The millimeter-wave spectrum of acetaldehyde in its two lowest torsional states

A large number of new millimeter-wave spectral lines of gaseous acetaldehyde have been measured at frequencies up to 250 GHz. These lines arise from rotational transitions of acetaldehyde in its two lowest (v_t = 0,1) torsional states and involve angular momentum quantum numbers J ≤ 12 and K ≤ 10. A global data set consisting of 562 lines has been obtained by combining the millimeter-wave lines with previously measured lower frequency data involving the two lowest torsional states. This data set has been analyzed via an internal axis method previously used to study the spectra of CH₃OH and CH₃SH. The root-mean-square deviation of the fit is only 685 kHz. An analogous least-squares fit to 335v_t = 0 lines yields a root-mean-square deviation of 269 kHz.     

Chern-Simons theory with finite gauge group

We construct in detail a 2+1 dimensional gauge field theory with finite gauge group. In this case the path integral reduces to a finite sum, so there are no analytic problems with the quantization. The theory was originally introduced by Dijkgraaf and Witten without details. The point of working it out carefully is to focus on the algebraic structure, and particularly the construction of quantum Hilbert spaces on closed surfaces by cutting and pasting. This includes the Verlinde formula. The careful development may serve as a model for dealing with similar issues in more complicated cases.The first author is supported by NSF grant DMS-8805684, an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship, a Presidential Young Investigators award, and by the O'Donnell Foundation. The second author is supported by NSF grant DMS-9207973     

Simple design changes to wires to substantially reduce MRI-induced heating at 1.5 T: implications for implanted leads

Reductions in MRI-induced heating at 1.5 T resulting from a simple design change to coiled wires were investigated. MRI-induced heating was assessed for two different coiled wire forms (length, 26 cm): (1) multi-filar coiled wire form and (2) multi-filar coiled wire form having a different coiled pitch, providing an air gap spacing between adjacent five-filar coil loops. Each wire had an electrode and was insulated to create a lead, similar to that which would be used for a medical implant. The wire forms were placed in a gelled-saline-filled head/torso phantom and imaged at 1.5 T [whole-body average specific absorption rate (SAR), 1.79 W/kg]. Fluoroptic thermometry probes were used to measure temperatures at the distal ends of the wires. The experiments demonstrated a substantial reduction in MRI-induced heating for the modified wire compared to the unmodified wire (i.e., 10.5 degrees C difference observed in one experiment and 26 degrees C difference in another). These findings have important implications for MRI-induced heating of leads used for medical implants.     

Ohmic and step noise from a single trapping center hybridized with a Fermi sea

We show that single electron tunneling devices such as the Cooper-pair box or double quantum dot can be sensitive to the zero-point fluctuation of a single trapping center hybridized with a Fermi sea. If the trap energy level is close to the Fermi sea and has linewidth gamma > k(B)T, its noise spectrum has an Ohmic Johnson-Nyquist form, whereas for gamma < k(B)T the noise has a Lorentzian form expected from the semiclassical limit. Trap levels above the Fermi level are shown to lead to steps in the noise spectrum that can be used to probe their energetics, allowing the identification of individual trapping centers coupled to the device.     

Reversible photomechanical switching of individual engineered molecules at a metallic surface

We have observed reversible light-induced mechanical switching for individual organic molecules bound to a metal surface. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) was used to image the features of individual azobenzene molecules on Au(111) before and after reversibly cycling their mechanical structure between trans and cis states using light. Azobenzene molecules were engineered to increase their surface photomechanical activity by attaching varying numbers of tert-butyl (TB) ligands ("legs") to the azobenzene phenyl rings. STM images show that increasing the number of TB legs "lifts" the azobenzene molecules from the substrate, thereby increasing molecular photomechanical activity by decreasing molecule-surface coupling.     

Gravitational correction to running of gauge couplings

We calculate the contribution of graviton exchange to the running of gauge couplings at lowest non-trivial order in perturbation theory. Including this contribution in a theory that features coupling constant unification does not upset this unification, but rather shifts the unification scale. When extrapolated formally, the gravitational correction renders all gauge couplings asymptotically free.     

Enhancing the acquisition efficiency of fast magnetic resonance imaging via broadband encoding of signal content

Current efficient magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methods such as parallel-imaging and k-t methods encode MR signals using a set of effective encoding functions other than the Fourier basis. This work revisits the proposition of directly manipulating the set of effective encoding functions at the radiofrequency excitation step in order to increase MRI efficiency. This approach, often termed "broadband encoding," enables the application of algebraic matrix factorization technologies to extract efficiency by representing and encoding MR signal content in a compacted form. Broadband imaging equivalents of fast multiecho, parallel and k-t MRI are developed and analyzed. The potential of these techniques to increase the time efficiency of data acquisition is experimentally verified on a commercial MRI scanner using simple spin-echo imaging. A three-dimensional gradient-echo dynamic imaging application that demonstrates the potential benefits of this approach compared to the present state of the art for certain applications is also presented.