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At least 55 records · Page 3

A process for flares

Solar flare process - solar wind as energy source, magnetic storage of energy, and particle acceleration

PARTICLE ACCELERATION↗

Remanent magnetization model for the broken ridge satellite magnetic anomaly

A crustal model for the interpretation of the Broken Ridge satellite magnetic anomaly was constructed from bathymetric data assuming an Airy-type isostatic compensation. An average crustal magnetization of 6 A.m is required to account for the observed anomaly amplitudes provided that the whole crust is homogeneously magnetized. In contrast, a model representing only the topographic expression of the Broken Ridge, above the surrounding sea floor, requires a magnetization of the order of 40 A.m-1. Since this latter figure is much higher than is to be expected from studies of magnetic properties of oceanic rocks, it is concluded that the majority of the crustal volume of Broken Ridge is magnetized relatively uniformly. The direction of the source magnetization is consistent with an inclination shallower than the present geomagnetic field and close to that of an axial dipole. Since a more northerly source location for Broken Ridge is contrary to the paleolatitude data it is though that the magnetization represents a magnetization obtained by averaging the geomagnetic field direction over a sufficient time to remove secular variation effects. This pattern is indicative of viscous magnetization.

Johnson, B. D.↗

Turbulent mixing by microscopic self-assembled spinners

A system for mixing particles that includes a liquid comprising inert particles and defining a liquid and air interface; magnetic microparticles suspended at the liquid and air interface; and a magnetic source configured to apply a uniaxial alternating magnetic field parallel to the liquid and air interface, wherein the uniaxial alternating magnetic field promotes a turbulent motion of the magnetic microparticles, which in turn promotes a diffusive motion of the inert particles.

Snezhko, Oleksiy↗

Magnetic-Nozzle Studies for Fusion Propulsion Applications: Gigawatt Plasma Source Operation and Magnetic Nozzle Analysis

This project has been a multiyear effort to assess the feasibility of a key process inherent to virtually all fusion propulsion concepts: the expansion of a fusion-grade plasma through a diverging magnetic field. Current fusion energy research touches on this process only indirectly through studies of plasma divertors designed to remove the fusion products from a reactor. This project was aimed at directly addressing propulsion system issues, without the expense of constructing a fusion reactor. Instead, the program designed, constructed, and operated a facility suitable for simulating fusion reactor grade edge plasmas, and to examine their expansion in an expanding magnetic nozzle. The approach was to create and accelerate a dense (up to l0(exp 20)/m) plasma, stagnate it in a converging magnetic field to convert kinetic energy to thermal energy, and examine the subsequent expansion of the hot (100's eV) plasma in a subsequent magnetic nozzle. Throughout the project, there has been a parallel effort between theoretical and numerical design and modelling of the experiment and the experiment itself. In particular, the MACH2 code was used to design and predict the performance of the magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) plasma accelerator, and to design and predict the design and expected behavior for the magnetic field coils that could be added later. Progress to date includes the theoretical accelerator design and construction, development of the power and vacuum systems to accommodate the powers and mass flow rates of interest to out research, operation of the accelerator and comparison to theoretical predictions, and computational analysis of future magnetic field coils and the expected performance of an integrated source-nozzle experiment.

Gilland, James H.↗

Miniature cyclotron resonance ion source using small permanent magnet

An ion source using the cyclotron resonance principle is described. A miniaturized ion source device is used in an air gap of a small permanent magnet with a substantially uniform field in the air gap of about 0.5 inch. The device and permanent magnet are placed in an enclosure which is maintained at a high vacuum (typically 10 to the minus 7th power) into which a sample gas can be introduced. The ion beam end of the device is placed very close to an aperture through which an ion beam can exit into the apparatus for an experiment.

Anicich, V. G.↗

Jupiter's magnetosphere and radiation belts

Radioastronomy and Pioneer data reveal the Jovian magnetosphere as a rotating magnetized source of relativistic particles and radio emission, comparable to astrophysical cosmic ray and radio sources, such as pulsars. According to Pioneer data, the magnetic field in the outer magnetosphere is radially extended into a highly time variable disk-shaped configuration which differs fundamentally from the earth's magnetosphere. The outer disk region, and the energetic particles confined in it, are modulated by Jupiter's 10 hr rotation period. The entire outer magnetosphere appears to change drastically on time scales of a few days to a week. In addition to its known modulation of the Jovian decametric radio bursts, Io was found to absorb some radiation belt particles and to accelerate others, and most importantly, to be a source of neutral atoms, and by inference, a heavy ion plasma which may significantly affect the hydrodynamic flow in the magnetosphere. Another important Pioneer finding is that the Jovian outer magnetosphere generates, or permits to escape, fluxes of relativistic electrons of such intensities that Jupiter may be regarded as the dominant source of 1 to 30 MeV cosmic ray electrons in the heliosphere.

