Rhomboid prism pair for rotating the plane of parallel light beams

An optical system is described for rotating the plane defined by a pair of parallel light beams. In one embodiment a single pair of rhomboid prisms have their respective input faces disposed to receive the respective input beams. Each prism is rotated about an axis of revolution coaxial with each of the respective input beams by means of a suitable motor and gear arrangement to cause the plane of the parallel output beams to be rotated relative to the plane of the input beams. In a second embodiment, two pairs of rhomboid prisms are provided. In a first angular orientation of the output beams, the prisms merely decrease the lateral displacement of the output beams in order to keep in the same plane as the input beams. In a second angular orientation of the prisms, the input faces of the second pair of prisms are brought into coincidence with the input beams for rotating the plane of the output beams by a substantial angle such as 90 deg

Slow relaxation to equipartition in spring-chain systems

In this study, one-dimensional systems of masses connected by springs, i.e., spring-chain systems, are investigated numerically. The average kinetic energy of chain-end particles of these systems is larger than that of other particles, which is similar to the behavior observed for systems made of masses connected by rigid links. The energetic motion of the end particles is, however, transient, and the system relaxes to thermal equilibrium after a while, where the average kinetic energy of each particle is the same, that is, equipartition of energy is achieved. This is in contrast to the case of systems made of masses connected by rigid links, where the energetic motion of the end particles is observed in equilibrium. The timescale of relaxation estimated by simulation increases rapidly with increasing spring constant. The timescale is also estimated using the Boltzmann-Jeans theory and is found to be in quite good agreement with that obtained by the simulation

A stochastic simulation of the propagation of Galactic cosmic rays reflecting the discreteness of cosmic ray sources. Age and path length distribution

The path length distribution of Galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) is the fundamental ingredient for modeling the propagation process of GCRs based on the so-called weighted slab method. We try to derive this distribution numerically by taking into account the discreteness in both space and time of occurrences of supernova explosions where GCRs are suspected to be born. We solve numerically the stochastic differential equations equivalent to the Parker diffusion-convection equation which describes the propagation process of GCR in the Galaxy. We assume the three-dimensional diffusion is an isotropic one without any free escape boundaries. We ignore any energy change of GCRs and the existence of the Galactic wind for simplicity. We also assume axisymmetric configurations for the density distributions of the interstellar matter and for the surface density of supernovae. We have calculated age and path length of GCR protons arriving at the solar system with this stochastic method. The obtained age is not the escape time of GCRs from the Galaxy as usually assumed, but the time spent by GCRs during their journey to the solar system from the supernova remnants where they were born. The derived age and path length show a distribution spread in a wide range even for GCR protons arriving at the solar system with the same energy. The distributions show a cut-off at a lower range in age or path length depending on the energy of GCRs. These cut-offs clearly come from the discreteness of occurrence of supernovae. The mean age of GeV particles obtained from the distributions is consistent with the age obtained by direct observation of radioactive secondary nuclei. The energy dependence of the B/C ratio estimated with the path length distribution reproduces reliably the energy dependence of B/C obtained by recent observations in space.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Constraints on Cold Dark Matter in the Gamma-ray Halo of NGC 253

A gamma-ray halo in a nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 was found by the CANGAROO-II Imaging Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescope (IACT). By fitting the energy spectrum with expected curves from Cold Dark Matter (CDM) annihilations, we constrain the CDM-annihilation rate in the halo of NGC 253. Upper limits for the CDM density were obtained in the wide mass range between 0.5 and 50 TeV. Although these limits are higher than the expected values, it is complementary important to the other experimental techniques, especially considering the energy coverage. We also investigate the next astronomical targets to improve these limits.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, aastex.cls, natbib.sty, To appear in ApJ v596n1, Oct. 10, 200

Simulating Cherenkov Telescope Array observation of RX J1713.7-3946

We perform simulations of Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observations of a young supernova remnant RX J1713.7-3946. This target is not only one of the brightest sources ever discovered in very high-energy gamma rays but also well observed in other wavebands. In X-rays, the emission is dominated by synchrotron radiation, which links directly to the existence of high-energy electrons. Radio observations of CO and HI gas have revealed a highly inhomogeneous medium surrounding the SNR, such as clumpy molecular clouds. Therefore gamma rays from hadronic interactions are naturally expected. However, the spectrum in GeV energy range measured by Fermi/LAT indicates more typical of leptonic emission from accelerated electrons. Despite lots of multi-wavelength information, the competing interpretations have led to much uncertainty in the quest of unraveling the true origin of the gamma-ray emission from RX~J1713.7--3946. CTA will achieve highest performance ever in sensitivity, angular resolution, and energy resolution. We estimate CTA capability to examine the emission mechanisms of the gamma rays through simulated spatial distribution, spectra, and their time variation.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. In Proceedings of the 34th International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC2015), The Hague, The Netherlands. All CTA contributions at arXiv:1508.0589

Size Segregation and Convection of Granular Mixtures Almost Completely Packed in the Rotating Thin Box

Size segregation of granular mixtures which are almost completely packed in a rotating drum is discussed with an effective simulation and a brief analysis. Instead of a 3D drum, we simulate 2D rotating thin box which is almost completely packed with granular mixtures. The phase inversion of radially segregated pattern which was found in a 3D experiment are qualitatively reproduced with this simulation, and a brief analysis is followed. Moreover in our simulation, a global convection appears after radial segregation pattern is formed, and this convection induces axially segregated pattern.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, PACS number(s): 45.70.-n, 45.70.M

Evidence for TeV gamma-ray emission from the shell type SNR RXJ1713.7-3946

We report the results of TeV gamma-ray observations of the shell type SNR RXJ1713.7-3946 (G347.3-0.5). The discovery of strong non-thermal X-ray emission from the northwest part of the remnant strongly suggests the existence of electrons with energies up to 100 TeV in the remnant, making the SNR a good candidate TeV gamma-ray source. We observed RXJ1713.7-3946 from May to August 1998 with the CANGAROO 3.8m atmospheric imaging Cerenkov telescope and obtained evidence for TeV gamma-ray emission from the NW rim of the remnant with the significance of 5.6 sigma. The observed TeV gamma-ray flux from the NW rim region was estimated to be (5.3 +/- 0.9[statistical] +/- 1.6[systematic]) * 10^{-12} photons cm^{-2} s^{-1} at energies >= 1.8 +/- 0.9 TeV. The data indicate that the emitting region is much broader than the point spread function of our telescope. The extent of the emission is consistent with that of hard X-rays observed by ASCA. This TeV gamma-ray emission can be attributed to the Inverse Compton scattering of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation by shock accelerated ultra-relativistic electrons. Under this assumption, a rather low magnetic field of 11 micro gauss is deduced for the remnant from our observation.Comment: Accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysics (5 pages, 2 figures