First measurement of the ϱ spectral function in nuclear collisions

The NA60 experiment at the CERN SPS has studied low-mass muon pairs in 158 A GeV In–In collisions. A strong excess of pairs is observed above the yield expected from neutral meson decays. The unprecedented sample size close to 400000 events and the good mass resolution of about 2% made it possible to isolate the excess by subtraction of the decay sources. The shape of the resulting mass spectrum shows some non-trivial centrality dependence, but is largely consistent with a dominant contribution from π⁺π^-→ϱ→μ⁺μ^- annihilation. The associated ϱ spectral function exhibits considerable broadening, but essentially no shift in mass. The p_T-differential mass spectra show the excess to be much stronger at low p_T than at high p_T. The results are compared to theoretical model predictions; they tend to rule out models linking hadron masses directly to the chiral condensate. PACS 25.75.-q; 12.38.Mh; 13.85.Qk     

Mathematical modeling of crystallization analysis fractionation (Crystaf) of polyethylene

Four polyethylene samples (PE) with different molecular weight distributions (MWD) were analyzed by crystallization analysis fractionation (Crystaf) at several cooling rates to investigate the effect of MWD and cooling rate on their Crystaf profiles. Using these results, we developed a mathematical model for Crystaf that considers crystallization kinetic effects, which are ignored in all previous Crystaf models. The Crystaf model we proposed can fit the experimental Crystaf profiles of the 4 polyethylene resins very well. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 44: 2749–2759, 2006     

Group algebras of Kleinian type and groups of units

The algebras of Kleinian type are finite-dimensional semisimple rational algebras A such that the group of units of an order in A is commensurable with a direct product of Kleinian groups. We classify the Schur algebras of Kleinian type and the group algebras of Kleinian type. As an application, we characterize the group rings RG, with R an order in a number field and G a finite group, such that the group of units of RG is virtually a direct product of free-by-free groups.     

On the phase structure of the compact abelian lattice Higgs model

This paper studies the vacuum overlap order parameter proposed by Fredenhagen and Marcu in the case of the compactU(1) gauge model with the Wilson action coupled to a Higgs field with fixed length ||=1. The existence of two distinct phases inD space-time dimensions (D4) is established.     

In-trees and plane embeddings of outerplanar graphs

A notion of anin-tree is introduced. It is then used to characterize and count plane embeddings of outerplanar graphs. In-trees have also been applied in the study of independent vertex covers of faces in outerplanar graphs.This research was partially supported by the grant RP.I.09, from the Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw. Hospitality of the Institute of Datalogy, University of Copenhagen where this research has been completed is gratefully acknowledged.     

Vanadyl salen complexes covalently anchored to an imidazolium ion as catalysts for the cyanosilylation of aldehydes in ionic liquids

Two vanadyl salen complexes having peripheral styryl substituents have been reacted with 1-methyl-3-(3-mercaptopropyl)-imidazolium chloride using azoisobutyronitrile as radical initiator. The resulting compounds contain at the same time a vanadyl salen complex and one imidazolium cation. In agreement with the expectations in view of their structure, these compounds were insoluble in conventional organic solvents, but completely miscible in imidazolium ionic liquids. These vanadyl salen complexes bonded to an imidazolium cation are highly active and reusable catalysts for the cyanosilylation of aldehydes. Moderate enantiomeric excesses were obtained using the chiral version of this complex.     

Fibers and 3D mesh scaffolds from biodegradable starch-based blends: production and characterization

The aim of this work is the production of fibers from biodegradable polymers to obtain 3D scaffolds for tissue engineering of hard tissues. The scaffolds required for this highly demanding application need to have, as well as the biological and mechanical characteristics, a high degree of porosity with suitable dimensions for cell seeding and proliferation. Furthermore, the open cell porosity should have adequate interconnectivity for a continuous flow of nutrients and outflow of cell metabolic residues as well as to allow cell growth into confluent layers. Blends of corn starch, a natural biodegradable polymer, with other synthetic polymers (poly(ethylene vinyl alcohol), poly(epsilon-caprolactone), poly(lactic acid)) were selected for this work because of their good balance of properties, namely biocompatibility, processability and mechanical properties. Melt spinning was used to produce fibers from all the blends and 3D meshes from one of the starch-poly(lactic acid) blends. The experimental characterization included the evaluation of the tensile mechanical properties and thermal properties of the fibers and the compression stiffness, porosity and degradation behavior of the 3D meshes. Light microscopy picture of 3D meshes.