Search for solar axions produced in the p + d → <Superscript>3</Superscript>He + A reaction

A search for the axioelectric absorption of 5.5-MeV solar axions produced in the p + d → ³He + γ (5.5 MeV) reaction was performed with two BGO detectors placed inside a low-background setup. Constraints on the axion-electron coupling constant were obtained for axions with masses in the (0.1–1.0)-MeV range: g _Ae ≤ (1.8–9.0) × 10⁻⁷. The solar positron flux from A → e⁻ + e⁺ decay was determined for axions with masses m _A > 2m _e. Using the existing experimental data on the interplanetary positron flux, a new constraint on the axion-electron coupling constant for axions with masses in the (1.2–5.4)-MeV range was obtained: g _Ae ≤ (1–5) × 10⁻¹⁷.     

Partial Dynamical Systems and the KMS Condition

 Given a countably infinite 0–1 matrix A without identically zero rows, let 𝒪 _A be the Cuntz–Krieger algebra recently introduced by the authors and 𝒯 _A be the Toeplitz extension of 𝒪 _A , once the latter is seen as a Cuntz–Pimsner algebra, as recently shown by Szymański. We study the KMS equilibrium states of C ^* -dynamical systems based on 𝒪 _A and 𝒯 _A , with dynamics satisfying for the canonical generating partial isometries s _x and arbitrary real numbers N _x > 1. The KMS_β states on both 𝒪 _A and 𝒯 _A are completely characterized for certain values of the inverse temperature β, according to the position of β relative to three critical values, defined to be the abscissa of convergence of certain Dirichlet series associated to A and the N(x). Our results for 𝒪 _A are derived from those for 𝒯 _A by virtue of the former being a covariant quotient of the latter. When the matrix A is finite, these results give theorems of Olesen and Pedersen for 𝒪 _n and of Enomoto, Fujii and Watatani for 𝒪 _A as particular cases. Received: 21 November 2000 / Accepted: 31 May 2002 Published online: 22 November 2002 RID="*" ID="*" Partially supported by CNP_q RID="**, ***"     

Determination of the degree of crystallinity of poly(vinyl alcohol) by FTIR spectroscopy

Quantitative correlations between the intensity of the crystalline band at 1144 cm⁻¹ (A ₁₁₄₄) normalized to the intensity of the C–O stretching band at 1094 cm⁻¹ (A ₁₀₉₄) in IR spectra of PVA films and the degree of crystallinity (α) of these films measured by an x-ray diffraction method were investigated. It was found that α and A ₁₁₄₄/A ₁₀₉₄ were related by the linear dependence α (%) = a + b(A ₁₁₄₄/A ₁₀₉₄) with correlation coefficient 0.999 for α values in the range 18–60%.     

Rotational analysis of the 0–9, 0–10 and 0–11 bands of theA 2II u -X 2II g band system of (16O18O)+

High-resolution spectra of the 0–9, 0–10 and 0–11 bands of theA ²II _u —X ²II _g system of (¹⁶O¹⁸O)⁺ ion have been studied for their rotational structure. This study enables a direct determination of the Λ-doubling parameters of theA ²II _u andX ²II _g states. The model of ‘pure precession’ explains, though not entirely, the Λ-doubling of theX ²II _a state as arising out of its interaction with theB ² Σ _g ⁻ state. The Λ-doubling in theA ²II _u state was found insignificant.     

Strangeness enhancement and energy dependence in heavy ion collisions

The canonical statistical model analysis of strange and multistrange hadron production in central A–A relative to p–p/p–A collisions is presented over the energy range from GeV up to GeV. It is shown that the relative enhancement of strange particle yields from p–p/p–A to A–A collisions substantially increases with decreasing collision energy. It is largest at GeV, where the enhancement of and is of the order of 100, 20 and 3, respectively. In terms of the model these results are due to the canonical suppression of particle thermal phase space at lower energies, which increases with the strangeness content of the particle and with decreasing size of the collision fireball. The comparison of the model with existing data on the energy dependence of the kaon/pion ratio is also discussed. Received: 25 October 2001 / Published online: 5 July 2002     

Sensitive detection of temperature behind reflected shock waves using wavelength modulation spectroscopy of CO2 near 2.7?μm

