Determination of the electromagnetic field produced by a magnetic oblique-rotator

Approximate solutions for the electromagnetic fields produced by a uniformly magnetized oblique rotator in vacuum are derived systematically in various regions by using general relativistic considerations. The results, which are expressed in compact vector notation, are compared with the component expression of Deutsch (1955) and Backus (1956). In our method, the potentials (, A) and fields (E, B) due to the rotating magnet are represented in terms of the vector potential for a rest magnet, with the proper correction for rotation. In doing this, the transformation laws for various quantities between the rest and rotating frames play important roles. The meaning of rotating magnetic field lines is also considered in connection with the apparent paradox in the gedanken-experiment of a unipolar inductor.     

Determination of the electromagnetic field produced by a magnetic oblique-rotator

The inertial effect on the structure of the magnetosphere of a rotating star is investigated, in the corotation approximation for a surrounding quasi-neutral plasma. The equation of motion reduces to a usual static balance equation between the electromagnetic and the centrifugal forces, in the rotating frame. However the MHD condition, which can be regarded as a special form of the generalized Ohm's law, is modified by the inclusion of inertial effect, with a violation of the frozen-in condition in case of a general (i.e., not restricted to corotation) plasma motion. The inertial effect on the electromagnetic field is summarized in a partial scalar potential named the non-Backus potential, which is proportional to the centrifugal potential in the corotation approximation.An approximate solution of this corotation problem is given, in which another characteristic radiusr _M appears besides the light radiusr _L . This radius defines a distance beyond which the inertial effect becomes dominant over the electromagnetic one, and is useful in estimating the magnitude of the terminal velocity of a centrifugal wind. A few examples of the modification of dipole magnetic field due to the inertial effect are visualized. In an oblique-rotation case, it can be seen that such a warp of the neutral sheet (the surface ofB _r =0) is reproduced as observed in the Jovian magnetosphere.     

Determination of the electromagnetic field produced by a magnetic oblique-rotator

The structure of the corotating region, which forms an inner portion of a stellar magnetosphere, is reconsidered in a quasi-neutral case by taking into account the inertial effects of electrons as well as that of ions up to the first order in their mass ratio (δ=m_?/m₊). It is emphasized first that the magnetosphere is not globally equipotential even in the frame rotating with a central star (i.e. ?#0, where ? is the ‘non-Backus’ potential) due at least to the inertial effects of plasma particles. However, it is shown that the condition ?=0 is asymptotically recovered in the corotating region owing to the presence of the drift current which can be taken into account only when δ is not entirely neglected. This fact suggests that the deviation of the plasma motion in the outer magnetosphere from the corotation can be attributed to the non-zero ?. A globally self-consistent solution is obtained under this condition (?=0). In contrast with the solutions in the ‘force-free’ and the ‘mass-less-electron’ approximations, this solution has a disk structure in the corotation zone in which the plasma and the current density are concentrated to a thin disk near the magnetic equator. Owing to this sheet current in the disk the lines of force of the stellar magnetic field are modified to form a very elongated shape (the magnetodisk) if the plasma β-value is fairly large. Such a disk structure seems to be a common feature in the high β inner magnetospheres of various types of stars.     

The electromagnetic field produced by oscillations of a magnetized incompressible infinitely long cylinder

The oscillations of a magnetized incompressible cylinder with a uniform magnetic field along its axis and the resulting electromagnetic field are studied. Two types of characteristic oscillations, torsional and Alfvén, are found to exist in the linear approximation. In the case of an infinite cylinder with torsional oscillations, no electromagnetic field is generated. In the case of Alfvén oscillations, an electromagnetic field develops around the cylinder with a local flux density that falls off exponentially with radial distance from the axis of the cylinder and has a time average of zero. The results are interpreted physically.     

Self-excitation effect in the scattering of electromagnetic radiation in a strong magnetic field

It is pointed out that the electron scattering of incident electromagnetic radiation of frequency ω_i includes also a component with the cyclotron frequency ω_L.Except in the limit ω_i ⪢ ω_L, this “self-excited effect” modifies appreciably the cross section. The modified cross section for a classical non-relativistic electron is given in this paper for both a single electron and a cold plasma. The spectral distribution of electron scattering is discussed and the Thomson absorption coefficient of a magnetized thermal equilibrium plasma is obtained for some typical cases. The results obtained here may be relevant to astrophysical processes, such as the spectrum formation of x-ray pulsars.     

