Towards a Simple Model of Compressible Alfvenic Turbulence

A simple model collisionless, dissipative, compressible MHD (Alfvenic) turbulence in a magnetized system is investigated. In contrast to more familiar paradigms of turbulence, dissipation arises from Landau damping, enters via nonlinearity, and is distributed over all scales. The theory predicts that two different regimes or phases of turbulence are possible, depending on the ratio of steepening to damping coefficient (m_1/m_2). For strong damping (|m_1/m_2|<1), a regime of smooth, hydrodynamic turbulence is predicted. For |m_1/m_2|>1, steady state turbulence does not exist in the hydrodynamic limit. Rather, spikey, small scale structure is predicted.Comment: 6 pages, one figure, REVTeX; this version to be published in PRE. For related papers, see http://sdphpd.ucsd.edu/~medvedev/papers.htm

Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments

Magnetic reconnection is a basic plasma process of dramatic rearrangement of magnetic topology, often leading to a violent release of magnetic energy. It is important in magnetic fusion and in space and solar physics --- areas that have so far provided the context for most of reconnection research. Importantly, these environments consist just of electrons and ions and the dissipated energy always stays with the plasma. In contrast, in this paper I introduce a new direction of research, motivated by several important problems in high-energy astrophysics --- reconnection in high energy density (HED) radiative plasmas, where radiation pressure and radiative cooling become dominant factors in the pressure and energy balance. I identify the key processes distinguishing HED reconnection: special-relativistic effects; radiative effects (radiative cooling, radiation pressure, and Compton resistivity); and, at the most extreme end, QED effects, including pair creation. I then discuss the main astrophysical applications --- situations with magnetar-strength fields (exceeding the quantum critical field of about 4 x 10^13 G): giant SGR flares and magnetically-powered central engines and jets of GRBs. Here, magnetic energy density is so high that its dissipation heats the plasma to MeV temperatures. Electron-positron pairs are then copiously produced, making the reconnection layer highly collisional and dressing it in a thick pair coat that traps radiation. The pressure is dominated by radiation and pairs. Yet, radiation diffusion across the layer may be faster than the global Alfv\'en transit time; then, radiative cooling governs the thermodynamics and reconnection becomes a radiative transfer problem, greatly affected by the ultra-strong magnetic field. This overall picture is very different from our traditional picture of reconnection and thus represents a new frontier in reconnection research.Comment: Accepted to Space Science Reviews (special issue on magnetic reconnection). Article is based on an invited review talk at the Yosemite-2010 Workshop on Magnetic Reconnection (Yosemite NP, CA, USA; February 8-12, 2010). 30 pages, no figure

LED Monitoring System for the BTeV Lead Tungstate Crystal Calorimeter Prototype

We report on the performance of a monitoring system for a prototype calorimeter for the BTeV experiment that uses Lead Tungstate crystals coupled with photomultiplier tubes. The tests were carried out at the 70 GeV accelerator complex at Protvino, Russia.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX2e, revised versio

The upstream magnetic field of collisionless GRB shocks: constraint by Fermi-LAT observations

Long-lived >100 MeV emission has been a common feature of most Fermi-LAT detected gamma-ray bursts (GRBs), e.g., detected up to ~10^3s in long GRBs 080916C and 090902B and ~10^2s in short GRB 090510. This emission is consistent with being produced by synchrotron emission of electrons accelerated to high energy by the relativistic collisionless shock propagating into the weakly magnetized medium. Here we show that this high-energy afterglow emission constrains the preshock magnetic field to satisfy 1(n/1cc)^{9/8} mG<B<10^2(n/1cc)^{3/8}mG, where n is the preshock density, more stringent than the previous constraint by X-ray afterglow observations on day scale. This suggests that the preshock magnetic field is strongly amplified, most likely by the streaming of high energy shock accelerated particles.Comment: 9 pages, JCAP accepte

Modeling the Radio and X-ray Emission of SN 1993J and SN 2002ap

Modeling of radio and X-ray observations of supernovae interacting with their circumstellar media are discussed, with special application to SN 1993J and SN 2002ap. We emphasize the importance of including all relevant physical mechanisms, especially for the modeling of the radio light curves. The different conclusions for the absorption mechanism (free-free or synchrotron self-absorption), as well as departures from an $\rho \propto r^{-2}$ CSM, as inferred by some authors, are discussed in detail. We conclude that the evidence for a variation in the mass loss rate with time is very weak. The results regarding the efficiencies of magnetic field generation and relativistic particle acceleration are summarized.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures. Uses svmult.cls. To appear in proceedings of IAU Colloquium 192 "Supernovae (10 years of SN 1993J)", April 2003, Valencia, Spain, eds. J. M. Marcaide and K. W. Weile

