Spectroscopic observations of coronal waves and coronal mass ejections

It is common to use imaging instruments such as EUV and X-ray imagers and coronagraphs to study large-scale phenomena such as coronal mass ejections and coronal waves. Although high resolution spectroscopy is generally limited to a small field of view, its importance in understanding global phenomena should not be under-estimated. I will review current spectroscopic observations of large-scale dynamic phenomena such as global coronal waves and coronal mass ejections. The aim is to determine plasma parameters such as flows, temperatures and densities to obtain a physical understanding of these phenomena.     

失重状态下旋转陀螺交互操作的仿真研究

针对在地面难以使用实物进行空间操作任务训练的问题,提出了一种基于人机交互和物理引擎技术的交互操作虚拟仿真方法,并实现了失重状态下旋转陀螺的虚拟操作训练。实现中首先建立航天员和陀螺的三维图形模型和用于碰撞检测的物理模型,并采用虚拟现实设备数据手套和位置跟踪仪实时跟踪获取受训人体的实时运动数据,用于交互控制虚拟航天员的运动,最终通过物理引擎及仿真算法计算失重状态下旋转陀螺的运动状态。结果显示,该方法较好地解决了旋转陀螺定轴特性仿真问题,能够满足虚拟训练的实时性和有效性要求。     

Coronal Mass Ejections

This workshop summary tries to distill the key difficulties and questions in the art of (I)CME physics and strategies to address them. (I)CMEs are multi-dimensional, multi-parameter, and multi-scale phenomena related to the solar dynamo, corona, and heliosphere. This workshop illustrates the immense progress made in describing and modeling these spectacular energetic solar events, but also shows clear shortcomings in our understanding of them.     

Data Grids and High Energy Physics: A Melbourne Perspective

The University of Melbourne, Experimental Particle Physics group recognises that the future of computing is an important issue for the scientific community. It is in the nature of research for the questions posed to become more complex, requiring larger computing resources for each generation of experiment. As institutes and universities around the world increasingly pool their resources and work together to solve these questions, the need arises for more sophisticated computing techniques. One such technique, grid computing, is under investigation by many institutes across many disciplines and is the focus of much development in the computing community. ‘The Grid’, as it is commonly named, is heralded as the future of computing for research, education, and industry alike. This paper will introduce the basic concepts of grid technologies including the Globus toolkit and data grids as of July 2002. It will highlight the challenges faced in developing appropriate resource brokers and schedulers, and will look at the future of grids within high energy physics. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Understanding Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejection Signatures

While interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are understood to be the heliospheric counterparts of CMEs, with signatures undeniably linked to the CME process, the variability of these signatures and questions about mapping to observed CME features raise issues that remain on the cutting edge of ICME research. These issues are discussed in the context of traditional understanding, and recent results using innovative analysis techniques are reviewed.     

The case for massive,evolving winds in black hole X-ray binaries

In the last decade, high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy has revolutionized our understanding of the role of accretion disk winds in black hole X-ray binaries. Here I present a brief review of the state of wind studies in black hole X-ray binaries, focusing on recent arguments that disk winds are not only extremely massive, but also highly variable. I show how new and archival observations at high timing and spectral resolution continue to highlight the intricate links between the inner accretion flow, relativistic jets, and accretion disk winds. Finally, I discuss methods to infer the driving mechanisms of observed disk winds and their implications for connections between mass accretion and ejection processes.     

Testing Modified Newtonian Dynamics with LISA Pathfinder

We suggest that LISA Pathfinder, a technology demonstrator for the future gravitational wave observatory LISA, could be used to carry out a direct experimental test of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). The LISA Pathfinder spacecraft is currently being built and the launch date is just a few years away. No modifications of the spacecraft are required, nor any interference with its nominal mission. The basic concept is to fly LISA Pathfinder through the region around the Sun-Earth saddle point, in an extended mission phase, once the original mission goals are achieved. We examine various strategies to reach the saddle point, and find that the preferred strategy, yielding relatively short transfer times of just over 1 year, probably involves a lunar fly-by. LISA Pathfinder will be able to probe the intermediate MOND regime, i.e. the transition between deep MOND and Newtonian gravity. We present robust estimates of the anomalous gravity gradients that LISA Pathfinder should be exposed to, based on MONDian effects as derived from the Tensor-Vector-Scalar (TeVeS) theory. The spacecraft speed and spatial scale of the MOND signal combine in a way that the spectral signature of the signal falls precisely into LISA Pathfinder’s measurement bandwidth. We find that if the gravity gradiometer on-board the spacecraft achieves its currently predicted sensitivity, these anomalous gradients could not just be detected, but measured in some detail.     

国外空间微重力钟计划及其应用前景

原子钟已经发展到很高的水平,它们在空间科学试验中起着非常重要的作用。文章介绍国外已经建议和正在开展的高精度微重力钟计划,以及它们的应用前景。     

Dark Matter searches with GLAST

The Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), scheduled to be launched in fall 2007, is the next generation satellite for high-energy gamma-ray astronomy. The Large Area Telescope (LAT), GLAST main instrument, with a wide field of view (>2 sr), a large effective area (>8000 cm² at 1 GeV) and 20 MeV–300 GeV energy range, will provide excellent high energy gamma-ray observations for Dark Matter searches. In this paper we examine the potential of the LAT to detect gamma-rays coming from WIMPS annihilation in the context of supersymmetry. As an example, two search regions are investigated: the galactic center and the galactic satellites.