Three-dimensional magnetostatic models of the large-scale corona

A special class of magnetostatic equilibria is described, which are mathematically simple and yet sufficiently versatile so as to fit any arbitrary normal magnetic flux prescribed at the photosphere. With these solutions, the corona can be modeled with precisely the same mathematically simple procedure as has previously been done with potential fields. The magnetostatic model predicts, in addition to the coronal magnetic field, the three dimensional coronal density which can be compared with coronagraph observations

An investigation of the plastic fracture of high strength steels

Three generally recognized stages of plastic fracture in high strength steels are considered in detail. These stages consist of void initiation, void growth, and void coalescence. A brief review of the existing literature on plastic fracture is included along with an outline of the experimental approach used in the investigation

Age Dating of a High-Redshift QSO B1422+231 at Z=3.62 and its Cosmological Implications

The observed Fe II(UV+optical)/Mg II lambda lambda 2796,2804 flux ratio from a gravitationally lensed quasar B1422+231 at z=3.62 is interpreted in terms of detailed modeling of photoionization and chemical enrichment in the broad-line region (BLR) of the host galaxy. The delayed iron enrichment by Type Ia supernovae is used as a cosmic clock. Our standard model, which matches the Fe II/Mg II ratio, requires the age of 1.5 Gyr for B1422+231 with a lower bound of 1.3 Gyr, which exceeds the expansion age of the Einstein-de Sitter Omega_0=1 universe at a redshift of 3.62 for any value of the Hubble constant in the currently accepted range, H_0=60-80 km,s^{-1},Mpc^{-1}. This problem of an age discrepancy at z=3.62 can be unraveled in a low-density Omega_0<0.2 universe, either with or without a cosmological constant, depending on the allowable redshift range of galaxy formation. However, whether the cosmological constant is a required option in modern cosmology awaits a thorough understanding of line transfer processes in the BLRs.Comment: 7 pages including 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letter

Corrections to deuterium hyperfine structure due to deuteron excitations

We consider the corrections to deuterium hyperfine structure originating from the two-photon exchange between electron and deuteron, with the deuteron excitations in the intermediate states. In particular, the motion of the two intermediate nucleons as a whole is taken into account. The problem is solved in the zero-range approximation. The result is in good agreement with the experimental value of the deuterium hyperfine splitting.Comment: 7 pages, LaTe

An ontology for ISO software engineering standards: 1) Creating the infrastructure

Software engineering standards developed under the auspices of ISO/IEC JTC1's SC7 have been identified as employing terms whose definitions vary significantly between standards. This led to a request in 2012 to investigate the creation of an ontological infrastructure that aims to be a single coherent underpinning for all SC7 standards, present and future. Here, we develop that necessary infrastructure prior to its adoption by SC7 and its implementation (likely 2014). The proposal described here requires, firstly, the identification of a single comprehensive set of definitions, the definitional elements ontology (DEO). For the scope of an individual standard, only a subset of these definitional elements will be needed. Once configured, this definitional subset creates a configured definitional ontology or CDO. Both the DEO and the CDO are essentially foundational ontologies from which a domain-specific ontology known as a SDO or standard domain ontology can be created. Consequently, all such SDOs are conformant to a CDO and hence to the single DEO thus ensuring that all standards use the same ontological base. Standards developed in this fashion will therefore be not only of a higher quality but also, importantly, interoperable. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

The NASA Spitzer Space Telescope

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Spitzer Space Telescope (formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility) is the fourth and final facility in the Great Observatories Program, joining Hubble Space Telescope (1990), the Compton Gamma-Ray Observatory (1991–2000), and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (1999). Spitzer, with a sensitivity that is almost three orders of magnitude greater than that of any previous ground-based and space-based infrared observatory, is expected to revolutionize our understanding of the creation of the universe, the formation and evolution of primitive galaxies, the origin of stars and planets, and the chemical evolution of the universe. This review presents a brief overview of the scientific objectives and history of infrared astronomy. We discuss Spitzer's expected role in infrared astronomy for the new millennium. We describe pertinent details of the design, construction, launch, in-orbit checkout, and operations of the observatory and summarize some science highlights from the first two and a half years of Spitzer operations. More information about Spitzer can be found at http://spitzer.caltech.edu/

Formation of Primordial Protostars

The evolution of collapsing metal free protostellar clouds is investigated for various masses and initial conditions. We perform hydrodynamical calculations for spherically symmetric clouds taking account of radiative transfer of the molecular hydrogen lines and the continuum, as well as of chemistry of the molecular hydrogen. The collapse is found to proceed almost self-similarly like Larson-Penston similarity solution. In the course of the collapse, efficient three-body processes transform atomic hydrogen in an inner region of \sim 1 M_{\sun} entirely into molecular form. However, hydrogen in the outer part remains totally atomic although there is an intervening transitional layer of several solar masses, where hydrogen is in partially molecular form. No opaque transient core is formed although clouds become optically thick to H$_{2}$ collision-induced absorption continuum, since H$_{2}$ dissociation follows successively. When the central part of the cloud reaches stellar densities ($\sim 10^{-2} {\rm g cm^{-3}}$), a very small hydrostatic core (\sim 5 \times 10^{-3} M_{\sun}) is formed and subsequently grows in mass as the ambient gas accretes onto it. The mass accretion rate is estimated to be 3.7 \times 10^{-2} M_{\sun} {\rm yr^{-1}} (M_{\ast}/M_{\sun})^{-0.37}, where $M_{\ast}$ is instantaneous mass of the central core, by using a similarity solution which reproduces the evolution of the cloud before the core formation.Comment: 20 pages, 5 Postscript figures, uses AAS LaTe

