2,811 research outputs found
Dynamical evolution of the Universe in the quark-hadron phase transition and possible nugget formation
We study the dynamics of first-order phase transition in the early Universe
when it was old with quarks and gluons condensing into hadrons.
We look at how the Universe evolved through the phase transition in small as
well as large super cooling scenario, specifically exploring the formation of
quark nuggets and their possible survival. The nucleation of the hadron phase
introduces new distance scales in the Universe, which we estimate along with
the hadron fraction, temperature, nucleation time etc. It is of interest to
explore whether there is a relic signature of this transition in the form of
quark nuggets which might be identified with the recently observed dark objects
in our galactic halo and account for the Dark Matter in the Universe at
present.Comment: LaTeX file with four postscript figure
Exact Multifractal Spectra for Arbitrary Laplacian Random Walks
Iterated conformal mappings are used to obtain exact multifractal spectra of
the harmonic measure for arbitrary Laplacian random walks in two dimensions.
Separate spectra are found to describe scaling of the growth measure in time,
of the measure near the growth tip, and of the measure away from the growth
tip. The spectra away from the tip coincide with those of conformally invariant
equilibrium systems with arbitrary central charge , with related
to the particular walk chosen, while the scaling in time and near the tip
cannot be obtained from the equilibrium properties.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; references added, minor correction
Perturbation spectrum in inflation with cutoff
It has been pointed out that the perturbation spectrum predicted by inflation
may be sensitive to a natural ultraviolet cutoff, thus potentially providing an
experimentally accessible window to aspects of Planck scale physics. A priori,
a natural ultraviolet cutoff could take any form, but a fairly general
classification of possible Planck scale cutoffs has been given. One of those
categorized cutoffs, also appearing in various studies of quantum gravity and
string theory, has recently been implemented into the standard inflationary
scenario. Here, we continue this approach by investigating its effects on the
predicted perturbation spectrum. We find that the size of the effect depends
sensitively on the scale separation between cutoff and horizon during
inflation.Comment: 6 pages; matches version accepted by PR
DNA hybridization catalysts and catalyst circuits
Practically all of life's molecular processes, from chemical synthesis to replication, involve enzymes that carry out their functions through the catalysis of metastable fuels into waste products. Catalytic control of reaction rates will prove to be as useful and ubiquitous in
DNA nanotechnology as it is in biology. Here we present experimental results on the control of the decay rates of a metastable DNA "fuel". We show that the fuel complex can be induced to decay with a rate about 1600 times faster than it would decay spontaneously. The original DNA hybridization catalyst [15] achieved a maximal speed-up of roughly 30. The fuel complex discussed here can therefore serve as the basic ingredient for an improved DNA hybridization catalyst. As an example application for DNA hybridization catalysts, we propose a method for implementing arbitrary digital logic circuits
Signatures of Planck-scale interactions in the cosmic microwave background?
Based on a rather general low-energy effective action (interacting quantum
fields in classical curved space-times), we calculate potential signatures of
new physics (such as quantum gravity) at ultra-high energies (presumably the
Planck scale) in the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background. These
Planck-scale interactions create non-Gaussian contributions, where special
emphasis is laid on the three-point function as the most promising observable,
which also allows the discrimination between models violating and those obeying
Lorentz invariance. PACS: 98.80.Cq, 04.62.+v, 98.70.Vc, 98.80.Qc.Comment: 4 page
Controlled assembly of SNAP-PNA-fluorophore systems on DNA templates to produce fluorescence resonance energy transfer
The SNAP protein is a widely used self-labeling tag that can be used for tracking protein localization and trafficking in living systems. A model system providing controlled alignment of SNAP-tag units can provide a new way to study clustering of fusion proteins. In this work, fluorescent SNAP-PNA conjugates were controllably assembled on DNA frameworks forming dimers, trimers, and tetramers. Modification of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) with the O6-benzyl guanine (BG) group allowed the generation of site-selective covalent links between PNA and the SNAP protein. The modified BG-PNAs were labeled with fluorescent Atto dyes and subsequently chemo-selectively conjugated to SNAP protein. Efficient assembly into dimer and oligomer forms was verified via size exclusion chromatography (SEC), electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and