Particle acceleration and the decay of soft X-ray non-thermal line broadening in solar flares

The relationship between the production of -ray emitting particles and non-thermal soft X-ray line broadening is investigated. A model of particle acceleration via the stochastic interaction with MHD turbulence is assumed and the time development of the wave energy density derived under the condition of energy conservation between waves and particles. The inferred numbers and energy distribution of accelerated protons for four -ray flares are used to define the wave energy density and its temporal development. The presence of Alfvén wave turbulence is considered as the source of the non-thermal motions in the ambient plasma. These motions are observed as excess widths in the soft X-ray line emission from these events. The decay of the waves via the particle acceleration process is compared with the observed decays of this non-thermal line broadening. Our results show that both the -ray emission and excess soft X-ray line widths in these flares can be explained by the single physical phenomenon of Alfvén wave turbulence.     

An integrable case of a rotational motion analogous to that of Lagrange and Poisson for a gyrostat in a Newtonian force field

The scope of the present paper is to provide analytic solutions to the problem of the attitude evolution of a symmetric gyrostat about a fixed point in a central Newtonian force field when the potential function isV ⁽²⁾.We assume that the center of mass and the gyrostatic moment are on the axis of symmetry and that the initial conditions are the following: (t ₀)=₀, (t ₀)=₀, (t ₀)=(t ₀)=₀, ₁(t ₀)=0, ₂(t ₀)=0 and ₃(t ₀)= ₃ ⁰ .The problem is integrated when the third component of the total angular momentum is different from zero (B ₁ 0). There now appear equilibrium solutions that did not exist in the caseB ₁=0, which can be determined in function of the value ofl ₃ ^r (the third component of the gyrostatic momentum).The possible types of solutions (elliptic, trigonometric, stationary) depend upon the nature of the roots of the functiong(u). The solutions for Euler angles are given in terms of functions of the timet. If we cancel the third component of the gyrostatic momentum (l ₃ ^r =0), the obtained solutions are valid for rigid bodies.     

LonGSp: A near infra-red spectrometer

We present a new cooled grating near infra-red spectrometer designed to acquire spectra at the TIRGO telescope in the 0.9÷2.5m region with a resolving power of 300÷4000, equipped with a Rockwell NICMOS 3 detector.     

The arrangement in mean elements space of the periodic orbits close to that of the Moon

In a simplified model of the Earth-Moon-Sun system based on the restricted circular 3-dimensional 3-body problem, it is possible to find numerically a set of 8 periodic orbits whose time evolutions closely resemble that of the Moon's orbit. These orbits have a period of 223 synodic months (i.e. the period of the Saros cycle known for more than two millennia as a means of predicting eclipses), and are characterized by a secular rotation of the argument of perigee . Periodic orbits of longer durations exhibiting this last feature are very abundant in Earth-Moon-Sun dynamical models. Their arrangement in the space of the mean orbital elements- for various values of the lunar mean motion is presented.     

A stability study of asteroid families near the 3:1 and 5:2 resonance with Jupiter

By using theD-criterion Lindblad (1992) has identified 14 asteroid families from a sample of 4100 numbered asteroids with proper elements from Milani and Kneevi (1990). Taxonomic types and other physical properties for a significant number of objects in five of the families show strong homogeneity within each family, further strengthening their internal relationship.To test the hypothesis of a common origin in, e.g., a catastrophic collision event, we have set out to integrate the orbits of the members of the Maria, Dora and Oppavia-Gefion families over some 10⁶ years. The mean distance for the Maria family is close to the 3:1 mean-motion resonance with Jupiter, while the other two families lie close to the 5:2 resonance.We used a simplified solar system model which included the perturbations by Jupiter and Saturn only and implemented Everhart's variable stepsize integrator RA15. All close encounters between the family members (within 0.1 AU) were recorded as well. Preliminary results from integrations over 4×10⁵ years are presented here.The statistics of close encounters show pronounced peaks for several members within each family, while for others no significant levels above the background of random encounters or even very low frequencies were found. This indicates a subclustering within the families. Quite a lot of very close (<0.005 AU) mutual encounters are found, which suggest that, at least for the larger members in a family, the mutual gravitational interactions could be of some importance for the real orbital evolutions.The encounter statistics between the Dora and Oppavia family members suggest a possible interrelationship between this two groups.     

