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NASA NTRS1980

First phase acceleration mechanisms and implications for hard X-ray burst models in solar flares

The paper considers the number of nonthermal electrons which must be accelerated in the impulsive phase of a flare, as well as possible acceleration mechanisms. Direct electric field acceleration in a plasma is considered, taking explicit account of magnetohydrodynamic processes; it is shown that significant heating is involved. Attention is also given to acceleration by electron plasma waves, which requires the waves to be driven to large amplitude by already streaming electrons or anisotropic ion-acoustic waves. It is concluded that at most 0.1% of the flare energy can be deposited into nonthermal streaming electrons with the proposed acceleration and energy conversion mechanisms. Therefore, hard X-ray production above 10 keV primarily by hot thermal electrons is the only choice compatible with existing primary energy release models.

Smith, D. F.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Generation of auroral kilometric radiation and the structure of auroral acceleration region

Generation of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) in the auroral acceleration region is studied. It is shown that auroral kilometric radiation can be generated by backscattered electrons trapped in the acceleration region via a cyclotron maser process. The parallel electric field in the acceleration region is required to be distributed over 1-2 earth radii. The observed AKR frequency spectrum can be used to estimate the altitude range of the auroral acceleration region. The altitudes of the lower and upper boundaries of the acceleration region determined from the AKR data are respectively approximately 2000 and 9000 km.

Lee, L. C.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Ion acceleration at the earth's bow shock - A review of observations in the upstream region

Positive ions are accelerated at or near the earth's bow shock and propagate into the upstream region. Two distinctly different populations of these ions, distinguished by their greatly different spectral and angular widths, can be identified there. The type of ion population observed in the upstream region is strongly correlated with the presence or absence of long-period compressive waves in the solar wind. Very few ions are accelerated in the vicinity of the shock to energies much above about 100 keV. It is not yet clear whether the most energetic ions (i.e., those near 100 keV) are accelerated at the shock or in the broad disturbed region upstream from the shock. In either case stochastic acceleration by turbulent electrostatic fields seems to be the most viable candidate for the acceleration of the most energetic particles.

Gosling, J. T.↗

NASA NTRS1980

Body acceleration distribution and O2 uptake in humans during running and jumping

The distribution of body acceleration and associated oxygen uptake and heart rate responses are investigated in treadmill running and trampoline jumping. Accelerations in the +Gz direction were measured at the lateral ankle, lumbosacral region and forehead of eight young men during level treadmill walking and running at four speeds and trampoline jumping at four heights, together with corresponding oxygen uptake and heart rate. With increasing treadmill speed, peak acceleration at the ankle is found always to exceed that at the back and forehead, and acceleration profiles with higher frequency components than those observed during jumping are observed. Acceleration levels are found to be more uniformly distributed with increasing height in jumping, although comparable oxygen uptake and heat rates are obtained. Results indicate that the magnitude of the biomechanical stimuli is greater in trampoline jumping than in running, which finding could be of use in the design of procedures to avert deconditioning in persons exposed to weightlessness.

Bhattacharya, A.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Exceedance statistics of accelerations resulting from thruster firings on the Apollo-Soyuz mission

Spacecraft acceleration resulting from firings of vernier control system thrusters is an important consideration in the design, planning, execution and post-flight analysis of laboratory experiments in space. In particular, scientists and technologists involved with the development of experiments to be performed in space in many instances required statistical information on the magnitude and rate of occurrence of spacecraft accelerations. Typically, these accelerations are stochastic in nature, so that it is useful to characterize these accelerations in statistical terms. Statistics of spacecraft accelerations are summarized.

