Working group report: Collider Physics

This is summary of the activities of the working group on collider physics in the IXth Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-9) held at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, India in January 2006. Some of the work subsequently done on these problems by the subgroups formed during the workshop is included in this report.     

MgF(3)(-) as a transition state analog of phosphoryl transfer

The formation of complexes between small G proteins and certain of their effectors can be facilitated by aluminum fluorides. Solution studies suggest that magnesium may be able to replace aluminum in such complexes. We have determined the crystal structure of RhoA.GDP bound to RhoGAP in the presence of Mg(2+) and F(-) but without Al(3+). The metallofluoride adopts a trigonal planar arrangement instead of the square planar structure of AlF(4)(-). We have confirmed that these crystals contain magnesium and not aluminum by proton-induced X-ray emission spectroscopy. The structure adopted by GDP.MgF(-) possesses the stereochemistry and approximate charge expected for the transition state. We suggest that MgF3(-) may be the reagent of choice for studying phosphoryl transfer reactions.     

Adding water to sugar: a spectroscopic and computational study of alpha- and beta-phenylxyloside in the gas phase

The gas phase structures of phenyl alpha- and beta-d-xylopyranoside (alpha- and beta-pXyl) and their mono-hydrates have been investigated using a combination of resonant two-photon ionization (R2PI), ultra-violet hole-burning and resonant infrared ion dip spectroscopy, coupled with density functional theory (DFT) and ab initio computation. The hole-burning experiments indicate the population of a single conformer only, in each of the two anomers. Their experimental and calculated infrared spectra are both consistent with a conformational assignment corresponding to the computed global minimum configuration. All three OH groups are oriented towards the oxygen atom (O1) on the anomeric carbon atom to form an all trans(ttt) counter-clockwise chain of hydrogen bonds. The mono-hydrates, alpha- and beta-pXyl(H(2)O) each populate two distinct structures in the molecular beam environment, with the water molecule inserted between OH4 and OH3 or between OH3 and OH2 in alpha-pXyl(H2O), and between OH2 and O1 in either of two alternative orientations, in beta-pXyl(H2O). In all of the mono-hydrated xyloside complexes, the water molecule inserts into the weakest link of the sugar molecules' hydrogen-bonded chain of hydroxy groups, creating a single extended chain, strengthened by co-operativity. The all-trans configuration of the xylose moiety is retained and the mono-hydrate structures correspond to those calculated to lie at the lowest relative energies.     

Glycosyl phenylthiosulfonates (glyco-PTS): novel reagents for glycoprotein synthesis

Controlled site-selective glycosylation can be achieved by combining site-directed cysteine mutagenesis with chemical modification of the introduced thiol; a new class of more efficient chemoselective reagents, glycosyl phenylthiosulfonates, allow rapid glycosylations of representative simple thiols, peptides and proteins.     

Unveiling residual molecular binding in triply charged hydrogen bromide

We present an experimental and theoretical study of triply charged hydrogen bromide ions formed by photoionization of the inner 3d shell of Br. The experimental results, obtained by detecting the 3d photoelectron in coincidence with the two subsequent Auger electrons, are analyzed using calculated potential energy curves of HBr3+. The competition between the short-range chemical binding potential and the Coulomb repulsion in the dissociative process is shown. Two different mechanisms are observed for double Auger decay: one, a direct process with simultaneous ejection of two Auger electrons to final HBr3+ ionic states and the other, a cascade process involving double Auger decay characterized by the autoionization of Br*+ ion subsequent to the HBr2+ fragmentation.     

On the singularity of Green's tensor for a perfectly conducting semi-infinite cone

This paper is intended to clarify a misunderstanding concerningthe source singularity of the electric Green's tensor for aperfectly conducting semi-infinite cone of circular cross-section.Tai's series expansion of the Green's tensor is known to lacka singular term at the source region. Jones has reconstructedthe solution to this problem and has pointed out the differencebetween his result and that of Tai. The aim of our paper isto demonstrate that, although Jones's closed-form solution iscorrect, there is a mistake in his comparison with Tai's seriessolution. We conclude that one of the two additional singularterms that Jones claims as missing from Tai's formula must beomitted. Besides, we compare Jones's closed-form solution withSmyshlyaev's solution to the very same problem. We concludethat the magnetic field expressions given by Jones and Smyshlyaevcoincide, but a singular term is missing from Smyshlyaev's expressionfor the electric field.