Working group report: Flavor physics and model building

This is the report of flavor physics and model building working group at WHEPP-9. While activites in flavor physics have been mainly focused on B-physics, those in model building have been primarily devoted to neutrino physics. We present summary of working group discussions carried out during the workshop in the above fields, and also briefly review the progress made in some projects subsequently.     

Holographic image subtraction using a polarization technique

A holographic image subtraction technique is proposed. The vector nature of light is utilized in introducing a phase difference of π between the two reconstructed object waves. The experimental results are also presented.     

Mixed micellization of an anionic gemini surfactant (GA) with conventional polyethoxylated nonionic surfactants in brine solution at pH 5 and 298 K

The micellization behavior of an anionic gemini surfactant, GA with nonionic surfactants C₁₂E₈ and C₁₂E₅ in presence of 0.1 M NaCl at 298 K temperature, has been studied tensiometrically in pure and mixed states, and the related physicochemical parameters (cmc, γ _cmc, pC ₂₀, Γ _max, and A _min) have been evaluated. Tensiometric profile (γ vs log [surfactant]), for conventional surfactants, generally consists of a single point of intersection; a gradually decreasing line (normally linear, or with slight curvature) ultimately saturates in γ at a particular [surfactant], corresponding to complete monolayer saturation. The gemini, in this report, led to two unequivocal breaks in the tensiometric isotherm. An attempt to the interpretation of the two breaks from molecular point of view is provided, depending solely on the chemical structure of the surfactant. The gemini, even in mixed state with the conventional nonionic surfactants C₁₂E₅ and C₁₂E₈, manifested the dual breaks; of course, the dominance of the feature decreases with increasing mole fraction of the nonionics in the mixture. Theories of Clint, Rosen, Rubingh, Motomura, Georgiev, Maeda, and Nagarajan have been used to determine the interaction between surfactants at the interface and micellar state of aggregation, the composition of the aggregates, the theoretical cmc in pure and mixed states, and the structural parameters according to Tanford and Israelachvili. Several thermodynamic parameters have also been predicted from those theories.     

Orlicz spaces for a family of measures

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A thiazole-containing tripodal ligand: synthesis, characterization, and interactions with metal ions and matrix metalloproteinases

A new tripodal ligand, tris[2-(((2-thiazolyl)methylidene)amino)ethyl]amine (Tatren), has been synthesized and characterized by NMR, IR, and UV-visible absorbance spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Tatren forms stable complexes with transition metal ions (Zn(2+), 1; Mn(2+), 2; Co(2+), 3) and the alkaline earth metal ions (Ca(2+), 4; Mg(2+), 5). Single-crystal X-ray structures of 1, 2, and 5 revealed six-coordinate chelate complexes with formula [M(Tatren)](ClO(4))(2) in which the metal centers are coordinated by three thiazolyl N atoms and three acyclic imine N atoms. Crystals of 1, 2, and 5 are monoclinic, P2(1)/c space group. Crystals of 4 are triclinic, P space group. The Ca(2+) complex is eight-coordinate with all N atoms of Tatren and one water molecule coordinated to the metal ion. Spectrophotometric titrations show that formation constants for the chelates of metal ions are >1 in methanol. Free Tatren inhibits the catalytic domain of matrix metalloproteinase-13 (MMP-13, collagenase-3) with K(i) = 3.5 +/- 0.6 microM. Molecular mechanics-based docking calculations suggest that one leg of Tatren coordinates to the catalytic Zn(2+) in MMPs-2, -9, and -13 with significant hydrogen bonding to backbone amide groups. High-level DFT calculations suggest that, in the absence of nonbonded interactions between Tatren and the enzyme, the most stable first coordination sphere of the catalytic Zn(2+) is achieved with three imidazolyl groups from His residues and two imine N atoms from one leg of Tatren. While complexes (1-3) do not inhibit MMP-13 to a significant extent, 4 does (K(i) = 30 +/- 10 microM). Hence, this study shows that tripodal chelating ligands of this class and their Ca(2+) complexes have potential as active-site inhibitors for MMPs.     

Rate constants from the reaction path Hamiltonian. I. Reactive flux simulations for dynamically correct rates

As ab initio electronic structure calculations become more accurate, inherent sources of error in classical transition state theory such as barrier recrossing and tunneling may become major sources of error in calculating rate constants. This paper introduces a general method for diabatically constructing the transverse eigensystem of a reaction path Hamiltonian in systems with many degenerate transverse frequencies. The diabatically constructed reaction path Hamiltonian yields smoothly varying coupling constants that, in turn, facilitate reactive flux calculations. As an example we compute the dynamically corrected rate constant for the chair to boat interconversion of cyclohexane, a system with 48 degrees of freedom and a number of degenerate frequencies. The transmission coefficients obtained from the reactive flux simulations agree with previous results that have been calculated using an empirical potential. Furthermore, the calculated rate constants agree with experimental values. Comparison to variational transition state theory shows that, despite finding the true bottleneck along the reaction pathway, variational transition state theory only accounts for half of the rate constant reduction due to recrossing trajectories.     

Determination of cadmium by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry after microwave-assisted digestion of animal tissues and sewage sludges

The determination of cadmium in different sample types has been carried out by electrothermal atomization atomic absorption spectrometry with D(2)-background correction using a unpyrocoated graphite tube, after pressurized microwave-assisted digestion. Five chemical modifiers [(NH(4))(2)HPO(4), Pd(NO)(3))(2), Ni(NO(3))(2), thiourea and Triton X-100] have been assayed and nickel nitrate has been found to be most effective for an accurate determination of cadmium in mussel tissue, pig kidney and sewage sludge. The characteristic mass of the method is of the order of 1 pg and the limit of detection is lower than 0.1 ng/ml.