3,517 research outputs found
Handbook of cryogenic data in graphic form
Handbook of Cryogenic Data is written in graphic form and concentrates extensive data on common materials of construction and properties of fluids frequently encountered in designing cryogenic systems. All data are presented in the British system of units
Study made of pneumatic high pressure piping materials /10,000 psi/
Evaluations of five types of steel for use in high pressure pneumatic piping systems include tests for impact strength, tensile and yield strengths, elongation and reduction in area, field weldability, and cost. One type, AISI 4615, was selected as most advantageous for extensive use in future flight vehicles
Cosmic Variance In the Transparency of the Intergalactic Medium After Reionization
Following the completion of cosmic reionization, the mean-free-path of
ionizing photons was set by a population of Ly-limit absorbers. As the
mean-free-path steadily grew, the intensity of the ionizing background also
grew, thus lowering the residual neutral fraction of hydrogen in ionization
equilibrium throughout the diffuse intergalactic medium (IGM). Ly-alpha photons
provide a sensitive probe for tracing the distribution of this residual
hydrogen at the end of reionization. Here we calculate the cosmic variance
among different lines-of-sight in the distribution of the mean Ly-alpha optical
depths. We find fractional variations in the effective post-reionization
optical depth that are of order unity on a scale of ~100 co-moving Mpc, in
agreement with observations towards high-redshift quasars. Significant
contributions to these variations are provided by the cosmic variance in the
density contrast on the scale of the mean-free-path for ionizing photons, and
by fluctuations in the ionizing background induced by delayed or enhanced
structure formation. Cosmic variance results in a highly asymmetric
distribution of transmission through the IGM, with fractional fluctuations in
Ly-alpha transmission that ar larger than in Ly-beta transmission.Comment: 7 pages 3 figures. Replaced with version accepted for publication in
Ap
Self-Regulated Growth of Supermassive Black Holes in Galaxies as the Origin of the Optical and X-ray Luminosity Functions of Quasars
We postulate that supermassive black-holes grow in the centers of galaxies
until they unbind the galactic gas that feeds them. We show that the
corresponding self-regulation condition yields a correlation between black-hole
mass (Mbh) and galaxy velocity dispersion (sigma) as inferred in the local
universe, and recovers the observed optical and X-ray luminosity functions of
quasars at redshifts up to z~6 based on the hierarchical evolution of galaxy
halos in a Lambda-CDM cosmology. With only one free parameter and a simple
algorithm, our model yields the observed evolution in the number density of
optically bright or X-ray faint quasars between 2<z<6 across 3 orders of
magnitude in bolometric luminosity and 3 orders of magnitude in comoving
density per logarithm of luminosity. The self-regulation condition identifies
the dynamical time of galactic disks during the epoch of peak quasar activity
(z~2.5) as the origin of the inferred characteristic quasar lifetime of ~10
million years. Since the lifetime becomes comparable to the Salpeter e-folding
time at this epoch, the model also implies that the Mbh-sigma relation is a
product of feedback regulated accretion during the peak of quasar activity. The
mass-density in black-holes accreted by that time is consistent with the local
black-hole mass density of ~(0.8-6.3) times 10^5 solar masses per cubic Mpc,
which we have computed by combining the Mbh-sigma relation with the measured
velocity dispersion function of SDSS galaxies (Sheth et al.~2003). Applying a
similar self-regulation principle to supernova-driven winds from starbursts, we
find that the ratio between the black hole mass and the stellar mass of
galactic spheroids increases with redshift as (1+z)^1.5 although the Mbh-sigma
relation is redshift-independent.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Ap
Moving boundary approximation for curved streamer ionization fronts: Solvability analysis
The minimal density model for negative streamer ionization fronts is
investigated. An earlier moving boundary approximation for this model consisted
of a "kinetic undercooling" type boundary condition in a Laplacian growth
problem of Hele-Shaw type. Here we derive a curvature correction to the moving
boundary approximation that resembles surface tension. The calculation is based
on solvability analysis with unconventional features, namely, there are three
relevant zero modes of the adjoint operator, one of them diverging;
furthermore, the inner/outer matching ahead of the front has to be performed on
a line rather than on an extended region; and the whole calculation can be
performed analytically. The analysis reveals a relation between the fields
ahead and behind a slowly evolving curved front, the curvature and the
generated conductivity. This relation forces us to give up the ideal
conductivity approximation, and we suggest to replace it by a constant
conductivity approximation. This implies that the electric potential in the
streamer interior is no longer constant but solves a Laplace equation; this
leads to a Muskat-type problem.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figure
Probing the Mass Fraction of MACHOs in Extragalactic Halos
Current microlensing searches calibrate the mass fraction of the Milky Way
