CHARACTERIZATION OF TANK 19F SAMPLES (open access)

CHARACTERIZATION OF TANK 19F SAMPLES

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was asked by Liquid Waste Operations to characterize Tank 19F closure samples. Tank 19F slurry samples analyzed included the liquid and solid fractions derived from the slurry materials along with the floor scrape bottom Tank 19F wet solids. These samples were taken from Tank 19F in April 2009 and made available to SRNL in the same month. Because of limited amounts of solids observed in Tank 19F samples, the samples from the north quadrants of the tank were combined into one Tank 19F North Hemisphere sample and similarly the south quadrant samples were combined into one Tank 19F South Hemisphere sample. These samples were delivered to the SRNL shielded cell. The Tank 19F samples were analyzed for radiological, chemical and elemental components. Where analytical methods yielded additional contaminants other than those requested by the customer, these results were also reported. The target detection limits for isotopes analyzed were based on detection values of 1E-04 {micro}Ci/g for most radionuclides and customer desired detection values of 1E-05 {micro}Ci/g for I-129, Pa-231, Np-237, and Ra-226. While many of the target detection limits, as specified in the technical task request and task technical and quality assurance plans were …
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Oji, L.; Diprete, D. & Click, D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TANK 18F SAMPLES (open access)

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE TANK 18F SAMPLES

The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) was asked by Liquid Waste Operations to characterize Tank 18F closure samples. Tank 18F slurry samples analyzed included the liquid and solid fractions derived from the 'as-received' slurry materials along with the floor scrape bottom Tank 18F wet solids. These samples were taken from Tank 18F in March 2009 and made available to SRNL in the same month. Because of limited amounts of solids observed in Tank 18F samples, the samples from the north quadrants of the tank were combined into one North Tank 18F Hemisphere sample and similarly the south quadrant samples were combined into one South Tank 18F Hemisphere sample. These samples were delivered to the SRNL shielded cell. The Tank 18F samples were analyzed for radiological, chemical and elemental components. Where analytical methods yielded additional contaminants other than those requested by the customer, these results were also reported. The target detection limits for isotopes analyzed were 1E-04 {micro}Ci/g for most radionuclides and customer desired detection values of 1E-05 {micro}Ci/g for I-129, Pa-231, Np-237, and Ra-226. While many of the minimum detection limits, as specified in the technical task request and task technical and quality assurance plans were met for the species …
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Oji, L.; Click, D. & Diprete, D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Construction of Large Period Symplectic Maps by Interpolative Methods (open access)

Construction of Large Period Symplectic Maps by Interpolative Methods

The goal is to construct a symplectic evolution map for a large section of an accelerator, say a full turn of a large ring or a long wiggler. We start with an accurate tracking algorithm for single particles, which is allowed to be slightly non-symplectic. By tracking many particles for a distance S one acquires sufficient data to construct the mixed-variable generator of a symplectic map for evolution over S, given in terms of interpolatory functions. Two ways to find the generator are considered: (1) Find its gradient from tracking data, then the generator itself as a line integral. (2) Compute the action integral on many orbits. A test of method (1) has been made in a difficult example: a full turn map for an electron ring with strong nonlinearity near the dynamic aperture. The method succeeds at fairly large amplitudes, but there are technical difficulties near the dynamic aperture due to oddly shaped interpolation domains. For a generally applicable algorithm we propose method (2), realized with meshless interpolation methods.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Warnock, Robert; Cai, Yunhai & Ellison, James A.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan African Universities: Recommendations and Monitoring (open access)

Digital Divide in Sub-Saharan African Universities: Recommendations and Monitoring

The Digital Divide prevents Africa from taking advantages of new information technologies. One of the most urgent priorities is to bring the Internet in African Universities, Research, and Learning Centers to the level of other regions of the world. eGY-Africa, and the Sharing Knowledge Foundation are two bottom-up initiatives by scientists to secure better cyber-infrastructure and Internet facilities in Africa. Recommendations by the present scientific communities are being formulated at national, regional and international levels. The Internet capabilities are well documented at country level overall, but this is not the case at the University level. The snapshot of the Internet status in universities in 17 African countries, obtained by a questionnaire survey, is consistent with measures of Internet penetration in the corresponding country. The monitoring of Internet performance has been proposed to those African universities to provide an information base for arguing the need to improve the coverage for Africa. A pilot program is recommended that will start scientific collaboration with Europe in western Africa using ICT. The program will lay the foundations for the arrival of new technologies like Grids.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Barry, Boubakar; Chukwuma, Victor; Petitdidier, Monique; Cottrell, Les & Bartons, Charles
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Evaluating Cumulative Ecosystem Response to Restoration Projects in the Lower Columbia River and Estuary, 2008 (open access)

