6,282 research outputs found
Low frequency VLBI in space using GAS-Can satellites: Report on the May 1987 JPL Workshop
Summarized are the results of a workshop held at JPL on May 28 and 29, 1987, to study the feasibility of using small, very inexpensive spacecraft for a low-frequency radio interferometer array. Many technical aspects of a mission to produce high angular resolution images of the entire sky at frequencies from 2 to 20 MHz were discussed. The workshop conclusion was that such a mission was scientifically valuable and technically practical. A useful array could be based on six or more satellites no larger than those launched from Get-Away-Special canisters. The cost of each satellite could be $1-2M, and the mass less than 90 kg. Many details require further study, but as this report shows, there is good reason to proceed. No fundamental problems have been discovered involving the use of untraditional, very inexpensive spacecraft for this type of mission
The Venus Balloon Project
On June 11 and 15, 1985, two instrumental balloons were released from the Soviet VEGA 1 and VEGA 2 spacecraft and deployed in the atmosphere of Venus. The VEGA probes flew by the planet on their way to a rendezvous with comet Halley in March 1986. Drifting with the wind at altitudes of 54 km, the balloons traveled one-third of the way around the planet during their 46-hour lifetimes. Sensors on-board the gondolas made periodic measurements of pressure, temperature, vertical wind velocity, cloud particle density, ambient light level, and frequency of lightning. The data were transmitted to Earth and received at the Deep Space Network (DSN) 64-m stations and at several large antennas in the USSR. Approximately 95 percent of the telemetry data were successfully decoded at the DSN complexes and in the Soviet Union, and were provided to the international science team for analysis. Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) data were acquired by 20 radio observatories around the world for the purpose of monitoring the Venus winds. The DSN 64-m subnet was part of a 15-station VLBI network organized by the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) of France. In addition, five antennas of the Soviet network participated. VLBI data from the CNES network are currently being processed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Electronic Structure of the Rare-Earth Nitrides
The rare-earth nitrides (ReNs) are a class of novel materials with potential for use in spintronics applications. Theoretical studies indicate that among the ReNs there could be half-metals, semimetals and semiconductors, all exhibiting
strong magnetic ordering. This is because of the complex interaction between the partially filled rare-earth 4f orbital and the nitrogen 2p valence
and rare-earth 5d conduction bands. This thesis uses experimental and theoretical techniques to probe the ReN electronic structure. Thin films of SmN, EuN, GdN, DyN, LuN and HfN have been produced for study. Basic characterization shows that the films are of a high quality. The result of electrical transport, magnetometry, and optical and x-ray spectroscopy are interpreted to provide information on the electronic structure. SmN, GdN, DyN are found to be semiconductors in their
ferromagnetic ground state while HfN is a metal. Results are compared with density functional theory (DFT) based calculations. The free parameters
resulting from use of the local spin density approximation with Hubbard-U corrections as the exchange-correlation functional are adjusted to reach good agreement with x-ray absorption and emission spectroscopy at the nitrogen K-edge. Resonant x-ray emission is used to experimentally measure valence band dispersion of GdN. No evidence of the rare-earth 4f levels is found in
any of the K-edge spectroscopy, which is consistent with the result of M-edge x-ray absorption which show that the 4f wave function of the rare-earths in
the ReNs are very similar to those of rare-earth metal. An auxillary resonant x-ray emission study of ZnO is used to map the dispersion of the electronic band structure across a wide range of the Brillouin
zone. The data, and calculations based on GW corrections to DFT, together provide a detailed picture of the bulk electronic band structure
Ferromagnetic redshift of the optical gap in GdN
We report measurements of the optical gap in a GdN film at temperatures from
300 to 6K, covering both the paramagnetic and ferromagnetic phases. The gap is
1.31eV in the paramagnetic phase and red-shifts to 0.9eV in the spin-split
bands below the Curie temperature. The paramagnetic gap is larger than was
suggested by very early experiments, and has permitted us to refine a
(LSDA+U)-computed band structure. The band structure was computed in the full
translation symmetry of the ferromagnetic ground state, assigning the
