Low-temperature dynamical simulation of spin-boson systems

The dynamics of spin-boson systems at very low temperatures has been studied using a real-time path-integral simulation technique which combines a stochastic Monte Carlo sampling over the quantum fluctuations with an exact treatment of the quasiclassical degrees of freedoms. To a large degree, this special technique circumvents the dynamical sign problem and allows the dynamics to be studied directly up to long real times in a numerically exact manner. This method has been applied to two important problems: (1) crossover from nonadiabatic to adiabatic behavior in electron transfer reactions, (2) the zero-temperature dynamics in the antiferromagnetic Kondo region 1/2<K<1 where K is Kondo's parameter.Comment: Phys. Rev. B (in press), 28 pages, 6 figure

Coherent π0 photoproduction on the deuteron up to 4 GeV

The differential cross section for 2H(γ,d)π0 has been measured at deuteron center-of-mass angles of 90° and 136°. This work reports the first data for this reaction above a photon energy of 1 GeV, and permits a test of the apparent constituent counting rule and reduced nuclear amplitude behavior as observed in elastic ed scattering. Measurements were performed up to a photon energy of 4.0 GeV, and are in good agreement with previous lower energy measurements. Overall, the data are inconsistent with both constituent-counting rule and reduced nuclear amplitude predictions

Novel genetic loci associated with hippocampal volume

The hippocampal formation is a brain structure integrally involved in episodic memory, spatial navigation, cognition and stress responsiveness. Structural abnormalities in hippocampal volume and shape are found in several common neuropsychiatric disorders. To identify the genetic underpinnings of hippocampal structure here we perform a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 33,536 individuals and discover six independent loci significantly associated with hippocampal volume, four of them novel. Of the novel loci, three lie within genes (ASTN2, DPP4 and MAST4) and one is found 200 kb upstream of SHH. A hippocampal subfield analysis shows that a locus within the MSRB3 gene shows evidence of a localized effect along the dentate gyrus, subiculum, CA1 and fissure. Further, we show that genetic variants associated with decreased hippocampal volume are also associated with increased risk for Alzheimer's disease (rg =-0.155). Our findings suggest novel biological pathways through which human genetic variation influences hippocampal volume and risk for neuropsychiatric illness

Measurements of Deuteron Photodisintegration up to 4.0 GeV

The first measurements of the differential cross section for the d(γ,p)n reaction up to 4.0 GeV were performed at the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Thomas Jefferson Laboratory. We report the cross sections at the proton center-of-mass angles of 36°, 52°, 69°, and 89°. These results are in reasonable agreement with previous measurements at lower energy. The 89° and 69° data show constituent-counting-rule behavior up to 4.0 GeV photon energy. The 52° and 36° data disagree with the counting-rule behavior. The quantum chromodynamics (QCD) model of nuclear reactions involving reduced amplitudes disagrees with the present data.U.S. Department of Energy, National Science Foundatio

A comparison of C-F and C-H bond activation by zerovalent Ni and Pt: a density functional study

Density functional theory indicates that oxidative addition of the C−F and C−H bonds in C6F6 and C6H6 at zerovalent nickel and platinum fragments, M(H2PCH2CH2PH2), proceeds via initial exothermic formation of an η2-coordinated arene complex. Two distinct transition states have been located on the potential energy surface between the η2-coordinated arene and the oxidative addition product. The first, at relatively low energy, features an η3-coordinated arene and connects two identical η2-arene minima, while the second leads to cleavage of the C−X bond. The absence of intermediate C−F or C−H σ complexes observed in other systems is traced to the ability of the 14-electron metal fragment to accommodate the η3-coordination mode in the first transition state. Oxidative addition of the C−F bond is exothermic at both nickel and platinum, but the barrier is significantly higher for the heavier element as a result of strong 5dπ−pπ repulsions in the transition state. Similar repulsive interactions lead to a relatively long Pt−F bond with a lower stretching frequency in the oxidative addition product. Activation of the C−H bond is, in contrast, exothermic only for the platinum complex. We conclude that the nickel system is better suited to selective C−F bond activation than its platinum analogue for two reasons: the strong thermodynamic preference for C−F over C−H bond activation and the relatively low kinetic barrier