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Results for “primordial magnetic fields”

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

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NASA NTRS1977

The magnetic field of Mercury

The Mariner 10 spacecraft encountered Mercury three times in 1974-1975. The first and third encounters provided detailed observations of a well-developed detached bow shock wave which results from the interaction of the solar wind. The planet possesses a global magnetic field and a modest magnetosphere, which deflects the solar wind. The field is approximately dipolar, with orientation in the same sense as earth, tilted 12 deg from the rotation axis. The magnetic moment corresponds to an undistorted equatorial field intensity of 350 gammas, approximately 1% of earth's. The field, while unequivocally intrinsic to the planet, may be due to remanent magnetization acquired from an extinct dynamo or a primordial magnetic field or due to a presently active dynamo. The latter possibility appears more plausible at present. In any case, the existence of the magnetic field provides very strong evidence of a mature differentiated planetary interior with a large core (core radius about 0.7 Mercury radius) and a record of the history of planetary formation in the magnetization of the crustal rocks.

Ness, N. F.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Theory of stellar coronae - An interpretation of X-ray emission from non-degenerate stellar sources

It is shown that the acoustic wave heating theory of stellar coronae explains neither Einstein Observatory coronae data nor previous UV and X-ray observations of the sun and other stars, on the evidence of data implying that magnetic fields, stellar rotation rates and convection zone parameters figure in the determination of coronal heating. Einstein Observatory results suggest that O-type star coronae are heated by the interaction of turbulent stellar winds with slowly-decaying primordial magnetic fields or by radiative instabilities in the flow. The apparent absence of coronae in Ap stars is due to the stability of atmospheres in which even weak convection is suppressed by the strong field. Dynamo action is implicated in some normal A-type stars and in F- and later-type dwarfs. Coronal characteristics of dMe and dM stars, close binaries, and K- and M-type giants are also considered.

Linsky, J. L.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Searching for anisotropic cosmic birefringence with polarization data from SPTpol

In this paper, we present a search for anisotropic cosmic birefringence in 500 deg 2 of southern sky observed at 150 GHz with the SPTpol camera on the South Pole Telescope. We reconstruct a map of cosmic polarization rotation anisotropies using higher-order correlations between the observed cosmic microwave background (CMB) E and B fields. We then measure the angular power spectrum of this map, which is found to be consistent with zero. The nondetection is translated into an upper limit on the amplitude of the scale-invariant cosmic rotation power spectrum, L ( L + 1 ) C L α α / 2 π < 0.10 × 10 – 4 rad 2 ( 0.033 deg 2 , 95% C.L.). This upper limit can be used to place constraints on the strength of primordial magnetic fields, B 1 Mpc < 17 nG (95% C.L.), and on the coupling constant of the Chern-Simons electromagnetic term g a γ < 4.0 × 10 – 2 / H I (95% C.L.), where H I is the inflationary Hubble scale. For the first time, we also cross-correlate the CMB temperature fluctuations with the reconstructed rotation angle map, a signal expected to be nonvanishing in certain theoretical scenarios, and find no detectable signal. We perform a suite of systematics and consistency checks and find no evidence for contamination.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Axion strings are superconducting

We explore the cosmological consequences of the superconductivity of QCD axion strings. Axion strings can support a sizeable chiral electric current and charge density, which alters their early universe dynamics. We examine the possibility that shrinking axion string loops can become effectively stable remnants called vortons, supported by the repulsive electromagnetic force of the string current. We find that vortons in our scenario are generically unstable, and so do not pose a cosmological difficulty. Furthermore, if a primordial magnetic field (PMF) exists in the early universe, a large current is induced on axion strings, creating a significant drag force from interactions with the surrounding plasma. As a result, the strings are slowed down, which leads to an orders of magnitude enhancement in the number of strings per Hubble volume. Finally, we study potential implications for the QCD axion relic abundance. The QCD axion window is shifted by orders of magnitude in some parts of our parameter space.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2022

