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Ocean backscatter signatures were measured by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory airborne NUSCAT K(sub u)-band scatterometer across the Gulf Stream sea surface temperature front. The measurements were made during the Surface Wave Dynamics Experiment (SWADE) off the coast of Virginia and Maryland in the winter of 1991.
The radio properties of blazars detected by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have been observed as part of the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey. This large, flux-limited sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) provides insights into the mechanism that produces strong gamma-ray emission. At lower flux levels, radio flux density does not directly correlate with gamma-ray flux. We find that the LAT-detected BL Lac objects tend to be similar to the non-LAT BL Lac objects, but that the LAT-detected FSRQs are often significantly different from the non-LAT FSRQs. The differences between the gamma-ray loud and quiet FSRQS can be explained by Doppler boosting; these objects appear to require larger Doppler factors than those of the BL Lac objects. It is possible that the gamma-ray loud FSRQs are fundamentally different from the gamma-ray quiet FSRQs. Strong polarization at the base of the jet appears to be a signature for gamma-ray loud AGNs.
Collisionless space plasma turbulence can generate reconnecting thin current sheets as suggested by recent results of numerical magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission provides the first serious opportunity to verify whether small ion-electron-scale reconnection, generated by turbulence, resembles the reconnection events frequently observed in the magnetotail or at the magnetopause. Here we investigate field and particle observations obtained by the MMS fleet in the turbulent terrestrial magnetosheath behind quasi-parallel bow shock geometry. We observe multiple small-scale current sheets during the event and present a detailed look of one of the detected structures. The emergence of thin current sheets can lead to electron scale structures. Within these structures, we see signatures of ion demagnetization, electron jets, electron heating, and agyrotropy suggesting that MMS spacecraft observe reconnection at these scales.
The Mission Analysis, Operations, and Navigation Toolkit Environment (MONTE) is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) signature astrodynamic computing platform. It was built to support JPL’s deep space exploration program, and has been used to fly robotic spacecraft to Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Ceres, and many solar system small bodies. At its core, MONTE consists of low-level astrodynamic libraries that are written in C++ and presented to the end user as an importable Python language module. These libraries form the basis on which Python-language applications are built for specific astrodynamic applications, such as trajectory design and optimization, orbit determination, flight path control, and more. The first half of this paper gives context to the MONTE project by outlining its history, the field of deep space navigation and where MONTE fits into the current Python landscape. The second half gives an overview of the main MONTE libraries and provides a narrative example of how it can be used for astrodynamic analysis.
Monte is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s (JPL) signature astrodynamic computing platform. Its main interface is a collection of Python-language libraries that can be used either for one-o analyses or to build high-quality software applications. Perhaps nowhere is Monte’s versatility and excellence better demonstrated than in its use for operational orbit determination (OD). Over the period from 2007 to 2016, Monte was the prime OD solution for fourteen JPL flight projects, and secondary for seven non-JPL projects. These missions span the range of Solar System destinations and operational protocols, yet each were successfully serviced by Monte’s flexible OD library. This paper reviews the missions on which Monte has been used for OD, with an eye toward pointing out the di erent ways it has been deployed to solve unique problems. It also gives an outline of the main elements of the orbit determination library and how they work together to navigate flight missions.
Data obtained with the total ozone mapping spectrometer (TOMS) onboard the Nimbus-7 satellite are presented. An attempt is made to relate and synthesize TOMS data with conventional radiosonde analyses and with midtropospheric moisture data available from the VISSR onboard the GOES. Case studies are described which relate the potential vorticity structure of the upper troposphere to the total ozone distribution as measured by TOMS. Cyclogenesis, frontogenesis, and the formation of severe weather outbreaks are then related to jet streaks and their characteristic ozone signature. It is shown that the primary maxima of ozone and potential vorticity are associated with cold advection and subsidence in the main upper-air trough as suggested earlier. The secondary maxima of the three quantities diagnosed in the present work appear in the left front quadrant of a jet streak, revealing the importance of transverse, secondary motions induced by a jet streak above the level of maximum winds in further modifying the potential vorticity and ozone structures.
