Bicritical universality of the anisotropic Heisenberg model in a crystal field.

The bicritical properties of the three-dimensional classical anisotropic Heisenberg model in a crystal field are investigated through extensive Monte Carlo simulations on a simple cubic lattice, using Metropolis and Wolff algorithms. Field-mixing and multidimensional histogram techniques were employed in order to compute the probability distribution function of the extensive conjugate variables of interest and, using finite-size scaling analysis, the first-order transition line of the model was precisely located. The fourth-order cumulant of the order parameter was then calculated along this line and the bicritical point located with good precision from the cumulant crossings. The bicritical properties of this point were further investigated through the measurement of the universal probability distribution function of the order parameter. The results lead us to conclude that the studied bicritical point belongs in fact to the three-dimensional Heisenberg universality class.

Monte Carlo study of the vector Blume-Emery-Griffiths model for 3He--4He mixtures in three dimensions.

A version of the Vector Blume-Emery-Griffiths model with three-dimensional spins was studied on a simple cubic lattice by Monte Carlo simulations. We obtained the phase diagram, which reproduces, for a range of the parameters of the model, the topology of the one observed for bulk mixtures of 3He--4He. The phase diagram displays a superfluid, 4He-rich phase which undergoes a phase transition to a normal phase. This transition is first or second order, depending on the region of the phase diagram examined. One of the main features of this diagram is the existence of a tricritical point, which, for some values of the parameters of the model, decomposes into a critical endpoint and a double critical endpoint. These points were located with reasonable precision. This study provides the basis for the subsequent study of dynamic properties of 3He--4He mixtures.

Dynamic light scattering from an optically trapped microsphere.

Using a single microscope objective lens to optically trap, illuminate, and collect backscattered light of a dielectric microsphere, we measure the temporal-intensity-autocorrelation functions (ACFs), and intensity profiles to obtain the trap stiffness and friction coefficient of the bead. This is an interesting study of an harmonically bound Brownian particle, with nanometer resolution. We extend the work of Bar-Ziv et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 154 (1997)] to more general situations allowing for the use of our simpler geometry in other applications. As examples, we present measurements of the parallel Stokes friction coefficient on the trapped bead as a function of its distance from a surface and the entropic force of a single lambda-DNA molecule.

Kinetic mechanism of the inhibition of human urinary kallikrein by basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor

Hydrolysis of D-valvyl-L-leucyl-L-arginine p-nitroanilide (D-Val-Leu-Arg-Nan) at five different concentration (10-20µM) by human urinary kallikrein was studied in the absence and in the presence of increasing concentrations of basic pancreatic trypsin inhibitor (BPTI) (1.35-9.15nM). The data indicate that the inhbition of human urinary kallikrein by BPTI is not a simple competitive inhibition as reported by others, but that it is a competitive inhibition of the parabolic type, with two inhibitor molecules binding to one enzyme molecule, with the formetion of a ternary enzymatic complex. Statistical analysis of the experimental data supports the kinetic model proposed. The calculated values of the constants Ki and Kii were 16.20 nM and 1.10 nM, repectively. It is noteworthy that the Kii < Ki, i.e., the second BPTI molecule binds to the enzyme with a larger affinity suggesting that this second binding site was probably created or positively modulated as a consequence of the binding of the first BPTI molecule