A hybrid simulation study of magnetic reconnection in anisotropic plasmas

The process of magnetic reconnection in anisotropic plasmas is studied numerically using a 2-dimensional, 3-component hybrid simulation. The results of the calculation show that, when the plasma pressure in the direction perpendicular to magnetic field is larger than that in the parallel direction (e.g. P/P = 1.5), instability may greatly increase, speeding up the rate of reconnection. When P is smaller than P, (e.g., when P/P = 0.6), fire hose instability appears, which will restrain the tearing mode instability and the process of magnetic reconnection.     

Computer simulation of chemical nucleation

The problem of nucleation at chemical instabilities is investigated by means of microscopic computer simulation. The first-order transition of interest involves a new kind of nucleation arising from chemical transformations rather than physical forces. Here it is the chemical state of matter, and not matter itself, which is spatially localized to form the nucleus for transition between different chemical states. First, the concepts of chemical instability, nonequilibrium phase transition, and dissipative structure are reviewed briefly. Then recently developed methods of reactive molecular dynamics are used to study chemical nucleation in a simple model chemical reaction. Finally, the connection of these studies to nucleation and condensation processes involving physical and chemical interactions is explored.Invited contribution to the Proceedings of a Workshop onThermodynamics and Kinetics of Dust Formation in the Space Medium held at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, 6–8 September, 1978.     

Computer simulation of formation of terrestrial planets from planetesimals

A computer simulation of the accumulation of planetesimals into terrestrial planets is made on a model of the early solar system based on Refs. [1, 2]. The results show that, through the process of collisional coalescence, planetesimals gathered into a small number of large planets moving in nearly coplanar circular orbits. With suitable choice of the initial orbital elements and system parameters, results in general agreement with the actual system can be obtained.     

Computer simulation of the formation of asteroid belt structure

The system of two gravitational centers with variable separation between components one of which (the primary) loses its mass onto another (the secondary) is investigated under condition of total mass and angular momentum conservation. When the primary/secondary mass ratio becomes about that of Jupiter/Sun the small bodies ejected with the gaseous matter through the inner Lagrange point from the Roche lobe of the primary form a ring similar to the asteroid belt of the solar system. The formation of ring structure is calculated by numerical integration of Newtonian equations of N-body problem in orbital plane of the gravitational centers. The results are compared with the planar subsystem of the asteroid belt. The presence of the main gaps in the distribution of their mean motions at 2/1, 3/1, 5/2 and some other commensurabilities with the primary mean motion is found. More fine details of the belt structure are obtained, e.g. the gap asymmetry and a qualitative agreement with the eccentricity distribution. Within the scope of the same model the external part of the ring is investigated all the pairwise interactions being included. The clustering of bodies near 3/2 commensurability isolated from the main belt by the wide gap centered at 5/3 commensurability is obtained. It is supposed that the ring structure and the interplanetary spacing law for the terrestrial planets are due to the same mechanism.     

Computer simulation of the particle acceleration in pulsar magnetospheres

In the spherically-symmetric case, a computer simulation of the electron acceleration inside the outflow channel of the pulsar magnetosphere is produced. The stationary motion of electrons is shown to be unstable in the case of > _c, where is a parameter describing inhomogeneity of the background charge, and _c is its critical value. The arising non-stationary motion of electrons leads to a formation of electron bunches, which move chaotically. The mean electron energy appears to be much greater at the non-stationary motion, than at the stationary one. The time-averaged parameters of the non-stationary electron flow and their dependence upon have been investigated. Distributions of the mean values of parameters (charge density, electron velocity, electric field energy density, pressure, and internal energy of the gas composed of the electron bunches) over the magnetosphere altitude have been investigated. The mean spectra of the charge density have been obtained. The results of numerical investigation of the spherically-symmetric model are used for estimation of the electron energy and of the electron flux in the case of the more realistic model. The radioemission loss is estimated, and is shown to be large enough for explaining the radiopulsar phenomenon as a thermal radioemission of the pulsar magnetosphere. In particular, such common properties of the pulsar radioemission as the high bright temperature, the sharp radioemission directivity, and the characteristic turn-over of the radioemission spectrum at the frequency of the order 10⁸ Hz are found a natural explanation in frames of this model.     

Computer simulation of three-dimensional stellar systems in cylindrical coordinates

TheN-body problem does not have an exact and analytic solution, and computer technique or computer simulation can be a good candidate to solve it. Computing speed in computer simulation is very important. There are many algorithms and computational methods in computer simulation which reduce computer time.In this report a computer simulation model in a cylindrical coordinate, in which the FACR (Fourier Analysis and Cyclic Reduction) method is used, has been proposed and demonstrated the presence of spiral, barred, and ringed galaxy. The method using a cylindrical grid has good symmetrical properties specially for rotating stellar systems.     

Excited cosmic plasmas

We describe some aspects of the energetic radiations of high-energy cosmical plasmas in stellar environments, mainly stellar chromospheres and coronae, and solar and stellar flare-type phenomena. As far as possible we discuss the morphology and physics of these plasmas, and we speculate on their origin. This paper is a review, partly of a historical character, describing particularly some contributions from the Astronomical Institute at Utrecht to this field of astrophysical research.Paper dedicated to Professor Hannes Alfvén on the occasion of his 70th birthday, 30 May, 1978.     

Instability of partially-ionized superposed plasmas

The stability of the plane interface separating two viscous superposed partially-ionized plasmas of uniform densities has been studied. The whole system is assumed to be immersed in a uniform two-dimensional horizontal magnetic field and the stability analysis has been carried out through the normal mode technique. The dispersion relation has been derived for the case of two superposed plasmas of equal kinematic viscosities. The dispersion relation has been solved numerically for different values of the physical parameters involved. It is found that viscosity and collision frequency of ionized plasmas both have stabilizing influence on the growth rate of the unstable mode of disturbance.     

