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At least 253 records · Page 14

AKN 564: An Unusual Component in the X-ray Spectra of NLSy1 Galaxies

We present an ASCA observation of the narrow-line Seyfert l (NLSyl) Arakelian 564. The X-ray light curve shows rapid variability, but no evidence for energy-dependence to these variations, within the 0.6 - 10 keV bandpass. A strong (EW approximately 70 eV) spectral feature is observed close to 1 keV. A similar feature has been observed in TON S180, another member of the NLSyl class of objects, but has not been observed in broad-line Seyfert galaxies. The feature energy suggests a large contribution from Fe L-shell lines but its intensity is difficult to explain in terms of emission and/or absorption from photoionized gas. The models which predict most emission at 1 keV are characterized by extreme values of column density, Fe abundance and ionization parameter. Models based on gas in thermal equilibrium with kT approximately l keV provide an alternative parameterization of the soft spectrum. The latter may be interpreted as the hot intercloud medium, undergoing rapid cooling and producing strong Fe L-shell recombination lines. In all cases the physical conditions are rather different from those observed in broad-line Seyferts. The hard X-ray spectrum shows a broad and asymmetric Fe K(alpha) line of large equivalent width (approximately 550 eV) suggestive of significant emission from the inner accretion disk. The profile can be explained by a neutral disk viewed at approximately 60 deg to the line-of-sight, contrary to the hypothesis that NLSyls are viewed pole-on. The large EW of this line, the strong 1 keV emission and the strong optical Fe emission lines all suggest an extreme Fe abundance in this and perhaps other NLSyls.

Turner, T. J.↗

Resolving Faint Structures in the Debris Disk Around TWA 7* Tentative Detections of an Outer Belt, a Spiral Arm, and a Dusty Cloud

Context. Debris disks are the intrinsic by-products of the star and planet formation processes. Most likely due to instrumental limitations and their natural faintness, little is known about debris disks around low mass stars, especially when it comes to spatially resolved observations. Aims. We present new VLT/SPHERE IRDIS dual-polarization imaging (DPI) observations in which we detect the dust ring around the M2 spectral type star TWA 7. Combined with additional angular differential imaging observations we aim at a fine characterization of the debris disk and setting constraints on the presence of low-mass planets. Methods. We modeled the SPHERE DPI observations and constrain the location of the small dust grains, as well as the spectral energy distribution of the debris disk, using the results inferred from the observations, and performed simple N-body simulations. Results. We find that the dust density distribution peaks at ~0.72′′ (25 au), with a very shallow outer power-law slope, and that the disk has an inclination of ~13° with a position angle of ~91° east of north. We also report low signal-to-noise ratio detections of an outer belt at a distance of ~1.5′′ (~52 au) from the star, of a spiral arm in the southern side of the star, and of a possible dusty clump at 0.11′′. These findings seem to persist over timescales of at least a year. Using the intensity images, we do not detect any planets in the close vicinity of the star, but the sensitivity reaches Jovian planet mass upper limits. We find that the SED is best reproduced with an inner disk at ~0.2′′ (~7 au) and another belt at 0.72′′ (25 au). Conclusions. We report the detections of several unexpected features in the disk around TWA 7. A yet undetected 100 Solar Mass planet with a semi-major axis at 20−30 au could possibly explain the outer belt as well as the spiral arm. We conclude that stellar winds are unlikely to be responsible for the spiral arm.

VLT/SPHERE IRDIS↗

Nonlinear viscoelasticity and relaxation phenomena of polymer solids

In the light of a three-chain model of statistical network theories of rubberlike elastic models, it is assumed that the free energy function of incompressible viscoelastic polymer solids is a separable, symmetric function of the principle stretch ratios and the hidden thermodynamic coordinates along the same directions. This assumption leads to a characterization of those viscoelastic polymer solids which exhibit the property of factorizability between the time and strain functions.

Peng, S. T. J.↗

The use of aircraft-based Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner (TIMS) data to measure surface energy budgets on a landscape scale

A series of Thermal Infrared Multispectral Scanner Data (TIMS) was collected over the H. J. Andrews experimental forest in western Oregon and at the Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory in North Carolina. Flight lines were overlapped with an 8 to 28 minute time difference between flight lines. Concurrent radiosonde measurements of atmospheric profiles of air and dew point temperatures provided inputs to LOWTRAN6 for atmospheric radiance corrections of the TIMS data. Surface temperature differences over time between flight lines allowed the development of thermal response numbers (TRN) which characterized the thermal response of the different surface types. The polygons containing mostly soil and bare rock had the lowest TRN whereas the forested polygons were the highest. Results indicate that forest canopy temperatures measured by the TIMS are comparable to needle thermocouples temperatures. ET models developed from the TIMS data obtained similar ET rates as those using energy balance techniques.

Luvall, Jeffrey C.↗

Kolmogorov Behavior of Near-Wall Turbulence and Its Application in Turbulence Modeling

The near-wall behavior of turbulence is re-examined in a way different from that proposed by Hanjalic and Launder and followers. It is shown that at a certain distance from the wall, all energetic large eddies will reduce to Kolmogorov eddies (the smallest eddies in turbulence). All the important wall parameters, such as friction velocity, viscous length scale, and mean strain rate at the wall, are characterized by Kolmogorov microscales. According to this Kolmogorov behavior of near-wall turbulence, the turbulence quantities, such as turbulent kinetic energy, dissipation rate, etc. at the location where the large eddies become Kolmogorov eddies, can be estimated by using both direct numerical simulation (DNS) data and asymptotic analysis of near-wall turbulence. This information will provide useful boundary conditions for the turbulent transport equations. As an example, the concept is incorporated in the standard k-epsilon model which is then applied to channel and boundary flows. Using appropriate boundary conditions (based on Kolmogorov behavior of near-wall turbulence), there is no need for any wall-modification to the k-epsilon equations (including model constants). Results compare very well with the DNS and experimental data.

Shih, Tsan-Hsing↗

Effect of substrate preparation on the structure and chemisorption properties of Pd/MgO model catalyst

Pd/MgO model catalysts are prepared by vapor deposition of Pd particles on MgO thin films which are deposited, at different temperatures, on UHV cleaved mica. MgO films and Pd particles are characterized in situ by Auger electron spectroscopy and energy-loss spectroscopy and ex situ by transmission electron microscopy. Succesive temperature programmed desorption (TPD) of CO shows a different evolution of the morphology of the Pd particles deposited on MgO films prepared at low and high temperature. In addition, on MgO prepared at low temperature, the smallest particles show a continuous decay of CO adsorption during TPD due to contamination by support species.

Henry, C. R.↗

The constitutive representation of high-temperature creep damage

The elastic-viscoplastic constitutive equations of Bodner-Partom were applied to modeling creep damage in a high temperature Ni-alloy, B1900 + Hf. Both tertiary creep in bulk materials and creep crack growth in flawed materials were considered. In the latter case, the energy rate line integral was used for characterizing the crack driving force, and the rate of crack extension was computed using a local damage formulation that assumed fracture was controlled by cavitation occurring within the crack-tip process zone. The results of this investigation were used to assess the evolution equation for isotropic damage utilized in the Bodner-Partom constitutive equations.

Chan, K. S.↗

SAO mission support software and data standards, version 1.0

This document defines the software developed by the SAO AXAF Mission Support (MS) Program and defines standards for the software development process and control of data products generated by the software. The SAO MS is tasked to develop and use software to perform a variety of functions in support of the AXAF mission. Software is developed by software engineers and scientists, and commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software is used either directly or customized through the use of scripts to implement analysis procedures. Software controls real-time laboratory instruments, performs data archiving, displays data, and generates model predictions. Much software is used in the analysis of data to generate data products that are required by the AXAF project, for example, on-orbit mirror performance predictions or detailed characterization of the mirror reflection performance with energy.

Hsieh, P.↗

A Realistic Accretion Disk Model for AGNs

We present a new relativistic accretion disk model of AGNs, based on alpha modified accretion disk theory, where alpha is a parameter that characterizes the efficiency of the mechanism of angular momentum transport. In this model we have considered a geometrically-thin, high-luminosity (alpha-accretion disk, around a supermassive black hole. The geometrically thin limit assumes a local energy balance within the accretion disk, which has been used to derive the plasma temperature of the disk. The energy balance equation has three solutions: low, medium and high temperature, depending on the heating rate of the accretion disk. We predict that the inner part of a high luminosity accretion disk is in the high- temperature (10(exp 7) to 10(exp 9) K) state and for this we obtain the high temperature solution of the energy balance equation using a Comptonization process. We find the local spectrum of each ring of the disk (we have divided the high temperature region of the disk into 50 rings) to be a diluted Wien spectrum. However, the emergent integral spectrum of the high temperature region is a power-law with a high-energy cutoff that depends on the basic parameters of AGNs (the accretion rate, the incidence angle, and the mass and the angular momentum of the central black hole). We have fitted the observed spectra of 28 AGNs using the present model and have derived the values of the basic parameters of these AGNs. Results of these spectral fittings have been discussed in the framework of the unification model of AGNs.

