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At least 217 records · Page 12
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NASA NTRS1990

CS J = 2 yields 1 emission toward the central region of M82

M82 is an irregular (Type II) galaxy located at a distance of approximately 3.5 Mpc. Its unusual appearance and high luminosity, particularly in the infrared, has led many astronomers to classify it as a starburst galaxy. This interpretation is supported by the observation of a large number of radio continuum sources within the central arcminute of the galaxy. These sources are thought to be associated with supernova remnants. The starburst in the central region of the galaxy is believed to have been triggered by tidal interaction with either M81 or the HI cloud surrounding the M81 group. High angular resolution CO-12 J=1 to 0 maps by Nakai (1984) and Lo et al. (1987) indicate the existence of a 400 to 450 pc rotating ring of molecular material about the central region of M82. Red- and blue-shifted absorption components of the HI and OH lines measured by Weliachew et al. (1984) provided the first evidence for the presence of the ring. Many astronomers, each using a different angular resolution, have compared CO-12 J=1 to 0, J=2 to 1, and J=3 to 2 emission and concluded that a large fraction of the CO emission is optically thin. Additional observations suggest that the molecular material toward the center of M82 is clumpy and dense. Unlike the lower rotational transitions of CO, CS is excited only at relatively high densities, n sub H sub 2 greater than or equal to 10(exp 4) cm(-3). It is in clouds with these densities that stars are expected to form. This makes CS an excellent probe of star formation regions. Researchers observed the CS J=2 to 1 transition (97.981 GHz) toward 52 positions in M82 using the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) 12 m telescope.

Walker, C. E.↗
NASA NTRS1991

A method for partitioning centralized controllers

The notion of controller partitioning is described. Conditions are developed under which the input/output behavior of a multi-input multi-output centralized controller can be exactly matched by two separate subsystem controllers interconnected through output crossfeed. A systematic method is developed for determining a controller partitioning which best approximates the input/output behavior of the centralized controller for the general case when the exact matching conditions are not satisfied. The controller partitioning procedure is demonstrated for a centralized integrated flight/propulsion controller designed in a previous study.

Schmidt, Phillip↗
NASA NTRS1992

Numerical models for the collapse and fragmentation of centrally condensed molecular cloud cores

The gravitational collapse and fragmentation of centrally condensed molecular cloud cores are investigated using a new hydrodynamical code. The numerical scheme is second-order accurate and uses explicit finite difference methods to advance the fluid variables on a 3D Cartesian grid. Two initial power-law density profiles, rho varies as r exp -1 and rho varies as r exp -2, are considered, as well as two initial density perturbations in the azimuthal coordinate theta, rho-i - rho(1 + a cos 2theta) where a = 0.1 and 0.5. Fragmentation is found to be possible in these centrally condensed cores if the initial conditions also include differential rotation. Models which collapse with initial uniform rotation do not produce fragments. If molecular cloud cores are indeed centrally condensed, as suggested by observations of star-forming regions and by studies of ambipolar diffusion, then differential rotation may be a mechanism for producing binary protostars during gravitational collapse.

Myhill, Elizabeth A.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Starbursts triggered by central overpressure in interacting galaxies

A triggering mechanism for the origin of enhanced, massive-star formation in the central regions of interacting spiral galaxy pairs is proposed. Our mechanism is based on the detailed evolution of a realistic interstellar medium in a galaxy following an encounter. As a disk giant molecular cloud (GMC) tumbles into the central region following a galaxy encounter, it undergoes a radiative shock compression via the pre-existing high pressure of the central intercloud medium. The shocked outer shell of a GMC becomes gravitationally unstable and begins to fragment thus resulting in a burst of star formation, when the growth time for the gravitational instabilities in the shell becomes smaller than the crossing time of the shock. The resulting values of typical infrared luminosity agree with observations.

Jog, Chanda J.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Jet induced star formation in centrally dominant galaxies?

Using U-I CCD color maps of two centrally dominant cluster galaxies, we find unusual color structures which may be due to star formation which has been induced by their radio sources. These objects, located in the clusters A1795 and A2597, have blue central colors to radii of 20 kpc, spatially extended emission-line structures, and powerful radio sources. They reside at the centers of cooling flows with mass-accretion rates which are estimated to be approximately greater than 300 solar mass/yr. The regions of bluest local color are superposed on or along their radio-source structures. Our observations suggest that the radio sources associated with these objects may be inducing massive star formation in their central 20 kpc. The star formation may be the result of the radio plasma interacting with the warm emission-line gas and dense, x-ray emitting filaments similar to those recently discovered in two other clusters with the ROSAT Observatory. Since radio jets are likely to be transient, this may help to explain the scatter in the correlations between color and mass-accretion rate, although other factors may also contribute. Alternatively, scattered radiation from a hidden active nucleus or recent mergers may be responsible for the color structure. The color and radio properties of these objects are qualitatively similar but smaller in luminosity and spatial extent to those found in high redshift radio galaxies. Our observations of galaxies at z approximately = 0.06-0.1 show that processes similar to 'the alignment effect' found in high redshift radio galaxies occur at more recent epochs.

