4,435 research outputs found
Direct evidence for solar wind control of Jupiter's hectometer-wavelength radio emission
Observations of the solar wind close to Jupiter, by the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft in 1978 and 1979, are compared with the hectometer wavelength radio emission from the planet. A significant positive correlation is found between variations in the solar wind plasma density at Jupiter and the level of Jovian radio emission output. During the 173-day interval studied for the Voyager 2 data, the radio emission displayed a long term periodicity of about 13 days, identical to that shown by the solar wind density at Jupiter and consistent with the magnetic sector structure association already proposed for groundbased observations of the decameter wavelength emission
High-Temperature Processing of Solids Through Solar Nebular Bow Shocks: 3D Radiation Hydrodynamics Simulations with Particles
A fundamental, unsolved problem in Solar System formation is explaining the
melting and crystallization of chondrules found in chondritic meteorites.
Theoretical models of chondrule melting in nebular shocks has been shown to be
consistent with many aspects of thermal histories inferred for chondrules from
laboratory experiments; but, the mechanism driving these shocks is unknown.
Planetesimals and planetary embryos on eccentric orbits can produce bow shocks
as they move supersonically through the disk gas, and are one possible source
of chondrule-melting shocks. We investigate chondrule formation in bow shocks
around planetoids through 3D radiation hydrodynamics simulations. A new
radiation transport algorithm that combines elements of flux-limited diffusion
and Monte Carlo methods is used to capture the complexity of radiative
transport around bow shocks. An equation of state that includes the rotational,
vibrational, and dissociation modes of H is also used. Solids are followed
directly in the simulations and their thermal histories are recorded. Adiabatic
expansion creates rapid cooling of the gas, and tail shocks behind the embryo
can cause secondary heating events. Radiative transport is efficient, and bow
shocks around planetoids can have luminosities few
L. While barred and radial chondrule textures could be produced in
the radiative shocks explored here, porphyritic chondrules may only be possible
in the adiabatic limit. We present a series of predicted cooling curves that
merit investigation in laboratory experiments to determine whether the solids
produced by bow shocks are represented in the meteoritic record by chondrules
or other solids.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Images have been resized to conform
to arXiv limits, but are all readable upon adjusting the zoom. Changes from
v1: Corrected typos discovered in proofs. Most changes are in the appendi
Magnetic Fields Recorded by Chondrules Formed in Nebular Shocks
Recent laboratory efforts (Fu et al., 2014) have constrained the remanent
magnetizations of chondrules and the magnetic field strengths at which the
chondrules were exposed to as they cooled below their Curie points. An
outstanding question is whether the inferred paleofields represent the
background magnetic field of the solar nebula or were unique to the
chondrule-forming environment. We investigate the amplification of the magnetic
field above background values for two proposed chondrule formation mechanisms,
large-scale nebular shocks and planetary bow shocks. Behind large-scale shocks,
the magnetic field parallel to the shock front is amplified by factors , regardless of the magnetic diffusivity. Therefore, chondrules melted in
these shocks probably recorded an amplified magnetic field. Behind planetary
bow shocks, the field amplification is sensitive to the magnetic diffusivity.
We compute the gas properties behind a bow shock around a 3000 km-radius
planetary embryo, with and without atmospheres, using hydrodynamics models. We
calculate the ionization state of the hot, shocked gas, including thermionic
emission from dust, and thermal ionization of gas-phase potassium atoms, and
the magnetic diffusivity due to Ohmic dissipation and ambipolar diffusion. We
find that the diffusivity is sufficiently large that magnetic fields have
already relaxed to background values in the shock downstream where chondrules
acquire magnetizations, and that these locations are sufficiently far from the
planetary embryos that chondrules should not have recorded a significant
putative dynamo field generated on these bodies. We conclude that, if melted in
planetary bow shocks, chondrules probably recorded the background nebular
field.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Chondrule Formation in Bow Shocks around Eccentric Planetary Embryos
Recent isotopic studies of Martian meteorites by Dauphas & Pourmond (2011)
have established that large (~ 3000 km radius) planetary embryos existed in the
solar nebula at the same time that chondrules - millimeter-sized igneous
inclusions found in meteorites - were forming. We model the formation of
chondrules by passage through bow shocks around such a planetary embryo on an
eccentric orbit. We numerically model the hydrodynamics of the flow, and find
that such large bodies retain an atmosphere, with Kelvin-Helmholtz
instabilities allowing mixing of this atmosphere with the gas and particles
flowing past the embryo. We calculate the trajectories of chondrules flowing
past the body, and find that they are not accreted by the protoplanet, but may
instead flow through volatiles outgassed from the planet's magma ocean. In
contrast, chondrules are accreted onto smaller planetesimals. We calculate the
thermal histories of chondrules passing through the bow shock. We find that
peak temperatures and cooling rates are consistent with the formation of the
dominant, porphyritic texture of most chondrules, assuming a modest enhancement
above the likely solar nebula average value of chondrule densities (by a factor
of 10), attributable to settling of chondrule precursors to the midplane of the
disk or turbulent concentration. We calculate the rate at which a planetary
embryo's eccentricity is damped and conclude that a single planetary embryo
scattered into an eccentric orbit can, over ~ 10e5 years, produce ~ 10e24 g of
chondrules. In principle, a small number (1-10) of eccentric planetary embryos
can melt the observed mass of chondrules in a manner consistent with all known
constraints.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
Low-velocity collisions of centimeter-sized dust aggregates
Collisions between centimeter- to decimeter-sized dusty bodies are important
to understand the mechanisms leading to the formation of planetesimals. We thus
performed laboratory experiments to study the collisional behavior of dust
aggregates in this size range at velocities below and around the fragmentation
threshold. We developed two independent experimental setups with the same goal
to study the effects of bouncing, fragmentation, and mass transfer in free
particle-particle collisions. The first setup is an evacuated drop tower with a
free-fall height of 1.5 m, providing us with 0.56 s of microgravity time so
that we observed collisions with velocities between 8 mm/s and 2 m/s. The
second setup is designed to study the effect of partial fragmentation (when
only one of the two aggregates is destroyed) and mass transfer in more detail.
