High latitude electrodynamics: Observations from S3-2

The high spatial-temporal resolution of instrumentation on the polar-orbiting S3-2 satellite has allowed a wide variety of measurements of the electrodynamic characteristics of both large- and small-scale structures at high latitudes. Analyses of large scale features observed by S3-2 have shown that: (i) The IMF B _ydependence of polar cap convection, first observed in June 1969 by OGO-6 persists in other seasons. During periods of northward IMF B _zextensive regions of sunward convection may be found in the sunlit polar cap. (ii) In the dawn and dusk MLT sectors >90% of the region 1 currents lie equatorward of the convection reversal line. Potentials across the ionospheric projection of the low-latitude boundary layer are typically a few kV. (iii) The location of extra field-aligned currents, near the dayside cusp and poleward of the region 1 current sheet is dependent on the IMF B _ycomponent. (iv) Simultaneous observations by TRIAD and S3-2 show that sheets of field-aligned current extend uniformly for several hours in MLT, but may have an altitude dependence in the 1000–8000 km range. (v) During magnetic storms ionospheric irregularities occur in regions of poleward density gradients and downward field-aligned currents near the equatorward boundary of diffuse auroral precipitation. In the winter polar cap, density irregularities were also found in regions of highly structured electric fields and soft electron precipitation. (vi) During an intense magnetic storm the auroral zone height-integrated Pederson conductivity was calculated to be in the range 10–30 mho and downcoming energetic electron fluxes accounted for between 50% and 70% of the upward Birkeland currents.Analysis of small-scale structures (latitudinal width < 1°), observed by S3-2, have shown that: (i) Intense meridional electric fields (50–250 mV m^-1) generated by charge separation near the inner edge of the plasma sheet drive intense subauroral convection and are associated with field-aligned currents, on the order of 1–2 A m^-2. (ii) Case studies of discrete arcs in the auroral oval have shown that arcs are associated with pairs of small-scale, field-aligned currents embedded in the large-scale region 1/region 2 field-aligned current sheets. The maximum observed field-aligned current was an upward current of 135 A m^-2, confined to a latitudinal width of 2km and carried by field-aligned accelerated electrons. Return (downward) currents associated with arcs are limited to intensities of 10–15 A m^-2. At this limit the ionospheric plasma becomes marginally stable to the onset of ion-cyclotron turbulence. Two instances of plasma vortices, characteristic of auroral curls, have been observed in the region between the paired current sheets. (iii) Sun-aligned arcs in the polar cap are found in a region of negative electric field divergence, embedded in an irregular electric field pattern. The electrons producing the arcs have a temperature of 200 eV and have been accelerated through potential drops of 1 kV along the magnetic field. Return currents may appear on both sides of polar-cap arcs.     

Finite Larmor radius effects in the magnetosphere

This article reviews theories and observations related to effects produced by finite (and large) Larmor radii of charged particles in the magnetosphere. The FLR effects depend on =r _H /L, wherer _H is the Larmor radius andL is the spatial scale for field/plasma inhomogeneity. The parameter is a basic expansion parameter for most equations describing plasma dynamics in the magnetosphere. The FLR effects enter naturally the drift approximation for particle motion and represent also non-ideal MHD terms in the fluid formalism. The linear and higher order terms in lead to charge separation, energization of particles, and produce viscosity without collisions. The FLR effects introduce also important corrections to the dispersion relations for MHD waves and drift instabilities. Expansion of plasma into magnetic field leads to filamentation of the plasma boundary and to creation of structures with thickness less than an ion gyroradius. Large Larmor radius effects (1) in curved magnetic field geometry lead to stochastic behaviour of particle trajectories and to deterministic chaos. The tiny scale of the electron and ion gyroradii does not necessarily mean that FLR/LLR phenomena have negligible effect on the macroscopic dynamics and energetics of the whole magnetosphere. On the contrary, the small scale gyro-effects may provide the physical mechanism for gyroviscous coupling between the solar wind and the magnetosphere, the mechanism for triggering disruption of the magnetotail current layer, and the mechanism for parallel electric field that accelerate auroral particles.     

