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At least 991 records · Page 55

X-RAY SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF THE STEADY STATES OF GRS1915+105

We report on the X-ray spectral behavior within the steady states of GRS1915+105. Our work is based on the full data set of the source obtained using the Proportional Counter Array (PCA) on the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) and 15 GHz radio data obtained using the Ryle Telescope. The steady observations within the X-ray data set naturally separated into two regions in the color–color diagram and we refer to these regions as steady-soft and steady-hard. GRS1915+105 displays significant curvature in the coronal component in both the soft and hard data within the RXTE/PCA bandpass. A majority of the steady-soft observations displays a roughly constant inner disk radius (R{sub in}), while the steady-hard observations display an evolving disk truncation which is correlated to the mass accretion rate through the disk. The disk flux and coronal flux are strongly correlated in steady-hard observations and very weakly correlated in the steady-soft observations. Within the steady-hard observations, we observe two particular circumstances when there are correlations between the coronal X-ray flux and the radio flux with log slopes η∼0.68±0.35 and η∼1.12±0.13. They are consistent with the upper and lower tracks of Gallo et al. (2012), respectively. A comparison of the model parameters to the state definitions shows that almost all of the steady-soft observations match the criteria of either a thermal or steep power-law state, while a large portion of the steady-hard observations match the hard-state criteria when the disk fraction constraint is neglected.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

THE FORMATION AND EARLY EVOLUTION OF A CORONAL MASS EJECTION AND ITS ASSOCIATED SHOCK WAVE ON 2014 JANUARY 8

In this paper, we study the formation and early evolution of a limb coronal mass ejection (CME) and its associated shock wave that occurred on 2014 January 8. The extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images provided by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory disclose that the CME first appears as a bubble-like structure. Subsequently, its expansion forms the CME and causes a quasi-circular EUV wave. Interestingly, both the CME and the wave front are clearly visible at all of the AIA EUV passbands. Through a detailed kinematical analysis, it is found that the expansion of the CME undergoes two phases: a first phase with a strong but transient lateral over-expansion followed by a second phase with a self-similar expansion. The temporal evolution of the expansion velocity coincides very well with the variation of the 25–50 keV hard X-ray flux of the associated flare, which indicates that magnetic reconnection most likely plays an important role in driving the expansion. Moreover, we find that, when the velocity of the CME reaches ∼600 km s{sup −1}, the EUV wave starts to evolve into a shock wave, which is evidenced by the appearance of a type II radio burst. The shock’s formation height is estimated to be ∼0.2 R {sub sun}, which is much lower than the height derived previously. Finally, we also study the thermal properties of the CME and the EUV wave. We find that the plasma in the CME leading front and the wave front has a temperature of ∼2 MK, while that in the CME core region and the flare region has a much higher temperature of ≥8 MK.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

USING ForeCAT DEFLECTIONS AND ROTATIONS TO CONSTRAIN THE EARLY EVOLUTION OF CMEs

To accurately predict the space weather effects of the impacts of coronal mass ejection (CME) at Earth one must know if and when a CME will impact Earth and the CME parameters upon impact. In 2015 Kay et al. presented Forecasting a CME’s Altered Trajectory (ForeCAT), a model for CME deflections based on the magnetic forces from the background solar magnetic field. Knowing the deflection and rotation of a CME enables prediction of Earth impacts and the orientation of the CME upon impact. We first reconstruct the positions of the 2010 April 8 and the 2012 July 12 CMEs from the observations. The first of these CMEs exhibits significant deflection and rotation (34° deflection and 58° rotation), while the second shows almost no deflection or rotation (<3° each). Using ForeCAT, we explore a range of initial parameters, such as the CME’s location and size, and find parameters that can successfully reproduce the behavior for each CME. Additionally, since the deflection depends strongly on the behavior of a CME in the low corona, we are able to constrain the expansion and propagation of these CMEs in the low corona.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

HOW DID A MAJOR CONFINED FLARE OCCUR IN SUPER SOLAR ACTIVE REGION 12192?

