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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 1,009 records · Page 56
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2014

Particle acceleration at corotating interaction regions in the heliosphere

Hybrid simulations are performed to investigate the dynamics of both solar wind protons and interplanetary pickup ions (PUIs) around the corotating interaction region (CIR). The one-dimensional system is applied in order to focus on processes in the direction of CIR propagation. The CIR is bounded by forward and reverse shocks, which are responsible for particle acceleration. The effective acceleration of solar wind protons takes place when the reverse shock (fast wind side) favors a quasi-parallel regime. The diffusive process accounts for this acceleration, and particles can gain energy in a suprathermal range (on the order of 10 keV). In contrast, the PUI acceleration around the shock differs from the conventional model in which the motional electric field along the shock surface accelerates particles. Owing to their large gyroradius, PUIs can gyrate between the upstream and downstream, several proton inertial lengths away from the shock. This 'cross-shock' gyration results in a net velocity increase in the field-aligned component, indicating that the magnetic mirror force is responsible for acceleration. The PUIs that remain in the vicinity of the shock for a long duration (tens of gyroperiods) gain much energy and are reflected back toward the upstream. These reflected energetic PUIs move back and forth along the magnetic field between a pair of CIRs that are magnetically connected. The PUIs are repeatedly accelerated in each reflection, leading to a maximum energy gain close to 100 keV. This mechanism can be evaluated in terms of 'preacceleration' for the generation of anomalous cosmic rays.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

OUTWARD MOTION OF POROUS DUST AGGREGATES BY STELLAR RADIATION PRESSURE IN PROTOPLANETARY DISKS

We study the dust motion at the surface layer of protoplanetary disks. Dust grains in the surface layer migrate outward owing to angular momentum transport via gas-drag force induced by the stellar radiation pressure. In this study we calculate the mass flux of the outward motion of compact grains and porous dust aggregates by the radiation pressure. The radiation pressure force for porous dust aggregates is calculated using the T-Matrix Method for the Clusters of Spheres. First, we confirm that porous dust aggregates are forced by strong radiation pressure even if they grow to be larger aggregates, in contrast to homogeneous and spherical compact grains, for which radiation pressure efficiency becomes lower when their sizes increase. In addition, we find that the outward mass flux of porous dust aggregates with monomer size of 0.1 μm is larger than that of compact grains by an order of magnitude at the disk radius of 1 AU, when their sizes are several microns. This implies that large compact grains like calcium-aluminum-rich inclusions are hardly transported to the outer region by stellar radiation pressure, whereas porous dust aggregates like chondritic-porous interplanetary dust particles are efficiently transported to the comet formation region. Crystalline silicates are possibly transported in porous dust aggregates by stellar radiation pressure from the inner hot region to the outer cold cometary region in the protosolar nebula.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Does the presence of planets affect the frequency and properties of extrasolar Kuiper belts? Results from the HErschel DEBRIS and DUNES surveys

The study of the planet–debris disk connection can shed light on the formation and evolution of planetary systems and may help “predict” the presence of planets around stars with certain disk characteristics. In preliminary analyses of subsamples of the Herschel DEBRIS and DUNES surveys, Wyatt et al. and Marshall et al. identified a tentative correlation between debris and the presence of low-mass planets. Here we use the cleanest possible sample out of these Herschel surveys to assess the presence of such a correlation, discarding stars without known ages, with ages <1 Gyr, and with binary companions <100 AU to rule out possible correlations due to effects other than planet presence. In our resulting subsample of 204 FGK stars, we do not find evidence that debris disks are more common or more dusty around stars harboring high-mass or low-mass planets compared to a control sample without identified planets. There is no evidence either that the characteristic dust temperature of the debris disks around planet-bearing stars is any different from that in debris disks without identified planets, nor that debris disks are more or less common (or more or less dusty) around stars harboring multiple planets compared to single-planet systems. Diverse dynamical histories may account for the lack of correlations. The data show a correlation between the presence of high-mass planets and stellar metallicity, but no correlation between the presence of low-mass planets or debris and stellar metallicity. Comparing the observed cumulative distribution of fractional luminosity to those expected from a Gaussian distribution in logarithmic scale, we find that a distribution centered on the solar system’s value fits the data well, while one centered at 10 times this value can be rejected. This is of interest in the context of future terrestrial planet detection and characterization because it indicates that there are good prospects for finding a large number of debris disk systems (i.e., with evidence of harboring planetesimals, the building blocks of planets) with exozodiacal emission low enough to be appropriate targets for an ATLAST-type mission to search for biosignatures.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Radial evolution of spectral characteristics of magnetic field fluctuations at proton scales

