Cooling of the Martian thermosphere by CO(2) radiation and gravity waves: an intercomparison study with two general circulation models

©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. Observations show that the lower thermosphere of Mars (∼100-140 km) is up to 40 K colder than the current general circulation models (GCMs) can reproduce. Possible candidates for physical processes missing in the models are larger abundances of atomic oxygen facilitating stronger CO2 radiative cooling and thermal effects of gravity waves. Using two state-of-the-art Martian GCMs, the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique and Max Planck Institute models that self-consistently cover the atmosphere from the surface to the thermosphere, these physical mechanisms are investigated. Simulations demonstrate that the CO2 radiative cooling with a sufficiently large atomic oxygen abundance and the gravity wave-induced cooling can alone result in up to 40 K colder temperature in the lower thermosphere. Accounting for both mechanisms produce stronger cooling at high latitudes. However, radiative cooling effects peak above the mesopause, while gravity wave cooling rates continuously increase with height. Although both mechanisms act simultaneously, these peculiarities could help to further quantify their relative contributions from future observations.The work was partially supported by German Science Foundation (DFG) grant ME2752/3-1. F.G.G. was funded by a CSIC JAE-Doc contract cofinanced by the European Social Fund. F.G.G. thanks the Spanish MICINN for funding support through the CONSOLIDER program ASTROMOL CSD2009-00038, and through project AYA2011-23552/ESP. E.Y. was partially supported by NASA grant NNX13AO36G.Peer Reviewe

On Stable Sector in Supermembrane Matrix Model

We study the spectrum of SU(2) x SO(2) matrix supersymmetric quantum mechanics. We use angular coordinates that allow us to find an explicit solution of the Gauss law constraints and single out the quantum number n (the Lorentz angular momentum). Energy levels are four-fold degenerate with respect to n and are labeled by n_q, the largest n in a quartet. The Schr\"odinger equation is reduced to two different systems of two-dimensional partial differential equations. The choice of a system is governed by n_q. We present the asymptotic solutions for the systems deriving thereby the asymptotic formula for the spectrum. Odd n_q are forbidden, for even n_q the spectrum has a continuous part as well as a discrete one, meanwhile for half-integer n_q the spectrum is purely discrete. Taking half-integer n_q one can cure the model from instability caused by the presence of continuous spectrum.Comment: 29 pages, 5 figure

Tachyon condensation in cubic superstring field theory

It has been conjectured that at the stationary point of the tachyon potential for the non-BPS D-brane or brane-anti-D-brane pair, the negative energy density cancels the brane tension. We study this conjecture using a cubic superstring field theory with insertion of a double-step inverse picture changing operator. We compute the tachyon potential at levels (1/2,1) and (2,6). In the first case we obtain that the value of the potential at the minimum is 97.5% of the non BPS D-brane tension. Using a special gauge in the second case we get 105.8% of the tension.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 3 figures. Eqs. (3.2), (3.3) and (4.6) are corrected, and new gauge fixing condition is use

LED Monitoring System for the BTeV Lead Tungstate Crystal Calorimeter Prototype

We report on the performance of a monitoring system for a prototype calorimeter for the BTeV experiment that uses Lead Tungstate crystals coupled with photomultiplier tubes. The tests were carried out at the 70 GeV accelerator complex at Protvino, Russia.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX2e, revised versio

Gauge Invariance and Tachyon Condensation in Cubic Superstring Field Theory

The gauge invariance of cubic open superstring field theory is considered in a framework of level truncation, and applications to the tachyon condensation problem are discussed. As it is known, in the bosonic case the Feynman-Siegel gauge is not universal within the level truncation method. We explore another gauge that is more suitable for calculation of the tachyon potential for fermionic string at level (2,6). We show that this new gauge has no restrictions on the region of its validity at least at this level.Comment: 21 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX 2e; references added, typos correcte

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) of Three Spectrometers for the ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter

The Atmospheric Chemistry Suite (ACS) package is an element of the Russian contribution to the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars 2016 Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) mission. ACS consists of three separate infrared spectrometers, sharing common mechanical, electrical, and thermal interfaces. This ensemble of spectrometers has been designed and developed in response to the Trace Gas Orbiter mission objectives that specifically address the requirement of high sensitivity instruments to enable the unambiguous detection of trace gases of potential geophysical or biological interest. For this reason, ACS embarks a set of instruments achieving simultaneously very high accuracy (ppt level), very high resolving power (>10,000) and large spectral coverage (0.7 to 17 μm—the visible to thermal infrared range). The near-infrared (NIR) channel is a versatile spectrometer covering the 0.7–1.6 μm spectral range with a resolving power of ∼20,000. NIR employs the combination of an echelle grating with an AOTF (Acousto-Optical Tunable Filter) as diffraction order selector. This channel will be mainly operated in solar occultation and nadir, and can also perform limb observations. The scientific goals of NIR are the measurements of water vapor, aerosols, and dayside or night side airglows. The mid-infrared (MIR) channel is a cross-dispersion echelle instrument dedicated to solar occultation measurements in the 2.2–4.4 μm range. MIR achieves a resolving power of >50,000. It has been designed to accomplish the most sensitive measurements ever of the trace gases present in the Martian atmosphere. The thermal-infrared channel (TIRVIM) is a 2-inch double pendulum Fourier-transform spectrometer encompassing the spectral range of 1.7–17 μm with apodized resolution varying from 0.2 to 1.3 cm−1. TIRVIM is primarily dedicated to profiling temperature from the surface up to ∼60 km and to monitor aerosol abundance in nadir. TIRVIM also has a limb and solar occultation capability. The technical concept of the instrument, its accommodation on the spacecraft, the optical designs as well as some of the calibrations, and the expected performances for its three channels are described

Eigenmodes and growth rates of relativistic current filamentation instability in a collisional plasma

I theoretically found eigenmodes and growth rates of relativistic current filamentation instability in collisional regimes, deriving a generalized dispersion relation from self-consistent beam-Maxwell equations. For symmetrically counterstreaming, fully relativistic electron currents, the collisional coupling between electrons and ions creates the unstable modes of growing oscillation and wave, which stand out for long-wavelength perturbations. In the stronger collisional regime, the growing oscillatory mode tends to be dominant for all wavelengths. In the collisionless limit, those modes vanish, while maintaining another purely growing mode that exactly coincides with a standard relativistic Weibel mode. It is also shown that the effects of electron-electron collisions and thermal spread lower the growth rate of the relativistic Weibel instability. The present mechanisms of filamentation dynamics are essential for transport of homogeneous electron beam produced by the interaction of high power laser pulses with plasma.Comment: 44 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Relativistic Laser-Matter Interaction and Relativistic Laboratory Astrophysics

The paper is devoted to the prospects of using the laser radiation interaction with plasmas in the laboratory relativistic astrophysics context. We discuss the dimensionless parameters characterizing the processes in the laser and astrophysical plasmas and emphasize a similarity between the laser and astrophysical plasmas in the ultrarelativistic energy limit. In particular, we address basic mechanisms of the charged particle acceleration, the collisionless shock wave and magnetic reconnection and vortex dynamics properties relevant to the problem of ultrarelativistic particle acceleration.Comment: 58 pages, 19 figure

Investigations of the Mars Upper Atmosphere with ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter

The Martian mesosphere and thermosphere, the region above about 60 km, is not the primary target of the ExoMars 2016 mission but its Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) can explore it and address many interesting issues, either in-situ during the aerobraking period or remotely during the regular mission. In the aerobraking phase TGO peeks into thermospheric densities and temperatures, in a broad range of latitudes and during a long continuous period. TGO carries two instruments designed for the detection of trace species, NOMAD and ACS, which will use the solar occultation technique. Their regular sounding at the terminator up to very high altitudes in many different molecular bands will represent the first time that an extensive and precise dataset of densities and hopefully temperatures are obtained at those altitudes and local times on Mars. But there are additional capabilities in TGO for studying the upper atmosphere of Mars, and we review them briefly. Our simulations suggest that airglow emissions from the UV to the IR might be observed outside the terminator. If eventually confirmed from orbit, they would supply new information about atmospheric dynamics and variability. However, their optimal exploitation requires a special spacecraft pointing, currently not considered in the regular operations but feasible in our opinion. We discuss the synergy between the TGO instruments, specially the wide spectral range achieved by combining them. We also encourage coordinated operations with other Mars-observing missions capable of supplying simultaneous measurements of its upper atmosphere