KxFe2-ySe2 single crystals: Floating-zone growth, Transport and Structural properties

Single crystals of superconducting KxFe2-ySe2 have been grown with the optical floating-zone technique under application of 8 bar of argon pressure. We found that large and high quality single crystals with dimensions of ~\varnothing6 \times 10 mm could be obtained at the termination of the grown ingot through quenching, while the remaining part of the ingot decomposed. As-grown single crystals commonly represent an intergrowth of two sets of the c-axis characterized by slightly different lattice constants. Single crystal of K0.80Fe1.81Se2 shows a superconducting transition at Tc = 31.6 K, leading to a near 100% expulsion of the external magnetic field in magnetization measurements. On the other hand, neutron-diffraction data indicate that superconductivity in the sample coexists with a iron-vacancy superstructure and static antiferromagnetic order. The anisotropic ratio of the upper critical field Hc2 for both H//c and H//ab configurations is \sim3.46

The resource investigation and community structure characteristics of mycorrhizal fungi associated with Chinese fir

Chinese fir is one of the most important commercial timber species in south China. Mycorrhizal fungi has been applied in many trees and showed important effect on enhancing the productive forces and the soil activities, but there is little report about the mycorrhizal fungi on Chinese fir. So this paper investigated the mycorrhizal fungi resources of Chinese fir in Hunan province and analyzed the relation of community with the environment factors. The results showed that, abuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) existed universally in the roots of Chinese fir. 75 specimen of AMF spores were isolated by wet-sieved method from this collection of the rhizosphere soils. They were identified by morphologic method to 4 genera and 9 species of AMF, which 5 species belong to Glomus, 1 of Gigaspora, 2 of Acaulospora and 1 of Scutellospora. In the isolated AMF, the importance value of Glomus mosseae, Glomus intraradices and Acaulospora laevis were more than 50% and the spore number of them was significantly higher than other species. These 3 species of AMF were considered as the dominate species in rhizosphere soil of Chinese fir in Hunan province. This research also indicated that, mycorrhiza forming was associated with the environment factors. The AMF spores density has the extremely remarkable correlational dependence with vegetation quantity in Chinese Fir forest (r2=0.943, p < 0.05). Mycorrhiza distribution also associated with seasons and forest age; the most active season of mycorrhiza was between spring and summer and the natural AMF infection rate was increased along with the increasing of forest age. The results will not only provide the theory basis for exploitation and using of mycorrhizal resource, but also enhance the survival rate of seedling and prevent the soil degradation and conserve of soil against erosion.Key words: Mycorrhizal fungi, vesicle-abuscular, Chinese fir, mycorrhizal inocula

Evidence of B0 --> rho0 pi0

We present the first evidence of the decay B0 --> rho0 pi0, using 140fb^-1 of data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e- collider. We detect a signal with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations, and measure the branching fraction to be Br(B0 ->- rho0 pi0) = (5.1 +/- 1.6(stat) +/- 0.9(syst))*10^-6.Comment: RevTex4, 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.Let

Observation of B+->Lambda_c+Lambda_c-K+ and B0->Lambda_c+Lambda_c^-K0 decays

We report first measurements of the doubly charmed baryonic B decays B->Lambda_c+Lambda_c-K. The B+->Lambda_c+Lambda_c-K+ decay is observed with a branching fraction of (6.5+1.0-0.9+-1.1+-3.4)x10^{-4} and a statistical significance of 15.4sigma. The B0->Lambda_c+Lambda_c-K0 decay is observed with a branching fraction of (7.9+2.9-2.3+-1.2+-4.2)x10^{-4} and a statistical significance of 6.6sigma. The branching fraction errors are statistical, systematic, and the error resulting from the uncertainty of Lambda_c+->pK-pi+ decay branching fraction. The analysis is based on 357fb-1 of data accumulated at the Y(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e+e- collider.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Quantifying Inactive Lithium in Lithium Metal Batteries

