74,425 research outputs found

    X-ray measurements of growth rates at a gas interface accelerated by shock waves

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    A new experimental technique to measure the density of a high atomic number gas at a shock-accelerated interface has been developed and demonstrated. It is based on the absorption of x rays by the high atomic number gas, and it was implemented in a vertical square shock tube. The object of the study was the turbulent entrainment and mixing of shock-accelerated air/xenon interfaces prepared by retracting a metal plate, initially separating the two gases, prior to the release of the shock wave. Interfaces of two types, quasi-sinusoidal and nominally flat, were examined. The amplitude of large wavelength (25–100 mm) perturbations on the interface, and the thickness of the interface were measured. An integral definition for the interface mean line was adopted, making it possible to study and time evolution of the individual Fourier modes of the perturbations. A new integral definition for the interface thickness was proposed, making it feasible to study for the first time the time evolution of the thickness of quasi-sinusoidal interfaces. Images of interfaces after interacting with a series of weak waves reverberating between the interface and the shock tube end wall were obtained. The perturbations are studied at the late stages of their evolution, when their amplitude is no longer small compared to their wavelength. Consequently, the measured growth rates of the modal amplitudes are smaller than those predicted by the impulsive model based on the small amplitude approximation. In the case of nominally flat interfaces, the thickness is observed to grow linearly at rates comparable to values previously reported

    Pulsating in unison at optical and X-ray energies: simultaneous high-time resolution observations of the transitional millisecond pulsar PSR J1023+0038

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    PSR J1023+0038 is the first millisecond pulsar discovered to pulsate in the visible band; such a detection took place when the pulsar was surrounded by an accretion disk and also showed X-ray pulsations. We report on the first high time resolution observational campaign of this transitional pulsar in the disk state, using simultaneous observations in the optical (TNG, NOT, TJO), X-ray (XMM-Newton, NuSTAR, NICER), infrared (GTC) and UV (Swift) bands. Optical and X-ray pulsations were detected simultaneously in the X-ray high intensity mode in which the source spends \sim 70% of the time, and both disappeared in the low mode, indicating a common underlying physical mechanism. In addition, optical and X-ray pulses were emitted within a few km, had similar pulse shape and distribution of the pulsed flux density compatible with a power-law relation Fνν0.7F_{\nu} \propto \nu^{-0.7} connecting the optical and the 0.3-45 keV X-ray band. Optical pulses were detected also during flares with a pulsed flux reduced by one third with respect to the high mode; the lack of a simultaneous detection of X-ray pulses is compatible with the lower photon statistics. We show that magnetically channeled accretion of plasma onto the surface of the neutron star cannot account for the optical pulsed luminosity (1031\sim 10^{31} erg/s). On the other hand, magnetospheric rotation-powered pulsar emission would require an extremely efficient conversion of spin-down power into pulsed optical and X-ray emission. We then propose that optical and X-ray pulses are instead produced by synchrotron emission from the intrabinary shock that forms where a striped pulsar wind meets the accretion disk, within a few light cylinder radii away, \sim 100 km, from the pulsar.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures, first submitted to ApJ on 2019, January 1

    Tracking Vector Magnetograms with the Magnetic Induction Equation

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    The differential affine velocity estimator (DAVE) developed in Schuck (2006) for estimating velocities from line-of-sight magnetograms is modified to directly incorporate horizontal magnetic fields to produce a differential affine velocity estimator for vector magnetograms (DAVE4VM). The DAVE4VM's performance is demonstrated on the synthetic data from the anelastic pseudospectral ANMHD simulations that were used in the recent comparison of velocity inversion techniques by Welsch (2007). The DAVE4VM predicts roughly 95% of the helicity rate and 75% of the power transmitted through the simulation slice. Inter-comparison between DAVE4VM and DAVE and further analysis of the DAVE method demonstrates that line-of-sight tracking methods capture the shearing motion of magnetic footpoints but are insensitive to flux emergence -- the velocities determined from line-of-sight methods are more consistent with horizontal plasma velocities than with flux transport velocities. These results suggest that previous studies that rely on velocities determined from line-of-sight methods such as the DAVE or local correlation tracking may substantially misrepresent the total helicity rates and power through the photosphere.Comment: 30 pages, 13 figure

    NASA/MSFC FY88 Global Scale Atmospheric Processes Research Program Review

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    Interest in environmental issues and the magnitude of the environmental changes continues. One way to gain more understanding of the atmosphere is to make measurements on a global scale from space. The Earth Observation System is a series of new sensors to measure globally atmospheric parameters. Analysis of satellite data by developing algorithms to interpret the radiance information improves the understanding and also defines requirements for these sensors. One measure of knowledge of the atmosphere lies in the ability to predict its behavior. Use of numerical and experimental models provides a better understanding of these processes. These efforts are described in the context of satellite data analysis and fundamental studies of atmospheric dynamics which examine selected processes important to the global circulation

    The Large Quasar Reference Frame (LQRF) - an optical representation of the ICRS

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    The large number and all-sky distribution of quasars from different surveys, along with their presence in large, deep astrometric catalogs,enables the building of an optical materialization of the ICRS following its defining principles. Namely: that it is kinematically non-rotating with respect to the ensemble of distant extragalactic objects; aligned with the mean equator and dynamical equinox of J2000; and realized by a list of adopted coordinates of extragalatic sources. Starting from the updated and presumably complete LQAC list of QSOs, the initial optical positions of those quasars are found in the USNO B1.0 and GSC2.3 catalogs, and from the SDSS DR5. The initial positions are next placed onto UCAC2-based reference frames, following by an alignment with the ICRF, to which were added the most precise sources from the VLBA calibrator list and the VLA calibrator list - when reliable optical counterparts exist. Finally, the LQRF axes are inspected through spherical harmonics, contemplating to define right ascension, declination and magnitude terms. The LQRF contains J2000 referred equatorial coordinates for 100,165 quasars, well represented across the sky, from -83.5 to +88.5 degrees in declination, and with 10 arcmin being the average distance between adjacent elements. The global alignment with the ICRF is 1.5 mas, and the individual position accuracies are represented by a Poisson distribution that peaks at 139 mas in right ascension and 130 mas in declination. It is complemented by redshift and photometry information from the LQAC. The LQRF is designed to be an astrometric frame, but it is also the basis for the GAIA mission initial quasars' list, and can be used as a test bench for quasars' space distribution and luminosity function studies.Comment: 23 pages, 23 figures, 6 tables Accepted for publication by Astronomy & Astrophysics, on 25 May 200
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