43 research outputs found

    Indexing Information for Data Forensics

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    We introduce novel techniques for organizing the indexing structures of how data is stored so that alterations from an original version can be detected and the changed values specifically identified. We give forensic constructions for several fundamental data structures, including arrays, linked lists, binary search trees, skip lists, and hash tables. Some of our constructions are based on a new reduced-randomness construction for nonadaptive combinatorial group testing

    Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project. VII. Understanding the Ultraviolet Anomaly in NGC 5548 with X-Ray Spectroscopy

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    During the Space Telescope and Optical Reverberation Mapping Project observations of NGC 5548, the continuum and emission-line variability became decorrelated during the second half of the six-month-long observing campaign. Here we present Swift and Chandra X-ray spectra of NGC 5548 obtained as part of the campaign. The Swift spectra show that excess flux (relative to a power-law continuum) in the soft X-ray band appears before the start of the anomalous emission-line behavior, peaks during the period of the anomaly, and then declines. This is a model-independent result suggesting that the soft excess is related to the anomaly. We divide the Swift data into on- and off-anomaly spectra to characterize the soft excess via spectral fitting. The cause of the spectral differences is likely due to a change in the intrinsic spectrum rather than to variable obscuration or partial covering. The Chandra spectra have lower signal-to-noise ratios, but are consistent with the Swift data. Our preferred model of the soft excess is emission from an optically thick, warm Comptonizing corona, the effective optical depth of which increases during the anomaly. This model simultaneously explains all three observations: the UV emission-line flux decrease, the soft-excess increase, and the emission-line anomaly

    Probing the relationship between electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves and plasmaspheric plumes near geosynchronous orbit

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    Plasmaspheric plumes created during disturbed geomagnetic conditions have been suggested as a major cause of increased occurrences of electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves at these times. We have catalogued occurrences of strong Pc1 EMIC waves from 1996 through 2003 at three automated geophysical observatories operated by the British Antarctic Survey at auroral zone latitudes in Antarctica (L = 6.28, 7.68, and 8.07) and have compared them to the occurrence of plasmaspheric plumes in space, using simultaneous data from the Magnetospheric Plasma Analyzer on the Los Alamos National Laboratory 1990-095 spacecraft, in geosynchronous orbit at the same magnetic longitude. A superposed epoch analysis of these data was conducted for several categories of disturbed geomagnetic conditions, including magnetic storms, high-speed streams, and storm sudden commencements. We found only a weak correspondence between the occurrence of strong Pc1 waves observed on the ground and either plasmaspheric plumes or intervals of extended plasmasphere at geosynchronous orbit before, during, or after the onset of any of these categories. Strong Pc1 activity peaked near or slightly after local noon during all storm phases, consistent with equatorial observations by the Active Magnetospheric Particle Tracer Explorers/Charge Composition Explorer satellite at these L shells. The highest Pc1 occurrence probability was at or 1-2 days before storm onset and during the late recovery phase. Occurrence was lowest during the early recovery phase, consistent with the decrease in solar wind pressure often seen at this time. The peak at onset is consistent with earlier observations of waves in the outer magnetosphere stimulated by sudden impulses and magnetospheric compressions

    Detection of artificially generated ULF waves by the FAST spacecraft and its application to the 'tagging' of narrow flux tubes

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    [1] Recently, Robinson et al. [2000] presented a brief report on the artificial generation of ULF waves by high power ionospheric modification and their subsequent detection by the Fast Auroral Snapshot ( FAST) spacecraft. The radio frequency "heating'' facility at Tromso was employed to impose a 3-Hz modulation on the current system that constitutes the auroral electrojet, resulting in the injection of field-guided ULF waves into the magnetosphere. The electric and magnetic field signatures of the waves were detected directly by the FAST spacecraft. Furthermore, a signature in the downgoing field-aligned electron flux, also observed by the satellite, was postulated to have resulted from the interaction of the ULF waves with the upper boundary of the ionospheric Alfven resonator. This paper evaluates these results in the context of the prevailing ionospheric conditions during the experiment and discusses the significance of the substorm activity, which occurred during this interval. The technique of artificial ULF wave injection, which can be used to "tag'' narrow flux tubes, could play an important part in overcoming mapping issues between ground-based and space-based observations of phenomena that couple the ionosphere and magnetosphere
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