4,857 research outputs found
Search for Rapid Changes in the Visible-Light Corona during the 21 June 2001 Total Solar Eclipse
Some 8000 images obtained with the SECIS fast-frame CCD camera instrument
located at Lusaka, Zambia, during the total eclipse of 21 June 2001 have been
analyzed to search for short-period oscillations in intensity that could be a
signature of solar coronal heating mechanisms by MHD wave dissipation. Images
were taken in white- light and Fe XIV green-line (5303 A) channels over 205
seconds (frame rate 39 s-1), approximately the length of eclipse totality at
this location, with a pixel size of four arcseconds square. The data are of
considerably better quality than were obtained during the 11 August 1999 total
eclipse, observed by us (Rudawy et al.: Astron. Astrophys. 416, 1179, 2004), in
that the images are much better exposed and enhancements in the drive system of
the heliostat used gave a much improved image stability. Classical Fourier and
wavelet techniques have been used to analyze the emission at 29518 locations,
of which 10714 had emission at reasonably high levels, searching for periodic
fluctuations with periods in the range 0.1-17 seconds (frequencies 0.06-10 Hz).
While a number of possible periodicities were apparent in the wavelet analysis,
none of the spatially and time-limited periodicities in the local brightness
curves was found to be physically important. This implies that the pervasive
Alfven wave-like phenomena (Tomczyk et al.: Science 317, 1192, 2007) using
polarimetric observations with the CoMP instrument do not give rise to
significant oscillatory intensity fluctuations.Comment: Accepted by Solar Physics; 16 figure
Modeling the near-UV band of GK stars, Paper II: NLTE models
We present a grid of atmospheric models and synthetic spectral energy
distributions (SEDs) for late-type dwarfs and giants of solar and 1/3 solar
metallicity with many opacity sources computed in self-consistent Non-Local
Thermodynamic Equilibrium (NLTE), and compare them to the LTE grid of Short &
Hauschildt (2010) (Paper I). We describe, for the first time, how the NLTE
treatment affects the thermal equilibrium of the atmospheric structure (T(tau)
relation) and the SED as a finely sampled function of Teff, log g, and [A/H]
among solar metallicity and mildly metal poor red giants. We compare the
computed SEDs to the library of observed spectrophotometry described in Paper I
across the entire visible band, and in the blue and red regions of the spectrum
separately. We find that for the giants of both metallicities, the NLTE models
yield best fit Teff values that are ~30 to 90 K lower than those provided by
LTE models, while providing greater consistency between \log g values, and, for
Arcturus, Teff values, fitted separately to the blue and red spectral regions.
There is marginal evidence that NLTE models give more consistent best fit Teff
values between the red and blue bands for earlier spectral classes among the
solar metallicity GK giants than they do for the later classes, but no model
fits the blue band spectrum well for any class. For the two dwarf spectral
classes that we are able to study, the effect of NLTE on derived parameters is
less significant.Comment: Submitted to The Astrophysical Journal. Observed spectrophotometric
library, and grids of NLTE and LTE) synthetic spectra for GK stars available
at http://www.ap.smu.ca/~ishort/PHOENI
The effect of ionization on the populations of excited levels of C IV and C V in tokamak edge plasmas
The main populating and depopulating mechanisms of the excited energy levels
of ions in plasmas with densities <1023-1024 m-3 are electron collisional
excitation from the ion's ground state and radiative decay, respectively, with
the majority of the electron population being in the ground state of the
ionization stage. Electron collisional ionization is predominately expected to
take place from one ground state to that of the next higher ionization stage.
However, the question arises as to whether, in some cases, ionization can also
affect the excited level populations. This would apply particularly to those
cases involving transient events such as impurity influxes in a laboratory
plasma. An analysis of the importance of ionization in populating the excited
levels of ions in plasmas typical of those found in the edge of tokamaks is
undertaken for the C IV and C V ionization stages. The emphasis is on those
energy levels giving rise to transitions of most use for diagnostic purposes.
