436 research outputs found
Lunar Prospector: a Preliminary Surface Remote Sensing Resource Assessment for the Moon
The potential existence of lunar volatiles is a scientific discovery that could distinctly change the direction of pathways of inner solar system human expansion. With a dedicated germanium gamma ray spectrometer launched in the early 1990's, surface water concentrations of 0.7 percent could be detected immediately upon full lunar polar orbit operations. The expense of lunar base construction and operation would be dramatically reduced over a scenario with no lunar volatile resources. Global surface mineral distribution could be mapped out and integrated into a GIS database for lunar base site selection. Extensive surface lunar mapping would also result in the utilization of archived Apollo images. A variety of remote sensing systems and their parameters have been proposed for use in the detection of these lunar ice masses. The detection or nondetection of subsurface and surface ice masses in lunar polar crater floors could dramatically direct the development pathways that the human race might follow in its radiation from the Earth to habitable locales in the inner terran solar system. Potential sources of lunar volatiles are described. The use of remote sensing to detect lunar volatiles is addressed
Utilization of Geographic Information System in Lunar Mapping
Substantial digital remote sensing, lunar orbital photography, Earth-based remote sensing, and mapping of a variety of surficial lunar phenomena have occurred since the advent of the Space Age. This has led to a bewildering and quite disparate collection of archival sources insofar as this digital data and its cartographic representation can be found within many countries of the world. The importance of this mapping program in support of human expansion onto our nearest planetary neighbor has been recognized. A series of small scale maps of the Moon at 1 km to 1 cm, done with the support of Geographic Information System (GIS), would serve decision makers well in the process of accessing the development of manned occupance of the Moon. Maps and the data that they are derived from are the primary way in which people explore new environments and use previously discovered data to increase the bounties of any exploration. The inherent advantage of GIS is that it would allow immediate online access on the Moon of topographically represented data with analysis either on site or from Earth
The eleven observations of comets between 687 AD and 1114 AD recorded in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle
This research paper is an examination of the eleven cometary references (679AD, 729AD, 892AD, 950AD, 975AD, 995AD, 1066AD, 1097AD, 1106AD, 1110AD and 1114AD) found in the various manuscripts of The Anglo Saxon Chronicle between 678 AD and 1114 AD. The manuscripts contain more than 35 celestial observations. This is an examination of astronomical phenomena and other climatic or natural events, that are described in The Anglo Saxon Chronicle, which is also referred to as The Old English Annals
Pseudomoduli Dark Matter and Quiver Gauge Theories
We investigate supersymmetric models for dark matter which is represented by
pseudomoduli in weakly coupled hidden sectors. We propose a scheme to add a
dark matter sector to quiver gauge theories with metastable supersymmetry
breaking. We discuss the embedding of such scheme in string theory and we
describe the dark matter sector in terms of D7 flavour branes. We explore the
phenomenology in various regions of the parameters.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures, JHEP3.cl
Transformation kinetics of alloys under non-isothermal conditions
The overall solid-to-solid phase transformation kinetics under non-isothermal
conditions has been modeled by means of a differential equation method. The
method requires provisions for expressions of the fraction of the transformed
phase in equilibrium condition and the relaxation time for transition as
functions of temperature. The thermal history is an input to the model. We have
used the method to calculate the time/temperature variation of the volume
fraction of the favored phase in the alpha-to-beta transition in a zirconium
alloy under heating and cooling, in agreement with experimental results. We
also present a formulation that accounts for both additive and non-additive
phase transformation processes. Moreover, a method based on the concept of path
integral, which considers all the possible paths in thermal histories to reach
the final state, is suggested.Comment: 16 pages, 7 figures. To appear in Modelling Simul. Mater. Sci. En
Conservative Constraints on Dark Matter from the Fermi-LAT Isotropic Diffuse Gamma-Ray Background Spectrum
We examine the constraints on final state radiation from Weakly Interacting
Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter candidates annihilating into various
standard model final states, as imposed by the measurement of the isotropic
diffuse gamma-ray background by the Large Area Telescope aboard the Fermi
Gamma-Ray Space Telescope. The expected isotropic diffuse signal from dark
matter annihilation has contributions from the local Milky Way (MW) as well as
from extragalactic dark matter. The signal from the MW is very insensitive to
the adopted dark matter profile of the halos, and dominates the signal from
extragalactic halos, which is sensitive to the low mass cut-off of the halo
mass function. We adopt a conservative model for both the low halo mass
survival cut-off and the substructure boost factor of the Galactic and
extragalactic components, and only consider the primary final state radiation.
This provides robust constraints which reach the thermal production
cross-section for low mass WIMPs annihilating into hadronic modes. We also
reanalyze limits from HESS observations of the Galactic Ridge region using a
conservative model for the dark matter halo profile. When combined with the
HESS constraint, the isotropic diffuse spectrum rules out all interpretations
of the PAMELA positron excess based on dark matter annihilation into two lepton
final states. Annihilation into four leptons through new intermediate states,
although constrained by the data, is not excluded.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. v3: minor revisions, matches version to appear
in JCA
A Brief Review on Dark Matter Annihilation Explanation for Excesses in Cosmic Ray
Recently data from PAMELA, ATIC, FERMI-LAT and HESS show that there are
excesses in the cosmic ray energy spectrum. PAMELA observed excesses
only in , but not in anti-proton spectrum. ATIC, FERMI-LAT and HESS
observed excesses in spectrum, but the detailed shapes are different
which requires future experimental observations to pin down the correct data
set. Nevertheless a lot of efforts have been made to explain the observed
excesses, and also why PAMELA only observed excesses in but not
in anti-proton. In this brief review we discuss one of the most popular
mechanisms to explain the data, the dark matter annihilation. It has long been
known that about 23% of our universe is made of relic dark matter. If the relic
dark matter was thermally produced, the annihilation rate is constrained
resulting in the need of a large boost factor to explain the data. We will
discuss in detail how a large boost factor can be obtained by the Sommerfeld
and Briet-Wigner enhancement mechanisms. Some implications for particle physics
model buildings will also be discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures. Several typoes corrected and some references
added. Published in Mod. Phys. Lett. A, Vol. 24, No. 27 (2009) pp. 2139-216
- …