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In the recent decades of high energy physics research, it was demonstrated that strongly interacting quark-gluon plasma (sQGP) is created in ultra-relativistic nucleus–nucleus collisions. Investigation and understanding of properties of the hadronic matter is among the important goals of NA61/SHINE collaboration at CERN SPS. Mapping of the phase diagram is achieved by varying the collision energy (5GeV

Metal sulfides materials are promising anode candidates for Na+ storage due to their low cost and high theoretical capacity, while the complex phase transition and inevitable volume expansion during cycling restrain their practical applications. Herein, a simple one‐pot manipulation strategy was designed to construct Co9S8 nanoparticles strongly encapsulated in carbon nanotubes (Co9S8@C/NTs) composite structure with enhanced structural stability and reaction kinetics, resulting in greatly improved Na+ storage performance. Specifically, the obtained Co9S8@C/NTs could exhibit a remarkable capacity of 500 mAh g−1 at 0.5 A g−1 after 100 cycles and exceptional cycling stability over 600 cycles with 88 % capacity retention at 1 A g−1. Furthermore, the theoretical calculations combined with systematic characterizations confirm that the strong interaction between Co9S8 and the carbon matrix could greatly enhance the Na+ adsorption ability and facilitate the electron transfer dynamics for superior Na+ storage capability. More importantly, the full cell device can deliver an outstanding energy density of 144.32 Wh kg−1 and a decent cycling life with 82 % capacity retention of almost 100 cycles at 0.1 A g−1. This work could provide more valuable insights for designing advanced metal sulfide nanocomposites and demonstrate fascinating prospects for commercial application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper aims to apply the trigintaduonion spaces to explore the physical properties of four interactions simultaneously, including the electromagnetic fields, gravitational fields, weak nuclear fields, and strong nuclear fields. J. C. Maxwell first applied the algebra of quaternions to study the physical properties of electromagnetic fields. It inspired some subsequent scholars to introduce the quaternions, octonions, sedenions, and trigintaduonions to research the electromagnetic fields, gravitational fields, weak nuclear fields, strong nuclear fields, quantum mechanics, gauge fields, and curved spaces and so forth. The algebra of trigintaduonions is able to discuss the physical quantities of four interactions, including the field potential, field strength, field source, linear momentum, angular momentum, torque, and force. In the field theories described with the algebra of trigintaduonions, the weak nuclear field is composed of three types of fundamental fields. These three fundamental fields, related to weak nuclear fields, can describe the physical properties of weak nuclear fields collectively. This is consistent with the conclusion of the electroweak theory. Meanwhile the strong nuclear field consists of three types of fundamental fields. These three fundamental fields relevant to strong nuclear fields may investigate the physical properties of strong nuclear fields mutually. It is coincident with the deduction of quark theory. According to the properties of trigintaduonions, one can deduce the Yang‐Mills equation related to the gauge fields. It means that the electromagnetic field occupies a quaternion space. The gravitational field owns one different quaternion space. The weak nuclear fields occupy three mutually independent quaternion spaces. The properties of weak nuclear fields are different from those of electromagnetic fields or gravitational fields. According to the multiplication table of trigintaduonion spaces, the strong nuclear fields own three conjugate quaternion spaces independent of each other. These explorations further deepen the understanding of the physical properties of weak and strong nuclear fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy density, the Achilles' heel of aqueous supercapacitors, is simultaneously determined by the voltage window and specific capacitance of the carbon materials, but the strategy of synchronously boosting them has rarely been reported. Herein, we demonstrate that the rational utilization of the interaction between redox mediators (RMs) and carbon electrode materials, especially those with rich intrinsic defects, contributes to extended potential windows and more stored charges concurrently. Using 4‐hydroxy‐2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidinyloxyl (4OH‐TEMPO) and intrinsic defect‐rich carbons as the RMs and electrode materials, respectively, the potential window and capacitance are increased by 67% and sixfold in a neutral electrolyte. Moreover, this strategy could also be applied to alkaline and acid electrolytes. The first‐principle calculation and experimental results demonstrate that the strong interaction between 4OH‐TEMPO and defect‐rich carbons plays a key role as preferential adsorbed RMs may largely prohibit the contact of free water molecules with the electrode materials to terminate the water splitting at elevated potentials. For the RMs offering weaker interaction with the electrode materials, the water splitting still proceeds with a thus sole increase of the stored charges. The results discovered in this work could provide an alternative solution to address the low energy density of aqueous supercapacitors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strong metal‐support interaction (SMSI) is widely proposed as a key factor in tuning catalytic performances. Herein, the classical SMSI between Au nanoparticles (NPs) and BiVO4 (BVO) supports (Au/BVO‐SMSI) is discovered and used innovatively for photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting. Owing to the SMSI, the electrons transfer from V4+ to Au NPs, leading to the formation of electron‐rich Au species (Auδ−) and strong electronic interaction (i.e. Auδ−‐Ov‐V4+), which readily contributes to extract photogenerated holes and promote charge separation. Benefitted from the SMSI effect, the as‐prepared Au/BVO‐SMSI photoanode exhibits a superior photocurrent density of 6.25 mA cm−2 at 1.23 V versus the reversible hydrogen electrode after the deposition of FeOOH/NiOOH cocatalysts. This work provides a pioneering view for extending SMSI effect to bimetal oxide supports for PEC water splitting, and guides the interfacial electronic and geometric structure modulation of photoanodes consisting of metal NPs and reducible oxides for improved solar energy conversion efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the need for decarbonization in energy generation, it is necessary to develop electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), a key process in energy generation systems such as fuel cells and metal–air batteries. Perovskite–carbon material composites have emerged as active and stable electrocatalysts for the ORR, and the interaction between both components is a crucial aspect for electrocatalytic activity. This work explores different mixing methods for composite preparation, including mortar mixing, ball milling, and hydrothermal and thermal treatments. Hydrothermal treatment combined with ball milling resulted in the most favorable electrocatalytic performance, promoting intimate and extensive contact between the perovskite and carbon material and improving electrocatalytic activity. Employing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), an increase in the number of M-O-C species was observed, indicating enhanced interaction between the perovskite and the carbon material due to the adopted mixing methods. This finding was further corroborated by temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) and temperature-programmed desorption (TPD) techniques. Interestingly, the ball milling method results in similar performance to the hydrothermal method in the zinc–air battery and, thus, is preferable because of the ease and straightforward scalability of the preparation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A written account of my talk delivered at the Harald Fritzsch Memorial Symposium in Munich is given. The emphasis is on Harald's achievements specifically in quark physics and in quantum chromodynamics. Beyond that exemplary results for low-energy baryons are discussed, as obtained over the past years in the framework of the relativistic constituent-quark model based on Goldstone-boson-exchange dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu/ZnO/C–P were prepared via the deposition-precipitation for CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol. At 280 °C, Cu/ZnO/C–P reached the maximum methanol space-time yield (STY) of 0.66 g CH3OH ·g cat −1·h−1, significantly higher than Cu/ZnO (0.48 g CH3OH ·g cat −1·h−1). The addition of C–P escalated the reduction of Cu2+ and made Cu/ZnO interface much tighter. Phosphorus-doped Carbon (C–P) was not only favorable for the formation of Cu/ZnO contact interfaces and boosted Cu0 amount at the Cu/ZnO interfaces, but also further strengthened the interaction between Cu0 and ZnO. Cu0/ZnO interfaces also improved the adsorption and activation of CO 2 and H 2 , eventually advanced methanol formation. The variation trend between methanol STY and Cu0 species content at the Cu/ZnO interface was in good agreement with each other. Cu0 species strongly interacted with ZnO at the Cu/ZnO contact interfaces may be indispensable for methanol generation on Cu/ZnO/C–P. The Cu0/ZnO interface serves as the active center to efficiently escalate CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol. [Display omitted] • Phosphorus-doped carbon materials were synthesized using a simple hydrothermal method. • C–P promoted the generation of Cu/ZnO interfaces and enhanced the interaction between Cu0 and ZnO. • Cu0/ZnO interfaces were the active sites of Cu/ZnO/C–P for CO 2 hydrogenation to methanol. • Cu/ZnO modified by appropriate amount of C–P promoted the methanol formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two stages in the process of low-temperature nuclear fusion. The first stage corresponds to the bringing together of nuclei due to attraction to the negative charge in the internuclear space. This charge is formed by massive electron pairs located in a circular orbit. According to hadronic mechanics, the attraction of electrons (with opposite spins) is ensured by contact interaction. The second stage corresponds to the exchange of nuclei by pions, which begins when the nuclei approach each other to a distance equal to the strong interaction radius Rs, To estimate the maximum value of Rs*, the concepts of hadron mechanics about the πn0 - meson as a bound electron - positron (e- e 1+ pair are used. The main attention is paid to the visual interpretation of the electromagnetic interaction (e- e+) - pairs with nuclei, promoting the attraction of nuclei. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multiplicity distributions of charged particles and their combinants for pp collisions at LHC energies are studied within the Multipomeron Exchange Model (MEM) that takes into account the phenomenon of string fusion. It is shown that the use of Gaussian-type distributions for multiplicity distributions at a fixed number of pomerons allows, within the MEM framework, the reproduction of the resulting multiplicity distributions and the oscillatory behavior of combinants, found in the ALICE and CMS pp collision data at LHC energies. It is important that in the proposed approach, the parameters of these Gaussian-type distributions are not considered free, but are calculated from the two-particle correlation function of a single string. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the production of particles outside the region of nucleon–nucleon kinematics due to interactions involving dense cold clusters of quark-gluon matter in nuclei is calculated. The possibility of observing this process in the region of central rapidities and large transverse momenta in heavy ion collisions at low energies with MPD detector at the NICA collider is demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent progresses on charmoniumlike state have significantly enriched the discovery of new hadronic states, providing exciting opportunities for further investigations into the fascinating realm of charmonium physics. In this letter, we focus on the vector charmonium family and perform a detailed analysis of the recently observed e+e−→π+D0D⁎− process. Our findings demonstrate a agreement between the observed peak structures and the predicted characterized energy level structure of higher vector charmonia including the ψ(4220), ψ(4380), ψ(4415), and ψ(4500), which are derived from an unquenched potential model. This discovery challenges conventional understanding of higher charmonia above 4 GeV and offers fresh insights into the dynamics of charm and anti-charm quarks in the formation of these states. Furthermore, the identification of these higher charmonia in the precisely measured π+D0D⁎− open-charm decay channel would serve as compelling evidence supporting the unquenched scenario and contribute to a deeper understanding of the nonperturbative aspects of the strong interaction.