Mcnamara, Brian R.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Central star formation in early-type galaxies: Images and implications

We are reporting on an on-going study of strong central star-bursts in early type galaxies. These galaxies are brighter than m(pg) = 14.5 and are classified as type SO, SO/a, or Sa in the Uppsala General Catalog. All of them have unusually warm, bright far infrared sources for early-type galaxies, with F(100 microns)/F(60 microns) less than 2.0 and F(60 microns) greater than 2.5 Jy. Much of the infrared emission comes from the central few arcsec. Most of the galaxies were detected at 2380 MHz at Arecibo, with flux densities between 15 and 33 mJy. They have diffuse radio sources with a variety of morphologies, typically a few kpc in extent. Long slit spectra through the nucleus show that all have Balmer absorption lines, signifying a large B or A star population, and (O2) 3727 and Balmer emission lines, consistent with ionization by hot young stars. We have made optical continuum and emission line images of the galaxies to use in combination with the above data to study the causes and evolution of strong central star-bursts in early-type disk systems.

Dressel, L. L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Introduction to the LaRC central scientific computing complex

The computers and associated equipment that make up the Central Scientific Computing Complex of the Langley Research Center are briefly described. The electronic networks that provide access to the various components of the complex and a number of areas that can be used by Langley and contractors staff for special applications (scientific visualization, image processing, software engineering, and grid generation) are also described. Flight simulation facilities that use the central computers are described. Management of the complex, procedures for its use, and available services and resources are discussed. This document is intended for new users of the complex, for current users who wish to keep appraised of changes, and for visitors who need to understand the role of central scientific computers at Langley.

Shoosmith, John N.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Properties of the Central American cold surge

The Central American cold surge (CACS) is a frontal incursion from the United States into Central America and resembles the East Asian cold surge. They occur more frequently than analyzed by NMC or by published results, based on our observations between 1979 and 1990. Climatology and structure are quantified, based on surface and upper air stations throughout Central America and satellite products from GOES visible and infrared sensors and SSM/I precipitable water and rain rate sensors.

Mcguirk, James P.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Hubble Space Telescope imaging of the central star forming region in NGC 1140 (exp 1)

We present broadband images taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's Planetary Camera of the central supergiant H II region in the amorphous galaxy NGC 1140. These images allow observations to a resolution of about 13 pc at the galaxy, and they reveal that its central 1/2 kpc contains 6-7 blue, luminous, compact super star clusters, many of which would be comparable in luminosity to globular clusters at the same age. A blue arc-shaped structure near the center may be a grouping of less luminous, R136/NGC 2070-sized clusters or a sheet of OB stars. Additional somewhat less luminous and redder clusters are also found farther out from the center. If these clusters are older, they too could have had luminosities comparable to those of the central six clusters at a comparable age. Thus, we find that NGC 1140 is remarkable in the number of extreme clusters that it has formed recently in a relatively small area of the galaxy. Since NGC 1140 exhibits global characteristics that are consistent with a recent merger, these clusters are likely to be a product of that event. This galaxy adds to the number of cases where rapid star formation has evidently produced super star clusters.

Hunter, Deidre A.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Analysis of tropospheric aerosol number density for aerosols of 0.2- to 3-micrometers diameter: Central and northeastern Canada

NASA's Atmospheric Boundary Layer Experiment conducted during the summer of 1990 focused on the distribution of trace species in central and northeastern Canada (altitudes less than 6 km) and the importance of surface sources/sinks, local emissions, distant transport, tropospheric/stratospheric exchange. Aircraft flights were based from North Bay, Ontario, and Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada. As part of the aircraft measurements, aerosol number density (0.2- to 3-micrometers diameter) was measured using an optical laser technique. Results show that summertime aerosol budgets of central and northeastern Canada can be significantly impacted by the transport of pollutants from distant source regions. Biomass burning in Alaska and western and central Canada exerts major influences on regional aerosol budgets. Urban emissions transported from the U.S./Canadian border regions are also important. Aerosol enhancements (mixed layer and free troposphere) were most prevalent in air with carbon monoxide mixing ratios greater than 110 parts per billion by volume (ppbv). When data were grouped as to the source of the air (5-day back trajectories) either north or south of the polar jet, aerosol number density in the mixed layer showed a tendency to be enhanced for air south of the jet relative to north of the jet. However, this difference was not observed for measurements at the higher altitudes (4 to 6 km). For some flights, mixed layer aerosol number densities were greater than 100 higher than free-tropospheric values (3- to 6-km altitude). The majority of the observed mixed layer enhancement was associated with transport of effluent-rich air into the Canadian regions. Aerosol emissions from natural Canadian ecosystems were relatively small when compared to transport.

