The Algebra of Strand Splitting. I. A Braided Version of Thompson's Group V

We construct a braided version of Thompson's group V.Comment: 27 page

Fixation of virgin lunar surface soil

Two systems are shown to be suitable for fixing loose particulate soils with a polymer film, without visually detectable disturbance of the soil particle spatial relationships. A two-component system is described, which uses a gas monomer condensible at the soil temperature and a gas phase catalyst acting to polymerize the monomer. A one-component system using a monomer which polymerizes spontaneously on and within the top few millimeters of the soil is also considered. The two-component system employs a simpler apparatus, but it operates over a narrower temperature range (approximately -40 to -10 C). Other two-component systems were identified which may operate at soil temperatures as high as +100 C, at relatively narrow temperature ranges of approximately 30 C. The one-component system was demonstrated to operate successfully with initial soil temperatures from -70 C or lower to +150 C

Robust nonlinear canonical correlation analysis: application to seasonal climate forecasting

International audienceRobust variants of nonlinear canonical correlation analysis (NLCCA) are introduced to improve performance on datasets with low signal-to-noise ratios, for example those encountered when making seasonal climate forecasts. The neural network model architecture of standard NLCCA is kept intact, but the cost functions used to set the model parameters are replaced with more robust variants. The Pearson product-moment correlation in the double-barreled network is replaced by the biweight midcorrelation, and the mean squared error (mse) in the inverse mapping networks can be replaced by the mean absolute error (mae). Robust variants of NLCCA are demonstrated on a synthetic dataset and are used to forecast sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific Ocean based on the sea level pressure field. Results suggest that adoption of the biweight midcorrelation can lead to improved performance, especially when a strong, common event exists in both predictor/predictand datasets. Replacing the mse by the mae leads to improved performance on the synthetic dataset, but not on the climate dataset except at the longest lead time, which suggests that the appropriate cost function for the inverse mapping networks is more problem dependent

Propellant material compatibility program and results

The effects of long-term (up to 10 years) contact of inert materials with earth-storable propellants were studied for the purpose of designing chemical propulsion system components that can be used for current as well as future planetary spacecraft. The primary experimental work, and results to date are reported. Investigations include the following propellants: hydrazine, hydrazine-hydrazine nitrate blends, monomethyl-hydrazine, and nitrogen tetroxide. Materials include: aluminum alloys, corrosion-resistant steels, and titanium alloys. More than 700 test specimen capsules were placed in long-term storage testing at 43 C in the special material compatibility facility. Material ratings relative to the 10-year requirement have been assigned

A biaxial propeller current-meter system for fixed-mount applications

A biaxial propeller current-meter system for use in shallow water, where instrumentation can be attached to rigid bottom-mounted towers, has been developed at the Chesapeake Bay Institute. The use of two like sensors to measure the horizontal-velocity vector eliminates the problem of matching time constants in rotor-vane systems. The propellers have a noncosine response to the angle of attack of the flow. However, the data recorded by two propellers mounted at right angles are sufficient to correct for the noncosine response

Plans for phase coherent long baseline interferometry for geophysical applications using the Anik-B communications satellite

A pilot project to establish an operational phase stable very long baseline interferometer (VLBI) for geophysical studies is described. Methods for implementation as well as practical applications are presented

Phase Diagram of One-Dimensional Extended Hubbard Model at Half Filling

We reexamine the ground-state phase diagram of the one-dimensional half-filled Hubbard model with on-site and nearest-neighbor repulsive interactions. We calculate second-order corrections to coupling constants in the g-ology to show that the bond-charge-density-wave (BCDW) phase exists for weak couplings in between the charge density wave (CDW) and spin density wave (SDW) phases. We find that the umklapp scattering of parallel-spin electrons destabilizes the BCDW state and gives rise to a bicritical point where the CDW-BCDW and SDW-BCDW continuous-transition lines merge into the CDW-SDW first-order transition line.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The S2 VLBI Correlator: A Correlator for Space VLBI and Geodetic Signal Processing

We describe the design of a correlator system for ground and space-based VLBI. The correlator contains unique signal processing functions: flexible LO frequency switching for bandwidth synthesis; 1 ms dump intervals, multi-rate digital signal-processing techniques to allow correlation of signals at different sample rates; and a digital filter for very high resolution cross-power spectra. It also includes autocorrelation, tone extraction, pulsar gating, signal-statistics accumulation.Comment: 44 pages, 13 figure

A Planetary Mass Companion to the K0 Giant HD 17092

We report the discovery of a substellar-mass companion to the K0-giant HD 17092 with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope. In the absence of any correlation of the observed 360-day periodicity with the standard indicators of stellar activity, the observed radial velocity variations are most plausibly explained in terms of a Keplerian motion of a planetary-mass body around the star. With the estimated stellar mass of 2.3Msun, the minimum mass of the planet is 4.6MJ. The planet's orbit is characterized by a mild eccentricity of e=0.17 and a semi-major axis of 1.3 AU. This is the tenth published detection of a planetary companion around a red giant star. Such discoveries add to our understanding of planet formation around intermediate-mass stars and they provide dynamical information on the evolution of planetary systems around post-main sequence stars.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Ap