5,034 research outputs found
C in intense femtosecond laser pulses: nonlinear dipole response and ionization
We study the interaction of strong femtosecond laser pulses with the C
molecule employing time-dependent density functional theory with the ionic
background treated in a jellium approximation. The laser intensities considered
are below the threshold of strong fragmentation but too high for perturbative
treatments such as linear response. The nonlinear response of the model to
excitations by short pulses of frequencies up to 45eV is presented and analyzed
with the help of Kohn-Sham orbital resolved dipole spectra. In femtosecond
laser pulses of 800nm wavelength ionization is found to occur multiphoton-like
rather than via excitation of a ``giant'' resonance.Comment: 14 pages, including 1 table, 5 figure
Delayed differentiation of epidermal cells walls can underlie pedomorphosis in plants: the case of pedomorphic petals in the hummingbird-pollinated Caiophora hibiscifolia (Loasaceae, subfam. Loasoideae) species
Understanding the relationship between macroevolutionary diversity and variation in organism development is an important goal of evolutionary biology. Variation in the morphology of several plant and animal lineages is attributed to pedomorphosis, a case of heterochrony, where an ancestral juvenile shape is retained in an adult descendant. Pedomorphosis facilitated morphological adaptation in different plant lineages, but its cellular and molecular basis needs further exploration. Plant development differs from animal development in that cells are enclosed by cell walls and do not migrate. Moreover, in many plant lineages, the differentiated epidermis of leaves, and leaf-derived structures, such as petals, limits organ growth. We, therefore, proposed that pedomorphosis in leaves, and in leaf-derived structures, results from delayed differentiation of epidermal cells with respect to reproductive maturity. This idea was explored for petal evolution, given the importance of corolla morphology for angiosperm reproductive success
Inhibition of crown gall induction by Agrobacterium vitis strain F2/5 in grapevine and Ricinus
Biological control measures to prevent or reduce Agrobacterium vitis-caused losses in grapevine cultures are a worldwide increasing challenge. In the present study, tumour development in grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) was induced in the sensitive cv. Kerner by infection with Agrobacterium vitis strain K306, carrying the p35Sgus-int plasmid with the gus gene as marker for transformation by the wild-type T-DNA. Pre-inoculation with the non-tumorigenic A. vitis strain F2/5 prevented tumour induction by K306(p35gus-int). Strain M1154, a Tn5 mutant of F2/5 in the luxR-like aviR gene, partially reduced the biocontrol efficiency compared to the wild-type F2/5. GUS-labelling by K306gus was poor in grapevine in contrast to A. tumefaciens 281(p35gus-int)-induced tumours in Arabidopsis, indicating plant species-dependent variable gus expression. To use the more reliable direct mRNA expression assay by RTPCR, a new experimental plant/A. vitis system was established with Ricinus communis as model plant. Ricinus/A. vitis galls were available within one week after K306gus inoculation, reached diameters up to 5 cm, and contained more abundant GUS staining. An additional transformation marker, mRNA expression of the T-DNA-located iaaM oncogene, coding auxin synthesis, was apparent only in tumours induced by the wild-type A. vitis strain K306 in the absence of the gus construct, which is under the control of the strong 35S CaMV promoter. F2/5 pre-inoculation suppressed GUS staining and gus mRNA expression. DAPI staining revealed the loss of vital fluorescent cell nuclei in F2/5-inoculated grapevine tissue and thus inhibition of any successful T-DNA transfer into host cell nuclei. Differentiation of typical circular vessels in globular vascular bundles in M1154-pretreated galls suggests interference with plant auxin metabolism. In conclusion, together with successfully establishing a new experimental model system, Ricinus/A. vitis, pre-treatment of host tissue with the non-pathogenic strain F2/5 resulted in preventing the integration and expression of the oncogenic T-DNA of A. vitis strains by locally necrotizing host cell nuclei.
About possible contribution of intrinsic charm component to inclusive spectra of charmed mesons
We calculate differential energy spectra (-distributions) of charmed
particles produced in proton-nucleus collisions, assuming the existence of
intrinsic heavy quark components in the proton wave function. For the
calculation, the recently proposed factorization scheme is used, based on the
Color Glass Condensate theory and specially suited for predictions of a
production of particles with large rapidities. It is argued that the intrinsic
charm component can, if it exists, dominate in a sum of two components,
intrinsic + extrinsic, of the inclusive spectrum of charmed particles produced
in proton-nucleus collisions at high energies, in the region of medium ,
, and can give noticeable contribution to atmospheric fluxes
of prompt muons and neutrinos.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures. Version published in J. Phys. G
Time-dependent electron transport through a strongly correlated quantum dot: multiple-probe open boundary conditions approach
We present a time-dependent study of electron transport through a strongly
correlated quantum dot. The time-dependent current is obtained with the
multiple-probe battery method, while adiabatic lattice density functional
theory in the Bethe ansatz local-density approximation to the Hubbard model
describes the dot electronic structure. We show that for a certain range of
voltages the quantum dot can be driven into a dynamical state characterized by
regular current oscillations. This is a manifestation of a recently proposed
dynamical picture of Coulomb blockade. Furthermore, we investigate how the
various approximations to the electron-electron interaction affect the
line-shapes of the Coulomb peaks and the I-V characteristics. We show that the
presence of the derivative discontinuity in the approximate
exchange-correlation potential leads to significantly different results
compared to those obtained at the simpler Hartree level of description. In
particular, a negative differential conductance (NDC) in the I-V
characteristics is observed at large bias voltages and large Coulomb
interaction strengths. We demonstrate that such NDC originates from the
combined effect of electron-electron interaction in the dot and the finite
bandwidth of the electrodes.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Time-dependent density functional theory beyond the adiabatic local density approximation
In the current density functional theory of linear and nonlinear
time-dependent phenomena, the treatment of exchange and correlation beyond the
level of the adiabatic local density approximation is shown to lead to the
appearance of viscoelastic stresses in the electron fluid. Complex and
frequency-dependent viscosity/elasticity coefficients are microscopically
derived and expressed in terms of properties of the homogeneous electron gas.
As a first consequence of this formalism, we provide an explicit formula for
the linewidths of collective excitations in electronic systems.Comment: RevTeX, 4 page
Broken Symmetry in Density-Functional Theory: Analysis and Cure
We present a detailed analysis of the broken-symmetry mean-field solutions
using a four-electron rectangular quantum dot as a model system. Comparisons of
the density-functional theory predictions with the exact ones show that the
symmetry breaking results from the single-configuration wave function used in
the mean-field approach. As a general cure we present a scheme that
systematically incorporates several configurations into the density-functional
theory and restores the symmetry. This cure is easily applicable to any
density-functional approach.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to PR
Collective charge-density excitations of non-circular quantum dots in a magnetic field
Recent photoabsorption measurements have revealed a rich fine structure in
the collective charge-density excitation spectrum of few-electron quantum dots
in the presence of magnetic fields. We have performed systematic computational
studies of the far-infrared density response of quantum dots, using
time-dependent density-functional theory in the linear regime and treating the
dots as two-dimensional disks. It turns out that the main characteristics
observed in the experiment can be understood in terms of the electronic shell
structure of the quantum dots. However, new features arise if a breaking of the
circular symmetry of the dots is allowed, leading to an improved description of
the experimental results.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
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