332 research outputs found
Hydrogen tunneling in the perovskite ionic conductor BaCe(1-x)Y(x)O(3-d)
We present low-temperature anelastic and dielectric spectroscopy measurements
on the perovskite ionic conductor BaCe(1-x)Y(x)O(3-x/2) in the protonated,
deuterated and outgassed states. Three main relaxation processes are ascribed
to proton migration, reorientation about an Y dopant and tunneling around a
same O atom. An additional relaxation maximum appears only in the dielectric
spectrum around 60 K, and does not involve H motion, but may be of electronic
origin, e.g. small polaron hopping. The peak at the lowest temperature,
assigned to H tunneling, has been fitted with a relaxation rate presenting
crossovers from one-phonon transitions, nearly independent of temperature, to
two-phonon processes, varying as T^7, to Arrhenius-like. Substituting H with D
lowers the overall rate by 8 times. The corresponding peak in the dielectric
loss has an intensity nearly 40 times smaller than expected from the classical
reorientation of the electric dipole associated with the OH complex. This fact
is discussed in terms of coherent tunneling states of H in a cubic and
orthorhombically distorted lattice, possibly indicating that only H in the
symmetric regions of twin boundaries exhibit tunneling, and in terms of
reduction of the effective dipole due to lattice polarization.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
Hydrogen Dynamics in Superprotonic CsHSO4
We present a detailed study of proton dynamics in the hydrogen-bonded
superprotonic conductor CsHSO4 from first-principles molecular dynamics
simulations, isolating the subtle interplay between the dynamics of the O--H
chemical bonds, the O...H hydrogen bonds, and the SO4 tetrahedra in promoting
proton diffusion. We find that the Grotthus mechanism of proton transport is
primarily responsible for the dynamics of the chemical bonds, whereas the
reorganization of the hydrogen-bond network is dominated by rapid angular hops
in concert with small reorientations of the SO4 tetrahedra. Frequent proton
jumping across the O--H...O complex is countered by a high rate of jump
reversal, which we show is connected to the dynamics of the SO4 tetrahedra,
resulting in a diminished CsHSO4/CsDSO4 isotope effect. We also find evidence
of multiple timescales for SO4 reorientation events, leading to distinct
diffusion mechanisms along the different crystal lattice directions. Finally,
we employ graph-theoretic techniques to characterize the topology of the
hydrogen-bond network and demonstrate a clear relationship between certain
connectivity configurations and the likelihood for diffusive jump events.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
Electronic transport calculations for rough interfaces in Al, Cu, Ag, and Au
We present results of electronic structure and transport calculations for
metallic interfaces, based on density functional theory and the non-equilibrium
Green's functions method. Starting from the electronic structure of smooth Al,
Cu, Ag, and Au interfaces, we study the effects of different kinds of interface
roughness on the transmission coefficient and the I-V characteristic. In
particular, we compare prototypical interface distortions, including vacancies
and metallic impurities.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure
Inclusive dielectron production in proton-proton collisions at 2.2 GeV beam energy
Data on inclusive dielectron production are presented for the reaction p+p at
2.2 GeV measured with the High Acceptance DiElectron Spectrometer (HADES). Our
results supplement data obtained earlier in this bombarding energy regime by
DLS and HADES. The comparison with the 2.09 GeV DLS data is discussed. The
reconstructed e+e- distributions are confronted with simulated pair cocktails,
revealing an excess yield at invariant masses around 0.5 GeV/c2. Inclusive
cross sections of neutral pion and eta production are obtained
The High-Acceptance Dielectron Spectrometer HADES
HADES is a versatile magnetic spectrometer aimed at studying dielectron
production in pion, proton and heavy-ion induced collisions. Its main features
include a ring imaging gas Cherenkov detector for electron-hadron
discrimination, a tracking system consisting of a set of 6 superconducting
coils producing a toroidal field and drift chambers and a multiplicity and
electron trigger array for additional electron-hadron discrimination and event
characterization. A two-stage trigger system enhances events containing
electrons. The physics program is focused on the investigation of hadron
properties in nuclei and in the hot and dense hadronic matter. The detector
system is characterized by an 85% azimuthal coverage over a polar angle
interval from 18 to 85 degree, a single electron efficiency of 50% and a vector
meson mass resolution of 2.5%. Identification of pions, kaons and protons is
achieved combining time-of-flight and energy loss measurements over a large
momentum range. This paper describes the main features and the performance of
the detector system
Study of dielectron production in C+C collisions at 1 AGeV
The emission of e+e- pairs from C+C collisions at an incident energy of 1 GeV
per nucleon has been investigated. The measured production probabilities,