Testing non-linear force-free coronal magnetic field extrapolations with the Titov-Demoulin equilibrium

CONTEXT: As the coronal magnetic field can usually not be measured directly, it has to be extrapolated from photospheric measurements into the corona. AIMS: We test the quality of a non-linear force-free coronal magnetic field extrapolation code with the help of a known analytical solution. METHODS: The non-linear force-free equations are numerically solved with the help of an optimization principle. The method minimizes an integral over the force-free and solenoidal condition. As boundary condition we use either the magnetic field components on all six sides of the computational box in Case I or only on the bottom boundary in Case II. We check the quality of the reconstruction by computing how well force-freeness and divergence-freeness are fulfilled and by comparing the numerical solution with the analytical solution. The comparison is done with magnetic field line plots and several quantitative measures, like the vector correlation, Cauchy Schwarz, normalized vector error, mean vector error and magnetic energy. RESULTS: For Case I the reconstructed magnetic field shows good agreement with the original magnetic field topology, whereas in Case II there are considerable deviations from the exact solution. This is corroborated by the quantitative measures, which are significantly better for Case I. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the strong nonlinearity of the considered force-free equilibrium, the optimization method of extrapolation is able to reconstruct it; however, the quality of reconstruction depends significantly on the consistency of the input data, which is given only if the known solution is provided also at the lateral and top boundaries, and on the presence or absence of flux concentrations near the boundaries of the magnetogram.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Research Not

Linking and causality in globally hyperbolic spacetimes

The linking number $lk$ is defined if link components are zero homologous. Our affine linking invariant $alk$ generalizes $lk$ to the case of linked submanifolds with arbitrary homology classes. We apply $alk$ to the study of causality in Lorentz manifolds. Let $M^m$ be a spacelike Cauchy surface in a globally hyperbolic spacetime $(X^{m+1}, g)$. The spherical cotangent bundle $ST^*M$ is identified with the space $N$ of all null geodesics in $(X,g).$ Hence the set of null geodesics passing through a point $x\in X$ gives an embedded $(m-1)$-sphere $S_x$ in $N=ST^*M$ called the sky of $x.$ Low observed that if the link $(S_x, S_y)$ is nontrivial, then $x,y\in X$ are causally related. This motivated the problem (communicated by Penrose) on the Arnold's 1998 problem list to apply link theory to the study of causality. The spheres $S_x$ are isotopic to fibers of $(ST^*M)^{2m-1}\to M^m.$ They are nonzero homologous and $lk(S_x,S_y)$ is undefined when $M$ is closed, while $alk(S_x, S_y)$ is well defined. Moreover, $alk(S_x, S_y)\in Z$ if $M$ is not an odd-dimensional rational homology sphere. We give a formula for the increment of \alk under passages through Arnold dangerous tangencies. If $(X,g)$ is such that $alk$ takes values in $\Z$ and $g$ is conformal to $g'$ having all the timelike sectional curvatures nonnegative, then $x, y\in X$ are causally related if and only if $alk(S_x,S_y)\neq 0$. We show that $x,y$ in nonrefocussing $(X, g)$ are causally unrelated iff $(S_x, S_y)$ can be deformed to a pair of $S^{m-1}$-fibers of $ST^*M\to M$ by an isotopy through skies. Low showed that if (\ss, g) is refocussing, then $M$ is compact. We show that the universal cover of $M$ is also compact.Comment: We added: Theorem 11.5 saying that a Cauchy surface in a refocussing space time has finite pi_1; changed Theorem 7.5 to be in terms of conformal classes of Lorentz metrics and did a few more changes. 45 pages, 3 figures. A part of the paper (several results of sections 4,5,6,9,10) is an extension and development of our work math.GT/0207219 in the context of Lorentzian geometry. The results of sections 7,8,11,12 and Appendix B are ne

Gate-controlled Guiding of Electrons in Graphene

Ballistic semiconductor structures have allowed the realization of optics-like phenomena in electronics, including magnetic focusing and lensing. An extension that appears unique to graphene is to use both n and p carrier types to create electronic analogs of optical devices having both positive and negative indices of refraction. Here, we use gate-controlled density with both p and n carrier types to demonstrate the analog of the fiber-optic guiding in graphene. Two basic effects are investigated: (1) bipolar p-n junction guiding, based on the principle of angle-selective transmission though the graphene p-n interface, and (2) unipolar fiber-optic guiding, using total internal reflection controlled by carrier density. Modulation of guiding efficiency through gating is demonstrated and compared to numerical simulations, which indicates that interface roughness limits guiding performance, with few-nanometer effective roughness extracted. The development of p-n and fiber-optic guiding in graphene may lead to electrically reconfigurable wiring in high-mobility devices.Comment: supplementary materal at http://marcuslab.harvard.edu/papers/OG_SI.pd