Reflection Amplitudes (reflection + amplitude)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Detection and analysis of LNAPL using the instantaneous amplitude and frequency of ground-penetrating radar data

GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 1 2002
Luciana Orlando
This paper reports the results of using the ground-penetrating radar (GPR) method to detect light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPL) floating on the water table in an area where the thickness of LNAPL present ranges from a few centimetres to several decimetres. To understand the GPR response in this context, GPR theoretical models are calculated using information from the literature and hydrogeological field data. The study revealed that in the case of LNAPL floating on the water table in a static condition, there is an increase in the reflection amplitude from the water table due to the decrease in the capillary fringe. Nevertheless the amplitude of reflection from the water table can discriminate the contaminated from the non-contaminated zone. Apart from an analysis of the real traces, the analysis of some attributes of the complex trace, instantaneous amplitude, phase and frequency, are also good tools to detect hydrocarbons floating on the water table. Such attributes, depending on both the signal frequency and the hydrocarbon thickness, can also give information about the thickness of the hydrocarbon layer. It is concluded that analysing the lateral variations in signal amplitude of the real trace and in the amplitude, phase and instantaneous frequency of the complex signal permits the delimiting of the area polluted by the hydrocarbon. [source]


Accreting millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4,3658 during its 2002 outburst: evidence for a receding disc

MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY, Issue 1 2009
Askar Ibragimov
ABSTRACT An outburst of the accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar SAX J1808.4,3658 in 2002 October,November was followed by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer for more than a month. A detailed analysis of this unprecedented data set is presented. For the first time, we demonstrate how the area covered by the hotspot at the neutron star surface is decreasing in the course of the outburst together with the reflection amplitude. These trends are in agreement with the natural scenario, where the disc inner edge is receding from the neutron star as the mass accretion rate drops. These findings are further supported by the variations of the pulse profiles, which clearly show the presence of the secondary maximum at the late stages of the outburst after October 29. This fact can be interpreted as the disc receding sufficiently far from the neutron star to open the view of the lower magnetic pole. In that case, the disc inner radius can be estimated. Assuming that disc is truncated at the Alfvén radius, we constrain the stellar magnetic moment to ,= (9 ± 5) × 1025 G cm3, which corresponds to the surface field of about 108 G. On the other hand, using the magnetic moment recently obtained from the observed pulsar spin-down rate we show that the disc edge has to be within factor of 2 of the Alfvén radius, putting interesting constraints on the models of the disc,magnetosphere interaction. We also demonstrate that the sharp changes in the phase of the fundamental are intimately related to the variations of the pulse profile, which we associate with the varying obscuration of the antipodal spot. Using the phase-resolved spectra, we further argue that the strong dependence of the pulse profiles on photon energy and the observed soft time lags result from the different phase dependence of the normalizations of the two spectral components, the blackbody and the Comptonized tail, being consistent with the model, where these components have significantly different angular emission patterns. The pulse profile amplitude allows us to estimate the colatitude of the hotspot centroid to be ,4°,10°. [source]


Magnetoimpedance (MI) in amorphous wires: new materials and applications

PHYSICA STATUS SOLIDI (A) APPLICATIONS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE, Issue 4 2009
Larissa V. Panina
Abstract The discovery of the magnetoimpedance (MI) effect in 1994 had a strong impact on the development of magnetic sensors. Along with traditional areas of sensing applications (data storage, bio-medical electronics, robotics and security), the MI elements have a high potential for applications in smart sensory systems (self-sensing composites) operating at microwave frequencies owing to still very large MI ratios of 50,100% in Co-rich amorphous wires at GHz frequencies. Here we introduce two types of MI wire composites: 2D-arrays and mixtures of wire pieces. In such materials the effective permittivity has strong dispersion in a frequency band determined by a plasma frequency or a dipole resonance, respectively. If MI wires are used as constituent elements, this dispersion may be very sensitive to the magnetic properties of wires since the wire impedance determines the relaxation parameter of the effective permittivity. For example, increasing the wire impedance by establishing the magnetisation along the axis with an external magnetic field broadens the resonance band, decreases the reflection amplitude and may open a bandpass. Depending on the magnetic anisotropy in wires, tuning can be realized with both magnetic field and stress. It is foreseen that MI-wire composite materials could be suitable for large scale applications, in particular, for free space filters in secure wireless systems and for microwave nondestructive testing and control in civil engineering. (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim) [source]


