5,082 research outputs found
Secondary Rayleigh-Taylor type Instabilities in the Reconnection Exhaust Jet as a Mechanism for Supra-Arcade Downflows
Supra-arcade downflows (hereafter referred to as SADs) are low-emission,
elongated, finger-like features usually observed in active-region coronae above
post-eruption flare arcades. Observations exhibit downward moving SADs
intertwined with bright upward moving spikes. Whereas SADs are dark voids,
spikes are brighter, denser structures. Although SADs have been observed for
decades, the mechanism of formation of SADs remains an open issue. In our
three-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we demonstrate
that secondary Rayleigh-Taylor type instabilities develop in the downstream
region of a reconnecting current sheet. The instability results in the
formation of low-density coherent structures that resemble SADs, and
high-density structures that appear to be spike-like. Comparison between the
simulation results and observations suggests that secondary Rayleigh-Taylor
type instabilities in the exhaust of reconnecting current sheets provide a
plausible mechanism for observed SADs and spikes
The Dynamics of Radiative Shock Waves: Linear and Nonlinear Evolution
The stability properties of one-dimensional radiative shocks with a power-law
cooling function of the form are the main
subject of this work. The linear analysis originally presented by Chevalier &
Imamura, is thoroughfully reviewed for several values of the cooling index
and higher overtone modes. Consistently with previous results, it is
shown that the spectrum of the linear operator consists in a series of modes
with increasing oscillation frequency. For each mode a critical value of the
cooling index, , can be defined so that modes with are unstable, while modes with
are stable. The perturbative analysis is complemented by several numerical
simulations to follow the time-dependent evolution of the system for different
values of . Particular attention is given to the comparison between
numerical and analytical results (during the early phases of the evolution) and
to the role played by different boundary conditions. It is shown that an
appropriate treatment of the lower boundary yields results that closely follow
the predicted linear behavior. During the nonlinear regime, the shock
oscillations saturate at a finite amplitude and tend to a quasi-periodic cycle.
The modes of oscillations during this phase do not necessarily coincide with
those predicted by linear theory, but may be accounted for by mode-mode
coupling.Comment: 33 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication on the Astrophysical
Journa
Jets or high velocity flows revealed in high-cadence spectrometer and imager co-observations?
We report on active region EUV dynamic events observed simultaneously at
high-cadence with SUMER/SoHO and TRACE. Although the features appear in the
TRACE Fe ix/x 171A images as jets seen in projection on the solar disk, the
SUMER spectral line profiles suggest that the plasma has been driven along a
curved large scale magnetic structure, a pre-existing loop. The SUMER
observations were carried out in spectral lines covering a large temperature
range from 10^4 K to 10^6 K. The spectral analysis revealed that a sudden
heating from an energy deposition is followed by a high velocity plasma flow.
The Doppler velocities were found to be in the range from 90 to 160 km/s. The
heating process has a duration which is below the SUMER exposure time of 25 s
while the lifetime of the events is from 5 to 15 min. The additional check on
soft X-ray Yohkoh images shows that the features most probably reach 3 MK
(X-ray) temperatures. The spectroscopic analysis showed no existence of cold
material during the events
EIS/Hinode observations of Doppler flow seen through the 40 arcsec wide slit
The Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on board Hinode is the
first solar telescope to obtain wide slit spectral images that can be used for
detecting Doppler flows in transition region and coronal lines on the Sun and
to relate them to their surrounding small scale dynamics. We select EIS lines
covering the temperature range 6x10^4 K to 2x10^6 K that give spectrally pure
images of the Sun with the 40 arcsec slit. In these images Doppler shifts are
seen as horizontal brightenings. Inside the image it is difficult to
distinguish shifts from horizontal structures but emission beyond the image
edge can be unambiguously identified as a line shift in several lines separated
from others on their blue or red side by more than the width of the
spectrometer slit (40 pixels). In the blue wing of He II, we find a large
number of events with properties (size and lifetime) similar to the
well-studied explosive events seen in the ultraviolet spectral range.
