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Abstract:

We present high resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the active late-type star HR 1099 obtained with the Chandra Low Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer. A spectrum extracted from the early stages of a flare was created to search for enhanced emission due to line coincidence photopumping at X-ray wavelengths, rather than the usual optical and ultraviolet cases. Specifically, we have identified a scheme where a He-like Ne ix line at 11 Å is photopumped by He-like Na x, which predicts intensity enhancement in the Ne ix 82.76 Å transition under the high electron density and large coronal pathlength conditions found in stellar and solar flares. We previously tentatively identified a Ne ix enhancement in a solar flare spectrum, but the result was extremely uncertain. However, Ne ix 82.76 Å was detected at the 3-sigma level in the Chandra spectrum, leading to a measured Ne ix 82.76/13.45 intensity ratio of 0.21 ± 0.08. By contrast, the theoretical ratio from the CHIANTI database is at most 0.031, indicating an enhancement factor of at least 7 ± 3 for the 82.76 Å line, in agreement with the expected value of ∼7–15 from a photopumping plasma model. This confirms detection, for the first time to our knowledge, of X-ray photopumping in an astrophysical object. We note that the identification of such X-ray photopumping in other spatially unresolved sources provides in principle a new diagnostic for independently determining the sizes of their coronal regions.

Abstract:

A theory of cosmic-ray transport in multiphase diffusive media is developed, with the specific application to cases in which the cosmic-ray diffusion coefficient has large spatial fluctuations that may be inherently multiscale. We demonstrate that the resulting transport of cosmic rays is diffusive in the long-time limit, with an average diffusion coefficient equal to the harmonic mean of the spatially varying diffusion coefficient. Thus, cosmic-ray transport is dominated by areas of low diffusion even if these areas occupy a relatively small, but not infinitesimal, fraction of the volume. On intermediate time-scales, the cosmic rays experience transient effective subdiffusion, as a result of low-diffusion regions interrupting long flights through high-diffusion regions. In the simplified case of a two-phase medium, we show that the extent and extremity of the subdiffusivity of cosmic-ray transport is controlled by the spectral exponent of the distribution of patch sizes of each of the phases. We finally show that, despite strongly influencing the confinement times, the multiphase medium is only capable of altering the energy dependence of cosmic-ray transport when there is a moderate (but not excessive) level of perpendicular diffusion across magnetic-field lines.

Abstract:

We study a novel device for generating a high speed rotating plasma. The device weakly ionises and accelerates a hydrogen gas in a co-axial cylindrical chamber via the perpendicular configuration of electrodes with a magnetic field generated by a superconducting magnetic. It has been hypothesised that extreme velocities and plasma particle compression could be achieved under this configuration1 . This work develops a rigorous theoretical model of the bulk plasma dynamics under steady state centrifugal operation. By exploiting the axisymmetry of the system, and from application of problem-specific governing assumptions, a steady state 1D model for the rotational dynamics of the bulk plasma is derived. From here, we present fully analytical solutions for the radial profiles of the MHD model: [azimuthal velocity, particle densities, pressure] and a semi-analytical solution for electric potential. Tables of selfconsistent plasma parameters are computed to provide a comprehensive characterisation of the bulk plasma state. The model is able to determine the peak velocities and plasma compression, and permits parametric studies to elucidate the complex and non-linear relationships between operational device settings and the achieved steady state plasma state condition. The new theoretical solutions therefore provide necessary insights into the viability of the novel device for high energy-density plasma applications.