Properties of the proton-evoked currents and their modulation by Ca2+ and Zn2+ in the acutely dissociated hippocampus CA1 neurons

The characterization of acid-sensing ion channel (ASIC)-like currents has been reported in hippocampal neurons in primary culture. However, it is suggested that the profile of expression of ASICs changes in culture. In this study, we investigated the properties of proton-activated current and its modulation by extracellular Ca2+ and Zn2+ in neurons acutely dissociated from the rat hippocampal CA1 using conventional whole-cell patch-clamp recording. A rapidly decaying inward current and membrane depolarization was induced by exogenous application of acidic solution. The current was sensitive to the extracellular proton with a response threshold of pH 7.0-6.8 and the pH(50) Of 6.1, the reversal potential close to the Na+ equilibrium potential. It had a characteristic of acid-sensing ion channels (ASICs) as demonstrated by its sensitivity to amiloride (IC50 = 19.6 +/- 2.1 muM). Either low [Ca2+](0) or high [Zn2+](0) increased the amplitude of the current. All these characteristics are consistent with a current mediated through a mixture of homomeric ASIC1a and heteromeric ASIC1a + 2a channels and closely replicate many of the characteristics that have been previously reported for hippocampal neurons cultured for a week or more, indicating that culture artifacts do not necessarily flaw the properties of ASICs. Interestingly, we found that high [Zn2+] (>10(-4) M) slowed the decay time constant of the ASIC-like current significantly in both acutely dissociated and cultured hippocampal neurons. In addition, the facilitating effects of low [Ca2+](0) and high [Zn2+](0) on the ASIC-like current were not additive. Since tissue acidosis, extracellular Zn elevation and/or Ca2+ reduction occur concurrently under some physiological and/or pathological conditions, the present observations suggest that hippocampal ASICs may offer a novel pharmacological target for therapeutic invention. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

UV photoconductivity characteristics of ZnO nanowire field effect transistor treated by proton irradiation

We investigated the UV photoconductivity characteristics of ZnO nanowire field effect transistors (FETs) irradiated by proton beams. After proton beam irradiation (using a beam energy of 10 MeV and a fluence of 10 12 cm -2), the drain current and carrier density in the ZnO nanowire FETs decreased, and the threshold voltage shifted to the positive gate bias direction due to the creation of interface traps at the SiO 2/ZnO nanowire interface by the proton beam. The interface traps produced a higher surface barrier potential and a larger depletion region at the ZnO nanowire surface, affecting the photoconductivity and its decay time. The UV photoconductivity of the proton-irradiated ZnO nanowire FETs was higher and more prolonged than that of the pristine ZnO nanowire FETs. The results extend our understanding of the UV photoconductivity characteristics of ZnO nanowire devices and other materials when irradiated with highly energetic particles. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Decay lifetime and evolution of semiconductor quantum dots in photonic crystals

Spontaneous emission from GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots (QDs) embedded in photonic crystals with a narrow photonic band gap is studied theoretically. The results show that the decay lifetime is very sensitive to the sizes of QDs, and both inhibited and accelerated emission can occur, which had been indicated in a previous experiment. The Weisskopf-Wigner approximation, good for atoms and molecules, may be incorrect for QDs. A damped Rabi oscillation of the excited state with the transition frequency outside the photonic band gap may appear, which is impossible for atoms and molecules. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gound State Properties of Nuclei in (295)118 alpha-Decay Chain

The properties of nuclei belonging to the alpha-decay chain of superheavy element (295)118 have been studied in the framework of axially deformed relativistic mean field (RMF) theory with the parameter set of NL-Z2 in the blocked BCS approximation. Some ground state properties such as binding energies, deformations, and alpha-decay energies Q(alpha) have been obtained and agree well with those from finite-range droplet model (FRDM). The single-particle spectra of nuclei in (295)118 alpha-decay chain show that the shell gaps present obviously nucleon number dependence. The root-mean-square (rms) radii of proton, neutron and matter distributions change slowly from (283)112 to (295)118 but dramatically from (279)110 to (283)112, which may be due to the subshell closure at Z = 110 in (279)110. The alpha-decay half-lives in (295)118 decay chain are evaluated by employing the cluster model and the generalized liquid drop model (GLDM), and the overall agreement is found when they are compared with the known experimental data. The alpha-decay lifetimes obtained from the cluster model are slightly larger than those of GLDM ones. Finally, we predict the alpha-decay half-lives of Z = 118, 116, 114, 112 isotopes using the cluster model and GLDM, which also indicate these two models can corroborate each other in studies on superheavy nuclei. The results from GLDM are always lower than those obtained from the cluster model.

