The spatial distribution and time evolution of impact-generated magnetic fields

The production of magnetic fields was revealed by laboratory hypervelocity impacts in easily vaporized targets. As quantified by pressure measurements, high frame-rate photography, and electrostatic probes, these impacts tend to produce large quantities of slightly ionized vapor, which is referred to as impact-generated plasma. Nonaligned electron density and temperature gradients within this plasma may lead to production of the observed magnetic fields. Past experiments were limited to measuring a single component of the impact-generated magnetic fields at only a few locations about the developing impact crater and consequently gave little information about the field production mechanism. To understand this mechanism, the techniques were extended to map the three components of the magnetic field both in space and time. By conducting many otherwise identical experiments with arrayed magnetic detectors, a preliminary 3-D picture was produced of impact-generated magnetic fields as they develop through time

Enhanced magnetic field production during oblique hypervelocity impacts

The natural remanent magnetization of the lunar surface as displayed in returned lunar samples and the data returned by the Apollo subsatellite magnetometer has an unexpectedly high magnitude and exhibits spatial variation at all scales. The origin of the lunar remanent fields may be due to crustal remanence of a core dynamo field occurring early in lunar history prior to extensive modification by impact or remanence of transient fields, particularly associated with impacts, occurring on a local scale throughout lunar history. The presence of an early core dynamo field would have strong consequences for the formation and early evolution of the Moon, yet to deconvolve the role that an internally generated core dynamo field may have had, it is necessary to understand how the magnetic state of the lunar surface has developed through time. Impact-induced magnetism may be an important component of the present magnetic state of the lunar surface. New theoretical considerations suggest that transient magnetic fields within plasma produced by hypervelocity meteorite impacts may have greater significance at larger scales than previously thought

Impacts of hemispherical granular targets: Implications for global impacts

As impact excavation diameters subtend a nontrivial fraction of a planetary body, both the excavation process and ejecta emplacement may depart form the classical description of impacts into a planar surface. Hemispherical particulate targets were impacted at the NASA-Ames Vertical Gun Range in order to trace the evolution of the ejecta curtain and to document the effects of slope and surface curvature on crater shape and cratering efficiency. The experiments suggest that basin size impacts or large craters on small bodies may be shallower than their counterparts on a planar surface but may have displaced a larger relative mass. Moreover, the increased ejecta curtain angle with distance may result in a change in ejecta emplacement style with distance. Although the ejecta curtain is vertical, ejecta within the curtain impact the surface at 45 deg and the time between first and last arrival within the curtain increases. This increased interaction time as the ejecta curtain density decreases should result in a more chaotic style of implacement

Elastomer Compound Developed for High Wear Applications

The U.S. Army is currently spending 300 million dollars per year replacing rubber track pads. An experimental rubber compound has been developed which exhibits 2 to 3 times greater service life than standard production pad compounds. To improve the service life of the tank track pads various aspects of rubber chemistry were explored including polymer, curing and reinforcing systems. Compounds that exhibited superior physical properties based on laboratory data were then fabricated into tank pads and field tested. This paper will discuss the compounding studies, laboratory data and field testing that led to the high wear elastomer compound

Net energy analysis of solar and conventional domestic hot water systems in Melbourne, Australia

It is commonly assumed that solar hot water systems save energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Very rarely has the life-cycle energy requirements of solar hot water systems been analysed, including their embodied energy. The extent to which solar hot water systems save energy compared to conventional systems in Melbourne, Australia, is shown through a comparative net energy analysis. The solar systems provided a net energy saving compared to the conventional systems after 0.5 to 2 years, for electricity and gas systems respectively.<br /

Universal trapping scaling on the unstable manifold for a collisionless electrostatic mode