We study the physical mechanism of a major X-class solar flare that occurred in the super NOAA active region (AR) 12192 using data-driven numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) modeling complemented with observations. With the evolving magnetic fields observed at the solar surface as bottom boundary input, we drive an MHD system to evolve self-consistently in correspondence with the realistic coronal evolution. During a two-day time interval, the modeled coronal field has been slowly stressed by the photospheric field evolution, which gradually created a large-scale coronal current sheet, i.e., a narrow layer with intense current, in the core of the AR. The current layer was successively enhanced until it became so thin that a tether-cutting reconnection between the sheared magnetic arcades was set in, which led to a flare. The modeled reconnecting field lines and their footpoints match well the observed hot flaring loops and the flare ribbons, respectively, suggesting that the model has successfully “reproduced” the macroscopic magnetic process of the flare. In particular, with simulation, we explained why this event is a confined eruption—the consequence of the reconnection is a shared arcade instead of a newly formed flux rope. We also found a much weaker magnetic implosion effect compared to many other X-class flares.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Differentially rotating white dwarfs. I. Regimes of internal rotation

Most viable models of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) require the thermonuclear explosion of a carbon/oxygen white dwarf that has evolved in a binary system. Rotation could be an important aspect of any model for SNe Ia, whether single or double degenerate, with the white dwarf mass at, below, or above the Chandrasekhar limit. Differential rotation is specifically invoked in attempts to account for the apparent excess mass in the super-Chandrasekhar events. Some earlier work has suggested that only uniform rotation is consistent with the expected mechanisms of angular momentum transport in white dwarfs, while others have found pronounced differential rotation. We show that if the baroclinic instability is active in degenerate matter and the effects of magnetic fields are neglected, both nearly uniform rotation and strongly differential rotation are possible. We classify rotation regimes in terms of the Richardson number, Ri. At small values of Ri ⩽ 0.1, we find both the low-viscosity Zahn regime with a nonmonotonic angular velocity profile and a new differential rotation regime for which the viscosity is high and scales linearly with the shear, σ. Employment of Kelvin–Helmholtz viscosity alone yields differential rotation. Large values of Ri ≫ 1 produce a regime of nearly uniform rotation for which the baroclinic viscosity is of intermediate value and scales as σ{sup 3}. We discuss the gap in understanding of the behavior at intermediate values of Ri and how observations may constrain the rotation regimes attained by nature.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SPHERICALLY SYMMETRIC, COLD COLLAPSE: THE EXACT SOLUTIONS AND A COMPARISON WITH SELF-SIMILAR SOLUTIONS

We present the exact solutions for the collapse of a spherically symmetric cold (i.e., pressureless) cloud under its own self-gravity, valid for arbitrary initial density profiles and not restricted to the realm of self-similarity. These solutions exhibit a number of remarkable features, including the self-consistent formation of and subsequent accretion onto a central point mass. A number of specific examples are provided, and we show that Penston’s solution of pressureless self-similar collapse is recovered for polytropic density profiles; importantly, however, we demonstrate that the time over which this solution holds is fleetingly short, implying that much of the collapse proceeds non-self-similarly. We show that our solutions can naturally incorporate turbulent pressure support, and we investigate the evolution of overdensities—potentially generated by such turbulence—as the collapse proceeds. Finally, we analyze the evolution of the angular velocity and magnetic fields in the limit that their dynamical influence is small, and we recover exact solutions for these quantities. Our results may provide important constraints on numerical models that attempt to elucidate the details of protostellar collapse when the initial conditions are far less idealized.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Circumstellar Disks and Outflows in Turbulent Molecular Cloud Cores: Possible Formation Mechanism for Misaligned Systems

