248 research outputs found
Advanced transport operating system software upgrade: Flight management/flight controls software description
The Flight Management/Flight Controls (FM/FC) software for the Norden 2 (PDP-11/70M) computer installed on the NASA 737 aircraft is described. The software computes the navigation position estimates, guidance commands, those commands to be issued to the control surfaces to direct the aircraft in flight based on the modes selected on the Advanced Guidance Control System (AGSC) mode panel, and the flight path selected via the Navigation Control/Display Unit (NCDU)
Temperature dependence of the diffuse scattering fine structure in equiatomic CuAu
The temperature dependence of the diffuse scattering fine structure from
disordered equiatomic CuAu was studied using {\it in situ} x-ray scattering. In
contrast to CuAu the diffuse peak splitting in CuAu was found to be
relatively insensitive to temperature. Consequently, no evidence for a
divergence of the antiphase length-scale at the transition temperature was
found. At all temperatures studied the peak splitting is smaller than the value
corresponding to the CuAuII modulated phase. An extended Ginzburg-Landau
approach is used to explain the temperature dependence of the diffuse peak
profiles in the ordering and modulation directions. The estimated mean-field
instability point is considerably lower than is the case for CuAu.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
Point-charge electrostatics in disordered alloys
A simple analytic model of point-ion electrostatics has been previously
proposed in which the magnitude of the net charge q_i on each atom in an
ordered or random alloy depends linearly on the number N_i^(1) of unlike
neighbors in its first coordination shell. Point charges extracted from recent
large supercell (256-432 atom) local density approximation (LDA) calculations
of Cu-Zn random alloys now enable an assessment of the physical validity and
accuracy of the simple model. We find that this model accurately describes (i)
the trends in q_i vs. N_i^(1), particularly for fcc alloys, (ii) the magnitudes
of total electrostatic energies in random alloys, (iii) the relationships
between constant-occupation-averaged charges and Coulomb shifts
(i.e., the average over all sites occupied by either or atoms) in the
random alloy, and (iv) the linear relation between the site charge q_i and the
constant- charge-averaged Coulomb shift (i.e., the average over all sites with
the same charge) for fcc alloys. However, for bcc alloys the fluctuations
predicted by the model in the q_i vs. V_i relation exceed those found in the
LDA supercell calculations. We find that (a) the fluctuations present in the
model have a vanishing contribution to the electrostatic energy. (b)
Generalizing the model to include a dependence of the charge on the atoms in
the first three (two) shells in bcc (fcc) - rather than the first shell only -
removes the fluctuations, in complete agreement with the LDA data. We also
demonstrate an efficient way to extract charge transfer parameters of the
generalized model from LDA calculations on small unit cells.Comment: 15 pages, ReVTeX galley format, 7 eps figures embedded using psfig,
to be published in Phys. Rev.
Using Early Data to Illuminate the Pioneer Anomaly
Analysis of the radio tracking data from the Pioneer 10/11 spacecraft at
distances between about 20 - 70 AU from the Sun has consistently indicated the
presence of an unmodeled, small, constant, Doppler blue shift drift of order 6
\times 10^{-9} Hz/s. After accounting for systematics, this drift can be
interpreted as a constant acceleration of a_P= (8.74 \pm 1.33) \times 10^{-8}
cm/s^2 directed towards the Sun, or perhaps as a time acceleration of a_t =
(2.92 \pm 0.44)\times 10^{-18} s/s^2. Although it is suspected that there is a
systematic origin to this anomaly, none has been unambiguously demonstrated. We
review the current status of the anomaly, and then point out how the analysis
of early data, which was never analyzed in detail, could allow a more clear
understanding of the origin of the anomaly, be it a systematic or a
manifestation of unsuspected physics.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, additional materia
Effects of anharmonic strain on phase stability of epitaxial films and superlattices: applications to noble metals
Epitaxial strain energies of epitaxial films and bulk superlattices are
studied via first-principles total energy calculations using the local-density
approximation. Anharmonic effects due to large lattice mismatch, beyond the
reach of the harmonic elasticity theory, are found to be very important in
Cu/Au (lattice mismatch 12%), Cu/Ag (12%) and Ni/Au (15%). We find that
is the elastically soft direction for biaxial expansion of Cu and Ni, but it is
for large biaxial compression of Cu, Ag, and Au. The stability of
superlattices is discussed in terms of the coherency strain and interfacial
energies. We find that in phase-separating systems such as Cu-Ag the
superlattice formation energies decrease with superlattice period, and the
interfacial energy is positive. Superlattices are formed easiest on (001) and
hardest on (111) substrates. For ordering systems, such as Cu-Au and Ag-Au, the
formation energy of superlattices increases with period, and interfacial
energies are negative. These superlattices are formed easiest on (001) or (110)
