Simulations of the supersonic radiative jet propagation in plasmas

Supersonic plasma jets are ubiquitous in astrophysics. Our study focus on the jets emanated from Herbig-Haro (HH) objects. They have velocities of a few hundred km/s and are extending over the distances more than a parsec. Interaction of the jets with surrounding matter produces two specific structures in the jet head: the bow shock and the Mach disk. The radiative cooling of these shocks affects strongly the jet dynamics. A tool to understand the physics of these jets is the laboratory experiment. A supersonic jet interaction with surrounding plasma was studied on the PALS laser facility. A collimated high-Z plasma jet with a velocity exceeding 400 km/s was generated and propagated over a few millimeters length. Here we report on study the effect of radiative cooling on the head jet structure with a 2D radiative hydrodynamic code. The simulation results demonstrated the scalability of the experimental observations to the HH jets.     

Design of jet-driven, radiative-blast-wave experiments for 10 kJ class lasers

We discuss the design of jet-driven, radiative-blast-wave experiments for a 10 kJ class pulsed laser facility. The astrophysical motivation is the fact that jets from Young Stellar Objects are typically radiative and that the resulting radiative bow shocks produce complex structure that is difficult to predict. To drive a radiative bow shock, the jet velocity must exceed the threshold for strong radiative effects. Using a 10 kJ class laser, it is possible to produce such a jet that can drive a radiative bow shock in gas that is dense enough to permit diagnosis by x-ray radiography. We describe the design and simulations of such experiments. The basic approach is to shock the jet material and then accelerate it through a collimating hole and into a Xe ambient medium. We identify issues that must be addressed through experimentation or further simulations in order to field successful experiments.     

What Drives Molecular Outflows from Young Stars?

After briefly reviewing observations of molecular outflows from young stars, we discuss current ideas as to how they might be accelerated. Broadly speaking it is thought that such outflows represented either deflected accreted gas, or ambient material that has been pushed by a poorly collimated wind or accelerated by a highly collimated jet. Observations tend to favour the latter model, with jets being the clear favourite at least for the youngest flows. Jets from young stars may accelerate ambient gas either through the development of a boundary layer, where ambient and jet material are turbulently mixed, or at the working surface of the jet, i.e. the bow shock, via the prompt entrainment mechanism. Recently, we (Downes and Ray, 1999) have investigated, through simulations, the efficiency of prompt entrainment in jets from young stars as a means of accelerating ambient molecular gas without causing dissociation. Prompt entrainment was found to be very poor at transferring momentum from the jet to its surroundings in both the case of ``heavy' (not surprizingly) but also ``equi-density' (with respect to the ambient environment) jets. Moreover the transfer efficiency decreases with increasing density as the bow shock takes on a more aerodynamic shape. Models, however, in which jets are the ultimate prime movers, do have the advantage that they can reproduce several observational features of molecular outflows. In particular a power law relationship for mass versus velocity, similar to what is observed, is predicted by the simulations and the so-called ``Hubble Law' for molecular outflows is naturally explained. Pulsing of the jet, i.e. varying its velocity, is found to have little effect on the momentum transfer efficiency at least for the dynamically young jets we have studied. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Colliding plasma experiments to study astrophysical-jet relevant physics

We present the results of experiments in which jets are created through the collision of two laser-produced plasmas. These experiments use a simple ‘v-foil’ target design: two thin foils are placed at an angle of 140° to each other, and irradiated with a high-energy laser. The plasmas from the rear face of these foils collide and drive plasma jets moving with a velocity of ～300 km?s^?1. By choosing the foil thickness and material to suit the laser conditions available, it has proven possible to create plasma jets for which the relevant scaling parameters show significant overlap with those of outflows associated with young stellar objects (YSOs). Preliminary results are also shown from experiments to study the effect of an ambient gas on jet propagation. Nominally identical experiments are conducted either in vacuum or in an ambient medium of 5 mbar of nitrogen gas. The gas is seen to increase the jet collimation, and to introduce shock structures at the head of the outflow.     

