Eta physics at threshold

The production of - and -mesons in elementary nucleon-nucleon collisions has been investigated at the synchrotrons CELSIUS, COSY and SATURNE. The high-quality proton beam with low emittance and small momentum spread permits to study the creation of these mesons very close to the kinematical threshold, where --due to the rapid growth of the phase space volume-- the total cross-section increases by orders of magnitude over a few MeV range of the excess energy. The magnitude and energy dependence of the total cross-section as well as the occupation distribution of the phase space serve as observables for investigating the mechanisms underlying the production processes and the interaction of mesons with nucleons. The precise data on the and creation via the reactions allowed to settle the general features of the - and -meson production and revealed the sensitivity of the mentioned observables to the nucleon-nucleon-meson final-state interaction. The particular production properties, like for example, the determination of the dominating exchange processes which lead to the excitation of the S ₁₁ nucleon isobar in the case of creation, must be established by confrontation with other observables. The present status of this investigation with an emphasis on the results of the COSY-11 Collaboration is briefly presented. The available data are interpreted in view of the production mechanism and the meson-nucleon interaction.Received: 30 September 2002, Published online: 22 October 2003PACS: 13.60.Le Meson production - 13.75.-n Hadron-induced low- and intermediate-energy reactions and scattering (energy GeV) - 13.85.Lg Total cross sections - 25.40.-h Nucleon-induced reactions     

A continuous decomposition of the Menger curve into pseudo-arcs

It is proved that the Menger universal curve admits a continuous decomposition into pseudo-arcs with the quotient space homeomorphic to .

     

Cold fiber solid-phase microextraction device based on thermoelectric cooling of metal fiber

A new cold fiber solid-phase microextraction device was designed and constructed based on thermoelectric cooling. A three-stage thermoelectric cooler (TEC) was used for cooling a copper rod coated with a poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) hollow fiber, which served as the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber. The copper rod was mounted on a commercial SPME plunger and exposed to the cold surface of the TEC, which was enclosed in a small aluminum box. A heat sink and a fan were used to dissipate the generated heat at the hot side of the TEC. By applying an appropriate dc voltage to the TEC, the upper part of the copper rod, which was in contact to the cold side of the TEC, was cooled and the hollow fiber reached a lower temperature through heat transfer. A thermocouple was embedded in the cold side of the TEC for indirect measurement of the fiber temperature. The device was applied in quantitative analysis of off-flavors in a rice sample. Hexanal, nonanal, and undecanal were chosen as three off-flavors in rice. They were identified according to their retention times and analyzed by GC-flame ionization detection instrument. Headspace extraction conditions (i.e., temperature and time) were optimized. Standard addition calibration graphs were obtained at the optimized conditions and the concentrations of the three analytes were calculated. The concentration of hexanal was also measured using a conventional solvent extraction method (697+/-143ng/g) which was comparable to that obtained from the cold fiber SPME method (644+/-8). Moreover, the cold fiber SPME resulted in better reproducibility and shorter analysis time. Cold fiber SPME with TEC device can also be used as a portable device for field sampling.     

New cold-fiber headspace solid-phase microextraction device for quantitative extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediment

A new automated headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) sampling device was developed, with the capability of heating the sample matrix and simultaneously cooling the fiber coating. The device was evaluated for the quantitative extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from solid matrices. The proposed device improves the efficiency of the release of analytes from the matrix, facilitates the mass transfer into the headspace and significantly increases the partition coefficients of the analytes, by creating a temperature gap between the cold-fiber (CF) coating and the hot headspace. The reliability and applicability of previously reported cold-fiber devices are significantly enhanced by this improvement. In addition, it can be easily adopted for full automation of extraction, enrichment and introduction of different samples using commercially available autosampling devices. Sand samples spiked with PAHs were used as solid matrices and the effect of different experimental parameters were studied, including the extraction temperature, extraction time, moisture content, and the effect of sonication and modifier under optimal experimental conditions, linear calibration curves were obtained in the range of 0.0009-1000 ng/g, with regression coefficients higher than 0.99 and detection limits that ranged from 0.3 to 3 pg/g. Reproducible, precise and high throughput extraction, monitoring and quantification of PAHs were achieved with the automated cold-fiber headspace solid-phase microextraction (CF-HS-SPME) device coupled to GC-flame ionization detection. Determination of PAHs in certified reference sediments using the proposed approach exhibited acceptable agreement with the standard values.     

