Binary black-hole evolutions of excision and puncture data

We present a new numerical code developed for the evolution of binary black-hole spacetimes using different initial data and evolution techniques. The code is demonstrated to produce state-of-the-art simulations of orbiting and inspiralling black-hole binaries with convergent waveforms. We also present the first detailed study of the dependence of gravitational waveforms resulting from three-dimensional evolutions of different types of initial data. For this purpose we compare the waveforms generated by head-on collisions of superposed Kerr-Schild, Misner and Brill-Lindquist data over a wide range of initial separations.Comment: 21 pages, 13 figures, final version accepted for publication in PR

The Economic Impact of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act in Clark County, Nevada – Preliminary Findings

Objective. The primary purpose of this exploratory study was to quantitatively evaluate the economic impact of the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act (NCIAA) on businesses in Clark County. Methods. The goal of this research was to assess economic indicators over a ten year period utilizing measurable data points, including restaurant and drinking establishment employment rates, taxable sales, openings and closings, as well as slot gaming revenues. This ten year time period consisted of a seven year span prior to the enactment of the NCIAA, and three years post enactment. Researchers conceived this study as a means to independently evaluate and address the potential economic impact of a smoke-free law in a region dependent upon tourism and gaming. Results. Economic indicators did in fact decrease after the NCIAA was enforced but most of the declining trends began prior to the passage of the smoke-free act and are consistent with downward trends in other, non-NCIAA affected segments of our economy. Conclusion. The overall findings of this study are consistent with similar non-tobacco industry supported economic studies showing little or no statistically significant downward economic trends after passage of smoke-free legislation

The Measure of Cosmological Parameters

New, large, ground and space telescopes are contributing to an exciting and rapid period of growth in observational cosmology. The subject is now far from its earlier days of being data-starved and unconstrained, and new data are fueling a healthy interplay between observations and experiment and theory. I briefly review here the status of measurements of a number of quantities of interest in cosmology: the Hubble constant, the total mass-energy density, the matter density, the cosmological constant or dark energy component, and the total optical background light.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to be published in "2001: A Spacetime Odyssey: Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Michigan Center for Theoretical Physics", Michael J. Duff & James T. Liu, eds., (World Scientific, Singapore), in pres

Analytical and Experimental Evaluation of the Heat Transfer Distribution over the Surfaces of Turbine Vanes

Three airfoil data sets were selected for use in evaluating currently available analytical models for predicting airfoil surface heat transfer distributions in a 2-D flow field. Two additional airfoils, representative of highly loaded, low solidity airfoils currently being designed, were selected for cascade testing at simulated engine conditions. Some 2-D analytical methods were examined and a version of the STAN5 boundary layer code was chosen for modification. The final form of the method utilized a time dependent, transonic inviscid cascade code coupled to a modified version of the STAN5 boundary layer code featuring zero order turbulence modeling. The boundary layer code is structured to accommodate a full spectrum of empirical correlations addressing the coupled influences of pressure gradient, airfoil curvature, and free-stream turbulence on airfoil surface heat transfer distribution and boundary layer transitional behavior. Comparison of pedictions made with the model to the data base indicates a significant improvement in predictive capability

Potential Legal Facilitation or Impediment of Wind Energy Conversion System Siting

The purpose of this article is to broadly identify competing interests at stake in wind energy conversion systems (WECS) development and the potential constraints of local, state, and federal regulation and common law principles on the siting of WECS. First, the article addresses common law and regulatory means of facilitating wind energy development by protecting the WECS developer\u27s interest in unobstructed wind flow. Second, it examines the potential restriction of WECS development by common law and regulatory responses to the demands of neighbors and the general public whose interests may be detrimentally affected by wind turbine operation

Self-Renormalization of the Classical Quasilocal Energy

Pointlike objects cause many of the divergences that afflict physical theories. For instance, the gravitational binding energy of a point particle in Newtonian mechanics is infinite. In general relativity, the analog of a point particle is a black hole and the notion of binding energy must be replaced by quasilocal energy. The quasilocal energy (QLE) derived by York, and elaborated by Brown and York, is finite outside the horizon but it was not considered how to evaluate it inside the horizon. We present a prescription for finding the QLE inside a horizon, and show that it is finite at the singularity for a variety of types of black hole. The energy is typically concentrated just inside the horizon, not at the central singularity.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Brown-York Energy and Radial Geodesics

We compare the Brown-York (BY) and the standard Misner-Sharp (MS) quasilocal energies for round spheres in spherically symmetric space-times from the point of view of radial geodesics. In particular, we show that the relation between the BY and MS energies is precisely analogous to that between the (relativistic) energy E of a geodesic and the effective (Newtonian) energy E_{eff} appearing in the geodesic equation, thus shedding some light on the relation between the two. Moreover, for Schwarzschild-like metrics we establish a general relationship between the BY energy and the geodesic effective potential which explains and generalises the recently observed connection between negative BY energy and the repulsive behaviour of geodesics in the Reissner-Nordstrom metric. We also comment on the extension of this connection between geodesics and the quasilocal BY energy to regions inside a horizon.Comment: v3: 7 pages, shortened and revised version to appear in CQ

Constraining Large Scale Structure Theories with the Cosmic Background Radiation

We review the relevant 10+ parameters associated with inflation and matter content; the relation between LSS and primary and secondary CMB anisotropy probes; COBE constraints on energy injection; current anisotropy band-powers which strongly support the gravitational instability theory and suggest the universe could not have reionized too early. We use Bayesian analysis methods to determine what current CMB and CMB+LSS data imply for inflation-based Gaussian fluctuations in tilted $\Lambda$CDM, $\Lambda$hCDM and oCDM model sequences with age 11-15 Gyr, consisting of mixtures of baryons, cold (and possibly hot) dark matter, vacuum energy, and curvature energy in open cosmologies. For example, we find the slope of the initial spectrum is within about 5% of the (preferred) scale invariant form when just the CMB data is used, and for $\Lambda$CDM when LSS data is combined with CMB; with both, a nonzero value of $\Omega_\Lambda$ is strongly preferred ($\approx 2/3$ for a 13 Gyr sequence, similar to the value from SNIa). The $o$CDM sequence prefers $\Omega_{tot}<1$, but is overall much less likely than the flat $\Omega_\Lambda \ne 0$ sequence with CMB+LSS. We also review the rosy forecasts of angular power spectra and parameter estimates from future balloon and satellite experiments when foreground and systematic effects are ignored.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures, 2 tables, uses rspublic.sty To appear in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A, 1998. "Discussion Meeting on Large Scale Structure in the Universe," Royal Society, London, March 1998. Text and colour figures also available at ftp://ftp.cita.utoronto.ca/bond/roysoc9