454 research outputs found
Source Regions of Coronal Mass Ejections
Observations of the solar corona with the Large Angle Spectrometric
Coronograph (LASCO) and Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) instruments
on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) provide an unprecedented
opportunity to study coronal mass ejections (CMEs) from their initiation
through their evolution out to 30 \rsun. The objective of this study is to gain
an understanding of the source regions from which the CMEs emanate. To this
end, we have developed a list of 32 CMEs whose source regions are located on
the solar disk and are well observed in EIT 195 {\AA} data during the period
from so lar minimum in January 1996 through the rising part of the cycle in May
1998. We compare the EIT source regions with photospheric magnetograms from the
Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) instrument on SOHO and the NSO/Kitt Peak
Observatory and also with H data from various sources. The overall
results of our study show that 41% of the CME related transients observed are
associated with active regions and have no prominence eruptions, 44% are
associated with eruptions of prominences embedded in active regions and 15% are
associated with eruptions of prominences outside active regions. Those CMEs
that do not involve prominence eruptions originate in active regions both with
and without prominences. We describe 6 especially well observed events. These
case studies suggest that active region CMEs (without eruptive prominences) are
associated with active regions with lifetimes between 11--80 days. They are
also often associated with small scale emerging or cancelling flux over
timescales of 6--7 hours. CMEs associated with active region prominence
eruptions, on the other hand, are typically associated with old active regions
with lifetimes 6-7 months.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, scheduled for Nov 1, 2001 issu
Shock waves in thermal lensing
We review experimental investigation on spatial shock waves formed by the
self-defocusing action of a laser beam propagation in a disordered thermal
nonlinear media.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figure
Electron density in the quiet solar coronal transition region from SoHO/SUMER measurements of S VI line radiance and opacity
Context: The sharp temperature and density gradients in the coronal
transition region are a challenge for models and observations.
Aims: We set out to get linearly- and quadratically-weighted average electron
densities in the region emitting the S VI lines, using the observed opacity and
the emission measure of these lines.
Methods: We analyze SoHO/SUMER spectroscopic observations of the S VI lines,
using the center-to-limb variations and radiance ratios to derive the opacity.
We also use the Emission Measure derived from radiance at disk center.
Results: We get an opacity at S VI line center of the order of 0.05. The
resulting average electron density is 2.4 10^16 m^-3 at T = 2 10^5 K. This
value is higher than the values obtained from radiance measurements.
Conversely, taking a classical value for the density leads to a too high value
of the thickness of the emitting layer.
Conclusions: The pressure derived from the Emission Measure method compares
well with previous determinations and implies a low opacity of 5 10^-3 to
10^-2. The fact that a direct derivation leads to a much higher opacity remains
unexplained, despite tentative modeling of observational biases. Further
measurements need to be done, and more realistic models of the transition
region need to be used.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
Three Dimensional Structure and Energy Balance of a Coronal Mass Ejection
The Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) observed Doppler shifted
material of a partial Halo Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on December 13 2001. The
observed ratio of [O V]/O V] is a reliable density diagnostic important for
assessing the state of the plasma. Earlier UVCS observations of CMEs found
evidence that the ejected plasma is heated long after the eruption. We have
investigated the heating rates, which represent a significant fraction of the
CME energy budget. The parameterized heating and radiative and adiabatic
cooling have been used to evaluate the temperature evolution of the CME
material with a time dependent ionization state model. The functional form of a
flux rope model for interplanetary magnetic clouds was also used to
parameterize the heating. We find that continuous heating is required to match
the UVCS observations. To match the O VI-bright knots, a higher heating rate is
required such that the heating energy is greater than the kinetic energy. The
temperatures for the knots bright in Ly and C III emission indicate
that smaller heating rates are required for those regions. In the context of
the flux rope model, about 75% of the magnetic energy must go into heat in
order to match the O VI observations. We derive tighter constraints on the
heating than earlier analyses, and we show that thermal conduction with the
Spitzer conductivity is not sufficient to account for the heating at large
heights.Comment: 40 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ For associated
mpeg file, please see https://www.cora.nwra.com/~jylee/mpg/f5.mp
Explosive events - swirling transition region jets
In this paper, we extend our earlier work to provide additional evidence for
an alternative scenario to explain the nature of so-called `explosive events'.