This brief review is devoted to the results of non-accelerator study 01' strong nuclear long-range interaction In the mass isotope effect by the modern method of low-temperatum optical spectroscopy of condensed matter. This became possible after the discovery that the addition of one neutron causes global changes in the macroscopic characteristics of a solid. The observation of an isotopic shift (0.103 eV) of the zero-phonon line of free excitons in the luminescence spectra of LIH (without strong Interaction In the hydrogen nucleus) and UD (with strong interaction in the deuterium nucleus) crystals was the first and dlmct evidence of the long-range interaction of the Yukawa potential. Indeed, In both crystals, the lithium Ions, the proton and the electron are the same and, therefore, the gravitational, electromagnetic and weak interactions are the same, and the addition of a neutron, according to Yukawa, a strong interaction appears, the influence of which manifests itself in the isotopic shift. These experimental results demonstrate the neutron-electron binding energy (0.106 eV) which is in excellent agreement with the theoretical Breit estimate of 0.1067 eV. Another bright effect of the new physics Is associated with the isotopic creation of mass by massless fermions (leptons) in graphene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The NA61/SHINE collaboration measured the production of K S 0 in p + p interactions at two beam momenta: 80 and 158 GeV/c. The π + + π − decay of K S 0 (branching ratio of 69.2%) was measured via the invariant mass method. The rapidity and transverse momentum distributions of K S 0 are presented and compared to transport model predictions. The measured mean multiplicities of K S 0 mesons equal to 〈 K S 0 〉 = 0. 1 2 0 ± 0. 0 0 1 (stat.) ± 0. 0 0 5 (sys.) (80 GeV/c) and 〈 K S 0 〉 = 0. 1 6 2 ± 0. 0 0 1 (stat.) ± 0. 0 1 1 (sys.) (158 GeV/c) are compared with the available data in the energy range s N N = 3 –32 GeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immobilizing molecular catalysts on electrodes is vital for electrochemical applications. However, creating robust electrode‐catalyst interactions while maintaining good catalytic performance and rapid electron transfer is challenging. Here, without introducing any foreign elements, we show a bottom‐up synthetic approach of constructing the conjugated C−C bond between the commercial Vulcan carbon electrode and an organometallic catalyst. Characterization results from FTIR, XPS, aberration‐corrected TEM and EPR confirmed the successful and uniform heterogenization of the complex. The synthesized Vulcan‐LN4−Co catalyst is highly active and selective in the oxygen reduction reaction in neutral media, showing an 80 % hydrogen peroxide selectivity and a 0.72 V (vs. RHE) onset potential which significantly outperformed the homogenous counterpart. Based on single‐crystal XRD and NMR data, we built a model for density functional theory calculations which showed a nearly optimal binding energy for the *OOH intermediate. Our results show that the direct conjugated C−C bonding is an effective approach for heterogenizing molecular catalysts on carbon, opening new opportunities for employing molecular catalysts in electrochemical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One‐dimensional fiber architecture serves as an excellent catalyst support. The orderly arrangement of active materials on such a fiber substrate can enhance catalytic performance by exposing more active sites and facilitating mass diffusion; however, this remains a challenge. We developed an interfacial assembly strategy for the orderly distribution of metal nanocrystals on different fiber substrates to optimize their electrocatalytic performance. Using electrochemical nitrate reduction reaction (NO3−RR) as a representative reaction, the iron‐based nanofibers (Fe/NFs) assembly structure achieved an excellent nitrate removal capacity of 2317 mg N/g Fe and N2 selectivity up to 97.2 %. This strategy could promote the rational design and synthesis of fiber‐based electrocatalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pseudoscalar particles pions, kaons and the η -particle are considerably lighter than the other hadrons such as protons or neutrons. Their lightness was understood as a consequence of approximate chiral symmetry breaking. This led to current algebra, a way to express the relations imposed by the symmetry breaking. It was realized by Weinberg that because of their low mass, it is possible to formulate a purely pionic (effective) field theory at experimental energies, which carries all information on the (non-perturbative) dynamics, symmetries, and their spontaneous breaking of quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and allows for systematic calculations of observables. In this review, we trace these developments and present recent activities in this field. We make the connection to other effective theories, more generally introduced by Wilson, as approximate field theories at low energies. Indeed, principles and paradigms introduced first for pions have become ubiquitous in particle physics and the standard model. Lastly, we turn to the latest development where the present (fundamental) standard model itself is considered as an effective field theory of a—yet to be formulated—even more fundamental theory. We also discuss important techniques that were developed in order to turn chiral perturbation theory into a predictive framework and briefly review some connections between lattice QCD and chiral perturbation theory (ChPT). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the initial states of p+p interactions and their influence on the correlation and fluctuation observables that are sensitive to them by considering the processes of multipomeron exchange and stretching of color QCD strings. We discuss the full string dynamics, their longitudinal motion due to the deceleration of the string ends, and the transverse motion caused by attraction due to the exchange of sigma mesons with subsequent fusion. We calculate the coefficient of rapidity correlations and the strongly intensive variables constructed for the multiplicity of charged particles, , and the total transverse momentum for inelastic p+p interactions at the energy of GeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The goal of this study is to check which, if any, of the published versions of the pion and kaon fragmentation functions (FFs) is compatible with the STAR data on semi-inclusive pion and kaon production in proton–proton collisions, and on the basis of this analysis to make reliable predictions for the p T spectra of the pions and kaons in inclusive pion and kaon production at the future NICA proton–proton collider. The calculations are carried out in next-to-leading order (NLO) of perturbative quantum chromodynamics (pQCD), using the well-tested CTEQ6 parton distributions. We consider the following pion and kaon FFs — DSEHS-14 [D. de Florian, R. Sassot, M. Epele, R. J. Hernández-Pinto and M. Stratmann, Phys. Rev. D 91, 014035 (2015), 1410.6027], DSEHS-17 [D. de Florian, M. Epele, R. J. Hernandez-Pinto, R. Sassot and M. Stratmann, Phys. Rev. D 95, 094019 (2017), 1702.06353], LSS-15 [E. Leader, A. V. Sidorov and D. B. Stamenov, Phys. Rev. D 93, 074026 (2016), 1506.06381], HKNS-07 [M. Hirai, S. Kumano, T. H. Nagai and K. Sudoh, Phys. Rev. D 75, 094009 (2007), hep-ph/0702250] and AKK-08 [S. Albino, B. A. Kniehl and G. Kramer, Nucl. Phys. B 803, 42 (2008), 0803.2768]. Our analysis shows that within the experimental errors all tested sets of FFs provide a good fit to STAR data at the c.m. energy S = 2 0 0 GeV , and the best ones are both LSS-15 and DSEHS-14 for pions and DSEHS-17 for kaons. From comparison of the LO and NLO results it is clear that the latter fit data much better, specially in the region of small p T . The NLO cross-sections are also less scale- Q 2 dependent, where p T / 2 ≤ Q ≤ 2 p T , than the LO ones. In order to make predictions for NICA energies, we compare the NLO pQCD results with the existing experimental BES STAR data on semi-inclusive hadron production in the most peripheral Au+Au collisions where the nuclear effects can be neglected. The comparison for lower energy scales, like at NICA, shows that a purely pQCD approach is inadequate and suggests the necessity to take into account also higher-order effects of initial-state soft-gluon radiation. Nevertheless, these data on the p T spectra of π + , K + and also the ratios π − / π + and K − / K + seem to favor LSS-15 and DSEHS-14 FFs for pions and DSEHS-17 for kaons, similarly as at the energy scale S = 2 0 0 GeV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The measurements of the dependence of the energy of residual strong nuclear interaction on the distance between nucleons in the deuterium nucleus were performed for the first time. We must emphasize that LiD crystals have maximum strong coupling constant a., which according to our estimates, is equal 2.4680. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The AMADEUS Collaboration conducts research aimed to experimentally investigate the low-energy K− hadronic interactions with light nuclei like hydrogen, helium, and carbon, in order to provide new constraints to the antikaon-nucleon strong interaction studies in the non-perturbative quantum chromodynamics regime. K− nuclear absorption, both at-rest and in-flight, are explored using the unique low-momentum and monochromatic kaon beam from the DAΦNE collider interacting with the KLOE detector components, a detector characterized by high acceptance and excellent position and momentum resolutions. This paper presents an overview of the AMADEUS results.

The multiplicity distributions of charged particles and their combinants for pp collisions at LHC energies are studied within the Multipomeron Exchange Model (MEM) that takes into account the phenomenon of string fusion. It is shown that the use of Gaussian-type distributions for multiplicity distributions at a fixed number of pomerons allows, within the MEM framework, the reproduction of the resulting multiplicity distributions and the oscillatory behavior of combinants, found in the ALICE and CMS pp collision data at LHC energies. It is important that in the proposed approach, the parameters of these Gaussian-type distributions are not considered free, but are calculated from the two-particle correlation function of a single string.

In this paper, the production of particles outside the region of nucleon–nucleon kinematics due to interactions involving dense cold clusters of quark-gluon matter in nuclei is calculated. The possibility of observing this process in the region of central rapidities and large transverse momenta in heavy ion collisions at low energies with MPD detector at the NICA collider is demonstrated.

The Cu/CeO2-nanopolyhedrals and pure Cu/CeO2-nanorods with different sizes were synthesized for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. With increasing the percentage composition of CeO2 nanorods, the surface concentrations of Cu+, Ce3+ and oxygen vacancies were gradually enhanced. However, the amount of surface Cu+ species and oxygen vacancies would be decreased instead if the size of pure CeO2 nanorods was too large. The variation tendency of catalytic performance for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol was well consistent with that of Cu+ species and oxygen vacancies. Cu/CeO2 nanorods with small size exhibited the strongest interaction in Cu-CeO2 interface and the highest methanol production activity among all Cu/CeO2 nano-catalysts. The small size of CeO2-nanorods obtained at NaOH concentration of 10 mol/L, hydrothermal temperature of 80 °C and hydrothermal time of 24 h showed the best catalytic performance (XCO2 = 5.8%, SCH3OH = 92.0%, YCH3OH = 5.3%) at 280 °C and 3 MPa. The stronger interaction accelerated the charge transfer between CuOx species and CeO2 nanorods, which produced the larger amount of surface Cu+ species and oxygen vacancies. The synergistic effect between reduced Cu species and oxygen vacancies improved methanol selectivity and was responsible for CO2 hydrogenation to methanol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The QCD effective charge αg1(Q) is an observable that characterizes the magnitude of the strong interaction. At high momentum Q, it coincides with the QCD running coupling αs(Q). At low Q, it offers a nonperturbative definition of the running coupling. We have extracted αg1(Q) from measurements carried out at Jefferson Lab that span the very low to moderately high Q domain, 0.14≤Q≤2.18 GeV. The precision of the new results is much improved over the previous extractions and the reach in Q at the lower end is significantly expanded. The data show that αg1(Q) becomes Q-independent at very low Q. They compare well with two recent predictions of the QCD effective charge based on Dyson–Schwinger equations and on the AdS/CFT duality.

