11,171 research outputs found
Coronal Electron Confinement by Double Layers
In observations of flare-heated electrons in the solar corona, a longstanding
problem is the unexplained prolonged lifetime of the electrons compared to
their transit time across the source. This suggests confinement. Recent
particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, which explored the transport of
pre-accelerated hot electrons through ambient cold plasma, showed that the
formation of a highly localized electrostatic potential drop, in the form of a
double layer (DL), significantly inhibited the transport of hot electrons (T.C.
Li, J.F. Drake, and M. Swisdak, 2012, ApJ, 757, 20). The effectiveness of
confinement by a DL is linked to the strength of the DL as defined by its
potential drop. In this work, we investigate the scaling of the DL strength
with the hot electron temperature by PIC simulations, and find a linear
scaling. We demonstrate that the strength is limited by the formation of
parallel shocks. Based on this, we analytically determine the maximum DL
strength, and find also a linear scaling with the hot electron temperature. The
DL strength obtained from the analytic calculation is comparable to that from
the simulations. At the maximum strength, the DL is capable of confining a
significant fraction of hot electrons in the source
Detection of new eruptions in the Magellanic Clouds LBVs R 40 and R 110
We performed a spectroscopic and photometric analysis to study new eruptions
in two luminous blue variables (LBVs) in the Magellanic Clouds. We detected a
strong new eruption in the LBV R40 that reached in 2016, which is
around mag brighter than the minimum registered in 1985. During this new
eruption, the star changed from an A-type to a late F-type spectrum. Based on
photometric and spectroscopic empirical calibrations and synthetic spectral
modeling, we determine that R\,40 reached ~K
during this new eruption. This object is thereby probably one of the coolest
identified LBVs. We could also identify an enrichment of nitrogen and r- and
s-process elements. We detected a weak eruption in the LBV R 110 with a maximum
of mag in 2011, that is, around mag brighter than in the
quiescent phase. On the other hand, this new eruption is about mag
fainter than the first eruption detected in 1990, but the temperature did not
decrease below 8500 K. Spitzer spectra show indications of cool dust in the
circumstellar environment of both stars, but no hot or warm dust was present,
except by the probable presence of PAHs in R\,110. We also discuss a possible
post-red supergiant nature for both stars
Reduction of Ion Heating During Magnetic Reconnection by Large-Scale Effective Potentials
The physical processes that control the partition of released magnetic energy
between electrons and ions during reconnection is explored through
particle-in-cell simulations and analytical techniques. We demonstrate that the
development of a large-scale parallel electric field and its associated
potential controls the relative heating of electrons and ions. The potential
develops to restrain heated exhaust electrons and enhances their heating by
confining electrons in the region where magnetic energy is released.
Simultaneously the potential slows ions entering the exhaust below the
Alfv\'enic speed expected from the traditional counterstreaming picture of ion
heating. Unexpectedly, the magnitude of the potential and therefore the
relative partition of energy between electrons and ions is not a constant but
rather depends on the upstream parameters and specifically the upstream
electron normalized temperature (electron beta). These findings suggest that
the fraction of magnetic energy converted into the total thermal energy may be
independent of upstream parameters
Redshifted X-rays from the material accreting onto TW Hya: evidence of a low-latitude accretion spot
High resolution spectroscopy, providing constraints on plasma motions and
temperatures, is a powerful means to investigate the structure of accretion
streams in CTTS. In particular, the accretion shock region, where the accreting
material is heated to temperatures of a few MK as it continues its inward bulk
motion, can be probed by X-ray spectroscopy. To attempt to detect for the first
time the motion of this X-ray-emitting post-shock material, we searched for a
Doppler shift in the deep Chandra/HETGS observation of the CTTS TW Hya. This
test should unveil the nature of this X-ray emitting plasma component in CTTS,
and constrain the accretion stream geometry. We searched for a Doppler shift in
the X-ray emission from TW Hya with two different methods, by measuring the
position of a selected sample of emission lines, and by fitting the whole TW
Hya X-ray spectrum, allowing the line-of-sight velocity to vary. We found that
the plasma at T~2-4 MK has a line-of-sight velocity of 38.3+/-5.1 km/s with
respect to the stellar photosphere. This result definitively confirms that this
X-ray-emitting material originates in the post-shock region, at the base of the
accretion stream, and not in coronal structures. The comparison of the observed
velocity along the line of sight, 38.3+/-5.1 km/s, with the inferred intrinsic
velocity of the post shock of TW Hya, v_post~110-120 km/s, indicates that the
footpoints of the accretion streams on TW Hya are located at low latitudes on
the stellar surface. Our results indicate that complex magnetic field
geometries, such as that of TW Hya, permit low-latitude accretion spots.
