5α. Likewise HERV-K viruses bearing ancestral nucleocapsids will be tested for ancestral and modern APOBEC3G restriction. In silico reconstruction and structural modeling of ancestral HERV-H capsids resulted in structures homologous to that of the gammaretrovirus MLV. Thus we are attempting to construct chimeric MLV virus bearing HERV-H ancestral capsids. These chimeric ancestral HERVs will be tested for infectivity and restriction by ancestral TRIM5α. Similarly chimeric MLV viruses bearing ancestral HERV-H nucleocapsids will be reconstructed and tested for APOBEC3G restriction
Transformation Optics for Plasmonics
A new strategy to control the flow of surface plasmon polaritons at metallic
surfaces is presented. It is based on the application of the concept of
Transformation Optics to devise the optical parameters of the dielectric medium
placed on top of the metal surface. We describe the general methodology for the
design of Transformation-Optical devices for surface plasmons and analyze, for
proof-of-principle purposes, three representative examples with different
functionalities: a beam shifter, a cylindrical cloak and a ground-plane cloak.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure
Charge-Dependence of the Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction
Based upon the Bonn meson-exchange-model for the nucleon-nucleon ()
interaction, we calculate the charge-independence breaking (CIB) of the
interaction due to pion-mass splitting. Besides the one-pion-exchange (OPE), we
take into account the -exchange model and contributions from three and
four irreducible pion exchanges. We calculate the CIB differences in the
effective range parameters as well as phase shift differences for
partial waves up to total angular momentum J=4 and laboratory energies below
300 MeV. We find that the CIB effect from OPE dominates in all partial waves.
However, the CIB effects from the model are noticable up to D-waves and
amount to about 40% of the OPE CIB-contribution in some partial waves, at 300
MeV. The effects from 3 and 4 contributions are negligible except in
and .Comment: 12 pages, RevTex, 14 figure
Theorem on the Distribution of Short-Time Particle Displacements with Physical Applications
The distribution of the initial short-time displacements of particles is
considered for a class of classical systems under rather general conditions on
the dynamics and with Gaussian initial velocity distributions, while the
positions could have an arbitrary distribution. This class of systems contains
canonical equilibrium of a Hamiltonian system as a special case. We prove that
for this class of systems the nth order cumulants of the initial short-time
displacements behave as the 2n-th power of time for all n>2, rather than
exhibiting an nth power scaling. This has direct applications to the initial
short-time behavior of the Van Hove self-correlation function, to its
non-equilibrium generalizations the Green's functions for mass transport, and
to the non-Gaussian parameters used in supercooled liquids and glasses.Comment: A less ambiguous mathematical notation for cumulants was adopted and
several passages were reformulated and clarified. 40 pages, 1 figure.
Accepted by J. Stat. Phy
Ideal and nonideal electromagnetic cloaks
We employ the analytical results for the spatial transformation of the
electromagnetic fields to obtain and analyze explicit expressions for the
structure of the electromagnetic fields in invisibility cloaks, beam splitters,
and field concentrators. We study the efficiency of nonideal electromagnetic
cloaks and discuss the effect of scattering losses on the cloak invisibility.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Charge-Asymmetry of the Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction
Based upon the Bonn meson-exchange model for the nucleon-nucleon ()
interaction, we study systematically the charge-symmetry-breaking (CSB) of the
interaction due to nucleon mass splitting. Particular attention is payed
to CSB generated by the -exchange contribution to the interaction,
diagrams, and other multi-meson-exchanges. We calculate the CSB
differences in the effective range parameters as well as phase shift
differences in , and higher partial waves up to 300 MeV lab. energy. We
find a total CSB difference in the singlet scattering length of 1.6 fm which
explains the empirical value accurately. The corresponding CSB phase-shift
differences are appreciable at low energy in the state. In the other
partial waves, the CSB splitting of the phase shifts is small and increases
with energy, with typical values in the order of 0.1 deg at 300 MeV in and
waves.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex, 14 figure
Magnetic vortex oscillator driven by dc spin-polarized current
Transfer of angular momentum from a spin-polarized current to a ferromagnet
provides an efficient means to control the dynamics of nanomagnets. A peculiar
consequence of this spin-torque, the ability to induce persistent oscillations
of a nanomagnet by applying a dc current, has previously been reported only for
spatially uniform nanomagnets. Here we demonstrate that a quintessentially
nonuniform magnetic structure, a magnetic vortex, isolated within a nanoscale
spin valve structure, can be excited into persistent microwave-frequency
oscillations by a spin-polarized dc current. Comparison to micromagnetic
simulations leads to identification of the oscillations with a precession of
the vortex core. The oscillations, which can be obtained in essentially zero
magnetic field, exhibit linewidths that can be narrower than 300 kHz, making
these highly compact spin-torque vortex oscillator devices potential candidates
for microwave signal-processing applications, and a powerful new tool for
fundamental studies of vortex dynamics in magnetic nanostructures.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure
Airborne observations of the Eyjafjalla volcano ash cloud over Europe during air space closure in April and May 2010
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 LicenseAirborne lidar and in-situ measurements of aerosols and trace gases were performed in volcanic ash plumes over Europe between Southern Germany and Iceland with the Falcon aircraft during the eruption period of the Eyjafjalla1 volcano between 19 April and 18 May 2010. Flight planning and measurement analyses were supported by a refined Meteosat ash product and trajectory model analysis. The volcanic ash plume was observed with lidar directly over the volcano and up to a distance of 2700 km downwind, and up to 120 h plume ages. Aged ash layers were between a few 100 m to 3 km deep, occurred between 1 and 7 km altitude, and were typically 100 to 300 km wide. Particles collected by impactors had diameters up to 20 μm diameter, with size and age dependent composition. Ash mass concentrations were derived from optical particle spectrometers for a particle density of 2.6 g cm-3 and various values of the refractive index (RI, real part: 1.59; 3 values for the imaginary part: 0, 0.004 and 0.008). The mass concentrations, effective diameters and related optical properties were compared with ground-based lidar observations. Theoretical considerations of particle sedimentation constrain the particle diameters to those obtained for the lower RI values. The ash mass concentration results have an uncertainty of a factor of two. The maximum ash mass concentration encountered during the 17 flights with 34 ash plume penetrations was below 1 mg m-3. The Falcon flew in ash clouds up to about 0.8 mg m-3 for a few minutes and in an ash cloud with approximately 0.2 mg -3 mean-concentration for about one hour without engine damage. The ash plumes were rather dry and correlated with considerable CO and SO2 increases and O3 decreases. To first order, ash concentration and SO2 mixing ratio in the plumes decreased by a factor of two within less than a day. In fresh plumes, the SO2 and CO concentration increases were correlated with the ash mass concentration. The ash plumes were often visible slantwise as faint dark layers, even for concentrations below 0.1 mg m-3. The large abundance of volatile Aitken mode particles suggests previous nucleation of sulfuric acid droplets. The effective diameters range between 0.2 and 3 μm with considerable surface and volume contributions from the Aitken and coarse mode aerosol, respectively. The distal ash mass flux on 2 May was of the order of 500 (240-1600) kgs -1. The volcano induced about 10 (2.5-50) Tg of distal ash mass and about 3 (0.6-23) Tg of SO2 during the whole eruption period. The results of the Falcon flights were used to support the responsible agencies in their decisions concerning air traffic in the presence of volcanic ash.Peer reviewe
- …