Conductive Strontium Titanate Layers Produced By Boron-ion Implantation

The ion implantation of boron has been found to be an effective method for increasing the conductivity of strontium titanate. A highly conductive layer was formed by implantations at doses of 3.6x1016 to 1.0x1017 ions/cm2, using an accelerating voltage of 100 kV, corresponding to a boron range of about 300 nm. The conductivity of the implanted layer was found to be further enhanced by about four orders of magnitude after annealing at 225 °C. The surface resistivity attained was typically 1000 Ω/square at room temperature. The resistance increased with rising temperature between 77 and 500 K. All samples were found to be n type, as determined by Hall-effect and thermoelectric measurements. The measured Hall mobility range was from 100 cm2/V sec at 77 K, decreasing to 5 cm2/V sec at 300 K. The existence of several defect energy levels can be inferred from the electrical data

An Overview of NASA's IM&S Verification and Validation Process Plan and Specification for Space Exploration

NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (ESMD) is implementing a management approach for modeling and simulation (M&S) that will provide decision-makers information on the model's fidelity, credibility, and quality. This information will allow the decision-maker to understand the risks involved in using a model's results in the decision-making process. This presentation will discuss NASA's approach for verification and validation (V&V) of its models or simulations supporting space exploration. This presentation will describe NASA's V&V process and the associated M&S verification and validation (V&V) activities required to support the decision-making process. The M&S V&V Plan and V&V Report templates for ESMD will also be illustrated

Ab Initio Theory of Light-ion Reactions

The exact treatment of nuclei starting from the constituent nucleons and the fundamental interactions among them has been a long-standing goal in nuclear physics. Above all nuclear scattering and reactions, which require the solution of the many-body quantum-mechanical problem in the continuum, represent a theoretical and computational challenge for ab initio approaches. After a brief overview of the field, we present a new ab initio many-body approach capable of describing simultaneously both bound and scattering states in light nuclei. By combining the resonating-group method with the ab initio no-core shell model, we complement a microscopic cluster technique with the use of realistic interactions and a microscopic and consistent description of the clusters. We show results for neutron and proton scattering on light nuclei, including p-7Be and n-8He. We also highlight the first results of the d-3He and d-3H fusion calculations obtained within this approach.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the International Nuclear Physics Conference INPC 2010, Vancouver, Canada, July 4 - 9, 2010, 10 pages, 5 figure

Human Indoor Exposure to Airborne Halogenated Flame Retardants: Influence of Airborne Particle Size

Inhalation of halogenated flame-retardants (HFRs) released from consumer products is an important route of exposure. However, not all airborne HFRs are respirable, and thus interact with vascular membranes within the gas exchange (alveolar) region of the lung. HFRs associated with large (\u3e 4 mu m), inhalable airborne particulates are trapped on the mucosal lining of the respiratory tract and then are expelled or swallowed. The latter may contribute to internal exposure via desorption from particles in the digestive tract. Exposures may also be underestimated if personal activities that re-suspend particles into the breathing zone are not taken into account. Here, samples were collected using personal air samplers, clipped to the participants\u27 shirt collars (n = 18). We observed that the larger, inhalable air particulates carried the bulk (\u3e92%) of HFRs. HFRs detected included those removed from commerce (i.e., polybrominated diphenyl ethers (Penta-BDEs: BDE-47, -85, -100, -99, and -153)), their replacements; e.g., 2-ethylhexyl 2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate (TBB or EH-TBB); bis(2-ethylhexyl) 3,4,5,6-tetrabromophthalate (TBPH or BEH-TEBP) and long-produced chlorinated organophosphate-FRs (ClOPFRs): tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TCPP or TCIPP), and tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate (TDCPP or TDCIPP). Our findings suggest estimates relying on a single exposure route, i.e., alveolar gas exchange, may not accurately estimate HFR internal dosage, as they ignore contributions from larger inhalable particulates that enter the digestive tract. Consideration of the fate and bioavailability of these larger particulates resulted in higher dosage estimates for HFRs with log K-oa \u3c 12 (i.e., Penta-BDEs and ClOPFRs) and lower estimates for those with log Koa \u3e 12 (i.e., TBB and TBPH) compared to the alveolar route exposure alone. Of those HFRs examined, the most significant effect was the lower estimate by 41% for TBPH. The bulk of TBPH uptake from inhaled particles was estimated to be through the digestive tract, with lower bioavailability. We compared inhalation exposure estimates to chronic oral reference doses (RfDs) established by several regulatory agencies. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) RfD levels for several HFRs are considered outdated; however, BDE-99 levels exceeded those suggested by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) by up to 26 times. These findings indicate that contributions and bioavailability of respirable and inhalable airborne particulates should both be considered in future risk assessments

