First principle calculations of the electronic structure and magnetic interaction of GaN:Gd have been performed within the Generalized Gradient Approximation (GGA) of the density functional theory (DFT) with the on-site Coulomb energy U taken into account (also referred to as GGA+U). The ferromagnetic p-d coupling is found to be over two orders of magnitude larger than the s-d exchange coupling. The experimental colossal magnetic moments and room temperature ferromagnetism in GaN:Gd reported recently are explained by the interaction of Gd 4f spins via p-d coupling involving holes introduced by intrinsic defects such as Ga vacancies.

We have built and successfully tested a novel particle identification detector concept, the Fast Focusing DIRC (fDIRC). The prototype's concept is based on the BaBar DIRC with several important improvements: (a) much faster pixelated photon detectors based on Burle MCP-PMTs and Hamamatsu MaPMTs, (b) a focusing mirror allowing a smaller photon detector, reducing the sensitivity to backgrounds in future applications, (c) electronics capable of measuring the single photon resolution to better than {sigma} {approx} 100-200ps. The fDIRC is the first RICH detector to successfully correct the chromatic error by timing.

We have used sub-picosecond laser pulses to launch ultra-high strain rate ({approx} 10{sup 9} s{sup -1}) nonlinear acoustic waves into a 4:1 methanol-ethanol pressure medium which has been precompressed in a standard diamond anvil cell. Using ultrafast interferometry, we have characterized acoustic wave propagation into the pressure medium at static compression up to 24 GPa. We find that the velocity is dependent on the incident laser fluence, demonstrating a nonlinear acoustic response which may result in shock wave behavior. We compare our results with low strain, low strain-rate acoustic data. This technique provides controlled access to regions of thermodynamic phase space that are otherwise difficult to obtain.

In this paper we present Gun3P, a parallel 3D finite element application that the Advanced Computations Department at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center is developing for the analysis of beam formation in DC guns and beam transport in klystrons. Gun3P is targeted specially to complex geometries that cannot be described by 2D models and cannot be easily handled by finite difference discretizations. Its parallel capability allows simulations with more accuracy and less processing time than packages currently available. We present simulation results for the L-band Sheet Beam Klystron DC gun, in which case Gun3P is able to reduce simulation time from days to some hours.

The AdS/CFT correspondence between string theory in AdS space and conformal field theories in physical space-time leads to an analytic, semi-classical model for strongly-coupled QCD which has scale invariance and dimensional counting at short distances and color confinement at large distances. The AdS/CFT correspondence also provides insights into the inherently nonperturbative aspects of QCD such as the orbital and radial spectra of hadrons and the form of hadronic wavefunctions. In particular, we show that there is an exact correspondence between the fifth-dimensional coordinate of AdS space z and a specific impact variable {zeta} which measures the separation of the quark and gluonic constituents within the hadron in ordinary space-time. This connection leads to AdS/CFT predictions for the analytic form of the frame-independent light-front wavefunctions (LFWFs) of mesons and baryons, the fundamental entities which encode hadron properties. The LFWFs in turn predict decay constants and spin correlations, as well as dynamical quantities such as form factors, structure functions, generalized parton distributions, and exclusive scattering amplitudes. Relativistic light-front equations in ordinary space-time are found which reproduce the results obtained using the fifth-dimensional theory and have remarkable algebraic structures and integrability properties. As specific examples we describe the behavior of the pion form …

Research on a large-area, cost-effective Muon Telescope Detector has been carried out for RHIC and for next generation detectors at future QCD Lab. We utilize state-of-the-art multi-gap resistive plate chambers with large modules and long readout strips in detector design [l]. The results from cosmic ray and beam test will be presented to address intrinsic timing and spatial resolution for a Long-MRF'C. The prototype performance of a novel muon telescope detector at STAR will be reported, including muon identification capability, timing and spatial resolution.

