Casimir force in dense confined electrolytes

ABSTRACT

Understanding the force between charged surfaces immersed in an electrolyte solution is a classic problem in soft matter and liquid-state theory. Recent experiments showed that the force decays exponentially but the characteristic decay length in a concentrated electrolyte is significantly larger than what liquid-state theories predict based on analysing correlation functions in the bulk electrolyte. Inspired by the classical Casimir effect, we consider an additional mechanism for force generation, namely the confinement of density fluctuations in the electrolyte by the walls. We show analytically within the random phase approximation, which assumes the ions to be point charges, that this fluctuation-induced force is attractive and also decays exponentially, albeit with a decay length that is half of the bulk correlation length. These predictions change dramatically when excluded volume effects are accounted for within the mean spherical approximation. At high ion concentrations the Casimir force is found to be exponentially damped oscillatory as a function of the distance between the confining surfaces. Our analysis does not resolve the riddle of the anomalously long screening length observed in experiments, but suggests that the Casimir force due to mode restriction in density fluctuations could be an hitherto under-appreciated source of surface–surface interaction.     

Thermodynamic properties of solvated peptides from selective integrated tempering sampling with a new weighting factor estimation algorithm

Conformational sampling under rugged energy landscape is always a challenge in computer simulations. The recently developed integrated tempering sampling, together with its selective variant (SITS), emerges to be a powerful tool in exploring the free energy landscape or functional motions of various systems. The estimation of weighting factors constitutes a critical step in these methods and requires accurate calculation of partition function ratio between different thermodynamic states. In this work, we propose a new adaptive update algorithm to compute the weighting factors based on the weighted histogram analysis method (WHAM). The adaptive-WHAM algorithm with SITS is then applied to study the thermodynamic properties of several representative peptide systems solvated in an explicit water box. The performance of the new algorithm is validated in simulations of these solvated peptide systems. We anticipate more applications of this coupled optimisation and production algorithm to other complicated systems such as the biochemical reactions in solution.     

基于相对论Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov近似的新幻数研究（英文）

基于相对论Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov （RHFB） 近似分别探索了质量-电荷极限下的超重元素与极端中质比下的奇特原子核中的新幻数问题。研究结果表明,赝自旋对称性的守恒和破缺与超重核区球形幻数结构的形成密切相关,并分别决定了中子与质子的新幻数结构。同时,理论模型之间的差异也与之密切相关。在中重奇特核区,RHFB近似很好地再现了Ca 同位素中的新幻数N = 32,34,其中同位旋矢量道中洛伦兹张量耦合扮演了较为关键的角色。以此为例,研究证明了显式考虑交换（Fock） 项的RHFB 近似的可靠性。Recent applications of the relativistic Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (RHFB) approach in exploring the new magicities under extreme conditions are presented for the superheavy elements with the limits of mass and charge and for the exotic nuclei with extreme neutron-to-proton ratios. It is found that the emergence of new magic shells in superheavy region is tightly related to the restoration and violation of pseudo-spin symmetry, respectively for the neutron and proton ones, in which the model deviations are indicated and discussed. In medium-heavy exotic nuclei, the occurrence of new magicity N = 32, 34 in Ca isotopes is well reproduced by the RHFB approach, in which the isovector Lorentz tensor couplings are found to play an essential role. The results exemplify that the RHFB approach, which considers the exchange (Fock) terms explicitly, furnishes a new theoretical instrument for advancing relativistic nuclear mean-field approaches.     

Analytical and empirical studies on the characteristic resistances of no-insulation GdBCO racetrack pancake coil under various operating currents

This paper presents the effects of the Lorentz force on the electrical behaviors of the no-insulation (NI) GdBCO racetrack pancake (RP) coil without turn-to-turn insulation by performing charging/discharging and sudden-discharging tests. The simulation results of the 2-dimensional finite element method showed that the Lorentz forces were generated towards the center of the winding pack consisting of 60-turn GdBCO CCs, which could enhanced the turn-to-turn contact within the RP coil. The charging/discharging test results indicated that the characteristic resistance (R_c) of the NI RP coil decreased with increasing operating current, which was caused by an increase of the Lorentz force. Further, the results of the sudden-discharging tests exhibited that the Lorentz force was dissipated instantly during the sudden-discharge of the coil, since the operating current immediately decreased to zero. Overall, this study clearly demonstrated that the Lorentz force induced by the operating current exerts the electrical behaviors of an NI RP coil.     

