ALICE physics reach

The European Physical Journal C - The ALICE experiment at the CERN LHC will be dedicated to the investigation of heavy ion reactions at the highest energies. The main objective is the study of...     

Two-proton correlations in the target fragmentation region of nuclear collisions at 200A GeV

Correlations between protons are studied in the target fragmentation region of reactions of protons and¹⁶O with C, Cu, Ag, Au and of³²S with Al and Au at 200A GeV. The emitted protons were measured with the Plastic Ball detector in the WA80 experiment at the CERN SPS. The comparison of the correlation function with calculations, assuming a spherical, gaussian shaped source with a lifetime τ=0 fm/c, allows the extraction of radius parameters. The values are very close to those expected from the geometry of the target nuclei and increase with the target mass as αA _Target ^1/3 . Even in proton induced reactions the whole target nucleus is involved. The dependence of the radii on centrality, polar angleθ _lab, and energy, and their relation to measured proton yields are presented.     

Electroproduction of π0-mesons on protons at very low values of |q 2|

The electroproduction of π⁰-mesons on protons has been measured with electrons of 1.7 and 2.1 GeV energy in the region of the nucleon resonances at \(W = \sqrt {(q + p)^2 } = 1,400 - 2,000MeV\) at rather low values of |q ²|=|(e?e′)²|=0.01–0.1 GeV² but at high values of the nucleon recoil |t|=|(p?p′)²|≈0.6–2.2 GeV² corresponding to \(\Theta _\pi ^{cm} \approx 145^ \circ - 180^ \circ\) . Up toW≈1,650 MeV the cross section for π⁰-production with virtual photons of |q ²|≈0.03 GeV² is only slightly smaller than that with real photons. ForW?1,700 MeV the cross section at |q ²|≈0.03 GeV² is on average a factor of 2 smaller than that atq ²=0 but only slightly higher than that at |q ²|≈0.3–1 GeV².     

Novel UDP-glycal derivatives as transition state analogue inhibitors of UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase

The "epimerisation" of UDP-GlcNAc to ManNAc, the first step in the biosynthesis of sialic acids, is catalyzed by UDP-GlcNAc 2-epimerase. In this paper we report the synthesis of transition state based inhibitors of this enzyme. To mimic the assumed first transition state of this reaction (TS 1), we designed and synthesized the novel UDP-exo-glycal derivatives 1-4. We also report herein the synthesis of 5 and 6, the first C-glycosidic derivatives of 2-acetamidoglucal, and the synthesis of the ketosides 7 and 8, which were designed as bis-substrate analogue and bis- product analogue, respectively, to mimic the second step of the reaction via the assumed second transition state TS 2.     

Temperature-dependent behavior of a symmetric long-chain bolaamphiphile with phosphocholine headgroups in water: from hydrogel to nanoparticles

The temperature-dependent self-assembly of the single-chain bolaamphiphile dotriacontan-1,1'-diyl-bis[2-(trimethylammonio)ethyl phosphate] (PC-C32-PC) was investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray scattering, rheological measurements, and dynamic light scattering (DLS). At room temperature this compound, in which two phosphocholine headgroups are connected by a C(32) alkyl chain, proved to be capable of gelling water very efficiently by forming a dense network of nanofibers (Kohler et al. Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2004, 43, 245). A specific feature of this self-assembly process is that it is not driven by hydrogen bonds but solely by hydrophobic interactions of the long alkyl chains. The nanofibers have a thickness of roughly the molecular length and show a helical superstructure. A model for the molecular structure of the fibrils which considers the extreme constitution of the bolaamphiphile is proposed. Upon heating the suspensions three different phase transitions can be detected. Above 49 degrees C, the temperature of the main transition where the alkyl chains become "fluid", a clear low-viscosity solution is obtained due to a breakdown of the fibrils into smaller aggregates. Through mechanical stress the gel structure can be destroyed as well, indicating a low stability of these fibers. The gel formation is reversible, but as a drastic rearrangement of the molecules takes place, metastable states occur.     

Study of the properties of the SHG with diode lasers

An experimental study of the second-harmonic generation (SHG) properties with nondiffraction-limited radiation is presented. This includes the dependency of the normalized conversion efficiency on the crystal length, the beam quality, and the focusing conditions. A Gauss–Schell-model-based theory of SHG is applied, which gives an improved simulation of the experimental results in comparison to the standard Boyd–Kleinman theory for nondiffraction-limited beams.