On the Spatial Distribution of Stellar Populations in the Large Magellanic Cloud

We measure the angular correlation function of stars in a region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) that spans 2 degrees by 1.5 degrees. We find that the correlation functions of stellar populations are represented well by exponential functions of the angular separation for separations between 2 and 40 arcmin (corresponding to ~ 30 pc and 550 pc for an LMC distance of 50 kpc). The inner boundary is set by the presence of distinct, highly correlated structures, which are the more familiar stellar clusters, and the outer boundary is set by the observed region's size and the presence of two principal centers of star formation within the region. We also find that the normalization and scale length of the correlation function changes systematically with the mean age of the stellar population. The existence of positive correlation at large separations (~300 pc), even in the youngest population, argues for large-scale hierarchical structure in current star formation. The evolution of the angular correlation toward lower normalizations and longer scale lengths with stellar age argues for the dispersion of stars with time. We show that a simple, stochastic, self-propagating star formation model is qualitatively consistent with this behavior of the correlation function.Comment: 30 pages, 13 Figures. Scheduled for publication in AJ in June 199

Vietnam, Taiwan, Philippines

Spiritans bring sense of wider church, Pat Palmer CSSpGetting something started, Jean-Pascal Lombart CSSpNew house, new language, new way of life, Dennis Casanes CSSp, Aying Gavino CSSp, Alfre Liwagon CSSpAdventures in Manila, Dan Sormani CSS

A Trapped Field of 17.6 T in Melt-Processed, Bulk Gd-Ba-Cu-O Reinforced with Shrink-Fit Steel

The ability of large grain, REBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-\delta}$ [(RE)BCO; RE = rare earth] bulk superconductors to trap magnetic field is determined by their critical current. With high trapped fields, however, bulk samples are subject to a relatively large Lorentz force, and their performance is limited primarily by their tensile strength. Consequently, sample reinforcement is the key to performance improvement in these technologically important materials. In this work, we report a trapped field of 17.6 T, the largest reported to date, in a stack of two, silver-doped GdBCO superconducting bulk samples, each of diameter 25 mm, fabricated by top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) and reinforced with shrink-fit stainless steel. This sample preparation technique has the advantage of being relatively straightforward and inexpensive to implement and offers the prospect of easy access to portable, high magnetic fields without any requirement for a sustaining current source.Comment: Updated submission to reflect licence change to CC-BY. This is the "author accepted manuscript" and is identical in content to the published versio

Transport J<inf>c</inf> in Bulk Superconductors: A Practical Approach?

The characterisation of the critical current density of bulk high temperature superconductors is typically performed using magnetometry, which involves numerous assumptions including, significantly, that Jc within the sample is uniform. Unfortunately, magnetometry is particularly challenging to apply where a local measurement of Jc across a feature, such as a grain boundary, is desired. Although transport measurements appear to be an attractive alternative to magnetization, it is extremely challenging to reduce the cross-sectional area of a bulk sample sufficiently to achieve a sufficiently low critical current that can be generated by a practical current source. In the work described here, we present a technique that enables transport measurements to be performed on sections of bulk superconductors. Metallographic techniques and resin reinforcement were used to create an I-shaped sample of bulk superconductor from a section of Gd-Ba-Cu-O containing 15 wt % Ag2O. The resulting superconducting track had a cross-sectional area of 0.44 mm2. The sample was found to support a critical current of 110 A using a field criterion in the narrowed track region of 1 μV cm-1. We conclude, therefore, that it is possible to measure critical current densities in excess of 2.5 x 108 A m-2 in sections of a bulk superconductor.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, via a Doctoral Training Award (grant number is EP/L504920/1) and funding from grant number EP/K02910X/1. This work was also supported by the Boeing Company. All data are provided in full in the results section of this paper.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2016.253764

You Are My Way to the Universe: Critical Collective Research Through Feminist Community Building

In diesem Artikel stützen wir uns auf den feministischen Kommunitarismus, um eine Kritik an dem vorherrschenden neoliberalen Modell der Zusammenarbeit in der qualitativen Sozialforschung zu entwickeln. Wir argumentieren, dass feministische Theorien und Praktiken über Gemeinschaftsbildung und politischen Aktivismus das Potenzial haben, die stark institutionalisierte, individualistische und managerialistische Kultur von Zusammenarbeit zu überwinden. Feministische Einsichten können Wissenschaftler*innen helfen, sich in der kollaborativen Forschung zurechtzufinden und Schlüsselfragen wie Reflexivität, Konsensbildung, Wissensvalidierung und Gruppensolidarität anzugehen. Wir nutzen unsere eigene Arbeit im Feministischen Forschungskollektiv und im WomenWeLove-Projekt, um eine alternative Orientierung und einen kollektiven Weg zur Verwirklichung einer transformativen Forschung vorzustellen. Diese feministische Intervention gegen die neoliberale Forschungskultur trägt zu laufenden Überlegungen darüber bei, wie wir mithilfe der qualitativen Sozialforschung Wissen produzieren und warum wir dies in der gegenwärtigen historischen Situation tun sollten. Sie erweitert unsere Vorstellungen von der Verantwortung der Forschenden und schafft neue Möglichkeiten für Widerstand und Emanzipation.In this article, we draw on the scholarship of feminist communitarianism to develop a critique of the predominant neoliberal qualitative social research collaboration model. We argue that feminist theories and praxis about community building and political activism have the potential to transcend the highly institutionalized, individualistic, and managerialist collaborative culture. Feminist insights can help today's researchers navigate collaborative research and address key issues such as reflexivity, consensus formation, knowledge validation, and group solidarity. We use our own work in the Feminist Research Collective and in the WomenWeLove project to present an alternative orientation and a collective way to enact transformative research. This feminist intervention against the neoliberal research culture contributes to the ongoing reflections of how we produce knowledge via qualitative social research and why we shall do so in the current historical juncture, expands our imaginations of researchers' responsibilities, and engenders new possibilities for resistance and emancipation

