@misc{PalyulinBlackburnLomholtetal.2019,
  author    = {Palyulin, Vladimir V and Blackburn, George and Lomholt, Michael A and Watkins, Nicholas W and Metzler, Ralf and Klages, Rainer and Chechkin, Aleksei V.},
  title     = {First passage and first hitting times of L{\´e}vy flights and L{\´e}vy walks},
  series = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  journal   = {Postprints der Universit{\"a}t Potsdam Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe},
  number    = {785},
  issn      = {1866-8372},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-43983},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-439832},
  pages     = {25},
  year      = {2019},
  abstract  = {For both L{\´e}vy flight and L{\´e}vy walk search processes we analyse the full distribution of first-passage and first-hitting (or first-arrival) times. These are, respectively, the times when the particle moves across a point at some given distance from its initial position for the first time, or when it lands at a given point for the first time. For L{\´e}vy motions with their propensity for long relocation events and thus the possibility to jump across a given point in space without actually hitting it ('leapovers'), these two definitions lead to significantly different results. We study the first-passage and first-hitting time distributions as functions of the L{\´e}vy stable index, highlighting the different behaviour for the cases when the first absolute moment of the jump length distribution is finite or infinite. In particular we examine the limits of short and long times. Our results will find their application in the mathematical modelling of random search processes as well as computer algorithms.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{BarbosaPfannesAnielskiGerhardtetal.2013,
  author    = {Barbosa Pfannes, Eva Katharina and Anielski, Alexander and Gerhardt, Matthias and Beta, Carsten},
  title     = {Intracellular photoactivation of caged cGMP induces myosin II and actin responses in motile cells},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-94984},
  pages     = {1456 -- 1463},
  year      = {2013},
  abstract  = {Cyclic GMP (cGMP) is a ubiquitous second messenger in eukaryotic cells. It is assumed to regulate the association of myosin II with the cytoskeleton of motile cells. When cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum are exposed to chemoattractants or to increased osmotic stress, intracellular cGMP levels rise, preceding the accumulation of myosin II in the cell cortex. To directly investigate the impact of intracellular cGMP on cytoskeletal dynamics in a living cell, we released cGMP inside the cell by laser-induced photo-cleavage of a caged precursor. With this approach, we could directly show in a live cell experiment that an increase in intracellular cGMP indeed induces myosin II to accumulate in the cortex. Unexpectedly, we observed for the first time that also the amount of filamentous actin in the cell cortex increases upon a rise in the cGMP concentration, independently of cAMP receptor activation and signaling. We discuss our results in the light of recent work on the cGMP signaling pathway and suggest possible links between cGMP signaling and the actin system.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{Guehr2016,
  author    = {G{\"u}hr, Markus},
  title     = {Ultrafast Soft X-ray Probing of Gas Phase Molecular Dynamics},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-97215},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {The molecular ability to selectively and efficiently convert sunlight into other forms of energy like heat, bond change, or charge separation is truly remarkable. The decisive steps in these transformations often happen on a femtosecond timescale and require transitions among different electronic states that violate the Born-Oppenheimer approximation (BOA). Non-BOA transitions pose challenges to both theory and experiment. From a theoretical point of view, excited state dynamics and nonadiabatic transitions both are difficult problems (see Figure 1(a)). However, the theory on non-BOA dynamics has advanced significantly over the last two decades. Full dynamical simulations for molecules of the size of nucleobases have been possible for a couple of years and allow predictions of experimental observables like photoelectron energy or ion yield. The availability of these calculations for isolated molecules has spurred new experimental efforts to develop methods that are sufficiently different from all optical techniques. For determination of transient molecular structure, femtosecond X-ray diffraction and electron diffraction have been implemented on optically excited molecules.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{PalyulinAlaNissilaMetzler2014,
  author    = {Palyulin, Vladimir V. and Ala-Nissila, Tapio and Metzler, Ralf},
  title     = {Polymer translocation: the first two decades and the recent diversification},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-76287},