Tunable diode-laser absorption of CO₂ near 2.7 μm incorporating wavelength modulation spectroscopy with second-harmonic detection (WMS-2f) is used to provide a new sensor for sensitive and accurate measurement of the temperature behind reflected shock waves in a shock-tube. The temperature is inferred from the ratio of 2f signals for two selected absorption transitions, at 3633.08 and 3645.56 cm⁻¹, belonging to the ν ₁+ν ₃ combination vibrational band of CO₂ near 2.7 μm. The modulation depths of 0.078 and 0.063 cm⁻¹ are optimized for the target conditions of the shock-heated gases (P∼1–2 atm, T∼800–1600 K). The sensor is designed to achieve a high sensitivity to the temperature and a low sensitivity to cold boundary-layer effects and any changes in gas pressure or composition. The fixed-wavelength WMS-2f sensor is tested for temperature and CO₂ concentration measurements in a heated static cell (600–1200 K) and in non-reactive shock-tube experiments (900–1700 K) using CO₂–Ar mixtures. The relatively large CO₂ absorption strength near 2.7 μm and the use of a WMS-2f strategy minimizes noise and enables measurements with lower concentration, higher accuracy, better sensitivity and improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) relative to earlier work, using transitions in the 1.5 and 2.0 μm CO₂ combination bands. The standard deviation of the measured temperature histories behind reflected shock waves is less than 0.5%. The temperature sensor is also demonstrated in reactive shock-tube experiments of n-heptane oxidation. Seeding of relatively inert CO₂ in the initial fuel-oxidizer mixture is utilized to enable measurements of the pre-ignition temperature profiles. To our knowledge, this work represents the first application of wavelength modulation spectroscopy to this new class of diode lasers near 2.7 μm.     

T-matrix approach to heavy quark diffusion in the QGP

We assess transport properties of heavy quarks in the quark–gluon plasma (QGP) using static heavy-quark (HQ) potentials from lattice-QCD calculations in a Brueckner many-body T-matrix approach to evaluate elastic heavy-quark–light-quark scattering amplitudes. In the attractive meson and diquark channels, resonance states are formed for temperatures up to ∼1.5T _c, increasing pertinent drag and diffusion coefficients for heavy-quark rescattering in the QGP beyond the expectations from perturbative-QCD calculations. We use these transport coefficients, complemented with perturbative elastic HQ gluon scattering, in a relativistic Langevin simulation to obtain HQ p _t distributions and elliptic flow (v ₂) under conditions relevant for the hot and dense medium created in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions. The heavy quarks are hadronized to open-charm and -bottom mesons within a combined quark-coalescence fragmentation scheme. The resulting single-electron spectra from their semileptonic decays are confronted with recent data on “non-photonic electrons” in 200 A GeV Au–Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC).     

Fluorescence studies of CS2 and SO2 at 121.6, 73.6–74.4 and 58.4 nm

The fluorescence spectra of CS₂ and SO₂ have been studied at three incident photon wavelengths of 121.6, 73.6–74.4 and 58.4 nm and relative production cross sections for different product states have been measured. The CS(A ¹Π→X ¹Σ⁺) system between 240 and 290nm has been obtained when CS₂ is photoexcited at 121.6nm whereas CS ₂ ⁺ (B ²Σ _u ⁺ →X ²Π _g ) and CS ₂ ⁺ (A ²Π _u →X ²Π _g ) systems have been produced between 276 and 295 and 437 and 555nm respectively when excited by both the incident photon wavelengths of 73.6–74.4 and 58.4nm. The fluorescence spectra of SO₂ obtained at 121.6 and 73.6–74.4nm include the vibrational bands of SO(A ³Π→X ³Σ⁻) and SO(B ²Π⁻→X ³Σ⁻) systems from 240 to 268 and 268 to 442nm respectively whereas the emission spectrum at 58.4nm, has contributions from the two SO systems and SO⁺(A ²Π→X ²Π) system. In all these emission spectra, the fluorescence bands of different systems have been analyzed and their relative production cross sections have been measured. The results obtained in the present investigations have been compared with a few recent reliable measurements reported in literature.     

ESR of V4+ in α-RbTiOPO4 single crystals

We have recorded and investigated the ESR spectrum of vanadium-doped α-RbTiOPO₄ single crystals in the temperature interval 77–300 K. Two types of structurally distinct centers, V1 and V2, with a 4:1 ratio of the peak intensities were observed. The angular dependences of the resonance magnetic fields are described by a spin Hamiltonian corresponding to axial symmetry with the parameters g _∥1=1.9305, g _⊥1=1.9565, A _∥1=−168.2×10⁻⁴cm⁻¹, and A _⊥1=−54.3×10⁻⁴cm⁻¹ for V1 centers and g _∥2=1.9340, g _⊥2=1.9523, A _∥2=−169.0×10⁻⁴cm⁻¹, and A _⊥2=−55.2×10⁻⁴cm⁻¹ for V2 centers. A model of a paramagnetic center is proposed: The vanadium ions replace titanium ions in two structurally distinct positions Ti1 and Ti2 (V1 and V2 centers, respectively). The possibility that a VO²⁺ ion forms when α-RbTiOPO₄ crystals and crystals of the KTP group (KTiOPO₄, NaTiOPO₄, α-and β-LiTiOPO₄), studied earlier, are doped with vanadium is discussed. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 534–536 (March 1998)     

