Working group report: Neutrino and astroparticle physics

This is the report of neutrino and astroparticle physics working group at WHEPP-8. We present the discussions carried out during the workshop on selected topics in the above fields and also indicate progress made subsequently. The neutrino physics subgroup studied the possibilities of constraining neutrino masses, mixing and CPT violation in lepton sector from future experiments. Neutrino mass models in the context of Abelian horizontal symmetries, warped extra dimensions and in the presence of triplet Higgs were studied. Effect of threshold corrections on radiative magnification of mixing angles was investigated. The astroparticle physics subgroup focused on how various particle physics inputs affect the CMBR fluctuation spectrum, and on brane cosmology. This report also contains an introduction on how to use the publicly available code CMBFAST to calculate the CMBR fluctuations.     

An interface between continuous and discrete-event controllers forvehicle automation

The work presented is part of a bigger effort to design an automated highway system (AHS) to improve the capacity and safety of current highways. Automation of highways and, in particular, platooning of vehicles raise a number of control issues. In the design proposed by Varaiya,(see IEEE Trans. Automat., Contr., vol.38, no.2, p.195-207, 1993), these issues are addressed by a hierarchical structure consisting of both discrete-event and continuous controllers. Our work is an attempt to construct a consistent interface between these two types of controllers. The proposed design is in the form of a set of finite-state machines (FSMs) that interact with the discrete controllers through discrete commands and with the continuous controllers by issuing commands that get translated to inputs for the vehicle actuators. The operation of the proposed design is verified using COSPAN and tested in simulation. The interface design provides insight into interesting problems related to the hybrid nature of the AHS as it touches on both the discrete and continuous worlds     

Radiation induced stabilization of unusual oxidation states in Tl (I) Ln (III) (SO4)2.4H2O (Ln=Sm,Eu and Nd): EPR investigations

Double sulfates of thallium and lanthanides form an interesting series of compounds with first fractional crystallization leading to the formation of tetrahydrated double sulfates. The radiation induced defects including changes in the oxidation states were studied by carrying out EPR investigations of -irradiated Tl (I) Ln (III) (SO₄)₂.4H₂O (Ln=Sm, Eu and Nd) compounds. The important finding of these investigations is the formation of a radiation-induced paramagnetic center Tl²⁺ simultaneously with that of Eu²⁺, revealing their intrinsic association. Similar formation of Tl²⁺ was not observed in other rare earth salts, implying that the stability of the half-filled electronic configuration of Eu²⁺ may be responsible for the stabilization of Tl²⁺. Their relaxation back to Eu³⁺ and Tl⁺ simultaneously at 255 K gives further confirmation of their association and suggests that the matrix intrinsically does not favor the stabilization of Eu²⁺ as reported in a number of other matrices. The hyperfine coupling constant for Tl²⁺ was calculated using the Breit-Rabi equation and was found to be 80 GHz.     

Linear solvation energy relationship of the solubility of very polar gases: Sulfur dioxide,hydrogen chloride,hydrogen bromide,and ammonia

A linear free energy relationship was found for the log (mole fraction) of solutes in a wide variety of organic solvents with the solvatochromic parameters and the Hildebrand solubility parameter. The solutes were the highly dipolar gases sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen bromide, and ammonia at 25°C and 1 atm. partial pressure of the solute. It was found that correlations were greatly improved if solvatochromic parameters for the solvent as a monomer were used rather than the values for the bulk solvent. In solutions with these very dipolar gases, the mole ratio of solute to solvents approaches unity in many of the solutions, so a molecule of solute is interacting primarily with a particular molecule of the solvent. Therefore, the use of the solvatochromic parameters for the solvent as monomer is physically reasonable.     

Time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy of Eu(III) complexation with alpha-hydroxy isobutyric acid

Complexation of Eu(III) with alpha-hydroxy isobutyric acid (HIBA), a model compound of humic acid, has been studied by time resolved fluorescence spectroscopy. The ratio of fluorescence intensity of the two peaks at 616 and 592 nm (I(616/592)) was found to increase with increasing ligand to metal ratio. The I(616/592) data was used to deduce the stability constant of Eu-HIBA complexes of the type ML(i) (i=1-3). The formation of multiple ligand complexes was also corroborated by lifetime data which was found to increase with increasing [HIBA]/[Eu] ratio thus indicating replacement of coordinated water molecules by HIBA.     

Estimation of berberine in ayurvedic formulations containing Berberis aristata

A sensitive, simple, rapid, and efficient high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) method has been developed and validated for the analysis of berberine in marketed Ayurvedic formulations containing Berberis aristata DC for regulatory purposes. Chromatography of methanolic extracts of these formulations was performed on silica gel 60 F254 aluminum-backed TLC plates of 0.2 mm layer thickness. The plate was developed up to 66 mm with the ternary-mobile phase butanol-acetic acid-water (8 + 1 + 1, v/v/v) at 33 +/- 5 degrees C with 5 min of tank saturation. The marker, berberine, was quantified at its maximum absorbance of 350 nm. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation values were found to be 5 and 10 ng/spot. The linear regression analysis data for the calibration plot showed a good linear relationship with correlation coefficient = 0.9994 in the concentration range of 10 to 50 ng/spot for berberine with respect to peak area. The instrumental precision was found to be 0.49% coefficient of variation (CV), and repeatability of the method was 0.73% CV. Recovery values from 98.27 to 99.11% indicate excellent accuracy of the method. The developed HPTLC method is very accurate, precise, and cost-effective, and it has been successfully applied to the assay of marketed formulations containing B. aristata for determination of berberine.