545 research outputs found
Late-Time Convection in the Collapse of a 23 Solar Mass Star
The results of a 3-dimensional SNSPH simulation of the core collapse of a 23
solar mass star are presented. This simulation did not launch an explosion
until over 600ms after collapse, allowing an ideal opportunity to study the
evolution and structure of the convection below the accretion shock to late
times. This late-time convection allows us to study several of the recent
claims in the literature about the role of convection: is it dominated by an
l=1 mode driven by vortical-acoustic (or other) instability, does it produce
strong neutron star kicks, and, finally, is it the key to a new explosion
mechanism? The convective region buffets the neutron star, imparting a 150-200
km/s kick. Because the l=1 mode does not dominate the convection, the neutron
star does not achieve large (>450 km/s) velocities. Finally, the neutron star
in this simulation moves, but does not develop strong oscillations, the energy
source for a recently proposed supernova engine. We discuss the implications
these results have on supernovae, hypernovae (and gamma-ray bursts), and
stellar-massed black holes.Comment: 31 pages (including 13 figures), submitted to Ap
Collisional transport across the magnetic field in drift-fluid models
Drift ordered fluid models are widely applied in studies of low-frequency
turbulence in the edge and scrape-off layer regions of magnetically confined
plasmas. Here, we show how collisional transport across the magnetic field is
self-consistently incorporated into drift-fluid models without altering the
drift-fluid energy integral. We demonstrate that the inclusion of collisional
transport in drift-fluid models gives rise to diffusion of particle density,
momentum and pressures in drift-fluid turbulence models and thereby obviate the
customary use of artificial diffusion in turbulence simulations. We further
derive a computationally efficient, two-dimensional model which can be time
integrated for several turbulence de-correlation times using only limited
computational resources. The model describes interchange turbulence in a
two-dimensional plane perpendicular to the magnetic field located at the
outboard midplane of a tokamak. The model domain has two regions modeling open
and closed field lines. The model employs a computational expedient model for
collisional transport. Numerical simulations show good agreement between the
full and the simplified model for collisional transport
Turbulence, magnetic fields and plasma physics in clusters of galaxies
Observations of galaxy clusters show that the intracluster medium (ICM) is
likely to be turbulent and is certainly magnetized. The properties of this
magnetized turbulence are determined both by fundamental nonlinear
magnetohydrodynamic interactions and by the plasma physics of the ICM, which
has very low collisionality. Cluster plasma threaded by weak magnetic fields is
subject to firehose and mirror instabilities. These saturate and produce
fluctuations at the ion gyroscale, which can scatter particles, increasing the
effective collision rate and, therefore, the effective Reynolds number of the
ICM. A simple way to model this effect is proposed. The model yields a
self-accelerating fluctuation dynamo whereby the field grows explosively fast,
reaching the observed, dynamically important, field strength in a fraction of
the cluster lifetime independent of the exact strength of the seed field. It is
suggested that the saturated state of the cluster turbulence is a combination
of the conventional isotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence, characterized by
folded, direction-reversing magnetic fields and an Alfv\'en-wave cascade at
collisionless scales. An argument is proposed to constrain the reversal scale
of the folded field. The picture that emerges appears to be in qualitative
agreement with observations of magnetic fields in clusters.Comment: revtex, 9 pages, 5 figures; invited talk for the 47th APS DPP
Meeting, Denver, CO, Oct 2005; minor corrections to match the published
versio
Shear Flow Generation and Energetics in Electromagnetic Turbulence
Zonal flows are recognised to play a crucial role for magnetised plasma
confinement. The genesis of these flows out of turbulent fluctuations is
therefore of significant interest. We investigate the relative importance of
zonal flow generation mechanisms via the Reynolds stress, Maxwell stress, and
geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) transfer in drift-Alfv\'en turbulence. By means of
numerical computations we quantify the energy transfer into zonal flows owing
to each of these effects. The importance of the three driving ingredients in
electrostatic and electromagnetic turbulence for conditions relevant to the
edge of fusion devices is revealed for a broad range of parameters. The
Reynolds stress is found to provide a flow drive, while the electromagnetic
Maxwell stress is in the cases considered a sink for the flow energy. In the
limit of high plasma beta, where electromagnetic effects and Alfv\'en dynamics
are important, the Maxwell stress is found to cancel the Reynolds stress to a
high degree. The geodesic oscillations, related to equilibrium pressure profile
modifications due to poloidally asymmetric transport, can act as both sinks as
drive terms, depending on the parameter regime. For high beta cases the GAMs
are the main drive of the flow. This is also reflected in the frequency
dependence of the flow, showing a distinct peak at the GAM frequency in that
regime.Comment: 16 pages, 12 Figure
Mean shear flows generated by nonlinear resonant Alfven waves
In the context of resonant absorption, nonlinearity has two different
manifestations. The first is the reduction in amplitude of perturbations around
the resonant point (wave energy absorption). The second is the generation of
mean shear flows outside the dissipative layer surrounding the resonant point.
