The host-guest interaction of a series of cyclohexyl-appended guests with cucurbit[8]uril (Q[8]) was studied by ¹H NMR spectroscopy, isothermal titration calorimetry (ITC), and X-ray crystallography. The X-ray structure revealed that two cycloalkane moieties can be simultaneously encapsulated in the hydrophobic cavity of the Q[8] host to form a ternary complex for the first time.

The computer graphics research community has recently renewed its interest in ray tracing, an image synthesis algorithm that simulates the interaction of light with an environment to generate highly realistic images (Figure 1). Recent hardware trends and algorithmic developments make the technique competitive with raster-based algorithms, and some suggest that ray tracing will begin to dominate...

Pulsars seen at gamma-ray energies offer insight into particle acceleration to very high energies, along with information about the geometry and interaction processes in the magnetospheres of these rotating neutron stars. During the next decade, a number of new gamma-ray facilities will become available for pulsar studies. This brief review describes the motivation for gamma-ray pulsar studies,...

LCLS Matter in Extreme Conditions (MEC) Instrument is an X-ray instrument that will be able to create and diagnose High Energy Density (HED) matter. The MEC laser system can generate hard X-ray due to the interaction of the laser and the plasma. This paper summarizes results of the shielding calculations performed to evaluate the radiation hazards induced by this hard X-ray source with Monte Ca...

In the era of Chandra and XMM-Newton, the detection (or nondetection) of diffuse and/or point-like X-ray sources within planetary nebulae (PNe) yields important, unique insight into PN shaping processes. Diffuse X-ray sources, whether due to “hot bubbles” or to collimated outflows or jets, allow us to probe the energetic shocks within PN wind interaction regions. Meanwhile, X-ray point sources ...

: High-density growth of single-crystalline Bi2Se2Te nanowires was achieved via the vapour-liquid-solid process. The stoichiometry of samples grown at various substrate temperatures is precisely determined based on energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Raman spectroscopy on individual nanowires. We discuss the growth mechanism and present insights into the catalyst-precur...

Aims. The accretion of stars onto the central supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way is predicted to generate large fluxes of subrelativistic ions in the Galactic center region. We analyze the intensity, shape and spatial distribution of de-excitation gamma-ray lines produced by nuclear interactions of these energetic particles with the ambient medium. Methods. We first estimate...

The planned construction of an X-ray free-electron laser (XFEL) will provide new opportunities for research in various areas of physics, chemistry and biology. The proposed design of the XFELs at DESY (Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron) and SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) is built on the concept of a fourth-generation synchrotron source and will provide an intense pulse (I(0) approxima...

The process that prevents the deposition of cooled gas in cooling flows must rely on feedback in order to maintain gas with short cooling times, while preventing the bulk of the gas from cooling to low temperatures. The primary candidate for the feedback mechanism is the accretion of cooled and cooling gas by an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Despite some difficulties with this model, the high ...

We investigate the heating of the quasifree electrons in large rare-gas clusters (N exceeding 10(5) atoms) by short laser pulses at moderate intensities (I approximately = 10(15) W cm(-2)). We identify elastic large-angle backscattering of electrons at ionic cores in the presence of a laser field as an efficient heating mechanism. Its efficiency as well as the effect of collective electron moti...