Sulfate and MSA in the air and snow on the Greenland Ice Sheet

Sulfate and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) concentrations in aerosol, surface snow, and snowpit samples have been measured at two sites on the Greenland Ice Sheet. Seasonal variations of the concentrations observed for these chemical species in the atmosphere are reproduced in the surface snow and preserved in the snowpit sequence. The amplitude of the variations over a year are smaller in the snow than in the air, but the ratios of the concentrations are comparable. The seasonal variations for sulfate are different at the altitude of the Ice Sheet compared to those observed at sea level, with low concentrations in winter and short episodes of elevated concentrations in spring. In contrast, the variations in concentrations of MSA are similar to those measured at sea level, with a first sequence of elevated concentrations in spring and another one during summer, and a winter low resulting from low biogenic production. The ratio MSA/sulfate clearly indicates the influence of high-latitude sources for the summer maximum of MSA, but the large impact of anthropogenic sulfate precludes any conclusion for the spring maximum. The seasonal pattern observed for these species in a snowpit sampled according to stratigraphy indicates a deficit in the accumulation of winter snow at the summit of the Greenland Ice Sheet, in agreement with some direct observations. A deeper snowpit covering the years 1985–1992 indicates the consistency of the seasonal pattern for MSA over the years, which may be linked to transport and deposition processes

Flux Jumps Driven by a Pulsed Magnetic Field

The understanding of flux jumps in the high temperature superconductors is of importance since the occurrence of these jumps may limit the perspectives of the practical use of these materials. In this work we present the experimental study of the role of heavy ion irradiation in stabilizing the HTSC against flux jumps by comparing un-irradiated and 7.5 10^10 Kr-ion/cm2 irradiated (YxTm1-x)Ba2Cu3O7 single crystals. Using pulsed field magnetization measurements, we have applied a broad range of field sweep rates from 0.1T/s up to 1800 T/s to investigate the behavior of the flux jumps. The observed flux jumps, which may be attributed to thermal instabilities, are incomplete and have different amplitudes. The flux jumps strongly depend on the magnetic field, on the magneto-thermal history of the sample, on the magnetic field sweep rate, on the critical current density jc, on the temperature and on the thermal contact with the bath in which the sample is immersed.Comment: 5 pages, PDF-fil

Prevalence of respiratory pathogens in nasal swabs from horses with acute respiratory disease in Belgium

Contagious respiratory infections are an important cause of respiratory disease in horses, resulting in impaired pulmonary function, poor performance and sometimes severe illness. Although bacterial infections are often suspected to be involved, viruses are frequently overlooked and are an underestimated cause of respiratory disease outbreaks in horses. In this study, nasal swabs of 103 horses with acute symptoms of respiratory disease were analyzed for the presence of 13 different respiratory pathogens. Gamma herpesviruses were the most commonly detected, with 60% of the samples being positive, followed by streptococcus equi subsp. zooepidemicus infection (30%). Rhinovirus B, streptococcus equi subsp. equi, adenovirus 1 and EHV-4 were more rarely detected. Further research is necessary to correctly interpret the importance of gamma herpesviruses in horses, for example by screening a healthy control population. National surveillance of respiratory viruses in horses by PCR analysis on nasal swabs might be a useful, early warning system for viral epidemics

