136 research outputs found
Energy Spectrum of the Electrons Accelerated by a Reconnection Electric Field: Exponential or Power Law?
The direct current (DC) electric field near the reconnection region has been
proposed as an effective mechanism to accelerate protons and electrons in solar
flares. A power-law energy spectrum was generally claimed in the simulations of
electron acceleration by the reconnection electric field. However in most of
the literature, the electric and magnetic fields were chosen independently. In
this paper, we perform test-particle simulations of electron acceleration in a
reconnecting magnetic field, where both the electric and magnetic fields are
adopted from numerical simulations of the MHD equations. It is found that the
accelerated electrons present a truncated power-law energy spectrum with an
exponential tail at high energies, which is analogous to the case of diffusive
shock acceleration. The influences of reconnection parameters on the spectral
feature are also investigated, such as the longitudinal and transverse
components of the magnetic field and the size of the current sheet. It is
suggested that the DC electric field alone might not be able to reproduce the
observed single or double power-law distributions.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, published in Ap
Charge Transport in the Dense Two-Dimensional Coulomb Gas
The dynamics of a globally neutral system of diffusing Coulomb charges in two
dimensions, driven by an applied electric field, is studied in a wide
temperature range around the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition. I
argue that the commonly accepted ``free particle drift'' mechanism of charge
transport in this system is limited to relatively low particle densities. For
higher densities, I propose a modified picture involving collective ``partner
transfer'' between bound pairs. The new picture provides a natural explanation
for recent experimental and numerical findings which deviate from standard
theory. It also clarifies the origin of dynamical scaling in this context.Comment: 4 pages, RevTeX, 2 eps figures included; some typos corrected, final
version to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Decoherence Bounds on Quantum Computation with Trapped Ions
Using simple physical arguments we investigate the capabilities of a quantum
computer based on cold trapped ions. From the limitations imposed on such a
device by spontaneous decay, laser phase coherence, ion heating and other
sources of error, we derive a bound between the number of laser interactions
and the number of ions that may be used. The largest number which may be
factored using a variety of species of ion is determined.Comment: 5 pages in RevTex, 2 figures, the paper is also avalaible at
http://qso.lanl.gov/qc
An evaluation of possible mechanisms for anomalous resistivity in the solar corona
A wide variety of transient events in the solar corona seem to require
explanations that invoke fast reconnection. Theoretical models explaining fast
reconnection often rely on enhanced resistivity. We start with data derived
from observed reconnection rates in solar flares and seek to reconcile them
with the chaos-induced resistivity model of Numata & Yoshida (2002) and with
resistivity arising out of the kinetic Alfv\'en wave (KAW) instability. We find
that the resistivities arising from either of these mechanisms, when localized
over lengthscales of the order of an ion skin depth, are capable of explaining
the observationally mandated Lundquist numbers.Comment: Accepted, Solar Physic
Orbital dynamics of "smart dust" devices with solar radiation pressure and drag
This paper investigates how perturbations due to asymmetric solar radiation pressure, in the presence of Earth shadow, and atmospheric drag can be balanced to obtain long-lived Earth centred orbits for swarms of micro-scale 'smart dust' devices, without the use of active control. The secular variation of Keplerian elements is expressed analytically through an averaging technique. Families of solutions are then identified where Sun-synchronous apse-line precession is achieved passively to maintain asymmetric solar radiation pressure. The long-term orbit evolution is characterized by librational motion, progressively decaying due to the non-conservative effect of atmospheric drag. Long-lived orbits can then be designed through the interaction of energy gain from asymmetric solar radiation pressure and energy dissipation due to drag. In this way, the usual short drag lifetime of such high area-to-mass spacecraft can be greatly extended (and indeed selected). In addition, the effect of atmospheric drag can be exploited to ensure the rapid end-of-life decay of such devices, thus preventing long-lived orbit debris
Mean-field description of ground-state properties of drip-line nuclei. (I) Shell-correction method
A shell-correction method is applied to nuclei far from the beta stability
line and its suitability to describe effects of the particle continuum is
discussed. The sensitivity of predicted locations of one- and two-particle drip
lines to details of the macroscopic-microscopic model is analyzed.Comment: 22 REVTeX pages, 13 uuencoded postscript figures available upon
reques
Evidence for a singularity in ideal magnetohydrodynamics: implications for fast reconnection
Numerical evidence for a finite-time singularity in ideal 3D
magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) is presented. The simulations start from two
interlocking magnetic flux rings with no initial velocity. The magnetic
curvature force causes the flux rings to shrink until they come into contact.
