14,101 research outputs found
Raman gain against a background of non-thermal ion fluctuations in a plasma
A complex stimulated Raman scattering event against a background of non-thermal ion acoustic waves in an inhomogeneous plasma is described. We obtain analytic forms for the Raman gain due to a five-wave interaction consisting of conventional three-wave Raman scattering followed by the decay of the Raman Langmuir wave into a second Langmuir wave (or a second scattered light wave) and an ion acoustic wave. Very modest levels of ion waves produce a. significant effect on Raman convective gain. A combination of plasma inhomogeneity and suprathermal ion fluctuations may offer a means for the control of Raman gain
Laboratory Simulation of Laser Communications from a Reentry Vehicl
Laser communications has been proposed as one way to solve the radio blackout problem during the reentry of a manned vehicle. The AMICOM 8,000 kW Plasma Facility (PF)1 \u27 2 was used in a set of experiments to simulate the conditions expected during the reentry of a high speed vehicle. This experimental study was designed to simulate a typical theoretical Apollo test vehicle reentry trajectory. No plasma effects on the transmitted laser beam were expected or observed since the cutoff frequency due to electron collision rates was calculated to be in the microwave region and not in the optical or infrared region. However, the high temperature gradients and anticipated gas density variations in the flow field were throught to be potential sources of local index of refraction fluctuations. These fluctuations may generate scintillation effects in the laser beam which would be expected to reduce the effectiveness of laser communications.
The limitation of maximum power in the PF flow field, approximately 4 megawatts, prevented simultaneous duplication of the desired Reynolds number (R ^ 7 X 104 per meter) and the stagnation point enthalpy (h/RT o « 100). However, by varying the PF parameters to lower the enthalpy, the Reynolds number, or both a satisfactory simulation of conditions just before the termination of radio blackout was obtained. The region of the reentry corridor simulated in this investigation is near 60 km altitude and 3.9 km/sec velocity. The Reynolds numbers were based on a characteristic length of 1 meter for the vehicle and 0.1 meter for the model. A flat disk model, normal to the PF flow stream, was used to generate the required local flow field for the laser experiments. The disk diameter, 0.09 m, was determined by the PF flow field blockage parameter; this also established the characteristic Reynolds number length (j£• Ki 0.1 m) for the experiments. The disk was followed by a smaller diameter cylindrical afterbody approximately 25 cm long containing instrumentation. The cylinder also had a pair of windows situated so the laser beam could pass through the flow field immediately behind the disk. An amplitude modulated He-Ne laser was used as a signal source with a photomultiplier tube as a detector. Model stagnation pressure and transmitted laser signals were recorded on an analog tape recorder. A frequency spectrum analyzer was used to analyze the data
Soil moisture detection by Skylab's microwave sensors
The author has identified the following significant results. Terrain microwave backscatter and emission response to soil moisture variations were investigated using Skylab's 13.9 GHz RADSCAT (radiometer/scatterometer) system. Data acquired on June 5, 1973, over a test site in west-central Texas indicated a fair degree of correlation with composite rainfall. The scan made was cross-track contiguous (CTC) with a pitch of 29.4 deg and no roll effect. Vertical polarization was employed with both radiometer and scatterometer. The composite rainfall was computed according to the flood prediction technique using rainfall data supplied by weather reporting stations
The stransverse mass, MT2, in special cases
This document describes some special cases in which the stransverse mass,
MT2, may be calculated by non-iterative algorithms. The most notable special
case is that in which the visible particles and the hypothesised invisible
particles are massless -- a situation relevant to its current usage in the
Large Hadron Collider as a discovery variable, and a situation for which no
analytic answer was previously known. We also derive an expression for MT2 in
another set of new (though arguably less interesting) special cases in which
the missing transverse momentum must point parallel or anti parallel to the
visible momentum sum. In addition, we find new derivations for already known
MT2 solutions in a manner that maintains manifest contralinear boost invariance
throughout, providing new insights into old results. Along the way, we stumble
across some unexpected results and make conjectures relating to geometric forms
of M_eff and H_T and their relationship to MT2.Comment: 11 pages, no figures. v2 corrects minor typos. v3 corrects an
incorrect statement in footnote 8 and inserts a missing term in eq (3.9). v4
and v5 correct minor typos spotted by reader
Natural Gauge Hierarchy in SO(10)
It is shown that a natural gauge hierarchy and doublet-triplet splitting can
be achieved in SO(10) using the Dimopoulos-Wilczek mechanism. Artificial
cancellations (fine-tuning) and arbitrary forms of the superpotential are
avoided, the superpotential being the most general compatible with a symmetry.
