Expansion of the main auroral oval at Jupiter : evidence for Io’s control over the Jovian magnetosphere

In spring 2007, New Horizons' Jupiter fly-by provided a unique opportunity for the largest observation campaign dedicated to the Jovian aurora ever carried out by the Hubble Space Telescope. UV images of the aurora have been acquired on a quasi-daily basis from mid-February to mid-June 2007. Polar projection of the auroral emissions clearly show a continuous long-term expansion of main oval additionally to day by day variations. The main oval moved so much that the Ganymede footprint, which is usually located equatorward of the main emissions, has even been observed inside of it. Simultaneously, the occurrence rate of large equatorward isolated auroral features increased over the season. These emission patches are generally attributed to injections of depleted flux tubes. On 6th June, one of these features exceptionally moved down to the Io footpath. The Io footprint seemed to disappear while the footprint moved through this patch of emission. This disappearance is a unique case among all the UV images of the aurora acquired during the last 12 years. We suggest that all these changes seen in the Jovian aurora are evidence for a major reconfiguration of the magnetosphere induced by increased volcanic activity on Io. Indeed, New Horizons observed particularly intense activity from the Tvashtar volcano in late February 2007. Moreover, sodium cloud brightening caused by volcanic outbursts have also been seen in late May 2007. According to our interpretation, repeated volcanic outbursts beefed up the plasma torus density and its mass outflow rate. This caused the corotation breakdown boundary to migrate closer to Jupiter. Consequently, the main auroral oval moved equatorward. As heavy flux tubes move outward, sparsely filled ones should be injected into the inner magnetosphere in order to conserve the magnetic flux in this region. This phenomenon could explain the large number of injection signatures observed in May-June 2007. Such a cloud of depleted flux tubes probably disrupted the Io-magnetosphere interaction, leading to an abnormally faint Io footprint

Auroral evidence of Io's control over the magnetosphere of Jupiter

Contrary to the case of the Earth, the main auroral oval on Jupiter is related to the breakdown of plasma corotation in the middle magnetosphere. Even if the root causes for the main auroral emissions are Io's volcanism and Jupiter's fast rotation, changes in the aurora could be attributed either to these internal factors or to fluctuations of the solar wind. Here we show multiple lines of evidence from the aurora for a major internally-controlled magnetospheric reconfiguration that took place in Spring 2007. Hubble Space Telescope far-UV images show that the main oval continuously expanded over a few months, engulfing the Ganymede footprint on its way. Simultaneously, there was an increased occurrence rate of large equatorward isolated auroral features attributed to injection of depleted flux tubes. Furthermore, the unique disappearance of the Io footprint on 6 June appears to be related to the exceptional equatorward migration of such a feature. The contemporary observation of the spectacular Tvashtar volcanic plume by the New-Horizons probe as well as direct measurement of increased Io plasma torus emissions suggest that these dramatic changes were triggered by Io's volcanic activity

Modernizing of magnet power supplies at KARA and a transition to EPICS-based control system

This paper presents a study on the upgrade and modernization of the magnet power supplies of the KARA (Karlsruhe Research Accelerator) storage ring. The existing power supplies, which have been in operation for more than two decades, were facing obsolescence and operational limitations. To ensure the continued availability and reliability of the facility for the next decade and beyond, a comprehensive refurbishment was required. The project involved the replacement and upgrade of the power supplies for the dipole and sextupole magnets at KARA, as well as for the dipole and quadrupole magnets in the booster. A key aspect of this modernization effort beside an improvement in efficiency and stability is the migration from a custom control system to EPICS running embedded on the power supplies. This paper provides an in-depth analysis of the motivations, goals, and technical aspects of the power supply modernization project as well as first measurements with the new power supplies and the project status

Bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn: ionospheric signatures of consecutive reconnection events at the magnetopause

peer reviewedThis work reports for the first time on bifurcations of the main auroral ring at Saturn observed with the UVIS instrument onboard Cassini. The observation sequence starts with an intensification on the main oval, close to noon, which is possibly associated with dayside reconnection. Consecutive bifurcations appear with the onset of dayside reconnection, between 11 and 18 magnetic local time, while the area poleward of the main emission expands to lower latitudes. The bifurcations depart with time from the main ring of emission, which is related to the open-closed field line boundary. The augmentation of the area poleward of the main emission following its expansion is balanced by the area occupied by the bifurcations, suggesting that these auroral features represent the amount of newly open flux and could be related to consecutive reconnection events at the flank of the magnetopause. The observations show that the open flux along the sequence increases when bifurcations appear. Magnetopause reconnection can lead to significant augmentation of the open flux within a couple of days and each reconnection event opens ∼10% of the flux contained within the polar cap. Additionally, the observations imply an overall length of the reconnection line of ∼4 hours of local time and suggest that dayside reconnection at Saturn can occur at several positions on the magnetopause consecutively or simultaneously

