Effects of nuclear structure on average angular momentum in subbarrier fusion

We investigate the effects of nuclear quadrupole and hexadecapole couplings on the average angular momentum in sub-barrier fusion reactions. This quantity could provide a probe for nuclear shapes, distinguishing between prolate vs. oblate quadrupole and positive vs. negative hexadecapole couplings. We describe the data in the O + Sm system and discuss heavier systems where shape effects become more pronounced.Comment: Latex (uses the epsf macro), 10 pages of text, 3 postscript figures included. Full postscript version available by anonymous ftp from wisnuf.physics.wisc.edu:/pub/preprints. MAD-NT-94-0

Muon g-2, rare decays P \to l^+l^- and transition form factors P \to \gamma\gamma^*

Measuring the muon anomalous magnetic moment g-2 and the rare decays of light pseudoscalar mesons into lepton pair P \to l+l- serve as important test of the standard model. To reduce the theoretical uncertainty in the standard model predictions the data on the transition form factors of light pseudoscalar mesons play significant role. Recently new data on behavior of these form factors at large momentum transfer was supplied by the BABAR collaboration. We comment on the (in)consistency of these data with perturbative QCD expectation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, invited talk at the 3rd Joint International Hadron Structure'09 Conference, Tatranska Strba (Slovak Republic), Aug. 30--Sept. 3, 2009; v2 - some typos are correcte

Dynamics of monatomic liquids

We present a theory of the dynamics of monatomic liquids built on two basic ideas: (1) The potential surface of the liquid contains three classes of intersecting nearly-harmonic valleys, one of which (the ``random'' class) vastly outnumbers the others and all whose members have the same depth and normal mode spectrum; and (2) the motion of particles in the liquid can be decomposed into oscillations in a single many-body valley, and nearly instantaneous inter-valley transitions called transits. We review the thermodynamic data which led to the theory, and we discuss the results of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of sodium and Lennard-Jones argon which support the theory in more detail. Then we apply the theory to problems in equilibrium and nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, and we compare the results to experimental data and MD simulations. We also discuss our work in comparison with the QNM and INM research programs and suggest directions for future research.Comment: 53 pages, 16 figures. Differs from published version in using American English spelling and grammar (published version uses British English

Novel B(Ar')2(Ar'') hetero-tri(aryl)boranes: a systematic study of Lewis acidity

A series of homo- and hetero-tri(aryl)boranes incorporating pentafluorophenyl, 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl, and pentachlorophenyl groups, four of which are novel species, have been studied as the acidic component of frustrated Lewis pairs for the heterolytic cleavage of H2. Under mild conditions eight of these will cleave H2; the rate of cleavage depending on both the electrophilicity of the borane and the steric bulk around the boron atom. Electrochemical studies allow comparisons of the electrophilicity with spectroscopic measurements of Lewis acidity for different series of boranes. Discrepancies in the correlation between these two types of measurements, combined with structural characterisation of each borane, reveal that the twist of the aryl rings with respect to the boron-centred trigonal plane is significant from both a steric and electronic perspective, and is an important consideration in the design of tri(aryl)boranes as Lewis acids

Design principles for riboswitch function

Scientific and technological advances that enable the tuning of integrated regulatory components to match network and system requirements are critical to reliably control the function of biological systems. RNA provides a promising building block for the construction of tunable regulatory components based on its rich regulatory capacity and our current understanding of the sequence–function relationship. One prominent example of RNA-based regulatory components is riboswitches, genetic elements that mediate ligand control of gene expression through diverse regulatory mechanisms. While characterization of natural and synthetic riboswitches has revealed that riboswitch function can be modulated through sequence alteration, no quantitative frameworks exist to investigate or guide riboswitch tuning. Here, we combined mathematical modeling and experimental approaches to investigate the relationship between riboswitch function and performance. Model results demonstrated that the competition between reversible and irreversible rate constants dictates performance for different regulatory mechanisms. We also found that practical system restrictions, such as an upper limit on ligand concentration, can significantly alter the requirements for riboswitch performance, necessitating alternative tuning strategies. Previous experimental data for natural and synthetic riboswitches as well as experiments conducted in this work support model predictions. From our results, we developed a set of general design principles for synthetic riboswitches. Our results also provide a foundation from which to investigate how natural riboswitches are tuned to meet systems-level regulatory demands

Tracing river chemistry in space and time : dissolved inorganic constituents of the Fraser River, Canada

