Search for lepton flavor violating decays tau(+/-) --> l(+/-)pi0, l(+/-)eta, l(+/-)eta'

A search for lepton flavor violating decays of the tau lepton to a lighter mass lepton and a pseudoscalar meson has been performed using 339 fb;{-1} of e;{+}e;{-} annihilation data collected at a center-of-mass energy near 10.58 GeV by the BABAR detector at the SLAC PEP-II storage ring. No evidence of a signal has been found, and upper limits on the branching fractions are set at the 10;{-7} level.     

Observation of the decay B+ --> K+K-pi+

We report the observation of charmless hadronic decays of charged B mesons to the final state K{+}K{-}pi{+}. Using a data sample of 347.5 fb{-1} collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the BABAR detector, we observe 429+/-43 signal events with a significance of 9.6sigma. We measure the inclusive branching fraction B(B{+}-->K{+}K{-}pi{+})=[5.0+/-0.5(stat)+/-0.5(syst)]x10{-6}. Inspection of the Dalitz plot of signal candidates shows a broad structure peaking near 1.5 GeV/c{2} in the K+K- invariant mass distribution. We find the direct CP asymmetry to be consistent with zero.     

Measurement of CP violation parameters with a Dalitz plot analysis of B{+/-}-->D{pi{+}pi{-}pi{0}}K{+/-}

We report the results of a CP violation analysis of the decay B{+/-}-->D{pi{+}pi{-}pi;{0}}K{+/-}, where D{pi{+}pi{-}pi{0}} indicates a neutral D meson detected in the final state pi{+}pi{-}pi{0}, excluding K{S}{0}pi{0}. The analysis makes use of 324 x 10{6}e{+}e{-}-->BB[over ] events recorded by the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II e;{+}e;{-} storage ring. Analyzing the pi;{+}pi;{-}pi;{0} Dalitz plot distribution and the B{+/-}-->D{pi{+}pi{-}pi{0}}K{+/-} branching fraction and decay rate asymmetry, we find the following one-standard-deviation constraints on the amplitude ratio and on the weak and strong phases: 0.06pi{+}pi{-}pi{0} decay amplitude.     

Observation of a Charmed Baryon Decaying to D;{0}p at a Mass Near 2.94 GeV/c;{2}

A search for charmed baryons decaying to D(0)p reveals two states: the Lambdac(2880)+ baryon and a previously unobserved state at a mass of [2939.8+/-1.3(stat)+/-1.0(syst)] MeV/c2 and with an intrinsic width of [17.5+/-5.2(stat)+/-5.9(syst)] MeV. Consistent and significant signals are observed for the K(-)pi(+) and K(-)pi(+)pi(-)pi(+) decay modes of the D0 in 287 fb(-1) annihilation data recorded by the BABAR detector at a center-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV. There is no evidence in the D+p spectrum of doubly charged partners. The mass and intrinsic width of the Lambdac(2880)+ baryon and relative yield of the two baryons are also measured.     

Spectroscopic characterization of novel polycyclic aromatic polymers

A series of novel polyphenylenevinylene (PPV) derivative polymers were studied by absorption and photoluminescence spectroscopies. The effect of the sequential introduction of polycyclic aromatic ring substituents into the delocalized backbone was examined with relation to hypsochromatic and bathochromatic shifting. While the replacement of the phenyl units by naphthyl units results in a substantial hypsochromic shift of both the absorption and emission spectra, their subsequent substitution by anthryl units results in a bathochromic shift. The system is modeled according to, and is found to be consistent with, a previous study of donor-acceptor polyenes of varying length. The electronic structure of the backbone is found to be a balance between that of the high electron affinity polycyclic ring system and the contribution to conjugation across the linking vinyl unit. The model is adapted based on electron affinities of the constituent units, and a clear structure-property relationship for the absorption and emission properties of the system is elucidated. The Stokes shift is examined and is seen to be well-correlated with the vinyl contribution to the electron affinity total (EAtotal). The trends observed in the optical properties of the polymeric system are supported by Raman spectroscopy, whereby the spectral signature of the connecting vinyl bond is seen to soften in a fashion which is correlated with the modeled electron affinity parameters.     

Investigation of the synthetic and mechanistic aspects of the highly stereoselective transformation of alpha-thioamides to alpha-thio-beta-chloroacrylamides

Treatment of a series of alpha-thioamides with N-chlorosuccinimide results in efficient transformation to the analogous alpha-thio-beta-chloroacrylamides. The mechanistic pathway has been established through isolation and characterisation of intermediate compounds. The scope of the transformation has been explored-aryl and alkylthio substituents, primary, secondary and tertiary amides can be employed. In most instances, the chloroacrylamides are formed exclusively as the Z-stereoisomer; however, with tertiary propanamides or with amides derived from butanoic or pentanoic acid a mixture of E- and Z-stereoisomers is formed.     

Phase behavior of aqueous polyion-surfactant ion complex salts: effects of polyion charge density

The effect of varying the fraction of charged monomer units of the polyion in aqueous polyion-oppositely charged surfactant complex salts has been investigated. The complex salts used were based on cetyltrimethylammonium (C16TA+) with three different polymeric counterions: poly(acrylate) (PA-) or poly(acrylate) copolymerized with either dimethylacrylamide (PA-/DAM) or N-isopropylamide (PA-/NIPAM). The charge density of the polyion was varied by either adding poly(acrylic) acid (PAA) to the C16TAPA complex salt (annealed charges) or by varying the fraction of uncharged units in the C16TAPA/DAM or C16TAPA/NIPAM complex salts (quenched charges). The formed phases were studied visually between crossed polarizers and by small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS). Both types of complex salts (annealed and quenched) formed hexagonal phases at high fractions of charged monomers and low water contents. Upon increasing the water content, a cubic phase of the Pm3n space group was found. Upon further addition of water, a miscibility gap with the cubic phase in equilibrium with pure water was found. Decreasing the fraction of charged monomers in the annealed complex salt resulted in an increase of the curvature of the surfactant aggregates. Only at very low (<0.05) fractions of charged monomers did the packing of the surfactant aggregates lose long-range order, and eventually, the miscibility gap disappeared. For the quenched complex salts, the changes upon decreasing the fraction of charged monomers in the polyion were similar, but the loss of long-range order occurred at much higher fractions of charged monomers. The average surfactant aggregation number in the surfactant aggregates, which was similar for the annealed and quenched systems, decreased when the fraction of charged monomers was decreased.     

Frequency shifts of the sound field interference pattern on oceanic shelf in summer conditions

Considerable shifts Δf/ϕ ≈ 10⁻¹ of the low-frequency sound field interference pattern in the frequency domain, associated with barotropic tide and internal tidal waves, were observed in the Shallow Water’06 experiment on the New Jersey shelf in the summer of 2006. The acoustic frequency shifts appear to be strongly dependent on the modes of the sound field. By examining different modal structure, it is possible to analyze the overall interference pattern and find which part is more sensitive either to the surface tide or the internal waves. This feature can be exploited to acoustically monitor tidal waves of different kinds.     

A facile N-arylation of acetanilides with arynes

An efficient, mild and transition-metal-free method for the N-arylation of acetanilides, leading to a range of unsymmetrical diarylamine products is reported. Reactions of ortho-silylaryl triflates with acetanilides in the presence of tetrabutylammonium triphenyldifluorosilicate (TBAT) in toluene afforded the desired products in good to excellent yields. Regioselectivity was also observed when unsymmetrical aryne precursors were used.