Modulation of Saturn's radio clock by solar wind speed

The internal rotation rates of the giant planets can be estimated by cloud motions, but such an approach is not very precise because absolute wind speeds are not known a priori and depend on latitude: periodicities in the radio emissions, thought to be tied to the internal planetary magnetic field, are used instead. Saturn, despite an apparently axisymmetric magnetic field, emits kilometre-wavelength (radio) photons from auroral sources. This emission is modulated at a period initially identified as 10 h 39 min 24 +/- 7 s, and this has been adopted as Saturn's rotation period. Subsequent observations, however, revealed that this period varies by +/-6 min on a timescale of several months to years. Here we report that the kilometric radiation period varies systematically by +/-1% with a characteristic timescale of 20-30 days. Here we show that these fluctuations are correlated with solar wind speed at Saturn, meaning that Saturn's radio clock is controlled, at least in part, by conditions external to the planet's magnetosphere. No correlation is found with the solar wind density, dynamic pressure or magnetic field; the solar wind speed therefore has a special function. We also show that the long-term fluctuations are simply an average of the short-term ones, and therefore the long-term variations are probably also driven by changes in the solar wind.     

A closely packed system of low-mass, low-density planets transiting Kepler-11

When an extrasolar planet passes in front of (transits) its star, its radius can be measured from the decrease in starlight and its orbital period from the time between transits. Multiple planets transiting the same star reveal much more: period ratios determine stability and dynamics, mutual gravitational interactions reflect planet masses and orbital shapes, and the fraction of transiting planets observed as multiples has implications for the planarity of planetary systems. But few stars have more than one known transiting planet, and none has more than three. Here we report Kepler spacecraft observations of a single Sun-like star, which we call Kepler-11, that reveal six transiting planets, five with orbital periods between 10 and 47?days and a sixth planet with a longer period. The five inner planets are among the smallest for which mass and size have both been measured, and these measurements imply substantial envelopes of light gases. The degree of coplanarity and proximity of the planetary orbits imply energy dissipation near the end of planet formation.     

An 84-microG magnetic field in a galaxy at redshift z = 0.692

The magnetic field pervading our Galaxy is a crucial constituent of the interstellar medium: it mediates the dynamics of interstellar clouds, the energy density of cosmic rays, and the formation of stars. The field associated with ionized interstellar gas has been determined through observations of pulsars in our Galaxy. Radio-frequency measurements of pulse dispersion and the rotation of the plane of linear polarization, that is, Faraday rotation, yield an average value for the magnetic field of B approximately 3 microG (ref. 2). The possible detection of Faraday rotation of linearly polarized photons emitted by high-redshift quasars suggests similar magnetic fields are present in foreground galaxies with redshifts z > 1. As Faraday rotation alone, however, determines neither the magnitude nor the redshift of the magnetic field, the strength of galactic magnetic fields at redshifts z > 0 remains uncertain. Here we report a measurement of a magnetic field of B approximately 84 microG in a galaxy at z = 0.692, using the same Zeeman-splitting technique that revealed an average value of B = 6 microG in the neutral interstellar gas of our Galaxy. This is unexpected, as the leading theory of magnetic field generation, the mean-field dynamo model, predicts large-scale magnetic fields to be weaker in the past rather than stronger.     

Slow differential rotation of the Earth's inner core indicated by temporal changes in scattering

The finding that the Earth's inner core might be rotating faster than the mantle has important implications for our understanding of core processes, including the generation of the Earth's magnetic field. But the reported signal is subtle--a change of about 0.01 s per year in the separation of two seismic waves with differing paths through the core. Subsequent studies of such data have generally supported the conclusion that differential rotation exists, but the difficulty of accurately locating historic earthquakes and possible biases induced by strong lateral variations in structure near the core-mantle boundary have raised doubt regarding the proposed inner-core motion. Also, a study of free oscillations constrained the motion to be relatively small compared to previous estimates and it has been proposed that the interaction of inner-core boundary topography and mantle heterogeneity might lock the inner core to the mantle. The recent detection of seismic waves scattered in the inner core suggests a simple test of inner-core motion. Here we compare scattered waves recorded in Montana, USA, from two closely located nuclear tests at Novaya Zemlya, USSR, in 1971 and 1974. The data show small but coherent changes in scattering which point toward an inner-core differential rotation rate of 0.15 degrees per year--consistent with constraints imposed by the free-oscillation data.     

