105 research outputs found
A Book for Students of Science and Practicing Scientists: Review of Peter M. Pruzan's 'Research Methodology: The Aims, Practices and Ethics of Science'
This article is a review of a book on research methodology. The book covers a broader range of issues than is usually covered in the training of scientists. It deals with the aims and limitations of science and how one may distinguish between science and other forms of intellectual activity. The book offers elaborate coverage of the process of science, the uncertainties involved in it, and the issues of ethics and integrity. Thus, it delves into areas essential for the practice of science. It equips the reader with the conceptual repertoire and the critical outlook necessary to perform and write about science in a responsible manner. The book is highly recommended for both science students and practicing scientists
Influence of channel base current and varying return stroke speed on the calculated fields of three important return stroke models
Compared here are the calculated fields of the Traveling Current Source (TCS), Modified Transmission Line (MTL), and the Diendorfer-Uman (DU) models with a channel base current assumed in Nucci et al. on the one hand and with the channel base current assumed in Diendorfer and Uman on the other hand. The characteristics of the field wave shapes are shown to be very sensitive to the channel base current, especially the field zero crossing at 100 km for the TCS and DU models, and the magnetic hump after the initial peak at close range for the TCS models. Also, the DU model is theoretically extended to include any arbitrarily varying return stroke speed with height. A brief discussion is presented on the effects of an exponentially decreasing speed with height on the calculated fields for the TCS, MTL, and DU models
University of Florida Lightning Research at The Kennedy Space Center
A variety of basic and applied research programs are being conducted at the Kennedy Space Center. As an example of this research we describe the University of Florida program to characterize the electric and magnetic fields of lightning and the coupling of those fields to utility power lines. Specifically, we consider in detail the measurements of horizontal and vertical electric fields made during the previous three summers at KSC and the simultaneous measurements of the voltages on a 500 m test line made during the past two summers at KSC. Theory to support these measurements is also presented
Characterization of vertical electric fields and associated voltages induced on a overhead power line from close artificially initiated lightning
Measurements were characterized of simultaneous vertical electric fields and voltages induced at both ends of a 448 m overhead power line by artificially initiated lightning return strokes. The lightning discharges struck ground about 20 m from one end of the line. The measured line voltages could be grouped into two categories: those in which multiple, similarly shaped, evenly spaced pulses were observed, which are called oscillatory; and those dominated by a principal pulse with subsidiary oscillations of much smaller amplitude, which are called impulsive. Voltage amplitudes range from tens of kilovolts for oscillatory voltages to hundreds of kilovolts for impulsive voltages
First Measurement of Chiral Dynamics in \pi^- \gamma -> \pi^- \pi^- \pi^+
The COMPASS collaboration at CERN has investigated the \pi^- \gamma -> \pi^-
\pi^- \pi^+ reaction at center-of-momentum energy below five pion masses,
sqrt(s) < 5 m(\pi), embedded in the Primakoff reaction of 190 GeV pions
impinging on a lead target. Exchange of quasi-real photons is selected by
isolating the sharp Coulomb peak observed at smallest momentum transfers, t' <
0.001 (GeV/c)^2. Using partial-wave analysis techniques, the scattering
intensity of Coulomb production described in terms of chiral dynamics and its
dependence on the 3\pi-invariant mass m(3\pi) = sqrt(s) were extracted. The
absolute cross section was determined in seven bins of with an
overall precision of 20%. At leading order, the result is found to be in good
agreement with the prediction of chiral perturbation theory over the whole
energy range investigated.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of the charged-pion polarisability
The COMPASS collaboration at CERN has investigated pion Compton scattering,
, at centre-of-mass energy below 3.5 pion
masses. The process is embedded in the reaction
