High intensity x-ray diffraction in transmission mode employing an analog of Poisson's spot

Poisson’s spot is a diffraction phenomenon producing an intensity maximum at the center of the geometric shadow of circular opaque objects. In an analog of the Poisson spot experiment, we show that a tubular cone of x-rays incident upon a crystalline sample produces diffraction spots or foci, corresponding to Bragg maxima within a transmission shadow. We discuss the beam geometry and the intensity gain recorded at the foci in transmission mode. We describe the geometric growth and decay of the foci over a linear axis with the aid of a movie sequence synchronized with the plotting of a diffractogram. The mean signal of a small central area in each successive camera image provides the intensity data for the diffractogram

Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of the Atmosphere of HD 209458b

We present the first three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the atmosphere of HD 209458b which self-consistently include reduction of winds due to the Lorentz force and Ohmic heating. We find overall wind structures similar to that seen in previous models of hot Jupiter atmospheres, with strong equatorial jets and meridional flows poleward near the day side and equatorward near the night side. Inclusion of magnetic fields slows those winds and leads to Ohmic dissipation. We find wind slowing ranging from 10%-40% for reasonable field strengths. We find Ohmic dissipation rates ~10^17 W at 100 bar, orders of magnitude too small to explain the inflated radius of this planet. Faster wind speeds, not achievable in these anelastic calculations, may be able to increase this value somewhat, but likely will not be able to close the gap necessary to explain the inflated radius. We demonstrate that the discrepancy between the simulations presented here and previous models is due to inadequate treatment of magnetic field geometry and evolution. Induced poloidal fields become much larger than those imposed, highlighting the need for a self-consistent MHD treatment of these hot atmospheres.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted at ApJ

Gauge fixing and equivariant cohomology

The supersymmetric model developed by Witten to study the equivariant cohomology of a manifold with an isometric circle action is derived from the BRST quantization of a simple classical model. The gauge-fixing process is carefully analysed, and demonstrates that different choices of gauge-fixing fermion can lead to different quantum theories.Comment: 18 pages LaTe

Innovative concepts for aerodynamic control of wind turbine rotors

New systems for the aerodynamic control of wind turbine rotors are being studied in various projects funded by the UK Department of Energy. Results from a current project, ongoing at the National Wind Turbine Test Centre (NWTC) in Scotland are presented. These systems show the promise of much cheaper and more affective active control of horizontal axis wind turbines than has been achieved with full span and partial span pitching systems

Old and New Fields on Super Riemann Surfaces

The ``new fields" or ``superconformal functions" on $N=1$ super Riemann surfaces introduced recently by Rogers and Langer are shown to coincide with the Abelian differentials (plus constants), viewed as a subset of the functions on the associated $N=2$ super Riemann surface. We confirm that, as originally defined, they do not form a super vector space.Comment: 9 pages, LaTex. Published version: minor changes for clarity, two new reference

A framework for Multistate Demoeconomic Modeling and Projection, with an Illustrative Application

This paper outlines a theoretical framework for the consistent and policy relevant projection of populations disaggregated by sex, age, marital status, and region. The framework makes use of multistate life table and projection techniques, and a two-sex model of transitions between the married, divorced, and widowed states, to ensure the consistent determination of the future size and structure of the population on the basis of transitions assumed to occur over the projection period. It also uses model schedules to reduce the information load required for projection and to produce descriptive and interpretable parameters which can be explained and projected with the aid of an economic model that relates these parameters of demographic transition to their demographic and economic determinants. An illustrative application of this framework, using Australian data, is included