Magnetic reconnection in plasmas

A review of the present status of the theory of magnetic reconnection is given. In strongly collisional plasmas reconnection proceeds via resistive current sheets, i.e. quasi-stationary macroscopic Sweet-Parker sheets at intermediate values of the magnetic Reynolds numberR _m , or mirco-current sheets in MHD turbulence, which develops at highR _m . In hot, dilute plasmas the reconnection dynamics is dominated by nondissipative effects, mainly the Hall term and electron inertia. Reconnection rates are found to depend only on the ion mass, being independent of the electron inertia and the residual dissipation coefficients. Small-scale whistler turbulence is readily excited giving rise to an anomalous electron viscosity. Hence reconnection may be much more rapid than predicted by conventional resistive theory.     

Cooling of solar flare plasmas

A simple model for the cooling of solar flare plasmas is considered. This model predicts that an increase in emission measure with decreasing temperature is a general feature of a cooling flare. The results are compared to solar flare data.     

Relativistic anisotropic pair plasmas

The properties of waves able to propagate in a relativistic pair plasma are at the basis of the interpretation of several astrophysical observations. For instance, they are invoked in relation to radio emission processes in pulsar magnetospheres and to radiation mechanisms for relativistic radio jets. In such physical environments, pair plasma particles probably have relativistic, or even ultrarelativistic, temperatures. Besides, the presence of an extremely strong magnetic field in the emission region constrains the particles to one-dimensional motion: all the charged particles strictly move along magnetic field lines.
We take anisotropic effects and relativistic effects into account by choosing one-dimensional relativistic Jűttner–Synge distribution functions to characterize the distribution of electrons and/or positrons in a relativistic, anisotropic pair plasma. The dielectric tensor, from which the dispersion relation associated with plane wave perturbations of such a pair plasma is derived, involves specific coefficients that depend on the distribution function of particles. A precise determination of these coefficients, using the relativistic one-dimensional Jűttner–Synge distribution function, allows us to obtain the appropriate dispersion relation. The properties of waves able to propagate in anisotropic relativistic pair plasmas are deduced from this dispersion relation. The conditions in which a beam and a plasma, both ultrarelativistic, may interact and trigger off a two-stream instability are obtained from this same dispersion relation. Two astrophysical applications are discussed.     

Mulit-ion plasmas in astrophysics

An isothermal hydrodynamic model of the motions of a multi-ion plasma in a gravitational field is developed and the properties of the flow are discussed for the case of major astrophysical interest in which the gas undergoes a subsonic-supersonic transition. It is shown that the existence of critical points thorough which the plasma has to pass will determine a large number of the plasma parameters, especially the temperature of the minor ions. The equation of motion of a two ion gas (hydrogen-helium) are solved numerically and yield the interesting result that the bulk velocity of the plasma constituents are not equal at 1 AU.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Multi-ion plasmas in astrophysics

The steady-state motion of a quasi-neutraln-ion plasma is investigated using a fluiddynamical model. The main results obtained are that there are only two distinct ways in which such a plasma can make a transition from a subsonic state to a supersonic one. There is one unique possibility for which there exists one critical point where all the ion gases have their Mach numbers exactly to unity and where the individual ion forcing functios (the inhomogeneous terms) are non-zero but linearly related to each other. The other possibility which we find is that at a critical point all inhomogeneous terms are identically equal to zero and there exist as many critical points as there exist simultianeous zeros of the ion forcing functions. These results are necessary and sufficient forn3. For one- and two-ion plasmas special results can be obtained, some of which fit into the above two classes and some of which do not.Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, under contract with the National Science Foundation.     

Computer simulation of planet formation in a binary star system: Terrestrial planets

A model of planetary formation in a binary system with a small relative mass of primary is computed on the assumption of a mass transfer from the less massive component to the more massive one with no mass and angular momentum carried away from the system under consideration. At the last stage of mass transfer the condensed Moon-like objects (planetoids) are ejected through the inner Lagrange point of the primary Roche lobe with the outflow of gaseous matter.The whole system is considered in the plane of binary star rotation. Newtonian equations of motion are integrated with the initial conditions for the planetoids referred to as the coordinates and velocity of the inner Lagrangian point at the moments of planetoid ejections, all the pairwise gravitational interactions being included in computations but without a gas-drag. The mass transfer ceases at the primary relative mass 10^–3 which corresponds to the present Sun-Jupiter system. The total mass of planetoids approximates that of the terrestrial planets. Those are formed through coagulation of the planetoids with the effective radius of capture cross-section as an input parameter in the computer simulation. When the minimum separation between the pair of bodies becomes less than this radius they coalesce into a single body with their masses and momenta summed. If the effective radius value is under a certain limit the computer simulation yields the planetary system like that of terrestrial planets of the present Sun system.Numerical computations reveal the division of the planetoids into 4 groups along their distances from the Sun. Further, each group forms a single planet or a planet and a less massive body at the nearest orbits. The parameters of simulated planet orbits are close to the present ones and the interplanetary spacings are in accord with the Titius-Bode law.     

Radio wave heating of astrophysical plasmas

The coherent plasma process such as parametric decay instability (PDI) has been applied to a homogeneous and unmagnetized plasma. These instabilities cause anomalous absorption of strong electromagnetic radiation under specific conditions of energy and momentum conservation and thus cause anomalous heating of the plasma. The maximum plasma temperatures reached are functions of luminosity of the radio radiation and plasma parameters. We believe that these processes may be taking place in many astrophysical objects. Here, the conditions in the sources 3C 273, 3C 48 and Crab Nebula are shown to be conducive to the excitation of PDI. These processes also contribute towards the absorption of 21cm radiation