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As electrons accelerated by Alfvén waves stream along the Earth’s magnetic field (yellow drops), they collide with oxygen atoms (white dots) and molecules of oxygen and nitrogen (white dumbbells) and cause them to emit light and create the auroras.
Credit: Image courtesy of Austin Montelius, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Iowa
The Science
New experiments have revealed the source of the aurora borealis. Alfvén waves accelerating electrons under conditions similar to those seen in the Earth’s magnetosphere have been demonstrated by scientists. Ionized charged particles or plasma, one of the four kinds of matter (along with solid, liquid, and gas), are found in the magnetosphere that surrounds the Earth. Plasmas have properties that are similar to both fluids and gases, but they also have magnetic and electric fields. Hannes Alfvén predicted in 1942 that plasmas could support waves. These waves are now known as Alfvén waves.
The latest experiments show that electrons “surf” on the Alfvén wave’s electric field, a phenomenon known as Landau damping. This means that the wave’s energy is transmitted to the accelerated electrons, much like a surfer catching a wave and being continuously accelerated as the surfer advances along with the wave. These electrons are the ultimate source of the aurora borealis’ illumination.
The Impact
Humanity has always been fascinated by the magnificent shimmering displays of the aurora borealis. Now scientists have demonstrated how electrons associated with the aurora accelerate towards the Earth, where they collide with molecules in the upper atmosphere. These collisions cause the emission of auroral light. The new research reproduced the conditions in space above the aurora in the laboratory. It shows that Alfvén waves launched by storms in the earth’s magnetic field can accelerate the electrons that cause the bright glow of the aurora. These results definitively confirm this previously unproven hypothesis.
Summary
The spectacular displays of the aurora borealis have always fascinated humankind. More recently, they have captured the attention of scientists curious to explain this phenomenon. Scientists know that electrons from space precipitate into the upper atmosphere and collide with atoms and molecules to produce auroral light. The cause of this electron precipitation has been an area of ongoing research.
One theory is supported by the fact that scientists regularly find powerful electromagnetic waves called Alfvén waves traveling toward the Earth above auroras. According to this theory, Alfvén waves accelerate electrons toward Earth, causing them to precipitate and produce auroras. Although space-based measurements provide strong support of this theory, the limitations of these measurements have prevented a definitive test.
To overcome these limitations, researchers performed laboratory experiments on the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Basic Plasma Science Facility, a national collaborative research facility supported jointly by the Department of Energy and the National Science Foundation. In a laboratory experiment that reproduced the conditions in Earth’s magnetosphere, the team launched Alfvén waves down the LAPD chamber and then measured the electrons accelerated by the electric field of the Alfvén waves.
Measurements revealed these particular electrons undergo resonant acceleration by the wave’s electric field, similar to a surfer catching a wave and being continually accelerated by the wave. This phenomenon of the energy of a wave transferring to accelerated electrons is known as Landau damping. The research team combines the measurements of the wave’s electric field and the electrons to generate a unique signature of the electron acceleration by Landau damping. Through simulations and modeling, they showed that the signature of acceleration measured in the experiment agreed with the predicted signature for Landau damping.
The agreement of experiment, simulation, and modeling provides the first direct test showing that Alfvén waves can produce accelerated electrons that cause the aurora.
Researchers from The Australian National University (ANU) have found an alternative explanation for a mysterious gamma-ray signal coming from the center of the galaxy, which was long claimed as a signature of dark matter.
Gamma-rays are the form of electromagnetic radiation with the shortest wavelength and highest energy.
Co-author of the study Associate Professor Roland Crocker said this particular gamma-ray signal—known as the Galactic Center Excess—may actually come from a specific type of rapidly-rotating neutron star, the super-dense stellar remnants of some stars much more massive than our sun.
The Galactic Center Excess is an unexpected concentration of gamma-rays emerging from the center of our galaxy that has long puzzled astronomers.
"Our work does not throw any doubt on the existence of the signal, but offers another potential source," Associate Professor Crocker said.
"It is based on millisecond pulsars—neutron stars that spin really quickly—around 100 times a second.
