2,650 research outputs found
Microwave microstrip resonator measurements of Y1Ba2Cu3O(7-x) and Bi2Sr2Ca1Cu2O(8-y) thin films
Radio frequency (RF) surface resistance measurement experiments on high T(sub c) thin films were performed. The method uses a microstrip resonator comprising a top gold conductor strip, an alumina dielectric layer, and a separate superconductivity ground plane. The surface resistance of the superconducting ground plane can be determined, with reference to a gold calibration standard, from the measured quality factor of the half-wave resonator. Initial results near 7 GHz over the temperature range from 25 to 300 K are presented for YBa2Cu3O(7-x) and Bi2Sr2CaCu2O(8-y) thin film samples deposited by an electron beam flash evaporation process. The RF surface resistance at 25 K for both materials in these samples was found to be near 25 milliohms
Project Amiga: A Minimal Covering Factor For Optically Thick Circumgalactic Gas Around The Andromeda Galaxy
The Ucsd/Keck Damped Lya Abundance Database: A Decade of High Resolution Spectroscopy
We publish the Keck/HIRES and Keck/ESI spectra that we have obtained during
the first 10 years of Keck observatory operations. Our full sample includes 42
HIRES spectra and 39 ESI spectra along 65 unique sightlines providing abundance
measurements on ~85 damped Lya systems. The normalized data can be downloaded
from the journal or from our supporting website:
http://www.ucolick.org/~xavier/DLA/. The database includes all of the
sightlines that have been included in our papers on the chemical abundances,
kinematics, and metallicities of the damped Lya systems. This data has also
been used to argue for variations in the fine-structure constant. We present
new chemical abundance measurements for 10 damped Lya systems and a summary
table of high-resolution metallicity measurements (including values from the
literature) for 153 damped Lya systems at z>1.6. We caution, however, that this
metallicity sample (and all previous ones) is biased to higher N(HI) values
than a random sample.Comment: 55 pages, 11 figures. Accepted to ApJS. See
http://www.ucolick.org/~xavier/DLA/ for the dat
The UCSD Radio-Selected Quasar Survey for Damped Lyman alpha System
As large optical quasar surveys for damped Lya become a reality and the study
of star forming gas in the early Universe achieves statistical robustness, it
is now vital to identify and quantify the sources of systematic error. Because
the nature of optically-selected quasar surveys makes them vulnerable to dust
obscuration, we have undertaken a radio-selected quasar survey for damped Lya
systems to address this bias. We present the definition and results of this
survey. We then combine our sample with the CORALS dataset to investigate the
HI column density distribution function f(N) of damped Lya systems toward
radio-selected quasars. We find that f(N) is well fit by a power-law f(N) = k_1
N^alpha_1, with log k_1 = 22.90 and alpha_1 = -2.18. This power-law is in
excellent agreement with that of optically-selected samples at low N(HI), an
important yet expected result given that obscuration should have negligible
effect at these gas columns. However, because of the relatively small size of
the radio-selected sample, 26 damped Lya systems in 119 quasars, f(N) is not
well constrained at large N(HI) and the first moment of the HI distribution
function, Omega_g, is, strictly speaking, a lower limit. The power-law is steep
enough, however, that extrapolating it to higher column densities implies only
a modest, logarithmic increase in Omega_g. The radio-selected value of Omega_g
= 1.15 x 10^-3, agrees well with the results of optically-selected surveys.
