Performance evaluation of electrochemical concentration cell ozonesondes

Laboratory calibrations of more than a hundred electrochemical concentration cell (ECC) ozonesondes were determined relative to UV-photometry. The average intercept and slope, 0 plus or minus 5 nb and 0.96 plus or minus 0.06, respectively, indicate reasonable agreement with UV photometry, but with considerable variation from one ECC ozonesonde to another. The time required to reach 85% of the final reaction to a step-change in ozone concentration was found to average 51 seconds. Application of the individual calibrations to 20 sets of 1976 flight data reduced the average of the differences between ozonesonde and Dobson spectrophotometric measurements of total ozone from 3.9 to 1.3%. A similar treatment of a set of 10 1977 flight records improved the average ECC-Dobson agreement from -8.5 to -1.4%. Although systematic differences were reduced, no significant effect on the random variations was evident

Performance tests on the Kohmyr ECC ozone sonde

The reliability and accuracy of the Kohmyr ECC ozone sonde are determined. Emphasis is placed on establishing and testing for leak-free connections and stable pump flow rates as well as properly adjusting the pumping pressure. Calibration of the Kohmyr ECC ozone sondes and Dasibi monitors is described. Raw ordinate data and ozone connection data are presented in tabular form. The results of a linear regression treatment of the sonde-indicated ozone concentration vs. Dasibi readings for each switch position are included along with averages of the regression parameters over the six sequencing switch positions. It is suggested that sondes and Dasibi monitors be individually calibrated before flight

Effects of nuclear molecular configurations on the astrophysical S-factor for 16^{16}O + 16^{16}O

The impact of nuclear molecular configurations on the astrophysical S-factor for $^{16}$O + $^{16}$O is investigated within the realistic two-center shell model based on Woods-Saxon potentials. These molecular effects refer to the formation of a neck between the interacting nuclei and the radial dependent collective mass parameter. It is demonstrated that the former is crucial to explain the current experimental data with high accuracy and without any free parameter, whilst in addition the latter predicts a pronounced maximum in the S-factor. In contrast to very recent results by Jiang et al., the S-factor does not decline towards extremely low values as energy decreases.Comment: In press in Physics Letters

Conformal mapping of ultrasonic crystals: confining ultrasound and cochlear-like wave guiding

Conformal mapping of a slab of a two-dimensional ultrasonic crystal generate a closed geometrical arrangement of ultrasonic scatterers with appealing acoustic properties. This acoustic shell is able to confine ultrasonic modes. Some of these internal resonances can be induced from an external wave source. The mapping of a linear defect produces a wave-guide that exhibits a spatial-frequency selection analogous to that characteristic of a synthetic "cochlea". Both, experimental and theoretical results are reported here.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Spontaneous violation of the energy conditions

A decade ago, it was shown that a wide class of scalar-tensor theories can pass very restrictive weak field tests of gravity and yet exhibit non-perturbative strong field deviations away from General Relativity. This phenomenon was called `Spontaneous Scalarization' and causes the (Einstein frame) scalar field inside a neutron star to rapidly become inhomogeneous once the star's mass increases above some critical value. For a star whose mass is below the threshold, the field is instead nearly uniform (a state which minimises the star's energy) and the configuration is similar to the General Relativity one. Here, we show that the spontaneous scalarization phenomenon is linked to another strong field effect: a spontaneous violation of the weak energy condition.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letter

SACY - a Search for Associations Containing Young stars

The scientific goal of the SACY (Search for Associations Containing Young-stars) was to identify possible associations of stars younger than the Pleiades Association among optical counterparts of the ROSAT X-ray bright sources. High-resolution spectra for possible optical counterparts later than G0 belonging to HIPPARCOS and/or TYCHO-2 catalogs were obtained in order to assess both the youth and the spatial motion of each target. More than 1000 ROSAT sources were observed, covering a large area in the Southern Hemisphere. The newly identified young stars present a patchy distribution in UVW and XYZ, revealing the existence of huge nearby young associations. Here we present the associations identified in this survey.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of Open Issues in Local Formation and Early Stellar Evolution, Ouro Preto, Brazi