Kennel, C. F.↗

On Geomagnetism and Paleomagnetism

A statistical description of Earth's broad scale, core-source magnetic field has been developed and tested. The description features an expected, or mean, spatial magnetic power spectrum that is neither "flat" nor "while" at any depth, but is akin to spectra advanced by Stevenson and McLeod. This multipole spectrum describes the magnetic energy range; it is not steep enough for Gubbins' magnetic dissipation range. Natural variations of core multipole powers about their mean values are to be expected over geologic time and are described via trial probability distribution functions that neither require nor prohibit magnetic isotropy. The description is thus applicable to core-source dipole and low degree non-dipole fields despite axial dipole anisotropy. The description is combined with main field models of modem satellite and surface geomagnetic measurements to make testable predictions of: (1) the radius of Earth's core, (2) mean paleomagnetic field intensity, and (3) the mean rates and durations of both dipole power excursions and durable axial dipole reversals. The predicted core radius is 0.7% above the 3480 km seismologic value. The predicted root mean square paleointensity (35.6 mu T) and mean Virtual Axial Dipole Moment (about 6.2 lx 1022 Am(exp 2)) are within the range of various mean paleointensity estimates. The predicted mean rate of dipole power excursions, as defined by an absolute dipole moment <20% of the 1980 value, is 9.04/Myr and 14% less than obtained by analysis of a 4 Myr paleointensity record. The predicted mean rate of durable axial dipole reversals (2.26/Myr) is 2.3% more than established by the polarity time-scale for the past 84 Myr. The predicted mean duration of axial dipole reversals (5533 yr) is indistinguishable from an observational value. The accuracy of these predictions demonstrates the power and utility of the description, which is thought to merit further development and testing. It is suggested that strong stable stratification of Earth's uppermost outer core leads to a geologically long interval of no dipole reversals and a very nearly axisymmetric field outside the core. Statistical descriptions of other planetary magnetic fields are outlined.

Voorhies, Coerte V.↗

Magnetic Reconfiguration in CMEs/Ejective Flares

We present (1) the standard concept for the large transient change in field configuration in the solar magnetic explosions that produce an ejective flare and become a coronal mass ejection (CME) and (2) an observational test of this picture of CME production. In linear span, the largest change in field configuration in these events is wrought by the CME in the outer corona and solar wind. In the outer corona, the CME is essentially a magnetic bubble that transiently pushes aside the previously radial surrounding field. The source magnetic field that explodes to become the CME is initially a closed arcade enveloping sheared and twisted sigmoid field that snakes along the polarity dividing line and forms the core of the arcade. The sigmoid field has a large store of pent-up free magnetic energy. This eventually causes the sigmoid to become unstable and to begin to erupt as a flux rope. The erupting flux rope becomes the core of the CME plasmoid. The flux rope and enveloping CME plasmoid are created and built up (given more magnetic flux) and unleashed to escape by reconnection of the legs of the erupting sigmoid and arcade. Simultaneously, this tether-cutting reconnection produces beneath the escaping plasmoid a growing coronal X-ray flare arcade rooted in two separating ribbons of chromospheric flare emission. As the unleashed CME plasmoid propels itself into the outer corona, it takes with it the top of the arcade envelope field that arches over it. The continuing reconnection finally recloses the 'opened' stretched legs of the envelope, thus restoring the pre-eruption closed-arcade field configuration. This reconnection scenario for producing the CME plasmoid implies that the magnetic flux spanned by the full-grown flare arcade nearly equals the magnetic flux in the CME plasmoid in the outer corona. We have found that a wide range of exploding source regions produce CMEs that pass this test for production by tether-cutting reconnection (Moore, Sterling, &Suess 2007, ApJ, 668,1221).

Moore, Ronald L.↗

Mapping Weak Crustal Magnetic Fields on Mars with Electron Reflectometry

One of the great surprises of the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission was the discovery of intensely magnetized crust. These magnetic sources are at least ten times stronger than their terrestrial counterparts, probably requiring large volumes of coherently magnetized material, very strong remanence, or both. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of these fields is their large scale coherence and organization into east-west stripes thousands of kilometers long. The anomalies were almost certainly created by thermoremanent magnetization (TRM) in the presence of a strong Martian dynamo. With few exceptions, the crustal fields are associated with the oldest terrain on Mars. Much of the northern lowlands appears to be non-magnetic, except for the relatively weak north polar anomalies and a few sources adja-cent to the dichotomy boundary, which appear to be associated with strongly magnetized crust south of the boundary. There is clear evidence for impact demagnetization of the Hellas, Argyre, and Isidis basins. Thus, Mars' crustal magnetic fields are among the oldest preserved geologic features on the planet.

