Abstract
The latitudinal structure of the solar wind varies during the cycle of solar activity. Analysis of this variation is important for understanding the solar activity and interpretation of ...observations of heliospheric energetic neutral hydrogen atoms and interstellar neutral (ISN) atoms inside the heliosphere, which yield information on the heliosphere and its interaction with the interstellar medium. Existing methods of retrieving this information from indirect remote-sensing measurements of phenomena, including the heliospheric backscatter glow and interplanetary scintillations of remote radio sources, are challenging to apply in real time. Here, we propose a method WawHelioIonMP of approximate retrieval of latitudinal profiles of the ionization rates of ISN H using a machine-learning-based interpretation of the helioglow. Assuming that we know their history during two past solar cycles and have observations of the helioglow for close-to-circumsolar circles with a radius close to 90°, we derive statistically an algebraic relation between the ionization profiles and lightcurves. With the relation reversed, we are then able to derive the ionization rate profiles based on observed light curves, such as those planned for the GLObal solar Wind Structure (GLOWS) experiment on the forthcoming NASA mission Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP). The application of this method is straightforward and rapid because complex simulations are no longer needed. We present the method of retrieval of the profiles of the ionization rates, leaving the discussion of details of the decomposition of the retrieved ionization rate profiles into profiles of the solar wind speed and density to a future paper.
Abstract
The solar wind (SW) is an outflow of the solar coronal plasma, which expands supersonically throughout the heliosphere. SW particles interact by charge exchange with interstellar neutral ...atoms; on the one hand, they modify the distribution of this gas in interplanetary space, and, on the other hand, they are the seed populations for heliospheric pickup ions and energetic neutral atoms (ENAs). The heliolatitudinal profiles of the SW’s speed and density evolve during the solar activity cycle. A model of the evolution of the SW’s speed and density is needed to interpret observations of ENAs, pickup ions, the heliospheric backscatter glow, etc. We derive the Warsaw Heliospheric Ionization Model 3DSW—WawHelIon 3DSW—based on interplanetary scintillation (IPS) tomography maps of the SW speed. We use the IPS tomography data from 1985 to 2020, compiled by Tokumaru et al. We derive a novel statistical method of filtering these data against outliers; we present a flexible analytic formula for the latitudinal profiles of the SW speed, based on Legendre polynomials of varying order with additional restraining conditions at the poles; fit this formula to the yearly filtered data; and calculate yearly SW density profiles using the latitudinally invariant SW energy flux observed in the ecliptic plane. Despite the application of a refined IPS data set, a more sophisticated data filtering method, and a more flexible analytic model, the present results mostly agree with those obtained previously, demonstrating the robustness of IPS studies of the SW’s structure.
Abstract
The solar wind (SW) is a supersonic outflow of plasma from the solar corona, with the latitudinal speed and density profiles varying with the solar activity. The SW protons charge exchange ...with the inflowing interstellar neutral atoms and create energetic neutral atoms (ENAs), which bring information on the physical state of the plasma within the boundary region of the heliosphere. The speed of the ENAs depends on their energies, and consequently observations at different energies provide information on different epochs backward in time. Therefore, understanding the history of the evolution of the SW is important to understand this information. In this paper, we extend the work by Porowski et al., who provided the WawHelioIon 3DSW model of the time evolution of latitudinal profiles of the SW speed and density based on results of analysis of interplanetary scintillations (IPSs). Based on results of principal component analysis, we search for correlation between selected solar proxies and the structure of the SW obtained from IPSs and show that it is possible to reproduce the evolution of the SW structure during the past three solar cycles based on the proxies. With this, we extend the history of the evolution of the SW structure back to 1976, i.e., to the epoch when observations of the key proxies—the inclination of the SW current sheet and the solar polar magnetic fields—became available. We point out the potential of the use of the proxies for forecasting the structure of the SW into the future.
Abstract
Interstellar neutral hydrogen flows into the heliosphere as a mixture of the primary and secondary populations from two somewhat different directions due to splitting occurring in the ...magnetized outer heliosheath. The direction of the inflow of interstellar neutral H observed in the inner heliosphere, confronted with that of the unperturbed flow of interstellar neutral helium, is important for understanding the geometry of the distortion of the heliosphere from axial symmetry. It is also needed for facilitating remote-sensing studies of the solar wind structure based on observations of the helioglow, such as those presently performed by SOHO/SWAN, and in the near future by IMAP/GLOWS. In the past, the only means to measure the direction of the flow of interstellar hydrogen were spectroscopic observations of the helioglow. Here, we propose a new method to determine this parameter based on a long series of photometric observations of the helioglow. The method is based on purely geometric considerations and does not depend on any model and absolute calibration of the measurements. We apply this method to sky maps of the helioglow available from the SOHO/SWAN experiment and derive the mean longitude of the flow of interstellar hydrogen. We obtain 253.°1 ± 2.°8, which is in perfect agreement with the previously obtained results based on spectroscopic observations.
