Relaxation dynamics in glycerol-water mixtures: I. Glycerol-rich mixtures

We discuss the relaxation dynamics of glycerol-water mixtures, as studied by dielectric spectroscopy in the frequency range from 1 Hz to 250 MHz and at temperatures between 173 and 323 K. The experimental results obtained for the glycerol-rich mixtures suggest that the main dielectric relaxation process, as well as the so-called high-frequency "excess wing" (EW) and dc conductivity, follow the same temperature dependence. This result indicates that all of these processes are induced by the same molecular origin. A new phenomenological function is proposed to describe the whole dielectric spectrum in the covered frequency range, and some possible mechanisms of dielectric behaviors through the dc conductivity, the main relaxation process, and the EW are discussed.     

Systematic analysis of the PSI experiment to directly measure the sticking probabilityω s in dt fusion

Starting in 1989 an experiment was run at PSI to directly measure the final sticking probability in muon catalyzed dt fusion. This experiment was based on an active-target ionization chamber (IC) built at Gatchina, Russia, and an array of plastic neutron counters. In three runs approximately 5×10⁶ isolated alpha signals were recorded with around one half of these occurring in the inner chamber region where we have more complete understanding of the systematic errors. Particularly from a long run in 1992 we were able to obtain a very clean sticking peak of some 5000 events. However, to reach an accurate value of sticking, all systematic effects and several major backgrounds had to be understood in detail. To this end a Monte Carlo code was written to simulate the full electrostatic environment of the IC and to recreate completely each signal type including the actual tritium decay noise from the live experiment. A slightly model dependent value of approx. 0.56±0.04% is obtained for final sticking.     

Dynamic mechanism of photochemical induction of turing superlattices in the chlorine dioxide-iodine-malonic acid reaction-diffusion system

We study the mechanism of development of superlattice Turing structures from photochemically generated hexagonal patterns of spots with wavelengths several times larger than the characteristic wavelength of the Turing patterns that spontaneously develop in the nonilluminated system. Comparison of the experiment with numerical simulations shows that interaction of the photochemical periodic forcing with the Turing instability results in generation of multiple resonant triplets of wave vectors, which are harmonics of the external forcing. Some of these harmonics are situated within the Turing instability band and are therefore able to maintain their amplitude as the system evolves and after illumination ceases, while photochemically generated harmonics outside the Turing band tend to decay.     

Superlattice Turing structures in a photosensitive reaction-diffusion system

Families of complex superlattice structures, consisting of combinations of basic hexagonal or square patterns, are found in a photosensitive reaction-diffusion system. The structures are induced by simple illumination patterns whose wavelengths are appropriately related to that of the system's intrinsic Turing pattern. Computer simulations agree with the structures and their stability. The technique offers a general approach to generating superlattices for use in information storage and other applications.     

High precision study of muon catalyzed fusion in D2 and HD gas

Muon catalyzed dd fusion in D₂ and HD gases in the temperature range from 28 to 350 K was investigated in a series of experiments based on a time-projection ionization chamber operating with pure hydrogen. All main observables in this reaction chain were measured with high absolute precision including the resonant and non-resonant ddμ formation rates, the rate for hyperfine transitions in dμ atoms, the branching ratio of the two charge symmetric fusion channels ³He + n and t + p and the muon sticking probability. The report presents the final analysis of the data together with a comprehensive comparison with calculations based on recent μCF theories. The energy of the loosely bound ddμ state with quantum numbers J = 1, ν = 1, which is central to the mechanism of resonant molecule formation, is extracted with precision ?₁₁(fit) = ?1.9651(7) eV. in impressive agreement with the latest theoretical results ?₁₁(theory) = ?1.9646 eV.     

Improved lower bounds on the total variation distance for the Poisson approximation

New lower bounds on the total variation distance between the distribution of a sum of independent Bernoulli random variables and the Poisson random variable (with the same mean) are derived via the Chen–Stein method. The new bounds rely on a non-trivial modification of the analysis by Barbour and Hall (1984) which surprisingly gives a significant improvement. A use of the new lower bounds is addressed.     

Anomalies in supercooled NaCl aqueous solutions: a microscopic perspective

In this work we studied the effect of NaCl on the thermodynamic and dynamic properties of supercooled water, for salt concentrations between 0.19 and 1.33 mol?kg(-1), using molecular dynamic simulations for TIP5P∕E water model and ion parameters specially designed to be used in combination with this potential. We studied the isobaric heat capacity (C(p)) temperature dependence and observed a maximum in C(p), occurring at T(m), that moves to lower temperature values with increasing salt concentration. Many characteristic changes were observed at scaled temperature T∕T(m) ～ 0.96, namely a minimum in the density of the system, a reduction of the slope of the number of hydrogen bonds vs. temperature, and a crossover from Vogel-Tamman-Fulcher to Arrhenius dynamics. Finally, at low temperatures we observed that water dynamics become heterogeneous with an apparently common relationship between the fraction of immobile molecules and T/T(m) for all studied systems.     

Investigation of the ground layer of the atmosphere and clouds using laser location

Apparatus for measuring certain parameters of the atmosphere and clouds by laser location is described. The results of measurements of the radiation attenuation factor in the ground layer of the atmosphere, in clouds, and in fog are presented.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 125–128, May, 1972.The authors thank V. S. Shamanaev for his help with the measurements.     

Some Useful Integral Representations for Information-Theoretic Analyses

This work is an extension of our earlier article, where a well-known integral representation of the logarithmic function was explored and was accompanied with demonstrations of its usefulness in obtaining compact, easily-calculable, exact formulas for quantities that involve expectations of the logarithm of a positive random variable. Here, in the same spirit, we derive an exact integral representation (in one or two dimensions) of the moment of a nonnegative random variable, or the sum of such independent random variables, where the moment order is a general positive non-integer real (also known as fractional moments). The proposed formula is applied to a variety of examples with an information-theoretic motivation, and it is shown how it facilitates their numerical evaluations. In particular, when applied to the calculation of a moment of the sum of a large number, n, of nonnegative random variables, it is clear that integration over one or two dimensions, as suggested by our proposed integral representation, is significantly easier than the alternative of integrating over n dimensions, as needed in the direct calculation of the desired moment.