On the Quasi-linear Elliptic PDE {-\nabla \cdot ( \nabla{u}/ \sqrt{1-| \nabla{u} |^2}) = 4 \pi \sum_k a_k \delta_{s_k}} in Physics and Geometry

It is shown that for each finite number N of Dirac measures ${\delta_{s_n}}$ supported at points ${s_n \in {\mathbb R}^3}$ with given amplitudes ${a_n \in {\mathbb R} \backslash\{0\}}$ there exists a unique real-valued function ${u \in C^{0, 1}({\mathbb R}^3)}$ , vanishing at infinity, which distributionally solves the quasi-linear elliptic partial differential equation of divergence form ${-\nabla \cdot ( \nabla{u}/ \sqrt{1-| \nabla{u} |^2}) = 4 \pi \sum_{n=1}^N a_n \delta_{s_n}}$ . Moreover, ${u \in C^{\omega}({\mathbb R}^3\backslash \{s_n\}_{n=1}^N)}$ . The result can be interpreted in at least two ways: (a) for any number N of point charges of arbitrary magnitude and sign at prescribed locations s _n in three-dimensional Euclidean space there exists a unique electrostatic field which satisfies the Maxwell-Born-Infeld field equations smoothly away from the point charges and vanishes as |s| ?? ??; (b) for any number N of integral mean curvatures assigned to locations ${s_n \in {\mathbb R}^3 \subset{\mathbb R}^{1, 3}}$ there exists a unique asymptotically flat, almost everywhere space-like maximal slice with point defects of Minkowski spacetime ${{\mathbb R}^{1, 3}}$ , having lightcone singularities over the s _n but being smooth otherwise, and whose height function vanishes as |s| ?? ??. No struts between the point singularities ever occur.     

Femtosecond relaxation kinetics of highly excited \mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**} states in CaF2 at 3.2 eV and 4.7 eV

Femtosecond (fs) laser pulses at variable delay times allowed us to track the fast non-radiative transitions between the manifold of highly excited $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**}$ states to the lower lying fluorescent $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ state in CaF₂. Two distinct $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{**}$ states of the manifold at 3.16?eV ( $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}2}^{**}$ ) and 4.73?eV ( $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}3}^{**}$ ) were populated using the second (SH) and third harmonics (TH) of fs laser light at 785?nm. The population kinetics of the fluorescent $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ state in the 2?eV excitation energy range was revealed by depleting its fluorescence centered at 740?nm using fundamental near infrared (NIR) fs laser pulses. The related time constants for $\mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}2,3}^{**}{\sim}{>} \mathrm{M}_{\mathrm{Na}}^{*}$ relaxation amounted to 1.0±0.14?ps and 3.0±0.3?ps upon SH and TH excitation, respectively.     

Identification of \mathrm{\ensuremath J^{\pi} = 19/2^+} and \mathrm{\ensuremath 23/2^+} isomeric states in 127Sb

The nucleus $\ensuremath {\rm ^{127}Sb}$ , which is on the neutron-rich periphery of the $\ensuremath \beta$ -stability region, has been populated in complex nuclear reactions involving deep-inelastic and fusion-fission processes with $\ensuremath {\rm {}^{136}Xe}$ beams incident on thick targets. The previously known isomer at 2325 keV in $\ensuremath {\rm {}^{127}Sb}$ has been assigned spin and parity $\ensuremath 23/2^+$ , based on the measured $\ensuremath \gamma$ - $\ensuremath \gamma$ angular correlations and total internal conversion coefficients. The half-life has been determined to be 234(12) ns, somewhat longer than the value reported previously. The 2194 keV state has been assigned $\ensuremath J^{\pi} = 19/2^+$ and identified as an isomer with $\ensuremath T_{1/2} = 14(1) {\rm ns}$ , decaying by two $\ensuremath E2$ branches. The observed level energies and transition strengths are compared with the predictions of a shell model calculation. Two $\ensuremath 15/2^+$ states have been identified close in energy, and their properties are discussed in terms of mixing between vibrational and three-quasiparticle configurations.     

