77,344 research outputs found
Ka-band (32 GHz) benefits to planned missions
The benefits of using 32 GHz downlinks for a set of deep space missions, as well as the implications to radio science and the Deep Space Network (DSN) are documented. The basic comparison is between the use of the current X-band (8.4 GHz) and a 32 GHZ (Ka-band) downlink. There was shown to be approximately an 8 dB (about 600%) link advantage for 32 GHz. This 8 dB advantage would be able to either reduce mission cost or improve mission science return. Included here are studies on how the 8 dB advantage would be used for the Cassini and Mars Sample Return missions. While the work is preliminary, it shows that the 8 dB advantage can be exploited to provide large benefits to future deep space missions. There can be significant mass and/or power savings to the spacecraft, which can translate into cost savings. Alternatively, the increased downlink telecommunications performance can provide a greater science return
Dislocation subgrain structures and modeling the plastic hardening of metallic single crystals
A single crystal plasticity theory for insertion into finite element simulation is formulated using sequential laminates to model subgrain dislocation structures. It is known that local models do not adequately account for latent hardening, as latent hardening is not only a material property, but a nonlocal property (e.g. grain size and shape). The addition of the nonlocal energy from the formation of subgrain structure dislocation walls and the boundary layer misfits provide both latent and self-hardening of a crystal slip. Latent hardening occurs as the formation of new dislocation walls limits motion of new mobile dislocations, thus hardening future slip systems. Self-hardening is accomplished by an evolution of the subgrain structure length scale. The substructure length scale is computed by minimizing the nonlocal energy. The minimization of the nonlocal energy is a competition between the dislocation wall energy and the boundary layer energies. The nonlocal terms are also directly minimized within the subgrain model as they affect deformation response. The geometrical relationship between the dislocation walls and slip planes affecting the dislocation mean free path is taken into account, giving a first-order approximation to shape effects. A coplanar slip model is developed due to requirements while modeling the subgrain structure. This subgrain structure plasticity model is noteworthy as all material parameters are experimentally determined rather than fit. The model also has an inherit path dependence due to the formation of the subgrain structures. Validation is accomplished by comparison with single crystal tension test results
PCA detection and denoising of Zeeman signatures in stellar polarised spectra
Our main objective is to develop a denoising strategy to increase the signal
to noise ratio of individual spectral lines of stellar spectropolarimetric
observations.
We use a multivariate statistics technique called Principal Component
Analysis. The cross-product matrix of the observations is diagonalized to
obtain the eigenvectors in which the original observations can be developed.
This basis is such that the first eigenvectors contain the greatest variance.
Assuming that the noise is uncorrelated a denoising is possible by
reconstructing the data with a truncated basis. We propose a method to identify
the number of eigenvectors for an efficient noise filtering.
Numerical simulations are used to demonstrate that an important increase of
the signal to noise ratio per spectral line is possible using PCA denoising
techniques. It can be also applied for detection of magnetic fields in stellar
atmospheres. We analyze the relation between PCA and commonly used well-known
techniques like line addition and least-squares deconvolution. Moreover, PCA is
very robust and easy to compute.Comment: accepted to be published in A&
Mesonic correlation functions at finite temperature and density in the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with a Polyakov loop
We investigate the properties of scalar and pseudo-scalar mesons at finite
temperature and quark chemical potential in the framework of the
Nambu-Jona-Lasinio (NJL) model coupled to the Polyakov loop (PNJL model) with
the aim of taking into account features of both chiral symmetry breaking and
deconfinement. The mesonic correlators are obtained by solving the
Schwinger-Dyson equation in the RPA approximation with the Hartree (mean field)
quark propagator at finite temperature and density. In the phase of broken
chiral symmetry a narrower width for the sigma meson is obtained with respect
to the NJL case; on the other hand, the pion still behaves as a Goldstone
boson. When chiral symmetry is restored, the pion and sigma spectral functions
tend to merge. The Mott temperature for the pion is also computed.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Shear Viscosity of Quark Matter
We consider the shear viscosity of a system of quarks and its ratio to the
entropy density above the critical temperature for deconfinement. Both
quantities are derived and computed for different modeling of the quark
self-energy, also allowing for a temperature dependence of the effective mass
and width. The behaviour of the viscosity and the entropy density is argued in
terms of the strength of the coupling and of the main characteristics of the
quark self-energy. A comparison with existing results is also discussed.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure
The SiRi Particle-Telescope System
A silicon particle-telescope system for light-ion nuclear reactions is
described. In particular, the system is designed to be optimized for level
density and gamma-ray strength function measurements with the so-called Oslo
method. Eight trapezoidal modules are mounted at 5 cm distance from the target,
covering 8 forward angles between theta = 40 and 54 degrees. The thin front dE
detectors (130 micrometer) are segmented into eight pads, determining the
reaction angle for the outgoing charged ejectile. Guard rings on the thick back
E detectors (1550 micrometer) guarantee low leakage current at high depletion
voltage.Comment: 6 pages, 8 figure
Observational and theoretical studies of the evolving structure of baroclinic waves
Dynamical processes involved in comma cloud formation, and passive tracer evolution in a baroclinic wave are discussed. An analytical solution was obtained demonstrating the complex nongeostrophic flow pattern involved in the redistribution of low level constituents in a finite amplitude baroclinic wave, and in the formation of the typical humidity and cloud distributions in such a wave. Observational and theoretical studies of blocking weather patterns in middle latitude flows were studied. The differences in the energy and enstrophy cascades in blocking and nonblocking situations were shown. It was established that pronounced upscale flow of both of these quantities, from intermediate to planetary scales, occurs during blocking episodes. The upscale flux of enstrophy, in particular, suggests that the persistence of blocking periods may be due to reduced dissipation of the large scale circulation and therefore entail some above normal predictability
Why does the Jeans Swindle work?
When measuring the mass profile of any given cosmological structure through
internal kinematics, the distant background density is always ignored. This
trick is often refereed to as the "Jeans Swindle". Without this trick a
divergent term from the background density renders the mass profile undefined,
however, this trick has no formal justification. We show that when one includes
the expansion of the Universe in the Jeans equation, a term appears which
exactly cancels the divergent term from the background. We thereby establish a
formal justification for using the Jeans Swindle.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter
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