Interpretation of high-speed flows in the plasma sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chen, C. X.; Wolf, R. A.

1993-01-01

Pursuing an idea suggested by Pontius and Wolf (1990), we propose that the `bursty bulk flows' observed by Baumjohann et al. (1990) and Angelopoulos et al. (1992) are `bubbles' in the Earth's plasma sheet. Specifically, they are flux tubes that have lower values of pV(exp 5/3) than their neighbors, where p is the thermal pressure of the particles and V is the volume of a tube containing one unit of magnetic flux. Whether they are created by reconnection or some other mechanism, the bubbles are propelled earthward by a magnetic buoyancy force, which is related to the interchange instability. Most of the major observed characteristics of the bursty bulk flows can be interpreted naturally in terms of the bubble picture. We propose a new `stratified fluid' picture of the plasma sheet, based on the idea that bubbles constitute the crucial transport mechanism. Results from simple mathematical models of plasma sheet transport support the idea that bubbles can resolve the pressure balance inconsistency, particularly in cases where plasma sheet ions are lost by gradient/curvature drift out the sides of the tail or bubbles are generated by reconnection in the middle of plasma sheet.

Preliminary characterization of a laser-generated plasma sheet

DOE PAGES

Keiter, P. A.; Malamud, G.; Trantham, M.; ...

2014-12-10

We present the results from recent experiments to create a flowing plasma sheet. Two groups of three laser beams with nominally 1.5 kJ of energy per group were focused to separate pointing locations, driving a shock into a wedge target. As the shock breaks out of the wedge, the plasma is focused on center, creating a sheet of plasma. Measurements at 60 ns indicate the plasma sheet has propagated 2825 microns with an average velocity of 49 microns/ns. These experiments follow previous experiments, which are aimed at studying similar physics as that found in the hot spot region of cataclysmicmore » variables. Krauland et al created a flowing plasma, which represents the flowing plasma from the secondary star. This flow interacted with a stationary object, which represented the disk around the white dwarf. A reverse shock is a shock formed when a freely expanding plasma encounters an obstacle. Reverse shocks can be generated by a blast wave propagating through a medium. As a result, they can also be found in binary star systems where the flowing gas from a companion star interacts with the accretion disk of the primary star.« less

THEMIS two‐point measurements of the cross‐tail current density: A thick bifurcated current sheet in the near‐Earth plasma sheet

PubMed Central

2015-01-01

Abstract The basic properties of the near‐Earth current sheet from 8 RE to 12 RE were determined based on Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms (THEMIS) observations from 2007 to 2013. Ampere's law was used to estimate the current density when the locations of two spacecraft were suitable for the calculation. A total of 3838 current density observations were obtained to study the vertical profile. For typical solar wind conditions, the current density near (off) the central plane of the current sheet ranged from 1 to 2 nA/m2 (1 to 8 nA/m2). All the high current densities appeared off the central plane of the current sheet, indicating the formation of a bifurcated current sheet structure when the current density increased above 2 nA/m2. The median profile also showed a bifurcated structure, in which the half thickness was about 3 RE. The distance between the peak of the current density and the central plane of the current sheet was 0.5 to 1 RE. High current densities above 4 nA/m2 were observed in some cases that occurred preferentially during substorms, but they also occurred in quiet times. In contrast to the commonly accepted picture, these high current densities can form without a high solar wind dynamic pressure. In addition, these high current densities can appear in two magnetic configurations: tail‐like and dipolar structures. At least two mechanisms, magnetic flux depletion and new current system formation during the expansion phase, other than plasma sheet compression are responsible for the formation of the bifurcated current sheets. PMID:27722039

Electric fields in the plasma sheet and plasma sheet boundary layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pedersen, A.; Knott, K.; Cattell, C. A.; Mozer, F. S.; Falthammar, C.-G.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Manka, R. H.

1985-01-01

Results obtained by Forbes et al. (1981) on the basis of time delay measurements between ISEE 1 and ISEE 2 imply that the plasma flow and the boundary contracting velocity were nearly the same, whereas the expanding boundary velocity was not accompanied by any significant plasma sheet plasma motion. In the present study, this observation is discussed in conjunction with electric field data. The study is based on electric field data from the spherical double probe experiment on ISEE 1. Electric field data from GEOS 2 are used to some extent to monitor the electric fields near the geostationary orbit during the considered eve nts. Electric field data during CDAW 6 events are discussed, taking into account positions of ISEE 1/ISEE 2 and GEOS 2; March 22, 0600-1300 UT; and March 22, UT; and March 31, 1400-2400 UT.

Sheet of Plasma

NASA Image and Video Library

2017-08-01

A sheet of plasma blasted out into space from just behind the edge of the sun (July 28, 2017). While some material escaped into space, a portion of it was unable to break the pull of gravity and the magnetic forces nearby and can be seen falling back to the sun. The 3.5 hours of action was captured in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA21866

Structured plasma sheet thinning observed by Galileo and 1984-129

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Reeves, G. D.; Belian, R. D.; Fritz, T. A.; Kivelson, M. G.; Mcentire, R. W.; Roelof, E. C.; Wilken, B.; Williams, D. J.

1993-01-01

On December 8, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft used the Earth for a gravity assist on its way to Jupiter. Its trajectory was such that it crossed geosynchronous orbit at approximately local midnight between 1900 and 2000 UT. At the same time, spacecraft 1984-129 was also located at geosynchronous orbit near local midnight. Several flux dropout events were observed when the two spacecraft were in the near-Earth plasma sheet in the same local time sector. Flux dropout events are associated with plasma sheet thinning in the near-profile of the near-Earth plasma sheet while 1984-129 provided an azimuthal profile. With measurements from these two spacecraft we can distinguish between spatial structures and temporal change. Our observations confirm that the geosynchronous flux dropout events are consistent with plasma sheet thinning which changes the spacecraft's magnetic connection from the trapping region to the more distant plasma sheet. However, for this period, thinning occurred on two spatial and temporal scales. The geosynchronous dropouts were highly localized phenomena of 30 min duration superimposed on a more global reconfiguration of the tail lasting approximately 4 hours.

Slow Mode Waves in the Heliospheric Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, Edward. J.; Zhou, Xiaoyan

2007-01-01

We report the results of a search for waves/turbulence in the Heliospheric Plasma Sheet (HPS) surrounding the Heliospheric Current Sheet (HCS). The HPS is treated as a distinctive heliospheric structure distinguished by relatively high Beta, slow speed plasma. The data used in the investigation are from a previously published study of the thicknesses of the HPS and HCS that were obtained in January to May 2004 when Ulysses was near aphelion at 5 AU. The advantage of using these data is that the HPS is thicker at large radial distances and the spacecraft spends longer intervals inside the plasma sheet. From the study of the magnetic field and solar wind velocity components, we conclude that, if Alfven waves are present, they are weak and are dominated by variations in the field magnitude, B, and solar wind density, NP, that are anti-correlated.

Substorm-related plasma sheet motions as determined from differential timing of plasma changes at the ISEE satellites

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forbes, T. G.; Hones, E. W., Jr.; Bame, S. J.; Asbridge, J. R.; Paschmann, G.; Sckopke, N.; Russell, C. T.

1981-01-01

From an ISEE survey of substorm dropouts and recoveries during the period February 5 to May 25, 1978, 66 timing events observed by the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory/Max-Planck-Institut Fast Plasma Experiments were studied in detail. Near substorm onset, both the average timing velocity and the bulk flow velocity at the edge of the plasma sheet are inward, toward the center. Measured normal to the surface of the plasma sheet, the timing velocity is 23 + or - 18 km/s and the proton flow velocity is 20 + or - 8 km/s. During substorm recovery, the plasma sheet reappears moving outward with an average timing velocity of 133 + or - 31 km/s; however, the corresponding proton flow velocity is only 3 + or - 7 km/s in the same direction. It is suggested that the difference between the average timing velocity for the expansion of the plasma sheet and the plasma bulk flow perpendicular to the surface of the sheet during substorm recovery is most likely the result of surface waves moving past the position of the satellites.

Increases in plasma sheet temperature with solar wind driving during substorm growth phases

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Forsyth, C.; Watt, C. E. J.; Rae, I. J.; Fazakerley, A. N.; Kalmoni, N. M. E.; Freeman, M. P.; Boakes, P. D.; Nakamura, R.; Dandouras, I.; Kistler, L. M.; Jackman, C. M.; Coxon, J. C.; Carr, C. M.

2014-12-01

During substorm growth phases, magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause extracts ~1015 J from the solar wind which is then stored in the magnetotail lobes. Plasma sheet pressure increases to balance magnetic flux density increases in the lobes. Here we examine plasma sheet pressure, density, and temperature during substorm growth phases using 9 years of Cluster data (>316,000 data points). We show that plasma sheet pressure and temperature are higher during growth phases with higher solar wind driving, whereas the density is approximately constant. We also show a weak correlation between plasma sheet temperature before onset and the minimum SuperMAG AL (SML) auroral index in the subsequent substorm. We discuss how energization of the plasma sheet before onset may result from thermodynamically adiabatic processes; how hotter plasma sheets may result in magnetotail instabilities, and how this relates to the onset and size of the subsequent substorm expansion phase.

Structured plasma sheet thinning observed by Galileo and 1984-129

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reeves, G.D.; Belian, R.D.; Fritz, T.A.

On December 8, 1990, the Galileo spacecraft used the Earth for a gravity assist on its way to Jupiter. Its trajectory was such that is crossed geosynchronous orbit at approximately local midnight between 1900 and 2000 UT. At the same time, spacecraft 1984-129 was also located at geosynchronous orbit near local midnight. Several flux dropout events were observed when the two spacecraft were in the near-Earth plasma sheet in the same local time sector. Flux dropout events are associated with plasma sheet thinning in the near-Earth tail during the growth phase of substorms. This period is unique in that Galileomore » provided a rapid radial profile of the near-Earth plasma sheet while 1984-129 provided an azimuthal profile. With measurements from these two spacecraft the authors can distinguish between spatial structures and temporal changes. Their observations confirm that the geosynchronous flux dropout events are consistent with plasma sheet thinning which changes the spacecraft`s magnetic connection from the trapping region to the more distant plasma sheet. However, for this period, thinning occurred on two spatial and temporal scales. The geosynchronous dropouts were highly localized phenomena of 30 min duration superimposed on a more global reconfiguration of the tail lasting approximately 4 hours. 28 refs., 10 figs.« less

Increases in plasma sheet temperature with solar wind driving during substorm growth phases

PubMed Central

Forsyth, C; Watt, C E J; Rae, I J; Fazakerley, A N; Kalmoni, N M E; Freeman, M P; Boakes, P D; Nakamura, R; Dandouras, I; Kistler, L M; Jackman, C M; Coxon, J C; Carr, C M

2014-01-01

During substorm growth phases, magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause extracts ∼1015 J from the solar wind which is then stored in the magnetotail lobes. Plasma sheet pressure increases to balance magnetic flux density increases in the lobes. Here we examine plasma sheet pressure, density, and temperature during substorm growth phases using 9 years of Cluster data (>316,000 data points). We show that plasma sheet pressure and temperature are higher during growth phases with higher solar wind driving, whereas the density is approximately constant. We also show a weak correlation between plasma sheet temperature before onset and the minimum SuperMAG AL (SML) auroral index in the subsequent substorm. We discuss how energization of the plasma sheet before onset may result from thermodynamically adiabatic processes; how hotter plasma sheets may result in magnetotail instabilities, and how this relates to the onset and size of the subsequent substorm expansion phase. PMID:26074645

Increases in plasma sheet temperature with solar wind driving during substorm growth phases.

PubMed

Forsyth, C; Watt, C E J; Rae, I J; Fazakerley, A N; Kalmoni, N M E; Freeman, M P; Boakes, P D; Nakamura, R; Dandouras, I; Kistler, L M; Jackman, C M; Coxon, J C; Carr, C M

2014-12-28

During substorm growth phases, magnetic reconnection at the magnetopause extracts ∼10 15  J from the solar wind which is then stored in the magnetotail lobes. Plasma sheet pressure increases to balance magnetic flux density increases in the lobes. Here we examine plasma sheet pressure, density, and temperature during substorm growth phases using 9 years of Cluster data (>316,000 data points). We show that plasma sheet pressure and temperature are higher during growth phases with higher solar wind driving, whereas the density is approximately constant. We also show a weak correlation between plasma sheet temperature before onset and the minimum SuperMAG AL (SML) auroral index in the subsequent substorm. We discuss how energization of the plasma sheet before onset may result from thermodynamically adiabatic processes; how hotter plasma sheets may result in magnetotail instabilities, and how this relates to the onset and size of the subsequent substorm expansion phase.

Cluster Observations of Currents In The Plasma Sheet During Substorm Expansions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McPherron, R. L.; Kivelson, M. G.; Khurana, K.; Balogh, A.; Conners, M.; Creutzberg, F.; Moldwin, M.; Rostoker, G.; Russell, C. T.

From 00 to 12 UT on August 15, 2001 the Cluster spacecraft passed through the plasma sheet at 0100 lt and distance 18 Re. During this passage three substorms with multiple onsets were observed in the magnetic field and plasma. The North American ground sector was well located to provide the context and timing of these substorms. We find that each substorm was initially associated with strong Earthward directed field-aligned current. The first substorm occurred when the Cluster array was at the boundary of the plasma sheet. The effects of the substorm appear at Cluster in associ- ation with an intensification of the expansion into the morning sector and are initiated by a wave of plasma sheet thickening followed by vertical oscillations of the plasma sheet boundary. The third substorm occurred with Cluster at the neutral sheet. It began with a transient pulse of southward Bz followed by a burst of tailward flow. Subse- quently a sequence of bursts of Earthward flow cause stepwise dipolarization of the local magnetic field. Our goal is to present a coherent three-dimensional representa- tion of the Cluster observations for each of these various substorms.

Plasma sheet dynamics observed by the Polar spacecraft in association with substorm onsets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Toivanen, P. K.; Baker, D. N.; Peterson, W. K.; Li, X.; Donovan, E. F.; Viljanen, A.; Keiling, A.; Wygant, J. R.; Kletzing, C. A.

2001-09-01

We present observations of the Polar spacecraft of magnetospheric substorm signatures in the plasma sheet midway along auroral field lines between the ionosphere and the equatorial plasma sheet. On October 17, 1997, Polar was located in the onset meridian in conjunction with the Scandinavian magnetometer chain (International Monitor for Auroral Geomagnetic Effects; IMAGE). In addition, a geostationary spacecraft, LANL-97A, was located near the onset meridian. On August 29, 1997, Polar was magnetically conjugate to the Canadian magnetometer chain (Canadian Auroral Network for the OPEN Program Unified Study; CANOPUS) ~5 hours east of the onset meridian. In both cases, substorm activity was manifested as strong magnetic (20 nT) and electric (40 mVm-1) field variations with bursts of parallel Poynting flux (~1 ergcm-2s-1), predominantly directed toward the ionosphere. In the first event Polar was located in the plasma sheet near the plasma sheet boundary, and the field variations were initiated at the ground onset. In the second event, Polar crossed the plasma sheet boundary to the tail lobes a few minutes prior to a local plasma sheet expansion. As Polar was engulfed by the plasma sheet, the field variations occurred in the previously quiet plasma sheet boundary. This coincided with the auroral bulge reaching the CANOPUS stations. We compare these two events and argue that the field variations were most probably signatures of the reconnection of open field lines and the subsequent enhanced earthward flows. Furthermore, weak flow bursts were observed at Polar in both events ~9 min before the onset. In the first event, a gradual development toward a negative bay and a burst of Pi2 pulsations were associated with the flow bursts. We anticipate that these signatures, often described in terms of pseudobreakups, were a precursor of the substorm onset, the initiation of the reconnection of closed field lines.

Observations of ionospheric electron beams in the plasma sheet.

PubMed

Zheng, H; Fu, S Y; Zong, Q G; Pu, Z Y; Wang, Y F; Parks, G K

2012-11-16

Electrons streaming along the magnetic field direction are frequently observed in the plasma sheet of Earth's geomagnetic tail. The impact of these field-aligned electrons on the dynamics of the geomagnetic tail is however not well understood. Here we report the first detection of field-aligned electrons with fluxes increasing at ~1 keV forming a "cool" beam just prior to the dissipation of energy in the current sheet. These field-aligned beams at ~15 R(E) in the plasma sheet are nearly identical to those commonly observed at auroral altitudes, suggesting the beams are auroral electrons accelerated upward by electric fields parallel (E([parallel])) to the geomagnetic field. The density of the beams relative to the ambient electron density is δn(b)/n(e)~5-13% and the current carried by the beams is ~10(-8)-10(-7) A m(-2). These beams in high β plasmas with large density and temperature gradients appear to satisfy the Bohm criteria to initiate current driven instabilities.

Two types of energy-dispersed ion structures at the plasma sheet boundary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sauvaud, J.-A.; Kovrazhkin, R. A.

2004-12-01

VDIS are observed mainly during magnetically quiet times and during the recovery phase of substorms, while sporadic and recurrent TDIS are observed during the onset and main phases of substorms and magnetic storms and, although less frequently, during substorm recovery phases. From the slope of the (velocity)-1 versus time dispersions of TDIS, we conclude that they have a sporadic source located at the outer boundary of the central plasma sheet, at distances from 8 to 40 RE in the equatorial plane. The disappearance of the PSBL associated with TDIS can be tentatively linked to a reconfiguration of the magnetotail, which disconnects from the Earth the field lines forming the "quiet" PSBL. We show that VDIS consist of ion beams ejected from an extended current sheet at different distances. These ion beams could be formed in the neutral sheet at distance ranging from ˜30 RE to ˜100 RE from the Earth. Inside each substructure the time-of-flight dispersion of ions generally dominate over any latitudinal dispersion induced by a dawn-dusk electric field. These two main types of energy-dispersed ion structures reflect probably two main states of the magnetotail, quiet and active. Finally, it must be stressed that only ˜49% (246 over 501) of the Interball-Auroral auroral zone-polar cap boundary crossings can be described as VDIS or TDIS. On the other 51% of the crossings of the plasma sheet boundary, no well-defined ion dispersed structures were observed.

The Plasma Sheet as Natural Symmetry Plane for Dipolarization Fronts in the Earth's Magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frühauff, D.; Glassmeier, K.-H.

2017-11-01

In this work, observations of multispacecraft mission Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms are used for statistical investigation of dipolarization fronts in the near-Earth plasma sheet of the magnetotail. Using very stringent criteria, 460 events are detected in almost 10 years of mission data. Minimum variance analysis is used to determine the normal directions of the phase fronts, providing evidence for the existence of a natural symmetry of these phenomena, given by the neutral sheet of the magnetotail. This finding enables the definition of a local coordinate system based on the Tsyganenko model, reflecting the intrinsic orientation of the neutral sheet and, therefore, the dipolarization fronts. In this way, the comparison of events with very different background conditions is improved. Through this study, the statistical results of Liu, Angelopoulos, Runov, et al. (2013) are both confirmed and extended. In a case study, the knowledge of this plane of symmetry helps to explain the concave curvature of dipolarization fronts in the XZ plane through phase propagation speeds of magnetoacoustic waves. A second case study is presented to determine the central current system of a passing dipolarization front through a constellation of three spacecraft. With this information, a statistical analysis of spacecraft observations above and below the neutral sheet is used to provide further evidence for the neutral sheet as the symmetry plane and the central current system. Furthermore, it is shown that the signatures of dipolarization fronts are under certain conditions closely related to that of flux ropes, indicating a possible relationship between these two transient phenomena.

Current sheet collapse in a plasma focus.

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jalufka, N. W.; Lee, J. H.

1972-01-01

Collapse of the current sheets in a plasma focus has been recorded simultaneously through slits parallel and perpendicular to the symmetry axis in the streak mode. The dark period following the collapse is due to the plasma moving out of the field of view. Microdensitometric measurements of intensity variation also support this conclusion. A large anisotropy is also found in the x-ray radiation pattern. Effects of different vacuum vessels were investigated.

Impact of the storm-time plasma sheet ion composition on the ring current energy density

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mouikis, C.; Kistler, L. M.; Petrinec, S. M.; Fuselier, S. A.; Cohen, I.

2017-12-01

The adiabatic inward transport of the night-side near-earth ( 6 Re) hot plasma sheet is the dominant contributor to the ring current pressure during storm times. During storm times, the plasma sheet composition in the 6 - 12 Re tail region changes due to O+ entry from the lobes (from the cusp) and the direct feeding from the night side auroral region. In addition, at substorm onset the plasma sheet O+ ions can be preferentially accelerated. We use MMS and observations during two magnetic storms, 5/8/2016 and 7/16/2017, to monitor the composition changes and energization in the 6 - 12 Re plasma sheet region. For both storms the MMS apogee was in the tail. In addition, we use subsequent Van Allen Probe observations (with apogee in the dawn and dusk respectively) to test if the 6-12 Re plasma sheet, observed by MMS, is a sufficient source of the O+ in the ring current. For this we will compare the phase space density (PSD) of the plasma sheet source population and the PSD of the inner magnetosphere at constant magnetic moment values as used in Kistler et al., [2016].

Properties of large electric fields in the plasma sheet at 4-7RE measured with Polar

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keiling, A.; Wygant, J. R.; Cattell, C.; Johnson, M.; Temerin, M.; Mozer, F. S.; Kletzing, C. A.; Scudder, J.; Russell, C. T.

2001-04-01

Measurements from the Polar satellite provide evidence for large electric field structures in the plasma sheet at geocentric distances of 4-7RE. These structures had amplitudes perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field that can exceed 100 mV m-1 (6 s averaged). Two years (from May 1, 1996, to April 30, 1998) of electric field data (EZ component, approximately along GSE z) were surveyed. The distribution in invariant latitude (ILAT) and magnetic local time (MLT) of large perpendicular electric field events (defined as >=20 mV m-1 for a 6-s average) delineates the statistical auroral oval with the majority of events occurring in the nightside centered around midnight and a smaller concentration around 1500 MLT. The magnitude-versus-altitude distribution of the electric fields between 4 and 7RE in the nightside could be explained by models which assume either shear Alfvén waves propagating into regions of larger background magnetic fields or electrostatic structures being mapped quasi-statically along equipotential magnetic field lines. In addition, this survey yielded 24 very large amplitude events with |E⊥|>=100mVm-1 (6 s averaged), all of which occurred in the nightside. In the spacecraft frame, the electric field structures occurred on timescales ranging from 10 to 60 s. About 85% of these events occurred in the vicinity of the outer boundary of the plasma sheet; the rest occurred in the central plasma sheet. The polarity of the electric fields was dominantly perpendicular to the nominal plasma sheet boundary. For a large fraction of events (<=50%) the ratios of electric and magnetic fields in the period range from 10 to 60 s were consistent with Alfvén waves. Large Poynting flux (up to 2.5 ergs cm-2s-1) dominantly directed downward along the background magnetic field was associated with 21 events. All 24 events occurred during geomagnetic disturbances such as magnetic substorms. A conjugate study with ground stations for 14 events (out of the 24 events

Penetration of the Interplanetary Magnetic Field B(sub y) into Earth's Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hau, L.-N.; Erickson, G. M.

1995-01-01

There has been considerable recent interest in the relationship between the cross-tail magnetic field component B(sub y) and tail dynamics. The purpose of this paper is to give an overall description of the penetration of the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) B(sub y) into the near-Earth plasma sheet. We show that plasma sheet B(sub y) may be generated by the differential shear motion of field lines and enhanced by flux tube compression. The latter mechanism leads to a B(sub y) analogue of the pressure-balance inconsistency as flux tubes move from the far tail toward the Earth. The growth of B(sub y), however, may be limited by the dawn-dusk asymmetry in the shear velocity as a result of plasma sheet tilting. B(sub y) penetration into the plasma sheet implies field-aligned currents flowing between hemispheres. These currents together with the IMF B(sub y) related mantle field-aligned currents effectively shield the lobe from the IMF B(sub y).

Spectroscopic Diagnostics of Electric Fields in the Plasma of Current Sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gavrilenko, Valeri; Kyrie, Natalya P.; Frank, Anna G.; Oks, Eugene

2004-11-01

Spectroscopic measurements of electric fields (EFs) in current sheet plasmas were performed in the CS-3D device. The device is intended to study the evolution of current sheets and the magnetic reconnection phenomena. We used the broadening of spectral lines (SLs) of HeII ions for diagnostics of EFs in the current sheet middle plane, and the broadening of SLs of HeI atoms for detection of EFs in the current sheet peripheral regions. For detection of EFs in current sheet plasma, we used SLs of HeII ions at 468.6; 320.3 and 656.0 nm, as well as SLs of HeI atoms at 667.8; 587.6; 492.2 and 447.1 nm. The latter two lines are of a special interest since their profiles include the dipole-forbidden components along with the allowed components. The experimental data have been analyzed by using the numerical calculations based on the Model Microfield Method. The maximum plasma density in the middle of the sheet was in the range (2-8) × 10^16 cm-3, the density in the peripheral regions was (1-2)×10^15 cm-3, and the strength of the quasi-one-dimensional anomalous electric fields in the peripheral regions reached the value of 100 kV/cm. Supported by CRDF, grant RU-P1-2594-MO-04; by the RFBR, grant 03-02-17282; and by the ISTC, project 2098.

The Topology and Dynamics of Mercury's Tail Plasma and Current Sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Al Asad, M. M.; Johnson, C. J.; Philpott, L. C.

2018-05-01

In Mercury's environment, the tail plasma and current sheets represent an integral part of the dynamic magnetosphere. Our study aims to understand the time-averaged, as well as the dynamic, properties of these "sheets" in 3D space using MAG data.

Near-Earth plasma sheet boundary dynamics during substorm dipolarization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamura, Rumi; Nagai, Tsugunobu; Birn, Joachim; Sergeev, Victor A.; Le Contel, Olivier; Varsani, Ali; Baumjohann, Wolfgang; Nakamura, Takuma; Apatenkov, Sergey; Artemyev, Anton; Ergun, Robert E.; Fuselier, Stephen A.; Gershman, Daniel J.; Giles, Barbara J.; Khotyaintsev, Yuri V.; Lindqvist, Per-Arne; Magnes, Werner; Mauk, Barry; Russell, Christopher T.; Singer, Howard J.; Stawarz, Julia; Strangeway, Robert J.; Anderson, Brian; Bromund, Ken R.; Fischer, David; Kepko, Laurence; Le, Guan; Plaschke, Ferdinand; Slavin, James A.; Cohen, Ian; Jaynes, Allison; Turner, Drew L.

2017-09-01

We report on the large-scale evolution of dipolarization in the near-Earth plasma sheet during an intense (AL -1000 nT) substorm on August 10, 2016, when multiple spacecraft at radial distances between 4 and 15 R E were present in the night-side magnetosphere. This global dipolarization consisted of multiple short-timescale (a couple of minutes) B z disturbances detected by spacecraft distributed over 9 MLT, consistent with the large-scale substorm current wedge observed by ground-based magnetometers. The four spacecraft of the Magnetospheric Multiscale were located in the southern hemisphere plasma sheet and observed fast flow disturbances associated with this dipolarization. The high-time-resolution measurements from MMS enable us to detect the rapid motion of the field structures and flow disturbances separately. A distinct pattern of the flow and field disturbance near the plasma boundaries was found. We suggest that a vortex motion created around the localized flows resulted in another field-aligned current system at the off-equatorial side of the BBF-associated R1/R2 systems, as was predicted by the MHD simulation of a localized reconnection jet. The observations by GOES and Geotail, which were located in the opposite hemisphere and local time, support this view. We demonstrate that the processes of both Earthward flow braking and of accumulated magnetic flux evolving tailward also control the dynamics in the boundary region of the near-Earth plasma sheet.[Figure not available: see fulltext.

Ion precipitation from the inner plasma sheet due to stochastic diffusion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zelenyi, L.; Galeev, A.; Kennel, C. F.

1990-01-01

Plasma sheet ions do not conserve their first adiabatic invariant when the magnetic field is appreciably tail-like. They do conserve a different adiabatic invariant but only to linear, rather than exponential, accuracy in the appropriate small parameter. Thus significant stochastic diffusion can occur for particles crossing the separatrix dividing the segments of orbits on which the particles cross and do not cross the tail midplane. Such ions can escape the plasma sheet and precipitate into the atmosphere. Stochastic scattering is strongest from those field lines where the ion's Larmor period in the normal component of the neutral sheet magnetic field approximately equals its bounce period. By comparing the rates of stochastic ion loss and convection in the tail, it is possible to estimate the location and thickness of the inner edge of the ion plasma sheet created by stochastic ion loss. Ions of different masses precipitate into the atmosphere at slightly different locations. Since wave particle interactions are not needed, this precipitation will always occur and should be particularly evident during quiet geomagnetic conditions, when it is less likely to be masked by other precipitation mechanisms.

Acceleration of O+ from the cusp to the plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liao, J.; Kistler, L. M.; Mouikis, C. G.; Klecker, B.; Dandouras, I.

2015-02-01

Heavy ions from the ionosphere that are accelerated in the cusp/cleft have been identified as a direct source for the hot plasma in the plasma sheet. However, the details of the acceleration and transport that transforms the originally cold ions into the hot plasma sheet population are not fully understood. The polar orbit of the Cluster satellites covers the main transport path of the O+ from the cusp to the plasma sheet, so Cluster is ideal for tracking its velocity changes. However, because the cusp outflow is dispersed according to its velocity as it is transported to the tail, due to the velocity filter effect, the observed changes in beam velocity over the Cluster orbit may simply be the result of the spacecraft accessing different spatial regions and not necessarily evidence of acceleration. Using the Cluster Ion Spectrometry/Composition Distribution Function instrument onboard Cluster, we compare the distribution function of streaming O+ in the tail lobes with the initial distribution function observed over the cusp and reveal that the observations of energetic streaming O+ in the lobes around -20 RE are predominantly due to the velocity filter effect during nonstorm times. During storm times, the cusp distribution is further accelerated. In the plasma sheet boundary layer, however, the average O+ distribution function is above the upper range of the outflow distributions at the same velocity during both storm and nonstorm times, indicating that acceleration has taken place. Some of the velocity increase is in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field, indicating that the E × B velocity is enhanced. However, there is also an increase in the parallel direction, which could be due to nonadiabatic acceleration at the boundary or wave heating.

Substorm Evolution in the Near-Earth Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Gary M.

2004-01-01

This grant represented one-year, phase-out funding for the project of the same name (NAG5-9110 to Boston University) to determine precursors and signatures of local substorm onset and how they evolve in the plasma sheet using the Geotail near-Earth database. We report here on two accomplishments: (1) Completion of an examination of plasma velocity signature at times of local onsets in the current disruption (CD) region. (2) Initial investigation into quantification of near-Earth flux-tube contents of injected plasma at times of substorm injections.

Thermomechanical processing of plasma sprayed intermetallic sheets

DOEpatents

Hajaligol, Mohammad R.; Scorey, Clive; Sikka, Vinod K.; Deevi, Seetharama C.; Fleischhauer, Grier; Lilly, Jr., A. Clifton; German, Randall M.

2001-01-01

A powder metallurgical process of preparing a sheet from a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as an iron, nickel or titanium aluminide. The sheet can be manufactured into electrical resistance heating elements having improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The iron aluminide has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and can include, in weight %, 4 to 32% Al, and optional additions such as .ltoreq.1% Cr, .gtoreq.0.05% Zr .ltoreq.2% Ti, .ltoreq.2% Mo, .ltoreq.1% Ni, .ltoreq.0.75% C, .ltoreq.0.1% B, .ltoreq.1% submicron oxide particles and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, .ltoreq.1% rare earth metal, and/or .ltoreq.3% Cu. The process includes forming a non-densified metal sheet by consolidating a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as by roll compaction, tape casting or plasma spraying, forming a cold rolled sheet by cold rolling the non-densified metal sheet so as to increase the density and reduce the thickness thereof and annealing the cold rolled sheet. The powder can be a water, polymer or gas atomized powder which is subjecting to sieving and/or blending with a binder prior to the consolidation step. After the consolidation step, the sheet can be partially sintered. The cold rolling and/or annealing steps can be repeated to achieve the desired sheet thickness and properties. The annealing can be carried out in a vacuum furnace with a vacuum or inert atmosphere. During final annealing, the cold rolled sheet recrystallizes to an average grain size of about 10 to 30 .mu.m. Final stress relief annealing can be carried out in the B2 phase temperature range.

Experimental investigation of a 1 kA/cm² sheet beam plasma cathode electron gun.

PubMed

Kumar, Niraj; Pal, Udit Narayan; Pal, Dharmendra Kumar; Prajesh, Rahul; Prakash, Ram

2015-01-01

In this paper, a cold cathode based sheet-beam plasma cathode electron gun is reported with achieved sheet-beam current density ∼1 kA/cm(2) from pseudospark based argon plasma for pulse length of ∼200 ns in a single shot experiment. For the qualitative assessment of the sheet-beam, an arrangement of three isolated metallic-sheets is proposed. The actual shape and size of the sheet-electron-beam are obtained through a non-conventional method by proposing a dielectric charging technique and scanning electron microscope based imaging. As distinct from the earlier developed sheet beam sources, the generated sheet-beam has been propagated more than 190 mm distance in a drift space region maintaining sheet structure without assistance of any external magnetic field.

Theoretical modeling of the plasma-assisted catalytic growth and field emission properties of graphene sheet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sharma, Suresh C.; Gupta, Neha

2015-12-15

A theoretical modeling for the catalyst-assisted growth of graphene sheet in the presence of plasma has been investigated. It is observed that the plasma parameters can strongly affect the growth and field emission properties of graphene sheet. The model developed accounts for the charging rate of the graphene sheet; number density of electrons, ions, and neutral atoms; various elementary processes on the surface of the catalyst nanoparticle; surface diffusion and accretion of ions; and formation of carbon-clusters and large graphene islands. In our investigation, it is found that the thickness of the graphene sheet decreases with the plasma parameters, numbermore » density of hydrogen ions and RF power, and consequently, the field emission of electrons from the graphene sheet surface increases. The time evolution of the height of graphene sheet with ion density and sticking coefficient of carbon species has also been examined. Some of our theoretical results are in compliance with the experimental observations.« less

Dynamic Harris current sheet thickness from Cluster current density and plasma measurements

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thompson, S. M.; Kivelson, M. G.; Khurana, K. K.; McPherron, R. L.; Weygand, J. M.; Balogh, A.; Reme, H.; Kistler, L. M.

2005-01-01

We use the first accurate measurements of current densities in the plasma sheet to calculate the half-thickness and position of the current sheet as a function of time. Our technique assumes a Harris current sheet model, which is parameterized by lobe magnetic field B(o), current sheet half-thickness h, and current sheet position z(sub o). Cluster measurements of magnetic field, current density, and plasma pressure are used to infer the three parameters as a function of time. We find that most long timescale (6-12 hours) current sheet crossings observed by Cluster cannot be described by a static Harris current sheet with a single set of parameters B(sub o), h, and z(sub o). Noting the presence of high-frequency fluctuations that appear to be superimposed on lower frequency variations, we average over running 6-min intervals and use the smoothed data to infer the parameters h(t) and z(sub o)(t), constrained by the pressure balance lobe magnetic field B(sub o)(t). Whereas this approach has been used in previous studies, the spatial gnuhen& now provided by the Cluster magnetometers were unavailable or not well constrained in earlier studies. We place the calculated hdf&cknessa in a magnetospheric context by examining the change in thickness with substorm phase for three case study events and 21 events in a superposed epoch analysis. We find that the inferred half-thickness in many cases reflects the nominal changes experienced by the plasma sheet during substorms (i.e., thinning during growth phase, thickening following substorm onset). We conclude with an analysis of the relative contribution of (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X to the cross-tail current density during substorms. We find that (Delta)B(sub z)/(Delta)X can contribute a significant portion of the cross-tail c m n t around substorm onset.

Hierarchical regrowth of flowerlike nanographene sheets on oxygen-plasma-treated carbon nanowalls

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimoeda, Hironao; Kondo, Hiroki; Ishikawa, Kenji; Hiramatsu, Mineo; Sekine, Makoto; Hori, Masaru

2014-04-01

Cauliflorous nanographene sheets were hierarchically regrown on the spearlike structures of carbon nanowalls (CNWs) produced by O2-plasma etching. The spears on the CNWs acted as a stem for the growth of flowerlike flaky nanographene sheets, where the root of the nanoflower was located at a defect or disordered site. The defects on the graphitic structures were induced by irradiation with oxygen-related radicals and ions in the O2-based plasmas and acted as sites for the nucleation of flowerlike nanographene. The porous carbon nanostructures regrown after O2-plasma treatment have a relatively higher surface area and are thus promising materials for electrochemical applications.

Ion and electron Kappa distribution functions in the plasma sheet.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moya, P. S.; Stepanova, M. V.; Espinoza, C.; Antonova, E. E.; Valdivia, J. A.

2017-12-01

We present a study of ion and electron flux spectra in the Earth's plasma sheet using kappa distribution functions. Satellite data from the THEMIS mission were collected for thousands of crossings through the plasma sheet, between 7 and 35 Re and during the years 2008-2009. The events were separated according to the geomagnetic activity at the time. Our results show the distribution of the kappa index and characteristic energies across the plasma sheet and its evolution with distance to Earth for quiet times and for the substorm expansion and recovery phases. For the ions, it is observed that the kappa values tend to decrease outwards and that this effect is more significant in the dusk sector, where the smallest values are found for distances beyond 15 Re. The main effect of the substorms appears as an enhancement of this behavior. The electrons show a much more homogeneous distribution in quiet times, with a mild tendency for larger kappa values at larger distances. During substorms, the kappa values tend to equalize and appear very homogenous during expansion. However, they exhibit a significant increase in the dusk sector during the recovery substorm phase. Finally, we observe that the characteristic energy of the particles during substorms increases and concentrate at distances less than 15 Re.

Shape of the terrestrial plasma sheet in the near-Earth magnetospheric tail as imaged by the Interstellar Boundary Explorer

DOE PAGES

Dayeh, M. A.; Fuselier, S. A.; Funsten, H. O.; ...

2015-04-11

We present remote, continuous observations from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer of the terrestrial plasma sheet location back to -16 Earth radii (R E) in the magnetospheric tail using energetic neutral atom emissions. The time period studied includes two orbits near the winter and summer solstices, thus associated with large negative and positive dipole tilt, respectively. Continuous side-view images reveal a complex shape that is dominated mainly by large-scale warping due to the diurnal motion of the dipole axis. Superposed on the global warped geometry are short-time fluctuations in plasma sheet location that appear to be consistent with plasma sheet flappingmore » and possibly twisting due to changes in the interplanetary conditions. We conclude that the plasma sheet warping due to the diurnal motion dominates the average shape of the plasma sheet. Over short times, the position of the plasma sheet can be dominated by twisting and flapping.« less

Reconnection AND Bursty Bulk Flow Associated Turbulence IN THE Earth'S Plasma Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Voros, Z.; Nakamura, R.; Baumjohann, W.; Runov, A.; Volwerk, M.; Jankovicova, D.; Balogh, A.; Klecker, B.

2006-12-01

Reconnection related fast flows in the Earth's plasma sheet can be associated with several accompanying phenomena, such as magnetic field dipolarization, current sheet thinning and turbulence. Statistical analysis of multi-scale properties of turbulence facilitates to understand the interaction of the plasma flow with the dipolar magnetic field and to recognize the remote or nearby temporal and spatial characteristics of reconnection. The main emphasis of this presentation is on differentiating between the specific statistical features of flow associated fluctuations at different distances from the reconnection site.

Experimental investigation of a 1 kA/cm{sup 2} sheet beam plasma cathode electron gun

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kumar, Niraj, E-mail: niraj.ceeri@gmail.com; Narayan Pal, Udit; Prajesh, Rahul

In this paper, a cold cathode based sheet-beam plasma cathode electron gun is reported with achieved sheet-beam current density ∼1 kA/cm{sup 2} from pseudospark based argon plasma for pulse length of ∼200 ns in a single shot experiment. For the qualitative assessment of the sheet-beam, an arrangement of three isolated metallic-sheets is proposed. The actual shape and size of the sheet-electron-beam are obtained through a non-conventional method by proposing a dielectric charging technique and scanning electron microscope based imaging. As distinct from the earlier developed sheet beam sources, the generated sheet-beam has been propagated more than 190 mm distance inmore » a drift space region maintaining sheet structure without assistance of any external magnetic field.« less

Preparation of Caco-2 cell sheets using plasma polymerised acrylic acid as a weak boundary layer.

PubMed

Majani, Ruby; Zelzer, Mischa; Gadegaard, Nikolaj; Rose, Felicity R; Alexander, Morgan R

2010-09-01

The use of cell sheets for tissue engineering applications has considerable advantages over single cell seeding techniques. So far, only thermoresponsive surfaces have been used to manufacture cell sheets without chemically disrupting the cell-surface interactions. Here, we present a new and facile technique to prepare sheets of epithelial cells using plasma polymerised acrylic acid films. The cell sheets are harvested by gentle agitation of the media without the need of any additional external stimulus. We demonstrate that the plasma polymer deposition conditions affect the viability and metabolic activity of the cells in the sheet and relate these effects to the different surface properties of the plasma polymerised acrylic acid films. Based on surface analysis data, a first attempt is made to explain the mechanism behind the cell sheet formation. The advantage of the epithelial cell sheets generated here over single cell suspensions to seed a PLGA scaffold is presented. The scaffold itself, prepared using a mould fabricated via photolithography, exhibits a unique architecture that mimics closely the dimensions of the native tissue (mouse intestine). Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

H+ and O+ dynamics during ultra-low frequency waves in the Earth's magnetotail plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Spiegeleer, Alexandre; Hamrin, Maria; Pitkänen, Timo; Volwerk, Martin; Mouikis, Christopher; Kistler, Lynn; Nilsson, Hans; Norqvist, Patrik; Andersson, Laila

2017-04-01

The concentration of ionospheric oxygen (O^+) in the magnetotail plasma sheet can be relatively elevated depending on, for instance, the geomagnetic activity as well as the solar cycle. The dynamics of the tail plasma sheet can be affected by the presence of O+ via for example the generation of instabilities such as the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. However, the O+ is not always taken into account when studying the dynamics of the tail plasma sheet. We investigate proton (H^+) and O+ during ultra-low frequency waves (period > 5 min) in the mid-tail plasma sheet (beyond 10R_E) using Cluster data. We observe that the velocity of O+ can be significantly different from that of H^+. When occuring, this velocity difference always seems to be in the direction parallel to the magnetic field. The parallel velocity of the two species can be observed to be somewhat out of phase, meaning that while one species flows in the parallel direction, the other flows in the anti-parallel direction. Possible causes for such large discrepancies between the dynamics of O+ and H+ are discussed.

Energization of the Ring Current through Convection of Substorm Enhancements of the Plasma Sheet Source.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Menz, A.; Kistler, L. M.; Mouikis, C.; Spence, H. E.; Henderson, M. G.; Matsui, H.

2017-12-01

It has been shown that electric field strength and night-side plasma sheet density are the two best predictors of the adiabatic energy gain of the ring current during geomagnetic storms (Liemohn and Khazanov, 2005). While H+ dominates the ring current during quiet times, O+ can contribute substantially during geomagnetic storms. Substorm activity provides a mechanism to enhance the energy density of O+ in the plasma sheet during geomagnetic storms, which is then convected adiabatically into the inner-magnetosphere. Using the Van Allen Probes data in the the plasma sheet source region (defined as L>5.5 during storms) and the inner magnetosphere, along with LANL-GEO data to identify substorm injection times, we show that adiabatic convection of O+ enhancements in the source region can explain the observed enhancements in the inner magnetosphere. We use the UNH-IMEF electric field model to calculate drift times from the source region to the inner magnetosphere to test whether enhancements in the inner-magnetosphere can be explained by dipolarization driven enhancements in the plasma sheet source hours before.

The quiet evening auroral arc and the structure of the growth phase near-Earth plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coroniti, F. V.; Pritchett, P. L.

2014-03-01

The plasma pressure and current configuration of the near-Earth plasma sheet that creates and sustains the quiet evening auroral arc during the growth phase of magnetospheric substorms is investigated. We propose that the quiet evening arc (QEA) connects to the thin near-Earth current sheet, which forms during the development of the growth phase enhancement of convection. The current sheet's large polarization electric fields are shielded from the ionosphere by an Inverted-V parallel potential drop, thereby producing the electron precipitation responsible for the arc's luminosity. The QEA is located in the plasma sheet region of maximal radial pressure gradient and, in the east-west direction, follows the vanishing of the approximately dawn-dusk-directed gradient or fold in the plasma pressure. In the evening sector, the boundary between the Region1 and Region 2 current systems occurs where the pressure maximizes (approximately radial gradient of the pressure vanishes) and where the approximately radial gradient of the magnetic flux tube volume also vanishes in an inflection region. The proposed intricate balance of plasma sheet pressure and currents may well be very sensitive to disruption by the arrival of equatorward traveling auroral streamers and their associated earthward traveling dipolarization fronts.

Plasma sheet density dependence on Interplanetary Magnetic Field and Solar Wind properties: statistical study using 9+ year of THEMIS data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nykyri, K.; Chu, C.; Dimmock, A. P.

2017-12-01

Previous studies have shown that plasma sheet in tenuous and hot during southward IMF, whereas northward IMF conditions are associated with cold, dense plasma. The cold, dense plasma sheet (CDPS) has strong influence on magnetospheric dynamics. Closer to Earth, the CDPS could be formed via double high-latitude reconnection, while at increasing tailward distance reconnection, diffusion and kinetic Alfven waves in association with Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability are suggested as dominant source for cold-dense plasma sheet formation. In this paper we present statistical correlation study between Solar Wind, Magnetosheath and Plasma sheet properties using 9+ years of THEMIS data in aberrated GSM frame, and in a normalized coordinate system that takes into account the changes of the magnetopause and bow shock location with respect to changing solar wind conditions. We present statistical results of the plasma sheet density dependence on IMF orientation and other solar wind properties.

A study of the formation and dynamics of the Earth's plasma sheet using ion composition data

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lennartsson, O. W.

1994-01-01

Over two years of data from the Lockheed Plasma Composition Experiment on the ISEE 1 spacecraft, covering ion energies between 100 eV/e and about 16 keV/e, have been analyzed in an attempt to extract new information about three geophysical issues: (1) solar wind penetration of the Earth's magnetic tail; (2) relationship between plasma sheet and tail lobe ion composition; and (3) possible effects of heavy terrestrial ions on plasma sheet stability.

Distribution of energetic oxygen and hydrogen in the near-Earth plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kronberg, E. A.; Grigorenko, E. E.; Haaland, S. E.; Daly, P. W.; Delcourt, D. C.; Luo, H.; Kistler, L. M.; Dandouras, I.

2015-05-01

The spatial distributions of different ion species are useful indicators for plasma sheet dynamics. In this statistical study based on 7 years of Cluster observations, we establish the spatial distributions of oxygen ions and protons at energies from 274 to 955 keV, depending on geomagnetic and solar wind (SW) conditions. Compared with protons, the distribution of energetic oxygen has stronger dawn-dusk asymmetry in response to changes in the geomagnetic activity. When the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) is directed southward, the oxygen ions show significant acceleration in the tail plasma sheet. Changes in the SW dynamic pressure (Pdyn) affect the oxygen and proton intensities in the same way. The energetic protons show significant intensity increases at the near-Earth duskside during disturbed geomagnetic conditions, enhanced SW Pdyn, and southward IMF, implying there location of effective inductive acceleration mechanisms and a strong duskward drift due to the increase of the magnetic field gradient in the near-Earth tail. Higher losses of energetic ions are observed in the dayside plasma sheet under disturbed geomagnetic conditions and enhanced SW Pdyn. These observations are in agreement with theoretical models.

Scale size and life time of energy conversion regions observed by Cluster in the plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hamrin, M.; Norqvist, P.; Marghitu, O.; Vaivads, A.; Klecker, B.; Kistler, L. M.; Dandouras, I.

2009-11-01

In this article, and in a companion paper by Hamrin et al. (2009) [Occurrence and location of concentrated load and generator regions observed by Cluster in the plasma sheet], we investigate localized energy conversion regions (ECRs) in Earth's plasma sheet. From more than 80 Cluster plasma sheet crossings (660 h data) at the altitude of about 15-20 RE in the summer and fall of 2001, we have identified 116 Concentrated Load Regions (CLRs) and 35 Concentrated Generator Regions (CGRs). By examining variations in the power density, E·J, where E is the electric field and J is the current density obtained by Cluster, we have estimated typical values of the scale size and life time of the CLRs and the CGRs. We find that a majority of the observed ECRs are rather stationary in space, but varying in time. Assuming that the ECRs are cylindrically shaped and equal in size, we conclude that the typical scale size of the ECRs is 2 RE≲ΔSECR≲5 RE. The ECRs hence occupy a significant portion of the mid altitude plasma sheet. Moreover, the CLRs appear to be somewhat larger than the CGRs. The life time of the ECRs are of the order of 1-10 min, consistent with the large scale magnetotail MHD simulations of Birn and Hesse (2005). The life time of the CGRs is somewhat shorter than for the CLRs. On time scales of 1-10 min, we believe that ECRs rise and vanish in significant regions of the plasma sheet, possibly oscillating between load and generator character. It is probable that at least some of the observed ECRs oscillate energy back and forth in the plasma sheet instead of channeling it to the ionosphere.

Characteristics of ion flow in the quiet state of the inner plasma sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Angelopoulos, V.; Kennel, C. F.; Coroniti, F. V.; Pellat, R.; Spence, H. E.; Kivelson, M. G.; Walker, R. J.; Baumjohann, W.; Feldman, W. C.; Gosling, J. T.

1993-01-01

We use AMPTE/IRM and ISEE 2 data to study the properties of the high beta plasma sheet, the inner plasma sheet (IPS). Bursty bulk flows (BBFs) are excised from the two databases, and the average flow pattern in the non-BBF (quiet) IPS is constructed. At local midnight this ensemble-average flow is predominantly duskward; closer to the flanks it is mostly earthward. The flow pattern agrees qualitatively with calculations based on the Tsyganenko (1987) model (T87), where the earthward flow is due to the ensemble-average cross tail electric field and the duskward flow is the diamagnetic drift due to an inward pressure gradient. The IPS is on the average in pressure equilibrium with the lobes. Because of its large variance the average flow does not represent the instantaneous flow field. Case studies also show that the non-BBF flow is highly irregular and inherently unsteady, a reason why earthward convection can avoid a pressure balance inconsistency with the lobes. The ensemble distribution of velocities is a fundamental observable of the quiet plasma sheet flow field.

Latitudinal distribution of the Jovian plasma sheet ions observed by Juno JADE-I

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, T. K. H.; Valek, P. W.; McComas, D. J.; Allegrini, F.; Bagenal, F.; Bolton, S. J.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Ebert, R. W.; Levin, S.; Louarn, P.; Pollock, C. J.; Ranquist, D. A.; Szalay, J.; Thomsen, M. F.; Wilson, R. J.

2017-12-01

The Jovian plasma sheet is a region where the centrifugal force dominates the heavy ion plasma. Properties of the plasma sheet ions near the equatorial plane have been studied with in-situ measurements from the Pioneer, Voyager, and Galileo spacecraft. However, the ion properties for the off-equator regions are not well known due to the limited measurements. Juno is the first polar orbiting spacecraft that can investigate the high latitude region of the Jovian magnetosphere. With Juno's unique trajectory, we will investigate the latitudinal distribution of the Jovian plasma sheet ions using measurements from the Jovian Auroral Distributions Experiment Ion sensor (JADE-I). JADE-I measures an ion's energy-per-charge (E/Q) from 0.01 keV/q to 46.2 keV/q with an electrostatic analyzer (ESA) and a mass-per-charge (M/Q) up to 64 amu/q with a carbon-foil-based time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. We have shown that the ambiguity between and (both have M/Q of 16) can be resolved in JADE-I using a semi-empirical simulation tool based on carbon foil effects (i.e., charge state modification, angular scattering, and energy loss) from incident ions passing through the TOF mass spectrometer. Based on the simulation results, we have developed an Ion Composition Analysis Tool (ICAT) that determines ion composition at each energy step of JADE-I (total of 64 steps). The velocity distribution for each ion species can be obtained from the ion composition as a function of each energy step. Since there is an ambipolar electric field due to mobile electrons and equatorially confined heavy ions, we expect to see acceleration along the field line. This study will show the species separated velocity distribution at various latitudes to investigate how the plasma sheet ions evolve along the field line.

Spectral characteristics of plasma sheet ion and electron populations during disturbed geomagnetic conditions

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Christon, S.P., Williams, D.J.; Mitchell, D.G.; Huang, C.Y.

1991-01-01

The authors have determined the spectral characteristics of central plasma sheet ions and electrons observed during 71 hours when geomagnetic activity was at moderate to high levels (AE {ge} 100nT). Particle data from the low-energy proton and electron differential energy analyzer and the medium energy particle instrument on ISEE 1 are combined to obtain differential energy spectra (measured in units of particles/cm{sup 2} s sr keV) in the kinetic energy range {approximately}30 eV/e to {approximately}1 MeV at geocentric radial distances >12R{sub e}. Nearly isotropic central plasma sheet total ion and electron populations were chosen for analysis and were measured tomore » be continuous particle distributions from the lowest to highest energies. During these high AE periods the >24 keV particle fluxes and the temperature of the entire particle distribution kT are significantly higher than during low AE periods (AE < 100 nT). The temperatures kT{sub i} and kT{sub e} are highly correlated during both quiet and disturbed periods. The active period spectral shape appears softer for ions and somewhat harder for electrons than during quiet periods. They find that the observed active period spectrum typically is complex and cannot be represented in general by a single functional form, as during quiet periods when it can be represented by the kappa distribution function. In a limited energy range near the knee of the ion spectra, the spectral shape can often be fit with a Maxwellian form, thus rolling over faster than the typical quiet time spectrum. Electron spectra also display this spectral characteristic, although at a lower occurence frequency than for ions. The electron spectra are predominantly kappalike at energies near and above the knee. The authors conclude that both ions and electrons participate in at least two separate accerlation mechanisms as geomagnetic activity evolves from low AE to high AE values.« less

Effect of Inductive Coil Geometry and Current Sheet Trajectory of a Conical Theta Pinch Pulsed Inductive Plasma Accelerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hallock, Ashley K.; Polzin, Kurt A.; Bonds, Kevin W.; Emsellem, Gregory D.

2011-01-01

Results are presented demonstrating the e ect of inductive coil geometry and current sheet trajectory on the exhaust velocity of propellant in conical theta pinch pulsed induc- tive plasma accelerators. The electromagnetic coupling between the inductive coil of the accelerator and a plasma current sheet is simulated, substituting a conical copper frustum for the plasma. The variation of system inductance as a function of plasma position is obtained by displacing the simulated current sheet from the coil while measuring the total inductance of the coil. Four coils of differing geometries were employed, and the total inductance of each coil was measured as a function of the axial displacement of two sep- arate copper frusta both having the same cone angle and length as the coil but with one compressed to a smaller size relative to the coil. The measured relationship between total coil inductance and current sheet position closes a dynamical circuit model that is used to calculate the resulting current sheet velocity for various coil and current sheet con gura- tions. The results of this model, which neglects the pinching contribution to thrust, radial propellant con nement, and plume divergence, indicate that in a conical theta pinch ge- ometry current sheet pinching is detrimental to thruster performance, reducing the kinetic energy of the exhausting propellant by up to 50% (at the upper bound for the parameter range of the study). The decrease in exhaust velocity was larger for coils and simulated current sheets of smaller half cone angles. An upper bound for the pinching contribution to thrust is estimated for typical operating parameters. Measurements of coil inductance for three di erent current sheet pinching conditions are used to estimate the magnetic pressure as a function of current sheet radial compression. The gas-dynamic contribution to axial acceleration is also estimated and shown to not compensate for the decrease in axial electromagnetic acceleration

[Oxygen plasma-vulcanized deformable polydimethylsiloxane sheet culture substrates].

PubMed

Zhang, Yiyi; Tao, Zulai

2003-06-01

A method of preparing deformable polydimethylsiloxane sheet culture substrates by oxygen plasma vulcanization was developed. As compared with the traditional heating vulcanization method, the substrates prepared in this way have hydrophilic surfaces, the adhesion and spreading of cells both occur quickly, and the wrinkling deformation of substrates develops quickly, too. In addition, the changes of wrinkles during treatment of cytochalasin D were observed, and the result shows that this technique has high temporal resolution.

Frequency-dependent absorbance of broadband terahertz wave in dense plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Yan; Qi, Binbin; Jiang, Xiankai; Zhu, Zhi; Zhao, Hongwei; Zhu, Yiming

2018-05-01

Due to the ability of accurate fingerprinting and low-ionization for different substances, terahertz (THz) technology has a lot of crucial applications in material analysis, information transfer, and safety inspection, etc. However, the spectral characteristic of atmospheric gas and ionized gas has not been widely investigated, which is important for the remote sensing application. Here, in this paper, we investigate the absorbance of broadband terahertz wave in dense plasma sheet generated by femtosecond laser pulses. It was found that as the terahertz wave transmits through the plasma sheet formed, respectively, in carbon dioxide, oxygen, argon and nitrogen, spectrum presents completely different and frequency-dependent absorbance. The reasons for these absorption peaks are related to the molecular polarity, electric charge, intermolecular and intramolecular interactions, and collisional absorption of gas molecules. These results have significant implications for the remote sensing of gas medium.