Field-aligned (Birkeland) currents

Following earlier suggestions of Edmond Halley and Anders Celsius for the magnetic behavior of auroral phenomena, Kristian Birkeland discovered in his polar expeditions of 1902–03 that large-scale electric currents were associated with the aurora. He was also the first to suggest that these currents originated far from earth and that they flowed into the upper polar atmosphere and out of it along magnetic field lines; the existence of such field-aligned currents was widely disputed until satellite and rocket-borne instruments confirmed their permanent existence. The importance of these Birkeland currents to the coupling between the magnetosphere and the polar ionosphere is emphasized by their intensity, which ranges between 10⁶ and 10⁷ amperes, and by the energy which they dissipate in the upper atmosphere, which can exceed by a considerable factor the energy dissipated there by auroral particles. The large- and small-scale average properties of field-aligned currents, determined from spacecraft observations, are reviewed here.     

The FAST Satellite Fields Instrument

We describe the electric field sensors and electric and magnetic field signal processing on the FAST (Fast Auroral SnapshoT) satellite. The FAST satellite was designed to make high time resolution observations of particles and electromagnetic fields in the auroral zone to study small-scale plasma interactions in the auroral acceleration region. The DC and AC electric fields are measured with three-axis dipole antennas with 56 m, 8 m, and 5 m baselines. A three-axis flux-gate magnetometer measures the DC magnetic field and a three-axis search coil measures the AC magnetic field. A central signal processing system receives all signals from the electric and magnetic field sensors. Spectral coverage is from DC to 4 MHz. There are several types of processed data. Survey data are continuous over the auroral zone and have full-orbit coverage for fluxgate magnetometer data. Burst data include a few minutes of a selected region of the auroral zone at the highest time resolution. A subset of the burst data, high speed burst memory data, are waveform data at 2×10⁶ sample s^–1. Electric field and magnetic field data are primarily waveforms and power spectral density as a function of frequency and time. There are also various types of focused data processing, including cross-spectral analysis, fine-frequency plasma wave tracking, high-frequency polarity measurement, and wave-particle correlations.     

The Freja science mission

Freja ^*, a joint Swedish and German scientific satellite launched on october 6 1992, is designed to give high temporal/spatial resolution measurements of auroral plasma characteristics. A high telemetry rate (520 kbits s^–1) and 15 Mbyte distributed on board memories that give on the average 2 Mbits s^–1 for one minute enablesFreja to resolve meso and micro scale phenomena in the 100 m range for particles and 1–10 m range for electric and magnetic fields. The on-board UV imager resolve auroral structures of kilometer size with a time resolution of one image per 6 s. Novel plasma instruments giveFreja the capability to increase the spatial/temporal resolution orders of magnitudes above that achieved on satellites before. The scientific objective ofFreja is to study the interaction between the hot magnetospheric plasma with the topside atmosphere/ionosphere. This interaction leads to a strong energization of magnetospheric and ionospheric plasma and an associated erosion, and loss, of matter from the Terrestrial exosphere.Freja orbits with an altitude of 600–1750 km, thus covering the lower part of the auroral acceleration region. This altitude range hosts processes that heat and energize the ionospheric plasma above the auroral zone, leading to the escape of ionospheric plasma and the formation of large density cavities.     

Time variation of the pulse period of Vela X-1

X-ray pulsar Vela X-l was observed with the X-ray astronomy satellite HAKUCHO in five occasions between March 1979 and March 1981. An increase of the pulsation period at an average rate of P/P 3.0 × 10^–4 yr^–1 was observed over the time span of two years. Besides, variations of the pulse period in the time scale of 10 days were resolved in superposition on the secular spin-down trend. The observed rate of change P - 3 × 10^–8, for both spin-up and spin-down, is an order of magnitude greater than the secular spin-down rate.     

