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Topic Review
Green Star
In astronomy, a green star is a white or blueish star that appears greenish in some viewing conditions (see § Psychology below). Under typical viewing conditions, there are no greenish stars, because the color of a star is more or less given by a black-body spectrum. However, there are a few stars that appear greenish to some observers, due to the viewing conditions, for example the optical 'illusion' that a red object can make nearby objects look greenish (and vice versa). Some multiple star systems, such as Antares, have a bright reddish star where this contrast makes other stars in the system seem greenish.
  • 2.4K
  • 21 Nov 2022
Topic Review
High Entropy Alloys
High-entropy alloys (HEAs) are alloys that are formed by mixing equal or relatively large proportions of (usually) five or more elements. Prior to the synthesis of these substances, typical metal alloys comprised one or two major components with smaller amounts of other elements. For example, additional elements can be added to iron to improve its properties, thereby creating an iron based alloy, but typically in fairly low proportions, such as the proportions of carbon, manganese, and the like in various steels. Hence, high entropy alloys are a novel class of materials. The term “high-entropy alloys” was coined because the entropy increase of mixing is substantially higher when there is a larger number of elements in the mix, and their proportions are more nearly equal. These alloys are currently the focus of significant attention in materials science and engineering because they have potentially desirable properties. Furthermore, research indicates that some HEAs have considerably better strength-to-weight ratios, with a higher degree of fracture resistance, tensile strength, as well as corrosion and oxidation resistance than conventional alloys. Although HEAs have been studied since the 1980s, research substantially accelerated in the 2010s.
  • 2.4K
  • 01 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Kya (Unit)
A year is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hours of daylight, and, consequently, vegetation and soil fertility. In temperate and subpolar regions around the planet, four seasons are generally recognized: spring, summer, autumn and winter. In tropical and subtropical regions, several geographical sectors do not present defined seasons; but in the seasonal tropics, the annual wet and dry seasons are recognized and tracked. A calendar year is an approximation of the number of days of the Earth's orbital period, as counted in a given calendar. The Gregorian calendar, or modern calendar, presents its calendar year to be either a common year of 365 days or a leap year of 366 days, as do the Julian calendars; see below. For the Gregorian calendar, the average length of the calendar year (the mean year) across the complete leap cycle of 400 years is 365.2425 days. The ISO standard ISO 80000-3, Annex C, supports the symbol a (for Latin annus) to represent a year of either 365 or 366 days. In English, the abbreviations y and yr are commonly used. In astronomy, the Julian year is a unit of time; it is defined as 365.25 days of exactly 86,400 seconds (SI base unit), totalling exactly 31,557,600 seconds in the Julian astronomical year. The word year is also used for periods loosely associated with, but not identical to, the calendar or astronomical year, such as the seasonal year, the fiscal year, the academic year, etc. Similarly, year can mean the orbital period of any planet; for example, a Martian year and a Venusian year are examples of the time a planet takes to transit one complete orbit. The term can also be used in reference to any long period or cycle, such as the Great Year.
  • 2.4K
  • 14 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Quantum Reinforcement Learning
Quantum machine learning has emerged as a promising paradigm that could accelerate machine learning calculations. Inside this field, quantum reinforcement learning aims at designing and building quantum agents that may exchange information with their environment and adapt to it, with the aim of achieving some goal. Different quantum platforms have been considered for quantum machine learning and specifically for quantum reinforcement learning. Here, we review the field of quantum reinforcement learning and its implementation with quantum platforms. This quantum technology may enhance quantum computation and communication, as well as machine learning, via the fruitful marriage between these previously unrelated fields. 
  • 2.4K
  • 03 Feb 2021
Topic Review
Specific Relative Angular Momentum
In celestial mechanics the specific relative angular momentum [math]\displaystyle{ \vec{h} }[/math] plays a pivotal role in the analysis of the two-body problem. One can show that it is a constant vector for a given orbit under ideal conditions. This essentially proves Kepler's second law. It's called specific angular momentum because it's not the actual angular momentum [math]\displaystyle{ \vec{L} }[/math], but the angular momentum per mass. Thus, the word "specific" in this term is short for "mass-specific" or divided-by-mass: Thus the SI unit is: m2·s−1. [math]\displaystyle{ m }[/math] denotes the reduced mass [math]\displaystyle{ \frac{1}{m} = \frac{1}{m_1}+\frac{1}{m_2} }[/math].
  • 2.4K
  • 11 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Void Coefficient
In nuclear engineering, the void coefficient (more properly called void coefficient of reactivity) is a number that can be used to estimate how much the reactivity of a nuclear reactor changes as voids (typically steam bubbles) form in the reactor moderator or coolant. Net reactivity in a reactor is the sum total of all these contributions, of which the void coefficient is but one. Reactors in which either the moderator or the coolant is a liquid typically will have a void coefficient value that is either negative (if the reactor is under-moderated) or positive (if the reactor is over-moderated). Reactors in which neither the moderator nor the coolant is a liquid (e.g., a graphite-moderated, gas-cooled reactor) will have a void coefficient value equal to zero. It is unclear how the definition of 'void' coefficient applies to reactors in which the moderator/coolant is neither liquid nor gas (supercritical water reactor).
  • 2.4K
  • 22 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Inertial Confinement Fusion
Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a type of fusion energy research that attempts to initiate nuclear fusion reactions by heating and compressing a fuel target, typically in the form of a pellet that most often contains a mixture of deuterium and tritium. Typical fuel pellets are about the size of a pinhead and contain around 10 milligrams of fuel. To compress and heat the fuel, energy is delivered to the outer layer of the target using high-energy beams of laser light, electrons or ions, although for a variety of reasons, almost all ICF devices (As of 2015) have used lasers. The heated outer layer explodes outward, producing a reaction force against the remainder of the target, accelerating it inwards, compressing the target. This process is designed to create shock waves that travel inward through the target. A sufficiently powerful set of shock waves can compress and heat the fuel at the center so much that fusion reactions occur. ICF is one of two major branches of fusion energy research, the other being magnetic confinement fusion. When it was first proposed in the early 1970s, ICF appeared to be a practical approach to power production and the field flourished. Experiments during the 1970s and '80s demonstrated that the efficiency of these devices was much lower than expected, and reaching ignition would not be easy. Throughout the 1980s and '90s, many experiments were conducted in order to understand the complex interaction of high-intensity laser light and plasma. These led to the design of newer machines, much larger, that would finally reach ignition energies. The largest operational ICF experiment is the National Ignition Facility (NIF) in the US, designed using the decades-long experience of earlier experiments. Like those earlier experiments, however, NIF has failed to reach ignition and is, as of 2015, generating about ​1⁄3 of the required energy levels.
  • 2.4K
  • 29 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Quantum-classical system
A quantum-classical system is a system consisting of two interacting subsystems, one of which behaves classically, and the other requires a quantum description. 
  • 2.3K
  • 29 Oct 2020
Topic Review
Steady State Model
In cosmology, the steady state model is an alternative to the Big Bang theory of the evolution of our universe. In the steady state model, the density of matter in the expanding universe remains unchanged due to a continuous creation of matter, thus adhering to the perfect cosmological principle, a principle that asserts that the observable universe is basically the same at any time as well as at any place. While the steady state model enjoyed some popularity in the mid-20th century (though less popularity than the Big Bang theory), it is now rejected by the vast majority of cosmologists, astrophysicists and astronomers, as the observational evidence points to a hot Big Bang cosmology with a finite age of the universe, which the steady state model does not predict.
  • 2.3K
  • 14 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Power
In physics, power is the amount of energy transferred or converted per unit time. In the International System of Units, the unit of power is the watt, equal to one joule per second. In older works, power is sometimes called activity. Power is a scalar quantity. Power is related to other quantities; for example, the power involved in moving a ground vehicle is the product of the traction force on the wheels and the velocity of the vehicle. The output power of a motor is the product of the torque that the motor generates and the angular velocity of its output shaft. Likewise, the power dissipated in an electrical element of a circuit is the product of the current flowing through the element and of the voltage across the element.
  • 2.3K
  • 31 Oct 2022
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