1,071 research outputs found
Laboratory spectra of C60 and related molecular structures
The electronic spectra of fullerene structures in high frequency discharge are studied in the plasma chemistry laboratory of the Faculty of Science of Masaryk University in Brno. The ultraviolet and visual spectra are investigated in order to be compared with the diffuse interstellar bands and interpreted within the theory of quantum mechanics. The preliminary results of the study are presented here in the form of a poster
Projected free energies for polydisperse phase equilibria
A `polydisperse' system has an infinite number of conserved densities. We
give a rational procedure for projecting its infinite-dimensional free energy
surface onto a subspace comprising a finite number of linear combinations of
densities (`moments'), in which the phase behavior is then found as usual. If
the excess free energy of the system depends only on the moments used, exact
cloud, shadow and spinodal curves result; two- and multi-phase regions are
approximate, but refinable indefinitely by adding extra moments. The approach
is computationally robust and gives new geometrical insights into the
thermodynamics of polydispersity.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX, uses multicol.sty and epsf.sty, 1 postscript figure
include
Polydisperse star polymer solutions
We analyze the effect of polydispersity in the arm number on the effective
interactions, structural correlations and the phase behavior of star polymers
in a good solvent. The effective interaction potential between two star
polymers with different arm numbers is derived using scaling theory. The
resulting expression is tested against monomer-resolved molecular dynamics
simulations. We find that the theoretical pair potential is in agreement with
the simulation data in a much wider polydispersity range than other proposed
potentials. We then use this pair potential as an input in a many-body theory
to investigate polydispersity effects on the structural correlations and the
phase diagram of dense star polymer solutions. In particular we find that a
polydispersity of 10%, which is typical in experimental samples, does not
significantly alter previous findings for the phase diagram of monodisperse
solutions.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Predicting phase equilibria in polydisperse systems
Many materials containing colloids or polymers are polydisperse: They
comprise particles with properties (such as particle diameter, charge, or
polymer chain length) that depend continuously on one or several parameters.
This review focusses on the theoretical prediction of phase equilibria in
polydisperse systems; the presence of an effectively infinite number of
distinguishable particle species makes this a highly nontrivial task. I first
describe qualitatively some of the novel features of polydisperse phase
behaviour, and outline a theoretical framework within which they can be
explored. Current techniques for predicting polydisperse phase equilibria are
then reviewed. I also discuss applications to some simple model systems
including homopolymers and random copolymers, spherical colloids and
colloid-polymer mixtures, and liquid crystals formed from rod- and plate-like
colloidal particles; the results surveyed give an idea of the rich
phenomenology of polydisperse phase behaviour. Extensions to the study of
polydispersity effects on interfacial behaviour and phase separation kinetics
are outlined briefly.Comment: 48 pages, invited topical review for Journal of Physics: Condensed
Matter; uses Institute of Physics style file iopart.cls (included
Modelling of interactions of polar and nonpolar pollutants with soil minerals and soil organic matter
Environmental pollution of soils by organic contaminants such as pesticides is one of the serious problems of our civilization. Contaminants can undergo various physical, chemical and biological transformation processes in soils governing behaviour, distribution, and fate of organic species in environment and subsequent environmental risks. Mechanistic understanding of molecular interactions of organic pollutants with main soil components represents a key factor for estimating the behaviour of contaminants in soils. Molecular modelling offers an opportunity to investigate and characterize various details of these interactions at molecular level providing specifications, which are difficult to obtain at the experimental level. This work represents a comprehensive overview of our investigations of the molecular interactions of organic contaminants with selected soil components. Particularly, we focused on the characterization of the structure and the surface complexation of the phenoxyacetic acid derivatives (herbicides MCPA and 2,4-D) and typical soil minerals such as clay minerals (kaolinite and montmorillonite) and iron oxyhydroxides (goethite and lepidocrocite). Further, interactions of several representative nonpolar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (e.g. naphthalene, anthracene, pyrene, and phenanthrene) with iron oxyhydroxides were modelled, as well. It was found that in case of polar species, hydrogen bonds and electrostatic interactions play an important role in the formation of the surface complexes. In case of nonpolar PAHs, dispersion forces dominate in the planar stacking of the PAHs molecules on mineral surfaces. Another study focused at a complex 3D model representing humic substances firstly, featuring polar hydrophilic and nonpolar hydrophobic domains and also a nanopore SOM structure. This model was taken to simulate trapping and interactions of MCPA (polar) and naphthalene (nonpolar) species inside of the nanopore. It was found that MCPA is preferentially stabilized close to polar functional groups (carboxyl) whereas naphthalene interacts mostly with nonpolar aliphatic chains through dispersion interactions
Reactions at polymer interfaces: A Monte Carlo Simulation
Reactions at a strongly segregated interface of a symmetric binary polymer
blend are investigated via Monte Carlo simulations. End functionalized
homopolymers of different species interact at the interface instantaneously and
irreversibly to form diblock copolymers. The simulations, in the framework of
the bond fluctuation model, determine the time dependence of the copolymer
production in the initial and intermediate time regime for small reactant
concentration . The results are compared to
recent theories and simulation data of a simple reaction diffusion model. For
the reactant concentration accessible in the simulation, no linear growth of
the copolymer density is found in the initial regime, and a -law is
observed in the intermediate stage.Comment: to appear in Macromolecule
Comparison of measurement and simulation of ATLAS cavern radiation background
Sixteen Medipix2 pixel detector based (MPX) devices were operated at various positions within the ATLAS detector and cavern continuously from early 2008 up to 2013. In addition to photons, each MPX detector is capable to detect charged particles, and neutrons as it is covered with a mask of converter materials dividing its area into regions sensitive to thermal or fast neutrons. The MPX detector network was effectively used for real-time measurements of the spectral characteristics and composition of complex radiation fields in ATLAS. This article reports comparison of the results of measurements performed with MPX detectors during the LHC operation period in 2010 and 2011 with Monte Carlo simulations results from the FLUGG and GCALOR codes. For the purpose of this comparison, the MPX detectors were operated in tracking mode with low threshold (8-10 keV) allowing one to distinguish among particle categories based on the recognition of track patterns left by the particles in the MPX sensitive layer. The comparison of measurements with simulations shows that the agreement between measured and simulated data is satisfactory in most cases within a factor of two
Single hadron response measurement and calorimeter jet energy scale uncertainty with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
The uncertainty on the calorimeter energy response to jets of particles is
derived for the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). First, the
calorimeter response to single isolated charged hadrons is measured and
compared to the Monte Carlo simulation using proton-proton collisions at
centre-of-mass energies of sqrt(s) = 900 GeV and 7 TeV collected during 2009
and 2010. Then, using the decay of K_s and Lambda particles, the calorimeter
response to specific types of particles (positively and negatively charged
pions, protons, and anti-protons) is measured and compared to the Monte Carlo
predictions. Finally, the jet energy scale uncertainty is determined by
propagating the response uncertainty for single charged and neutral particles
to jets. The response uncertainty is 2-5% for central isolated hadrons and 1-3%
for the final calorimeter jet energy scale.Comment: 24 pages plus author list (36 pages total), 23 figures, 1 table,
submitted to European Physical Journal
Standalone vertex ďŹnding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer
A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at âs = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011
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