Towards Efficient Full Pose Omnidirectionality with Overactuated MAVs

Omnidirectional MAVs are a growing field, with demonstrated advantages for aerial interaction and uninhibited observation. While systems with complete pose omnidirectionality and high hover efficiency have been developed independently, a robust system that combines the two has not been demonstrated to date. This paper presents VoliroX: a novel omnidirectional vehicle that can exert a wrench in any orientation while maintaining efficient flight configurations. The system design is presented, and a 6 DOF geometric control that is robust to singularities. Flight experiments further demonstrate and verify its capabilities.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, ISER 2018 conference submissio

The metal absorption systems of the Hubble Deep Field South QSO

The Hubble Deep Field South (HDFS) has been recently selected and the observations are planned for October 1998. We present a high resolution (FWHM $\simeq 14$ \kms) spectrum of the quasar J2233--606 ($z_{em}\simeq2.22$) which is located 5.1 arcmin East of the HDFS. The spectrum obtained with the New Technology Telescope redward of the Lyman--$\alpha$ emission line covers the spectral range 4386--8270 \AA. This range corresponds to redshift intervals for CIV and MgII intervening systems of $z=1.83-2.25$ and $z=0.57-1.95$ respectively. The data reveal the presence of two complex intervening CIV systems at redshift $z=1.869$ and $z=1.943$ and two complex associated ($z_{abs} \approx z_{em}$) systems. Other two CIV systems at $z=1.7865$ and $z=2.077$, suggested by the presence of strong Lyman--$\alpha$ lines in low resolution ground based and Hubble Space Telescope (HST) STIS observations (Sealey et al. 1998) have been identified. The system at $z=1.943$ is also responsible for the Lyman limit absorption seen in the HST/STIS spectrum. The main goal of the present work is to provide astronomers interested in the Hubble Deep Field South program with information related to absorbing structures at high redshift, which are distributed along the nearby QSO line of sight. For this purpose, the reduced spectrum, obtained from three hours of integration time, has been released to the astronomical community.Comment: revisited version accepted for publication by Astronomical Journal; minor changes; typographical errors corrected; results and discussion unchange

SN 1987A's Circumstellar Envelope, II: Kinematics of the Three Rings and the Diffuse Nebula

We present several different measurements of the velocities of structures within the circumstellar envelope of SN 1987A, including the inner, equatorial ring (ER), outer rings (ORs), and the diffuse nebulosity at radii < 5 pc, based on CTIO 4m and HST data. A comparison of STIS and WFPC2 [N II]6583 loci for the rings show that the ER is expanding in radius at 10.5+-0.3 km/s, with the northern OR expanding along the line of sight at about 26 km/s, and for the southern OR, about 23 km/s. Similar results are found with CTIO 4m data. Accounting for inclination, the best fit to all data show both ORs with an expansion from the SN of 26 km/s. The ratio of the ER to OR velocities is nearly equal to the ratio of ER to OR radii, so the rings are roughly homologous, all having kinematic ages corresponding to about 20,000 yr before the SN explosion. This makes previously reported, large compositional differences between the ER and ORs difficult to understand. Additionally, a grid of longslit 4m/echelle spectra centered on the SN shows two velocity components over a region roughly coextensive with the outer circumstellar envelope extending about 5 pc (20 arcsec) from the SN. One component is blueshifted and the other redshifted from the SN centroid by about 10 km/s each. These features may represent a bipolar flow expanding from the SN, in which the ORs are propelled 10-15 km/s faster than that of the surrounding envelope into which they propogate. The kinematic timescale for the entire nebula is at least about 350,000 yr. The kinematics of these various structures constrain possible models for the evolution of the progenitor and its formation of a mass loss nebula.Comment: 25 pages AASTeX text plus 12 figures. ApJ, in pres

