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NASA NTRS1984

Ground-state-energy theorem and the virial theorem of a many-particle system in d dimensions

The equivalence of Pauli's ground-state-energy theorem and the virial theorem is demonstrated for a many-particle system interacting with an interparticle potential in d dimensions at zero and finite temperatures. Pauli's theorem has an integral form in which the variable is the coupling constant e-squared, while the virial theorem has a differential form in which the variable has the number density n. The essence of the equivalence proof consists in changing the variable from n to e-squared by noting the dependence of the excess free energy on dimensionless quantities for zero-temperature and classical cases.

Iwamoto, N.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Kinetic study of the reaction CH (X 2Pi) + H2 yields CH2 (X 3B1) + H in the temperature range 372 to 675 K

The kinetics of the reversible reaction CH (X 2Pi) + H2 yields CH2 (X 3B1) + H at 372-675 K and total pressure 100 torr (mainly Ar) is investigated experimentally. The ground-state CH radicals are produced by photolysis of CHBr3 using 10-mJ 266-nm laser pulses (repetition rate 10 Hz) and monitored by measuring the fluorescence induced by a 429.8-nm dye laser, in the apparatus described by Berman et al. (1982) and Berman and Lin (1984). The results are presented in tables and graphs and characterized. The absolute rate constants for the forward and reverse reactions are determined, and their temperature dependence is given by Arrhenius expressions and formulas obtained in transition-state-theory calculations. The heat of formation of CH2 at 0 K is estimated (assuming that the recombination reaction CH2 + H has zero activation energy) as 92.6 + or - 0.5 kcal/mol.

Zabarnick, S.↗

NASA NTRS1992

'Reduced' magnetohydrodynamics and minimum dissipation rates

It is demonstrated that all solutions of the equations of 'reduced' magnetohydrodynamics approach a uniform-current, zero-flow state for long times, given a constant wall electric field, uniform scalar viscosity and resistivity, and uniform mass density. This state is the state of minimum energy dissipation rate for these boundary conditions. No steady-state turbulence is possible. The result contrasts sharply with results for full three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics before the reduction occurs.

Montgomery, David↗

NASA NTRS1971

Ultrasonic attenuation in superconducting molybdenum-rhenium alloys.

Investigation of longitudinal sound attenuation in superconducting Mo-Re alloys as a function of temperature, magnetic field, and frequency. Evaporated thin film CdS transducers were used for the measurements at frequencies up to 3 GHz. The normal state attenuation coefficient was found to be proportional to the square of frequency over this frequency range. Measurements in zero magnetic field yielded a value of the energy gap parameter close to the threshold value of 3.56 kTc, appropriate to a weakly coupled dirty limit superconductor.

Ashkin, M.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Diagrammatic perturbation theory - The ground state of the carbon monosulfide molecule

Diagrammatic many-body perturbation theory is employed in a study of the ground state of the carbon monosulfide molecule for bond lengths close to the equilibrium value. The calculations are complete through third order in the energy within the algebraic approximation. Two different zero-order Hamiltonians are considered, and all two-, three-, and four-body terms are determined for the corresponding perturbation expansions. Many-body effects are found to be very important. Pade approximants to the energy expansion are constructed, and upper bounds evaluated. Almost 53 percent of the estimated correlation energy is recovered. The variation of components of the correlation energy with nuclear separation is investigated. Spectroscopic constants are also calculated.

Wilson, S.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Ultralow Energy Electron Attachment at Sub-Millielectron Volt Resolution

The technique of rare-gas photoionization has been extended by use of direct laser ionization to electron energies epsilon in the range 0-100 meV, with a resolution Delta(epsilon) of 0.4-0.5 meV (FWHM). Tunable UV light at (Lambda)276 nm is produced using a pulsed Nd:YAG laser and nonlinear mixing techniques. The beam is frequency tripled in a pulsed jet of xenon. The VUV radiation, tunable at (Lambda)92 nm, is then used to photoionize Xe at its 2P(sub 1/2) threshold (single-photon ionization). The photoelectrons produced interact with admixed target gas to generate negative ions through the s-wave capture process. Recent results in electron attachment to SF(sub 6) will be reported which show resonance structure at the opening of the ground-state vibrational channels. This structure corresponds to the process of vibrational excitation + attachment, which is superimposed on the underlying s-wave (direct) capture process. It should be a general phenomenon, present in a wide variety of zero-energy electron attaching molecules.

Chutjian, A.↗

NASA NTRS1989

A theoretical interpretation of upstreaming electrons and elevated conics on auroral field lines

Recent VIKING satellite observations in the auroral zone have shown the association of elevated ion conics (conics with a low energy cutoff above zero) with upward streaming electrons in the presence of low frequency electric field fluctuations. A self-consistent particle simulation was developed which assumed the presence of a steady state electric field on auroral zone field lines capable of accelerating ions up the magnetic field lines. Results from this study show that a low frequency ion-ion two stream instability can be excited. This low frequency instability creates a fluctuating electric field which heats the ions oblique to the magnetic field forming distributions similar to the elevated ion conics. The ion-ion waves also interact resonantly with electrons and accelerates them in the direction of the ion beam.

