A model of an exploding,radiating star in general relativity

In a previous paper Adams, Cary and Cohen (1994) presented a model of a supernova. In that paper the equations of General Relativity describing the evolution of a spherically symmetric, radiating star were solved analytically. The evolution of the star was determined by the application of boundary conditions at the center and at the edge. Due to lmitations in the presupernova model, only the very slow inward motion of an unstable, degenerate core could be considered. The solution was also limited by the need to exclude a runaway term, one that increased exponentially with time. Without the exclusion of the runaway, the luminosity would have increased without bound and the mass would have become negative.This paper presents a completely analytic solution to the equations of General Relativity describing the evolution of a Type II supernova. Professor S.E. Woosley kindly gave us data on the physical variables of a 12M ₀ presupernova star. In our model the core collapses within 1 s, leaving a 1.3M ₀ remnant. Shortly afterward 10.6M ₀ is ejected to infinity, and 0.17M ₀ is radiated away in the form of neutrinos. The distance of the edge from the center increases proportionally to the two-thirds power of the time. The luminosity decreases proportionally to the inverse four-thirds power.Although the runaway solution was modified by the exploding rather than a static envelope, it must still be excluded by adjusting initial conditions. Its character is changed from an exponential to a very large power (55) of time. The removal of a degree of freedom by this exclusion leads to physically non-sensical results such as negative luminosity. The inclusion of a term describing motion of the mantle due to neutrino interactions provides the additional degree of freedom necessary for physically reasonable results.     

A new determination of the granule/intergranule contrast

A new determination of the granule/intergranule contrast is described, based on high-quality photographs taken with the Culgoora refractor operating in its photospheric mode. The measurements are corrected for scattered light and for spatial smearing due to telescope and atmosphere. The contrast calculated on the basis of the Utrecht Reference Photosphere lies just outside the range of possible values permitted by the present observations, 0.76 C 0.81 at 5500. New determinations of the mean cell size of the granulation pattern (= 1.9 of arc) and of the distribution of cell sizes are also presented.     

A new mechanism for the crab fingers

Images of the outer filamentary parts of the Crab Nebula, earlier obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2, are reconsidered. On inspection of the images it is found that most of the mainly radially oriented fingers possess an internal structure, usually in the form of two or more filaments. For some of the fingers there are clear signs that the filaments are twisted around each other. A mechanism for the fingers taking the internal structure into account is proposed. The mechanism is based on the reshaping of magnetized filaments under the influence of inertia and magnetic forces. When interacting with an expanding shell, driven by the pressure of the synchrotron nebula, part of such a filament may develop into a double helix pointing radially inwards. For this transformation to take place it is required that the magnetic field within the filament is sufficiently twisted and that the filament contains a mass condensation. The finger is identified with the double helix. Similar structures of double helices are found to be present also in other environments.     

Theory for the critical ionization velocity phenomenon

A theoretical consideration is given to the critical ionization velocity. A macroscopic theory is constructed, assuming that (1) the newly born ions have an unstable velocity distribution and (2) the resultant fluctuating electric field heats the electrons. For the critical ionization velocity to operate in the case of $\text{m}{}_{\mathrm{a}}\text{V}{}^2\text{2}\text{> eφ}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>ion</mtext>}}$, the initial values of high speed ion (or newly ionized ion) density and suprathermal electron energy density should be above a certain threshold. This threshold depends upon the velocity diffusion co-efficient and the collisional loss rate of the newly ionized ion.     

A mechanism for the formation of lopsided galaxies

This paper is concerned with the origin and existence of lopsided galaxies. A mechanism based on the distribution of dispersion velocities is suggested for the long-term maintenance of the lopsidedness.     

