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At least 145 records · Page 8

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NASA NTRS1990

Dynamical basis sets for algebraic variational calculations in quantum-mechanical scattering theory

New basis sets are proposed for linear algebraic variational calculations of transition amplitudes in quantum-mechanical scattering problems. These basis sets are hybrids of those that yield the Kohn variational principle (KVP) and those that yield the generalized Newton variational principle (GNVP) when substituted in Schlessinger's stationary expression for the T operator. Trial calculations show that efficiencies almost as great as that of the GNVP and much greater than the KVP can be obtained, even for basis sets with the majority of the members independent of energy.

Sun, Yan↗

NASA NTRS1984

Optimization of fringe-type laser anemometers for turbine engine component testing

The fringe type laser anemometer is analyzed using the Cramer-Rao bound for the variance of the estimate of the Doppler frequency as a figure of merit. Mie scattering theory is used to calculate the Doppler signal wherein both the amplitude and phase of the scattered light are taken into account. The noise from wall scatter is calculated using the wall bidirectional reflectivity and the irradiance of the incident beams. A procedure is described to determine the optimum aperture mask for the probe volume located a given distance from a wall. The expected performance of counter type processors is also discussed in relation to the Cramer-Rao bound. Numerical examples are presented for a coaxial backscatter anemometer.

Seasholtz, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Optimization of fringe-type laser anemometers for turbine engine component testing

Seasholtz, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Spectral characteristics of the return

Doppler spectra of VHF radar returns typically indicate a Gaussian back-ground shape with superimposed spikes. An average of 10 Doppler spectra are shown which are calculated from a time series of seven min of complex data. A proper Gaussian fit to the background distribution is possible by neglecting the strong amplitude spikes. If this background distribution is due to beam width broadening, either diffuse reflection or rather isotropic scattering is required. If beam width broadening is neglected, the width of the distribution is given by turbulent velocity fluctuations. The reflected component is about 1/3 of the scattered component. It is assumed that the amplitude spikes due to diffuse reflection indicate a Gaussian frequency distribution such as for the amplitudes due to scattering.

Rottger, J.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Glauber exchange amplitudes

The extrapolation method of Ochkur, valid for intermediate energies (about 50 eV), is applied to the exchange form of the Glauber amplitudes. In the case of elastic scattering of electrons from hydrogen atoms at 54.4 Ev the 'post' and 'prior' forms of the exchange amplitude are equivalent, whereas for the case of inelastic scattering there is a minute discrepancy between the two forms of the amplitude. The results are compared with the close-coupling calculation. The investigation is expected to be useful for optically forbidden exchange-allowed transitions due to electron impact at intermediate energies.

Madan, R. N.↗

NASA NTRS2000

Generation and Radiation of Acoustic Waves from a 2-D Shear Layer

A parallel numerical simulation of the radiation of sound from an acoustic source inside a 2-D jet is presented in this paper. This basic benchmark problem is used as a test case for scattering problems that are presently being solved by using the Impedance Mismatch Method (IMM). In this technique, a solid body in the domain is represented by setting the acoustic impedance of each medium, encountered by a wave, to a different value. This impedance discrepancy results in reflected and scattered waves with appropriate amplitudes. The great advantage of the use of this method is that no modifications to a simple Cartesian grid need to be made for complicated geometry bodies. Thus, high order finite difference schemes may be applied simply to all parts of the domain. In the IMM, the total perturbation field is split into incident and scattered fields. The incident pressure is assumed to be known and the equivalent sources for the scattered field are associated with the presence of the scattering body (through the impedance mismatch) and the propagation of the incident field through a non-uniform flow. An earlier version of the technique could only handle uniform flow in the vicinity of the source and at the outflow boundary. Scattering problems in non-uniform mean flow are of great practical importance (for example, scattering from a high lift device in a non-uniform mean flow or the effects of a fuselage boundary layer). The solution to this benchmark problem, which has an acoustic wave propagating through a non-uniform mean flow, serves as a test case for the extensions of the IMM technique.

