40,750 research outputs found
Midlatitude Pi2 pulsations: AFGL and ISEE magnetometer observations correlated
The ISEE observations of the pi2 magnetic pulsations occuring substorm onset in the inner magnetosphere are discussed. One of these events which was also detected as a pi2 event by the AFGL midlatitude magnetometers is considered. The event occurred when the foot of the ISEE field line was over North America. The ground and satellite signals are remarkably similar: they start and stop at the same time, have the same period and can be correlated cycle by cycle. The waves are detected in the electric field data from ISEE 1 and in the magnetic field data from both ISEE 1 and ISEE 2. Calculation of the Poynting vector at ISEE 1 shows that the energy flowed mainly westward, but that there was also a component towards the nearer (southern) ionospheric foot of the field line. The phases between the various field components measured by ISEE 1 and 2 indicate that this is a standing hydromagnetic oscillation
Localizing coalescing massive black hole binaries with gravitational waves
Massive black hole binary coalescences are prime targets for space-based
gravitational wave (GW) observatories such as {\it LISA}. GW measurements can
localize the position of a coalescing binary on the sky to an ellipse with a
major axis of a few tens of arcminutes to a few degrees, depending on source
redshift, and a minor axis which is times smaller. Neglecting weak
gravitational lensing, the GWs would also determine the source's luminosity
distance to better than percent accuracy for close sources, degrading to
several percent for more distant sources. Weak lensing cannot, in fact, be
neglected and is expected to limit the accuracy with which distances can be
fixed to errors no less than a few percent. Assuming a well-measured cosmology,
the source's redshift could be inferred with similar accuracy. GWs alone can
thus pinpoint a binary to a three-dimensional ``pixel'' which can help guide
searches for the hosts of these events. We examine the time evolution of this
pixel, studying it at merger and at several intervals before merger. One day
before merger, the major axis of the error ellipse is typically larger than its
final value by a factor of . The minor axis is larger by a factor
of , and, neglecting lensing, the error in the luminosity distance is
larger by a factor of . This large change over a short period of
time is due to spin-induced precession, which is strongest in the final days
before merger. The evolution is slower as we go back further in time. For , we find that GWs will localize a coalescing binary to within $\sim 10\
\mathrm{deg}^2$ as early as a month prior to merger and determine distance (and
hence redshift) to several percent.Comment: 30 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables. Version published in Ap
Role of coronal mass ejections in the heliospheric Hale cycle
[1] The 11-year solar cycle variation in the heliospheric magnetic field strength can be explained by the temporary buildup of closed flux released by coronal mass ejections (CMEs). If this explanation is correct, and the total open magnetic flux is conserved, then the interplanetary-CME closed flux must eventually open via reconnection with open flux close to the Sun. In this case each CME will move the reconnected open flux by at least the CME footpoint separation distance. Since the polarity of CME footpoints tends to follow a pattern similar to the Hale cycle of sunspot polarity, repeated CME eruption and subsequent reconnection will naturally result in latitudinal transport of open solar flux. We demonstrate how this process can reverse the coronal and heliospheric fields, and we calculate that the amount of flux involved is sufficient to accomplish the reversal within the 11 years of the solar cycle
Building a CCD Spectrograph for Educational or Amateur Astronomy
We discuss the design of an inexpensive, high-throughput CCD spectrograph for
a small telescope. By using optical fibers to carry the light from the
telescope focus to a table-top spectrograph, one can minimize the weight
carried by the telescope and simplify the spectrograph design. We recently
employed this approach in the construction of IntroSpec, an instrument built
for the 16-inch Knowles Telescope on the Harvard College campus.Comment: 17 pages including 7 figures, PASP, accepted (higher resolution
figures at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~sheila/introspec.ps.gz
Spin-polarized tunneling spectroscopic studies of the intrinsic heterogeneity and pseudogap phenomena in colossal magnetoresistive manganite La_{0.7}Ca_{0.3}MnO_{3}
Spatially resolved tunneling spectroscopic studies of colossal
magnetoresistive (CMR) manganite (LCMO) epitaxial
films on substrate are investigated as
functions of temperature, magnetic field and spin polarization by means of
scanning tunneling spectroscopy. Systematic surveys of the tunneling spectra
taken with Pt/Ir tips reveal spatial variations on the length scale of a few
hundred nanometers in the ferromagnetic state, which may be attributed to the
intrinsic heterogeneity of the manganites due to their tendency towards phase
separation. The electronic heterogeneity is found to decrease either with
increasing field at low temperatures or at temperatures above all magnetic
ordering temperatures. On the other hand, spectra taken with Cr-coated tips are
consistent with convoluted electronic properties of both LCMO and Cr. In
particular, for temperatures below the magnetic ordering temperatures of both
Cr and LCMO, the magnetic-field dependent tunneling spectra may be
quantitatively explained by the scenario of spin-polarized tunneling in a
spin-valve configuration. Moreover, a low-energy insulating energy gap eV commonly found in the tunneling conductance spectra of bulk metallic
LCMO at may be attributed to a surface ferromagnetic insulating (FI)
phase, as evidenced by its spin filtering effect at low temperatures and
vanishing gap value above the Curie temperature. Additionally, temperature
independent pseudogap (PG) phenomena existing primarily along the boundaries of
magnetic domains are observed in the zero-field tunneling spectra. The PG
becomes strongly suppressed by applied magnetic fields at low temperatures when
the tunneling spectra of LCMO become highly homogeneous. These findings suggest
that the occurrence PG is associated with the electronic heterogeneity of the
manganites.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures. Published in Physical Review B. Corresponding
author: Nai-Chang Yeh (E-mail: [email protected]
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