30,159 research outputs found
Accretion Disc Evolution in Single and Binary T Tauri Stars
We present theoretical models for the evolution of T Tauri stars surrounded
by circumstellar discs. The models include the effects of pre-main-sequence
stellar and time dependent disc evolution, and incorporate the effects of
stellar magnetic fields acting on the inner disc. For single stars, consistency
with observations in Taurus-Auriga demands that disc dispersal occurs rapidly,
on much less than the viscous timescale of the disc, at roughly the epoch when
heating by stellar radiation first dominates over internal viscous dissipation.
Applying the models to close binaries, we find that because the initial
conditions for discs in binaries are uncertain, studies of extreme mass ratio
systems are required to provide a stringent test of theoretical disc evolution
models. We also note that no correlation of the infra-red colours of T Tauri
stars with their rotation rate is observed, in apparent contradiction to the
predictions of simple magnetospheric accretion models.Comment: 11 pages, MNRAS in pres
Enroute flight planning: Evaluating design concepts for the development of cooperative problem-solving concepts
The goals of this research were to develop design concepts to support the task of enroute flight planning. And within this context, to explore and evaluate general design concepts and principles to guide the development of cooperative problem solving systems. A detailed model is to be developed of the cognitive processes involved in flight planning. Included in this model will be the identification of individual differences of subjects. Of particular interest will be differences between pilots and dispatchers. The effect will be studied of the effect on performance of tools that support planning at different levels of abstraction. In order to conduct this research, the Flight Planning Testbed (FPT) was developed, a fully functional testbed environment for studying advanced design concepts for tools to aid in flight planning
Near-ionization-threshold emission in atomic gases driven by intense sub-cycle pulses
We study theoretically the dipole radiation of a hydrogen atom driven by an
intense sub-cycle pulse. The time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for the
system is solved by ab initio calculation to obtain the dipole response.
Remarkably, a narrowband emission lasting longer than the driving pulse appears
at a frequency just above the ionization threshold. An additional calculation
using the strong field approximation also recovers this emission, which
suggests that it corresponds to the oscillation of nearly-bound electrons that
behave similarly to Rydberg electrons. The predicted phenomenon is unique to
ultrashort driving pulses but not specific to any particular atomic structure.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Statistical framework for estimating GNSS bias
We present a statistical framework for estimating global navigation satellite
system (GNSS) non-ionospheric differential time delay bias. The biases are
estimated by examining differences of measured line integrated electron
densities (TEC) that are scaled to equivalent vertical integrated densities.
The spatio-temporal variability, instrumentation dependent errors, and errors
due to inaccurate ionospheric altitude profile assumptions are modeled as
structure functions. These structure functions determine how the TEC
differences are weighted in the linear least-squares minimization procedure,
which is used to produce the bias estimates. A method for automatic detection
and removal of outlier measurements that do not fit into a model of receiver
bias is also described. The same statistical framework can be used for a single
receiver station, but it also scales to a large global network of receivers. In
addition to the Global Positioning System (GPS), the method is also applicable
to other dual frequency GNSS systems, such as GLONASS (Globalnaya
Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema). The use of the framework is demonstrated
in practice through several examples. A specific implementation of the methods
presented here are used to compute GPS receiver biases for measurements in the
MIT Haystack Madrigal distributed database system. Results of the new algorithm
are compared with the current MIT Haystack Observatory MAPGPS bias
determination algorithm. The new method is found to produce estimates of
receiver bias that have reduced day-to-day variability and more consistent
coincident vertical TEC values.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, submitted to AM
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