Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “Particle Accelerator”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 1,135 records · Page 63
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Particle-in-cell simulations of stochastic electron acceleration

The results of a series of particle-in-cell simulations of stochastic wave-particle interaction are presented. The threshold for stochasticity was confirmed. The simulations demonstrate that in a strong magnetic field plasma waves with quiver velocities much less than the speed of light but above a certain threshold can stochastically accelerate electrons to energies far greater than 1 MeV. Moreover, self-consistency effects drive return currents and produce energetic runaway electrons that violate an invariant of motion.

Akimoto, K.↗
NASA NTRS1966

Production of low-energy cosmic-ray electrons.

Production of low energy cosmic ray electrons, investigating energy inputs to injected secondary electrons by possible low magnitude solar electric field and possible galactic Fermi acceleration

COSMIC RADIATION↗
NASA NTRS1987

Auroral particles

The problems concerning the aurora posed prior to the war are now either solved in principle or were restated in a more fundamental form. The pre-war hypothesis concerning the nature of the auroral particles and their energies was fully confirmed, with the exception that helium and oxygen ions were identified as participating in the auroral particle precipitation in addition to the protons. The nature of the near-Earth energization processes affecting auroral particles was clarified. Charged particle trajectories in various electric field geometries were modeled. The physical problems have now moved from determining the nature and geometry of the electric fields, which accelerate charged particles near the Earth, to accounting for the existence of these electric fields as a natural consequence of the solar wind's interaction with Earth. Ultimately the reward in continuing the work in auroral and magnetospheric particle dynamics will be a deeper understanding of the subtleties of classical electricity and magnetism as applied to situations not blessed with well-defined and invariant geometries.

Evans, David S.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Particle astrophysics - The NASA cosmic ray program for the 1990s and beyond

Various papers on particle astrophysics are presented. Individual topics addressed include: the NASA cosmic ray (CR) program for the 1990s and beyond, SAMPEX Mission overview, the Advanced Composition Explorer, Positron Electron Magnet Spectrometer for the Eos Mission, Heavy Nucleus Collector for Space Station, the Astromag Facility, Large Isotope Spectrometer for Astromag, the Solar Probe Mission, the Mercury Dual Orbiter Mission, CRs in the heliosphere, origin of high-energy Galactic CRs, CR studies with the Gamma-Ray Observatory, gamma-ray astronomy at 1 TeV, experimental search for point sources above 1 TeV, the UMC Extensive Air Shower Array, status of the MACRO experiment. Also discussed are: CRs above 1 TeV/n and neutrino astronomy, abundance of ultraheavy nuclei in solar energetic particles, CR studies with an interstellar probe, isotopic composition of CR nuclei beyond the iron peak, experimental studies of CR isotopic composition up to Zr-40, use of accelerators in particle astrophysics, development of long-duration ballooning in Antarctica, Lunar-Based Heavy Nucleus Detector, neutrino astronomy on the moon, gamma rays at airplane altitudes, source composition of CRs.

Jones, W. V.↗
NASA NTRS1994

A modular solid state detector for measuring high energy heavy ion fragmentation near the beam axis

A multi-element solid state detector has been designed to measure fluences of fragments produced near the beam axis by high energy heavy ion beams in thick targets. The detector is compact and modular, so as to be readily reconfigured according to the range of fragment charges and energies to be measured. Preamplifier gain settings and detector calibrations are adjustable remotely under computer control. We describe the central detector, its associated detectors and electronics, triggering scheme, data acquisition and particle identification techniques, illustrated by data taken with 600 MeV/u 56Fe beams and thick polyethylene targets at the LBL Bevalac. The applications of this work to space radiation protection are discussed.

NASA Center HQS↗
NASA NTRS1979

Voyager 2 - Energetic ions and electrons in the Jovian magnetosphere

The passage of Voyager 2 through the Jovian magnetosphere demonstrated that this magnetosphere is highly variable, even as close as 10 Jupiter radii from the planet. The cosmic-ray subsystem measured the flux, elemental composition, and anisotropy of energetic particles. Its high sensitivity was particularly valuable during the long passage through the magnetotail, where particle fluxes were orders of magnitude less than in the inner magnetosphere and approached interplanetary values. The new data confirm earlier observations that the Jovian magnetosphere is a giant accelerator of particles - electrons, protons, and heavy ions, including sulfur. Both spatial and temporal changes are observed in the magnetosphere as compared to prior observations with Pioneer 10 and 11 and Voyager 1. It is suggested that the 10-hr modulation of interplanetary Jovian electrons may be associated with the arrival at the dawn magnetopause of a rarefaction region each planetary rotation.

Vogt, R. E.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Cosmic rays at fluid discontinuities

Cosmic-ray transport near discontinuities in the background fluid velocity is considered. Matching conditions for the cosmic-ray distribution are derived for both shear and compressive (shock) discontinuities, keeping terms to second order in the ratio of fluid speed to energetic-particle speed. Acceleration is found at shear discontinuities, which is not present in the first-order theory, and a modification of the matching condition at shocks. If there is no particle source concentrated at a shock, the new condition reduces to that obtained from first-order theory. Monte Carlo simulations show good agreement with the theory.