Carbon is chosen since it is an important contaminant of JET plasmas; it was
the dominant low Z impurity before the installation of the ITER-like wall and
is still present in the plasma after its installation. Direct electron
collisional ionization both from and to excited levels is considered.
Distorted-wave Flexible Atomic Code calculations are performed to generate the
required ionization cross sections, due to a lack of atomic data in the
literature.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figures. This is an author-created, un-copyedited version
of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Physics B. IOP
Publishing Ltd is not responsible for any errors or omissions in this version
of the manuscript or any version derived from i
Propagating Wave Phenomena Detected in Observations and Simulations of the Lower Solar Atmosphere
We present high-cadence observations and simulations of the solar
photosphere, obtained using the Rapid Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere
imaging system and the MuRAM magneto-hydrodynamic code, respectively. Each
dataset demonstrates a wealth of magneto-acoustic oscillatory behaviour,
visible as periodic intensity fluctuations with periods in the range 110-600 s.
Almost no propagating waves with periods less than 140s and 110s are detected
in the observational and simulated datasets, respectively. High concentrations
of power are found in highly magnetised regions, such as magnetic bright points
and intergranular lanes. Radiative diagnostics of the photospheric simulations
replicate our observational results, confirming that the current breed of
magneto-hydrodynamic simulations are able to accurately represent the lower
solar atmosphere. All observed oscillations are generated as a result of
naturally occurring magnetoconvective processes, with no specific input driver
present. Using contribution functions extracted from our numerical simulations,
we estimate minimum G-band and 4170 Angstrom continuum formation heights of 100
km and 25 km, respectively. Detected magneto-acoustic oscillations exhibit a
dominant phase delay of -8 degrees between the G-band and 4170 Angstrom
continuum observations, suggesting the presence of upwardly propagating waves.
More than 73% of MBPs (73% from observations, 96% from simulations) display
upwardly propagating wave phenomena, suggesting the abundant nature of
oscillatory behaviour detected higher in the solar atmosphere may be traced
back to magnetoconvective processes occurring in the upper layers of the Sun's
convection zone.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted into Ap
A non-LTE abundance analysis of the post-AGB star ROA 5701
An analysis of high-resolution Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT)/ University
College London Echelle Spectrograph (UCLES) optical spectra for the ultraviolet
(UV)-bright star ROA 5701 in the globular cluster omega Cen (NGC 5139) is
performed, using non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) model
atmospheres to estimate stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical
composition. Abundances are derived for C, N, O, Mg, Si and S, and compared
with those found previously by Moehler et al. We find a general metal
underabundance relative to young B-type stars, consistent with the average
metallicity of the cluster. Our results indicate that ROA 5701 has not
undergone a gas-dust separation scenario as previously suggested. However, its
abundance pattern does imply that ROA 5701 has evolved off the AGB prior to the
onset of the third dredge-up.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRAS (Online Early
The Velocity Distribution of Solar Photospheric Magnetic Bright Points
We use high spatial resolution observations and numerical simulations to
study the velocity distribution of solar photospheric magnetic bright points.
The observations were obtained with the Rapid Oscillations in the Solar
Atmosphere instrument at the Dunn Solar Telescope, while the numerical
simulations were undertaken with the MURaM code for average magnetic fields of
200 G and 400 G. We implemented an automated bright point detection and
tracking algorithm on the dataset, and studied the subsequent velocity
characteristics of over 6000 structures, finding an average velocity of
approximately 1 km/s, with maximum values of 7 km/s. Furthermore, merging
magnetic bright points were found to have considerably higher velocities, and
significantly longer lifetimes, than isolated structures. By implementing a new
and novel technique, we were able to estimate the background magnetic flux of
our observational data, which is consistent with a field strength of 400 G.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL, 12 pages, 2 figure
Effects of hydrogen/deuterium absorption on the magnetic properties of Co/Pd multilayers
The effects of hydrogen (H2) and deuterium (D2) absorption were studied in
two Co/Pd multilayers with perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) using
polarized neutron reflectivity (PNR). PNR was measured in an external magnetic
field H applied in the plane of the sample with the magnetization M confined in
the plane for {\mu}_o H= 6.0 T and partially out of plane at 0.65 T. Nominal
thicknesses of the Co and Pd layers were 2.5 {\AA} and 21 {\AA}, respectively.
