82 research outputs found
Studies of the auroral substorm. III CONCEPT of the magnetospheric substorm and its relation to electron precipitation and micropulsations
Concept of auroral magnetospheric substorm and relation to electron precipitation and micropulsation
Studies of the auroral substorm. I - Characteristics of modulated energetic electron precipitation occurring during auroral substorms
Characteristics of modulated energetic electron precipitation occurring during auroral substorm
Characteristics of ion flow in the quiet inner plasma sheet
Abstract
We use AMPTE/IRM and ISEE 2 data to study the properties of the high beta (βi \u3e 0.5) plasma sheet, the inner plasma sheet (IPS). Bursty bulk flows (BBFs) are excised from the two databases, and the average flow pattern in the non-BBF (quiet) IPS is constructed. At local midnight this ensemble-average flow is predominantly duskward; closer to the flanks it is mostly earthward. The flow pattern agrees qualitatively with calculations based on the Tsyganenko [1987] model (T87), where the earthward flow is due to the ensemble-average cross tail electric field and the duskward flow is the diamagnetic drift due to an inward pressure gradient. The IPS is on the average in pressure equilibrium with the lobes. Because of its large variance the average flow does not represent the instantaneous flow field. Case studies also show that the non-BBF flow is highly irregular and inherently unsteady, a reason why earthward convection can avoid a pressure balance inconsistency with the lobes. The ensemble distribution of velocities is a fundamental observable of the quiet plasma sheet flow field
Hypoxia promotes the inflammatory response and stemness features in visceral fat stem cells from obese subjects
Low-grade chronic inflammation is a salient feature of obesity and many associated disorders. This condition frequently occurs in central obesity and is connected to alterations of the visceral adipose tissue (AT) microenvironment. Understanding how obesity is related to inflammation may allow the development of therapeutics aimed at improving metabolic parameters in obese patients. To achieve this aim, we compared the features of 2 subpopulations of adipose-derived stem cells (ASC) isolated from both subcutaneous and visceral AT of obese patients with the features of 2 subpopulations of ASC from the same isolation sites of non-obese individuals. In particular, the behavior of ASC of obese vs non-obese subjects during hypoxia, which occurs in obese AT and is an inducer of the inflammatory response, was evaluated. Obesity deeply influenced ASC from visceral AT (obV-ASC); these cells appeared to exhibit clearly distinguishable morphology and ultrastructure as well as reduced proliferation, clonogenicity and expression of stemness, differentiation and inflammation-related genes. These cells also exhibited a deregulated response to hypoxia, which induced strong tissue-specific NF-kB activation and an NF-kB-mediated increase in inflammatory and fibrogenic responses. Moreover, obV-ASC, which showed a less stem-like phenotype, recovered stemness features after hypoxia. Our findings demonstrated the peculiar behavior of obV-ASC, their influence on the obese visceral AT microenvironment and the therapeutic potential of NF-kB inhibitors. These novel findings suggest that the deregulated hyper-responsiveness to hypoxic stimulus of ASC from visceral AT of obese subjects may contribute via paracrine mechanisms to low-grade chronic inflammation, which has been implicated in obesity-related morbidity
Shallow decay phase of GRB X-ray afterglows from relativistic wind bubbles
The postburst object of a GRB is likely to be a highly magnetized, rapidly
rotating compact object (e.g., a millisecond magnetar), which could produce an
ultrarelativistic electron-positron-pair wind. The interaction of such a wind
with an outwardly expanding fireball ejected during the burst leads to a
relativistic wind bubble (RWB). We numerically calculate the dynamics and
radiative properties of RWBs and use this model to explain the shallow decay
phase of the early X-ray afterglows observed by Swift. We find that RWBs can
fall into two types: forward-shock-dominated and reverse-shock-dominated
bubbles. Their radiation during a period of seconds is
dominated by the shocked medium and the shocked wind, respectively, based on
different magnetic energy fractions of the shocked materials. For both types,
the resulting light curves always have a shallow decay phase. In addition, we
provide an example fit to the X-ray afterglows of GRB 060813 and GRB 060814 and
show that they could be produced by forward-shock-dominated and
