[en] The sudden application of magnetic fields either simultaneous or delayed with respect to muon bunches (in pulsed facilities) or to single muons (when available 'on demand') offers new/alternative approaches to studying relaxation phenomena in dielectric liquids and solids. We give here an example of a simple experiment on de-ionized water in which the intrinsic muonium lifetime can be determined regardless of the field inhomogeneity. A 20 μs long pulse of magnetic field (up to 10 mT) is generated by a single flat-loop coil, which is part of a cell containing the liquid. The delay time between the muon bunch and the field pulse is adjusted in order to observe the residual muon or muonium precession amplitude after an interval of time elapsed in zero external field during which only irreversible/chemical loss of polarization can take place. The muonium and diamagnetic muon precessions are measured after different pulse delays. The initial muonium amplitude is found to decrease as a function of delay time, with a decay rate of 0.17(2) μs^-1, which is the intrinsic muonium lifetime and is independent of the inhomogeneity of the applied field

[en] The magnetic crystals discussed belong to the K₂NiF₄ family; this group includes six or seven types of crystals differing either for the alkali metals (K or Rb) or for the magnetic ion (Mn, Ni, Fe or Co). They exhibit a phase transition at low temperatures to a three-dimensional antiferromagnetic ordering. The choice of two independent probes (axial and planar fluorine nuclei) and the analysis in q-space of their NMR line-widths yield a number of indications regarding the properties of the spin fluctuations in the phase transition region, and suggest hints regarding the role of the magnetic anisotropy in determining critical indices and other noncritical properties of the q-dependent fluctuations. (Auth.)

No abstract available

[en] A laser light scattering technique was assessed for measuring the microaggregate size distribution (MSD) of three Italian soils after water dispersion and after disaggregation with ultrasound, MSD values were unaffected by the amount of sample in the dry weight range from 0.05 to 2.0 grams. Some disaggregation of water-treated samples may occur in the measuring system, so an appropriate measurement time has to be selected

[en] The corrosion of the Italian BEL 15 borosilicate glass is characterized for experimental conditions designed to study glass/clay/water interactions. MCC-1 type static leach tests were carried out using distilled water, synthetic interstitial claywater and wet clay at 40 deg C and 90 deg C and at two SA/V ratios: 10 and 100 m^-1. Direct clay-glass contact was simulated by using a specially designed apparatus, with contact time up to 4 months. The corrosion behaviour of the BEL 15 glass is strongly influenced by the leaching medium and pH. The formation of calcium and magnesium phases on the glass surface occurs under all conditions, with the exception of distilled water. 11 refs., 8 figs., 3 tabs

[en] We describe a test to distinguish between actual gravitational waves from binary inspiral and false noise triggers. The test operates in the time domain, and considers the time evolution of the correlator and its statistical distribution. It should distinguish true versus noisy events with the same signal-to-noise ratio and chi-square frequency distribution. A similar test has been applied to S1 LIGO data

No abstract available

[en] We report μSR data from pseudo-cubic and layered copper fluorides, KCuF₃, K₂CuF₄, and its substitutions K_1.9Sr_0.1CuF₄, K₂CuF_3.9O_0.1, K₂Cu_1.8Zn_0.2F₄. In KCuF₃, the extinction of the F-Mu-F fraction and its progressive replacement by a magnetic fraction between 40 and 35 K demonstrate a first-order magnetic transition at T_N, probably driven by orbital degrees of freedom. The layered compounds exhibit on the contrary conventional second-order transitions at T_c=6.25 K, independent of electron or hole doping up to at least x=0.1. However, 20% substitution of Cu with non-magnetic Zn completely suppresses long-range magnetic order above 1.3 K

No abstract available

[en] We present a NQR and Zeeman perturbed NQR investigation of a KCuF₃ single crystal across T_N, looking for evidence of a local rearrangement of the Cu unoccupied orbitals. Although no change is detected in the NQR coupling, we confirm a gradual growth of the magnetic volume fraction for T/T_N≥0.87 previously detected by μSR