"Scientists have previously detected gamma-ray emissions from individual millisecond pulsars in the neighborhood of the solar system, so we know these objects emit gamma-rays. Our model demonstrates that the integrated emission from a whole population of such stars, around 100,000 in number, would produce a signal entirely compatible with the Galactic Center Excess."
The discovery may mean scientists have to re-think where they look for clues about dark matter.
"The nature of dark matter is entirely unknown, so any potential clues garner a lot of excitement," Associate Professor Crocker said.
"But our results point to another important source of gamma-ray production.
"For instance, the gamma-ray signal from Andromeda, the next closest large galaxy to our own may be mostly due to millisecond pulsars."
ANU Masters student Anuj Gautam led the research, which also involved scientists from The Australian Defense Force Academy, University of Canterbury, and University of Tokyo.
A Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientist at Richland, Wash., helps develop a sustainable fuel component as part of research into bio-based jet fuels.
Credit: PNNL
An experimental plant-based jet fuel could increase engine performance and efficiency, while dispensing with aromatics, the pollution-causing compounds added to conventional fuels, according to new research.
In a study published in the journal Fuel, researchers analyzed a Washington State University-developed jet fuel based on lignin, an organic polymer that makes plants tough and woody.
Using a range of tests and predictions, the researchers examined fuel properties critical to jet engine operation, including seal swell, density, efficiency, and emissions. Their results suggest that this sustainable fuel could be mixed with other biofuels to fully replace petroleum-derived fuels.
"When we tested our lignin jet fuel, we saw some interesting results," said Bin Yang, professor with WSU's Department of Biological Systems Engineering and corresponding author on the study. "We found that it not only had increased energy density and content but also could totally replace aromatics, which are a real problem for the aviation industry."
"Aromatics are associated with increased soot emissions, as well as contrails, which are estimated to contribute more to the climate impact of aviation than carbon dioxide," said Joshua Heyne, co-author, University of Dayton scientist and current co-director of the joint WSU-Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Bioproducts Institute. "Aromatics are still used in fuel today because we do not have solutions to some of the problems they solve: they provide jet fuel with a density that other sustainable technologies do not. Most unique is their ability to swell the O-rings used to seal metal-to-metal joints, and they do this well."
"We want to fly safely, sustainably, and with the lowest impact to human health," Heyne added. "The question is, how do we do all of this as economically as possible?"
Yang developed a patented process that turns lignin from agricultural waste into bio-based lignin jet fuel. Such sustainable fuel could help the aviation industry reduce dependence on increasingly expensive fossil fuels while meeting higher environmental standards.
The WSU-developed, lignin-based fuel's properties "offer great opportunities for increasing fuel performance, higher fuel efficiency, reduced emission, and lower costs," authors wrote in Fuel. "The fact that these molecules show sealant volume swell comparable with aromatics opens the door to develop jet fuels with virtually no aromatics, very low emissions, and very high-performance characteristics."
"The lignin-based fuel we tested complements other sustainable aviation fuels by increasing the density and, perhaps most importantly, the ring-swelling potential of blends," Heyne said. "While meeting our material needs, these sustainable blends confer higher energy densities and specific energies without using aromatics."
"This process creates a cleaner, more energy-dense fuel," Yang added. "That's exactly what sustainable aviation fuels need for the future."
A general view of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiment is
seen during a media visit at the Organization for Nuclear Research
(CERN) in the French village of Saint-Genis-Pouilly near Geneva in
Switzerland, July 23, 2014, (photo credit: REUTERS/PIERRE ALBOUY)
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN was restarted on Friday after being turned off for over three years for maintenance, consolidation and upgrade work.
Two beams of protons circulated in opposite directions around the LHC at 1:16 p.m. Israel time on Friday.
“These
beams circulated at injection energy and contained a relatively small
number of protons. High-intensity, high-energy collisions are a couple
of months away,” said the head of CERN’s beams department, Rhodri Jones,
in a press statement. “But first beams represent the successful restart
of the accelerator after all the hard work of the long shutdown.”
Four years of physics data-taking are set to begin this summer at the
LHC, marking the third run of the collider. Until then, experts at the
collider will work to recommission the machine and safely ramp up the
energy and intensity of the beams before collisions for experiments will
take place at a record energy of 13.6 trillion electronvolts.
