arXiv subjects

Lingling Zhao

Publications and source records attributed to Lingling Zhao.

25 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2021

Comparison of Anomalous and Galactic Cosmic Ray Oxygen at 1 au during 1997-2020

Using quiet-time measurements of element oxygen within the energy range 7.3--237.9 MeV nuc$^{-1}$ from the ACE spacecraft at 1 au, we compare the energy spectra and intensities of anomalous and Galactic cosmic rays (ACRs and GCRs, respectively) during 1997--2020. Our analysis shows that the transition from ACR-dominated spectrum to GCR-dominated spectrum occurs at energies $\sim$15 to $\sim$35 MeV nuc$^{-1}$, and the transition energy $E_t$ is found to be well anticorrelated with varying solar activity. This is the first study of ACR-GCR transition energy dependence on the solar cycle variation. At energies below $E_t$, the index of the power-law ACR-dominated spectrum ($γ_1$) ranges from -2.0 to -0.5, whereas the GCR-dominated spectrum has a power-law index ($γ_2$) changing from 0.3 to 0.8 at energies ranging from $E_t$ to 237.9 MeV nuc$^{-1}$. Both $γ_1$ and $γ_2$ are positively correlated with solar activity. In addition, during the solar cycle 24/25 minimum period, the peak GCR intensity observed by ACE spacecraft is about 8\% above its 2009 value, setting a new record since the space age, while the peak ACR intensity is almost similar to that of the previous two solar cycles with the same pattern of solar magnetic polarity, indicating a different modulation mechanism between ACRs and GCRs.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2021

Configuration of a Magnetic Cloud from Solar Orbiter and Wind Spacecraft In-situ Measurements

Coronal mass ejections (CMEs) represent one type of the major eruption from the Sun. Their interplanetary counterparts, the interplanetary CMEs (ICMEs), are the direct manifestations of these structures when they propagate into the heliosphere and encounter one or more observing spacecraft. The ICMEs generally exhibit a set of distinctive signatures from the in-situ spacecraft measurements. A particular subset of ICMEs, the so-called Magnetic Clouds (MCs), is more uniquely defined and has been studied for decades, based on in-situ magnetic field and plasma measurements. By utilizing the latest multiple spacecraft measurements and analysis tools, we report a detailed study of the internal magnetic field configuration of an MC event observed by both the Solar Orbiter (SO) and Wind spacecraft in the solar wind near the Sun-Earth line. Both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) models are applied to reveal the flux rope configurations of the MC. Various geometrical as well as physical parameters are derived and found to be similar within error estimates for the two methods. These results quantitatively characterize the coherent MC flux rope structure crossed by the two spacecraft along different paths. The implication for the radial evolution of this MC event is also discussed.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

Small-scale Magnetic Flux Ropes with Field-aligned Flows via the PSP In-situ Observations

Magnetic flux rope, formed by the helical magnetic field lines, can sometimes remain its shape while carrying significant plasma flow that is aligned with the local magnetic field. We report the existence of such structures and static flux ropes by applying the Grad-Shafranov-based algorithm to the Parker Solar Probe (PSP) in-situ measurements in the first five encounters. These structures are detected at heliocentric distances, ranging from 0.13 to 0.66 au, in a total of 4-month time period. We find that flux ropes with field-aligned flows, although occur more frequently, have certain properties similar to those of static flux ropes, such as the decaying relations of the magnetic fields within structures with respect to heliocentric distances. Moreover, these events are more likely with magnetic pressure dominating over the thermal pressure. About one-third of events are detected in the relatively fast-speed solar wind. Taking into account the high Alfvenicity, we also compare with switchback spikes identified during three encounters and interpret their inter-relations. We find that some switchbacks can be detected when the spacecraft traverses flux rope-like structures. The cross-section maps for selected events are presented via the new Grad-Shafranov type reconstruction. Finally, the possible evolution of the magnetic flux rope structures in the inner heliosphere is discussed.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2021

