Magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the interaction between two interplanetary magnetic clouds and its consequent geoeffectiveness: 2. Oblique collision
The numerical studies of the interplanetary coupling between multiple magnetic clouds (MCs) are continued by a 2.5-dimensional ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model in the heliospheric meridional plane. The interplanetary direct collision (DC)/oblique collision (OC) between both MCs results from their same/different initial propagation orientations. Here the OC is explored in contrast to the results of the DC. Both the slow MC1 and fast MC2 are consequently injected from the different heliospheric latitudes to form a compound stream during the interplanetary propagation. The MC1 and MC2 undergo contrary deflections during the process of oblique collision. Their deflection angles of ∣δθ1∣ and ∣δθ2∣ continuously increase until both MC-driven shock fronts are merged into a stronger compound one. The ∣δθ1∣, ∣δθ2∣, and total deflection angle Δθ (Δθ = ∣δθ1∣ + ∣δθ2∣) reach their corresponding maxima when the initial eruptions of both MCs are at an appropriate angular difference. Moreover, with the increase of MC2's initial speed, the OC becomes more intense, and the enhancement of δθ1 is much more sensitive to δθ2. The ∣δθ1∣ is generally far less than the ∣δθ2∣, and the unusual case of ∣δθ1∣ ≃ ∣δθ2∣ only occurs for an extremely violent OC. But because of the elasticity of the MC body to buffer the collision, this deflection would gradually approach an asymptotic degree. As a result, the opposite deflection between the two MCs, together with the inherent magnetic elasticity of each MC, could efficiently relieve the external compression for the OC in the interplanetary space. Such a deflection effect for the OC case is essentially absent for the DC case. Therefore, besides the magnetic elasticity, magnetic helicity, and reciprocal compression, the deflection due to the OC should be considered for the evolution and ensuing geoeffectiveness of interplanetary interaction among successive coronal mass ejections.

title: Streaming gravity mode instability

title: Critical Height for the Destabilization of Solar Prominences: Statistical Results from STEREO Observations
abstract: At which height is a prominence inclined to be unstable, or where is the most probable critical height for the prominence destabilization? This question was statistically studied based on 362 solar limb prominences well recognized by Solar Limb Prominence Catcher and Tracker from 2007 April to the end of 2009. We found that there are about 71% disrupted prominences (DPs), among which about 42% of them did not erupt successfully and about 89% of them experienced a sudden destabilization process. After a comprehensive analysis of the DPs, we

title: A mechanism for the formation of knots, kinks and discontinuous events in the plasma tail of comets

title: Magnetohydrodynamic simulation of the interaction between interplanetary strong shock and magnetic cloud and its consequent geoeffectiveness
abstract: Numerical studies have been performed to interpret the observed “shock overtaking magnetic cloud (MC)” event by a 2.5 dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model in the heliospheric meridional plane. Results of an individual MC simulation show that the MC travels with a constant bulk flow speed. The MC is injected with a very strong inherent magnetic field over that in the ambient flow and expands rapidly in size initially. Consequently, the diameter of the MC increases in an asymptotic speed while its angular width contracts gradually. Meanwhile, simulations of MC-shock interaction are also presented, in which both a typical MC and a strong fast shock emerge from the inner boundary and propagate along the heliospheric equator, separated by an appropriate interval. The results show that the shock first catches up with the preceding MC, then penetrates through the MC, and finally merges with the MC-driven shock into a stronger compound shock. The morphologies of shock front in interplanetary space and MC body behave as a central concave and a smooth arc, respectively. The compression and rotation of the magnetic field serve as an efficient mechanism to cause a large geomagnetic storm. The MC is highly compressed by the overtaking shock. Contrarily, the transport time of the incidental shock influenced by the MC depends on the interval between their commencements. Maximum geoeffectiveness results from when the shock enters the core of preceding MC, which is also substantiated to some extent by a corresponding simplified analytic model. Quantified by the Dst index, the specific result is that the geoeffectiveness of an individual MC is largely enhanced with 80% increment in maximum by an incidental shock.

title: Plasmoid ejection and secondary current sheet generation from magnetic reconnection in laser-plasma interaction.
abstract: Reconnection of the self-generated magnetic fields in laser-plasma interaction was first investigated experimentally by Nilson et al.  by shining two laser pulses a distance apart on a solid target layer. An elongated current sheet (CS) was observed in the plasma between the two laser spots. In order to more closely model magnetotail reconnection, here two side-by-side thin target layers, instead of a single one, are used. It is found that at one end of the elongated CS a fanlike electron outflow region including three well-collimated electron jets appears. The (>1 MeV) tail of the jet energy distribution exhibits a power-law scaling. The enhanced electron acceleration is attributed to the intense inductive electric field in the narrow electron dominated reconnection region, as well as additional acceleration as they are trapped inside the rapidly moving plasmoid formed in and ejected from the CS. The ejection also induces a secondary CS.

