An upper limit on the aperture separation of ion drift meters

An upper limit has been calculated on the effective aperture separation or detector thickness of ion drift meters of two fundamental types. The limit applies to meters which compare currents collected by detectors with different view directions at the same retarding potential and to meters which measure the entire thermal ion distribution function. For both types, a single scanned detector may be employed instead of multiple detectors, in which case the limit applies to twice the radius of curvature of the path followed by the detector aperture during a scan, (i.e. the diameter of a spinning payload). The limit was found to be important in two cases. First, in the F region on spacecraft with stringent electrostatic cleanliness requirements, the 10% error limit was found to be 40 cm. Second, in the E region, the limit was found to be 1 cm.Originally submitted to the journalSpace Science Instrumentation.Deceased.     

The structure of a type-II supernova remnant G 160.5+2.8 (HB-9) observed at λ=12m

A two-dimensional brightness distribution of the old supernova remnant G 160.5+2.8 (HB-9) has been measured at a frequency of 25 MHz with the T-Shaped UTR-2 radio telescope, with the resolution 29×27. The source has a distinctly pronounced, almost spherical envelope. At the same time, individual features located near the internal boundary of the source are observable.Certain considerations are put forward to validate a suggestion that the brightest feature in the decameter range (maximum at=4^h55^m.3 and =46°.37) might be of an extragalactic origin.From structure considerations, the velocity of the pulsar PSR 0459+47 projected on HB-9 is estimated. The estimate does not contradict the hypothesis of Damasheket al. (1978) concerning a possible genetic relation between HB-9 and PSR 0459+47.     

X-ray imaging of three flares during the impulsive phase

The impulsive phases of three flares that occurred on April 10, May 21, and November 5, 1980 are discussed. Observations were obtained with the Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (HXIS) and other instruments aboard SMM, and have been supplemented with Hα data and magnetograms. The flares show hard X-ray brightenings (16–30 keV) at widely separated locations that spatially coincide with bright Hα patches. The bulk of the soft X-ray emission (3.5–5.5 keV) originates from in between the hard X-ray brightenings. The latter are located at different sides of the neutral line and start to brighten simultaneously to within the time resolution of HXIS. Concluded is that:

1. The bright hard X-ray patches coincide with the footpoints of loops.
2. The hard X-ray emission from the footpoints is most likely thick target emission from fast electrons moving downward into the dense chromosphere.
3. The density of the loops along which the beam electrons propagate to the footpoints is restricted to a narrow range (10⁹ < n < 2 × 10¹⁰ cm^-3), determined by the instability threshold of the return current and the condition that the mean free path of the fast electrons should be larger than the length of the loop.
4. For the November 5 flare it seems likely that the acceleration source is located at the merging point of two loops near one of the footpoints.

It is found that the total flare energy is always larger than the total energy residing in the beam electrons. However, it is also estimated that at the time of the peak of the impulsive hard X-ray emission a large fraction (at least 20%) of the dissipated flare power has to go into electron acceleration. The explanation of such a high acceleration efficiency remains a major theoretical problem.     

The empirical determination of damping constants in the solar photosphere

We determine empirical damping constants for 73 selected Fe i lines following the method of Gurtovenko and Kondrashova (1980), employing high-quality observations and the accurate list of Fe i oscillator strengths by Gurtovenko and Kostik (1980).The results show: (i) No increase of the enhancement factor to van der Waals broadening with excitation potential, as predicted by Edmunds (1975), and with the frequency of the transition (Figure 1); (ii) a substantial part of the commonly-used enhancement factor for weaker lines is not due to collisional damping (Figure 2), but to a misrepresentation of the inhomogeneous structure of the deep photosphere. This false damping effect is not seen in the stronger lines which yield an average damping constant : 1.3₆ 1.5 ₆.     

Spatial and temporal evolution of soft and hard X-ray emission in a solar flare

We study the spatial and temporal characteristics of the 3.5 to 30.0 keV emission in a solar flare on April 10, 1980. The data were obtained by the Hard X-ray Imaging Spectrometer aboard the Solar Maximum Mission Satellite. It is complemented in our analysis with data from other instruments on the same spacecraft, in particular that of the Hard X-ray Burst Spectrometer.Key results of our investigation are: (a) Continuous energy release is needed to substain the increase of the emission through the rising phase of the flare, before and after the impulsive phase in hard X-rays. The energy release is characterized by the production of hot (5 × 10⁷ T 1.5 × 10⁸ K) thermal regions within the flare loop structures. (b) The observational parameters characterizing the impulsive burst show that it is most likely associated with non-thermal processes (particle acceleration). (c) The continuous energy release is associated with strong chromospheric evaporation, as evidenced in the spectral line behavior determined from the Bent Crystal Spectrometer data. Both processes seem to stop just before flare maximum, and the subsequent evolution is most likely governed by the radiative cooling of the flare plasma.     

