Working group report: Heavy-ion physics and quark-gluon plasma

This is the report of Heavy Ion Physics and Quark-Gluon Plasma at WHEPP-09 which was part of Working Group-4. Discussion and work on some aspects of quark-gluon plasma believed to have created in heavy-ion collisions and in early Universe are reported.     

Shortest Path Problem on a Network with Imprecise Edge Weight

A network with its arc lengths as imprecise number, instead of a real number, namely, interval number and triangular fuzzy number is considered here. Existing ideas on addition and comparison between two imprecise numbers of same type are introduced. To obtain a fuzzy shortest path from a source vertex to all other vertices, a common algorithm is developed which works well on both types of imprecise numbers under consideration. In the proposed algorithm, a decision-maker is to negotiate with the obtained fuzzy shortest paths according to his/her view only when the means are same but the widths are different of the obtained paths. Otherwise, a fuzzy optimal path is obtained to which the decision-maker always satisfies with different grades of satisfaction. All pairs fuzzy shortest paths can be found by repeated use of the proposed algorithm.     

Synthesis of Oxygen‐Containing Spirobipyrrolidinium Salts for High Conductivity Room Temperature Ionic Liquids

Synthesis of ionic liquids (IL) based on oxygen‐containing spirobipyrrolidinium salts with BF₄, BF₃C₂F₅, and NTf₂ as counterions was undertaken. Their physical and electrochemical properties were evaluated for suitability for Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTIL) application. Reduction in melting point occurred upon exchange of C(2) by an O‐atom of spirobipyrrolidinium, without sacrificing the electrochemical stability; while introduction of alkyl groups between the N‐ and O‐atoms led to incorporation of asymmetry, and hence reduced the melting points, and viscosity.     

Analysis of the nonlinear vibration of a two-mass–spring system with linear and nonlinear stiffness

An analytical approach is developed for areas of nonlinear science such as the nonlinear free vibration of a conservative, two-degree-of-freedom mass–spring system having linear and nonlinear stiffnesses. The main contribution of this research is twofold. First, it introduces the transformation of two nonlinear differential equations for a two-mass system using suitable intermediate variables into a single nonlinear differential equation and, more significantly, the treatment of a nonlinear differential system by linearization coupled with Newton’s method. Secondly, the major section is the solving of the governing nonlinear differential equation where the displacement of the two-mass system can be obtained directly from the linear second-order differential equation using a first-order variational approach. The aforementioned approach proposed by J.H. He, who actually developed the method, is exactly He’s variational method. This approach is an explicit method with high validity for resolving strong nonlinear oscillation system problems. Two examples of nonlinear two-degree-of-freedom mass–spring systems are analyzed, and verified with published results and exact solutions. The method can be easily extended to other nonlinear oscillations and so could be widely applicable in engineering and science.     

Efficient Transformation of Furfuryl Alcohol Into Ethyl Levulinates via Alcoholysis Reaction Catalyzed by SnO2/H-Mordenite Catalyst

Catalysis Surveys from Asia - Catalytic production of ethyl levulinate by alcoholysis of furfuryl alcohol with ethanol was investigated over H-mordenite supported Sn catalyst under atmospheric N2...     

Molecular docking approach on the molecular interactions involving beta-lactoglobulin (βLG)-4-Dicyanomethylene2,6-Dimethyl-4-Hpyran (DDP) dye in the presence of an antibiotic,norfloxacin

Molecular docking (MD) techniques were employed in the determination of binding stability of Beta-lactoglobulin (βLG) with 4-Dicyanomethylene2,6-Dimethyl-4-Hpyran (DDP) dye in the presence of quinolone-based antibiotic, norfloxacin (NOR). βLG acts as the host and drug/dye is employed as the guest molecule. The energetics and molecular interaction parameters of βLG-DDP were found to be stable than βLG-NOR. DDP resides in three distinguishably different binding sites of βLG, however the binding energies does not differ considerably. Interestingly, the energetics of βLG-NOR conformers differs significantly and reveals the existence of two distinguishable conformers. NOR acts as a hydrogen-bonding (HB) acceptor and the amino acid (AA) residues of βLG as the donor. The extent of HB interactions predominates over hydrophobic interactions in βLG-NOR than βLG-DDP complex. MD studies authenticates no direct binding of dye-drug inside the domains of βLG, when docked simultaneously. On the contrary, docking of dye to βLG-NOR complex enhances the binding stability. Several molecular interactions govern the stability of the complex and play a major role on the binding affinity of the host-guest complex in the presence of two competitive ligands. MD techniques authenticate that DDP/NOR is bound to several AA residues through conventional and non-conventional HB interactions accompanied with hydrophobic, pi-pi, pi-alkyl and van der Waals forces of interactions. Further, MD methods is employed as an efficient tool and a non-evasive technique in establishing the stability of 1:1complex of drug/dye with βLG in the present study.     

Thiol‐Directed Synthesis of Highly Fluorescent Gold Clusters and Their Conversion into Stable Imaging Nanoprobes

Fluorescent gold clusters (FGCs) with tunable emission from blue to red and quantum yields in the range of 6–17 % have been synthesized by simple modification of the conditions used for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles, namely by replacing the stronger reducing agent with a controlled amount of thiol. Various functional FGCs with hydrodynamic diameters of 5–12 nm have been successfully synthesized and used as cell labels. The results of our investigations strongly indicate that FGCs composed of Au⁰ are more stable imaging probes than commonly reported red/NIR‐emitting FGCs with a composition of Au⁰/Au^I, as this combination rapidly transforms into nonfluorescent large clusters on exposure to light. The FGC‐based nanoprobes reported herein exhibit stable fluorescence upon continuous light exposure and can be used as imaging probes with low cytotoxicity.     

Aspherical‐Atom Modeling of Coordination Compounds by Single‐Crystal X‐ray Diffraction Allows the Correct Metal Atom To Be Identified

Single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction (XRD) is often considered the gold standard in analytical chemistry, as it allows element identification as well as determination of atom connectivity and the solid‐state structure of completely unknown samples. Element assignment is based on the number of electrons of an atom, so that a distinction of neighboring heavier elements in the periodic table by XRD is often difficult. A computationally efficient procedure for aspherical‐atom least‐squares refinement of conventional diffraction data of organometallic compounds is proposed. The iterative procedure is conceptually similar to Hirshfeld‐atom refinement (Acta Crystallogr. Sect. A­ 2008 , 64, 383–393; IUCrJ. 2014 , 1,61–79), but it relies on tabulated invariom scattering factors (Acta Crystallogr. Sect. B­ 2013 , 69, 91–104) and the Hansen/Coppens multipole model; disordered structures can be handled as well. Five linear‐coordinate 3d metal complexes, for which the wrong element is found if standard independent‐atom model scattering factors are relied upon, are studied, and it is shown that only aspherical‐atom scattering factors allow a reliable assignment. The influence of anomalous dispersion in identifying the correct element is investigated and discussed.