The effect of velocity gradient across the magnetic field on the low frequency flute modes is examined in detail, using the normal mode analysis. It is shown that some new type of instabilities driven primarily by the velocitygradient arise and these excited modes eventually attain the convective saturation. The onset of plasma turbulence due to these instabilities may possibly be one of the major contributors for anomalous heating process and enhanced plasma resistivity.

In the presence of a gravitational field the stability of a magnetoplasma is studied against electromagnetic perturbations. We have shown that a pinching type of instability can be triggered with a sizable growth rate affecting the equilibrium configuration of the confining magnetic field. This might have a profound effect on the magnetic fields of astrophysical bodies.

Saha’s ionization equation has been solved for highZ elements with the aim of providing input for opacity calculations. Results are presented for two elements, tungsten and uranium. The ionization potentials have been evaluated using the simple Bohr’s formula with suitable effective charges for ions. The reliability of the free electron density, ion concentrations, etc., obtained from the Saha’s equation solutions has been checked by comparing theP_T andE_T computed from them with those given by the Thomas-Fermi-Dirac equation of state. The agreement between the two is good from temperatures above 0.2 keV.

Some problems encountered in the process of estimation of calibration constantI₀h₀ have been discussed. The discrepancies observed in theI₀h₀ value determined by different methods were found to be mostly due to focussing. The difference observed between noontime values of absorption measured from different order echoes could be removed by a correction factor found after Piggot. But in certain cases the discrepancy in the reflection characteristics of single and multiple echoes were such that this correction factor did not give a consistent value. Such changes might be linked with sporadicE.

In this paper we have studied the motion of charged particles in a dipole magnetic field on the Schwarzscbild background geometry. A detailed analysis has been made in the equatorial plane through the study of the effective potential curves. In the case of positive canonical angular momentum the effective potential has two maxima and two minima giving rise to a well-defined potential well rear the event horizon. This feature of the effective potential categorises the particle orbits into four classes, depending on their energies. (i) Particles, coming from infinity with energy less than the absolute maximum ofV_eff, would scatter away after being turned away by the magnetic field. (ii) Whereas those with energies higher than this would go into the central star seeing no barrier. (iii) Particles initially located within the potential well are naturally trapped, and they execute Larmor motion in bound gyrating orbits. (iv) and those with initial positions corresponding to the extrema ofV_eff follow circular orbits which are stable for non-relativistic particles and unstable for relativistic ones. We have also considered the case of negative canonical angular momentum and found that no trapping in bound orbits occur for this case.

In the case when particles are not confined to the equatorial plane we have found that the particles execute oscillatory motion between two mirror points if the magnetic field is sufficiently high, but would continuously fall towards the event horizon otherwise.

Ultrasonic absorption in binary liquid mixtures containing benzene, chloroform, cyclohexane and toluene with triethylamine, a rotational isomeric relaxing liquid, as a common component has been studied at a frequency of 7.56 MHz. A pulse techrique has been used for the measurement of absorption with an accuracy of ±5%. Bauer-Sette formula has been used to calculate the absorption of these liquid mixtures at different concentrations. The theoretical values evaluated on the basis of Bauer-Sette theory appear to have good agreement with experimental values. In view of the discrepancy pointed out by Mallikarjuna Rao and Suryanarayana, the mixtures of benzene and ethylacetate have been studied in this context and found the theoretical values coinciding with experimental values.

Lucovsky, Brodsky, Burstein (LBB) have studied the behaviour of mixed crystals by setting up a criterion for the existence of local mode frequencies in real crystals starting from a diatomic linear chain model. This, while successfully predicting the one and two mode behaviour for some systems fails to predict the mixed mode behaviour. We propose a similar criterion for the existence of gap modes, by demanding that the gap mode predicted by the diatomic linear chain model should lie within the gap of the real three dimensional solid for its existence. It is shown that the gap modes for various systems calculated using this criterion are in reasonable agreement with the experimental values. The infrared behaviour of mixed crystals has to be determined by examining the existence of local as well as gap modes for the two end members of the system. This generalized new criterion successfully predicts the mixed mode behaviour of III–V mixed crystals besides predicting the one and two mode behaviour, observed in infrared absorption of mixed alkali halioes and III-V compounds.

Calcite single crystals on neutron bombardment change their colour to pale red, red and deep red, as the duration of irradiation increases. The irradiated surface becomes rugged and on etching, a large number of micropits are observed. Using Vicker’s hardness indenter, it is observed that the hardress of the irradiated crystal increases with the increase in the total dosage. From Laue x-ray diffraction studies of irradiated crystals, distortion of lattice is observed. Absorption spectra in the visible region show an extra peak for irradiated samples which is absent for radiated ones. The radiation effects are annealed to a considerable extent on heat treatment. The implications are discussed.

A method to study domain structure in ferroelectrics, using pyroelectric effect is described. Variation of pyroelectric signal from the surface of a triglycine sulphate crystal plate has been studied by scanning the surface of the crystal with a low wattage He-Ne laser beam. The integrated pyroelectric signal is due to two components, namely, (1) the primary component arising out of the change in spontaneous polarization with temperature and (2) the delayed component arising out of the possible polarization reversal. The component of an electric field along the ferroelectric axis due to thermal hemisphere within the crystal plate formed by the laser beam has been calculated and shown to exceed coercive field, making polarization reversal possible. The delayed pyroelectric signal is a measure of polarization reversal within the patch illuminated and its observed variation over the surface yields information of the domain structure.

A formulation, using the double time Green’s function method, is presented for the anisotropic spin-one ferromagnetic system in the presence of Ising part of the biquadratic exchange and an expression is given for the critical temperatureT_c in terms of two parameters. One is associated with the uniaxial anisotropy (treated exactly) and the other one corresponds to the biquadratic interaction (treated in RPA). The bilinear Heisenberg exchange term is treated in Callen’s approximation emphasizing the role of intersite correlation for small parameters. The prediction thatT_c increases with the biquadratic exchange is found to be consistent with the recent calculation based on high temperature series expansion.

The breakdown of a gas excited by a radio frequency voltage of frequency 5.6 MHz has been studied in a cylindrical discharge tube 7.2 cm long and 2.9 cm in dia and fitted with two internal electrodes at a distance of 2.5 cm in hydrogen, oxygen and air within the pressure range of a few microns to 2 torr in the presence of a longitudinal magnetic field varying from zero to 800 G. Experimental results indicate that the breakdown is diffusion controlled and the values of (a/P) at differentE/P values calculations obtained by Brown as well as by Kihara’s theory have been compared with (a/P) values obtained in the literature. It is concluded that the diffusion theory is also valid when the frequency of the exciting voltage is scaled down to radio frequency provided the collision frequency is much higher than the exciting frequency. The change of diffusion length in the presence of longitudinal magnetic field has been obtained from measuredE/P values and comparison with theoretical values indicates that there is quantitative agreement for small (H/P) values whereH is the magnetic field. The calculated values of pressure at which the breakdown voltage shows a minimum in the presence of magnetic field is in very good agreement with experimental values. It is concluded that in the presence of magnetic field also the loss of electrons takes place predominantly by the process of diffusion.