Article discussing Osirian temple rites of ancient Egypt, which may have involved ceremonial procedures deliberately calculated to induce an experience that was functionally identical to modern near-death experiences.

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Under acidic sol-gel polymerization conditions, 1,3-bis(triethoxysilyl)-propane (1) and 1,4-bis(triethoxysilyl)butane (2) were shown to preferentially form cyclic disilsesquioxanes 3 and 4 rather than the expected 1,3-propylene- and 1,4-butylene-bridged polysilsesquioxane gels. Formation of 3 and 4 is driven by a combination of an intramolecular cyclization to six and seven membered rings, and a pronounced reduction in reactivity under acidic conditions as a function of increasing degree of condensation. The ease with which these relatively unreactive cyclic monomers and dimers are formed (under acidic conditions) helps to explain the difficulties in forming gels from 1 and 2. The stability of cyclic disilsesquioxanes was confirmed withe the synthesis of 3 and 4 in gram quantities; the cyclic disilsesquioxanes react slowly to give tricyclic dimers containing a thermodynamically stable eight membered siloxane ring. Continued reactions were shown to perserve the cyclic structure, opening up the possibility of utilizing cyclic disilsesquioxanes as sol-gel monomers. Preliminary polymerization studies with these new, carbohydrate-like monomers revealed the formation of network poly(cyclic disilsesquioxanes) under acidic conditions and polymerization with ring-opening under basic conditions.

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Although the response of titanium alloys to dynamic loading is receiving increased attention in the literature (particularly in the area of shear-band formation), a more limited experimental database exists concerning the detailed structure/property relationships of titanium alloys subjected to shock loading. In this study, preliminary results concerning the influence of alloy chemistry on the property of omega-phase formation and its structure in three titanium alloys are presented. The influence of shock-wave deformation on the phase stability and substructure evolution of high-purity (low-interstitial) titanium, A-70 (3700 ppm oxygen) titanium, and Ti-6Al-4V were probed utilizing real-time velocity interferometry (VISAR) and soft'' shock-recovery techniques. VISAR wave profiles of shock-loaded high-purity titanium revealed the omega-phase pressure-induced transition to occur at approximately 10.4 GPa. Wave profile measurements on A-70 Ti shocked to pressures up to 35 GPa and Ti-6Al-4V shocked to pressures up to 25 GPa exhibited no evidence of a three-wave structure indicative of a pressure-induced phase transition. Neutron and X-ray diffractometry and TEM analysis confirmed the presence of retained {omega}-phase in the electrolytic-Ti and the absence of {omega}-phase in the shock-recovered A-70 Ti and Ti-6Al-4V. Suppression of the {alpha}-{omega} phase transition in A-70 Ti, containing a high interstitial oxygen content, is seen to …

Although the response of titanium alloys to dynamic loading is receiving increased attention in the literature (particularly in the area of shear-band formation), a more limited experimental database exists concerning the detailed structure/property relationships of titanium alloys subjected to shock loading. In this study, preliminary results concerning the influence of alloy chemistry on the property of omega-phase formation and its structure in three titanium alloys are presented. The influence of shock-wave deformation on the phase stability and substructure evolution of high-purity (low-interstitial) titanium, A-70 (3700 ppm oxygen) titanium, and Ti-6Al-4V were probed utilizing real-time velocity interferometry (VISAR) and ``soft`` shock-recovery techniques. VISAR wave profiles of shock-loaded high-purity titanium revealed the omega-phase pressure-induced transition to occur at approximately 10.4 GPa. Wave profile measurements on A-70 Ti shocked to pressures up to 35 GPa and Ti-6Al-4V shocked to pressures up to 25 GPa exhibited no evidence of a three-wave structure indicative of a pressure-induced phase transition. Neutron and X-ray diffractometry and TEM analysis confirmed the presence of retained {omega}-phase in the electrolytic-Ti and the absence of {omega}-phase in the shock-recovered A-70 Ti and Ti-6Al-4V. Suppression of the {alpha}-{omega} phase transition in A-70 Ti, containing a high interstitial oxygen content, is seen to …

In this report we have studied the implication of a parity and charge-parity (PCP) violating interaction in varying alpha theory. Due to this interaction, the state of photon polarization can change when it passes through a strong background magnetic field. We have calculated the optical rotation and ellipticity of the plane of polarization of an electromagnetic wave and tested our results against different laboratory experiments. Our model contains a PCP violating parameter {beta} and a scale of alpha variation {omega}. By analyzing the laboratory experimental data, we found the most stringent constraints on our model parameters to be 1 {le} {omega} {le} 10{sup 13} GeV{sup 2} and -0.5 {le} {beta} {le} 0.5. We also found that with the existing experimental input parameters it is very difficult to detect the ellipticity in the near future.