Jokipii, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Trajectories of ballistic impact ejecta on a rotating Earth

On an airless, slowly rotating planetary body like the Moon, ejecta particles from an impact follow simple ballistic trajectories. If gaseous interactions in the fireball are ignored, ejecta particles follow elliptical orbits with the center of the planetary body at one focus until they encounter the surface at the point of reimpact. The partial elliptical orbit of the ejecta particle lies in a plane in inertial (galactic) coordinates. Because of the slow rotation rate (for example, 360 degrees/28 days for the Moon), the intersection of the orbital plane and the surface remains nearly a great circle during the flight time of the ejecta. For this reason, lunar rays, representing concentrations of ejecta with the same azimuth but different velocities and/or ejecta angles, lie essentially along great circles. Ejecta from airless but more rapidly rotating bodies will follow more complicated, curving trajectories when plotted in the coordinate frame of the rotating planet or viewed as rays on the planetary surface. The curvature of trajectories of ejecta particles can be treated as a manifestation of the Coriolis effect, with the particles being accelerated by Coriolis pseudoforces. However, it is more straightforward to calculate the elliptical orbit in inertial space and then determine how far the planet rotates beneath the orbiting ejecta particle before reimpact. The Earth's eastward rotation affects ballistic ejecta in two ways: (1) the eastward velocity component increases the velocity of eastbound ejecta and reduces the velocity of westbound ejecta; and (2) the Earth turns underneath inflight ejecta, so that although the latitude of reimpact is not changed, the longitude is displaced westward, with the displacement increasing as a function of the time the ejecta remains aloft.

Alvarez, W.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Diet as a factor in behavioral radiation protection following exposure to heavy particles

Major risks associated with radiation exposures on deep space missions include carcinogenesis due to heavy-particle exposure of cancer-prone tissues and performance decrements due to neurological damage produced by heavy particles. Because exposure to heavy particles can cause oxidative stress, it is possible that antioxidants can be used to mitigate these risks (and possibly some health risks of microgravity). To assess the capacity of antioxidant diets to mitigate the effects of exposure to heavy particles, rats were maintained on antioxidant diets containing 2% blueberry or strawberry extract or a control diet for 8 weeks prior to exposure to 1.5 or 2.0 Gy of accelerated iron particles at Brookhaven National Laboratory. Following irradiation rats were tested on a series of behavioral tasks: amphetamine-induced taste aversion learning, operant responding and spatial learning and memory. The results indicated that the performance of the irradiated rats maintained on the antioxidant diets was, in general, significantly better than that of the control animals, although the effectiveness of the diets ameliorating the radiation-induced deterioration in performance varied as a function of both the specific diet and the specific endpoint. In addition, animals fed antioxidant diets prior to exposure showed reduced heavy particle-induced tumorigenesis one year after exposure compared to the animals fed the control diet. These results suggest that antioxidant diets have the potential to serve as part of a system designed to provide protection to astronauts against the effects of heavy particles on exploratory missions outside the magnetic field of the earth.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1976

Planetary magnetospheres: A comparative view

There are eight large bodies in the solar system about which definite statements regarding the existence or nonexistence of a magnetic field of internal origin can now be made. Of these bodies (Sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and the Earth's Moon), only Venus and the Moon have negligible surface magnetic fields. By negligible is meant that the magnetic fields are so weak that they do not sensibly perturb the local solar wind. The other bodies provide an interesting zoo of magnetic field configurations and attendant charged particle behavior. Six of these bodies have magnetic fields, and two do not. Furthermore, of those which have magnetic fields, it appears that only that of Mars is ineffective in accelerating charged particles.

Dessler, A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Production of neutrons from interactions of GCR-like particles

In order to help assess the risk to astronauts due to the long-term exposure to the natural radiation environment in space, an understanding of how the primary radiation field is changed when passing through shielding and tissue materials must be obtained. One important aspect of the change in the primary radiation field after passing through shielding materials is the production of secondary particles from the breakup of the primary. Neutrons are an important component of the secondary particle field due to their relatively high biological weighting factors, and due to their relative abundance, especially behind thick shielding scenarios. Because of the complexity of the problem, the estimation of the risk from exposure to the secondary neutron field must be handled using calculational techniques. However, those calculations will need an extensive set of neutron cross section and thicktarget neutron yield data in order to make an accurate assessment of the risk. In this paper we briefly survey the existing neutron-production data sets that are applicable to the space radiation transport problem, and we point out how neutron production from protons is different than neutron production from heavy ions. We also make comparisons of one the heavy-ion data sets with Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (BUU) calculations.

Non-NASA Center↗
NASA NTRS1993

A unified transport equation for both cosmic rays and thermal particles

We present a unified transport equation that is valid for particles of all energies if the particle mean free paths are much smaller than macroscopic fluid length scales. If restricted to particles with random speeds much greater than fluid flow speeds, this equation reduces to the previously discussed extended cosmic-ray transport equation. It is significant that this allows one to describe the acceleration of particles from thermal energies to cosmic-ray energies using one transport equation. This is in contrast to previous transport equations (the Parker equation and the extended cosmic-ray transport equation), which were restricted to fast particles. The close connection to the extended cosmic-ray transport equation is demonstrated.

Williams, L. L.↗