Observed nonpotential magnetic fields and the inferred flow of electric currents at a location of repeated flaring

We have analyzed the vector magnetic field of an active region at a location of repeated flaring to determine the nature of the currents flowing in the areas where the flares initiated. The component of electric current density crossing the photosphere along the line-of-sight was derived from the observed transverse component of the magnetic field. The maximum concentrations of these currents occurred exactly at the sites of flare initiation and where the photospheric field was sheared the most. The calculated distribution of current density at the flare sites suggested that currents were flowing out of an area of positive magnetic polarity and across the magnetic inversion line into two areas of negative polarity. This interpretation was reinforced by a calculation of the source field, the magnetic field produced in the photosphere by the electric currents above the photosphere. In the vicinity of the flare sites, the calculated source field exhibited three particular characteristics: (1) maximum magnitudes at the sites of flare initiation, (2) a rotational direction where the vertical current density was concentrated, and (3) a fairly constant angular orientation with the magnetic inversion line. The source field was thus very similar to the field produced by two arcades of currents crossing the inversion line at the locations of greatest magnetic shear with orientations of about 60° to the inversion line. With this orientation, the inferred arcades would be aligned with the observed chromospheric fibrils seen in the H data so that the currents were field-aligned above the photosphere. The field thus exhibited a vertical gradient of magnetic shear with the shear decreasing upward from the photosphere. We estimated the currents in the two arcades by matching the source field derived from observations with that produced by a model of parallel loops of currents. We found that the loops of the model would each have a radius of 4500 km, a separation of 1830 km, and carry a current of 0.15 × 10¹² A. Values of vertical current densities and source fields appearing in the umbrae of the two large sunspots away from the flare sites were shown to lie at or below the level of uncertainty in the data. The main source of this uncertainty lay in the method by which the 180° ambiguity in the azimuth of the transverse field is resolved in umbral areas. We thus concluded that these quantities in large umbrae should be treated with a healthy skepticism. Finally, we found that the source field at the flare sites was produced almost entirely by the angular difference between the observed and potential field and not by the difference in field intensity.     

The solution of radiation transfer problem for a slab with space-dependent albedo and anisotropic scattering

The transport of thermal radiation has been considered within a finite slab which absorb and scatter anisotropically. The problem involves the space-dependent single-scattering albedow(x). Two approximations are taken forw(x). In the first it is represented in exponential form asw(x)=w ₀ exp(–x/s), wherew ₀ ands are given constants andx is the optical variable. The second approximation assumes the formw(x) = _r=0 ^R d _r ^* p _r (x/a), whered _r ^* are known expansion coefficients anda is the half optical thickness of the slab. Analytic expressions for the forward, backward radiation intensities and fluxes are given in each approximation. The solution of the linear transport equation is performed on the basis of integral Fourier transforms.     

Anthropomorphism and cosmographic principle in the Mandelbrot appraoch

The property of anthropomorphism as it is held in fractal cosmography is reconstructed.Man is only interested in the probability distribution of mass in cases where mass does not vanish, and he finds no help at all to be told that such cases almost never occur.     

Bidimensional spectroscopy of network bright points

We develop an automatic, computer controlled procedure to select and to analyze the Network Bright Points (NBPs) on solar images. These have been obtained at the Sac Peak Vacuum Tower Telescope by means of the Universal Birefringent Filter and Zeiss H filters, tuned, respectively, along the profiles of the H, Mg-b1, Na-D2, and H lines.A structure is identified as an NBP if at the wavelength H- 1.5 A its maximum intensity is greater than I + 3 and its area is greater than 1.5 arc sec² at I + 1.5, where I is the mean value and the standard deviation of the intensity distribution on the image. Each detected NBP is then searched and confirmed in all the remaining 31 images at different wavelengths.For each NBP several parameters are measured (position, area, mean and maximum contrast, Dopplergram velocity, compactness, and so on) and some identification constraints are applied.The statistical analysis of the various parameter distributions, for NBPs present within an active region and its surroundings, shows that two types of NBPs can be identified according to the value of their mean contrast C _min the H- 1.5 Å image (C _m 0.1 type I, C _m> 0.1 type II). The type I NBPs (all occurring on the boundaries of the supergranular network) appear to be much more frequent (180/26) than the type II ones.The size A of type I NBPs is less than 1.0 arc sec for H/H wings but of the order of 1.2 arc sec for Na-D2 and Mg-bl. The mean contrast C _m is around the value of 10% along the Na-D2 and Mg-bl profiles and of 20% along the H/H wings.The C _m - A scatter diagrams show, for the photospheric radiation (h < 100 km), a narrow range of variability for C _min correspondence with a wide range for A. For radiation orginated at higher levels (h > 200 km), the C _m- A scatter diagrams seem to indicate, even if with a large variance, that the highest C _m's tend to correspond to the highest A values.The mean Doppler shift is close to zero for Na-D2 and Mg-bl lines but negative (downward motion) for H and H lines.The type II NBPs tends to be preferentially located in the neighbourhood of small, compact sunspots and their detectability is almost constant through all the 4 studied line profiles. No conclusions can be derived on the mean size, contrast and Doppler shift values because their distributions are too dispersed. The only positive information is that its C _m- A scatter diagram, in H and H wings, indicates a wide range of variability for C _m in correspondence with very narrow range of variability for A.     

