Spectral Study of Ionized Xenon Using a Capillary Pulsed Discharge

This work presents preliminaries spectroscopic results about ionized xenon and xenon-helium mixture using a capillary pulsed discharge under several experimental results.     

Near-Infrared Imaging Spectrophotometry Of Comet C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp) Near Perihelion

We present 1- to 5-μm broadband and CVF images of comet Hale-Bopp taken 1997 February 10.5 UT, 50 days before perihelion. All the images exhibit a nonspherical coma with a bright “ridge” in the direction of the dust tail approximately 10″ from the coma. Synthetic aperture spectrophotometry implies that the optically important grains are of a radius ≤0.4 μm; smallest radius for any comet seen to date. The variation of the integrated surface brightness with radial distance from the coma (ρ) in all the images closely follows the “steady state” ρ⁻¹ model for comet dust ablation (Gehrz and Ney, 1992). The near-infrared colors taken along the dust tail are not constant implying the dust grain properties vary with coma distance. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The problem of clock synchronization: A relativistic approach

The problem of synchronization of the Earth-based clocks has been discussed in the framework of General Relativity Theory. The synchronization is considered as the transformation of the observers' proper time scales to the coordinate time scale of local inertial geocentric reference system, which is single for all the observers. The formulas for the relativistic corrections occurring in some methods of Earth-based clock synchronization (transported clock, duplex communication via geostationary satellite and meteor-burst link, LASSO experiments) have been derived enabling one to attain the accuracy of 0.1 ns.     

The Monahans chondrite and halite: Argon‐39/argon‐40 age,solar gases,cosmic‐ray exposure ages,and parent body regolith neutron flux and thickness

Abstract— The Monahans H‐chondrite is a regolith breccia containing light and dark phases and the first reported presence of small grains of halite. We made detailed noble gas analyses of each of these phases. The ³⁹Ar‐⁴⁰Ar age of Monahans light is 4.533 ± 0.006 Ma. Monahans dark and halite samples show greater amounts of diffusive loss of ⁴⁰Ar and the maximum ages are 4.50 and 4.33 Ga, respectively. Monahans dark phase contains significant concentrations of He, Ne and Ar implanted by the solar wind when this material was extant in a parent body regolith. Monahans light contains no solar gases. From the cosmogenic ³He, ²¹Ne, and ³⁸Ar in Monahans light we calculate a probable cosmic‐ray, space exposure age of 6.0 ± 0.5 Ma. Monahans dark contains twice as much cosmogenic ²¹Ne and ³⁸Ar as does the light and indicates early near‐surface exposure of 13–18 Ma in a H‐chondrite regolith. The existence of fragile halite grains in H‐chondrites suggests that this regolith irradiation occurred very early. Large concentrations of ³⁶Ar in the halite were produced during regolith exposure by neutron capture on ³⁵Cl, followed by decay to ³⁶Ar. The thermal neutron fluence seen by the halite was (2–4) × 10¹⁴ n/cm². The thermal neutron flux during regolith exposure was ～0.4‐0.7 n/cm²/s. The Monahans neutron fluence is more than an order of magnitude less than that acquired during space exposure of several large meteorites and of lunar soils, but the neutron flux is lower by a factor of ≤5. Comparison of the ³⁶Ar_n/²¹Ne_cos ratio in Monahans halite and silicate with the theoretically calculated ratio as a function of shielding depth in an H‐chondrite regolith suggests that irradiation of Monahans dark occurred under low shielding in a regolith that may have been relatively shallow. Late addition of halite to the regolith can be ruled out. However, irradiation of halite and silicate for different times at different depths in an extensive regolith cannot be excluded.     

Porphyroblast inclusion-trail orientation data: eppure non son girate*!

Extensive examination of large numbers of spatially orientated thin sections of orientated samples from orogens of all ages around the world has demonstrated that porphyroblasts do not rotate relative to geographical coordinates during highly non-coaxial ductile deformation of the matrix subsequent to their growth. This has been demonstrated for all tectonic environments so far investigated. The work also has provided new insights and data on metamorphic, structural and tectonic processes including: (1) the intimate control of deformation partitioning on metamorphic reactions; (2) solutions to the lack of correlation between lineations that indicate the direction of movement within thrusts and shear zones, and relative plate motion; and (3) a possible technique for determining the direction of relative plate motion that caused orogenesis in ancient orogens.     

