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At least 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

The rise and fall of sunspot group 18962 - A case of magnetic submergence

Normal sunspot groups emerge from below the surface as a big arch; the footpoints form a dipole that moves apart and the fields eventually diffuse and disappear. BBSO 18962 was a small dipole with elements which, after spreading apart in the first day of existence, drew back together and disappeared below the surface. It is proposed that the flux loop was pulled back down by magnetic tension and submerged. The circumstances suggest that this behavior may not be uncommon. It implies that some dipoles do not decouple from subsurface fields.

Zirin, H.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Magnetized thermal conduction fronts

The evolution of planar thermal conduction fronts in the presence of a dynamically weak, but otherwise self-consistent, magnetic field is considered. The field is assumed to be connected and untangled. In the diffusion limit for the thermal conductivity, these fronts exhibit self-similar behavior, even in the presence of a field. The role of the field is restricted to channeling the heat flux along its lines of force, and it enters into the problem as a dimensionless angle variable. 'Combing' (or opening) of insulating field lines by the evaporative flow is explicitly demonstrated. Unless the field is nearly perpendicular to the front normal in the hot gas, insulating effects are not profound. Self-similarity breaks down if the front becomes saturated, and under certain conditions magnetized saturated conduction fronts cannot propagate: the solution characteristics of the wave equation form caustics. The physical resolution is the advent of two-fluid (nonlocal) heating. Such Coulomb-heated fronts are expected to be relatively rare in typical astrophysical systems. The large-scale effects of a magnetic field on cloud evaporation in the interstellar medium are briefly discussed, and it is suggested that these fields preclude the presence of time-independent evaporative solutions. Thermal interfaces may then continue to evolve until radiative cooling halts their development; large tracts of warm 10,000 K gas may result.

Balbus, S. A.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Static Magnetic Fields in Semiconductor Floating-Zone Growth

Heat and mass transfer in semiconductor float-zone processing are strongly influenced by convective flows in the zone, originating from sources such as buoyancy convection, thermocapillary (Marangoni) convection, differential rotation, or radio frequency heating. Because semiconductor melts are conducting, flows can be damped by the use of static magnetic fields to influence the interface shape and the segregation of dopants and impurities. An important objective is often the suppression of time-dependent flows and the ensuing dopant striations. In RF-heated Si-FZ - crystals, fields up to O.STesla show some flattening of the interface curvature and a reduction of striation amplitudes. In radiation-heated (small-scale) SI-FZ crystals, fields of 0.2 - 0.5 Tesla already suppress the majority of the dopant striations. The uniformity of the radial segregation is often compromised by using a magnetic field, due to the directional nature of the damping. Transverse fields lead to an asymmetric interface shape and thus require crystal rotation (resulting in rotational dopant striations) to achieve a radially symmetric interface, whereas axial fields introduce a coring effect. A complete suppression of dopant striations and a reduction of the coring to insignificant values, combined with a shift of the axial segregation profile towards a more diffusion-limited case, are possible with axial static fields in excess of 1 Tesla. Strong static magnetic fields, however, can also lead to the appearance of thermoelectromagnetic convection, caused by the interaction of thermoelectric currents with the magnetic field.

Croll, Arne↗
NASA NTRS1972

Evidence of a diffuse magnetopause boundary.

Observational evidence is presented to show that the magnetosphere-magnetopause boundary was diffuse during the Pioneer 8 magnetopause traversal on Dec. 14 and 15, 1967. This boundary was characterized by proton fluxes of significantly lower intensity than those observed in the magnetosheath. In addition, the angles of flow associated with the fluxes at the boundary were more diverse than those observed in the magnetosheath. Proton energy spectra are presented to indicate the change in the spectral shape at the boundary. The observational evidence is consistent with calculations by Axford and Dryer of a viscous magnetopause boundary layer, which is a function of an anomalous nonclassical kinematic viscosity. The observational evidence presented for the diffuse magnetosphere boundary may also be consistent with Dungey's model reconnection of magnetic field lines and an open magnetosphere.

Intriligator, D. S.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Electrostatic waves in the magnetosphere.

Electric dipole antennas on magnetospheric spacecraft measure E field components of many kinds of electromagnetic waves. In addition, lower hybrid resonance emissions are frequently observed well above the ionosphere. The Ogo 5 plasma wave experiment has also detected new forms of electrostatic emissions that appear to interact very strongly with the local plasma particles. Greatly enhanced wave amplitudes have been found during the expansion phases of substorms, and analysis indicates that these emissions produce strong pitch angle diffusion. Intense broadband electrostatic turbulence is also detected at current layers containing steep magnetic field gradients. This current-driven instability is operative at the bow shock and also at field null regions just within the magnetosheath, and at the magnetopause near the dayside polar cusp. The plasma turbulence appears to involve ion acoustic waves, and the wave particle scattering provides an important collisionless dissipation mechanism for field merging.

