Physics of ion acceleration in the solar flare on 2005 September 7 determines γ-ray and neutron production

Relativistic neutrons were observed by the neutron monitors at Mt. Chacaltaya and Mexico City and by the solar neutron telescopes at Chacaltaya and Mt. Sierra Negra in association with an X17.0 flare on 2005 September 7. The neutron signal continued for more than 20 min with high statistical significance. Intense emissions of γ-rays were also registered by INTEGRAL, and during the decay phase by RHESSI. We analyzed these data using the solar-flare magnetic-loop transport and interaction model of Hua et al. [Hua, X.-M., Kozlovsky, B., Lingenfelter, R.E. et al. Angular and energy-dependent neutron emission from solar flare magnetic loops, Astrophys. J. Suppl. Ser. 140, 563–579, 2002], and found that the model could successfully fit the data with intermediate values of loop magnetic convergence and pitch-angle scattering parameters. These results indicate that solar neutrons were produced at the same time as the γ-ray line emission and that ions were continuously accelerated at the emission site.     

The mass spectrum analyzer (MSA) onboard BEPI COLOMBO MMO: Scientific objectives and prototype results

BEPI COLOMBO is a joint mission between ESA and JAXA that is scheduled for launch in 2014 and arrival at Mercury in 2020. A comprehensive set of ion sensors will be flown onboard the two probes that form BEPI COLOMBO. These ion sensors combined with electron analyzers will allow a detailed investigation of the structure and dynamics of the charged particle environment at Mercury. Among the ion sensors, the Mass Spectrum Analyzer (MSA) is the experiment dedicated to composition analysis onboard the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO). It consists of a top-hat for energy analysis followed by a Time-Of-Flight (TOF) section to derive the ion mass. A notable feature of MSA is that the TOF section is polarized with a linear electric field that provides an enhanced mass resolution, a capability that is of importance at Mercury since a variety of species originating from the planet surface and exosphere is expected. MSA exhibits two detection planes: (i) one with moderate mass resolution but a high count rate making MSA appropriate for plasma analysis, (ii) another with a high (above 40) mass resolution though a low count rate making it appropriate for planetology science. Taking advantage of the spacecraft rotation, MSA will provide three-dimensional distribution functions of magnetospheric ions, from energies characteristic of exospheric populations (a few eVs or a few tens of eVs) up to the plasma sheet energy range (up to ∼40 keV/q) in one spin (4 s).     

Correlation between cell death and induction of non-rejoining PCC breaks by carbon-ion beams.

We have shown a correlation between cell death and induction of non-rejoining chromatin breaks in two normal human cells and three human tumor cell lines irradiated by carbon-ion beams and X rays. Non-rejoining chromatin breaks were measured by counting the number of remaining chromatin fragments detected by the premature chromosome condensation (PCC) technique. Carbon-ion beams were accelerated by the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (HIMAC). The cells were irradiated by two different mono-LET beams (LET = 13 keV/micrometer and 77 keV/micrometer ) and 200 kV X rays. The RBE values of cell death for carbon-ion beams relative to X rays were 1.1 to 1.4 for 13 keV/micrometer beams and 2.5 to 2.9 for 77 keV/micrometer beams. The induction rate of non-rejoining PCC breaks per cell per Gy was found to be highest for the 77 keV/micrometer beams for all of the cell lines.The results found in this study show that there is a good correlation between cell death and induction of non-rejoining PCC breaks for these human cell lines.     

Spectral signatures of photosynthesis. II. Coevolution with other stars and the atmosphere on extrasolar worlds

