94,872 research outputs found
The existence and detection of optically dark galaxies by 21cm surveys
One explanation for the disparity between Cold Dark Matter (CDM) predictions
of galaxy numbers and observations could be that there are numerous dark
galaxies in the Universe. These galaxies may still contain baryons, but no
stars, and may be detectable in the 21cm line of atomic hydrogen. The results
of surveys for such objects, and simulations that do/do not predict their
existence, are controversial. In this paper we use an analytical model of
galaxy formation, consistent with CDM, to firstly show that dark galaxies are
certainly a prediction of the model. Secondly, we show that objects like
VIRGOHI21, a dark galaxy candidate recently discovered by us, while rare are
predicted by the model. Thirdly, we show that previous 'blind' HI surveys have
placed few constraints on the existence of dark galaxies. This is because they
have either lacked the sensitivity and/or velocity resolution or have not had
the required detailed optical follow up. We look forward to new 21cm blind
surveys (ALFALFA and AGES) using the Arecibo multi-beam instrument which should
find large numbers of dark galaxies if they exist
Study of LPE methods for growth of InGaAsP/InP CW lasers
Two methods for liquid phase growth of InGaAsP/InP lasers were studied. Single phase growth, based on saturated melts and 5 C supercooling, was compared to two phase growth excess InP and 20 C nominal supercooling. Substrates cut on the (100) plane were used, and morphology in both cases was excellent and comparable to that obtainable in AlGaAs materials. A high degree of reproducibility was obtained in the materials grown by the two phased method, which is therefore presently preferred for the preparation of laser material. A refractive index step of 0.28 and an index n = 3.46 were obtained for In.81Ga.19As,5P5 lasing at 1.3 microns. Oxide-stripe lasers with typical room temperature cw threshold currents of 180 mA were obtained and some of them showed single mode behavior without lateral cavity modifications. COntinuous operation of 800 h at room temperature was obtained without noticeable degradation
Surface-cooling effects on compressible boundary-layer instability
The influence of surface cooling on compressible boundary layer instability is discussed theoretically for both viscous and inviscid modes, at high Reynolds numbers. The cooling enhances the surface heat transfer and shear stress, creating a high heat transfer sublayer. This has the effect of distorting and accentuating the viscous Tollmien-Schlichting modes to such an extent that their spatial growth rates become comparable with, and can even exceed, the growth rates of inviscid modes, including those found previously. This is for moderate cooling, and it applies at any Mach number. In addition, the moderate cooling destabilizes otherwise stable viscous or inviscid modes, in particular triggering outward-traveling waves at the edge of the boundary layer in the supersonic regime. Severe cooling is also discussed as it brings compressible dynamics directly into play within the viscous sublayer. All the new cooled modes found involve the heat transfer sublayer quite actively, and they are often multi-structured in form and may be distinct from those observed in previous computational and experimental investigations. The corresponding nonlinear processes are also pointed out with regard to transition in the cooled compressible boundary layer. Finally, comparisons with Lysenko and Maslov's (1984) experiments on surface cooling are presented
Studies of Martian polar regions
The flow law determined experimentally for solid CO2 establishes that an hypothesis of glacial flow of CO2 at the Martian poles is not physically unrealistic. Compression experiments carried out under 1 atmosphere pressure and constant strain rate conditions demonstrate that the strength of CO2 near its sublimation point is considerably less than the strength of water ice near its melting point. A plausible glacial model for the Martian polar caps was constructed. The CO2 deposited near the pole would have flowed outward laterally to relieve high internal shear stresses. The topography of the polar caps, and the uniform layering and general extent of the layered deposits were explained using this model
Failure properties of loaded fiber bundles having a lower cutoff in fiber threshold distribution
Presence of lower cutoff in fiber threshold distribution may affect the
failure properties of a bundle of fibers subjected to external load. We
investigate this possibility both in a equal load sharing (ELS) fiber bundle
model and in local load sharing (LLS) one. We show analytically that in ELS
model, the critical strength gets modified due to the presence of lower cutoff
and it becomes bounded by an upper limit. Although the dynamic exponents for
the susceptibility and relaxation time remain unchanged, the avalanche size
distribution shows a permanent deviation from the mean-fiels power law. In the
LLS model, we analytically estimate the upper limit of the lower cutoff above
which the bundle fails at one instant. Also the system size variation of
bundle's strength and the avalanche statistics show strong dependence on the
lower cutoff level.Comment: 7 pages and 7 figure
Simultaneous Observations of GRS 1758-258 in 1997 by VLA, IRAM, SEST, RXTE and OSSE: Spectroscopy and Timing
We report the results of our multi-wavelength observations of GRS 1758-258
made in August 1997. The energy bands include radio, millimeter, X-ray, and
gamma-ray. The observations enable us to obtain a complete spectrum of the
source over an energy range of 2 - 500 keV. The spectrum shows that GRS
1758-258 was in its hard state. It is well fitted by the Sunyaev-Titarchuk (ST)
Compton scattering model. The spectrum is also fit by a power law with an
exponential cutoff (PLE) plus a soft black-body component. The temperature of
the soft component is about 1.2 keV, and the energy flux is less than 1.5% of
the total X- and gamma-ray flux. The deduced hydrogen column density is in the
range of (0.93 - 2.0) 10^{22} cm^{-2}. No significant iron lines are detected.
The radio emission has a flat energy spectrum. The daily radio, X-ray and
gamma-ray light curves show that GRS 1758-258 was stable during the observation
period, but was highly variable on smaller time scales in X- and gamma-rays.
