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NASA NTRS1980

Latitudinal oscillations of plasma within the Io torus

The equilibrium latitude and the period of oscillations about this equilibrium latitude are calculated for a plasma in a centrifugally dominated tilted dipole magnetic field representing Jupiter's inner magnetosphere. It is found that for a hot plasma the equilibrium latitude in the magnetic equator, for a cold plasma it is the centrifugal equator, and for a warm plasma it is somewhere in between. An illustrative model is adopted in which atoms are sputtered from the Jupiter-facing hemisphere of Io and escape Io's gravity to be subsequently ionized some distance from Io. Finally, it is shown that ionization generally does not occur at the equilibrium altitude, and that the resulting latitudinal oscillations provide an explanation for the irregularities in electron concentration within the torus, as reported by the radioastronomy experiment aboard Voyager I.

Cummings, W. D.↗

NASA NTRS1981

Ion streams in the magnetotail

Ion mass spectrometer observations of low-temperature streaming plasmas in the earth's magnetotail are reported. Measurements in the energy per charge range 0 to 17 keV/e were made at geocentric radial distances less than 23 earth radii from the ISEE 1 spacecraft. Ion streams of solar wind origin in the magnetotail boundary layer and of ionospheric origin in the tail lobes and plasma sheet are described. A statistical study of some of the characteristics of the streams allows the inference that the central tail lobe plasmas are primarily constituted of ion streams of ionospheric origin and that the ionosphere is a significant contributor to the hot plasmas that form the plasma sheet.

Sharp, R. D.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The dissipation of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence responsible for interstellar scintillation and the heating of the interstellar medium

The present reexamination of the problem of ISM heating via the damping of plasma irregularities responsible for interstellar scintillations of radio sources gives attention to the effects of recent observational results on the hot plasma of the irregularities and on developments of in the theory of MHD waves. The damping mechanisms considered are linear Landau damping, ion-neutral collisional damping, nonlinear steepening of wave packets, a parametric decay instability, and nonlinear Landau damping. The heat input from all damping mechanisms can be accommodated by the 'fluctifer' region containing the irregularities, if it has features similar to the extended H II envelopes.

Spangler, Steven R.↗

NASA NTRS2004

A Hot Envelope Around the Southern Coalsack: X-ray and Far-Ultraviolet Observations

We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer and ROSAT X-ray observations toward the Southern Coalsack. An almost complete X-ray halo can be seen around the cloud in the 0.75 and 1.5 keV images, and most of the observed stars show O VI absorption. Both the cloud and the stars have highly accurate distance determinations, allowing us to reliably place the stars and the cloud relative to each other. Using these distance determinations, we find no O VI-bearing gas in the foreground of the Coalsack, while for stars in the background of the cloud, O VI absorption is the norm. The column density of O VI correlates with the 0.75 and 1.5 keV intensities. These results suggest that the X-ray-emitting hot plasma is associated with the dense cloud. We propose that the heating of the Coalsack envelope is due to the hot gas in the interior of the Upper Cen-Lup superbubble. The Coalsack interaction region provides a nearby example of the hot-cold gas interfaces thought to be responsible for the O VI absorptions seen on many sight lines throughout the Galaxy.

Anderson, B.-G.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Plasma Circulation in the Magnetosphere

We investigate the global structure and dynamics of plasma circulation produced by prototypical solar wind disturbances of the interplanetary magnetic field and dynamic pressure. We track the global circulation and energization of solar wind, polar wind, and auroral wind plasmas throughout the magnetosphere, until they precipitate or escape into the downstream solar wind. We use the full equations of motion of the plasma ions within fields produced by a global MHD simulation of the dynamic solar wind interaction. We use the dynamic hot plasma density and Poynting energy flux specified at the inner boundary of the MHD simulation as drivers of conjugate ion outflow fluxes using local empirical relations obtained from the FAST and Polar missions. Birkeland currents computed by the MHD code are used to derive a field-parallel potential drop from a Knight-like relation [as modified by Lyons and Evans, 1980]. This potential drop is applied to each ion as an initial bulk energy, added to a thermal heating driven by the locally incident Poynting flux. The solar wind pressure increase case (B(sub Y) = 5; B(sub z) = 0 nT) produces an immediate substorm owing to compression of pre-existing plasmas. The SB(sub z), interval (embedded in NB(sub z)) produces a substorm after about one hour of development. Both disturbances enhance the auroral wind flux and heavy ion pressure of the magnetosphere substantially, with complex dynamic structuring by auroral acceleration vortexes and dynamic reconnection. Comparisons are made with observations during disturbed periods including the Halloween 2003 super-storm and other periods.

