Has a fermiophobic Higgs boson been detected at the LHC?

We show that, in the present inclusive searches for the Higgs boson at the LHC, a fermiophobic Higgs mimics the standard-model-like Higgs if its mass is around 125 GeV. For that mass the order-of-magnitude reduction of fermiophobic Higgs production cross sections is compensated by a corresponding increase in the Higgs branching fraction into γγ  , while the WW^?$W{W}^{?}$, ZZ^?$Z{Z}^{?}$, Zγ signal yields are predicted to be somewhat smaller. The excess seen in the ATLAS and CMS fermiophobic Higgs boson searches in the γγ channel, including the exclusive vector-boson-fusion analysis, could point to a fermiophobic rather than a standard-model Higgs boson. If the Higgs boson will turn out to be fermiophobic, many of our present ideas of new physics should be revised.     

Influence of temperature and UV intensity on photo-polymerization reaction studied by photo-DSC

Photo-DSC was used to investigate the cure kinetics of a photo-initiated resin. The exothermal photo-polymerization reactions were performed in isothermal mode. The irradiation of photo-initiated resin was studied under different conditions of temperature, UV lamp intensity, and reaction atmosphere (nitrogen and air). The results obtained by photo-DSC allowed us to determine kinetic data of the photo-polymerized reactions: the global activation energy and reaction enthalpy, and the conversion as a function of time and temperature. Modulated temperature DSC measurements were carried out to verify whether vitrification occurs during polymerization. The conversion at the top and bottom of irradiated samples was obtained by FT-IR spectroscopy before and after photo-polymerization. A non-homogenous photo-polymerization into the material was observed, probably because of the light absorptions effects within the uppermost layers.     

Influence of the Degree of Dehydroxylation of Kaolinite on the Properties of Aluminosilicate Glasses

The degree of dehydroxylation of kaolinite, D_TG and D_IR, respectively, is characterized by thermogravimetric analysis (TG) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The relation between DTG and DIR based on the infrared absorptions at 3600–3700, 915, 810, and 540 cm⁻¹ is established. Three regions can clearly be distinguished: the dehydroxylation region (D_TG<0.9), the metakaolinite region (0.9<D_TG<1) and the ‘spinel’ region(D_TG=1). The effect of the degree of dehydroxylation of kaolinite on the amount of reactive material is measured by the reaction enthalpy, ΔH, of the low-temperature reaction of the dehydroxylated kaolinite with a potassium silicate solution using differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). |ΔH| increases almost linearly with DTG in the dehydroxylation region. In the metakaolinite region, ΔH and thus the amount of reactive material, becomes constant. |ΔH| is sharply decreasing when metakaolinite transforms into other phases in the ‘spinel’ region. No significant differences in the reactivity of the dehydroxylates is detected with DSC. According to FTIR, the use of partially dehydroxylated kaolinite is not influencing the molecular structure of the low-temperature synthesized aluminosilicates, but residual kaolinite is retrieved as an additive. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Kinetics of Temperature-induced and Reaction-induced Phase Separation Studied by Modulated Temperature DSC

Temperature-induced phase separation of P(EO75-ran-PO25)/PES and reaction-induced phase separation of DGEBA/MDA modified with PVME are studied using MTDSC as an in-situ tool. Phase separation can be probed by the onset of an ‘excess’ contribution in the MTDSC heat capacity signal, in good correspondence with the cloud point temperature. This feature enables the complete construction of the state diagram of P(EO75-ran-PO25)/PES. The detection of phase separation-induced partial vitrification of the high-T_g phase (PES-rich phase) enables to sub-divide the LCST-type heterogeneous region in a zone 1 (no interference of partial vitrification) and a zone 2 (interference of partial vitrification of the PES-rich phase). This sub-division of the heterogeneous region has drastic implications on the remixing behavior of demixed blends. In DGEBA/MDA modified with PVME, reaction-induced phase separation accompanied by an increase in reaction rate, followed by a vitrification step of the epoxy-amine phase can be detected in-situ. In non-isothermal conditions, a diffusion-controlled reaction after vitrification and a final devitrification of the system is also observed.     

