Working group report: Quantum chromodynamics

This is the report of the subgroup QCD of Working Group-4 at WHEPP-9. We present the activities that had taken place in the subgroup and report some of the partial results arrived at following the discussion at the working group meetings.     

Operational characteristics and power scaling of a transverse flow transversely excited CW CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> laser

Transverse flow transversely excited (TFTE) CO₂ lasers are easily scalable to multikilowatt level. The laser power can be scaled up by increasing the volumetric gas flow and discharge volume. It was observed in a TFTE CW CO₂ laser having single row of pins as an anode and tubular cathode that the laser power was not increasing when the discharge volume and the gas volumetric flow were increased by increasing the electrode separation keeping the gas flow velocity constant. The discharge voltage too remained almost constant with the change of electrode separation at the same gas flow velocity. This necessitated revision of the scaling laws for designing this type of high power CO₂ laser. Experimental results of laser performance for different electrode separations are discussed and the modifications in the scaling laws are presented.     

Discrete facility location with nonlinear diseconomies in fixed costs

A discrete facility location problem is formulated where the total fixed cost for establishing the facilities includes a component that is a nonlinear function of the number of facilities being established. Some theoretical properties of the solution are derived when this fixed cost is a convex nondecreasing function of the number of facilities. Based on these properties an efficient bisection heuristic is developed where at each iteration, the classical uncapacitated facility location and/or m-median subproblems are solved using available efficient heuristics.     

Topography of the potential energy hypersurface and criteria for fast-ion conduction in perovskite-related A2B2O5 oxides

We discuss the importance of the topography of the potential energy hypersurface for the ionic conductivity of perovskite-related A(2)B(2)O(5) oxides. A correlation between the energetic preference of the cations for different coordination geometries and the ionic conductivity is proposed based on a first principles periodic density functional theory study of selected possible structures for Ba(2)In(2)O(5), Sr(2)Fe(2)O(5), Sr(2)Mn(2)O(5), and La(2)Ni(2)O(5). There are a large number of low-energy local minima on the potential energy hypersurfaces of the two first compounds due to an energetic preference for BO(4) tetrahedra. Tetrahedral environments are energetically unfavorable for Mn(III) in Sr(2)Mn(2)O(5) and for Ni(II) in La(2)Ni(2)O(5), and the number of low-energy configurations is relatively low in these two cases. Consistent with our findings, in contrast to Sr(2)Fe(2)O(5) and Ba(2)In(2)O(5), Sr(2)Mn(2)O(5) and La(2)Ni(2)O(5) do not exhibit transitions to disordered phases on heating, and there appear to be no reports of enhanced ionic conductivity for these compounds. Thus we suggest that the possibility of many different oxygen orderings associated with a variety of low-energy connectivity schemes within tetrahedral layers such as in the brownmillerite-based structures of Sr(2)Fe(2)O(5) and Ba(2)In(2)O(5) is a prerequisite for high ionic conductivity in perovskite-related A(2)B(2)O(5) oxides.     

On the method of bae for the determination of kinetic parameters from DTA curves

The mathematical error in the method proposed by Bae for the determination of kinetic parameters from DTA curves has been corrected. The proposed equation does not contain thermal constants of the apparatus, and can be applied to DTA curves by an iterative method. The results obtained by the application of this equation to experimental DTA curves for the decomposition of sodium bicarbonate compared well with those from isothermal measurements, even when the DTA sample holder assembly was of the isolated cup-type instead of the block-type assembly recommended by Bae.     

Ground- and excited-state properties of inorganic solids from full-potential density-functional calculations