Gregory, Gerald L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Metal concentration and X-ray cool spectral component in the central region of the Centaurus cluster of galaxies

Spatially resolved energy spectra in the energy range 0.5-10 keV have been measured for the Centaurus cluster of galaxies with Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics (ASCA). Within 10 min (200 kpc) from the cluster center, the helium-like iron K emission line exhibits a dramatic increase toward the center rising from an equivalent width approximately 500 eV to approximately 1500 eV corresponding to an abundance change from 0.3 to 1.0 solar. The presence of strong iron L lines indicates an additional cool component (kT approximately 1 keV) within 10 min from the center. The cool component requires absorption in excess of the galactic value and this excess absorption increases towards the central region of the cluster. In the surrounding region with radius greater than 10 min, the spectra are well described by a single temperature thermal model with kT approximately 4 keV and spatially uniform abundances at about 0.3-0.4 times solar. The detection of metal-rich hot and cool gas in the cluster center implies a complex nature of the central cluster gas which is likely to be related to the presence of the central cD galaxy NGC 4696.

Fukazawa, Yasushi↗
NASA NTRS1994

Convective transport over the central United States and its role in regional CO and ozone budgets

We have constructed a regional budget for boundary layer carbon monoxide over the central United States (32.5 deg - 50 deg N, 90 deg - 105 deg W), emphasizing a detailed evaluation of deep convective vertical fluxes appropriate for the month of June. Deep convective venting of the boundary layer (upward) dominates other components of the CO budget, e.g., downward convective transport, loss of CO by oxidation, anthropogenic emissions, and CO produced from oxidation of methane, isoprene, and anthropogenic nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs). Calculations of deep convective venting are based on the method pf Pickering et al.(1992a) which uses a satellite-derived deep convective cloud climatology along with transport statistics from convective cloud model simulations of observed prototype squall line events. This study uses analyses of convective episodes in 1985 and 1989 and CO measurements taken during several midwestern field campaigns. Deep convective venting of the boundary layer over this moderately polluted region provides a net (upward minus downward) flux of 18.1 x 10(exp 8) kg CO/month to the free troposphere during early summer. Shallow cumulus and synoptic-scale weather systems together make a comparable contribution (total net flux 16.2 x 10(exp 8) kg CO/month). Boundary layer venting of CO with other O3 precursors leads to efficient free troposheric O3 formation. We estimate that deep convective transport of CO and other precursors over the central United States in early summer leads to a gross production of 0.66 - 1.1 Gmol O3/d in good agreement with estimates of O3 production from boundary layer venting in a continental-scale model (Jacob et al., 1993a, b). On this respect the central U.S. region acts as s `chimney' for the country, and presumably this O3 contributes to high background levels of O3 in the eastern United States and O3 export to the North Atlantic.

Thompson, Anne M.↗
NASA NTRS1960

Static Thrust of an Annular Nozzle with a Concave Central Base

A static test of an annular nozzle with a concave central base, producing a jet in which tangents to the jet streamlines at the exit converged toward a region on the axis of symmetry downstream of the exit, has indicated good thrust performance. A value of nozzle-flow coefficient only slightly less than unity indicates the internal loss to be small. Pressures on the concave central base are relatively large and positive, and a predictable portion of the total thrust of the jet is exerted on the central base.

Corson, Blake W., Jr.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Local Data Integration in East Central Florida

The Applied Meteorology Unit has configured a Local Data Integration System (LDIS) for east central Florida which assimilates in-situ and remotely-sensed observational data into a series of high-resolution gridded analyses. The ultimate goal for running LDIS is to generate products that may enhance weather nowcasts and short-range (less than 6 h) forecasts issued in support of the 45th Weather Squadron (45 WS), Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG), and the Melbourne National Weather Service (NWS MLB) operational requirements. LDIS has the potential to provide added value for nowcasts and short-ten-n forecasts for two reasons. First, it incorporates all data operationally available in east central Florida. Second, it is run at finer spatial and temporal resolutions than current national-scale operational models such as the Rapid Update Cycle and Eta models. LDIS combines all available data to produce grid analyses of primary variables (wind, temperature, etc.) at specified temporal and spatial resolutions. These analyses of primary variables can be used to compute diagnostic quantities such as vorticity and divergence. This paper demonstrates the utility of LDIS over east central Florida for a warm season case study. The evolution of a significant thunderstorm outflow boundary is depicted through horizontal and vertical cross section plots of wind speed, divergence, and circulation. In combination with a suitable visualization too], LDIS may provide users with a more complete and comprehensive understanding of evolving mesoscale weather than could be developed by individually examining the disparate data sets over the same area and time.

