Exospheres and Energetic Neutral Atoms of Mars, Venus and Titan

Our understanding of the upper atmosphere of unmagnetized bodies such as Mars, Venus and Titan has improved significantly in this decade. Recent observations by in situ and remote sensing instruments on board Mars Express, Venus Express and Cassini have revealed characteristics of the neutral upper atmospheres (exospheres) and of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). The ENA environment in the vicinity of the bodies is by itself a significant study field, but ENAs are also used as a diagnostic tool for the exosphere and the interaction with the upstream plasmas. Synergy between theoretical and modeling work has also improved considerably. In this review, we summarize the recent progress of our understanding of the neutral environment in the vicinity of unmagnetized planets.     

Magnetic Fields, Relativistic Particles, and Shock Waves in Cluster Outskirts

It is only now, with low-frequency radio telescopes, long exposures with high-resolution X-ray satellites and γ-ray telescopes, that we are beginning to learn about the physics in the periphery of galaxy clusters. In the coming years, Sunyaev-Zel’dovich telescopes are going to deliver further great insights into the plasma physics of these special regions in the Universe. The last years have already shown tremendous progress with detections of shocks, estimates of magnetic field strengths and constraints on the particle acceleration efficiency. X-ray observations have revealed shock fronts in cluster outskirts which have allowed inferences about the microphysical structure of shocks fronts in such extreme environments. The best indications for magnetic fields and relativistic particles in cluster outskirts come from observations of so-called radio relics, which are megaparsec-sized regions of radio emission from the edges of galaxy clusters. As these are difficult to detect due to their low surface brightness, only few of these objects are known. But they have provided unprecedented evidence for the acceleration of relativistic particles at shock fronts and the existence of μG strength fields as far out as the virial radius of clusters. In this review we summarise the observational and theoretical state of our knowledge of magnetic fields, relativistic particles and shocks in cluster outskirts.     

Calculation of the Initial Magnetic Field for Mercury’s Magnetosphere Hybrid Model

Several types of numerical models are used to analyze the interactions of the solar wind flow with Mercury’s magnetosphere, including kinetic models that determine magnetic and electric fields based on the spatial distribution of charges and currents, magnetohydrodynamic models that describe plasma as a conductive liquid, and hybrid models that describe ions kinetically in collisionless mode and represent electrons as a massless neutralizing liquid. The structure of resulting solutions is determined not only by the chosen set of equations that govern the behavior of plasma, but also by the initial and boundary conditions; i.e., their effects are not limited to the amount of computational work required to achieve a quasi-stationary solution. In this work, we have proposed using the magnetic field computed by the paraboloid model of Mercury’s magnetosphere as the initial condition for subsequent hybrid modeling. The results of the model have been compared to measurements performed by the Messenger spacecraft during a single crossing of the magnetosheath and the magnetosphere. The selected orbit lies in the terminator plane, which allows us to observe two crossings of the bow shock and the magnetopause. In our calculations, we have defined the initial parameters of the global magnetospheric current systems in a way that allows us to minimize paraboloid magnetic field deviation along the trajectory of the Messenger from the experimental data. We have shown that the optimal initial field parameters include setting the penetration of a partial interplanetary magnetic field into the magnetosphere with a penetration coefficient of 0.2.     

A Review of Low Frequency Electromagnetic Wave Phenomena Related to Tropospheric-Ionospheric Coupling Mechanisms

Investigation of coupling mechanisms between the troposphere and the ionosphere requires a multidisciplinary approach involving several branches of atmospheric sciences, from meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, and fulminology to aeronomy, plasma physics, and space weather. In this work, we review low frequency electromagnetic wave observations in the Earth-ionosphere cavity from a troposphere-ionosphere coupling perspective. We discuss electromagnetic wave generation, propagation, and resonance phenomena, considering atmospheric, ionospheric and magnetospheric sources, from lightning and transient luminous events at low altitude to Alfvén waves and particle precipitation related to solar and magnetospheric processes. We review ionospheric processes as well as surface and space weather phenomena that drive the coupling between the troposphere and the ionosphere. Effects of aerosols, water vapor distribution, thermodynamic parameters, and cloud charge separation and electrification processes on atmospheric electricity and electromagnetic waves are reviewed. Regarding the role of the lower boundary of the cavity, we review transient surface phenomena, including seismic activity, earthquakes, volcanic processes and dust electrification. The role of surface perturbations and atmospheric gravity waves in ionospheric dynamics is also briefly addressed. We summarize analytical and numerical tools and techniques to model low frequency electromagnetic wave propagation and to solve inverse problems and outline in a final section a few challenging subjects that are important to advance our understanding of tropospheric-ionospheric coupling.     

ARTEMIS Science Objectives

NASA??s two spacecraft ARTEMIS mission will address both heliospheric and planetary research questions, first while in orbit about the Earth with the Moon and subsequently while in orbit about the Moon. Heliospheric topics include the structure of the Earth??s magnetotail; reconnection, particle acceleration, and turbulence in the Earth??s magnetosphere, at the bow shock, and in the solar wind; and the formation and structure of the lunar wake. Planetary topics include the lunar exosphere and its relationship to the composition of the lunar surface, the effects of electric fields on dust in the exosphere, internal structure of the Moon, and the lunar crustal magnetic field. This paper describes the expected contributions of ARTEMIS to these baseline scientific objectives.     