Variations of the Galactic Cosmic Rays in the Recent Solar Cycles

In this paper, we study the galactic cosmic ray (GCR) variations over the solar cycles 23 and 24, with measurements from the NASA's ACE/CRIS instrument and the ground-based neutron monitors (NMs). The results show that the maximum GCR intensities of heavy nuclei (nuclear charge 5-28, 50-500 MeV/nuc) at 1 AU during the solar minimum in 2019-2020 break their previous records, exceeding those recorded in 1997 and 2009 by ~25% and ~6%, respectively, and are at the highest levels since the space age. However, the peak NM count rates are lower than those in late 2009. The difference between GCR intensities and NM count rates still remains to be explained. Furthermore, we find that the GCR modulation environment during the solar minimum P24/25 are significantly different from previous solar minima in several aspects, including remarkably low sunspot numbers, extremely low inclination of the heliospheric current sheet, rare coronal mass ejections, weak interplanetary magnetic field and turbulence. These changes are conducive to reduce the level of solar modulation, providing a plausible explanation for the record-breaking GCR intensities in interplanetary space.

astro-ph.SR↗

arXiv2020

Small-scale Magnetic Flux Ropes in the First two Parker Solar Probe Encounters

Small-scale magnetic flux ropes (SFRs) are a type of structures in the solar wind that possess helical magnetic field lines. In a recent report (Chen & Hu 2020), we presented the radial variations of the properties of SFR from 0.29 to 8 au using in situ measurements from the Helios, ACE/Wind, Ulysses, and Voyager spacecraft. With the launch of the Parker Solar Probe (PSP), we extend our previous investigation further into the inner heliosphere. We apply a Grad-Shafranov-based algorithm to identify SFRs during the first two PSP encounters. We find that the number of SFRs detected near the Sun is much less than that at larger radial distances, where magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence may act as the local source to produce these structures. The prevalence of Alfvenic structures significantly suppresses the detection of SFRs at closer distances. We compare the SFR event list with other event identification methods, yielding a dozen well-matched events. The cross-section maps of two selected events confirm the cylindrical magnetic flux rope configuration. The power-law relation between the SFR magnetic field and heliocentric distances seems to hold down to 0.16 au.

physics.space-ph↗

arXiv2020

Asymptotic behavior of the steady Navier-Stokes flow in the exterior domain

We consider an elliptic equation with unbounded drift in an exterior domain, and obtain quantitative uniqueness estimates at infinity, i.e. the non-trivial solution of $-\triangle u+W\cdot\nabla u=0$ decays in the form of $\exp(-C|x|\log^2|x|)$ at infinity provided $\|W\|_{L^\infty(\mathbb{R}^2\setminus B_1)}\lesssim 1$, which is sharp with the help of some counterexamples. These results also generalize the decay theorem by Kenig-Wang \cite{KW2015} in the whole space. As an application, the asymptotic behavior of an incompressible fluid around a bounded obstacle is also considered. Specially for the two-dimensional case, we can improve the decay rate in \cite{KL2019} to $\exp(-C|x|\log^2|x|)$, where the minimal decaying rate of $\exp(-C|x|^{\frac32+})$ is obtained by Kow-Lin in a recent paper \cite{KL2019} by using appropriate Carleman estimates.

math.AP↗

arXiv2019

Turbulence Transport Modeling and First Orbit Parker Solar Probe (PSP) Observations

Parker Solar Probe (PSP) achieved its first orbit perihelion on November 6, 2018, reaching a heliocentric distance of about 0.165 au (35.55 R$_\odot$). Here, we study the evolution of fully developed turbulence associated with the slow solar wind along the PSP trajectory between 35.55 R$_\odot$ and 131.64 R$_\odot$ in the outbound direction, comparing observations to a theoretical turbulence transport model. Several turbulent quantities, such as the fluctuating kinetic energy and the corresponding correlation length, the variance of density fluctuations, and the solar wind proton temperature are determined from the PSP SWEAP plasma data along its trajectory between 35.55 R$_\odot$ and 131.64 R$_\odot$. The evolution of the PSP derived turbulent quantities are compared to the numerical solutions of the nearly incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (NI MHD) turbulence transport model recently developed by Zank et al. (2017). We find reasonable agreement between the theoretical and observed results. On the basis of these comparisons, we derive other theoretical turbulent quantities, such as the energy in forward and backward propagating modes, the total turbulent energy, the normalized residual energy and cross-helicity, the fluctuating magnetic energy, and the correlation lengths corresponding to forward and backward propagating modes, the residual energy, and the fluctuating magnetic energy.

physics.space-ph↗