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At least 1,279 records · Page 71

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NASA NTRS1974

Do massive Brans-Dicke theories of gravitation imitate Brans-Dicke theories with nonzero divergence of energy-momentum tensor

Acharya and Hogan (1973) have introduced a massive scalar field into the usual Brans-Dicke (1961) theory of gravitation. Formally they obtain certain field equations. The assumption of a nonzero divergence for T mu nu (or equivalently the introduction of sources) formally imitates a massive Brans-Dicke and satisfies the condition of Acharya and Hogan that the theory be indistinguishable with the classical test of the Einstein theory. Although it was shown elsewhere that the modified Brans-Dicke theory agrees with the classical test under certain conditions, there were no specified limits on omega, a similar circumstance discovered by Acharya and Hogan for the massive scalar field.

Smalley, L. L.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Gravitational effects on process-induced defects in single crystal silicon

Description and discussion of a series of experiments which vary each of several important processing parameters including wafer orientation, temperature, gravity greater than 1 g, and ultimately zero gravity. These experiments are in progress and results to date are included from experiments which control temperature, duration of thermal cycle, and wafer orientation during 1 g processing. Preliminary evidence is presented which indicates that gravitational stresses play a role in defect generation during processing at 1 g.

Porter, W. A.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Gravitational radiation from stellar collapse

The collapse of a uniformly rotating dust cloud of uniform density is considered. The collapsing 'star' maintains spatially uniform density and angular velocity together with spheroidal shape. The analogous case of a nonrotating spheroid which starts at rest at infinity with infinitesimal eccentricity is also examined. Factors which appear to be important in the efficient production of the gravitational radiation are discussed.

Thuan, T. X.↗

NASA NTRS1974

On the determination of certain astronomical, selenodesic, and gravitational parameters of the moon

A method was examined for joint construction of a selenocentric fundamental system which can be realized by a coordinate catalog of reference contour points uniformly positioned over the entire lunar surface, and determination of the parameters characterizing the gravitational field, rotation, and orbital motion of the moon. Characteristic of the problem formulation is the introduction of a new complex of inconometric measurements which can be made using pictures obtained from an artificial lunar satellite. The proposed method can be used to solve similar problems on any other planet for which surface images can be obtained from a spacecraft. Characteristic of the proposed technique for solving the problem is the joint statistical analysis of all forms of measurements: orbital iconometric, earth-based trajectory, and also a priori information on the parameters in question which is known from earth-based astronomical studies.

Aleksashin, Y. P.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Gravitational Harmonics from Shallow Resonant Orbits

Five gravitational constraints were derived for the GEOS 2 orbit (order 13, to 30th degree) whose principal resonant period is 6 days. The constraints explain the sinusoidal variation with argument of perigee of a lumped harmonic found from 41 6-day arcs of optical and laser data. The condition equations, derived from elementary perturbation theory are shown to account for almost all of the resonant information in the tracking data.

Wagner, C. A.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Solar gravitational deflection of radio waves measured by very-long-baseline interferometry

Utilizing a four-antenna technique, simultaneous observations were made, at each end of an 845-km baseline, of the radio sources 3C279 and 3C273B, which are 10 deg apart in the sky. Differences in interferometric phases at 3.7-cm wavelength monitored near the time of the 1972 occultation of 3C279 by the sun, yielded a gravitational deflection of 0.99 plus or minus 0.03 times the value predicted by general relativity, corresponding to gamma = 0.98 plus or minus 0.06 (standard error).

Counselman, C. C., III↗

NASA NTRS1974

Issues in gravitational wave detection with space missions

Two masses freely orbiting in the solar system, separated by several astronomical units, are proposed as antennas for the detection of monochromatic gravitational radiation emitted by double stars. If one of these masses was an artificial satellite, then relative acceleration could be measured by the Doppler effect on the satellite radio signal. A highly accurate clock would have to be invented and incorporated into the tracking network in order for this plan to be feasible.

Davies, R. W.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Influence of gravitation on the propagation of electromagnetic radiation

The existence of a general helicity-rotation coupling is demonstrated for electromagnetic waves propagating in the field of a slowly rotating body and in the Goedel universe. This coupling leads to differential focusing of circularly polarized radiation by a gravitational field which is detectable for a rapidly rotating collapsed body. The electromagnetic perturbations and their frequency spectrum are given for the Goedel universe. The spectrum of frequencies is bounded from below by the characteristic rotation frequency of the Goedel universe. If the universe were rotating, the differential focusing effect would be extremely small due to the present upper limit on the anisotropy of the microwave background radiation.

Mashhoon, B.↗

NASA NTRS1975

On the Formulation of the Gravitational Potential in Terms of Equinoctial Variables

Analytical averaging techniques are used to expand the disturbing potential in the equinoctial coordinate frame by considering third body harmonics and zonal functions harmonics. General results are developed through applications of Legendre and associated Legendre polynomials and the Q sub nm functions for the gravitational potential.

Cefola, P. J.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Gravitational-wave bursts from the nuclei of distant galaxies and quasars: Proposal for detection using Doppler tracking of interplanetary spacecraft

Supermassive black holes which exist in the nuclei of many quasars and galaxies are examined along with the collapse which forms these holes and subsequent collisions between them which produce strong, broad-band bursts of gravitational waves. Such bursts might arrive at earth as often as 50 times per year--or as rarely as once each 300 years. The detection of such bursts with dual-frequency Doppler tracking of interplanetary spacecraft is considered.