We developed an automated point-of-care diagnostic instrument that is capable of analyzing nasal swab samples for the presence of respiratory diseases. This robust instrument, called FluIDx, performs autonomous multiplexed RT-PCR reactions that are analyzed by microsphere xMAP technology. We evaluated the performance of FluIDx, in comparison rapid tests specific for influenza and respiratory syncytial virus, in a clinical study performed at the UC Davis Medical Center. The clinical study included samples positive for RSV (n = 71), influenza A (n = 16), influenza B (n = 4), adenovirus (n = 5), parainfluenza virus (n = 2), and 44 negative samples, according to a composite reference method. FluIDx and the rapid tests detected 85.9% and 62.0% of the RSV positive samples, respectively. Similar sensitivities were recorded for the influenza B samples; whereas the influenza A samples were poorly detected, likely due to the utilization of an influenza A signature that did not accurately match currently circulating influenza A strains. Data for all pathogens were compiled and indicate that FluIDx is more sensitive than the rapid tests, detecting 74.2% (95% C.I. of 64.7-81.9%) of the positive samples in comparison to 53.6% (95% C.I. of 43.7-63.2%) for the rapid tests. The higher sensitivity …

We describe a compact MEMS-based adaptive optics (AO) optical coherence tomography system with improved AO performance and ease of clinical use. A typical AO system consists of a Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor and a deformable mirror that measures and corrects the ocular and system aberrations. Because of the limitation on the current deformable mirror technologies, the amount of real-time ocular-aberration compensation is restricted and small in the previous AO-OCT instruments. In this instrument, we proposed to add an optical apparatus to correct the spectacle aberrations of the patients such as myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism. This eliminated the tedious process of the trial lenses in clinical imaging. Different amount of spectacle aberration compensation was achieved by motorized stages and automated with the AO computer for ease of clinical use. In addition, the compact AO-OCT was optimized to have minimum system aberrations to reduce AO registration errors and improve AO performance.

We report a universal scaling behavior of the first arrival time of a traveling magnetic domain wall into a finite space-time observation window of a magneto-optical microscope enabling direct visualization of a Barkhausen avalanche in real time. The first arrival time of the traveling magnetic domain wall exhibits a nontrivial fluctuation and its statistical distribution is described by universal power-law scaling with scaling exponents of 1.34 {+-} 0.07 for CoCr and CoCrPt films, despite their quite different domain evolution patterns. Numerical simulation of the first arrival time with an assumption that the magnetic domain wall traveled as a random walker well matches our experimentally observed scaling behavior, providing an experimental support for the random-walking model of traveling magnetic domain walls.

Difference imaging provides a new way to discover gravitationally lensed quasars because few non-lensed sources will show spatially extended, time variable flux. We test the method on lens candidates in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Supernova Survey region from the SDSS Quasar Lens Search (SQLS) and their surrounding fields. Starting from 20768 sources, including 49 SDSS quasars and 36 candidate lenses/lensed images, we find that 21 sources including 15 SDSS QSOs and 7 candidate lenses/lensed images are non-periodic variable sources. We can measure the spatial structure of the variable flux for 18 of these sources and identify only one as a non-point source. This source does not display the compelling spatial structure of the variable flux of known lensed quasars, so we reject it as a lens candidate. None of the lens candidates from the SQLS survive our cuts. Given our effective survey area of order 0.71 square degrees, this indicates a false positive rate of order one per square degree for the method. The fraction of quasars not found to be variable and the false positive rate should both fall if we analyze the full, later data releases for the SDSS fields. While application of the method to …

The QCD color transparency of higher-twist contributions to the inclusive hadroproduction cross section, where the trigger proton is produced directly in a short-distance subprocess, can explain several remarkable features of high-p{sub T} proton production in heavy ion collisions which have recently been observed at RHIC: (a) the anomalous increase of the p {yields} {pi} ratio with centrality (b): the more rapid power-law fall-off at fixed x{sub T} = 2p{sub T}/{radical}s of the charged particle production cross section in high centrality nuclear collisions, and (c): the anomalous decrease of the number of same-side hadrons produced in association with a proton trigger as the centrality increases. These phenomena illustrate how heavy ion collisions can provide sensitive tools for interpreting and testing fundamental properties of QCD.

