Radiative recombination in some ions of astrophysical interest

Radiative recombination coefficients for some quadruply and quintuply ionized atoms, present in the Sun and its atmosphere, are investigated in the temperature range 10–10⁴ K by using the method of detailed balance. Simple expressions are given for a quick estimation.     

Propagation of Extremely Low Frequency Waves Through the Ionosphere

The propagation features of extremely low frequency electromagnetic waves through the multicomponent ionospheric plasma are studied. It is shown that at relatively lower frequencies refractive index for right hand mode is higher than the left-hand mode, which is reversed at higher frequencies. The thermal temperature of plasma particle causes decrease in phase and group velocities of both right and left-hand modes. The crossover frequencies for different plasma models are computed and variation with ion concentration and thermal velocity is studied. Explicit expression for group velocity and travel time has been derived and studied numerically. Finally, we have presented simulation of the ion whistler spectrograms for Hydrogen, Helium and Oxygen ions present in the ionospheric plasma. The results are compared with the experimentally detected hydrogen and helium ion whistlers. The importance of the present study in the exploration of ionospheric plasma is illustrated.     

Temperature in transition region and inner corona

The investigation of Alamet al. (1979), of the temperature distribution in spherically-symmetric transition region and inner corona, appears to be in error.     

Solution of Lane-Emden type equations using Bernstein operational matrix of differentiation

The purpose of this paper is to propose an efficient numerical method for solving Lane-Emden type equations arising in astrophysics using Bernstein polynomials. First Bernstein operational matrix of differentiation is derived using Bernstein polynomials and then applied to solve the linear and nonlinear differential equations of Lane-Emden type. Some illustrative examples are given to demonstrate the efficiency and validity of the proposed algorithm.     

High-energy afterglow emission from gamma-ray bursts

We calculate the very high-energy (sub-GeV to TeV) inverse Compton emission of GRB afterglows. We argue that this emission provides a powerful test of the currently accepted afterglow model. We focus on two processes: synchrotron self-Compton emission within the afterglow blast wave, and external inverse Compton emission which occurs when flare photons (produced by an internal process) pass through the blast wave. We show that if our current interpretations of the Swift X-ray telescope (XRT) data are correct, there should be a canonical high-energy afterglow emission light curve. Our predictions can be tested with high-energy observatories such as GLAST , Whipple, HESS and MAGIC. Under favourable conditions we expect afterglow detections in all these detectors.     

Climate-smart agriculture: perspectives and framings

This paper offers a systematic analysis of the concepts and contexts that frame the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) discourse in the academic and policy literature. Documents (n?=?113) related to CSA and published in peer-reviewed journals, books, working papers, and scientific reports from 2004 to 2016 were reviewed. Three key trends emerged from the analysis: studies are biased towards global policy agendas; research focuses on scientific and technical issues; and the integration of mitigation, adaptation, and food security (the three pillars of CSA) is becoming a popular scholarly solution. Findings suggest that CSA is a fairly new concept used to describe a range of adaptation and mitigation practices without a specific set of criteria. Although CSA is often framed around the three pillars, the underlying issues constructing the discourse differ at global, developing, and developed country scales. Although there is increasing research on developing countries, particularly in relation to how CSA can transform smallholder agriculture, there is a paucity of research documenting the experiences from developed countries. The findings suggest that research on CSA needs to move beyond solely focussing on scientific approaches and only in certain geographical contexts. If CSA is to be applicable for farmers across the globe, then cross-disciplinary research that is underpinned by broad socio-economic and political contexts is essential to understand how differences in narratives might affect implementation on-the-ground in both developing and developed countries.