Mitchell, D. L.↗

Magnetic Spectra of Earth and Mars

The spectral method for distinguishing crustal from core-source magnetic fields has been re-examined, modified, and applied to both a comprehensive geomagnetic field model and an altitude normalized magnetic map of Mars. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

Voorhies, C. V.↗

Remanent magnetization and 3-dimensional density model of the Kentucky anomaly region

A three-dimensional model of the Kentucky body was developed to fit surface gravity and long wavelength aeromagnetic data. Magnetization and density parameters for the model are much like those of Mayhew et al (1982). The magnetic anomaly due to the model at satellite altitude is shown to be much too small by itself to account for the anomaly measured by Magsat. It is demonstrated that the source region for the satellite anomaly is considerably more extensive than the Kentucky body sensu stricto. The extended source region is modeled first using prismatic model sources and then using dipole array sources. Magnetization directions for the source region found by inversion of various combinations of scalar and vector data are found to be close to the main field direction, implying the lack of a strong remanent component. It is shown by simulation that in a case (such as this) where the geometry of the source is known, if a strong remanent component is present its direction is readily detectable, but by scalar data as readily as vector data.

Mayhew, M. A.↗

Magnetization modeling in the north and equatorial Atlantic Ocean using MAGSAT data

Magsat 2 x 2-deg scalar anomalous-magnetic-field data (Langel et al., 1982) for the northern and equatorial Atlantic are inverted and combined with physiographic data and laboratory results on the magnetization of oceanic rocks and the oceanic crust to construct models explaining the shorter-wavelength component of the anomalies. An annihilator is applied to the inversion results to eliminate reverse-magnetized sources and facilitate comparisons of areas inverted separately, and a latitude effect on source spacing is tentatively attributed to greater noise contamination at lower latitudes. It is found that remanent magnetization combined with considerable crustal thickening can best explain the high intensity levels observed, although viscous magnetization or contamination of the data by noncrustal sources must also be considered.

Hayling, K. L.↗

Source location of the smooth high-frequency radio emissions from Uranus

The source location of the smooth high-frequency radio emissions from Uranus has been determined. Specifically, by fitting the signal dropouts which occurred as Voyager traversed the hollow center of the emission pattern to a symmetrical cone centered on the source magnetic field direction at the cyclotron frequency, a southern-hemisphere (nightside) source was found at approximately 56 deg S, 219 deg W. The half-angle for the hollow portion of the emission pattern was found to be 13 deg.

Farrell, W. M.↗

The North-South Asymmetry of the Heliospheric Current Sheet: Results of an MHD Simulation

A displacement of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) south of the helioequator by approx.10deg was proposed by Simpson et al. (1996) as a possible explanation of the north-south asymmetry in the galactic cosmic rays observed by Ulysses during its first fast transit in 1994-1995. The idea was not supported by magnetic field measurements on Ulysses and, on this ground, was dismissed by Simpson et al. (1996). In addition, Erdos & Balogh (1998) argued that any north-south symmetry was unlikely as there should be flux balance between the magnetic sectors of opposite polarity. Nonetheless, many in the scientific community have accepted the original suggestion of Simpson et al. (1996) that a displacement of the HCS was responsible for the cosmic ray asymmetry. In this paper, using a magnetohydrodynamic model of the solar corona and solar wind that includes both dipole and quadrupole magnetic source terms, we show that a north-south asymmetry of the magnetic field on the Sun does not give rise to a displacement of the HCS. The lack of displacement of the HCS results from a latitudinal redistribution of magnetic flux near the Sun where the plasma beta much < 1. The latitudinal redistribution is a direct consequence of the magnetic field gradient between pole and equator. Near the Sun, the latitudinal gradient in magnetic field generates meridional flows directed equatorward that tend to relax the gradient in the magnetic field (to make it more latitude-independent) as heliocentric distance increases. If there is an asymmetry between north and south magnetic field strength then the meridional flows are also asymmetric (i.e., stronger in the hemisphere of stronger magnetic field). Because the magnetic fluxes (positive and negative) in the hemispheres must be equal, the redistribution shifts the HCS into balance by approx. 16 R(solar mass). At larger distances, where the magnetic field is relatively weak (beta much > 1), the HCS can be displaced if there is a difference in total pressure between the hemispheres.

