On the correlation of the solar wind observed at the L5 point and at the Earth

The L5 point is a promising location for forecasting co-rotating high-speed streams in the solar wind arriving at the Earth. We correlated the solar wind data obtained by the Nozomi spacecraft in interplanetary space and by the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) at the L1 point, and found that the correlation is significantly improved from that of the 27-day recurrence of ACE data. Based on the correlation between the two spacecraft observations, we estimated the correlation of the solar wind velocity between the L5 point and at the Earth, and found that the correlation coefficient was about 0.78 in late 1999, while that of the 27-day recurrence was 0.51. Eighty-eight percent of the velocity difference falls within 100 km/s between the L5 point and the Earth. This demonstrates the potential capability of solar wind monitoring at the L5 point to forecast the geomagnetic disturbances 4.5 days in advance.     

"Mir" radiation dosimetry results during the solar proton events in September-October 1989.

Using data from dosimetry-radiometry system "Liulin" on board of "Mir"-space station the particle flux and doserate during September-October, 1989 has been studied. The orbit of the station was 379 km perigee, 410 km apogee and 51.6 degrees inclination. Special attention has been paid to the flux and doserate changes inside the station after intensive solar proton events (SPE) on 29 of September, 1989. The comparison between the doses before and after the solar flares shows increase of the calculated mean dose per day by factor of 10 to 200. During the SPE on the 29 of September the additional dose was 310 mrad. The results of the experiment are compared with the data for the solar proton fluxes obtained on the GOES-7 satellite.     

Theoretical prediction of thermal diffusion coefficients for ternary hydrocarbon mixtures based on the irreversible thermodynamics theory

An accurate thermodiffusion model is of paramount importance to the petroleum industry for the prediction of the compositional variation in hydrocarbon reservoirs. Several theoretical models have been developed. Kempers and Firoozabadi models are the latest two models, which are not only applicable for binary mixtures but also for multi-component mixtures. In this paper, we applied the Firoozabadi model to a ternary hydrocarbon mixture of n-Dodecane, n-Butane and Methane with different mass fraction. It reveals that the accuracy of the thermal diffusion coefficients for a specific mixture of interest relies on the accuracy of the thermodynamic properties from equations of state, corresponding Fick's diffusion coefficients, and the thermal diffusion modeling.     

Nuclear fragmentation database for GCR transport code development

A critical need for NASA is the ability to accurately model the transport of heavy ions in the Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) through matter, including spacecraft walls, equipment racks, etc. Nuclear interactions are of great importance in the GCR transport problem, as they can cause fragmentation of the incoming ion into lighter ions. Since the radiation dose delivered by a particle is proportional to the square of (charge/velocity), fragmentation reduces the dose delivered by incident ions. The other mechanism by which dose can be reduced is ionization energy loss, which can lead to some particles stopping in the shielding. This is the conventional notion of shielding, but it is not applicable to human spaceflight since the particles in the GCR tend to be too energetic to be stopped in the relatively thin shielding that is possible within payload mass constraints. Our group has measured a large number of fragmentation cross sections, intended to be used as input to, or for validation of, NASA’s radiation transport models. A database containing over 200 charge-changing cross sections and over 2000 fragment production cross sections has been compiled. In this report, we examine in detail the contrast between fragment measurements at large acceptance and small acceptance. We use output from the PHITS Monte Carlo code to test our assumptions using as an example ⁴⁰Ar data (and simulated data) at a beam energy of 650 MeV/nucleon. We also present preliminary analysis in which isotopic resolution was attained for beryllium fragments produced by beams of ¹⁰B and ¹¹B. Future work on the experimental data set will focus on extracting and interpreting production cross sections for light fragments.     

Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector for the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter

The design of the Lunar Exploration Neutron Detector (LEND) experiment is presented, which was optimized to address several of the primary measurement requirements of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO): high spatial resolution hydrogen mapping of the Moon’s upper-most surface, identification of putative deposits of appreciable near-surface water ice in the Moon’s polar cold traps, and characterization of the human-relevant space radiation environment in lunar orbit. A comprehensive program of LEND instrument physical calibrations is discussed and the baseline scenario of LEND observations from the primary LRO lunar orbit is presented. LEND data products will be useful for determining the next stages of the emerging global lunar exploration program, and they will facilitate the study of the physics of hydrogen implantation and diffusion in the regolith, test the presence of water ice deposits in lunar cold polar traps, and investigate the role of neutrons within the radiation environment of the shallow lunar surface.     

Grad-Shafranov Reconstruction of Magnetic Flux Ropes in the Near-Earth Space

Electric currents permeate space plasmas and often have a significant component along the magnetic field to form magnetic flux ropes. A larger spatial perspective of these structures than from the direct observation along the satellite path is crucial in visualizing their role in plasma dynamics. For magnetic flux ropes that are approximately two-dimensional equilibrium structures on a certain plane, Grad-Shafranov reconstruction technique, developed by Bengt Sonnerup and his colleagues (see Sonnerup et al. in J. Geophys. Res. 111:A09204, 2006), can be used to reveal two-dimensional maps of associated plasma and field parameters. This review gives a brief account of the technique and its application to magnetic flux ropes near the Earth’s magnetopause, in the solar wind, and in the magnetotail. From this brief survey, the ranges of the total field-aligned current and the total magnetic flux content for these magnetic flux ropes are assessed. The total field-aligned current is found to range from ∼0.14 to ∼9.7×10⁴ MA, a range of nearly six orders of magnitude. The total magnetic flux content is found to range from ∼0.25 to ∼2.3×10⁶ MWb, a range of nearly seven orders of magnitude. To the best of our knowledge, this review reports the largest range of both the total field-aligned current and the total magnetic flux content for magnetic flux ropes in space plasmas.     

A Recursive Method for Signal Resolution

A recursive method is given for resolving signals overlapping in time. Assume that the signal waveform is known and several signals are received. The signals (of unknown number) may overlap with one another and the amount of time delay of each individual signal is unknown. The signals are corrupted with additive white Gaussian noise. The problem is to estimate the number, the amplitudes, and the time delays of the overlapping signals. Assume that at a certain instant tk-1 estimates have been made on the number of signals arriving in the time interval (O, tk-1) and the amplitudes and time delays of these signals. Using these estimates, we test at tk the hypothesis H1 that a new signal arrives at tk against the null hypothesis Ho that no new signal arrives. The decision gives the number of signals arriving in the time interval (0, tk); the parameters are then re-estimated. The overlapping signals are detected and resolved, and the estimates are improved at each stage. The system is analyzed in detail, and computer-simulated results are presented.     

Heating Diagnostics with MHD Waves

The heating of the solar atmosphere is a fundamental problem of modern solar and astrophysics. A review of the seismological aspects of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves with an emphasis on standing longitudinal waves in the context of coronal heating is presented. Efforts made recently may be split into two categories: forward modelling and data inversion. Forward modelling can be applied to predict the observational footprints of various heating scenarios. A new diagnostic method based on the analysis of Doppler shift time series is outlined with specific application to solar coronal conditions. The power of the method is demonstrated and tested using synthetic data and comparing them with actual high-resolution (e.g. SoHO/SUMER) observations. Further, related recent examples of standing longitudinal oscillations in coronal loop structures observed with the new Hinode/EIS instrument are also presented. These latter observations provide an advanced ground for MHD seismology as a tool for plasma heating diagnostics in the atmosphere of the Sun.