Inactive lithium (Li) formation is the immediate cause of capacity loss and catastrophic failure of Li metal batteries. However, the chemical component and the atomic level structure of inactive Li have rarely been studied due to the lack of effective diagnosis tools to accurately differentiate and quantify Li+ in solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) components and the electrically isolated unreacted metallic Li0, which together comprise the inactive Li. Here, by introducing a new analytical method, Titration Gas Chromatography (TGC), we can accurately quantify the contribution from metallic Li0 to the total amount of inactive Li. We uncover that the Li0, rather than the electrochemically formed SEI, dominates the inactive Li and capacity loss. Using cryogenic electron microscopies to further study the microstructure and nanostructure of inactive Li, we find that the Li0 is surrounded by insulating SEI, losing the electronic conductive pathway to the bulk electrode. Coupling the measurements of the Li0 global content to observations of its local atomic structure, we reveal the formation mechanism of inactive Li in different types of electrolytes, and identify the true underlying cause of low Coulombic efficiency in Li metal deposition and stripping. We ultimately propose strategies to enable the highly efficient Li deposition and stripping to enable Li metal anode for next generation high energy batteries

Observation of B+ -> proton Lambdabar gamma

We report the first observation of the radiative hyperonic B decay B+ -> proton Lambdabar gamma, using a 140 fb-1 data sample recorded on the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric energy e+e- collider. The measured branching fraction is B(B+ -> proton Lambdabar gamma) = (2.16 ^{+0.58}_{-0.53} +- 0.20) times 10^{-6}. A search for B+ -> proton Sigmabar gamma yields no significant signal, so we set a 90% confidence-level upper limit on the branching fraction of B(B+ -> proton Sigmabar gamma) < 3.3 times 10^{-6}.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, submitted to ICHEP2004, Beijing, Chin

Fifteen new risk loci for coronary artery disease highlight arterial-wall-specific mechanisms

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although 58 genomic regions have been associated with CAD thus far, most of the heritability is unexplained, indicating that additional susceptibility loci await identification. An efficient discovery strategy may be larger-scale evaluation of promising associations suggested by genome-wide association studies (GWAS). Hence, we genotyped 56,309 participants using a targeted gene array derived from earlier GWAS results and performed meta-analysis of results with 194,427 participants previously genotyped, totaling 88,192 CAD cases and 162,544 controls. We identified 25 new SNP-CAD associations (P &lt; 5 × 10(-8), in fixed-effects meta-analysis) from 15 genomic regions, including SNPs in or near genes involved in cellular adhesion, leukocyte migration and atherosclerosis (PECAM1, rs1867624), coagulation and inflammation (PROCR, rs867186 (p.Ser219Gly)) and vascular smooth muscle cell differentiation (LMOD1, rs2820315). Correlation of these regions with cell-type-specific gene expression and plasma protein levels sheds light on potential disease mechanisms

Measurement of D0 -> pilnu (Klnu) Form Factors and Absolute Branching Fractions

Using a 282 1/fb data sample collected by the Belle experiment at the KEKB e+e- collider, we study D0 decays to K-l+nu and pi-l+nu final states. The D0 flavor and momentum are tagged through a full reconstruction of the recoiling charm meson and additional mesons from fragmentation. The reconstruction method provides very good resolution in neutrino momentum and in q^2 = (p_l+p_nu)^2. Normalizing to the total number of D0 tags, we measure the absolute branching fractions to be B(D0 -> Klnu) =(3.45 +- 0.07stat +- 0.20syst)% and B(D0 -> pilnu) = (0.255 +- 0.019stat +- 0.016syst)% and the semi-leptonic form factors (within the modified pole model) f+^K(0) = 0.695 +- 0.007stat +- 0.022syst and f+^pi(0) = 0.624 +- 0.020stat +- 0.030syst.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Improved Measurement of the Electroweak Penguin Process B->Xsll

We present an improved measurement of the branching fraction for the electroweak penguin process B->Xsll, where l is an electron or a muon and Xs is a hadronic system containing an s-quark. The measurement is based on a sample of 152*10^6 Upsilon(4S) -> BB events collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB energy asymmetric e+e- collider. The Xs hadronic system is reconstructed from one K^{+-} or K^{0}_{S} and up to four pions, where at most one pion can be neutral. Averaging over both lepton flavors, the inclusive branching fraction is measured to be Br(B->Xsll)=(4.11+-0.83(stat)+0.85-0.81(syst))*10^{-6} for M_ll > 0.2GeV/c2.Comment: 16 pages 5 figures Latex, Submitted to Physical Review