Role of IUC-DAEF in promoting neutron beam research in India

Inter University Consortium for Department of Atomic Energy Facilities (IUC-DAEF) is an autonomous institute of the University Grants Commission and provides an interface between the university fraternity and the institutions of Department of Atomic Energy. Mumbai Centre of IUC-DAEF promotes and supports the use of neutron facilities at Dhruva reactor by the university scientists. To augment the existing neutron scattering facilities, IUC-DAEF has developed a neutron beam line at Dhruva reactor. The present paper gives a brief survey of the activities and achievements of Mumbai Centre of IUC-DAEF.     

On the effect of longitude-dependent fields on convection in stellar atmospheres

In rotating stellar convective zones, heat transfer is shown to be associated with unbalanced azimuth forces arising in the radially ascending (heated) or descending (cold) matter. The presence of a longitude-dependent magnetic field generates additional azimuth forces, hence, new ways of compensating for the unbalanced forces. Generally speaking, this magnetic field is variable but may be nearly static in layers where convective equilibrium is replaced by radiative equilibrium. The condition for the coexistence of the static and usual fields is derived. To this end, an axisymmetric azimuth magnetic field of energy comparable to the energy of rotation should be introduced into models under consideration. In such configurations, conditions for magnetic field generation, as in the Sun, may appear.     

Coherent backscattering of light from saturated atoms

We survey recent progress achieved in understanding the impact of inelastic processes on coherent backscattering of light from cold atoms that are saturated by a powerful laser field.     

Fuel Oil Pyrolysis Initiated by Propane-Butane-Oxygen Flame

The parameters of fuel oil pyrolysis initiated by propane-butane-oxygen flame were studied as influenced by the temperature in the pyrolysis zone, time of the fuel oil contact with the initiating flame, and fuel oil feed rate. The experimental data on thermal and flame-initiated fuel oil pyrolysis were compared.     

Colossal magnetoresistance manganites: A new approach

Manganites of the LA_1−x Ca _x MnO₃ family show a variety of new and poorly understood electronic, magnetic and structural effects. Here we outline a new approach recently proposed by us, where we argue that due to strong Jahn-Teller (JT) coupling with phonons the twofold degeneratee _g states at the Mn sites dynamically reorganize themselves into localised, JT polaronsl with exponentially small inter-site hopping, and band-like, nonpolaronic statesb, leading to anew 2-band model for manganites which includes strong Coulomb and Hund’s couplings. We also discuss some results from a dynamical mean-field theory treatment of the model which explains quantitatively a wide variety of experimental results, including insulator-metal transitions and CMR, in terms of the influence of physical conditions on the relative energies and occupation of thel andb states. We argue that this microscopic coexistence of the two types of electronic states, and their relative occupation and spatial correlation is the key to manganite physics. Dedicated to Professor C N R Rao on his 70th birthday     

Magnetoelastic volume shear waves in a periodic layered medium of the ferrite-metal-dielectric type

S. P. Timoshenko Institute of Mechanics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, Ukraine. Translated from Prikladnaya Mekhanika, Vol. 31, No. 5, pp. 19–25, May 1995.     

Evaluation of the probability of bankruptcy for a model of insurance company

We study the problem of evaluation of the probability of ruin of an insurance company for infinitely many steps in the case where the company can invest its capital to bank deposits at any time. As a distribution of the amounts of claims to the insurance company, we use the gamma-distribution with the parameters n and α. __________ Translated from Ukrains’kyi Matematychnyi Zhurnal, Vol. 59, No. 4, pp. 447–457, April, 2007.