Electron coronal density irregularity\overline {n^2 } /(\bar n)^2 from measurements of K-coronal and lyman lines brightnesses

We propose a technique to derive the coronal density irregularity factor , wheren is the electron density. The absolute photometric comparison between the intensity of UV lines and the white-light K-coronal polarized brightness (pB) provides an unique constraint on the inhomogeneity of the corona. The ratio of the measured H I Lyman (Ly-) line intensity to the resonant-scattering dominated H I Lyman (Ly-) intensity can be used to extract the collisonal component of the Ly-. This component yields an estimate of . The quantity is then obtained from white-light K-coronal measurements. The use of lines of the same atomic species minimizes the effects due to outflow velocities (i.e., Doppler dimming), and reduces the errors introduced by the uncertainties in the ionization balance, the atomic parameters, and the solar abundances. The UVCS/SOHO unique capability of performing cotemporal and cospatial measurements of the Ly- and Ly- lines, and ofpB makes this instrument ideal for implementing this technique.     

A spectroscopic method for measuring turbulence in QSO Lyα forest clouds

The effects of a finite correlation length of a turbulent velocity field on the line formation process are considered for hydrogen absorption lines observed in quasar spectra. It is shown that both thermal and large-scale stochastic motions with a finite correlation length (0<l<) lead in general tosmaller equivalent widths of hydrogen lines than in the case when macroscopic motions are assumed to be completely uncorrelated (l0). Different influence of this effect on optically thin and thick absorption lines allows us to measure eventually turbulent characteristics of the gas in the Ly forest clouds. It is emphasized that possible measurements of the deuterium abundance in the early Universe could yield systematically higher ratios of D/H if the finite-correlation-length effects are ignored.     

Cyg X-3 not seen at high-energy gamma rays

The ESA satellite COS-B viewed the Cyg-X region 7 times between November 1975 and March 1982. A search for periodic gamma-ray emission (E > 70 MeV) from Cyg X-3 at the characteristic 4.8 h period did not reveal the source. Combining all observations, the 2 upperlimit (E > 70 MeV) on the flux for the phase interval in which X-ray emission has been detected is 1.0 × 10^-6 ph cm^-2 s^-1 and for the phase intervals in which ultra-high-energy (E 500 GeV) gamma-ray emission has been reported 1.0 × 10^-7 ph cm^-2 s^-1. This is about one and two orders of magnitude, repectively, below the flux reported earlier by the SAS-2 team. A comparison of the spatial gamma-ray distribution in the Cyg-X region measured by SAS-2 and COS-B with the total-interstellar-gas distribution leads to the conclusion that in both cases, COS-B and SAS-2, no source has been detected at the position of Cyg X-3 in addition to the diffuse gamma-ray emission expected from the total-gas distribution.The Caravane Collaboration for the COS-B satellite: Laboratory for Space Research Leiden, Leiden, The Netherlands Istituto di Fisica Cosmica del CNR, Milano, Italy Istituto di Fisica Cosmica e Informatica del CNR, Palermo, Italy Max Planck Institut für Physik und Astrophysik, Institut für Extraterrestrische Physik, Garching-bei-München, Germany Service d'Astrophysique, Centre d'Etudes Nucléaires de Saclay, France Space Science Department of the European Space Agency, ESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands.     

