Limit Processes for TASEP with Shocks and Rarefaction Fans

We consider the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process (TASEP) with two-sided Bernoulli initial condition, i.e., with left density ρ ₋ and right density ρ ₊. We study the associated height function, whose discrete gradient is given by the particle occurrences. Macroscopically one has a deterministic limit shape with a shock or a rarefaction fan depending on the values of ρ _±. We characterize the large time scaling limit of the multipoint fluctuations as a function of the densities ρ _± and of the different macroscopic regions. Moreover, using a slow decorrelation phenomena, the results are extended from fixed time to the whole space-time, except along the some directions (the characteristic solutions of the related Burgers equation) where the problem is still open.     

Raman spectroscopic studies of terthiophenes for molecular electronics

The effect of thiol and selenol functionalization on the vibrational spectra and photochemical stability of terthiophene based molecular wires was investigated using surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS). The molecules were found to exhibit markedly different properties at the silver surface of the SERS substrate, despite having almost identical Raman spectra in solution and in the solid state. In contrast to terthiophene (3T), the bisthiolterthiophene (T3) and biselenol-terthiophene (Se3) molecules were stable against photoinduced structural changes when adsorbed to the metal surface at low concentrations. This indicates that the strong bonds to the silver surface, via S or Se terminal atoms, leads to a rapid decay of photoexcited states. Comparison with ab initio calculations shows that both T3 and Se3 bind with only one of the functional groups to the Ag surface.