380 research outputs found
A consistent thermodynamics of the MHD wave-heated two-fluid solar wind
International audienceWe start our considerations from two more recent findings in heliospheric physics: One is the fact that the primary solar wind protons do not cool off adiabatically with distance, but appear to be heated. The other one is that secondary protons, embedded in the solar wind as pick-up ions, behave quasi-isothermal at their motion to the outer heliosphere. These two phenomena must be physically closely connected with each other. To demonstrate this we solve a coupled set of enthalpy flow conservation equations for the two-fluid solar wind system consisting of primary and secondary protons. The coupling of these equations comes by the heat sources that are relevant, namely the dissipation of MHD turbulence power to the respective protons at the relevant dissipation scales. Hereby we consider both the dissipation of convected turbulences and the dissipation of turbulences locally driven by the injection of new pick-up ions into an unstable mode of the ion distribution function. Conversion of free kinetic energy of freshly injected secondary ions into turbulence power is finally followed by partial reabsorption of this energy both by primary and secondary ions. We show solutions of simultaneous integrations of the coupled set of differential thermodynamic two-fluid equations and can draw interesting conclusions from the solutions obtained. We can show that the secondary proton temperature with increasing radial distance asymptotically attains a constant value with a magnitude essentially determined by the actual solar wind velocity. Furthermore, we study the primary proton temperature within this two-fluid context and find a polytropic behaviour with radially and latitudinally variable polytropic indices determined by the local heat sources due to dissipated turbulent wave energy. Considering latitudinally variable solar wind conditions, as published by McComas et al. (2000), we also predict latitudinal variations of primary proton temperatures at large solar distances
The effects of a kappa-distribution in the heliosheath on the global heliosphere and ENA flux at 1 AU
We investigate heliosheath energetic neutral atom (ENA) fluxes at keV
energies, by assuming that the heliosheath proton distribution can be
approximated by a kappa-distribution. The choice of the kappa parameter derives
from observational data of the solar wind (SW). This has direct applications to
the upcoming IBEX mission. We will look at all-sky ENA maps within the IBEX
energy range (10 eV to 6 keV), as well as ENA energy spectra in several
directions. We find that the use of kappa, as opposed to a Maxwellian, gives
rise to greatly increased ENA fluxes above 1 keV, while medium energy fluxes
are somewhat reduced. We show how IBEX data can be used to estimate the
spectral slope in the heliosheath, and that the use of kappa reduces the
differences between ENA maps at different energies. We also investigate the
effect introducing a kappa-distribution has on the global interaction between
the SW and the local interstellar medium (LISM), and find that there is
generally an increase in energy transport from the heliosphere into the LISM,
due to the modified profile of ENA's energies. This results in a termination
shock that moves out by 4 AU, a heliopause that moves in by 9 AU and a bow
shock 25 AU farther out, in the nose direction
Primordial helium recombination. I. Feedback, line transfer, and continuum opacity
Precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropy on scales ℓ>500 will be available in the near future. Successful interpretation of these data is dependent on a detailed understanding of the damping tail and cosmological recombination of both hydrogen and helium. This paper and two companion papers are devoted to a precise calculation of helium recombination. We discuss several aspects of the standard recombination picture, and then include feedback, radiative transfer in He i lines with partial redistribution, and continuum opacity from H i photoionization. In agreement with past calculations, we find that He ii recombination proceeds in Saha equilibrium, whereas He i recombination is delayed relative to Saha due to the low rates connecting excited states of He i to the ground state. However, we find that at z<2200 the continuum absorption by the rapidly increasing H i population becomes effective at destroying photons in the He i 21Po-11S line, causing He i recombination to finish around z≃1800, much earlier than previously estimated
How exactly did the Universe become neutral?
We present a refined treatment of H, He I, and He II recombination in the
early Universe. The difference from previous calculations is that we use
multi-level atoms and evolve the population of each level with redshift by
including all bound-bound and bound-free transitions. In this framework we
follow several hundred atomic energy levels for H, He I, and He II combined.
The main improvements of this method over previous recombination calculations
are: (1) allowing excited atomic level populations to depart from an
equilibrium distribution; (2) replacing the total recombination coefficient
with recombination to and photoionization from each level directly at each
redshift step; and (3) correct treatment of the He I atom, including the
triplet and singlet states. We find that the ionization fraction x_e = n_e/n_H
is approximately 10% smaller at redshifts <~800 than in previous calculations,
due to the non-equilibrium of the excited states of H, which is caused by the
strong but cool radiation field at those redshifts. In addition we find that He
I recombination is delayed compared with previous calculations, and occurs only
just before H recombination. These changes in turn can affect the predicted
power spectrum of microwave anisotropies at the few percent level. Other
improvements such as including molecular and ionic species of H, including
complete heating and cooling terms for the evolution of the matter temperature,
including collisional rates, and including feedback of the secondary spectral
distortions on the radiation field, produce negligible change to x_e. The lower
x_e at low z found in this work affects the abundances of H molecular and ionic
species by 10-25%. However this difference is probably not larger than other
uncertainties in the reaction rates.Comment: 24 pages, including 18 figures, using emulateapj.sty, to appear in
ApJ, the code recfast can be obtained at
http://www.astro.ubc.ca/people/scott/recfast.html (in FORTRAN) and
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~sasselov/rec/ (in C
Astrophysical Constraints on Modifying Gravity at Large Distances
Recently, several interesting proposals were made modifying the law of
gravity on large scales, within a sensible relativistic formulation. This
allows a precise formulation of the idea that such a modification might account
for galaxy rotation curves, instead of the usual interpretation of these curves
as evidence for dark matter. We here summarize several observational
constraints which any such modification must satisfy, and which we believe make
more challenging any interpretation of galaxy rotation curves in terms of new
gravitational physics.Comment: References added, submitted to Classical & Quantum Gravit
Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP): A New NASA Mission
The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) is a revolutionary mission that simultaneously investigates two of the most important overarching issues in Heliophysics today: the acceleration of energetic particles and interaction of the solar wind with the local interstellar medium. While seemingly disparate, these are intimately coupled because particles accelerated in the inner heliosphere play critical roles in the outer heliospheric interaction. Selected by NASA in 2018, IMAP is planned to launch in 2024. The IMAP spacecraft is a simple sun-pointed spinner in orbit about the Sun-Earth L1 point. IMAP’s ten instruments provide a complete and synergistic set of observations to simultaneously dissect the particle injection and acceleration processes at 1 AU while remotely probing the global heliospheric interaction and its response to particle populations generated by these processes. In situ at 1 AU, IMAP provides detailed observations of solar wind electrons and ions; suprathermal, pickup, and energetic ions; and the interplanetary magnetic field. For the outer heliosphere interaction, IMAP provides advanced global observations of the remote plasma and energetic ions over a broad energy range via energetic neutral atom imaging, and precise observations of interstellar neutral atoms penetrating the heliosphere. Complementary observations of interstellar dust and the ultraviolet glow of interstellar neutrals further deepen the physical understanding from IMAP. IMAP also continuously broadcasts vital real-time space weather observations. Finally, IMAP engages the broader Heliophysics community through a variety of innovative opportunities. This paper summarizes the IMAP mission at the start of Phase A development
A systematic evaluation of contemporary impurity correction methods in ITS-90 aluminium fixed point cells
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