361 research outputs found
The Thermal Properties of Solar Flares Over Three Solar Cycles Using GOES X-ray Observations
Solar flare X-ray emission results from rapidly increasing temperatures and
emission measures in flaring active region loops. To date, observations from
the X-Ray Sensor (XRS) onboard the Geostationary Operational Environmental
Satellite (GOES) have been used to derive these properties, but have been
limited by a number of factors, including the lack of a consistent background
subtraction method capable of being automatically applied to large numbers of
flares. In this paper, we describe an automated temperature and emission
measure-based background subtraction method (TEBBS), which builds on the
methods of Bornmann (1990). Our algorithm ensures that the derived temperature
is always greater than the instrumental limit and the pre-flare background
temperature, and that the temperature and emission measure are increasing
during the flare rise phase. Additionally, TEBBS utilizes the improved
estimates of GOES temperatures and emission measures from White et al. (2005).
TEBBS was successfully applied to over 50,000 solar flares occurring over
nearly three solar cycles (1980-2007), and used to create an extensive catalog
of the solar flare thermal properties. We confirm that the peak emission
measure and total radiative losses scale with background subtracted GOES X-ray
flux as power-laws, while the peak temperature scales logarithmically. As
expected, the peak emission measure shows an increasing trend with peak
temperature, although the total radiative losses do not. While these results
are comparable to previous studies, we find that flares of a given GOES class
have lower peak temperatures and higher peak emission measures than previously
reported. The resulting TEBBS database of thermal flare plasma properties is
publicly available on Solar Monitor (www.solarmonitor.org/TEBBS/) and will be
available on Heliophysics Integrated Observatory (www.helio-vo.eu)
RHESSI Microflare Statistics II. X-ray Imaging, Spectroscopy & Energy Distributions
We present X-ray imaging and spectral analysis of all microflares the Reuven
Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) observed between March
2002 and March 2007, a total of 25,705 events. These microflares are small
flares, from low GOES C Class to below A Class (background subtracted) and are
associated with active regions. They were found by searching the 6-12 keV
energy range during periods when the full sensitivity of RHESSI's detectors was
available (see paper I). Each microflare is automatically analyzed at the peak
time of the 6-12 keV emission: the thermal source size is found by
forward-fitting the complex visibilities for 4-8 keV, and the spectral
parameters (temperature, emission measure, power-law index) are found by
forward fitting a thermal plus non-thermal model. The combination of these
parameters allows us to present the first statistical analysis of the thermal
and non-thermal energy at the peak times of microflares.Comment: 17 pages, 21 figs, Ap
Marginal Extended Perturbations in Two Dimensions and Gap-Exponent Relations
The most general form of a marginal extended perturbation in a
two-dimensional system is deduced from scaling considerations. It includes as
particular cases extended perturbations decaying either from a surface, a line
or a point for which exact results have been previously obtained. The
first-order corrections to the local exponents, which are functions of the
amplitude of the defect, are deduced from a perturbation expansion of the
two-point correlation functions. Assuming covariance under conformal
transformation, the perturbed system is mapped onto a cylinder. Working in the
Hamiltonian limit, the first-order corrections to the lowest gaps are
calculated for the Ising model. The results confirm the validity of the
gap-exponent relations for the perturbed system.Comment: 11 pages, Plain TeX, eps
The State of Self-Organized Criticality of the Sun During the Last 3 Solar Cycles. I. Observations
We analyze the occurrence frequency distributions of peak fluxes , total
fluxes , and durations of solar flares over the last three solar cycles
(during 1980--2010) from hard X-ray data of HXRBS/SMM, BATSE/CGRO, and RHESSI.