Investigation of the axisymmetric buckling of round plates

The stress-strain behavior of a round plate during thermal cycling through the range for martensitic phase transformations is investigated. It is shown that the plate loses stability and recovers its original shape with a clap when a certain temperature A _in<T _ls⩽A _fin is reached. The results of measurements of the impact and reactive forces are presented. The conditions for the occurrence of a clap are determined. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 118–120 (June 1997)     

Tensor A yy and vector A y analyzing powers in the 1H(d, d′)X and 12C(d, d′)X reactions at initial deuteron momenta of 9 GeV/c in the region of baryonic resonance excitation

The angular dependence of the tensor A _yy and vector A _y analyzing powers in the inelastic scattering of deuterons with a momentum of 9.0 GeV/c on hydrogen and carbon has been measured. The range of measurements corresponds to the baryonic resonance excitation with masses of ∼2.2–2.6 GeV/c ². The A _yy data, being in good agreement with the previous results, demonstrate an approximate t scaling up to −1.5 (GeV/c)². The large values of A _y show a significant role of the spin-dependent part of the elementary amplitude of the NN → NN* reaction. The results of the experiment are compared with model predictions of the plane-wave impulse approximation. The text was submitted by the authors in English.     

The Unusual Magnetic Resonance Properties of Trigonal Prismatic Tc and Re Complexes

The electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectra of the trigonal prismatic complexes Tc(abt)₃, Tc(bdt)₃, Re(abt)₃ and Re(bdt)₃ (abt, O-aminobenzenethiol; bdt, benzene-1,2-dithiol) in dilute frozen solution are interpreted in terms of an axially symmetric spin Hamiltonian, with g values close to two, principal hyperfine couplings of |A ^Tc| ~ 5–12 × 10⁻⁴ cm⁻¹, nuclear quadrupole couplings of |P ^Tc| ~ 0.3–0.35 × 10⁻⁴ cm⁻¹ and the unusual values 5 × 10⁻⁴ cm⁻¹ ~ |A _zz ^Re| < |P ^Re| ~ |A _xx ^Re| ~ |A _yy ^Re| ~ 25 × 10⁻⁴ cm⁻¹. Similar magnitudes of the parameters have been obtained by simulation of the previously published spectra of Re(pda)₃, Re(tdt)₃ and Re(pdt)₃ (pda, O-phenylenediamine; tdt, toluene-3,4-dithiol; pdt, cis-1,2-diphenylethene-1,2-dithiol) by other authors. The unexpectedly large value of P relative to A is a common feature of all the Re tris-dithiolato and related trigonal prismatic complexes studied by EPR and is attributed to the high degree of delocalization of the unpaired electron onto the ligands and the distortion of the electron charge cloud. These factors are less evident in the complexes Tc(abt)₃ and Tc(bdt)₃. Intermolecular dipolar interactions, narrowed by weak exchange, are responsible for some of the spectral features observed in the solid state and concentrated (≫1 mM) frozen solutions, although there is no evidence for specific solute–solute interactions.     

Structure of the free exciton luminescence band of heteroepitaxial ZnSe/GaAs layers

The exciton reflectance and photoluminescence spectra of epitaxial ZnSe/GaAs layers with a thickness of 2–4 μm are investigated in the temperature range 10–120 K. It is shown that one of the causes of the formation of the doublet structure of the A _n=1 photoluminescence band is interference of the exciton radiation at the boundaries of the near-surface dead layer. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 40, 881–883 (May 1998)     

RF exciplex halogen source of UV radiation on an argon-xenon-chlorine mixture

An exciplex halogen source of UV radiation that is excited by an rf transverse discharge is studied experimentally. The active medium of the source is an Ar-Xe-Cl₂ mixture kept at a low pressure (100–1000 Pa), and its working spectral range is 220–450 nm. The radiation spectrum contains 235 nm XeCl(D-X), 257 nm Cl₂(D′-A′), 306 nm XeCl(B-X), 390 nm XeCl(C-A), and 430 nm XeCl(B-A) lines. The results of optimization of the UV power as a function of the pressure, Ar-Xe-Cl₂ mixture composition, and excitation power are reported.     

