Superfluid-insulator transition in a periodically driven optical lattice

We demonstrate that the transition from a superfluid to a Mott insulator in the Bose-Hubbard model can be induced by an oscillating force through an effective renormalization of the tunneling matrix element. The mechanism involves adiabatic following of Floquet states, and can be tested experimentally with Bose-Einstein condensates in periodically driven optical lattices. Its extension from small to very large systems yields nontrivial information on the condensate dynamics.     

Omega- and Omega+ production in central Pb + Pb collisions at 40 and 158A GeV

Results are presented on Omega production in central Pb+Pb collisions at 40 and 158A GeV beam energy. For the first time in heavy ion reactions, rapidity distributions and total yields were measured for the sum Omega(-) + Omega(+) at 40A GeV and for Omega(-) and Omega(+) separately at 158A GeV. The yields are strongly underpredicted by the string-hadronic UrQMD model but agree better with predictions from hadron gas models.     

Percolative transport in the vicinity of charge-order ferromagnetic transition in a hole-doped manganite

We report measurements of non-linear charge transport in epitaxial (La_1−x Pr _x )_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ thin films fabricated on (100) oriented SrTiO₃ single crystals by pulsed laser deposition. The end members of this series, namely Pr_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ and La_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ are canonical charge-ordered (CO) and ferromagnetic manganites, respectively. The onset of the CO state in Pr_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃ is manifested by a pronounced insulating behavior below ∼ 200 K. The CO state remains stable even when a large (∼ 2×10⁵ V/cm) electric field is applied across the thin film samples. However, on substitution of Pr with La, a crossover from the highly resistive CO state to a state of metallic character is observed at relatively low electric fields. The current-voltage characteristics of the samples at low temperatures show hysteretic and history dependent effects. The electric field driven charge transport in the system is modelled on the basis of an inhomogeneous medium consisting of ferromagnetic metallic clusters dispersed in a CO background.     

Experimental evidence of threshold effects in the energy loss of protons in carbon and aluminum due to inner shell ionization

We explore the contributions of inner shell ionization to the energy loss of 7 to 270 keV protons in C and Al foils under experimental conditions such that the product of the observation angle and the projectile energy is kept constant. By normalizing these energy loss measurements to the energy loss in the forward direction we observe a pronounced rising behavior with increasing energy. This effect appears in the same range of energies where the respective K- and L-shell ionization cross sections of these elements show a similar threshold behavior. Based also on various theoretical considerations we interpret these results as clear evidence of the inner shell ionization contribution to the energy loss.     

Analog of photon-assisted tunneling in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We study many-body tunneling of a small Bose-Einstein condensate in a periodically modulated, tilted double-well potential. Periodic modulation of the trapping potential leads to an analog of photon-assisted tunneling, with distinct signatures of the interparticle interaction visible in the amount of particles transferred from one well to the other. In particular, under experimentally accessible conditions there exist well-developed half-integer Shapiro-like resonances.     

Synthesis of functionalized 2-alkylidenetetrahydrofurans by cyclization of 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyloxy)-1,3-butadienes with epoxides

The Lewis acid mediated cyclization of epoxides with 1,3-bis(trimethylsilyloxy)-1,3-butadienes, electroneutral equivalents of 1,3-dicarbonyl dianions, results in the formation of 2-alkylidenetetrahydrofurans with a great variety of substitution patterns and functional groups. This includes the synthesis of 2,3'-bifuranylidenes and 7-oxabicyclo[4.3.0]nonanes. The cyclization of dienes with functionalized epoxides containing base-labile groups proceeds with good chemoselectivity. In all reactions, good regio- and E diastereoselectivities are observed. Based on the stereoselectivities observed for reactions of 1,2-disubstituted epoxides, a working hypothesis for the mechanism of the reaction is suggested.     

THE USE OF LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY-MASS SPECTROMETRY TO MONITOR THE ALLOMERIZATION REACTIONS OF CHLOROPHYLL a and PHEOPHYTIN a:m IDENTIFICATION OF THE ALLOMERS OF PHEOPHYTIN a

Abstract— This paper reports a new method for monitoring the allomerization reactions of chlorophyll a and pheo-phytin a. Complex mixtures are generated from illuminating pure compounds and monitored using both diode array high-performance liquid chromatography (DAD-HPLC) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). LC-MS allows molecular weight and fragment ion analysis of significant HPLC peaks. Five products of the degradation of chlorophyll a can be simultaneously detected in a mixture, namely the monohydroxy allomer, the methoxylactone allomer, pheophytin a and the two corresponding allomers of the pheophytin. It is demonstrated that more than one pathway must be involved in the in vitro photodegradation of chlorophyll a as shown by the simultaneous existence of several intermediates.     

The effects of sample preparation methods on the variability of the electrospray ionization response for model drug compounds

A post-column infusion system was developed in order to analyze suppression of electrospray ionization (ESI) tandem mass spectrometry response in the presence of endogenous plasma interferences. By enabling direct detection of these interfering components, this experimental system was used to analyze the ability of several common extraction procedures to remove endogenous plasma components that cause changes in the ESI response of model drug substances. Methyl-t-butyl ether (MTBE) liquid-liquid, Oasis and Empore solid-phase, and acetonitrile (ACN) protein precipitation sample preparation methods were tested using the post-column infusion system. In all cases, ACN protein precipitation samples showed the greatest amount of ESI response suppression while liquid-liquid extracts demonstrated the least. In addition, the three test compounds, phenacetin, caffeine, and a representative Merck compound, demonstrated that ESI response suppression is compound dependent. Suppression was greatest with caffeine, the most polar analyte, and the smallest for the Merck compound, the least polar analyte. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gamma-ray spectroscopy with relativistic exotic heavy-ions

Feasibility of gamma-ray spectroscopy at relativistic energies with exotic heavy-ions and new generation of germanium detectors (segmented Clover) is discussed. An experiment with such detector array and radioactive is discussed.