The mineralogy of global magnetic anomalies

The Curie Balance was brought to operational stage and is producing data of a preliminary nature. Substantial problems experienced in the assembly and initial operation of the instrument were, for the most part, rectified, but certain problems still exist. Relationships between the geology and the gravity and MAGSAT anomalies of West Africa are reexamined in the context of a partial reconstruction of Gondwanaland

Evolution of suprathermal seed particle and solar energetic particle abundances

We report on a survey of the composition of solar-wind suprathermal tails and solar energetic particles (SEPs) including data from 1998 to 2010, with a focus on 2007 to 2010. The start of solar cycle 24 included several SEP events that were unusually He-poor. We conclude that these He-poor events are more likely related to Q/M-dependent spectral variations than to seed-particle composition changes. We also find that the quiet-time suprathermal Fe/O ratio during the 2008-2009 solar-minimum was dramatically lower (Fe/O ≤ 0.01) than earlier due in part to very low solar activity, but also suggesting contributions from an oxygen-rich source of suprathermal ions of unknown origin

Amorphous TiO₂ : A Thin Film Synthesis Route to Stabilization of Metastable TiO₂ Brookite

Structure-specific synthesis processes are of key importance to the growth of polymorphic functional compounds such as TiO₂, where material properties strongly depend on structure as well as chemistry. The robust growth of the brookite polymorph of TiO₂, a promising photocatalyst, has been difficult in both powder and thin-film forms due to the disparity of reported synthesis techniques, their highly specific nature, and lack of mechanistic understanding. In this work, we report the growth of high-fraction (~95%) brookite thin films prepared by annealing amorphous titania precursor films deposited by pulsed laser deposition. We characterize the crystallization process, eliminating the previously suggested roles of substrate templating and Na helper-ions in driving brookite formation. Instead, we link phase selection directly to film thickness and average deposition rate, offering a novel, generalizable route to brookite growth that does not rely on the presence of extraneous elements or specific lattice-matched substrates. To further explore the growth process of brookite from amorphous precursors, in-situ XRD and in-situ optical microscopy/Raman spectroscopy are used to show that brookite is the first polymorph to form during annealing but that anatase growth is not far behind. Thus, the growth of these two polymorphs are difficult to separate via thermal treatment alone and suggests further that modifications to the amorphous precursor are needed to facilitate brookite formation. Then exploring different PLD parameters that could affect the amorphous precursor, such as average deposition rate and deposition oxygen pressure, we further show the combined structural and stoichiometric requirements for brookite stabilization. Once crystallized, high-fraction brookite films further exposed to higher annealing temperatures (up to 700°C) show little transformation of brookite regions and no large scale polymorphic transformations. In addition to providing a new synthesis route to brookite thin films, our results take a step towards resolving the problem of phase selection in TiO₂ growth, contributing to the further development of this functional material

Radiation risks from large solar energetic particle events

Solar energetic particles (SEPs) constitute a radiation hazard to both humans and hardware in space. Over the past few years there have been significant advances in our knowledge of the composition and energy spectra of SEP events, leading to new insights into the conditions that contribute to the largest events. This paper summarizes the energy spectra and frequency of large SEP events, and discusses the interplanetary conditions that affect the intensity of the largest events

Solar Energetic Particle Spectral Breaks

The five large solar particle events during October–November 2003 presented an opportunity to test shock acceleration models with in-situ observations. We use solar particle spectra of H to Fe ions, measured by instruments on ACE, SAMPEX, and GOES-11, to investigate the Q/M-dependence of spectral breaks in the 28 October 2003 event. We find that the break energies scale as (Q/M)^b with b ≈ 1.56 to 1.75, somewhat less than predicted. We also conclude that SEP spectra >100 MeV/nucleon are best fit by a double power-law shape. ©2005 American Institute of Physic

How efficient are coronal mass ejections at accelerating solar energetic particles?

The largest solar energetic particle (SEP) events are thought to be due to particle acceleration at a shock driven by a fast coronal mass ejection (CME). We investigate the efficiency of this process by comparing the total energy content of energetic particles with the kinetic energy of the associated CMEs. The energy content of 23 large SEP events from 1998 through 2003 is estimated based on data from ACE, GOES, and SAMPEX, and interpreted using the results of particle transport simulations and inferred longitude distributions. CME data for these events are obtained from SOHO. When compared to the estimated kinetic energy of the associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs), it is found that large SEP events can extract ~10% or more of the CME kinetic energy. The largest SEP events appear to require massive, very energetic CMEs

Jets Produced in π^-, π^+, and Proton Interactions at 200 GeV on Hydrogen and Aluminum Targets

This paper presents results from an experiment on the production of jets (groups of particles) with high p_⊥ produced in 200-GeV/c interactions. Results are presented on the comparison of jet cross sections on aluminum and hydrogen targets. The jet fragmentation distributions are also examined. Both the cross section and the jet structure are found to depend strongly on the beam and target types

Measurement of Forward Jets Produced in High-Transverse-Momentum Hadron-Proton Collisions

A measurement of charged-particle production is reported for the forward region in events triggered by high-transverse-momentum (p⊥) jets and single particles. The momentum distributions of forward-going particles are observed to scale in a simple p⊥-dependent longitudinal variable. Forward-going (beam) jets are observed to be tilted away from the original direction by an amount which agrees with muon-pair data when interpreted in a parton (quantum-chromodynamics) model

Observation of the Production of Jets of Particles at High Transverse Momentum and Comparison with Inclusive Single-Particle Reactions

Data are presented on production by 200-GeV/c hadrons incident on beryllium of both single particles and jets (groups of particles) with high p_T (transverse momentum). The experiment was performed in a wide-aperture multiparticle spectrometer at Fermilab. The jet and single-particle cross sections have a similar shape from p_T=3 to 5 GeV/c but the jet cross section is over two orders of magnitude larger. The distributions of charged-particle momenta show striking similarities to those observed in lepton-induced processes