A new μs isomer in 136Sb produced in the projectile fission of 238U

Rapidity correlations in 800 GeV proton interactions with emulsion nuclei are investigated for different targets and multiplicity regions. To study the energy dependence, the results have been compared with proton interactions at 200 GeV and 400 GeV. A common feature of all the interactions is the existence of strong, short-range correlations. However, no dependence of cluster parameters on primary energy or target mass is found. A marginal increase of correlation strength with multiplicity is observed. Received: 30 March 2001 / Accepted: 18 September 2001     

Evolution of Artificial Arginine Analogues—Fluorescent Guanidiniocarbonyl-Indoles as Efficient Oxo-Anion Binders

In this article, we present fluorescent guanidiniocarbonyl-indoles as versatile oxo-anion binders. Herein, the guanidiniocarbonyl-indole (GCI) and methoxy-guanidiniocarbonyl-indole (MGCI) were investigated as ethylamides and compared with the well-known guanidiniocarbonyl-pyrrole (GCP) concerning their photophysical properties as well as their binding behavior towards oxo-anions. Hence, a variety of anionic species, such as carboxylates, phosphonates and sulfonates, have been studied regarding their binding properties with GCP, GCI and MGCI using UV-Vis titrations, in combination with the determination of the complex stoichiometry using the Job method. The emission properties were studied in relation to the pH value using fluorescence spectroscopy as well as the determination of the photoluminescence quantum yields (PLQY). Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were undertaken to obtain a better understanding of the ground-lying electronic properties of the investigated oxo-anion binders. Additionally, X-ray diffraction of GCP and GCI was conducted. We found that GCI and MGCI efficiently bind carboxylates, phosphonates and sulfonates in buffered aqueous solution and in a similar range as GCP (K_ass ≈ 1000–18,000 M⁻¹, in bis-tris buffer, pH = 6); thus, they could be regarded as promising emissive oxo-anion binders. They also exhibit a visible fluorescence with a sufficient PLQY. Additionally, the excitation and emission wavelength of MGCI was successfully shifted closer to the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum by introducing a methoxy-group into the core structure, which makes them interesting for biological applications.     

Problems connected with the analysis of halocarbons and hydrocarbons in the non-urban atmosphere

The problems connected with the measurement of hydrocarbons outside urban areas are considerable: The atmospheric mixing ratios of most of the hydrocarbons are very low--from a few ppb down to some ppt; the mixture of hydrocarbons is extremely complex, ranging from light n-alkanes to alkyl benzenes and terpenes; for measurements in remote areas the logistic conditions often restrict the instrumentation which can be used for sample collection or in situ measurements (such as lack of electric power supply, weight restrictions etc.). Nevertheless, sensitive and sufficiently reliable measurements of hydrocarbons in the non-urban atmosphere are important. Hydrocarbons are important factors in the tropospheric photochemistry (e.g. ozone formation) and can be used as valuable tracers for man-made atmospheric pollutants etc. Other useful tracers for anthropogenic emission are halocarbons such as dichlormethane, tri- and tetrachloroethen etc. The impact of man-made hydrocarbons on the chemistry of the troposphere can only be understood if the extent of natural (biogenic) contributions is known. From measurements of a large variety of hydrocarbons and halocarbons it is often possible to obtain information about the sources of the most important atmospheric hydrocarbon species, even for trace gases with both significant anthropogenic and biogenic sources. In this presentation some of the problems and their solutions connected with such measurements of atmospheric hydrocarbons and halocarbons are presented and discussed. Some of the results obtained by several series of measurements are described, indicating that man-made as well as biogenic hydrocarbons can be important factors for the chemistry of the atmosphere.     

Chirped and chirp-free femtosecond pulses in passively mode-locked dye lasers

Femtosecond light pulse generation in a ring laser and its propagation properties are described. The basic principles and some theoretical aspects of the pulse generation process in dye lasers are summarized taking into account the influence of the amplifier, of the saturable absorber, of the glass path and of mirrors. Phase modulation arising from multilayer dielectric mirrors has been calculated and measured by determination of an equivalent intracavity glass path length. The main source of phase modulation (chirp) seems to be the saturable absorber.     

Asymptotically Brownian skew products give non-loosely BernoulliK-automorphisms

Summary A quite natural exponential mixing condition on a real valued cocyclef implies that the cocycle is asymptotically approximable by Brownian motion to a degree better thant ^1/2. This in turn implies that the skew extension by a positive entropy ergodic flow using the cocycle is not loosely Bernoulli, in complete analogy to Kalikow'sT, T ^–1 argument [Kal].     

Any two irreducible Markov chains of equal entropy are finitarily Kakutani equivalent

We show here that any two finite state irreducible Markov chains of the same entropy are finitarily Kakutani equivalent. By this we mean they are orbit equivalent by an invertible measure preserving mapping that is almost continuous and monotone in time when restricted to some cylinder set. Smorodinsky and Keane have shown that any two irreducible Markov chains of equal entropy and period are finitarily isomorphic. Hence, all that is necessary to obtain our result is to show that for every entropy h > 0 and period p ∈ ℕ there exists two irreducible Markov chains σ ₁, σ ₂ both of entropy h, where (1) σ ₁ is mixing (2) ς ₂ has period p and (3) σ1 and σ ₂ are finitarily Kakutani equivalent.     

Functional integral of QED in terms of gauge-invariant quantities

We reduce the functional integral of quantum electrodynamics to an integral containing only local gauge invariant quantities. The set of (bosonic) invariants contains bilinear combinations of the spinor field and a real-valued covector field.     

Lasers for materials processing: specifications and trends

An overview is given of the types of lasers dominating the field of laser materials processing. The most prominent lasers in this field are the CO₂ and the Nd: YAG laser. The domain of CO₂ lasers is applications which demand high laser powers (up to 30 kW are available at present), whereas the domain of Nd:YAG lasers is micro-machining applications. In the kilowatt range of laser output power, the two types of lasers are in competition. New diffusion-cooled CO₂ laser systems are capable of output laser powers of several kilowatts, with good beam qualities, while still being quite compact. The output power and beam quality of Nd:YAG lasers has been improved in recent years, so that Nd:YAG lasers are now an alternative to CO₂ lasers even in the kilowatt range. This is especially true for applications that demand optical fibre transmission of the laser beam, which is possible with Nd:YAG laser light but not with the longerwavelength light emitted by CO₂ lasers. The main problem in solid-state lasers such as Nd:YAG is the thermal lensing effect and damage due to thermal stresses. In order to reduce thermal loading, cooling has to be enhanced. Several alternative geometries have been proposed to reduce thermal loading and, by this, thermal lensing effects. There are now slab and tube geometries which allow much higher output powers than the conventionally used laser rods. A very new scheme proposes a thin slab whose cooled side is also used as one of the laser mirrors, so that thermal gradients occur mainly in the direction of the beam propagation and not perpendicular to it, as is the case in the other geometries. As well as CO₂ and Nd:YAG lasers, semiconductor laser diodes are very promising for direct use of the emitted light or as pump sources for Nd:YAG and other solid-state lasers. When packaging together thousands of single laser diodes, output powers of several kilowatts can be realized. Major problems are collimation of the highly divergent laser beams and cooling of the laser diode bars.