Influence of misalignments on performance of externally occulted solar coronagraphs. Application to PROBA-3/ASPIICS

ASPIICS is a novel externally occulted coronagraph that will be launched onboard the PROBA-3 mission of ESA. The external occulter (EO) will be placed on one satellite ~150 m ahead of the second satellite with an optical instrument. During part of each orbit, the satellites will fly in a precise formation, constituting a giant externally occulted coronagraph. Large distance between the EO and the primary objective will allow observations of the white-light solar corona starting already from ~1.1RSun. We analyze influence of shifts of the satellites and misalignments of optical elements on diffracted light. Based on the quantitative influence of misalignments on diffracted light, we will provide a "recipe" for choosing the size of the internal occulter (IO) to achieve a trade-off between the minimal height of observations and sustainability to possible misalignments. We implement a numerical model of the diffracted light and its propagation through the optical system, and compute intensities of diffracted light throughout the instrument. Our numerical model extends axi-symmetrical model of Rougeot et al. 2017 to non-symmetrical cases. The computations fully confirm main properties of the diffracted light obtained from semi-analytical consideration. Results: relative influences of various misalignments are significantly different. We show that: the IO with R=1.1RSun is large enough to compensate possible misalignments in ASPIICS, apodizing the edge of the IO leads to additional suppression of the diffracted light. Conclusions: the most important misalignment is the tilt of the telescope WRT the line connecting the center of the EO and the entrance aperture. Special care should be taken to co-align the EO and the coronagraph, i.e. co-aligning the diffraction fringe from the EO and the IO. We suggest that the best orientation strategy is to point the coronagraph to the center of the EO.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figure

Elastic Scattering of 6^6He based on a Cluster Description

Elastic scattering observables (differential cross section and analyzing power) are calculated for the reaction $^6$He(p,p)$^6$He at projectile energies starting at 71 MeV/nucleon. The optical potential needed to describe the reaction is derived describing $^6$He in terms of a $^4$He-core and two neutrons. The Watson first order multiple scattering ansatz is extended to accommodate the internal dynamics of a composite cluster model for the $^6$He nucleus scattering from a nucleon projectile. The calculations are compared with the recent experiments at the projectile energy of 71 MeV/nucleon. In addition, differential cross sections and analyzing powers are calculated at selected higher energies.Comment: To be published in Phy. Rev.

Exploring manifestation and nature of a dineutron in two-neutron emission using a dynamical dineutron model

Emission of two neutrons or two protons in reactions and decays is often discussed in terms of "dineutron" or "diproton" emission. The discussion often leans intuitively on something described by Migdal-Watson approximation. In this work we propose a way to formalize situations of dineutron emission. It is demonstrated that properly formally defined dineutron emission may reveal properties which are drastically different from those traditionally expected, and properties which are actually observed in three-body decays.Comment: 11 pages, 11 Figure

Modeling and removal of optical ghosts in the PROBA-3/ASPIICS externally occulted solar coronagraph

Context: ASPIICS is a novel externally occulted solar coronagraph, which will be launched onboard the PROBA-3 mission of the European Space Agency. The external occulter will be placed on the first satellite approximately 150 m ahead of the second satellite that will carry an optical instrument. During 6 hours per orbit, the satellites will fly in a precise formation, constituting a giant externally occulted coronagraph. Large distance between the external occulter and the primary objective will allow observations of the white-light solar corona starting from extremely low heights 1.1RSun. Aims: To analyze influence of optical ghost images formed inside the telescope and develop an algorithm for their removal. Methods: We implement the optical layout of ASPIICS in Zemax and study the ghost behaviour in sequential and non-sequential regimes. We identify sources of the ghost contributions and analyze their geometrical behaviour. Finally we develop a mathematical model and software to calculate ghost images for any given input image. Results: We show that ghost light can be important in the outer part of the field of view, where the coronal signal is weak, since the energy of bright inner corona is redistributed to the outer corona. However the model allows to remove the ghost contribution. Due to a large distance between the external occulter and the primary objective, the primary objective does not produce a significant ghost. The use of the Lyot spot in ASPIICS is not necessary.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure

Two-proton radioactivity and three-body decay. IV. Connection to quasiclassical formulation

We derive quasiclassical expressions for the three-body decay width and define the ``preexponential'' coefficients for them. The derivation is based on the integral formulae for the three-body width obtained in the semianalytical approach with simplified three-body Hamiltonian [L.V. Grigorenko and M.V.\ Zhukov, arXiv:0704.0920v1]. The model is applied to the decays of the first excited $3/2^{-}$ state of $^{17}$Ne and $3/2^{-}$ ground state of $^{45}$Fe. Various qualitative aspects of the model and relations with the other simplified approaches to the three-body decays are discussed.Comment: 9 Pages, 2 figure

Verification of model of calculation of intra-chamber parameters in hybrid solid-propellant rocket engines

On the basis of obtained analytical estimate of characteristics of hybrid solid-propellant rocket engine verification of earlier developed physical and mathematical model of processes in a hybrid solid-propellant rocket engine for quasi-steady-state flow regime was performed. Comparative analysis of calculated and analytical data indicated satisfactory comparability of simulation results

Decay mechanism and lifetime of 67^{67}Kr

The lifetime of the recently discovered $2p$ emitter $^{67}$Kr was recently found considerably below the lower limit predicted theoretically. This communication addresses this issue.Different separation energy systematics are analyzed and different mechanisms for $2p$ emission are evaluated. It is found that the most plausible reason for this disagreement is a decay mechanism of $^{67}$Kr, which is not "true $2p$" emission, but "transition dynamics" on the borderline between true $2p$ and sequential $2p$ decay mechanisms. If this is true, this imposes stringent limits $E_r=1.35-1.42$ MeV on the ground state energy of $^{66}$Br relative to the $^{65}$Se-$p$ threshold.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure