Studies on chargino production and decay at a photon collider

A Monte-Carlo analysis on production and decay of supersymmetric charginos at a future photon-collider is presented. A photon collider offers the possibility of a direct branching-ratio measurement. In this study, the process has been considered for a specific mSUGRA scenario. Various backgrounds and a parameterised detector simulation have been included. Depending on the centre-of-mass energy, a statistical error for the directly measurable branching ratio BR( ) of up to 3.5% can be reached.Received: 14 March 2005, Revised: 31 May 2005, Published online: 28 June 2005G. Klämke: Now at: Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Karlsruhe, Wolfgang-Gaede-Str. 1, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany     

Observation of a superdeformed band in <Superscript>190</Superscript>Pb

A superdeformed band has been observed in the N = 108 isotope ¹⁹⁰Pb. This is the most neutron-deficient Pb isotope in which superdeformed states have been observed. Several theoretical approaches have predicted that N = 108 will mark the limit of observable superdeformation in the Pb isotopes. The band, which consists of five (possibly six) transitions, is observed to feed at least one isomeric level in its decay to the ground state. This decay pattern supports a spin assignment of 10 for the lowest observed level.     

Inactivation of Escherichia coli by alternative electric current in rivers discharged into sea

Inactivation effect of alternative electric current on Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and fecal E. coli MAAG 1405 found resistant to antibiotics was examined in water samples collected from Ayamama River, Sar?su River, and their discharge points into sea and from Black Sea and Marmara Sea. In addition to water samples, lauryl sulfate broth was used as an organic rich medium. Both test strains were inactivated within 1–3 min in media containing marine waters (1 A), 5–10 min in Ayamama River water (1 A), 5 min in Sar?su River water (0.5 A), 20–35 min in lauryl sulfate broth (1 A) by applying alternative electric current.     

On Bipartite Distance-Regular Graphs with Intersection Numbers c i = (q i ? 1)/(q ? 1)

Let q denote an integer at least two. Let ?? denote a bipartite distance-regular graph with diameter D ?? 3 and intersection numbers c _i = (q ⁱ ? 1)/(q ? 1), 1 ?? i ?? D. Let X denote the vertex set of ?? and let ${V = \mathbb{C}^X}$ denote the vector space over ${\mathbb{C}}$ consisting of column vectors whose coordinates are indexed by X and whose entries are in ${\mathbb{C}}$ . For ${z \in X}$ , let ${{\hat z}}$ denote the vector in V with a 1 in the z-coordinate and 0 in all other coordinates. Fix ${x, y \in X}$ such that ?(x, y) = 2, where ? denotes the path-length distance function. For 0 ?? i, j ?? D define ${w_{ij} = \sum {\hat z}}$ , where the sum is over all ${z \in X}$ such that ?(x, z) = i and ?(y, z) = j. We define W?=?span{w _ij | 0 ?? i, j ?? D}. In this paper we consider the space ${MW={\rm span} \{mw \mid m \in M, w \in W\}}$ , where M is the Bose?CMesner algebra of ??. We observe that MW is the minimal A-invariant subspace of V which contains W, where A is the adjacency matrix of ??. We give a basis for MW that is orthogonal with respect to the Hermitean dot product. We compute the square-norm of each basis vector. We compute the action of A on the basis. For the case in which ?? is the dual polar graph D _D (q) we show that the basis consists of the characteristic vectors of the orbits of the stabilizer of x and y in the automorphism group of ??.     

Ferroelectric phase transitions in ionic conductors based on bismuth vadanate

Ceramic solid solutions (Bi_{1 ? x} La _x )₄V₂O_{11 ? z} (I), Bi₄(V_{1 ? x} Fe _x )₂O_{11 ? y} (II), and (Bi_{1 ? x} La _x )₄(V_0.96Fe_0.04)₂O_{11 ? y} (III) (x = 0–0.3, step Δx = 0.02) are prepared using solid-phase synthesis. The concentration and temperature ranges of stabilization of different polymorphic modifications, including the ranges of concentrations x corresponding to the stabilization of the ferroelectric phase, are established. It is revealed that an increase in the concentration x in the region of existence of the pseudoorthorhombic phase α of the solid solutions studied leads to a decrease in the transition temperature, smearing of the transition, and an increase in the width of the thermal hysteresis of the ferroelectric phase transition. The effect of compressing of the domain walls by oxygen vacancies was revealed in the samples from the region of existence of the ferroelectric α phase, and the effect of dielectric relaxation was detected in the samples from the region of existence of the orthorhombic phase β.     

