Thermoluminescence of Japanese Antarctic ordinary chondrite collection

Thermoluminescence (TL) data for Japanese Antarctic chondrites obtained by laboratories in Arkansas and Okayama were compared and found to be in good agreement. Data for three large Antarctic chondrites were used to develop new TL pairing criteria which were found to be less restrictive than previously used. These new criteria were applied to ten equilibrated and twenty-eight unequilibrated Japanese ordinary chondrites. The petrographic subtype of the forty-three unequilibrated ordinary chondrites were determined from their TL sensitivity and nine were found to have petrographic types under 3.3 and therefore are particularly primitive samples of solar system material

Thermoluminescence studies of ordinary chondrites in the Japanese Antarctic meteorite collection, II: New measurements for thirty type 3 ordinary chondrites

We have measured the thermoluminescence (TL) properties of thirty type 3 ordinary chondrites from the Japanese Antarctic meteorite collection. This brings to 73 the total number of Japanese type 3 ordinary chondrites examined in this way by the Arkansas-Okayama collaboration. Fifteen pairing groups were found using TL and geographical criteria. Most of the new meteorites are of petrologic types 3.6-3.9,but fourteen are of petrologic type ≤3.4. Six of the 73 meteorites (Yamato (Y)-790448,Y-793596,Y-793565,Y-791324,Y-791558,Y-74660) have petrographic types 3.5) tend to have higher induced TL peak temperature and peak width than those with low TL sensitivity, in confirmation of earlier work and consistent with peak temperature and width as well as TL sensitivity, being independent parameters of thermal history. Samples not obeying these trends (Y-75029,Y-86706,Y-793567 and Y-790787), are either heavily weathered or experienced atypical thermal histories

Red thermoluminescence of enstatite from the Chainpur meteorite

For most ordinary chondrites feldspar is mainly responsible for thermoluminescence [TL], but in type 3 ordinary chondrites, especially those which are most primitive, other minerals are important. We observed red TL with a ∿660nm spectral peak in an ordinary chondrite, Chainpur (LL3.4). The mineral responsible for the red TL was identified as iron-free enstatite. Spatial distribution of TL and cathodoluminescence [CL] for the same specimen was also investigated, and it was found that the red TL areas corresponded to the high-sensitivity areas of red CL

Thermoluminescence of chondrules in primitive ordinary chondrites,Semarkona and Bishunpur

The spatial distribution of the induced thermoluminescence (TL) and TL glow curves of the primitive ordinary chondrites, Semarkona (LL3.0) and Bishunpur (LL3.1), were investigated over a wide range of wavelengths using a TL spatial distribution readout system. Although bulk samples of Semarkona and Bishunpur have very low TL sensitivity, individual chondrules show a wide variety of induced TL intensity and glow curve shape. Chondrules with anorthite-normative mesostases have especially high induced TL intensity, and their TL is produced at wavelengths >480nm, compared with <480nm for the sensitivity range of the usual TL measuring systems. Some of the metamorphism-dependent TL sensitivity of type 3 ordinary chondrite therefore results in changes in the spectrum of the light produced

Detector Description and Performance for the First Coincidence Observations between LIGO and GEO

For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial change

Metal size distributions in EH and EL chondrites

EL chondrites exhibit larger average metal grain sizes than EH chondrites, a difference attributed by Easton to metamorphic coarsening, as most EL chondrites are equilibrated, and most EH chondrites are unequilibrated. In this paper, we present metal grain size data for three unequilbrated EL3 chondrites (PCA 91020; ALH 85119; MAC 88180) , and three EH3 chondrites (ALH 84170; PCA 91085; PCA 91238). We find that EL3 chondrites have larger average metal grain sizes than EH3 chondrites, and that grain sizes of the unequilibrated enstatite chondrites are similar to those of equilibrated chondrites of the same class. We thus interpret the metal size distributions of enstatite chondrites as primarily reflecting their pre‐metamorphic distributions. Shock processing appears to have had only minor influence on metal grain size distributions in these meteorites