Magnetic field experiment on the Freja satellite

Freja is a Swedish scientific satellite mission to study fine scale auroral processes. Launch was October 6, 1992, piggyback on a Chinese Long March 2C, to the present 600×1750 km, 63° inclination orbit. The JHU/APL provided the Magnetic Field Experiment (MFE), which includes a custom APL-designed Forth, language microprocessor. This approach has led to a truly generic and flexible design with adaptability to differing mission requirements and has resulted in the transfer of significant ground analysis to on-board processing. Special attention has been paid to the analog electronic and digital processing design in an effort to lower system noise levels, verified by inflight data showing unprecedented system noise levels for near-Earth magnetic field measurements, approaching the fluxgate sensor levels. The full dynamic range measurements are of the 3-axis Earth's magnetic field taken at 128 vector samples s^–1 and digitized to 16 bit, resolution, primarily used to evaluate currents and the main magnetic field of the Earth. Additional 3-axis AC channels are bandpass filtered from 1.5 to 128 Hz to remove the main field spin signal, the range is±650 nT. These vector measurements cover Pc waves to ion gyrofrequency magnetic wave signals up to the oxygen gyrofrequency (40 Hz). A separate, seventh channel samples the spin axis sensor with a bandpass filter of 1.5 to 256 Hz, the signal of which is fed to a software FFT. This on-board FFT processing covers the local helium gyrofrequencies (160 Hz) and is plotted in the Freja Summary Plots (FSPs) along with disturbance fields. First data were received in the U.S. October 16 from Kiruna, Sweden via the Internet and SPAN e-mail networks, and were from an orbit a few hours earlier over Greenland and Sweden. Data files and data products, e.g., FSPs generated at the Kiruna ground station, are communicated in a similar manner through an automatic mail distribution system in Stockholm to PIs and various users. Distributed management of spacecraft operations by the science team is also achieved by this advanced communications system.An exciting new discovery of the field-aligned current systems is the high frequency wave power or structure associated with the various large-scale currents. The spin axis AC data and its standard deviation is a measure of this high-frequency component of the Birkeland current regions. The exact response of these channels and filters as well as the physics behind these wave and/or fine-scale current structures accompanying the large-scale currents is being pursued; nevertheless, the association is clear and the results are used for the MFE Birkeland current monitor calculated in the MFE microprocessor. This monitor then sets a trigger when it is greater than a commandable, preset threshold. This event flag can be read by the system unit and used to remotely command all instruments into burst mode data taking and local memory storage. In addition,Freja is equipped with a 400 MHz Low Speed Link transmitter which transmits spacecraft hcusekeeping that can be received with a low cost, portable receiver. These housekeeping data include the MFE auroral zone current detector; this space weather information indicates the location and strength of ionospheric current systems that directly impact communications, power systems, long distance telephone lines and near-Earth satellite operations. The JHU/APL MFE is a joint effort with NASA/GSFC and was co-sponsored by the Office of Naval Research and NASA/Headquarters in cooperation with the Swedish National Space Board and the Swedish Space Corporation.Freja Magnetic Field Experiment Team     

Determination of the characteristics of the gamma-ray telescope Gamma-1

The Gamma-1 telescope has been developed through a collaboration of scientists in the USSR and France in order to conduct -ray astronomical observations within the energy range from 50 to 5000 MeV. The major characteristics of the telescope were established by Monte-Carlo simulations and calibrations made with the aid of electron and tagged -ray beams produced by an accelerator, and these have been found to be as follows: the effective area for photons coming along the instrument's axis varies from about 50 cm² at E = 50 MeV to approximately 230 cm² at E 300 MeV; the angular resolution (half opening of the cone embracing 68% events) is equal to 2.7° at E = 100 MeV, and 1.8° at E = 300 MeV; the energy resolution (FWHM) varies from 70% to 35% as the energy of the detected photons increases from 100 to 550 MeV; the telescope's field-of-view at the half-sensitivity level is 300–450 square degrees depending upon the spectrum of the detected radiation, and the event selection logic. Proceeding from the thus obtained characteristics it is demonstrated that a point source producing a photon flux J (E 100 MeV) = 3 × 10^-7 cm^-2 s^-1, can be detected with a 5 significance by observing it during 10⁶ s at the level of the Cygnus background, and a source having intensity J (E 100 MeV) = 10^-6 cm^-2 s^-1 can be detected to within a mean square positional accuracy of about 15.     

LISM structure — Fragmented superbubble shell?

Small scale structure in local interstellar matter (LISM) is considered. Overall morphology of the local cloud complex is inferred from Ca II absorption lines and observations of H I in white dwarf stars. Clouds with column densities ranging from 2–100 × 10¹⁷ cm^–2 are found within 20 pc of the Sun. Cold (50 K) dense (10⁵ cm^–3) small (5–10 au) clouds could be embedded and currently undetected in the upwind gas. The Sun appears to be embedded in a filament of gas with thickness 0.7 pc, and cross-wise column density 2 × 10¹⁷ cm^–2. The local magnetic field direction is parallel to the filament, suggesting that the physical process causing the filamentation is MHD related. Enhanced abundances of refractory elements and LISM kinematics indicate outflowing gas from the Scorpius-Centaurus Association. The local flow vector and Sco data are consistent with a 4,000,000 year old superbubble shell at –22 km s^–1, which is a shock front passing through preshock gas at –12 km s^–1, and yielding cooled postshock gas at –26 km s^–1in the upwind direction. A preshock magnetic field strength of 1.6 G, and postshock field strength of 5.2 G embedded in the superbubble shell, are consistent with the data.Abbreviations LISM Local ISM - SIC Surrounding Interstellar Cloud - LIC Local Interstellar Cloud     

