Analysis of an FRW cosmological model

The Einstein field equations for the Friedmann universe reduce to a system of three first-order equations for the space-like components and a constraint from the temporal component. We analyse the system from the viewpoints of symmetry and singularity analyses. The solutions of particular relevance to Cosmology are highlighted.      

On the choice of the regularization parameter for the interpretation of ARXPS data using a multilayer model

We report our investigation of the dependence of the profile extracted from ARXPS data on the value of the regularization parameter α. We argue that a choice based upon the L-curve criterion, which does not require knowledge of the variances in the data, is less satisfactory than an approach based on choosing α such that χ²/N = 1.     

First-Passage and Extreme-Value Statistics of a Particle Subject to a Constant Force Plus a Random Force

We consider a particle which moves on the x axis and is subject to a constant force, such as gravity, plus a random force in the form of Gaussian white noise. We analyze the statistics of first arrival at point x ₁ of a particle which starts at x ₀ with velocity v ₀. The probability that the particle has not yet arrived at x ₁ after a time t, the mean time of first arrival, and the velocity distribution at first arrival are all considered. We also study the statistics of the first return of the particle to its starting point. Finally, we point out that the extreme-value statistics of the particle and the first-passage statistics are closely related, and we derive the distribution of the maximum displacement m=max  _t [x(t)].     

Kinetic Carbon Isotope Effects in the Decarbonylation of Lactic Acid of Natural Isotopic Composition and of [1-14C] Lactic Acid

Studies of carbon-13 and carbon-14 kinetic isotope effects (K. I. E.) in the decarbonylation of lactic acid (L. A.) in sulphuric acid and in phosphoric acids media have been summarized and compared with earlier studies of ¹⁴C and ¹³C K. I. E. in the decarbonylation of formic and oxalic acids in concentrated sulphuric acid. Supplementary data concerning the decarbonylation of L. A. in sulphuric acid diluted with water and in pyrophosphoric acid are presented and discussed. The observed temperature dependences of ¹³C and ¹⁴C K. I. E. in concentrated H₂SO₄ and in concentrated phosphoric acids media have been rationalized by invoking a change of the mechanism of decarbonylation of L. A. in concentrated sulphuric and phosphoric acids with temperature. Preliminary calculational results concerning ¹³C and ^1??C K. I. E. in decarbonylation processes are also presented. In H₂SO₄ diluted with water and in H₃PO₄ diluted with water the temperature dependence of ¹³C and ¹⁴C K. I. E. is normal and well reproduced by one frequency approximation. In concentrated sulphuric acid and in concentrated phosphoric acids besides the C—OH bond rupture the rupture of a C—C bond had to be considered also to reproduce the observed ¹³C K. I. E. in selected temperature regions.     

Infrared evidence for the folded-chain model of trans-1,4-polybutadiene

The influence of the first-order crystalline transformation at about 60°C on the infrared bands of trans-1,4-polybutadiene yields microscopic information that supports the two-component microcrystalline model of a folded chain having loose and tight end loops at the lamellar surfaces. The temperature dependence of the band parameters of the 908-cm^?1 vinyl band indicates that 1,2-(side vinyl) units are not easily taken into the crystalline component, thus forming long loops at the crystal surface that account for the micro-Brownian motion detected in the low-temperature phase. The results argue that infrared band parameters are excellent probes for details of the thermodynamics and morphology of polymers.     

Effects of the Synergy of Hardness and Resilience on the Akron Abrasion Properties of SBR Vulcanizates

The hardness (H) and resilience (R) of rubber vulcanizates were combined together in this paper, named as hardness–resilience product (H⁴R), and its relationship with the Akron abrasion loss was investigated using various styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) vulcanizates possessing specific hardness and resilience characteristics as samples. For the unfilled SBR vulcanizates with different chain microstructure, possessing high elastic resilience and low hardness, the results showed that their Akron abrasion loss had a good linear relationship with the log(H⁴100R). This linear relationship also occurred when these SBRs were filled with 50 phr carbon black. For two particular types of SBR, after being filled with different fractions of carbon black and aged for different times, all their Akron abrasion losses (including unaged, aged for 24 h, and aged for 48 h) also had a good linear relationship with the log(H⁴100R). However, this linear relationship weakened for one of the SBRs after being aged for 48 h. In the high H⁴R region (the carbon black fractions being 60 and 70 phr), the data obviously deviated from the fitting curve due to the high hardness of the aged vulcanizates. However, after being filled with 50 phr of various kinds of carbon blacks, the relationships between abrasion loss and log(H⁴100R) were also approximately linear, with the correlation coefficient of the fitting curves being 0.99966 and 0.99878, respectively, for the two types of SBR.     

From the Anderson Model on a Strip to the DMPK Equation and Random Matrix Theory

We study weakly disordered quantum wires whose width is large compared to the Fermi wavelength. It is conjectured that such wires display universal metallic behavior as long as their length is shorter than the localization length (which increases with the width). The random matrix theory that accounts for this behavior—the DMPK theory—rests on assumptions that are in general not satisfied by realistic microscopic models. Starting from the Anderson model on a strip, we show that a twofold scaling limit nevertheless allows to recover rigorously the fundaments of DMPK theory, thus opening a way to settle some conjectures on universal metallic behavior.     

The transition form factors for semi-leptonic weak decays of J/ψ in QCD sum rules

Within the standard model, we investigate the semi-leptonic weak decays of J/ψ. The various form factors of J/ψ making the transition to a single charmed meson (D^(*) _(d,s)) are studied in the framework of QCD sum rules. These form factors fully determine the rates of the weak semi-leptonic decays of J/ψ and provide valuable information on non-perturbative QCD effects. Our results indicate that the decay rate of the semi-leptonic weak decay mode J/ψ→D^(*)- _s+e⁺+ν_e is at the order of 10^-10. PACS 13.20.Gd; 13.25.Gv; 11.55.Hx     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">In situ</Emphasis> X-ray diffraction study of structural evaluation in Fe<Subscript>73</Subscript>Cu<Subscript>1.5</Subscript>Nd<Subscript>3</Subscript>Si<Subscript>13.5</Subscript>B<Subscript>9</Subscript> amorphous alloy at high temperature

The thermodynamics structural relaxation of Fe₇₃Cu_1.5Nd₃Si_13.5B₉ amorphous alloy from room temperature to 400°C has been investigated by measuring the structure factor with in situ X-ray diffraction. The structural information of the atomic configuration such as radial distribution function (RDF) and neighbor atomic distance was gained by Fourier transformation. The research result shows that the amorphous structure remains stable in the temperature range of 30 to 400°C but exhibits distinct changes in local atomic configuration with the increase of temperature. The quantitative determination of the neighbor atomic distance suggests that the degree of short-range order changes by the temperature altering the second nearest neighbor local atomic configuration of the amorphous when structural relaxation occurs. Supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province of China (Grant No. A2007000296), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 50731005), SKPBRC (Grant Nos. 2007CB616915 and 2006CB605201), and PCSIRT (Grant No. IRT0650)     

Fault tolerant three-party quantum secret sharing against collective noise

We present two robust three-party quantum secret sharing protocols against two kinds of collective noise. Each logical qubit is made up of two physical qubits and is invariant under a collective noise. The two agents encode their message on each logical qubit with two unitary physical operations on two physical qubits. As each logical qubit received by each agent can carry two bits of information and the classical information exchanged is reduced largely, these protocols have a high intrinsic efficiency. Moreover, the boss Alice can read out her agents' information with two Bell-state measurements on each four-qubit system, not four-photon joint measurements.