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Chang, P.

Publications and source records attributed to Chang, P..

Test of light-lepton universality in τ decays with the Belle II experiment

We present a measurement of the ratio R µ = $\mathcal{B}$($τ^- → µ^-\overline{ν}_µν_τ$)/$\mathcal{B}(τ^- → e^-\overline{ν}_eν_τ$) of branching fractions B of the τ lepton decaying to muons or electrons using data collected with the Belle II detector at the SuperKEKB e + e - collider. The sample has an integrated luminosity of 362 ± 2 fb -1 at a centre-of-mass energy of 10.58 GeV. Using an optimised event selection, a binned maximum likelihood ft is performed using the momentum spectra of the electron and muon candidates. The result, R µ = 0.9675 ± 0.0007 ± 0.0036, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic, is the most precise to date. It provides a stringent test of the light-lepton universality, translating to a ratio of the couplings of the muon and electron to the W boson in τ decays of 0.9974 ± 0.0019, in agreement with the standard model expectation of unity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS

Improved Atmospheric Boundary Layer Observations of Tropical Cyclones with the Imaging Wind and Rain Airborne Profiler

The Imaging Wind and Rain Arborne Profilers (IWRAP) is a dual-frequency, conically-scanning Doppler radar that measures high-resolution, dual-polarized, multi-beam C- and Ku-band reflectivity and Doppler velocity profiles of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) within the inner core of hurricanes.From the datasets acquired during the 2002 through 20O5 hurricane seasons as part of the ONR Coupled Boundary Layer Air-Sea Transfer (CBLAST) program and the NOAA/NESDIS Ocean Winds and Rain experiments, very high resolution radar observations of hurricanes have been acquired and made available to the CBLAST community. Of particular interest am the ABL wind fields and 3-D structures found within the inner core of hurricanes. As a result of these analysis, a limitation in the ability to retrieve the ABL wind field at very low altitudes was identified. This paper shows how this limitation has been removed and presents initial results demonstrating its new capabilities to derive the ABL wind field within the inner are of hurricanes to much lower altitudes than the ones the original system was capable of.

wind field

Candle Flames in Microgravity

The goal of this work is to study both experimentally and numerically the behavior of a candle flame burning in a microgravity environment. Two space experiments (Shuttle and Mir) have shown the candle flame in microgravity to be small (approximately 1.5 cm diameter), dim blue, and hemispherical. Near steady flames with very long flame lifetimes (up to 45 minutes in some tests) existed for many of the tests. Most of the flames spontaneously oscillated with a period of approximately 1 Hz just prior to extinction). In a previous model of candle flame in microgravity, a porous sphere wetted with liquid fuel simulated the evaporating wick. The sphere, with a temperature equal to the boiling temperature of the fuel, was at the end of an inert cone that had a prescribed temperature. This inert cone produces the quenching effect of the candle wax in the real configuration. Although the computed flame shape resembled that observed in the microgravity experiment, the model was not able to differentiate the effect of wick geometry, e.g., a long vs. a short wick. This paper presents recent developments in the numerical model of the candle flame. The primary focus has been to more realistically account for the actual shape of the candle.

Dietrich, D. L.

Candle Flames in Non-Buoyant Atmospheres

This paper addresses the behavior of a candle flame in a long-duration, quiescent microgravity environment both on the space Shuttle and the Mir Orbiting Station. On the Shuttle, the flames became dim blue after an initial transient where there was significant yellow (presumably soot) in the flame. The flame lifetimes were typically less than 60 seconds. The safety-mandated candlebox that contained the candle flame inhibited oxygen transport to the flame and thus limited the flame lifetime. The flames on the Mir were similar, except that the yellow luminosity persisted longer into the flame lifetime because of a higher initial oxygen concentration, The Mir flames burned for as long as 45 minutes. The difference in the flame lifetime between the Shuttle and Mir flames was primarily the redesigned candlebox that did not inhibit oxygen transport to the flame. In both environments, the flame intensity and the height-to-width ratio gradually decreased as the ambient oxygen content in the sealed chamber slowly decreased. Both sets of experiments showed spontaneous, axisymmetric flame oscillations just prior to extinction. The paper also presents a numerical model of a candle flame. The formulation is two-dimensional and time-dependent in the gas phase with constant specific heats, thermal conductivity and Lewis number (although different species can have different Lewis numbers), one-step finite-rate kinetics, and gas-phase radiative losses from CO2 and H2O. The treatment of the liquid/wick phase assumes that the, fuel evaporates from a constant diameter sphere connected to an inert cone. The model predicts a steady flame with a shape and size quantitatively similar to the Shuttle and Mir flames. The computation predicts that the flame size will increase slightly with increasing ambient oxygen mole fraction. The model also predicts pre-extinction flame oscillations if the rate of decrease in ambient oxygen is small enough, such as that which would occur for a flame burning in a sealed ambient.

Dietrich, D. L.