  pages     = {9016 -- 9037},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {Probably no other field of statistical physics at the borderline of soft matter and biological physics has caused such a flurry of papers as polymer translocation since the 1994 landmark paper by Bezrukov, Vodyanoy, and Parsegian and the study of Kasianowicz in 1996. Experiments, simulations, and theoretical approaches are still contributing novel insights to date, while no universal consensus on the statistical understanding of polymer translocation has been reached. We here collect the published results, in particular, the famous-infamous debate on the scaling exponents governing the translocation process. We put these results into perspective and discuss where the field is going. In particular, we argue that the phenomenon of polymer translocation is non-universal and highly sensitive to the exact specifications of the models and experiments used towards its analysis.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{MetzlerBauerRasmussenetal.2015,
  author    = {Metzler, Ralf and Bauer, Maximilian and Rasmussen, Emil S. and Lomholt, Michael A.},
  title     = {Real sequence effects on the search dynamics of transcription factors on DNA},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-79411},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Recent experiments show that transcription factors (TFs) indeed use the facilitated diffusion mechanism to locate their target sequences on DNA in living bacteria cells: TFs alternate between sliding motion along DNA and relocation events through the cytoplasm. From simulations and theoretical analysis we study the TF-sliding motion for a large section of the DNA-sequence of a common E. coli strain, based on the two-state TF-model with a fast-sliding search state and a recognition state enabling target detection. For the probability to detect the target before dissociating from DNA the TF-search times self-consistently depend heavily on whether or not an auxiliary operator (an accessible sequence similar to the main operator) is present in the genome section. Importantly, within our model the extent to which the interconversion rates between search and recognition states depend on the underlying nucleotide sequence is varied. A moderate dependence maximises the capability to distinguish between the main operator and similar sequences. Moreover, these auxiliary operators serve as starting points for DNA looping with the main operator, yielding a spectrum of target detection times spanning several orders of magnitude. Auxiliary operators are shown to act as funnels facilitating target detection by TFs.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{GhoshCherstvyPetrovetal.2016,
  author    = {Ghosh, Surya K. and Cherstvy, Andrey G. and Petrov, Eugene P. and Metzler, Ralf},
  title     = {Interactions of rod-like particles on responsive elastic sheets},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-95882},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {What are the physical laws of the mutual interactions of objects bound to cell membranes, such as various membrane proteins or elongated virus particles? To rationalise this, we here investigate by extensive computer simulations mutual interactions of rod-like particles adsorbed on the surface of responsive elastic two-dimensional sheets. Specifically, we quantify sheet deformations as a response to adhesion of such filamentous particles. We demonstrate that tip-to-tip contacts of rods are favoured for relatively soft sheets, while side-by-side contacts are preferred for stiffer elastic substrates. These attractive orientation-dependent substrate-mediated interactions between the rod-like particles on responsive sheets can drive their aggregation and self-assembly. The optimal orientation of the membrane-bound rods is established via responding to the elastic energy profiles created around the particles. We unveil the phase diagramme of attractive-repulsive rod-rod interactions in the plane of their separation and mutual orientation. Applications of our results to other systems featuring membrane-associated particles are also discussed.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{CherstvyMetzler2016,
  author    = {Cherstvy, Andrey G. and Metzler, Ralf},
  title     = {Anomalous diffusion in time-fluctuating non-stationary diffusivity landscapes},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-95901},
  pages     = {23840 -- 23852},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {We investigate the ensemble and time averaged mean squared displacements for particle diffusion in a simple model for disordered media by assuming that the local diffusivity is both fluctuating in time and has a deterministic average growth or decay in time. In this study we compare computer simulations of the stochastic Langevin equation for this random diffusion process with analytical results. We explore the regimes of normal Brownian motion as well as anomalous diffusion in the sub- and superdiffusive regimes. We also consider effects of the inertial term on the particle motion. The investigation of the resulting diffusion is performed for unconfined and confined motion.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{Goychuk2016,
