A dual Stage ion engine for high impulse missions

In this paper, the applicability of dual stage ion opticsand in particular of the so-called dual stage ion engine to highpower, high specific impulse missions will be evaluated. First, theperformance limits of conventional two gridded ion engines (GIE)will be discussed and the advantages provided by dual stage ionengines reported. The limits of applicability of a dual stage ionengine will be analyzed analytically and the results confirmednumerically. The lifetime and performance of a three griddeddual stage ion engine (DS3G) will be numerically investigated andcompared to those of a conventional GIE assessing for the firsttime in the open literature under what condition dual stage ionoptics provide performance improvements over conventional GIEsand what is its impact on the thruster lifetime. Dual stage ionengines have been found to be capable of providing higher thrustdensity and longer lifetime with respect to conventional griddedion engines

Hollow cathode chemical modelling

In this paper the state of hollow cathode life time modelling at the University of Southampton will be reported. Two models have been developed: one for BaO depletion from the hollow cathode insert and another for low work function compounds deposition and desorption. The model developed to predict BaO depletion from hollow cathode insert will be presented together with some comparison between experimental and numerical data to prove its validity.A model for low work function compounds deposition and desorption will also be presented. This model will be used to simulate the NSTAR cathode showing a very conservative estimate of the cathode life due to conservative character of the hypotheses made in the model development and due to the chosen criteria for the end of life

A stochastic two-stage innovation diffusion model on a lattice

We propose a stochastic model describing a process of awareness, evaluation and decision-making by agents on the d-dimensional integer lattice. Each agent may be in any of the three states belonging to the set {0, 1, 2}. In this model 0 stands for ignorants, 1 for aware and 2 for adopters. Aware and adopters inform its nearest ignorant neighbors about a new product innovation at rate lambda. At rate alpha an agent in aware state becomes an adopter due to the influence of adopters neighbors. Finally, aware and adopters forget the information about the new product, thus becoming ignorant, at rate one. Our purpose is to analyze the influence of the parameters on the qualitative behavior of the process. We obtain sufficient conditions under which the innovation diffusion (and adoption) either becomes extinct or propagates through the population with positive probability.Comment: Theorem 2.4 has been improved and some minor changes have been made. To appear in J. Appl. Proba

A spatial stochastic model for rumor transmission

We consider an interacting particle system representing the spread of a rumor by agents on the $d$-dimensional integer lattice. Each agent may be in any of the three states belonging to the set {0,1,2}. Here 0 stands for ignorants, 1 for spreaders and 2 for stiflers. A spreader tells the rumor to any of its (nearest) ignorant neighbors at rate \lambda. At rate \alpha a spreader becomes a stifler due to the action of other (nearest neighbor) spreaders. Finally, spreaders and stiflers forget the rumor at rate one. We study sufficient conditions under which the rumor either becomes extinct or survives with positive probability

A feasibility study on using inkjet technology, micropumps, and MEMs as fuel injectors for bipropellant rocket engines

Control over drop size distributions, injection rates, and geometrical distribution of fuel and oxidizer sprays in bi-propellant rocket engines has the potential to produce more efficient, more stable, less polluting rocket engines. This control also offers the potential of an engine that can be throttled, working efficiently over a wide range of output thrusts. Inkjet printing technologies, MEMS fuel atomizers, and piezoelectric injectors similar in concept to those used in diesel engines are considered for their potential to yield a new, more active injection scheme for a rocket engine. Inkjets are found to be unable to pump at sufficient pressures, and have possibly dangerous failure modes. Active injection is found to be feasible if high pressure drop along the injector plate are used. A conceptual design is presented and its basic behavior assessed

Homotopy Lie Superalgebra in Yang-Mills Theory

The Yang-Mills equations are formulated in the form of generalized Maurer-Cartan equations, such that the corresponding algebraic operations are shown to satisfy the defining relations of homotopy Lie superalgebra.Comment: LaTeX2e, 10 page

Testing Closed String Field Theory with Marginal Fields

We study the feasibility of level expansion and test the quartic vertex of closed string field theory by checking the flatness of the potential in marginal directions. The tests, which work out correctly, require the cancellation of two contributions: one from an infinite-level computation with the cubic vertex and the other from a finite-level computation with the quartic vertex. The numerical results suggest that the quartic vertex contributions are comparable or smaller than those of level four fields.Comment: 14 pages, LaTeX. v2: New references to work of Beccaria and Rampino, and Taylor. Improved numerical analysis at the end of section

Transport in strongly-coupled graphene-LaAlO3/SrTiO3 hybrid systems

We report on the transport properties of hybrid devices obtained by depositing graphene on a LaAlO3/SrTiO3 oxide junction hosting a 4 nm-deep two-dimensional electron system. At low graphene-oxide inter-layer bias the two electron systems are electrically isolated, despite their small spatial separation, and very efficient reciprocal gating is shown. A pronounced rectifying behavior is observed for larger bias values and ascribed to the interplay between electrostatic depletion and tunneling across the LaAlO3 barrier. The relevance of these results in the context of strongly-coupled bilayer systems is discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure