A maximum spreading speed for magnetopause reconnection

Past observations and numerical modeling find magnetic reconnection to initiate at a localized region and then spread along a current sheet. The rate of spreading has been proposed to be controlled by a number of mechanisms based on the properties within the boundary. At the Earth's magnetopause the spreading speed is also limited by the speed at which a shocked solar wind front can move along the magnetopause boundary. The speed at which a purely north to south rotational discontinuity propagates through the magnetosheath and contacts the magnetopause is measured here using the Block‐Adaptive‐Tree Solar Wind Roe‐Type Upwind Scheme global magnetohydrodynamics model. The propagation speed along the magnetopause is fastest near the nose of the magnetopause and decreases with distance from the subsolar point. The average propagation speed along the dayside magnetopause is 847 km/s. This is significantly larger than observed rates of reconnection spreading at the magnetopause of 30–40 km/s indicating that, for the observed conditions, the speed of front propagation along the magnetopause does not limit or control the spreading rate of reconnection.Published versio

Response of convection electric fields in the magnetosphere to IMF orientation change

[1] The transient response of convection electric fields in the inner magnetosphere to southward turning of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is investigated using in‐situ electric field observations by the CRRES and Akebono spacecraft. Electric fields earthward of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet show quick responses simultaneously with change in ionospheric electric fields, which indicates the arrival of the first signal related to southward turning. A coordinated observation of the electric field by the CRRES and Akebono spacecraft separated by 5 RE reveals a simultaneous increase in the dawn‐dusk electric field in a wide region of the inner magnetosphere. A quick response associated with the southward turning of the IMF is also identified in in‐situ magnetic fields. It indicates that the southward turning of the IMF initiates simultaneous (less than 1 min) enhancements of ionospheric electric fields, convection electric fields in the inner magnetosphere, and the ring or tail current and region 2 FACs. In contrast, a quick response of convection electric fields is not identified in the electron plasma sheet. A statistical study using 161 events of IMF orientation change in 1991 confirms a prompt response within 5 min for 80% of events earthward of the electron plasma sheet, while a large time lag of more than 30 min is identified in electric fields in the electron plasma sheet. The remarkable difference in the response of electric fields indicates that electric fields in the electron plasma sheet are weakened by high conductance in the magnetically conjugated auroral ionosphere.https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2009JA014277https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2009JA014277Published versio

30S Beam Development and X-ray Bursts

Over the past three years, we have worked on developing a well-characterized 30S radioactive beam to be used in a future experiment aiming to directly measure the 30S(alpha,p) stellar reaction rate within the Gamow window of Type I X-ray bursts. The importance of the 30S(alpha,p) reaction to X-ray bursts is discussed. Given the astrophysical motivation, the successful results of and challenges involved in the production of a low-energy 30S beam are detailed. Finally, an overview of our future plans regarding this on-going project are presented.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 5th European Summer School on Experimental Nuclear Astrophysics, Santa Tecla, Sicily, September 200

Nonperturbative studies of fuzzy spheres in a matrix model with the Chern-Simons term

Fuzzy spheres appear as classical solutions in a matrix model obtained via dimensional reduction of 3-dimensional Yang-Mills theory with the Chern-Simons term. Well-defined perturbative expansion around these solutions can be formulated even for finite matrix size, and in the case of $k$ coincident fuzzy spheres it gives rise to a regularized U($k$) gauge theory on a noncommutative geometry. Here we study the matrix model nonperturbatively by Monte Carlo simulation. The system undergoes a first order phase transition as we change the coefficient ($\alpha$) of the Chern-Simons term. In the small $\alpha$ phase, the large $N$ properties of the system are qualitatively the same as in the pure Yang-Mills model ($\alpha =0$), whereas in the large $\alpha$ phase a single fuzzy sphere emerges dynamically. Various `multi fuzzy spheres' are observed as meta-stable states, and we argue in particular that the $k$ coincident fuzzy spheres cannot be realized as the true vacuum in this model even in the large $N$ limit. We also perform one-loop calculations of various observables for arbitrary $k$ including $k=1$. Comparison with our Monte Carlo data suggests that higher order corrections are suppressed in the large $N$ limit.Comment: Latex 37 pages, 13 figures, discussion on instabilities refined, references added, typo corrected, the final version to appear in JHE

