The hydration structure of Cu2+: More tetrahedral than octahedral?

A comprehensive multi-technique approach has been used to address the controversial question of the preferred geometric form of the Cu2+ aqua-ion hydration shell. A combination of H/D isotopic substitution neutron scattering and X-ray scattering has been used to refine atomistic models of 0.5 m and 2.0 m solutions of Cu(ClO4)2, that have also been constrained to simultaneously reproduce detailed local structure information about the cation environment obtained by X-ray Absorption spectroscopy. The adoption of the Empirical Potential Structure Refinement (EPSR) technique as a single unified analytical framework minimises the chances for biasing the result in favour of a specific pre-conceived outcome. The results are consistent with an average coordination for each Cu2+ ion of 4.5 ± 0.6 water molecules that matches the more recent picture of five-fold coordination in a 2.0 m solution, but interestingly this combined study highlights that the preferred local geometry of the ion sites is found to have a mixed character of tetrahedral, trigonal bipyramidal and octahedral components. A further point to note is that this new model adds support to a largely ignored result in the literature relating to the linear electric field effect induced g-shifts observed in the electron paramagnetic resonance spectra of glassy Cu2+ complexes (Peisach and Mims, Chem. Phys. Lett., 1976, 37, 307–310) that first highlighted the importance of tetrahedral distortions in the cation's hydration shell structure

Search for Gravitational-Wave Bursts from Soft Gamma Repeaters

We present a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with soft gamma ray repeater (SGR) bursts. This is the first search sensitive to neutron star f modes, usually considered the most efficient GW emitting modes. We find no evidence of GWs associated with any SGR burst in a sample consisting of the 27 Dec. 2004 giant flare from SGR 1806−20 and 190 lesser events from SGR 1806−20 and SGR 1900+14. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us to set the most stringent limits on transient GW amplitudes published to date. We find upper limit estimates on the model-dependent isotropic GW emission energies (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) between 3×1045 and 9×1052 erg depending on waveform type, detector antenna factors and noise characteristics at the time of the burst. These upper limits are within the theoretically predicted range of some SGR models

All-Sky LIGO Search for Periodic GravitationalWaves in the Early Fifth-Science-Run Data

We report on an all-sky search with the LIGO detectors for periodic gravitational waves in the frequency range 50–1100 Hz and with the frequency’s time derivative in the range −5×10−9–0  Hz s−1. Data from the first eight months of the fifth LIGO science run (S5) have been used in this search, which is based on a semicoherent method (PowerFlux) of summing strain power. Observing no evidence of periodic gravitational radiation, we report 95% confidence-level upper limits on radiation emitted by any unknown isolated rotating neutron stars within the search range. Strain limits below 10−24 are obtained over a 200-Hz band, and the sensitivity improvement over previous searches increases the spatial volume sampled by an average factor of about 100 over the entire search band. For a neutron star with nominal equatorial ellipticity of 10−6, the search is sensitive to distances as great as 500 pc

Approaching Theoretical Performances of Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Generation by Cobalt-Nitrogen Moieties

Electrocatalytic oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) has been intensively studied for environmentally benign applications. However, insufficient understanding of ORR 2 e−-pathway mechanism at the atomic level inhibits rational design of catalysts with both high activity and selectivity, causing concerns including catalyst degradation due to Fenton reaction or poor efficiency of H2O2 electrosynthesis. Herein we show that the generally accepted ORR electrocatalyst design based on a Sabatier volcano plot argument optimises activity but is unable to account for the 2 e−-pathway selectivity. Through electrochemical and operando spectroscopic studies on a series of CoNx/carbon nanotube hybrids, a construction-driven approach based on an extended “dynamic active site saturation” model that aims to create the maximum number of 2 e− ORR sites by directing the secondary ORR electron transfer towards the 2 e− intermediate is proven to be attainable by manipulating O2 hydrogenation kinetics

Search for gravitational wave ringdowns from perturbed black holes in LIGO S4 data

According to general relativity a perturbed black hole will settle to a stationary configuration by the emission of gravitational radiation. Such a perturbation will occur, for example, in the coalescence of a black hole binary, following their inspiral and subsequent merger. At late times the waveform is a superposition of quasinormal modes, which we refer to as the ringdown. The dominant mode is expected to be the fundamental mode, l=m=2. Since this is a well-known waveform, matched filtering can be implemented to search for this signal using LIGO data. We present a search for gravitational waves from black hole ringdowns in the fourth LIGO science run S4, during which LIGO was sensitive to the dominant mode of perturbed black holes with masses in the range of 10M⊙ to 500M⊙, the regime of intermediate-mass black holes, to distances up to 300 Mpc. We present a search for gravitational waves from black hole ringdowns using data from S4. No gravitational wave candidates were found; we place a 90%-confidence upper limit on the rate of ringdowns from black holes with mass between 85M⊙ and 390M⊙ in the local universe, assuming a uniform distribution of sources, of 3.2×10−5  yr−1 Mpc−3=1.6×10−3 yr−1L−110,where L10 is 1010 times the solar blue-light luminosity

Search for gravitational waves from low mass compact binary coalescence in 186 days of LIGO’s fifth science run

We report on a search for gravitational waves from coalescing compact binaries, of total mass between 2 and 35M⊙, using LIGO observations between November 14, 2006 and May 18, 2007. No gravitational-wave signals were detected. We report upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescence as a function of total mass. The LIGO cumulative 90%-confidence rate upper limits of the binary coalescence of neutron stars, black holes and black hole-neutron star systems are 1.4×10−2, 7.3×10−4 and 3.6×10−3  yr−1 L−110, respectively, where L10 is 1010 times the blue solar luminosity

Search for gravitational waves from low mass binary coalescences in the first year of LIGO’s S5 data

We have searched for gravitational waves from coalescing low mass compact binary systems with a total mass between 2M⊙ and 35M⊙ and a minimum component mass of 1M⊙ using data from the first year of the fifth science run of the three LIGO detectors, operating at design sensitivity. Depending on the mass, we are sensitive to coalescences as far as 150 Mpc from the Earth. No gravitational-wave signals were observed above the expected background. Assuming a population of compact binary objects with a Gaussian mass distribution representing binary neutron star systems, black hole–neutron star binary systems, and binary black hole systems, we calculate the 90% confidence upper limit on the rate of coalescences to be 3.9×10−2  yr−1L−110, 1.1×10−2  yr−1L−110, and 2.5×10−3  yr−1L−110, respectively, where L10 is 1010 times the blue solar luminosity. We also set improved upper limits on the rate of compact binary coalescences per unit blue-light luminosity, as a function of mass

Search for gravitational-wave bursts in the first year of the fifth LIGO science run

We present the results obtained from an all-sky search for gravitational-wave (GW) bursts in the 64–2000 Hz frequency range in data collected by the LIGO detectors during the first year (November 2005—November 2006) of their fifth science run. The total analyzed live time was 268.6 days. Multiple hierarchical data analysis methods were invoked in this search. The overall sensitivity expressed in terms of the root-sum-square (rss) strain amplitude hrss for gravitational-wave bursts with various morphologies was in the range of 6×10−22  Hz−1/2 to a few×10−21  Hz−1/2. No GW signals were observed and a frequentist upper limit of 3.75 events per year on the rate of strong GW bursts was placed at the 90% confidence level. As in our previous searches, we also combined this rate limit with the detection efficiency for selected waveform morphologies to obtain event rate versus strength exclusion curves. In sensitivity, these exclusion curves are the most stringent to date