We present new observational data on the phenomena of extremely high activity on the Sun and in the heliosphere that took place in October-November 2003. A large variety of solar and heliospheric ...parameters give evidence that the interval under consideration is unique over the entire observation time. Based on these data, comparing them with similar situations in the past and using available theoretical concepts, we discuss possible cause-and-effect connections between the processes observed. The paper includes the first results and conclusions derived by the collaboration "Solar Extreme Events-2003" organized in Russia for detailed investigations of these events. As a result of our consideration, it is beyond question that the physical causes of solar and heliospheric phenomena in October-November 2003 are not exclusively local and do not belong only to the active regions and solar atmosphere above them. The energy reservoirs and driving forces of these processes have a more global nature. In general, they are hidden from an observer, since ultimately their sources lie in the subphotospheric layers of the Sun, where changes that are fast and difficult to predict can sometimes take place (and indeed they do). Solar flares can serve as sufficiently good tracers of these sudden changes and reconstructions on the Sun, although one can still find other diagnostic indicators among the parameters of magnetic fields, motions of matter, and emission characteristics.PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
This is the first of four companion papers, which comprehensively analyze a complex eruptive event of 18 November 2003 in active region (AR) 10501 and the causes of the largest Solar Cycle 23 ...geomagnetic storm on 20 November 2003. Analysis of a complete data set, not considered before, reveals a chain of eruptions to which hard X-ray and microwave bursts responded. A filament in AR 10501 was not a passive part of a larger flux rope, as usually considered. The filament erupted and gave origin to a coronal mass ejection (CME). The chain of events was as follows: i) a presumable eruption at 07:29 UT accompanied by a not reported M1.2 class flare probably associated with the onset of a first southeastern CME (CME1), which most likely is not responsible for the superstorm; ii) a confined eruption (without a CME) at 07:41 UT (M3.2 flare) that destabilized the large filament; iii) the filament acceleration around 07:56 UT; iv) the bifurcation of the eruptive filament that transformed into a large “cloud”; v) an M3.9 flare in AR 10501 associated to this transformation. The transformation of the filament could be due to the interaction of the eruptive filament with the magnetic field in the neighborhood of a null point, located at a height of about 100 Mm above the complex formed by ARs 10501, 10503, and their environment. The CORONAS-F/SPIRIT telescope observed the cloud in 304 Å as a large Y-shaped darkening, which moved from the bifurcation region across the solar disk to the limb. The masses and kinematics of the cloud and the filament were similar. Remnants of the filament were not clearly observed in the second southwestern CME (CME2), previously regarded as a source of the 20 November geomagnetic storm. These facts do not support a simple scenario, in which the interplanetary magnetic cloud is considered as a flux rope formed from a structure initially associated with the pre-eruption filament in AR 10501. Observations suggest a possible additional eruption above the bifurcation region close to solar disk center between 08:07 and 08:17 UT, which could be the source of the 20 November superstorm.
The geomagnetic superstorm of 20 November 2003 with Dst=−422 nT, one of the most intense in history, is not well understood. The superstorm was caused by a moderate solar eruptive event on 18 ...November, comprehensively studied in our preceding Papers I – III. The analysis has shown a number of unusual and extremely complex features, which presumably led to the formation of an isolated right-handed magnetic-field configuration. Here we analyze the interplanetary disturbance responsible for the 20 November superstorm, compare some of its properties with the extreme 28 – 29 October event, and reveal a compact size of the magnetic cloud (MC) and its disconnection from the Sun. Most likely, the MC had a spheromak configuration and expanded in a narrow angle of ≤ 14
∘
. A very strong magnetic field in the MC up to 56 nT was due to the unusually weak expansion of the disconnected spheromak in an enhanced-density environment constituted by the tails of the preceding ICMEs. Additional circumstances favoring the superstorm were i) the exact impact of the spheromak on the Earth’s magnetosphere and ii) the almost exact southward orientation of the magnetic field, corresponding to the original orientation in its probable source region near the solar disk center.
The mineral composition of hydrogenic uranium ore of the Dalmatovo deposit was studied with analytical scanning electron microscopy. The results correspond to earlier known data only in general ...terms. Phosphosilicate uranium mineralization, which is predominant in the samples, is similar to P-bearing coffinite in elemental composition but differs in morphology. The quantitative analysis of microcrystals corresponds to the formula (U,Ca)(Si,P)O
4
2
, where U/Si ratio is twice as low as in coffinite. The occurrence of oxide pitchblende mineralization has been confirmed. The initial stage of the formation of uranyl minerals has been revealed. The mineral species of Ti-U substance that determines geochemical attributes of the Dalmatovo deposit is considered.
The famous extreme solar and particle event of 20 January 2005 is analyzed from two perspectives. Firstly, using multi-spectral data, we study temporal, spectral, and spatial features of the main ...phase of the flare, when the strongest emissions from microwaves up to 200 MeV gamma-rays were observed. Secondly, we relate our results to a long-standing controversy on the origin of solar energetic particles (SEP) arriving at Earth,
i.e.
, acceleration in flares, or shocks ahead of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Our analysis shows that all electromagnetic emissions from microwaves up to 2.22 MeV line gamma-rays during the main flare phase originated within a compact structure located just above sunspot umbrae. In particular, a huge (≈ 10
5
sfu) radio burst with a high frequency maximum at 30 GHz was observed, indicating the presence of a large number of energetic electrons in very strong magnetic fields. Thus, protons and electrons responsible for various flare emissions during its main phase were accelerated within the magnetic field of the active region. The leading, impulsive parts of the ground-level enhancement (GLE), and highest-energy gamma-rays identified with
π
0
-decay emission, are similar and closely correspond in time. The origin of the
π
0
-decay gamma-rays is argued to be the same as that of lower-energy emissions, although this is not proven. On the other hand, we estimate the sky-plane speed of the CME to be 2 000 – 2 600 km s
−1
,
i.e.
