Quantum fluctuations on domain walls, strings, and vacuum bubbles

We develop a covariant quantum theory of fluctuations on vacuum domain walls and strings. The fluctuations are described by a scalar field defined on the classical world sheet of the defects. We consider the following cases: straight strings and planar walls in flat space, true vacuum bubbles nucleating in false vacuum, and strings and walls nucleating during inflation. The quantum state for the perturbations is constructed so that it respects the original symmetries of the classical solution. In particular, for the case of vacuum bubbles and nucleating strings and walls, the geometry of the world sheet is that of a lower-dimensional de Sitter space, and the problem reduces to the quantization of a scalar field of tachyonic mass in de Sitter space. In all cases, the root-mean-squared fluctuation is evaluated in detail, and the physical implications are briefly discussed.

General Interaction Picture from Action Principle for Mechanics

In this paper we consider a general action principle for mechanics written by means of the elements of a Lie algebra. We study the physical reasons why we have to choose precisely a Lie algebra to write the action principle. By means of such an action principle we work out the equations of motion and a technique to evaluate perturbations in a general mechanics that is equivalent to a general interaction picture. Classical or quantum mechanics come out as particular cases when we make realizations of the Lie algebra by derivations into the algebra of products of functions or operators, respectively. Later on we develop in particular the applications of the action principle to classical and quantum mechanics, seeing that in this last case it agrees with Schwinger's action principle. The main contribution of this paper is to introduce a perturbation theory and an interaction picture of classical mechanics on the same footing as in quantum mechanics.

Petrou types D and II perfect-fluid solutions in generalized Kerr-Schild form.

Petrov types D and II perfect-fluid solutions are obtained starting from conformally flat perfect-fluid metrics and by using a generalized KerrSchild ansatz. Most of the Petrov type D metrics obtained have the property that the velocity of the fluid does not lie in the two-space defined by the principal null directions of the Weyl tensor. The properties of the perfect-fluid sources are studied. Finally, a detailed analysis of a new class of spherically symmetric static perfect-fluid metrics is given.

Collineations of a symmetric 2-covariant tensor: Ricci collineations

The infinitesimal transformations that leave invariant a two-covariant symmetric tensor are studied. The interest of these symmetry transformations lays in the fact that this class of tensors includes the energy-momentum and Ricci tensors. We find that in most cases the class of infinitesimal generators of these transformations is a finite dimensional Lie algebra, but in some cases exhibiting a higher degree of degeneracy, this class is infinite dimensional and may fail to be a Lie algebra. As an application, we study the Ricci collineations of a type B warped spacetime.

Surface structure and stability of PdZn and PtZn alloys: Density-functional slab model studies

Geometric parameters of binary (1:1) PdZn and PtZn alloys with CuAu-L10 structure were calculated with a density functional method. Based on the total energies, the alloys are predicted to feature equal formation energies. Calculated surface energies of PdZn and PtZn alloys show that (111) and (100) surfaces exposing stoichiometric layers are more stable than (001) and (110) surfaces comprising alternating Pd (Pt) and Zn layers. The surface energy values of alloys lie between the surface energies of the individual components, but they differ from their composition weighted averages. Compared with the pure metals, the valence d-band widths and the Pd or Pt partial densities of states at the Fermi level are dramatically reduced in PdZn and PtZn alloys. The local valence d-band density of states of Pd and Pt in the alloys resemble that of metallic Cu, suggesting that a similar catalytic performance of these systems can be related to this similarity in the local electronic structures.

Infinitely many periodic orbits for the rhomboidal five-body problem

We prove the existence of infinitely many symmetric periodic orbits for a regularized rhomboidal five-body problem with four small masses placed at the vertices of a rhombus centered in the fifth mass. The main tool for proving the existence of such periodic orbits is the analytic continuation method of Poincaré together with the symmetries of the problem. © 2006 American Institute of Physics.

