Measurement of solar UVB exposures in sea water with a high exposure dosimeter

For several decades, marine scientists have investigated the underwater ultraviolet light environment using a wide variety of spectroradiometric and radiometric equipment. These types of instruments are extremely useful for taking underwater measurements of the solar UV within a short window of time, for example recording fluctuations in UV levels caused by rapidly changing environmental parameters, like cloud cover or water turbidity. However, over long phases these spectroradiometers and radiometers become increasingly problematic to use, with high amounts of maintenance time necessary involving routine calibrations and corrections for the immersion effect. However, to supplement the short – term underwater measurements using spectroradiometers and radiometers, a new long – term dosimetric system employing Poly (2,6-dimethyl-1, 4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) film has been developed. The PPO film dosimeter has proven to be capable of measuring underwater UV dosages of at least five times that of the more commonly used polysulphone dosimeter, at a level of accuracy close to what would be expected of dosimetric measurements made in air provided that the necessary calibrations are completed correctly. This presentation details a measurement campaign made in a simulated sea water environment using a batch of PPO dosimeters set at different depths and aligned to a range of different inclinations and azimuths by means of attachment to a custom built dosimeter submersible float (DSF) unit. The results obtained from this measurement campaign were used to compute a diffuse attenuation coefficient (Kd) for the sea water. This Kd value was compared to a Kd value derived from results taken using a radiometer in the same water

Constants of Motion for Constrained Hamiltonian Systems: A Particle around a Charged Rotating Black Hole

We discuss constants of motion of a particle under an external field in a curved spacetime, taking into account the Hamiltonian constraint which arises from reparametrization invariance of the particle orbit. As the necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a constant of motion, we obtain a set of equations with a hierarchical structure, which is understood as a generalization of the Killing tensor equation. It is also a generalization of the conventional argument in that it includes the case when the conservation condition holds only on the constraint surface in the phase space. In that case, it is shown that the constant of motion is associated with a conformal Killing tensor. We apply the hierarchical equations and find constants of motion in the case of a charged particle in an electro-magnetic field in black hole spacetimes. We also demonstrate that gravitational and electro-magnetic fields exist in which a charged particle has a constant of motion associated with a conformal Killing tensor.Comment: 20 page

Commuting symmetry operators of the Dirac equation, Killing-Yano and Schouten-Nijenhuis brackets

In this paper we derive the most general first-order symmetry operator commuting with the Dirac operator in all dimensions and signatures. Such an operator splits into Clifford even and Clifford odd parts which are given in terms of odd Killing-Yano and even closed conformal Killing-Yano inhomogeneous forms respectively. We study commutators of these symmetry operators and give necessary and sufficient conditions under which they remain of the first-order. In this specific setting we can introduce a Killing-Yano bracket, a bilinear operation acting on odd Killing-Yano and even closed conformal Killing-Yano forms, and demonstrate that it is closely related to the Schouten-Nijenhuis bracket. An important non-trivial example of vanishing Killing-Yano brackets is given by Dirac symmetry operators generated from the principal conformal Killing-Yano tensor [hep-th/0612029]. We show that among these operators one can find a complete subset of mutually commuting operators. These operators underlie separability of the Dirac equation in Kerr-NUT-(A)dS spacetimes in all dimensions [arXiv:0711.0078].Comment: 37 pages, no figure

Resonance saturation in the odd-intrinsic parity sector of low-energy QCD

Using the large N_C approximation we have constructed the most general chiral resonance Lagrangian in the odd-intrinsic parity sector that can generate low energy chiral constants up to O(p^6). Integrating out the resonance fields these O(p^6) constants are expressed in terms of resonance couplings and masses. The role of eta' is discussed and its contribution is explicitly factorized. Using the resonance basis we have also calculated two QCD Green functions of currents: and and found, imposing high energy constraints, additional relations for resonance couplings. We have studied several phenomenological implications based on these correlators from which let us mention here our prediction for the pi0-pole contribution to the muon g-2 factor: $a_\mu^{\pi^0} = 65.8(1.2)\times 10^{-11}$.Comment: 42 pages, 3 figure

Variability of fundamental constants

If the fine structure constant is not really constant, is this due to a variation of $e$, $\hbar$, or $c$? It is argued that the only reasonable conclusion is a variable speed of light.Comment: preliminary draft, comments welcom

QND measurement of a superconducting qubit in the weakly projective regime

Quantum state detectors based on switching of hysteretic Josephson junctions biased close to their critical current are simple to use but have strong back-action. We show that the back-action of a DC-switching detector can be considerably reduced by limiting the switching voltage and using a fast cryogenic amplifier, such that a single readout can be completed within 25 ns at a repetition rate of 1 MHz without loss of contrast. Based on a sequence of two successive readouts we show that the measurement has a clear quantum non-demolition character, with a QND fidelity of 75 %.Comment: submitted to PR

Alternative methods for the reduction of evaporation: practical exercises for the science classroom

Across the world, freshwater is valued as the most critically important natural resource, as it is required to sustain the cycle of life. Evaporation is one of the primary environmental processes that can reduce the amount of quality water available for use in industrial, agricultural and household applications. The effect of evaporation becomes intensified especially during conditions of drought, particularly in traditionally arid and semi-arid regions, such as those seen in a number of countries over the past 10 years. In order to safeguard against the influence of droughts and to save water from being lost to the evaporative process, numerous water saving mechanisms have been developed and tested over the past century. Two of the most successful and widely used mechanisms have included floating hard covers and chemical film monolayers. This paper describes a laboratory based project developed for senior high school and first year university classes, which has been designed to introduce students to the concepts of evaporation, evaporation modelling and water loss mitigation. Specifically, these ideas are delivered by simulating the large-scale deployment of both monolayers and floating hard covers on a small water tank under numerous user defined atmospheric and hydrodynamic conditions, including varying surface wind speeds and underwater bubble plumes set to changing flow rates