eta photoproduction on the proton in a chiral constituent quark approach via a one-gluon-exchange model

A formalism based on a chiral quark model (chi QM) approach complemented with a one-gluon-exchange model, to take into account the breakdown of the SU(6)circle times O(3) symmetry, is presented. The configuration mixing of wave functions for nucleon and resonances are derived. With few adjustable parameters, differential cross-section and polarized-beam asymmetry for the gamma p -> eta p process are calculated and successfully compared with the data in the center-of-mass energy range from threshold to 2 GeV. The known resonances S-11(1535), S-11(1650), P-13(1720), D-13(1520), and F-15(1680), as well as two new S-11 and D-15 resonances, are found to be dominant in the reaction mechanism. Moreover, connections among the scattering amplitudes of the chi QM approach and the helicity amplitudes, as well as decay widths of resonances, are established. Possible contributions from the so-called missing resonances are investigated and found to be negligible.

High-spin isomeric structures in exotic odd-odd nuclei: Exploration of the proton drip line and beyond

We investigate the role of two-quasiparticle isomeric states along the proton drip line, using configuration-constrained potential-energy-surface calculations. In contrast to even-even nuclei, odd-odd nuclei can have coexisting low-lying two-quasiparticle states. The low excitation energy and high angular momentum can lead to long-lived isomers. Also, because of the hindrance by spin selection, the probabilities of beta and proton decays from high-spin isomers can be reduced significantly. The present calculations reproduce reasonably well the available data for observed isomers in such nuclei. Unobserved high-spin isomers are predicted, which could be useful for future experimental studies of exotic nuclei at and beyond the proton drip line.

Investigation of two-proton emission from excited states of the odd-Z nucleus P-28 by complete-kinematics measurements

An experiment to study exotic two-proton emission from excited levels of the odd-Z nucleus P-28 was performed at the National Laboratory of Heavy Ion Research-Radioactive Ion Beam Line (HIRFL-RIBLL) facility. The projectile P-28 at the energy of 46.5 MeV/u was bombarding a Au-197 target to populate the excited states via Coulomb excitation. Complete-kinematics measurements were realized by the array of silicon strip detectors and the CsI + PIN telescope. Two-proton events were selected and the relativistic-kinematics reconstruction was carried out. The spectrum of relative momentum and opening angle between two protons was deduced from Monte Carlo simulations. Experimental results show that two-proton emission from P-28 excited states less than 17.0 MeV is mainly two-body sequential emission or three-body simultaneous decay in phase space. The present simulations cannot distinguish these two decay modes. No obvious diproton emission was found.

Concise methods for proton radioactivity

Concise methods are proposed to study proton radioactivity. The spectroscopic factor is obtained from relativistic mean field (RMF) theory combined with the BCS method (RMF+BCS). The assault frequency is estimated by a quantum mechanical method considering the structure of the parent nucleus. The penetrability is calculated by the WKB approximation. No additional parameters are introduced. The extracted experimental spectroscopic factors are compared with those from the calculations by the RMF+BCS, and the agreement is good, implying that the present methods work quite well for proton radioactivity. Predictions are provided for some most possible proton emissions, which may be useful for future experiments.

