Observational Manifestation of Chaos in the Gaseous Disk of the Grand Design Spiral Galaxy NGC 3631

The main goal of the paper is to demonstrate the presence of chaotic trajectories in the gaseous disk of a real spiral galaxy. As an example we have chosen NGC 3631. First, we show the stationarity of the 3-D velocity field restored from the observed line-of-sight velocity field of the gaseous disk. That allows to analyse behaviour of the trajectories of the fluid particles (gas clouds) in the disk, calculating the corresponding observed streamlines. We estimate the Lyapunov characteristic numbers using their independence of the metrics and show the existence of chaotic trajectories outside the vortices which are present in the velocity field, and in the vicinity of the saddle point. Related spectra of the stretching numbers for some trajectories are also calculated.     

Review of flow control mechanisms of leading-edge vortices

Vortex control concepts employed for slender and nonslender delta wings were reviewed. Important aspects of flow control include flow separation, vortex formation, flow reattachment, vortex breakdown, and vortex instabilities. The occurrence and relative importance of these phenomena strongly depend on the wing sweep angle. Various flow control methods were discussed: multiple vortices, control surfaces, blowing and suction, low-frequency and high-frequency excitation, feedback control, passive control with wing flexibility, and plasma actuators. For slender delta wings, control of vortex breakdown is achieved by modifications to swirl level and external pressure gradient acting on the vortex core. Effects of flow control methods on these two parameters were discussed, and their effectiveness was compared whenever possible. With the high-frequency excitation of the separated shear layer, reattachment and lift enhancement in the post-stall region is observed, which is orders of magnitude more effective than steady blowing. This effect is more pronounced for nonslender wings. Re-formation of vortices is possible with sufficient amplitude of forcing at the optimum frequency. Passive lift enhancement on flexible wings is due to the self-excited wing vibrations, which occur when the frequency of wing vibrations is close to the frequency of the shear layer instabilities, and promote flow reattachment.     

Energetics of reconnection: A reply

In this article we address several criticisms of Petschek-type reconnection models which have recently been raised by Heikkila. We discuss features of the time-dependent Petschek-type models in the context of the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction, and point out that such models can incorporate and reproduce observed features at the magnetopause, such as plasma jets and erosion of the current sheet. We argue that some of Heikkila's criticisms can be attributed to weaknesses in the analysis due to incomplete experimental information, rather than to flaws in the concept of reconnection per se; in this category we include the question of which instability leads to the localised breakup of the magnetopause current sheet. Other criticisms are based on an adherence to steady-state models, and cannot be sustained within the extended time-dependent theory. We discuss, for example, how the time-dependent model can provide a consistent picture of how energy from the incoming solar wind is transferred and converted as it enters the magnetosphere.     

Angular Accuracy of a Scanning Radar Employing a Two-Pole Filter

A two-pole filter is proposed as a detector for a scanning radar. The optimum values of the filter coefficients are found and are approximated by a simple expression. The optimum two-pole filter requires a 0.15-dB increase in signal-to-noise ratio in order to provide the same detection capability as the optimum detector, and yields azimuth estimates whose standard deviation are within 15 percent of the Cramér-Rao lower bound. The estimator is simple to implement, avoiding the storage requirements of the moving window detector and the bias complications of the feedback integrator.     

‘Good’ events selection efficiency of the scintillation time-of-flight system of the Gamma-1 telescope in the 30–300 MeV energy range

The scintillation time-of-flight triggering system of the Gamma-1 gamma-ray telescope provides for both the time-of-flight discrimination and the pulse height discrimination of the secondary particles. The paper gives some experimental results for energy dependence of the instrument efficiency in 30–300 MeV energy range for different trigger logics.     

X-ray emission from Be star/X-ray binaries

Observations of X-ray emission from Be star/X-ray binaries are reviewed. Some optical characteristics of these binaries are also presented. Theoretical aspects pertaining to the X-ray emissions are given.     

Modeling of dynamic evolution of coronal loops

Parameters of expanding magnetic loops and arches and of mass flows generated by them in the corona have been computed in a 1D two-fluid approximation. Two possible trigger mechanisms of the coronal transients have been considered: (i) sudden increase of the background magnetic field strength, and (ii) heating and compression plasma inside these magnetic structures. We discuss the formation of shock waves and their dependence on dynamics and geometry of the magnetic structures.     

Simplified analysis of PWM converters using model of PWM switch.II. Discontinuous conduction mode

For pt.I see ibid., vol.26, no.3, p.490-6 (1990). According to the method of state-space averaging, when a pulsewidth modulation (PWM) converter enters discontinuous conduction mode (DCM), the inductor current state is lost from the average model of the converter. It is shown that there is neither theoretical nor experimental justification for the disappearance of the inductor state as claimed by the method of state-space averaging. For example, when the model of the PWM switch in DCM is substituted in the buck, boost, or buck-boost converter while the inductor is left intact, the average model has two poles: the first pole f_p1 agrees with the single pole of state-space averaging, while the second pole f_p2 occurs in the range f_p2⩾F_s/π. It is shown that the right-half plane zeros present in the control-to-output transfer functions of the boost, buck-boost, and Cuk converters in continuous conduction mode are also present in discontinuous conduction mode     

Bounds on Elevation Error Estimates of a Target in Multipath

The Cramer-Rao bound for an unbiased estimate of the elevation angle of a target in the presence of multipath is calculated for the symmetric (target and image symmetric about the elevation symmetry plane of antenna) and nonsymmetric cases for an antenna consisting of 21 elements. These bounds are compared to the maximum likelihood estimates and it is found that the rms error of the maximum likelihood estimate (which has a bias) is below the Cramer-Rao bound for unbiased estimates.     

An Automatic System for the Control of Multiple Drone Aircraft

A conceptual system is proposed and described for the control of a multiplicity of drone aircraft. Each target (drone) aircraft is controlled, during a given mission, over a separate preprogrammed path comprised of straight line and circular arc segments. Full control of each target's altitude, plan position, and velocity is available. Position measurement can be obtained by use of either a radar or a bilateration method where altitude is measured in either case by each aircraft and telemetered to a central control point. Velocity is obtained by smoothing position data in a central computer, which also controls the entire mission complex.