Toward the total synthesis of spirastrellolide A. Part 3: Intelligence gathering and preparation of a ring-expanded analogue

Different methods for the formation of the C.25–C.26 bond of spirastrellolide A (1) are evaluated that might qualify for the end game of the projected total synthesis, with emphasis on metathetic ways to forge the macrocyclic frame

Prospects for Measuring Vtb via s-channel Single Top at ATLAS

The production of single top quarks via the electroweak interaction promises to provide new opportunities to both test the Standard Model and search for new physics. In particular, electroweak top production provides the only means to directly measure the CKM matrix element Vtb at ATLAS. The s-channel has the lowest rate, but is the best theoretically understood mechanism of electroweak top production. An evaluation of the potential for background suppression and Vtb measurement in this channel is presented. It is found that significant background suppression can be achieved and Vtb can be measured in the s-channel to a statistical precision of 2.8% after 30 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity at the LHC

Phase transition in the collisionless regime for wave-particle interaction

Gibbs statistical mechanics is derived for the Hamiltonian system coupling self-consistently a wave to N particles. This identifies Landau damping with a regime where a second order phase transition occurs. For nonequilibrium initial data with warm particles, a critical initial wave intensity is found: above it, thermodynamics predicts a finite wave amplitude in the limit of infinite N; below it, the equilibrium amplitude vanishes. Simulations support these predictions providing new insight on the long-time nonlinear fate of the wave due to Landau damping in plasmas.Comment: 12 pages (RevTeX), 2 figures (PostScript

The Energy of a Plasma in the Classical Limit

When \lambda_{T} << d_{T}, where \lambda_{T} is the de Broglie wavelength and d_{T}, the distance of closest approach of thermal electrons, a classical analysis of the energy of a plasma can be made. In all the classical analysis made until now, it was assumed that the frequency of the fluctuations \omega << T (k_{B}=\hbar=1). Using the fluctuation-dissipation theorem, we evaluate the energy of a plasma, allowing the frequency of the fluctuations to be arbitrary. We find that the energy density is appreciably larger than previously thought for many interesting plasmas, such as the plasma of the Universe before the recombination era.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.Let