First Flare-related Rapid Change of Photospheric Magnetic Field Observed by Solar Dynamics Observatory
Photospheric magnetic field not only plays important roles in building up free energy and triggering solar eruptions, but also has been observed to change rapidly and permanently responding to the coronal magnetic field restructuring due to coronal transients. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument (HMI) on board the newly launched Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) produces seeing-free full-disk vector magnetograms at consistently high resolution and high cadence, which finally makes possible an unambiguous and comprehensive study of this important back-reaction process. In this study, we present a near disk-center, GOES-class X2.2 flare occurred at NOAA AR 11158 on 2011 February 15 using the magnetic field measurements made by HMI. We obtained the first solid evidence of an enhancement in the transverse magnetic field at the flaring magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL) by a magnitude of 70%. This rapid and irreversible field evolution is unequivocally associated with the flare occurrence, with the enhancement area located in between the two chromospheric flare ribbons. Similar findings have been made for another two major flare events observed by SDO. These results strongly corroborate our previous suggestion that the photospheric magnetic field near the PIL must become more horizontal after eruptions. 
In-depth studies will follow to further link the photospheric magnetic field changes with the dynamics of coronal mass ejections, when full Stokes inversion is carried out to generate accurate magnetic field vectors.

title: A STANDARD-TO-BLOWOUT JET
abstract: The commonly observed jets provide critical information on the small-scale energy release in the solar atmosphere. We report a near disk-center jet on 2010 July 20, observed by the Solar Dynamics Observatory. In this event, the standard interchange magnetic reconnection between an emerging flux spanning 9 × 103 km and ambient open fields is followed by a blowout-like eruption. In the standard stage, as the emerging negative element approached the nearby positive network fields, a jet with a dome-like base in EUV grew for 30 minutes before the jet spire began to migrate laterally with enhanced flux emergence. In the blowout stage, the above converging fields collided and the subsequent cancellation produced a UV microflare lasting seven minutes, in which the dome of the jet seemed to be blown out as (1) the spire swung faster and exhibited an unwinding motion before vanishing, (2) a rising loop and a blob erupted leaving behind cusped structures, with the blob spiraling outward in acceleration after the flare maximum, and (3) ejecting material with a curtain-like structure at chromospheric to transition-region temperatures also underwent a transverse motion. It is thus suggested that the flare reconnection rapidly removes the outer fields of the emerging flux to allow its twisted core field to erupt, a scenario favoring the jet-scale magnetic breakout model as recently advocated by Moore et al. in 2010.

title: Simulation of photoelectric X-ray polarimetry and reconstruction of the photoelectron azimuthal angle
abstract: Sensitive X-ray polarimetry in the keV energy range can be achieved by measuring the azimuthal angle distribution of emitted electrons after the photoelectric absorption of X-rays in a micropattern gas detector. However, the initial direction of the electron is not readily measurable due to the randomization of its motion during energy loss. By using the Geant4, Maxwell and Garfield packages, we simulated the detected electron tracks following photoelectric absorption, electron drift and diffusion in the gas, and proposed a technique capable of reconstructing the initial direction of the emitted photoelectron. The technique allows us to measure the angular modulation of flux predicted for a polarized X-ray beam. We calculated the modulation factors in 2–10 keV with a gas mixture of neon and CO2, and discussed how electron diffusion along the drift will dilute the track and suppress the modulation. These results are useful for the design of the X-ray polarimeter.

title: SIGMOID-TO-FLUX-ROPE TRANSITION LEADING TO A LOOP-LIKE CORONAL MASS EJECTION
abstract: Sigmoids are one of the most important precursor structures for solar eruptions. In this Letter, we study a sigmoid eruption on 2010 August 1 with EUV data obtained by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory (SDO). In AIA 94 A (Fe XVIII; 6 MK), topological reconfiguration due to tether-cutting reconnection is unambiguously observed for the first time, i.e., two opposite J-shaped loops reconnect to form a continuous S-shaped loop, whose central portion is dipped and aligned along the magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL), and a compact loop crossing the PIL. A causal relationship between photospheric flows and coronal tether-cutting reconnections is evidenced by the detection of persistent converging flows toward the PIL using line-of-sight magnetograms obtained by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board SDO. The S-shaped loop remains in quasi-equilibrium in the lower corona for about 50 minutes, with the central dipped portion rising slowly at ~10 km s–1. The speed then increases to ~60 km s–1 about 10 minutes prior to the onset of a GOES-class C3.2 flare, as the S-shaped loop speeds up its transformation into an arch-shaped loop, which eventually leads to a loop-like coronal mass ejection. The AIA observations combined with Hα filtergrams as well as hard X-ray imaging and spectroscopy are consistent with most flare loops being formed by reconnection of the stretched legs of less-sheared J-shaped loops that envelopes the rising flux rope, in agreement with the standard tether-cutting scenario.

