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At least 289 records · Page 16
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1991

The interpretation of crustal dynamics data in terms of plate motions and regional deformation near plate boundaries

During our participation in the NASA Crustal Dynamics Project under NASA contract NAS-27339 and grant NAG5-814 for the period 1982-1991, we published or submitted for publication 30 research papers and 52 abstracts of presentations at scientific meetings. In addition, five M.I.T. Ph.D. students (Eric Bergman, Steven Bratt, Dan Davis, Jeanne Sauber, Anne Sheehan) were supported wholly or in part by this project during their thesis research. Highlights of our research progress during this period include the following: application of geodetic data to determine rates of strain in the Mojave block and in central California and to clarify the relation of such strain to the San Andreas fault and Pacific-North American plate motions; application of geodetic data to infer post seismic deformation associated with large earthquakes in the Imperial Valley, Hebgen Lake, Argentina, and Chile; determination of the state of stress in oceanic lithosphere from a systematic study of the centroid depths and source mechanisms of oceanic intraplate earthquakes; development of models for the state of stress in young oceanic regions arising from the differential cooling of the lithosphere; determination of the depth extent and rupture characteristics of oceanic transform earthquakes; improved determination of earthquake slip vectors in the Gulf of California, an important data set for the estimation of Pacific-North American plate motions; development of models for the state of stress and mechanics of fold-and-thrust belts and accretionary wedges; development of procedures to invert geoid height, residual bathymetry, and differential body wave travel time residuals for lateral variations in the characteristic temperature and bulk composition of the oceanic upper mantle; and initial GPS measurements of crustal deformation associated with the Imperial-Cerro Prieto fault system in southern California and northern Mexico. Full descriptions of the research conducted on these topics may be found in the Semi-Annual status Reports submitted regularly to NASA over the course of this project and in the publications listed.

Solomon, Sean C.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Multi-Dimensional Measurements of Combustion Species in Flame Tube and Sector Gas Turbine Combustors

The higher temperature and pressure cycles of future aviation gas turbine combustors challenge designers to produce combustors that minimize their environmental impact while maintaining high operation efficiency. The development of low emissions combustors includes the reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, smoke, and particulates, as well as the reduction of oxides of nitrogen (NO(x)). In order to better understand and control the mechanisms that produce emissions, tools are needed to aid the development of combustor hardware. Current methods of measuring species within gas turbine combustors use extractive sampling of combustion gases to determine major species concentrations and to infer the bulk flame temperature. These methods cannot be used to measure unstable combustion products and have poor spatial and temporal resolution. The intrusive nature of gas sampling may also disturb the flow structure within a combustor. Planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) is an optical technique for the measurement of combustion species. In addition to its non-intrusive nature, PLIF offers these advantages over gas sampling: high spatial resolution, high temporal resolution, the ability to measure unstable species, and the potential to measure combustion temperature. This thesis considers PLIF for in-situ visualization of combustion species as a tool for the design and evaluation of gas turbine combustor subcomponents. This work constitutes the first application of PLIF to the severe environment found in liquid-fueled, aviation gas turbine combustors. Technical and applied challenges are discussed. PLIF of OH was used to observe the flame structure within the post flame zone of a flame tube combustor, and within the flame zone of a sector combustor, for a variety of fuel injector configurations. OH was selected for measurement because it is a major combustion intermediate, playing a key role in the chemistry of combustion, and because its presence within the flame zone can serve as a qualitative marker of flame temperature. All images were taken in the environment of actual engines during flight, using actual jet fuel. The results of the PLIF study led directly to the modification of a fuel injector.

