Generic concepts of the automated multifunctional receiver

Automated multifunctional receiver for space tracking and data acquisition network, manned space flight network, and deep space networ

The Quantum McKay Correspondence for polyhedral singularities

Let G be a polyhedral group, namely a finite subgroup of SO(3). Nakamura's G-Hilbert scheme provides a preferred Calabi-Yau resolution Y of the polyhedral singularity C^3/G. The classical McKay correspondence describes the classical geometry of Y in terms of the representation theory of G. In this paper we describe the quantum geometry of Y in terms of R, an ADE root system associated to G. Namely, we give an explicit formula for the Gromov-Witten partition function of Y as a product over the positive roots of R. In terms of counts of BPS states (Gopakumar-Vafa invariants), our result can be stated as a correspondence: each positive root of R corresponds to one half of a genus zero BPS state. As an application, we use the crepant resolution conjecture to provide a full prediction for the orbifold Gromov-Witten invariants of [C^3/G].Comment: Introduction rewritten. Issue regarding non-uniqueness of conifold resolution clarified. Version to appear in Inventione

Collective Interview on the History of Town Meetings

As illustrated in the introduction, the special issue ends with a ‘collective interview’ to some distinguished scholars that have given an important contribution to the study of New England Town Meetings. The collective interview has been realized by submitting three questions to our interviewees, who responded individually in written. The text of the answers has not been edited, if not minimally. However, the editors have broken up longer individual answers in shorter parts. These have been subsequently rearranged in an effort to provide, as much as possible, a fluid structure and a degree of interaction among the different perspectives provided by our interviewees on similar issues. The final version of this interview has been edited and approved by all interviewees

Ocean tides and quasi-stationary departures from the marine geoid investigation

The detection of tides and/or currents through the analysis of data generated in connection with the Ocean Geoid Determination Investigation is presented. A discussion of the detailed objectives and approach are included

Radar Investigation of Mars, Mercury, and Titan

Radar astronomy is the study of the surfaces and near surfaces of Solar System objects using active transmission of modulated radio waves and the detection of the reflected energy. The scientific goals of such experiments are surprisingly broad and include the study of surface slopes, fault lines, craters, mountain ranges, and other morphological structures. Electrical reflectivities contain information about surface densities and, to some extent, the chemical composition of the surface layers. Radar probes the subsurface layers to depths of the order of 10 wavelengths, providing geological mapping and determinations of the object’s spin state. Radar also allows one to study an object’s atmosphere and ionic layers as well as those of the interplanetary medium. Precise measurements of the time delay to surface elements provide topographic maps and powerful information on planetary motions and tests of gravitational theories such as general relativity. In this paper, we limit our discussion to surface and near-surface probing of Mercury, Mars, and Titan and review the work of the past decade, which includes fundamentally new techniques for Earth-based imaging. The most primitive experiments involve just the measurement of the total echo power from the object. The most sophisticated experiments would produce spatially resolved maps of the reflected power in all four Stokes’ parameters. Historically, the first experiments produced echoes from the Moon during the period shortly after World War II (see e.g. Evans 1962), but the subject did not really develop until the early 1960s when the radio equipment was sufficiently sensitive to detect echoes from Venus and obtain the first Doppler strip "maps" of that planet. The first successful planetary radar systems were the Continuous Wave (CW) radar at the Goldstone facility of the Caltech’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the pulse radar at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory. All of the terrestrial planets were successfully studied during the following decade, yielding the spin states of Venus and Mercury, a precise value of the astronomical unit, and a host of totally new discoveries concerning the surfaces of the terrestrial planets and the Moon. This work opened up at least a similar number of new questions. Although the early work was done at resolution scales on the order of the planetary radii, very rapid increases in system sensitivities improved the resolution to the order of 100 km, but always with map ambiguities. Recently, unambiguous resolution of 100 m over nearly the entire surface of Venus has been achieved from the Magellan spacecraft using a side-looking, synthetic aperture radar. Reviews of the work up to the Magellan era can be found in Evans (1962), Muhleman et al (1965), Evans & Hagfors (1968, see chapters written by G Pettengill, T Hagfors, and J Evans), and Ostro (1993). The radar study of Venus from the Magellan spacecraft was a tour de force and is well described in special issues of Science (volume 252, April 12, 1991) and in the Journal of Geophysical Research (volume 97, August 25 and October 25, 1992). Venus will not be considered in this paper even though important polarization work on that planet continues at Arecibo, Goldstone, and the Very Large Array (VLA). In this paper we review the most recent work in Earth-based radar astronomy using new techniques of Earth rotation, super synthesis at the VLA in New Mexico (operated by the National Radio Astronomy Observatory), and the recently developed "long-code" techniques at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico (operated by Cornell University). [Note: It was recently brought to our attention that the VLA software "doubles" the flux density of their primary calibrators. Consequently, it is necessary to half the radar power and reflectivity numerical values in all of our published radar results from the VLA/Goldstone radar.] The symbiotic relationship in these new developments for recent advances in our understanding of Mercury and Mars is remarkable. VLA imaging provides for the first time, unambiguous images of an entire hemisphere of a planet and the long-code technique makes it possible to map Mars and Mercury using the traditional range-gated Doppler strip mapping procedure [which was, apparently, developed theoretically at the Lincoln Laboratory by Paul Green, based on a citation in Evans (1962)]. Richard Goldstein was the first to obtain range-gated planetary maps of Venus as reported in Carpenter & Goldstein (1963). Such a system was developed earlier for the Moon as reported by Pettengill (1960) and Pettengill & Henry (1962). We first discuss the synthesis mapping technique

