625 research outputs found
Recent tests at Langley with a University of Tennessee Space Institute (UTSI) skin friction balance
The experience at LaRC with the University of Tennessee Space Institute skin friction balances is summarized. The Karman-Schoenherr flat plate skin friction formulation is included for comparison. It is concluded that the balance is capable of operation in environments as diverse as cryogenic, transonic, high-shear rate of the 0.3 meter Transonic Cryogenic Tunnel, and high-temperature supersonic environment of the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel. Proposed new research is outlined
Galactic cosmic rays on extrasolar Earth-like planets: II. Atmospheric implications
(abridged abstract) Theoretical arguments indicate that close-in terrestial
exoplanets may have weak magnetic fields. As described in the companion article
(Paper I), a weak magnetic field results in a high flux of galactic cosmic rays
to the top of the planetary atmosphere. We investigate effects that may result
from a high flux of galactic cosmic rays both throughout the atmosphere and at
the planetary surface. Using an air shower approach, we calculate how the
atmospheric chemistry and temperature change under the influence of galactic
cosmic rays for Earth-like (N_2-O_2 dominated) atmospheres. We evaluate the
production and destruction rate of atmospheric biosignature molecules. We
derive planetary emission and transmission spectra to study the influence of
galactic cosmic rays on biosignature detectability. We then calculate the
resulting surface UV flux, the surface particle flux, and the associated
equivalent biological dose rates. We find that up to 20% of stratospheric ozone
is destroyed by cosmic-ray protons. The reduction of the planetary ozone layer
leads to an increase in the weighted surface UV flux by two orders of magnitude
under stellar UV flare conditions. The resulting biological effective dose rate
is, however, too low to strongly affect surface life. We also examine the
surface particle flux: For a planet with a terrestrial atmosphere, a reduction
of the magnetic shielding efficiency can increase the biological radiation dose
rate by a factor of two. For a planet with a weaker atmosphere (with a surface
pressure of 97.8 hPa), the planetary magnetic field has a much stronger
influence on the biological radiation dose, changing it by up to two orders of
magnitude.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, published in A&
Galactic cosmic rays on extrasolar Earth-like planets I. Cosmic ray flux
(abridged abstract) Theoretical arguments indicate that close-in terrestial
exoplanets may have weak magnetic fields, especially in the case of planets
more massive than Earth (super-Earths). Planetary magnetic fields, however,
constitute one of the shielding layers that protect the planet against
cosmic-ray particles. In particular, a weak magnetic field results in a high
flux of Galactic cosmic rays that extends to the top of the planetary
atmosphere. We wish to quantify the flux of Galactic cosmic rays to an
exoplanetary atmosphere as a function of the particle energy and of the
planetary magnetic moment. We numerically analyzed the propagation of Galactic
cosmic-ray particles through planetary magnetospheres. We evaluated the
efficiency of magnetospheric shielding as a function of the particle energy (in
the range 16 MeV E 524 GeV) and as a function of the planetary
magnetic field strength (in the range 0 {M} 10
). Combined with the flux outside the planetary magnetosphere, this
gives the cosmic-ray energy spectrum at the top of the planetary atmosphere as
a function of the planetary magnetic moment. We find that the particle flux to
the planetary atmosphere can be increased by more than three orders of
magnitude in the absence of a protecting magnetic field. For a weakly
magnetized planet (), only particles with energies
below 512 MeV are at least partially shielded. For a planet with a magnetic
moment similar to Earth, this limit increases to 32 GeV, whereas for a strongly
magnetized planet (), partial shielding extends up to 200
GeV. We find that magnetic shielding strongly controls the number of cosmic-ray
particles reaching the planetary atmosphere. The implications of this increased
particle flux are discussed in a companion article.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures; accepted in A&
Inferring hidden states in Langevin dynamics on large networks: Average case performance
We present average performance results for dynamical inference problems in
large networks, where a set of nodes is hidden while the time trajectories of
the others are observed. Examples of this scenario can occur in signal
transduction and gene regulation networks. We focus on the linear stochastic
dynamics of continuous variables interacting via random Gaussian couplings of
generic symmetry. We analyze the inference error, given by the variance of the
posterior distribution over hidden paths, in the thermodynamic limit and as a
function of the system parameters and the ratio {\alpha} between the number of
hidden and observed nodes. By applying Kalman filter recursions we find that
the posterior dynamics is governed by an "effective" drift that incorporates
the effect of the observations. We present two approaches for characterizing
the posterior variance that allow us to tackle, respectively, equilibrium and
nonequilibrium dynamics. The first appeals to Random Matrix Theory and reveals
average spectral properties of the inference error and typical posterior
relaxation times, the second is based on dynamical functionals and yields the
inference error as the solution of an algebraic equation.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
Sub-milliarcsecond precision spectro-astrometry of Be stars
The origin of the disks around Be stars is still not known. Further progress
requires a proper parametrization of their structure, both spatially and
kinematically. This is challenging as the disks are very small. Here we assess
whether a novel method is capable of providing these data. We obtained spectro
astrometry around the Pa beta line of two bright Be stars, alpha Col and zeta
Tau, to search for disk signatures. The data, with a pixel to pixel precision
of the centroid position of 0.3..0.4 milliarcsecond is the most accurate such
data to date. Artefacts at the 0.85 mas level are present in the data, but
these are readily identified as they were non-repeatable in our redundant
datasets. This does illustrate the need of taking multiple data to avoid
spurious detections. The data are compared with simple model simulations of the
spectro astrometric signatures due to rotating disks around Be stars. The upper
limits we find for the disk radii correspond to disk sizes of a few dozen
stellar radii if they rotate Keplerian. This is very close to observationally
measured and theoretically expected disk sizes, and this paper therefore
demonstrates that spectro-astrometry, of which we present the first such
attempt, has the potential to resolve the disks around Be stars.Comment: 6 pages, A&A accepte
Grown-up stars physics with MATISSE
MATISSE represents a great opportunity to image the environment around
massive and evolved stars. This will allow one to put constraints on the
circumstellar structure, on the mass ejection of dust and its reorganization ,
and on the dust-nature and formation processes. MATISSE measurements will often
be pivotal for the understanding of large multiwavelength datasets on the same
targets collected through many high-angular resolution facilities at ESO like
sub-millimeter interferometry (ALMA), near-infrared adaptive optics (NACO,
SPHERE), interferometry (PIONIER, GRAVITY), spectroscopy (CRIRES), and
mid-infrared imaging (VISIR). Among main sequence and evolved stars, several
cases of interest have been identified that we describe in this paper.Comment: SPIE, Jun 2016, Edimbourgh, Franc
Removing the Big Bang Singularity: The role of the generalized uncertainty principle in quantum gravity
The possibility of avoiding the big bang singularity by means of a
generalized uncertainty principle is investigated. In relation with this
matter, the statistical mechanics of a free-particle system obeying the
generalized uncertainty principle is studied and it is shown that the entropy
of the system has a finite value in the infinite temperature limit. It is then
argued that negative temperatures and negative pressures are possible in this
system. Finally, it is shown that this model can remove the big bang
singularity.Comment: 8 pages, Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc
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