An in situ STM/AFM and impedance spectroscopy study of the extremely pure 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate/Au(111) interface: potential dependent solvation layers and the herringbone reconstruction

The structure and dynamics of the interfacial layers between the extremely pure air- and water-stable ionic liquid 1-butyl-1-methylpyrrolidinium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate and Au(111) has been investigated using in situ scanning tunneling microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy measurements. The in situ scanning tunnelling microscopy measurements reveal that the Au(111) surface undergoes a reconstruction, and at -1.2 V versus Pt quasi-reference the famous (22 × √3) herringbone superstructure is probed. Atomic force microscopy measurements show that multiple ion pair layers are present at the ionic liquid/Au interface which are dependent on the electrode potential. Upon applying cathodic electrode potentials, stronger ionic liquid near surface structure is detected: both the number of near surface layers and the force required to rupture these layers increases. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopy results reveal that three distinct processes take place at the interface. The fastest process is capacitive in its low-frequency limit and is identified with electrochemical double layer formation. The differential electrochemical double layer capacitance exhibits a local maximum at -0.2 V versus Pt quasi-reference, which is most likely caused by changes in the orientation of cations in the innermost layer. In the potential range between -0.84 V and -1.04 V, a second capacitive process is observed which is slower than electrochemical double layer formation. This process seems to be related to the herringbone reconstruction. In the frequency range below 1 Hz, the onset of an ultraslow faradaic process is found. This process becomes faster when the electrode potential is shifted to more negative potentials.     

Central Circular Sections of the Strain Ellipsoids

A simple direct proof is given of the known result that in any deformation x = x(X), the planes of the central circular sections of the material strain-ellipsoid at X are deformed into the planes of the spatial strain-ellipsoid at x. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Probing magnetic order in heavily doped La2-xSrxNiO4+\delta with μSR

We report μSR measurements on a series of compounds with composition La_2-xSr_xNiO_4+\delta where the net hole concentration x+2\delta is greater than 0.4. A magnetic transition is found in all the samples studied which occurs at a composition‐dependent temperature T_M. Below T_M, clear precession signals are observed in zero applied magnetic field. The possible muon sites are discussed within the context of dipole‐field calculations. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Transverse momentum distributions of neutral pions from central and peripheral16O+Au collisions at 200A·GeV

The production of neutral pions by the interaction of 200A·GeV p and¹⁶O projectiles with a Au target has been studied in the pseudorapidity range 1.5≦η≦2.1. Transverse momentum spectra have been measured between 0.4 GeV/c and 3.6 GeV/c and their dependence on the centrality of the collision has been investigated. The peripheral-collision spectra display a marked change of slope with a hard component starting at about 1.8 GeV/c, in contrast to central-collision data. The data are discussed in comparison to p+p and α+α data from the ISR.     

The refined\mathfrak{p}-adic abelian Stark conjecture in function fields

Partially supported by NSF grant DMS-8702716     

Instrumented tensile-impact tests of bone

An instrumented pendulum-type impact tester was used to obtain tensile-impact properties for compact bone. Load-time histories throughout impact were recorded. Impact tests on 50 longitudinally oriented fresh-beef-bone samples yielded a proportional limit of 9.6±4.1 ksi (66.2±28.2 MPa), an ultimate stress of 17.6±5.3 ksi (121.3±36.5 MPa) and an energy-absorption capacity of 142±85 in. Ib/in.² (24900±14900 J/m²). A static tensile strength of 14.7±2.8 ksi (101±19 MPa) was obtained from static testing of 24 additional specimens. The tensile-impact strength was 20 percent higher than the static strength. Statistically significant correlations between elastic properties, impact strength and impact energy were found. Bone microstructure and fracture-surface topography were also examined.