Hicks, Yolanda Royce↗
NASA NTRS1997

Determination of Coronal Magnetic Fields from Vector Magnetograms

During the course of the present contract we developed an 'evolutionary technique' for the determination of force-free coronal magnetic fields from vector magnetograph observations. The method can successfully generate nonlinear force- free fields (with non-constant-a) that match vector magnetograms. We demonstrated that it is possible to determine coronal magnetic fields from photospheric measurements, and we applied it to vector magnetograms of active regions. We have also studied theoretical models of coronal fields that lead to disruptions. Specifically, we have demonstrated that the determination of force-free fields from exact boundary data is a well-posed mathematical problem, by verifying that the computed coronal field agrees with an analytic force-free field when boundary data for the analytic field are used; demonstrated that it is possible to determine active-region coronal magnetic fields from photospheric measurements, by computing the coronal field above active region 5747 on 20 October 1989, AR6919 on 15 November 1991, and AR7260 on 18 August 1992, from data taken with the Stokes Polarimeter at Mees Solar Observatory, University of Hawaii; started to analyze active region 7201 on 19 June 1992 using measurements made with the Advanced Stokes Polarimeter at NSO/Sac Peak; investigated the effects of imperfections in the photospheric data on the computed coronal magnetic field; documented the coronal field structure of AR5747 and compared it to the morphology of footpoint emission in a flare, showing that the 'high- pressure' H-alpha footpoints are connected by coronal field lines; shown that the variation of magnetic field strength along current-carrying field lines is significantly different from the variation in a potential field, and that the resulting near-constant area of elementary flux tubes is consistent with observations; begun to develop realistic models of coronal fields which can be used to study flare trigger mechanisms; demonstrated that magnetic nonequilibrium can disrupt sheared coronal arcades, and that helmet streamers can disrupt, leading to coronal mass ejections. Our model has significantly extended the realism with which the coronal magnetic field can be inferred from actual observations. In a subsequent contract awarded by NASA, we have continued to apply and improve the evolutionary technique, to study the physical properties of active regions, and to develop theoretical models of magnetic fields.

Mikic, Zoran↗
NASA NTRS2000

Models of protocellular structures, functions and evolution

The central step in the origin of life was the emergence of organized structures from organic molecules available on the early earth. These predecessors to modern cells, called 'proto-cells,' were simple, membrane bounded structures able to maintain themselves, grow, divide, and evolve. Since there is no fossil record of these earliest of life forms, it is a scientific challenge to discover plausible mechanisms for how these entities formed and functioned. To meet this challenge, it is essential to create laboratory models of protocells that capture the main attributes associated with living systems, while remaining consistent with known, or inferred, protobiological conditions. This report provides an overview of a project which has focused on protocellular metabolism and the coupling of metabolism to energy transduction. We have assumed that the emergence of systems endowed with genomes and capable of Darwinian evolution was preceded by a pre-genomic phase, in which protocells functioned and evolved using mostly proteins, without self-replicating nucleic acids such as RNA.

Pohorille, Andrew↗
NASA NTRS2016

Space Weathering of Olivine: Samples, Experiments and Modeling

Olivine is a major constituent of chondritic bodies and its response to space weathering processes likely dominates the optical properties of asteroid regoliths (e.g. S- and many C-type asteroids). Analyses of olivine in returned samples and laboratory experiments provide details and insights regarding the mechanisms and rates of space weathering. Analyses of olivine grains from lunar soils and asteroid Itokawa reveal that they display solar wind damaged rims that are typically not amorphized despite long surface exposure ages, which are inferred from solar flare track densities (up to 10 (sup 7 y)). The olivine damaged rim width rapidly approaches approximately 120 nm in approximately 10 (sup 6 y) and then reaches steady-state with longer exposure times. The damaged rims are nanocrystalline with high dislocation densities, but crystalline order exists up to the outermost exposed surface. Sparse nanophase Fe metal inclusions occur in the damaged rims and are believed to be produced during irradiation through preferential sputtering of oxygen from the rims. The observed space weathering effects in lunar and Itokawa olivine grains are difficult to reconcile with laboratory irradiation studies and our numerical models that indicate that olivine surfaces should readily blister and amorphize on relatively short time scales (less than 10 (sup 3 y)). These results suggest that it is not just the ion fluence alone, but other variable, the ion flux that controls the type and extent of irradiation damage that develops in olivine. This flux dependence argues for caution in extrapolating between high flux laboratory experiments and the natural case. Additional measurements, experiments, and modeling are required to resolve the discrepancies among the observations and calculations involving solar wind processing of olivine.