paramagnetic-state gap as the average of the majority- and minority-spin gaps
in the ferromagnetic state. That procedure has been further tested by a band
structure in a 32-atom supercell with randomly-oriented spins. After fitting
only the paramagnetic gap the refined band structure then reproduces our
measured gaps in both phases by direct transitions at the X point.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
The nucleus as a fluid of skyrmions: Energy levels and nucleon properties in the medium
A model of a fluid of skyrmions coupled to a scalar and to the \o meson
mean fields is developed. The central and spin-orbit potentials of a skyrmion
generated by the fields predict correct energy levels in selected closed shell
nuclei. The effect of the meson fields on the properties of skyrmions in nuclei
is investigated.Comment: Latex format, 6 figures, Journal of Physics G, to be publishe
Strain dependence of bonding and hybridization across the metal-insulator transition of VO2
Soft x-ray spectroscopy is used to investigate the strain dependence of the
metal-insulator transition of VO2. Changes in the strength of the V 3d - O 2p
hybridization are observed across the transition, and are linked to the
structural distortion. Furthermore, although the V-V dimerization is
well-described by dynamical mean-field theory, the V-O hybridization is found
to have an unexpectedly strong dependence on strain that is not predicted by
band theory, emphasizing the relevance of the O ion to the physics of VO2
Can health trainers make a difference with difficult-to-engage clients? A multisite case study
A political attempt in the United Kingdom to address health inequalities in the past decade has been the government’s initiative to employ local health trainers (HTs) or health trainer champions (HTCs) to support disadvantaged individuals with aspects of their health-related behaviors. HT/HTCs provide health-related information and support to individuals with healthy eating, physical activity, and smoking cessation. They undertake community engagement and direct individuals to relevant health services. They differ in that HTs are trained to provide health interventions to individuals or groups and to make referrals to specialist health care services when necessary. This article provides an evaluation of HT/HTCs interventions across three sites, including one prison, one probation service (three teams), and one mental health center. An evaluation framework combining process and outcome measures was employed that used mixed methods to capture data relating to the implementation of the service, including the context of the HT/HTCs interventions, the reactions of their clients, and the outcomes reported. It was found that HT/HTCs interventions were more effective in the prison and mental health center compared with the probation site largely as a result of contextual factors
Species Abundance Patterns in Complex Evolutionary Dynamics
An analytic theory of species abundance patterns (SAPs) in biological
networks is presented. The theory is based on multispecies replicator dynamics
equivalent to the Lotka-Volterra equation, with diverse interspecies
interactions. Various SAPs observed in nature are derived from a single
parameter. The abundance distribution is formed like a widely observed
left-skewed lognormal distribution. As the model has a general form, the result
can be applied to similar patterns in other complex biological networks, e.g.
gene expression.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Physical Review Letters, in pres
Conditional Intensity and Gibbsianness of Determinantal Point Processes
The Papangelou intensities of determinantal (or fermion) point processes are
investigated. These exhibit a monotonicity property expressing the repulsive
nature of the interaction, and satisfy a bound implying stochastic domination
by a Poisson point process. We also show that determinantal point processes
satisfy the so-called condition which is a general form of
Gibbsianness. Under a continuity assumption, the Gibbsian conditional
probabilities can be identified explicitly.Comment: revised and extende
Maximum entropy deconvolution of resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra
Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering (RIXS) has become a powerful tool in the
study of the electronic structure of condensed matter. Although the linewidths
of many RIXS features are narrow, the experimental broadening can often hamper
the identification of spectral features. Here, we show that the Maximum Entropy
technique can successfully be applied in the deconvolution of RIXS spectra,
improving the interpretation of the loss features without a severe increase in
the noise ratio
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