Science.gov (United States)

In 2009 the European Space Agency satellite mission GOCE (Gravity Field and Steady-State Ocean Circulation Explorer) was launched. Its objectives are the precise and detailed determination of the Earth's gravity field and geoid. Its core instrument, a three axis gravitational gradiometer, measures the gravity gradient components V xx , V yy , V zz and V xz (second-order derivatives of the gravity potential V) with high precision and V xy , V yz with low precision, all in the instrument reference frame. The long wavelength gravity field is recovered from the orbit, measured by GPS (Global Positioning System). Characteristic elements of the mission are precise star tracking, a Sun-synchronous and very low (260 km) orbit, angular control by magnetic torquing and an extremely stiff and thermally ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The symposium reports results of investigations in geodesy conducted between 1987 and 1991 in the Soviet Union. The five sections of the report deal with several aspects of physical geodesy, with particular attention given to studies of the earth's gravitational field; geodetic positioning and geodetic networks; gravimetry, including high-precision gravimetry, marine gravimetry, and nontidal gravity variations; satellite geodesy; and recent crustal movements. Each section is supplied with a detailed bibliography.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Gravity Probe-B (GP-B) spacecraft, designed to test predictions of general relativity, will fly in the mid 1990s. It will carry four electrostatically suspended gyroscopes in a cryogenic environment and will have a drag-free control system to minimize disturbances on the gyroscopes. The Stanford Test of Equivalence Principle (STEP) spacecraft, to fly later, will carry a set of test masses under very similar conditions. The possibility of using differential measurements of the GP-B gyroscopes suspension forces and the STEP tests mass displacement readout to form single-axis gravity gradiometers is explored. It is shown that the noise in the suspension systems is sufficiently small in the relevant frequency range, and that enough information is collected to compensate for the spacecrafts' attitude motion. Finally, using Breakwell's flat-earth approximation, these experiments are compared to other geodesy ...

CERN Document Server

We present investigations of the potential between static charges from a simulation of quantum gravity coupled to an SU(2) gauge field on 6^{3}\\times 4 and 8^{3}\\times 4 simplicial lattices. In the well-defined phase of the gravity sector where geometrical expectation values are stable, we study the correlations of Polyakov loops and extract the corresponding potentials between a source and sink separated by a distance R. In the confined phase, the potential has a linear form while in the deconfined phase, a screened Coulombic behavior is found. Our results indicate that quantum gravitational effects do not destroy confinement due to non-abelian gauge fields.

CERN Document Server

Versions of parameterized pseudo-Newtonian gravity theories specially designed for cosmology have been introduced in recent cosmology literature. The modifications demand a zero-pressure fluid in the context of versions of modified Poisson-like equation with two different gravitational potentials. We consider such modifications in the context of relativistic gravity theories where the action is a general algebraic function of the scalar curvature, the scalar field, and the kinetic term of the field. In general it is not possible to isolate the zero-pressure fluid component simultaneously demanding a modification in the Poisson-like equation. Only in the small-scale limit we can realize some special forms of the attempted modifications. We address some loopholes in the possibility of showing non-Einstein gravity nature based on pseudo-Newtonian modifications in the cosmological ...

Science.gov (United States)

The GEOFLOW I experiment has been successfully performed on the International Space Sta-tion (ISS) in 2008 in the Columbus module in order to study the stability, pattern formation and transition to turbulence in a viscous incompressible fluid layer enclosed in two concentric co-rotating spheres subject to a radial temperature gradient and a radial volumetric force field. The objective of the study is the experimental investigation of large scale astrophysical and geophysical phenomena in spherical geometry stipulated by rotation, thermal convections and radial gravity fields. These systems include earth outer core or mantle convection, differen-tial rotation effects in the sun, atmosphere of gas planets as well as a variety of engineering applications. The GEOFLOW I experimental instrument consists of an experiment insert for operation in the Fluid Science Laboratory, which is part of the Columbus ...

CERN Document Server

Neutron stars are sensitive laboratories for testing general relativity, especially when considering deviations where velocities are relativistic and gravitational fields are strong. One such deviation is described by dynamical, Chern-Simons modified gravity, where the Einstein-Hilbert action is modified through the addition of the gravitational parity-violating Pontryagin density coupled to a field. This four-dimensional effective theory arises naturally both in perturbative and non-perturbative string theory, loop quantum gravity, and generic effective field theory expansions. We calculate here Chern-Simons modifications to the properties and gravitational fields of slowly spinning neutron stars. We find that the Chern-Simons correction affects only the gravitomagnetic sector of the metric to leading order, thus introducing modifications to the moment of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rare Earth Cobalt (REC) permanent magnets have unique properties that permit solutions to some optical tasks that cannot be accomplished with conventional magnets. A review of design and of performance characteristics of these magnets includes an analytical description of the three dimensional fringe fields of REC quadrupoles.

Science.gov (United States)

The rapidly growing field of remote sensing is beginning to supply massive amounts of high resolution imagery of the earth and other planets. ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This paper deals with two common problems and then considers major aspects of chemistry in the atmospheres of Mars and Venus. (1) The atmospheres of the terrestrial planets have similar origins but different evolutionary pathways because of the different masses and distances to the Sun. Venus lost its water by hydrodynamic escape, Earth lost CO"2 that formed carbonates and is strongly affected by life, Mars lost water in the reaction with iron and then most of the atmosphere by the intense meteorite impacts. (2) In spite of the higher solar radiation on Venus, its thermospheric temperatures are similar to those on Mars because of the greater gravity acceleration and the higher production of O by photolysis of CO"2. O stimulates cooling by the emission at 15@mm in the collisions with CO"2. ...

CERN Document Server

In general relativity, the fields on a black hole horizon are obtained from those in the bulk by pullback and restriction. Similarly, in quantum gravity, the quantized horizon degrees of freedom should result from restricting, or pulling-back, the quantized bulk degrees of freedom. This is not yet fully realized in the - otherwise very successful - quantization of isolated horizons in loop quantum gravity. In this work we outline a setting in which the quantum horizon degrees of freedom are simply components of the quantized bulk degrees of freedom. There is no need to quantize them separately. We present evidence that for a horizon of sphere topology, the resulting horizon theory is remarkably similar to what has been found before.

CERN Document Server

A proposal is made to test Newton's inverse-square law using the perihelion shift of test masses (planets) in free fall within a spacecraft located at the Earth-Sun L2 point. Such an Artificial Planetary System In Space (APSIS) will operate in a drag-free environment with controlled experimental conditions and minimal interference from terrestrial sources of contamination. We demonstrate that such a space experiment can probe the presence of a "hidden" fifth dimension on the scale of a micron, if the perihelion shift of a "planet" can be measured to sub-arc-second accuracy. Some suggestions for spacecraft design are made.

CERN Document Server

Kaluza-Klein higher derivative induced gravity is studied for its application in the inflationary universe. The stability of an inflationary solution in a $D+4$-dimensional anisotropic space is analyzed carefully. We show that there is two nontrivial constraints derived from the static assumptions on the $D$-dimensional scale factor $d$ and scalar field $\\psi$. We find that a physical inflationary solution is consistent with the above constraints. In addition, a compact formula for the non-redundant $4+D$ dimensional Friedmann equation is also derived for convenience. Possible implications are also discussed in this paper.

CERN Document Server

Testing deviation of GR is one of the main goals of the proposed {\\emph{Laser Interferometer Space Antenna}}, a space-based gravitational-wave observatory. For the first time, we consistently compute the generation of gravitational waves from extreme-mass ratio inspirals (stellar compact objects into supermassive black holes) in a well-motivated alternative theory of gravity, that to date remains weakly constrained by double binary pulsar observations. The theory we concentrate on is Chern-Simons (CS) modified gravity, a 4-D, effective theory that is motivated both from string theory and loop-quantum gravity, and which enhances the Einstein-Hilbert action through the addition of a dynamical scalar field and the parity-violating Pontryagin density. We show that although point particles continue to follow geodesics in the modified theory, the background about which they inspiral is a modification to the ...

CERN Document Server

We study perturbations of a Schwarzschild black hole in Chern-Simons modified gravity. We begin by showing that Birkhoff's theorem holds for a wide family of Chern-Simons coupling functions, a scalar field present in the theory that controls the strength of the Chern-Simons correction to the Einstein-Hilbert action. After decomposing the perturbations in spherical harmonics, we study the linearized modified field equations and find that axial and polar modes are coupled, in contrast to general relativity. The divergence of the modified equations leads to the Pontryagin constraint, which forces the vanishing of the Cunningham-Price-Moncrief master function associated with axial modes. We analyze the structure of these equations and find that the appearance of the Pontryagin constraint yields an overconstrained system that does not allow for generic black hole oscillations. We illustrate this situation by studying the case ...

CERN Document Server

A novel algebraic topology approach to supersymmetry (SUSY) and symmetry breaking in quantum field and quantum gravity theories is presented with a view to developing a wide range of physical applications. These include: controlled nuclear fusion and other nuclear reaction studies in quantum chromodynamics, nonlinear physics at high energy densities, dynamic Jahn-Teller effects, superfluidity, high temperature superconductors, multiple scattering by molecular systems, molecular or atomic paracrystal structures, nanomaterials, ferromagnetism in glassy materials, spin glasses, quantum phase transitions and supergravity. This approach requires a unified conceptual framework that utilizes extended symmetries and quantum groupoid, algebroid and functorial representations of non-Abelian higher dimensional structures pertinent to quantized spacetime topology and state space geometry of quantum operator algebras. Fourier transforms, generalized ...

Wastenet

... In recent years workers in this field have focused on nucleation by nano-porous materials . This was in part motivated by a theoretical study by Page and Sear (2006) who proposed a two step model for nucleation in pores which suggest that there is ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The possibility of having inflation in a renormalizable cosmological model is investigated. The cosmic no-hair conjecture is proved to hold for all Bianchi types except Bianchi type IX. By the use of a conformal transformation on the metric we show that these models are equivalent to the ones described by the Einstein-Hilbert action for gravity minimally coupled to a set of scalar fields with inflationary potentials. Henceforth, we prove that inflationary solutions behave as attractors in solution space, making it a natural event in the evolution of such models.

CERN Document Server

We consider a simple model of d families of scalar field interacting with geometry in two dimensions. The geometry is locally flat and has only global degrees of freedom. When d0 it collapses to a one dimensional manifold. The model has some, but not all, of the characteristics believed to be features of the full theory of conformal matter interacting with quantum gravity which has local geometric degrees of freedom.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We present a study of the crystal field in PrNiAl, NdNiAl, ErNiAl and ErCuAl intermetallic compounds based on inelastic neutron spectroscopy. These compounds crystallize in the ZrNiAl-type hexagonal structure with an orthorhombic symmetry on rare-earth sites. The results are compared with the specific-heat data, and the lower parts of the crystal-field energy-level schemes are determined. (orig.)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

It has been recently suggested by Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali that gravity may become strong at energies not far above the electroweak scale and thus remove the hierarchy problem. Such a scenario can be tested at both present and future accelerators since towers of Kaluza-Klein gravitons and associated scalar fields now play an important phenomenological role. In this paper we examine several processes for their sensitivity to a low scale for quantum gravity including deep inelastic ep scattering at DESY HERA, high precision low energy {nu}N scattering, Bhabha and Mo/ller scattering at linear colliders and both fermion and gluon pair production at {gamma}{gamma} colliders. {copyright} {ital 1999} {ital The American Physical Society}

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

It has been recently suggested by Arkani-Hamed, Dimopoulos and Dvali that gravity may become strong at energies not far above the electroweak scale and thus remove the hierarchy problem. Such a scenario can be tested at both present and future accelerators since towers of Kaluza-Klein gravitons and associated scalar fields now play an important phenomenological role. In this paper we examine several processes for their sensitivity to a low scale for quantum gravity including deep inelastic ep scattering at HERA, high precision low energy #nu#N scattering, Bhabha and Moller scattering at linear colliders and fermion pair production at #gamma##gamma# colliders

CERN Document Server

The so-called spectral dimension is a scale-dependent number associated with both geometries and field theories that has recently attracted much attention, driven largely though not exclusively by investigations of causal dynamical triangulations (CDT) and Horava gravity as possible candidates for quantum gravity. We advocate the use of the spectral dimension as a probe for the kinematics of these (and other) systems in the region where spacetime curvature is small, and the manifold is flat to a good approximation. In particular, we show how to assign a spectral dimension (as a function of so-called diffusion time) to any arbitrarily specified dispersion relation. We also analyze the fundamental properties of spectral dimension using extensions of the usual Seeley-DeWitt and Feynman expansions, and by saddle point techniques. The spectral dimension turns out to be a useful, robust and powerful probe, not only of geometry, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Whereas in part 1 and 2 the detailed observation equations of terrestrial type for an integrated geodetic model are presented this paper will outline how the theory is transferred in an operational program. The main lines of functions of the FORTRAN IV program are discussed. Since the input specifications as well as the data requirements are described in detail and illustrated by example of input and output part 3 can serve as an user-guide for OPERA. OPERA is an acronym for operational adjustment. Besides the integrated determination of 3D-geocentric coordinates and the gravity disturbing potential the program can handle all cases of traditional geodesy (in total 13 variants of solution are provided) equivalent also with adjustments in ellipsoidal coordinates B, L or H, as well as constrained adjustments, pure prediction of the gravity disturbing field, etc.