As photosynthesis on Earth produces the primary signatures of life that can be detected astronomically at the global scale, a strong focus of the search for extrasolar life will be photosynthesis, particularly photosynthesis that has evolved with a different parent star. We take previously simulated planetary atmospheric compositions for Earth-like planets around observed F2V and K2V, modeled M1V and M5V stars, and around the active M4.5V star AD Leo; our scenarios use Earth's atmospheric composition as well as very low O2 content in case anoxygenic photosynthesis dominates. With a line-by-line radiative transfer model, we calculate the incident spectral photon flux densities at the surface of the planet and under water. We identify bands of available photosynthetically relevant radiation and find that photosynthetic pigments on planets around F2V stars may peak in absorbance in the blue, K2V in the red-orange, and M stars in the near-infrared, in bands at 0.93-1.1 microm, 1.1-1.4 microm, 1.5-1.8 microm, and 1.8-2.5 microm. However, underwater organisms will be restricted to wavelengths shorter than 1.4 microm and more likely below 1.1 microm. M star planets without oxygenic photosynthesis will have photon fluxes above 1.6 microm curtailed by methane. Longer-wavelength, multi-photo-system series would reduce the quantum yield but could allow for oxygenic photosystems at longer wavelengths. A wavelength of 1.1 microm is a possible upper cutoff for electronic transitions versus only vibrational energy; however, this cutoff is not strict, since such energetics depend on molecular configuration. M star planets could be a half to a tenth as productive as Earth in the visible, but exceed Earth if useful photons extend to 1.1 microm for anoxygenic photosynthesis. Under water, organisms would still be able to survive ultraviolet flares from young M stars and acquire adequate light for growth.     

The Solar Origin of Corotating Interaction Regions and Their Formation in the Inner Heliosphere

Corotating Interaction Regions (CIRs) form as a consequence of the compression of the solar wind at the interface between fast speed streams and slow streams. Dynamic interaction of solar wind streams is a general feature of the heliospheric medium; when the sources of the solar wind streams are relatively stable, the interaction regions form a pattern which corotates with the Sun. The regions of origin of the high speed solar wind streams have been clearly identified as the coronal holes with their open magnetic field structures. The origin of the slow speed solar wind is less clear; slow streams may well originate from a range of coronal configurations adjacent to, or above magnetically closed structures. This article addresses the coronal origin of the stable pattern of solar wind streams which leads to the formation of CIRs. In particular, coronal models based on photospheric measurements are reviewed; we also examine the observations of kinematic and compositional solar wind features at 1 AU, their appearance in the stream interfaces (SIs) of CIRs, and their relationship to the structure of the solar surface and the inner corona; finally we summarise the Helios observations in the inner heliosphere of CIRs and their precursors to give a link between the optical observations on their solar origin and the in-situ plasma observations at 1 AU after their formation. The most important question that remains to be answered concerning the solar origin of CIRs is related to the origin and morphology of the slow solar wind. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Corotating Interaction Regions at High Latitudes

Ulysses observed a stable strong CIR from early 1992 through 1994 during its first journey into the southern hemisphere. After the rapid latitude scan in early 1995, Ulysses observed a weaker CIR from early 1996 to mid-1997 in the northern hemisphere as it traveled back to the ecliptic at the orbit of Jupiter. These two CIRs are the observational basis of the investigation into the latitudinal structure of CIRs. The first CIR was caused by an extension of the northern coronal hole into the southern hemisphere during declining solar activity, whereas the second CIR near solar minimum activity was caused by small warps in the streamer belt. The latitudinal structure is described through the presentation of three 26-day periods during the southern CIR. The first at ∼24°S shows the full plasma interaction region including fast and slow wind streams, the compressed shocked flows with embedded stream interface and heliospheric current sheet (HCS), and the forward and reverse shocks with associated accelerated ions and electrons. The second at 40°S exhibits only the reverse shock, accelerated particles, and the 26-day modulation of cosmic rays. The third at 60°S shows only the accelerated particles and modulated cosmic rays. The possible mechanisms for the access of the accelerated particles and the CIR-modulated cosmic rays to high latitudes above the plasma interaction region are presented. They include direct magnetic field connection across latitude due to stochastic field line weaving or to systematic weaving caused by solar differential rotation combined with non-radial expansion of the fast wind. Another possible mechanism is particle diffusion across the average magnetic field, which includes stochastic field line weaving. A constraint on connection to a distant portion of the CIR is energy loss in the solar wind, which is substantial for the relatively slow-moving accelerated ions. Finally, the weaker northern CIR is compared with the southern CIR. It is weak because the inclination of the streamer belt and HCS decreased as Ulysses traveled to lower latitudes so that the spacecraft remained at about the maximum latitudinal extent of the HCS. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Comparison of various periodograms for sinusoid detection andfrequency estimation

