“Entropic Traps” in the Kinetics of Phase Separation in Multicomponent Membranes Stabilize Nanodomains

AbstractWe quantitatively describe the creation and evolution of phase-separated domains in a multicomponent lipid bilayer membrane. The early stages, termed the nucleation stage and the independent growth stage, are extremely rapid (characteristic times are submillisecond and millisecond, respectively) and the system consists of nanodomains of average radius ∼5–50nm. Next, mobility of domains becomes consequential; domain merger and fission become the dominant mechanisms of matter exchange, and line tension γ is the main determinant of the domain size distribution at any point in time. For sufficiently small γ, the decrease in the entropy term that results from domain merger is larger than the decrease in boundary energy, and only nanodomains are present. For large γ, the decrease in boundary energy dominates the unfavorable entropy of merger, and merger leads to rapid enlargement of nanodomains to radii of micrometer scale. At intermediate line tensions and within finite times, nanodomains can remain dispersed and coexist with a new global phase. The theoretical critical value of line tension needed to rapidly form large rafts is in accord with the experimental estimate from the curvatures of budding domains in giant unilamellar vesicles

Study of Radiation Damage in Lead Tungstate Crystals Using Intense High Energy Beams

We report on the effects of radiation on the light output of lead tungstate crystals. The crystals were irradiated by pure, intense high energy electron and hadron beams as well as by a mixture of hadrons, neutrons and gammas. The crystals were manufactured in Bogoroditsk, Apatity (both Russia), and Shanghai (China). These studies were carried out at the 70-GeV proton accelerator in Protvino

Phase Behavior of Aqueous Na-K-Mg-Ca-CI-NO3 Mixtures: Isopiestic Measurements and Thermodynamic Modeling

A comprehensive model has been established for calculating thermodynamic properties of multicomponent aqueous systems containing the Na{sup +}, K{sup +}, Mg{sup 2+}, Ca{sup 2+}, Cl{sup -}, and NO{sub 3}{sup -} ions. The thermodynamic framework is based on a previously developed model for mixed-solvent electrolyte solutions. The framework has been designed to reproduce the properties of salt solutions at temperatures ranging from the freezing point to 300 C and concentrations ranging from infinite dilution to the fused salt limit. The model has been parameterized using a combination of an extensive literature database and new isopiestic measurements for thirteen salt mixtures at 140 C. The measurements have been performed using Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) previously designed gravimetric isopiestic apparatus, which makes it possible to detect solid phase precipitation. Water activities are reported for mixtures with a fixed ratio of salts as a function of the total apparent salt mole fraction. The isopiestic measurements reported here simultaneously reflect two fundamental properties of the system, i.e., the activity of water as a function of solution concentration and the occurrence of solid-liquid transitions. The thermodynamic model accurately reproduces the new isopiestic data as well as literature data for binary, ternary and higher-order subsystems. Because of its high accuracy in calculating vapor-liquid and solid-liquid equilibria, the model is suitable for studying deliquescence behavior of multicomponent salt systems

Open data from the third observing run of LIGO, Virgo, KAGRA, and GEO

The global network of gravitational-wave observatories now includes five detectors, namely LIGO Hanford, LIGO Livingston, Virgo, KAGRA, and GEO 600. These detectors collected data during their third observing run, O3, composed of three phases: O3a starting in 2019 April and lasting six months, O3b starting in 2019 November and lasting five months, and O3GK starting in 2020 April and lasting two weeks. In this paper we describe these data and various other science products that can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at https://gwosc.org. The main data set, consisting of the gravitational-wave strain time series that contains the astrophysical signals, is released together with supporting data useful for their analysis and documentation, tutorials, as well as analysis software packages

Search for eccentric black hole coalescences during the third observing run of LIGO and Virgo

Despite the growing number of binary black hole coalescences confidently observed through gravitational waves so far, the astrophysical origin of these binaries remains uncertain. Orbital eccentricity is one of the clearest tracers of binary formation channels. Identifying binary eccentricity, however, remains challenging due to the limited availability of gravitational waveforms that include the effects of eccentricity. Here, we present observational results for a waveform-independent search sensitive to eccentric black hole coalescences, covering the third observing run (O3) of the LIGO and Virgo detectors. We identified no new high-significance candidates beyond those that have already been identified with searches focusing on quasi-circular binaries. We determine the sensitivity of our search to high-mass (total source-frame mass M > 70 M⊙) binaries covering eccentricities up to 0.3 at 15 Hz emitted gravitational-wave frequency, and use this to compare model predictions to search results. Assuming all detections are indeed quasi-circular, for our fiducial population model, we place a conservative upper limit for the merger rate density of high-mass binaries with eccentricities 0 < e ≤ 0.3 at 16.9 Gpc−3 yr−1 at the 90% confidence level