News
EPJ A - Existence of neutron-rich superheavy element 116 confirmed
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- Published on 10 August 2012
The synthesis of a superheavy element with the proton number Z=116 has been studied at the velocity filter SHIP of GSI in Darmstadt using a 48Ca beam on radioactive 248Cm targets. At excitation energies of the compound nuclei of 40.9 MeV, four decay chains were measured, which were assigned to the isotope 292116 produced in 4n channel, and one chain, which was assigned to 293116 produced in 3n channel. All chains are terminated by spontaneous fission decays of either 277Hs or 284Cn isotopes on the shoreline of the neutron-rich superheavy island.
EPJ Data Science - Countering crowd control collapse
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- Published on 10 August 2012
Understanding crowd dynamics can prevent disaster at cultural or sports events.
Physicists investigating a recent crowd disaster in Germany found that one of the key causes was that at some point the crowd dynamics turned turbulent, akin to behaviour found in unstable fluid flows. The study, led by Dirk Helbing from the Risk Center at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich, Switzerland, is published in EPJ Data Science.
EPJ B - Cell dynamics simulations: a fast way to profile block copolymers
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- Published on 10 August 2012
Cell Dynamics Simulation (CDS) is a fast and efficient method for the simulation of kinetic processes in large-scale phase separation systems.
We review the application of this method to block copolymer systems and illustrate its use by examining a set of physical phenomena occurring in these systems. In spite of the simplicity of the model, such applications of CDS demonstrate that it is capable of accurately describing complex phenomena and is, therefore, a complementary method which can serve as a precursor to slower, more elaborate techniques.
Large Scale Simulation of block copolymers with cell dynamics M. Pinna and A.V. Zvelindovsky, Eur. Phys. J. B (2012) 85: 210, DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2012-20968-6
EPJ C - Neutrons escaping to a parallel world?
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- Published on 10 August 2012
An anomaly in the behaviour of ordinary particles may point to the existence of mirror particles that could be candidates for dark matter responsible for the missing mass of the universe. In a paper recently published in EPJC, researchers hypothesised the existence of mirror particles to explain the anomalous loss of neutrons observed experimentally. The existence of such mirror matter had been suggested in various scientific contexts some time ago, including the search for suitable dark matter candidates.
EPJ E - Modelling the demise of migrating brain tumour cells
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- Published on 10 August 2012
Evolution of brain tumour cells under treatment reveal that it is the peripheral tumour cells that need to be targeted
An Israeli physicist has developed a theoretical model to simulate the evolution of highly proliferating brain tumour core cells subjected to treatment by alternating radio frequency electric field. The research, by Alexander Iomin from the Israel Institute of Technology Technion in Haifa, has just been published in EPJE. In another model, the author examines the possibility of enhancing the level of treatment by targeting the outer area of the tumour.
EPJ Data Science - Positive words: the glue to social interaction
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- Published on 10 August 2012
Words charged with a positive emotional content are used more frequently, thus enhancing human communication.
Scientists at ETH Zurich have studied the use of language, finding that words with a positive emotional content are more frequently used in written communication. This result supports the theory that social relations are enhanced by a positive bias in human communication. The study by David Garcia and his colleagues from the Chair of Systems Design is published in the first issue of the new SpringerOpen journal EPJ Data Science, and is freely available to the general public as an Open Access article.
EPJ E - Make or break for cellular tissues
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- Published on 10 August 2012
Models developed to study liquids are used to investigate the mechanics of cellular tissues, which could further our understanding of embryonic development and cancer.
In a study just published in EPJE, French physicists from the Curie Institute in Paris have demonstrated that the behaviour of a thin layer of cells in contact with an unfavourable substrate is akin to that of thin fluid or elastic films. Understanding the mechanism by which a thin layer of cells splits into disjointed patches, thus breaking the layer’s structural integrity, bears great significance because the human tissue, or epithelium, covering organs can only fulfil its role if there are no holes or gaps between the cells.
EPJ Plus - A note on Pöschl-Teller black holes
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- Published on 10 August 2012
An interesting feature of black holes is the existence of quasi-normal modes, arising because the system has a peak in the wave potential (scalar, electromagnetic, or gravitational waves). The quasi-normal mode is excited when a disturbance is put in the field near but outside the black hole, (like a wave packet roughly in a circular orbit near the peak). The excitation then propagates outward and inward and decays.
EPJ B - Spurious switching points in traded stock dynamics
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- Published on 10 August 2012
A selection of biased statistical subsets could yield an inaccurate interpretation of market behaviour and financial returns.
Physicists have rebuffed the existence of power laws governing the dynamics of traded stock volatility, volume and intertrade times at times of stock price extrema. They did this by demonstrating that what appeared as “switching points” in financial markets trends was due to a bias in the interpretation of market data statistics. This study by Vladimir Filimonov and Didier Sornette from the Department of Management, Technology and Economics at ETH Zurich in Switzerland has just been published in EPJB.EPJ B - Superconducting stripe could become an ultra-low-voltage sensor
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- Published on 10 August 2012
Minute-scale interactions govern electronic behaviour of superconductors with potential applications for voltage measurement techniques.
Researchers studying a superconducting stripe observed an intermittent motion of magnetic flux which carries vortices inside the regularly spaced weak conducting regions carved into the superconducting material. These vortices resulted in alternating static phases with zero voltage and dynamic phases, which are characterised by non-zero voltage peaks in the superconductor. This study, which has just been published in EPJB, was carried out by scientists from the Condensed Matter Theory Group of the University of Antwerp, Belgium, working in collaboration with Brazilian colleagues.