Science.gov (United States)

Atmospheric and ionospheric perturbations associated with the acoustic-gravity waves (AGW) with typical frequencies of a few hertz -millihertz are considered. These events may be caused by the influence from space and atmosphere as well as by oscillations of the Earth surface and other near-surface phenomena. The surface sources include long-period oscillations of the Earth's surface, earthquakes, explosions, thermal heating, seisches and tsunami waves. The wavelike phenomena manifest themself as travelling disturbances of air (in the atmosphere) and of electron density (in the ionosphere). Travelling ionospheric disturbances (TIDs) are well detected by radio physical methods. AGW generation by near-surface sources is modeled by the numerical solution of the equation of geophysical fluid dynamics for different sources in two-dimensional non-linear dissipative compressible atmosphere. The numerical calculations are based on ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Absorption and emission measurements at liquid-helium temperature, liquid-nitrogen temperature and room temperature have been performed on tetragonal scheelite-type rare earth sodium double molybdates Na[sub 5]RE(MoO[sub 4])[sub 4] and on RE-doped Na[sub 5]Gd(MoO[sub 4])[sub 4] samples. The rare earth occupies one single crystallographic position with S[sub 4] as point symmetry. The spectra were analysed according to the crystal field theory. From the experimental data, nearly complete energy level schemes of the Pr[sup 3+] and Nd[sup 3+], on the 4f [sup 2] and 4f [sup 3] configurations were derived. Very good correlation was obtained between the experimental and simulated energy level schemes, first for the approximated D[sub 2d] and then for the true S[sub 4] symmetries. The crystal field parameters vary smoothly with the atomic number of the rare earth, when compared with those ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

The need for alternative energy increases steadily???especially due to the climate change and the limited availability of fossil fuels. Geothermal power uses the intrinsic heat which is stored in the accessible part of the Earth???s crust. Its importance among the renewable energy resources originates from the almost unlimited energy supply of the Earth and its independence from external influences such as seasonal or even daily climatic variability. Nevertheless, there are risks which have to be assessed. From a mathematical point of view there are four building blocks of the characterization of deep geothermal systems: seismic exploration, gravimetry, modeling transport processes, and modeling the stress field. In particular, local depletion poses a significant risk during the industrial...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Spacecraft studies of the three terrestrial planets with atmospheres have made it possible to make meaningful comparisons that shed light on their common origin and divergent evolutionary paths. Early in their histories, all three apparently had oceans and extensive volcanism; Mars and Earth, at least, had magnetic fields, and Earth, at least, had life. All three currently have climates determined by energy balance relationships involving carbon dioxide, water and aerosols, regulated by solar energy deposition, atmospheric and ocean circulation, composition, and cloud physics and chemistry. This paper addresses the extent to which current knowledge allows us to explain the observed state of each planet, its planetology, climatology and biology, within a common framework. Areas of ignorance...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Radon is often used as a natural tracer for geochemical studies. In many cases radon interacts with water. The aim of this study is to assess the time required for radon to dissolve in water and reciprocally to degas from it, and to estimate the partition ratio between the two phases. A special setup has been devised and built for this purpose. Several experiments carried out with this equipment show that both dissolution and degassing are rapidly achieved phenomena. The qualitative consequence of these results in the field of Earth science are shortly discussed in the paper.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper describes estimation of a stress field in the earth`s crust in the Kakkonda geothermal field. Formation micro imager (FMI) logging known as a crack detecting logging was performed in the well WD-1. This FMI logging has made observation possible on cracks along well axis thought to indicate size and direction of the crust stress, and drilling-induced tensile fractures (DTF). It was verified that these DTFs are generated initially in an azimuth determined by in-situ stress (an angle up to the DTF as measured counterclockwise with due north as a starting point, expressed in {theta}) in the well`s circumferential direction. It was also confirmed that a large number of cracks incline at a certain angle to the well axis (an angle made by the well axis and the DTF, expressed in {gamma}). The DTF is a crack initially generated on well walls as a result of such tensile stresses as mud pressure and thermal stress acting on ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Conditions for the construction of polynomial eigen-operators for the Hamiltonian of collective string field theories are explored. Such eigen-operators arise for only one monomial potential v(x)=#mu#x"2 in the collective field theory. They form a w_#infinity#-algebra isomorphic to the algebra of vertex operators in 2d gravity. Polynomial potentials of orders only strictly larger or smaller than 2 have no non-zero-energy polynomial eigen-operators. This analysis leads us to consider a particular potential #nu#(x)=#mu#x"2+g/x"2. A Lie algebra of polynomial eigen-operators is then constructed for this potential. It is a symmetric 2-index Lie algebra, also represented as a subalgebra of U(sl(2)). (orig.).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The geodesic equation for space-like objects moving along a circular trajectory in the expanding universe is considered. Our analysis leads to the conclusion that ancient cosmological tachyons may exist in the present-day world and may play an important role in (i) the internal structure of hadrons conceived as nonlocal objects called strings, (ii) the T-symmetry violation observed in the weak K-decays, (iii) the multidimensional unified field theories of Kaluza-Klein type, and in (iv) the classical models of charged particles which combine ordinary electromagnetism with a self-interacting version of Newtonian gravity. 18 refs.

Science.gov (United States)

The Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth hosts the best and most complete online collection of astronaut photographs of the Earth.

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The tidal motion of the ocean water through the ambient magnetic field, generates secondary electric field. This motionally induced electric field can be detected in the sea or inland and has a potential for electrical soundings of the Earth. A first goal of the paper is to gain an understanding of the global distribution of the electric signal due to tidal ocean flow. We simulate the electric signals for two tidal constituents - lunar semidiurnal (M2) and diurnal (O1) tides. We assume a realistic Earth's conductivity model with a surface thin shell and 1-D mantle underneath. Simulations demonstrate that in some coastal regions the amplitudes of the electric field can reach 100 mV/km and 10 mV/km for M2 and O1 tides respectively. The changes of lithosphere resistance produce detectable changes in the tidal electric signals. We show that our predictions are in a ...

CERN Document Server

General relativity postulates the Minkowski space-time to be the standard flat geometry against which we compare all curved space-times and the gravitational ground state where particles, quantum fields and their vacuum states are primarily conceived. On the other hand, experimental evidences show that there exists a non-zero cosmological constant, which implies in a deSitter space-time, not compatible with the assumed Minkowski structure. Such inconsistency is shown to be a consequence of the lack of a application independent curvature standard in Riemann's geometry, leading eventually to the cosmological constant problem in general relativity. We show how the curvature standard in Riemann's geometry can be fixed by Nash's theorem on locally embedded Riemannian geometries, which imply in the existence of extra dimensions. The resulting gravitational theory is more general than general relativity, similar to brane-world gravity, but where the ...

CERN Document Server

We investigate the effect of the intrinsic spin of a fundamental spinor field on the surrounding spacetime geometry. We show that despite the lack of a rotating stress-energy source (and despite claims to the contrary) the intrinsic spin of a spin-half fermion gives rise to a frame-dragging effect analogous to that of orbital angular momentum, even in Einstein-Hilbert gravity where torsion is constrained to be zero. This resolves a paradox regarding the counter-force needed to restore Newton's third law in the well known spin-orbit interaction. In addition, the frame-dragging effect gives rise to a {\\it long-range} gravitationally mediated spin-spin dipole interaction coupling the {\\it internal} spins of two sources. We argue that despite the weakness of the interaction, the spin-spin interaction will dominate over the ordinary inverse square Newtonian interaction in any process of sufficiently high-energy for quantum ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Climates at regional scale are strongly dependent on the interaction between atmosphere and its lower boundary, the oceans and the land surface mosaic. Land surfaces influence climate through their albedo, and the aerodynamic roughness, the processes of the biosphere and many soil hydrological properties; all these factors vary considerably geographically. Land surfaces receive a certain portion of the solar irradiance depending on the cloudiness, atmospheric transparency and surface albedo. Short-wave solar irradiance is the source of the heat energy exchange at the earth`s surface and also regulates many biological processes, e.g. photosynthesis. Methods for estimating solar irradiance, atmospheric transparency and surface albedo were reviewed during the course of this project. The solar energy at earth`s surface is consumed for heating the soil and the lower atmosphere. Where moisture is available, evaporation is one of the key components of ...

Wastenet

... Electro-Osmotic Pulse (EOP) technology forces moisture to flow through concrete surfaces against the hydraulic gradient when an electric field is applied to an embedded anode system. This flow is initiated by the movement of cations (positively charged ions) present in a porous medium such as concrete toward the negative earth. Water surrounding the cations moves with them. The Corps of Engineers owns and maintains many buried ...

Science.gov (United States)

The goal of this experiment is to evaluate the usefulness of existing normal gravity two-phase flow heat transfer augmentation techniques under microgravity ...

Scientific Electronic Library Online (English)

Abstract in english We consider the three dimensional electromagnetic inverse scattering problem of determining information about a buried coated object from a knowledge of the electric and magnetic fields measured on the surface of the earth corresponding to time harmonic electric dipoles as incident fields. We assume that the buried object is a perfect conductor that is (possibly) partially coated by a thin dielectric layer. No a priori assumption is made on the extent of the coating, i.e. (more) the object can be fully coated, partially coated or not coated at all. We present an algorithm based on the linear sampling method and reciprocity gap functional for reconstructing the shape of the scattering obstacle together with an estimate of the surface impedance of the coating.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Four general topics are covered in respect to the natural space radiation environment: (1) particles trapped by the earth`s magnetic field, (2) cosmic rays, (3) radiation environment inside a spacecraft, (4) laboratory radiation sources. The interaction of radiation with materials is described by ionization effects and displacement effects. Total-dose effects on MOS devices is discussed with respect to: measurement techniques, electron-hole yield, hole transport, oxide traps, interface traps, border traps, device properties, case studies and special concerns for commercial devices. Other device types considered for total-dose effects are SOI devices and nitrided oxide devices. Lastly, single event phenomena are discussed with respect to charge collection mechanisms and hard errors. (GHH)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The numerical modelling of gravity changes resulting from the simultaneous effects of mass relocation and rock deformation is described. The method is supported by FEMMA (Finite Element Method for Multipurpose Applications) software, and has been used for modelling expected gravity changes in a large open pit coal mine in Poland. The results are in good agreement with conventional calculations of gravity changes for a simple geometry of relocated mass. 10 refs., 6 figs., 2 tabs.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Advances made in understanding the chemistry and dynamics of the atmosphere in the approximate altitude range of 50 to 90 km are addressed. Attention is given to mesospheric structure and seasonal variations, gravity waves and gravity wave saturation, the effects of gravity waves on thermal, momentum and constituent fluxes, and the effect of gravity waves on airglow emissions. A review of research on tides and planetary waves and their effects on the mesosphere are presented as well as discussions on ozone hydroxyl, water vapor, and noctilucent cloud research. 217 refs.

