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Mathematics, Physics And Engineering: Philosophical Transactions A Triennial Issue

October 30, 2003

Four highlighted papers from this issue (full contents listed below):

Solar Sailing: mission applications and engineering challenges by Dr CR McInnes
Solar sailing is emerging as promising form of advanced spacecraft propulsion that can enable exciting new space science mission concepts. Solar sails exploit the momentum transported by solar photons, the quantum packets of energy of which sunlight is composed, by reflecting photons from a large deployable sail. The reflected photons impart a small, but continuous pressure on the sail, allowing continuous acceleration of the solar sail and its payload. Without the need for propellant, high-energy missions such as planetary sample return and fast missions to the outer solar system can be enabled with the use of only a modest launch vehicle. In addition, new families of exotic and highly unusual orbits have been identified which are unique to solar sails, and can also enable new ways of performing space science missions.
Contact: Dr Colin McInnes, Department of Aerospace Engineering, University of Glasgow, GLASGOW, G12 8QQ

Intelligent machines in the 21st century: automating the processes of inference and inquiry by Dr KH Knuth
The last century saw the application of Boolean algebra toward the construction of computing machines. Developments in the mathematical theory of inference have endowed these computing machines with the ability to learn by making inferences from data. This revolution is just beginning as new computational techniques continue to make difficult problems more accessible. This paper explores recent advances in our understanding of the foundations of inference and inquiry, which promise to enable us to design machines that not only can learn, but also ask questions. Automation of both inference and inquiry will allow robots to perform science in the far reaches of our solar system and in other star systems by enabling them not only to make inferences from data, but also to decide which question to ask, experiment to perform, or measurement to take given what they have learned and what they are designed to understand.
Contact: Dr Kevin Knuth, Computational Sciences Division, NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 269-3, MOFFETT FIELD, CA 94035, USA

Engineering the next generation of large area displays: prospects and pitfalls by Dr JD Carey
From mobile phones to sporting stadia, display screens are an everyday part of modern life. Current television technology uses a cathode to scan a single electron beam across a screen to generate the image; meaning that larger screens mean increased depth is required which is both bulky and expensive. Multiple sources is one alternative, and carbon based electronic materials are being actively researched as possible cathode materials. One form under investigation is Diamond-like carbon which is a mirror-smooth semiconducting thin film that can be grown over large areas and at low temperatures. Although films can be deposited uniformly over m2, we show that to understand its material properties it is necessary to examine the material at a nanometer level. The other contender for large area cathodes are rolled up sheets of graphite-basedlayers called carbon nanotubes, in which electrons are emitted from the nanotube tips. The race is on to see which of these two materials will be the first to come to the market.
Contact: Dr David Carey, Advanced Technology Institute, School of Electronics and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, GUILDFORD, GU2 7XH

Wind turbines in the offshore environment by Dr BW Byrne and Professor GT Houlsby
Offshore wind is an important natural resource that must be harnessed as the UK and the world strives to follow more environmentally friendly energy policies. As recently as July 2003 the UK Government announced the intention of developing up to 6 Giga-Watts of offshore wind power in the near future. To do this large wind turbines will need to be erected offshore, most probably 5 to 20 kilometres from the coast, where the water can be as deep as 20m. The development of these large turbines will require a multi-disciplinary approach including components of civil, mechanical, electrical and control engineering. This paper, however, concentrates on the civil engineering problems, and in particular how the structures can be connected to the sea-floor so that they do not move when large forces from winds, waves or currents occur. Standard design approaches to this aspect of the problem are costly, so new foundation designs are explored. The paper concludes by giving an overview of current research that aims to reduce the uncertainties in designing these new foundations. It is anticipated that this research will assist the development of cost effective offshore wind farms.
Contact: Dr Byron Byrne, Department of Engineering Science, University of Oxford, Parks Road, OXFORD, OX1 3PJ


FULL LIST OF CONTENTS

Introduction - Visions of the future by young scientists
J. M. T. Thompson

Mathematics and statistics

How to count curves: from nineteenth century problems to twenty-first century solutions
I. Strachan

Pattern formation in large domains
A. M. Rucklidge

A black box at the end of the rainbow: searching for the perfect Preconditioner
J. M. Ford

Bayesian computation: a statistical revolution
S. P. Brooks

Physics and optics

Recent progress in Bose-Einstein condensation experiments
S. L. Cornish and D. Cassettari

Unconventional superconductivity and novel quantum order
E. Pugh

Parametric light generation
M. Ebrahimzadeh

Organic materials for second-harmonic generation: advances in relating structure to function
J. M. Cole

Recent advances in electron imaging, image interpretation and applications: environmental scanning electron microscopy
D. Stokes

The carbon nanocosmos: novel materials for the twenty-first century
M. Terrones and H. Terrones

Electronics and nanoscience

Molecular bioelectronics
J. J. Davis

Ultrafast nanomagnets: seeing data storage in a new light
R. J. Hicken

Near-field microscopy: throwing light on the nanoworld
D. Richards

Computers, robots and displays

Intelligent machines in the twenty-first century: foundations of inference and inquiry
K. H. Knuth

Modelling the world in real time: how robots engineer information
J. Davison

Engineering the next generation of large-area displays: prospects and Pitfalls
J. D. Carey

Engineering and materials

Foundations for offshore wind turbines
B. W. Byrne and G. T. Houlsby

Multilayered materials: a palette for the materials artist
S. J. Lloyd and J. M. Molina-Aldareguia

The concept of drift and its application to multiphase and multibody problems
I. Eames

New directions in fluid dynamics: non-equilibrium aerodynamic and microsystem flows
J. M. Reese, M. A. Gallis and D. A. Lockerby

Solar sailing: mission applications and engineering challenges
C. R. McInnes

Royal Society, The