Experimental determination of the electron screening potential energy for the d(d, n)3He Reaction in ZrD2 and D2O in the ultralow energy region

This work is devoted to measuring of the values of the astrophysical S-factors and electron screening potential energy for a d(d,n)³He reaction occurring at ultralow energies in zirconium deuteride ZrD₂ (3.5–7.0 keV) and heavy water D₂O (2.2–6.0 keV). The experiment was performed on the Hall pulsed plasma accelerator at the TPU Nuclear Physics Institute (Tomsk) with ZrD₂ and D₂O targets produced by the magnetron sputtering of zirconium in a deuterium environment and heavy water freezing-out on a copper support, respectively. A χ ² analysis of the dependence of the neutron yields and astrophysical S-factors for the dd reaction on the deuteron collision energy E revealed that the upper bounds of the electron screening potential energy for interacting deuterons in ZrD₂ and D₂O and of the astrophysical S-factors at the deuteron collision energy E = 0 were U _e (ZrD₂) < 30 eV, U _e (D₂O) < 25 eV, S(0) = (57.2 ± 3.9) keV · b (ZrD₂), S(0) = (58.6 ± 3.6) keV · b (D₂O) at the 90% confidence level.     

Width of the quasiparticle spectral function in a two-dimensional electron gas with spin-orbit interaction

The results of an investigation of the width of the electron and hole spectral functions in an isotropic electron gas with the Rashba spin-orbit interaction as a function of the wave vector within the G ⁰ W ⁰ approximation are reported. This kind of electron gas is used to simulate two-dimensional systems formed by electrons in In _x Ga_{1 − x} As layers of various heterostructures and by surface electron states on Au(111). It is demonstrated how the width of the spectral function changes as a result of the spin-orbit interaction and how it depends on the branch index of the energy spectrum split by this interaction.     

Study of background processes with the formation of neutrons in nuclear reactions in the energy range of 26–32 kev

The nature of background processes accompanying astrophysical nuclear reactions induced by hydrogen, helium, and neon ions in deuterated targets with small cross sections has been studied in calculations and experiments. The experiments have been performed at a Hall pulsed plasma accelerator in the ion energy range of 26–32 keV. The yield of background neutrons and γ-quanta with energies below 4 MeV in the proton-induced D(p, γ)³He reaction is primarily due to the presence of a natural impurity of gaseous deuterium in gaseous hydrogen and the chain of D(D, ³He)n → (n, γ) or (n, n'γ) reactions. A small contribution comes from the chain of D(¹H, ¹H)D → D(D, ³He)n → (n, γ) or (n, n'γ) reactions. It has been shown that background neutrons and γ-quanta from the D(4He, γ)6Li reaction are entirely due to the chain of D(⁴He, ⁴He)D → D(D, ³He)n → (n, γ) or (n, n'γ) reactions. It has been shown that the yield of neutrons and γ-ray photons detected at the interaction of neon ions with deuterated targets is also entirely due to the chain of elastic- scattering reactions of neon ions on deuterons in the target and to subsequent inelastic processes of interaction of deuterons accelerated at elastic scattering with other deuterons of the target. The main contribution to the yields of background neutrons and γ-quanta comes from doubly charged neon ions. The main conclusion is that the explanation of the yield of neutrons and γ-quanta at the interaction of hydrogen, helium, and neon ions with deuterated targets does not require “exotic” theoretical models.     

Wetting Transition on a One-Dimensional Disorder

We consider wetting of a one-dimensional random walk on a half-line x≥0 in a short-ranged potential located at the origin x=0. We demonstrate explicitly how the presence of a quenched chemical disorder affects the pinning-depinning transition point. For small disorders we develop a perturbative technique which enables us to compute explicitly the averaged temperature (energy) of the pinning transition. For strong disorder we compute the transition point both numerically and using the renormalization group approach. Our consideration is based on the following idea: the random potential can be viewed as a periodic potential with the period n in the limit n→∞. The advantage of our approach stems from the ability to integrate exactly over all spatial degrees of freedoms in the model and to reduce the initial problem to the analysis of eigenvalues and eigenfunctions of some special non-Hermitian random matrix with disorder-dependent diagonal and constant off-diagonal coefficients. We show that even for strong disorder the shift of the averaged pinning point of the random walk in the ensemble of random realizations of substrate disorder is indistinguishable from the pinning point of the system with preaveraged (i.e. annealed) Boltzmann weight.     

Relaxation dynamics of a crumpled globule

The relaxation dynamics of elastic networks of crumpled (fractal) globules obtained by computer simulation of the collapse of a polymer chain in different modes is studied. It is shown that, in their dynamic properties, folded globules are similar to proteins, molecular machines.     

Calculation of the IR Spectrum of Ethyl Chlorophyllide a by the Method of Density Functional

The structure, frequencies of normal vibrations, and the absolute IR intensities of ethyl chlorophyllide a have been calculated by the DFT/B3LYP/6-31G(d) density functional method. The force constants have been scaled by the Pulay method. The force field of ethyl chlorophyllide a has been obtained in independent and dependent natural coordinates. The vibrational IR spectrum of ethyl chlorophyllide a has been modeled. The experimental IR spectrum of chlorophyll a has been interpreted on the basis of the calculation performed.