Question
In 2015, researchers at Parkes Observatory found that mysterious emissions called perytons were caused by people prematurely opening the microwave at lunchtime. Answer the following about the physics involved, for 10 points each.
[10e] The perytons had similar dispersion to, and were often mistaken for, astronomical “fast bursts” in this longest-wavelength region of the EM spectrum.
ANSWER: radio waves [accept fast radio bursts]
[10h] The perytons were emitted by this radiation-producing component of the microwave. These devices consisting of vacuum tubes with many resonant chambers were used in World War II to generate radar signals.
ANSWER: cavity magnetron
[10m] The peryton signals strangely spiked at 1.4 gigahertz because changing voltage changed the cavity’s resonant condition, causing the magnetron to “hop” between these things. TE, TM, and TEM are examples of these things for electromagnetic waves.
ANSWER: modes [or normal modes or modes of propagation]
<Physics>
Summary
| 2024 ACF Regionals @ JMU | 01/27/2024 | Y | 1 | 10.00 | 100% | 0% | 0% |
| 2024 ACF Regionals @ Nebraska | 01/27/2024 | Y | 6 | 10.00 | 83% | 17% | 0% |
| 2024 ACF Regionals @ Ohio State | 01/27/2024 | Y | 3 | 16.67 | 100% | 0% | 67% |
| 2024 ACF Regionals @ Imperial | 01/27/2024 | Y | 8 | 12.50 | 88% | 25% | 13% |
| 2024 ACF Regionals @ Vanderbilt | 01/27/2024 | Y | 1 | 10.00 | 0% | 100% | 0% |
| 2024 ACF Regionals @ MIT | 01/27/2024 | Y | 5 | 12.00 | 100% | 20% | 0% |
Data
| Geodesic | Georgia Tech A | 0 | 0 | 10 | 10 |