We investigate the formation of circumstellar disks and outflows subsequent to the collapse of molecular cloud cores with the magnetic field and turbulence. Numerical simulations are performed by using an adaptive mesh refinement to follow the evolution up to ∼1000 years after the formation of a protostar. In the simulations, circumstellar disks are formed around the protostars; those in magnetized models are considerably smaller than those in nonmagnetized models, but their size increases with time. The models with stronger magnetic fields tend to produce smaller disks. During evolution in the magnetized models, the mass ratios of a disk to a protostar is approximately constant at ∼1%–10%. The circumstellar disks are aligned according to their angular momentum, and the outflows accelerate along the magnetic field on the 10–100 au scale; this produces a disk that is misaligned with the outflow. The outflows are classified into two types: a magnetocentrifugal wind and a spiral flow. In the latter, because of the geometry, the axis of rotation is misaligned with the magnetic field. The magnetic field has an internal structure in the cloud cores, which also causes misalignment between the outflows and the magnetic field on the scale of the cloud core. The distribution of the angular momentum vectors in a core also has a non-monotonic internal structure. This should create a time-dependent accretion of angular momenta onto the circumstellar disk. Therefore, the circumstellar disks are expected to change their orientation as well as their sizes in the long-term evolutions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Nonlinear Evolution of Short-wavelength Torsional Alfvén Waves

We analyze nonlinear evolution of torsional Alfvén waves in a straight magnetic flux tube filled in with a low- β plasma, and surrounded with a plasma of lower density. Such magnetic tubes model, in particular, a segment of a coronal loop or a polar plume. The wavelength is taken comparable to the tube radius. We perform a numerical simulation of the wave propagation using ideal magnetohydrodynamics. We find that a torsional wave nonlinearly induces three kinds of compressive flows: the parallel flow at the Alfvén speed, which constitutes a bulk plasma motion along the magnetic field, the tube wave, and also transverse flows in the radial direction, associated with sausage fast magnetoacoustic modes. In addition, the nonlinear torsional wave steepens and its propagation speed increases. The latter effect leads to the progressive distortion of the torsional wave front, i.e., nonlinear phase mixing. Because of the intrinsic non-uniformity of the torsional wave amplitude across the tube radius, the nonlinear effects are more pronounced in regions with higher wave amplitudes. They are always absent at the axes of the flux tube. In the case of a linear radial profile of the wave amplitude, the nonlinear effects are localized in an annulus region near the tube boundary. Thus, the parallel compressive flows driven by torsional Alfvén waves in the solar and stellar coronae, are essentially non-uniform in the perpendicular direction. The presence of additional sinks for the wave energy reduces the efficiency of the nonlinear parallel cascade in torsional Alfvén waves.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Magnetic Flux Rope Identification and Characterization from Observationally Driven Solar Coronal Models

Formed through magnetic field shearing and reconnection in the solar corona, magnetic flux ropes are structures of twisted magnetic field, threaded along an axis. Their evolution and potential eruption are of great importance for space weather. Here we describe a new methodology for the automated detection of flux ropes in simulated magnetic fields, utilizing field-line helicity. Our Flux Rope Detection and Organization (FRoDO) code, which measures the magnetic flux and helicity content of pre-erupting flux ropes over time, as well as detecting eruptions, is publicly available. As a first demonstration, the code is applied to the output from a time-dependent magnetofrictional model, spanning 1996 June 15–2014 February 10. Over this period, 1561 erupting and 2099 non-erupting magnetic flux ropes are detected, tracked, and characterized. For this particular model data, erupting flux ropes have a mean net helicity magnitude of 2.66×10{sup 43} Mx{sup 2}, while non-erupting flux ropes have a significantly lower mean of 4.04×10{sup 42} Mx{sup 2}, although there is overlap between the two distributions. Similarly, the mean unsigned magnetic flux for erupting flux ropes is 4.04×10{sup 21} Mx, significantly higher than the mean value of 7.05×10{sup 20} Mx for non-erupting ropes. These values for erupting flux ropes are within the broad range expected from observational and theoretical estimates, although the eruption rate in this particular model is lower than that of observed coronal mass ejections. In the future, the FRoDO code will prove to be a valuable tool for assessing the performance of different non-potential coronal simulations and comparing them with observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

