6,004 research outputs found
Accuracy of magnetic energy computations
For magnetically driven events, the magnetic energy of the system is the
prime energy reservoir that fuels the dynamical evolution. In the solar
context, the free energy is one of the main indicators used in space weather
forecasts to predict the eruptivity of active regions. A trustworthy estimation
of the magnetic energy is therefore needed in three-dimensional models of the
solar atmosphere, eg in coronal fields reconstructions or numerical
simulations. The expression of the energy of a system as the sum of its
potential energy and its free energy (Thomson's theorem) is strictly valid when
the magnetic field is exactly solenoidal. For numerical realizations on a
discrete grid, this property may be only approximately fulfilled. We show that
the imperfect solenoidality induces terms in the energy that can lead to
misinterpreting the amount of free energy present in a magnetic configuration.
We consider a decomposition of the energy in solenoidal and nonsolenoidal parts
which allows the unambiguous estimation of the nonsolenoidal contribution to
the energy. We apply this decomposition to six typical cases broadly used in
solar physics. We quantify to what extent the Thomson theorem is not satisfied
when approximately solenoidal fields are used. The quantified errors on energy
vary from negligible to significant errors, depending on the extent of the
nonsolenoidal component. We identify the main source of errors and analyze the
implications of adding a variable amount of divergence to various solenoidal
fields. Finally, we present pathological unphysical situations where the
estimated free energy would appear to be negative, as found in some previous
works, and we identify the source of this error to be the presence of a finite
divergence. We provide a method of quantifying the effect of a finite
divergence in numerical fields, together with detailed diagnostics of its
sources
Flux rope, hyperbolic flux tube, and late EUV phases in a non-eruptive circular-ribbon flare
We present a detailed study of a confined circular flare dynamics associated
with 3 UV late phases in order to understand more precisely which topological
elements are present and how they constrain the dynamics of the flare. We
perform a non-linear force free field extrapolation of the confined flare
observed with the HMI and AIA instruments onboard SDO. From the 3D magnetic
field we compute the squashing factor and we analyse its distribution.
Conjointly, we analyse the AIA EUV light curves and images in order to identify
the post-flare loops, their temporal and thermal evolution. By combining both
analysis we are able to propose a detailed scenario that explains the dynamics
of the flare. Our topological analysis shows that in addition to a null-point
topology with the fan separatrix, the spine lines and its surrounding
Quasi-Separatix Layers halo (typical for a circular flare), a flux rope and its
hyperbolic flux tube (HFT) are enclosed below the null. By comparing the
magnetic field topology and the EUV post-flare loops we obtain an almost
perfect match 1) between the footpoints of the separatrices and the EUV
1600~\AA{} ribbons and 2) between the HFT's field line footpoints and bright
spots observed inside the circular ribbons. We showed, for the first time in a
confined flare, that magnetic reconnection occured initially at the HFT, below
the flux rope. Reconnection at the null point between the flux rope and the
overlying field is only initiated in a second phase. In addition, we showed
that the EUV late phase observed after the main flare episode are caused by the
cooling loops of different length which have all reconnected at the null point
during the impulsive phase.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, in pres
Evidential Communities for Complex Networks
Community detection is of great importance for understand-ing graph structure
in social networks. The communities in real-world networks are often
overlapped, i.e. some nodes may be a member of multiple clusters. How to
uncover the overlapping communities/clusters in a complex network is a general
problem in data mining of network data sets. In this paper, a novel algorithm
to identify overlapping communi-ties in complex networks by a combination of an
evidential modularity function, a spectral mapping method and evidential
c-means clustering is devised. Experimental results indicate that this
detection approach can take advantage of the theory of belief functions, and
preforms good both at detecting community structure and determining the
appropri-ate number of clusters. Moreover, the credal partition obtained by the
proposed method could give us a deeper insight into the graph structure
Formation of a rotating jet during the filament eruption on 10-11 April 2013
We analyze multi-wavelength and multi-viewpoint observations of a helically
twisted plasma jet formed during a confined filament eruption on 10-11 April
2013. Given a rather large scale event with its high spatial and temporal
resolution observations, it allows us to clearly understand some new physical
details about the formation and triggering mechanism of twisting jet. We
identify a pre-existing flux rope associated with a sinistral filament, which
was observed several days before the event. The confined eruption of the
filament within a null point topology, also known as an Eiffel tower (or
inverted-Y) magnetic field configuration results in the formation of a twisted
jet after the magnetic reconnection near a null point. The sign of helicity in
the jet is found to be the same as that of the sign of helicity in the
filament. Untwisting motion of the reconnected magnetic field lines gives rise
to the accelerating plasma along the jet axis. The event clearly shows the
twist injection from the pre-eruptive magnetic field to the jet.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, to appear in MNRA
Synchronous Behavior of Two Coupled Electronic Neurons
We report on experimental studies of synchronization phenomena in a pair of
analog electronic neurons (ENs). The ENs were designed to reproduce the
observed membrane voltage oscillations of isolated biological neurons from the
stomatogastric ganglion of the California spiny lobster Panulirus interruptus.
