Geometry effects in confined space

Polymers in Confined Geometry

First of all I have to thank Prof. Dr. Erwin Frey arousing my interest in biological physics and giving me the opportunity to write my diploma thesis in his groups at the Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin. Also for very interesting discussions—and some nice chats in between—and the huge amount of help by writing this thesis. A big thanks to the small Italian.. . please, don't kick me.. . That is, a ...

Amoeboid motion in confined geometry.

Many eukaryotic cells undergo frequent shape changes (described as amoeboid motion) that enable them to move forward. We investigate the effect of confinement on a minimal model of amoeboid swimmer. A complex picture emerges: (i) The swimmer's nature (i.e., either pusher or puller) can be modified by confinement, thus suggesting that this is not an intrinsic property of the swimmer. This swimmi...

Enhanced dispersion interaction in confined geometry.

The dispersion interaction between two pointlike particles confined in a dielectric slab between two plates of another dielectric medium is studied within a continuum (Lifshitz) theory. The retarded (Casimir-Polder) interaction at large interparticle distances is found to be strongly enhanced as the mismatch between the dielectric permittivities of the two media is increased. The large-distance...

Distinctive fluctuations in a confined geometry.

Spurred by recent theoretical predictions [Phys. Rev. E 69, 035102(R) (2004)10.1103/PhysRevE.69.035102; Surf. Sci. Lett. 598, L355 (2005)10.1016/j.susc.2005.09.023], we find experimentally using STM line scans that the fluctuations of the step bounding a facet exhibit scaling properties distinct from those of isolated steps or steps on vicinal surfaces. The correlation functions go as t0.15 +/-...

Quantum phase slips in a confined geometry