Reconstructing cosmic polarization rotation with ResUNet-CMB

Cosmic polarization rotation, which may result from parity-violating new physics or the presence of primordial magnetic fields, converts E-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) into B-mode polarization. Anisotropic cosmic polarization rotation leads to statistical anisotropy in CMB polarization and can be reconstructed with quadratic estimator techniques similar to those designed for gravitational lensing of the CMB. At the sensitivity of upcoming CMB surveys, lensing-induced B-mode polarization will act as a limiting factor in the search for anisotropic cosmic polarization rotation, meaning that an analysis which incorporates some form of delensing will be required to improve constraints on the effect with future surveys. In this study we extend the ResUNet-CMB convolutional neural network to reconstruct anisotropic cosmic polarization rotation in the presence of gravitational lensing and patchy reionization, and we show that the network simultaneously reconstructs all three effects with variance that is lower than that from the standard quadratic estimator nearly matching the performance of an iterative reconstruction method.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 constraints on extended cosmological models

We use new cosmic microwave background (CMB) primary temperature and polarization anisotropy measurements from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) Data Release 6 (DR6) to test foundational assumptions of the standard cosmological model, ΛCDM, and set constraints on extensions to it. We derive constraints from the ACT DR6 power spectra alone, as well as in combination with legacy data from the Planck mission. To break geometric degeneracies, we include ACT and Planck CMB lensing data and baryon acoustic oscillation data from DESI Year-1. To test the dependence of our results on non-ACT data, we also explore combinations replacing Planck with WMAP and DESI with BOSS, and further add supernovae measurements from Pantheon+ for models that affect the late-time expansion history. We verify the near-scale-invariance (running of the spectral index dn s /d ln k = 0.0062 ± 0.0052) and adiabaticity of the primordial perturbations. Neutrino properties are consistent with Standard Model predictions: we find no evidence for new light, relativistic species that are free-streaming (N eff = 2.86 ± 0.13, which combined with astrophysical measurements of primordial helium and deuterium abundances becomes N eff = 2.89 ± 0.11), for non-zero neutrino masses (∑m ν < 0.089 eV at 95% CL), or for neutrino self-interactions. We also find no evidence for self-interacting dark radiation (N idr < 0.134), or for early-universe variation of fundamental constants, including the fine-structure constant (α EM /α EM,0 = 1.0043 ± 0.0017) and the electron mass (m e /m e,0 = 1.0063 ± 0.0056). Our data are consistent with standard big bang nucleosynthesis (we find Y p = 0.2312 ± 0.0092), the COBE/FIRAS-inferred CMB temperature (we find T CMB = 2.698 ± 0.016 K), a dark matter component that is collisionless and with only a small fraction allowed as axion-like particles, a cosmological constant (w = -0.986 ± 0.025), and the late-time growth rate predicted by general relativity (γ = 0.663 ± 0.052). We find no statistically significant preference for a departure from the baseline ΛCDM model. In fits to models invoking early dark energy, primordial magnetic fields, or an arbitrary modified recombination history, we find H 0 = 69.9 +0.8 -1.5 , 69.1 ± 0.5, or 69.6 ± 1.0 km/s/Mpc, respectively; using BOSS instead of DESI BAO data reduces the central values of these constraints by 1–1.5 km/s/Mpc while only slightly increasing the error bars. In general, models introduced to increase the Hubble constant or to decrease the amplitude of density fluctuations inferred from the primary CMB are not favored over ΛCDM by our data.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Small-scale clumping at recombination and the Hubble tension

Despite the success of the standard ΛCDM model of cosmology, recent data improvements have made tensions emerge between low- and high-redshift observables, most importantly in determinations of the Hubble constant H 0 and the (rescaled) clustering amplitude S 8 . The high-redshift data, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), crucially relies on recombination physics for its interpretation. In this work, we study how small-scale baryon inhomogeneities (i.e., clumping) can affect recombination and consider whether they can relieve both the H 0 and S 8 tensions. Such small-scale clumping, which may be caused by primordial magnetic fields or baryon isocurvature below kpc scales, enhances the recombination rate even when averaged over larger scales, shifting recombination to earlier times. We introduce a flexible clumping model, parametrized via three spatial zones with free densities and volume fractions, and use it to study the impact of clumping on CMB observables. We find that increasing H 0 decreases both Ω m and S 8 , which alleviates the S 8 tension. On the other hand, the shift in Ω m is disfavored by the low-z baryon-acoustic-oscillations measurements. We find that the clumping parameters that can change the CMB sound horizon enough to explain the H 0 tension also alter the damping tail, so they are disfavored by current Planck 2018 data. We test how the CMB damping-tail information rules out changes to recombination by first removing ℓ > 1000 multipoles in Planck data, where we find that clumping could resolve the H 0 tension. Furthermore, we make predictions for future CMB experiments, as their improved damping-tail precision can better constrain departures from standard recombination. Both the Simons Observatory and CMB-S4 will provide decisive evidence for or against clumping as a resolution to the H 0 tension.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1988

Effects of ordinary and superconducting cosmic strings on primordial nucleosynthesis

A precise calculation is done of the primordial nucleosynthesis constraint on the energy per length of ordinary and superconducting cosmic strings. A general formula is provided for the constraint on the string tension for ordinary strings. Using the current values for the various parameters that describe the evolution of loops, the constraint for ordinary strings is G mu less than 2.2 x 10 to the minus 5 power. Our constraint is weaker than previously quoted limits by a factor of approximately 5. For superconducting loops, with currents generated by primordial magnetic fields, the constraint can be less or more stringent than this limit, depending on the strength of the magnetic field. It is also found in this case that there is a negligible amount of entropy production if the electromagnetic radiation from strings thermalizes with the radiation background.

Hodges, Hardy M.↗
NASA NTRS1997

Lunar and Planetary Science XXVIII

The present conference discusses such topics as density crossovers in lunar picrites, the geology of the Cassini impact basin, Mars, nanobacteria in carbonates, the properties of shocked aerogels, a chemical model of Comet Halley, lunar mascons, the impact evolution of icy regoliths, the geology of the Venera 8 landing site, the photogeologic mapping of northern Venus, HST observations of Mars, observational constraints on the rotational dynamics of Mars, and primordial magnetic field measurements from the moon. Also discussed are models of the S2 fluorescence spectra of comets, Martian crater ejecta, the heights of Venusian steep-sided domes, cloud-climate interactions on Venus, the Humorum basin geology from Clementine data, an early Amazonian lake in the Gale crater of Mars, nebular fractionations and Mn-Cr systematics, the Rock Chipper planetary surface sample collection, Mariner 10 stereo images of Mercury, remote and local stresses and Calderas on Mars, the electrostatic charging of saltating particles, SO2 detected on Callisto, the Mars Explorer Planetary Data System, an assessment of explosive venting on Europa, the sequential faulting history of the Mars Valles Marineris, a search for Martian sediments, the composition and internal structure of Europa, long-term and 'diurnal' tidal stresses on Europa, and episodic greenhouse climates on Mars.

Source record↗
NASA NTRS2004

Deciphering the X-ray Emission of the Nearest Herbig Ae Star

In this research program, we obtained and analyzed an X-ray observation of the young nearby intermediate mass pre-main sequence star HD 104237 using the XMM-Newton space-based observatory. The observation was obtained on 17 Feb. 2002. This observation yielded high-quality X-ray images, spectra, and timing data which provided valuable information on the physical processes responsible for the X-ray emission. This star is a member of the group of so-called Herbig Ae/Be stars, which are young intermediate mass (approx. 2 - 4 solar masses) pre-main sequence (PMS) stars a few million years old that have not yet begun core hydrogen burning. The objective of the XMM-Newton observation was to obtain higher quality data than previously available in order to constrain possible X-ray emission mechanisms. The origin of the X-ray emission from Herbig Ae/Be stars is not yet known. These intermediate mass PMS stars lie on radiative tracks and are not expected to emit X-rays via solar-like magnetic processes, nor are their winds powerful enough to produce X-rays by radiative wind shocks as in more massive O-type stars. The emission could originate in unseen low-mass companions, or it may be intrinsic to the Herbig stars themselves if they still have primordial magnetic fields or can sustain magnetic activity via a nonsolar dynamo.

Skinner, Stephen L.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Influence of the interplanetary magnetic field on cometary and primordial dust orbits - Applications of Lorentz Scattering

The equations describing the change in orbital elements of interplanetary dust due to Lorentz-force accelerations are presented in a simplified form. Such accelerations depend on the charge state of the dust; results of theoretical calculations for five possible dust materials are presented. Under present-day conditions, it is possible that semiconducting material such as graphite might carry a net voltage near zero, compared with a roughly 10-V charge expected for other grains. The scattering of dust by a randomly changing magnetic field can be viewed analogously to the dust diffusing in space; the equations presented thus can be used to interpret observations of the present distribution of dust in terms of its possible sources and sinks. The stronger magnetic fields of the early solar system would have led to more vigorous scattering of the dust; particles as large as 1 mm could have been significantly transported by Lorentz scattering during this time.

