Small-Scale Density Fluctuations in the Adiabatic Toroidal Compressor

Abstract. Four mesosphere–lower thermosphere temperature and turbulence profiles were obtained in situ within ∼30 min and over an area of about 100 by 100 km during a sounding rocket experiment conducted on 26 January 2015 at Poker Flat Research Range in Alaska. In this paper we examine the spatial and temporal variability of mesospheric turbulence in relationship to the static stability of the background atmosphere. Using active payload attitude control, neutral density fluctuations, a tracer for turbulence, were observed with very little interference from the payload spin motion, and with high precision (<0.01 %) at sub-meter resolution. The large-scale vertical temperature structure was very consistent between the four soundings. The mesosphere was almost isothermal, which means more stratified, between 60 and 80 km, and again between 88 and 95 km. The stratified regions adjoined quasi-adiabatic regions assumed to be well mixed. Additional evidence of vertical transport and convective activity comes from sodium densities and trimethyl aluminum trail development, respectively, which were both observed simultaneously with the in situ measurements. We found considerable kilometer-scale temperature variability with amplitudes of 20 K in the stratified region below 80 km. Several thin turbulent layers were embedded in this region, differing in width and altitude for each profile. Energy dissipation rates varied between 0.1 and 10 mW kg−1, which is typical for the winter mesosphere. Very little turbulence was observed above 82 km, consistent with very weak small-scale gravity wave activity in the upper mesosphere during the launch night. On the other hand, above the cold and prominent mesopause at 102 km, large temperature excursions of +40 to +70 K were observed. Simultaneous wind measurements revealed extreme wind shears near 108 km, and combined with the observed temperature gradient, isolated regions of unstable Richardson numbers (0<Ri<0.25) were detected in the lower thermosphere. The experiment was launched into a bright auroral arc under moderately disturbed conditions (Kp∼5).

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Heating of Milky Way disc stars by dark matter fluctuations in cold dark matter and fuzzy dark matter paradigms

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ◽

10.1093/mnras/stz534 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 485 (2) ◽

pp. 2861-2876 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Benjamin V Church ◽

Philip Mocz ◽

Jeremiah P Ostriker

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Galaxy Formation ◽

Quantum Interference ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Milky Way ◽

Velocity Dispersion ◽

Formation Rate ◽

Density Fluctuations ◽

Particle Mass ◽

Small Scale

ABSTRACT Although highly successful on cosmological scales, cold dark matter (CDM) models predict unobserved overdense ‘cusps’ in dwarf galaxies and overestimate their formation rate. We consider an ultralight axion-like scalar boson which promises to reduce these observational discrepancies at galactic scales. The model, known as fuzzy dark matter (FDM), avoids cusps, suppresses small-scale power, and delays galaxy formation via macroscopic quantum pressure. We compare the substructure and density fluctuations of galactic dark matter haloes comprised of ultralight axions to conventional CDM results. Besides self-gravitating subhaloes, FDM includes non-virialized overdense wavelets formed by quantum interference patterns, which are an efficient source of heating to galactic discs. We find that, in the solar neighbourhood, wavelet heating is sufficient to give the oldest disc stars a velocity dispersion of ${\sim } {30}{\, \mathrm{km\, s}^{-1}}$ within a Hubble time if energy is not lost from the disc, the velocity dispersion increasing with stellar age as σD ∝ t0.4 in agreement with observations. Furthermore, we calculate the radius-dependent velocity dispersion and corresponding scaleheight caused by the heating of this dynamical substructure in both CDM and FDM with the determination that these effects will produce a flaring that terminates the Milky Way disc at $15\!-\!20{\, \mathrm{kpc}}$. Although the source of thickened discs is not known, the heating due to perturbations caused by dark substructure cannot exceed the total disc velocity dispersion. Therefore, this work provides a lower bound on the FDM particle mass of ma > 0.6 × 10−22 eV. Furthermore, FDM wavelets with this particle mass should be considered a viable mechanism for producing the observed disc thickening with time.