An amplitude equation for an unstable mode in a collisionless plasma is derived from the dynamics on the two-dimensional unstable manifold of the equilibrium. The mode amplitude $\rho(t)$ decouples from the phase due to the spatial homogeneity of the equilibrium, and the resulting one-dimensional dynamics is analyzed using an expansion in $\rho$. As the linear growth rate $\gamma$ vanishes, the expansion coefficients diverge; a rescaling $\rho(t)\equiv\gamma^2\,r(\gamma t)$ of the mode amplitude absorbs these singularities and reveals that the mode electric field exhibits trapping scaling $|E_1|\sim\gamma^2$ as $\gamma\rightarrow0$. The dynamics for $r(\tau)$ depends only on the phase $e^{i\xi}$ where $d\epsilon_{{k}} /dz=|{\epsilon_{{k}}}|e^{-i\xi/2}$ is the derivative of the dielectric as $\gamma\rightarrow0$.Comment: 11 pages (Latex/RevTex), 2 figures available in hard copy from the Author ([email protected]); paper accepted by Physical Review Letter

Quenching of lamellar ordering in an n-alkane embedded in nanopores

We present an X-ray diffraction study of the normale alkane nonadecane C_{19}H_{40} embedded in nanoporous Vycor glass. The confined molecular crystal accomplishes a close-packed structure by alignment of the rod-like molecules parallel to the pore axis while sacrificing one basic principle known from the bulk state, i.e. the lamellar ordering of the molecules. Despite this disorder, the phase transitions observed in the confined solid mimic the phase behavior of the 3D unconfined crystal, though enriched by the appearance of a true rotator phase known only from longer alkane chains.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Relativistic semiclassical approach in strong-field nonlinear photoionization

Nonlinear relativistic ionization phenomena induced by a strong laser radiation with elliptically polarization are considered. The starting point is the classical relativistic action for a free electron moving in the electromagnetic field created by a strong laser beam. The application of the relativistic action to the classical barrier-suppression ionization is briefly discussed. Further the relativistic version of the Landau-Dykhne formula is employed to consider the semiclassical sub-barrier ionization. Simple analytical expressions have been found for: (i) the rates of the strong-field nonlinear ionization including relativistic initial and final state effects; (ii) the most probable value of the components of the photoelectron final state momentum; (iii) the most probable direction of photoelectron emission and (iv) the distribution of the photoelectron momentum near its maximum value.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Formaldehyde over the central Pacific during PEM-Tropics B

Formaldehyde, CH2O, mixing ratios are reported for the central Pacific troposphere from a series of 41 flights, which took place in March-April 1999 as part of the NASA Pacific Exploratory Mission (PEM) -Tropics B mission. Ambient CH2O was collected in aqueous media and quantified using an enzyme-derivatization fluorescence technique. Primary calibration was performed using aqueous standards and known flow rates. Occasionally, CH2O gas standard additions to ambient air were performed as a secondary calibration. Analytical blanks were determined by replacing ambient air with pure air. The estimated precision was ±30 pptv and the estimated accuracy was the sum of ±30 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) ±15% of the measured value. Approximately 25% of the observations were less than the instrumental detection limit of 50 pptv, and 85% of these occurred above 6 km. CH2O mixing ratios decreased with altitude; for example, near the equator the median value in the lowest 2 km was 275 pptv, decreased to 150 pptv by 6 km and was below 100 pptv above 8 km. Between 130 and 170 W and below 1km, a small variation of CH2O mixing ratio with latitude was noted as near-surface median mixing ratios decreased near the equator (275 pptv) and were greater on either side (375 pptv). A marked decrease in near-surface CH2O (200 pptv) was noted south of 23° S on two flights. Between 3° and 23° S, median CH2O mixing ratios were lower in the eastern tropical Pacific than in the western or central Pacific; nominal differences were &gt;100 pptv near the surface to ∼100 pptv at midaltitude to ∼50 pptv at high altitude. Off the coast of Central America and Mexico, mixing ratios as high as 1200 pptv were observed in plumes that originated to the east over land. CH2O observations were consistently higher than the results from a point model constrained by other photochemical species and meteorological parameters. Regardless of latitude or longitude, agreement was best at altitudes above 4 km where the difference between measured and modeled CH2O medians was less than 50 pptv. Below 2 km the model median was approximately 150 pptv less than the measured median. Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union