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Correlations between various properties of blue compact dwarf (BCD) galaxies in the Virgo Cluster were studied. It was found that, at constant mass, BCD galaxies are comparable to non-BCD irregulars in both blue luminosity and H I flux. About one-third of the BCDs were detected by IRAS at 60 or 100 microns, mostly at intensities just above the threshold sensitivity.
Fullerenes are composed of carbon atoms arranged in approximately spherical or ellipsoidal cages resembling the geodesic domes designed by Buckminster Fuller, after whom the molecules were named. The approximately spherical fullerene, which resembles a soccer ball and contains sixty atoms (C60), is called buckminsterfullerene. The fullerene containing seventy carbon atoms (C70) is approximately ellipsoidal, similar to a rugby ball. Fullerenes were first detected in 1985, in carbon vapor produced by laser evaporation of graphite. The closed shell structure, which has no edge atoms vulnerable to reaction, was proposed to explain the observed high stability of certain carbon clusters relative to that of others at high temperatures and in the presence of an oxidizing gas.
Rapid access to highly accurate data about complex configurations is needed for multi-disciplinary optimization and design. In order to efficiently meet these requirements a closer coupling between the analysis algorithms and the discretization process is needed. In some cases, such as free surface, temporally varying geometries, and fluid structure interaction, the need is unavoidable. In other cases the need is to rapidly generate and modify high quality grids. Techniques such as unstructured and/or solution-adaptive methods can be used to speed the grid generation process and to automatically cluster mesh points in regions of interest. Global features of the flow can be significantly affected by isolated regions of inadequately resolved flow. These regions may not exhibit high gradients and can be difficult to detect. Thus excessive resolution in certain regions does not necessarily increase the accuracy of the overall solution. Several approaches have been employed for both structured and unstructured grid adaption. The most widely used involve grid point redistribution, local grid point enrichment/derefinement or local modification of the actual flow solver. However, the success of any one of these methods ultimately depends on the feature detection algorithm used to determine solution domain regions which require a fine mesh for their accurate representation. Typically, weight functions are constructed to mimic the local truncation error and may require substantial user input. Most problems of engineering interest involve multi-block grids and widely disparate length scales. Hence, it is desirable that the adaptive grid feature detection algorithm be developed to recognize flow structures of different type as well as differing intensity, and adequately address scaling and normalization across blocks. These weight functions can then be used to construct blending functions for algebraic redistribution, interpolation functions for unstructured grid generation, forcing functions to attract/repel points in an elliptic system, or to trigger local refinement, based upon application of an equidistribution principle. The popularity of solution-adaptive techniques is growing in tandem with unstructured methods. The difficultly of precisely controlling mesh densities and orientations with current unstructured grid generation systems has driven the use of solution-adaptive meshing. Use of derivatives of density or pressure are widely used for construction of such weight functions, and have been proven very successful for inviscid flows with shocks. However, less success has been realized for flowfields with viscous layers, vortices or shocks of disparate strength. It is difficult to maintain the appropriate mesh point spacing in the various regions which require a fine spacing for adequate resolution. Mesh points often migrate from important regions due to refinement of dominant features. An example of this is the well know tendency of adaptive methods to increase the resolution of shocks in the flowfield around airfoils, but in the incorrect location due to inadequate resolution of the stagnation region. This problem has been the motivation for this research.
