Observations of 1-6 MeV Jovian electrons at 1 AU and a study of their propagation

The 1-6 MeV electron flux at 1 AU has been measured for the time period October 1972 to December 1977 by the Caltech Electron/Isotope Spectrometers on the IMP-7 and IMP-8 satellites. The non-solar interplanetary electron flux reported here covered parts of five synodic periods. The 88 Jovian increases identified in these five synodic periods were classified by their time profiles. The fall time profiles were consistent with an exponential fall with τ ≈ 4-9 days. The rise time profiles displayed a systematic variation over the synodic period. Exponential rise time profiles with τ ≈ 1-3 days tended to occur in the time period before nominal connection, diffusive profiles predicted by the convection-diffusion model around nominal connection, and abrupt profiles after nominal connection.

The times of enhancements in the magnetic field, │B│, at 1 AU showed a better correlation than corotating interaction regions (CIR's) with Jovian increases and other changes in the electron flux at 1 AU, suggesting that │B│ enhancements indicate the times that barriers to electron propagation pass Earth. Time sequences of the increases and decreases in the electron flux at 1 AU were qualitatively modeled by using the times that CIR's passed Jupiter and the times that │B│ enhancements passed Earth.

The electron data observed at 1 AU were modeled by using a convection-diffusion model of Jovian electron propagation. The synodic envelope formed by the maxima of the Jovian increases was modeled by the envelope formed by the predicted intensities at a time less than that needed to reach equilibrium. Even though the envelope shape calculated in this way was similar to the observed envelope, the required diffusion coefficients were not consistent with a diffusive process.

Three Jovian electron increases at 1 AU for the 1974 synodic period were fit with rise time profiles calculated from the convection-diffusion model. For the fits without an ambient electron background flux, the values for the diffusion coefficients that were consistent with the data were k_x = 1.0 - 2.5 x 10²¹ cm²/sec and k_y = 1.6 - 2.0 x 10²² cm²/sec. For the fits that included the ambient electron background flux, the values for the diffusion coefficients that were consistent with the data were k_x = 0.4 - 1.0 x 10²¹ cm²/sec and k_y = 0.8 - 1.3 x 10²² cm²/sec.

Investigation of competitive antagonist binding to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor using voltage-jump and light-flash techniques

1. The effect of 2,2’-bis-[α-(trimethylammonium)methyl]azobenzene (2BQ), a photoisomerizable competitive antagonist, was studied at the nicotinic acetycholine receptor of Electrophorus electroplaques using voltage-jump and light-flash techniques.

2. 2BQ, at concentrations below 3 μΜ, reduced the amplitude of voltage-jump relaxations but had little effect on the voltage-jump relaxation time constants under all experimental conditions. At higher concentrations and voltages more negative than -150 mV, 2BQ caused significant open channel blockade.

3. Dose-ratio studies showed that the cis and trans isomers of 2BQ have equilibrium binding constants (K _ᵢ) of .33 and 1.0 μΜ, respectively. The binding constants determined for both isomers are independent of temperature, voltage, agonist concentration, and the nature of the agonist.

4. In a solution of predominantly cis-2BQ, visible-light flashes led to a net cis→trans isomerization and caused an increase in the agonist-induced current. This increase had at least two exponential components; the larger amplitude component had the same time constant as a subsequent voltage-jump relaxation; the smaller amplitude component was investigated using ultraviolet light flashes.

5. In a solution of predominantly trans-2BQ, UV-light flashes led to a net trans→cis isomerization and caused a net decrease in the agonist-induced current. This effect had at least two exponential components. The smaller and faster component was an increase in agonist-induced current and had a similar time constant to the voltage-jump relaxation. The larger component was a slow decrease in the agonist-induced current with rate constant approximately an order of magnitude less than that of the voltage-jump relaxation. This slow component provided a measure of the rate constant for dissociation of cis-2BQ (k_ = 60/s at 20°C). Simple modelling of the slope of the dose-rate curves yields an association rate constant of 1.6 x 10⁸/M/s. This agrees with the association rate constant of 1.8 x 10⁸/M/s estimated from the binding constant (K_i). The Q₁₀ of the dissociation rate constant of cis-2BQ was 3.3 between 6° and 20°C. The rate constants for association and dissociation of cis-28Q at receptors are independent of voltage, agonist concentration, and the nature of the agonist.