Rapidly decaying supernova 2010X: A candidate ".Ia" explosion

We present the discovery, photometric, and spectroscopic follow-up observations of SN 2010X (PTF 10bhp). This supernova decays exponentially with τ_d = 5 days and rivals the current recordholder in speed, SN 2002bj. SN 2010X peaks at M_r = −17 mag and has mean velocities of 10,000 km s^(−1). Our light curve modeling suggests a radioactivity-powered event and an ejecta mass of 0.16M_⊙. If powered by Nickel, we show that the Nickel mass must be very small (≈0.02 M_⊙) and that the supernova quickly becomes optically thin to γ -rays. Our spectral modeling suggests that SN 2010X and SN 2002bj have similar chemical compositions and that one of aluminum or helium is present. If aluminum is present, we speculate that this may be an accretion-induced collapse of an O-Ne-Mg white dwarf. If helium is present, all observables of SN 2010X are consistent with being a thermonuclear helium shell detonation on a white dwarf, a “.Ia” explosion. With the 1 day dynamic-cadence experiment on the Palomar Transient Factory, we expect to annually discover a few such events

Scattering and Iron Fluorescence Revealed During Absorption Dips in Circinus X-1

We show that dramatic spectral evolution associated with dips occurring near phase zero in RXTE observations of Cir X-1 is well-fit by variable and at times heavy absorption (N_H > 10^24 cm^-2) of a bright component, plus an underlying faint component which is not attenuated by the variable column and whose flux is ~10% of that of the unabsorbed bright component. A prominent Fe emission line at ~6.5 keV is evident during the dips. The absolute line flux outside the dips is similar to that during the dips, indicating that the line is associated with the faint component. These results are consistent with a model in which the bright component is radiation received directly from a compact source while the faint component may be attributed to scattered radiation. Our results are also generally consistent with those of Brandt et al., who found that a partial- covering model could explain ASCA spectra of a low-to-high transition in Cir X-1. The relative brightness of the two components in our model requires a column density of ~2*10^23 cm^-2 if the faint component is due to Thomson scattering in material that mostly surrounds the source. We find that illumination of such a scattering cloud by the observed direct component would produce an Fe K-alpha fluorescence flux that is in rough agreement with the flux of the observed emission line. We also conclude that if the scattering medium is not highly ionized, our line of sight to the compact source does not pass through it. Finally, we discuss simple pictures of the absorbers responsible for the dips themselves.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (23 pages, including 11 figures

Core-collapse Supernovae from the Palomar Transient Factory: Indications for a Different Population in Dwarf Galaxies

We use the first compilation of 72 core-collapse supernovae (SNe) from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) to study their observed subtype distribution in dwarf galaxies compared to giant galaxies. Our sample is the largest single-survey, untargeted, spectroscopically classified, homogeneous collection of core-collapse events ever assembled, spanning a wide host-galaxy luminosity range (down to M_r ≈ –14 mag) and including a substantial fraction (>20%) of dwarf (M_r ≥ –18 mag) hosts. We find more core-collapse SNe in dwarf galaxies than expected and several interesting trends emerge. We use detailed subclassifications of stripped-envelope core-collapse SNe and find that all Type I core-collapse events occurring in dwarf galaxies are either SNe Ib or broad-lined SNe Ic (SNe Ic-BL), while "normal" SNe Ic dominate in giant galaxies. We also see a significant excess of SNe IIb in dwarf hosts. We hypothesize that in lower metallicity hosts, metallicity-driven mass loss is reduced, allowing massive stars that would have appeared as "normal" SNe Ic in metal-rich galaxies to retain some He and H, exploding as Ib/IIb events. At the same time, another mechanism allows some stars to undergo extensive stripping and explode as SNe Ic-BL (and presumably also as long-duration gamma-ray bursts). Our results are still limited by small-number statistics, and our measurements of the observed N(Ib/c)/N(II) number ratio in dwarf and giant hosts (0.25^(+0.3)_(–0.15) and 0.23^(+0.11)_(–0.08), respectively; 1σ uncertainties) are consistent with previous studies and theoretical predictions. As additional PTF data accumulate, more robust statistical analyses will be possible, allowing the evolution of massive stars to be probed via the dwarf-galaxy SN population