Role of five-quark components in radiative and strong decays of the Lambda(1405) resonance

Within an extended chiral constituent quark model, the three- and five-quark structure of the S-01 resonance Lambda(1405) is investigated. Helicity amplitudes for electromagnetic decays [Lambda(1405)->Lambda(1116)gamma, Sigma(1194)gamma] and transition amplitudes for strong decays [Lambda(1405)->Sigma(1194)pi, K- p] are derived, as well as the relevant decay widths. The experimental value for the strong decay width, Gamma(Lambda(1405)->(Sigma pi)degrees) = 50 +/- 2MeV, is well reproduced with about 50% of a five-quark admixture in the Lambda(1405). Important effects owing to the configuration mixing among Lambda P-2(1)A, Lambda P-2(8)M, and Lambda P-4(8)M are found. In addition, transitions between the three- and the five-quark components in the baryons turn out to be significant in both radiative and strong decays of the Lambda(1405) resonance.

Time-Dependent Density Functional Molecular Orbital and Excited State Calculations on Bis(porphyrinyl)butadiynes in the Monocationic, Neutral, Monoanionic, and Dianionic Oxidation States

We report a theoretical study of the multiple oxidation states (1+, 0, 1−, and 2−) of a meso,meso-linked diporphyrin, namely bis[10,15,20-triphenylporphyrinatozinc(II)-5-yl]butadiyne (4), using Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (TDDFT). The origin of electronic transitions of singlet excited states is discussed in comparison to experimental spectra for the corresponding oxidation states of the close analogue bis{10,15,20-tris[3‘,5‘-di-tert-butylphenyl]porphyrinatozinc(II)-5-yl}butadiyne (3). The latter were measured in previous work under in situ spectroelectrochemical conditions. Excitation energies and orbital compositions of the excited states were obtained for these large delocalized aromatic radicals, which are unique examples of organic mixed-valence systems. The radical cations and anions of butadiyne-bridged diporphyrins such as 3 display characteristic electronic absorption bands in the near-IR region, which have been successfully predicted with use of these computational methods. The radicals are clearly of the “fully delocalized” or Class III type. The key spectral features of the neutral and dianionic states were also reproduced, although due to the large size of these molecules, quantitative agreement of energies with observations is not as good in the blue end of the visible region. The TDDFT calculations are largely in accord with a previous empirical model for the spectra, which was based simplistically on one-electron transitions among the eight key frontier orbitals of the C4 (1,4-butadiyne) linked diporphyrins.

Getting Excited About Software Programming

Invited one hour presentation at Microsoft Tech Ed 2009 about getting students interested in games programming at QUT.

Using pulse transit delay in Z-scan to discriminate between excited-state absorption and other nonlinear processes in ZnO nanocones

We report a new approach that uses the single beam Z-scan technique, to discriminate between excited state absorption (ESA) and two and three photon nonlinear absorption. By measuring the apparent delay or advance of the pulse in reaching the detector, the nonlinear absorption can be unambiguously identified as either instantaneous or transient. The simple method does not require a large range of input fluences or sophisticated pulse-probe experimental apparatus. The technique is easily extended to any absorption process dependent on pulse width and to nonlinear refraction measurements. We demonstrate in particular, that the large nonlinear absorption in ZnO nanocones when exposed to nanosecond 532 nm pulses, is due mostly to ESA, not pure two-photon absorption.

Pulsed dc- and sine-wave-excited cold atmospheric plasma plumes: A comparative analysis

Cold atmospheric-pressure plasma plumes are generated in the ambient air by a single-electrode plasma jet device powered by pulsed dc and ac sine-wave excitation sources. Comprehensive comparisons of the plasma characteristics, including electrical properties, optical emission spectra, gas temperatures, plasma dynamics, and bacterial inactivation ability of the two plasmas are carried out. It is shown that the dc pulse excited plasma features a much larger discharge current and stronger optical emission than the sine-wave excited plasma. The gas temperature in the former discharge remains very close to the room temperature across the entire plume length; the sine-wave driven discharge also shows a uniform temperature profile, which is 20-30 degrees higher than the room temperature. The dc pulse excited plasma also shows a better performance in the inactivation of gram-positive staphylococcus aureus bacteria. These results suggest that the pulsed dc electric field is more effective for the generation of nonequilibrium atmospheric pressure plasma plumes for advanced plasma health care applications.

Excited-state dynamics in diketopyrrolopyrrole-based copolymer for organic photovoltaics investigated by transient optical spectroscopy

We investigate the photoexcited state dynamics in a donor-acceptor copolymer, poly{3,6-dithiophene-2-yl-2,5-di(2-octyldodecyl)-pyrrolo[3,4-c]- pyrrole-1,4-dione-alt-naphthalene} (pDPP-TNT), by picosecond fluorescence and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopies. Timeresolved fluorescence lifetime measurements of pDPP-TNT thin films reveal that the lifetime of the singlet excited state is 185 ± 5 ps and that singlet-singlet annihilation occurs at excitation photon densities above 6 × 1017 photons/cm3. From the results of singlet-singlet annihilation analysis, we estimate that the single-singlet annihilation rate constant is (6.0 ± 0.2) × 109cm3 s-1 and the singlet diffusion length is -7 nm. From the comparison of femtosecond transient absorption measurements and picosecond fluorescence measurements, it is found that the time profile of the photobleaching signal in the charge-transfer (CT) absorption band coincides with that of the fluorescence intensity and there is no indication of long-lived species, which clearly suggests that charged species, such as polaron pairs and triplet excitons, are not effectively photogenerated in the neat pDPP-TNT polymer.