The thermodynamics of energy-storing photoprocesess

A solution is found for the most general formulation of the problem of the thermodynamic limitations on the rate of increase of the free energy of a closed photochemical system interacting with a heat bath and a radiation field. A reaction of the form A ₁ ^* +A ₂→A ₃+A ₄ is used to compare the thermodynamically maximum energy yield of the process of storing radiant energy with the “kinetic” limit of the same quantity. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 54–58 (June 1997)     

Nuclear matter properties and relativistic mean-field theory

Nuclear matter properties are calculated in the relativistic mean-field theory by using a number of different parameter sets. The result shows that the volume energy a₁ and the symmetry energy J are around the acceptable values 16MeV and 30MeV, respectively; the incompressibility K₀ is unacceptably high in the linear model, but assumes reasonable value if nonlinear terms are included; the density symmetry L is around 100MeV for most parameter sets, and the symmetry incompressibility K _s has positive sign which is opposite to expectations based on the nonrelativistic model. In almost all parameter sets there exists a critical point (,), where the minimum and the maximum of the equation of state are coincident and the incompressibility equals zero, falling into ranges 0.014fm^-3 < < 0.039fm^-3 and 0.74 < ≤0.95; for a few parameter sets there is no critical point and the pure neutron matter is predicted to be bound. The maximum mass M _NS of neutron stars is predicted in the range 2.45M ?M _NS? 3.26M , the corresponding neutron star radius R _NS is in the range 12.2km ?R _NS? 15.1km. Received: 5 May 2000 / Accepted: 28 November 2000     

Galvanomagnetic properties of the Al1−x Six nonequilibrium substitutional solid solutions

Galvanomagnetic characteristics of the A_1−x Si_x solid solutions (x<12 at. %) have been studied within a broad range of temperatures (1.8–290 K) and magnetic fields (up to 15 T). An anomaly in the concentration dependence of the Hall coefficient R _H (x,T=290 K) has been revealed near the boundary of absolute instability (x<8.5 at. %) of compounds in the Al_1−x Si_x series. The variation of the Hall coefficient and of the magnetoresistance in the A_1−x Si_x series at low (T<77 K) temperatures is analyzed within models taking into account the anisotropy in conduction-band electron scattering. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 3–10 (January 1999)     

Studying the energy dependence of elliptic and directed flow within a relativistic transport approach

The energy excitation functions of directed flow (v₁) and elliptic flow (v₂) from E_beam=90 A MeV to E_cm=200 A GeV are explored within the UrQMD framework and discussed in the context of the available data. The radial and the elliptic flow of the particles produced in a relativistic heavy-ion collision are intimately connected to the pressure and its gradients in the early stage of the reaction. Therefore, these observables should also be sensitive to changes in the equation of state. To prove this connection, the temporal evolution of the pressure, pressure gradients and elliptic flow are shown. For the flow excitation functions it is found that, in the energy regime below E_beam≤10 A GeV, the inclusion of nuclear potentials is necessary to describe the data. Above 40 A GeV beam energy, the UrQMD model starts to underestimate the elliptic flow. Around the same energy the slope of the rapidity spectra of the proton directed flow develops negative values. This effect is known as the third flow component (“antiflow”) and cannot be reproduced by the transport model. The difference between the data and the UrQMD model can possibly be explained by assuming a phase transition from hadron gas to quark–gluon plasma around E_lab=40 A GeV. This would be consistent with the model calculations, indicating a transition from hadronic matter to “string matter” in this energy range. Thus, we speculate that the missing pressure might be generated by strong interactions in the early pre-hadronic/partonic phase of central Au + Au (Pb + Pb) collisions already at lower SPS energies. PACS 25.75.-q; 25.75.Ld; 25.75.Dw; 25.75.Gz; 24.10.Lx     

Sum-of-Squares Results for Polynomials Related to the Bessis–Moussa–Villani Conjecture

We show that the polynomial S _m,k (A,B), that is the sum of all words in noncommuting variables A and B having length m and exactly k letters equal to B, is not equal to a sum of commutators and Hermitian squares in the algebra R〈X,Y〉, where X ²=A and Y ²=B, for all even values of m and k with 6≤k≤m−10, and also for (m,k)=(12,6). This leaves only the case (m,k)=(16,8) open. This topic is of interest in connection with the Lieb–Seiringer formulation of the Bessis–Moussa–Villani conjecture, which asks whether Tr (S _m,k (A,B))≥0 holds for all positive semidefinite matrices A and B. These results eliminate the possibility of using “descent + sum-of-squares” to prove the BMV conjecture.