32 research outputs found

    Continuous measurements of greenhouse gases and atmospheric oxygen at the Namib Desert atmospheric observatory

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    A new coastal background site has been established for observations of greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the central Namib Desert at Gobabeb, Namibia. The location of the site was chosen to provide observations for a data-poor region in the global sampling network for GHGs. Semi-automated continuous measurements of carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, carbon monoxide, atmospheric oxygen, and basic meteorology are made at a height of 21 m a.g.l., 50 km from the coast at the northern border of the Namib Sand Sea. Atmospheric oxygen is measured with a differential fuel cell analyzer (DFCA). Carbon dioxide and methane are measured with an early-model cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS); nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide are measured with an off-axis integrated cavity output spectrometer (OA-ICOS). Instrument-specific water corrections are employed for both the CRDS and OA-ICOS instruments in lieu of drying. The performance and measurement uncertainties are discussed in detail. As the station is located in a remote desert environment, there are some particular challenges, namely fine dust, high diurnal temperature variability, and minimal infrastructure. The gas handling system and calibration scheme were tailored to best fit the conditions of the site. The CRDS and DFCA provide data of acceptable quality when base requirements for operation are met, specifically adequate temperature control in the laboratory and regular supply of electricity. In the case of the OA-ICOS instrument, performance is significantly improved through the implementation of a drift correction through frequent measurements of a reference cylinder

    Polarized deep inelastic scattering at high energies and parity violating structure functions

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    A comprehensive analysis of deep inelastic scattering of polarized charged leptons on polarized nucleons is presented; weak interaction contributions, both in neutral and charged current processes, are taken into account and the parity violating polarized nucleon structure functions are studied. Possible ways of their measurements and their interpretations in the parton model are discussed.Comment: (slightly modified version, includes a few new references and corrects few misprints for publication), 14 pages in TeX (needs harvmac) no figure, DFTT 80/9

    The Small-x Behaviour of the Singlet Polarized Structure Function g_2 in the Double Logarithmic Approximation

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    The small-x behavior of the singlet contributions to the polarized structure function g_2(x,Q^2) is calculated in the double-logarithmic approximation of perturbative QCD. The dominant contribution is due to the gluons which, in contrast to the unpolarized case, mix with the fermions also in the small-x domain. We find a power-like growth in 1/x in the odd-signature parts of the amplitude with the same power as in the singlet function g_1(x,Q^2) at x<< 1.Comment: 20 pages, latex, 3 ps figure

    Parity violating target asymmetry in electron - proton scattering

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    We analyze the parity-violating (PV) components of the analyzing power in elastic electron-proton scattering and discuss their sensitivity to the strange quark contributions to the proton weak form factors. We point out that the component of the analyzing power along the momentum transfer is independent of the electric weak form factor and thus compares favorably with the PV beam asymmetry for a determination of the strangeness magnetic moment. We also show that the transverse component could be used for constraining the strangeness radius. Finally, we argue that a measurement of both components could give experimental information on the strangeness axial charge.Comment: 24 pages, Latex, 5 eps figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.
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