Theoretical study of collision and collision-free radiative lifetimes of {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{{\text{B}}^3}\Sigma_{\text{u}}^{-} \left( {{\upsilon^{\prime}} = 0 - 9} \right)} \right)

We calculate multireference configuration-interaction wavefunctions and the potential-energy curves for the $ {B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} $ and $ {X^3}\Sigma_g^{-} $ states of the collision-free S₂ molecule and the T-shape collision complex S₂?CHe using cc-pVQZ basis sets. We obtain the transition dipole moments of the $ {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} \to {X^3}\Sigma_g^{-} } \right) $ and the Franck?CCondon factors between the vibrational levels of this two states. We evaluate the radiative lifetimes of $ {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} \left( {{\upsilon^{\prime}} = 0 - 9} \right)} \right) $ levels of the collision complex and the collision-free molecule and compare them with the experiments. The collision provides little change in the radiative lifetimes of $ {{\text{S}}_2}\left( {{B^3}\Sigma_u^{-} \left( {{\upsilon^{\prime}} = 0 - 9} \right)} \right) $ according to the previous calculations. We obtain excellent agreement between the theoretical results and the experiments. The data calculated are very useful in the study of the microwave-driven high-pressure sulfur lamp and an S₂ laser pumped by a transverse fast discharge.     

Proton-antiproton annihilation into a \Lambda_{c}^{+} \bar{{\Lambda}}_{c}^{-} pair

The process p $ \bar{{p}}$ $ \rightarrow$ $ \Lambda_{c}^{+}$ $ \bar{{\Lambda}}_{c}^{-}$ is investigated within the handbag approach. It is shown to lowest order of perturbative QCD that, under the assumption of restricted parton virtualities and transverse momenta, the dominant dynamical mechanism, characterized by the partonic subprocess u $ \bar{{u}}$ $ \rightarrow$ c $ \bar{{c}}$ , factorizes in the sense that only the subprocess contains highly virtual partons, namely a gluon, while the hadronic matrix elements embody only soft scales and can be parameterized in terms of helicity flip and non-flip generalized parton distributions. Modelling the latter functions by overlaps of light-cone wave functions for the involved baryons we are able to predict cross-sections and spin correlation parameters for the process of interest.     

\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*} chemiluminescence study at low and elevated pressures

Chemiluminescence experiments have been performed to assess the state of current $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ kinetics modeling. The difficulty with modeling $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ lies in its broad emission spectrum, making it a challenge to isolate it from background emission of species such as CH^? and CH₂O^?. Experiments were performed in a mixture of 0.0005H₂+0.01N₂O+0.03CO+0.9595Ar in an attempt to isolate $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ emission. Temperatures ranged from 1654 K to 2221 K at two average pressures, 1.4 and 10.4 atm. The unique time histories of the various chemiluminescence species in the unconventional mixture employed at these conditions allow for easy identification of the $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ concentration. Two different wavelengths to capture $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ were used; one optical filter was centered at 415 nm and the other at 458 nm. The use of these two different wavelengths was done to verify that broadband $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ was in fact being captured, and not emission from other species such as CH^? and CH₂O^?. As a baseline for time history and peak magnitude comparison, OH^? emission was captured at 307 nm simultaneously with the two $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ filters. The results from the two $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ filters were consistent with each other, implying that indeed the same species (i.e., $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ ) was being measured at both wavelengths. A first-generation kinetics model for $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ and CH₂O^? was developed, since no comprehensively validated one exists to date. CH₂O^? and CH^? were ruled out as being present in the experiments at any measurable level, based on calculations and comparisons with the data. Agreement with the $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ model was only fair, which necessitates future improvements for a better understanding of $\mathrm{CO}_{2}^{*}$ chemiluminescence as well as the kinetics of the ground state species.     

