723 research outputs found
Differential Rotation and Turbulence in Extended HI Disks
When present, extended disks of neutral hydrogen around spiral galaxies show
a remarkably uniform velocity dispersion of approx 6 km/s. Since stellar winds
and supernovae are largely absent in such regions, neither the magnitude nor
the constancy of this number can be accounted for in the classical picture in
which interstellar turbulence is driven by stellar energy sources. Here we
suggest that magnetic fields with strengths of a few microgauss in these
extended disks allow energy to be extracted from galactic differential rotation
through MHD driven turbulence. The magnitude and constancy of the observed
velocity dispersion may be understood if its value is Alfvenic. Moreover, by
providing a simple explanation for a lower bound to the gaseous velocity
fluctuations, MHD processes may account for the sharp outer edge to star
formation in galaxy disks.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, to appear in ApJ, LaTeX uses aas2pp4.sty,
eliminated duplicate paragrap
Can conduction induce convection? The non-linear saturation of buoyancy instabilities in dilute plasmas
We study the effects of anisotropic thermal conduction on low-collisionality,
astrophysical plasmas using two and three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic
simulations. For weak magnetic fields, dilute plasmas are buoyantly unstable
for either sign of the temperature gradient: the heat-flux-driven buoyancy
instability (HBI) operates when the temperature increases with radius while the
magnetothermal instability (MTI) operates in the opposite limit. In contrast to
previous results, we show that, in the presence of a sustained temperature
gradient, the MTI drives strong turbulence and operates as an efficient
magnetic dynamo (akin to standard, adiabatic convection). Together, the
turbulent and magnetic energies contribute up to ~10% of the pressure support
in the plasma. In addition, the MTI drives a large convective heat flux, ~1.5%
of rho c_s^3. These findings are robust even in the presence of an external
source of strong turbulence. Our results on the nonlinear saturation of the HBI
are consistent with previous studies but we explain physically why the HBI
saturates quiescently by re-orienting the magnetic field (suppressing the
conductive heat flux through the plasma), while the MTI saturates by generating
sustained turbulence. We also systematically study how an external source of
turbulence affects the saturation of the HBI: such turbulence can disrupt the
HBI only on scales where the shearing rate of the turbulence is faster than the
growth rate of the HBI. In particular, our results provide a simple mapping
between the level of turbulence in a plasma and the effective isotropic thermal
conductivity. We discuss the astrophysical implications of these findings, with
a particular focus on the intracluster medium of galaxy clusters.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures. Submitted to MNRA
Linear and non-linear theory of a parametric instability of hydrodynamic warps in Keplerian discs
We consider the stability of warping modes in Keplerian discs. We find them
to be parametrically unstable using two lines of attack, one based on
three-mode couplings and the other on Floquet theory. We confirm the existence
of the instability, and investigate its nonlinear development in three
dimensions, via numerical experiment. The most rapidly growing non-axisymmetric
disturbances are the most nearly axisymmetric (low m) ones. Finally, we offer a
simple, somewhat speculative model for the interaction of the parametric
instability with the warp. We apply this model to the masing disc in NGC 4258
and show that, provided the warp is not forced too strongly, parametric
instability can fix the amplitude of the warp.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, revised version with appendix added, to be
published in MNRA
Convective magneto-rotational instabilities in accretion disks
We present a study of instabilities occuring in thick magnetized accretion
disks. We calculate the growth rates of these instabilities and characterise
precisely the contribution of the magneto-rotational and the convective
mechanism. All our calculations are performed in radially stratified disks in
the cylindrical limit. The numerical calculations are performed using the
appropriate local dispersion equation solver discussed in Blokland et al.
(2005). A comparison with recent results by Narayan et al. (2002) shows
excellent agreement with their approximate growth rates only if the disks are
weakly magnetized. However, for disks close to equipartition, the dispersion
equation from Narayan et al. (2002) loses its validity. Our calculations allow
for a quantitative determination of the increase of the growth rate due to the
magneto-rotational mechanism. We find that the increase of the growth rate for
long wavelength convective modes caused by this mechanism is almost neglible.