The effect of inertial coupling on seismic reflection amplitudes

GEOPHYSICAL PROSPECTING, Issue 5 2008
Ashish Arora
ABSTRACT A problem of reflection and transmission of elastic waves at a plane interface between a uniform elastic solid half-space and a porous elastic half-space containing two immiscible fluids is investigated. The theory developed by Lo, Sposito and Majer for porous media containing two immiscible fluids is employed to find out the reflection and transmission coefficients. The incident wave is assumed to propagate through the uniform elastic half-space and two cases are considered. In the first case, a beam of plane longitudinal wave is assumed to be incident and in the second case, a beam of transverse wave is assumed to be incident at the interface. By taking granite as impervious elastic medium and columbia fine sandy loam containing air-water mixture as porous medium, reflection and transmission coefficients are obtained. By neglecting the inertial coupling coefficients, these coefficients are reduced to those obtained by Tomar and Arora using the theory of Tuncay and Corapcioglu. It is found that the inertial coupling parameters significantly affect the phase speeds and the amplitude ratios of the transmitted waves. [source]


Structure determination without Fourier inversion.

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION A, Issue 6 2009

The parameter-space concept for solving crystal structures from reflection amplitudes (without employing or searching for their phases) is described on a theoretically oriented basis. Emphasis is placed on the principles of the method, on selecting one of three types of parameter spaces discussed in this paper, and in particular on the structure model employed (equal-atom point model, however usually reduced to one-dimensional projections) and on the system of `isosurfaces' representing experimental `geometrical structure amplitudes' in an orthonormal parameter space of as many dimensions as unknown atomic coordinates. The symmetry of the parameter space as well as of the imprinted isosurfaces and its effect on solution methods is discussed. For point atoms scattering with different phases or signs (as is possible in the case of X-ray resonant or of neutron scattering) it is demonstrated that the `landscape' of these isosurfaces remains invariant save certain shifts of origin known beforehand (under the condition that all atomic scattering amplitudes have been reduced to 1 thus meeting the requirement of the structure model above). Partly referring to earlier publications on the subject, measures are briefly described which permit circumventing an analytical solution of the system of structure-amplitude equations and lead to either a unique (unequivocal) approximate structure solution (offering rather high spatial resolution) or to all possible solutions permitted by the experimental data used (thus including also all potential `false minima'). A simple connection to Patterson vectors is given, also a first hint on data errors. References are given for practical details of various solution techniques already tested and for reconstruction of three-dimensional structures from their projections by `point tomography'. We would feel foolish if we tried to aim at any kind of `competition' to existing methods. Having mentioned `pros and cons' of our concept, some ideas about potential applications are nevertheless offered which are mainly based on its inherent resolution power though demanding rather few reflection data (use of optimal intensity contrast included) and possibly providing a result proven to be unique. [source]


Data processing issues in large-area GPR surveys: correcting trace misalignments, edge discontinuities and striping

ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROSPECTION, Issue 2 2008
Eileen G. Ernenwein
Abstract Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) lags behind other archaeogeophysical methods in terms of speed, efficiency and ability to produce clean site-wide composites owing to complex and time-consuming data processing requirements. Two North American case studies illustrate problems that occur when survey is conducted over long and short periods of time. Some GPR defects have been blamed on differential solar heating of antennae and battery power levels but we show these effects to be negligible. Major problems include gradual changes over time in ground moisture and low-level background noise, which can create discontinuities between adjacent survey blocks when data are collected at different times. These problems are often remedied by globally aligning traces using a stable trace position. Variations in ground moisture through time also cause differences in reflection amplitudes, necessitating different range gain curves to match amplitudes between survey blocks. In some cases changes in ground moisture cause noticeable differences in velocity between survey blocks requiring time-scales to be converted to depths to correctly match the data. These problems must be remedied before horizontal slicing can be considered. Subsequent image processing may also be necessary to generate a seamless mosaic and eliminate striping artefacts commonly seen in slice maps. The latter are probably caused by antenna lift and tilt and can be removed by a de-striping algorithm that uses a one-dimensional low-pass filter to characterize stripes followed by their subtraction from the data. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


What happens when the signs of anomalous differences or the handedness of substructure are inverted?

ACTA CRYSTALLOGRAPHICA SECTION D, Issue 7 2007
Jiawei Wang
Proper solution of a macromolecular crystal structure based on anomalous scattering and/or isomorphous differences requires that the anomalous differences in reflection amplitudes be measured properly and that the correct enantiomer of the substructure be selected. If this information is wrong then the resulting electron-density maps will not show the correct structural features, but the reflection phases and map features will be related to the correct ones in a specific way. This text aims to explain how misinterpretation of the Bijvoet differences or of the substructure affects the resulting phases and electron-density maps. [source]