Suleimanov, V.↗

Detection of Nonthermal Hard X-Ray Emission from the “Fermi Bubble” in an External Galaxy

We report new Chandra hard X-ray (>2 keV) and Jansky Very Large Array C-band observations of the nuclear super bubble of NGC 3079, an analog of the “Fermi bubble” in our Milky Way. We detect extended hard X-ray emission on the southwest (SW)side of the galactic nucleus with coherent multiwavelength features in radio, Hα, and soft X-ray. The hard X-ray feature has a cone shape with possibly a weak cap, forming a bubble-like structure with a diameter of∼1.1 kpc. A similar extended feature, however, is not detected on the northeast (NE)side, which is brighter in all other wavelengths such as radio, Hα, and soft X-ray. Scattered photons from the nuclear region or other nearby point-like X-ray bright sources, inverse Compton emission from cosmic-ray(CR)electrons via interaction with the cosmic microwave background, or any individually faint stellar X-ray source populations, cannot explain the extended hard X-ray emission on the SW side and the strongly NE/SW asymmetry. A synchrotron emission model, plus a thermal component accounting for the excess at∼1 keV, can well characterize the broadband radio/hard X-ray spectra. The broadband synchrotron spectra do not show any significant cutoff, and even possibly slightly flatten at higher energy. This rule out a loss-limited scenario in the acceleration of the CR electrons in or around this superbubble. As the first detection of kiloparsec-scale extended hard X-ray emission associated with a galactic nuclear superbubble, the spatial and spectral properties of the multiwavelength emissions indicate that the CR leptons responsible for the broadband synchrotron emission from the SW bubble must be accelerated in situ, instead of transported from the nuclear region of the galaxy.

Jiang-Tao Li↗

Simulation model for plant growth in controlled environment systems

The role of the mathematical model is to relate the individual processes to environmental conditions and the behavior of the whole plant. Using the controlled-environment facilities of the phytotron at North Carolina State University for experimentation at the whole-plant level and methods for handling complex models, researchers developed a plant growth model to describe the relationships between hierarchial levels of the crop production system. The fundamental processes that are considered are: (1) interception of photosynthetically active radiation by leaves, (2) absorption of photosynthetically active radiation, (3) photosynthetic transformation of absorbed radiation into chemical energy of carbon bonding in solube carbohydrates in the leaves, (4) translocation between carbohydrate pools in leaves, stems, and roots, (5) flow of energy from carbohydrate pools for respiration, (6) flow from carbohydrate pools for growth, and (7) aging of tissues. These processes are described at the level of organ structure and of elementary function processes. The driving variables of incident photosynthetically active radiation and ambient temperature as inputs pertain to characterization at the whole-plant level. The output of the model is accumulated dry matter partitioned among leaves, stems, and roots; thus, the elementary processes clearly operate under the constraints of the plant structure which is itself the output of the model.

Raper, C. D., Jr.↗

Multidimensional Programming Methods for Energy Facility Siting: Alternative Approaches

The use of multidimensional optimization methods in solving power plant siting problems, which are characterized by several conflicting, noncommensurable objectives is addressed. After a discussion of data requirements and exclusionary site screening methods for bounding the decision space, classes of multiobjective and goal programming models are discussed in the context of finite site selection. Advantages and limitations of these approaches are highlighted and the linkage of multidimensional methods with the subjective, behavioral components of the power plant siting process is emphasized.

Solomon, B. D.↗

Microstructural Characterization and Modeling of SLM Superalloy 718

Superalloy 718 is an excellent candidate for selective laser melting (SLM) fabrication due to a combination of excellent mechanical properties and workability. Predicting and validating the microstructure of SLM-fabricated Superalloy 718 after potential post heat-treatment paths is an important step towards producing components comparable to those made using conventional methods. At present, obtaining accurate volume fraction and size measurements of gamma-double-prime, gamma-prime and delta precipitates has been challenging due to their size, low volume fractions, and similar chemistries. A technique combining high resolution distortion corrected SEM imaging and with x-ray energy dispersive spectroscopy has been developed to accurately and independently measure the size and volume fractions of the three precipitates. These results were further validated using x-ray diffraction and phase extraction methods and compared to the precipitation kinetics predicted by PANDAT and JMatPro. Discrepancies are discussed in context of materials properties, model assumptions, sampling, and experimental errors.