High-cadence, High-resolution Spectroscopic Observations of Herbig Stars HD 98922 and V1295 Aquila

Recent observational work has indicated that mechanisms for accretion and outflow in Herbig Ae/Be star–disk systems may differ from magnetospheric accretion (MA) as it is thought to occur in T Tauri star–disk systems. In this work, we assess the temporal evolution of spectral lines probing accretion and mass loss in Herbig Ae/Be systems and test for consistency with the MA paradigm. For two Herbig Ae/Be stars, HD 98922 (B9e) and V1295 Aql (A2e), we have gathered multi-epoch (∼years) and high-cadence (∼minutes) high-resolution optical spectra to probe a wide range of kinematic processes. Employing a line equivalent width evolution correlation metric introduced here, we identify species co-evolving (indicative of common line origin) via novel visualization. We interferometrically constrain often problematically degenerate parameters, inclination and inner-disk radius, allowing us to focus on the structure of the wind, magnetosphere, and inner gaseous disk in radiative transfer models. Over all timescales sampled, the strongest variability occurs within the blueshifted absorption components of the Balmer series lines; the strength of variability increases with the cadence of the observations. Finally, high-resolution spectra allow us to probe substructure within the Balmer series’ blueshifted absorption components: we observe static, low-velocity features and time-evolving features at higher velocities. Overall, we find the observed line morphologies and variability are inconsistent with a scaled-up T Tauri MA scenario. We suggest that as magnetic field structure and strength change dramatically with increasing stellar mass from T Tauri to Herbig Ae/Be stars, so too may accretion and outflow processes.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A PROPELLER MODEL FOR THE SUB-LUMINOUS STATE OF THE TRANSITIONAL MILLISECOND PULSAR PSR J1023+0038

The discovery of millisecond pulsars switching between states powered either by the rotation of their magnetic field or by the accretion of matter has recently proved the tight link shared by millisecond radio pulsars and neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries. Transitional millisecond pulsars also show an enigmatic intermediate state in which the neutron star is surrounded by an accretion disk and emits coherent X-ray pulsations, but is sub-luminous in X-rays with respect to accreting neutron stars, and is brighter in gamma-rays than millisecond pulsars in the rotation-powered state. Here, we model the X-ray and gamma-ray emission observed from PSR J1023+0038 in such a state based on the assumptions that most of the disk in-flow is propelled away by the rapidly rotating neutron star magnetosphere, and that electrons can be accelerated to energies of a few GeV at the turbulent disk–magnetosphere boundary. We show that the synchrotron and self-synchrotron Compton emission coming from such a region, together with the hard disk emission typical of low states of accreting compact objects, is able to explain the radiation observed in the X-ray and gamma-ray bands. The average emission observed from PSR J1023+0038 is modeled by a disk in-flow with a rate of 1–3 × 10{sup −11} M{sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}, truncated at a radius ranging between 30 and 45 km, compatible with the hypothesis of a propelling magnetosphere. We compare the results we obtained with models that assume that a rotation-powered pulsar is turned on, showing how the spin-down power released in similar scenarios is hardly able to account for the magnitude of the observed emission.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Dimming and co absorption toward the AA Tau protoplanetary disk: An infalling flow caused by disk instability?

