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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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NASA NTRS1975

Up-to-date state of storage techniques used for large numerical data files

Methods for data storage and output in data banks and memory files are discussed along with a survey of equipment available for this. Topics discussed include magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, Terabit magnetic tape memory, Unicon 690 laser memory, IBM 1360 photostore, microfilm recording equipment, holographic recording, film readers, optical character readers, digital data storage techniques, and photographic recording. The individual types of equipment are summarized in tables giving the basic technical parameters.

Chlouba, V.↗
NASA NTRS1993

A Magnetic Solid-State Storage Technology: Vertical Bloch Line Storage

No storage technology is known to exist today which simultaneously offers high-storage density, nonvolatility, and a solid-state form factor. For example, common random access memories are solid-state, but are volatile and typically offer modest density. Alternatively, mainstream magnetic disk and magnetic tape systems offer high storage density and nonvolatility, but are fundamentally not solid-state. A number of applications exist which would be suited well with high performance solid- state technology. NASA, for example, is beginning baseline solid-state recorders for upcoming space missions, such as the Cassini mission to Saturn.

Katti, R. R.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Evolution of magnetized protoplanetary disks

We investigate the global evolution of a turbulent protoplanetary disk in its viscous stage, incorporating the effects of Maxwell stress due to a large-scale magnetic field permeating disk. We assume that the viscous stress is given by an alpha model. A magnetic field is produced contemporaneously by an alpha omega dynamo mechanism and the resultant Maxwell stress assists the viscous stress in providing the means for disk evolution. The aim of this work is to compare the evolution of magnetized and nonmagnetized disks driven by turbulent viscosity of the same magnitude and thus assess the effects of a self-generated magnetic field on the structure and dynamical evolution of protoplanetary disks. Two illustrative examples corresponding to two different initial conditions are considered: a high-mass case that starts with a disk of 0.245 solar mass and angular momentum of 5.6 x 10(exp 52)g sq cm/s, and a low-mass that case starts with a disk of 0.11 solar mass and angular momentum of 1.8 x 10(exp 52)g sq cm/s. For each of these two cases the radial development of a disk is calculated numerically assuming a fiducial value of the dimensionless viscosity parameter alpha(sub ss) = 0.01, as well as alpha(sub ss) = 2 x 10(exp -3). In all cases the central star has a mass equal to 1 solar mass. The most striking feature of magnetized disk evolution is the presence of the surface density bulge located in the region of the disk where the dynamo mechanism cannot support a magnetic field. The bulge persists for a time of the order of 10(exp 5)-10(exp 6) yr. The presence and persistence of the surface density bulge may have important implications for the process of planet formation and the overall characteristics of resultant planetary systems.

Reyes-Ruiz, Mauricio↗
NASA NTRS1994

Disk-accreting magnetic neutron stars as high-energy particle accelerators

Interaction of an accretion disk with the magnetic field of a neutron star produces large electromotive forces, which drive large conduction currents in the disk-magnetosphere-star circuit. Here we argue that such large conduction currents will cause microscopic and macroscopic instabilities in the magnetosphere. If the minimum plasma density in the magnetosphere is relatively low is less than or aproximately 10(exp 9)/cu cm, current-driven micro-instabilities may cause relativistic double layers to form, producing voltage differences in excess of 10(exp 12) V and accelerating charged particles to very high energies. If instead the plasma density is higher (is greater than or approximately = 10(exp 9)/cu cm, twisting of the stellar magnetic field is likely to cause magnetic field reconnection. This reconnection will be relativistic, accelerating plasma in the magnetosphere to relativistic speeds and a small fraction of particles to very high energies. Interaction of these high-energy particles with X-rays, gamma-rays, and accreting plasma may produce detectable high-energy radiation.

Hamilton, Russell J.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The Production of Jets From Magnetic Accretion Disks: Simulation of the Blandford-Payne Mechanism

We have performed magnetohydrodynamic (MRD) simulations of the production of jets from magnetized accretion disks with a factor of 5 greater extent in space and time, and with more models, than any study published so far. We find that jets are produced by such disks in a broad range of parameter space, and by at least two different mechanisms. We also are able to follow the propagation of the jet well beyond the accretion disk into the region of hydrodynamic collimation. The code used is our MHD simulation code FLOW (K. Lind, D. Payne, D. Meier, and R. Blandford, 1989), converted to run on Caltech's massively parallel Intel Touchstone Delta supercomputer. Some of these models may be directly applicable to observed radio sources.

