@phdthesis{Zoeller2005,
  author    = {Z{\"o}ller, Gert},
  title     = {Critical states of seismicity : modeling and data analysis},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-7427},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {The occurrence of earthquakes is characterized by a high degree of spatiotemporal complexity. Although numerous patterns, e.g. fore- and aftershock sequences, are well-known, the underlying mechanisms are not observable and thus not understood. Because the recurrence times of large earthquakes are usually decades or centuries, the number of such events in corresponding data sets is too small to draw conclusions with reasonable statistical significance. Therefore, the present study combines both, numerical modeling and analysis of real data in order to unveil the relationships between physical mechanisms and observational quantities. The key hypothesis is the validity of the so-called "critical point concept" for earthquakes, which assumes large earthquakes to occur as phase transitions in a spatially extended many-particle system, similar to percolation models. New concepts are developed to detect critical states in simulated and in natural data sets. The results indicate that important features of seismicity like the frequency-size distribution and the temporal clustering of earthquakes depend on frictional and structural fault parameters. In particular, the degree of quenched spatial disorder (the "roughness") of a fault zone determines whether large earthquakes occur quasiperiodically or more clustered. This illustrates the power of numerical models in order to identify regions in parameter space, which are relevant for natural seismicity. The critical point concept is verified for both, synthetic and natural seismicity, in terms of a critical state which precedes a large earthquake: a gradual roughening of the (unobservable) stress field leads to a scale-free (observable) frequency-size distribution. Furthermore, the growth of the spatial correlation length and the acceleration of the seismic energy release prior to large events is found. The predictive power of these precursors is, however, limited. Instead of forecasting time, location, and magnitude of individual events, a contribution to a broad multiparameter approach is encouraging.},
  subject      = {Seismizit{\"a}t},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Schmeja2006,
  author    = {Schmeja, Stefan},
  title     = {Properties of turbulent star-forming clusters : models versus observations},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-7364},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Stars are born in turbulent molecular clouds that fragment and collapse under the influence of their own gravity, forming a cluster of hundred or more stars. The star formation process is controlled by the interplay between supersonic turbulence and gravity. In this work, the properties of stellar clusters created by numerical simulations of gravoturbulent fragmentation are compared to those from observations. This includes the analysis of properties of individual protostars as well as statistical properties of the entire cluster. It is demonstrated that protostellar mass accretion is a highly dynamical and time-variant process. The peak accretion rate is reached shortly after the formation of the protostellar core. It is about one order of magnitude higher than the constant accretion rate predicted by the collapse of a classical singular isothermal sphere, in agreement with the observations. For a more reasonable comparison, the model accretion rates are converted to the observables bolometric temperature, bolometric luminosity, and envelope mass. The accretion rates from the simulations are used as input for an evolutionary scheme. The resulting distribution in the Tbol-Lbol-Menv parameter space is then compared to observational data by means of a 3D Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The highest probability found that the distributions of model tracks and observational data points are drawn from the same population is 70\%. The ratios of objects belonging to different evolutionary classes in observed star-forming clusters are compared to the temporal evolution of the gravoturbulent models in order to estimate the evolutionary stage of a cluster. While it is difficult to estimate absolute ages, the realtive numbers of young stars reveal the evolutionary status of a cluster with respect to other clusters. The sequence shows Serpens as the youngest and IC 348 as the most evolved of the investigated clusters. Finally the structures of young star clusters are investigated by applying different statistical methods like the normalised mean correlation length and the minimum spanning tree technique and by a newly defined measure for the cluster elongation. The clustering parameters of the model clusters correspond in many cases well to those from observed ones. The temporal evolution of the clustering parameters shows that the star cluster builds up from several subclusters and evolves to a more centrally concentrated cluster, while the cluster expands slower than new stars are formed.},