Simulating spin-\frac{3}{2} particles at colliders

Support for interactions of spin- $\frac{3}{2}$ particles is implemented in the FeynRules and ALOHA packages and tested with the MadGraph 5 and CalcHEP event generators in the context of three phenomenological applications. In the first, we implement a spin- $\frac{3}{2}$ Majorana gravitino field, as in local supersymmetric models, and study gravitino and gluino pair-production. In the second, a spin- $\frac{3}{2}$ Dirac top-quark excitation, inspired from compositeness models, is implemented. We then investigate both top-quark excitation and top-quark pair-production. In the third, a general effective operator for a spin- $\frac{3}{2}$ Dirac quark excitation is implemented, followed by a calculation of the angular distribution of the s-channel production mechanism.     

Quasi solid state dye-sensitized solar cells based on polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) electrolytes containing \mathbf{I}^{\mathbf{-}}/\mathbf{I}_{\mathbf{3}}^{\mathbf{-}} redox couple

Quasi solid state dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have been fabricated with electrolytes containing $\text{ I }^{-}/\text{ I }_{3}^{-}$ redox couple using 80 % hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) doped with potassium iodide (KI) and a mixture of potassium iodide and tetrapropyl ammonium iodide ( $\text{ Pr }_{4}\text{ NI }$ ) salts. The quasi solid state gel polymer electrolytes were prepared using 1:1 ethylene carbonate (EC):propylene carbonate (PC) mixture. The solar cells have the structure of ITO/ $\text{ TiO }_{2}$ /N3-Dye/electrolyte/Pt/ITO. The conductivity of the electrolytes has been calculated from the bulk resistance value determined using the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The performance of the DSSCs has been studied by varying the concentration of the doping salts in the electrolyte and incident light intensity. The DSSC fabricated with the KI salt electrolyte containing 9.9 wt% PVA, 39.6 wt% EC, 39.6 wt% PC, 10.9 wt% KI $(+\text{ I }_{2})$ exhibited the best power conversion efficiency of 1.97 %. However, the DSSC with a double-salt electrolyte containing 9.9 wt% PVA: 39.6 wt% EC: 39.6 wt% PC: (6.5 wt% KI: 4.4 wt% $\text{ Pr }_{4}\text{ NI }$ ) ( $+\text{ I }_{2}$ ) exhibited a higher efficiency of 3.27% under $100 \text{ mW/cm }^{2}$ light intensity. The efficiency of this cell increased to 4.59 % under dimmer light of intensity of $54 \text{ mW/cm }^{2}$ .     

Quantum Sphere {\mathbb{S}^4} as a Non-Levi Conjugacy Class

We construct a ${U_\hbar(\mathfrak{sp}(4))}$ -equivariant quantization of the four-dimensional complex sphere ${\mathbb{S}^4}$ regarded as a conjugacy class, Sp(4)/Sp(2) ×?Sp(2), of a simple complex group with non-Levi isotropy subgroup, through an operator realization of the quantum polynomial algebra ${\mathbb{C}_\hbar[\mathbb{S}^4]}$ on a highest weight module of ${U_\hbar(\mathfrak{sp}(4))}$ .     

Charmonium rescattering effects in \psi(2S) \rightarrow \gamma \eta_{c}^{} decay

Charmonium rescattering effects in the M1 transition of $ \psi$ (2S) $ \rightarrow$ $ \gamma$ $ \eta_{c}^{}$ are investigated by modeling a $ \chi_{{cJ}}^{}$ or J/ $ \psi$ rescattering into a $ \eta_{c}^{}$ final state. The absorptive and dispersive part of the transition amplitudes for the rescattering loops of $ \eta$ $ \psi$ ( $ \gamma^{{\ast}}_{}$ ) and $ \gamma$ $ \chi$ ( $ \psi$ ) are separately evaluated. The numerical results show that the contribution from the $ \gamma$ $ \chi$ ( $ \psi$ ) rescattering process is negligible. Compared with the virtual D $ \bar{{D}}$ (D ^*) rescattering processes, the $ \eta$ $ \psi$ ( $ \gamma^{{\ast}}_{}$ ) process may be regarded as the next-leading order of the hadronic loop mechanism, which only offers the partial decay width of ～ 0.045 keV to the $ \psi$ (2S) $ \rightarrow$ $ \gamma$ $ \eta_{c}^{}$ .     