Abnormally large short term and impending earthquake geomagnetic anomaly implies a possibility of earthquake pre warning

The study found that strong magnetic anomalies repeatedly took place before big earthquakes. Based on geomagnetic record analysis results,we discussed a possible pattern of the magnetic anomalies prior to earthquake. In meizoseismal area or epicenter,in a time period of 36 h to about 10 min before earthquake,the exceptional big geomagnetic change increases with the magnitude of earthquake. We calculated that,in a place of 1 km from the epicenter,the magnetic anomaly before destructive earthquakes of Ms 6～9 can reach to 102～104 nT(the magnitude of earth magnetic field is 104 nT) ,rather than the magnitude of 10 nT from seismomagnetic effect theories since 1960s. From this we speculated the abnormal magnetic ULF near epicenter before earthquake seems to be an "intermittent magnetic eruption". Accordingly,we proposed that geomagnetic induction earthquake alarm can be a new pre-warning method to surmount hardship in solving the puzzledom of earthquake imminent prediction.     

An impact-driven dynamo for the early Moon

The origin of lunar magnetic anomalies remains unresolved after their discovery more than four decades ago. A commonly invoked hypothesis is that the Moon might once have possessed a thermally driven core dynamo, but this theory is problematical given the small size of the core and the required surface magnetic field strengths. An alternative hypothesis is that impact events might have amplified ambient fields near the antipodes of the largest basins, but many magnetic anomalies exist that are not associated with basin antipodes. Here we propose a new model for magnetic field generation, in which dynamo action comes from impact-induced changes in the Moon's rotation rate. Basin-forming impact events are energetic enough to have unlocked the Moon from synchronous rotation, and we demonstrate that the subsequent large-scale fluid flows in the core, excited by the tidal distortion of the core-mantle boundary, could have powered a lunar dynamo. Predicted surface magnetic field strengths are on the order of several microteslas, consistent with palaeomagnetic measurements, and the duration of these fields is sufficient to explain the central magnetic anomalies associated with several large impact basins.     

Little or no solar wind enters Venus' atmosphere at solar minimum

Venus has no significant internal magnetic field, which allows the solar wind to interact directly with its atmosphere. A field is induced in this interaction, which partially shields the atmosphere, but we have no knowledge of how effective that shield is at solar minimum. (Our current knowledge of the solar wind interaction with Venus is derived from measurements at solar maximum.) The bow shock is close to the planet, meaning that it is possible that some solar wind could be absorbed by the atmosphere and contribute to the evolution of the atmosphere. Here we report magnetic field measurements from the Venus Express spacecraft in the plasma environment surrounding Venus. The bow shock under low solar activity conditions seems to be in the position that would be expected from a complete deflection by a magnetized ionosphere. Therefore little solar wind enters the Venus ionosphere even at solar minimum.     

A young massive planet in a star-disk system

There is a general consensus that planets form within disks of dust and gas around newly born stars. Details of their formation process, however, are still a matter of ongoing debate. The timescale of planet formation remains unclear, so the detection of planets around young stars with protoplanetary disks is potentially of great interest. Hitherto, no such planet has been found. Here we report the detection of a planet of mass (9.8+/-3.3)M(Jupiter) around TW Hydrae (TW Hya), a nearby young star with an age of only 8-10 Myr that is surrounded by a well-studied circumstellar disk. It orbits the star with a period of 3.56 days at 0.04 au, inside the inner rim of the disk. This demonstrates that planets can form within 10 Myr, before the disk has been dissipated by stellar winds and radiation.     

Transient radio bursts from rotating neutron stars

The radio sky is relatively unexplored for transient signals, although the potential of radio-transient searches is high. This was demonstrated recently by the discovery of a previously unknown type of source, varying on timescales of minutes to hours. Here we report a search for radio sources that vary on much shorter timescales. We found eleven objects characterized by single, dispersed bursts having durations between 2 and 30 ms. The average time intervals between bursts range from 4 min to 3 h with radio emission typically detectable for <1 s per day. From an analysis of the burst arrival times, we have identified periodicities in the range 0.4-7 s for ten of the eleven sources, suggesting origins in rotating neutron stars. Despite the small number of sources detected at present, their ephemeral nature implies a total Galactic population significantly exceeding that of the regularly pulsing radio pulsars. Five of the ten sources have periods >4 s, and the rate of change of the pulse period has been measured for three of them; for one source, we have inferred a high magnetic field strength of 5 x 10(13) G. This suggests that the new population is related to other classes of isolated neutron stars observed at X-ray and gamma-ray wavelengths.     