From the synthesized data we find powerlaw slopes with mean values of
for the peak flux, for the total
flux, and for flare durations. We find a systematic
anti-correlation of the powerlaw slope of peak fluxes as a function of the
solar cycle, varying with an approximate sinusoidal variation
, with a
mean of , a variation of , a solar cycle
period yrs, and a cycle minimum time . The
powerlaw slope is flattest during the maximum of a solar cycle, which indicates
a higher magnetic complexity of the solar corona that leads to an
overproportional rate of powerful flares.Comment: subm. to Solar Physic
Symmetries of Large N Matrix Models for Closed Strings
We obtain the symmetry algebra of multi-matrix models in the planar large N
limit. We use this algebra to associate these matrix models with quantum spin
chains. In particular, certain multi-matrix models are exactly solved by using
known results of solvable spin chain systems.Comment: 12 pages, 1 eps figure, RevTex, some minor typos in the publised
version are correcte
G(2) quivers
We present, in explicit matrix representation and a modernity befitting the community, the classification of the finite discrete subgroups of G2 and compute the McKay quivers arising therefrom. Of physical interest are the classes of Script N = 1 gauge theories descending from M-theory and of mathematical interest are possible steps toward a systematic study of crepant resolutions to smooth G2 manifolds as well as generalised McKay Correspondences. This writing is a companion monograph to hep-th/9811183 and hep-th/9905212, wherein the analogues for Calabi-Yau three- and four-folds were considered
Driving factors of a vegetation shift from Scots pine to pubescent oak in dry Alpine forests
An increasing number of studies have reported on forest declines and vegetation shifts triggered by drought. In the Swiss Rhone valley (Valais), one of the driest inner-Alpine regions, the species composition in low elevation forests is changing: The sub-boreal Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) dominating the dry forests is showing high mortality rates. Concurrently the sub-Mediterranean pubescent oak (Quercus pubescens Willd.) has locally increased in abundance. However, it remains unclear whether this local change in species composition is part of a larger-scale vegetation shift. To study variability in mortality and regeneration in these dry forests we analysed data from the Swiss national forest inventory (NFI) on a regular grid between 1983 and 2003, and combined it with annual mortality data from a monitoring site. Pine mortality was found to be highest at low elevation (below 1000 m a.s.l.). Annual variation in pine mortality was correlated with a drought index computed for the summer months prior to observed tree death. A generalized linear mixed-effects model indicated for the NFI data increased pine mortality on dryer sites with high stand competition, particularly for small-diameter trees. Pine regeneration was low in comparison to its occurrence in the overstorey, whereas oak regeneration was comparably abundant. Although both species regenerated well at dry sites, pine regeneration was favoured at cooler sites at higher altitude and oak regeneration was more frequent at warmer sites, indicating a higher adaptation potential of oaks under future warming. Our results thus suggest that an extended shift in species composition is actually occurring in the pine forests in the Valais. The main driving factors are found to be climatic variability, particularly drought, and variability in stand structure and topography. Thus, pine forests at low elevations are developing into oak forests with unknown consequences for these ecosystems and their goods and services
A Comment on Masses, Quantum Affine Symmetries and PP-Wave Backgrounds
Two dimensional light cone world sheet massive models can be used to define
good string backgrounds.In many cases these light cone world sheet lagrangians
flow from a CFT in the UV to a theory of massive particles in the IR. The
relevant symmetry in the IR, playing a similar role to Virasoro in the UV, are
quantum affine Kac Moody algebras. Finite dimensional irreps of this algebra
are associated with the spectrum of massive particles. The case of N=0 Sine
Gordon at the N=2 point is associated with a Landau Ginzburg model that defines
a good string background. For the world sheet symmetry the N=2 piece is associated with the string conformal
invariance and the piece with the world sheet RG. The two
dimensional light cone world sheet massive model can be promoted to a CFT by
adding extra light cone fields and . From the point of view of
the quantum affine symmetry these two fields are associated, respectively, with
the center and the derivation of the affine Kac Moody algebra.Comment: 9 pages. Typos correcte
Universal Ratios in the 2-D Tricritical Ising Model
We consider the universality class of the two-dimensional Tricritical Ising
Model. The scaling form of the free-energy naturally leads to the definition of
universal ratios of critical amplitudes which may have experimental relevance.
We compute these universal ratios by a combined use of results coming from
Perturbed Conformal Field Theory, Integrable Quantum Field Theory and numerical
methods.Comment: 4 pages, LATEX fil
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