Initiation of coronal mass ejections by sunspot rotation

We study a filament eruption, two-ribbon flare, and coronal mass ejection (CME) that occurred in NOAA Active Region 10898 on 6 July 2006. The filament was located South of a strong sunspot that dominated the region. In the evolution leading up to the eruption, and for some time after it, a counter-clockwise rotation of the sunspot of about 30 degrees was observed. We suggest that the rotation triggered the eruption by progressively expanding the magnetic field above the filament. To test this scenario, we study the effect of twisting the initially potential field overlying a pre-existing flux-rope, using three-dimensional zero-β MHD simulations. We first consider a relatively simple and symmetric system, and then study a more complex and asymmetric magnetic configuration, whose photospheric-flux distribution and coronal structure are guided by the observations and a potential field extrapolation. In both cases, we find that the twisting leads to the expansion of the overlying field. As a consequence of the progressively reduced magnetic tension, the flux-rope quasi-statically adapts to the changed environmental field, rising slowly. Once the tension is sufficiently reduced, a distinct second phase of evolution occurs where the flux-rope enters an unstable regime characterised by a strong acceleration. Our simulations thus suggest a new mechanism for the triggering of eruptions in the vicinity of rotating sunspots

The Arecibo L-band Feed Array Zone of Avoidance Survey I: Precursor Observations through the Inner and Outer Galaxy

The Arecibo L-band Feed Array (ALFA) is being used to conduct a low-Galactic latitude survey, to map the distribution of galaxies and large-scale structures behind the Milky Way through detection of galaxies' neutral hydrogen (HI) 21-cm emission. This Zone of Avoidance (ZOA) survey finds new HI galaxies which lie hidden behind the Milky Way, and also provides redshifts for partially-obscured galaxies known at other wavelengths. Before the commencement of the full survey, two low-latitude precursor regions were observed, totalling 138 square degrees, with 72 HI galaxies detected. Detections through the inner Galaxy generally have no cataloged counterparts in any other waveband, due to the heavy extinction and stellar confusion. Detections through the outer Galaxy are more likely to have 2MASS counterparts. We present the results of these precursor observations, including a catalog of the detected galaxies, with their HI parameters. The survey sensitivity is well described by a flux- and linewidth-dependent signal-to-noise ratio of 6.5. ALFA ZOA galaxies which also have HI measurements in the literature show good agreement between our measurements and previous work. The inner Galaxy precursor region was chosen to overlap the HI Parkes Zone of Avoidance Survey so ALFA performance could be quickly assessed. The outer Galaxy precursor region lies north of the Parkes sky. Low-latitude large-scale structure in this region is revealed, including an overdensity of galaxies near l = 183 deg and between 5000 - 6000 km/s in the ZOA. The full ALFA ZOA survey will be conducted in two phases: a shallow survey using the observing techniques of the precursor observations, and also a deep phase with much longer integration time, with thousands of galaxies predicted for the final catalog.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, Astronomical Journal accepte

The Contribution of HI-Rich Galaxies to the Damped Absorber Population at z=0

We present a study of HI-rich galaxies in the local universe selected from blind emission-line surveys. These galaxies represent the emission-line counterparts of local damped Lyman-alpha systems. We find that the HI cross-section of galaxies is drawn from a large range of galaxy masses below M_star, 66% of the area comes from galaxies in the range 8.5 < Log M_star < 9.7. Both because of the low mass galaxy contribution, and because of the range of galaxy types and luminosities at any given HI mass, the galaxies contributing to the HI cross-section are not exclusively L_star spirals, as is often expected. The optical and near infrared counterparts of these galaxies cover a range of types (from spirals to irregulars), luminosities (from L_star to <0.01 L_star), and surface brightnesses. The range of optical and near infrared properties as well as the kinematics for this population are consistent with the properties for the low-z damped Lyman-alpha absorbers. We also show that the number of HI-rich galaxies in the local universe does not preclude evolution of the low-z damped absorber population, but it is consistent with no evolution.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures. To appear in "Extragalactic Gas at Low Redshift" (ASP Conf. Series, Weymann Conf.

Visualization and Analysis Techniques for Three Dimensional Information Acquired by Confocal Microscopy

Confocal Scanning Laser Microscopy (CSLM) is particularly well suited for the acquisition of 3-dimensional data of microscopic objects. In the CSLM a specific volume in the object is sampled during the imaging process and the result is stored in a digital computer as a three-dimensional memory array. Optimal use of these data requires both the development of effective visual representations as well as analysis methods. In addition to the well known stereoscopic representation method a number of alternatives for various purposes are presented. When rendering in terms of solid-looking or semitransparent objects is required, an algorithm based on a simulated process of excitation and fluorescence is very suitable. Graphic techniques can be used to examine the 3-dimensional shape of surfaces. For (near-)real time applications a representation method should not require extensive previous data-processing or analysis. From the very extensive field of 3-D image analysis two examples are given

