MeV ion jets from short-pulse-laser interaction with thin foils

Collimated jets of carbon and fluorine ions up to 5 MeV/nucleon ( approximately 100 MeV) are observed from the rear surface of thin foils irradiated with laser intensities of up to 5 x 10 (19)W/cm(2). The normally dominant proton acceleration could be surpressed by removing the hydrocarbon contaminants by resistive heating. This inhibits screening effects and permits effective energy transfer and acceleration of other ion species. The acceleration dynamics and the spatiotemporal distributions of the accelerating E fields at the rear surface of the target are inferred from the detailed spectra.     

Sonoluminescence quenching by organic acids in aqueous solution: pH and frequency effects

The quenching of sonoluminescence from aqueous solutions by acrylic and methacrylic acids is dependent on whether the acid is ionised in solution, as controlled by the pH, but also by the frequency of ultrasound used.     

Precise determination of Mössbauer lineshape parameters including interference

Using 100 Ci¹⁸³Ta and 5 Ci¹⁸²Ta sources, with LiF and NaCl crystal monochromating filters, we have measured the lineshape parameters for the 46.5 keV and 99.1 keV Mossbauer effect (ME) transitions of¹⁸³W and the 100.1 keV transition of¹⁸²W. Using an analytic representation of the convolution integral and utilizing asymptotic analyses of the lineshape, we find, for both transmission and microfoil internal conversion (MICE) experiments, accurate values of all ME parameters including width, position, cross section, and interference. This new approach allows deconvolution of source and absorber spectra and gives a simple analytic expression for both as well as their Fourier transforms. The line widths for the 46.5, 99.1, and 100.1 keV transitions are 3.10(10), 0.369(18), and 0.195(12) cm/s, respectively. The interference parameters are –0.00257(9), –0.0093(12), and –0.0107(12) in the same respective order. The agreement between transmission and MICE /1,2/ measurements for the above lineshape parameters is within the experimental errors. We believe these measurements are the first having sufficient precision to allow a quantitative comparison with dispersion theory /3,4/ and they indicate interference parameters 10 to 20% smaller than predicted. Our measured line widths are less than earlier reported values. This is because our analysis of the true lineshape and the study of line asymptotics permits a quantitative determination of the isomer lifetimes rather than the usual lower bound found in earlier ME experiments.This material was prepared with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy, Grants No. DE-FG02-85 ER 45199 A00 and De-FG02-85 ER 45200.     

粲夸克偶素P波态χ_（c0）宽度测量

利用北京谱仪在北京正负电子对撞机上采集的３５０万（２Ｓ）事例，通过（２Ｓ）→γπ－和γＫ＋Ｋ－反应道测量了Ｘｃ０的总宽度．由ＭｏｎｔｅＣａｒｌｏ模拟给出的质量分辨函数，利用拟合Ｘｃ２谱形得到的质量分辨作标定后，用于Ｘｃ０宽度的拟合，得到Ｘｃ０的宽度为（１５．０）ＭｅＶ．同时定出了ＸｃＪ（Ｊ＝０，２）到π＋π＝和Ｋ＋Ｋ－的衰变分支比．结果为Ｂ（Ｘｃ０→π＋π－）＝（４．２７±０．２３±Ｏ．６０）×１０－３；Ｂ（Ｘｃ０→Ｋ＋Ｋ－）＝（３．４４±０．２１±０．４７×１０－３；Ｂ（Ｘｃ２→π＋π－）＝（１．５２±０．１７±０．２９）×１０－３和Ｂ（Ｘｃ２→Ｋ＋Ｋ－）＝（５．２±１．１±１．８）×１０－４，其中第一项误差为统计误差，第二项为系统误差。     

Design, synthesis, biological activity and structural analysis of cyclic peptide inhibitors targeting the substrate recruitment site of cyclin-dependent kinase complexes

Inhibition of cyclin A- and cyclin E-associated cyclin-dependent kinase-2 (CDK2) activities is an effective way of selective induction of apoptotic cell death via the E2F pathway in tumour cells. The cyclin groove recognition motif (CRM) in the natural CDK-inhibitory (CDKI) tumour suppressor protein p27KIP1 was used as the basis for the design and synthesis of a series of cyclic peptides whose biological activity and structural characterisation by NMR and X-ray crystallography is reported. Whereas linear p27KIP1 sequence peptides were comparatively ineffective, introduction of side chain-to-tail constraints was found to be productive. An optimal macrocyclic ring size for the conformational constraint was determined, mimicking the intramolecular H-bonding system of p27. Molecular dynamics calculations of various macrocycles suggested a close correlation between ring flexibility and biological activity. Truncated inhibitor peptide analogues also confirmed the hypothesis that introduction of a cyclic conformational constraint is favourable in terms of affinity and potency. The structural basis for the potency increase in cyclic versus linear peptides was demonstrated through the determination and interpretation of X-ray crystal structures of complexes between CDK2/cylin A (CDK2A) and a constrained pentapeptide.     

Glycodendriproteins: a synthetic glycoprotein mimic enzyme with branched sugar-display potently inhibits bacterial aggregation

The continuing ability of bacteria to resist current antibiotic treatments highlights the need for alternative strategies for inhibiting their pathogenicity. Bacterial attachment is a major factor in infectivity and virulence. This key binding phase of bacteria to any potential host is mediated by adhesin proteins and so these present an attractive therapeutic target for antiinfective blocking strategies. However, the natural ligands to adhesins are large, typically complex molecules that are difficult to mimic with small molecules. We describe here a method that creates precise synthetic mimics of glycoproteins that are designed to bind adhesins. By using protein-degrading enzymes as the basis for these mimics we have created large-molecule protein ligands that inhibit aggregation of pathogenic bacteria at levels greater than a million-fold higher than small-molecule inhibitors of adhesins.     

Improved direct measurement of leptonic coupling asymmetries with polarized Z bosons

We present final measurements of the Z boson-lepton coupling asymmetry parameters A(e), A(mu), and A(tau) with the complete sample of polarized Z bosons collected by the SLD detector at the SLAC Linear Collider. From the left-right production and decay polar angle asymmetries in leptonic Z decays we measure A(e) = 0.1544+/-0.0060, A(mu) = 0.142+/-0.015, and A(tau) = 0.136+/-0.015. Combined with our left-right asymmetry measured from hadronic decays, we find A(e) = 0.1516+/-0.0021. Assuming lepton universality, we obtain a combined effective weak mixing angle of sin (2)theta(eff)(W) = 0.230 98+/-0.000 26.     

Dispersion of surface plasmons in dielectric-metal coatings on concave diffraction gratings

Anomalies in the intensity ofp-polarized light from concave diffraction gratings (Wood's anomalies) have been used to obtain surface plasmon dispersion curves for dielectric-metal layers on the grating surface. These include a 350 Å MgF₂ layer and Al₂O₃ layers varying from a few angstroms to over 800 Å on an Al substrate. The wavelength range of the incident and diffracted light is from the visible to the vacuum ultraviolet (7,500?500 Å). Anomalous polarization peaks for Al₂O₃ layers in the vacuum ultraviolet (at ～ 1,600 Å) are shown to shift significantly to longer wavelengths for only a few angstroms (up to 50 Å) of oxide thickness, while for thicknesses greater than ～ 50 Å any further shift is small. In the visible region (> 4,000 Å), on the other hand, the wavelength shifts are small for dielectric thicknesses up to ～ 50 Å, but are large for thicknesses of several hundred angstroms. These results are in substantial agreement with the theoretical dispersion curves for these cases. Also considered are some of the effects of diffusion pump oil.