Related papers: Relativistic Light Sails
All direct measurements of peculiar velocities of glaxies assume the Hubble law at low redshifts. However, it has been suggested by Segal et al (1993) that the correlation of redshifts and fluxes in a complete sample of IRAS galaxies is…
The electric solar wind sail is a novel propellantless space propulsion concept. According to numerical estimates, the electric solar wind sail can produce a large total impulse per propulsion system mass. Here we consider using a 0.5 N…
With interstellar mission concepts now being under study by various space agencies and institutions, a feasible and worthy interstellar precursor mission concept will be key to the success of the long shot. Here we investigate…
The model of stochastic acceleration of particles by turbulence has been successful in explaining many observed features of solar flares. Here we demonstrate a new method to obtain the accelerated electron spectrum and important…
Limb darkening laws are convenient parameterizations of the stellar intensity center-to-limb variation, and their use is ubiquitous in eclipse and transit modeling. But they are not "laws" in any sense -- they are simple approximations of…
Ultra-high intensity femtosecond lasers at focus are now routinely used for relativistic motion of charged particles with peak intensities over 10^18W/cm^2. Such high-field experiments are very sensitive to the value of the peak intensity.…
It has been proposed that blazar jets are structured, with a fast spine surrounded by a slower sheath or layer. This structured jet model explains some properties of their emission and morphology. Because of their relative motion, the…
In this work we have studied the effect of target thickness on relativistic self-induced transparency (RSIT) and found out that for subwavelength targets the corresponding threshold target density (beyond which target is opaque to incident…
Interstellar communications are achievable with gram-scale spacecraft using swarm techniques introduced herein if an adequate energy source, clocks and a suitable communications protocol exist. The essence of our approach to the…
Radiation Pressure Acceleration relies on high intensity laser pulse interacting with solid target to obtain high maximum energy, quasimonoenergetic ion beams. Either extremely high power laser pulses or tight focusing of laser radiation is…
The relative transverse velocity of a lens with respect to the source star in gravitational lensing results in a frequency shift in the light rays passing by a lens. We propose using this relativistic effect for measuring the relative…
We analyze the possibility of Experimental Research of Extra Dimensions On-Board International Space Station (ISS) by using a Satellite carrying a Laser device(optical Laser) on the other side of Earth Orbit targeted towards ISS.The Sun…
Astrophysical space missions deliver invaluable information about our universe, stellar dynamics of our galaxy, and motion of celestial bodies in the solar system. Astrometric space missions SIM and Gaia will determine distances to stars…
Particles are accelerated to very high, non-thermal energies during explosive energy-release phenomena in space, solar, and astrophysical plasma environments. In the case of solar flares, it has been established that magnetic reconnection…
A lightsail can be accelerated to ultra-high speed by the radiation pressure of a laser having an intensity of the order of GW/m$^2$, which though presents a critical challenge in the thermal management of lightsails. In this letter, we…
The StarLight program conceptualizes fast interstellar travel via small wafer satellites (wafersats) that are propelled by directed energy. This process is wildly different from traditional space travel and trades large and slow spacecraft…
We aim to explain the paradigm of a learning model, as well as to validate it in an applied case of an astronomy problem where the data used are declination, parallax, radial velocity of a star, as well as its annual variation in right…
In order to understand the nature of the lenses that generate microlensing events, one would like to measure their mass, distance, and velocity. Unfortunately, current microlensing experiments measure only one parameter of the events, the…
Aerocapture leverages atmospheric drag to convert a spacecraft's hyperbolic trajectory into a bound orbit. For some aerocapture missions, heating due to the radiation of high temperature gases in the shock-layer can be much larger than the…
In the effort of achieving high-energetic ion beams from the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with a plasma, volumetric acceleration mechanisms beyond Target Normal Sheath Acceleration have gained attention. A relativisticly intense…