Insights into the Two-Electron Reductive Process of [FeFe]H2ase Biomimetics: Cyclic Voltammetry and DFT Investigation on Chelate Control of Redox Properties of [Fe2(CO)4(κ2-Chelate)(μ-Dithiolate)]

The electrochemical reduction of complexes [Fe₂(CO)₄(κ²-phen)(μ-xdt)] (phen=1,10-phenanthroline; xdt=pdt ( 1 ), adt^iPr ( 2 )) in MeCN-[Bu₄N][PF₆] 0.2 m is described as a two-reduction process. DFT calculations show that 1 and its monoreduced form 1⁻ display metal- and phenanthroline-centered frontier orbitals (LUMO and SOMO) indicating the non-innocence of the phenanthroline ligand. Two energetically close geometries were found for the doubly reduced species suggesting an intriguing influence of the phenanthroline ligand leading to the cleavage of a Fe−S bond as proposed generally for this type of complex or retaining the electron density and avoiding Fe−S cleavage. Extension of calculations to other complexes with edt, adt^iPr bridge and even virtual species [Fe₂(CO)₄(κ²-phen)(μ-adt^R)] (R=CH(CF₃)₂, H) or [Fe₂(CO)₄(κ²-phen)(μ-pdt^R)] (R=CH(CF₃)₂, iPr) showed that the relative stability between both two-electron-reduced isomers depends on the nature of the bridge and the possibility to establish a remote anagostic interaction between the iron center {Fe(CO)₃} and the group carried by the bridged-head atom of the dithiolate group.     

Electroproduction of supersymmetric particles and gauge bosons

The electroproduction of scalar leptons and gauginos at HERA and at supercollider energies is studied. In particular, the channel $\text{ep}\text{→}\text{e}\text{(→}\text{e}\text{+}\text{γ}\text{)}\text{γ}\text{X}$ is analyzed in full detail. The exa analytic expressions for the cross section and the spectrum of the final electron are derived and evaluated for $\text{√s ? 0.15?3}\text{TeV}$ and different values of the scalar electron and photino masses. Since the exact formulae are relatively complicated, simplified expressions in the Weizsäcker-Williams approximation are also given and their accuracy is discussed by comparison with the exact formulae. The standard processes $\text{ep}\text{→}\text{Z}\text{(→ v}\text{v}\text{)}\text{eX and ep}\text{→}\text{W}\text{(→}\text{e}\text{v}\text{)v}\text{X}$ which also lead to one final electron and two invisible particles are considered in parallel. The corresponding cross sections and distributions are discussed in comparison with the supersymmetric signal. The Z⁰ cross section is found to be quite smaller than was reported previously. To clarify this point the Z⁰ production at the leptonic vertex was computed both exactly and in the Weizsäcker-Williams approximation with quite consistent results.     

Nb/BiSCCO point conctact junctions

Summary Preparation procedure and sample characterization of 112 BiSCCO pellets exhibiting high-T _c superconductivity are discussed. TypicalI–V and dV/dI curves of Nb/BiSCCO point conctact junctions at various temperatures are presented.     

Pyrolysis of 1,1,1-Trichloroethane in the absence and the presence of added HCl and/or CCl4

The title reaction has been studied in a static quartz reaction vessel between 587 and 658 K at pressures between 40 and 152 torr. The dehydrochlorination is the only significant reaction and is autoaccelerated by the produced HCl. Numerical modelling indicates that the Rice-Herzfeld mechanism, generally used for describing the pyrolysis of halogenated ethanes, has to be completed in the case of CC1₃CH₃ with additional transfer reactions converting “dead” radicals into chain carriers and vice-versa. The numerical simulation fits the experimental results, in the absence as well as in the presence of different amounts of added HCl. The dehydrochlorination is also accelerated by the addition of CCl₄, which can be explained in terms of additional elementary steps involving · CCl₃ radicals.     

Density functional treatment of water–carbon dioxide van der waals complex

LCGTO–LSD and LCGTO–NLSD methods have been tested for the study of water–carbon dioxide weakly bound binary complex. Different local and nonlocal exchange-correlation energy functionals and many grid radial points have been used. Results show that both nonlocal corrections and a large number of radial points in the grid are mandatory for well reproducing the experimental data. © 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.