Complexation of Ni, Cu, Zn, and Cd by DOC in some metal-impacted freshwater lakes: a comparison of approaches using electrochemical determination of free-metal-ion and labile complexes and a computer speciation model, WHAM V and VI

Complexation of Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), and Cd(II) by dissolved organic carbon (DOC) in some freshwater lakes in Rouyn-Noranda, Québec, Canada, where they were impacted by effluents from a nearby copper smelter, was measured by kinetic and equilibrium methods using cathodic and anodic stripping voltammetry. The measured free-metal-ion and labile metal-complex concentrations were compared with the predictions made by a widely-used computer speciation model, the Windermere Humic Aqueous Model (WHAM): WHAM V and its improved version WHAM VI. If it is assumed that 65% of the DOC is “active”, i.e. behaving as isolated humic substances such as fulvic acid, both versions of WHAM are able to predict the labile and free-metal-ion concentrations of Ni, Zn, and Cd reasonably well; however, both underestimate the free-copper-ion concentration by one to two orders of magnitude. WHAM VI is generally better than or equal to WHAM V for successfully predicting most of the free-metal-ion concentrations. The modelled competition by Al(III) and Fe(III) in the lake surface waters showed that in most cases Cu(II) was most affected by this competition. WHAM VI predicts a larger effect from the Al(III) and Fe(III) competition than does WHAM V.     

The postage stamp problem and arithmetic in base <Emphasis Type="Italic">r</Emphasis>

Let h, k be fixed positive integers, and let A be any set of positive integers. Let hA ≔ {a ₁ + a ₂ + ... + a _r : a _i ∈ A, r ⩽ h} denote the set of all integers representable as a sum of no more than h elements of A, and let n(h, A) denote the largest integer n such that {1, 2,...,n} ⊆ hA. Let n(h, k) := : n(h, A), where the maximum is taken over all sets A with k elements. We determine n(h, A) when the elements of A are in geometric progression. In particular, this results in the evaluation of n(h, 2) and yields surprisingly sharp lower bounds for n(h, k), particularly for k = 3.     

A study of diquark and meson condensation in the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model and Fermi momentum

Using a three- and four-dimensional Pauli–Villars regularization scheme, we investigate quark–antiquark and diquark condensation in the framework of the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio model. Using the particle Fermi momentum as a cutoff parameter, we study the energy gap width and coherence length for the meson condensate 〈\(q\bar q\)〉. We also study the energy gap width and critical coherence length (the distance over which there would be no diquark condensation) for the diquark 〈qq〉 and the dependence on the Fermi momentum. We obtain an estimate of the Fermi momentum value for meson and diquark condensates with an energy gap width of the order of 100 MeV.     

A numerical experiment in DLCQ: microcausality, continuum limit and all that

Issues related with microcausality violation and continuum limit in the context of (1+1) dimensional scalar field theory in discretized light-cone quantization (DLCQ) are addressed in parallel with discretized equal time quantization (DETQ) and the fact that Lorentz invariance and microcausality are restored if one can take the continuum limit properly is emphasized. In the free case, it is shown with numerical evidence that the continuum results can be reproduced from DLCQ results for the Pauli–Jordan function and the real part of Feynman propagator. The contributions coming from k⁺ near zero region in these cases are found to be very small. In the interacting case, aspects related to the continuum limit of DLCQ results in perturbation theory in momentum space are discussed.     

Impact Parameter-Dependent Parton Distributions for a Relativistic Composite System

We investigate the impact parameter-dependent parton distributions for a relativistic composite system in light-front framework. We express them in terms of overlaps of light-cone wave functions for a self-consistent two-body spin- state, namely an electron dressed with a photon in QED. The pdf’s are distorted in the transverse space for transverse polarization of the state at one-loop level.     

Stability of charged impurities in a coupled single electron transistor and antidot system

We have fabricated devices on GaAs/AlGaAs heterostructures, containing two-dimensional electron gases, that consist of three point contacts surrounding an etched antidot with an Al/AlO_x/Al single electron transistor. The single electron transistor measurement shows rearrangement of neighboring charged impurities with a characteristic stability time scale of 20 s in one device and greater than 1 h in a second device. We also measured the resistance of the point contact–antidot constriction versus magnetic field. In a device with a 20 s stability time, we see a high noise level and poor reproducibility. In a device with a long stability time, much greater than 1 h, we are able to see reproducible features including Aharonov–Bohm oscillations.     

Floating and sinking: the imprint of massive scalars around rotating black holes

We study the coupling of massive scalar fields to matter in orbit around rotating black holes. It is generally expected that orbiting bodies will lose energy in gravitational waves, slowly inspiraling into the black hole. Instead, we show that the coupling of the field to matter leads to a surprising effect: because of superradiance, matter can hover into "floating orbits" for which the net gravitational energy loss at infinity is entirely provided by the black hole's rotational energy. Orbiting bodies remain floating until they extract sufficient angular momentum from the black hole, or until perturbations or nonlinear effects disrupt the orbit. For slowly rotating and nonrotating black holes floating orbits are unlikely to exist, but resonances at orbital frequencies corresponding to quasibound states of the scalar field can speed up the inspiral, so that the orbiting body sinks. These effects could be a smoking gun of deviations from general relativity.     

Design of medium energy beam transport line between the RFQ and the Linac in the radioactive ion beam facility at VECC,Kolkata

The design of a medium energy beam transport (MEBT) line comprising of a re-buncher and four quadrupoles, two upstream and the other two downstream of the re-buncher, has been presented. The design was done to ensure almost 100% transport of heavy-ion beams of about 99 keV/u energy from RFQ having a q/A not less than 1/14 through the re-buncher and then through IH Linac of about 0.6 m length in which beam would be accelerated to about 185 keV/u. The re-buncher has been designed to operate at 37.8 MHz, the resonating frequency of both the RFQ and the IH Linac. The entire beam line has been installed and recently O⁵⁺ beam from RFQ has been transported through the re-buncher and subsequently accelerated in the IH Linac successfully.