Recent results from BABAR on the determination of the CKM matrix elements |V{sub cb}| and |V{sub ub}| are presented.

CH2M HILL Hanford Group, Inc. (CH2M HILL) plays a critical role in Hanford Site cleanup for the U. S. Department of Energy, Office of River Protection (ORP). CH2M HILL is responsible for the management of 177 tanks containing 53 million gallons of highly radioactive wastes generated from weapons production activities from 1943 through 1990. In that time, 149 single-shell tanks, ranging in capacity from 50,000 gallons to 500,000 gallons, and 28 double-shell tanks with a capacity of 1 million gallons each, were constructed and filled with toxic liquid wastes and sludges. The cleanup mission includes removing these radioactive waste solids from the single-shell tanks to double-shell tanks for staging as feed to the Waste Treatment Plant (WTP) on the Hanford Site for vitrification of the wastes and disposal on the Hanford Site and Yucca Mountain repository. Concentrated efforts in retrieving residual solid and sludges from the single-shell tanks began in 2003; the first tank retrieved was C-106 in the 200 East Area of the site. The process for retrieval requires installation of modified sluicing systems, vacuum systems, and pumping systems into existing tank risers. Inherent with this process is the removal of existing pumps, thermo-couples, and agitating and monitoring equipment …

The authors summarize results of analyses of D meson mixing parameters performed by the BABAR collaboration.

Metastable, supersymmetry-breaking configurations can be created in flux geometries by placing antibranes in warped throats. Via gauge/gravity duality, such configurations should have an interpretation as supersymmetry-breaking states in the dual field theory. In this paper, we perturbatively determine the asymptotic supergravity solutions corresponding to D3-brane probes placed at the tip of the cascading warped deformed conifold geometry, which is dual to an SU(N+M) x SU(N) gauge theory. The backreaction of the antibranes has the effect of introducing imaginary anti-self-dual flux, squashing the compact part of the space and forcing the dilaton to run. Using the generalization of holographic renormalization to cascading geometries, we determine the expectation values of operators in the dual field theory in terms of the asymptotic values of the supergravity fields.

Nitrogen heterocycles are present in many compounds of enormous practical importance, ranging from pharmaceutical agents and biological probes to electroactive materials. Direct funtionalization of nitrogen heterocycles through C-H bond activation constitutes a powerful means of regioselectively introducing a variety of substituents with diverse functional groups onto the heterocycle scaffold. Working together, our two groups have developed a family of Rh-catalyzed heterocycle alkylation and arylation reactions that are notable for their high level of functional-group compatibility. This Account describes their work in this area, emphasizing the relevant mechanistic insights that enabled synthetic advances and distinguished the resulting transformations from other methods. They initially discovered an intramolecular Rh-catalyzed C-2-alkylation of azoles by alkenyl groups. That reaction provided access to a number of di-, tri-, and tetracyclic azole derivatives. They then developed conditions that exploited microwave heating to expedite these reactions. While investigating the mechanism of this transformation, they discovered that a novel substrate-derived Rh-N-heterocyclic carbene (NHC) complex was involved as an intermediate. They then synthesized analogous Rh-NHC complexes directly by treating precursors to the intermediate [RhCl(PCy{sub 3}){sub 2}] with N-methylbenzimidazole, 3-methyl-3,4-dihydroquinazolein, and 1-methyl-1,4-benzodiazepine-2-one. Extensive kinetic analysis and DFT calculations supported a mechanism for carbene formation in which the catalytically active RhCl(PCy{sub 3}){sub …

In response to sponsor interest in October 2005 we proposed two methods for enhancing the precision of {sup 233}U accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) capabilities at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). In a previous report we evaluated the first method and demonstrated that by increasing sample loading by a factor of four coupled with performing four replicates of each sample, we could achieve measurement precision of {approx}1%. Recent modifications to our system have enabled us to test the second proposed method. By changing our setup to normalize {sup 233}U ions counted in a gas ionization chamber to {sup 238}U measured as a current in an off-axis Faraday cup we were able to attain 1% precision without the need for replicate analysis. This method could be further refined to achieve 0.5% precision in samples of interest.

