Cool heliosheath plasma and deceleration of the upstream solar wind at the termination shock

The solar wind blows outward from the Sun and forms a bubble of solar material in the interstellar medium. The termination shock occurs where the solar wind changes from being supersonic (with respect to the surrounding interstellar medium) to being subsonic. The shock was crossed by Voyager 1 at a heliocentric radius of 94 au (1 au is the Earth-Sun distance) in December 2004 (refs 1-3). The Voyager 2 plasma experiment observed a decrease in solar wind speed commencing on about 9 June 2007, which culminated in several crossings of the termination shock between 30 August and 1 September 2007 (refs 4-7). Since then, Voyager 2 has remained in the heliosheath, the region of shocked solar wind. Here we report observations of plasma at and near the termination shock and in the heliosheath. The heliosphere is asymmetric, pushed inward in the Voyager 2 direction relative to the Voyager 1 direction. The termination shock is a weak, quasi-perpendicular shock that heats the thermal plasma very little. An unexpected finding is that the flow is still supersonic with respect to the thermal ions downstream of the termination shock. Most of the solar wind energy is transferred to the pickup ions or other energetic particles both upstream of and at the termination shock.     

An asymmetric solar wind termination shock

Voyager 2 crossed the solar wind termination shock at 83.7 au in the southern hemisphere, approximately 10 au closer to the Sun than found by Voyager 1 in the north. This asymmetry could indicate an asymmetric pressure from an interstellar magnetic field, from transient-induced shock motion, or from the solar wind dynamic pressure. Here we report that the intensity of 4-5 MeV protons accelerated by the shock near Voyager 2 was three times that observed concurrently by Voyager 1, indicating differences in the shock at the two locations. (Companion papers report on the plasma, magnetic field, plasma-wave and lower energy particle observations at the shock.) Voyager 2 did not find the source of anomalous cosmic rays at the shock, suggesting that the source is elsewhere on the shock or in the heliosheath. The small intensity gradient of Galactic cosmic ray helium indicates that either the gradient is further out in the heliosheath or the local interstellar Galactic cosmic ray intensity is lower than expected.     

Magnetic fields at the solar wind termination shock

A transition between the supersonic solar wind and the subsonic heliosheath was observed by Voyager 1, but the expected termination shock was not seen owing to a gap in the telemetry. Here we report observations of the magnetic field structure and dynamics of the termination shock, made by Voyager 2 on 31 August-1 September 2007 at a distance of 83.7 au from the Sun (1 au is the Earth-Sun distance). A single crossing of the shock was expected, with a boundary that was stable on a timescale of several days. But the data reveal a complex, rippled, quasi-perpendicular supercritical magnetohydrodynamic shock of moderate strength undergoing reformation on a scale of a few hours. The observed structure suggests the importance of ionized interstellar atoms ('pickup protons') at the shock.     

Voyager 1 exited the solar wind at a distance of approximately 85 Au from the Sun

The outer limit of the Solar System is often considered to be at the distance from the Sun where the solar wind changes from supersonic to subsonic flow. Theory predicts that a termination shock marks this boundary, with locations ranging from a few to over 100 au (1 Au approximately 1.5 x 10(8) km, the distance from Earth to the Sun). 'Pick-up ions' that originate as interstellar neutral atoms should be accelerated to tens of MeV at the termination shock, generating anomalous cosmic rays. Here we report a large increase in the intensity of energetic particles in the outer heliosphere, as measured by an instrument on the Voyager 1 spacecraft. We argue that the spacecraft exited the supersonic solar wind and passed into the subsonic region (possibly beyond the termination shock) on about 1 August 2002 at a distance of approximately 85 Au (heliolatitude approximately 34 degrees N), then re-entered the supersonic solar wind about 200 days later at approximately 87 au from the Sun. We show that the composition of the ions accelerated at the putative termination shock is that of anomalous cosmic rays and of interstellar pick-up ions.     

