Jupiter's radiation belts: Can Pioneer 10 survive?

Model calculations of Jupiter's electron and proton radiation belts indicate that the Galilean satellites can reduce particle fluxes in certain regions of the inner magnetosphere by as much as six orders of magnitude. Average fluxes should be reduced by a factor of 100 or more along the Pioneer 10 trajectory through the heart of Jupiter's radiation belts in early December. This may be enough to prevent serious radiation damage to the spacecraft

Absorption of trapped particles by Jupiter's moons

Absorption effects of the four innermost moons in the radial transport equations for electrons and protons in Jupiter's magnetosphere are presented. The phase space density n at 2 R sub J for electrons with equatorial pitch angles less than 69 deg is reduced by a factor of 4.2 x 1000 when lunar absorption is included in the calculation. For protons with equatorial pitch angles less than 69 deg, the corresponding reduction factor is 3.2 x 100000. The effect of the satellites becomes progressively weaker for both electrons and protons as equatorial pitch angles of pi/2 are approached, because the likelihood of impacting a satellite becomes progressively smaller. The large density decreases which we find at the orbits of Io, Europa, and Ganymede result in corresponding particle flux decreases that should be observed by spacecraft making particle measurements in Jupiter's magnetosphere. The characteristic signature of satellite absorption should be a downward pointing cusp in the flux versus radius curve at the L-value corresponding to each satellite

Astronomical Data Center Bulletin, volume 1, number 3

A catalog of galactic O-type stars, a machine-readable version of the bright star catalog, a two-micron sky survey, sky survey sources with problematical Durchmusterung identifications, data retrieval for visual binary stars, faint blue objects, the sixth catalog of galactic Wolf-Rayet stars, declination versus magnitude distribution, the SAO-HD-GC-DM cross index catalog, star cross-identification tables, astronomical sources, bibliographical star index search updates, DO-HD and HD-DO cross indices, and catalogs, are reviewed

Astronomical Data Center Bulletin, volume 1, no. 1

Information about work in progress on astronomical catalogs is presented. In addition to progress reports, an upadated status list for astronomical catalogs available at the Astronomical Data Center is included. Papers from observatories and individuals involved with astronomical data are also presented

Merged infrared catalogue

A compilation of equatorial coordinates, spectral types, magnitudes, and fluxes from five catalogues of infrared observations is presented. This first edition of the Merged Infrared Catalogue contains 11,201 oservations from the Two-Micron Sky Survey, Observations of Infrared Radiation from Cool Stars, the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory four Color Infrared Sky Survey and its Supplemental Catalog, and from Catalog of 10 micron Celestial Objects (HALL). This compilation is a by-product of a computerized infrared data base under development at Goddard Space Flight Center; the objective is to maintain a complete and current record of all infrared observations from 1 micron m to 1000 micron m of nonsolar system objects. These observations are being placed into a standardized system

Adult Kittiwake expelling chick from nesting ledge

On 17th June 2021, we witnessed an adult Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla expel a chick from its nesting ledge. The chick fell to its death. We made the observation during our annual monitoring of this species on Lundy. A scan of the colony at 12.13 hrs detected unusual movement in a two-chick nest. One chick, which we designated as the beta chick given its smaller size, was unusually positioned outside the nest away from the alpha chick and the adult, which both remained in the nest. We estimate that the beta chick was about 1–2 days old. The site was such that the floor of the ledge extended well behind the nest to a slightly overhanging back wall, and the chick was scrabbling against this back wall. At 12.25 hrs, in a rapid sequence of movements lasting only seconds, the beta chick turned and moved back in the direction of the nest. As it approached, it came between the adult and a side wall and was then grasped in the adult’s beak and expelled in an upward arc, falling into the sea below. No interactions between the alpha and beta were observed

Born-Oppenheimer Approximation near Level Crossing

We consider the Born-Oppenheimer problem near conical intersection in two dimensions. For energies close to the crossing energy we describe the wave function near an isotropic crossing and show that it is related to generalized hypergeometric functions 0F3. This function is to a conical intersection what the Airy function is to a classical turning point. As an application we calculate the anomalous Zeeman shift of vibrational levels near a crossing.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, Lette

Black hole and the adiabatic phase

An open system consisting of a scalar field bound to a Kerr black hole whose mass ($M$) and specific angular momentum ($a$) are slowly (adiabatically) perturbed is considered. The adiabatically induced phase and the conditions for the validity of the adiabatic approximation are obtained. The effect of closed cycles in parameter space ($a$, $M$ plane) on the energy levels of both stable and unstable scalar field bound states, together with other quantities of interest, is illustrated. Lastly it is noted that the black hole wavefunction will acquire an equal and opposite phase to that of matter thus leading to a change of its effective action (entropy).Comment: Plain TeX, 12 page

The Born Oppenheimer wave function near level crossing

The standard Born Oppenheimer theory does not give an accurate description of the wave function near points of level crossing. We give such a description near an isotropic conic crossing, for energies close to the crossing energy. This leads to the study of two coupled second order ordinary differential equations whose solution is described in terms of the generalized hypergeometric functions of the kind 0F3(;a,b,c;z). We find that, at low angular momenta, the mixing due to crossing is surprisingly large, scaling like \mu^(1/6), where \mu is the electron to nuclear mass ratio.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

Schottky-based band lineups for refractory semiconductors

An overview is presented of band alignments for small-lattice parameter, refractory semiconductors. The band alignments are estimated empirically through the use of available Schottky barrier height data, and are compared to theoretically predicted values. Results for tetrahedrally bonded semiconductors with lattice constant values in the range from C through ZnSe are presented. Based on the estimated band alignments and the recently demonstrated p-type dopability of GaN, we propose three novel heterojunction schemes which seek to address inherent difficulties in doping or electrical contact to wide-gap semiconductors such as ZnO, ZnSe, and ZnS