The lowest energy 4ƒ-5d transition of the triply ionized gadolinium in CaF2

The lowest energy 4?-5d transition of triply ionized gadolinium in CaF₂ is tentatively identified. It is found that the no phonon line is not accompanied by the ≈ 480 cm^-1 vibronic feature observed in ten other triply ionized rare-earth ions in the CaF₂ matrix.     

A hydrocarbon anchored peptide that forms a chloride-selective channel in liposomes

The heptapeptide sequence Gly-Gly-Gly-Pro-Gly-Gly-Gly, when anchored to diglycolic acid derived (C18H37)2NCOCH2OCH2COOH, forms chloride-selective ion channels in phospholipid liposomes but the related heptapeptide Gly-Gly-Gly-Leu-Gly-Gly-Gly, and tripeptide Gly-Gly-Gly do not.     

Hilbert Schemes of Degree Four Curves

In this paper we determine the irreducible components of the Hilbert schemes H _4,g of locally Cohen-Macaulay space curves of degree four and arbitrary arithmetic genus g: there are roughly (g ²/24) of them, most of which are families of multiplicity structures on lines. We give deformations which show that these Hilbert schemes are connected. For g–3 we exhibit a component that is disjoint from the component of extremal curves and use this to give a counterexample to a conjecture of Aït-Amrane and Perrin.     

Unitary group approach to crystal field theory: Projection operator approach

A treatment for a strong crystal field of cubic symmetry is given using the unitary group approach. Projection operator techniques are utilized to achieve results equivalent to those given recently by Wen Zhenyi.     

Ferromagnetism in the Mott insulator Ba2NaOsO6

Results are presented of single crystal structural, thermodynamic, and reflectivity measurements of the double-perovskite Ba2NaOsO6. These characterize the material as a 5d1 ferromagnetic Mott insulator with an ordered moment of approximately 0.2microB per formula unit and TC=6.8(3) K. The magnetic entropy associated with this phase transition is close to Rln2, indicating that the quartet ground state anticipated from consideration of the crystal structure is split, consistent with a scenario in which the ferromagnetism is associated with orbital ordering.     

N-terminal and C-terminal domains of arrestin both contribute in binding to rhodopsin

Visual arrestin terminates the signal amplification cascade in photoreceptor cells by blocking the interaction of light activated phosphorylated rhodopsin with the G-protein transducin. Although crystal structures of arrestin and rhodopsin are available, it is still unknown how the complex of the two proteins is formed. To investigate the interaction sites of arrestin with rhodopsin various surface regions of recombinant arrestin were sterically blocked by different numbers of fluorophores (Alexa 633). The binding was recorded by time-resolved light scattering. To accomplish site-specific shielding of protein regions, in a first step all three wild-type cysteines were replaced by alanines. Nevertheless, regarding the magnitude and specificity of rhodopsin binding, the protein is still fully active. In a second step, new cysteines were introduced at selected sites to allow covalent binding of fluorophores. Upon attachment of Alexa 633 to the recombinant cysteines we observed that these bulky labels residing in the concave area of either the N- or the C-terminal domain do not perturb the activity of arrestin. By simultaneously modifying both domains with one Alexa 633 the binding capacity was reduced. The presence of two Alexa 633 molecules in each domain prevented binding of rhodopsin to arrestin. This observation indicates that both concave sites participate in binding.     

Observation of well-ordered metastable vortex lattice phases in superconducting MgB2 using small-angle neutron scattering

The vortex lattice (VL) symmetry and orientation in clean type-II superconductors depends sensitively on the host material anisotropy, vortex density and temperature, frequently leading to rich phase diagrams. Typically, a well-ordered VL is taken to imply a ground-state configuration for the vortex-vortex interaction. Using neutron scattering we studied the VL in MgB(2) for a number of field-temperature histories, discovering an unprecedented degree of metastability in connection with a known, second-order rotation transition. This allows, for the first time, structural studies of a well-ordered, nonequilibrium VL. While the mechanism responsible for the longevity of the metastable states is not resolved, we speculate it is due to a jamming of VL domains, preventing a rotation to the ground-state orientation.     

Experimental and theoretical investigation of the pyroelectric effect of the p-n junction in a paraelectric non-polar semiconductor

We describe here the first comprehensive investigation of a pyroelectric response of a p-n junction in a non-polar paraelectric semiconductor. The pyroelectric effect is generated by the, temperature dependent, built-in electrical dipole moment. High quality PbTe p-n junctions have been prepared specifically for this experiment. The pyroelectric effect was excited by a continuous CO₂ laser beam, modulated by a mechanical chopper. The shape and amplitude of the periodic and single-pulse pyroelectric signals were studied as a function of temperature (10-130 K), reverse bias voltage (up to −500 mV) and chopping frequency (4-2000 Hz). The pyroelectric coefficient is ≈10⁻³ μC/cm²K in the temperature region 40-80 K. The developed theoretical model quantitatively describes all the experimental features of the observed pyroelectric effect. The time evolution of the temperature within the p-n junction was reconstructed.     

A remark on the motivic Galois group and the quantum coadjoint action

It has been suggested that the Grothendieck–Teichmüller group GT should act on the Duflo isomorphism of su(2), but the corresponding realization of GT turned out to be trivial. We show that a solvable quotient of the motivic Galois group – which is supposed to agree with GT – is closely related to the quantum coadjoint action on for q a root of unity, i.e. in the quantum group case one has a nontrivial realization of a quotient of the motivic Galois group. From a discussion of the algebraic properties of this realization we conclude that in more general cases than it should be related to a quantum version of the motivic Galois group. Finally, we discuss the relation of our construction to quantum field and string theory and explain what we believe to be the ‘physical reason’ behind this relation between the motivic Galois group and the quantum coadjoint action. This might be a starting point for the generalization of our construction to more involved examples.