fluorescence spectroscopy. DNA directed assembly of homo- and hetero-dimers of SNAP-PNA constructs induced homo- and hetero-FRET, respectively. Longer DNA scaffolds controllably aligned similar fluorescent SNAP-PNA constructs into higher oligomers exhibiting homo-FRET. The combined SEC and homo-FRET studies indicated the 1:1 and saturated assemblies of SNAP-PNA-fluorophore:DNA formed preferentially in this system. This suggested a kinetic/stoichiometric model of assembly rather than binomially distributed products. These BG-PNA-fluorophore building blocks allow facile introduction of fluorophores and/or assembly directing moieties onto any protein containing SNAP. Template directed assembly of PNA modified SNAP proteins may be used to investigate clustering behavior both with and without fluorescent labels which may find use in the study of assembly processes in cells
Modification to the power spectrum in the brane world inflation driven by the bulk inflaton
We compute the cosmological perturbations generated in the brane world
inflation driven by the bulk inflaton. Different from the model that the
inflation is a brane effect, we exhibit the modification of the power spectrum
of scalar perturbations due to the existence of the fifth dimension. With the
change of the initial vacuum, we investigate the dependence of the correction
of the power spectrum on the choice of the vacuum.Comment: replaced with the revised version, accepted for publication in PR
Thermonuclear Burning Regimes and the Use of SNe Ia in Cosmology
The calculations of the light curves of thermonuclear supernovae are carried
out by a method of multi-group radiation hydrodynamics. The effects of spectral
lines and expansion opacity are taken into account. The predictions for UBVI
fluxes are given. The values of rise time for B and V bands found in our
calculations are in good agreement with the observed values. We explain why our
results for the rise time have more solid physical justification than those
obtained by other authors. It is shown that small variations in the chemical
composition of the ejecta, produced in the explosions with different regimes of
nuclear burning, can influence drastically the light curve decline in the B
band and, to a lesser extent, in the V band. We argue that recent results on
positive cosmological constant Lambda, found from the high redshift supernova
observations, could be wrong in the case of possible variations of the
preferred mode of nuclear burning in the earlier Universe.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, presented at the conference "Astronomy at the
Eve of the New Century", Puschino, May 17-22, 1999. A few references and a
table added, typos correcte
Supernova Ia: a Converging Delayed Detonation Wave
A model of a carbon-oxygen (C--O) presupernova core with an initial mass 1.33
M_\odot, an initial carbon mass fraction 0.27, and with an average mass
growth-rate 5 x 10^{-7} M_\odot/yr due to accretion in a binary system was
evolved from initial central density 10^9 g/cm^3, and temperature 2.05 x 10^8 K
through convective core formation and its subsequent expansion to the carbon
runaway at the center. The only thermonuclear reaction contained in the
equations of evolution and runaway was the carbon burning reaction 12C + 12C
with an energy release corresponding to the full transition of carbon and
oxygen (with the same rate as carbon) into 56Ni. As a parameter we take
\alpha_c - a ratio of a mixing length to the size of the convective zone. In
spite of the crude assumptions, we obtained a pattern of the runaway acceptable
for the supernova theory with the strong dependence of its duration on
\alpha_c. In the variants with large enough values of \alpha_c=4.0 x 10^{-3}
and 3.0 x 10^{-3} the fuel combustion occurred from the very beginning as a
prompt detonation. In the range of 2.0 x 10^{-3} >= \alpha_c >= 3.0 x 10^{-4}
the burning started as a deflagration with excitation of stellar pulsations
with growing amplitude. Eventually, the detonation set in, which was activated
near the surface layers of the presupernova (with m about 1.33 M_\odot) and
penetrated into the star down to the deflagration front. Excitation of model
pulsations and formation of a detonation front are described in detail for the
variant with \alpha_c=1.0 x 10^{-3}.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, to appear in Astronomy Letter
Streamer Propagation as a Pattern Formation Problem: Planar Fronts
Streamers often constitute the first stage of dielectric breakdown in strong
electric fields: a nonlinear ionization wave transforms a non-ionized medium
into a weakly ionized nonequilibrium plasma. New understanding of this old
phenomenon can be gained through modern concepts of (interfacial) pattern
formation. As a first step towards an effective interface description, we
determine the front width, solve the selection problem for planar fronts and
calculate their properties. Our results are in good agreement with many
features of recent three-dimensional numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 3 ps file
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