254 research outputs found
Effects of electron inertia in collisionless magnetic reconnection
We present a study of collisionless magnetic reconnection within the
framework of full two-fluid MHD for a completely ionized hydrogen plasma,
retaining the effects of the Hall current, electron pressure and electron
inertia. We performed 2.5D simulations using a pseudo-spectral code with no
dissipative effects. We check that the ideal invariants of the problem are
conserved down to round-off errors. Our results show that the change in the
topology of the magnetic field lines is exclusively due to the presence of
electron inertia. The computed reconnection rates remain a fair fraction of the
Alfv\'en velocity, which therefore qualifies as fast reconnection
Energy spectrum, dissipation and spatial structures in reduced Hall magnetohydrodynamic
We analyze the effect of the Hall term in the magnetohydrodynamic turbulence
under a strong externally supported magnetic field, seeing how this changes the
energy cascade, the characteristic scales of the flow and the dynamics of
global magnitudes, with particular interest in the dissipation.
Numerical simulations of freely evolving three-dimensional reduced
magnetohydrodynamics (RHMHD) are performed, for different values of the Hall
parameter (the ratio of the ion skin depth to the macroscopic scale of the
turbulence) controlling the impact of the Hall term. The Hall effect modifies
the transfer of energy across scales, slowing down the transfer of energy from
the large scales up to the Hall scale (ion skin depth) and carrying faster the
energy from the Hall scale to smaller scales. The final outcome is an effective
shift of the dissipation scale to larger scales but also a development of
smaller scales. Current sheets (fundamental structures for energy dissipation)
are affected in two ways by increasing the Hall effect, with a widening but at
the same time generating an internal structure within them. In the case where
the Hall term is sufficiently intense, the current sheet is fully delocalized.
The effect appears to reduce impulsive effects in the flow, making it less
intermittent.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure
Coronal MHD transport theory and phenomenology
In the presence of a weakly inhomogeneous background, magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations are transported, reflected and at small scales, dissipated. In contrast to orderings appropriate to outer solar wind conditions, here we explore transport in a regime relevant for solar coronal heating and solar wind acceleration, in which effects of the order of the Alfvén speed are retained while disregarding the solar wind velocity. We consider the general properties of the transport equations as well as some solutions of interest
Conditions for sustainment of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence driven by Alfvén waves
In a number of space and astrophysical plasmas,turbulence is driven by the supply of wave energy. In the context of incompressible magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) there are basic physical reasons, associated with conservation of cross helicity, why this kind of driving may be ineffective in sustaining turbulence. Here an investigation is made into some basic requirements for sustaining steady turbulence and dissipation in the context of incompressible MHD in a weakly inhomogeneous open field line region, driven by the supply of unidirectionally propagating waves at a boundary. While such wave driving cannot alone sustain turbulence, the addition of reflection permits sustainment. Another sustainment issue is the action of the nonpropagating or quasi-two dimensional part of the spectrum; this is particularly important in setting up a steady cascade. Thus, details of the waveboundary conditions also affect the ease of sustaining a cascade. Supply of a broadband spectrum of waves can overcome the latter difficulty but not the former, that is, the need for reflections. Implications for coronal heating and other astrophysical applications, as well as simulations, are suggested
Intermittency in Hall-magnetohydrodynamics with a strong guide field
We present a detailed study of intermittency in the velocity and magnetic
field fluctuations of compressible Hall-magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with an
external guide field. To solve the equations numerically, a reduced model valid
when a strong guide field is present is used. Different values for the ion skin
depth are considered in the simulations. The resulting data is analyzed
computing field increments in several directions perpendicular to the guide
field, and building structure functions and probability density functions. In
the magnetohydrodynamic limit we recover the usual results with the magnetic
field being more intermittent than the velocity field. In the presence of the
Hall effect, field fluctuations at scales smaller than the ion skin depth show
a substantial decrease in the level of intermittency, with close to monofractal
scaling.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
MHD turbulence and heating of the open field-line solar corona
This paper discusses the possibility that heating of the solar corona in open field-line regions emanating from coronal holes is due to a nonlinear cascade, driven by low-frequency or quasi-static magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations. Reflection from coronal inhomogeneities plays an important role in sustaining the cascade. Physical and observational constraints are discussed. Kinetic processes that convert cascaded energy into heat must occur in regions of turbulent small-scale reconnection, and may be similar in some respects to ion heating due to intense electron beams observed in the aurora
Energy spectrum of turbulent fluctuations in boundary driven reduced magnetohydrodynamics
The nonlinear dynamics of a bundle of magnetic flux ropes driven by
stationary fluid motions at their endpoints is studied, by performing numerical
simulations of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. The development of MHD
turbulence is shown, where the system reaches a state that is characterized by
the ratio between the Alfven time (the time for incompressible MHD waves to
travel along the field lines) and the convective time scale of the driving
motions. This ratio of time scales determines the energy spectra and the
relaxation toward different regimes ranging from weak to strong turbulence. A
connection is made with phenomenological theories for the energy spectra in MHD
turbulence.Comment: Published in Physics of Plasma
Apparent suppression of turbulent magnetic dynamo action by a dc magnetic field
Numerical studies of the effect of a dc magnetic field on dynamo action
(development of magnetic fields with large spatial scales), due to
helically-driven magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, are reported. The apparent
effect of the dc magnetic field is to suppress the dynamo action, above a
relatively low threshold. However, the possibility that the suppression results
from an improper combination of rectangular triply spatially-periodic boundary
conditions and a uniform dc magnetic field is addressed: heretofore a common
and convenient computational convention in turbulence investigations. Physical
reasons for the observed suppression are suggested. Other geometries and
boundary conditions are offered for which the dynamo action is expected not to
be suppressed by the presence of a dc magnetic field component.Comment: To appear in Physics of Plasma
A reduced magnetohydrodynamic model of coronal heating in open magnetic regions driven by reflected low-frequency waves
A reduced magnetohydrodynamic (RMHD) description is employed to examine a suggestion made by W. H. Matthaeus and colleagues in 1999 that coronal heating might be sustained by a cascade of low-frequency MHD turbulence. Here RMHD simulations show that the low-frequency cascade to high transverse wavenumbers can be driven by an externally maintained flux of low-frequency propagating Alfvén waves, in combination with reflection caused by an inhomogeneous background medium. The simulations show that the suggestions made previously on the basis of a phenomenology are indeed realizable. In addition, the effect is seen to sensitively depend on the presence of reflection, as the background turbulence level needed to maintain the cascade can be sustained only when reflection is imposed. The steady level of turbulence is insensitive to the initial seed turbulence level (provided it is nonzero). Consequences of this model for realistic models of coronal heating in open field-line regions are discussed
Efficient spin control in high-quality-factor planar micro-cavities
A semiconductor microcavity embedding donor impurities and excited by a laser
field is modelled. By including general decay and dephasing processes, and in
particular cavity photon leakage, detailed simulations show that control over
the spin dynamics is significally enhanced in high-quality-factor cavities, in
which case picosecond laser pulses may produce spin-flip with high-fidelity
final states.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
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