Anti-planetward auroral electron beams at Saturn

Strong discrete aurorae on Earth are excited by electrons, which are accelerated along magnetic field lines towards the planet. Surprisingly, electrons accelerated in the opposite direction have been recently observed. The mechanisms and significance of this anti-earthward acceleration are highly uncertain because only earthward acceleration was traditionally considered, and observations remain limited. It is also unclear whether upward acceleration of the electrons is a necessary part of the auroral process or simply a special feature of Earth's complex space environment. Here we report anti-planetward acceleration of electron beams in Saturn's magnetosphere along field lines that statistically map into regions of aurora. The energy spectrum of these beams is qualitatively similar to the ones observed at Earth, and the energy fluxes in the observed beams are comparable with the energies required to excite Saturn's aurora. These beams, along with the observations at Earth and the barely understood electron beams in Jupiter's magnetosphere, demonstrate that anti-planetward acceleration is a universal feature of aurorae. The energy contained in the beams shows that upward acceleration is an essential part of the overall auroral process.     

轴向磁场中弱自转对电弧的螺旋不稳定性的影响

为了明确弱自转对电弧的螺旋不稳定性的影响，采用势物型电导率和与时间有关的线性微扰理论，给出了有弱自转存在的热热分布（温度分布）、稳定性条件以及不稳定性增长率等定量结果；得出了迎着外加磁场方向，自转为顺时针方向时，稳定区域增大；反之，减小。     

磁场对煤泥水絮凝沉降效果的影响

针对传统煤泥水处理方法存在成本高、对环境污染严重等问题,采用磁场与絮凝剂相结合的方法对煤泥水进行絮凝沉降,分析磁感应强度和磁化时间对煤泥水絮凝沉降速度、沉积物厚度和上清液浊度的影响.结果表明：煤泥水絮凝沉降速度随磁感应强度的增大、磁化时间的延长而增加,底层沉积物厚度和浊度随磁感应强度的增大、磁化时间的延长而减小.在磁感应强度为0.25 T、磁化时间为15 min时,煤泥水的处理效果最佳.该研究为煤泥水处理提供了有益参考.     

A deep dynamo generating Mercury's magnetic field

Mercury has a global magnetic field of internal origin and it is thought that a dynamo operating in the fluid part of Mercury's large iron core is the most probable cause. However, the low intensity of Mercury's magnetic field--about 1% the strength of the Earth's field--cannot be reconciled with an Earth-like dynamo. With the common assumption that Coriolis and Lorentz forces balance in planetary dynamos, a field thirty times stronger is expected. Here I present a numerical model of a dynamo driven by thermo-compositional convection associated with inner core solidification. The thermal gradient at the core-mantle boundary is subadiabatic, and hence the outer region of the liquid core is stably stratified with the dynamo operating only at depth, where a strong field is generated. Because of the planet's slow rotation the resulting magnetic field is dominated by small-scale components that fluctuate rapidly with time. The dynamo field diffuses through the stable conducting region, where rapidly varying parts are strongly attenuated by the skin effect, while the slowly varying dipole and quadrupole components pass to some degree. The model explains the observed structure and strength of Mercury's surface magnetic field and makes predictions that are testable with space missions both presently flying and planned.     

Ultrafast precessional magnetization reversal by picosecond magnetic field pulse shaping

Since the invention of the first magnetic memory disk in 1954, much effort has been put into enhancing the speed, bit density and reliability of magnetic memory devices. In the case of magnetic random access memory (MRAM) devices, fast coherent magnetization rotation by precession of the entire memory cell is desired, because reversal by domain-wall motion is much too slow. In principle, the fundamental limit of the switching speed via precession is given by half of the precession period. However, under-critically damped systems exhibit severe ringing and simulations show that, as a consequence, undesired back-switching of magnetic elements of an MRAM can easily be initiated by subsequent write pulses, threatening data integrity. We present a method to reverse the magnetization in under-critically damped systems by coherent rotation of the magnetization while avoiding any ringing. This is achieved by applying specifically shaped magnetic field pulses that match the intrinsic properties of the magnetic elements. We demonstrate, by probing all three magnetization components, that reliable precessional reversal in lithographically structured micrometre-sized elliptical permalloy elements is possible at switching times of about 200 ps, which is ten times faster than the natural damping time constant.     

