Long-term polarimetric observations of OH127.8+0.0

OH 1612 and 1667 MHz masers from the well known object OH127.8+0.0 were mon- itored in full-polarization mode over a period of 6.5 years and mapped with MERLIN at one epoch. The OH variability pattern of the star is typical of extremely long- period AGB stars. The distance determined from the 1612 MHz light curve and a new measurement of the angular radius is 3.87 (0.28) kpc. At both frequencies, the flux of polarized emission tightly follows the total flux variations while, the degrees of circu- lar and linear polarization are constant within measurement accuracy.. There is net polarization at both lines. The magnetic field strength estimated from a likely Zeeman pair is -0.6 mG at the distance of 5400 au from the star.At the near and far sides of the envelope, the polarization vectors are well aligned implying a regular structure of the magnetic field. The polarization characteristics of the OH maser emission suggest a radial magnetic field which is frozen in the stellar wind.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figure

Stretching of proteins in a uniform flow

Stretching of a protein by a fluid flow is compared to that in a force-clamp apparatus. The comparison is made within a simple topology-based dynamical model of a protein in which the effects of the flow are implemented using Langevin dynamics. We demonstrate that unfolding induced by a uniform flow shows a richer behavior than that in the force clamp. The dynamics of unfolding is found to depend strongly on the selection of the amino acid, usually one of the termini, which is anchored. These features offer potentially wider diagnostic tools to investigate structure of proteins compared to experiments based on the atomic force microscopy.Comment: J. Chem. Phys. (in press

Spin Waves in the Ferromagnetic Ground State of the Kagome Staircase System Co3V2O8

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements were performed on single crystal Co3V2O8 wherein magnetic cobalt ions reside on distinct spine and cross-tie sites within kagome staircase planes. This system displays a rich magnetic phase diagram which culminates in a ferromagnetic ground state below Tc~6 K. We have studied the low-lying magnetic excitations in this phase within the kagome plane. Despite the complexity of the system at higher temperatures, linear spin-wave theory describes most of the quantitative detail of the inelastic neutron measurements. Our results show two spin-wave branches, the higher energy of which displays finite spin-wave lifetimes well below Tc, and negligible magnetic exchange coupling between Co moments on the spine sites.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figure

Instabilities in the dissolution of a porous matrix

A reactive fluid dissolving the surrounding rock matrix can trigger an instability in the dissolution front, leading to spontaneous formation of pronounced channels or wormholes. Theoretical investigations of this instability have typically focused on a steadily propagating dissolution front that separates regions of high and low porosity. In this paper we show that this is not the only possible dissolutional instability in porous rocks; there is another instability that operates instantaneously on any initial porosity field, including an entirely uniform one. The relative importance of the two mechanisms depends on the ratio of the porosity increase to the initial porosity. We show that the "inlet" instability is likely to be important in limestone formations where the initial porosity is small and there is the possibility of a large increase in permeability. In quartz-rich sandstones, where the proportion of easily soluble material (e.g. carbonate cements) is small, the instability in the steady-state equations is dominant.Comment: to be published in Geophysical Research Letter