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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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2022

High-energy Photon Opacity in the Twisted Magnetospheres of Magnetars

Magnetars are neutron stars characterized by strong surface magnetic fields generally exceeding the quantum critical value of 44.1 TG. High-energy photons propagating in their magnetospheres can be attenuated by QED processes like photon splitting and magnetic pair creation. In this paper, we compute the opacities due to photon splitting and pair creation by photons emitted anywhere in the magnetosphere of a magnetar. Axisymmetric, twisted dipole field configurations embedded in the Schwarzschild metric are treated. The paper computes the maximum energies for photon transparency that permit propagation to infinity in curved spacetime. Special emphasis is given to cases where photons are generated along magnetic field loops and/or in polar regions; these cases directly relate to resonant inverse Compton scattering models for the hard X-ray emission from magnetars and Comptonized soft gamma-ray emission from giant flares. We find that increases in magnetospheric twists raise or lower photon opacities, depending on both the emission locale and the competition between field-line straightening and field strength enhancement. Consequently, given the implicit spectral transparency of hard X-ray bursts and persistent "tail" emission of magnetars, photon splitting considerations constrain their emission region locales and the twist angle of the magnetosphere; these constraints can be probed by future soft gamma-ray telescopes such as COSI and AMEGO. The inclusion of twists generally increases the opaque volume of pair creation by photons above its threshold, except when photons are emitted in polar regions and approximately parallel to the field.

radiation mechanisms: non-thermal↗
NASA NTRS1989

Cyclotron resonant scattering in the spectra of gamma-ray bursts

Data on the GB880205 gamma-ray bursts are presented that have implications for the nature of gamma-ray burst sources. It is shown that cyclotron resonant scattering and Raman scattering account well for the positions, strengths, and shapes of the relative strengths of the first and second harmonics and their narrow widths. These results imply the existence of a superstrong (B of about 2 x 10 to the 12th G) magnetic field in the vicinity of the X-ray emission region of GB880205. Such a superstrong magnetic field points to a strongly magnetic neutron star as the origin of gamma-ray bursts, and to the fact that the gamma-ray sources belong to the Galaxy.

Lamb, D. Q.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Characterization of path effects on the properties of balloon films

The effect of stress and temperature path on the mechanical properties of a balloon film material (Astrofilm E2) have been studied using two techniques. The first technique is based on uniaxial tensile measurements of prestrained strips of the film as a function of temperature. Data are analyzed in terms of two temperature coefficients, defined here as a stiffness coefficient and a strength coefficient; and by comparing the areas under the stress-strain curves. The second technique investigated the effect of stress and temperature path on inflated cylinders of the same material. The changes in the mechanical properties due to preconditioning in the biaxial stress state were evaluated using the ball burst test. Preliminary findings indicate that the material is stress and temperature path dependent. Changes in stiffness coefficient, draw strength and toughness were measured and discussed. The above techniques may be suitable to document path dependent changes, and to discriminate among films of different manufacture.

Said, Magdi A.↗
NASA NTRS1953

Factors Affecting Laminar Boundary Layer Measurements in a Supersonic Stream

The observed discrepancy at supersonic speeds between theoretical and apparent experimental average flat plate friction-drag coefficients calculated from boundary layer total-pressure surveys was investigated. Effects of the total-pressure probe, heat transfer through the leading edge region, change in leading-edge radius and strength of the leading-edge wave, possible early transition to turbulent flow or “bursts of turbulence,” and the slight stream-wise pressure gradient inherent in flat plate flow were investigated for plates with very sharp leading edges. Only one of these factors, the effect of the total-pressure probe, was found to be significant. Total-pressure probes of different tip heights, when placed in laminar boundary layers developing under identical conditions, were found to yield different values of friction drag coefficient. Extrapolation of these measurements indicates that a probe of vanishing size would yield the theoretical predicted values of average flat plate friction-drag coefficients. A correlation describing the relation between the friction-drag discrepancy and the probe tip height is presented.

