The Deutsch field gamma-ray pulsar – II. Application of the model

A new model for gamma-ray pulsars presented by Higgins & Henriksen is applied to the cases of the seven known gamma-ray pulsars. Those pulsars that are not presently observed in gamma-rays, but are candidates for observation by the next generation of gamma-ray telescopes, are discussed. The case of millisecond pulsars is discussed, and it is shown that these objects should radiate at detectable levels, in opposition to the predictions of other gamma-ray pulsar models.     

An application of Mie's series to soft particles

Summary The scattering of electromagnetic radiation from soft particles has been studied by a new method which allows to transform the Mie series into a simplified form through the use of some auxiliary expansions derived in the Appendix of this article. This simplified form (eq. 1) converts into the Hulst and Rayleigh-Debye-Gans' formulae if the parameters of eq. I are properly restricted. A further simplified form (eq. II), improves the well-known Hulst approximation.     

Planetary,solar and astrophysical relativistic electrons: Common energization mechanisms?

Direct observations or deduced analysis indicate clearly that formation of intense fluxes of relativistic electrons is an important ingredient in the evolution of numerous active magnetized plasma systems. Examples of relativistic electron energization include the recovery phase of a planetary magnetic storm, post solar flare coronal activity and the afterglow of gamma ray bursts. It is suggested that there exists a universal mechanism, which may explain electron energization at the vastly different magnetized plasma environments. The favorite configuration consists of an inhomogeneous magnetic field anchored at a given magnetic structure and excitation of whistler waves due to external injection of low-energy non-isotropic electrons. The energization proceeds as a bootstrap process due to interaction with the propagating whistler waves along the inhomogeneous magnetic field.     

Composite suspended sediment particles in river systems: their incidence,dynamics and physical characteristics

Most of the existing data on the effective particle size characteristics of fluvial suspended sediment derive from instantaneous sampling methods that may not be representative of the overall suspended sediment loads. This presents difficulties when there is a need to incorporate effective particle size data into numerical models of floodplain sedimentation and sediment‐associated contaminant transfer. We have used a field‐based water elutriation apparatus (WEA) to assemble a large (36 flood) database on the time‐integrated nature of the effective and absolute particle size characteristics of suspended sediment in four subcatchments of the River Exe basin of southwest England. These catchments encompass a wide range of terrains and fluvial environments that are broadly representative of much of the UK and temperate, low relief northwest Europe. The WEA provides important data on the physical characteristics of composite particles that are not attainable using other methods. This dataset has allowed, for the first time, detailed interbasin comparisons of the time‐integrated particle size characteristics of suspended sediment and reliable estimates of the contribution of five effective size classes to the mean annual suspended sediment load of the study catchments. The suspended sediment load of each river is dominated by composite rather than primary particles, with, for example, almost 60% (by mass) of the sediment load of the River Exe at Thorverton transported as composite particles > 16 µm in size. All the effective size classes contain significant clay components. A key outcome of this study is the recognition that each catchment has a distinctive time‐integrated effective particle size signature. In addition, the time‐integrated effective particle size characteristics of the suspended loads in each of the catchments display much greater spatial variability than the equivalent absolute particle size distributions. This indicates that the processes producing composite particles vary significantly between these catchments, and this has important implications for our understanding of the dynamics of suspended sediment properties. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

天体物理环境中的硅酸盐尘粒

硅酸盐尘粒是宇宙尘埃的主要成分之一,它广泛存在于许多天体物理环境中,其特性随环境而变化。由于近年来观测数据的不断增加和红外光谱质量的逐步提高,宇宙空间中的硅酸盐尘粒正受到越来越多的关注．该文详细地介绍了在各种天体环境(星际空间、演化晚期恒星的星周尘埃包层、绕年轻恒星和主序星的星周尘埃盘、彗星的彗发和行星际空间)中的硅酸盐尘粒的观测特征,并分别对其物理和化学性质进行了综合比较．观测已经证实在星际尘埃演化的前身(演化晚期恒星的星周尘埃包层)和其遗迹(彗星)均有可观数量的结晶硅酸盐存在。但是至今还没有在其中间态(弥散星际介质)找到结晶硅酸盐存在的证据。这一尚未解决的难题突出了结晶态硅酸盐在天体物理研究中的重要意义。     

The Origin and Acceleration of ~3He and Heavy Ions in the 2000 July 14 Event

1INTRODUCTIONEnrichment of3He and heavy ions(i.e.,Ne,Mg,Si and Fe),characteristic of impulsive?ares,have beenstudied for more than three decades.It is found that they are generally associated with nonthermal energeticelectron-rich events(Reames et al.1988;Reames1999and references therein;Ho et al.2001;Wang et al.2006)and are related to the peculiar ratio of charge to mass(Mazur et al.1996;Reames1999).Althoughthe abundance of3He ions is not correlated with the abundance of heavy ions,s…     

Particle distributions and X-ray spectra in single or multiple solar current sheets

The acceleration of charged particles in a site of magnetic reconnection is analysed by detailed numerical simulations. Single or multiple encounters of the particles with Harris-type reconnecting current sheets (RCSs) are modelled as an overall stochastic process taking place within an active region. RCS physical parameters are selected in a parameter space relevant to solar flares. Initially, the charged particles form a thermal (Maxwellian) distribution corresponding to coronal temperature  ≃2 × 10⁶ K  . Our main goal is to investigate how the acceleration process changes the shape of the particles' kinetic energy distribution. The evolution of the kinetic energy distribution, calculated numerically after one encounter of the particles with a single RCS, is found to be in good agreement with our previously published analytical formulae. In the case of consecutive encounters, we find that the kinetic distribution tends to converge to a practically invariant form after a relatively small number of encounters. We construct a discrete stochastic process that reproduces the numerical distributions and we provide a theoretical interpretation of the asymptotic convergence of the energy distribution. We finally compute the theoretical X-ray spectra that would be emitted by the simulated particles in a thick target model of radiation.