Elevated-temperature impact toughness of Mg–(Gd, Y)–Zr alloy

The Charpy impact results for Mg–10Gd–3Y–0.5Zr and Mg–11Y–5Gd–2Zn–0.5Zr alloys at various temperatures showed that Mg–10Gd–3Y–0.5Zr was more sensitive to temperature. The increase in impact toughness with temperature was related to the blunt crack-tip at high temperatures. The delamination and local melt of matrix were responsible for the brittle-to-ductile transition of GW103 alloy. The branch and bridging of cracks resulting from ordered phases played an import role in the change in fracture mode from cleavage fracture to quasi-cleavage and dimple-fracture for WGZ1152 alloy

Whole genome sequencing of a banana wild relative Musa itinerans provides insights into lineage-specific diversification of the Musa genus

Crop wild relatives are valuable resources for future genetic improvement. Here, we report the de novo genome assembly of Musa itinerans, a disease-resistant wild banana relative in subtropical China. The assembled genome size was 462.1 Mb, covering 75.2% of the genome (615.2Mb) and containing 32, 456 predicted protein-coding genes. Since the approximate divergence around 5.8 million years ago, the genomes of Musa itinerans and Musa acuminata have shown conserved collinearity. Gene family expansions and contractions enrichment analysis revealed that some pathways were associated with phenotypic or physiological innovations. These include a transition from wood to herbaceous in the ancestral Musaceae, intensification of cold and drought tolerances, and reduced diseases resistance genes for subtropical marginally distributed Musa species. Prevalent purifying selection and transposed duplications were found to facilitate the diversification of NBS-encoding gene families for two Musa species. The population genome history analysis of M. itinerans revealed that the fluctuated population sizes were caused by the Pleistocene climate oscillations, and that the formation of Qiongzhou Strait might facilitate the population downsizing on the isolated Hainan Island about 10.3 Kya. The qualified assembly of the M. itinerans genome provides deep insights into the lineage-specific diversification and also valuable resources for future banana breeding

Entanglement preparation using symmetric multiports

We investigate the entanglement produced by a multi-path interferometer that is composed of two symmetric multiports, with phase shifts applied to the output of the first multiport. Particular attention is paid to the case when we have a single photon entering the interferometer. For this situation we derive a simple condition that characterize the types of entanglement that one can generate. We then show how one can use the results from the single photon case to determine what kinds of multi-photon entangled states one can prepare using the interferometer.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

Entanglement preparation using symmetric multiports

We investigate the entanglement produced by a multi-path interferometer that is composed of two symmetric multiports, with phase shifts applied to the output of the first multiport. Particular attention is paid to the case when we have a single photon entering the interferometer. For this situation we derive a simple condition that characterize the types of entanglement that one can generate. We then show how one can use the results from the single photon case to determine what kinds of multi-photon entangled states one can prepare using the interferometer.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in European Journal of Physics

Charmless Bs→PP,PV,VVB_s\to PP, PV, VV Decays Based on the six-quark Effective Hamiltonian with Strong Phase Effects II

We provide a systematic study of charmless $B_s \to PP, PV, VV$ decays ($P$ and $V$ denote pseudoscalar and vector mesons, respectively) based on an approximate six-quark operator effective Hamiltonian from QCD. The calculation of the relevant hard-scattering kernels is carried out, the resulting transition form factors are consistent with the results of QCD sum rule calculations. By taking into account important classes of power corrections involving "chirally-enhanced" terms and the vertex corrections as well as weak annihilation contributions with non-trivial strong phase, we present predictions for the branching ratios and CP asymmetries of $B_s$ decays into PP, PV and VV final states, and also for the corresponding polarization observables in VV final states. It is found that the weak annihilation contributions with non-trivial strong phase have remarkable effects on the observables in the color-suppressed and penguin-dominated decay modes. In addition, we discuss the SU(3) flavor symmetry and show that the symmetry relations are generally respected

Weak Phase γ\gamma and Strong Phase δ\delta from CP Averaged B→ππB\to \pi\pi and πK\pi K Decays

Assuming SU(3) symmetry for the strong phases in the four decay modes B\rarrow \pi^-\pi^+, \pi^0 \pi^+, \pi^- K^+, \pi^- \bar{K}^0 and ignoring the relative small electroweak penguin effects in those decays, the weak phase $\gamma$ and the strong phase $\delta$ can be determined in a model independent way by the CP-averaged branching ratios of the four decay modes. It appears that the current experimental data for $B\to \pi\pi$ and $\pi K$ decays prefer a negative value of $\cos\gamma\cos\delta$. By combining with the other constraints from $V_{ub}$, $B^{0}_{d,s}-\bar{B}^{0}_{d,s}$ mixings and indirect CP-violating parameter $\epsilon_K$ within the standard model, two favorable solutions for the phases $\gamma$ and $\delta$ are found to lie in the region: 35^{\circ}\alt\gamma\alt 62^{\circ} and 106^{\circ}\alt \delta \alt 180^{\circ} or 86^{\circ}\alt\gamma\alt 151^{\circ} and 0^{\circ}\alt\delta\alt 75^{\circ} within 1$\sigma$ standard deviation. It is noted that if allowing the standard deviation of the data to be more than 1$\sigma$, the two solutions could approach to one solution with a much larger region for the phases $\gamma$ and $\delta$. Direct CP asymme try $a_{\epsilon''}^{(\pi^- K^+)}$ in B\rarrow \pi^-K^+ decay can be as large as the present experimental upper bound. Direct CP asymmetry $a_{\epsilon''}^{(\pi^+\pi^-)}$ in B\rarrow \pi^-\pi^+ decay can reach up to about 40% at 1$\sigma$ level.Comment: 14 Pages, ReVTeX, 5 figures, one figure (Fig.3) is correcte