20,044 research outputs found
Attitude stability of a spinning passive orbiting satellite
Attitude stability of spinning passive orbiting satellit
The Distribution of Metallicity in the IGM at z~2.5: OVI and CIV Absorption in the Spectra of 7 QSOs
We present a direct measurement of the metallicity distribution function for
the high redshift intergalactic medium. We determine the shape of this function
using survival statistics, which account for both detections and non-detections
of OVI and CIV associated with HI absorption in quasar spectra. Our OVI sample
probes the metal content of ~50% of all baryons at z~2.5. We find a median
intergalactic abundance of [O,C/H]=-2.82; the differential abundance
distribution is approximately lognormal with mean ~-2.85 and
\sigma=0.75 dex. Some 60-70% the Lya forest lines are enriched to observable
levels ([O,C/H]>-3.5) while the remaining ~30% of the lines have even lower
abundances. Thus we have not detected a universal metallicity floor as has been
suggested for some Population III enrichment scenaria. In fact, we argue that
the bulk of the intergalactic metals formed later than the first stars that are
thought to have triggered reionization. We do not observe a significant trend
of decreasing metallicity toward the lower density IGM, at least within regions
that would be characterized as filaments in numerical simulations. However, an
[O/H] enhancement may be present at somewhat high densities. We estimate that
roughly half of all baryons at these redshifts have been enriched to
[O/H]>=-3.5. We develop a simple model for the metallicity evolution of the
IGM, to estimate the chemical yield of galaxies formed prior to z~2.5. We find
that the typical galaxy recycled 0.1-0.4% of its mass back into the IGM as
heavy elements in the first 3 Gyr after the Big Bang.Comment: 23 pages in emulateapj, 19 figures. Accepted to ApJ, pending review
of new changes. Revised comparison between our results and Schaye et al
(2003
Scaling Analysis and Evolution Equation of the North Atlantic Oscillation Index Fluctuations
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) monthly index is studied from 1825 till
2002 in order to identify the scaling ranges of its fluctuations upon different
delay times and to find out whether or not it can be regarded as a Markov
process. A Hurst rescaled range analysis and a detrended fluctuation analysis
both indicate the existence of weakly persistent long range time correlations
for the whole scaling range and time span hereby studied. Such correlations are
similar to Brownian fluctuations. The Fokker-Planck equation is derived and
Kramers-Moyal coefficients estimated from the data. They are interpreted in
terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficient as in fluid mechanics. All partial
distribution functions of the NAO monthly index fluctuations have a form close
to a Gaussian, for all time lags, in agreement with the findings of the scaling
analyses. This indicates the lack of predictive power of the present NAO
monthly index. Yet there are some deviations for large (and thus rare) events.
Whence suggestions for other measurements are made if some improved
predictability of the weather/climate in the North Atlantic is of interest. The
subsequent Langevin equation of the NAO signal fluctuations is explicitly
written in terms of the diffusion and drift parameters, and a characteristic
time scale for these is given in appendix.Comment: 6 figures, 54 refs., 16 pages; submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys. C:
Comput. Phy
Observation of Single Transits in Supercooled Monatomic Liquids
A transit is the motion of a system from one many-particle potential energy
valley to another. We report the observation of transits in molecular dynamics
(MD) calculations of supercooled liquid argon and sodium. Each transit is a
correlated simultaneous shift in the equilibrium positions of a small local
group of particles, as revealed in the fluctuating graphs of the particle
coordinates versus time. This is the first reported direct observation of
transit motion in a monatomic liquid in thermal equilibrium. We found transits
involving 2 to 11 particles, having mean shift in equilibrium position on the
order of 0.4 R_1 in argon and 0.25 R_1 in sodium, where R_1 is the nearest
neighbor distance. The time it takes for a transit to occur is approximately
one mean vibrational period, confirming that transits are fast.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figure
Adiabatic and Non-Adiabatic Contributions to the Free Energy from the Electron-Phonon Interaction for Na, K, Al, and Pb
We calculate the adiabatic contributions to the free energy due to the
electron--phonon interaction at intermediate temperatures, for the elemental metals Na, K, Al, and Pb. Using our
previously published results for the nonadiabatic contributions we show that
the adiabatic contribution, which is proportional to at low
temperatures and goes as at high temperatures, dominates the
nonadiabatic contribution for temperatures above a cross--over temperature,
, which is between 0.5 and 0.8 , where is the melting
temperature of the metal. The nonadiabatic contribution falls as for
temperatures roughly above the average phonon frequency.Comment: Updated versio
A first direct measurement of the intergalactic medium temperature around a quasar at z=6
The thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) provides an indirect
probe of both the HI and HeII reionisation epochs. Current constraints on the
IGM temperature from the Lya forest are restricted to the redshift range
2<z<4.5, limiting the ability to probe the thermal memory of HI reionisation
toward higher redshift. In this work, we present the first direct measurement
of the IGM temperature around a z=6 quasar by analysing the Doppler widths of
Lya absorption lines in the proximity zone of SDSS J0818+1722. We use a high
resolution (R= 40000) Keck/HIRES spectrum in combination with detailed
numerical modelling to obtain the temperature at mean density,
T_0=23600\pm^5000_6900K (\pm^9200_9300K) at 68 (95) per cent confidence
assuming a prior probability 13500K<T_0<38500 K following HI and HeII
reionisation. This enables us to place an upper limit on the redshift of HI
reionisation, z_H, within 33 comoving Mpc of SDSS J0818+1722. If the quasar
reionises the HeII in its vicinity, then in the limit of instantaneous
reionisation we infer z_H<9.0 (11.0) at 68 (95) per cent confidence assuming
photoheating is the dominant heat source and that HI reionisation is driven by
ionising sources with soft spectra, typical of population II stars. If the HI
and HeII in the IGM around SDSS J0818+1722 are instead reionised simultaneously
by a population of massive metal-free stars, characterised by very hard
ionising spectra, we obtain a tighter upper limit of z_H<8.4 (9.4). Initiating
reionisation at higher redshifts produces temperatures which are too low with
respect to our constraint unless the HI ionising sources or the quasar itself
have spectra significantly harder than typically assumed.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted to MNRA
Association of fried food consumption with all cause, cardiovascular, and cancer mortality: Prospective cohort study
Low-energy interaction of composite spin-half systems with scalar and vector fields
We consider a composite spin-half particle moving in spatially-varying scalar
and vector fields. The vector field is assumed to couple to a conserved charge,
but no assumption is made about either the structure of the composite or its
coupling to the scalar field. A general form for the piece of the spin-orbit
interaction of the composite with the scalar and vector fields which is
first-order in momentum transfer and second-order in the fields is
derived.Comment: 10 pages, RevTe
Millimeter wave satellite concepts, volume 1
The identification of technologies necessary for development of millimeter spectrum communication satellites was examined from a system point of view. Development of methodology based on the technical requirements of potential services that might be assigned to millimeter wave bands for identifying the viable and appropriate technologies for future NASA millimeter research and development programs, and testing of this methodology with selected user applications and services were the goals of the program. The entire communications network, both ground and space subsystems was studied. Cost, weight, and performance models for the subsystems, conceptual design for point-to-point and broadcast communications satellites, and analytic relationships between subsystem parameters and an overall link performance are discussed along with baseline conceptual systems, sensitivity studies, model adjustment analyses, identification of critical technologies and their risks, and brief research and development program scenarios for the technologies judged to be moderate or extensive risks. Identification of technologies for millimeter satellite communication systems, and assessment of the relative risks of these technologies, was accomplished through subsystem modeling and link optimization for both point-to-point and broadcast applications
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