A mechanism for the production of planetary nebulae

C¹² stars in the range 1.04–1.55M are evolved to simulate the core evolution of the possible precursors of planetary nebulae. The nuclear shell burning in stars above 1.2M advances to within about 0.2M of the surface, where the intense radiation interacts with the surface matter and causes mass loss. Comparison between our theoretical results and observations suggests that this may be a mechanism by which planetary nebulae are formed.Presented at the Trieste Colloquium on Mass Loss from Stars, September 12–16, 1968.     

A mechanism for the production of crater rays

Abstract– A mechanism for the production of crater rays is proposed that is based on the interaction of impact‐induced shock waves with existing (old) craters. Numerical simulations are used to test this idea, and to study the influence of inherited craters’ size and location on the rays’ parameters. The results of the simulations show that crater rays (at least, some of them) could be produced through this mechanism.     

A possible mechanism for the pulsar radio emission

The possibility of radio emission is considered within a model which produces the beam-plasma system near the pulsar. A longitudinal instability develops near the light cylinder for a particular choice of parameters adopted in the paper. The excited wave strongly oscillates the beam particles perpendicular to its average velocity on one hand, and forms bunches of them on the other hand. Consequently, coherent radiation is expected. The frequency of the emission falls within the radio band, but the intensity turns out to be too low to explain observations. An appreciable enhancement of the beam number density over the Goldreich-Julian value (n _bB/2ec) is needed if the mechanism discussed in the present paper is responsible for the pulsar radio emission.     

A mechanism for the build-up of flare energy

It is shown how the kinetic energy of the rotational motion of a sunspot can be transferred to electromagnetic energy in filamentary currents. The time needed for preconditioning the solar atmosphere for a flare varies within wide limits. For small flares it may be of the order of minutes; for large flares, of the order of hours or days.Presently Guest Investigator at the Mount Wilson and Palomar Observatories.     

A mechanism of formation for the Kirkwood gaps

In this paper an analytical model describing the effect of a displacement of the Jovian resonances in the asteroid belt is analyzed. It is found that small displacement can transform a truncated uniform density distribution of asteroids into a gap. As a possible explanation for the displacement, the effect of the removal of an accretion disk in the early stage of the solar system is investigated. It is found that removal of a disk containing a few percent of the solar mass between the orbit of the asteroids and the orbit of Jupiter is sufficient to account for the observed Hecuba gap.     

A mechanism for the growth phase of magnetospheric substorms

A mechanism is presented whereby the rate of energy dissipation in the magnetosphere is controlled by the particle density in the plasma sheet in the near geomagnetic tail. The mechanism is based on a model in which the plasma sheet is sustained by injection of solar-wind particles into the dayside magnetosphere. The efficiency of the injection is controlled by solarwind parameters, in particular, the north-south component of the interplanetary magnetic field; the maximum injection rate occurs when the interplanetary field is northward. During geomagnetically quiet times, this source balances the loss of particles from the edges of the tail current sheet. If the dayside source rate is reduced (e.g. by a southward-turning interplanetary magnetic field), then the plasma sheet is depleted and the rate of magnetic merging is enhanced in the earthward portion of the tail current sheet. This period of steadily-enhanced merging is associated with the growth phase, i.e. the period of enhanced magnetospheric convection for about one hour preceding the breakup of a polar magnetic or auroral substorm. The breakup can be understood as the result of the collapse of a portion of the tail current sheet following the local depletion of the plasma sheet.     

A physical mechanism for the production of solar flares

The weakly ionized photospheric layer in the sunspot environment satisfies certain dynamo inequalities (Equations (11) and (13)) resulting in photospheric Hall current systems. The corresponding Joule dissipation is associated with the surrounding plage area. For critical values of the driving or convective winds (speeds 1 km/s), two stream instability results. The computed energy is of the order of that found in solar flares.     

