分子云磁场与尘埃导致的偏振

磁场对分子云及其中的恒星的形成和演化起到重要的作用.分子云磁场的探测方法主要是谱线塞曼效应、尘埃热辐射的偏振,以及谱线的线偏振观测.利用谱线的塞曼效应可以直接测量视线方向的磁场强度.尘埃热辐射偏振可以有效地示踪磁场方向在天球上的分布.分子云内部的磁场会受到不同物理过程的影响.高分辨率观测可以研究磁场扰动的细节,低分辨率观测可以得到分子云甚至银河系大尺度磁场的宏观信息.只有多波段的观测才能全面地认识分子云磁场与各种物理过程的联系.该文对分子云尘埃热辐射偏振的观测情况做了调研,总结了分子云大尺度磁场的研究现状和发展前景.     

Cosmic Ray Acceleration Inside Molecular Clouds

Acceleration of charged particles by neutral gas turbulence in giant molecular clouds is considered. The gamma-ray emission from these clouds is estimated. It is shown that molecular clouds can be the counterparts of some of unidentified sources.     

Toward Understanding the Formation of Molecular Clouds

Based on a comparison of similar colour indices we investigate the effects of luminosity and metallicity that influence the Strömgren and Vilnius photometric quantities for different spectral types. We notice significant differences for similar indices, apparently due to small deviations of central wavelengths and band-widths of the filters. For the G-K type stars of moderate luminosity we interpret the difference introduced by v and X pass-bands as an log g effect, reflecting the presence of H&;K Ca II stellar lines in these spectral types. We discuss a possible influence of the H&;K Ca II lines on the luminosities derived from the Vilnius classification diagrams.     

Peculiarities in the Formation of Molecular Clouds in the Central Regions of Spiral Galaxies

The limitations imposed by the shear instability on the formation of gigantic molecular clouds in the central regions of spiral galaxies are examined. The criteria obtained here are illustrated using the example of six galaxies for which the detailed rotation curves are known. The different mechanisms for formation of molecular clouds which apply in the central and edge regions of disk galaxies are evaluated.     

Formation of a Fractal Structure of Giant Molecular Clouds in the Galaxy

Observations show that molecular clouds in the interstellar medium are fractals with a dimensionality close to 2.35. A model for the formation of clouds from cloudlets ejected from stars is examined in this paper. It is shown that the motion of cloudlets in the interstellar medium is described by a model of generalized brownian motion, so that the resulting clouds should have a fractal structure. We examine the hypothesis that the fractal dimensionality of a cloud is completely determined by the way the mass of the cloudlets varies. The generalized brownian motion of an ensemble of particles is described as a random process with a time dependent parameter. The relationship among the growth of the cloudlet mass, the properties of the process by which the cloudlets move, and the fractal dimensionality of the structures resulting from this process is examined. It is shown that the fractal dimensionality of the formed clouds corresponds to the natural aggregation of mass assuming random cloudlet collisions.     

Velocities of Magneto-Elastic and Magneto-Electron Waves in Dark Molecular Clouds

We present analytic and numerical estimates for group velocity of wave motions in two models of cold interstellar medium presumably constituting the interior of cores of magnetically supported dark molecular clouds. Namely, in the model of gas-based ferrocolloidal soft matter and in the model of noncompensated electron magnetoplasma. The predictions of these models are given in juxtaposition with data on recent Zeeman measurements of the molecular linewidths detected from dark central regions of star-forming interstellar clouds.     

Magnetic helicity in stellar dynamos: new numerical experiments

The theory of large scale dynamos is reviewed with particular emphasis on the magnetic helicity constraint in the presence of closed and open boundaries. In the presence of closed or periodic boundaries, helical dynamos respond to the helicity constraint by developing small scale separation in the kinematic regime, and by showing long time scales in the nonlinear regime where the scale separation has grown to the maximum possible value. A resistively limited evolution towards saturation is also found at intermediate scales before the largest scale of the system is reached. Larger aspect ratios can give rise to different structures of the mean field which are obtained at early times, but the final saturation field strength is still decreasing with decreasing resistivity. In the presence of shear, cyclic magnetic fields are found whose period is increasing with decreasing resistivity, but the saturation energy of the mean field is in strong super‐equipartition with the turbulent energy. It is shown that artificially induced losses of small scale field of opposite sign of magnetic helicity as the large scale field can, at least in principle, accelerate the production of large scale (poloidal) field. Based on mean field models with an outer potential field boundary condition in spherical geometry, we verify that the sign of the magnetic helicity flux from the large scale field agrees with the sign of α. For solar parameters, typical magnetic helicity fluxes lie around 10⁴⁷ Mx² per cycle.     