Despite their discovery about half a century ago, the Gamma-ray burst (GRB) prompt emission mechanism is still not well understood. Theoretical modeling of the prompt emission has advanced considerably due to new computational tools and techniques. One such tool is the PLUTO hydro dynamics code, which is used to numerically simulate GRB outflows. PLUTO uses Adaptive Mesh Refinement to focus computational efforts on the portion of the grid that contains the simulated jet. Another tool is the Monte Carlo Radiation Transfer (MCRaT) code, which predicts electromagnetic signatures of GRBs by conducting photon scatterings within a jet using PLUTO. The effects of the underlying resolution of a PLUTO simulation with respect to MCRaT post-processing radiative transfer results have not yet been quantified. We analyze an analytic spherical outflow and a hydrodynamically simulated GRB jet with MCRaT at varying spatial and temporal resolutions and quantify how decreasing both resolutions affect the resulting mock observations. We find that changing the spatial resolution changes the hydrodynamic properties of the jet, which directly affect the MCRaT mock observable peak energies. We also find that decreasing the temporal resolution artificially decreases the high energy slope of the mock observed spectrum, which increases both the spectral peak energy and the luminosity. We show that the effects are additive when both spatial and temporal resolutions are modified. Our results allow us to understand how decreased hydrodynamic temporal and spatial resolutions affect the results of post-processing radiative transfer calculations, allowing for the optimization of hydrodynamic simulations for radiative transfer codes.
The first search for supersymmetry in events with an experimental signature of one soft, hadronically decaying τ lepton, one energetic jet from initial-state radiation, and large transverse momentum imbalance is presented. These event signatures are consistent with direct or indirect production of scalar τ leptons (τ˜) in supersymmetric models that exhibit coannihilation between the τ˜ and the lightest neutralino (χ˜10), and that could generate the observed relic density of dark matter. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 77.2 fb-1 of proton-proton collisions at s=13 TeV collected with the CMS detector at the LHC in 2016 and 2017. The results are interpreted in a supersymmetric scenario with a small mass difference (Δm) between the chargino (χ˜1±) or next-to-lightest neutralino (χ˜20), and the χ˜10. The mass of the τ˜ is assumed to be the average of the χ˜1± and χ˜10 masses. The data are consistent with standard model background predictions. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set on the sum of the χ˜1±, χ˜20, and τ˜ production cross sections for Δm(χ˜1±,χ˜10)=50 GeV, resulting in a lower limit of 290 GeV on the mass of the χ˜1±, which is the most stringent to date and surpasses the bounds from the LEP experiments.
Ignition on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) provides a novel opportunity to evaluate past data to identify signatures of capsule failure mechanisms. We have used new simulations of high-yield implosions as well as some from past studies in order to identify unique signatures of different ignition failure mechanisms: jetting due to the presence of voids or defects, jetting due to the capsule fill tube, interfacial mixing due to instabilities or due to plasma transport, radiative cooling due to the presence of contaminant in the hot spot, long-wavelength drive asymmetry, and preheat. Many of these failure mechanisms exhibit unique trajectories that can be distinguished through variations in experimental observables such as neutron yield, down-scattered ratio (DSR), and burn width. Our simulations include capsules using both plastic and high-density carbon ablators and span all high-yield designs considered since the beginning of the National Ignition Campaign in 2011. We observe that the variability in trajectories through the space of neutron yield, DSR, and burn width varies little across capsule design yet are unique to the failure mechanism. The experimental trajectories are most consistent with simulated preheat and jetting due to voids and defects, which are the only failure mechanisms that are indistinguishable in our analysis. This suggests that improvements to capsule compression due to improved capsule quality or reduced preheat have played a primary role in enabling high yields on NIF. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that further improvements have the potential to increase yields further.
ABSTRACT We investigate with relativistic MHD (magnetohydrodynamic) simulations the dissipation physics of BL Lac jets, by studying the synchrotron polarization signatures of particles accelerated by the kink instability in a magnetically dominated plasma column. The non-linear stage of the kink instability generates current sheets, where particles can be efficiently accelerated via magnetic reconnection. We identify current sheets as regions where s = Jδ/B is above some predefined threshold (where B is the field strength, J is the current density, and δ is the grid scale), and assume that the particle injection efficiency scales as ∝J2. X-ray emitting particles have short cooling times, so they only probe the field geometry of their injection sites. In contrast, particles emitting in the optical band, which we follow self-consistently as they propagate away from their injection sites while cooling, sample a larger volume, and so they may be expected to produce different polarimetric signatures. We find that the degree of polarization is roughly the same between X-ray and optical bands, because even the optical emitting particles do not travel far from the current sheet where they were injected, due to lack of sufficient kink-generated turbulence. The polarization angle shows a different temporal evolution between the two bands, due to the different regions probed by X-ray and optical emitting particles. In view of the upcoming IXPE satellite, our results can help constrain whether kink-induced reconnection (as opposed to shocks) can be the source of multiwavelength emission from BL Lacs.
