Optimisation of the hydrotesting sequence in tank farm construction using an adaptive genetic algorithm with stochastic preferential logic

In the construction of tank farms there is a requirement for the tanks to be hydro-tested in order to verify that they are leak proof as well as proving the lack of differential settlement in the foundations. The tanks will be required to be filled to a predetermined level and then to maintain this loaded state for a certain period of time before being drained. In areas such as the Middle East water for hydro-testing is not freely available as sea water is often not suitable for this purpose, so fresh water needs to be produced or transported to the construction site for this purpose. It is therefore of major benefit to the project to schedule the hydro-testing of the tanks in such a manner as to minimize the utilization of hydro-test water. This problem is a special case of the Resource Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP) and in this research we have modified our previously developed Fitness differential adaptive genetic algorithm [4, 6 & 7] to the solution of this real world problem. The Algorithm has been ported from the original MATLAB code into Microsoft Project using VBA in order to provide a more user friendly, practical interface

X-ray/GeV emissions from Crab-like pulsars in LMC

We discuss X-ray and gamma-ray emissions from Crab-like pulsars, PSRs~J0537-6910 and~J0540-6919, in Large Magellanic Cloud. Fermi-LAT observations have resolved the gamma-ray emissions from these two pulsars and found the pulsed emissions from PSR~J0540-6919. The total pulsed radiation in the X-ray/gamma-ray energy bands of PSR~J0540-6919 is observed with the efficiency $\eta_{J0540}\sim 0.06$ (in 4$\pi$ sr), which is about a factor of ten larger than $\eta_{Crab}\sim 0.006$ of the Crab pulsar. Although PSR~J0537-6910 has the highest spin-down power among currently known pulsars, the efficiency of the observed X-ray emissions is about two orders of magnitude smaller than that of PSR~J0540-6919. This paper mainly discusses what causes the difference in the radiation efficiencies of these three energetic Crab-like pulsars. We discuss electron/positron acceleration and high-energy emission processes within the outer gap model. By solving the outer gap structure with the dipole magnetic field, we show that the radiation efficiency decreases as the inclination angle between the magnetic axis and the rotation axis increases. To explain the difference in the pulse profile and in the radiation efficiency, our model suggests that PSR~J0540-6919 has an inclination angle much smaller than the that of Crab pulsar (here we assume the inclination angles of both pulsars are $\alpha<90^{\circ}$). On the other hand, we speculate that the difference in the radiation efficiencies between PSRs~J0537-6910 and J0549-6919 is mainly caused by the difference in the Earth viewing angle, and that we see PSR~J0537-6910 with an Earth viewing angle $\zeta>>90^{\circ}$ (or $<<90^{\circ}$) measured from the spin axis, while we see PSR~J0540-6919 with $\zeta\sim 90^{\circ}$.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, ApJ in pres

Calculation of Radiative Corrections to E1 matrix elements in the Neutral Alkalis

Radiative corrections to E1 matrix elements for ns-np transitions in the alkali metal atoms lithium through francium are evaluated. They are found to be small for the lighter alkalis but significantly larger for the heavier alkalis, and in the case of cesium much larger than the experimental accuracy. The relation of the matrix element calculation to a recent decay rate calculation for hydrogenic ions is discussed, and application of the method to parity nonconservation in cesium is described

Population study for γ\gamma-ray emitting Millisecond Pulsars and FermiFermi unidentified sources

The $Fermi$-LAT has revealed that rotation powered millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are a major contributor to the Galactic $\gamma$-ray source population. We discuss the $\gamma$-ray emission process within the context of the outer gap accelerator model, and use a Monte-Calro method to simulate the Galactic population of the $\gamma$-ray emitting MSPs. We find that the outer gap accelerator controlled by the magnetic pair-creation process is preferable in explaining the possible correlation between the $\gamma$-ray luminosity and the spin down power. Our Monte-Calro simulation implies that most of the $\gamma$-ray emitting MSPs are radio quiet in the present sensitivity of the radio survey, indicating that most of the $\gamma$-ray MSPs have been unidentified. We argue that the Galactic $Fermi$ unidentified sources located at high latitudes should be dominated by MSPs, whereas the sources in the galactic plane are dominated by radio-quiet canonical pulsars.Comment: 2011 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C11050

Three-dimensional Two-Layer Outer Gap Model: the Third Peak of Vela Pulsar

We extend the two-dimensional two-layer outer gap model to a three-dimensional geometry and use it to study the high-energy emission of the Vela pulsar. We apply this three-dimensional two-layer model to the Vela pulsar and compare the model light curves, the phase-averaged spectrum and the phase-resolved spectra with the recent Fermi observations, which also reveals the existence of the third peak between two main peaks. The phase position of the third peak moves with the photon energy, which cannot be explained by the geometry of magnetic field structure and the caustic effect of the photon propagation. We suggest that the existence of the third peak and its energy dependent movement results from the azimuthal structure of the outer gap.Comment: 2011 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C11050

Radiation Mechanism of the Soft Gamma-ray Pulsar PSR B1509-58

The outer gap model is used here to explain the spectrum and the energy dependent light curves of the X-ray and soft gamma-ray radiations of the spin-down powered pulsar PSR B1509-58.In the outer gap model, most pairs inside the gap are created around the null charge surface and the gap's electric field separates the two charges to move in opposite directions. Consequently, the region from the null charge surface to the light cylinder is dominated by the outflow of particles and that from the null charge surface to the star is dominated by the inflow of particles. The inflow and outflow of particles move along the magnetic field lines and emit curvature photons, and the incoming curvature photons are converted to pairs by the strong magnetic field of the star. These pairs emit synchrotron photons. We suggest that the X-rays and soft gamma-rays of PSR B1509-58 result from the synchrotron radiation of these pairs, and the viewing angle of PSR B1509-58 only receives the inflow radiation. The magnetic pair creation requires a large pitch angle, which makes the pulse profile of the synchrotron radiation distinct from that of the curvature radiation. We carefully trace the pulse profiles of the synchrotron radiation with different pitch angles. We find that the differences between the light curves of different energy bands are due to the different pitch angles of the secondary pairs, and the second peak appearing at E>10MeV comes from the region near the star, where the stronger magnetic field allows the pair creation to happen with a smaller pitch angle.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, 2012 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C12102

The Radio and Gamma-Ray Luminosities of Blazars

Based on the $\gamma$-ray data of blazars in the third EGRET catalog and radio data at 5 GHz, we studied the correlation between the radio and $\gamma$-ray luminosities using two statistical methods. The first method was the partial correlation analysis method, which indicates that there exist correlations between the radio and $\gamma$-ray luminosities in both high and low states as well as in the average case. The second method involved a comparison of expected $\gamma$-ray luminosity distribution with the observed data using the Kolmogorov-- Smirnov (KS) test. In the second method, we assumed that there is a correlation between the radio and $\gamma$-ray luminosities and that the $\gamma$-ray luminosity function is proportional to the radio luminosity function. The KS test indicates that the expected gamma-ray luminosity distributions are consistent with the observed data in a reasonable parameter range. Finally, we used different $\gamma$-ray luminosity functions to estimate the possible 'observed' $\gamma$-ray luminosity distributions by GLAST.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, one table, PASJ, 53 (2001