Dynamical Molecular Regions in Interstellar Clouds

Work on three problems concerning the chemistry and dynamics of star forming fregions is addressed. Most of the work was done in collaboration with David A. Williams. A chemical model of core D ofTMC-1 is described; it is consistent with that dense core having evolved to its present physical state in the last 10⁵years. Slow-mode wave excitation by the nonlinear evolution of fast-mode waves is examined as a possible mechanism for the production of structures, including densecores, in molecular sources. Sufficient atomic hydrogen may be present at the births of some dense cores that the radiative association of O with H is important in the initiation of the gas phase chemistry. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

分子云浓核的密度和磁场

利用均匀磁化球模型，对OrionB云中的39个分子云浓核，从它们观测的源半径和分子线线宽，推求它们的数密度和磁场．得到平均磁场110μG，平均密度为8×104／cm3．这些计算值与观测结果一致．对于R＞0．2pc的分子云浓核，利用均匀磁化球模型推求磁场和数密度的方法是一种可行的方法．     

Cosmological Evolution of Supergiant Star-Forming Clouds

We present the results of very high resolution CDM simulations of galaxy formation designed to follow the formation and evolution of self-gravitating, supergiant star-forming clouds. We find that the mass spectrum of these clouds is identical to that of globular clusters and GMCs; dN/dM ∝ M ^-1.7 ± 0.1. This revised version was published online in September 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

High-Resolution Acta Observations of the Circumnuclear Molecular Clouds of Ngc 4945

Transitions of HCN, HCO⁺ and HNC have been observed in the nuclear region of the nearby edge-on spiral galaxy NGC 4945 with the Compact Array of the Australia Telescope during the commissioning phase of the new 3-mm system. The collection and reduction of the observations is described in this paper, and the distribution of the HNC and HCO⁺ emission is discussed. Comparison of the ATCA observations with single dish spectra from the SEST suggests that there is a compact component to the emission seen in both spectra, and a diffuse component seen only in the SEST spectra. Absorption against the nuclear continuum is seen in HCO⁺, suggesting the presence of dense gas in front of the nucleus.     

刚体自转在巨分子云的聚合形成中的作用

分析在聚合形成机制下,巨分子云在刚体自转盘中的形成过程．研究结果表明,形成的巨分子云主要由其附近的分子云组成．由于速度弥散的作用,非弹性碰撞和自引力使分子云聚会在一起,以这种方式形成的巨分子云是小质量的．如果较差自转存在,这些小质量的巨分子云便有更多的机会聚合在一起形成更大质量的巨分子云．这进一步说明,较差自转在巨分子云的形成中起了很大的积极作用．     

实验室模拟磁力线重联的初步结果

在中国科学技术大学的线性磁化等离子体装置上,通过对两个平行电流板施加同向电流,实现重联磁场位型的构造,进而开展实验室等离子体中磁力线重联过程的研究.利用发射探针测量了重联过程中的平行(轴向)电场,实验验证了重联电流与通行粒子的依赖关系.利用磁探针测量了磁场通量的演化,未发现通量堆积现象,与数值预言相符.     

激光驱动亥姆霍兹电容线圈靶磁重联实验的数值模拟

激光驱动亥姆霍兹电容线圈靶的磁重联实验已经提出并进行了多年.当实验中的金属板被强激光照射时产生自由电子,这些自由电子的运动在连接两金属板的两个平行线圈中产生电流,由两个平行线圈内部电流产生的磁场之间随即发生重联.该实验不同于其他直接由Biermann电池效应所产生高β(等离子体热压与磁压的比值)环境下的磁重联实验.对该类实验进行了3维磁流体动力学数值模拟,首次展示了亥姆霍兹电容器线圈靶如何驱动磁重联的过程.数值模拟结果清楚地表明,磁重联的出流等离子体在线圈周围发生与实验结果相一致的堆积现象.线圈电流产生的磁场可高达100 T,使得磁重联区域周围的等离子体β值达到10^-2.与实验室结果进行比较,数值模拟重复了实验展示的大多数特征,可有助于深入认识和理解实验结果背后的物理学原理.     

