968 research outputs found
Interstellar Scintillation Observations of 146 Extragalactic Radio Sources
From 1979--1996 the Green Bank Interferometer was used by the Naval Research
Laboratory to monitor the flux density from 146 compact radio sources at
frequencies near 2 and 8 GHz. We filter the ``light curves'' to separate
intrinsic variations on times of a year or more from more rapid interstellar
scintilation (ISS) on times of 5--50 d. Whereas the intrinsic variation at 2
GHz is similar to that at 8 GHz (though diminished in amplitude), the ISS
variation is much stronger at 2 than at 8 GHz. We characterize the ISS
variation by an rms amplitude and a timescale and examine the statistics of
these parameters for the 121 sources with significant ISS at 2 GHz. We model
the scintillations using the NE2001 Galactic electron model assuming the
sources are brightness-limited.
We find the observed rms amplitude to be in general agreement with the model,
provided that the compact components of the sources have about 50% of their
flux density in a component with maximum brightness temperatures
--K. Thus our results are consistent with cm-wavelength VLBI
studies of compact AGNs, in that the maximum brightness temperatures found are
consistent with the inverse synchrotron limit at K, boosted
in jet configurations by Doppler factors up to about 20. The average of the
observed 2 GHz ISS timescales is in reasonable agreement with the model at
Galactic latitudes above about 10\de. At lower latitudes the observed
timescales are too fast, suggesting that the transverse plasma velocity
increases more than expected beyond about 1 kpc.Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures. Submitted to Ap
Parametric instabilities in magnetized multicomponent plasmas
This paper investigates the excitation of various natural modes in a
magnetized bi-ion or dusty plasma. The excitation is provided by parametrically
pumping the magnetic field. Here two ion-like species are allowed to be fully
mobile. This generalizes our previous work where the second heavy species was
taken to be stationary. Their collection of charge from the background neutral
plasma modifies the dispersion properties of the pump and excited waves. The
introduction of an extra mobile species adds extra modes to both these types of
waves. We firstly investigate the pump wave in detail, in the case where the
background magnetic field is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of
the pump wave. Then we derive the dispersion equation relating the pump to the
excited wave for modes propagating parallel to the background magnetic field.
It is found that there are a total of twelve resonant interactions allowed,
whose various growth rates are calculated and discussed.Comment: Published in May 2004; this is a late submission to the archive. 14
pages, 8 figure
Streamer Wave Events Observed in Solar Cycle 23
In this paper we conduct a data survey searching for well-defined streamer
wave events observed by the Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO)
on-board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) throughout Solar Cycle
23. As a result, 8 candidate events are found and presented here. We compare
different events and find that in most of them the driving CMEs ejecta are
characterized by a high speed and a wide angular span, and the CME-streamer
interactions occur generally along the flank of the streamer structure at an
altitude no higher than the bottom of the field of view of LASCO C2. In
addition, all front-side CMEs have accompanying flares. These common
observational features shed light on the excitation conditions of streamer wave
events.
We also conduct a further analysis on one specific streamer wave event on 5
June 2003. The heliocentric distances of 4 wave troughs/crests at various
exposure times are determined; they are then used to deduce the wave properties
like period, wavelength, and phase speeds. It is found that both the period and
wavelength increase gradually with the wave propagation along the streamer
plasma sheet, and the phase speed of the preceding wave is generally faster
than that of the trailing ones. The associated coronal seismological study
yields the radial profiles of the Alfv\'en speed and magnetic field strength in
the region surrounding the streamer plasma sheet. Both quantities show a
general declining trend with time. This is interpreted as an observational
manifestation of the recovering process of the CME-disturbed corona. It is also
found that the Alfv\'enic critical point is at about 10 R where the
flow speed, which equals the Alfv\'en speed, is 200 km s
Plasma Electronics
Contains reports on eight research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant G-24073)United States Atomic Energy Commission (Contract AF(30-1)-3285)Lincoln Laboratory (Purchase Order DDL BB-107)United States Air Force (Contract AF19(628)-500)United States Atomic Energy Commission (Contract AT(30-1)-3221
The Galactic Distribution of Large HI Shells
We report the discovery of nineteen new HI shells in the Southern Galactic
Plane Survey (SGPS). These shells, which range in radius from 40 pc to 1 kpc,
were found in the low resolution Parkes portion of the SGPS dataset, covering