The
new run will allow the international teams of physicists who operate at
CERN and across the world to study the Higgs boson in greater detail
and conduct the most stringent tests ever conducted on the Standard Model of particle physics, the current central theory of how particle physics works.
A man works in the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)
Control Centre in Meyrin near Geneva, Switzerland, April 13, 2022.
(credit: REUTERS/PIERRE ALBOUY)
This July marks ten years since the Higgs boson was discovered at CERN.
Not
only will the energy of the collisions be higher than the past runs,
but the number of collisions will also significantly increase as well.
The ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN are expected to receive more
collisions than in the previous two runs combined. The LHCb, meanwhile,
will see its collision count increase threefold.
ALICE,
a specialized detector for studying heavy-ion collisions, is expected
to see a fifty times increase in the total number of recorded ion
collisions, according to CERN.
Two new experiments will also begin operations in the latest run: FASER and SND@LHC,
which will both look for physics beyond the Standard Model; special
proton–helium collisions to measure how often the antimatter
counterparts of protons are produced in these collisions; and collisions
involving oxygen ions to help improve knowledge about cosmic-ray
physics and quark-gluon plasma, a state of matter that existed shortly
after the Big Bang.
“The
machines and facilities underwent major upgrades during the second long
shutdown of CERN’s accelerator complex,” said CERN’s director for
Accelerators and Technology, Mike Lamont. “The LHC itself has undergone
an extensive consolidation programme and will now operate at an even
higher energy and, thanks to major improvements in the injector complex,
it will deliver significantly more data to the upgraded LHC
experiments.”
The LHC
is the world's largest and most powerful particle accelerator, measuring
27-kilometers long. Two high-energy particle beams travel at close to
the speed of light inside the accelerator until they collide, forming
new particles and allowing physicists to study particles that are
unstable and cannot be directly observed.
Additionally,
on Friday, construction began on the new CERN Data Center in Prévessin
which will come online in the final quarter of 2023. The new,
energy-efficient facility will help meet the computing needs created by
the upgrade program at the LHC set to be completed in 2029 when the
High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) begins operations.
The
HL-LHC is expected to again significantly increase the number of
collisions at the collider. For example, while the LHC produced about
three million Higgs bosons per year, the HL-LHC is expected to produce
at least 15 million.
The
total computing capacity which will be required by the experiments run
once the HL-LHC comes online is expected to be ten times greater than it
is today.
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A fragment of the sphero-conical vessel that was identified as containing a possibly explosive material from Jerusalem.
Credit: Robert Mason, Royal Ontario Museum
New analysis into the residue inside ancient ceramic vessels from 11th–12th century Jerusalem has found that they were potentially used as hand grenades.
Previous research into the diverse sphero-conical containers, which are within museums around the world, had identified that they were used for a variety of purposes, including beer drinking vessels, mercury containers, containers for oil and containers for medicines.
This latest research, led by Griffith University's Associate Professor Carney Matheson, confirmed that some vessels did indeed contain oils and medicines, and some contained scented oils, consistent with other recent research into the use of the vessels.
However, his findings also revealed that some of the vessels contained a flammable and probably explosive material that indicated they may have been used as ancient hand grenades.
Associate Professor Matheson, from Griffith's Car, said the explosive material he analyzed within the vessels suggested that there may have been a locally developed ancient explosive.
"This research has shown the diverse use of these unique ceramic vessels which include ancient explosive devices," he said.
"These vessels have been reported during the time of the Crusades as grenades thrown against Crusader strongholds producing loud noises and bright flashes of light.
"Some researchers had proposed the vessels were used as grenades and held black powder, an explosive invented in ancient China and known to have been introduced into the Middle East and Europe by the 13th century. It has been proposed that black powder may have been introduced to the Middle East earlier, as early as these vessels from the ninth to 11th century.
"However, this research has shown that it is not black powder and likely a locally invented explosive material."
Associate Professor Matheson said the research also revealed that some of these vessels had been sealed using resin.
"More research on these vessels and their explosive content will allow us to understand ancient explosive technology of the medieval period, and the history of explosive weapons in the Eastern Mediterranean," he said.