, which is initiated by
190\,GeV pions impinging on a nickel target. The exchange of quasi-real photons
is selected by isolating the sharp Coulomb peak observed at smallest momentum
transfers, \,(GeV/). From a sample of 63\,000 events the
pion electric polarisability is determined to be $\alpha_\pi\ =\ (\,2.0\ \pm\
0.6_{\mbox{\scriptsize stat}}\ \pm\ 0.7_{\mbox{\scriptsize syst}}\,) \times
10^{-4}\,\mbox{fm}^3\alpha_\pi=-\beta_\pi$, which
relates the electric and magnetic dipole polarisabilities. It is the most
precise measurement of this fundamental low-energy parameter of strong
interaction, that has been addressed since long by various methods with
conflicting outcomes. While this result is in tension with previous dedicated
measurements, it is found in agreement with the expectation from chiral
perturbation theory. An additional measurement replacing pions by muons, for
which the cross-section behavior is unambigiously known, was performed for an
independent estimate of the systematic uncertainty.Comment: Published version: 9 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl
Azimuthal asymmetries of charged hadrons produced by high-energy muons scattered off longitudinally polarised deuterons
Azimuthal asymmetries in semi-inclusive production of positive (h^+) and
negative hadrons (h^-) have been measured by scattering 160 GeV muons off
longitudinally polarised deuterons at CERN. The asymmetries were decomposed in
several terms according to their expected modulation in the azimuthal angle phi
of the outgoing hadron. Each term receives contributions from one or several
spin and transverse-momentum-dependent parton distribution and fragmentation
functions. The amplitudes of all phi-modulation terms of the hadron asymmetries
integrated over the kinematic variables are found to be consistent with zero
within statistical errors, while the constant terms are nonzero and equal for
h^+ and h^- within the statistical errors. The dependencies of the
phi-modulated terms versus the Bjorken momentum fraction x, the hadron
fractional momentum z, and the hadron transverse momentum p_h^T were studied.
The x dependence of the constant terms for both positive and negative hadrons
is in agreement with the longitudinal double-spin hadron asymmetries, measured
in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering. The x dependence of the sin
phi-modulation term is less pronounced than that in the corresponding HERMES
data. All other dependencies of the phi-modulation amplitudes are consistent
with zero within the statistical errors.Comment: 12 pages, 11 Figures; revision 1 signs in Eq 5 corrected, polishe
Observation of a J^PC = 1-+ exotic resonance in diffractive dissociation of 190 GeV/c pi- into pi- pi- pi+
The COMPASS experiment at the CERN SPS has studied the diffractive
dissociation of negative pions into the pi- pi- pi+ final state using a 190
GeV/c pion beam hitting a lead target. A partial wave analysis has been
performed on a sample of 420000 events taken at values of the squared
4-momentum transfer t' between 0.1 and 1 GeV^2/c^2. The well-known resonances
a1(1260), a2(1320), and pi2(1670) are clearly observed. In addition, the data
show a significant natural parity exchange production of a resonance with
spin-exotic quantum numbers J^PC = 1-+ at 1.66 GeV/c^2 decaying to rho pi. The
resonant nature of this wave is evident from the mass-dependent phase
differences to the J^PC = 2-+ and 1++ waves. From a mass-dependent fit a
resonance mass of 1660 +- 10+0-64 MeV/c^2 and a width of 269+-21+42-64 MeV/c^2
is deduced.Comment: 7 page, 3 figures; version 2 gives some more details, data unchanged;
version 3 updated authors, text shortened, data unchange
Collins and Sivers asymmetries in muonproduction of pions and kaons off transversely polarised proton
Measurements of the Collins and Sivers asymmetries for charged pions and
charged and neutral kaons produced in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering
of high energy muons off transversely polarised protons are presented. The
results were obtained using all the available COMPASS proton data, which were
taken in the years 2007 and 2010. The Collins asymmetries exhibit in the
valence region a non-zero signal for pions and there are hints of non-zero
signal also for kaons. The Sivers asymmetries are found to be positive for
positive pions and kaons and compatible with zero otherwise.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures and 1 tabl
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