Alfvén solitons in a Fermionic quantum plasma

The propagation of Alfvén envelope solitons through a Fermionic quantum plasma is considered. Starting from the governing equations for Hall magnetohydrodynamics including quantum corrections, coupled Zakharov-type equations are derived for circularly polarized Alfvén waves. The equations are numerically solved for time-independent and time-dependent cases. The time-independent case shows that variations in density take the form of dressed density solitons in which an approximately Gaussian peak is surrounded by smaller sinusoidal variations in the density envelope. The mathematical basis for this behavior is explained. A limited time-dependent case is obtained which uses the numerical time-independent soliton solutions as the initial conditions. This confirms that the soliton solutions retain the same profile as they propagate. The relevance of this work to dense astrophysical plasmas like the interiors of white dwarf stars is discussed.

The Origin of the Solar Flare Waiting-Time Distribution

It was recently pointed out that the distribution of times between solar flares (the flare waiting-time distribution) follows a power law for long waiting times. Based on 25 years of soft X-ray flares observed by Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite instruments, it is shown that (1) the waiting-time distribution of flares is consistent with a time-dependent Poisson process and (2) the fraction of time the Sun spends with different flaring rates approximately follows an exponential distribution. The second result is a new phenomenological law for flares. It is shown analytically how the observed power-law behavior of the waiting times originates in the exponential distribution of flaring rates. These results are argued to be consistent with a nonstationary avalanche model for flares.