Spin-Hall effect: Back to the beginning at a higher level

The phenomena of the spin-Hall effect, initially proposed over three decades ago in the context of asymmetric Mott skew scattering, was revived recently by the proposal of a possible intrinsic spin-Hall effect originating from a strongly spin-orbit coupled band structures. This new proposal has generated an extensive debate and controversy over the past 2 years. On August 2006 the first workshop on the spin-Hall effect was held at the Asian Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics. Its purpose was to bring together many of the leading groups in this field to resolve such issues and identify future challenges. We offer this short summary to clarify formerly controversial issues now settled and help refocus the research efforts in new and important avenues.     

A Coset-Type Construction for the Deformed Virasoro Algebra

An analog of the minimal unitary series representations for the deformed Virasoro algebra is constructed using vertex operators of the quantum affine algebra U_q(sl₂). A similar construction is proposed for the elliptic algebra A_q,p(sl₂).     

Relation between Hall-magnetohydrodynamics and the kinetic Alfvén wave

Effects of a finite ion temperature on the Hall magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which breaks down for a finite ion temperature, are clarified in terms of a rigorous three-field kinetic dispersion relation. The MHD mode equation becomes anisotropic with respect to the ion pressure because of the double adiabaticity in ion dynamics.     

Biospecific thermal analyzer coupled with a flowthrough immobilized enzyme column

A thermal analyzer consisting of a pair of glass thermistors was coupled with a flowthrough immobilized enzyme reactor for the determination of ATP concentration. Hexokinase was covalently bound to poly(chloromethyl-styrene-divinyl benzene) beads and packed in the reactor. The thermal analyzer was designed so as to respond to heat generation in the reactor. A maximum temperature change was exhibited within 1.5 min after the injection of a sample solution containing ATP together with glucose. Thermal decay occurred within 1 min. The thermal analyzer responded reproducibly to ATP at a constant concentration. Assays could be repeated at 3-min intervals. The effects of sample volume and flow rate on the response were examined with regard to an empirical equation. Concentration of ATP was determined with the thermal analyzer in the range of 0-10 mM. The thermal analyzer may be a simple device for the rapid determination of ATP concentration.     

Synthesis of thromboxane A2 analogs—2 : (±)-Thiathromboxane A2

The total synthesis of (±)-11a-methano- 9,11-thiathromboxane A₂(1), the sulfur analog of thromboxane A₂ is described     

Solvable lattice models related to the vector representation of classical simple Lie algebras

A series of solvable lattice models with face interaction are introduced on the basis of the affine Lie algebraX _n ⁽¹⁾ =A _n ⁽¹⁾ ,B _n ⁽¹⁾ ,C _n ⁽¹⁾ ,D _n ⁽¹⁾ . The local states taken on by the fluctuation variables are the dominant integral weights ofX _n ⁽¹⁾ of a fixed level. Adjacent local states are subject to a condition related to the vector representation ofX _n . The Boltzmann weights are parametrized by elliptic theta functions and solve the star-triangle relation.     

The behaviour of carbon species produced by CO disproportionation on Ru(1, 1, 10) and Ru(001) surfaces

The behaviour of adsorbed CO on Ru(001) flat and Ru(l,1,10) stepped surfaces in the CO pressure range between 10^?6 and 10¹ Pa has been investigated by TDS, AES, LEED and UPS. The disproportionation of CO proceeds rapidly on the stepped surface and its apparent activation energy was obtained to be 20 kJ mol^?1 at nearly zero coverage. The carbon species produced by CO disproportionation show non-uniform reactivity with ¹⁸O₂ and provide four CO desorption peaks in TPR spectra, which are assigned to α-C¹⁸O,ß-C¹⁸O and those derived from carbidic and graphitic carbons. At smaller carbon coverage, only α-CO and β-CO were observed, but with increasing coverage the amount of ß-CO reaches a maximum and carbidic carbon is newly formed. Further increase of carbon deposition gives graphitic carbon. The conversion from carbidic to graphitic carbon and the dissolution into the bulk took place upon heating to 1000 K. It is remarkable that very active carbon species are converted to molecular CO through the reaction with O₂ even at low temperature such as 200 K. It was also confirmed that active carbon species are formed on Ru surface during COH₂ reaction.     

TheA n /(1) face models

Presented here is the construction of solvable two-dimensional lattice models associated with the affine Lie algebraA _n ^/(1) and an arbitrary pair of Young diagrams. The models comprise two kinds of fluctuation variables; one lives on the sites and takes on dominant integral weights of a fixed level, the other lives on edges and assumes the weights of the representations ofsl(n+1, C) specified by Young diagrams. The Boltzmann weights are elliptic solutions of the Yang-Baxter equation. Some conjectures on the one point functions are put forth.     

A new method for the synthesis of α-arylalkanoic acids by the use of 1,2-rearrangement of the aryl group

A simple synthetic method of α-arylalkanoic acids was accomplished by the use of a novel 1,2-rearrangement of the aryl group and this method was applied to the syntheses of some biologically important substances.