Traditional powder catalysts are not suitable for industrial applications due to low utilization of active phase and easy sintering. Therefore, monolithic catalyst MCCF with good stability and water-resistance was designed for the catalytic oxidation of toluene-acetone mixture, in which amorphous MnO x derived via pyrolysis of Mn-MOFs loaded on copper foam (CF) and different transition layers were employed between MnO x and CF to regulate Cu-Mn interaction. The combined action of amorphous MnO x and the Cu-Mn strong interaction enhanced the catalytic degradation of toluene-acetone mixture. The existence of amorphous MnO x and the impacts of Cu-Mn interaction on weakening Mn-O bonds and stimulating reactive oxygen species were verified by various characterizations. Furthermore, the reaction pathways of toluene and acetone on catalyst MCCF were revealed as well as their interactions within the mixture. • The main active phase MnO x derived from Mn-MOFs grown on Cu foam is amorphous. • Different transition layers are employed to regulate Cu-Mn interaction. • Strong Cu-Mn interaction weakens Mn-O bonds and promotes catalytic activity. • The weaker Mn-O bond stimulates more reactive oxygen species. • Catalyst MCCF exhibits excellent toluene-acetone mixture catalytic activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cu/SBA-15 and Cu-NbO x /SBA-15 catalysts were prepared and evaluated in the hydrogenation of palmitic acid to palmitic alcohol. A high palmitic alcohol yield of 90.8% was obtained using palmitic acid as feedstock. NbO x has been considered to be crucial for the excellent performance and the synergy between Cu and NbO x was well investigated. The interaction between Cu species and NbO x -containing support was studied by various characterizations, such as powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), H 2 -temperature programmed reduction (H 2 -TPR) and X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES). The kinetic data for rate determining step were also collected. The synergistic effect of Cu and NbO x to catalytic activity was discussed and the following insights were obtained: i) the NbO x doping led to form abundant Cu species with more electron-deficient, which is beneficial for the production of alcohol; ii) the oxygen affinity of NbO x promotes the adsorption of oxygen-containing group. Finally, the natural product of palm oil was taken as feedstock and an ideal yield 84.2% of palmitic alcohol was harvested. [Display omitted] • A catalyst Cu-NbO x /SBA-15 with uniform and small size Cu species supported on SBA-15 was obtained by introducing NbO x species. • The Cu-NbO x /SBA-15 performed excellently in hydrogenation of palmitic acid to palmitic alcohol, with a yield of 90.8%. • The high-efficiency of Cu-NbO x /SBA-15 is attributed to the synergistic effect between Cu and NbO x species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The computation of dynamical properties of nuclear matter, ranging from parton distribution functions of nucleons and nuclei to transport properties in the quark-gluon plasma, constitutes a central goal of modern theoretical physics. This real-time physics often defies a perturbative treatment and the most successful strategy so far is to deploy lattice QCD simulations. These numerical computations are based on Monte-Carlo sampling and formulated in an artificial Euclidean time. Real-time physics is most conveniently formulated in terms of spectral functions, which are hidden in lattice QCD behind an ill-posed inverse problem. I will discuss state-of-the art methods in the extraction of spectral functions from lattice QCD simulations, based on Bayesian inference and emphasize the importance of prior domain knowledge, vital to regularizing the otherwise ill-posed extraction task. With Bayesian inference allowing us to make explicit the uncertainty in both observations and in our prior knowledge, a systematic estimation of the total uncertainties in the extracted spectral functions is nowadays possible. Two implementations of the Bayesian Reconstruction (BR) method for spectral function extraction, one for MAP point estimates and one based on an open access Monte-Carlo sampler are provided. I will briefly touch on the use of machine learning for spectral function reconstruction and discuss some new insight it has brought to the Bayesian community.

