Structures and stability of Al<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">7</Emphasis></Subscript>C and Al<Subscript><Emphasis Type="Bold">7</Emphasis></Subscript>N clusters

We report results of the atomic and electronic structures of Al₇C cluster using ab initio molecular dynamics with ultrasoft pseudopotentials and generalized gradient approximation. The lowest energy structure is found to be the one in which carbon atom occupies an interstitial position in Al₇ cluster. The electronic structure shows that the recent observation [Chem. Phys. Lett. 316, 31 (2000)] of magic behavior of Al₇C^- cluster is due to a large highest occupied and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) gap which makes Al₇C^- chemically inert. These results have further led us to the finding of a new neutral magic cluster Al₇N which has the same number of valence electrons as in Al₇C^- and a large HOMO-LUMO gap of 1.99 eV. Further, calculations have been carried out on (Al₇N)₂ to study interaction between magic clusters. Received 28 July 2001     

Coherent Type-B e + e- Pair Production by Photons in a Crystal

An overview of theoretical and experimental studies of the coherent type-B e ⁺ e-pair production by photons in aligned crystals performed at Nuclear Physics Institute at Tomsk Polytechnic University is given.     

Momentum transport and torque scaling in Taylor-Couette flow from an analogy with turbulent convection

We generalize an analogy between rotating and stratified shear flows. This analogy is summarized in Table 1. We use this analogy in the unstable case (centrifugally unstable flow vs. convection) to compute the torque in Taylor-Couette configuration, as a function of the Reynolds number. At low Reynolds numbers, when most of the dissipation comes from the mean flow, we predict that the non-dimensional torque G = T/ν² L, where L is the cylinder length, scales with Reynolds number R and gap width η, G = 1.46η^3/2(1 - η)^-7/4 R ^3/2. At larger Reynolds number, velocity fluctuations become non-negligible in the dissipation. In these regimes, there is no exact power law dependence the torque versus Reynolds. Instead, we obtain logarithmic corrections to the classical ultra-hard (exponent 2) regimes: G = 0.50 . These predictions are found to be in excellent agreement with avail-able experimental data. Predictions for scaling of velocity fluctuations are also provided. Received 7 June 2001 and Received in final form 7 December 2001     

On the Determination of the Absolute Intensities of Vibrational-Rotational Lines of XY3 Molecules with C 3v Symmetry

Analytical formulas are derived that describe the dependences of the transition probabilities in vibrational-rotational spectra of XY₃-type molecules with C _3v symmetry on the rotational quantum numbers.     

The Lefschetz number of an involution on the space of harmonic cusp forms ofSL 3

Inventiones mathematicae -     

The frequency scale of speech intonation.

In intonation research, prominence-lending pitch movements have either been described on a linear or on a logarithmic frequency scale. An experiment has been carried out to check whether pitch movements in speech intonation are perceived on one of these two scales or on a psychoacoustic scale representing the frequency selectivity of the auditory system. This last scale is intermediary between the other two scales. Subjects matched the excursion size of prominence-lending pitch movements in utterances resynthesized in different pitch registers. Their task was to adjust the excursion size in a comparison stimulus in such a way that it lent equal prominence to the corresponding syllable in a fixed test stimulus. The comparison stimulus and the test stimulus had pitches running parallel on either the logarithmic frequency scale, the psychoacoustic scale, or the linear frequency scale. In one-half of the experimental sessions, the test stimulus was presented in the low register, while the comparison stimulus was presented in the high register, and, conversely, for the other half of the sessions. The result is that, in all cases, stimuli are matched in such a way that the average excursion sizes in different registers are equal on the psychoacoustic scale.     

Christoffel-Darboux-type formulae and a recurrence for biorthogonal polynomials

It is proved that biorthogonal polynomials obey two different kinds of Christoffel-Darboux-type formulae, one linking polynomials with a different parameter and one combining polynomials with different degrees. This is used to produce a mixed recurrence relation, which is valid for all biorthogonal polynomials. This recurrence relation establishes several results on interlacing property of zeros of successive biorthogonal polynomials and leads to a new result on the interlace of zeros of orthogonal polynomials (of equal degrees) with respect to two distributionsdψ(x) andx ^p dψ(x), 0<p≤1, with support in either [0, 1] or [1, ∞).     

Angular dependent rayleigh scattering of Mössbauer radiation on proteins

RSMR experiments with⁵⁷Fe radiation were performed on myoglobin. An areasensitive detector was employed for simultaneous angular dependent collection of the scattered quanta up to a maximum angle 2θ of 17‡. Experimental data of polycrystalline and lyophilized myoglobin are compared with computer calculations of the scattering which are based on the atomic coordinates determined by X-ray structure analysis. Special attention has been paid to the influence of coherence effects from collectively moving parts of the protein. A simple model is introduced in order to take into account these segmental motions. Our first results indicate that the sizes of collectively moving segments are comparable with spheres of about 6 å in diameter in dry myoglobin. In myoglobin crystals, where the molecules are surrounded by large hydration shells, the movements appear to be correlated in segments with sizes comparable to helices.