Fast Dust in the Heliosphere

The dynamics of dust particles in the solar system is dominated by solar gravity, by solar radiation pressure, or by electromagnetic interaction of charged dust grains with the interplanetary magnetic field. For micron-sized or bigger dust particles solar gravity leads to speeds of about 30 to 40 km s^–1 at the Earths distance. Smaller particles that are generated close to the Sun and for which radiation pressure is dominant (the ratio of radiation pressure force over gravity F _rad/F _grav is generally termed ) are driven out of the solar system on hyperbolic orbits. Such a flow of -meteoroids has been observed by the Pioneer 8, 9 and Ulysses spaceprobes. Dust particles in interplanetary space are electrically charged to typically +5 V by the photo effect from solar UV radiation. The dust detector on Cassini for the first time measured the dust charge directly. The dynamics of dust particles smaller than about 0.1 m is dominated by the electromagnetic interaction with the ambient magnetic field. Effects of the solar wind magnetic field on interstellar grains passing through the solar system have been observed. Nanometer sized dust stream particles have been found which were accelerated by Jupiters magnetic field to speeds of about 300 km s^–1.     

Ureilites

Ureilites are a rare group of five stony meteorites — feldsparless achondrites containing diamonds of preterrestrial origin the total weight of them being 315 carats. The whole carbon content in ureilites makes up 1.5–4.1%. Ureilites substantially differ from the other stony meteorites. In comparison with chondrites they are enriched in Mg but depleted in metal, troilite, alkaline elements. All ureilites are very similar by their structure. They contain elongated cavities generally stretched in the same direction. The structure of ureilites is an achondritic porphyric one. These meteorites consist of large olivine grains, there is less clinopyroxene (pigeonite). They contain kamacite (Ni content being 1.5–4%), troilite FeS, chromite. Carbon material is represented by diamond, graphite and organic material being present in a disequilibrium state. Two ureilites (North Haig and Dingo Pup Donga) were considerably oxidized during terrestrial weathering and contain secondary iron oxides.Diamonds are present in ureilites in thin intergrowths with graphite being disposed between silicate grains more or less evenly in the meteorite. The sizes of such black diamond-graphite aggregates are 0.3–0.9 mm. The sizes of the micromonocrystals of diamond and graphite are less than 1. The diamond-graphite aggregates contain dispersed particles of kamacite, troilite, chromite, nickelchrome, being present in very thin intergrowths with one another. Besides the usual diamond there is an admixture of lonsdaleite in the aggregates representing a hexagonal diamond with a würtzite-like structure. Lonsdaleite has been identified in the ureilites Novo Urei, Goalpara, North Haig. The diamonds of ureilites are characterized by inhomogeneities in the crystalline structure which are at least partly caused by the presence of donor nitrogen. According to the isotopic carbon composition the diamond in the meteorite Novo Urei has the value C¹³ = -5.7.The structure peculiarities of ureilites bear witness of the fact that these meteorites had been subject to the action of dynamic pressure about 300–600 kbar. The impact had taken place in cosmic space. All ureilites subdivide into two types: the first type are Novo Urei, Dyalpur, Dingo Pup Donga, the second type are Goalpara, North Haig according to the following signs: (1) olivine grains are finer in ureilites of the second type; (2) twinning is more typical of clinopyroxenes of ureilites belonging to the first type; (3) in ureilites of the first type a net-like iron distribution is observed, in ureilites of the second type kamacite plates are chiefly present between silicate grains; (4) the size of diamondgraphite intergrowths in ureilites of the first type does not exceed 0.3 mm, in ureilites of the second type it reaches 0.9 mm. Ureilites of the first type have undergone a less intensive impact than ureilites of the second type. Certain similarity of the material composition of ureilites and of the material composition of carbonaceous chondrites, the distinction of these two groups of meteorites from all other meteorites bear witness of the fact that ureilites have formed from carbonaceous chondrites during a collision of asteroid bodies in cosmic space, diamonds having been formed from the carbon material of carbonaceous chondrites.     

