Engineering topics

Hogan, C. J.

Publications and source records attributed to Hogan, C. J..

7 records

NASA NTRS1993

Neutrino Heat Conduction and Inhomogeneities in the Early Universe

Constraints on parameters of inhomogeneous nucteosynthesis, namely, the overdensity and size of baryon lumps, are found by calculatig the blackbody neutrino heat conduction into the lumps, which tends to inflate them away. The scale size for efficient heat conduction is determined by the mean free path lambda of the neutrino, and so we compute lambda in our case of a high-temperature plasma with low chemical potential, and find a general result that many-body effects are unimportant, simplifying the calculation. We find that in the region of interest for nucleosynthesis, neutrino inflation is important for overdensities greater than 10(exp 4).

Heckler, A.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Cosmic backgrounds from primeval dust

A general formalism is developed for describing the spectrum and the anisotropy of radiation from primeval dust as a nearly isotropic cosmic background with fluctuations. The theory incorporates spatial and temporal variations in the density of both luminosity and dust and is sufficiently robust to treat emission by point sources, as well as smoother emission, in high and low optical depth situations. The fluctuations are calculated using linear perturbation theory for arbitrary dust and luminosity clumping, and are calculated nonperturbatively for compact IR sources using shot-noise models. For many realistic models, a large accompanying NIR background is predicted. It is shown that, while spectal information alone provides only coarse information about the dust abundance and type, the redshift, and the other parameters, it may provide a powerful probe of pregalactic history when used in combination with the anisotropy signal.

Bond, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1989

Pressure-confined Lyman-alpha clouds

Results are presented of numerical models of pressure-confined spherical gas clouds which produce absorption resembling the low to intermediate atomic column density lines found in high-redshift QSO spectra. One-dimensional hydrodynamical models including electron conduction are described, and the rate equations are solved to find ionization and excitation states. Results are presented for both static and adiabatically expanding confining media covering a range of initial pressures. It is found that Ly-alpha lines are very similar over a wide range of conditions and that the most promising diagnostic of pressure is to compare the column density in H I to that in He I and He II. No single-pressure model can explain the wide range of observed H I column densities.

Baron, E.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Origin and anisotropy of the cosmic submillimeter background

Some cosmological implications of the recently discovered submillimeter background (SMB) are discussed. Opacity and isotropy arguments show that if the background is due to dust emission it must originate at a high redshift z greater than about 10. Isotropy measurements are used to constrain the amplitude of dust optical-depth fluctuations and hence the scale of dust inhomogeneity. The observed flux, the inferred high z and high opacity imply that on small scales the mock gravitational instability driven by radiation pressure may have dominated gravitational effects.

Hogan, C. J.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Neutron tori and the origin of r-process elements

It is shown here that if an accretion disk gets hotter than a few MeV, nuclei in the infalling matter are dissociated into their constituent neutrons and protons. Neutrons released by dissociation of matter falling at high accretion rates into a black hole or neutron star accumulate in a dense 'neutron torus'. The occurrence of the classical rapid or r-process nucleosynthesis in such a torus is investigated.

Hogan, C. J.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Spectrum and anisotropy of the cosmic infrared background

If the luminosity per mass of the universe at redshifts z = 5-1000 were at least comparable to its present luminosity, then a conspicuous cosmological infrared radiation background would be produced. A number of situations where this could arise are surveyed, and the intensity of the background is evaluated for specific types of sources (protogalaxies, pregalactic stars, quasars, black holes, and decaying relict particles) in several candidate scenarios, which are also discussed in terms of metal enrichment, dark matter, and formation of large-scale structure. The spectrum of the background radiation is estimated, both with and without dust obscuration. General features of cosmological radiative transfer with dust are discussed. It is argued that dust is expected to degrade the background to the far-infrared, 100-1000 microns, where the wavelength of the spectral peak can be predicted from the total present-day background flux and depends only weakly on properties of the dust or the redshift of emission. The statistical properties of the anisotropy expected in the radiation and its relationship to the distribution of dust at the time the dust is formed or the radiation is produced are estimated. Intensity fluctuations at the few percent level on arc minute scales are typical in current galaxy-formation scenarios.

Bond, J. R.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Galaxy formation by mock gravity

Absorbing particles in an isotropic radiation field experience an attractive force due to their mutual shadowing. If the pre-galactic universe contained suitable sources of radiation and absorbing material, an instability caused by this effect may have led to the formation of galaxies and galaxy clusters. Other consequences include the segregation of galaxies from dark matter and a strong anisotropic far-infrared background.

Hogan, C. J.↗