Adsorption and separation of amino acids from aqueous solutions on zeolites

The adsorption of various amino acids on zeolites with different structures was studied with regard to dependence of the pH value of the solution and the aluminum content of the zeolite in order to design tailor-made adsorbents for amino acid separations.     

Molecular dynamics in thin grafted and spin-coated polymer layers

Broadband Dielectric Spectroscopy is employed to study the molecular dynamics in thin layers of grafted and spin-coated polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and of the type-A polymer cis-1,4-polyisoprene (PI). Strong resemblance with low-molecular-weight systems is found but additionally the conformation of the chain and its extension becomes important. For PI a confinement-induced relaxation is found. It is observable if the layer thickness is comparable to the end-to-end vector of the chain and it depends strongly on the separation between interfaces. In contrast, the dynamic (and hence the calorimetric) glass transition is not affected by the geometrical confinement.Received: 1 January 2003, Published online: 8 October 2003PACS: 64.70.Pf Glass transitions - 83.10.Mj Molecular dynamics, Brownian dynamics - 68.60.-p Physical properties of thin films, nonelectronic     

Fourier's Law confirmed for a class of small quantum systems

Within the Lindblad formalism we consider an interacting spin chain coupled locally to heat baths. We investigate the dependence of the energy transport on the type of interaction in the system as well as on the overall interaction strength. For a large class of couplings we find a normal heat conduction and confirm Fourier's Law. In a fully quantum mechanical approach linear transport behavior appears to be generic even for small quantum systems.Received: 14 May 2003, Published online: 11 August 2003PACS: 05.60.Gg Quantum transport - 05.30.-d Quantum statistical mechanics - 05.70.Ln Nonequilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics     

Transvection free groups and invariants of polynomial tensor exterior algebras

Let :GGl(n, ) be a representation of a finite groupG over a field such that the ring of invariants is a polynomial algebra . It is known that in the nonmodular case (i.e., when the order of the group is not divisible by the characteristic of ), the invariants ofG acting on the tensor product of a polynomial and an exterior algebra are given by ,d denoting the exterior derivative. We show that in the modular case, the ring of invariants in is of this form if and only if is a polynomial algebra and all pseudoreflections in (G) are diagonalizable.     

Spin domains generate hierarchical ground state structure in J = +/-1 spin glasses

Unbiased samples of ground states were generated for the short-range Ising spin glass with J(ij) = +/-1, in three dimensions. Clustering the ground states revealed their hierarchical structure, which is explained by correlated spin domains, serving as cores for macroscopic zero energy "excitations."     

A QR Decomposition for Matrix Pencils

This paper describes an efficient and numerically stable modification of the QR decomposition for solving a parametric set of linear least squares problems with a parametric matrix A + B for several values of the parameter . The method is demonstrated on a typical application.     

Template assisted formation of micro- and nanotubular carbon nitride materials

Micro- and nanotubes of an amorphous carbon nitride material were synthesized by metathesis reactions between cyanuric chloride (C₃N₃Cl₃) and different nitrogen sources, such as Li₂(CN₂) or Li₃(BN₂). The intermediate formation of needle-shaped crystals of N(C₃N₃Cl₂)₃ was always observed in our reactions, and investigated with respect to their role as a template in the formation of tubes. Chemical analyses of the micro- and nanotubes reveal carbon to nitrogen ratios near 3:4, consistent with the suspected material C₃N₄. Synthesized carbon nitride materials were thermally stable up to 600 ^°C in inert atmosphere. They were inspected by a number of physical measurements, mainly using TEM, EDX and IR investigations.