title: Prospects for constraining cosmology with the extragalactic cosmic microwave background temperature
abstract: Observers have demonstrated that it is now feasible to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature at high redshifts. We explore the possible constraints on cosmology which might ultimately be derived from such measurements. In addition to providing a consistency check on standard and alternative cosmologies, possibilities include constraints on the inhomogeneity and anisotropy of the universe at intermediate redshift $z\ensuremath{\lesssim}10,$ an independent probe of peculiar motions with respect to the Hubble flow, constraining the epoch of reionization, and the time variability of the fine structure constant. We argue that the best possibility is as a probe of peculiar motions. We show, however, that the current measurement uncertainty $(\ensuremath{\Delta}T=\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}0.002\mathrm{K})$ in the local present absolute CMB temperature imposes intrinsic limits on the use of such CMB temperature measurements as a cosmological probe. At best, anisotropies at intermediate redshift could only be constrained at a level of $\ensuremath{\gtrsim}0.1%$ and peculiar motions could only be determined to an uncertainty of $\ensuremath{\gtrsim}311{\mathrm{km}\mathrm{}\mathrm{}\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}.$ If the high z CMB temperature can only be measured with a precision comparable to the uncertainty of the local interstellar CMB temperature, then peculiar motions could be determined to an uncertainty of ${1101(1+z)}^{\ensuremath{-}1}[\ensuremath{\Delta}{T}_{\mathrm{CMB}}(z)/0.01\mathrm{K}]{\mathrm{km}\mathrm{}\mathrm{s}}^{\ensuremath{-}1}.$

title: Nontrivial geometries: Bounds on the curvature of the universe
abstract: Probing the geometry of the universe is one of the most important endevours in cosmology. Current observational data from the cosmic microwave background anisotropy (CMB), galaxy surveys and type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) strongly constrain the curvature of the universe to be close to zero for a universe dominated by a cosmological constant or dark energy with a constant equation of state. Here we investigate the role of cosmic priors on deriving these tight bounds on geometry, by considering a landscape motivated scenario with an oscillating curvature term. We perform a likelihood analysis of current data under such a model of non-trivial geometry and find that the uncertainties on curvature, and correspondingly on parameters of the matter and dark energy sectors, are larger. Future dark energy experiments together with CMB data from experiments like Planck could dramatically improve our ability to constrain cosmic curvature under such models enabling us to probe possible imprints of quantum gravity.

title: VARIATIONS OF SOLAR ELECTRON AND PROTON FLUX IN MAGNETIC CLOUD BOUNDARY LAYERS AND COMPARISONS WITH THOSE ACROSS THE SHOCKS AND IN THE RECONNECTION EXHAUSTS
abstract: The magnetic cloud boundary layer (BL) is a dynamic region formed by the interaction of the magnetic cloud (MC) and the ambient solar wind. In the present study, we comparatively investigate the proton and electron mean flux variations in the BL, in the interplanetary reconnection exhaust (RE), and across the MC-driven shock by using the Wind data from 1995 to 2006. In general, the proton flux has higher increments at lower energy bands compared with the ambient solar wind. Inside the BL, the core electron flux increases quasi-isotropically and the increments decrease monotonously with energy from similar to 30% (at 18 eV) to similar to 10% (at 70 eV); the suprathermal electron flux usually increases in either parallel or antiparallel direction; the correlation coefficient of electron flux variations in parallel and antiparallel directions changes sharply from similar to 0.8 below 70 eV to similar to 0 above 70 eV. Similar results are also found for RE. However, different phenomena are found across the shock where the electron flux variations first increase and then decrease with a peak increment (>200%) near 100 eV. The correlation coefficient of electron flux variations in parallel and antiparallel directions is always around 0.8. The similar behavior of flux variations in BL and RE suggests that reconnection may commonly occur in BL. Our work also implies that the strong energy dependence and direction selectivity of electron flux variations, which were previously thought to have not enough relevance to magnetic reconnection, could be considered as an important signature of solar wind reconnection in the statistical point of view.

title: Quadra-Spectrum and Quint-Spectrum from Inflation and Curvaton Models
abstract: We calculate the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum, corresponding to five and six point correlation functions of the curvature perturbation. For single field inflation with standard kinetic term, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are small, which are suppressed by slow roll parameters. The calculation can be generalized to multiple fields. When there is no entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are suppressed as well. With the presence of entropy perturbation, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum can get boosted. We illustrate this boost in the multi-brid inflation model. For the curvaton scenario, the quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum are also large in the small r limit. We also calculate representative terms of quadra-spectrum and quint-spectrum for inflation with generalized kinetic terms, and estimate their order of magnitude for quasi-single field inflation.

title: A comparative study between eruptive X-class flares associated with coronal mass ejections and confined X-class flares
abstract: We examine the two kinds of major energetic phenomena that occur in the solar atmosphere: eruptive and confined events. The former describes flares with associated coronal mass ejections (CMEs), while the latter denotes flares without associated CMEs. We find that about 90% of X-class flares are eruptive, but the remaining 10% are confined. To probe why the largest energy releases could be either eruptive or confined, we investigate four X-class events from each of the two types. Both sets of events are selected to have very similar intensities (X1.0 to X3.6) and duration (rise time under 13 minutes and decay time over 9 minutes) in soft X-ray observations, to reduce any bias due to flare size on CME occurrence. We find that the occurrence of eruption (or confinement) is sensitive to the displacement of the location of the energy release, defined as the distance between the flare site and the flux-weighted magnetic center of the source active region. The displacement is 6-17 Mm for confined events but as large as 22-37 Mm for eruptive events. This means that confined events occur closer to the magnetic center, while the eruptive events tend to occur close to the edge of active regions. We use the potential field source-surface model to infer the coronal magnetic field above the source active regions and calculate the flux ratio of low ( 7.1). These results imply that a stronger overlying arcade field may prevent energy releases in the low corona from being eruptive, resulting in flares, but without CMEs.