1,009 research outputs found
Dual Maxwellian-Kappa modelling of the solar wind electrons: new clues on the temperature of Kappa populations
Context. Recent studies on Kappa distribution functions invoked in space
plasma applications have emphasized two alternative approaches which may assume
the temperature parameter either dependent or independent of the power-index
. Each of them can obtain justification in different scenarios
involving Kappa-distributed plasmas, but direct evidences supporting any of
these two alternatives with measurements from laboratory or natural plasmas are
not available yet. Aims. This paper aims to provide more facts on this
intriguing issue from direct fitting measurements of suprathermal electron
populations present in the solar wind, as well as from their destabilizing
effects predicted by these two alternating approaches. Methods. Two fitting
models are contrasted, namely, the global Kappa and the dual Maxwellian-Kappa
models, which are currently invoked in theory and observations. The
destabilizing effects of suprathermal electrons are characterized on the basis
of a kinetic approach which accounts for the microscopic details of the
velocity distribution. Results. In order to be relevant, the model is chosen to
accurately reproduce the observed distributions and this is achieved by a dual
Maxwellian-Kappa distribution function. A statistical survey indicates a
-dependent temperature of the suprathermal (halo) electrons for any
heliocentric distance. Only for this approach the instabilities driven by the
temperature anisotropy are found to be systematically stimulated by the
abundance of suprathermal populations, i.e., lowering the values of
-index.Comment: Submitted to A&
Antigen recognition by human γδ T cells: one step closer to knowing
Sensing of self and non‐self phosphoantigens by human Vγ9/Vδ2 T cells in the context of the butyrophilin family members BTN2A1 and BTN3A1
A Generalized Diffusion Tensor for Fully Anisotropic Diffusion of Energetic Particles in the Heliospheric Magnetic Field
The spatial diffusion of cosmic rays in turbulent magnetic fields can, in the
most general case, be fully anisotropic, i.e. one has to distinguish three
diffusion axes in a local, field-aligned frame. We reexamine the transformation
for the diffusion tensor from this local to a global frame, in which the Parker
transport equation for energetic particles is usually formulated and solved.
Particularly, we generalize the transformation formulas to allow for an
explicit choice of two principal local perpendicular diffusion axes. This
generalization includes the 'traditional' diffusion tensor in the special case
of isotropic perpendicular diffusion. For the local frame, we motivate the
choice of the Frenet-Serret trihedron which is related to the intrinsic
magnetic field geometry. We directly compare the old and the new tensor
elements for two heliospheric magnetic field configurations, namely the hybrid
Fisk and the Parker field. Subsequently, we examine the significance of the
different formulations for the diffusion tensor in a standard 3D model for the
modulation of galactic protons. For this we utilize a numerical code to
evaluate a system of stochastic differential equations equivalent to the Parker
transport equation and present the resulting modulated spectra. The computed
differential fluxes based on the new tensor formulation deviate from those
obtained with the 'traditional' one (only valid for isotropic perpendicular
diffusion) by up to 60% for energies below a few hundred MeV depending on
heliocentric distance.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, accepted in Ap
Structural and Electrochemical Insights from the Fluorination of Disordered Mn-Based Rock Salt Cathode Materials
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