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At least 523 records · Page 29
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1994

Observations of loops and prominences

We review recent observations by the Yohkoh-SXT (Soft X-ray Telescope) in collaboration with other spacecraft and ground-based observatories of coronal loops and prominences. These new results point to problems that SoHO will be able to address. With a unique combination of rapid-cadence digital imaging (greater than or equal to 32 s full-disk and greater than or equal to 2 s partial-frame images), high spatial resolution (greater than or equal to 2.5 arcsec pixels), high sensitivity (EM less than or equal to 10(exp 42) cm(exp -3)), a low-scatter mirror, and large dynamic range, SXT can observe a vast range of targets on the Sun. Over the first 21 months of Yohkoh operations SXT has taken over one million images of the corona and so is building up an invaluable long-term database on the large-scale corona and loop geometry. The most striking thing about the SXT images is the range of loop sizes and shapes. The active regions are a bright tangle of magnetic field lines, surrounded by a network of large-scale quiet-Sun loops stretching over distances in excess of 105 km. The cross-section of most loops seems to be constant. Loops displaying significant Gamma's are the exception, not the rule, implying the presence of widespread currents in the corona. All magnetic structures show changes. Time scales range from seconds to months. The question of how these structures are formed, become filled with hot plasma, and are maintained is still open. While we see the propagation of brightenings along the length of active-region loops and in X-ray jets with velocities of several hundred km/s, much higher velocities are seen in the quiet Sun. In XBP flares, for example, velocities of over 1000 km/s are common. Active-region loops seem to be in constant motion, moving slowly outward, carrying plasma with them. During flares, loops often produce localized brightenings at the base and later at the apex of the loop. Quiescent filaments and prominences have been observed regularly. Their coronal manifestation seems to be an extended arcade of loops overlying the filament. Reliable alignment of the ground-based data with the X-ray images make it possible to make a detailed intercomparison of the hot and cold plasma structures over extended periods. Hence we are able to follow the long-term evolution of these structures and see how they become destabilized and erupt.

Strong, Keith T.↗
NASA NTRS1988

Turbulence production near walls: The role of flow structures with spanwise asymmetry

Space-time evolution of near wall flow structures is described by conditional sampling methods, in which conditional averages are formed at various stages of development of shear layer structures. The development of spanwise asymmetry of the structures was found to be important in the creation of the structures and for the process of turbulence production.

Alfredsson, P. Henrik↗
NASA NTRS2004

Measuring the Mass Distribution in Z is Approximately 0.2 Cluster Lenses with XMM, HST and CFHT

Being the most massive gravitationally bound objects in the Universe, clusters of galaxies are prime targets for studies of structure formation and evolution. Specifically the comoving space density of virialized clusters of a given mass (or X-ray temperature), but also the frequency and degree of substructure, as well as the shape of the cluster mass profile are quantities whose current values and evolution as a function of lookback time can provide important constraints on the cosmological and physical parameters of structure formation theories. The project funded by NASA grant NAG 5-10041 intended to take such studies to a new level by combining observations of a well-selected cluster sample by three state-of-the-art telescopes: HST, to accurately measure the mass distribution in the cluster core (approx. 0.5 h(sup -1)(sub 50) Mpc) via strong gravitational lensing; CFHT, to measure the large scale mass distribution out to approx. 3 Mpc via weak lensing; and XMM, to measure the gas density and temperature distribution accurately on intermediate scales < 1.5 Mpc. XMM plays a pivotal role in this context as the calibration of X-ray mass measurements through accurate, spatially resolved X-ray temperature measurements (particularly in the cosmologically most sensitive range of kT> 5 keV) is central to the questions outlined above. This set of observations promised to yield the best cluster mass measurements obtained so far for a representative sample, thus allowing us to: 1) Measure the high-mass end of the local cluster mass function; 2) Test predictions of a universal cluster mass profile; 3) calibrate the mass-temperature and temperature-luminosity relations for clusters and the scatter around these relations, which is vital for studies of cluster evolution using the X-ray temperature and X-ray luminosity functions.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2006

Atmospheres of Extrasolar Giant Planets

The next decade will almost certainly see the direct imaging of extrasolar giant planets around nearby stars. Unlike purely radial velocity detections, direct imaging will open the door to characterizing the atmosphere and interiors of extrasola planets and ultimately provide clues on their formation and evolution through time. This process has already begun for the transiting planets, placing new constraints on their atmospheric structure, composition, and evolution. Indeed the key to understanding giant planet detectability, interpreting spectra, and constraining effective temperature and hence evolution-is the atmosphere. I will review the universe of extrasolar giant planet models, focusing on what we have already learned from modeling and what we will likely be able to learn from the first generation of direct detection data. In addition to these theoretical considerations, I will review the observations and interpretation of the - transiting hot Jupiters. These objects provide a test of our ability to model exotic atmospheres and challenge our current understanding of giant planet evolution.