CERN Document Server

The discovery that the cosmic expansion is accelerating has been followed by an intense theoretical and experimental response in physics and astronomy. The discovery implies that our most basic notions about how gravity work are violated on cosmological distance scales. One simple fix is the introduction of a cosmological constant into the field equations for general relativity. However, the extremely small value of the cosmological constant, relative to theoretical expectations, has led theorists to explore a wide variety of alternative explanations that involve the introduction of an exotic negative-pressure fluid or a modification of general relativity. Here we briefly review the evidence for cosmic acceleration. We then survey some of the theoretical attempts to account for it, including the cosmological constant, quintessence and its variants, mass-varying neutrinos, and modifications of general relativity, such as scalar-tensor and $f(R)$ ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

To represent a heterogeneous unsaturated fractured rock by its homogeneous equivalent, Monte Carlo simulations are used to obtain upscaled (effective) flow properties. In this study, we present a numerical procedure for upscaling the van Genuchten parameters of unsaturated fractured rocks by conducting Monte Carlo simulations of the unsaturated flow in a domain under gravity-dominated regime. The simulation domain can be chosen as the scale of block size in the field-scale modeling. The effective conductivity is computed from the steady-state flux at the lower boundary and plotted as a function of the averaging pressure head or saturation over the domain. The scatter plot is then fitted using van Genuchten model and three parameters, i.e., the saturated conductivity K{sub s}, the air-entry parameter {alpha}, the pore-size distribution parameter n, corresponding to this model are considered as the effective K{sub s}, effective {alpha}, and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In this paper, the multisource geoscientific data, such as TM data, NOAA data, the data of Bouguer gravity anomaly and aeromagnetic anomaly, the multisource geophysical processing methods, such as upward continuations, vertical derivative and gradient image, and synthetic image processing method - remote sensing image processing and geophysical image processing under I{sup 2}S600, are used to study the reverse faults or thrusts in the southern margin of Ordos basin, China. On the basis of these results and with geological investigation in the field, the authors have determined three thrust compression systems, named EW thrust compression system, NE thrust compression system and NW thrust compression system. These three systems reveal the regularity of geological structural evolution in the southern margin of Ordos basis and in the north side of Qinling Orogenic Belt.

Science.gov (United States)

Automated Transport. Not Studied in Detail. Earth's Neighborhood. Simplified Infrastructure. Mars. Earth-. Moon L. 1. Gateway. Moon. Earth-Sun L. 2. Science ...

CERN Document Server

We propose using large Air Cerenkov Telescopes (ACT's) to search for optical, pulsed signals from extra-terrestrial intelligence. Such dishes collect tens of photons from a nanosecond-scale pulse of isotropic equivalent power of tens of solar luminosities at a distance of 100 pc. The field of view for giant ACT's can be on the order of ten square degrees, and they will be able to monitor 10 to 10$^2$ stars simultaneously for nanosecond pulses of about 6th mag or brighter. Using the Earth's diameter as a baseline, orbital motion of the planet could be detected by timing the pulse arrival times.

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

The National Survey and Cadastre - Denmark (KMS) has for several years produced gravity anomaly maps over the oceans derived from satellite altimetry. During the last four years, KMS has also conducted airborne gravity surveys along the coast of Greenland dedicated to complement the existing onshore gravity coverage and fill in new data in the very-near coastal area, where altimetry data may contain gross errors. The airborne surveys extend from the coastline to approximately 100 km offshore, along 6000 km of coastline. An adequate merging of these different data sources is important for the use of gravity data especially, when computing geoid models in coastal regions. The presence of reliable marine gravity data for independent control offers an opportunity to study procedures for the merging of airborne and satellite data around Greenland. Two different merging techniques, both ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The title of the workshop, ''The QCD Phase Transitions'', in fact happened to be too narrow for its real contents. It would be more accurate to say that it was devoted to different phases of QCD and QCD-related gauge theories, with strong emphasis on discussion of the underlying non-perturbative mechanisms which manifest themselves as all those phases. Before we go to specifics, let us emphasize one important aspect of the present status of non-perturbative Quantum Field Theory in general. It remains true that its studies do not get attention proportional to the intellectual challenge they deserve, and that the theorists working on it remain very fragmented. The efforts to create Theory of Everything including Quantum Gravity have attracted the lion share of attention and young talent. Nevertheless, in the last few years there was also a tremendous progress and even some shift of attention toward emphasis on ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

When a highly collimated beam of particles is aimed along the atomic rows of an aligned single crystal, the averaging effect of high speed motion results, to the lowest order of approximation, in crystal electric fields which are transverse to the atomic rows. The enormous magnitude of the crystal transverse electric fields is unsurpassed by any other known earth-bound macroscopic sources. For example, the field strengths along the <100> axis of tungsten at 77 K approach 9{center dot}10{sup 13}V/m. Thus quantum electrodynamic (QED) processes in strong fields which are thought to occur only in the extra-terrestrial environment can now be investigated in the laboratory. Here we review the results of measurements performed at the SPS facility in CERN using highly collimated beams of electrons, positrons and photons in the 20-200 GeV range, and germanium crystals cooled to 77 K ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The spectroscopic properties of Pr{sup 3+} doping two lanthanum chlorotungstate hosts: the orthorhombic LaWO4Cl (1-1) and the hexagonal La3WO4Cl6 (3-1), as well as those of PrWO4Cl and Pr3wO613 have been investigated. The simulations of the energy level schemes are carried out within the crystal field theory frame. Each simulation involves 7 free ion parameters and 14 non-zero crystal field parameters (cfps), corresponding to the C{sub s} point symmetry of the site occupied by the rare earth, in both structures.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magnetic properties of polycrystalline samples of RPd_2Si compounds (R = Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho and Er) are presented. The Gd and Tb based compounds are antiferromagnetic with Neel temperatures of 13.5 and 21 K respectively. For both compounds a metamagnetic transition is observed in low field. Moreover, in TbPd_2Si a transition between two different antiferromagnetic phases is observed at 8.5 K. The Dy, Ho and Er based compounds are ferromagnetic with Curie temperatures of 9, 3.5 ad 2.8 K respectively. The observed properties result from indirect exchange interactions and crystal field effects acting on rare earth ions which lie in a very low symmetry site. (author).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The magnetic properties of polycrystalline and single crystalline rare earth transition metal silicides Gd_xLa_1_-_xMSi (M =Fe, Co) were investigated. Magnetic measurements have been made in static magnetic fields up to 13 kOe and in pulsed magnetic fields up to 250 kOe in the temperature range from 4.2 to 350 K. The magnetic susceptibility in the paramagnetic state of all the investigated compounds obeys the Curie-Weiss law except for LaFeSi and LaCoSi. Increase of the La content in Gd_xLa_1_-_xFeSi compounds leads to a decrease of the Curie and Neel temperatures, which can be explained by a decrease of positive exchange interactions. (orig.).

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The purpose of this research was to: a) evaluate variations in sensitivity and uniformity of SPECT detectors during 360"0 rotation, b) explore the causes of the variations and c) to discuss a correction procedure. A flood source consisting of a lucite disc 47.7 cm in diameter containing 3 microcuries of Co-57 was constructed. This source can be firmly attached to the uncollimated detector guaranteeing no detector-source geometry change during rotation. Four different SPECT cameras were tested. Measurements were obtained at 45"0 intervals throughout a 360"0 rotation, and repeated in 3 different orientations with respect to the earth's magnetic field. In one camera the effects of the direction and strength of induced magnetic fields were studied. All detectors showed cyclic rotational variations in sensitivity; in three cameras 6%, in one 3%. The amplitude and phase of the sensitivity variation curves and the variations in ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In this paper, the authors construct gauge theories of the W {sub {infinity}} algebra and its super-extension, and discuss their relation to earlier results for the gauging of the classical contraction to the w {sub {infinity}} algebra.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

For a simplicial manifold we construct the differential geometry structure and use it to investigate linear connections, metric and gravity. We discuss and compare three main approaches and calculate the resulting gravity action functionals. (author)

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Plants respond to a large variety of environmental signals, including changes in the gravity vector (gravistimulation). In Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) seedlings, gravistimulation...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The rare-earth based nickelates RNiO{sub 3} (R=Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Pr{sub 1-x}La{sub x}, 0{<=}x{<=}0.7) were studied by inelastic neutron scattering. Energy splittings due to the crystalline-electric-field (CEF) interaction at the R{sup 3+} site within the electronic ground-state J multiplet (for R=Pr, Nd, and Pr{sub 1-x}La{sub x}) as well as within the two lowest-lying J multiplets (for R=Sm and Eu) were directly observed, and the corresponding CEF energy-level schemes were reconstructed. The latter were rationalized in terms of CEF parameters, which vary smoothly over the rare-earth series and give magnetic properties associated with the R sublattice in agreement with results from neutron powder diffraction experiments. Across the metal-insulator transition, a continuous change in the electronic part of the CEF parameters is observed. However, an attempt to quantify a charge transfer from the observed ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

It is anticipated that early in the next century manned missions into outer space will occur, with a mission to Mars scheduled between 2015 and 2020. However, before such missions can be undertaken, a realistic estimation of the potential risks to the flight crews is required. One of the uncertainties remaining in this risk estimation is that posed by the effects of exposure to the radiation environment of outer space. Although the composition of this environment is fairly well understood, the biological effects arising from exposure to it are not. The reasons for this are three-fold: (1) A small but highly significant component of the radiation spectrum in outer space consists of highly charged, high energy (HZE) particles which are not routinely experienced on earth, and for which there are insufficient data on biological effects; (2) Most studies on the biological effects of radiation to date have been high-dose, high dose-rate, whereas in space, with the ...

CERN Document Server

Cosmic ray antiprotons provide an important probe for the study of cosmic-ray propagation in the interstellar space and to investigate the existence of Galactic dark matter. Cosmic rays are hampered by the Moon, therefore a deficit of cosmic rays in its direction is expected (the so-called "Moon shadow"). The Earth-Moon system acts as a magnetic spectrometer. In fact, due to the geomagnetic field the center of the Moon shifts westward by an amount depending on the primary cosmic ray energy. Paths of primary antiprotons are therefore deflected in an opposite sense in their way to the Earth. This effect allows, in principle, the search of antiparticles in the opposite direction of the observed Moon shadow. The ARGO-YBJ experiment, in stable data taking since November 2007 with an energy threshold of a few hundreds of GeV, is observing the Moon shadow with high statistical significance. Using about 1 year data, an upper limit ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We present a general procedure to construct the first law of thermodynamics on the apparent horizon and illustrate its validity by examining it in some extended gravity theories. Applying this procedure, we can describe the thermodynamics on the apparent horizon in Randall-Sundrum braneworld imbedded in a nontrivial bulk. We discuss the mass-like function which was used to link Friedmann equation to the first law of thermodynamics and obtain its special case which gives the generalized Misner-Sharp mass in Lovelock gravity.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This report presents information obtained during five different studies of field effects from high voltage transmission lines performed at EPRI's High Voltage Transmission Research Center. The first study is the development of a methodology for the evaluation of the expected frequency of occurrence of specific short-term effects of spark discharges and induced currents caused by overhead high voltage transmission lines. The methodology is divided into the analysis of the expected frequency of occurrence of situations in which induction effects may occur, and the analysis of the expected severity of the effect. The second study is of the electric field in the surface and on the immediate proximity of the strands of stranded conductors used for overhead high voltage lines. In particular, the cases of deformations of stranded conductors, caused by air expansion or by popped out strands, are analyzed for the purpose of determining the ...