Asteroid motion near the 3 : 1 resonance

A mapping model is constructed to describe asteroid motion near the 3 : 1 mean motion resonance with Jupiter, in the plane. The topology of the phase space of this mapping coincides with that of the real system, which is considered to be the elliptic restricted three body problem with the Sun and Jupiter as primaries. This model is valid for all values of the eccentricity. This is achieved by the introduction of a correcting term to the averaged Hamiltonian which is valid for small values of the ecentricity.We start with a two dimensional mapping which represents the circular restricted three body problem. This provides the basic framework for the complete model, but cannot explain the generation of a gap in the distribution of the asteroids at this resonance. The next approximation is a four dimensional mapping, corresponding to the elliptic restricted problem. It is found that chaotic regions exist near the 3 : 1 resonance, due to the interaction between the two degrees of freedom, for initial conditions close to a critical curve of the circular model. As a consequence of the chaotic motion, the eccentricity of the asteroid jumps to high values and close encounters with Mars and even Earth may occur, thus generating a gap. It is found that the generation of chaos depends also on the phase (i.e. the angles andv) and as a consequence, there exist islands of ordered motion inside the sea of chaotic motion near the 3 : 1 resonance. Thus, the model of the elliptic restricted three body problem cannot explain completely the generation of a gap, although the density in the distribution of the asteroids will be much less than far from the resonance. Finally, we take into account the effect of the gravitational attraction of Saturn on Jupiter's orbit, and in particular the variation of the eccentricity and the argument of perihelion. This generates a mixing of the phases and as a consequence the whole phase space near the 3 : 1 resonance becomes chaotic. This chaotic zone is in good agreement with the observations.     

Origin of the hydrocarbon component of carbonaceous chondrites: the star-meteorite connection

We report the results of an experiment that produced a residue which closely matches the hydrocarbon component of the Murchison carbonaceous chondrite. This experiment suggests that the parent material of the meteoritic component originated as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon species in carbon stars during their later stages of evolution. The experiments also indicate that the pathway from those formation sites to eventual incorporation into the meteorite parent body involved hydrogenation in a plasma in the solar nebula or in H II regions prior to the solar nebula. This model is consistent with what is known about the meteoritic hydrocarbon component including deuterium abundance, the observation of cosmic infrared emission bands best attributed to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon molecules, and the inherent stability of these molecules that allows their formation in stars and subsequent survival in the interstellar medium.     

Morphology and variability of helium line profiles in the P Cygni spectrum

The morphology and variability of 13 helium lines in the P Cygni optical spectrum have been studied in detail over a period of three years. It is found that most lines in the sample have often shown profiles with a complicated structure: discrete components are superposed on a broader underlying P Cyg profile. Multiple sets of components were frequently observed. The radial velocity of the discrete components varies with time. In this article the velocity evolution of two sets of components is studied in detail and the corresponding velocity laws are derived. It is found that the velocity variations in the helium and hydrogen discrete components are correlated. The recurrence timescale for the appearance of new helium components is estimated.An attempt is made for a qualitative interpretation of the obtained results.     

Propagation and absorption of cyclotron maser radiation in solar microwave spike bursts

It has been argued that the loss-cone-driven electron cyclotron maser instability can account for the properties of millisecond microwave spike bursts observed during some solar flares. However, as it propagates outward from the corona, maser radiation undergoes gyroresonance absorption when its frequency is a harmonic of the local electron-cyclotron frequency. Existing analytical models using slab geometries predict that this absorption should be sufficiently strong to prevent the radiation from being seen at the observed levels, except under highly restrictive conditions or for unrealistic plasma parameters. A more comprehensive analysis is presented here to determine if and when maser radiation can escape to produce microwave spike bursts. This analysis employs numerical raytracing and incorporates propagation and absorption of fundamental maser emission in a realistic model of a coronal flux loop. It is found that ranges of physical conditions do exist under which maser radiation can escape to an observer and that these conditions are much more limiting for fundamental emission in the extraordinary ()-mode than in the ordinary (o)-mode. Detailed investigation implies that escaping radiation in the -mode is highly directional and chiefly observable toward the center of the solar disk, while escapingo-mode radiation is found to emerge from the corona over a much wider range of directions, with some cases corresponding to radiation observable near the solar limb.     

The inverse planetary problem: a numerical treatment

The so-called inverse planetary problem can be stated as follows: given the distances from the centre, masses, and radii of (say) three planets of a planetary system, find the optimum polytropic index, mass, and radius of their star, and also other quantities of interest, which depend either explicitly or implicitly on the foregoing ones (e.g., central and mean density, central and mean pressure, central and mean temperature, etc.). It is hereafter tacitly assumed that the system is opaque with respect to observations concerning periods of planetary otbits; hence, we cannot have any relevant estimates due to the well-known period laws. In the present paper, the inverse planetary problem is treated numerically on the basis of the so-called global polytropic model, developed recently by the first author.