Preliminary studies of the Raman spectra of \hbox {Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}\hbox { and }\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}

The theoretical calculations indicated that the monoclinic low-temperature phase of silver telluride $(\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te})$ is a new binary topological insulator with highly anisotropic single Dirac cone surface. We obtained $\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}$ crystal ingots containing few grains by the Bridgman method. We also deposited thin films of tellurium, $\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}\hbox { and }(\hbox {Te+Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3})$ by thermal evaporation method. The Raman spectra of $\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}$ , tellurium and $\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}$ were measured at three excitation wave lengths: 633, 515 and 488 nm. The Raman active modes of $\upbeta \hbox {-Ag}_{2}\hbox {Te}$ , tellurium and $\hbox {Ag}_{5}\hbox {Te}_{3}$ are situated at frequencies below 300  $\hbox {cm}^{-1}$ while vibrations of other phases appear at higher frequencies.     

Modeling of Spin Hamiltonian Parameters for Vanadyl-Doped {\bf\hbox{K}_2\hbox{SO}_4{-}\hbox{Na}_2\hbox{SO}_4{-}\hbox{ZnSO}_4} Glass

A full ligand-field energy matrix diagonalization treatment for 3d ¹ ions in tetragonal symmetry is developed on the basis of the two spin?Corbit coupling parameter model, and the contributions of the spin?Corbit coupling of the ligand ions to the optical and electron paramagnetic resonance spectra are included. Spin Hamiltonian parameters of the tetragonal ${\rm V}^{4+}$ center in $\hbox{K}_2\hbox{SO}_4 {-} \hbox{Na}_2\hbox{SO}_4{-}\hbox{ZnSO}_4$ glass are calculated from the complete energy matrix diagonalization and the perturbation theory methods. The results calculated by both methods are not only close to each other but also in good agreement with the experimental values. Furthermore, the compressed defect structure of the ${\rm (VO_6)^{8-}}$ cluster is discussed.     

Meson spectra and mass splitting of \eta_{c}^{} - J/ \psi calculated with a regularized quark potential

The complete Breit potential contains the terms of spin-spin, spin-orbit, orbit-orbit, and tensor force interactions which become singular at short distance. Most of previous calculations of the non-relativistic potential quark model considered only the spin-spin interaction and substituted the $ \delta$ (r) -function by the Gaussian or Yukawa potential in coordinate space. Recently, a method to regularize the Breit potential consists of subtracting terms that cancel the singularity at the origin but leave the intermediate- and long-distance behavior unchanged. Motivated by this work we regularize the Breit potential by multiplying the singular terms in momentum space identically by the form factor [ $ \mu^{2}_{}$ /(q ² + $ \mu^{2}_{}$ )]² of the momentum transfer q , where the screened mass μ increases with the reduced mass of the meson. With the regularized Breit potential we calculate the masses of 30 common mesons and the new $ \eta_{b}^{}$ meson. We find that the calculated masses from light to heavy mesons agree well with experimental data. The inclusion of such a dependence of the reduced mass in the potential regularization improves the spin-spin splittings of $ \eta_{c}^{}$ -J/ $ \psi$ and $ \eta_{b}^{}$ - $ \Upsilon$ (1S) . The spin-orbit and tensor force interactions in the Breit potential lead to the splittings of $ \chi_{{c0}}^{}$ , $ \chi_{{c1}}^{}$ , and $ \chi_{{c2}}^{}$ .     