Keller, L. P.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Distance to the IBEX Ribbon Source Inferred From Parallax

Maps of energetic neutral atom (ENA) fluxes obtained from observations made by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) revealed a bright structure extending over the sky, subsequently dubbed the IBEX ribbon. The ribbon had not been expected from the existing models and theories prior to IBEX, and a number of mechanisms have since been proposed to explain the observations. In these mechanisms, the observed ENAs emerge from source plasmas located at different distances from the Sun. Since each part of the sky is observed by ibex TWICE DURING THE YEAR FROM OPPOSTIE SIDE OF THE Sun, the apparent position of the ribbon as observed in the sky is shifted due to parallax. To determine the ribbons parallax, we found the precise location of the maximum signal of the ribbon observed in each orbital arc. The apparent positions obtained were subsequently corrected for the Compton-Getting effect, gravitational deflection, and radiation pressure. Finally, we selected a part of the ribbon where its position is similar in the different IBEX ENERGY PASSBANDS. We compared the apparent positions obtained from the viewing locations on the opposite sides of the Sun, and found that they are shifted by a parallax angle of 0 41 0 15, which corresponds to a distance of AU. This finding supports models of the ribbon with the source located just outside the heliopause.

ISM: atoms↗
NASA NTRS1983

Theory of winds in late-type evolved and pre-main-sequence stars

Recent observational results confirm that many of the physical processes which are known to occur in the Sun also occur among late-type stars in general. One such process is the continuous loss of mass from a star in the form of a wind. There now exists an abundance of either direct or circumstantial evidence which suggests that most (if not all) stars in the cool portion of the HR diagram possess winds. An attempt is made to assess the current state of theoretical understanding of mass loss from two distinctly different classes of late-type stars: the post-main-sequence giant/supergiant stars and the pre-main-sequence T Tauri stars. Toward this end, the observationally inferred properties of the wind associated with each of the two stellar classes under consideration are summarized and compared against the predictions of existing theoretical models. Although considerable progress has been made in attempting to identify the mechanisms responsible for mass loss from cool stars, many fundamental problems remain to be solved.

Macgregor, K. B.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Porosity and the ecology of icy satellites

The case for a significant role for porosity in the structure and evolution of icy bodies in the Solar System has been difficult to establish. We present a relevant new data set and a series of structure models including a mechanical compression, not thermal creep, model for porosity that accounts satisfactorily for observed densities, moments of inertia, geologic activity, and sizes of tectonic features on icy satellites. Several types of observational data sets have been used to infer significant porosity, but until recently, alternative explanations have been preferred. Our first area of concern is the occurrence of cryovolcanism as a function of satellite radius; simple radiogenic heating models of icy satellites suggest minimum radii for melting and surface cryovolcanism to be 400 to 500 km, yet inferred melt deposits are seen on satellites half that size. One possible explanation is a deep, low conductivity regolith which lowers conductivity and raises internal temperatures, but other possibilities include tidal heating or crustal compositions of low conductivity. Our second area of concern is the occurrence and magnitude of tectonic strain; tectonic structures have been seen on icy satellites as small as Mimas and Proteus. The structures are almost exclusively extensional, with only a few possible compression Al features, and inferred global strains are on the order of 1 percent expansion. Expansions of this order in small bodies like Mimas and prevention of late compressional tectonics due to formation of ice mantles in larger bodies like Rhea are attained only in structure models including low-conductivity, and thus possibly high porosity, crusts. Thirdly, inferred moments of inertia less than 0.4 in Mimas and Tethys can be explained by high-porosity crusts, but also by differentiation of a high density core. Finally, the relatively low densities of smaller satellites like Mimas and Miranda relative to larger neighbors can be explained by deep porosity, but also by bulk compositional differences. Recent work has strengthened the case for significant porosity. Halley's nucleus was found to have a density near 0.6 g/cu cm, Janus and Epimethus were proposed to have densities near 0.7 g/cu cm, densities almost certainly due to high porosity. The irregular-spherical shape transition of icy satellites was quantitatively explained by low conductivity regoliths. A creative structure/thermal history model for Mimas simultaneously accounts quantitatively for Mimas' low density and moment of inertia by invoking initial high-porosity and subsequent compaction in the deep interior by thermal creep. The main problem with this promising model is that approximately 7 percent predicts a reduction in Mimas' radius, implying significant compressional failure and prevention of extensional tectonics, in contradiction to the observed extensional features and inferred 1 percent expansion in radius.