Moore, T. E.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Whistler Solitons in Plasma with Anisotropic Hot Electron Admixture

The longitudinal and transverse modulation instability of whistler waves in plasma, with a small admixture of hot anisotropic electrons, is discussed. If the hot particles temperature anisotropy is positive, it is found that, in such plasma, longitudinal perturbations can lead to soliton formation for frequencies forbidden in cold plasma. The soliton is enriched by hot particles. The frequency region unstable to transverse modulation in cold plasma in the presence of hot electrons is divided by stable domains. For both cases the role of hot electrons is more significant for whistlers with smaller frequencies.

Khazanov, G. V.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Whistler Solitons in Plasma with Anisotropic Hot Electron Admixture

Khazanov, G. V.↗

NASA NTRS2000

ASCA Observation of an "X-Ray Shadow" in the Galactic Plane

The diffuse X-ray background (DXB) emission near the Galactic plane (l,b about 25.6 deg., 0.78 deg.) has been observed with ASC.4. The observed re-ion is toward a Galactic molecular'cloud which was recently reported to cast a deep X-ray shadow in the 0.5 - 2.0 keV band DXB. The selection of this particular region is intended to provide a constraint on the spatial distribution of the DXB emission along the line of sight: i.e., the molecular cloud is optically thick at < 2 keV and so the bulk of the observed soft X-rays must originate in the foreground of the cloud, which is at about 3 kpc from the Sun. In the 0.8 - 9.0 keV band, atomic emission lines have been detected, and the observed spectrum is primarily from thermal plasmas. Although the detailed nature of the spectrum is complicated, the observed DXB emission appears to originate from the multiple components of hot plasmas including a thermal plasma of T about 10(exp 7) K, which prevails within about 3 kpc from the Sun.

Park, Sangwook↗

NASA NTRS1988

Radiating properties of solar plasmas

Using a series of 14 previously obtained empirical emission measure distributions and a number of spectral lines observed by the SMM and P78-1 instruments, the total power radiated by a hot plasma is compared to that radiated by individual spectrum lines. Results are presented for different choices of ionization balance and power loss functions. The results indicate that for some lines such as the C IV resonance doublet at 1548 A and 1550 A, the ratio of the line intensity to the total radiated power varied only over a factor of 2, suggesting that well-calibrated measurements of a single line intensity may provide a fairly good estimation of the total radiated power output from the solar plasma.

Bruner, M. E.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The formation of quasi-parallel shocks

In a collisionless plasma, the coupling between a piston and the plasma must take place through either laminar or turbulent electromagnetic fields. Of the three types of coupling (laminar, Larmor and turbulent), shock formation in the parallel regime is dominated by the latter and in the quasi-parallel regime by a combination of all three, depending on the piston. In the quasi-perpendicular regime, there is usually a good separation between piston and shock. This is not true in the quasi-parallel and parallel regime. Hybrid numerical simulations for hot plasma pistons indicate that when the electrons are hot, a shock forms, but does not cleanly decouple from the piston. For hot ion pistons, no shock forms in the parallel limit: in the quasi-parallel case, a shock forms, but there is severe contamination from hot piston ions. These results suggest that the properties of solar and astrophysical shocks, such as particle acceleration, cannot be readily separated from their driving mechanism.

