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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15

The Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer In Space (OASIS)

The Orbiting Astrophysical Spectrometer In Space (OASIS) is an Advanced Concept currently understudy at NASA as a mission for the next decade. The goal of the OASIS mission is to identify a local site or sites where galactic cosmic rays (GCR) originate and are accelerated. The mission will allow GCR data to be used to investigate how elements are made and distributed in the galaxy and to improve our understanding of supernovae and the nucleosynthesis of the heavy elements needed for life. OASIS consists of two instruments that provide complementary data on the location and nature of the source(s) through investigating the composition of ultraheavy nuclei and the energy spectrum of electrons. OASIS will measure the relative abundances in the actinide group to determine the age of the r-process material in GCRs. The presence of young r-process material would indicate that GCRs are a sample of the interstellar medium in OB associations. OASIS will follow the electron spectrum to its high-energy end. The energy where this spectrum ends will tell us the distance to the nearest GCR source(s). OASIS will look for spectral features and anisotropy in the high energy electron spectrum that are expected to appear when only a few of the nearest sources can contribute the electron flux. Possibly these measurements will lead to the identification of the nearest cosmic ray electron source.

Christl, Mark J.↗

Notes on rotating turbulence

This work investigates the turbulent constitutive relation when turbulence is subjected to solid body rotation. Laws regarding spectra and asymptotic decay of rotating homogeneous turbulence were confirmed through large-eddy simulation (LES) computations. Rotating turbulent flows exist in many industrial, geophysical, and astrophysical applications. From Lagrangian analysis a relation between turbulent stress and strain in rotating homogeneous turbulence was inferred. This relation was used to derive the spectral energy flux and, ultimately, the energy spectrum form. If the rotation wavenumber k(sub Omega) lies in the inertial subrange, then for wavenumbers less than k(sub Omega) the turbulence motions are affected by rotation and the energy spectrum slope is modified. Energy decay laws inferred in other reports and the present results suggest a modification of the epsilon model equation and eddy viscosity in k-epsilon models.

Zeman, Otto↗

Origin of high energy Galactic cosmic rays

The flux of cosmic ray antiprotons and the chemical composition in the region of the 'knee' of the cosmic ray energy spectrum are discussed. The importance of a direct determination of the energy spectrum of each major component of cosmic radiation through the knee region is stressed, and the necessary kinds of experiments are described. It is emphasized that antiprotons are a unique probe of acceleration and propagation of energetic particles in the galaxy because of the high threshold for their production.

Gaisser, T. K.↗

Precision Measurement of the Nickel Spectrum in Cosmic Rays from 8.8 GeV/n to 240 GeV/n with CALET on the International Space Station

The relative abundance of nickel with respect to iron is by far larger than all other trans-iron elements, therefore it provides a favourable opportunity for a low background measurement of its spectrum. Since nickel, as well as iron, is one of the most stable nuclei, the nickel energy spectrum and its relative abundance with respect to iron provide important information to estimate the abundances at the source and to model the propagation of heavy nuclei. However, only a few direct measurements of cosmic-ray nickel at energy larger than∼3 GeV/n are available at present in the literature and they are affected by strong limitations in both energy reach and statistics. In this paper we present a measurement of the differential energy spectrum of nickel from 8.8 GeV/nto 240 GeV/n, carried out with unprecedented precision by the Calorimetric Electron1 Telescope(CALET) in operation on the International Space Station since 2015. The CALET instrument can identify individual nuclear species via a measurement of their electric charge with a dynamic range extending far beyond iron (up to atomic number Z = 40). The particle’s energy is measured by a homogeneous calorimeter (1.2 proton interaction lengths, 27 radiation lengths) preceded by a thin imaging section (3 radiation lengths) providing tracking and energy sampling. This paper follows our previous measurement of the iron spectrum [1] and it extends our investigation on the energy dependence of the spectral index of heavy elements. It reports the analysis of nickel data collected from November 2015 to May 2021 and a detailed assessment of the systematic uncertainties. In the region from 20 GeV/nto 240 GeV/n our present data are compatible within the errors with a single power law with spectral index−2.51±0.07.