The development in theoretical condensed-matter science based on density-functional theory (DFT) has reached a level where it is possible, from “parameter-free” quantum mechanical calculations to obtain total energies, forces, vibrational frequencies, magnetic moments, mechanical and optical properties and so forth. The calculation of such properties are important in the analyses of experimental data and they can be predicted with a precision that is sufficient for comparison with experiments. It is almost impossible to do justice to all developments achieved by DFT because of its rapid growth. Hence, it has here been focused on a few advances, primarily from our laboratory. Unusual bonding behaviors in complex materials are conveniently explored using the combination of charge density, charge transfer, and electron-localization function along with crystal-orbital Hamilton-population analyses. It is indicated that the elastic properties of materials can reliably be predicted from DFT calculations if one takes into account the structural relaxations along with gradient corrections in the calculations. Experimental techniques have their limitations in studies of the structural stability and pressure-induced structural transitions in hydride materials whereas the present theoretical approach can be applied to reliably predict properties under extreme pressures. From the spin-polarized, relativistic full-potential calculations one can study novel materials such as ruthenates, quasi-one-dimensional oxides, and spin-, charge-, and orbital-ordering in magnetic perovskite-like oxides. The importance of orbital-polarization correction to the DFT to predict the magnetic anisotropy in transition-metal compounds and magnetic moments in lanthanides and actinides are emphasized. Apart from the full-potential treatment, proper magnetic ordering as well as structural distortions have to be taken into account to predict correctly the insulating behavior of transition-metal oxides. The computational variants LDA and GGA fail to predict insulating behavior of Mott insulators whereas electronic structures can be described correctly when correlation effects are taken into account through LDA+U or similar approaches to explain their electronic structures correctly. Excited-state properties such as linear optical properties, magneto-optical properties, XANES, XPS, UPS, BIS, and Raman spectra can be obtained from accurate DFT calculations.     

2-jet production in polarised\vec p\vec pcollisions

Following recent interest in the subject of polarisation phenomena, we discuss the cross-sections and polarisation asymmetry in 2-jet production in polarised proton-polarised proton ( ) scattering. We set up a complete set of parametrisations for the proton spin-dependent parton densities and use them to demonstrate that this cross-section is dominated by gluonic terms. Hence, a measurement of the asymmetry in such processes will provide information on the gluon spin-dependent density. We further show that a factorisation of the hadronic cross-section a la Combridge and Maxwell's work in unpolarised 2-jet production also applies to the spin-dependent case. Hence, the cross-section can be written in terms of a genericpolarised parton density, which can then be measured in the process.     

Metabolic profile of glyburide in human liver microsomes using LC‐DAD‐Q‐TRAP‐MS/MS

The sulfonylurea urea drug glyburide (glibenclamide) is widely used for the treatment of diabetes milletus and gestational diabetes. In previous studies monohydroxylated metabolites were identified and characterized for glyburide in different species, but the metabolite owing to the loss of cyclohexyl ring was identified only in mouse. Glyburide upon incubation with hepatic microsomes resulted in 10 metabolites for human. The current study identifies new metabolites of glyburide along with the hydroxylated metabolites that were reported earlier. The newly identified drug metabolites are dihydroxylated metabolites, a metabolite owing to the loss of cyclohexyl ring and one owing to hydroxylation with dehydrogenation. Among the 10 identified metabolites, there were six monohydroxylated metabolites, one dihydroxylated metabolite, two metabolites owing to hydroxylation and dehydrogenation, and one metabolite owing to the loss of cyclohexyl ring. New metabolites of glyburide were identified and characterized using liquid chromatography–diode array detector–quadruple‐ion trap–mass spectrometry/mass spectrometry (LC‐DAD‐Q‐TRAP‐MS/MS). An enhanced mass scan–enhanced product ion scan with information‐dependent acquisition mode in a Q‐TRAP‐MS/MS system was used to characterize the metabolites. Liquid chromatography with diode array detection was used as a complimentary technique to confirm and identify the metabolites. Metabolites formed in higher amounts were detected in both diode array detection and mass spectrometry detection. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Thermal Stability of Polystyrene Peroxide

It has been observed that poly(styrene peroxide) with a high molecular weight is thermally less stable than the same polymer with a low molecular weight. This has been explained as being due to the strain on the O-O bond due to the greater polymer chain length.     

Study of a simple oscillatory flow in polar fluids

Summary In the present paper, we have undertaken a comparative study of the flow behaviour of two types of fluids —Eringen's mioropolar fluid andStokes' couple stress fluid — in a simple oscillatory flow. This study was undertaken with a view to see if the close resemblance of the flow behaviour of these two fluids in steady shearing flows was maintained even in time dependent flows. We find that the flow behaviour of these two fluids are widely different in oscillatory motion.