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Understanding the behavior of fractures and subsurface damage in the processes used during optic fabrication plays a key role in determining the final quality of the optical surface finish. During the early stages of surface preparation, brittle grinding processes induce fractures at or near an optical surface whose range can extend from depths of a few mm to hundreds of mm depending upon the process and tooling being employed. Controlling the occurrence, structure, and propagation of these sites during subsequent grinding and polishing operations is highly desirable if one wishes to obtain high-quality surfaces that are free of such artifacts. Over the past year, our team has made significant strides in developing a diagnostic technique that combines magnetorheological finishing (MRF) and scanning optical microscopy to measure and characterize subsurface damage in optical materials. The technique takes advantage of the unique nature of MRF to polish a prescribed large-area wedge into the optical surface without propagating existing damage or introducing new damage. The polished wedge is then analyzed to quantify subsurface damage as a function of depth from the original surface. Large-area measurement using scanning optical microscopy provides for improved accuracy and reliability over methods such as the COM ball-dimple technique. …

In 2004, a research project--the New York City Urban Dispersion Program (NYC UDP)--was launched by the Department of Homeland Security with the goal to improve the permanent network of wind stations in and around New York City and to enhance the city's emergency response capabilities. Encompassing both field studies and computer modeling, one of the program's objectives is to improve and validate urban dispersion models using the data collected from field studies and to transfer the improved capabilities to NYC emergency agencies. The first two field studies were conducted in March and August 2005 respectively and an additional study is planned for the summer of 2006. Concurrently model simulations, using simple to sophisticated computational fluid dynamics (CFD) models, have been performed to aid the planning of field studies and also to evaluate the performance of such models. Airflow and tracer dispersion in urban areas such as NYC are extremely complicated. Some of the contributing factors are complex geometry, variable terrain, coupling between local and larger scale flows, deep canyon mixing and updrafts/downdrafts caused by large buildings, street channeling and upstream transport, roof features, and heating effects, etc. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Homeland Security …

We have built a high-speed velocimeter that has proven to be compact, simple to operate, and fairly inexpensive. We assembled our velocimeter using off-the-shelf components developed for the telecommunications industry. The main components are fiber lasers, high-bandwidth high-sample-rate digitizers, and fiber optic circulators. The laser is a 2-watt CW fiber laser operating at 1550 nm. The digitizers have 8-GHz bandwidth and can digitize four channels simultaneously at 20 GS/s. The maximum velocity of our system is approximately 5000 m/s and is limited by the bandwidth of the electrical components. For most of our applications, we analyze the recorded beat frequency using Fourier transform methods, which determines the time response of the final velocity time history. We generally analyze our data with approximately 50 ns Fourier transform windows. We have obtained high-quality data on many experiments such as explosively driven surfaces and gas gun assemblies.

The Feit-Rubenchik size-selection damage model has been extended in a number of ways. More realistic thermal deposition profiles have been added. Non-spherical shapes (rods and plates) have been considered, with allowance for their orientation dependence. Random variations have been taken into account. An explicit form for the change of absorptivity with precursor size has been added. A simulation tool called GIDGET has been built to allow adjustment of the many possible parameters in order to fit experimental data of initiation density as a function of fluence and pulse duration. The result is a set of constraints on the possible properties of initiation precursors.

We study the two-body decays of B{sup {+-}} mesons to K{sup {+-}} and a charmonium state, X{sub c{bar c}}, in a sample of 210.5 fb{sup -1} of data from the BABAR experiment. We perform measurements of absolute branching fractions {Beta}(B{sup {+-}} {yields} K{sup {+-}} X{sub c{bar c}}) using a missing mass technique, and report several new or improved results. In particular, the upper limit {Beta}(B{sup {+-}} {yields} K{sup {+-}}(3872)) < 3.2 x 10{sup -4} at 90% CL and the inferred lower limit {Beta}(X(3872) {yields} J/{psi}{pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}) > 4.2% will help in understanding the nature of the recently discovered X(3872).