Ashour-Abdalla, Maha↗

NASA NTRS1992

H-infinity synthesis using a bilinear pole shifting transform

An H-inifinity control law design is presented for a benchmark problem consisting of an undamped pair of spring-coupled masses with a sensor and actuator that are not collocated. This simple mechanical system captures many of the salient features of more complex aircraft and space structure vibration control problems. The H-infinity problem formulation enables the issue of stability robustness in the face of large mass and spring constant variation to be directly addressed. Constraints on closed-loop dominant pole locations and settling time are accommodated via a simple s-plane bilinear transform. The transform parameter can give direct control of closed-loop disturbance settling time and controller open-loop pole-zero locations. A four-state H-infinity minimum phase controller was found to meet the given specifications of each design. Detailed analysis on the tradeoffs of sensor noise vs control energy are also presented.

Chiang, R. Y.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Analysis of Pt/SnO(sub x) during catalysis of CO oxidation

Temperature-programmed reduction using 6kPaH2 suggests that a sample consisting of 3 percent Pt supported directly on SnO2 is, under conditions of catalysis of CO oxidation used here, best represented as 3 percent Pt/SnO sub x, since the support is likely to partially reduced, probably in the vicinity of the metal/oxide interface. Catalytic measurements at 421 to 424 K show that this 3 percent Pt/SnO sub x is significantly more active per unit area of Pt than 6 percent Pt/SiO2 in catalyzing the oxidation of CO. In situ micro-FTIR reveals that while the latter has predominantly linearly bound CO on the surface under reaction conditions, the Pt/SnO sub x also has a species absorbing at 2168 cm(exp -1) which may be CO upon Pt in a positive oxidation state or weakly chemisorbed CO on zero-valent Pt. This may be directly involved in the low temperature oxidation of CO on the Pt/SnO sub x, since being weakly held the activation energy for its surface diffusion to the metal/oxide interface will be low; such mobile species could allow the high rates of surface transport and an increase in the fraction of the surface over which the CO oxidation occurs. FTIR also reveals carbonate-type species on the P/SnO sub c surface.

Sermon, Paul A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Statistical properties of ideal three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics

Classical Gibbs ensemble methods are used to study the spectral structure of three-dimensional ideal MHD in periodic geometry. In this paper the equilibrium ensemble incorporates constraints of total energy, magnetic helicity, and cross helicity. Several new results are proven for ensemble averages, including the constraint that magnetic energy equal or exceed kinetic energy, and that cross helicity represents a constant fraction of magnetic energy across the spectral domain, for arbitrary size systems. Two zero-temperature limits are considered in detail, emphasizing the role of complete and partial condensaiton of spectral quantities to the longest wavelength states. The ensemble predictions are compared to direct numerical solution using a low-order truncation Galerkin spectral code. Implications for spectral transfer of nonequilibrium, dissipative turbulent MHD systems are discussed.

Stribling, T.↗

NASA NTRS1974

Effects of curvilinear motion in large-amplitude bending of C3

The geometry of the bending of a linear triatomic molecule is analyzed, and an expression for the average rotational constant is derived. A harmonic oscillator model of C3 is fitted to the observed rotational constant within 0.6%. The bond distance between atoms at zero bending is 1.287 A according to this model; this is noticeably larger than the average internuclear distance of 1.277 A for the vibrational ground state. The first order perturbation solutions for the vibrational energy levels, taking into account the effect of a quartic perturbation potential, closely match observed levels. For a square well potential model of C3, the effect of curvilinear motion in bending is similar to that found for the harmonic oscillator model, though the decreases in energy are about twice as large. In both models, the average energy decrease is relatively constant at approximately 10% over a wide range of vibrational quantum number.

Hansen, C. F.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Studies of heat source driven natural convection

Natural convection energy transport in a horizontal layer of internally heated fluid was measured for Rayleigh numbers from 1890 to 2.17 x 10 to the 12th power. The fluid layer is bounded below by a rigid zero-heat-flux surface and above by a rigid constant-temperature surface. Joule heating by an alternating current passing horizontally through the layer provides the uniform volumetric energy source. The overall steady-state heat transfer coefficient at the upper surface was determined by measuring the temperature difference across the layer and power input to the fluid. The correlation between the Nusselt and Rayleigh numbers for the data of the present study and the data of the Kulacki study is given.

Kulacki, F. A.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Equilibrium thermodynamics and stochastic nonlinear acoustic fields

A crystalline solid is considered to consist of a large number of incoherent nonlinear acoustic radiation sources identified with the vibrating particles of the crystalline lattice. Randomization of the field, together with the assumption of a stochastically independent, fluctuating, radiation field at the absolue zero of temperature, leads to an expression of the temperature-dependent radiation field in terms of the zero-point field. The equation is identified with the Planck distribution formula of quantum mechanics in the linear field limit. The thermodynamic state functions are also obtained in terms of the nonlinear acoustic modal energies per unit mass and reduce to the results of the Debye-Einstein stochastic quantum oscillator model in the linear field limit.

