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Motivated by the observation of non-exponential run-time distributions of bacterial swimmers, we propose a minimal phenomenological model for taxis of active particles whose motion is controlled by an internal clock. The ticking of the clock depends on an external concentration field, e.g., a chemical substance. We demonstrate that these particles can detect concentration gradients and respond to them by moving up- or down-gradient depending on the clock design, albeit measurements of these fields are purely local in space and instantaneous in time. Altogether, our results open a new route in the study of directional navigation: we show that the use of a clock to control motility actions represents a generic and versatile toolbox to engineer behavioral responses to external cues, such as light, chemical, or temperature gradients.
A novel design of an electrochemical anodization cell dedicated to the synthesis of mesoporous, single-crystalline silicon is presented. First and foremost, the design principle follows user safety since electrochemical etching of silicon requires highly hazardous electrolytes based on hydrofluoric (HF) acid. The novel cell design allows for safe electrolyte handling prior, during, and post-etching. A peristaltic pump with HF-resistant fluoroelastomer tubing transfers electrolytes between dedicated reservoirs and the anodization cell. Due to the flexibility of the cell operation, different processing conditions can be realized providing a large parameter range for the attainable sample thickness, its porosity, and the mean pore size. Rapid etching on the order of several minutes to synthesize micrometer-thick porous silicon epilayers on bulk silicon is possible as well as long-time etching with continuous, controlled electrolyte flow for several days to prepare up to 1000 mu m thick self-supporting porous silicon membranes. A highly adaptable, LabVIEW((TM))-based control software allows for user-defined etching profiles.
Whereas self-propelled hard discs undergo motility-induced phase separation, self-propelled rods exhibit a variety of nonequilibrium phenomena, including clustering, collective motion, and spatio-temporal chaos. In this work, we present a theoretical framework representing active particles by continuum fields. This concept combines the simplicity of alignment-based models, enabling analytical studies, and realistic models that incorporate the shape of self-propelled objects explicitly. By varying particle shape from circular to ellipsoidal, we show how nonequilibrium stresses acting among self-propelled rods destabilize motility-induced phase separation and facilitate orientational ordering, thereby connecting the realms of scalar and vectorial active matter. Though the interaction potential is strictly apolar, both, polar and nematic order may emerge and even coexist. Accordingly, the symmetry of ordered states is a dynamical property in active matter. The presented framework may represent various systems including bacterial colonies, cytoskeletal extracts, or shaken granular media. Interacting self-propelled particles exhibit phase separation or collective motion depending on particle shape. A unified theory connecting these paradigms represents a major challenge in active matter, which the authors address here by modeling active particles as continuum fields.
We consider a perturbation of the de Rham complex on a compact manifold with boundary. This perturbation goes beyond the framework of complexes, and so cohomology does not apply to it. On the other hand, its curvature is "small", hence there is a natural way to introduce an Euler characteristic and develop a Lefschetz theory for the perturbation. This work is intended as an attempt to develop a cohomology theory for arbitrary sequences of linear mappings.
All outer planets in the Solar System are surrounded by a ring system. Many of these rings are dust rings or they contain at least a high proportion of dust. They are often formed by impacts of micro-meteoroids onto embedded bodies. The ejected material typically consists of micron-sized charged particles, which are susceptible to gravitational and non-gravitational forces. Generally, detailed information on the dynamics and distribution of the dust requires expensive numerical simulations of a large number of particles. Here we develop a relatively simple and fast, semi-analytical model for an impact-generated planetary dust ring governed by the planet’s gravity and the relevant perturbation forces for the dynamics of small charged particles. The most important parameter of the model is the dust production rate, which is a linear factor in the calculation of the dust densities. We apply our model to dust ejected from the Galilean satellites using production rates obtained from flybys of the dust sources. The dust densities predicted by our model are in good agreement with numerical simulations and with in situ measurements by the Galileo spacecraft. The lifetimes of large particles are about two orders of magnitude greater than those of small ones, which implies a flattening of the size distribution in circumplanetary space. Information about the distribution of circumplanetary dust is also important for the risk assessment of spacecraft orbits in the respective regions.
Bacteria swim in sequences of straight runs that are interrupted by turning events. They drive their swimming locomotion with the help of rotating helical flagella. Depending on the number of flagella and their arrangement across the cell body, different run-and-turn patterns can be observed. Here, we present fluorescence microscopy recordings showing that cells of the soil bacterium Pseudomonas putida that are decorated with a polar tuft of helical flagella, can alternate between two distinct swimming patterns. On the one hand, they can undergo a classical push-pull-push cycle that is well known from monopolarly flagellated bacteria but has not been reported for species with a polar bundle of multiple flagella. Alternatively, upon leaving the pulling mode, they can enter a third slow swimming phase, where they propel themselves with their helical bundle wrapped around the cell body. A theoretical estimate based on a random-walk model shows that the spreading of a population of swimmers is strongly enhanced when cycling through a sequence of pushing, pulling, and wrapped flagellar configurations as compared to the simple push-pull-push pattern.