and hardest on (111) substrates. For Ni-Au we find a hybrid behavior:
superlattices along and like in phase-separating systems, while for
they behave like in ordering systems. Finally, recent experimental
results on epitaxial stabilization of disordered Ni-Au and Cu-Ag alloys,
immiscible in the bulk form, are explained in terms of destabilization of the
phase separated state due to lattice mismatch between the substrate and
constituents.Comment: RevTeX galley format, 16 pages, includes 9 EPS figures, to appear in
Physical Review
Screened Coulomb interactions in metallic alloys: I. Universal screening in the atomic sphere approximation
We have used the locally self-consistent Green's function (LSGF) method in
supercell calculations to establish the distribution of the net charges
assigned to the atomic spheres of the alloy components in metallic alloys with
different compositions and degrees of order. This allows us to determine the
Madelung potential energy of a random alloy in the single-site mean field
approximation which makes the conventional single-site density-functional-
theory coherent potential approximation (SS-DFT-CPA) method practically
identical to the supercell LSGF method with a single-site local interaction
zone that yields an exact solution of the DFT problem. We demonstrate that the
basic mechanism which governs the charge distribution is the screening of the
net charges of the alloy components that makes the direct Coulomb interactions
short-ranged. In the atomic sphere approximation, this screening appears to be
almost independent of the alloy composition, lattice spacing, and crystal
structure. A formalism which allows a consistent treatment of the screened
Coulomb interactions within the single-site mean-filed approximation is
outlined. We also derive the contribution of the screened Coulomb interactions
to the S2 formalism and the generalized perturbation method.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure
Magnetic properties of X-Pt (X=Fe,Co,Ni) alloy systems
We have studied the electronic and magnetic properties of Fe-Pt, Co-Pt and
Ni-Pt alloy systems in ordered and disordered phases. The influence of various
exchange-correlation functionals on values of equilibrium lattice parameters
and magnetic moments in ordered Fe-Pt, Co-Pt and Ni-Pt alloys have been studied
using linearized muffin-tin orbital method. The electronic structure
calculations for the disordered alloys have been carried out using augmented
space recursion technique in the framework of tight binding linearized
muffin-tin orbital method. The effect of short range order has also been
studied in the disordered phase of these systems. The results show good
agreements with available experimental values.Comment: 21 pages, 4 eps figures, accepted for publication in Journal of
Physics Condensed Matte
Cation- and vacancy-ordering in Li_xCoO_2
Using a combination of first-principles total energies, a cluster expansion
technique, and Monte Carlo simulations, we have studied the Li/Co ordering in
LiCoO_2 and Li-vacancy/Co ordering in CoO_2. We find: (i) A ground state search
of the space of substitutional cation configurations yields the (layered) CuPt
structure as the lowest-energy state in the octahedral system LiCoO_2 (and
CoO_2), in agreement with the experimentally observed phase. (ii) Finite
temperature calculations predict that the solid-state order- disorder
transitions for LiCoO_2 and CoO_2 occur at temperatures (~5100 K and ~4400 K,
respectively) much higher than melting, thus making these transitions
experimentally inaccessible. (iii) The energy of the reaction E(LiCoO_2) -
E(CoO_2) - E(Li) gives the average battery voltage V of a Li_xCoO_2/Li cell.
Searching the space of configurations for large average voltages, we find that
CuPt (a monolayer superlattice) has a high voltage (V=3.78 V), but that
this could be increased by cation randomization (V=3.99 V), partial disordering
(V=3.86 V), or by forming a 2-layer Li_2Co_2O_4 superlattice along
(V=4.90 V).Comment: 12 Pages, RevTeX galley format, 5 figures embedded using epsf Phys.
Rev. B (in press, 1998
Local Charge Excesses in Metallic Alloys: a Local Field Coherent Potential Approximation Theory
Electronic structure calculations performed on very large supercells have
shown that the local charge excesses in metallic alloys are related through
simple linear relations to the local electrostatic field resulting from
distribution of charges in the whole crystal.
By including local external fields in the single site Coherent Potential
Approximation theory, we develop a novel theoretical scheme in which the local
charge excesses for random alloys can be obtained as the responses to local
external fields. Our model maintains all the computational advantages of a
single site theory but allows for full charge relaxation at the impurity sites.
Through applications to CuPd and CuZn alloys, we find that, as a general rule,
non linear charge rearrangements occur at the impurity site as a consequence of
the complex phenomena related with the electronic screening of the external
potential. This nothwithstanding, we observe that linear relations hold between
charge excesses and external potentials, in quantitative agreement with the
mentioned supercell calculations, and well beyond the limits of linearity for
any other site property.Comment: 11 pages, 1 table, 7 figure
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