Monte Carlo configuration interaction applied to multipole moments, ionisation energies and electron affinities

The method of Monte Carlo configuration interaction (MCCI) [1,2] is applied to the calculation of multipole moments. We look at the ground and excited state dipole moments in carbon monoxide. We then consider the dipole of NO, the quadrupole of the nitrogen molecule and of BH. An octupole of methane is also calculated. We consider experimental geometries and also stretched bonds. We show that these non-variational quantities may be found to relatively good accuracy when compared with FCI results, yet using only a small fraction of the full configuration interaction space. MCCI results in the aug-cc-pVDZ basis are seen to generally have reasonably good agreement with experiment. We also investigate the performance of MCCI when applied to ionisation energies and electron affinities of atoms in an aug-cc-pVQZ basis. We compare the MCCI results with full configuration-interaction quantum Monte Carlo [3,4] and `exact' non-relativistic results [3,4]. We show that MCCI could be a useful alternative for the calculation of atomic ionisation energies however electron affinities appear much more challenging for MCCI. Due to the small magnitude of the electron affinities their percentage errors can be high, but with regards to absolute errors MCCI performs similarly for ionisation energies and electron affinities.Comment: 12 pages, 20 figure

Influences on the fraction of hydrophobic and hydrophilic black carbon in the atmosphere

Black carbon (BC) is a short term climate forcer that directly warms the atmosphere, slows convection, and hinders quantification of the effect of greenhouse gases on climate change. The atmospheric lifetime of BC particles with respect to nucleation scavenging in clouds is controlled by their ability to serve as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). To serve as CCN under typical conditions, hydrophobic BC particles must acquire hygroscopic coatings. However, the quantitative relationship between coatings and hygroscopic properties for ambient BC particles is not known nor is the time scale for hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic conversion. Here we introduce a method for measuring the hygroscopicity of externally and internally mixed BC particles by coupling a single particle soot photometer with a humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer. We test this technique using uncoated and coated laboratory generated model BC compounds and apply it to characterize the hygroscopicity distribution of ambient BC particles. From these data we derive that the observed number fraction of BC that is CCN active at 0.2% supersaturation is generally low in an urban area near sources and that it varies with the trajectory of the airmass. We anticipate that our method can be combined with measures of air parcel physical and photochemical age to provide the first quantitative estimates for characterizing hydrophobic-to-hydrophilic conversion rates in the atmosphere.Peer reviewe

Low-speed wind-tunnel investigation of the flight dynamic characteristics of an advanced turboprop business/commuter aircraft configuration

An investigation was conducted to determine the low-speed flight dynamic behavior of a representative advanced turboprop business/commuter aircraft concept. Free-flight tests were conducted in the NASA Langley Research Center's 30- by 60-Foot Tunnel. In support of the free-flight tests, conventional static, dynamic, and free-to-roll oscillation tests were performed. Tests were intended to explore normal operating and post stall flight conditions, and conditions simulating the loss of power in one engine

Series-hybrid bearing - An approach to extending bearing fatigue life at high speeds

Fluid film bearing of hybrid device consists of orifice compensated annular thrust bearing and self-acting journal bearing. In series hybrid bearing, both ball bearing and annular thrust bearing carry full system thrust load, but two bearings share speed. Operation of system is stable and automatically fail-safe

Monitoring and Discovering X-ray Pulsars in the Small Magellanic Cloud

Regular monitoring of the SMC with RXTE has revealed a huge number of X-ray pulsars. Together with discoveries from other satellites at least 45 SMC pulsars are now known. One of these sources, a pulsar with a period of approximately 7.8 seconds, was first detected in early 2002 and since discovery it has been found to be in outburst nine times. The outburst pattern clearly shows a period of 45.1 +/- 0.4 d which is thought to be the orbital period of this system. Candidate outburst periods have also been obtained for nine other pulsars and continued monitoring will enable us to confirm these. This large number of pulsars, all located at approximately the same distance, enables a wealth of comparative studies. In addition, the large number of pulsars found (which vastly exceeds the number expected simply by scaling the relative mass of the SMC and the Galaxy) reveals the recent star formation history of the SMC which has been influenced by encounters with both the LMC and the Galaxy.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, AIP conference proceedings format. Contribution to "X-ray Timing 2003: Rossi and Beyond." meeting held in Cambridge, MA, November, 200

Calculations of Potential Energy Surfaces Using Monte Carlo Configuration Interaction

We apply the method of Monte Carlo configuration interaction (MCCI) to calculate ground-state potential energy curves for a range of small molecules and compare the results with full configuration interaction. We show that the MCCI potential energy curve can be calculated to relatively good accuracy, as quantified using the non-parallelity error, using only a very small fraction of the FCI space. In most cases the potential curve is of better accuracy than its constituent single-point energies. We finally test the MCCI program on systems with basis sets beyond full configuration interaction: a lattice of fifty hydrogen atoms and ethylene. The results for ethylene agree fairly well with other computational work while for the lattice of fifty hydrogens we find that the fraction of the full configuration interaction space we were able to consider appears to be too small as, although some qualitative features are reproduced, the potential curve is less accurate.Comment: 14 pages, 22 figure

Optical studies of two LMC X-ray transients : RX J0544.1-7100 and RX J0520.5-6932

We report observations which confirm the identities of the optical counterpart to the transient sources RX J0544.1-7100 and RX J0520.5-6932. The counterparts are suggested to be a B-type stars. Optical data from the observations carried out at ESO and SAAO, together with results from the OGLE data base, are presented. In addition, X-ray data from the RXTE all-sky monitor are investigated for long term periodicities. A strong suggestion for a binary period of 24.4d is seen in RX J0520.5-6932 from the OGLE data.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure