1,068 research outputs found
Nonlinear wave propagation and reconnection at magnetic X-points in the Hall MHD regime
The highly dynamical, complex nature of the solar atmosphere naturally
implies the presence of waves in a topologically varied magnetic environment.
Here, the interaction of waves with topological features such as null points is
inevitable and potentially important for energetics. The low resistivity of the
solar coronal plasma implies that non-MHD effects should be considered in
studies of magnetic energy release in this environment. This paper investigates
the role of the Hall term in the propagation and dissipation of waves, their
interaction with 2D magnetic X-points and the nature of the resulting
reconnection. A Lagrangian remap shock-capturing code (Lare2d) is used to study
the evolution of an initial fast magnetoacoustic wave annulus for a range of
values of the ion skin depth in resistive Hall MHD. A magnetic null-point
finding algorithm is also used to locate and track the evolution of the
multiple null-points that are formed in the system. Depending on the ratio of
ion skin depth to system size, our model demonstrates that Hall effects can
play a key role in the wave-null interaction. In particular, the initial
fast-wave pulse now consists of whistler and ion-cyclotron components; the
dispersive nature of the whistler wave leads to (i) earlier interaction with
the null, (ii) the creation of multiple additional, transient nulls and, hence,
an increased number of energy release sites. In the Hall regime, the relevant
timescales (such as the onset of reconnection and the period of the oscillatory
relaxation) of the system are reduced significantly, and the reconnection rate
is enhanced.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figure
On Collisionless Electron-Ion Temperature Equilibration in the Fast Solar Wind
We explore a mechanism, entirely new to the fast solar wind, of electron
heating by lower hybrid waves to explain the shift to higher charge states
observed in various elements in the fast wind at 1 A.U. relative to the
original coronal hole plasma. This process is a variation on that previously
discussed for two temperature accretion flows by Begelman & Chiueh. Lower
hybrid waves are generated by gyrating minor ions (mainly alpha-particles) and
become significant once strong ion cyclotron heating sets in beyond 1.5 R_sun.
In this way the model avoids conflict with SUMER electron temperature
diagnostic measurements between 1 and 1.5 R_sun. The principal requirement for
such a process to work is the existence of density gradients in the fast solar
wind, with scale length of similar order to the proton inertial length. Similar
size structures have previously been inferred by other authors from radio
scintillation observations and considerations of ion cyclotron wave generation
by global resonant MHD waves.Comment: 32 pages including 11 figures, 4 tables, accepted by Ap
Beam-Ion Acceleration during Edge Localized Modes in the ASDEX Upgrade Tokamak
The acceleration of beam ions during edge localized modes (ELMs) in a tokamak is observed for the first
time through direct measurements of fast-ion losses in low collisionality plasmas. The accelerated beamion
population exhibits well-localized velocity-space structures which are revealed by means of tomographic
inversion of the measurement, showing energy gains of the order of tens of keV. This suggests that
the ion acceleration results from a resonant interaction between the beam ions and parallel electric fields
arising during the ELM. Orbit simulations are carried out to identify the mode-particle resonances
responsible for the energy gain in the particle phase space. The observation motivates the incorporation of a
kinetic description of fast particles in ELM models and may contribute to a better understanding of the
mechanisms responsible for particle acceleration, ubiquitous in astrophysical and space plasmas.H2020 Marie- Sklodowska Curie programme (Grant No. 708257)Ministerio de EconomĂa y Competitividad. FIS2015-69362-
Solar Flares as Cascades of Reconnecting Magnetic Loops
A model for the solar coronal magnetic field is proposed where multiple
directed loops evolve in space and time. Loops injected at small scales are
anchored by footpoints of opposite polarity moving randomly on a surface.
Nearby footpoints of the same polarity aggregate, and loops can reconnect when
they collide. This may trigger a cascade of further reconnection, representing
a solar flare. Numerical simulations show that a power law distribution of
flare energies emerges, associated with a scale free network of loops,
indicating self-organized criticality.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, To be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Nonthermal Emission from a Supernova Remnant in a Molecular Cloud
In evolved supernova remnants (SNRs) interacting with molecular clouds, such
as IC 443, W44, and 3C391, a highly inhomogeneous structure consisting of a
forward shock of moderate Mach number, a cooling layer, a dense radiative shell
and an interior region filled with hot tenuous plasma is expected. We present a
kinetic model of nonthermal electron injection, acceleration and propagation in
that environment and find that these SNRs are efficient electron accelerators
and sources of hard X- and gamma-ray emission. The energy spectrum of the
nonthermal electrons is shaped by the joint action of first and second order
Fermi acceleration in a turbulent plasma with substantial Coulomb losses.
Bremsstrahlung, synchrotron, and inverse Compton radiation of the nonthermal
electrons produce multiwavelength photon spectra in quantitative agreement with
the radio and the hard emission observed by ASCA and EGRET from IC 443. We
distinguish interclump shock wave emission from molecular clump shock wave
emission accounting for a complex structure of molecular cloud. Spatially
resolved X- and gamma- ray spectra from the supernova remnants IC 443, W44, and
3C391 as might be observed with BeppoSAX, Chandra XRO, XMM, INTEGRAL and GLAST
would distinguish the contribution of the energetic lepton component to the
gamma-rays observed by EGRET.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figure, Astrophysical Journal, v.538, 2000 (in press
Rayleigh-Taylor Instabilities in Young Supernova Remnants Undergoing Efficient Particle Acceleration
We employ hydrodynamic simulations to study the effects of high shock
compression ratios, as expected for fast shocks with efficient particle
acceleration, on the convective instability of driven waves in supernova
remnants. We find that the instability itself does not depend significantly on
the compression ratio, but because the width of the interaction region between
the forward and reverse shocks can shrink significantly with increasing shock
compression, we find that convective instabilities can reach all the way to the
forward shock front if compression ratios are high enough.Comment: Submitted to The Astrophysical Journa
Cosmic Ray Electrons in Groups and Clusters of Galaxies: Primary and Secondary Populations from a Numerical Cosmological Simulation
We study the generation and distribution of high energy electrons in cosmic
environment and their observational consequences by carrying out the first
cosmological simulation that includes directly cosmic ray (CR) particles.
Starting from cosmological initial conditions we follow the evolution of
primary and secondary electrons (CRE), CR ions (CRI) and a passive magnetic
field. CRIs and primary CREs are injected and accelerated at large scale
structure shocks. Secondary CREs are continuously generated through inelastic
p-p collisions. We include spatial transport, adiabatic expansion/compression,
Coulomb collisions, bremsstrahlung, synchrotron (SE)and inverse Compton (IC)
emission. We find that, from the perspective of cosmic shock energy and
acceleration efficiency, the few detections of hard X-ray radiation excess
could be explained in the framework of IC emission of primary CREs in clusters
undergoing high accretion/merger phase. Instead, IC emission from both primary
and secondary CREs accounts at most for a small fraction of the radiation
excesses detected in the extreme-UV (except for the Coma cluster as reported by
Bowyer et al.1999). Next, we calculate the SE after normalizing the magnetic
field so that for a Coma-like cluster ^1/2~3 \muG. Our results indicate
that the SE from secondary CREs reproduces several general properties of radio
halos, including the recently found P_1.4GHz vs T relation, the morphology and
polarization of the emitting region and, to some extent, the spectral index.
Moreover, SE from primary CREs turns out sufficient to power extended regions
resembling radio relics observed at the outskirts of clusters. Again we find
striking resemblance between morphology, polarization and spectral index of our
synthetic maps and those reported in the literature.Comment: emulateapj, 27 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables; ApJ in pres
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