The influence of negatively charged heavy ions on the kinetic Alfven wave in a cometary environment

Kinetic Alfven waves are important in a wide variety of areas like astrophysical, space and laboratory plasmas. In cometary environments, waves in the hydromagnetic range of frequencies are excited predominantly by heavy ions. We, therefore, study the stability of the kinetic Alfven wave in a plasma of hydrogen ions, positively and negatively charged oxygen ions and electrons. Each species was modeled by drifting ring distributions in the direction parallel to the magnetic field; in the perpendicular direction the distribution was simulated with a loss cone type distribution obtained through the subtraction of two Maxwellian distributions with different temperatures. We find that for frequencies w^* < w_{cH ⁺}\omega^{*} < \omega_{c\mathrm{H}^{ +}} (ω ^∗ and w_{cH ⁺}\omega_{c\mathrm{H}^{ +}} being respectively the Doppler shifted and hydrogen ion gyro-frequencies), the growth rate increases with increasing negatively charged oxygen ion densities while decreasing with increasing propagation angles, negative ion temperatures and negative ion mass.     

Investigation of the Neupert Effect in the Various Intervals of Solar Flares

The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) gives us a chance to investigate the theoretical Neupert effect using the correlation between the thermal-energy derivative and the nonthermal energy, or the thermal energy and the integral nonthermal energy. Based on this concept, we analyze four M-class RHESSI flares on 13 November 2003, 4 November 2004, 3 and 25 August 2005. According to the evolution of the temperature [T], emission measure [EM], and thermal energy [E _th], each event is divided into three phases during the nonthermal-energy input [ \frac dE_nthdt\frac {\mathrm{d}E_{\mathrm{nth}}}{\mathrm{d}t} in the units of erg s⁻¹]. Phase 1 is identified as the interval before the temperature maximum, while after the thermal-energy maximum is phase 3, between them is phase 2. We find that these four flares show the Neupert effect in phase 1, but not in phase 3. The Neupert effect still works well in the second phase, although the cooling becomes slightly important. We define the parameter μ in the relation of \fracdE_thdt=m\fracdE_nth(t)dt\frac{\mathrm {d}E_{\mathrm{th}}}{\mathrm{d}t}=\mu\frac{\mathrm{d}E_{\mathrm {nth}}(t)}{\mathrm{d}t} or E_th(t₀)=mò₀^t₀\fracdE_nth(t)dt dtE_{\mathrm{th}}(t_{0})=\mu\int_{0}^{t_{0}}\frac{\mathrm{d}E_{\mathrm{nth}}(t)}{\mathrm{d}t}\,\mathrm{d}t when the cooling is ignored in phase 1. Considering the uncertainties in estimating the energy from the observations, it is not possible to precisely determine the fraction of the known energy in the nonthermal electrons transformed into the thermal energy of the hottest plasma observed by RHESSI. After a rough estimate of the flare volume and the assumption of the filling factor, we investigate the parameter μ in these four events. Its value ranges from 0.02 to 0.20, indicating that a small fraction (2% – 20%) of the nonthermal energy can be efficiently transformed into thermal energy, which is traced by the soft X-ray emission, and the bulk of the energy is lost possibly due to cooling.     

Stability of ion-acoustic waves in a pair-ion plasma with a third species of ions: application to cometary plasmas

A popular model of a cometary plasma is hydrogen (H⁺) with positively charged oxygen (O⁺) as a heavier ion component. However, the discovery of negatively charged oxygen (O^?) ions enables one to model a cometary plasma as a pair-ion plasma (of O⁺ and O^?) with hydrogen as a third ion constituent. We have, therefore, studied the stability of the ion-acoustic wave in such a pair-ion plasma with hydrogen and electrons streaming with velocities $V_{d\mathrm{H}^{+}}$ and V _de , respectively, relative to the oxygen ions. We find the calculated frequency of the ion-acoustic wave with this model to be in good agreement with the observed frequencies. The ion-acoustic wave can also be driven unstable by the streaming velocity of the hydrogen ions. The growth rate increases with increasing hydrogen density $n_{\mathrm{H}^{+}}$ , and streaming velocities $V_{d\mathrm{H}^{+}}$ and V _de . It, however, decreases with increasing oxygen ion densities $n_{\mathrm{O}^{+}}$ and $n_{\mathrm{O}^{-}}$ .     

