Cutoff frequency and the reflection of vertically propagating magnetoacoustic gravity waves in the solar atmosphere

Based on a plane-parallel isothermal model solar atmosphere stratified in the field of gravity, we investigate the main patterns of vertical propagation of magnetoacoustic gravity waves (MAGWs) in the approximation of a horizontal potential magnetic field. We have established that the cutoff frequency for MAGWs below which they cannot propagate does not depend on the magnetic field strength and is equal to that for acoustic gravity waves, the Lamb frequency. The cutoff frequency is shown to be unaffected by the linear interaction between counterpropagating MAGWs that results from a nonuniform height distribution of the Alfvén velocity and that causes the reflection of propagating waves at relatively large heights.     

Propagation of tropospheric gravity waves into the upper atmosphere of Mars

We study the propagation of gravity waves in the martian atmosphere using a linearized one-dimensional full-wave model. Calculations are carried out for atmospheric parameters characteristic of Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (on Mars Global Surveyor MGS) observations of apparent gravity waves in high latitude clouds and MGS radio occultation measurements of temperature variations with height suggestive of gravity wave activity. Waves that reach the thermosphere produce fluctuations in density comparable in amplitude with the density variations detected in Mars Odyssey aerobraking data. Gravity waves of modest amplitude are found to deposit momentum and generate significant heating and cooling in the martian atmosphere. The largest heating and cooling effects occur in the thermosphere, at altitudes between about 130 and 150 km, with heating occurring at the lower altitudes and cooling taking place above.     

Gravity gradient mapping from the lunar polar orbiter - a simulation study

Simulations of the gravity data to be expected from a Lunar Polar Orbiter spacecraft utilizing either a Doppler velocity tracking system or a gravity gradiometer instrument system are generated using a point mass model that gives an excellent representation of the types of gravity anomalies to be found on the Moon. If the state of the art in instrumentation of both systems remain at the level of ±1 mm/sec at 10 sec integration time for the Doppler velocity system accuracy and at ±1 Eotvos at 10 sec integration time for the gravity gradiometer system accuracy, inspection of the simulations indicates that a gravity gradiometer system will give science data with better resolution and higher amplitude-to-measurement noise ratio than the Doppler velocity system at altitudes below 100 km. The error model used in the study is one where the system errors are assumed to be dominated by the point measurement noise and data quantization noise. The effects of other, more controllable, systematic error sources are not considered in this simplified analysis. For example, both systems will be affected by errors in LPO orbital altitude and position knowledge, spacecraft maneuvers, and data reduction errors. In addition, a Doppler tracking system will be sensitive to errors produced by spacecraft acceleration (from outgassing or solar pressure) and poor relative position of the LPO, Relay Satellite and ground tracking station, while a gravity gradiometer system will be sensitive to errors from spacecraft attitude and angular rates. These preliminary study results now need to be verified by a more complete error analysis in which all the uncertainties of the data gathering process are formally mapped into uncertainties in the resulting gravity maps.     

Mode Conversion of Solar p Modes in non-Vertical Magnetic Fields – i. two-Dimensional Model

Sunspots absorb incident p modes. The responsible mechanism is uncertain. One possibility is mode conversion to slow magnetoacoustic–gravity waves. In vertical field mode conversion can adequately explain the observed f-mode absorption, but is too inefficient to explain the absorption of p modes. In this investigation we calculate the efficiency of fast-to-slow magnetoacoustic–gravity wave conversion in non-vertical field. We assume two-dimensional propagation where the Alfvén waves decouple. It is found that resultant p-mode absorption is significantly enhanced for moderate inclinations at higher frequencies, whereas for p modes at lower frequencies, and the f mode in general, there is no useful enhancement. However, the enhancement is insufficient to explain the observed p-mode absorption by sunspots. Paper II considers the efficiency of mode conversion in non-vertical field with three-dimensional propagation, where fast and slow magnetoacoustic–gravity waves and Alfvén waves are coupled.     

Pure pseudo-Cℓ estimators for CMB B-modes

Fast heuristically weighted, or pseudo-C_ℓ, estimators are a frequently used method for estimating power spectra in CMB surveys with large numbers of pixels. Recently, Challinor and Chon showed that the E–B mixing in these estimators can become a dominant contaminant at low noise levels, ultimately limiting the gravity wave signal which can be detected on a finite patch of sky. We define a modified version of the estimators which eliminates E–B mixing and is near-optimal at all noise levels.     