Blue, Robert E↗
NASA NTRS1992

Two-photon annihilation of thermal pairs in strong magnetic fields

The annihilation spectrum of pairs with 1-D thermal distributions in the presence of a strong magnetic field is calculated. Numerical analysis of the spectrum are performed for mildly relativistic temperatures and for different angles of emission with respect to field lines. Teragauss magnetic fields are assumed so that conditions are typical of gamma ray burst and pulsar environments. The spectra at each viewing angle reveal asymmetric line profiles that are signatures of the magnetic broadening and red shifting of the line: these asymmetries are more prominent for small viewing angles. Thermal Doppler broadening tends to dominate in the right wing of the line and obscures the magnetic broadening more at high temperatures and smaller viewing angles. This angular dependence of the line asymmetry may prove a valuable diagnostic tool. For low temperatures and magnetic field strengths, useful analytic expressions are presented for the line width, and also for the annihilation spectrum at zero viewing angle. The results presented find application in gamma ray burst and pulsar models, and may prove very helpful in deducing field strengths and temperatures of the emission regions of these objects from line observations made by Compton GRO and future missions.

Baring, Matthew G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

ADP study of gamma-ray bursts

This grant supported study of cyclotron scattering lines in the spectra of gamma-ray bursts through analysis of Ginga and HEAO-1 archival data, and modeling of the results in terms of radiation transfer calculations of cyclotron scattering in a strong magnetic field. A Monte Carlo radiation transfer code with which we are able to calculate the expected properties of cyclotron scattering lines in the spectra of gamma-ray bursts was developed. The extensive software necessary in order to carry out fits of these model spectra to gamma-ray burst spectral data, including folding of the model spectra through the detector response functions was also developed. Fits to Ginga satellite data on burst GB880205 were completed and fits to Ginga satellite data on burst GB870303 are being carried out. These fits have allowed us to test our software, as well as to garner new scientific results. This work has demonstrated that cyclotron resonant scattering successfully accounts for the locations, strengths, and widths of the observed line features in GB870303 and GB880205. The success of the model provides compelling evidence that these gamma-ray bursts come from strongly magnetic neutron stars and are galactic in origin, resolving longstanding controversies about the nature and distance of the burst sources. These results were reported in two papers which are in press in the proceedings of the Taos Workshop on Gamma-Ray Bursts, and in a paper submitted for publication.

Lamb, Don Q.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Observations of the internal structure of the magnetopause

Magnetic field, plasma flux, and ELF wave data have been studied for several encounters of Ogo 5 with the earth's magnetopause. In one case of a crossing in the near-earth region of the geomagnetic tail, the structure agreed closely with a simple Chapman-Ferraro type of model with nearly complete neutralization of the charge separation electric field. Departures from the simple structure were observed at other magnetopause crossings. One crossing revealed a well-defined double structure with a large change in field direction closer to the earth than the ion flux and field strength gradients. The thickness of the magnetopause often depended on whether the change in field strength, the change in field direction, or the change in ion flux was being considered. Bursts of ELF waves were occasionally observed at the magnetopause.

Neugebauer, M.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Ten year environmental test of glass fiber/epoxy pressure vessels

By the beginning of the 1970's composite pressure vessels had received a significant amount of development effort, and applications were beginning to be investigated. One of the first applications grew out of NASA Johnson Space Center efforts to develop a superior emergency breathing system for firemen. While the new breathing system provided improved wearer comfort and an improved mask and regulator, the primary feature was low weight which was achieved by using a glass fiber reinforced aluminum pressure vessel. Part of the development effort was to evaluate the long term performance of the pressure vessel and as a consequence, some 30 bottles for a test program were procured. These bottles were then provided to NASA Lewis Research Center where they were maintained in an outdoor environment in a pressurized condition for a period of up to 10 yr. During this period, bottles were periodically subjected to cyclic and burst testing. There was no protective coating applied to the fiberglass/epoxy composite, and significant loss in strength did occur as a result of the environment. Similar bottles stored indoors showed little, if any, degradation. This report contains a description of the pressure vessels, a discussion of the test program, data for each bottle, and appropriate plots, comparisons, and conclusions.

