15,791 research outputs found
Magnetoresistance of a two-dimensional electron gas in a parallel magnetic field
The conductivity of a two-dimensional electron gas in a parallel magnetic
field is calculated. We take into account the magnetic field induced
spin-splitting, which changes the density of states, the Fermi momentum and the
screening behavior of the electron gas. For impurity scattering we predict a
positive magnetoresistance for low electron density and a negative
magnetoresistance for high electron density. The theory is in qualitative
agreement with recent experimental results found for Si inversion layers and Si
quantum wells.Comment: 4 pages, figures included, PDF onl
Latitude dependence of co-rotating shock acceleration
Energetic particle observations in the outer heliosphere (approx 12 A. U.) by the LECP instruments on the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 spacecraft are discussed that show a definite latitude dependence of the number and intensity of particle enhancements produced by corotating interplanetary regions during an interval when no solar energetic particle events were observed. The particle enhancements are fewer in number and less intense at higher (approx 20 deg.) heliolatitudes. However, the similar spectral shapes of the accelerated particles at the two spacecraft indicate that the acceleration process is the same at the two latitudes, but less intense at the higher latitude
Seed populations for large solar particle events of cycle 23
Using high-resolution mass spectrometers on board the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), we surveyed the event-averaged ~0.1-60 MeV/nuc heavy ion elemental composition in 64 large solar energetic particle (LSEP) events of cycle 23. Our results show the following: (1) The rare isotope ^3He is greatly enhanced over the corona or the solar wind values in 46% of the events. (2) The Fe/O ratio decreases with increasing energy up to ~10 MeV/nuc in ~92% of the events and up to ~60 MeV/nuc in ~64% of the events. (3) Heavy ion abundances from C-Fe exhibit systematic M/g-dependent enhancements that are remarkably similar to those seen in ^3He-rich SEP events and CME-driven interplanetary (IP) shock events. Taken together, these results confirm the role of shocks in energizing particles up to ~60 MeV/nuc in the majority of large SEP events of cycle 23, but also show that the seed population is not
dominated by ions originating from the ambient corona or the thermal solar wind, as previously
believed. Rather, it appears that the source material for CME-associated large SEP events
originates predominantly from a suprathermal population with a heavy ion enrichment pattern
that is organized according to the ion's mass-per-charge ratio. These new results indicate that
current LSEP models must include the routine production of this dynamic suprathermal seed
population as a critical pre-cursor to the CME shock acceleration process
Magnetic Flux Tube Reconnection: Tunneling Versus Slingshot
The discrete nature of the solar magnetic field as it emerges into the corona
through the photosphere indicates that it exists as isolated flux tubes in the
convection zone, and will remain as discrete flux tubes in the corona until it
collides and reconnects with other coronal fields. Collisions of these flux
tubes will in general be three dimensional, and will often lead to
reconnection, both rearranging the magnetic field topology in fundamental ways,
and releasing magnetic energy. With the goal of better understanding these
dynamics, we carry out a set of numerical experiments exploring fundamental
characteristics of three dimensional magnetic flux tube reconnection. We first
show that reconnecting flux tubes at opposite extremes of twist behave very
differently: in some configurations, low twist tubes slingshot while high twist
tubes tunnel. We then discuss a theory explaining these differences: by
assuming helicity conservation during the reconnection one can show that at
high twist, tunneled tubes reach a lower magnetic energy state than slingshot
tubes, whereas at low twist the opposite holds. We test three predictions made
by this theory. 1) We find that the level of twist at which the transition from
slingshot to tunnel occurs is about two to three times higher than predicted on
the basis of energetics and helicity conservation alone, probably because the
dynamics of the reconnection play a large role as well. 2) We find that the
tunnel occurs at all flux tube collision angles predicted by the theory. 3) We
find that the amount of magnetic energy a slingshot or a tunnel reconnection
releases agrees reasonably well with the theory, though at the high
resistivities we have to use for numerical stability, a significant amount of
magnetic energy is lost to diffusion, independent of reconnection.Comment: 21 pages, 15 figures, submitted to Ap
Stable Branched Electron Flow
The pattern of branched electron flow revealed by scanning gate microscopy
shows the distribution of ballistic electron trajectories. The details of the
pattern are determined by the correlated potential of remote dopants with an
amplitude far below the Fermi energy. We find that the pattern persists even if
the electron density is significantly reduced such that the change in Fermi
energy exceeds the background potential amplitude. The branch pattern is robust
against changes in charge carrier density, but not against changes in the
background potential caused by additional illumination of the sample.Comment: Accepted for publication in New Journal of Physic
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