The bi-directed, fast Doppler motion of explosive events observed
spectroscopically in the transition region emission is classically interpreted
as a pair of bidirectional jets moving upward and downward from a reconnection
site. We discuss the problems of such a model. In our previous work, we focused
basically on the discrepancy of fast Doppler motion without detectable motion
in the image plane. We now suggest an alternative scenario for the explosive
events, based on our observations of spectral line tilts and bifurcated
structure in some events. Both features are indicative of rotational motion in
narrow structures. We explain the bifurcation as the result of rotation of
hollow cylindrical structures and demonstrate that such a sheath model can also
be applied to explain the nature of the puzzling `explosive events'. We find
that the spectral tilt, the lack of apparent motion, the bifurcation, and a
rapidly growing number of direct observations support an alternative scenario
of linear, spicular-sized jets with a strong spinning motion.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Solar Physic
The role of KIBRA in reconstructive episodic memory
In order to retrieve episodic past events, the missing information needs to be reconstructed using information stored in semantic memory. Failures in these reconstructive processes are expressed as false memories. KIBRA single nucleotide polymorphism (rs17070145) has been linked to episodic memory performance as well as an increased risk of Alzheimerâs disease and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Here, the role of KIBRA rs17070145 polymorphism (male and female CC vs. CT/TT carriers) in reconstructive episodic memory in the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm was investigated in N = 219 healthy individuals. Female participants outperformed males in the free recall condition. Furthermore, a trend towards a gender x genotype interaction was found for false recognition rates. Female CT/TT carriers exhibited a lower proportion of false recognition rates for associated critical lures as compared to male CT/TT. Additionally, an association between KIBRA rs17070145 genotype, familiarity and recollection based recognition performance was found. In trials with correct recognition of listed items CT/TT carriers showed more ârememberâ, but fewer âknowâ responses as compared to CC carriers. Our findings suggest that the T-allele of KIBRA rs17070145 supports recollection based episodic memory retrieval and contributes to memory accuracy in a gender dependent manner. Findings are discussed in the context of the specific contribution of KIBRA related SNPs to reconstructive episodic memory and its implications for cognitive and emotional symptoms in dementia and PTS
The X-ray puzzle of the L1551 IRS 5 jet
Protostars are actively accreting matter and they drive spectacular, dynamic
outflows, which evolve on timescales of years. X-ray emission from these jets
has been detected only in a few cases and little is known about its time
evolution. We present a new Chandra observation of L1551 IRS 5's jet in the
context of all available X-ray data of this object. Specifically, we perform a
spatially resolved spectral analysis of the X-ray emission and find that (a)
the total X-ray luminosity is constant over almost one decade, (b) the majority
of the X-rays appear to be always located close to the driving source, (c)
there is a clear trend in the photon energy as a function of the distance to
the driving source indicating that the plasma is cooler at larger distances and
(d) the X-ray emission is located in a small volume which is unresolved
perpendicular to the jet axis by Chandra. A comparison of our X-ray data of the
L1551 IRS 5 jet both with models as well as X-ray observations of other
protostellar jets shows that a base/standing shock is a likely and plausible
explanation for the apparent constancy of the observed X-ray emission. Internal
shocks are also consistent with the observed morphology if the supply of jet
material by the ejection of new blobs is sufficiently constant. We conclude
that the study of the X-ray emission of protostellar jet sources allows us to
diagnose the innermost regions close to the acceleration region of the
outflows.Comment: A&A accepted, 14 pages, 9 figure
Precessing jets from a moving source and bright X-ray filaments in galaxy clusters
We present hydrodynamical calculations carried out with the 3D yguazu-a code
of a precessing jet model, which interacts with a plane parallel wind. This
scenario describes an extragalactic jet, in which the jet source is in motion
with respect to the surrounding intra-cluster medium. From the numerical
results, synthetic emission maps and spectra in X-ray band were obtained. We
compare these predictions with observations of the radio jets emanating from
the radio-galaxy 4C 26.42 (in the Abell 1795 galaxy cluster). We find that the
general morphology of the radio jets can be described by a point-symmetric
precessing jet system interacting with a plane parallel wind (i.e., the
intra-cluster medium flowing past the galaxy). We also find that our synthetic
X-ray emission maps reproduce the observed large scale structures (with sizes
of the order of tens of kpc).Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A - 7 Pages, 6 figure
- âŠ