Ground and Excited State Intramolecular Proton Transfer in Salicylic Acid: an Ab Initio Electronic Structure Investigation

Energetics of the ground and excited state intramolecular proton transfer in salicylic acid have been studied by ab initio molecular orbital calculations using the 6-31G** basis set at the restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) and configuration interaction-single excitation (CIS) levels and also using the semiempirical method AM1 at the RHF level as well as with single and pair doubles excitation configuration interaction spanning eight frontier orbitals (PECI = 8). The ab initio potential energy profile for intramolecular proton transfer in the ground state reveals a single minimum corresponding to the primary form, in the first excited singlet state, however, there are two minima corresponding to the primary and tautomeric forms, separated by a barrier of similar to 6 kcal/mol, thus accounting for dual emission in salicylic acid. Electron density changes with electronic excitation and tautomerism indicate no zwitterion formation. Changes in spectral characteristics with change in pH, due to protonation and deprotonation of salicylic acid, are also accounted for, qualitatively. Although the AM1 calculations suggest a substantial barrier for proton transfer in the ground as well as the first excited state of SA, it predicts the transition wavelength in near quantitative accord with the experimental results for salicylic acid and its protonated and deprotonated forms.

Renormalization of the axial-vector current in QCD

Following the method of Ioffe and Smilga, the propagation of the baryon current in an external constant axial-vector field is considered. The close similarity of the operator-product expansion with and without an external field is shown to arise from the chiral invariance of gauge interactions in perturbation theory. Several sum rules corresponding to various invariants both for the nucleon and the hyperons are derived. The analysis of the sum rules is carried out by two independent methods, one called the ratio method and the other called the continuum method, paying special attention to the nondiagonal transitions induced by the external field between the ground state and excited states. Up to operators of dimension six, two new external-field-induced vacuum expectation values enter the calculations. Previous work determining these expectation values from PCAC (partial conservation of axial-vector current) are utilized. Our determination from the sum rules of the nucleon axial-vector renormalization constant GA, as well as the Cabibbo coupling constants in the SU3-symmetric limit (ms=0), is in reasonable accord with the experimental values. Uncertainties in the analysis are pointed out. The case of broken flavor SU3 symmetry is also considered. While in the ratio method, the results are stable for variation of the fiducial interval of the Borel mass parameter over which the left-hand side and the right-hand side of the sum rules are matched, in the continuum method the results are less stable. Another set of sum rules determines the value of the linear combination 7F-5D to be ≊0, or D/(F+D)≊(7/12). .AE

Surface acoustic waves of finite amplitude excited by a monochromatic line source

A technique for obtaining a uniformly valid solution to the problem of nonlinear propagation of surface acoustic waves excited by a monochromatic line source is presented. The method of solution is an extension of the method of strained coordinates wherein both the dependent and independent variables are expanded in perturbation series. A special transformation is proposed for the independent variables so as to make the expansions uniformly valid and also to satisfy all the boundary conditions. This perturbation procedure, carried out to the second order, yields a solution containing a second harmonic surface wave whose amplitude and phase exhibit an oscillatory variation along the direction of propagation. In addition, the solution also contains a second harmonic bulk wave of constant amplitude but varying phase propagating into the medium.

An investigation of bond formation in the weakly bound first excited 1Σ and lowest 3Σ states of HeH+

The role of the electronic kinetic energy and its Cartesian components is examined during the formation of the first excited 1�£ and the lowest 3�£ states of HeH+ employing wavefunctions of multi-configuration type with basis orbitals in elliptic coordinates. Results show that the bond formation in these states is preceded primarily by a charge transfer from H to He+ rather than by polarisation of the H-orbital by He+

Binding of three molecules in the excited state

t is shown that three neutral molecules can form a stable trimer if one of them is in the excited state. The formation of termolecular electron donor-acceptor complexes of sequence DDA and DAA arises from charge-resonance interaction.

Compressive Sensing For Sparsely Excited Speech Signals

Compressive sensing (CS) has been proposed for signals with sparsity in a linear transform domain. We explore a signal dependent unknown linear transform, namely the impulse response matrix operating on a sparse excitation, as in the linear model of speech production, for recovering compressive sensed speech. Since the linear transform is signal dependent and unknown, unlike the standard CS formulation, a codebook of transfer functions is proposed in a matching pursuit (MP) framework for CS recovery. It is found that MP is efficient and effective to recover CS encoded speech as well as jointly estimate the linear model. Moderate number of CS measurements and low order sparsity estimate will result in MP converge to the same linear transform as direct VQ of the LP vector derived from the original signal. There is also high positive correlation between signal domain approximation and CS measurement domain approximation for a large variety of speech spectra.

Self-excited triggered vacuum gap

The self-triggering action of the TVG under DC conditions using the same power source as the main circuit is described. Because of the low impedance of the power source compared with the thyratron pulse generator, the TVG can be triggered with voltages as low as 85 V. It is found that circuit conditions influence the minimum stable arc currents that can be sustained.