It allows for the measurement of the accretion efficiency as the samples are
safely recovered after the encounter. Our results are that for very low
velocities we found bouncing as could be expected while the fragmentation
velocity of 20 cm/s was significantly lower than expected. We present the
critical energy for disruptive collisions Q*, which showed up to be at least
two orders of magnitude lower than previous experiments in the literature. In
the wide range between bouncing and disruptive collisions, only one of the
samples fragmented in the encounter while the other gained mass. The accretion
efficiency in the order of a few percent of the particle's mass is depending on
the impact velocity and the sample porosity. Our results will have consequences
for dust evolution models in protoplanetary disks as well as for the strength
of large, porous planetesimal bodies
Core cracking and hydrothermal circulation can profoundly affect Ceres' geophysical evolution
Observations and models of Ceres suggest that its evolution was shaped by interactions between liquid water and silicate rock. Hydrothermal processes in a heated core require both fractured rock and liquid. Using a new core cracking model coupled to a thermal evolution code, we find volumes of fractured rock always large enough for significant interaction to occur. Therefore, liquid persistence is key. It is favored by antifreezes such as ammonia, by silicate dehydration which releases liquid, and by hydrothermal circulation itself, which enhances heat transport into the hydrosphere. The effect of heating from silicate hydration seems minor. Hydrothermal circulation can profoundly affect Ceres' evolution: it prevents core dehydration via “temperature resets,” core cooling events lasting ∼50 Myr during which Ceres' interior temperature profile becomes very shallow and its hydrosphere is largely liquid. Whether Ceres has experienced such extensive hydrothermalism may be determined through examination of its present-day structure. A large, fully hydrated core (radius 420 km) would suggest that extensive hydrothermal circulation prevented core dehydration. A small, dry core (radius 350 km) suggests early dehydration from short-lived radionuclides, with shallow hydrothermalism at best. Intermediate structures with a partially dehydrated core seem ambiguous, compatible both with late partial dehydration without hydrothermal circulation, and with early dehydration with extensive hydrothermal circulation. Thus, gravity measurements by the Dawn orbiter, whose arrival at Ceres is imminent, could help discriminate between scenarios for Ceres' evolution
High-Definition Optical Coherence Tomography for the in vivo Detection of Demodex Mites
Background: Demodex mites are involved in different skin diseases and are commonly detected by skin scrape tests or superficial biopsies. A new high-definition optical coherence tomography (HD-OCT) with high lateral and axial resolution in a horizontal (en-face) and vertical (slice) imaging mode might offer the possibility of noninvasive and fast in vivo examination of demodex mites. Methods: Twenty patients with demodex-related skin diseases and 20 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were examined by HD-OCT. Mites per follicle and follicles per field of view were counted and compared to skin scrape tests. Results: HD-OCT images depicted mites in the en-face mode as bright round dots in groups of 3-5 mites per hair follicle. In the patients with demodex-related disease, a mean number of 3.4 mites per follicle were detected with a mean number of 2.9 infested follicles per area of view compared to a mean of 0.6 mites in 0.4 infested follicles in the controls. The skin scrape tests were negative in 21% of the patients. Conclusion: The innovative HD-OCT enables fast and noninvasive in vivo recognition of demodex mites and might become a useful tool in the diagnosis and treatment monitoring of demodex-related skin diseases. Copyright (C) 2012 S. Karger AG, Base
Breaking through: The effects of a velocity distribution on barriers to dust growth
It is unknown how far dust growth can proceed by coagulation. Obstacles to
collisional growth are the fragmentation and bouncing barriers. However, in all
previous simulations of the dust-size evolution in protoplanetary disks, only
the mean collision velocity has been considered, neglecting that a small but
possibly important fraction of the collisions will occur at both much lower and
higher velocities. We study the effect of the probability distribution of
impact velocities on the collisional dust growth barriers. Assuming a
Maxwellian velocity distribution for colliding particles to determine the
fraction of sticking, bouncing, and fragmentation, we implement this in a
dust-size evolution code. We also calculate the probability of growing through
the barriers and the growth timescale in these regimes. We find that the
collisional growth barriers are not as sharp as previously thought. With the
existence of low-velocity collisions, a small fraction of the particles manage
to grow to masses orders of magnitude above the main population. A particle
velocity distribution softens the fragmentation barrier and removes the
bouncing barrier. It broadens the size distribution in a natural way, allowing
the largest particles to become the first seeds that initiate sweep-up growth
towards planetesimal sizes.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication as a Letter in Astronomy
and Astrophysic
Performance of a GridPix detector based on the Timepix3 chip
A GridPix readout for a TPC based on the Timepix3 chip is developed for
future applications at a linear collider. The GridPix detector consists of a
gaseous drift volume read out by a single Timepix3 chip with an integrated
amplification grid. Its performance is studied in a test beam with 2.5 GeV
electrons. The GridPix detector detects single ionization electrons with high
efficiency. The Timepix3 chip allowed for high sample rates and time walk
corrections. Diffusion is found to be the dominating error on the track
position measurement both in the pixel plane and in the drift direction, and
systematic distortions in the pixel plane are below 10 m. Using a
truncated sum, an energy loss (dE/dx) resolution of 4.1% is found for an
effective track length of 1 m.Comment: To be published in Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics
Research Section
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