Evaluating Cumulative Ecosystem Response to Restoration Projects in the Lower Columbia River and Estuary, 2008

Draft annual report for the Cumulative Effects Study for the US Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Johnson, Gary E.; Diefenderfer, Heida L.; Borde, Amy B.; Dawley, Earl M.; Ebberts, Blaine D.; Roegner, G. Curtis et al.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Focusing DIRC Design for Super B (open access)

Focusing DIRC Design for Super B

In this paper we present a new design of the Focusing DIRC for the Barrel PID to be used at the proposed Super-B factory. The new imaging optics is made of a solid Fused Silica block with a double folded optics using two mirrors, one cylindrical and one flat, focusing photons on a detector plane conveniently accessible for the detector access. The design assumes that the BaBar bar boxes are re-used without any modification, including the wedges and windows. Each bar box will have its own focusing block, which will contain 40 H-9500 (or H-8500) MaPMTs according to present thinking. There are 12 bar boxes in the entire detector, so the entire SuperB FDIRC system would have 480 MaPMTs. The design is very compact and therefore reduces sensitivity to the background. The chosen MaPMTs are fast enough to be able both to reject the background and to perform the chromatic correction. The 3D optics simulation is coded with the Mathematica program. The work in this paper was a basis of the LDRD proposal made to SLAC in 2009 [1].
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Va'Vra, J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Higher-Twist Dynamics in Large Transverse Momentum Hadron Production (open access)

Higher-Twist Dynamics in Large Transverse Momentum Hadron Production

A scaling law analysis of the world data on inclusive large-p{sub {perpendicular}} hadron production in hadronic collisions is carried out. A significant deviation from leading-twist perturbative QCD predictions at next-to-leading order is reported. The observed discrepancy is largest at high values of x{sub {perpendicular}} = 2p{sub {perpendicular}}/{radical}s. In contrast, the production of prompt photons and jets exhibits the scaling behavior which is close to the conformal limit, in agreement with the leading-twist expectation. These results bring evidence for a non-negligible contribution of higher-twist processes in large-p{sub {perpendicular}} hadron production in hadronic collisions, where the hadron is produced directly in the hard subprocess rather than by gluon or quark jet fragmentation. Predictions for scaling exponents at RHIC and LHC are given, and it is suggested to trigger the isolated large-p{sub {perpendicular}} hadron production to enhance higher-twist processes.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Arleo, Francois; Brodsky, Stanley J.; Hwang, Dae Sung & Sickles, Anne M.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of D0 lifetime with the BaBar detector (open access)

Measurement of D0 lifetime with the BaBar detector

This work is the result of the researchers carried out during a three years Ph.D. period in the BABAR experiment. The first chapter consists in an introduction to the theoretical aspects of the D{sup 0} meson lifetime determination and CP violation parameters, as well as an overview of the CP violation in the B sector, which is the main topic of the experiment. The description of the experimental apparatus follows with particular attention to the Silicon Vertex Tracker detector, the most critical detector for the determination of decay vertices and thus of lifetimes and time dependent CP violation asymmetries. In the fourth chapter the operation and running of the vertex detector is described, as a result from the experience as Operation Manager of the SVT, with particular attention to the safety of the device and the data quality assurance. The last chapter is dedicated to the determination of the D{sup 0} meson lifetime with the BABAR detector, which is the main data analysis carried out by the candidate. The analysis is characterized by the selection of an extremely pure sample of D{sup 0} mesons for which the decay flight length and proper time is reconstructed. The description of the unbinned …
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Simi, Gabriele & /SLAC, /Pisa U.
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurement of the B-bar 0 to D^* l ^- nu-bar Branching Fraction with a Partial Reconstruction Technique (open access)

Measurement of the B-bar 0 to D^* l ^- nu-bar Branching Fraction with a Partial Reconstruction Technique