Polarization features of solar radio emission and possible existence of current sheets in active regions

We show that it is possible to account for the polarization features of solar radio emission provided the linear mode coupling theory is properly applied and the presence of current sheets in the corona is taken into account. We present a schematic model, including a current sheet that can explain the polarization features of both the low frequency slowly varying component and the bipolar noise storm radiation; the two radiations face similar propagation conditions through a current sheet and hence display similar polarization behavior. We discuss the applications of the linear mode coupling theory to the following types of solar radio emission: the slowly varying component, the microwave radio bursts, metric type U bursts, and bipolar noise storms.     

Rayleigh waves in an orthotropic thermoelastic medium under gravity field and initial stress

The aim of the present paper is to investigate the influence both of gravity field and initial stress on the propagation of Rayleigh waves in an orthotropic thermoelastic medium subject to certain boundary conditions. We suppose that the body is under initial stress alonqx ₁-direction and incremental thermal stresses. The wave velocity equation has been obtained. Many special cases and comparison with the previous results have been studied.     

Buoyancy waves in Pluto’s high atmosphere: Implications for stellar occultations

We apply scintillation theory to stellar signal fluctuations in the high-resolution, high signal/noise, dual-wavelength data from the MMT observation of the 2007 March 18 occultation of P445.3 by Pluto. A well-defined high wavenumber cutoff in the fluctuations is consistent with viscous-thermal dissipation of buoyancy waves (internal gravity waves) in Pluto’s high atmosphere, and provides strong evidence that the underlying density fluctuations are governed by the gravity-wave dispersion relation.     

Relativistic gravitational deflection of light and its impact on the modeling accuracy for the Space Interferometry Mission

We study the impact of relativistic gravitational deflection of light on the accuracy of future Space Interferometry Mission (SIM). We estimate the deflection angles caused by the monopole, quadrupole and octupole components of gravitational fields for a number of celestial bodies in the solar system. We observe that, in many cases, the magnitude of the corresponding effects is significantly larger than the 1 μas accuracy expected from SIM. This fact argues for the development of a relativistic observational model for the mission that would account for the influence of both static and time-varying effects of gravity on light propagation. Results presented here are different from the ones obtained elsewhere by the fact that we specifically account for the differential nature of the future SIM astrometric measurements. We also obtain an estimate for the accuracy of possible determination of the Eddington’s parameter γ via SIM global astrometric campaign; we conclude that accuracy of ∼7 × 10⁻⁶ is achievable via measurements of deflection of light by solar gravity. The article was translated by the authors.     

Some peculiarities in excitation and propagation of the gravity waves in solar photosphere

Using the data of observations in the Fe I line, the spatial-time variations of pressure in solar photosphere are reproduced, and local internal gravity waves are identified through the filtration. Based on the power spectra of gravity waves, some integral features of excitation and propagation of g-modes in real solar photosphere are studied which are excited by the dynamical processes near the boundary region of penetrative convection.     

Comparison of centroid computation algorithms in a Shack–Hartmann sensor

Analytical theory is combined with extensive numerical simulations to compare different flavours of centroiding algorithms: thresholding, weighted centroid, correlation, quad cell (QC). For each method, optimal parameters are defined in function of photon flux, readout noise and turbulence level. We find that at very low flux the noise of QC and weighted centroid leads the best result, but the latter method can provide linear and optimal response if the weight follows spot displacements. Both methods can work with average flux as low as 10 photons per subaperture under a readout noise of three electrons. At high-flux levels, the dominant errors come from non-linearity of response, from spot truncations and distortions and from detector pixel sampling. It is shown that at high flux, centre of gravity approaches and correlation methods are equivalent (and provide better results than QC estimator) as soon as their parameters are optimized. Finally, examples of applications are given to illustrate the results obtained in the paper.     