Fast acceleration of “killer” electrons and energetic ions by interplanetary shock stimulated ULF waves in the inner magnetosphere

Energetic electrons and ions in the Van Allen radiation belt are the number one space weather threat. Understanding how these energetic particles are accelerated within the Van Allen radiation belt is one of the major challenges in space physics. This paper reviews the recent progress on the fast acceleration of "killer" electrons and energetic ions by ultralow frequency (ULF) waves stimulated by the interplanetary shock in the inner magnetosphere. Very low frequency (VLF) wave-particle interaction is considered to be one of the primary electron acceleration mechanisms because electron cyclotron resonances can easily occur in the VLF frequency range. Recently, using four Cluster spacecraft observations, we have found that, after interplanetary shocks impact the Earth’s magnetosphere, energetic electrons in the radiation belt are accelerated almost immediately and continue to accelerate for a few hours. The time scale (a few days) for traditional acceleration mechanisms, based on VLF wave-particle interactions to accelerate electrons to relativistic energies, is too long to explain our observations. Furthermore, we have found that interplanetary shocks or solar wind pressure pulses, with even small dynamic pressure changes, can play a non-negligible role in radiation belt dynamics. Interplanetary shocks interaction with the Earth’s magnetosphere manifests many fundamental space physics phenomena including energetic particle acceleration. The mechanism of fast acceleration of energetic electrons in the radiation belt responding to interplanetary shock impacts consists of three contributing parts: (1) the initial adiabatic acceleration due to strong shock-related magnetic field compression; (2) followed by the drift-resonant acceleration with poloidal ULF waves excited at different L-shells; and (3) particle acceleration due to the quickly damping electric fields associated with ULF waves. Particles end up with a net acceleration because they gain more energy in the first half of this cycle than they lose in the second. The results reported in this paper cast a new light on understanding the acceleration of energetic particles in the Earth’s Van Allen radiation belt. The results of this study can likewise be applied to interplanetary shock interaction with other planets such as Mercury, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and other astrophysical objects with magnetic fields.     

Enhancements of energetic particles near the heliospheric termination shock

The spacecraft Voyager 1 is at a distance greater than 85 au from the Sun, in the vicinity of the termination shock that marks the abrupt slowing of the supersonic solar wind and the beginning of the extended and unexplored distant heliosphere. This shock is expected to accelerate 'anomalous cosmic rays', as well as to re-accelerate Galactic cosmic rays and low-energy particles from the inner Solar System. Here we report a significant increase in the numbers of energetic ions and electrons that persisted for seven months beginning in mid-2002. This increase differs from any previously observed in that there was a simultaneous increase in Galactic cosmic ray ions and electrons, anomalous cosmic rays and low-energy ions. The low-intensity level and spectral energy distribution of the anomalous cosmic rays, however, indicates that Voyager 1 still has not reached the termination shock. Rather, the observed increase is an expected precursor event. We argue that the radial anisotropy of the cosmic rays is expected to be small in the foreshock region, as is observed.     

静止介质中激波动力学的差分方法

介绍了一种求解激波动力学方程的差分方法,并用该方法计算了一系列激波绕射和反射问题,尤其是,完成了激波在凹圆柱表面和双劈表面反射的计算。计算结果表明,该方法不仅具有简便、快速、准确的优点,而且激波动力学中的shock-expansion和shock-shock能在计算中自动产生。     

三维强旋流场中的激波捕捉

为了研究激波对气体离心机取料支臂附近流场的影响,采用数值求解三维N av ier-S tokes方程组的方法来模拟三维强旋流场。使用有限体积法中的二阶迎风格式离散方程,隐式迭代求解。计算捕捉到了障碍物前方的脱体激波,随着径向位置的增大,激波的强度逐渐变大,激波面与支臂表面的距离越小;支臂与转子侧壁之间形成了斜激波,向下游延伸,同时激波面向内弯曲;激波对转子侧壁有影响;激波对上边界的影响很小。计算结果表明该文的方法对强旋流场的计算是有效的。     

Mediation of the solar wind termination shock by non-thermal ions

Broad regions on both sides of the solar wind termination shock are populated by high intensities of non-thermal ions and electrons. The pre-shock particles in the solar wind have been measured by the spacecraft Voyager 1 (refs 1-5) and Voyager 2 (refs 3, 6). The post-shock particles in the heliosheath have also been measured by Voyager 1 (refs 3-5). It was not clear, however, what effect these particles might have on the physics of the shock transition until Voyager 2 crossed the shock on 31 August-1 September 2007 (refs 7-9). Unlike Voyager 1, Voyager 2 is making plasma measurements. Data from the plasma and magnetic field instruments on Voyager 2 indicate that non-thermal ion distributions probably have key roles in mediating dynamical processes at the termination shock and in the heliosheath. Here we report that intensities of low-energy ions measured by Voyager 2 produce non-thermal partial ion pressures in the heliosheath that are comparable to (or exceed) both the thermal plasma pressures and the scalar magnetic field pressures. We conclude that these ions are the >0.028 MeV portion of the non-thermal ion distribution that determines the termination shock structure and the acceleration of which extracts a large fraction of bulk-flow kinetic energy from the incident solar wind.     