Cargill, Peter J.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Origin of the plasma in a cross-polar cap auroral feature (theta aurora)

Ion composition data obtained from a particularly well observed cross-polar cap auroral feature (theta aurora) are presented. Two components of the hot plasma are identified, one from the ionosphere below and the second from the distant plasma sheet. These observations provide strong support for the conclusion that the cross-polar cap auroral feature occurs on field lines closing through the distant plasma sheet or plasma sheet boundary layer. Taken together with the previously published observations, these new results establish substantial constraints on models for the overall polar cap topology. However, they do not unambiguously favor either of the two principal topologies discussed in the literature.

Peterson, W. K.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Heat transfer in a fissioning uranium plasma reactor cavity

Two schemes are investigated by which a fission-heated uranium plasma located in the central cavity of a test reactor could be insulated to keep its temperature above condensation in a neutron flux of 10 to the 15th power neutrons/(sq cm)(sec) or less. The first scheme was to use a mirrored cavity wall to reflect the thermal radiation back into the plasma. The second scheme was to seed the transpirational cavity wall coolant so as to make it opaque to thermal radiation, thus insulating the hot plasma from the cold wall. The analysis showed that a mirrored cavity wall must have a reflectivity of over 95 percent or that seeded argon must be used as the wall coolant to give an acceptable operating margin above fuel condensation conditions.

Kascak, A. F.↗

NASA NTRS1973

Excitation of the CO fourth positive system by the dissociative recombination of CO2/+/ ions.

The fourth positive system of CO has been excited in a static afterglow experiment by the dissociative recombination of CO2(+) ions. From combined absolute optical and microwave measurements the specific recombination coefficient for exciting the CO system was found to be (2 plus 1 or minus 0.5) x 10 to the minus 8th cu cm/sec. This value represents approximately 5% of the total recombination coefficient (4.0 plus or minus 0.5) x 10 to the minus 7th cu cm/sec measured in this experiment, implying that CO2(+) dissociative recombination will contribute significantly to the excitation of the CO fourth positive system in the Martian airglow. Corroborative electron heating experiments showed that the magnitude of the specific recombination coefficient decreased as the electron temperature was increased. Evidence was also found for the presence of vibrationally excited ions in the CO2(+) plasma, a result which indicates that analogous laboratory studies on the dissociative recombination of O2(+), N2(+), and NO(+) ions may have also involved vibrationally hot plasmas.

Gutcheck, R. A.↗

NASA NTRS2005

MULTIWAVELENGTH ANALYSIS OF A SOLAR FLARE ON 2002 APRIL 15

We carried out a multiwavelength analysis of the solar limb flare on 2002 April 15. The observations all indicate that the flare occurred in an active region with an asymmetric dipole magnetic configuration. The earlier conclusion that magnetic reconnection is occurring in a large-scale current sheet in this flare is M e r supported by these observations: (1) Several bloblike sources, seen in RHESSI 12-25 keV X-ray images later in the flare, appeared along a line above the flare loops. These indicate the continued presence of the current sheet and are likely to be magnetic islands in the stretched sheet produced by the tearing-mode instability. (2) A cusplike structure is seen in Nobeyama Radioheliogiaph (NoRH) 34 GHz microwave images around the time of the peak flare emission. We quantitatively demonstrate that the X-ray-emitting thermal plasma seen with RHESSI had a higher temperature than the microwave-emitting plasma seen with NoRH. Since the radio data preferentially see cooler thermal plasma, this result is consistent with the picture in which energy release occurs at progressively greater heights and the hard X-rays see hot new loops while the radio sees older cooling loops. The kinetic energy of the coronal mass ejection (CME) associated with this flare was found to be about 1 order of magnitude less than both the thermal energy in the hot plasma and the nonthermal energy carried by the accelerated electrons in the flare, as deduced from the RHESSI observations. This contrasts with the higher CME kinetic energies typically deduced for large flares.