Three-loop on-shell charge renormalization without integration:\Lambda _{QED}^{\overline {MS} } to four loops

Using algebraic methods, we find the three-loop relation between the bare and physical couplings of one-flavourD-dimensional QED, in terms of Γ functions and a singleF ₃₂ series, whose expansion nearD=4 is obtained, by wreath-product transformations, to the order required for five-loop calculations. Taking the limitD→4, we find that the \(\overline {MS} \) coupling \(\bar \alpha (\mu )\) satisfies the boundary condition $$\begin{gathered} \frac{{\bar \alpha (m)}}{\pi } = \frac{\alpha }{\pi } + \frac{{15}}{{16}}\frac{{\alpha ^3 }}{{\pi ^3 }} + \left\{ {\frac{{11}}{{96}}\zeta (3) - \frac{1}{3}\pi ^2 \log 2} \right. \hfill \\ \left. { + \frac{{23}}{{72}}\pi ^2 - \frac{{4867}}{{5184}}} \right\}\frac{{\alpha ^4 }}{{\pi ^4 }} + \mathcal{O}(\alpha ^5 ), \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ wherem is the physical lepton mass and α is the physical fine structure constant. Combining this new result for the finite part of three-loop on-shell charge renormalization with the recently revised four-loop term in the \(\overline {MS} \) β-function, we obtain $$\begin{gathered} \Lambda _{QED}^{\overline {MS} } \approx \frac{{me^{3\pi /2\alpha } }}{{(3\pi /\alpha )^{9/8} }}\left( {1 - \frac{{175}}{{64}}\frac{\alpha }{\pi } + \left\{ { - \frac{{63}}{{64}}\zeta (3)} \right.} \right. \hfill \\ \left. { + \frac{1}{2}\pi ^2 \log 2 - \frac{{23}}{{48}}\pi ^2 + \frac{{492473}}{{73728}}} \right\}\left. {\frac{{\alpha ^2 }}{{\pi ^2 }}} \right), \hfill \\ \end{gathered} $$ at the four-loop level of one-flavour QED.     

Large N approach to Kaon decays and mixing 28 years later: \Delta I=1/2 rule, \hat{B}_K,and \Delta M_K

We review and update our results for $K\rightarrow \pi \pi $ decays and $K^0$ – $\bar{K}^0$ mixing obtained by us in the 1980s within an analytic approximate approach based on the dual representation of QCD as a theory of weakly interacting mesons for large $N$ , where $N$ is the number of colors. In our analytic approach the Standard Model dynamics behind the enhancement of $\hbox {Re}A_0$ and suppression of $\hbox {Re}A_2$ , the so-called $\Delta I=1/2$ rule for $K\rightarrow \pi \pi $ decays, has a simple structure: the usual octet enhancement through the long but slow quark–gluon renormalization group evolution down to the scales $\mathcal{O}(1\, {\hbox { GeV}})$ is continued as a short but fast meson evolution down to zero momentum scales at which the factorization of hadronic matrix elements is at work. The inclusion of lowest-lying vector meson contributions in addition to the pseudoscalar ones and of Wilson coefficients in a momentum scheme improves significantly the matching between quark–gluon and meson evolutions. In particular, the anomalous dimension matrix governing the meson evolution exhibits the structure of the known anomalous dimension matrix in the quark–gluon evolution. While this physical picture did not yet emerge from lattice simulations, the recent results on $\hbox {Re}A_2$ and $\hbox {Re}A_0$ from the RBC-UKQCD collaboration give support for its correctness. In particular, the signs of the two main contractions found numerically by these authors follow uniquely from our analytic approach. Though the current–current operators dominate the $\Delta I=1/2$ rule, working with matching scales $\mathcal{O}(1 \, {\hbox { GeV}})$ we find that the presence of QCD-penguin operator $Q_6$ is required to obtain satisfactory result for $\hbox {Re}A_0$ . At NLO in $1/N$ we obtain $R=\hbox {Re}A_0/\hbox {Re}A_2= 16.0\pm 1.5$ which amounts to an order of magnitude enhancement over the strict large $N$ limit value $\sqrt{2}$ . We also update our results for the parameter $\hat{B}_K$ , finding $\hat{B}_K=0.73\pm 0.02$ . The smallness of $1/N$ corrections to the large $N$ value $\hat{B}_K=3/4$ results within our approach from an approximate cancelation between pseudoscalar and vector meson one-loop contributions. We also summarize the status of $\Delta M_K$ in this approach.     

