News
EPJ B - Atomistic details over longer time scales
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- Published on 22 August 2011
The conventional method for atomistic simulation, namely molecular dynamics (MD), is not well suited to resolve slow dynamical processes, that is processes associated with a system that gets trapped from time to time in deep local energy minima.
In a Colloquium paper in the European Physical Journal B, A. Kushima, J. Eapen, Ju Li, S. Yip and T. Zhu review the capabilities of biased molecular simulation methods such as metadynamics, autonomous basin climbing (ABC), strain-boost and adaptive boost simulations – methods designed to probe at the atomic level mechanisms that drive system-level behavior observable on macroscopic time scales.
EPJ B - Disordered networks synchronise faster than small world networks
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- Published on 22 August 2011
A study recently published in European Physical Journal B presents observations of how complex systems synchronise over time.
Synchronisation occurs when individual elements in a complex network behave in line with each other. This applies to real-life examples such as the way neurons fire during an epileptic seizure or the phenomenon of crickets falling into step with one another.
EPJ Plus – New analytic method to solve 2-d Helmholtz equation for irregular boundaries
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- Published on 17 August 2011
To date the most successful efforts to solve the irregular boundary Helmholtz equation with Neumann boundary conditions have been computational, but even this general method has its drawbacks. Panda et al. provide a new analytic approach which solves the irregular boundary problem via a perturbative series. As the authors show by working out several nontrivial examples, the benefits of this approach include a precise understanding of the behavior of the solution as the amplitude of the boundary distortion is increased, as well as the control over the analytic precision in the terms computed and its corresponding analytic error estimates. more
EPJ Plus – Focus on Hadron Therapy in Europe
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- Published on 10 August 2011
Oncological hadron therapy was first proposed 65 years ago by Robert R. Wilson, and it took more than 40 years to build the first dedicated facility, in Loma Linda in the nineties. The growth of new facilities since then has been exponential, and thousands of patients are now treated every year. Close collaboration between research institutes, clinical centers and industry is the basis and the future of this field. This EPJ Plus focus issue spotlights the status of hadron therapy in Europe, where different centers are already in operation, some are just now ready to start patient treatments, and new ones are being planned. more
EPJ Impact Factors on the rise
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- Published on 25 July 2011
The release of the 2010 ISI Impact Factors is cause for celebrations for all EPJ journals. The growing figures underline the commitment of the Editors and Publishers to uphold high standards of scientific quality in physics publishing. A special word of thanks goes to all referees and authors who support the journals and help us make them successful.
- EPJ A IF: 2.592 (was 1.968)
- EPJ B IF: 1.575 (was 1.466)
- EPJ C IF: 3.248 (was 2.746)
- EPJ D IF: 1.513 (was 1.420)
- EPJ E IF: 2.096 (was 2.019)
- EPJ AP IF: 0.899 (was 0.756)
- EPJ ST IF: 0.838 (was 0.840)
Moreover we are delighted to announce that the most recent additions to the EPJ series, EPJ H – Historical Perspectives on Contemporary Physics and EPJ Plus, are both already accepted for ISI indexation.
EPJ E - Compare Motor Models: Two-State versus Crossbridge
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- Published on 18 July 2011
Rigid two-state and crossbridge are two models of motor assemblies widely used in the literature. But up to now they had never been studied and compared systematically. In cells, motor proteins use chemical energy to generate motion and forces. This thorough comparison presented in EPJE shows that theforce response to a small displacement step is similar in both models to the delayed stretch activation observed in oscillating muscles.
EPJ B welcomes a new Editor-in-Chief for its complex systems section
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- Published on 06 July 2011
The publishers of The European Physical Journal B - Condensed Matter and Complex Systems are pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Peter Hänggi as a new Editor-in-Chief, who will specifically contribute to the further development of the physics of complex systems section of the journal.
EPJ B - Deciphering complex games
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- Published on 15 June 2011
Game theory has changed our way of thinking about socio-economic interaction, shedding light on the consequences of leaving individuals take their choices for the sake of their self-interest. As exemplified by the prisoner's dilemma, the prediction of this approach can be quite far from what welfare optimization would predict.
EPJ Plus – Alternative Electroweak Model without a Higgs
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- Published on 10 June 2011
While the hunt is on for the Higgs at the LHC, model building continues to explore also other scenarios. Here, an ultraviolet complete electroweak model is presented that assumes running coupling constants described by energy-dependent entire functions. Contrary to the conventional formulation the action contains no physical scalar fields and no Higgs particle, even if the foreseen masses for particles are compatible with known experimental values.
EPJ D - Speedier Quantum Logic
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- Published on 16 May 2011
Quantum information processing requires logical operations with multiple quantum bits. One route to this goal is controlling each qubit with a time-dependent external magnetic field. In this recent paper published in EPJ D, Heule et al. describe ways to perform logical operations on an ENTIRE superconducting qubit chain by controlling just ONE of the end qubits of the chain.