Marley, Mark↗
NASA NTRS2004

Concentration Measurements in Self-Excited Momentum Dominated Low-Density Gas Jets

Flow structure of self-excited, laminar, axisymmetric, momentum-dominated helium jets discharged vertically into ambient air was investigated using high-speed rainbow schlieren deflectometry technique. Measurements were obtained at temporal resolution of 1 ms and spatial resolution of 0.19 mm for two test cases with Richardson number of 0.034 and 0.018. Power spectra revealed that the oscillation frequency was independent of spatial coordinates, suggesting global oscillations in the flow. Abel inversion algorithm was used to reconstruct the concentration field of helium. Instantaneous concentration contours revealed changes in the flow field and evolution of vortical structures during an oscillation cycle. Temporal evolution plots of helium concentration at different axial locations provided detailed information about the instability in the flow field.

Yildirim, B. S.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Closed coronal structures. II - Generalized hydrostatic model

Numerical computations of stationary solar coronal loop atmospheres are used to extend earlier analytical work. Two classes of loops are examined, namely symmetric loops with a temperature maximum at the top but now having a length greater than the pressure scale height and loops which have a local temperature minimum at the top. For the first class, new scaling laws are found which relate the base pressure and loop length to the base heating, the heating deposition scale height, and the pressure scale height. It is found that loops for which the length is greater than about two to three times the pressure scale height do not have stable solutions unless they have a temperature minimum at the top. Computed models with a temperature inversion at the top are permitted in a wider range of heating deposition scale height values than are loops with a temperature maximum at the top. These results are discussed in relation to observations showing a dependence of prominence formation and stability on the state of evolution of magnetic structures, and a general scenario is suggested for the understanding of loop evolution from emergence in active regions through the large-scale structure phase to opening in coronal holes.

Serio, S.↗
NASA NTRS2011

What Turns Galaxies Off? the Different Morphologies of Star-Forming and Quiescent Galaxies Since z Approximates 2 from CANDELS

We use HST/WFC3 imaging from the CANDELS multicyc1e treasury survey, in conjunction with the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, to explore the evolution of galactic structure for galaxies with stellar masses > 3 x 10(exp 10) Solar Mass from Z= 2.2 to the present epoch, a time span of 10 Gyr. We explore the relationship between rest-frame optical color, stellar mass, star formation activity and the structural parameters of galaxies as determined from parametric fits to the surface brightness profiles of galaxies. We confirm the dramatic evolution from z= 2.2 to the present day in the number density of non-star-forming galaxies above 3 x 10(exp 10) Solar Mass reported by other authors. We find that the vast majority of these quiescent systems have concentrated light profiles, as parameterized by the Sersic index, and the population of concentrated galaxies grows similarly rapidly. We examine the joint distribution of star formation activity, Sersic index, stellar mass, mass divided by radius (a proxy for velocity dispersion), and stellar surface density. Quiescence correlates poorly with stellar mass at all z < 2.2 (given the approx < 0.2 dex scatter between halo mass and stellar mass at z approximates 0 inferred by More et al, this argues against halo mass being the only factor determining quiescence). Quiescence correlates better with Sersic index, 'velocity dispersion' and stellar surface density, where Sersic index correlates the best (increasingly so at lower redshift). Yet, there is significant scatter between quiescence and galaxy structure: while the vast majority of quiescent galaxies have prominent bulges, many of them have significant disks, and a number of bulge-dominated galaxies have significant star formation. Noting the rarity of quiescent galaxies without prominent bulges, we argue that a prominent bulge (and, perhaps by association, a supermassive black hole) is a necessary but not sufficient condition for quenching star formation on galactic scales over the last 10 Gyr; such a result is qualitatively consistent with the expectations of the AGN feedback paradigm.