Consolmagno, G. J.↗
NASA NTRS1975

Magnetostatic potential theory and the lunar magnetic dipole field

The lunar magnetic dipole moment is discussed. It is proposed that if a primordial core magnetic field existed, it would give rise to a present day nonzero external dipole magnetic field. This conclusion is based on the assumption that the lunar mantle is at least slightly ferromagnetic, and thus would maintain a permanent magnetization after the disappearance of the core magnetic field. Using a simple mathematical model of the moon, calculations are performed which support this hypothesis.

Goldstein, M. L.↗
DOE OSTI2023

Intergalactic magnetic field studies by means of γ -ray emission from GRB 190114C

The presence of delayed GeV emission after a strong transient, such as a gamma-ray burst (GRB), in the very-high energy (VHE) E > 100 GeV band can be the signature of a nonzero magnetic field in the intergalactic medium. Here we used a synchrotron self-Compton multiwavelength model to infer an analytical description of the intrinsic VHE spectrum (corrected for absorption by the extragalactic background light) of GRB 190114C to predict the light curves and spectral energy distributions of the delayed emission with Monte Carlo simulations for different intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) configurations (strengths B = 8 × 10 -21 G, 10 -20 G, 3 × 10 -20 G and correlation length $\lambda$ > 1 Mpc), and compared them with the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi LAT) limits computed for several exposure times. We found that the Fermi LAT is not sensitive enough to constrain any IGMF strengths using GRB 190114C.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
NASA NTRS1975

Lunar magnetism

It is shown, for a very simple model of the moon, that the existence of a primordial core magnetic field would give rise to a present day nonzero dipole external field. In the investigation a uniformly magnetized core embedded in a permeable mantle is considered. The significance of the obtained results for the conclusions reported by Runcorn (1975) is discussed. Comments provided by Runcorn to the discussion are also presented.

Goldstein, M. L.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Structure Formation Through Magnetohydrodynamical Instabilities in Primordial Disks

The shear flow instabilities under the presence of magnetic fields in the primordial disk can greatly facilitate the formation of density structures that serve as seeds prior to the onset of the gravitational Jeans instability. We evaluate the effects of the Parker, magnetorotational and kinematic dynamo instabilities by comparing the properties of these instabilities. We calculate the mass spectra of coagulated density structures by the above mechanism in the radial direction for an axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) torus equilibrium and power density profile models. Our local three-dimensional MHD simulation indicates that the coupling of the Parker and magnetorotational instability creates spiral arms and gas blobs in an accretion disk, reinforcing the theory and model. Such a mechanism for the early structure formation may be tested in a laboratory. The recent progress in experiments involving shear flows in rotating tokamak, field reversed configuration (FRC) and laser plasmas may become a key element to advance in nonlinear studies.

Noguchi, Koichi↗
NASA NTRS1979

Origin of the magnetic fields in the giant planets

The paper discusses origin of the magnetic fields in the giant planets. Recent data on the generation of these fields provide conclusions on giant planets; the Jovian magnetic field can be of primordial origin or generated by a thermally driven dynamo, and the expected Saturnian field can be accounted for thermally or by a precessionally driven dynamo. The presence of a 0.1 gauss field on Uranus presents a problem because the so far unobserved thermal flux and convection may be too low, and if such a dynamo were to operate then the field should show seasonal variations. A conductive shell on Neptune similar to that on Uranus appears to be much thinner, but it is likely that Neptune has a magnetic field which is too weak to lead to observable electromagnetic variations.

Smoluchowski, R.↗
DOE OSTI2020

The Turbulent Stress Spectrum in the Inertial and Subinertial Ranges

For velocity and magnetic fields, the turbulent pressure and, more generally, the squared fields such as the components of the turbulent stress tensor, play important roles in astrophysics. For both one and three dimensions, we derive the equations relating the energy spectra of the fields to the spectra of their squares. We solve the resulting integrals numerically and show that for turbulent energy spectra of Kolmogorov type, the spectral slope of the stress spectrum is also of Kolmogorov type. For shallower turbulence spectra, the slope of the stress spectrum quickly approaches that of white noise, regardless of how blue the spectrum of the field is. For fully helical fields, the stress spectrum is elevated by about a factor of two in the subinertial range, while that in the inertial range remains unchanged. We discuss possible implications for understanding the spectrum of primordial gravitational waves from causally generated magnetic fields during cosmological phase transitions in the early universe. We also discuss potential diagnostic applications to the interstellar medium, where polarization and scintillation measurements characterize the square of the magnetic field.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