20 research outputs found
Structural Invariance of Sunspot Umbrae Over the Solar Cycle: 1993-2004
Measurements of maximum magnetic flux, minimum intensity, and size are
presented for 12 967 sunspot umbrae detected on the NASA/NSO
spectromagnetograms between 1993 and 2004 to study umbral structure and
strength during the solar cycle. The umbrae are selected using an automated
thresholding technique. Measured umbral intensities are first corrected for a
confirming observation of umbral limb-darkening. Log-normal fits to the
observed size distribution confirm that the size spectrum shape does not vary
with time. The intensity-magnetic flux relationship is found to be steady over
the solar cycle. The dependence of umbral size on the magnetic flux and minimum
intensity are also independent of cycle phase and give linear and quadratic
relations, respectively. While the large sample size does show a low amplitude
oscillation in the mean minimum intensity and maximum magnetic flux correlated
with the solar cycle, this can be explained in terms of variations in the mean
umbral size. These size variations, however, are small and do not substantiate
a meaningful change in the size spectrum of the umbrae generated by the Sun.
Thus, in contrast to previous reports, the observations suggest the equilibrium
structure, as testified by the invariant size-magnetic field relationship, as
well as the mean size (i.e. strength) of sunspot umbrae do not significantly
depend on solar cycle phase.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures. Published in Solar Physic
Electro-optical bunch length monitor for flute: Layout and simulations
A new compact linear accelerator FLUTE is currently under construction at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in collaboration with DESY and PSI. It aims at obtaining femtosecond electron bunches (~1fs - 300 fs) with a wide charge range (1 pC - 3 nC) and requires a precise bunch length diagnostic system. Here we present the layout of a bunch length monitor based on the electro-optic technique of spectral decoding using an Yb-doped fiber laser system (central wavelength 1030 nm) and a GaP crystal. Simulations of the electro-optic signal for different operation modes of FLUTE were performed and main challenges are discussed in this talk. This work is funded by the European Union under contract PITN-GA-2011-28919