Axiomatization of the nucl eolus of assignment games

On the domain of general assignment games (with possible reservation prices) the core is axiomatized as the unique solution satisfying two consistency principles: projection consistency and derived consistency. Also, an axiomatic characterization of the nucleolus is given as the unique solution that satisfies derived consistency and equal maximum complaint between groups. As a consequence, we obtain a geometric characterization of the nucleolus. Maschler et al. (1979) provide a geometrical characterization for the intersection of the kernel and the core of a coalitional game, showing that those allocations that lie in both sets are always the midpoint of certain bargaining range between each pair of players. In the case of the assignment game, this means that the kernel can be determined as those core allocations where the maximum amount, that can be transferred without getting outside the core, from one agent to his / her optimally matched partner equals the maximum amount that he / she can receive from this partner, also remaining inside the core. We now prove that the nucleolus of the assignment game can be characterized by requiring this bisection property be satisfied not only for optimally matched pairs but also for optimally matched coalitions. Key words: cooperative games, assignment game, core, nucleolus

Amplification and displacement of chaotic attractors by means of unidirectional chaotic driving

Chaotic systems, when used to drive copies of themselves (or parts of themselves) may induce interesting behaviors in the driven system. In case the later exhibits invariance under amplification or translation, they may show amplification (reduction), or displacement of the attractor. It is shown how the behavior to be obtained is implied by the symmetries involved. Two explicit examples are studied to show how these phenomena manifest themselves under perfect and imperfect coupling.

Notas del primer seminario de integrabilidad de la Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya

Estas notas corresponden a las exposiciones presentadas en el \emph{Primer Seminario de Integrabilidad}, dentro de lo que se denomina \emph{Aula de Sistemas Din\'amicos}. Durante este evento se realizaron seis conferencias, todas presentadas por miembros del grupo de Sistemas Din\'amicos de la UPC. El programa desarrollado fue el siguiente:\\\begin{center}AULA DE SISTEMAS DIN\'AMICOS\end{center}\begin{center}\texttt{http://www.ma1.upc.es/recerca/seminaris/aulasd-cat.html}\end{center}\begin{center}SEMINARIO DE INTEGRABILIDAD\end{center}\begin{center}Martes 29 y Mi\'ercoles 30 de marzo de 2005\\Facultad de Matem\'aticas y Estad\'{\i}stica, UPC\\Aula: Seminario 1\end{center}\bigskip\begin{center}PROGRAMA Y RES\'UMENES\end{center}{\bf Martes 29 de marzo}\begin{itemize}\item15:30. Juan J. Morales-Ruiz. \emph{El problema de laintegrabilidad en Sistemas Din\'amicos}\medskip {\bf Resumen.} En esta presentaci\'on se pretende dar unaidea de conjunto, pero sin entrar en detalles, sobre las diversasnociones de integrabilidad, asociadas a nombres de matem\'aticostan ilustres como Liouville, Galois-Picard-Vessiot, Lie, Darboux,Kowalevskaya, Painlev\'e, Poincar\'e, Kolchin, Lax, etc. Adem\'astambi\'en mencionaremos la revoluci\'on que supuso en los a\~nossesenta del siglo pasado el descubrimiento de Gardner, Green,Kruskal y Miura sobre un nuevo m\'etodo para resolver en algunoscasos determinadas ecuaciones en derivadas parciales. \medskip\item16:00. David G\'omez-Ullate. \emph{Superintegrabilidad, pares deLax y modelos de $N-$cuerpos en el plano}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Introduciremos algunas t\'ecnicas cl\'asicas paraconstruir modelos de N-cuerpos integrables, como los pares de Laxo la din\'amica de los ceros de un polinomio. Revisaremos lanoci\'on de integrabilidad Liouville y superintegrabilidad, ydiscutiremos un nuevo m\'etodo debido a F. Calogero para contruirmodelos de N-cuerpos en el plano con muchas \'orbitasperi\'odicas. La exposici\'on se acompa\~nar\'a de animaciones delmovimiento de los cuerpos, y se plantear\'an algunos problemasabiertos.\medskip\item17:00. Pausa\medskip\item17:30. Yuri Fedorov. \emph{An\'alisis de Kovalevskaya--Painlev\'ey Sistemas Algebraicamente Integrables}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Muchos sistemas integrables poseen una propiedadremarcable: todas sus soluciones son funciones meromorfas deltiempo como una variable compleja. Tal comportamiento, que serefiere como propiedad de Kovalevskaya-Painleve (KP) y que se usafrecuentemente como una ensayo de integrabilidad, no es accidentaly tiene unas ra\'{\i}ces geom\'etricas profundas. En esta charladescribiremos una clase de tales sistemas (conocidos como lossistemas algebraicamente integrables) y subrayaremos suspropiedades geom\'etricas principales que permiten predecir laestructura de las soluciones complejas y adem\'as encontrarlasexpl\'{\i}citamente. Eso lo ilustraremos con algunos sistemas dela mec\'anica cl\'asica. Tambi\'en mencionaremos unasgeneralizaciones \'utiles de la noci\'on de integrabilidadalgebraica y de la propiedad KP.\end{itemize}\medskip{\bf Mi\'ercoles 30 de marzo}\begin{itemize}\item 15:30. Rafael Ram\'{\i}rez-Ros. \emph{El m\'etodo de Poincar\'e}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Dado un sistema Hamiltoniano aut\'onomo cercano acompletamente integrable Poincar\'e prob\'o que, en general, noexiste ninguna integral primera adicional uniforme en elpar\'ametro de perturbaci\'on salvo el propio Hamiltoniano.Esbozaremos las ideas principales del m\'etodo de prueba ycomentaremos algunas extensiones y generalizaciones.\newpage\item16:30. Chara Pantazi. \emph{El M\'etodo de Darboux}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} Darboux, en 1878, present\'o su m\'etodo paraconstruir integrales primeras de campos vectoriales polinomialesutilizando sus curvas invariantes algebraicas. En estaexposici\'on presentaremos algunas extensiones del m\'etodocl\'asico de Darboux y tambi\'en algunas aplicaciones.\medskip\item17:30. Pausa\medskip\item18:00. Juan J. Morales-Ruiz. \emph{M\'etodos recientes paradetectar la no integrabilidad}\medskip{\bf Resumen.} En 1982 Ziglin utiliza la estructura de laecuaci\'on en variaciones de Poincar\'e (sobre una curva integralparticular) como una herramienta fundamental para detectar la nointegrabilidad de un sistema Hamiltoniano. En esta charla sepretende dar una idea de esta aproximaci\'on a la nointegrabilidad, junto con t\'ecnicas m\'as recientes queinvolucran la teor\'{\i}a de Galois de ecuaciones diferencialeslineales, haciendo \'enfasis en los ejemplos m\'as que en lateor\'{\i}a general. Ilustraremos estos m\'etodos con resultadossobre la no integrabilidad de algunos problemas de $N$ cuerpos enMec\'anica Celeste.\end{itemize}

A geometric chracterization of the nucleolus of the assignment game

Maschler et al. (1979) caracteritzen geomètricament la intersecció del kernel i del core en els jocs cooperatius, demostrant que les distribucions que pertanyen a ambdós conjunts es troben en el punt mig d’un cert rang de negociació entre parelles de jugadors. En el cas dels jocs d’assignació, aquesta caracterització vol dir que el kernel només conté aquells elements del core on el màxim que un jugador pot transferir a una parella òptima és igual al màxim que aquesta parella li pot transferir, sense sortir-se’n del core. En aquest treball demostrem que el nucleolus d’un joc d’assignació queda caracteritzat si requerim que aquesta propietat de bisecció es compleixi no només per parelles, sinó també per coalicions entre sectors aparellades òptimament.

