21,943 research outputs found
In-orbit Vignetting Calibrations of XMM-Newton Telescopes
We describe measurements of the mirror vignetting in the XMM-Newton
Observatory made in-orbit, using observations of SNR G21.5-09 and SNR
3C58 with the EPIC imaging cameras. The instrument features that complicate
these measurements are briefly described. We show the spatial and energy
dependences of measured vignetting, outlining assumptions made in deriving the
eventual agreement between simulation and measurement. Alternate methods to
confirm these are described, including an assessment of source elongation with
off-axis angle, the surface brightness distribution of the diffuse X-ray
background, and the consistency of Coma cluster emission at different position
angles. A synthesis of these measurements leads to a change in the XMM
calibration data base, for the optical axis of two of the three telescopes, by
in excess of 1 arcminute. This has a small but measureable effect on the
assumed spectral responses of the cameras for on-axis targets.Comment: Accepted by Experimental Astronomy. 26 pages, 18 figure
Promoting Values Development Through Community Service: A Design
Human society has become technologically complex, resulting in heightened global interdependency. However, rather than observing an era of collaboration and cooperation, we have witnessed a rise in individual and societal egocentrism (Newman, 1985 )
Investigation of shock waves in the relativistic Riemann problem: A comparison of viscous fluid dynamics to kinetic theory
We solve the relativistic Riemann problem in viscous matter using the
relativistic Boltzmann equation and the relativistic causal dissipative
fluid-dynamical approach of Israel and Stewart. Comparisons between these two
approaches clarify and point out the regime of validity of second-order fluid
dynamics in relativistic shock phenomena. The transition from ideal to viscous
shocks is demonstrated by varying the shear viscosity to entropy density ratio
. We also find that a good agreement between these two approaches
requires a Knudsen number .Comment: Version as published in PRC 82, 024910 (2010); 16 pages, 16 figures,
typos correcte
Configuration of a Smectic A Liquid Crystal Due to an Isolated Edge Dislocation
We discuss the static configuration of a smectic A liquid crystal subject to an edge dislocation under the assumption the the director and layer normal fields ( n and a , respectively) defining the smectic arrangement are not, in general, equivalent. After constructing the energy density for the smectic, we obtain exact solutions to the equilibrium equations which result from its minimisation at quadratic order in the variables which describe the distortion, and hence a complete description of the smectic configuration across the domain of the sample. We also examine the effect of relaxing the constraint n ≡ a for different values of the constants which characterise the response of the material to distortions, and compare these results with the "classical" case considered by previous authors, in which equivalence of n and a is enforced
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