Covariant Field Equations, Gauge Fields and Conservation Laws from Yang-Mills Matrix Models

The effective geometry and the gravitational coupling of nonabelian gauge and scalar fields on generic NC branes in Yang-Mills matrix models is determined. Covariant field equations are derived from the basic matrix equations of motions, known as Yang-Mills algebra. Remarkably, the equations of motion for the Poisson structure and for the nonabelian gauge fields follow from a matrix Noether theorem, and are therefore protected from quantum corrections. This provides a transparent derivation and generalization of the effective action governing the SU(n) gauge fields obtained in [1], including the would-be topological term. In particular, the IKKT matrix model is capable of describing 4-dimensional NC space-times with a general effective metric. Metric deformations of flat Moyal-Weyl space are briefly discussed.Comment: 31 pages. V2: minor corrections, references adde

Dynamical aspects of the fuzzy CP2^{2} in the large NN reduced model with a cubic term

``Fuzzy CP^2'', which is a four-dimensional fuzzy manifold extension of the well-known fuzzy analogous to the fuzzy 2-sphere (S^2), appears as a classical solution in the dimensionally reduced 8d Yang-Mills model with a cubic term involving the structure constant of the SU(3) Lie algebra. Although the fuzzy S^2, which is also a classical solution of the same model, has actually smaller free energy than the fuzzy CP^2, Monte Carlo simulation shows that the fuzzy CP^2 is stable even nonperturbatively due to the suppression of tunneling effects at large N as far as the coefficient of the cubic term ($\alpha$) is sufficiently large. As \alpha is decreased, both the fuzzy CP$^2$ and the fuzzy S^2 collapse to a solid ball and the system is essentially described by the pure Yang-Mills model (\alpha = 0). The corresponding transitions are of first order and the critical points can be understood analytically. The gauge group generated dynamically above the critical point turns out to be of rank one for both CP^2 and S^2 cases. Above the critical point, we also perform perturbative calculations for various quantities to all orders, taking advantage of the one-loop saturation of the effective action in the large-N limit. By extrapolating our Monte Carlo results to N=\infty, we find excellent agreement with the all order results.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figures, (v2) References added (v3) all order analyses added, some typos correcte

The Most Likely Sources of High Energy Cosmic-Ray Electrons in Supernova Remnants

Evidences of non-thermal X-ray emission and TeV gamma-rays from the supernova remnants (SNRs) has strengthened the hypothesis that primary Galactic cosmic-ray electrons are accelerated in SNRs. High energy electrons lose energy via synchrotron and inverse Compton processes during propagation in the Galaxy. Due to these radiative losses, TeV electrons liberated from SNRs at distances larger than ~1 kpc, or times older than ~10^5 yr, cannot reach the solar system. We investigated the cosmic-ray electron spectrum observed in the solar system using an analytical method, and considered several candidate sources among nearby SNRs which may contribute to the high energy electron flux. Especially, we discuss the effects for the release time from SNRs after the explosion, as well as the deviation of a source spectrum from a simple power-law. From this calculation, we found that some nearby sources such as the Vela, Cygnus Loop, or Monogem could leave unique signatures in the form of identifiable structure in the energy spectrum of TeV electrons and show anisotropies towards the sources, depending on when the electrons are liberated from the remnant. This suggests that, in addition to providing information on the mechanisms of acceleration and propagation of cosmic-rays, specific cosmic-ray sources can be identified through the precise electron observation in the TeV region.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Ap

Adding a Myers Term to the IIB Matrix Model

We show that Yang-Mills matrix integrals remain convergent when a Myers term is added, and stay in the same topological class as the original model. It is possible to add a supersymmetric Myers term and this leaves the partition function invariant.Comment: 8 pages, v2 2 refs adde