48,777 research outputs found
Dynamo action in thick disks around Kerr black holes: high-order resistive GRMHD simulations
We present the first kinematic study of an -dynamo in the
General Relativistic Magneto-HydroDynamics (GRMHD) regime, applied to thick
disks orbiting around Kerr black holes and using a fully covariant mean field
dynamo closure for the Ohm law. We show that the -dynamo
mechanism leads to a continuous exponential growth of the magnetic field within
the disk and to the formation of dynamo waves drifting away or toward the
equatorial plane. Since the evolution of the magnetic field occurs
qualitatively in the same fashion as in the Sun, we present also butterfly
diagrams that characterize our models and show the establishment of an
additional timescale, which depends on the microscopic properties of the
turbulent motions, possibly providing an alternative explanation to
periodicities observed in many high-energy astrophysical sources where
accretion onto a rotating black hole is believed to operate.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Mesophases in Nearly 2D Room-Temperature Ionic Liquids
Computer simulations of (i) a [C12mim][Tf2N] film of nanometric thickness
squeezed at kbar pressure by a piecewise parabolic confining potential reveal a
mesoscopic in-plane density and composition modulation reminiscent of
mesophases seen in 3D samples of the same room-temperature ionic liquid (RTIL).
Near 2D confinement, enforced by a high normal load, relatively long aliphatic
chains are strictly required for the mesophase formation, as confirmed by
computations for two related systems made of (ii) the same [C12mim][Tf2N]
adsorbed at a neutral solid surface and (iii) a shorter-chain RTIL
([C4mim][Tf2N]) trapped in the potential well of part i. No in-plane modulation
is seen for ii and iii. In case ii, the optimal arrangement of charge and
neutral tails is achieved by layering parallel to the surface, while, in case
iii, weaker dispersion and packing interactions are unable to bring aliphatic
tails together into mesoscopic islands, against overwhelming entropy and
Coulomb forces. The onset of in-plane mesophases could greatly affect the
properties of long-chain RTILs used as lubricants.Comment: 24 pages 10 figure
The Effects of Shear and Rotation Anisotropy Upon the Process of Gravitational Instability
In this paper, we study the role of shear fields on the evolution of density
perturbations embedded in a Friedmann flat background universe, by studying the
evolution of a homogeneous ellipsoid model. In this context, we show that while
the effect of the shear is that of increasing the growth rate of the density
contrast of a mass element, the angular momentum acquired by the ellipsoid has
the right magnitude to counterbalance the shear. Finally, our result show that
initial asphericities and tidal interaction induce a slowing down of the
collapse after the system has broken away from the general expansion, in
perfect agreement with the previrialization conjecture (Peebles & Groth 1976;
Davis & Peebles 1977)
An optimal mass transport approach for limits of eigenvalue problems for the fractional -Laplacian
We find interpretation using optimal mass transport theory for eigenvalue
problems obtained as limits of the eigenvalue problems for the fractional
Laplacian operators as . We deal both with Dirichlet and
Neumann boundary conditions.Comment: 20 page
Fast reconnection in relativistic plasmas: the magnetohydrodynamics tearing instability revisited
Fast reconnection operating in magnetically dominated plasmas is often
invoked in models for magnetar giant flares, for magnetic dissipation in pulsar
winds, or to explain the gamma-ray flares observed in the Crab nebula, hence
its investigation is of paramount importance in high-energy astrophysics. Here
we study, by means of two dimensional numerical simulations, the linear phase
and the subsequent nonlinear evolution of the tearing instability within the
framework of relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamics, as appropriate in
situations where the Alfven velocity approaches the speed of light. It is found
that the linear phase of the instability closely matches the analysis in
classical MHD, where the growth rate scales with the Lundquist number S as
S^-1/2, with the only exception of an enhanced inertial term due to the thermal
and magnetic energy contributions. In addition, when thin current sheets of
inverse aspect ratio scaling as S^-1/3 are considered, the so-called "ideal"
tearing regime is retrieved, with modes growing independently on S and
extremely fast, on only a few light crossing times of the sheet length. The
overall growth of fluctuations is seen to solely depend on the value of the
background Alfven velocity. In the fully nonlinear stage we observe an inverse
cascade towards the fundamental mode, with Petschek-type supersonic jets
propagating at the external Alfven speed from the X-point, and a fast
reconnection rate at the predicted value R~(ln S)^-1.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication (MNRAS
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