While our results indicate that dust obscuration is likely not a major issue
for surveys of damped Lya systems, we estimate that a radio-selected sample of
approximately 100 damped Lya systems will be required to obtain the precision
necessary to absolutely confirm an absence of dust bias.Comment: 12 pages, 9 Figures. Accepted to ApJ April 11, 200
Potential Aboriginal-Occupation-Induced Dune Activity, Elbow Sand Hills, Northern Great Plains, Canada
Geomorphological and archeological evidence indicates potential linkages between Plains aboriginal occupation and dune activity in the Elbow Sand Hills of southern Saskatchewan, Canada. Vegetation encroachment has rapidly outpaced migration of an active dune complex over the last 65 years. Optical ages of stabilized dune remnants indicate that dune activity predates Euro-Canadian settlement (ca. AD 1900). Early Euro-Canadian explorers observed local occupation and exploitation of the sand hills by aboriginal groups for herding and impounding bison. Mapping of archeological sites in relation to physiography reveals that sand dunes, in close proximity to permanent water resources, were preferred areas of occupation. Collectively, these results support the hypothesis that aboriginal occupation disturbance may have perpetuated dune activity in the Elbow Sand Hills until the late 19th century, and that Euro-Canadian settlement and land use emphasizing conservation may have encouraged recent stabilization. We propose that similar aboriginal occupation disturbances may have been responsible for perpetuating dune activity in other dune fields in the Great Plains. To this end, climatic variability should not be considered exclusive of other drivers of dune activity in semivegetated inland dune fields of the Great Plains
Land and cryosphere products from Suomi NPP VIIRS: overview and status
[1] The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument was launched in October 2011 as part of the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership (S-NPP). The VIIRS instrument was designed to improve upon the capabilities of the operational Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer and provide observation continuity with NASA's Earth Observing System's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). Since the VIIRS first-light images were received in November 2011, NASA- and NOAA-funded scientists have been working to evaluate the instrument performance and generate land and cryosphere products to meet the needs of the NOAA operational users and the NASA science community. NOAA's focus has been on refining a suite of operational products known as Environmental Data Records (EDRs), which were developed according to project specifications under the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite System. The NASA S-NPP Science Team has focused on evaluating the EDRs for science use, developing and testing additional products to meet science data needs, and providing MODIS data product continuity. This paper presents to-date findings of the NASA Science Team's evaluation of the VIIRS land and cryosphere EDRs, specifically Surface Reflectance, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Albedo, Vegetation Indices, Surface Type, Active Fires, Snow Cover, Ice Surface Temperature, and Sea Ice Characterization. The study concludes that, for MODIS data product continuity and earth system science, an enhanced suite of land and cryosphere products and associated data system capabilities are needed beyond the EDRs currently available from the VIIRS
Wavelength Accuracy of the Keck HIRES Spectrograph and Measuring Changes in the Fine Structure Constant
We report on an attempt to accurately wavelength calibrate four nights of
data taken with the Keck HIRES spectrograph on QSO PHL957, for the purpose of
determining whether the fine structure constant was different in the past.
Using new software and techniques, we measured the redshifts of various Ni II,
Fe II, Si II, etc. lines in a damped Ly-alpha system at z=2.309. Roughly half
the data was taken through the Keck iodine cell which contains thousands of
well calibrated iodine lines. Using these iodine exposures to calibrate the
normal Th-Ar Keck data pipeline output we found absolute wavelength offsets of
500 m/s to 1000 m/s with drifts of more than 500 m/s over a single night, and
drifts of nearly 2000 m/s over several nights. These offsets correspond to an
absolute redshift of uncertainty of about Delta z=10^{-5} (Delta lambda= 0.02
Ang), with daily drifts of around Delta z=5x10^{-6} (Delta lambda =0.01 Ang),
and multiday drifts of nearly Delta z=2x10^{-5} (0.04 Ang). The causes of the
wavelength offsets are not known, but since claimed shifts in the fine
structure constant would result in velocity shifts of less than 100 m/s, this
level of systematic uncertainty makes may make it difficult to use Keck HIRES
data to constrain the change in the fine structure constant. Using our
calibrated data, we applied both our own fitting software and standard fitting
software to measure (Delta alpha)/alpha, but discovered that we could obtain
results ranging from significant detection of either sign, to strong null
limits, depending upon which sets of lines and which fitting method was used.
We thus speculate that the discrepant results on (Delta alpha)/alpha reported
in the literature may be due to random fluctuations coming from under-estimated
systematic errors in wavelength calibration and fitting procedure.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, to appear in ApJ, Dec 2009 Many corrections and
changes made, some new figure
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