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Abstract We revisit previous hybrid simulations of the heating and acceleration of interstellar pickup ions (PUIs) at the solar wind termination shock. In previous simulations, a relatively cold initial distribution of PUIs was assumed; and while the resulting shock-heated distribution was consistent with Voyager 2 LECP measurements at about 30 keV, the intensity of the distribution downstream of the shock in the ~1–10 keV energy range was lower than predictions based on analysis of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) from the Interstellar Boundary Explorer-Hi and Cassini's Ion and Neutral Camera. Here we perform new simulations with more realistic initial PUI distributions. We assume the distribution is a partially filled spherical shell in velocity space with a radius that varies from 320 to 640 km s⁻¹. We then use the distributions downstream of the shock from these new simulations to estimate the ENA flux spectrum and compare with observations. We find that the predicted ENA spectrum from the new simulations much better matches the observations over a broad range of energies. We conclude that the hybrid simulations provide reasonable predictions for the distribution of charged particles in the energy range from ~0.5 to 50 keV. 

Abstract The development of fibrous polymer scaffolds is highly valuable for applications in tissue engineering. Furthermore, there is an extensive body of literature for chemical methods to produce scaffolds that release nitric oxide. However, these methods often use harsh chemistries and leave behind bulk waste. Alkanolamine low‐temperature plasma (LTP) is unexplored and single‐step processing to form nitric oxide (NO) releasing constructs is highly desirable. The major question addressed is whether it is possible to achieve single‐step processing of spun polyester with alkanolamine plasma to achieve nitric oxide releasing capabilities. Herein we report the experiments, processes, and data that support the claim that it is indeed possible to produce such a bio‐functional material for potential biomedical applications, especially in cardiovascular implants. Among the tested alkanolamines, monoethylamine (MEA) plasma treated biomaterial outperformed in comparison with diethanolamine (DEA) and triethanolamine (TEA) in terms of NO release and cellular response. 

Abstract The outer heliosphere is profoundly influenced by nonthermal energetic pickup ions (PUIs), which dominate the internal pressure of the solar wind beyond ~10 au, surpassing both solar wind and magnetic pressures. PUIs are formed mostly through charge exchange between interstellar neutral atoms and solar wind ions. This study examines the apparent heating of PUIs in the distant supersonic solar wind before reaching the heliospheric termination shock. New Horizons’ SWAP observations reveal an unexpected PUI temperature change between 2015 and 2020, with a notable bump in PUI temperature. Concurrent observations from the ACE and Wind spacecraft at 1 au indicate a ~50% increase in solar wind dynamic pressure at the end of 2014. Our simulation suggests that the bump observed in the PUI temperature by New Horizons is largely associated with the enhanced solar wind dynamic pressure observed at 1 au. Additional PUI temperature enhancements imply the involvement of other heating mechanisms. Analysis of New Horizons data reveals a correlation between shocks and PUI heating during the declining phase of the solar cycle. Using a PUI-mediated plasma model, we explore shock structures and PUI heating, finding that shocks preferentially heat PUIs over the thermal solar wind in the outer heliosphere. We also show that the broad shock thickness observed by New Horizons is due to the large diffusion coefficient associated with PUIs. Shocks and compression regions in the distant supersonic solar wind lead to elevated PUI temperatures and thus they can increase the production of energetic neutral atoms with large energy. 

Abstract We use in situ measurements from the first 19 encounters of Parker Solar Probe and the most recent five encounters of Solar Orbiter to study the evolution of the turbulent sonic Mach numberM_t(the ratio of the amplitude of velocity fluctuations to the sound speed) with radial distance and its relationship to density fluctuations. We focus on the near-Sun region with radial distances ranging from about 11 to 80R_⊙. Our results show that (1) the turbulent sonic Mach numberM_tgradually moves toward larger values as it approaches the Sun, until at least 11R_⊙, whereM_tis much larger than the previously observed value of 0.1 at and above 0.3 au; (2) transonic turbulence withM_t ∼ 1 is observed in situ for the first time and is found mostly near the Alfvén critical surface; (3) Alfvén Mach number of the bulk flowM_Ashows a strong correlation with the plasma beta, indicating that most of the observed sub-Alfvénic intervals correspond to a low-beta plasma; (4) the scaling relation between density fluctuations andM_tgradually changes from a linear scaling at larger radial distances to a quadratic scaling at smaller radial distances; and (5) transonic turbulence is more compressible than subsonic turbulence, with enhanced density fluctuations and slightly flatter spectra than subsonic turbulence. A systematic understanding of compressible turbulence near the Sun is necessary for future solar wind modeling efforts. 

