Barrier-free intermolecular proton transfer in the uracil-glycine complex induced by excess electron attachment

The photoelectron spectra (PES) of anions of uracil-glycine and uracil-phenylalanine complexes reveal broad features with maxima at 1.8 and 2.0 eV. The results of ab initio density functional B3LYP and second order M?ller-Plesset theory calculations indicate that the excess electron occupies a π^* orbital localized on uracil. The excess electron attachment to the complex can induce a barrier-free proton transfer (BFPT) from the carboxylic group of glycine to the O8 atom of uracil. As a result, the four most stable structures of the anion of uracil-glycine complex can be characterized as the neutral radical of hydrogenated uracil solvated by the anion of deprotonated glycine. The similarity between the PES spectra for the uracil complexes with glycine and phenylalanine suggests that the BFPT is also operative in the case of the latter anionic species. The BFPT to the O8 atom of uracil may be related to the damage of nucleic acid bases by low energy electrons because the O8 atom is involved in a hydrogen bond with adenine in the standard Watson-Crick pairing scheme. Received 6 April 2002 Published online 13 September 2002     

Generation of 3rd and 5th harmonics in a thin superconducting film by temperature oscillations and isothermal nonlinear current response

The generation of harmonics of the voltage response is considered when an AC current is applied through a superconducting film above T_c. It is shown that almost at all temperatures the mechanism of the temperature oscillations created by the AC current and the temperature dependence of the resistance dominates over the isothermal nonlinear electric conductivity. Only in a narrow critical region close to T_c the latter is essential for the generation of the harmonics. A detailed investigation of harmonics generation provides an accurate method for measuring the thermal boundary conductance between the film and the insulating substrate. The critical behaviour of the third harmonic will give a new method for the determination of the lifetime of metastable Cooper pairs above T_c. The comparison of the calculated fifth harmonics of the voltage with the experiment is proposed as an important test for the applicability of the employed theoretical models. Received 8 September 2001     

Controlling global stochasticity of Hamiltonian systems by nonlinear perturbation

A method of controlling global stochasticity in Hamiltonian systems by applying nonlinear perturbation is proposed. With the well-known standard map we demonstrate that this control method can convert global stochasticity into regular motion in a wide chaotic region for arbitrary initial condition, in which the control signal remains very weak after a few kicks. The system in which chaos has been controlled approximates to the original Hamiltonian system, and this approach appears robust against small external noise. The mechanism underlying this high control efficiency is intuitively explained. Received 15 January 2002 Published online 6 June 2002     

Tunneling and EPR linewidths due to dislocations in Mn acetate

We compute the width and shape of the EPR and tunneling resonances due to dislocations in Mn₁₂ acetate crystals. Uncorrelated dislocations produce the Gaussian shape of resonances while dislocations bound in pairs produce the Lorentzian shape. We stress that the uniaxial spin Hamiltonian together with crystal defects can explain the totality of experimental data on Mn₁₂. Received 2 August 2001 / Received in final form 15 March 2002 Published online 17 September 2002     

A new three-flavor oscillation solution of the solar neutrino deficit in <Emphasis Type="Italic">R</Emphasis>-parity violating supersymmetry

We present a solution of the solar neutrino deficit using three flavors of neutrinos and R-parity non-conserving supersymmetry. In this model, in vacuum, the is massless and unmixed, mass and mixing being restricted to the - sector only, which we choose in consistency with the requirements of the atmospheric neutrino anomaly. The flavor changing and flavor diagonal neutral currents present in the model and the three-flavor picture together produce an energy dependent resonance-induced - mixing in the sun. This mixing plays a key role in the new solution to the solar neutrino problem. The best fit to the solar neutrino rates and spectrum (1258-day SK and 241-day SNO data) requires a mass square difference of eV² in vacuum between the two lightest neutrinos. This solution cannot accommodate a significant day-night effect for solar neutrinos nor CP violation in terrestrial neutrino experiments. Received: 26 December 2001 / Revised version: 16 February 2002 / Published online: 26 July 2002     

Spontaneous formation of a system of highly ordered germanium nanoislands upon epitaxial deposition on profiled (111) silicon substrates under electromigration conditions

Atomic-force microscopy was used to study the surface topography of SiGe structures grown by epitaxial deposition of Ge on profiled Si(111) substrates under electromigration conditions. Systems of highly ordered germanium nanosized islands with dimensions of 10–20 nm and a density of 6×10¹⁰ cm^?2 were obtained. It is shown that the geometrical parameters of self-organizing nanoislands can be controlled by a proper choice of the growth and postgrowth annealing conditions for these structures.     

Synthesis and structures of nitroxyalkyl methylphosphonates

The reactions of ethylene glycol mononitrate and glycerol 1,3-dinitrate with methylphosphonic dichloride afforded new nitroxyalkyl methylphosphonates.