Pauli,das Neutrino und die Entdeckung des Neutrons vor 50 Jahren

The story of the discovery of the neutrino as is well known, has been distorted by a number of legends. The factual information now available from the Pauli Correspondence shows the neutrino so to speak, as a by-product of a much more comprehensive revision of the foundations of physics, to which end the efforts of several great theoreticians were directed in order to overcome the theoretical difficulties confronting nuclear physics at the beginning of the 1930's. The well known letter from Pauli to the “radioactive ladies and gentlemen” outlines merely the properties of a particle postulated by this theory. Had the complete theory been revealed these would have won little attention because of the inherent difficulties it still contained. Nevertheless the predicted qualities of this hypothetical particle corresponded exactly with observational data and allowed in addition the preservation of the tried and tested conservation laws. Accordingly an incomplete theory led to a fruitful development in physics.     

Solid-state carbon-13 nuclear magnetic resonance of humic acids at high magnetic field strengths

Use of solid-state 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy has become commonplace in studies of humic substances in soils and sediments, but when modern high-field spectrometers are employed, care must be taken to ensure that the data obtained accurately reflect the chemical composition of these complex materials in environmental systems. In an effort to evaluate the quality of solid-state 13C NMR spectra obtained with modern high-field spectrometers, we conducted a series of experiments to examine spectra of various humic acids taken under a variety of conditions. We evaluate conditions for obtaining semiquantitative cross polarization magic angle spinning (CPMAS) 13C NMR spectra of humic acids at high magnetic field and spinning frequency. We examine the cross polarization (CP) dynamics under both traditional and ramp CP conditions on Cedar Creek humic acid. Fitted equilibrium intensities from these CP dynamic studies compare to within 3.4% of the intensities determined from a Bloch decay spectrum of the same sample. With a 1-ms contact time, ramp CP and traditional CP spectra were acquired on this sample and were found to compare to within 5.4% of the Bloch decay spectrum; however, the signal-to-noise ratio per hour of data acquisition was found to double under ramp CP conditions. These results demonstrate the power of applying modern solid-state NMR techniques at high magnetic field strengths. With these techniques, high-quality, semiquantitative spectra can be quickly produced, allowing the application of solid-state NMR techniques to more environmentally relevant samples, especially those where the quantity is limited.     

Summer and autumn ozone fluxes to a forest in the Czech Republic Brdy Mountains

In an effort to examine ozone (O3) deposition over a forest site in the Czech Republic, a low cost eddy flux experiment using slow response ozone and temperature sensors was implemented in July 1993 within the Brdy Mountains. Half-hour 2-Hz ozone and sensible heat measurements made at the Brdy Mountains for 98 days during the period 7 July 1994-20 October 1994 are analyzed and reported. While the Czech Brdy Mountains AOT40 level for the overall 104 day period was 7.6 ppm h (15.1 ppm h for the full 24-h summation), indicating a slight potential for 03 injury, the 1994 summer to autumn'measured forest O3 uptake was 2.4 (+/- 0.9) g m(-2), not unusually high compared to other studies. Average summer midday 03 fluxes and depositidn velocities were -1.0 (+/- 0.6) microg m(-2) s(-1) and 1.1 (+/- 0.7) cm s(-1). and autumn values were -0.36 (+/- 0.4) microg m(-2) s(-1) and 0.7 (+/- 0.5) cm s(-1) respectively. A unique contribution of this study is the first time demonstrated use of slow responding sensors for eddy covariance flux measurements at heights of 20 m above a forest.