Fichtl, G. H.↗

NASA NTRS1981

On the acceleration of thermal coronal ions by flare induced shock waves

The energy spectra of solar flare ions are calculated by assuming that the process which accelerates solar wind ions to MeV/ nucleon energies in the interplanetary corotating interaction region (CIR) also occurs in flare induced magnetosonic fast-mode (MFM) shocks in the corona. Solar wind ions are considered to be accelerated to MeV/nucleon energies by wave-particle interactions in the shock front and the downstream flow, being compressed between upstream and downstream magnetic field irregularities, and then accelerated by the shock drift acceleration mechanism. The energy spectra of the accelerated ions is calculated from the number of shock encounters as a function of the post- and preacceleration energies. A best fit by an exponential in momentum is determined for ions in the 50 MeV to a few GeV range, and from 20-80 MeV by a suitable power law in kinetic energy with a mean spectral index. Comparisons with observed solar protons show good agreement.

Decker, R. B.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Pre-acceleration in collapsing magnetic neutral sheets and composition anomalies among solar flare particles

In flares occurring in magnetic neutral sheets, the collapsing of the magnetic fields toward the neutral sheet results in their acting as mirrors in a first-order Fermi acceleration process and constitutes an intrinsic source of particle pre-acceleration. Although modest, the acceleration injects particles into the main flare acceleration with a composition which is different from that of the ambient corona. Upon calculating the fractions of 18 elements which are accelerated in the collapsing mirrors, covering the series from C to N, and then normalizing to O, peak abundances are found at Si and Fe, with local minima at N and in the S-Ca region. There is a qualitative similarity between these relative abundances and the relative enhancement factors of the elements among solar flare particles.

Mullan, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Cyclotron resonance effects on stochastic acceleration of light ionospheric ions

The production of energetic ions with conical pitch angle distributions along the auroral field lines is a subject of considerable current interest. There are several theoretical treatments showing the acceleration (heating) of the ions by ion cyclotron waves. The quasi-linear theory predicts no acceleration when the ions are nonresonant. In the present investigation, it is demonstrated that the cyclotron resonances are not crucial for the transverse acceleration of ions by ion cyclotron waves. It is found that transverse energization of ionospheric ions, such as He(+), He(++), O(++), and O(+), is possible by an Electrostatic Hydrogen Cyclotron (EHC) wave even in the absence of cyclotron resonance. The mechanism of acceleration is the nonresonant stochastic heating. However, when there are resonant ions both the total energy gain and the number of accelerated ions increase with increasing parallel wave number.

Singh, N.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Rail accelerator research at Lewis Research Center

A rail accelerator was chosen for study as an electromagnetic space propulsion device because of its simplicity and existing technology base. The results of a mission feasibility study using a large rail accelerator for direct launch of ton-size payloads from the Earth's surface to space, and the results of initial tests with a small, laboratory rail accelerator are presented. The laboratory rail accelerator has a bore of 3 by 3 mm and has accelerated 60 mg projectiles to velocities of 300 to 1000 m/s. Rail materials of Cu, W, and Mo were tested for efficiency and erosion rate.

Kerslake, W. R.↗

NASA NTRS1983

The LeRC rail accelerators: Test designs and diagnostic techniques

The feasibility of using rail accelerators for various in-space and to-space propulsion applications was investigated. A 1 meter, 24 sq mm bore accelerator was designed with the goal of demonstrating projectile velocities of 15 km/sec using a peak current of 200 kA. A second rail accelerator, 1 meter long with a 156.25 sq mm bore, was designed with clear polycarbonate sidewalls to permit visual observation of the plasma arc. A study of available diagnostic techniques and their application to the rail accelerator is presented. Specific topics of discussion include the use of interferometry and spectroscopy to examine the plasma armature as well as the use of optical sensors to measure rail displacement during acceleration. Standard diagnostics such as current and voltage measurements are also discussed.

Zana, L. M.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Enhancement of chronic acceleration tolerance by selection

A review is presented of experiments concerning the physiological consequences of chronic acceleration and of studies of selection for acceleration tolerance over many generations. It is shown that acceleration selection is effective in improving chronic acceleration tolerance. However, it is determined that the variable selection procedure employed in developing this acceleration-tolerant line limits the confidence in the quantitative evaluation of the procedure.