halo which is in the form of Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs). We show
that surveys like the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) can probe the same
quantity in halos of distant galaxies. Microlensing of background quasars by
MACHOs in intervening galaxies would distort the equivalent width distribution
of the quasar emission lines by an amplitude that depends on the projected
quasar-galaxy separation. For a statistical sample of detectable at the >2sigma
level out to a quasar-galaxy impact parameter of several tens of kpc, as long
as extragalactic halos are made of MACHOs. Detection of this signal would test
whether the MACHO fraction inferred for the Milky-Way halo is typical of other
galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJ Letter
Formation of the First Supermassive Black Holes
We consider the physical conditions under which supermassive black holes
could have formed inside the first galaxies. Our SPH simulations indicate that
metal-free galaxies with a virial temperature ~10^4 K and with suppressed H2
formation (due to an intergalactic UV background) tend to form a binary black
hole system which contains a substantial fraction (>10%) of the total baryonic
mass of the host galaxy. Fragmentation into stars is suppressed without
substantial H2 cooling. Our simulations follow the condensation of ~5x10^6
M_sun around the two centers of the binary down to a scale of < 0.1pc. Low-spin
galaxies form a single black hole instead. These early black holes lead to
quasar activity before the epoch of reionization. Primordial black hole
binaries lead to the emission of gravitational radiation at redshifts z>10 that
would be detectable by LISA.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, revised version, ApJ in press (October 10, 2003
X-Ray Absorption by the Hot Intergalactic Medium
The current census of observed baryons in the local Universe is still missing
a significant fraction of them according to standard Big-Bang nucleosynthesis.
Numerical simulations predict that most of the missing baryons are in a hot
intergalactic medium, which is difficult to observe through its X-ray emission
or Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect. We show that the next generation of X-ray
satellites will be able to detect this gas through the X-ray absorption lines
imprinted by its highly-ionized metals on the spectrum of a background quasar.
For the metallicity typically found in intracluster gas, up to 70% of the
baryons produce O VIII absorption lines with an equivalent width >0.1eV. The
spectrum of any high redshift quasar is expected to show several such lines per
unit redshift due to intervening gaseous halos of galaxy groups. These lines
will be detectable at a signal-to-noise ratio >5 after a day of integration
with the future Constellation-X telescope for any of the several hundred
brightest quasars across the sky.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, submitted to ApJ
Expected Number and Flux Distribution of Gamma-Ray-Burst Afterglows with High Redshifts
If Gamma-Ray-Bursts (GRBs) occur at high redshifts, then their bright
afterglow emission can be used to probe the ionization and metal enrichment
histories of the intervening intergalactic medium during the epoch of
reionization. In contrast to other sources, such as galaxies or quasars, which
fade rapidly with increasing redshift, the observed infrared flux from a GRB
afterglow at a fixed observed age is only a weak function of its redshift. This
results from a combination of the spectral slope of GRB afterglows and the
time-stretching of their evolution in the observer's frame. Assuming that the
GRB rate is proportional to the star formation rate and that the characteristic
energy output of GRBs is ~10^{52} ergs, we predict that there are always ~15
GRBs from redshifts z>5 across the sky which are brighter than ~100 nJy at an
observed wavelength of ~2 \mu m. The infrared spectrum of these sources could
be taken with the future Next Generation Space Telescope, as a follow-up on
their early X-ray localization with the Swift satellite.Comment: 29 pages, 14 figures; submitted to Ap
Large scale distribution of total mass versus luminous matter from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations: First search in the SDSS-III BOSS Data Release 10
Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) in the early Universe are predicted to
leave an as yet undetected signature on the relative clustering of total mass
versus luminous matter. A detection of this effect would provide an important
confirmation of the standard cosmological paradigm and constrain alternatives
to dark matter as well as non-standard fluctuations such as Compensated
Isocurvature Perturbations (CIPs). We conduct the first observational search
for this effect, by comparing the number-weighted and luminosity-weighted
correlation functions, using the SDSS-III BOSS Data Release 10 CMASS sample.
When including CIPs in our model, we formally obtain evidence at of
the relative clustering signature and a limit that matches the existing upper
limits on the amplitude of CIPs. However, various tests suggest that these
results are not yet robust, perhaps due to systematic biases in the data. The
method developed in this Letter, used with more accurate future data such as
that from DESI, is likely to confirm or disprove our preliminary evidence.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in PR
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