Systematic analysis of the PSI experiment to directly measure the sticking probabilityω s in dt fusion

Starting in 1989 an experiment was run at PSI to directly measure the final sticking probability in muon catalyzed dt fusion. This experiment was based on an active-target ionization chamber (IC) built at Gatchina, Russia, and an array of plastic neutron counters. In three runs approximately 5×10⁶ isolated alpha signals were recorded with around one half of these occurring in the inner chamber region where we have more complete understanding of the systematic errors. Particularly from a long run in 1992 we were able to obtain a very clean sticking peak of some 5000 events. However, to reach an accurate value of sticking, all systematic effects and several major backgrounds had to be understood in detail. To this end a Monte Carlo code was written to simulate the full electrostatic environment of the IC and to recreate completely each signal type including the actual tritium decay noise from the live experiment. A slightly model dependent value of approx. 0.56±0.04% is obtained for final sticking.     

Feasibility of an experiment to determine the branching ratio for the emission of a heavy neutrino after muon capture in3He

The triton energy of the muon capture reaction ³He t+v, where ³ He is the ground state of muonic³He, has been measured in order to investigate a possible heavy v admixture into the flavour with high sensitivity. ³ He has been formed via the pd fusion reaction by stopping ^– in an ionization chamber (IC) filled with an H/D gas mixture of 3% D concentration at a pressure of 161 bar. In a first short experiment 650 triton events were observed yielding an upper limit for the -heavy v mixing strength of 2.3×10^–3 atE _0v=60 MeV.     

Survey of experimental results on μCF including hyperfine effects

Complementary to the investigations of the most efficient dt cycle, also the other muon-induced fusion cycles in mixtures of hydrogen isotopes have been studied. The results of these dedicated experiments provide rich information about muon-induced few-body reactions and contribute significantly to a better overall understanding of CF. A summary of the recent progress will be presented. Special emphasis will be put on two characteristic examples, namely a new experimental approach to study the muonic cascade in H-D mixtures and the systematic study of hyperfine effects in muon-induced reactions.     

Classification of generic 3-dimensional Lagrangian singularities with (Z2) l -symmetries

The paper provides the complete list of local models forZ ₂ ^l -invariant generic germs of Lagrangian submanifolds of dimension ≦3. Classification is done directly for genrating functions of Lagrangian submanifolds and contains both elementary singularities and non-elementary ones with continuous moduli. The results demonstrate, in particular, that in contrast to the non-equivariant case the classification of equivariant Lagrangian singularities is not subordinated to the classification of symmetric functions up to the right equivariant equivalences.     

Chiral hydroperoxides as oxygen source in the catalytic stereoselective epoxidation of allylic alcohols by sandwich-type polyoxometalates: control of enantioselectivity through a metal-coordinated template

The epoxidation of allylic alcohols is shown to be efficiently and selectively catalyzed by the oxidatively resistant sandwich-type polyoxometalates, POMs, namely [WZnM(2)(ZnW(9)O(34))(2)](q)(-) [M = OV(IV), Mn(II), Ru(III), Fe(III), Pd(II), Pt(II), Zn(II); q = 10-12], with organic hydroperoxides as oxygen source. Conspicuous is the fact that the nature of the transition metal M in the central ring of polyoxometalate affects significantly the reactivity, chemoselectivity, regioselectivity, and stereoselectivity of the allylic alcohol epoxidation. For the first time, it is demonstrated that the oxovanadium(IV)-substituted POM, namely [ZnW(VO)(2)(ZnW(9)O(34))(2)](12-), is a highly chemoselective, regioselective, and also stereoselective catalyst for the clean epoxidation of allylic alcohols. A high enantioselectivity (er values up to 95:5) has been achieved with [ZnW(VO)(2)(ZnW(9)O(34))(2)](12)(-) and the sterically demanding TADOOL-derived hydroperoxide TADOOH as regenerative chiral oxygen source. Thus, a POM-catalyzed asymmetric epoxidation of excellent catalytic efficiency (up to 42 000 TON) has been made available for the development of sustainable oxidation processes. The high reactivity and selectivity of this unprecedented oxygen-transfer process are mechanistically rationalized in terms of a peroxy-type vanadium(V) template.     

Lewis Acid-Promoted Reduction of Bis(triorganotin) Oxides to Hexaorganoditins

Hexalkylditin is prepared by a Lewis acid-promoted (MgCl₂) reductive reaction of bis(trialkyltin) oxide using magnesium metal as reducing agent. Hexabutyl- and hexaphenylditin are synthesized with 95% and 80% yield separately and a radical mechanism is proposed for the reaction condition. Unsymmetric ditin, Bu₃Sn-SnPh₃, was first synthesized by this reductive method.