A spectroscopic study of component C and the extended emission around I Zw 18

Long-slit Keck II, 4m Kitt Peak, and 4.5m MMT spectrophotometric data are used to investigate the stellar population and the evolutionary status of I Zw 18C, the faint C component of the nearby blue compact dwarf galaxy I Zw 18. Hydrogen H$\alpha$ and H$\beta$ emission lines are detected in the spectra of I Zw 18C, implying that ionizing massive stars are present. High signal-to-noise Keck II spectra of different regions in I Zw 18C reveal H$\gamma$, H$\delta$ and higher order hydrogen lines in absorption. Several techniques are used to constrain the age of the stellar population in I Zw 18C. Ages derived from two different methods, one based on the equivalent widths of the H$\alpha$, H$\beta$ emission lines and the other on H$\gamma$, H$\delta$ absorption lines are consistent with a 15 Myr instantaneous burst model. We find that a small extinction in the range $A_V$ = 0.20 -- 0.65 mag is needed to fit the observed spectral energy distribution of I Zw 18C with that model. In the case of constant star formation, all observed properties are consistent with stars forming continuously between ~ 10 Myr and < 100 Myr ago. We use all available observational constraints for I Zw 18C, including those obtained from Hubble Space Telescope color-magnitude diagrams, to argue that the distance to I Zw 18 should be as high as ~ 15 Mpc. The deep spectra also reveal extended ionized gas emission around I Zw 18. H$\alpha$ emission is detected as far as 30" from it. To a B surface brightness limit of ~ 27 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ we find no observational evidence for extended stellar emission in the outermost regions, at distances > 15" from I Zw 18.Comment: 38 pages, 11 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Self-Organized Criticality Effect on Stability: Magneto-Thermal Oscillations in a Granular YBCO Superconductor

We show that the self-organized criticality of the Bean's state in each of the grains of a granular superconductor results in magneto-thermal oscillations preceding a series of subsequent flux jumps. We find that the frequency of these oscillations is proportional to the external magnetic field sweep rate and is inversely proportional to the square root of the heat capacity. We demonstrate experimentally and theoretically the universality of this dependence that is mainly influenced by the granularity of the superconductor.Comment: submitted to Physical Review Letters, 4 pages, RevTeX, 4 figures available as uufile

Atmospheric nitrogen oxides (NO and NO2) at Dome C, East Antarctica, during the OPALE campaign

Mixing ratios of the atmospheric nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 were measured as part of the OPALE (Oxidant Production in Antarctic Lands & Export) campaign at Dome C, East Antarctica (75.1 degrees S, 123.3 degrees E, 3233 m), during December 2011 to January 2012. Profiles of NOx mixing ratios of the lower 100m of the atmosphere confirm that, in contrast to the South Pole, air chemistry at Dome C is strongly influenced by large diurnal cycles in solar irradiance and a sudden collapse of the atmospheric boundary layer in the early evening. Depth profiles of mixing ratios in firn air suggest that the upper snowpack at Dome C holds a significant reservoir of photolytically produced NO2 and is a sink of gas-phase ozone (O-3). First-time observations of bromine oxide (BrO) at Dome C show that mixing ratios of BrO near the ground are low, certainly less than 5 pptv, with higher levels in the free troposphere. Assuming steady state, observed mixing ratios of BrO and RO2 radicals are too low to explain the large NO2 : NO ratios found in ambient air, possibly indicating the existence of an unknown process contributing to the atmospheric chemistry of reactive nitrogen above the Antarctic Plateau. During 2011-2012, NOx mixing ratios and flux were larger than in 2009-2010, consistent with also larger surface O-3 mixing ratios resulting from increased net O-3 production. Large NOx mixing ratios at Dome C arise from a combination of continuous sunlight, shallow mixing height and significant NOx emissions by surface snow (F-NOx). During 23 December 2011-12 January 2012, median F-NOx was twice that during the same period in 20092010 due to significantly larger atmospheric turbulence and a slightly stronger snowpack source. A tripling of F-NOx in December 2011 was largely due to changes in snowpack source strength caused primarily by changes in NO3- concentrations in the snow skin layer, and only to a secondary order by decrease of total column O-3 and associated increase in NO3- photolysis rates. A source of uncertainty in model estimates of F-NOx is the quantum yield of NO3- photolysis in natural snow, which may change over time as the snow ages

A Serendipitous Search for High-Redshift Lyman alpha Emission: Two Primeval Galaxy Candidates at z~3