SEM↗

Gamma-ray transfer and energy deposition in supernovae

Solutions to the energy-independent (gray) radiative transfer equations are compared to results of Monte Carlo simulations of the Ni-56 and Co-56 decay gamma-ray energy deposition in supernovae. The comparison shows that an effective, purely absorptive, gray opacity, kappa(sub gamma) approximately (0. 06 +/- 0.01)Y(sub e) sq cm/g, where Y is the total number of electrons per baryon, accurately describes the interaction of gamma-rays with the cool supernova gas and the local gamma-ray energy deposition within the gas. The nature of the gamma-ray interaction process (dominated by Compton scattering in the relativistic regime) creates a weak dependence of kappa(sub gamma) on the optical thickness of the (spherically symmetric) supernova atmosphere: The maximum value of kappa(sub gamma) applies during optically thick conditions when individual gamma-rays undergo multiple scattering encounters and the lower bound is reached at the phase characterized by a total Thomson optical depth to the center of the atmosphere tau(sub e) approximately less than 1. Gamma-ray deposition for Type Ia supernova models to within 10% for the epoch from maximum light to t = 1200 days. Our results quantitatively confirm that the quick and efficient solution to the gray transfer problem provides an accurate representation of gamma-ray energy deposition for a broad range of supernova conditions.

Swartz, Douglas A.↗

New evidence on the nature of the soft X-ray source in AM Herculis from HEAO 1

Results are reported for scanning observations of AM Herculis from HEAO 1 during the period September 22-October 12, 1977. The soft X-ray light curve constructed from the observations shows considerable scatter in intensity, together with clear evidence for a residual flux during X-ray minimum. At X-ray maximum the flux in the energy range 0.15-0.5 keV is typically 8 x 10 to the -10th power erg/sq cm per sec. The spectrum of AM Her is characterized by a sharp turnover at 0.2 keV and is well described by a blackbody model with absorption. There is no appreciable change in the spectrum with binary phase. The present observations, when combined with theoretical models, imply that the soft X-rays are produced by the heated surface of the degenerate dwarf component, and that the surface has a temperature of approximately 400,000 K and a luminosity about 30 times that observed at optical or hard X-ray wavelengths. AM Her is predicted to be a spectacular UV source, with an intrinsic UV luminosity comparable to that in soft X-rays.

Tuohy, I. R.↗

On the extended chromosphere of Alpha Orionis

A detailed examination of the extended chromosphere of Alpha Orionis was performed in an attempt to characterize the matter-emitting processes of red giants and supergiants. The problem was approached using an Alfven wave driven stellar wind model to compute the density, temperature, and velocity structure of the wind. It is shown that the mechanical energy fluxes necessary to maintain the observed chromospheric temperatures are commensurate with the momentum deposition necessary to extend the chromosphere. The chromospheric model constructed is, however, inconsistent with the kinematics of the observed symmetric profiles, which could correspond to a fountain-type model that described infalling, rather than escaping, ejected material such as He.

Hartmann, L.↗

New Materials for EMI Shielding

Graphite fibers intercalated with bromine or similar mixed halogen compounds have substantially lower resistivity than their pristine counterparts, and thus should exhibit higher shielding effectiveness against electromagnetic interference. The mechanical and thermal properties are nearly unaffected, and the shielding of high energy x-rays and gamma rays is substantially increased. Characterization of the resistivity of the composite materials is subtle, but it is clear that the composite resistivity is substantially lowered. Shielding effectiveness calculations utilizing a simple rule of mixtures model yields results that are consistent with available data on these materials.

Gaier, James R.↗

Modelling of Trapped Radiation Near Jupiter

Energetic (62 to approx. 130 MeV) proton fluxes measured with the Galileo Probe inside Jupiter's main ring (radii 122,500 to 128,940 km) show a modest increase as Jupiter is approached. Solutions of a reduced (1-d) equatorial diffusion equation with-constant losses described by a lifetime tau match those data for tau greater than or equal to 10(exp 9) s for diffusion coefficient D(sub LL) = 10(exp -9) L(exp 4)/s, 10(exp -9) L(exp -3)/s, or 10(exp -10) L(exp 4)/s (this particle population may be undergoing nearly loss-free inward radial diffusion). Tau would increase as Jupiter is approached if its value were determined by pitch angle scattering due to EM wave-particle interactions. if the absolute amplitudes of the waves' magnetic fluctuations did not vary with radial distance. Exploration of numerical solutions of the diffusive transport equation for Jupiter's magnetospheric ions at die planetary ring and closer to Jupiter has been done. Explicit range-energy relationships for energy loss in ring matter (SiO2), modeled as a continuous disk, are incorporated. A spatial resolution of approx. 1000 km in the radial direction is used in the vicinity of the main ring; off-equatorial ion fluxes have been included (assuming the atmosphere is a perfect absorber). For protons the maximum effect of energy loss in the microscopic size range of ring particles is expected at energies approx. 0.1 Mev. Presumably there could be sufficiently large, unobserved bodies within the ring that would have to be modeled as discrete objects, as planetary satellites would be. Within limitations of the model and computational resources it's planned to characterize solutions for transport of magnetospheric ions past the planetary ring; the procedures that are used are fairly well known and may be applied generally to the simpler magnetospheric models.

Mihalov, John D.↗