, high, but of the same order as preceding non-GLE-related CMEs from the same active region. Hence, the flare itself rather than the CME appears to determine the extreme nature of this event. We therefore conclude that the acceleration, at least, to sub-relativistic energies, of electrons and protons, responsible for both the major flare emissions and the leading spike of SEP/GLE by 07 UT, are likely to have occurred nearly simultaneously within the flare region. However, our analysis does not rule out a probable contribution from particles accelerated in the CME-driven shock for the leading GLE spike, which seemed to dominate at later stages of the SEP event.
We continue our study (Grechnev
et al.
,
2013
, doi:
10.1007/s11207-013-0316-6
; Paper I) on the 18 November 2003 geoffective event. To understand possible impact on geospace of coronal transients ...observed on that day, we investigated their properties from solar near-surface manifestations in extreme ultraviolet, LASCO white-light images, and dynamic radio spectra. We reconcile near-surface activity with the expansion of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and determine their orientation relative to the earthward direction. The kinematic measurements, dynamic radio spectra, and microwave and X-ray light curves all contribute to the overall picture of the complex event and confirm an additional eruption at 08:07 – 08:20 UT close to the solar disk center presumed in Paper I. Unusual characteristics of the ejection appear to match those expected for a source of the 20 November superstorm but make its detection in LASCO images hopeless. On the other hand, none of the CMEs observed by LASCO seem to be a promising candidate for a source of the superstorm being able to produce, at most, a glancing blow on the Earth’s magnetosphere. Our analysis confirms free propagation of shock waves revealed in the event and reconciles their kinematics with “EUV waves” and dynamic radio spectra up to decameters.
A new method of reduction of core samples of uranium ore to their natural redox state is described. The results of laboratory experiments on agitated and filtration leaching of uranium from ore ...reduced by sulfide solution are considered in comparison with leaching of oxidized stored ore. The oxidation of ore samples during sampling and storage leads to the overestimation of the rate of uranium leaching from ore by sulfuric acid solutions. The more oxidized a sample, the higher the overestimation of this parameter in comparison with traditional borehole in situ leaching (ISL) with sulfuric acid. As is proved by determination of U and Fe species in reduced samples, the described technique of ore sample preparation for laboratory experiments enables the natural redox state of ore to be approached. The results of laboratory experiments with samples prepared according to the proposed technique are adequate to the real process of ISL with sulfuric acid at the Dalmatovo uranium deposit.
We have improved by two orders of magnitude the limit currently available for the CPT violation parameter Re(
δ). To this purpose we have analyzed the full sample of neutral-kaon decays to e
πν ...recorded in the CPLEAR experiment, where the strangeness of the neutral kaons was tagged at production and decay time. An appropriate function of the measured decay rates, including information from the analysis of π
+π
− decay channel, gives directly Re(
δ). The result Re(
δ)=(3.0±3.3
stat±0.6
syst)×10
−4 is compatible with zero. Values for the parameters Im(
δ), Re(
x
−) and Im(
x
+) were also obtained.
Our analysis in Papers I and II (Grechnev
et al.
,
Solar Phys.
289
, 289,
2014b
and
Solar Phys.
289
, 1279,
2014c
) of the 18 November 2003 solar event responsible for the 20 November geomagnetic ...superstorm has revealed a complex chain of eruptions. In particular, the eruptive filament encountered a topological discontinuity located near the solar disk center at a height of about 100 Mm, bifurcated, and transformed into a large cloud, which did not leave the Sun. Concurrently, an additional CME presumably erupted close to the bifurcation region. The conjectures about the responsibility of this compact CME for the superstorm and its disconnection from the Sun are confirmed in Paper IV (Grechnev
et al.
,
Solar Phys.
submitted,
2014a
), which concludes about its probable spheromak-like structure. The present article confirms the presence of a magnetic null point near the bifurcation region and addresses the origin of the magnetic helicity of the interplanetary magnetic clouds and their connection to the Sun. We find that the orientation of a magnetic dipole constituted by dimmed regions with the opposite magnetic polarities away from the parent active region corresponded to the direction of the axial field in the magnetic cloud, while the pre-eruptive filament mismatched it. To combine all of the listed findings, we propose an intrinsically three-dimensional scheme, in which a spheromak-like eruption originates
via
the interaction of the initially unconnected magnetic fluxes of the eruptive filament and pre-existing ones in the corona. Through a chain of magnetic reconnections their positive mutual helicity was transformed into the self-helicity of the spheromak-like magnetic cloud.
Data from the CPLEAR experiment, together with the most recent world averages for some of the neutral-kaon parameters, were constrained with the Bell–Steinberger (or unitarity) relation, allowing the ...T-violation parameter Re(
ϵ) and the CPT-violation parameter Im(
δ) of the neutral-kaon mixing matrix to be determined with an increased accuracy: Re(
ϵ)=(164.9±2.5)×10
−5, Im(
δ)=(2.4±5.0)×10
−5. Moreover, the constraint allows the CPT-violation parameter for the neutral-kaon semileptonic decays, Re(
y), to be determined for the first time. The
ΔS≠
ΔQ parameters Re(
x
−) and Im(
x
+) are given with an increased accuracy. The quantity Re(
y+
x
−), which enters the T-violation CPLEAR asymmetry previously published, is determined to be (−0.2±0.3)×10
−3. The value obtained for Re(
δ) is in agreement with the one resulting from a previous unconstrained fit and has a slightly smaller error.
PDF