Within the framework of the model with quark-gluon strings (color flux tubes) as sources, the properties of the strongly intense variable Σ , which characterizes the correlations between the number of particles in two observation windows separated in rapidity, are studied. It is shown that, in pp collisions at LHC energies, string fusion effects leading to the formation of string clusters have a significant effect on the behavior of this observable. The experimentally observed changes in this variable with the initial energy and centrality of the pp collision can only be explained by taking into account the formation of string clusters consisting of an increasing number of merged strings. It is demonstrated that the study of the behavior of the Σ observable as a function of the rapidity distance between the centers of the observation windows and the width of these windows with variable experimental conditions using different energies and centralities of pp-collisions makes it possible to extract the parameters of string clusters from the experimental data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the migration distance of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and enhancing interfacial electron transfer represent effective approaches for enhancing the reactivity of heterogeneous catalysts, albeit still posing significant challenges. Herein, we successfully synthesized ultrasmall cobalt nanoclusters-confined g-C 3 N 4 macroscopic beads with N-doped carbon dots (Co/NC@CN beads). Compared to unconfined Co/C and Co/C@CN beads, Co/NC@CN beads demonstrated remarkable utilization efficiency of PMS (84.3%), achieving complete degradation of TC within 20 min at a rate of 162.1 min-1·M-1, surpassing most reported catalysts. Besides, Co/NC@CN beads predominantly generated singlet oxygen (1O 2), ensuring efficient removal of micropollutants with resistance to pH and complex water bodies. Experiments have proven that the strong interaction between Co clusters and g-C 3 N 4 beads containing NC dots facilitated the generation of interfacial electron transfer by optimizing the electronic structure of Co nanoclusters, thereby Co/NC@CN beads could capture electrons from tetracycline (TC) and PMS molecules towards dissolved oxygen (DO) to form O 2 ·-, which subsequently converted into 1O 2. More importantly, the efficiency of the flow-through unit in the continuous degradation of TC with zero discharge was substantiated by long-term experiments, and its performance could be restored through a straightforward low-temperature carbonization process. This study offers a universal design framework for the creation of various confined macroscopic beads, enabling the achievement of highly effective wastewater treatment. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flow in the three-dimensional boundary layer on a yawed plate of finite length from which a gas is injection along the normal is considered in the case of the regime of strong viscous-inviscid interaction. In order to investigate the upstream disturbance propagation, the flow functions are expanded in four-term series in the neighborhood of the leading edge of plate under the assumption that the base pressure which depends on the transverse coordinate is given on the plate trailing edge. It is shown that these expansions contain an undefined function and its first and second derivatives with respect to the transverse coordinate. The corresponding boundary-value problems are formulated and numerically solved and the eigenvalues are found. It is shown that the possibility of downstream influence becomes significantly higher with increase in both the yawing angle and the intensity of gas injection. The influence of the constitutive parameters on the flow characteristics in the three-dimensional boundary layer is investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The QCD effective charge α g 1 (Q) is an observable that characterizes the magnitude of the strong interaction. At high momentum Q, it coincides with the QCD running coupling α s (Q) . At low Q, it offers a nonperturbative definition of the running coupling. We have extracted α g 1 (Q) from measurements carried out at Jefferson Lab that span the very low to moderately high Q domain, 0.14 ≤ Q ≤ 2.18 GeV. The precision of the new results is much improved over the previous extractions and the reach in Q at the lower end is significantly expanded. The data show that α g 1 (Q) becomes Q-independent at very low Q. They compare well with two recent predictions of the QCD effective charge based on Dyson–Schwinger equations and on the AdS/CFT duality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Modern quantum engineering techniques enabled successful foundational tests of quantum mechanics. Yet, the universal validity of quantum postulates is an open question. Here we propose a new theoretical framework of Q-data tests, which recognizes the established validity of quantum theory, but allows for more general—'post-quantum'—scenarios in certain physical regimes. It can accommodate a large class of models with modified quantum wave dynamics, correlations beyond entanglement or general probabilistic postulates. We discuss its experimental implementation suited to probe the nature of strong nuclear interactions. In contrast to the present accelerator experiments, it shifts the focus from high-luminosity beam physics to individual particle coherent control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethanol is a promising liquid clean energy source in the energy conversion field. However, the self‐poisoning caused by the strongly adsorbed reaction intermediates (typically, CO) is a critical problem in ethanol oxidation reaction. To address this issue, we proposed a joint use of two strategies, alloying of Pt with other metals and building Pt/metal‐oxide interfaces, to achieve high‐performance electrocatalytic ethanol oxidation. For this, a well‐designed synthetic route combining wet impregnation with a two‐step thermal treatment process was established to construct PtSn/SnOx interfaces on carbon nanotubes. Using this route, the alloying of Pt−Sn and formation of PtSn−SnOx interfaces can simultaneously be achieved, and the coverage of SnOx thin films on PtSn alloy nanoparticles can be facilely tuned by the strong interaction between Pt and SnOx. The results revealed that the partial coverage of SnOx species not only retained the active sites, but also enhanced the CO anti‐poisoning ability of the catalyst. Consequently, the H−PtSn/SnOx/CNT‐2 catalyst with an optimized PtSn−SnOx interface showed significantly improved performances toward the ethanol oxidation reaction (825 mA mgPt−1). This study provides deep insights into the structure‐performance relationship of PtSn/metal oxide composite catalysts, which would be helpful for the future design and fabrication of high‐performance Pt‐based ethanol oxidation reaction catalysts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the deconfinement phase transition, we have analyzed the shape of the one end of the flux tube computed by HISQ configurations in full QCD with (2+1) flavors. The ratio of the longitudinal and transverse profile of the parallel chrome-electric field strength revealed that the transverse profile becomes wider than the longitudinal profile when the temperature increases. Also, we found that the comparison, as a function of the distance between two quarks, likely shows melting distances of the flux tube. The melting distances are different for each temperature. They are R = 1.5 fm at T/Tc = 0.97 and R = 1.2 fm at above the critical temperatures T/Tc = 1.00, 1.03, 1.06 and 1.09.

