The Kinematic and Spatial Deployment of Compact, Isolated High-Velocity Clouds

We have identified a class of high-velocity clouds which are compact and apparently isolated. The clouds are compact in that they have angular sizes less than 2 degrees FWHM. They are isolated in that they are separated from neighboring emission by expanses where no emission is seen to the detection limit of the available data. Candidates for inclusion in this class were extracted from the Leiden/Dwingeloo HI survey of Hartmann & Burton and from the Wakker & van Woerden catalogue of high-velocity clouds. The candidates were subject to independent confirmation using either the 25-meter telescope in Dwingeloo or the 140-foot telescope in Green Bank. We argue that the resulting list, even if incomplete, is sufficiently representative of the ensemble of compact, isolated HVCs - CHVCs - that the characteristics of their disposition on the sky, and of their kinematics, are revealing of some physical aspects of the class. The CHVCs are in fact distributed quite uniformly across the sky. A global search for the reference frame which minimizes the velocity dispersion of the ensemble returns the Local Group Standard of Rest with high confidence. The CHVCs are not stationary with respect to this reference frame but have a mean infall velocity of 100 km/s. These properties are strongly suggestive of a population which has as yet had little interaction with the more massive Local Group members. At a typical distance of about 1 Mpc these objects would have sizes of about 15 kpc and gas masses, M_HI, of a few times 10^7 M_Sun, corresponding to those of (sub-)dwarf galaxies. (abridged)Comment: 13 page LaTeX, requires aa.cls and rotate.sty, 5 GIF figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Widespread evidence for heterogeneous accretion of the terrestrial planets and planetisimals

The abundance and relative proportion of highly siderophile elements (HSEs) in Earth’s mantle deviate from those predicted by low-pressure equilibrium partitioning between metal and silicate during formation of the core. For many elements, high-pressure equilibration in a deep molten silicate layer (or ‘magma ocean’) may account for this discrepancy [1], but some highly siderophile element abundances demand the late addition, a ‘late veneer’, of extraterrestrial material (i.e. heterogeneous accretion) after core formation was complete [2]. Siderophile elements in smaller asteroidal bodies will not be affected by high-pressure metal-silicate equilibration and so, with highly efficient core formation [3] and if a ‘late veneer’ is absent, significant differences in the proportions of HSEs can be anticipated. Here we present new HSE abundance and 187Os/188Os isotope data for basaltic meteorites, the HEDs (howardites, eucrites and diogenites thought to sample the asteroid 4 Vesta), anomalous eucrites (considered to be from distinct Vesta-like parent bodies) angrites and aubrites (from unidentified parent bodies) and SNCs (thought to be from Mars). Our data, taken with those for lunar rocks [4], demonstrate that these igneous meteorites all formed from mantle sources that possessed chondritic (i.e. primitive solar system) elemental and isotope compositions, indicating that late accretion is not unique to Earth, but is a common feature of differentiated planets and asteroidal bodies. Variations in the total HSE abundance suggest that the proportion of ‘late veneer’ added is a simple consequence of the size of each body (cross-section and/or gravitational-attraction), and may account for the volatile element budget, and the oxidationstate of Earth, Mars, the Moon and Vesta

Heat exchanger test experimental apparatus. Section I - Helium heater. Section II - Helium circulator Summary report

Molybdenum heater tube for heating helium to operating temperature of high temperature heat exchanger facility - performance of helium circulato

Constructing sonified haptic line graphs for the blind student: first steps

Line graphs stand as an established information visualisation and analysis technique taught at various levels of difficulty according to standard Mathematics curricula. It has been argued that blind individuals cannot use line graphs as a visualisation and analytic tool because they currently primarily exist in the visual medium. The research described in this paper aims at making line graphs accessible to blind students through auditory and haptic media. We describe (1) our design space for representing line graphs, (2) the technology we use to develop our prototypes and (3) the insights from our preliminary work

Synthesis and evaluation of new high polymers for coating applications annual summary report no. 1, 26 jun. 1964 - 25 jun. 1965

Synthesis of organic and semi-organic polymers useful as high temperature coating materia

Tetratic Order in the Phase Behavior of a Hard-Rectangle System

Previous Monte Carlo investigations by Wojciechowski \emph{et al.} have found two unusual phases in two-dimensional systems of anisotropic hard particles: a tetratic phase of four-fold symmetry for hard squares [Comp. Methods in Science and Tech., 10: 235-255, 2004], and a nonperiodic degenerate solid phase for hard-disk dimers [Phys. Rev. Lett., 66: 3168-3171, 1991]. In this work, we study a system of hard rectangles of aspect ratio two, i.e., hard-square dimers (or dominos), and demonstrate that it exhibits a solid phase with both of these unusual properties. The solid shows tetratic, but not nematic, order, and it is nonperiodic having the structure of a random tiling of the square lattice with dominos. We obtain similar results with both a classical Monte Carlo method using true rectangles and a novel molecular dynamics algorithm employing rectangles with rounded corners. It is remarkable that such simple convex two-dimensional shapes can produce such rich phase behavior. Although we have not performed exact free-energy calculations, we expect that the random domino tiling is thermodynamically stabilized by its degeneracy entropy, well-known to be $1.79k_{B}$ per particle from previous studies of the dimer problem on the square lattice. Our observations are consistent with a KTHNY two-stage phase transition scenario with two continuous phase transitions, the first from isotropic to tetratic liquid, and the second from tetratic liquid to solid.Comment: Submitted for publicatio

Multiple Time Scales in Diffraction Measurements of Diffusive Surface Relaxation

We grew SrTiO3 on SrTiO3 (001) by pulsed laser deposition, using x-ray scattering to monitor the growth in real time. The time-resolved small angle scattering exhibits a well-defined length scale associated with the spacing between unit cell high surface features. This length scale imposes a discrete spectrum of Fourier components and rate constants upon the diffusion equation solution, evident in multiple exponential relaxation of the "anti-Bragg" diffracted intensity. An Arrhenius analysis of measured rate constants confirms that they originate from a single activation energy.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Synthesis and evaluation of new high temperature polymers for coating applications Technical summary report, 26 Jun. 1964 - 25 Sep. 1966

Synthesis, characterization, and evaluation of organic and semiorganic heat resistant polymer coating