218 research outputs found
The heart of a convex body
We investigate some basic properties of the {\it heart}
of a convex set It is a subset of
whose definition is based on mirror reflections of euclidean
space, and is a non-local object. The main motivation of our interest for
is that this gives an estimate of the location of the
hot spot in a convex heat conductor with boundary temperature grounded at zero.
Here, we investigate on the relation between and the
mirror symmetries of we show that
contains many (geometrically and phisically) relevant points of
we prove a simple geometrical lower estimate for the diameter of
we also prove an upper estimate for the area of
when is a triangle.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures. appears as "Geometric Properties for Parabolic
and Elliptic PDE's", Springer INdAM Series Volume 2, 2013, pp 49-6
Some remarks on the isoperimetric problem for the higher eigenvalues of the Robin and Wentzell Laplacians
We consider the problem of minimising the th eigenvalue, , of
the (-)Laplacian with Robin boundary conditions with respect to all domains
in of given volume . When , we prove that the second
eigenvalue of the -Laplacian is minimised by the domain consisting of the
disjoint union of two balls of equal volume, and that this is the unique domain
with this property. For and , we prove that in many cases a
minimiser cannot be independent of the value of the constant in the
boundary condition, or equivalently of the volume . We obtain similar
results for the Laplacian with generalised Wentzell boundary conditions .Comment: 16 page
Monochromatization of femtosecond XUV light pulses with the use of reflection zone plates
We report on a newly built laser based tabletop setup which enables generation of femtosecond light pulses in the XUV range via employing the process of high order harmonic generation HHG in a gas medium. The spatial, spectral, and temporal characteristics of the XUV beam are presented. Monochromatization of XUV light with minimum temporal pulse distortion is the central issue of this work. Off center reflection zone plates are shown to be superior to gratings when selection of a desired harmonic is carried out with the use of a single optical element. A cross correlation technique was applied to characterize the performance of zone plates in the time domain. By using laser pulses of 25 fs length to pump the HHG process, a pulse duration of 45 fs for monochromatized harmonics was achieved in the present setu
On the regularity up to the boundary for certain nonlinear elliptic systems
We consider a class of nonlinear elliptic systems and we prove regularity up to the boundary for second order derivatives. In the proof we trace carefully the dependence on the various parameters of the problem, in order to establish, in a further work, results for more general systems
Quantum fields and local measurements
The process of quantum measurement is considered in the algebraic framework of quantum field theory on curved spacetimes. Measurements are carried out on one quantum field theory, the "system", using another, the "probe". The measurement process involves a dynamical coupling of "system" and "probe" within a bounded spacetime region. The resulting "coupled theory" determines a scattering map on the uncoupled combination of the "system" and "probe" by reference to natural "in" and "out" spacetime regions. No specific interaction is assumed and all constructions are local and covariant. Given any initial state of the probe in the "in" region, the scattering map determines a completely positive map from "probe" observables in the "out" region to "induced system observables", thus providing a measurement scheme for the latter. It is shown that the induced system observables may be localized in the causal hull of the interaction coupling region and are typically less sharp than the probe observable, but more sharp than the actual measurement on the coupled theory. Post-selected states conditioned on measurement outcomes are obtained using Davies-Lewis instruments that depend on the initial probe state. Composite measurements involving causally ordered coupling regions are also considered. Provided that the scattering map obeys a causal factorization property, the causally ordered composition of the individual instruments coincides with the composite instrument; in particular, the instruments may be combined in either order if the coupling regions are causally disjoint. This is the central consistency property of the proposed framework. The general concepts and results are illustrated by an example in which both "system" and "probe" are quantized linear scalar fields, coupled by a quadratic interaction term with compact spacetime support. System observables induced by simple probe observables are calculated exactly, for sufficiently weak coupling, and compared with first order perturbation theory
The Spherically Symmetric Standard Model with Gravity
Spherical reduction of generic four-dimensional theories is revisited. Three
different notions of "spherical symmetry" are defined. The following sectors
are investigated: Einstein-Cartan theory, spinors, (non-)abelian gauge fields
and scalar fields. In each sector a different formalism seems to be most
convenient: the Cartan formulation of gravity works best in the purely
gravitational sector, the Einstein formulation is convenient for the Yang-Mills
sector and for reducing scalar fields, and the Newman-Penrose formalism seems
to be the most transparent one in the fermionic sector. Combining them the
spherically reduced Standard Model of particle physics together with the
usually omitted gravity part can be presented as a two-dimensional (dilaton
gravity) theory.Comment: 58 pages, 2 eps figure
Twenty years of coordination technologies: State-of-the-art and perspectives
Since complexity of inter- and intra-systems interactions is steadily increasing in modern application scenarios (e.g., the IoT), coordination technologies are required to take a crucial step towards maturity. In this paper we look back at the history of the COORDINATION conference in order to shed light on the current status of the coordination technologies there proposed throughout the years, in an attempt to understand success stories, limitations, and possibly reveal the gap between actual technologies, theoretical models, and novel application needs
Pathological consequences of VCP mutations on human striated muscle
*These authors have contributed equally to this work. Mutations in the valosin-containing protein (VCP, p97) gene on chromosome 9p13-p12 cause a late-onset form of autosomal dominant inclusion body myopathy associated with Paget disease of the bone and frontotemporal dementia (IBMPFD). We report on the pathological consequences of three heterozygous VCP (R93C, R155H, R155C) mutations on human striated muscle. IBMPFD skeletal muscle pathology is characterized by degenerative changes and filamentous VCP-and ubiquitin-positive cytoplasmic and nuclear protein aggregates. Furthermore, this is the first report demonstrating that mutant VCP leads to a novel form of dilatative cardiomyopathy with inclusion bodies. In contrast to post-mitotic striated muscle cells and neurons of IBMPFD patients, evidence of protein aggregate pathology was not detected in primary IBMPFD myoblasts or in transient and stable transfected cells using wild-type-VCP and R93C-, R155H-, R155C-VCP mutants. Glutathione S-transferase pull-down experiments showed that all three VCP mutations do not affect the binding to Ufd1, Npl4 and ataxin-3. Structural analysis demonstrated that R93 and R155 are both surface-accessible residues located in the centre of cavities that may enable ligand-binding. Mutations at R93 and R155 are predicted to induce changes in the tertiary structure of the VCP protein. The search for putative ligands to the R93 and R155 cavities resulted in the identification of cyclic sugar compounds with high binding scores. The latter findings provide a novel link to VCP carbohydrate interactions in the complex pathology of IBMPFD. Keywords: VCP; p97; myopathy; cardiomyopathy; IBMPFD Abbreviations: GST = glutathione S-transferase; IBMPFD = inclusion body myopathy associated with Paget disease of the bone and frontotemporal dementia; PBS = phosphate-buffered saline; SDS = sodium dodecyl sulphate; VCP = valosin-containing protei
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