Comparison with X-Ray Telescope (XRT) images shows many Doppler shift events at
the footpoints of small X-ray loops. The most spectacular event observed showed
a strong blue shift in transition region and lower corona lines from a small
X-ray spot that lasted less than 7 min. The emission appears to be near a cool
coronal loop connecting an X-ray bright point to an adjacent region of quiet
Sun. The width of the emission implies a line-of-sight velocity of 220 km/s. In
addition, we show an example of an Fe XV shift with a velocity about 120 km/s,
coming from what looks like a narrow loop leg connecting a small X-ray
brightening to a larger region of X-ray emission.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, to be published in Solar Physic
FUSE Observations of the Dwarf Nova SW UMa During Quiescence
We present spectroscopic observations of the short-period cataclysmic
variable SW Ursa Majoris, obtained by the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic
Explorer (FUSE) satellite while the system was in quiescence. The data include
the resonance lines of O VI at 1031.91 and 1037.61 A. These lines are present
in emission, and they exhibit both narrow (~ 150 km/s) and broad (~ 2000 km/s)
components. The narrow O VI emission lines exhibit unusual double-peaked and
redshifted profiles. We attribute the source of this emission to a cooling flow
onto the surface of the white dwarf primary. The broad O VI emission most
likely originates in a thin, photoionized surface layer on the accretion disk.
We searched for emission from H_2 at 1050 and 1100 A, motivated by the
expectation that the bulk of the quiescent accretion disk is in the form of
cool, molecular gas. If H_2 is present, then our limits on the fluxes of the
H_2 lines are consistent with the presence of a surface layer of atomic H that
shields the interior of the disk. These results may indicate that accretion
operates primarily in the surface layers of the disk in SW UMa. We also
investigate the far-UV continuum of SW UMa and place an upper limit of 15,000 K
on the effective temperature of the white dwarf.Comment: 21 Pages, 3 figures, to be published in Ap
D- and L-lactate dehydrogenases during invertebrate evolution
Background: The L-lactate and D-lactate dehydrogenases, which are involved in the reduction of
pyruvate to L(-)-lactate and D(+)-lactate, belong to evolutionarily unrelated enzyme families. The
genes encoding L-LDH have been used as a model for gene duplication due to the multiple paralogs
found in eubacteria, archaebacteria, and eukaryotes. Phylogenetic studies have suggested that
several gene duplication events led to the main isozymes of this gene family in chordates, but little
is known about the evolution of L-Ldh in invertebrates. While most invertebrates preferentially
oxidize L-lactic acid, several species of mollusks, a few arthropods and polychaetes were found to
have exclusively D-LDH enzymatic activity. Therefore, it has been suggested that L-LDH and DLDH
are mutually exclusive. However, recent characterization of putative mammalian D-LDH with
significant similarity to yeast proteins showing D-LDH activity suggests that at least mammals have
the two naturally occurring forms of LDH specific to L- and D-lactate. This study describes the
phylogenetic relationships of invertebrate L-LDH and D-LDH with special emphasis on
crustaceans, and discusses gene duplication events during the evolution of L-Ldh.
Results: Our phylogenetic analyses of L-LDH in vertebrates are consistent with the general view
that the main isozymes (LDH-A, LDH-B and LDH-C) evolved through a series of gene duplications
after the vertebrates diverged from tunicates. We report several gene duplication events in the
crustacean, Daphnia pulex, and the leech, Helobdella robusta. Several amino acid sequences with
strong similarity to putative mammalian D-LDH and to yeast DLD1 with D-LDH activity were
found in both vertebrates and invertebrates.
Conclusion: The presence of both L-Ldh and D-Ldh genes in several chordates and invertebrates
suggests that the two enzymatic forms are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Although, the
evolution of L-Ldh has been punctuated by multiple events of gene duplication in both vertebrates
and invertebrates, a shared evolutionary history of this gene in the two groups is apparent.
Moreover, the high degree of sequence similarity among D-LDH amino acid sequences suggests
that they share a common evolutionary history
Characterisation of HTSC ceramics from their resistive transition
The resistivity vs. temperature relation in bulk ceramic HTSC under
self-field conditions as well as in weak external magnetic fields is modelled
by local Lorentz force induced fluxon motion with temperature dependent
pinning. A pinning force density and two viscous drag coefficients in
intergrain and intragrain regions, respectively, can be used as characteristic
parameters describing the temperature, current, and external field dependences
of the sample resistance.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX2e, 6 figures (epsfig), to be published in Supercond.
Sci. and Techno
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