Galactic longitudes l=253 deg to l=358 deg. Here we give the properties of
individual shells, including positions, physical dimensions, energetics,
masses, and possible associations. We also examine the distribution of these
shells in the Milky Way and find that several of the shells are located between
the spiral arms of the Galaxy. We offer possible explanations for this effect,
in particular that the density gradient away from spiral arms, combined with
the many generations of sequential star formation required to create large
shells, could lead to a preferential placement of shells on the trailing edges
of spiral arms. Spiral density wave theory is used in order to derive the
magnitude of the density gradient behind spiral arms. We find that the density
gradient away from spiral arms is comparable to that out of the Galactic plane
and therefore suggest that this may lead to exaggerated shell expansion away
from spiral arms and into interarm regions.Comment: 25 pages, 20 embedded EPS figures, uses emulateapj.sty, to appear in
the Astrophysical Journa
Towards a Simple Model of Compressible Alfvenic Turbulence
A simple model collisionless, dissipative, compressible MHD (Alfvenic)
turbulence in a magnetized system is investigated. In contrast to more familiar
paradigms of turbulence, dissipation arises from Landau damping, enters via
nonlinearity, and is distributed over all scales. The theory predicts that two
different regimes or phases of turbulence are possible, depending on the ratio
of steepening to damping coefficient (m_1/m_2). For strong damping
(|m_1/m_2|<1), a regime of smooth, hydrodynamic turbulence is predicted. For
|m_1/m_2|>1, steady state turbulence does not exist in the hydrodynamic limit.
Rather, spikey, small scale structure is predicted.Comment: 6 pages, one figure, REVTeX; this version to be published in PRE. For
related papers, see http://sdphpd.ucsd.edu/~medvedev/papers.htm
Plasma Electronics
Contains reports on nine research projects.National Science Foundation (Grant G-24073)United States NavyUnited States Navy, Office of Naval Research (Contract Nonr-1841(78))United States Air Force (Contract AF19(604)-7400)Lincoln Laboratory (Purchase Order DDL B-00368)United States Arm
How child‐centred education favours some learners more than others
Debates on how best to educate young children have been raging over the last 100 years—more often fuelled by ideological preferences rather than empirical evidence. To some extent this is hardly surprising given the difficulty of examining pupil progress in a systematic and comparative way. However, the introduction of a new child‐centred curriculum in Wales provides the opportunity to undertake just such an examination. The Foundation Phase curriculum, introduced in 2008, is designed to provide all 3‐ to 7‐year‐olds with a developmental, experiential, play‐based approach to learning. Evidence from a major 3‐year evaluation of this intervention finds that, overall, pupil progress and well‐being is fostered in those settings where the principles of the Foundation Phase have been most closely followed. However, the evidence also suggests that even within these contexts, progress is uneven and that some kinds of children seem to gain more from this approach than others. The ‘losers’ appear to be boys and those living in poverty. Drawing on the theories of Basil Bernstein, the paper explores why this may be the case and examines the relative significance of teacher dispositions, teacher–learner dynamics and the availability of resources. The paper concludes by arguing that these issues will need to be addressed if the benefits of child‐centred approaches are to benefit all
Scintillation arcs in low-frequency observations of the timing-array millisecond pulsar PSR J0437–4715
© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Low-frequency observations of pulsars provide a powerful means for probing the microstructure in the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM). Here we report on high-resolution dynamic spectral analysis of our observations of the timing-array millisecond pulsar PSR J0437-4715 with the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), enabled by our recently commissioned tied-array beam processing pipeline for voltage data recorded from the high time resolution mode of the MWA. A secondary spectral analysis reveals faint parabolic arcs akin to those seen in high-frequency observations of pulsars with the Green Bank and Arecibo telescopes. Data from Parkes observations at a higher frequency of 732 MHz reveal a similar parabolic feature with a curvature that scales approximately as the square of the observing wavelength (?2) to the MWA's frequency of 192 MHz. Our analysis suggests that scattering toward PSR J0437-4715 predominantly arises from a compact region about 115 pc from the Earth, which matches well with the expected location of the edge of the Local Bubble that envelopes the local Solar neighborhood. As well as demonstrating new and improved pulsar science capabilities of the MWA, our analysis underscores the potential of low-frequency pulsar observations for gaining valuable insights into the local ISM and for characterizing the ISM toward timing-array pulsars
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