6. We have measured the molecular rate constants of a competitive antagonist which has roughly the same K _ᵢ as d-tubocurarine but interacts more slowly with the receptor. This leads to the conclusion that curare itself has an association rate constant of 4 x 10⁹/M/s or roughly as fast as possible for an encounter-limited reaction.

Radiobiological and biochemical investigations of polyoma virus-cell interactions

The cytolytic interaction of Polyoma virus with mouse embryo cells has been studied by radiobiological methods known to distinguish temperate from virulent bacteriophage. No evidence for "temperate" properties of Polyoma was found. During the course of these studies, it was observed that the curve of inactivation of Polyoma virus by ultraviolet light had two components - a more sensitive one at low doses, and a less sensitive one at higher doses. Virus which survives a low dose has an eclipse period similar to that of unirradiated virus, while virus surviving higher doses shows a significantly longer eclipse period. If Puromycin is present during the early part of the eclipse period, the survival curve becomes a single exponential with the sensitivity of the less sensitive component. These results suggest a repair mechanism in mouse cells which operates more effectively if virus development is delayed.

A comparison of the rates of inactivation of the cytolytic and transforming abilities of Polyoma by ultraviolet light, X-rays, nitrous acid treatment, or the decay of incorporated P³², showed that the transforming ability has a target size roughly 60% of that of the plaque-forming ability. It is thus concluded that only a fraction of the viral genes are necessary for causing transformation.

The appearance of virus-specific RNA in productively infected mouse kidney cells has been followed by means of hybridization between pulse-labelled RNA from the infected cells and the purified virus DNA. The results show a sharp increase in the amount of virus-specific RNA around the time of virus DNA synthesis. The presence of a small amount of virus-specific RNA in virus-free transformed cells has also been shown. This result offers strong evidence for the persistence of at least part of the viral genome in transformed cells.

Enzyme induction in Neurospora crassa

I. Studies on Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotide Glycohydrase (NADase)

NADase, like tyrosinase and L-amino acid oxidase, is not present in two day old cultures of wild type Neurospora, but it is coinduced with those two enzymes during starvation in phosphate buffer. The induction of NADase, like tyrosinase, is inhibited by puromycin. The induction of all three enzymes is inhibited by actinomycin D. These results suggest that NADase is synthesized de novo during induction as has been shown directly for tyrosinase. NADase induction differs in being inhibited by certain amino acids.

The tyrosinaseless mutant ty-1 contains a non-dialyzable, heat labile inhibitor of NADase. A new mutant, P110A, synthesizes NADase and L-amino acid oxidase while growing. A second strain, pe, fl;cot, makes NADase while growing. Both strains can be induced to make the other enzymes. These two strains prove that the control of these three enzymes is divisible. The strain P110A makes NADase even when grown in the presence of Tween 80. The synthesis of both NADase and L-amino acid oxidase by P110A is suppressed by complete medium. The theory of control of the synthesis of the enzymes is discussed.

II. Studies with EDTA

Neurospora tyrosinase contains copper but, unlike other phenol oxidases, this copper has never been removed reversibly. It was thought that the apo-enzyme might be made in vivo in the absence of copper. Therefore cultures were treated with EDTA to remove copper before the enzyme was induced. Although no apo-tyrosinase was detected, new information on the induction process was obtained.

A treatment of Neurospora with 0.5% EDTA pH 7, inhibits the subsequent induction during starvation in phosphate buffer of tyrosinase, L-amino acid oxidase and NADase. The inhibition of tyrosinase and L-amino acid oxidase induction is completely reversed by adding 5 x 10^-5M CaCl₂, 5 x 10^-4M CuSO₄, and a mixture of L-amino acids (2 x 10^-3M each) to the buffer. Tyrosinase induction is also fully restored by 5 x 10^-4M CaCl₂ and amino acids. As yet NADase has been only partially restored.

