The contribution of gravitational wave (tensor metric) and energy density (scalar metric) fluctuations to the cosmic microwave background polarization is computed. We find that the tensor contribution is significant only at large angular scales (multipoles ` < ∼ 40). For standard recombination, the tensor contribution can dominate at ` < ∼ 40; however, the effect would be difficult to detect si...

A microscopic theory of solvent reorganization energy in polar molecular solvents is developed. The theory represents the solvent response as a combination of the density and polarization fluctuations of the solvent given in terms of the density and polarization structure factors. A fully analytical formulation of the theory is provided for a solute of arbitrary shape with an arbitrary distribu...

Detection of non-Maxwellian electron energy distribution functions (EEDFs) by Langmuir probes in the presence of radiofrequency (RF) fluctuations in the plasma potential is possible if the probe is properly RF compensated. If the non-thermal electrons are created by wave acceleration, however, they usually are bunched at one phase of the RF. In this case, the usual method of forcing the probe t...

Molecular dynamics simulations have revealed a dramatic increase, with increasing temperature, of the amplitude of electrostatic fluctuations caused by water at the active site of metalloprotein plastocyanin. The increased breadth of electrostatic fluctuations, expressed in terms of the reorganization energy of changing the redox state of the protein, is related to the formation of the hydropho...