Tactile acuity training for patients with chronic low back pain: a pilot randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain can disrupt the cortical representation of a painful body part. This disruption may play a role in maintaining the individual’s pain. Tactile acuity training has been used to normalise cortical representation and reduce pain in certain pain conditions. However, there is little evidence for the effectiveness of this intervention for chronic low back pain (CLBP). The primary aim of this study was to inform the development of a fully powered randomised controlled trial (RCT) by providing preliminary data on the effect of tactile acuity training on pain and function in individuals with CLBP. The secondary aim was to obtain qualitative feedback about the intervention. METHODS: In this mixed-methods pilot RCT 15 individuals were randomised to either an intervention (tactile acuity training) or a placebo group (sham tactile acuity training). All participants received 3 sessions of acuity training (intervention or sham) from a physiotherapist and were requested to undertake daily acuity home training facilitated by an informal carer (friend/relative). All participants also received usual care physiotherapy. The primary outcome measures were pain (0-100visual analogue scale (VAS)) and function (Roland Morris Disability Questionnaire (RMDQ)). Participants and their informal carers were invited to a focus group to provide feedback on the intervention. RESULTS: The placebo group improved by the greatest magnitude for both outcome measures, but there was no statistically significant difference (Mean difference (95%CI), p-value) between groups for change in pain (25.6 (-0.7 to 51.9), p = 0.056) or function (2.2 (-1.6 to 6.0), p = 0.237). Comparing the number of individuals achieving a minimally clinically significant improvement, the placebo group had better outcomes for pain with all participants achieving ≥30% improvement compared to only a third of the intervention group (6/6 vs. 3/9, p = 0.036). Qualitatively, participants reported that needing an informal carer was a considerable barrier to the home training component of the study. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot RCT found tactile acuity training to be no more effective than sham tactile acuity training for function and less effective for pain in individuals with CLBP. That the intervention could not be self-applied was a considerable barrier to its use. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN: ISRCTN9811808