Contributions of qqqq(q)over-bar Components to Axial Charges of Proton and N(1440)

The axial charges of the proton and N(1440) are studied in the framework of an extended constituent quark model (CQM) including qqqq (q) over bar components. The cancellation between the contributions of qqq components and qqqq (q) over bar components gives a natural explanation to the experimental value of the proton axial charge, which can not be well reproduced in the traditional CQM even after the SU (6) circle times O(3) symmetry breaking is taken into account. The experimental value of axial charge pins down the proportion of the qqqq (q) over bar component in the proton to about 20%, which is consistent with the ones given by the strong decay widths and helicity amplitudes. Besides, an axial charge for N(1440) about 1 is predicted with 30% qqqq (q) over bar component, which is obtained by the strong and electromagnetic decays.

MEASUREMENT OF TWO-PROTON CORRELATION FROM THE BREAK-UP OF Al-23

Experiments of Al-23 and Mg-22 radioactive beams bombarding a C-12 target at an energy of 60 similar to 70 A MeV have been performed at the projectile fragment separator beamline (RIPS) in the RIKEN Ring Cyclotron Facility to study the two-proton emission from Al-23 and Mg-22 excited states, respectively. The trajectorie of the decay products, namely Na-21 + p + p from Al-23 and Ne-20 + p + p from Mg-22, are clean identified. The relative momentum and opening angle between two protons in the rest frame of three body decay channels are obtained by relativistic-kinematics reconstruction. The results demonstrate that there are some di-proton emission components from He-2 cluster for the excited Al-23 and Mg-22.

MEASUREMENT OF THE PROTON-PROTON CORRELATION FUNCTION FROM THE BREAK-UP OF Mg-22 AND Ne-20

An experiment of Mg-22 and Ne-20 beams bombarding on a C-12 target at an energy of 60 similar to 70 A MeV has been performed at the RIKEN projectile fragment separator (RIPS)in the RIKEN Ring Cyclotron Facility to study the two-proton correlated emission from Mg-22 and Ne-20 excited states. The two-protons momentum correlation functions have been obtained for Mg-22 and Ne-20, respectively. The trajectories of the Mg-22 decayed products (Ne-20 + p + p) were also measured to get the angular correlations between the two protons in Center of Mass of decaying system by relativistic-kinematics reconstruction. The results exhibit that Mg-22 has the features of He-2 cluster decay mechanism.

Proton Radiography of a Laser-Driven Implosion

Protons accelerated by a picosecond laser pulse have been used to radiograph a 500 mu m diameter capsule, imploded with 300 J of laser light in 6 symmetrically incident beams of wavelength 1.054 mu m and pulse length 1 ns. Point projection proton backlighting was used to characterize the density gradients at discrete times through the implosion. Asymmetries were diagnosed both during the early and stagnation stages of the implosion. Comparison with analytic scattering theory and simple Monte Carlo simulations were consistent with a 3 +/- 1 g/cm(3) core with diameter 85 +/- 10 mu m. Scaling simulations show that protons > 50 MeV are required to diagnose asymmetry in ignition scale conditions.

Proton Probing Measurement of Electric and Magnetic Fields Generated by ns and ps Laser-Matter Interactions

The use of laser-accelerated protons as a particle probe for the detection of electric fields in plasmas has led in recent years to a wealth of novel information regarding the ultrafast plasma dynamics following high intensity laser-matter interactions. The high spatial quality and short duration of these beams have been essential to this purpose. We will discuss some of the most recent results obtained with this diagnostic at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (UK) and at LULI - Ecole Polytechnique (France), also applied to conditions of interest to conventional Inertial Confinement Fusion. In particular, the technique has been used to measure electric fields responsible for proton acceleration from solid targets irradiated with ps pulses, magnetic fields formed by ns pulse irradiation of solid targets, and electric fields associated with the ponderomotive channelling of ps laser pulses in under-dense plasmas.

Magnetic field measurements in laser-produced plasmas via proton deflectometry

Large magnetic fields generated during laser-matter interaction at irradiances of ~ 5×1014 W?cm-2 have been measured using a deflectometry technique employing MeV laser-accelerated protons. Azimuthal magnetic fields were identified unambiguously via a characteristic proton deflection pattern and found to have an amplitude of ~ 45 T in the outer coronal region. Comparison with magnetohydrodynamic simulations confirms that in this regime the mathTe×mathne source is the main field generation mechanism, while additional terms are negligible.