CERN Document Server

Modified gravity theories may provide an alternative to dark energy to explain cosmic acceleration. We argue that the observational program developed to test dark energy needs to be augmented to capture new tests of gravity on astrophysical scales. Several distinct signatures of gravity theories exist outside the linear regime, especially owing to the screening mechanism that operates inside halos like the Milky Way to ensure that gravity tests in the solar system are satisfied. This opens up several decades in length scale and new classes of galaxies at low-redshift that can be exploited by surveys. While theoretical work on models of gravity is in the early stages, we can already identify new regimes which cosmological surveys could target to test gravity. These include: 1. A small scale component that focuses on the interior and vicinity of galaxy and cluster ...

CERN Document Server

We present results from a comprehensive number of relativistic, time-dependent, axisymmetric simulations of the runaway instability of non-constant angular momentum thick discs around black holes. This second paper extends earlier results where only constant angular momentum discs were considered. All relevant aspects of the theory of stationary thick discs around rotating black holes, necessary to build the initial state in our simulations, are presented in great detail. The angular momentum of the discs is assumed to increase outwards with the radial distance according to a power law. The main simplifying assumptions of our approach are not to include magnetic fields and self-gravity in the discs. Furthermore, the dynamics of the spacetime is accounted for by computing the transfer of mass and angular momentum from the disc to the black hole through the event horizon : the evolution of the central black hole is assumed to follow a sequence of ...

Science.gov (United States)

One of the least understood regions of the upper atmosphere is the thermosphere, principally due to the difficulty of making observations. The neutral atmosphere is known to be highly variable, and its composition and density varies by several orders of magnitude due to solar activity, diurnal cycles, latitude, geomagnetic activity, and gravity waves. In the past, most in-situ measurements of the neutral atmosphere have utilized detectors that are dependent on arrival angle and energy accommodation of incoming species, so that information related to nascent velocity distribution and reactive species abundances is often masked. This paper will review design concepts and laboratory tests related to the development of a novel open-ionizer, neutral particle detector for space environment measurements which can overcome these limitations. The sensor features a very large field-of-view suitable for sounding rocket missions. This time-of-flight ...

CERN Document Server

We consider two-dimensional large N gauge theory with D adjoint scalars on a torus, which is obtained from a D+2 dimensional pure Yang-Mills theory on T^{D+2} with D small radii. The two dimensional model has various phases characterized by the holonomy of the gauge field around non-contractible cycles of the 2-torus. We determine the phase boundaries and derive the order of the phase transitions using a method developed in an earlier work (hep-th/0910.4526), which is nonperturbative in the 'tHooft coupling and uses a 1/D expansion. We embed our phase diagram in the more extensive phase structure of the D+2 dimensional Yang-Mills theory and match with the picture of a cascade of phase transitions found earlier in lattice calculations (hep-lat/0710.0098). We also propose a dual gravity system based on a Scherk-Schwarz compactification of a D2 brane wrapped on a 3-torus and find a phase structure which is similar to the phase diagram found in the ...

CERN Document Server

We construct analytic models of incompressible, rigidly rotating stars in PN gravity and study their stability against nonaxisymmetric Jacobi-like bar modes. PN configurations are modeled by homogeneous triaxial ellipsoids and the metric is obtained as a solution of Einstein's equations in 3+1 ADM form. We use an approximate subset of the equations well-suited to numerical integration for strong field, 3D configurations in quasi--equilibrium. These equations are exact at PN order, and admit an analytic solution for homogeneous ellipsoids. In this paper we present this solution, as well as analytic functionals for the conserved global quantities, M, M_0 and J. By using a variational principle we construct sequences of axisymmetric equilibria of constant density and rest mass, i.e. the PN generalization of Maclaurin spheroids, which are compared to other PN and full relativistic sequences presented by previous authors. We then consider ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Many important advances in the physics of strongly correlated electron systems have been driven by the development of new materials: for instance the filled skutterudites MT4X12 (M=alkali metal, alkaline earth, lanthanide, or actinide; T=Fe, Ru, or Os; X=P, As, or Sb), certain lanthanide and actinide intermetallic compounds such as URu2-xRexSi2 and CeTIn5 (T=Co, Rh, or Ir), and layered oxypnictides and related materials. These types of complex multinary d- and f-electron compounds have proven to be a vast reservoir of novel strongly correlated electron ground states and phenomena. In these materials, the occurrence of such a wide range of ground states and phenomena arises from a delicate interplay between competing interactions that can be tuned by partial or complete substitution of one element for another, as well as the application of pressure, and magnetic fields, resulting in rich and complex electronic phase diagrams in the hyperspace of ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pale colored BiY_1_-_xR_xGeO_5 (R=rare-earth from Pr to Yb) polycrystalline samples exhibit a crystalline phase isostructural with the orthorhombic Pbca (No. 61) structure-type established for BiYGeO_5 and BiYbGeO_5. R occupies a single point site in the host, with the lowest C_1 symmetry. While for Pr and Nd x must be #<=#0.35, for smaller R ions, Sm to Yb, the phase appears for any x content. Detailed crystallographic data for BiErGeO_5 have been determined from the structure refinement of its neutron diffraction profile at room temperature. Optical absorption and photoluminescence measurements at 10 K have been performed for BiEuGeO_5. An initial approach to the parametrization of crystal-field effects on this new host has been provided by results of the semi-empirical Simple Overlap Model, which considers the crystallographic positions of the nearest neighbors around R. Furthermore, the strongly reduced "7F_J_M set of levels of the 4f"6 ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Three classes of solar emanations, namely, photon radiation from solar flares, solar energetic particles, and inhomogeneities in the solar wind that drive magnetic storms, are examined, and their effects on humans and technological systems are discussed. Solar flares may disrupt radio communications in the HF and VLF ranges. Energetic particles pose a special hazard at low-earth orbit and above, where they can penetrate barriers such as spacesuits and aluminum and destroy cells and solid state electronics. Energetic solar particles also influence terrestrial radio waves propagating through polar regions. Magnetic storms may disturb the operation of navigation instruments, power lines and pipelines, and satellites; they give rise to ionospheric storms which affect radio communication at all latitudes. There is also a growing body of evidence that changes in the geomagnetic field affect biological systems. 3 refs.

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Crustal xenoliths (pyroxenites and plagioclase + quartz + pyroxene lithologies) from the Quaternary Big Pine volcanic field on the eastern flank of the Sierra Nevada Batholith in California (USA) represent the products of metasomatic reaction between the margins of a Cretaceous granodioritic pluton and Paleozoic marbles, possibly at mid-crustal depths based on the equilibration temperatures recorded by Ti-in-quartz geothermometry. This interpretation is based on the presence of plagioclase showing relict plutonic textures, pyroxenite characterized by nearly pure diopside clinopyroxene, recrystallized plagioclase with anomalously high anorthite content, textures indicating replacement of plagioclase by clinopyroxene (and vice versa), `ghost' plagioclase rare earth element signatures in some...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Researchers at the Laboratory of Nuclear Microanalysis in Besancon (France) are developing and improving radon measurements in order to detect and analyse, more precisely radon emanation anomalies in both fields of Earth Sciences and Radioprotection. In order to characterize radon emanation, two complementary techniques are developed; continuous measurement through a portable proportional counter and passive measurements by nuclear track detectors for both fieldwork and laboratory analysis. A mathematical model is being devised to interpret the nuclear track detector response. This model is performed according to the device characteristics: type of detectors, shape and size of cells and whether a membrane is used or not. In addition to the theoritical study, experimental radon concentration measurements will be reported. (author).

Science.gov (United States)

Feb 25, 2008 ... In the two Landsat scenes shown above, the pattern of deforestation can be clearly discerned. Deep green in these images shows lush ...

Science.gov (United States)

films and cylinders of rare earth doped yttrium aluminum garnets. ... We knew that yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) could be doped with ...

Science.gov (United States)

... of this material is, however, outside the currently approved earth fill materials collection area ... fill material suitable for its intended use. The currently approved site contains material that is ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

DC resistivity, dc magnetization, and specific heat of eight Sc/sub 5/Co/sub 4/Ge/sub 10/-type crystal structure compounds R/sub 5/T/sub 4/Ge/sub 10/ for R = Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and T = Rh and Ir are presented. The resistivity, single crystal magnetization, and specific heat results show that in all those compounds, the magnetic moments order antiferromagnetically in the c direction at low temperature. However, in the Er and Tm compounds, the magnetizations along x-y hard directions do not show any anomalies above 2.0 K. This suggests that the ordered Er and Tm ions, which have positive quadrupole coefficients ..cap alpha../sub j/, interact with a crystal field that has an electronic potential valley along the c axis. The fitting of the hard axis magnetizations to Curie-Weiss law suggests that the resulting antiferromagnetic-like theta reflects the strength of the crystal field torque on the magnetic moments rather than the strength of ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The electrogeometric model cannot consider the influence of some parameters on the screening of the wire conductor of the H.V. lines. For analysing the influence of these parameters (the conductor potential, the influence of the distance from phase conductor to earth wire, the influence of the reducing factor of the striking earth distance, the earth slope, etc.), the Monte Carlo method is preferable. The influence of the earth slope on the screening effect of the wire conductor for different conditions is presented in this paper. (author)

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

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Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

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Science.gov (United States)

Jun 28, 2010 ... Ultracompact binaries represent the end product of a binary star evolution, and are important test cases of theories of extreme gravity. Perhaps ...

Science.gov (United States)

... 4 II. INERTIAL NAVIGATION ERROR EQUATIONS ..... 5 ... 4- Page 20. Chapter II INERTIAL NAVIGATION ERROR EQUATIONS ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The relation between energy and supercharge in supersymmetry and supergravity implies that tachyons have vanishing four-momentum there and consequently in classical Einstein gravity also.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We show that the chaotic dynamical behaviour displayed by diagonal Bianchi type IX metrics in general relativity does not occur on approach to the singularity in higher-order lagrangian theories of gravity. However, chaotic behaviour does occur in the more general non-diagonal type IX models in these theories. An interpretation of these results in terms of the hamiltonian potential picture of the type IX evolution is given. (orig.).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The South White Rose oilfield, offshore Newfoundland, owned jointly by Husky Oil (82.5 per cent ) and Petro-Canada (17.5 per cent) is being developed using a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) system. Some industry stakeholders claim that the oil should be produced using a concrete gravity base system as used in the Hibernia Field. However, Husky Oil officials are confident that the choice of the FPSO is well justified, based on its cost effectiveness and economic viability. Several production facility options have been assessed, taking into account feasibility, deliverability, economic attributes. risk and safety . The assessment results clearly pointed to FPSO as the preferred system based on its commercial and technical flexibility, proven track record in harsh environments, its ability to produce both oil and gas in sequential development, its promise of production at full capacity earlier than a gravity ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The crystal structure and the luminescence properties of a new carbonate, Na{sub 3}Eu(CO{sub 3}){sub 3}, are presented. Na{sub 3}Eu(CO{sub 3}){sub 3} is orthorhombic, acentric, Ama2, Z = 4; a = 9.942(2) {angstrom}, b = 11.024(3) {angstrom}, c = 7.147(2) {angstrom}; R = 0.019, R{sub w} = 0.051, 2374 unique reflections. The anionic subnetwork is built up from the stacking of {open_quotes}standing on edge{close_quotes} and {open_quotes}flat lying{close_quotes} carbonate layers into which Na{sup +} and Eu{sup 3+} ions are inserted. The symmetry of the EuO{sub 9} polyhedra is C{sub s}. The Eu{sup 3+} ions are inserted. The symmetry of the EuO{sub 9} polyhedra is C{sub s}. The Eu{sup 3+} luminescence technique confirms the presence of a unique low symmetry site for the rare earth atom. The electrostatic crystal field (cf) effects on the {sup 7}F multiplet are evaluated on the basis of the phenomenological cf theory. The simulation using C{sub 2v} ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Terra Nova offshore oil project is described, with emphasis on the construction of the Terra Nova Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel, the first such vessel constructed for the harsh environment of the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, the site of an oil field that is expected to produce 125,000 to 150,000 barrels of oil per day starting in 2001. The vessel has a double-hull, made of 3,000 tons of reinforced steel to protect it from ice in the form of massive icebergs or crusty 'packs'. The vessel has the world's largest quick release turret, meaning that the vessel can be quickly disconnected from its turret and mooring in the event of an encroaching iceberg, and then reconnected in an environmentally sound way. Apart from its extremely rugged construction, protecting the FPSO vessel against icebergs is accomplished by way of 'hosing down' (by melting by powerful streams of water) or ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ternary R_2TSi_3 intermetallic compounds (R=Rare Earth, T=Transition Metal) with hexagonal AlB_2-type crystallographic structure are known because of their interesting physical properties. Pr_2PdSi_3 single crystals were grown by a vertical floating zone method. The compound exhibits congruent melting behavior at a liquidus temperature of about 1770 C. Single crystalline samples show a huge anisotropy at low temperatures due to the crystal electric field effect and order antiferromagnetically below the Neel temperature T_N=2.17 K. This value approximately obeys the linear de Gennes scaling for this class of compounds. The [001] orientation was identified as the magnetic easy axis at room temperature. At lower temperature (#approx#20 K) magnetic easy and hard axes interchange with each other. Two additional magnetic phase transitions were observed at temperatures below 1 K.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This thesis enters the field of highly compressed materials equation of state studies. In particular, it focuses on the case of laser shock compressed iron. This work indeed aims at getting to the conditions of the earth's core, comprising a solid inner core and a liquid outer core. The understanding of phenomena governing the core's thermodynamics and the geodynamic process requires the knowledge of iron melting line locus around the solid-liquid interface at 3.3 Mbar. Several experiments were performed to that extent. First, an absolute measurement of iron Hugoniot was obtained. Following is a study of partially released states of iron into a window material: lithium fluoride (LiF). This configuration enables direct access to compressed iron optical properties such as reflectivity and self-emission. Interface velocity measurement is dominated by compressed LiF optical properties and is used as a pressure gauge. Using a dual ...

