Related papers: Constraints on fundamental physical constants from…
Cell motility in viscous fluids is ubiquitous and affects many biological processes, including reproduction, infection, and the marine life ecosystem. Here we review the biophysical and mechanical principles of locomotion at the small…
The capacity to sense gradients efficiently and acquire information about the ambient environment confers many advantages like facilitating movement toward nutrient sources or away from toxic chemicals. The amplified dispersal evinced by…
Theoretical background of our proposed relation between the accelerating universe and the time-variability of the fine-structure constant is discussed, based on the scalar-tensor theory, with emphases on the intuitive aspects of underlying…
We search for transient variations of the fine structure constant using data from a European network of fiber-linked optical atomic clocks. By searching for coherent variations in the recorded clock frequency comparisons across the network,…
Mechanical characteristics of single biological cells are used to identify and possibly leverage interesting differences among cells or cell populations. Fluidity---hysteresivity normalized to the extremes of an elastic solid or a viscous…
Astrophysical observations suggest that the fine structure constant (alpha) may (or may not) be evolving over the cosmological time scale. This raises a much debated question: is alpha variation due to the variation of the speed of light…
A quantitative model of the mobility of functionalized particles at the interface is pivotal to understanding important systems in biology and nanotechnology. In this work, we investigate the emerging dynamics of particles anchored through…
Colloidal particles at fluid interfaces can enhance the stability of drops and bubbles. Yet, their effect on mass transfer in these multiphase systems remains ambiguous, with some experiments reporting strongly hindered diffusion, while…
In this article we review classical and recent results in anomalous diffusion and provide mechanisms useful for the study of the fundamentals of certain processes, mainly in condensed matter physics, chemistry and biology. Emphasis will be…
Bistability is considered wide-spread among bacteria and eukaryotic cells, useful e.g. for enzyme induction, bet hedging, and epigenetic switching. However, this phenomenon has mostly been described with deterministic dynamic or well-mixed…
A thermodynamically consistent particle-based model for fluid dynamics with continuous velocities and a non-ideal equation of state is presented. Excluded volume interactions are modeled by means of biased stochastic multiparticle…
Bacterial biofilms, surface-attached communities of cells, are in some respects similar to colloidal solids; both are densely packed with non-zero yield stresses. However, unlike non-living materials, bacteria reproduce and die, breaking…
This paper investigates the stability and bifurcation of the two-dimensional viscous primitive equations with full diffusion under thermal forcing. The system governs perturbations about a motionless basic state with a linear temperature…
We show that the vibrational response of a glassy liquid at finite frequencies can be described by continuum mechanics despite the vast degeneracy of the vibrational ground state; standard continuum elasticity assumes a unique ground state.…
Diffusion of point-like non interacting particles in a two-dimensional (2D) channel of varying cross section is considered. The particles are biased by a constant force in the transverse direction. We apply our recurrence mapping procedure,…
Aims. We constrain a hypothetical variation in the fundamental physical constants over the course of cosmic time. Methods. We use unique observations of the CO(7-6) rotational line and the [CI] 3P_2 - 3P_1 fine-structure line towards a…
Although density functional theory provides reliable predictions for the static properties of simple fluids under confinement, a theory of comparative accuracy for the transport coefficients has yet to emerge. Nonetheless, there is evidence…
The secular evolution of disk galaxies is largely driven by resonances between the orbits of 'particles' (stars or dark matter) and the rotation of non-axisymmetric features (spiral arms or a bar). Such resonances may also explain kinematic…
In both biological and artificial systems, concentration gradients can serve as a convenient mechanism for manipulating particles and generating motility. Particles that interact with a solute will move along its gradient; if they…
The viscosity of lipid bilayer membranes plays an important role in determining the diffusion constant of embedded proteins and the dynamics of membrane deformations, yet it has historically proven very difficult to measure. Here we…