Determination of the properties of Mercury's magnetic field by the MESSENGER mission

The MESSENGER mission to Mercury, to be launched in 2004, will provide an opportunity to characterize Mercury's internal magnetic field during an orbital phase lasting one Earth year. To test the ability to determine the planetary dipole and higher-order moments from measurements by the spacecraft's fluxgate magnetometer, we simulate the observations along the spacecraft trajectory and recover the internal field characteristics from the simulated observations. The magnetic field inside Mercury's magnetosphere is assumed to consist of an intrinsic multipole component and an external contribution due to magnetospheric current systems described by a modified Tsyganenko 96 model. Under the axis-centered-dipole approximation without correction for the external field the moment strength is overestimated by ∼4% for a simulated dipole moment of , and the error depends strongly on the magnitude of the simulated moment, rising as the moment decreases. Correcting for the external field contributions can reduce the error in the dipole term to a lower limit of ∼1-2% without a solar wind monitor. Dipole and quadrupole terms, although highly correlated, are then distinguishable at the level equivalent to an error in the position of an offset dipole of a few tens of kilometers. Knowledge of the external magnetic field is therefore the primary limiting factor in extracting reliable knowledge of the structure of Mercury's magnetic field from the MESSENGER observations.     

Low-frequency electromagnetic radiation of a Schwarzschild black hole in a test nonuniform magnetic field

The electromagnetic radiation process of a Schwarzschild black hole moving in the nonuniform magnetic field is investigated. The total flux of radiation was obtained. A theoretical calculation has been carried out under the test magnetic field assumption, i.e., energy-momentum tensor does not disturb Schwarzschild background metric. The technique of the Teukolsky equation has been used. The Greens function from the low-frequency solution following Starobinsky and Churilov (1973) has been derived. It was found that black hole radiates nearly 60 per cent of conducting sphere under the same conditions.     

Determination of wave characteristics of VLF-waves by means of multicomponent electromagnetic field measurements

The multicomponent data of the electromagnetic field obtained on the Aureol-3 satellite were studied. On the basis of the application of the multispectral analysis, nonlinear interactions on the harmonics of the proton gyro-frequency were determined. By the power spectra of the low frequency radiation components, the principal regulations of behaviour of the vectors of the wave normal and of the wave distribution function from the frequency and the invariant latitude L were found. It is noted, that at frequencies below the proton gyro-frequency there often arises the second maximum in the form of a wave distribution function, that can be interpreted as a reflected wave.     

Determination of magnetic field direction in a comet's head

The Stokes parameters of resonance radiation scattered by a Na atom with the angular momentum F aligned by directed unpolarized radiation in a magnetic field H ～ 10^?5?10^?1 Oe are presented. An influence of the orientation of the magnetic field on these parameters are studied; the intensity ratio $\text{I(D}{}_2\text{)}\text{I(D}{}_1\text{)}$ changes within ±5%, and the polarization degree P(D₂) within ±25%. Measurements of $\text{I(D}{}_2\text{)}\text{I(D}{}_1\text{)}$ and P(D₂), if the geometry of scattering is known, may give information on the direction of the magnetic field in the sodium atmospheres of comets, as well as Io's sodium cloud or man-made cosmic clouds.     

General solution for interplanetary magnetic field produced from stationary sources on the sun

It is well known that interplanetary space contains Parker's Archimedean spiral magnetic field, the components of which are respectively radial and longitudinal in the solar polar coordinates (r, θ, φ) and are intimately related to each other, depending on the solar wind velocity. In this paper, we present a general solution of the interplanetary magnetic field which is produced from time-independent sources fixed on the solar surface and contains the Parker field as a particular solution. The field is first classified broadly into two types called the φ-dependent (or nonzonal) and the φ-independent (or zonal) fields. The former field is further subdivided into two types, one is the so-called Parker type and the other is the vortex type which has no radial component. The resultant of these two fields exhibits the helical (or twisted) structure in space, tentatively introduced by Lee and Fisk. The zonal field is also subclassified into two; one is the radial-type zonal field and the other is the toroidal field. These two fields are mutually independent and therefore their resultant does not always coincide in direction with the Parker field.     

