Comparison of mm-wave and X-ray diagnostics of flare plasma

To compare mm-wave and X-ray diagnostics of solar flare plasma, five flares observed in 1980–1991 in Metsähovi at 22 and 37 GHz and with GOES, SMM, and GRO are studied. The first impulsive peak of the mm-wave bursts under investigation coincides in time with hard X-ray emission. The second gradual component in mm-wave emission coincides with the maximum of the soft X-ray emission measure. The bremsstrahlung mm-wave radiation from hot chromospheric plasma and gyrosynchrotron radiation driven by common population of superthermal electrons are calculated. It is shown that for mm-wave events with the first peak intensity 100 s.f.u., the thermal bremsstrahlung is more important than the gyrosynchrotron emission. The total energy of fast electrons deduced from the first peak of mm-wave bursts is one to two orders of magnitude less than that determined from the hard X-ray emission in the approximation of a thick-target nonthermal model. That can testify in favour of the hybrid thermal/nonthermal model proposed by Holman and Benka (1992). The emission measure and the energy of evaporated plasma using both mm-wave and soft X-ray data are also determined. For events investigated here the energy of evaporated chromospheric plasma is larger than the total energy of fast electron beams. We have concluded that, for evaporation, additional energy release in the chromosphere is needed. The possibility of such energy release in the framework of an advanced circuit model for solar flares is discussed.     

The First Evidence for Paleozoic Endogenous Activity on the Western Slope of the Southern Urals

Doklady Earth Sciences - The results of U–Pb isotope dating of perovskites from silicate–calcite vein rocks spatially associated with the Kusa–Kopan gabbro intrusion are...     

Nature of the Clinoenstatite Rim in Refractory Forsterite-Rich Objects from Carbonaceous Chondrites: First Results of Study by the Method of Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD)

Doklady Earth Sciences - A clinoenstatite rim occurs in many refractory forsterite-rich objects; however, specialized studies of it have not been carried out. The first data from the study of...     

The screw dynamo in a thick torus

The problem of magnetic field generation under screw motion in a toroidal channel is studied numerically. The screw dynamo in the cylinder with periodical boundary conditions was found to be a suitable approximation for generation of the magnetic field by a screw flow in a thin torus. For the thick torus, a principally new solution of the screw dynamo problem was obtained. In this case the growing global magnetic field mode has the scale of a maximal geometrical size of the torus and does not vanish on the axis of the torus (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Coronal Loops and Optical Radiation from Flaring Stars

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - The possibility that large-scale coronal loops of solar-type stars and M dwarfs make a significant contribution to the white-light continuum emission is considered. It...     

Evolution of Electric Current and Resistance in the Flare Loop in the Course of Loop Shrinkage

Geomagnetism and Aeronomy - Analysis of the phenomenon of the shrinkage of a coronal magnetic loop during the impulsive phase of a flare makes it possible to determine both the evolution of...     

Variability of the meridional transport processes in the Southern Ocean and its possible relation to El Niño

The article deals with the influence of wind and atmospheric pressure on the barotropic variability of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC). This effect is studied using a global barotropic model under idealized and realistic atmospheric forcings. The results of barotropic modeling demonstrate that variations in the wind forcing over the ACC, together with the effects of the topography and coastline, lead to the variability in the meridional water flux in the Southern Ocean. The variability of these fluxes is negatively correlated with the wind strength over the ACC. A possible link between the short-period variability of the water flux in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean and El Niño is demonstrated using 3D ocean modeling and correlation analysis. It is shown that the variability of the meridional water flux caused by atmospheric perturbations over the ACC can lead to short-period density anomalies in the Southern Ocean north of 47°S, which later can be transferred to low latitudes by means of the wave mechanism described in [15] and strongly influence the tropical region.     

Acceleration and Storage of Energetic Electrons in Magnetic Loops in the Course of Electric Current Oscillations

A mechanism of electron acceleration and storage of energetic particles in solar and stellar coronal magnetic loops, based on oscillations of the electric current, is considered. The magnetic loop is presented as an electric circuit with the electric current generated by convective motions in the photosphere. Eigenoscillations of the electric current in a loop induce an electric field directed along the loop axis. It is shown that the sudden reductions that occur in the course of type IV continuum and pulsating type III observed in various frequency bands (25?–?180 MHz, 110?–?600 MHz, 0.7?–?3.0 GHz) in solar flares provide evidence for acceleration and storage of the energetic electrons in coronal magnetic loops. We estimate the energization rate and the energy of accelerated electrons and present examples of the storage of energetic electrons in loops in the course of flares on the Sun or on ultracool stars. We also discuss the efficiency of the suggested mechanism as compared with the electron acceleration during the five-minute photospheric oscillations and with the acceleration driven by the magnetic Rayleigh–Taylor instability.     

Oscillations of coronal loops and second pulsations of solar radio emission

The dispersion properties of the sausage eigenmodes of oscillations in a thin magnetic flux tube are numerically analyzed in terms of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). The period of the modes accompanied by the emission of MHD waves into the surrounding medium, which leads to acoustic damping of oscillations, is determined by the radius of the tube, not by its length. The dissipation of the sausage oscillations in comparatively high (?0.7R _⊙) and tenuous (?6 × 10⁸ cm^?3) coronal loops is considered. Their Q factor has bound found to be determined by the acoustic damping mechanism. The ratio of the plasma densities outside and inside the loop and the characteristic height of the emission source have been estimated by assuming the quasi-periodic pulsations of meter-wavelength radio emission to be related to the sausage oscillations.