A facet of a unified tunnel correction scheme which uses wall pressures to determine tunnel induced blockage and upwash is described. With this method, there is usually no need to use data concerning model forces or power settings to find the interference; it follows directly from the pressures and tunnel dimensions. However, highly inclined jets do not produce good pressure signatures and are highly three dimensional, so they must be treated differently. Flow modeling is also discussed.
The target galactic nucleus is ostensibly "normal," but the presence of water maser emission indicates that it may be an obscured AGN. Our primary goal has been to test this hypothesis through the detection hard X-ray emission and an X-ray spectrum characteristic of heavy absorption. The data for this program became available in May 2003. Light curves show that most of the data are good and that the background was well behaved. We have constructed images and found the X-ray emission in this target is a hard and may be extended. The presence of an AGN has been confirmed through observation with XMM. This is one of many edge-on normal galaxies that may contain AGN. The orientation of the extension will be compared to the structure of molecular gas observed at high angular resolution with VLBI. These radio observations were completed in August 2003. Correlation was completed in late 2003. The data have yet to be delivered by the ATNF. Since the start of the program, we have also obtained six radio spectra, on top of the two obtained at or close to the epoch of discovery for the maser. Early indications were that the maser emission exhibited unusually broad velocity extent and that it "jumped in velocity on time scales of weeks. This behavior has been speculated to be the signature of emission excited by jet-ISM interactions. After more extensive and more sensitive radio study, we find that (1) the emission does not in fact change velocity centroid substantially and (2) it comprises narrower, more "normal" emission features. The joint interpretation of radio and XMM data will be possible once the VLBI images and position-resolved X-ray spectra have been made, probably in summer 2004. If the radio emission arises in an accretion disk, rather than a jet, then we may predict that the VLBI images will exhibit velocity-position gradients orthogonal to the extension of X-ray emission, which presumably traces an optical narrow line or outflow region.
Topics covered include: Portable Handheld Optical Window Inspection Device; Salience Assignment for Multiple-Instance Data and Its Application to Crop Yield Prediction; Speech Acquisition and Automatic Speech Recognition for Integrated Spacesuit Audio Systems ; Predicting Long-Range Traversability from Short-Range Stereo-Derived Geometry; Browser-Based Application for Telemetry Monitoring of Robotic Assets; Miniature Low-Noise G-Band I-Q Receiver; Methods of Using a Magnetic Field Response Sensor Within Closed, Electrically Conductive Containers; Differential Resonant Ring YIG Tuned Oscillator; Microfabricated Segmented-Involute-Foil Regenerator for Stirling Engines; Reducing Seal Adhesion in Low Impact Docking Systems; Optimal Flow Control Design; Corrosion-Resistant Container for Molten-Material Processing; Reusable Hot-Wire Cable Cutter; Deployment of a Curved Truss; High-Volume Airborne Fluids Handling Technologies to Fight Wildfires; Modeling of Alkane Oxidation Using Constituents and Species; Fabrication of Lanthanum Telluride 14-1-11 Zintl High-Temperature Thermoelectric Couple; A Computer Model for Analyzing Volatile Removal Assembly; Analysis of Nozzle Jet Plume Effects on Sonic Boom Signature; Optical Sidebands Multiplier; Single Spatial-Mode Room-Temperature-Operated 3.0 to 3.4 micrometer Diode Lasers; Self-Nulling Beam Combiner Using No External Phase Inverter; Portable Dew Point Mass Spectrometry System for Real-Time Gas and Moisture Analysis; Maximum Likelihood Time-of-Arrival Estimation of Optical Pulses via Photon-Counting Photodetectors; Handheld White Light Interferometer for Measuring Defect Depth in Windows; Decomposition Algorithm for Global Reachability on a Time-Varying Graph; Autonomous GN and C for Spacecraft Exploration of Comets and Asteroids; Efficient Web Services Policy Combination; Using CTX Image Features to Predict HiRISE-Equivalent Rock Density; Isolation of the Paenibacillus phoenicis, a Spore-Forming Bacterium; Monolithically Integrated, Mechanically Resilient Carbon-Based Probes for Scanning Probe Microscopy; Cell Radiation Experiment System; Process to Produce Iron Nanoparticle Lunar Dust Simulant Composite; Inversion Method for Early Detection of ARES-1 Case Breach Failure; Use of ILTV Control Laws for LaNCETS Flight Research;and Evaluating Descent and Ascent Trajectories Near Non-Spherical Bodies.
