Acceleration of charged particles in the magnetosphere of a collapsing star and their nonthermal electromagnetic radiation

We investigate a transformation of a magnetic field and plasma in nonhomogeneous magnetospheres of collapsing stars with a dipole initial magnetic field and certain initial energy distributions of particles in the magnetosphere as the power low, relativistic Maxwell and Boltzmann. The betatron mechanism of the charged particles acceleration in a collapsing star’s magnetosphere is considered. When a magnetized star is compressed in the stage of the gravitational collapse, the magnetic field increases strongly. This variable magnetic field generates a vortical electric field. Our calculations show that this electric field will accelerate charged particles up to relativistic velocities. Thus, collapsing stars may be sources of high energy cosmic rays in our galaxy as in others. The acceleration of particles during the collapse happens mostly in polar regions of the magnetosphere that leads to polar relativistic streams (jets) formation. When moving in a magnetic field, these particles will generate nonthermal electromagnetic radiation in a broad electromagnetic wavelength band from radioto gamma rays. Thus, in the stage of the gravitational collapse, relativistic jets are formed in stellar magnetospheres. These jets are powerful sources of the nonthermal electromagnetic radiation.     

Dynamics of charged particles and perpendicular diffusion in turbulent magnetic field

A test particle code is employed to explore the dynamics of charged particles and perpendicular diffusion in turbulent magnetic field, where a three-dimensional (3D) isotropic turbulence model is used in this paper. The obtained perpendicular diffusion at different particle energies is compared with that of the nonlinear guiding center (NLGC) theory. It is found that the NLGC theory is consistent with test particle simulations when the particle energies are small. However, the difference between the NLGC theory and test particle simulations tends to increase when the particle energy is sufficiently large, and the threshold is related to the turbulence bend-over length. In the NLGC theory, the gyrocenter of a charged particle is assumed to follow the magnetic field line. Therefore, when the particle has sufficiently large energy, its gyroradius will be larger than the turbulence bend-over length. Then the particle can cross the magnetic field lines, and the difference between the test particle simulations and NLGC theory occurs.     

The fine structure of intensive small-scale electric and magnetic fields in the high-latitude ionosphere as observed by Intercosmos-Bulgaria 1300 satellite

The data on intensive small-scale electric fields and related transverse magnetic disturbances observed from Intercosmos-Bulgaria 1300 satellite at altitudes of 800–900 km in the auroral ionosphere are presented here. The typical time scale of the phenomena is of the order of 1 s, the amplitudes reach 250 mV m⁻¹ in electric field and up to 300 nT in magnetic field. A detailed correlation between the variations of electric and magnetic fields in such structures is shown. Some peculiarities are presented which show that the observed electric jumps are transient electromagnetic disturbances rather than steady electrostatic structures.     

Large-scale zonal flow and magnetic field generation due to drift-Alfven turbulence in ionosphere plasma

In the present work, the generation of large-scale zonal flows and magnetic field by short-scale collision-less electron skin depth order drift-Alfven turbulence in the ionosphere is investigated. The self-consistent system of two model nonlinear equations, describing the dynamics of wave structures with characteristic scales till to the skin value, is obtained. Evolution equations for the shear flows and the magnetic field is obtained by means of the averaging of model equations for the fast-high-frequency and small-scale fluctuations. It is shown that the large-scale disturbances of plasma motion and magnetic field are spontaneously generated by small-scale drift-Alfven wave turbulence through the nonlinear action of the stresses of Reynolds and Maxwell. Positive feedback in the system is achieved via modulation of the skin size drift-Alfven waves by the large-scale zonal flow and/or by the excited large-scale magnetic field. As a result, the propagation of small-scale wave packets in the ionospheric medium is accompanied by low-frequency, long-wave disturbances generated by parametric instability. Two regimes of this instability, resonance kinetic and hydrodynamic ones, are studied. The increments of the corresponding instabilities are also found. The conditions for the instability development and possibility of the generation of large-scale structures are determined. The nonlinear increment of this interaction substantially depends on the wave vector of Alfven pumping and on the characteristic scale of the generated zonal structures. This means that the instability pumps the energy of primarily small-scale Alfven waves into that of the large-scale zonal structures which is typical for an inverse turbulent cascade. The increment of energy pumping into the large-scale region noticeably depends also on the width of the pumping wave spectrum and with an increase of the width of the initial wave spectrum the instability can be suppressed. It is assumed that the investigated mechanism can refer directly to the generation of mean flow in the atmosphere of the rotating planets and the magnetized plasma.     

