9,123 research outputs found
Evaluation of the table Mountain Ronchi telescope for angular tracking
The performance of the University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Table Mountain telescope was evaluated to determine the potential of such an instrument for optical angular tracking. This telescope uses a Ronchi ruling to measure differential positions of stars at the meridian. The Ronchi technique is summarized and the operational features of the Table Mountain instrument are described. Results from an analytic model, simulations, and actual data are presented that characterize the telescope's current performance. For a star pair of visual magnitude 7, the differential uncertainty of a 5-min observation is about 50 nrad (10 marcsec), and tropospheric fluctuations are the dominant error source. At magnitude 11, the current differential uncertainty is approximately 800 nrad (approximately 170 marcsec). This magnitude is equivalent to that of a 2-W laser with a 0.4-m aperture transmitting to Earth from a spacecraft at Saturn. Photoelectron noise is the dominant error source for stars of visual magnitude 8.5 and fainter. If the photoelectron noise is reduced, ultimately tropospheric fluctuations will be the limiting source of error at an average level of 35 nrad (7 marcsec) for stars approximately 0.25 deg apart. Three near-term strategies are proposed for improving the performance of the telescope to the 10-nrad level: improving the efficiency of the optics, masking background starlight, and averaging tropospheric fluctuations over multiple observations
Stranded superconducting cable of improved design
High-current cable developed in liquid helium cooled magnets uses aluminum wire interspersed with the superconductor strands. The aluminum maintains higher electrical conductivity, is light in weight, and has low thermal capacity
DC field induced enhancement and inhibition of spontaneous emission in a cavity
We demonstrate how spontaneous emission in a cavity can be controlled by the
application of a dc field. The method is specially suitable for Rydberg atoms.
We present a simple argument for the control of emission.Comment: 3-pages, 2figure. accepted in Phys. Rev.
An evaluation of earth banked tanks for slurry storage
End of project reportThis study examines the feasibility of using earth-banked tanks (EBT’s) as an alternative and economical means of winter storage for animal and other farmyard wastes. The study contains a detailed literature review on the subject, the results of a series of laboratory-scale experiments, field studies and a predictive model of the transport process through the soil liner of an earth-banked tank
A Simplest Swimmer at Low Reynolds Number: Three Linked Spheres
We propose a very simple one-dimensional swimmer consisting of three spheres
that are linked by rigid rods whose lengths can change between two values. With
a periodic motion in a non-reciprocal fashion, which breaks the time-reversal
symmetry as well as the translational symmetry, we show that the model device
can swim at low Reynolds number. This model system could be used in
constructing molecular-size machines
The molecular environment of massive star forming cores associated with Class II methanol maser emission
Methanol maser emission has proven to be an excellent signpost of regions
undergoing massive star formation (MSF). To investigate their role as an
evolutionary tracer, we have recently completed a large observing program with
the ATCA to derive the dynamical and physical properties of molecular/ionised
gas towards a sample of MSF regions traced by 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission.
We find that the molecular gas in many of these regions breaks up into multiple
sub-clumps which we separate into groups based on their association
with/without methanol maser and cm continuum emission. The temperature and
dynamic state of the molecular gas is markedly different between the groups.
Based on these differences, we attempt to assess the evolutionary state of the
cores in the groups and thus investigate the role of class II methanol masers
as a tracer of MSF.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, IAU Symposium 242 Conference Proceeding
Recent Extreme Ultraviolet Solar Spectra and Spectroheliograms
Extreme ultraviolet solar spectra and spectroheliogram analyse
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