Blandford-Payne↗
NASA NTRS1994

Multiwavelength study of the magnetically active T Tauri star HD 283447

We observed the luminous T Tauri star HD 283447 = V773 Tauri simultaneously at X-ray, ultraviolet, optical photometric and spectroscopic, and radio wavelengths for several hours on UT 1992 September 11. ROSAT, IUE, Very Large Array (VLA) and an intercontinental Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) network, and three optical observatories participated in the campaign. The star is known for its unusually high and variable nonthermal radio continuum emission. High levels of soft X-ray and Mg II line emission are discovered, with luminosity L(sub x) = 5.5 x 10(exp 30) ergs/s (0.2 - 2 keV) and L(sub Mg II) = 1 x 10(exp 29) ergs/s, respectively. Optically, the spectrum exhibits rather weak characteristics of `classical' T Tauri stars. A faint, broad emission line component, probably due to a collimated wind or infall, is present. During the campaign, the radio luminosity decreased by a factor of 4, while optical/UV lines and X-ray emission remained strong but constant. The large gyrosynchrotron-emitting regions are therefore decoupled from the chromospheric and coronal emission. Five models for the magnetic geometry around the star are discussed; solar-type activity, dipole magnetosphere, star-disk magnetic coupling, disk magnetic fields, and close binary interaction. The data suggest that two magnetic geometries are simultaneously present: complex multipolar fields like those on the Sun, and a large-scale field possibly associated with the circumstellar disk.

Feigelson, Eric D.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Radiation from magnetized accretion disks in active galactic nuclei

We present a model of AGN based on accretion disks around 10 exp 8 solar mass black holes, which incorporates a strong magnetic field in the disk, with loops above the disk in which B is about 100 G. The magnetic energy in the loops dissipates, accelerating electrons to relativistic energies. The electrons emit synchrotron and inverse-Compton radiation, much of which is reflected or scattered by gas in the disk. We calculate the emitted spectrum from infrared to gamma rays. Of the total emission, 23 percent goes into a nu exp -1 power law and 77 percent into thermal radiation at 24,000 K (due to the disk, which is heated by nonthermal radiation and energetic ions). The model accounts quantitatively for the X-ray and gamma-ray backgrounds, and it accounts qualitatively for certain features observed in individual AGNs: a far-infrared cutoff, a minimum at a few microns, the ultraviolet bump, the Compton reflection bump at about 30 keV, and a gamma-ray tail.

Field, G. B.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Magnetic Check Valve

Poppet in proposed check valve restored to closed condition by magnetic attraction instead of spring force. Oscillations suppressed, with consequent reduction of wear. Stationary magnetic disk mounted just upstream of poppet, also containing magnet. Valve body nonmagnetic. Forward pressure or flow would push poppet away from stationary magnetic disk so fluid flows easily around poppet. Stop in valve body prevents poppet from being swept away. When flow stopped or started to reverse, magnetic attraction draws poppet back to disk. Poppet then engages floating O-ring, thereby closing valve and preventing reverse flow. Floating O-ring facilitates sealing at low loads.

Morris, Brian G.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Tutorial: Performance and reliability in redundant disk arrays

A disk array is a collection of physically small magnetic disks that is packaged as a single unit but operates in parallel. Disk arrays capitalize on the availability of small-diameter disks from a price-competitive market to provide the cost, volume, and capacity of current disk systems but many times their performance. Unfortunately, relative to current disk systems, the larger number of components in disk arrays leads to higher rates of failure. To tolerate failures, redundant disk arrays devote a fraction of their capacity to an encoding of their information. This redundant information enables the contents of a failed disk to be recovered from the contents of non-failed disks. The simplest and least expensive encoding for this redundancy, known as N+1 parity is highlighted. In addition to compensating for the higher failure rates of disk arrays, redundancy allows highly reliable secondary storage systems to be built much more cost-effectively than is now achieved in conventional duplicated disks. Disk arrays that combine redundancy with the parallelism of many small-diameter disks are often called Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID). This combination promises improvements to both the performance and the reliability of secondary storage. For example, IBM's premier disk product, the IBM 3390, is compared to a redundant disk array constructed of 84 IBM 0661 3 1/2-inch disks. The redundant disk array has comparable or superior values for each of the metrics given and appears likely to cost less. In the first section of this tutorial, I explain how disk arrays exploit the emergence of high performance, small magnetic disks to provide cost-effective disk parallelism that combats the access and transfer gap problems. The flexibility of disk-array configurations benefits manufacturer and consumer alike. In contrast, I describe in this tutorial's second half how parallelism, achieved through increasing numbers of components, causes overall failure rates to rise. Redundant disk arrays overcome this threat to data reliability by ensuring that data remains available during and after component failures.

