The Spatial Distribution of the Hard X-Ray Spectral Index and the Local Magnetic Reconnection Rate
The rare phenomenon of ribbon-like hard X-ray (HXR) sources up to 100 keV found in the 2005 May 13 M8.0 flare observed with the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager provides detailed information on the spatial distribution of flare HXR emission. In this Letter, we further investigate the characteristics of HXR emission in this event using imaging spectroscopy, from which we obtain spatially resolved HXR spectral maps during the flare impulsive phase. As a result we found, along a flare ribbon, an anticorrelation relationship between the local HXR flux and the local HXR spectral index. We suggest that this can be regarded as a spatial analog of the well-known temporal soft-hard-soft spectral evolution pattern of the integrated HXR flux. We also found an anticorrelation between the HXR spectral index and the local electric field along the ribbon, which suggests electron acceleration by the electric field during flares.

title: Pre-Flare Activity and Magnetic Reconnection during the Evolutionary Stages of Energy Release in a Solar Eruptive Flare
abstract: In this paper, we present a multi-wavelength analysis of an eruptive white-light M3.2 flare that occurred in active region NOAA 10486 on 2003 November 1. The excellent set of high-resolution observations made by RHESSI and the TRACE provides clear evidence of significant pre-flare activities for ~9 minutes in the form of an initiation phase observed at EUV/UV wavelengths followed by an X-ray precursor phase. During the initiation phase, we observed localized brightenings in the highly sheared core region close to the filament and interactions among short EUV loops overlying the filament, which led to the opening of magnetic field lines. The X-ray precursor phase is manifested in RHESSI measurements below ~30 keV and coincided with the beginning of flux emergence at the flaring location along with early signatures of the eruption. The RHESSI observations reveal that both plasma heating and electron acceleration occurred during the precursor phase. The main flare is consistent with the standard flare model. However, after the impulsive phase, an intense hard X-ray (HXR) looptop source was observed without significant footpoint emission. More intriguingly, for a brief period, the looptop source exhibited strong HXR emission with energies up to ~50-100 keV and significant non-thermal characteristics. The present study indicates a causal relation between the activities in the pre-flare and the main flare. We also conclude that pre-flare activities, occurring in the form of subtle magnetic reorganization along with localized magnetic reconnection, played a crucial role in destabilizing the active region filament, leading to a solar eruptive flare and associated large-scale phenomena.

title: A Reconnecting Current Sheet Imaged in a Solar Flare
abstract: Magnetic reconnection changes the magnetic field topology and powers explosive events in astrophysical, space, and laboratory plasmas. For flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) in the solar atmosphere, the standard model predicts the presence of a reconnecting current sheet, which has been the subject of considerable theoretical and numerical modeling over the last 50 years, yet direct, unambiguous observational verification has been absent. In this Letter, we show a bright sheet structure of global length (>0.25 R ?) and macroscopic width ((5-10)?103?km) distinctly above the cusp-shaped flaring loop, imaged during the flare rising phase in EUV. The sheet formed due to the stretch of a transequatorial loop system and was accompanied by various reconnection signatures. This unique event provides a comprehensive view of the reconnection geometry and dynamics in the solar corona.

title: The Variation of Relative Magnetic Helicity around Major Flares
abstract: We have investigated the variation of magnetic helicity over a span of several days around the times of 11 X-class flares which occurred in seven active regions (NOAA 9672, 10030, 10314, 10486, 10564, 10696, and 10720) using the magnetograms taken by the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) on board the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). As a major result we found that each of these major flares was preceded by a significant helicity accumulation, (1.8–16) × 1042 Mx2 over a long period (0.5 to a few days). Another finding is that the helicity accumulates at a nearly constant rate, (4.5–48) × 1040 Mx2 hr−1, and then becomes nearly constant before the flares. This led us to distinguish the helicity variation into two phases: a phase of monotonically increasing helicity and the following phase of relatively constant helicity. As expected, the amount of helicity accumulated shows a modest correlation with time-integrated soft X-ray flux during flares. However, the average helicity change rate in the first phase shows even stronger correlation with the time-integrated soft X-ray flux. We discuss the physical implications of this result and the possibility that this characteristic helicity variation pattern can be used as an early warning sign for solar eruptions.

title: CORONAL THICK TARGET HARD X-RAY EMISSIONS AND RADIO EMISSIONS
abstract: A distinctive class of hard X-ray (HXR) sources located in the corona was recently found, which implies that the collisionally thick target model (CTTM) applies even to the corona. We investigated whether this idea can be independently verified by microwave radiations which have been known as the best companion to HXRs. This study is conducted on the GOES M2.3 class flare which occurred on 2002 September 9 and was observed by the Reuven Ramaty High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager and the Owens Valley Solar Array. Interpreting the observed energy-dependent variation of HXR source size under the CTTM, the coronal density should be as high as 5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} cm{sup -3} over a distance of up to 12''. To explain the cutoff feature of the microwave spectrum at 3 GHz, however, we require a density no higher than 1 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 11} cm{sup -3}. Additional constraints must be placed on the temperature and magnetic field of the coronal source in order to reproduce the microwave spectrum as a whole. First, a spectral feature called the Razin suppression requires a magnetic field in a range of 250-350 G along with high viewing angles around 75 Degree-Sign . Second, to avoid excess fluxesmore » at high frequencies due to the free-free emission that was not observed, we need a high temperature {>=}2 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 7} K. These two microwave spectral features, Razin suppression and free-free emissions, become more significant at regions of high thermal plasma density and are essential for validating and determining additional parameters of the coronal HXR sources.« less