Cavitation by Nonlinear Interaction Between Inertial Alfvén Waves and Magnetosonic Waves in Low Beta Plasmas

This paper presents the model equations governing the nonlinear interaction between dispersive Alfvén wave (DAW) and magnetosonic wave in the low-β plasmas (β≪m _e/m _i; known as inertial Alfvén waves (IAWs); here \upbeta = 8pn₀T /B₀²\upbeta = 8\pi n_{0}T /B_{0}^{2} is thermal to magnetic pressure, n ₀ is unperturbed plasma number density, T(=T _e≈T _i) represents the plasma temperature, and m _e(m _i) is the mass of electron (ion)). This nonlinear dynamical system may be considered as the modified Zakharov system of equations (MZSE). These model equations are solved numerically by using a pseudo-spectral method to study the nonlinear evolution of density cavities driven by IAW. We observed the nonlinear evolution of IAW magnetic field structures having chaotic behavior accompanied by density cavities associated with the magnetosonic wave. The relevance of these investigations to low-β plasmas in solar corona and auroral ionospheric plasmas has been pointed out. For the auroral ionosphere, we observed the density fluctuations of ∼ 0.07n ₀, consistent with the FAST observation reported by Chaston et al. (Phys. Scr. T84, 64, 2000). The heating of the solar corona observed by Yohkoh and SOHO may be produced by the coupling of IAW and magnetosonic wave via filamentation process as discussed here.     

Radiative and conductive cooling in a solar flare

We investigate the radiative and conductive cooling in the solar flare observed by RHESSI on 2005 September 13. The radiative and conductive loss energies are estimated from the observations after the flare onset. Consistent with previous findings, the cooling is increased with time, especially the radiation becomes remarkable on the later phase of flare. According our method, about half of thermal energy is traced by RHESSI soft X-rays, while the other half is lost by the radiative (∼38%) and conductive (∼9%) cooling at end of the hard X-rays in this event. The nonthermal energy input of P _nth (inferred from RHESSI hard X-ray spectrum) is not well correlated with the derivative of thermal energy of \fracdE_thdt\frac{\mathrm{d}E_{\mathrm{th}}}{\mathrm{d}t} (required to radiate the RHESSI soft X-ray flux and spectrum) alone. However, after consideration the radiation and conduction, a high correlation is obtained between the derivative of total thermal energy ( \fracdE_th+E_rad+E_conddt\frac{\mathrm{d}E_{\mathrm{th}}+E_{\mathrm{rad}}+E_{\mathrm{cond}}}{\mathrm{d}t}) and nonthermal energy input (P _nth) from the flare start to end, indicating the relative importance of conductive and direct radiative losses during the solar flare development. Ignoring the uncertainties to estimate the energy from the observations, we find that about ∼12% fraction of the known energy is transferred into the thermal energy for the 2005 September 13 flare.     

Ultra-high energy neutrino fluxes from supermassive AGN black holes

We compute the ultra-high energy (UHE) neutrino fluxes from plausible accreting supermassive black holes closely linking to the 377 active galactic nuclei (AGNs). They have well-determined black hole masses collected from the literature. The neutrinos are produced via simple or modified URCA processes, even after the neutrino trapping, in superdense proto-matter medium. The resulting fluxes are ranging from: (1) (quark reactions)— $J^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}/(\varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1})\simeq8.29\times 10^{-16}$ to 3.18×10^?4, with the average $\overline{J}^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}\simeq5.53\times 10^{-10}\varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ , where ε _d ～10^?12 is the opening parameter; (2) (pionic reactions)— $J^{\pi}_{\nu\varepsilon} \simeq0.112J^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}$ , with the average $J^{\pi}_{\nu\varepsilon} \simeq3.66\times 10^{-11}\varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ ; and (3) (modified URCA processes)— $J^{URCA}_{\nu\varepsilon}\simeq7.39\times10^{-11} J^{q}_{\nu\varepsilon}$ , with the average $\overline{J}^{URCA}_{\nu\varepsilon} \simeq2.41\times10^{-20} \varepsilon_{d}\ \mathrm{erg}\,\mathrm{cm}^{-2}\,\mathrm{s}^{-1}\,\mathrm{sr}^{-1}$ . We conclude that the AGNs are favored as promising pure neutrino sources, because the computed neutrino fluxes are highly beamed along the plane of accretion disk, peaked at high energies and collimated in smaller opening angle θ～ε _d .     