Agarwal, Anurag↗

NASA NTRS2004

Amplitude Scintillation due to Atmospheric Turbulence for the Deep Space Network Ka-Band Downlink

Fast amplitude variations due to atmospheric scintillation are the main concerns for the Deep Space Network (DSN) Ka-band downlink under clear weather conditions. A theoretical study of the amplitude scintillation variances for a finite aperture antenna is presented. Amplitude variances for weak scattering scenarios are examined using turbulence theory to describe atmospheric irregularities. We first apply the Kolmogorov turbulent spectrum to a point receiver for three different turbulent profile models, especially for an exponential model varying with altitude. These analytic solutions then are extended to a receiver with a finite aperture antenna for the three profile models. Smoothing effects of antenna aperture are expressed by gain factors. A group of scaling factor relations is derived to show the dependences of amplitude variances on signal wavelength, antenna size, and elevation angle. Finally, we use these analytic solutions to estimate the scintillation intensity for a DSN Goldstone 34-m receiving station. We find that the (rms) amplitude fluctuation is 0.13 dB at 20-deg elevation angle for an exponential model, while the fluctuation is 0.05 dB at 90 deg. These results will aid us in telecommunication system design and signal-fading prediction. They also provide a theoretical basis for further comparison with other measurements at Ka-band.

Ho, C.↗

NASA NTRS1972

The equatorial electrojet satellite and surface comparison

The OGO 4 and 6 (POGO) magnetic field results for the equatorial electrojet indicate that while the present models are approximately correct, the possibility of a westward component must be incorporated. The scatter diagrams of POGO amplitudes and surface data show a correlation. The ratios between the amplitudes estimated from surface data and those at 400 km altitude are as follows: India 5 to 8, East Africa (Addis Ababa) 4, Central Africa 3, West Africa (Nigeria) 3, South America (Huancayo) 5, and Philippines 5. The variation in the ratio is due to the conductivity structure of the earth in various zones.

Cain, J. C.↗

NASA NTRS1976

Differential cross section for positronium formation in positron-atomic-hydrogen collisions

The differential cross section for positronium formation in its ground state due to collision of a positron and a hydrogen atom is obtained on the basis of the combination of the L = 0 and 1 (L is the angular momentum quantum number) partial wave amplitudes with the L not less than 2 Born amplitudes. Minima at the scattering angles of 57 and 51 degrees were found for positron energies of 0.64 and 0.75 Ry. Total cross sections for positronium formation at low and intermediate impact energies are presented.

Drachman, R. J.↗

NASA NTRS2004

Aerocapture Guidance Performance for the Neptune Orbiter

A performance evaluation of the Hybrid Predictor corrector Aerocapture Scheme (HYPAS) guidance algorithm for aerocapture at Neptune is presented in this paper for a Mission to Neptune and the Neptune moon Triton'. This mission has several challenges not experienced in previous aerocapture guidance assessments. These challengers are a very high Neptune arrival speed, atmospheric exit into a high energy orbit about Neptune, and a very high ballistic coefficient that results in a low altitude acceleration capability when combined with the aeroshell LD. The evaluation includes a definition of the entry corridor, a comparison to the theoretical optimum performance, and guidance responses to variations in atmospheric density, aerodynamic coefficients and flight path angle for various vehicle configurations (ballistic numbers). The benefits of utilizing angle-of-attack modulation in addition to bank angle modulation to improve flight performance is also discussed. The results show that despite large sensitivities in apoapsis targeting, the algorithm performs within the allocated AV budget for the Neptune mission bank angle only modulation. The addition of angle-of-attack modulation with as little as 5 degrees of amplitude significantly improves the scatter in final orbit apoapsis. Although the angle-of-attack modulation complicates the vehicle design, the performance enhancement reduces aerocapture risk and reduces the propellant consumption needed to reach the high energy target orbit for a conventional propulsion system.

Masciarelli, James P.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Steepening of parallel propagating hydromagnetic waves into magnetic pulsations - A simulation study

The steepening mechanism of parallel propagating low-frequency MHD-like waves observed upstream of the earth's quasi-parallel bow shock has been investigated by means of electromagnetic hybrid simulations. It is shown that an ion beam through the resonant electromagnetic ion/ion instability excites large-amplitude waves, which consequently pitch angle scatter, decelerate, and eventually magnetically trap beam ions in regions where the wave amplitudes are largest. As a result, the beam ions become bunched in both space and gyrophase. As these higher-density, nongyrotropic beam segments are formed, the hydromagnetic waves rapidly steepen, resulting in magnetic pulsations, with properties generally in agreement with observations. This steepening process operates on the scale of the linear growth time of the resonant ion/ion instability. Many of the pulsations generated by this mechanism are left-hand polarized in the spacecraft frame.

Akimoto, K.↗

NASA NTRS1981

An optical model for composite nuclear scattering

The optical model of composite particle scattering is considered and compared to the accuracies of other models. A nonrelativistic Schroedinger equation with two-body potentials is used for the scattering of a single particle by an energy-dependent local potential. The potential for the elastic channel is composed of matrix elements of a single scattering operator taken between the ground states of the projectile and the target; the coherent amplitude is considered as dominating the scattering in the forward direction. A multiple scattering series is analytically explored and formally summed by the solution of an equivalent Schroedinger equation. Cross sections of nuclear scattering are then determined for He-4 and C-12 nuclei at 3.6 GeV/nucleus and O-16 projectiles at 2.1 GeV/nucleus, and the optical model approximations are found to be consistently lower and more accurate than approximations made by use of Glauber's theory.

