Determination of gas temperature in the plasmatron channel according to the known distribution of electronic temperature

An analytical method to calculate the temperature distribution of heavy particles in the channel of the plasma torch on the known distribution of the electronic temperature has been proposed. The results can be useful for a number of model calculations in determining the most effective conditions of gas blowing through the plasma torch with the purpose of heating the heavy component. This approach allows us to understand full details about the heating of cold gas, inpouring the plasma, and to estimate correctly the distribution of the gas temperature inside the channel

Formation of junctions in the three-dimensional network of 3d metal-coordinated polyurethanes

Formation of junctions in the three-dimensional polymer network of 3d metal-coordinated polyurethanes obtained by adding binuclear coordination compounds of 3d metals (Fe, Cu) to the system was studied. The molecular mass characteristics of the products produced by the reaction of urethane formation up to the gel point were determined, and some kinetic parameters of the process were estimated. A metal complex reacts with a prepolymer based on oligo(ether diol) or oligo(ester diol) and tolylene 2,4-diisocyanate bearing NCO terminal groups by means of chain lengthening through the reaction of azo formation and coordination binding of 3d ions to the urethane and ester groups of neighboring chains to form branching junctions

Cytotoxicity of albebetin oligomers depends on cross-β-sheet formation

AbstractPrefibrillar cytotoxicity was suggested as a common amyloid characteristic. We showed two types of albebetin prefibrillar oligomers are formed during incubation at pH 7.3. Initial round-shaped oligomers consist of 10–15 molecules determined by atomic force microscopy, do not bind thioflavin-T and do not affect viability of granular neurons and SH-SY5Y cells. They are converted into ca. 30–40-mers possessing cross-β-sheet and reducing viability of neuronal cells. Neither monomers nor fibrils possess cytotoxicity. We suggest that oligomeric size is important for stabilising cross-β-sheet core critical for cytotoxicity. As albebetin was used as a carrier-protein for drug delivery, examination of amyloidogenicity is required prior polypeptide biomedical applications

Search for invisible decays of sub-GeV dark photons in missing-energy events at the CERN SPS

We report on a direct search for sub-GeV dark photons (A') which might be produced in the reaction e^- Z \to e^- Z A' via kinetic mixing with photons by 100 GeV electrons incident on an active target in the NA64 experiment at the CERN SPS. The A's would decay invisibly into dark matter particles resulting in events with large missing energy. No evidence for such decays was found with 2.75\cdot 10^{9} electrons on target. We set new limits on the \gamma-A' mixing strength and exclude the invisible A' with a mass < 100 MeV as an explanation of the muon g_\mu-2 anomaly.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; Typos corrected, references adde

A New 76Ge Double Beta Decay Experiment at LNGS

This Letter of Intent has been submitted to the Scientific Committee of the INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in March 2004. It describes a novel facility at the LNGS to study the double beta decay of 76Ge using an (optionally active) cryogenic fluid shield. The setup will allow to scrutinize with high significance on a short time scale the current evidence for neutrinoless double beta decay of 76Ge using the existing 76Ge diodes from the previous Heidelberg-Moscow and IGEX experiments. An increase in the lifetime limit can be achieved by adding more enriched detectors, remaining thereby background-free up to a few 100 kg-years of exposure.Comment: 67 pages, 19 eps figures, 17 tables, gzipped tar fil

The first search for bosonic super-WIMPs with masses up to 1 MeV/c2^2 with GERDA

We present the first search for bosonic super-WIMPs as keV-scale dark matter candidates performed with the GERDA experiment. GERDA is a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment which operates high-purity germanium detectors enriched in $^{76}$Ge in an ultra-low background environment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN in Italy. Searches were performed for pseudoscalar and vector particles in the mass region from 60 keV/c$^2$ to 1 MeV/c$^2$. No evidence for a dark matter signal was observed, and the most stringent constraints on the couplings of super-WIMPs with masses above 120 keV/c$^2$ have been set. As an example, at a mass of 150 keV/c$^2$ the most stringent direct limits on the dimensionless couplings of axion-like particles and dark photons to electrons of $g_{ae} < 3 \cdot 10^{-12}$ and ${\alpha'}/{\alpha} < 6.5 \cdot 10^{-24}$ at 90% credible interval, respectively, were obtained.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters, added list of authors, updated ref. [21