The goals of the work funded by this grant are: (1) The measurement of the mass function and minimum mass of free-floating brown dwarfs down to the mass of Jupiter; (2) The measurement of the frequency of wide brown dwarf and planetary companions down to the mass of Jupiter as function of primary mass (0.02-2 Msun), age (1-10 Myr), and environment (clusters vs. dispersed regions). For the first objective, we have completed the design of guaranteed SIRTF observations of nearby star-forming regions and now await the launch of the mission in April 2003. In support of these upcoming observations, in the fall of 2002 we obtained optical spectroscopy at the MMT and the 1.5-meter telescope at Fred Lawrence Whipple Observatory for candidate young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the IC348 and Taurus star-forming regions. Two papers that include these data in new measurements of the mass functions in these regions are near completion and will be submitted for publication to the Astrophysical Journal in January. We have also proposed deep optical and near-IR imaging of the SIRTF fields in the IC348, Chamaeleon, and Ophiuchus star-forming regions with the MMT, Magellan, and Gemini North telescopes in early 2003. For the second objective, we have used deep HST WFPC2 images to search for young giant planets and brown dwarfs around approximately 100 low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the nearby cluster IC 348. We have completed all data reduction and have checked these data for candidate companions. We are in the process of writing a paper that describes these candidate companions and presents the companion detection limits that were achieved with HST. We will attempt followup spectroscopy of the most promising candidate companions to confirm their nature as cool companions rather than background field stars during the commissioning of the facility adaptive optics system for the Gemini North telescope early in 2003. In addition, in SIRTF guaranteed time observations we plan to search for wide substellar companions (greater than 10 inches) around the youngest nearby field stars (ages of 30-100 Myr, d less than 30 pc). We have proposed to use Keck adaptive optics imaging to search these same stars for close-in planets and brown dwarfs at 0.1-l0 inches, which will perfectly complement our SIRTF observations.
The Galaxy Evolution Explorer was designed to detect and quantify star formation in a wide variety of environments. I report new scientific results, based on GALEX observations, such as star formation in tidal tails, extended disks, intra-group and Intra-cluster, and induced by outflows from active galactic nuclei.
We present photometry of two fields in the M31 bulge imaged with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide-Field Camara (WFC). The nuclear field (r less than 40 arcsecs = 150 pc) giant branch extends to I = 19.5, M(sub I) = -5 (Cousins system), a full 0.9 mag brighter than the giant-branch tips of metal-poor Galactic globular clusters and M31 halo fields. This is also approximately = 1.5 mag brighter than the giant branches of metal-rich Galactic globular clusters, but is no brighter than Mould's (1986) M31 bulge field 1 kpc from the nucleus. The data also suggest that the brighter stars may be preferentially concentrated to the center. The 648 luminous stars detected in 2 x 10(exp 9) solar luminosity is approximately = 25% that expected from a hypothetical population of evolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars with lifetimes approximately = 10(exp 5) yr, with the cautionary note that we are near the detection limit. The number of bright stars is also consistent with the progeny of blue stragglers, if one uses a lifetime for the thermal-pulsing AGB of 2 x 10(exp 6) yr. We strongly caution that incompleteness becomes severe below I = 19.9 mag and that future surveys are likely to find numbers of bright stars too large to accomodate the blue straggler progeny hypothesis. We have imaged an additional field 2 arcmin = 500 pc south of the nucleus. The brightest stars in this field are also I = 19.5, but bright stars appear less numerous than in the nuclear field. If the population resembles that of the Galactic bulge, then M(sub bol) = -4.5 is a lower limit to the giant-branch tip luminosity; infrared studies should reveal stars 0.5 mag or more brighter. Either high-metallicity or (more likely) age approximately = 10 Gyr may be responsible for the presence of these luminous AGB stars. These observations confirm that previous ground-based infrared studies (e.g., Rich & Mould 1991) very likely detect an extended giant branch and not spurious luminous stars caused by crowding or disk contamination. However, published integrated colors for the M31 bulge/nucleus are extremely red, making it difficult to accomodate a young or intermediate-age population.
Sputtering of boron nitride with xenon ions was investigated using secondary ion (SIMS) and secondary neutral (SNMS) mass spectrometry. The ions generated from the ion gun were incident on the target at an angle of 50' with respect to the surface'normal. The energy of ions ranged from 100 eV to 3 keV. A flood electron gun was used to neutralize the positive charge build-up on the target surface. The intensities of sputtered neutral and charged particles, including single atoms, molecules, and clusters, were measured as a function of ion energy. Positive SIMS spectra were dominated by the two boron isotopes whereas BN- and B- were the two major constituents of the negative SIMS spectra. Nitrogen could be detected only in the SNMS spectra. The intensity-energy curves of the sputtered particles were similar in shape. The knees in P-SIMS and SNMS intensity-energy curves appear at around I keV which is significantly higher that 100 to 200 eV energy range at which knees appear in the sputtering of medium and heavy elements by ions of argon and xenon. This difference in the position of the sputter yield knee between boron nitride and heavier targets is due to the reduced ion energy differences. The isotopic composition of secondary ions of boron were measured by bombarding boron nitride with xenon ions at energies ranging from 100 eV to 1.5 keV using a quadrupole mass spectrometer. An ion gun was used to generate the ion beam. A flood electron gun was used to neutralize the positive charge buildup on the target surface. The secondary ion flux was found to be enriched in heavy isotopes at lower incident ion energies. The heavy isotope enrichment was observed to decrease with increasing primary ion energy. Beyond 350 eV, light isotopes were sputtered preferentially with the enrichment increasing to an asymptotic value of 1.27 at 1.5 keV. The trend is similar to that of the isotopic enrichment observed earlier when copper was sputtered with xenon ions in the same energy range.