The copper probably acts by sequestering EDTA left in the mycelium and may be replaced by nickel. The EDTA apparently removes some calcium from the mycelium, which the added calcium replaces. Magnesium cannot replace calcium. The amino acids probably replace endogenous amino acids lost to the buffer after the EDTA treatment.

The EDTA treatment also increases permeability, thereby increasing the sensitivity of induction to inhibition by actinomycin D and allowing cell contents to be lost to the induction buffer. EDTA treatment also inhibits the uptake of exogenous amino acids and their incorporation into proteins.

The lag period that precedes the first appearance of tyrosinase is demonstrated to be a separate dynamic phase of induction. It requires oxygen. It is inhibited by EDTA, but can be completed after EDTA treatment in the presence of 5 x 10^-5M CaCl₂ alone, although no tyrosinase is synthesized under these conditions.

The time course of induction has an early exponential phase suggesting an autocatalytic mechanism of induction.

The mode of action of EDTA, the process of induction and the kinetics of induction are discussed.

Photochemical electron transfer at fixed distance : a synthetic model of the photosynthetic primary process

A series of meso-phenyloctamethylporphyrins covalently bonded at the 4'phenyl position to quinones via rigid bicyclo[2.2.2]octane spacers were synthesized for the study of the dependence of electron transfer reaction rate on solvent, distance, temperature, and energy gap. A general and convergent synthesis was developed based on the condensation of ac-biladienes with masked quinonespacer-benzaldehydes. From picosecond fluorescence spectroscopy emission lifetimes were measured in seven solvents of varying polarity. Rate constants were determined to vary from 5.0x10⁹sec^-1 in N,N-dimethylformamide to 1.15x10¹⁰ Sec^-1 in benzene, and were observed to rise at most by about a factor of three with decreasing solvent polarity. Experiments at low temperature in 2-MTHF glass (77K) revealed fast, nearly temperature-independent electron transfer characterized by non-exponential fluorescence decays, in contrast to monophasic behavior in fluid solution at 298K. This example evidently represents the first photosynthetic model system not based on proteins to display nearly temperature-independent electron transfer at high temperatures (nuclear tunneling). Low temperatures appear to freeze out the rotational motion of the chromophores, and the observed nonexponential fluorescence decays may be explained as a result of electron transfer from an ensemble of rotational conformations. The nonexponentiality demonstrates the sensitivity of the electron transfer rate to the precise magnitude of the electronic matrix element, which supports the expectation that electron transfer is nonadiabatic in this system. The addition of a second bicyclooctane moiety (15 Å vs. 18 Å edge-to-edge between porphyrin and quinone) reduces the transfer rate by at least a factor of 500-1500. Porphyrinquinones with variously substituted quinones allowed an examination of the dependence of the electron transfer rate constant κ_ET on reaction driving force. The classical trend of increasing rate versus increasing exothermicity occurs from 0.7 eV≤ |ΔG^0'(R)| ≤ 1.0 eV until a maximum is reached (κ_ET = 3 x 10⁸ sec^-1 rising to 1.15 x 10¹⁰ sec^-1 in acetonitrile). The rate remains insensitive to ΔG⁰ for ~ 300 mV from 1.0 eV≤ |ΔG^0’(R)| ≤ 1.3 eV, and then slightly decreases in the most exothermic case studied (cyanoquinone, κ_ET = 5 x 10⁹ sec^-1).

Particle fluid mechanics in shear flows, acoustic waves, and shock waves

Three different categories of flow problems of a fluid containing small particles are being considered here. They are: (i) a fluid containing small, non-reacting particles (Parts I and II); (ii) a fluid containing reacting particles (Parts III and IV); and (iii) a fluid containing particles of two distinct sizes with collisions between two groups of particles (Part V).