Abstract The Parker Solar Probe (PSP) and Wind spacecraft observed the same plasma flow during PSP encounter 15. The solar wind evolves from a sub-Alfvénic flow at 0.08 au to become modestly super-Alfvénic at 1 au. We study the radial evolution of the turbulence properties and deduce the spectral anisotropy based on the nearly incompressible (NI) MHD theory. We find that the spectral index of thez⁺spectrum remains unchanged (∼−1.53), while thez⁻spectrum steepens, the index of which changes from −1.35 to −1.47. The fluctuating kinetic energy is on average greater than the fluctuating magnetic field energy in the sub-Alfvénic flow while smaller in the modestly super-Alfvénic flow. The NI MHD theory well interprets the observed Elsässer spectra. The contribution of 2D fluctuations is nonnegligible for the observedz⁻frequency spectra for both intervals. Particularly, the magnitudes of 2D and NI/slab fluctuations are comparable in the frequency domain for the modestly super-Alfvénic flow, resulting in a slightly concave shape ofz⁻spectrum at 1 au. We show that, in the wavenumber domain, the power ratio of the observed forward NI/slab and 2D fluctuations is  ∼15 at 0.08 au, while it decreases to  ∼3 at 1 au, suggesting the growing significance of the 2D fluctuations as the turbulence evolves in low Mach number solar wind. 

Abstract This study compares the growth cycles and spatial distribution of dust cloud for titania and carbonaceous dusty nanoparticles in capacitively coupled radiofrequency plasmas, with and without the presence of a weak magnetic field of approximately 500 Gauss. Findings on cycle time, growth rate, and spatial distribution of dust cloud are discussed. The growth of nanoparticles in these plasmas is cyclic, with particles reaching their maximum size and subsequently moving out of the plasma, followed by the generation of a new particle growth cycle. The presence of the magnetic field speeds up the growth cycle in both plasma. The magnetic field also makes the spatial distribution of the two dust cloud different from each other. Langmuir probe measurement of the background plasma parameters such as electron temperature and floating potential reveal radial variations in floating potential but not electron temperature. Furthermore, the magnetic field changes the radial variation of floating potential. These measurements, however, are not sufficient to explain why the two dust clouds appear differently. It is possible that the differences occur due to a gradient in the radial distribution of the magnetic field. 

Abstract Owing to its superior bulk mechanical properties, poly (ether ether ketone) (PEEK) has gained popularity over the past 15 years as a metal substitute in biomedical implants. Low surface energy is a fundamental issue with PEEK implants. This low surface energy caused by a moderately hydrophobic surface may be able to inhibit cellular adherence and result in the development of an inflammatory response, which may result in cell necrosis and apoptosis. In this work, plasma and ozone treatments have been utilized to surface activate PEEK and graft ionic bioactive polymer polyNaSS (poly (sodium styrene sulfonate)) successfully on the surface to promote cellular attachment and biomineralization. The main goal of our research has been to find a stable green process for surface modification of PEEK by plasma/ozone approaches to increase PolyNaSS grafting efficiency and biomineralization. To further the field of bioactive orthopedic and dental implant technology, this research attempts to address a significant constraint of PEEK implants while preserving their favorable mechanical properties. 