  author    = {Goychuk, Igor},
  title     = {Quantum ergodicity breaking in semi-classical electron transfer dynamics},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-102264},
  pages     = {11},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {Can the statistical properties of single-electron transfer events be correctly predicted within a common equilibrium ensemble description? This fundamental in nanoworld question of ergodic behavior is scrutinized within a very basic semi-classical curve-crossing problem. It is shown that in the limit of non-adiabatic electron transfer (weak tunneling) well-described by the Marcus-Levich-Dogonadze(MLD) rate the answer is yes. However, in the limit of the so-called solvent-controlled adiabatic electron transfer, a profound breaking of ergodicity occurs. Namely, a common description based on the ensemble reduced density matrix with an initial equilibrium distribution of the reaction coordinate is not able to reproduce the statistics of single-trajectory events in this seemingly classical regime. For sufficiently large activation barriers, the ensemble survival probability in a state remains nearly exponential with the inverse rate given by the sum of the adiabatic curve crossing (Kramers) time and the inverse MLD rate. In contrast, near to the adiabatic regime, the single-electron survival probability is clearly non-exponential, even though it possesses an exponential tail which agrees well with the ensemble description. Initially, it is well described by a Mittag-Leffler distribution with a fractional rate. Paradoxically, the mean transfer time in this classical on the ensemble level regime is well described by the inverse of the nonadiabatic quantum tunneling rate on a single particle level. An analytical theory is developed which perfectly agrees with stochastic simulations and explains our findings.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{deCarvalhoMetzlerCherstvy2016,
  author    = {de Carvalho, Sidney J. and Metzler, Ralf and Cherstvy, Andrey G.},
  title     = {Critical adsorption of polyelectrolytes onto planar and convex highly charged surfaces},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-100295},
  pages     = {17},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {We study the adsorption-desorption transition of polyelectrolyte chains onto planar, cylindrical and spherical surfaces with arbitrarily high surface charge densities by massive Monte Carlo computer simulations. We examine in detail how the well known scaling relations for the threshold transition—demarcating the adsorbed and desorbed domains of a polyelectrolyte near weakly charged surfaces—are altered for highly charged interfaces. In virtue of high surface potentials and large surface charge densities, the Debye-H{\"u}ckel approximation is often not feasible and the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann approach should be implemented. At low salt conditions, for instance, the electrostatic potential from the nonlinear Poisson-Boltzmann equation is smaller than the Debye-H{\"u}ckel result, such that the required critical surface charge density for polyelectrolyte adsorption σc increases. The nonlinear relation between the surface charge density and electrostatic potential leads to a sharply increasing critical surface charge density with growing ionic strength, imposing an additional limit to the critical salt concentration above which no polyelectrolyte adsorption occurs at all. We contrast our simulations findings with the known scaling results for weak critical polyelectrolyte adsorption onto oppositely charged surfaces for the three standard geometries. Finally, we discuss some applications of our results for some physical-chemical and biophysical systems.},
  language  = {en}
}
@misc{KoseskaZaikinKurthsetal.2009,
  author    = {Koseska, Aneta and Zaikin, Alexey and Kurths, J{\"u}rgen and Garc{\´i}a-Ojalvo, Jordi},
  title     = {Timing cellular decision making under noise via cell-cell communication},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-45260},
  year      = {2009},
  abstract  = {Many cellular processes require decision making mechanisms, which must act reliably even in the unavoidable presence of substantial amounts of noise. However, the multistable genetic switches that underlie most decision-making processes are dominated by fluctuations that can induce random jumps between alternative cellular states. Here we show, via theoretical modeling of a population of noise-driven bistable genetic switches, that reliable timing of decision-making processes can be accomplished for large enough population sizes, as long as cells are globally coupled by chemical means. In the light of these results, we conjecture that cell proliferation, in the presence of cell-cell communication, could provide a mechanism for reliable decision making in the presence of noise, by triggering cellular transitions only when the whole cell population reaches a certain size. In other words , the summation performed by the cell population would average out the noise and reduce its detrimental impact.},
  language  = {en}
}