Presented is a precise measurement of the {bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}} branching fraction using 81.47 fb{sup -1} of data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II e{sup +}e{sup -} storage ring at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. The measurement was performed by partially reconstructing the D*{sup +} meson from {bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}} decays using only the soft pion of the D*{sup +} {yields} D{sup 0}{pi}{sup +} decay to reconstruct its four vector. The branching fraction was measured to be {Beta}({bar B}{sup 0} {yields} D*{sup +}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}{sub {ell}}) = (4.91 {+-} 0.01{sub stat} {+-} 0.15{sub syst})%.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Sonnek, Peter & U., /Mississippi
Object Type: Thesis or Dissertation
System: The UNT Digital Library
Measurements of the LCLS Laser Heater and its impact on the x-ray FEL Performance (open access)

Measurements of the LCLS Laser Heater and its impact on the x-ray FEL Performance

The very bright electron beam required for an x-ray free-electron laser (FEL), such as the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), is susceptible to a microbunching instability in the magnetic bunch compressors, prior to the FEL undulator. The uncorrelated electron energy spread in the LCLS can be increased by an order of magnitude to provide strong Landau damping against the instability without degrading the FEL performance. To this end, a 'laser-heater' system has been installed in the LCLS injector, which modulates the energy of a 135-MeV electron bunch with an IR laser beam in a short undulator, enclosed within a four-dipole chicane. In this paper, we report detailed measurements of laser heater-induced energy spread, including the unexpected self-heating phenomenon when the laser energy is very low. We discuss the suppression of the microbunching instability with the laser heater and its impact on the x-ray FEL performance. We also present the analysis of these experimental results and develop a three-dimensional longitudinal space charge model to explain the self-heating effect.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Huang, Zhirong; Brachmann, A.; Decker, F. J.; Ding, Y.; Dowell, D.; Emma, P. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Observation of the Inclusive D^{* -} Production in the Decay of Y(1S) (open access)

Observation of the Inclusive D^{* -} Production in the Decay of Y(1S)

The authors present a study of the inclusive D*{sup {+-}} production in the decay of {Upsilon}(1S) using (98.6 {+-} 0.9) x 10{sup 6} {Upsilon}(2S) mesons collected with the BABAR detector at the {Upsilon}(2S) resonance. Using the decay chain {Upsilon}(2S) {yields} {pi}{sup +}{pi}{sup -}{Upsilon}(1S), {Upsilon}(1S) {yields} D*{sup {+-}}X, where X is unobserved, they measure the branching fraction {Beta}[{Upsilon}(1S) {yields} D*{sup {+-}}X] = (2.52 {+-} 0.13(stat) {+-} 0.15(syst))% and the D*{sup {+-}} momentum distribution in the rest frame of the {Upsilon}(1S). They find evidence for an excess of D*{sup {+-}} production over the expected rate from the virtual photon annihilation process {Upsilon}(1S) {yields} {gamma}* {yields} c{bar c} {yields} D*{sup {+-}} X.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Aubert, B.; Karyotakis, Y.; Lees, J. P.; Poireau, V.; Prencipe, E.; Prudent, X. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Quasiparticle Puzzle: Reconciling ARPES and FTSTS Studies of Bi2212 (open access)

The Quasiparticle Puzzle: Reconciling ARPES and FTSTS Studies of Bi2212

Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy (ARPES) probes the momentum-space electronic structure of materials, and provides invaluable information about the high-temperature superconducting cuprates. Likewise, cuprates real-space, inhomogeneous electronic structure is elucidated by Scanning Tunneling Spectroscopy (STS). Recently, STS has exploited quasiparticle interference (QPI) - wave-like electrons scattering off impurities to produce periodic interference patterns - to infer properties of the QP in momentum-space. Surprisingly, some interference peaks in Bi{sub 2}Sr{sub 2}CaCu{sub 2}O{sub 8+{delta}} (Bi-2212) are absent beyond the antiferromagnetic (AF) zone boundary, implying the dominance of particular scattering process. Here, we show that ARPES sees no evidence of quasiparticle (QP) extinction: QP-like peaks are measured everywhere on the Fermi surface, evolving smoothly across the AF zone boundary. This apparent contradiction stems from different natures of single-particle (ARPES) and two-particle (STS) processes underlying these probes. Using a simple model, we demonstrate extinction of QPI without implying the loss of QP beyond the AF zone boundary.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Vishik, I. M.; Nowadnick, E. A.; Lee, W. S.; Shen, Z. X.; /Stanford U., Materials Sci. Dept. /SLAC /Stanford U., Geballe Lab. /Stanford U., Appl. Phys. Dept. /Stanford U., Phys. Dept.; Moritz, B. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Search for B -> tau nu Recoiling Against B- -> D0 l- nu X (open access)