Part I

A numerical solution is obtained for a fluid containing small particles flowing over an infinite disc rotating at a constant angular velocity. It is a boundary layer type flow, and the boundary layer thickness for the mixture is estimated. For large Reynolds number, the solution suggests the boundary layer approximation of a fluid-particle mixture by assuming W = W_p. The error introduced is consistent with the Prandtl’s boundary layer approximation. Outside the boundary layer, the flow field has to satisfy the “inviscid equation” in which the viscous stress terms are absent while the drag force between the particle cloud and the fluid is still important. Increase of particle concentration reduces the boundary layer thickness and the amount of mixture being transported outwardly is reduced. A new parameter, β = 1/Ω τ_v, is introduced which is also proportional to μ. The secondary flow of the particle cloud depends very much on β. For small values of β, the particle cloud velocity attains its maximum value on the surface of the disc, and for infinitely large values of β, both the radial and axial particle velocity components vanish on the surface of the disc.

Part II

The “inviscid” equation for a gas-particle mixture is linearized to describe the flow over a wavy wall. Corresponding to the Prandtl-Glauert equation for pure gas, a fourth order partial differential equation in terms of the velocity potential ϕ is obtained for the mixture. The solution is obtained for the flow over a periodic wavy wall. For equilibrium flows where λ_v and λ_T approach zero and frozen flows in which λ_v and λ_T become infinitely large, the flow problem is basically similar to that obtained by Ackeret for a pure gas. For finite values of λ_v and λ_T, all quantities except v are not in phase with the wavy wall. Thus the drag coefficient C_D is present even in the subsonic case, and similarly, all quantities decay exponentially for supersonic flows. The phase shift and the attenuation factor increase for increasing particle concentration.

Part III

Using the boundary layer approximation, the initial development of the combustion zone between the laminar mixing of two parallel streams of oxidizing agent and small, solid, combustible particles suspended in an inert gas is investigated. For the special case when the two streams are moving at the same speed, a Green’s function exists for the differential equations describing first order gas temperature and oxidizer concentration. Solutions in terms of error functions and exponential integrals are obtained. Reactions occur within a relatively thin region of the order of λ_D. Thus, it seems advantageous in the general study of two-dimensional laminar flame problems to introduce a chemical boundary layer of thickness λ_D within which reactions take place. Outside this chemical boundary layer, the flow field corresponds to the ordinary fluid dynamics without chemical reaction.

Part IV

The shock wave structure in a condensing medium of small liquid droplets suspended in a homogeneous gas-vapor mixture consists of the conventional compressive wave followed by a relaxation region in which the particle cloud and gas mixture attain momentum and thermal equilibrium. Immediately following the compressive wave, the partial pressure corresponding to the vapor concentration in the gas mixture is higher than the vapor pressure of the liquid droplets and condensation sets in. Farther downstream of the shock, evaporation appears when the particle temperature is raised by the hot surrounding gas mixture. The thickness of the condensation region depends very much on the latent heat. For relatively high latent heat, the condensation zone is small compared with Ʌ_D.

For solid particles suspended initially in an inert gas, the relaxation zone immediately following the compression wave consists of a region where the particle temperature is first being raised to its melting point. When the particles are totally melted as the particle temperature is further increased, evaporation of the particles also plays a role.

The equilibrium condition downstream of the shock can be calculated and is independent of the model of the particle-gas mixture interaction.

Part V

For a gas containing particles of two distinct sizes and satisfying certain conditions, momentum transfer due to collisions between the two groups of particles can be taken into consideration using the classical elastic spherical ball model. Both in the relatively simple problem of normal shock wave and the perturbation solutions for the nozzle flow, the transfer of momentum due to collisions which decreases the velocity difference between the two groups of particles is clearly demonstrated. The difference in temperature as compared with the collisionless case is quite negligible.

Energy transfer in molecular collisions

Two general, numerically exact, quantum mechanical methods have been developed for the calculation of energy transfer in molecular collisions. The methods do not treat electronic transitions because of the exchange symmetry of the electrons. All interactions between the atoms in the system are written as potential energies.

