Stochastic Acceleration of Low Energy Electrons in Plasmas with Finite Temperature

This paper extends our earlier work on the acceleration of low-energy electrons by plasma turbulence to include the effects of finite temperature of the plasma. We consider the resonant interaction of thermal electrons with the whole transverse branch of plasma waves propagating along the magnetic field. We show that our earlier published results for acceleration of low-energy electrons can be applied to the case of finite temperature if a sufficient level of turbulence is present. From comparison of the acceleration rate of the thermal particles with the decay rate of the waves with which they interact, we determine the required energy density of the waves as a fraction of the magnetic energy density, so that a substantial fraction of the background plasma electrons can be accelerated. The dependence of this value on the plasma parameter alpha = omega_pe / Omega_e (the ratio of electron plasma frequency to electron gyrofrequency), plasma temperature, and turbulence spectral parameters is quantified. We show that the result is most sensitive to the plasma parameter alpha. We estimate the required level of total turbulence by calculating the level of turbulence required for the initial acceleration of thermal electrons and that required for further acceleration to higher energies

Seeing Tree Structure from Vibration

Humans recognize object structure from both their appearance and motion; often, motion helps to resolve ambiguities in object structure that arise when we observe object appearance only. There are particular scenarios, however, where neither appearance nor spatial-temporal motion signals are informative: occluding twigs may look connected and have almost identical movements, though they belong to different, possibly disconnected branches. We propose to tackle this problem through spectrum analysis of motion signals, because vibrations of disconnected branches, though visually similar, often have distinctive natural frequencies. We propose a novel formulation of tree structure based on a physics-based link model, and validate its effectiveness by theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and empirical experiments. With this formulation, we use nonparametric Bayesian inference to reconstruct tree structure from both spectral vibration signals and appearance cues. Our model performs well in recognizing hierarchical tree structure from real-world videos of trees and vessels.Comment: ECCV 2018. The first two authors contributed equally to this work. Project page: http://tree.csail.mit.edu

Properties, Propagation, and Excitation of EMIC Waves Properties, Propagation, and Excitation of EMIC Waves

Electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves (0.1-5 Hz) play an important role in particle dynamics in the Earth's magnetosphere. EMIC waves are preferentially excited in regions where hot anisotropic ions and cold dense plasma populations spatially overlap. While the generation region of EMIC waves is usually on or near the magnetic equatorial plane in the inner magnetosphere, EMIC waves have both equatorial and off-equator source regions on the dayside in the compressed outer magnetosphere. Using field and plasma measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission, we perform a case study of EMIC waves and associated local plasma conditions observed on 19 October 2015. From 0315 to 0810 UT, before crossing the magnetopause into the magnetosheath, all four MMS spacecraft detected long-lasting He(exp +)-band EMIC wave emissions around local noon (MLT = 12.7 - 14.0) at high L-shells (L = 8.8 - 15.2) and low magnetic latitudes (MLAT = -21.8deg - -30.3deg). Energetic (greater than 1 keV) and anisotropic ions were present throughout this event that was in the recovery phase of a weak geomagnetic storm (min. Dst = -48 nT at 1000 UT on 18 October 2015). The testing of linear theory suggests that the EMIC waves were excited locally. Although the wave event is dominated by small normal angles, its polarization is mixed with right- and left-handedness and its propagation is bi-directional with regard to the background magnetic field. The short inter-spacecraft distances (as low as ~15 km) of the MMS mission make it possible to accurately determine the k vector of the waves using the phase difference technique. Preliminary analysis finds that the k vector magnitude, phase speed, and wavelength of the 0.3-Hz wave packet at 0453:55 UT are 0.005 km(exp -1), 372.9 km/s, and 1242.9 km, respectively

Electron Heating by Debye-Scale Turbulence in Guide-Field Reconnection

We report electrostatic Debye-scale turbulence developing within the diffusion region of asymmetric magnetopause reconnection with amoderate guide field using observations by the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission. We show that Buneman waves and beam modes cause efficient and fast thermalization of the reconnection electron jet by irreversible phase mixing, during which the jet kinetic energy is transferred into thermal energy. Our results show that the reconnection diffusion region in the presence of a moderate guide field is highly turbulent, and that electrostatic turbulence plays an important role in electron heating.Peer reviewe

Motor Preparatory Activity in Posterior Parietal Cortex is Modulated by Subjective Absolute Value

For optimal response selection, the consequences associated with behavioral success or failure must be appraised. To determine how monetary consequences influence the neural representations of motor preparation, human brain activity was scanned with fMRI while subjects performed a complex spatial visuomotor task. At the beginning of each trial, reward context cues indicated the potential gain and loss imposed for correct or incorrect trial completion. FMRI-activity in canonical reward structures reflected the expected value related to the context. In contrast, motor preparatory activity in posterior parietal and premotor cortex peaked in high “absolute value” (high gain or loss) conditions: being highest for large gains in subjects who believed they performed well while being highest for large losses in those who believed they performed poorly. These results suggest that the neural activity preceding goal-directed actions incorporates the absolute value of that action, predicated upon subjective, rather than objective, estimates of one's performance