A Search for B -> tau nu Recoiling Against B- -> D0 l- nu X

The authors present a search for the decay B{sup +} {yields} {ell}{sup +}{nu}{sub {ell}} ({ell} = {tau}, {mu}, or e) in (458.9 {+-} 5.1) x 10{sup 6} B{bar B} pairs recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-Factory. They search for these B decays in a sample of B{sup +}B{sup -} events where one B-meson is reconstructed as B{sup -} {yields} D{sup 0}{ell}{sup -}{bar {nu}}X. Using the method of Feldman and Cousins, they obtain {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} {tau}{sup +}{nu}{sub {tau}}) = (1.7 {+-} 0.8 {+-} 0.2) x 10{sup -4}, which excludes zero at 2.3{sigma}. They interpret the central value in the context of the Standard Model and find the B meson decay constant to be f{sub B}{sup 2} = (62 {+-} 31) x 10{sup 3} MeV{sup 2}. They find no evidence for B{sup +} {yields} e{sup +}{nu}{sub e} and B{sup +} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{nu}{sub {mu}} and set upper limits at the 90% C.L. {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} e{sup +}{nu}{sub e}) < 0.8 x 10{sup -5} and {Beta}(B{sup +} {yields} {mu}{sup +}{nu}{sub {mu}}) < 1.1 x 10{sup -5}.
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Aubert, B.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
SLUDGE CHARACTERIZATION AND SRAT SIMULATIONS USING A NITRITE-FREE SLUDGE SIMULANT (open access)

SLUDGE CHARACTERIZATION AND SRAT SIMULATIONS USING A NITRITE-FREE SLUDGE SIMULANT

Understanding catalytic hydrogen generation is fundamental to the safe operation of the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Chemical Process Cell (CPC). Two Sludge Receipt and Adjustment Tank (SRAT) simulations were completed at the Aiken County Technology Laboratory (ACTL) of the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) using a nitrite-free starting simulant. One simulation was trimmed with Rh and Hg and the other with Ru and Hg. The two noble metals were trimmed at the upper end of the recent Rh-Ru-Hg study. Mercury was trimmed at 1.5 wt% in the total solids. Excess acid comparable in quantity to that in the recent Rh-Ru-Hg matrix study was used. In spite of the favorable conditions for hydrogen generation, virtually no hydrogen production was observed during either SRAT simulation. The Rh test result confirmed the postulated significance of nitrite ion to the catalytic reactions producing hydrogen in CPC testing with normal DWPF sludge simulants. As for Ru, however, previous testing has shown that Ru activated for hydrogen generation only after nitrite destruction. Therefore, Ru could have potentially been catalytically active from the start of the nitrite-free SRAT test, but no such activity was seen. The nitrite-free Ru test result suggests that the intermediate form detected …
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Koopman, D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Statistical Analyses of Second Indoor Bio-Release Field Evaluation Study at Idaho National Laboratory (open access)

Statistical Analyses of Second Indoor Bio-Release Field Evaluation Study at Idaho National Laboratory

In September 2008 a large-scale testing operation (referred to as the INL-2 test) was performed within a two-story building (PBF-632) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The report “Operational Observations on the INL-2 Experiment” defines the seven objectives for this test and discusses the results and conclusions. This is further discussed in the introduction of this report. The INL-2 test consisted of five tests (events) in which a floor (level) of the building was contaminated with the harmless biological warfare agent simulant Bg and samples were taken in most, if not all, of the rooms on the contaminated floor. After the sampling, the building was decontaminated, and the next test performed. Judgmental samples and probabilistic samples were determined and taken during each test. Vacuum, wipe, and swab samples were taken within each room. The purpose of this report is to study an additional four topics that were not within the scope of the original report. These topics are: 1) assess the quantitative assumptions about the data being normally or log-normally distributed; 2) evaluate differences and quantify the sample to sample variability within a room and across the rooms; 3) perform geostatistical types of analyses to study spatial correlations; and 4) …
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Amidan, Brett G.; Pulsipher, Brent A. & Matzke, Brett D.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Wave Propagation in Jointed Geologic Media (open access)