Experiments and Numerical Simulations on the Mid-Term Evolution of Hypersonic Jets

The experiment described here is focussed to the observation of underexpanded, hypersonic turbulent jets. The experiment is relevant to a few aspects concerning the dynamics of astrophysical phenomena such as the Herbig-Haro jets and to the interaction between the large-scale vortices and the system of shocks that determine the spreading and entrainment properties of highly compressible free-flows. A number of orifice jets with a ratio between the stagnation pressure and the ambient pressure of the order 10³-10⁴ have been studied by changing the stagnation/ambient density ratio. This has been realized using dissimilar gases in the jet and in the ambient medium: by using He, Ar and air the stagnation/ambient density ratio can be changed by one order of magnitude while keeping fixed the pressure ratio. It has been possible to visualize the near and mid-term evolution of the jets and measure the axial and transversal density distributions. A comparison relevant to the shock waves configuration in between the nozzle exit and the first Mach's disk is shown for an air in air laboratory jet and its numerical simulation.     

Effects of dense medium surrounding galactic-sized radio sources

In this paper, I have analysed the subarcsecond polarization structure of two high-z compact steep-spectrum quasars. Morphology suggests that the jets are interacting strongly with intergalactic medium. Models of bending by ram pressure equilibrium in a cooling flow and alignment of magnetic field lines by jet-IGM shock suggest that the CSS jets are light, supersonic and mildly relativistic. Particle energy index variations along the jet suggests replenishment triggered by such interactions.     

A Unified View of Relativistic Jets

I summarize here recent work on the physical conditions in blazar jets including the comparison between emission regions at subparsec scales (10¹⁶⁻¹⁷ cm) and at very large scales (10²²⁻²⁴ cm) recently detected in X-rays by Chandra. The jet properties at both scales together with those of the presumed associated accretion disk (10¹⁴⁻¹⁵ cm) suggest the possibility of a unified scenario for the origin and propagation of jets in strong radio sources.     

The Large-Scale, Decelerating X-ray Jets from the Microquasar Xte J1550−564: Evidence for External Shocks Caused by the Jet-Ism Interaction?

Large-scale, decelerating, relativistic X-ray jets from microquasar XTE J1550−564 has been recently discovered with Chandra by Corbel et al. (2002). We find that the dynamical evolution of the approaching jet at the late time is consistent with the well-known Sedov evolutionary phase R∝ t ^2/5. A trans-relativistic external shock dynamic model by analogy with the evolution of gamma-ray burst remnants, is shown to be able to fit the proper-motion data of the approaching jet reasonably well. The inferred interstellar medium density around the source is well below the canonical value n _ISM∼1 cm⁻³. The rapidly fading X-ray emission can be interpreted as synchrotron radiation from the non-thermal electrons in the adiabatically expanding ejecta. These electrons were accelerated by the reverse shock (moving back into the ejecta) which becomes important when the inertia of the swept external matter leads to an appreciable slowing down of the original ejecta.     

Formation of Working Surfaces in Radiatively Cooled Laboratory Jets

Whilst observations provide many examples of collimated outflows or jets from astrophysical bodies, there remain unresolved questions relating to their formation, propagation and stability. The ability to form scaled jets in the laboratory has provided many useful insights. Experiments (Lebedev et al.: 2002, ApJ 564, 113) using conical arrays of fine metallic wires on the MAGPIE generator (1MA in 240 ns) have produced radiatively cooled collimated jets in vacuum using the redirection of convergent flows by a conical shock. Here we present results of a jet produced by this method propagating through a photo-ionized, quasi-stationary gas cloud. A working surface is observed at the head of the jet. The velocity of this working surface is lower than the velocity of a jet tip in vacuum.     

Observations of molecular jets in Orion A

We report on the results of a wide field near infrared survey for protostellar jets identified via their emission in the 2.12μm line of shock heated molecular hydrogen, done over a 1.2 square degree area in Orion A. We derive an evolutionary sequence for protostellar jets, based on the observed lenghts and H₂ luminosities as well as the evolutionary stage and bolometric luminosity of their driving sources. Protostellar jets start from zero length, evolve quickly to parsec scale extents during the Class 0 phase, and shrink during the Class I and Class II phase. They are first very bright in H₂ emission, and fade later on. This is indicative of strongly time-variably mass accretion onto the driving protostar, with a peak early on, and a subsequent continous decay of accretion activity. Finally, we present evidence for a molecular CO jet from a Class 0 object, supporting the idea that a very efficient outflow phase at very early evolutionary stages should produce very dense, molecular jets.     