Several possible noise simulation techniques were evaluated, including closed circuit wind tunnels, free jets, rocket sleds and high speed trains. The free jet technique was selected for demonstration and verification. The first paper describes the selection and development of the technique and presents results for simulation and in-flight tests of the Learjet, F106, and Bertin Aerotrain. The second presents a theoretical study relating the two sets of noise signatures. It is concluded that the free jet simulation technique provides a satisfactory assessment of in-flight noise.
The bright X-ray-selected BL Lacertae object PKS 2155-304 has been the target of two intense multi-wavelength campaigns in 1991 November and in 1994 May. Although the spectral energy distributions at both epochs were quite similar, the source exhibited two very distinct variability patterns that cannot be easily reconciled with homogeneous one-zone C7 jet models. During the first epoch the variability was almost achromatic in amplitude, with a time lag between X-rays and ultraviolet radiation (UV) of approximately three hours, while during the second epoch the variability amplitude increased as a function of wavelength with the EUV flare peaking approximately one day after the X-ray flare. We model the source using a time-dependent inhomogeneous accelerating jet model. We reproduce the general characteristics of the different variability signatures by assuming that plasma disturbances with different physical properties propagate downstream in an underlying jet characterized by the same set of physical parameters at both epochs. A time delay of approximately one day between the hardening of the UV spectral index and the UV flux present at both epochs is modeled with stochastic fluctuations in the particle acceleration manifested through small variations of the maximum energy of the injected electrons. We predict that similar time delays will be present in future observations even in the absence of strong variability event. We stress the importance of observations at neighboring frequencies as a diagnostic tool for the structure of the quiescent jet in blazars especially in the seemingly dull case in which strong variability is absent.
Abstract Volcanic jet flows in explosive eruptions emit radio frequency signatures, indicative of their fluid dynamic and electrostatic conditions. The emissions originate from sparks supported by an electric field built up by the ejected charged volcanic particles. When shock-defined, low-pressure regions confine the sparks, the signatures may be limited to high-frequency content corresponding to the early components of the avalanche-streamer-leader hierarchy. Here, we image sparks and a standing shock together in a transient supersonic jet of micro-diamonds entrained in argon. Fluid dynamic and kinetic simulations of the experiment demonstrate that the observed sparks originate upstream of the standing shock. The sparks are initiated in the rarefaction region, and cut off at the shock, which would limit their radio frequency emissions to a tell-tale high-frequency regime. We show that sparks transmit an impression of the explosive flow, and open the way for novel instrumentation to diagnose currently inaccessible explosive phenomena.
We propose a method that will be able to detect or exclude the existence of 10 exp 6 solar masses black holes in the halos of galaxies. VLBA radio maps of two milliarcsecond jets of a gravitationally lensed quasar will show the signature of these black holes - if they exist. If there are no compact objects in this mass range along the line of sight, the two jets should be linear mappings of each other. If they are not, there must be compact objects of about 10 exp 6 solar masses in the halo of the galaxy that deform the images by gravitational deflection. We present numerical simulations for the two jets A and B of the double quasar 0957 + 561, but the method is valid for any gravitationally lensed quasar with structure on milliarcsecond scales. As a by-product from high-quality VLBA maps of jets A and B, one will be able to tell which features in the maps are intrinsic in the original jet and which are only an optical illusion, i.e., gravitational distortions by black holes along the line of sight.
This viewgraph presentation reviews the QuietSpike flight test results. It shows the previous tests from Nearfield probes. The presentation then reviews the approach to test the QuietSpike, and shows graphics of the positions of the test vehicles. It also shows the components of the Sonic Boom Probing Noseboom. A graph of the Pressure Over- Under-shoot (Shaped Sonic Boom Demonstration (SSBD)Data) is presented. It reviews the Shock Probing Orientations, explaining that the probing plane is always behind the tail of the QuietSpike jet. Graphs of the Shock Position Geometry (SSBD Data) and the QuietSpike signature as of the test on 12/13/06, Near-Field Probing Directly Under the QuietSpike jet, and Near-Field Probing to Side, Near-Field Probing Above and to Side. Several slides review the Computational Fluid Dynamic models, and results compared to the probe tests.