Biaxial order parameter in the homologous series of orthogonal bent-core smectic liquid crystals

The fundamental parameter of the uniaxial liquid crystalline state that governs nearly all of its physical properties is the primary orientational order parameter (S) for the long axes of molecules with respect to the director. The biaxial liquid crystals (LCs) possess biaxial order parameters depending on the phase symmetry of the system. In this paper we show that in the first approximation a biaxial orthogonal smectic phase can be described by two primary order parameters: S for the long axes and C for the ordering of the short axes of molecules. The temperature dependencies of S and C are obtained by the Haller's extrapolation technique through measurements of the optical birefringence and biaxiality on a nontilted polar antiferroelectric (Sm-APA) phase of a homologous series of LCs built from the bent-core achiral molecules. For such a biaxial smectic phase both S and C, particularly the temperature dependency of the latter, are being experimentally determined. Results show that S in the orthogonal smectic phase composed of bent cores is higher than in Sm-A calamatic LCs and C is also significantly large

Radiofrequency spectroscopy of 6^6Li p-wave molecules: towards photoemission spectroscopy of a p-wave superfluid

Understanding superfluidity with higher order partial waves is crucial for the understanding of high-$T_c$ superconductivity. For the realization of a superfluid with anisotropic order parameter, spin-polarized fermionic lithium atoms with strong p-wave interaction are the most promising candidates to date. We apply rf-spectroscopy techniques that do not suffer from severe final-state effects \cite{Perali08} with the goal to perform photoemission spectroscopy on a strongly interacting p-wave Fermi gas similar to that recently applied for s-wave interactions \cite{Stewart08}. Radiofrequency spectra of both quasibound p-wave molecules and free atoms in the vicinity of the p-wave Feshbach resonance located at 159.15\,G \cite{Schunck05} are presented. The observed relative tunings of the molecular and atomic signals in the spectra with magnetic field confirm earlier measurements realized with direct rf-association \cite{Fuchs08}. Furthermore, evidence of bound molecule production using adiabatic ramps is shown. A scheme to observe anisotropic superfluid gaps, the most direct proof of p-wave superfluidity, with 1d-optical lattices is proposed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Globular Structures of a Helix-Coil Copolymer: Self-Consistent Treatment

A self-consistent field theory was developed in the grand-canonical ensemble formulation to study transitions in a helix-coil multiblock globule. Helical and coil parts are treated as stiff rods and self-avoiding walks of variable lengths correspondingly. The resulting field-theory takes, in addition to the conventional Zimm-Bragg (B.H. Zimm, I.K. Bragg, J. Chem. Phys. 31, 526 (1959)) parameters, also three-dimensional interaction terms into account. The appropriate differential equations which determine the self-consistent fields were solved numerically with finite element method. Three different phase states are found: open chain, amorphous globule and nematic liquid-crystalline (LC) globule. The LC-globule formation is driven by the interplay between the hydrophobic helical segments attraction and the anisotropic globule surface energy of an entropic nature. The full phase diagram of the helix-coil copolymer was calculated and thoroughly discussed. The suggested theory shows a clear interplay between secondary and tertiary structures in globular homopolypeptides.Comment: 26 pages, 30 figures, corrected some typo

Archeology-the Nemesis

When, at the middle of the last century, the epoch-making excavations in the Mesopotamian Valley lengthened the historical perspective and pushed back the horizon of the ancient Orient, these archeological discoveries were hailed with mixed feelings. An attitude of doubt and suspicion clashed with an exaggerated credulity

Recent Archeologlcal Light on Nahum

Those who investigate the harmony that exists between Nahum’s prophecy and Nineveh\u27s exit from history will be deeply impressed with the truth that the Old Testament prophets were guided, not by Ahnungsvermoegen, that ability to anticipate which keen-minded students of human affairs sometimes show, but by a divinely inspired prophetic genius. The composite picture which secular history draws of the last days of Nineveh shows in many particulars an amazing agreement with Nahum\u27s prophetic delineation

Vagaries of Tendential Exegesis as Illustrated by the Interpretation of Is. 1, 18

It would be difficult to find on the pages of the entire Scriptures, even in the fulfilment of the New Testament, a passage which in point of clarity, precision, and emphasis surpasses the offer of full and free grace that is contained in the oft-quoted, much-beloved words of the prophet Isaiah: Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord: Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool, chap. 1, 18

Archeology-the Nemesis

The brunt of the assault on the Old Testament is directed not so much against its language or its history as ultimately against its theology. While the Scriptures of the Old Covenant (Ex.17, 14; Deut. 31, 9; etc.) claim to be products of a direct and divine revelation and are thus acknowledged by our Lord Himself and by His apostles (2 Tim. 3, 16), it has become the avowed objective of criticism to remove any distinguishing criteria of the divine and to eliminate the conception of any direct and exclusive revelation on which Israel\u27s religion is based

Hebrew Prophecy a Unique Divine Bestowal;

In his recent book The Hebrew Literary Genius (Princeton University Press, 1933) Duncan Black MacDonald, professor emeritus of the Hartford Theological Seminary, presents a modernized revision of the widely heralded theory which finds in the early Arabic the prototype of Hebrew literature and Old Testament institutions. Dr. MacDonald, a leading Arabist of this generation and an honorary member of the Arab Academy of Damascus, has brought Wellhusen up to date, removed scientific archaisms from Robertson Smith, and in the light of more recent investigations has revised the details of Goldziher and of other professional Islamic studies

Archeology-the Nemesis

The second function of avenging archeology has been the tearing down of that amazing scaffold of theories on which a skeptical criticism has sought to reconstruct the Biblical narratives according to the blue-prints of its tendential theorization