Effects of altitude on critical ionization velocity experiments in space

The efficiency with which critical ionization velocity (CIV) discharges can be generated in space experiments is affected by the altitude at which the experiments are conducted. At around 500 km higher plasma density enhances plasma lower hybrid instability, momentum coupling efficiency, and charge exchange which is needed for seed ionization. At higher altitudes where atomic hydrogen and helium become the dominant ambient neutral species, the conditions for CIV discharge may improve considerably because less energy is lost to atmospheric ionization, even though the ambient density is reduced.     

The role of critical velocity ionization phenomena in the atmosphere of Io

The Alfvén's critical ionization velocity (CIV) have been observed in a number of laboratory and space experiments. In the Io-torus system, relative velocity of the plasma species in the torus with respect to the neutral species in the Io's atmosphere and neutral cloud exceeds the critical velocity required for CIV. Townsand condition is satisfied up to 6r _io , in the neutral cloud when Io passes through the torus. In this paper it is shown that during the passage of Io through the plasma torus, apart from critical velocity and Townsand condition, a number of other requirements are also satisfied. Therefore, it is concluded that, the CIV mechanism must play an important role in ionizing the neutral cloud and enriching the plasma torus.     

Experimental investigation of the critical ionization velocity in gas mixtures

The critical ionization velocity which is of cosmogonic and astrophysical interest has hitherto mainly been investigated for pure gases. Since in space we always have gas mixtures, it is of interest also to study gas mixtures. The present report, which is a summary of a more detailed report (Axnäs, 1976), summarizes the results of systematic experiments on the critical ionization velocity as a function of the mixing ratio for binary gas mixtures of H₂, He, N₂, O₂, Ne and Ar. The apparatus used is a coaxial plasma gun with an azimuthal magnetic field. The discharge parameters are chosen so that the plasma is weakly ionized. In some of the mixtures it is found that one of the components tends to dominate in the sense that only a small amount (regarding volume) of that component is needed for the discharge to adopt a limiting velocity close to that for the pure component. Thus in a mixture between a heavy and a light component having nearly equal ionization potentials, the heavy component dominates. Also, if there is a considerable difference in ionization potential between the components, the component with the lowest ionization potential tends to dominate.Paper dedicated to Professor Hannes Alfvén on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 30 May, 1978.     

Weakly ionized cosmic gas: ionization and characterization

Since collective plasma behavior may determine important transport processes (e.g., plasma diffusion across a magnetic field) in certain cosmic environments, it is important to delineate the parameter space in which weakly ionized cosmic gases may be characterized as plasmas. In this short note, we do so. First, we use values for the ionization fraction given in the literature, wherein the ionization is generally assumed to be due primarily to ionization by cosmic rays. We also discuss an additional mechanism for ionization in such environments, namely, the photoelectric emission of electrons from cosmic dust grains in an interstellar FUV radiation field. Simple estimates suggest that under certain conditions this mechanism may dominate cosmic ray ionization, and possibly also the photoionization of metal atoms by the interstellar FUV field, and thereby lead to an enhanced ionization level.     

Interplay between scintillation and ionization in liquid xenon Dark Matter searches

We provide a new way of constraining the relative scintillation efficiency L_eff for liquid xenon. Using a simple estimate for the electronic and nuclear stopping powers together with an analysis of recombination processes we predict both the ionization and the scintillation yields. Using presently available data for the ionization yield, we can use the correlation between these two quantities to constrain L_eff from below. Moreover, we argue that more reliable data on the ionization yield would allow to verify our assumptions on the atomic cross sections and to predict the value of L_eff. We conclude that the relative scintillation efficiency should not decrease at low nuclear recoil energies, which has important consequences for the robustness of exclusion limits for low WIMP masses in liquid xenon Dark Matter searches.     

Polarization of the cosmic background radiation and secondary ionization of the cosmic medium

We discuss the properties of the cosmic background polarization as predicted by secondary ionization models, and the prospects for the determination of reheating parameters from forthcoming space experiments.     