  subject      = {Sternentstehung},
  language  = {en}
}
@inproceedings{HainzlScherbaumZoeller2006,
  author    = {Hainzl, Sebastian and Scherbaum, Frank and Z{\"o}ller, Gert},
  title     = {Spatiotemporal earthquake patterns},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-7267},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {Interdisziplin{\"a}res Zentrum f{\"u}r Musterdynamik und Angewandte Fernerkundung Workshop vom 9. - 10. Februar 2006},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{NarayananNair2006,
  author    = {Narayanan Nair, Arun Kumar},
  title     = {Molecular dynamics simulations of polyelectrolyte brushes},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-7005},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2006},
  abstract  = {This thesis studies strong, completely charged polyelectrolyte brushes. Extensive molecular dynamics simulations are performed on different polyelectrolyte brush systems using local compute servers and massively parallel supercomputers. The full Coulomb interaction of charged monomers, counterions, and salt ions is treated explicitly. The polymer chains are anchored by one of their ends to a uncharged planar surface. The chains are treated under good solvent conditions. Monovalent salt ions (1:1 type) are modelled same as counterions. The studies concentrate on three different brush systems at constant temperature and moderate Coulomb interaction strength (Bjerrum length equal to bond length): The first system consists of a single polyelectrolyte brush anchored with varying grafting density to a plane. Results show that chains are extended up to about 2/3 of their contour length. The brush thickness slightly grows with increasing anchoring density. This slight dependence of the brush height on grafting density is in contrast to the well known scaling result for the osmotic brush regime. That is why the result obtained by simulations has stimulated further development of theory as well as new experimental investigations on polyelectrolyte brushes. This observation can be understood on a semi-quantitative level using a simple scaling model that incorporates excluded volume effects in a free-volume formulation where an effective cross section is assigned to the polymer chain from where couterions are excluded. The resulting regime is called nonlinear osmotic brush regime. Recently this regime was also obtained in experiments. The second system studied consists of polyelectrolyte brushes with added salt in the nonlinear osmotic regime. Varying salt is an important parameter to tune the structure and properties of polyelectrolytes. Further motivation is due to a theoretical scaling prediction by Pincus for the salt dependence of brush thickness. In the high salt limit (salt concentration much larger than counterion concentration) the brush height is predicted to decrease with increasing external salt, but with a relatively weak power law showing an exponent -1/3. There is some experimental and theoretical work that confirms this prediction, but there are other results that are in contradiction. In such a situation simulations are performed to validate the theoretical prediction. The simulation result shows that brush thickness decreases with added salt, and indeed is in quite good agreement with the scaling prediction by Pincus. The relation between buffer concentration and the effective ion strength inside the brush at varying salt concentration is of interest both from theoretical as well as experimental point of view. The simulation result shows that mobile ions (counterions as well as salt) distribute nonhomogeneously inside and outside of the brush. To explain the relation between the internal ion concentration with the buffer concentration a Donnan equilibrium approach is employed. Modifying the Donnan approach by taking into account the self-volume of polyelectrolyte chains as indicated above, the simulation result can be explained using the same effective cross section for the polymer chains. The extended Donnan equilibrium relation represents a interesting theoretical prediction that should be checked by experimental data. The third system consist of two interacting polyelectrolyte brushes that are grafted to two parallel surfaces. The interactions between brushes are important, for instance, in stabilization of dispersions against flocculation. In the simulations pressure is evaluated as a function of separation D between the two grafting planes. The pressure behavior shows different regimes for decreasing separation. This behavior is in qualitative agreement with experimental data. At relatively weak compression the pressure behavior obtained in the simulation agrees with a 1/D power law predicted by scaling theory. Beyond that the present study could supply new insight for understanding the interaction between polyelectrolyte brushes.},
  subject      = {Molekulardynamik},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Stachlewska2005,
  author    = {Stachlewska, Iwona Sylwia},
