Synthesis and characterization of isotopically enriched methylmercury (CH3201Hg+)

A simple procedure for the synthesis of an important standard, isotopically enriched methylmercury, which is not commercially available, has been established successfully. The isotopically enriched standard synthesized is utilized in conventional isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS), as well as in speciated IDMS (SIDMS), for determination of the true concentration of methylmercury in environmental samples. The CH₃²⁰¹Hg⁺ standard has been synthesized from commercially available ²⁰¹HgO and tetramethyltin. The synthesis time required is 1 h at 60°C. The product is highly pure, yielding more than 90% as ²⁰¹Hg in CH₃²⁰¹Hg⁺. Hazardous dimethylmercury does not occur during this synthesis procedure. The product synthesized was analyzed using high‐performance liquid chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP‐MS) and ICP‐MS alone in order to determine its concentration, isotopic composition and purity. The stability of the product was also evaluated for over 6 months and found to be stable at 4°C in the dark. The isotopically enriched methylmercury synthesized can be used in SIDMS and IDMS analyses as a standard. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Investigation of Bulk and Surface Polariton Modes in Ga1?xNxAs by Using Infrared Magneto Spectroscopy

We present and discuss infrared magnetoplasma reflectivity and surface polariton modes in Ga_1–xN_xAs. It assumed that the sample is characterized by a magnetoplasma dielectric tensor. Surface polariton dispersion for two component magnetoplasma was calculated from reflectivity spectra data. We detect transverse optic phonon of GaN sublattice in 470 cm^-1. The origin of sharp feature in p-polarization reflectivity about 300 cm^–1 as well as LO phonon frequency of GaAs sublattice is due to Brewster mode. An interesting feature of surface modes in Voigt geometry is nonreciprocalicity, which means that the frequency changes when the direction of propagation is reversed. Also, the infrared magnetoplasma reflectivity of GaNAs should be providing determination of the electrons and heavy holes effective mass and carrier's concentration.     

Kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over supported catalysts [2,6‐bis(imino)pyridyl iron dichloride/magnesium dichloride] with AlR3 as an activator

The effects of polymerization temperature, polymerization time, ethylene and hydrogen concentration, and effect of comonomers (hexene‐1, propylene) on the activity of supported catalyst of composition LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ (L = 2,6‐bis[1‐(2,6‐dimethylphenylimino)ethyl] pyridyl) and polymer characteristics (molecular weight (MW), molecular‐weight distribution (MWD), molecular structure) have been studied. Effective activation energy of ethylene polymerization over LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ has a value typical of supported Ziegler–Natta catalysts (11.9 kcal/mol). The polymerization reaction is of the first order with respect to monomer at the ethylene concentration >0.2 mol/L. Addition of small amounts of hydrogen (9–17%) significantly increases the activity; however, further increase in hydrogen concentration decreases the activity. The IRS and DSC analysis of PE indicates that catalyst LFeCl₂/MgCl₂‐Al(i‐Bu)₃ has a very low copolymerizing ability toward propylene and hexene‐1. MW and MWD of PE produced over these catalysts depend on the polymerization time, ethylene and hexene‐1 concentration. The activation effect of hydrogen and other kinetic features of ethylene polymerization over supported catalysts based on the Fe (II) complexes are discussed. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5057–5066, 2007     

Two new asterosaponins from the starfish Asterias rubens: application of a cryogenic NMR probe head

We report two new asterosaponins from the Baltic starfish Asterias rubens along with their ¹H and ¹³C NMR data. The compounds were isolated after on‐flow liquid chromatography–NMR–mass spectrometry screening indicated that they had not been identified before. The one‐ and two‐dimensional NMR experiments used to elucidate the structures were recorded using a 5 mm cryogenic probe head. The advantages of cryogenic probes for this kind of examination in comparison with conventional probe heads are discussed. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Scalar and axial-vector mesons

