[AusNOG] Solar flare

[Paul Brooks]

On 8/03/2012 5:03 PM, Scott Howard wrote:
> On Wed, Mar 7, 2012 at 9:47 PM, Peter Childs <PChilds at internode.com.au
> <mailto:PChilds at internode.com.au>> wrote:
>
>     <quote>
>     > As with all computer and networking devices, the AS5400 is susceptible to
>     > the rare occurrence of parity errors in processor memory.  Parity errors may
>
>
> These excuses may seem far-fetched, and I used to get a lot of unbelieving looks
> when I gave this excuse when I was an engineer at Sun - but the simple fact is that
> it IS true.
>
> And by true, what I mean is that cosmic rays can and do cause bits to flip,
> especially in the type of memory used in CPU caches.  What may or may not be true is
> if any specific occurrence was due to cosmic rays - because obviously there's no way
> to prove that one way or another!

As someone who has used and built cosmic-ray and gamma-ray telescopes in the past, I
can vouch for this.
 
Cosmic-ray hits show up well in long time exposures of CCD chips
<http://www.astronomy.com/sitefiles/utilities/image.aspx?item=%7B2771D938-60A1-4CD7-BA69-A90A23D62884%7D&mw=900&mh=650>
- which is just an array of silicon memory gates at the end of the day.

And if your router  is in the cone of a cosmic ray air-shower cascade of subatomic
particles.....http://th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~drescher/CASSIM/mFe2.mpg
:-)

P.

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