39 research outputs found
Estimates of hypolimnetic oxygen deficits in ponds
Shallow tropical integrated culture ponds in the Pearl River Delta, China, have been found to stratify almost daily, with high organic loadings and dense algal growth. The dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration is super-saturated in the epilimnion and is under 2 mg/l in the hypolimnion (>1m). The compensation depth corresponds to twice the Secchi disk depth ranging from 50 to 80cm. As a result, little or no net oxygen is produced in the hypolimnion (>1m). The low DO concentration in the hypolimnion causes organic materials, such as unused organic wastes and senescent algae cells, to be incompletely oxidized, since the rate of oxygen consumption by oxidable matter in water is dependent on the dissolved oxygen concentration in water. This material becomes the source of hypolimnetic oxygen deficits (HOD) which can drive whole pond DO to a dangerously low level, should sudden destratification occur. An improved estimate of hypolimnetic oxygen deficits is introduced in this article, and the advantages of this method are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72126/1/j.1365-2109.1989.tb00341.x.pd
Absence of lattice strain anomalies at the electronic topological transition in zinc at high pressure
High pressure structural distortions of the hexagonal close packed (hcp)
element zinc have been a subject of controversy. Earlier experimental results
and theory showed a large anomaly in lattice strain with compression in zinc at
about 10 GPa which was explained theoretically by a change in Fermi surface
topology. Later hydrostatic experiments showed no such anomaly, resulting in a
discrepancy between theory and experiment. We have computed the compression and
lattice strain of hcp zinc over a wide range of compressions using the
linearized augmented plane wave (LAPW) method paying special attention to
k-point convergence. We find that the behavior of the lattice strain is
strongly dependent on k-point sampling, and with large k-point sets the
previously computed anomaly in lattice parameters under compression disappears,
in agreement with recent experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, Phys. Rev. B (in press
Astroparticle Physics with a Customized Low-Background Broad Energy Germanium Detector
The MAJORANA Collaboration is building the MAJORANA DEMONSTRATOR, a 60 kg
array of high purity germanium detectors housed in an ultra-low background
shield at the Sanford Underground Laboratory in Lead, SD. The MAJORANA
DEMONSTRATOR will search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 76Ge while
demonstrating the feasibility of a tonne-scale experiment. It may also carry
out a dark matter search in the 1-10 GeV/c^2 mass range. We have found that
customized Broad Energy Germanium (BEGe) detectors produced by Canberra have
several desirable features for a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment,
including low electronic noise, excellent pulse shape analysis capabilities,
and simple fabrication. We have deployed a customized BEGe, the MAJORANA
Low-Background BEGe at Kimballton (MALBEK), in a low-background cryostat and
shield at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility in Virginia. This paper
will focus on the detector characteristics and measurements that can be
performed with such a radiation detector in a low-background environment.Comment: Submitted to NIMA Proceedings, SORMA XII. 9 pages, 4 figure
The Majorana project
Building a 0νβ β experiment with the ability to probe neutrino mass in the inverted hierarchy region requires the combination of a large detector mass sensitive to 0νβ β, on the order of 1-tonne, and unprecedented background levels, on the order of or less than 1 count per year in the 0νβ β signal region. The Majorana Collaboration proposes a design based on using high-purity enriched 76Ge crystals deployed in ultra- low background electroformed Cu cryostats and using modern analysis techniques that should be capable of reaching the required sensitivity while also being scalable to a 1- tonne size. To demonstrate feasibility, the collaboration plans to construct a prototype system, the Majorana Demonstrator, consisting of 30 kg of 86% enriched 76Ge detectors and 30 kg of natural or isotope-76-depleted Ge detectors. We plan to deploy and evaluate two different Ge detector technologies, one based on a p-type configuration and the other on n-type
Search for Neutrinoless Double- β Decay in Ge 76 with the Majorana Demonstrator
The Majorana Collaboration is operating an array of high purity Ge detectors to search for neutrinoless double-β decay in Ge76. The Majorana Demonstrator comprises 44.1 kg of Ge detectors (29.7 kg enriched in Ge76) split between two modules contained in a low background shield at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. Here we present results from data taken during construction, commissioning, and the start of full operations. We achieve unprecedented energy resolution of 2.5 keV FWHM at Qββ and a very low background with no observed candidate events in 9.95 kg yr of enriched Ge exposure, resulting in a lower limit on the half-life of 1.9×1025 yr (90% C.L.). This result constrains the effective Majorana neutrino mass to below 240-520 meV, depending on the matrix elements used. In our experimental configuration with the lowest background, the background is 4.0-2.5+3.1 counts/(FWHM t yr)