Solar Flares and Coronal Mass Ejections: A Statistically Determined Flare Flux – CME Mass Correlation

In an effort to examine the relationship between flare flux and corresponding CME mass, we temporally and spatially correlate all X-ray flares and CMEs in the LASCO and GOES archives from 1996 to 2006. We cross-reference 6733 CMEs having well-measured masses against 12 050 X-ray flares having position information as determined from their optical counterparts. For a given flare, we search in time for CMEs which occur 10 – 80 minutes afterward, and we further require the flare and CME to occur within ± 45° in position angle on the solar disk. There are 826 CME/flare pairs which fit these criteria. Comparing the flare fluxes with CME masses of these paired events, we find CME mass increases with flare flux, following an approximately log-linear, broken relationship: in the limit of lower flare fluxes, log (CME mass)∝0.68×log (flare flux), and in the limit of higher flare fluxes, log (CME mass)∝0.33×log (flare flux). We show that this broken power-law, and in particular the flatter slope at higher flare fluxes, may be due to an observational bias against CMEs associated with the most energetic flares: halo CMEs. Correcting for this bias yields a single power-law relationship of the form log (CME mass)∝0.70×log (flare flux). This function describes the relationship between CME mass and flare flux over at least 3 dex in flare flux, from ≈ 10⁻⁷ – 10⁻⁴ W m⁻².     

Observations of Powerful Type III Bursts in the Frequency Range 10 – 30 MHz

The properties of powerful (flux >10⁻¹⁹ W m⁻² Hz⁻¹) type III bursts observed in July – August 2002 by the radio telescope UTR-2 at frequencies 10 – 30 MHz are analyzed. Most bursts have been registered when the active regions associated to these bursts were located near the central meridian or at 40° – 60° to the East or West from it. All powerful type III bursts drift from high to low frequencies with frequency drift rates 1 – 2.5 MHz s⁻¹. It is important to emphasize that according to our observations the drift rate is linearly increasing with frequency. The duration of the bursts changes mainly from 6 s at frequency 30 MHz up to 12 s at 10 MHz. The instantaneous frequency bandwidth does not depend on the day of observations, i.e. on the disk location of the source active region, and is increasing with frequency.     

Electron-positron annihilation lines and decaying sterile neutrinos

If massive sterile neutrinos exist, their decays into photons and/or electron-positron pairs may give rise to observable consequences. We consider the possibility that MeV sterile neutrino decays lead to the diffuse positron annihilation line in the Milky Way center, and we thus obtain bounds on the sterile neutrino decay rate Γ _e ≥10⁻²⁸ s⁻¹ from relevant astrophysical/cosmological data. Also, we expect a soft gamma flux of 1.2×10⁻⁴–9.7×10⁻⁴ ph cm⁻² s⁻¹ from the Milky Way center which shows up as a small MeV bump in the background photon spectrum. Furthermore, we estimate the flux of active neutrinos produced by sterile neutrino decays to be 0.02–0.1 cm⁻² s⁻¹ passing through the earth.     

Energy-Dependent Timing of Thermal Emission in Solar Flares

We report solar flare plasma to be multi-thermal in nature based on the theoretical model and study of the energy-dependent timing of thermal emission in ten M-class flares. We employ high-resolution X-ray spectra observed by the Si detector of the “Solar X-ray Spectrometer” (SOXS). The SOXS onboard the Indian GSAT-2 spacecraft was launched by the GSLV-D2 rocket on 8 May 2003. Firstly we model the spectral evolution of the X-ray line and continuum emission flux F(ε) from the flare by integrating a series of isothermal plasma flux. We find that the multi-temperature integrated flux F(ε) is a power-law function of ε with a spectral index (γ)≈−4.65. Next, based on spectral-temporal evolution of the flares we find that the emission in the energy range E=4 – 15 keV is dominated by temperatures of T=12 – 50 MK, while the multi-thermal power-law DEM index (δ) varies in the range of −4.4 and −5.7. The temporal evolution of the X-ray flux F(ε,t) assuming a multi-temperature plasma governed by thermal conduction cooling reveals that the temperature-dependent cooling time varies between 296 and 4640 s and the electron density (n _e) varies in the range of n _e=(1.77 – 29.3)×10¹⁰ cm⁻³. Employing temporal evolution technique in the current study as an alternative method for separating thermal from nonthermal components in the energy spectra, we measure the break-energy point, ranging between 14 and 21±1.0 keV.     