Plasma Sheet Injections into the Inner Magnetosphere: Two-way Coupled OpenGGCM-RCM model results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raeder, J.; Cramer, W. D.; Toffoletto, F.; Gilson, M. L.; Hu, B.

2017-12-01

Plasma sheet injections associated with low flux tube entropy bubbles have been found to be the primary means of mass transport from the plasma sheet to the inner magnetosphere. A two-way coupled global magnetosphere-ring current model, where the magnetosphere is modeled by the OpenGGCM MHD model and the ring current is modeled by the Rice Convection Model (RCM), is used to determine the frequency of association of bubbles with injections and inward plasma transport, as well as typical injection characteristics. Multiple geomagnetic storms and quiet periods are simulated to track and characterize inward flow behavior. Dependence on geomagnetic activity levels or drivers is also examined.

Polar Plasma at Ganymede: Ionospheric outflow and discovery of the plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Collinson, G.; Paterson, W.; Dorelli, J.; Glocer, A.; Sarantos, M.; Wilson, R. J.; Bard, C.

2017-12-01

On the 27th of June 1996, the NASA Galileo spacecraft made humanities first flyby of Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, discovering that it is unique to science in being the only moon known to possess an internally generated magnetic dynamo field. Although Galileo carried a plasma spectrometer, the Plasma Subsystem (PLS), converting its highly complex raw data stream into meaningful plasma moments (density, temperature, velocity) is extremely challenging, and was only ever performed for the second (out of six) Ganymede flybys. Resurrecting the original Galileo PLS data analysis software, we processed the raw PLS data from G01, and for the first time present the properties of plasmas encountered. Dense, cold ions were observed outflowing from the moon's north pole (presumed to be dominated by H+ from the icy surface), with more diffuse, warmer field-aligned outflows in the lobes. Dropouts in plasma density combined with velocity perturbations either side of this suggest that Galileo briefly crossed the cusps onto closed magnetic field lines. PLS observations show that upon entry into the magnetosphere, Galileo crossed through the plasma sheet, observing plasma flows consistent with reconnection-driven convection, highly energized 105 eV ions, and a reversal in the magnetic field. The densities of plasmas flowing upwards from Ganymede's ionosphere were higher on open "lobe" field lines than on closed field lines, suggesting that the ionospheric source of these plasmas may be denser at the poles, there may be additional acceleration mechanisms at play, or the balance of ions were outside the energy range of PLS.

Energetic electrons observed in higher latitude regions of the plasma sheet near the outer radiation belt

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoshizumi, M.; Shinohara, I.; Nagai, T.; Kanazawa, K.; Mitani, T.; Kasahara, S.; Kazama, Y.; Wang, B. J.; Wang, S. Y.; Tam, S. W. Y.; Higashio, N.; Matsuoka, A.; Asamura, K.; Yokota, S.; Takashima, T.

2017-12-01

The Arase satellite was successfully launched on Dec. 20, 2016, and it has started the regular mission observation since the end of March, 2017. The orbital inclination of Arase is about 31 degree, so that Arase is possible to observe higher L-value plasma sheet close to the plasma sheet boundary. During this summer, the local time of the apogee is located at near the midnight, and Arase observed the plasma sheet just outside of the outer radiation belt as expected. In these observations, we found that energetic electron bursts up to 500 keV frequently appear in the plasma sheet. Possible sources of these energetic electron bursts of a few hundreds keV near thein higher L-value region are (1) directly accelerated from magnetotail reconnection sites and (2) dispersion-less injections. It is interesting to distinguish the acceleration source of them and address each contribution of the energy input to the outer radiation belt for understanding the relation between magnetotail reconnection and the acceleration of MeV electrons in the radiation belts. We will present the initial results on the characteristics of the observed energetic electron bursts by using the wide-range electron distribution measurements from 10 eV to 20 MeV.

Effect of tail plasma sheet conditions on the penetration of the convection electric field in the inner magnetosphere: RCM simulations with self-consistent magnetic field

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gkioulidou, M.; Wang, C.; Lyons, L. R.; Wolf, R.

2009-12-01

Transport of plasma sheet particles into the inner magnetosphere is strongly affected by the penetration of the convection electric field, which is the result of the large-scale magnetosphere ionosphere electromagnetic coupling. This transport, on the other hand, results in plasma heating and magnetic field stretching, which become very significant in the inner plasma sheet (inside 20 RE). We have previously run simulations with the Rice Convection Model (RCM), using the Tsyganenko 96 magnetic field model, to investigate how the earthward penetration of electric field depends on plasma sheet conditions. Outer proton and electron sources at r ~20 RE, are based on 11 years of Geotail data, and realistically represent the mixture of cold and hot plasma sheet population as a function of MLT and interplanetary conditions. We found that shielding of the inner magnetosphere electric field is more efficient for a colder and denser plasma sheet, which is found following northward IMF, than for the hotter and more tenuous plasma sheet found following southward IMF. Our simulation results so far indicate further earthward penetration of plasma sheet particles in response to enhanced convection if the preceding IMF is southward, which leads to weaker electric field shielding. Recently we have integrated the RCM with a magnetic field solver to obtain magnetic fields that are in force balance with given plasma pressures in the equatorial plane. We expect the self-consistent magnetic field to have a pronounced dawn dusk asymmetry due to the asymmetric inner magnetospheric pressure. This should affect the radial distance and MLT of plasma sheet penetration into the inner magnetosphere. We are currently using this force-balanced and self-consistent model with our realistic boundary conditions to evaluate the dependence of the shielding timescale on pre-existing plasma sheet number density and temperature and to more quantitatively determine the correlation between the plasma sheet

Estimates of magnetic flux, and energy balance in the plasma sheet during substorm expansion

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hesse, Michael; Birn, Joachim; Pulkkinen, Tuija

1996-01-01

The energy and magnetic flux budgets of the magnetotail plasma sheet during substorm expansion are investigated. The possible mechanisms that change the energy content of the closed field line region which contains all the major dissipation mechanisms of relevance during substorms, are considered. The compression of the plasma sheet mechanism and the diffusion mechanism are considered and excluded. It is concluded that the magnetic reconnection mechanism can accomplish the required transport. Data-based empirical magnetic field models are used to investigate the magnetic flux transport required to account for the observed magnetic field dipolarizations in the inner magnetosphere. It is found that the magnetic flux permeating the current sheet is typically insufficient to supply the required magnetic flux. It is concluded that no major substorm-type magnetospheric reconfiguration is possible in the absence of magnetic reconnection.

Characteristics of DC electric fields in transient plasma sheet events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laakso, H. E.; Escoubet, C. P.; Masson, A.

2015-12-01

We take an advantage of five different DC electric field measurements in the plasma sheet available from the EFW double probe experiment, EDI electron drift instrument, CODIF and HIA ion spectrometers, and PEACE electron spectrometer on the four Cluster spacecraft. The calibrated observations of the three spectrometers are used to determine the proton and electron velocity moments. The velocity moments can be used to estimate the proton and electron drift velocity and furthermore the DC electric field, assuming that the electron and proton velocity perpendicular to the magnetic field is dominated by the ExB drift motion. Naturally when ions and electrons do not perform a proper drift motion, which can happen in the plasma sheet, the estimated DC electric field from ion and electron motion is not correct. However, surprisingly often the DC electric fields estimated from electron and ion motions are identical suggesting that this field is a real DC electric field around the measurement point. As the measurement techniques are so different, it is quite plausible that when two different measurements yield the same DC electric field, it is the correct field. All five measurements of the DC electric field are usually not simultaneously available, especially on Cluster 2 where CODIF and HIA are not operational, or on Cluster 4 where EDI is off. In this presentation we investigate DC electric field in various transient plasma sheet events such as dipolarization events and BBF's and how the five measurements agree or disagree. There are plenty of important issues that are considered, e.g., (1) what kind of DC electric fields exist in such events and what are their spatial scales, (2) do electrons and ions perform ExB drift motions in these events, and (3) how well the instruments have been calibrated.

Magma transport in sheet intrusions of the Alnö carbonatite complex, central Sweden.

PubMed

Andersson, Magnus; Almqvist, Bjarne S G; Burchardt, Steffi; Troll, Valentin R; Malehmir, Alireza; Snowball, Ian; Kübler, Lutz

2016-06-10

Magma transport through the Earth's crust occurs dominantly via sheet intrusions, such as dykes and cone-sheets, and is fundamental to crustal evolution, volcanic eruptions and geochemical element cycling. However, reliable methods to reconstruct flow direction in solidified sheet intrusions have proved elusive. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) in magmatic sheets is often interpreted as primary magma flow, but magnetic fabrics can be modified by post-emplacement processes, making interpretation of AMS data ambiguous. Here we present AMS data from cone-sheets in the Alnö carbonatite complex, central Sweden. We discuss six scenarios of syn- and post-emplacement processes that can modify AMS fabrics and offer a conceptual framework for systematic interpretation of magma movements in sheet intrusions. The AMS fabrics in the Alnö cone-sheets are dominantly oblate with magnetic foliations parallel to sheet orientations. These fabrics may result from primary lateral flow or from sheet closure at the terminal stage of magma transport. As the cone-sheets are discontinuous along their strike direction, sheet closure is the most probable process to explain the observed AMS fabrics. We argue that these fabrics may be common to cone-sheets and an integrated geology, petrology and AMS approach can be used to distinguish them from primary flow fabrics.

Magma transport in sheet intrusions of the Alnö carbonatite complex, central Sweden

PubMed Central

Andersson, Magnus; Almqvist, Bjarne S. G.; Burchardt, Steffi; Troll, Valentin R.; Malehmir, Alireza; Snowball, Ian; Kübler, Lutz

2016-01-01

Magma transport through the Earth’s crust occurs dominantly via sheet intrusions, such as dykes and cone-sheets, and is fundamental to crustal evolution, volcanic eruptions and geochemical element cycling. However, reliable methods to reconstruct flow direction in solidified sheet intrusions have proved elusive. Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) in magmatic sheets is often interpreted as primary magma flow, but magnetic fabrics can be modified by post-emplacement processes, making interpretation of AMS data ambiguous. Here we present AMS data from cone-sheets in the Alnö carbonatite complex, central Sweden. We discuss six scenarios of syn- and post-emplacement processes that can modify AMS fabrics and offer a conceptual framework for systematic interpretation of magma movements in sheet intrusions. The AMS fabrics in the Alnö cone-sheets are dominantly oblate with magnetic foliations parallel to sheet orientations. These fabrics may result from primary lateral flow or from sheet closure at the terminal stage of magma transport. As the cone-sheets are discontinuous along their strike direction, sheet closure is the most probable process to explain the observed AMS fabrics. We argue that these fabrics may be common to cone-sheets and an integrated geology, petrology and AMS approach can be used to distinguish them from primary flow fabrics. PMID:27282420

The inner edge of the plasma sheet and the diffuse aurora

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fairfield, D. H.; Vinas, A. F.

1983-01-01

Three dimensional measurements from the ISEE-1 low energy electron spectrometer are used to map the location of the inner edge of the plasma sheet and study the anisotropies in the electron distribution function associated with this boundary. Lower energy plasma sheet electrons have inner edges closer to the Earth than higher energies with the separations at different energies being larger near dawn and after dusk than at midnight. Lowest energy inner edges are frequently located adjacent to the plasmapause in the dawn hemisphere but are often separated from it in the dusk hemisphere by a gap of at least several Re. The energy dispersion is minimal in the afternoon quadrant where the inner edge is near the magnetopause and frequently oscillating on a time scale of minutes. The location of the inner edge is probably determined primarily by the motion of electrons in the existing electric and magnetic fields rather than by strong diffusion as has sometimes been supposed.

Effects of auroral potential drops on plasma sheet dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xi, Sheng; Lotko, William; Zhang, Binzheng; Wiltberger, Michael; Lyon, John

2016-11-01

The reaction of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system to dynamic auroral potential drops is investigated using the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry global model including, for the first time in a global simulation, the dissipative load of field-aligned potential drops in the low-altitude boundary condition. This extra load reduces the field-aligned current (j||) supplied by nightside reconnection dynamos. The system adapts by forcing the nightside X line closer to Earth, with a corresponding reduction in current lensing (j||/B = constant) at the ionosphere and additional contraction of the plasma sheet during substorm recovery and steady magnetospheric convection. For steady and moderate solar wind driving and with constant ionospheric conductance, the cross polar cap potential and hemispheric field-aligned current are lower by approximately the ratio of the peak field-aligned potential drop to the cross polar cap potential (10-15%) when potential drops are included. Hemispheric ionospheric Joule dissipation is less by 8%, while the area-integrated, average work done on the fluid by the reconnecting magnetotail field increases by 50% within |y| < 8 RE. Effects on the nightside plasma sheet include (1) an average X line 4 RE closer to Earth; (2) a 12% higher mean reconnection rate; and (3) dawn-dusk asymmetry in reconnection with a 17% higher rate in the premidnight sector.

Investigation of a staged plasma-focus apparatus. [pinch construction and current sheet dynamics investigation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, J. H.; Mcfarland, D. R.; Harries, W. L.

1978-01-01

A new staged plasma-focus geometry combining two Mather-type plasma-focus guns was constructed, and the current-sheet dynamics were investigated. The production of simultaneous pairs of plasma foci was achieved. The intensities of X-ray and fusion-neutron emission were measured and found to agree with the scaling law for a plasma focus. Advantages of this new geometry include the possibility of using plasma-focus type pinches in multiple arrays at power levels beyond the validity regime of the current scaling law for a single gun.

The structure of the plasma sheet-lobe boundary in the Earth's magnetotail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Orsini, S.; Candidi, M.; Formisano, V.; Balsiger, H.; Ghielmetti, A.; Ogilvie, K. W.

1982-01-01

The structure of the magnetotail plasma sheet-plasma lobe boundary was studied by observing the properties of tailward flowing O+ ion beams, detected by the ISEE 2 plasma experiment inside the boundary during three time periods. The computed value of the north-south electric field component as well as the O+ parameters are shown to change at the boundary. The results are related to other observations made in this region. The O+ parameters and the Ez component behavior are shown to be consistent with that expected from the topology of the electric field lines in the tail as mapped from the ionosphere.

Plasma flow disturbances in the magnetospheric plasma sheet during substorm activations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kozelova, T. V.; Kozelov, B. V.; Turyanskii, V. A.

2017-11-01

We have considered variations in fields and particle fluxes in the near-Earth plasma sheet on the THEMIS-D satellite together with the auroral dynamics in the satellite-conjugate ionospheric part during two substorm activations on December 19, 2014 with K p = 2. The satellite was at 8.5 R E and MLT = 21.8 in the outer region of captured energetic particles with isotropic ion fluxes near the convection boundary of electrons with an energy of 10 keV. During substorm activations, the satellite recorded energetic particle injections and magnetic field oscillations with a period of 90 s. In the satellite-conjugate ionospheric part, the activations were preceded by wavelike disturbances of auroral brightness along the southern azimuthal arc. In the expansion phase of activations, large-scale vortex structures appeared in the structure of auroras. The sudden enhancements of auroral activity (brightening of arcs, auroral breakup, and appearance of NS forms) coincided with moments of local magnetic field dipolarization and an increase in the amplitude Pi2 of pulsations of the B z component of the magnetic field on the satellite. Approximately 30-50 s before these moments, the magnetosphere was characterized by an increased rate of plasma flow in the radial direction, which initiated the formation of plasma vortices. The auroral activation delays relative to the times when plasma vortices appear in the magnetosphere decreased with decreasing latitude of the satellite projection. The plasma vortices in the magnetosphere are assumed to be responsible for the observed auroral vortex structures and the manifestation of the hybrid vortex instability (or shear flow ballooning instability) that develops in the equatorial magnetospheric plane in the presence of a shear plasma flow in the region of strong pressure gradients in the Earthward direction.

Effect of Time Dependent Bending of Current Sheets in Response to Generation of Plasma Jets and Reverse Currents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, Anna

Magnetic reconnection is a basis for many impulsive phenomena in space and laboratory plasmas accompanied by effective transformation of magnetic energy. Reconnection processes usually occur in relatively thin current sheets (CSs), which separate magnetic fields of different or opposite directions. We report on recent observations of time dependent bending of CSs, which results from plasma dynamics inside the sheet. The experiments are carried out with the CS-3D laboratory device (Institute of General Physics RAS, Moscow) [1]. The CS magnetic structure with an X line provides excitation of the Hall currents and plasma acceleration from the X line to both side edges [2]. In the presence of the guide field By the Hall currents give rise to bending of the sheet: the peripheral regions located away from the X line are deflected from CS middle plane (z=0) in the opposite directions ±z [3]. We have revealed generation of reverse currents jy near the CS edges, i.e. the currents flowing in the opposite direction to the main current in the sheet [4]. There are strong grounds to believe that reverse currents are generated by the outflow plasma jets [5], accelerated inside the sheet and penetrated into the regions with strong normal magnetic field component Bz [4]. An impressive effect of sudden change in the sign of the CS bend has been disclosed recently, when analyzing distributions of plasma density [6] and current away from the X line, in the presence of the guide field By. The CS configuration suddenly becomes opposite from that observed at the initial stage, and this effect correlates well with generation of reverse currents. Consequently this effect can be related to excitation of the reverse Hall currents owing to generation of reverse currents jy in the CS. Hence it may be concluded that CSs may exhibit time dependent vertical z-displacements, and the sheet geometry depends on excitation of the Hall currents, acceleration of plasma jets and generation of reverse

Modeling the effect of doping on the catalyst-assisted growth and field emission properties of plasma-grown graphene sheet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gupta, Neha; Sharma, Suresh C.; Sharma, Rinku

A theoretical model describing the effect of doping on the plasma-assisted catalytic growth of graphene sheet has been developed. The model accounts the charging rate of the graphene sheet, kinetics of all the plasma species, including the doping species, and the growth rate of graphene nuclei and graphene sheet due to surface diffusion, and accretion of ions on the catalyst nanoparticle. Using the model, it is observed that nitrogen and boron doping can strongly influence the growth and field emission properties of the graphene sheet. The results of the present investigation indicate that nitrogen doping results in reduced thickness andmore » shortened height of the graphene sheet; however, boron doping increases the thickness and height of the graphene sheet. The time evolutions of the charge on the graphene sheet and hydrocarbon number density for nitrogen and boron doped graphene sheet have also been examined. The field emission properties of the graphene sheet have been proposed on the basis of the results obtained. It is concluded that nitrogen doped graphene sheet exhibits better field emission characteristics as compared to undoped and boron doped graphene sheet. The results of the present investigation are consistent with the existing experimental observations.« less

Extreme energetic particle decreases near geostationary orbit - A manifestation of current diversion within the inner plasma sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, D. N.; Mcpherron, R. L.

1990-01-01

A qualitative model of cross-tail current flow is considered. It is suggested that when magnetic reconnection begins, the current effectively flows across the plasma sheet both earthward and tailward of the disruption region near the neutral line. It is shown that an enhanced cross-tail current earthward of this region would thin the plasma sheet substantially due to the magnetic pinch effect. The results explain the very taillike field and extreme particle dropouts often seen late in substorm growth phases.

Equilibrium structure of the plasma sheet boundary layer-lobe interface

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Romero, H.; Ganguli, G.; Palmadesso, P.; Dusenbery, P. B.

1990-01-01

Observations are presented which show that plasma parameters vary on a scale length smaller than the ion gyroradius at the interface between the plasma sheet boundary layer and the lobe. The Vlasov equation is used to investigate the properties of such a boundary layer. The existence, at the interface, of a density gradient whose scale length is smaller than the ion gyroradius implies that an electrostatic potential is established in order to maintain quasi-neutrality. Strongly sheared (scale lengths smaller than the ion gyroradius) perpendicular and parallel (to the ambient magnetic field) electron flows develop whose peak velocities are on the order of the electron thermal speed and which carry a net current. The free energy of the sheared flows can give rise to a broadband spectrum of electrostatic instabilities starting near the electron plasma frequency and extending below the lower hybrid frequency.

Collisionless current sheet equilibria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Neukirch, T.; Wilson, F.; Allanson, O.

2018-01-01

Current sheets are important for the structure and dynamics of many plasma systems. In space and astrophysical plasmas they play a crucial role in activity processes, for example by facilitating the release of magnetic energy via processes such as magnetic reconnection. In this contribution we will focus on collisionless plasma systems. A sensible first step in any investigation of physical processes involving current sheets is to find appropriate equilibrium solutions. The theory of collisionless plasma equilibria is well established, but over the past few years there has been a renewed interest in finding equilibrium distribution functions for collisionless current sheets with particular properties, for example for cases where the current density is parallel to the magnetic field (force-free current sheets). This interest is due to a combination of scientific curiosity and potential applications to space and astrophysical plasmas. In this paper we will give an overview of some of the recent developments, discuss their potential applications and address a number of open questions.

Pressure changes in the plasma sheet during substorm injections

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kistler, L. M.; Moebius, E.; Baumjohann, W.; Paschmann, G.; Hamilton, D. C.

1992-01-01

Data from the CHEM instrument on AMPTE CCE, data from the 3D plasma instrument and the SULEICA instrument on AMPTE IRM, and magnetometer data from both spacecraft are used to determine the particle pressure and total pressure as a function of radial distance in the plasma sheet for periods before and after the onset of substorm-associated ion enhancements over the range 7-19 RE. Events were chosen that occurred during times of increasing magnetospheric activity, as determined by an increasing AE index, in which a sudden increase, or 'injection', of energetic particle flux is observed. It is shown that the simultaneous appearance of energetic particles and changes in the magnetic field results naturally from pressure balance and does not necessarily indicate that the local changing field is accelerating the particles.

Effect of self-consistent magnetic field on plasma sheet penetration to the inner magnetosphere under enhanced convection: RCM simulations combined with force-balance magnetic field solver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gkioulidou, M.; Wang, C.; Lyons, L. R.; Wolf, R. A.

2010-12-01

Transport of plasma sheet particles into the inner magnetosphere is strongly affected by the penetration of the convection electric field, which is the result of the large-scale magnetosphere-ionosphere electromagnetic coupling. This transport, on the other hand, results in plasma heating and magnetic field stretching, which become very significant in the inner plasma sheet (inside 20 RE). We have previously run simulations with the Rice Convection Model (RCM) to investigate how the earthward penetration of convection electric field, and therefore plasma sheet population, depends on plasma sheet boundary conditions. Outer boundary conditions at r ~20 RE are a function of MLT and interplanetary conditions based on 11 years of Geotail data. In the previous simulations, Tsyganenko 96 magnetic field model (T96) was used so force balance between plasma pressure and magnetic fields was not maintained. We have now integrated the RCM with a magnetic field solver (Liu et al., 2006) to obtain the required force balance in the equatorial plane. We have run the self-consistent simulations under enhanced convection with different boundary conditions in which we kept different parameters (flux tube particle content, plasma pressure, plasma beta, or magnetic fields) at the outer boundary to be MLT-dependent but time independent. Different boundary conditions result in qualitatively similar plasma sheet profiles. The results show that magnetic field has a dawn dusk asymmetry with field lines being more stretched in the pre-midnight sector, due to relatively higher plasma pressure there. The asymmetry in the magnetic fields in turn affects the radial distance and MLT of plasma sheet penetration into the inner magnetosphere. In comparison with results using the T96, plasma transport under self-consistent magnetic field results in proton and electron plasma sheet inner edges that are located in higher latitudes, weaker pressure gradients, and more efficient shielding of the near

Transient, Small-Scale Field-Aligned Currents in the Plasma Sheet Boundary Layer During Storm Time Substorms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nakamura, R.; Sergeev, V. A.; Baumjohann, W.; Plaschke, F.; Magnes, W.; Fischer, D.; Varsani, A.; Schmid, D.; Nakamura, T. K. M.; Russell, C. T.;

Transient, small-scale field-aligned currents in the plasma sheet boundary layer during storm time substorms.

PubMed

Nakamura, R; Sergeev, V A; Baumjohann, W; Plaschke, F; Magnes, W; Fischer, D; Varsani, A; Schmid, D; Nakamura, T K M; Russell, C T; Strangeway, R J; Leinweber, H K; Le, G; Bromund, K R; Pollock, C J; Giles, B L; Dorelli, J C; Gershman, D J; Paterson, W; Avanov, L A; Fuselier, S A; Genestreti, K; Burch, J L; Torbert, R B; Chutter, M; Argall, M R; Anderson, B J; Lindqvist, P-A; Marklund, G T; Khotyaintsev, Y V; Mauk, B H; Cohen, I J; Baker, D N; Jaynes, A N; Ergun, R E; Singer, H J; Slavin, J A; Kepko, E L; Moore, T E; Lavraud, B; Coffey, V; Saito, Y

2016-05-28

We report on field-aligned current observations by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) during two major substorms on 23 June 2015. Small-scale field-aligned currents were found embedded in fluctuating PSBL flux tubes near the separatrix region. We resolve, for the first time, short-lived earthward (downward) intense field-aligned current sheets with thicknesses of a few tens of kilometers, which are well below the ion scale, on flux tubes moving equatorward/earthward during outward plasma sheet expansion. They coincide with upward field-aligned electron beams with energies of a few hundred eV. These electrons are most likely due to acceleration associated with a reconnection jet or high-energy ion beam-produced disturbances. The observations highlight coupling of multiscale processes in PSBL as a consequence of magnetotail reconnection.

Energy balance in the core of the Saturn plasma sheet: H2O chemistry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shemansky, D. E.; Yoshii, J.; Liu, X.

2011-10-01

A model of the weakly ionized plasma at Saturn has been developed to investigate the properties of the system. Energy balance is a critical consideration. The present model is based on two sources of mass, H2O, and HI. H2O is a variable. HI is a significant volume of gas flowing through the plasma imposed by the source at Saturn [1,2,3]. The energy sources are solar radiation and heterogeneous magnetosphere electrons. The model calculations produce energy rates, species partitioning, and relaxation lifetimes. For the first time the state of the ambient plasma sheet electrons is directly connected to the energy forcing functions. Within limits of knowledge, the predicted state of the core region of the plasma sheet in neutral and ionized gas corresponds satisfactorily to observation. The dominant ions in these calculations are H2O+ and H3O+ with lifetimes of several days. The lifetime of H2O is roughly 60 days. In calculations carried out so far the predicted source rate for H2O is lower than the rates quoted from the Enceladus encounters.

Poker flat radar observations of the magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling electrodynamics of the earthward penetrating plasma sheet following convection enhancements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lyons, L. R.; Zou, S.; Heinselman, C. J.; Nicolls, M. J.; Anderson, P. C.

2009-05-01

The plasma sheet moves earthward (equatorward in the ionosphere) after enhancements in convection, and the electrodynamics of this response is strongly influenced by Region 2 magnetosphere-ionosphere coupling. We have used Poker Flat Advanced Modular Incoherent Scatter Radar (PFISR) observations associated with two relatively abrupt southward turnings of the IMF to provide an initial evaluation of aspects of this response. The observations show that strong westward sub-auroral polarization streams (SAPS) flow regions moved equatorward as the plasma sheet electron precipitation (the diffuse aurora) penetrated equatorward following the IMF southward turnings. Consistent with our identification of these flows as SAPS, concurrent DMSP particle precipitation measurements show the equatorial boundary of ion precipitation equatorward of the electron precipitation boundary and that westward flows lie within the low-conductivity region between the two boundaries where the plasma sheet ion pressure gradient is expected to drive downward R2 currents. Evidence for these downward currents is seen in the DMSP magnetometer observations. Preliminary examination indicates that the SAPS response seen in the examples presented here may be common. However, detailed analysis will be required for many more events to reliably determine if this is the case. If so, it would imply that SAPS are frequently an important aspect of the inner magnetospheric electric field distribution, and that they are critical for understanding the response of the magnetosphere-ionosphere system to enhancements in convection, including understanding the earthward penetration of the plasma sheet. This earthward penetration is critical to geomagnetic disturbance phenomena such as the substorm growth phase and the formation of the stormtime ring current. Additionally, for one example, a prompt electric field response to the IMF southward turnings is seen within the inner plasma sheet.

Statistical Study between Solar Wind, Magnetosheath and Plasma Sheet Fluctuation Properties and Correlation with Magnetotail Bursty Bulk Flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chu, C. S.; Nykyri, K.; Dimmock, A. P.

2017-12-01

In this paper we test a hypothesis that magnetotail reconnection in the thin current sheet could be initiated by external fluctuations. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI) has been observed during southward IMF and it can produce, cold, dense plasma transport and compressional fluctuations that can move further into the magnetosphere. The properties of the KHI depend on the magnetosheath seed fluctuation spectrum (Nykyri et al., JGR, 2017). In this paper we present a statistical correlation study between Solar Wind, Magnetosheath and Plasma sheet fluctuation properties using 9+ years of THEMIS data in aberrated GSM frame, and in a normalized coordinate system that takes into account the changes of the magnetopause and bow shock location with respect to changing solar wind conditions. We present statistical results of the plasma sheet fluctuation properties (dn, dV and dB) and their dependence on IMF orientation and fluctuation properties and resulting magnetosheath state. These statistical maps are compared with spatial distribution of magnetotail Bursty Bulk Flows to study possible correlations with magnetotail reconnection and these fluctuations.

Mini-Magnetospheres at the Moon in the Solar Wind and the Earth's Plasma Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harada, Y.; Futaana, Y.; Barabash, S. V.; Wieser, M.; Wurz, P.; Bhardwaj, A.; Asamura, K.; Saito, Y.; Yokota, S.; Tsunakawa, H.; Machida, S.

2014-12-01

Lunar mini-magnetospheres are formed as a consequence of solar-wind interaction with remanent crustal magnetization on the Moon. A variety of plasma and field perturbations have been observed in a vicinity of the lunar magnetic anomalies, including electron energization, ion reflection/deflection, magnetic field enhancements, electrostatic and electromagnetic wave activities, and low-altitude ion deceleration and electron acceleration. Recent Chandrayaan-1 observations of the backscattered energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) from the Moon in the solar wind revealed upward ENA flux depletion (and thus depletion of the proton flux impinging on the lunar surface) in association with strongly magnetized regions. These ENA observations demonstrate that the lunar surface is shielded from the solar wind protons by the crustal magnetic fields. On the other hand, when the Moon was located in the Earth's plasma sheet, no significant depletion of the backscattered ENA flux was observed above the large and strong magnetic anomaly. It suggests less effective magnetic shielding of the surface from the plasma sheet protons than from the solar wind protons. We conduct test-particle simulations showing that protons with a broad velocity distribution are more likely to reach a strongly magnetized surface than those with a beam-like velocity distribution. The ENA observations together with the simulation results suggest that the lunar crustal magnetic fields are no longer capable of standing off the ambient plasma when the Moon is immersed in the hot magnetospheric plasma.

Backscattered energetic neutral atoms from the Moon in the Earth's plasma sheet observed by Chandarayaan-1/Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer instrument

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harada, Yuki; Futaana, Yoshifumi; Barabash, Stas; Wieser, Martin; Wurz, Peter; Bhardwaj, Anil; Asamura, Kazushi; Saito, Yoshifumi; Yokota, Shoichiro; Tsunakawa, Hideo; Machida, Shinobu

2014-05-01

We present the observations of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) produced at the lunar surface in the Earth's magnetotail. When the Moon was located in the terrestrial plasma sheet, Chandrayaan-1 Energetic Neutrals Analyzer (CENA) detected hydrogen ENAs from the Moon. Analysis of the data from CENA together with the Solar Wind Monitor (SWIM) onboard Chandrayaan-1 reveals the characteristic energy of the observed ENA energy spectrum (the e-folding energy of the distribution function) ˜100 eV and the ENA backscattering ratio (defined as the ratio of upward ENA flux to downward proton flux) <˜0.1. These characteristics are similar to those of the backscattered ENAs in the solar wind, suggesting that CENA detected plasma sheet particles backscattered as ENAs from the lunar surface. The observed ENA backscattering ratio in the plasma sheet exhibits no significant difference in the Southern Hemisphere, where a large and strong magnetized region exists, compared with that in the Northern Hemisphere. This is contrary to the CENA observations in the solar wind, when the backscattering ratio drops by ˜50% in the Southern Hemisphere. Our analysis and test particle simulations suggest that magnetic shielding of the lunar surface in the plasma sheet is less effective than in the solar wind due to the broad velocity distributions of the plasma sheet protons.

Cluster electric current density measurements within a magnetic flux rope in the plasma sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Slavin, J. A.; Lepping, R. P.; Gjerloev, J.; Goldstein, M. L.; Fairfield, D. H.; Acuna, M. H.; Balogh, A.; Dunlop, M.; Kivelson, M. G.; Khurana, K.

2003-01-01

On August 22, 2001 all 4 Cluster spacecraft nearly simultaneously penetrated a magnetic flux rope in the tail. The flux rope encounter took place in the central plasma sheet, Beta(sub i) approx. 1-2, near the leading edge of a bursty bulk flow. The "time-of-flight" of the flux rope across the 4 spacecraft yielded V(sub x) approx. 700 km/s and a diameter of approx.1 R(sub e). The speed at which the flux rope moved over the spacecraft is in close agreement with the Cluster plasma measurements. The magnetic field profiles measured at each spacecraft were first modeled separately using the Lepping-Burlaga force-free flux rope model. The results indicated that the center of the flux rope passed northward (above) s/c 3, but southward (below) of s/c 1, 2 and 4. The peak electric currents along the central axis of the flux rope predicted by these single-s/c models were approx.15-19 nA/sq m. The 4-spacecraft Cluster magnetic field measurements provide a second means to determine the electric current density without any assumption regarding flux rope structure. The current profile determined using the curlometer technique was qualitatively similar to those determined by modeling the individual spacecraft magnetic field observations and yielded a peak current density of 17 nA/m2 near the central axis of the rope. However, the curlometer results also showed that the flux rope was not force-free with the component of the current density perpendicular to the magnetic field exceeding the parallel component over the forward half of the rope, perhaps due to the pressure gradients generated by the collision of the BBF with the inner magnetosphere. Hence, while the single-spacecraft models are very successful in fitting flux rope magnetic field and current variations, they do not provide a stringent test of the force-free condition.

Spatial Distribution and Semiannual Variation of Cold-Dense Plasma Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bai, Shichen; Shi, Quanqi; Tian, Anmin; Nowada, Motoharu; Degeling, Alexander W.; Zhou, Xu-Zhi; Zong, Qiu-Gang; Rae, I. Jonathan; Fu, Suiyan; Zhang, Hui; Pu, Zuyin; Fazakerly, Andrew N.

2018-01-01

The cold-dense plasma sheet (CDPS) plays an important role in the entry process of the solar wind plasma into the magnetosphere. Investigating the seasonal variation of CDPS occurrences will help us better understand the long-term variation of plasma exchange between the solar wind and magnetosphere, but any seasonal variation of CDPS occurrences has not yet been reported in the literature. In this paper, we investigate the seasonal variation of the occurrence rate of CDPS using Geotail data from 1996 to 2015 and find a semiannual variation of the CDPS occurrences. Given the higher probability of solar wind entry under stronger northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions, 20 years of IMF data (1996-2015) are used to investigate the seasonal variation of IMF Bz under northward IMF conditions. We find a semiannual variation of IMF Bz, which is consistent with the Russell-McPherron (R-M) effect. We therefore suggest that the semiannual variation of CDPS may be related to the R-M effect.

Predicting pulsar scintillation from refractive plasma sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simard, Dana; Pen, Ue-Li

2018-07-01

The dynamic and secondary spectra of many pulsars show evidence for long-lived, aligned images of the pulsar that are stationary on a thin scattering sheet. One explanation for this phenomenon considers the effects of wave crests along sheets in the ionized interstellar medium, such as those due to Alfvén waves propagating along current sheets. If these sheets are closely aligned to our line of sight to the pulsar, high bending angles arise at the wave crests and a selection effect causes alignment of images produced at different crests, similar to grazing reflection off of a lake. Using geometric optics, we develop a simple parametrized model of these corrugated sheets that can be constrained with a single observation and that makes observable predictions for variations in the scintillation of the pulsar over time and frequency. This model reveals qualitative differences between lensing from overdense and underdense corrugated sheets: only if the sheet is overdense compared to the surrounding interstellar medium can the lensed images be brighter than the line-of-sight image to the pulsar, and the faint lensed images are closer to the pulsar at higher frequencies if the sheet is underdense, but at lower frequencies if the sheet is overdense.

Predicting Pulsar Scintillation from Refractive Plasma Sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Simard, Dana; Pen, Ue-Li

2018-05-01

The dynamic and secondary spectra of many pulsars show evidence for long-lived, aligned images of the pulsar that are stationary on a thin scattering sheet. One explanation for this phenomenon considers the effects of wave crests along sheets in the ionized interstellar medium, such as those due to Alfvén waves propagating along current sheets. If these sheets are closely aligned to our line-of-sight to the pulsar, high bending angles arise at the wave crests and a selection effect causes alignment of images produced at different crests, similar to grazing reflection off of a lake. Using geometric optics, we develop a simple parameterized model of these corrugated sheets that can be constrained with a single observation and that makes observable predictions for variations in the scintillation of the pulsar over time and frequency. This model reveals qualitative differences between lensing from overdense and underdense corrugated sheets: Only if the sheet is overdense compared to the surrounding interstellar medium can the lensed images be brighter than the line-of-sight image to the pulsar, and the faint lensed images are closer to the pulsar at higher frequencies if the sheet is underdense, but at lower frequencies if the sheet is overdense.

Multiple-satellite studies of magnetospheric substorms: Plasma sheet recovery and the poleward leap of auroral-zone activity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pytte, T.; Mcpherron, R. L.; Kivelson, M. G.; West, H. I., Jr.; Hones, E. W., Jr.

1977-01-01

Particle observations from pairs of satellites (Ogo 5, Vela 4A and 5B, Imp 3) during the recovery of plasma sheet thickness late in substorms were examined. Six of the nine events occurred within about 5 min in locations near the estimated position of the neutral sheet, but over wide ranges of east-west and radial separations. The time of occurrence and spatial extent of the recovery were related to the onset (defined by ground Pi 2 pulsations) and approximate location (estimated from ground mid-latitude magnetic signatures) of substorm expansions. It was found that the plasma sheet recovery occurred 10 - 30 min after the last in a series of Pi bursts, which were interpreted to indicate that the recovery was not due directly to a late, high latitude substorm expansion. The recovery was also observed to occur after the substorm current wedge had moved into the evening sector and to extend far to the east of the center of the last preceding substorm expansion.

Current sheet in plasma as a system with a controlling parameter

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Fridman, Yu. A., E-mail: yulya-fridman@yandex.ru; Chukbar, K. V., E-mail: Chukbar-KV@nrcki.ru

2015-08-15

A simple kinetic model describing stationary solutions with bifurcated and single-peaked current density profiles of a plane electron beam or current sheet in plasma is presented. A connection is established between the two-dimensional constructions arising in terms of the model and the one-dimensional considerations by Bernstein−Greene−Kruskal facilitating the reconstruction of the distribution function of trapped particles when both the profile of the electric potential and the free particles distribution function are known.

Spontaneous magnetic fluctuations and collisionless regulation of the Earth's plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Moya, P. S.; Espinoza, C.; Stepanova, M. V.; Antonova, E. E.; Valdivia, J. A.

2017-12-01

Even in the absence of instabilities, plasmas often exhibit inherent electromagnetic fluctuations which are present due to the thermal motion of charged particles, sometimes called thermal (quasi-thermal) noise. One of the fundamental and challenging problems of laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasma physics is the understanding of the relaxation processes of nearly collisionless plasmas, and the resultant state of electromagnetic plasma turbulence. The study of thermal fluctuations can be elegantly addressed by using the Fluctuation-Dissipation Theorem that describes the average amplitude of the fluctuations through correlations of the linear response of the media with the perturbations of the equilibrium state (the dissipation). Recently, it has been shown that solar wind plasma beta and temperature anisotropy observations are bounded by kinetic instabilities such as the ion cyclotron, mirror, and firehose instabilities. The magnetic fluctuations observed within the bounded area are consistent with the predictions of the Fluctuation-Dissipation theorem even far below the kinetic instability thresholds, with an enhancement of the fluctuation level near the thresholds. Here, for the very first time, using in-situ magnetic field and plasma data from the THEMIS spacecraft, we show that such regulation also occurs in the Earth's plasma sheet at the ion scales and that, regardless of the clear differences between the solar wind and the magnetosphere environments, spontaneous fluctuation and their collisionless regulation seem to be fundamental features of space and astrophysical plasmas, suggesting the universality of the processes.

Effect of an MLT dependent electron loss rate on the inner magnetosphere electrodynamics and plasma sheet penetration to the ring current region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gkioulidou, M.; Wang, C.; Wing, S.; Lyons, L. R.; Wolf, R. A.; Hsu, T.

2012-12-01

Transport of plasma sheet particles into the ring current region is strongly affected by the penetrating convection electric field, which is the result of the large-scale magnetosphere-ionosphere (M-I) electromagnetic coupling. One of the main factors controlling this coupling is the ionospheric conductance. As plasma sheet electrons drift earthward, they get scattered into the loss cone due to wave-particle interactions and precipitate to the ionosphere, producing auroral conductance. Realistic electron loss is thus important for modeling the (M-I) coupling and penetration of plasma sheet into the inner magnetosphere. To evaluate the significance of electron loss rate, we used the Rice Convection Model (RCM) coupled with a force-balanced magnetic field to simulate plasma sheet transport under different electron loss rates and under self-consistent electric and magnetic field. The plasma sheet ion and electron sources for the simulations are based on the Geotail observations. Two major rates are used: different portions of i) strong pitch-angle diffusion everywhere electron loss rate (strong rate) and ii) a more realistic loss rate with its MLT dependence determined by wave activity (MLT rate). We found that the dawn-dusk asymmetry in the precipitating electron energy flux under the MLT rate, with much higher energy flux at dawn than at dusk, agrees better with statistical DMSP observations. Electrons trapped inside L ~ 8 RE can remain there for many hours under the MLT rate, while those under the strong rate get lost within minutes. Compared with the strong rate, the remaining electrons under the MLT rate cause higher conductance at lower latitudes, allowing for less efficient electric field shielding to convection enhancement, thus further earthward penetration of the plasma sheet into the inner magnetosphere. Therefore, our simulation results indicate that the electron loss rate can significantly affect the electrodynamics of the ring current region. Development

Simultaneous Measurements of Substorm-Related Electron Energization in the Ionosphere and the Plasma Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sivadas, N.; Semeter, J.; Nishimura, Y.; Kero, A.

2017-10-01

On 26 March 2008, simultaneous measurements of a large substorm were made using the Poker Flat Incoherent Scatter Radar, Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorm (THEMIS) spacecraft, and all sky cameras. After the onset, electron precipitation reached energies ≳100 keV leading to intense D region ionization. Identifying the source of energetic precipitation has been a challenge because of lack of quantitative and magnetically conjugate measurements of loss cone electrons. In this study, we use the maximum entropy inversion technique to invert altitude profiles of ionization measured by the radar to estimate the loss cone energy spectra of primary electrons. By comparing them with magnetically conjugate measurements from THEMIS-D spacecraft in the nightside plasma sheet, we constrain the source location and acceleration mechanism of precipitating electrons of different energy ranges. Our analysis suggests that the observed electrons ≳100 keV are a result of pitch angle scattering of electrons originating from or tailward of the inner plasma sheet at 9RE, possibly through interaction with electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves. The electrons of energy 10-100 keV are produced by pitch angle scattering due to a potential drop of ≲10 kV in the auroral acceleration region (AAR) as well as wave-particle interactions in and tailward of the AAR. This work demonstrates the utility of magnetically conjugate ground- and space-based measurements in constraining the source of energetic electron precipitation. Unlike in situ spacecraft measurements, ground-based incoherent scatter radars combined with an appropriate inversion technique can be used to provide remote and continuous-time estimates of loss cone electrons in the plasma sheet.

Magnetic flux pile-up and ion heating in a current sheet formed by colliding magnetized plasma flows

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suttle, L.; Hare, J.; Lebedev, S.; Ciardi, A.; Loureiro, N.; Niasse, N.; Burdiak, G.; Clayson, T.; Lane, T.; Robinson, T.; Smith, R.; Stuart, N.; Suzuki-Vidal, F.

2017-10-01

We present data from experiments carried out at the Magpie pulsed power facility, which show the detailed structure of the interaction of counter-streaming magnetized plasma flows. In our quasi-2D setup, continuous supersonic flows are produced with strong embedded magnetic fields of opposing directions. Their interaction leads to the formation of a dense and long-lasting current sheet, where we observe the pile-up of the magnetic flux at the sheet boundary, as well as the annihilation of field inside, accompanied by an increase in plasma temperature. Spatially resolved measurements with Faraday rotation polarimetry, B-dot probes, XUV imaging, Thomson scattering and laser interferometry diagnostics show the detailed distribution of the magnetic field and other plasma parameters throughout the system. This work was supported in part by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Grant No. EP/G001324/1, and by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Awards No. DE-F03-02NA00057 and No. DE-SC-0001063.

Single clay sheets inside electrospun polymer nanofibers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Zhaohui

2005-03-01

Nanofibers were prepared from polymer solution with clay sheets by electrospinning. Plasma etching, as a well controlled process, was used to supply electrically excited gas molecules from a glow discharge. To reveal the structure and arrangement of clay layers in the polymer matrix, plasma etching was used to remove the polymer by controlled gasification to expose the clay sheets due to the difference in reactivity. The shape, flexibility, and orientation of clay sheets were studied by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. Additional quantitative information on size distribution and degree of exfoliation of clay sheets were obtained by analyzing electron micrograph of sample after plasma etching. Samples in various forms including fiber, film and bulk, were thinned by plasma etching. Morphology and dispersion of inorganic fillers were studied by electron microscopy.

Multiscale Auroral Emission Statistics as Evidence of Turbulent Reconnection in Earth's Midtail Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klimas, Alex; Uritsky, Vadim; Donovan, Eric

2010-01-01

We provide indirect evidence for turbulent reconnection in Earth's midtail plasma sheet by reexamining the statistical properties of bright, nightside auroral emission events as observed by the UVI experiment on the Polar spacecraft and discussed previously by Uritsky et al. The events are divided into two groups: (1) those that map to absolute value of (X(sub GSM)) < 12 R(sub E) in the magnetotail and do not show scale-free statistics and (2) those that map to absolute value of (X(sub GSM)) > 12 R(sub E) and do show scale-free statistics. The absolute value of (X(sub GSM)) dependence is shown to most effectively organize the events into these two groups. Power law exponents obtained for group 2 are shown to validate the conclusions of Uritsky et al. concerning the existence of critical dynamics in the auroral emissions. It is suggested that the auroral dynamics is a reflection of a critical state in the magnetotail that is based on the dynamics of turbulent reconnection in the midtail plasma sheet.

Triggering of explosive reconnection in a thick current sheet via current sheet compression: Less current sheet thinning, more temperature anisotropy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimizu, K.; Shinohara, I.; Fujimoto, M.

2016-12-01

Two-dimensional kinetic simulations of compression of thick current sheets are performed to see how it can lead to triggering of explosive magnetic reconnection. The current sheet under study is simply in a Harris-like anti-paralell and symmetric geometry. A one-dimensional pre-study shows that the compression is more effective to make the plasma anisotropy than to thin the current sheet width. When the lobe magnetic field is amplified by a factor of 2, the plasma temperature anisotropy inside the current sheet reaches 2 but the current sheet thickness is reduced only by 1/sqrt(2). If a current sheet thickness needs to be comparable to the ion inertial scale for reconnection triggering take place, as is widely and frequently mentioned in the research community, the initial thickness cannot be more than a few ion scale for reconnection to set-in. On the other hand, the temperature anisotropy of 2 can be significant for the triggering problem. Two-dimensional simulations show explosive magnetic reconnection to take place even when the initial current sheet thickness more than an order of magnitude thicker than the ion scale, indicating the resilient triggering drive supplied by the temperature anisotropy. We also discuss how the reconnection triggering capability of the temperature anisotropy boosted tearing mode for thick current sheets compares with the instabilities in the plane orthogonal to the reconnecting field.

Occurrence rate of dipolarization fronts in the plasma sheet: Cluster observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Sudong; Zhang, Tielong; Wang, Guoqiang; Volwerk, Martin; Ge, Yasong; Schmid, Daniel; Nakamura, Rumi; Baumjohann, Wolfgang; Plaschke, Ferdinand

2017-08-01

We investigate the occurrence rate of dipolarization fronts (DFs) in the plasma sheet by taking full advantage of all four Cluster satellites (C1-4) from years 2001 to 2009. In total, we select 466 joint-observation DF events, in which 318, 282, 254, and 236 DFs are observed by C1, C2, C3, and C4, respectively. Our findings are as follows: (1) the maximum occurrence rate is ˜ 15.3 events per day at X ˜ 15 RE in the XY plane, and the average occurrence rate is ˜ 5.4 events per day over the whole observation period; (2) the occurrence rate on the dusk side of the plasma sheet is larger and decreases with increasing BXY/BLobe; (3) the occurrence rate within |Y| < 6 RE increases gradually from X ≈ -19 to -15 RE and then decreases from X ≈ -15 to -10 RE; (4) the occurrence rate when AE > 200 nT is much larger than that when AE < 200 nT, indicating that DFs preferentially occur during high geomagnetic activity. The magnetic pileup and earthward and duskward ion flows could contribute to the increases in the occurrence rate from X ≈ -19 to -15 RE. We suggest that both geomagnetic activity and multiple DFs contribute to the high occurrence rate of the DFs. In addition, the finite length of the DF in the dawn-dusk direction can affect the chance that a satellite observes the DF.

An Exploration of Heating Mechanisms in a Supra-arcade Plasma Sheet Formed after a Coronal Mass Ejection

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Reeves, Katharine K.; Freed, Michael S.; McKenzie, David E.

We perform a detailed analysis of the thermal structure of the region above the post-eruption arcade for a flare that occurred on 2011 October 22. During this event, a sheet of hot plasma is visible above the flare loops in the 131 Å bandpass of the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory . Supra-arcade downflows (SADs) are observed traveling sunward through the post-eruption plasma sheet. We calculate differential emission measures using the AIA data and derive an emission measure weighted average temperature in the supra-arcade region. In areas where many SADs occur, the temperature of the supra-arcademore » plasma tends to increase, while in areas where no SADs are observed, the temperature tends to decrease. We calculate the plane-of-sky velocities in the supra-arcade plasma and use them to determine the potential heating due to adiabatic compression and viscous heating. Of the 13 SADs studied, 10 have noticeable signatures in both the adiabatic and the viscous terms. The adiabatic heating due to compression of plasma in front of the SADs is on the order of 0.1–0.2 MK/s, which is similar in magnitude to the estimated conductive cooling rate. This result supports the notion that SADs contribute locally to the heating of plasma in the supra-arcade region. We also find that in the region without SADs, the plasma cools at a rate that is slower than the estimated conductive cooling, indicating that additional heating mechanisms may act globally to keep the plasma temperature high.« less

Dispersive O+ conics observed in the plasma-sheet boundary layer with CRRES/LOMICS during a magnetic storm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wüest, M.; Young, D. T.; Thomsen, M. F.; Barraclough, B. L.; Singer, H. J.; Anderson, R. R.

1996-06-01

We present initial results from the Low-energy magnetospheric ion composition sensor (LOMICS) on the Combined release and radiation effects satellite (CRRES) together with electron, magnetic field, and electric field wave data. LOMICS measures all important magnetospheric ion species (H+, He++, He+, O++, O+) simultaneously in the energy range 60 eV to 45 keV, as well as their pitch-angle distributions, within the time resolution afforded by the spacecraft spin period of 30 s. During the geomagnetic storm of 9 July 1991, over a period of 42 min (0734 UT to 0816 UT) the LOMICS ion mass spectrometer observed an apparent O+ conic flowing away from the southern hemisphere with a bulk velocity that decreased exponentially with time from 300 km/s to 50 km/s, while its temperature also decreased exponentially from 700 to 5 eV. At the onset of the O+ conic, intense low-frequency electromagnetic wave activity and strong pitch-angle scattering were also observed. At the time of the observations the CRRES spacecraft was inbound at Lapprox7.5 near dusk, magnetic local time (MLT), and at a magnetic latitude of -23°. Our analysis using several CRRES instruments suggests that the spacecraft was skimming along the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) when the upward-flowing ion conic arrived. The conic appears to have evolved in time, both slowing and cooling, due to wave-particle interactions. We are unable to conclude whether the conic was causally associated with spatial structures of the PSBL or the central plasma sheet. Acknowledgements. This study is supported in part by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture in Japan, under a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Category B). Topical Editor D. Alcaydé thanks M. Lockwood and N. J. Fox for their help in evaluating this paper.->

Fractal structure of low-temperature plasma of arc discharge as a consequence of the interaction of current sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Smolanov, N. A.

2016-01-01

The structure of the particles deposited from the plasma arc discharge were studied. The flow of plasma spreading from the cathode spot to the walls of the vacuum chamber. Electric and magnetic fields to influence the plasma flow. The fractal nature of the particles from the plasma identified by small-angle X-ray scattering. Possible cause of their formation is due to the instability of the growth front and nonequilibrium conditions for their production - a high speed transition of the vapor-liquid-solid or vapor - crystal. The hypothesis of a plasma arc containing dust particles current sheets was proposed.

A statistical study of the THEMIS satellite data for plasma sheet electrons carrying auroral upward field-aligned currents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, S.; Shiokawa, K.; McFadden, J. P.

2010-12-01

The magnetospheric electron precipitation along the upward field-aligned currents without the potential difference causes diffuse aurora, and the magnetospheric electrons accelerated by a field-aligned potential difference cause the intense and bright type of aurora, namely discrete aurora. In this study, we are trying to find out when and where the aurora can be caused with or without electron acceleration. We statistically investigate electron density, temperature, thermal current, and conductivity in the plasma sheet using the data from the electrostatic analyzer (ESA) onboard the THEMIS-D satellite launched in 2007. According to Knight (Planet. Space Sci., 1973) and Lyons (JGR, 1980), the thermal current, jth(∝ nT^(1/2) where n is electron density and T is electron temperature in the plasma sheet), represents the upper limit to field aligned current that can be carried by magnetospheric electrons without field-aligned potential difference. The conductivity, K(∝ nT^(-1/2)), represents the efficiency of the upward field-aligned current (j) that the field-aligned potential difference (V) can produce (j=KV). Therefore, estimating jth and K in the plasma sheet is important in understanding the ability of plasma sheet electrons to carry the field-aligned current which is driven by various magnetospheric processes such as flow shear and azimuthal pressure gradient. Similar study was done by Shiokawa et al. (2000) based on the auroral electron data obtained by the DMSP satellites above the auroral oval and the AMPTE/IRM satellite in the near Earth plasma sheet at 10-18 Re on February-June 1985 and March-June 1986 during the solar minimum. The purpose of our study is to examine auroral electrons with pitch angle information inside 12 Re where Shiokawa et al. (2000) did not investigate well. For preliminary result, we found that in the dawn side inner magnetosphere (source of the region 2 current), electrons can make sufficient thermal current without field

A statistical study of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet and the net convection potential as a function of geomagnetic activity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, F.; Kivelson, M. G.; Walker, R. J.; Khurana, K. K.; Angelopoulos, V.; Hsu, T.

2011-06-01

A widely accepted explanation of the location of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet and its dependence on electron energy is based on drift motions of individual particles. The boundary is identified as the separatrix between drift trajectories linking the tail to the dayside magnetopause (open paths) and trajectories closed around the Earth. A statistical study of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet using THEMIS Electrostatic Analyzer plasma data from November 2007 to April 2009 enabled us to examine this model. Using a dipole magnetic field and a Volland-Stern electric field with shielding, we find that a steady state drift boundary model represents the average location of the electron plasma sheet boundary and reflects its variation with the solar wind electric field in the local time region between 21:00 and 06:00, except at high activity levels. However, the model does not reproduce the observed energy dispersion of the boundaries. We have also used the location of the inner edge of the electron plasma sheet to parameterize the potential drop of the tail convection electric field as a function of solar wind electric field (Esw) and geomagnetic activity. The range of Esw examined is small because the data were acquired near solar minimum. For the range of values tested (meaningful statistics only for Esw < 2 mV/m), reasonably good agreement is found between the potential drop of the tail convection electric field inferred from the location of the inner edge and the polar cap potential drop calculated from the model of Boyle et al. (1997).

Influence of the initial parameters of the magnetic field and plasma on the spatial structure of the electric current and electron density in current sheets formed in helium

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ostrovskaya, G. V., E-mail: galya-ostr@mail.ru; Markov, V. S.; Frank, A. G., E-mail: annfrank@fpl.gpi.ru

The influence of the initial parameters of the magnetic field and plasma on the spatial structure of the electric current and electron density in current sheets formed in helium plasma in 2D and 3D magnetic configurations with X-type singular lines is studied by the methods of holographic interferometry and magnetic measurements. Significant differences in the structures of plasma and current sheets formed at close parameters of the initial plasma and similar configurations of the initial magnetic fields are revealed.

