Due to their extremely small luminosity compared to the stars they orbit, planets outside our own Solar System are extraordinarily difficult to detect directly in optical light. Careful photometric monitoring of distant stars, however, can reveal the presence of exoplanets via the microlensing or eclipsing effects they induce. The international PLANET collaboration is performing such monitoring using a cadre of semi-dedicated telescopes around the world. Their results constrain the number of gas giants orbiting 1–7 AU from the most typical stars in the Galaxy. Upgrades in the program are opening regions of “exoplanet discovery space” – toward smaller masses and larger orbital radii – that are inaccessible to the Doppler velocity technique.

Recent observations of impulsive hard X-ray, microwave, EUV and optical emissions during solar flares are briefly reviewed in order to deduce the characteristics of the impulsive (flash) phase phenomenon in small solar flares particularly from the point of view of the acceleration of electrons and their role in producing the various impulsive phase emissions. Observed and deduced characteristics of the various electromagnetic emission sources are summarized (Table II). The deduced characteristics of the electron acceleration process (Table III) indicate a process with high acceleration efficiency. The observations are found to be consistent with a model in which electrons are accelerated in a series of short pulses each lasting for ≲ 1 s and the accelerated electrons provide the energy necessary for all the observed electromagnetic emissions produced during the flash phase of small solar flares. Models of the impulsive phase emissions in which energetic electrons play a prominant role are examined and crucial tests to check the accuracy of these models are indicated (Table IV).

(Solar Phys.). The relationship between Hα absorption features, type III radio bursts and soft X-ray emission has been examined in order to determine the characteristics of the particle acceleration process operating when a Hα-flare may or may not be detectable. The Hα observations were made by Meudon Observatory with a Hα telescope fitted with a 0.75 Å band pass Lyot filter. During a 10 s period, three pictures were obtained – one at the Hα line center, one at Hα + 0.75 Å and one at Hα −0.75 Å. This sequence of three pictures was repeated every one minute. Each picture covered a rectangular area 18 × 24 mm2, the diameter of the complete solar image being 38 mm on this scale. In addition, Meudon Hα films of the whole solar disc were also used. The X-ray observations were made with the University of California (Berkeley) experiment aboard the OGO-5 satellite and the NRL experiment aboard Solrad-9. The wavelength range covered was 0.5–20 Å. The type III radio data was obtained from two sources: The 169 MHz radio-heliograph at Nancay which provided east–west position of the radio burst on the Sun with an accuracy of ~ 1′ and the radio spectra measured by various ground based observatories. The findings are as follows:

Transient Hα activity observed in the absence of reported flares is associated with production of type III radio and soft X-ray emission. Since such optical phenomena are much more frequent than flares themselves, we conclude that instabilities generating fast particles may be produced in the corona in a quasi-continuous way with coincident perturbations in the lower solar atmosphere.

The soft X-ray component is not necessarily the direct product of fast particles, but is probably associated with some type of heating since both the soft X-ray emission and the Hα features exhibit a comparable evolution. The type III bursts, when they are produced, occur near the maximum of this perturbation.

We identify the transient Hα activity (emission or absorption) with the existence of a metastable situation which may or may not lead to the triggering of a flare.

In preparing the present report, which covers the period July 1, 1984, to June 30, 1987, close collaboration has taken place between Commission 10 and 12, the two solar commissions, in order to avoid duplications and to insure that pertinent subjects are treated. The reader is referred to the report of Commission 12 for further solar topics. The proceedings are found at the beginning of the references for each section, followed by the usual alphabetical listing. In some sections this listing refers to the previous proceedings by their numbers; in others we retain the conventional reference. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the excellent work of the reviewers who wrote the different sections of this report, and all the members of the commission who provided information on research to be included.

Although the solar activity began to decrease rapidly after 1983, the analysis and interpretation of the observations made with instruments aboard the SMM, Hinotori, P78-1, ISEE-3 (ICE), PVO, Venera, and PROGNOZ spacecraft continued to produce important scientific results. The observational results inspired new theoretical studies or extensions of the earlier studies. Several symposia and workshops were organized for presentation and discussion of coordinated studies or studies in progress.