Apart from source excavation, the options available for the remediation of vadose zone metal and radionuclide contaminants beyond the practical excavation depth (0 to 15 m) are quite limited. Of the available technologies, very few are applicable to the deep vadose zone with the top-ranked candidate being soil desiccation. An expert panel review of the work on infiltration control and supplemental technologies identified a number of knowledge gaps that would need to be overcome before soil desiccation could be deployed. The report documents some of the research conducted in the last year to fill these knowledge gaps. This work included 1) performing intermediate-scale laboratory flow cell experiments to demonstrate the desiccation process, 2) implementing a scalable version of Subsurface Transport Over Multiple Phases–Water-Air-Energy (STOMP-WAE), and 3) performing numerical experiments to identify the factors controlling the performance of a desiccation system.

The dimension two gluon condensate has been used previously within a simple phenomenological model to describe power corrections from available lattice data for the renormalized Polyakov loop and the heavy quark-antiquark free energy in the deconfined phase of QCD. The QCD trace anomaly of gluodynamics also shows unequivocal inverse temperature power corrections which may be encoded as dimension two gluon condensate. We analyze lattice data of the trace anomaly and compare with other determinations of the condensate from previous references, yielding roughly similar numerical values.

Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) is a known issue for short-pulse laser facilities, and will also be an issue for experiments using the advanced radiographic capability (ARC) at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). The ARC diagnostic uses four NIF beams that are compressed to picosecond durations for backlighting ignition capsules and other applications. Consequently, we are working to understand the EMP due to high-energy (MeV) electrons escaping from targets heated by short-pulse lasers. Our approach is to measure EMP in the Titan short-pulse laser at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and to employ that data to establish analysis and simulation capabilities. We have installed a wide variety of probes inside and outside the Titan laser chamber. We have high-frequency B-dot and D-dot probes, a photodiode, and fast current-viewing and integrating current transformers. The probe outputs are digitized by 10 and 20 Gsample/s oscilloscopes. The cables and oscilloscopes are well shielded to reduce noise. Our initial measurement campaign has yielded data useful mainly from several hundreds of MHz to several GHz. We currently are supplementing our high-frequency probes with lower-frequency ones to obtain better low-frequency data. In order to establish analysis and simulation capabilities we are modeling the Titan facility using various commercial …

This report analyzes the issue of residence restriction laws for released sex offenders by briefly examining provisions of the Adam Walsh Act; identifying and comparing residence restriction laws in a number of states; discussing the impact of residence restriction laws on sex offenders, law enforcement and the public; presenting arguments in support of and against residence restriction laws; and reviewing some alternative proposals for monitoring released sex offenders..

This report outlines the growing concern in Congress and elsewhere about China's military modernization. The topic is an increasing factor in discussions over future required U.S. Navy capabilities. The issue for Congress addressed in this report is: How should China's military modernization be factored into decisions about U.S. Navy programs?

The BRAHMS collaboration ended its data collection program in 2006. We are now well advanced in the analysis of a comprehensive set of data that spans systems ranging in mass from p+p to Au+Au and in energy from {radical}{ovr {sup S}N N} = 62.4 to 200 GeV. Our analysis has taken two distinct paths: we explore the rapidity dependence of intermediate and high-transverse-momentum, identified-particle production, thus helping to characterize the strongly-interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) formed at RHIC; we also explore particle yields at lower transverse momentum to develop a systematic understanding of bulk particle production at RHIC energies.

The author reviews the history of the efforts using heavy ion collisions to make new forms of matter. Both the development of the theoretical ideas about such new forms of matter, and as well the past, present and planned experimental efforts are discussed. The development of this activity in both India and China are highlighted.