Critical ionization velocity interaction: Some unsolved problems

Different problems of current interest regarding the critical ionization velocity (Civ) phenomenon are discussed. The article is divided into five sections corresponding to different aspects of the interaction: velocity, magnetic field strength, geometry, neutral gas density, and time duration. In each section, experiments and theories — microscopic and macroscopic — are discussed.Paper dedicated to Professor Hannes Alfvén on the occasion of his 80th birthday, 30 May 1988     

Modeling ionization and recombination from low energy nuclear recoils in liquid argon

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CENNS) is an as-yet undetected, flavor-independent neutrino interaction predicted by the Standard Model. Detection of CENNS could offer benefits for detection of supernova and solar neutrinos in astrophysics, or for detection of antineutrinos for nuclear reactor monitoring and nuclear nonproliferation. One challenge with detecting CENNS is the low energy deposition associated with a typical CENNS nuclear recoil. In addition, nuclear recoils result in lower ionization yields than those produced by electron recoils of the same energy. While a measurement of the nuclear recoil ionization yield in liquid argon in the keV energy range has been recently reported, a corresponding model for low-energy ionization yield in liquid argon does not exist. For this reason, a Monte Carlo simulation has been developed to predict the ionization yield at sub-10 keV energies. The model consists of two distinct components: (1) simulation of the atomic collision cascade with production of ionization, and (2) the thermalization and drift of ionization electrons in an applied electric field including local recombination. As an application of our results we report updated estimates of detectable ionization in liquid argon from CENNS at a nuclear reactor.     

On the instability of D-type ionization fronts

We investigate the stability of D-type ionization fronts (IF). We find the dispersion relation for surface modes of weak-D IF illuminated by a plane-parallel radiation field, including both the inclination of the IF to the ionizing radiation field and the effects of recombination in the ionized gas. It is well known that IF are unstable in the absence of recombination in the ionized gas, but that recombination tends to stabilize them. For finite inclination, however, IF are unstable at essentially all wavelengths in the limit of very cold upstream gas.
We present numerical hydrodynamic simulations of the development of the instabilities. These confirm the presence of long-wavelength instabilities of IF when the sound speed in the neutral gas is a finite fraction of that in the ionized gas and the ionization cross section is finite. They also show the development of the instabilities to non-linear amplitude.     

The Absolute Abundance of Iron in the Solar Corona

We present a measurement of the abundance of Fe relative to H in the solar corona using a technique that differs from previous spectroscopic and solar wind measurements. Our method combines EUV line data from the Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer (CDS) on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory with thermal bremsstrahlung radio data from the VLA. The coronal Fe abundance is derived by equating the thermal bremsstrahlung radio emission calculated from the EUV Fe line data to that observed with the VLA, treating the Fe/H abundance as the sole unknown. We apply this technique to a compact cool active region and find Fe&solm0;H=1.56x10-4, or about 4 times its value in the solar photosphere. Uncertainties in the CDS radiometric calibration, the VLA intensity measurements, the atomic parameters, and the assumptions made in the spectral analysis yield net uncertainties of approximately 20%. This result implies that low first ionization potential elements such as Fe are enhanced in the solar corona relative to photospheric values.     

Magnetic ionization fronts – III. Internal structures

We present calculations of the internal structures of stationary ionization fronts with oblique upstream magnetic fields. Solutions are found only within the range of upstream parameters allowed by the evolutionary conditions derived by us in a previous paper. As is the case for hydrodynamic ionization fronts, overheating of the gas within the front can mean that not all the solutions allowed by the evolutionary conditions correspond to resolved internal structures. Some, but not all, of these jumps can be realized by structures with included subshocks: we present a full range of internal structures for fronts close to criticality, and discuss how to avoid spurious 'strong-R' type solutions.
The solutions we study suggest that significant transverse velocities and modulations of the perpendicular magnetic field may characterize obliquely magnetized ionization fronts. We briefly discuss the observability of the internal structures.     