AA Tau, a classical T Tauri star in the Taurus cloud, has been the subject of intensive photometric monitoring for more than two decades due to its quasi-cyclic variation in optical brightness. Beginning in 2011, AA Tau showed another peculiar variation—its median optical though near-IR flux dimmed significantly, a drop consistent with a 4-mag increase in visual extinction. It has stayed in the faint state since. Here we present 4.7 μm CO rovibrational spectra of AA Tau over eight epochs, covering an 11 yr time span, that reveal enhanced {sup 12}CO and {sup 13}CO absorption features in the J{sub low} ≤ 13 transitions after the dimming. These newly appeared absorptions require molecular gas along the line of sight with T ∼ 500 K and a column density of log (N {sub {sup 1}{sup 2}CO}) ∼18.5 cm{sup −2}, with line centers that show a constant 6 km s{sup −1} redshift. The properties of the molecular gas confirm an origin in the circumstellar material. We suggest that the dimming and absorption are caused by gas and dust lifted to large heights by a magnetic buoyancy instability. This material is now propagating inward, and on reaching the star within a few years will be observed as an accretion outburst.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cyclotron Phase-Coherent Ion Spatial Dispersion in a Non-Quadratic Trapping Potential is Responsible for FT-ICR MS at the Cyclotron Frequency

Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS) at the cyclotron frequency instead of the reduced cyclotron frequency has been experimentally demonstrated using narrow aperture detection electrode (NADEL) ICR cells. Here, based on the results of SIMION simulations, we provide the initial mechanistic insights into the cyclotron frequency regime generation in FT-ICR MS. The reason for cyclotron frequency regime is found to be a new type of a collective motion of ions with a certain dispersion in the initial characteristics, such as pre-excitation ion velocities, in a highly non-quadratic trapping potential as realized in NADEL ICR cells. During ion detection, ions of the same m/z move in phase for cyclotron ion motion but out of phase for magnetron (drift) ion motion destroying signals at the fundamental and high order harmonics that comprise reduced cyclotron frequency components. After an initial magnetron motion period, ion clouds distribute into a novel type of structures – ion slabs, elliptical cylinders, or star-like structures. These structures rotate at the Larmor (half-cyclotron) frequency on a plane orthogonal to the magnetic field, inducing signals at the true cyclotron frequency on each of the narrow aperture detection electrodes. To eliminate the reduced cyclotron frequency peak upon dipolar ion detection, a number of slabs or elliptical cylinders organizing a star-like configuration are formed. In a NADEL ICR cell with quadrupolar ion detection, a single slab or an elliptical cylinder is sufficient to minimize the intensity of the reduced cyclotron frequency components, particularly the second harmonic. .

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Magnetohydrodynamic waves with relativistic electrons and positrons in degenerate spin-1/2 astrophysical plasmas

Linear properties of high and low frequency waves are studied in an electron-positron-ion (e-p-i) dense plasma with spin and relativity effects. In a low frequency regime, the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves, namely, the magnetoacoustic and Alfven waves are presented in a magnetized plasma, in which the inertial ions are taken as spinless and non-degenerate, whereas the electrons and positrons are treated quantum mechanically due to their smaller mass. Quantum corrections associated with the spin magnetization and density correlations for electrons and positrons are re-considered and a generalized dispersion relation for the low frequency MHD waves is derived to account for relativistic degeneracy effects. On the basis of angles of propagation, the dispersion relations of different modes are discussed analytically in a degenerate relativistic plasma. Numerical results reveal that electron and positron relativistic degeneracy effects significantly modify the dispersive properties of MHD waves. Our present analysis should be useful for understanding the collective interactions in dense astrophysical compact objects, like, the white dwarfs and in atmosphere of neutron stars.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Magnetic activity and orbital period variation of the short-period eclipsing binary DV Psc

