Structure of CdS/SiO2 Nanocomposites: Influence of the Precursor and Cd Concentration

The influence of using TMOS or TEOS in the formation of CdS quantum dots in a silica matrix have been studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). The amount of Cd-S bonds have been monitored as a function of the nominal Cd concentration. The relative amount of CdS crystals depends on the precursor. The use of TEOS is not recommended because it gives a poor yield, especially for high Cd concentration. A discussion of the influence of CdS concentration in matrices from TMOS is carried out from structural models created from their pore volume distribution. The mean pore size becomes smaller and the size distribution more uniform when CdS concentration increases but the nanocrystals of low CdS nominal content present a more efficient quantum confinement.     

Nickel catalysed asymmetric cycloisomerisation of diethyl diallylmalonate

Cationic nickel catalysts with monodentate phosphoramidites and Wilke's azaphospholene as ligands are highly regio- and enantioselective catalysts for the cycloisomerisation of diethyl diallylmalonate.     

Fission of 232Th, 238U, 244Pu, 248Cm induced by Xe and Kr ions at coulomb barrier energies

Excitation functions and angular distributions have been measured for the fission of ²³²Th, ²³⁸U, ²⁴⁴Pu and ²⁴⁸Cm induced by ⁸⁶Kr and ¹³⁶Xe ions at energies in the vicinity of the Coulomb barrier. No large differences as a function of either target or projectile were found. These results suggest that the main process occuring is not Coulomb fission.     

Some probabilistic techniques in field theory

We study, in the context of the Markov hyerarchical fields (d=2, 3) the role of the Markov property, of formal renormalization and of formal positivity. We determine upper and lower bounds for the ground state energy and discuss their relation with the perturbation theory series.This work has been partially supported by I.N.F.N., G.N.F.M., and G.N.S.M.     

A first-order phase transition between crystal phases in the shift model

We describe rigorously a many-body model of interacting classical particles exhibiting the following behavior at zero temperature: as the pressure varies through a critical value, the system goes through a first-order phase transition between different crystal phases. Moreover, at the critical pressure the system is demonstrably a mixture of the two phases.Supported in part by NSF Grant No. MCS81-01596.     

Determination of theQ-value dependence of charged particle emission in the40Ca+40Ca reaction at 10 MeV/nucleon

An iterative method for the determination of the charged particle loss as a function of the reactionQ-value is developped. The analysis is based on experimental data resulting from 400 MeV⁴⁰Ca+⁴⁰Ca collisions.Z distributions are obtained at different calculatedQ-values corrected for evaporation and show rather good agreement — in the strongly damped case — with the ones derived from the OVERLAID ALICE code. Mean numbers of evaporated particles exhibit a linear increase as a function of these correctedQ-values; this corresponds to the evolution from quasi-direct to fully relaxed reactions.     

Quantum Heisenberg groups and sklyanin algebras

New bialgebra structures on the Heisenberg-Lie algebra and their quantizations are introduced. Some of these quantizations give rise to new multiplications in homogeneous coordinate rings of Abelian varieties, via the well-known identification of theta functions with suitable matrix coefficients of the Stone-von Neumann representations.N.A.: Forschungsstipendiat der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung. J. D. and A. T.: Postdoctoral fellowship, ICTP. N. A. and A. T.: This work was also partially supported by CONICET, CONICOR and FAMAF, Argentina.     

Martensitic fcc-to-hcp transformations in solid xenon under pressure: a first-principles study

First-principles calculations reveal that the fcc-to-hcp pressure-induced transformation in solid xenon proceeds through two mechanisms between 5 and 70 GPa. The dynamics of the phase transition involves a sluggish stacking-disorder growth at lower pressures (path I) that changes to a path involving an orthorhombic distortion at higher pressures (path II). The switchover is governed by a delicate interplay of energetics (enthalpy of the system for the structural stability) and kinetics (energy barrier for the transition). The two types of martensitic transformations involved in this pressure-induced structural transformation are a twinned martensitic transition at lower pressures and a slipped martensitic transition at higher pressures.     

Theoretical study of the complexes of horminone with Mg2+ and Ca2+ ions and their relation with the bacteriostatic activity

The coordination of the horminone molecule with hydrated magnesium and calcium divalent ions was studied by means of the density functional theory. All-electron calculations were performed with the B3LYP/6-31G method. The first layer of the water molecules surrounding the metallic cations was included. It was found that the octahedral [horminone(O(a)-O(d))-Mg-(H(2)O)(4)](2+) complex is more stable than [Mg(H(2)O)(6)](2+). That is, horminone is able to displace two water units from the hexahydrated complex. This behavior does not occur for Ca(2+). Consistently, [horminone(O(a)-O(d))-Mg-(H(2)O)(4)](2+) has a greater metal-ligand binding energy than [horminone(O(a)-O(d))-Ca-(H(2)O)(4)](2+). The preference of horminone by Mg(2+) is enlightened by these results. Moreover, its electronic structure, as shown by huge changes in the atomic populations, is strongly perturbed by Mg(2+). Indeed, horminone, bonded to [Mg(H(2)O)(4)](2+), is able to cross the bacterial membrane cell. Once inside, [horminone(O(a)-O(d))-Mg-(H(2)O)(4)](2+) binds to rRNA phosphate groups yielding [horminone(O(a)-O(d))-Mg-(H(2)O)(PO(4)H(2))(PO(4)H(3))(2)](+). These results give insights into how horminone may inhibit the initial steps of protein synthesis. The stability of the studied systems is accounted for in terms of the calculated structural and electronic properties: Mg-O and Ca-O bond lengths, charge transfers, and binding energies.     

Observations of slow electron holes at a magnetic reconnection site

We report in situ observations of high-frequency electrostatic waves in the vicinity of a reconnection site in the Earth's magnetotail. Two different types of waves are observed inside an ion-scale magnetic flux rope embedded in a reconnecting current sheet. Electron holes (weak double layers) produced by the Buneman instability are observed in the density minimum in the center of the flux rope. Higher frequency broadband electrostatic waves with frequencies extending up to f(pe) are driven by the electron beam and are observed in the denser part of the rope. Our observations demonstrate multiscale coupling during the reconnection: Electron-scale physics is induced by the dynamics of an ion-scale flux rope embedded in a yet larger-scale magnetic reconnection process.