185 research outputs found
On the Performance of Multi-Instrument Solar Flare Observations During Solar Cycle 24
The current fleet of space-based solar observatories offers us a wealth of
opportunities to study solar flares over a range of wavelengths. Significant
advances in our understanding of flare physics often come from coordinated
observations between multiple instruments. Consequently, considerable efforts
have been, and continue to be made to coordinate observations among instruments
(e.g. through the Max Millennium Program of Solar Flare Research). However,
there has been no study to date that quantifies how many flares have been
observed by combinations of various instruments. Here we describe a technique
that retrospectively searches archival databases for flares jointly observed by
RHESSI, SDO/EVE (MEGS-A and -B), Hinode/(EIS, SOT, and XRT), and IRIS. Out of
the 6953 flares of GOES magnitude C1 or greater that we consider over the 6.5
years after the launch of SDO, 40 have been observed by six or more instruments
simultaneously. Using each instrument's individual rate of success in observing
flares, we show that the numbers of flares co-observed by three or more
instruments are higher than the number expected under the assumption that the
instruments operated independently of one another. In particular, the number of
flares observed by larger numbers of instruments is much higher than expected.
Our study illustrates that these missions often acted in cooperation, or at
least had aligned goals. We also provide details on an interactive widget now
available in SSWIDL that allows a user to search for flaring events that have
been observed by a chosen set of instruments. This provides access to a broader
range of events in order to answer specific science questions. The difficulty
in scheduling coordinated observations for solar-flare research is discussed
with respect to instruments projected to begin operations during Solar Cycle
25, such as DKIST, Solar Orbiter, and Parker Solar Probe.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. Accepted for publication in Solar
Physic
Detection of 3-Minute Oscillations in Full-Disk Ly Emission During A Solar Flare
In this Letter we report the detection of chromospheric 3-minute oscillations
in disk-integrated EUV irradiance observations during a solar flare. A wavelet
analysis of detrended Lyman-alpha (from GOES/EUVS) and Lyman continuum (from
SDO/EVE) emission from the 2011 February 15 X-class flare (SOL2011-02-15T01:56)
revealed a 3-minute period present during the flare's main phase. The
formation temperature of this emission locates this radiation to the flare's
chromospheric footpoints, and similar behaviour is found in the SDO/AIA
1600\AA\ and 1700\AA\ channels, which are dominated by chromospheric continuum.
The implication is that the chromosphere responds dynamically at its acoustic
cutoff frequency to an impulsive injection of energy. Since the 3-minute period
was not found at hard X-ray energies (50-100 keV) in RHESSI data we can state
that this 3-minute oscillation does not depend on the rate of energization of
non-thermal electrons. However, a second period of 120 s found in both hard
X-ray and chromospheric emission is consistent with episodic electron
energization on 2-minute timescales. Our finding on the 3-minute oscillation
suggests that chromospheric mechanical energy should be included in the flare
energy budget, and the fluctuations in the Lyman-alpha line may influence the
composition and dynamics of planetary atmospheres during periods of high
activity.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics Journal
Letter
Field Aligned Flow in 2-Dimensional Magnetofluids and the Genetic Algorithmic Solution of Poisson's Equation
This thesis splits naturally into two topics, field aligned flow in a two dimensional plasma, and the application of genetic algorithms to the solution of Poisson equations. Genetic algorithmic techniques were developed as a new method of numerical solution to a problem arising in field aligned flow. The relation between plasma physics and computing (particularly novel computing methods) is introduced in chapter I. In chapter 2, we begin with Maxwell's equations and a fluid description of a plasma, and derive under various assumptions, equations governing the structure of a field aligned two dimensional plasma. The appearance of field aligned flow in the Earth's magnetotail is discussed along with some treatments in the literature. Chapter 3 examines the fields arising from having the fluid flow along the field lines time independent. It is shown that only very special fields support exact field aligned flow. These fields can be classed by their corresponding flow function. An equation is derived that describes fields where the flow function is a constant everywhere, which provides the spur for genetic algorithm application. Some magnetotail relevant solutions of this equation are presented. Chapter 4 investigates time dependent field aligned flow. It is shown that this situation is somewhat more complicated than the time independent case, and that a singularity in the flow may appear, indicating the presence of a large fluid acceleration and the breakdown of the present model. In chapter 5, the basic concepts of genetic algorithms are introduced. An algorithm is developed to test the efficacy of this method for application to the solution of a class of ordinary differential equations. This work is built on in chapter 6, where a Poisson equation solver is constructed. Comparisons are made between this and other more traditional methods. Finally, chapter 7 describes some possible extensions to the work presented. Suggestions for both genetic algorithms and field aligned flow are discussed. Appendices A and B contain a listing of the Poisson solver POISGEN and sample input files respectively
Quasi-Periodic Pulsations during the Impulsive and Decay phases of an X-class Flare
Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) are often observed in X-ray emission from
solar flares. To date, it is unclear what their physical origins are. Here, we
present a multi-instrument investigation of the nature of QPP during the
impulsive and decay phases of the X1.0 flare of 28 October 2013. We focus on