Low-energy control of electrical turbulence in the heart

Controlling the complex spatio-temporal dynamics underlying life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias such as fibrillation is extremely difficult, because of the nonlinear interaction of excitation waves in a heterogeneous anatomical substrate. In the absence of a better strategy, strong, globally resetting electrical shocks remain the only reliable treatment for cardiac fibrillation. Here we establish the relationship between the response of the tissue to an electric field and the spatial distribution of heterogeneities in the scale-free coronary vascular structure. We show that in response to a pulsed electric field, E, these heterogeneities serve as nucleation sites for the generation of intramural electrical waves with a source density ρ(E) and a characteristic time, τ, for tissue depolarization that obeys the power law τ?∝?E(α). These intramural wave sources permit targeting of electrical turbulence near the cores of the vortices of electrical activity that drive complex fibrillatory dynamics. We show in vitro that simultaneous and direct access to multiple vortex cores results in rapid synchronization of cardiac tissue and therefore, efficient termination of fibrillation. Using this control strategy, we demonstrate low-energy termination of fibrillation in vivo. Our results give new insights into the mechanisms and dynamics underlying the control of spatio-temporal chaos in heterogeneous excitable media and provide new research perspectives towards alternative, life-saving low-energy defibrillation techniques.     

A planetary system as the origin of structure in Fomalhaut's dust belt

The Sun and >15 per cent of nearby stars are surrounded by dusty disks that must be collisionally replenished by asteroids and comets, as the dust would otherwise be depleted on timescales <10(7) years (ref. 1). Theoretical studies show that the structure of a dusty disk can be modified by the gravitational influence of planets, but the observational evidence is incomplete, at least in part because maps of the thermal infrared emission from the disks have low linear resolution (35 au in the best case). Optical images provide higher resolution, but the closest examples (AU Mic and beta Pic) are edge-on, preventing the direct measurement of the azimuthal and radial disk structure that is required for fitting theoretical models of planetary perturbations. Here we report the detection of optical light reflected from the dust grains orbiting Fomalhaut (HD 216956). The system is inclined 24 degrees away from edge-on, enabling the measurement of disk structure around its entire circumference, at a linear resolution of 0.5 au. The dust is distributed in a belt 25 au wide, with a very sharp inner edge at a radial distance of 133 au, and we measure an offset of 15 au between the belt's geometric centre and Fomalhaut. Taken together, the sharp inner edge and offset demonstrate the presence of planetary-mass objects orbiting Fomalhaut.     

矿井浪涌脉冲辐射电磁场研究

研究煤矿井下浪涌脉冲电流激励下电缆的辐射电磁场,运用推迟矢量位和行波天线理论推导了浪涌脉冲电流激励下电缆的辐射电磁场时域数学模型,给出了辐射场强的解析表达式,并进行了仿真计算.时域结果表明,浪涌脉冲电流在电缆附近会产生很高的瞬态辐射场强,但随着距离电缆的径向距离的增加,辐射场强迅速衰减;辐射场强的大小与浪涌电流峰值成正比;在巷道径向距离内,同一横截面辐射场强与距离成反比;在浪涌电流峰值为1kA时,距离电缆径向距离4m处瞬态辐射电场强度峰值达到15kV/m,磁场强度峰值达到40A/m.因此在不采取屏蔽措施的情况下,瞬态浪涌辐射会对井下巷道内监控及通信系统的正常工作造成影响.     

Zero outward flow velocity for plasma in a heliosheath transition layer

Voyager 1 has been in the reservoir of energetic ions and electrons that constitutes the heliosheath since it crossed the solar wind termination shock on 16 December 2004 at a distance from the Sun of 94 astronomical units (1?AU = 1.5?×?10(8)?km). It is now ～22?AU past the termination shock crossing. The bulk velocity of the plasma in the radial-transverse plane has been determined using measurements of the anisotropy of the convected energetic ion distribution. Here we report that the radial component of the velocity has been decreasing almost linearly over the past three years, from ～70?km?s(-1) to ～0?km?s(-1), where it has remained for the past eight months. It now seems that Voyager 1 has entered a finite transition layer of zero-radial-velocity plasma flow, indicating that the spacecraft may be close to the heliopause, the border between the heliosheath and the interstellar plasma. The existence of a flow transition layer in the heliosheath contradicts current predictions--generally assumed by conceptual models--of a sharp discontinuity at the heliopause.     

