Near Earth asteroid orbit perturbation and fragmentation

Collisions by near earth asteroids or the nuclei of comets pose varying levels of threat to man. A relatively small object, approximately 100 meter diameter, which might be found on an impact trajectory with a populated region of the Earth, could potentially be diverted from an Earth impacting trajectory by mass driver rocket systems. For larger bodies, such systems would appear to be beyond current technology. For any size object, nuclear explosions appear to be more efficient, using either the prompt blow-off from neutron radiation, the impulse from ejecta of near-surface explosion for deflection, or as a fragmenting charge. Practical deflections of bodies with diameters of 0.1, 1, and 10 km require interception, years to decades prior to earth encounter, with explosions a few kilotons, megatons, or gigatons, respectively, of equivalent TNT energy to achieve orbital velocity changes or destruction to a level where fragments are dispersed to harmless spatial densities

Streak camera recording of shock wave transit times at large distances using laser illumination

A pulsed laser illumination system for streak camera recording of impact-induced shock wave transit times (~1 µs) during impact experiments is described. Laser illumination of centimeter-sized subjects offers many advantages over diffuse illumination techniques for streak photography. Source-to-sample and sample-to-camera distances of ~10^0 to 10^1 m can be employed. Light filtering, and simultaneous recording of both the impact event and the camera streak rate calibration, can be carried out easily. For use in such a system we describe a Pockels cell controller in which the reference 10-MHz oscillator signal is synchronously divided down to 38 Hz to provide a trigger signal for laser and streak camera testing

GeV gamma-rays and TeV neutrinos from very massive compact binary systems: The case of WR 20a

Massive Wolf-Rayet stars in a compact binary systems are characterised by very strong winds which collide creating a shock wave. If the wind nuclei accelerated at the shock can reach large enough energies, they suffer disintegration in collisions with soft thermal radiation from the massive stars injecting relativistic protons and neutrons. Protons collide with the matter of the wind and a fraction of neutrons colide with the massive stars producing gamma-rays and neutrinos. We calculate the gamma-rays fluxes from the inverse Compton pair cascades, initiated by primary gamma-rays and leptons produced by protons, and the neutrino fluxes produced by protons and neutrons for the example compact massive binary WR 20a. From normalization of the gamma-ray spectra to the fluxes of the EGRET sources, 2EG J1021-5835 and 2EG J1049-5847, we conclude that this massive binary can be detected by the IceCube type neutrino detector with the event rate between a few up to a few tens per km^2 per yr.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, MNRAS in pres

From AMANDA to IceCube

The first string of the neoteric high energy neutrino telescope IceCube successfully began operating in January 2005. It is anticipated that upon completion the new detector will vastly increase the sensitivity and extend the reach of AMANDA to higher energies. A discussion of the IceCube's discovery potential for extra-terrestrial neutrinos, together with the prospects of new physics derived from the ongoing AMANDA research will be the focus of this paper. Preliminary results of the first antarctic high energy neutrino telescope AMANDA searching in the muon neutrino channel for localized and diffuse excess of extra-terrestrial neutrinos will be reviewed using data collected between 2000 and 2003. Neutrino flux limits obtained with the all-flavor dedicated UHE and cascade analyses will be described. A first neutrino spectrum above one TeV in agreement with atmospheric neutrino flux expectations and no extra-terrestrial contribution will be presented, followed by a discussion of a limit for neutralino CDM candidates annihilating in the center of the Sun.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures Invited talk contribution at 5th International Conference on Non-accelerator New Physics (NANP 05), Dubna, Russia, 20-25 Jun 200

Physics of interplanetary dust capture via impact into organic polymer foams

The physics of hypervelocity impacts into foams is of interest because of the possible application to interplanetary dust particle (IDP) capture by spacecraft. We present a model for the phenomena occurring in such impacts into low-density organic polymer foams. Particles smaller than foam cells behave as if the foam is a series of solid slabs and are fragmented and, at higher velocities, thermally altered. Particles much larger than the foam cells behave as if the foam were a continuum, allowing the use of a continuum mechanics model to describe the effects of drag and ablation. Fragmentation is expected to be a major process, especially for aggregates of small grains. Calculations based on these arguments accurately predict experimental data and, for hypothetical IDPs, indicate that recovery of organic materials will be low for encounter velocities greater than 5 km s^(−1). For an organic particle 100 μm in diameter, ∼35% of the original mass would be collected in an impact at 5 km s^(−1), dropping to ∼10% at 10 km s^(−1) and ∼0% at 15 km s^(−1). For the same velocities the recovery ratios for troilite (FeS) are ∼95%, 65%, and 50%, and for olivine (Mg_2SiO_4) they are ∼98%, 80%, and 65%, demonstrating that inorganic materials are much more easily collected. The density of the collector material has only a second-order effect, changing the recovered mass by <10% of the original mass

Shock wave equations of state of chondritic meteorites

We have obtained shock compression data for Murchison and Bruderheim chondritic meteorites. Data for Murchison suggest that the Hugoniot states are described by a smooth curve to ≥90 GPa, having ρ_0=2.656 Mg/m^3, K_(S0)=24.2±.7 GPa, K′=4.17±.10, and constant γ=1.0. The data for Bruderheim suggest more complicated behavior. A mineral mixture model consistent with the Bruderheim data suggests that the Hugoniot state is a low pressure phase below 25 GPa, with ρ_0=3.555 Mg/m^3, K_(S0)=146 GPa, K′=2.53, and constant ργ=7.11 Mg/m^3; and a high pressure phase above 65 GPa, with ρ_0=4.40 Mg/m^3, K_(S0)=225 GPa, K′=3.25, and constant ργ=7.485 Mg/m^3

Shock compression and isentropic release of rhyolite

A series of shock compression experiments have been conducted on rhyolite at pressure ranging from 6 to 33 GPa. A velocity interferometer (VISAR) was employed to monitor the particle velocity of an aluminum reflector with a diffused surface bonded to the rhyolite sample. In the forward ballistic experiments, a slow rise shock wave front is observed at 6 GPa. While in the forward experiments their release waves are smeared, in a reverse ballistic experiment, the particle velocity variation at the shock wave plateau and the isentropic release wave arrival have been clearly observed. Using Swegle’s mixed phase model, we simulated the experimental results with WONDY code. Like quartz and granite, the rhyolite data could be fit to a frozen release model which has some hysteric behavior. The Eulerian sound velocity at shock pressure 8.7 GPa has been determined to be 5.6 km/s

Efeitos da primeira poda em povoamentos jovens de Pinus taeda L. estabelecidos em Mafra, SC, região do alto rio negro.

bitstream/item/101227/1/PA-1983-Abrens-EfeitoPrimeira.pd