452 research outputs found
Sources and budgets for CO and O-3 in the northeastern Pacific during the spring of 2001: Results from the PHOBEA-II Experiment
Abstract. Ground and airborne measurements of CO, ozone, and aerosols were obtained in th
Partial suppression of the radial orbit instability in stellar systems
It is well known that the simple criterion proposed originally by Polyachenko
and Shukhman (1981) for the onset of the radial orbit instability, although
being generally a useful tool, faces significant exceptions both on the side of
mildly anisotropic systems (with some that can be proved to be unstable) and on
the side of strongly anisotropic models (with some that can be shown to be
stable). In this paper we address two issues: Are there processes of
collisionless collapse that can lead to equilibria of the exceptional type?
What is the intrinsic structural property that is responsible for the sometimes
noted exceptional stability behavior? To clarify these issues, we have
performed a series of simulations of collisionless collapse that start from
homogeneous, highly symmetrized, cold initial conditions and, because of such
special conditions, are characterized by very little mixing. For these runs,
the end-states can be associated with large values of the global pressure
anisotropy parameter up to 2K_r/K_T \approx 2.75. The highly anisotropic
equilibrium states thus constructed show no significant traces of radial
anisotropy in their central region, with a very sharp transition to a radially
anisotropic envelope occurring well inside the half-mass radius (around 0.2
r_M). To check whether the existence of such almost perfectly isotropic
"nucleus" might be responsible for the apparent suppression of the radial orbit
instability, we could not resort to equilibrium models with the above
characteristics and with analytically available distribution function; instead,
we studied and confirmed the stability of configurations with those
characteristics by initializing N-body approximate equilibria (with given
density and pressure anisotropy profiles) with the help of the Jeans equations.Comment: 26 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical
Journa
Physics-Based Modeling of Meteor Entry and Breakup
A new research effort at NASA Ames Research Center has been initiated in Planetary Defense, which integrates the disciplines of planetary science, atmospheric entry physics, and physics-based risk assessment. This paper describes work within the new program and is focused on meteor entry and breakup.Over the last six decades significant effort was expended in the US and in Europe to understand meteor entry including ablation, fragmentation and airburst (if any) for various types of meteors ranging from stony to iron spectral types. These efforts have produced primarily empirical mathematical models based on observations. Weaknesses of these models, apart from their empiricism, are reliance on idealized shapes (spheres, cylinders, etc.) and simplified models for thermal response of meteoritic materials to aerodynamic and radiative heating. Furthermore, the fragmentation and energy release of meteors (airburst) is poorly understood.On the other hand, flight of human-made atmospheric entry capsules is well understood. The capsules and their requisite heatshields are designed and margined to survive entry. However, the highest speed Earth entry for capsules is 13 kms (Stardust). Furthermore, Earth entry capsules have never exceeded diameters of 5 m, nor have their peak aerothermal environments exceeded 0.3 atm and 1 kW/sq cm. The aims of the current work are: (i) to define the aerothermal environments for objects with entry velocities from 13 to 20 kms; (ii) to explore various hypotheses of fragmentation and airburst of stony meteors in the near term; (iii) to explore the possibility of performing relevant ground-based tests to verify candidate hypotheses; and (iv) to quantify the energy released in airbursts. The results of the new simulations will be used to anchor said risk assessment analyses. With these aims in mind, state-of-the-art entry capsule design tools are being extended for meteor entries. We describe: (i) applications of current simulation tools to spherical geometries of diameters ranging from 1 to 100 m for an entry velocity of 20 kms and stagnation pressures ranging from 1 to 100 atm; (ii) the influence of shape and departure of heating environment predictions from those for a simple spherical geometry; (iii) assessment of thermal response models for silica subject to intense radiation; and (iv) results for porosity-driven gross fragmentation of meteors, idealized as a collection of smaller objects. Lessons learned from these simulations will be used to help understand the Chelyabinsk meteor entry up to its first point of fragmentation
First Observation of barB0 to D*0 pi+pi+pi-pi- Decays
We report on the observation of B0bar -> D*0 pi+ pi+ pi- pi- decays. The
branching ratio is (0.30 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.06)%. Interest in this particular mode
was sparked by Ligeti, Luke and Wise who propose it as a way to check the
validity of factorization tests in B0bar -> D*+ pi+ pi- pi- pi0 decays.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, Version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Rate Measurement of and Constraints on Mixing
We present an observation and rate measurement of the decay D0 -> K+pi-pi0
produced in 9/fb of e+e- collisions near the Upsilon(4S) resonance. The signal
is inconsistent with an upward fluctuation of the background by 4.9 standard
deviations. We measured the rate of D0 -> K+pi-pi0 normalized to the rate of
D0bar -> K+pi-pi0 to be 0.0043 +0.0011 -0.0010 (stat) +/- 0.0007 (syst). This
decay can be produced by doubly-Cabibbo-suppressed decays or by the D0 evolving
into a D0bar through mixing, followed by a Cabibbo-favored decay to K+pi-pi0.
We also found the CP asymmetry A=(8 +25 -22)% to be consistent with zero.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Hadronic Mass Moments in Inclusive Semileptonic B Meson Decays
We have measured the first and second moments of the hadronic mass-squared
distribution in B -> X_c l nu, for P(lepton) > 1.5 GeV/c. We find <M_X^2 -
M_D[Bar]^2> = 0.251 +- 0.066 GeV^2, )^2 > = 0.576 +- 0.170
GeV^4, where M_D[Bar] is the spin-averaged D meson mass.
From that first moment and the first moment of the photon energy spectrum in
b -> s gamma, we find the HQET parameter lambda_1 (MS[Bar], to order 1/M^3 and
beta_0 alpha_s^2) to be -0.24 +- 0.11 GeV^2. Using these first moments and the
B semileptonic width, and assuming parton-hadron duality, we obtain |V_cb| =
0.0404 +- 0.0013.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLNS, submitted to PR
A Search for Charmless Decays
We have studied two-body charmless decays of the meson into the final
states , , , , , , and
using only decay modes with charged daughter particles. Using 9.7 million pairs collected with the CLEO detector, we place 90% confidence level
upper limits on the branching fractions, , depending
on final state and polarization.Comment: 8 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Search for a Scalar Bottom Quark with Mass 3.5-4.5 GeV/
We report on a search for a supersymmetric meson with mass
between 3.5 and 4.5 GeV/ using 4.52 of integrated
luminosity produced at GeV, just below the threshold, and collected with the CLEO detector. We find no evidence
for a light scalar bottom quark.Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Observation of New States Decaying into
Using 13.7 fb^{-1} of data recorded by the CLEO detector at CESR, we
investigate the spectrum of charmed baryons which decay into Lambda_c^+ pi^-
pi^+ and are more massive than the Lambda_{c1} baryons. We find evidence for
two new states: one is broad and has an invariant mass roughly 480 MeV above
that of the Lambda_c^+; the other is narrow with an invariant mass of 596 +- 1
+- 2 MeV above the Lambda_c^+ mass. These results are preliminary.Comment: 11 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
Evidence of New States Decaying into
Using 13.7 of data recorded by the CLEO detector at CESR, we report
evidence for two new charmed baryons: one decaying into
with the subsequent decay , and its
isospin partner decaying into followed by
. We measure the following mass differences
for the two states: =318.2+-1.3+-2.9 MeV,
and =324.0+-1.3+-3.0 MeV. We interpret
these new states as the particles, the charmed-strange
analogs of the .Comment: 10 pages postscript, also available through
http://w4.lns.cornell.edu/public/CLN
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