Gravity waves in low latitude F-region

The paper presents a study of large scale travelling ionospheric disturbances detected by riometers operating at 30 MHz, over São José dos Campos (23°S, 45°W) and a nearby location in Sao Paulo, Brasil. The TID's are observed mainly at night and have wavelengths greater than 500 Km. In a few cases it is possible to determine the E-W component of the velocity of propagation, which is of the order of 450 Km per hour. Most of the events are characterized by disperions; the period is found to increase from half an hour to nearly two hours. These and other features are identified with the propagation of atmospheric gravity waves in the F-region, whose source might be located far away from the observing site. The results also suggest that a suitably designed riometer system could profitably be used for future investigation of gravity waves in the F-region in low latitude.     

Particle-mesh simulations of the Lyα forest

We have analysed short-exposure high-resolution images obtained on the William Herschel Telescope (WHT), Big Telescope Azimuthal (BTA) and CanadaFranceHawaii Telescope (CFHT) in order to investigate mechanical vibrations that are capable of reducing the high angular resolution allowed by speckle-interferometric methods. After filtering the photon noise we have computed power spectra of the image centres of gravity. In these spectra we have found vibration features that differ from one telescope to another and that vary in particular with the zenith angle. In the case of the WHT we discuss these results in terms of possible causes and in terms of degradation of the transfer function. We present some means to improve the data.     

Reflection and Ducting of Gravity Waves Inside the Sun

Internal gravity waves excited by overshoot at the bottom of the convection zone can be influenced by rotation and by the strong toroidal magnetic field that is likely to be present in the solar tachocline. Using a simple Cartesian model, we show how waves with a vertical component of propagation can be reflected when traveling through a layer containing a horizontal magnetic field with a strength that varies with depth. This interaction can prevent a portion of the downward traveling wave energy flux from reaching the deep solar interior. If a highly reflecting magnetized layer is located some distance below the convection zone base, a duct or wave guide can be set up, wherein vertical propagation is restricted by successive reflections at the upper and lower boundaries. The presence of both upward and downward traveling disturbances inside the duct leads to the existence of a set of horizontally propagating modes that have significantly enhanced amplitudes. We point out that the helical structure of these waves makes them capable of generating an α-effect, and briefly consider the possibility that propagation in a shear of sufficient strength could lead to instability, the result of wave growth due to over-reflection.     

On the integral inversion of satellite-to-satellite velocity differences for local gravity field recovery: a theoretical study

The gravity field can be recovered locally from the satellite-to-satellite velocity differences (VDs) between twin-satellites moving in the same orbit. To do so, three different integral formulae are derived in this paper to recover geoid height, radial component of gravity anomaly and gravity disturbance at sea level. Their kernel functions contain the product of two Legendre polynomials with different arguments. Such kernels are relatively complicated and it may be impossible to find their closed-forms. However, we could find the one related to recovering the geoid height from the VD data. The use of spectral forms of the kernels is possible and one does not have to generate them to very high degrees. The kernel functions are well-behaving meaning that they reduce the contribution of far-zone data and for example a cap margin of \(7^{\circ }\) is enough for recovering gravity anomalies. This means that the inversion area should be larger by \(7^{\circ }\) from all directions than the desired area to reduce the effect of spatial truncation error of the integral formula. Numerical studies using simulated data over Fennoscandia showed that when the distance between the twin-satellites is small, higher frequencies of the anomalies can be recovered from the VD data. In the ideal case of having short distance between the satellites flying at 250 km level, recovering radial component of gravity anomaly with an accuracy of 7 mGal is possible over Fennoscandia, if the VD data is contaminated only with the spatial truncation error, which is an ideal assumption. However, the problem is that the power of VD signal is very low when the satellites are close and it is very difficult to recognise the signal amongst the noise of the VD data. We also show that for a successful determination of gravity anomalies at sea level from an altitude of 250 km mean VDs with better accuracy than 0.01 mm/s are required. When coloured noise at this level is used for the VDs at 250 km with separation of 300 km, the accuracy of recovery will be about 11 mGal over Fennoscandia. In the case of using the real velocities of the satellites, the main problems are downward/upward continuation of the VDs on the mean orbital sphere and taking the azimuthal integration of them.     

