Analysis of lead and sulfur in environmental samples by double pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

In the present work, a model of double pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) spectrometer has been developed and results from two different applications of double pulse LIBS for solving the problems of environmental interest are presented. In one case, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy has been applied to the determination of heavy and toxic metals (lead) in soil samples. In the second case, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy was used in preliminary experiments for the detection of sulfur content in coal, and on the basis of spectral features, ways to improve the sensitivity of laser induced breakdown spectroscopy detection of sulfur are proposed. The detection limit for lead in soil was estimated to be approximately 20 ppm that is lower than the regulatory standards for the presence of lead in soil.     

Human echolocation: Acoustic gaze for burst trains and continuous noise

This study explored the ability of blind and sighted listeners to detect reflections, “echoes”, of burst trains or continuous noise. Echo detection was compared by presenting 5 ms bursts, rates from 1 to 64 bursts, with a continuous white noise, all during 500 ms. Sounds were recorded in an ordinary room through an artificial binaural head, the loudspeaker 1 m behind it. The reflecting object was an aluminum disk, diameter 0.5 m, placed at 1 m. The sounds were presented to 12 blind and 26 sighted participants in a laboratory using a 2-Alternative-Forced-Choice methodology. The task was to detect which of two sounds contained an echo. In Experiment 2, 1.5 m distance sounds were presented to the blind only. At 1 m, detection for the blind increased up to 64 bursts/500 ms, but for the sighted up to 32 bursts. At 1.5 m, the peak performance for the blind was at 32 bursts. At the 1 m, but not at the 1.5 m distance, the blind performed best with continuous white noise. The overlap in time of signal and echo at 1 m for 64 bursts was 60%, but at 1.5 m 82%. Avoiding an overlap between emitted bursts and returning echoes seems important for echolocation, indicating that an acoustic gaze, analogous to in echolocating animals, may also exist in humans.     

(Anti-)self-dual homogeneous vacuum gluon field as an origin of confinement and SUL(NF) × SUR(NF) symmetry breaking in QCD

It is shown that an (anti-) self-dual homogeneous vacuum gluon field appears in a natural way within the problem of calculation of the QCD partition function in the form of Euclidean functional integral with periodic boundary conditions. There is no violation of cluster property within this formulation, nor are parity, color and rotational symmetries broken explicitly. The massless limit of the product of the quark masses and condensates, $m_f \left\langle {\bar \psi _f \psi _f } \right\rangle $ , is calculated to all loop orders. This quantity does not vanish and is proportional to the gluon condensate appearing due to the nonzero strength of the vacuum gluon field. We conclude that the gluon condensate can be considered as an order parameter both for confinement and chiral symmetry breaking.     

Time-resolved spectroscopy and imaging diagnostics of single pulse and collinear double pulse laser induced plasma from a glass sample

The characterization of laser-induced plasma from a glass sample was performed in the single- and double-pulse excitation regimes. The detailed information about density distributions of excited atoms and ions in the expanding plasma was obtained by using the imaging detection system providing measurements of the spatial, temporal, and spectral plasma emission characteristics. The expansion dynamics was shown to differ strongly between two excitation regimes. The enhancement factors of the line emissions in the double-pulse mode were found to be spatial dependent and to differ for the different elements in the plasma plume. The obtained results are useful for a better understanding of the main physical processes leading to the analytical improvement achieved by the use of double-pulse laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS).     

Mass splitting of the pseudoscalar and vector mesons induced by the homogeneous vacuum gluon field

Masses of the pseudoscalar and vector mesons are calculated within the generalized Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model taking into account homogeneous vacuum gluon field. This vacuum provides an analytical quark confinement. Colorless modes are determined by the confined gluons and are described by the nonlocal quark currents with appropriate radial and angular quantum numbers. An interaction of the quark spin with the vacuum gluon field arises naturally within the model under consideration. It is shown that this spin-field interaction leads to mass splitting between vector and pseudoscalar mesons with identical quark structure (ρ-π,K-K ^* and so on). This allows to use the four-fermion coupling constant being common for both nonets.     

Finite Size Effects in the Free Energy Density for Abelian (Anti-)Self-Dual Gluon Field in SU(3) Gluodynamics

Physics of Particles and Nuclei Letters - Finite-size effects in the free energy density for Abelian (anti-)self-dual gluon field are investigated within $$SU(3)$$ gluodynamics. In particular, the...     

Electron paramagnetic resonance studies of human liver tissues

Lyophilized samples of human liver have been investigated by means of electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and conventional magnetic methods over the temperature range of 4–300 K. The experimental results exhibit two main magnetic contributions. One of them can be attributed to Fe²⁺ ions of hemoglobin and the second one, originating from the Fe³⁺ ions of ferritin grains, shows a transition into the superparamagnetic state atT>20 K.