The WWII soldier who hid in the jungle for 30 YEARS rather than surrender: Curious story of Japanese soldier who lived on a Philippines island eating dried banana skins and stealing rice from locals is told in a new film
Hiroo Onoda was the last Japanese imperial soldier to emerge from hiding
Onoda refused to surrender after WWII ended and instead spent 29 years hiding
He finally surrendered in 1974 on Lubang island in the Philippines
New film Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle about his story has been released
A new film is highlighting the story of a controversial Japanese soldier who refused to surrender after the Second World War ended and spent 29 years hiding in the jungle.
Hiroo Onoda, who died in 2014 at the age of 91, was stationed on the island in the Philippines in 1944 but remained until 1974 because he did not believe the war was over.
He survived by eating dried banana skins, coconuts and stolen rice, believing he was in a guerilla war for 30 years.
Onoda became the last Japanese soldier to surrender – but only after his former commander, who in 1945 had told him to stay behind and spy on American troops, was flown from Japan to order him to give up.
A new three-hour film, Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, has now been released, in order to shine a new light on his story for audiences across the UK.
A new film is highlighting the story of a controversial Japanese soldier who refused to surrender after the Second World War ended and spent 29 years hiding in the jungle (pictured, Hiroo Onoda on the island)
After being conscripted to the Japanese army in 1942, Onoda was stationed on the island of Lubang in 1944 (pictured in 1944)
Onoda is seen dancing with a Playboy Bunny at the Playboy Club in Chicago in January 1975
In 1942, Onoda was conscripted into the Japanese army, where he was selected for guerilla combat training.
He later recalled in his 1974 memoir how he was forbade from taking his own life while training at the Futamata branch of the Nakano Military School, no matter the circumstance during the war.
He explained: 'You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily.'
The Philippines, invaded by Japan in 1941, was the scene of heavy fighting at the end of the war as Japanese soldiers fiercely loyal to the emperor fought US troops across the sprawling country, which has thousands of remote islands.
Onoda became the last Japanese soldier to surrender – but only after his former commander, who in 1945 had told him to stay behind and spy on American troops, was flown from Japan to order him to give up (pictured, arriving home in Japan in 1974)
Mr Onoda, a lieutenant in army intelligence, had been sent to Lubang, 90 miles south-west of the Philippine capital Manila, in December 1944.
His mission was to destroy the airfield and a pier by the harbour, as well as any enemy planes or crews which attempted to land.
However, the mission failed less than three months later, and he and his troops retreated into the jungle as enemy forces descended onto them.
Most of his comrades surrendered when US troops landed on the island but he refused to give up and remained in the jungle with three other soldiers.
Onoda (centre) salutes after handing over a military sword on Lubang Island in 1974
His generation was taught absolute loyalty to Japan and its emperor. Soldiers in the Imperial Army observed a code that said death was preferable to surrender.
He later recalled: 'Every Japanese soldier was prepared for death, but as an intelligence officer I was ordered to conduct guerilla warfare and not to die.
'I became an officer and I received an order. If I could not carry it out, I would feel shame. I am very competitive.'
At least four attempts were made to find him, during which family members appealed to him over loudspeakers and flights dropped leaflets urging him to surrender.
The leaflets, which detailed Japan's surrender on 15 August 1945, were dismissed as fakes by Onoda and his troops.
The foursome remained in the jungle, living on a diet of banana skins, coconuts and stolen rice.
Onoda was convinced search parties were in fact Japanese prisoners, who were being forced against their will.
Meanwhile he thought photographs of family members were doctored by the enemy.
When the group heard jets flying overheard during the Korean War (1950-53), they assumed they were part of a Japanese counter-offensive.
Onoda, wearing his 30-year-old imperial army uniform, cap and sword, walks down a slope as he heads for a helicopter landing site on Lubang Island for a flight to Manila, having finally accepted that hostilities had ended
THE 1945 SURRENDER OF JAPAN
14 AUGUST: Japan accepts the Potsdam Declaration and agrees to surrender. The ultimatum, issued by U.S. President Harry Truman, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Nationalist Government of China Chiang Kai-shek stated that if Japan did not surrender, it faced ‘prompt and utter destruction’.