Science.gov (United States)

Al Fleig, PITA Analytic Sciences. 7th Earth Science Data Systems Working Group Meeting ..... The Reuse Industry in Brazil, CESAR, and the Reuse in Software ...

Science.gov (United States)

(Like using solar cookers to make hot dogs! Yummm!) How many people do you want to attend? 5? 30? 200?!? (Ambitious aren't we?) ...

Science.gov (United States)

The Grover S and X-band dual-wavelength radar system has been ...... A. H. Watkins (U.S. Geological Survey, Earth Resources. Observation Systems Data Center ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The series of cubic pyrochlore structure compounds, R_2Mo_2O_7 (R = Nd-Yb, Y; R not= Eu), were prepared as single phase materials by solid state reaction between R_2O_3 and MoO_2 at 1400 "0C in a CO/CO_2 = 1 buffer gas atmosphere. Lattice constants obtained from X-ray powder data compare well with results from previous studies. Magnetic susceptibility and magnetization data were obtained for all samples between 300 K and 4.2 K (700 K for R = Gd) and a range of applied fields. For R = Nd, Sm, and Gd magnetic ordering is observed at 97 K, 93 K and 83 K respectively which is assigned to ferromagnetism on the Mo(IV) sublattice. The Mo(IV) moment in the ordered state is about 1 #mu#/sub B/. At low temperatures, the Gd(III) and Mo(IV) moments are apparently coupled feromagnetically in Gd_2Mo_2O_7 yet the high temperature susceptibility data seem to indicate a ferrimagnetic (antiparallel) Gd(III)-Mo(IV) coupling. The low-temperature magnetic properties of Nd_2Mo_2O_7 and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Canadian oilfields are a prime breeding ground for talent, technology and industrial management. This paper described how Canadian talent was recognized in 2001 for three major projects which included a cold-ocean production platform in the Sea of Okhotsk in Siberia, a mountain pipeline project in South America, and an in-situ underground extraction technology in the oilsands of Alberta. The cold-ocean production platform project was recruited by Sakhalin Energy Investment Co., an international consortium originally led by Marathon Oil Co which is now led by Royal Dutch Shell. The oil production platform is stationed 16 kilometres offshore of Sakhalin Island in the Sea of Okhotsk. Sakhalin Energy bought and converted the Molikpaq, an innovative platform made in the 1980s for the Beaufort Sea by Gulf Canada Resources Ltd. The second project included Calgary's Hydroconsult EN3 Services Ltd. which was responsible for the construction of the 940-km GasAtacama 24-inch diameter ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

... angular momentum cranking model even-even nuclei gadolinium 156 governor

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper presents an analysis of the performance of a selective emitter using small particles of rare earth compounds stable at high temperatures in a low emittance inert gas stream. An expression for the spectral emissive power excluding radiation scattering was derived to include the radiation in the emission band, produced by electronic transitions of the rare earth ion, and the continuum radiation outside the emission band produced by the rare earth host. Preliminary results suggest that a selective emitter based on suspended rare earth oxide particles will have high efficiency and merits further experimental investigation. {copyright} {ital 1996 American Institute of Physics.}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Many important advances in the physics of strongly correlated electron systems have been driven by the development of new materials: for instance the filled skutterudites MT{sub 4}X{sub 12} (M=alkali metal, alkaline earth, lanthanide, or actinide; T=Fe, Ru, or Os; X=P, As, or Sb), certain lanthanide and actinide intermetallic compounds such as URu{sub 2-x}Re{sub x}Si{sub 2} and CeTIn{sub 5} (T=Co, Rh, or Ir), and layered oxypnictides and related materials. These types of complex multinary d- and f-electron compounds have proven to be a vast reservoir of novel strongly correlated electron ground states and phenomena. In these materials, the occurrence of such a wide range of ground states and phenomena arises from a delicate interplay between competing interactions that can be tuned by partial or complete substitution of one element for another, as well as the application of pressure, and magnetic fields, resulting in rich and complex electronic ...

CERN Document Server

We calculated the matter effect, including both the Earth and supernova, on the detection of neutrinos from type II supernovae at the proposed Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment. It is found that apart from the dependence on the flip probability P_H inside the supernova and the mass hierarchy of neutrinos, the amount of the Earth matter effect depends on the direction of the incoming supernova neutrinos, and reaches the biggest value when the incident angle of neutrinos is around 93^\\circ. In the reaction channel \\bar{\

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

For the reuse of a waste salt from an electrorefining process of a spent oxide fuel, a separation of rare earth elements by an oxidative precipitation in a LiCl-KCl molten salt was tested without using precipitate agents. From the results obtained from the thermochemical calculations by HSC Chemistry software, the most stable rare earth compounds in the oxygen-used rare earth chlorides system were oxychlorides (EuOCl, NdOCl, PrOCl) and oxides (CeO2, PrO2), which coincide well with results of the Gibbs free energy of the reaction. In this study, similar to the thermochemical results, regardless of the sparging time and molten salt temperature, oxychlorides and oxides were formed as a precipitant by a reaction with oxygen. The structure of the rare earth precipitates was divided into two sha...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This paper examines the feasibility of returning coal mine wastes to the mined-out areas, as encouraged by PL 95-87, the ''Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act of 1977'' (SMCRA). Reviews a National Academy of Sciences report which identified alternative backfilling methods. Presents diagram of mechanical backfilling with gravity and mechanical transport, and tables of existing underground mine waste disposal methods and a summary of technical feasibility of alternative disposal systems. Evaluated systems include gravity disposal with mechanical surface transport; gravity disposal with mechanical in-mine transport; complete mechanical disposal; mechanical disposal with gravity surface to underground transport; direct hydraulic disposal; hydraulic disposal with natural head; hydraulic disposal with artificial head; pneumatic disposal with mechanical surface ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Most mechanical forces acting on the skeleton are generated either through impact with the ground (i.e., gravitational loading) or through muscle contractions (i.e., muscle loading). If one...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

The objective of this study was to examine the ethanol yield potential of three barley varieties (Xena, Bold, and Fibar) in comparison to two benchmarks, corn and wheat. Very high gravity (VHG; 30%...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

For the reuse of a waste salt from an electrorefining process of a spent oxide fuel, a separation of rare earth elements by an oxidative precipitation in a LiCl-KCl molten salt was tested without using precipitate agents. From the results obtained from the thermochemical calculations by HSC Chemistry software, the most stable rare earth compounds in the oxygen-used rare earth chlorides system were oxychlorides (EuOCl, NdOCl, PrOCl) and oxides (CeO{sub 2}, PrO{sub 2}), which coincide well with results of the Gibbs free energy of the reaction. In this study, similar to the thermochemical results, regardless of the sparging time and molten salt temperature, oxychlorides and oxides were formed as a precipitant by a reaction with oxygen. The structure of the rare earth precipitates was divided into two shapes: small cubic (oxide) and large plate-like (tetragonal) structures. The conversion efficiencies of ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

Radioactive rare earth chlorides in waste LiCl-KCl molten salts have to be separated as a stable form to minimize waste volume and to achieve stable solidification. In this work, thermal behavior of rare earth chlorides (CeCl3, GdCl3, NdCl3, PrCl3) was investigated in an oxygen condition to recover rare earth oxides from a LiCl-KCl-RECl3 system. The rare earth chlorides in the LiCl-KCl molten salts were smoothly converted to an oxychloride form at a higher temperature than 650degreeC, except for CeCl3. CeCl3 was totally converted to an oxide from at a higher temperature than 450degreeC. The rare earth oxychlorides (GdOCl, NdOCl, PrOCl) were effectively converted to oxide forms at a higher temperature than 1100degreeC. It was confirmed that rare earth oxides can be recovered from a LiCl-KCl...

CERN Document Server

Most of the presently identified exoplanets have masses similar to that of Jupiter and therefore are assumed to be gaseous objects. With the ever-increasing interest in discovering lower-mass planets, several of the so-called super-Earths (i.e., with masses in the interval 1 M_earth < M < 10 M_earth), which are predicted to be rocky, have already been found. Here we report the possible discovery of a planet around the M-type star GJ 436 with a minimum mass of 4.8+/-0.6 M_earth and a true mass of ~5 M_earth, which makes it the least massive planet around a main-sequence star found to date. In contrast with other discoveries, the planet is identified from its perturbations on an inner Neptune-mass transiting planet (GJ 436b), by pumping eccentricity and producing secular variations in the orbital inclination. Analysis of published radial velocity measurements indeed reveals a ...