Scarf, F. L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Ar-40/Ar-39 chronology and cosmic ray exposure ages of the Apollo 15 samples

The Ar-40*/Ar-39* thermal release patterns of igneous soil fragments, rake basalts, and large crystalline rocks are by and large well defined. Shock deformations of up to moderate intensities have no observable effects on the Ar-40*/Ar-39* release patterns. Neither do the Ar-40* diffusion losses have any relationship with the shock intensities. The peak of the magnetic activity in Palus Putredinis occurred at 3.33 plus or minus 0.02 Gy, lava flows continuing up to 3.13 Gy but at much reduced intensity. No correlation between the crystallization ages and the petrographic rock types was observed. The cosmic ray exposure gas indicate a mature regolith around the Hadley Rille-Apennine Front region. The exposure ages of the Apollo 15 samples cannot reliably be used to obtain the time of prominent cratering events at this site.

Husain, L.↗
NASA NTRS1974

The abundances of nuclei in the cosmic radiation

The relative abundances are treated as a consequence of processes in cosmic ray transport occurring during passage of the radiation through interstellar material at high velocity. Some of the subjects mentioned are nuclear fragmentation and the production of secondary nuclei, nuclear reactions, energy loss and nuclear decay, ionization, the range-energy relation and propagation variables, capture and loss of electrons, the propagation of nuclei, the transport equation, equilibrium solutions, energy-dependent path length distribution, exponential path length distributions, discrete spectra, sources, supernovae, and the origin of the abundances. The connection between the space-time features of the sources, the material traversed, and the effects of magnetic fields is established by describing the particle-field interaction as a diffusive or random-walk process.

Reames, D. V.↗
NASA NTRS1975

The L equals 6.7 quiet time barium shaped charge injection experiment 'Chachalaca'

Near dawn on October 9, 1972, UT, a barium plasma injection experiment was carried out from Poker Flat, Alaska, during quiet magnetic conditions (Kp equals 1+). The visible plasma flux tube produced was more diffuse than the flux tubes in previous experiments, but it could be tracked for 30 min out to an altitude of 2.5 earth radii. The flux tube remained integral for about 20 min, when a single striation separated from the main streak. Comparisons of the observed flux tube orientation with theoretical field models show no significant deviations ascribable to field-aligned currents. Cross-field drift rates of the foot of the flux tube indicate an E field of approximately 7 mV/m at 200-km altitude. Although an attempt was made via a jet aircraft flight, barium ions were not detected in the southern conjugate region. No energetic particle precipitation phenomena were observed which could be ascribed to the barium plasma injection.

Wescott, E. M.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Scatter-free collimated convection and cosmic-ray transport at 1 AU

Observations of solar cosmic rays between 0.1 MeV and 1 GeV are more consistent with scatter-free than diffusive propagation near 1 AU. Since these particles also are constrained to interplanetary magnetic field lines, the parallel and transverse flow are decoupled by collimated convection. Local propagation is therefore more appropriately described by Liouville's equation, and transport properties can be examined from the exact zeroeth and first moments of the equation averaged over all directions in momentum space. Observational results which may be explained directly without invoking local scattering include the decay of solar flare events as well as the radial gradient, diurnal and semidiurnal variation of galactic cosmic rays.

Roelof, E. C.↗
NASA NTRS1986

Scaling of the beam plasma discharge for low magnetic fields

A theoretical analysis of the scaling law and the value of the threshold current for beam plasma discharge (BPD) is presented, based on the requirement for an absolute instability near the plasma frequency. It is shown that both the scaling law as well as the numerical values of Ic are consistent with the experimental data, in the low pressure regimes and for weak magnetic field experiments if the dominant particle loss mechanism is due to Bohm diffusion. The implications of the findings to electron injection in space are discussed.

Papadopoulos, K.↗
NASA NTRS1987

Effect of double layers on magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling

The Earth's auroral zone contains dynamic processes occurring on scales from the length of an auroral zone field line which characterizes Alfven wave propagation to the scale of microscopic processes which occur over a few Debye lengths. These processes interact in a time-dependent fashion since the current carried by the Alfven waves can excite microscopic turbulence which can in turn provide dissipation of the Alfven wave energy. This review will first describe the dynamic aspects of auroral current structures with emphasis on consequences for models of microscopic turbulence. A number of models of microscopic turbulence will be introduced into a large-scale model of Alfven wave propagation to determine the effect of various models on the overall structure of auroral currents. In particular, the effects of a double layer electric field which scales with the plasma temperature and Debye length is compared with the effect of anomalous resistivity due to electrostatic ion cyclotron turbulence in which the electric field scales with the magnetic field strength. It is found that the double layer model is less diffusive than in the resistive model leading to the possibility of narrow, intense current structures.