Variations of High-Energy Ions during Fast Plasma Flows and Dipolarization in the Plasma Sheet: Comparison Among Different Ion Species

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ohtani, S.; Nose, M.; Miyashita, Y.; Lui, A.

2014-12-01

We investigate the responses of different ion species (H+, He+, He++, and O+) to fast plasma flows and local dipolarization in the plasma sheet in terms of energy density. We use energetic (9-210 keV) ion composition measurements made by the Geotail satellite at r = 10~31 RE. The results are summarized as follows: (1) whereas the O+-to-H+ ratio decreases with earthward flow velocity, it increases with tailward flow velocity with Vx dependence steeper for perpendicular flows than for parallel flows; (2) for fast earthward flows, the energy density of each ion species increases without any clear preference for heavy ions; (3) for fast tailward flows the ion energy density increases initially, then it decreases to below pre-flow levels except for O+; (4) the O+-to-H+ ratio does not increase through local dipolarization irrespective of dipolarization amplitude, background BZ, X distance, and VX; (5) in general, the H+ and He++ ions behave similarly. Result (1) can be attributed to radial transport along with the earthward increase of the background O+-to-H+ ratio. Results (2) and (4) indicate that ion energization associated with local dipolarization is not mass-dependent possibly because in the energy range of our interest the ions are not magnetized irrespective of species. In the tailward outflow region of reconnection, where the plasma sheet becomes thinner, the H+ ions escape along the field line more easily than the O+ ions, which possibly explains result (3). Result (5) suggests that the solar wind is the primary source of the high-energy H+ ions.

Simulation of electrostatic turbulence in the plasma sheet boundary layer with electron currents and bean-shaped ion beams

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Nishikawa, K.-I.; Frank, L. A.; Huang, C. Y.

1988-01-01

Plasma data from ISEE-1 show the presence of electron currents as well as energetic ion beams in the plasma sheet boundary layer. Broadband electrostatic noise and low-frequency electromagnetic bursts are detected in the plasma sheet boundary layer, especially in the presence of strong ion flows, currents, and steep spacial gradients in the fluxes of few-keV electrons and ions. Particle simulations have been performed to investigate electrostatic turbulence driven by a cold electron beam and/or ion beams with a bean-shaped velocity distribution. The simulation results show that the counterstreaming ion beams as well as the counterstreaming of the cold electron beam and the ion beam excite ion acoustic waves with a given Doppler-shifted real frequency. However, the effect of the bean-shaped ion velocity distributions reduces the growth rates of ion acoustic instability. The simulation results also show that the slowing down of the ion bean is larger at the larger perpendicular velocity. The wave spectra of the electric fields at some points of the simulations show turbulence generated by growing waves.

Study of simultaneous reduction and nitrogen doping of graphene oxide Langmuir-Blodgett monolayer sheets by ammonia plasma treatment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Singh, Gulbagh; Sutar, D. S.; Divakar Botcha, V.; Narayanam, Pavan K.; Talwar, S. S.; Srinivasa, R. S.; Major, S. S.

2013-09-01

Graphene oxide (GO) monolayer sheets, transferred onto Si by the Langmuir-Blodgett technique, were subjected to ammonia plasma treatment at room temperature with the objective of simultaneous reduction and doping. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy studies show that plasma treatment at a relatively low power (˜10 W) for up to 15 min does not affect the morphological stability and monolayer character of GO sheets. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been used to study de-oxygenation of GO monolayers and the incorporation of nitrogen in graphitic-N, pyrrolic-N and pyridinic-N forms due to the plasma treatment. The corresponding changes in the valence band electronic structure, density of states at the Fermi level and work function have been investigated by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. These studies, supported by Raman spectroscopy and electrical conductivity measurements, have shown that a short duration plasma treatment of up to 5 min results in an increase of sp2-C content along with a substantial incorporation of the graphitic-N form, leading to the formation of n-type reduced GO. Prolonged plasma treatment for longer durations results in a decrease of electrical conductivity, which is accompanied by a substantial decrease of sp2-C and an increase in defects and disorder, primarily attributed to the increase in pyridinic-N content.

Plasma sheet low-entropy flow channels and dipolarization fronts from macro to micro scales: Global MHD and PIC simulations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Merkin, V. G.; Wiltberger, M. J.; Sitnov, M. I.; Lyon, J.

2016-12-01

Observations show that much of plasma and magnetic flux transport in the magnetotail occurs in the form of discrete activations such as bursty bulk flows (BBFs). These flow structures are typically associated with strong peaks of the Z-component of the magnetic field normal to the magnetotail current sheet (dipolarization fronts, DFs), as well as density and flux tube entropy depletions also called plasma bubbles. Extensive observational analysis of these structures has been carried out using data from Geotail spacecraft and more recently from Cluster, THEMIS, and MMS multi-probe missions. Global magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of the magnetosphere reveal similar plasma sheet flow bursts, in agreement with regional MHD and particle-in-cell (PIC) models. We present results of high-resolution simulations using the Lyon-Fedder-Mobarry (LFM) global MHD model and analyze the properties of the bursty flows including their structure and evolution as they propagate from the mid-tail region into the inner magnetosphere. We highlight similarities and differences with the corresponding observations and discuss comparative properties of plasma bubbles and DFs in our global MHD simulations with their counterparts in 3D PIC simulations.

Sawtooth events and O+ in the plasma sheet and boundary layer: CME- and SIR-driven events

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lund, E. J.; Nowrouzi, N.; Kistler, L. M.; Cai, X.; Liao, J.

2017-12-01

The role of ionospheric ions in sawtooth events is an open question. Simulations[1,2,3] suggest that O+ from the ionosphere produces a feedback mechanism for driving sawtooth events. However, observational evidence[4,5] suggest that the presence of O+ in the plasma sheet is neither necessary nor sufficient. In this study we investigate whether the solar wind driver of the geomagnetic storm has an effect on the result. Building on an earlier study[4] that used events for which Cluster data is available in the plasma sheet and boundary layer, we perform a superposed epoch analysis for coronal mass ejection (CME) driven storms and streaming interaction region (SIR) driven storms separately, to investigate the hypothesis that ionospheric O+ is an important contributor for CME-driven storms but not SIR-driven storms[2]. [1]O. J. Brambles et al. (2011), Science 332, 1183.[2]O. J. Brambles et al. (2013), JGR 118, 6026.[3]R. H. Varney et al. (2016), JGR 121, 9688.[4]J. Liao et al. (2014), JGR 119, 1572.[5]E. J. Lund et al. (2017), JGR, submitted.

Attachment of alginate microcapsules onto plasma-treated PDMS sheet for retrieval after transplantation.

PubMed

Shin, Soojeong; Shin, Jeong Eun; Yoo, Young Je

2013-01-01

Although transplantation of microencapsulated islets has been proposed as a therapy for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, limited retrievability of the cells has impeded its medical usage. To achieve retrieval of microencapsulated islets, capsules were attached to polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) with a biocompatible adhesive. Because the hydrophobic nature of the PDMS surface prevents attachment, surface modification is essential. Alginate microcapsules were attached to modified PDMS sheets, and the mechanical stability of the resulting constructs was determined. Acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AM) mixtures were grafted on the surfaces of PDMS sheets using a two-step oxygen plasma treatment (TSPT). TSPT-PDMS was characterized according to water contact angle and zeta-potential measurements. The contact angle was altered by changing the ratio of AM to AA to generate hydrophilic surface. Evaluation of the surface charge at pH 2, 7, and 12 confirmed the presence of polar groups on the modified surface. Microcapsules were attached to TSPT-PDMS using Histoacryl® and shown to be in a monolayered and half-exposed state. The shear stress resistance of alginate capsules attached to the PDMS sheet indicates the possibility of transplantation of encapsulated cells without scattering in vivo. This method is applicable to retrieve microencapsulated porcine islets when required. © 2013 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

Combination of platelet-rich plasma within periodontal ligament stem cell sheets enhances cell differentiation and matrix production.

PubMed

Xu, Qiu; Li, Bei; Yuan, Lin; Dong, Zhiwei; Zhang, Hao; Wang, Han; Sun, Jin; Ge, Song; Jin, Yan

2017-03-01

The longstanding goal of periodontal therapy is to regenerate periodontal tissues. Although platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been gaining increasing popularity for use in the orofacial region, whether PRP is useful for periodontal regeneration is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to determine whether a mixture of periodontal ligament stem cell (PDLSC) sheets and PRP promoted bone regeneration, one of the most important measurement indices of periodontal tissue regenerative capability in vitro and in vivo. In this study, we evaluated the effects of different doses of PRP on the differentiation of human PDLSCs. Then cell sheet formation, extracellular matrix deposition and osteogenic gene expression in response to different doses of PRP treatment during sheet grafting was investigated. Furthermore, we implanted PDLSC sheets treated with 1% PRP subcutaneously into immunocompromised mice to evaluate their bone-regenerative capability. The results revealed that 1% PRP significantly enhanced the osteogenic differentiation of PDLSCs. Based on the production of extracellular matrix proteins, the results of scanning electron microscopy and the expression of the osteogenic genes ALP, Runx2, Col-1 and OCN, the provision of 1% PRP for PDLSC sheets was the most effective PRP administration mode for cell sheet formation. The results of in vivo transplantation showed that 1% PRP-mediated PDLSC sheets exhibited better periodontal tissue regenerative capability than those obtained without PRP intervention. These data suggest that a suitable concentration of PRP stimulation may enhance extracellular matrix production and positively affect cell behaviour in PDLSC sheets. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Current sheet characteristics of a parallel-plate electromagnetic plasma accelerator operated in gas-prefilled mode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shuai; Huang, Yizhi; Guo, Haishan; Lin, Tianyu; Huang, Dong; Yang, Lanjun

2018-05-01

The axial characteristics of a current sheet in a parallel-plate electromagnetic plasma accelerator operated in gas-prefilled mode are reported. The accelerator is powered by a fourteen stage pulse forming network. The capacitor and inductor in each stage are 1.5 μF and 300 nH, respectively, and yield a damped oscillation square wave of current with a pulse width of 20.6 μs. Magnetic probes and photodiodes are placed at various axial positions to measure the behavior of the current sheet. Both magnetic probe and photodiode signals reveal a secondary breakdown when the current reverses the direction. An increase in the discharge current amplitude and a decrease in pressure lead to a decrease in the current shedding factor. The current sheet velocity and thickness are nearly constant during the run-down phase under the first half-period of the current. The current sheet thicknesses are typically in the range of 25 mm to 40 mm. The current sheet velocities are in the range of 10 km/s to 45 km/s when the discharge current is between 10 kA and 55 kA and the gas prefill pressure is between 30 Pa and 800 Pa. The experimental velocities are about 75% to 90% of the theoretical velocities calculated with the current shedding factor. One reason for this could be that the idealized snowplow analysis model ignores the surface drag force.

Upcycling Waste Lard Oil into Vertical Graphene Sheets by Inductively Coupled Plasma Assisted Chemical Vapor Deposition.

PubMed

Wu, Angjian; Li, Xiaodong; Yang, Jian; Du, Changming; Shen, Wangjun; Yan, Jianhua

2017-10-12

Vertical graphene (VG) sheets were single-step synthesized via inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using waste lard oil as a sustainable and economical carbon source. Interweaved few-layer VG sheets, H₂, and other hydrocarbon gases were obtained after the decomposition of waste lard oil. The influence of parameters such as temperature, gas proportion, ICP power was investigated to tune the nanostructures of obtained VG, which indicated that a proper temperature and H₂ concentration was indispensable for the synthesis of VG sheets. Rich defects of VG were formed with a high I D / I G ratio (1.29), consistent with the dense edges structure observed in electron microscopy. Additionally, the morphologies, crystalline degree, and wettability of nanostructure carbon induced by PECVD and ICP separately were comparatively analyzed. The present work demonstrated the potential of our PECVD recipe to synthesize VG from abundant natural waste oil, which paved the way to upgrade the low-value hydrocarbons into advanced carbon material.

An exact collisionless equilibrium for the Force-Free Harris Sheet with low plasma beta

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Allanson, O., E-mail: oliver.allanson@st-andrews.ac.uk; Neukirch, T., E-mail: tn3@st-andrews.ac.uk; Wilson, F., E-mail: fw237@st-andrews.ac.uk

We present a first discussion and analysis of the physical properties of a new exact collisionless equilibrium for a one-dimensional nonlinear force-free magnetic field, namely, the force-free Harris sheet. The solution allows any value of the plasma beta, and crucially below unity, which previous nonlinear force-free collisionless equilibria could not. The distribution function involves infinite series of Hermite polynomials in the canonical momenta, of which the important mathematical properties of convergence and non-negativity have recently been proven. Plots of the distribution function are presented for the plasma beta modestly below unity, and we compare the shape of the distribution functionmore » in two of the velocity directions to a Maxwellian distribution.« less

Substorm Evolution in the Near-Earth Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Erickson, Gary M.

2003-01-01

The goal of this project is to determine precursors and signatures of local substorm onset and how they evolve in the plasma sheet using the Geotail near-Earth database. This project is part of an ongoing investigation involving this PI, Nelson Maynard (Mission Research Corporation), and William Burke (AFRL) toward an empirical understanding of the onset and evolution of substorms. The first year began with dissemination of our CRRES findings, which included an invited presentation and major publication. The Geotail investigation began with a partial survey of onset signature types at distances X less than 15 R(sub E) for the first five months (March-July 1995) of the Geotail near-Earth mission. During the second year, Geotail data from March 1995 to present were plotted. Various signatures at local onset were catalogued for the period through 1997. During this past year we performed a survey of current-disruption-like (CD-like) signatures at distances X less than or equal to 14 R(sub E) for the three years 1995-1997.

Electron distributions in the plasma sheet boundary layer - Time-of-flight effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Onsager, T. G.; Thomsen, M. F.; Gosling, J. T.; Bame, S. J.

1990-01-01

The electron edge of the plasma sheet boundary layer lies lobeward of the ion edge. Measurements obtained near the electron edge of the boundary layer reveal low-speed cutoffs for earthward and tailward-flowing electrons. These cutoffs progress to lower speeds with deeper penetration into the boundary layer, and are consistently lower for the earthward-directed electrons than for the tailward-direction electrons. The cutoffs and their variation with distance from the edge of the boundary layer can be consistently interpreted in terms of a time-of-flight effect on recently reconnected magnetic field lines. The observed cutoff speeds are used to estimate the downtail location of the reconnection site.

Fluctuation dynamics in reconnecting current sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

von Stechow, Adrian; Grulke, Olaf; Ji, Hantao; Yamada, Masaaki; Klinger, Thomas

2015-11-01

During magnetic reconnection, a highly localized current sheet forms at the boundary between opposed magnetic fields. Its steep perpendicular gradients and fast parallel drifts can give rise to a range of instabilities which can contribute to the overall reconnection dynamics. In two complementary laboratory reconnection experiments, MRX (PPPL, Princeton) and VINETA.II (IPP, Greifswald, Germany), magnetic fluctuations are observed within the current sheet. Despite the large differences in geometries (toroidal vs. linear), plasma parameters (high vs. low beta) and magnetic configuration (low vs. high magnetic guide field), similar broadband fluctuation characteristics are observed in both experiments. These are identified as Whistler-like fluctuations in the lower hybrid frequency range that propagate along the current sheet in the electron drift direction. They are intrinsic to the localized current sheet and largely independent of the slower reconnection dynamics. This contribution characterizes these magnetic fluctuations within the wide parameter range accessible by both experiments. Specifically, the fluctuation spectra and wave dispersion are characterized with respect to the magnetic topology and plasma parameters of the reconnecting current sheet.

Investigating the crustal elements of the central Antarctic Plate (ICECAP): How long-range aerogeophysics is critical to understanding the evolution of the East Antarctic ice sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Blankenship, D. D.; Brozena, J. M.; Siegert, M. J.; Morse, D. L.; Dalziel, I. W.; Lawver, L. A.; Holt, J. W.; Childers, V. A.; Bamber, J. L.; Payne, A. J.

2004-12-01

The highlands of the central Antarctic Plate have been the nursery for East Antarctic ice sheets since at least the early Oligocene separation of Antarctica and Australia. Significant strides have been made in deciphering the marine geological, geophysical, and geochemical record of the deposits left by these sheets and the Pleistocene paleoclimate record from ice cores taken from the central reaches of the contemporary ice sheet. Most recently, the scientific community has realized the importance of the isolated biome represented by the subglacial lakes that characterize the domes of the central East Antarctic ice sheet and evolve in concert with them. Understanding the evolution of the East Antarctic ice sheet and its sub-glacial environment would be a major contribution to the IPY 2007-2008 international effort. Critical to understanding offshore and ice core records of paleoclimate, as well as the distribution/isolation of any subglacial lake systems, is developing a comprehensive understanding of the crustal elements of the central Antarctic Plate. A complete understanding of the evolution of East Antarctic ice sheets throughout the Cenozoic requires knowledge of the boundaries, elevation and paleolatitude of these crustal elements through time as well as evidence of their morphological, sedimentological and tectono-thermal history. The basic impediments to gaining this understanding are the subcontinental scale of the central Antarctic Plate and the one to four kilometers of ice cover that inhibits direct access. It is possible however to provide a substantial framework for understanding these crustal elements through a comprehensive program of long-range airborne geophysical observations. We have proposed a plan to measure gravity, magnetics, ice-penetrating radar, and laser/radar altimetry over the Gamburtsev, Vostok and Belgica subglacial highlands beneath Domes A - C of the contemporary East Antarctic ice sheet using a Navy P-3 aircraft based in Mc

Criticality and turbulence in a resistive magnetohydrodynamic current sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klimas, Alexander J.; Uritsky, Vadim M.

2017-02-01

Scaling properties of a two-dimensional (2d) plasma physical current-sheet simulation model involving a full set of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations with current-dependent resistivity are investigated. The current sheet supports a spatial magnetic field reversal that is forced through loading of magnetic flux containing plasma at boundaries of the simulation domain. A balance is reached between loading and annihilation of the magnetic flux through reconnection at the current sheet; the transport of magnetic flux from boundaries to current sheet is realized in the form of spatiotemporal avalanches exhibiting power-law statistics of lifetimes and sizes. We identify this dynamics as self-organized criticality (SOC) by verifying an extended set of scaling laws related to both global and local properties of the current sheet (critical susceptibility, finite-size scaling of probability distributions, geometric exponents). The critical exponents obtained from this analysis suggest that the model operates in a slowly driven SOC state similar to the mean-field state of the directed stochastic sandpile model. We also investigate multiscale correlations in the velocity field and find them numerically indistinguishable from certain intermittent turbulence (IT) theories. The results provide clues on physical conditions for SOC behavior in a broad class of plasma systems with propagating instabilities, and suggest that SOC and IT may coexist in driven current sheets which occur ubiquitously in astrophysical and space plasmas.

Criticality and turbulence in a resistive magnetohydrodynamic current sheet.

PubMed

Klimas, Alexander J; Uritsky, Vadim M

2017-02-01

Scaling properties of a two-dimensional (2d) plasma physical current-sheet simulation model involving a full set of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations with current-dependent resistivity are investigated. The current sheet supports a spatial magnetic field reversal that is forced through loading of magnetic flux containing plasma at boundaries of the simulation domain. A balance is reached between loading and annihilation of the magnetic flux through reconnection at the current sheet; the transport of magnetic flux from boundaries to current sheet is realized in the form of spatiotemporal avalanches exhibiting power-law statistics of lifetimes and sizes. We identify this dynamics as self-organized criticality (SOC) by verifying an extended set of scaling laws related to both global and local properties of the current sheet (critical susceptibility, finite-size scaling of probability distributions, geometric exponents). The critical exponents obtained from this analysis suggest that the model operates in a slowly driven SOC state similar to the mean-field state of the directed stochastic sandpile model. We also investigate multiscale correlations in the velocity field and find them numerically indistinguishable from certain intermittent turbulence (IT) theories. The results provide clues on physical conditions for SOC behavior in a broad class of plasma systems with propagating instabilities, and suggest that SOC and IT may coexist in driven current sheets which occur ubiquitously in astrophysical and space plasmas.

The Jovian magnetotail and its current sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Behannon, K. W.; Burlaga, L. F.; Ness, N. F.

1980-01-01

Analyses of Voyager magnetic field measurements have extended the understanding of the structural and temporal characteristics of Jupiter's magnetic tail. The magnitude of the magnetic field in the lobes of the tail is found to decrease with Jovicentric distance approximately as r to he-1.4, compared with the power law exponent of -1.7 found for the rate of decrease along the Pioneer 10 outbound trajectory. Voyager observations of magnetic field component variations with Jovicentric distance in the tail do not support the uniform radial plasma outflow model derived from Pioneer data. Voyager 2 has shown that the azimuthal current sheet which surrounds Jupiter in the inner and middle magnetosphere extends tailward (in the anti-Sun direction) to a distance of at least 100 R sub J. In the tail this current sheet consists of a plasma sheet and embedded neutral sheet. In the region of the tail where the sheet is observed, the variation of the magnetic field as a result of the sheet structure and its 10 hr periodic motion is the dominant variation seen.

Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission Observations of Magnetic Flux Ropes in the Earth's Plasma Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Slavin, J. A.; Akhavan-Tafti, M.; Poh, G.; Le, G.; Russell, C. T.; Nakamura, R.; Baumjohann, W.; Torbert, R. B.; Gershman, D. J.; Pollock, C. J.; Giles, B. L.; Moore, T. E.; Burch, J. L.

2017-12-01

A major discovery by the Cluster mission and the previous generation of science missions is the presence of earthward and tailward moving magnetic flux ropes in the Earth's plasma sheet. However, the lack of high-time resolution plasma measurements severely limited progress concerning the formation and evolution of these reconnection generated structures. We use high-time resolution magnetic and electric field and plasma measurements from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission's first tail season to investigate: 1) the distribution of flux rope diameters relative to the local ion and electron inertial lengths; 2) the internal force balance sustaining these structures; and 3) the magnetic connectivity of the flux ropes to the Earth and/or the interplanetary medium; 4) the specific entropy of earthward moving flux ropes and the possible effect of "buoyancy" on how deep they penetrate into the inner magnetosphere; and 5) evidence for coalescence of adjacent flux ropes and/or the division of existing flux ropes through the formation of secondary X-lines. The results of these initial analyses will be discussed in terms of their implications for reconnection-driven magnetospheric dynamics and substorms.

Silicone Coating on Polyimide Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Park, J. J.

1985-01-01

Silicone coatings applied to polyimide sheeting for variety of space-related applications. Coatings intended to protect flexible substrates of solar-cell blankets from degradation by oxygen atoms, electrons, plasmas, and ultraviolet light in low Earth orbit and outer space. Since coatings are flexible, generally useful in forming flexible laminates or protective layers on polyimide-sheet products.

Structure and Dynamics of Current Sheets in 3D Magnetic Fields with the X-line

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frank, Anna G.; Bogdanov, S. Yu.; Bugrov, S. G.; Markov, V. S.; Dreiden, G. V.; Ostrovskaya, G. V.

2004-11-01

Experimental results are presented on the structure of current sheets formed in 3D magnetic fields with singular lines of the X-type. Two basic diagnostics were used with the device CS - 3D: two-exposure holographic interferometry and magnetic measurements. Formation of extended current sheets and plasma compression were observed in the presence of the longitudinal magnetic field component aligned with the X-line. Plasma density decreased and the sheet thickness increased with an increase of the longitudinal component. We succeeded to reveal formation of the sheets taking unusual shape, namely tilted and asymmetric sheets, in plasmas with the heavy ions. These current sheets were obviously different from the planar sheets formed in 2D magnetic fields, i.e. without longitudinal component. Analysis of typical plasma parameters made it evident that plasma dynamics and current sheet evolution should be treated on the base of the two-fluid approach. Specifically it is necessary to take into account the Hall currents in the plane perpendicular to the X-line, and the dynamic effects resulting from interaction of the Hall currents and the 3D magnetic field. Supported by RFBR, grant 03-02-17282, and ISTC, project 2098.

The low energy plasma in the Uranian magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcnutt, R. L., Jr.; Belcher, J.; Bridge, H.; Lazarus, A. J.; Richardson, J.; Sands, M.; Bagenal, F.; Eviatar, A.; Goertz, C.; Ogilvie, K.

1987-01-01

The Plasma Science experiment on Voyager 2 detected a magnetosphere filled with a tenuous plasma, rotating with the planet. Temperatures of the plasma, composed of protons and electrons, ranged from 10 eV to about 1 keV. The sources of these protons and electrons are probably the ionosphere of Uranus or the extended neutral hydrogen cloud surrounding the planet. As at earth, Jupiter, and Saturn, there is an extended magnetotail with a central plasma sheet. Although similar in global structure to the magnetospheres of these planets, the large angle between the rotation and magnetic axes of the planet and the orientation of the rotation axis with respect to the solar wind flow make the Uranian magnetosphere unique.

Magnetic field and particle pressure in the plasma sheet of Jupiter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lanzerotti, L. J.; Maclennan, C. G.; Broughton, J. N.; Venkatesan, D.; Lepping, R. P.

1987-01-01

The results of an analysis of the energetic particle and magnetic field data acquired by the Voyager 2 spacecraft at distances of about 40-70 Jupiter radii on the nightside of the planet are reported. As in a previous study of similar data at distances of greater than about 80 Jupiter radii, the energy densities of ions (primarily protons) is found to be sufficient to provide the diamagnetic depressions measured in the magnetic field intensity as the spacecraft made successive encounters with the nightside plasma sheet. There is some evidence that the percent contribution of the protons to the energy balance decreases with increasing distance from the planet over this radial interval, although this conclusion is dependent upon the assumption that the proton and heavier ion (oxygen) energy spectra are similar.

Dynamo-driven plasmoid formation from a current-sheet instability

DOE PAGES

Ebrahimi, F.

2016-12-15

Axisymmetric current-carrying plasmoids are formed in the presence of nonaxisymmetric fluctuations during nonlinear three-dimensional resistive MHD simulations in a global toroidal geometry. In this study, we utilize the helicity injection technique to form an initial poloidal flux in the presence of a toroidal guide field. As helicity is injected, two types of current sheets are formed from the oppositely directed field lines in the injector region (primary reconnecting current sheet), and the poloidal flux compression near the plasma edge (edge current sheet). We first find that nonaxisymmetric fluctuations arising from the current-sheet instability isolated near the plasma edge have tearingmore » parity but can nevertheless grow fast (on the poloidal Alfven time scale). These modes saturate by breaking up the current sheet. Second, for the first time, a dynamo poloidal flux amplification is observed at the reconnection site (in the region of the oppositely directed magnetic field). This fluctuation-induced flux amplification increases the local Lundquist number, which then triggers a plasmoid instability and breaks the primary current sheet at the reconnection site. Finally, the plasmoids formation driven by large-scale flux amplification, i.e., a large-scale dynamo, observed here has strong implications for astrophysical reconnection as well as fast reconnection events in laboratory plasmas.« less

Basement thrust sheets in the Clearwater orogenic zone, central Idaho and western Montana

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Skipp, Betty

1987-03-01

The Clearwater orogenic zone in central Idaho and western Montana contains at least two major northeast-directed Cordilleran thrust plates of Early Proterozoic metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks that overrode previously folded Middle Proterozoic rocks of the Belt basin in Cretaceous time. The northeastward migration of the resultant thickened wedge of crustal material combined with Cretaceous subduction along the western continental margin produced a younger northern Bitterroot lobe of the Idaho batholith relative to an older southern Atlanta lobe. Eocene extensional unroofing and erosion of the Bitterroot lobe has exposed the roots of the thick Cordilleran thrust sheets.

Origin of low proton-to-electron temperature ratio in the Earth's plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grigorenko, E. E.; Kronberg, E. A.; Daly, P. W.; Ganushkina, N. Yu.; Lavraud, B.; Sauvaud, J.-A.; Zelenyi, L. M.

2016-10-01

We study the proton-to-electron temperature ratio (Tp/Te) in the plasma sheet (PS) of the Earth's magnetotail using 5 years of Cluster observations (2001-2005). The PS intervals are searched within a region defined with -19 < X ≤ -7 RE and |Y| < 15 RE (GSM) under the condition |BX| ≤ 10 nT. One hundred sixty PS crossings are identified. We find an average value of 6.0. However, in many PS intervals Tp/Te varies over a wide range from a few units to several tens of units. In 86 PS intervals the Tp/Te decreases below 3.5. Generally, the decreases of Tp/Te are due to some increase of Te while Tp either decreases or remains unchanged. In the majority of these intervals the Tp/Te drops are observed during magnetotail dipolarizations. A superposed epoch analysis applied to these events shows that the minimum value of Tp/Te is observed after the dipolarization onset during the "turbulent phase" of dipolarization, when a number of transient BZ pulses are reduced, but the value of BZ is still large and an intensification of wave activity is observed. The Tp/Te drops, and associated increases of Te often coincide either with bursts of broadband electrostatic emissions, which may include electron cyclotron harmonics, or with broadband electromagnetic emission in a frequency range from proton plasma frequency (fpp) up to the electron gyrofrequency (fce). These findings show that the wave activity developing in the current sheet after dipolarization onset may play a role in the additional electron heating and the associated Tp/Te decrease.

Simulation of electrostatic turbulence in the plasma sheet boundary layer with electron currents and bean-shaped ion beams

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nishikawa, K.; Frank, L.A.; Huang, C.Y.

Plasma data from ISEE 1 show the presence of electron currents as well as energetic ion beams in the plasma sheet boundary layer. Broadband electrostatic noise and low-frequency electromagnetic bursts are detected in the plasma sheet boundary layer, especially in the presence of strong ion flows, currents, and steep spacial gradients in the fluxes of few-keV electrons and ions. Particle simulations have been performed to investigate electrostatic turbulence driven by a cold electron beam and/or ion beams with a bean-shaped velocity distribution. The simulation results show that the counterstreaming ion beams as well as the counterstreaming of the cold electronmore » beam and the ion beam excite ion acoustic waves with the Doppler-shifted real frequency ..omega..approx. = +- k/sub parallel/(c/sub s/-V/sub i//sub //sub parallel/). However, the effect of the bean-shaped ion velocity distributions reduces the growth rates of ion acoustic instability. The simulation results also show that the slowing down of the ion beam is larger at the larger perpendicular velocity. The wave spectra of the electric fields at some points for simulations show turbulence generated by growing waves. The frequency of these spectra ranges from ..cap omega../sub i/ to ..omega../sub p//sub e/, which is in qualitative agreement with the satellite data. copyright American Geophysical Union 1988« less

Kinetic Studies of Thin Current Sheets at Magnetosheath Jets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eriksson, E.; Vaivads, A.; Khotyaintsev, Y. V.; Graham, D. B.; Yordanova, E.; Hietala, H.; Markidis, S.; Giles, B. L.; Andre, M.; Russell, C. T.; Le Contel, O.; Burch, J. L.

2017-12-01

In near-Earth space one of the most turbulent plasma environments is the magnetosheath (MSH) downstream of the quasi-parallel shock. The particle acceleration and plasma thermalization processes there are still not fully understood. Regions of strong localized currents are believed to play a key role in those processes. The Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission has sufficiently high cadence to study these processes in detail. We present details of studies of two different events that contain strong current regions inside the MSH downstream of the quasi-parallel shock. In both cases the shape of the current region is in the form of a sheet, however they show internal 3D structure on the scale of the spacecraft separation (15 and 20 km, respectively). Both current sheets have a normal magnetic field component different from zero indicating that the regions at the different sides of the current sheets are magnetically connected. Both current sheets are boundaries between two different plasma regions. Furthermore, both current sheets are observed at MSH jets. These jets are characterized by localized dynamic pressure being larger than the solar wind dynamic pressure. One current sheet does not seem to be reconnecting while the other shows reconnection signatures. Inside the non-reconnecting current sheet we observe locally accelerated electron beams along the magnetic field. At energies above the beam energy we observe a loss cone consistent with part of the hot MSH-like electrons escaping into the colder solar wind-like plasma. This suggests that the acceleration process within this current sheet is similar to the one that occurs at the bow shock, where electron beams and loss cones are also observed. Therefore, we conclude that electron beams observed in the MSH do not have to originate from the bow shock, but can also be generated locally inside the MSH. The reconnecting current sheet also shows signs of thermalization and electron acceleration processes that are

The double layers in the plasma sheet boundary layer during magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guo, J.; Yu, B.

2014-11-01

We studied the evolutions of double layers which appear after the magnetic reconnection through two-dimensional electromagnetic particle-in-cell simulation. The simulation results show that the double layers are formed in the plasma sheet boundary layer after magnetic reconnection. At first, the double layers which have unipolar structures are formed. And then the double layers turn into bipolar structures, which will couple with another new weak bipolar structure. Thus a new double layer or tripolar structure comes into being. The double layers found in our work are about several ten Debye lengths, which accords with the observation results. It is suggested that the electron beam formed during the magnetic reconnection is responsible for the production of the double layers.

Ion flow ripples in the Earth's plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

De Spiegeleer, Alexandre; Hamrin, Maria; Pitkänen, Timo; Norqvist, Patrik; Mann, Ingrid

2016-04-01

For a long time, magnetotail flows were considered rather smooth and laminar, and primarily dominated by a simple convection flow pattern. However, in the early 90's, high speed bursty bulk flows (BBFs) were discovered and found to commonly perturb the underlying convection flows. In addition, there are other disturbances complicating the magnetotail flow pattern. Instabilities such as the Kelvin-Helmholz instability and the kink instability can cause different types of magnetic field oscillations, such as field line resonances. It is expected that ions will follow these oscillations if the typical time and length scales are larger than the gyroperiod and gyroradius of the ions. Though low-velocity sloshing and ripple disturbances of the average magnetotail convection flows have been observed, their connection with magnetic field oscillations is not fully understood. Furthermore, when studying BFFs, these "Ion Flow Ripples" (IFRs) are often neglected, dismissed as noise or can even erroneously be identified as BBFs. It is therefore of utter importance to find out and understand the role of IFRs in magnetotail dynamics. In a statistical investigation, we use several years of Cluster plasma sheet data to study the low-speed flows in the magnetotail. We investigate different types of IFRs, study their occurrence, and discuss their possible causes.

Thermal and suprathermal protons and alpha particles in the earth's plasma sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ipavich, F. M.; Scholer, M.

1983-01-01

Detailed proton energy spectra in the quasi-stable distant plasma sheet over the energy range from approximately 13 keV to approximately 130 keV are presented. These spectra are compared with spectra of simultaneously measured alpha particles in the energy range from approximately 30 keV/Q to approximately 130 keV/Q. The proton spectra are then extended into the higher energy range up to approximately 1 MeV, thereby supplementing the study of Sarris et al. (1981). The temporal behavior of the spectra in the higher energy range is discussed. It is found that below about 16 keV the proton spectra can be represented by a Maxwellian distribution; above this level, a suprathermal tail is found that cannot be represented by a single power law.

Basement thrust sheets in the Clearwater orogenic zone, central Idaho and western Montana ( USA).

USGS Publications Warehouse

Skipp, B.

1987-01-01

The Clearwater orogenic zone in central Idaho and W Montana contains at least 2 major NE-directed Cordilleran thrust plates of Early Proterozoic metasedimentary and metaigneous rocks that overrode previously folded Middle Proterozoic rocks of the Belt basin in Cretaceous time. The northeastward migration of the resultant thickened wedge of crustal material combined with Cretaceous subduction along the W continental margin produced a younger N Bitterroot lobe of the Idaho batholith relative to an older S Atlanta lobe. Eocene extensional unroofing and erosion of the Bitterroot lobe has exposed the roots of the thick Cordilleran thrust sheets.-Author

Ocean forcing of Ice Sheet retreat in central west Greenland from LGM to the early Holocene

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jennings, Anne E.; Andrews, John T.; Ó Cofaigh, Colm; Onge, Guillaume St.; Sheldon, Christina; Belt, Simon T.; Cabedo-Sanz, Patricia; Hillaire-Marcel, Claude

2017-08-01

Three radiocarbon dated sediment cores from trough mouth fans on the central west Greenland continental slope were studied to determine the timing and processes of Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) retreat from the shelf edge during the last deglaciation and to test the role of ocean forcing (i.e. warm ocean water) thereon. Analyses of lithofacies, quantitative x-ray diffraction mineralogy, benthic foraminiferal assemblages, the sea-ice biomarker IP25, and δ18 O of the planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral from sediments in the interval from 17.5-10.8 cal ka BP provide consistent evidence for ocean and ice sheet interactions during central west Greenland (CWG) deglaciation. The Disko and Uummannaq ice streams both retreated from the shelf edge after the last glacial maximum (LGM) under the influence of subsurface, warm Atlantic Water. The warm subsurface water was limited to depths below the ice stream grounding lines during the LGM, when the GIS terminated as a floating ice shelf in a sea-ice covered Baffin Bay. The deeper Uummannaq ice stream retreated first (ca. 17.1 cal ka BP), while the shallower Disko ice stream retreated at ca. 16.2 cal ka BP. The grounding lines were protected from accelerating mass loss (calving) by a buttressing ice shelf and by landward shallowing bathymetry on the outer shelf. Calving retreat was delayed until ca. 15.3 cal ka BP in the Uummannaq Trough and until 15.1 cal ka BP in the Disko Trough, during another interval of ocean warming. Instabilities in the Laurentide, Innuitian and Greenland ice sheets with outlets draining into northern Baffin Bay periodically released cold, fresh water that enhanced sea ice formation and slowed GIS melt. During the Younger Dryas, the CWG records document strong cooling, lack of GIS meltwater, and an increase in iceberg rafted material from northern Baffin Bay. The ice sheet remained in the cross-shelf troughs until the early Holocene, when it retreated rapidly by calving and strong

Using PEACE Data from the four CLUSTER Spacecraft to Measure Compressibility, Vorticity, and the Taylor Microscale in the Magnetosheath and Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Goldstein, Melvyn L.; Parks, George; Gurgiolo, C.; Fazakerley, Andrew N.

2008-01-01

We present determinations of compressibility and vorticity in the magnetosheath and plasma sheet using moments from the four PEACE thermal electron instruments on CLUSTER. The methodology used assumes a linear variation of the moments throughout the volume defined by the four satellites, which allows spatially independent estimates of the divergence, curl, and gradient. Once the vorticity has been computed, it is possible to estimate directly the Taylor microscale. We have shown previously that the technique works well in the solar wind. Because the background flow speed in the magnetosheath and plasma sheet is usually less than the Alfven speed, the Taylor frozen-in-flow approximation cannot be used. Consequently, this four spacecraft approach is the only viable method for obtaining the wave number properties of the ambient fluctuations. Our results using electron velocity moments will be compared with previous work using magnetometer data from the FGM experiment on Cluster.

Phenomenological Model of Current Sheet Canting in Pulsed Electromagnetic Accelerators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Markusic, Thomas; Choueiri, E. Y.

2003-01-01

The phenomenon of current sheet canting in pulsed electromagnetic accelerators is the departure of the plasma sheet (that carries the current) from a plane that is perpendicular to the electrodes to one that is skewed, or tipped. Review of pulsed electromagnetic accelerator literature reveals that current sheet canting is a ubiquitous phenomenon - occurring in all of the standard accelerator geometries. Developing an understanding of current sheet canting is important because it can detract from the propellant sweeping capabilities of current sheets and, hence, negatively impact the overall efficiency of pulsed electromagnetic accelerators. In the present study, it is postulated that depletion of plasma near the anode, which results from axial density gradient induced diamagnetic drift, occurs during the early stages of the discharge, creating a density gradient normal to the anode, with a characteristic length on the order of the ion skin depth. Rapid penetration of the magnetic field through this region ensues, due to the Hall effect, leading to a canted current front ahead of the initial current conduction channel. In this model, once the current sheet reaches appreciable speeds, entrainment of stationary propellant replenishes plasma in the anode region, inhibiting further Hall-convective transport of the magnetic field; however, the previously established tilted current sheet remains at a fairly constant canting angle for the remainder of the discharge cycle, exerting a transverse J x B force which drives plasma toward the cathode and accumulates it there. This proposed sequence of events has been incorporated into a phenomenological model. The model predicts that canting can be reduced by using low atomic mass propellants with high propellant loading number density; the model results are shown to give qualitative agreement with experimentally measured canting angle mass dependence trends.

Microfabrication of through holes in polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) sheets using a laser plasma EUV source (Conference Presentation)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Makimura, Tetsuya; Urai, Hikari; Niino, Hiroyuki

2017-03-01

Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is a material used for cell culture substrates / bio-chips and micro total analysis systems / lab-on-chips due to its flexibility, chemical / thermo-dynamic stability, bio-compatibility, transparency and moldability. For further development, it is inevitable to develop a technique to fabricate precise three dimensional structures on micrometer-scale at high aspect ratio. In the previous works, we reported a technique for high-quality micromachining of PDMS without chemical modification, by means of photo direct machining using laser plasma EUV sources. In the present work, we have investigated fabrication of through holes. The EUV radiations around 10 nm were generated by irradiation of Ta targets with Nd:YAG laser light (10 ns, 500 mJ/pulse). The generated EUV radiations were focused using an ellipsoidal mirror. It has a narrower incident angle than those in the previous works in order to form a EUV beam with higher directivity, so that higher aspect structures can be fabricated. The focused EUV beam was incident on PDMS sheets with a thickness of 15 micrometers, through holes in a contact mask placed on top of them. Using a contact mask with holes with a diameter of three micrometers, complete through holes with a diameter of two micrometers are fabricated in the PDMS sheet. Using a contact mask with two micrometer holes, however, ablation holes almost reaches to the back side of the PDMS sheet. The fabricated structures can be explained in terms of geometrical optics. Thus, we have developed a technique for micromachining of PDMS sheets at high aspect ratios.

Crustal heat production and estimate of terrestrial heat flow in central East Antarctica, with implications for thermal input to the East Antarctic ice sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goodge, John W.

2018-02-01

Terrestrial heat flow is a critical first-order factor governing the thermal condition and, therefore, mechanical stability of Antarctic ice sheets, yet heat flow across Antarctica is poorly known. Previous estimates of terrestrial heat flow in East Antarctica come from inversion of seismic and magnetic geophysical data, by modeling temperature profiles in ice boreholes, and by calculation from heat production values reported for exposed bedrock. Although accurate estimates of surface heat flow are important as an input parameter for ice-sheet growth and stability models, there are no direct measurements of terrestrial heat flow in East Antarctica coupled to either subglacial sediment or bedrock. As has been done with bedrock exposed along coastal margins and in rare inland outcrops, valuable estimates of heat flow in central East Antarctica can be extrapolated from heat production determined by the geochemical composition of glacial rock clasts eroded from the continental interior. In this study, U, Th, and K concentrations in a suite of Proterozoic (1.2-2.0 Ga) granitoids sourced within the Byrd and Nimrod glacial drainages of central East Antarctica indicate average upper crustal heat production (Ho) of about 2.6 ± 1.9 µW m-3. Assuming typical mantle and lower crustal heat flux for stable continental shields, and a length scale for the distribution of heat production in the upper crust, the heat production values determined for individual samples yield estimates of surface heat flow (qo) ranging from 33 to 84 mW m-2 and an average of 48.0 ± 13.6 mW m-2. Estimates of heat production obtained for this suite of glacially sourced granitoids therefore indicate that the interior of the East Antarctic ice sheet is underlain in part by Proterozoic continental lithosphere with an average surface heat flow, providing constraints on both geodynamic history and ice-sheet stability. The ages and geothermal characteristics of the granites indicate that crust in central

Plasma regimes in the deep geomagnetic tail - ISEE 3

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bame, S. J.; Anderson, R. C.; Asbridge, J. R.; Baker, D. N.; Feldman, W. C.; Gosling, J. T.; Hones, E. W., Jr.; McComas, D. J.; Zwickl, R. D.

1983-09-01

The spacecraft remained close to or within a previously unexplored part of the distant (60-220 earth radii) geomagnetic tail nearly continuously from January 1 to March 30, 1983. Analysis of the data reveals that all of the plasma regimes identified previously with near-earth measurements (plasma sheet, low-latitude boundary layer, plasma mantle, lobe, and magnetosheath) remain recognizable in the distant tail. These regimes, however, are found to be intermingled in a more chaotic fashion than near the earth. Within the plasma sheet at approximately 200 earth radii, typical flow velocities are about 500 km/s tailward, considerably higher than in the near-earth plasma sheet. Earthward flow within the plasma sheet is observed occasionally, indicating the temporary presence of a neutral line beyond 220 earth radii. Also found are strong bidirectional electron anisotropies throughout much of the distant plasma sheet, boundary layer, and magnetosheath.

Exploring reconnection, current sheets, and dissipation in a laboratory MHD turbulence experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Schaffner, D. A.

2015-12-01

The Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) can serve as a testbed for studying MHD turbulence in a controllable laboratory setting, and in particular, explore the phenomena of reconnection, current sheets and dissipation in MHD turbulence. Plasma with turbulently fluctuating magnetic and velocity fields can be generated using a plasma gun source and launched into a flux-conserving cylindrical tunnel. No background magnetic field is applied so internal fields are allowed to evolve dynamically. Point measurements of magnetic and velocity fluctuations yield broadband power-law spectra with a steepening breakpoint indicative of the onset of a dissipation scale. The frequency range at which this steepening occurs can be correlated to the ion inertial scale of the plasma, a length which is characteristic of the size of current sheets in MHD plasmas and suggests a connection to dissipation. Observation of non-Gaussian intermittent jumps in magnetic field magnitude and angle along with measurements of ion temperature bursts suggests the presence of current sheets embedded within the turbulent plasma, and possibly even active reconnection sites. Additionally, structure function analysis coupled with appeals to fractal scaling models support the hypothesis that current sheets are associated with dissipation in this system.

Inner Magnetospheric Superthermal Electron Transport: Photoelectron and Plasma Sheet Electron Sources

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khazanov, G. V.; Liemohn, M. W.; Kozyra, J. U.; Moore, T. E.

1998-01-01

Two time-dependent kinetic models of superthermal electron transport are combined to conduct global calculations of the nonthermal electron distribution function throughout the inner magnetosphere. It is shown that the energy range of validity for this combined model extends down to the superthermal-thermal intersection at a few eV, allowing for the calculation of the en- tire distribution function and thus an accurate heating rate to the thermal plasma. Because of the linearity of the formulas, the source terms are separated to calculate the distributions from the various populations, namely photoelectrons (PEs) and plasma sheet electrons (PSEs). These distributions are discussed in detail, examining the processes responsible for their formation in the various regions of the inner magnetosphere. It is shown that convection, corotation, and Coulomb collisions are the dominant processes in the formation of the PE distribution function and that PSEs are dominated by the interplay between the drift terms. Of note is that the PEs propagate around the nightside in a narrow channel at the edge of the plasmasphere as Coulomb collisions reduce the fluxes inside of this and convection compresses the flux tubes inward. These distributions are then recombined to show the development of the total superthermal electron distribution function in the inner magnetosphere and their influence on the thermal plasma. PEs usually dominate the dayside heating, with integral energy fluxes to the ionosphere reaching 10(exp 10) eV/sq cm/s in the plasmasphere, while heating from the PSEs typically does not exceed 10(exp 8) eV/sq cm/s. On the nightside, the inner plasmasphere is usually unheated by superthermal electrons. A feature of these combined spectra is that the distribution often has upward slopes with energy, particularly at the crossover from PE to PSE dominance, indicating that instabilities are possible.

Statistical analysis of severe magnetic fluctuations in the near-Earth plasma sheet observed by THEMIS-E

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Heqiucen; Shiokawa, Kazuo; Frühauff, Dennis

2017-10-01

We statistically analyzed severe magnetic fluctuations in the nightside near-Earth plasma sheet at 6-12 RE (Earth radii; 1 RE = 6371 km), because they are important for non-magnetohydrodynamics (non-MHD) effects in the magnetotail and are considered to be necessary for current disruption in the inside-out substorm model. We used magnetic field data from 2013 and 2014 obtained by the Time History of Events and Macroscale Interactions during Substorms E (THEMIS-E) satellite (sampling rate: 4 Hz). A total of 1283 severe magnetic fluctuation events were identified that satisfied the criteria σB/B > 0. 5, where σB and B are the standard deviation and the average value of magnetic field intensity during the time interval of the local proton gyroperiod, respectively. We found that the occurrence rates of severe fluctuation events are 0.00118, 0.00899, and 0.0238 % at 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 RE, respectively, and most events last for no more than 15 s. From these occurrence rates, we estimated the possible scale sizes of current disruption by severe magnetic fluctuations as 3.83 RE3 by assuming that four substorms with 5 min intervals of current disruption occur every day. The fluctuation events occurred most frequently at the ZGSM (Z distance in the geocentric solar magnetospheric coordinate system) close to the model neutral sheet within 0.2 RE. Most events occur in association with sudden decreases in the auroral electrojet lower (AL) index and magnetic field dipolarization, indicating that they are related to substorms. Sixty-two percent of magnetic fluctuation events were accompanied by ion flow with velocity V > 100 km s-1, indicating that the violation of ion gyromotion tends to occur during high-speed flow in the near-Earth plasma sheet. The superposed epoch analysis also indicated that the flow speed increases before the severe magnetic fluctuations. We discuss how both the inside

One-dimensional Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium for the force-free Harris sheet.

PubMed

Harrison, Michael G; Neukirch, Thomas

2009-04-03

In this Letter, the first nonlinear force-free Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium is presented. One component of the equilibrium magnetic field has the same spatial structure as the Harris sheet, but whereas the Harris sheet is kept in force balance by pressure gradients, in the force-free solution presented here force balance is maintained by magnetic shear. Magnetic pressure, plasma pressure and plasma density are constant. The method used to find the equilibrium is based on the analogy of the one-dimensional Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium problem to the motion of a pseudoparticle in a two-dimensional conservative potential. The force-free solution can be generalized to a complete family of equilibria that describe the transition between the purely pressure-balanced Harris sheet to the force-free Harris sheet.

ISEE observations of low frequency waves and ion distribution function evolution in the plasma sheet boundary layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Elphic, R. C.; Gary, S. P.

1990-01-01

This paper describes ISEE plasma and magnetic fluctuation observations during two crossings of the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) in the earth's magnetotail. Distribution function observations show that the counterstreaming ion components undergo pitch-angle scattering and evolve into a shell distribution in velocity space. This evolution is correlated with the development of low frequency, low amplitude magnetic fluctuations. However, the measured wave amplitudes are insufficient to accomplish the observed degree of ion pitch-angle scatttering locally; the near-earth distributions may be the result of processes occurring much farther down the magnetotail. Results show a clear correlation between the ion component beta and the relative streaming speed of the two components, suggesting that electromagnetic ion/ion instabilities do play an important role in the scattering of PSBL ions.

The relationship between diffuse auroral and plasma sheet electron distributions near local midnight

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schumaker, T.L.; Gussenhoven, M.S.; Hardy, D.A.

1989-08-01

A study of the relationship between diffuse auroral and plasma sheet electron distributions in the energy range from 50 eV to 20 keV in the midnight region was conducted using data from the P78-1 and SCATHA satellites. From 1 1/2 years of data, 14 events were found where the polar-orbiting P78-1 satellite and the near-geosynchronous SCATHA satellite were approximately on the same magnetic field line simultaneously, with SCATHA in the plasma sheet and P78-1 in the diffuse auroral region. For all cases the spectra from the two satellites are in good quantitative agreement. For 13 of the 14 events themore » pitch angle distribution measured at P78-1 was isotropic for angles mapping into the loss cone at the SCATHA orbit. For one event the P78-1 electron flux decreased with pitch angle toward the field line direction. At SCATHA the distributions outside the loss cone were most commonly butterfly or pancake, although distributions peaked toward the field line were sometimes observed at energies below 1 keV. Electron distributions, as measured where there is isotropy within the loss cone but anisotropy outside the loss cone, are inconsistent with current theories for the scattering of cone for the distribution measured at SCATHA, the electron precipitation lifetimes were calculated for the 14 events. Because the distributions are anisotropic at pitch angles away from the loss cone, the calculated lifetimes significantly exceed the lifetimes in the limit when the flu is isotropic at all pitch angles. The computed precipitation lifetimes are found to be weakly dependent on magnetic activity. The average lifetimes exceed those for the case of isotropy at all pitch angles by a factor between 2 and 3 for {ital Kp}{le}2 and approximately 1.5 for {ital Kp}{gt}2. {copyright} American Geophysical Union 1989« less

Central and peripheral blood pressures in relation to plasma advanced glycation end products in a Chinese population.

PubMed

Huang, Q-F; Sheng, C-S; Kang, Y-Y; Zhang, L; Wang, S; Li, F-K; Cheng, Y-B; Guo, Q-H; Li, Y; Wang, J-G

2016-07-01

We investigated the association of plasma AGE (advanced glycation end product) concentration with central and peripheral blood pressures and central-to-brachial blood pressure amplification in a Chinese population. The study subjects were from a newly established residential area in the suburb of Shanghai. Using the SphygmoCor system, we recorded radial arterial waveforms and derived aortic waveforms by a generalized transfer function and central systolic and pulse pressure by calibration for brachial blood pressure measured with an oscillometric device. The central-to-brachial pressure amplification was expressed as the central-to-brachial systolic blood pressure difference and pulse pressure difference and ratio. Plasma AGE concentration was measured by the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay method and logarithmically transformed for statistical analysis. The 1051 participants (age, 55.1±13.1 years) included 663 women. After adjustment for sex, age and other confounding factors, plasma AGE concentration was associated with central but not peripheral blood pressures and with some of the pressure amplification indexes. Indeed, each 10-fold increase in plasma AGE concentration was associated with 2.94 mm Hg (P=0.04) higher central systolic blood pressure and 2.39% lower central-to-brachial pulse pressure ratio (P=0.03). In further subgroup analyses, the association was more prominent in the presence of hypercholesterolemia (+8.11 mm Hg, P=0.008) for central systolic blood pressure and in the presence of overweight and obesity (-4.89%, P=0.009), diabetes and prediabetes (-6.26%, P=0.10) or current smoking (-6.68%, P=0.045) for central-to-brachial pulse pressure ratio. In conclusion, plasma AGE concentration is independently associated with central systolic blood pressure and pulse pressure amplification, especially in the presence of several modifiable cardiovascular risk factors.

Spontaneous formation of electric current sheets and the origin of solar flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Low, B. C.; Wolfson, R.

1988-01-01

It is demonstrated that the continuous boundary motion of a sheared magnetic field in a tenuous plasma with an infinite electrical conductivity can induce the formation of multiple electric current sheets in the interior plasma. In response to specific footpoint displacements, the quadrupolar magnetic field considered is shown to require the formation of multiple electric current sheets as it achieves a force-free state. Some of the current sheets are found to be of finite length, running along separatrix lines of force which separate lobes of magnetic flux. It is suggested that current sheets in the form of infinitely thin magnetic shear layers may be unstable to resistive tearing, a process which may have application to solar flares.

Structure of the Magnetotail Current Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larson, Douglas J.; Kaufmann, Richard L.

1996-01-01

An orbit tracing technique was used to generate current sheets for three magnetotail models. Groups of ions were followed to calculate the resulting cross-tail current. Several groups then were combined to produce a current sheet. The goal is a model in which the ions and associated electrons carry the electric current distribution needed to generate the magnetic field B in which ion orbits were traced. The region -20 R(sub E) less than x less than - 14 R(sub E) in geocentric solar magnetospheric coordinates was studied. Emphasis was placed on identifying the categories of ion orbits which contribute most to the cross-tail current and on gaining physical insight into the manner by which the ions carry the observed current distribution. Ions that were trapped near z = 0, ions that magnetically mirrored throughout the current sheet, and ions that mirrored near the Earth all were needed. The current sheet structure was determined primarily by ion magnetization currents. Electrons of the observed energies carried relatively little cross-tail current in these quiet time current sheets. Distribution functions were generated and integrated to evaluate fluid parameters. An earlier model in which B depended only on z produced a consistent current sheet, but it did not provide a realistic representation of the Earth's middle magnetotail. In the present study, B changed substantially in the x and z directions but only weakly in the y direction within our region of interest. Plasmas with three characteristic particle energies were used with each of the magnetic field models. A plasma was found for each model in which the density, average energy, cross-tail current, and bulk flow velocity agreed well with satellite observations.

Structure of the Magnetotail Current Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Larson, Douglas J.; Kaufmann, Richard L.

1996-01-01

An orbit tracing technique was used to generate current sheets for three magnetotail models. Groups of ions were followed to calculate the resulting cross-tail current. Several groups then were combined to produce a current sheet. The goal is a model in which the ions and associated electrons carry the electric current distribution needed to generate the magnetic field B in which ion orbits were traced. The region -20 R(E) less than x less than -14 R(E) in geocentric solar magnetospheric coordinates was studied. Emphasis was placed on identifying the categories of ion orbits which contribute most to the cross-tail current and on gaining physical insight into the manner by which the ions carry the observed current distribution. Ions that were trapped near z = 0, ions that magnetically mirrored throughout the current sheet, and ions that mirrored near the Earth all were needed. The current sheet structure was determined primarily by ion magnetization currents. Electrons of the observed energies carried relatively little cross-tail current in these quiet time current sheets. Distribution functions were generated and integrated to evaluate fluid parameters. An earlier model in which B depended only on z produced a consistent current sheet, but it did not provide a realistic representation of the Earth's middle magnetotail. In the present study, B changed substantially in the x and z directions but only weakly in the y direction within our region of interest. Plasmas with three characteristic particle energies were used with each of the magnetic field models. A plasma was found for each model in which the density, average energy, cross-tail current, and bulk flow velocity agreed well with satellite observations.