  title     = {Investigation of tropospheric arctic aerosol and mixed-phase clouds using airborne lidar technique},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-6984},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {An Airborne Mobile Aerosol Lidar (AMALi) was constructed and built at Alfred-Wegener-Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Potsdam, Germany for the lower tropospheric aerosol and cloud research under tough arctic conditions. The system was successfully used during two AWI airborne field campaigns, ASTAR 2004 and SVALEX 2005, performed in vicinity of Spitsbergen in the Arctic. The novel evaluation schemes, the Two-Stream Inversion and the Iterative Airborne Inversion, were applied to the obtained lidar data. Thereby, calculation of the particle extinction and backscatter coefficient profiles with corresponding lidar ratio profiles characteristic for the arctic air was possible. The comparison of these lidar results with the results of other in-situ and remote instrumentation (ground based Koldewey Aerosol Raman Lidar (KARL), sunphotometer, radiosounding, satellite imagery) allowed to provided clean contra polluted (Arctic Haze) characteristics of the arctic aerosols. Moreover, the data interpretation by means of the ECMWF Operational Analyses and small-scale dispersion model EULAG allowed studying the effects of the Spitsbergens orography on the aerosol load in the Planetary Boundary Layer. With respect to the cloud studies a new methodology of alternated remote AMALi measurements with the airborne in-situ cloud optical and microphysical parameters measurements was proved feasible for the low density mixed-phase cloud studies. An example of such approach during observation of the natural cloud seeding (feeder-seeder phenomenon) with ice crystals precipitating into the lower supercooled stratocumulus deck were discussed in terms of the lidar signal intensity profiles and corresponding depolarisation ratio profiles. For parts of the cloud system characterised by almost negligible multiple scattering the calculation of the particle backscatter coefficient profiles was possible using the lidar ratio information obtained from the in-situ measurements in ice-crystal cloud and water cloud.},
  subject      = {Aerosol},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Boroudjerdi2005,
  author    = {Boroudjerdi, Hoda},
  title     = {Charged polymer-macroion complexes},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-6282},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {This work explores the equilibrium structure and thermodynamic phase behavior of complexes formed by charged polymer chains (polyelectrolytes) and oppositely charged spheres (macroions). Polyelectrolyte-macroion complexes form a common pattern in soft-matter physics, chemistry and biology, and enter in numerous technological applications as well. From a fundamental point of view, such complexes are interesting in that they combine the subtle interplay between electrostatic interactions and elastic as well as entropic effects due to conformational changes of the polymer chain, giving rise to a wide range of structural properties. This forms the central theme of theoretical studies presented in this thesis, which concentrate on a number of different problems involving strongly coupled complexes, i.e. complexes that are characterized by a large adsorption energy and small chain fluctuations. In the first part, a global analysis of the structural phase behavior of a single polyelectrolyte-macroion complex is presented based on a dimensionless representation, yielding results that cover a wide range of realistic system parameters. Emphasize is made on the interplay between the effects due to the polyelectrolytes chain length, salt concentration and the macroion charge as well as the mechanical chain persistence length. The results are summarized into generic phase diagrams characterizing the wrapping-dewrapping behavior of a polyelectrolyte chain on a macroion. A fully wrapped chain state is typically obtained at intermediate salt concentrations and chain lengths, where the amount of polyelectrolyte charge adsorbed on the macroion typically exceeds the bare macroion charge leading thus to a highly overcharged complex. Perhaps the most striking features occur when a single long polyelectrolyte chain is complexed with many oppositely charged spheres. In biology, such complexes form between DNA (which carries the cell's genetic information) and small oppositely charged histone proteins serving as an efficient mechanism for packing a huge amount of DNA into the micron-size cell nucleus in eucaryotic cells. The resultant complex fiber, known as the chromatin fiber, appears with a diameter of 30~nm under physiological conditions. Recent experiments indicate a zig-zag spatial arrangement for individual DNA-histone complexes (nucleosome core particles) along the chromatin fiber. A numerical method is introduced in this thesis based on a simple generic chain-sphere cell model that enables one to investigate the mechanism of fiber formation on a systematic level by incorporating electrostatic and elastic contributions. As will be shown, stable complex fibers exhibit an impressive variety of structures