PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 16 December 2005 http://focus.aps.org/
PHYSICAL REVIEW FOCUS 16 December 2005 http://focus.aps.org/
David Ehrenstein, American Physical Society
Introductions to the Focus stories of the past week;
Visit http://focus.aps.org for the complete stories.
TRIGGERING SOLAR MAYHEM
Solar flares are huge bursts of energy from the sun that occasionally
disturb satellites and communications networks on earth. They're
caused by massive and sudden changes in solar magnetic fields, but
researchers don't know exactly how the fields can rearrange quickly
enough to trigger a flare. According to a theory in the 29 November
PRL, a flare occurs when magnetic field lines are squeezed past a
critical point beyond which a new physical process kicks in, one that
can release huge amounts of energy in a short period of time.
Supercomputer simulations confirm the effect, which may also operate
in the earth's magnetic field and in the fields of experimental fusion
reactors.
(P.A. Cassak et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 235002)
Link to the paper: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRL/v95/e235002
COMPLETE Focus story at http://focus.aps.org/story/v16/st18
Also from APS Journals (stories from AIP's Physics News Update):
MEASURING HIGHER-LEVEL QED
Story at http://www.aip.org/pnu/2005/split/756-2.html
(P. Beiersdorfer et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 95, 233003)
GUIDED SLOW LIGHT
Story at http://www.aip.org/pnu/2005/split/753-1.html
(Mukund Vengalattore and Mara Prentiss, Phys. Rev. Lett 95, 243601)
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Copyright 2005, The American Physical Society.
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