Ultrafast X-ray experiments on structural changes in single crystals of polar molecules

Intramolecular charge transfer in aminobenzonitrile (DIABN) single crystals is studied by a combination of ultrafast techniques. The intramolecular dynamics is probed by time-resolved spectroscopy in the UV/Vis and mid-IR. The intermolecular structural response is investigated by transient X-ray scattering and transmission experiments. A theoretical analysis shows that diffuse scattering and dipole solvation determine the X-ray data. The observed dynamics results from charge transfer reaction leading to strong local changes of molecular dipole moments and related structural rearrangements in the crystal.     

Low-threshold, 12-MHz, multipass-cavity femtosecond Cr4+: Forsterite laser

We report on the development of an extended-cavity, low-threshold femtosecond Cr⁴⁺:forsterite laser operating near 1270 nm. The resonator was end-pumped by a continuous-wave Yb-fiber laser at 1060 nm. The 195-MHz short cavity could be operated with absorbed threshold pump powers as low as about 300 mW. To scale up the pulse energy, the cavity length was increased by using a q-preserving multipass cavity (MPC) consisting of a flat and a curved (R = 4 m), notched high-reflector. Kerr-lens mode locking was used to generate femtosecond pulses and double-chirped mirrors were included in the cavity for dispersion compensation. With an absorbed pump power of 1250 mW, the mode-locked laser produced 4 nJ of pulse energy at an average output power of only 47 mW. The corresponding repetition rate of the extended cavity was 11.7 MHz. The pulse-width was 90 fs and the spectral bandwidth was 23 nm, corresponding to a time-bandwidth product of 0.37.     

Supersymmetry beyond minimal flavor violation

We review the sources and phenomenology of non-minimal flavor violation in the MSSM. We discuss in some detail the most important theoretical and experimental constraints, as well as promising observables to look for supersymmetric effects at the LHC and in future experiments. We emphasize the sensitivity of flavor physics to the mechanism of supersymmetry breaking and to new degrees of freedom present at fundamental scales, such as the grand unification scale. We include a discussion of present data that may hint at departures from the standard model.     

Oscillator strengths for singly ionized oxygen

The electric dipole oscillator strengths for multiplet and individual lines between some doublet and quartet levels have been calculated using the weakest bound electron potential model theory (WBEPMT) in singly ionized oxygen. We employed both numerical Coulomb approximation (NCA) wave functions and numerical non-relativistic Hartree-Fock (NRHF) wave functions for expectation values of radii in determination of parameters. The calculated oscillator strengths have been compared with available theoretical and experimental results. A good agreement with results in literature has been obtained. Moreover, oscillator strengths not existing in the literature for some highly excited levels have been obtained using this method. Electronic supplementary material  Supplementary Online Material     

Femtosecond multicolor transient absorption spectroscopy of colloidal silver nanoparticles

Time-resolved femtosecond multicolor absorption spectroscopy of silver nanoparticle (NP) colloids with particle diameter in range of 10–30 nm is presented. The amplified femtosecond excitation of the surface plasmon resonance band resulted in transient absorption spectra reflecting the electron-phonon relaxation dynamics, which takes place on the early picosecond time scale. The monitored band with enhanced absorption in the 490–540 nm spectral range exhibited red-shift with increasing pump fluency from 0.4 mJ/cm² to the 1.5 mJ/cm² level. The growth of the relaxation time with increasing pump fluency reveals the temperature dependent relaxation dynamics caused by the nanometer sized electron confinement in the case of silver. This effect was confirmed also by identification of the relaxation time dependence on the particle diameter at constant pump fluency. The complex experimental results revealed nonlinearities both in the laser excitation and electron relaxation processes.