An investigation of small GOES flares with intense hard X-ray bursts

Most solar flare observations show that intense hard X-ray bursts come from large flares that have a large GOES classification (large peak 1 – 8 Å flux). This correlation, known as the “Big Flare Syndrome”, suggests that more intense flares tend to have harder spectra. We have observed 7 flares that are exceptions to this. These flares have small GOES classifications ranging from B1.4 to C5.5 and peak hard X-ray count rates similar to those often observed from M class flares. This paper examines the cause of this anomoly using the Yohkoh Soft X-Ray Telescope, Hard X-Ray Telescope, and Bragg Crystal Spectrometer. Two hypotheses are proposed for the exceptions: (1) flares with multiple magnetic loops and common footpoints, producing multiple hard X-ray emission regions and low density thermal plasma distributed over a large volume, and (2) high densities in the magnetic loops restricting the propagation of the non-thermal electrons in the loop after magnetic reconnection has occurred and suppressing chromospheric evaporation. Two of the flares support the first hypothesis. The other flares either have data missing or are too small to be properly analysed by the Yohkoh instruments.     

Mesospheric doppler wind measurements from Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS)

This paper describes a microwave limb technique for measuring Doppler wind in the Earth’s mesosphere. The research algorithm has been applied to Aura Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) 118.75 GHz measurements where the O₂ Zeeman lines are resolved by a digital autocorrelation spectrometer. A precision of ∼17 m/s for the line-of-sight (LOS) wind is achieved at 80–92 km, which corresponds to radiometric noise during 1/6 s integration time. The LOS winds from Aura MLS are mostly in the meridional direction at low- and mid-latitudes with vertical resolution of ∼8 km. This microwave Doppler technique has potential to obtain useful winds down to ∼40 km of the Earth’s atmosphere if measurements from other MLS frequencies (near H₂O, O₃, and CO lines) are used. Initial analyses show that the MLS winds from the 118.75 GHz measurements agree well with the TIDI (Thermosphere Ionosphere Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics Doppler Interferometer) winds for the perturbations induced by a strong quasi 2-day wave (QTDW) in January 2005. Time series of MLS winds reveal many interesting climatological and planetary wave features, including the diurnal, semidiurnal tides, and the QTDW. Interactions between the tides and the QTDW are clearly evident, indicating possible large tidal structural changes after the QTDW events dissipate.     

Office Information Systems Cost Justification

The purpose of this paper is to present a new methodology for the cost justification of office information systems in engineering environments [1]. The methodology is called the hedonic wage model. It is based on the fact that the allocation of labor resources in an organization tends to conform to certain logical economic criteria. These criteria, along with information on the costs of labor and on how workers spend their time, permit inferences about the organizational values of key activities. The value of an information system can be estimated based on its contribution to the key activities.     

Search for life on Mars: evaluation of techniques.

An important question for exobiology is, did life evolve on Mars? To answer this question, experiments must be conducted on the martian surface. Given current mission constraints on mass, power, and volume, these experiments can only be performed using proposed analytical techniques such as: electron microscopy, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction, alpha-proton backscatter, gamma-ray spectrometry, differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, pyrolysis gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, and specific element detectors. Using prepared test samples consisting of 1% organic matter (bovine serum albumin) in palagonite and a mixture of palagonite, clays, iron oxides, and evaporites, it was determined that a combination of X-ray diffraction and differential thermal analysis coupled with gas chromatography provides the best insight into the chemistry, mineralogy, and geological history of the samples.     

Electron-Ion Temperature Equilibration in Collisionless Shocks: The Supernova Remnant-Solar Wind Connection

Collisionless shocks are loosely defined as shocks where the transition between pre-and post-shock states happens on a length scale much shorter than the collisional mean free path. In the absence of collision to enforce thermal equilibrium post-shock, electrons and ions need not have the same temperatures. While the acceleration of electrons for injection into shock acceleration processes to produce cosmic rays has received considerable attention, the related problem of the shock heating of quasi-thermal electrons has been relatively neglected. In this paper we review the state of our knowledge of electron heating in astrophysical shocks, mainly associated with supernova remnants (SNRs), shocks in the solar wind associated with the terrestrial and Saturnian bowshocks, and galaxy cluster shocks. The solar wind and SNR samples indicate that the ratio of electron temperature, (T _e ) to ion temperature (T _p ) declining with increasing shock speed or Alfvén Mach number. We discuss the extent to which such behavior can be understood on the basis of waves generated by cosmic rays in a shock precursor, which then subsequently damp by heating electrons, and speculate that a similar explanation may work for both solar wind and SNR shocks.     

Bio-markers and the search for extinct life on Mars.

Geologic and climatologic studies suggest that conditions on early Mars were similar to early Earth. Because life on Earth is believed to have originated during this early period (3.5 billion years ago), the Martian environment could have also been conducive to the origin of life. To investigate this possibility we must first define the attributes of an early Martian biota. Then, specific geographic locations on Mars must be chosen where life may have occurred (i.e. areas which had long standing water), and within these distinct locations search for key signatures or bio-markers of a possible extinct Martian biota. Some of the key signatures or bio-markers indicative of past biological activity on Earth may be applicable to Mars including: reduced carbon and nitrogen compounds, CO3(2-), SO4(2-), NO3-, NO2- [correction of NO2(2)], Mg, Mn, Fe, and certain other metals, and the isotopic ratios of C, N and S. However, we must also be able to distinguish abiotic from biologic origins for these bio-markers. For example, abiotically fixed N2 would form deposits of NO3- and NO2-, whereas biological processes would have reduced these to ammonium containing compounds, N2O, or N2, which would then be released to the atmosphere. A fully equipped Mars Rover might be able to perform analyses to measure most of these biomarkers while on the Martian surface.     

The Neupert effect and new RHESSI measures of thetotal energy in electrons accelerated in solar flares

It is believed that a large fraction of the total energy released in a solar flare goes initially into acceleratedelectrons. These electrons generate the observed hard X-ray bremsstrahlung as they lose most of their energy by coulomb collisions in the lower corona and chromosphere. Results from the Solar Maximum Mission showed that there may be even more energy in accelerated electrons with energies above 25 keV than in the soft X-ray emitting thermal plasma. If this is the case, it is difficult to understand why the Neupert Effect — the empirical result that for many flares the time integral of the hard X-ray emission closely matches the temporal variation of the soft X-ray emission — is not more clearly observed in many flares. From recent studies, it appears that the fraction of the released energy going into accelerated electrons is lower, on average, for smaller flares than for larger flares. Also, from relative timing differences, about 25% of all flares are inconsistent with the Neupert Effect. The Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI) is uniquely capable of investigating the Neupert Effec since it covers soft X-rays down to 3 keV (when both attenuators are out of the field of view) and hard X-rays with keV energy resolution, arcsecond-class angular resolution, and sub-second time resolution. When combined with the anticipated observations from the Soft X-ray Imager on the next GOES satellite, these observations will provide us with the ability to track the Neupert Effect in space and time and learn more about the relation between plasma heating and particle acceleration. The early results from RHESSI show that the electron spectrum extends down to as low as 10 keV in many flares, thus increasing the total energy estimates of the accelerated electrons by an order of magnitude or more compared with the SMM values. This combined with the possible effects of filling factors smaller than unity for the soft X-ray plasma suggest that there is significantly more energy in nonthermal electrons than in the soft X-ray emitting plasma in many flares.