191 research outputs found
Hydrodynamic flow patterns and synchronization of beating cilia
We calculate the hydrodynamic flow field generated far from a cilium which is
attached to a surface and beats periodically. In the case of two beating cilia,
hydrodynamic interactions can lead to synchronization of the cilia, which are
nonlinear oscillators. We present a state diagram where synchronized states
occur as a function of distance of cilia and the relative orientation of their
beat. Synchronized states occur with different relative phases. In addition,
asynchronous solutions exist. Our work could be relevant for the synchronized
motion of cilia generating hydrodynamic flows on the surface of cells.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, v2: minor correction
Generic flow profiles induced by a beating cilium
We describe a multipole expansion for the low Reynolds number fluid flows
generated by a localized source embedded in a plane with a no-slip boundary
condition. It contains 3 independent terms that fall quadratically with the
distance and 6 terms that fall with the third power. Within this framework we
discuss the flows induced by a beating cilium described in different ways: a
small particle circling on an elliptical trajectory, a thin rod and a general
ciliary beating pattern. We identify the flow modes present based on the
symmetry properties of the ciliary beat.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, to appear in EPJ
Relaxation kinetics of biological dimer adsorption models
We discuss the relaxation kinetics of a one-dimensional dimer adsorption
model as recently proposed for the binding of biological dimers like kinesin on
microtubules. The non-equilibrium dynamics shows several regimes: irreversible
adsorption on short time scales, an intermediate plateau followed by a
power-law regime and finally exponential relaxation towards equilibrium. In all
four regimes we give analytical solutions. The algebraic decay and the scaling
behaviour can be explained by mapping onto a simple reaction-diffusion model.
We show that there are several possibilities to define the autocorrelation
function and that they all asymptotically show exponential decay, however with
different time constants. Our findings remain valid if there is an attractive
interaction between bound dimers.Comment: REVTeX, 6 pages, 5 figures; to appear in Europhys. Letters; a Java
applet showing the simulation is accessible at
http://www.ph.tum.de/~avilfan/rela
Magnetic versus nonmagnetic doping effects on the magnetic ordering in the Haldane chain compound PbNi2V2O8
A study of an impurity driven phase-transition into a magnetically ordered
state in the spin-liquid Haldane chain compound PbNi2V2O8 is presented. Both,
macroscopic magnetization as well as 51V nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)
measurements reveal that the spin nature of dopants has a crucial role in
determining the stability of the induced long-range magnetic order. In the case
of nonmagnetic (Mg2+) doping on Ni2+ spin sites (S=1) a metamagnetic transition
is observed in relatively low magnetic fields. On the other hand, the magnetic
order in magnetically (Co2+) doped compounds survives at much higher magnetic
fields and temperatures, which is attributed to a significant anisotropic
impurity-host magnetic interaction. The NMR measurements confirm the predicted
staggered nature of impurity-liberated spin degrees of freedom, which are
responsible for the magnetic ordering. In addition, differences in the
broadening of the NMR spectra and the increase of nuclear spin-lattice
relaxation in doped samples, indicate a diverse nature of electron spin
correlations in magnetically and nonmagnetically doped samples, which begin
developing at rather high temperatures with respect to the antiferromagnetic
phase transition.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Force-Velocity Relations of a Two-State Crossbridge Model for Molecular Motors
We discuss the force-velocity relations obtained in a two-state crossbridge
model for molecular motors. They can be calculated analytically in two limiting
cases: for a large number and for one pair of motors. The effect of the
strain-dependent detachment rate on the motor characteristics is studied. It
can lead to linear, myosin-like, kinesin-like and anomalous curves. In
particular, we specify the conditions under which oscillatory behavior may be
found.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, REVTeX; thoroughly revised version; also
available at http://www.physik.tu-muenchen.de/~frey
Reconstructed Rough Growing Interfaces; Ridgeline Trapping of Domain Walls
We investigate whether surface reconstruction order exists in stationary
growing states, at all length scales or only below a crossover length, . The later would be similar to surface roughness in growing crystal
surfaces; below the equilibrium roughening temperature they evolve in a
layer-by-layer mode within a crossover length scale , but are always
rough at large length scales. We investigate this issue in the context of KPZ
type dynamics and a checker board type reconstruction, using the restricted
solid-on-solid model with negative mono-atomic step energies. This is a
topology where surface reconstruction order is compatible with surface
roughness and where a so-called reconstructed rough phase exists in
equilibrium. We find that during growth, reconstruction order is absent in the
thermodynamic limit, but exists below a crossover length , and that this local order fluctuates critically. Domain walls become
trapped at the ridge lines of the rough surface, and thus the reconstruction
order fluctuations are slaved to the KPZ dynamics
Tug-of-war in motility assay experiments
The dynamics of two groups of molecular motors pulling in opposite directions
on a rigid filament is studied theoretically. To this end we first consider the
behavior of one set of motors pulling in a single direction against an external
force using a new mean-field approach. Based on these results we analyze a
similar setup with two sets of motors pulling in opposite directions in a
tug-of-war in the presence of an external force. In both cases we find that the
interplay of fluid friction and protein friction leads to a complex phase
diagram where the force-velocity relations can exhibit regions of bistability
and spontaneous symmetry breaking. Finally, motivated by recent work, we turn
to the case of motility assay experiments where motors bound to a surface push
on a bundle of filaments. We find that, depending on the absence or the
presence of a bistability in the force-velocity curve at zero force, the bundle
exhibits anomalous or biased diffusion on long-time and large-length scales
Synchronization of active mechanical oscillators by an inertial load
Motivated by the operation of myogenic (self-oscillatory) insect flight
muscle, we study a model consisting of a large number of identical oscillatory
contractile elements joined in a chain, whose end is attached to a damped
mass-spring oscillator. When the inertial load is small, the serial coupling
favors an antisynchronous state in which the extension of one oscillator is
compensated by the contraction of another, in order to preserve the total
length. However, a sufficiently massive load can sychronize the oscillators and
can even induce oscillation in situations where isolated elements would be
stable. The system has a complex phase diagram displaying quiescent,
synchronous and antisynchrononous phases, as well as an unsual asynchronous
phase in which the total length of the chain oscillates at a different
frequency from the individual active elements.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, To appear in Phys. Rev. Let
Effects of differential mobility on biased diffusion of two species
Using simulations and a simple mean-field theory, we investigate jamming
transitions in a two-species lattice gas under non-equilibrium steady-state
conditions. The two types of particles diffuse with different mobilities on a
square lattice, subject to an excluded volume constraint and biased in opposite
directions. Varying filling fraction, differential mobility, and drive, we map
out the phase diagram, identifying first order and continuous transitions
between a free-flowing disordered and a spatially inhomogeneous jammed phase.
Ordered structures are observed to drift, with a characteristic velocity, in
the direction of the more mobile species.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
Exact multipoint and multitime correlation functions of a one-dimensional model of adsorption and evaporation of dimers
In this work, we provide a method which allows to compute exactly the
multipoint and multi-time correlation functions of a one-dimensional stochastic
model of dimer adsorption-evaporation with random (uncorrelated) initial
states.
In particular explicit expressions of the two-point
noninstantaneous/instantaneous correlation functions are obtained. The
long-time behavior of these expressions is discussed in details and in various
physical regimes.Comment: 6 pages, no figur
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