This paper addresses the investigation of the character and the radial evolution of magnetic fluctuations within the dissipation range, right after the high-frequency spectral break, employing observations by Messenger and Wind of the same fast wind stream during a radial alignment. The same event has already been considered in literature to show, for the first time, that the high-frequency break separating the fluid from the kinetic regime moves to lower frequency as the wind expands. The present work aims to analyze the nature of the high-frequency magnetic fluctuations beyond the spectral break and show that their character is compatible with left-hand, outward-propagating, ion cyclotron waves and right-hand kinetic Alfvén waves. It is also shown that the low-frequency limit of these fluctuations follows the radial evolution of the spectral break, which also reflects in the behavior of their intermittency character. Finally, the total power and the compressive character of these two wave populations are analyzed and compared as a function of the heliocentric distance, leading us to conclude that the overall picture is in favor of a radial decrease.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Unusual galactic cosmic ray intensity and spectral changes observed by V1 near the heliopause

We discuss here two unusual increases of cosmic ray intensity that were observed by V1 in the last 1.1 AU before it crossed the heliopause in 2012 August, at 121.5 AU. These two increases are roughly similar in amplitude and result in a total increase in ∼1 GV cosmic ray nuclei of over 50% and 0.01 GV electrons of a factor ∼2. During the first increase the changes in the B field are small. After the first increase the B field changes become large and during the second increase the B field variations and cosmic ray changes are correlated to within ± one day. During these time intervals, the rigidity dependence of the increases of GCR H and He nuclei from 100–600 MeV/nuc resemble those used to describe the solar modulation near the Earth during a large transient decrease but the ratio between the intensity changes of H, He, and electrons are different. The magnitude of these increases at Voyager is ∼1/3 of the modulation that is required to produce the total modulation of protons, helium nuclei, and electrons between the local interstellar intensities and those observed at the Earth at the 2009 sunspot minima. This may imply that a significant part of the residual solar modulation at times of sunspot minima occurs near the heliopause itself.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2015

STRONG SOLAR WIND DYNAMIC PRESSURE PULSES: INTERPLANETARY SOURCES AND THEIR IMPACTS ON GEOSYNCHRONOUS MAGNETIC FIELDS

In this investigation, we first present a statistical result of the interplanetary sources of very strong solar wind dynamic pressure pulses (DPPs) detected by WIND during solar cycle 23. It is found that the vast majority of strong DPPs reside within solar wind disturbances. Although the variabilities of geosynchronous magnetic fields (GMFs) due to the impact of positive DPPs have been well established, there appears to be no systematic investigations on the response of GMFs to negative DPPs. Here, we study both the decompression effects of very strong negative DPPs and the compression from strong positive DPPs on GMFs at different magnetic local time sectors. In response to the decompression of strong negative DPPs, GMFs on the dayside near dawn and near dusk on the nightside, are generally depressed. But near the midnight region, the responses of GMF are very diverse, being either positive or negative. For part of the events when GOES is located at the midnight sector, the GMF is found to abnormally increase as the result of magnetospheric decompression caused by negative DPPs. It is known that under certain conditions magnetic depression of nightside GMFs can be caused by the impact of positive DPPs. Here, we find that a stronger pressure enhancement may have a higher probability of producing the exceptional depression of GMF at the midnight region. Statistically, both the decompression effect of strong negative DPPs and the compression effect of strong positive DPPs depend on the magnetic local time, which are stronger at the noon sector.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

INTERPLANETARY NETWORK LOCALIZATIONS OF KONUS SHORT GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

Between the launch of the Global Geospace Science Wind spacecraft in 1994 November and the end of 2010, the Konus-Wind experiment detected 296 short-duration gamma-ray bursts (including 23 bursts which can be classified as short bursts with extended emission). During this period, the Interplanetary Network (IPN) consisted of up to 11 spacecraft, and using triangulation, the localizations of 271 bursts were obtained. We present the most comprehensive IPN localization data on these events. The short burst detection rate, {approx}18 yr{sup -1}, exceeds that of many individual experiments.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

THE INTERPLANETARY NETWORK SUPPLEMENT TO THE FERMI GBM CATALOG OF COSMIC GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