including zig-zag, solenoidal and beads-on-a-string patterns, depending on system parameters such as salt concentration, sphere charge as well as the chain contour length (per sphere). The present results predict fibers of compact zig-zag structure within the physiologically relevant regime with a diameter of about 30~nm, when DNA-histone parameters are adopted. In the next part, a numerical method is developed in order to investigate the role of thermal fluctuations on the structure and thermodynamic phase behavior of polyelectrolyte-macroion complexes. This is based on a saddle-point approximation, which allows to describe the experimentally observed reaction (or complexation) equilibrium in a dilute solution of polyelectrolytes and macroions on a systematic level. This equilibrium is determined by the entropy loss a single polyelectrolyte chain suffers as it binds to an oppositely charged macroion. This latter quantity can be calculated from the spectrum of polyelectrolyte fluctuations around a macroion, which is determined by means of a normal-mode analysis. Thereby, a stability phase diagram is obtained, which exhibits qualitative agreement with experimental findings. At elevated complex concentrations, one needs to account for the inter-complex interactions as well. It will be shown that at small separations, complexes undergo structural changes in such a way that positive patches from one complex match up with negative patches on the other. Furthermore, one of the polyelectrolyte chains may bridge between the two complexes. These mechanisms lead to a strong inter-complex attraction. As a result, the second virial coefficient associated with the inter-complex interaction becomes negative at intermediate salt concentrations in qualitative agreement with recent experiments on solutions of nucleosome core particles.},
  subject      = {Biopolymere},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Kraikivski2005,
  author    = {Kraikivski, Pavel},
  title     = {Non-equilibrium dynamics of adsorbed polymers and filaments},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-5979},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {In the present work, we discuss two subjects related to the nonequilibrium dynamics of polymers or biological filaments adsorbed to two-dimensional substrates. The first part is dedicated to thermally activated dynamics of polymers on structured substrates in the presence or absence of a driving force. The structured substrate is represented by double-well or periodic potentials. We consider both homogeneous and point driving forces. Point-like driving forces can be realized in single molecule manipulation by atomic force microscopy tips. Uniform driving forces can be generated by hydrodynamic flow or by electric fields for charged polymers. In the second part, we consider collective filament motion in motility assays for motor proteins, where filaments glide over a motor-coated substrate. The model for the simulation of the filament dynamics contains interactive deformable filaments that move under the influence of forces from molecular motors and thermal noise. Motor tails are attached to the substrate and modeled as flexible polymers (entropic springs), motor heads perform a directed walk with a given force-velocity relation. We study the collective filament dynamics and pattern formation as a function of the motor and filament density, the force-velocity characteristics, the detachment rate of motor proteins and the filament interaction. In particular, the formation and statistics of filament patterns such as nematic ordering due to motor activity or clusters due to blocking effects are investigated. Our results are experimentally accessible and possible experimental realizations are discussed.},
  subject      = {Polymere},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Christensen2005,
  author    = {Christensen, Lise Bech},
  title     = {Probing quasar sight lines in three dimensions},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-5844},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {Strong damped Lyman alpha absorption (DLA) lines seen spectra of distant quasar are believed to arise when the sight line to the quasar goes trough the disc of a galaxy or a proto galaxy. Most of the neutral matter in the universe is contained in these clouds of neutral hydrogen that cause the absorption lines. Hence these DLAs are reservoirs for the formation of stars and galaxies throughout the universe. Despite intensive efforts over more than two decades only few galaxies responsible for the DLAs have been found. The problem is that the galaxies that harbour the neutral clouds are not necessarily bright, and selecting galaxies based on absorption lines could well select different types of galaxies than found in large surveys. If we are to understand how galaxies form out of neutral gas clouds it is essential to locate the galaxies in which DLAs reside. This thesis explores the use of integral field spectroscopy (IFS) to observe quasars known to have strong absorption lines in their spectra. IFS allows us to obtain a spectrum at many spatial points