Planar Rayleigh scattering measurements using an ArF-excimer laser have been performed to investigate helium mixing into air at supersonic speeds. The capability of the Rayleigh scattering technique for flow visualization of a turbulent environment is demonstrated in a large-scale, Mach 6facility. The detection limit obtained with the present setup indicates that planar, quantitative measurements of density can be made over a large cross sectional area (5 cm by 10 cm) of the flow field in the absence of clusters.
Oral presentation sessions in this conference include: Clouds and cores; Star formation and protostars; Binaries and multiples; Newborn massive stars; jets and outflows; Clusters and associations; T Tauri stars and disks; Brown dwarfs; Planet formation and evolution; Extrasolar planets; Dust and protoplanetary disks; Early solar system and Astrobiology. Poster presentations included: Clouds and Cores. Collapse and Protostars, Binaries and Multiples, Clusters, Associations, and the IMF, Jets and Outflows, T Tauri Stars and Other Young Stars, Disks and Disk Accretion, Brown Dwarfs, Herbig Ae/Be Stars and Massive Stars, Solar System Objects, Planet Formation, Extrasolar Planets and Planet Detection, Properties of Protoplanetary Disks, Migration and Planetary Orbits and Meteoritics and Astrobiology
The decades-or-longer stability of the narrow F Ring core in a sea of orbital chaos appears to be due to an unusual combination of traditional corotation resonance and a novel kind of "antiresonance". At a series of specific locations in the F Ring region, apse precession between synodic encounters with Prometheus allows semimajor axis perturbations to promptly cancel before significant orbital period changes can occur. This cancellation fails for particles that encounter Prometheus when it is near its apoapse, especially during periods of antialignment of its apse with that of the F Ring. At these times, the strength of the semimajor axis perturbation is large (tens of km) and highly nonsinusoidal in encounter longitude, making it impossible to cancel promptly on a subsequent encounter and leading to chaotic orbital diffusion. Only particles that consistently encounter Prometheus away from its apoapse can use antiresonance to maintain stable orbits, implying that the true mean motion nF of the stable core must be defined by a corotational resonance of the form nF = nP(-kappa)P/m, where (nP, kappaP) are Prometheus' mean motion and epicycle frequency. To test this hypothesis we used the fact that Cassini RSS occultations only sporadically detect a "massive" F Ring core, composed of several-cm-and-larger particles. We regressed the inertial longitudes of 24 Cassini RSS (and VGR) detections and 43 nondetections to a common epoch, using a comb of candidate nP, and then folded them modulo the anticipated m-number of the corotational resonance (Prometheus m = 110 outer CER), to see if clustering appears. We find the "true F Ring core" is actually arranged in a series of short longitudinal arcs separated by nearly empty longitudes, orbiting at a well determined semimajor axis of 140222.4 km (from 2005-2012 at least). Small particles seen by imaging and stellar occultations spread quickly in azimuth and obscure this clumpy structure. Small chaotic variations in the mean motion and/or apse longitude of Prometheus quickly become manifest in the F Ring core, and we suggest that the core must adapt to these changes for the F Ring to maintain stability over timescales of decades and longer
Lynx, one of four strategic mission concepts under study for the 2020 Astrophysics Decadal Survey, will provide leaps in capability over previous and planned X-ray missions, and will provide synergistic observations in the 2030s to a multitude of space- and ground-based observatories across all wavelengths. Lynx will have orders of magnitude improvement in sensitivity, on-axis sub-arcsecond imaging with arcsecond angular resolution over a large field of view, and high-resolution spectroscopy for point-like and extended sources. The Lynx architecture enables a broad range of unique and compelling science, to be carried out mainly through a General Observer Program. This Program is envisioned to include detecting the very first supermassive black holes, revealing the high-energy drivers of galaxy and structure formation, characterizing the mechanisms that govern stellar activity - including effects on planet habitability, and exploring the highest redshift galaxy clusters. An overview and status of the Lynx concept are summarized.
