Kazhdan constants for conjugacy classes of compact groups

Kazhdan constants relative to conjugacy classes of compact groups are computed. They depend on the nontrivial irreducible characters of the respective group. The result is applied, in particular, to finite groups of Lie type, symmetric groups, and the group SU(n).     

Molecular recognition and conductance in crown ethers

Crown ethers have the remarkable property of recognizing and binding specific metal cations in complex mixtures. We propose to combine molecular recognition with molecular electric conductance. The question we address is: can the event of binding a cation be sensed by a change in conductance? Specifically, we study a short molecular wire (MW) containing a crown-6 molecule connected via sulfur atoms to two gold atomic wires acting as metallic leads. Upon binding a cation, the density of states of the system is only slightly affected. This reflects the fact that the cation binding is largely electrostatic in nature and is accompanied by little electronic reorganization. Yet, the cationic binding does significantly lower conductance. We also identify strong interference affecting the conductance. A striking feature is the insensitivity of conductance to the type of ligand with the exception of the proton.     

Correlation between fluorescence intermittency and spectral diffusion in single semiconductor quantum dots

We find a correlation between the dynamics of fluorescence intermittency and spectral diffusion in the spectroscopy of single CdSe nanocrystal quantum dots (QD). A statistical analysis of the data suggests two populations of blinking events: blinking followed by large spectral diffusion shifts and blinking with small or no spectral shifts. Although unexpected from earlier studies, the correlation between blinking and spectral shifting is consistent with a model of QD ionization as the mechanism for the blinking event, followed by a redistribution of local electric fields that results in spectral shifting.     

Exclusion limits on the WIMP-nucleon cross section from the cryogenic dark matter search

The Cryogenic Dark Matter Search (CDMS) employs Ge and Si detectors to search for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) via their elastic-scattering interactions with nuclei while discriminating against interactions of background particles. CDMS data, accounting for the neutron background, give limits on the spin-independent WIMP-nucleon elastic-scattering cross section that exclude unexplored parameter space above 10 GeV/c2 WIMP mass and, at >75% C.L., the entire 3sigma allowed region for the WIMP signal reported by the DAMA experiment.     

An ergodic theorem for Schlögl models with small migration

Summary We consider a class of reaction-diffusion processes with state space N^Zd. The reaction part is described by a birth and death process where the rates are given by certain polynomials. The diffusion part is an irreducible symmetric random walk. We prove ergodicity in the case of a sufficiently small migration rate. For the proof we couple two processes and show that the density of the discrepancies goes to zero.     

Spectroscopy of Te2 with modulation transfer: Reference lines for precision spectroscopy in Yb+ at 467 nm

Modulation-transfer spectroscopy is used to observe resonances in ¹³⁰Te₂ near 467 nm. A signal-to-noise ratio of 500 is obtained with 1 mW laser power and with a time constant of 10 ms; the lineshapes are investigated in detail for different demodulation phases. The signal can be used to servolock a blue dye ring laser at 467 nm on a ¹³⁰Te₂ resonance which serves as reference line for precision spectroscopy on single, trapped Yb⁺ ions at 467 nm.