Croft, Steven K.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Genomic instability, bystander effect, cytoplasmic irradiation and other phenomena that may achieve fame without fortune

The possible risk of induced malignancies in astronauts, as a consequence of the radiation environment in space, is a factor of concern for long term missions. Cancer risk estimates for high doses of low LET radiation are available from the epidemiological studies of the A-bomb survivors. Cancer risks at lower doses cannot be detected in epidemiological studies and must be inferred by extrapolation from the high dose risks. The standard setting bodies, such as the ICRP recommend a linear, no-threshold extrapolation of risks from high to low doses, but this is controversial. A study of mechanisms of carcinogenesis may shed some light on the validity of a linear extrapolation. The multi-step nature of carcinogenesis suggests that the role of radiation may be to induce a mutation leading to a mutator phenotype. High energy Fe ions, such as those encountered in space are highly effective in inducing genomic instability. Experiments involving the single particle microbeam have demonstrated a "bystander effect", ie a biological effect in cells not themselves hit, but in close proximity to those that are, as well as the induction of mutations in cells where only the cytoplasm, and not the nucleus, have been traversed by a charged particle. These recent experiments cast doubt on the validity of a simple linear extrapolation, but the data are so far fragmentary and conflicting. More studies are necessary. While mechanistic studies cannot replace epidemiology as a source of quantitative risk estimates, they may shed some light on the shape of the dose response relationship and therefore on the limitations of a linear extrapolation to low doses.

NASA Discipline Radiation Health↗
NASA NTRS2020

Reinflation of Warm and Hot Jupiters

Understanding the anomalous radii of many transiting hot gas-giant planets is a fundamental problem of planetary science. Recent detections of reinflated warm Jupiters orbiting post-main-sequence stars and the reinflation of hot Jupiters while their host stars evolve on the main sequence may help constrain models for the anomalous radii of hot Jupiters. In this work, we present evolution models studying the reinflation of gas giants to determine how varying the depth and intensity of deposited heating affects both main-sequence reinflation of hot Jupiters and post-main-sequence reinflation of warm Jupiters. We find that deeper heating is required to reinflate hot Jupiters than is needed to suppress their cooling, and that the timescale of reinflation decreases with increasing heating rate and depth. We find a strong degeneracy between heating rate and depth, with either strong shallow heating or weak deep heating providing an explanation for main-sequence reinflation of hot Jupiters. This degeneracy between heating rate and depth can be broken in the case of post-main-sequence reinflation of warm Jupiters, as the inflation must be rapid to occur within post-main-sequence evolution timescales. We also show that the dependence of heating rate on the incident stellar flux inferred from the sample of hot Jupiters can explain reinflation of both warm and hot Jupiters. TESS will obtain a large sample of warm Jupiters orbiting post-main-sequence stars, which will help to constrain the mechanism(s)causing the anomalous radii of gas-giant planets.

Thaddeus D. Komacek↗
NASA NTRS1982

Water immersion and its computer simulation as analogs of weightlessness

Experimental studies and computer simulations of water immersion are summarized and discussed with regard to their utility as analogs of weightlessness. Emphasis is placed on describing and interpreting the renal, endocrine, fluid, and circulatory changes that take place during immersion. A mathematical model, based on concepts of fluid volume regulation, is shown to be well suited to simulate the dynamic responses to water immersion. Further, it is shown that such a model provides a means to study specific mechanisms and pathways involved in the immersion response. A number of hypotheses are evaluated with the model related to the effects of dehydration, venous pressure disturbances, the control of ADH, and changes in plasma-interstitial volume. By inference, it is suggested that most of the model's responses to water immersion are plausible predictions of the acute changes expected, but not yet measured, during space flight. One important prediction of the model is that previous attempts to measure a diuresis during space flight failed because astronauts may have been dehydrated and urine samples were pooled over 24-hour periods.

Leonard, J. I.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Ion transport and loss in the Earth's quiet ring current. 2: Diffusion and magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling

We have studied the transport and loss of H(+), He(+), and He(++) ions in the Earth's quiet time ring current (1 to 300 keV/e, 3 to 7 R(sub E), Kp less than 2+, absolute value of Dst less than 11, 70 to 110 degs pitchangles, all LT) comparing the standard radial diffusion model developed for the higher-energy radiation belt particles with measurements of the lower energy ring current ions in a previous paper. Large deviations of that model, which fit only 50% of the data to within a factor of 10, suggested that another transport mechanism is operating in the ring current. Here we derive a modified diffusion coefficient corrected for electric field effects on ring current energy ions that fit nearly 80% of the data to within a factor of 2. Thus we infer that electric field fluctuations from the low-latitude to midlatitude ionosphere (ionospheric dynamo) dominated the ring current transport, rather than high-latitude or solar wind fluctuations. Much of the remaining deviation may arise from convective electric field transport of the E less than 30 keV particles. Since convection effects cannot be correctly treated with this azimuthally symmetric model, we defer treatment of the lowest-energy ions to a another paper. We give chi(exp 2) contours for the best fit, showing the dependence of the fit upon the internal/external spectral power of the predicted electric and magnetic field fluctuations.

