Separation and implantation of relativistic86Kr-fragments at the FrS; half-life measurement by ion-β time-correlations

Neutron-rich Co and Fe isotopes produced by⁸⁶Kr projectile fragmentation at 500 MeV/u were separated and identified using the fragment separator (FrS) in a bunched energy mode.⁶⁶Co and⁶⁵Fe ions were selectively implanted in a double PIN-diode array where the-decay signals were measured. The half-lives were deduced from time correlations between implantation and-decay signals. The remeasurement of the⁶⁶Co half-life confirms the isotope identification. The value of the⁶⁵Fe half-life was found to be 0.45±0.15 s.     

Charge compensation and the luminescence of Cr3+ in KMgF3

Studies of the photoluminescence spectra of Cr³⁺ ions in KMgF₃ crystals co-doped with Cr³⁺ and Ni²⁺ ions are reported. Several crystal field sites are identified by the different R-line spectra due to the ² E⁴ A ₂ transition and broadband luminescences associated with the ⁴ T ₂⁴ A ₂ transitions. Cr³⁺ ions substituting without local charge compensation on the octahedral Mg²⁺ site give rise to a low temperature R line in photoluminescence at =702.3 nm with a radiative decaytime of 3 ms at T=14 K. At T=300 K this isotropic centre gives rise to an unpolarized broadband ⁴ T ₂⁴ A ₂ emission, which results from the thermal occupancy of an excited ⁴ T ₂ state just above the ² E level which, at lower temperature, gives rise to emission in the R-line. Other crystal field sites are due to some Cr³⁺ ions having Mg²⁺ or K⁺ vacancies in nearest-neighbour positions, these vacancies being required to maintain charge neutrality in doped fluoride perovskites. The Cr³⁺–K⁺ vacancy complex results in the centre having trigonal symmetry, and low temperature, photoluminescence via R ₁ and R ₂ lines at 716.8 nm and 716.0 nm, respectively. Finally, Cr³⁺ ions having a nearest neighbour Mg²⁺ vacancy have tetragonal symmetry, experiencing weak crystal fields. In consequence, the ⁴ T ₂ level lies below ² E and the photoluminescence spectrum at low temperature takes the form of a polarized broad ⁴ T ₂⁴ A ₂ band with peak at 760 nm and radiative decaytime of 54 s.     

Jupiter's Great Red Spot and zonal winds as a self-consistent,one-layer,quasigeostrophic flow

We present the point of view that both the vortices and the east-west zonal winds of Jupiter are confined to the planet's shallow weather layer and that their dynamics is completely described by the weakly dissipated, weakly forced quasigeostrophic (QG) equation. The weather layer is the region just below the tropopause and contains the visible clouds. The forcing mimics the overshoot of fluid from an underlying convection zone. The late-time solutions of the weakly forced and dissipated QG equations appear to be a small subset of the unforced and undissipated equations and are robust attractors. We illustrate QG vortex dynamics and attempt to explain the important features of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and other vortices: their shapes, locations with respect to the extrema of the east-west winds, stagnation points, numbers as a function of latitude, mergers, break-ups, cloud morphologies, internal distributions of vorticity, and signs of rotation with respect to both the planet's rotation and the shear of their surrounding east-west winds. Initial-value calculations in which the weather layer starts at rest produce oscillatory east-west winds. Like the Jovian winds, the winds are east-west asymmetric and have Karman vortex streets located only at the west-going jets. From numerical calculations we present an empirically derived energy criterion that determines whether QG vortices survive in oscillatory zonal flows with nonzero potential vorticity gradients. We show that a recent proof that claims that all QG vortices decay when embedded in oscillatory zonal flows is too restrictive in its assumptions. We show that the asymmetries in the cloud morphologies and numbers of cyclones and anticyclones can be accounted for by a QG model of the Jovian atmosphere, and we compare the QG model with competing models.