Lysak, Robert L.↗
NASA NTRS1988

A millimeter-wave tunneLadder TWT

A millimeter wave traveling wave tube was developed using a dispersive, high impedance forward interaction structure based on a ladder, with non-space harmonic interaction, for a tube with high gain per unit length and high efficiency. The TunneLadder interaction structure combines ladder properties modified to accommodate Pierce gun beam optics in a radially magnetized permanent magnet focusing structure. The development involved the fabrication of chemically milled, shaped ladders diffusion brazed to diamond cubes which are in turn active-diffusion brazed to each ridge of a doubly ridged waveguide. Cold test data are presented, representing the omega-beta and impedance characteristics of the modified ladder circuit. These results were used in small and large signal computer programs to predict TWT gain and efficiency. Actual data from tested tubes verify the predicted performance while providing broader bandwidth than expected.

Jacquez, A.↗
NASA NTRS1990

Cosmic-ray streaming in the Born approximation

The present work invokes the Born approximation to derive a more accurate expression for the streaming of cosmic rays parallel to the mean magnetic field. While all prior results pertaining to the helicity dependence of the diffusion coefficient and convection speed can be recovered as special cases from this streaming equation, it is concluded that a new set of transport parameters presented here is more appropriate for the solar modulation of galactic cosmic rays. In addition, a new parameter related to time variability, which may be a dominant cause of charge sign-dependent transport of solar particles, is introduced.

Bieber, J. W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Simulation of whistler waves excited in the presence of a cold plasma cloud - Implications for the CRRES mission

A one-dimensional electromagnetic particle simulation model is constructed to study the excitation of whistler waves in the presence of a cold plasma cloud for conditions representative of those after the release of lithium in the inner plasma sheet during the Combined Release and Radiation Effect Satellite mission. The results indicate that a standing-wave pattern with discrete wave frequencies is formed within the cloud. The magnetic wave amplitude inside the cloud, which is limited by quasi-linear diffusion, is of the order of several nanoteslas. Assuming a magnetospheric loss cone of 5 deg, the observed pitch angle diffusion produced by the whistler waves is sufficient to put the electrons on strong diffusion.

Pritchett, P. L.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Mineralogy of three slightly palagonitized basaltic tephra samples from the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii

The paper characterizes the mineralogy and spectral properties of three slightly palagonitized basaltic tephra samples collected near the summit of Mauna Kea in order to contribute to the basis for inferring mineralogy and processes for Martian surface materials. The mineralogy of size fractions of these samples is examined by diffuse reflectance and FIR spectroscopy, optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Moessbauer spectroscopy, magnetic analysis, EMPA, TEM, and SEM. For the 20-1000 micron size fraction, sample HWMK11 (red) is essentially completely oxidized and has a hematite (Ti-hematite) pigment dispersed throughout the silicate matrix. Sample HWMK12 (black) has the lowest proportion of ferric-bearing phases and is thus least weathered. For HWMK11, the amount of hematite is essentially constant, and mica is present only in the coarse clay-sized fraction; smectites are low in structural Fe.

Golden, D. C.↗
NASA NTRS1993

Low-frequency mobility response functions for the central plasma sheet with application to tearing modes

Consideration is given to the effect of constant cross-tail magnetic field By on the collisionless conductivity produced by chaotic scattering and stochastic diffusion of particles in the current sheet for a parabolic geometry. It is shown that the correlation time scales as (By/Bz)-squared, and from this strong By scaling a strong tendency toward stabilization of the linear tearing modes with increasing values of By is inferred. This effect of increased dawn-dusk mobility is particularly dramatic when electrons are introduced in the calculation, and is in agreement with the results of kinetic particle simulations. The collisionless conductivity is expressed in terms of the ensemble-averaged power spectrum of the single particle trajectories, which makes it possible to calculate directly the linear conductivity instead of deriving it from the calculation of the irreversible heating rates.

Hernandez, J.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Models of Coronal Loops and Those Annoying Observations

It is often said that coronal loops are the fundamental building blocks of the magnetically-closed corona. This is certainly true, especially when one realizes that the diffuse component of the corona can be thought of as a collection of indistinguishable loops. During the Skylab era, it was believed that loops are in states of quasi static equilibrium. However, more recent observations combined with numerical models have revealed that this interpretation is not correct, at least for many loops. The concept of loops as bundles of impulsively-heated strands is very appealing and solves many of the problems faced by static models, but it too faces observational challenges. Yet another idea involves the fascinating phenomenon of thermal nonequilibrium. I will review the various attempts to model coronal loops and discuss how they agree and disagree with observations, paying particular attention to the latest results from Hinode.

Klimchuk, James A.↗