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Galaxy clustering and the dark-matter problem

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences ◽

10.1098/rsta.1986.0133 ◽

1986 ◽

Vol 320 (1556) ◽

pp. 517-541 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Keyword(s):

Dark Matter ◽

Cold Dark Matter ◽

Density Fluctuations ◽

Small Scale ◽

Galactic Halos ◽

Galaxy Clustering ◽

Simple Assumption ◽

Scale Free ◽

The Galaxy ◽

Flat Rotation Curves

Recent observational and theoretical results on galaxy clustering are reviewed. A major difficulty in relating observations to theory is that the former refer to luminous material whereas the latter is most directly concerned with the gravitationally dominant but invisible dark matter. The simple assumption that the distribution of galaxies generally follows that of the mass appears to conflict with evidence suggesting that galaxies of different kinds are clustered in different ways. If galaxies are indeed biased tracers of the mass, then dynamical estimates of the mean cosmic density, which give Ω « 0.2 may underestimate the global value of Ω. There are now several specific models for the behaviour of density fluctuations from very early times to the present epoch. The late phases of this evolution need to be followed by N -body techniques; simulations of scale-free universes and of universes dominated by various types of elementary particles are discussed. In the former case, the models evolve in a self-similar way; the resulting correlations have a steeper slope than that oberved for the galaxy distribution unless the primordial power spectral index n « 2. Universes dominated by light neutrinos acquire a large coherence length at early times. As a result, an early filamentary phase develops into a present day distribution that is more strongly clustered than observed galaxies and is dominated by a few clumps with masses larger than those of any known object. If the dark matter consists of ‘cold’ particles such as photinos or axions, then structure builds up from subgalactic scales in a roughly hierarchical way. The observed pattern of galaxy clustering can be reproduced if either Ω « 0.2 and the galaxies are distributed as the mass, or if Ω — 1, H 0 = 50 km s -1 Mpc -1 and the galaxies form only at high peaks of the smoothed linear density field. The open model, however, is marginally ruled out by the observed small-scale isotropy of the microwave background, whereas the flat one is consistent with such observations. With no further free parameters a flat cold dark-matter universe produces the correct abundance of rich galaxy clusters and of galactic halos; the latter have flat rotation curves with amplitudes spanning the observed range. Preliminary calculations indicate that the properties of voids may be consistent with the data, but the correlations of rich clusters appear to be somewhat weaker than those reported for Abell clusters.

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Turbulent small-scale neutral and ion density fluctuations: First results of the MAC/EPSILON campaign

Advances in Space Research ◽

10.1016/0273-1177(90)90040-7 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 10 (10) ◽

pp. 251-255 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

F.-J. Lübken ◽

U. von Zahn ◽

T. Blix ◽

E. Thrane

Keyword(s):

Density Fluctuations ◽

Small Scale ◽

Ion Density ◽

First Results

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The relative contributions of scattering and viscoelasticity to the attenuation of S waves in Earth's mantle

Solid Earth ◽

10.5194/se-11-161-2020 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 161-171

Author(s):

Susini deSilva ◽

Vernon F. Cormier

Keyword(s):

Dominant Frequency ◽

Relative Strength ◽

Density Fluctuations ◽

Body Waves ◽

Small Scale ◽

Thermodynamic Models ◽

S Waves ◽

Intrinsic Attenuation ◽

Apparent Attenuation ◽

Deep Focus

Abstract. The relative contributions of scattering and viscoelastic attenuation to the apparent attenuation of seismic body waves are estimated from synthetic and observed S waves multiply reflected from Earth's surface and the core–mantle boundary. The synthetic seismograms include the effects of viscoelasticity and scattering from small-scale heterogeneity predicted from both global tomography and from thermodynamic models of mantle heterogeneity that have been verified from amplitude coherence measurements of body waves observed at dense arrays. Assuming thermodynamic models provide an estimate of the maximum plausible power of heterogeneity measured by elastic velocity and density fluctuations, we predict a maximum scattering contribution of 43 % to the total measured attenuation of mantle S waves having a dominant frequency of 0.05 Hz. The contributions of scattering in the upper and lower mantle to the total apparent attenuation are estimated to be roughly equal. The relative strength of the coda surrounding observed ScSn waves from deep focus earthquakes is not consistent with a mantle having zero intrinsic attenuation.