Addendum to: Strength of the Solar Coronal Magnetic Field – A Comparison of Independent Estimates Using Contemporaneous Radio and White-Light Observations

This addendum uses an alternate fit for the electron density distribution \(N(r)\) (see Figure 1) and estimates the coronal magnetic field using the new model. We find that the estimates of the magnetic field are in close agreement using both the models.

We have fit the \(N(r)\) distribution obtained from STEREO-A/COR1 and SOHO/LASCO-C2 using a fifth-order polynomial (see Figure 1). The expression can be written as

$$\begin{aligned} N_{\text{cor}}(r) &= 1.43 \times 10^{9} r^{-5} - 1.91 \times 10^{9} r^{-4} + 1.07 \times 10^{9} r^{-3} - 2.87 \times 10^{8} r^{-2} \\ &\quad {} + 3.76 \times 10^{7} r^{-1} - 1.91 \times 10^{6} , \end{aligned}$$

(1)

where \(N_{\text{cor}}(r)\) is in units of cm^?3 and \(r\) is in units of \(\mathrm{R}_{\odot}\). The background coronal electron density is enhanced by a factor of 5.5 at 2.63 \(\mathrm{R}_{\odot}\) during the coronal mass ejection (CME). The estimated coronal magnetic field strength (\(B\)) using radio data indicates that \(B(r) \approx(0.51\text{\,--\,}0.48) \pm 0.02\ \mathrm{G}\) in the range \(r \approx2.65\text{\, --\,}2.82\ \mathrm{R}_{\odot}\). The field strengths for STEREO-A/COR1 and SOHO/LASCO-C2 are ≈?0.32 G at \(r \approx 3.11\ \mathrm{R}_{\odot}\) and ≈?0.12 G at \(r \approx 4.40\ \mathrm{R}_{\odot}\), respectively.

     

On the rotational energy distributions of reactive, non-polar species in the interstellar medium

A basic model for the formation of non-equilibrium rotational energy distributions is described for reactive, homo-polar diatomic molecules and ions in the interstellar medium. Kinetic models were constructed to calculate the rotational populations of $\mathrm{C}_{2}^{+}$ under the conditions it would experience in the diffuse interstellar medium. As the non-polar ion reacts with molecular hydrogen, but not atomic hydrogen, the thermalization of a hot nascent rotational population will be arrested by chemical reaction when the H₂ density begins to be significant. Populations that deviate strongly from the local thermodynamic equilibrium are predicted for $\mathrm{C}_{2}^{+}$ in environments where it may be detectable. Consequences of this are discussed and a new optical spectrum is calculated.     

Small-Scale Flux Emergence Observed Using <Emphasis Type="Italic">Hinode</Emphasis>/SOT

The aim of this paper is to determine the flux emergence rate due to small-scale magnetic features in the quiet Sun using high-resolution Hinode SOT NFI data. Small-scale magnetic features are identified in the data using two different feature identification methods (clumping and downhill); then three methods are applied to detect flux emergence events. The distribution of the intranetwork peak emerged fluxes is determined. When combined with previous emergence results, from ephemeral regions to sunspots, the distribution of all fluxes are found to follow a power-law distribution which spans nearly seven orders of magnitude in flux (10¹⁶ – 10²³ Mx) and 18 orders of magnitude in frequency. The power-law fit to all these data is of the form

Iodine-Cell Spectroscopy Applied to Investigating the Solar Differential Rotation

