1,050 research outputs found
Molecular hydrogen in the galaxy and galactic gamma rays
Recent surveys of 2.6 mm CO emission and 100 MeV gamma-radiation in the galactic plane reveal a striking correlation suggesting that both emissions may be primarily proportional to the line-of-sight column density of H2 in the inner galaxy. Both the gamma ray and CO data suggest a prominent ring or arm consisting of cool clouds of H2 at a galactocentric distance of approximately 5 kpc with a mean density of approximately 4 atoms/cu cm. The importance of H2 in understanding galactic gamma ray observations is also reflected in the correlation of galactic latitude distribution of gamma rays and dense dust clouds. A detailed calculation of the gamma ray flux distribution in the 0 deg to 180 deg range using the CO data to obtain the average distribution of molecular clouds in the galaxy shows that most of the enhancement in the inner galaxy is due to pion-decay radiation and the 5 kpc ring plays a major role. Detailed agreement with the gamma ray data is obtained with the additional inclusion of contributions from bremsstrahlung and Compton radiation of secondary electrons and Compton radiation from the intense radiation field near the galactic center
The I-mode confinement regime at ASDEX Upgrade: global propert ies and characterization of strongly intermittent density fluctuations
Properties of the Imode confinement regime on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak are
summarized. A weak dependence of the power threshold for the LI transition on the toroidal
magnetic field strength is found. During improved confinement, the edge radial electric field
well deepens. Stability calculations show that the Imode pedestal is peelingballooning stable.
Turbulence investigations reveal strongly intermittent density fluctuations linked to the weakly
coherent mode in the confined plasma, which become stronger as the confinement quality
increases. Across all investigated structure sizes (
≈
⊥
k
5
–
12 cm
−
1
, with
⊥
k
the perpendicular
wavenumber of turbulent density fluctuations), the intermittent turbulence bursts are observed.
Comparison with bolometry data shows that they move poloidally toward the Xpoint and
finally end up in the divertor. This might be indicative that they play a role in inhibiting the
density profile growth, such that no pedestal is formed in the edge density profile.European Union (EUROfusion 633053)European Union (EUROfusion AWP15ENR09/IPP02
I-mode studies at ASDEX Upgrade: L-I and I-H transitions, pedestal and confinement properties
The I-mode is a plasma regime obtained when the usual L-H power threshold is high, e.g.
with unfavourable ion
B
∇
direction. It is characterised by the development of a temperature
pedestal while the density remains roughly as in the L-mode. This leads to a confinement
improvement above the L-mode level which can sometimes reach H-mode values. This
regime, already obtained in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak about two decades ago, has
been studied again since 2009 taking advantage of the development of new diagnostics
and heating possibilities. The I-mode in ASDEX Upgrade has been achieved with different
heating methods such as NBI, ECRH and ICRF. The I-mode properties, power threshold,
pedestal characteristics and confinement, are independent of the heating method. The power
required at the L-I transition exhibits an offset linear density dependence but, in contrast
to the L-H threshold, depends weakly on the magnetic field. The L-I transition seems to be
mainly determined by the edge pressure gradient and the comparison between ECRH and
NBI induced L-I transitions suggests that the ion channel plays a key role. The I-mode often
evolves gradually over a few confinement times until the transition to H-mode which offers
a very interesting situation to study the transport reduction and its link with the pedestal
formation. Exploratory discharges in which
n
=
2 magnetic perturbations have been applied
indicate that these can lead to an increase of the I-mode power threshold by flattening the edge
pressure at fixed heating input power: more heating power is necessary to restore the required
edge pressure gradient. Finally, the confinement properties of the I-mode are discussed in
detail.European Commission (EUROfusion 633053
Galactic Cosmic Rays from Supernova Remnants: II Shock Acceleration of Gas and Dust
This is the second paper (the first was astro-ph/9704267) of a series
analysing the Galactic Cosmic Ray (GCR) composition and origin. In this we
present a quantitative model of GCR origin and acceleration based on the
acceleration of a mixture of interstellar and/or circumstellar gas and dust by
supernova remnant blast waves. We present results from a nonlinear shock model
which includes (i) the direct acceleration of interstellar gas-phase ions, (ii)
a simplified model for the direct acceleration of weakly charged dust grains to
energies of order 100keV/amu simultaneously with the gas ions, (iii) frictional
energy losses of the grains colliding with the gas, (iv) sputtering of ions of
refractory elements from the accelerated grains and (v) the further shock
acceleration of the sputtered ions to cosmic ray energies. The calculated GCR
composition and spectra are in good agreement with observations.Comment: to appear in ApJ, 51 pages, LaTeX with AAS macros, 9 postscript
figures, also available from ftp://wonka.physics.ncsu.edu/pub/elliso
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