Sheldon, R. B.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Icy Satellites of Saturn: Impact Cratering and Age Determination

Saturn is the first giant planet to be visited by an orbiting spacecraft that can transmit large amounts of data to Earth. Crater counts on satellites from Phoebe inward to the regular satellites and ring moons are providing unprecedented insights into the origin and time histories of the impacting populations. Many Voyager-era scientists concluded that the satellites had been struck by at least two populations of impactors. In this view, the Population I impactors, which were generally judged to be comets orbiting the Sun, formed most of the larger and older craters, while Population II impactors, interpreted as Saturn-orbiting ejecta from impacts on satellites, produced most of the smaller and younger craters. Voyager data also implied that all of the ring moons, and probably some of the midsized classical moons, had been catastrophically disrupted and reaccreted since they formed. We examine models of the primary impactor populations in the Saturn system. At the present time, ecliptic comets, which likely originate in the Kuiper belt/scattered disk, are predicted to dominate impacts on the regular satellites and ring moons, but the models require extrapolations in size (from the observed Kuiper belt objects to the much smaller bodies that produce the craters) or in distance (from the known active Jupiter family comets to 9.5 AU). Phoebe, Iapetus, and perhaps even moons closer to Saturn have been struck by irregular satellites as well. We describe the Nice model, which provides a plausible mechanism by which the entire Solar System might have experienced an era of heavy bombardment long after the planets formed. We then discuss the three cratering chronologies, including one based upon the Nice model, that have been used to infer surface ages from crater densities on the saturnian satellites. After reviewing scaling relations between the properties of impactors and the craters they produce, we provide model estimates of the present-day rate at which comets impact, and catastrophically disrupt, the saturnian moons. Finally, we present crater counts on the satellites from two different groups. Many of the heavily cratered terrains appear to be nearly saturated, so it is difficult to infer the provenance of the impactors from crater counts alone. More large craters have been found on Iapetus than on any other satellite. Enceladus displays an enormous range of surface ages, ranging from the old mid-latitude plains to the extremely young South Polar Terrain. Cassini images provide some evidence for the reality of Population II. Most of the observed craters may have formed in one or more cataclysms, but more work is needed to determine the roles of heliocentric and planetocentric bodies in creating the craters.

Dones, L.↗
NASA NTRS1986

A mechanism for tectonic deformation on Venus

In the absence of identifiable physiographic features directly associated with plate tectonics, alternate mechanisms are sought for the intense tectonic deformation observed in radar images of Venus. One possible mechanism is direct coupling into an elastic lithosphere of the stresses associated with convective flow in the interior. Spectral Green's function solutions have been obtained for stresses in an elastic lithosphere overlying a Newtonian interior with an exponential depth dependence of viscosity, and a specified surface-density distribution driving the flow. At long wavelengths and for a rigid elastic/fluid boundary condition, horizontal normal stresses in the elastic lid are controlled by the vertical shear stress gradient and are directly proportional to the depth of the density disturbance in the underlying fluid. The depth and strength of density anomalies in the Venusian interior inferred by analyses of long wavelength gravity data suggest that stresses in excess of 100 MPa would be generated in a 10 km thick elastic lid unless a low viscosity channel occurring beneath the lid or a positive viscosity gradient uncouples the flow stresses. The great apparent depth of compensation of topographic features argues against this, however, thus supporting the importance of the coupling mechanism. If there is no elastic lid, stresses will also be very high near the surface, providing also that the viscosity gradient is negative.

