A model for the formation of the active region corona driven by magnetic flux emergence

We present the first model that couples the formation of the corona of a solar active region to a model of the emergence of a sunspot pair. This allows us to study when, where, and why active region loops form, and how they evolve. We use a 3D radiation MHD simulation of the emergence of an active region through the upper convection zone and the photosphere as a lower boundary for a 3D MHD coronal model. The latter accounts for the braiding of the magnetic fieldlines, which induces currents in the corona heating up the plasma. We synthesize the coronal emission for a direct comparison to observations. Starting with a basically field-free atmosphere we follow the filling of the corona with magnetic field and plasma. Numerous individually identifiable hot coronal loops form, and reach temperatures well above 1 MK with densities comparable to observations. The footpoints of these loops are found where small patches of magnetic flux concentrations move into the sunspots. The loop formation is triggered by an increase of upwards-directed Poynting flux at their footpoints in the photosphere. In the synthesized EUV emission these loops develop within a few minutes. The first EUV loop appears as a thin tube, then rises and expands significantly in the horizontal direction. Later, the spatially inhomogeneous heat input leads to a fragmented system of multiple loops or strands in a growing envelope.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted to publication in A&

Magnetic Jam in the Corona of the Sun

The outer solar atmosphere, the corona, contains plasma at temperatures of more than a million K, more than 100 times hotter that solar surface. How this gas is heated is a fundamental question tightly interwoven with the structure of the magnetic field in the upper atmosphere. Conducting numerical experiments based on magnetohydrodynamics we account for both the evolving three-dimensional structure of the atmosphere and the complex interaction of magnetic field and plasma. Together this defines the formation and evolution of coronal loops, the basic building block prominently seen in X-rays and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images. The structures seen as coronal loops in the EUV can evolve quite differently from the magnetic field. While the magnetic field continuously expands as new magnetic flux emerges through the solar surface, the plasma gets heated on successively emerging fieldlines creating an EUV loop that remains roughly at the same place. For each snapshot the EUV images outline the magnetic field, but in contrast to the traditional view, the temporal evolution of the magnetic field and the EUV loops can be different. Through this we show that the thermal and the magnetic evolution in the outer atmosphere of a cool star has to be treated together, and cannot be simply separated as done mostly so far.Comment: Final version published online on 27 April 2015, Nature Physics 12 pages and 8 figure

B−>πlνB -> \pi l \nu Form Factors Calculated on the Light-Front

A consistent treatment of $B\rightarrow \pi l \nu$ decay is given on the light-front. The $B$ to $\pi$ transition form factors are calculated in the entire physical range of momentum transfer for the first time. The valence-quark contribution is obtained using relativistic light-front wave functions. Higher quark-antiquark Fock-state of the $B$-meson bound state is represented effectively by the $|B^*\pi\rangle$ configuration, and its effect is calculated in the chiral perturbation theory. Wave function renormalization is taken into account consistently. The $|B^*\pi\rangle$ contribution dominates near the zero-recoil point ($q^2\simeq 25$ GeV$^2$), and decreases rapidly as the recoil momentum increases. We find that the calculated form factor $f_+(q^2)$ follows approximately a dipole $q^2$-dependence in the entire range of momentum transfer.Comment: Revtex, 19 pages, 9 figure

Detection of Optical Synchrotron Emission from the Radio Jet of 3C279

We report the detection of optical and ultraviolet emission from the kiloparsec scale jet of the well-known quasar 3C~279. A bright knot, discovered in archival V and U band {\it Hubble Space Telescope} Faint Object Camera images, is coincident with a peak in the radio jet \sim0.6\arcsec from the nucleus. The detection was also confirmed in Wide Field Planetary Camera-2 images. Archival Very Large Array and MERLIN radio data are also analyzed which help to show that the high-energy optical/UV continuum, and spectrum, are consistent with a synchrotron origin from the same population of relativistic electrons responsible for the radio emission.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figs. accepted for publication in ApJL with minor revision

Long decoding runs for Galileo's convolutional codes

Decoding results are described for long decoding runs of Galileo's convolutional codes. A 1 k-bit/sec hardware Viterbi decoder is used for the (15, 1/4) convolutional code, and a software Viterbi decoder is used for the (7, 1/2) convolutional code. The output data of these long runs are stored in data files using a data compression format which can reduce file size by a factor of 100 to 1 typically. These data files can be used to replicate the long, time-consuming runs exactly and are useful to anyone who wants to analyze the burst statistics of the Viterbi decoders. The 1 k-bit/sec hardware Viterbi decoder was developed in order to demonstrate the correctness of certain algorithmic concepts for decoding Galileo's experimental (15, 1/4) code, and for the long-constraint-length codes in general. The hardware decoder can be used both to search for good codes and to measure accurately the performance of known codes

Electron Energy Distributions at Relativistic Shock Sites: Observational Constraints from the Cygnus A Hotspots

We report new detections of the hotspots in Cygnus A at 4.5 and 8.0 microns with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Together with detailed published radio observations and synchrotron self-Compton modeling of previous X-ray detections, we reconstruct the underlying electron energy spectra of the two brightest hotspots (A and D). The low-energy portion of the electron distributions have flat power-law slopes (s~1.5) up to the break energy which corresponds almost exactly to the mass ratio between protons and electrons; we argue that these features are most likely intrinsic rather than due to absorption effects. Beyond the break, the electron spectra continue to higher energies with very steep slopes s>3. Thus, there is no evidence for the `canonical' s=2 slope expected in 1st order Fermi-type shocks within the whole observable electron energy range. We discuss the significance of these observations and the insight offered into high-energy particle acceleration processes in mildly relativistic shocks.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, in Extragalactic Jets: Theory and Observation from Radio to Gamma Ray, Eds. T. A. Rector and D. S. De Youn