Direct observation of charge state abundances of energetic He,C, O,and Fe emitted in solar flares

The ionic charge states of helium, carbon, oxygen, and iron have been determined for three solar particle enhancements by an electrostatic deflection analyzer, which is combined with a thin window proportional counter dE/dX vs. E system. The observations are obtained during the periods September 23 to 29, 1978, June 6 to 8, 1979, and September 15 to 26, 1979, with an instrument onboard the ISEE-3 spacecraft. The mean ionic charge states for He, C, and oxygen exhibit a high degree of ionization with values of Q = 2, 6, and 7.2, respectively. The charge state of iron is near 13 charge units. Variations from flare to flare and within the September 23, 1978 flare are small. The most surprising feature of the charge state measurement is the observation of a small (～10%) but finite contribution of singly ionized helium.     

Turbulence, Magnetic Reconnection in Turbulent Fluids and Energetic Particle Acceleration

Turbulence is ubiquitous in astrophysics. It radically changes many astrophysical phenomena, in particular, the propagation and acceleration of cosmic rays. We present the modern understanding of compressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence, in particular its decomposition into Alfvén, slow and fast modes, discuss the density structure of turbulent subsonic and supersonic media, as well as other relevant regimes of astrophysical turbulence. All this information is essential for understanding the energetic particle acceleration that we discuss further in the review. For instance, we show how fast and slow modes accelerate energetic particles through the second order Fermi acceleration, while density fluctuations generate magnetic fields in pre-shock regions enabling the first order Fermi acceleration of high energy cosmic rays. Very importantly, however, the first order Fermi cosmic ray acceleration is also possible in sites of magnetic reconnection. In the presence of turbulence this reconnection gets fast and we present numerical evidence supporting the predictions of the Lazarian and Vishniac (Astrophys. J. 517:700–718, 1999) model of fast reconnection. The efficiency of this process suggests that magnetic reconnection can release substantial amounts of energy in short periods of time. As the particle tracing numerical simulations show that the particles can be efficiently accelerated during the reconnection, we argue that the process of magnetic reconnection may be much more important for particle acceleration than it is currently accepted. In particular, we discuss the acceleration arising from reconnection as a possible origin of the anomalous cosmic rays measured by Voyagers as well as the origin cosmic ray excess in the direction of Heliotail.     

Multipath Separation-Direction of Arrival (MS-DOA) with Genetic Search Algorithm for HF channels

Direction-of-Arrival (DOA) defines the estimation of arrival angles of an electromagnetic wave impinging on a set of sensors. For dispersive and time-varying HF channels, where the propagating wave also suffers from the multipath phenomena, estimation of DOA is a very challenging problem. Multipath Separation-Direction of Arrival (MS-DOA), that is developed to estimate both the arrival angles in elevation and azimuth and the incoming signals at the output of the reference antenna with very high accuracy, proves itself as a strong alternative in DOA estimation for HF channels. In MS-DOA, a linear system of equations is formed using the coefficients of the basis vector for the array output vector, the incoming signal vector and the array manifold. The angles of arrival in elevation and azimuth are obtained as the maximizers of the sum of the magnitude squares of the projection of the signal coefficients on the column space of the array manifold. In this study, alternative Genetic Search Algorithms (GA) for the maximizers of the projection sum are investigated using simulated and experimental ionospheric channel data. It is observed that GA combined with MS-DOA is a powerful alternative in online DOA estimation and can be further developed according to the channel characteristics of a specific HF link.     

Microcomputer-based monitoring of cardiovascular functions in simulated microgravity.

A microcomputer-based system for non-invasive monitoring of cardiovascular system in simulated microgravity is described. The system evaluates automatically, accurately and interactively heart beat intervals, beat-to-beat non-invasive finger arterial blood pressure (systolic, diastolic, mean and pulse pressure) using a Finapres device and beat-to-beat changes of thoracic blood volume using impedance changes. In addition, beat-to-beat evaluation of cardiac mechanical function including left ventricular ejection time, diastolic time, systolic time intervals, left ventricular ejection fraction estimate and several other contractility parameters, left ventricular volume, stroke volume and cardiac output estimates are performed with high degree of automaticity.     

Absolute and Convective Instabilities of Circularly Polarized Alfvén Waves

We discuss the recent progress in studying the absolute and convective instabilities of circularly polarized Alfvén waves (pump waves) propagating along an ambient magnetic field in the approximation of ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). We present analytical results obtained for pump waves with small dimensionless amplitude a, and compare them with numerical results valid for arbitrary a. The type of instability, absolute or convective, depends on the velocity U of the reference frame where the pump wave is observed with respect to the rest plasma. One of the main results of our analysis is that the instability is absolute when U _l < U < U _r and convective otherwise. We study the dependences of U _l and U _r on a and the ratio of the sound speed to the Alfvén speed b. We also present the results of calculation of the increment of the absolute instability on U for different values of a and b. When the instability is convective (U < U _l or U > U _r) we consider the signalling problem, and show that spatially amplifying waves exist only when the signalling frequency is in two symmetric frequency bands. Then, we write down the analytical expressions determining the boundaries of these frequency bands and discuss how they agree with numerically calculated values. We also present the dependences of the maximum spatial amplification rate on U calculated both analytically and numerically. The implication of the obtained results on the interpretation of observational data from space missions is discussed. In particular, it is shown that circularly polarized Alfvén waves propagating in the solar wind are convectively unstable in a reference frame of any realistic spacecraft.