A dynamic, rotating ring current around Saturn

The concept of an electrical current encircling the Earth at high altitudes was first proposed in 1917 to explain the depression of the horizontal component of the Earth's magnetic field during geomagnetic storms. In situ measurements of the extent and composition of this current were made some 50 years later and an image was obtained in 2001 (ref. 6). Ring currents of a different nature were observed at Jupiter and their presence inferred at Saturn. Here we report images of the ring current at Saturn, together with a day-night pressure asymmetry and tilt of the planet's plasma sheet, based on measurements using the magnetospheric imaging instrument (MIMI) on board Cassini. The ring current can be highly variable with strong longitudinal asymmetries that corotate nearly rigidly with the planet. This contrasts with the Earth's ring current, where there is no rotational modulation and initial asymmetries are organized by local time effects.     

Magnetic properties of NdFeB-coated rubberwood composites

Magnetic properties of composites prepared by coating lacquer containing neodymium iron boron (Nd-Fe-B) powders on rubberwood were characterized by vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM), magnetic moment measurements, and attraction tests with an iron-core solenoid. The Nd-Fe-B powders were recycled from electronic wastes by the ball-milling technique. Varying the milling time from 20 to 300 min, the magnetic squareness and the coercive field of the Nd-Fe-B powders were at the minimum when the powders were milled for 130 min. It followed that the coercive field of the magnetic wood composites was increased with the milling time increasing from 130 to 300 min. For the magnetic wood composites using Nd-Fe-B obtained from the same milling time, the magnetic squareness and the coercive field were rather insensitive to the variation of Nd-Fe-B concentration in coating lacquer from 0.43 to 1.00 g/cm3. By contrast, the magnetization and magnetic moment were increased with the Nd-Fe-B concentration increasing. Furthermore, the electrical current in the solenoid required for the attraction of the magnetic wood composites was exponentially reduced with the increase in the amount of Nd-Fe-B used in the coating.     

天然超低频电磁场日夜交替及其稳定性分析

利用北京大学研制的BD-6型超低频电磁探测仪,在北京地热119井按不同时段和方位对天然场源超低频电磁信号进行观测,经数据处理得到不同时段和不同方位的电压-深度曲线和差分视电阻率-深度曲线,经分析与解译发现:太阳辐射在一定程度上影响天然场源超低频电磁信号的强度,但太阳辐射对其稳定性影响程度不大;天然源超低频电磁信号强度存在明显的方向性,磁北方向信号最强,随仪器探头方向与磁北方向夹角的增大信号强度降低;实验表明超低频电磁信号的差分视电阻率-深度法明显优于电压-深度法的反演与解译精度。     

天然超低频电磁场日夜交替及其稳定性分析

利用北京大学研制的BD-6型超低频电磁探测仪,在北京地热119井按不同时段和方位对天然场源超低频电磁信号进行观测,经数据处理得到不同时段和不同方位的电压-深度曲线和差分视电阻率-深度曲线,经分析与解译发现：太阳辐射在一定程度上影响天然场源超低频电磁信号的强度,但太阳辐射对其稳定性影响程度不大;天然源超低频电磁信号强度存在明显的方向性,磁北方向信号最强,随仪器探头方向与磁北方向夹角的增大信号强度降低;实验表明超低频电磁信号的差分视电阻率-深度法明显优于电压-深度法的反演与解译精度。     

液晶的磁旋光特性

为深入了解液晶的磁旋光特性，利用矩阵方法分析研究了液晶的旋光效应，导出了液晶旋光的矩阵表示．通过测量磁场作用下向列型液晶的旋光角及透射比，研究了液晶的磁旋光特性．详细分析了磁场对液晶分子轴旋转和透射比的影响，做出了液晶分子轴旋转角和透射比与磁场强度关系的曲线．通过改变磁场方向进行实验测试．发现液晶的旋光方向与垂直入射液晶盒的磁场方向无关。     

Weather and climate on Mars.

Imagine a planet very much like the Earth, with similar size, rotation rate and inclination of rotation axis, possessing an atmosphere and a solid surface, but lacking oceans and dense clouds of liquid water. We might expect such a desert planet to be dominated by large variations in day-night and winter-summer weather. Dust storms would be common. Observations and simulations of martian climate confirm these expectations and provide a wealth of detail that can help resolve problems of climate evolution.