Thermal power systems small power systems applications project. Decision analysis for evaluating and ranking small solar thermal power system technologies. Volume 1: A brief introduction to multiattribute decision analysis

The principal concepts of the Keeney and Raiffa approach to multiattribute decision analysis are described. Topics discussed include the concepts of decision alternatives, outcomes, objectives, attributes and their states, attribute utility functions, and the necessary independence properties for the attribute states to be aggregated into a numerical representation of the preferences of the decision maker for the outcomes and decision alternatives

Correlated tunneling into a superconductor in a multiprobe hybrid structure

We consider tunneling in a hybrid system consisting of a superconductor with two or more probe electrodes which can be either normal metals or polarized ferromagnets. In particular we study transport at subgap voltages and temperatures. Besides Andreev pair tunneling at each contact, in multi-probe structures subgap transport involves additional channels, which are due to coherent propagation of two particles (electrons or holes), each originating from a different probe electrode. The relevant processes are electron cotunneling through the superconductor and conversion of two electrons stemming from different probes in a Cooper pair. These processes are non-local and decay when the distance between the pair of involved contacts is larger than the superconducting coherence length. The conductance matrix of a the three terminal hybrid structure is calculated. The multi-probe processes enhance the conductance of each contact. If the contacts are magnetically polarized the contribution of the various conduction channels may be separately detected.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, accepted in Europhysics Letters, minor changes, 3 references adde

Fredholm's Minors of Arbitrary Order: Their Representations as a Determinant of Resolvents and in Terms of Free Fermions and an Explicit Formula for Their Functional Derivative

We study the Fredholm minors associated with a Fredholm equation of the second type. We present a couple of new linear recursion relations involving the $n$th and $n-1$th minors, whose solution is a representation of the $n$th minor as an $n\times n$ determinant of resolvents. The latter is given a simple interpretation in terms of a path integral over non-interacting fermions. We also provide an explicit formula for the functional derivative of a Fredholm minor of order $n$ with respect to the kernel. Our formula is a linear combination of the $n$th and the $n\pm 1$th minors.Comment: 17 pages, Latex, no figures connection to supplementary compound matrices mentioned, references added, typos correcte

Effects of Bose-Einstein Condensation on forces among bodies sitting in a boson heat bath

We explore the consequences of Bose-Einstein condensation on two-scalar-exchange mediated forces among bodies that sit in a boson gas. We find that below the condensation temperature the range of the forces becomes infinite while it is finite at temperatures above condensation.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Spaceborne power systems preference analyses. Volume 2: Decision analysis

Sixteen alternative spaceborne nuclear power system concepts were ranked using multiattribute decision analysis. The purpose of the ranking was to identify promising concepts for further technology development and the issues associated with such development. Four groups were interviewed to obtain preference. The four groups were: safety, systems definition and design, technology assessment, and mission analysis. The highest ranked systems were the heat-pipe thermoelectric systems, heat-pipe Stirling, in-core thermionic, and liquid-metal thermoelectric systems. The next group contained the liquid-metal Stirling, heat-pipe Alkali Metal Thermoelectric Converter (AMTEC), heat-pipe Brayton, liquid-metal out-of-core thermionic, and heat-pipe Rankine systems. The least preferred systems were the liquid-metal AMTEC, heat-pipe thermophotovoltaic, liquid-metal Brayton and Rankine, and gas-cooled Brayton. The three nonheat-pipe technologies selected matched the top three nonheat-pipe systems ranked by this study

Spaceborne power systems preference analyses. Volume 1: Summary

Sixteen alternative spaceborne nuclear power system concepts were ranked using multiattribute decision analysis to identify promising concepts for further technology development. Four groups interviewed were: safety, systems definition and design, technology assessment, and mission analysis. The ranking results were consistent from group and for different utility function models for individuals

Long Range Forces from Pseudoscalar Exchange

Using dispersion theoretic techniques, we consider coherent long range forces arising from double pseudoscalar exchange among fermions. We find that Yukawa type coupling leads to $1/r^3$ spin independent attractive potentials whereas derivative coupling renders $1/r^5$ spin independent repulsive potentials.Comment: 27 pages, REVTeX, 3 figures included using epsfi

Application of ERTS-1 data to the protection and management of New Jersey's coastal environment

The author has identified the following significant results. Photomaps, using MSS bands 5 and 7, have been prepared delineating the coastal zone as described in the Coastal Area Facility Review Act before the State Legislature. An upper wetlands boundary overlay has been prepared at 1:500,000 scale. The movement and dispersion of wastes in the New York Bight area are being plotted with each orbit. The possible impact of these wastes on the New Jersey shoreline is being quantified

Application of ERTS-A data to the protection and management of New Jersey's coastal environment

The author has identified the following significant results. Apparent sewage sludge disposal by barge has been detected approximately 12 miles offshore in an area with an approximate radius of 2.5 nautical miles. Verification is underway to determine whether this dumping is within one of the approved dump sites in the Bight. Analysis of all available historical and routine meteorological data in correlation with the observed phenomenon is necessary before final conclusions can be reached with respect to the effects of currents on the disposal of dumped wastes. Four effluent plumes emanating from the shoreline just south of Sandy Hook were observed and are moving in a southerly direction. Another plume is evident north of Barnegat Inlet and is moving almost directly offshore. This suggests that the more northerly plumes are under the influence of the tidal regime around New York Harbor much more than are the plumes further south along the New Jersey coast. Of further interest are what appear to be an internal wave phenomena approximately 75 miles east of the New Jersey coast. This same sort of phenomena has been observed repetitively off the coast of Oregon

Bicoherent-State Path Integral Quantization of a non-Hermitian Hamiltonian

We introduce, for the first time, bicoherent-state path integration as a method for quantizing non-hermitian systems. Bicoherent-state path integrals arise as a natural generalization of ordinary coherent-state path integrals, familiar from hermitian quantum physics. We do all this by working out a concrete example, namely, computation of the propagator of a certain quasi-hermitian variant of Swanson's model, which is not invariant under conventional $PT$-transformation. The resulting propagator coincides with that of the propagator of the standard harmonic oscillator, which is isospectral with the model under consideration by virtue of a similarity transformation relating the corresponding hamiltonians. We also compute the propagator of this model in position space by means of Feynman path integration and verify the consistency of the two results.Comment: latex, 31 page