FLUORESCENCE INDUCTION IN THE RED ALGA PORPHYRIDIUM CRUENTUM

Abstract— The intensity dependence and the spectral changes during the fast (sec) and the slow (min) transient of chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence yield, measured at 685 nm, have been analyzed in the red alga Porphyridium cruentum . Both the fast and the slow fluorescence yield changes are affected differently by the inhibitors of electron transport ( e.g ., DCMU) and by the uncouplers of phosphorylation (atebrin and FCCP). Fixation of Porphyridium cells with glutaraldehyde abolishes most of the fluorescence yield changes except for the so-called very fast ( OI ) phase. The same fixed cells, however, reduce DCPIP (a Hill oxidant) but do not evolve O₂ when CO₂ is used as electron acceptor. We interpret these and other results by the hypothesis that fluorescence transients in intact cells are linked to both electron transport and the energy dependent structural changes in the thylakoid membrane.     

Vicarious Michael Addition

C-H bond can undergo vicarious Michael addition reaction (VMA) with double-activated double bond in the absence of strong base and catalyst under mild conditions. Intramolecular H-bonding, electron-withdrawing inductive effect, and steric hindrance at α-position of nucleophile facilitates C-H addition over N-H addition. By using VMA, high branching multiplicity, novel branching pattern, controllable density and distribution of functional groups can be envisioned for novel dendrimer synthesis.     

Plastic scintillator-based hodoscope for the characterization of large-area resistive plate chambers

A scintillator-based hodoscope is fully operational at Nuclear Physics Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (NPD-BARC). It was used for characterizing the resistive plate chambers (RPCs) assembled for the RE4 upgrade for the compact muon solenoid (CMS) experiment, installed during the long shut-down (LS1) using cosmic muons. It has now been employed for R & D related to gas mixtures and glass RPCs for the India-based neutrino observatory (INO) and muon tomography studies. The hodoscope is equipped with gas flow lines, LV, HV and VME-based DAQ with multihit TDCs. CERN-based software was adapted, implemented and along with the cosmic trigger, was used to evaluate the functional parameters for the RPCs, such as efficiency, cluster size etc.     

Inflation in the light of BICEP2 and PLANCK

The BICEP2 /Keck + PLANCK joint analysis of the B-model polarization and polarization by foreground dust sets an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r_0.05 < 0.12 at 95% CL. The popular Starorbinsky model Higgs-inflation or the conformally equivalent Higgs-inflation model allow low r values (～ 10^?3). We survey the generalizations of the Starobinsky–Higgs models which would allow larger values (r ～ 0.1). The Starobinsky–Higgs inflation models require an exponential potential which can be naturally derived from SUGRA models. We show that a variation of the no-scale SUGRA model can give rise to the generalized Starobinsky models which give large r. We also examine non-standard boundary conditions which would allow a large deviation of the tensor spectral index from the slow roll values and propose that the presence of a thermal component in the tensor spectrum arises from Gibbons–Hawking temperature of the de-Sitter space.     

Solar diurnal anisotropy measured using muons in GRAPES-3 experiment in 2006

The GRAPES-3 experiment at Ooty contains a large-area (560 m²) tracking muon detector. This detector consists of 16 modules, each 35 m² in area, that are grouped into four supermodules of 140 m² each. The threshold energy of muons is sec(θ) GeV along a direction with zenith angle θ and the angular resolution of the muon detector is 6°. Typically, it records ~4×10⁹ muons every day. The muon detector has been operating uninterruptedly since 2001, thus providing a high statistics record of the cosmic ray flux as a function of time over one decade. However, prior to using these data, the muon rate has to be corrected for two important atmospheric effects, namely, variations in atmospheric pressure and temperature. Because of the near equatorial location of Ooty (11.4°N), the seasonal variations in the atmospheric temperature are relatively small and shall be ignored here. Due to proximity to the equator, the pressure changes at Ooty display a dominant 12 h periodic behaviour in addition to other seasonal changes. Here, we discuss various aspects of a novel method for accurate pressure measurement and subsequent corrections applied to the GRAPES-3 muon data to correct these pressure-induced variations. The pressure-corrected muon data are used to measure the profile of the solar diurnal anisotropy during 2006. The data, when divided into four segments, display significant variation both in the amplitude (~45%) and phase (~42 m) of the solar diurnal anisotropy during 2006, which was a period of relatively low solar activity.     

Measurement of 232Th(n, γ) and 232Th({n}, {2n}) cross-sections at neutron energies of 13.5, 15.5 and 17.28?MeV using neutron activation techniques

The ²³²Th(n, ??) reaction cross-section at average neutron energies of 13.5, 15.5 and 17.28?MeV from the ⁷Li(p, n) reaction has been determined for the first time using activation and off-line ??-ray spectrometric technique. The ²³²Th(n, 2n) cross-section at 17.28?MeV neutron energy has also been determined using the same technique. The experimentally determined ²³²Th(n, ??) and ²³²Th(n, 2n) reaction cross-sections from the present work were compared with the evaluated data of ENDF/BVII and JENDL-4.0 and were found to be in good agreement. The present data, along with literature data in a wide range of neutron energies, were interpreted in terms of competition between ²³²Th(n, ??), (n, f), (n, nf) and (n, xn) reaction channels. The ²³²Th(n, ??) and ²³²Th(n, 2n) reaction cross-sections were also calculated theoretically using the TALYS 1.2 computer code and were found to be in good agreement with the experimental data from the present work but were slightly higher than the literature data at lower neutron energies.     

Transverse momentum spectra of the produced hadrons at SPS energy and a random walk model

The transverse momentum spectra of the produced hadrons have been compared to a model, which is based on the assumption that a nucleus–nucleus collision is a superposition of isotropically decaying thermal sources at a given freeze-out temperature. The freeze-out temperature in nucleus–nucleus collisions is fixed from the inverse slope of the transverse momentum spectra of hadrons in nucleon–nucleon collision. The successive collisions in thessss nuclear reactions leads to gain in transverse momentum, as the nucleons propagate in the nucleus following a random walk pattern. The average transverse rapidity shift per collision is determined from the nucleon–nucleus collision data. Using this information, we obtain parameter-free result for the transverse momentum distribution of produced hadrons in nucleus–nucleus collisions. It is observed that such a model is able to explain the transverse mass spectra of the produced pions at SPS energies. However, it fails to satisfactorily explain the transverse mass spectra of kaons and protons. This indicates the presence of collective effect which cannot be accounted for, by the initial state collision broadening of transverse momentum of produced hadrons, the basis of random walk model.