The Cause of Photospheric and Helioseismic Responses to Solar Flares: High-Energy Electrons or Protons?

Analysis of the hydrodynamic and helioseismic effects in the photosphere during the solar flare of July 23, 2002, observed by Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on SOHO, and high-energy images from RHESSI shows that these effects are closely associated with sources of the hard X-ray emission, and that there are no such effects in the centroid region of the flare gamma-ray emission. These results demonstrate that contrary to expectations the hydrodynamic and helioseismic responses (''sunquakes") are more likely to be caused by accelerated electrons than by high-energy protons. A series of multiple impulses of high-energy electrons forms a hydrodynamic source moving in the photosphere with a supersonic speed. The moving source plays a critical role in the formation of the anisotropic wave front of sunquakes.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, ApJL in pres

Large scale processing of seismic data in search of regional and global stress patterns

A composite compute program has been devised for a fast reduction of multistation seismic data in the period range 50–500 sec for mantle surface waves and 20–100 sec for body waves. The analysis aims at the reconstruction of the seismic source from the spectrum of its far radiation field and the correlation of its parameters with its depth, size and regional environment. The capability of the computational procedure has been demonstrated in two studies of WWNSS records: one includes a spectral analysis of surface waves from a shallow shock in the Kurile Islands; the other includes a spectral analysis of P waves from 9 shocks in the depth range 550–700 km at Fiji, Mariana, Java, Japan, Peru and Brazil. Other applications of the proposed data processing routine are foreseen; a tsunami warning system and focal depth determination from spectral modal ratios. It is believed that a persistent search for stress patterns, based on the processing of a sufficiently large sample of seismic events, is essential to any future program of earthquake prediction

Determination of source parameters of explosions and earthquakes by amplitude equalization of seismic surface waves: 1. Underground nuclear explosions

A method of determining the source parameters of explosions and earthquakes from the amplitude spectrums of seismic surface waves is described. The method, called amplitude equalization, involves the correction of the ground displacement spectrum for the propagation effect. This is accomplished by multiplying it numerically with the inverse of the frequency response of the layered medium. The result is the amplitude spectrum of the source function, which may be interpreted by itself or jointly with the initial phase spectrum to determine the source-time variation. The spectrums of the Rayleigh waves from underground nuclear explosions are compared and the source-time function is interpreted using the amplitude equalization method. The time variation of the pressure pulse at the boundary of the elastic zone is found to be of the form p(t) = P_0te^(−ηt), where η is a parameter which depends on the yield of the explosion and on the medium. For the events studied, the breadth of the pulse increased (η decreased) with the yield of the explosion

Attenuation of dispersed waves

A measure of the absorption of elastic waves is the specific absorption coefficient 1/Q. In dispersive mediums, whether the dispersion is due to geometry, inhomogeneity, or both, measurements are often made outside the body and the measurements must be interpreted as to the distribution of values of 1/Q within the body. Two definitive experiments of this type are those performed using standing waves set up in a confined sample of the body and with waves that propagate through or on the surface of the body. Typical examples of these experiments involve the measurement of the damping coefficient of the free modes of vibration of the earth and the measurement of the attenuation factor of propagating surface waves on the earth. These two types of experiments can themselves be interpreted in terms of dimensionless attenuation factors. We call the dimensionless attenuation factors in the standing wave and propagating wave experiments 1/Q_T and 1/Q_x, defined as the logarithmic decrements π/QT and π/Q_x in each experiment. Then in a damped standing wave the amplitude will diminish with time t at a fixed point as exp (−πt/TQ_T), where T is the period. In a propagating monochromatic wave the amplitude will diminish with distance x as exp (−πx/cTQ_x), where c is the phase velocity

Self-Gravitating Strings In 2+1 Dimensions

We present a family of classical spacetimes in 2+1 dimensions. Such a spacetime is produced by a Nambu-Goto self-gravitating string. Due to the special properties of three-dimensional gravity, the metric is completely described as a Minkowski space with two identified worldsheets. In the flat limit, the standard string is recovered. The formalism is developed for an open string with massive endpoints, but applies to other boundary conditions as well. We consider another limit, where the string tension vanishes in geometrical units but the end-masses produce finite deficit angles. In this limit, our open string reduces to the free-masses solution of Gott, which possesses closed timelike curves when the relative motion of the two masses is sufficiently rapid. We discuss the possible causal structures of our spacetimes in other regimes. It is shown that the induced worldsheet Liouville mode obeys ({\it classically}) a differential equation, similar to the Liouville equation and reducing to it in the flat limit. A quadratic action formulation of this system is presented. The possibility and significance of quantizing the self-gravitating string, is discussed.Comment: 55 page

Wave reflection and cut-off frequencies in coupled FE-peridynamic grids

International Journal for Numerical Methods in Engineering Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Reflections are typically observed when pulses propagate across interfaces. Accordingly, spurious reflections might occur at the interfaces between different models used to simulate the same medium. Examples of such coupled models include classical continuum descriptions with molecular dynamics or peridynamic (PD) grids. In this work, three different coupling approaches are implemented to couple bond-based PDs with finite element (FE) solvers for solid mechanics. It is observed that incorporation of an overlapping zone, over which the coupling between FE and PD occurs, can lead to minimization of the reflected energy compared to a standard force coupling at the FE domain/PD grid interface. However, coupling with other existing methodologies, like the addition of ghost particles, achieves comparable accuracy at lower computational cost. Furthermore, the prudent selection of the discretization parameters is of pivotal importance as they control the high frequency cut-off limit. Mismatch between the cut-off frequencies of the different descriptions can lead to unrealistic results

Interaction potential in compact three-dimensional QED with mixed action

We use a variational wave function to calculate the energy of the interaction between external charges in the compact Abelian gauge theory in 2+1 dimensions with mixed action. Our variational wave functions preserve the compact gauge invariance of the theory both in the vacuum and in the charged sectors. We find that a good estimate of the interaction energy is obtained only when we allow more variational parameters in the charged sector than in the vacuum sector. These extra parameters are the profile of an induced electric field. We find that the theory has a two-phase structure: When the charge-2 coupling is large and negative there is no mass gap in the theory and no confinement, while otherwise a mass gap is generated dynamically and the theory confines charges. The pure Wilson theory is in the confining phase.Comment: 22 pages, Latex -- final version, minor changes from first versio

Leptogenesis with Left-Right domain walls

The presence of domain walls separating regions of unbroken $SU(2)_L$ and $SU(2)_R$ is shown to provide necessary conditions for leptogenesis which converts later to the observed Baryon aymmetry. The strength of lepton number violation is related to the majorana neutrino mass and hence related to current bounds on light neutrino masses. Thus the observed neutrino masses and the Baryon asymmetry can be used to constrain the scale of Left-Right symmetry breaking.Comment: References added, To appear in Praman