In an attempt to examine whether the spectroscopic Doppler method with an iodine cell (which is known to be successful for precise radial-velocity determinations in stellar astronomy) could be effective for investigating the solar differential rotation, we carried out intensive observations to collect spectra at a large number of points on the solar disk by using the Domeless Solar Telescope along with the horizontal spectrograph of the Hida Observatory. Having converted the resulting line-of-sight velocity component into the angular rotational rate (ω), we derived a differential rotation law, w_sidereal  (deg day^-1) = 14.03 (±0.06)-1.84 (±0.57) sin²y-1.92 (±0.85) sin⁴y\omega_{\mathrm{sidereal}}\; (\mathrm{deg}\,\mathrm{day}^{-1}) =14.03 (\pm0.06)-1.84 (\pm0.57) \sin^{2}\psi-1.92 (\pm0.85) \sin^{4}\psi (ψ: heliographic latitude), which is reasonably consistent with other spectroscopic determinations published so far. Our analysis also revealed several practical points to note for successful application (e.g., exclusion of those data that are not well distant from the meridian; mutual data subtraction/averaging for symmetric counterparts at the eastern and western hemisphere). Considering its easiness and cheapness, this iodine-cell-featured spectroscopic method may be regarded as an effective and practical tool for studying the differential rotation of the Sun.     

Nonplanar solitons in a warm electronegative plasma with electron nonextensivity effects

The nonlinear propagation of ion-acoustic waves is studied in an unmagnetized collissionless electronegative plasma, whose constituents are the inertial warm positive/negative ions and q-distributed nonextensive electrons. The latter have strong impact on the linear dispersion relation. However, for nonlinear analysis, a reductive perturbation technique is employed to derive a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation accounting for nonthermal electrons in nonplanar geometries. Numerically, the effects of various plasma parameters, such as, the nonextensive parameter (q), the negative-to-positive ion mass ratio (α), the electron-to-positive ion number density ratio (μ), the positive ion-to-electron temperature ratio (θ _i ) and negative ion-to-electron temperature ratio (θ _n ), have been examined on the nonplanar compressive/rarefactive fast ion-acoustic solitons (where the wave phase speed is taken as λ>1). The relevance of our findings involving plasma wave excitations should be useful both for space and laboratory plasmas, where two distinct groups of ions besides the electrons, are present.     

Multi-wavelength correlation studies of diffuse emission from the Aquila Rift

We present a multi-wavelength correlation study of diffuse ultraviolet radiation using GALEX observations towards the Aquila Rift. Apart from airglow and zodiacal emissions, we find a diffuse background of \(1300\mbox{--} 3700~\mbox{ph}\,\mbox{cm}^{-2}\,\mbox{s}^{-1}\,\mbox{sr}^{-1}\,\mathring{\mathrm{A}}^{-1}\) in the far-ultraviolet (FUV, 1350–1750 Å) band and \(1300\mbox{--}2800~\mbox{ph}\,\mbox{cm}^{-2}\,\mbox{s}^{-1}\,\mbox{sr}^{-1}\,\mathring{\mathrm{A}}^{-1}\) in the near-ultraviolet (NUV, 1750–2850 Å) band. The observed diffuse UV emissions are saturated with total as well as neutral hydrogen column density in the region due to high optical depth in UV (\(\tau \), 0.91–23.38). Higher values of FUV/NUV ratio in the region, greater than the threshold value of 0.6, along with the positive correlation between the ratio and FUV intensity are due to excess emission in the FUV band which is absent in the NUV band. We estimated the excess emission to be in the range \(\sim 400\mbox{--} 2700~\mbox{ph}\,\mbox{cm}^{-2}\,\mbox{s}^{-1}\,\mbox{sr}^{-1}\,\mathring{\mathrm{A}}^{-1}\), plausibly due to H₂ fluorescence, ion line emissions and two-photon continuum emissions from the region in the FUV band, which also shows saturation in optically thick regions with N(H₂) as well as \(\mbox{H}\alpha \) emissions. Since N(H₂) and \(\mbox{H}\alpha \) emissions spread all over the region, the excess emission from the field is composite in nature and a detailed spectroscopic analysis is needed to disentangle the contribution from individual components.     