High energy γ-radiation from the core of radio galaxy Centaurus A

The results of analysis of approximately 3 years of gamma-ray observations (August 2008-July 2011) of the radio galaxy Centaurus A with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi LAT) are presented. By modeling the surrounding (background) sources including the giant lobes of Centaurus A, and using the standard binned likelihood analysis method, the energy spectrum of the core is derived. In the energy range below several GeV it is described by a single power-law with photon index Γ = 2.73 ± 0.06 in agreement with the report of the Fermi LAT collaboration based on the first 10 months observations of the source. However, at higher energies the new data show significant excess above the extrapolation of the energy spectrum from low energies. The total flux between 200 MeV to 50 GeV is estimated to be (1.63 ± 0.14) × 10⁻⁷ ph cm⁻² s⁻¹. The comparison of the corresponding Spectral Energy Distribution (SED) at GeV energies with the SED in the TeV energy band reported by the H.E.S.S. collaboration shows that we deal with two or perhaps even three components of gamma-radiation originating from different regions located within the central 10 kpc of Centaurus A.     

Differential Rotation of Strong Magnetic Flux During Solar Cycles 21 – 23

In the present investigation we measure the differential rotation of strong magnetic flux during solar cycles 21 – 23 with the method of wavelet transforms. We find that the cycle-averaged synodic rotation rate of strong magnetic flux can be written as ω=13.47−2.58sin ² θ or ω=13.45−2.06sin ² θ−1.37sin ⁴ θ, where θ is the latitude. They agree well with the results derived from sunspots. A north–south asymmetry of the rotation rate is found at high latitudes (28°<θ<40°). The strong flux in the southern hemisphere rotates faster than that in the northern hemisphere by 0.2 deg day⁻¹. The asymmetry continued for cycles 21 – 23 and may be a secular property.     

The Ly α and Ly β Profiles in Solar Prominences and Prominence Fine Structure

Ly α and Ly β line profiles in a solar prominence were observed with high spatial and spectral resolution with SOHO/SUMER. Within a 60-arcsec scan, we measure a very large variety of profiles: not only reversed and nonreversed profiles but also red-peaked and blue-peaked ones in both lines. Such a spatial variability is probably related to both the fine structure in prominences and the different orientations of mass motions. The usage of integrated-intensity cuts along the SUMER slit allowed us to categorize the prominence in three regions. We computed average profiles and integrated intensities in these lines in the range 2.36 – 42.3 W m⁻² sr⁻¹ for Ly α and 0.027 – 0.237 W m⁻² sr⁻¹ for Ly β. As shown by theoretical modeling, the Ly α/Ly β ratio is very sensitive to geometrical and thermodynamic properties of fine structure in prominences. For some pixels, and in both lines, we found agreement between observed intensities and those predicted by one-dimensional models. But a close examination of the profiles indicated a rather systematic disagreement concerning their detailed shapes. The disagreement between observations and thread models (with ambipolar diffusion) leads us to speculate about the importance of the temperature gradient between the cool and coronal regions. This gradient could depend on the orientation of field lines as proposed by Heinzel, Anzer, and Gunár (Astron. Astrophys. 442, 331, 2005).     

Magnetic Field Structures in a Facular Region Observed by THEMIS and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hinode</Emphasis>

We study the space – time distributions of intensity fluctuations in 2 – 3 hour sequences of multi-spectral, high-resolution, high-cadence, broad-band filtergram images of the Sun made by the SOT – FG system aboard the Hinode spacecraft. In the frequency range 5.5<f<8.0 mHz both G-band and Ca ii H-line oscillations are suppressed in the presence of magnetic fields, but the suppression disappears for f>10 mHz. By looking at G-band frequencies above 10 mHz we find that the oscillatory power, both at these frequencies and at lower frequencies, lies in a mesh pattern with cell scale 2 – 3 Mm, clearly larger than normal granulation, and with correlation times on the order of hours. The mesh pattern lies in the dark lanes between stable cells found in time-integrated G-band intensity images. It also underlies part of the bright pattern in time-integrated H-line emission. This discovery may reflect dynamical constraints on the sizes of rising granular convection cells together with the turbulence created in strong intercellular downflows.     

