Study on small-strain behaviours of methane hydrate sandy sediments using discrete element method

Methane hydrate bearing soil has attracted increasing interest as a potential energy resource where methane gas can be extracted from dissociating hydrate-bearing sediments. Seismic testing techniques have been applied extensively and in various ways, to detect the presence of hydrates, due to the fact that hydrates increase the stiffness of hydrate-bearing sediments. With the recognition of the limitations of laboratory and field tests, wave propagation modelling using Discrete Element Method (DEM) was conducted in this study in order to provide some particle-scale insights on the hydrate-bearing sandy sediment models with pore-filling and cementation hydrate distributions. The relationship between shear wave velocity and hydrate saturation was established by both DEM simulations and analytical solutions. Obvious differences were observed in the dependence of wave velocity on hydrate saturation for these two cases. From the shear wave velocity measurement and particle-scale analysis, it was found that the small-strain mechanical properties of hydrate-bearing sandy sediments are governed by both the hydrate distribution patterns and hydrate saturation. © 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.

核物质对称能的高密行为研究

One of the major tasks of studying isospin physics via heavy-ion collisions with neutron-rich nuclei, is to explore the isospin dependence of in-medium nuclear effective interactions and the equation of state of neutron-rich nuclear matter, i.e., the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy. Because of its great importance for understanding many phenomena in both nuclear physics and astrophysics, the study of the density dependence of nuclear symmetry energy has been the main focus of the intermediate。中文摘要：同位旋物理的主要任务之一是通过放射性核束引起的核反应来探索介质中有效核子  核子相互作用的同位旋依赖性，尤其是同位旋相关的核物质状态方程，即，密度依赖的核物质对称能。由于对称能，尤其是其高密行为，对核物理学和天体物理学具有重要意义，密度依赖的对称能在过去10年一直是中能重离子物理研究领域的主要焦点之一。近年来，低密对称能的研究已经取得了重要进展，而对称能的高密行为仍然很不确定。在理论方面，人们提出了许多对高密对称能敏感的观测量。实验方面，关于对称能高密行为研究的实验计划已经展开，世界各地正在建造的放射性核束装置为对称能的高密行为研究提供了新的机遇。基于Ｉ ＢＵＵ输运模型综述了研究对称能高密行为的一些敏感观测量及其最新进展，以及所面临的挑战与机遇。

Systematic study of the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in heavy-ion collisions with the same neutron/proton ratio but different masses

A systematic study of the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in heavy-ion collisions with the same neutron/proton ratio but different masses can help single out effects of the nuclear mean field on pion production. Based on simulations using the IBUU04 transport model, it is found that the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio in head-on collisions of Ca-48 + Ca-48, Sn-124 + Sn-124, and Au-197 + Au-197 at beam energies from 0.25 to 0.6 GeV/nucleon increases with increasing the system size or decreasing the beam energies. A comprehensive analysis of the dynamical isospin fractionation and the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio as well as their time evolution and spatial distributions demonstrates clearly that the pi(-)/pi(+) ratio is an effective probe of the high-density behavior of the nuclear symmetry energy.

Half-Lives of Superheavy Nuclei in Z=113 Alpha Decay Chain

The generalized liquid drop model (GLDM), including the proximity effects and centrifugal potential, and the cluster model with Cosh potential are used to study the half-lives of some Z=113 isotopes and their alpha-decay products.The experimental half-lives of (284)113, (283)113, (282)113and their alpha-decay products are well reproduced by the two models when zero angular momenta transfer is assumed. For (278)113 and its alpha-decay products, both the GLDM andthe cluster model could provide satisfactory results if we assume the alpha particle carry five units of angular momenta, which indicates that possible non zero angular momenta transfer and need further experimental measurements with high precision. Finally, we show that half-lives of alpha-decay are quite sensitive to the angular momentum transfers, and a formula could be used to describe the correlation between alpha-decay half-life and angular momentum transfer successfully.

Orientation effects of deformed nuclei on the production of superheavy elements

Within the dinuclear system model, the effects of the relative orientations of interacting deformed nuclei on the interaction potential energy surfaces, the evaporation residue cross sections of some cold fusion reactions leading to superheavy elements are investigated. The competition between fusion and quasifission is studied to show the effect of the orientation. It turns out that the belly-belly orientation is in favor of the production of superheavy nuclei, because in the case a barrier has suppressed the quasifission and thus helped fusion.

