Analysis of OGO-6 observations of the 0 I 5577A tropical nightglow

Atomic oxygen green line data from the horizon scanning photometer on OGO-6 was examined. Unfolding the satellite data from the tropical F-region yields altitude and latitude variations of the O(1S) emissions. The spatial variations of the tropical F-region electron density are then calculated by assuming dissociative recombination and using a model atmosphere. Where comparisons to ground-based data are possible the results are good. Thus, the satellite observations constitute a form of topside sounding of the ionosphere below the F-peak and provide synoptic data about this portion of the ionsphere otherwise impractical to obtain

Radionuclide measurements by accelerator mass spectrometry at Arizona

Over the past years, Tandem Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (TAMS) has become established as an important method for radionuclide analysis. In the Arizona system the accelerator is operated at a thermal voltage of 1.8MV for C-14 analysis, and 1.6 to 2MV for Be-10. Samples are inserted into a cesium sputter ion source in solid form. Negative ions sputtered from the target are accelerated to about 25kV, and the injection magnet selects ions of a particular mass. Ions of the 3+ charge state, having an energy of about 9MeV are selected by an electrostatic deflector, surviving ions pass through two magnets, where only ions of the desired mass-energy product are selected. The final detector is a combination ionization chamber to measure energy loss (and hence, Z), and a silicon surface-barrier detector which measures residual energy. After counting the trace iosotope for a fixed time, the injected ions are switched to the major isotope used for normalization. These ions are deflected into a Faraday cup after the first high-energy magnet. Repeated measurements of the isotope ratio of both sample and standards results in a measurement of the concentration of the radionuclide. Recent improvements in sample preparation for C-14 make preparation of high-beam current graphite targets directly from CO2 feasible. Except for some measurements of standards and backgrounds for Be-10 measurements to date have been on C-14. Although most results have been in archaeology and quaternary geology, studies have been expanded to include cosmogenic C-14 in meteorites. The data obtained so far tend to confirm the antiquity of Antarctic meteorites from the Allan Hills site. Data on three samples of Yamato meteorites gave terrestrial ages of between about 3 and 22 thousand years

The O(3P) and N(4S) density measurement at 225 km by ultraviolet absorption and fluorescence in the Apollo-Soyuz test project

The densities of O(3P) and N(4S) at 225 km were determined during the Apollo Soyuz Test Project by a resonance absorption/fluorescence technique in which OI and NI line radiation produced and collimated on board the Apollo was reflected from the Soyuz back to the Apollo for spectral analysis. The two spacecraft maneuvered so that a range of observation angles of plus or minus 15 deg with respect to the normal to the orbital velocity vector was scanned. The measurements were made at night on two consecutive orbits at spacecraft separations of 150 and 500 m. The resulting relative counting rates as function of observation angle were compared to calculated values to determine the oxygen value. This value agrees with mass spectrometric measurements made under similar conditions. The nitrogen value is in good agreement with other measurements and suggests a smaller diurnal variation than is predicted by present models

Ultraviolet absorption: Experiment MA-059

A technique devised to permit the measurement of atmospheric species concentrations is described. This technique involves the application of atomic absorption spectroscopy and the quantitative observation of resonance fluorescence in which atomic or molecular species scatter resonance radiation from a light source into a detector. A beam of atomic oxygen and atomic nitrogen resonance radiation, strong unabsorbable oxygen and nitrogen radiation, and visual radiation was sent from Apollo to Soyuz. The density of atomic oxygen and atomic nitrogen between the two spacecraft was measured by observing the amount of resonance radiation absorbed when the line joining Apollo and Soyuz was perpendicular to their velocity with respect to the ambient atmosphere. Results of postflight analysis of the resonance fluorescence data are discussed

Probing the Interstellar Medium of External Galaxies Using Quasar Absorption Lines: the 3C 232/NGC 3067 System