Tests of Einstein's general theory of relativity have mostly been carried out in weak gravitational fields where the space-time curvature effects are first-order deviations from Newton's theory. ...Binary pulsars provide a means of probing the strong gravitational field around a neutron star, but strong-field effects may be best tested in systems containing black holes. Here we report such a test in a close binary system of two candidate black holes in the quasar OJ 287. This quasar shows quasi-periodic optical outbursts at 12-year intervals, with two outburst peaks per interval. The latest outburst occurred in September 2007, within a day of the time predicted by the binary black-hole model and general relativity. The observations confirm the binary nature of the system and also provide evidence for the loss of orbital energy in agreement (within 10 per cent) with the emission of gravitational waves from the system. In the absence of gravitational wave emission the outburst would have happened 20 days later.
OJ 287 is a BL Lac object at redshift z= 0.306 that has shown double-peaked bursts at regular intervals of ∼12 yr during the last ∼40 yr. We analyse optical photopolarimetric monitoring data from ...2005 to 2009, during which the latest double-peaked outburst occurred. The aim of this study is twofold: firstly, we aim to analyse variability patterns and statistical properties of the optical polarization light curve. We find a strong preferred position angle in optical polarization. The preferred position angle can be explained by separating the jet emission into two components: an optical polarization core and chaotic jet emission. The optical polarization core is stable on time-scales of years and can be explained as emission from an underlying quiescent jet component. The chaotic jet emission sometimes exhibits a circular movement in the Stokes plane. We find six such events, all on the time-scales of 10–20 d. We interpret these events as a shock front moving forwards and backwards in the jet, swiping through a helical magnetic field. Secondly, we use our data to assess different binary black hole models proposed to explain the regularly appearing double-peaked bursts in OJ 287. We compose a list of requirements a model has to fulfil to explain the mysterious behaviour observed in OJ 287. The list includes not only characteristics of the light curve but also other properties of OJ 287, such as the black hole mass and restrictions on accretion flow properties. We rate all existing models using this list and conclude that none of the models is able to explain all observations. We discuss possible new explanations and propose a new approach to understanding OJ 287. We suggest that both the double-peaked bursts and the evolution of the optical polarization position angle could be explained as a sign of resonant accretion of magnetic field lines, a ‘magnetic breathing’ of the disc.
Abstract
A new analysis of the data set from the Pierre Auger Observatory provides evidence for anisotropy in the arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays on an intermediate angular scale, ...which is indicative of excess arrivals from strong, nearby sources. The data consist of 5514 events above
with zenith angles up to 80° recorded before 2017 April 30. Sky models have been created for two distinct populations of extragalactic gamma-ray emitters: active galactic nuclei from the second catalog of hard
Fermi
-LAT sources (2FHL) and starburst galaxies from a sample that was examined with
Fermi
-LAT. Flux-limited samples, which include all types of galaxies from the
Swift
-BAT and 2MASS surveys, have been investigated for comparison. The sky model of cosmic-ray density constructed using each catalog has two free parameters, the fraction of events correlating with astrophysical objects, and an angular scale characterizing the clustering of cosmic rays around extragalactic sources. A maximum-likelihood ratio test is used to evaluate the best values of these parameters and to quantify the strength of each model by contrast with isotropy. It is found that the starburst model fits the data better than the hypothesis of isotropy with a statistical significance of 4.0
σ
, the highest value of the test statistic being for energies above
. The three alternative models are favored against isotropy with 2.7
σ
–3.2
σ
significance. The origin of the indicated deviation from isotropy is examined and prospects for more sensitive future studies are discussed.
Ultrahigh energy cosmic ray air showers probe particle physics at energies beyond the reach of accelerators. Here we introduce a new method to test hadronic interaction models without relying on the ...absolute energy calibration, and apply it to events with primary energy 6-16 EeV (E_{CM}=110-170 TeV), whose longitudinal development and lateral distribution were simultaneously measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory. The average hadronic shower is 1.33±0.16 (1.61±0.21) times larger than predicted using the leading LHC-tuned models EPOS-LHC (QGSJetII-04), with a corresponding excess of muons.
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