The ENs are simple analog circuits which integrate four dimensional
differential equations representing fast and slow subcellular mechanisms that
produce the characteristic regular/chaotic spiking-bursting behavior of these
cells. In this paper we study their dynamical behavior as we couple them in the
same configurations as we have done for their counterpart biological neurons.
The interconnections we use for these neural oscillators are both direct
electrical connections and excitatory and inhibitory chemical connections: each
realized by analog circuitry and suggested by biological examples. We provide
here quantitative evidence that the ENs and the biological neurons behave
similarly when coupled in the same manner. They each display well defined
bifurcations in their mutual synchronization and regularization. We report
briefly on an experiment on coupled biological neurons and four dimensional ENs
which provides further ground for testing the validity of our numerical and
electronic models of individual neural behavior. Our experiments as a whole
present interesting new examples of regularization and synchronization in
coupled nonlinear oscillators.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figure
Vortex in Maxwell-Chern-Simons models coupled to external backgrounds
We consider Maxwell-Chern-Simons models involving different non-minimal
coupling terms to a non relativistic massive scalar and further coupled to an
external uniform background charge. We study how these models can be
constrained to support static radially symmetric vortex configurations
saturating the lower bound for the energy. Models involving Zeeman-type
coupling support such vortices provided the potential has a "symmetry breaking"
form and a relation between parameters holds. In models where minimal coupling
is supplemented by magnetic and electric field dependant coupling terms, non
trivial vortex configurations minimizing the energy occur only when a non
linear potential is introduced. The corresponding vortices are studied
numericallyComment: LaTeX file, 2 figure
Mineralization of Clapper Rail Eggshell from a Contaminated Salt Marsh System
The effect of contamination on eggshell mineralization has been studied for clapper rails (Rallus longirostris) inhabiting a contaminated salt marsh in coastal Georgia. To assess the impact of contaminants, the thickness, microstructure (crystal orientation), mineral composition, and chemistry of shell material were analyzed from a contaminated site and a nearby reference site using optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography with electron capture detector. Eggshells from the contaminated site were generally thinner than those from the reference site. Also, eggshells from the contaminated site were abnormally brittle and contained anomalous microstructural attributes. The combination of reduced shell thickness and anomalous microstructure resulted in weaker eggshells, which in turn could pose a signiïŹcant threat to the reproductive success of the affected population. PCB concentrations in eggshells were at background levels in both sites. Eggshells from the contaminated site had higher concentrations of heavy metals, speciïŹcally mercury, than the reference site. The structural changes observed in eggshells may be related to the concentration of speciïŹc metals (e.g., Mg, Cu, Zn, Pb, and Hg) in shell, however, statistical analyses indicated that metals only explained a small portion of the observed variation in properties (i.e., thickness, crystal orientation). Further analysis is required to better constrain the factors leading to unusually weak eggshells in the contaminated site
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