Thorne, K. S.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Pines nonsingular gravitational potential derivation, description and implementation

An engineering interpretation of and some minor corrections to previously completed work on a uniform representation of the gravitational potential and its derivatives (with emphasis on avoiding the usual singularity at the pole) were presented. The physical meaning of the variables was explained, the derivation of results was separated into smaller parts for easier reading, some additional recurrence relations for the derived Legendre polynomials were included and compared, and a computer program implementing this formulation was presented. Numerical experiments have shown that the use of this representation, besides removing the singularity, substantially increases the speed of the computation.

Spencer, J. L.↗

NASA NTRS1976

On the equations governing the gravitational perturbations of the Kerr black hole

Teukolsky's radial equation governing the general, non-axisymmetric, gravitational perturbations of the Kerr black hole is reduced to the form of a one-dimensional wave equation by making use of the transformation which enables the treatment of the non-axisymmetric modes in exactly the same way as the axisymmetric modes.

Chandrasekhar, S.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Expansion of the gravitational potential with computerized Poisson series

The paper describes a recursive formulation for the expansion of the gravitational potential valid for both the tesseral and zonal harmonics. The expansion is primarily in rectangular coordinates, but the classical orbit elements or equinoctial orbit elements can be easily substituted. The equations of motion for the zonal harmonics in both classical and equinoctial orbital elements are described in a form which will result in closed-form expressions for the first-order perturbations. In order to achieve this result, the true longitude or true anomaly have to be used as independent variables.

Broucke, R.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Gravitational dynamics of biosystems - Some speculations

The response of organisms to gravity is generally discussed in terms of hypotheses involving sedimentation and other static effects. This paper considers several complex, inhomogeneous fluid-containing systems that are intended to model some possible dynamic effects of gravity on biosystems. It is shown that the presence of gravity may result in modified long range transport, concentration oscillations, and broken symmetries. The magnitude of density-gradient-driven convective transport times, and their ratios to diffusive transport times, are calculated for cell dimensions of six different plant varieties. The results indicate that further investigation of gravitational convection effects may be realistic in some cases and is definitely not in others. The results of this paper should aid in the planning of 'zero-gravity' experiments concerning plant geotropism and bio-materials processing.

Kessler, J. O.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Techniques of Global analysis applied to gravitation theories: A cosmological black hole?

An elementary model of freely falling observers and emitters within a black hole's radius is examined to determine the redshift spectrum reaching a typical observer. The model is independent of scale, the fundamental unit being the radius (mass) of the black hole. The observers/emitters all follow the same kinds of trajectories: radially inward and starting from rest at spatial infinity. The test-particle role is assumed throughout; i.e., the observers/emitters do not themselves contribute to the gravitational field of the system. By means of redshift formulas and luminosity distance to the emitters, a picture of actual redshifts and blueshifts, with their intensities, emerges for an observer within the black hole's radius. No luminosity distances greater than approximately one-half the radius are considered in this particular study; nevertheless, redshifts and blueshifts up to approximately 0.6 are seen in portions of the observer's celestial sphere. An exotic application can be made, as a curiosity, to a black hole the size of the universe, resulting in a particular anisotropic "cosmology."

Debney, G.↗

NASA NTRS1977

A computer software system for the generation of global ocean tides including self-gravitation and crustal loading effects

A computer software system is described which computes global numerical solutions of the integro-differential Laplace tidal equations, including dissipation terms and ocean loading and self-gravitation effects, for arbitrary diurnal and semidiurnal tidal constituents. The integration algorithm features a successive approximation scheme for the integro-differential system, with time stepping forward differences in the time variable and central differences in spatial variables.

Estes, R. H.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Gravitational potential energy of the earth: A spherical harmonic approach

A spherical harmonic equation for the gravitational potential energy of the earth is derived for an arbitrary density distribution by conceptually bringing in mass-elements from infinity and building up the earth shell upon spherical shell. The zeroth degree term in the spherical harmonic equation agrees with the usual expression for the energy of a radial density distribution. The second degree terms give a maximum nonhydrostatic energy in the mantle and crust of -2.77 x 10 to the twenty-ninth power ergs, an order of magnitude. If the earth is assumed to be a homogeneous viscous oblate spheroid relaxing to an equilibrium shape, then a lower limit to the mantle viscosity of 1.3 x 10 to the twentieth power poises is found by assuming the total geothermal flux is due to viscous dissipation. If the nonequilibrium figure is dynamically maintained by the earth acting as a heat engine at one per cent efficiency, then the viscosity is ten to the twenty second power poises, a number preferred by some as the viscosity of the mantle.

Rubincam, D. P.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Dipole gravitational radiation in Rosen's theory of gravity - Observable effects in the binary system PSR 1913+16

It is shown that Rosen's (1973) bimetric theory of gravity predicts the emission of dipole gravitational radiation from binary systems containing neutron stars, such as the binary pulsar PSR 1913+16, which causes rapid changes in orbital period. The theory also predicts sizable corrections to masses inferred from orbital data and periastron-shift data. It is demonstrated that this prediction is inconsistent with the observed upper limit on period changes unless the system consists of two neutron stars whose masses differ by less than 0.3 solar mass, or a neutron star of mass less than 0.4 solar mass and a companion which must be a rapidly rotating white dwarf or a helium main-sequence star. Because Rosen's theory is in agreement with all solar-system experiments to date, this represents a feasible test of its viability.

Will, C. M.↗