The power density spectra are typical for the low-state, but we find the photon
flux for the 5 to 10 keV band to be more variable than that in the other two
energy bands (2 - 5 keV and 10 - 40 keV). Harmonically spaced quasi-periodic
oscillations (QPOs) are observed in the power spectra. The phase lags between
the hard photons and the soft photons have a flat distribution over a wide
range of frequencies. A high coherence of about 1.0 (0.01 - 1 Hz) between the
hard photons and the soft photons is also obtained in our observations. We
compare these results with two variation models. Our millimeter observations
did not reveal any conclusive signatures of an interaction between the jet from
GRS 1758-258 and the molecular cloud that lies in the direction of GRS
1758-258.Comment: 32 pages, 13 figures, to appear in ApJ, 2000, V.533, no. 1, Apr. 10.
For better figure resolution, please directly download the paper from
http://spacsun.rice.edu/~lin/publication.htm
Attack of the Flying Snakes : Formation of Isolated HI Clouds By Fragmentation of Long Streams
The existence of long (> 100 kpc) HI streams and small (< 20 kpc)
free-floating HI clouds is well-known. While the formation of the streams has
been investigated extensively, and the isolated clouds are often purported to
be interaction debris, little research has been done on the formation of
optically dark HI clouds that are not part of a larger stream. One possibility
is that such features result from the fragmentation of more extended streams,
while another idea is that they are primordial, optically dark galaxies. We
test the validity of the fragmentation scenario (via harassment) using
numerical simulations. In order to compare our numerical models with
observations, we present catalogues of both the known long HI streams (42
objects) and free-floating HI clouds suggested as dark galaxy candidates (51
objects). In particular, we investigate whether it is possible to form compact
features with high velocity widths (> 100 km/s), similar to observed clouds
which are otherwise intriguing dark galaxy candidates. We find that producing
such features is possible but extremely unlikely, occurring no more than 0.2%
of the time in our simulations. In contrast, we find that genuine dark galaxies
could be extremely stable to harassment and remain detectable even after 5 Gyr
in the cluster environment (with the important caveat that our simulations only
explore harassment and do not yet include the intracluster medium, heating and
cooling, or star formation). We also discuss the possibility that such objects
could be the progenitors of recently discovered ultra diffuse galaxies.Comment: 46 pages, 27 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
HST Studies of the WLM Galaxy. I. The Age and Metallicity of the Globular Cluster
We have obtained V and I images of the lone globular cluster that belongs to
the dwarf Local Group irregular galaxy known as WLM. The color-magnitude
diagram of the cluster shows that it is a normal old globular cluster with a
well-defined giant branch reaching to M_V=-2.5, a horizontal branch at
M_V=+0.5, and a sub-giant branch extending to our photometry limit of M_V=+2.0.
A best fit to theoretical isochrones indicates that this cluster has a
metallicity of [Fe/H]=-1.52\pm0.08 and an age of 14.8\pm0.6 Gyr, thus
indicating that it is similar to normal old halo globulars in our Galaxy. From
the fit we also find that the distance modulus of the cluster is 24.73\pm0.07
and the extinction is A_V=0.07\pm0.06, both values that agree within the errors
with data obtained for the galaxy itself by others. We conclude that this
normal massive cluster was able to form during the formation of WLM, despite
the parent galaxy's very small intrinsic mass and size.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
Transfer of autocollimator calibration for use with scanning gantry profilometers for accurate determination of surface slope and curvature of state of the art x ray mirrors
X ray optics, desired for beamlines at free electron laser and diffraction limited storage ring x ray light sources, must have almost perfect surfaces, capable of delivering light to experiments without significant degradation of brightness and coherence. To accurately characterize such optics at an optical metrology lab, two basic types of surface slope profilometers are used the long trace profilers LTPs and nanometer optical measuring NOM like angular deflectometers, based on electronic autocollimator AC ELCOMAT 3000. The inherent systematic errors of the instrument s optical sensors set the principle limit to their measuring performance. Where autocollimator of a NOM like profiler may be calibrated at a unique dedicated facility, this is for a particular configuration of distance, aperture size, and angular range that does not always match the exact use in a scanning measurement with the profiler. Here we discuss the developed methodology, experimental set up, and numerical methods of transferring the calibration of one reference AC to the scanning AC of the Optical Surface Measuring System OSMS , recently brought to operation at the ALS Xray Optics Laboratory. We show that precision calibration of the OSMS performed in three steps, allows us to provide high confidence and accuracy low spatial frequency metrology and not print into measurements the inherent systematic error of tool in use. With the examples of the OSMS measurements with a state of the art x ray aspherical mirror, available from one of the most advanced vendors of X ray optics, we demonstrate the high efficacy of the developed calibration procedure. The results of our work are important for obtaining high reliability data, needed for sophisticated numerical simulations of beamline performance and optimization of beamline usage of the optics. This work was supported by the U. S. Department of Energy under contract number DE AC02 05CH1123
Ion-neutral sympathetic cooling in a hybrid linear rf Paul and magneto-optical trap
Long range polarization forces between ions and neutral atoms result in large
elastic scattering cross sections, e.g., 10^6 a.u. for Na+ on Na or Ca+ on Na
at cold and ultracold temperatures. This suggests that a hybrid ion-neutral
trap should offer a general means for significant sympathetic cooling of atomic
or molecular ions. We present SIMION 7.0 simulation results concerning the
advantages and limitations of sympathetic cooling within a hybrid trap
apparatus, consisting of a linear rf Paul trap concentric with a Na
magneto-optical trap (MOT). This paper explores the impact of various heating
mechanisms on the hybrid system and how parameters related to the MOT, Paul
trap, number of ions, and ion species affect the efficiency of the sympathetic
cooling
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