A Twin-CME Scenario for Ground Level Enhancement Events

Ground Level Enhancement (GLEs) events are extreme Solar Energetic Particle (SEP) events. Protons in these events often reach ～GeV/nucleon. Understanding the underlying particle acceleration mechanism in these events is a major goal for Space Weather studies. In Solar Cycle 23, a total of 16 GLEs have been identified. Most of them have preceding CMEs and in-situ energetic particle observations show some of them are enhanced in ICME or flare-like material. Motivated by this observation, we discuss here a scenario in which two CMEs erupt in sequence during a short period of time from the same Active Region (AR) with a pseudo-streamer-like pre-eruption magnetic field configuration. The first CME is narrower and slower and the second CME is wider and faster. We show that the magnetic field configuration in our proposed scenario can lead to magnetic reconnection between the open and closed field lines that drape and enclose the first CME and its driven shock. The combined effect of the presence of the first shock and the existence of the open close reconnection is that when the second CME erupts and drives a second shock, one finds both an excess of seed population and an enhanced turbulence level at the front of the second shock than the case of a single CME-driven shock. Therefore, a more efficient particle acceleration will occur. The implications of our proposed scenario are discussed.     

Nonclassical Transport and Particle-Field Coupling: from Laboratory Plasmas to the Solar Wind

Understanding transport of thermal and suprathermal particles is a fundamental issue in laboratory, solar-terrestrial, and astrophysical plasmas. For laboratory fusion experiments, confinement of particles and energy is essential for sustaining the plasma long enough to reach burning conditions. For solar wind and magnetospheric plasmas, transport properties determine the spatial and temporal distribution of energetic particles, which can be harmful for spacecraft functioning, as well as the entry of solar wind plasma into the magnetosphere. For astrophysical plasmas, transport properties determine the efficiency of particle acceleration processes and affect observable radiative signatures. In all cases, transport depends on the interaction of thermal and suprathermal particles with the electric and magnetic fluctuations in the plasma. Understanding transport therefore requires us to understand these interactions, which encompass a wide range of scales, from magnetohydrodynamic to kinetic scales, with larger scale structures also having a role. The wealth of transport studies during recent decades has shown the existence of a variety of regimes that differ from the classical quasilinear regime. In this paper we give an overview of nonclassical plasma transport regimes, discussing theoretical approaches to superdiffusive and subdiffusive transport, wave–particle interactions at microscopic kinetic scales, the influence of coherent structures and of avalanching transport, and the results of numerical simulations and experimental data analyses. Applications to laboratory plasmas and space plasmas are discussed.     

Nanofillers modification of Epocast 50-A1/946 epoxy for bonded joints

Epocast 50-A1/946 epoxy was primarily developed for joining and repairing of composite aircraft structural components. The objective of the present work is to modify the Epocast epoxy resin by different nanofillers infusion. The used nanofillers include multi-walled carbon nanotubes（MWCNTs）, SiC and Al2O3 nanoparticles. The nanofillers with different weight percentages are ultrasonically dispersed in the epoxy resin. The sonication time and amplitude for MWCNTs are reduced compared to Al2O3 and SiC nanoparticles to avoid the damage of MWCNTs during sonication processes. The fabricated neat epoxy and twelve nanocomposite panels were characterized via standard tension and in-plane shear tests. The experimental results show that the nanocomposites materials with 0.5wt% MWCNTs, 1.5wt% SiC and 1.5wt% Al2O3 nanoparticles have the highest improvement in the tensile properties compared to the other nanofiller loading percentages.The improvements in the shear properties of these nanocomposite materials were respectively equal to 5.5%, 4.9%, and 6.3% for shear strengths, and 10.3%, 16.0%, and 8.1% for shear moduli. The optimum nanofiller loading percentages will be used in the following papers concerning their effect on the bonded joints/repairs of carbon fiber reinforced composites.     

Operating characteristics of a high radius pre-swirl cooling system

An experimental investigation into pre-swirl effectiveness and receiver hole discharge coefficient characteristics for a high radius injection pre-swirl cooling systems was carried out on a physically representative experimental rig with a 450 mm diameter rotor.The receiver holes and pre-swirl nozzle were located at a radius of 181 mm and 180 mm respectively.The experimental work was mainly conducted at 5 000～12 000 r/min,4 bar absolute pressure and 1.132 kg/s air supply.The maximum air supply temperature was 190 ℃.Pressure and temperature distributions in the pre-swirl system were examined with an emphasis on the velocity effectiveness of the pre-swirl system as a whole and on the discharge coefficients of the rotating 'receiver holes' in the rotor.The results showed that the velocity effectiveness increased with increasing swirl ratio resulting in reduced blade cooling flow temperature.Different seal flow configurations caused very different effectiveness at different speeds,but outflow through the inner and outer seals always gave the highest effectiveness compared other configurations.Increasing the seal flow rate reduced the effectiveness.For the coefficient of discharge,except for the low speed range,it increased with increase in swirl ratio for most speeds.      

Space–Time Structure of Energetic Electron Precipitations according to the Data of Balloon Observations and Polar Satellite Measurements on February 1–6, 2015

Cosmic Research - The results of an analysis of the space–time characteristics and dynamics of precipitations of magnetospheric electrons with energies in the range from 0.1 to 0.7 MeV are...     

Erratum to: Determination of the Probability of Collision of Near-Earth Space Objects Taking into Account Form and Orientation

Cosmic Research - An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0010952521120030     

The mass loss of spacecraft polyimide films under the action of atomic oxygen and vacuum ultraviolet radiation

The threshold values of the annual fluence of atomic oxygen (F _AO ≈ 10²⁰ cm^?2), as well as the ratios of the energy-flux density of vacuum ultraviolet radiation of the solar spectrum to the flux density of atomic oxygen (Φ _ν /Φ _AO ≈ 8 × 10^?15 mJ) were determined, which are characterized the influence of the synergistic effect on the mass loss of Kapton-H, PM-A, and PM-1E polyimide films, which are spacecraft materials.