Associative ionization of N(2D) and O

Recent laboratory measurements have shown that N(²P) atoms, and thus probably hot N(²D) atoms, will recombine with atomic oxygen via an associative ionization process at the gas kinetic rate. While the reaction is endothermic, it has been suggested that this has interesting implications for the upper atmosphere in that N(²D) atoms in the tail of the velocity distribution could provide an additional source of NO⁺ through the reverse of the dissociative recombination reaction

$\text{NO}{}^{\mathrm{+}}\text{+ e ?}\text{N}\text{(}{}^2\text{D}\text{) +}\text{O}$

. It has also been suggested that this process might account for the difference between a laboratory determination of the rate coefficient and that determined from the Atmospheric Explorer Satellite data. In this paper we investigate further the likelihood of the associative ionization of N(²D) and O playing a significant role in the normal ionosphere, in the light of several recent relevant studies. We conclude that the associative ionization process is not an important factor and that a more probable cause for disagreements in the various determinations of the recombination coefficient, is the difference in excited states of the ions in the various experiments.     

The de-excited energy of electron capture in accreting neutron star crusts

When a daughter nucleus produced by electron capture takes part in a level transition from an excited state to its ground state in accreting neutron star crusts, thermal energy will be released and heat the crust, increasing crust temperature and changing subsequent carbon ignition conditions. Previous studies show that the theoretical carbon ignition depth is deeper than the value inferred from observations because the thermal energy is not sufficient. In this paper, we present the de-excited energy from electron capture of rp-process ash before carbon ignition, especially for the initial evolution stage of rp-process ash, by using a level-to-level transition method. We find the theoretical column density of carbon ignition in the resulting superbursts and compare it with observations. The calculation of the electron capture process is based on a more reliable level-to-level transition, adopting new data from experiments or theoretical models(e.g., large-scale shell model and proton-neutron quasi-particle random phase approximation). The new carbon ignition depth is estimated by fitting from previous results of a nuclear reaction network. Our results show the average de-excited energy from electron capture before carbon ignition is ~0.026 Me V/u, which is significantly larger than the previous results. This energy is beneficial for enhancing the crust's temperature and decreasing the carbon ignition depth of superbursts.     

The National Ignition Facility: an experimental platform for?studying behavior of matter under extreme conditions

The National Ignition Facility (NIF), a 192-beam Nd-glass laser facility capable of producing 1.8 MJ and 500 TW of ultraviolet light, is now operational at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). As the world??s largest and most energetic laser system, NIF serves as the national center for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration to achieve thermonuclear burn in the laboratory and to explore the behavior of matter at extreme temperatures and energy densities. By concentrating the energy from all of its 192 extremely energetic laser beams into a mm³-sized target, NIF can reach the conditions required to initiate fusion reactions. NIF can also provide access to extreme scientific environments: temperatures about 100 million K, densities of 1,000 g/cm³, and pressures 100 billion times atmospheric pressure. These conditions have never been created before in a laboratory and exist naturally only in interiors of the planetary and stellar environments as well as in nuclear weapons. Since August 2009, the NIF team has been conducting experiments in support of the National Ignition Campaign (NIC)??a partnership among LLNL, Los Alamos National Laboratory, General Atomics, the University of Rochester, Sandia National Laboratories, as well as a number of universities and international collaborators. The results from these initial experiments show promise for the relatively near-term achievement of ignition. Capsule implosion experiments at energies up to 1.2 MJ have demonstrated laser energetics, radiation temperatures, and symmetry control that scale to ignition conditions. Of particular importance is the demonstration of peak hohlraum temperatures near 300 eV with overall backscatter less than 10%. Cryogenic target capability and additional diagnostics are being installed in preparation for layered target deuterium-tritium implosions to be conducted later in 2010. Important national security and basic science experiments have also been conducted on NIF. This paper describes the unprecedented experimental capabilities of NIF and the results achieved so far on the path toward ignition, for stockpile stewardship, and the beginning of frontier science experiments. The paper will also address our plans to transition NIF to a national user facility, providing access to NIF for researchers from the DOE laboratories, as well as the national and international academic and fusion energy communities.     

Dynamical equation for the degree of ionization of the cosmic substratum before the formation of the galaxy

We discuss the variable degree of ionizationx of a hydrogen-helium plasma in the early Universe for a quasi-static expansion in thermal equilibrium. The final equation for the degree of ionization can be reduced to a polynomial of fourth order inx with known coefficients depending on the temperature. Restricting to a pure hydrogen-plasma applied to the recombination era, where the main ionization effects are due to photo-electric and collisional processes, we study the dynamical evolution of the degree of ionization for nonstatic and nonequilibrium situations. The calculation can be reduced to a pure quadrature. In the linear case, we also calculate the rate of ionization.     