We review the current status and future prospects of the PLANET collaboration, an international team of astronomers performing high-precision photometric monitoring of microlensing events. Our photometric precision and sampling is characterised and the suitability of the database for variable star studies is discussed. Preliminary results on K-giant stability are presented.

It has been apparent for the last few years that a large fraction of the total energy released during a solar flare appears initially in the form of energetic electrons accelerated during the impulsive phase. An estimate of the energy of these electrons is based on the observed hard x-ray spectra as well as the assumed form (thermal or non-thermal) of the electron distribution. Even after the basic form of the electron distribution is assumed, additional assumptions, such as the low energy cut-off in the case of the power law energy spectrum or existence of a multi-thermal source in the case of the thermal spectrum, are usually required. In order to test these assumptions, measurements of the hard x-ray spectrum with spatial resolution and covering a wide range of x-ray energy are essential. In absence of good spatial resolution, as is the case with most of the presently available hard x-ray observations, the impulsive x-ray emission at energies hv ≲ 10 keV is often unobservable because of the presence of a large background of relatively intense gradual emission associated with most flares. Observations made in the past suffered either because of the lack of a clearly identifiable impulsive x-ray emission at low energies (Peterson et al, 1973) or an adequate spectral resolution (Kahler, 1973). Thus so far it has not been possible to measure unambiguously the spectrum of impulsive x-rays ≲ 10 keV and hence to deduce a possible low energy cut-off in the energetic electron spectrum. Here we report briefly such an observation made with the ISEE-3 x-ray spectrometer experiment and its implications with regard to the characteristics of energetic electrons in solar flares.

More than 70 cases have been observed of energetic solar flare X-ray bursts by large ionization chambers on the OGO satellites in space. The ionization chambers have an energy range between 10 and 50 KeV for X-rays and are also sensitive to solar protons and electrons. A study has been made of the X-ray microwave relationship, and it is found that the total energy released in the form of X-rays between 10 and 50 KeV is approximately proportional to the peak or total energy simultaneously released in the form of microwave emission. For a given burst the rise time, decay time and total duration are similar for the 10–50 KeV X-rays and the 3 to 10 cm radio emission. Roughly exponential decay phases are observed for both emissions with time constants between 1 and 10 min. All 3 or 10 cm radio bursts with peak intensity greater than 80 solar flux units are accompanied by an X-ray burst greater than 3 × 10−7 ergs cm−2 sec−1 peak intensity. The probability of detecting such X-ray events is low unless the radio spectrum extends into the centimetric range of wavelengths. The best correlation between cm-λ and energetic X-rays is observed for the first event in a flare. Subsequent structure and second bursts may not correspond even when the radio emission is rich in the microwave component. The mechanism for the energetic X-rays is shown to be bremsstrahlung probably of fast electrons on a cooler plasma. If the radio emission is assumed to be synchrotron radiation then a relationship is developed between density and magnetic field which meets the observed quantitative results. One finds, on the average, that 5 × 10−54 joules m−2 (CPS)−1 of microwave energy at the Earth are required per electron at the Sun to provide the radio emission for the various events.

A strong correlation between interplanetary solar flare electrons observed by satellite and X-ray bursts is shown to exist. This correlation is weak for solar proton events. One may infer a strong propagation asymmetry for solar flare electrons along the spiral interplanetary magnetic field.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2011 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA, August 7–August 11, 2011.

Mn-doped ZnS nanoclusters were synthesized within microphase-separated films of diblock copolymers containing carboxylic acid units on one of the blocks. Zinc was selectively sequestered into the acid-containing domains by treating the films with diethylzinc or an aqueous zinc acetate solution. Manganese was loaded by subsequent treatment of the films with aqueous manganese acetate solutions. The manganese ions displaced a fraction of the zinc ions, and the extent of loading was controlled by varying the loading time, and the concentration of the manganese acetate solution. The extent of loading was tracked using ICP discharge emission spectroscopy. The doped nanoclusters were formed by subsequent treatment with H2S. The size of the doped ZnS nanoclusters could be varied by carrying out the H2S exposure in the presence of a coordinating base. Photoluminescence measurements revealed that the doped nanoclusters were photoluminescent, and showed the characteristic manganese emission. The universal doped cluster synthesis scheme used is quite general and can be easily modified to produce other doped nanocluster clusters, such as Tb-doped ZnS, or Mn-doped CdS.

