Effect of solar activity and cosmic-ray variations on the position of the Arctic front in the North Atlantic

The long-period variations in the climatic position of the Arctic front in the North Atlantic have been investigated. It is found that oscillations of the Arctic front latitude near Greenland occur with main periods of ～80, ～44, and ～22 years; this finding indicates possible relationship of these oscillations with the solar activity and variations in galactic cosmic rays. It is shown that the secular oscillations of the Arctic front latitude can be responsible for the amplitude modulation of the 11-year harmonic in sea-level pressure variations in the North Atlantic.     

Antiferromagnetic resonance in ferroborate NdFe3(BO3)4

The AFMR spectra of the NdFe₃(BO₃)₄ crystal are measured in a wide range of frequencies and temperatures. It is found that by the type of its magnetic anisotropy the compound is an “easy-plane” antiferromagnet with a weak anisotropy in the basal plane. The effective magnetic parameters are determined: anisotropy fields H_a1=1.14 kOe and H_a2=60 kOe and magnetic excitation gaps Δν₁=101.9 GHz and Δν₂=23.8 GHz. It is shown that commensurate-incommensurate phase transition causes a shift in resonance field and a considerable change in absorption line width.At temperatures below 4.2 K nonlinear regimes of AFMR excitation at low microwave power levels are observed.     

Approximately 2400-Year Cycle in the Concentration of Cosmogenic Radionuclides: Sources of Variations

Cosmogenic isotopes, including ¹⁴C, ¹⁰Be, and ⁷Be, are produced in the Earth’s atmosphere under the effect of cosmic rays. The rate of their production is determined by several factors, such as the intensity of primary galactic cosmic rays, the level of solar activity, and the strength of the Earth’s magnetic field. Changes in the isotope concentrations and distributions receive contributions from mixing processes proceeding in the surrounding medium: the atmosphere, biosphere, and oceans. The isotopes ¹⁴C and ¹⁰Be are the most important for studying solar activity and climate. Investigation of isotope concentrations reveal that there are both long-term trends and cyclic components. As for ¹⁴C, the long-term component caused by the change in the magnetic dipole moment of the Earth with a characteristic time of about 10⁴ years is the most commonly known. It is well known that the concentrations of cosmogenic isotopes change cyclically with time. The ~2400-year cycle (Hallstatt cycle) and the ~210-year cycle (de Vries cycle) are the most famous. In the present article, we discuss the possible origin of the ~2400-year cycle.     

On the Existence of Pure,Broadband Toroidal Sources in Electrodynamics

Multipoles are paramount for describing electromagnetic fields in many areas of nanoscale optics, playing an essential role in the design of devices in plasmonics and all-dielectric nanophotonics. Challenging the traditional division into electric and magnetic moments, toroidal moments are proposed as a physically distinct family of multipoles with significant contributions to the properties of matter. However, the apparent impossibility of separately measuring their response sheds doubt on their true physical significance. Here, the possibility of selectively exciting toroidal moments is confirmed without any other multipole. A set of general conditions is developed that any current distribution must fulfill to be entirely described by toroidal moments and prove the results in an analytically solvable case. The new theory allows to design and verify experimentally an artificial structure supporting a pure broadband toroidal dipole response in the complete absence of the electric dipole and other “ordinary” multipole contributions. In addition, a structure capable of supporting a novel type of non-radiating source is proposed- a “toroidal anapole,” originating from the destructive interference of the toroidal dipole with the unconventional electromagnetic sources known as mean square radii. The results in this work provide conclusive evidence on the independent excitation of toroidal moments in electrodynamics.