CERN Document Server

A possible birefringence effect that arises in quantum gravity leads to a frequency-dependent rotation of the polarization angle of linearly polarized emission from distant sources. Here we use the UV/optical polarization data of the afterglows of GRB 020813 and GRB 021004 to constrain this effect. We find an upper limit on the Gambini & Pulin birefringence parameter $| \\eta | <2\\times 10^{-7}$. This limit is of 3 orders better than the previous limits from observations of AGNs and of the Crab pulsar. Much stronger limits may be obtained by the future observation of polarization of the prompt $\\gamma$-rays.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

In many parts of the United States, as well as other regions of the world, competing demands for fresh water or water suitable for desalination are outstripping sustainable supplies. In these areas, new water supplies are necessary to sustain economic development and agricultural uses, as well as support expanding populations, particularly in the Southwestern United States. Increasing the supply of water will more than likely come through desalinization of water reservoirs that are not suitable for present use. Surface-deployed seismic and electromagnetic (EM) methods have the potential for addressing these critical issues within large volumes of an aquifer at a lower cost than drilling and sampling. However, for detailed analysis of the water quality, some sampling utilizing boreholes would be required with geophysical methods being employed to extrapolate these sampled results to non-sampled regions of the aquifer. The research in this report addresses using seismic and EM methods in ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Laser excited luminescence and site selective excitation spectra of trivalent terbium (Tb"3"+) in two rare earth oxyfluoride (ROF) matrices, LaOF and GdOF, were detected at temperatures down to liquid helium. From the analyses of spectra, the crystal field (c.f.) fine structure of the "7F_J (J=0-6) ground multiplet was obtained for the 4f"8 electron configuration. The energy level schemes comprising 26 c.f. sublevels out of 33 allowed for the C_3_v point symmetry of the R"3"+ site were simulated according to a phenomenological model taking into account only the c.f. effect. The simulation including six c.f. parameters (B_0"2, B_0"4, B_3"4, B_0"6, B_3"6, and B_6"6) reproduced the experimental energy level schemes in a satisfactory manner with rms deviations of 5 and 6 cm"-"1 for the LaOF and GdOF hosts, respectively. The c.f. parameter sets are characterized by B_0"2 values close to zero while the fourth and sixth rank parameters assumed rather ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

'The objective of this project is to provide a means to optimize ligand architecture for f-block metal recognition. The authors strategy builds on an innovative and successful molecular modeling approach in developing polyether ligand design criteria for the alkali and alkaline earth cations. The hypothesis underlying this proposal is that differences in metal ion binding with multidentate ligands bearing the same number and type of donor groups are primarily attributable to intramolecular steric factors. They propose quantifying these steric factors through the application of molecular mechanics models. The research involves close integration of theoretical and experimental chemistry. The experimental work entails synthesizing novel ligands and experimentally determining structures and binding constants for metal ion complexation by series of ligands in which architecture is systematically varied. The theoretical work entails using electronic structure ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

When the foundations of the building are designed and worked, the prediction calculation of immediate settlement of the building exercised practically is to calculate assuming the earth is a linear elastic body, but the actual stress-strain relationship of the earth is nonlinear and rigidity of the earth becomes lower as strain (or stress) increases. Hence in order to grasp the actual settling behavior of the earth, it is necessary to elucidate the nonlinear relationship between stress and strain. In this article, a prediction method of building settlement is introduced which uses an analytical technique of the multi-layered earth by the linear elasticity theory and takes into consideration strain dependency of rigidity of the earth. Part of the conclusion is as follows which has been obtained by studying the settling behaviors observed in examples of vertical ...

Science.gov (United States)

... 80 Briefs New Television Transmitter 81 Matadi Satellite Earth Station Inaugurated (Kinshasa AZAP, various dates) 82 Ramazani Marks Opening ...

Science.gov (United States)

The Asarco-Mission complex (image left) is an active producer of copper and molybdenum (important in making steel and other metal alloys), ...

Science.gov (United States)

Aug 25, 2004 ... The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission or TRMM satellite provided this image of Typhoon Aere over the western Philippine Sea as it was ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

An oxidative precipitation reaction of rare-earth chlorides in a LiCl-KCl molten salt was successfully carried out by a lab-scale apparatus. The conversion efficiency of the used rare earth chlorides into the insoluble precipitates was increased with the sparging time and temperature and was affected on oxygen sparger type. In the conditions of 700 .deg. C molten salt temperature and above 540min sparging time, the final conversion efficiencies were over 99% for all the experimented rare-earth chlorides. The hydrodynamic characteristics of an oxygen-molten salt two phase flow system are very important for a co-oxidative precipitation of rare earth elements

Science.gov (United States)

Jan 5, 2004 ... Even if dinosaurs were cold-blooded, in the Mesozoic Era (when dinosaurs roamed the Earth), Antarctica was warm enough to have them. ...

Science.gov (United States)

Feb 15, 2010 ... This astronaut photo from January 4, 2010, shows meander scars and oxbow lakes in the floodplain of the Rio Negro in South America.

Science.gov (United States)

Federal regulators were set to vote on a plan to protect deep water corals and other sensitive fish habitats that will likely include a permanent ban on ...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This study presents new software, called Google Earth-based Optimal HAulage RouTing System (GEOHARTS), to improve the functionality of Google Earth for optimal haulage routing of off-road dump trucks in construction and mining sites. A modified least-cost path algorithm, which is applicable to working areas with both paved and unpaved temporary roads and can consider the effects of terrain relief and curves along a route on the route planning, was proposed and utilized for the software development. GEOHARTS can determine optimal haulage routes between loaders and dumps that ensure the least travel time or fuel consumption of off-road dump trucks and can visualize the results using an embedded 3D render window of Google Earth. The application to the Pasir open-pit coal mine in Indonesia dem...

Science.gov (United States)

Satellite Observations of the Southeast Pacific Intertropical Convergence Zone During 1993-1998, Halpern, D.; Hung, C.-W., Journal of Geophysical Research ? ...

Science.gov (United States)

of Earth Science data and information management capabilities. Dale Schulz/400 . For your exceptional achievement in leading the joint LaRC/GSFC team in ...

Science.gov (United States)

Hie synthesis of diverse biologically important compounds, under condi- tions which existed on the earth in the initial period of its evolution, ha; ...

Science.gov (United States)

The SHARP cannon. Hydrogen is compressed in the tube on top, the gun barrel is on bottom. When Jules Verne wrote in 1865 "From Earth to the Moon" he ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Extraction of rare earths (La, Ce, Pr, Eu, Gd, Er, Yb) from nitrate solutions by melts of carboxylic acids of the C/sub 17/-C/sub 20/ fraction and stearic acid with paraffin, depending on the temperature (60-90 deg), phase contact time and their volume ratio (O:B from 1:5 up to 1:100), pH of the aqueous phase (2-6), rare earth concentration (10/sup -6/-10/sup -3/ m) is studied. It is shown that in the whole concentration range investigated rare earths are extracted quantitatively into the carboxylic acid melt of C/sub 17/-C/sub 20/ fraction at the equilibrium value of pH>=3.8, while into the melt of 0.1 M stearic acid in paraffin at pH>=4.5.

Science.gov (United States)

Aug 23, 2011 ... Earthquakes, Hurricanes and Stubborn Instruments ... And if earthquakes and stubborn instruments aren't enough, there's this giant hurricane ...

Science.gov (United States)

May 11, 2007 ... "Deforestation in the tropics accounts for nearly 20 per cent of carbon emissions due to human activities," Dr. Canadell says. ...

Science.gov (United States)

Features: FOREST, DEFORESTATION, RIO JAMARI Geographic Region: BRAZIL .... Features: DEFORESTATION, TIERRAS BAJAS DEFORESTATION Geographic Region: BOLIVIA ...

Science.gov (United States)

Zinn, John;. Hoerlin,. Herman; and Petschek,. Albert. G.: The Motion of Bomb. Debris. Following the Starfish. Test. Radiation. Trapped in the Earth's ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We consider spatially homogeneous (but generally non-isotropic) cosmologies in the recently proposed Horava-Lifshitz gravity and compare them to those of general relativity using Hamiltonian methods. In all cases, the problem is described by an effective point particle moving in a potential well with exponentially steep walls. Focusing on the closed-space cosmological model (Bianchi type IX), the mixmaster dynamics is now completely dominated by the quadratic Cotton tensor potential term for a very small volume of the universe. Unlike general relativity, where the evolution toward the initial singularity always exhibits chaotic behavior with alternating Kasner epochs, the anisotropic universe in Horava-Lifshitz gravity (with parameter #lambda# > 1/3) is described by a particle moving in a frozen potential well with fixed (but arbitrary) energy E. Alternating Kasner epochs still provide a good description of the early universe for very large ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We discuss the prospects for bounding and perhaps even measuring quantum gravity effects on the dispersion of light using the highest-energy photons produced in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) measured by the Fermi telescope. These prospects are brighter than might have been expected, as in the first ten months of operation, Fermi has so far reported eight events with photons over 100 MeV seen by its Large Area Telescope. We review features of these events which may bear on Planck-scale phenomenology, and we discuss the possible implications for alternative scenarios for in-vacua dispersion coming from breaking or deforming of Poincare invariance. Among these are semiconservative bounds (which rely on some relatively weak assumptions about the sources) on subluminal and superluminal in-vacuo dispersion. We also propose that it may be possible to look for the arrival of still higher-energy photons and neutrinos from GRBs with energies in the range 1014-1017 eV. In some ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This patent describes a nuclear system comprising a containment airspace in which a nuclear reactor pressure vessel is disposed there being a reactor core within the pressure vessel. It comprises a heat exchanger elevated a distance above the pressure vessel; a pool of water surrounding the heat exchanger; means for venting the pool of water to an environment outside the containment; a heat exchanger entry conduit within the containment, the entry conduit having an open lower end communicating with the containment space, and an upper end connected to the heat exchanger, water-containing heated fluid present in the containment airspace incident a pressure vessel loss of coolant event entering and flowing through the entry conduit into the heat exchanger for cooling the fluid to convert water vapor therein to a condensate and separate non-condensable gasses therefrom; a gravity driven cooling water pond-containing space, the gravity cooling water ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The Hebron offshore drilling project in Atlantic Canada was discontinued in 2002 due to economic challenges. Chevron-Texaco has conducted small-scale studies to find ways to improve the project's viability. One of the main challenges facing this offshore drilling project is the issue of iceberg scour and its effect on seafloor equipment. This paper demonstrates how advances in ice engineering have resulted in new and cost-effective development concepts for: central gravity base structures; wellhead gravity base structures; floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) subsea facilities; and, long subsea tieback and trench optimization. New studies have provided a better understanding of ice contact pressures, drift velocities, iceberg management and interaction processes. New designs for gravity base structures can reduce wave loads. The selection of a new development concept is determined by economic ...

Science.gov (United States)

The Infrared Camera (IRC) is one of the scientific focal plane instruments on board the ASTRO-F infrared astronomical satellite. The IRC is designed for wide field imaging and slit-less spectroscopic observations at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. The IRC consists of three channels; NIR, MIR-S and MIR-L, each of which covers wavelengths of 2-5, 5-12 and 12-26 micron, respectively. All channels adopt compact refractive optical designs. Large format array detectors (a InSb 512 x 412 array and two Si:As IBC 256 x 256 arrays) are employed. Each channel has 10 x 10 arcminutes wide FOV with diffraction-limited angular resolution of 70cm aperture of the liquid helium cooled telescope at wavelengths over 5 micron. A 6-position filter wheel is placed at the aperture stop in each channel, and has three band-pass filters, two grisms/prisms and a mask for dark current measurements. The 5 sigma sensitivity of one pointed observation is estimated to be 2, 11 and 62 micro-Jy ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The SIEN 2009 symposium organized by Romanian Nuclear Energy Association, AREN, in co-operation with Romanian Atomic Forum, ROMATOM, was primarily targeting the expert community involved in developing new nuclear power projects and implementing the National Nuclear Program. The symposium was also open as a discussion and information forum for scientists, engineers, technicians and students interested in scientific and technologic topics of Nuclear Power. It was structured in the following 6 sections: - Nuclear new builds and developments; - Operation, inspection and maintenance; - Increasing nuclear safety features; - Fuel cycle and decommissioning; - Public perception and confidence strengthening; - Environmental management. The symposium began with three plenary lectures dealing with: - Sustainable Nuclear Energy European Technology Platform; - Nuclear new-build; - Current issues of nuclear equipment standardization in Romania. A poster session of 5 presentations and a workshop ...

Science.gov (United States)

We describe the development of a fully coupled climate model configuration where the Community Climate System Model (CCSM) has been coupled with the VERDE (Visualizing Energy Resources Dynamically on the Earth) analysis modules that compute the response of the electric grid to temperature drivers. The VERDE model includes datasets characterizing the 26,500 sub-stations and 6,000 power generation stations fuel mix, efficiency, service areas, and future performance and these have been geo-located on a 1.4 degree latitude by 1.4 degree longitude CCSM grid (T85). The total electric customers have been computed using conversions derived from economic structure and population data. The carbon emissions per customer and the power generation in megawatts electric (MWe) have also been placed on reconciled 1 km, 4 km and the T85 climate model grid. The CCSM temperature for the present and future have been extracted from the climate model output and placed on the same grid as ...

