2,064 research outputs found
Molecular Modeling of Nucleic Acid Structure: Energy and Sampling
An overview of computer simulation techniques as applied to nucleic acid systems is presented. This unit expands an accompanying overview unit (UNIT ) by discussing methods used to treat the energy and sample representative configurations. Emphasis is placed on molecular mechanics and empirical force fields.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/143698/1/cpnc0708.pd
Solar Polar Fields During Cycles 21 --- 23: Correlation with Meridional Flows
We have examined polar magnetic fields for the last three solar cycles,
{}, cycles 21, 22 and 23 using NSO Kitt Peak synoptic magnetograms.
In addition, we have used SoHO/MDI magnetograms to derive the polar fields
during cycle 23. Both Kitt Peak and MDI data at high latitudes
(78--90) in both solar hemispheres show a significant
drop in the absolute value of polar fields from the late declining phase of the
solar cycle 22 to the maximum of the solar cycle 23. We find that long term
changes in the absolute value of the polar field, in cycle 23, is well
correlated with changes in meridional flow speeds that have been reported
recently. We discuss the implication of this in influencing the extremely
prolonged minimum experienced at the start of the current cycle 24 and in
forecasting the behaviour of future solar cycles.Comment: 4 Figures 11 pages; Revised version under review in Solar Physic
Regulated complex assembly safeguards the fidelity of Sleeping Beauty transposition
The functional relevance of the inverted repeat structure (IR/DR) in a subgroup of the Tc1/mariner superfamily of transposons has been enigmatic. In contrast to mariner transposition, where a topological filter suppresses single-ended reactions, the IR/DR orchestrates a regulatory mechanism to enforce synapsis of the transposon ends before cleavage by the transposase occurs. This ordered assembly process shepherds primary transposase binding to the inner 12DRs (where cleavage does not occur), followed by capture of the 12DR of the other transposon end. This extra layer of regulation suppresses aberrant, potentially genotoxic recombination activities, and the mobilization of internally deleted copies in the IR/DR subgroup, including Sleeping Beauty (SB). In contrast, internally deleted sequences (MITEs) are preferred substrates of mariner transposition, and this process is associated with the emergence of Hsmar1-derived miRNA genes in the human genome. Translating IR/DR regulation to in vitro evolution yielded an SB transposon version with optimized substrate recognition (pT4). The ends of SB transposons excised by a K248A excision(+)/integration(-) transposase variant are processed by hairpin resolution, representing a link between phylogenetically, and mechanistically different recombination reactions, such as V(D)J recombination and transposition. Such variants generated by random mutation might stabilize transposon-host interactions or prepare the transposon for a horizontal transfer
Light meson mass dependence of the positive parity heavy-strange mesons
We calculate the masses of the resonances D_{s0}^*(2317) and D_{s1}(2460) as
well as their bottom partners as bound states of a kaon and a D^*- and
B^*-meson, respectively, in unitarized chiral perturbation theory at
next-to-leading order. After fixing the parameters in the D_{s0}^*(2317)
channel, the calculated mass for the D_{s1}(2460) is found in excellent
agreement with experiment. The masses for the analogous states with a bottom
quark are predicted to be M_{B^*_{s0}}=(5696\pm 40) MeV and M_{B_{s1}}=(5742\pm
40) MeV in reasonable agreement with previous analyses. In particular, we
predict M_{B_{s1}}-M_{B_{s0}^*}=46\pm 1 MeV. We also explore the dependence of
the states on the pion and kaon masses. We argue that the kaon mass dependence
of a kaonic bound state should be almost linear with slope about unity. Such a
dependence is specific to the assumed molecular nature of the states. We
suggest to extract the kaon mass dependence of these states from lattice QCD
calculations.Comment: 10 page
Magnetic switching in granular FePt layers promoted by near-field laser enhancement
Light-matter interaction at the nanoscale in magnetic materials is a topic of
intense research in view of potential applications in next-generation
high-density magnetic recording. Laser-assisted switching provides a pathway
for overcoming the material constraints of high-anisotropy and high-packing