A comparison of the surface nanostructure from two different types of gram-negative cells: Escherichia coli and Rhodobacter sphaeroides

Bacteria have been studied using different microscopy methods for many years. Recently, the developments of high-speed atomic force microscopy have opened the doors to study bacteria in new ways due to the fact that it uses much less force on the sample while imaging. This makes the high-speed atomic force microscope an indispensable technique for imaging the surface of living bacterial cells because it allows for the high-resolution visualization of surface proteins in their natural condition without disrupting the cell or the activity of the proteins. Previous work examining living cells of Magnetospirillum magneticum AMB-1 demonstrated that the surface of these bacteria was covered with a net-like structure that is mainly composed of porin molecules. However, it was unclear whether or not this feature was unique to other living bacteria. In this study we used the high-speed atomic force microscope to examine the surface of living cells of Escherichia coli and Rhodobacter sphaeroides to compare their structure with that of M. magneticum. Our research clearly demonstrated that both of these types of cells have an outer surface that is covered in a network of nanometer-sized holes similar to M. magneticum. The diameter of the holes was 8.0 ± 1.5 nm for E. coli and 6.6 ± 1.1 nm for R. sphaeroides. The results in this paper confirm that this type of outer surface structure exists in other types of bacteria and it is not unique to Magnetospirillum.     

Unveiling the correlation between non‐diffracting tractor beam and its singularity in Poynting vector

This paper investigates the singular optics of nonparaxial light beams in the near field when the light behaves as a tractor beam. New insights into the optical pulling force, which is usually represented by integrating the stress tensor at a black box enclosing the object, are interpreted by the optical singularity of the Poynting vector. The negative nonconservative pulling force originates from the transfer of the azimuthal Poynting vector to the longitudinal component partly owing to the presence of a scatterer. The separatrice pattern and singularity shifts of the Poynting vector unanimously exhibit a differentiable near‐field distribution in the presence of optical pulling force. A new method is established to calculate the near‐field optical force using the differential Poynting vector in the far field. The results obtained provide a clear physical interpretation of the light–matter interaction and manifest the significance of singular optics in manipulating objects.

     

电磁力及其对MIG焊接熔池流场的影响

MIG焊接熔池具有不规则的表面边界,温度较高且分布极不均匀,在电磁力、浮力、表面张力等的作用下发生剧烈运动.基于熔池表面变形较大时电弧电流密度的双峰分布模型,建立了电磁力的计算模型.采用数值模拟技术研究了熔池中的流体力学行为,揭示了焊接工艺参数对熔池流场的影响规律.实验表明,计算与实测结果符合良好.     

Orthogonal-polarization compensation method for measuring unsteady vertical force of a bumblebee in a wind tunnel

It is important to measure the unsteady vertical force of an insect in a wind tunnel for studying the flight performance of insects. Optical method can measure it with high accuracy, but it is affected by air turbulence. An orthogonal-polarization compensation (OPC) method is developed for measuring the beating force of a bumblebee in a wind tunnel and compensating the error due to beam fluctuations induced by air turbulence. The applicability of the OPC method was confirmed by using a piezo translator to generate the tilt angle variation. The results show that by using the OPC method, the error in tilt angle measurement due to air turbulence can be decreased by about 80% compared with that using the conventional angle measurement method. The OPC method was then applied to measure the tilt angle variation caused by the beating motion of a bumblebee attached to one end of a sensor block in a wind tunnel for a wind velocity of 1.1 ms⁻¹. The results confirmed the effectiveness of this new method.     

激光捕获技术及其发展

激光捕获技术是利用光辐射力来捕捉、移动和操纵微粒的先进技术。光镊即单光束梯度力光阱是通过在高度会聚的激光束束腰附近所产生的极高的场强梯度来形成皮牛顿量级的力,可以三维地捕获和操纵微小粒子。阐述了激光捕获技术的模型和原理以及系统的基本结构;追踪了激光捕获技术的最新研究进展;介绍了非高斯型光阱、光纤光阱和全息光镊等几种特殊形式,并分析了每种形式的特点。展望了激光捕获技术的发展前景。