Developmental testing of a programmable multizone furnace

A multizone furnace was evaluated for its potential utilization for process experimentation on board the Space Shuttle. A temperature gradient can be created through the use of a series of connected temperature zones and can be translated by the coordinated sequencing of zone temperatures. The Bridgman-Stockbarger thermal configuration for directional solidification was implemented so that neither the sample nor furnace was translated. The thermal behavior of the furnace was measured and characterized. Limitations due to both thermal and electronic (computer) factors are identified. The results indicate that the multizone design is limited to low temperature gradients because of the indirect furnace-to-sample thermal coupling needed to blend the discrete thermal zones. The multizone furnace design inherently consumes more power than a similar (two temperature) conventional Bridgman type directional solidification furnace because every zone must be capable of the high cooling rates needed to produce the maximum desired temperature drop. Typical achievable static temperature gradients for the furnace tested were between 6 and 75 C/in. The maximum gradient velocity was approximately 10 in./hr. Several aspects of the tested system could be improved, but the dependence of the multizone design on high heat loss will limit Space Shuttle applications in the form tested unless additional power is available. The multizone furnace offers great flexibility but requires a high level of operator understanding for full advantage to be obtained

Thermomagnetic analysis of meteorites. 3: C3 and C4 chondrites

Thermomagnetic analysis on all of the C3 and C4 chondrites, conducted under conditions of controlled oxygen fugacity, indicates the presence of a thermally unstable component in at least 5 of the C3 chondrites which upon heating results in magnetite production. This unstable component is most likely troilite (FeS). The presence of the unstable substance may affect the estimation of paleointensities in meteorites which contain it. Our results indicate that Grosnaja, Ornans, Kainsaz, Felix, and Warrenton are likely to be less complicated for paleointensity determinations than the other C3 chondrites. Both C4 chondrites should lead to reliable results

Thermomagnetic analysis of meterorites. 4: Ureilites

Samples of all available ureilites have been analyzed thermomagnetically. For three of the six (Dyalpur, Goalpara and Havero) evidence was found for only low-nickel metallic-iron as the magnetic component and the (saturation magnetization vs, temperature) curves were reversible. In the Novo Urei ureilite, magnetite in addition to low-nickel metallic-iron was indicated and again the Js-T curve was reversible. For the two badly weathered ureilites, Dingo Pup Donga and North Haig, indication was also found that both initial magnetite and low-nickel metallic-iron were present. However, the Js-T curves were somewhat irreversible and the final saturation magnetization was 20% and 50% greater than initially for North Haig and Dingo Pup Donga, respectively. This behavior is interpreted to be the result of magnetite production from a secondary iron oxide during the experiment

Thermomagnetic analysis of meteorites, 2: C2 chondrites

Samples of all eighteen of the known C2 chondrites were analyzed thermomagnetically. For eleven of these, initial Fe3O4 content is low(generally 1%) and the J sub s-T curves are irreversible. The heating curves show variable and erratic behavior, whereas the cooling curves appear to be that of Fe3O4. The saturation moment after cooling is greater (up to 10 times larger) than it is initially. This behavior is interpreted to be the result of the production of magnetite from a thermally unstable phase--apparently FeS. Four of the remaining 7 C2 chondrites contain Fe3O4 as the only significant magnetic phase: initial magnetite contents range from 4 to 13 percent. The remaining three C2 chondrites contain iron or nickel-iron in addition to Fe3O4. These seven C2 chondrites show little evidence of the breakdown of a thermally unstable phase

Flows, Fragmentation, and Star Formation. I. Low-mass Stars in Taurus

The remarkably filamentary spatial distribution of young stars in the Taurus molecular cloud has significant implications for understanding low-mass star formation in relatively quiescent conditions. The large scale and regular spacing of the filaments suggests that small-scale turbulence is of limited importance, which could be consistent with driving on large scales by flows which produced the cloud. The small spatial dispersion of stars from gaseous filaments indicates that the low-mass stars are generally born with small velocity dispersions relative to their natal gas, of order the sound speed or less. The spatial distribution of the stars exhibits a mean separation of about 0.25 pc, comparable to the estimated Jeans length in the densest gaseous filaments, and is consistent with roughly uniform density along the filaments. The efficiency of star formation in filaments is much higher than elsewhere, with an associated higher frequency of protostars and accreting T Tauri stars. The protostellar cores generally are aligned with the filaments, suggesting that they are produced by gravitational fragmentation, resulting in initially quasi-prolate cores. Given the absence of massive stars which could strongly dominate cloud dynamics, Taurus provides important tests of theories of dispersed low-mass star formation and numerical simulations of molecular cloud structure and evolution.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures: to appear in Ap

Optimization study of high power static inverters and converters Final report

Optimization study and basic performance characteristics for conceptual designs for high power static inverter

Dark cloud cores and gravitational decoupling from turbulent flows

We test the hypothesis that the starless cores may be gravitationally bound clouds supported largely by thermal pressure by comparing observed molecular line spectra to theoretical spectra produced by a simulation that includes hydrodynamics, radiative cooling, variable molecular abundance, and radiative transfer in a simple one-dimensional model. The results suggest that the starless cores can be divided into two categories: stable starless cores that are in approximate equilibrium and will not evolve to form protostars, and unstable pre-stellar cores that are proceeding toward gravitational collapse and the formation of protostars. The starless cores might be formed from the interstellar medium as objects at the lower end of the inertial cascade of interstellar turbulence. Additionally, we identify a thermal instability in the starless cores. Under par ticular conditions of density and mass, a core may be unstable to expansion if the density is just above the critical density for the collisional coupling of the gas and dust so that as the core expands the gas-dust coupling that cools the gas is reduced and the gas warms, further driving the expansion.Comment: Submitted to Ap

Space shuttle search and rescue experiment using synthetic aperture radar

The feasibility of a synthetic aperture radar for search and rescue applications was demonstrated with aircraft experiments. One experiment was conducted using the ERIM four-channel radar and several test sites in the Michigan area. In this test simple corner-reflector targets were successfully imaged. Results from this investigation were positive and indicate that the concept can be used to investigate new approaches focused on the development of a global search and rescue system. An orbital experiment to demonstrate the application of synthetic aperture radar to search and rescue is proposed using the space shuttle

Self-Similar Graphs

For any graph $G$ on $n$ vertices and for any {\em symmetric} subgraph $J$ of $K_{n,n}$, we construct an infinite sequence of graphs based on the pair $(G,J)$. The First graph in the sequence is $G$, then at each stage replacing every vertex of the previous graph by a copy of $G$ and every edge of the previous graph by a copy of $J$ the new graph is constructed. We call these graphs {\em self-similar} graphs. We are interested in delineating those pairs $(G,J)$ for which the chromatic numbers of the graphs in the sequence are bounded. Here we have some partial results. When $G$ is a complete graph and $J$ is a special matching we show that every graph in the resulting sequence is an {\em expander} graph.Comment: 13 pages, 1 tabl