We present Interplanetary Network (IPN) data for the gamma-ray bursts in the first Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM) catalog. Of the 491 bursts in that catalog, covering 2008 July 12 to 2010 July 11, 427 were observed by at least one other instrument in the nine-spacecraft IPN. Of the 427, the localizations of 149 could be improved by arrival time analysis (or {sup t}riangulation{sup )}. For any given burst observed by the GBM and one other distant spacecraft, triangulation gives an annulus of possible arrival directions whose half-width varies between about 0.'4 and 32 Degree-Sign , depending on the intensity, time history, and arrival direction of the burst, as well as the distance between the spacecraft. We find that the IPN localizations intersect the 1{sigma} GBM error circles in only 52% of the cases, if no systematic uncertainty is assumed for the latter. If a 6 Degree-Sign systematic uncertainty is assumed and added in quadrature, the two localization samples agree about 87% of the time, as would be expected. If we then multiply the resulting error radii by a factor of three, the two samples agree in slightly over 98% of the cases, providing a good estimate of the GBM 3{sigma} error radius. The IPN 3{sigma} error boxes have areas between about 1 arcmin{sup 2} and 110 deg{sup 2}, and are, on the average, a factor of 180 smaller than the corresponding GBM localizations. We identify two bursts in the IPN/GBM sample that did not appear in the GBM catalog. In one case, the GBM triggered on a terrestrial gamma flash, and in the other, its origin was given as ''uncertain''. We also discuss the sensitivity and calibration of the IPN.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

SOLAR WIND STRAHL BROADENING BY SELF-GENERATED PLASMA WAVES

This Letter reports on the results of numerical simulations which may provide a possible explanation for the strahl broadening during quiet solar conditions. The relevant processes involved in the broadening are due to kinetic quasi-linear wave-particle interaction. Making use of static analytical electron distribution in an inhomogeneous field, it is found that self-generated electrostatic waves at the plasma frequency, i.e., Langmuir waves, are capable of scattering the strahl component, resulting in energy and pitch-angle diffusion that broadens its velocity distribution significantly. The present theoretical results provide an alternative or complementary explanation to the usual whistler diffusion scenario, suggesting that self-induced electrostatic waves at the plasma frequency might play a key role in broadening the solar wind strahl during quiet solar conditions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Radiation pressure on fluffy submicron-sized grains

We investigate the claim that the ratio β of radiation pressure force to gravitational force on a dust grain in our solar system can substantially exceed unity for some grain sizes, provided that grain porosity is high enough. For model grains consisting of random aggregates of silicate spherules, we find that the maximum value of β is almost independent of grain porosity, but for small (<0.3 μm) grains, β actually decreases with increasing porosity. We also investigate the effect of metallic iron and amorphous carbon inclusions in the dust grains and find that while these inclusions do increase the radiation pressure cross-section, β remains below unity for grains with 3 pg of silicate material. These results affect the interpretation of the grain trajectories estimated from the Stardust mission, which were modeled assuming β values exceeding one. We find that radiation pressure effects are not large enough for particles Orion and Hylabrook captured by Stardust to be of interstellar origin given their reported impact velocities. We also consider the effects of solar radiation on transverse velocities and grain spin, and show that radiation pressure introduces both transverse velocities and equatorial spin velocities of several hundred meters per second for incoming interstellar grains at 2 au. These transverse velocities are not important for modeling trajectories, but such spin rates may result in centrifugal disruption of aggregates.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

PRODUCTION AND RECOIL LOSS OF COSMOGENIC NUCLIDES IN PRESOLAR GRAINS

Presolar grains are small particles that condensed in the vicinity of dying stars. Some of these grains survived the voyage through the interstellar medium (ISM) and were incorporated into meteorite parent bodies at the formation of the Solar System. An important question is when these stellar processes happened, i.e., how long presolar grains were drifting through the ISM. While conventional radiometric dating of such small grains is very difficult, presolar grains are irradiated with galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) in the ISM, which induce the production of cosmogenic nuclides. This opens the possibility to determine cosmic-ray exposure (CRE) ages, i.e., how long presolar grains were irradiated in the ISM. Here, we present a new model for the production and loss of cosmogenic {sup 3}He, {sup 6,7}Li, and {sup 21,22}Ne in presolar SiC grains. The cosmogenic production rates are calculated using a state-of-the-art nuclear cross-section database and a GCR spectrum in the ISM consistent with recent Voyager data. Our findings are that previously measured {sup 3}He and {sup 21}Ne CRE ages agree within the (sometimes large) 2 σ uncertainties and that the CRE ages for most presolar grains are smaller than the predicted survival times. The obtained results are relatively robust since interferences from implanted low-energy GCRs into the presolar SiC grains and/or from cosmogenic production within the meteoroid can be neglected.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

