Crystal and molecular structure of (2–3-η-2-Butyne-1,4-diol)-bis-(triphenylphosphan)-nickel(O) Ni{[(C6H5)3P]2 (C4H6O2)}

The crystal and molecular structure of (2–3-η-2-Butyne-1,4-diol)-bis-(triphenylphosphan)-nickel(O) has been determined by X-ray structure analysis. It crystallizes in the tetragonal space group 14 with the cell parameters a = b = 22.277(3), and c = 15.118 (4) Å. The structure was solved by the heavy atom method and refined to R = 0.0716. The coordination geometry about the nickel atom is trigonal-planar. Each molecule is hydrogen bonded to two neighbours. The result is an eight-membered oxygen ring.     

Formation of K*He exciplexes on the surface of helium nanodroplets studied in real time

Superfluid helium nanodroplets are doped with potassium atoms to form complexes with the alkali atom residing on the surface of the droplets. Dispersed laser-induced fluorescence spectra of such systems already revealed the formation of M(*)He ( M = Na,K) exciplexes upon electronic excitation [Reho et al., Faraday Discuss. 108, 161 (1997)]. By means of femtosecond pump-probe spectroscopy, this formation process now is followed in real time. We find K(*)He(n = 1) to be formed within 180 fs. Furthermore, the existence of exciplexes with n>1 is quantified suggesting that the first ring around the potassium atom contains four helium atoms.     

Exotic nuclei produced by heavy-ions induced fission

About thirty nuclei in theA≈100 mass region have been produced as fission fragments following the fusion-evaporation reactions^28,30Si+¹⁷⁶Yb at 145 MeV bombarding energy. These nuclei have been individually identified from their γ-ray cascades detected with the Eurogam2 array. The level schemes of several stable or neutron-rich nuclei have been extended to higher spins. From cross coincidences between transitions in complementary fragments, γ-rays de-exciting high-spin states of new isotopes can be identified and some aspects of the fission mechanism can be analyzed.     

Microwave Plasmas at Atmospheric Pressure

Microwave plasmas at atmospheric pressure are used for surface treatments like for example cleaning, sterilization or decontamination purposes, for a pre‐treatment to increase the adhesion of lacquer, paint, or glue, and for the deposition of different kind of layers and coatings. Micro plasma jets can also be applied for biomedical applications and for treatment of small and complex geometries like for example the inside of capillaries. Larger plasma torches which exhibit higher gas temperatures can also be used for chemical syntheses like waste gas decomposition, methane pyrolysis, or carbon dioxide dissociation and for plasma spraying purposes. In the present publication an overview on the development and the investigation of the operating principle of two atmospheric pressure microwave plasma torches at frequencies of 2.45 GHz and 915 MHz will be presented. The plasma sources are based on a cylindrical resonator combined with coaxial structures. To explain how these plasma sources work, simulations of the electric field distribution will be discussed. Furthermore, some physical characteristics of an air and an Ar/H2 atmospheric plasma like gas temperatures, excitation temperatures and densities as well as the heating of the plasma by the microwave will be investigated. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Numerical simulation and laser-based imaging of mixture formation, ignition, and soot formation in a diesel spray

Laser-based imaging of fuel vapor distribution, ignition, and soot formation in diesel sprays was carried out in a high-pressure, high-temperature spray chamber under conditions that correspond to temperature and pressure in a diesel engine. Rayleigh scattering and laser-induced incandescence are used to image fuel density and soot volume fraction. The experimental results provide data for comparison with numerical simulations. An interactive cross-sectionally averaged spray model based on Eulerian transport equations was used for the simulation of the spray, and the turbulence-chemistry interaction was modeled with the representative interactive flamelet (RIF) concept. The flamelet calculation is coupled to the Kiva3V computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code using the scalar dissipation rate and pressure as an input to the RIF-code. The flamelet code computes the instationary flamelet profiles for every time step. These profiles were integrated over mixture fraction space using a prescribed β-PDF to obtain mean values, which are passed back to the CFD-code. Thereby, the temperature and the relevant species in each CFD-cell were obtained. The fuel distribution, the average ignition delay as well as the location of ignition are well predicted by the simulation. Furthermore, simulations show that the experimentally observed injection-to-injection variations in ignition delay are due to temperature inhomogeneities. Experimental and simulated spatial soot and fuel vapor density distributions are compared during and after second stage ignition.     

The optimal shape of a pipe

In shape optimization, recently the question arose, whether or not the cylindrical pipe has the optimal shape for the transport of an incompressible fluid. In this short note, a proof will be presented that a cylindrical pipe with Poiseuille’s flow inside indeed is optimal for the transportation of an incompressible fluid under the criterion “energy dissipated by the fluid.” The proof reduces the problem to the minimization of a two-dimensional Dirichlet’s integral. This simpler problem can be solved with a symmetrization argument.     

Flip Graphs of Bounded Degree Triangulations

We study flip graphs of triangulations whose maximum vertex degree is bounded by a constant k. In particular, we consider triangulations of sets of n points in convex position in the plane and prove that their flip graph is connected if and only if k > 6; the diameter of the flip graph is O(n ²). We also show that, for general point sets, flip graphs of pointed pseudo-triangulations can be disconnected for k ≤ 9, and flip graphs of triangulations can be disconnected for any k. Additionally, we consider a relaxed version of the original problem. We allow the violation of the degree bound k by a small constant. Any two triangulations with maximum degree at most k of a convex point set are connected in the flip graph by a path of length O(n log n), where every intermediate triangulation has maximum degree at most k + 4.