Wave Propagation in Jointed Geologic Media

Predictive modeling capabilities for wave propagation in a jointed geologic media remain a modern day scientific frontier. In part this is due to a lack of comprehensive understanding of the complex physical processes associated with the transient response of geologic material, and in part it is due to numerical challenges that prohibit accurate representation of the heterogeneities that influence the material response. Constitutive models whose properties are determined from laboratory experiments on intact samples have been shown to over-predict the free field environment in large scale field experiments. Current methodologies for deriving in situ properties from laboratory measured properties are based on empirical equations derived for static geomechanical applications involving loads of lower intensity and much longer durations than those encountered in applications of interest involving wave propagation. These methodologies are not validated for dynamic applications, and they do not account for anisotropic behavior stemming from direcitonal effects associated with the orientation of joint sets in realistic geologies. Recent advances in modeling capabilities coupled with modern high performance computing platforms enable physics-based simulations of jointed geologic media with unprecedented details, offering a prospect for significant advances in the state of the art. This report provides a brief overview of these …
Date: December 17, 2009
Creator: Antoun, T
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
ASSESSMENTOF BETA PARTICLE FLUX FROM SURFACE CONTAMINATION AS A RELATIVE INDICATOR FOR RADIONUCLIDE DISTRIBUTION ON EXTERNAL SURFACES OF A MULTI-STORY BUILDING IN PRIPYAT (open access)

ASSESSMENTOF BETA PARTICLE FLUX FROM SURFACE CONTAMINATION AS A RELATIVE INDICATOR FOR RADIONUCLIDE DISTRIBUTION ON EXTERNAL SURFACES OF A MULTI-STORY BUILDING IN PRIPYAT

How would we recover if a Radiological Dispersion Device (e.g., dirty bomb) or Improvised Nuclear Device were to detonate in a large city? In order to assess the feasibility of remediation following such an event, several issues would have to be considered, including the levels and characteristics of the radioactive contamination, the availability of the required resources to accomplish decontamination, and the planned future use of the city's structures and buildings. Presently little is known about the distribution, redistribution, and migration of radionuclides in an urban environment. However, Pripyat, a city substantially contaminated by the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant accident, may provide some answers. The main objective of this study was to determine the radionuclide distribution on a Pripyat multi-story building, which had not been previously decontaminated and therefore could reflect the initial fallout and its further natural redistribution on external surfaces. The 7-story building selected was surveyed from the ground floor to the roof on horizontal and vertical surfaces along seven ground-to-roof transections. Some of the results from this study indicate that the upper floors of the building had higher contamination levels than the lower floors. The authors consequently recommend that existing decontamination procedures for tall structures be re-examined …
Date: November 17, 2009
Creator: Farfan, E.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library

Data Analysis of Early Fuel Cell Market Demonstrations

Presentation about early fuel cell markets, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory's Hydrogen Secure Data Center and its role in data analysis and demonstrations, and composite data products, and results reported to multiple stakeholders.
Date: November 17, 2009
Creator: Kurtz, J.; Ramsden, T.; Wipke, K. & Sprik, S.
Object Type: Presentation
System: The UNT Digital Library
MFISH Measurements of Chromosomal Aberrations Individuals Exposed in Utero to Gamma-ray Doses from 5 to 20 cGy (open access)

MFISH Measurements of Chromosomal Aberrations Individuals Exposed in Utero to Gamma-ray Doses from 5 to 20 cGy

Our plan was to identify and obtain blood from 36 individuals from the Mayak-in-utero exposed cohort who were exposed in utero only to gamma ray does doses fro 5 to 20 cGy. Our goal is to do mFISH and in a new development, single-arm mFISH on these samples to measure stable chromosome aberrations in these now adult individuals. The results were compared with matched control individuals (same age, same gender) available from the large control population which we are studying in the context of our plutonium worker study. The long term goal was to assess the results both in terms of the sensitivity of the developing embryo/fetus to low doses of ionizing radiation, and in terms of different potential mechanisms (expanded clonal origin vs. induced instability) for an increased risk.
Date: November 17, 2009
Creator: Brenner, David J.
Object Type: Report
System: The UNT Digital Library
Calculating the Loss factor of the LCLS Beam Line Elements for Ultra-Shrot Bunches (open access)

Calculating the Loss factor of the LCLS Beam Line Elements for Ultra-Shrot Bunches

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is a SASE 1.5-15 {angstrom} x-ray Free-Electron Laser (FEL) facility. Since an ultra-short intense bunch is used in the LCLS operation one might suggest that wake fields, generated in the vacuum chamber, may have an effect on the x-ray production because these fields can change the beam particle energies thereby increasing the energy spread in a bunch. At LCLS a feedback system precisely controls the bunch energy before it enters a beam transport line after the linac. However, in the transport line and later in the undulator section the bunch energy and energy spread are not under feedback control and may change due to wake field radiation, which depends upon the bunch current or on a bunch length. The linear part of the energy spread can be compensated in the upstream linac; the energy loss in the undulator section can be compensated by varying the K-parameter of the undulators, however we need a precise knowledge of the wake fields in this part of the machine. Resistive wake fields are known and well calculated. We discuss an additional part of the wake fields, which comes from the different vacuum elements like bellows, BPMs, transitions, vacuum …
Date: October 17, 2009
Creator: Novokhatski, A.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
Dynamic quantum clustering: a tool for visual exploration of structures in data (open access)