In this paper we study in detail the effect of our recently proposed model of parity and charge-parity (PCP) violating varying alpha on the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) photon passing through the intra galaxy-cluster medium (ICM). The ICM is well known to be composed of magnetized plasma. According to our model, the polarization and intensity of the CMB would be affected when traversing through the ICM due to non-trivial scalar photon interactions. We have calculated the evolution of such polarization and intensity collectively, known as the stokes parameters of the CMB photon during its journey through the ICM and tested our results against the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) measurement on Coma galaxy cluster. Our model contains a PCP violating parameter, {beta}, and a scale of alpha variation {omega}. Using the derived constrained on the photon-to-scalar conversion probability, {bar P}{sub {gamma}{yields}{phi}}, for Coma cluster in ref.[34] we found a contour plot in the ({omega},{beta}) parameter plane. The {beta} = 0 line in this parameter space corresponds to well-studied Maxwell-dilaton type models which has lower bound on {omega} {approx}> 6.4 x 10{sup 9} GeV. In general, as the absolute value of {beta} increases, lower bound on {omega} also increases. Our model in general predicts …

The {alpha} decay parameter in the process {Omega}{sup -} {yields} {Lambda}K{sup -} has been measured from a sample of 4.50 million unpolarized {Omega}{sup -} decays recorded by the HyperCP (E871) experiment at Fermilab and found to be [1.78 {+-} 0.19(stat) {+-} 0.16(syst)] x 10{sup -2}. This is the first unambiguous evidence for a nonzero {alpha} decay parameter, and hence parity violation, in the {Omega}{sup -} {Lambda}K{sup -} decay.

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Multidimensional hydrodynamic properties of high-adiabat direct-drive plastic-shell implosions on the OMEGA laser system [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)] are investigated using the multidimensional hydrodynamic code, DRACO. Multimode simulations including the effects of nonuniform illumination and target roughness indicate that shell stability during the acceleration phase plays a critical role in determining target performance. For thick shells that remain integral during the acceleration phase, target yields are significantly reduced by the combination of the long-wavelength ({ell} < 10) modes due to surface roughness and beam imbalance and the intermediate modes (20 {le} {ell} {le} 50) due to single-beam nonuniformities. The neutron-production rate for these thick shells truncates relative to one-dimensional (1-D) predictions. The yield degradation in the thin shells is mainly due to shell breakup at short wavelengths ({lambda} {approx} {Delta}, where {Delta} is the in-flight shell thickness). The neutron-rate curves for the thinner shells have significantly lower amplitudes and a fall-off that is less steep than 1-D rates. DRACO simulation results are consistent with experimental observations.

The thickening kinetics of {Omega} plates in an Al-4Cu-0.3Mg-0.2Ag (wt. %) alloy have been measured at 200 C, 250 C and 300 C using conventional transmission electron microscopy techniques. At all temperatures examined the thickening showed a linear dependence on time. At 200 C the plates remained less than 6nm in thickness after 1000h exposure. At temperatures above 200 C the thickening kinetics are greatly increased. Atomic resolution Z-contrast microscopy has been used to examine the structure and chemistry of the (001){sub {Omega}} {parallel} (111){sub {alpha}} interphase boundary in samples treated at each temperature. In all cases, two atomic layers of Ag and Mg segregation were found at the broad face of the plate. The risers of the growth ledges and the ends of the plates were free of segregation. No significant levels of Ag or Mg were detected inside the plate at any time. The necessary redistribution of Ag and Mg accompanying a migrating thickening ledge occurs at all temperatures and is not considered to play a decisive role in the excellent coarsening resistance exhibited by the {Omega} plates at temperatures up to 200 C. Plates transformed at 200 C rarely contained ledges and usually exhibited a strong vacancy …

Alpha particle populations can significantly alter existing MHD in stabilities in tokamaks through kinetic effects and coupling to otherwise stable shear Alfven waves. Here we consider resonances of the trapped alpha precessional drift with both the usual ballooning mode diamagnetic frequency ({omega}{sub *i}/2) and the toroidicity induced Alfven eigenmode (TAE). This is examined for noncircular tokamaks in the high-n ballooning limit using an isotropic alpha slowing down distribution and retaining the full energy and pitch angle dispersion in the alpha drift frequency. Applying this to CIT and ITER indicates that ballooning instabilities can persist at {Beta}'s below the ideal MHD threshold. These are especially dominated by the destabilization of the TAE mode. In addition, a hybrid fluid-particle approach for simulating alpha effects on pressure-gradient driven instabilities is described. 13 refs., 6 figs.

Spatially Resolved X-Ray Diffraction (SRXRD) is used to map the {alpha}{r_arrow}{beta}{r_arrow}{alpha} phase transformation in the heat affected zone (HAZ) of commercially pure titanium gas tungsten arc welds. In-situ SRXRD experiments were conducted on arc welds using a 200 pm diameter x-ray beam at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). A map was created which identifies six HAZ microstructural regions that exist between the liquid weld pool and the base metal during welding. The first region is single phase {beta}-Ti that forms in a 2- to 3-mm band adjacent to the liquid weld pool. The second region is back transformed {alpha}-Ti that forms behind the portion of the HAZ where {beta}-Ti was once present at higher temperatures. The third region is completely recrystallized {alpha}-Ti that forms in a 2- to 3-mm band surrounding the single phase {beta}-Ti region. Recrystallized {alpha}-Ti was observed by itself and also with varying amounts of {beta}-Ti. The fourth region of the weld is the partially transformed zone where {alpha}-Ti and {beta}-Ti coexist during welding. The fifth region is directly behind the partially transformed zone and consists of a mixture of recrystallized and back transformed {alpha}-Ti The sixth region is farthest from the weld pool and consists of …

This article looks at hierarchical twinning in metastable body-centered cubic (bcc) β-titanium alloy on tensile deformation.

The asymmetry in the {bar p} angular distribution in the sequential decay {bar {Omega}}{sup +} {yields} {bar {Lambda}}K{sup +} {yields} {bar p}{pi}{sup +}K{sup +} has been measured to be {bar {alpha}}{sub {Omega}}{bar {alpha}}{sub {Lambda}} = [+1.16{+-}0.18(stat){+-}0.17(syst)]x10{sup -2} using 1.89x10{sup 6} unpolarized {bar {Omega}}{sup +} decays recorded by the Hyper CP (E871) experiment at Fermilab. Using the known value of {alpha}{sub {Lambda}}, and assuming that {bar {alpha}}{sub {Lambda}} = -{alpha}{sub {Lambda}}, {bar {alpha}}{sub {Omega}} = [-1.81{+-}0.28(stat){+-}0.26(syst)]x10{sup -2}. A comparison between this measurement of {bar {alpha}}{sub {Omega}}{bar {alpha}}{sub {Lambda}} and recent measurements of {alpha}{sub {Omega}}{alpha}{sub {Lambda}} made by HyperCP shows no evidence of a violation of CP symmetry.

X-ray radiography is an important tool for diagnosing and imaging planar and convergent hydrodynamics phenomena for laser experiments. Until now, hydrodynamics experiments at Omega and NIF utilize E{sub x-ray} < 9 keV backlighter x-rays emitted by thermal plasmas. However, future experiments will need to diagnose larger and denser targets and will require x-ray probes of energies from 20-100 keV and possibly up to 1 MeV. Hard K-{alpha} x-ray photons can be created through high-energy electron interactions in the target material after irradiation by petawatt-class high-intensity-short-pulse lasers with > 10{sup 17} W/cm{sup 2}. We have performed several experiments on the JanUSP, and the Vulcan 100TW, and Vulcan Petawatt lasers to understand K-{alpha} sources and to test radiography concepts. 1-D radiography using an edge-on foil and 2-D radiography using buried wires and cone-fiber targets were tested. We find that 1-D thin edge-on foils can have imaging resolution better than 10 {micro}m. Micro volume targets produce bright sources with measured conversion efficiency from laser energy to x-ray photons of {approx} 1 x 10{sup -5}. This level of conversion may not be enough for 2-D point projection radiography. A comparison of our experimental measurements of small volume sources with the LSP/PIC simulation show similar …

Areal density ({rho}R) is a fundamental parameter that characterizes the performance of an ICF implosion. For high areal densities ({rho}R> 0.1 g/cm{sup 2}), which will be realized in implosion experiments at NIF and LMJ, the target areal density exceeds the stopping range of charged particles and measurements with charged particle spectroscopy will be difficult. In this region, an areal density measurement method using down shifted neutron counting is a promising alternative. The probability of neutron scattering in the imploded plasma is proportional to the areal density of the plasma. The spectrum of neutrons scattered by the specific target nucleus has a characteristic low energy cut off. This enables separate, simultaneous measurements of fuel and pusher {rho}Rs. To apply this concept in implosion experiments, the detector should have extremely large dynamic range. Sufficient signal output for low energy neutrons is also required. A lithium-glass scintillation-fiber plate (LG-SCIFI) is a promising candidate for this application. In this paper we propose a novel technique based on downshifted neutron measurements with a lithium-glass scintillation-fiber plate. The details of instrumentation and background estimation with Monte Carlo calculation are reported.