Cantrell, J. H.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Analysis of vibronic transitions in titanium doped sapphire using the temperature of the fluorescence spectra

An analysis of the fluorescence spectra of titanium-doped sapphire crystals for temperatures ranging from 13 to 578 K is made. Zero- and multiphoton assisted electronic transitions are observed at temperatures below 125 K. Zero-phonon transition energies agree with previously reported measured and predicted values. Photon-assisted transitions suggest that two principle modes of lattice vibrations with energies of 220 and 260/cm are coupled to the electronic 2T2g state. A single phonon energy of 173/cm is observed to couple to the 2Eg electronic state. Crossover energy is estimated to be about 11,800/cm using a simple harmonic approximation. Lineshape analysis is performed. The fluorescence lifetime as measured to be a constant 3.9 microsec below 150 k decreasing to 2.9 microsec at 300 K.

Byvik, C. E.↗

NASA NTRS1978

The high-energy pulsed X-ray spectrum of HER X-1 as observed with OSO-8

Her X-1 was observed from 1977 August 30 to September 10 using the High-Energy X-Ray Scintillation Spectrometer on board the OSO-8 satellite. The observation, during which the source was monitored continually for nearly an entire ON-state, covered the energy range from 16 to 280 keV. Pulsed flux measurements as a function of binary orbit and binary phase are presented for energies between 16 and 98 keV. The pulsed flux between 16 and 33 keV exhibited a sharp decrease following the fourth binary orbit and was consistent with zero pulsed flux thereafter. The pulsed spectrum was fitted with a power law, a thermal spectrum without features, and a thermal spectrum with a superposed gaussian centered at 55 keV. The latter fit has the smallest value of chi - squared per degree of freedom, and the resulting integrated line intensity is 1.5 superscript + 4.1 subscript - 1.4 x .001 photons s superscript-1 cm superscript-2 for a width of 3.1 superscript + 9.1 subscript -2.6 keV. This result, while of low statistical significance, agrees with the value observed by Trumper (1978) during the same On-state.

Maurer, G. S.↗

NASA NTRS1993

Determining electron temperature and density in a hydrogen microwave plasma

A three-temperature thermo-chemical model is developed for analyzing the chemical composition and energy states of a hydrogen microwave plasma used for studying diamond deposition. The chemical and energy exchange rate coefficients are determined from cross section data, assuming Maxwellian velocity distributions for electrons. The model is reduced to a zero-dimensional problem to solve for the electron temperature and ion mole fraction, using measured vibrational and rotational temperatures. The calculations indicate that the electron temperature may be determined to within a few percent error even though the uncertainty in dissociation fraction is many times larger.

Scott, Carl D.↗

NASA NTRS2002

A Time-Dependent Quantum Dynamics Study of the H2 + CH3 yields H + CH4 Reaction

We present a time-dependent wave-packet propagation calculation for the H2 + CH3 yields H + CH4 reaction in six degrees of freedom and for zero total angular momentum. Initial state selected reaction probability for different initial rotational-vibrational states are presented in this study. The cumulative reaction probability (CRP) is obtained by summing over initial-state-selected reaction probability. The energy-shift approximation to account for the contribution of degrees of freedom missing in the 6D calculation is employed to obtain an approximate full-dimensional CRP. Thermal rate constant is compared with different experiment results.

Wang, Dunyou↗

NASA NTRS2011

Current-Sheet Formation and Reconnection at a Magnetic X Line in Particle-in-Cell Simulations

The integration of kinetic effects into macroscopic numerical models is currently of great interest to the heliophysics community, particularly in the context of magnetic reconnection. Reconnection governs the large-scale energy release and topological rearrangement of magnetic fields in a wide variety of laboratory, heliophysical, and astrophysical systems. We are examining the formation and reconnection of current sheets in a simple, two-dimensional X-line configuration using high-resolution particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The initial minimum-energy, potential magnetic field is perturbed by excess thermal pressure introduced into the particle distribution function far from the X line. Subsequently, the relaxation of this added stress leads self-consistently to the development of a current sheet that reconnects for imposed stress of sufficient strength. We compare the time-dependent evolution and final state of our PIC simulations with macroscopic magnetohydrodynamic simulations assuming both uniform and localized electrical resistivities (C. R. DeVore et al., this meeting), as well as with force-free magnetic-field equilibria in which the amount of reconnection across the X line can be constrained to be zero (ideal evolution) or optimal (minimum final magnetic energy). We will discuss implications of our results for understanding magnetic-reconnection onset and cessation at kinetic scales in dynamically formed current sheets, such as those occurring in the solar corona and terrestrial magnetotail.

Black, C.↗