4,446 research outputs found
Coarsening Dynamics of a One-Dimensional Driven Cahn-Hilliard System
We study the one-dimensional Cahn-Hilliard equation with an additional
driving term representing, say, the effect of gravity. We find that the driving
field has an asymmetric effect on the solution for a single stationary
domain wall (or `kink'), the direction of the field determining whether the
analytic solutions found by Leung [J.Stat.Phys.{\bf 61}, 345 (1990)] are
unique. The dynamics of a kink-antikink pair (`bubble') is then studied. The
behaviour of a bubble is dependent on the relative sizes of a characteristic
length scale , where is the driving field, and the separation, ,
of the interfaces. For the velocities of the interfaces are
negligible, while in the opposite limit a travelling-wave solution is found
with a velocity . For this latter case () a set of
reduced equations, describing the evolution of the domain lengths, is obtained
for a system with a large number of interfaces, and implies a characteristic
length scale growing as . Numerical results for the domain-size
distribution and structure factor confirm this behavior, and show that the
system exhibits dynamical scaling from very early times.Comment: 20 pages, revtex, 10 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Dynamics of Ordering of Heisenberg Spins with Torque --- Nonconserved Case. I
We study the dynamics of ordering of a nonconserved Heisenberg magnet. The
dynamics consists of two parts --- an irreversible dissipation into a heat bath
and a reversible precession induced by a torque due to the local molecular
field. For quenches to zero temperature, we provide convincing arguments, both
numerically (Langevin simulation) and analytically (approximate closure scheme
due to Mazenko), that the torque is irrelevant at late times. We subject the
Mazenko closure scheme to systematic numerical tests. Such an analysis, carried
out for the first time on a vector order parameter, shows that the closure
scheme performs respectably well. For quenches to , we show, to , that the torque is irrelevant at the Wilson-Fisher fixed
point.Comment: 13 pages, REVTEX, and 19 .eps figures, compressed, Submitted to Phys.
Rev.
Spinodal Decomposition and the Tomita Sum Rule
The scaling properties of a phase-ordering system with a conserved order
parameter are studied. The theory developed leads to scaling functions
satisfying certain general properties including the Tomita sum rule. The theory
also gives good agreement with numerical results for the order parameter
scaling function in three dimensions. The values of the associated
nonequilibrium decay exponents are given by the known lower bounds.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figure
Temporal Effects of Agent Aggregation in the Dynamics of Multiagent Systems
We propose a model of multiagent systems whose agents have a tendency to
balance their decisions in time. We find phase transitions to oscillatory
behavior, explainable by the aggregation of agents into two groups. On a longer
time scale, we find that the aggregation of smart agents is able to explain the
lifetime distribution of epochs to 8 decades of probability.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of Lagrangian velocity in fully developed turbulence
We have developed a new experimental technique to measure the Lagrangian
velocity of tracer particles in a turbulent flow, based on ultrasonic Doppler
tracking. This method yields a direct access to the velocity of a single
particule at a turbulent Reynolds number . Its dynamics is
analyzed with two decades of time resolution, below the Lagrangian correlation
time. We observe that the Lagrangian velocity spectrum has a Lorentzian form
, in agreement
with a Kolmogorov-like scaling in the inertial range. The probability density
function (PDF) of the velocity time increments displays a change of shape from
quasi-Gaussian a integral time scale to stretched exponential tails at the
smallest time increments. This intermittency, when measured from relative
scaling exponents of structure functions, is more pronounced than in the
Eulerian framework.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. to appear in PR
Overall time evolution in phase-ordering kinetics
The phenomenology from the time of the quench to the asymptotic behavior in
the phase-ordering kinetics of a system with conserved order parameter is
investigated in the Bray-Humayun model and in the Cahn-Hilliard-Cook model.
From the comparison of the structure factor in the two models the generic
pattern of the overall time evolution, based on the sequence ``early linear -
intermediate mean field - late asymptotic regime'' is extracted. It is found
that the time duration of each of these regimes is strongly dependent on the
wave vector and on the parameters of the quench, such as the amplitude of the
initial fluctuations and the final equilibrium temperature. The rich and
complex crossover phenomenology arising as these parameters are varied can be
accounted for in a simple way through the structure of the solution of the
Bray-Humayun model.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 18 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Phase Separation Kinetics in a Model with Order-Parameter Dependent Mobility
We present extensive results from 2-dimensional simulations of phase
separation kinetics in a model with order-parameter dependent mobility. We find
that the time-dependent structure factor exhibits dynamical scaling and the
scaling function is numerically indistinguishable from that for the
Cahn-Hilliard (CH) equation, even in the limit where surface diffusion is the
mechanism for domain growth. This supports the view that the scaling form of
the structure factor is "universal" and leads us to question the conventional
wisdom that an accurate representation of the scaled structure factor for the
CH equation can only be obtained from a theory which correctly models bulk
diffusion.Comment: To appear in PRE, figures available on reques
The identification of mitochondrial DNA variants in glioblastoma multiforme
Background:
Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) encodes key proteins of the electron transfer chain (ETC), which produces ATP through oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) and is essential for cells to perform specialised functions. Tumor-initiating cells use aerobic glycolysis, a combination of glycolysis and low levels of OXPHOS, to promote rapid cell proliferation and tumor growth. Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressively malignant brain tumor and mitochondria have been proposed to play a vital role in GBM tumorigenesis.
Results:
Using next generation sequencing and high resolution melt analysis, we identified a large number of mtDNA variants within coding and non-coding regions of GBM cell lines and predicted their disease-causing potential through in silico modeling. The frequency of variants was greatest in the D-loop and origin of light strand replication in non-coding regions. ND6 was the most susceptible coding gene to mutation whilst ND4 had the highest frequency of mutation. Both genes encode subunits of complex I of the ETC. These variants were not detected in unaffected brain samples and many have not been previously reported. Depletion of HSR-GBM1 cells to varying degrees of their mtDNA followed by transplantation into immunedeficient mice resulted in the repopulation of the same variants during tumorigenesis. Likewise, de novo variants identified in other GBM cell lines were also incorporated. Nevertheless, ND4 and ND6 were still the most affected genes. We confirmed the presence of these variants in high grade gliomas.
Conclusions:
These novel variants contribute to GBM by rendering the ETC. partially dysfunctional. This restricts metabolism to anaerobic glycolysis and promotes cell proliferation
Condensation vs. phase-ordering in the dynamics of first order transitions
The origin of the non commutativity of the limits and in the dynamics of first order transitions is investigated. In the
large-N model, i.e. taken first, the low temperature phase is
characterized by condensation of the large wave length fluctuations rather than
by genuine phase-ordering as when is taken first. A detailed
study of the scaling properties of the structure factor in the large-N model is
carried out for quenches above, at and below T_c. Preasymptotic scaling is
found and crossover phenomena are related to the existence of components in the
order parameter with different scaling properties. Implications for
phase-ordering in realistic systems are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures. To be published in Phys. Rev.
- …