Spatial Distribution of Oscillations in Faculae

We find that oscillations of the LOS velocity in Hα vary within facula regions. The power spectra show that the contributions of low-frequency modes (1.2 – 2 mHz) increase at the network boundaries. Three- and five-minute periods dominate inside cells. The spectra of photospheric and chromospheric LOS-velocity oscillations differ for most faculae. We detected several cases where oscillations in faculae seem to propagate horizontally with phase velocities of 50 – 70 km s⁻¹. Their location in space and time coincided with the local maximum of the longitudinal magnetic field.     

Discovery of a Giant Radio Halo in a Massive Merging Cluster at z?=?0.443

We have discovered a giant radio halo in the massive merging cluster MACSJ0417.5-1154. This cluster, at a redshift of 0.443, is one of the most X-ray luminous galaxy cluster in the MAssive Cluster Survey (MACS) with an X-ray luminosity in the 0.1–2.4 keV band of 2.9×10⁴⁵ erg s^− 1. Recent observations from GMRT at 230 and 610 MHz have revealed a radio halo of ∼ 1.2 × 0.3 Mpc² in extent. This halo is elongated along the North-West, similar to the morphology of the X-ray emission from Chandra. The 1400 MHz radio luminosity (L _r) of the halo is ∼2 × 10²⁵ W Hz^− 1, in good agreement with the value expected from the L _x − L _r correlation for cluster halos.     

Orbital period analysis of eclipsing dwarf novae: U Geminorum

A new orbital period analysis for U Geminorum is made by means of the standard O–C technique based on 187 times of light minima including the three newest CCD data from our observation. Although there are large scatter near 70,000 cycles in its O–C diagram, there is strong evidence (>99.9% confidence level) to show the secular increase of orbital period with a rate  s⁻¹. Using the physical parameters recently derived by Echevarría et al. (Astron. J. 134:262, 2007), the range of mass transfer rate for U Geminorum is estimated as from −3.5(5)×10⁻⁹ M _⊙ yr⁻¹ to −1.30(6)×10⁻⁸ M _⊙ yr⁻¹. Moreover, the data before 60,000 cycles shows the obvious quasi-period variations. The least square estimation of a ∼17.4 yr quasi-periodic variation superimposed on secular orbital period increase is derived. Considering the possibility that solar-type magnetic activity cycles in the secondary star of U Geminorum may produce the quasi-period variations of the orbital period, Applegate’s mechanism is discussed and the results indicate such mechanism has difficulty explaining the quasi-period variation for U Geminorum. Hence, we attempted to apply the light-travel time effect to interpret the quasi-period variation and found the perturbation of ∼17.4 yr quasi-period may result from a brown dwarf. If the orbital inclination is assumed as i∼15°, corresponding to the upper limit of mass of a brown dwarf, then its orbital radii is ∼7.7 AU.     

Evidence of Traveling Waves in Filament Threads

High-resolution Hα filtergrams (0.2″) obtained with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope resolve numerous very thin, thread-like structures in solar filaments. The threads are believed to represent thin magnetic flux tubes that must be longer than the observable threads. We report on evidence for small-amplitude (1 – 2 km s⁻¹) waves propagating along a number of threads with an average phase velocity of 12 km s⁻¹ and a wavelength of 4″. The oscillatory period of individual threads vary from 3 to 9 minutes. Temporal variation of the Doppler velocities averaged over a small area containing a number of individual threads shows a short-period (3.6 minutes) wave pattern. These short-period oscillations could possibly represent fast modes in accordance with numerical fibril models proposed by Díaz et al. (Astron. Astrophys. 379, 1083, 2001). In some cases, it is clear that the propagating waves are moving in the same direction as the mass flows.     