Using collocated NASA Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) and Research Scanning Polarimeter (RSP) data from the Studies of Emissions and Atmospheric Composition, Clouds and Climate Coupling by Regional Surveys (SEAC4RS) campaign, a new observational-based method was developed which uses a K-means clustering technique to classify ice crystal habit types into seven categories: column, plates, rosettes, spheroids, and three different type of irregulars. Intercompared with the collocated SPEC, Inc., Cloud Particle Imager (CPI) data, the frequency of the detected ice crystal habits from the proposed method presented in the study agrees within 5% with the CPI-reported values for columns, irregulars, rosettes, and spheroids, with more disagreement for plates. This study suggests that a detailed ice crystal habit retrieval could be applied to combined space-based lidar and polarimeter observations such as CALIPSO and POLDER in addition to future missions such as the Aerosols, Clouds, Convection, and Precipitation (A-CCP).
This report documents the results of spiral bevel gear rig tests performed under a NASA Space Act Agreement with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to support validation and demonstration of rotorcraft Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) for maintenance credits via FAA Advisory Circular (AC) 29-2C, Section MG-15, Airworthiness Approval of Rotorcraft (HUMS) (Ref. 1). The overarching goal of this work was to determine a method to validate condition indicators in the lab that better represent their response to faults in the field. Using existing in-service helicopter HUMS flight data from faulted spiral bevel gears as a "Case Study," to better understand the differences between both systems, and the availability of the NASA Glenn Spiral Bevel Gear Fatigue Rig, a plan was put in place to design, fabricate and test comparable gear sets with comparable failure modes within the constraints of the test rig. The research objectives of the rig tests were to evaluate the capability of detecting gear surface pitting fatigue and other generated failure modes on spiral bevel gear teeth using gear condition indicators currently used in fielded HUMS. Nineteen final design gear sets were tested. Tables were generated for each test, summarizing the failure modes observed on the gear teeth for each test during each inspection interval and color coded based on damage mode per inspection photos. Gear condition indicators (CI) Figure of Merit 4 (FM4), Root Mean Square (RMS), +/- 1 Sideband Index (SI1) and +/- 3 Sideband Index (SI3) were plotted along with rig operational parameters. Statistical tables of the means and standard deviations were calculated within inspection intervals for each CI. As testing progressed, it became clear that certain condition indicators were more sensitive to a specific component and failure mode. These tests were clustered together for further analysis. Maintenance actions during testing were also documented. Correlation coefficients were calculated between each CI, component, damage state and torque. Results found test rig and gear design, type of fault and data acquisition can affect CI performance. Results found FM4, SI1 and SI3 can be used to detect macro pitting on two more gear or pinion teeth as long as it is detected prior to progressing to other components or transitioning to another failure mode. The sensitivity of RMS to system and operational conditions limit its reliability for systems that are not maintained at steady state. Failure modes that occurred due to scuffing or fretting were challenging to detect with current gear diagnostic tools, since the damage is distributed across all the gear and pinion teeth, smearing the impacting signatures typically used to differentiate between a healthy and damaged tooth contact. This is one of three final reports published on the results of this project. In the second report, damage modes experienced in the field will be mapped to the failure modes created in the test rig. The helicopter CI data will then be re-processed with the same analysis techniques applied to spiral bevel rig test data. In the third report, results from the rig and helicopter data analysis will be correlated. Observations, findings and lessons learned using sub-scale rig failure progression tests to validate helicopter gear condition indicators will be presented.
Planar Rayleigh scattering measurements with an argon-fluoride excimer laser are performed to investigate helium mixing into air at supersonic speeds. The capability of the Rayleigh scattering technique for flow visualization of a turbulent environment is demonstrated in a large-scale, Mach-6 facility. The detection limit obtained with the present setup indicates that planar, quantitative measurements of density can be made over a large cross-sectional area (5 cm x 10 cm) of the flow field in the absence of clusters.