solar wind↗

Magnetization of the Lunar Crust

Magnetic fields measured by the satellite Lunar Prospector show large scale features resulting from remanently magnetized crust. Vector data synthesized at satellite altitude from a spherical harmonic model of the lunar crustal field, and the radial component of the magnetometer data, have been used to produce spatially continuous global magnetization models for the lunar crust. The magnetization is expressed in terms of localized basis functions, with a magnetization solution selected having the smallest root-mean square magnetization for a given fit to the data, controlled by a damping parameter. Suites of magnetization models for layers with thicknesses between 10 and 50 km are able to reproduce much of the input data, with global misfits of less than 0.5 nT (within the uncertainties of the data), and some surface field estimates. The magnetization distributions show robust magnitudes for a range of model thicknesses and damping parameters, however the magnetization direction is unconstrained. These global models suggest that magnetized sources of the lunar crust can be represented by a 30 km thick magnetized layer. Average magnetization values in magnetized regions are 30-40 mA/m, similar to the measured magnetizations of the Apollo samples and significantly weaker than crustal magnetizations for Mars and the Earth. These are the first global magnetization models for the Moon, providing lower bounds on the magnitude of lunar crustal magnetization in the absence of multiple sample returns, and can be used to predict the crustal contribution to the lunar magnetic field at a particular location.

Lunar↗

Three-Dimensional Magnetohydrodynamic Modeling of the Solar Wind Including Pickup Protons and Turbulence Transport

To study the effects of interstellar pickup protons and turbulence on the structure and dynamics of the solar wind, we have developed a fully three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic solar wind model that treats interstellar pickup protons as a separate fluid and incorporates the transport of turbulence and turbulent heating. The governing system of equations combines the mean-field equations for the solar wind plasma, magnetic field, and pickup protons and the turbulence transport equations for the turbulent energy, normalized cross-helicity, and correlation length. The model equations account for photoionization of interstellar hydrogen atoms and their charge exchange with solar wind protons, energy transfer from pickup protons to solar wind protons, and plasma heating by turbulent dissipation. Separate mass and energy equations are used for the solar wind and pickup protons, though a single momentum equation is employed under the assumption that the pickup protons are comoving with the solar wind protons.We compute the global structure of the solar wind plasma, magnetic field, and turbulence in the region from 0.3 to 100 AU for a source magnetic dipole on the Sun tilted by 0 deg - .90 deg and compare our results with Voyager 2 observations. The results computed with and without pickup protons are superposed to evaluate quantitatively the deceleration and heating effects of pickup protons, the overall compression of the magnetic field in the outer heliosphere caused by deceleration, and the weakening of corotating interaction regions by the thermal pressure of pickup protons.

Usmanov, Arcadi V.↗

Hollowness of the observed auroral kilometric radiation pattern

Presumably also generated by electron cyclotron emission, the earth's auroral kilometric radiation would be expected to exhibit a hollow pattern in the direction of the source magnetic field, similar to that reported for the comparable emissions from Jupiter. Although previously overlooked, such hollowness is clearly present in the new pattern measurements of Green and Gallagher (1985) at 56 kHz, occupying source-centered latitudes of 30 to 45 deg and hence occurring exactly where it was predicted and previously observed. Being distributed in longitude and spanning the entire evening sector, presumably reflecting a similar longitudinal distribution of auroral zone sources, this hollowness is attributed to sources beamed preferentially in the poleward magnetic meridian.

Calvert, W.↗

Lunar Magnetic Field Models From Lunar Prospector and SELENE/Kaguya Along-Track Magnetic Field Gradients

We use L1-norm model regularization of |Br| component at the surface on magnetic monopoles bases and along-track magnetic field differences alone (without vector observations) to derive high quality global magnetic field models at the surface of the Moon. The practical advantages to this strategy are the following: monopoles are more stable at closer spacing in comparison to dipoles, improving spatial resolution; L1-norm model regularization leads to sparse models which may be appropriate for the Moon which has regions of localized magnetic field features; and along-track differences reduce the need for ad-hoc external field noise reduction strategies. We examine also the use of Lunar Prospector and SELENE/Kaguya magnetometer data, combined and separately, and find that the Lunar Prospector along-track vector field differences lead to surface field models that require weaker regularization and, hence, result in higher spatial resolution. Significantly higher spatial resolution (wavelengths of roughly 25–30 km) and higher amplitude surface magnetic fields can be derived over localized regions of high amplitude anomalies (due to their higher signal-to-noise ratio). These high-resolution field models are also compared with the results of Surface Vector Mapping approach of Tsunakawa et al. (2015, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JE004785). Finally, the monopoles- as well as dipoles-based patterns of the Serenitatis high amplitude magnetic feature have characteristic textbook patterns of Br and Bθ component fields from a nearly vertically downwardly magnetized source region and it implies that the principal source of the anomaly was formed when the region was much closer to the north magnetic pole of the Moon.

D. Ravat↗