title: MOTIONS OF HARD X-RAY SOURCES DURING AN ASYMMETRIC ERUPTION
abstract: Filament eruptions and hard X-ray (HXR) source motions are commonly observed in solar flares, which provide critical information on the coronal magnetic reconnection. This Letter reports an event on 2005 January 15, in which we found an asymmetric filament eruption and a subsequent coronal mass ejection together with complicated motions of HXR sources during the GOES-class X2.6 flare. The HXR sources initially converge to the magnetic polarity inversion line (PIL), and then move in directions either parallel or perpendicular to the PIL depending on the local field configuration. We distinguish the evolution of the HXR source motion in four phases and associate each of them with distinct regions of coronal magnetic fields as reconstructed using a nonlinear force-free field extrapolation. It is found that the magnetic reconnection proceeds along the PIL toward the regions where the overlying field decreases with height more rapidly. It is also found that not only the perpendicular but the parallel motion of the HXR sources correlates well with the HXR light curve. These results are discussed in favor of the torus instability as an important factor in the eruptive process.

title: Gravity from quantum information
abstract: We suggest that the Einstein equation can be derived from Landauer’s principle applied to an information erasing process at a local Rindler horizon and Jacobson’s idea linking the Einstein equation with thermodynamics. When matter crosses the horizon, information on the matter disappears, and the horizon entanglement entropy increases to compensate for the entropy reduction. The Einstein equation describes an information-energy relation during this process, which implies that entropic gravity is related to the quantum entanglement of the vacuum and has a quantuminformation theoretic origin.

title: Search for New Phenomena with the Monojet and Missing Transverse Momentum Signature Using the ATLAS Detector in $\sqrt{s}=7$ TeV Proton-Proton Collisions
abstract: A search for new phenomena in events featuring a high energy jet and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV is presented using a dataset corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 33 pb(-1) recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The number of observed events is consistent with the Standard Model prediction. This result is interpreted in terms of limits on a model of Large Extra Dimensions.

title: First determination of the weak charge of the proton.
abstract: The Q(weak) experiment has measured the parity-violating asymmetry in ep elastic scattering at Q(2)=0.025(GeV/c)(2), employing 145 μA of 89% longitudinally polarized electrons on a 34.4 cm long liquid hydrogen target at Jefferson Lab. The results of the experiment's commissioning run, constituting approximately 4% of the data collected in the experiment, are reported here. From these initial results, the measured asymmetry is A(ep)=-279±35 (stat) ± 31 (syst) ppb, which is the smallest and most precise asymmetry ever measured in ep scattering. The small Q(2) of this experiment has made possible the first determination of the weak charge of the proton Q(W)(p) by incorporating earlier parity-violating electron scattering (PVES) data at higher Q(2) to constrain hadronic corrections. The value of Q(W)(p) obtained in this way is Q(W)(p)(PVES)=0.064±0.012, which is in good agreement with the standard model prediction of Q(W)(p)(SM)=0.0710±0.0007. When this result is further combined with the Cs atomic parity violation (APV) measurement, significant constraints on the weak charges of the up and down quarks can also be extracted. That PVES+APV analysis reveals the neutron's weak charge to be Q(W)(n)(PVES+APV)=-0.975±0.010.

title: Search for supersymmetry in events with photons, bottom quarks, and missing transverse momentum in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV with the ATLAS detector
abstract: A search has been performed for the experimental signature of an isolated photon with high transverse momentum, at least one jet identified as originating from a bottom quark, and high missing transverse momentum. Such a final state may originate from supersymmetric models with gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking in events in which one of a pair of higgsino-like neutralinos decays into a photon and a gravitino while the other decays into a Higgs boson and a gravitino. The search is performed using the full dataset of 7 TeV proton–proton collisions recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in 2011, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.7 fb−1. A total of 7 candidate events are observed while 7.5±2.2 events are expected from the Standard Model background. The results of the search are interpreted in the context of general gauge mediation to exclude certain regions of a benchmark plane for higgsino-like neutralino production.

title: Dark energy from forgetting
abstract: We suggest that dark energy has a quantum informational origin. Landauer's principle associated with the erasure of quantum information at a cosmic horizon implies the non-zero vacuum energy having effective negative pressure. Assuming the holographic principle, the minimum free energy condition, and the Gibbons-Hawking temperature for the cosmic event horizon we obtain the holographic dark energy with the parameter $d\simeq 1$, which is consistent with the current observational data. It is also shown that both the entanglement energy and the horizon energy can be related to Landauer's principle.