An asteroseismic signature of helium ionization

We investigate the influence of the ionization of helium on the low-degree acoustic oscillation frequencies in model solar-type stars. The signature in the oscillation frequencies characterizing the ionization-induced depression of the first adiabatic exponent γ is a superposition of two decaying periodic functions of frequency ν, with 'frequencies' that are approximately twice the acoustic depths of the centres of the He  i and He  ii ionization regions. That variation is probably best exhibited in the second frequency difference  Δ₂ν _{n ,  l} ≡ν _{n −1,  l} − 2ν _{n ,  l} +ν _{n +1,  l}   . We show how an analytic approximation to the variation of γ leads to a simple representation of this oscillatory contribution to Δ₂ν which can be used to characterize the γ variation, our intention being to use it as a seismic diagnostic of the helium abundance of the star. We emphasize that the objective is to characterize γ, not merely to find a formula for Δ₂ν that reproduces the data.     

A study of F2 region night-time vertical ionization fluxes at millstone hill

Vertical fluxes of ionization in the F2 region have been measured by the incoherent scatter technique over Millstone Hill in 1969. The results obtained near midnight for the region above h_maxF2 have been examined to determine whether there is a significant flux of ionization from the magnetosphere to the ionosphere that serves to maintain the F-layer. It is found that H⁺ ions are a minor constituent over the altitude range in which useful measurements can be made, so that any conclusion must rest upon properly interpreting the observed O⁺ fluxes. By selecting periods when the layer did not appear to be decaying rapidly it was hoped to find cases where the O⁺ flux did not vary with altitude in the range 500 h 800 km (i.e. where losses are unimportant), since this would imply that the flux is of magnetospheric origin.

While three cases exhibited this behaviour, the majority exhibited a decrease in the O⁺ flux with height, indicating that the layer was descending. Attempts to correct for this were made, and the average flux from the magnetosphere was estimated as 3 × 10⁷ el/cm²/sec. This is in fair agreement with other recent estimates, and implies that at this latitude the ionosphere is not maintained solely by the magnetospheric flux. Moreover, large increases in flux that could give rise to nocturnal increases in the total content of the layer do not appear to have been seen.     

The geomagnetic control of the diffusion of meteoric ionization

The expansion rate of a plasma irregularity into the ambient atmosphere is controlled by ambipolar diffusion for heights which correspond to collision dominated conditions. For heights greater than about 95 km, theory predicts that the plasma diffusion rate depends upon the geomagnetic field. However, little experimental evidence is available on this effect. The present work is the first report in which observations of under-dense radio-meteors have revealed the presence of a geomagnetic control.     

Pre-Breakdown Processes in the Hollow Cathode Region of a Transient Hollow Cathode Discharge

Discharge formation in the A–K space of transient hollow cathode discharge (THCD) is causally linked with the emission of high energy electron beams originating in the hollow cathode region (HCR). Ionization in the A–K gap proceeds through the formation of a moving virtual anode, whose time evolution is strongly correlated with different periods in the electron beam activity. Here, we report on time and space resolved observations of different ionization events inside the HCR, which are time correlated with ionization processes inside the A–K gap. The experiments have been performed in Hydrogen, at pressures between 50 and 400 mTorr. A statistical study of the characteristic times associated with the different ionization events, based on von Laue plots, shows that the time distribution of events is well described by a single Gaussian distribution.     

Relativistic effects in radar detection of ionization fronts produced by ultra-high energy cosmic rays

We revisit the radar echo technique as an approach to detect ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECR). The UHECR extensive air showers generate disk-like ionization fronts propagating with a relativistic velocity and creating fast decaying plasma. We study the reflection of a radio wave, such as the one from a radar transmitter or commercial radio and TV station, from the relativistic ionization front. The reflected wave will be frequency upshifted due to the relativistic Doppler effect and propagate almost normally to the front due to relativistic aberration. The amplitude of the reflected wave depends strongly on the front velocity and parameters (density, collision frequency) of the plasma behind the front. We develop a theory that allows one to find the reflected wave. Using this theory and typical parameters of extensive air showers, we discuss the feasibility of UHECR detection.