Search for massive rare particles with the SLIM experiment

The SLIM experiment is a large array of nuclear track detectors located at the Chacaltaya High Altitude Laboratory (5260 m a.s.l.). The preliminary results from the analysis of ~383 m^2 exposed for 4.07 y are here reported. The detector is sensitive to Intermediate Mass Magnetic Monopoles, 10^5 < M_M < 10^12 GeV, and to SQM nuggets and Q-balls, which are possible Dark Matter candidates.Comment: 4 pages, 5 EPS figures. Talk given at the 10th ICATPP Conference on Astroparticle, Particle, Space Physics, Detectors and Medical Physics Applications, Como, Italy, 8-12 October 200

Atmospheric neutrino oscillations in MACRO

In this paper we first give a short overview of the MACRO detector, which was operational at the Gran Sasso Laboratory from 1989 till 2000. Then we present and discuss the results on atmospheric neutrino oscillations, concerning medium (~4 GeV) and high (~50 GeV) energy data. Using the Multiple Coulomb Scattering of muons inside the lower part of the detector, estimates of neutrino energies were made for the high energy sample. The MACRO data, angular distributions, absolute flux and L/E_nu distributions favour nu_mu nu_tau oscillations with maximal mixing and Dm^2=2.5 x 10^-3 eV^2.Comment: 13 pages, 11 EPS figures included with epsfig, uses article.sty. Talk given at NO-VE, Int. Workshop on Neutrino Oscillations in VEnice, Venice, Italy, 24-26 July 2001. Fig. 9 updated, Ref. 9 changed and content changed in Sect. 6,

Atmospheric neutrino oscillations

The latest results from the Soudan 2, MACRO and SuperKamiokande experiments on atmospheric neutrino oscillations are summarised and discussed. In particular a discussion is made on the Monte Carlo simulations used for the atmospheric neutrino flux.Comment: 11 pages,10 EPS figures,added references. Lecture given at the 7th School on Non-Accelerator Astroparticle Physics, Trieste, Italy, 200

Self-contained breathing apparatus

A self-contained breathing apparatus with automatic redundant fluid pressure controls and a facemask mounted low pressure whistle alarm is described. The first stage of the system includes pair of pressure regulators connected in parallel with different outlet pressures, both of which reduce the pressure of the stored supply gas to pressures compatible with the second stage breathing demand regulator. A primary regulator in the first stage delivers a low output pressure to the demand regulator. In the event of a failure closed condition of the primary regulator an automatic transfer valve switches on the backup regulator. A warning that the supply pressure has been depleted is also provided by a supply pressure actuated transfer valve which transfers the output of the first stage pressure regulators from the primary to the backup regulator. The alarm is activated in either the failure closed condition or if the supply pressure is reduced to a dangerously low level

Raman noncoincidence effect: A spectroscopic manifestation of the intermolecular vibrational coupling in dipolar molecular liquids

Abstract This lecture addresses the analysis of the noncoincidence effect (NCE), a spectroscopic manifestation of the intermolecular coupling in molecular liquids. The vibrational bandshapes of molecular groups like C=O (strongly active in the IR spectrum) in dipolar liquids exhibit this phenomenon at a rather large extent. It will be shown that the vibrational exciton approach, developed under the assumption of the transition dipole coupling (TDC) mechanism, predicts how the orientational structure of the molecular liquid determines the magnitude and sign of the NCE. Specifically, it predicts that in simple molecular liquids, solely structured by dipolar forces, the NCE is large and positive, whereas when liquid structures are dominated by non-dipolar forces (as those present in H-bonded liquids), this scenario dramatically changes and IR-active modes may give rise to negative NCEs. This lecture is intended to offer a general overview of NCEs observed in dipolar (simple and structured) liquids in different thermodynamic conditions and of the theoretical and simulation results that assisted in their interpretation