A kinetic model of gas flow in a porous cometary mantle

A numerical study of gas flow through a porous cometary mantle is presented. A kinetic model based on the well-known Test Particle Monte Carlo Method for the solution of rarefied gas dynamics problems is proposed. The physical model consists of two spatial plane regions: the condensed ice phase and a porous dust mantle. The structure of the porous dust layer is described as a bundle of cylindrical inclined channels not crossing each other. A vertical temperature gradient may exist across the dust mantle. The aim is to investigate how the characteristics of molecular flow depend on the capillary length, inclination angle, and temperature gradient. Examples illustrating a significant deviation of some results from equilibrium values are shown. In particular, the gas velocity distribution at both ends of the pore is strongly non-Maxwellian if there is an important temperature contrast across the pore. The emergent gas flow rate is found to vary with the pore length/radius ratio in excellent agreement with Clausing's empirical formula. The degree of collimation of the flow is quantitatively studied as a function of the length/radius ratio, and consequences for the jet force of outgassing through a dust mantle or, indeed, a rough surface are estimated.     

Evidence for a low-density inflationary universe?

The inflationary unvierse model predicts the density parameter ₀ to be 1.0 with the cosmological constant ₀ usually taken to be zero, whereas observational estimates give ₀0.2 and ₀10^-57 cm^–2. It was found, however, that the observed variation of angular diameter with redshift for extragalactic radio sources could be interpreted in terms of a low density universe with linear size evolution of the sources for either an inflationary model with 0 or an open model with =0.     

Simultaneous five color (UBVRI) polarimetry of VV Puppis

Observations of linear and circular polarization in five colour bands during a highly active state of VV Puppis in January-86 are reported. A strong linear polarization pulse with the maximum in the blue, P_B22 %, is observed at the end of the bright phase when the active pole is at the limb and a weaker secondary pulse, P_B7 %, is seen in the beginning of the bright phase, when the active pole reappears. Strong positive circular polarization is also observed in the blue and the ultraviolet, P_UP_B18 %, P_V10 % during the bright phase. The circular polarization reverses the sign in the B and V bands during the faint phase and a negative polarization hump is seen when the active pole crosses the limb. The circular polarization in the V band reaches the value P_V–10% at the hump, after which it remains near P_V–5% during the faint phase. This is probably due to radiation coming from the second, less active pole and accretion thus takes place onto both poles. The wavelength dependences of the positive and negative parts of the circular polarization curve are different and no polarization reversal is seen in the U band. The position angle of the linear polarization is well determined during a large portion of the cycle, especially in the V band, thanks to the activity from both poles. A best fit to the position angle curve, taking into account also the duration of the positive circular polarization phase interval =0.40 (in the V band), yields the values of orbital inclination i=78°±2° and the colatitude of the active magnetic pole =146°±2°. The relatively good fit to the position angle data indicates that the simple dipole model is nearly correct in the case of VV Puppis. Some wavelength dependence is, however, seen in the position angle curves, especially in the I band where the slope / at the main pulse is considerably smaller than in the other bands. The shape of the position angle curves changes also in the blue and the ultraviolet around the middle of the bright phase. This is probably due to optical thickness effects as the side of the accretion column which is toward the observer changes near this phase.Based on observations made at the European Southern Observatory, La Silla, Chile.Paper presented at the IAU Colloquium No. 93 on Cataclysmic Variables. Recent Multi-Frequency Observations and Theoretical Developments, held at Dr. Remeis-Sternwarte Bamberg, F.R.G., 16–19 June, 1986.On leave from University of Helsinki Observatory     

Microstructures in type III events in the solar wind

A model is presented for the generation and evolution of bump-in-tail driven Langmuir waves in the solar wind during type III emission, which removes a number of apparent inconsistencies between theory and observations. It is argued that there must be localized enhancements of f _b /v by a factor of 10² over the measured average values. Growth rates and energy densities of Langmuir waves are, therefore, considerably enhanced, permitting growth to overcome linear scattering losses, and also allowing nonlinear decay into ion-acoustic waves, in line with observations. Estimates are made of the probability distribution p(E), of wave field strengths E, based on linear and nonlinear wave-packet evolution, yielding p(E) E ^–a, 3. This helps explain why very high values of E are rarely found in the measured spiky wave turbulence.     

Group Doppler effect in anisotropic plasmas

In anisotropic plasmas, the radiative power emitted and the power observed per unit solid angle should be calculated along the direction of the group velocityv _g . The two power functions referred differ by a product of two factors: one is the group Doppler factor and the other is the squeezing effect of the radiative energy due to the dependence ofv _g on direction. In this paper, the group Doppler factor is derived using two different methods, and the relevant physical concepts are analyzed in details. A number of numerical examples pertaining to astrophysical situations are presented, to illustrate the significance of the group Doppler effect with respect to the wave Doppler effect which is valid in isotropic media.     

On Goudas' surfaces in the magnetic-binary problem

The containment property Goudas' surfaces has been studied in this paper. Physical implications of this property a consequently discussed. A general relationship is obtained, which connects the sizes of those surfaces, the magnetic moments of two stars and their mean motion.     

Surface drag and turbulence over an inhomogeneous land surface

Data collected over an inhomogeneous semi-rural area are presented. The data are compared with previous surface-layer data to determine how representative the fixed-point flux measurements are of area averages. Departures from the standard surface-layer results are found to be relatively small (~10–20%), which supports the concept of a blending height above which the flow ceases to respond to variations in the underlying surface and becomes horizontally homogeneous.Effective roughness lengths are derived for different wind directions and the relationship between the effective roughness length and upwind surface is examined in the light of recent ideas on averaging surface roughness lengths. It is found that by averaging drag coefficients, realistic values of the effective roughness length can be calculated which are not very sensitive to the precise choice of the component roughness lengths.     

Magnetic reconnection in high-temperature plasma of solar flares

Quasi-steady high-temperature current sheets are an energy source during the main or hot phase of solar flares. Such sheets are shown to be stabilized with respect to the tearing instability by a small transverse component of magnetic field existing in the sheets.     

The investigation of the solar wind transsonic region at meter wavelengths

Radio astronomy experiments designed to probe the interplanetary plasma close to the Sun have been carried out at the wavelength = 2.92 m using the occultation method. The experiments are based on a modification of the occultation method by which the sources, in this case quasars, are used to measure the radial dependence of the apparent source size, the scattering angle (R). The radial dependence of this source size (R) reveals that an anomalous enhancement in the scattering appears at radial distances from about 16 to 30 R , which is associated with the solar wind transsonic region. It is shown by analysis of the theoretical equations that the radial profiles of both the source size (R) and the scintillation index m(R) are consistent in the near solar interplanetary medium (R 40 R ). Combining these two independent applications of the occultation method extends the range of the investigation and provides a powerful new diagnostic of the solar wind transsonic region.     

The stability parameters of three-dimensional periodic three-body orbits

Formulae containing the elements of the variational matrix are obtained which determine the linear isoenergetic stability parameters of three-dimensional periodic orbits of the general three-boy problem. This requires the numerical integration of the variational equations but produces the stability parameters with the effective accuracy of the numerical integration. The conditions for stability, criticality, and bifurcations are briefly examined and the stability determination procedure is tested in the determination of some three-dimensional periodic orbits of low inclination bifurcating from vertical-critical coplanar orbits.