Method for remotely sensing turbulence of planetary atmospheres

Based on variances of log-amplitude and phase fluctuations of radio occultation data received from orbital and fly-by missions, structure constant for Venusian planetary atmosphere has been estimated with high-confidence factor. Analysis indicates that effects of inhomogeneity, finite size, and superrefractivity of atmospheric turbulence cannot be ignored

Dyadic Green's Functions and Guided Surface Waves for a Surface Conductivity Model of Graphene

An exact solution is obtained for the electromagnetic field due to an electric current in the presence of a surface conductivity model of graphene. The graphene is represented by an infinitesimally-thin, local and isotropic two-sided conductivity surface. The field is obtained in terms of dyadic Green's functions represented as Sommerfeld integrals. The solution of plane-wave reflection and transmission is presented, and surface wave propagation along graphene is studied via the poles of the Sommerfeld integrals. For isolated graphene characterized by complex surface conductivity, a proper transverse-electric (TE) surface wave exists if and only if the imaginary part of conductivity is positive (associated with interband conductivity), and a proper transverse-magnetic (TM) surface wave exists when the imaginary part of conductivity is negative (associated with intraband conductivity). By tuning the chemical potential at infrared frequencies, the sign of the imaginary part of conductivity can be varied, allowing for some control over surface wave properties.Comment: 9 figure

Contribution of Type Ia and Type II Supernovae for Intra-Cluster Medium Enrichment

The origin of the chemical composition of the intracluster medium (ICM) is discussed in this paper. In particular, the contribution from Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) to the ICM enrichment is shown to exist by adopting the fitting formulas which have been used in the analysis of the solar system abundances. Our analysis means that we can use the frequency of SNe Ia relative to SNe II as the better measure than $M_{Fe, SN Ia}/M_{Fe, total}$ for estimating the contribution of SNe Ia. Moreover, the chemical compositions of ICMs are shown to be similar to that of the solar system abundances. We can also reproduce the sulfur/iron abundance ratio within a factor of 2, which means that the abundance problem of sulfur needs not to be emphasized too strongly. We need more precise observations to conclude whether ICMs really suffer the shortage problem of sulfur or not.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX text and 15 postscript figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

Control of Light Diffusion in a Disordered Photonic Waveguide

We control the diffusion of light in a disordered photonic waveguide by modulating the waveguide geometry. In a single waveguide of varying cross-section, the diffusion coefficient changes spatially in two dimensions due to localization effects. The intensity distribution inside the waveguide agrees to the prediction of the self-consistent theory of localization. Our work shows that wave diffusion can be efficiently manipulated without modifying the structural disorder.Comment: 4 Figure

Swelling of acetylated wood in organic liquids

To investigate the affinity of acetylated wood for organic liquids, Yezo spruce wood specimens were acetylated with acetic anhydride, and their swelling in various liquids were compared to those of untreated specimens. The acetylated wood was rapidly and remarkably swollen in aprotic organic liquids such as benzene and toluene in which the untreated wood was swollen only slightly and/or very slowly. On the other hand, the swelling of wood in water, ethylene glycol and alcohols remained unchanged or decreased by the acetylation. Consequently the maximum volume of wood swollen in organic liquids was always larger than that in water. The effect of acetylation on the maximum swollen volume of wood was greater in liquids having smaller solubility parameters. The easier penetration of aprotic organic liquids into the acetylated wood was considered to be due to the scission of hydrogen bonds among the amorphous wood constituents by the substitution of hydroxyl groups with hydrophobic acetyl groups.Comment: to be published in J Wood Science (Japanese wood research society

Scattering of Pruppacher-Pitter raindrops at 30 GHz

Optimum design of modern ground-satellite communication systems requires the knowledge of rain-induced differential attenuation, differential phase shift, and cross polarization factors. Different available analytical techniques for raindrop scattering problems were assessed. These include: (1) geometrical theory of diffraction; (2) method of moment; (3) perturbation method; (4) point matching methods; (5) extended boundary condition method; and (6) global-local finite element method. The advantages and disadvantages of each are listed. The extended boundary condition method, which was determined to yield the most scattering results, is summarized. The scattered fields for Pruppacher-Pitter raindrops with sizes ranging from 0.5 mm to 3.5 mm at 20 C and at 30 GHz for several incidence angles are tabulated

Effect of superradiance on transport of diffusing photons in cold atomic gases

We show that in atomic gases cooperative effects like superradiance and subradiance lead to a potential between two atoms that decays like $1/r$. In the case of superradiance, this potential is attractive for close enough atoms and can be interpreted as a coherent mesoscopic effect. The contribution of superradiant pairs to multiple scattering properties of a dilute gas, such as photon elastic mean free path and group velocity, is significantly different from that of independent atoms. We discuss the conditions under which these effects may be observed and compare our results to recent experiments on photon transport in cold atomic gases.Comment: 4 pages and 1 figur

Space-frequency correlation of classical waves in disordered media: high-frequency and small scale asymptotics

Two-frequency radiative transfer (2f-RT) theory is developed for geometrical optics in random media. The space-frequency correlation is described by the two-frequency Wigner distribution (2f-WD) which satisfies a closed form equation, the two-frequency Wigner-Moyal equation. In the RT regime it is proved rigorously that 2f-WD satisfies a Fokker-Planck-like equation with complex-valued coefficients. By dimensional analysis 2f-RT equation yields the scaling behavior of three physical parameters: the spatial spread, the coherence length and the coherence bandwidth. The sub-transport-mean-free-path behavior is obtained in a closed form by analytically solving a paraxial 2f-RT equation

Light-cone fluctuations and the renormalized stress tensor of a massless scalar field

We investigate the effects of light-cone fluctuations over the renormalized vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy tensor of a real massless minimally coupled scalar field defined in a ($d+1$)-dimensional flat space-time with topology ${\cal R}\times {\cal S}^d$. For modeling the influence of light-cone fluctuations over the quantum field, we consider a random Klein-Gordon equation. We study the case of centered Gaussian processes. After taking into account all the realizations of the random processes, we present the correction caused by random fluctuations. The averaged renormalized vacuum expectation value of the stress-energy associated with the scalar field is presented

Iron Abundance Profiles of 12 Clusters of Galaxies Observed With BeppoSAX

We have derived azimuthally-averaged radial iron abundance profiles of the X-ray gas contained within 12 clusters of galaxies with redshift 0.03 < z < 0.2 observed with BeppoSAX. We find evidence for a negative metal abundance gradient in most of the clusters, particularly significant in clusters that possess cooling flows. The composite profile from the 12 clusters resembles that of cluster simulations of Metzler & Evrard (1997). This abundance gradient could be the result of the spatial distribution of gas-losing galaxies within the cluster being more centrally condensed than the primordial hot gas. Both inside and outside the core region, we find a higher abundance in cooling flow clusters than in non-cooling flow clusters. Outside of the cooling region this difference cannot be the result of more efficient sputtering of metals into the gaseous phase in cooling flow clusters, but might be the result of the mixing of low metallicity gas from the outer regions of the cluster during a merger.Comment: 8 pages, 2 embedded Postscript figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journa