This produces a current sheet between them. In the ideal compressible
calculations, the evidence for a singularity in a finite time is that the
peak current density behaves like for a range of
sound speeds (or plasma betas). For the incompressible calculations consistency
with the compressible calculations is noted and evidence is presented that
there is convergence to a self-similar state. In the resistive reconnection
calculations the magnetic helicity is nearly conserved and energy is
dissipated.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Direct observation of the energy release site in a solar flare by SDO/AIA, Hinode/EIS and RHESSI
We present direct evidence for the detection of the main energy release site
in a non-eruptive solar flare, SOL2013-11-09T06:38UT. This GOES C2.7 event was
characterised by two flaring ribbons and a compact, bright coronal source
located between them, which is the focus of our study. We use imaging from
SDO/AIA, and imaging spectroscopy from RHESSI to characterise the thermal and
non-thermal emission from the coronal source, and EUV spectroscopy from the
Hinode/EIS, which scanned the coronal source during the impulsive peak, to
analyse Doppler shifts in Fe XII and Fe XXIV emission lines, and determine the
source density. The coronal source exhibited an impulsive emission lightcurve
in all AIA filters during the impulsive phase. RHESSI hard X-ray images
indicate both thermal and non-thermal emission at the coronal source, and its
plasma temperature derived from RHESSI imaging spectroscopy shows an impulsive
rise, reaching a maximum at 12-13 MK about 10 seconds prior to the hard X-ray
peak. High redshifts associated with this bright source indicate downflows of
40-250 km/s at a broad range of temperatures, interpreted as loop shrinkage
and/or outflows along the magnetic field. Outflows from the coronal source
towards each ribbon are also observed by AIA images at 171, 193, 211, 304 and
1600 A. The electron density of the source obtained from a Fe XIV line pair is
which is collisionally thick to electrons with energy up to 45-65
keV, responsible for the source's non-thermal X-ray emission. We conclude that
the bright coronal source is the location of the main release of magnetic
energy in this flare, with a geometry consistent with component reconnection
between crossing, current-carrying loops. We argue that the energy that can be
released via reconnection, based on observational estimates, can plausibly
account for the non-thermal energetics of the flare.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
Thermodynamics and structure of self-assembled networks
We study a generic model of self-assembling chains which can branch and form
networks with branching points (junctions) of arbitrary functionality. The
physical realizations include physical gels, wormlike micells, dipolar fluids
and microemulsions. The model maps the partition function of a solution of
branched, self-assembling, mutually avoiding clusters onto that of a Heisenberg
magnet in the mathematical limit of zero spin components. The model is solved
in the mean field approximation. It is found that despite the absence of any
specific interaction between the chains, the entropy of the junctions induces
an effective attraction between the monomers, which in the case of three-fold
junctions leads to a first order reentrant phase separation between a dilute
phase consisting mainly of single chains, and a dense network, or two network
phases. Independent of the phase separation, we predict the percolation
(connectivity) transition at which an infinite network is formed that partially
overlaps with the first-order transition. The percolation transition is a
continuous, non thermodynamic transition that describes a change in the
topology of the system. Our treatment which predicts both the thermodynamic
phase equilibria as well as the spatial correlations in the system allows us to
treat both the phase separation and the percolation threshold within the same
framework. The density-density correlation correlation has a usual
Ornstein-Zernicke form at low monomer densities. At higher densities, a peak
emerges in the structure factor, signifying an onset of medium-range order in
the system. Implications of the results for different physical systems are
discussed.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
A Quantitative Model of Energy Release and Heating by Time-dependent, Localized Reconnection in a Flare with a Thermal Loop-top X-ray Source
We present a quantitative model of the magnetic energy stored and then
released through magnetic reconnection for a flare on 26 Feb 2004. This flare,
well observed by RHESSI and TRACE, shows evidence of non-thermal electrons only
for a brief, early phase. Throughout the main period of energy release there is
a super-hot (T>30 MK) plasma emitting thermal bremsstrahlung atop the flare
loops. Our model describes the heating and compression of such a source by
localized, transient magnetic reconnection. It is a three-dimensional
generalization of the Petschek model whereby Alfven-speed retraction following
reconnection drives supersonic inflows parallel to the field lines, which form
shocks heating, compressing, and confining a loop-top plasma plug. The
confining inflows provide longer life than a freely-expanding or
conductively-cooling plasma of similar size and temperature. Superposition of
successive transient episodes of localized reconnection across a current sheet
produces an apparently persistent, localized source of high-temperature
emission. The temperature of the source decreases smoothly on a time scale
consistent with observations, far longer than the cooling time of a single
plug. Built from a disordered collection of small plugs, the source need not
have the coherent jet-like structure predicted by steady-state reconnection
models. This new model predicts temperatures and emission measure consistent
with the observations of 26 Feb 2004. Furthermore, the total energy released by
the flare is found to be roughly consistent with that predicted by the model.
Only a small fraction of the energy released appears in the super-hot source at
any one time, but roughly a quarter of the flare energy is thermalized by the
reconnection shocks over the course of the flare. All energy is presumed to
ultimately appear in the lower-temperature T<20 MK, post-flare loops
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