O Adriani↗

The Third Fermi Large Area Telescope Catalog of Gamma-Ray Pulsars

We present 294 pulsars found in GeV data from the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Another 33 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) discovered in deep radio searches of LAT sources will likely reveal pulsations once phase-connected rotation ephemerides are achieved. A further dozen optical and/or X-ray binary systems colocated with LAT sources also likely harbor gamma-ray MSPs. This catalog thus reports roughly 340 gamma-ray pulsars and candidates, 10% of all known pulsars, compared to ≤11 known before Fermi. Half of the gamma-ray pulsars are young. Of these, the half that are undetected in radio have a broader Galactic latitude distribution than the young radio-loud pulsars. The others are MSPs, with six undetected in radio. Overall, ≥236 are bright enough above 50 MeV to fit the pulse profile, the energy spectrum, or both. For the common two-peaked profiles, the gamma-ray peak closest to the magnetic pole crossing generally has a softer spectrum. The spectral energy distributions tend to narrow as the spindown power $\dot{E}$ decreases to its observed minimum near 10 33 erg s -1 , approaching the shape for synchrotron radiation from monoenergetic electrons. We calculate gamma-ray luminosities when distances are available. Our all-sky gamma-ray sensitivity map is useful for population syntheses. The electronic catalog version provides gamma-ray pulsar ephemerides, properties, and fit results to guide and be compared with modeling results.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Detection of interplanetary electrons from 18 keV to 1.8 MeV during solar quiet times, 1. On the origin of 200 KeV interplanetary electrons, 2.

A quiet time component of interplanetary electrons having energies above solar wind energies and below those characterized as cosmic radiation was observed. Its energy spectrum falls with energy from 18 keV to 1.8 MeV, but it shows a feature in the 100 to 300 keV range. The observed temporal variations of the intensity suggest that the 18 to 100 keV portion is solar and the 0.3 to 1.8 MeV portion is galactic in origin. Solar and terrestrial neutron decay electrons appear inadequate to explain the 100 to 300 keV feature.

Lin, R. P.↗

Cusp region particle precipitation and ion convection for northward interplanetary magnetic field

Data from Atmosphere Explorer D for periods of strong northward interplanetary magnetic field show the following characteristic behavior in the dayside magnetospheric cusp region: energy-time spectrograms of suprathermal positive ion fluxes exhibit a characteristic 'V' pattern as the spacecraft moves toward higher latitudes; that is, with the peak in the energy spectrum falling in energy and then rising again. Convection velocities follow this pattern closely with strong east-west flows (with antisunward components) occurring in the equatorward half of the 'V' and significant sunward flows occurring in the poleward half of the 'V'. These patterns can be understood qualitatively in terms of a model of ionospheric electric potential produced by the known dependence of Birkeland current densities on magnetic activity.

Burch, J. L.↗

Cusp region particle precipitation and ion convection for northward interplanetary magnetic field

Data from Atmosphere Explorer D for periods of strong northward interplanetary magnetic field are discussed. In the dayside magnetospheric cusp region energy time spectrograms of suprathermal positive ion fluxes exhibit a characteristic 'V' pattern as the spacecraft moves toward higher latitudes; that is, with the peak in the energy spectrum falling in energy and then rising again. Convection velocities follow this pattern closely with strong eastwest flows (with antisunward components) occurring in the equatorward half of the 'V' and significant sunward flows occurring in the poleward half of the 'V'. These patterns can be understood qualitatively in terms of a model of ionospheric electric potential produced by the known dependence of Birkeland current densities on magnetic activity.

Burch, J. L.↗

Acceleration theory for 5-40 keV ions at interplanetary shocks

A theory is presented to explain the acceleration of suprathermal ions observed near propagating shocks in the solar wind. The hard power-law spectra of ions of energies 5 to 40 keV are shown to be accounted for by diffusive scattering across a plane shock with a small amount of adiabatic deceleration losses on both sides of the shock. The theory fits the observations of the event of November 25, 1977, which followed a large solar flare, and indicates a mean free path perpendicular to the shock of less than 0.0003 AU behind the shock and 0.01 AU in front of it. The theory also predicts a steepening ion energy spectrum at higher energies.

Forman, M. A.↗

The question of short pathlengths in interstellar propagation

Interstellar propagation calculations for cosmic rays, He-4 - Ni-64, are compared with currently available abundance ratios for B/C and sub-Fe/Fe. The calculations show that an exponential pathlength distribution (leaky box model) cannot reproduce both secondary to primary ratios in the interval 0.5-1 GeV/n unless some values of the propagation parameters are modified. The calculated ratios are shown to be particularly sensitive to the adopted cross sections, the presence of the sub-Fe elements in the source regions, the shape of the source energy spectrum, and ionization energy loss.

Garcia-Munoz, M.↗

The case for antiparticles in the extragalactic cosmic radiation

The presence of an excess of low energy antiprotons in the primary cosmic radiation has given rise to a number of possible explanations. The possibility that these are extragalactic in origin is considered and it is shown that there are interesting implications for the bulk of the cosmic radiation at higher energies. In particular, it may be possible to account for a previously puzzling feature, a bump in the cosmic ray energy spectrum in the energy range 10(14) to 10(15) eV, with this primary extragalactic origin hypothesis. A method for testing this hypothesis experimentally is also described.