Gibson, Garth A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Self-collimated electromagnetic jets from magnetized accretion disks - The even-symmetry case

This paper extends the previous treatment (Lovelace et al., 1987) of the origin of self-collimated EM jets to the case of even field symmetry, where the magnetic flux function Psi(r, z) is an even function of z. A viscous resistive accretion disk is assumed to surround a black hole with a force-free plasma outside of the disk. Inside the disk, the induction equation is solved for Psi(r, z) and the toroidal magnetic field. Outside the disk, previous results are used to study the formation of self-collimated EM jets. In contrast with the odd-symmetry case, for even symmetry the toroidal magnetic field acts to vertically compress the disk; a comparatively large toroidal magnetic field can exist inside the disk; and an appreciable fraction (possibly all) of the available accretion power can go into the jets.

Wang, J. C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1995

The Production of Jets From Magnetized Accretion Disks: Simulation of the Blandford-Payne Mechanism

We have used massively parallel supercomputer simulations to perform an extensive study of a plausible mechanism for producing the jets seen in extragalactic radio sources - acceleration and collimation by coronal magnetic fields in an accretion disk orbiting a central black hole. We find that such disks can propel jets for a wide range of coronal conditions. The terminal jet velocity is a strong function of the magnetic field equatorial component. Acceleration and collimation are produced by a tight azimuthal field coil generated in the corona, rather than by a stiff poloidal field extending to large distances. The jets are pressure-confined when the external medium pressure is high, but magnetically- confined when it is low.

Blandford-Payne Mechanism↗
NASA NTRS2003

Hydrodynamic Instability and Enhanced Transport in Protoplanetary Nebulae

The nature of turbulence (and the enhanced transport it provides) is a key element to comprehend the dynamics, physics and chemistry of the protoplanetary nebulae and consequently the planet formation process. Early accretion disk models postulated the turbulent transport through the well-known "alpha-viscosity" model, introduced by Shakura and Sunyaev in 1973. Since then, the nature of the turbulence in disks has been a subject of investigation. In 1991, the rediscovery by Balbus and Hawley of Chandrasekhar's linear instability in magnetized disks was a breakthrough in the discipline. Unfortunately, the mechanisms leading to turbulence in non-magnetized disks, such as protoplanetary nebulae, remain poorly understood. We will present results from laboratory experiments along with analytical arguments showing that, despite skepticism in the Astrophysical community, differential rotation may indeed be sufficient to trigger and sustain turbulence. We will also propose an alternative viscosity prescription derived from both experiments and analysis.

Richard, Denis T.↗
NASA NTRS1977

X-ray bursts from magnetized accretion disks

A model for the X-ray bursts of MXB 1730-335 and 3U 1820-30 (identified with the globular cluster NGC 6624) is presented in which a burst is due to the flarelike release of magnetic energy generated and stored as a toroidal field in an accretion disk. To fit the observed parameters, this model requires compact objects of the order of 10 solar masses, presumably black holes.

Wheeler, J. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

High-performance mass storage system for workstations

Reduced Instruction Set Computer (RISC) workstations and Personnel Computers (PC) are very popular tools for office automation, command and control, scientific analysis, database management, and many other applications. However, when using Input/Output (I/O) intensive applications, the RISC workstations and PC's are often overburdened with the tasks of collecting, staging, storing, and distributing data. Also, by using standard high-performance peripherals and storage devices, the I/O function can still be a common bottleneck process. Therefore, the high-performance mass storage system, developed by Loral AeroSys' Independent Research and Development (IR&D) engineers, can offload a RISC workstation of I/O related functions and provide high-performance I/O functions and external interfaces. The high-performance mass storage system has the capabilities to ingest high-speed real-time data, perform signal or image processing, and stage, archive, and distribute the data. This mass storage system uses a hierarchical storage structure, thus reducing the total data storage cost, while maintaining high-I/O performance. The high-performance mass storage system is a network of low-cost parallel processors and storage devices. The nodes in the network have special I/O functions such as: SCSI controller, Ethernet controller, gateway controller, RS232 controller, IEEE488 controller, and digital/analog converter. The nodes are interconnected through high-speed direct memory access links to form a network. The topology of the network is easily reconfigurable to maximize system throughput for various applications. This high-performance mass storage system takes advantage of a 'busless' architecture for maximum expandability. The mass storage system consists of magnetic disks, a WORM optical disk jukebox, and an 8mm helical scan tape to form a hierarchical storage structure. Commonly used files are kept in the magnetic disk for fast retrieval. The optical disks are used as archive media, and the tapes are used as backup media. The storage system is managed by the IEEE mass storage reference model-based UniTree software package. UniTree software will keep track of all files in the system, will automatically migrate the lesser used files to archive media, and will stage the files when needed by the system. The user can access the files without knowledge of their physical location. The high-performance mass storage system developed by Loral AeroSys will significantly boost the system I/O performance and reduce the overall data storage cost. This storage system provides a highly flexible and cost-effective architecture for a variety of applications (e.g., realtime data acquisition with a signal and image processing requirement, long-term data archiving and distribution, and image analysis and enhancement).

