1,169 research outputs found
Collaborative Research: Synergistic Merging of Traditional Aeronomy with Targeted High-Frequency (HF) Heating Diagnostics
HF accelerated electron fluxes, spectra, and ionization
Wave particle interactions, an essential aspect of laboratory, terrestrial,and astrophysical plasmas, have been studied for decades by transmitting high power HF radio waves into Earthâs weakly ionized space plasma, to use it as a laboratory without walls. Application to HF electron acceleration remains an active area of research (Gurevich, 2007) today. HF electron acceleration studies began when plasma line observations proved (Carlson et al, 1982) that high power HF radio wave-excited processes accelerated electrons not to ~ eV, but instead to - 100 times thermal energy (10s of eV), as a consequence of inelastic collision effects on electron transport. Gurevich et al (1985) quantified the theory of this transport effect. Merging experiment with theory in plasma physics and aeronomy, enabled prediction (Carlson, 1993) of creating artificial ionospheres once ~GW HF effective radiated power (ERP) could be achieved. Eventual confirmation of this prediction (Pedersen et al 2009, 2010; Blagoveshchenskaya et al, 2009) sparked renewed interest in optical inversion to estimate electron spectra in terrestrial (Hysell et al, 2014) and planetary (Simon et al, 2011) atmospheres. Here we present our unpublished optical data, which combined with our modeling, lead to conclusions that should meaningfully improve future estimates of the spectrum of HF accelerated electron fluxes. Photometric imaging data can significantly improve detection of emissions near ionization threshold, and confirm depth of penetration of accelerated electrons many km below the excitation altitude. Comparing observed to modeled emission altitude shows future experiments need electron density profiles to derive more accurate HF electron flux spectra
Creating Space Plasma from the Ground
We have performed an experiment to compare as directly as realizable the ionization production rate by HF radio wave energy versus by solar EUV. We take advantage of the commonality that ionization production by both ground-based high-power HF radio waves and by solar EUV is driven by primary and secondary suprathermal electrons near and above ~20 eV. Incoherent scatter radar (ISR)plasma-line amplitudes are used as a measure of suprathermal electron ïŹuxes for ISR wavelengths near those for 430 MHz and are indeed a clean measure of such for those ïŹuxes sufficiently weak to have negligible self-damping. We present data from an HF heating experiment on November 2015 at Arecibo,which even more directly conïŹrm the only prior midlatitude estimate, of order 10% efficiently for conversion of HF energy to ionospheric ionization. We note the theoretical maximum possible is ~1/3, while ~1% or less reduces the question to near practical irrelevance. Our measurements explicitly conïŹrm the prediction that radio-frequency production of artificial ionospheres can be practicable, even at midlatitudes. Furthermore,that this midlatitude efficiency is comparable to efficiencies measured at high latitudes (which include enhancements unique to high latitudes including magnetic zenith effect, gyro frequency multiples, and double resonances) requires reexamination of current theoretical thinking about soft-electron acceleration processes in weakly magnetized plasmas. The implications are that electron acceleration by any of a variety of processes may be a fundamental underpinning to energy redistribution in space plasmas
The Plasma Line Revisited as an Aeronomical Diagnostic: Suprathermal electrons, solar EUV, electronâgas thermal balance
Spectra of plasma wave intensities (kTp) in the ionosphere over Arecibo are calculated and compared with those from observations of the plasma line intensity. This approach involving directly observed quantities avoids the uncertainties that have plagued past comparisons with photoelectron theory. In addition, careful comparisons in physically relevant segments of the spectra show that any significant increase in the magnitude of the solar EUV flux would lead to a contradiction of the observed plasma wave intensities. Further, the comparisons indicate that resolution of the thermal electronâgas heat balance problem must be sought through better heat transfer rates (e.g., heating and cooling rates, etc.), rather than in the solar EUV. This approach utilizes more fully the potential of the plasma line experiment as a diagnostic tool for aeronomical studies, (e.g., photoelectrons, auroral secondaries, ionosphereâmodification experiments, etc.)
Photoelectron Flux Build-Up in the Plasmasphere
Processes which confine photoelectrons to the plasmasphere (e.g., collisional backscattering from the thermosphere and magnetic trapping due to pitch angle redistribution through Coulomb collisions in the plasmasphere) tend to increase the steady state photoelectron flux in the plasmasphere above the amplitude level that would otherwise have been attained. Theoretical calculations are presented of steady state photoelectron fluxes in the plasmasphere, for specified atmospheric and ionospheric conditions. (Observational plasma line intensity data for these conditions exist and will be compared elsewhere.) General features of the angular distribution are presented and compared with observations. The transparency of the plasmasphere and the backscattering properties of the thermosphere are investigated. The buildup effect due to collisional backscatter alone is calculated, and the combined buildup effect of pitch angle diffusion and backscatter is estimated. It is found that the inclusion of these effects increases the steady state photoelectron flux amplitude in the plasmasphere by about 50% over the value obtained when the buildup effects are neglected. The calculated steady state photoelectron fluxes in the plasmasphere are in good agreement with the available observations
Analysis of close conjunctions between dayside polar cap airglow patches and flow channels by all-sky imager and DMSP
Recent imager and radar observations in the nightside polar cap have shown evidence that polar cap patches are associated with localized flow channels. To understand how flow channels propagate from the dayside auroral oval into the polar cap, we use an all-sky imager in Antarctica and DMSP (F13, F15, F16, F17 and F18) to determine properties of density and flows associated with dayside polar cap patches. We identified 50 conjunction events during the southern winter seasons of 2007â2011. In a majority (45) of events, longitudinally narrow flow enhancements directed anti-sunward are found to be collocated with the patches, have velocities (up to a few km/s) substantially larger than the large-scale background flows (~500 m/s) and have widths comparable to patch widths (~400 km). While the patches start with poleward moving auroral forms (PMAFs) as expected, many PMAFs propagate azimuthally away from the noon over a few hours of MLT, resulting in formation of polar cap patches quite far away from the noon, as early as ~6 MLT. The MLT separation from the noon is found to be proportional to the IMF |By|. Fast polar cap flows of \u3e~1500 m/s are predominantly seen during large IMF |By| and small |Bz|. The presence of fast, anti-sunward flow channels associated with the polar cap patches suggests that the flow channels form in the dayside auroral oval through transient reconnection and can be the source of flow channels propagating into the polar cap
Polymorphisms at codons 108 and 189 in murine PrP play distinct roles in the control of scrapie incubation time
Rona Barron - ORCID: 0000-0003-4512-9177 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4512-9177Item not available from this repository.Susceptibility to transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) is associated strongly with PrP polymorphisms in humans, sheep and rodents. In mice, scrapie incubation time is controlled by polymorphisms at PrP codons 108 (leucine or phenylalanine) and 189 (threonine or valine), but the precise role of each polymorphism in the control of disease is unknown. The L108F and T189V polymorphisms are present in distinct structural regions of PrP and thus provide an excellent model with which to investigate the role of PrP structure and gene variation in TSEs. Two unique lines of transgenic mice, in which 108F and 189V have been targeted separately into the endogenous murine Prnp a gene, have been produced. TSE inoculation of inbred lines of mice expressing all allelic combinations at codons 108 and 189 has revealed a complex relationship between PrP allele and incubation time. It has been established that both codons 108 and 189 control TSE incubation time, and that each polymorphism plays a distinct role in the disease process. Comparison of ME7 incubation times in mouse lines that are heterozygous at both codons has also identified a previously unrecognized intramolecular interaction between PrP codons 108 and 189.https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.80525-086pubpub
Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ATLAS detector
This paper presents measurements of the and cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a
function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were
collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with
the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity
of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements
varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the
1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured
with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with
predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various
parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between
them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables,
submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at
https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13
Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in âs=13âTeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of âs=13ââTeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139ââfbâ1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015â2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV
An empirical study of normative dissociation in musical and non-musical everyday life experiences
Dissociative experiences involving music have received little research attention outside the field of
ethnomusicology. This paper examines the psychological characteristics of normative dissociation
(detachment) across musical and non-musical experiences in âreal worldâ, everyday settings. It draws
upon a subset of data arising from an empirical project designed to compare transformative shifts of
consciousness, with and without music in daily life, and the ways in which use of music may facilitate
the processes of dissociation and absorption. Twenty participants kept unstructured diaries for two weeks,
recording free descriptions of involving experiences of any kind as soon as possible after their occurrence.
All descriptions were subsequently subjected to Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).
Results suggest that dissociative experiences are a familiar occurrence in everyday life. Diary
entries highlight an established practice of actively sought detachment from self, surroundings or
activity, suggesting that, together with absorption, the processes of derealization (altered perception
of surroundings) and depersonalization (detachment from self) constitute common means of selfregulation
in daily life. Music emerges as a particularly versatile facilitator of dissociative experience
because of its semantic ambiguity, portability, and the variety of ways in which it may mediate
perception, so facilitating an altered relationship to self and environmen
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