Thermal model and thermo-mechanical stresses in cometary nuclei

Spherically symmetric radial temperature profiles of cometary nuclei have been determined numerically (and for simplified models analytically) in dependence on the orbital position of the periodic comet Halley. These temperature fields in the nucleus are connected with thermal stress fields which have been calculated with the assumption of elastic properties of cometary matter. The remarkable result is the possible existence of stresses, strong enough to cause internal cracking of the nucleus and break-ups of the cometary surface. This may be essential understanding normal cometary activity as well as outbursts and splits.     

Voyager 2 plasma wave observations at Uranus

At Uranus, the Voyager 2 plasma wave investigation observed very significant phenomena related to radio emissions, dust impacts and magnetospheric wave-particle interactions. On January 19, 1986 (R= 270R_U) the plasma wave investigation detected an intense radio burst at 31 and 56 kHz, and this provided the first indication that Uranus had a magnetosphere. During the encounter we observed more of these sporadic bursts, along with relatively continuous radio emissions extending down to 10 kHz, and a sporadic narrowband radio signal with f near 5 kHz. As Voyager passed through the ring plane, the plasma wave investigation recorded a large number of dust impacts. The dust ring was relatively diffuse (thickness of several thousand kilometers) and the peak impact rate was near 50 hits/second. The Voyager 2 plasma wave instrument also detected many strong electromagnetic and electrostatic plasma waves, with intensity peaks in the region within 12 Uranus adii. These waves have characteristics that can interact strongly with the local plasma and with the trapped energetic particles, leading to precipitation into the atmosphere, charged particle acceleration, and charged particle diffusion. In addition we detected strong wave activity in the region of the bow shock and moderate levels in the magnetic tail.     

Solution numérique du problème de Képler

A numerical solution of the Kepler problem. Requiring a six-decimal accuracy, the Kepler problem can be solved with four iterations at most, even for an eccentricity close to 1, provided that a new initial approximation be introduced in this last case.     

Analysis of long duration flares

Yohkoh has observed many long duration events permitting a statistical study of the properties of these interesting events. We have selected ten flares for analysis which have durations between 5 and 20 hours, and size ranging from C to X GOES class. Employing the Soft X-ray Telescope, the Bragg Crystal Spectrometer, GOES spacecraft, and ground-based H data, we examine the morphology, temperature, emission measure, location of the hard X-ray source, non-thermal velocities and upflows of the plasma at different stages in the flare development. Our results are used to address the question of the energy source that maintains the hot plasma at temperatures of several million degrees for many hours.     

Solar maximum mission experiment: Early results of the hard X-ray imaging experiment

We have selected four widely different flares from the early period of operations of the Hard X-Ray Imaging Spectrometer (HXIS) on SMM to illustrate the characteristic imaging properties of this experiment. For the small flare of April 4, 1980, we demonstrate the instrument's capability for locating a compact source. In the weak, but extensive, flare of April 6 we show how well the instrument can display spatial structure, and also the low level of the instrument background. In the 1B flare of April 7 we are able to locate positions of the X-ray emission in the soft and hard channels, and estimate the positional variations of the emission patches. Finally, in the IN flare of April 10, which produced the strongest hard X-ray burst we have seen so far, we repeat some of the studies made for the April 7 event, and also demonstrate the capability of the HXIS instrument to study the development, with high time resolution, of individual 8″ × 8″ elements of the flare.     

Dynamic Effects of Signal Normalizing on Adaptive Algorithms

A method is shown for suppressing the adaptive switching transient that arises in complex adaptive (LMS and stochastic approximation) algorithms due to signal normalization with controlled switched gains. The method involves rescaling of the adaptive weights with the normalizing gains just prior to the first adaptation with the new gains. In addition, an effective method of rescaling the adaptive gain factor based on the maximum eigenvalues of the respective covariance matrices is shown.     

Solutions of the hydromagnetic equation with magnetic null points

Numerical simulations of magnetic reconnection with uniform resistivity show that the length of the current sheet increases for increasing magnetic Reynolds number. In order to prevent the current sheet from growing in general the resistivity is assumed to be localized. For uniform resistivity the reconnection proceeds much slower than for localized resistivity. In this paper analytical solutions of the hydromagnetic equation are presented for localized and uniform resistivity. It is shown that there exists an essential singularity in the behaviour of a solution of magnetic reconnection in the limit of large magnetic Reynolds number: For prescribed boundary conditions the solution for localized resistivity does not approach the solution for uniform resistivity in the limit of large magnetic Reynolds number.     

Effect of gravity on coupled convective and interfacial instabilities during directional solidification

We investigate the role of gravity in a linear stability analysis of the onset of coupled convective and morphological instabilities during directional solidification at constant velocity of a dilute alloy of tin in lead. For solidification vertically upwards, the temperature gradient alone would cause a negative density gradient and the solute gradient alone would cause a positive density gradient. Two types of instability are found, a convective type that occurs for long wavelengths and a morphological type that occurs for short wavelengths. In general, these are coupled but the morphological instabilities are practically independent of gravity and thus correspond to the predictions of previous morphological stability theory in which density changes and convection are neglected. The convective instabilities depend strongly on gravity; for a growth velocity of V = 1 μm/s and a temperature gradient in the liquid of G_L = 200 K/cm, the critical concentrations for convective instabilities are 3.1 × 10^?4, 3.1 × 10^?2 and 2.39 wt. % for g_e = 980 cm/s², 10^?4 g_e and 10^?6 g_e, respectively. For low velocities, the convective instabilities occur at much lower solute concentrations than the morphological instabilities whereas at high velocities, the reverse is true. At intermediate velocities where the changeover takes place, there are oscillitory instabilities of mixed character whose periods range from 60 s at g_e to 6 × 10⁴ s at 10^?6 g_e.     

X-Ray images of the supernova remnant puppis A

Space Science Reviews -     

Observational evidence for the binary model of X-ray bursters

Most, but not all, theoretical models of X-ray bursters require a binary system consisting of a mass donating star and a neutron star. The observational evidence in support of this model, however, is both indirect and meager. We have detected absorption dips in the X-ray spectrum of the Burster MXB 1916-05 with the IPC and the MPC on the Einstein Observatory which occur with a binary period of 2985 seconds. These dips are shown to be the result of a gas stream emanating from a companion star and hence this data represents the first direct evidence of the binary nature of X-ray bursters. Detailed models of the interaction of the gas stream with the accretion disk are presented. A 22nd mag. optical candidate for the system has been found.