Magneto-gravity waves and the heating of the solar corona

It is generally believed that the heating of the solar corona is caused by waves originating in the photosphere and propagating into the corona where their energy is dissipated. The medium through which these waves propagate is in general permeated by magnetic fields complicating the behaviour of this propagation considerably. We have therefore analysed the wave motions in a plasma permeated by constant magnetic and gravitational fields. In general, three waves modes were found, which we called the + mode, –mode, and the Alfvén mode. Each mode was found to be strongly coupled to each of the three kinds of motion; acoustic, gravity, and hydromagnetic. However, the Alfvén mode was found to be separable from the dispersion relation, and therefore independent of compressibility and gravity. The local dispersion relation is derived and expressed in nondimensional form independent of the constants that describe a particular atmosphere. From the dispersion relation one can show that rising waves propagate either with a constant or a growing wave amplitude depending on the magnitudes and directions of the gravitational field, magnetic field, and the wave vector. The variation of the density with height is taken into account by a generalized W.K.B. method. Equations are found which give the height at which wave reflection occurs, giving the upper bound for possible wave propagation.Work supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration under Research Grant NGR-29-001-016.On leave of absence from the Desert Research Institute and Department of Physics, University of Nevada, Reno, Nevada, U.S.A.     

Efficient Determination of Global Gravity Field from Satellite-to-satellite Tracking Mission

The gravity field dedicated satellite missions like CHAMP, GRACE, and GOCE are supposed to map the Earth's global gravity field with unprecedented accuracy and resolution. New models of the Earth's static and time-variable gravity fields will be available every month as one of the science products from GRACE. A method for the efficient gravity field recovery is presented using in situ satellite-to-satellite observations at altitude and results on static as well as temporal gravity field recovery are shown. Considering the energy relationship between the kinetic energy of the satellite and the gravitational potential, the disturbing potential observations can be computed from the orbital state vector, using high-low GPS tracking data, low–low satellite-to-satellite GRACE measurements, and data from 3-axis accelerometers. The solution method is based on the conjugate gradient iterative approach to efficiently recover the gravity field coefficients and approximate error covariance up to degree and order 120 every month. Based on the monthly GRACE noise-only simulation, the geoid was obtained with an accuracy of a few cm and with a resolution (half wavelength) of 160 km. However, the geoid accuracy can become worse by a factor of 6–7 because of spatial aliasing. The approximate error covariance was found to be a very good accuracy measure of the estimated coefficients, geoid, and gravity anomaly. The temporal gravity field, representing the monthly mean continental water mass redistribution, was recovered in the presence of measurement noise and high frequency temporal variation. The resulting recovered temporal gravity fields have about 0.3 mm errors in terms of geoid height with a resolution of 670 km.     

Orbit and uncertainty propagation: a comparison of Gauss–Legendre-, Dormand–Prince-, and Chebyshev–Picard-based approaches

We present a new variable-step Gauss–Legendre implicit-Runge–Kutta-based approach for orbit and uncertainty propagation, VGL-IRK, which includes adaptive step-size error control and which collectively, rather than individually, propagates nearby sigma points or states. The performance of VGL-IRK is compared to a professional (variable-step) implementation of Dormand–Prince 8(7) (DP8) and to a fixed-step, optimally-tuned, implementation of modified Chebyshev–Picard iteration (MCPI). Both nearly-circular and highly-elliptic orbits are considered using high-fidelity gravity models and realistic integration tolerances. VGL-IRK is shown to be up to eleven times faster than DP8 and up to 45 times faster than MCPI (for the same accuracy), in a serial computing environment. Parallelization of VGL-IRK and MCPI is also discussed.     

Automatic Determination of Stellar Atmospheric Parameters Using Neural Networks and Instance-Based Machine Learning

In this article we show how machine learning methods can beeffectively applied to the problem of automatically predictingstellar atmospheric parameters from spectral information, a veryimportant problem in stellar astronomy. We apply feedforwardneural networks, Kohonen's self-organizing maps andlocally-weighted regression to predict the stellar atmosphericparameters effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicityfrom spectral indices. Our experimental results show that thethree methods are capable of predicting the parameters with verygood accuracy. Locally weighted regression gives slightly betterresults than the other methods using the original dataset asinput, while self-organizing maps outperform the other methods when significant amounts of noise are added. We also implemented a heterogeneous ensemble of predictors, combining the results given by the three algorithms. This ensemble yields better results than any of the three algorithms alone, using both the original and the noisy data.