Possible triggering of solar activity to big earthquakes (Ms ≥ 8) in faults with near west-east strike in China

A big earthquake (Ms = 8.1) occurred at western Kunlun Mts gap on November 14, 2001. It is the biggest earthquake in China in the past 50 years and the only one with a magnitude bigger than 8 in China after Dangxiong Earthquake (M = 8) in Tibet in 1951. The big earthquake has drawn wide attention of scientists in seismological, geophysical, geological and astro-geodynamic circles. Scientists are interested in the occurrence regularity of the very big earthquakes and try to find out the fac…     

All nonclassical correlations can be activated into distillable entanglement

We devise a protocol in which general nonclassical multipartite correlations produce a physically relevant effect, leading to the creation of bipartite entanglement. In particular, we show that the relative entropy of quantumness, which measures all nonclassical correlations among subsystems of a quantum system, is equivalent to and can be operationally interpreted as the minimum distillable entanglement generated between the system and local ancillae in our protocol. We emphasize the key role of state mixedness in maximizing nonclassicality: Mixed entangled states can be arbitrarily more nonclassical than separable and pure entangled states.     

Ultrafast dynamics of isolated fluorenone

The ultrafast dynamics of isolated 9-fluorenone was studied by femtosecond time-resolved photoionization and photoelectron spectroscopy. The molecule was excited around 264-266 nm into the S(6) state. The experimental results indicate that the excitation is followed by a multistep deactivation. A time constant of 50 fs or less corresponds to a fast redistribution of energy within the initially excited manifold of states, i.e., a motion away from the Franck-Condon region. Internal conversion to the S(1) state then proceeds within 0.4 ps. The S(1) state is long-lived, and only a lower bound of 20 ps can be derived. In addition, we computed excited state energies and oscillator strengths by TD-DFT theory, supporting the interpretation of the experimental data.     

No-local-broadcasting theorem for multipartite quantum correlations

We prove that the correlations present in a multipartite quantum state have an operational quantum character even if the state is unentangled, as long as it does not simply encode a multipartite classical probability distribution. Said quantumness is revealed by the new task of local broadcasting, i.e., of locally sharing preestablished correlations, which is feasible if and only if correlations are stricly classical. Our operational approach leads to natural definitions of measures for quantumness of correlations. It also reproduces the standard no-broadcasting theorem as a special case.     

Interstitial-impurity reactions during stage I of platinum alloys after thermal and fast-neutron irradiation

Recovery spectra of pure platinum and selected dilute platinum alloys are compared to equivalent induced resistivities following either fast- or thermal-neutron irradiation at 4.4 K. Annealing during stage I (7–30 K) was significantly retarded due to the fast-neutron irradiation. Although a reduction in recovery due to alloying impurities was observed, it appears that due to the highly-localised defect concentration, interstitial-interstitial reactions were predominant during annealing of the fast-neutron defects, whilst in the case of the thermal neutrons, due to the generalised low defect concentration, interstitial-impurity reactions were more important.     

On the properties of microsolvated molecules in the ground (S0) and excited (S1) states: the anisole-ammonia 1:1 complex

State-of-the-art spectroscopic and theoretical methods have been exploited in a joint effort to elucidate the subtle features of the structure and the energetics of the anisole-ammonia 1:1 complex, a prototype of microsolvation processes. Resonance enhanced multiphoton ionization and laser-induced fluorescence spectra are discussed and compared to high-level first-principles theoretical models, based on density functional, many body second order perturbation, and coupled cluster theories. In the most stable nonplanar structure of the complex, the ammonia interacts with the delocalized pi electron density of the anisole ring: hydrogen bonding and dispersive forces provide a comparable stabilization energy in the ground state, whereas in the excited state the dispersion term is negligible because of electron density transfer from the oxygen to the aromatic ring. Ground and excited state geometrical parameters deduced from experimental data and computed by quantum mechanical methods are in very good agreement and allow us to unambiguously determine the molecular structure of the anisole-ammonia complex.     

Femtosecond dynamics of cyclopropenylidene, c-C3H2

The photophysics of the B (1)B(1) state of isolated cyclopropenylidene, c-C(3)H(2), has been studied by femtosecond time-resolved photoionisation and photoelectron spectroscopy. The carbene was produced by flash pyrolysis of 3-chlorocycloprop-1-ene. The bands at 266.9 nm and 264.6 nm have been investigated. The excited state deactivates in a two step process. The first time constant of less than 50 fs corresponds most likely to a nonradiative transition to the A-state, the second one on the order of 200 fs describes the internal conversion to the electronic ground state. The data are compared to those measured for the chlorinated carbene c-C(3)HCl. In the photoelectron spectrum of c-C(3)H(2) resonances were observed which can be assigned to members of a Rydberg d-series.     

Freshwater suspended particles: An intercomparison of long-term integrating sampling systems used for environmental radioactivity monitoring

Summary Sampling and sample preparation are known to carry large, but typically unknown uncertainty contributions to the final analytical data and there is a lack of qualitative and quantitative data on the comparability of results achieved by different sampling methods. To this end an intercomparison exercise was carried out to compare different methods for the collection of suspended material used for the monitoring of environmental radioactivity in freshwater bodies.This paper presents the results of this intercomparison exercise in which “in situ”particulate sampling devices were compared in field exercises performed in the Kiev Reservoir (Ukraine) and in the Po River (Italy). The main criterion for this intercomparison was the agreement among the¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations associated with the suspended particles expressed as Bq^. g^-1and among the (C/N) molar ratios measured on the suspended particles. In addition, an estimate of the uncertainties associated with each measuring method has been performed.     

A study on the anisole-water complex by molecular beam-electronic spectroscopy and molecular mechanics calculations

An experimental and theoretical study is made on the anisole-water complex. It is the first van der Waals complex studied by high resolution electronic spectroscopy in which the water is seen acting as an acid. Vibronically and rotationally resolved electronic spectroscopy experiments and molecular mechanics calculations are used to elucidate the structure of the complex in the ground and first electronic excited state. Some internal dynamics in the system is revealed by high resolution spectroscopy.     

Intercomparison of suspended particles sampling methodologies

Sampling and sample preparation/processing are known to carry large, but typically unknown uncertainty contribution to the final analytical data and there is a lack of qualitative and quantitative data on the comparability of results achieved by the different sampling methods. To this end, an intercomparison programme was founded by the European Commission, in which different institutions participated using their own ”in-situ” methods (”ANPA”, ”EDF” and ”MIDIYA”) for collection of water and suspended material in freshwater bodies. The main criterion for this intercomparison was the agreement among the ¹³⁷Cs activity concentrations in the dissolved phase (Bq l^–1), those associated with the suspended particles (Bq g^–1) and the concentrations of total suspended material (TSM) in the water body (mg l^–1). The results show that the sampling systems provide TSM concentration results with low accuracy; on the contrary, they are recommended for the determination of ¹³⁷Cs activity concentration in the dissolved phase. Concerning the determination of radiocaesium activity concentration in the suspended particles, the ”EDF” system provides the more reliable results. Received: 10 December 2001 Accepted: 4 March 2002