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2013. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 124 (2014): 283-308, doi:10.1016/j.gca.2013.09.006.The Fraser River basin in southwestern Canada bears unique geologic and climatic features which make it an ideal setting for investigating the origins, transformations and delivery to the coast of dissolved riverine loads under relatively pristine conditions. We present results from sampling campaigns over three years which demonstrate the lithologic and hydrologic controls on fluxes and isotope compositions of major dissolved inorganic runoff constituents (dissolved nutrients, major and trace elements, 87Sr/86Sr, δD). A time series record near the Fraser mouth allows us to generate new estimates of discharge-weighted concentrations and fluxes, and an overall chemical weathering rate of 32 t km-2 y-1. The seasonal variations in dissolved inorganic species are driven by changes in hydrology, which vary in timing across the basin. The time series record of dissolved 87Sr/86Sr is of particular interest, as a consistent shift between higher (“more radiogenic”) values during spring and summer and less radiogenic values in fall and winter demonstrates the seasonal variability in source contributions throughout the basin. This seasonal shift is also quite large (0.709 – 0.714), with a discharge-weighted annual average of 0.7120 (2 s.d. = 0.0003). We present a mixing model which predicts the seasonal evolution of dissolved 87Sr/86Sr based on tributary compositions and water discharge. This model highlights the importance of chemical weathering fluxes from the old sedimentary bedrock of headwater drainage regions, despite their relatively small contribution to the total water flux.This work was supported by the WHOI Academic Programs Office and MIT PAOC Houghton Fund to BMV, a WHOI Arctic Research Initiative grant to ZAW, NSF-ETBC grant OCE-0851015 to BPE and TIE, and NSF grant EAR-1226818 to BPE

How the recent BABAR data for P to \gamma\gamma* affect the Standard Model predictions for the rare decays P to l+l-

Measuring the lepton anomalous magnetic moments $(g-2)$ and the rare decays of light pseudoscalar mesons into lepton pairs $P\to l^{+}l^{-}$, serve as important tests of the Standard Model. To reduce the theoretical uncertainty in the standard model predictions, the data on the charge and transition form factors of the light pseudoscalar mesons play a significant role. Recently, new data on the behavior of the transition form factors $P\to\gamma\gamma*$ at large momentum transfer were supplied by the BABAR collaboration. There are several problems with the theoretical interpretation of these data: 1) An unexpectedly slow decrease of the pion transition form factor at high momenta, 2) the qualitative difference in the behavior of the pion form factor and the $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ form factors at high momenta, 3) the inconsistency of the measured ratio of the $\eta$ and $\eta^\prime$ form factors with the predicted one. We comment on the influence of the new BABAR data on the rare decay branchings.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure

Present‐day motion of the Sierra Nevada block and some tectonic implications for the Basin and Range province, North American Cordillera

Global Positioning System (GPS) data from five sites on the stable interior of the Sierra Nevada block are inverted to describe its angular velocity relative to stable North America. The velocity data for the five sites fit the rigid block model with rms misfits of 0.3 mm/yr (north) and 0.8 mm/yr (east), smaller than independently estimated data uncertainty, indicating that the rigid block model is appropriate. The new Euler vector, 17.0°N, 137.3°W, rotation rate 0.28 degrees per million years, predicts that the block is translating to the northwest, nearly parallel to the plate motion direction, at 13–14 mm/yr, faster than previous estimates. Using the predicted Sierra Nevada block velocity as a kinematic boundary condition and GPS, VLBI and other data from the interior and margins of the Basin and Range, we estimate the velocities of some major boundary zone faults. For a transect approximately perpendicular to plate motion through northern Owens Valley, the eastern California shear zone (western boundary of the Basin and Range province) accommodates 11±1 mm/yr of right‐lateral shear primarily on two faults, the Owens Valley‐White Mountain (3±2 mm/yr) and Fish Lake Valley (8±2 mm/yr) fault zones, based on a viscoelastic coupling model that accounts for the effects of the 1872 Owens Valley earthquake and the rheology of the lower crust. Together these two faults, separated by less than 50 km on this transect, define a region of high surface velocity gradient on the eastern boundary of the Sierra Nevada block. The Wasatch Fault zone accommodates less than 3±1 mm/yr of east‐west extension on the eastern boundary of the Basin and Range province. Remaining deformation within the Basin and Range interior is also probably less than 3 mm/yr

Consistent phenological shifts in the making of a biodiversity hotspot: the Cape flora

Background The best documented survival responses of organisms to past climate change on short (glacial-interglacial) timescales are distributional shifts. Despite ample evidence on such timescales for local adaptations of populations at specific sites, the long-term impacts of such changes on evolutionary significant units in response to past climatic change have been little documented. Here we use phylogenies to reconstruct changes in distribution and flowering ecology of the Cape flora - South Africa's biodiversity hotspot - through a period of past (Neogene and Quaternary) changes in the seasonality of rainfall over a timescale of several million years. Results Forty-three distributional and phenological shifts consistent with past climatic change occur across the flora, and a comparable number of clades underwent adaptive changes in their flowering phenology (9 clades; half of the clades investigated) as underwent distributional shifts (12 clades; two thirds of the clades investigated). Of extant Cape angiosperm species, 14-41% have been contributed by lineages that show distributional shifts consistent with past climate change, yet a similar proportion (14-55%) arose from lineages that shifted flowering phenology. Conclusions Adaptive changes in ecology at the scale we uncover in the Cape and consistent with past climatic change have not been documented for other floras. Shifts in climate tolerance appear to have been more important in this flora than is currently appreciated, and lineages that underwent such shifts went on to contribute a high proportion of the flora's extant species diversity. That shifts in phenology, on an evolutionary timescale and on such a scale, have not yet been detected for other floras is likely a result of the method used; shifts in flowering phenology cannot be detected in the fossil record