A study of density modulation index in the inner heliospheric solar wind during solar cycle 23

The ratio of the rms electron density fluctuations to the background density in the solar wind (density modulation index, $\epsilon_{N} \equiv \Delta{N}/N$) is of vital importance in understanding several problems in heliospheric physics related to solar wind turbulence. In this paper, we have investigated the behavior of $\epsilon_{N}$ in the inner-heliosphere from 0.26 to 0.82 AU. The density fluctuations $\Delta{N}$ have been deduced using extensive ground-based observations of interplanetary scintillation (IPS) at 327 MHz, which probe spatial scales of a few hundred km. The background densities ($N$) have been derived using near-Earth observations from the Advanced Composition Explorer ($\it{ACE}$). Our analysis reveals that $0.001 \lesssim \epsilon_{N} \lesssim 0.02$ and does not vary appreciably with heliocentric distance. We also find that $\epsilon_{N}$ declines by 8% from 1998 to 2008. We discuss the impact of these findings on problems ranging from our understanding of Forbush decreases to the behavior of the solar wind dynamic pressure over the recent peculiar solar minimum at the end of cycle 23..Comment: 13 Pages, 8 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap

Tracking heliospheric disturbances by interplanetary scintillation

International audienceCoronal mass ejections are known as a solar cause of significant geospace disturbances, and a fuller elucidation of their physical properties and propagation dynamics is needed for space weather predictions. The scintillation of cosmic radio sources caused by turbulence in the solar wind (interplanetary scintillation; IPS) serves as an effective ground-based method for monitoring disturbances in the heliosphere. We studied global properties of transient solar wind streams driven by CMEs using 327-MHz IPS observations of the Solar-Terrestrial Environment Laboratory (STEL) of Nagoya University. In this study, we reconstructed three-dimensional features of the interplanetary (IP) counterpart of the CME from the IPS data by applying the model fitting technique. As a result, loop-shaped density enhancements were deduced for some CME events, whereas shell-shaped high-density regions were observed for the other events. In addition, CME speeds were found to evolve significantly during the propagation between the corona and 1 AU

Observation of Interplanetary Scintillation with Single-Station Mode at Urumqi

The Sun affects the Earth's physical phenomena in multiple ways, in particular the material in interplanetary space comes from coronal expansion in the form of inhomogeneous plasma flow (solar wind), which is the primary source of the interplanetary medium. Ground-based Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS) observations are an important and effective method for measuring solar wind speed and the structures of small diameter radio sources. We discuss one mode of ground-based single-station observations: Single-Station Single-Frequency (SSSF) mode. To realize the SSSF mode, a new system has been established at Urumqi Astronomical Observatory (UAO), China, and a series of experimental observations were carried out successfully from May to December, 2008

Time Resolved Correlation measurements of temporally heterogeneous dynamics

Time Resolved Correlation (TRC) is a recently introduced light scattering technique that allows to detect and quantify dynamic heterogeneities. The technique is based on the analysis of the temporal evolution of the speckle pattern generated by the light scattered by a sample, which is quantified by $c\_I(t,\tau)$, the degree of correlation between speckle images recorded at time $t$ and $t+\tau$. Heterogeneous dynamics results in significant fluctuations of $c\_I(t,\tau)$ with time $t$. We describe how to optimize TRC measurements and how to detect and avoid possible artifacts. The statistical properties of the fluctuations of $c\_I$ are analyzed by studying their variance, probability distribution function, and time autocorrelation function. We show that these quantities are affected by a noise contribution due to the finite number $N$ of detected speckles. We propose and demonstrate a method to correct for the noise contribution, based on a $N\to \infty$ extrapolation scheme. Examples from both homogeneous and heterogeneous dynamics are provided. Connections with recent numerical and analytical works on heterogeneous glassy dynamics are briefly discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to PR

Cosmic ray short burst observed with the Global Muon Detector Network (GMDN) on June 22, 2015