\mathfrak{Q}-, \mathfrak{P}-, and Weyl-ordering of Squeezing Operators: New Operator Identities and Applications

The basic operator ordering regarding to coordinate-momentum operator is discussed by virtue of the technique of integration within $\mathfrak{Q}$ -ordering (all Q are on the left of all P) and $\mathfrak{P}$ -ordering (all P are on the left of all Q). We derive new operator-ordering identities about $\mathfrak{Q}$ -ordering , $\mathfrak{P}$ -ordering and Weyl-ordering of both single-mode and two-mode squeezing operators. Its application in combinatorics is pointed out.     

Synthesis and anti-cancer activity of a glycosyl library of \varvec{N}-acetylglucosamine-bearing oleanolic acid

N-Acetylglucosamine-bearing triterpenoid saponins (GNTS) were reported to be a unique type of saponins with potent anti-tumor activity. In order to study the structure–activity relationship of GNTS, 24 oleanolic acid saponins with ( $1 \rightarrow 3$ )-linked, ( $1\rightarrow 4$ )-linked, ( $1\rightarrow 6$ )-linked $N$ -acetylglucosamine oligosaccharide residues were synthesized in a combinatorial and concise method. The cytotoxicity of these compounds toward the leukemia cell line HL-60 and the colorectal cancer cell line HT-29 could not be improved. Half maximal inhibition below $10\,\upmu \hbox {M}$ was achieved in one single case. The study revealed that the activity decreased following the order of $3^{\prime }>4^{\prime }>6^{\prime }$ glycosyl modifications. GNTS that incorporated (d/l)-xylose and l-arabinose at positions $3^{\prime }$ and $4^{\prime }$ were more potent than those bearing other sugars.     

Absolute E3 and M2 transition probabilities for the electromagnetic decay of the \mathrm{\ensuremath I^{\pi}=K^{\pi}=8^{-}} isomeric state in 132Ce

The decay of the $\ensuremath I^{\pi}=K^{\pi}=8^{-}$ isomeric state at 2340keV in ¹³²Ce has been investigated in the ¹²⁰Sn(¹⁶O, 4n)¹³²Ce reaction. The measurements were carried out in e - $ \gamma$ and $ \gamma$ - $ \gamma$ coincidence modes using an electron spectrometer coupled to the OSIRIS II gamma-ray array at the Heavy Ion Laboratory of the University of Warsaw. Experimentally obtained internal conversion coefficients for the $\ensuremath 8^{-} \rightarrow 6^{+}$ and $\ensuremath 8^{-} \rightarrow 5^{+}$ transitions allowed the multipolarities, mixing ratios, reduced transition probabilities and hindrance factors to be determined.     

Fast proton conduction path in {\text{Ni}} - {\text{BaCe}}_{{0.8}} {\text{Y}}_{{0.2}} {\text{O}}_{{2.9 - \delta }} membrane

The effect of metal-to-oxide grain boundary layer in $ {\text{Ni}} - {\text{BaCe}}_{{0.8}} {\text{Y}}_{{0.2}} {\text{O}}_{{3 - \delta }} $ (BCY) cermet membrane on hydrogen permeation was studied by applying the different size of oxide grain on Ni-BCY membranes. Two types of cermet membranes having different grain size of oxide were prepared by using different starting particle size of oxide powder. The hydrogen flux of coarse-oxide-grain membrane showed higher flux than that of small-oxide-grain membrane. It was understood that the negative potential at metal-to-oxide grain boundary, reference to the bulk oxide ( $ \phi _{0} < \phi _{\infty } = 0 $ ), was developed, and the accumulation of the effectively positively charged protons may occur at the grain boundary layer (space charge layer), which may result in providing highly conductive proton path by shifting the charge neutrality condition from $ {\left[ {OH^{ \bullet }_{O} } \right]} = {\left[ {Y^{/}_{{Ce}} } \right]} $ to $ {\left[ {OH^{ \bullet }_{O} } \right]} = n $ .