Slow highly charged ion O4+ induced electron emission from clean solid surfaces

The. total electron emission yields following the interaction of slow highly charged ions (SHCI) O4+ with different material surfaces (W, Au, Si and SiO2) have been measured. It is found that the electron emission yield gamma increases proportionally with the projectile velocity v ranging from 5.36 x 10(5)m/s to 10.7 x 10(5)m/s. The total emission yield is dependent on the target materials, and it turns out to follow the relationship gamma(Au) > gamma(Si)> gamma(W). The result shows that the electron emission yields are mainly determined by the electron stopping power of the target when the projectile potential energy is taken as a constant, which is in good agreement with the former studies

Effects of elastic and inelastic NN scattering cross sections on pi(-)/pi(+) ratios in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

Based on the isospin-dependent Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck transport model and the scaling model according to nucleon effective mass, effects of elastic and inelastic NN scattering cross sections on pi(-)/pi(+) in the neutron-rich reaction of Ca-48 + Ca-48 at a beam energy of 400 MeV/nucleon are studied. It is found that cross-section effects of both NN elastic and inelastic scatterings affect Delta(1232), pi(-) and pi(+) production, as well as the value of pi(-)/pi(+).

Medium effects on pi(-)/pi(+) in heavy-ion collisions at intermediate energies

Based on the isospin-dependent transport model IBUU and on the scaling model according to nucleon effective mass, effects of elastic and inelastic NN scattering cross-sections on pi(-)/pi(+) in the neutron-rich reaction Ca-48 + Ca-48 at a beam energy of 400MeV/nucleon are studied. It is found that cross-section effects of both NN elastic and inelastic scatterings affect Delta(1232), pi(-) and pi(+) productions as well as the value of pi(-)/pi(+).

对称能高密行为的模拟研究

本文讨论了当前核物理的前沿问题之一，放射性核束物理中的对称能密度依赖性问题。首先讨论了对称能的概念、研究意义、对称能的研究现状及对称能的温度依赖性问题，其次讨论了重离子碰撞输运模拟的BUU方程，计算方法与计算技术，单粒子势和核子－核子散射截面，模拟科学与输运模型。然后重点给出了我们的研究成果，即，探测对称能高密行为的一些观测量。我们探讨了中心碰撞的pion-/pion+ ，同位旋相分化自由核子发射非对称度的快度分布、中快度自由核子发射的中－质比，径向流，横向流，质子椭圆流以及中－质微分椭圆流的对称能效应。研究了双n/p 、库仑峰附近的双pion-/pion+ 以及双中－质微分流对对称能高密行为的敏感性。讨论了双反应系统观测量对于减小库仑作用影响及系统误差的可适用性。指出了垂直于反应平面的挤压发射的n/p 和pion-/pion+，尤其是在高横动量时，对于探测对称能高密行为的高敏感性与较少地受低密核物质对称能影响的抗干扰性。还讨论了弱作用探针中能重离子碰撞中的硬光子发射问题，指出了丰中子、缺中子双反应系统的硬光子发射的能谱比不但敏感于对称能的高密行为，而且还几乎全部缩弱了光子产生截面、核子－核子散射截面的不确定性影响。研究了同位旋液汽相分化高能端汽相核子中－质比会小于液相核子中－质的反常现象，同时指出了反常液汽相变翻转能的对称能效应。国际同行的一些相关工作在本章末进行了讨论。最后，我们给出结论并就下一步关于模型和对称能高密行为的探针的工作方向进行了简要展望

Bonding and correlation analysis of various SiCO isomers

The structural properties for various SiCO isomers in the singlet and triplet states have been investigated using CASSCF methods with a 6-311 +G* basis set and also using three DFT and MP2 with same basis set for those systems except for the linear singlet state. The detailed bonding character is discussed, and the state-state correlations and the isomerization mechanism are also determined. Results indicate that there are four different isomers for each spin state, and for all isomers, the triplet state is more stable than the corresponding singlet state. The most stable is the linear SiCO ((3)Sigma(-)) species and may be refer-red to the ground state. At the CASSCF-MP2(full)/6-311+G* level, the state-state energy separations of the other triplet states relative to the ground state are 43.2 (cyclic), 45.2 (linear SiOC), and 75.6 kcal/mol (linear CSiO), respectively, whereas the triplet-singlet state excitation energies for each configuration are 17.3 (linear SiCO), 2.2 (cyclic SiCO), 10.2 (linear SiOC), and 18.5 kcal/mol (linear CSiO), respectively. SiCo ((3)Sigma(-)) may be classified as silene (carbonylsilene), and its COdelta- moiety possesses CO- property. The dissociation energy of the ground state is 42.5 kcal/mol at the CASSCF-MP2(full)/6-311+G* level and falls within a range of 36.5-41.5 kcal/mol at DFT level, and of 23.7-28.9 kcal/mol at the wave function-correlated level, whereas the vertical IP is 188.8 kcal/mol at the CASSCF-MP2(full)/6-311+G* level and is very close to the first IP of Si atom. Three linear isomers (SiCO, SiOC, and CSiO) have similar structural bonding character. SiOC may be referred to the iso-carbonyl Si instead of the aether compound, whereas the CSiO isomer may be considered as the combination of C (the analogue of Si) with SiO (the analogue of CO). The bonding is weak for all linear species, and the corresponding potential energy surfaces are flat, and thus these linear molecules are facile. Another important isomer is of cyclic structure, it may be considered as the combination of CO with Si by the side pi bond. This structure has the smallest triplet state-singlet state excitation energy (similar to2.2 kcal/mol); the C-O bonds are longer, and the corresponding vibrational frequencies are significantly smaller than those of the other linear species. This cyclic species is not classified as an epoxy compound. State-state correlation analysis and the isomerization pathway searches have indicated that there are no direct correlations among three linear structures for each spin state, but they may interchange by experiencing two transition states and one cyclic intermediate. The easiest pathway is to break the Si-O bond to go to the linear SiCO, but its inverse process is very difficult. The most difficult process is to break the C-O bond and to go to the linear CSiO.