CERN Document Server

In this paper, we first discuss the detection of supernova neutrino on Earth. Then we propose a possible method to acquire information about $\\theta_{13}$ smaller than $1.5^\\circ$ by detecting the ratio of the event numbers of different flavor supernova neutrinos. Such an sensitivity cannot yet be achieved by the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molar extinction coefficients for the solid solutes in aqueous solutions of some alkaline earth chlorides such as MgCl_2.6H_2O, CaCl_2, SrCl_2.6H_2O and BaCl_2.2H_2O have been determined at 81, 356, 511, 662, 1173 and 1332 keV energies in different concentration using the narrow beam transmission methods. (author)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Measurement of the magnetic susceptibility of powder samples of heavy rare-earth (Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm and Yb) tungstates have been reported in the temperature range 300 to 900 K. Curie-Weiss law behaviour has been observed for all samples. The Curie constant, paramagnetic Curie temperature and magneton number for the magnetic ions have also been evaluated for each material. (author).

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Summaries of the highlights of programs in the Earth Sciences Division are presented under four headings; Geosciences, Geothermal Energy Development, Nuclear Waste Isolation, and Marine Sciences. Utilizing both basic and applied research in a wide spectrum of topics, these programs are providing results that will be of value in helping to secure the nation's energy future. Separate abstracts have been prepared for each project for inclusion in the Energy Data Base. (DMC)

Wastenet

...6 Resource type: reference data Global Change Master Directory An extensive source of information about satellite and in situ Earth science data, with broad coverage of the atmosphere, hydrosphere, oceans, solid earth, and biosphere. Author: NASA Subjects: climatology, global change, oceanographic data DeweyClass: 551.6 Resource type: documents, news International ...

CERN Document Server

We prove, using the AdS/CFT correspondence, that the long wavelength dynamics of the shear stress tensor in a strongly coupled N=4 SYM plasma is not described by the relaxation-type, fluid dynamical equations proposed by Israel and Stewart: the coarse grained dynamics will necessarily contain a second-order comoving derivative of the shear stress tensor. We argue that this should be true for any strongly-coupled gauge theory with a gravity dual. If the QGP formed in heavy ion collisions can indeed be described in terms of a (yet unknown) theory of gravity in higher dimensions, the equations of motion used in hydrodynamical simulations of the QGP must necessarily include second order comoving derivatives of the shear stress tensor.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The AdS/CFT correspondence is a powerful tool to study the properties of conformal QCD at strong coupling in terms of a higher dimensional dual gravity theory. The power-law falloff of scattering amplitudes in the non-perturbative regime and calculable hadron spectra follow from holographic models dual to QCD with conformal behavior at short distances and confinement at large distances. String modes and fluctuations about the AdS background are identified with QCD degrees of freedom and orbital excitations at the AdS boundary limit. A description of form factors in space and time-like regions and the behavior of light-front wave functions can also be understood in terms of a dual gravity description in the interior of AdS.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

In this Brief Report, we consider dijet production at #gamma##gamma# colliders as a probe of recently proposed, large extra-dimensional gravity models. The exchange of virtual, spin-2 graviton towers (Kaluza-Klein excitations) significantly modifies the cross section, as compared to the standard model predictions. We find that, in order to maximize the value of the effective scale that can be probed at a given center-of-mass energy, a very severe p_T cut should be applied; in general, a p_T equal to approximately 46% of the e"+e"- beam energy gives the highest reach. We find that we can probe the effective mass scale from about 2.7 TeV to 11.1 TeV, depending on the center-of-mass energy and assumptions about the model. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A numerical analysis is performed to clarify the heat transfer characteristics of combined convection around the tubes which form a single row perpendicularly arranged to a forced flow in the direction of gravity. A boundary-fitted coordinate transformation technique is adopted to solve the governing equations numerically. It is found in the case of liquid sodium that gravity-induced flow gives no substantial effect to heat transfer augmentation in a low Reynolds number region while it can be sufficiently expected in the ordinary fluids in the same Reynolds number region. This means that such heat transfer augmentation as expected in ordinary fluids can not be realized when crossflow-type heat exchangers installed for decay-heat removal operates in a low Reynolds number region.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A numerical analysis is performed to clarify the heat transfer characteristics of combined convection around the tubes which form a single row perpendicularly arranged to a forced flow in the direction of gravity. A boundary-fitted coordinate transformation technique is adopted to solve the governing equations numerically. It is found in the case of liquid sodium that gravity-induced flow gives no substantial effect to heat transfer augmentation in a low Reynolds number region while it can be sufficiently expected in the ordinary fluids in the same Reynolds number region. This means that such heat transfer augmentation as expected in ordinary fluids can not be realized when crossflow-type heat exchangers installed for decay-heat removal operates in a low Reynolds number region. (author).

CERN Document Server

The bright star 55 Cancri is known to host five planets, including a transiting super-Earth. The interferometric study presented here yields directly determined values for 55 Cnc's stellar astrophyiscal parameters: $R=0.943 \\pm 0.010 R_{\\odot}$, $T_{\\rm EFF} = 5196 \\pm 24$ K. We use isochrone fitting to determine 55 Cnc's age to be 10.2 $\\pm$ 2.5 Gyr, implying a stellar mass of $0.905 \\pm 0.015 M_{\\odot}$. Our analysis of the location and extent of the system's habitable zone (0.67--1.32 AU) shows that planet f ($M \\sin i = 0.155 M_{Jupiter}$) spends the majority of the duration of its elliptical orbit in the circumstellar habitable zone, where, with moderate greenhouse heating, it could harbor liquid water. Finally, our direct value for 55 Cancri's stellar radius allows for a model-independent calculation of the physical diameter of the transiting super-Earth 55 Cnc e ($\\sim 2.05 \\pm 0.15 R_{\\earth}$), which, ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

This book provides the information required to design and prepare construction drawings, and to install, inspect, test, and commission buried piping. Both pressure and gravity piping are covered, including water, steam, gases, and sewers. Directed primarily toward underground industrial piping systems, this is a succinct, well-organized compilation of practical knowledge. Checklists, examples, tables, charts, nomographs, short cuts, and helpful hints gained through years of experience complete this timely and useful ''how to'' book.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The single-axis portion of a three-axis superconducting gravity gradiometer has been completed in the course of this research. The theory of the superconducting gravity gradiometer has been generalized and put into a Lagrangian formulation. A condition for frequency-independent common mode balance combined with a multi-stage vibration isolation scheme has enabled a stable operation of the gradiometer for prolonged periods. In a preliminary test, the gradiometer has exhibited a noise level of 1-2 E Hz"-/sup 1/2/ below 1 Hz, limited by seismic noise, where 1 E = 10"-"9 m s"-"2 m"-"1. To perform a test of the inverse square law, the single-axis gradiometer is mounted with its axis tilted from the vertial by an angle tan"-"1 #sq root#2. The device is then turned incrementally by 120"0 around the vertical to carry the gradiometer from one axis to the other two axes of an orthogonal coordinate system. A lead pendulum weighing 1600 kg forms a periodic ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We consider a generalization of the DGP model, by adding a second brane with localized curvature, and allowing for a bulk cosmological constant and brane tensions. We study radion and graviton fluctuations in detail, enabling us to check for ghosts and tachyons. By tuning our parameters accordingly, we find bigravity models that are free from ghosts and tachyons. These models will lead to large distance modifications of gravity that could be observable in the near future.

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...-such as the EU -suggests a considerably larger effect of such agreements on membersrsquo; trade than typical ex ante CGE models and traditional cross-section empirical analyses (using traditional ldquo;gravity equationsrdquo;). These larger estimated effects are more consistent with the active role of national governments ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We study a variant of the Penner-Distler-Vafa model, proposed as a c = 1 quantum gravity: quenched' matrix model with logarithmic potential. The model is exactly soluble, and exhibits a two-cut branching as observed in multicritical unitary matrix models and multicut Hermitian matrix models. Using analytic continuation of the power in the conventional polynomial potential, we also show that both the Penner-Distler-Vafa model and our quenched' matrix model satisfy Virasoro algebra constraints.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The desire to study negative ion structure and negative ion-photon interactions has spurred the development of ion sources for use in research and industry. The many different types of negative ion sources available today differ in their characteristics and abilities to produce anions of various species. Thus the importance of choosing the correct type of negative ion source for a particular research or industrial application is clear. In this study, the results of an investigation on the production of beams composed of negatively-charged rare-earth ions from a cylindrical-cathode-geometry, cesium-sputter-type negative ion source are presented. Beams of atomic anions have been observed for most of the first-row rare-earth elements, with typical currents ranging from hundreds of picoamps to several nanoamps.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

A study has been made of the colour reaction involved in the interaction or rare-earth elements with the reagent orthanyl K, the optimum conditions for the reaction being: pH=4.0-4.5 and lambda=660-670 nm. The ratio of components in the complex is Me:R=1:2. Consideration of the relative optical density values of the complex solutions as a function of the serial number of the rare-earth elements made it possible to recommend orthanyl K as a selective reagent for determining La, Ce, Pr and Nb in a mixture of Tu, Yb, Lu and Y oxides. The molar extinction coefficients, the sensitivity of the reaction and the concentration limits where Beer's law applies were calculated. Lanthanum was determined in a binary mixture with thulium and yttrium. (author).

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

We present an empirical model for periodic variations of diurnal and sub-diurnal Earth rotation parameters (ERPs) that was derived based on the transformation of normal equation (NEQ) systems of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) observing sessions. NEQ systems that contain highly resolved polar motion and UT1-TAI with a temporal resolution of 15?min were generated and then transformed to the coefficients of the tidal ERP model to be solved for. To investigate the quality of this model, comparisons with empirical models from the Global Positioning System (GPS), another VLBI model and the model adopted by the conventions of the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS) were performed. The absolute coefficients of these models agree almost completely within 7.5?...

Science.gov (United States)

Wildlife Monitoring System Schematic .......................... 40 ...... sentinel species - healthy fish are placed in an environment of water (where they arc not .... The way ir! which data for the fnre mdor study groups will be gathered tor managciacilt ...... Earth Resources Aircraft Program (ERAP) Camera ...

Science.gov (United States)

In this activity, students create two- and three-dimensional maps by using a data grid of an imaginary section of Earth's surface. They are challenged to create six different maps of various surface features and answer questions about them.

Science.gov (United States)

Oct 2, 2007 ... The Payload combines some of the most sensitive particle sensors .... provide state-of-the-art measurements of incoming x-ray, ultraviolet, .... It will be launched into a low-Earth orbit on a Delta 7320 rocket in September 2004. ...

Science.gov (United States)

As the presence of humans in space expands in scope and duration, the quality of life in space as well as on Earth becomes pertinent. .... Military uses of space, such as the introduction of space-based laser or particle beam weapons, may have a major impact on the way people think and relate to .... AIAA Student Journal. ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Russian 1980. p. 81. USSR Blokh, Ya.L. Dorman, LI Yanke, VG Khamirzov,

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A procedure was developed to monitor boundaries within which secondary mining operations can be applied. Principal techniques include instrument and operative-remote observations of earth shifts and aerial photography of displacements on the surface of the trough.

Science.gov (United States)

ISS022, E, 8269, CHILE, OPEN PIT MINING OPERATIONS E. OF SIERRA GORDA, ROADS, DRAINAGE, -22.9, -69.1, 20091209. ISS022, E, 8270, CHILE, OPEN PIT MINING ...

Science.gov (United States)

5 days ago... Sun sensors, 2 secondary Sun sensors, and an Earth sensor. ... This continued intermittently until the rocket burn, at which time ... with incoming asymptotic direction at an angle of -13.6 degrees from the lunar equator. ...

Science.gov (United States)

Recent proposals have shown that a quantum degenerate gas of alkaline earth atoms can be used for a number of novel quantum computing and quantum simulation experiments. Strontium is a good candidate for such experiments because it can be controlled with high precision, as demonstrated in recent atomic clock experiments. Unfortunately, the small scattering length of strontium is not amenable to evaporative cooling techniques that are used to reach quantum degeneracy. Furthermore, increasing the scattering length of alkaline earths with a magnetic Feshbach resonance is not possible due to their spinless electronic ground state configuration. However, recent theoretical and experimental work suggests the possibility of changing scattering lengths in alkaline earths with laser light. Using this optical Feshbach resonance near strontium's narrow ^1S0->^3P1 intercombination transition might allow its scattering length to be ...

