Magnetic flux transport of decaying active regions and enhanced magnetic network

Several series of coordinated observations on decaying active regions and enhanced magnetic network regions have been carried out jointly at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and Huairou Solar Observing Station of the Bejing Astronomical Observatory in China. The evolution of magnetic fields in several regions was followed closely for 3 to 7 days. The transport of magnetic flux from the remnants of decayed active regions was studied. Three related topics are included in this paper. (1) We studied the evolution and lifetime of the magnetic network which defines the boundaries of supergranules. The results are consistent with our earlier studies: network cells have an average lifetime of about 70 hours; 68% of new cells appeared by growing from a single network magnetic element; 50% of decaying cells disappeared by contracting to a network element. (2) We studied the magnetic flux transport in an enhanced network region in detail, and found the diffusion rate to be negative, i.e., there was more flux moving towards the decayed active region than away from it. We found several other cases where the magnetic diffusion rate does not agree with Leighton's model. The slow diffusion rate is likely due to the fact that the average velocity of larger magnetic elements, which carry most of the magnetic flux, is less than 0.1 km s⁻¹; their average lifetime is longer than 100 hours. (3) We briefly described some properties of Moving Magnetic Features (MMFs) around a sunspot (detailed discussion on MMFs will be presented in a separate paper). In this particular case, the MMFs did not carry net flux away from the central spot. Instead, the polarities of MMFs were essentially mixed so that outflowing positive and negative fluxes were roughly balanced. During the 3-day period, there was almost no net flux accumulation to form a moat. The cancellation of MMFs of opposite polarities at the boundary of the super-penumbra caused quite a few surges and Hα brightenings

Evolution of magnetic fields and mass flow in a decaying active region

Five days of coordinated observation were carried out from 24–29 September, 1987 at Big Bear and Huairou Solar Observatories. Longitudinal magnetic fields of an αp sunspot active region were observed almost continuously by the two observatories. In addition, vector magnetic fields, photospheric and chromospheric Doppler velocity fields of the active region were also observed at Huairou Solar Observatory. We studied the evolution of magnetic fields and mass motions of the active region and obtained the following results: (1) There are two kinds of Moving Magnetic Features (MMFs). (a) MMFs with the same magnetic polarity as the center sunspot. These MMFs carry net flux from the spot, move through the moat, and accumulate at the moat's outer boundary. (b) MMFs in pairs of mixed polarity. These MMFs are not responsible for the decay of the spot since they do not carry away the net flux. MMFs in category (b) move faster than those of (a). (2) The speed of the mixed polarity MMFs is larger than the outflow measured by photospheric Dopplergrams. The uni-polar MMFs are moving at about the same speed as the Doppler outflow. (3) The chromospheric velocity is in approximately the opposite direction from the photospheric velocity. The photospheric Doppler flow is outward; chromospheric flow is inward. We also found evidence that downward flow appears in the photospheric umbra; in the chromosphere there is an upflow

Magnetic flux transport of decaying active regions and enhanced magnetic network

Several series of coordinated observations on decaying active regions and enhanced magnetic network regions have been carried out jointly at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and Huairou Solar Observing Station of the Bejing Astronomical Observatory in China. The evolution of magnetic fields in several regions was followed closely for 3 to 7 days. The transport of magnetic flux from the remnants of decayed active regions was studied. Three related topics are included in this paper. (1) We studied the evolution and lifetime of the magnetic network which defines the boundaries of supergranules. The results are consistent with our earlier studies: network cells have an average lifetime of about 70 hours; 68% of new cells appeared by growing from a single network magnetic element; 50% of decaying cells disappeared by contracting to a network element. (2) We studied the magnetic flux transport in an enhanced network region in detail, and found the diffusion rate to be negative, i.e., there was more flux moving towards the decayed active region than away from it. We found several other cases where the magnetic diffusion rate does not agree with Leighton's model. The slow diffusion rate is likely due to the fact that the average velocity of larger magnetic elements, which carry most of the magnetic flux, is less than 0.1 km s⁻¹; their average lifetime is longer than 100 hours. (3) We briefly described some properties of Moving Magnetic Features (MMFs) around a sunspot (detailed discussion on MMFs will be presented in a separate paper). In this particular case, the MMFs did not carry net flux away from the central spot. Instead, the polarities of MMFs were essentially mixed so that outflowing positive and negative fluxes were roughly balanced. During the 3-day period, there was almost no net flux accumulation to form a moat. The cancellation of MMFs of opposite polarities at the boundary of the super-penumbra caused quite a few surges and Hα brightenings