Smith, A. H.↗

NASA NTRS1983

Exceedance statistics of accelerations resulting from thruster firings on the Apollo-Soyuz mission

Fichtl, G. H.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Acceleration of runaway electrons and Joule heating in solar flares

The electric field acceleration of electrons out of a thermal plasma and the simultaneous Joule heating of the plasma are studied. Acceleration and heating timescales are derived and compared, and upper limits are obtained on the acceleration volume and the rate at which electrons can be accelerated. These upper limits, determined by the maximum magnetic field strength observed in flaring regions, place stringent restrictions upon the acceleration process. The role of the plasma resistivity in these processes is examined, and possible sources of anomalous resistivity are summarized. The implications of these results for the microwave and hard X-ray emission from solar flares are examined.

Holman, G. D.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Particle Acceleration

A phenomenological account of particle acceleration is provided along with a detailed summary of the current status of theoretical studies of particle acceleration. Problems are presented which remain when specific mechanisms and observations are confronted. The following specific topics are addressed: solar particle acceleration, interplanetary particle acceleration, and extrasolar particle acceleration.

Source record↗

NASA NTRS1984

LeRC rail accelerators - Test designs and diagnostic techniques

Zana, L. M.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Neutron and gamma-ray signatures for particle acceleration in solar flares

The production of neutrons, 4 to 7 MeW nuclear gamma rays, positrons and pions resulting from the interaction of flare accelerated particles with the solar atmosphere was calculated. For the energy spectra of these particles the Bessel function predicted by stochastic acceleration and power laws which could result from acceleration at large-scale planar shocks was used, with the thick-target model. It is assumed that in the interaction region the accelerated particles are isotropic. The neutron-to-2.223 MeV photon conversion factors for various flare locations on the Sun are derived by averaging conversion factors over these spectra. Comparing calculations with data confirms that for most gamma-ray flares the bulk of the accelerated particles remain trapped at the Sun and that these particles have spectra similar to the spectra of flare particles observed in interplanetary space.

Ramaty, R.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Stochastic particle acceleration in solar flares

It is proposed that particles during the second phase of solar flares are accelerated by stochastic resonant scattering off hydromagnetic waves and first order Fermi acceleration in shock waves generated in the impulsive phase of the flare. Solutions allow arbitrary power law momentum dependences of the momentum diffusion coefficient as well as the momentum diffusion coefficient as well as the momentum loss time. The acceleration time scale to a characteristic energy approximately 100 keV for protons can be as short as 5s. The resulting electron spectra show a characteristic double power law with a transition around 200 keV and are correlated to the proton spectra evaluated under equal boundary conditions, indicating that electrons and protons are accelerated by the same mechanism. The correlation between the different spectral indices in the electron double power law and between electron and proton spectra are governed by the ratio of first to second order acceleration and therefore allow a determination of the Alfven Mach number of the shock wave.

Droege, W.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Shock and statistical acceleration of energetic particles in the interplanetary medium

Definite evidence for particle acceleration in the solar wind came around a decade ago. Two likely sources are known to exist: particles may be accelerated by the turbulence resulting from the superposition of Alfven and Magnetosonic waves (Statistical Acceleration) or they may be accelerated directly at shock fronts formed by the interaction of fast and slow solar wind (CIR's) or by traveling shocks due to sporadic coronal mass ejections. Naurally both mechanisms may be operative. In this work the acceleration problem was tackled numerically using Helios 1 and 2 data to create a realistic representation of the Heliospheric plasma. Two 24 hour samples were used: one where there are only wave like fluctuations of the field (Day 90 Helios 1) and another with a shock present in it (Day 92 of Helios 2) both in 1976 during the STIP 2 interval. Transport coefficients in energy space have been calculated for particles injected in each sample and the effect of the shock studied in detail.

Valdes-Galicia, J. F.↗