Fundamental understanding of the oxidation of compounds in supercritical water is essential for the design, development and operation of a supercritical water oxidation unit. Previous work in our group determined the oxidation kinetics of carbon monoxide and ethanol in supercritical water for temperatures ranging from 400 to 540 C. Oxidation studies of methane up to 700 C have recently been completed and are presented in this report. Theoretical studies of fundamental kinetics and mechanistic pathways for the oxidation of methane in supercritical water are discussed. Application of current gas phase elementary reaction models are briefly presented and their limitations discussed.

The variational methods of classical field theory may be applied to any theory with an action which is invariant under local gauge transformations. What is the significance of the resulting Noether current. This paper examines such currents for both Abelian and non-Abelian gauge theories and provides an explanation for their form and limited range of physical significance on a level accessible to those with a basic knowledge of classical field theory. Several of the more subtle aspects encountered in the application of the residual local gauge symmetry found by Becchi, Rouet, Stora, and Tyutin are also considered in detail in a self-contained manner. 23 refs.

We summarize recent measurements by the HRS collaboration of the topological branching fractions, the production cross section, the lifetime, and the rate into electrons of the {tau} lepton. An inconsistency with theoretical expectations persists at the level of two standard deviations. 11 refs., 2 figs., 4 tabs.

We predicted gravity values on a tower by upward continuing an extensive set of surface data in order to test the 1/r/sup 2/ dependence of Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation. We measured gravity at 12 heights up to 454 m on a tower at the Nevada Test Site, and at 91 locations on the surface of the earth within 2.5 kilometers of the tower. These data have been combined with 60,000 surface gravity measurements within 300 kilometers of the tower and have been used to predict the gravitational field on the tower via a solution of Laplace's equation. A discrepancy between the observed gravity values and the prediction could suggest a breakdown of Newtonian Gravity, but we observe none. Our preliminary results are consistent with the Newtonian hypothesis to within 93 +- 95 ..mu..gals at the top of the tower, a result which conflicts with the previously reported 500 ..mu..gal non-Newtonian signal seen at 562 meters above the earth. 24 refs., 2 figs.