Bell, Eric F.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Numerical simulation of shock/turbulent boundary layer interaction

Most flows of aerodynamic interest are compressible and turbulent. However, our present knowledge on the structures and mechanisms of turbulence is mostly based on incompressible flows. In the present work, compressibility effects in turbulent, high-speed, boundary layer flows are systematically investigated using the Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) approach. Three-dimensional, time-dependent, fully nonlinear, compressible Navier-Stokes equations were numerically integrated by high-order finite-difference methods; no modeling for turbulence is used during the solution because the available resolution is sufficient to capture the relevant scales. The boundary layer problem deals with fully-turbulent compressible flows over flat geometries. Apart from its practical relevance to technological flows, turbulent compressible boundary layer flow is the simplest experimentally realizable turbulent compressible flow. Still, measuring difficulties prohibit a detailed experimental description of the flow, especially in the near-wall region. DNS studies provide a viable means to probe the physics of compressible turbulence in this region. The focus of this work is to explore the paths of energy transfer through which compressible turbulence is sustained. The structural similarities and differences between the incompressible and compressible turbulence are also investigated. The energy flow patterns or energy cascades are found to be directly related to the evolution of vortical structures which are generated in the near-wall region. Near-wall structures, and mechanisms which are not readily accessible through physical experiments are analyzed and their critical role on the evolution and the behavior of the flow is documented extensively.

Biringen, Sedat↗
NASA NTRS2000

Reduced Gas Cycling in Microbial Mats: Implications for Early Earth

For more than half the history of life on Earth, biological productivity was dominated by photosynthetic microbial mats. During this time, mats served as the preeminent biological influence on earth's surface and atmospheric chemistry and also as the primary crucible for microbial evolution. We find that modern analogs of these ancient mat communities generate substantial quantities of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane. Escape of these gases from the biosphere would contribute strongly to atmospheric evolution and potentially to the net oxidation of earth's surface; sequestration within the biosphere carries equally important implications for the structure, function, and evolution of anaerobic microbial communities within the context of mat biology.

Hoehler, Tori M.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Origin of the Vredefort structure, South Africa: Impact model

A model is presented for the evolution of the Vredefort structure, based on reasoned constraints on the original size of the Vredefort structure from observational data and comparison with other terrestrial impact craters. The models for complex craters (ring and multi-ring basins) of Croft, Grieve, and co-workers, and Schultz and co-workers, were used to reconstruct the Vredefort impact event, using a final crater diameter of 300 km, as estimated by Therriault. The sequence of events (stages 2-5) is illustrated diagramatically. The stages are: initial penetration, excavation and compression, dynamic rebound and uplift, maximum radial growth and collapse, and final crater form.

Therriault, A. M.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Evolutionary significance of osmoregulatory mechanisms in cyanobacteria

Physiological processes of all life forms on this planet are intrinsically related to their intracellular water potential. The overall goal was the elucidation of the mechanism(s) whereby the first oxygenic phtoautotrophs (the cyanobacteria) adjust their water potential to that of a changing external water potential (that is, osmoregulate). Osmoregulation is achieved by intracellular adjustment of inorganic and/or organic solutes (osmolytes) involving specific biochemical mechanisms. Structural and biochemical evolution within the cyanobacteria is believed completed (and fixed in present day forms) by the end of the Precambrain eon. Therefore, research using cyanobacteria of all three structural types (unicellular, filamentous, and branched), each grown in the photoautotrophic (PA), photoheterotrophic (PG), and chemotrophic (CH) modes of nutrition, should provide insight into the origin and evolution of the photosynthetically related osmoregulatory mechanisms of eukaryotic organisms. The chloroplasts of these organisms are phylogenetically related to the cyanobacteria.

Yopp, J. H.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Recurrent solar wind structures in the outer heliosphere

The paper presents recent work on evolution of recurrent solar wind structures in the outer heliosphere. Corotating shocks, corotating interaction regions, and merged interaction regions are studied, and an MHD simulation model in which the jump conditions at all shock crossings satisfy the Rankine-Hugoniot solution is examined. Simulation results which describe the evolution of idealized recurrent solar wind structures between 14 AU and the termination shock are reported which show that merged interaction regions belonging to two to four consecutive solar rotations coalesce with each other between 30 AU and the termination shock to reshape the heliospheric structures. In the outer heliosphere, forward and reverse interplanetary shocks which continuously heat the solar wind plasma are investigated.