Observations of loops and prominences

We review recent observations by the Yohkoh-SXT in collaboration with other spacecraft and ground-based observatories of coronal loops and prominences. These new results point to problems that SoHO will be able to address. With a unique combination of rapid-cadence digital imaging (32 s full-disk and 2 s partial-frame images), high spatial resolution (2.5 arcsec pixels), high sensitivity (EM 10⁴² cm^–3), a low-scatter mirror, and large dynamic range, SXT can observe a vast range of targets on the Sun. Over the first 21 months of Yohkoh operations, SXT has taken over one million images of the corona and so is building up an invaluable long-term database on the large-scale corona and loop geometry. The most striking thing about the SXT images is the range of loop sizes and shapes. The active regions are a bright tangle of magnetic field lines, surrounded by a network of large-scale quiet-Sun loops stretching over distances in excess of 10⁵ km. The cross-section of most loops seems to be constant. Loops displaying significant increase in the ratio of the footpoint to loop-top diameter () are the exception, not the rule, implying the presence of widespread currents in the corona.All magnetic structures show changes. Time scales range from seconds to months. The question of how these structures are formed, become filled with hot plasma, and are maintained is still open. While we see the propagation of brightenings along the length of active-region loops and in X-ray jets with velocities of several hundred km/s, much higher velocities are seen in the quiet Sun. In XBP flares, for example, velocities of over 1000 km/s are common. Active-region loops seem to be in constant motion, moving slowly outward, carrying plasma with them. During flares, loops often produce localized brightenings at the base and later at the apex of the loop. Quiescent filaments and prominences have been observed regularly. Their coronal manifestation seems to be an extended arcade of loops overlying the filament. Reliable alignment of the ground-based data with the X-ray images make it possible to make a detailed intercomparison of the hot and cold plasma structures over extended periods. Hence we are able to follow the long-term evolution of these structures and see how they become destabilized and erupt.     

A New Mechanism of Coronal Heating

The interaction between network magnetic fields and emerging intranetwork fields may lead to magnetic reconnection and microflares, which generate fast shocks with an Alfvén Mach number M _A<2. Protons and less abundant ions in the solar corona are then heated and accelerated by fast shocks. Our study of shock heating shows that (a) the nearly nondeflection of ion motion across the shock ramp leads to a large perpendicular thermal velocity (v _th), which is an increasing function of the mass/charge ratio; (b) the heating by subcritical shocks with 1.1 M_A 1.5 leads to a large temperature anisotropy with T/T 50 for O⁵⁺ ions and a mild anisotropy with T_/T 1.2 for protons; (c) the large perpendicular thermal velocity of He⁺⁺ and O⁵⁺ ions can be converted to the radial outflow velocity (u) in the divergent coronal field lines; and (d) the heating and acceleration by shocks with 1.1 M_A 1.5 can lead to u(O⁵⁺) v _th(O⁵⁺) 460 km s^–1 for O⁵⁺ ions, u(He⁺⁺) v _th(He⁺⁺) 360 km s^–1 for He⁺⁺ ions, and u(H⁺) v _th(H⁺) 240 km s^–1 for protons at r=3–4 R . Our results can explain recent SOHO observations of the heating and acceleration of protons and heavier ions in the solar corona.     