Evolving coronal holes and interplanetary erupting stream disturbances

Coronal holes and interplanetary disturbances are important aspects of the physics of the Sun and heliosphere. Interplanetary disturbances are identified as an increase in the density turbulence compared with the ambient solar wind. Erupting stream disturbances are transient large-scale structures of enhanced density turbulence in the interplanetary medium driven by the high-speed flows of low-density plasma trailing behind for several days. Here, an attempt has been made to investigate the solar cause of erupting stream disturbances, mapped by Hewish & Bravo (1986) from interplanetary scintillation (IPS) measurements made between August 1978 and August 1979 at 81.5 MHz. The position of the sources of 68 erupting stream disturbances on the solar disk has been compared with the locations of newborn coronal holes and/or the areas that have been coronal holes previously. It is found that the occurrence of erupting stream disturbances is linked to the emergence of new coronal holes at the eruption site on the solar disk. A coronal hole is indicative of a radial magnetic field of a predominant magnetic polarity. The newborn coronal hole emerges on the Sun, owing to the changes in magnetic field configuration leading to the opening of closed magnetic structure into the corona. The fundamental activity for the onset of an erupting stream seems to be a transient opening of pre-existing closed magnetic structures into a new coronal hole, which can support highspeed flow trailing behind the compression zone of the erupting stream for several days.     

Electromagnetic Models of Compact Radio Sources and Circular Polarisation

An electromagnetic model of relativistic jets is outlined. It is suggested that these jets be interpreted as current flows and that they owe their persistence and collimation to the pinching action of the magnetic field. Such structures are unstable and it is suggested that the nonlinear development of these instabilities involves the formation of an electromagnetic turbulence spectrum. This turbulence may be responsible for the acceleration of relativistic electrons and positrons. It may also provide the electromagnetic field in which these electrons and positrons radiate. Some mechanisms through which circular polarisation may be created in this environment are outlined.     

3-D Rpic Simulations of Relativistic Jets: Particle Acceleration, Magnetic Field Generation, and Emission

We have applied numerical simulations and modeling to the particle acceleration, magnetic field generation, and emission from relativistic shocks. We investigate the nonlinear stage of theWeibel instability and compare our simulations with the observed gamma-ray burst emission. In collisionless shocks, plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Weibel, Buneman and other two-stream instabilities) are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration and magnetic field generation. 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) simulations with three different electron-positron jet velocity distributions and also with an electron-ion plasma have been performed and show shock processes including spatial and temporal evolution of shocks in unmagnetized ambient plasmas. The growth time and nonlinear saturation levels depend on the initial jet parallel velocity distributions. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the collisionless shocks accelerates jet and ambient particles both perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation direction. The nonlinear fluctuation amplitude of densities, currents, electric, and magnetic fields in the electron-positron shocks are larger for smaller jet Lorentz factor. This comes from the fact that the growth time of the Weibel instability is proportional to the square of the jet Lorentz factor. We have performed simulations with broad Lorentz factor distribution of jet electrons and positrons, which is assumed to be created by photon annihilation. Simulation results with this broad distribution show that the Weibel instability is excited continuously by the wide-range of jet Lorentz factor from lower to higher values. In all simulations the Weibel instability is responsible for generating and amplifying magnetic fields perpendicular to the jet propagation direction, and contributes to the electron’s (positron’s) transverse deflection behind the jet head. This small scale magnetic field structure contributes to the generation of “jitter” radiation from deflected electrons (positrons), which is different from synchrotron radiation in uniform magnetic fields. The jitter radiation resulting from small scale magnetic field structures may be important for understanding the complex time structure and spectral evolution observed in gamma-ray bursts or other astrophysical sources containing relativistic jets and relativistic collisionless shocks. The detailed studies of shock microscopic process evolution may provide some insights into early and later GRB afterglows.     

Outline of a theory of solar wind interaction with the magnetosphere

Some new ideas on the interaction of the solar wind with the magnetosphere are brought forward. The mechanism of reflection of charged particles at the magnetopause is examined. It is shown that in general the reflection is not specular but that a component of momentum of the particle parallel to the magnetopause changes. A critical angle is derived such that particles whose trajectories make an angle less than it with the magnetopause enter the magnetosphere freely, so transferring their forward momentum to it. Spatially or temporally non-uniform entry of charged particles into the magnetosphere causes electric fields parallel to the magnetopause which either allow the free passage of solar wind across it or vacuum reconnection to the interplanetary magnetic field depending on the direction of the latter. These electric fields can be discharged in the ionosphere and so account qualitatively for the dayside agitation of the geomagnetic field observed on the polar caps. The solar wind wind plasma which enters the magnetosphere creates (1) a dawn-dusk electric field across the tail (2) enough force to account for the geomagnetic tail and (3) enough current during disturbed times to account for the auroral electrojets. The entry of solar wind plasma across the magnetosphere and connection of the geomagnetic to interplanetary field can be assisted by wind generated electric field in the ionosphere transferred by the good conductivity along the geomagnetic field to the magnetopause. This may account for some of the observed correlations between phenomena in the lower atmosphere and a component of magnetic disturbance.     