Faddoul, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1985

Ten year environmental test of glass fiber/epoxy pressure vessels

By the beginning of the 1970's composite pressure vessels had received a significant amount of development effort, and applications were beginning to be investigated. One of the first applications grew out of NASA Johnson Space Center efforts to develop a superior emergency breathing system for firemen. While the new breathing system provided improved wearer comfort and an improved mask and regulator, the primary feature was low weight which was achieved by using a glass fiber reinforced aluminum pressure vessel. Part of the development effort was to evaluate the long term performance of the pressure vessel and as a consequence, some 30 bottles for a test program were procured. These bottles were then provided to NASA Lewis Research Center where they were maintained in an outdoor environment in a pressurized condition for a period of up to 10 yr. During this period, bottles were periodically subjected to cyclic and burst testing. There was no protective coating applied to the fiberglass/epoxy composite, and significant loss in strength did occur as a result of the environment. Similar bottles stored indoors showed little, if any, degradation. This report contains a description of the pressure vessels, a discussion of the test program, data for each bottle, and appropriate plots, comparisons, and conclusions.

Faddoul, J. R.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Synchrotron emission from a cosmological jet as a model of gamma-ray bursts

The nonthermal rapidly varying spectra of gamma-ray bursts require relativistic beaming if the source is at a cosmological distance. Limits on the Lorentz factors and magnetic fields of extragalactic jet models of gamma-ray bursts are derived from the synchrotron source function, the position of the fundamental cyclotron resonance, the Thomson optical depth of radiating electrons, and the Thomson optical depth of electron-positron pairs created in photon-photon collisions of Compton upscattered radiation. The last of these constraints is the strongest, and it is satisfied by the observations if the jet's Lorentz factor is greater than 100. The limit from the position of the cyclotron fundamental requires a magnetic field strength below approximately 10 exp 10 G. Jet models producing observable cyclotron lines are allowed. The acceleration region in the burst must be separate from the emission region. The similarity of gamma-ray burst jet models to models of quasars and BL Lac objects suggest that if gamma-ray bursts are cosmological sources, they are a type of active galaxy.

Brainerd, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS2002

New Evidence For Proton Cyclotron Resonance In a Magnetar Strength Field From SGR 1806-20

A great deal of evidence has recently been gathered in favor of the picture that Soft Gamma Repeaters and Anomalous X-Ray Pulsars are powered by ultra-strong magnetic fields (B greater than 10(exp 14) G; i.e. magnetars). Nevertheless, present determination of the magnetic field in such magnetar candidates has been indirect and model dependent. A key prediction concerning magnetars is the detection of ion cyclotron resonance features, which would offer a decisive diagnostic of the field strength. Here we present the detection of a 5 keV absorption feature in a variety of bursts from the Soft Gamma Repeater SGR 1806-20, confirming our initial discovery and establishing the presence of the feature in the source's burst spectra. The line feature is well explained as proton cyclotron resonance in an ultra-strong magnetic field, offering a direct measurement of SGR 1806-20's magnetic field (B approx. 10(exp 15) G) and a clear evidence of a magnetar. Together with the source's spin-down rate, the feature also provides the first measurement of the gravitational redshift, mass and radius of a magnetar.

Parke, William↗
NASA NTRS1991

Characterization of Asymmetry in Magnetoacoustic Emission Burst by Numerical Processes

It has been well known that the pattern of the magnetoacoustic emission (MAE) burst observed during the sweep over one half-cycle of the hysteresis loop becomes asymmetric depending on the strength of the magnetic domain wall-defect interaction and the state of residual stresses in a ferromagnet. The ascending asymmetry due to the former has been observed at a very low frequency (.7 Hz) of applied AC magnetic field at a given amplitude. The descending asymmetry due to uniaxial compressive stress has been typically observed at the AC applied magnetic field frequency of 20 Hz. The physical interpretation of both types of asymmetry has been well established. It is, however, necessary to perform investigations of the dependence of asymmetry on externally controlled parameters such as the amplitude and frequency of the AC applied magnetic fields. The purpose of the present study is therefore to devise a mathematical means that describes the degree of asymmetry of the MAE burst and apply this scheme to investigate the AC magnetic field amplitude dependence of the asymmetry.