density media, though much about the dynamics of the switching process remains
unexplored. We use ultrafast small-angle x-ray scattering at an x-ray
free-electron laser to probe the magnetic switching dynamics of FePt
nanoparticles embedded in a carbon matrix following excitation by an optical
femtosecond laser pulse. We observe that the combination of laser excitation
and applied static magnetic field, one order of magnitude smaller than the
coercive field, can overcome the magnetic anisotropy barrier between "up" and
"down" magnetization, enabling magnetization switching. This magnetic switching
is found to be inhomogeneous throughout the material, with some individual FePt
nanoparticles neither switching nor demagnetizing. The origin of this behavior
is identified as the near-field modification of the incident laser radiation
around FePt nanoparticles. The fraction of not-switching nanoparticles is
influenced by the heat flow between FePt and a heat-sink layer
Analytic continuations of de Sitter thick domain wall solutions
We perform some analytic continuations of the de Sitter thick domain wall
solutions obtained in our previous paper hep-th/0201130 in the system of
gravity and a scalar field with an axion-like potential. The obtained new
solutions represent anti-de Sitter thick domain walls and cosmology. The
anti-de Sitter domain wall solutions are periodic, and correspondingly the
cosmological solutions represent cyclic universes. We parameterize the
axion-like scalar field potential and determine the parameter regions of each
type of solutions.Comment: Additons in section 5, 8 pages, 7 figures, RevTe
Vacuum creation of quarks at the time scale of QGP thermalization and strangeness enhancement in heavy-ion collisions
The vacuum parton creation in quickly varying external fields is studied at
the time scale of order 1 fm/ typical for the quark-gluon plasma formation
and thermalization. To describe the pre-equilibrium evolution of the system the
transport kinetic equation is employed. It is shown that the dynamics of
production process at times comparable with particle inverse masses can deviate
considerably from that based on classical Schwinger-like estimates for
homogeneous and constant fields. One of the effects caused by non-stationary
chromoelectric fields is the enhancement of the yield of quark
pairs. Dependence of this effect on the shape and duration of the field pulse
is studied together with the influence of string fusion and reduction of quark
masses.Comment: REVTEX, 11pp. incl. 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Lett.
Beam Test Results of the BTeV Silicon Pixel Detector
The results of the BTeV silicon pixel detector beam test carried out at
Fermilab in 1999-2000 are reported. The pixel detector spatial resolution has
been studied as a function of track inclination, sensor bias, and readout
threshold.Comment: 8 pages of text, 8 figures, Proceedings paper of Pixel 2000:
International Workshop on Semiconductor Pixel Detectors for Particles and
X-Rays, Genova, June 5-8, 200
Non-perturbative effects in a rapidly expanding quark-gluon plasma
Within first-order phase transitions, we investigate the pre-transitional
effects due to the nonperturbative, large-amplitude thermal fluctuations which
can promote phase mixing before the critical temperature is reached from above.
In contrast with the cosmological quark-hadron transition, we find that the
rapid cooling typical of the RHIC and LHC experiments and the fact that the
quark-gluon plasma is chemically unsaturated suppress the role of
non-perturbative effects at current collider energies. Significant supercooling
is possible in a (nearly) homogeneous state of quark gluon plasma.Comment: LaTeX, 7 pages with 7 Postscript figures. Figures added, discussions
added. Version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Performance of prototype BTeV silicon pixel detectors in a high energy pion beam
The silicon pixel vertex detector is a key element of the BTeV spectrometer.
Sensors bump-bonded to prototype front-end devices were tested in a high energy
pion beam at Fermilab. The spatial resolution and occupancies as a function of
the pion incident angle were measured for various sensor-readout combinations.
The data are compared with predictions from our Monte Carlo simulation and very
good agreement is found.Comment: 24 pages, 20 figure
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