A companion star within 0.8 pc of the Sun has been postulated to explain a possible 26 Myr periodicity in mass extinctions of species on the Earth. Such a star would already be catalogued in the Yale Bright Star catalogue unless it is fainter than m/sub nu/ = 6.5; this limits the possible stellar types for an unseen companion to red dwarfs, brown dwarfs, or compact objects. Red dwarfs account for about 75% of these possible stars. We describe here the design and development of an astrometric search for a nearby red dwarf companion with a six-month peak-to-peak parallax of greater than or equal to2.5 arcseconds. We are measuring the parallax of 2770 candidate faint red stars selected from the Dearborn Observatory catalogue. An automated 30-inch telescope and CCD camera system collect digitized images of the candidate stars, along with a 13' x 16' surrounding field of background stars. Second-epoch images, taken a few months later, are registered to the first epoch images using the background stars as fiducials. An apparent motion, m/sub a/, of the candidate stars is found to a precision of sigma/sub m//sub a/ approx. = 0.08 pixel approx. = 0.2 arcseconds for fields with N/sub fiducial/ …

Accelerator mass spectrometry in tandem Van de Graaff accelerators has proven successful for radioisotope dating small samples. We are developing a 20 cm diameter 30 to 40 keV cyclotron dedicated to high-sensitivity radioisotope dating, initially for /sup 14/C. At this energy, range and dE/dx methods of particle identification are impossible. Thus arises the difficult problem of reliably detecting 30 to 40 keV /sup 14/C at 10/sup -2/ counts/sec in the high background environment of the cyclotron, where lower energy ions, electrons, and photons bombard the detector at much higher rates. We have developed and tested an inexpensive, generally useful ion detector that allows dark-count rates below 10/sup -4/ counts/sec and excellent background suppression. With the cyclotron tuned near the /sup 13/CH background peak, to the frequency for /sup 14/C, the detector suppresses the background to 6 x 10/sup -4/ counts/sec. For each /sup 14/C ion the detectors grazing-incidence Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ conversion dynode emits about 20 secondary electrons, which are independently multiplied in separate pores of a microchannel plate. The output signal is proportional to the number of secondary electrons, allowing pulse-height discrimination of background. We have successfully tested the detector with positive /sup 12/C, /sup 23/Na, /sup 39/K, /sup …

This report describes the design and construction of five spoiler magnets installed in the secondary beamline to the Meson West Experimental Hall. Tests have been performed to measure the magnetic field in the steel as a function of the excitation current. B versus I curves for each spoiler are included. The leakage field in the beam pipe through the spoiler steel was too high. Magnetic shield and reduced excitation are used to lower this leakage field to acceptable levels.

Atomic data for the electron-impact ionization of ions in the Fe isonuclear sequence is reviewed. The best available data are identified. Comments are made on current research activities leading to future data for Fe ions. 23 refs., 29 figs., 12 tabs.

This report addresses two broad aspects of the behaviors of hydrodynamic flows, resulting from laser heated, exploding foils. In Part I, various aspects of the similarity solutions are considered, whereas in Part II the stability of the flows at early times are examined, before the similarity solutions are established. 5 refs., 3 figs.

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