On the factors governing the minimum size of light beams during self-focusing

The final stage of self-focusing of 500-ps pulses of a neodymium laser in silicate and phosphate glasses and in the nonlinear liquids perfluorooctane, benzene, and toluene is studied theoretically and experimentally. The formation of spatial solitons, which are stable due to the nonlinearity saturation, is demonstrated. It is found that the intensity of the nonlinearity saturation is close to that of the threshold breakdown for glasses and the role of stimulated Raman scattering is significant for liquids.     

Effect of superfluidity on the structure of the inner crust of neutron stars

A self-consistent, completely quantum calculation of the structure of the inner crust of neutron stars is carried out in the Wigner-Seitz approximation with a realistic phenomenological nuclear energy functional, where pair correlations of neutrons and protons are included in the explicit form. It has been shown that the superfluidity of neutrons and protons affects the structure of the ground state of the crust.     

Deformed Quantum Calogero-Moser Problems and Lie Superalgebras

The deformed quantum Calogero-Moser-Sutherland problems related to the root systems of the contragredient Lie superalgebras are introduced. The construction is based on the notion of the generalized root systems suggested by V. Serganova. For the classical series a recurrent formula for the quantum integrals is found, which implies the integrability of these problems. The corresponding algebras of the quantum integrals are investigated, the explicit formulas for their Poincare series for generic values of the deformation parameter are presented.     

Vanadium(III) chloride catalyzed Biginelli condensation: solution phase library generation of dihydropyrimidin-(2H)-ones

The three component condensation of an aldehyde, a β-keto ester and urea (thiourea) in the presence of a catalytic amount of VCl₃ is disclosed for the solution phase synthesis of dihydropyrimidinones. The ease of synthesis and work-up allowed the parallel synthesis of a 48-membered library of dihydropyrimidinones quickly and efficiently in good yields.     

Fourier-Feynman transform, convolution and first variation

We examine several interesting relationships and expressions involving Fourier-Feynman transform, convolution product and first variation for functionals in the Fresnel class F(B) of an abstract Wiener space B. We also prove a translation theorem and Parseval's identity for the analytic Feynman integral. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Methods for implementing the stream boundary condition in DSMC computations

In the direct simulation Monte‐Carlo (DSMC) method for simulating rarefied gas flows, the velocities of simulator particles that cross a simulation boundary and enter the simulation space are typically generated using the acceptance–rejection procedure that samples the velocities from a truncated theoretical velocity distribution that excludes low and high velocities. This paper analyses an alternative technique, where the velocities of entering particles are obtained by extending the simulation procedures to a region adjacent to the simulation space, and considering the movement of particles generated within that region during the simulation time step. The alternative method may be considered as a form of acceptance–rejection procedure, and permits the generation of all possible velocities, although the population of high velocities is depleted with respect to the theoretical distribution. Nevertheless, this is an improvement over the standard acceptance–rejection method. Previous implementations of the alternative method gave a number flux lower than the theoretical number required. Two methods for obtaining the correct number flux are presented. For upstream boundaries in high‐speed flows, the alternative method is more computationally efficient than the acceptance–rejection method. However, for downstream boundaries, the alternative method is extremely inefficient. The alternative method, with the correct theoretical number flux, should therefore be used in DSMC computations in favour of the acceptance–rejection method for upstream boundaries in high‐speed flows. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Development of the Asymptotic Viscous Dissipation Profile in a Vertical Free Convective Boundary Layer Flow in a Porous Medium

The effect of viscous dissipation on the development of the boundary layer flow from a cold vertical surface embedded in a Darcian porous medium is investigated. It is found that the flow evolves gradually from the classical Cheng–Minkowycz form to the recently discovered asymptotic dissipation profile which is a parallel flow.     

Catalysis by ionic liquid: a simple, green and efficient procedure for the Michael addition of thiols and thiophosphate to conjugated alkenes in ionic liquid, [pmIm]Br

A room temperature ionic liquid, 1-pentyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide, [pmIm]Br efficiently catalyzes Michael addition of thiols and diethyl dithiophosphate to a variety of conjugated alkenes such as α,β-unsaturated carbonyl compounds, carboxylic esters, nitriles and chalcones without requiring any other organic solvent and catalyst. The ionic liquid can be recycled for subsequent reactions without any appreciable loss of efficiency.