Whang, Y. C.↗
NASA NTRS2014

Can Eccentric Debris Disks Be Long-lived? A First Numerical Investigation and Application to Zeta(exp 2) Reticuli

Context. Imaging of debris disks has found evidence for both eccentric and offset disks. One hypothesis is that they provide evidence for massive perturbers, for example, planets or binary companions, which sculpt the observed structures. One such disk was recently observed in the far-IR by the Herschel Space Observatory around Zeta2 Reticuli. In contrast with previously reported systems, the disk is significantly eccentric, and the system is several Gyr old. Aims. We aim to investigate the long-term evolution of eccentric structures in debris disks caused by a perturber on an eccentric orbit around the star. We hypothesise that the observed eccentric disk around Zeta2 Reticuli might be evidence of such a scenario. If so, we are able to constrain the mass and orbit of a potential perturber, either a giant planet or a binary companion. Methods. Analytical techniques were used to predict the effects of a perturber on a debris disk. Numerical N-body simulations were used to verify these results and further investigate the observable structures that may be produced by eccentric perturbers. The long-term evolution of the disk geometry was examined, with particular application to the Zeta2 Reticuli system. In addition, synthetic images of the disk were produced for direct comparison with Herschel observations. Results. We show that an eccentric companion can produce both the observed offsets and eccentric disks. These effects are not immediate, and we characterise the timescale required for the disk to develop to an eccentric state (and any spirals to vanish). For Zeta2 Reticuli, we derive limits on the mass and orbit of the companion required to produce the observations. Synthetic images show that the pattern observed around Zeta2 Reticuli can be produced by an eccentric disk seen close to edge-on, and allow us to bring additional constraints on the disk parameters of our model (disk flux and extent). Conclusions. We conclude that eccentric planets or stellar companions can induce long-lived eccentric structures in debris disks. Observations of such eccentric structures thus provide potential evidence of the presence of such a companion in a planetary system. We considered the specific example of Zeta2 Reticuli, whose observed eccentric disk can be explained by a distant companion (at tens of AU) on an eccentric orbit (ep greater than approx. 0.3).

planetary systems↗
NASA NTRS1989

Coherent structures in a boundary layer and shear layer of a turbulent backward-facing step flow

A wind tunnel experiment has been carried out at the NASA Ames Research Center to analyze the evolution of coherent structures from a boundary layer to a shear layer in a turbulent, backward-facing, step flow. A miniature X-wire/cold-wire probe has been used in conjunction with two arrays of cold wires, one aligned in the plane of main shear and the other in the spanwise direction of the flow, to detect and characterize delta-scale organized structures in the outer regions of the flow and to provide detailed information concerning these structures. Kinematic features of the events associated with the large scale structures were analyzed and topological pictures of the evolving flow, as well as the contributions to the Reynolds shear stress components are presented.

Jovic, Srba↗
NASA NTRS1994

Time-dependent evolution of cosmic-ray-modified shock structure: Transition to steady state

Steady state solutions to the two-fluid equations of cosmic-ray-modified shock structure were investigated first by Drury and Volk (1981). Their analysis revealed, among other properties, that there exist regions of upstream parameter space where the equations possess three different downstream solutions for a given upstream state. In this paper we investigate whether or not all these solutions can occur as time-asymptotic states in a physically realistic evolution. To do this, we investigate the time-dependent evolution of the two-fluid cosmic-ray equations in going from a specified initial condition to a steady state. Our results indicate that the time-asymptotic solution is strictly single-valued, and it undergoes a transition from weakly to strongly cosmic-ray-modified at a critical value of the upstream cosmic ray energy density. The expansion of supernova remnant shocks is considered as an example, and it is shown that the strong to weak transition is in fact more likely. The third intermediate solution is shown to influence the time-dependent evolution of the shock, but it is not found to be a stable time-asymptotic state. Timescales for convergence to these states and their implications for the efficiency of shock acceleration are considered. We also investigate the effects of a recently introduced model for the injection of seed particles into the shock accelerated cosmic-ray population. The injection is found to result in a more strongly cosmic-ray-dominated shock, which supports our conclusion that for most classes of intermediate and strong cosmic-ray-modified shocks, the downstream cosmic-ray pressure component is at least as large as the thermal gas pressure, independent of the upstream state. As a result, cosmic rays almost always play a significant role in determining the shock structure and dissipation and they cannot be regarded as test particles.

