Single wall penetration equations

Five single plate penetration equations are compared for accuracy and effectiveness. These five equations are two well-known equations (Fish-Summers and Schmidt-Holsapple), two equations developed by the Apollo project (Rockwell and Johnson Space Center (JSC), and one recently revised from JSC (Cour-Palais). They were derived from test results, with velocities ranging up to 8 km/s. Microsoft Excel software was used to construct a spreadsheet to calculate the diameters and masses of projectiles for various velocities, varying the material properties of both projectile and target for the five single plate penetration equations. The results were plotted on diameter versus velocity graphs for ballistic and spallation limits using Cricket Graph software, for velocities ranging from 2 to 15 km/s defined for the orbital debris. First, these equations were compared to each other, then each equation was compared with various aluminum projectile densities. Finally, these equations were compared with test results performed at JSC for the Marshall Space Flight Center. These equations predict a wide variety of projectile diameters at a given velocity. Thus, it is very difficult to choose the 'right' prediction equation. The thickness of a single plate could have a large variation by choosing a different penetration equation. Even though all five equations are empirically developed with various materials, especially for aluminum alloys, one cannot be confident in the shield design with the predictions obtained by the penetration equations without verifying by tests

Spectral Statistics and Luminosity Function of a Hard X-ray Complete Sample of Brightest AGNs

We investigated the statistics of the X-ray spectral properties of a complete flux-limited sample of bright AGNs from HEAO-1 all-sky catalogs to provide the bright end constraint of the evolution of AGN hard X-ray luminosity function (HXLF) and the AGN population synthesis model of the X-ray background. Spectral studies have been made using ASCA and XMM-Newton observation data for almost all AGNs in this sample.Comment: PTPTex v0.88, 2 pages with 4 figures, Proceedings of the "Stellar-Mass, Intermediate -Masss, and Supermassive Black Holes" in Kyoto, Japa

High Metallicity of the X-Ray Gas up to the Virial Radius of a Binary Cluster of Galaxies: Evidence of Galactic Superwinds at High-Redshift

We present an analysis of a Suzaku observation of the link region between the galaxy clusters A399 and A401. We obtained the metallicity of the intracluster medium (ICM) up to the cluster virial radii for the first time. We determine the metallicity where the virial radii of the two clusters cross each other (~2 Mpc away from their centers) and found that it is comparable to that in their inner regions (~0.2 Zsun). It is unlikely that the uniformity of metallicity up to the virial radii is due to mixing caused by a cluster collision. Since the ram-pressure is too small to strip the interstellar medium of galaxies around the virial radius of a cluster, the fairly high metallicity that we found there indicates that the metals in the ICM are not transported from member galaxies by ram-pressure stripping. Instead, the uniformity suggests that the proto-cluster region was extensively polluted with metals by extremely powerful outflows (superwinds) from galaxies before the clusters formed. We also searched for the oxygen emission from the warm--hot intergalactic medium in that region and obtained a strict upper limit of the hydrogen density (nH<4.1x10^-5 cm^-3).Comment: Typo corrected. The published version is available on-line free of charge by the end of 2008. http://pasj.asj.or.jp/v60/sp1/60s133/60s133.pd

Improved energy resolution for VHE gamma-ray astronomy with systems of Cherenkov telescopes

We present analysis techniques to improve the energy resolution of stereoscopic systems of imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes, using the HEGRA telescope system as an example. The techniques include (i) the determination of the height of the shower maximum, which is then taken into account in the energy determination, and (ii) the determination of the location of the shower core with the additional constraint that the direction of the gamma rays is known a priori. This constraint can be applied for gamma-ray point sources, and results in a significant improvement in the localization of the shower core, which translates into better energy resolution. Combining both techniques, the HEGRA telescopes reach an energy resolution between 9% and 12%, over the entire energy range from 1 TeV to almost 100 TeV. Options for further improvements of the energy resolution are discussed.Comment: 13 Pages, 7 figures, Latex. Astroparticle Physics, in pres

TSS tether cable meteoroid/orbital debris damage analysis

This report summarizes the damage analyses performed on the tether cable used for the tethered satellite system (TSS), for the damage that could be caused by meteoroid or orbital debris impacts. The TSS consists of a tethered satellite deployer and a tethered satellite. The analytical studies were performed at Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) with the results from the following tests: (1) hypervelocity impact tests to determine the 'critical' meteoroid particle diameter, i.e., the maximum size of a meteoroid particle which can impact the tether cable without causing 'failure'; (2) electrical resistance tests on the damaged and undamaged tether cable to determine if degradation of current flow occurred through the damaged tether cables; and (3) tensile load tests to verify the load carrying capability of the damaged tether cables. Finally, the HULL hydrodynamic computer code was used to simulate the hypervelocity impact of the tether cable by particles at velocities higher than can be tested, to determine the extent of the expected tether damage

Measurement of energy muons in EAS at energy region larger thean 10(17) eV

A measurement of low energy muons in extensive air showers (EAS) (threshold energies are 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.38 GeV) was carried out. The density under the concrete shielding equivalent to 0.25 GeV at core distance less than 500 m and 0.5 GeV less than 150 m suffers contamination of electromagnetic components. Therefore the thickness of concrete shielding for muon detectors for the giant air shower array is determined to be 0.5 GeV equivalence. Effects of photoproduced muons are found to be negligible in the examined ranges of shower sizes and core distances. The fluctuation of the muon density in 90 sq m is at most 25% between 200 m and 600 m from the core around 10 to the 17th power eV

The variable OVIII Warm Absorber in MCG-6-30-15

We present the results of a 4 day ASCA observation of the Seyfert galaxy MCG-6-30-15, focussing on the nature of the X-ray absorption by the warm absorber, characterizd by the K-edges of the intermediately ionized oxygen, OVII and OVIII. We confirm that the column density of OVIII changes on a timescale of $\sim 10^4$~s when the X-ray continuum flux decreases. The significant anti-correlation of column density with continuum flux gives direct evidence that the warm absorber is photoionized by the X-ray continuum. From the timescale of the variation of the OVIII column density, we estimate that it originates from gas within a radius of about 10^{17}\cm of the central engine. In contrast, the depth of the OVII edge shows no response to the continuum flux, which indicates that it originates in gas at larger radii. Our results strongly suggest that there are two warm absorbing regions; one located near or within the Broad Line Region, the other associated with the outer molecular torus, scattering medium or Narrow Line Region.Comment: 8 pages (including figures) uuencoded gziped PS file. Submitted to Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japa