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At least 811 records · Page 45
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NASA NTRS1980

The Penrose Photoproduction Scenario for NGC 4151 /PCS-SSC/ - A black hole gamma-ray emission mechanism for active galactic nuclei and Seyfert galaxies

On the basis of general arguments, it has been suggested (Bignami et al., 1979) that a steepening of the spectrum between X-ray and gamma-ray energies may be a general, gamma-ray characteristic of Seyfert galaxies, if the diffuse gamma-ray spectrum is considered to be a superposition of unresolved contributions, from one or more classes of extragalactic objects. It is shown that the above suggestion can be given a consistent theoretical interpretation in the context of the Penrose Photoproduction Scenario (PCS-SSC). Specifically in the case of NGC 4151, the dominant process will be shown to be Penrose Compton Scattering PCS in the ergosphere of a massive, central, rapidly spinning Kerr black hole, assumed in its nucleus. It is assumed that PCS gamma-ray induced electron-position, Synchrotron-Self-Compton processes 'evolve' as the dominant source of nonthermal X-rays.

Leiter, D.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Search for characteristic features of low-energy quiet-time H, He and heavy nuclei fluxes, 1973-1977

Results of a survey of the 0.5-10 MeV/nucleon fluxes of H, He and heavier ions during interplanetary 'quiet-times' over the period 1973-1977 using the ULET telescope on IMP-8 are reported. It is found that in this energy range no characteristic flux level, or, e.g., proton/alpha ratio emerges during quiet periods in any year, thus precluding systematic long-term studies of the time behavior of the quiet-time component at these energies. Spectra for a uniquely quiet period in May 1977 and a less restrictively chosen set of quiet periods in 1976-1977 are presented and compared with previous results.

Mason, G. M.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Measurements of cosmic ray H-2 and He-3 nuclei above 100 MeV/nuc using a balloon borne telescope

A recent measurement of the hydrogen and helium isotopes obtained from a balloon borne experiment flown from Fort Churchill, Canada at an atmospheric depth of 2.9 g/sq cm on 4 July 1977 is reported. Primary spectra of H-2 and He-3 were obtained up to 150 to 300 MeV/nuc, respectively. The helium isotope observations makes it possible to obtain a mutually consistent picture of galactic propagation and solar modulation and gives information on the possible forms of the He-4 source spectrum.

Webber, W. R.↗
NASA NTRS1980

X-ray spectra of active galactic nuclei

Characteristics of the X-ray spectra of seven Seyfert 1 galaxies, five BL Lac objects, and three quasars are discussed. It is found that all the Seyfert 1 spectra can be fitted to a single power law with an energy index of 0.6 to 0.7, that there is no obvious correlation between spectral index and luminosity, and that variability appears to be inversely correlated with luminosity. It is suggested that the spectra of all the BL Lac sources can be synthesized from two power-law forms, viz., a very hard component with an index of approximately 0.2 and a much softer component with an index of about 2. The extent to which the measured spectrum of the diffuse X-ray background is consistent with the spectra of candidate populations of discrete sources is examined.

Holt, S. S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Structure and origin of cometary nuclei

There is strong evidence that a comet nucleus consists of a single object whose basic structure is Whipple's icy conglomerate. A number of cometary phenomena indicate that the nucleus is a low density, fragile object with a large degree of radial uniformity in structure and composition. Details of the ice-dust pattern are more uncertain. A working model is proposed which is based on theories of accumulation of larger objects from grains. This nucleus is a distorted spherical aggregate of a hierarchy of ice-dust cometesimals. These cometesimals retain some separate identity which lead to comet fragmentation when larger components break off. The outer layers of new comets were modified by cosmic ray irradiation in the Oort Cloud. The evidence for meteorite-comet association is steill controversial. Current dynamical studies do not seem to require a cometary source of meteorites.

Donn, B.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The Third International Cloud Condensation Nuclei Workshop

Twenty-five instruments were tested, including size characterization devices and two Aitken counters. The test aerosols were supplied to the instruments by an on-line generation system, thereby eliminating the need for storage bags. Cloud condensation chambers and haze chambers are highlighted.

Kocmond, W. C.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Aerosol generation and distribution system for the Third International Cloud Condensation Nuclei Workshop

In order to obtain identical samples participating CCN instruments and aerosol characterizing equipment were located along and connected to a 8.2 cm diameter aluminum tube through which the test aerosols were pumped directly from the source at very slight overpressure. Of the total of 29 experiments, 18 were carried out with artificial NaCl or (NH4)2SO4 aerosols. These were generated from salt solutions by pneumatic atomizers of special design to ensure high constancy of the aerosol output concentration. In three experiments with insoluble CCN (AgI, paraffin wax) the aerosols were generated thermally. In some of the tests, an electrostatic classifier was used for narrowing the particle size distributions.

Katz, U.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Elemental composition of aerosols in fourteen experiments of the Cloud Condensation Nuclei Workshop

Aeosols were collected with two Ci impactors and analyzed with proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) for chemical composition and to detect if contamination was present. One of the impactors sampled the generated aerosols; the other impactor sampled droplets from a diffusion cloud chamber. The purpose of the experiments was to test the feasibility of a study of the transfer of chemical elements from the fine particle sizes to the coarse particle sizes, after CCN are activated and cloud droplets are formed. The data indicated that sulfur-containing aerosols did exhibit the expected transfer.

