Quantification of stable minor species in confined flames by cavity ring-down spectroscopy: application to NO

Cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) is used to measure the NO mole fraction formed in the burnt gases of low-pressure premixed flames. It is shown that the line-of-sight absorption is greatly increased by the contribution of the NO molecules surrounding the burner. This contribution has been quantified by developing a mathematical procedure taking into account the spatial and spectral features of the CRDS measurement. Calculations have been undertaken in the general case of a stable species not consumed in the flame. The most sensitive parameter is the temperature both in the flame and outside the flame. Simulations allow the selection of the best spectroscopic transitions for a given flame (i.e. a given temperature profile), ensuring the weakest influence of the inaccuracy affecting the temperature determination. High quantum states belonging to the A–X (0–1) band of NO have been found to be the most valuable and have led to a NO mole fraction determination with an accuracy of ±13%. NO absorption in the flame was completely masked using the A–X (0–0) band. Finally, the prompt-NO mole fraction formed in a methane/air flame stabilized at 33 Torr is obtained by combining CRDS and laser induced fluorescence techniques. Received: 12 October / Revised version: 1 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002     

Orthonormal polynomial bases in function spaces

We construct polynomial orthonormal bases in various function spaces. Our bases have linear order of growth of degrees of polynomials. We show that this order is optimal.     

Calculated elastic constants of dilute alloys based on bcc metals

The elastic constants of dilute alloys based on bcc metals have been calculated using the Green’s function method obtaining explicit expressions for change in elastic constants in terms oft-matrix. The crystal impurity problem is discussed within an impurity model containing central and non-central force constant changes extended up to second neighbours of the impurity. The effect of volume change on elastic constants and a contribution from electron pressure term are considered. Numerical results for changes in three elastic moduli have been presented for a number of dilute alloys based on Mo, Nb, W, Ta and V.     

Cylindrical solitons in a Gödel Universe and their stability

Exact cylindrically symmetric solutions are obtained for a class of interacting scalar and vector fields in a rotating Godel Universe. We select those with the properties of solitons with smooth decrease of the fields to asymptotics and those with sharp boundaries (droplets). It is shown that only some of the droplets are stable with respect to perturbations that preserve cylindrical symmetry.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 24–27, May, 1991.     

Passivation of an Al acceptor in silicon by hydrogen or muonium

We report on calculations of the electric field gradient at the site of the Al nucleus in the Si-H-Al complex in silicon. As a model for the surroundings of the complex we used a cluster consisting of 43 silicon and one aluminum atoms. The geometry of this cluster was fully optimized at the Hartree-Fock level. To discuss the dependence of our results on the level of theory, we studied a subcluster of four silicon and one aluminum atoms at the Hartree-Fock and CASSCF level.     

Necessary and sufficient conditions for existence of exponential dichotomy of impulsive equations

Necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of an exponential dichotomy of impulsive differential equations in a Hilbert space are found.     

First-passage times in a critical stochastic model

Average first-passage times for a single-variable stochastic model with a critical fixed point at the origin are computed by exact enumeration. The numerical measurements show excellent agreement with analytical results. The scaling function approaches the predicted asymptotic dependence.     

Direction of magnetization and domain wall mobility in (Dy,Y)Fe2

Magnetization measurements in the (Dy _x Y_1−x )Fe₂ intermetallic compounds show evidence of blocking of domain wall motion. This effect is a function of concentrationx. The direction of magnetization is also dependent on the Dy concentration. We have used the Mossbauer spectroscopy of⁵⁷Fe to verify the direction of magnetization in the series as a function ofx and temperature. The results show that this change in easy direction occurs at higher temperatures than those where the blocking is detected through DC magnetization measurements. supported by RHAE/SCT.