Problems in the determination of plastic and liquid limits of remoulded soils using a drop-cone penetrometer

This short communication describes difficulties of sample preparation associated with the determination of plastic and liquid limits using a drop-cone penetrometer. Problems of sample packing, soil moisture distribution and degree of remoulding are identified. These problems are particularly relevant in influencing liquid limit values whilst the effects on plastic limits are less marked. It is concluded that if the need is for the quick determination of liquid and plastic limits for general classification purposes, then the traditional Casagrande and thread methods are adequate. If these limits require to be measured with greater precision using the drop-cone technique, then careful consideration must be given to sample preparation.     

Temporal Gravity Variations near Shrinking Vatnajökull Ice Cap, Iceland

Repeated gravity measurements were carried out from 1991 until 1999 at sites SE of Vatnajökull, Iceland, to estimate the mass flow and deformation accompanying the shrinking of the ice cap. Published GPS data show an uplift of about 13 ± 5 mm/a near the ice margin. A gravity decrease of –2 ± 1 μGal/a relative to the Höfn base station, was observed for the same sites. Control measurements at the Höfn station showed a gravity decrease of –2 ± 0.5 µGal/a relative to the station RVIK 5473 at Reykjavík (about 250 km from Höfn). This is compatible, as a Bouguer effect, with a 10 ± 3 mm/a uplift rate of the IGS point at Höfn and an uplift rate of ~20 mm/a near the ice margin. Although the derived gravity change rates at individual sites have large uncertainties, the ensemble of the rates varies systematically and significantly with distance from the ice. The relationship between gravity and elevation changes and the shrinking ice mass is modelled as response to the loading history. The GPS data can be explained by 1-D modelling (i.e., an earth model with a 15-km thick elastic lithosphere and a 7·10¹⁷ Pa·s asthenosphere viscosity), but not the gravity data. Based on 2-D modelling, the gravity data favour a low-viscosity plume in the form of a cylinder of 80 km radius and 10¹⁷ to 10¹⁸ Pa·s viscosity below a 6 km-thick elastic lid, embedded in a layered PREM-type earth, although the elevation data are less well explained by this model. Strain-porosity-hydrology effects are likely to enhance the magnitude of the gravity changes, but need verification by drilling. More accurate data may resolve the discrepancies or suggest improved models.     

High-energy emission from millisecond pulsars: polar cap models

The viability of polar cap models for high-energy emission from millisecond pulsars is discussed. It is shown that in millisecond pulsars, polar gap acceleration along the last open field lines is radiation-reaction limited, that is, the maximum energy to which particles can be accelerated is determined by balancing the energy-loss rate (due to curvature radiation) with the gap-acceleration rate. The maximum Lorentz factor is limited by curvature radiation and is not sensitive to the specific acceleration model. However, the distance (from the polar cap) at which the Lorentz factor achieves the limit is model dependent, and can be between one-hundredth (for the vacuum gap) and above one-tenth (for the space-charge limited gap) of a stellar radius distant from the polar cap for a pulsar period P =2 ms and a surface magnetic field B =7.510⁴ T. Because of the radiation reaction constraint and the relatively weak magnetic field, both the expected multiplicity (number of pairs per primary particle) and the Lorentz factor of the outflowing one-dimensional magnetospheric e^± plasma from the polar gap are considerably lower than those for normal pulsars. Assuming space-charge limited flow, the location of the pair production front (PPF) is estimated to occur at about one stellar radius above the polar cap, which is significantly higher than that for normal pulsars. If the observed X-ray emission originates in the region near or above the PPF, the wide hollow-cone can reproduce the observed wide double-peaked feature of the light curves without using the aligned rotator assumption.     

On the role and the properties ofn body central configurations

The role central configurations play in the analysis ofn body systems is outlined. Emphasis is placed on collision orbits, expanding gravitational systems, andn body zero radial velocity surfaces. In the second half of the paper, properties of cenral configurations are discussed. Here, emphasis is placed on describing a different approach to analyze these configurations, one which is related to the classical problem of the weightedsth mean values of a vector. This approach is illustrated by discussing the non-degeneracy of central configurations and by describing central configurations in various dimensions. This is a written version of a talk given at Oberwolfach, August, 1978.proceedings of the Sixth Conference on Mathematical Methods in Celestial Mechanics held at Oberwolfach (West Germany) from 14 to 19 August 1978.This research was supported in part by an NSF Grant.     

