MiniMax: What has been learned thus far

Summary A small experiment, ?MiniMax?, has been set up in the C0 intersection region of the Fermilab Tevatron to seek evidence for disoriented chiral condensates and to study other forward physics phenomena. The experiment consists of a proportional wire chamber telescope accompanied by scintillation (trigger) counters, a lead converter, and followed by an electromagnetic calorimeter. The solid angle accepted is a cone centered at pseudorapidity (η) of 4.1 and of radius (in η-ϕ space) of about 0.6. Over 2.5 million events thus far have demonstrated the successful operation of the apparatus, however to date the analysis has not progressed sufficiently to permit any conclusions concerning disoriented chiral condensates. presented byL. W. Jones Paper presented at the Special Session on very high-energy cosmic-ray interactions (superfamilies) of the XXIV International Cosmic-Ray Conference, Rome, August 28–September 8, 1995.     

Adsorption and displacement effects in the gas-chromatography of metal beta-diketonates

A detailed study of the gas chromatography of the aluminium(III), chromium(III) and iron(III) beta-diketonates has shown that their elution and separation characteristics arise from a number of adsorptive effects. Conditions of optimal peak shape for individual compounds are established by varying Chromatographie parameters, and the adsorption of one metal chelate on a column and its subsequent displacement by another chelate are investigated. The chromatography of iron(III) beta-diketonates is seen to be further complicated by gradual elution of a portion of the chelate before the rest of the sample.     

Studies of Ziegler-type catalysts for the polymerization of ethylene and propylene II The polymerization of ethylene with VOCl3-Et3Al2Cl3 (chlorinated activator) catalysts

VOCl₃-Et₃Al₂C1₃(chlorinated activator) catalysts have been employed for the polymerization of ethylene at T between 15 and 85° in n-hexane. Using butylperchlorocrotonate as the activator, the following catalyst efficiencies (g polymerization, hr, atmosphere ethylene in the cap gas) were achieved: 10^6,1 MFI = 0-00; 10^5,8, e.g. MFI = 1 0 (with 9 per cent H₂ present in the cap gas) and 10^6–9 MFI = 0?4 (with 44 mmole/1 styrene in the hexane medium). Reactions between the aluminium alkyl and the activator molecules produced other chlorinated species of high average activator effectiveness. The catalyst system could be reactivated by further additions of Et₃Al₂Cl₃. The minimum value of the polymerization propagation rate constant is estimated to be 10¹²²?6x10,461 cm³/mole sec.     

Entanglement of a photon and a collective atomic excitation

We describe a new experimental approach to probabilistic atom-photon (signal) entanglement. Two qubit states are encoded as orthogonal collective spin excitations of an unpolarized atomic ensemble. After a programmable delay, the atomic excitation is converted into a photon (idler). Polarization states of both the signal and the idler are recorded and are found to be in violation of the Bell inequality. Atomic coherence times exceeding several microseconds are achieved by switching off all the trapping fields--including the quadrupole magnetic field of the magneto-optical trap--and zeroing out the residual ambient magnetic field.     

Level structure of 22Mg: implications for the 21Na(p,gamma)22Mg astrophysical reaction rate and for the 22Mg Mass

The level structure of (22)Mg has been studied with high-sensitivity gamma-ray spectroscopy techniques. A complete level scheme is derived incorporating all subthreshold states and all levels in the energy region relevant for novae burning. The excitation energy of the most important astrophysical resonance is measured with improved accuracy and found to differ from previous values. Combining the present result with a recent resonance energy measurement of this state leads to a derived (22)Mg mass excess of -400.5(13) keV.     

Evidence for nontermination of rotational bands in 74Kr

Three rotational bands in 74Kr were studied up to (in one case one transition short of) the maximum spin I(max) of their respective single-particle configurations. Their lifetimes have been determined using the Doppler-shift attenuation method. The deduced transition quadrupole moments reveal a modest decrease, but far from a complete loss of collectivity at the maximum spin I(max). This feature, together with the results of mean field calculations, indicates that the observed bands do not terminate at I = I(max).     

Quantum-noise-initiated symmetry breaking of spatial solitons

The spectra of chi(2) spatial solitons are measured close to the soliton-formation threshold and show the presence of sidebands, shifted by 39 THz from the laser line. By comparing with the predictions of a quantum optical field model, solved numerically in the full (3 + 1)-dimensional space, it is claimed that the observed temporal instability of the spatial soliton is seeded by vacuum state fluctuations of the electromagnetic field.     

Why is silver catalytically active for NO reduction? A unique pathway via an inverted (NO)2 dimer

NO reduction on the noble metal Ag has been studied using density functional theory calculations. It was found that monomeric NO dissociation is subject to prohibitive barriers on Ag metal and is thus unlikely to account for the experimental observations for NO reduction over Ag-based catalysts. For the first time, a mechanism via an inverted (NO)(2) dimer is identified, which can explain both the high activity and the selectivity of this catalytic system. N(2)O is the major reduction product of the inverted (NO)(2) dimer, in accord with experiment. The physical origin of the Ag metallic state as a good catalyst is furthermore identified: Ag surfaces, including small clusters, have little or no covalent bonding ability but can bond ionically with adsorbates. We conclude that the variation of the ionic bonding strength of Ag toward different reactants determines its catalytic selectivity.     

Quality control and quality assurance aspects of the routine use of capillary electrophoresis for serum and urine proteins in clinical laboratories

Using capillary electrophoresis (CE) for serum protein electrophoresis, the quality of results begins with monitoring a well-functioning instrument, using scrupulously clean capillaries, well-calibrated methods as well as regular use of an internal quality control material. Quality assurance programs are available in countries such as Australia, United Kingdom, United States, and European countries such as Sweden and Germany. The present commercial control material that is available gives percentages of albumin, alpha 1, alpha 2, beta- and gamma-globulins, the gamma-component being of normal distribution, and not containing any monoclonal protein component. We feel that a quantitative commercial control material containing a monoclonal protein at decision level for treating myeloma patients would be beneficial to all laboratories as a serum protein electrophoresis control, whether the analysis is by CE or agarose gels. The same applies for control material for urinary protein electrophoresis.