title: Response of the Photospheric Magnetic Field to the X2.2 Flare on 2011 February 15
abstract: It is well known that the long-term evolution of the photospheric magnetic field plays an important role in building up free energy to power solar eruptions. Observations, despite being controversial, have also revealed a rapid and permanent variation of the photospheric magnetic field in response to the coronal magnetic field restructuring during the eruption. The Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager instrument (HMI) on board the newly launched Solar Dynamics Observatory produces seeing-free full-disk vector magnetograms at consistently high resolution and high cadence, which finally makes possible an unambiguous and comprehensive study of this important back-reaction process. In this study, we present a near disk-center, GOES-class X2.2 flare, which occurred in NOAA AR 11158 on 2011 February 15. Using the magnetic field measurements made by HMI, we obtained the first solid evidence of a rapid (in about 30 minutes) and irreversible enhancement in the horizontal magnetic field at the flaring magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL) by a magnitude of {approx}30%. It is also shown that the photospheric field becomes more sheared and more inclined. This field evolution is unequivocally associated with the flare occurrence in this sigmoidal active region, with the enhancement area located in between the two chromospheric flare ribbons andmore » the initial conjugate hard X-ray footpoints. These results strongly corroborate our previous conjecture that the photospheric magnetic field near the PIL must become more horizontal after eruptions, which could be related to the newly formed low-lying fields resulting from the tether-cutting reconnection.« less

title: Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying to a bb pair in events with no charged leptons and large missing transverse energy using the full CDF data set.
abstract: We report on a search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a vector boson in the full data set of proton-antiproton collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96  TeV recorded by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 9.45  fb(-1). We consider events having no identified charged lepton, a transverse energy imbalance, and two or three jets, of which at least one is consistent with originating from the decay of a b quark. We place 95% credibility level upper limits on the production cross section times standard model branching fraction for several mass hypotheses between 90 and 150  GeV/c(2). For a Higgs boson mass of 125  GeV/c(2), the observed (expected) limit is 6.7 (3.6) times the standard model prediction.

title: Is the Schwarzschild black hole really stable
abstract: The stability of the Schwarzschild black hole is studied. Regge and Wheeler treated the problem first at 1957 and obtained the dynamical equations for the small perturbation. There are two kinds of perturbations: odd one and even one. Using the Painlev\'{e} coordinate, we reconsider the odd perturbation and find that: the white-hole-connected universe(r>2m, see text) is unstable. Because the odd perturbation may be regarded as the angular perturbation, therefore, the physical mean to it may be that the white-hole-connected universe is unstable with respect to the rotating perturbation.

title: Vorticity and magnetic field production in relativistic ideal fluids
abstract: In the framework of relativistic ideal hydrodynamics, we study the production mechanism for vorticity and magnetic field in relativistic ideal fluids. It is demonstrated that in the uncharged fluids the thermal vorticity will always satisfy the Kelvin's theorem and the circulation must be conserved. However, in the charged fluids, the vorticity and magnetic field can be produced by the interaction between the entropy gradients and the fluid velocity gradients. Especially, in the multiple charged fluids, the vorticity and magnetic field can be produced by the interaction between the inhomogeneous charge density ratio and the fluid velocity gradients even if the entropy distribution is homogeneous, which provides another mechanism for the production of vorticity and magnetic field in relativistic plasmas or in the early universe.

title: Is there a maximum magnetic field in QED
abstract: It was recently conjectured by Shabad and Usov that there exists in QED a maximum magnetic field of 10 42 G , above which the magnetized vacuum becomes unstable. Using a nonperturbative analysis that consistently incorporates the effective electron mass and the screening effect in a strong magnetic field, we show that the conjectured phenomenon of positronium collapse never takes place. Thus, there does not exist a maximum magnetic field in QED and the magnetized vacuum is stable for all values of the magnetic field.

title: Search for Supersymmetry at the Tevatron
abstract: This paper reviews some of the most recent results from CDF and D0 experiments on searches for supersymmetry (SUSY) at the Tevatron. We focus on searches for chargino/neutralino, stop, sbottom, and long lived massive SUSY particles, on data samples up to ~1 fb-1. No signal was observed, and constraints are set on the SUSY parameter space.