Science.gov (United States)

Federated Search (openSearch) (C. Lynnes); Infusion Process (S. Olding) Metrics Planning & Reporting (R. Ramapriyan); Service & Event Casting (B. Wilson) ...

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

In 18 months the Canadian Medical Discoveries Fund (CMDF) has attracted investments worth $180 million to spend on biotechnology and medical research. Although eight initial investments totalled only...Full Text Available

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

An introduction to time-of-flight neutron spectroscopy is presented in the context of the study of magnetic materials. Examples are taken from the class of rare earth and actinide magnetic materials known as `strongly correlated electron` systems. (author) 11 figs., 24 refs.

Science.gov (United States)

Features: CHUQUICAMATA, LARGE OPEN PIT MINING OPERATIONS, ROADS, HILLS Center Point Latitude: -22.3 Center Point Longitude: -68.9 (Negative numbers indicate ...

Science.gov (United States)

retrieve detailed aerosol and cloud particle size distribution and shape ...... but on rain types, and hydrometeor characteristics. ..... of ice streams, decreasing sea ice cover in the Arctic, poleward movement of forest cover, and ...

Science.gov (United States)

Sep 9, 2009... a French Ariane rocket successfully launched a new Earth-observing satellite ... The payload is a pair of identical sensors known as "high-resolution ... the resulting image) are activated simultaneously by incoming radiation; ...

Wastenet

...October 2006 - present: University of Leeds, UK PhD Candidate in Geochemistry Thesis Title: Magnetite formation in reducing natural environments Supervisors: Dr Liane G. Benning ...Germany Bachelor of Science in Geosciences and Astrophysics Project Details Project Title: \\

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

BackgroundDengue fever is a mosquito-borne illness that places significant burden on tropical developing countries with unplanned urbanization. A surveillance system using Google...Full Text Available

UK PubMed Central (United Kingdom)

Investigations of psychrotrophic microorganisms have been limited even though the dominant environment of the Earth is cold and enzymes with high activities at low temperatures could have commercial...Full Text Available

Science.gov (United States)

ISS022, E, 8260, CHILE, CHUQUICAMATA, LARGE OPEN PIT MINING OPERATIONS, ROADS, HILLS, -22.3, -68.9, 20091209. ISS022, E, 8261, CHILE, CHUQUICAMATA, ...

Science.gov (United States)

Sep 9, 2009 ... You are here: GES DISC Home Geomorphology from Space By Location Landforms by Location: Asia. Info. Landforms by Location: Asia. KEY, ASIA ...

Science.gov (United States)

An ascending node occurs when the subsatellite point crosses the earth's equator going from .... 11dB sigma-naught. This error budget includes the altimeter noise, ...... it is also recommended to filter the data as follows to ...

Science.gov (United States)

...Pneumatic-tired earth-moving haulage equipment (trucks, scrapers, tractors...Pneumatic-Tired Earthmoving Haulage Equipment. An employer may, of course...pneumatic-tired earthmoving haulage equipment, is suspended pending...

British Library Electronic Table of Contents (United Kingdom)

This paper summarizes the establishment and current development of space activities in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Space activities in Venezuela are focused on the areas of telecommunications, Earth observation and research on the physical properties of the Earth, and have as a primary goal the satisfaction of social needs. Current development of space activities started in 1999 when the new National Constitution recognized the value of outer space as the common heritage of mankind, and the key role of science and technology in promoting human welfare. The Bolivarian Agency for Space Activities (ABAE) was created in 2007. Its legal framework recognizes three key elements that drive its policy: the participation of society, capacity building and human training, and international c...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

When in resonance, Raman scattering exhibits strong enhancement ranging from four to six orders of magnitude. This physical phenomenon has been applied to remote sensing of the Earth`s atmosphere. With a 16 inch Cassegrain telescope and spectrometer/ CCD-detector system, 70-150 ppm-m of SO{sub 2} in the atmosphere has been detected at a distance of 0.5 kilometer. This system can be used to detect/monitor chemical effluence in the atmosphere by their unique Raman fingerprints. Experimental result together with detailed resonance Raman and atmospheric laser propagation effects will be discussed.

Science.gov (United States)

We discuss how magnetic phenomena affect superconductivity in simple metals, transition metals and alloys thereof, and dilute Rare-Earth alloys. It is shown both qualitatively and quantitatively that superconductors are sensitive probes for studying itinerant spin excitations, local spin excitations associated with nearly magnetic impurities, the effect of the atomic environment on the stability of local magnetic moments, and the nature of the spin order in Rare-Earth alloys. Also, we discuss how magnetic impurities can be used to study the electronic configuration which is responsible for superconductivity in Laves-phase crystals like A-15 compounds and ..beta..-W crystals, for example.

CERN Document Server

Large scale magnetic field measurements and mapping

CERN Document Server

We analytically work out the orbital effects caused by a Rindlertype extra-acceleration ARin which naturally arises in some recent models of modified gravity at large distances. In particular, we focus on the perturbations induced by it on the two-body range {\\rho} and range-rate {\\rho}\\cdot which are commonly used in satellite and planetary investigations as primary observable quantities. The constraints obtained for ARin by comparing our calculations with the currently available range and range-rate residuals for some of the major bodies of the solar system, obtained without explicitly modeling ARin, are 1 - 2 \\times 10-13 m s-2 (Mercury and Venus), 1 \\times 10-14 m s-2 (Saturn), 1 \\times 10-15 m s-2 (Mars), while for a terrestrial Rindler acceleration we have 5 \\times 10-16 m s-2 (Moon). Another approach which could be followed consists of taking into account ARin in re-processing all the available data sets with accordingly modified dynamical models, and ...

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

We present a new class of exact solutions of Deser, Jackiw, and Templeton's theory (DJT) of topologically massive gravity which consists of homogeneous, anisotropic manifolds. In these solutions the coframe is given by the left-invariant 1-forms of 3-dimensional Lie algebras up to constant scale factors. These factors are fixed in terms of the DJT coupling constant {mu}m which is the constant of proportionality between the Einstein and Cotton tensors in 3-dimensions. Differences between the scale factors result in anisotropy which is a common feature of topologically massive 3-manifolds. We have found that only Bianchi Types VI, VIII, and IX lead to nontrivial solutions. Among these, a Bianchi Type IX, squashed 3-sphere solution of the Euclideanized DJT theory has finite action, Bianchi Type VIII, IX solutions can variously be embedded in the de Sitter/anti-de Sitter space. That is, some DJT 3-manifolds that we shall present here can be regarded as the ...

CERN Document Server

Some models for quantum gravity (QG) violate Lorentz invariance and predict an energy dependence of the speed of light, leading to a dispersion of high-energy gamma-ray signals that travel over cosmological distances. Limits on the dispersion from short-duration substructures observed in gamma-rays emitted by gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) at cosmological distances have provided interesting bounds on Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). Recent observations of unprecedentedly fast flares in the very-high energy gamma-ray emission of the active galactic nuclei (AGNs) Mkn 501 in 2005 and PKS 2155-304 in 2006 resulted in the most constraining limits on LIV from light-travel observations, approaching the Planck mass scale, at which QG effects are assumed to become important. I review the current status of LIV searches using GRBs and AGN flare events, and discuss limitations of light-travel time analyses and prospects for future instruments in the gamma-ray domain.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We find instanton/cosmological solutions with biaxial Bianchi-IX symmetry, involving nontrivial spatial dependence of the CP"1-CP"2-sigma-models coupled to gravity. Such manifolds arise in N = 1, d 4 supergravity with supermatter actions and hence the solutions can be embedded in supergravity. There is a natural way in which the standard coordinates of these manifolds can be mapped into the four-dimensional physical space. Due to its special symmetry, we start with CP"2 with its corresponding scalar ansatz; this further requires the spacetime to be SU(2) x U(1)-invariant. The problem then reduces to a set of ordinary differential equations whose analytical properties and solutions are discussed. Among the solutions there is a surprising, special family of exact solutions which owe their existence to the nontrivial topology of CP"2 and are in 1-1 correspondence with matter-free Bianchi-IX metrics. These solutions can also be found by coupling CP"1 to ...

CERN Document Server

A decreasing gravitational constant, G, coupled with angular momentum conservation is expected to increrase a planetary semimajor axis, a, as \\dot a/a=-\\dot G/G. Analysis of lunar laser ranging data strongly limits such temporal variations and constrains a local (~1 AU) scale expansion of the solar system as \\dot a/a=-\\dot G/G =-(4\\pm9)\\times10^{-13} yr^{-1}, including that due to cosmological effects.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We compute the entropy of a closed bounded region of space for pure 3d Riemannian gravity formulated as a topological BF theory for the gauge group SU(2) and show its holographic behavior. More precisely, we consider a fixed graph embedded in space and study the flat connection spin network state without and with particle-like topological defects. We regularize and compute exactly the entanglement for a bipartite splitting of the graph and show it scales at leading order with the number of vertices on the boundary (or equivalently with the number of loops crossing the boundary). More generally these results apply to BF theory with any compact gauge group in any space-time dimension.

Science.gov (United States)

The entrainment flow rate distribution, the gas velocity profile, and the concentration profile of droplets across the channel cross section in fully developed region of a horizontal rectangular channel of 150mm width and 50mm height were measured. The concentration profile of droplets was expressed by a simple equation based on a constant diffusion coefficient model. From this equation the effects of gravity and turbulent diffusion of droplets on the concentration profile were evaluated. The characteristic mean settling velocity of a group of droplets with various diameters was derived, and using this value the mean diffusion coefficient of the group of droplets was obtained

CERN Document Server

By employing the higher dimensional version of the Wu-Yang Ansatz we obtain magnetically charged new black hole solutions in the Einstein-Yang-Mills-Lovelock (EYML) theory with second ($\\alpha2$) and third ($\\alpha3$)order parameters. These parameters, where $\\alpha2$ is also known as the Gauss-Bonnet parameter, modify the horizons (and the resulting thermodynamical properties) of the black holes. It is shown also that asymptotically, these parameters contribute to an effective cosmological constant -without cosmological constant- so that the solution behaves de-Sitter (Anti de-Sitter) like.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A liquid-fillet is formed in front of a rotor blade in the cylinder of a horizontal agitated thin-film evaporator. Its thickness varies due to the gravity while the blade revolves inside the cylinder. In the critical condition, the amplitude of the oscillation becomes infinite and the phase advances 180 degrees. Prior to the critical condition, the experimental data agrees fairly well with the predictions. Near the critical condition, the amplitutde increases and the phase advances 60 degrees. In other words, the transition to the critical condition occurs continuously. (6 figs, 1 ref)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

A full scale experiment was carried out to investigate the texture characteristics of the falling water of free falling and slope failing types. According to the increase of Reynolds number, the texture of falling water was classified into three categories for both types: stability of free surface, transition and whole turbulence. In the first category the stability of the free surface was related to the growth of minute disturbance. Surface tension works as a counter, force to the disturbance in free falling water, and gravity in slope falling water. 14 refs., 15 figs., 3 tabs.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The mathematical apparatus of quantum-mechanical angular momentum (re)coupling, developed originally to describe spectroscopic phenomena in atomic, molecular, optical and nuclear physics, is embedded in modern algebraic settings which emphasize the underlying combinatorial aspects. SU(2) recoupling theory, involving Wigner's 3nj symbols, as well as the related problems of their calculations, general properties, asymptotic limits for large entries, nowadays plays a prominent role also in quantum gravity and quantum computing applications. We refer to the ingredients of this theory-and of its extension to other Lie and quantum groups-by using the collective term of 'spin networks'. Recent progress is recorded about the already established connections with the mathematical theory of discrete orthogonal polynomials (the so-called Askey scheme), providing powerful tools based on asymptotic expansions, which correspond on the physical side to ...