A geometric chracterization of the nucleolus of the assignment game

Maschler et al. (1979) caracteritzen geomètricament la intersecció del kernel i del core en els jocs cooperatius, demostrant que les distribucions que pertanyen a ambdós conjunts es troben en el punt mig d’un cert rang de negociació entre parelles de jugadors. En el cas dels jocs d’assignació, aquesta caracterització vol dir que el kernel només conté aquells elements del core on el màxim que un jugador pot transferir a una parella òptima és igual al màxim que aquesta parella li pot transferir, sense sortir-se’n del core. En aquest treball demostrem que el nucleolus d’un joc d’assignació queda caracteritzat si requerim que aquesta propietat de bisecció es compleixi no només per parelles, sinó també per coalicions entre sectors aparellades òptimament.

On the role of G protein-coupled receptors oligomerization

The existence of a supramolecular organization of the G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) is now being widely accepted by the scientific community. Indeed, GPCR oligomers may enhance the diversity and performance by which extracellular signals are transferred to the G proteins in the process of receptor transduction, although the mechanism that underlies this phenomenon still remains unsolved. Recently, it has been proposed that a trans-conformational switching model could be the mechanism allowing direct inhibition/activation of receptor activation/inhibition, respectively. Thus, heterotropic receptor-receptor allosteric regulations are behind the GPCR oligomeric function. In this paper we want to revise how GPCR oligomerization impinges on several important receptor functions like biosynthesis, plasma membrane diffusion or velocity, pharmacology and signaling. In particular, the rationale of receptor oligomerization might lie in the need of sensing complex whole cell extracellular signals and translating them into a simple computational model.

New method for measuring longitudinal fuctuations and directed flow in ultrarelativistic heavy ion reactions

It has been shown in recent ALICE@LHC measurements that the odd flow harmonics, in particular, a directed flow v1, occurred to be weak and dominated by random fluctuations. In this work we propose a new method, which makes the measurements more sensitive to the flow patterns showing global collective symmetries. We demonstrate how the longitudinal center of mass rapidity fluctuations can be identified, and then the collective flow analysis can be performed in the event-by-event center of mass frame. Such a method can be very effective in separating the flow patterns originating from random fluctuations, and the flow patterns originating from the global symmetry of the initial state.

BioSuper: A web tool for the superimposition of biomolecules and assemblies with rotational symmetry

Background Most of the proteins in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) are oligomeric complexes consisting of two or more subunits that associate by rotational or helical symmetries. Despite the myriad of superimposition tools in the literature, we could not find any able to account for rotational symmetry and display the graphical results in the web browser. Results BioSuper is a free web server that superimposes and calculates the root mean square deviation (RMSD) of protein complexes displaying rotational symmetry. To the best of our knowledge, BioSuper is the first tool of its kind that provides immediate interactive visualization of the graphical results in the browser, biomolecule generator capabilities, different levels of atom selection, sequence-dependent and structure-based superimposition types, and is the only web tool that takes into account the equivalence of atoms in side chains displaying symmetry ambiguity. BioSuper uses ICM program functionality as a core for the superimpositions and displays the results as text, HTML tables and 3D interactive molecular objects that can be visualized in the browser or in Android and iOS platforms with a free plugin. Conclusions BioSuper is a fast and functional tool that allows for pairwise superimposition of proteins and assemblies displaying rotational symmetry. The web server was created after our own frustration when attempting to superimpose flexible oligomers. We strongly believe that its user-friendly and functional design will be of great interest for structural and computational biologists who need to superimpose oligomeric proteins (or any protein). BioSuper web server is freely available to all users at http://ablab.ucsd.edu/BioSuper webcite.

Emergence and development of a financial cluster: the evolution of Andorra’s banking deposits in the long-term, 1931-2007

This paper explores the origins of Andorra’s financial cluster. It shows that the free movement of currency, the protection of infant industry, and geographical concentration lie at the foundation of the cluster’s competitive advantage. Drawing on a new set of data, the paper also provides for the first time an estimate of the total deposits held by Andorra’s banks between 1931 and 2007. Based on this new information, the paper reaches the conclusion that the development of the cluster went through four distinct phases in which large companies, acting as leaders, played an important role in enhancing the cluster’s business capabilities.