Protolytic equilibria of picric acid in a mixture of protophobic and protophilic polar solvents non-donors of H-bonds

A new differentiating medium for the study of prototropic equilibria is proposed: acetonitrile with a small addition of DMSO. From the dependence of the picric acid pK _a on the content of DMSO in this medium the optimum composition of the mixture was found ensuring the stability of the pK _a values with minimal addition of DSMO: 4 wt %. It was experimentally confirmed that the addition of water in an amount up to 0.1 wt % has virtually no effect on the measured pK _a value in a mixture with the optimum composition.     

Multiple charm production at the LHC energy

Cross sections for J/ψ mesons produced in association with open charm and two charmed hadrons from different $c\bar c$ pairs under LHC conditions are predicted theoretically. The respective processes are considered both in single and in double parton interactions. Particular attention is given to kinematical limits of the LHCb detector, and a comparison with the most recent experimental data is performed for them.     

Monte-carlo calculations for some problems of quantum mechanics

The Monte-Carlo technique for the calculations of functional integral in two one-dimensional quantum-mechanical problems had been applied. The energies of the bound states in some potential wells were obtained using this method. Also some peculiarities in the calculation of the kinetic energy in the ground state had been studied.     

A new beam diagnostic system for the MASHA setup

A new beam diagnostic system based on the PXI standard was developed, tested, and used in the MASHA setup experiment. The beam energy and beam current measurements were carried out using several methods. The online time-of-flight energy measurements were carried out using three pick-up detectors. We used two electronic systems to measure the time between the pick-ups. The first system was based on fast Agilent digitizers (2-channel, 4-GHz sampling rate), and the second one was based on a constant fraction discriminator (CFD) connected to a time-to-digital converter (TDC, 5-ps resolution). A new graphical interface to monitor the electronic devices and to perform the online calculations of energy was developed using MFC C++. The second system based on microchannel plate (time-of-flight) and silicon detectors for the determination of beam energy and the type of accelerated particles was also used. The beam current measurements were carried out with two different sensors. The first sensor is a rotating Faraday cup placed in front of the target, and the second one is an emission detector installed at the rear of the target. This system is now used in experiments for the synthesis of superheavy elements at the U400M cyclotron of the Flerov Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions (FLNR).     

Glass Fracture in the Region of Its Contact with Steel Balls

Results of experiments on indentation of steel balls of various diameters into glass specimens shaped as rectangular parallelepipeds are reported. The limiting load of formation of an annular crack near the contact area and the radius of this crack are experimentally determined. The field of the contact stress in the fracture region is found by using the Huber solution of the Hertz problem of ball indentation into an elastic half-space. Modeling fracture caused by contact interaction is based on using the local criterion of the maximum stress and several nonlocal criteria: average stress criterion, Nuismer criterion, and gradient criterion. For calculating the parameter that has the length dimension and is included into the nonlocal fracture criteria, the ultimate tensile stress and the critical stress intensity factor of glass are experimentally determined for beams without and with a notch. It is demonstrated that the experimental data on the annular crack radius are most adequately predicted by the gradient criterion among all criteria considered in the study. However, this criterion overpredicts the ultimate tensile stress in the course of beam bending, which is caused by the scale factor.     

Long-range nonlocal flow of vortices in narrow superconducting channels

We report a new nonlocal effect in vortex matter, where an electric current confined to a small region of a long and sufficiently narrow superconducting wire causes vortex flow at distances hundreds of intervortex separations away. The observed remote traffic of vortices is attributed to a very efficient transfer of a local strain through the one-dimensional vortex lattice (VL), even in the presence of disorder. We also observe mesoscopic fluctuations in the nonlocal vortex flow, which arise due to "traffic jams" when vortex arrangements do not match a local geometry of a superconducting channel.     

Atmospheric pressure ionization permanent magnet fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

A new Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer based on a permanent magnet with an atmospheric pressure ionization source was designed and constructed. A mass resolving power (full-width-at-half-maximum) of up to 80,000 in the electron ionization mode and 25,000 in the electrospray mode was obtained. Also, a mass measurement accuracy at low-ppm level has been demonstrated for peptide mixtures in a mass range of up to 1200 m/z in the isotopically resolved mass spectra.     

Crystal growth and scintillating properties of (Pr,Si)‐doped YAlO3

This paper deals with Pr‐doped and Pr, Si‐codoped YAlO₃ single crystal growth by the micro‐pulling‐down method and investigation of their spectroscopic and scintillating properties. The Pr³⁺ 5d ‐4f radioluminescence intensity is more than 10 times higher than that of Bi₄Ge₃O₁₂ standard sample, but the Si‐codoping decreases it. Absorption spectra of as‐grown and air‐annealed Si,Pr‐codoped YAlO₃ samples show along with an onset of 4f ‐5d transition round 230 nm the induced absorption band at 400 nm which possibly related to a hole center absorption (Pr⁴⁺ or O^‐). Thermoluminescence measurements above the room temperature were performed in order to monitor deep electron traps. Strong concentration dependence of thermoluminescence was observed for Pr:YAlO₃ glow curves. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)