Assessment of central dopaminergic function using plasma-free homovanillic acid after debrisoquin administration.

PubMed

Riddle, M A; Leckman, J F; Cohen, D J; Anderson, M; Ort, S I; Caruso, K A; Shaywitz, B A

1986-01-01

Central dopaminergic (DA) function in children and adults was assessed by monitoring plasma-free levels of the dopamine metabolite homovanillic acid (pHVA) before and after a single oral dose and chronic oral administration of debrisoquin. Debrisoquin inhibits peripheral metabolism of dopamine to HVA and does not cross the blood-brain barrier. By reducing peripheral formation of HVA through the use of debrisoquin, the remaining HVA in plasma more accurately reflects central DA activity. Debrisoquin administration resulted in marked reductions of pHVA in each of 12 patients studied. Eleven of the 12 subjects tolerated debrisoquin without physical or behavioral side effects. The debrisoquin administration method appears to be a safe and potentially valid technique for evaluating aspects of central dopaminergic function in children and adults.

Survey of Galileo Plasma Observations in Jupiter's Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bagenal, Fran; Wilson, Robert J.; Siler, Scott; Paterson, William R.; Kurth, William S.

2016-01-01

The plasma science (PLS) Instrument on the Galileo spacecraft (orbiting Jupiter from December 1995 to September 2003) measured properties of the ions that were trapped in the magnetic field. The PLS data provide a survey of the plasma properties between approx. 5 and 30 Jupiter radii [R(sub J)] in the equatorial region. We present plasma properties derived via two analysis methods: numerical moments and forward modeling. We find that the density decreases with radial distance by nearly 5 orders of magnitude from approx. 2 to 3000 cm(exp.-3) at 6R(sub j) to approx. 0.05cm(sub -3) at 30 R(sub j). The density profile did not show major changes from orbit to orbit, suggesting that the plasma production and transport remained constant within about a factor of 2. The radial profile of ion temperature increased with distance which implied that contrary to the concept of adiabatic cooling on expansion, the plasma heats up as it expands out from Io's orbit (where TI is approx.60-80 eV) at approx. 6R(sub j) to a few keV at 30R(sub j).There does not seem to be a long-term, systematic variation in ion temperature with either local time or longitude. This latter finding differs from earlier analysis of Galileo PLS data from a selection of orbits. Further examination of all data from all Galileo orbits suggests that System Ill variations are transitory on timescales of weeks, consistent with the modeling of Cassini Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph observations. The plasma flow is dominated by azimuthal flow that is between 80% and 100% of corotation out to 25 R(sub j).

The Role of Self-Organized Criticality in the Substorm Phenomenon and its Relation to Localized Reconnection in the Magnetospheric Plasma Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klimas, Alex J.; Valdivia, J. A.; Vassiliadis, D.; Baker, D. N.; Hesse, M.; Takalo, J.

1999-01-01

Evidence is presented that suggests there is a significant self-organized criticality (SOC) component in the dynamics of substorms in the magnetosphere. Observations of BBFs, fast flows, localized dipolarizations, plasma turbulence, etc. are taken to show that multiple localized reconnection sites provide the basic avalanche phenomenon in the establishment of SOC in the plasma sheet. First results are presented from a continuing plasma physical study of this avalanche process. A one-dimensional resistive MHD model of a magnetic field reversal is discussed. Resistivity, in this model, is self-consistently generated in response to the excitation of an idealized current-driven instability. When forced by convection of magnetic flux into the field reversal region, the model yields rapid magnetic field annihilation through a dynamic behavior that is shown to exhibit many of the characteristics of SOC. Over a large range of forcing strengths, the annihilation rate is shown to self-adjust to balance the rate at which flux is convected into the reversal region. Several analogies to magnetotail dynamics are discussed: (1) It is shown that the presence of a localized criticality in the model produces a remarkable stability in the global configuration of the field reversal while simultaneously exciting extraordinarily dynamic internal evolution. (2) Under steady forcing, it is shown that a loading-unloading cycle may arise that, as a consequence of the global stability, is quasi-periodic and, therefore, predictable despite the presence of internal turbulence in the field distribution. Indeed, it is shown that the global loading-unloading cycle is a consequence of the internal turbulence. (3) It is shown that, under steady, strong forcing the loading-unloading cycle vanishes. Instead, a recovery from a single unloading persists indefinitely. The field reversal is globally very steady while internally it is very dynamic as field annihilation goes on at the rate necessary to

Survey of the plasma electron environment of Jupiter: A view from Voyager

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scudder, J. D.; Sittler, E. C., Jr.; Bridge, H. S.

1980-01-01

The plasma environment within Jupiter's bow shock is considered in terms of the in situ, calibrated electron plasma measurements made between 10 eV and 5.95 keV by the Voyager plasma science experiment (PLS). Measurements were analyzed and corrected for spacecraft potential variations; the data were reduced to nearly model independent macroscopic parameters of the local electron density and temperature. It is tentatively concluded that the radial temperature profile within the plasma sheet is caused by the intermixing of two different electron populations that probably have different temporal histories and spatial paths to their local observation. The cool plasma source of the plasma sheet and spikes is probably the Io plasma torus and arrives in the plasma sheet as a result of flux tube interchange motions or other generalized transport which can be accomplished without diverting the plasma from the centrifugal equator. The hot suprathermal populations in the plasma sheet have most recently come from the sparse, hot mid-latitude "bath" of electrons which were directly observed juxtaposed to the plasma sheet.

Effect of self-consistent magnetic field on plasma sheet penetration to the inner magnetosphere: Rice convection model simulations combined with modified Dungey force-balanced magnetic field solver

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gkioulidou, Matina; Wang, Chih-Ping; Lyons, Larry R.

2011-12-01

Transport of plasma sheet particles into the inner magnetosphere is crucial to the development of the region 2 (R2) field-aligned current system (FAC), which results in the shielding of the penetration electric field and the formation of subauroral polarization streams (SAPS) and the Harang reversal, phenomena closely associated with storms and substorms. In addition to the electric field, this transport is also strongly affected by the magnetic field, which changes with plasma pressure and is distinctly different from the dipole field in the inner plasma sheet. To determine the feedback of force-balanced magnetic field to the transport, we have integrated the Rice convection model (RCM) with a modified Dungey magnetic field solver to obtain the required force balance in the equatorial plane. Comparing our results with those from a RCM run using a T96 magnetic field, we find that transport under a force-balanced magnetic field results in weaker pressure gradients and thus weaker R2 FAC in the near-Earth region and weaker shielding of the penetration electric field. As a result, plasma sheet protons and electrons penetrate farther earthward, and their inner edges become closer together and more azimuthally symmetric than in the T96 case. The Harang reversal extends farther dawnward, and the SAPS become more confined in radial and latitudinal extents. The magnitudes of azimuthal pressure gradient, the inner edges of thermal protons and electrons, the latitudinal range of the Harang reversal, and the radial and latitudinal widths of the SAPS from the force-balanced run are found to be more consistent with observations.

Electric fields in the plasma sheet and plasma sheet boundary layer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pedersen, A.; Cattell, C. A.; Faelthammar, C. G.; Knott, K.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Manka, R. H.; Mozer, F. S.

1984-01-01

Data from the spherical double probe electric-field experiment on ISEE-1 were used to study plasmasheet/lobe boundary crossings during substorms, identified by plasma measurements and by using the electric field probes as a reference for measurements of the spacecraft potential. There are strong electric fields, with a dominant dawn-to-dusk component, throughout the boundary layer outside the plasmasheet for contracting and expanding motions of the plasmasheet and for different magnetic field directions. Characteristic amplitudes and durations are 5 to 10 mV/m and 5 to 15 min. The corresponding E x B vectors are always towards the plasmasheet.

Pulsar current sheet C̆erenkov radiation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Fan

2018-04-01

Plasma-filled pulsar magnetospheres contain thin current sheets wherein the charged particles are accelerated by magnetic reconnections to travel at ultra-relativistic speeds. On the other hand, the plasma frequency of the more regular force-free regions of the magnetosphere rests almost precisely on the upper limit of radio frequencies, with the cyclotron frequency being far higher due to the strong magnetic field. This combination produces a peculiar situation, whereby radio-frequency waves can travel at subluminal speeds without becoming evanescent. The conditions are thus conducive to C̆erenkov radiation originating from current sheets, which could plausibly serve as a coherent radio emission mechanism. In this paper we aim to provide a portrait of the relevant processes involved, and show that this mechanism can possibly account for some of the most salient features of the observed radio signals.

Subglacial conditions under the Weichselian Ice Sheet (Central-WesternPoland)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Szuman, Izabela

2010-05-01

The bed underlying the last Scandinavian Ice Sheet in Poland consisted of an unlithified material susceptible under appropriate subglacial conditions to active deformations under the normal and the driving stress. The thermodynamics at the ice-sediment contact zone had a significant influence for the ice movement character, especially velocity and the ice cap longitudinal profile. Clues of those paleoglaciological processes are recorded in structures and textures of subglacial sediments and the deformation structures are one of the most useful indicator for processes interpretation in basal environment The research area is placed in the Great Poland Lowland in the central-western part of Poland. Detailed investigations were carried out in several outcrops situated within the range of maximal Leszno (Brandenburger) phase extent and recessional Poznan phase (Frankfurter) of the Weichselian Ice Sheet. Those glacial events are not sufficiently dated however, it is known, that they probably took place between 20 000 and 16 000 BP in this region. The purpose of this study is to propose a model of subglacial conditions during till deposition under advancing Weichselian Ice Sheet using the lithofacies analysis as a main tool. Sedimentological analysis in each of the places of investigation was carried out by the means of a macroscopic evidence of deposits texture and structure together with the detailed identification of contact boundaries between individual lithofacies, till fabric measurements on the basis of at least 30 elongated clasts, the calculation of eigenvectors and eigenvalues and laboratory analysis of grain-size distribution using wet and dry (mechanical) sieving techniques. Results show that the fabric characteristics of subglacial tills and underlying sediments are significantly diversified. In general three types of subglacial tills were recognized - lodgement, deformation and melt-out till. Some of vertical profiles showed complexes of lithofacies, and the

Evolution of ice sheets in the early Quaternary of the central North Sea: 2.58 Ma to 0.78 Ma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lamb, R.; Huuse, M.; Stewart, M.; Brocklehurst, S. H.

2016-12-01

Integration of chronostratigraphic proxies with 3D seismic and well-log data has allowed for a basin-wide re-interpretation of the onset of glaciation in the central North Sea during the Quaternary. Mapping of seismic geomorphology, calculations of water depth and sediment accumulation rates, and other basin analysis techniques unravel the evolution of the North Sea basin during the early Pleistocene, a period of dramatic global cooling and rapid 41 kyr glacial-interglacial cycles, identifying a system which is increasingly dominated by large, continental-scale ice sheets. Prior to this study continental-scale ice sheets were generally not considered able to grow in a 41 kyr cycle and the earliest date for such an ice sheet in the North Sea was identified at the onset of tunnel valley formation in the Elsterian (0.48 Ma; MIS 12) which forms a large regional-scale glacial unconformity. At the onset of the Pleistocene at 2.58 Ma the North Sea basin was an elongate `mega-fjord' with water depths of up to 350 m, infilling rapidly as the European river systems deposited a large clinoform complex in the southern end of the basin. This period corresponds to the preservation of large scale ice-berg scouring on clinoform topsets, suggesting the presence of marine-terminating ice sheets with repeated calving events. As the Pleistocene progressed and global climate became increasingly colder the North Sea became smaller and shallower due to the continual infill of the basin. At 1.72 Ma the basin reached a critical point between the cold climate and the shallowing of the basin and the first evidence for grounded glaciation in the form of mega-scale glacial lineations is seen at this level. Between 1.72 and 0.48 Ma there is evidence for ice-streaming in the form of multiple MSGL flow sets re-occupying the central North Sea, as well as a large glaciotectonic complex. The glacial geomorphological evidence presented pushes back the date of grounded glaciation in the central North

Spatially Localized Particle Energization by Landau Damping in Current Sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Howes, G. G.; Klein, K. G.; McCubbin, A. J.

2017-12-01

Understanding the mechanisms of particle energization through the removal of energy from turbulent fluctuations in heliospheric plasmas is a grand challenge problem in heliophysics. Under the weakly collisional conditions typical of heliospheric plasma, kinetic mechanisms must be responsible for this energization, but the nature of those mechanisms remains elusive. In recent years, the spatial localization of plasma heating near current sheets in the solar wind and numerical simulations has gained much attention. Here we show, using the innovative and new field-particle correlation technique, that the spatially localized particle energization occurring in a nonlinear gyrokinetic simulation has the velocity space signature of Landau damping, suggesting that this well-known collisionless damping mechanism indeed actively leads to spatially localized heating in the vicinity of current sheets.

Antarctic Circumpolar Current Dynamics and Their Relation to Antarctic Ice Sheet and Perennial Sea-Ice Variability in the Central Drake Passage During the Last Climate Cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kuhn, G.; Wu, S.; Hass, H. C.; Klages, J. P.; Zheng, X.; Arz, H. W.; Esper, O.; Hillenbrand, C. D.; Lange, C.; Lamy, F.; Lohmann, G.; Müller, J.; McCave, I. N. N.; Nürnberg, D.; Roberts, J.; Tiedemann, R.; Timmermann, A.; Titschack, J.; Zhang, X.

2017-12-01

The evolution of the Antarctic Ice Sheet during the last climate cycle and the interrelation to global atmospheric and ocean circulation remains controversial and plays an important role for our understanding of ice sheet response to modern global warming. The timing and sequence of deglacial warming is relevant for understanding the variability and sensitivity of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to climatic changes, and the continuing rise of atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is a pivotal component of the global water budget. Freshwater fluxes from the ice sheet may affect the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC), which is strongly impacted by the westerly wind belt in the Southern Hemisphere (SHWW) and constricted to its narrowest extent in the Drake Passage. The flow of ACC water masses through Drake Passage is, therefore, crucial for advancing our understanding of the Southern Ocean's role in global meridional overturning circulation and global climate change. In order to address orbital and millennial-scale variability of the Antarctic ice sheet and the ACC, we applied a multi-proxy approach on a sediment core from the central Drake Passage including grain size, iceberg-rafted debris, mineral dust, bulk chemical and mineralogical composition, and physical properties. In combination with already published and new sediment records from the Drake Passage and Scotia Sea, as well as high-resolution data from Antarctic ice cores (WDC, EDML), we now have evidence that during glacial times a more northerly extent of the perennial sea-ice zone decreased ACC current velocities in the central Drake Passage. During deglaciation the SHWW shifted southwards due to a decreasing temperature gradient between subtropical and polar latitudes caused by sea ice and ice sheet decline. This in turn caused Southern Hemisphere warming, a more vigorous ACC, stronger Southern Ocean ventilation, and warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) upwelling on Antarctic shelves

A Tailward Moving Current Sheet Normal Magnetic Field Front Followed by an Earthward Moving Dipolarization Front

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hwang, K.-J.; Goldstein, M. L.; Moore, T. E.; Walsh, B. M.; Baishev, D. G.; Moiseyev, A. V.; Shevtsov, B. M.; Yumoto, K.

2014-01-01

A case study is presented using measurements from the Cluster spacecraft and ground-based magnetometers that show a substorm onset propagating from the inner to outer plasma sheet. On 3 October 2005, Cluster, traversing an ion-scale current sheet at the near-Earth plasma sheet, detected a sudden enhancement of Bz, which was immediately followed by a series of flux rope structures. Both the local Bz enhancement and flux ropes propagated tailward. Approximately 5 min later, another Bz enhancement, followed by a large density decrease, was observed to rapidly propagate earthward. Between the two Bz enhancements, a significant removal of magnetic flux occurred, possibly resulting from the tailward moving Bz enhancement and flux ropes. In our scenario, this flux removal caused the magnetotail to be globally stretched so that the thinnest sheet formed tailward of Cluster. The thinned current sheet facilitated magnetic reconnection that quickly evolved from plasma sheet to lobe and generated the later earthward moving dipolarization front (DF) followed by a reduction in density and entropy. Ground magnetograms located near the meridian of Cluster's magnetic foot points show two-step bay enhancements. The positive bay associated with the first Bz enhancement indicates that the substorm onset signatures propagated from the inner to the outer plasma sheet, consistent with the Cluster observation. The more intense bay features associated with the later DF are consistent with the earthward motion of the front. The event suggests that current disruption signatures that originated in the near-Earth current sheet propagated tailward, triggering or facilitating midtail reconnection, thereby preconditioning the magnetosphere for a later strong substorm enhancement.

Plasma transfusions prior to insertion of central lines for people with abnormal coagulation

PubMed Central

Hall, David P; Estcourt, Lise J; Doree, Carolyn; Hopewell, Sally; Trivella, Marialena; Walsh, Timothy S

2016-01-01

Background The insertion of central venous catheters (CVCs) may be associated with peri- and post-procedural bleeding. People who require a central line often have disorders of coagulation as a result of their underlying illness, co-morbidities or the effects of treatment. Clinical practice in some institutions is to mitigate the risk of bleeding in these patients by prophylactically transfusing fresh frozen plasma (FFP) in order to correct clotting factor deficiencies prior to central line insertion. However, FFP transfusion is not without risk, and it remains unclear whether this intervention is associated with reduced rates of bleeding or other clinically-meaningful outcomes. Objectives To assess the effect of different prophylactic plasma transfusion regimens prior to central line insertion in people with abnormal coagulation. Search methods We searched for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) (the Cochrane Library 2016, Issue 3), PubMed (e-publications only), Ovid MEDLINE (from 1946), Ovid Embase (from 1974), the Transfusion Evidence Library (from 1950) and ongoing trial databases to 1 March 2016. Selection criteria We included RCTs involving transfusions of plasma to prevent bleeding in people of any age with abnormal coagulation requiring insertion of a central venous catheter, published in English. Data collection and analysis We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Main results We identified four trials eligible for inclusion, of which three are ongoing. We did not exclude any studies because they were not published in English. The included study randomised 81 adults in intensive care whose INR (International Normalised Ratio) was greater than or equal to 1.5 to no FFP or to a single dose of 12 mL/kg FFP prior to undergoing central venous catheterisation (58 participants) or other invasive procedure (23 participants). It is the subgroup of 58 adults undergoing CVC

Triassic salt sheets of Mezzouna, Central Tunisia: New comments on Late Cretaceous halokinesis and geodynamic evolution of the northern African margin

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dhahri, Ferid; Boukadi, Noureddine

2017-05-01

Two discrete Triassic salt sheets have been discovered within the Coniacian-Santonian series near the salt wall of Mezzouna, central Tunisia. The structure and the lithology of these sheets suggest two halokinetic episodes giving respectively 1) Triassic evaporitic rocks flows over a sloped basin floor resulting in probable salt glacier, and 2) redeposition of erosional debris from the nearby salt wall of Mezzouna, transported and then deposited next to the wall. This finding is used to precise the halokinetic events and the geodynamic evolution of the northern African margin near the Pelagian block between southeastern Tunisia and Tripolitania during Late Cretaceous. A discussion of the halokinesis-related structures is also attempted with emphasize of their genetic mechanisms and temporal development as inferred from geological mapping and new field data.

Late Oligocene glacimarine sedimentation of the central Ross Sea and implications for the evolution of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kraus, C.; Mckay, R. M.; Naish, T.; Levy, R. H.; Kulhanek, D. K.

2015-12-01

Today the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) is grounded mostly below sea level, making it sensitive to oceanic temperature and circulation changes. However, recent reconstructions of the Cenozoic bedrock topographic evolution of West Antarctica have suggested that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) may have first formed as a terrestrial ice sheet at the Eocene-Oligocene boundary (33 Ma), when there was up to 20% more land area in West Antarctica. At some point during the Oligocene or Miocene (23 - 5 Ma) vast areas of West Antarctica became an over-deepened marine-based continental shelf, as is observed today. The evolution of the WAIS through this transition is largely unconstrained, but as atmospheric CO2 fluctuated between 600 and 200 ppm over the past 34 Ma, determining the development of a marine-based WAIS is critical in the context of understanding the sensitivity of ice sheet systems to environmental change. Our research re-examines the sediment cores recovered from the central Ross Sea, a principal drainage area of the WAIS, at Deep Sea Drilling Project Site 270 (77°26.48'S, 178°30.19'W). These cores contain a glacimarine sequence of late Oligocene age (28 - 23.1 Ma). Sedimentological (visual core description, facies, grain size analysis), geochemical (x-ray fluorescence), geophysical (seismic) techniques, and physical properties (magnetic susceptibility) are used to construct a sedimentation model of this sequence, in order to track the late Oligocene evolution of the WAIS. The late Oligocene warming (25 - 23 Ma) is examined in detail because proximal Antarctic geological records of ice sheet extent, proxy environmental data, and atmospheric CO2 appear to be at odds with the composite δ18O record of global temperature and ice volume at this time. Moreover, our research provides insights into the sensitivity of marine-based ice sheets, and supports the hypothesis that they are unstable above a CO2 threshold of 400 ppm. Our preliminary results also

Sheet, ligament and droplet formation in swirling primary atomization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shao, Changxiao; Luo, Kun; Chai, Min; Fan, Jianren

2018-04-01

We report direct numerical simulations of swirling liquid atomization to understand the physical mechanism underlying the sheet breakup of a non-turbulent liquid swirling jet which lacks in-depth investigation. The volume-of-fluid (VOF) method coupled with adapted mesh refinement (AMR) technique in GERRIS code is employed in the present simulation. The mechanisms of sheet, ligament and droplet formation are investigated. It is observed that the olive-shape sheet structure is similar to the experimental result qualitatively. The numerical results show that surface tension, pressure difference and swirling effect contribute to the contraction and extension of liquid sheet. The ligament formation is partially at the sheet rim or attributed to the extension of liquid hole. Especially, the movement of hairpin vortex exerts by an anti-radial direction force to the sheet surface and leads to the sheet thinness. In addition, droplet formation is attributed to breakup of ligament and central sheet.

Interaction of reflected ions with the firehose marginally stable current sheet - Implications for plasma sheet convection

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pritchett, P. L.; Coroniti, F. V.

1992-01-01

The firehose marginally stable current sheet, which may model the flow away from the distant reconnection neutral line, assumes that the accelerated particles escape and never return to re-encounter the current region. This assumption fails on the earthward side where the accelerated ions mirror in the geomagnetic dipole field and return to the current sheet at distances up to about 30 R(E) down the tail. Two-dimensional particle simulations are used to demonstrate that the reflected ions drive a 'shock-like' structure in which the incoming flow is decelerated and the Bz field is highly compressed. These effects are similar to those produced by adiabatic choking of steady convection. Possible implications of this interaction for the dynamics of the tail are considered.

Collisionless reconnection in a quasi-neutral sheet near marginal stability

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pritchett, P. L.; Coroniti, F. V.; Pellat, R.; Karimabadi, H.

1989-01-01

Particle simulations are used to investigate the process of collisionless reconnection in a magnetotail configuration which includes a pressure gradient along the tail axis and tail flaring. In the absence of electron stabilization effects, the tearing mode is stabilized when the ion gyrofrequency in the normal field exceeds the growth rate in the corresponding one-dimensional current sheet. The presence of a low-frequency electromagnetic perturbation in the lobes can serve to destabilize a marginally stable current sheet by producing an extended neutral-sheet region which can then undergo reconnection. These results help to explain how X-type neutral lines, such as those associated with the onset of magnetospheric substorms, can be formed in the near-earth plasma sheet.

Statistical study of cold-dense plasma sheet: spatial distribution and semi-annual variation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, Q.; Bai, S.; Tian, A.; Nowada, M.; Degeling, A. W.; Zhou, X. Z.; Zong, Q.; Rae, J.; Fu, S.; Zhang, H.; Pu, Z.; Fazakerley, A. N.

2017-12-01

The cold-dense plasma sheet (CDPS), which plays an important role in the solar wind-magnetosphere coupling during geomagnetic quiet times, is often observed in the magnetosphere, and also be considered as an important particle source for the ring current during geomagnetic storms. However, the long term variation of CDPS occurrences has not been investigated. Using 21 years of Geotail data (1996-2016), we found 677 CDPS events and investigated the long term variation of CDPS occurrence. The spatial distribution of CDPS is also investigated using the in situ observation of Geotail. Since the solar wind entry is easier to occur under stronger northward IMF conditions, we investigated the IMF conditions using 49 years of IMF data (1968-2016) from OMNI data set. We found that both the CDPS occurrence and positive IMF Bz have semi-annual variations, and the variation of positive IMF Bz is consistent with the Russell-McPherron (R-M) effect. Therefore we consider that the semi-annual variation of CDPS occurrence is related to the R-M effect.

Planetary rings as relics of plasma proto-rings rotating in the magnetic field of a central body

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rabinovich, B.

2007-08-01

A possibility is discussed in accordance to hypothesis by H. Alfven, that the rings of large planets are relics of some plasma proto-rings rotating in the magnetic fields of central bodies. A finite-dimensional mathematical model of the system is synthesized using the solution of the boundary-value problem by the Boubnov - Galerkin method. The dipole magnetic field of the central body is assumed to have a small eccentricity, and the dipole axis - to be inclined at a small angle to the central body's axis of rotation which coincides with the ring's rotation axis. The proto-ring is supposed to be thin and narrow and having the same rotating axis as the central body. A medium forming the ring is cold rarefied plasma with high electron density, so that electric conductivity of the medium tends to infinity, as well as the magnetic Reynolds number. The original mathematical model is reduced to a system of finite-difference equations whose asymptotic analytical solution is obtained. Emphasis is placed on the problems of stability of the ring's steady state rotation and quantization of the eigenvalues of nondimensional sector velocity of the ring with respect to the central body. The solutions corresponding to magneto-gravitational and to magneto-gyroscopic waves are considered It is demonstrated that some rings characterized by integral quantum numbers are stable and long-living, while the rings which are associated with half-integer quantum numbers () are unstable and short-living. As a result, an evolutionally rife rotating plasma ring turns out to be stratified into a large number of narrow elite rings separated by gaps whose position correspond to anti-rings. The regions of possible existence of elite rings in near-central body space are determined. The main result of eigenvalue spectrum's analysis is as follows. Quantum numbers determining elite eigenvalues of the sector velocity of a ring (normalized in a certain manner) coincide with the quantum

Current Sheet Properties and Dynamics During Sympathetic Breakout Eruptions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lynch, B. J.; Edmondson, J. K.

2013-12-01

We present the continued analysis of the high-resolution 2.5D MHD simulations of sympathetic magnetic breakout eruptions from a pseudostreamer source region. We examine the generation of X- and O-type null points during the current sheet tearing and track the magnetic island formation and evolution during periods of reconnection. The magnetic breakout eruption scenario forms an overlying 'breakout' current sheet that evolves slowly and removes restraining flux from above the sheared field core that will eventually become the center of the erupting flux rope-like structure. The runaway expansion from the expansion-breakout reconnection positive feedback enables the formation of the second, vertical/radial current sheet underneath the rising sheared field core as in the standard CHSKP eruptive flare scenario. We will examine the flux transfer rates through the breakout and flare current sheets and compare the properties of the field and plasma inflows into the current sheets and the reconnection jet outflows into the flare loops and flux rope ejecta.

Plasma observations near saturn: initial results from voyager 1.

PubMed

Bridge, H S; Belcher, J W; Lazarus, A J; Olbert, S; Sullivan, J D; Bagenal, F; Gazis, P R; Hartle, R E; Ogilvie, K W; Scudder, J D; Sittler, E C; Eviatar, A; Siscoe, G L; Goertz, C K; Vasyliunas, V M

1981-04-10

Extensive measurements of low-energy plasma electrons and positive ions were made during the Voyager 1 encounter with Saturn and its satellites. The magnetospheric plasma contains light and heavy ions, probably hydrogen and nitrogen or oxygen; at radial distances between 15 and 7 Saturn-radii (Rs) on the inbound trajectory, the plasma appears to corotate with a velocity within 20 percent of that expected for rigid corotation. The general morphology of Saturn's magnetosphere is well represented by a plasma sheet that extends from at least 5 to 17 Rs, is symmetrical with respect to Saturn's equatorial plane and rotation axis, and appears to be well ordered by the magnetic shell parameter L (which represents the equatorial distance of a magnetic field line measured in units of Rs). Within this general configuration, two distinct structures can be identified: a central plasma sheet observed from L = 5 to L = 8 in which the density decreases rapidly away from the equatorial plane, and a more extended structure from L = 7 to beyond 18 Rs in which the density profile is nearly flat for a distance +/- 1.8 Rs off the plane and falls rapidly thereafter. The encounter with Titan took place inside the magnetosphere. The data show a clear signature characteristic of the interaction between a subsonic corotating magnetospheric plasma and the atmospheric or ionospheric exosphere of Titan. Titan appears to be a significant source of ions for the outer magnetosphere. The locations of bow shock crossings observed inbound and outbound indicate that the shape of the Saturnian magnetosphere is similar to that of Earth and that the position of the stagnation point scales approximately as the inverse one-sixth power of the ram pressure.

Modeling the Self-organized Critical Behavior of Earth's Plasma Sheet Reconnection Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klimas, Alexander J.

2006-01-01

Analyses of Polar UVI auroral image data show that bright night-side high-latitude W emissions exhibit so many of the key properties of systems in self-organized criticality that an alternate interpretation has become virtually impossible. These analyses will be reviewed. It is now necessary to find and model the source of this behavior. We note that the most common models of self-organized criticality are numerical sandpiles. These are, at root, models that govern the transport of some quantity from a region where it is loaded to another where it is unloaded. Transport is enabled by the excitation of a local threshold instability; it is intermittent and bursty, and it exhibits a number of scale-free statistical properties. Searching for a system in the magnetosphere that is analogous and that, in addition, is known to produce auroral signatures, we focus on the reconnection dynamics of the magnetotail plasma sheet. In our previous work, a driven reconnection model has been constructed and has been under study. The transport of electromagnetic (primarily magnetic) energy carried by the Poynting flux into the reconnection region of the model has been examined. All of the analysis techniques (and more) that have been applied to the auroral image data have also been applied to this Poynting flux. New results will be presented showing that this model also exhibits so many of the key properties of systems in self-organized criticality that an alternate interpretation is implausible. A strong correlation between these key properties of the model and those of the auroral UV emissions will be demonstrated. We suggest that, in general, the driven reconnection model is an important step toward a realistic plasma physical model of self-organized criticality and we conclude, more specifically, that it is also a step in the right direction toward modeling the multiscale reconnection dynamics of the magnetotail.

Plasma Measurements in an Integrated-System FARAD Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polzin, K. A.; Rose, M. F.; Miller, R.; Best, S.

2007-01-01

Pulsed inductive plasma accelerators are spacecraft propulsion devices in which energy is stored in a capacitor and then discharged through an inductive coil. The device is electrodeless, inducing a current sheet in a plasma located near the face of the coil. The propellant is accelerated and expelled at a high exhaust velocity (order of 10 km/s) through the interaction of the plasma current and the induced magnetic field. The Faraday Accelerator with RF-Assisted Discharge (FARAD) thruster[1,2] is a type of pulsed inductive plasma accelerator in which the plasma is preionized by a mechanism separate from that used to form the current sheet and accelerate the gas. Employing a separate preionization mechanism allows for the formation of an inductive current sheet at much lower discharge energies and voltages than those used in previous pulsed inductive accelerators like the Pulsed Inductive Thruster (PIT). A benchtop FARAD thruster was designed following guidelines and similarity performance parameters presented in Refs. [3,4]. This design is described in detail in Ref. [5]. In this paper, we present the temporally and spatially resolved measurements of the preionized plasma and inductively-accelerated current sheet in the FARAD thruster operating with a Vector Inversion Generator (VIG) to preionize the gas and a Bernardes and Merryman circuit topology to provide inductive acceleration. The acceleration stage operates on the order of 100 J/pulse. Fast-framing photography will be used to produce a time-resolved, global view of the evolving current sheet. Local diagnostics used include a fast ionization gauge capable of mapping the gas distribution prior to plasma initiation; direct measurement of the induced magnetic field using B-dot probes, induced azimuthal current measurement using a mini-Rogowski coil, and direct probing of the number density and electron temperature using triple probes.

Catapult current sheet relaxation model confirmed by THEMIS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Machida, S.; Miyashita, Y.; Ieda, A.; Nose, M.; Angelopoulos, V.; McFadden, J. P.

2014-12-01

In this study, we show the result of superposed epoch analysis on the THEMIS probe data during the period from November, 2007 to April, 2009 by setting the origin of time axis to the substorm onset determined by Nishimura with THEMIS all sky imager (THEMS/ASI) data (http://www.atmos.ucla.edu/~toshi/files/paper/Toshi_THEMIS_GBO_list_distribution.xls). We confirmed the presence of earthward flows which can be associated with north-south auroral streamers during the substorm growth phase. At around X = -12 Earth radii (Re), the northward magnetic field and its elevation angle decreased markedly approximately 4 min before substorm onset. A northward magnetic-field increase associated with pre-onset earthward flows was found at around X = -17Re. This variation indicates the occurrence of the local depolarization. Interestingly, in the region earthwards of X = -18Re, earthward flows in the central plasma sheet (CPS) reduced significantly about 3min before substorm onset. However, the earthward flows enhanced again at t = -60 sec in the region around X = -14 Re, and they moved toward the Earth. At t = 0, the dipolarization of the magnetic field started at X ~ -10 Re, and simultaneously the magnetic reconnection started at X ~ -20 Re. Synthesizing these results, we can confirm the validity of our catapult current sheet relaxation model.

The mosaic structure of plasma bulk flows in the Earth's magnetotail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ashour-Abdalla, M.; Richard, R. L.; Zelenyi, L. M.; Peroomian, V.; Bosqued, J. M.

1995-01-01

Moments of plasma distributions observed in the magnetotail vary with different time scales. In this paper we attempt to explain the observed variability on intermediate timescales of approximately 10-20 min that result from the simultaneous energization and spatial structuring of solar wind plasma in the distant magnetotail. These processes stimulate the formation of a system of spatially disjointed. highly accelerated filaments (beamlets) in the tail. We use the results from large-scale kinetic modeling of magnetotail formation from a plasma mantle source to calculate moments of ion distribution functions throughout the tail. Statistical restrictions related to the limited number of particles in our system naturally reduce the spatial resolution of our results, but we show that our model is valid on intermediate spatial scales Delta(x) x Delta(z) equal to approximately 1 R(sub E) x 1000 km. For these spatial scales the resulting pattern, which resembles a mosaic, appears to be quite variable. The complexity of the pattern is related to the spatial interference between beamlets accelerated at various locations within the distant tail which mirror in the strong near-Earth magnetic field. Global motion of the magnetotail results in the displacement of spacecraft with respect to this mosaic pattern and can produce variations in all of the moments (especially the x-component of the bulk velocity) on intermediate timescales. The results obtained enable us to view the magnetotail plasma as consisting of two different populations: a tailward-Earthward system of highly accelerated beamlets interfering with each other, and an energized quasithermal population which gradually builds as the Earth is approached. In the near-Earth tail, these populations merge into a hot quasi-isotropic ion population typical of the near-Earth plasma sheet. The transformation of plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) beam energy into central plasma sheet (CPS) quasi-thermal energy occurs in the

Magnetic field dissipation in D-sheets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Burlaga, L. F.; Scudder, J. D.

1973-01-01

The effects of magnetic field annihilation at a tangential or rotational discontinuity in a resistive plasma are examined. The magnetic field intensity profile depends on (1) the field intensities far from the current sheet (+ and - infinity), (2) the angle between the two intensities, and (3) the electrical resistivity. For a tangential discontinuity, the theory predicts a depression in B, centered at the discontinuity, and it predicts a monotonic transition. The theory provides satisfactory fits to the magnetic field intensity and proton temperature profiles observed for two extremely broad D-sheets in the solar wind. Assuming a diffusion time 10 days, one obtains effective resistivities or approximately = 3 x 10 to the 12th power and 2 x 10 to the 13th power emu for the D-sheets. Either resistivity at directional discontinuities is much lower than 10 to the 12th power emu or annihilation does not always occur at discontinuities.

Plasma amyloid levels within the Alzheimer's process and correlations with central biomarkers.

PubMed

Hanon, Olivier; Vidal, Jean-Sébastien; Lehmann, Sylvain; Bombois, Stéphanie; Allinquant, Bernadette; Tréluyer, Jean-Marc; Gelé, Patrick; Delmaire, Christine; Blanc, Fredéric; Mangin, Jean-François; Buée, Luc; Touchon, Jacques; Hugon, Jacques; Vellas, Bruno; Galbrun, Evelyne; Benetos, Athanase; Berrut, Gilles; Paillaud, Elèna; Wallon, David; Castelnovo, Giovanni; Volpe-Gillot, Lisette; Paccalin, Marc; Robert, Philippe-Henri; Godefroy, Olivier; Dantoine, Thierry; Camus, Vincent; Belmin, Joël; Vandel, Pierre; Novella, Jean-Luc; Duron, Emmanuelle; Rigaud, Anne-Sophie; Schraen-Maschke, Suzanna; Gabelle, Audrey

2018-02-17

Diagnostic relevance of plasma amyloid β (Aβ) for Alzheimer's disease (AD) process yields conflicting results. The objective of the study was to assess plasma levels of Aβ 42 and Aβ 40 in amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI), nonamnestic MCI, and AD patients and to investigate relationships between peripheral and central biomarkers. One thousand forty participants (417 amnestic MCI, 122 nonamnestic MCI, and 501 AD) from the Biomarker of AmyLoïd pepTide and AlZheimer's diseAse Risk multicenter prospective study with cognition, plasma, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and magnetic resonance imaging assessments were included. Plasma Aβ 1-42 and Aβ 1-40 were lower in AD (36.9 [11.7] and 263 [80] pg/mL) than in amnestic MCI (38.2 [11.9] and 269 [68] pg/mL) than in nonamnestic MCI (39.7 [10.5] and 272 [52] pg/mL), respectively (P = .01 for overall difference between groups for Aβ 1-42 and P = .04 for Aβ 1-40 ). Globally, plasma Aβ 1-42 correlated with age, Mini-Mental State Examination, and APOE ε4 allele. Plasma Aβ 1-42 correlated with all CSF biomarkers in MCI but only with CSF Aβ 42 in AD. Plasma Aβ was associated with cognitive status and CSF biomarkers, suggesting the interest of plasma amyloid biomarkers for diagnosis purpose. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Can Steady Magnetospheric Convection Events Inject Plasma into the Ring Current?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemon, C.; Chen, M. W.; Guild, T. B.

2009-12-01

Steady Magnetospheric Convection (SMC) events are characterized by several-hour periods of enhanced convection that are devoid of substorm signatures. There has long been a debate about whether substorms are necessary to inject plasma into the ring current, or whether enhanced convection is sufficient. If ring current injections occur during SMC intervals, this would suggest that substorms are unnecessary. We use a combination of simulations and data observations to examine this topic. Our simulation model computes the energy-dependent plasma drift in a self-consistent electric and magnetic field, which allows us to accurately model the transport of plasma from the plasma sheet (where the plasma pressure is much larger than the magnetic pressure) into the inner magnetosphere (where plasma pressure is much less than the magnetic pressure). In regions where the two pressures are comparable (i.e. the inner plasma sheet), feedback between the plasma and magnetic field is critical for accurately modeling the physical evolution of the system. Our previous work has suggested that entropy losses in the plasma sheet (such as caused by substorms) may be necessary to inject a ring current. However, it is not yet clear whether other small-scale processes (e.g. bursty bulk flows) can provide sufficient entropy loss in the plasma sheet to allow for the penetration of plasma into the ring current. We combine our simulation results with data observations in order to better understand the physical processes required to inject a ring current.

Magnetospheric Reconnection in Modified Current-Sheet Equilibria

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Newman, D. L.; Goldman, M. V.; Lapenta, G.; Markidis, S.

2012-10-01

Particle simulations of magnetic reconnection in Earth's magnetosphere are frequently initialized with a current-carrying Harris equilibrium superposed on a current-free uniform background plasma. The Harris equilibrium satisfies local charge neutrality, but requires that the sheet current be dominated by the hotter species -- often the ions in Earth's magnetosphere. This constraint is not necessarily consistent with observations. A modified kinetic equilibrium that relaxes this constraint on the currents was proposed by Yamada et al. [Phys. Plasmas., 7, 1781 (2000)] with no background population. These modified equilibria were characterized by an asymptotic converging or diverging electrostatic field normal to the current sheet. By reintroducing the background plasma, we have developed new families of equilibria where the asymptotic fields are suppressed by Debye shielding. Because the electrostatic potential profiles of these new equilibria contain wells and/or barriers capable of spatially isolating different populations of electrons and/or ions, these solutions can be further generalized to include classes of asymmetric kinetic equilibria. Examples of both symmetric and asymmetric equilibria will be presented. The dynamical evolution of these equilibria, when perturbed, will be further explored by means of implicit 2D PIC reconnection simulations, including comparisons with simulations employing standard Harris-equilibrium initializations.

Large Alfvén wave power in the plasma sheet boundary layer during the expansion phase of substorms

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keiling, A.; Wygant, J. R.; Cattell, C.; Temerin, M.; Mozer, F. S.; Kletzing, C. A.; Scudder, J.; Russell, C. T.; Lotko, W.; Streltsov, A. V.

2000-10-01

Observations by the Polar satellite of large Poynting flux in the plasma sheet boundary layer at geocentric distances of 4 to 6 RE and between 22 and 3 hrs magnetic local time were correlated with H-bay signatures from ground magnetometer records. We provide evidence that large Poynting fluxes occur during the substorm expansion phase. The Poynting fluxes exceeded 1 ergs/cm²s (125 ergs/cm²s when mapped to 100 km), were dominantly directed toward the ionosphere, and were associated with Alfvén waves. These observations demonstrate the importance of Alfvén wave power as a means of energy transport from the distant magnetotail to the ionosphere during the most dynamic phase of substorms.

Evolution of three-dimensional relativistic current sheets and development of self-generated turbulence

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takamoto, M.

2018-05-01

In this paper, the temporal evolution of three-dimensional relativistic current sheets in Poynting-dominated plasma is studied for the first time. Over the past few decades, a lot of efforts have been conducted on studying the evolution of current sheets in two-dimensional space, and concluded that sufficiently long current sheets always evolve into the so-called plasmoid chain, which provides a fast reconnection rate independent of its resistivity. However, it is suspected that plasmoid chain can exist only in the case of two-dimensional approximation, and would show transition to turbulence in three-dimensional space. We performed three-dimensional numerical simulation of relativistic current sheet using resistive relativistic magnetohydrodynamic approximation. The results showed that the three-dimensional current sheets evolve not into plasmoid chain but turbulence. The resulting reconnection rate is 0.004, which is much smaller than that of plasmoid chain. The energy conversion from magnetic field to kinetic energy of turbulence is just 0.01 per cent, which is much smaller than typical non-relativistic cases. Using the energy principle, we also showed that the plasmoid is always unstable for a displacement in the opposite direction to its acceleration, probably interchange-type instability, and this always results in seeds of turbulence behind the plasmoids. Finally, the temperature distribution along the sheet is discussed, and it is found that the sheet is less active than plasmoid chain. Our finding can be applied for many high-energy astrophysical phenomena, and can provide a basic model of the general current sheet in Poynting-dominated plasma.

Self-consistent current sheet structures in the quiet-time magnetotail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Holland, Daniel L.; Chen, James

1993-01-01

The structure of the quiet-time magnetotail is studied using a test particle simulation. Vlasov equilibria are obtained in the regime where v(D) = E(y) c/B(z) is much less than the ion thermal velocity and are self-consistent in that the current and magnetic field satisfy Ampere's law. Force balance between the plasma and magnetic field is satisfied everywhere. The global structure of the current sheet is found to be critically dependent on the source distribution function. The pressure tensor is nondiagonal in the current sheet with anisotropic temperature. A kinetic mechanism is proposed whereby changes in the source distribution results in a thinning of the current sheet.

Energized Oxygen : Speiser Current Sheet Bifurcation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

George, D. E.; Jahn, J. M.

2017-12-01

A single population of energized Oxygen (O+) is shown to produce a cross-tail bifurcated current sheet in 2.5D PIC simulations of the magnetotail without the influence of magnetic reconnection. Treatment of oxygen in simulations of space plasmas, specifically a magnetotail current sheet, has been limited to thermal energies despite observations of and mechanisms which explain energized ions. We performed simulations of a homogeneous oxygen background, that has been energized in a physically appropriate manner, to study the behavior of current sheets and magnetic reconnection, specifically their bifurcation. This work uses a 2.5D explicit Particle-In-a-Cell (PIC) code to investigate the dynamics of energized heavy ions as they stream Dawn-to-Dusk in the magnetotail current sheet. We present a simulation study dealing with the response of a current sheet system to energized oxygen ions. We establish a, well known and studied, 2-species GEM Challenge Harris current sheet as a starting point. This system is known to eventually evolve and produce magnetic reconnection upon thinning of the current sheet. We added a uniform distribution of thermal O+ to the background. This 3-species system is also known to eventually evolve and produce magnetic reconnection. We add one additional variable to the system by providing an initial duskward velocity to energize the O+. We also traced individual particle motion within the PIC simulation. Three main results are shown. First, energized dawn- dusk streaming ions are clearly seen to exhibit sustained Speiser motion. Second, a single population of heavy ions clearly produces a stable bifurcated current sheet. Third, magnetic reconnection is not required to produce the bifurcated current sheet. Finally a bifurcated current sheet is compatible with the Harris current sheet model. This work is the first step in a series of investigations aimed at studying the effects of energized heavy ions on magnetic reconnection. This work differs

Synthesis of N-graphene using microwave plasma-based methods

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dias, Ana; Tatarova, Elena; Henriques, Julio; Dias, Francisco; Felizardo, Edgar; Abrashev, Miroslav; Bundaleski, Nenad; Cvelbar, Uros

2016-09-01

In this work a microwave atmospheric plasma driven by surface waves is used to produce free-standing graphene sheets (FSG). Carbonaceous precursors are injected into a microwave plasma environment, where decomposition processes take place. The transport of plasma generated gas-phase carbon atoms and molecules into colder zones of plasma reactor results in carbon nuclei formation. The main part of the solid carbon is gradually carried from the ``hot'' plasma zone into the outlet plasma stream where carbon nanostructures assemble and grow. Subsequently, the graphene sheets have been N-doped using a N2-Ar large-scale remote plasma treatment, which consists on placing the FSG on a substrate in a remote zone of the N2-Ar plasma. The samples were treated with different compositions of N2-Ar gas mixtures, while maintaining 1 mbar pressure in the chamber and a power applied of 600 W. The N-doped graphene sheets were characterized by scanning and by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Plasma characterization was also performed by optical emission spectroscopy. Work partially funded by Portuguese FCT - Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia, under grant SFRH/BD/52413/2013 (PD-F APPLAuSE).

24 CFR 1710.117 - Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

.... However, any costs that are identical for all lots may be pre-printed. (ii) If a central water or sewer... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Cost sheet, signature of Senior... REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements § 1710.117 Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer. (a) Cost...

24 CFR 1710.117 - Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

.... However, any costs that are identical for all lots may be pre-printed. (ii) If a central water or sewer... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Cost sheet, signature of Senior... REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements § 1710.117 Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer. (a) Cost...

24 CFR 1710.117 - Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

.... However, any costs that are identical for all lots may be pre-printed. (ii) If a central water or sewer... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Cost sheet, signature of Senior... REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements § 1710.117 Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer. (a) Cost...

24 CFR 1710.117 - Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

.... However, any costs that are identical for all lots may be pre-printed. (ii) If a central water or sewer... 24 Housing and Urban Development 5 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Cost sheet, signature of Senior... REGISTRATION Reporting Requirements § 1710.117 Cost sheet, signature of Senior Executive Officer. (a) Cost...

45. WEST TO CIRCA 1900 SHEET METAL SHEAR, THE MACHINE ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

45. WEST TO CIRCA 1900 SHEET METAL SHEAR, THE MACHINE USED TO CUT SHEET METAL USED IN WINDMILLS AND WATER TANKS. IN THE BACKGROUND IS THE INTERIOR WEST WALL OF THE FACTORY, ITS SHELVES BEARING WATER PUMPS, PARTS FOR PUMPS AND WATER SUPPLY EQUIPMENT, AND NEW OLD STOCK MERCHANDISE. - Kregel Windmill Company Factory, 1416 Central Avenue, Nebraska City, Otoe County, NE

Intrinsic Dawn-Dusk Asymmetry of Magnetotail Thin Current Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lu, S.; Pritchett, P. L.; Angelopoulos, V.; Artemyev, A.

2017-12-01

Magnetic reconnection and its related phenomena (flux ropes, dipolarization fronts, bursty bulk flows, particle injections, etc.) occur more frequently on the duskside in the Earth's magnetotail. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations attributed the asymmetry to the nonuniform ionospheric conductance through global scale magnetosphere-ionosphere interaction. Hybrid simulations, on the other hand, found an alternative responsible mechanism: the Hall effect in the magnetotail thin current sheet, but left an open question: What is the physical origin of the asymmetric Hall effect? The answer could be the temperature difference on the two sides and/or the dawn-dusk transportation of magnetic flux and plasmas. In this work, we use 3-D particle-in-cell simulations to further explore the magnetotail dawn-dusk asymmetry. The magnetotail equilibrium contains a dipole magnetic field and a current sheet region. The simulation is driven by a symmetric and localized (in the y direction) high-latitude electric field, under which the current sheet thins with a decrease of Bz. During the same time, a dawn-dusk asymmetry is formed intrinsically in the thin current sheet, with a smaller Bz, a stronger Hall effect (indicated by the Hall electric field Ez), and a stronger cross-tail current jy on the duskside. The deep origin of the asymmetry is also shown to be dominated by the dawnward E×B drift of magnetic flux and plasmas. A direct consequence of this intrinsic dawn-dusk asymmetry is that it favors magnetotail reconnection and related phenomena to preferentially occur on the duskside.

Disulfide-Mediated β-Strand Dimers: Hyperstable β-Sheets Lacking Tertiary Interactions and Turns.

PubMed

Kier, Brandon L; Anderson, Jordan M; Andersen, Niels H

2015-04-29

Disulfide bonds between cysteine residues are essential to the structure and folding of many proteins. Yet their role in the design of structured peptides and proteins has frequently been limited to use as intrachain covalent staples that reinforce existing structure or induce knot-like conformations. In β-hairpins, their placement at non-H-bonding positions across antiparallel strands has proven useful for achieving fully folded positive controls. Here we report a new class of designed β-sheet peptide dimers with strand-central disulfides as a key element. We have found that the mere presence of a disulfide bond near the middle of a short peptide chain is sufficient to nucleate some antiparallel β-sheet structure; addition of β-capping units and other favorable cross-strand interactions yield hyperstable sheets. Strand-central cystines were found to be superior to the best designed reversing turns in terms of nucleating β-sheet structure formation. We have explored the limitations and possibilities of this technique (the use of disulfides as sheet nucleators), and we provide a set of rules and rationales for the application and further design of disulfide-tethered "turnless" β-sheets.

Thin current sheets observation by MMS during a near-Earth's magnetotail reconnection event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamura, R.; Varsani, A.; Nakamura, T.; Genestreti, K.; Plaschke, F.; Baumjohann, W.; Nagai, T.; Burch, J.; Cohen, I. J.; Ergun, R.; Fuselier, S. A.; Giles, B. L.; Le Contel, O.; Lindqvist, P. A.; Magnes, W.; Schwartz, S. J.; Strangeway, R. J.; Torbert, R. B.

2017-12-01

During summer 2017, the four spacecraft of the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission traversed the nightside magnetotail current sheet at an apogee of 25 RE. They detected a number of flow reversal events suggestive of the passage of the reconnection current sheet. Due to the mission's unprecedented high-time resolution and spatial separation well below the ion scales, structure of thin current sheets is well resolved both with plasma and field measurements. In this study we examine the detailed structure of thin current sheets during a flow reversal event from tailward flow to Earthward flow, when MMS crossed the center of the current sheet . We investigate the changes in the structure of the thin current sheet relative to the X-point based on multi-point analysis. We determine the motion and strength of the current sheet from curlometer calculations comparing these with currents obtained from the particle data. The observed structures of these current sheets are also compared with simulations.

History of the Greenland Ice Sheet: paleoclimatic insights

USGS Publications Warehouse

Alley, Richard B.; Andrews, John T.; Brigham-Grette, J.; Clarke, G.K.C.; Cuffey, Kurt M.; Fitzpatrick, J.J.; Funder, S.; Marshall, S.J.; Miller, G.H.; Mitrovica, J.X.; Muhs, D.R.; Otto-Bliesner, B. L.; Polyak, L.; White, J.W.C.

2010-01-01

Paleoclimatic records show that the GreenlandIce Sheet consistently has lost mass in response to warming, and grown in response to cooling. Such changes have occurred even at times of slow or zero sea-level change, so changing sea level cannot have been the cause of at least some of the ice-sheet changes. In contrast, there are no documented major ice-sheet changes that occurred independent of temperature changes. Moreover, snowfall has increased when the climate warmed, but the ice sheet lost mass nonetheless; increased accumulation in the ice sheet's center has not been sufficient to counteract increased melting and flow near the edges. Most documented forcings and ice-sheet responses spanned periods of several thousand years, but limited data also show rapid response to rapid forcings. In particular, regions near the ice margin have responded within decades. However, major changes of central regions of the ice sheet are thought to require centuries to millennia. The paleoclimatic record does not yet strongly constrain how rapidly a major shrinkage or nearly complete loss of the ice sheet could occur. The evidence suggests nearly total ice-sheet loss may result from warming of more than a few degrees above mean 20th century values, but this threshold is poorly defined (perhaps as little as 2 °C or more than 7 °C). Paleoclimatic records are sufficiently sketchy that the ice sheet may have grown temporarily in response to warming, or changes may have been induced by factors other than temperature, without having been recorded.

Plasmoid formation in the elongated current sheet during transient CHI on HIST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nagata, Masayoshi; Fujita, Akihiro; Matsui, Takahiro; Kikuchi, Yusuke; Fukumoto, Naoyuki; Kanki, Takashi

2016-10-01

The Transient-Coaxial Helicity Injection (T-CHI) is a promising candidate for the non-inductive plasma start-up on Spherical Torus (ST). The problem of the flux closure in the T-CHI is important and related to understand the physics of fast magnetic reconnection. The recent MHD simulation (F. Ebrahimi and R. Raman, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 205003 (2015)) on T-CHI for NSTX predicts the formation and breakup of an elongated Sweet-Parker (S-P) current sheet and a transient to plasmoid instability. According to this simulation, the reconnection rate based on the plasmoid instability is faster than that by S-P model and becomes nearly independent of the Lundquist number S. In this meeting, we will present that the formation of multiple X-points and plasmoids has been observed in T-CHI start-up plasmas on HIST. The stronger external guide (toroidal) magnetic field makes plasma less compressible, leading to slower reconnection time and longer current sheet. The experimental observation shows that 2/3 plasmoids are generated in the elongated current sheet with the narrow width comparable to the ion skin depth or the ion sound gyro-radius. The small plasmoids develop to a large-scale flux structure due to a current inward diffusion during the decay phase.

Acceleration Modes and Transitions in Pulsed Plasma Accelerators

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polzin, Kurt A.; Greve, Christine M.

2018-01-01

Pulsed plasma accelerators typically operate by storing energy in a capacitor bank and then discharging this energy through a gas, ionizing and accelerating it through the Lorentz body force. Two plasma accelerator types employing this general scheme have typically been studied: the gas-fed pulsed plasma thruster and the quasi-steady magnetoplasmadynamic (MPD) accelerator. The gas-fed pulsed plasma accelerator is generally represented as a completely transient device discharging in approximately 1-10 microseconds. When the capacitor bank is discharged through the gas, a current sheet forms at the breech of the thruster and propagates forward under a j (current density) by B (magnetic field) body force, entraining propellant it encounters. This process is sometimes referred to as detonation-mode acceleration because the current sheet representation approximates that of a strong shock propagating through the gas. Acceleration of the initial current sheet ceases when either the current sheet reaches the end of the device and is ejected or when the current in the circuit reverses, striking a new current sheet at the breech and depriving the initial sheet of additional acceleration. In the quasi-steady MPD accelerator, the pulse is lengthened to approximately 1 millisecond or longer and maintained at an approximately constant level during discharge. The time over which the transient phenomena experienced during startup typically occur is short relative to the overall discharge time, which is now long enough for the plasma to assume a relatively steady-state configuration. The ionized gas flows through a stationary current channel in a manner that is sometimes referred to as the deflagration-mode of operation. The plasma experiences electromagnetic acceleration as it flows through the current channel towards the exit of the device. A device that had a short pulse length but appeared to operate in a plasma acceleration regime different from the gas-fed pulsed plasma

Modeling the Self-Organized Critical Behavior of Earth's Plasma Sheet Reconnection Dynamics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klimas, A.; Uritsky, V.; Baker, D.