Stecker, F. W.↗

Virgo cluster as a high energy cosmic rays source

The extragalactic charged particles are reflecting from the Galaxy by its magnetic field. Assuming magnetic field in the Galaxy as quasilongitudinal, the mean transparency of Galaxy has been evaluated for extragalactic protons defined as a fraction of particles at a given energy from a given direction passing by the galactic plane. The anisotropy caused by the Galactic magnetic field reflection of protons can explain observed arrival directions of extensive air showers at large angle to the galactic plane. Our analysis shows that the increase with energy observed in sin b sup 11 is self-consistent with changing in the cosmic ray energy spectrum at high energy (E 10 to the 19th power eV) in the case when extragalactic cosmic ray source with spectral index -2.2 is at the position of the Virgo Cluster.

Karakula, S.↗

Future radiation measurements in low Earth orbit

The first Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) mission has demonstrated the value of the LDEF concept for deep surveys of the space radiation environment. This paper will survey the types of measurements that could be done on a second LDEF mission. One of the most surprising discoveries on LDEF1 was the Be-7 that was found imbedded on the windward surface. LDEF2 could follow up on this discovery and search for evidence of other cosmogenic nuclei. Another experiment could be designed to investigate the presence of energetic heavy ions observed on LDEF1. The relative abundance of rare earths can also be used to search for evidence that cosmic rays accelerate in episodes which occur throughout their propagation in the stellar medium. Further investigations of radiation effects could also be undertaken. A second LDEF mission also offers the opportunity for new investigations such as measurements of cosmic ray differential energy spectrum to ultrahigh energies. These and other ideas will be discussed.

Adams, James H., Jr.↗

The Electron Calorimeter (ECAL) Long Duration Balloon Experiment

Accurate measurements of the cosmic ray electron energy spectrum in the energy region 50 GeV to greater than 1 TeV may reveal structure caused by the annihilation of exotic dark matter particles and/or individual cosmic ray sources. Here we describe a new long duration balloon (LDB) experiment, ECAL, optimized to directly measure cosmic ray electrons up to several TeV. ECAL includes a double layer silicon matrix, a scintillating optical fiber track imager, a neutron detector and a fully active calorimeter to identify more than 90% of the incident electrons with an energy resolution of about 1.7% while misidentifying only 1 in 200,000 protons and 0.8% of secondary gamma rays as electrons. Two ECAL flights in Antarctica are planned for a total exposure of 50 days with the first flight anticipate for December 2009.

Guzik, T. G.↗

DMRG on Top of Plane-Wave Kohn–Sham Orbitals: A Case Study of Defected Boron Nitride

In this paper, we analyze the numerical aspects of the inherent multi reference density matrix renormalization group (DMRG) calculations on top of the periodic Kohn-Sham density functional theory using the complete active space approach. The potential of the framework is illustrated by studying hexagonal boron nitride nanoflakes embedding a charged single boron vacancy point defect by revealing a vertical energy spectrum with a prominent multireference character. We investigate the consistency of the DMRG energy spectrum from the perspective of sample size, basis size, and active space selection protocol. Results obtained from standard quantum chemical atom-centered basis calculations and plane-wave based counterparts show excellent agreement. Furthermore, we also discuss the spectrum of the periodic sheet which is in good agreement with extrapolated data of finite clusters. These results pave the way toward applying the DMRG method in extended correlated solid-state systems, such as point defect qubit in wide band gap semiconductors.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Gamma-ray lines and neutrons from solar flares

The energy spectrum of accelerated protons and nuclei at the site of a limb flare was derived by a technique, using observations of the time dependent flux of high energy neutrons at the Earth. This energy spectrum is very similar to the energy spectra of 7 disk flares for which the accelerated particle spectra was previously derived using observations of 4 to 7 MeV to 2.223 MeV fluence ratios. The implied spectra for all of these flares are too steep to produce any significant amount of radiation from pi meson decay. It is suggested that the observed 10 MeV gamma rays from the flare are bremsstrahlung of relativistic electrons.

Ramaty, R.↗

Gamma-ray lines and neutrons from solar flares

The energy spectrum of accelerated protons and nuclei at the site of a limb flare was derived by a technique, using observations of the time dependent flux of high energy neutrons at the earth. This energy spectrum is very similar to the energy spectra of 7 disk flares for which the accelerated particle spectra was previously derived using observations of 4 to 7 MeV to 2.223 MeV fluence ratios. The implied spectra for all of these flares are too steep to produce any significant amount of radiation from pi meson decay. It is suggested that the observed 10 MeV gamma rays from the flare are bremsstrahlung of relativistic electrons. Previously announced in STAR as N83-19695

Ramaty, R.↗