The mid-term periodicities in sunspot areas

The sunspot area fluctuations for the northern and the southern hemispheres of the Sun over the epoch of 12 cycles (12-23) are investigated. Because of the asymmetry of their probability distributions, the positive and the negative fluctuations are considered separately. The auto-correlation analysis of them shows three quasi-periodicities at 10, 17 and 23 solar rotations. The wavelets gives the 10-rotation quasi-periodicity. For the original and the negative fluctuations the correlation coefficient between the wavelet and the auto-correlation results is about 0.9 for 90% of the auto-correlation peaks. For the positive fluctuations it is also 0.9 for 70% of the peaks. For 90% of cycles in both hemispheres the auto-correlation analysis of negative fluctuations shows that two longer periods can be represented as the multiple of the shortest period. For positive fluctuations such dependences are found for more than 50% of cases.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

W Boson Properties

Studying the properties of the W boson naturally plays a key role in precision tests of the Standard Model. In this paper, the key measurements performed at LEP and the Tevatron over the last decade are reviewed. The current world knowledge of the W boson production and decay properties, gauge couplings, and mass are presented, with an emphasis on the most recent results from LEP2. Some estimates of the sensitivity of the upcoming Tevatron RunII are also presented.Comment: Talk given at the 21st Physics in Collision (Seoul, 2001), 24 pages with 13 figures, to appear in the proceeding

Determination of Electroweak Parameters at the SLC

We present an improved measurement of the left-right cross section asymmetry Alr for Z boson production by e+e- collisions. The measurement was performed at a center-of-mass energy of 91.28 GeV with the SLD detector at the SLAC Linear Collider (SLC) during the 1994-95 running period. The luminosity-weighted average polarization of the SLC electron beam during this run was measured to be (77.23 +/- 0.52)%. Using a sample of 93,644 hadronic Z decays, we measure the pole asymmetry Alr0 to be 0.1512 +/- 0.0042(stat.) +/- 0.0011(syst.) which is equivalent to an effective weak mixing angle of 0.23100 +/- 0.00054(stat.) +/- 0.00014(syst.). We also present a preliminary direct measurement of the Z-lepton coupling asymmetries A_e,A_mu, and A_tau extracted from the differential cross section observed in leptonic Z decays. We combine these results with our previous Alr measurement to obtain a combined determination of the weak mixing angle of 0.23061 +/- 0.00047

Low elevation angle KU-band satellite measurements at Austin, Texas

At low elevation angles, the propagation of satellite signals is affected by precipitation as well as by inhomogeneties of the refractive index. Whereas precipitation causes fades for relatively small percentages of time, the refractive index variability causes scintillations which can be observed for most of the time. An experiment is now under way in Austin, Texas, in which the right hand circularly polarized 12 GHz beacon of INTELSAT-V/F10 is observed at a 5.8 deg elevation angle, along with the radiometric sky temperature, rainfall rate, humidity, pressure, temperature, and wind speed and direction. The objective of these measurements is to accumulate a database over a period of 2 years and to analyze the probabilities and dynamical behavior of the signal variations in relation to the meteorological parameters. The hardware and software used for the data acquisition and analysis is described and the results from the first year of measurements are presented

Operating characteristics of the Langley Mach 7 Scramjet Test Facility

Operating characteristics of the Langley Mach 7 Scramjet Test Facility are described. The facility is designed for testing airframe integrated scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) engine models. Features include duplication of the flight Mach number total enthalpy, flight altitude simulation, and simulation of engine airframe integration effects such a bow shock wave precompression and boundary layer ingestion by the engine. Data obtained from facility calibration and from tests of a hydrogen burning, airframe integrated scramjet are discussed. An adverse interaction between the facility flow and the scramjet engine flow during combustion of the fuel is described

Normal injection of helium from swept struts into ducted supersonic flow

Recent design studies have shown that airframe-integrated scramjets should include instream mounted, swept-back strut fuel injectors to obtain short combustors. Because there was no data in the literature on mixing characteristics of swept strut fuel injectors, the present investigation was undertaken to provide such data. This investigation was made with two swept struts in a closed duct at Mach number of 4.4 and nominal jet-to-air mass flow ratio of 0.029 with helium used to simulate hydrogen fuel. The data is compared with flat plate mounted normal injector data to obtain the effect of swept struts on mixing. Three injector patterns were evaluated representing the range of hole spacing and jet-to-freestream dynamic pressure ratio of interest. Measured helium concentration, pitot pressure, and static pressure in the downstream mixing region are used to generate contour plots necessary to define the mixing region flow field and the mixing parameters

Satellite sound broadcast propagation studies and measurements

Satellite Sound Broadcasting is an attractive satellite application. Before regulatory decisions can be made in 1992, the propagation effects encountered have to be characterized. The Electrical Engineering Research Laboratory has nearly completed a system which will allow amplitude measurements to be made over 10 MHz bandwidths in the 800 to 1800 MHz frequency range. The system uses transmission from a transportable tower, and reception inside buildings or in the shadow of trees or utility poles. The goal is to derive propagation models for use by systems engineers who are about to design satellite broadcast systems. The advance of fiber-optics technology has helped to focus future development of satellite services into areas where satellites are uniquely competitive. One of these preferred satellite applications is the broadcasting of high-quality sound for stationary or mobile reception by listeners using low-cost, consumer-grade receivers. Before such services can be provided, however, the political hurdles of spectrum allocation have to be surmounted and the technical questions of standardization for world-wide compatibility have to be resolved. In order to arrive at an optimal system design, efficient in the use of our scarce spectral resources, affordable both to the broadcaster and the listener, and providing predictable performance, the propagation effects to which the service is subjected have to be characterized. Consequently, the objective of the research project is to make basic propagation measurements for direct Satellite Sound Broadcasting Service (SSBS). The data obtained should allow the development of propagation models to be used by communications engineers designing the operational systems. Such models shall describe the effects of shadowing and multipath propagation on SSBS receivers operating in a specified environment, such as inside commercial or residential buildings of various construction and also in the shadow of trees or utility poles as might be encountered by transporting or mobile listeners

On the flare induced high-frequency global waves in the Sun

Recently, Karoff and Kjeldsen (2008) presented evidence of strong correlation between the energy in the high-frequency part (5.3<\nu<8.3 mHz) of the acoustic spectrum of the Sun and the solar X-ray flux. They have used disk-integrated intensity observations of the Sun obtained from the VIRGO (Variability of solar IRradiance and Gravity Oscillations) instrument on board SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) spacecraft. Similar signature of flares in velocity observations has not been confirmed till now. The study of low-degree high-frequency waves in the Sun is important for our understanding of the dynamics of the deeper solar layers. In this paper, we present the analysis of the velocity observations of the Sun obtained from the MDI (Michelson and Doppler Imager) and the GOLF (Global Oscillations at Low Frequencies) instruments on board SOHO for some major flare events of the solar cycle 23. Application of wavelet techniques to the time series of disk-integrated velocity signals from the solar surface using the full-disk Dopplergrams obtained from the MDI clearly indicates that there is enhancement of high-frequency global waves in the Sun during the flares. This signature of flares is also visible in the Fourier Power Spectrum of these velocity oscillations. On the other hand, the analysis of disk-integrated velocity observations obtained from the GOLF shows only marginal evidence of effects of flares on high-frequency oscillations.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, To appear in the APJ Letter