Biomedical subjects

P Reimann

Publications and source records attributed to P Reimann.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Ultrastructural appearance of embedded and polished wood cell walls as revealed by Atomic Force Microscopy.

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) was used to investigate the ultrastructural appearance of transverse wood cell wall surfaces in embedded and polished Norway spruce wood blocks. The prepared surfaces showed only little height differences, suitable for high resolution AFM phase contrast imaging. Our results revealed randomly arranged wood cell wall components in the thick secondary 2 (S2) layers of the tracheid cell walls. It is concluded that the observed distribution pattern of the cellulose fibril/matrix structure is close to the original cell wall structure. In this context, the plasticity of wood cell wall components to re-arrange and adjust to different conditions resulting in diverse structural pattern is discussed.

Cell Wall↗

PubMed2006

Entropic transport: kinetics, scaling, and control mechanisms.

We show that transport in the presence of entropic barriers exhibits peculiar characteristics which makes it distinctly different from that occurring through energy barriers. The constrained dynamics yields a scaling regime for the particle current and the diffusion coefficient in terms of the ratio between the work done to the particles and available thermal energy. This interesting property, genuine to the entropic nature of the barriers, can be utilized to effectively control transport through quasi-one-dimensional structures in which irregularities or tortuosity of the boundaries cause entropic effects. The accuracy of the kinetic description has been corroborated by simulations. Applications to different dynamic situations involving entropic barriers are outlined.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Theoretical analysis of single-molecule force spectroscopy experiments: heterogeneity of chemical bonds.

We show that the standard theoretical framework in single-molecule force spectroscopy has to be extended to consistently describe the experimental findings. The basic amendment is to take into account heterogeneity of the chemical bonds via random variations of the force-dependent dissociation rates. This results in a very good agreement between theory and rupture data from several different experiments.

Biomechanical Phenomena↗

PubMed2005

Moving backward noisily.

We discuss the fundamental physical differences and the mathematical interconnections of counterintuitive transport and response properties in Brownian motion far from equilibrium. After reviewing the ubiquity of such effects in physical and other systems, we illustrate the general properties on paradigmatic models for both individually and collectively acting Brownian particles.

Anisotropy↗

PubMed2004

Theoretical analysis of dynamic force spectroscopy experiments on ligand-receptor complexes.

The forced rupture of single chemical bonds in biomolecular compounds (e.g. ligand-receptor systems) as observed in dynamic force spectroscopy experiments is addressed. Under the assumption that the probability of bond rupture depends only on the instantaneously acting force, a data collapse onto a single master curve is predicted. For rupture data obtained experimentally by dynamic AFM force spectroscopy of a ligand-receptor bond between a DNA and a regulatory protein we do not find such a collapse. We conclude that the above mentioned, generally accepted assumption is not satisfied and we discuss possible explanations.

Binding Sites↗

PubMed2002

Diffusion in tilted periodic potentials: Enhancement, universality, and scaling.

An exact analytical expression for the effective diffusion coefficient of an overdamped Brownian particle in a tilted periodic potential is derived for arbitrary potentials and arbitrary strengths of the thermal noise. Near the critical tilt (threshold of deterministic running solutions) a scaling behavior for weak thermal noise is revealed and various universality classes are identified. In comparison with the bare (potential-free) thermal diffusion, the effective diffusion coefficient in a critically tilted periodic potential may be, in principle, arbitrarily enhanced. For a realistic experimental setup, an enhancement by 14 orders of magnitude is predicted so that thermal diffusion should be observable on a macroscopic scale at room temperature.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2001

Giant acceleration of free diffusion by use of tilted periodic potentials.

The effective diffusion coefficient for the overdamped Brownian motion in a tilted periodic potential is calculated in closed analytical form. Universality classes and scaling properties for weak thermal noise are identified near the threshold tilt where deterministic running solutions set in. In this regime the diffusion may be greatly enhanced, as compared to free thermal diffusion with, for a realistic experimental setup, an enhancement of up to 14 orders of magnitude.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2001

Supersymmetric ratchets.

The overdamped Brownian motion in a periodic potential under far from equilibrium conditions is considered. A large class of systems with an intrinsic asymmetry, called supersymmetric ratchets, is identified for which the occurrence of directed transport can be ruled out without any fine-tuning of parameters.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Surmounting oscillating barriers

Thermally activated escape over a potential barrier in the presence of periodic driving is considered. By means of novel time-dependent path-integral methods we derive asymptotically exact weak-noise expressions for both the instantaneous and the time-averaged escape rate. The agreement with accurate numerical results is excellent over a wide range of driving strengths and driving frequencies.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Drift ratchet

We consider a silicon wafer, pierced by millions of identical pores with periodically varying diameters but without spatial inversion symmetry (ratchet profile). When a liquid is periodically pumped back and forth through the pores, our theory predicts a net transport of suspended micrometer-sized particles (drift ratchet). The direction of this particle current depends very sensitively on the size of the particles. For typical parameter values of the experiment, two different types of particles at an initially homogeneous 1:1 mixture are spatially separated with a purity beyond 1:1000 on a time scale of a few hours in comparably large quantities. This result is due to the highly parallel architecture of the device. The experimental realization of the setup, presently under construction, thus appears to be a promising new particle separation device, possibly superior to existing methods for particles sizes on the micrometer scale.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Iterative algorithm versus analytic solutions of the parametrically driven dissipative quantum harmonic oscillator

We consider the Brownian motion of a quantum-mechanical particle in a one-dimensional parabolic potential with periodically modulated curvature under the influence of a thermal heat bath. Analytic expressions for the time-dependent position and momentum variances are compared with results of an iterative algorithm, the so-called quasiadiabatic propagator path-integral algorithm. We obtain good agreement over an extended range of parameters for this spatially continuous quantum system. These findings indicate the reliability of the algorithm also in cases for which analytic results may not be available a priori.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2000

Surmounting oscillating barriers: path-integral approach for weak noise

We consider the thermally activated escape of an overdamped Brownian particle over a potential barrier in the presence of periodic driving. A time-dependent path-integral formalism is developed which allows us to derive asymptotically exact weak-noise expressions for both the instantaneous and the time-averaged escape rate. Our results comprise a conceptually different, systematic treatment of the rate prefactor multiplying the exponentially leading Arrhenius factor. Moreover, an estimate for the deviations at finite noise strengths is provided and a supersymmetry-type property of the time-averaged escape rate is verified. For piecewise parabolic potentials, the rate expression can be evaluated in closed analytical form, while in more general cases, as exemplified by a cubic potential, an action-integral remains to be minimized numerically. Our comparison with very accurate numerical results demonstrates an excellent agreement with the theoretical predictions over a wide range of driving strengths and driving frequencies.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

Nonequilibrium noise in coupled phase oscillators.

The effect of nonequilibrium fluctuations on coupled phase oscillators is studied in a basic model. Its extremely rich behavior, including first and second order phase transitions, time-periodic phases, multiple anomalous hystereses, negative mobility, and other remarkable response properties, is unraveled by both analytical and numerical calculations.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1999

Universal equivalence of mean first-passage time and Kramers rate.

We prove that for an arbitrary time-homogeneous stochastic process, Kramers's flux-over-population rate is identical to the inverse of the associated mean first-passage time. In this way the mean first-passage time problem can be treated without making use of the adjoint equation in conjunction with cumbersome boundary conditions.

Journal Article↗

PubMed1996