2006-05-01

Analyses of Polar UVI auroral image data (Uritsky et al. JGR, 2002; GRL, 2003, 2006) show that bright night- side high-latitude UV emissions exhibit so many of the key properties of systems in self-organized criticality that an alternate interpretation has become virtually impossible. It is now necessary to find and model the source of this behavior. We note that the most common models of self-organized criticality are numerical sandpiles. These are, at root, models that govern the transport of some quantity from a region where it is loaded to another where it is unloaded. Transport is enabled by the excitation of a local threshold instability; it is intermittent and bursty, and it exhibits a number of scale-free statistical properties. Searching for a system in the magnetosphere that is analogous and that, in addition, is known to produce auroral signatures, we focus on the reconnection dynamics of the plasma sheet. In our previous work, a driven reconnection model has been constructed and has been under study (Klimas et al. JGR, 2004; GRL 2005). The transport of electromagnetic (primarily magnetic) energy carried by the Poynting flux into the reconnection region of the model has been examined. All of the analysis techniques, and more, that have been applied to the auroral image data have also been applied to this Poynting flux. Here, we report new results showing that this model also exhibits so many of the key properties of systems in self-organized criticality that an alternate interpretation is implausible. Further, we find a strong correlation between these key properties of the model and those of the auroral UV emissions. We suggest that, in general, the driven reconnection model is an important step toward a realistic plasma physical model of self-organized criticality and we conclude, more specifically, that it is also a step in the right direction toward modeling the multiscale reconnection dynamics of the magnetotail.

Modeling the Self-organized Critical Behavior of the Plasma Sheet Reconnection Dynamics

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Klimas, Alex; Uritsky, Vadim; Baker, Daniel

2006-01-01

Analyses of Polar UVI auroral image data reviewed in our other presentation at this meeting (V. Uritsky, A. Klimas) show that bright night-side high-latitude UV emissions exhibit so many of the key properties of systems in self-organized criticality (SOC) that an alternate interpretation has become virtually impossible. It is now necessary to find and model the source of this behavior. We note that the most common models of self-organized criticality are numerical sandpiles. These are, at root, models that govern the transport of some quantity from a region where it is loaded to another where it is unloaded. Transport is enabled by the excitation of a local threshold instability; it is intermittent and bursty, and it exhibits a number of scale-free statistical properties. Searching for a system in the magnetosphere that is analogous and that, in addition, is known to produce auroral signatures, we focus on the reconnection dynamics of the plasma sheet. In our previous work, a driven reconnection model has been constructed and has been under study. The transport of electromagnetic (primarily magnetic) energy carried by the Poynting flux into the reconnection region of the model has been examined. All of the analysis techniques, and more, that have been applied to the auroral image data have also been applied to this Poynting flux. Here, we report new results showing that this model also exhibits so many of the key properties of systems in self-organized criticality that an alternate interpretation is implausible. Further, we find a strong correlation between these key properties of the model and those of the auroral UV emissions. We suggest that, in general, the driven reconnection model is an important step toward a realistic plasma physical model of self-organized criticality and we conclude, more specifically, that it is also a step in the right direction toward modeling the multiscale reconnection dynamics of the magnetotail.

Plasma cholinesterase levels of mountain plovers (Charadrius montanus) wintering in central California, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Iko, W.M.; Archuleta, A.S.; Knopf, F.L.

2003-01-01

Declines of over 60% in mountain plover (Charadrius montanus) populations over the past 30 years have made it a species of concern throughout its current range and a proposed species for listing under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Wintering mountain plovers spend considerable time on freshly plowed agricultural fields where they may potentially be exposed to anticholinesterase pesticides. Because of the population status and wintering ecology of plovers, the objectives of our study were to use nondestructive methods to report baseline plasma cholinesterase (ChE) levels in free-ranging mountain plovers wintering in California, USA, and to assess whether sampled birds showed signs of ChE inhibition related to anticholinesterase chemical exposure. We compared plasma ChE activity for mountain plovers sampled from the Carrizo Plain (an area relatively free of anticholinesterase pesticide use) with similar measures for plovers from the Central Valley (where anticholinesterase pesticides are widely used). Analyses for ChE inhibition indicated that none of the plovers had been recently exposed to these chemicals. However, mean ChE levels of plovers from the Central Valley were significantly higher (32%) than levels reported for plovers from the Carrizo Plain. This result differs from our original assumption of higher exposure risk to mountain plovers in the Central Valley but does suggest that some effect is occurring in the ChE activity of mountain plovers wintering in California.

Balance of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

For several decades, measurements of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet showed it to be retreating rapidly. But new data derived from satellite-borne radar sensors show the ice sheet to be growing. Changing Antarctic ice sheets remains an area of high scientific interest, particularly in light of recent global warming concerns. These new findings are significant because scientists estimate that sea level would rise 5-6 meters (16-20 feet) if the ice sheet collapsed into the sea. Do these new measurements signal the end of the ice sheet's 10,000-year retreat? Or, are these new satellite data simply much more accurate than the sparse ice core and surface measurements that produced the previous estimates? Another possibility is that the ice accumulation may simply indicate that the ice sheet naturally expands and retreats in regular cycles. Cryologists will grapple with these questions, and many others, as they examine the new data. The image above depicts the region of West Antarctica where scientists measured ice speed. The fast-moving central ice streams are shown in red. Slower tributaries feeding the ice streams are shown in blue. Green areas depict slow-moving, stable areas. Thick black lines depict the areas that collect snowfall to feed their respective ice streams. Reference: Ian Joughin and Slawek Tulaczyk Science Jan 18 2002: 476-480. Image courtesy RADARSAT Antarctic Mapping Project

Field-Aligned Current at Plasma Sheet Boundary Layers During Storm Time: Cluster Observation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shi, J.; Cheng, Z.; Zhang, T.; Dunlop, M.; Liu, Z.

2007-05-01

The magnetic field data from the FGM instruments on board the four Cluster spacecrafts were used to study Field Aligned Current (FAC) at the Plasma Sheet Boundary Layers (PSBLs) with the so called "curlometer technique". We analyzed the date obtained in 2001 in the magnetotail and only two cases were found in the storm time. One (August 17, 2001) occurred from sudden commencement to main phase, and the other (October 1, 2001) lay in the main phase and recovery phase. The relationship between the FAC density and the AE index was studied and the results are shown as follows. (1) In the sudden commencement and the main phase the density of the FAC increases obviously, in the recovery phase the density of the FAC increases slightly. (2) From the sudden commencement to the initial stage of the main phase the FAC increases with decreasing AE index and decreases with increasing AE index. From the late stage of the main phase to initial stage of the recovery phase, the FAC increases with increasing AE index and decreases with decreasing AE index. In the late stage of the recovery phase the disturbance of the FAC is not so violent, so that the FAC varying with the AE index is not very obvious.

Spatial and Temporal Extent of Ion Spectral Structures at the Inner Edge of the Plasma Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferradas, C.; Reeves, G. D.; Zhang, J.; Spence, H. E.; Kistler, L. M.; Larsen, B.; Skoug, R. M.; Funsten, H. O.

2017-12-01

Several ion spectral structures are observed near the inner edge of the plasma sheet and constitute the signatures of ion drift and loss in the highly dynamic environment of the inner magnetosphere. Their study helps us understand ion access and losses in this region. Several studies have found that these structures vary with geomagnetic activity, local time, and ion species, but their spatial and temporal extent remain undetermined. We use data from the Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron (HOPE) mass spectrometers onboard the Van Allen Probes to analyze the spectral structures in the energy range of 1- 50 keV. HOPE measurements on both Van Allen Probes spacecraft enable us to resolve the extent of these ion structures in space and time. As the structures respond to changes in the convection electric field on a variety of time scales, the lapping of the two spacecraft on time scales of minutes to hours helps determine their spatial and temporal evolution.

Streaming sausage, kink and tearing instabilities in a current sheet with applications to the earth's magnetotail

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, L. C.; Wang, S.; Wei, C. Q.; Tsurutani, B. T.

1988-01-01

This paper investigates the growth rates and eigenmode structures of the streaming sausage, kink, and tearing instabilities in a current sheet with a super-Alfvenic flow. The growth rates and eigenmode structures are first considered in the ideal incompressible limit by using a four-layer model, as well as a more realistic case in which all plasma parameters and the magnetic field vary continuously along the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field and plasma flow. An initial-value method is applied to obtain the growth rate and eigenmode profiles of the fastest growing mode, which is either the sausage mode or kink mode. It is shown that, in the earth's magnetotail, where super-Alfvenic plasma flows are observed in the plasma sheet and the ratio between the plasma and magnetic pressures far away from the current layer is about 0.1-0.3 in the lobes, the streaming sausage and streaming tearing instabilities, but not kink modes, are likely to occur.

Plasma observations near Jupiter - Initial results from Voyager 2

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bridge, H. S.; Belcher, J. W.; Lazarus, A. J.; Sullivan, J. D.; Bagenal, F.; Mcnutt, R. L., Jr.; Ogilvie, K. W.; Scudder, J. D.; Sittler, E. D.; Vasyliunas, V. M.

1979-01-01

A preliminary report is presented of the results obtained by the Voyager 2 plasma experiment during the encounter of Voyager 2 with Jupiter from about 100 Jupiter radii before periapsis to about 300 Jupiter radii after periapsis, the instrument being identical to that on Voyager 1. The discussion covers the following: (1) the crossings of the bow shock and magnetopause observed on the inbound and outbound passes; (2) the radial variation of plasma properties in the magnetosphere; (3) variations in plasma properties near Ganymede; (4) corotation and composition of the plasma in the dayside magnetosphere; and (5) plasma sheet crossings observed on the inbound and outbound passes. From the planetary spin modulation of the plasma-electron intensity it is inferred that the plasma sheet is centered at the dipole magnetic equator out to a distance of 40-50 Jupiter radii and deviates from it toward the rotational equator at larger distances.

Spheromaks, solar prominences, and Alfvén instability of current sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bellan, P. M.; Yee, J.; Hansen, J. F.

2001-06-01

Three related efforts underway at Caltech are discussed: experimental studies of spheromak formation, experimental simulation of solar prominences, and Alfvén wave instability of current sheets. Spheromak formation has been studied by using a coaxial magnetized plasma gun to inject helicity-bearing plasma into a very large vacuum chamber. The spheromak is formed without a flux conserver and internal λ profiles have been measured. Spheromak-based technology has been used to make laboratory plasmas having the topology and dynamics of solar prominences. The physics of these structures is closely related to spheromaks (low β, force-free, relaxed state equilibrium) but the boundary conditions and symmetry are different. Like spheromaks, the equilibrium involves a balance between hoop forces, pinch forces, and magnetic tension. It is shown theoretically that if a current sheet becomes sufficiently thin (of the order of the ion skin depth or smaller), it becomes kinetically unstable with respect to the emission of Alfvén waves and it is proposed that this wave emission is an important aspect of the dynamics of collisionless reconnection.

Pressure balance inconsistency exhibited in a statistical model of magnetospheric plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Garner, T. W.; Wolf, R. A.; Spiro, R. W.; Thomsen, M. F.; Korth, H.

2003-08-01

While quantitative theories of plasma flow from the magnetotail to the inner magnetosphere typically assume adiabatic convection, it has long been understood that these convection models tend to overestimate the plasma pressure in the inner magnetosphere. This phenomenon is called the pressure crisis or the pressure balance inconsistency. In order to analyze it in a new and more detailed manner we utilize an empirical model of the proton and electron distribution functions in the near-Earth plasma sheet (-50 RE < X < -10 RE), which uses the [1989] magnetic field model and a plasma sheet representation based upon several previously published statistical studies. We compare our results to a statistically derived particle distribution function at geosynchronous orbit. In this analysis the particle distribution function is characterized by the isotropic energy invariant λ = EV2/3, where E is the particle's kinetic energy and V is the magnetic flux tube volume. The energy invariant is conserved in guiding center drift under the assumption of strong, elastic pitch angle scattering. If, in addition, loss is negligible, the phase space density f(λ) is also conserved along the same path. The statistical model indicates that f(λ, ?) is approximately independent of X for X ≤ -35 RE but decreases with increasing X for X ≥ -35 RE. The tailward gradient of f(λ, ?) might be attributed to gradient/curvature drift for large isotropic energy invariants but not for small invariants. The tailward gradient of the distribution function indicates a violation of the adiabatic drift condition in the plasma sheet. It also confirms the existence of a "number crisis" in addition to the pressure crisis. In addition, plasma sheet pressure gradients, when crossed with the gradient of flux tube volume computed from the [1989] magnetic field model, indicate Region 1 currents on the dawn and dusk sides of the outer plasma sheet.

The Giacobini-Zinner magnetotail - Tail configuration and current sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mccomas, D. J.; Gosling, J. T.; Bame, S. J.; Slavin, J. A.; Smith, E. J.

1987-01-01

The configuration and properties of the draped Giacobini-Zinner magnetotail and its field-reversing current sheet are studied using the combined magnetic field and plasma electron data sets obtained from the International Cometary Explorer spacecraft when it traversed (in October 1985) the comet 7800 km downstream of the nucleus. The MHD equations are used to derive pressure balance and plasma acceleration conditions. The implications of the various properties derived are examined, particularly with regard to the upstream near-nucleus region where the tail formation process occurs.

Experimental investigation of possible geomagnetic feedback from energetic (0.1 to 16 keV) terrestrial O(+) ions in the magnetotail current sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lennartsson, O. W.; Klumpar, D. M.; Shelley, E. G.; Quinn, J. M.

1994-01-01

Data from energetic ion mass spectrometers on the ISEE 1 and AMPTE/CCE spacecraft are combined with geomagnetic and solar indices to investigate, in a statistical fashion, whether energized O(+) ions of terrestrial origin constitute a source of feedback which triggers or amplifies geomagnetic activity as has been suggested in the literature, by contributing a destabilizing mass increase in the magnetotail current sheet. The ISEE 1 data (0.1-16 keV/e) provide in situ observations of the O(+) concentration in the central plasma sheet, inside of 23 R(sub E), during the rising and maximum phases of solar cycle 21, as well as inner magnetosphere data from same period. The CCE data (0.1-17 keV/e) taken during the subsequent solar minimum all within 9 R(sub E). provide a reference for long-term variations in the magnetosphere O(+) content. Statistical correlations between the ion data and the indices, and between different indices. all point in the same direction: there is probably no feedback specific to the O(+) ions, in spite of the fact that they often contribute most of the ion mass density in the tail current sheet.

Paper-based plasma sanitizers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, Jingjin; Chen, Qiang; Suresh, Poornima; Roy, Subrata; White, James F.; Mazzeo, Aaron D.

2017-05-01

This work describes disposable plasma generators made from metallized paper. The fabricated plasma generators with layered and patterned sheets of paper provide a simple and flexible format for dielectric barrier discharge to create atmospheric plasma without an applied vacuum. The porosity of paper allows gas to permeate its bulk volume and fuel plasma, while plasma-induced forced convection cools the substrate. When electrically driven with oscillating peak-to-peak potentials of ±1 to ±10 kV, the paper-based devices produced both volume and surface plasmas capable of killing microbes. The plasma sanitizers deactivated greater than 99% of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and greater than 99.9% of Escherichia coli cells with 30 s of noncontact treatment. Characterization of plasma generated from the sanitizers revealed a detectable level of UV-C (1.9 nWṡcm-2ṡnm-1), modest surface temperature (60 °C with 60 s of activation), and a high level of ozone (13 ppm with 60 s of activation). These results deliver insights into the mechanisms and suitability of paper-based substrates for active antimicrobial sanitization with scalable, flexible sheets. In addition, this work shows how paper-based generators are conformable to curved surfaces, appropriate for kirigami-like “stretchy” structures, compatible with user interfaces, and suitable for sanitization of microbes aerosolized onto a surface. In general, these disposable plasma generators represent progress toward biodegradable devices based on flexible renewable materials, which may impact the future design of protective garments, skin-like sensors for robots or prosthetics, and user interfaces in contaminated environments.

Paper-based plasma sanitizers

PubMed Central

Xie, Jingjin; Chen, Qiang; Suresh, Poornima; Roy, Subrata; White, James F.

2017-01-01

This work describes disposable plasma generators made from metallized paper. The fabricated plasma generators with layered and patterned sheets of paper provide a simple and flexible format for dielectric barrier discharge to create atmospheric plasma without an applied vacuum. The porosity of paper allows gas to permeate its bulk volume and fuel plasma, while plasma-induced forced convection cools the substrate. When electrically driven with oscillating peak-to-peak potentials of ±1 to ±10 kV, the paper-based devices produced both volume and surface plasmas capable of killing microbes. The plasma sanitizers deactivated greater than 99% of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and greater than 99.9% of Escherichia coli cells with 30 s of noncontact treatment. Characterization of plasma generated from the sanitizers revealed a detectable level of UV-C (1.9 nW⋅cm−2⋅nm−1), modest surface temperature (60 °C with 60 s of activation), and a high level of ozone (13 ppm with 60 s of activation). These results deliver insights into the mechanisms and suitability of paper-based substrates for active antimicrobial sanitization with scalable, flexible sheets. In addition, this work shows how paper-based generators are conformable to curved surfaces, appropriate for kirigami-like “stretchy” structures, compatible with user interfaces, and suitable for sanitization of microbes aerosolized onto a surface. In general, these disposable plasma generators represent progress toward biodegradable devices based on flexible renewable materials, which may impact the future design of protective garments, skin-like sensors for robots or prosthetics, and user interfaces in contaminated environments. PMID:28461476

Paper-based plasma sanitizers.

PubMed

Xie, Jingjin; Chen, Qiang; Suresh, Poornima; Roy, Subrata; White, James F; Mazzeo, Aaron D

2017-05-16

This work describes disposable plasma generators made from metallized paper. The fabricated plasma generators with layered and patterned sheets of paper provide a simple and flexible format for dielectric barrier discharge to create atmospheric plasma without an applied vacuum. The porosity of paper allows gas to permeate its bulk volume and fuel plasma, while plasma-induced forced convection cools the substrate. When electrically driven with oscillating peak-to-peak potentials of ±1 to ±10 kV, the paper-based devices produced both volume and surface plasmas capable of killing microbes. The plasma sanitizers deactivated greater than 99% of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and greater than 99.9% of Escherichia coli cells with 30 s of noncontact treatment. Characterization of plasma generated from the sanitizers revealed a detectable level of UV-C (1.9 nW⋅cm -2 ⋅nm -1 ), modest surface temperature (60 °C with 60 s of activation), and a high level of ozone (13 ppm with 60 s of activation). These results deliver insights into the mechanisms and suitability of paper-based substrates for active antimicrobial sanitization with scalable, flexible sheets. In addition, this work shows how paper-based generators are conformable to curved surfaces, appropriate for kirigami-like "stretchy" structures, compatible with user interfaces, and suitable for sanitization of microbes aerosolized onto a surface. In general, these disposable plasma generators represent progress toward biodegradable devices based on flexible renewable materials, which may impact the future design of protective garments, skin-like sensors for robots or prosthetics, and user interfaces in contaminated environments.

A current disruption mechanism in the neutral sheet for triggering substorm expansions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lui, A. T. Y.; Mankofsky, A.; Chang, C.-L.; Papadopoulos, K.; Wu, C. S.

1989-01-01

Two main areas were addressed in support of an effort to understand mechanism responsible for the broadband electrostatic noise (BEN) observed in the magnetotail. The first area concerns the generation of BEN in the boundary layer region of the magnetotail whereas the second area concerns the occassional presence of BEN in the neutral sheet region. For the generation of BEN in the boundary layer region, a hybrid simulation code was developed to perform reliable longtime, quiet, highly resolved simulations of field aligned electron and ion beam flow. The result of the simulation shows that broadband emissions cannot be generated by beam-plasma instability if realistic values of the ion beam parameters are used. The waves generated from beam-plasma instability are highly discrete and are of high frequencies. For the plasma sheet boundary layer condition, the wave frequencies are in the kHz range, which is incompatible with the observation that the peak power in BEN occur in the 10's of Hz range. It was found that the BEN characteristics are more consistent with lower hybrid drift instability. For the occasional presence of BEN in the neutral sheet region, a linear analysis of the kinetic cross-field streaming instability appropriate to the neutral sheet condition just prior to onset of substorm expansion was performed. By solving numerically the dispersion relation, it was found that the instability has a growth time comparable to the onset time scale of substorm onset. The excited waves have a mixed polarization in the lower hybrid frequency range. The imposed drift driving the instability corresponds to unmagnetized ions undergoing current sheet acceleration in the presence of a cross-tail electric field. The required electric field strength is in the 10 mV/m range which is well within the observed electric field values detected in the neutral sheet during substorms. This finding can potentially account for the disruption of cross-tail current and its diversion to

Time Evolution of the Macroscopic Characteristics of a Thin Current Sheet in the Course of Its Formation in the Earth's Magnetotail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Domrin, V. I.; Malova, H. V.; Popov, V. Yu.

2018-04-01

A numerical model is developed that allows tracing the time evolution of a current sheet from a relatively thick current configuration with isotropic distributions of the pressure and temperature in an extremely thin current sheet, which plays a key role in geomagnetic processes. Such a configuration is observed in the Earth's magnetotail in the stage preceding a large-scale geomagnetic disturbance (substorm). Thin current sheets are reservoirs of the free energy released during geomagnetic disturbances. The time evolution of the components of the pressure tensor caused by changes in the structure of the current sheet is investigated. It is shown that the pressure tensor in the current sheet evolves in two stages. In the first stage, a current sheet with a thickness of eight to ten proton Larmor radii forms. This stage is characterized by the plasma drift toward the current sheet and the Earth and can be described in terms of the Chu-Goldberger-Low approximation. In the second stage, an extremely thin current sheet with an anisotropic plasma pressure tensor forms, due to which the system is maintained in an equilibrium state. Estimates of the characteristic time of the system evolution agree with available experimental data.

Drift paths of ions composing multiple-nose spectral structures near the inner edge of the plasma sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ferradas, C. P.; Zhang, J.-C.; Spence, H. E.; Kistler, L. M.; Larsen, B. A.; Reeves, G.; Skoug, R.; Funsten, H.

2016-11-01

We present a case study of the H+, He+, and O+ multiple-nose structures observed by the Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron instrument on board Van Allen Probe A over one complete orbit on 28 September 2013. Nose structures are observed near the inner edge of the plasma sheet and constitute the signatures of ion drift in the highly dynamic environment of the inner magnetosphere. We find that the multiple noses are intrinsically associated with variations in the solar wind. Backward ion drift path tracings show new details of the drift trajectories of these ions; i.e., multiple noses are formed by ions with a short drift time from the assumed source location to the inner region and whose trajectories (1) encircle the Earth different number of times or (2) encircle the Earth equal number of times but with different drift time, before reaching the observation site.

Spectral and Imaging Observations of a Current Sheet Region in a Small-scale Magnetic Reconnection Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Zhike; Yan, Xiaoli; Yang, Liheng; Wang, Jincheng; Feng, Song; Li, Qiaoling; Ji, Kaifan; Zhao, Li

2018-05-01

We report a possible current sheet region associated with a small-scale magnetic reconnection event by using the spectral and imaging observations of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the magnetograms obtained by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on 2016 August 08. The length and width of the current sheet region are estimated to be from 1.4 ± 0.1 Mm to 3.0 ± 0.3 Mm and from 0.34 ± 0.01 Mm to 0.64 ± 0.09 Mm, respectively. The evolutions of the length of the current sheet region are positively correlated with that of the width. These measurements are among the smallest reported. When the IRIS slit scans the current sheet region, the spectroscopic observations show that the Si IV line is broadened in the current sheet region and the plasma has a blueshifted feature at the middle and a redshifted feature at the ends of the current sheet region. The maximum measured blueshifted and redshifted Doppler velocities are ‑20.8 ± 0.9 and 34.1 ± 0.4 km s‑1, respectively. Additionally, the electron number densities of the plasma in the current sheet region are computed to be around 1011 cm‑3 based on the spectrums of the two O IV lines. The emergence, movement, and cancellation of a small sunspot with negative polarity are observed during the formation and shift of the current sheet region. We suggest that the occurrence and evolution of the magnetic reconnection are driven by the movement of the small sunspot in the photosphere.

Dynamical and Physical Properties of a Post-Coronal Mass Ejection Current Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ko, Yuan-Kuen; Raymond, John C.; Lin, Jun; Lawrence, Gareth; Li, Jing; Fludra, Andrzej

2003-01-01

In the eruptive process of the Kopp-Pneuman type, the closed magnetic field is stretched by the eruption so much that it is usually believed to be " open " to infinity. Formation of the current sheet in such a configuration makes it possible for the energy in the coronal magnetic field to quickly convert into thermal and kinetic energies and cause significant observational consequences, such as growing postflare/CME loop system in the corona, separating bright flare ribbons in the chromosphere, and fast ejections of the plasma and the magnetic flux. An eruption on 2002 January 8 provides us a good opportunity to look into these observational signatures of and place constraints on the theories of eruptions. The event started with the expansion of a magnetic arcade over an active region, developed into a coronal mass ejection (CME), and left some thin streamer-like structures with successively growing loop systems beneath them. The plasma outflow and the highly ionized states of the plasma inside these streamer-like structures, as well as the growing loops beneath them, lead us to conclude that these structures are associated with a magnetic reconnection site, namely, the current sheet, of this eruptive process. We combine the data from the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer, Large Angle and Spectrometric Coronagraph Experiment, EUV Imaging Telescope, and Coronal Diagnostic Spectrometer on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory, as well is from the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory Mark IV K-coronameter, to investigate the morphological and dynamical properties of this event, as well as the physical properties of the current sheet. The velocity and acceleration of the CME reached up to 1800 km/s and 1 km/sq s, respectively. The acceleration is found to occur mainly at the lower corona (<2.76 Solar Radius). The post-CME loop systems showed behaviors of both postflare loops (upward motion with decreasing speed) and soft X-ray giant arches (upward motion with constant

Onset of magnetic reconnection in a weakly collisional, high- β plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alt, Andrew; Kunz, Matthew

2017-10-01

In a magnetized, weakly collisional plasma, the magnetic moment of the constituent particles is an adiabatic invariant. An increase of the magnetic-field strength in such a plasma thus leads to an increase in the thermal pressure perpendicular to the field lines. Above a β-dependent threshold, this pressure anisotropy drives the mirror instability, which produces strong distortions in the field lines and traps particles on ion-Larmor scales. The impact of this instability on magnetic reconnection is investigated using simple analytical and numerical models for the formation of a current sheet and the associated production of pressure anisotropy. The difficulty in maintaining an isotropic, Maxwellian particle distribution during the formation and subsequent thinning of a current sheet in a weakly collisional plasma, coupled with the low threshold for the mirror instability in a high- β plasma, imply that the topology of reconnecting magnetic fields can radically differ from the standard Harris-sheet profile often used in kinetic simulations of collisionless reconnection. Depending on the rate of current-sheet formation, this mirror-induced disruption may occur before standard tearing modes are able to develop. This work was supported by U.S. DOE contract DE-AC02-09CH11466.

Simulating the interplay between plasma transport, electric field, and magnetic field in the near-earth nightside magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gkioulidou, Malamati

The convection electric field resulting from the coupling of the Earth's magnetosphere with the solar wind and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) drives plasma in the tail plasma sheet earthward. This transport and the resulting energy storage in the near Earth plasma sheet are important for setting up the conditions that lead to major space weather disturbances, such as storms and substorms. Penetration of plasma sheet particles into the near-Earth magnetosphere in response to enhanced convection is crucial to the development of the Region 2 field-aligned current system and large-scale magnetosphere-ionosphere (M-I) coupling, which results in the shielding of the convection electric field. In addition to the electric field, plasma transport is also strongly affected by the magnetic field, which is distinctly different from dipole field in the inner plasma sheet and changes with plasma pressure in maintaining force balance. The goal of this dissertation is to investigate how the plasma transport into the inner magnetosphere is affected by the interplay between plasma, electric field and magnetic field. For this purpose, we conduct simulations using the Rice Convection Model (RCM), which self-consistently calculates the electric field resulting from M-I coupling. In order to quantitatively evaluate the interplay, we improved the RCM simulations by establishing realistic plasma sheet particle sources, by incorporating it with a modified Dungey force balance magnetic field solver (RCM-Dungey runs), and by adopting more realistic electron loss rates. We found that plasma sheet particle sources strongly affect the shielding of the convection electric field, with a hotter and more tenuous plasma sheet resulting in less shielding than a colder and denser one and thus in more earthward penetration of the plasma sheet. The Harang reversal, which is closely associated with the shielding of the convection electric field and the earthward penetration of low-energy protons, is

The Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment and Plasma Source Instrument

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Moore, T. E.; Chappell, C. R.; Chandler, M. O.; Fields, S. A.; Pollock, C. J.; Reasoner, D. L.; Young, D. T.; Burch, J. L.; Eaker, N.; Waite, J. H., Jr.;

Electromagnetic tornadoes in space

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang, T.; Crew, G.B.; Retterer, J.M.

1988-01-01

The exotic phenomenon of energetic-ion conic formation by plasma waves in the magnetosphere is considered. Two particular transverse heating mechanisms are reviewed in detail; lower-hybrid energization of ions in the boundary layer of the plasma sheet and electromagnetic ion cyclotron resonance heating in the central region of the plasma sheet. Mean particle calculations, plasma simulations and analytical treatments of the heating processes are described.

Electromagnetic tornadoes in space. Ion conics along auroral field lines generated by lower hybrid waves and electromagnetic turbulence in the ion-cyclotron range of frequencies

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chang, T.; Crew, G.B.; Retterer, J.M.

1988-01-01

The exotic phenomenon of energetic ion-conic formation by plasma waves in the magnetosphere is considered. Two particular transverse heating mechanisms are reviewed in detail: lower-hybrid energization of ions in the boundary layer of the plasma sheet, and electromagnetic ion cyclotron resonance heating in the central region of the plasma sheet. Mean particle calculations, plasma simulations, and analytical treatments of the heating processes are described.

Generation and characterization of ultrathin free-flowing liquid sheets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Koralek, Jake D.; Kim, Jongjin B.; Bruza, Petr

The physics and chemistry of liquid solutions play a central role in science, and our understanding of life on Earth. Unfortunately, key tools for interrogating aqueous systems, such as infrared and soft X-ray spectroscopy, cannot readily be applied because of strong absorption in water. Here we use gas-dynamic forces to generate free-flowing, sub-micron, liquid sheets which are two orders of magnitude thinner than anything previously reported. Optical, infrared, and X-ray spectroscopies are used to characterize the sheets, which are found to be tunable in thickness from over 1 μm down to less than 20 nm, which corresponds to fewer thanmore » 100 water molecules thick. At this thickness, aqueous sheets can readily transmit photons across the spectrum, leading to potentially transformative applications in infrared, X-ray, electron spectroscopies and beyond. Lastly, the ultrathin sheets are stable for days in vacuum, and we demonstrate their use at free-electron laser and synchrotron light sources.« less

Generation and characterization of ultrathin free-flowing liquid sheets

DOE PAGES

Koralek, Jake D.; Kim, Jongjin B.; Bruza, Petr; ...

2018-04-10

The physics and chemistry of liquid solutions play a central role in science, and our understanding of life on Earth. Unfortunately, key tools for interrogating aqueous systems, such as infrared and soft X-ray spectroscopy, cannot readily be applied because of strong absorption in water. Here we use gas-dynamic forces to generate free-flowing, sub-micron, liquid sheets which are two orders of magnitude thinner than anything previously reported. Optical, infrared, and X-ray spectroscopies are used to characterize the sheets, which are found to be tunable in thickness from over 1 μm down to less than 20 nm, which corresponds to fewer thanmore » 100 water molecules thick. At this thickness, aqueous sheets can readily transmit photons across the spectrum, leading to potentially transformative applications in infrared, X-ray, electron spectroscopies and beyond. Lastly, the ultrathin sheets are stable for days in vacuum, and we demonstrate their use at free-electron laser and synchrotron light sources.« less

Irish Ice Sheet dynamics during deglaciation of the central Irish Midlands: Evidence of ice streaming and surging from airborne LiDAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Delaney, Catherine A.; McCarron, Stephen; Davis, Stephen

2018-04-01

High resolution digital terrain models (DTMs) generated from airborne LiDAR data and supplemented by field evidence are used to map glacial landform assemblages dating from the last glaciation (Midlandian glaciation; OI stages 2-3) in the central Irish Midlands. The DTMs reveal previously unrecognised low-amplitude landforms, including crevasse-squeeze ridges and mega-scale glacial lineations overprinted by conduit fills leading to ice-marginal subaqueous deposits. We interpret this landform assemblage as evidence for surging behaviour during ice recession. The data indicate that two separate phases of accelerated ice flow were followed by ice sheet stagnation during overall deglaciation. The second surge event was followed by a subglacial outburst flood, forming an intricate esker and crevasse-fill network. The data provide the first clear evidence that ice flow direction was eastward along the eastern watershed of the Shannon River basin, at odds with previous models, and raise the possibility that an ice stream existed in this area. Our work demonstrates the potential for airborne LiDAR surveys to produce detailed paleoglaciological reconstructions and to enhance our understanding of complex palaeo-ice sheet dynamics.

Asymmetry of the Martian Current Sheet in a Multi-fluid MHD Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Panoncillo, S. G.; Egan, H. L.; Dong, C.; Connerney, J. E. P.; Brain, D. A.; Jakosky, B. M.

2017-12-01

The solar wind carries interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) lines toward Mars, where they drape around the planet's conducting ionosphere, creating a current sheet behind the planet where the magnetic field has opposite polarity on either side. In its simplest form, the current sheet is often thought of as symmetric, extending behind the planet along the Mars-Sun line. Observations and model simulations, however, demonstrate that this idealized representation is only an approximation, and the actual scenario is much more complex. The current sheet can have 3D structure, move back and forth, and be situated dawnward or duskward of the Mars-Sun line. In this project, we utilized a library of global plasma model results for Mars consisting of a collection of multi-fluid MHD simulations where solar max/min, sub-solar longitude, and the orbital position of Mars are varied individually. The model includes Martian crustal fields, and was run for identical steady solar wind conditions. This library was created for the purpose of comparing model results to MAVEN data; we looked at the results of this model library to investigate current sheet asymmetries. By altering one variable at a time we were able to measure how these variables influence the location of the current sheet. We found that the current sheet is typically shifted toward the dusk side of the planet, and that modeled asymmetries are especially prevalent during solar min. Previous model studies that lack crustal fields have found that, for a Parker spiral IMF, the current sheet will shift dawnward, while our results typically show the opposite. This could expose certain limitations in the models used, or it could reveal an interaction between the solar wind and the plasma environment of Mars that has not yet been explored. MAVEN data may be compared to the model results to confirm the sense of the modeled asymmetry. These results help us to probe the physics controlling the Martian magnetotail and atmospheric

Drift paths of ions composing multiple-nose spectral structures near the inner edge of the plasma sheet

DOE PAGES

Ferradas, C. P.; Zhang, J. -C.; Spence, H. E.; ...

2016-11-05

Here in this paper, we present a case study of the H +, He +, and O + multiple-nose structures observed by the Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron instrument on board Van Allen Probe A over one complete orbit on 28 September 2013. Nose structures are observed near the inner edge of the plasma sheet and constitute the signatures of ion drift in the highly dynamic environment of the inner magnetosphere. We find that the multiple noses are intrinsically associated with variations in the solar wind. Backward ion drift path tracings show new details of the drift trajectories of thesemore » ions; i.e., multiple noses are formed by ions with a short drift time from the assumed source location to the inner region and whose trajectories (1) encircle the Earth different number of times or (2) encircle the Earth equal number of times but with different drift time, before reaching the observation site.« less

Drift paths of ions composing multiple-nose spectral structures near the inner edge of the plasma sheet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ferradas, C. P.; Zhang, J. -C.; Spence, H. E.

Here in this paper, we present a case study of the H +, He +, and O + multiple-nose structures observed by the Helium, Oxygen, Proton, and Electron instrument on board Van Allen Probe A over one complete orbit on 28 September 2013. Nose structures are observed near the inner edge of the plasma sheet and constitute the signatures of ion drift in the highly dynamic environment of the inner magnetosphere. We find that the multiple noses are intrinsically associated with variations in the solar wind. Backward ion drift path tracings show new details of the drift trajectories of thesemore » ions; i.e., multiple noses are formed by ions with a short drift time from the assumed source location to the inner region and whose trajectories (1) encircle the Earth different number of times or (2) encircle the Earth equal number of times but with different drift time, before reaching the observation site.« less

Geochemistry of pillow lavas and sheeted dikes from Nain and Ashin ophiolites (Central Iran)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saccani, Emilio; Pirnia Naeini, Tahmineh; Torabi, Ghodrat

2017-04-01

An extensive, worldwide database on the geochemistry of basalts from well-known tectonic settings is available. Knowing the chemistry of basalts on one hand, and the tectonic setting of their origin on the other hand, resulted in the development of tectonic discrimination diagrams. Recently developed discrimination diagrams allow us to determine the tectonic setting of volcanics with almost neglectable probability of misclassification (<1%). One major application of these diagrams lies in discriminating the tectonic setting of formation of ophiolites, particularly in poorly-known areas. A good example is the Inner ophiolite belt of Iran, located in Central Iran. The geodynamic significance of the inner ophiolites is still poorly known. From the Inner ophiolites, either no volcanic section is reported, or, the data are highly limited and poorly-reliable due the high degree of alteration of the studied samples. We have been able to overcome this problem by spotting relatively well-preserved outcrops of pillow lavas and sheeted dikes from two ophiolite mélanges of Central Iran, Nain and Ashin ophiolites. The two mélanges are located in the west of Central-East Iranian microplate. In total, 28 samples have been collected from the pillow lavas and sheeted dikes outcrops. The studied volcanic rocks consist mainly of basalts and minor ferrobasalts and basaltic andesites, all showing a clear subalkaline nature (e.g., Nb/Y = 0.03-0.21). Two samples from the Nain ophiolite are characterized by N-MORB normalized incompatible element patterns showing marked Th positive anomalies and Ta, Nb, Ti negative anomalies. Chondrite-normalized REE patterns show LREE/HREE (light REE/heavy REE) enrichment, with LaN/YbN=3.2-4.3. These rocks are chemically similar to the calc-alkaline basalts (CAB), as also highlighted by many discrimination diagrams. These rocks are interpreted to have generated in a cordilleran-type volcanic arc setting. All other samples from both the Nain and Ashin

Linear Tidal Vestige Found in the WM Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lee, Jounghun; Kim, Suk; Rey, Soo-Chang

2018-06-01

We present a vestige of the linear tidal influence on the spin orientations of the constituent galaxies of the WM sheet discovered in the vicinity of the Virgo Cluster and the Local Void. The WM sheet is chosen as an optimal target since it has a rectangular parallelepiped-like shape whose three sides are in parallel with the supergalactic Cartesian axes. Determining three probability density functions of the absolute values of the supergalactic Cartesian components of the spin vectors of the WM sheet galaxies, we investigate their alignments with the principal directions of the surrounding large-scale tidal field. When the WM sheet galaxies located in the central region within the distance of 2 h ‑1 Mpc are excluded, the spin vectors of the remaining WM sheet galaxies are found to be weakly aligned, strongly aligned, and strongly anti-aligned with the minor, intermediate, and major principal directions of the surrounding large-scale tidal field, respectively. To examine whether or not the origin of the observed alignment tendency from the WM sheet is the linear tidal effect, we infer the eigenvalues of the linear tidal tensor from the axial ratios of the WM sheet with the help of the Zeldovich approximation and conduct a full analytic evaluation of the prediction of the linear tidal torque model for the three probability density functions. A detailed comparison between the analytical and the observational results reveals a good quantitative agreement not only in the behaviors but also in the amplitudes of the three probability density functions.

Plasma observations near saturn: initial results from voyager 2.

PubMed

Bridge, H S; Bagenal, F; Belcher, J W; Lazarus, A J; McNutt, R L; Sullivan, J D; Gazis, P R; Hartle, R E; Ogilvie, K W; Scudder, J D; Sittler, E C; Eviatar, A; Siscoe, G L; Goertz, C K; Vasyliunas, V M

1982-01-29

Results of measurements of plasma electrons and poitive ions made during the Voyager 2 encounter with Saturn have been combined with measurements from Voyager 1 and Pioneer 11 to define more clearly the configuration of plasma in the Saturnian magnetosphere. The general morphology is well represented by four regions: (i) the shocked solar wind plasma in the magnetosheath, observed between about 30 and 22 Saturn radii (RS) near the noon meridian; (ii) a variable density region between approximately 17 RS and the magnetopause; (iii) an extended thick plasma sheet between approximately 17 and approximately 7 RS symmetrical with respect to Saturn's equatorial plane and rotation axis; and (iv) an inner plasma torus that probably originates from local sources and extends inward from L approximately 7 to less than L approximately 2.7 (L is the magnetic shell parameter). In general, the heavy ions, probably O(+), are more closely confined to the equatorial plane than H(+), so that the ratio of heavy to light ions varies along the trajectory according to the distance of the spacecraft from the equatorial plane. The general configuration of the plasma sheet at Saturn found by Voyager 1 is confirmed, with some notable differences and additions. The "extended plasma sheet," observed between L approximately 7 and L approximately 15 by Voyager 1 is considerably thicker as observed by Voyager 2. Inward of L approximately 4, the plasma sheet collapses to a thin region about the equatorial plane. At the ring plane crossing, L approximately 2.7, the observations are consistent with a density of O(+) of approximately 100 per cubic centimeter, with a temperature of approximately 10 electron volts. The location of the bow shock and magnetopause crossings were consistent with those previously observed. The entire magnetosphere was larger during the outbound passage of Voyager 2 than had been previously observed; however, a magnetosphere of this size or larger is expected approximately 3

Gravimetric maps of the Central African Republic

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Albouy, J.; Godivier, R. (Principal Investigator)

1982-01-01

Gravimetric maps of the Central African Republic are described including a map of Bouguer anomalies at 1/1,000,000 in two sections (eastern sheet, western sheet) and a map, in color, of Bouguer anomalies at 1/2,000,000. Instrumentation, data acquisition, calibration, and data correction procedures are discussed.

Preservation of a Preglacial Landscape Under the Center of the Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bierman, Paul R.; Corbett, Lee B.; Graly, Joseph A.; Neumann, Thomas Allen; Lini, Andrea; Crosby, Benjamin T.; Rood, Dylan H.

2014-01-01

Continental ice sheets typically sculpt landscapes via erosion; under certain conditions, ancient landscapes can be preserved beneath ice and can survive extensive and repeated glaciation. We used concentrations of atmospherically produced cosmogenic beryllium-10, carbon, and nitrogen to show that ancient soil has been preserved in basal ice for millions of years at the center of the ice sheet at Summit, Greenland. This finding suggests ice sheet stability through the Pleistocene (i.e., the past 2.7 million years). The preservation of this soil implies that the ice has been non-erosive and frozen to the bed for much of that time, that there was no substantial exposure of central Greenland once the ice sheet became fully established, and that preglacial landscapes can remain preserved for long periods under continental ice sheets

Distribution of Region 1 and 2 currents in the quietand substorm time plasma sheetfrom THEMIS observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, J.; Angelopoulos, V.; Chu, X.; McPherron, R. L.

2016-12-01

Although Earth's Region 1 and 2 currents are related to activities such as substorm initiation, their magnetospheric origin remains unclear. Utilizing the triangular configuration of THEMIS probes at 8-12 RE downtail, we seek the origin of nightside Region 1 and 2 currents. The triangular configuration allows a curlometer-like technique which do not rely on active-time boundary crossings, so we can examine the current distribution in quiet times as well as active times. Our statistical study reveals that both Region 1 and 2 currents exist in the plasma sheet during quiet and active times. Especially, this is the first unequivocal, in-situ evidence of the existence of Region 2 currents in the plasma sheet. Farther away from the neutral sheet than the Region 2 currents lie the Region 1 currents which extend at least to the plasma sheet boundary layer. At geomagnetic quiet times, the separation between the two currents is located 2.5 RE from the neutral sheet. These findings suggest that the plasma sheet is a source of Region 1 and 2 currents regardless of geomagnetic activity level. During substorms, the separation between Region 1 and 2 currents migrates toward (away from) the neutral sheet as the plasma sheet thins (thickens). This migration indicates that the deformation of Region 1 and 2 currents is associated with redistribution of FAC sources in the magnetotail. In some substorms when the THEMIS probes encounter a dipolarization, a substorm current wedge (SCW) can be inferred from our technique, and it shows a distinctively larger current density than the pre-existing Region 1 currents. This difference suggests that the SCW is not just an enhancement of the pre-existing Region 1 current; the SCW and the Region 1 currents have different sources.

Coupling between Mercury and its nightside magnetosphere: Cross-tail current sheet asymmetry and substorm current wedge formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Poh, Gangkai; Slavin, James A.; Jia, Xianzhe; Raines, Jim M.; Imber, Suzanne M.; Sun, Wei-Jie; Gershman, Daniel J.; DiBraccio, Gina A.; Genestreti, Kevin J.; Smith, Andy W.

2017-08-01

We analyzed MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) magnetic field and plasma measurements taken during 319 crossings of Mercury's cross-tail current sheet. We found that the measured BZ in the current sheet is higher on the dawnside than the duskside by a factor of ≈3 and the asymmetry decreases with downtail distance. This result is consistent with expectations based upon MHD stress balance. The magnetic fields threading the more stretched current sheet in the duskside have a higher plasma beta than those on the dawnside, where they are less stretched. This asymmetric behavior is confirmed by mean current sheet thickness being greatest on the dawnside. We propose that heavy planetary ion (e.g., Na+) enhancements in the duskside current sheet provides the most likely explanation for the dawn-dusk current sheet asymmetries. We also report the direct measurement of Mercury's substorm current wedge (SCW) formation and estimate the total current due to pileup of magnetic flux to be ≈11 kA. The conductance at the foot of the field lines required to close the SCW current is found to be ≈1.2 S, which is similar to earlier results derived from modeling of Mercury's Region 1 field-aligned currents. Hence, Mercury's regolith is sufficiently conductive for the current to flow radially then across the surface of Mercury's highly conductive iron core. Mercury appears to be closely coupled to its nightside magnetosphere by mass loading of upward flowing heavy planetary ions and electrodynamically by field-aligned currents that transfer momentum and energy to the nightside auroral oval crust and interior. Heavy planetary ion enhancements in Mercury's duskside current sheet provide explanation for cross-tail asymmetries found in this study. The total current due to the pileup of magnetic flux and conductance required to close the SCW current is found to be ≈11 kA and 1.2 S. Mercury is coupled to magnetotail by mass loading of heavy ions

Energetic electron bursts in the plasma sheet and their relation with BBFs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duan, A. Y.; Cao, J. B.; Dunlop, M.; Wang, Z. Q.

2014-11-01

We studied energetic electron bursts (EEBs) (40-250 keV) in the plasma sheet (PS) and their relation to bursty bulk flows (BBFs) using the data recorded by Cluster from 2001 to 2009. The EEBs in the PS can be classified into four types. Three types of EEBs are dispersionless, including EEBs accompanied with BBFs (V > 250 km/s) but without dipolarization front (DF); EEBs accompanied with both dipolarization front (DF) and BBF; and EEBs accompanied with DF and fast flow with V < 250 km/s. One type of EEB, i.e., EEBs not accompanied with BBFs and DFs, is dispersed. The energetic electrons (40-130 keV) can be easily transported earthward by BBFs due to the strong dawn-dusk electric field embedded in BBFs. The DFs in BBFs can produce energetic electrons (40 to 250 keV). For the EEBs with DF and BBFs, the superposed epoch analyses show that the increase of energetic electron flux has two phases: gradual increase phase before DF and rapid increase phase concurrent with DF. In the PS around x = -18 RE, 60%-70% of EEBs are accompanied with BBFs, indicating that although hitherto there have been various acceleration mechanisms of energetic electrons, most of the energetic electrons in the PS are related with magnetic reconnection, and they are produced either directly by magnetic reconnection or indirectly by the DFs within BBFs. In the BBF's braking region of -12 RE < x < -10 RE, 20% of EEBs are accompanied with BBFs. The corresponding ratio between EEBs and BBFs shows a dawn-dusk asymmetry.

Reconnection at three dimensional magnetic null points: Effect of current sheet asymmetry

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wyper, P. F.; Jain, Rekha

2013-05-15

Asymmetric current sheets are likely to be prevalent in both astrophysical and laboratory plasmas with complex three dimensional (3D) magnetic topologies. This work presents kinematic analytical models for spine and fan reconnection at a radially symmetric 3D null (i.e., a null where the eigenvalues associated with the fan plane are equal) with asymmetric current sheets. Asymmetric fan reconnection is characterized by an asymmetric reconnection of flux past each spine line and a bulk flow of plasma across the null point. In contrast, asymmetric spine reconnection is characterized by the reconnection of an equal quantity of flux across the fan planemore » in both directions. The higher modes of spine reconnection also include localized wedges of vortical flux transport in each half of the fan. In this situation, two definitions for reconnection rate become appropriate: a local reconnection rate quantifying how much flux is genuinely reconnected across the fan plane and a global rate associated with the net flux driven across each semi-plane. Through a scaling analysis, it is shown that when the ohmic dissipation in the layer is assumed to be constant, the increase in the local rate bleeds from the global rate as the sheet deformation is increased. Both models suggest that asymmetry in the current sheet dimensions will have a profound effect on the reconnection rate and manner of flux transport in reconnection involving 3D nulls.« less

Comparison of plasma ammonia results from seven different automated platforms in use throughout Central Australia.

PubMed

Markus, Corey; Metz, Michael

2017-04-01

The clinical catchment area for the Metabolic service at the Women's and Children's Hospital in Adelaide, South Australia, covers nearly 2.5millionkm 2 . Care of children with metabolic disorders in these remote areas is assisted from Adelaide, and at times, using plasma ammonia results from laboratories up to 3000km away. There are seven different platforms measuring plasma ammonia within this vast clinical catchment area. Hence, a correlation study was conducted to examine the relationship between plasma ammonia results from the seven different platforms in use throughout central Australia. Multiple aliquots of plasma from remainder EDTA samples for haematological investigations were frozen. Samples were then dispatched on dry ice to the laboratories being correlated. At an agreed date and time correlation samples were thawed and plasma ammonia measured. Passing-Bablok regression analysis showed slopes ranging from 1.00 to 1.10 and y-intercepts ranging from -10μmol/L to 1μmol/L. Despite the absence of a reference method or reference material and troublesome pre-analytical effects in ammonia measurement, plasma ammonia results from the different platforms in general compare well. The study also demonstrates that samples for ammonia measurement can be transported over great distances and still correlate well. Furthermore, a common reference interval for plasma ammonia may be a possibility. Crown Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Current sheet formation in a sheared force-free-magnetic field. [in sun

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wolfson, Richard

1989-01-01

This paper presents the results of a study showing how continuous shearing motion of magnetic footpoints in a tenuous, infinitely conducting plasma can lead to the development of current sheets, despite the absence of such sheets or even of neutral points in the initial state. The calculations discussed here verify the earlier suggestion by Low and Wolfson (1988) that extended current sheets should form due to the shearing of a force-free quadrupolar magnetic field. More generally, this work augments earlier studies suggesting that the appearance of discontinuities - current sheets - may be a necessary consequence of the topological invariance imposed on the magnetic field geometry of an ideal MHD system by virtue of its infinite conductivity. In the context of solar physics, the work shows how the gradual and continuous motion of magnetic footpoints at the solar photosphere may lead to the buildup of magnetic energy that can then be released explosively when finite conductivity effects become important and lead to the rapid dissipation of current sheets. Such energy release may be important in solar flares, coronal mass ejections, and other eruptive events.

Plasma entry into the earth's magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Frank, L. A.

1972-01-01

Both high- and low-altitude measurements are used to establish the salient features of the three regions presently thought to be the best candidates for the entry of magnetosheath plasma into the magnetosphere, and hence the primal sources of charged particles for the plasma sheet and its earthward termination in the ring current. These three regions are (1) the polar cusps and their extensions into the nighttime magnetosphere, (2) the downstream flanks of the magnetosphere at geocentric radial distances approximately equal to 10 to 50 earth radii along the plasma sheet-magnetosheath interface, and (3) the distant magnetotail at radial distances greater than or approximately equal to 50 earth radii. Present observational knowledge of each of these regions is discussed critically as to evidences for charged particle entry into the magnetosphere from the magnetosheath. The possibility that all three of these magnetospheric domains share an intimate topological relationship is also examined.

Measurement of tritium with plastic scintillator surface improvement with plasma treatment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Yoshihara, Y.; Furuta, E.; Ohyama, R.I.

2015-03-15

Tritium is usually measured by using a liquid scintillation counter. However, liquid scintillator used for measurement will become radioactive waste fluid. To solve this issue, we have developed a method of measuring tritium samples with plasma-treated plastic scintillator (PS)sheets (Plasma method). The radioactive sample is held between 2 PS sheets and the whole is enclosed in a a low-potassium glass vial. With the Plasma method of 2-min plasma treatment, we have obtained measurement efficiency of 48 ± 2 % for 2 min measurement of tritium except for tritiated water. The plasma treatment makes the PS surface rough and hydrophilic whichmore » contributes to improve the contact between tritium and PS. On the other hand, it needed almost 6 hours to obtain constant measurement efficiency. The reason was that the dry-up handling in the vial needed longer time to vaporize H{sub 2}O molecules than in the air. We tried putting silica gel beads into vials to remove H{sub 2}O molecules from PS sheet surface quickly. The silica gel beads worked well and we got constant measurement efficiency within 1-3 hours. Also, we tried using other kinds of PS treated with plasma to obtain higher measurement efficiencies of tritium samples.« less

The Apparent Relation between Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D and Insulin Resistance Is Largely Attributable to Central Adiposity in Overweight and Obese Adults12

PubMed Central

Wright, Christian S; Weinheimer-Haus, Eileen M; Fleet, James C; Peacock, Munro; Campbell, Wayne W

2015-01-01

Background: Research indicates that plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] is associated with insulin resistance, but whether regional adiposity confounds this association is unclear. Objective: This study assessed the potential influence of adiposity and its anatomical distribution on the relation between plasma 25(OH)D and insulin resistance. Methods: A secondary analysis of data from middle-aged overweight and obese healthy adults [n = 336: 213 women and 123 men; mean ± SD (range); age: 48 ± 8 y (35–65 y); body mass index (BMI; in kg/m2): 30.3 ± 2.7 (26–35)] from West Lafayette, Indiana (40.4°N), were used for this cross-sectional analysis. Multiple linear regression analyses that controlled for multiple covariates were used as the primary statistical model. Results: Of all participants, 8.6% and 20.5% displayed moderate [20.1–37.5 nmol/L plasma 25(OH)D] to mild (37.6–49.9 nmol/L) vitamin D insufficiency, respectively. A regression analysis controlling for age, sex, race, plasma parathyroid hormone concentration, season of year, and supplement use showed that 25(OH)D was negatively associated with fasting insulin (P = 0.021). Additional regression analyses showed that total and central adiposity but not peripheral adiposity predicted low plasma 25(OH)D [total fat mass index (FMI): P = 0.018; android FMI: P = 0.052; gynoid FMI: P = 0.15; appendicular FMI: P = 0.07) and insulin resistance (homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance: total and android FMI, P <0.0001; gynoid FMI, P = 0.94; appendicular FMI, P = 0.86). The associations of total and central adiposity with insulin resistance remained significant after adjusting for plasma 25(OH)D. However, adjusting for central adiposity but not other anatomical measures of fat distribution eliminated the association between plasma 25(OH)D and insulin resistance. Conclusion: Central adiposity drives the association between plasma 25(OH)D and insulin resistance in overweight and obese adults. The trial

17. VIEW OF FORMING EQUIPMENT, DISCS CUT FROM METAL SHEETS ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

17. VIEW OF FORMING EQUIPMENT, DISCS CUT FROM METAL SHEETS WERE FORMED INTO SHAPES. (7/2/86) - Rocky Flats Plant, Uranium Rolling & Forming Operations, Southeast section of plant, southeast quadrant of intersection of Central Avenue & Eighth Street, Golden, Jefferson County, CO

Enhanced thermal diffusivity of copperbased composites using copper-RGO sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Sangwoo; Kwon, Hyouk-Chon; Lee, Dohyung; Lee, Hyo-Soo

2017-11-01

The synthesis of copper-reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets was investigated in order to control the agglutination of interfaces and develop a manufacturing process for copper-based composite materials based on spark plasma sintering. To this end, copper-GO (graphene oxide) composites were synthesized using a hydrothermal method, while the copper-reduced graphene oxide composites were made by hydrogen reduction. Graphene oxide-copper oxide was hydrothermally synthesized at 80 °C for 5 h, and then annealed at 800 °C for 5 h in argon and hydrazine rate 9:1 to obtain copper-RGO flakes. The morphology and structure of these copper-RGO sheets were characterized using scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. After vibratory mixing of the synthesized copper-RGO composites (0-2 wt%) with copper powder, they were sintered at 600 °C for 5 min under100 MPa of pressure by spark plasma sintering process. The thermal diffusivity of the resulting sintered composite was characterized by the laser flash method at 150 °C.