An Estimate of <Emphasis Type="Italic">P</Emphasis>-Mode Damping by Wave Leakage

High-cadence TRACE observations show that outward-propagating intensity disturbances are a common feature in large, quiescent coronal loops. Analysis of the frequency distribution of these modes shows peaks at both three- and five-minute periods, indicating that they may be driven by the solar surface oscillations (p modes). The energy flux contained within the coronal intensity disturbances is of the order of (1.1±0.4)×10³ ergs cm⁻² s⁻¹. A simple order-of-magnitude estimate of the damping rate of the relevant p modes allows us to put an observational constraint on the damping of p modes and shows that leakage into the overlying coronal atmosphere might be able to account for a significant fraction of p-mode damping.     

Allan Sandage and the cosmic expansion

This is an account of Allan Sandage’s work on (1) The character of the expansion field. For many years he has been the strongest defender of an expanding Universe. He later explained the CMB dipole by a local velocity of 220±50 km s⁻¹ toward the Virgo cluster and by a bulk motion of the Local supercluster (extending out to ∼3500 km s⁻¹) of 450–500 km s⁻¹ toward an apex at l=275, b=12. Allowing for these streaming velocities he found linear expansion to hold down to local scales (∼300 km s⁻¹). (2) The calibration of the Hubble constant. Probing different methods he finally adopted—from Cepheid-calibrated SNe Ia and from independent RR Lyr-calibrated TRGBs—H ₀=62.3±1.3±5.0 km s⁻¹ Mpc⁻¹.     

WR 140 (=V1687 Cyg): Infrared photometry, 2001–2010

We present the results of our infrared observations of WR 140 (=V1687 Cyg) in 2001–2010. Analysis of the observations has shown that the J brightness at maximum increased near the periastron by about 0 ^m .3; the M brightness increased by ∼2 ^m in less than 50 days. The minimum J brightness and the minimum L and M brightnesses were observed 550–600 and 1300–1400 days after the maximum, respectively. The JHKLM brightness minimum was observed in the range of orbital phases 0.7–0.9. The parameters of the primary O5 component of the binary have been estimated to be the following: R(O5) ≈ 24.7R _⊙, L(O5) ≈ 8 × 10⁵ L _⊙, and M _bol(O5) ≈ −10 ^m . At the infrared brightness minimum, T _g ∼ 820–880 K, R _g ≈ 2.6 × 10⁵ R _⊙, the optical depth of the shell at 3.5 μm is ∼5.3 × 10⁻⁶, and its mass is ≈1.4 × 10⁻⁸ M _⊙. At the maximum, the corresponding parameters are ∼1300 K, 8.6 × 10⁴ R _⊙, ∼2 × 10⁻⁴, and ∼6 × 10⁻⁸ M _⊙; the mean rate of dust inflow (condensation) into the dust structure is ∼3.3 × 10⁻⁸ M _⊙ yr⁻¹. The mean escape velocity of the shell from the heating source is ∼10³ km s⁻¹ and the mean dispersal rate of the shell is ∼1.1 × 10⁻⁸ M _⊙ yr⁻¹.     

Kinematic Evolution of a Slow CME in Corona Viewed by STEREO-B on 8 October 2007

We studied the kinematic evolution of the 8 October 2007 CME in the corona based on observations from Sun – Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) onboard satellite B of Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO). The observational results show that this CME obviously deflected to a lower latitude region of about 30° at the beginning. After this, the CME propagated radially. We also analyze the influence of the background magnetic field on the deflection of this CME. We find that the deflection of this CME at an early stage may be caused by a nonuniform distribution of the background magnetic-field energy density and that the CME tended to propagate to the region with lower magnetic-energy density. In addition, we found that the velocity profile of this gradual CME shows multiphased evolution during its propagation in the COR1-B FOV. The CME velocity first remained constant: 23.1 km s⁻¹. Then it accelerated continuously with a positive acceleration of ≈7.6 m s⁻².     

