Ultrasmall volume plasmons, yet with complete retardation effects

Nanoparticle plasmons are attributed to quasistatic oscillations with no wave propagation due to their subwavelength size. However, when located within a band-gap medium (even in air if the particle is small enough), the particle interfaces act as wave mirrors, incurring small negative retardation. The latter, when compensated by a respective (short) propagation within the particle, generates a constructive interference based resonator. The unusual wave interference in the subwavelength regime (modal volume <0.001lambda(3)) significantly enhances the Q factor, e.g., 50 vs 5.5 of the quasistatic limit.     

An Application of the Duality Method to the Regularity of Membrane Problems with Friction

Duality is applied to study the regularity of solutions to membrane problems with friction. The method consists of the characterization of the regularity of the subdifferentials of the friction functional. Then the regularity of a solution reduces to the regularity of a solution to a related elliptic boundary value problem or to that of an obstacle problem without friction.     

Spontaneous Resolution: From Three-Dimensional Crystals to Two-Dimensional Magic Nanoclusters

In 1848 Louis Pasteur manually separated enantiomorphous three-dimensional crystals. A 2D analogue of this experiment involving clusters of 1-nitronaphthalene bound to a gold surface has been recently performed by the research groups of Berndt and Schneider. The general principles governing separation of enantiomers from 3D crystals to 2D clusters at interfaces, and their characterization, are discussed.     

The Metabolostasis Network and the Cellular Depository of Aggregation-Prone Metabolites

The vital role of metabolites across all branches of life and their involvement in various disorders have been investigated for decades. Many metabolites are poorly soluble in water or in physiological buffers and tend to form supramolecular aggregates. On the other hand, in the cell, they should be preserved in a pool and be readily available for the execution of biochemical functions. We thus propose that a quality-control network, termed “metabolostasis”, has evolved to regulate the storage and retrieval of aggregation-prone metabolites. Such a system should control metabolite concentration, subcellular localization, supramolecular arrangement, and interaction in dynamic environments, thus enabling normal cellular physiology, healthy development, and preventing disease onset. The paradigm-shifting concept of metabolostasis calls for a reevaluation of the traditional view of metabolite storage and dynamics in physiology and pathology and proposes unprecedented directions for therapeutic targets under conditions where metabolostasis is imbalanced.