Fireball/Blastwave Model and Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters

Soft gamma-ray repeaters are at determined distances and their positions are known accurately. If observed, afterglows from their soft gamma-ray bursts will provide important clues to the study of the so called "classical gamma-ray bursts". On applying the popular fireball/blastwave model of classical gamma-ray bursts to soft gamma-ray repeaters, it is found that their X-ray and optical afterglows are detectable. Monitoring of the three repeaters is solicited.Comment: Already published in 1998 in "Chinese Physics Letters", replaced with the published version. See astro-ph/0502452 for a more detailed versio

Quantization of spontaneously broken gauge theory based on the BFT-BFV Formalism

We quantize the spontaneously broken abelian U(1) Higgs model by using the improved BFT and BFV formalisms. We have constructed the BFT physical fields, and obtain the first class observables including the Hamiltonian in terms of these fields. We have also explicitly shown that there are exact form invariances between the second class and first class quantities. Then, according to the BFV formalism, we have derived the corresponding Lagrangian having U(1) gauge symmetry. We also discuss at the classical level how one easily gets the first class Lagrangian from the symmetry-broken second class Lagrangian.Comment: 16 pages, latex, final version published in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Slip Failure of Embankment on Soft Marine Clay

The results of an investigation carried out at a site before and after the slip failure of an embankment on soft marine clay are presented. An evaluation of the possible causes for the slip failure and the remedial measures taken after the failure are also included. It appears that overstressing of the ground might have led to the movement of the soft soil. The compressible soils were subjected to an increase in stress without a comparable increase in foundation shear strength. This increase in horizontal stress resulted in the horizontal displacement of the soil as evident by the presence of the tension cracks in the fill just before slip failure occurred

Cloning and Expression of the PHA Synthase Gene From a Locally Isolated Chromobacterium sp. USM2

Chromobacterium sp. USM2, a locally isolated bacterium was found to synthesize poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), P(3HB-co-3HV) copolymer with high 3HV monomer composition. The PHA synthase gene was cloned and expressed in Cupriavidus necator PHB¯4 to investigate the possibilities of incorporating other monomer. The recombinant successfully incorporated 3-hydroxyhexanoate (3HHx) monomer when fed with crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) as the sole carbon source. Approximately 63 ± 2 wt% of P(3HB-co-3HHx) copolymer with 4 mol% of 3HHx was synthesized from 5 g/L of oil after 48 h of cultivation. In addition, P(3HB-co-3HV-co-3HHx) terpolymer with 9 mol% 3HV and 4 mol% 3HHx could be synthesized with a mixture of CPKO and sodium valerate. The presence of 3HV and 3HHx monomers in the copolymer and terpolymer was further confirmed with +H-NMR analysis. This locally isolated PHA synthase has demonstrated its ability to synthesize P(3HB-co-3HHx) copolymer from a readily available and renewable carbon source; CPKO, without the addition of 3HHx precursors

Spin-triplet pairing instability of the spinon Fermi surface in a U(1) spin liquid

Recent experiments on the organic compound \kappa-(ET)_2Cu_2(CN)_3 have provided a promising example of a two dimensional spin liquid state. This phase is described by a two-dimensional spinon Fermi sea coupled to a U(1) gauge field. We study Kohn-Luttinger-like pairing instabilities of the spinon Fermi surface due to singular interaction processes with twice-the-Fermi-momentum transfer. We find that under certain circumstances the pairing instability occurs in odd-orbital-angular-momentum/spin-triplet channels. Implications to experiments are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Spin Polarisability of the Nucleon in the Heavy Baryon Effective Field Theory

We have constructed a heavy baryon effective field theory with photon as an external field in accordance with the symmetry requirements similar to the heavy quark effective field theory. By treating the heavy baryon and anti-baryon equally on the same footing in the effective field theory, we have calculated the spin polarisabilities $\gamma_i, i=1...4$ of the nucleon at third order and at fourth-order of the spin-dependent Compton scattering. At leading order (LO), our results agree with the corresponding results of the heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory, at the next-to-leading order(NLO) the results show a large correction to the ones in the heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory due to baryon-antibaryon coupling terms. The low energy theorem is satisfied both at LO and at NLO. The contributions arising from the heavy baryon-antibaryon vertex were found to be significant and the results of the polarisabilities obtained from our theory is much closer to the experimental data.Comment: 21pages, title changed, minimal correction

Biocompatible Mesoporous Hollow Carbon Nanocapsules for High Performance Supercapacitors.

A facile and general method for the controllable synthesis of N-doped hollow mesoporous carbon nanocapsules (NHCNCs) with four different geometries has been developed. The spheres (NHCNC-1), low-concaves (NHCNC-2), semi-concaves (NHCNC-3) and wrinkles (NHCNC-4) shaped samples were prepared and systematically investigated to understand the structural effects of hollow particles on their supercapacitor performances. Compared with the other three different shaped samples (NHCNC-1, NHCNC-2, and NHCNC-4), the as-synthesized semi-concave structured NHCNC-3 demonstrated excellent performance with high gravimetric capacitance of 326 F g-1 (419 F cm-3) and ultra-stable cycling stability (96.6% after 5000 cycles). The outstanding performances achieved are attributed to the unique semi-concave structure, high specific surface area (1400 m2 g-1), hierarchical porosity, high packing density (1.41 g cm-3) and high nitrogen (N) content (up to 3.73%) of the new materials. These carbon nanocapsules with tailorable structures and properties enable them as outstanding carriers and platforms for various emerging applications, such as nanoscale chemical reactors, catalysis, batteries, solar energy harvest, gas storage and so on. In addition, these novel carbons have negligible cytotoxicity and high biocompatibility for human cells, promising a wide range of bio applications, such as biomaterials, drug delivery, biomedicine, biotherapy and bioelectronic devices

A note on modular forms and generalized anomaly cancellation formulas

By studying modular invariance properties of some characteristic forms, we prove some new anomaly cancellation formulas which generalize the Han-Zhang and Han-Liu-Zhang anomaly cancellation formula