A mechanism for the production of lunar crater rays

Observations of high resolution photographs of part of one of the prominent rays of the lunar crater Copernicus show that there is a concentration of small bright rayed and haloed craters within the ray. These craters contribute to the overall ray brightness; they have been measured and their surface distribution has been mapped. Sixty-two percent of the bright craters can be identified from study of high resolution photographs as concentric impact craters. These craters contain in their ejecta blankets, rocks from the lunar substrate that are brighter than the adjacent mare surface. It is concluded that the brightness of the large ray from the crater Copernicus is due to the composite effect of many small concentric impact craters with rocky ejecta blankets. If this is the dominant mechanism for the production of other rays from Copernicus and other large lunar craters, then rays may not contain significant amounts of ejecta from the central crater or from large secondary craters. They may in fact only reflect local excavation of mare substrate material by myriads of small secondary or tertiary impact craters.     

A flare-associated mechanism for solar surges

An ejection mechanism for solar surges is discussed. The mechanism is closely related to an earlier proposed model for solar flares founded on current disruption. Hence, the observed connection between surges and flares may be explained in a simple way. The mechanism can also offer explanations of other questions connected with surges such as why surges tend to grow up from small bright knots emitting moustache spectra, why strong magnetic field concentrations are observed near the base of surges, why surges often exhibit a helical motion, and why homologous surges are produced. Finally it is pointed out that spicules might be generated by a mechanism similar to that discussed for surges.     

A magnetodynamic mechanism for loop flares

Loop flares are given a new magnetodynamic interpretation. In this model, the top of the magnetic loop is heated up by a collision of magnetic twist-wave packets (non-linear torsional Alfven wave) which are produced in the process of the loop emergence, and stored and released from the footpoints of the loop with some retardation. The appearance of the blueshifted component in CaXIX and FeXXV lines a minute or so before the impulsive phase, and the so-called instantaneous acceleration of ions deduced from the nearly simultaneous (with a delay of seconds) occurrence of -ray line emission with the impulsive hard X rays, are very naturally explained in the present model which originally aims at providing an explanation of the source of energy, a blackbox located at the top of the loop in the loop flare theories discussed thus far.     

A magnetodynamic mechanism for loop flares

Loop flares are given a new magnetodynamic interpretation. In this model, the top of the magnetic loop is heated up by a collision of magnetic twist-wave packets (non-linear torsional Alfven wave) which are produced in the process of the loop emergence, and stored and released from the footpoints of the loop with some retardation. The appearance of the blueshifted component in CaXIX and FeXXV lines a minute or so before the impulsive phase, and the so-called “instantaneous acceleration” of ions deduced from the nearly simultaneous (with a delay of seconds) occurrence of γ-ray line emission with the impulsive hard X rays, are very naturally explained in the present model which originally aims at providing an explanation of the source of energy, a “blackbox” located at the top of the loop in the loop flare theories discussed thus far.

     

On the mechanism of the “Noisar” phenomenon in magnetic close binary systems

The mechanisms of “Noisar” phenomenon in AM Herculis-type stars are discussed. In an accretion column above the surface of the magnetized degenerate star the instability of some types may be excited, such as axi-symmetrical quasi-periodical penetration of the low-density “bulks” from the column axis to the outer parts; “boiling” with “bulks” moving inside or outside the column; “tornado” with low-density region rapidly rotating around the column axis; “switchings” of the accretion from one half of the “polar cap” to another and vice versa. The oscillations of different plasma clots (“spaghetti”) may interfer causing flux changes as well. Such “Noisar” oscillations appear in different regions of the accretion column (at the upper shock and near the column base, respectively), so hard and soft X-ray fluxes might not have correlation in their variability. The observations are in qualitative agreement with the models.     

Adiabatic deceleration of secondary antiprotons in the envelopes of supernova exploding in dense clouds

Within the framework of the plasma-laser star model of quasars it is proposed that the quasar 0805+046 is a helium-rich shell star. (a) The strong emission line at 4712 Å is identified with Hei 4713. (b) The discontinuity in the continuous energy distribution at 3420 is identified with the helium discontinuity at 3422. (c) In the absorption-line spectrum many lines have been identified. It is shown that the proposed model provides a consistent and satisfactory interpretation of the observed spectra.