15,111 research outputs found
Study of process technology for GaAlAs/GaAs heteroface solar cells
Two processes were considered: the infinite melt process and the finite melt process. The only technique that is developed to the point that 10,000 cells could be produced in one year is the infinite melt liquid phase epitaxy process. The lowest cost per cell was achieved with the advanced metal organic chemical vapor deposition process. Molecular beam epitaxy was limited by the slow growth rate. The lowest cost, an 18 percent efficient cell at air mass zero, was approximately $70 per watt
A NASA high-power space-based laser research and applications program
Applications of high power lasers are discussed which might fulfill the needs of NASA missions, and the technology characteristics of laser research programs are outlined. The status of the NASA programs or lasers, laser receivers, and laser propulsion is discussed, and recommendations are presented for a proposed expanded NASA program in these areas. Program elements that are critical are discussed in detail
Measurement of Electron Trapping in the CESR Storage Ring
The buildup of low-energy electrons has been shown to affect the performance
of a wide variety of particle accelerators. Of particular concern is the
persistence of the cloud between beam bunch passages, which can impose
limitations on the stability of operation at high beam current. We have
obtained measurements of long-lived electron clouds trapped in the field of a
quadrupole magnet in a positron storage ring, with lifetimes much longer than
the revolution period. Based on modeling, we estimate that about 7% of the
electrons in the cloud generated by a 20-bunch train of 5.3 GeV positrons with
16-ns spacing and population survive longer than 2.3 s in a
quadrupole field of gradient 7.4 T/m. We have observed a non-monotonic
dependence of the trapping effect on the bunch spacing. The effect of a witness
bunch on the measured signal provides direct evidence for the existence of
trapped electrons. The witness bunch is also observed to clear the cloud,
demonstrating its effectiveness as a mitigation technique.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures, 28 citation
Algebraic approach to quantum field theory on non-globally-hyperbolic spacetimes
The mathematical formalism for linear quantum field theory on curved
spacetime depends in an essential way on the assumption of global
hyperbolicity. Physically, what lie at the foundation of any formalism for
quantization in curved spacetime are the canonical commutation relations,
imposed on the field operators evaluated at a global Cauchy surface. In the
algebraic formulation of linear quantum field theory, the canonical commutation
relations are restated in terms of a well-defined symplectic structure on the
space of smooth solutions, and the local field algebra is constructed as the
Weyl algebra associated to this symplectic vector space. When spacetime is not
globally hyperbolic, e.g. when it contains naked singularities or closed
timelike curves, a global Cauchy surface does not exist, and there is no
obvious way to formulate the canonical commutation relations, hence no obvious
way to construct the field algebra. In a paper submitted elsewhere, we report
on a generalization of the algebraic framework for quantum field theory to
arbitrary topological spaces which do not necessarily have a spacetime metric
defined on them at the outset. Taking this generalization as a starting point,
in this paper we give a prescription for constructing the field algebra of a
(massless or massive) Klein-Gordon field on an arbitrary background spacetime.
When spacetime is globally hyperbolic, the theory defined by our construction
coincides with the ordinary Klein-Gordon field theory on aComment: 21 pages, UCSBTH-92-4
Discovery of circularly polarised radio emission from SS 433
We report the discovery of circularly polarised radio emission from the
radio-jet X-ray binary SS 433 with the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The
flux density spectrum of the circular polarization, clearly detected at four
frequencies between 1 - 9 GHz, has a spectral index of (-0.9 +/- 0.1). Multiple
components in the source and a lack of very high spatial resolution do not
allow a unique determination of the origin of the circular polarization, nor of
the spectrum of fractional polarization. However, we argue that the emission is
likely to arise in the inner regions of the binary, possibly via
propagation-induced conversion of linear to circular polarization, and the
fractional circular polarization of these regions may be as high as 10%.
Observations such as these have the potential to investigate the composition,
whether pairs or baryonic, of the ejecta from X-ray binaries.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Nonlinear Dynamics of Capacitive Charging and Desalination by Porous Electrodes
The rapid and efficient exchange of ions between porous electrodes and
aqueous solutions is important in many applications, such as electrical energy
storage by super-capacitors, water desalination and purification by capacitive
deionization (or desalination), and capacitive extraction of renewable energy
from a salinity difference. Here, we present a unified mean-field theory for
capacitive charging and desalination by ideally polarizable porous electrodes
(without Faradaic reactions or specific adsorption of ions) in the limit of
thin double layers (compared to typical pore dimensions). We illustrate the
theory in the case of a dilute, symmetric, binary electrolyte using the
Gouy-Chapman-Stern (GCS) model of the double layer, for which simple formulae
are available for salt adsorption and capacitive charging of the diffuse part
of the double layer. We solve the full GCS mean-field theory numerically for
realistic parameters in capacitive deionization, and we derive reduced models
for two limiting regimes with different time scales: (i) In the
"super-capacitor regime" of small voltages and/or early times where the porous
electrode acts like a transmission line, governed by a linear diffusion
equation for the electrostatic potential, scaled to the RC time of a single
pore. (ii) In the "desalination regime" of large voltages and long times, the
porous electrode slowly adsorbs neutral salt, governed by coupled, nonlinear
diffusion equations for the pore-averaged potential and salt concentration
Elevation of two subspecies of Dunnock Prunella modularis to species rank
The Western Palearctic endemic Dunnock Prunella modularis was recently revealed to comprise three distinct genetic lineages, each distributed in different Pleistocene refugia. Specifically, one is isolated in the Iberian refugium, another is confined to the Caucasus refugium, and the third is distributed in both the Italian and Balkan refugia, as well as across broader Europe. There is a probable absence of gene flow between the refugia. Analysis of plumage and song characteristics reveals robust differences between the Iberian subspecies P. m. mabbotti, Caucasian P. m. obscura and nominate P. m. modularis. Our assessments, in conjunction with genetic isolation, support species recognition under the Phylogenetic, Biological and Comprehensive Biological Species Concepts, via qualitative and quantitative criteria, and diagnosability. We thus propose the elevation of Iberian Dunnock P. mabbotti and Caucasian Dunnock P. obscura to species level
Can a Lattice String Have a Vanishing Cosmological Constant?
We prove that a class of one-loop partition functions found by Dienes, giving
rise to a vanishing cosmological constant to one-loop, cannot be realized by a
consistent lattice string. The construction of non-supersymmetric string with a
vanishing cosmological constant therefore remains as elusive as ever. We also
discuss a new test that any one-loop partition function for a lattice string
must satisfy.Comment: 14 page
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