Sui, Linhui↗

NASA NTRS1980

SCATHA observations of space plasma composition during a spacecraft charging event

During an Earth eclipse of the SCATHA spacecraft, the spacecraft charged to potentials greater than 1KV for about 30 minutes with extended excursions greater than 4KV. The composition of the hot plasma was obtained in the 0.1 to 32 keV energy range with an ion mass spectrometer aboard the spacecraft. Prior to the onset of the charging event, H(+) was the principal plasma ion, and during the event O(+) was the principal ion. The composition was energy dependent and varied significantly on a time scale of 4 minutes. An assumption that the ion flux was all H(+) led to computed number densities that were in error by more than a factor of two for several time intervals during the event.

Johnson, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Very High Resolution Solar X-ray Imaging Using Diffractive Optics

This paper describes the development of X-ray diffractive optics for imaging solar flares with better than 0.1 arcsec angular resolution. X-ray images with this resolution of the greater than or equal to 10 MK plasma in solar active regions and solar flares would allow the cross-sectional area of magnetic loops to be resolved and the coronal flare energy release region itself to be probed. The objective of this work is to obtain X-ray images in the iron-line complex at 6.7 keV observed during solar flares with an angular resolution as fine as 0.1 arcsec - over an order of magnitude finer than is now possible. This line emission is from highly ionized iron atoms, primarily Fe xxv, in the hottest flare plasma at temperatures in excess of approximately equal to 10 MK. It provides information on the flare morphology, the iron abundance, and the distribution of the hot plasma. Studying how this plasma is heated to such high temperatures in such short times during solar flares is of critical importance in understanding these powerful transient events, one of the major objectives of solar physics.We describe the design, fabrication, and testing of phase zone plate X-ray lenses with focal lengths of approximately equal to 100 m at these energies that would be capable of achieving these objectives. We show how such lenses could be included on a two-spacecraft formation-flying mission with the lenses on the spacecraft closest to the Sun and an X-ray imaging array on the second spacecraft in the focal plane approximately equal to 100 m away. High resolution X-ray images could be obtained when the two spacecraft are aligned with the region of interest on the Sun. Requirements and constraints for the control of the two spacecraft are discussed together with the overall feasibility of such a formation-flying mission.

Dennis, B. R.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Titan Ion Composition at Magnetosphere-Ionosphere Transition Region

Using Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS) Ion Mass Spectrometer (IMS) ion composition data, we will investigate the compositional changes at the transition region between Saturn's magnetospheric flow and Titan's upper ionosphere. It is this region where scavenging of Titan's upper ionosphere can occur, where it is then dragged away by the magnetospheric flow as cold plasma for Saturn's magnetosphere. This cold plasma may form plumes as originally proposed by (1) during the Voyager 1 epoch. This source of cold plasma may have a unique compositional signature such as methane group ions. Water group ions that are observed in Saturn's outer magnetosphere (2,3) are relatively hot and probably come from the inner magnetosphere where they are born from fast neutrals escaping Enceladus (4) and picked up in the outer magnetosphere as hot plasma (5). This scenario will be complicated by pickup methane ions within Titan's mass loading region, as originally predicted by (6) based on Voyager 1 data and observationally confirmed by (3,7) using CAPS IMS data. But, CH4(+) ions or their fragments can only be produced as pickup ions from Titan's exosphere which can extend beyond the transition region of concern here, while CH5(+) ions can be scavenged from Titan's ionosphere. We will investigate these possibilities.

Sittler, Edward C.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Magnetospheric and auroral plasmas: A short survey of progress, 1971 - 1975

Milestones in researches of auroral and magnetospheric plasmas for the past quadrennium 1971 - 1975 are reviewed. Findings, including those of the polar cusp, the polar wind, the explosive disruptions of the magnetotail, the interactions of hot plasmas with the plasmapause, the auroral field-aligned currents, and the striking 'inverted-V' electron precipitation events, are reported. Solutions to major questions concerning the origins and acceleration of these plasmas are discussed. A comprehensive bibliography of current research is included.

Frank, L. A.↗