Borocarbonitride (BCN) catalysts, boasting multiple redox sites, have shown considerable potential in alkane oxidative dehydrogenation (ODH) to olefin molecules. However, their catalytic efficiency still lags behind that of leading commercial catalysts, primarily due to the limited reactivity of oxygen functional groups. In this study, a groundbreaking hybrid catalyst is developed, featuring BCN nanotubes (BCNNTs) encapsulated with manganese (Mn) clusters, crafted through a meticulous supramolecular self-assembly and postcalcination strategy. This novel catalyst demonstrates a remarkable enhancement in activity, achieving 30% conversion and ≈100% selectivity toward styrene in ethylbenzene ODH reactions. Notably, its performance surpasses both pure BCNNTs and those hosting Mn nanoparticles. Structural and kinetic analyses unveil a robust interaction between BCNNTs and the Mn component, substantially boosting the catalytic activity of BCNNTs. Furthermore, density functional theory (DFT) calculations elucidate that BCNNTs encapsulated with Mn clusters not only stabilize key intermediates (─B─O─O─B─) but also enhance the nucleophilicity of active sites through electron transfer from the Mn cluster to the BCNNTs. This electron transfer mechanism effectively lowers the energy barrier for ─C─H cleavage, resulting in a 13% improvement in catalytic activity compared to pure BCNNTs., (© 2024 Wiley‐VCH GmbH.)

The heating of the surface of a blunted plate made of a material with low thermal conductivity is experimentally investigated in a wind tunnel under the strong interaction regime. The flow in the boundary layer on the plate is nonstationary, since the temperature of the plate surface continuously increases during the start-up, and its distribution over the surface is variable. The installation of a wedge in the vicinity of the trailing edge of the plate leads to changes in the area of the perturbed flow and in the temperature distribution on the surface of the plate in front of it up to the leading edge as compared to the case of flow around a plate without a wedge. These changes are explained by the propagation of pressure perturbations caused by the installation of the wedge along the subsonic part of the boundary layer against the flow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we use the self-consistent mean field approximation to study the Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD) phase transition. In the self-consistent mean field approximation of the Nambu–Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model, a parameter α is introduced, which reflects the weight of "direct" channel and the "exchange" channel and needs to be determined by experiments (as mentioned in a recent work [T. Zhao, W. Zheng, F. Wang, C.-M. Li, Y. Yan, Y.-F. Huang and H.-S. Zong, Phys. Rev. D100, 043018 (2019)], the results with α = 0. 9 are in good agreement with astronomical observation data on the latest binary neutron star merging. This indicates that the contribution of "exchange" channel should be considered, and α = 0. 9 is a possible choice). By comparing the results with different parameter α 's (α = 0 , α = 0. 5 and α = 0. 9), we study the influence of "exchange" channel on the behavior of the solutions of the quark gap equation and the critical point of chiral phase transition. Our results show that the second-order chiral phase turns to the crossover from the chiral limit to the non-chiral limit around μ = 3 6 0 MeV in the case of α = 0. 9. The difference of the quark mass with different α 's mainly occurs in the intermediate temperatures for the different fixed chemical potentials. At zero temperature and the chemical potential μ = 3 3 4 MeV there will be two solutions (including a meta-stable solution) of gap equation with α = 0 , and as α increases it will be only one solution left (the meta-stable solution will disappear until α = 0. 5). Besides, the discrepancy of the critical temperature (above which the pseudo-Wigner solution and negative Nambu solution will disappear) in the three cases of α = 0 , 0. 5 , 0. 9 will become large when the chemical potential increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bi – Mg is a strongly interacting system (the free energy of mixing G M > 3 RT at equiatomic composition), the compositional dependence of the thermodynamic properties (free energy of mixing, heat of mixing and entropy of mixing) exhibits asymmetric behaviour about equiatomic composition and are in well agreement with experimental data literature. Such an interesting feature is explained here through complex formation model on the basis that a complex of the form Bi2Mg3 exists in the bulk phase. Its energetics is used to investigate the structural properties (concentration fluctuation in long wavelength limit and chemical short-range order parameter) and the transport property (ratio of mutual diffusion coefficient to intrinsic diffusion coefficient). The mixing behaviour of Bi – Mg system is further explored through the study of coefficient of viscosity, surface composition and surface tension. Our study indicates that the surface is enormously rich with Bismuth concentrations throughout the composition of the alloys. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the star material among nonprecious electrocatalysts, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) has received much attention. However, the catalytic inertness of the basal plane, low conductivity of its steady state (2H phase), and the agglomeration of lamellar structures have seriously hindered its catalytic performance. It is very essential to design and modulate the morphology and phase of MoS2 to improve the above issues by synergistic regulation of electrical structure and defect engineering. Herein, MoS2 was delicately composited on CoP nanoframe derived from a typical metal–organic frame nanostructure (ZIF-67), forming the hollow CoP@MoS2 hetero-nanoframe. This exquisite externally layered and internally hollow CoP@MoS2 electrocatalyst demonstrated excellent catalytic performance for the hydrogen evolution reaction, with a low overpotential of 119 mV at 10 mA cm−2, a small Tafel slope of 49 mV dec−1, a large electric double-layer capacitance of 10.28 mF cm−2, and prominent long-term stability. The remarkable catalytic performance of hollow CoP@MoS2 hetero-nanoframe can be attributed to the unique architecture of the hetero-nanostructures, appropriate component ratios, strong interaction between CoP and MoS2, and large-scale defects and disorder. First-principles density-functional theory calculations can prove the above arguments adequately, the hydrogen adsorption free energy of CoP@MoS2 is close to zero.