Chiang, T.↗
NASA NTRS2005

How to Distinguish Neutron Star and Black Hole X-ray Binaries? Spectral Index and Quasi-Periodic Oscillation Frequency Correlation

Recent studies have revealed strong correlations between 1-10 Hz frequencies of quasiperiodic oscillations (QPOs) and the spectral power law index of several Black Hole (BH) candidate sources when seen in the low/hard state, the steep power-law (soft) state, and in transition between these states. In the soft state these index-QPO frequency correlations show a saturation of the photon index GAMMA approximately equal to 2.7 at high values of the low frequency nu(sub L). This saturation effect was previously identified as a black hole signature. In this paper we argue that this saturation does not occur, at least for one neutron star (NS) source 4U 1728-34, for which the index GAMMA monotonically increases with nu(sub L) to the values of 6 and higher. We base this conclusion on our analysis of approximately 1.5 Msec of RXTE archival data for 4U 1728-34. We reveal the spectral evolution of the Comptonized blackbody spectra when the source transitions from the hard to soft states. The hard state spectrum is a typical thermal Comptonization spectrum of the soft photons which originate in the disk and the NS outer photospheric layers. The hard state photon index is GAMMA approximately 2. The soft state spectrum consists of two blackbody components which are only slightly Comptonized. Thus we can claim (as expected from theory) that in NS sources thermal equilibrium is established for the soft state. To the contrary in BH sources, the equilibrium is never established due to the presence of the BH horizon. The emergent BH spectrum, even in the high/soft state, has a power law component. We also identify the low QPO frequency nu(sub L) as a fundamental frequency of the quasi-spherical component of the transition layer (presumably related to the corona and the NS and disk magnetic closed field lines). The lower frequency nu(sub SL) is identified as the frequency of oscillations of a quasi-cylindrical configuration of the TL (presumably related to the NS and disk magnetic open field lines). We also show that the presence of Fe K(sub alpha), emission-line strengths, QPOs, and the link between them does not depend on radio flux in 4U 1728-34.

Titarchuk, Lev↗
NASA NTRS1996

Cygnus X-1: A Case for a Magnetic Accretion Disk?

With the advent of Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE), which is capable of broad spectral coverage and fast timing, as well as other instruments which are increasingly being used in multi-wavelength campaigns (via both space-based and ground-based observations), we must demand more of our theoretical models. No current model mimics all facets of a system as complex as an x-ray binary. However, a modern theory should qualitatively reproduce - or at the very least not fundamentally disagree with - all of Cygnus X-l's most basic average properties: energy spectrum (viewed within a broader framework of black hole candidate spectral behavior), power spectrum (PSD), and time delays and coherence between variability in different energy bands. Below we discuss each of these basic properties in turn, and we assess the health of one of the currently popular theories: Comptonization of photons from a cold disk. We find that the data pose substantial challenges for this theory, as well as all other in currently discussed models.

Nowak, Michael A.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Space: The Production of Astrophysical Jets by Magnetic Accretion Disks, and a Super-Eddington Wind Model for the Early Stages of GROJ1455-40

Measurements of the properties of gravitational lenses have the power to tell us what sort of universe we live in. The brightest known radio Einstein ring/gravitational lens PKS 1830-211, whilst obscured by our galaxy at optical wavelengths, has recently provided a lensing galaxy redshift of 0.89 through the detection of a new absorption feature, most likely due to neutral hydrogen in a second redshift system at z=0.19.

PKS 1830-211↗