LOX/GOX mechanical impact tester assessment

The performances of three existing high pressure oxygen mechanical impact test systems were tested at two different test sites. The systems from one test site were fabricated from the same design drawing, whereas the system tested at the other site was of different design. Energy delivered to the test sample for each test system was evaluated and compared. Results were compared to the reaction rates obtained

Capacitor-type micrometeoroid detectors

The metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) capacitor micrometeroid detector consists of a thin dielectric capacitor fabricated on a silicon wafer. In operation, the device is charged to a voltage level sufficiently near breakdown that micrometeoroid impacts will cause dielectric deformation or heating and subsequent arc-over at the point of impact. Each detector is capable of recording multiple impacts because of the self-healing characteristics of the device. Support instrumentation requirements consist of a voltage source and pulse counters that monitor the pulse of recharging current following every impact. An investigation has been conducted in which 0.5 to 5 micron diameter carbonized iron spheres traveling at velocities of 4 to 10 Km/sec were impacted on to detectors with either a dielectric thickness of 0.4 or 1.0 micron. This study demonstrated that an ion microprobe tuned to sufficiently high resolution can detect Fe remaining on the detector after the impact. Furthermore, it is also possible to resolve Fe ion images free of mass interferences from Si, for example, giving its spatial distribution after impact. Specifically this technique has shown that significant amounts of impacting particles remain in the crater and near it which can be analyzed for isotopic content. Further testing and calibration could lead to quantitive analysis. This study has shown that the capacitor type micrometeroid detector is capable of not only time and flux measurements but can also be used for isotopic analysis

Contributions to the Science of Environmental Impact Assessment: Three Papers on the Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) of Northern Alaska

Editor's Introduction -- D. W. Norton; An Assessment of the Colville River Delta Stock of Arctic Cisco--Migrants from Canada? -- B. J. Gallaway, W. B. Griffiths, P. C. Craig, W. J. Gazey, and J. W. Helmericks; Temperature Preference of Juvenile Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) From the Alaskan Beaufort Sea -- R. G. Fechhelm, W. H. Neill, and B. J. Gallaway; Modeling Movements and Distribution of Arctic Cisco (Coregonus autumnalis) Relative to Temperature-Salinity Regimes of the Beaufort Sea Near the Waterflood Causeway, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. -- W. H. Neill, R. G. Fechhelm, B. J. Gallaway, J. D. Bryan, and S. W. Anderson; Notice to Author

Keck Echellette Spectrograph and Imager Observations of Metal-poor Damped Lyα Systems

We present the first results from a survey of SDSS quasars selected for strong H I damped Lyα (DLA) absorption with corresponding low equivalent width absorption from strong low-ion transitions (e.g., C II λ1334 and Si II λ1260). These metal-poor DLA candidates were selected from the SDSS fifth release quasar spectroscopic database, and comprise a large new sample for probing low-metallicity galaxies. Medium-resolution echellette spectra from the Keck Echellette Spectrograph and Imager spectrograph for an initial sample of 35 systems were obtained to explore the metal-poor tail of the DLA distribution and to investigate the nucleosynthetic patterns at these metallicities. We have estimated saturation corrections for the moderately underresolved spectra, and systems with very narrow Doppler parameters (b ≤ 5 km s^(–1)) will likely have underestimated abundances. For those systems with Doppler parameters b > 5 km s^(–1), we have measured low-metallicity DLA gas with [X/H] < –2.4 for at least one of C, O, Si, or Fe. Assuming non-saturated components, we estimate that several DLA systems have [X/H] < –2.8, including five DLA systems with both low equivalent widths and low metallicity in transitions of both C II and O I. All of the measured DLA metallicities, however, exceed or are consistent with a metallicity of at least 1/1000 of solar, regardless of the effects of saturation in our spectra. Our results indicate that the metal-poor tail of galaxies at z ~ 3 drops exponentially at [X/H] ≾ –3. If the distribution of metallicity is Gaussian, the probability of identifying interstellar medium gas with lower abundance is extremely small, and our results suggest that DLA systems with [X/H] < –4.0 are extremely rare, and could comprise only 8 × 10^(–7) of DLA systems. The relative abundances of species within these low-metallicity DLA systems are compared with stellar nucleosynthesis models, and are consistent with stars having masses of 30 M_⊙ < M * < 100 M_⊙. The observed ratio of [C/O] for values of [O/H] < –2.5 exceeds values seen in moderate metallicity DLA systems, and also exceeds theoretical nucleosynthesis predictions for higher mass Population III stars. We also have observed a correlation between the column density N(C IV) with [Si/H] metallicity, suggestive of a trend between mass of the DLA system and its metallicity