Coronal magnetic reconnection driven by CME expansion -- the 2011 June 7 event

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) erupt and expand in a magnetically structured solar corona. Various indirect observational pieces of evidence have shown that the magnetic field of CMEs reconnects with surrounding magnetic fields, forming, e.g., dimming regions distant from the CME source regions. Analyzing Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) observations of the eruption from AR 11226 on 2011 June 7, we present the first direct evidence of coronal magnetic reconnection between the fields of two adjacent ARs during a CME. The observations are presented jointly with a data-constrained numerical simulation, demonstrating the formation/intensification of current sheets along a hyperbolic flux tube (HFT) at the interface between the CME and the neighbouring AR 11227. Reconnection resulted in the formation of new magnetic connections between the erupting magnetic structure from AR 11226 and the neighboring active region AR 11227 about 200 Mm from the eruption site. The onset of reconnection first becomes apparent in the SDO/AIA images when filament plasma, originally contained within the erupting flux rope, is re-directed towards remote areas in AR 11227, tracing the change of large-scale magnetic connectivity. The location of the coronal reconnection region becomes bright and directly observable at SDO/AIA wavelengths, owing to the presence of down-flowing cool, dense (10^{10} cm^{-3}) filament plasma in its vicinity. The high-density plasma around the reconnection region is heated to coronal temperatures, presumably by slow-mode shocks and Coulomb collisions. These results provide the first direct observational evidence that CMEs reconnect with surrounding magnetic structures, leading to a large-scale re-configuration of the coronal magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure

Enabling Delta Life - What makes managing land and water in deltas different?

This discussion paper describes an integrated framework for delta assessment, the need for specific strategies for deltas, especially as it relates to integrated water resources management, and taking into account the increasing interest for the institutional, socio-economic, financial and awareness-raising aspects

Evolution and Flare Activity of Delta-Sunspots in Cycle 23

The emergence and magnetic evolution of solar active regions (ARs) of beta-gamma-delta type, which are known to be highly flare-productive, were studied with the SOHO/MDI data in Cycle 23. We selected 31 ARs that can be observed from their birth phase, as unbiased samples for our study. From the analysis of the magnetic topology (twist and writhe), we obtained the following results. i) Emerging beta-gamma-delta ARs can be classified into three topological types as "quasi-beta", "writhed" and "top-to-top". ii) Among them, the "writhed" and "top-to-top" types tend to show high flare activity. iii) As the signs of twist and writhe agree with each other in most cases of the "writhed" type (12 cases out of 13), we propose a magnetic model in which the emerging flux regions in a beta-gamma-delta AR are not separated but united as a single structure below the solar surface. iv) Almost all the "writhed"-type ARs have downward knotted structures in the mid portion of the magnetic flux tube. This, we believe, is the essential property of beta-gamma-delta ARs. v) The flare activity of beta-gamma-delta ARs is highly correlated not only with the sunspot area but also with the magnetic complexity. vi) We suggest that there is a possible scaling-law between the flare index and the maximum umbral area

Citrullinated human and murine MOG_35–55 display distinct biophysical and biochemical behavior

The peptide spanning residues 35 to 55 of the protein myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG) has been studied extensively in its role as a key autoantigen in the neuroinflammatory autoimmune disease multiple sclerosis. Rodents and nonhuman primate species immunized with this peptide develop a neuroinflammatory condition called experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, often used as a model for multiple sclerosis. Over the last decade, the role of citrullination of this antigen in the disease onset and progression has come under increased scrutiny. We recently reported on the ability of these citrullinated MOG35–55 peptides to aggregate in an amyloid-like fashion, suggesting a new potential pathogenic mechanism underlying this disease. The immunodominant region of MOG is highly conserved between species, with the only difference between the murine and human protein, a polymorphism on position 42, which is serine in mice and proline for humans. Here, we show that the biophysical and biochemical behavior we previously observed for citrullinated murine MOG35–55 is fundamentally different for human and mouse MOG35–55. The citrullinated human peptides do not show amyloid-like behavior under the conditions where the murine peptides do. Moreover, we tested the ability of these peptides to stimulate lymphocytes derived from MOG immunized marmoset monkeys. While the citrullinated murine peptides did not produce a proliferative response, one of the citrullinated human peptides did. We postulate that this unexpected difference is caused by disparate antigen processing. Taken together, our results suggest that further study on the role of citrullination in MOG-induced experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis is necessary.</p

The Kazhdan-Lusztig conjecture for finite W-algebras

We study the representation theory of finite W-algebras. After introducing parabolic subalgebras to describe the structure of W-algebras, we define the Verma modules and give a conjecture for the Kac determinant. This allows us to find the completely degenerate representations of the finite W-algebras. To extract the irreducible representations we analyse the structure of singular and subsingular vectors, and find that for W-algebras, in general the maximal submodule of a Verma module is not generated by singular vectors only. Surprisingly, the role of the (sub)singular vectors can be encapsulated in terms of a `dual' analogue of the Kazhdan-Lusztig theorem for simple Lie algebras. These involve dual relative Kazhdan-Lusztig polynomials. We support our conjectures with some examples, and briefly discuss applications and the generalisation to infinite W-algebras.Comment: 11 page