Unusual coronal activity following the flare of 6 November 1980

For almost 30 hr after the major (gamma-ray) two-ribbon flare on 6 November 1980, 03:30 UT, the Hard X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (HXIS) aboard the SMM satellite imaged in > 3.5 keV X-rays a gigantic arch extending above the active region over the limb. Like a similar configuration on 22 May 1980, this arch formed the lowest part of a stationary post-flare radio noise storm recorded at metric wavelengths at Nançay and Culgoora. 6.5 hr after the flare a coronal region below the arch started quasi-periodic pulsations in X-ray brightness, observed by several SMM instruments. These brightness variations had no response in the chromosphere (H), very little in the transition layer (O v), but they clearly correlated with similar variations in brightness at 169 MHz. There were 13 pulses of this kind, with apparent periodicity of about 20 min, until another flare occurred in the active region at 15:00 UT. All the brightenings appeared within a localized area of about 30000 km² in the northern part of the active region, but they definitely did not occur all at the same place.The top of the X-ray arch, at an altitude of 155 000 km, was continuously and smoothly decaying, taking no part in the striking variations below it. Therefore, the area variable in brightness does not seem to be the footpoint of the arch, as we supposed for similar variations on 22 May. More likely, it is a separate region connected directly with the source of the radio storm; particles accelerated in the storm may be dumped into the low corona and cause the X-ray enhancements. The X-ray arch was enhanced by two orders of magnitude in 3.5–5.5 keV X-ray counts and the temperature increased from 7.3 × 10⁶ to 9 × 10⁶ K when the new two-ribbon flare occurred at 15:00 UT. Thus, it is possible that energy is brought into the arch via the upper parts of the reconnecting flare loops - a process that can continue for hours.     

Vector magnetic field evolution,energy storage,and associated photospheric velocity shear within a flare-productive active region

The evolution of vector photospheric magnetic fields has been studied in concert with photospheric spot motions for a flare-productive active region. Over a three-day period (5–7 April, 1980), sheared photospheric velocity fields inferred from spot motions are compared both with changes in the orientation of transverse magnetic fields and with the flare history of the region. Rapid spot motions and high inferred velocity shear coincide with increased field alignment along the B _L= 0 line and with increased flare activity; a later decrease in velocity shear precedes a more relaxed magnetic configuration and decrease in flare activity. Crude energy estimates show that magnetic reconfiguration produced by the relative velocities of the spots could cause storage of 10³² erg day^–1, while the flares occurring during this time expended 10³¹ erg day^–1.Maps of vertical current density suggest that parallel (as contrasted with antiparallel) currents flow along the stressed magnetic loops. For the active region, a constant-, force-free magnetic field (J = B) at the photosphere is ruled out by the observations.Presently located at NASA/MSFC, Huntsville, Ala. 35812, U.S.A.     

Study of physical properties of spectroscopic binary stars

The main results of a study of a catalogue of physical parameters of 1041 spectroscopic binaries are presented. The distribution of spectroscopic binaries over all main parametersM ₁, a, e, M₁/M₂, P, and certain dependencies between some of them have been found.

1. It appears that among bright (m _v?3 ^m –5 ^m ) stars withM?1M _⊙, about 40% are apparently spectroscopic binaries with comparable masses of components.
2. The majority of spectroscopic binaries with the ratio of the large semiaxis of the orbit to the radius of the primarya/R ₁?20, have eccentricities close to zero. This is probably a consequence of the tidal circularization of orbits of close binaries by viscous friction.
3. The discovery of duplicity of double-line spectroscopic binaries is possible only if the semiamplitude of radial velocityK ₁ is almost 10 times higher than the semiamplitude of the radial velocity of a single-line spectroscopic binary of the same mass.
4. Double-line spectroscopic binaries witha/R _⊙?6(M ₁/M _⊙)^1/3,M ₁≈M ₂?1.5M _⊙ are almost almost absent, and the number of stars witha/R _⊙?6(M ₁/M _⊙)^1/3,M ₁≈1.5M _⊙ is relatively low.
5. The distribution of unevolved SB stars over the large semiaxis may be described by the expression d(N _d/N_t)≈0.2 d loga for 6(M ₁/M _⊙)^1/3?a/R _⊙?100.
6. The intial mass-function for primaries of spectroscopic binaries is the same Salpeter function dN _d≈M ₁ ^?2.35 dM ₁ for 1?M ₁/M _⊙?30.
7. It is possible to explain the observed ratio of the number of single-line spectroscopic binaries to the number of double-line binaries if one assumes that the average initial mass ratio is close to 1 and that the mass of the postmass-exchange remnant of the primary exceeds the theoretical one and/or that half of the angular momentum of the system is lost during mass-exchange.
8. The above-mentioned distributions ofM ₁ anda and assumptions on the mass of remnant and/or momentum loss also allow us to explain the observed shapes of dN/dM, dN/dq, and dN/da distributions after some selection effects are taken into account.