INTEGRAL serendipitous detection of the gamma-ray microquasar LS 5039

LS 5039 is the only X-ray binary persistently detected at TeV energies by the Cherenkov HESS telescope. It is moreover a γ-ray emitter in the GeV and possibly MeV energy ranges. To understand important aspects of jet physics, like the magnetic field content or particle acceleration, and emission processes, such as synchrotron and inverse Compton (IC), a complete modeling of the multiwavelength data is necessary. LS 5039 has been detected along almost all the electromagnetic spectrum thanks to several radio, infrared, optical and soft X-ray detections. However, hard X-ray detections above 20 keV have been so far elusive and/or doubtful, partly due to source confusion for the poor spatial resolution of hard X-ray instruments. We report here on deep (∼300 ks) serendipitous INTEGRAL hard X-ray observations of LS 5039, coupled with simultaneous VLA radio observations. We obtain a 20–40 keV flux of 1.1±0.3 mCrab (5.9 (±1.6) ×10⁻¹² erg cm⁻² s⁻¹), a 40–100 keV upper limit of 1.5 mCrab (9.5×10⁻¹² erg cm⁻² s⁻¹), and typical radio flux densities of ∼25 mJy at 5 GHz. These hard X-ray fluxes are significantly lower than previous estimates obtained with BATSE in the same energy range but, in the lower interval, agree with extrapolation of previous RXTE measurements. The INTEGRAL observations also hint to a break in the spectral behavior at hard X-rays. A more sensitive characterization of the hard X-ray spectrum of LS 5039 from 20 to 100 keV could therefore constrain key aspects of the jet physics, like the relativistic particle spectrum and the magnetic field strength. Future multiwavelength observations would allow to establish whether such hard X-ray synchrotron emission is produced by the same population of relativistic electrons as those presumably producing TeV emission through IC.     

Solar Intranetwork Magnetic Elements: Bipolar Flux Appearance

This study aims to quantify characteristic features of the bipolar flux appearance of solar intranetwork (IN) magnetic elements. To attack this problem, we use the Narrowband Filter Imager (NFI) magnetograms from the Solar Optical Telescope (SOT) on board Hinode; these data are from quiet and enhanced network areas. Cluster emergence of mixed polarities and IN ephemeral regions (ERs) are the most conspicuous forms of bipolar flux appearance within the network. Each of the clusters is characterized by a few well-developed ERs that are partially or fully coaligned in magnetic axis orientation. On average, the sampled IN ERs have a total maximum unsigned flux of several 10¹⁷ Mx, a separation of 3 – 4 arcsec, and a lifetime of 10 – 15 minutes. The smallest IN ERs have a maximum unsigned flux of several 10¹⁶ Mx, separations of less than 1 arcsec, and lifetimes as short as 5 minutes. Most IN ERs exhibit a rotation of their magnetic axis of more than 10 degrees during flux emergence. Peculiar flux appearance, e.g., bipole shrinkage followed by growth or the reverse, is not unusual. A few examples show repeated shrinkage–growth or growth–shrinkage, like magnetic floats in the dynamic photosphere. The observed bipolar behavior seems to carry rich information on magnetoconvection in the subphotospheric layer.     

Characteristics of CMEs associated with solar flares and DH type II radio bursts based on source position

We studied the characteristics of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) associated with solar flares and Deca-Hectometric (DH) type II radio bursts, based on source position during 23rd solar cycle (1997–2007). We classified these CME events into three groups using solar flare locations as, (i) disk events (0–30^∘); (ii) intermediate events (31–60^∘) and (iii) limb events (61–90^∘). Main results from this studies are, (i) the number of CMEs associated with solar flares and DH-type IIs decreases as the source position approaches from disk to limb, (ii) most of the DH CMEs are halo (72%) in disk events and the number of occurrence of halo CMEs decreases from disk to limb, (iii) the average width and speed of limb events (164^∘ and 1447 km s⁻¹) are higher than those of disk events (134^∘ and 1035 km s⁻¹) and intermediate events (146^∘ and 1170 km s⁻¹) and (iv) the average accelerations for disk, intermediate and limb events are −8.2 m s⁻², −10.3 m s⁻² and −4.5 m s⁻² respectively. These analysis of CMEs properties show more dependency on longitude and it gives strong evidence for projection effect.