close to the quasar, thus providing images and spectroscopy simultaneously. From the imaging part, we can directly identify objects, and from the spectroscopy we can calculate the distances to the objects. When the distance of the object found in emission matches the distance to the object that cause the DLA line, we have identified the absorbing galaxy. Using this technique, we have showed that we can successfully recover a few DLA galaxies known previously from the literature. In a survey aimed to increase the number of DLA galaxies we have identified eight new candidate DLA galaxies. The projected distances from the candidates to the quasar sight lines indicate that the DLA galaxies have sizes similar to local disc galaxies. Hence our results suggest that large discs may be present when the universe was just 2 billion years old. We furthermore find no differences between the sizes of the very distant DLA galaxies and those that are not so distant. The large sizes imply that their neutral hydrogen masses are also similar to those in local galaxies, but we argue that the DLA galaxies are not necessarily as luminous as the present day disc galaxies. Taking advantage of the three-dimensional view provided by the IFS data, the second part of this thesis investigates extended emission line regions arising in the quasar neighborhood. We find that extended emission line nebulae are common around quasars, and explore the effects that may be the cause. Some quasars are known to be powerful radio emitters while others are not detected at radio wavelengths. We find that significantly larger and brighter emission line nebulae are found around the quasars which have the brightest radio emission, and in particular those that have large radio jets. The existence of the nebulae can be interpreted as an interaction of the radio jet with the surrounding medium, but we can not rule out a scenario where there are density or temperature differences in the surrounding environment. Only for the brightest object, where additional velocity information can be derived from the IFS data, can we argue for an interaction. In conclusion the use of IFS to search for faint emission lines, both from point sources and extended nebulae provides exciting new results within the scientific areas studied here.},
  subject      = {Emissionslinien-Galaxie},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Varykhalov2005,
  author    = {Varykhalov, Andrei},
  title     = {Quantum-size effects in the electronic structure of novel self-organized systems with reduced dimensionality},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-5784},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {The Thesis is focused on the properties of self-organized nanostructures. Atomic and electronic properties of different systems have been investigated using methods of electron diffraction, scanning tunneling microscopy and photoelectron spectroscopy. Implementation of the STM technique (including design, construction, and tuning of the UHV experimental set-up) has been done in the framework of present work. This time-consuming work is reported to greater detail in the experimental part of this Thesis. The scientific part starts from the study of quantum-size effects in the electronic structure of a two-dimensional Ag film on the supporting substrate Ni(111). Distinct quantum well states in the sp-band of Ag were observed in photoelectron spectra. Analysis of thickness- and angle-dependent photoemission supplies novel information on the properties of the interface. For the first time the Ni(111) relative band gap was indirectly probed in the ground-state through the electronic structure of quantum well states in the adlayer. This is particularly important for Ni where valence electrons are strongly correlated. Comparison of the experiment with calculations performed in the formalism of the extended phase accumulation model gives the substrate gap which is fully consistent with the one obtained by ab-initio LDA calculations. It is, however, in controversy to the band structure of Ni measured directly by photoemission. These results lend credit to the simplest view of photoemission from Ni, assigning early observed contradictions between theory and experiments to electron correlation effects in the final state of photoemission. Further, nanosystems of lower dimensionality have been studied. Stepped surfaces W(331) and W(551) were used as one-dimensional model systems and as templates for self-organization of Au nanoclusters. Photon energy dependent photoemission revealed a surface resonance which was never observed before on W(110) which is the base plane of the terrace microsurfaces. The dispersion E(k) of this state measured on stepped W(331) and W(551) with angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy is modified by a strong umklapp effect. It appears as two parabolas shifted symmetrically relative to the microsurface normal by half of the Brillouin zone of the step superlattice. The reported results are very important for understanding of the electronic properties of low-dimensional nanostructures. It was also established that