Gamma-ray Burst Afterglows from Cylindrical Jets in a Dense Environment

It is widely accepted that many gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are produced by relativistic jets. Previous studies on the beaming effects in GRBs are mainly based on the conical geometry. However, some observations of the relativistic jets in radio galaxies, active galactic nuclei, and “micro-quasars” have shown that many of these outflows are cylindrical, but not conical. In this study, we assume that the jets that produce GRBs are cylindrical, and that the circum-burst environment is dense and optically thick. In the prompt burst phase, the strong X-ray emission can sublimate the circum-burst medium to form an optically thin channel, from which the optical photons are allowed to escape. As a result, the optical afterglows can be observed only for the observers who are positioned on the axes of jets. It is shown that the observed optical afterglows usually decay very rapidly (in the form of S_v oc t^^v^^l₁ where p is the index of electron power-law distribution), due to the joint effect of the lateral expansion of the cylindrical jet and the absorption of optical photons by the dust outside the channel. Our model provides a possible explanation for the dark gamma-ray bursts.     

Distinguishing Propagation vs. Launch Physics of Astrophysical Jets and the Role of Experiments

The absence of other viable momentum sources for collimated flows leads to the likelihood that magnetic fields play a fundamental role in jet launch and/or collimation in astrophysical jets. To best understand the physics of jets, it is useful to distinguish between the launch region where the jet is accelerated and the larger scales where the jet propagates as a collimated structure. Observations presently resolve jet propagation, but not the launch region. Simulations typically probe the launch and propagation regions separately, but not both together. Here, I IDentify some of the physics of jet launch vs. propagation and what laboratory jet experiments to date have probed. Reproducing an astrophysical jet in the lab is unrealistic, so maximizing the benefit of the experiments requires clarifying the astrophysical connection.     

The Evolution of Young Stars, Protostellar Jets & Bipolar Outflows - a Unification Scheme

Close links between jet evolution and protostellar evolution are beginning to be understood. Firstly, stellar jets are reviewed here, establishing the accretion-outflow connection. Then, outflows from young stars are reviewed, suggesting a synchronised development in the star and outflow. This yields a unification scheme in which rising molecular jets dominate the early protostellar epoch, followed by a jet-driven outflow stage and, finally, a bow-driven ballistic stage. This scheme is quantified, yielding the systematic changes in the bolometric, mechanical and shock luminosities and the cross-over phase from dense molecular jets to light atomic jets. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Identification of X-ray lines in the spectrum of the arcsec-scale precessing jets of SS 433

The extended X-ray emission observed at arcsec scales along the propagation trajectory of the precessing relativistic jets of the Galactic microquasar SS 433 features a broad emission line, with the position of the centroid being significantly different for the approaching and receding jets (≈7.3 and ≈6.4 keV, respectively). These observed line positions are at odds with the predictions of the kinematic model for any of the plausible bright spectral lines in this band, raising the question of their identification. Here we address this issue by taking into account time delays of the emission coming from the receding regions of the jets relative to that from the approaching ones, which cause a substantial phase shift and distortion of the predicted line positions for the extended (~10¹⁷ cm) emission compared to the X-ray and optical lines observed from the central source (emitted at distances ~10¹¹ and ~10¹⁵ cm, respectively). We demonstrate that the observed line positions are fully consistent with the Fe XXVI Lyα (E ₀ = 6.96 keV) line emerging from a region of size ~6 × 10¹⁶ cm along the jet. This supports the idea that intensive reheating of the jets up to temperatures >10 keV takes place at these distances, probably as a result of partial deceleration of the jets due to interaction with the surrounding medium, which might cause collisions between discrete dense blobs inside the jets.     

Investigation of shock waves and tangential discontinuities of the cosmic plasma by the radio interference technique

The possibility of investigation of the cosmic plasma dynamics by the radio interference technique based on a finite time of radio wave propagation between the sounding and responding stations is shown. By locating the sounding station on a spacecraft the greatest contribution to the phase difference ΔΦ(t)or the phase difference growth rate $\text{Δ?}$ between the sounding and response signals are caused by disturbances in close proximity to the spacecraft. This method permits interplanetary shock waves and tangential discontinuities to be registered and the velocities and plasma density changes on their fronts to be determined. By using experimental data of ΔΦ(t) or $\text{Δ?(t)}$ one can also obtain information about plasma concentration jump, location and motion of bow shock wave and magnetopause and plasmapause. Available experimental data about different disturbances of cosmic plasma were analysed and the requirements on frequency stability of spacecraft-borne and groundbased radio equipment were estimated to register those disturbances. In most cases relative stability 10^?11–10^?13 provided by present atomic frequency standards is sufficient.     