Proton hydration in aqueous solution: Fourier transform infrared studies of HDO spectra

This paper attempts to elucidate the number and nature of the hydration spheres around the proton in an aqueous solution. This phenomenon was studied in aqueous solutions of selected acids by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of semiheavy water (HDO), isotopically diluted in H(2)O. The quantitative version of difference spectrum procedure was applied for the first time to investigate such systems. It allowed removal of bulk water contribution and separation of the spectra of solute-affected HDO. The obtained spectral data were confronted with ab initio calculated structures of small gas-phase and polarizable continuum model (PCM) solvated aqueous clusters, H+(H2O)n, n=2-8, in order to help in establishing the structural and energetic states of the consecutive hydration spheres of the hydrated proton. This was achieved by comparison of the calculated optimal geometries with the interatomic distances derived from HDO band positions. The structure of proton hydration shells outside the first hydration sphere essentially follows the model structure of other hydrated cations, previously revealed by affected HDO spectra. The first hydration sphere complex in diluted aqueous solutions was identified as an asymmetric variant of the regular Zundel cation [The Hydrogen Bond: Recent Developments in Theory and Experiments, edited by P. Schuster, G. Zundel, and C. Sandorfy (North-Holland, Amsterdam, 1976), Vol. II, p. 683], intermediate between the ideal Zundel and Eigen structures [E. Wicke et al., Z. Phys. Chem. Neue Folge 1, 340 (1954)]. Evidence was found for the existence of strong and short hydrogen bonds, with oxygen-oxygen distance derived from the experimental affected spectra equal 2.435 A on average and in the PCM calculations about 2.41-2.44 A. It was also evidenced for the first time that the proton possesses four well-defined hydration spheres, which were characterized in terms of hydrogen bonds' lengths and arrangements. Additionally, an outer hydration layer, shared with the anion, as well as loosely bound water molecules interacting with free electron pairs of the central complex were detected in the affected spectra.     

On characterization of Poisson and Jacobi structures

We characterize Poisson and Jacobi structures by means of complete lifts of the corresponding tensors: the lifts have to be related to canonical structures by morphisms of corresponding vector bundles. Similar results hold for generalized Poisson and Jacobi structures (canonical structures) associated with Lie algebroids and Jacobi algebroids.     

On the generalized Fréchet functional equation with constant coefficients and its stability

We study a generalization of the Fréchet functional equation, stemming from a characterization of inner product spaces. We show, in particular, that under some weak additional assumptions each solution of such an equation is additive. We also obtain a theorem on the Ulam type stability of the equation. In its proof we use a fixed point result to show the existence of an exact solution of the equation that is close to a given approximate solution.     

Thermodynamic studies of complexation and enantiorecognition processes of monoterpenoids by alpha- and beta-cyclodextrin in gas chromatography

Gas-liquid chromatography was applied in thermodynamic investigations of processes of complexation and enantioseparation by alpha- and [-cyclodextrins of chiral monoterpenoids. The distribution constants, stability constants and thermodynamic parameters enthalpy, entropy and free energy of the complexation processes were determined. It has been found that enantioseparation of monoterpenes by alpha- and beta-cyclodextrins is the result of formation of 1:2 stoichiometric complexes. When 1:1 stoichiometric complexes are formed, enantioselectivity is not observed. All investigated processes of complexation are enthalpy-driven regardless of the stoichiometry of the formed complexes. -deltaH, -TdeltaS and -deltaG of complexation process have higher values for bicyclic than for monocyclic monoterpenoids as well as for alpha-CD than for beta-CD. The first or second step of complexation may be responsible for enantioselectivity.     

Barrier-free intermolecular proton transfer induced by excess electron attachment to the complex of alanine with uracil

The photoelectron spectrum of the uracil-alanine anionic complex (UA)(-) has been recorded with 2.540 eV photons. This spectrum reveals a broad feature with a maximum between 1.6 and 2.1 eV. The vertical electron detachment energy is too large to be attributed to an (UA)(-) anionic complex in which an intact uracil anion is solvated by alanine, or vice versa. The neutral and anionic complexes of uracil and alanine were studied at the B3LYP and second-order M?ller-Plesset level of theory with 6-31++G(*) (*) basis sets. The neutral complexes form cyclic hydrogen bonds and the three most stable neutral complexes are bound by 0.72, 0.61, and 0.57 eV. The electron hole in complexes of uracil with alanine is localized on uracil, but the formation of a complex with alanine strongly modulates the vertical ionization energy of uracil. The theoretical results indicate that the excess electron in (UA)(-) occupies a pi(*) orbital localized on uracil. The excess electron attachment to the complex can induce a barrier-free proton transfer (BFPT) from the carboxylic group of alanine to the O8 atom of uracil. As a result, the four most stable structures of the uracil-alanine anionic complex can be characterized as a neutral radical of hydrogenated uracil solvated by a deprotonated alanine. Our current results for the anionic complex of uracil with alanine are similar to our previous results for the anion of uracil with glycine, and together they indicate that the BFPT process is not very sensitive to the nature of the amino acid's hydrophobic residual group. The BFPT to the O8 atom of uracil may be relevant to the damage suffered by nucleic acid bases due to exposure to low energy electrons.