On the other hand, the growth rate of short wavelength instabilities can be
significantly increased by this mechanism, reaching values up to 60%.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Radiative thermal conduction fronts
The discovery of the O VI interstellar absorption lines in our Galaxy by the Copernicus observatory was a turning point in our understanding of the Interstellar Medium (ISM). It implied the presence of widespread hot (approx. 10 to the 6th power K) gas in disk galaxies. The detection of highly ionized species in quasi-stellar objects' absorption spectra may be the first indirect observation of this hot phase in external disk galaxies. Previous efforts to understand extensive O VI absorption line data from our Galaxy were not very successful in locating the regions where this absorption originates. The location at interfaces between evaporating ISM clouds and hot gas was favored, but recent studies of steady-state conduction fronts in spherical clouds by Ballet, Arnaud, and Rothenflug (1986) and Bohringer and Hartquist (1987) rejected evaporative fronts as the absorption sites. Researchers report here on time-dependent nonequilibrium calculations of planar conductive fronts whose properties match well with observations, and suggest reasons for the difference between the researchers' results and the above. They included magnetic fields in additional models, not reported here, and the conclusions are not affected by their presence
New composite models of partially ionized protoplanetary disks
We study an accretion disk in which three different regions may coexist: MHD
turbulent regions, dead zones and gravitationally unstable regions. Although
the dead zones are stable, there is some transport due to the Reynolds stress
associated with waves emitted from the turbulent layers. We model the transport
in each of the different regions by its own parameter, this being 10
to times smaller in dead zones than in active layers. In
gravitationally unstable regions, is determined by the fact that the
disk self-adjusts to a state of marginal stability. We construct steady-state
models of such disks. We find that for uniform mass flow, the disk has to be
more massive, hotter and thicker at the radii where there is a dead zone. In
disks in which the dead zone is very massive, gravitational instabilities are
present. Whether such models are realistic or not depends on whether
hydrodynamical fluctuations driven by the turbulent layers can penetrate all
the way inside the dead zone. This may be more easily achieved when the ratio
of the mass of the active layer to that of the dead zone is relatively large,
which in our models corresponds to in the dead zone being about 10% of
in the active layers. If the disk is at some stage of its evolution
not in steady-state, then the surface density will evolve toward the
steady-state solution. However, if in the dead zone is much smaller
than in the active zone, the timescale for the parts of the disk beyond a few
AU to reach steady-state may become longer than the disk lifetime. Steady-state
disks with dead zones are a more favorable environment for planet formation
than standard disks, since the dead zone is typically 10 times more massive
than a corresponding turbulent zone at the same location.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Simulations of MHD Instabilities in Intracluster Medium Including Anisotropic Thermal Conduction
We perform a suite of simulations of cooling cores in clusters of galaxies in
order to investigate the effect of the recently discovered heat flux buoyancy
instability (HBI) on the evolution of cores. Our models follow the
3-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) of cooling cluster cores and capture
the effects of anisotropic heat conduction along the lines of magnetic field,
but do not account for the cosmological setting of clusters or the presence of
AGN. Our model clusters can be divided into three groups according to their
final thermodynamical state: catastrophically collapsing cores, isothermal
cores, and an intermediate group whose final state is determined by the initial
configuration of magnetic field. Modeled cores that are reminiscent of real
cluster cores show evolution towards thermal collapse on a time scale which is
prolonged by a factor of ~2-10 compared with the zero-conduction cases. The
principal effect of the HBI is to re-orient field lines to be perpendicular to
the temperature gradient. Once the field has been wrapped up onto spherical
surfaces surrounding the core, the core is insulated from further conductive
heating (with the effective thermal conduction suppressed to less than 1/100th
of the Spitzer value) and proceeds to collapse. We speculate that, in real
clusters, the central AGN and possibly mergers play the role of "stirrers,"
periodically disrupting the azimuthal field structure and allowing thermal
conduction to sporadically heat the core.Comment: 16 pages, 3 tables, 17 figures, accepted to ApJ with minor revisions,
to appear in Volume 704, Oct 20, 2009 issu
A Weakly nonlinear theory for spiral density waves excited by accretion disc turbulence
We develop an analytic theory to describe spiral density waves propagating in
a shearing disc in the weakly nonlinear regime. Such waves are generically
found to be excited in simulations of turbulent accretion disks, in particular
if said turbulence arises from the magneto-rotational instability (MRI). We
derive a modified Burgers equation governing their dynamics, which includes the
effects of nonlinear steepening, dispersion, and a bulk viscosity to support
shocks. We solve this equation approximately to obtain nonlinear sawtooth
solutions that are asymptotically valid at late times. In this limit, the
presence of shocks is found to cause the wave amplitude to decrease with time
as 1/t^2. The validity of the analytic description is confirmed by direct
numerical solution of the full nonlinear equations of motion. The asymptotic
forms of the wave profiles of the state variables are also found to occur in
MRI simulations indicating that dissipation due to shocks plays a significant
role apart from any effects arising from direct coupling to the turbulence
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