Wilson, J. W.↗

NASA NTRS1981

On the multiple scattering of VHF/UHF waves in the equatorial ionosphere

Using amplitude data of radio beacons at 40, 140, and 360 MHz from ATS 6 (phase II), an attempt has been made to study scattering of these waves in the equatorial ionosphere. A comparison of observed scintillation index S sub 4 with the theoretical results of the multiple scattering approach and variation of autocorrelation time with frequency indicates that this theory explains the results to a large extent. A comparison of power spectra of amplitude records with the ionograms of a nearby equatorial station has led to the following conclusions: the change from a weak scattering regime to a strong scattering regime is gradual and occurs because of the gradual decrease in the scale size of the irregularities (i.e., broadening of the spectra) and the gradual increase in the thickness of the irregular region.

Vats, H. O.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Pion-nucleon scattering at cosmic-ray energies

The paper presents a model of high-energy hadron-hadron scattering where each hadron is a fully absorbing scatterer with a radius that increases with energy. The energy dependence of the radius is chosen such that the total cross section has the energy behavior of the Froissart bound (which means that the cross sections are rising to infinity). The model is used to obtain amplitudes for pion-nucleon scattering.

Jackson, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS2003

Fault Creep along the Southern San Andreas from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar, Permanent Scatterers, and Stacking

Interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) provides a practical means of mapping creep along major strike-slip faults. The small amplitude of the creep signal (less than 10 mm/yr), combined with its short wavelength, makes it difficult to extract from long time span interferograms, especially in agricultural or heavily vegetated areas. We utilize two approaches to extract the fault creep signal from 37 ERS SAR images along the southem San Andreas Fault. First, amplitude stacking is utilized to identify permanent scatterers, which are then used to weight the interferogram prior to spatial filtering. This weighting improves correlation and also provides a mask for poorly correlated areas. Second, the unwrapped phase is stacked to reduce tropospheric and other short-wavelength noise. This combined processing enables us to recover the near-field (approximately 200 m) slip signal across the fault due to shallow creep. Displacement maps fiom 60 interferograms reveal a diffuse secular strain buildup, punctuated by localized interseismic creep of 4-6 mm/yr line of sight (LOS, 12-18 mm/yr horizontal). With the exception of Durmid Hill, this entire segment of the southern San Andreas experienced right-lateral triggered slip of up to 10 cm during the 3.5-year period spanning the 1992 Landers earthquake. The deformation change following the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake was much smaller (4 cm) and broader than for the Landers event. Profiles across the fault during the interseismic phase show peak-to-trough amplitude ranging from 15 to 25 mm/yr (horizontal component) and the minimum misfit models show a range of creeping/locking depth values that fit the data.

Lyons, Suzanne↗

NASA NTRS1983

Droplet sizes and velocities in vaporizing sprays

A pulse height laser Doppler anemometer particle sizing technique has been refined to permit simultaneous particle size and velocity measurements in sprays. The improvements include (1) the use of a specially tailored 'top hat' light distribution, to provide unambiguous particle diameter-signal amplitude relations, (2) the use of back scattered light collection, and (3) the utilization of Mie theory to compute the relations between signal amplitude and particle diameter, in the backscatter mode. Twin-fluid atomized kerosene sprays have been investigated using the new technique. In these sprays distributions have been mapped of mean droplet diameters, droplet size distributions, and the local correlations between droplet diameters and velocities. The data show the variation of spray structure with atomizer input parameters, the preferential vaporization of smaller droplets, and the differing trajectories of the large and small droplets.

Yule, A. J.↗

NASA NTRS1970

A prototype cloud physics laser nephelometer

Prototype cloud physics laser nephelometer design and performance, determining droplet concentration and size from scattered light pulse count and amplitudes

Blau, H. H., Jr.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Applications of the Glauber approximation to atomic collisions

Applications of the Glauber approximation to elastic and inelastic collisions of charged particles with neutral atoms are critically reviewed in an attempt to assess the utility of the Glauber approximation in the atomic collisions domain. Various alternative derivations of the Glauber amplitude formula, both for potential scattering and for composite collisions, also are described and compared. A number of possible problems for future research are listed.

Gerjuoy, E.↗