Because of these small values, the actual layer chemical composition,
thickness, and interface roughness parameters were determined from the nuclear
scattering length density profile ({\rho}_n) and its derivative obtained from
both x-ray reflectivity and PNR, and uncertainties were determined using Monte
Carlo analysis. The PNR {\rho}_n showed that although D2 absorption occurred
throughout the samples, absorption in the multilayer stack was modest (0.02 D
per Pd atom) and thus did not expand. Direct magnetometry showed that H2
absorption decreased the total M at saturation and increased the component of M
in the plane of the sample when not at saturation. The PNR magnetic scattering
length density ({\rho}_m) revealed that the Pd layers in the multilayer stack
were magnetized and that their magnetization was preferentially modified upon
D2 absorption. In one sample, a modulation of M with twice the multilayer
period was observed at {\mu}_o H= 0.65 T, which increased upon D2 absorption.
These results indicate that H2 or D2 absorption decreases both the PMA and
total magnetization of the samples. The lack of measurable expansion during
absorption indicates that these changes are primarily governed by modification
of the electronic structure of the material.Comment: to appear in Physics review B, 201
Dust in the Ionized Medium of the Galaxy: GHRS Measurements of Al III and S III
We present interstellar absorption line measurements of the ions S III and Al
III towards six stars using archival Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph data.
The ions Al III and S III trace heavily depleted and non-depleted elements,
respectively, in ionized gas. We use the photoionization code CLOUDY to derive
the ionization correction relating N(Al III)/N(S III) to the gas-phase
abundance [Al/S]_i in the ionized gas. For spectral types considered here, the
corrections are small and independent of the assumed ionization parameter.
Using the results of these photoionization models, we find [Al/S]_i = -1.0 in
the ionized gas towards three disk stars. These values of [Al/S]_i (=[Al/H]_i)
imply that Al-bearing grains are present in the ionized nebulae around these
stars. If the WIM of the Galaxy is photoionized by OB stars, our data for two
halo stars imply [Al/S]_i = -0.4 to -0.5 in the WIM and thus the presence of
dust grains containing Al in this important phase of the ISM. While
photoionization appears to be the most likely origin of the ionization for Al
III and S III, we cannot rule out confusion from the presence of hot,
collisionally ionized gas along two sightlines. We find that [Al/S]_i in the
ionized gas along the six sightlines is anti-correlated with the electron
density and average sightline neutral density. The degree of grain destruction
in the ionized medium of the Galaxy is not much higher than in the warm neutral
medium. The existence of grains in the ionized regions studied here has
important implications for the thermal balance of these regions. (Abstract
Abridged)Comment: 30 pages including 8 embedded tables and 8 embedded figures. Accepted
for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
Two-stage fan. 2: Data and performance with redesigned second stage rotor uniform and distorted inlet flows
A two-stage fan with a first rotor tip speed of 1450 ft/sec (441.96 m/sec) and no inlet guide vanes was tested with uniform and distorted inlet flows, with a redesigned second rotor having a part span shroud to prevent flutter, with variable-stagger stators set in nominal positions, and without rotor casing treatment. The fan achieved a pressure ratio 2.8 at a corrected flow of 185.4 lbm/sec (84.0 kg/sec), an adiabatic efficiency of 85.0 percent, and a stall margin of 12 percent. The redesigned second rotor did not flutter. Tip radial distortion reduced the stall margin at intermediate speed, but had little effect on stall margin at high or low speeds. Hub radial distortion reduced the stall margin at design speed but increased stall margin at low speed. Circumferential distortion reduced stall pressure ratio and flow to give approximately the same stall lines with uniform inlet flow. Distortions were attenuated by the fan. For Vol. 1, see N74-11421
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