Aims. We investigated the ionisation conditions and distances of Galactic high-velocity clouds (HVCs) in the Galactic halo and beyond in the direction of the Local Group (LG) barycentre and anti-barycentre, by studying spectral data of 29 extragalactic background sources obtained with the Cosmic Origins Spectropgraph (COS) installed on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Methods. We model column-densities of low, intermediate, and high ions such as Si ii, C ii, Si iii, Si vi, and C iv, and use these data to construct a set of Cloudy ionisation models. Results. In total, we found 69 high-velocity absorption components along the 29 lines of sight. The components in the direction of the LG barycentre span the entire range of studied velocities, 100 less than or similar to vertical bar nu(LSR)vertical bar less than or similar to 400 km s(-1), while those in the anti-barycentre sample have velocities up to about 300 km s(-1). For 49 components, we infer the gas densities. In the direction of the LG barycentre, the gas densities exhibit a wide range from log nH = -3.96 to -2.55, while in the anti-barycentre direction the densities are systematically higher, log nH > -3.25. The barycentre absorbers can be split into two groups based on their density: a high-density group with log nH > -3.54, which can be affected by the Milky Way radiation field, and a low-density group (log nH <= -3.54). The latter has very low thermal pressures of P/k < 7.3 Kcm(-3). Conclusions. Our study shows that part of the absorbers in the LG barycentre direction trace gas at very low gas densities and thermal pressures. These properties indicate that the absorbers are located beyond the virial radius of the Milky Way. Our study also confirms results from earlier, single-sightline studies, suggesting the presence of a metal-enriched intragroup medium filling the LG near its barycentre.
gamma Cassiopeia (gamma Cas), is known to be a binary system consisting of a Be-type star and a low-mass (M similar to 1M(circle dot)) companion of unknown nature orbiting in the Be-disc plane. Here, we apply the quasi-spherical accretion theory on to a compact magnetized star and show that if the low-mass companion of gamma Cas is a fast spinning neutron star, the key observational signatures of. Cas are remarkably well reproduced. Direct accretion on to this fast rotating neutron star is impeded by the propeller mechanism. In this case, around the neutron star magnetosphere a hot shell is formed which emits thermal X-rays in qualitative and quantitative agreement with observed properties of the X-ray emission from gamma Cas. We suggest that gamma Cas and its analogues constitute a new subclass of Be-type X-ray binaries hosting rapidly rotating neutron stars formed in supernova explosions with small kicks. The subsequent evolutionary stage of gamma Cas and its analogues should be the X Per-type binaries comprising low-luminosity slowly rotating X-ray pulsars. The model explains the enigmatic X-ray emission from gamma Cas, and also establishes evolutionary connections between various types of rotating magnetized neutron stars in Be-binaries.
Subdwarf B stars are core-helium-burning stars located on the extreme horizontal branch (EHB). Extensive mass loss on the red giant branch is necessary to form them. It has been proposed that substellar companions could lead to the required mass loss when they are engulfed in the envelope of the red giant star. J08205+0008 was the first example of a hot subdwarf star with a close, substellar companion candidate to be found. Here, we perform an in-depth re-analysis of this important system with much higher quality data allowing additional analysis methods. From the higher resolution spectra obtained with ESO-VLT/XSHOOTER, we derive the chemical abundances of the hot subdwarf as well as its rotational velocity. Using the Gaia parallax and a fit to the spectral energy distribution in the secondary eclipse, tight constraints to the radius of the hot subdwarf are derived. From a long-term photometric campaign, we detected a significant period decrease of -3.2(8) x 10(-12) dd(-1). This can be explained by the non-synchronized hot subdwarf star being spun up by tidal interactions forcing it to become synchronized. From the rate of period decrease we could derive the synchronization time-scale to be 4 Myr, much smaller than the lifetime on EHB. By combining all different methods, we could constrain the hot subdwarf to a mass of 0.39-0.50 M-circle dot and a radius of R-sdB = 0.194 +/- 0.008 R-circle dot, and the companion to 0.061-0.071 M-circle dot with a radius of R-comp = 0.092 +/- 0.005 R-circle dot, below the hydrogen-burning limit. We therefore confirm that the companion is most likely a massive brown dwarf.
As the use of free electron laser (FEL) sources increases, so do the findings mentioning non-linear phenomena occurring at these experiments, such as saturable absorption, induced transparency and scattering breakdowns. These are well known among the laser community, but are still rarely understood and expected among the X-ray community and to date lack tools and theories to accurately predict the respective experimental parameters and results. We present a simple theoretical framework to access short X-ray pulse induced light- matter interactions which occur at intense short X-ray pulses as available at FEL sources. Our approach allows to investigate effects such as saturable absorption, induced transparency and scattering suppression, stimulated emission, and transmission spectra, while including the density of state influence relevant to soft X-ray spectroscopy in, for example, transition metal complexes or functional materials. This computationally efficient rate model based approach is intuitively adaptable to most solid state sample systems in the soft X-ray spectrum with the potential to be extended for liquid and gas sample systems as well. The feasibility of the model to estimate the named effects and the influence of the density of state is demonstrated using the example of CoPd transition metal systems at the Co edge. We believe this work is an important contribution for the preparation, performance, and understanding of FEL based high intensity and short pulse experiments, especially on functional materials in the soft X-ray spectrum.