A series of CeO2–WO3/20%ATP-TiO2 catalysts were synthesized, of which attapulgite (ATP) was modified by different methods. Notably, after ATP was dissociated and acidified, the catalyst synthesized by the impregnation method exhibited satisfactory performance for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) NOx with NH3. In more detail, the NO conversion could reach to 88% at 240 °C and maintain above 93% in the temperature range of 280–400 °C. Subsequently, the NO conversion of the best catalyst could keep above 80% after introducing H2O and SO2, so this catalyst also had strong tolerance to H2O and SO2 performance. Besides, the results of XRD, XPS, TEM characterizations suggested that the high dispersion of active species cerium and tungsten on the surface of ATP, which played an important role in improving the SCR performance of the catalyst. In short, the surface dissociation and surface acidification of a small amount of ATP carrier can improve the catalyst catalytic performance, so it will have a broad application prospect in SCR reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Hierarchical alumina microspheres with abundant pentacoordinated Al3+ sites were constructed. • Pd species tended to adsorb, disperse and anchor over pentacoordinated Al3+ sites. • Treatment with reaction atmosphere boosted surficial lattice oxygen and Pd4+ species. • The used Pd/Al 2 O 3 catalyst exhibited a better catalytic performance. Catalyst support is crucial to modulating and immobilizing the active metal phases and the catalytic performance can be optimized by the rational design of support. Herein, the hierarchical alumina microspheres with abundant coordinatively unsaturated pentacoordinated Al3+ (Al3+ penta) sites were constructed by a facile solvothermal method and then employed as the support materials to anchor Pd species. XPS and NMR results revealed that Pd species were prone to the adsorption, dispersion and stabilization over Al3+ penta sites by strong interaction in the form of Pd4+ species. During the catalytic oxidation process, the crystal structure and morphology of Pd/Al 2 O 3 catalysts remained stable, but the surficial lattice oxygen and cationic Pd4+ species presented a distinct increase. In comparison with the fresh catalyst, the catalytic performance of the used Pd/Al 2 O 3 catalysts exhibited a significant improvement and still kept unchanged even after the multiple consecutive catalytic process. The used Pd/Al 2 O 3 catalyst also possessed the excellent water tolerance and almost 1000 ppm toluene at a weight hourly space velocity of 60 000 mL g cat −1 h−1 could be converted into nontoxic CO 2 and H 2 O over the catalyst surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of CeO2–WO3/20%ATP-TiO2 catalysts were synthesized, of which attapulgite (ATP) was modified by different methods. Notably, after ATP was dissociated and acidified, the catalyst synthesized by the impregnation method exhibited satisfactory performance for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) NOx with NH3. In more detail, the NO conversion could reach to 88% at 240 °C and maintain above 93% in the temperature range of 280–400 °C. Subsequently, the NO conversion of the best catalyst could keep above 80% after introducing H2O and SO2, so this catalyst also had strong tolerance to H2O and SO2 performance. Besides, the results of XRD, XPS, TEM characterizations suggested that the high dispersion of active species cerium and tungsten on the surface of ATP, which played an important role in improving the SCR performance of the catalyst. In short, the surface dissociation and surface acidification of a small amount of ATP carrier can improve the catalyst catalytic performance, so it will have a broad application prospect in SCR reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to difficulties with scalability and practical utilization, Si/graphene composites are not yet used as anodes for commercially available lithium-ion batteries. In this paper, we report an accessible and cost-effective ball-milling route to synthesize Si and graphene composites. By introducing amino- and carboxyl-groups, covalent linkage between Si nanoparticles and graphene is created, which solves serious issues of hybrids like poor dispersion and weak connection. This composite features a unique structure, where Si nanoparticles are uniformly attached to the surface or embedded into the inter-layers of the graphene. When used as anodes of lithium-ion batteries, this composite can retain a reversible capacity of 1516.23 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at 100 mA g−1. It also exhibited excellent ultra-long-term cycling stability and high rate performance. The electrochemical performance is superior to most reported Si/graphene composites without chemical bonds at the interface, which indicates that covalent bonding can effectively inhibit the irreversible sliding of Si nanoparticles. In addition, EIS measurement had revealed a lower transfer resistance and faster Li-ions diffusion of Si@APTES/ f -Gr, suggesting the integrity of graphene after functionalization. The proposed functionalization-assisted ball-milling approach, therefore, probably enables the large-scale production of Si/Graphene as anodes in high-performance batteries in the future. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the framework of the model with quark-gluon strings (color flux tubes) as sources, the properties of the strongly intense variable Σ, which characterizes the correlations between the number of particles in two observation windows separated in rapidity, are studied. It is shown that, in pp collisions at LHC energies, string fusion effects leading to the formation of string clusters have a significant effect on the behavior of this observable. The experimentally observed changes in this variable with the initial energy and centrality of the pp collision can only be explained by taking into account the formation of string clusters consisting of an increasing number of merged strings. It is demonstrated that the study of the behavior of the Σ observable as a function of the rapidity distance between the centers of the observation windows and the width of these windows with variable experimental conditions using different energies and centralities of pp-collisions makes it possible to extract the parameters of string clusters from the experimental data.