Robust Numerical Algebraic Geometry

The field of numerical algebraic geometry consists of algorithms for numerically solving systems of polynomial equations. When the system is exact, such as having rational coefficients, the solution set is well-defined. However, for a member of a parameterized family of polynomial systems where the parameter values may be measured with imprecision or arise from prior numerical computations, uncertainty may arise in the structure of the solution set, including the number of isolated solutions, the existence of higher dimensional solution components, and the number of irreducible components along with their multiplicities. The loci where these structures change form a stratification of exceptional algebraic sets in the space of parameters. We describe methodologies for making the interpretation of numerical results more robust by searching for nearby parameter values on an exceptional set. We demonstrate these techniques on several illustrative examples and then treat several more substantial problems arising from the kinematics of mechanisms and robots

Physical Conditions in Circumstellar Gas surrounding SN 1987A 12 Years After Outburst

Two-dimensional spectra of Supernova 1987A were obtained on 1998 November 14-15 (4282 days after outburst) with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The slit sampled portions of the inner circumstellar ring at the east and west ansae as well as small sections of both the northern and southern outer rings. The temperature and density at these locations are estimated by nebular analysis of [N II], [O III], and [S II] emission line ratios, and with time-dependent photoionization/recombination models. The results from these two methods are mutually consistent. The electron density in the inner ring is ~ 4000 cm-3 for S II, with progressively lower densities for N II and O III. The electron temperatures determined from [N II] and [O III] line ratios are ~11,000 K and \~22,000 K, respectively. These results are consistent with evolutionary trends in the circumstellar gas from similar measurements at earlier epochs. We find that emission lines from the outer rings come from gas of lower density (n_e \la 2000 cm-3) than that which emits the same line in the inner ring. The N/O ratio appears to be the same in all three rings. Our results also suggest that the CNO abundances in the northern outer ring are the same as in the inner ring, contrary to earlier results of Panagia et al. (1996). Physical conditions in the southern outer ring are less certain because of poorer signal-to-noise data. The STIS spectra also reveal a weak Ha emission redshifted by ~100 km s-1 at p.a. 103\arcdeg that coincides with the recently discovered new regions that are brightening (Lawrence et al. 2000). This indicates that the shock interaction in the SE section of the inner ring commenced over a year before it became apparent in HST images.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figures, to appear in December 1, 2000 Astrophysical Journa

Chemical Enrichment at High Redshifts

We have tried to understand the recent observations related to metallicity in Ly $\alpha$ forest clouds in the framework of the two component model suggested by Chiba & Nath (1997). We find that even if the mini-halos were chemically enriched by an earlier generation of stars, to have [C/H] $\simeq$ -2.5, the number of C IV lines with column density $>10^{12} cm^{-2}$, contributed by the mini-halos, at the redshift of 3, would be only about 10% of the total number of lines, for a chemical enrichment rate of $(1+z)^{-3}$ in the galaxies. Recently reported absence of heavy element lines associated with most of the Ly $\alpha$ lines with H I column density between $10^{13.5} cm^{-2}$ and $10^{14} cm^{-2}$ by Lu et al (1998), if correct, gives an upper limit on [C/H]=-3.7, not only in the mini-halos, but also in the outer parts of galactic halos. This is consistent with the results of numerical simulations, according to which, the chemical elements associated with the Ly $\alpha$ clouds are formed in situ in clouds, rather than in an earlier generation of stars. However, the mean value of $7 \times 10^{-3}$ for the column density ratio of C IV and H I, determined by Cowie and Songaila (1998) for low Lyman alpha optical depths, implies an abundance of [C/H] =-2.5 in mini-halos as well as in most of the region in galactic halos, presumably enriched by an earlier generation of stars. The redshift and column density distribution of C IV has been shown to be in reasonable agreement with the observations.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures, To appear in Astrophysical Journa

Colloidal Gels: Equilibrium and Non-Equilibrium Routes

We attempt a classification of different colloidal gels based on colloid-colloid interactions. We discriminate primarily between non-equilibrium and equilibrium routes to gelation, the former case being slaved to thermodynamic phase separation while the latter is individuated in the framework of competing interactions and of patchy colloids. Emphasis is put on recent numerical simulations of colloidal gelation and their connection to experiments. Finally we underline typical signatures of different gel types, to be looked in more details in experiments.Comment: topical review, accepted in J. Phys. Condens. Matte