Sunspot group tilt angle measurements from historical observations

Sunspot positions from various historical sets of solar drawings are analysed with respect to the tilt angles of bipolar sunspot groups. Data by Scheiner, Hevelius, Staudacher, Zucconi, Schwabe, and Spoerer deliver a series of average tilt angles spanning a period of 270 years, additional to previously found values for 20th-century data obtained by other authors. We find that the average tilt angles before the Maunder minimum were not significantly different from the modern values. However, the average tilt angles of a period 50 years after the Maunder minimum, namely for cycles 0 and 1, were much lower and near zero. The normal tilt angles before the Maunder minimum suggest that it was not abnormally low tilt angles which drove the solar cycle into a grand minimum.Comment: accepted by Advances in Space Researc

The Thermal Environment of the Fiber Glass Dome for the New Solar Telescope at Big Bear Solar Observatory

The New Solar Telescope (NST) is a 1.6-meter off-axis Gregory-type telescope with an equatorial mount and an open optical support structure. To mitigate the temperature fluctuations along the exposed optical path, the effects of local/dome-related seeing have to be minimized. To accomplish this, NST will be housed in a 5/8-sphere fiberglass dome that is outfitted with 14 active vents evenly spaced around its perimeter. The 14 vents house louvers that open and close independently of one another to regulate and direct the passage of air through the dome. In January 2006, 16 thermal probes were installed throughout the dome and the temperature distribution was measured. The measurements confirmed the existence of a strong thermal gradient on the order of 5 degree Celsius inside the dome. In December 2006, a second set of temperature measurements were made using different louver configurations. In this study, we present the results of these measurements along with their integration into the thermal control system (ThCS) and the overall telescope control system (TCS).Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, submitted to SPIE Optics+Photonics, San Diego, U.S.A., 26-30 August 2007, Conference: Solar Physics and Space Weather Instrumentation II, Proceedings of SPIE Volume 6689, Paper #2

Spectral Properties of the Ruelle Operator for Product Type Potentials on Shift Spaces

We study a class of potentials $f$ on one sided full shift spaces over finite or countable alphabets, called potentials of product type. We obtain explicit formulae for the leading eigenvalue, the eigenfunction (which may be discontinuous) and the eigenmeasure of the Ruelle operator. The uniqueness property of these quantities is also discussed and it is shown that there always exists a Bernoulli equilibrium state even if $f$ does not satisfy Bowen's condition. We apply these results to potentials $f:\{-1,1\}^\mathbb{N} \to \mathbb{R}$ of the form $$f(x_1,x_2,\ldots) = x_1 + 2^{-\gamma} \, x_2 + 3^{-\gamma} \, x_3 + ...+n^{-\gamma} \, x_n + \ldots$$ with $\gamma >1$. For $3/2 < \gamma \leq 2$, we obtain the existence of two different eigenfunctions. Both functions are (locally) unbounded and exist a.s. (but not everywhere) with respect to the eigenmeasure and the measure of maximal entropy, respectively.Comment: To appear in the Journal of London Mathematical Societ

Ergodicity of avalanche transformations

PublishedIn this paper, we study dynamical systems of product type and some particular inducing scheme motivated by neural dynamics (called avalanche transformation). We derive the distribution of avalanche sizes and give sufficient conditions such that the avalanche transformation is ergodic. Moreover, we deduce a multivariate central limit theorem as a corollary.We would like to thank Ira Gessel and Wlodek Bryc for some helpful remarks concerning Section 2. The research of M. Denker was supported by the National Science Foundation grant DMS- 1008538. The research of A. Rodrigues is supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR Grant 2010/5905). The authors would like to thank the Goran Gustafsson Foundation UU/KTH for the ¨ financial support

A Phase I/II first-line study of R-CHOP plus B-cell receptor/NF-κB-double-targeting to molecularly assess therapy response

The ImbruVeRCHOP trial is an investigator-initiated, multicenter, single-arm, open label Phase I/II study for patients 61-80 years of age with newly diagnosed CD20+ diffuse large B-cell lymphoma and a higher risk profile (International Prognostic Index ≥2). Patients receive standard chemotherapy (CHOP) plus immunotherapy (Rituximab), a biological agent (the proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib) and a signaling inhibitor (the Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase-targeting therapeutic Ibrutinib). Using an all-comers approach, but subjecting patients to another lymphoma biopsy acutely under first-cycle immune-chemo drug exposure, ImbruVeRCHOP seeks to identify an unbiased molecular responder signature that marks diffuse large B-cell lymphoma patients at risk and likely to benefit from this regimen as a double, proximal and distal B-cell receptor/NF-κB-co-targeting extension of the current R-CHOP standard of care. EudraCT-Number: 2015-003429-32; ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03129828

Periods implying almost all periods, trees with snowflakes, and zero entropy maps

Let $X$ be a compact tree, $f$ be a continuous map from $X$ to itself, $End(X)$ be the number of endpoints and $Edg(X)$ be the number of edges of $X$. We show that if $n>1$ has no prime divisors less than $End(X)+1$ and $f$ has a cycle of period $n$, then $f$ has cycles of all periods greater than $2End(X)(n-1)$ and topological entropy $h(f)>0$; so if $p$ is the least prime number greater than $End(X)$ and $f$ has cycles of all periods from 1 to $2End(X)(p-1)$, then $f$ has cycles of all periods (this verifies a conjecture of Misiurewicz for tree maps). Together with the spectral decomposition theorem for graph maps it implies that $h(f)>0$ iff there exists $n$ such that $f$ has a cycle of period $mn$ for any $m$. We also define {\it snowflakes} for tree maps and show that $h(f)=0$ iff every cycle of $f$ is a snowflake or iff the period of every cycle of $f$ is of form $2^lm$ where $m\le Edg(X)$ is an odd integer with prime divisors less than $End(X)+1$

High-resolution imaging and near-infrared spectroscopy of penumbral decay

Combining high-resolution spectropolarimetric and imaging data is key to understanding the decay process of sunspots as it allows us scrutinizing the velocity and magnetic fields of sunspots and their surroundings. Active region NOAA 12597 was observed on 24/09/2016 with the 1.5-m GREGOR solar telescope using high-spatial resolution imaging as well as imaging spectroscopy and near-infrared (NIR) spectropolarimetry. Horizontal proper motions were estimated with LCT, whereas LOS velocities were computed with spectral line fitting methods. The magnetic field properties were inferred with the SIR code for the Si I and Ca I NIR lines. At the time of the GREGOR observations, the leading sunspot had two light-bridges indicating the onset of its decay. One of the light-bridges disappeared, and an elongated, dark umbral core at its edge appeared in a decaying penumbral sector facing the newly emerging flux. The flow and magnetic field properties of this penumbral sector exhibited weak Evershed flow, moat flow, and horizontal magnetic field. The penumbral gap adjacent to the elongated umbral core and the penumbra in that penumbral sector displayed LOS velocities similar to granulation. The separating polarities of a new flux system interacted with the leading and central part of the already established active region. As a consequence, the leading spot rotated 55-degree in clockwise direction over 12 hours. In the high-resolution observations of a decaying sunspot, the penumbral filaments facing flux emergence site contained a darkened area resembling an umbral core filled with umbral dots. This umbral core had velocity and magnetic field properties similar to the sunspot umbra. This implies that the horizontal magnetic fields in the decaying penumbra became vertical as observed in flare-induced rapid penumbral decay, but on a very different time-scale.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, Accepted to be published in Astronomy and Astrophysic