Quasar absorption lines offer unique opportunities to probe the interstellar medium of external galaxies. Researchers present new optical and UV absorption line spectroscopy of the quasar 3C232 (z=0.55) revealing new detail in the foreground absorption system due to the bright, spiral galaxy NGC 3067 (cz=1420 km/s). Specifically, the spectra show evidence for two and possibly three separate absorption components in CaII and Na I spanning approx. 150 km/s. The original HI detection of Haschick and Burke (1975) corresponds to the strongest of these metal systems which exhibits doublet ratios consistent with saturation in both CaII and Na I. Due to the recent detection in HI emission of a tidal tail or finger of HI extending from the western edge of NGC 3067 through the position of 3C 232 (Carilli, van Gorkom and Stocke, 1989), the morphology of the HI absorber is now known and is not either a warped disk nor a spherical halo as had been proposed. New deep continuum and H alpha imaging provides a sensitive upper limit on the the ionizing continuum impinging upon this cloud (and thus a limit on the intensity of the extragalactic ionizing radiation field). Together with the observed UV spectrum of 3C 232, the optical emission line ratios and the deep H alpha imaging set a minimum distance between the quasar and the HI cloud disregarding redshift information. This limit strains the non-cosmological redshift interpretation for 3C 232 -- and this quasar is one of the original 5 3C quasars found to be too close to NGC galaxies as if by chance (Burbidge, Burbidge, Solomon and Strittmatter, 1972)

Fractional vortices and composite domain walls in flat nanomagnets

We provide a simple explanation of complex magnetic patterns observed in ferromagnetic nanostructures. To this end we identify elementary topological defects in the field of magnetization: ordinary vortices in the bulk and vortices with half-integer winding numbers confined to the edge. Domain walls found in experiments and numerical simulations in strips and rings are composite objects containing two or more of the elementary defects.Comment: Minor changes: updated references and fixed typo

A Very Hot, High Redshift Cluster of Galaxies: More Trouble for Omega_0 = 1

We have observed the most distant (z=0.829) cluster of galaxies in the Einstein Extended Medium Sensitivity Survey, with the ASCA and ROSAT satellites. We find an X-ray temperature of 12.3 +3.1/-2.2 keV for this cluster, and the ROSAT map reveals significant substructure. The high temperature of MS1054-0321 is consistent with both its approximate velocity dispersion, based on the redshifts of 12 cluster members we have obtained at the Keck and the Canada-France-Hawaii telescopes, and with its weak lensing signature. The X-ray temperature of this cluster implies a virial mass ~ 7.4 x 10^14 h^-1 solar masses, if the mean matter density in the universe equals the critical value, or larger if Omega_0 < 1. Finding such a hot, massive cluster in the EMSS is extremely improbable if clusters grew from Gaussian perturbations in an Omega_0 = 1 universe. Combining the assumptions that Omega_0 = 1 and that the intial perturbations were Gaussian with the observed X-ray temperature function at low redshift, we show that the probability of this cluster occurring in the volume sampled by the EMSS is less than a few times 10^{-5}. Nor is MS1054-0321 the only hot cluster at high redshift; the only two other $z > 0.5$ EMSS clusters already observed with ASCA also have temperatures exceeding 8 keV. Assuming again that the initial perturbations were Gaussian and Omega_0 = 1, we find that each one is improbable at the < 10^{-2} level. These observations, along with the fact that these luminosities and temperatures of the high-$z$ clusters all agree with the low-z L_X-T_X relation, argue strongly that Omega_0 < 1. Otherwise, the initial perturbations must be non-Gaussian, if these clusters' temperatures do indeed reflect their gravitational potentials.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, To appear in 1 Aug 1998 ApJ (heavily revised version of original preprint

Coupling and induced depinning of magnetic domain walls in adjacent spin valve nanotracks

The magnetostatic interaction between magnetic domain walls (DWs) in adjacent nanotracks has been shown to produce strong inter-DW coupling and mutual pinning. In this paper, we have used electrical measurements of adjacent spin-valve nanotracks to follow the positions of interacting DWs. We show that the magnetostatic interaction between DWs causes not only mutual pinning, as observed till now, but that a travelling DW can also induce the depinning of DWs in near-by tracks. These effects may have great implications for some proposed high density magnetic devices (e.g. racetrack memory, DW logic circuits, or DW-based MRAM).Comment: The following article has been accepted by the Journal of Applied Physic