Magnetic field evolution in simulations with Euler potentials

Using two- and three-dimensional hydromagnetic simulations for a range of different flows, including laminar and turbulent ones, it is shown that solutions expressing the field in terms of Euler potentials (EP) are in general incorrect if the EP are evolved with an artificial diffusion term. In three dimensions, standard methods using the magnetic vector potential are found to permit dynamo action when the EP give decaying solutions. With an imposed field, the EP method yields excessive power at small scales. This effect is more exaggerated in the dynamic case, suggesting an unrealistically reduced feedback from the Lorentz force. The EP approach agrees with standard methods only at early times when magnetic diffusivity did not have time to act. It is demonstrated that the usage of EP with even a small artificial magnetic diffusivity does not converge to a proper solution of hydromagnetic turbulence. The source of this disagreement is not connected with magnetic helicity or the three-dimensionality of the magnetic field, but is simply due to the fact that the non-linear representation of the magnetic field in terms of EP that depend on the same coordinates is incompatible with the linear diffusion operator in the induction equation.     

Molecular Clouds Toward a New OB Association in Pup-CMa

We have mapped 16 molecular clouds toward a new OB association in the Pup-CMa region to derive their physical properties. The observations were carried out in the ¹²CO (J = 1 – 0) line with the Southern millimetre-wave Telescope at Cerro Tololo, Chile. Distances have been determined kinematically using the rotation curve of Brand with R_⊙ = 8.5 kpc and V_⊙ = 220 km/s. Masses have been derived adopting a CO luminosity to H₂ conversion factor X = 3.8 . 10²⁰ molecules cm^-2 (K km/s)^-1. The observed mean radial velocity of the clouds is comparable with the mean radial velocity of stars composing an OB association in Pup-CMa; it is in favor of the close connection of clouds with these stars. __________ Published in Astrofizika, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 491–501 (October–December, 2005).     

Influence of molecular outflows from young stellar objects on molecular clouds

In this paper it is investigated whether molecular outflows can support the turbulence in molecular clouds against decay. In the momentum-driven regime of molecular flows the time scale of the replenishment of the fluctuations is longer than the dissipation time scale of pure hydrodynamical supersonic turbulence.     

Magnetic Reconnection, Turbulence, and Collisionless Shock

A short summary of recent progress in measuring and understanding turbulence during magnetic reconnection in laboratory plasmas is given. Magnetic reconnection is considered as a primary process to dissipate magnetic energy in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. A central question concerns why the observed reconnection rates are much faster than predictions made by classical theories, such as the Sweet–Parker model based on MHD with classical Spitzer resistivity. Often, the local resistivity is conjectured to be enhanced by turbulence to accelerate reconnection rates either in the context of the Sweet–Parker model or by facilitating setup of the Pestchek model. Measurements at a dedicated laboratory experiment, called MRX or Magnetic Reconnection Experiment, have indicated existence of strong electromagnetic turbulence in current sheets undergoing fast reconnection. The origin of the turbulence has been identified as right-hand polarized whistler waves, propagating obliquely to the reconnecting field, with a phase velocity comparable to the relative drift velocity. These waves are consistent with an obliquely propagating electromagnetic lower-hybrid drift instability driven by drift speeds large compared to the Alfven speed in high-beta plasmas. Interestingly, this instability may explain electromagnetic turbulence also observed in collisionless shocks, which are common in energetic astrophysical phenomena.     

Multi-Scale Analysis of Magnetic Fields in Filamentary Molecular Clouds

Using polarimetry, at both visible and submillimeter wavelengths, we propose to study the role and to compare the structure of the magnetic fields within and near filamentary molecular clouds. The optical polarization data obtained at Mont Mégantic and from the Heiles catalog constrain the large scale topology of magnetic fields in the near environment of the clouds. Submillimeter data probe the structure of the field at smaller scale within the clouds. The aim of this research is to put constraints on the way the magnetic field threading the filaments connects to larger structures in the ISM. This should help to illuminate the large scale topology of the field, which is crucial to understanding the formation of filaments and the role of magnetic fields within these structures. Two different regions have been selected for this project, OMC where star formation actively occurs and CL04/CL21 which is a cold molecular filament in the earliest stages of stellar formation.