Surface structures formed by individual adsorption and coadsorption of Mn and Bi on Cu(0 0 1), studied by LEED

We have studied the individual adsorption of Mn and Bi, and their coadsorption on Cu(0 0 1) by low-energy electron diffraction (LEED). For Mn, we have determined the c(2 × 2) structure formed at 300 K, whose structure had been determined by several methods. We reconfirmed by a tensor LEED analysis that it is a substitutional structure and that a previously reported large corrugation (0.30 Å) between substitutional Mn and remaining surface Cu atoms coincides perfectly with the present value. In the individual adsorption of Bi, we have found a c(4 × 2) structure, which is formed by cooling below ∼250 K a surface prepared by Bi deposition of ∼0.25 ML coverage at 300 K where streaky half-order LEED spots appear. The c(4 × 2) structure has been determined by the tensor LEED analysis at 130 K and it is a substitutional structure. In the coadsorption, we found a c(6 × 4) structure, which has been determined by the tensor LEED analysis. It is very similar to the previously determined structure of the c(6 × 4) formed by coadsorption of Mg and Bi, and embedded MnBi₄ clusters are arranged in the top Cu layer instead of MgBi₄. Large lateral displacements of Bi atoms in the c(6 × 4)-(Mn + Bi) suggest that the Mn atoms undergo the size-enhancement caused by their large magnetic moment.     

On the realization of Riemannian symmetric spaces in Lie groups

In this paper we give a realization of some symmetric space G/K as a closed submanifold P of G. We also give several equivalent representations of the submanifold P. Some properties of the set gK∩P are also discussed, where gK is a coset space in G.     

Challenging Students to View the Concept of Area in Triangles in a Broad Context: Exploiting the Features of Cabri-II

This study focuses on the constructions in terms of area and perimeter in equivalent triangles developed by students aged 12–15 years-old, using the tools provided by Cabri-Geometry II [Labore (1990). Cabri-Geometry (software), Université de Grenoble]. Twenty-five students participated in a learning experiment where they were asked to construct: (a) pairs of equivalent triangles “in as many ways as possible” and to study their area and their perimeter using any of the tools provided and (b) “any possible sequence of modifications of an original triangle into other equivalent ones”. As regards the concept of area and in contrast to a paper and pencil environment, Cabri provided students with different and potential opportunities in terms of: (a) means of construction, (b) control, (c) variety of representations and (d) linking representations, by exploiting its capability for continuous modifications. By exploiting these opportunities in the context of the given open tasks, students were helped by the tools provided to develop a broader view of the concept of area than the typical view they would construct in a typical paper and pencil environment.     

The AB2-XA1 electronic transition of NO2: A rovibronic survey covering 14 300-18 000 cm

More than 250 rotationally resolved vibrational bands of the A²B₂-X²A₁ electronic transition of ¹⁵NO₂ have been observed in the 14 300-18 000 cm⁻¹ range. The bands have been recorded in a recently constructed setup designed for high resolution spectroscopy of jet cooled molecules by combining time gated fluorescence spectroscopy and molecular beam techniques. The majority of the observed bands has been rotationally assigned and can be identified as transitions starting from the vibrational ground state or from vibrationally excited (hot band) states. An exceptionally strong band is located at 14 851 cm⁻¹ and studied in more detail as a typical benchmark transition to monitor ¹⁵NO₂ in atmospheric remote sensing experiments. Standard rotational fit routines provide band origins, rotational and spin rotation constants. A subset of 177 vibronic levels of ²B₂ vibronic symmetry has been analyzed in the energy range between 14 300 and 17 250 cm⁻¹, in terms of integrated density and using Next Neighbor Distribution. It is found that the overall statistical properties and polyad structure of ¹⁵NO₂ are comparable to those of ¹⁴NO₂ but that the internal structures of the polyads are completely different. This is a direct consequence of the X²A₁-A²B₂ vibronic mixing.     

Roles of SiH4 and SiF4 in growth and structural changes of poly-Si films

The structural properties of polycrystalline silicon films, prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition system, with different flow rates of SiH₄/SiF₄ mixtures at 300 °C were investigated. This study indicates that the low hydrogen coverage on the growing surface, under optimum fluorine radicals, will be leaded to an improvement of crystallized area as compared with case of high hydrogen coverage surface. Moreover, the studies of the role of SiH₄ and SiF₄ radicals show that the SiH₄ radicals are important in the nucleation and growth of grains. However, SiF₄ radicals are effective in the structural change of grain boundaries regions and by this way, in the present system, establish the growth of grains under the dominant 〈1 1 0〉 direction. The stress investigation indicates that addition of high flow rate of SiF₄ in amorphous film, results in the nearly stress free films. Finally, we found that the changes in g-value reflect the changes in the intrinsic compressive and tensile stress in the both polycrystalline and amorphous silicon films.     

On the density of the space of continuous and uniformly continuous functions

For X a metrizable space and (Y,ρ) a metric space, with Y pathwise connected, we compute the density of (C(X,(Y,ρ)),σ)—the space of all continuous functions from X to (Y,ρ), endowed with the supremum metric σ. Also, for (X,d) a metric space and (Y,‖⋅‖) a normed space, we compute the density of (UC((X,d),(Y,ρ)),σ) (the space of all uniformly continuous functions from (X,d) to (Y,ρ), where ρ is the metric induced on Y by ‖⋅‖). We also prove that the latter result extends only partially to the case where (Y,ρ) is an arbitrary pathwise connected metric space.To carry such an investigation out, the notions of generalized compact and generalized totally bounded metric space, introduced by the author and A. Barbati in a former paper, turn out to play a crucial rôle. Moreover, we show that the first-mentioned concept provides a precise characterization of those metrizable spaces which attain their extent.     

Coxeter complexes and graph-associahedra

Given a graph Γ, we construct a simple, convex polytope, dubbed graph-associahedra, whose face poset is based on the connected subgraphs of Γ. This provides a natural generalization of the Stasheff associahedron and the Bott-Taubes cyclohedron. Moreover, we show that for any simplicial Coxeter system, the minimal blow-ups of its associated Coxeter complex has a tiling by graph-associahedra. The geometric and combinatorial properties of the complex as well as of the polyhedra are given. These spaces are natural generalizations of the Deligne-Knudsen-Mumford compactification of the real moduli space of curves.     

On extremally disconnected topological groups

We introduce the notion of a partially selective ultrafilter and prove that (a) if G is an extremally disconnected topological group and p is a converging nonprincipal ultrafilter on G containing a countable discrete subset, then p is partially selective, and (b) the existence of a nonprincipal partially selective ultrafilter on a countable set implies the existence of a P-point in ω^∗. Thus it is consistent with ZFC that there is no extremally disconnected topological group containing a countable discrete nonclosed subset.     

Charge transport in a polypeptide chain

Charge transport is one important example of signal transduction in a protein which is responsible for action at a distance, and is a fundamental process in biochemical action. A model is presented in which electronic effects interact with motional processes to combine into a bifunctional model. This model is investigated with new detailed molecular dynamics calculations and successfully explains such action at a distance. Received 1st February 2002 / Received in final form 26 May 2002 Published online 13 September 2002