Namkung, M.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Search for spectral lines in cosmic gamma-ray bursts

Time-integrated spectra from 177 gamma-ray bursts observed by the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) on NASA's Solar Maximum Mission satellite (SMM) have been systematically searched for evidence of emission lines in the range 300 keV and higher. The distribution of fitted line strengths is consistent with what is expected from a random sample of data, suggesting that there are no statistically significant narrow or moderately broadened line features in any of the bursts.

Messina, Daniel C.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Numerical simulations of trailing vortex bursting

Solutions of the steady-state Navier-Stokes equations for the axisymmetric bursting of a laminar trailing vortex are computed with Newton's method and the pseudo-arc length continuation method for wide ranges of vortex strength and Reynolds number. The results indicate that a trailing vortex can undergo a transition from a state in which the core slowly diffuses to a state marked by large amplitude, spatial oscillations of core radius and core axial velocity. At the transition point the core grows rapidly in size. This event is interpreted as vortex bursting. The results also suggest that when the maximum core swirl velocity is sufficiently large the centerline axial flow downstream of transition will be reversed.

Beran, Philip S.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Parameterization of asymmetry in magnetoacoustic emission by numerical processes

Two methods for processing the digitized waveform data obtained from magnetoacoustic emission measurements on a high-strength steel are investigated. Two different techniques to obtain an asymmetry parameter are presented. It is shown that the variation in this asymmetry parameter from five embrittled samples and one unembrittled steel sample can be related to the impact toughness and is not dependent on the magnetic field strength. This technique is nondestructive and is shown to determine the normalized impact toughness of a high-strength steel to better than 14 percent in the decade of interest. A comparison of a magnetoacoustic emission burst and pickup coil output from an unembrittled steel sample and an embrittled sample is illustrated.

Birt, E. A.↗
NASA NTRS2020

Origins of X-ray Line Emissions in Circinus X-1 at Very Low X-ray Flux

Accretion conditions and morphologies of X-ray transients containing neutron stars are still poorly understood. Circinus X-1 is an enigmatic case where we observe X-ray flux changes covering four orders of magnitude. We observed Circinus X-1 several times at its very lowest X-ray flux using the high-energy transmission grating spectrometer on board the Chandra X-ray Observatory. At a flux of 1.8 ´ 10-11 erg cm−2 s−1 we observed a single 1.6 keV blackbody spectrum. The observed continuum luminosity of 1035 erg s−1 is about two orders of magnitude too low to explain the observed photoionized luminosity, suggesting a much more complex structure of the X-ray source that is partially or entirely obscured, as had been previously suggested. This affects most emissions from the accretion disk, including previously observed accretion-disk coronal line emissions. Instead, the strongest observed photoionized lines are blueshifted by about ∼400 km s−1, and we suggest that they originate in the ionized wind of a B5Ia supergiant companion, supporting a previous identification. The neutron star in Cir X-1 is very young and should have a high magnetic field. At the observed luminosity, the emission radius of the blackbody is small enough to be associated with the accretion hot spot as the X-ray-emitting region. The small emission radius then points to a field strength below 1012 G, which would be consistent with the observation of occasional type I X-ray bursts at high magnetic fields. We discuss Cir X-1 in the context of being a high-mass X-ray binary, with some emphasis on a possible Be-star X-ray binary nature.

N S Schulz↗
NASA NTRS1976

A decameter type II burst associated with a behind-the-limb flare

The characteristics of a decametric type II burst associated with a possible behind-the-limb flare are discussed. The burst source had an unusually high velocity. Assuming that the disturbance propagated as an MHD wave, the magnetic field strength at the 40-MHz plasma level is estimated to be 5.6 gauss.

Gergely, T. E.↗
NASA NTRS1988

VLF bursts in the night ionosphere of Venus - Effects of the magnetic field

The occurrence rate of bursts at 0.1, 0.73, 5.4, and 30 kHz in the night ionosphere of Venus and factors controlling these bursts are examined. It is found that orientation has little effect on the occurrence rates but that the field strength has a strong effect. A contour map of the 100 Hz occurrences is shown to be similar to earlier maps at higher frequencies which have been corrected for altitude dependence.

Russell, C. T.↗