Case, Jonathan L.↗
NASA NTRS2002

High-Order Central WENO Schemes for Multi-Dimensional Hamilton-Jacobi Equations

We present new third- and fifth-order Godunov-type central schemes for approximating solutions of the Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equation in an arbitrary number of space dimensions. These are the first central schemes for approximating solutions of the HJ equations with an order of accuracy that is greater than two. In two space dimensions we present two versions for the third-order scheme: one scheme that is based on a genuinely two-dimensional Central WENO reconstruction, and another scheme that is based on a simpler dimension-by-dimension reconstruction. The simpler dimension-by-dimension variant is then extended to a multi-dimensional fifth-order scheme. Our numerical examples in one, two and three space dimensions verify the expected order of accuracy of the schemes.

Bryson, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2002

High-Order Semi-Discrete Central-Upwind Schemes for Multi-Dimensional Hamilton-Jacobi Equations

We present high-order semi-discrete central-upwind numerical schemes for approximating solutions of multi-dimensional Hamilton-Jacobi (HJ) equations. This scheme is based on the use of fifth-order central interpolants like those developed in [1], in fluxes presented in [3]. These interpolants use the weighted essentially nonoscillatory (WENO) approach to avoid spurious oscillations near singularities, and become "central-upwind" in the semi-discrete limit. This scheme provides numerical approximations whose error is as much as an order of magnitude smaller than those in previous WENO-based fifth-order methods [2, 1]. Thee results are discussed via examples in one, two and three dimensions. We also pregnant explicit N-dimensional formulas for the fluxes, discuss their monotonicity and tl!e connection between this method and that in [2].

Bryson, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2004

Balanced Central Schemes for the Shallow Water Equations on Unstructured Grids

We present a two-dimensional, well-balanced, central-upwind scheme for approximating solutions of the shallow water equations in the presence of a stationary bottom topography on triangular meshes. Our starting point is the recent central scheme of Kurganov and Petrova (KP) for approximating solutions of conservation laws on triangular meshes. In order to extend this scheme from systems of conservation laws to systems of balance laws one has to find an appropriate discretization of the source terms. We first show that for general triangulations there is no discretization of the source terms that corresponds to a well-balanced form of the KP scheme. We then derive a new variant of a central scheme that can be balanced on triangular meshes. We note in passing that it is straightforward to extend the KP scheme to general unstructured conformal meshes. This extension allows us to recover our previous well-balanced scheme on Cartesian grids. We conclude with several simulations, verifying the second-order accuracy of our scheme as well as its well-balanced properties.

Bryson, Steve↗
NASA NTRS2002

Role of central command in carotid baroreflex resetting in humans during static exercise

The purpose of the experiments was to examine the role of central command in the exercise-induced resetting of the carotid baroreflex. Eight subjects performed 30 % maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) static knee extension and flexion with manipulation of central command (CC) by patellar tendon vibration (PTV). The same subjects also performed static knee extension and flexion exercise without PTV at a force development that elicited the same ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) as those observed during exercise with PTV in order to assess involvement of the exercise pressor reflex. Carotid baroreflex (CBR) function curves were modelled from the heart rate (HR) and mean arterial pressure (MAP) responses to rapid changes in neck pressure and suction during steady state static exercise. Knee extension exercise with PTV (decreased CC activation) reset the CBR-HR and CBR-MAP to a lower operating pressure (P < 0.05) and knee flexion exercise with PTV (increased CC activation) reset the CBR-HR and CBR-MAP to a higher operating pressure (P < 0.05). Comparison between knee extension and flexion exercise at the same RPE with and without PTV found no difference in the resetting of the CBR-HR function curves (P > 0.05) suggesting the response was determined primarily by CC activation. However, the CBR-MAP function curves were reset to operating pressures determined by both exercise pressor reflex (EPR) and central command activation. Thus the physiological response to exercise requires CC activation to reset the carotid-cardiac reflex but requires either CC or EPR to reset the carotid-vasomotor reflex.

Non-NASA Center↗