Numerical simulations of relativistic magnetized jets

The propagation of light highly relativistic jets carrying a toroidal magnetic field is studied numerically. The results show that jets with high Poynting flux develop the conspicuous nose cones discovered earlier in simulations of classical magnetized jets. The size of the nose cone is significantly reduced in kinetic energy-dominated jets, which develop extensive cocoons. The magnetic field nevertheless plays a significant role in the jet–cocoon dynamics by allowing self-confined flows. The results are explained in terms of the properties of perpendicular magnetohydrodynamic shocks.     

The Environment of YSO Jets

It is commonly accepted that stars form in molecular clouds by the gravitational collapse of dense gas. However, it is precisely not the infalling but the outflowing material that is primarily observed. Outflow motions prevail around both low and high mass young stellar objects. We present here results from a family of self-similar models that could possibly help to understand this paradox. The models take into account the heating of the central protostar for the deflection and acceleration of the gas. The models make room for all the ingredients observed around the central objects, i.e. molecular outflows, fast jets, accretion disks and infalling envelopes. We suggest that radiative heating and magnetic field may ultimately be the main energy sources driving outflows for both low and high mass stars. The models show that the ambient medium surrounding the jet is unhomogeneous in density, velocity, magnetic field. Consequently, we suggest that jets and outflows have a prehistory that is inprinted in their environment, and that this should have direct consequences on the setting of jet numerical simulations.     

Gamma-Ray Emission from Pulsar Outer Magnetospheres

We investigate a stationary pair production cascade in the outer magnetosphere of an isolated, spinning neutron star. The charge depletion due to global flows of charged particles, causes a large electric field along the magnetic field lines. Migratory electrons and/or positrons are accelerated by this field to radiate gamma-rays via curvature and inverse-Compton processes. Some of such gamma-rays collide with the X-rays to materialize as pairs in the gap. The replenished charges partially screen the electric field, which is self-consistently solved together with the energy distribution of particles and gamma-rays at each point along the field lines. By solving the set of Maxwell and Boltzmann equations, we demonstrate that an external injection of charged particles at nearly Goldreich-Julian rate does not quench the gap but shifts its position and that the particle energy distribution cannot be described by a power-law. The injected particles are accelerated in the gap and escape from it with large Lorentz factors. We show that such escaping particles migrating outside of the gap contribute significantly to the gamma-ray luminosity for young pulsars and that the soft gamma-ray spectrum between 100 MeV and 3 GeV observed for the Vela pulsar can be explained by this component. We also discuss that the luminosity of the gamma-rays emitted by the escaping particles is naturally proportional to the square root of the spin-down luminosity.     

Numerical solutions to the problem of charged particel flow around an ionospheric spacecraft

The interaction of a conducting body moving through the ionosphere with the surrounding plasma is treated numerically. The Poisson and Vlasov equations are solved using computer techniques to give information about the redistribution of charged particles in the wake behind the body and the perturbation of the electric potential sheaths around the body. Three cases of interest are studied: body size less than, equal to, and greater than the Debye length in the surrounding plasma. A range of body potentials and ion Mach numbers are considered which are typical of conditions found in the ionosphere. Wake features, such as ion-free wake lengths and angles of propagation of disturbances in the wakes, are investigated for these conditions. Physical pictures of the mechanisms of wake formation behind a plate and a disc are built up for the three classes of body size, and differences due to geometry or size are explained. The smaller bodies are comparable in size to instrument booms, diagnostic probes, antennae, etc. and the larger bodies approach the dimensions of ionospheric satellites and space probes.     

3-Dimensional Energetic Particle Distribution Past an Instantaneous Uni-Directional Injection

The exact analytic expression for the density of energetic charged particles, which were injected by an instantaneous point source at a particular pitch angle into the interplanetary medium, has been derived. We start from the Boltzmann kinetic equation with the collision integral describing the isotropic particle scattering by "massive" magnetic clouds. The solution has been obtained without any expansion parameters in the 3-dimensional vector form, then it was projected into the cylindrical coordinate system. The space-time particle distribution is disscussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Experimental Studies of Magnetically Driven Plasma Jets