A dynamical model of plasma turbulence in the solar wind

PubMed Central

Howes, G. G.

2015-01-01

A dynamical approach, rather than the usual statistical approach, is taken to explore the physical mechanisms underlying the nonlinear transfer of energy, the damping of the turbulent fluctuations, and the development of coherent structures in kinetic plasma turbulence. It is argued that the linear and nonlinear dynamics of Alfvén waves are responsible, at a very fundamental level, for some of the key qualitative features of plasma turbulence that distinguish it from hydrodynamic turbulence, including the anisotropic cascade of energy and the development of current sheets at small scales. The first dynamical model of kinetic turbulence in the weakly collisional solar wind plasma that combines self-consistently the physics of Alfvén waves with the development of small-scale current sheets is presented and its physical implications are discussed. This model leads to a simplified perspective on the nature of turbulence in a weakly collisional plasma: the nonlinear interactions responsible for the turbulent cascade of energy and the formation of current sheets are essentially fluid in nature, while the collisionless damping of the turbulent fluctuations and the energy injection by kinetic instabilities are essentially kinetic in nature. PMID:25848075

Effects of low central fuelling on density and ion temperature profiles in reversed shear plasmas on JT-60U

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takenaga, H.; Ide, S.; Sakamoto, Y.; Fujita, T.; JT-60 Team

2008-07-01

Effects of low central fuelling on density and ion temperature profiles have been investigated using negative ion based neutral beam injection and electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in reversed shear plasmas on JT-60U. Strong internal transport barrier (ITB) was maintained in density and ion temperature profiles, when central fuelling was decreased by switching positive ion based neutral beam injection to ECH after the strong ITB formation. Similar density and ion temperature ITBs were formed for the low and high central fuelling cases during the plasma current ramp-up phase. Strong correlation between the density gradient and the ion temperature gradient was observed, indicating that particle transport and ion thermal transport are strongly coupled or the density gradient assists the ion temperature ITB formation through suppression of drift wave instabilities such as ion temperature gradient mode. These results support that the density and ion temperature ITBs can be formed under reactor relevant conditions.

Plasma current start-up experiments without the central solenoid in the TST-2 spherical tokamak

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Takase, Y.; Ejiri, A.; Shiraiwa, S.; Adachi, Y.; Ishii, N.; Kasahara, H.; Nuga, H.; Ono, Y.; Oosako, T.; Sasaki, M.; Shimada, Y.; Sumitomo, N.; Taguchi, I.; Tojo, H.; Tsujimura, J.; Ushigome, M.; Yamada, T.; Hanada, K.; Hasegawa, M.; Idei, H.; Nakamura, K.; Sakamoto, M.; Sasaki, K.; Sato, K. N.; Zushi, H.; Nishino, N.; Mitarai, O.

2006-08-01

Several techniques for initiating the plasma current without the use of the central solenoid are being developed in TST-2. While TST-2 was temporarily located at Kyushu University, two types of start-up scenarios were demonstrated. (1) A plasma current of 4 kA was generated and sustained for 0.28 s by either electron cyclotron wave or electron Bernstein wave, without induction. (2) A plasma current of 10 kA was obtained transiently by induction using only outboard poloidal field coils. In the second scenario, it is important to supply sufficient power for ionization (100 kW of EC power was sufficient in this case), since the vertical field during start-up is not adequate to maintain plasma equilibrium. In addition, electron heating experiments using the X-B mode conversion scenario were performed, and a heating efficiency of 60% was observed at a 100 kW RF power level. TST-2 is now located at the Kashiwa Campus of the University of Tokyo. Significant upgrades were made in both magnetic coil power supplies and RF systems, and plasma experiments have restarted. RF power of up to 400 kW is available in the high-harmonic fast wave frequency range around 20 MHz. Four 200 MHz transmitters are now being prepared for plasma current start-up experiments using RF power in the lower-hybrid frequency range. Preparations are in progress for a new plasma merging experiment (UTST) aimed at the formation and sustainment of ultra-high β ST plasmas.

Onset of fast "ideal" tearing in thin current sheets: Dependence on the equilibrium current profile

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pucci, F.; Velli, M.; Tenerani, A.; Del Sarto, D.

2018-03-01

In this paper, we study the scaling relations for the triggering of the fast, or "ideal," tearing instability starting from equilibrium configurations relevant to astrophysical as well as laboratory plasmas that differ from the simple Harris current sheet configuration. We present the linear tearing instability analysis for equilibrium magnetic fields which (a) go to zero at the boundary of the domain and (b) contain a double current sheet system (the latter previously studied as a Cartesian proxy for the m = 1 kink mode in cylindrical plasmas). More generally, we discuss the critical aspect ratio scalings at which the growth rates become independent of the Lundquist number S, in terms of the dependence of the Δ' parameter on the wavenumber k of unstable modes. The scaling Δ'(k) with k at small k is found to categorize different equilibria broadly: the critical aspect ratios may be even smaller than L/a ˜ Sα with α = 1/3 originally found for the Harris current sheet, but there exists a general lower bound α ≥ 1/4.

X-ray emission from high temperature plasmas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Harries, W. L.

1977-01-01

The physical processes occurring in plasma focus devices were investigated with particular emphasis on X-ray emission. Topics discussed include: trajectories of high energy electrons; detection of ion trajectories; spatial distribution of neutron emission; space and time resolved emission of hard X-rays from a plasma focus; the staged plasma focus as a variation of the hypocloidal pinch; formation of current sheets in a staged plasma focus; and X-ray and neutron emission from a staged plasma focus. The possibility of operating dense plasma-focus type devices in multiple arrays beyond the scaling law for a single gun is discussed.

Stressor-layer-induced elastic strain sharing in SrTiO 3 complex oxide sheets

DOE PAGES

Tilka, J. A.; Park, J.; Ahn, Y.; ...

2018-02-26

A precisely selected elastic strain can be introduced in submicron-thick single-crystal SrTiO 3 sheets using a silicon nitride stressor layer. A conformal stressor layer deposited using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition produces an elastic strain in the sheet consistent with the magnitude of the nitride residual stress. Synchrotron x-ray nanodiffraction reveals that the strain introduced in the SrTiO 3 sheets is on the order of 10 -4, matching the predictions of an elastic model. Using this approach to elastic strain sharing in complex oxides allows the strain to be selected within a wide and continuous range of values, an effect notmore » achievable in heteroepitaxy on rigid substrates.« less

Stressor-layer-induced elastic strain sharing in SrTiO 3 complex oxide sheets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Tilka, J. A.; Park, J.; Ahn, Y.

A precisely selected elastic strain can be introduced in submicron-thick single-crystal SrTiO 3 sheets using a silicon nitride stressor layer. A conformal stressor layer deposited using plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition produces an elastic strain in the sheet consistent with the magnitude of the nitride residual stress. Synchrotron x-ray nanodiffraction reveals that the strain introduced in the SrTiO 3 sheets is on the order of 10 -4, matching the predictions of an elastic model. Using this approach to elastic strain sharing in complex oxides allows the strain to be selected within a wide and continuous range of values, an effect notmore » achievable in heteroepitaxy on rigid substrates.« less

Ion Velocity Distributions in Dipolarization Events: Beams in the Vicinity of the Plasma Sheet Boundary

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Birn, J.; Chandler, M.; Moore, T.; Runov, A.

2017-01-01

Using combined MHD/test particle simulations, we further explore characteristic ion velocity distributions in relation to magnetotail reconnection and dipolarization events, focusing on distributions at and near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL). Simulated distributions right at the boundary are characterized by a single earthward beam, as discussed earlier. However, farther inside, the distributions consist of multiple beams parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field, remarkably similar to recent Magnetospheric Multiscale observations. The simulations provide insight into the mechanisms: the lowest earthward beam results from direct acceleration at an earthward propagating dipolarization front (DF), with a return beam at somewhat higher energy. A higher-energy earthward beam results from dual acceleration, first near the reconnection site and then at the DF, again with a corresponding return beam resulting from mirroring closer to Earth. Multiple acceleration at the X line or the propagating DF with intermediate bounces may produce even higher-energy beams. Particles contributing to the lower energy beams are found to originate from the PSBL with thermal source energies, increasing with increasing beam energy. In contrast, the highest-energy beams consist mostly of particles that have entered the acceleration region via cross-tail drift with source energies in the suprathermal range.

Ion velocity distributions in dipolarization events: Beams in the vicinity of the plasma sheet boundary

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Birn, J.; Chandler, M.; Moore, T.; Runov, A.

2017-08-01

Using combined MHD/test particle simulations, we further explore characteristic ion velocity distributions in relation to magnetotail reconnection and dipolarization events, focusing on distributions at and near the plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL). Simulated distributions right at the boundary are characterized by a single earthward beam, as discussed earlier. However, farther inside, the distributions consist of multiple beams parallel and antiparallel to the magnetic field, remarkably similar to recent Magnetospheric Multiscale observations. The simulations provide insight into the mechanisms: the lowest earthward beam results from direct acceleration at an earthward propagating dipolarization front (DF), with a return beam at somewhat higher energy. A higher-energy earthward beam results from dual acceleration, first near the reconnection site and then at the DF, again with a corresponding return beam resulting from mirroring closer to Earth. Multiple acceleration at the X line or the propagating DF with intermediate bounces may produce even higher-energy beams. Particles contributing to the lower energy beams are found to originate from the PSBL with thermal source energies, increasing with increasing beam energy. In contrast, the highest-energy beams consist mostly of particles that have entered the acceleration region via cross-tail drift with source energies in the suprathermal range.

Large-scale glacitectonic deformation in response to active ice sheet retreat across Dogger Bank (southern central North Sea) during the Last Glacial Maximum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Phillips, Emrys; Cotterill, Carol; Johnson, Kirstin; Crombie, Kirstin; James, Leo; Carr, Simon; Ruiter, Astrid

2018-01-01

High resolution seismic data from the Dogger Bank in the central southern North Sea has revealed that the Dogger Bank Formation records a complex history of sedimentation and penecontemporaneous, large-scale, ice-marginal to proglacial glacitectonic deformation. These processes led to the development of a large thrust-block moraine complex which is buried beneath a thin sequence of Holocene sediments. This buried glacitectonic landsystem comprises a series of elongate, arcuate moraine ridges (200 m up to > 15 km across; over 40-50 km long) separated by low-lying ice marginal to proglacial sedimentary basins and/or meltwater channels, preserving the shape of the margin of this former ice sheet. The moraines are composed of highly deformed (folded and thrust) Dogger Bank Formation with the lower boundary of the deformed sequence (up to 40-50 m thick) being marked by a laterally extensive décollement. The ice-distal parts of the thrust moraine complex are interpreted as a "forward" propagating imbricate thrust stack developed in response to S/SE-directed ice-push. The more complex folding and thrusting within the more ice-proximal parts of the thrust-block moraines record the accretion of thrust slices of highly deformed sediment as the ice repeatedly reoccupied this ice marginal position. Consequently, the internal structure of the Dogger Bank thrust-moraine complexes can be directly related to ice sheet dynamics, recording the former positions of a highly dynamic, oscillating Weichselian ice sheet margin as it retreated northwards at the end of the Last Glacial Maximum.

Spatial Offsets in Flare-CME Current Sheets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Raymond, John C.; Giordano, Silvio; Ciaravella, Angela, E-mail: jraymond@cfa.harvard.edu

Magnetic reconnection plays an integral part in nearly all models of solar flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The reconnection heats and accelerates the plasma, produces energetic electrons and ions, and changes the magnetic topology to form magnetic flux ropes and to allow CMEs to escape. Structures that appear between flare loops and CME cores in optical, UV, EUV, and X-ray observations have been identified as current sheets and have been interpreted in terms of the nature of the reconnection process and the energetics of the events. Many of these studies have used UV spectral observations of high temperature emissionmore » features in the [Fe xviii] and Si xii lines. In this paper, we discuss several surprising cases in which the [Fe xviii] and Si xii emission peaks are spatially offset from each other. We discuss interpretations based on asymmetric reconnection, on a thin reconnection region within a broader streamer-like structure, and on projection effects. Some events seem to be easily interpreted as the projection of a sheet that is extended along the line of sight that is viewed an angle, but a physical interpretation in terms of asymmetric reconnection is also plausible. Other events favor an interpretation as a thin current sheet embedded in a streamer-like structure.« less

Method of manufacturing aluminide sheet by thermomechanical processing of aluminide powders

DOEpatents

Hajaligol, Mohammad R.; Scorey, Clive; Sikka, Vinod K.; Deevi, Seetharama C.; Fleishhauer, Grier; Lilly, Jr., A. Clifton; German, Randall M.

2003-12-09

A powder metallurgical process of preparing a sheet from a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as an iron, nickel or titanium aluminide. The sheet can be manufactured into electrical resistance heating elements having improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The iron aluminide has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and can include, in weight %, 4 to 32% Al, and optional additions such as .ltoreq.1% Cr, .gtoreq.0.05% Zr .ltoreq.2% Ti, .ltoreq.2% Mo, .ltoreq.1% Ni, .ltoreq.0.75% C, .ltoreq.0.1% B, .ltoreq.1% submicron oxide particles and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, .ltoreq.1% rare earth metal, and/or .ltoreq.3% Cu. The process includes forming a non-densified metal sheet by consolidating a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as by roll compaction, tape casting or plasma spraying, forming a cold rolled sheet by cold rolling the non-densified metal sheet so as to increase the density and reduce the thickness thereof and annealing the cold rolled sheet. The powder can be a water, polymer or gas atomized powder which is subjecting to sieving and/or blending with a binder prior to the consolidation step. After the consolidation step, the sheet can be partially sintered. The cold rolling and/or annealing steps can be repeated to achieve the desired sheet thickness and properties. The annealing can be carried out in a vacuum furnace with a vacuum or inert atmosphere. During final annealing, the cold rolled sheet recrystallizes to an average grain size of about 10 to 30 .mu.m. Final stress relief annealing can be carried out in the B2 phase temperature range.

Method of manufacturing aluminide sheet by thermomechanical processing of aluminide powders

DOEpatents

Hajaligol, Mohammad R.; Scorey, Clive; Sikka, Vinod K.; Deevi, Seetharama C.; Fleischhauer, Grier; Lilly, Jr., A. Clifton; German, Randall M.

2000-01-01

A powder metallurgical process of preparing a sheet from a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as an iron, nickel or titanium aluminide. The sheet can be manufactured into electrical resistance heating elements having improved room temperature ductility, electrical resistivity, cyclic fatigue resistance, high temperature oxidation resistance, low and high temperature strength, and/or resistance to high temperature sagging. The iron aluminide has an entirely ferritic microstructure which is free of austenite and can include, in weight %, 4 to 32% Al, and optional additions such as .ltoreq.1% Cr, .gtoreq.0.05% Zr.ltoreq.2% Ti, .ltoreq.2% Mo, .ltoreq.1% Ni, .ltoreq.0.75% C, .ltoreq.0.1% B, .ltoreq.1% submicron oxide particles and/or electrically insulating or electrically conductive covalent ceramic particles, .ltoreq.1% rare earth metal, and/or .ltoreq.3% Cu. The process includes forming a non-densified metal sheet by consolidating a powder having an intermetallic alloy composition such as by roll compaction, tape casting or plasma spraying, forming a cold rolled sheet by cold rolling the non-densified metal sheet so as to increase the density and reduce the thickness thereof and annealing the cold rolled sheet. The powder can be a water, polymer or gas atomized powder which is subjecting to sieving and/or blending with a binder prior to the consolidation step. After the consolidation step, the sheet can be partially sintered. The cold rolling and/or annealing steps can be repeated to achieve the desired sheet thickness and properties. The annealing can be carried out in a vacuum furnace with a vacuum or inert atmosphere. During final annealing, the cold rolled sheet recrystallizes to an average grain size of about 10 to 30 .mu.m. Final stress relief annealing can be carried out in the B2 phase temperature range.

Exploratory clinical trial of combination wound therapy with a gelatin sheet and platelet-rich plasma in patients with chronic skin ulcers: study protocol.

PubMed

Morimoto, Naoki; Kakudo, Natsuko; Matsui, Makoto; Ogura, Tsunetaka; Hara, Tomoya; Suzuki, Kenji; Yamamoto, Masaya; Tabata, Yasuhiko; Kusumoto, Kenji

2015-05-11

Chronic skin ulcers, such as diabetic ulcers, venous leg ulcers and pressure ulcers, are intractable and increasing in prevalence, representing a costly problem in healthcare. We developed a combination therapy with a gelatin sheet, capable of providing sustained release of platelet-rich plasma (PRP). The objective of this study is to investigate the safety and efficacy of autologous PRP covered with a hydrocolloid dressing and PRP covered with a gelatin sheet in the treatment of chronic skin ulcers. Thirty patients with chronic skin ulcers who have not healed with conventional therapy for at least 1 month are being recruited. The patients will receive PRP after debridement, and the wounds will be covered with a hydrocolloid dressing or gelatin sheet. The efficacy will be evaluated according to the time from the beginning of PRP application to secondary healing or the day on which wound closure is achieved with a relatively simple surgical procedure, such as skin grafting or suturing. All patients will be followed up until 6 weeks after application to observe adverse events related to the application of PRP and the dressings. This study was designed to address and compare the safety and efficacy of PRP covered with a hydrocolloid dressing versus a gelatin sheet. If successful, this combination therapy may be an alternative to bioengineered skin substitutes containing living cells and lead to substantial progress in the management of chronic skin ulcers. The study protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Kansai Medical University (KMU Number 0649-1, 4 August 2014: V.1.0). The findings of this trial will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals, and national and international scientific meetings as well as to the patients. UMIN000015689. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Operational Characteristics and Plasma Measurements in a Low-Energy FARAD Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polzin, K. A.; Best, S.; Rose, M. F.; Miller, R.; Owens, T.

2008-01-01

Pulsed inductive plasma accelerators are spacecraft propulsion devices in which energy is stored in a capacitor and then discharged through an inductive coil. The device is electrodeless, inducing a plasma current sheet in propellant located near the face of the coil. The propellant is accelerated and expelled at a high exhaust velocity (order of 10 km/s) through the interaction of the plasma current with an induced magnetic field. The Faraday Accelerator with RF-Assisted Discharge (FARAD) thruster is a type of pulsed inductive plasma accelerator in which the plasma is preionized by a mechanism separate from that used to form the current sheet and accelerate the gas. Employing a separate preionization mechanism in this manner allows for the formation of an inductive current sheet at much lower discharge energies and voltages than those found in previous pulsed inductive accelerators like the Pulsed Inductive Thruster (PIT). In this paper, we present measurements aimed at quantifying the thruster's overall operational characteristics and providing additional insight into the nature of operation. Measurements of the terminal current and voltage characteristics during the pulse help quantify the output of the pulsed power train driving the acceleration coil. A fast ionization gauge is used to measure the evolution of the neutral gas distribution in the accelerator prior to a pulse. The preionization process is diagnosed by monitoring light emission from the gas using a photodiode, and a time-resolved global view of the evolving, accelerating current sheet is obtained using a fast-framing camera. Local plasma and field measurements are obtained using an array of intrusive probes. The local induced magnetic field and azimuthal current density are measured using B-dot probes and mini-Rogowski coils, respectively. Direct probing of the number density and electron temperature is performed using a triple probe.

Substorm onset: Current sheet avalanche and stop layer

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haerendel, Gerhard

2015-03-01

A new scenario is presented for the onset of a substorm and the nature of the breakup arc. There are two main components, current sheet avalanche and stop layer. The first refers to an earthward flow of plasma and magnetic flux from the central current sheet of the tail, triggered spontaneously or by some unknown interaction with an auroral streamer or a suddenly appearing eastward flow at the end of the growth phase. The second offers a mechanism to stop the flow abruptly at the interface between magnetosphere and tail and extract momentum and energy to be partially processed locally and partially transmitted as Poynting flux toward the ionosphere. The stop layer has a width of the order of the ion inertial length. The different dynamics of the ions entering freely and the magnetized electrons create an electric polarization field which stops the ion flow and drives a Hall current by which flow momentum is transferred to the magnetic field. A simple formalism is used to describe the operation of the process and to enable quantitative conclusions. An important conclusion is that by necessity the stop layer is also highly structured in longitude. This offers a natural explanation for the coarse ray structure of the breakup arc as manifestation of elementary paths of energy and momentum transport. The currents aligned with the rays are balanced between upward and downward directions. While the avalanche is invoked for explaining the spontaneous substorm onset at the inner edge of the tail, the expansion of the breakup arc for many minutes is taken as evidence for a continued formation of new stop layers by arrival of flow bursts from the near-Earth neutral line. This is in line with earlier conclusions about the nature of the breakup arc. Small-scale structure, propagation speed, and energy flux are quantitatively consistent with observations. However, the balanced small-scale currents cannot constitute the substorm current wedge. The source of the latter must be

Study of elevation changes along a profile crossing the Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hvidegaard, S. M.; Sandberg, L.

2009-04-01

In recent years much research has focused on determining how the Greenland Ice Sheet is responding to the observed climate changes. There is wide agreement on the fact that the Ice Sheet is currently loosing mass, and studies have shown that the mass loss is found near the ice edge and that no significant changes are found in the central part of the Ice Sheet. As a part of European Space Agency's CryoSat Validation Experiment (CryoVEx) running from 2004 to 2008, the National Space Institute (DTU Space) measured the elevations along a profile crossing the Greenland Ice Sheet. The elevation observations were carried out in 2004, 2006 and 2008 using airborne laser altimetry from a Twin Otter aircraft. The observed profile follows the old EGIG line (Expédition Glaciologique au Groenland, measured in the 1950's) situated between 69-71N, heading nearly east-west. This unique dataset gives the opportunity to study elevation changes along the profile crossing the ice sheet. With this work, we outline the observed elevation changes from the different zones of the ice sheet. We furthermore compare elevation changes based on coincident ICESat and airborne laser altimeter data.

Ross Sea paleo-ice sheet drainage and deglacial history during and since the LGM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Anderson, John B.; Conway, Howard; Bart, Philip J.; Witus, Alexandra E.; Greenwood, Sarah L.; McKay, Robert M.; Hall, Brenda L.; Ackert, Robert P.; Licht, Kathy; Jakobsson, Martin; Stone, John O.

2014-09-01

Onshore and offshore studies show that an expanded, grounded ice sheet occupied the Ross Sea Embayment during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Results from studies of till provenance and the orientation of geomorphic features on the continental shelf show that more than half of the grounded ice sheet consisted of East Antarctic ice flowing through Transantarctic Mountain (TAM) outlet glaciers; the remainder came from West Antarctica. Terrestrial data indicate little or no thickening in the upper catchment regions in both West and East Antarctica during the LGM. In contrast, evidence from the mouths of the southern and central TAM outlet glaciers indicate surface elevations between 1000 m and 1100 m (above present-day sea level). Farther north along the western margin of the Ross Ice Sheet, surface elevations reached 720 m on Ross Island, and 400 m at Terra Nova Bay. Evidence from Marie Byrd Land at the eastern margin of the ice sheet indicates that the elevation near the present-day grounding line was more than 800 m asl, while at Siple Dome in the central Ross Embayment, the surface elevation was about 950 m asl. Farther north, evidence that the ice sheet was grounded on the middle and the outer continental shelf during the LGM implies that surface elevations had to be at least 100 m above the LGM sea level. The apparent low surface profile and implied low basal shear stress in the central and eastern embayment suggests that although the ice streams may have slowed during the LGM, they remained active. Ice-sheet retreat from the western Ross Embayment during the Holocene is constrained by marine and terrestrial data. Ages from marine sediments suggest that the grounding line had retreated from its LGM outer shelf location only a few tens of kilometer to a location south of Coulman Island by ˜13 ka BP. The ice sheet margin was located in the vicinity of the Drygalski Ice Tongue by ˜11 ka BP, just north of Ross Island by ˜7.8 ka BP, and near Hatherton Glacier by �

The evolution of the storm-time ring current in response to different characteristics of the plasma source

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lemon, C.; Chen, M.; O'Brien, T. P.; Toffoletto, F.; Sazykin, S.; Wolf, R.; Kumar, V.

2006-12-01

We present simulation results of the Rice Convection Model-Equilibrium (RCM-E) that test and compare the effect on the storm time ring current of varying the plasma sheet source population characteristics at 6.6 Re during magnetic storms. Previous work has shown that direct injection of ionospheric plasma into the ring current is not a significant source of ring current plasma, suggesting that the plasma sheet is the only source. However, storm time processes in the plasma sheet and inner magnetosphere are very complex, due in large part to the feedback interactions between the plasma distribution, magnetic field, and electric field. We are particularly interested in understanding the role of the plasma sheet entropy parameter (PV^{5/3}, where V=\\int ds/B) in determining the strength and distribution of the ring current in both the main and recovery phases of a storm. Plasma temperature and density can be measured from geosynchrorous orbiting satellites, and these are often used to provide boundary conditions for ring current simulations. However, magnetic field measurements in this region are less commonly available, and there is a relatively poor understanding of the interplay between the plasma and the magnetic field during magnetic storms. The entropy parameter is a quantity that incorporates both the plasma and the magnetic field, and understanding its role in the ring current injection and recovery is essential to describing the processes that are occuring during magnetic storms. The RCM-E includes the physics of feedback between the plasma and both the electric and magnetic fields, and is therefore a valuable tool for understanding these complex storm-time processes. By contrasting the effects of different plasma boundary conditions at geosynchronous orbit, we shed light on the physical processes involved in ring current injection and recovery.

Design of a Microwave Assisted Discharge Inductive Plasma Accelerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hallock, Ashley K.; Polzin, Kurt A.

2010-01-01

A new plasma accelerator concept that employs electrodeless plasma preionization and pulsed inductive acceleration is presented. Preionization is achieved through an electron cyclotron resonance discharge that produces a weakly-ionized plasma at the face of a conical theta pinch-shaped inductive coil. The presence of the preionized plasma allows for current sheet formation at lower discharge voltages than those found in other pulsed inductive accelerators. The location of an electron cyclotron resonance discharge can be controlled through the design of the applied magnetic field in the thruster. A finite-element model of the magnetic field was used as a design tool, allowing for the implementation of an arrangement of permanent magnets that yields a small volume of preionized propellant at the coil face. This allows for current sheet formation at the face of the inductive coil, minimizing the initial inductance of the pulse circuit and maximizing the potential efficiency of the new accelerator.

Chlorine-36 and 14C chronology support a limited last glacial maximum across central Chukotka, northeastern Siberia, and no Beringian ice sheet

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brigham-Grette, J.; Gualtieri, L.M.; Glushkova, O.Y.; Hamilton, T.D.; Mostoller, D.; Kotov, A.

2003-01-01

The Pekulney Mountains and adjacent Tanyurer River valley are key regions for examining the nature of glaciation across much of northeast Russia. Twelve new cosmogenic isotope ages and 14 new radiocarbon ages in concert with morphometric analyses and terrace stratigraphy constrain the timing of glaciation in this region of central Chukotka. The Sartan Glaciation (Last Glacial Maximum) was limited in extent in the Pekulney Mountains and dates to ???20,000 yr ago. Cosmogenic isotope ages > 30,000 yr as well as non-finite radiocarbon ages imply an estimated age no younger than the Zyryan Glaciation (early Wisconsinan) for large sets of moraines found in the central Tanyurer Valley. Slope angles on these loess-mantled ridges are less than a few degrees and crest widths are an order of magnitude greater than those found on the younger Sartan moraines. The most extensive moraines in the lower Tanyurer Valley are most subdued implying an even older, probable middle Pleistocene age. This research provides direct field evidence against Grosswald's Beringian ice-sheet hypothesis. ?? 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.

Heliospheric current sheet and effects of its interaction with solar cosmic rays

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Malova, H. V., E-mail: hmalova@yandex.ru; Popov, V. Yu.; Grigorenko, E. E.

2016-08-15

The effects of interaction of solar cosmic rays (SCRs) with the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) in the solar wind are analyzed. A self-consistent kinetic model of the HCS is developed in which ions with quasiadiabatic dynamics can present. The HCS is considered an equilibrium embedded current structure in which two main plasma species with different temperatures (the low-energy background plasma of the solar wind and the higher energy SCR component) contribute to the current. The obtained results are verified by comparing with the results of numerical simulations based on solving equations of motion by the particle tracing method in themore » given HCS magnetic field with allowance for SCR particles. It is shown that the HCS is a relatively thin multiscale current configuration embedded in a thicker plasma layer. In this case, as a rule, the shear (tangential to the sheet current) component of the magnetic field is present in the HCS. Taking into account high-energy SCR particles in the HCS can lead to a change of its configuration and the formation of a multiscale embedded structure. Parametric family of solutions is considered in which the current balance in the HCS is provided at different SCR temperatures and different densities of the high-energy plasma. The SCR densities are determined at which an appreciable (detectable by satellites) HCS thickening can occur. Possible applications of this modeling to explain experimental observations are discussed.« less

Inference of the angular velocity of plasma in the Jovian magnetosphere from the sweepback of magnetic field

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Khurana, Krishan K.; Kivelson, Margaret G.

1993-01-01

The averaged angular velocity of plasma from magnetic observations is evaluated using plasma outflow rate as a parameter. New techniques are developed to calculate the normal and azimuthal components of the magnetic field in and near to the plasma sheet in a plasma sheet coordinate system. The revised field components differ substantially from the quantities used in previous analyses. With the revised field values, it appears that during the Voyager 2 flyby for an outflow rate of 2.5 x 10 exp 29 amu/s, the observed magnetic torque may be sufficient to keep the plasma in corotation to radial distances of 50 Rj in the postmidnight quadrant.

Inertial Currents in Isotropic Plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heinemann, M.; Erickson, G. M.; Pontius, D. H., Jr.

1993-01-01

The magnetospheric convection electric field contributes to Birkeland currents. The effects of the field are to polarize the plasma by displacing the bounce paths of the ions from those of electrons, to redistribute the pressure so that it is not constant along magnetic field lines, and to enhance the pressure gradient by the gradient of the bulk speed. Changes in the polarization charge during the convection of the plasma are neutralized by electrons in the form of field-aligned currents that close through the ionosphere. The pressure drives field-aligned currents through its gradient in the same manner as in quasi-static plasma, but with modifications that are important if the bulk speed is of the order of the ion thermal speed; the variations in the pressure along field lines are maintained by a weak parallel potential drop. These effects are described in terms of the field-aligned currents in steady state, isotropic, MED plasma. Solutions are developed by taking the MHD limit of two-fluid solutions and illustrated in the special case of Maxwellian plasma for which the temperature is constant along magnetic field lines. The expression for the Birkeland current density is a generalization of Vasyliunas' expression for the field-aligned current density in quasi-static plasma and provides a unifying expression when both pressure gradients and ion inertia operate simultaneously as sources of field-aligned currents. It contains a full account of different aspects of the ion flow (parallel and perpendicular velocity and vorticity) that contribute to the currents. Contributions of ion inertia to field-aligned currents will occur in regions of strong velocity shear, electric field reversal, or large gradients in the parallel velocity or number density, and may be important in the low-latitude boundary layer, plasma sheet boundary layer, and the inner edge region of the plasma sheet.

Inertial currents in isotropic plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heinemann, M.; Erickson, G. M.; Pontius, D. H. JR.

1994-01-01

The magnetospheric convection electric field contributes to Birkeland currents. The effects of the field are to polarize the plasma by displacing the bounce paths of the ions from those of electrons, to redistribute the pressure so that it is not constant along magnetic field lines, and to enhance the pressure gradient by the gradient of the bulk speed. Changes in the polarization charge during the convection of the plasma are neutralized by electrons in the form of field-aligned currents that close through the ionosphere. The pressure drives field-aligned currents through its gradient in the same manner as in quasi-static plasma, but with modifications that are important if the bulk speed is of the order of the ion thermal speed; the variations in the pressure along field lines are maintained by a weak parallel potential drop. These effects are described in terms of the field-aligned currents in steady state, isotropic, magnetohyrodynamic (MHD) plasma. Solutions are developed by taking the MHD limit of two-fluid solutions and illustrated in the special case of Maxwellian plasma for which the temperature is constant along magnetic field lines. The expression for the Birkeland current density is a generalization of Vasyliunas' expression for the field-aligned current density in quasi-static plasma and provides a unifying expression when both pressure gradients and ion inertia operate simultaneously as sources of field-aligned currents. It contains a full account of different aspects of the ion flow (parallel and perpendicular velocity and vorticity) that contribute to the currents. Contributions of ion inertia to field-aligned currents will occur in regions of strong velocity shear, electric field reversal, or large gradients in the parallel velocity or number density, and may be important in the low-latitude boundary layer, plasma sheet boundary layer, and the inner edge region of the plasma sheet.

Inertial currents in isotropic plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heinemann, M.; Erickson, G. M.; Pontius, D. H., Jr.

1994-01-01

The magnetospheric convection electric field contributes to Birkeland currents. The effects of the field are to polarize the plasma by displacing the bounce paths of the ions from those of electrons, to redistribute the pressure so that it is not constant along magnetic field lines, and to enhance the pressure gradient by the gradient of the bulk speed. Changes in the polarization charge during the convection of the plasma are neutralized by electrons in the form of field-aligned currents that close through the ionosphere. The pressure drives field-aligned currents through its gradient in the same manner as in quasi-static plasmas, but with modifications that are important if the bulk speed is of the order of the ion thermal speed; the variations in the pressure along field lines are maintained by a weak parallel potential drop. These effects are described in terms of the field-aligned currents in steady state, isotropic, MHD plasma. Solutions are developed by taking the MHD limit ot two-fluid solutions and illustrated in the special case of Maxwellian plasma for which the temperature is constant along magnetic field lines. The expression for the Birkeland current density is a generalization of Vasyliunas' expression for the field-aligned current density in quasi-static plasma and provides a unifying expression when both pressure gradients and ion inertia operate simultaneously as sources of field-aligned currents. It contains a full account of different aspects of the ion flow (parallel and perpendicular velocity and vorticity) that contribute to the currents. Contributions of ion inertia to field-aligned currents will occur in regions of strong velocity shear, electric field reversal, or large gradients in the parallel velocity or number density, and may be important in the low-latitude boundary layer, plasma sheet boundary layer, and the inner edge region of the plasma sheet.

Titan's Variable Plasma Interaction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ledvina, S. A.; Brecht, S. H.

2015-12-01

Cassini observations have found that the plasma and magnetic field conditions upstream of Titan are far more complex than they were thought to be after the Voyager encounter. Rymer et al., (2009) used the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) electron observations to classify the plasma conditions along Titan's orbit into 5 types (Plasma Sheet, Lobe, Mixed, Magnetosheath and Misc.). Nemeth et al., (2011) found that the CAPS ion observations could also be separated into the same plasma regions as defined by Rymer et al. Additionally the T-96 encounter found Titan in the solar wind adding a sixth classification. Understanding the effects of the variable upstream plasma conditions on Titan's plasma interaction and the evolution of Titan's ionosphere/atmosphere is one of the main objectives of the Cassini mission. To compliment the mission we perform hybrid simulations of Titan's plasma interaction to examine the effects of the incident plasma distribution function and the flow velocity. We closely examine the results on Titan's induced magnetosphere and the resulting pickup ion properties.

New Large Diameter RF Complex Plasma Device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyer, John; Nosenko, Volodymyr; Thomas, Hubertus

2016-10-01

The Complex Plasma Research Group at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Oberpfaffenhofen has built a new large diameter rf plasma setup for dusty plasma experiments. The vacuum chamber is a stainless steel cylinder 0.90 m in diameter and 0.34 m in height with ports for viewing and measurement. A 0.85 m diameter plate in about the center serves as a powered electrode (13.56 MHz) with the chamber walls as the ground. It is pumped on by one of two Oerlikon turbo pumps with a pumping rate of 1100 l/s or 270 l/s. Argon gas is admitted into the chamber by an MKS mass flow meter and pumping is regulated by a butterfly valve to set pressure for experiments. A manual dropper is used to insert dust into the plasma. The dust is illuminated horizontally by a 660 nm 100 mW laser sheet and viewed from above by a Photron FASTCAM 1024 PCI camera. A vertical laser sheet of 635 nm will be used for side imaging. So far, single-layer plasma crystals of up to 15000 particles have been suspended. The particle velocity fluctuation spectra were measured and from these, the particle charge and screening length were calculated. Future experiments will explore the system-size dependence of the plasma crystal properties.

Plasma observations near jupiter: initial results from voyager 2.

PubMed

Bridge, H S; Belcher, J W; Lazarus, A J; Sullivan, J D; Bagenal, F; McNutt, R L; Ogilvie, K W; Scudder, J D; Sittler, E C; Vasyliunas, V M; Goertz, C K

1979-11-23

The first of at least nine bow shock crossings observed on the inbound pass of Voyager 2 occurred at 98.8 Jupiter radii (R(J)) with final entry into the magnetosphere at 62 R(J). On both the inbound and outbound passes the plasma showed a tendency to move in the direction of corotation, as was observed on the inbound pass of Voyager 1. Positive ion densities and electron intensities observed by Voyager 2 are comparable within a factor of 2 to those seen by Voyager 1 at the same radial distance from Jupiter; the composition of the magnetospheric plasma is again dominated by heavy ions with a ratio of mass density relative to hydrogen of about 100/1. A series of dropouts of plasma intensity near Ganymede may be related to a complex interaction between Ganymede and the magnetospheric plasma. From the planetary spin modulation of the intensity of plasma electrons it is inferred that the plasma sheet is centered at the dipole magnetic equator out to a distance of 40 to 50 R(J) and deviates from it toward the rotational equator at larger distances. The longitudinal excursion of the plasma sheet lags behind the rotating dipole by a phase angle that increases with increasing radial distance.

Detection of oppositely directed reconnection jets in a solar wind current sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, M. S.; Phan, T. D.; Gosling, J. T.; Skoug, R. M.

2006-10-01

We report the first two-spacecraft (Wind and ACE) detection of oppositely directed plasma jets within a bifurcated current sheet in the solar wind. The event occurred on January 3, 2003 and provides further direct evidence that such jets result from reconnection. The magnetic shear across the bifurcated current sheet at both Wind and ACE was ~150°, indicating that the magnetic shear must have been the same at the reconnection site located between the two spacecraft. These observations thus provide strong evidence for component merging with a guide field ~ 30% of the antiparallel field. The dimensionless reconnection rate based on the measured inflow was 0.03, implying fast reconnection.

Numerical study of the current sheet and PSBL in a magnetotail model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Doxas, I.; Horton, W.; Sandusky, K.; Tajima, T.; Steinolfson, R.

1989-01-01

The current sheet and plasma sheet boundary layer (PSBL) in a magnetotail model are discussed. A test particle code is used to study the response of ensembles of particles to a two-dimensional, time-dependent model of the geomagnetic tail, and test the proposition (Coroniti, 1985a, b; Buchner and Zelenyi, 1986; Chen and Palmadesso, 1986; Martin, 1986) that the stochasticity of the particle orbits in these fields is an important part of the physical mechanism for magnetospheric substorms. The realistic results obtained for the fluid moments of the particle distribution with this simple model, and their insensitivity to initial conditions, is consistent with this hypothesis.

New age constraints for the Saalian glaciation in northern central Europe: Implications for the extent of ice sheets and related proglacial lake systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lang, Jörg; Lauer, Tobias; Winsemann, Jutta

2018-01-01

A comprehensive palaeogeographic reconstruction of ice sheets and related proglacial lake systems for the older Saalian glaciation in northern central Europe is presented, which is based on the integration of palaeo-ice flow data, till provenance, facies analysis, geomorphology and new luminescence ages of ice-marginal deposits. Three major ice advances with different ice-advance directions and source areas are indicated by palaeo-ice flow directions and till provenance. The first ice advance was characterised by a southwards directed ice flow and a dominance of clasts derived from southern Sweden. The second ice advance was initially characterised by an ice flow towards the southwest. Clasts are mainly derived from southern and central Sweden. The latest stage in the study area (third ice advance) was characterised by ice streaming (Hondsrug ice stream) in the west and a re-advance in the east. Clasts of this stage are mainly derived from eastern Fennoscandia. Numerical ages for the first ice advance are sparse, but may indicate a correlation with MIS 8 or early MIS 6. New pIRIR290 luminescence ages of ice-marginal deposits attributed to the second ice advance range from 175 ± 10 to 156 ± 24 ka and correlate with MIS 6. The ice sheets repeatedly blocked the main river-drainage pathways and led to the formation of extensive ice-dammed lakes. The formation of proglacial lakes was mainly controlled by ice-damming of river valleys and major bedrock spillways; therefore the lake levels and extends were very similar throughout the repeated ice advances. During deglaciation the lakes commonly increased in size and eventually drained successively towards the west and northwest into the Lower Rhine Embayment and the North Sea. Catastrophic lake-drainage events occurred when large overspill channels were suddenly opened. Ice-streaming at the end of the older Saalian glaciation was probably triggered by major lake-drainage events.

Administration of antioxidant vitamins does not alter plasma fibrinolytic activity in subjects with central obesity.

PubMed

Rifici, V A; Schneider, S H; Chen, Y; Khachadurian, A K

1997-09-01

In vitro studies suggest that oxidized low density lipoprotein inhibits fibrinolysis by stimulating the production of plasminogen activator inhibitor -1 (PAI). We assessed the effects of dietary antioxidant vitamins for four weeks on three indices of copper mediated oxidation of very low and low density lipoproteins (VLDL+LDL) and plasma fibrinolytic activities in 15 male subjects with central obesity, a condition associated with increased PAI activity. Vitamin administration resulted in a decrease in production of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances from 29.3 +/- 3.9 to 13.6 +/- 3.5 nmoles/mg VLDL + LDL protein (mean +/- SE, p <0.003), an increase in the lag phase of conjugated diene formation from 94.8 +/- 5.5 to 225.0 +/- 31.9 min (p <0.001) and an increase in reactivity of lysine residues from 73.6% +/- 4.8% to 86.8% +/- 3.6% (p <0.034) demonstrating a reduction in the susceptibility of the lipoproteins to oxidation. However, antioxidant vitamins had no effect on plasma PAI activity, PAI antigen, tissue-type plasminogen activator activity and antigen, fibrinogen and fibrin degradation products. These results do not support the hypothesis that lipoprotein oxidation is a significant cause of impaired fibrinolysis in men with central obesity.

Multi-Component Current Sheets in the Martian Magnetotail. MAVEN Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grigorenko, E.; Zelenyi, L. M.; Vaisberg, O. L.; Ermakov, V.; Dubinin, E.; Malova, H. V.

2016-12-01

Current sheets (CSs) are the wide-spread objects in space and laboratory plasmas. The capability of CSs to maintain their stability, efficiently store and convert energy is a challenge to space physicists for many decades. Extensive studies of the CSs showed that the presence of multi-component plasma distribution can significantly affect the CS structure and dynamics. Such features like CS thinning, embedding and bifurcation are often related to the anisotropy of particle velocity distribution functions and multi-component ion composition, and they can be a source for generation of plasma instabilities and current disruption/reconnection. The MAVEN mission equipped with comprehensive instrument suite allows the observations of plasma and magnetic field characteristics with a high time resolution and provides an opportunity to study different processes in the Martian plasma environment. In this work we present the analysis of the CSs observed by MAVEN in the Martian magnetotail and discuss the peculiarities of their structure in relation to the thermal/energy characteristics of different plasma components. The relation to the existing CS models is also discussed. This work is supported by Russian Science Foundation (grant Nr.16-42-01103)

Static current-sheet models of quiescent prominences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wu, F.; Low, B. C.

1986-01-01

A particular class of theoretical models idealize the prominence to be a discrete flat electric-current sheet suspended vertically in a potential magnetic field. The weight of the prominence is supported by the Lorentz force in the current sheet. These models can be extended to have curved electric-current sheets and to vary three-dimensionally. The equation for force balance is 1 over 4 pi (del times B) times Bdel p- p9 z=zero. Using Cartesian coordinates we take, for simplicity, a uniform gravity with constant acceleration g in the direction -z. If we are interested not in the detailed internal structure of the prominence, but in the global magnetic configuration around the prominence, we may take prominence plasma to be cold. Consideration is given to how such equilibrium states can be constructed. To simplify the mathematical problem, suppose there is no electric current in the atmosphere except for the discrete currents in the cold prominence sheet. Let us take the plane z =0 to be the base of the atmosphere and restrict our attention to the domain z greater than 0. The task we have is to solve for a magnetic field which is everywhere potential except on some free surface S, subject to suit able to boundary conditions. The surface S is determined by requiring that it possesses a discrete electric current density such that the Lorentz force on it is everywhere vertically upward to balance the weight of the material m(S). Since the magnetic field is potential in the external atmosphere, the latter is decoupled from the magnetic field and its plane parallel hydrostatic pressure and density can be prescribed.

Static current-sheet models of quiescent prominences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wu, F.; Low, B. C.

1986-12-01

A particular class of theoretical models idealize the prominence to be a discrete flat electric-current sheet suspended vertically in a potential magnetic field. The weight of the prominence is supported by the Lorentz force in the current sheet. These models can be extended to have curved electric-current sheets and to vary three-dimensionally. The equation for force balance is 1 over 4 pi (del times B) times Bdel p- p9 z=zero. Using Cartesian coordinates we take, for simplicity, a uniform gravity with constant acceleration g in the direction -z. If we are interested not in the detailed internal structure of the prominence, but in the global magnetic configuration around the prominence, we may take prominence plasma to be cold. Consideration is given to how such equilibrium states can be constructed. To simplify the mathematical problem, suppose there is no electric current in the atmosphere except for the discrete currents in the cold prominence sheet. Let us take the plane z =0 to be the base of the atmosphere and restrict our attention to the domain z greater than 0. The task we have is to solve for a magnetic field which is everywhere potential except on some free surface S, subject to suit able to boundary conditions. The surface S is determined by requiring that it possesses a discrete electric current density such that the Lorentz force on it is everywhere vertically upward to balance the weight of the material m(S). Since the magnetic field is potential in the external atmosphere, the latter is decoupled from the magnetic field and its plane parallel hydrostatic pressure and density can be prescribed.

Consequences of wave-particle interactions on chaotic acceleration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schriver, David; Ashour-Abdalla, Maha

1991-01-01

The recent model of Ashour-Abdalla et al. (1991) has proposed that the earth's plasma sheet can be formed by chaotic acceleration in a magnetotail-like field configuration. The ion velocity distributions created by chaotic acceleration have unstable features and represent robust free energy sources for kinetic plasma waves that can modify the original distributions. In the plasma sheet boundary layer, field-aligned ion beamlets are formed which drive a host of instabilities creating a broadbanded noise spectrum and cause thermal spreading of the beamlets. In addition, there is strong heating of any cold background plasma that may be present. In the central plasma sheet, ion antiloss cone distributions are created which are unstable to very low frequency waves that saturate by filling the antiloss cone.

Plasma-electric field controlled growth of oriented graphene for energy storage applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghosh, Subrata; Polaki, S. R.; Kamruddin, M.; Jeong, Sang Mun; (Ken Ostrikov, Kostya

2018-04-01

It is well known that graphene grows as flat sheets aligned with the growth substrate. Oriented graphene structures typically normal to the substrate have recently attracted major attention. Most often, the normal orientation is achieved in a plasma-assisted growth and is believed to be due to the plasma-induced in-built electric field, which is usually oriented normal to the substrate. This work focuses on the effect of an in-built electric field on the growth direction, morphology, interconnectedness, structural properties and also the supercapacitor performance of various configurations of graphene structures and reveals the unique dependence of these features on the electric field orientation. It is shown that tilting of growth substrates from parallel to the normal direction with respect to the direction of in-built plasma electric field leads to the morphological transitions from horizontal graphene layers, to oriented individual graphene sheets and then interconnected 3D networks of oriented graphene sheets. The revealed transition of the growth orientation leads to a change in structural properties, wetting nature, types of defect in graphitic structures and also affects their charge storage capacity when used as supercapacitor electrodes. This simple and versatile approach opens new opportunities for the production of potentially large batches of differently oriented and structured graphene sheets in one production run.

Plasma and electric field boundaries at high and low altitudes on July 29, 1977

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fennell, J. F.; Johnson, R. G.; Young, D. T.; Torbert, R. B.; Moore, T. E.

1982-01-01

Hot plasma observations at high and low altitudes were compared. The plasma ion composition at high altitudes outside the plasmasphere was 0+. Heavy ions were also observed at low altitudes outside the plasmasphere. It is shown that at times these ions are found well below the plasmapause inside the plasmasphere. Comparisons of the low altitude plasma and dc electric fields show that the outer limits of the plasmasphere is not always corotating at the low L-shells. The corotation boundary, the estimated plasmapause boundary at the boundary of the inner edge of plasma sheet ions were at the same position. The inner edge of plasma sheet electrons is observed at higher latitudes than the plasmasphere boundary during disturbed times. The inner edge of the plasma sheaths shows a strong dawn to dusk asymmetry. At the same time the inner edge of the ring current and plasma sheath also moves to high latitudes reflecting an apparent inflation of the magnetosphere.

An investigation of transient pressures and plasma properties in a pinched plasma column. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stover, E. K.; York, T. M.

1971-01-01

The transient pinched plasma column generated in a linear Z-pinch was studied experimentally and analytically. The plasma column was investigated experimentally with several plasma diagnostics; they were: a rapid response pressure transducer, a magnetic field probe, a voltage probe, and discharge luminosity. Axial pressure profiles on the discharge chamber axis were used to identify three characteristic regions of plasma column behavior: (1) strong axial pressure asymmetry noted early in plasma column lifetime, (2) followed by plasma heating in which there is a rapid rise in static pressure, and (3) a slight decrease static pressure before plasma column breakup. Plasma column lifetime was approximately 5 microseconds. The axial pressure asymmetry was attributed to nonsimultaneous pinching of the imploding current sheet along the discharge chamber axis. The rapid heating could be attributed in part to viscous effects introduced by radial gradients in the axial streaming velocity.

The Svalbard-Barents Sea ice-sheet - Historical, current and future perspectives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ingólfsson, Ólafur; Landvik, Jon Y.

2013-03-01

The history of research on the Late Quaternary Svalbard-Barents Sea ice sheet mirrors the developments of ideas and the shifts of paradigms in glacial theory over the past 150 years. Since the onset of scientific research there in the early 19th Century, Svalbard has been a natural laboratory where ideas and concepts have been tested, and played an important (but rarely acknowledged) role in the break-through of the Ice Age theory in the 1870's. The history of how the scientific perception of the Svalbard-Barents sea ice sheet developed in the mid-20th Century also tells a story of how a combination of fairly scattered and often contradictory observational data, and through both deductive and inductive reasoning, could outline a major ice sheet that had left but few tangible fingerprints. Since the 1980's, with increased terrestrial stratigraphical data, ever more marine geological evidence and better chronological control of glacial events, our perception of the Svalbard-Barents Sea ice sheet has changed. The first reconstructions depicted it as a static, concentric, single-domed ice sheet, with ice flowing from an ice divide over the central northern Barents Sea that expanded and declined in response to large-scale, Late Quaternary climate fluctuations, and which was more or less in tune with other major Northern Hemisphere ice sheets. We now increasingly perceive it as a very dynamic, multidomed ice sheet, controlled by climate fluctuations, relative sea-level change, as well as subglacial topography, substrate properties and basal temperature. In this respect, the Svalbard-Barents Sea ice sheet will increasingly hold the key for understanding the dynamics and processes of how marine-based ice sheets build-up and decay.

Ardnamurchan 3D cone-sheet architecture explained by a single elongate magma chamber.

PubMed

Burchardt, Steffi; Troll, Valentin R; Mathieu, Lucie; Emeleus, Henry C; Donaldson, Colin H

2013-10-08

The Palaeogene Ardnamurchan central igneous complex, NW Scotland, was a defining place for the development of the classic concepts of cone-sheet and ring-dyke emplacement and has thus fundamentally influenced our thinking on subvolcanic structures. We have used the available structural information on Ardnamurchan to project the underlying three-dimensional (3D) cone-sheet structure. Here we show that a single elongate magma chamber likely acted as the source of the cone-sheet swarm(s) instead of the traditionally accepted model of three successive centres. This proposal is supported by the ridge-like morphology of the Ardnamurchan volcano and is consistent with the depth and elongation of the gravity anomaly underlying the peninsula. Our model challenges the traditional model of cone-sheet emplacement at Ardnamurchan that involves successive but independent centres in favour of a more dynamical one that involves a single, but elongate and progressively evolving magma chamber system.

Dynamics of a plasma ring rotating in the magnetic field of a central body: Magneto-gravitational waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rabinovich, B. I.

2006-01-01

The model problem of the dynamics of a planar plasma ring rotating in the dipole magnetic field of a central body is considered. A finite-dimensional mathematical model of the system is synthesized by the Boubnov-Galerkin method. The class of solutions corresponding to magneto-gravitational waves associated with deformations of the ring boundaries is investigated.

Liquid injection plasma deposition method and apparatus

DOEpatents

Kong, Peter C.; Watkins, Arthur D.

1999-01-01

A liquid injection plasma torch deposition apparatus for depositing material onto a surface of a substrate may comprise a plasma torch for producing a jet of plasma from an outlet nozzle. A plasma confinement tube having an inlet end and an outlet end and a central bore therethrough is aligned with the outlet nozzle of the plasma torch so that the plasma jet is directed into the inlet end of the plasma confinement tube and emerges from the outlet end of the plasma confinement tube. The plasma confinement tube also includes an injection port transverse to the central bore. A liquid injection device connected to the injection port of the plasma confinement tube injects a liquid reactant mixture containing the material to be deposited onto the surface of the substrate through the injection port and into the central bore of the plasma confinement tube.

Liquid injection plasma deposition method and apparatus

DOEpatents

Kong, P.C.; Watkins, A.D.

1999-05-25

A liquid injection plasma torch deposition apparatus for depositing material onto a surface of a substrate may comprise a plasma torch for producing a jet of plasma from an outlet nozzle. A plasma confinement tube having an inlet end and an outlet end and a central bore therethrough is aligned with the outlet nozzle of the plasma torch so that the plasma jet is directed into the inlet end of the plasma confinement tube and emerges from the outlet end of the plasma confinement tube. The plasma confinement tube also includes an injection port transverse to the central bore. A liquid injection device connected to the injection port of the plasma confinement tube injects a liquid reactant mixture containing the material to be deposited onto the surface of the substrate through the injection port and into the central bore of the plasma confinement tube. 8 figs.

New method for determining central axial orientation of flux rope embedded within current sheet using multipoint measurements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, ZhaoYu; Chen, Tao; Yan, GuangQing

2016-10-01

A new method for determining the central axial orientation of a two-dimensional coherent magnetic flux rope (MFR) via multipoint analysis of the magnetic-field structure is developed. The method is devised under the following geometrical assumptions: (1) on its cross section, the structure is left-right symmetric; (2) the projected structure velocity is vertical to the line of symmetry. The two conditions can be naturally satisfied for cylindrical MFRs and are expected to be satisfied for MFRs that are flattened within current sheets. The model test demonstrates that, for determining the axial orientation of such structures, the new method is more efficient and reliable than traditional techniques such as minimum-variance analysis of the magnetic field, Grad-Shafranov (GS) reconstruction, and the more recent method based on the cylindrically symmetric assumption. A total of five flux transfer events observed by Cluster are studied using the proposed approach, and the application results indicate that the observed structures, regardless of their actual physical properties, fit the assumed geometrical model well. For these events, the inferred axial orientations are all in excellent agreement with those obtained using the multi-GS reconstruction technique.

Existence of three-dimensional ideal-magnetohydrodynamic equilibria with current sheets

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Loizu, J.; Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, PO Box 451, Princeton, New Jersey 08543; Hudson, S. R.

2015-09-15

We consider the linear and nonlinear ideal plasma response to a boundary perturbation in a screw pinch. We demonstrate that three-dimensional, ideal-MHD equilibria with continuously nested flux-surfaces and with discontinuous rotational-transform across the resonant rational-surfaces are well defined and can be computed both perturbatively and using fully nonlinear equilibrium calculations. This rescues the possibility of constructing MHD equilibria with current sheets and continuous, smooth pressure profiles. The results predict that, even if the plasma acts as a perfectly conducting fluid, a resonant magnetic perturbation can penetrate all the way into the center of a tokamak without being shielded at themore » resonant surface.« less

Detection of oppositely directed reconnection jets in a solar wind current sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, M. S.; Phan, T. D.; Gosling, J. T.; Skoug, R. M.

2006-12-01

We report the first two-spacecraft (Wind and ACE) detection of oppositely directed plasma jets within a bifurcated current sheet in the solar wind. The event occurred on January 3, 2003 and provides further direct evidence that such jets result from reconnection. The magnetic shear across the bifurcated current sheet at both Wind and ACE was approximately 150 degrees, indicating that the magnetic shear must have been the same at the reconnection site located between the two spacecraft. These observations thus provide strong evidence for component merging with a guide field approximately 30% of the antiparallel field. The dimensionless reconnection rate based on the measured inflow was 0.03, implying fast reconnection.