A numerical method to determine the electromagnetic field of the pulsar magnetosphere with inclined magnetic moment

A numerical method to determine the electromagnetic field of a steadily rotating magnetosphere with an inclined magnetic moment under a given boundary condition on an arbitrary shaped boundary surface is presented. The region may include the light cylinder. The present method, together with a companion method giving particle motion and creation, makes an iterative scheme to obtain a global model of the pulsar magnetosphere. A key problem for explaining the particle acceleration in pulsars is to solve field-aligned electric field in an accelerating region bounded by an ideal-MHD region. The present method is fit to connect a solution for the non-ideal-MHD region with another solution for the ideal-MHD region on a boundary surface whose location should also be solved (i.e., a floating boundary). The integration scheme is based on the boundary element method and it has great advantage as compared with other methods like the finite difference method and the Fourier transformation method.     

Stability of accretion discs threaded by a strong magnetic field

We study the stability of poloidal magnetic fields anchored in a thin accretion disc. The two-dimensional hydrodynamics in the disc plane is followed by a grid-based numerical simulation including the vertically integrated magnetic forces. The three-dimensional magnetic field outside the disc is calculated in a potential field approximation from the magnetic flux density distribution in the disc. For uniformly rotating discs we confirm numerically the existence of the interchange instability as predicted by Spruit, Stehle & Papaloizou . In agreement with predictions from the shearing sheet model, discs with Keplerian rotation are found to be stabilized by the shear, as long as the contribution of magnetic forces to support against gravity is small. When this support becomes significant, we find a global instability which transports angular momentum outwardly and allows mass to accrete inwardly. The instability takes the form of a m =1 rotating 'crescent', reminiscent of the purely hydrodynamic non-linear instability previously found in pressure-supported discs. A model where the initial surface mass density Σ( r ) and B _z ( r ) decrease with radius as power laws shows transient mass accretion during about six orbital periods, and settles into a state with surface density and field strength decreasing approximately exponentially with radius. We argue that this instability is likely to be the main angular momentum transport mechanism in discs with a poloidal magnetic field sufficiently strong to suppress magnetic turbulence. It may be especially relevant in jet-producing discs.     

Perturbation of the radial and non-radial oscillations of a star by a magnetic field

A generalization of the perturbation method is applied to the problem of the radial and the non-radial oscillations of a gaseous star which is distorted by a magnetic field. An expression is derived for the perturbation of the oscillation frequencies due to the presence of a weak magnetic field when the equilibrium configuration is a spheroid. The particular application to the homogeneous model with a purely poloidal field inside, due to a current distribution proportional to the distance from the axis of symmetry, and a dipole type field outside is considered in detail. The main result is that the magnetic field has a large and almost stabilizing effect on unstableg-modes, particularly on higher order modes. With the considered magnetic field the surface layers appear to have a large weight.     

Variations of the magnetic field near Mars caused by magnetic crustal anomalies

The possible avenues for photoelectron transport were determined during southern hemisphere winter at Mars by using a mapping analysis of the theoretical magnetic field. Magnetic field line tracing was performed by superposing two magnetic field models: (1) magnetic field derived from a three-dimensional (3D) self-consistent quasi-neutral hybrid model which does not contain the Martian crustal magnetic anomalies and (2) a 3D map of the magnetic field associated with the magnetic anomalies based on Mars Global Surveyor magnetic field measurements. It was found that magnetic field lines connected to the nightside of the planet are mainly channeled within the optical shadow of the magnetotail whereas magnetic field lines connected to the dayside of the planet are observed to form the remainder of the magnetosphere. The simulation suggests that the crustal anomalies create “a magnetic shield” by decreasing the region near Mars which is magnetically connected to the Martian magnetosphere. The rotation of Mars causes periodic changes in magnetic connectivity, but not to qualitative changes in the overall magnetic field draping around Mars.     

The flow field in a force-free magnetic field

We have obtained a complete set of the zeroth-order equations for a force-free field at large magnetic Reynolds numbers. One of the equations has often been overlooked in previous works. We discuss the question of uniqueness of solution of the Cauchy problem and outline a general method of solution in the plane and axisymmetric cases.