The EChO science case

The discovery of almost two thousand exoplanets has revealed an unexpectedly diverse planet population. We see gas giants in few-day orbits, whole multi-planet systems within the orbit of Mercury, and new populations of planets with masses between that of the Earth and Neptune—all unknown in the Solar System. Observations to date have shown that our Solar System is certainly not representative of the general population of planets in our Milky Way. The key science questions that urgently need addressing are therefore: What are exoplanets made of? Why are planets as they are? How do planetary systems work and what causes the exceptional diversity observed as compared to the Solar System? The EChO (Exoplanet Characterisation Observatory) space mission was conceived to take up the challenge to explain this diversity in terms of formation, evolution, internal structure and planet and atmospheric composition. This requires in-depth spectroscopic knowledge of the atmospheres of a large and well-defined planet sample for which precise physical, chemical and dynamical information can be obtained. In order to fulfil this ambitious scientific program, EChO was designed as a dedicated survey mission for transit and eclipse spectroscopy capable of observing a large, diverse and well-defined planet sample within its 4-year mission lifetime. The transit and eclipse spectroscopy method, whereby the signal from the star and planet are differentiated using knowledge of the planetary ephemerides, allows us to measure atmospheric signals from the planet at levels of at least 10−4 relative to the star. This can only be achieved in conjunction with a carefully designed stable payload and satellite platform. It is also necessary to provide broad instantaneous wavelength coverage to detect as many molecular species as possible, to probe the thermal structure of the planetary atmospheres and to correct for the contaminating effects of the stellar photosphere. This requires wavelength coverage of at least 0.55 to 11 μm with a goal of covering from 0.4 to 16 μm. Only modest spectral resolving power is needed, with R ~ 300 for wavelengths less than 5 μm and R ~ 30 for wavelengths greater than this. The transit spectroscopy technique means that no spatial resolution is required. A telescope collecting area of about 1 m2 is sufficiently large to achieve the necessary spectro-photometric precision: for the Phase A study a 1.13 m2 telescope, diffraction limited at 3 μm has been adopted. Placing the satellite at L2 provides a cold and stable thermal environment as well as a large field of regard to allow efficient time-critical observation of targets randomly distributed over the sky. EChO has been conceived to achieve a single goal: exoplanet spectroscopy. The spectral coverage and signal-to-noise to be achieved by EChO, thanks to its high stability and dedicated design, would be a game changer by allowing atmospheric composition to be measured with unparalleled exactness: at least a factor 10 more precise and a factor 10 to 1000 more accurate than current observations. This would enable the detection of molecular abundances three orders of magnitude lower than currently possible and a fourfold increase from the handful of molecules detected to date. Combining these data with estimates of planetary bulk compositions from accurate measurements of their radii and masses would allow degeneracies associated with planetary interior modelling to be broken, giving unique insight into the interior structure and elemental abundances of these alien worlds. EChO would allow scientists to study exoplanets both as a population and as individuals. The mission can target super-Earths, Neptune-like, and Jupiter-like planets, in the very hot to temperate zones (planet temperatures of 300–3000 K) of F to M-type host stars. The EChO core science would be delivered by a three-tier survey. The EChO Chemical Census: This is a broad survey of a few-hundred exoplanets, which allows us to explore the spectroscopic and chemical diversity of the exoplanet population as a whole. The EChO Origin: This is a deep survey of a subsample of tens of exoplanets for which significantly higher signal to noise and spectral resolution spectra can be obtained to explain the origin of the exoplanet diversity (such as formation mechanisms, chemical processes, atmospheric escape). The EChO Rosetta Stones: This is an ultra-high accuracy survey targeting a subsample of select exoplanets. These will be the bright “benchmark” cases for which a large number of measurements would be taken to explore temporal variations, and to obtain two and three dimensional spatial information on the atmospheric conditions through eclipse-mapping techniques. If EChO were launched today, the exoplanets currently observed are sufficient to provide a large and diverse sample. The Chemical Census survey would consist of > 160 exoplanets with a range of planetary sizes, temperatures, orbital parameters and stellar host properties. Additionally, over the next 10 years, several new ground- and space-based transit photometric surveys and missions will come on-line (e.g. NGTS, CHEOPS, TESS, PLATO), which will specifically focus on finding bright, nearby systems. The current rapid rate of discovery would allow the target list to be further optimised in the years prior to EChO’s launch and enable the atmospheric characterisation of hundreds of planets

Conversion from HST ACS and STIS auroral counts into brightness, precipitated power and radiated power for H2 giant planets

peer reviewedThe STIS and ACS instruments onboard HST are widely used to study the giant planet's aurora. Several assumptions have to be made to convert the instrumental counts into meaningful physical values (type and bandwidth of the filters, definition of the physical units, etc…), but these may significantly differ from one author to another, which makes it difficult to compare the auroral characteristics published in different studies. We present a method to convert the counts obtained in representative ACS and STIS imaging modes/filters used by the auroral scientific community to brightness, precipitated power and radiated power in the ultraviolet (700-1800 Å). Since hydrocarbon absorption may considerably affect the observed auroral emission, the conversion factors are determined for several attenuation levels. Several properties of the auroral emission have been determined: the fraction of the H[SUB]2[/SUB] emission shortward and longward of the HLy-α line is 50.3% and 49.7% respectively, the contribution of HLy-α to the total unabsorbed auroral signal has been set to 9.1% and an input of 1 mW m[SUP]-2[/SUP] produces 10 kR of H[SUB]2[/SUB] in the Lyman and Werner bands. A first application sets the order of magnitude of Saturn's auroral characteristics in the total UV bandwidth to a brightness of 10 kR and an emitted power of ˜2.8 GW. A second application uses published brightnesses of Europa's footprint to determine the current density associated with the Europa auroral spot: 0.21 and 0.045 μA m[SUP]-2[/SUP] assuming no hydrocarbon absorption and a color ratio of 2, respectively. Factors to extend the brightnesses observed with Cassini-UVIS to total H[SUB]2[/SUB] UV brightnesses are also provided