Nanosized graphene sheets enhanced photoelectric behavior of carbon film on p-silicon substrate

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Lei; Hu, Gaijuan; Zhang, Dongqing; Diao, Dongfeng

2016-07-01

We found that nanosized graphene sheets enhanced the photoelectric behavior of graphene sheets embedded carbon (GSEC) film on p-silicon substrate, which was deposited under low energy electron irradiation in electron cyclotron resonance plasma. The GSEC/p-Si photodiode exhibited good photoelectric performance with photoresponsivity of 206 mA/W, rise and fall time of 2.2, and 4.3 μs for near-infrared (850 nm) light. The origin of the strong photoelectric behavior of GSEC film was ascribed to the appearance of graphene nanosheets, which led to higher barrier height and photoexcited electron-collection efficiency. This finding indicates that GSEC film has the potential for photoelectric applications.

Pulsed Electromagnetic Acceleration of Plasma: A Review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thio, Y. C. Francis; Turchi, Peter J.; Markusic, Thomas E.; Cassibry, Jason T.; Sommer, James; Rodgers, Stephen L. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Much have been learned in the acceleration mechanisms involved in accelerating a plasma electromagnetically in the laboratory over the last 40 years since the early review by Winston Bostik of 1963, but the accumulated understanding is very much scattered throughout the literature. This literature extends back at least to the early sixties and includes Rosenbluth's snowplow model, discussions by Ralph Lovberg, Colgate's boundary-layer model of a current sheet, many papers from the activity at Columbia by Robert Gross and his colleagues, and the relevant, 1-D unsteady descriptions developed from the U. of Maryland theta-pinch studies. Recent progress on the understanding of the pulsed penetration of magnetic fields into collisionless or nearly collisionless plasmas are also be reviewed. Somewhat more recently, we have the two-dimensional, unsteady results in the collisional regime associated with so-called wall-instability in large radius pinch discharges and also in coaxial plasma guns (e.g., Plasma Flow Switch). Among other things, for example, we have the phenomenon of a high- density plasma discharge propagating in a cooaxial gun as an apparently straight sheet (vs paraboloid) because mass re-distribution (on a microsecond timescale) compensates for the 1/r- squared variation of magnetic pressure. We will attempt to collate some of this vast material and bring some coherence tc the development of the subject.

An investigation of transient pressure and plasma properties in a pinched plasma column. M.S. Thesis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stover, E. K.; York, T. M.

1971-01-01

The transient pinched plasma column generated in a linear Z-pinch was studied experimentally and analytically. The plasma column was investigated experimentally with the following plasma diagnostics: a special rapid response pressure transducer, a magnetic field probe, a voltage probe and discharge luminosity. Axial pressure profiles on the discharge chamber axis were used to identify three characteristic regions of plasma column behavior; they were in temporal sequence: strong axial pressure asymmetry noted early in plasma column lifetime followed by plasma heating in which there is a rapid rise in static pressure and a slight decrease static pressure before plasma column breakup. Plasma column lifetime was approximately 5 microseconds. The axial pressure asymmetry was attributed to nonsimultaneous pinching of the imploding current sheet along the discharge chamber axis. The rapid heating is attributed in part to viscous effects introduced by radial gradients in the axial streaming velocity. Turbulent heating arising from discharge current excitation of the ion acoustic wave instability is also considered a possible heating mechanism.

HEATING MECHANISMS IN THE LOW SOLAR ATMOSPHERE THROUGH MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN CURRENT SHEETS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ni, Lei; Lin, Jun; Roussev, Ilia I.

2016-12-01

We simulate several magnetic reconnection processes in the low solar chromosphere/photosphere; the radiation cooling, heat conduction and ambipolar diffusion are all included. Our numerical results indicate that both the high temperature (≳8 × 10{sup 4} K) and low temperature (∼10{sup 4} K) magnetic reconnection events can happen in the low solar atmosphere (100–600 km above the solar surface). The plasma β controlled by plasma density and magnetic fields is one important factor to decide how much the plasma can be heated up. The low temperature event is formed in a high β magnetic reconnection process, Joule heating is the mainmore » mechanism to heat plasma and the maximum temperature increase is only several thousand Kelvin. The high temperature explosions can be generated in a low β magnetic reconnection process, slow and fast-mode shocks attached at the edges of the well developed plasmoids are the main physical mechanisms to heat the plasma from several thousand Kelvin to over 8 × 10{sup 4} K. Gravity in the low chromosphere can strongly hinder the plasmoid instability and the formation of slow-mode shocks in a vertical current sheet. Only small secondary islands are formed; these islands, however, are not as well developed as those in the horizontal current sheets. This work can be applied to understand the heating mechanism in the low solar atmosphere and could possibly be extended to explain the formation of common low temperature Ellerman bombs (∼10{sup 4} K) and the high temperature Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) bombs (≳8 × 10{sup 4}) in the future.« less

Ardnamurchan 3D cone-sheet architecture explained by a single elongate magma chamber

PubMed Central

Burchardt, Steffi; Troll, Valentin R.; Mathieu, Lucie; Emeleus, Henry C.; Donaldson, Colin H.

2013-01-01

The Palaeogene Ardnamurchan central igneous complex, NW Scotland, was a defining place for the development of the classic concepts of cone-sheet and ring-dyke emplacement and has thus fundamentally influenced our thinking on subvolcanic structures. We have used the available structural information on Ardnamurchan to project the underlying three-dimensional (3D) cone-sheet structure. Here we show that a single elongate magma chamber likely acted as the source of the cone-sheet swarm(s) instead of the traditionally accepted model of three successive centres. This proposal is supported by the ridge-like morphology of the Ardnamurchan volcano and is consistent with the depth and elongation of the gravity anomaly underlying the peninsula. Our model challenges the traditional model of cone-sheet emplacement at Ardnamurchan that involves successive but independent centres in favour of a more dynamical one that involves a single, but elongate and progressively evolving magma chamber system. PMID:24100542

Current Sheet Formation in a Conical Theta Pinch Faraday Accelerator with Radio-frequency Assisted Discharge

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Polzin, Kurt A.; Hallock, Ashley K.; Choueiri, Edgar Y.

2008-01-01

Data from an inductive conical theta pinch accelerator are presented to gain insight into the process of inductive current sheet formation in the presence of a preionized background gas produced by a steady-state RF-discharge. The presence of a preionized plasma has been previously shown to allow for current sheet formation at lower discharge voltages and energies than those found in other pulsed inductive accelerator concepts, leading to greater accelerator efficiencies at lower power levels. Time-resolved magnetic probe measurements are obtained for different background pressures and pulse energies to characterize the effects of these parameters on current sheet formation. Indices are defined that describe time-resolved current sheet characteristics, such as the total current owing in the current sheet, the time-integrated total current ('strength'), and current sheet velocity. It is found that for a given electric field strength, maximums in total current, strength, and velocity occur for one particular background pressure. At other pressures, these current sheet indices are considerably smaller. The trends observed in these indices are explained in terms of the principles behind Townsend breakdown that lead to a dependence on the ratio of the electric field to the background pressure. Time-integrated photographic data are also obtained at the same experimental conditions, and qualitatively they compare quite favorably with the time-resolved magnetic field data.

Current and high-β sheets in CIR streams: statistics and interaction with the HCS and the magnetosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Potapov, A. S.

2018-04-01

Thirty events of CIR streams (corotating interaction regions between fast and slow solar wind) were analyzed in order to study statistically plasma structure within the CIR shear zones and to examine the interaction of the CIRs with the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) and the Earth's magnetosphere. The occurrence of current layers and high-beta plasma sheets in the CIR structure has been estimated. It was found that on average, each of the CIR streams had four current layers in its structure with a current density of more than 0.12 A/m2 and about one and a half high-beta plasma regions with a beta value of more than five. Then we traced how and how often the high-speed stream associated with the CIR can catch up with the heliospheric current sheet (HCS) and connect to it. The interface of each fourth CIR stream coincided in time within an hour with the HCS, but in two thirds of cases, the CIR connection with the HCS was completely absent. One event of the simultaneous observation of the CIR stream in front of the magnetosphere by the ACE satellite in the vicinity of the L1 libration point and the Wind satellite in the remote geomagnetic tail was considered in detail. Measurements of the components of the interplanetary magnetic field and plasma parameters showed that the overall structure of the stream is conserved. Moreover, some details of the fine structure are also transferred through the magnetosphere. In particular, the so-called "magnetic hole" almost does not change its shape when moving from L1 point to a neighborhood of L2 point.

Megavolt, Multigigawatt Pulsed Plasma Switch

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lee, Ja H.; Choi, Sang H.; Song, Kyo D.

1996-01-01

Plasma switch proposed for use in high-voltage, high-current pulse power system. Designed not only to out-perform conventional spark-gap switch but also relatively compact and lightweight. Features inverse-pinch configuration to prevent constriction of current sheets into filaments, plus multiple-ring-electrode structure to resist high-voltage breakdown.

Antifibrotic effect of dexamethasone/alginate-coated silicone sheet in the abraded middle ear mucosa.

PubMed

Jang, Chul Ho; Ahn, Seung Hyun; Kim, Geun Hyung

2016-12-01

Silicone sheet is a material which is commonly used in middle ear surgery to prevent the formation of adhesions between the tympanic membrane and the medial bony wall of the middle ear cavity. However, silicone sheet can induce a tight and hard fibrous capsule in the region of the stapes, and this is particularly common in cases of eustachian tube dysfunction. As a result of the fibrous encapsulation around the silicone sheet, postoperative aeration of the stapes can be interrupted causing poor hearing gain. In this study, we performed an in vitro and in vivo evaluation of the antifibrotic effects of a dexamethasone and alginate (Dx/alginate) coating on silicone sheet. The Dx/alginate-coated silicone sheets were fabricated using a plasma-treatment and coating method. The Dx/alginate-coated silicone sheets effectively limited in vitro fibroblast attachment and proliferation due to the controlled release of Dx, which can be modified by manipulation of the alginate coating. For the in-vivo evaluation, guinea pigs (albino, male, weighing 250g) were divided into two groups, with the control group (n=5) implanted with silicone sheet and the test group (n=5) receiving Dx/alginate-coated silicone sheet. Animals were sacrificed 3 weeks after implantation, and histological analysis was performed using hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and immunohistochemical staining techniques. Dx/alginate-coated silicone sheets showed marked inhibition of fibrosis in both the in vitro and in vivo studies. Silicone sheet that incorporates a Dx/alginate coating can release Dx and inhibit fibrosis in the middle ear. This material could be utilized in middle ear surgery as a means of preserving proper aeration and hearing gain following ossiculoplasty. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Analytical theory of neutral current sheets with a sheared magnetic field in collisionless relativistic plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kocharovsky, V. V.; Kocharovsky, Vl V.; Martyanov, V. Yu; Nechaev, A. A.

2017-12-01

We derive and describe analytically a new wide class of self-consistent magnetostatic structures with sheared field lines and arbitrary energy distributions of particles. To do so we analyze superpositions of two planar current sheets with orthogonal magnetic fields and cylindrically symmetric momentum distribution functions, such that the magnetic field of one of them is directed along the symmetry axis of the distribution function of the other. These superpositions satisfy the pressure balance equation and allow one to construct configurations with an almost arbitrarily sheared magnetic field. We show that most of previously known current sheet families with sheared magnetic field lines are included in this novel class.

EDITORIAL: Plasma jets and plasma bullets Plasma jets and plasma bullets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kong, M. G.; Ganguly, B. N.; Hicks, R. F.

2012-06-01

to 1990 with only 31 papers per year on average, and a total of some 1300 papers, precedes a considerable growth of some 35-50% in research activity every five years, over the last 20 years or so. As shown in the table, the annual dissemination of the field is more than 1600 papers and the total number of papers is in excess of 20000. This upwards trajectory is typical of a strong and growing subject area in physical science, with considerable capacity in both fundamental science and applications. PeriodNumber of papersPapers per annum 1948-1990130031 1991-19952279456 1996-20003447689 2001-20054571914 2006-201066401328 2011 1658 In many of the dense plasma jets discussed above, strong physical forces generated by the plasma are often desired and this favours plasma generation at elevated gas pressure, including atmospheric pressure, which favours a high level of gas ionization. Historically it has been challenging to reduce and control the strong physical forces in high-pressure plasmas for applications where these are unwanted, for example, surface modification of polymeric sheets [5]. Indeed, there is a real need for a vast range of material processing applications at temperatures below 100oC (or below 400 K) and this favours atmospheric-pressure plasma jets sustained far from thermal equilibrium with the dissipated electrical energy largely used not in heat generation but in unleashing non-equilibrium chemical reactions. The long-standing difficulty of effectively controlling the level of gas ionization at atmospheric pressure was overcome by the technological breakthrough of achieving atmospheric-pressure glow discharges in the late 1980s [6]. A related challenge stemming from high collisionality of atmospheric-pressure plasmas (v >> ω0) means that large-area plasmas sustained between parallel-plate electrodes are very susceptible to strong plasma instabilities when molecular gases are introduced for processing applications. This led to an effective

Geotail MCA Plasma Wave Investigation Data Analysis

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Anderson, Roger R.

1997-01-01

The primary goals of the International Solar Terrestrial Physics/Global Geospace Science (ISTP/GGS) program are identifying, studying, and understanding the source, movement, and dissipation of plasma mass, momentum, and energy between the Sun and the Earth. The GEOTAIL spacecraft was built by the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science and has provided extensive measurements of entry, storage, acceleration, and transport in the geomagnetic tail and throughout the Earth's outer magnetosphere. GEOTAIL was launched on July 24, 1992, and began its scientific mission with eighteen extensions into the deep-tail region with apogees ranging from around 60 R(sub e) to more than 208 R(sub e) in the period up to late 1994. Due to the nature of the GEOTAIL trajectory which kept the spacecraft passing into the deep tail, GEOTAIL also made 'magnetopause skimming passes' which allowed measurements in the outer magnetosphere, magnetopause, magnetosheath, bow shock, and upstream solar wind regions as well as in the lobe, magnetosheath, boundary layers, and central plasma sheet regions of the tail. In late 1994, after spending nearly 30 months primarily traversing the deep tail region, GEOTAIL began its near-Earth phase. Perigee was reduced to 10 R(sub e) and apogee first to 50 R(sub e) and finally to 30 R(sub e) in early 1995. This orbit provides many more opportunities for GEOTAIL to explore the upstream solar wind, bow shock, magnetosheath, magnetopause, and outer magnetosphere as well as the near-Earth tail regions. The WIND spacecraft was launched on November 1, 1994 and the POLAR spacecraft was launched on February 24, 1996. These successful launches have dramatically increased the opportunities for GEOTAIL and the GGS spacecraft to be used to conduct the global research for which the ISTP program was designed. The measurement and study of plasma waves have made and will continue to make important contributions to reaching the ISTP/GGS goals and solving the

Preliminary interpretation of plasma electron observations at the third encounter of Mariner 10 with Mercury

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hartle, R. E.; Ogilvie, K. W.; Scudder, J. D.; Bridge, H. S.; Siscoe, G. L.; Lazarus, A. J.; Vasyliunas, V. M.; Yeates, C. M.

1975-01-01

Plasma electron count observations made during the first and third encounters of Mariner 10 with Mercury (i.e., during Mercury I and III) are reported. They provide detailed information on the magnetosphere of Mercury, especially those from Mercury III. A low-flux region was observed about closest approach (CA) of Mercury III, whereas no such region was detected by the lower-latitude Mercury I; a hot plasma sheet was measured on the outgoing (and near-equator) trajectory of Mercury I, while only cool plasma sheets were observed in the magnetosphere by Mercury III. Findings are similar, on a reduced scale, to models of the earth's magnetosphere and magnetosheath.

Full particle-in-cell simulations of kinetic equilibria and the role of the initial current sheet on steady asymmetric magnetic reconnection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dargent, J.; Aunai, N.; Belmont, G.; Dorville, N.; Lavraud, B.; Hesse, M.

2016-06-01

> Tangential current sheets are ubiquitous in space plasmas and yet hard to describe with a kinetic equilibrium. In this paper, we use a semi-analytical model, the BAS model, which provides a steady ion distribution function for a tangential asymmetric current sheet and we prove that an ion kinetic equilibrium produced by this model remains steady in a fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulation even if the electron distribution function does not satisfy the time independent Vlasov equation. We then apply this equilibrium to look at the dependence of magnetic reconnection simulations on their initial conditions. We show that, as the current sheet evolves from a symmetric to an asymmetric upstream plasma, the reconnection rate is impacted and the X line and the electron flow stagnation point separate from one another and start to drift. For the simulated systems, we investigate the overall evolution of the reconnection process via the classical signatures discussed in the literature and searched in the Magnetospheric MultiScale data. We show that they seem robust and do not depend on the specific details of the internal structure of the initial current sheet.

The 3-D description of vertical current sheets with application to solar flares

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fontenla, Juan M.; Davis, J. M.

1991-01-01

Following a brief review of the processes which have been suggested for explaining the occurrence of solar flares we suggest a new scenario which builds on the achievements of the previous suggestion that the current sheets, which develop naturally in 3-D cases with gravity from impacting independent magnetic structures (i.e., approaching current systems), do not consist of horizontal currents but are instead predominantly vertical current systems. This suggestion is based on the fact that as the subphotospheric sources of the magnetic field displace the upper photosphere and lower chromosphere regions, where plasma beta is near unity, will experience predominantly horizontal mass motions which will lead to a distorted 3-D configurations of the magnetic field having stored free energy. In our scenario, a vertically flowing current sheet separates the plasma regions associated with either of the subphotospheric sources. This reflects the balanced tension of the two stressed fields which twist around each other. This leads naturally to a metastable or unstable situation as the twisted field emerges into a low beta region where vertical motions are not inhibited by gravity. In our flare scenario the impulsive energy release occurs, initially, not by reconnection but mainly by the rapid change of the magnetic field which has become unstable. During the impulsive phase the field lines contort in such way as to realign the electric current sheet into a minimum energy horizontal flow. This contortion produces very large electric fields which will accelerate particles. As the current evolves to a horizontal configuration the magnetic field expands vertically, which can be accompanied by eruptions of material. The instability of a horizontal current is well known and causes the magnetic field to undergo a rapid outward expansion. In our scenario, fast reconnection is not necessary to trigger the flare, however, slow reconnection would occur continuously in the current layer

High-latitude Pi2 pulsations associated with kink-like neutral sheet oscillations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, G. Q.; Volwerk, M.; Zhang, T. L.; Schmid, D.; Yoshikawa, A.

2017-03-01

A kink-like neutral sheet oscillation event observed by Cluster between 1436 and 1445 UT on 15 October 2004 has been investigated. The oscillations with periods between 40 and 60 s, observed at (-13.1, 8.7, -0.5) RE, are dominant in BX and BY. And they propagate mainly duskward with a velocity of (86, 147, 46) km/s. Their periods and velocity can be explained by the magnetic double-gradient instability. These oscillations are accompanied by strong field-aligned currents (FACs), which prefer to occur near the strongly tilted current sheet, and local maximum FAC tends to occur near the neutral sheet. The FACs show one-to-one correlated with a high-latitude Pi2 pulsation event recorded by KTN and TIK stations with a delay time of 60 and 90 s, respectively. Both the Pi2 and oscillations propagate westward with a comparative conjunctive speed. These findings suggest a strong relation between the FACs and Pi2, and we infer that the Pi2 is caused by the FACs. The periods of the FACs are modulated by the oscillations but not exactly equal, which is one possible reason that the period of the Pi2 caused by the FACs could be different from the oscillations. We speculate that a current circuit between the plasma sheet and ionosphere can be formed during strongly tilted current sheet, and successive tilted current sheet could generate quasiperiodic multiple FAC systems, which can generate high-latitude Pi2 pulsations and control their periods.

Coating cells with colloidal silica for high yield isolation of plasma membrane sheets and identification of transmembrane proteins.

PubMed

Chaney, L K; Jacobson, B S

1983-08-25

Plasma membrane (PM) can be isolated by binding to a positively charged solid support. Using this concept, we have developed a novel method of PM isolation using cationic colloidal silica. The method is designed for the comparative study of various physiological states of PM and for transbilayer protein mapping. The procedure consists of coating intact cells with a dense pellicle of silica particles and polyanion. Since cells remain intact during pellicle formation, the external face of the PM is selectively coated. The pellicle greatly enhances PM density and stabilizes it against vesiculation or lateral reorientation. Upon cell lysis, large open sheets of PM are rapidly isolated by centrifugation. PM from Dictyostelium discoideum was prepared by this method. Marker enzymes, cell surface labeling and microscopy demonstrate that the PM was isolated in high yield (70-80%) with a 10-17-fold purification and only low levels of cytoplasmic contamination. The pellicle remains intact during cell lysis and membrane isolation, shielding the external surface of the membranes up to 92% from chemical or enzymatic attack. The PM can thus be labeled selectively from inside and/or outside. Transmembrane proteins were identified in Dictyostelium PM by means of lactoperoxidase iodination and autoradiography.

Effectiveness of polyethylene sheeting in controlling spruce beetles (Coleoptera: Scolytidae) in infested stacks of spruce firewood in Alaska.

Treesearch

Edward H. Holsten; Richard A. Werner

1993-01-01

Covering stacks of spruce firewood with either clear or black polyethylene sheeting does not raise log temperatures high enough to kill spruce beetle brood in the logs. Based on the results of this study, we do not recommend the use of polyethylene sheeting as a remedial measure for the reduction of spruce beetle brood in infested firewood or log decks in south-central...

Exploration of a possible cause of magnetic reconfiguration/reconnection due to generation, rather than annihilation, of magnetic field in a nun-uniform thin current sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Huang, Y. C.; Lyu, L. H.

2014-12-01

Magnetic reconfiguration/reconnection plays an important role on energy and plasma transport in the space plasma. It is known that magnetic field lines on two sides of a tangential discontinuity can connect to each other only at a neutral point, where the strength of the magnetic field is equal to zero. Thus, the standard reconnection picture with magnetic field lines intersecting at the neutral point is not applicable to the component reconnection events observed at the magnetopause and in the solar corona. In our early study (Yu, Lyu, & Wu, 2011), we have shown that annihilation of magnetic field near a thin current sheet can lead to the formation of normal magnetic field component (normal to the current sheet) to break the frozen-in condition and to accelerate the reconnected plasma flux, even without the presence of a neutral point. In this study, we examine whether or not a generation, rather than annihilation, of magnetic field in a nun-uniform thin current sheet can also lead to reconnection of plasma flux. Our results indicate that a non-uniform enhancement of electric current can yield formation of field-aligned currents. The normal-component magnetic field generated by the field-aligned currents can yield reconnection of plasma flux just outside the current-enhancement region. The particle motion that can lead to non-uniform enhancement of electric currents will be discussed.

Ice stream activity scaled to ice sheet volume during Laurentide Ice Sheet deglaciation.

PubMed

Stokes, C R; Margold, M; Clark, C D; Tarasov, L

2016-02-18

The contribution of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets to sea level has increased in recent decades, largely owing to the thinning and retreat of outlet glaciers and ice streams. This dynamic loss is a serious concern, with some modelling studies suggesting that the collapse of a major ice sheet could be imminent or potentially underway in West Antarctica, but others predicting a more limited response. A major problem is that observations used to initialize and calibrate models typically span only a few decades, and, at the ice-sheet scale, it is unclear how the entire drainage network of ice streams evolves over longer timescales. This represents one of the largest sources of uncertainty when predicting the contributions of ice sheets to sea-level rise. A key question is whether ice streams might increase and sustain rates of mass loss over centuries or millennia, beyond those expected for a given ocean-climate forcing. Here we reconstruct the activity of 117 ice streams that operated at various times during deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (from about 22,000 to 7,000 years ago) and show that as they activated and deactivated in different locations, their overall number decreased, they occupied a progressively smaller percentage of the ice sheet perimeter and their total discharge decreased. The underlying geology and topography clearly influenced ice stream activity, but--at the ice-sheet scale--their drainage network adjusted and was linked to changes in ice sheet volume. It is unclear whether these findings can be directly translated to modern ice sheets. However, contrary to the view that sees ice streams as unstable entities that can accelerate ice-sheet deglaciation, we conclude that ice streams exerted progressively less influence on ice sheet mass balance during the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

Current Sheet Evolution In The Aftermath Of A CME Event

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bemporad, A.; Poletto, G.; Seuss, S. T.; Schwardron, N. A.; Elliott, H. A.; Raymond, J. C.

2006-01-01

We report on SOHO UVCS observations of the coronal restructuring following a coronal mass ejection (CME) on 2002 November 26, at the time of a SOHO-Ulysses quadrature campaign. Starting about 1.5 hr after a CME in the northwest quadrant, UVCS began taking spectra at 1.7 R, covering emission from both cool and hot plasma. Observations continued, with occasional gaps, for more than 2 days. Emission in the 974.8 A line of [Fe XVIII], indicating temperatures above 6 x 10(exp 6) K, was observed throughout the campaign in a spatially limited location. Comparison with EIT images shows the [Fe XVIII] emission to overlie a growing post-flare loop system formed in the aftermath of the CME. The emission most likely originates in a current sheet overlying the arcade. Analysis of the [Fe XVIII] emission allows us to infer the evolution of physical parameters in the current sheet over the entire span of our observations: in particular, we give the temperature versus time in the current sheet and estimate its density. At the time of the quadrature, Ulysses was directly above the location of the CME and intercepted the ejecta. High ionization state Fe was detected by the Ulysses SWICS throughout the magnetic cloud associated with the CME, although its rapid temporal variation suggests bursty, rather than smooth, reconnection in the coronal current sheet. The SOHO-Ulysses data set provided us with the unique opportunity of analyzing a current sheet structure from its lowest coronal levels out to its in situ properties. Both the remote and in situ observations are compared with predictions of theoretical CME models.

Coronal Current Sheet Evolution in the Aftermath of a CME

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bemporad, A.; Poletto, G.; Suess, S. T.; Ko, Y.-K.; Schwadron, N. A.; Elliott, H. A.; Raymond, J. C.

2005-01-01

We report on SOHO-UVCS observations of coronal restructuring following a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on November 26, 2002, at the time of a SOHO-Ulysses quadrature campaign. Starting about 3 hours after the CME, which was directed towards Ulysses, UVCS began taking spectra at 1.7 solar radii, covering emission from both cool and hot plasma. Observations continued, with occasional gaps, for more than 2 days. Emission in the 974.8 Angstrom line of [Fe XVIII], indicating temperatures above 6x10(6) K, was observed throughout the campaign in a spatially limited location. Comparison with EIT images shows the [Fe XVIII] emission to overlie a growing post-flare loop system formed in the aftermath of the CME. The emission most likely originates in a current sheet overlying the arcade. Analysis of the [Fe XVIII] emission allows us to infer the evolution of physical parameters in the current sheet over the entire span of our observations: in particular, we give the temperature vs. time in the current sheet and estimate the density. Ulysses was directly above the location of the CME and intercepted the ejecta. High ionization state Fe was detected by SWICS throughout the magnetic cloud associated with the CME, although the rapid temporal variation suggests bursty, rather than smooth, reconnection in the coronal current sheet. Both the remote and in situ observations are compared with predictions of theoretical CME models.

71. PALMDALE WATER COMPANY, EASTWOOD MULTIPLEARCHED DAM: STRESS SHEET, SHEET ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

71. PALMDALE WATER COMPANY, EASTWOOD MULTIPLE-ARCHED DAM: STRESS SHEET, SHEET 3; DECEMBER 20, 1918. Littlerock Water District files. - Little Rock Creek Dam, Little Rock Creek, Littlerock, Los Angeles County, CA

Effect of Inductive Coil Geometry on the Thrust Efficiency of a Microwave Assisted Discharge Inductive Plasma Accelerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hallock, Ashley; Polzin, Kurt; Emsellem, Gregory

2012-01-01

Pulsed inductive plasma thrusters [1-3] are spacecraft propulsion devices in which electrical energy is capacitively stored and then discharged through an inductive coil. The thruster is electrodeless, with a time-varying current in the coil interacting with a plasma covering the face of the coil to induce a plasma current. Propellant is accelerated and expelled at a high exhaust velocity (O(10-100 km/s)) by the Lorentz body force arising from the interaction of the magnetic field and the induced plasma current. While this class of thruster mitigates the life-limiting issues associated with electrode erosion, pulsed inductive plasma thrusters require high pulse energies to inductively ionize propellant. The Microwave Assisted Discharge Inductive Plasma Accelerator (MAD-IPA) [4, 5] is a pulsed inductive plasma thruster that addressees this issue by partially ionizing propellant inside a conical inductive coil via an electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) discharge. The ECR plasma is produced using microwaves and permanent magnets that are arranged to create a thin resonance region along the inner surface of the coil, restricting plasma formation, and in turn current sheet formation, to a region where the magnetic coupling between the plasma and the inductive coil is high. The use of a conical theta-pinch coil is under investigation. The conical geometry serves to provide neutral propellant containment and plasma plume focusing that is improved relative to the more common planar geometry of the Pulsed Inductive Thruster (PIT) [2, 3], however a conical coil imparts a direct radial acceleration of the current sheet that serves to rapidly decouple the propellant from the coil, limiting the direct axial electromagnetic acceleration in favor of an indirect acceleration mechanism that requires significant heating of the propellant within the volume bounded by the current sheet. In this paper, we describe thrust stand measurements performed to characterize the performance

The effect of broken stringers on the stress intensity factor for a uniformly stiffened sheet containing a crack

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Poe, C. C., Jr.

1973-01-01

A linear elastic stress analysis was made of a centrally cracked sheet stiffened by riveted, uniformly spaced and sized stringers. The stress intensity factor for the sheet and the load concentration factor for the most highly loaded stringer were determined for various numbers of broken stringers. A broken stringer causes the stress intensity factor to be very high when the crack tip is near the broken stringer, but causes little effect when the crack tip extends beyond several intact stringers. A broken stringer also causes an increase in the load concentration factor of the adjacent stringers. The calculated residual strengths and fatigue-crack-growth lives of a stiffened aluminum sheet with a broken stringer were only slightly less than a sheet with all intact stringers, and were still much higher than those of an unstiffened sheet.

Polar Spacecraft Based Comparisons of Intense Electric Fields and Poynting Flux Near and Within the Plasma Sheet-Tail Lobe Boundary to UVI Images: An Energy Source for the Aurora

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wygant, J. R.; Keiling, A.; Cattell, C. A.; Johnson, M.; Lysak, R. L.; Temerin, M.; Mozer, F. S.; Kletzing, C. A.; Scudder, J. D.; Peterson, W.;

Polar spacecraft based comparisons of intense electric fields and Poynting flux near and within the plasma sheet-tail lobe boundary to UVI images: An energy source for the aurora

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wygant, J. R.; Keiling, A.; Cattell, C. A.; Johnson, M.; Lysak, R. L.; Temerin, M.; Mozer, F. S.; Kletzing, C. A.; Scudder, J. D.; Peterson, W.; Russell, C. T.; Parks, G.; Brittnacher, M.; Germany, G.; Spann, J.

2000-08-01

In this paper, we present measurements from two passes of the Polar spacecraft of intense electric and magnetic field structures associated with Alfven waves at and within the outer boundary of the plasma sheet at geocentric distances of 4-6 RE near local midnight. The electric field variations have maximum values exceeding 100 mV/m and are typically polarized approximately normal to the plasma sheet boundary. The electric field structures investigated vary over timescales (in the spacecraft frame) ranging from 1 to 30 s. They are associated with strong magnetic field fluctuations with amplitudes of 10-40 nT which lie predominantly in the plane of the plasma sheet and are perpendicular to the local magnetic field. The Poynting flux associated with the perturbation fields measured at these altitudes is about 1-2 ergs cm-2 s-1 and is directed along the average magnetic field direction toward the ionosphere. If the measured Poynting flux is mapped to ionospheric altitudes along converging magnetic field lines, the resulting energy flux ranges up to 100 ergs cm-2s-1. These strongly enhanced Poynting fluxes appear to occur in layers which are observed when the spacecraft is magnetically conjugate (to within a 1° mapping accuracy) to intense auroral structures as detected by the Polar UV Imager (UVI). The electron energy flux (averaged over a spatial resolution of 0.5° ) deposited in the ionosphere due to auroral electron beams as estimated from the intensity in the UVI Lyman-Birge-Hopfield-long filters is 15-30 ergs cm-2s-1. Thus there is evidence that these electric field structures provide sufficient Poynting flux to power the acceleration of auroral electrons (as well as the energization of upflowing ions and Joule heating of the ionosphere). During some events the phasing and ratio of the transverse electric and magnetic field variations are consistent with earthward propagation of Alfven surface waves with phase velocities of 4000-10000 km/s. During other events

Ice sheet altimetry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Brooks, R. L.

1981-01-01

Generalized surface slopes were computed for the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets by differencing plotted contour levels and dividing them by the distance between the contours. It was observed that more than 90% of the ice sheets have surface slopes less than 1%. Seasat test mode-1 Seasat altimeter measurements over Greenland were analyzed by comparisons with collinear and intersecting normal mode Seasat altimeter passes. Over the ice sheet, the computed surface elevations from test mode-1 measurements were consistently lower by about 45 m and the AGC levels were down by approximately 6 dB. No test mode-1 data were acquired over Antarctica. It is concluded that analysis of the existing altimeter data base over the two ice sheets is crucial in designing a future improved altimeter tracking capability. It is recommended that additional waveform retracking be performed to characterize ice sheet topography as a function of geographic area and elevation.

Design of a High-Energy, Two-Stage Pulsed Plasma Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Markusic, T. E.; Thio, Y. C. F.; Cassibry, J. T.; Rodgers, Stephen L. (Technical Monitor)

2002-01-01

Design details of a proposed high-energy (approx. 50 kJ/pulse), two-stage pulsed plasma thruster are presented. The long-term goal of this project is to develop a high-power (approx. 500 kW), high specific impulse (approx. 7500 s), highly efficient (approx. 50%),and mechanically simple thruster for use as primary propulsion in a high-power nuclear electric propulsion system. The proposed thruster (PRC-PPT1) utilizes a valveless, liquid lithium-fed thermal plasma injector (first stage) followed by a high-energy pulsed electromagnetic accelerator (second stage). A numerical circuit model coupled with one-dimensional current sheet dynamics, as well as a numerical MHD simulation, are used to qualitatively predict the thermal plasma injection and current sheet dynamics, as well as to estimate the projected performance of the thruster. A set of further modelling efforts, and the experimental testing of a prototype thruster, is suggested to determine the feasibility of demonstrating a full scale high-power thruster.

5. Historic American Buildings Survey Taken from drawing sheet, SHEET ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

5. Historic American Buildings Survey Taken from drawing sheet, SHEET #21, Showing the house as restored since Survey. (Dormer windows omitted as not authentic) - Samuel des Marest House, River Road, New Milford, Bergen County, NJ

Electron flat-top distributions and cross-scale wave modulations observed in the current sheet of geomagnetic tail

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Duo; Fu, Suiyan; Parks, George K.; Sun, Weijie; Zong, Qiugang; Pan, Dongxiao; Wu, Tong

2017-08-01

We present new observations of electron distributions and the accompanying waves during the current sheet activities at ˜60 RE in the geomagnetic tail detected by the ARTEMIS (Acceleration, Reconnection, Turbulence, and Electrodynamics of the Moon's Interaction with the Sun) spacecraft. We find that electron flat-top distribution is a common feature near the neutral sheet of the tailward flowing plasmas, consistent with the electron distributions that are shaped in the reconnection region. Whistler mode waves are generated by the anisotropic electron temperature associated with the electron flat-top distributions. These whistler mode waves are modulated by low frequency ion scale waves that are possibly excited by the high-energy ions injected during the current sheet instability. The magnetic and electric fields of the ion scale waves are in phase with electron density variations, indicating that they are compressional ion cyclotron waves. Our observations present examples of the dynamical processes occurring during the current sheet activities far downstream of the geomagnetic tail.

Saturn's E, G, and F rings - Modulated by the plasma sheet?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morfill, G. E.; Gruen, E.; Johnson, T. V.

1983-01-01

Saturn's broad E ring, the narrow G ring, and the structured and apparently time-variable F ring(s) contain many micron and submicron-sized particles, which make up the 'visible' component. These rings (or ring systems) are in direct contact with magnetospheric plasma. Fluctuations in the plasma density and/or mean energy, due to magnetospheric and solar wind processes, may induce stochastic charge variations on the dust particles, which in turn lead to an orbit perturbation and spatial diffusion. In addition, Coulomb drag forces may be important, in particular for the E ring. The possibility that electromagnetic effects may play a role in determining the F ring structure and its possible time variations is critically examined. Sputtering of micron-sized dust particles in the E ring by magnetospheric ions yields lifetimes of 100 to 10,000 years. This effect as well as the plasma induced transport processes require an active source for the E ring, probably Enceladus.

A flexible plasma-treated silver-nanowire electrode for organic light-emitting devices.

PubMed

Li, Jun; Tao, Ye; Chen, Shufen; Li, Huiying; Chen, Ping; Wei, Meng-Zhu; Wang, Hu; Li, Kun; Mazzeo, Marco; Duan, Yu

2017-11-28

Silver nanowires (AgNWs) are a promising candidate to replace indium tin oxide (ITO) as transparent electrode material. However, the loose contact at the junction of the AgNWs and residual surfactant polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) increase the sheet resistance of the AgNWs. In this paper, an argon (Ar) plasma treatment method is applied to pristine AgNWs to remove the PVP layer and enhance the contact between AgNWs. By adjusting the processing time, we obtained AgNWs with a sheet resistance of 7.2Ω/□ and a transmittance of 78% at 550 nm. To reduce the surface roughness of the AgNWs, a peel-off process was used to transfer the AgNWs to a flexible NOA63 substrate. Then, an OLED was fabricated with the plasma-treated AgNWs electrode as anode. The highest brightness (27000 cd/m 2 ) and current efficiency (11.8 cd/A) was achieved with a 30 nm thick light emitting layer of tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum doped with 1% 10-(2-benzothiazolyl)-2,3,6,7-tetrahydro-1,1,7,7-tetramethyl-1H,5 H,11H-(1)-benzopyropyrano(6,7-8-I,j)quinolizin-11-one. Compared to thermal annealing, the plasma-treated AgNW film has a lower sheet resistance, a shorter processing time, and a better hole-injection. Our results indicate that plasma treatment is an effective and efficient method to enhance the conductivity of AgNW films, and the plasma-treated AgNW electrode is suitable to manufacture flexible organic optoelectronic devices.

Plasma jets in the near-Earth's magnetotail (Julius Bartels Medal Lecture)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamura, Rumi

2014-05-01

The Earth's magnetosphere is formed as a consequence of the interaction between the magnetized solar wind and the terrestrial magnetic field. While the large-scale and average (>hours) properties of the Earth's magnetotail current sheet can be well described by overall solar wind-magnetosphere interaction, the most dramatic energy conversion process takes place in an explosive manner involving transient (up to several minutes) and localized (up to a few RE) phenomena in the plasma sheet/current sheet regions. One of the most clear observables of such processes are the localized and transient plasma jets called Bursty bulk flows (BBF), embedding velocity peaks of 1-min duration, which are called flow bursts. This talk is a review of the current understanding of these plasma jets by highlighting the results from multi-spacecraft observations by the Cluster and THEMIS spacecraft. The first four-spacecraft mission Cluster crossed the near-Earth plasma sheet with inter-spacecraft distance of about 250 km to 10000 km, ideal for studying local structures of the flow bursts. The five-spacecraft THEMIS mission , separated by larger distances , succeeded to monitor the large-scale evolution of the fast flows from the mid-tail to the inner magnetosphere. Multi-point observations of BBFS have established the importance of measuring local gradients of the fields and the plasma to understand the BBF structures such as the spatial scales and 3D structure of localized Earthward convecting flux tubes. Among others the magnetic field disturbance forming at the front of BBF, called dipolarization front (DF), has been intensively studied. From the propagation properties of DF relative to the flows and by comparing with ionospheric data, the evolution of the fast flows in terms of magnetosphere-ionospheric coupling through field-aligned currents are established. An important aspect of BBF is the interaction of the Earthward plasma jets and the Earth's dipole field. Multi

The effect of plasma actuator on the depreciation of the aerodynamic drag on box model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harinaldi, Budiarso, Julian, James; Rabbani M., N.

2016-06-01

Recent active control research advances have provided many benefits some of which in the field of transportation by land, sea as well as by air. Flow engineering by using active control has proven advantages in energy saving significantly. One of the active control equipment that is being developed, especially in the 21st century, is a plasma actuator, with the ability to modify the flow of fluid by the approach of ion particles makes these actuators a very powerful and promising tool. This actuator can be said to be better to the previously active control such as suction, blowing and synthetic jets because it is easier to control, more flexible because it has no moving parts, easy to be manufactured and installed, and consumes a small amount of energy with maximum capability. Plasma actuator itself is the composition of a material composed of copper and a dielectric sheet, where the copper sheets act as an electricity conductor and the dielectric sheet as electricity insulator. Products from the plasma actuators are ion wind which is the result of the suction of free air around the actuator to the plasma zone. This study investigates the ability of plasma actuators in lowering aerodynamic drag which is commonly formed in the models of vehicles by varying the shape of geometry models and the flow speed.

Modeling of the Convection and Interaction of Ring Current, Plasmaspheric and Plasma Sheet Plasmas in the Inner Magnetosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fok, Mei-Ching; Chen, Sheng-Hsien; Buzulukova, Natalia; Glocer, Alex

2010-01-01

Distinctive sources of ions reside in the plasmasphere, plasmasheet, and ring current regions at discrete energies constitute the major plasma populations in the inner/middle magnetosphere. They contribute to the electrodynamics of the ionosphere-magnetosphere system as important carriers of the global current system, in triggering; geomagnetic storm and substorms, as well as critical components of plasma instabilities such as reconnection and Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the magnetospheric boundaries. Our preliminary analysis of in-situ measurements shoves the complexity of the plasmas pitch angle distributions at particularly the cold and warm plasmas, vary dramatically at different local times and radial distances from the Earth in response to changes in solar wind condition and Dst index. Using an MHD-ring current coupled code, we model the convection and interaction of cold, warm and energetic ions of plasmaspheric, plasmasheet, and ring current origins in the inner magnetosphere. We compare our simulation results with in-situ and remotely sensed measurements from recent instrumentation on Geotail, Cluster, THEMIS, and TWINS spacecraft.

Energetic O+ and H+ Ions in the Plasma Sheet: Implications for the Transport of Ionospheric Ions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ohtani, S.; Nose, M.; Christon, S. P.; Lui, A. T.

2011-01-01

The present study statistically examines the characteristics of energetic ions in the plasma sheet using the Geotail/Energetic Particle and Ion Composition data. An emphasis is placed on the O+ ions, and the characteristics of the H+ ions are used as references. The following is a summary of the results. (1) The average O+ energy is lower during solar maximum and higher during solar minimum. A similar tendency is also found for the average H+ energy, but only for geomagnetically active times; (2) The O+ -to -H+ ratios of number and energy densities are several times higher during solar maximum than during solar minimum; (3) The average H+ and O+ energies and the O+ -to -H+ ratios of number and energy densities all increase with geomagnetic activity. The differences among different solar phases not only persist but also increase with increasing geomagnetic activity; (4) Whereas the average H+ energy increases toward Earth, the average O+ energy decreases toward Earth. The average energy increases toward dusk for both the H+ and O+ ions; (5) The O+ -to -H+ ratios of number and energy densities increase toward Earth during all solar phases, but most clearly during solar maximum. These results suggest that the solar illumination enhances the ionospheric outflow more effectively with increasing geomagnetic activity and that a significant portion of the O+ ions is transported directly from the ionosphere to the near ]Earth region rather than through the distant tail.

Plasma precipitation on Mercury's nightside and its implications for magnetospheric convection and exosphere generation.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raines, J. M.; Slavin, J. A.; Tracy, P.; Gershman, D. J.; Zurbuchen, T.; Korth, H.; Anderson, B. J.; Solomon, S. C.

2015-12-01

Plasma impact onto Mercury's surface can be an important contributor to Mercury's exosphere through the process of ion sputtering. Under some circumstances, this process can produce a substantial fraction of the exosphere. When the impacting plasma originates from the magnetosphere itself, this sputtering process can conversely be considered as a sink for the plasma of the Mercury magnetosphere, providing evidence for the processes at work in that system. One such process is reconnection in Mercury's magnetotail, which can accelerate ions and electrons from the central plasma sheet toward the nightside of the planet. By analogy with processes at Earth, it is hypothesized that as these flows approach the planet, much of the plasma is diverted from impact onto the surface by the increasingly strong planetary magnetic field closer to the planet. The remainder of the plasma is expected to follow nearly dipolar field lines, impacting the nightside surface and potentially contributing to field-aligned currents. We present the first direct evidence that this process is operating at Mercury. We examine ion precipitation events on Mercury's nightside with the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) on the MESSENGER spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015. We characterize the energy distributions of these events and their extent in latitude and local time. We use these observations to predict the precipitating proton flux from altitudes as low as 11 km. We use this information to bound the region of Mercury's surface that remains protected from plasma bombardment by the planetary dipole magnetic field, and to explore the implications of this information for magnetospheric convection and exosphere generation at Mercury.

Plasma precipitation on Mercury's nightside and its implications for magnetospheric convection and exosphere generation.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Raines, J. M.; Slavin, J. A.; Tracy, P.; Gershman, D. J.; Zurbuchen, T.; Dewey, R. M.; Sarantos, M.

2016-12-01

Plasma impact onto Mercury's surface can be an important contributor to Mercury's exosphere through the process of ion sputtering. Under some circumstances, this process can produce a substantial fraction of the exosphere. When the impacting plasma originates from the magnetosphere itself, this sputtering process can conversely be considered as a sink for the plasma of the Mercury magnetosphere, providing evidence for the processes at work in that system. One such process is reconnection in Mercury's magnetotail, which can accelerate ions and electrons from the central plasma sheet toward the nightside of the planet. By analogy with processes at Earth, it is hypothesized that as these flows approach the planet, much of the plasma is diverted from impact onto the surface by the increasingly strong planetary magnetic field closer to the planet. The remainder of the plasma is expected to follow nearly dipolar field lines, impacting the nightside surface and potentially contributing to field-aligned currents. We present the first direct evidence that this process is operating at Mercury. We examine ion precipitation events on Mercury's nightside with the Fast Imaging Plasma Spectrometer (FIPS) on the MESSENGER spacecraft, which orbited Mercury from 2011 to 2015. We characterize the energy distributions of these events and their extent in latitude and local time. We use these observations to predict the precipitating proton flux from altitudes as low as 11 km. We use this information to bound the region of Mercury's surface that remains protected from plasma bombardment by the planetary dipole magnetic field, and to explore the implications of this information for magnetospheric convection and exosphere generation at Mercury.

Ages, distributions, and origins of upland coastal dune sheets in Oregon, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Peterson, C.D.; Stock, E.; Price, D.M.; Hart, R.; Reckendorf, F.; Erlandson, J.M.; Hostetler, S.W.

2007-01-01

A total of ten upland dune sheets, totaling 245??km in combined length, have been investigated for their origin(s) along the Oregon coast (500??km in length). The ages of dune emplacement range from 0.1 to 103??ka based on radiocarbon (36 samples) and luminescence (46 samples) dating techniques. The majority of the emplacement dates fall into two periods of late-Pleistocene age (11-103??ka) and mid-late-Holocene age (0.1-8??ka) that correspond to marine low-stand and marine high-stand conditions, respectively. The distribution of both the late-Pleistocene dune sheets (516??km2 total surface area) and the late-Holocene dune sheets (184??km2) are concentrated (90% of total surface area) along a 100??km coastal reach of the south-central Oregon coast. This coastal reach lies directly landward of a major bight (Heceta-Perpetua-Stonewall Banks) on the continental shelf, at depths of 30-200??m below present mean sea level (MSL). The banks served to trap northward littoral drift during most of the late-Pleistocene conditions of lowered sea level (- 50 ?? 20??m MSL). The emerged inner-shelf permitted cross-shelf, eolian sand transport (10-50??km distance) by onshore winds. The depocenter sand deposits were reworked by the Holocene marine transgression and carried landward by asymmetric wave transport during early- to mid-Holocene time. The earliest dated onset of Holocene dune accretion occurred at 8??ka in the central Oregon coast. A northward migration of Northeast Pacific storm tracks to the latitude of the shelf depocenter (Stonewall, Perpetua, Heceta Banks) in Holocene time resulted in eastward wave transport from the offshore depocenter. The complex interplay of coastal morphology, paleosea-level, and paleoclimate yielded the observed peak distribution of beach and dune sand observed along the south-central Oregon coast. ?? 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Comet giacobini-zinner: plasma description.

PubMed

Bame, S J; Anderson, R C; Asbridge, J R; Baker, D N; Feldman, W C; Fuselier, S A; Gosling, J T; McComas, D J; Thomsen, M F; Young, D T; Zwickl, R D

1986-04-18

A strong interaction between the solar wind and comet Giacobini-Zinner was observed oh 11 September 1985 with the Los Alamos plasma electron experiment on the International Cometary Explorer (ICE) spacecraft. As ICE approached an intercept point 7800 kilometers behind the nucleus from the south and receded to the north, upstream phenomena due to the comet were observed. Periods of enhanced electron heat flux from the comet as well as almost continuous electron density fluctuations were measured. These effects are related to the strong electron heating observed in the cometary interaction region and to cometary ion pickup by the solar wind, respectively. No evidence for a conventional bow shock was found as ICE entered and exited the regions of strongest interaction of the solar wind with the cometary environment. The outer extent of this strong interaction zone was a transition region in which the solar wind plasma was heated, compressed, and slowed. Inside the inner boundary of the transition region was a sheath that enclosed a cold intermediate coma. In the transition region and sheath, small-scale enhancements in density were observed. These density spikes may be due to an instability associated with cometary ion pickup or to the passage of ICE through cometary ray structures. In the center of the cold intermediate coma a narrow, high-density core of plasma, presumably the developing plasma tail was found. In some ways this tail can be compared to the plasma sheet in Earth's magnetotail and to the current sheet in the tail at Venus. This type of configuration is expected in the double-lobe magnetic topology detected at the comet, possibly caused by the theoretically expected draping of the interplanetary magnetic field around its ionosphere.

Dynamics of the last glacial maximum Antarctic ice-sheet and its response to ocean forcing

PubMed Central

Golledge, Nicholas R.; Fogwill, Christopher J.; Mackintosh, Andrew N.; Buckley, Kevin M.

2012-01-01

Retreat of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) Antarctic ice sheet is thought to have been initiated by changes in ocean heat and eustatic sea level propagated from the Northern Hemisphere (NH) as northern ice sheets melted under rising atmospheric temperatures. The extent to which spatial variability in ice dynamics may have modulated the resultant pattern and timing of decay of the Antarctic ice sheet has so far received little attention, however, despite the growing recognition that dynamic effects account for a sizeable proportion of mass-balance changes observed in modern ice sheets. Here we use a 5-km resolution whole-continent numerical ice-sheet model to assess whether differences in the mechanisms governing ice sheet flow could account for discrepancies between geochronological studies in different parts of the continent. We first simulate the geometry and flow characteristics of an equilibrium LGM ice sheet, using pan-Antarctic terrestrial and marine geological data for constraint, then perturb the system with sea level and ocean heat flux increases to investigate ice-sheet vulnerability. Our results identify that fast-flowing glaciers in the eastern Weddell Sea, the Amundsen Sea, central Ross Sea, and in the Amery Trough respond most rapidly to ocean forcings, in agreement with empirical data. Most significantly, we find that although ocean warming and sea-level rise bring about mainly localized glacier acceleration, concomitant drawdown of ice from neighboring areas leads to widespread thinning of entire glacier catchments—a discovery that has important ramifications for the dynamic changes presently being observed in modern ice sheets. PMID:22988078

Dynamics of the last glacial maximum Antarctic ice-sheet and its response to ocean forcing.

PubMed

Golledge, Nicholas R; Fogwill, Christopher J; Mackintosh, Andrew N; Buckley, Kevin M

2012-10-02

Retreat of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) Antarctic ice sheet is thought to have been initiated by changes in ocean heat and eustatic sea level propagated from the Northern Hemisphere (NH) as northern ice sheets melted under rising atmospheric temperatures. The extent to which spatial variability in ice dynamics may have modulated the resultant pattern and timing of decay of the Antarctic ice sheet has so far received little attention, however, despite the growing recognition that dynamic effects account for a sizeable proportion of mass-balance changes observed in modern ice sheets. Here we use a 5-km resolution whole-continent numerical ice-sheet model to assess whether differences in the mechanisms governing ice sheet flow could account for discrepancies between geochronological studies in different parts of the continent. We first simulate the geometry and flow characteristics of an equilibrium LGM ice sheet, using pan-Antarctic terrestrial and marine geological data for constraint, then perturb the system with sea level and ocean heat flux increases to investigate ice-sheet vulnerability. Our results identify that fast-flowing glaciers in the eastern Weddell Sea, the Amundsen Sea, central Ross Sea, and in the Amery Trough respond most rapidly to ocean forcings, in agreement with empirical data. Most significantly, we find that although ocean warming and sea-level rise bring about mainly localized glacier acceleration, concomitant drawdown of ice from neighboring areas leads to widespread thinning of entire glacier catchments-a discovery that has important ramifications for the dynamic changes presently being observed in modern ice sheets.

Mirror plasma apparatus

DOEpatents

Moir, Ralph W.

1981-01-01

A mirror plasma apparatus which utilizes shielding by arc discharge to form a blanket plasma and lithium walls to reduce neutron damage to the wall of the apparatus. An embodiment involves a rotating liquid lithium blanket for a tandem mirror plasma apparatus wherein the first wall of the central mirror cell is made of liquid lithium which is spun with angular velocity great enough to keep the liquid lithium against the first material wall, a blanket plasma preventing the lithium vapor from contaminating the plasma.

Peeling behavior and spalling resistance of CFRP sheets bonded to bent concrete surfaces

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yuan, Hong; Li, Faping

2010-05-01

In this paper, the peeling behavior and the spalling resistance effect of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) sheets externally bonded to bent concrete surfaces are firstly investigated experimentally. Twenty one curved specimens and seven plane specimens are studied in the paper, in which curved specimens with bonded CFRP sheets can simulate the concrete spalling in tunnel, culvert, arch bridge etc., whereas plane specimens with bonded CFRP sheets can simulate the concrete spalling in beam bridge, slab bridge and pedestrian bridge. Three kinds of curved specimens with different radii of curvature are chosen by referring to practical tunnel structures, and plane specimens are used for comparison with curved ones. A peeling load is applied on the FRP sheet by loading a circular steel tube placed into the central notch of beam to debond CFRP sheets from the bent concrete surface, meanwhile full-range load-deflection curves are recorded by a MTS 831.10 Elastomer Test System. Based on the experimental results, a theoretical analysis is also conducted for the specimens. Both theoretical and experimental results show that only two material parameters, the interfacial fracture energy of CFRP-concrete interface and the tensile stiffness of CFRP sheets, are needed for describing the interfacial spalling behavior. It is found that the radius of curvature has remarkable influence on peeling load-deflection curves. The test methods and test results given in the paper are helpful and available for reference to the designer of tunnel strengthening.

Lobe Reconnection as a Source for the Cold Dense Plasma Sheet, Results from FAST and Cluster

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilber, M.; McFadden, J. P.; Hull, A. J.; Brown, K.; Teste, A. F.

2010-12-01

Cold dense plasma sheet (CDPS) material is found along the flanks of the magnetopause during extended intervals of northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). The source for this population is the magnetosheath, and an un-resolved question is what mechanisms dominate in transporting, heating and accelerating it. Northward IMF is thought to be favorable for the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI), which can lead to turbulent mixing of plasma across the magnetopause. It is also thought favorable for high-latitude reconnection behind the cusps, which can permit direct injection and acceleration of particles. When newly-reconnected, cusp field lines on the day side contract due to magnetic tension, producing a characteristic velocity dispersion with faster particles arriving near Earth while field lines are still at higher latitudes (dE/dILAT~> 0). The low-altitude FAST spacecraft often observed overlapping energy dispersed ions (EDIs) during periods of northward IMF, leading to speculation that these signatures may be a near-Earth manifestation of CDPS material. These EDIs are a major focus of the present study. Our survey of FAST observations shows that during extended northward IMF intervals more than 80% of EDIs have dE/dILAT~> 0. A similar fraction of events have loss cones consistent with mirroring in the near hemisphere, suggesting that strong pitch-angle scattering is common and able to erase prior mirroring signatures. In contrast, during extended intervals of southward IMF EDIs shift location from the flanks to the night side, which might be expected for injection in the tail. For these, a little less than half show dE/dILAT~< 0, as would be expected for velocity dispersion during dipolarization. This suggests that adiabatic energization during field line relaxation can overcome velocity filtering effects. We also have examined a large number of CDPS events observed by Cluster and often find energy dispersed ions. These have loss cones that also correspond

Transporter for Treated Sheet Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pollack, M., H.