A review of the results in the inclusive and exclusive searches for pentaquark states obtained from the analysis of the data recorded at the BABAR experiment at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center PEP-II B-Factory, is presented. Inclusive searches for the strange pentaquark states {Theta}{sub 5}(1540){sup +}, {Xi}{sub 5}(1860){sup --} and {Xi}{sub 5}(1860){sup 0} have been performed in a dataset of e{sup +}e{sup -} annihilations corresponding to 123.4 fb{sup -1} of integrated luminosity. No evidence is found and therefore the corresponding 95% confidence level upper limits on the {Theta}{sub 5}(1540){sup +} and {Xi}{sub 5}(1860){sup --} production rate are set. Additionally the decay {Theta}{sub 5}(1540){sup +} {yields} pK{sub S}{sup 0} has been searched for in events that correspond to interactions of both electrons and hadrons with the inner-most material of the BABAR detector, but then again, no evidence for such a process is found as a result of this analysis. The exclusive search of the {Theta}*{sup ++} pentaquark in the B meson decay B{sup +} {yields} {bar p}{Theta}*{sup ++} where {Theta}*{sup ++} {yields} pK{sup +}, has been carried out in a dataset of 210 fb{sup -1}. The results show no evidence for such a pentaquark in the mass range from 1.43 to …

Based on an 87-fb{sup -1} dataset collected by the Babar detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy B-Factory, a search for D{sup 0}-{bar D}{sup 0} mixing has been made using the semileptonic decay modes D*{sup +} {yields} {pi}{sup +}D{sup 0}, D{sup 0} {yields} Ke{nu} (+c.c.). The use of these modes allows unambiguous flavor tagging and a combined fit of the D{sup 0} decay time and D*{sup +}-D{sup 0} mass difference ({Delta}M) distributions. The high-statistics sample of unmixed semileptonic D{sup 0} decays is used to model the {Delta}M distribution and time-dependence of mixed events directly from the data. Neural networks are used to select events and reconstruct the D{sup 0}. A result consistent with no charm mixing has been obtained, R{sub mix} = 0.0023 {+-} 0.0012 {+-} 0.0004. This corresponds to an upper limit of R{sub mix} < 0.0042 (90% CL).

For many years, the commercial nuclear business has remained relatively stable in many ways. That is unlikely to be the case in the coming years. While some countries have called for the phase out of nuclear power and others have ordered a small number of new plants, the overall profile of the nuclear power business has changed little. The number of countries with nuclear power plants is not much different than 10 years ago and the total number of operating plants has increased only slightly. Commercial enrichment and reprocessing services have remained the province of a few countries and consortia. Repository programs have moved forward slowly in some cases, backward in others, with a very small number making substantial progress. We are now witnessing the beginnings of serious change, with significant consequences for the future nuclear regime. Business as usual will not be the business of the future. The way the nuclear and policy community respond will have much to do with energy adequacy, national security, international stability, and environmental consequences including waste management and disposal. A number of events and trends are becoming increasingly apparent and are cause for both opportunity and caution: (1) New nuclear power plant orders …

A search for the decays B {yields} {rho}(770){gamma} and B{sup 0} {yields} {omega}(782) is performed on a sample of 211 million {Upsilon}(4S) {yields} B{bar B} events collected by the BABAR detector at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring. No evidence for the decays is seen. We set the following limits on the individual branching fractions {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} {rho}{sup +}{gamma}) < 1.8 x 10{sup -6}, {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {rho}{sup 0}{gamma}) < 0.4 x 10{sup -6}, and {Beta}(B{sup 0} {yields} {omega}{gamma}) < 1.0 x 10{sup -6} at the 90% confidence level (C.L.). We use the quark model to limit the combined branching fraction {bar {Beta}}[B {yields} ({rho}/{omega}){gamma}] < 1.2 x 10{sup -6} and constrain |V{sub td}|/|V{sub ts}|.