POLICY RELEVANCE

Although policy makers are increasingly supportive of the climate-smart agriculture (CSA) approach, the rhetoric has largely been developed on the basis of scientific and technical arguments. The political implications of varying perspectives have resulted in a growing divide between how developing and developed countries frame solutions to the impacts of climate change on agriculture under the 2015 Paris Agreement. Different framings are part of the explanation for why the scope of CSA is being rethought, with the scientific community redirecting attention to seeking a separate work programme under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The current policy framing of CSA will give no new policy direction unless it grounds itself in the smallholder farmer and civil society contexts.     

Resonance stability of triangular equilibrium points in elliptical restricted three body problem under the radiating primaries

The main aim of this paper is to study the existence of resonance and linear stability of the triangular equilibrium points of the planar elliptical restricted three body problem considering the photo gravitational effect of both the primaries in circular and elliptical case. A practical application of this case could be the study of the dynamical system around the binary systems. For this the Hamiltonian function, convergent in nature and describing the motion of the infinitesimal body in the neighborhood of the triangular equilibrium solutions is derived. Also, the Hamiltonian for the system is expanded in powers of the generalized components of momenta. Further, canonical transformation has also been used to study the stability of the triangular equilibrium points. The study primarily focuses on establishing the relation for determining the range of stability at and near the resonance frequency ω ₂=1/2 around the binary systems using simulation technique. It is observed that the parametric resonance is only possible at the resonance frequency ω ₂=1/2 in both circular and elliptical cases.     

Effect of Stellar Wind and Poynting–Robertson Drag on Photogravitational Elliptic Restricted Three Body Problem

The existence and linear stability of the planar equilibrium points for photogravitational elliptical restricted three body problem is investigated in this paper. Assuming that the primaries, one of which is radiating are rotating in an elliptical orbit around their common center of mass. The effect of the radiation pressure, forces due to stellar wind and Poynting–Robertson drag on the dust particles are considered. The location of the five equilibrium points are found using analytical methods. It is observed that the collinear equilibrium points L₁, L₂ and L₃ do not lie on the line joining the primaries but are shifted along the y-coordinate. The instability of the libration points due to the presence of the drag forces is demonstrated by Lyapunov’s first method of stability.     

Five dimensional Bianchi type-V cosmological models described by a binary mixture of perfect fluid and dark energy with Λ-term

Some recent experimental observations have been shown that inclusion of electron collisions damping in inertial Alfvén wave (IAW) dynamics may be important for laboratory as well as space plasmas. This paper presents the numerical simulation of model equation governing the nonlinear dynamics of IAW in low-beta plasmas. When the nonlinearity arises due to the ponderomotive force and Joule heating driven density perturbations, the model equation turns out to be a modified nonlinear Schr?dinger equation (MNLS). The electron collisions are introduced only in the electron momentum equation. The damped localized structures of IAW with sidebands are obtained. Also, the effect of collisional damping on power spectra of magnetic fluctuations with different scaling laws has been studied. These turbulent structures may be responsible for particle acceleration in laboratory and space plasmas.     

Mycorrhizal Colonization Affects the Survival of Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash Grown in Water Containing As(III)

The presence of arsenic (As) in water is of great public concern. Arsenic exists in three common valence states viz., As(0) metalloid arsenic, As(III) (arsenite) and As(V) (arsenate). Arsenite [As(III)] is the most toxic form among arsenicals which, predominates in anaerobic conditions, generally in flooded soils and in the water with high BOD. Experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of As(III) on the mycorrhization in vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioides (L.) Nash) grass in hydroponics. Studies showed significant alteration in the mycorrhizal colonization in the roots of vetiver exposed to higher concentrations of As(III) starting from 1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0 to 5.0 mg/L prepared in 5% Hoagland nutrient solution without addition of phosphate ions. Considerable reduction in the mycorrhizal intensity (M) was observed in all the treatment sets as compared to the control suggesting a negative impact of the As(III) on the mycorrhizal association. Simultaneously, the study also showed that, As(III) is toxic to the vetiver plants having mycorrhizal association however plants with non‐mycorrhizal (cleansed) roots were found to be able to survive for a longer period exposed to As(III).