Engineering topics
Petersen, H.
Publications and source records attributed to Petersen, H..
Proceedings of RIKEN BNL Research Center Workshop: Theory and Modeling for the Beam Energy Scan: From Exploration to Discovery (Volume 121)
The Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at Brookhaven National Laboratory has concluded phase I of its Beam Energy Scan (BES) program. The goal of the RHIC BES program is to explore the phase diagram of strongly interacting matter at high baryonic densities and search for the QCD critical point by performing systematic scans at lower beam energies. Results from the RHIC BES I program are intriguing. There indeed seem to be several signals suggesting a softening of the equation of state, which may result from a first-order transition, as well as possible indications of a critical point. In light of these intriguing results, several accelerator and detector upgrades have been planned to conduct the phase II of the RHIC BES during the period 2017-2020. The goal of the RHIC BES II is discovery of the QCD critical point by performing high luminosity scans within the interesting beam energy range revealed through explorations at RHIC BES I. Past experience has proven that even qualitative understanding of the physics encoded within the RHIC experimental data requires substantial theoretical input based on QCD calculations as well as detailed, quantitative modeling of the medium created at the RHIC. However, the coordinated theoretical and modeling efforts necessary for comprehensive understanding of the RHIC BES data is presently lacking. The purpose of this workshop was to gather a small group of expert theorists, phenomenologists and experimentalists to identify the necessary theoretical and modeling developments required for RHIC BES, to delineate a clear path towards extracting concrete physics utilizing the RHIC BES data, and to kick-start collaborations among theorists, phenomenologists and experimentalists to ensure that the necessary theoretical and modeling developments can be achieved before the start of the RHIC BES II experimental program.
The European Robotic Arm: A High-performance Mechanism Finally on Its Way to Space
This paper describes the design and qualification of the European Robotic Arm (ERA), which is planned to be launched by the end of 2015. After years of changes, a shift of launcher and new loads, launch preparation is underway. The European Robotic Arm ERA has been designed and manufactured by Dutch Space and its subcontractors such as Astrium, SABCA and Stork with key roles for the mechanical aspects. The arm was originally designed to be launched by the STS (mounted on a Russian module for the ISS) in 2001. However, due to delays and the STS disaster, a shift was made to the Russian Proton rocket. ERA will be launched on the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM). This module, which is now planned for launch to the ISS in 2015, will carry the ERA. The symmetrical design of the arm with a complete 3 degree-of-freedom wrist and general-purpose end effector on both sides, allows ERA to relocate on the station by grappling a new base point and releasing the old one, and move to different working locations.
Quantifying Initial State Fluctuations in Heavy Ion Collisions
Quantum fluctuations induce interesting structures in the initial state profiles for hydrodynamic calculations of the hot and dense quark-gluon plasma phase of heavy ion collisions. Especially, after the discovery of non-zero odd higher flow coefficients, there has been a lot of theoretical effort to quantify the correlation lengths of energy density fluctuations. A new method to characterize initial state profiles based on a 2D Fourier analysis is presented and an outlook on how this analysis can lead to a better quantitative understanding of the properties of hot and dense nuclear matter is given.
Feasibility of a special-purpose computer to solve the Navier-Stokes equations
Orders-of-magnitude improvements in computer performance can be realized with a parallel array of thousands of fast microprocessors. In this architecture, wiring congestion is minimized by limiting processor communication to nearest neighbors. When certain standard algorithms are applied to a viscous flow problem and existing LSI technology is used, performance estimates of this conceptual design show a dramatic decrease in computational time when compared to the CDC 7600.