Global stability of disk-bulge systems: spiral structure of disk galaxies

The spiral arms of disk galaxies are very sensitive to various morphological properties, such as, the gas content, the disk-to-bulge ratioetc. Here, the stability of self-gravitating annular disks surrounding the central rigid bulge component has been studied in order to explain the transition from the tight spiral arms in Sa galaxies to rather open patterns in Sc galaxies as the central amorphous component diminishes. Smooth spiral patterns are found associated with the dominant (or the fastest growing) modes of the system. When the disk-to-bulge mass ratio is small, a tight pattern results restricted to the inner regions of the disk. This pattern opens up and occupies larger disk areas as the disk component becomes comparable to the bulge. It is found here that the 'explosive' instabilities of the global density waves do not occur in the presence of a massive bulge. The growth-rates of the eigen-modes decrease as the disk-to-bulge mass ratio decreases. It is also found that unstable modes of the annular disk can be suppressed by increasing the thermal pressure sufficiently

On the global density waves in self-gravitating flat disks

The problem of global stability and structure of a class of disk models, both cold and "warm", against axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric perturbations has been reconsidered in the form of an eigenvalue problem involving a triply infinite matrix. Some large wavelength (or open), nonaxisymmetric modes are found to stabilize in centrally concentrated disks. Unstable "leading" modes of cold disks become, gradually, "trailing" as the thermal energy of the disk is increased. The growth rates of short wavelength modes are lowered significantly by pressure effects in warm disks

No Evidence Supporting Flare Driven High-Frequency Global Oscillations

The underlying physics that generates the excitations in the global low-frequency, < 5.3 mHz, solar acoustic power spectrum is a well known process that is attributed to solar convection; However, a definitive explanation as to what causes excitations in the high-frequency regime, > 5.3 mHz, has yet to be found. Karoff and Kjeldsen (Astrophys. J. 678, 73-76, 2008) concluded that there is a correlation between solar flares and the global high-frequency solar acoustic waves. We have used the Global Oscillations Network Group (GONG) helioseismic data in an attempt to verify Karoff and Kjeldsen (2008) results as well as compare the post-flare acoustic power spectrum to the pre-flare acoustic power spectrum for 31 solar flares. Among the 31 flares analyzed, we observe that a decrease in acoustic power after the solar flare is just as likely as an increase. Furthermore, while we do observe variations in acoustic power that are most likely associated with the usual p-modes associated with solar convection, these variations do not show any significant temporal association with flares. We find no evidence that consistently supports flare driven high-frequency waves.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in Solar Physic

The global oscillation network group site survey. II. Results

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Project will place a network of instruments around the world to observe solar oscillations as continuously as possible for three years. The Project has now chosen the six network sites based on analysis of survey data from fifteen sites around the world. The chosen sites are: Big Bear Solar Observatory, California; Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii; Learmonth Solar Observatory, Australia; Udaipur Solar Observatory, India; Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife; and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, Chile. Total solar intensity at each site yields information on local cloud cover, extinction coefficient, and transparency fluctuations. In addition, the performance of 192 reasonable components analysis. An accompanying paper describes the analysis methods in detail; here we present the results of both the network and individual site analyses. The selected network has a duty cycle of 93.3%, in good agreement with numerical simulations. The power spectrum of the network observing window shows a first diurnal sidelobe height of 3 × 10⁻⁴ with respect to the central component, an improvement of a factor of 1300 over a single site. The background level of the network spectrum is lower by a factor of 50 compared to a single-site spectrum