A CIRCULAR-CYLINDRICAL FLUX-ROPE ANALYTICAL MODEL FOR MAGNETIC CLOUDS

We present an analytical model to describe magnetic flux-rope topologies. When these structures are observed embedded in Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejections (ICMEs) with a depressed proton temperature, they are called Magnetic Clouds (MCs). Our model extends the circular-cylindrical concept of Hidalgo et al. by introducing a general form for the radial dependence of the current density. This generalization provides information on the force distribution inside the flux rope in addition to the usual parameters of MC geometrical information and orientation. The generalized model provides flexibility for implementation in 3D MHD simulations. Here, we evaluate its performance in the reconstruction of MCs in in situ observations. Four Earth-directed ICME events, observed by the Wind spacecraft, are used to validate the technique. The events are selected from the ICME Wind list with the magnetic obstacle boundaries chosen consistently with the magnetic field and plasma in situ observations and with a new parameter (EPP, the Electron Pitch angle distribution Parameter) which quantifies the bidirectionally of the plasma electrons. The goodness of the fit is evaluated with a single correlation parameter to enable comparative analysis of the events. In general, at first glance, the model fits the selected events very well. However, a detailed analysis of events with signatures of significant compression indicates the need to explore geometries other than the circular-cylindrical. An extension of our current modeling framework to account for such non-circular CMEs will be presented in a forthcoming publication.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Investigation of primordial black hole bursts using interplanetary network gamma-ray bursts

The detection of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) in the solar neighborhood would have very important implications for GRB phenomenology. The leading theories for cosmological GRBs would not be able to explain such events. The final bursts of evaporating primordial black holes (PBHs), however, would be a natural explanation for local GRBs. We present a novel technique that can constrain the distance to GRBs using detections from widely separated, non-imaging spacecraft. This method can determine the actual distance to the burst if it is local. We applied this method to constrain distances to a sample of 36 short-duration GRBs detected by the Interplanetary Network (IPN) that show observational properties that are expected from PBH evaporations. These bursts have minimum possible distances in the 10 13 –10 18 cm (7–10 5 au) range, which are consistent with the expected PBH energetics and with a possible origin in the solar neighborhood, although none of the bursts can be unambiguously demonstrated to be local. Furthermore, assuming that these bursts are real PBH events, we estimate lower limits on the PBH burst evaporation rate in the solar neighborhood.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

REDEFINING THE BOUNDARIES OF INTERPLANETARY CORONAL MASS EJECTIONS FROM OBSERVATIONS AT THE ECLIPTIC PLANE

On 2015 January 6–7, an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) was observed at L1. This event, which can be associated with a weak and slow coronal mass ejection, allows us to discuss the differences between the boundaries of the magnetic cloud and the compositional boundaries. A fast stream from a solar coronal hole surrounding this ICME offers a unique opportunity to check the boundaries’ process definition and to explain differences between them. Using Wind and ACE data, we perform a complementary analysis involving compositional, magnetic, and kinematic observations providing relevant information regarding the evolution of the ICME as travelling away from the Sun. We propose erosion, at least at the front boundary of the ICME, as the main reason for the difference between the boundaries, and compositional signatures as the most precise diagnostic tool for the boundaries of ICMEs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

MULTI-SPACECRAFT ANALYSIS OF ENERGETIC HEAVY ION AND INTERPLANETARY SHOCK PROPERTIES IN ENERGETIC STORM PARTICLE EVENTS NEAR 1 au

