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Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics Commons™
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Full-Text Articles in Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
Searching For Effective Forces In Laboratory Insect Swarms, James G. Puckett, Douglas H. Kelley, Nicholas T. Ouellette
Searching For Effective Forces In Laboratory Insect Swarms, James G. Puckett, Douglas H. Kelley, Nicholas T. Ouellette
Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications
Collective animal behaviour is often modeled by systems of agents that interact via effective social forces, including short-range repulsion and long-range attraction. We search for evidence of such effective forces by studying laboratory swarms of the flying midge Chironomus riparius. Using multi-camera stereoimaging and particle-tracking techniques, we record three-dimensional trajectories for all the individuals in the swarm. Acceleration measurements show a clear short-range repulsion, which we confirm by considering the spatial statistics of the midges, but no conclusive long-range interactions. Measurements of the mean free path of the insects also suggest that individuals are on average very weakly coupled, but …
Critical Torque For Kink Formation In Double-Stranded Dna, Hao Qu, Yong Wang, Chiao-Yu Tseng, Giovanni Zocchi
Critical Torque For Kink Formation In Double-Stranded Dna, Hao Qu, Yong Wang, Chiao-Yu Tseng, Giovanni Zocchi
Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations
We measure the bending energy of double-stranded DNA in the nonlinear (sharply bent) regime. The measurements are obtained from the melting curves of stressed DNA ring molecules. The nonlinear elastic behavior is captured by a single parameter: the critical torque τc at which the molecule develops a kink. In this regime, the elastic energy is linear in the kink angle. This phenomenology is the same as for the previously reported case of nicked DNA. For the sequences examined, we find τc=31 pN×nm. This critical torque corresponds to a characteristic energy scale (π/2)τc=12 kT room relevant for molecular biology processes associated …