With the advent of the fast Fourier transform (FFT) algorithm, the periodogram and its variants such as the Bartlett's procedure and Welch method, have become very popular for spectral analysis. However, there has not been a thorough comparison of the detection and estimation performances of these methods. Different forms of the periodogram are studied here for single real tone detection and frequency estimation in the presence of white Gaussian noise. The threshold effect in frequency estimation, that is, when the estimation errors become several orders of magnitude greater than the Cramer-Rao lower bound (CRLB), is also investigated. It is shown that the standard periodogram gives the optimum detection performance for a pure tone while the Welch method is the best detector when there is phase instability in the sinusoid. As expected, since the conventional periodogram is a maximum likelihood estimator of frequency, it generally provides the minimum mean square frequency estimation errors     

Dynamically adaptable m-best 2-D assignment algorithm andmultilevel parallelization

In recent years, there has been considerable interest within the tracking community in an approach to data association based on the m-best two-dimensional (2D) assignment algorithm. Much of the interest has been spurred by its ability to provide various efficient data association solutions, including joint probabilistic data association (JPDA) and multiple hypothesis tracking (MHT). The focus of this work is to describe several recent improvements to the m-best 2D assignment algorithm. One improvement is to utilize a nonintrusive 2D assignment algorithm switching mechanism, based on a problem sparsity threshold. Dynamic switching between two different 2D assignment algorithms, highly suited for sparse and dense problems, respectively, enables more efficient solutions to the numerous 2D assignment problems generated in the m-best 2D assignment framework. Another improvement is to utilize a multilevel parallelization enabling many independent and highly parallelizable tasks to be executed concurrently, including 1) solving the multiple 2D assignment problems via a parallelization of the m-best partitioning task, and 2) calculating the numerous gating tests, state estimates, covariance calculations, and likelihood function evaluations (used as cost coefficients in the 2D assignment problem) via a parallelization of the data association interface task. Using both simulated data and an air traffic surveillance (ATS) problem based on data from two Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic control radars, we demonstrate that efficient solutions to the data association problem are obtainable using our improvements in the m-best 2D assignment algorithm     

Evaluation of gravity-dependent membrane potential shift in Paramecium

It is still debated whether or not gravity can stimulate unicellular organisms. This question may be settled by revealing changes in the membrane potential in a manner depending on the gravitational forces imposed on the cell. We estimated the gravity-dependent membrane potential shift to be about 1 mV G⁻¹ for Paramecium showing gravikinesis at 1–5 G, on the basis of measurements of gravity-induced changes in active propulsion and those of propulsive velocity in solutions, in which the membrane potential has been measured electrophysiologically. The shift in membrane potential to this extent may occur from mechanoreceptive changes in K⁺ or Ca²⁺ conductance by about 1% and might be at the limit of electrophysiological measurement using membrane potential-sensitive dyes. Our measurements of propulsive velocity vs membrane potential also suggested that the reported propulsive force of Paramecium measured in a solution of graded densities with the aid of a video centrifuge microscope at 350 G was 11 times as large as that for −29 mV, i.e., the resting membrane potential at [K⁺]_o = 1 mM and [Ca²⁺]_o = 1 mM, and, by extrapolation, that Paramecium was hyperpolarized to −60 mV by gravity stimulation of 100- G equivalent, the value corrected by considering the reduction of density difference between the interior and exterior of the cell in the graded density solution. The estimated shift of the membrane potential from −29 mV to −60 mV by 100- G equivalent stimulation, i.e., 0.3 mV G⁻¹, could reach the magnitude entirely feasible to be measured more directly.     

Modelling solar irradiance variations: Comparison with observations,including line-ratio variations

Solar irradiance variations show a strong temporal and spectral dependence. The progression of the Sun through its activity cycle as well as solar rotation are mirrored in the irradiance variations. The spectral dependence is such that the variations are several magnitudes larger in the EUV than in the visible or infrared.We present a simple 3-component model that is based on the assumption that changes in the solar flux are exclusively due to changes in spot and facular coverage. We compare our model to observations of the spectral solar irradiance variations.Despite its simplicity, we find that the agreement between our model and the observations is surprisingly good. We also explore the reliability and the limitations of our approach by comparing observations of the solar facular contrast and of the changes in spectral line depths with our calculations.