A Ruling Engine for Making Zone Plates

About a century ago the corpuscular theory of light was falling into disfavor among scientific men in general and the wave theory was taking its place. Among the many contributions to the subject we find the writings of Fresnel. It was he especially who struck the decisive blow at the dying hypothesis. That part of his work which is of particular interest to us is his application of Huyghen\u27s principle to phenomena of diffraction

Decays of Ta182 and Ta183

The beta - decays of Ta182 and Ta183 into excited states of W182 and W183 have been studied using a curved crystal gamma-ray diffraction spectrometer and a homogeneous field, ring focusing beta-ray spectrometer. In each case de-excitation of the daughter nucleus gives rise to complex gamma-ray and conversion electron spectra. Energies and relative intensities of gamma rays and conversion lines arising from 27 transitions in W182 and 29 transitions in W183 are presented. Internal conversion coefficients and multipolarities have been deduced for most of the transitions and together with the gamma-ray energies form the basis of decay schemes proposed for both W182 and W183. The two decays are reported together because of the close experimental relationship which existed between them as a consequence of the method used for their production, namely, simultaneous production of Ta182 by single neutron capture and Ta183 by double neutron capture from stable Ta181. A corollary result is the value 1.3 x 10^4 barns for the thermal neutron cross section of Ta182. An interpretation of these results on W182 in terms of collective rotational motion has been given by A. Bohr and collaborators [Kgl. Danske Videnscab. Selskab, Mat.-fys. Medd. 29, No. 9 (1955)]

Rotational and intrinsic levels in Tm169 and Lu175

Nuclear levels in Tm169 excited by electron capture of Yb169, and levels in Lu175 excited by both beta decay of Yb175 and electron capture of Hf175 have been studied by using the curved-crystal gamma-ray spectrometer and the ring-focusing beta-ray spectrometer, as well as a semicircular beta-ray spectrometer for low energies. From the precision energies and the multipolarity determinations, the levels in Tm169 have the following energies in kev, and spin and parity assignments: A (ground state) (½+), B 8.42 (3/2+), C 118.20 (5/2+), D 138.95 (7/2+), E 316.19 (7/2+), F 379.31 (7/2-), G 472.91 (9/2-). Levels A, B, C, and D are members of a rotational band whose characteristic constants are given. Levels E and F are interpreted as particle excitations and level G as a rotational level based on the state F. The Lu175 excited states have the following energies in kev, spins, and parities: A (ground state) (7/2+), B 113.81 (9/2+), C 251.46 (11/2+), D 343.40 (5/2+), E 396.31 (9/2-), F 432.76 (7/2+), G 504.7 (1/2+). A, B, and C form a rotational band for which the characteristic constants are given. Some features of the levels and transition probabilities are discussed and compared with the unified model. A brief survey of second-order rotational energy constants and of intrinsic excitation levels is given

PAMELA and FERMI-LAT limits on the neutralino-chargino mass degeneracy

Searches for Dark Matter (DM) particles with indirect detection techniques have reached important milestones with the precise measurements of the anti-proton and gamma-ray spectra, notably by the PAMELA and FERMI-LAT experiments. While the gamma-ray results have been used to test the thermal Dark Matter hypothesis and constrain the Dark Matter annihilation cross section into Standard Model (SM) particles, the anti-proton flux measured by the PAMELA experiment remains relatively unexploited. Here we show that the latter can be used to set a constraint on the neutralino-chargino mass difference. To illustrate our point we use a Supersymmetric model in which the gauginos are light, the sfermions are heavy and the Lightest Supersymmetric Particle (LSP) is the neutralino. In this framework the W^+ W^- production is expected to be significant, thus leading to large anti-proton and gamma-ray fluxes. After determining a generic limit on the Dark Matter pair annihilation cross section into W^+ W^- from the anti-proton data only, we show that one can constrain scenarios in which the neutralino-chargino mass difference is as large as ~ 20 GeV for a mixed neutralino (and intermediate choices of the anti-proton propagation scheme). This result is consistent with the limit obtained by using the FERMI-LAT data. As a result, we can safely rule out the pure wino neutralino hypothesis if it is lighter than 450 GeV and constitutes all the Dark Matter.Comment: 22page

Interchain interactions and magnetic properties of Li2CuO2

An effective Hamiltonian is constructed for an insulating cuprate with edge-sharing chains Li2CuO2.The Hamiltonian contains the nearest and next-nearest neighboring intrachain and zigzag-type interchain interactions.The values of the interactions are obtained from the analysis of the magnetic susceptibility, and this system is found to be described as coupled frustrated chains.We calculate the dynamical spin correlation function S(q,\omega) by using the exact diagonalization method, and show that the spectra of S(q,\omega) are characterized by the zigzag-type interchain interactions. The results of the recent inelastic neutron scattering experiment are discussed in the light of the calculated spectra.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

lnfluence of grape variety, climate and soil on grape composition and on the composition and quality of table wines

The influence of grape variety, soil type, climatic area and year of vintage on grape composition and wine quality was studied over a six-year period with three grape varieties in a eo-operative investigation. The wines were made under carefully controlled conditions to eliminate, as far as possible, any effect of winemaking technique. All viticultural and oenological treatments were replicated so that the data could be analysed statistically. When grapes from different viticultural areas were made into table wines, the quality of the wines was most closely related to grape variety, followed by climatic area and least of all by soil type.Reproducible differences in grape and wine composition were found for the grape varieties studied. For fhe same sugar content Riesling grapes and wine contained more acidity and a higher tartaric acid/malic acid ratio than Clare Riesling grapes and wine. They also contained less nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Shiraz grapes were relatively high in malic acid.The year of vintage strongly influenced the tartaric acid/malic acid ratio, particularly for Riesling and Clare Riesling, and also certain other constituents. Certain years could be designated as either high or low malic acid years for a particular grape variety.The soil type influenced the amounts of certain of the constituents of grapes and wine, but had no significant effects on the wine quality. Wines from the same varieties grown on two widely different soils in the same area could not be differentiated in replicated taste tests. The soil depth, drainage and waterholding capacity appeared to be more important than composition per se.Wines made from irrigated vineyards in the warm River Murray viticultural region, contained similar amounts of tartaric and malic acids, but were higher in pH, than wines made from the same grape varieties in the cooler non-irrigated Barossa Valley. Wines from irrigated grapes were generally of somewhat lower quality than those made from grapes of the same variety grown without irrigation in a cooler area. The time of harvesting irrigated grapes appeared to be critical to achieve the necessary balance between sugar, acid and flavour. Shiraz grapes grown under irrigation contained considerably less colour than grapes of the same variety grown without irrigation.Aroma was correlated with flavour in assessing wine quality, but numerical values ascribed to these parameters did not correlate generally with the wine constituents measured. A positive correlation existed between high tasting scores and high Ball/acid ratio