In the course of our ongoing search for serendipitous high-redshift Lyman alpha (LyA) Emissionin deep archival Keck spectra, we discovered two very high equivalent width (W_{obs} ~ 450A, 2-sigma) LyA emission line candidates at z ~3 in a moderate dispersion (R~1200) spectrogram. Both lines have low velocity dispersions (sigma_v ~ 60 km/s) and deconvolved radii r ~ 1 kpc (h = 0.5). We argue that the lines are LyA, and are powered by stellar ionization. The surface density of robust, high equivalent width LyA candidates is estimated to be ~3 \pm 2 per arcmin^2 per unit redshift at z ~ 3, consistent with the estimate of Cowie etal (1998). The LyA emission line source characteristics are consistent with the galaxies undergoing their first burst of star formation, ie, with being primeval. Source sizes and velocity dispersions are comparable to the theoretical primeval galaxy model of Lin and Murray (1992) based on the inside-out, self-similar collapse of an isothermal sphere. In this model, star formation among field galaxies is a protracted process. Galaxies are thought to be able to display high equivalent widths for only the first few x 10 Myr. This time is short in relation to the difference in look back times between z=3 and z=4, and implies that a substantial fraction of strong line-emitting galaxies at z=3 were formed at redshifts z < 4. We discuss the significance of high-equivalent width LyA-emitting galaxies in terms of the emerging picture of the environment, and the specific characteristics of primeval galaxy formation at high redshift.Comment: 17 pages, 3 figures, one table. To appear in the Astrophysical Journa

The low-field conductivity of zeolite-encapsulated molecular wires

The first measurements of an upper bound for the low-field conductivity of a molecular wire are presented here. We were able to encapsulate polypyrrole with chain lengths more than 10 monomers within the channels of different zeolites. Although the chains are fully oxidized by intrazeolite Fe3 + ions, and should conduct (when included in a bulk polymer), they do not exhibit, in the zeolite, significant ac conductivity up to 1 GHz. This suggests that other strategies than low field conductivity are needed to inject charges and transmit information through isolated molecular wires

Hydrogenation of CO on a silica surface: an embedded cluster approach

The sequential addition of H atoms to CO adsorbed on a siliceous edingtonite surface is studied with an embedded cluster approach, using density functional theory for the quantum mechanical (QM) cluster and a molecular force field for the molecular mechanical (MM) cluster. With this setup, calculated QM/MM adsorption energies are in agreement with previous calculations employing periodic boundary conditions. The catalytic effect of the siliceous edingtonite (100) surface on CO hydrogenation is assessed because of its relevance to astrochemistry. While adsorption of CO on a silanol group on the hydroxylated surface did not reduce the activation energy for the reaction with a H atom, a negatively charged defect on the surface is found to reduce the gas phase barriers for the hydrogenation of both CO and H2C = O. The embedded cluster approach is shown to be a useful and flexible tool for studying reactions on (semi-)ionic surfaces and specific defects thereon. The methodology presented here could easily be applied to study reactions on silica surfaces that are of relevance to other scientific areas, such as biotoxicity of silica dust and geochemistry

A VME-based LabVIEW system for the magnetic measurements of the LHC prototype dipoles

A magnetic measurement system based on a set of rotating harmonic coils has been integrated together with the coil positioning and rotation control, the associated data acquisition and the power supply control using a PC. This PC is a mono-board VME module with its networking connection, local hard disk and serial interfaces. The PC communicates with its peripheral devices (the controller embedded in the power converter, the coil positioning PLC and the coil rotation hardware) via RS-232C lines and acquires data using VME modules: in-house designed voltage integrators for the magnetic measurement and a commercial ADC for real-time measurements. The software is a LabVIEW application: it handles and synchronizes the peripheral devices of the measurement system and the real-time tasks related to the data acquisition; it constitutes a man-machine interface for the operator and also directly stores field maps onto a file server. The system is operational on the test benches and has proved reliable, user-friendly and performed as expected.