Dynamic quantum clustering: a tool for visual exploration of structures in data

A given set of data-points in some feature space may be associated with a Schroedinger equation whose potential is determined by the data. This is known to lead to good clustering solutions. Here we extend this approach into a full-fledged dynamical scheme using a time-dependent Schroedinger equation. Moreover, we approximate this Hamiltonian formalism by a truncated calculation within a set of Gaussian wave functions (coherent states) centered around the original points. This allows for analytic evaluation of the time evolution of all such states, opening up the possibility of exploration of relationships among data-points through observation of varying dynamical-distances among points and convergence of points into clusters. This formalism may be further supplemented by preprocessing, such as dimensional reduction through singular value decomposition or feature filtering.
Date: October 17, 2009
Creator: Weinstein, Marvin
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
The Evolution of Swift/BAT blazars and the origin of the MeV background (open access)

The Evolution of Swift/BAT blazars and the origin of the MeV background

We use 3 years of data from the Swift/BAT survey to select a complete sample of X-ray blazars above 15 keV. This sample comprises 26 Flat-Spectrum Radio Quasars (FSRQs) and 12 BL Lac objects detected over a redshift range of 0.03 < z < 4.0. We use this sample to determine, for the first time in the 15-55 keV band, the evolution of blazars. We find that, contrary to the Seyfert-like AGNs detected by BAT, the population of blazars shows strong positive evolution. This evolution is comparable to the evolution of luminous optical QSOs and luminous X-ray selected AGNs. We also find evidence for an epoch-dependence of the evolution as determined previously for radio-quiet AGNs. We interpret both these findings as a strong link between accretion and jet activity. In our sample, the FSRQs evolve strongly, while our best-fit shows that BL Lacs might not evolve at all. The blazar population accounts for 10-20% (depending on the evolution of the BL Lacs) of the Cosmic X-ray background (CXB) in the 15-55 keV band. We find that FSRQs can explain the entire CXB emission for energies above 500 keV solving the mystery of the generation of the MeV background. The evolution …
Date: October 17, 2009
Creator: Ajello, M.; /SLAC /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Costamante, L.; /Stanford U., HEPL /KIPAC, Menlo Park; Sambruna, R.M.; Gehrels, N. et al.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
A Femtosecond-Level Fiber-Optics Timing Distribution System Using Frequency-Offset Interferometry (open access)

A Femtosecond-Level Fiber-Optics Timing Distribution System Using Frequency-Offset Interferometry

An optical fiber-based frequency and timing distribution system based on the principle of heterodyne interferometry has been in development at LBNL for several years. The fiber drift corrector has evolved from an RF-based to an optical-based system, from mechanical correctors (piezo and optical trombone) to fully electronic, and the electronics from analog to fully digital, all using inexpensive off-the-shelf commodity fiber components. Short-term optical phase jitter and long-term phase drift are both in the femtosecond range over distribution paths of 2 km or more.
Date: October 17, 2009
Creator: Staples, J. W.; Byrd, J.; Doolittle, L.; Huang, G. & Wilcox, R.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library
High harmonic phase in molecular nitrogen (open access)

High harmonic phase in molecular nitrogen

Electronic structure in atoms and molecules modulates the amplitude and phase of high harmonic generation (HHG). We report measurements of the high harmonic spectral amplitude and phase in N{sub 2}. The phase is measured interferometrically by beating the N{sub 2} harmonics with those of an Ar reference oscillator in a gas mixture. A rapid phase shift of 0.2{pi} is observed in the vicinity of the HHG spectral minimum, where a shift of {pi} had been presumed [J. Itatani et al., Nature 432, 867 (2004)]. We compare the phase measurements to a simulation of the HHG recombination step in N{sub 2} that is based on a simple interference model. The results of the simulation suggest that modifications beyond the simple interference model are needed to explain HHG spectra in molecules.
Date: October 17, 2009
Creator: McFarland, Brian K.
Object Type: Article
System: The UNT Digital Library