Role of vibrationally excited NO in promoting electron emission when colliding with a metal surface: a nonadiabatic dynamic model

A nonadiabatic quantum dynamic model has been developed to study the process of electron emission from a low-work-function metal surface. The process is initiated by scattering a highly vibrationally excited NO molecule from a surface composed of a Cs layer covering a Ru crystal. The model addresses the increasing quantum yield of the electron emission as a function of the molecular vibrational excitation and incident kinetic energy. The reaction mechanism is identified as a long-range harpooning electron transfer to a molecular ion which is then accelerated toward the surface. Upon impact, the molecular ion emits its excess electron.     

Decomposition of triacetone triperoxide is an entropic explosion

Both X-ray crystallography and electronic structure calculations using the cc-pVDZ basis set at the DFT B3LYP level were employed to study the explosive properties of triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and diacetone diperoxide (DADP). The thermal decomposition pathway of TATP was investigated by a series of calculations that identified transition states, intermediates, and the final products. Counterintuitively, these calculations predict that the explosion of TATP is not a thermochemically highly favored event. It rather involves entropy burst, which is the result of formation of one ozone and three acetone molecules from every molecule of TATP in the solid state.     

The importance of ground-state vibronic mixing in molecular Raman scattering

We consider Albrecht's theory for Raman scattering of fundamentals in the far and pre-resonance regions. Destructive interferences inherent to the A and B terms augment the conventionally suppressed C term dramatically. Raman excitation profiles for the ν₁(a_1g) and ν₆(e_2g fundamentals in benzene can be well fitted with theoretical C-term profiles involving the ¹E_1u(π-π^*) state at 1800 A.     

Invariant measures for algebraic actions, Zariski dense subgroups and Kazhdan's property

Let be any locally compact non-discrete field. We show that finite invariant measures for -algebraic actions are obtained only via actions of compact groups. This extends both Borel's density and fixed point theorems over local fields (for semisimple/solvable groups, resp.). We then prove that for -algebraic actions, finitely additive finite invariant measures are obtained only via actions of amenable groups. This gives a new criterion for Zariski density of subgroups and is shown to have representation theoretic applications. The main one is to Kazhdan's property for algebraic groups, which we investigate and strengthen.

     

A film model for the prediction of flooding and flow reversal for gas-liquid flow in vertical tubes

A model is presented which demonstrates that the process of flooding and flow reversal can be explained on the basis of a film mechanism. The model predicts well the gas flow rate at which flooding and flow reversal begins and ends for a given liquid flow rate and the presence of a hysteresis loop between flooding and flow reversal. The predictions of the theory are in satisfactory agreement with experimental flooding data.     

Determination of lysine in protein hydrolyzates using lysine decarboxylase from salmonella hadar

Lysine may be determined in protein hydrolyzates with the aid of lysine decarboxylase contained in cell-free extracts of Salmonella hadar grown under suitable conditions.     

Flow pattern characterization in two phase flow by electrical conductance probe

An improved system of conductance probes is used to identify the flow patterns in two phase horizontal, near horizontal and upward flows. The results show that this system is very well suited to distinguish among flow patterns consistent with visual observations.     

Large time behavior of the heat kernel

In this paper we study the large time behavior of the (minimal) heat kernel k_P^M(x,y,t) of a general time-independent parabolic operator Lu=u_t+P(x,∂_x)u which is defined on a noncompact manifold M. More precisely, we prove that

     

The Twin-Excited State as a Probe for the Transition State in Concerted Unimolecular Reactions: The Semibullvalene Rearrangement

A twin of the transition state , which can be investigated spectroscopically and can thus supply information about the structure of the transition state, has now been characterized for the Cope rearrangement of semibullvalene (shown below). It involves an excited state with B₂ symmetry and results from a linear combination of the ground-state wave functions of (mirror-image) reactant and product.     

Photophysics of (1-butyl-4-(1H-inden-1-ylidene)-1,4-dihydropyridine (BIDP): an experimental test for conical intersections

Fluorescence experiments on (1-butyl-4-(1H-inden-1-ylidene)-1,4-dihydropyridine (BIDP) are reported in liquid and glassy solutions. The data indicate a fast decay in the fluid nonpolar, nonprotic solutions (decay times approximately 10(-12) s) and rapid but considerably slower decay in polar ones. In frozen solutions (polar and nonpolar), the fluorescence quantum yield is much higher (near 0.5 and around 0.1 in polar and nonpolar glasses, respectively). The rapid nonradiative transitions in fluid solutions are assigned to internal conversion in both solvent classes, as intersystem crossing is much slower and no net reaction is observed. These results are in agreement with predictions made for the closely related (in terms of electronic structure) but simpler molecule cyclopentadienyl-1,4-dihydropyridine (CPDHP) for which an S1/S0 conical intersection was recently proposed [Int. J. Quant. Chem. 2005, 102, 961]. The crossing of the two lowest singlet states is calculated to vanish in polar solvents such as methyl cyanide, leading to longer lifetime of S1 of CPDHP. As BIDP has a very similar electronic structure, the model predicts a corresponding change in this larger molecule. The strong fluorescence observed in the glassy environments is rationalized by the hindering of the internal torsion required to reach the geometry of the conical intersection.