Recent TEM studies of deformation substructures developed in tantalum and tantalum-tungsten alloys shock-deformed at a peak pressure {approx}45 GPa have revealed the occurrence of shock-induced phase transformation [i.e., {alpha} (bcc) {yields} {omega} (hexagonal) transition] in addition to shock-induced deformation twinning. The volume fraction of twin and {omega} domains increases with increasing content of tungsten. A controversy arises since tantalum exhibits no clear equilibrium solid-state phase transformation under hydrostatic pressures up to 174 GPa. It is known that phase stability of a material system under different temperatures and pressures is determined by system free energy. That is, a structural phase that has the lowest free energy will be stable. For pressure-induced phase transformation under hydrostatic-pressure conditions, tantalum may undergo phase transition when the free energy of a competing phase {omega} becomes smaller than that of the parent phase {alpha} above a critical pressure (P{sub eq}), i.e., the equilibrium {alpha} {yields} {omega} transition occurs when the pressure increases above P{sub eq}. However, it is also known that material shocked under dynamic pressure can lead to a considerable increase in temperature, and the higher the applied pressure the higher the overheat temperature. This means a higher pressure is required to achieve an equivalent …

The polarization dependence of magnetic neutron scattering is shown to depend on the imaginary part of the symmetric generalized susceptibility, chi/sub s//sup ..cap alpha beta../ = /sup 1///sub 2/(chi/sup ..cap alpha beta../(Q,..omega..) + chi/sup ..beta cap alpha../(Q,..omega..), as well as on the real part of the antisymmetric susceptibility, chi/sub a//sup ..cap alpha beta../ = /sup 1///sub 2/(chi/sup ..cap alpha beta../(Q,..omega..) - chi/sup ..beta cap alpha../(Q,..omega..)). The latter term contains the spin-wave contributions to the polarization-dependent scattering, along with other effects which are a consequence of the presence of a magnetic field or a spiral structure.

A reliable metric is required to describe the damage resistance of large aperture 3{omega} transmissive optics for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) laser. The trend from single site testing to the more statistically valid Gaussian scanning test requires a well modeled experimental procedure, accurate monitoring of the test parameters, and careful interpretation of the resulting volumes of data. The methods described here provide reliable quality assurance data, as well as intrinsic damage concentration information used to predict the performance expected under use conditions. This paper describes the equipment, test procedure, and data analysis used to evaluate large aperture 3{omega} optics for the NIF laser.

In-situ x-ray diffraction was used to study the response of single crystal iron under shock conditions. Measurements of the response of [001] iron showed a uniaxial compression of the initially bcc lattice along the shock direction by up to 6% at 13 GPa. Above this pressure, the lattice responded with a further collapse of the lattice by 15-18% and a transformation to a hcp structure. The in-situ measurements are discussed and results summarized.

Article presenting Frank Tipler's concepts and arguments, and highlighting the value of his orientation for near-death studies. Tipler's work takes the steam out of scientific rejection of religious, spiritual, or noetic phenomena, and makes it possible to accept these phenomena while maintaining a strictly scientific posture.

Using K-band imaging for 15 of the Canadian Network for Observational Cosmology (CNOC1) clusters we examine the near-infrared properties of moderate-redshift (0.19 < z < 0.55) galaxy clusters. We find that the number of K-band selected cluster galaxies within R{sub 500} (the Halo Occupation Number, HON) is well-correlated with the cluster dynamical mass (M{sub 500}) and X-ray Temperature (T{sub x}); however, the intrinsic scatter in these scaling relations is 37% and 46% respectively. Comparison with clusters in the local universe shows that the HON-M{sub 500} relation does not evolve significantly between z = 0 and z {approx} 0.3. This suggests that if dark matter halos are disrupted or undergo significant tidal-stripping in high-density regions as seen in numerical simulations, the stellar mass within the halos is tightly bound, and not removed during the process. The total K-band cluster light (L{sub 200},K) and K-band selected richness (parameterized by B{sub gc,K}) are also correlated with both the cluster T{sub x} and M{sub 200}. The total (intrinsic) scatter in the L{sub 200,K}-M{sub 200} and B{sub gc,K}-M{sub 200} relations are 43%(31%) and 35%(18%) respectively and indicates that for massive clusters both L{sub 200,K} and B{sub gc,K} can predict M{sub 200} with similar accuracy as …