Phillips, Roger J.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Analysis of in Vitro Evolution Reveals the Underlying Distribution of Catalytic Activity Among Random Sequences

The emergence of catalytic RNA is believed to have been a key event during the origin of life. Understanding how catalytic activity is distributed across random sequences is fundamental to estimating the probability that catalytic sequences would emerge. Here, we analyze the in vitro evolution of triphosphorylating ribozymes and translate their fitnesses into absolute estimates of catalytic activity for hundreds of ribozyme families. The analysis efficiently identified highly active ribozymes and estimated catalytic activity with good accuracy. The evolutionary dynamics follow Fisher’s Fundamental Theorem of Natural Selection and a corollary, permitting retrospective inference of the distribution of fitness and activity in the random sequence pool for the first time. The frequency distribution of rate constants appears to be log-normal, with a surprisingly steep dropoff at higher activity, consistent with a mechanism for the emergence of activity as the product of many independent contributions.

Abe Pressman↗
NASA NTRS1990

Lower solar chromosphere-corona transition region. III - Implications of the observed quiet-sun emission measure including wave pressure effects

The observed form of the emission measure (EM) is used as a function of temperature to infer the wave energy flux density and pressure throughout the lower transition region (TR). This procedure eliminates the need for specifying how the wave energy flux density is damped and addresses the question of whether there is any form of the mechanical heating associated with the degradation of an upward traveling wave energy flux density which is consistent with the observed EM and other observational constraints for the quiet sun. It is found that the observed form of the EM curve is incompatible with waves traveling vertically at the sound speed, regardless of any filling factor arguments. The same conclusion also applies to waves traveling at the Alfven speed, unless it is assumed that the emission in lower TR lines originates solely from small, spatially unresolved regions of large magnetic field strength (100 G), which cover a small fraction (filling factors of 1 percent) of the solar surface.

Woods, D. Tod↗
NASA NTRS1995

The circum-Chryse region as a possible example of a hydrologic cycle on Mars: Geologic observations and theoretical evaluation

The transection and superposition relationships among channels, chaos, surface materials units, and other features in the circum-Chryse region of Mars were used to evaluate relative age relationships and evolution of flood events. Channels and chaos in contact (with one another) were treated as single discrete flood-carved systems. Some outflow channel systems form networks and are inferred to have been created by multiple flood events. Within some outflow channel networks, several separate individual channel systems can be traced to a specific chaos which acted as flood-source area to that specific flood channel. Individual flood-carved systems were related to widespread materials units or other surface features that served as stratigraphic horizons. Chryse outflow channels are inferred to have formed over most of the perceivable history of Mars. Outflow channels are inferred to become younger with increasing proximity to the Chryse basin. The relationship of subsequent outflow channel sources to the sources of earlier floods is inferred to disfavor episodic flooding due to the progresssive tapping of a juvenile near-surface water supply. Instead, we propose the circum-Chryse region as a candidate site of past hydrological recycling. The discharge rates necessary to carve the circum-Chryse outflow channels would have inevitably formed temporary standing bodies of H2O on the Martian surface where the flood-waters stagnated and pooled (the Chryse basin is topographically enclosed). These observations and inferences have led us to formulate and evaluate two hypotheses. Our numerical evaluations indicate that of these two hypotheses formulated, the groundwater seep cycle seems by far the more viable. Further observations from forthcoming missions may permit the determination of which mechanisms may have operated to recycle the Chryse flood-waters.

Moore, Jeffrey M.↗
NASA NTRS2003

Gamma-Ray Bursts and Cosmology

The unrivalled, extreme luminosities of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) make them the favored beacons for sampling the high redshift Universe. To employ GRBs to study the cosmic terrain -- e.g., star and galaxy formation history -- GRB luminosities must be calibrated, and the luminosity function versus redshift must be measured or inferred. Several nascent relationships between gamma-ray temporal or spectral indicators and luminosity or total energy have been reported. These measures promise to further our understanding of GRBs once the connections between the luminosity indicators and GRB jets and emission mechanisms are better elucidated. The current distribution of 33 redshifts determined from host galaxies and afterglows peaks near z $\sim$ 1, whereas for the full BATSE sample of long bursts, the lag-luminosity relation predicts a broad peak z $\sim$ 1--4 with a tail to z $\sim$ 20, in rough agreement with theoretical models based on star formation considerations. For some GRB subclasses and apparently related phenomena -- short bursts, long-lag bursts, and X-ray flashes -- the present information on their redshift distributions is sparse or entirely lacking, and progress is expected in Swift era when prompt alerts become numerous.

Norris, Jay P.↗