Donohue, D. J.↗
NASA NTRS1996

Linear Instability of a Uni-Directional Transversely Sheared Mean Flow

The effect of spanwise-periodic mean-flow distortions (i.e. streamwise-vortex structures) on the evolution of small-amplitude, single-frequency instability waves in an otherwise two-dimensional shear flow is investigated. The streamwise-vortex structures are taken to be just weak enough so that the spatially growing instability waves behave (locally) like linear perturbations about a uni-directional transversely sheared mean flow. Numerical solutions are computed and discussed for both the mean flow and the instability waves. The influence of the streamwise-vortex wavelength on the properties of the most rapidly growing instability wave is also discussed.

Wundrow, David W.↗
NASA NTRS2022

Flows in Enthalpy-based Thermal Evolution of Loops

Plasma-filled loop structures are common in the solar corona. Because detailed modeling of the dynamical evolution of these structures is computationally costly, an efficient method for computing approximate but quick physics-based solutions is to rely on space-integrated 0D simulations. The enthalpy-based thermal evolution of loops (EBTEL) framework is a commonly used method to study the exchange of mass and energy between the corona and transition region. EBTEL solves for density, temperature, and pressure, averaged over the coronal part of the loop, velocity at coronal base, and the instantaneous differential emission measure distribution in the transition region. The current single-fluid version of the code, EBTEL2, assumes that at all stages the flows are subsonic. However, sometimes the solutions show the presence of supersonic flows during the impulsive phase of heat input. It is thus necessary to account for this effect. Here, we upgrade EBTEL2 to EBTEL3 by including the kinetic energy term in the Navier–Stokes equation. We compare the solutions from EBTEL3 with those obtained using EBTEL2, as well as the state-of-the-art field-aligned hydrodynamics code HYDRAD. We find that the match in pressure between EBTEL3 and HYDRAD is better than that between EBTEL2 and HYDRAD. Additionally, the velocities predicted by EBTEL3 are in close agreement with those obtained with HYDRAD when the flows are subsonic. However, EBTEL3 solutions deviate substantially from HYDRAD’s when the latter predicts supersonic flows. Using the mismatches in the solution, we propose a criterion to determine the conditions under which EBTEL can be used to study flows in the system.

Solar coronal heating↗
NASA NTRS1995

Evolution of magnetized protoplanetary disks

We investigate the global evolution of a turbulent protoplanetary disk in its viscous stage, incorporating the effects of Maxwell stress due to a large-scale magnetic field permeating disk. We assume that the viscous stress is given by an alpha model. A magnetic field is produced contemporaneously by an alpha omega dynamo mechanism and the resultant Maxwell stress assists the viscous stress in providing the means for disk evolution. The aim of this work is to compare the evolution of magnetized and nonmagnetized disks driven by turbulent viscosity of the same magnitude and thus assess the effects of a self-generated magnetic field on the structure and dynamical evolution of protoplanetary disks. Two illustrative examples corresponding to two different initial conditions are considered: a high-mass case that starts with a disk of 0.245 solar mass and angular momentum of 5.6 x 10(exp 52)g sq cm/s, and a low-mass that case starts with a disk of 0.11 solar mass and angular momentum of 1.8 x 10(exp 52)g sq cm/s. For each of these two cases the radial development of a disk is calculated numerically assuming a fiducial value of the dimensionless viscosity parameter alpha(sub ss) = 0.01, as well as alpha(sub ss) = 2 x 10(exp -3). In all cases the central star has a mass equal to 1 solar mass. The most striking feature of magnetized disk evolution is the presence of the surface density bulge located in the region of the disk where the dynamo mechanism cannot support a magnetic field. The bulge persists for a time of the order of 10(exp 5)-10(exp 6) yr. The presence and persistence of the surface density bulge may have important implications for the process of planet formation and the overall characteristics of resultant planetary systems.

Reyes-Ruiz, Mauricio↗