Research
Highlights...
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Klaus
Ruedenberg of Ames Lab and Iowa State University.
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| Number 93 |
Nonember 5, 2001 |
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Clean-burning fuel
safer and easier to produce
With
millions of cars and trucks on the road each day, it's easy to
see why motor vehicle air pollution is a formidable problem. Researchers
at DOE's Idaho National Engineering
and Environmental Laboratory have developed a safe, environmentally-friendly
process to make alkylate, the cleanest-burning fuel available
today. Researchers change low-octane gas into alkylate using bits
of solid acid catalyst and then clean the catalyst when it becomes
clogged using a pressurized, superheated solvent. The research
team is presenting their laboratory results to the Oil and Gas
industry, and working with industry partners to further refine
their system.
[Deborah
Hill, 208/526-4723,
dahill@inel.gov]
Gene therapy
reduces drinking in "alcoholic" rats
A preliminary
study at DOE's Brookhaven Lab
shows that it's possible to turn "alcoholic" rats into light drinkers,
and those that can take or leave the sauce into near teetotalers.
The findings may have implications for the prevention and treatment
of alcoholism in humans. The scientists used a viral vector to
deliver the gene for dopamine receptors directly to the brain's
pleasure center in rats that had been trained to prefer alcohol
to water. The inserted gene upped the number of receptors—and
presumably the brain's ability to respond to pleasurable stimuli—and
cut the rats' drinking dramatically.
[Karen
McNulty Walsh, 631/344-8350,
kmcnulty@bnl.gov]
Neutrino
measurement surprises Fermilab physicists
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NuTeV
Detector
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Scientists at the
DOE's Fermilab have found
a discrepancy between predictions for neutrino behavior and
experimental results. Although the difference is tiny, it is
the kind of inconsistency that gets physicists' attention because
of its potential implications. Experimenters at the NuTeV
experiment measured the ratio of neutrinos and muons emerging
from high-energy collisions. Generations of experiments have
yielded precise predictions for the value of this ratio. The
predicted value was 0.2227; but the observed value was 0.2277.
In particle physics, such "misfit"
results are often harbingers of new particles and new forces.
Experimenters believe the discrepancy may foreshadow upcoming
discoveries at accelerator laboratories.
[Judy
Jackson, 630/840-3351,
jjackson@fnal.gov]
'Surfing'
for particles
For particle physicists,
getting "more bang for the buck," means colliding particles
at higher energies for lower cost. Researchers at DOE's Argonne
National Laboratory have demonstrated a technique—called
wakefield acceleration—that can power a linear, high-energy
particle accelerator by using a low-energy particle accelerator
like a booster in a multistage rocket. The wakefield approach
accelerates groups of electrons using the electromagnetic
field generated by another high-current electron beam. These
wakefields—so-called because they rely on the wake created
by the high-current electron beam—would accelerate the
trailing electron bunches much like an ocean wave accelerates
surfboards.
[Catherine
Foster, 630/252-5580,
cfoster@anl.gov]
System
rapidly separates complex chemicals
Absorption Detection
System in Multiple Capillaries—developed by Edward S.
Yeung, director of the Chemical and Biological Sciences Program
at DOE's Ames Lab, makes
it possible to rapidly separate samples of complex chemical
or biochemical mixtures. Minute capillaries disperse heat
very well and so can withstand an electrical charge of up
to 20,000 volts, resulting in fast separations. Using absorbance
detection to identify the molecules means it can handle 95
percent of all known chemical and biochemical compounds and
uses 1,000 times less solvent than high-performance liquid
chromatography. It recently received an R&D magazine most
promising technology award.
[Mary Jo
Glanville, 515/294-5635,
mglanvil@iastate.edu]
Throw
another rock on the fire
Researchers at
DOE's Pacific
Northwest National Laboratory are joining with scientists
worldwide in a collaborative effort to pursue a massive energy
reserve that, by itself, could keep America powered into the
next century. But, retrieving that resource poses quite a
challenge. In fact, it's trapped within rock three-quarters
of a mile below Alaska and Canada's frozen tundra, and in
offshore locations scattered around America's coastline. Early
next year, PNNL researchers will obtain frozen core samples
from the MacKenzie Delta in Canada that contain methane gas
trapped in an ice-like substance called gas hydrate. These
'rock gas' samples may unlock clues to future U.S. energy
independence if a safe and economical harvesting process can
be perfected.
[Geoff Harvey,
509/372-6083,
geoffrey.harvey@pnl.gov]
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A
giant among us
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Klaus
Ruedenberg
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"Among the professional options available to us, we choose
those that fascinate us and pose problems we feel we will
be able to help solve," says Klaus Ruedenberg, an Ames
Laboratory senior associate and an Iowa State University
Distinguished Professor Emeritus.
Ruedenberg chose well in the mid 1950s when he combined
his abilities in physics and chemistry to work on molecular
theory, then a newly developing area of study. Today he is
one of the few quantum chemists in the world to be recognized
as a leader in establishing the field of theoretical chemistry
and ensuring its viability during the last 50 years. Honoring
his innovative research in the field, the American
Chemical Society has named Ruedenberg the recipient of
its prestigious Award in Theoretical Chemistry for 2002.
His work has been characterized as seminally advancing many
different, important facets of quantum chemistry, encompassing
fundamental theory, formal mathematical developments, computational
methods and software implementations, as well as conceptual
interpretations.
His elucidation of the energetic realignments that cause
molecule formation has led to profound insights into the basic
origin and the physical nature of the chemical bond. Related
are his methods that create a rigorous quantum theoretical
foundation for the two-hundred-year-old empirical model of
molecules being built from atoms, revealing the modifications
of atoms by their interactions with molecular environments.
Fundamental theoretical aspects regarding the understanding
of chemical reactions have been illuminated by Ruedenberg's
studies of molecular potential energy surfaces, in particular
of surface intersections, which are relevant for photochemistry.
Ruedenberg's recent work addresses the problem of electron
correlation, a major bottleneck in the quest for accurate
quantitative predictions of the properties, in particular
energies, of ground and excited electronic states of large
molecules—a fundamental as well as practical goal of
theoretical chemistry. a
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"We are studying
how matter and antimatter are produced and distributed spatially,"
says scientist Pete Markowitz, assistant professor of physics at Florida
International University. "We produce these particles, these pairs
of strange quarks and strange antiquarks, and then sift through the
pieces. We're interested in one particle in a billion—and it's
hard to find. We're ultimately thinking backwards: How do such particles
fit together? How were they created in the first place?"