Observations of interstellar HOCO+: abundance enhancements toward the galactic center

A survey of the 4(04)-3(03) and 1(01)-0(00) transitions of HOCO+ has been made toward several molecular clouds. The HOCO+ molecule was not observed in any sources except Sgr B2 and Sgr A. The 5(05)-4(04) and 4(14)-3(13) transitions were also detected toward Sgr B2. The results indicate that gas phase CO2 is not a major carbon reservoir in typical molecular clouds. In Sgr B2, the HOCO+ antenna temperature exhibits a peak approximately 2' north of the Sgr B2 central position (Sgr B2[M]) and the 4(04)-3(03) line emission is extended over a approximately 10' x 10' region. The column density of HOCO+ at the northern peak in Sgr B2 is approximately 3 x 10(14) cm-2, and the fractional abundance relative to H2 > or = 3 x 10(-10), which is about 2 orders of magnitude greater than recent predictions of quiescent cloud ion-molecule chemistry.     

Identification of the interstellar cyanomethyl radical (CH2CN) in the molecular clouds TMC-1 and Sagittarius B2

We report the astronomical identification of the cyanomethyl radical, CH2CN, the heaviest nonlinear molecular radical to be identified in interstellar clouds. The complex fine and hyperfine structures of the lowest rotational transitions at about 20.12 and 40.24 GHz are resolved in TMC-1, where the abundance appears to be about 5 x 10(-9) relative to that of H2. This is significantly greater than the observed abundance of CH3CN (methyl cyanide) in TMC-1. In Sgr B2 the hyperfine structure is blended in the higher frequency transitions at 40, 80, and 100 GHz, although the spin-rotation doubling is clearly evident. Preliminary searches in other sources indicate that the distribution of CH2CN is similar to that for such carbon chain species as HC3N or C4H.     

Heterodyne spectroscopy of the 158 micron C II line in M42

We have obtained velocity-resolved spectra of the 12C II 157.8 microns 2P3/2-2P1/2 fine structure line in the M42 region of Orion. Observations at 0.8 km s-1 resolution with a laser heterodyne spectrometer show multiple velocity components in some locations, with typical linewidths of 3-5 km s-1. Spectra of theta 1C and BN-KL also show weak emission from the F = 2-1 hyperfine component of the equivalent 13C II line. From the observed 12C II/13C II line intensity ratios, we deduce that the 12C II emission is optically thick with tau approximately 5 at both positions. Excitation temperatures of 128 K and 90 K, together with column densities of approximately 1 x 10(19) cm-2 and approximately 4 x 10(18) cm-2, are derived for theta 1C and BN-KL, respectively.     

A new approach to the librational solution in the Ideal Resonance Problem

The librational motion of the Ideal Resonance Problem (Garfinkel, 1966, Jupp, 1969) is treated through an initialnon-canonical transformation which, however, leaves the equations of motion in a quasi-canonical form, with Hamiltonian expressed in standard trigonometric functions amenable to traditional averaging techniques. The perturbed solutions, similarly expressed intrigonometric near-identity transformations, and their frequencies can be found to arbitrary order, with the elliptic integrals expected of the system introduced only in a final explicit quadrature for a Kepler-type equation in the angular variable. The specific transformations and resulting equations of motion are introduced, and explicit solutions for the original variables are found to second order, with mean motion accurate to fifth. Limitation of the present solution to the librational region, the extension of that solution to higher order, and observations on the form of the associated Hamiltonian are also discussed.     

Union republic migration trends in the USSR during the 1980s

"This article examines union republic migration trends in the USSR between 1979 and 1987 and prospects for indigenous out-migration from rural areas in Central Asia. The study is based on migration data derived by the residual technique and migration data from the 1985 microcensus. Results indicate that a south-to-north and probably Russian-dominated migration trend emerged in the 1980s, one which marks an almost complete reversal from earlier periods, especially 1959-70. Although Central Asia continues to have low levels of indigenous out-migration, labor surpluses and relatively waning capital investment in Central Asia may change this situation."     

Combustion as the cause of comet P/Halley's activity

The totality of the results obtained in the VEGA, GIOTTO and SUISEI projects does not lend itself to interpretation within the old sublimation models of comet activity considering solar radiation as the sole source of energy. Among them are the systematic excess of the velocity and temperature of the gas escaping from the nucleus over the theoretical values, the outflow being concentrated in several ( ~ 12–15) narrow ( ~ 300 m in size at the nucleus) hypersonic jets carrying very large amounts of remarkably fine CHON dust and located along continuous lines on the nuclear surface, intense release from the nucleus or very close to it (2 × 10³km) of CO (Q _Co/Q _{H2 O} = 0.05–0.2) with a smaller amount of CO₂ (Q _{CO 2}/ Q _{H2 O} 0.015), large near-nucleus abundances of C, C⁺ (Q _C/Q _CO 0.29), etc.The new observations, together with some earlier data still poorly understood (e.g. the appearance in the coma of large amounts of C₃) can be accounted for by assuming the cometary ices to contain, apart from hydrocarbons, nitrogen-containing compounds, etc. also of free oxygen ( ~ 15 wt.%). Under these conditions, burning should occur in the products of sublimation under deficiency of oxidizer accompanied by the production of soot, smoke, etc. The burning should propagate under the surface crust and localize primarily at a few sites.The presence of oxygen in cometary ices follows from a new eruption theory assuming the minor bodies of the Solar System to have formed in explosions of the massive ice envelopes saturated by electrolysis products on distant moonlike bodies of the type of Ganymede and Callisto.