spanning from the pi0-Dalitz to the rho/omega! invariant-mass region, display a
strong excess above the cocktail of standard hadronic sources. The
bombarding-energy dependence of this excess is found to scale like pion
production, rather than like eta production. The data are in good agreement
with results obtained in the former DLS experiment.Comment: submitted to Physics Letters
Mineralogical and geochemical features of sulfide chimneys from the 49°39′E hydrothermal field on the Southwest Indian Ridge and their geological inferences
© The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Chinese Science Bulletin 56 (2011): 2828-2838, doi:10.1007/s11434-011-4619-4.During January–May in 2007, the Chinese research cruise DY115-19 discovered an active hydrothermal field at 49°39′E/37°47′S on the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR). This was also the first active hydrothermal field found along an ultraslow-spreading ridge. We analyzed mineralogical, textural and geochemical compositions of the sulfide chimneys obtained from the 49°39′E field. Chimney samples show a concentric mineral zone around the fluid channel. The mineral assemblages of the interiors consist mainly of chalcopyrite, with pyrite and sphalerite as minor constitunets. In the intermediate portion, pyrite becomes the dominant mineral, with chalcopyrite and sphalerite as minor constitunets. For the outer wall, the majority of minerals are pyrite and sphalerite, with few chalcopyrite. Towards the outer margin of the chimney wall, the mineral grains become small and irregular in shape gradually, while minerals within interstices are abundant. These features are similar to those chimney edifices found on the East Pacific Rise and Mid-Atlantic Ridge. The average contents of Cu, Fe and Zn in our chimney samples were 2.83 wt%, 45.6 wt% and 3.28 wt%, respectively. The average Au and Ag contents were up to 2.0 ppm and 70.2 ppm respectively, higher than the massive sulfides from most hydrothermal fields along mid-ocean ridge. The rare earth elements geochemistry of the sulfide chimneys show a pattern distinctive from the sulfides recovered from typical hydrothermal fields along sediment-starved mid-ocean ridge, with the enrichment of light rare earth elements but the weak, mostly negative, Eu anomaly. This is attributed to the distinct mineralization environment or fluid compositions in this area.This work was supported by the China Ocean Mineral
Resources Research and Development Association Program (DY115-
02-1-01) and the State Oceanic Administration Youth Science Fund
(2010318)
Palomar Observatory Hale Telescope : Prime Focus Nebular Spectrograph Log Book
The Prime Focus Nebular Spectrograph was used at the Hale Telescope from June 1950 to June 1973 -- a span of 33 years -- by which time it was supplanted by Cassegrain spectrographs equipped with image intensifiers.
In 1981, the instrument (without the two semi-solid Bowen-Schmidt cameras) was given on a long-term loan to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for use at the Table Mountain Observatory.
This book consists of copies of the observing log in which the exposures were recorded. The two original log books have been deposited in the Caltech Archive
Thermodynamic Selection of Steric Zipper Patterns in the Amyloid Cross-β Spine
At the core of amyloid fibrils is the cross-β spine, a long tape of β-sheets formed by the constituent proteins. Recent high-resolution x-ray studies show that the unit of this filamentous structure is a β-sheet bilayer with side chains within the bilayer forming a tightly interdigitating “steric zipper” interface. However, for a given peptide, different bilayer patterns are possible, and no quantitative explanation exists regarding which pattern is selected or under what condition there can be more than one pattern observed, exhibiting molecular polymorphism. We address the structural selection mechanism by performing molecular dynamics simulations to calculate the free energy of incorporating a peptide monomer into a β-sheet bilayer. We test filaments formed by several types of peptides including GNNQQNY, NNQQ, VEALYL, KLVFFAE and STVIIE, and find that the patterns with the lowest binding free energy correspond to available atomistic structures with high accuracy. Molecular polymorphism, as exhibited by NNQQ, is likely because there are more than one most stable structures whose binding free energies differ by less than the thermal energy. Detailed analysis of individual energy terms reveals that these short peptides are not strained nor do they lose much conformational entropy upon incorporating into a β-sheet bilayer. The selection of a bilayer pattern is determined mainly by the van der Waals and hydrophobic forces as a quantitative measure of shape complementarity among side chains between the β-sheets. The requirement for self-complementary steric zipper formation supports that amyloid fibrils form more easily among similar or same sequences, and it also makes parallel β-sheets generally preferred over anti-parallel ones. But the presence of charged side chains appears to kinetically drive anti-parallel β-sheets to form at early stages of assembly, after which the bilayer formation is likely driven by energetics
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