The global oscillation network group site survey. II. Results

The Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) Project will place a network of instruments around the world to observe solar oscillations as continuously as possible for three years. The Project has now chosen the six network sites based on analysis of survey data from fifteen sites around the world. The chosen sites are: Big Bear Solar Observatory, California; Mauna Loa Solar Observatory, Hawaii; Learmonth Solar Observatory, Australia; Udaipur Solar Observatory, India; Observatorio del Teide, Tenerife; and Cerro Tololo Interamerican Observatory, Chile. Total solar intensity at each site yields information on local cloud cover, extinction coefficient, and transparency fluctuations. In addition, the performance of 192 reasonable components analysis. An accompanying paper describes the analysis methods in detail; here we present the results of both the network and individual site analyses. The selected network has a duty cycle of 93.3%, in good agreement with numerical simulations. The power spectrum of the network observing window shows a first diurnal sidelobe height of 3 × 10⁻⁴ with respect to the central component, an improvement of a factor of 1300 over a single site. The background level of the network spectrum is lower by a factor of 50 compared to a single-site spectrum

Lifetimes of High-Degree p Modes in the Quiet and Active Sun

We study variations of the lifetimes of high-degree solar p-modes in the quiet and active Sun with the solar activity cycle. The lifetimes in the degree range 300 - 600 and frequency 2.5 - 4.5 mHz were computed from SOHO/MDI data in an area including active regions and quiet Sun using the time-distance technique. We applied our analysis to the data in four different phases of solar activity: in 1996 (at minimum), 1998 (rising phase), 2000 (at maximum) and 2003 (declining phase). The results from the area with active regions show that the lifetime decreases as activity increases. The maximal lifetime variations are between solar minimum in 1996 and maximum in 2000; the relative variation averaged over all mode degree values and frequencies is a decrease of about 13%. The lifetime reductions relative to 1996 are about 7% in 1998 and about 10% in 2003. The lifetime computed in the quiet region still decreases with solar activity although the decrease is smaller. On average, relative to 1996, the lifetime decrease is about 4% in 1998, 10% in 2000 and 8% in 2003. Thus, measured lifetime increases when regions of high magnetic activity are avoided. Moreover, the lifetime computed in quiet regions also shows variations with activity cycle.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures; Accepted for publication in Solar Physic

Linear Water Influx of an Infinite Aquifer Through a Partially Communicating Fault

This paper presents a linear flow water influx analysis method where the aquifer is separated from the reservoir by a partially communicating fault. Transient pressure distributions are considered both in the reservoir and in the aquifer. Cases where the leaky fault is located within the aquifer can be analyzed with this model given a superposition of constant rate flow periods at the oil-water interface. Constant production rate is specified at the inner boundary, without inner boundary storage and skin. The partially communicating fault is modeled as a boundary skin of infinitesimal thickness having no storage. The aquifer considered in this paper is infinite in the lateral extend. The problem is posed and solved using the Laplace transformation, yielding Laplace solutions of the exponential form. The solutions presented in this paper, along with a set of type curves extend the transient linear flow work presented by Hurst (1958) and by Nabor and Barham (1964). When the inner region, the reservoir, has an infinite permeability and a finite storage, it acts like a tank, where the boundary pressure is equal to average pressure in the inner region. This case is identical to the linear water influx model presented by Hurst (1958). When the inner region has no storage associated with it, the constant inner boundary rate is transmitted to the second infinite region, hence yielding the simple linear flow case presented by Nabor and Barham (1964). This paper extends the current solutions by allowing pressure variations in the reservoir or the inner region as well as in the infinite aquifer. Also, the model presented in this paper considers the effects of skin located at the boundary between the two regions of the system that may be caused by a partially communicating fault separating these two regions. 6 tabs., 14 figs., 12 refs

Geothermal Two-Phase Wellbore Flow: Pressure Drop Correlations and Flow Pattern Transitions

In this paper we present some basic concepts of two-phase flow and review the Orkiszewski (1967) correlations which have been suggested by various investigators to perform well for geothermal wellbore flow situations. We also present a flow regime map based on the transition criteria used by Orkiszewski (1967) and show that most geothermal wells flow under slug flow regime. We have rearranged bubble- to slug-flow transition criterion used by Orkiszewski (1967) to show that the transition depends on the dimensionless pipe diameter number in addition to dimensionless liquid and gas velocity numbers. Our aim is also to identify what research may lead to improvements in two-phase pressure drop calculations for geothermal wellbore flow