Limits on the changes in the gravitational constant from nucleosynthesis

Due to the recent all-sky, high-precision measurement of microwave background anisotropies by WMAP, a value for baryon-to-photon ratio η was obtained. At the WMAP value for η, the ⁴HE abundance was predicted. In this article we use a simple semi-analytical method with ⁴He predicted and measured values to place a limit on the variation of the gravitational constant G. We find using a conservative range for the measured values for Y _p , that ΔG/G is constrained between −0.26 and 0.15. If we assume a monotonic power law time dependence G∼t ^−β then β values is constrained between −0.008 and 0.0038, which translate into . This compares well with results obtained by others using full numerical analysis.      

Gas kinematics in the halo of the warm ULIRG PKS1345+12

We use long-slit spectra taken with the William Herschel Telescope on La Palma and high-resolution Hubble Space Telescope imaging to study the gas kinematic in the halo of the ultraluminous infrared/radio galaxy PKS1345+12 (z=0.122). Our long-slit spectra show line splitting at the locations of massive star clusters ( $10^{6}<M_{\mathrm{SSC}}^{\mathrm{YSP}}<10^{7}$ M_⊙), indicating that they are moving at up to 450 km?s^?1 with respect to the local ambient gas. Given their kinematics, it is plausible that these super star clusters have been formed either in fast-moving gas streams or tidal tails that are falling back into the nuclear regions as part of the merger process, or as a consequence of jet-induced star formation linked to the extended, diffuse radio emission detected in the halo of the galaxy.     

The Na <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">i</Emphasis> and Sr <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">ii</Emphasis> Resonance Lines in Solar Prominences

We estimate the electron density, \(n_{\mathrm{e}}\), and its spatial variation in quiescent prominences from the observed emission ratio of the resonance lines Na?i?5890 Å (D₂) and Sr?ii?4078 Å. For a bright prominence (\(\tau_{\alpha}\approx25\)) we obtain a mean \(n_{\mathrm{e}}\approx2\times10^{10}~\mbox{cm}^{-3}\); for a faint one (\(\tau _{\alpha }\approx4\)) \(n_{\mathrm{e}}\approx4\times10^{10}~\mbox{cm}^{-3}\) on two consecutive days with moderate internal fluctuation and no systematic variation with height above the solar limb. The thermal and non-thermal contributions to the line broadening, \(T_{\mathrm{kin}}\) and \(V_{\mathrm{nth}}\), required to deduce \(n_{\mathrm{e}}\) from the emission ratio Na?i/Sr?ii cannot be unambiguously determined from observed widths of lines from atoms of different mass. The reduced widths, \(\Delta\lambda_{\mathrm{D}}/\lambda_{0}\), of Sr?ii?4078 Å show an excess over those from Na?D₂ and \(\mbox{H}\delta\,4101\) Å, assuming the same \(T_{\mathrm{kin}}\) and \(V_{\mathrm{nth}}\). We attribute this excess broadening to higher non-thermal broadening induced by interaction of ions with the prominence magnetic field. This is suggested by the finding of higher macro-shifts of Sr?ii?4078 Å as compared to those from Na?D₂.     

Bianchi type-III non-static magnetized cosmological model for perfect fluid distribution in general relativity

We have investigated Bianchi type III non-static magnetized cosmological model for perfect fluid distribution in general relativity. We assume that F ₁₂ is the only non-vanishing component of F _ij . Maxwell’s equation

Synchrotron neutrino-pair radiation in neutron stars

The neutrino-pair radiation by electrons in a non-quantizing magnetic field B is investigated. For a relativistic degenerate electron gas the emissivity of this process is mainly given by \documentclass{article}\pagestyle{empty}\begin{document}$ \varepsilon _r = 5 \times 10^{15} (pF/mc)^{4/3} \,B_{13}^{2/3} T_y^{12/8} \,{\rm erg} \times {\rm cm}^{ - 3} \times {\rm sec}^{- 1} $\end{document} where pF is the electron Fermi momentum. Under typical neutron star conditions at B ∼ 10¹³G neutrino synchrotron radiation appears to be one of the most effective mechanisms of neutrino energy loss in the envelopes of neutron stars; this mechanism may also compete with other known neutrino production mechanisms in the neutron star cores if pion condensate or quark matter is absent.     