Latitude dependence of magnetic field-line inclinations

It is shown that leading and following magnetic field lines are inclined toward each other by a few degrees at nearly all latitudes in both the north and south hemispheres. The amplitudes of these inclinations are lower by about a factor 3 for weak fields than for strong fields. There are significant differences between the hemispheres and from one activity cycle to the next in the leading and following polarity field-line inclinations at latitudes poleward of the activity latitudes. In a narrow latitude zone just south of the solar equator the inclinations of both the leading and following fields reduce to zero (or perhaps slightly negative values). Although one would expect such a zone at the equator, where diffusion will mix field lines with opposite inclinations from the two hemispheres, it is not clear why this zone should be on one side of the equator only. The results discussed here were obtained with Mount Wilson magnetograph data (1967–1992), and are confirmed in many respects with National Solar Observatory/Kitt Peak (NSO/KP) data (1976–1986).Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under Cooperative Agreement with the National Science Foundation.     

Limb observations of the 12.32-micron Mg I emission line during the 1994 annular eclipse

We determined the limb profile of the extremely Zeeman-sensitive emission line of Mg i at 12.32 m (811.58 cm–1) during the May 1994 annular eclipse, using the 3.5-m ARC telescope at the Apache Point site on Sacramento Peak, New Mexico. Spectra were recorded at 0.1 cm–1 spectral resolution and 1 s time resolution using a cryogenic grating spectrometer. The time derivatives of the observed line energy and continuum intensity were used to infer high-resolution profiles of the solar limb. Data were obtained at second contact only, since clouds prevented observations at third contact. We find that the emission line energy peaks very close to the 12 m continuum limb. This agrees with our result from the 1991 total eclipse over Mauna Kea, and also with non-LTE radiative transfer theory for this line, which predicts an upper-photospheric origin. However, in 1991, line emission remained observable as high as 2000 km above the continuum limb, whereas the 1994 data show observable emission to only 500 km. This difference greatly exceeds any applicable errors, or sensitivity differences in either data set, and must be attributed to spatial and/or temporal inhomogeneities in the solar limb emission of this line. We discuss possible causes of these inhomogeneities, and implications for observations at far-IR and submillimeter wavelengths.     

Clustering of galaxies at 3.6 μm in the Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic legacy survey

We investigate the clustering of galaxies selected in the 3.6 μm band of the Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic (SWIRE) legacy survey. The angular two-point correlation function is calculated for 11 samples with flux limits of S _3.6≥ 4–400 μJy, over an 8 deg² field. The angular clustering strength is measured at >5σ significance at all flux limits, with amplitudes of A = (0.49–29) × 10⁻³ at 1°, for a power-law model, A θ^−0.8. We estimate the redshift distributions of the samples using phenomological models, simulations and photometric redshifts, and so derive the spatial correlation lengths. We compare our results with the Galaxies In Cosmological Simulations (GalICS) models of galaxy evolution and with parametrized models of clustering evolution. The GalICS simulations are consistent with our angular correlation functions, but fail to match the spatial clustering inferred from the phenomological models or the photometric redshifts. We find that the uncertainties in the redshift distributions of our samples dominate the statistical errors in our estimates of the spatial clustering. At low redshifts (median z ≤ 0.5), the comoving correlation length is approximately constant,   r ₀= 6.1 ± 0.5  h ⁻¹  Mpc, and then decreases with increasing redshift to a value of 2.9 ± 0.3  h ⁻¹ Mpc for the faintest sample, for which the median redshift is z ∼ 1. We suggest that this trend can be attributed to a decrease in the average galaxy and halo mass in the fainter flux-limited samples, corresponding to changes in the relative numbers of early- and late-type galaxies. However, we cannot rule out strong evolution of the correlation length over  0.5 < z < 1  .