Synchronization of coupled limit cycles

A unified approach for analyzing synchronization in coupled systems of autonomous differential equations is presented in this work. Through a careful analysis of the variational equation of the coupled system we establish a sufficient condition for synchronization in terms of the geometric properties of the local limit cycles and the coupling operator. This result applies to a large class of differential equation models in physics and biology. The stability analysis is complemented with a discussion of numerical simulations of a compartmental model of a neuron.Comment: Journal of Nonlinear Science, accepte

Particle Acceleration in Pulsar Wind Nebulae: PIC modelling

We discuss the role of particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations in unveiling the origin of the emitting particles in PWNe. After describing the basics of the PIC technique, we summarize its implications for the quiescent and the flaring emission of the Crab Nebula, as a prototype of PWNe. A consensus seems to be emerging that, in addition to the standard scenario of particle acceleration via the Fermi process at the termination shock of the pulsar wind, magnetic reconnection in the wind, at the termination shock and in the Nebula plays a major role in powering the multi-wavelength signatures of PWNe.Comment: 32 pages, 16 figures, to appear in the book "Modelling Nebulae" edited by D. Torres for Springer, based on the invited contributions to the workshop held in Sant Cugat (Barcelona), June 14-17, 201

Status of the Novosibirsk terahertz FEL

The first stage of Novosibirsk high-power free-electron laser (FEL) was commissioned in 2003. It is based on a normal conducting CW energy recovery linac. Now the FEL provides electromagnetic radiation in the wavelength range of 120…180 micrometers. An average power is 400 W. The minimum measured line width is 0.3%, which is close to the Fourier-transform limit. A user-beamline assembly is in progress, parts of the full-scale machine are manufactured. The latter will operate in the near IR region and provide higher average powerВ 2003 году в Новосибирске заработала первая очередь мощного лазера на свободных электронах (ЛСЭ). Машина построена на базе линака-рекуператора непрерывного действия. В настоящее время ЛСЭ работает в диапазоне длин волн 120…180 мкм, его средняя мощность достигает 400 Вт. Минимальная измеренная ши- рина полосы излучения составляет 0.3%, что близко к теоретическому минимуму. В настоящее время монтируются каналы разводки излучения для пользователей, части полномасштабной машины запущены в производство. Полномасштабная машина будет работать в ближнем ИК-диапазоне и обладать большей мощностью.В 2003 році в Новосибірську заробила перша черга потужного лазера на вільних електронах (ЛВЕ). Машина побудована на базі лінака-рекуператора безперервної дії. Зараз ЛВЕ працює в діапазоні довжин хвиль 120...180 мкм, його середня потужність досягає 400 Вт. Мінімальна виміряна ширина смуги випромінювання становить 0.3%, що близько до теоретичного мінімуму. Зараз монтуються канали розведення випромінювання для користувачів, частини повномасштабної машини запущені у виробництво. Повномасштабна машина буде працювати в ближньому ІЧ-діапазоні і мати більшу потужність

Experimental investigation and validation of neutral beam current drive for ITER through ITPA Joint Experiments

Joint experiments investigating the off-axis neutral beam current drive (NBCD) capability to be utilized for advanced operation scenario development in ITER were conducted in four tokamaks (ASDEX Upgrade (AUG), DIII-D, JT-60U and MAST) through the international tokamak physics activity (ITPA). The following results were obtained in the joint experiments, where the toroidal field, B t, covered 0.4-3.7 T, the plasma current, Ip, 0.5-1.2 MA, and the beam energy, Eb, 65-350 keV. A current profile broadened by off-axis NBCD was observed in MAST. In DIII-D and JT-60U, the NB driven current profile has been evaluated using motional Stark effect diagnostics and good agreement between the measured and calculated NB driven current profile was observed. In AUG (at low δ ∼ 0.2) and DIII-D, introduction of a fast-ion diffusion coefficient of Db ∼ 0.3-0.5 m2 s-1 in the calculation gave better agreement at high heating power (5 MW and 7.2 MW, respectively), suggesting anomalous transport of fast ions by turbulence. It was found through these ITPA joint experiments that NBCD related physics quantities reasonably agree with calculations (with Db = 0-0.5 m2 s-1) in all devices when there is no magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) activity except ELMs. Proximity of measured off-axis beam driven current to the corresponding calculation with Db = 0 has been discussed for ITER in terms of a theoretically predicted scaling of fast-ion diffusion that depends on Eb/Te for electrostatic turbulence or βt for electromagnetic turbulence. © 2011 IAEA, Vienna