RHESSI Microflares: I. X-Ray Properties and Multiwavelength Characteristics

We study the general X-ray and multiwavelength characteristics of microflares of GOES class A0.7 to B7.4 (background subtracted) detected by the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) on 26 September 2003 comparing them with the properties of regular flares. All the events for which X-ray imaging was feasible originated in one active region and were accumulated in areas with intermixed magnetic polarities. During the events’ rise and peak phase, the RHESSI X-ray spectra show a steep nonthermal power-law component (4?γ?10) for energies ??10 keV. Further evidence for the presence of electron beams is provided by the association with radio type III bursts in 5 out of 11 events where AIP radio spectra were available. The strongest event in our sample shows radio signatures of a type II precursor. The thermally emitting flare plasma observed by RHESSI is found to be hot, 11?T?15 MK, with small emission measures, 10⁴⁶?EM?10⁴⁷ cm^?3, concentrated in the flare loop. In the EUV (TRACE 171 Å), the UV (TRACE 1600 Å) and Kanzelhöhe Solar Observatory Hα, impulsive brightenings at both ends of the RHESSI 3?–?6 keV X-ray loop source are observed, situated in opposite magnetic polarity fields. During the decay phase, a postflare loop at the location of the RHESSI loop source is observed in the TRACE 171 Å? channel showing plasma that is cooled from ??10 MK to ≈?1 MK. Correlations between various thermal and nonthermal parameters derived from the RHESSI microflare spectra compared to the same correlations obtained for a set of small and large flares by Battaglia et al. (Astron. Astrophys. 439, 737, 2005) indicate that the RHESSI instrument gives us a spectrally biased view since it detects only hot (T?10 MK) microflares, and thus the correlations between RHESSI microflare parameters have to be interpreted with caution. The thermal and nonthermal energies derived for the RHESSI microflares are \(\bar{E}_{\mathrm{th}}=7\times 10^{27}\) ergs and \(\bar{E}_{\mathrm{nth}}=2\times 10^{29}\) ergs, respectively. Possible reasons for the order-of-magnitude difference between the thermal and nonthermal microflare energies, which was also found in previous studies, are discussed. The determined event rate of 3.7 h^?1 together with the average microflare energies indicate that the total energy in the observed RHESSI microflares is far too small to account for the heating of the active region corona in which they occur.     

Density variation effect on multi-ions with kinetic Alfven wave around cusp region—a kinetic approach

The kinetic Alfven waves in the presence of homogeneous magnetic field plasma with multi-ions effect are investigated. The dispersion relation and normalised damping rate are derived for low-\(\beta\) plasma using kinetic theory. The effect of density variation of \(\text{H}^{+}\), \(\text{He}^{+}\) and \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions is observed on frequency and damping rate of the wave. The variation of frequency (\(\omega\)) and normalised damping rate (\(\gamma / \varOmega_{H^{ +}} \)) of the wave are studied with respect to \(k_{ \bot} \rho_{j}\), where \(k_{ \bot} \) is the perpendicular wave number, \(\rho_{j}\) is the ion gyroradius and \(j \) denotes \(\text{H}^{+}\), \(\text{He}^{+}\) and \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions. The variation with \(k_{ \bot} \rho_{j}\) is considered over wide range. The parameters appropriate to cusp region are used for the explanation of results. It is found that with hydrogen and helium ions gyration, the frequency of wave is influenced by the density variation of \(\text{H}^{+}\) and \(\text{He}^{+}\) ions but remains insensitive to the change in density of \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions. For oxygen ion gyration, the frequency of wave varies over a short range only for \(\text{O}^{+}\) ion density variation. The wave shows damping at lower altitude due to variation in density of lighter \(\text{H}^{+}\) and \(\text{He}^{+}\) ions whereas at higher altitude only heavy \(\text{O}^{+}\) ions contribute in wave damping. The damping of wave may be due to landau damping or energy transfer from wave to particles. The present study signifies that the both lighter and heavier ions dominate differently to change the characteristics of kinetic Alfven wave and density variation is also an important parameter to understand wave phenomena in cusp region.