xvi, 280 p. : ill. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / Doppler-limited, steady-state, linear absorption spectra of 127 I 2 (diatomic iodine) near 675 nm were recorded with an internally-referenced wavelength modulation spectrometer, built around a free-running diode laser using phase-sensitive detection, and capable of exceeding the signal-to-noise limit imposed by the 12-bit data acquisition system. Observed I 2 lines were accounted for by published spectroscopic constants. Pressure broadening and pressure shift coefficients were determined respectively from the line-widths and line-center shifts as a function of buffer gas pressure, which were determined from nonlinear regression analysis of observed line shapes against a Gaussian-Lorentzian convolution line shape model. This model included a linear superposition of the I 2 hyperfine structure based on changes in the nuclear electric quadrupole coupling constant. Room temperature (292 K) values of these coefficients were determined for six unblended I 2 lines in the region 14,817.95 to 14,819.45 cm -1 for each of the following buffer gases: the atoms He, Ne, Ar, Kr, and Xe; and the molecules H 2 , D 2 , N 2 , CO 2 , N 2 O, air, and H 2 O. These coefficients were also determined at one additional temperature (388 K) for He and CO 2 , and at two additional temperatures (348 and 388 K) for Ar. Elastic collision cross-sections were determined for all pressure broadening coefficients in this region. Room temperature values of these coefficients were also determined for several low- J I 2 lines in the region 14,946.17 to 14,850.29 cm -1 for Ar. A line shape model, obtained from a first-order perturbation solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for randomly occurring interactions between a two-level system and a buffer gas treated as step-function potentials, reveals a relationship between the ratio of pressure broadening to pressure shift coefficients and a change in the wave function phase-factor, interpreted as reflecting the "cause and effect" of state-changing events in the microscopic domain. Collision cross-sections determined from this model are interpreted as reflecting the inelastic nature of collision-induced state-changing events. A steady-state kinetic model for the two-level system compatible with the Beer-Lambert law reveals thermodynamic constraints on the ensemble-average state-changing rates and collision cross-sections, and leads to the proposal of a relationship between observed asymmetric line shapes and irreversibility in the microscopic domain. / Committee in charge: David Herrick, Chairperson, Chemistry; John Hardwick, Advisor, Chemistry; Jeffrey Cina, Member, Chemistry; David Tyler, Member, Chemistry; Michael Raymer, Outside Member, Physics

The proton, one of the basic constituents of atoms, was discovered around 1920. Its structure has been intensively studied since that time mainly with the help of proton- proton collision experiments. Main progress has started when corresponding experiments at the world's first hadron collider ISR at CERN which ran from 1971 to 1984 were performed. The understanding of the structure and interactions of this subatomic particle protons has been, however, rather incomplete. Only some very general models have been available especially in the case of higher collision energies when very different kinds of collisions have existed. Some very simplifying assumptions of unclear physical meaning have been then involved in models concerning elastic processes. The influence of these assumptions on physical interpretation has started to be studied and some progress has been made when the eikonal model has been proposed, i.e., the dependence of elastic collisions on corresponding impact parameter values has been taken into account from the beginning. However, even if some new results have been obtained many unanswered questions have remained. For example, the collision process has been denoted generally as probabilistic but corresponding probabilities have not been sufficiently defined and determined. The given thesis contains,...

Under the influence of standardly used (however, very simplified) description of Coulomb-hadronic interference proposed by West and Yennie (1968) the protons have been interpreted as "transparent" objects; elastic collisions have been interpreted as more central than inelastic ones. This property may be hardly put in agreement with the fact that in the majority of hadronic collisions many different particles have been created at high energies. Using the more general eikonal model it will be shown that the protons may be interpreted in agreement with usual conception; elastic processes being more peripheral than inelastic ones. The contemporary TOTEM experiment at the LHC accelerator in CERN devoted to measurement of elastic pp scattering and diffractive processes at the highest ever reached energies will be described. The eikonal model will be explained to greater details, generalized and applied to experimental data of elastic pp collisions under different assumptions at 52.8 GeV (older ISR data measured at CERN) and also at much higher energy of 8 TeV (new TOTEM data). The impact of different assumptions on determination of several quantities specifying hadron interaction will be studied. Mainly the assumptions influencing behaviour of elastic collisions in dependence on impact parameter of colliding...