Simulation study of motion of charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetosphere

This article aims to understand the motion of the charged particles trapped in the Earth’s inner magnetosphere. The emphasis is on identifying the numerical scheme, which is appropriate to characterize the trajectories of the charged particles of different energies that enter the Earth’s magnetosphere and get trap along the magnetic field lines. These particles perform three different periodic motions, namely: gyration, bounce, and azimuthal drift. However, often, the gyration of the particle is ignored, and only the guiding center of the particle is traced to reduce the computational time. It is because the simulation of all three motions (gyro, bounce, and drift) together needed a robust numerical scheme, which has less numerical dissipation. We have developed a three-dimensional test particle simulation model in which the relativistic equation of motion is solved numerically using the fourth and sixth-order Runge-Kutta methods. The stability of the simulation model is verified by checking the conservation of total kinetic energy and adiabatic invariants linked with each type of motion. We found that the sixth-order Runge-Kutta method is suitable to trace the complete trajectories of both proton and electron of a wide energy range, 5 keV to 250 MeV for L = 2 – 6. We have estimated the bounce and drift periods from the simulations, and they are found to be in good agreement with the theory. The study implies that a simulation model with sixth-order Runge-Kutta method can be applied to the time-vary, non-analytical form of magnetic configuration in future studies to understand the dynamics of charged particles trapped in Earth’s magnetosphere.     

Reciprocal radar waveforms

Digitally coded radar waveforms can be used to obtain large time-bandwidth products (pulse compression ratios). It is demonstrated that periodic radar waveforms with zero sidelobes or almost zero sidelobes can be defined. A perfect periodic code is a periodic code whose autocorrelation function has zero sidelobes and whose amplitude is uniform (maximum power efficiency=1). An asymptotically perfect periodic code has the property that as the number of elements in the code goes to infinity the autocorrelation function of the code has zero sidelobes and its power efficiency is one. The authors introduce a class of radar waveforms that are either perfect or asymptotically perfect codes. These are called reciprocal codes because they can be derived through a linear transformation of known codes. The aperiodic performance of the reciprocal code is examined     

High resolution X-ray spectrum of AM Her

We present the analysis of archival Chandra high resolution X-ray spectra of AM Her. Emission lines from several hydrogen-like ions, helium-like ions, Fe-L shell transitions and Fe-K fluorescent are identified. Using the resonance, intercombination and forbidden lines of the few prominent helium-like ions, we infer a density greater than 2 × 10¹² cm⁻³ and a temperature of 2 MK for the oxygen and neon line emitting regions in the accretion column of AM Her.     

Statistical properties of the most powerful solar and heliospheric disturbances

We present and discuss here the first version of a data base of extreme solar and heliospheric events. The data base contains now 87 extreme events mostly since 1940. An event is classified as extreme if one of the three critical parameters passed a lower limit. The critical parameters were the X-ray flux (parameter R), solar proton flux (parameter S) and geomagnetic disturbance level (parameter G). We find that the five strongest extreme events based on four variables (X-rays SEP, Dst, Ap) are completely separate except for the October 2003 event which is one the five most extreme events according to SEP, Dst and Ap. This underlines the special character of the October 2003 event, making it unique within 35 years. We also find that the events based on R and G are rather separate, indicating that the location of even extreme flares on the solar disk is important for geomagnetic effects. We also find that S = 3 events are not extreme in the same sense as R > 3 and G > 3 events, while S = 5 events are missing so far. This suggests that it might be useful to rescale the classification of SEP fluxes.     

Physics of Electric Discharges in Atmospheric Gases: An Informal Introduction

A short account of the physics of electrical discharges in gases is given from the viewpoint of its historical evolution and application to planetary atmospheres. As such it serves as an introduction to the papers on particular aspects of electric discharges contained in this issue, in particular in the chapters on lightning and the discharges which in the last two decades have been observed to take place in Earth’s upper atmosphere. In addition to briefly reviewing the early history of gas discharge physics we discuss the main parameters affecting atmospheric discharges like collision frequency, mean free path and critical electric field strength. Any discharge current in the atmosphere is clearly carried only by electrons. Above the lower boundary of the mesosphere the electrons must be considered magnetized with the conductivity becoming a tensor. Moreover, the collisional mean free path in the upper atmosphere becomes relatively large which lowers the critical electric field there and more easily enables discharges than at lower altitudes. Finally we briefly mention the importance of such discharges as sources for wave emission.     

High energy radiation from the direction of the galactic black hole Sgr A

X-ray observations indicate that the Galactic black hole Sgr A^∗ is inactive now, however, we suggest that Sgr A^∗ can become active when a captured star is tidally disrupted and matter is accreted into the black hole. Consequently the Galactic black hole could be a powerful source of relativistic protons with a characteristic energy ∼10⁵² erg per capture. The diffuse GeV and TeV γ-rays emitted in the direction of the Galactic Center (GC) are the direct consequences of p–p collisions of such relativistic protons ejected by very recent capture events occurred ?10⁵ yr ago. On the other hand, the extended electron-positron annihilation line emission observed from GC is a phenomenon related to a large population of thermalized positrons, which are produced, cooled down and accumulated through hundreds of past capture events during a period of ∼10⁷ yr. In addition to explaining GeV, TeV and 511 keV annihilation emissions we also estimate the photon flux of several MeV resulting from in-flight annihilation process.     

发挥员工最大潜能 迎接21世纪优质服务的挑战(英文)

每一个机构中,员工的潜能往往被经理们所低估。如何达到公司经营的最高目标及有效地面对剧烈竞争的工商业世界,我们一定要帮助员工在机构内发挥他们最大的潜能,最后使员工及顾客均满意。怎样了解及发挥员工的内在潜能是２１世纪最有效的员工管理策略,要使员工及顾客都满意,一定要知道怎样去激发员工最大潜能,并不断学习新的文化及有效地奖励员工。