It is shown by example that the Dimopoulos-Wilczek mechanism can be protected
against the effects of higher-dimension operators possibly induced by
Planck-scale physics. Natural implementation of the mechanism leads to an
automatic Peccei-Quinn symmetry. The same local symmetries that would protect
the gauge hierarchy against Planck-scale effects tend to protect the axion
also. It is shown how realistic quark and lepton masses might arise in this
framework. It is also argued that ``weak suppression'' of proton decay can be
implemented more economically than can ``strong suppression'', offering some
grounds to hope (in the context of SO(10)) that proton decay could be seen at
Superkamiokande.Comment: 26 pages in plain LaTeX, 5 figures available on request, BA-94-0
Design data collection with Skylab/EREP microwave instrument S-193
There are no author-identified significant results in this report
Today was a Good Day: The Daily Life of Software Developers
What is a good workday for a software developer? What is a typical workday? We seek to answer these two questions to learn how to make good days typical. Concretely, answering these questions will help to optimize development processes and select tools that increase job satisfaction and productivity. Our work adds to a large body of research on how software developers spend their time. We report the results from 5971 responses of professional developers at Microsoft, who reflected about what made their workdays good and typical, and self-reported about how they spent their time on various activities at work. We developed conceptual frameworks to help define and characterize developer workdays from two new perspectives: good and typical. Our analysis confirms some findings in previous work, including the fact that developers actually spend little time on development and developers' aversion for meetings and interruptions. It also discovered new findings, such as that only 1.7% of survey responses mentioned emails as a reason for a bad workday, and that meetings and interruptions are only unproductive during development phases; during phases of planning, specification and release, they are common and constructive. One key finding is the importance of agency, developers' control over their workday and whether it goes as planned or is disrupted by external factors. We present actionable recommendations for researchers and managers to prioritize process and tool improvements that make good workdays typical. For instance, in light of our finding on the importance of agency, we recommend that, where possible, managers empower developers to choose their tools and tasks
The Chandra Large Area Synoptic X-ray Survey (CLASXS) of the Lockman Hole-Northwest: The X-ray Catalog
We present the X-ray catalog and basic results from our Chandra Large Area
Synoptic X-ray Survey (CLASXS) of the Lockman Hole-Northwest field. Our 9
ACIS-I fields cover a contiguous solid angle of ~0.4 sq. deg. and reach fluxes
of 5E-16 cgs (0.4-2 keV) and 3E-15 cgs (2-8keV). Our survey bridges the gap
between ultradeep pencil-beam surveys, such as the Chandra Deep Fields (CDFs),
and shallower, large area surveys, allowing a better probe of the X-ray sources
that contribute most of the 2-10 keV cosmic X-ray background (CXB). We find a
total of 525 X-ray point sources and 4 extended sources. At ~10E-14 cgs 2-8
keV, our number counts are significantly higher than those of several
non-contiguous, large area surveys. On the other hand, the integrated flux from
the CLASXS field, combined with ASCA and Chandra ultradeep surveys, is
consistent with results from other large area surveys, within the variance of
the CXB. Spectral evolution is seen in the hardening of the sources at fluxes
below 1E-14 cgs Above 4E1-14 cgs(0.4-8 keV), ~60 of the sources are variable.
Four extended sources in CLASXS is consistent with the previously measured
LogN-LogS of galaxy clusters. We report the discovery of a gravitational
lensing arc associated with one of these sources. (Abridged)Comment: 67 pages, 26 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
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