1983-01-01

Plastic spacers keep parts separated during transport or storage. Cart with rods and spacers holds sheets with delicate finishes for storage or transport. Sheets supported vertically by rods, or horizontally. Spacers keep sheets separated. Designed to eliminate time and expense of tapping, wrapping, and sometimes refinishing aluminum sheets with delicate anodized finished.

Perforating Thin Metal Sheets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Davidson, M. E.

1985-01-01

Sheets only few mils thick bonded together, punched, then debonded. Three-step process yields perforated sheets of metal. (1): Individual sheets bonded together to form laminate. (2): laminate perforated in desired geometric pattern. (3): After baking, laminate separates into individual sheets. Developed for fabricating conductive layer on blankets that collect and remove ions; however, perforated foils have other applications - as conductive surfaces on insulating materials; stiffeners and conductors in plastic laminates; reflectors in antenna dishes; supports for thermal blankets; lightweight grille cover materials; and material for mockup of components.

Kinetic Simulations of Current-Sheet Formation and Reconnection at a Magnetic X Line

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Black, C.; Antiochos, S. K.; Hesse, M.; Karpen, J. T.; DeVore, C. R.; Kuznetsova, M. M.; Zenitani, S.

2011-01-01

The integration of kinetic effects into macroscopic numerical models is currently of great interest to the plasma physics community, particularly in the context of magnetic reconnection. We are examining the formation and reconnection of current sheets in a simple, two-dimensional X-line configuration using high resolution particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The initial potential magnetic field is perturbed by thermal pressure introduced into the particle distribution far from the X line. The relaxation of this added stress leads to the development of a current sheet, which reconnects for imposed stress of sufficient strength. We compare the evolution and final state of our PIC simulations with magnetohydrodynamic simulations assuming both uniform and localized resistivities, and with force-free magnetic-field equilibria in which the amount of reconnect ion across the X line can be constrained to be zero (ideal evolution) or optimal (minimum final magnetic energy). We will discuss implications of our results for reconnection onset and cessation at kinetic scales in dynamically formed current sheets, such as those occurring in the terrestrial magnetotail and solar corona.

Low-temperature graphene synthesis using microwave plasma CVD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yamada, Takatoshi; Kim, Jaeho; Ishihara, Masatou; Hasegawa, Masataka

2013-02-01

The graphene chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique at substrate temperatures around 300 °C by a microwave plasma sustained by surface waves (surface wave plasma chemical vapour deposition, SWP-CVD) is discussed. A low-temperature, large-area and high-deposition-rate CVD process for graphene films was developed. It was found from Raman spectra that the deposited films on copper (Cu) substrates consisted of high-quality graphene flakes. The fabricated graphene transparent conductive electrode showed uniform optical transmittance and sheet resistance, which suggests the possibility of graphene for practical electrical and optoelectronic applications. It is intriguing that graphene was successfully deposited on aluminium (Al) substrates, for which we did not expect the catalytic effect to decompose hydrocarbon and hydrogen molecules. We developed a roll-to-roll SWP-CVD system for continuous graphene film deposition towards industrial mass production. A pair of winder and unwinder systems of Cu film was installed in the plasma CVD apparatus. Uniform Raman spectra were confirmed over the whole width of 297 mm of Cu films. We successfully transferred the deposited graphene onto PET films, and confirmed a transmittance of about 95% and a sheet resistance of less than 7 × 105 Ω/sq.

An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Price, Stephen F.; Hoffman, Matthew J.; Bonin, Jennifer A.; Howat, Ian M.; Neumann, Thomas; Saba, Jack; Tezaur, Irina; Guerber, Jeffrey; Chambers, Don P.; Evans, Katherine J.; Kennedy, Joseph H.; Lenaerts, Jan; Lipscomb, William H.; Perego, Mauro; Salinger, Andrew G.; Tuminaro, Raymond S.; van den Broeke, Michiel R.; Nowicki, Sophie M. J.

2017-01-01

We propose a new ice sheet model validation framework - the Cryospheric Model Comparison Tool (CmCt) - that takes advantage of ice sheet altimetry and gravimetry observations collected over the past several decades and is applied here to modeling of the Greenland ice sheet. We use realistic simulations performed with the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) along with two idealized, non-dynamic models to demonstrate the framework and its use. Dynamic simulations with CISM are forced from 1991 to 2013, using combinations of reanalysis-based surface mass balance and observations of outlet glacier flux change. We propose and demonstrate qualitative and quantitative metrics for use in evaluating the different model simulations against the observations. We find that the altimetry observations used here are largely ambiguous in terms of their ability to distinguish one simulation from another. Based on basin-scale and whole-ice-sheet-scale metrics, we find that simulations using both idealized conceptual models and dynamic, numerical models provide an equally reasonable representation of the ice sheet surface (mean elevation differences of < 1 m). This is likely due to their short period of record, biases inherent to digital elevation models used for model initial conditions, and biases resulting from firn dynamics, which are not explicitly accounted for in the models or observations. On the other hand, we find that the gravimetry observations used here are able to unambiguously distinguish between simulations of varying complexity, and along with the CmCt, can provide a quantitative score for assessing a particular model and/or simulation. The new framework demonstrates that our proposed metrics can distinguish relatively better from relatively worse simulations and that dynamic ice sheet models, when appropriately initialized and forced with the right boundary conditions, demonstrate a predictive skill with respect to observed dynamic changes that have occurred on

An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Price, Stephen F.; Hoffman, Matthew J.; Bonin, Jennifer A.

We propose a new ice sheet model validation framework the Cryospheric Model Comparison Tool (CMCT) that takes advantage of ice sheet altimetry and gravimetry observations collected over the past several decades and is applied here to modeling of the Greenland ice sheet. We use realistic simulations performed with the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) along with two idealized, non-dynamic models to demonstrate the framework and its use. Dynamic simulations with CISM are forced from 1991 to 2013 using combinations of reanalysis-based surface mass balance and observations of outlet glacier flux change. We propose and demonstrate qualitative and quanti- tative metricsmore » for use in evaluating the different model simulations against the observations. We find 10 that the altimetry observations used here are largely ambiguous in terms of their ability to distinguish one simulation from another. Based on basin- and whole-ice-sheet scale metrics, the model initial condition as well as output from idealized and dynamic models all provide an equally reasonable representation of the ice sheet surface (mean elevation differences of <1 m). This is likely due to their short period of record, biases inherent to digital elevation models used for model initial conditions, and biases resulting from firn dynamics, which are not explicitly accounted for in the models or observations. On the other hand, we find that the gravimetry observations used here are able to unambiguously distinguish between simulations of varying complexity, and along with the CMCT, can provide a quantitative score for assessing a particular model and/or simulation. The new framework demonstrates that our proposed metrics can distinguish relatively better from relatively worse simulations and that dynamic ice sheet models, when appropriately initialized and forced with the right boundary conditions, demonstrate predictive skill with respect to observed dynamic changes occurring on Greenland over the past few

An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet

PubMed Central

Price, Stephen F.; Hoffman, Matthew J.; Bonin, Jennifer A.; Howat, Ian M.; Neumann, Thomas; Saba, Jack; Tezaur, Irina; Guerber, Jeffrey; Chambers, Don P.; Evans, Katherine J.; Kennedy, Joseph H.; Lenaerts, Jan; Lipscomb, William H.; Perego, Mauro; Salinger, Andrew G.; Tuminaro, Raymond S.; van den Broeke, Michiel R.; Nowicki, Sophie M. J.

2018-01-01

We propose a new ice sheet model validation framework – the Cryospheric Model Comparison Tool (CmCt) – that takes advantage of ice sheet altimetry and gravimetry observations collected over the past several decades and is applied here to modeling of the Greenland ice sheet. We use realistic simulations performed with the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) along with two idealized, non-dynamic models to demonstrate the framework and its use. Dynamic simulations with CISM are forced from 1991 to 2013 using combinations of reanalysis-based surface mass balance and observations of outlet glacier flux change. We propose and demonstrate qualitative and quantitative metrics for use in evaluating the different model simulations against the observations. We find that the altimetry observations used here are largely ambiguous in terms of their ability to distinguish one simulation from another. Based on basin- and whole-ice-sheet scale metrics, we find that simulations using both idealized conceptual models and dynamic, numerical models provide an equally reasonable representation of the ice sheet surface (mean elevation differences of <1 m). This is likely due to their short period of record, biases inherent to digital elevation models used for model initial conditions, and biases resulting from firn dynamics, which are not explicitly accounted for in the models or observations. On the other hand, we find that the gravimetry observations used here are able to unambiguously distinguish between simulations of varying complexity, and along with the CmCt, can provide a quantitative score for assessing a particular model and/or simulation. The new framework demonstrates that our proposed metrics can distinguish relatively better from relatively worse simulations and that dynamic ice sheet models, when appropriately initialized and forced with the right boundary conditions, demonstrate predictive skill with respect to observed dynamic changes occurring on Greenland over the

An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet.

PubMed

Price, Stephen F; Hoffman, Matthew J; Bonin, Jennifer A; Howat, Ian M; Neumann, Thomas; Saba, Jack; Tezaur, Irina; Guerber, Jeffrey; Chambers, Don P; Evans, Katherine J; Kennedy, Joseph H; Lenaerts, Jan; Lipscomb, William H; Perego, Mauro; Salinger, Andrew G; Tuminaro, Raymond S; van den Broeke, Michiel R; Nowicki, Sophie M J

2017-01-01

We propose a new ice sheet model validation framework - the Cryospheric Model Comparison Tool (CmCt) - that takes advantage of ice sheet altimetry and gravimetry observations collected over the past several decades and is applied here to modeling of the Greenland ice sheet. We use realistic simulations performed with the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) along with two idealized, non-dynamic models to demonstrate the framework and its use. Dynamic simulations with CISM are forced from 1991 to 2013 using combinations of reanalysis-based surface mass balance and observations of outlet glacier flux change. We propose and demonstrate qualitative and quantitative metrics for use in evaluating the different model simulations against the observations. We find that the altimetry observations used here are largely ambiguous in terms of their ability to distinguish one simulation from another. Based on basin- and whole-ice-sheet scale metrics, we find that simulations using both idealized conceptual models and dynamic, numerical models provide an equally reasonable representation of the ice sheet surface (mean elevation differences of <1 m). This is likely due to their short period of record, biases inherent to digital elevation models used for model initial conditions, and biases resulting from firn dynamics, which are not explicitly accounted for in the models or observations. On the other hand, we find that the gravimetry observations used here are able to unambiguously distinguish between simulations of varying complexity, and along with the CmCt, can provide a quantitative score for assessing a particular model and/or simulation. The new framework demonstrates that our proposed metrics can distinguish relatively better from relatively worse simulations and that dynamic ice sheet models, when appropriately initialized and forced with the right boundary conditions, demonstrate predictive skill with respect to observed dynamic changes occurring on Greenland over the past

An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet

DOE PAGES

Price, Stephen F.; Hoffman, Matthew J.; Bonin, Jennifer A.; ...

2017-01-17

We propose a new ice sheet model validation framework the Cryospheric Model Comparison Tool (CMCT) that takes advantage of ice sheet altimetry and gravimetry observations collected over the past several decades and is applied here to modeling of the Greenland ice sheet. We use realistic simulations performed with the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) along with two idealized, non-dynamic models to demonstrate the framework and its use. Dynamic simulations with CISM are forced from 1991 to 2013 using combinations of reanalysis-based surface mass balance and observations of outlet glacier flux change. We propose and demonstrate qualitative and quanti- tative metricsmore » for use in evaluating the different model simulations against the observations. We find 10 that the altimetry observations used here are largely ambiguous in terms of their ability to distinguish one simulation from another. Based on basin- and whole-ice-sheet scale metrics, the model initial condition as well as output from idealized and dynamic models all provide an equally reasonable representation of the ice sheet surface (mean elevation differences of <1 m). This is likely due to their short period of record, biases inherent to digital elevation models used for model initial conditions, and biases resulting from firn dynamics, which are not explicitly accounted for in the models or observations. On the other hand, we find that the gravimetry observations used here are able to unambiguously distinguish between simulations of varying complexity, and along with the CMCT, can provide a quantitative score for assessing a particular model and/or simulation. The new framework demonstrates that our proposed metrics can distinguish relatively better from relatively worse simulations and that dynamic ice sheet models, when appropriately initialized and forced with the right boundary conditions, demonstrate predictive skill with respect to observed dynamic changes occurring on Greenland over the past few

An Ice Sheet Model Validation Framework for the Greenland Ice Sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Price, Stephen F.; Hoffman, Matthew J.; Bonin, Jennifer A.; Howat, Ian M.; Neumann, Thomas A.; Saba, Jack; Tezaur, Irina; Guerber, Jeffrey R.; Chambers, Don P.; Evans, Katherine J.;

17. INTAKE PIER, BRIDGE STRESS SHEET, SHEET 8 OF 117, ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

17. INTAKE PIER, BRIDGE STRESS SHEET, SHEET 8 OF 117, 1920. - Sacramento River Water Treatment Plant Intake Pier & Access Bridge, Spanning Sacramento River approximately 175 feet west of eastern levee on river; roughly .5 mile downstream from confluence of Sacramento & American Rivers, Sacramento, Sacramento County, CA

FDTD modeling of thin impedance sheets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luebbers, Raymond; Kunz, Karl

1991-01-01

Thin sheets of resistive or dielectric material are commonly encountered in radar cross section calculations. Analysis of such sheets is simplified by using sheet impedances. It is shown that sheet impedances can be modeled easily and accurately using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) methods. These sheets are characterized by a discontinuity in the tangential magnetic field on either side of the sheet but no discontinuity in tangential electric field. This continuity, or single valued behavior of the electric field, allows the sheet current to be expressed in terms of an impedance multiplying this electric field.

Geological-morphological description of the Ishtar Terra (photomap of the Venusian surface sheet B-5)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Sukhanov, A. L.; Pronin, A. A.; Tyuflin, Y. S.; Ostrovskiy, M. V.; Kotelnikov, V. A.; Rzhiga, O. N.; Petrov, G. I.; Sidorenko, A. I.; Aleksandrov, Y. N.; Zakharov, A. I.

1986-01-01

The main part of the Ishtar Terra east of the Maxwell Montes is covered with systems of areal dislocations of several directions, which are called Parquet. According to the structural patterns these may be divided into: (1) the central stable block; (2) the lesser peripheral blocks separated from the central one by gaps and grabens; (3) the zones of mobilized parquet, whose substance flowed downward at an incline in the directions away from the central block in the form of plastic flows; and (4) the partially parqueted lava sheets. The Maxwell Montes were formed as a result of the collision between the central parquet block and the Lakshmi Planum.

Method for heating a glass sheet

DOEpatents

Boaz, Premakaran Tucker

1998-01-01

A method for heating a glass sheet includes the steps of heating a glass sheet to a first predetermined temperature and applying microwave energy to the glass sheet to heat the glass sheet to at least a second predetermined temperature to allow the glass sheet to be formed.

Clinching for sheet materials

PubMed Central

He, Xiaocong

2017-01-01

Abstract Latest developments in the clinching of sheet materials are reviewed in this article. Important issues are discussed, such as tool design, process parameters and joinability of some new lightweight sheet materials. Hybrid and modified clinching processes are introduced to a general reader. Several unaddressed issues in the clinching of sheet materials are identified. PMID:28656065

Liquid sheet radiator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chubb, Donald L.; White, K. Alan, III

1987-01-01

A new external flow radiator concept, the liquid sheet radiator (LSR), is introduced. The LSR sheet flow is described and an expression for the length/width (l/w), ratio is presented. A linear dependence of l/w on velocity is predicted that agrees with experimental results. Specific power for the LSR is calculated and is found to be nearly the same as the specific power of a liquid droplet radiator, (LDR). Several sheet thicknesses and widths were experimentally investigated. In no case was the flow found to be unstable.

Theoretical models of non-Maxwellian equilibria for one-dimensional collisionless plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Allanson, O.; Neukirch, T.; Wilson, F.; Troscheit, S.

2016-12-01

It is ideal to use exact equilibrium solutions of the steady state Vlasov-Maxwell system to intialise collsionless simulations. However, exact equilibrium distribution functions (DFs) for a given macroscopic configuration are typically unknown, and it is common to resort to using `flow-shifted' Maxwellian DFs in their stead. These DFs may be consistent with a macrosopic system with the target number density and current density, but could well have inaccurate higher order moments. We present recent theoretical work on the `inverse problem in Vlasov-Maxwell equilibria', namely calculating an exact solution of the Vlasov equation for a specific given magnetic field. In particular, we focus on one-dimensional geometries in Cartesian (current sheets) coordinates.1. From 1D fields to Vlasov equilibria: Theory and application of Hermite Polynomials: (O. Allanson, T. Neukirch, S. Troscheit and F. Wilson, Journal of Plasma Physics, 82, 905820306 (2016) [28 pages, Open Access] )2. An exact collisionless equilibrium for the Force-Free Harris Sheet with low plasma beta: (O. Allanson, T. Neukirch, F. Wilson and S. Troscheit, Physics of Plasmas, 22, 102116 (2015) [11 pages, Open Access])3. Neutral and non-neutral collisionless plasma equilibria for twisted flux tubes: The Gold-Hoyle model in a background field (O. Allanson, F. Wilson and T. Neukirch, (2016)) (accepted, Physics of Plasmas)

Method for heating a glass sheet

DOEpatents

Boaz, P.T.

1998-07-21

A method for heating a glass sheet includes the steps of heating a glass sheet to a first predetermined temperature and applying microwave energy to the glass sheet to heat the glass sheet to at least a second predetermined temperature to allow the glass sheet to be formed. 5 figs.

Destruction of {alpha}-synuclein based amyloid fibrils by a low temperature plasma jet

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karakas, Erdinc; Laroussi, Mounir; Munyanyi, Agatha

2010-10-04

Amyloid fibrils are ordered beta-sheet aggregates that are associated with a number of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer and Parkinson. At present, there is no cure for these progressive and debilitating diseases. Here we report initial studies that indicate that low temperature atmospheric pressure plasma can break amyloid fibrils into smaller units in vitro. The plasma was generated by the 'plasma pencil', a device capable of emitting a long, low temperature plasma plume/jet. This avenue of research may facilitate the development of a plasma-based medical treatment.

Indian Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy Database (Fact Sheet)

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bushe, S.

2013-09-01

This fact sheet provides an overview of the Indian Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Policy Database (IREEED) developed in collaboration by the United States Department of Energy and India's Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. IREEED provides succinct summaries of India's central and state government policies and incentives related to renewable energy and energy efficiency. The online, public database was developed under the U.S.- India Energy Dialogue and the Clean Energy Solution Center.

A numerical simulation of magnetic reconnection and radiative cooling in line-tied current sheets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Forbes, T. G.; Malherbe, J. M.

1991-01-01

Radiative MHD equations are used for an optically thin plasma to carry out a numerical experiment related to the formation of 'postflare' loops. The numerical experiment starts with a current sheet that is in mechanical and thermal equilibrium but is unstable to both tearing-mode and thermal-condensation instabilities. The current sheet is line-tied at one end to a photospheric-like boundary and evolves asymmetrically. The effects of thermal conduction, resistivity variation, and gravity are ignored. In general, reconnection in the nonlinear stage of the tearing-mode instability can strongly affect the onset of condensations unless the radiative-cooling time scale is much smaller than the tearing-mode time scale. When the ambient plasma is less than 0.2, the reconnection enters a regime where the outflow from the reconnection region is supermagnetosonic with respect to the fast-mode wave speed. In the supermagnetosonic regime the most rapidly condensing regions occur downstream of a fast-mode shock that forms where the outflow impinges on closed loops attached to the photospheric-like boundary. A similar shock-induced condensation might occur during the formation of 'postflare' loops.

Propagation of large amplitude Alfven waves in the solar wind neutral sheet

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Malara, F.; Primavera, L.; Veltri, P.

1995-01-01

Analysis of solar wind fluctuation data show that the correlation between velocity and magnetic field fluctuations decreases when going farther away from the Sun. This decorrelation can be attributed either to the time evolution of the fluctuations, carried away by the solar wind, or to the interaction between the solar wind neutral sheet and Alfven waves. To check this second hypothesis we have numerically studied the propagation of Alfven waves in the solar wind neutral sheet. The initial conditions have been set up in order to guarantee B(exp 2) = const, so that the following numerical evolution is only due to the inhomogeneity in the background magnetic field. The analysis of the results shows that compressive structures are formed, mainly in the neutral sheet where they have been identified as pressure balanced structures, i.e., tangential discontinuities. Fast perturbations, which are also produced, have a tendency to leave the simulation domain, propagating also perpendicularly to the mean magnetic field. For this reason the level of fast perturbations is always smaller with respect to the previously cited plasma balanced structures, which are slow mode perturbations. A comparison between the numerical results and some particular observational issues is also presented.

Geometry of thin liquid sheet flows

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chubb, Donald L.; Calfo, Frederick D.; Mcconley, Marc W.; Mcmaster, Matthew S.; Afjeh, Abdollah A.

1994-01-01

Incompresible, thin sheet flows have been of research interest for many years. Those studies were mainly concerned with the stability of the flow in a surrounding gas. Squire was the first to carry out a linear, invicid stability analysis of sheet flow in air and compare the results with experiment. Dombrowski and Fraser did an experimental study of the disintegration of sheet flows using several viscous liquids. They also detected the formulation of holes in their sheet flows. Hagerty and Shea carried out an inviscid stability analysis and calculated growth rates with experimental values. They compared their calculated growth rates with experimental values. Taylor studied extensively the stability of thin liquid sheets both theoretically and experimentally. He showed that thin sheets in a vacuum are stable. Brown experimentally investigated thin liquid sheet flows as a method of application of thin films. Clark and Dumbrowski carried out second-order stability analysis for invicid sheet flows. Lin introduced viscosity into the linear stability analysis of thin sheet flows in a vacuum. Mansour and Chigier conducted an experimental study of the breakup of a sheet flow surrounded by high-speed air. Lin et al. did a linear stability analysis that included viscosity and a surrounding gas. Rangel and Sirignano carried out both a linear and nonlinear invisid stability analysis that applies for any density ratio between the sheet liquid and the surrounding gas. Now there is renewed interest in sheet flows because of their possible application as low mass radiating surfaces. The objective of this study is to investigate the fluid dynamics of sheet flows that are of interest for a space radiator system. Analytical expressions that govern the sheet geometry are compared with experimental results. Since a space radiator will operate in a vacuum, the analysis does not include any drag force on the sheet flow.

Numerical simulations of the Cordilleran ice sheet through the last glacial cycle

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Seguinot, Julien; Rogozhina, Irina; Stroeven, Arjen P.; Margold, Martin; Kleman, Johan

2016-03-01

After more than a century of geological research, the Cordilleran ice sheet of North America remains among the least understood in terms of its former extent, volume, and dynamics. Because of the mountainous topography on which the ice sheet formed, geological studies have often had only local or regional relevance and shown such a complexity that ice-sheet-wide spatial reconstructions of advance and retreat patterns are lacking. Here we use a numerical ice sheet model calibrated against field-based evidence to attempt a quantitative reconstruction of the Cordilleran ice sheet history through the last glacial cycle. A series of simulations is driven by time-dependent temperature offsets from six proxy records located around the globe. Although this approach reveals large variations in model response to evolving climate forcing, all simulations produce two major glaciations during marine oxygen isotope stages 4 (62.2-56.9 ka) and 2 (23.2-16.9 ka). The timing of glaciation is better reproduced using temperature reconstructions from Greenland and Antarctic ice cores than from regional oceanic sediment cores. During most of the last glacial cycle, the modelled ice cover is discontinuous and restricted to high mountain areas. However, widespread precipitation over the Skeena Mountains favours the persistence of a central ice dome throughout the glacial cycle. It acts as a nucleation centre before the Last Glacial Maximum and hosts the last remains of Cordilleran ice until the middle Holocene (6.7 ka).

Frozen-bed Fennoscandian and Laurentide ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kleman, Johan; Hättestrand, Clas

1999-11-01

The areal extents of the Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum (about 20,000 years ago) are well known, but thickness estimates range widely, from high-domed to thin, with large implications for our reconstruction of the climate system regarding, for example, Northern Hemisphere atmospheric circulation and global sea levels. This uncertainty stems from difficulties in determining the basal temperatures of the ice sheets and the shear strength of subglacial materials, a knowledge of which would better constrain reconstructions of ice-sheet thickness. Here we show that, in the absence of direct data, the occurrence of ribbed moraines in modern landscapes can be used to determine the former spatial distribution of frozen- and thawed-bed conditions. We argue that ribbed moraines were formed by brittle fracture of subglacial sediments, induced by the excessive stress at the boundary between frozen- and thawed-bed conditions resulting from the across-boundary difference in basal ice velocity. Maps of glacial landforms from aerial photographs of Canada and Scandinavia reveal a concentration of ribbed moraines around the ice-sheet retreat centres of Quebec, Keewatin, Newfoundland and west-central Fennoscandia. Together with the evidence from relict landscapes that mark glacial areas with frozen-bed conditions, the distribution of ribbed moraines on both continents suggest that a large area of the Laurentide and Fennoscandian ice sheets was frozen-based-and therefore high-domed and stable-during the Last Glacial Maximum.

37 CFR 1.76 - Application data sheet.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 37 Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Application data sheet. 1.76... Application data sheet. (a) Application data sheet. An application data sheet is a sheet or sheets, that may... bibliographic data, arranged in a format specified by the Office. An application data sheet must be titled...

Communication Fact Sheet.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Rockville, MD.

This brief fact sheet examines key aspects of communication, communication disabilities, and intervention. The fact sheet addresses the following questions: the nature of communication; communication disabilities (definitions of hearing impairments and speech and language impairments are given); effects of communication disabilities (factors…

Middle to late Holocene fluctuations of the Vindue glacier, an outlet glacier of the Greenland Ice Sheet, central East Greenland.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Levy, L.; Hammer, S. K.; Kelly, M. A.; Lowell, T. V.; Hall, B. L.; Howley, J. A.; Wilcox, P.; Medford, A.

2014-12-01

The margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet are currently responding to present-day climate changes. Determining how the ice sheet margins have responded to past climate changes provides a means to understand how they may respond in the future. Here we present a multi-proxy record used to reconstruct the Holocene fluctuations of the Vindue glacier, an ice sheet outlet glacier in eastern Greenland. Lake sediment cores from Qiviut lake (informal name), located ~0.75 km from the present-day Vindue glacier margin contain a sharp transition from medium sand/coarse silt to laminated gyttja just prior to 6,340±130 cal yr BP. We interpret this transition to indicate a time when the Vindue glacier retreated sufficiently to cease glacial sedimentation into the lake basin. Above this contact the core contains laminated gyttja with prominent, ~0.5 cm thick, silt layers. 10Be ages of boulders on bedrock located between Qiviut lake and the present-day ice margin date to 6.81 ± 0.67 ka (n = 3), indicating the time of deglaciation. These ages also agree well with the radiocarbon age of the silt-gyttja transition in Qiviut lake cores. 10Be ages on boulders on bedrock located more proximal to the ice margin (~0.5 km) yield ages of 2.67 ± 0.18 ka (n = 2). These ages indicate either the continued recession of the ice margin during the late Holocene or an advance at this time. Boulders on the historical moraines show that ice retreated from the moraine by AD 1620 ± 20 yrs (n = 2). These results are in contrast with some areas of the western margin of the ice sheet where 10Be ages indicate that the ice sheet was behind its Historical limit from the middle Holocene (~6-7 ka) to Historical time. This may indicate that the eastern margin may have responded to late Holocene cooling more sensitively or that the advance associated with the Historical moraines overran any evidence of late Holocene fluctuations along the western margin of the ice sheet.

Theory of relativistic radiation reflection from plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gonoskov, Arkady

2018-01-01

We consider the reflection of relativistically strong radiation from plasma and identify the physical origin of the electrons' tendency to form a thin sheet, which maintains its localisation throughout its motion. Thereby, we justify the principle of relativistic electronic spring (RES) proposed in [Gonoskov et al., Phys. Rev. E 84, 046403 (2011)]. Using the RES principle, we derive a closed set of differential equations that describe the reflection of radiation with arbitrary variation of polarization and intensity from plasma with an arbitrary density profile for an arbitrary angle of incidence. We confirm with ab initio PIC simulations that the developed theory accurately describes laser-plasma interactions in the regime where the reflection of relativistically strong radiation is accompanied by significant, repeated relocation of plasma electrons. In particular, the theory can be applied for the studies of plasma heating and coherent and incoherent emissions in the RES regime of high-intensity laser-plasma interaction.

EIDOSCOPE: particle acceleration at plasma boundaries

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vaivads, A.; Andersson, G.; Bale, S. D.; Cully, C. M.; De Keyser, J.; Fujimoto, M.; Grahn, S.; Haaland, S.; Ji, H.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Lazarian, A.; Lavraud, B.; Mann, I. R.; Nakamura, R.; Nakamura, T. K. M.; Narita, Y.; Retinò, A.; Sahraoui, F.; Schekochihin, A.; Schwartz, S. J.; Shinohara, I.; Sorriso-Valvo, L.

2012-04-01

We describe the mission concept of how ESA can make a major contribution to the Japanese Canadian multi-spacecraft mission SCOPE by adding one cost-effective spacecraft EIDO (Electron and Ion Dynamics Observatory), which has a comprehensive and optimized plasma payload to address the physics of particle acceleration. The combined mission EIDOSCOPE will distinguish amongst and quantify the governing processes of particle acceleration at several important plasma boundaries and their associated boundary layers: collisionless shocks, plasma jet fronts, thin current sheets and turbulent boundary layers. Particle acceleration and associated cross-scale coupling is one of the key outstanding topics to be addressed in the Plasma Universe. The very important science questions that only the combined EIDOSCOPE mission will be able to tackle are: 1) Quantitatively, what are the processes and efficiencies with which both electrons and ions are selectively injected and subsequently accelerated by collisionless shocks? 2) How does small-scale electron and ion acceleration at jet fronts due to kinetic processes couple simultaneously to large scale acceleration due to fluid (MHD) mechanisms? 3) How does multi-scale coupling govern acceleration mechanisms at electron, ion and fluid scales in thin current sheets? 4) How do particle acceleration processes inside turbulent boundary layers depend on turbulence properties at ion/electron scales? EIDO particle instruments are capable of resolving full 3D particle distribution functions in both thermal and suprathermal regimes and at high enough temporal resolution to resolve the relevant scales even in very dynamic plasma processes. The EIDO spin axis is designed to be sun-pointing, allowing EIDO to carry out the most sensitive electric field measurements ever accomplished in the outer magnetosphere. Combined with a nearby SCOPE Far Daughter satellite, EIDO will form a second pair (in addition to SCOPE Mother-Near Daughter) of closely

New ISTP Solar Max: A Multi-Spacecraft Study of the Flow of Ionospheric Plasma

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Chappell, Charles R.

2003-01-01

The unique instrumentation on the Polar satellite combined with the simultaneous measurement of different parts of the magnetosphere with multiple satellites make possible the study of magnetospheric processes in a special way. In particular, the study of the ionospheric supply of plasma to the magnetosphere can by accomplished to give important results on the plasmas which drive the dynamics of the magnetosphere. This study concentrated on the period of September to December, 2001 in which the Polar orbit had precessed to the point that the line of apsides was near the equatorial plane. This unique orbital configuration enabled the TIDE instrument to measure outflowing ions across the polar cap and then transit the magnetotail lobes and observe the dramatic change in plasma characteristics as the satellite entered the plasma sheet. Contact was made with investigators on the Cluster and Geotail satellite missions and corresponding time frames were studied in the data. There were two approximate conjunctions between Polar and Geotail and data were compared to look for features which might be related. The higher energy concentration of the Geotail instrument made direct comparisons with TIDE difficult, and the Cluster measurements did not surface any cases that corresponded closely in space and time. There were, however, many interesting aspects of the Polar orbits which permitted the observation of the changing ionospheric outflowing plasma characteristics. As in earlier measurements, the ionospheric plasma could be seen flowing up the magnetic field lines out of the northern and southern polar caps. Its energy suggested a polar wind origin energized by the centrifugal acceleration of flow through the polar cusp. The roughly 10eV ions then moved out into the lobes of the magnetotail where they could be seen flowing toward the plasma sheet in both the northern and southern magnetotail lobes. There was also a double field-aligned region of warm ions observed just

Sensitivities of Greenland ice sheet volume inferred from an ice sheet adjoint model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Heimbach, P.; Bugnion, V.

2009-04-01

We present a new and original approach to understanding the sensitivity of the Greenland ice sheet to key model parameters and environmental conditions. At the heart of this approach is the use of an adjoint ice sheet model. Since its introduction by MacAyeal (1992), the adjoint method has become widespread to fit ice stream models to the increasing number and diversity of satellite observations, and to estimate uncertain model parameters such as basal conditions. However, no attempt has been made to extend this method to comprehensive ice sheet models. As a first step toward the use of adjoints of comprehensive three-dimensional ice sheet models we have generated an adjoint of the ice sheet model SICOPOLIS of Greve (1997). The adjoint was generated by means of the automatic differentiation (AD) tool TAF. The AD tool generates exact source code representing the tangent linear and adjoint model of the nonlinear parent model provided. Model sensitivities are given by the partial derivatives of a scalar-valued model diagnostic with respect to the controls, and can be efficiently calculated via the adjoint. By way of example, we determine the sensitivity of the total Greenland ice volume to various control variables, such as spatial fields of basal flow parameters, surface and basal forcings, and initial conditions. Reliability of the adjoint was tested through finite-difference perturbation calculations for various control variables and perturbation regions. Besides confirming qualitative aspects of ice sheet sensitivities, such as expected regional variations, we detect regions where model sensitivities are seemingly unexpected or counter-intuitive, albeit ``real'' in the sense of actual model behavior. An example is inferred regions where sensitivities of ice sheet volume to basal sliding coefficient are positive, i.e. where a local increase in basal sliding parameter increases the ice sheet volume. Similarly, positive ice temperature sensitivities in certain parts

Microcomponent sheet architecture

DOEpatents

Wegeng, R.S.; Drost, M.K..; McDonald, C.E.

1997-03-18

The invention is a microcomponent sheet architecture wherein macroscale unit processes are performed by microscale components. The sheet architecture may be a single laminate with a plurality of separate microcomponent sections or the sheet architecture may be a plurality of laminates with one or more microcomponent sections on each laminate. Each microcomponent or plurality of like microcomponents perform at least one unit operation. A first laminate having a plurality of like first microcomponents is combined with at least a second laminate having a plurality of like second microcomponents thereby combining at least two unit operations to achieve a system operation. 14 figs.

Microcomponent sheet architecture

DOEpatents

Wegeng, Robert S.; Drost, M. Kevin; McDonald, Carolyn E.

1997-01-01

The invention is a microcomponent sheet architecture wherein macroscale unit processes are performed by microscale components. The sheet architecture may be a single laminate with a plurality of separate microcomponent sections or the sheet architecture may be a plurality of laminates with one or more microcomponent sections on each laminate. Each microcomponent or plurality of like microcomponents perform at least one unit operation. A first laminate having a plurality of like first microcomponents is combined with at least a second laminate having a plurality of like second microcomponents thereby combining at least two unit operations to achieve a system operation.

Cross-tail current - Resonant orbits

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufmann, Richard L.; Lu, Chen

1993-01-01

A technique to generate self-consistent 1D current sheets is described. Groups of monoenergetic protons were followed in a modified Harris magnetic field. This sample current sheet is characterized by resonant quasi-adiabatic orbits. The magnetic moment of a quasi-adiabatic ion which is injected from outside a current sheet changes substantially during the orbit but returns to almost its initial value by the time the ion leaves. Several ion and electron groups were combined to produce a plasma sheet in which the charged particles carry the currents needed to generate the magnetic field in which the orbits were traced. An electric field also is required to maintain charge neutrality. Three distinct orbit types, one involving untrapped ions and two composed of trapped ions, were identified. Limitations associated with the use of a 1D model also were investigated; it can provide a good physical picture of an important component of the cross-tail current, but cannot adequately describe any region of the magnetotail in which the principal current sheet is separated from the plasma sheet boundary layer by a nearly isotropic outer position of the central plasma sheet.

Current Sheet Evolution in the Aftermath of a CME Event

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bemporad, A.; Poletto, G.; Suess, S. T.; Ko, Y.-K.; Schwadron, N. A.; Elliott, H. A.; Raymond, J. C.

2005-01-01

We report on SOHO-UVCS observations of the coronal restructuring following a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME) on November 26,2002, at the time of a SOHO-Ulysses quadrature campaign. Starting about 3 hours after a CME in the NW quadrant, UVCS began taking spectra at 1.7 solar radius, covering emission from both cool and hot plasma. Observations continued, with occasional gaps, for more than 2 days. Emission in the 974.8 Angstrom line of [Fe XVIII], indicating temperatures above 6 x 10(exp 6) K, was observed throughout the campaign in a spatially limited location. Comparison with EIT images shows the Fe XVIII emission to overlie a growing post-flare loop system formed in the aftermath of the CME. The emission most likely originates in a current sheet overlying the arcade. Analysis of the [Fe XVIII] emission allows us to infer the evolution of physical parameters in the current sheet over the entire span of our observations: in particular, we give the temperature vs. time in the current sheet and estimate the density. At the time of the quadrature, Ulysses was directly above the location of the CME and intercepted the ejecta. High ionization state Fe was detected by Ulysses-SWICS throughout the magnetic cloud associated with the CME. Both the remote and in situ observations are compared with predictions of theoretical CME models.

Aircraft Sheet Metal Practices; Sheet Metal Work 2: 9855.01.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dade County Public Schools, Miami, FL.

The course outline will serve as a guide to the 11th grade student interested in sheet metal occupations. Requiring 135 clock hours, the basic course covers orientation and techniques in aircraft sheet metal. Emphasis will be placed on the proper use of tools and machines, safety, fabrication methods, aircraft materials, basic layout, and special…

47 CFR 32.2230 - Central office-transmission.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Instructions for Balance Sheet Accounts § 32.2230 Central office—transmission. This account shall be used by Class B companies to record the original cost of radio systems and circuit equipment of the type and character required of Class A companies in...

Cosmogenic nuclide age estimate for Laurentide Ice Sheet recession from the terminal moraine, New Jersey, USA, and constraints on latest Pleistocene ice sheet history

USGS Publications Warehouse

Corbett, Lee B.; Bierman, Paul R.; Stone, Byron D.; Caffee, Marc W.; Larsen, Patrick L.

2017-01-01

The time at which the Laurentide Ice Sheet reached its maximum extent and subsequently retreated from its terminal moraine in New Jersey has been constrained by bracketing radiocarbon ages on preglacial and postglacial sediments. Here, we present measurements of in situ produced 10Be and 26Al in 16 quartz-bearing samples collected from bedrock outcrops and glacial erratics just north of the terminal moraine in north-central New Jersey; as such, our ages represent a minimum limit on the timing of ice recession from the moraine. The data set includes field and laboratory replicates, as well as replication of the entire data set five years after initial measurement. We find that recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet from the terminal moraine in New Jersey began before 25.2±2.1 ka (10Be, n=16, average, 1 standard deviation). This cosmogenic nuclide exposure age is consistent with existing limiting radiocarbon ages in the study area and cosmogenic nuclide exposure ages from the terminal moraine on Martha’s Vineyard ~300 km to the northeast. The age we propose for Laurentide Ice Sheet retreat from the New Jersey terminal position is broadly consistent with regional and global climate records of the last glacial maximum termination and records of fluvial incision.

Evolution of Early Pleistocene fluvial systems in central Poland prior to the first ice sheet advance - a case study from the Bełchatów lignite mine

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goździk, Jan; Zieliński, Tomasz

2017-06-01

Deposits formed between the Neogene/Pleistocene transition and into the Early Pleistocene have been studied, mainly on the basis of drillings and at rare, small outcrops in the lowland part of Polish territory. At the Bełchatów lignite mine (Kleszczów Graben, central Poland), one of the largest opencast pits in Europe, strata of this age have long been exposed in extensive outcrops. The present paper is based on our field studies and laboratory analyses, as well as on research data presented by other authors. For that reason, it can be seen as an overview of current knowledge of lowermost Pleistocene deposits at Bełchatów, where exploitation of the Quaternary overburden has just been completed. The results of cartographic work, sedimentological, mineralogical and palynological analyses as well as assessment of sand grain morphology have been considered. All of these studies have allowed the distinction of three Lower Pleistocene series, i.e., the Łękińsko, Faustynów and Krzaki series. These were laid down in fluvial environments between the end of the Pliocene up to the advance of the first Scandinavian ice sheet on central Poland. The following environmental features have been interpreted: phases of river incision and aggradation, changes of river channel patterns, source sediments for alluvia, rates of aeolian supply to rivers and roles of fluvial systems in morphological and geological development of the area. The two older series studied, i.e., Łękińsko and Faustynów, share common characteristics. They were formed by sinuous rivers in boreal forest and open forest environments. The Neogene substratum was the source of the alluvium. The younger series (Krzaki) formed mainly in a braided river setting, under conditions of progressive climatic cooling. Over time, a gradual increase of aeolian supply to the fluvial system can be noted; initially, silt and sand were laid down, followed by sand only during cold desert conditions. These fluvio

13. Photograph of sheet 1 (index and title sheet) of ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

13. Photograph of sheet 1 (index and title sheet) of the Indiana State Highway Commission repair plans of 1969 for the Cicott Street Bridge. Photograph of a 24' by 36' print made from microfilm in the archives of the Indiana Department of Transportation in Indianapolis. - Cicott Street Bridge, Spanning Wabash River at State Road 25, Logansport, Cass County, IN

Nonlinear distortion of thin liquid sheets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mehring, Carsten Ralf

Thin planar, annular and conical liquid sheets or films are analyzed, in a unified manner, by means of a reduced- dimension approach providing governing equations for the nonlinear motion of planar and swirling annular thin inviscid and incompressible liquid sheets in zero gravity and with axial disturbances only. Temporal analyses of periodically disturbed infinite sheets are considered, as well as spatial analyses of semi-infinite sheets modulated at the nozzle exit. Results on planar and swirling annular or conical sheets are presented for a zero density ambient gas. Here, conical sheets are obtained in the nearfield of the nozzle exit by considering sheets or films with swirl in excess of that needed to stabilize the discharging stream in its annular configuration. For nonswirling annular sheets a spatially and/or temporally constant gas-core pressure is assumed. A model extension considering the influence of aerodynamic effects on planar sheets is proposed. For planar and annular sheets, linear analyses of the pure initial- and pure boundary-value problem provide insight into the propagation characteristics of dilational and sinuous waves, the (linear) coupling between both wave modes, the stability limits for the annular configuration, as well as the appearance of particular waves on semi-infinite modulated sheets downstream from the nozzle exit. Nonlinear steady-state solutions for the conical configuration (without modulation) are illustrated. Comparison between nonlinear and linear numerical and linear analytical solutions for temporally or spatially developing sheets provides detailed information on the nonlinear distortion characteristics including nonlinear wave propagation and mode-coupling for all the considered geometric configurations and for a variety of parameter configurations. Sensitivity studies on the influence of Weber number, modulation frequency, annular radius, forcing amplitude and sheet divergence on breakup or collapse length and times

Design of a Microwave Assisted Discharge Inductive Plasma Accelerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hallock, Ashley K.; Polzin, Kurt A.

2010-01-01

The design and construction of a thruster that employs electrodeless plasma preionization and pulsed inductive acceleration is described. Preionization is achieved through an electron cyclotron resonance discharge that produces a weakly-ionized plasma at the face of a conical theta pinch-shaped inductive coil. The presence of the preionized plasma allows for current sheet formation at lower discharge voltages than those employed in other pulsed inductive accelerators that do not employ preionization. The location of the electron cyclotron resonance discharge is controlled through the design of the applied magnetic field in the thruster. Finite element analysis shows that there is an arrangement of permanent magnets that yields a small volume of resonant magnetic field at the coil face. Preionization in the resonant zone leads to current sheet formation at the coil face, which minimizes the initial inductance of the pulse circuit and maximizes the potential electrical efficiency of the accelerator. A magnet assembly was constructed around an inductive coil to provide structural support to the selected arrangement of neodymium magnets. Measured values of the resulting magnetic field compare favorably with the finite element model.

Entrainment, transport and concentration of meteorites in polar ice sheets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Drewry, D. J.

1986-01-01

Glaciers and ice sheets act as slow-moving conveyancing systems for material added to both their upper and lower surfaces. Because the transit time for most materials is extremely long the ice acts as a major global storage facility. The effects of horizontal and vertical motions on the flow patterns of Antarctic ice sheets are summarized. The determination of the source areas of meteorites and their transport paths is a problem of central importance since it relates not only directly to concentration mechanisms but also to the wider issues in glaciology and meteorites. The ice and snow into which a meteorite falls, and which moves with it to the concentration area, encodes information about the infall area. The principle environmental conditions being former elevation, temperature (also related to elevation), and age of the ice. This encoded information could be used to identify the infall area.

Formation of a dual-stage pinch-accelerator in a Z-pinch (plasma focus) device

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Behbahani, R. A.; Hirose, A.; Xiao, C.

2018-01-01

A novel dense plasma focus configuration with two separate concentric current sheet run-down regions has been demonstrated to produce several consecutive plasma focusing events. In a proof-of-principle experiment on a low-energy plasma focus device, the measured tube voltages and discharge current have been explained by using circuit analyses of the device. Based on the calculated plasma voltages the occurrence of flash-over phase, axial phase, and compression phase has been discussed. The electrical signals along with the calculated plasma voltages suggest the occurrence of several focusing events in the new structure.

Observation of the magnetospheric ``sash'' and its implications relative to solar-wind/magnetospheric coupling: A multisatellite event analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Maynard, N. C.; Savin, S.; Erickson, G. M.; Kawano, H.; Němeček, Z.; Peterson, W. K.; Šafránoková, J.; Sandahl, I.; Scudder, J. D.; Siscoe, G. L.; Sonnerup, B. U. Ö.; Weimer, D. R.; White, W. W.; Wilson, G. R.

2001-04-01

Using a unique data set from the Wind, Polar, Interball 1, Magion 4, and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F11 satellites, comparisons with the Integrated Space Weather Model (ISM) have provided validation of the global structure predicted by the ISM model, which in turn has allowed us to use the model to interpret the data to further understand boundary layers and magnetospheric processes. The comparisons have shown that the magnetospheric ``sash'' [White et al., 1998], a region of low magnetic field discovered by the MHD modeling which extends along the high-latitude flank of the magnetopause, is related to the turbulent boundary layer on the high-latitude magnetopause, recently mapped by Interball 1. The sash in the data and in the model has rotational discontinuity properties, expected for a reconnection site. At some point near or behind the terminator, the sash becomes a site for reconnection of open field lines, which were previously opened by merging on the dayside. This indicates that significant reconnection in the magnetotail occurs on the flanks. Polar mapped to the high-density extension of the sash into the tilted plasma sheet. The source of the magnetosheath plasma observed by Polar on closed field lines behind the terminator was plasma entry through the low field connection of the sash to the central plasma sheet. The Polar magnetic field line footprints in each hemisphere are moving in different directions. Above and below the tilted plasma sheet the flows in the model are consistent with the corresponding flows in the ionosphere. The turbulence in the plasma sheet allows the convection patterns from each hemisphere to adjust. The boundary layer in the equatorial plane on the flank for this interplanetary magnetic field BY condition, which is below the tilted central plasma sheet, is several RE thick and is on tailward flowing open field lines. This thick boundary layer shields the magnetopause from viscous forces and must be driven

47 CFR 32.2210 - Central office-switching.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Instructions for Balance Sheet Accounts § 32.2210 Central office—switching. This account shall be used by Class B companies to record the original cost of switching assets of the type and character required of Class A companies in Accounts 2211 through 2212. [67...

9. Photograph of sheet 1 (index and title sheet) of ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

9. Photograph of sheet 1 (index and title sheet) of the State Highway Department of Indiana repair plans of 1957 for the Cicott Street Bridge. Photograph of a 24' by 36' print made from microfilm in the archives of the Indiana Department of Transportation in Indianapolis. - Cicott Street Bridge, Spanning Wabash River at State Road 25, Logansport, Cass County, IN

FDTD modeling of thin impedance sheets

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Luebbers, Raymond J.; Kunz, Karl S.

1991-01-01

Thin sheets of resistive or dielectric material are commonly encountered in radar cross section calculations. Analysis of such sheets is simplified by using sheet impedances. In this paper it is shown that sheet impedances can be modeled easily and accurately using Finite Difference Time Domain (FDTD) methods.

Arc Plasma Gun With Coaxial Powder Feed

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zaplatynsky, Isidor

1988-01-01

Redesigned plasma gun provides improved metallic and ceramic coatings. Particles injected directly through coaxial bore in cathode into central region of plasma jet. Introduced into hotter and faster region of plasma jet.

3D MHD Simulation of Flare Supra-Arcade Downflows in a Turbulent Current Sheet Medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cécere, M.; Zurbriggen, E.; Costa, A.; Schneiter, M.

2015-07-01

Supra-arcade downflows (SADs) are sunward, generally dark, plasma density depletions originated above posteruption flare arcades. In this paper, using 3D MHD simulations we investigate whether the SAD cavities can be produced by a direct combination of the tearing mode and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities leading to a turbulent current sheet (CS) medium or if the current sheet is merely the background where SADs are produced, triggered by an impulsive deposition of energy. We find that to give an account of the observational dark lane structures an addition of local energy, provided by a reconnection event, is required. We suggest that there may be a closed relation between characteristic SAD sizes and CS widths that must be satisfied to obtain an observable SAD.

ASYMMETRIC MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN WEAKLY IONIZED CHROMOSPHERIC PLASMAS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Murphy, Nicholas A.; Lukin, Vyacheslav S., E-mail: namurphy@cfa.harvard.edu

2015-06-01

Realistic models of magnetic reconnection in the solar chromosphere must take into account that the plasma is partially ionized and that plasma conditions within any two magnetic flux bundles undergoing reconnection may not be the same. Asymmetric reconnection in the chromosphere may occur when newly emerged flux interacts with pre-existing, overlying flux. We present 2.5D simulations of asymmetric reconnection in weakly ionized, reacting plasmas where the magnetic field strengths, ion and neutral densities, and temperatures are different in each upstream region. The plasma and neutral components are evolved separately to allow non-equilibrium ionization. As in previous simulations of chromospheric reconnection,more » the current sheet thins to the scale of the neutral–ion mean free path and the ion and neutral outflows are strongly coupled. However, the ion and neutral inflows are asymmetrically decoupled. In cases with magnetic asymmetry, a net flow of neutrals through the current sheet from the weak-field (high-density) upstream region into the strong-field upstream region results from a neutral pressure gradient. Consequently, neutrals dragged along with the outflow are more likely to originate from the weak-field region. The Hall effect leads to the development of a characteristic quadrupole magnetic field modified by asymmetry, but the X-point geometry expected during Hall reconnection does not occur. All simulations show the development of plasmoids after an initial laminar phase.« less

Geologic map of the central San Juan caldera cluster, southwestern Colorado

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lipman, Peter W.

2006-01-01

The San Juan Mountains are the largest erosional remnant of a composite volcanic field that covered much of the southern Rocky Mountains in middle Tertiary time. The San Juan field consists mainly of intermediate-composition lavas and breccias, erupted about 35-30 Ma from scattered central volcanoes (Conejos Formation) and overlain by voluminous ash-flow sheets erupted from caldera sources. In the central San Juan Mountains, eruption of at least 8,800 km3 of dacitic-rhyolitic magma as nine major ash flow sheets (individually 150-5,000 km3) was accompanied by recurrent caldera subsidence between 28.3 Ma and about 26.5 Ma. Voluminous andesitic-dacitic lavas and breccias erupted from central volcanoes prior to the ash-flow eruptions, and similar lava eruptions continued within and adjacent to the calderas during the period of more silicic explosive volcanism. Exposed calderas vary in size from 10 to 75 km in maximum dimension; the largest calderas are associated with the most voluminous eruptions.

Ion and electron heating characteristics of magnetic reconnection in tokamak plasma merging experiments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ono, Y.; Tanabe, H.; Yamada, T.; Inomoto, M.; T, Ii; Inoue, S.; Gi, K.; Watanabe, T.; Gryaznevich, M.; Scannell, R.; Michael, C.; Cheng, C. Z.

2012-12-01

Recently, the TS-3 and TS-4 tokamak merging experiments revealed significant plasma heating during magnetic reconnection. A key question is how and where ions and electrons are heated during magnetic reconnection. Two-dimensional measurements of ion and electron temperatures and plasma flow made clear that electrons are heated inside the current sheet mainly by the Ohmic heating and ions are heated in the downstream areas mainly by the reconnection outflows. The outflow kinetic energy is thermalized by the fast shock formation and viscous damping. The magnetic reconnection converts the reconnecting magnetic field energy mostly to the ion thermal energy in the outflow region whose size is much larger than the current sheet size for electron heating. The ion heating energy is proportional to the square of the reconnection magnetic field component B_p^2 . This scaling of reconnection heating indicates the significant ion heating effect of magnetic reconnection, which leads to a new high-field reconnection heating experiment for fusion plasmas.

Horizontal electromagnetic casting of thin metal sheets

DOEpatents

Hull, John R.; Lari, Robert J.; Praeg, Walter F.; Turner, Larry R.

1987-01-01

Thin metal sheets are cast by magnetically suspending molten metal deposited within a ferromagnetic yoke and between AC conducting coils and linearly displacing the magnetically levitated liquid metal while it is being cooled to form a solid metal sheet. Magnetic flux increases as the molten metal sheet moves downward and decreases as the molten metal sheet moves upward to stabilize the sheet and maintain it in equilibrium as it is linearly displaced and solidified by cooling gases. A conducting shield is electrically coupled to the molten metal sheet by means of either metal sheet engaging rollers or brushes on the solidified metal, and by means of an electrode in the vessel containing the molten metal thereby providing a return path for the eddy currents induced in the metal sheet by the AC coil generated magnetic flux. Variation in the geometry of the conducting shield allows the magnetic flux between the metal sheet and the conducting shield to be varied and the thickness in surface quality of the metal sheet to be controlled. Side guards provide lateral containment for the molten metal sheet and stabilize and shape the magnetic field while a leader sheet having electromagnetic characteristics similar to those of the metal sheet is used to start the casting process and precedes the molten metal sheet through the magnet and forms a continuous sheet therewith. The magnet may be either U-shaped with a single racetrack coil or may be rectangular with a pair of facing bedstead coils.

Horizontal electromagnetic casting of thin metal sheets

DOEpatents

Hull, John R.; Lari, Robert J.; Praeg, Walter F.; Turner, Larry R.

1988-01-01

Thin metal sheets are cast by magnetically suspending molten metal deposited within a ferromagnetic yoke and between AC conducting coils and linearly displacing the magnetically levitated liquid metal while it is being cooled to form a solid metal sheet. Magnetic flux increases as the molten metal sheet moves downward and decreases as the molten metal sheet moves upward to stabilize the sheet and maintain it in equilibrium as it is linearly displaced and solidified by cooling gases. A conducting shield is electrically coupled to the molten metal sheet by means of either metal sheet engaging rollers or brushes on the solidified metal, and by means of an electrode in the vessel containing the molten metal thereby providing a return path for the eddy currents induced in the metal sheet by the AC coil generated magnetic flux. Variation in the geometry of the conducting shield allows the magnetic flux between the metal sheet and the conducting shield to be varied and the thickness in surface quality of the metal sheet to be controlled. Side guards provide lateral containment for the molten metal sheet and stabilize and shape the magnetic field while a leader sheet having electromagnetic characteristics similar to those of the metal sheet is used to start the casting process and precedes the molten metal sheet through the magnet and forms a continuous sheet therewith. The magnet may be either U-shaped with a single racetrack coil or may be rectangular with a pair of facing bedstead coils.

Slowing of magnetic reconnection concurrent with weakening plasma inflows and increasing collisionality in strongly-driven laser-plasma experiments

DOE PAGES

Rosenberg, M.  J.; Li, C.  K.; Fox, W.; ...

2015-05-20

An evolution of magnetic reconnection behavior, from fast jets to the slowing of reconnection and the establishment of a stable current sheet, has been observed in strongly-driven, β ≲ 20 laser-produced plasma experiments. This process has been inferred to occur alongside a slowing of plasma inflows carrying the oppositely-directed magnetic fields as well as the evolution of plasma conditions from collisionless to collisional. High-resolution proton radiography has revealed unprecedented detail of the forced interaction of magnetic fields and super-Alfvénic electron jets (V jet~ 20V A) ejected from the reconnection region, indicating that two-fluid or collisionless magnetic reconnection occurs early inmore » time. The absence of jets and the persistence of strong, stable magnetic fields at late times indicates that the reconnection process slows down, while plasma flows stagnate and plasma conditions evolve to a cooler, denser, more collisional state. These results demonstrate that powerful initial plasma flows are not sufficient to force a complete reconnection of magnetic fields, even in the strongly-driven regime.« less

4. INTERIOR VIEW OF BASEMENT. CENTRAL LINE SHAFTING RUNNING NORTHSOUTH ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey