David A. Batchelor

Quasi-stereoscopic imaging of the solar X-ray corona

The first published three-dimensional images of the solar X-ray corona, obtained by means of solar rotational parallax, are presented in stereographic form. Image pairs approximately 12 hours apart during times of stable coronal conditions were selected from the digitized images obtained with theSkylab X-ray Spectrographic Telescope. The image resolution limit is approximately 10 arc sec. Many coronal structures not visible in the separate images are clearly observed when the image pairs are viewed stereoscopically. This method gives a preview of the potential resources for solar research and forecasting of solar-geomagnetic interactions that could be provided by stereoscopic observations of the Sun using a small group of spacecraft. The method is also applicable to other X-ray, ultraviolet, or other wavebands in which the corona has extended, transparent structure.

Great Microwave Bursts and hard X-rays from solar flares

The microwave and hard X-ray characteristics of 13 solar flares that produced microwave fluxes greater than 500 solar flux units have been analyzed. These Great Microwave Bursts were observed in the frequency range from 3 to 35 GHz at Bern, and simultaneous hard X-ray observations were made in the energy range from 30 to 500 keV with the Hard X-Ray Burst Spectrometer on the Solar Maximum Mission spacecraft. The principal aim of this analysis is to determine whether or not the same distribution of energetic electrons can explain both emissions. The temporal and spectral behaviors of the microwaves as a function of frequency and the X-rays as a function of energy were tested for correlations, with results suggesting that optically thick microwave emission, at a frequency near the peak frequency, originates in the same electron population that produces the hard X-rays. The microwave emission at lower frequencies, however, is poorly correlated with emission at the frequency which appears to characterize this common source. A single-temperature and a multitemperature model were tested for consistency with the coincident X-ray and microwave spectra at microwave burst maximum. Four events are inconsistent with both of the models tested, and neither of the models attempts to explain the high-frequency part of the microwave spectrum. A source area derived on the basis of the single-temperature model agrees to within the uncertainties with the observed area of the one burst for which spatially resolved X-ray images are available.

Interpreting Space-Mission LET Requirements for SEGR in Power MOSFETs

A TCAD simulation-based method is developed to evaluate whether derating of high-energy heavy-ion accelerator test data bounds the risk for single-event gate rupture (SEGR) from much higher energy on-orbit ions for a mission linear energy transfer (LET) requirement. It is shown that a typical derating factor of 0.75 applied to a single-event effect (SEE) response curve defined by high-energy accelerator SEGR test data provides reasonable on-orbit hardness assurance, although in a high-voltage power MOSFET, it did not bound the risk of failure.

X-ray observations of filament eruption in the 1980 May 21 flare

X-ray and Hα observations of an erupting filament, discussed herein, and other observations of the associated flare on 1980 May 21, suggest that an erupting filament played a major role in the X-ray flare. While Antonucci et al. (1985) analyzed the May 21 flare as one of the best cases of chromospheric evaporation, the possible contribution from X-ray emitting erupting plasma has been ignored. We show that pre-heated plasma existed and may have contributed part of the blue-shifted X-ray emission observed in the Caxix line, which was formerly attributed solely to chromospheric evaporation. Thus it remains an open question - in two-ribbon flares in particular - just how important chromospheric evaporation is in flare dynamics.

Welcome to the singularity

Who can say no to the hive minds promise of cybernetic immortality, for free?

Beyond 'Star Trek'

From the intersection of computational science and technological speculation, with boundaries limited only by our ability to imagine what could be. On a mission to boldly go where no man has gone before, the series and movies somehow missed some promising technologies ...

Future Tense: The Wealth of Planets

From the intersection of computational science and technological speculation, with boundaries limited only by our ability to imagine what could be. Launch swarms of self-replicating robots to exploit the most lucrative of resources.

Newton, Einstein, Jeffreys and Bayesian model selection

In Jefferys and Berger apply Bayesian model selection to the problem of choosing between rival theories, in particular between Einstein’s theory of general relativity (GR) and Newtonian gravity (NG). [1] presents a debate between Harold Jeffreys and Charles Poor regarding the observed 43″/century anomalous perhelion precession of Mercury. GR made a precise prediction of 42.98″/century while proponents of NG suggested several physical mechanisms that were eventually refuted, with the exception of a modified inverse square law. Using Bayes Factors (BF) and data available in 1921, shows that GR is preferable to NG by a factor of about 25 to 1. A scale for BF used by Jeffreys, suggests that this is positive to strong evidence for GR over modified NG but it is not very strong or even overwhelming.In this work we calculate the BF from the period 1921 till 1993. By 1960 we see that the BF, due to better data gathering techniques and advances in technology, had reached a factor of greater than 100 to 1, making GR...

Erratum: “Semiclassical Models for Virtual Antiparticle Pairs, the Unit of Charge e, and the QCD Couplings αs”

New semiclassical models of virtual antiparticle pairs are used to compute the pair lifetimes, and good agreement with the Heisenberg lifetimes from quantum field theory (QFT) is found. The modeling method applies to both the electromagnetic and color forces. Evaluation of the action integral of potential field fluctuation for each interaction potential yields ≈ℏ/2 for both electromagnetic and color fluctuations, in agreement with QFT. Thus each model is a quantized semiclassical representation for such virtual antiparticle pairs, to good approximation. When the results of the new models and QFT are combined, formulae for e and αs(q) are derived in terms of only ℏ and c.

Solar astronomy from space: recent advances in image analysis

Some recent developments in the rapidly advancing field of solar astronomy from space are described. 3D imaging of the Suns corona, improved imaging of coronal mass ejections that cause electromagnetic disturbances at the earth, and observations of comets approaching and striking the Sun are discussed.