Moreover, since on TW Hya the redshift of the soft X-ray emission is very
similar to that of the narrow component of the CIV resonance doublet at 1550
Ang, as found by Ardila et al. (2013), then the plasma at 2-4 MK and that at
0.1 MK likely originate in the same post-shock regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics; 2nd version
after language editor corrections; 16 pages, 8 figures, 6 table
Kinetic signatures of the region surrounding the X-line in asymmetric (magnetopause) reconnection
Kinetic particle-in-cell simulations are used to identify signatures of the
electron diffusion region (EDR) and its surroundings during asymmetric magnetic
reconnection. A "shoulder" in the sunward pointing normal electric field (EN >
0) at the reconnection magnetic field reversal is a good indicator of the EDR,
and is caused by magnetosheath electron meandering orbits in the vicinity of
the x-line. Earthward of the X-line, electrons accelerated by EN form strong
currents and crescent-shaped distribution functions in the plane perpendicular
to B. Just downstream of the X-line, parallel electric fields create
field-aligned crescent electron distribution functions. In the immediate
upstream magnetosheath, magnetic field strength, plasma density, and
perpendicular electron temperatures are lower than the asymptotic state. In the
magnetosphere inflow region, magnetosheath ions intrude resulting in an
Earthward pointing electric field and parallel heating of magnetospheric
particles. Many of the above properties persist with a guide field of at least
unity.Comment: Submitted to Geophysical Research Letter
Asymmetric magnetic reconnection with a flow shear and applications to the magnetopause
We perform a theoretical and numerical study of anti-parallel 2D magnetic
reconnection with asymmetries in the density and reconnecting magnetic field
strength in addition to a bulk flow shear across the reconnection site in the
plane of the reconnecting fields, which commonly occurs at planetary
magnetospheres. We predict the speed at which an isolated X-line is convected
by the flow, the reconnection rate, and the critical flow speed at which
reconnection no longer takes place for arbitrary reconnecting magnetic field
strengths, densities, and upstream flow speeds, and confirm the results with
two-fluid numerical simulations. The predictions and simulation results counter
the prevailing model of reconnection at Earth's dayside magnetopause which says
reconnection occurs with a stationary X-line for sub-Alfvenic magnetosheath
flow, reconnection occurs but the X-line convects for magnetosheath flows
between the Alfven speed and double the Alfven speed, and reconnection does not
occur for magnetosheath flows greater than double the Alfven speed. We find
that X-line motion is governed by momentum conservation from the upstream
flows, which are weighted differently in asymmetric systems, so the X-line
convects for generic conditions including sub-Alfvenic upstream speeds. For the
reconnection rate, while the cutoff condition for symmetric reconnection is
that the difference in flows on the two sides of the reconnection site is twice
the Alfven speed, we find asymmetries cause the cutoff speed for asymmetric
reconnection to be higher than twice the asymmetric form of the Alfven speed.
The results compare favorably with an observation of reconnection at Earth's
polar cusps during a period of northward interplanetary magnetic field, where
reconnection occurs despite the magnetosheath flow speed being more than twice
the magnetosheath Alfven speed, the previously proposed suppression condition.Comment: 46 pages, 7 figures, abstract abridged here, accepted to Journal of
Geophysical Research - Space Physic
Combined Gamma Ray/neutron Spectroscopy for Mapping Lunar Resources
Some elements in the Moon can be resources, such as hydrogen and oxygen. Other elements, like Ti or the minerals in which they occur, such as ilmenite, could be used in processing lunar materials. Certain elements can also be used as tracers for other elements or lunar processes, such as hydrogen for mature regoliths with other solar-wind-implanted elements like helium, carbon, and nitrogen. A complete knowledge of the elemental composition of a lunar region is desirable both in identifying lunar resources and in lunar geochemical studies, which also helps in identifying and using lunar resources. The use of gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy together to determine abundances of many elements in the top few tens of centimeters of the lunar surface is discussed. To date, very few discussions of elemental mapping of planetary surfaces considered measurements of both gamma rays and the full range of neutron energies. The theories for gamma ray and neutron spectroscopy of the Moon and calculations of leakage fluxes are presented here with emphasis on why combined gamma ray/neutron spectroscopy is much more powerful than measuring either radiation alone
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