9,820 research outputs found

    Economically optimal management strategies for the South Georgia Patagonian toothfish fishery

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    The fishery for Patagonian toothfish (Dissostichus eleginoides) around the island of South Georgia in the Southern Ocean is a profitable operation targeting a high-value, slow-growing species. We substituted the complex Bayesian age-structured model currently used for assessments with a Schaefer production model, which performs equally well as an operating model for management strategy evaluation. A number of potential effort reduction strategies are investigated, several of which would achieve better conservation objectives and higher future profits from the fishery than those predicted using the current management strategy. The article also discusses the applicability of this approach to the Australian sub-Antarctic fisheries targeting the stocks of D. eleginoides.bioeconomic model, fisheries, Patagonian toothfish, management strategy evaluation, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

    A critical Mach number for electron injection in collisionless shocks

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    Electron acceleration in collisionless shocks with arbitrary magnetic field orientations is discussed. It is shown that the injection of thermal electrons into diffusive shock acceleration process is achieved by an electron beam with a loss-cone in velocity space that is reflected back upstream from the shock through shock drift acceleration mechanism. The electron beam is able to excite whistler waves which can scatter the energetic electrons themselves when the Alfven Mach number of the shock is sufficiently high. A critical Mach number for the electron injection is obtained as a function of upstream parameters. The application to supernova remnant shocks is discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

    Three Dimensional Evolution of a Relativistic Current Sheet : Triggering of Magnetic Reconnection by the Guide Field

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    The linear and non-linear evolution of a relativistic current sheet of pair (e±e^{\pm}) plasmas is investigated by three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. In a Harris configuration, it is obtained that the magnetic energy is fast dissipated by the relativistic drift kink instability (RDKI). However, when a current-aligned magnetic field (the so-called "guide field") is introduced, the RDKI is stabilized by the magnetic tension force and it separates into two obliquely-propagating modes, which we call the relativistic drift-kink-tearing instability (RDKTI). These two waves deform the current sheet so that they trigger relativistic magnetic reconnection at a crossover thinning point. Since relativistic reconnection produces a lot of non-thermal particles, the guide field is of critical importance to study the energetics of a relativistic current sheet.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures; fixed typos and added a footnote [24

    `Island Surfing' Mechanism of Electron Acceleration During Magnetic Reconnection

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    One of the key unresolved problems in the study of space plasmas is to explain the production of energetic electrons as magnetic field lines `reconnect' and release energy in a exposive manner. Recent observations suggest possible roles played by small scale magnetic islands in the reconnection region, but their precise roles and the exact mechanism of electron energization have remained unclear. Here we show that secondary islands generated in the reconnection region are indeed efficient electron accelerators. We found that, when electrons are trapped inside the islands, they are energized continuously by the reconnection electric field prevalent in the reconnection diffusion region. The size and the propagation speed of the secondary islands are similar to those of islands observed in the magnetotail containing energertic electrons.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, submitted to J. Geophys. Res
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