Technical Design Report for the PANDA Solenoid and Dipole Spectrometer Magnets

This document is the Technical Design Report covering the two large spectrometer magnets of the PANDA detector set-up. It shows the conceptual design of the magnets and their anticipated performance. It precedes the tender and procurement of the magnets and, hence, is subject to possible modifications arising during this process.Comment: 10 pages, 14MB, accepted by FAIR STI in May 2009, editors: Inti Lehmann (chair), Andrea Bersani, Yuri Lobanov, Jost Luehning, Jerzy Smyrski, Technical Coordiantor: Lars Schmitt, Bernd Lewandowski (deputy), Spokespersons: Ulrich Wiedner, Paola Gianotti (deputy

Characterization of the Partitioning System of Myxococcus Plasmid pMF1

pMF1 is the only autonomously replicating plasmid that has been recently identified in myxobacteria. This study characterized the partitioning (par) system of this plasmid. The fragment that significantly increased the retaining stability of plasmids in Myxococcus cells in the absence of selective antibiotics contained three open reading frames (ORFs) pMF1.21-pMF1.23 (parCAB). The pMF1.22 ORF (parA) is homologous to members of the parA ATPase family, with the highest similarity (56%) to the Sphingobium japonicum ParA-like protein, while the other two ORFs had no homologs in GenBank. DNase I footprinting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays showed that the pMF1.23 (parB) product is a DNA-binding protein of iteron DNA sequences, while the product of pMF1.21 (parC) has no binding activity but is able to enhance the DNA-binding activity of ParB to iterons. The ParB protein autogenously repressed the expression of the par genes, consistent with the type Ib par pattern, while the ParC protein has less repressive activity. The ParB-binding iteron sequences are distributed not only near the partitioning gene loci but also along pMF1. These results indicate that the pMF1 par system has novel structural and functional characteristics

Technical Design Report for the: PANDA Micro Vertex Detector

This document illustrates the technical layout and the expected performance of the Micro Vertex Detector (MVD) of the PANDA experiment. The MVD will detect charged particles as close as possible to the interaction zone. Design criteria and the optimisation process as well as the technical solutions chosen are discussed and the results of this process are subjected to extensive Monte Carlo physics studies. The route towards realisation of the detector is outlined.Comment: 189 pages, 225 figures, 41 table

Physics Performance Report for PANDA: Strong Interaction Studies with Antiprotons

To study fundamental questions of hadron and nuclear physics in interactions of antiprotons with nucleons and nuclei, the universal PANDA detector will be built. Gluonic excitations, the physics of strange and charm quarks and nucleon structure studies will be performed with unprecedented accuracy thereby allowing high-precision tests of the strong interaction. The proposed PANDA detector is a state-of-the art internal target detector at the HESR at FAIR allowing the detection and identification of neutral and charged particles generated within the relevant angular and energy range. This report presents a summary of the physics accessible at PANDA and what performance can be expected.Comment: 216 page

Bifunctional hydrous RuO2 nanocluster electrocatalyst embedded in carbon matrix for efficient and durable operation of rechargeable zinc-air batteries

Ruthenium oxide (RuO2) is the best oxygen evolution reaction (OER) electrocatalyst. Herein, we demonstrated that RuO2 can be also efficiently used as an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) electrocatalyst, thereby serving as a bifunctional material for rechargeable Zn-air batteries. We found two forms of RuO2 (i.e. hydrous and anhydrous, respectively h-RuO2 and ah-RuO2) to show different ORR and OER electrocatalytic characteristics. Thus, h-RuO2 required large ORR overpotentials, although it completed the ORR via a 4e process. In contrast, h-RuO2 triggered the OER at lower overpotentials at the expense of showing very unstable electrocatalytic activity. To capitalize on the advantages of h-RuO2 while improving its drawbacks, we designed a unique structure (RuO2@C) where h-RuO2 nanoparticles were embedded in a carbon matrix. A double hydrophilic block copolymer-templated ruthenium precursor was transformed into RuO2 nanoparticles upon formation of the carbon matrix via annealing. The carbon matrix allowed overcoming the limitations of h-RuO2 by improving its poor conductivity and protecting the catalyst from dissolution during OER. The bifunctional RuO2@C catalyst demonstrated a very low potential gap (triangle EOER-ORR=ca. 1.0V) at 20 mA cm(-2). The Zn|| RuO2@C cell showed an excellent stability (i.e. no overpotential was observed after more than 40 h)