6,422 research outputs found
A Statistical Study of Photospheric Magnetic Field Changes During 75 Solar Flares
Abrupt and permanent changes of photospheric magnetic fields have been
observed during solar flares. The changes seem to be linked to the
reconfiguration of magnetic fields, but their origin is still unclear. We
carried out a statistical analysis of permanent line-of-sight magnetic field
() changes during 18 X-, 37 M-, 19 C- and 1 B-class flares using
data from Solar Dynamics Observatory/Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager. We
investigated the properties of permanent changes, such as frequency, areas, and
locations. We detected changes of in 59/75 flares. We find that
strong flares are more likely to show changes, with all flares M1.6
exhibiting them. For weaker flares, permanent changes are observed in 6/17
C-flares. 34.3\% of the permanent changes occurred in the penumbra and 18.9\%
in the umbra. Parts of the penumbra appeared or disappeared in 23/75 flares.
The area where permanent changes occur is larger for stronger flares. Strong
flares also show a larger change of flux, but there is no dependence of the
magnetic flux change on the heliocentric angle. The mean rate of change of
flare-related magnetic field changes is 20.7 Mx cm min. The
number of permanent changes decays exponentially with distance from the
polarity inversion line. The frequency of the strength of permanent changes
decreases exponentially, and permanent changes up to 750 Mx cm were
observed. We conclude that permanent magnetic field changes are a common
phenomenon during flares, and future studies will clarify their relation to
accelerated electrons, white light emission, and sunquakes to further
investigate their origin.Comment: Piblished in Ap
Ripples in Tapped or Blown Powder
We observe ripples forming on the surface of a granular powder in a container
submitted from below to a series of brief and distinct shocks. After a few
taps, the pattern turns out to be stable against any further shock of the same
amplitude. We find experimentally that the characteristic wavelength of the
pattern is proportional to the amplitude of the shocks. Starting from
consideration involving Darcy's law for air flow through the porous granulate
and avalanche properties, we build up a semi-quantitative model which fits
satisfactorily the set of experimental observations as well as a couple of
additional experiments.Comment: 7 pages, four postscript figures, submitted PRL 11/19/9
Carbon-fiber tips for scanning probe microscopes and molecular electronics experiments
We fabricate and characterize carbon-fiber tips for their use in combined
scanning tunneling and force microscopy based on piezoelectric quartz tuning
fork force sensors. An electrochemical fabrication procedure to etch the tips
is used to yield reproducible sub-100-nm apex. We also study electron transport
through single-molecule junctions formed by a single octanethiol molecule
bonded by the thiol anchoring group to a gold electrode and linked to a carbon
tip by the methyl group. We observe the presence of conductance plateaus during
the stretching of the molecular bridge, which is the signature of the formation
of a molecular junction.Comment: Conference Proceeding (Trends in NanoTechnology 2011, Tenerife
SPAIN); Nanoscale Research Letters, (2012) 7:25
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