Performance of a lithium fluoride bolometer for Tokyo dark matter search experiment

The performance of a 21-g lithium fluoride bolometer is presented. The background spectrum was measured in the surface laboratory. We derive an exclusion plot for the spin-dependent coupled Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) cross section.     

10Be dating of North Pacific sediment cores up to 2.5 million years B.P.

The¹⁰Be method of dating of marine sediment cores is applied to five North Pacific cores. Assuming a constant¹⁰Be precipitation rate and varying sedimentation rates with time during the past 2.5 m.y. dating confirms to that obtained from paleomagnetic stratigraphy. The¹⁰Be concentration variations with depth in the cores are primarily due to changes in sediment dilution and do not reflect cosmic ray intensity or global climate variations. The limits of¹⁰Be deposition rate variation in the investigated cores are less than ± 10% for periods of (2–7) × 10⁵ years and less than ±30% for periods of 1 × 10⁵ years. The data set gives a half-life of¹⁰Be is 1.50 × 10⁶ years. The latitudinal effect of¹⁰Be concentrations and¹⁰Be/⁹Be ratios relates to a frequency of particulate matter occurrence (detrital and biological particles) in the oceans and to oceanic circulation.     

10Be in marine sediments

The depth profile of the long-lived radionuclide¹⁰Be in a marine sediment recovered in the vicinity of the Samoan Islands has been precisely assayed with a highly sensitive needle-type gas counter. The obtained irregular pattern of¹⁰Be concentrations with depths ranging from 4.7 to 0.3 dpm/kg dry sediment is interpreted as being due to dilution of¹⁰Be by volcanic eruptions in the past.     

Current activities in aerobiology in Japan

A brief review of the research activities of Japanese scientists in aerobiology, which is one of the interdisciplinary sciences closely related to atmospheric turbulence and diffusion as well as to biology, is presented in order to make contacts with interested scientists in other countries.     

Application of Chlorite Geothermometry to Hydrothermal Alteration in Toyoha Geothermal System, Southwestern Hokkaido, Japan

In this study, we applied chemical geothermometers to the estimation of formation temperatures of chlorites from various types of hydrothermally altered rocks in the Toyoha geothermal field, using core samples from six drill holes (TH-2 to TH-7) together with wasted ore samples from Toyoha vein-type ore deposit. Based on the preliminary examination of mineral assemblages by X-ray powder diffraction and optical microscopy, hydrothermal alteration observed through the drill holes was classified into four types of alteration zones: propylitic, mixed-layer minerals, kaolin minerals, and ore mineralized zones. The mineral assemblage of the ore mineralized zone observed through TH-2, TH-4, and TH-6 is similar to those of Toyoha ore veins reported previously. The Fe³⁺/ΣFe ratios of chlorites were determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), in addition to the usual microprobe analyses. The ratios ranged from 0.20–0.26 for chlorites from the propylitic alteration zone and from 0.13 to 0.17 for those from the ore mineralized zone associated with sulfide minerals. After correcting the Fe³⁺ contents in the octahedral sites of chlorite structures, we obtained acceptable temperatures of the chlorite formation by application of geothermometers, for instance, a similar range of 150–300°C for chlorites from either the propylitic zone or the ore mineralized zone developed through TH-2, TH-4, and TH-6. Chlorites from the ore mineralized zone proximal to the Toyoha deposit are characterized by high Fe and Mn contents compared to the propylitic chlorites, which is similar to the Toyoha vein-filling chlorites; the formation temperatures were close to both the homogenization temperatures of fluid inclusions and the present subsurface temperatures measured through drill holes. Chlorites from the Toyoha ore veins, however, gave slightly higher formation temperatures (180–350°C) than those of chlorites from the ore mineralized zone in the drill cores. This suggests that several types of hydrothermal alteration occurred at different stages in the Toyoha geothermal field and the composition of product chlorite was controlled not only by the temperature but also the composition of fluid related to the formation. Reliable estimation of temperature for the chlorite formation provides basic information on evaluating correctly other physicochemical conditions prevalent at the formation.     

The anisotropy of cosmic ray arrival directions around 10 eV

Anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies above 10¹⁷ eV is studied using data from the Akeno 20 km² array and the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA), using a total of about 114 000 showers observed over 11 years. In the first harmonic analysis, we have found a strong anisotropy of 4% around 10¹⁸ eV, corresponding to a chance probability of 0.2% after taking the number of independent trials into account. with two-dimensional analysis in right ascension and declination, this anisotropy is interpreted as an excess of showers near the directions of the Galactic Center and the Cygnus region.     

Mg-vacant structural modules and dilution of the symmetry of hydrous wadsleyite, β-Mg2–xSiH2xO4 with 0.00≤x≤0.25

The crystal structures of the two hydrous wadsleyite crystals with formulae, Mg_1.75SiH_0.50O₄ (0.5H–β) and Mg_1.86SiH_0.28O₄ (0.3H–β) have been analyzed in this study. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction data showed that the unit cells of the 0.3H–β and the 0.5H–β are metrically monoclinic with a slight distortion from the orthorhombic cell but their intensity distributions conform to the orthorhombic symmetry within the limit of experimental errors. The Fourier and the difference Fourier syntheses were calculated. Small but significant Fourier peaks were found at the site, Si2, in a normally vacant tetrahedral void adjacent to Mg3 site as reported for the monoclinic hydrous wadsleyite by Smyth et al.. From the comparison of the hydrous and anhydrous wadsleyite structures, the Mg-vacant structural modules were found to be the building units for the structure of hydrous wadsleyite. The dilution of symmetry from orthorhombic to monoclinic in the hydrous wadsleyite structure is interpreted qualitatively due to lack of mirror perpendicular to the a axis in the module. The mode of arrangement of the Mg-vacant structural modules interprets the symmetry and hydrogen content of the hydrous wadsleyite and gives the structural relationship between hydrous wadsleyite and hydrous ringwoodite. Received: 8 May 1998 / Revised, accepted: 3 October 1998