Quantum Efficiency and Topography of Heated and Plasma-Cleaned Copper Photocathode Surfaces

We present measurements of photoemission quantum efficiency (QE) for copper photocathodes heated and cleaned by low energy argon and hydrogen ion plasma. The QE and surface roughness parameters were measured before and after processing and surface chemical composition was tracked in-situ with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Thermal annealing at 230 C was sufficient to improve the QE by 3-4 orders of magnitude, depending on the initial QE. Exposure to residual gas slowly reduced the QE but it was easily restored by argon ion cleaning for a few minutes. XPS showed that the annealing or ion bombardment removed surface water and hydrocarbons

A trapped field of 17.6 T in melt-processed, bulk Gd-Ba-Cu-O reinforced with shrink-fit steel

The ability of large grain, REBa$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$O$_{7-\delta}$ [(RE)BCO; RE = rare earth] bulk superconductors to trap magnetic field is determined by their critical current. With high trapped fields, however, bulk samples are subject to a relatively large Lorentz force, and their performance is limited primarily by their tensile strength. Consequently, sample reinforcement is the key to performance improvement in these technologically important materials. In this work, we report a trapped field of 17.6 T, the largest reported to date, in a stack of two, silver-doped GdBCO superconducting bulk samples, each of diameter 25 mm, fabricated by top-seeded melt growth (TSMG) and reinforced with shrink-fit stainless steel. This sample preparation technique has the advantage of being relatively straightforward and inexpensive to implement and offers the prospect of easy access to portable, high magnetic fields without any requirement for a sustaining current source.The ability of large-grain (RE)Ba2Cu3O7−δ ((RE)BCO; RE = rare earth) bulk superconductors to trap magnetic fields is determined by their critical current. With high trapped fields, however, bulk samples are subject to a relatively large Lorentz force, and their performance is limited primarily by their tensile strength. Consequently, sample reinforcement is the key to performance improvement in these technologically important materials. In this work, we report a trapped field of 17.6 T, the largest reported to date, in a stack of two silver-doped GdBCO superconducting bulk samples, each 25 mm in diameter, fabricated by top-seeded melt growth and reinforced with shrink-fit stainless steel. This sample preparation technique has the advantage of being relatively straightforward and inexpensive to implement, and offers the prospect of easy access to portable, high magnetic fields without any requirement for a sustaining current source.This is the final published version, distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution License. This can also be found on the publisher's website at: http://iopscience.iop.org/0953-2048/27/8/08200

Homdyn Study for the Lcls RF Photo-Injector

The authors report the results of a recent beam dynamics study, motivated by the need to redesign the LCLS photoinjector, that led to the discovery of a new effective working point for a split RF photoinjector. The HOMDYN code, the main simulation tool adopted in this work, is described together with its recent improvements. The new working point and its LCLS application is discussed. Validation tests of the HOMDYN model and low emittance predictions, 0.3 mm-mrad for a 1 nC flat top bunch, are performed with respect to the multi-particle tracking codes ITACA and PARMELA

A simple, reliable and robust reinforcement method for the fabrication of (RE)–Ba–Cu–O bulk superconductors

Abstract: Bulk high temperature superconductors (HTS) based on the rare-earth barium cuprates [(RE)BCO] have the potential to be applied in a variety of engineering and technological applications such as trapped field magnets, rotating electrical machines, magnetic bearings and flywheel energy storage systems. The key materials figure of merit for most practical applications of bulk superconductors is simply the product of the maximum current density that can be supported, which correlates directly with the maximum achievable trapped magnetic field, and the physical length scale over which the current flows. Unfortunately, however, bulk (RE)BCO superconductors exhibit relatively poor mechanical properties due to their inherent ceramic nature. Consequently, the performance of these materials as trapped field magnets is limited significantly by their tensile strength, rather than critical current and size, given that the relatively large Lorentz forces produced in the generation of large magnetic fields can lead to catastrophic mechanical failure. In the present work, we describe a simple, but effective and reliable reinforcement methodology to enhance the mechanical properties of (RE)BCO bulk superconductors by incorporating hybrid SiC fibres consisting of a tungsten core with SiC cladding within the bulk microstructure. An improvement in tensile strength by up to 40% has been achieved via this process and, significantly, without compromising the superconducting performance of the bulk material