Mach, W. H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Comparison between two Aitken counters and with cloud condensation nuclei counters at the 1980 International CCN Workshop

The Pollak and the TSI 3020 counters agreed to within about 10% at concentrations below 1000 cu cm, whereas above that concentration, substantial systematic differences were observed. When the test aerosol was monodisperse and the CCN counters were operated at supersaturations that should nucleate all the aerosol, the Pollak counter read about 6% to 20% lower than the CCN counter in the concentration range from 250/cu cm to 1800/cu cm. The TSI 3020 read about 20% lower than the CCN counter at concentrations less than 1000/cu cm, and a factor of about two higher at concentrations above 1000/cu cm.

Rogers, C. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

The formation of emission lines in quasars and Seyfert nuclei

The photoionization and heating throughout a quasar emission-line cloud optically thick at the Lyman edge are calculated. Photoionization and collisional ionization from excited states of hydrogen are included, which maintain a substantial electron fraction after the exhaustion of Lyman continuum photons halts ground-state photoionization. Observed values are explained for Ly-alpha/H-beta, H-alpha/H-beta, P-alpha/H-alpha, He I 5876/H-beta, O I 8446/H-alpha, and Mg II 2798/H-beta. The dependence of line strengths on physical conditions is discussed, and plotting Fe II/4570/H-beta versus Balmer continuum/H-beta is suggested. Other observations are also suggested, and the degree of asymmetry is given between the forward and backward emission of lines from a finite slab to make possible the use of comparative line profile studies to elucidate cloud kinematics.

Kwan, J.↗
NASA NTRS1981

VLBI and X-ray observations of compact nuclei in pairs of galaxies

Five pairs of isolated pairs of galaxies with radio sources from the sample of Stocke et al. (1978) were observed with a three-element VLBI array operating at 4996 MHz. Parsec-scale components were detected in NGC 3894, Arp 102, and NGC 6500. Arp 102B was found to be a strong X-ray source with a luminosity in the 0.5-4.5 keV band of about 10 to the 43rd ergs/sec. Arp 102B was also found to be an elliptical galaxy for which no emission lines have been reported, and was the only source in the sample which appeared unresolved on the milli-arcsec scale, indicating that it may be related to BL Lac type objects.

Biermann, P.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Thermal modeling of cometary nuclei

A model of the sublimation of volatile ices from a cometary nucleus is presented which includes the effects of (1) diurnal heating and cooling, (2) rotation period and pole orientation, (3) the thermal properties of the ice and subsurface layers, and (4) the contributions from coma opacity, scattering and thermal emission where the properties of the coma are derived from the integrated rate of volatile production by the nucleus. In applying the model to the case of the 1986 apparition of Halley's comet, it is found that the generation of a cometary dust coma increases the total energy reaching the Halley nucleus due to the greater geometrical cross-section of the coma as compared with the bare nucleus. The calculated coma opacity of Halley is about 0.2 at 1 AU from the sun and 1.2 at perihelion. Possible consequences of the results obtained for the generation of nongravitational forces, volatile production rates for comets and cometary lifetimes against sublimation are discussed.

Weissman, P. R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

On the dust zoning of rapidly rotating cometary nuclei

The effects of nuclear rotation on the surface of a cometary nucleus (a comet at 1 AU that is H2O dominated and has a radius of 1 km) are considered. It is shown that this dust does not accumulate uniformly on the surface, which here is considered spherical. While dust particles in the two polar cap regions and an equatorial belt remain at rest on the surface, those in two midlatitude bands migrate toward the equator, stopping at the two low latitudes to form dust ridges. As the nucleus spins up, both the polar caps and the equatorial belt shrink in size, and the dust ridges move toward the equator, eventually spinning off the dust from the nucleus when the nuclear rotation period is less than about 3.3 hr. For larger particles for which the gas buoyancy is negligible, migration takes place only if the rotation period is not significantly larger than the critical value of 3.3 hr or if the surface friction is abnormally small.

Houpis, H. L. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Implications of ultraheavy cosmic-ray source composition derived from observations by the HEAO-3 heavy nuclei experiment

The contribution of r-process and s-process nucleosynthesis to the Cameron (1980) solar system (SS) abundances for Z at least 33 has been derived. In the interval Z equals 34-40 HEAO-3 data extrapolated to the cosmic-ray source (CRS) fit the solar system mix better than r-process. In the interval Z between 26-40 the HEAO-3 results for CRS/SS follow the same general correlation with first ionization potential as for the lighter elements although there are deviations in detail.

Israel, M. H.↗
NASA NTRS1981

A new transition radiation detector for cosmic ray nuclei

Test measurements on materials for transition radiation detectors at a low Lorentz factor are reported. The materials will be based on board Spacelab-2 for determining the composition and energy spectra of nuclear cosmic rays in the 1 TeV/nucleon range. The transition radiation detectors consist of a sandwich of radiator-photon detector combinations. The radiators emit X-rays and are composed of polyolefin fibers used with Xe filled multiwired proportional chamber (MWPC) detectors capable of detecting particle Lorentz factors of several hundred. The sizing of the detectors is outlined, noting the requirement of a thickness which provides a maximum ratio of transition radiation to total signal in the chambers. The fiber radiator-MWPC responses were tested at Fermilab and in an electron cyclotron. An increase in transition radiation detection was found as a square power law of Z, and the use of six radiator-MWPC on board the Spacelab-2 is outlined.

Lheureux, J.↗