1,589 research outputs found
Cargo Transport: Two Motors Are Sometimes Better Than One
Molecular motor proteins are crucial for the proper distribution of organelles and vesicles in cells. Much of our current understanding of how motors function stems from studies of single motors moving cargos in vitro. More recently, however, there has been mounting evidence that the cooperation of multiple motors in moving cargos and the regulation of motor–filament affinity could be key mechanisms that cells utilize to regulate cargo transport. Here, we review these recent advances and present a picture of how the different mechanisms of regulating the number of motors moving a cargo could facilitate cellular functions
Microcanonical entropy inflection points: Key to systematic understanding of transitions in finite systems
We introduce a systematic classification method for the analogs of phase
transitions in finite systems. This completely general analysis, which is
applicable to any physical system and extends towards the thermodynamic limit,
is based on the microcanonical entropy and its energetic derivative, the
inverse caloric temperature. Inflection points of this quantity signal
cooperative activity and thus serve as distinct indicators of transitions. We
demonstrate the power of this method through application to the long-standing
problem of liquid-solid transitions in elastic, flexible homopolymers.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Effects of D-instantons
Scattering of fundamental states of type IIB supergravity and superstring
theory is discussed at low orders in perturbation theory in the background of a
D-instanton. The integration over fermionic zero modes in both the low energy
supergravity and in the string theory leads to explicit nonperturbative terms
in the effective action. These include a single instanton correction to the
known tree-level and one-loop interactions. The `spectrum' of
multiply-charged D-instantons is deduced by T-duality in nine dimensions from
multiply-wound world-lines of marginally-bound D-particles. This, and other
clues, lead to a conjectured SL(2,Z) completion of the terms which
suggests that they are not renormalized by perturbative corrections in the
zero-instanton sector beyond one loop. The string theory unit-charged
D-instanton gives rise to point-like effects in fixed-angle scattering, raising
unresolved issues concerning distance scales in superstring theory.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figures, Latex, Reference added, corrected coefficients
in expansion of generalized Eisenstein series in equation 66 now agree with
hep-th/970414
An all-electrical torque differential magnetometer operating under ambient conditions
An all-electrical torque differential magnetometry (also known as cantilever
magnetometry) setup employing piezoelectric quartz tuning forks is
demonstrated. The magnetometer can be operated under ambient conditions as well
as low temperatures and pressures. It extends the allowed specimen mass range
up to several 10 g without any significant reduction in the sensitivity.
Operation under ambient conditions and a simple all-electrical design of the
magnetometer should allow for an easy integration with other experimental
setups. The uniaxial magnetic anisotropy of a 25 m diameter iron wire,
measured under ambient conditions with a high signal to noise ratio, was found
to be in good agreement with its literature value. Further applications of the
technique are discussed.Comment: 9 two-column pages, 9 figure
Lattice gauge theory: A retrospective
I discuss some of the historical circumstances that drove us to use the
lattice as a non-perturbative regulator. This approach has had immense success,
convincingly demonstrating quark confinement and obtaining crucial properties
of the strong interactions from first principles. I wrap up with some
challenges for the future.Comment: Lattice 2000 (Plenary), 9 pages, 7 figure
Violation of the `Zero-Force Theorem' in the time-dependent Krieger-Li-Iafrate approximation
We demonstrate that the time-dependent Krieger-Li-Iafrate approximation in
combination with the exchange-only functional violates the `Zero-Force
Theorem'. By analyzing the time-dependent dipole moment of Na5 and Na9+, we
furthermore show that this can lead to an unphysical self-excitation of the
system depending on the system properties and the excitation strength.
Analytical aspects, especially the connection between the `Zero-Force Theorem'
and the `Generalized-Translation Invariance' of the potential, are discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Covariant equations for the three-body bound state
The covariant spectator (or Gross) equations for the bound state of three
identical spin 1/2 particles, in which two of the three interacting particles
are always on shell, are developed and reduced to a form suitable for numerical
solution. The equations are first written in operator form and compared to the
Bethe-Salpeter equation, then expanded into plane wave momentum states, and
finally expanded into partial waves using the three-body helicity formalism
first introduced by Wick. In order to solve the equations, the two-body
scattering amplitudes must be boosted from the overall three-body rest frame to
their individual two-body rest frames, and all effects which arise from these
boosts, including the Wigner rotations and rho-spin decomposition of the
off-shell particle, are treated exactly. In their final form, the equations
reduce to a coupled set of Faddeev-like double integral equations with
additional channels arising from the negative rho-spin states of the off-shell
particle.Comment: 57 pages, RevTeX, 6 figures, uses epsf.st
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