Cyclotron masers and solar spike bursts

The theory of electron cyclotron maser emission and its application to solar spike bursts are reviewed. By analogy with the Earth's AKR, three sources of free energy are considered: a loss-cone anisotropy, a velocity-space hole, and a trapped distribution. The problem of how the radiation escapes through the second harmonic absorption layer is emphasized. Harmonic emission due to z mode coalescence may operate for some bursts, but the 2–5s delay between hard X-ray bursts and spike bursts suggests that some other mechanisms is required for most spike bursts. A model involving formation of a trapped distribution in low-density regions neighboring the flaring flux tube is considered.     

3D nonlinear wave heating of coronal loops

The heating of solar coronal loops by the resonant absorption or phase-mixing of incident wave energy is investigated in the framework of 3D nonlinear magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) by means of numerical simulations.     

Transition region line-shifts in the rebound shock spicule model

Spectral emission lines created in the solar chromosphere — corona transition region show net red-shifts. It has been proposed that this may be the result of the return of spicular material. We simulate a spicule numerically using the rebound shock model and find that the resulting hydrodynamic evolution leads to a perceived up-flow in transition region spectral lines even though the average velocity in the line forming region is directed downward. The explanation for this apparent paradox is found in the correlation between density and velocity in the waves generated by the rebound shock spicule.     

Radiation risk of the crew members of the expeditions on the "MIR" station during the 22nd solar activity cycle.

The radiation risk at the end of the flight was calculated for the members of the main expeditions on the "Mir" station. It was based on the absorbed dose dynamics data measured by the board dosimeter. The radiation damage models created for standards of the radiation safety of the space flights were used in the calculations. The analysis of the obtained values of the risk and its dynamics for some cosmonauts are presented in the topic. The risk values delta P are close to the limited levels given by equation of delta P = 0.6 x 10 x T(-4), [this equation appears also as delta RHrad = 0.6 x 10(-4) x T later in the text] where T--is flight duration in months.     

Induction of high grade astrocytoma (HGA) by protons: molecular mechanisms and RBE considerations.

Protons of a specific energy, 55 MeV, have been found to induce primary high grade astrocytomas (HGA) in the Rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). Brain tumors of this type were not induced by protons of other energies (32-2,300 MeV). Induction of HGA has been identified in human patients who have had radiation therapy to the head. We believe that the induction of HGA in the monkey is a consequence of dose distribution, not some unique "toxic" property of protons. Comparison of the human experience with the monkey data indicates the RBE for induction of brain tumors to be about one. It is unlikely that protons cause an unusual change in oncogenic expression, as compared to conventional electromagnetic radiation.     

CELSS nutrition system utilizing snails

At the 40th IAF Congress in Malaga, a nutrition system for a lunar base CELSS was presented. A lunar base with a total of eight crew members was envisaged. In this paper, four species of plants--rice, soybean, lettuce and strawberry--were introduced to the system. These plants were sufficient to satisfy fundamental nutritional needs of the crew members. The supply of nutrition from plants and the human nutritional requirements could almost be balanced. Our study revealed that the necessary plant cultivation area per crew member would be nearly 40 m3 in the lunar base. The sources of nutrition considered in the study were energy, sugar, fat, amino acids, inorganic salt and vitamins; however, calcium, vitamin B2, vitamin A and sodium were found to be lacking. Therefore, a subsystem to supply these elements is of considerable value. In this paper, we report on a study for breeding snails and utilizing meat as food. Nutrients supplied from snails are shown to compensate for the above mentioned lacking elements. We evaluate the snail breeder and the associated food supply system as a subsystem of closed ecological life support system.     

A dissection of 30 Doradus and a discussion of other Magellanic Cloud OB associations

I Present the results of ground-based and Hubble Space Telescope photometry and spectroscopy of the stars in the central region (roughly 7×7 arcmin) of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Using photometric data for over 2400 stars (complete toV18 mag), and spectroscopic observations of over 150 stars in the region, the best estimate of the initial mass function (IMF) yields a slope of =–1.5±0.2 for masses > 12M, where the Salpeter slope is =–1.35. I compare these results to other measurements of the IMF for OB associations in the Magellanic Clouds.     

Nonlinear problems of physics of the geomagnetic pulsations

The current state of research involving manifestations of nonlinearity in geomagnetic pulsations is reviewed. Traditionally, the attention of researchers was focused on the effects of resonant interaction of geomagnetic pulsations with small groups of energetic particles, which actually means the study of the quasi-linear relaxation of radiation belt ions, the modulation of auroral electron fluxes, etc. The present review concentrates on the problem of the nonlinear effect influence of pulsations on the backgroud (cold) plasma and on the geomagnetic field. This kind of interaction results in a significant modification of the plasma distribution in the magnetosphere. Self-consistent wave structures—solitons and vortices may occur as well. Such nonlinear effects contribute to physics of geomagnetic pulsations and are also of fundamental importance for general physics. Another set of more narrow problems considered in the review, is related to phenomenological modeling of fluctuational and critical phenomena in the magnetosphere. The essence of our approach is to present the magnetosphere as a black box, whose properties should be determined by the statistical characteristics of its output signals. This approach to phenomenology can be a useful supplement to the methods of microscopic modeling aimed at detecting nonlinear manifestations of geomagnetic pulsations.     

The fundamental parameters of the central stars of eight WR ring nebulae

We describe work that has recently been completed on deriving the fundamental parameters of eight WR stars through the photoionization modelling of their surrounding nebulae using non-LTE WR flux distributions. The resulting effective temperatures range from 57 000–71 000 K for the WN4-5 stars and <30 000–42 000 K for the WN6-8 stars. The derived stellar parameters are compared with those obtained from stellar emission line modelling. We find good agreement for the hot early WN stars, indicating that the non-LTE WR flux distributions have essentially the correct shape in the crucial far-UV region. We find lower temperatures for the four cooler late WN stars, particularly for the two WN6 stars. For the nebulae surrounding these stars, we find that the model flux distributions produce too much nebular ionization. We suggest that these discrepancies arise because of the lack of line-blanketing in the WR atmospheres. For the WO1 central star of G2.4+1.4, with strong nebular He II 4686 A emission, we derive a temperature of 105 000 K, somewhat less than previous estimates. The positions of our eight WR stars on the H-R diagram are compared with the evolutionary tracks of Maeder (1990) for solar metallicity. In common with previous workers, we find that our derived luminosities are too low, giving an initial mass range of 25–40 M, below that expected for the majority of WR stars.