Possible role of 3He impurities in solid 4He

We use a quantum lattice gas model to describe essential aspects of the motion of 4He atoms and of 3He impurities in solid 4He. This study suggests that 3He impurities bind to defects and promote 4He atoms to interstitial sites which can turn the bosonic quantum disordered crystal into a metastable supersolid. It is suggested that defects and interstitial atoms are produced during the solid 4He nucleation process where the role of 3He impurities (in addition to the cooling rate) is known to be important even at very small (1 ppm) impurity concentration. It is also proposed that such defects can form a glass phase during the 4He solid growth by rapid cooling.Comment: 4 two-column Revtex pages, 4 figures. Europhysics Letters (in Press

Structure of the archaeal chemotaxis protein CheY in a domain-swapped dimeric conformation

Archaea are motile by the rotation of the archaellum. The archaellum switches between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and movement along a chemical gradient is possible by modulation of the switching frequency. This modulation involves the response regulator CheY and the archaellum adaptor protein CheF. In this study, two new crystal forms and protein structures of CheY are reported. In both crystal forms, CheY is arranged in a domain-swapped conformation. CheF, the protein bridging the chemotaxis signal transduction system and the motility apparatus, was recombinantly expressed, purified and subjected to X-ray data collection

Zero-point vacancies in quantum solids

A Jastrow wave function (JWF) and a shadow wave function (SWF) describe a quantum solid with Bose--Einstein condensate; i.e. a supersolid. It is known that both JWF and SWF describe a quantum solid with also a finite equilibrium concentration of vacancies x_v. We outline a route for estimating x_v by exploiting the existing formal equivalence between the absolute square of the ground state wave function and the Boltzmann weight of a classical solid. We compute x_v for the quantum solids described by JWF and SWF employing very accurate numerical techniques. For JWF we find a very small value for the zero point vacancy concentration, x_v=(1.4\pm0.1) x 10^-6. For SWF, which presently gives the best variational description of solid 4He, we find the significantly larger value x_v=(1.4\pm0.1) x 10^-3 at a density close to melting. We also study two and three vacancies. We find that there is a strong short range attraction but the vacancies do not form a bound state.Comment: 19 pages, submitted to J. Low Temp. Phy

Structure of the archaeal chemotaxis protein CheY in a domain-swapped dimeric conformation

Archaea are motile by the rotation of the archaellum. The archaellum switches between clockwise and counterclockwise rotation, and movement along a chemical gradient is possible by modulation of the switching frequency. This modulation involves the response regulator CheY and the archaellum adaptor protein CheF. In this study, two new crystal forms and protein structures of CheY are reported. In both crystal forms, CheY is arranged in a domain-swapped conformation. CheF, the protein bridging the chemotaxis signal transduction system and the motility apparatus, was recombinantly expressed, purified and subjected to X-ray data collection

Quantum chemical topological analysis of hydrogen bonding in HX…HX and CH3X…HX dimers (X = Br, Cl, F)

We present a systematic investigation of the nature and strength of the hydrogen bonding in HX···HX and CH3X…HX (X = Br, Cl and F) dimers using ab initio MP2/aug-cc-pVTZ calculations in the framework of the quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) and electron localisation functions (ELFs) methods. The electron density of the complexes has been characterised, and the hydrogen bonding energy, as well as the QTAIM and ELF parameters, is consistent, providing deep insight into the origin of the hydrogen bonding in these complexes. It was found that in both linear and angular HX…HX and CH3X…HX dimers, F atoms form stronger HB than Br and Cl, but they need short (∼2 Å) X…HX contacts.The authors are grateful to FAPESP and FAPEMIG for financially supporting this research and for a scholarship (to R.A.C.), to CAPES for the scholarships (to F.A.L. and R.T.S.) and to CNPq for the fellowships (to T.C.R., M.P.F., E.F.F.C. and R.R.). J.A. also thanks Universitat Jaume I-Fundacio´n Bancaixa (Project P1.1B2010-10), Generalitat Valenciana for Prometeo/2009/053 project, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacio´n for project CTQ2009-14541-C02 and Programa de Cooperacio´n Cientı´fica con Iberoamerica (Brazil), Ministerio de Educacio´n (PHB2009-0065-PC)

High Throughput Petrochronology and Sedimentary Provenance Analysis by Automated Phase Mapping and LAICPMS

The first step in most geochronological studies is to extract dateable minerals from the host rock, which is time consuming, removes textural context, and increases the chance for sample cross contamination. We here present a new method to rapidly perform in situ analyses by coupling a fast scanning electron microscope (SEM) with Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer (EDS) to a Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (LAICPMS) instrument. Given a polished hand specimen, a petrographic thin section, or a grain mount, Automated Phase Mapping (APM) by SEM/EDS produces chemical and mineralogical maps from which the X-Y coordinates of the datable minerals are extracted. These coordinates are subsequently passed on to the laser ablation system for isotopic analysis. We apply the APM1LAICPMS method to three igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary case studies. In the first case study, a polished slab of granite from Guernsey was scanned for zircon, producing a 60968 Ma weighted mean age. The second case study investigates a paragneiss from an ultra high pressure terrane in the north Qaidam terrane (Qinghai, China). One hundred seven small (25 mm) metamorphic zircons were analyzed by LAICPMS to confirm a 41964 Ma age of peak metamorphism. The third and final case study uses APM1LAICPMS to generate a large provenance data set and trace the provenance of 25 modern sediments from Angola, documenting longshore drift of Orange River sediments over a distance of 1,500 km. These examples demonstrate that APM1LAICPMS is an efficient and cost effective way to improve the quantity and quality of geochronological data

Effects of hyperconjugative interactions on ¹J CH coupling constant for hexamethyl-enetetramine and adamantane: theoretical and experimental study

The objective of this work was to determine the influence of hyperconjugative interactions on the ¹J CH coupling constant for hexamethylenetetramine (1) and adamantane (2). For this end, theoretical and experimental ¹J CH were obtained and hyperconjugative interactions were investigated using NBO. It was observed, theoretically and experimentally, that ¹J CH in 1 is 20 Hz larger than in 2, mainly due to the nN®s*C-H hyperconjugative interaction. This interaction occurs only in 1, with an energy of 9.30 kcal mol-1. It increases the s-character of the carbon atom in the C-H bond and the occupancy of the sigma*C-H orbital in (1).16811685Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Crossover between ionic/covalent and pure ionic bonding in magnesium oxyde clusters

An empirical potential with fluctuating charges is proposed for modelling (MgO)_n clusters in both the molecular (small n) and bulk (n->infty) regimes. Vectorial polarization forces are explicitely taken into account in the self-consistent determination of the charges. Our model predicts cuboid cluster structures, in agreement with previous experimental and theoretical results. The effective charge transferred between magnesium and oxygen smoothly increases from 1 to 2, with an estimated crossover size above 300 MgO molecules

The genetics of the Lp Antigen

Several genetic models were considered to explain the distribution of qualitatively positive and negative children in 204 Caucasian families. A model which best describes the inheritance of the Lp antigenic expression involves a major genetic locus which distinguishes two overlapping continuously distributed modes of quantitative activity.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66139/1/j.1469-1809.1974.tb01992.x.pd