15 AUGUST: VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day). This refers to the name chosen for the day on which the surrender occurred and is applied to both the 14th and 15th of August because of time zone differences. It also refers to September 2, when the signing of the surrender document took place.
25 AUGUST: Carrier aircraft begin daily patrols of Japanese airfields to locate and supply PoW camps.
27 AUGUST: Units of the Allied fleet entered Japanese waters for the first time
28 AUGUST: First American troops land in Japan at Atsugi Aerodrome, near Tokyo
29 AUGUST: The emergency evacuation of Allied PoWs from waterfront areas begins
30 AUGUST: Occupation forces begin landing in the Tokyo Bay area
2 SEPTEMBER: A Japanese government official carries out the signing of unconditional surrender on board the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
Onoda wrote in his memoir that, as early as 1959, he and comrade Kinshichi Kozuka 'had developed so many fixed ideas that we were unable to understand anything that did not conform to them.'
However he was declared dead in 1959 by the Japanese government and attempts to rescue him were abandoned.
In reality, he was alive and remained committed to holding the island until the imperial army's return.
As he struggled to feed himself, Mr Onoda's mission became one of survival. He stole rice and bananas from villagers, and shot their cows to make dried beef, triggering occasional skirmishes.
Three other soldiers were with him at the end of the war. One emerged from the jungle in 1950 and the other two died.
Kozuka was killed by shots fired by local police in October 1972, leaving Onoda alone on the island.
The turning point came on February 20, 1974, when Mr Onoda met a young globetrotter, Norio Suzuki, who had ventured to Lubang in pursuit of the veteran soldier.
Mr Suzuki quietly pitched camp in jungle clearings and waited. Mr Onoda eventually made contact with a simple 'Oi', and they began to talk.
The two came to an agreement - if Suzuki could bring Onoda's commanding officer to him with direct orders to lay down arms, he would comply.
Mr Suzuki returned to Japan and contacted the government, which called in the soldier's superior, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, to bring about a surrender.
Weeks later, Onoda's war came to an end on 9 March 1974.
He had come out of hiding, erect but emaciated, on Lubang island on his 52nd birthday.
During his formal surrender to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, Mr Onoda saluted the Japanese flag and symbolically handed over his samurai sword while still wearing an army uniform that had been patched many times over.
When he returned to Japan, he received a hero's welcome from 8,000 people and his extraordinary determination to carry on made him a hero in his homeland,
This picture taken on March 11, 1974, shows Onoda (right) offering his military sword to former Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos (left) to express his surrender at the Malacanan Palace in Manila
That being said, he was said to have killed 30 people while evading capture.
The Philippine government pardoned Onoda although many in Lubang never forgave him for the 30 people he killed during his campaign on the island.
His memoir, published soon after his return, became a bestseller.
However it was not met without controversy. In Japanese Army Stragglers and Memories of the War in Japan, 1950-75, Beatrice Trefalt described how war veterans confronted Onoda at a public launch event, 'loudly questioning his account… and accusing him of concocting a pack of lies.'
Onoda's memoir, published soon after his return, became a bestseller (pictured, holding a photograph of himself)
And in 1976, the memoir's ghostwriter Ikeda Shin published his own account, titled Fantasy Hero.
He wrote: 'Onada was greeted as a hero but he was at the same time seen as a victim, and then criticised as the embodiment of militarism.'
Mr Onoda struggled to adapt to life on his return to Japan and he emigrated to Brazil in 1975 to become a farmer.
He finally settled in his homeland in 1984 and opened nature camps for children.
In recent months, his story has once again picked up attention. Arthur Harari's three-hour film Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle was released earlier this month in the UK
He did not consider his 30 years in the jungle to have been a waste of time.
'Without that experience, I wouldn't have my life today' he said. 'I do everything twice as fast so I can make up for the 30 years. I wish someone could eat and sleep for me so I can work 24 hours a day.'
He died in 2014, at the age of 94.
In recent months, his story has once again picked up attention. Arthur Harari's three-hour film Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle was released earlier this month in the UK, while German film director Werner Herzog is set to publish a novel based on his story in June.