Hydra — A 3-dimensional electron and ion hot plasma instrument for the POLAR spacecraft of the GGS mission

HYDRA is an experimental hot plasma investigation for the POLAR spacecraft of the GGS program. A consortium of institutions has designed a suite of particle analyzers that sample the velocity space of electron and ions between 2 keV/q – 35 keV/q in three dimensions, with a routine time resolution of 0.5 s. Routine coverage of velocity space will be accomplished with an angular homogeneity assumption of 16°, appropriate for subsonic plasmas, but with special 1.5° resolution for electrons with energies between 100 eV and 10 keV along and opposed to the local magnetic field. This instrument produces 4.9 kilobits s^–1 to the telemetry, consumes on average 14 W and requires 18.7 kg for deployment including its internal shielding. The scientific objectives for the polar magnetosphere fall into four broad categories: (1) those to define the ambient kinetic regimes of ions and electrons; (2) those to elucidate the magnetohydrodynamic responses in these regimes; (3) those to assess the particle populations with high time resolution; and (4) those to determine the global topology of the magnetic field. In thefirst group are issues of identifying the origins of particles at high magnetic latitudes, their energization, the altitude dependence of the forces, including parallel electric fields they have traversed. In thesecond group are the physics of the fluid flows, regimes of current, and plasma depletion zones during quiescent and disturbed magnetic conditions. In thethird group is the exploration of the processes that accompany the rapid time variations known to occur in the auroral zone, cusp and entry layers as they affect the flow of mass, momentum and energy in the auroral region. In thefourth class of objectives are studies in conjunction with the SWE measurements of the Strahl in the solar wind that exploit the small gyroradius of thermal electrons to detect those magnetic field lines that penetrate the auroral region that are directly open to interplanetary space where, for example, the Polar Rain is observed.     

Dark quark `stars': do they matter for Ωmatter?

The structure of a spherically symmetric stable dark `star' is discussed, at zero temperature, containing 1) a core of quarks in the deconfined phase and antileptons 2) a shell of hadrons in particular n, p, and <sup>–</sup> and leptons or antileptons and 3) a shell of hydrogen in the superfluid phase. If the superfluid hydrogen phase goes over into the electromagnetic plasma phase at densities well below one atom (10 fm)<sup>3</sup>, as is usually assumed, the hydrogen shell is insignificant for the mass and the radius of the `star'. These quantities are then determined approximatively: mass = 1.8 solar masses, radius = 9.2 km.     

Reception of the NKL (Jim Creek) transmitter onboard GEOS-1

At the beginning of the GEOS lifetime, some attempts have been made for taking advantage of the passes over Alaska. GEOS was then commanded in a fixed mode and the corresponding telemetry data were recorded at the NASA stations. For two passes over Jim Creek (48°2N–121°9W) where a powerful VLF transmitter (f ₀ = 18.6 kHz) is located, GEOS was put in a specific mode in order to study the magnetospheric electromagnetic field in the vicinity of f ₀. The results of one pass (June 11, from 0755 UT) are presented here.During this pass, a strong enhancement of all the e.m. components at f ₀ has been observed for a specific period of time, when GEOS was very near to the exact conjugacy with NKL. The distance, as measured on the ground, over which the signal was above -6 dB from the maximum is of the order of 800 km. During the corresponding period of time (0740–0750 UT), the satellite altitude varied between 8000 and 6000 km. The magnetospheric region where the signal is strong appears to be structured, as if there were many ducts.Preliminary results concerning the polarization characteristics of the signal are presented. In the absence of precise measurements of these characteristics, the comparison between the electric and magnetic components of the received signal is not easy to interpret. An examination of the onboard computed correlograms (in the frequency range from f ₀ -0.6 kHz to f ₀ +3.3 kHz) shows that, for this pass, no VLF emissions were triggered by NKL, at the altitude of the satellite.     

Observability of magnetically strongly shifted iron line emission from X-ray pulsars

As an application of our extensive calculations of energies and intensities of atomic lines in very intense magnetic fields of the order of 10¹¹-10¹³ G we discuss the possibility of observing magnetically strongly shifted iron lines in the spectra of pulsating X-ray sources. Careful estimates of the relevant parameters lead us to the conclusion that it would be profitable to look for magnetically shifted iron line enission in magnetic neutron stars of low luminosity using spectrometers working in the energy range 10 – 100 keV with sensitivities of 10^–4 cm^–2 s^–1 and energy resolutions E/E 10 – 100.This work was supported in part by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).