The first method is a matrix generalization of the invariant imbedding procedure, ^{17, 20} adapted for multi-channel collision processes. The second method is based on a direct integration of the matrix Schrödinger equation, with a re-orthogonalization transform applied during the integration.

Both methods have been applied to a collinear collision model for two diatoms, interacting via a repulsive exponential potential. Two major studies were performed. The first was to determine the energy dependence of the transition probabilities for an H₂ on the H₂ model system. Transitions are possible between translational energy and vibrational energy, and from vibrational modes of one H₂ to the other H₂. The second study was to determine the variation of vibrational energy transfer probability with differences in natural frequency of two diatoms similar to N₂.

Comparisons were made to previous approximate analytical solutions of this same problem. For translational to vibrational energy transfer, the previous approximations were not adequate. For vibrational to vibrational energy transfer of one vibrational quantum, the approximations were quite good.

The statistical bootstrap model

A review is presented of the statistical bootstrap model of Hagedorn and Frautschi. This model is an attempt to apply the methods of statistical mechanics in high-energy physics, while treating all hadron states (stable or unstable) on an equal footing. A statistical calculation of the resonance spectrum on this basis leads to an exponentially rising level density ρ(m) ~ cm^-3 e^βom at high masses.

In the present work, explicit formulae are given for the asymptotic dependence of the level density on quantum numbers, in various cases. Hamer and Frautschi's model for a realistic hadron spectrum is described.

A statistical model for hadron reactions is then put forward, analogous to the Bohr compound nucleus model in nuclear physics, which makes use of this level density. Some general features of resonance decay are predicted. The model is applied to the process of NN annihilation at rest with overall success, and explains the high final state pion multiplicity, together with the low individual branching ratios into two-body final states, which are characteristic of the process. For more general reactions, the model needs modification to take account of correlation effects. Nevertheless it is capable of explaining the phenomenon of limited transverse momenta, and the exponential decrease in the production frequency of heavy particles with their mass, as shown by Hagedorn. Frautschi's results on "Ericson fluctuations" in hadron physics are outlined briefly. The value of β_o required in all these applications is consistently around [120 MeV]^-1 corresponding to a "resonance volume" whose radius is very close to ƛ_π. The construction of a "multiperipheral cluster model" for high-energy collisions is advocated.

Solar flare particle propagation--comparison of a new analytic solution with spacecraft measurements

A new analytic solution has been obtained to the complete Fokker-Planck equation for solar flare particle propagation including the effects of convection, energy-change, corotation, and diffusion with ĸ_r = constant and ĸ_Ɵ ∝ r². It is assumed that the particles are injected impulsively at a single point in space, and that a boundary exists beyond which the particles are free to escape. Several solar flare particle events have been observed with the Caltech Solar and Galactic Cosmic Ray Experiment aboard OGO-6. Detailed comparisons of the predictions of the new solution with these observations of 1-70 MeV protons show that the model adequately describes both the rise and decay times, indicating that ĸ_r = constant is a better description of conditions inside 1 AU than is ĸ_r ∝ r. With an outer boundary at 2.7 AU, a solar wind velocity of 400 km/sec, and a radial diffusion coefficient ĸ_r ≈ 2-8 x 10²⁰ cm²/sec, the model gives reasonable fits to the time-profile of 1-10 MeV protons from "classical" flare-associated events. It is not necessary to invoke a scatter-free region near the sun in order to reproduce the fast rise times observed for directly-connected events. The new solution also yields a time-evolution for the vector anisotropy which agrees well with previously reported observations.

In addition, the new solution predicts that, during the decay phase, a typical convex spectral feature initially at energy T_o will move to lower energies at an exponential rate given by T_KINK = T_oexp(-t/Ƭ_KINK). Assuming adiabatic deceleration and a boundary at 2.7 AU, the solution yields Ƭ_KINK ≈ 100h, which is faster than the measured ~200h time constant and slower than the adiabatic rate of ~78h at 1 AU. Two possible explanations are that the boundary is at ~5 AU or that some other energy-change process is operative.