31P NMR Investigation of the Superconductor LiFeP (Tc = 5 K)

We investigate the static and dynamic spin susceptibility of the 111 type Fe-based superconductor LiFeP with Tc ~ 5 K through the measurement of Knight shift 31K and the spin-lattice relaxation rate 1/T1 at 31P site by nuclear magnetic resonance. The constant 31K, small magnitudes of 1/T1T, along with the resistivity rho ~ T^2 all point to the weak spin correlations in LiFeP. 1/T1T display small enhancement toward Tc, indicating that the superconductivity is intimately correlated with the antiferromagnetic spin fluctuations.Comment: Accepted for publication in EP

Conversion of p–n conduction type by spinodal decomposition in Zn-Sb-Bi phase-change alloys

Phase-change films with multiple resistance levels are promising for increasing the storage density in phase-change memory technology. Diffusion-dominated Zn2Sb3 films undergo transitions across three states, from high through intermediate to low resistance, upon annealing. The properties of the Zn2Sb3 material can be further optimized by doping with Bi. Based on scanning transmission electron microscopy combined with electrical transport measurements, at a particular Bi concentration, the conduction of Zn-Sb-Bi compounds changes from p- to n-type, originating from spinodal decomposition. Simultaneously, the change in the temperature coefficient of resistivity shows a metal-to-insulator transition. Further analysis of microstructure characteristics reveals that the distribution of the Bi-Sb phase may be the origin of the driving force for the p–n conduction and metal-to-insulator transitions and therefore may provide us with another way to improve multilevel data storage. Moreover, the Bi doping promotes the thermoelectric properties of the studied alloys, leading to higher values of the power factor compared to known reported structures. The present study sheds valuable light on the spinodal decomposition process caused by Bi doping, which can also occur in a wide variety of chalcogenide-based phase-change materials. In addition, the study provides a new strategy for realizing novel p–n heterostructures for multilevel data storage and thermoelectric applications

The Magnetic Properties of 1111-type Diluted Magnetic Semiconductor (La1−x_{1-x}Bax_{x})(Zn1−x_{1-x}Mnx_{x})AsO in the Low Doping Regime

We investigated the magnetic properties of (La$_{1-x}$Ba$_{x}$)(Zn$_{1-x}$Mn$_{x}$)AsO with $x$ varying from 0.005 to 0.05 at an external magnetic field of 1000 Oe. For doping levels of $x$ $\leq$ 0.01, the system remains paramagnetic down to the lowest measurable temperature of 2 K. Only when the doping level increases to $x$ = 0.02 does the ferromagnetic ordering appear. Our analysis indicates that antiferromagnetic exchange interactions dominate for $x$ $\leq$ 0.01, as shown by the negative Weiss temperature fitted from the magnetization data. The Weiss temperature becomes positive, i.e., ferromagnetic coupling starts to dominate, for $x$ $\geq$ 0.02. The Mn-Mn spin interaction parameter $\mid$$2J/k_B$$\mid$ is estimated to be in the order of 10 K for both $x$ $\leq$ 0.01 (antiferromagnetic ordered state) and $x$ $\geq$ 0.02 (ferromagnetic ordered state). Our results unequivocally demonstrate the competition between ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic exchange interactions in carrier-mediated ferromagnetic systems.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

The suppression of Curie temperature by Sr doping in diluted ferromagnetic semiconductor (La1-xSrx)(Zn1-yMny)AsO

(La1-xSrx)(Zn1-yMny)AsO is a two dimensional diluted ferromagnetic semiconductor that has the advantage of decoupled charge and spin doping. The substitution of Sr2+ for La3+ and Mn2+ for Zn2+ into the parent semiconductor LaZnAsO introduces hole carriers and spins, respectively. This advantage enables us to investigate the influence of carrier doping on the ferromagnetic ordered state through the control of Sr concentrations in (La1-xSrx)(Zn0.9Mn0.1)AsO. 10 % Sr doping results in a ferromagnetic ordering below TC ~ 30 K. Increasing Sr concentration up to 30 % heavily suppresses the Curie temperature and saturation moments. Neutron scattering measurements indicate that no structural transition occurs for (La0.9Sr0.1)(Zn0.9Mn0.1)AsO below 300 K.Comment: Submitted to EP