the character of the fine structure pulsations evident in the soft X-ray time
derivatives and compare this variability with structure across multiple
wavelengths including hard X-ray and microwave emission. We find that during
the impulsive phase of the flare, high correlations between pulsations in the
thermal and non-thermal emissions are seen. A characteristic timescale of ~20s
is observed in all channels and a second timescale of ~55s is observed in the
non-thermal emissions. Soft X-ray pulsations are seen to persist into the decay
phase of this flare, up to 20 minutes after the non-thermal emission has
ceased. We find that these decay phase thermal pulsations have very small
amplitude and show an increase in characteristic timescale from ~40s up to
~70s. We interpret the bursty nature of the co-existing multi-wavelength QPP
during the impulsive phase in terms of episodic particle acceleration and
plasma heating. The persistent thermal decay phase QPP are most likely
connected with compressive MHD processes in the post-flare loops such as the
fast sausage mode or the vertical kink mode.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Entanglement of arbitrary superpositions of modes within two-dimensional orbital angular momentum state spaces
We use spatial light modulators (SLMs) to measure correlations between arbitrary superpositions of orbital angular momentum (OAM) states generated by spontaneous parametric down-conversion. Our technique allows us to fully access a two-dimensional OAM subspace described by a Bloch sphere, within the higher-dimensional OAM Hilbert space. We quantify the entanglement through violations of a Bell-type inequality for pairs of modal superpositions that lie on equatorial, polar, and arbitrary great circles of the Bloch sphere. Our work shows that SLMs can be used to measure arbitrary spatial states with a fidelity sufficient for appropriate quantum information processing systems
25 Years of Self-Organized Criticality: Numerical Detection Methods
The detection and characterization of self-organized criticality (SOC), in
both real and simulated data, has undergone many significant revisions over the
past 25 years. The explosive advances in the many numerical methods available
for detecting, discriminating, and ultimately testing, SOC have played a
critical role in developing our understanding of how systems experience and
exhibit SOC. In this article, methods of detecting SOC are reviewed; from
correlations to complexity to critical quantities. A description of the basic
autocorrelation method leads into a detailed analysis of application-oriented
methods developed in the last 25 years. In the second half of this manuscript
space-based, time-based and spatial-temporal methods are reviewed and the
prevalence of power laws in nature is described, with an emphasis on event
detection and characterization. The search for numerical methods to clearly and
unambiguously detect SOC in data often leads us outside the comfort zone of our
own disciplines - the answers to these questions are often obtained by studying
the advances made in other fields of study. In addition, numerical detection
methods often provide the optimum link between simulations and experiments in
scientific research. We seek to explore this boundary where the rubber meets
the road, to review this expanding field of research of numerical detection of
SOC systems over the past 25 years, and to iterate forwards so as to provide
some foresight and guidance into developing breakthroughs in this subject over
the next quarter of a century.Comment: Space Science Review series on SO
Detection and Interpretation Of Long-Lived X-Ray Quasi-Periodic Pulsations in the X-Class Solar Flare On 2013 May 14
Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) seen in the time derivative of the GOES soft
X-ray light curves are analyzed for the near-limb X3.2 event on 14 May 2013.
The pulsations are apparent for a total of at least two hours from the
impulsive phase to well into the decay phase, with a total of 163 distinct
pulses evident to the naked eye. A wavelet analysis shows that the
characteristic time scale of these pulsations increases systematically from
25 s at 01:10 UT, the time of the GOES peak, to 100 s at 02:00 UT.
A second ridge in the wavelet power spectrum, most likely associated with
flaring emission from a different active region, shows an increase from
40 s at 01:40 UT to 100 s at 03:10 UT. We assume that the QPP that
produced the first ridge result from vertical kink-mode oscillations of the
newly formed loops following magnetic reconnection in the coronal current
sheet. This allows us to estimate the magnetic field strength as a function of
altitude given the density, loop length, and QPP time scale as functions of
time determined from the GOES light curves and RHESSI images. The calculated
magnetic field strength of the newly formed loops ranges from about 500 G
at an altitude of 24 Mm to a low value of 10 G at 60 Mm, in general
agreement with the expected values at these altitudes. Fast sausage mode
oscillations are also discussed and cannot be ruled out as an alternate
mechanism for producing the QPP
Understanding the Blogging Practices of Women Undergoing In Vitro Fertilization (IVF): A Discourse Analysis of Women’s IVF Blogs
Infertility and its associated treatments, including in vitro fertilization (IVF), can have a profound impact on the emotional health and well-being of women desiring to become mothers. Researchers have measured the impact of infertility and described the experience of infertility and its treatment, leaving the rich descriptions of the IVF experience as captured in women’s blogs to be explored. This discourse analysis describes the blogging practices of women undergoing IVF, exploring both the content and function of the IVF blog discourse. Data were collected from the text of seven women’s blogs (n=1,149 blog posts) and resulted in four main functions of the discourse: creation of and connection to a community, emotional support, blogging as therapy, and creation of an IVF resource. Findings suggest that blogging can have a positive impact on the psychosocial consequences experienced by women in fertility treatment
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