The level structure of92Ru up to high spin values

The level structure of⁹²Ru has been studied by means of γ-ray spectroscopy. The nucleus was produced by the⁵⁸Ni(⁴⁰Ca, α2p)⁹²Ru reaction at beam energies of 147 and 187 MeV. The NORDBALL detector system including particle selection was used. A large number of new levels with excitation energies up to 11.3 MeV and spin values up to 22 or 23 units of angular momentum have been established. The level scheme is compared with recent shell model calculations using¹⁰⁰Sn as a core. Some systematics of the g ₉ ^2/?2 configuration is discussed and a strong correlation between the levels in⁹⁰Mo and⁹²Ru is found.     

Additive pulse mode-locked Nd: YAG laser

Additive pulse mode locking applied to lamppumped Nd: YAG lasers results in an attractive source of picosecond pulses at 1.06 m or 1.32 m with average powers at the Watt level. We provide detailed information on construction and operation and give data on performance. A modified active stabilization scheme allows not only improved stability of operation but also insight into the dynamics of pulse formation.     

Quantum-chaotic scattering effects in semiconductor microstructures

We show that classical chaotic scattering has experimentally measurable consequences for the quantum conductance of semiconductor microstructures. These include the existence of conductance fluctuations-a sensitivity of the conductance to either Fermi energy or magnetic field-and weak-localization-a change in the average conductance upon applying a magnetic field. We develop a semiclassical theory and present numerical results for these two effects in which we model the microstructures by billiards attached to leads. We find that the difference between chaotic and regular classical scattering produces a qualitative difference in the fluctuation spectrum and weak-localization lineshape of chaotic and nonchaotic structures. While the semiclassical theory within the diagonal approximation accounts well for the weak-localization lineshape and for the spectrum of the fluctuations, we uncover a surprising failure of the semiclassical diagonal-approximation theory in describing the magnitude of these quantum transport effects.     

Determination of selenium in blood serum by ICP-OES including an on-line wet digestion and Se-hydride formation procedure

Summary An analytical procedure for the determination of Se, as well as of other trace elements of clinical interest, in undiluted blood serum samples is presented. This procedure allows the on-line wet ashing of the sample, the hydride generation and the determination of the SeH₂ formed in one step. For this purpose, carrier solution and the injected sample (300 l) were merged with an acid stream (80% H₂SO₄, 12% HClO₄, 8% HNO₃) and passed through a reaction coil heated up to 240°C. To increase the dispersion, the wet digestion was carried out in an ultrasonic field. After trapping of the gas bubbles, 5 mol/l HCl and 0.053 mol/l NaBH₄ solutions were added via T-junctions for Se-hydride generation. The nebulizing system of the ICP-OES was used as gas/liquid separator. The hydride was swept from the spray chamber into the plasma by an argon gas flow with droplets containing other sample constituents. This allows the simultaneous determination of other trace elements of clinical interest, for example Fe, Cu and Zn. The relative detection limit for Se in blood serum was 5 g/l. The quality of the developed procedure was verified in two ways: by measuring SRM Seronorm 116 and by comparing the results for different serum samples with the results obtained with ETAAS. Our results were in good agreement in both cases.Dedicated to Professor Dr. Wilhelm Fresenius on the occasion of his 80th birthday     

Depth-profiling of organic layers on microparticles with SNMS

Summary Previous work on the quantification and localization of organically bound elements with plasma-based SNMS for the characterization of microparticles has been continued. Relative detection factors for 10 elements have been determined. Except for lead and bromine a principle proportionality to atomic ionization probabilities is shown. A moderate matrix dependence of less than 40% variation was found even when inorganic and organic materials are included. For depth calibration, erosion rates of organic materials were determined from the time interval necessary to sputter through planar single-layers and Langmuir-Blodgett multi-layer systems with known thickness, as well as from gravimetric powder measurements. Depth propagation rates were 0.7 nm·sec^–1 for polymers and 2.3 nm·sec^–1 for aromatic compounds, when 400 eV argon ion bombardment with 0.7 mA·cm^–2 was used. A depth resolution of 30 nm has been obtained. Model particles of 5 m size have been coated with fluoranthene. Inspection with SNMS revealed an incomplete coating covering only 20% of the microparticle surface with an average thickness of the partial coating of 300 nm. Subsequent characterization using laser-induced fluorimetry confirmed the amount of fluoranthene coating measured by SNMS.     

The critical exponent of degenerate parabolic systems

The Cauchy problemu _t=u +v ^p ,v _t =v +u ^q is studied, wherex R ^N , 0 <t < and ,,p andq, are positive exponents. It is proved that ifp,q 1 and 1 <pq < 1 + 2 max(p + ,q + )/n then every nontrivial non-negative solution is not global in time; whereaspq > 1 + 2 max(p + , q + )/n then there exist both positive global solutions and non-global solutions. In addition, the decaying in time of solutions tou _t,=u inR ⁿ × (0, ), an equation which occurs naturally in our study of above systems, is studied and solutions with the fastest decaying in time are constructed.     

The generation and classification of tile-k-transitive tilings of the Euclidean plane,the sphere and the hyperbolic plane

Algorithms based on the theory of Delaney-Dress symbols are discussed that can be used to recursively produce all possible equivariant types of tile-k-transitive tilings of the Euclidean plane, the sphere and the hyperbolic plane, for any (reasonable)k. A number of results can be obtained using computer implementations of the algorithms.     

Exotic differentiable structures and general relativity

We review recent developments in differential topology with special concern for their possible significance to physical theories, especially general relativity. In particular we are concerned here with the discovery of the existence of non-standard (fake or exotic) differentiable structures on topologically simple manifolds such asS ⁷, ⁴ andS ³ X ¹. Because of the technical difficulties involved in the smooth case, we begin with an easily understood toy example looking at the role which the choice of complex structures plays in the formulation of two-dimensional vacuum electrostatics. We then briefly review the mathematical formalisms involved with differentiable structures on topological manifolds, diffeomorphisms and their significance for physics. We summarize the important work of Milnor, Freedman, Donaldson, and others in developing exotic differentiable structures on well known topological manifolds. Finally, we discuss some of the geometric implications of these results and propose some conjectures on possible physical implications of these new manifolds which have never before been considered as physical models.     

An algebraic approach to the planar coloring problem

We point out a general relationship between the planar coloring problem withQ colors and the Temperley-Lieb algebra with parameter . This allows us to give a complete algebraic reformulation of the four color result, and to give algebraic interpretations of various other aspects of planar colorings.Work supported in part by NSF Grant #DMS-882602, the program for Mathematics and Molecular Biology, UC Berkeley, and a visiting fellowship of the Japan Society for the promotion of science at Kyoto University, Kyoto, JapanWork supported in part by DOE Contact #DE-AC02-76ERO3075 and by a Packard Fellowship for Science and Engineering