Abstract Understanding the mechanisms underlying the heating of the solar atmosphere is a fundamental problem in solar physics. The lower atmosphere of the Sun (i.e., photosphere and chromosphere) is composed of weakly ionized plasma. This results in anisotropic dissipation of electric currents by Coulomb and Cowling resistivities. Joule heating due to dissipation of currents perpendicular to the magnetic field by Cowling resistivity has been demonstrated to be the main mechanism for the heating of a sunspot umbral light bridge located in NOAA AR 12002 on 2014 March 13. Here, we focus on the same target region and demonstrate the importance of further constraining our Joule heating model using observational data in addition to magnetic field, namely plasma temperature calculated from the inversion of spectroscopic data obtained from the Interferometric BI-dimensional Spectrometer instrument of the ground-based Dunn Solar Telescope. As a parameter in our analysis, temperature is demonstrated to have the highest sensitivity after magnetic field. We show that the heating of the light bridge is a highly dynamic event that necessitates utilization of 3D spatially resolved observational data for temperature rather than a 1D temperature stratification based on theoretical/semiempirical solar atmosphere models. Our improved data-constrained analysis using spatially resolved temperatures shows that the entire light bridge is heated by the proposed mechanism, and yields heating rate values that are consistent with our previous study. 

Abstract A multispecies energetic particle intensity enhancement event at 1 au is analyzed. We identify this event as a corotating interaction region (CIR) structure that includes a stream interface (SI), a forward-reverse shock pair, and an embedded heliospheric current sheet (HCS). The distinct feature of this CIR event is that (1) the high-energy (>1 MeV) ions show significant flux enhancement at the reverse wave (RW)/shock of the CIR structure, following their passage through the SI and HCS. The flux amplification appears to depend on the energy per nucleon. (2) Electrons in the energy range of 40.5–520 keV are accelerated immediately after passing through the SI and HCS regions, and the flux quickly reaches a peak for low-energy electrons. At the RW, only high-energy electrons (∼520 keV) show significant local flux enhancement. The CIR structure is followed by a fast-forward perpendicular shock driven by a coronal mass ejection (CME), and we observed a significant flux enhancement of low-energy protons and high-energy electrons. Specifically, the 210–330 keV proton and 180–520 keV electron fluxes are enhanced by approximately 2 orders of magnitude. This suggests that the later ICME-driven shock may accelerate particles out of the suprathermal pool. In this paper, we further present that for CIR-accelerated particles, the increase in turbulence power at SI and RWs may be an important factor for the observed flux enhancement in different species. The presence of ion-scale waves near the RW, as indicated by the spectral bump near the proton gyrofrequency, suggests that the resonant wave–particle interaction may act as an efficient energy transferrer between energetic protons and ion-scale waves. 

Abstract Magnetic field fluctuations measured in the heliosheath by the Voyager spacecraft are often characterized as compressible, as indicated by a strong fluctuating component parallel to the mean magnetic field. However, the interpretation of the turbulence data faces the caveat that the standard Taylor’s hypothesis is invalid because the solar wind flow velocity in the heliosheath becomes subsonic and slower than the fast magnetosonic speed, given the contributions from hot pickup ions (PUIs) in the heliosheath. We attempt to overcome this caveat by introducing a 4D frequency-wavenumber spectral modeling of turbulence, which is essentially a decomposition of different wave modes following their respective dispersion relations. Isotropic Alfvén and fast mode turbulence are considered to represent the heliosheath fluctuations. We also include two dispersive fast wave modes derived from a three-fluid theory. We find that (1) magnetic fluctuations in the inner heliosheath are less compressible than previously thought, an isotropic turbulence spectral model with about 25% in compressible fluctuation power is consistent with the observed magnetic compressibility in the heliosheath; (2) the hot PUI component and the relatively cold solar wind ions induce two dispersive fast magnetosonic wave branches in the perpendicular propagation limit, PUI fast wave may account for the spectral bump near the proton gyrofrequency in the observable spectrum; (3) it is possible that the turbulence wavenumber spectrum is not Kolmogorov-like although the observed frequency spectrum has a −5/3 power-law index, depending on the partitioning of power among the various wave modes, and this partitioning may change with wavenumber.