31,432 research outputs found
The formation of IRIS diagnostics I. A quintessential model atom of Mg II and general formation properties of the Mg II h&k lines
NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) space mission will study
how the solar atmosphere is energized. IRIS contains an imaging spectrograph
that covers the Mg II h&k lines as well as a slit-jaw imager centered at Mg II
k. Understanding the observations will require forward modeling of Mg II h&k
line formation from 3D radiation-MHD models. This paper is the first in a
series where we undertake this forward modeling. We discuss the atomic physics
pertinent to h&k line formation, present a quintessential model atom that can
be used in radiative transfer computations and discuss the effect of partial
redistribution (PRD) and 3D radiative transfer on the emergent line profiles.
We conclude that Mg II h&k can be modeled accurately with a 4-level plus
continuum Mg II model atom. Ideally radiative transfer computations should be
done in 3D including PRD effects. In practice this is currently not possible. A
reasonable compromise is to use 1D PRD computations to model the line profile
up to and including the central emission peaks, and use 3D transfer assuming
complete redistribution to model the central depression.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted for Ap
The formation of IRIS diagnostics II. The formation of the Mg II h&k lines in the solar atmosphere
NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) small explorer mission
will study how the solar atmosphere is energized. IRIS contains an imaging
spectrograph that covers the Mg II h&k lines as well as a slit-jaw imager
centered at Mg II k. Understanding the observations requires forward modeling
of Mg II h&k line formation from 3D radiation-MHD models.
We compute the vertically emergent h&k intensity from a snapshot of a dynamic
3D radiation-MHD model of the solar atmosphere, and investigate which
diagnostic information about the atmosphere is contained in the synthetic line
profiles. We find that the Doppler shift of the central line depression
correlates strongly with the vertical velocity at optical depth unity, which is
typically located less than 200 km below the transition region (TR). By
combining the Doppler shifts of the h and the k line we can retrieve the sign
of the velocity gradient just below the TR. The intensity in the central line
depression is anticorrelated with the formation height, especially in subfields
of a few square Mm. This intensity could thus be used to measure the spatial
variation of the height of the transition region. The intensity in the
line-core emission peaks correlates with the temperature at its formation
height, especially for strong emission peaks. The peaks can thus be exploited
as a temperature diagnostic. The wavelength difference between the blue and red
peaks provides a diagnostic of the velocity gradients in the upper
chromosphere. The intensity ratio of the blue and red peaks correlates strongly
with the average velocity in the upper chromosphere. We conclude that the Mg II
h&k lines are excellent probes of the very upper chromosphere just below the
transition region, a height regime that is impossible to probe with other
spectral lines.Comment: 15 pages, 12 figures, accepted for ApJ, astro-ph abstract shortened
to confirm to submission requirement
The multi-thermal and multi-stranded nature of coronal rain
In this work, we analyse coordinated observations spanning chromospheric, TR
and coronal temperatures at very high resolution which reveal essential
characteristics of thermally unstable plasmas. Coronal rain is found to be a
highly multi-thermal phenomenon with a high degree of co-spatiality in the
multi-wavelength emission. EUV darkening and quasi-periodic intensity
variations are found to be strongly correlated to coronal rain showers.
Progressive cooling of coronal rain is observed, leading to a height dependence
of the emission. A fast-slow two-step catastrophic cooling progression is
found, which may reflect the transition to optically thick plasma states. The
intermittent and clumpy appearance of coronal rain at coronal heights becomes
more continuous and persistent at chromospheric heights just before impact,
mainly due to a funnel effect from the observed expansion of the magnetic
field. Strong density inhomogeneities on spatial scales of 0.2"-0.5" are found,
in which TR to chromospheric temperature transition occurs at the lowest
detectable scales. The shape of the distribution of coronal rain widths is
found to be independent of temperature with peaks close to the resolution limit
of each telescope, ranging from 0.2" to 0.8". However we find a sharp increase
of clump numbers at the coolest wavelengths and especially at higher
resolution, suggesting that the bulk of the rain distribution remains
undetected. Rain clumps appear organised in strands in both chromospheric and
TR temperatures, suggesting an important role of thermal instability in the
shaping of fundamental loop substructure. We further find structure reminiscent
of the MHD thermal mode. Rain core densities are estimated to vary between
2x10^{10} cm^{-3} and 2.5x10^{11} cm^{-3} leading to significant downward mass
fluxes per loop of 1-5x10^{9} g s^{-1}, suggesting a major role in the
chromosphere-corona mass cycle.Comment: Abstract is only short version. See paper for full. Countless pages,
figures (and movies, but not included here). Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Ellerman bombs and UV bursts: transient events in chromospheric current sheets
Ellerman bombs (EBs) and UV bursts are both brightenings related to flux
emergence regions and specifically to magnetic flux of opposite polarity that
meet in the photosphere. These two reconnection-related phenomena, nominally
formed far apart, occasionally occur in the same location and at the same time,
thus challenging our understanding of reconnection and heating of the lower
solar atmosphere. We consider the formation of an active region, including long
fibrils and hot and dense coronal plasma. The emergence of a untwisted magnetic