Evolutionary state of W UMa-type systems

The evolutionary status of a sample of 31 W UMa-type systems (20 of W, 9 of A, and 2 of A/W sub-class) is examined and discussed on the basis of their positions in the H-R, mass-radius and mass-luminosity diagrams. The absolute elements of these systems have been evaluated by use of their spectroscopic and photometric data as they were found in the literature. Since different analysis methods have been used by the various investigators this gives the opportunity to make different H-R, mass-radius and mass-luminosity diagrams, according to the method used, and compare the results.Moreover, from the spectral type-period diagram of those systems that have spectral types from O to G2 it was found that all of them lie in the evolved region. Finally, the log (L _l/L _s) log (M _l/M _s) diagrams are presented and discussed.     

A sedimentary record from a deep Quaternary valley in the southern Lillebælt area, Denmark: Eemian and Early Weichselian lithology and chronology at Mommark

A unique sequence of Late Saalian, Eemian and Early Weichselian strata is exposed in a coastal outcrop at Mommark in the western Baltic. The sedimentary facies and faunas reflect palaeoenvironmental changes from an initial freshwater lake followed by marine transgression and interglacial deposition in a palaeo-Baltic sea. The upper part of the Eemian marine record indicates regression followed by lacustrine sedimentation and deposition of Early Weichselian aeolian sediments, which are truncated by an erosional unconformity overlain by a till bed. The lower and middle parts of the sequence have previously been correlated with the European glacial-interglacial stratigraphy on the basis of pollen analysis, while the upper part has been dated for the present study using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) of samples from the aeolian and glacial deposits. A similar complete glacial-interglacial-glacial succession has not previously been recorded from this area. The Mommark sequence of conformable strata has been subjected to lateral compression, evidenced by folding and low-angle reverse faults. Seismic records from the adjacent waters in the western Baltic reveal a system of buried Quaternary valleys in the area. It is suggested that the interglacial deposition took place in a basin within one of these valleys and that a slab constituting the Mommark sequence, originating from the margin of a valley, has been glaciotectonically displaced northwestwards to the present location.     

Formation of galactic subsystems in light of the magnesium abundance in field stars: The thin disk

Data from our compiled catalog of spectroscopically determined magnesium abundances in stars with accurate parallaxes are used to select thin-disk dwarfs and subgiants according to kinematic criteria. We analyze the relations between the relative magnesium abundances in stars, [Mg/Fe], and their metallicities, Galactic orbital elements, and ages. The [Mg/Fe] ratios in the thin disk at any metallicity in the range ?1.0 dex <[Fe/H] < ?0.4 dex are shown to be smaller than those in the thick disk, implying that the thin-disk stars are, on average, younger than the thick-disk stars. The relative magnesium abundances in such metal-poor thin-disk stars have been found to systematically decrease with increasing stellar orbital radii in such a way that magnesium overabundances ([Mg/Fe] > 0.2 dex) are essentially observed only in the stars whose orbits lie almost entirely within the solar circle. At the same time, the range of metallicities in magnesium-poor stars is displaced from ?0.5 dex < [Fe/H] < +0.3 dex to ?0.7 dex < [Fe/H] < +0.2 dex as their orbital radii increase. This behavior suggests that, first, the star formation rate decreases with increasing Galactocentric distance and, second, there was no star formation for some time outside the solar circle, while this process was continuous within the solar circle. The decrease in the star formation rate with increasing Galactocentric distance is responsible for the existence of a negative radial metallicity gradient (grad _R[Fe/H] = ?0.05 ± 0.01 kpc^?1) in the disk, which shows a tendency to increase with decreasing age. At the same time, the relative magnesium abundance exhibits no radial gradient. We have confirmed the existence of a steep negative vertical metallicity gradient (grad _Z[Fe/H] = ?0.29 ± 0.06 kpc^?1) and detected a significant positive vertical gradient in relative magnesium abundance (grad _Z[Mg/Fe] = 0.13 ± 0.02 kpc^?1); both gradients increase appreciably in absolute value with decreasing age. We have found that there is not only an age-metallicity relation, but also an age-magnesium abundance relation, in the thin disk. We surmise that the thin disk has a multicomponent structure, but the existence of a negative trend in the star formation rate along the Galactocentric radius does not allow the stars of its various components to be identified in the immediate solar neighborhood.