Related papers: Computer Simulations Reveal Motor Properties gener…
Enzymatic molecules that actively support many cellular processes, including transport, cell division and cell motility, are known as motor proteins or molecular motors. Experimental studies indicate that they interact with each other and…
Rotors are common in nature - from rotating membrane-proteins to superfluid-vortices. Yet, little is known about the collective dynamics of heterogeneous populations of rotors. Here, we show experimentally, numerically, and analytically…
Starting from the hypothesis that the tubulin dimer is a conformationally bistable molecule - fluctuating between a curved and a straight configuration at room temperature - we develop a model for polymorphic dynamics of the microtubule…
Intracellular transport is based on molecular motors that pull cargos along cytoskeletal filaments. One motor species always moves in one direction, e.g. conventional kinesin moves to the microtubule plus end, while cytoplasmic dynein moves…
New effects of polarization multistability and polarization hysteresis in a coherently driven polariton condensate in a semiconductor microcavity are predicted and theoretically analyzed. The multistability arises due to…
When an amorphous solid is deformed cyclically, it may reach a steady state in which the paths of constituent particles trace out closed loops that repeat in each driving cycle. A remarkable variant has been noticed in simulations where the…
We show that geometrically coupled polariton condensates fabricated in semiconductor devices are versatile systems capable of simulating molecules with given characteristics. In particular, we consider oscillatory and stationary symmetric…
The stochastic driving force exerted by a single molecular motor (e.g., a kinesin, or myosin) moving on a periodic molecular track (microtubule, actin filament, etc.) is discussed from a general viewpoint open to experimental test. An…
We study the effects of externally imposed turbulence on the thermal properties of galaxy cluster cores, using three-dimensional numerical simulations including magnetic fields, anisotropic thermal conduction, and radiative cooling. The…
Vortices are topological objects formed in coherent nonlinear systems. As such they are studied in a wide number of physical systems and promise applications in information storage, processing, and communication. In semiconductor…
The formation of novel dynamical states for a collection of dust particles in two dimensions has been shown with the help of Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulation. The charged dust particles interact with each other with Yukawa pair potential…
Motor-driven cytoskeletal remodeling in cellular systems can often be accompanied by a diffusive-like effect at local scales, but distinguishing the contributions of the ordering process, such as active contraction of a network, from this…
We review the properties of biological motor proteins which move along linear filaments that are polar and periodic. The physics of the operation of such motors can be described by simple stochastic models which are coupled to a chemical…
Simulations can help unravel the complicated ways in which molecular structure determines function. Here, we use molecular simulations to show how slight alterations of a molecular motor's structure can cause the motor's typical dynamical…
Reversible bipolar nano-switches that can be set and read electronically in a solid-state two-terminal device are very promising for applications. We have performed molecular-dynamics simulations that mimic systems with oxygen vacancies…
Machines enabled the Industrial Revolution and are central to modern technological progress: A machine's parts transmit forces, motion, and energy to one another in a predetermined manner. Today's engineering frontier, building artificial…
Cells are strongly out-of-equilibrium systems driven by continuous energy supply. They carry out many vital functions requiring active transport of various ingredients and organelles, some being small, others being large. The cytoskeleton,…
Many types of mammalian cells exert active contractile forces and mechanically deform their elastic substrate, to accomplish biological functions such as cell migration. These substrate deformations provide a mechanism by which cells can…
Numerical simulations of clusters of galaxies provide a unique way to follow the dynamics of these systems. The models reveal many characteristics of the merging process of subclusters: shock structure and strength, temperature distribution…
We present a generic coarse-grained model to describe molecular motors acting on polymer substrates, mimicking, for example, RNA polymerase on DNA or kinesin on microtubules. The polymer is modeled as a connected chain of beads; motors are…