Ruderman et al. [Phys. Plasmas 4, 75 (1997)] studied both these effects at the
slow resonance in isotropic plasmas. Clack et al. [Astron. Astrophys. 494}, 317
(2009)] investigated nonlinearity at the Alfven resonance, however, they did
not include the generation of mean shear flow. In this present paper, we
investigate the mean shear flow, analytically, and study its properties. We
find that the flow generated is parallel to the magnetic surfaces and has a
characteristic velocity proportional to , where is
the dimensionless amplitude of perturbations far away from the resonance. This
is, qualitatively, similar to the flow generated at the slow resonance. The
jumps in the derivatives of the parallel and perpendicular components of mean
shear flow across the dissipative layer are derived. We estimate the generated
mean shear flow to be of the order of in both the solar
upper chromosphere and solar corona, however, this value strongly depends on
the choice of boundary conditions. It is proposed that the generated mean shear
flow can produce a Kelvin--Helmholtz instability at the dissipative layer which
can create turbulent motions. This instability would be an additional effect,
as a Kelvin--Helmholtz instability may already exist due to the velocity field
of the resonant Alfven waves. This flow can also be superimposed onto existing
large scale motions in the solar upper atmosphere.Comment: 11 page
Magnetic Reconnection with Radiative Cooling. I. Optically-Thin Regime
Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process associated with a rapid
dissipation of magnetic energy, is believed to power many disruptive phenomena
in laboratory plasma devices, the Earth magnetosphere, and the solar corona.
Traditional reconnection research, geared towards these rather tenuous
environments, has justifiably ignored the effects of radiation on the
reconnection process. However, in many reconnecting systems in high-energy
astrophysics (e.g., accretion-disk coronae, relativistic jets, magnetar flares)
and, potentially, in powerful laser plasma and z-pinch experiments, the energy
density is so high that radiation, in particular radiative cooling, may start
to play an important role. This observation motivates the development of a
theory of high-energy-density radiative magnetic reconnection. As a first step
towards this goal, we present in this paper a simple Sweet--Parker-like theory
of non-relativistic resistive-MHD reconnection with strong radiative cooling.
First, we show how, in the absence of a guide magnetic field, intense cooling
leads to a strong compression of the plasma in the reconnection layer,
resulting in a higher reconnection rate. The compression ratio and the layer
temperature are determined by the balance between ohmic heating and radiative
cooling. The lower temperature in the radiatively-cooled layer leads to a
higher Spitzer resistivity and hence to an extra enhancement of the
reconnection rate. We then apply our general theory to several specific
astrophysically important radiative processes (bremsstrahlung, cyclotron, and
inverse-Compton) in the optically thin regime, for both the zero- and
strong-guide-field cases. We derive specific expressions for key reconnection
parameters, including the reconnection rate. We also discuss the limitations
and conditions for applicability of our theory.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figur
Modification of classical electron transport due to collisions between electrons and fast ions
A Fokker-Planck model for the interaction of fast ions with the thermal
electrons in a quasi-neutral plasma is developed. When the fast ion population
has a net flux (i.e. the distribution of the fast ions is anisotropic in
velocity space) the electron distribution function is significantly perturbed
from Maxwellian by collisions with the fast ions, even if the fast ion density
is orders of magnitude smaller than the electron density. The Fokker-Planck
model is used to derive classical electron transport equations (a generalized
Ohm's law and a heat flow equation) that include the effects of the
electron-fast ion collisions. It is found that these collisions result in a
current term in the transport equations which can be significant even when
total current is zero. The new transport equations are analyzed in the context
of a number of scenarios including particle heating in ICF and MIF
plasmas and ion beam heating of dense plasmas
Ion-neutral decoupling in the nonlinear Kelvin–Helmholtz instability: Case of field-aligned flow
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from AIP Publishing via the DOI in this recordThe nonlinear magnetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHi), and the turbulence it creates, appears in many astrophysical
systems. This includes those systems where the local plasma conditions are such that the plasma is not fully ionised,
for example in the lower solar atmosphere and molecular clouds. In a partially ionised system, the fluids couple
via collisions which occur at characteristic frequencies, therefore neutral and plasma species become decoupled for
sufficiently high-frequency dynamics. Here we present high-resolution 2D two-fluid simulations of the nonlinear KHi
for a system that traverses the dynamic scales between decoupled fluids and coupled dynamics. We discover some
interesting phenomena, including the presence of a density coupling that is independent of the velocity coupling. Using
these simulations we analyse the heating rate, and two regimes appear. The first is a regime where the neutral flow
is decoupled from the magnetic field that is characterised with a constant heating rate, then at larger scales the strong
coupling approximation holds and the heating rate. At large scales with the KHi layer width to the 2 power. There is
an energy cascade in the simulation, but the nature of the frictional heating means the heating rate is determined by the
largest scale of the turbulent motions, a fact that has consequences for understanding turbulent dissipation in multi-fluid
systems.Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC
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