We examine the longitude distribution of and relationship between interplanetary (IP) shock properties and ∼0.1–20 MeV nucleon{sup -1} O and Fe ions during seven multi-spacecraft energetic storm particle (ESP) events at 1 au. These ESP events were observed at two spacecraft and were primarily associated with low Mach number, quasi-perpendicular shocks. Key observations include the following: (i) the Alfvén Mach number increased from east to west of the coronal mass ejection source longitude, while the shock speed, compression ratios, and obliquity showed no clear dependence; (ii) the O and Fe time intensity profiles and peak intensities varied significantly between longitudinally separated spacecraft observing the same event, the peak intensities being larger near the nose and smaller along the flank of the IP shock; (iii) the O and Fe peak intensities had weak to no correlations with the shock parameters; (iv) the Fe/O time profiles showed intra-event variations upstream of the shock that disappeared downstream of the shock, where values plateaued to those comparable to the mean Fe/O of solar cycle 23; (v) the O and Fe spectral index ranged from ∼1.0 to 3.4, the Fe spectra being softer in most events; and (vi) the observed spectral index was softer than the value predicted from the shock compression ratio in most events. We conclude that while the variations in IP shock properties may account for some variations in O and Fe properties within these multi-spacecraft events, detailed examination of the upstream seed population and IP turbulence, along with modeling, are required to fully characterize these observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Size Dependence of Dust Distribution around the Earth Orbit

In the solar system, interplanetary dust particles (IDPs) originating mainly from asteroid collisions and cometary activities drift to Earth orbit due to Poynting–Robertson drag. We analyzed the thermal emission from IDPs that was observed by the first Japanese infrared astronomical satellite, AKARI . The observed surface brightness in the trailing direction of the Earth orbit is 3.7% greater than that in the leading direction in the 9 μ m band and 3.0% in the 18 μ m band. In order to reveal dust properties causing leading–trailing surface brightness asymmetry, we numerically integrated orbits of the Sun, the Earth, and a dust particle as a restricted three-body problem including radiation from the Sun. The initial orbits of particles are determined according to the orbits of main-belt asteroids or Jupiter-family comets. Orbital trapping in mean motion resonances results in a significant leading–trailing asymmetry so that intermediate sized dust (∼10–100 μ m) produces a greater asymmetry than zodiacal light. The leading–trailing surface brightness difference integrated over the size distribution of the asteroidal dust is obtained to be 27.7% and 25.3% in the 9 μ m and 18 μ m bands, respectively. In contrast, the brightness difference for cometary dust is calculated as 3.6% and 3.1% in the 9 μ m and 18 μ m bands, respectively, if the maximum dust radius is set to be s {sub max} = 3000 μ m. Taking into account these values and their errors, we conclude that the contribution of asteroidal dust to the zodiacal infrared emission is less than ∼10%, while cometary dust of the order of 1 mm mainly accounts for the zodiacal light in infrared.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

The Effects of Interplanetary Transport in the Event-intergrated Solar Energetic Particle Spectra

Previous investigations on the energy spectra of solar energetic particle (SEP) events revealed that the energy spectra observed at 1 au often show double power laws with break energies from one to tens of MeV/nuc. In order to determine whether the double power-law features result from the SEP source or the interplanetary transport process from the Sun to 1 au, we separately analyze the SEP spectra in the decay phase, during which the transport effect is minimum. In this paper, we reported three events observed by the Interplanetary Monitory Platform 8 spacecraft, which occurred on 1977 September 19, November 22, and 1979 March 1. For the first two events, the event-integrated spectra of protons possess double power-law profiles with break energies in a range of several MeV to tens of MeV, while the spectra integrated in the decay (reservoir) phase yield single power laws. Moreover, a general trend from a double power law at the rising phase to a single power law at the decay phase is observed. For the third event, both the event-integrated and the reservoir spectra show double power-law features. However, the difference between the low- and high-energy power-law indices is smaller for the reservoir spectrum than the event-integrated spectrum. These features were reproduced by solving the 1D diffusion equation analytically and we suggest that the transport process, especially the diffusion process, plays an important role in breaking the energy spectra.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2017

Decay of Solar Wind Turbulence behind Interplanetary Shocks

We investigate the decay of magnetic and kinetic energies behind IP shocks with motivation to find a relaxation time when downstream turbulence reaches a usual solar wind value. We start with a case study that introduces computation techniques and quantifies a contribution of kinetic fluctuations to the general energy balance. This part of the study is based on high-time (31 ms) resolution plasma data provided by the Spektr-R spacecraft. On the other hand, a statistical part is based on 92 s Wind plasma and magnetic data and its results confirm theoretically established decay laws for kinetic and magnetic energies. We observe the power-law behavior of the energy decay profiles and we estimated the power-law exponents of both kinetic and magnetic energy decay rates as −1.2. We found that the decay of MHD turbulence does not start immediately after the IP shock ramp and we suggest that the proper decay of turbulence begins when a contribution of the kinetic processes becomes negligible. We support this suggestion with a detailed analysis of the decay of turbulence at the kinetic scale.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