Chemical Bonding Analysis on Amphoteric Hydrogen - Alkaline Earth Ammine Borohydrides

Usually the ions in solid are in the positive oxidation states or in the negative oxidation state depending upon the chemical environment. It is highly unusual for an ion having both positive as well as negative oxidation state in a particular compound. Structural analysis suggest that the alkaline earth ammine borohydrides (AABH) with the chemical formula M (BH4)2(NH3)2 (M = Mg, Ca, or Sr) where hydrogen is present in +1 and -1 oxidation states. In order to understand the oxidation states of hydrogen and also the character of chemical bond present in AABH we have made charge density, electron localization function, Born effective charge, Bader effective charge, and density of states analyses using result from the density functional calculations. Our detailed analyses show that hydrogen is in amphoteric behavior with hydrogen closer to boron is in negative oxidation state and that closer to nitrogen is in the positive oxidation state. Due to the presence of finite covalent bonding between the consitutents in AABH the oxidation state of hydrogen is non-interger value. The confirmation of the presence of amphtoric behavior of hydrogen in AABH has implication in hydrogen storage applications

Neutrino Mass Constraints on R violation and HERA anomaly

R parity violating trilinear couplings $\lambda'_{1jk}$ of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) are constrained from the limit on the electron neutrino mass. Strong limits on these couplings follow from the earlier neglected contribution due to sneutrino vacuum expectation values. The limits on most of the $\lambda'_{1jk}$ couplings derived here are stronger than the existing ones for a wide range in parameters of MSSM. These limits strongly constrain the interpretation of recent HERA results in $e^+ p$ scattering in terms of production of squarks through $R$ violating couplings. In particular, the interpretation in terms of $\tilde{t}_L$ production off strange quark as suggested recently is not viable for wide ranges in MSSM parameters.Comment: 15 pages with 5 figures, minor typos corrected and a new reference adde

Ti4+ Substituted Magnesium Hydride as Promising Material for Hydrogen Storage and Photovoltaic Applications

In order to overcome the disadvantages of MgH2 towards its applications in on-board hydrogen storage, first principle calculations have been performed for Ti (2+, 3+, and 4+) substituted MgH2. Our calculated enthalpy of formation and H site energy implies that Ti substitution in Mg site reduces the stability of MgH2 which improve the hydrogen storage properties and Ti prefers to be in +4 oxidation state in MgH2. The bonding analyses through partial density of states, electron localization function and Bader charge of these systems confirm the existence of iono-covalent bonding. Electronic structure obtained from hybrid functional calculations show that intermediate bands (IB) are formed in Ti4+ substituted MgH2 which could improve the solar cell efficiencies due to multiple photon absorption from valence band to conduction band via IBs and converts low energy photons in the solar spectrum also into electricity. Further, our calculated carrier effective masses and optical absorption spectra show that Ti4+ substituted MgH2 is suitable for higher efficiency photovoltaic applications. Our results suggest that Ti4+ substituted MgH2 can be considered as a promising material for hydrogen storage as well as photovoltaic applications

On threshold resummation beyond leading 1-x order

We check against exact finite order three-loop results for the non-singlet F_2 and F_3 structure functions the validity of a class of momentum space ansaetze for threshold resummation at the next-to-leading order in 1-x, which generalize results previously obtained in the large-\beta_0 limit. We find that the ansaetze do not work exactly, pointing towards an obstruction to threshold resummation at this order, but still yield correct results at the leading logarithmic level for each color structures, as well as at the next-to-next-to-leading logarithmic level for the specific C_F^3 color factor. A universality of the leading logarithm contributions to the physical evolution kernels of F_2 and F_3 at the next-to-leading order in 1-x is observed.Comment: v1:18 pages; v2: 26 pages, expanded version with new results for the F_3 structure function and added references; v3: more concise sections 3 and 4, improved discussion in section 5, added references, to be published in JHE

Effects of BRCA2 deficiency on telomere recombination in non-ALT and ALT cells

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund - Copyright @ 2011 Sapir et al.Background: Recent studies suggest that BRCA2 affects telomere maintenance. Interestingly, anti cancer treatments that involve BRCA2 and telomerase individually are currently being explored. In the light of the above recent studies their combinatorial targeting may be justified in the development of future treatments. In order to investigate effects of BRCA2 that can be explored for this combinatorial targeting we focused on the analysis of recombination rates at telomeres by monitoring T-SCEs (Telomere Sister Chromatid Exchanges). Results: We observed a significant increase in T-SCE frequencies in four BRCA2 defective human cell lines thus suggesting that BRCA2 suppresses recombination at telomeres. To test this hypothesis further we analyzed T-SCE frequencies in a set of Chinese hamster cell lines with or without functional BRCA2. Our results indicate that introduction of functional BRCA2 normalizes frequencies of T-SCEs thus supporting the notion that BRCA2 suppresses recombination at telomeres. Given that ALT (Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres) positive cells maintain telomeres by recombination we investigated the effect of BRCA2 depletion in these cells. Our results show that this depletion causes a dramatic reduction in T-SCE frequencies in ALT positive cells, but not in non-ALT cells. Conclusion: BRCA2 suppresses recombination at telomeres in cells that maintain them by conventional mechanisms. Furthermore, BRCA2 depletion in ALT positive cells reduces high levels of T-SCEs normally found in these cells. Our results could be potentially important for refining telomerase-based anti-cancer therapies.This work is supported in part by grants from European Commission RISC-RAD contract FI6RCT2003-508842 and British Counci

Ab-initio investigation of the covalent bond energies in the metallic covalent superconductor MgB2 and in AlB2

The contributions of the covalent bond energies of various atom pairs to the cohesive energy of MgB2 and AlB2 are analysed with a variant of our recently developed energy-partitioning scheme for the density-functional total energy. The covalent bond energies are strongest for the intralayer B-B pairs. In contrast to the general belief, there is also a considerable covalent bonding between the layers, mediated by the metal atom. The bond energies between the various atom pairs are analysed in terms of orbital- and energy-resolved contributions.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables, submitted to PR

Spatial and temporal variations of small-scale plasma turbulence parameters in the equatorial electrojet: HF and VHF radar observational results

The spatial and temporal variations of various parameters associated with plasma wave turbulence in the equatorial electrojet (EEJ) at the magnetic equatorial location of Trivandrum (8.5° N, 77° E; dip 0.5° N) are studied for the first time, using co-located HF (18MHz) and VHF (54.95MHz) coherent backscatter radar observations (daytime) in the altitude region of 95-110km, mostly on magnetically quiet days. The derived turbulence parameters are the mean electron density irregularity strength (δn/n), anomalous electron collision frequency (ν<sub><i>e</i></sub>*) and the corrected east-west electron drift velocity (<i>V<sub>ey</sub></i>). The validity of the derived parameters is confirmed using radar data at two different frequencies and comparing with in-situ measurements. The behaviour of δn/n in relation to the backscattered power during weak and strong EEJ conditions is also examined to understand the growth and evolution of turbulence in the electrojet