15,078 research outputs found
Trajectory Deflection of Spinning Magnetic Microparticles, the Magnus Effect at the Microscale
The deflection due to the Magnus force of magnetic particles with a diameter
of 80 micrometer dropping through fluids and rotating in a magnetic field was
measured. With Reynolds number for this experiment around 1, we found
trajectory deflections of the order of 1 degree, in agreement within
measurement error with theory. This method holds promise for the sorting and
analysis of the distribution in magnetic moment and particle diameter of
suspensions of microparticles, such as applied in catalysis, or objects loaded
with magnetic particles.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures. Appendix with 6 figure
A novel platform for the production of nonhydroxylated gelatins based on the methylotrophic yeast Hansenula polymorpha
The use of yeast as a host for heterologous expression of proteins that are normally derived from animal tissue is a promising way to ensure defined products that are devoid of potential harmful animal side products. Here we report on the production and secretion of a custom-designed gelatin, Hu3–His8, by the yeast Hansenula polymorpha. We observed that Hu3–His8 was poorly secreted by the heterologous Saccharomyces cerevisiae invertase secretion signal. In contrast, the S. cerevisiae mating factor α prepro sequence efficiently directed secretion into the culture medium. However, at higher copy numbers, intracellular accumulation of Hu3–His8 precursors occurred. Overproduction of Erv29p, a protein required for packaging of the glycosylated pro-α factor into COPII vesicles, did not improve gelatin secretion in the multicopy strain. Previously, H. polymorpha was reported to hydroxylate proline residues in gelatinous sequences. In contrast, we were unable to detect hydroxyprolines in the secreted Hu3–His8. Also, we failed to identify a gene encoding prolyl-4-hydroxylase in the H. polymorpha genome.
A Musical instrument in MEMS
In this work we describe a MEMS instrument that resonates at audible frequencies, and with which music can be made. The sounds are generated by mechanical resonators and capacitive displacement sensors. Damping by air scales unfavourably for generating audible frequencies with small devices. Therefore a vacuum of 1.5 mbar is used to increase the quality factor and consequently the duration of the sounds to around 0.25 s. The instrument will be demonstrated during the MME 2010 conference opening, in a musical composition especially made for the occasion
Dark matter from the scalar sector of 3-3-1 models without exotic electric charges
We show that three SU(2) singlet neutral scalars (two CP-even and one CP-odd)
in the spectrum of models based on the gauge symmetry SU(3)_c X SU(3)_L X
U(1)_X, which do not contain exotic electric charges, are realistic candidates
for thermally generated self-interacting dark matter in the Universe, a type of
dark matter that has been recently proposed in order to overcome some
difficulties of collisionless cold dark matter models at the galactic scale.
These candidates arise without introducing a new mass scale in the model and/or
without the need for a discrete symmetry to stabilize them, but at the expense
of tuning several combinations of parameters of the scalar potential.Comment: RevTeX, 11 pages. v2: typos corrected, one reference added. v3:
clarifications added, four more references added. To appear in Europhys. Let
Extended matrix Gelfand-Dickey hierarchies: reduction to classical Lie algebras
The Drinfeld-Sokolov reduction method has been used to associate with
extensions of the matrix r-KdV system. Reductions of these systems to the fixed
point sets of involutive Poisson maps, implementing reduction of to
classical Lie algebras of type , are here presented. Modifications
corresponding, in the first place to factorisation of the Lax operator, and
then to Wakimoto realisations of the current algebra components of the
factorisation, are also described.Comment: plain TeX, 12 page
The inner environment of Z~CMa: High-Contrast Imaging Polarimetry with NaCo
Context. Z\,CMa is a binary composed of an embedded Herbig Be and an FU Ori
class star separated by au. Observational evidence indicate a complex
environment in which each star has a circumstellar disk and drives a jet, and
the whole system is embedded in a large dusty envelope.
Aims. We aim to probe the circumbinary environment of Z\,CMa in the inner 400
au in scattered light.
Methods. We use high contrast imaging polarimetry with VLT/NaCo at and
bands.
Results. The central binary is resolved in both bands. The polarized images
show three bright and complex structures: a common dust envelope, a sharp
extended feature previously reported in direct light, and an intriguing bright
clump located 0\farcs3 south of the binary, which appears spatially connected
to the sharp extended feature.
Conclusions.We detect orbital motion when compared to previous observations,
and report a new outburst driven by the Herbig star. Our observations reveal
the complex inner environment of Z\,CMa with unprecedented detail and contrast.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
AdS vacua and RG flows in three dimensional gauged supergravities
We study supersymmetric vacua in N=4 and N=8, three dimensional
gauged supergravities, with scalar manifolds and , non-semisimple Chern-Simons
gaugings and ,
respectively. These are in turn equivalent to SO(4) and
Yang-Mills theories coupled to supergravity. For the N=4 case, we study
renormalization group flows between UV and IR vacua with the same
amount of supersymmetry: in one case, with (3,1) supersymmetry, we can find an
analytic solution whereas in another, with (2,0) supersymmetry, we give a
numerical solution. In both cases, the flows turn out to be v.e.v. flows, i.e.
they are driven by the expectation value of a relevant operator in the dual
. These provide examples of v.e.v. flows between two vacua
within a gauged supergravity framework.Comment: 35 pages in JHEP form, 3 figures, typos corrected, references adde
Very Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Models
We consider very constrained versions of the minimal supersymmetric extension
of the Standard Model (VCMSSMs) which, in addition to constraining the scalar
masses m_0 and gaugino masses m_{1/2} to be universal at some input scale,
impose relations between the trilinear and bilinear soft supersymmetry breaking
parameters A_0 and B_0. These relations may be linear, as in simple minimal
supergravity models, or nonlinear, as in the Giudice-Masiero mechanism for
generating the Higgs-mixing mu term. We discuss the application of the
electroweak vacuum conditions in VCMSSMs, which may be used to make a
prediction for tan beta as a function of m_0 and m_{1/2} that is usually
unique. We baseline the discussion of the parameter spaces allowed in VCMSSMs
by updating the parameter space allowed in the CMSSM for fixed values of tan
beta with no relation between A_0 and B_0 assumed {\it a priori}, displaying
contours of B_0 for a fixed input value of A_0, incorporating the latest CDF/D0
measurement of m_t and the latest BNL measurement of g_mu - 2. We emphasize
that phenomenological studies of the CMSSM are frequently not applicable to
specific VCMSSMs, notably those based on minimal supergravity, which require
m_0 = m_{3/2} as well as A_0 = B_0 + m_0. We then display (m_{1/2}, m_0) planes
for selected VCMSSMs, treating in a unified way the parameter regions where
either a neutralino or the gravitino is the LSP. In particular, we examine in
detail the allowed parameter space for the Giudice-Masiero model.Comment: 26 pages, 32 eps figure
Zeros, chaotic ratios and the computational complexity of approximating the independence polynomial
The independence polynomial originates in statistical physics as the partition function of the hard-core model. The location of the complex zeros of the polynomial is related to phase transitions, and plays an important role in the design of efficient algorithms to approximately compute evaluations of the polynomial.In this paper we directly relate the location of the complex zeros of the independence polynomial to computational hardness of approximating evaluations of the independence polynomial. We do this by moreover relating the location of zeros to chaotic behaviour of a naturally associated family of rational functions; the occupation ratios
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