W(331) and W(551) can serve as templates for self-organization of metallic nanostructures. A combined study of electronic and atomic properties of sub-monolayer amounts of gold deposited on these templates have shown that if the substrate is slightly pre-oxidized and the temperature is elevated, then Au can alloy with the first monolayer of W. As a result, a nanostructure of uniform clusters of a surface alloy is produced all over the steps. Such clusters feature a novel sp-band in the vicinity of the Fermi level, which appears split into constant energy levels due to effects of lateral quantization. The last and main part of this work is devoted to large-scale reconstructions on surfaces and nanostructures self-assembled on top. The two-dimensional surface carbide W(110)/C-R(15x3) has been extensively investigated. Photoemission studies of quantum size effects in the electronic structure of this reconstruction, combined with an investigation of its surface geometry, lead to an advanced structural model of the carbide overlayer. It was discovered that W(110)/C-R(15x3) can control self-organization of adlayers into nanostructures with extremely different electronic and structural properties. Thus, it was established that at elevated temperature the R(15x3) superstructure controls the self-assembly of sub-monolayer amounts of Au into nm-wide nanostripes. Based on the results of core level photoemission, the R(15x3)-induced surface alloying which takes place between Au and W can be claimed as driving force of self-organization. The observed stripes exhibit a characteristic one-dimensional electronic structure with laterally quantized d-bands. Obviously, these are very important for applications, since dimensions of electronic devices have already stepped into the nm-range, where quantum-size phenomena must undoubtedly be considered. Moreover, formation of perfectly uniform molecular clusters of C60 was demonstrated and described in terms of the van der Waals formalism. It is the first experimental observation of two-dimensional fullerene nanoclusters with "magic numbers". Calculations of the cluster potentials using the static approach have revealed characteristic minima in the interaction energy. They are achieved for 4 and 7 molecules per cluster. The obtained "magic numbers" and the corresponding cluster structures are fully consistent with the results of the STM measurements.},
  subject      = {Nanostruktur},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Kubowicz2005,
  author    = {Kubowicz, Stephan},
  title     = {Design and characterization of multicompartment micelles in aqueous solution},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-5752},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2005},
  abstract  = {Self-assembly of polymeric building blocks is a powerful tool for the design of novel materials and structures that combine different properties and may respond to external stimuli. In the past decades, most studies were focused on the self-assembly of amphiphilic diblock copolymers in solution. The dissolution of these block copolymers in a solvent selective for one block results mostly in the formation of micelles. The micellar structure of diblock copolymers is inherently limited to a homogeneous core surrounded by a corona, which keeps the micelle in solution. Thus, for drug-delivery applications, such structures only offer a single domain (the hydrophobic inner core) for drug entrapment. Whereas multicompartment micelles composed of a water-soluble shell and a segregated hydrophobic core are novel, interesting morphologies for applications in a variety of fields including medicine, pharmacy and biotechnology. The separated incompatible compartments of the hydrophobic core could enable the selective entrapment and release of various hydrophobic drugs while the hydrophilic shell would permit the stabilization of these nanostructures in physiological media. However, so far, the preparation and control of stable multicompartment micellar systems are in the first stages and the number of morphological studies concerning such micelles is rather low. Thus considerably little is known about their exact inner structures. In the present study, we concentrate on four different approaches for the preparation of multicompartment micelles by self-assembly in aqueous media. A similarity of all approaches was that hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon blocks were selected for all employed copolymers since such segments tend to be strongly incompatible, and thus favor the segregation into distinct domains. Our studies have shown that the self-assembly of the utilized copolymers in aqueous solution leads in three cases to the formation of multicompartment micelles. As expected the shape and size of the micelles depend on the molecular architecture and to some extent also on the way of preparation. These novel structured colloids may serve as models as well as mimics for biological structures such as globular proteins, and may open interesting opportunities for nanotechnology applications.},
  subject      = {Amphiphile Verbindungen},
  language  = {en}
}