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Simultaneous in situ measurements of small-scale structures in neutral, plasma, and atomic oxygen densities during WADIS sounding rocket project

10.5194/acp-2018-1043 ◽

2019 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Boris Strelnikov ◽

Martin Eberhart ◽

Martin Friedrich ◽

Jonas Hedin ◽

Mikhail Khaplanov ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Gravity Waves ◽

Atomic Oxygen ◽

Density Fluctuations ◽

Sounding Rocket ◽

Small Scale ◽

Scale Structures ◽

Small Scale Structures ◽

Mlt Region ◽

Diffusion Properties

Abstract. In this paper we present an overview of measurements conducted during the WADIS-2 rocket campaign. We investigate the effect of small-scale processes like gravity waves and turbulence on the distribution of atomic oxygen and other species in the MLT region. Our analysis suggests that density fluctuations of atomic oxygen are coupled to fluctuations of other constituents, i.e., plasma and neutrals. Our measurements show that all measured quantities, including winds, densities, and temperatures, reveal signatures of both waves and turbulence. We show observations of gravity wave saturation and breakdown together with simultaneous measurements of generated turbulence. Atomic oxygen inside turbulence layers shows two different spectral behaviors, which might imply change of its diffusion properties.

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Keck HIRES Spectra of the Planetary Nebula NGC 7009

Symposium - International Astronomical Union ◽

10.1017/s0074180900209200 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 209 ◽

pp. 401-402

Author(s):

Siek Hyung ◽

André Fletcher ◽

Lawrence H. Aller

Keyword(s):

Planetary Nebula ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Imaging Study ◽

Temperature Fluctuations ◽

Density Fluctuations ◽

High Density ◽

Small Scale ◽

Electron Densities ◽

Shock Excitation ◽

Large Velocity

With strategically important diagnostic lines of, e.g., [O II], [O III] and [S II], secured with the Keck I HIRES, we obtained electron densities and temperatures, while retaining 3-D spatial information for the well-known elliptical nebula NGC 7009: we found that the temperature fluctuations exceeded those reported in the HST imaging study, i.e. Te ~9500 – 11500 K; we also found large velocity dispersions in the [S II] maps (with extremely high density fluctuations, i.e. log Ne = 3.8 – 4.5), but not in the [O II] ones. The [S II] map indicates that this emission is from numerous small-scale blobs of size ~ 1″ spread over a wider region, while [O II] shows no such evidence. The [S II] emission is likely to be due to shock excitation, while the [O II] emission is perhaps due to photoionization.

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Structure function analysis of plasma density fluctuations during total loss of lock of GPS signal events

10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-11622 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Hossein Ghadjari ◽

David Knudsen ◽

Susan Skone

Keyword(s):

Structure Function ◽

Plasma Density ◽

Large Scale ◽

Function Analysis ◽

Density Fluctuations ◽

Total Loss ◽

Small Scale ◽

Self Similarity ◽

Radio Signals ◽

Swarm Mission

<p>Ionospheric irregularities are fluctuations or structures of plasma density that affect the propagation of radio signals. Whenever large-scale irregularities break up into meso and small-scale irregularities, these processes become similar to a turbulence cascade. In order to have a better comparison between this and plasma density irregularities, we study different orders of structure functions of plasma density of total loss of lock events measured with the faceplate measurements of plasma density and the GPS measurements from the Swarm mission. Total loss of lock of GPS signal is a physical proxy for severe degradation of GPS signals. In addition to different orders of structure-function, we study the existence of self-similarity or multifractality of plasma density of total loss of lock events to investigate any possible intermittent fluctuations.&#160;</p>

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