flux sheet, injected ~Mm below the photosphere, is studied as it pierces
the photosphere and interacts with the preexisting ambient field. Specifically,
we aim to study whether EBs and UV bursts are generated as a result of such
flux emergence and examine their physical relationship. The Bifrost radiative
magnetohydrodynamics code was used to model flux emerging into a model
atmosphere that contained a fairly strong ambient field, constraining the
emerging field to a limited volume wherein multiple reconnection events occur
as the field breaks through the photosphere and expands into the outer
atmosphere. Synthetic spectra of the different reconnection events were
computed using the D RH code and the fully 3D MULTI3D code. The formation
of UV bursts and EBs at intensities and with line profiles that are highly
reminiscent of observed spectra are understood to be a result of the
reconnection of emerging flux with itself in a long-lasting current sheet that
extends over several scale heights through the chromosphere. Synthetic
diagnostics suggest that there are no compelling reasons to assume that UV
bursts occur in the photosphere. Instead, EBs and UV bursts are occasionally
formed at opposite ends of a long current sheet that resides in an extended
bubble of cool gas.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, accepted by A&
The role of damped Alfven waves on magnetospheric accretion models of young stars
We examine the role of Alfven wave damping in heating the plasma in the
magnetic funnels of magnetospheric accretion models of young stars. We study
four different damping mechanisms of the Alfven waves: nonlinear, turbulent,
viscous-resistive and collisional. Two different possible origins for the
Alfven waves are discussed: 1) Alfven waves generated at the surface of the
star by the shock produced by the infalling matter; and 2) Alfven waves
generated locally in the funnel by the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We find
that, in general, the damping lengths are smaller than the tube length. Since
thermal conduction in the tube is not efficient, Alfven waves generated only at
the star's surface cannot heat the tube to the temperatures necessary to fit
the observations. Only for very low frequency Alfven waves ~10^{-5} the ion
cyclotron frequency, is the viscous-resistive damping length greater than the
tube length. In this case, the Alfven waves produced at the surface of the star
are able to heat the whole tube. Otherwise, local production of Alfven waves is
required to explain the observations. The turbulence level is calculated for
different frequencies for optically thin and thick media. We find that
turbulent velocities varies greatly for different damping mechanisms, reaching
\~100 km s^{-1} for the collisional damping of small frequency waves.Comment: 29 pages, 12 figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journa
Exact edge singularities and dynamical correlations in spin-1/2 chains
Exact formulas for the singularities of the dynamical structure factor,
S^{zz}(q,omega), of the S=1/2 xxz spin chain at all q and any anisotropy and
magnetic field in the critical regime are derived, expressing the exponents in
terms of the phase shifts which are known exactly from the Bethe ansatz
solution. We also study the long time asymptotics of the self-correlation
function . Utilizing these results to supplement very
accurate time-dependent Density Matrix Renormalization Group (DMRG) for short
to moderate times, we calculate S^{zz}(q,omega) to very high precision.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, published versio
Restraints to Anticoagulation Prescription in Atrial Fibrillation and Attitude Towards the New Oral Anticoagulants
Introdução e Objetivos: Avaliar a taxa de prescrição de anticoagulantes orais na fibrilhação auricular, os fatores associados à não prescrição, os motivos referidos pelos clínicos para não prescrição de anticoagulantes incluindo os de nova geração e realizar estudo evolutivo a médio prazo.
Material e Métodos: Estudo prospetivo sobre casos consecutivos de doentes com fibrilhação auricular com alta hospitalar. Registaram- se os scores CHA2DS2VASc e HASBLED, comorbilidades associadas e a medicação prévia e à data de alta. Na alta hospitalar, o médico assistente indicou em questionário o motivo de não prescrição de anticoagulantes orais e dos novos anticoagulantes orais.
Exclusão: contra-indicação absoluta para anticoagulação, CHA2DS2VASc ≤ 1 e doença valvular. Os doentes foram reavaliados um ano
após o recrutamento do primeiro doente.
Resultados: Identificaram-se 103 candidatos a anticoagulação oral (79,6 ± 8,0 anos; CHA2DS2VASc 5,8 ± 1,4; HASBLED 2,6 ± 1,0;
HASBLED ≥ 3 em 55,3%); os anticoagulantes foram prescritos em 34,0%. Fatores associados à não prescrição por ordem decrescente de relevância: uso prévio de antiagregantes, doente acamado e/ou demente, ausência de insuficiência cardíaca e número de fatores de risco hemorrágico. Razões invocadas para não prescrição por ordem decrescente de frequência: risco hemorrágico elevado, pequeno benefício, incapacidade de seguir o esquema terapêutico e dificuldade na monitorização da razão normalizada internacional(INR). Os novos anticoagulantes não foram prescritos e as razões invocadas foram, por ordem decrescente de frequência: informação insuficiente sobre estes fármacos, risco hemorrágico elevado, custo elevado e pequeno benefício. Aos 8,2 ± 2,5 meses de estudo evolutivo 33,3% dos doentes encontravam-se sob anticoagulação sem que os novos anticoagulantes tivessem sido prescritos.
Conclusões: Nesta amostra, a taxa de prescrição de anticoagulação oral foi baixa e o fator mais associado à não prescrição foi o uso prévio de antiagregantes. O impedimento à prescrição mais referido foi o risco hemorrágico, seguido do pequeno benefício reconhecido.
Os principais impedimentos referidos à prescrição dos novos anticoagulantes foram a informação insuficiente e o alto risco
hemorrágico. A médio prazo, a proporção de doentes sob anticoagulação mantinha-se baixa e os novos anticoagulantes não tinham
sido prescritos
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