reverse-shock-dominated bubbles, respectively. This implies that, for some
early afterglows (e.g., GRB 060814), the long-lasting reverse shock emission is
strong enough to explain their shallow decay phase.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for Publication in A&
Substorms in space: The correlation between ground and satellite observations of the magnetic field
Large scale magnetic fields and their dissipation in GRB fireballs
We consider possible geometries of magnetic fields in GRB outflows, and their
evolution with distance from the source. For magnetically driven outflows, with
an assumed ratio of magnetic to kinetic energy density of order unity, the
field strengths are sufficient for efficient production of gamma-rays by
synchrotron emission in the standard internal shock scenario, without the need
for local generation of small scale fields. In these conditions, the MHD
approximation is valid to large distances (>10^19cm). In outflows driven by
nonaxisymmetric magnetic fields, changes of direction of the field cause
dissipation of magnetic energy by reconnection. This dissipation takes place
outside the photosphere of the outflow, and can convert a significant fraction
of the magnetic energy flux into radiation.Comment: 12 pages including 3 figures, submitted to A&
The termination shock of a magnetar wind: a possible origin of gamma-ray burst X-ray afterglow emission
Context: Swift observations suggest that the X-ray afterglow emission of some
gamma-ray bursts (GRB) may have internal origins, and the conventional external
shock (ES) cannot be the exclusive source of the afterglow emission. Aims: If
the central compact objects of some GRBs are millisecond magentars, the
magnetar winds could play an important role in the (internal) X-ray afterglow
emission, which is our focus here. Methods: The dynamics and the synchrotron
radiation of the termination shock (TS) of the magmnetar winds, as well as the
simultaneous GRB ES, are investigated by considering the magnetization of the
winds. Results: As a result of the competition between the emission of the wind
TS and the GRB ES, two basic types of X-ray afterglows are predicted, i.e., the
TS-dominated and the ES-dominated types. Moreover, our results also show that
both of the two types of afterglows have a shallow-decay phase and a
normal-decay one, as observed by the \textit{Swift} satellite. This indicates
that some observed X-ray afterglows could be (internally) produced by the
magnetar winds, but not necessarily GRB ESs.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Acceleration of GRB outflows by Poynting flux dissipation
We study magnetically powered relativistic outflows in which a part of the
magnetic energy is dissipated internally by reconnection. For GRB parameters,
and assuming that the reconnection speed scales with the Alfven speed,
significant dissipation can take place both inside and outside the photosphere
of the flow. The process leads to a steady increase of the flow Lorentz factor
with radius. With an analytic model we show how the efficiency of this process
depends on GRB parameters. Estimates are given for the thermal and non-thermal
radiation expected to be emitted from the photosphere and the optically thin
part of the flow respectively.
A critical parameter of the model is the ratio of Poynting flux to kinetic
energy flux at some initial radius of the flow. For a large value (> 100) the
non-thermal radiation dominates over the thermal component. If the ratio is
small (< 40) only prompt thermal emission is expected which can be identified
with X-ray flashes.Comment: 10 page
Entangled-State Cycles of Atomic Collective-Spin States
We study quantum trajectories of collective atomic spin states of
effective two-level atoms driven with laser and cavity fields. We show that
interesting ``entangled-state cycles'' arise probabilistically when the (Raman)
transition rates between the two atomic levels are set equal. For odd (even)
, there are () possible cycles. During each cycle the
-qubit state switches, with each cavity photon emission, between the states
, where is a Dicke state in a rotated
collective basis. The quantum number (), which distinguishes the
particular cycle, is determined by the photon counting record and varies
randomly from one trajectory to the next. For even it is also possible,
under the same conditions, to prepare probabilistically (but in steady state)
the Dicke state , i.e., an -qubit state with excitations,
which is of particular interest in the context of multipartite entanglement.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figure
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