We present experimental results on the formation of supersonic, radiatively cooled jets driven by pressure due to the toroidal magnetic field generated by the 1.5 MA, 250 ns current from the MAGPIE generator. The morphology of the jet produced in the experiments is relevant to astrophysical jet scenarios in which a jet on the axis of a magnetic cavity is collimated by a toroidal magnetic field as it expands into the ambient medium. The jets in the experiments have similar Mach number, plasma beta and cooling parameter to those in protostellar jets. Additionally the Reynolds, magnetic Reynolds and Peclet numbers are much larger than unity, allowing the experiments to be scaled to astrophysical flows. The experimental configuration allows for the generation of episodic magnetic cavities, suggesting that periodic fluctuations near the source may be responsible for some of the variability observed in astrophysical jets. Preliminary measurements of kinetic, magnetic and Poynting energy of the jets in our experiments are presented and discussed, together with estimates of their temperature and trapped toroidal magnetic field.     

Hypersonic Swizzle Sticks: Protostellar Turbulence, Outflows and Fossil Outflow Cavities

The expected lifetimes for molecular clouds has become a topic of considerable debate as numerical simulations have shown that MHD turbulence, the nominal means of support for clouds against self-gravity, will decay on short timescales. Thus it appears that either molecular clouds are transient features or they are resupplied with turbulent energy through some means. Jets and molecular outflows are recognized as a ubiquitous phenomena associated with star formation. Stars however form not isolation but in clusters of different density and composion. The ubiquity and high density of outflows from young stars in clusters make them an intriguing candidate for the source of turbulence energy in molecular clouds. In this contribution we present new studies, both observational and theoretical, which address the issue of jet/outflow interactions and their abilityto drive turbulent flows in molecular clouds. Our studies focus on scales associated with young star forming clusters. In particular we first show that direct collisions between active outflows are not effective at stirring the ambient medium. We then show that fossil cavities from “extinct” outflows may provide the missing link in terms of transferring momentum and energy to the cloud.     

Dynamics of relativistic jets

We discuss the structure and relativistic kinematics that develop in three spatial dimensions when a moderately hot, supersonic jet propagates into a denser background medium and encounters resistance from an oblique magnetic field. Our simulations incorporate relativistic MHD in a four-dimensional spacetime and clearly show that (a) relatively weak, oblique fields (at 1/16 of the equipartition value) have only a negligible influence on the propagating jet and they are passively pushed away by the relativistically moving head; (b) oblique fields in equipartition with the ambient plasma provide more resistance and cause bending at the jet head, but the magnitude of this deflection and the associated backflow are small compared to those identified by previous studies. The new results are understood as follows: Relativistic simulations have consistently shown that these jets are effectively heavy and so they do not suffer substantial momentum losses and are not decelerated as efficiently as their nonrelativistic counterparts. In addition, the ambient magnetic field, however strong, can be pushed aside with relative ease by the beam, provided that the degrees of freedom associated with all three spatial dimensions are followed self-consistently during the simulations. The effect is analogous to pushing Japanese “noren” or vertical Venetian blinds out of the way while the slats are allowed to bend and twist in 3-D space. Applied to relativistic extragalactic jets from blazars, the new results are encouraging since superluminal outflows exhibit bending near their sources and their environments are profoundly magnetized – but observations do not provide support for irregular kinematics such as large-scale vortical motions and pronounced reverse flows near the points of origin.     

Cosmic rays from collapsing magnetized stars

We examine the acceleration of cosmic rays in the magnetospheres of collapsing stars with initial dipole magnetic fields and various initial energy distributions of charged particles in their magnetospheres (the exponential, relativistic Maxwellian, and Boltzmann distributions were considered). When a magnetized star contracts at the gravitational collapse stage, its magnetic field grows considerably. Such a variable magnetic field generates an eddy electric field. Our calculations suggest that this electric field can accelerate charged particles to relativistic energies. In this way collapsing stars can be sources of high-energy cosmic rays in our Galaxy as well as in other galaxies.     

Magnetohydrodynamic properties of extragalactic jets

The theory that magnetic fields are instrumental in the formation and propagation of jets in active galactic nuclei dates back four decades. Despite a recent growing consensus on this notion stemming from the results of numerical simulations of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flows near black holes, the precise dynamical role of magnetic fields in observed parsec and kiloparsec jets remains uncertain. Some of the unanswered fundamental questions about extragalactic jets include the location where the flow becomes relativistic and where acceleration and collimation terminate, as well as the specifics of how the flow interacts with the ISM. Such observed properties as superluminal motions and wiggled structures based on numerical simulations to constitute the foundation of an MHD paradigm for extragalactic jets. We particularly focus our attention to the M87 jet, which is one of the best candidates to investigate relativistic outflows in extragalactic system.