We present six new BVR{sub c}I{sub c} CCD light curves of a short-period RS CVn binary DV Psc obtained in 2010-2012. The light curve distortions change on both short and long timescales, which is explained by two starspots on the primary component. Moreover, five new flare events were detected and the flare ratio of DV Psc is about 0.082 flares per hour. There is a possible relation between the phases (longitude) of the flares and starspots for all of the available data of late-type binaries, which implies a correlation of the stellar activity of the spots and flares. The cyclic oscillation, with a period of 4.9 ± 0.4 yr, may result from the magnetic activity cycle, identified by the variability of Max. I-Max. II. Until now, there were no spectroscopic studies of chromospheric activity indicators of the H{sub β} and H{sub γ} lines for DV Psc. Our observations of these indicators show that DV Psc is active, with excess emissions. The updated O – C diagram with an observing time span of about 15 yr shows an upward parabola, which indicates a secular increase in the orbital period of DV Psc. The orbital period secularly increases at a rate of dP/dt = 2.0×10{sup –7} days yr{sup –1}, which might be explained by the angular momentum exchanges or mass transfer from the secondary to primary component.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A grid of MHD models for stellar mass loss and spin-down rates of solar analogs

Stellar winds are believed to be the dominant factor in the spin-down of stars over time. However, stellar winds of solar analogs are poorly constrained due to observational challenges. In this paper, we present a grid of magnetohydrodynamic models to study and quantify the values of stellar mass loss and angular momentum loss rates as a function of the stellar rotation period, magnetic dipole component, and coronal base density. We derive simple scaling laws for the loss rates as a function of these parameters, and constrain the possible mass loss rate of stars with thermally driven winds. Despite the success of our scaling law in matching the results of the model, we find a deviation between the 'solar dipole' case and a real case based on solar observations that overestimates the actual solar mass loss rate by a factor of three. This implies that the model for stellar fields might require a further investigation with additional complexity. Mass loss rates in general are largely controlled by the magnetic field strength, with the wind density varying in proportion to the confining magnetic pressure B {sup 2}. We also find that the mass loss rates obtained using our grid models drop much faster with the increase in rotation period than scaling laws derived using observed stellar activity. For main-sequence solar-like stars, our scaling law for angular momentum loss versus poloidal magnetic field strength retrieves the well-known Skumanich decline of angular velocity with time, Ω{sub *}∝t {sup –1/2}, if the large-scale poloidal magnetic field scales with rotation rate as B{sub p}∝Ω{sub ⋆}{sup 2}.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

BIPOLAR MAGNETIC SPOTS FROM DYNAMOS IN STRATIFIED SPHERICAL SHELL TURBULENCE

Recent work by Mitra et al. (2014) has shown that in strongly stratified forced two-layer turbulence with helicity and corresponding large-scale dynamo action in the lower layer, and nonhelical turbulence in the upper, a magnetic field occurs in the upper layer in the form of sharply bounded bipolar magnetic spots. Here we extend this model to spherical wedge geometry covering the northern hemisphere up to 75° latitude and an azimuthal extent of 180°. The kinetic helicity and therefore also the large-scale magnetic field are strongest at low latitudes. For moderately strong stratification, several bipolar spots form that eventually fill the full longitudinal extent. At early times, the polarity of spots reflects the orientation of the underlying azimuthal field, as expected from Parker’s Ω-shaped flux loops. At late times their tilt changes such that there is a radial field of opposite orientation at different latitudes separated by about 10°. Our model demonstrates the spontaneous formation of spots of sizes much larger than the pressure scale height. Their tendency to produce filling factors close to unity is argued to be reminiscent of highly active stars. We confirm that strong stratification and strong scale separation are essential ingredients behind magnetic spot formation, which appears to be associated with downflows at larger depths.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Charged particle motion in spherically symmetric distributions of magnetic monopoles

The classical equations of motion of a charged particle in a spherically symmetric distribution of magnetic monopoles can be transformed into a system of linear equations, thereby providing a type of integrability. In the case of a single monopole, the solution was given long ago by Poincaré. In the case of a uniform distribution of monopoles, the solution can be expressed in terms of parabolic cylinder functions (essentially the eigenfunctions of an inverted harmonic oscillator). Further, this solution is relevant to recent studies of nonassociative star products, symplectic lifts of twisted Poisson structures, and fluids and plasmas of electric and magnetic charges.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