The 11 ms pulsar PSR 1744-24A in the globular clusters Terzan 5 is the first and only known example of a binary eclipsing pulsar showing time-variable eclipses with irregular and nonsymmetric eclipse patterns. Occasionally, the pulsar eclipse becomes total, and no radio emission is detected for an extended period of time. We present here numerical results of a hydrodynamical model aimed at explaining the remarkable eclipse properties of PSR 1744-24A. We show that the hydrodynamic time scale for the partial or total pulsar enshrouding is of order of the orbital period for a relatively large mass loss rate, in agreement with observations. The time-variable eclipse egress positions imply that the mass loss rate from the companion varies within one orbital period. Hydrodynamic modelling of the mass outflow of PSR 1744-24A is of crucial importance for the understanding of a class of millisecond pulsars whose radio emission might be occasionally or permanently quenched by mass outflows from their companions. The properties of PSR 1744-24A suggest a new way of studying millisecond pulsars involving radio, X-ray, gamma-ray, and optical observations.
Summary of research/publications include:(1) Comment on broadening of water microwave lines by collisions with helium atoms; (2) Calculations of ion-molecule deuterium fractionation reactions involving HD; (3) Ab initio predictions on the rotational spectra of carbon-chain carbene molecules; (4) Theoretical IR spectra of ionized naphthalene; (5) Improved collisional excitation rates for interstellar water; (6) Calculations on the competition between association and reaction for C3H+ + H2; (7) Theoretical infrared spectra of some model polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: effect of ionization; (8) Calculations concerning interstellar isomeric abundance ratios for C3H and C3H2; (9) New calculations on the ion-molecule processes C2H2+ + H2 C2H3+ + H and C2H2+ + H2 C2H4+; (10) Anisotropic rigid rotor potential energy function for H2O-H2; (11) A correlated ab initio study of linear carbon-chain radicals CnH (n=2-7); (12) Ab initio characterization of MgCCH, MgCCH+, and MgC2 and pathways to their formation in the interstellar medium; (13) Why HOC+ is detectable in interstellar clouds: The rate of the reaction between HOC+ and H2; (14) A correlated ab initio study of the X 2A 1 and A 2E states of MgCH3; (15) On the stability of interstellar carbon clusters: The rate of the reaction between C3 and O; and (16) The rate of the reaction between CN and C2H2 at interstellar temperatures.
In the framework of the project POLINAT 2 (Pollution in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor) we measured NO(x) (NO and NO2) and ozone on 85 flights through the North Atlantic Flight Corridor (NAFC) with a fully automated system permanently installed aboard an in-service Swissair B-747 airliner in the period of August to November 1997. The averaged NO(x) concentrations both in the NAFC and at the U.S. east coast were similar to that measured in autumn 1995 with the same system. The patchy occurrence of NO(x) enhancements up to 3000 pptv over several hundred kilometers (plumes), predominately found over the U.S. east coast lead to a log-normal NO(x) probability density function. In three case studies we examine the origins of such plumes by combining back-trajectories with brightness temperature enhanced (IR) satellite imagery, lightning observations from the U.S. National Lightning Detection Network (NLDN) and the Optical Transient Detector (OTD) satellite. We demonstrate that the location of NO(x) plumes can be well explained with maps of convective influence. We show that the number of lightning flashes in cluster of marine thunderstorms is proportional to the NO(x) concentrations observed several hundred kilometers downwind of the anvil outflows. From the fact that in autumn the NO(x) maximum was found several hundred kilometers off the U.S. east coast, it can be inferred that thunderstorms triggered over the warm Gulf Stream current are major sources for the regional upper tropospheric NO(x) budget in autumn.
This paper presents maps of the locations of electromagnetic signals, presumably caused by lightning, which were observed at 730 Hz during the first three nighttime observing seasons of Pioneer Venus Orbiter when the spacecraft reached altitudes low enough to detect the signals. The maps show that there are specific 'active regions' of enhanced signal occurrence, and that at least some of these active regions appear to remain fixed in planetographic coordinates from year to year.