While numerous studies have addressed the morphological characteristics of diblock copolymer blends either with a second copolymer or a parent homopolymer, relatively few have examined comparable blends containing a triblock copolymer. In this study, we investigate the role of mid-block bridging on the morphological and physical characteristics of blends composed of a poly(styrene-b-isoprene-b-styrene) (SIS) triblock copolymer with either an unconstrained homo-polyisoprene (hI) or an end-grafted SI diblock copolymer. Blend compositions and molecular weights of the hi, as well as the I-block of the copolymer, have all been systematically varied to elucidate the effect of additive constraint on the extent of nonideal intramicrodomain mixing. Blend morphologies are characterized using transmission electron microscopy, while blend properties have been measured by dynamic mechanical analysis.

In this work, we report on the material properties of ZnO doped with Mn, Co, and Fe grown by a modified melt growth technique. X-ray diffraction measurements show that transition metals can be incorporated on Zn sites; an increase in the lattice parameter is apparent with increasing doping level. UV-visible transmission and reflectance measurements have also been performed. Absorption bands in the visible regime are distinctive to the individual transition metal dopants. A noticeable shift in the optical band edge has been observed from these Mn/Co/Fe-doped ZnO crystals in comparison with the undoped material. ZnO may also provide a suitable platform for the incorporation of transition metal elements through high temperature near equilibrium growth processes; however, further work is required in order to employ these materials for spintronic applications.

The goal of our research is to combine porous silicon and enzymes in order to build hybrid platforms for extremely selective chemical sensing applications. For this, a new synthetic route to covalently anchor bio-molecules on photo-luminescent porous silicon (PL PSi) while preserving the optical properties of the matrix was developed. The hydride terminated porous silicon surface was covalently functionalized with t-butyloxycarbonyl protected amine by light-assisted hydrosysilation. Protein cross-linker chemistry was then used to extend the linker and immobilize various enzymes. The glu-coronidase enzyme/p-nitro-phenyl-beta-glucoronide substrate test system provided a proof of concept for an enzyme-based porous silicon detector. The enzymatic activity and the luminescence of the porous silicon platform were both retained after the functionali-zation procedure and, charge transfer between the products of the enzymatic breakdown and the silicon quantum dots was demonstrated. The organophosphorous hydrolase enzyme OPAA was then immobilized and tested on p-nitrophenyl-soman, a surrogate substrate for soman. The production of the hydrolysis product, p-nitrophenol, correlated with the reversible luminescence quenching of the porous silicon matrix demonstrating the relevance of the enzyme-based platform for detection applications. This detection scheme, although indirect, takes advantage of the extreme specificity of enzymes. The approach is general and can be implemented for a series of target molecules.

The NASA Star and Exoplanet Database (NStED) is a general purpose stellar archive with the aim of providing support for NASA's planet finding and characterization goals, stellar astrophysics, and the planning of NASA and other space missions. There are two principal components of NStED: a database of (currently) 140,000 nearby stars and exoplanet-hosting stars, and an archive dedicated to high precision photometric surveys for transiting exoplanets. We present a summary of the NStED stellar database, functionality, tools, and user interface. NStED currently serves the following kinds of data for 140,000 stars (where available): coordinates, multiplicity, proper motion, parallax, spectral type, multiband photometry, radial velocity, metallicity, chromospheric and coronal activity index, and rotation velocity/period. Furthermore, the following derived quantities are given wherever possible: distance, effective temperature, mass, radius, luminosity, space motions, and physical/angular dimensions of habitable zone. Queries to NStED can be made using constraints on any combination of the above parameters. In addition, NStED provides tools to derive specific inferred quantities for the stars in the database, cross-referenced with available extra-solar planetary data for those host stars. NStED can be accessed at http://nsted.ipac.caltech.edu.