Almost thirty years ago, Penny G. Estabrooks asked “Where and what are the scalar mesons?” (P. Estabrooks, Phys. Rev. D 19, 2678 (1979)). The first part of her question can now be confidently responded (E. van Beveren et al., Z. Phys. C 30, 615 (1986)). However, with respect to the “What” many puzzles remain unanswered. Scalar and axial-vector mesons form part of a large family of mesons. Consequently, though it is useful to pay them some extra attention, there is no point in discussing them as isolated phenomena. The particularity of structures in the scattering of --basically-- pions and kaons with zero angular momentum is the absence of the centrifugal barrier, which allows us to “see” strong interactions at short distances. Experimentally observed differences and similarities between scalar and axial-vector mesons on the one hand, and other mesons on the other hand, are very instructive for further studies. Nowadays, there exists an abundance of theoretical approaches towards the mesonic spectrum, ranging from confinement models of all kinds, i.e., glueballs, and quark-antiquark, multiquark and hybrid configurations, to models in which only mesonic degrees of freedom are taken into account. Nature seems to come out somewhere in the middle, neither preferring pure bound states, nor effective meson-meson physics with only coupling constants and possibly form factors. As a matter of fact, apart from a few exceptions, like pions and kaons, Nature does not allow us to study mesonic bound states of any kind, which is equivalent to saying that such states do not really exist. Hence, instead of extrapolating from pions and kaons to the remainder of the meson family, it is more democratic to consider pions and kaons mesonic resonances that happen to come out below the lowest threshold for strong decay. Nevertheless, confinement is an important ingredient for understanding the many regularities observed in mesonic spectra. Therefore, excluding quark degrees of freedom is also not the most obvious way of describing mesons in general, and scalars and axial-vectors in particular.     

CCD光谱谱线标定方法研究

CCD作为光谱分析和测色仪器的光谱接收器件 ,光谱谱线定位受单色仪狭缝和CCD光敏元尺寸影响。提出采用最小二乘法做曲线拟合和质心法来确定光谱线在CCD上的精确定位 ,使光谱谱线的定位精度得到提高 ,并且不受CCD光敏元尺寸限制。实验结果表明 ,两种方法对光谱线的定位 ,具有重复性高 ,稳定性好等特点。在定位精度上 ,两者具有一致性。     

Physics possibilities at India-based Neutrino Observatory

In this talk I review the physics possible at India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). I discuss the improvement in the precision of currently known quantities and the possibility measuring the presently unknown quantities.     

Comparison of detection efficiencies of negatively charged gold-alkanethiolate-, gold-sulfur- and gold-clusters in ToF-SIMS

In order to improve quantification of high mass ions, the influence of cluster composition on detection efficiencies has been studied using a TOF-SIMS IV with the extended capability of postaccelerating ions up to 20 keV. In this experimental study, we focus on the comparison of detection efficiencies for three types of negatively charged secondary cluster ions: gold-alkanethiolate-clusters (Au_xM_y), gold-sulfur-clusters (Au_xS_y) and gold-clusters (Au_x). The clusters were sputtered from self-assembled monolayers of hexadecanethiols on gold substrates using 10 keV Ar⁺ primary ions. The detection efficiencies were derived on the basis of a function for the secondary electron yield and a fourth-order approximated Poisson probability distribution for electron propagation and amplification within the microchannel plate.In addition to the well-known dependence of detection efficiencies on ion mass and energy, which has already been studied for positively charged ions, we were able to show a similar behaviour for the investigated negatively charged secondary ions. We have observed major variations among the three types of clusters at similar mass and energy as predicted in a theoretical approach. The observed differences are due to the different composition of the investigated clusters which has a major influence on the kinetic ion induced electron emission within the microchannel plate. For the first time it was possible to experimentally verify these predictions for detection efficiencies.     

Recent radiochemical studies of the fission process

This article summarizes the recent radiochemical investigations on mass, charge kinetic energy and fragment angular distributions in low energy fission of actinides.     

On the uniqueness of the foliation of spheres of constant mean curvature in asymptotically flat 3-manifolds

In this note we study constant mean curvature surfaces in asymptotically flat 3-manifolds. We prove that, outside a given compact subset in an asymptotically flat 3-manifold with positive mass, stable spheres of given constant mean curvature are unique. Therefore we are able to conclude that the foliation of stable spheres of constant mean curvature in an asymptotically flat 3-manifold with positive mass outside a given compact subset is unique.