High-quality electron beams from a laser wakefield accelerator using plasma-channel guiding

Laser-driven accelerators, in which particles are accelerated by the electric field of a plasma wave (the wakefield) driven by an intense laser, have demonstrated accelerating electric fields of hundreds of GV m(-1) (refs 1-3). These fields are thousands of times greater than those achievable in conventional radio-frequency accelerators, spurring interest in laser accelerators as compact next-generation sources of energetic electrons and radiation. To date, however, acceleration distances have been severely limited by the lack of a controllable method for extending the propagation distance of the focused laser pulse. The ensuing short acceleration distance results in low-energy beams with 100 per cent electron energy spread, which limits potential applications. Here we demonstrate a laser accelerator that produces electron beams with an energy spread of a few per cent, low emittance and increased energy (more than 10(9) electrons above 80 MeV). Our technique involves the use of a preformed plasma density channel to guide a relativistically intense laser, resulting in a longer propagation distance. The results open the way for compact and tunable high-brightness sources of electrons and radiation.     

在转动参考系中讨论单极电机

在导线静止的转动参考系中讨论单极电机的原理，发现在此转动系中不仅有磁场而且存在径向电场。     

An interplanetary shock traced by planetary auroral storms from the Sun to Saturn

A relationship between solar activity and aurorae on Earth was postulated long before space probes directly detected plasma propagating outwards from the Sun. Violent solar eruption events trigger interplanetary shocks that compress Earth's magnetosphere, leading to increased energetic particle precipitation into the ionosphere and subsequent auroral storms. Monitoring shocks is now part of the 'Space Weather' forecast programme aimed at predicting solar-activity-related environmental hazards. The outer planets also experience aurorae, and here we report the discovery of a strong transient polar emission on Saturn, tentatively attributed to the passage of an interplanetary shock--and ultimately to a series of solar coronal mass ejection (CME) events. We could trace the shock-triggered events from Earth, where auroral storms were recorded, to Jupiter, where the auroral activity was strongly enhanced, and to Saturn, where it activated the unusual polar source. This establishes that shocks retain their properties and their ability to trigger planetary auroral activity throughout the Solar System. Our results also reveal differences in the planetary auroral responses on the passing shock, especially in their latitudinal and local time dependences.     

电场分布对静电纺丝纤维直径的影响

为了研究电场对静电纺丝纤维直径的影响,设计两种具有不同电场分布的单针头和辅助板静电纺丝装置,采用聚氧化乙烯(PEO)为原料,在两种纺丝装置中,分别设计不同纺丝电压、纺丝接收距离和纺丝流量参数下的对比试验.并用Maxwell软件模拟纺丝装置中的电场强度分布,结合试验结果说明电场分布影响静电纺丝的纤维直径,从而得出在均匀电场中所纺丝的纤维直径较小.     

Lie map for the nonlinear transport of continuous intense beams in the axial-symmetric electrostatic fields

Nonlinear transport of intense continuous beam in the axial-symmetric electrostatic fields is analyzed with the Lie algebraic method. The K-V particle distribution is adopted in the analysis. The results obtained can be used in the calculations of the intense continuous beam dynamics in the beam optical systems consisting of drift spaces, electrostatic lenses, and DC electrostatic accelerating tubes. A computer code has been designed for practical simulations. To meet the needs of accurate calculation, all the elements are divided into many small segments, the electric fields in each segment are regarded as uniform fields, and the dividing points are treated as thin lenses. Iteration procedures are adopted in the code to obtain self-consistent solutions. The code can be used to design low energy dc beam transport systems, electrostatic accelerators, and ion implantation machines.     

强脉冲X射线辐射热力学效应的数值模拟

导出了一种新的基于泰勒级数展开所获得的迎光面自由面格式.利用一维应变弹塑性流体力学模型,计算了碳酚醛材料中的软、硬X射线辐射热激波衰减特性.结合实际的时间谱,计算了强脉冲X射线辐射Ly-12铝靶材所产生的喷射冲量效应,喷射冲量数值计算结果与实测结果进行了比较,两者基本一致.     

外电场下SDB基本单元的氢氚取代的热力学研究

采用密度泛函B3P86方法在6-311G基组水平上对聚苯乙烯-二乙烯基苯(Polystyrene-Divinylbenzene SDB)单元结构分子在外场下的结构进行优化。根据热力学原理,研究了外场下SDB分子的氢氚取代反应的热力学性质,计算得到外场下SDB单元结构氢氚取代反应在不同温度下的标准生成自由能函变、反应平衡常数及氢氚反应的平衡压力比。表明T_2(g)+SDB_((H2))(s)→H_2(g)+SDB_((T2))(s)氢氚取代反应随外场的增加,在反应热力学上有利于正向反应的进行。