States of 12ΛC formed in the reaction 12C(K−, π−)

States of ¹²_ΛC formed in the (K^?, π^?) reaction have been studied for momentum transfers up to 260 MeV/c, using an incident K^? beam of 800 MeV/c momentum. The angular distributions for the g.s. and for a peak at 11 meV have been measured between 0° and 19° in the laboratory. Limits on the splitting of the 11 MeV peak and on the formation of low-lying excited states are given.     

Conformation-specific spectroscopy and photodissociation of cold, protonated tyrosine and phenylalanine

We present here ultraviolet and infrared spectra of protonated aromatic amino acids in a cold, 22-pole ion trap. Ultraviolet photofragmentation spectra of protonated tyrosine and phenylalanine show vibronically resolved bands corresponding to different stable conformers: two for PheH+ and four in the case of TyrH+. We subsequently use the resolved UV spectra to perform conformer-specific infrared depletion spectroscopy. Comparison of the measured infrared spectra to density functional theory calculations helps assign the geometry of the various conformers, all of which exhibit NH...pi hydrogen bonds and NH...O=C interactions, with the COOH group oriented either anti or gauche to the aromatic ring. In both molecules the majority of the observed fragments result from dissociation on an excited electronic state. In TyrH+, different conformers excited with practically the same energy exhibit different fragmentation patterns, suggesting that the excited-state dynamics depend upon conformation.