Precursors and e± pair loading from erupting fireballs

Recent observations suggest that long-duration γ -ray bursts and their afterglows are produced by highly relativistic jets emitted in core-collapse explosions. As the jet makes its way out of the stellar mantle, a bow shock runs ahead and a strong thermal precursor is produced as the shock breaks out. Such erupting fireballs produce a very bright γ -ray precursor as they interact with the thermal break-out emission. The prompt γ -ray emission propagates ahead of the fireball before it becomes optically thin, leading to e^± pair loading and radiative acceleration of the external medium. The detection of such precursors would offer the possibility of diagnosing not only the radius of the stellar progenitor and the initial Lorentz factor of the collimated fireball, but also the density of the external environment.     

Bow shock structure from laboratory and satellite experimental results

In this paper, by analyzing satellite observations and comparing them with generalized results of laboratory experiments a study is made of the structure of the bow shock wave and of the nature of the mechanisms that shape it up. It is shown that the structure of bow shock fronts of a laminar type is similar to that of a transverse and oblique shock observed in a laboratory plasma. The quasilaminar and turbulent (for not very large 0 < β₁ ? 3) structures of the bow shock with “subshock” are similar to the shock with an isomagnetic jump in the laboratory plasma.     

A dynamo driven by zonal jets at the upper surface: Applications to giant planets

We present a dynamo mechanism arising from the presence of barotropically unstable zonal jet currents in a rotating spherical shell. The shear instability of the zonal flow develops in the form of a global Rossby mode, whose azimuthal wavenumber depends on the width of the zonal jets. We obtain self-sustained magnetic fields at magnetic Reynolds numbers greater than 10³. We show that the propagation of the Rossby waves is crucial for dynamo action. The amplitude of the axisymmetric poloidal magnetic field depends on the wavenumber of the Rossby mode, and hence on the width of the zonal jets. We discuss the plausibility of this dynamo mechanism for generating the magnetic field of the giant planets. Our results suggest a possible link between the topology of the magnetic field and the profile of the zonal winds observed at the surface of the giant planets. For narrow Jupiter-like jets, the poloidal magnetic field is dominated by an axial dipole whereas for wide Neptune-like jets, the axisymmetric poloidal field is weak.     

赫比格-哈罗天体高分辨观测研究进展

赫比格－哈罗天体（ＨＨ天体）包含了有关原恒星吸积和抛射过程的许多重要信息,ＨＨ天体高分辨观测研究取得了一系列新进展：分辨出激波峰面、马赫盘和辐射冷却区;分辨出喷流节点的结构,发现它们大多是内工作面,而不是由Ｋｅｌｖｉｎ－Ｈｅｌｍｈｏｌｔｚ不稳定性所产生的斜激波;发现喷流宽度随到激发源距离的减小仅缓慢减小,对喷流的准直和加速模型提供了限制条件;ＨＨ天体在小尺度上尚有复杂的激发结构。对这些进展进行了评     

Supersonic jet formation and propagation in x-pinches

Observations of supersonic jet propagation in low-current x-pinches are reported. X-pinches comprising of four 7.5 ??m diameter tungsten wires were driven by an 80 kA, 50 ns current pulse from a compact pulser. Coronal plasma surrounding the wire cores was accelerated perpendicular to their surface due to the global J×B force, and traveled toward the axis of the x-pinch to form an axially propagating jet. These jets moved towards the electrodes and, late in time (??150 ns), were observed to propagate well above the anode with a velocity of 3.3±0.6×10⁴ m/s. Tungsten jets remained collimated at distances of up to 16 mm from the cross point, and an estimate of the local sound speed gives a Mach number of ??6. This is the first demonstration that supersonic plasma jets can be produced using x-pinches with such a small, low current pulser. Experimental data compares well to three-dimensional simulations using the GORGON resistive MHD code, and possible scaling to astrophysical jets is discussed.