A velocity map ion-imaging study on C2H5SH and C3H7SH photodissociation at 243 nm

Photodissociation dynamics Of C2H5SH, i-C-3-H7SH and n-C3H7SH at 243.1 nm were investigated using velocity map ion-imaging method. H-atom photolysis products were detected by a (2 + 1) resonance enhanced ionization scheme. Both the angular distribution and translational energy distribution of the H-atom elimination processes were determined from the ion images of the H-atom products. The experimental results indicate that the H-atom eliminations from these molecules are mainly direct and fast dissociation processes from a repulsive potential energy state. And a more statistical dissociation process that likely occurs oil the ground state via internal conversion has also been observed. Dissociation energies of the S-H bonds are also derived from the H-atom product translational energy distributions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Theoretical investigation of 5D-metal monocarbide

Bond distances, vibrational frequencies, electron affinities, ionization potentials and dissociation energies of the title molecules in neutral, positively and negatively charged ions were studied by use of density functional method. The calculated results were compared with previous theoretical and experimental studies. Ground states for each molecule were assigned. It was found that for some molecules, low-lying state, in which the energy is much close to the ground state, was obtained. In this case, further studies both experimentally and theoretically are necessary in order to find the true global minimum.

Electronic structures of MCO (M = Nb, Ta, Rh, Ir, Pd, Pt) molecules by density functional theory

Equilibrium geometries, vibrational frequencies, and dissociation energies of the transition metal carbonyls MCO (M = Nb, Ta, Rh, Ir, Pd, Pt) were studied by use of diverse density functional methods B3LYP, BLYP, B3P86, B3PW91, BHLYP, BP86, and PBE1PBE. It was found that the ground electronic state is (6)Sigma(+) for NbCO and TaCO, (2)Sigma(+) for RhCO,(2)Delta for IrCO, and (1)Sigma(+) for PdCO and PtCO, in agreement with previous theoretical studies. The calculated properties are highly dependent on the functionals employed, in particular for the dissociation energy. For most of the molecules, the predicted bond distance is in agreement with experiments and previous theoretical results. BHLYP is the worst method in reproducing the experimental results compared with the other density functional methods for the title molecules.

Funneled landscape leads to robustness of cellular networks: MAPK signal transduction

We uncover the underlying potential energy landscape for a cellular network. We find that the potential energy landscape of the mitogen-activated protein-kinase signal transduction network is funneled toward the global minimum. The funneled landscape is quite robust against random perturbations. This naturally explains robustness from a physical point of view. The ratio of slope versus roughness of the landscape becomes a quantitative measure of robustness of the network. Funneled landscape is a realization of the Darwinian principle of natural selection at the cellular network level. It provides an optimal criterion for network connections and design. Our approach is general and can be applied to other cellular networks.

Chemical bonding and electronic structure of 4d-metal monocarbides

Bond distances, vibrational frequencies, dissociation energies, electron affinities, ionization potentials and dipole moments of the title molecules in neutral and charged ions were studied by use of density functional method. Ground states for each molecule were assigned. For neutral and cationic molecules, the bond distance decreases from YC (YC+) to RhC (RhC+), then increases, while for anionic molecules, the bond distance decreases from YC- to RuC-, then increases. Opposite trend was observed for vibrational frequency. The bond ionic character decreases from ZrC to PdC for neutral molecules. The bonding patterns are discussed and compared with the available studies.