We analyze the short cosmic ray intensity increase ("cosmic ray burst": CRB) on June 22, 2015 utilizing a global network of muon detectors and derive the global anisotropy of cosmic ray intensity and the density (i.e. the omnidirectional intensity) with 10-minute time resolution. We find that the CRB was caused by a local density maximum and an enhanced anisotropy of cosmic rays both of which appeared in association with Earth's crossing of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). This enhanced anisotropy was normal to the HCS and consistent with a diamagnetic drift arising from the spatial gradient of cosmic ray density, which indicates that cosmic rays were drifting along the HCS from the north of Earth. We also find a significant anisotropy along the HCS, lasting a few hours after the HCS crossing, indicating that cosmic rays penetrated into the inner heliosphere along the HCS. Based on the latest geomagnetic field model, we quantitatively evaluate the reduction of the geomagnetic cut-off rigidity and the variation of the asymptotic viewing direction of cosmic rays due to a major geomagnetic storm which occurred during the CRB and conclude that the CRB is not caused by the geomagnetic storm, but by a rapid change in the cosmic ray anisotropy and density outside the magnetosphere.Comment: accepted for the publication in the Astrophysical Journa

3-D reconstructions of the early-November 2004 CDAW geomagnetic storms: analysis of Ooty IPS speed and density data

Interplanetary scintillation (IPS) remote-sensing observations provide a view of the solar wind covering a wide range of heliographic latitudes and heliocentric distances from the Sun between ~0.1 AU and 3.0 AU. Such observations are used to study the development of solar coronal transients and the solar wind while propagating out through interplanetary space. They can also be used to measure the inner-heliospheric response to the passage of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and co-rotating heliospheric structures. IPS observations can, in general, provide a speed estimate of the heliospheric material crossing the observing line of site; some radio antennas/arrays can also provide a radio scintillation level. We use a three-dimensional (3-D) reconstruction technique which obtains perspective views from outward-flowing solar wind and co-rotating structure as observed from Earth by iteratively fitting a kinematic solar wind model to these data. Using this 3-D modelling technique, we are able to reconstruct the velocity and density of CMEs as they travel through interplanetary space. For the time-dependent model used here with IPS data taken from the Ootacamund (Ooty) Radio Telescope (ORT) in India, the digital resolution of the tomography is 10° by 10° in both latitude and longitude with a half-day time cadence. Typically however, the resolutions range from 10° to 20° in latitude and longitude, with a half- to one-day time cadence for IPS data dependant upon how much data are used as input to the tomography. We compare reconstructed structures during early-November 2004 with in-situ measurements from the Wind spacecraft orbiting the Sun-Earth L<sub>1</sub>-Point to validate the 3-D tomographic reconstruction results and comment on how these improve upon prior reconstructions

Collective and single cell behavior in epithelial contact inhibition

Control of cell proliferation is a fundamental aspect of tissue physiology central to morphogenesis, wound healing and cancer. Although many of the molecular genetic factors are now known, the system level regulation of growth is still poorly understood. A simple form of inhibition of cell proliferation is encountered in vitro in normally differentiating epithelial cell cultures and is known as "contact inhibition". The study presented here provides a quantitative characterization of contact inhibition dynamics on tissue-wide and single cell levels. Using long-term tracking of cultured MDCK cells we demonstrate that inhibition of cell division in a confluent monolayer follows inhibition of cell motility and sets in when mechanical constraint on local expansion causes divisions to reduce cell area. We quantify cell motility and cell cycle statistics in the low density confluent regime and their change across the transition to epithelial morphology which occurs with increasing cell density. We then study the dynamics of cell area distribution arising through reductive division, determine the average mitotic rate as a function of cell size and demonstrate that complete arrest of mitosis occurs when cell area falls below a critical value. We also present a simple computational model of growth mechanics which captures all aspects of the observed behavior. Our measurements and analysis show that contact inhibition is a consequence of mechanical interaction and constraint rather than interfacial contact alone, and define quantitative phenotypes that can guide future studies of molecular mechanisms underlying contact inhibition