日冕磁环中虹吸流动的稳定性

在日冕磁环中观测到速度为100km/sec的等离子体流动。本文采用平面和柱面模型讨论了这个虹吸流动的稳定性。用数值方法计算了色散方程,得到了不稳定性增长率与扰动波的频率。主要结论是:磁场是一个致稳因素,流速是一个不稳定因素。本文讨论了日冕磁环中是否存在定常的高速虹吸流动的问题。     

磁约束等离子体的若干辐射磁流体力学问题研究概述

在磁约束聚变等离子体中,等离子体辐射是其中的一个重要问题。当等离子体辐射功率达到一定比例时,会引起不稳定性,甚至导致等离子体破裂。在磁约束等离子体中,辐射磁流体力学主要涉及到的是由辐射引起的磁流体不稳定性,及其对等离子体约束的影响。目前仍存在一些关键性的问题,如密度极限、等离子体破裂过程中的辐射损失等,并且磁约束聚变等离子体中还没有完整的辐射磁流体动力学的数值模拟工作,因此,从事这方面的工作有望走在国际前沿。     

宇宙γ射线暴的一种可能产能机制

本文对宇宙r射线暴的能源提出了一个模型。按照这种模型,等离子体的不稳定过程包含两个相,即热暴发相和稳定湮灭相。而贮存在局部源中的磁能,以一种与观测相一致的速率有效地转换为等离子体的动力能和欧姆耗散能。随着反常阻抗的快速增加,建立了等离子体的湍动场。它与麦克思韦高能尾巴电子迅速耦合,产生了相对论性电子。r射线能够通过相对论性电子在磁场中的同步辐射而得到说明。     

新磁重联理论

本文研究了磁流体力学与高频等离子体波（ 包括纵横模式） 之间的精巧的相互作用。研究表明,这些等离激元会在电流片内诱发一种阻抗不稳定,并最终导至磁重联,出现爆发性不稳定。在高涨的离声湍动情况下,高温电流片模型必须采用反常电导率,而非库仑电导率。理论估算的结果与观测相一致。因此这种计及等离激元有质动力作用的新磁重联理论,基本上能解释耀斑现象。     

X射线脉冲星周期的变化与吸积盘边界的K-H不稳定性

本文在中子星磁层与吸积盘之间引入了一个速度、密度、压强和磁场都连续变化的有限厚度的剪切层,以代替Anzer理论中的切向间断面,用磁流体力学方法讨论了中子星磁层与吸积盘交界处等离子体可压缩情况下平面波扰动的K-H不稳定性。结果表明,K-H不稳定性依然存在,径向波矢扰动成为不稳定的主要模式。文中特别讨论了剪切层厚度取值对中子星自转的影响,表明适当调节剪切层厚度就可解释X射线脉冲星周期的变化。将此模型应用到脉冲X射线源Her X-1上,得到较好的结果。     

磁场约束的近圆弧形等离子体拱

等离子体弧是日冕中的一种基本结构,其高温观测特性意味着它有较高的等离子体压力。本文在二维近似下,讨论了等离子体拱被两个强磁场区域所约束时的平衡。对于较大的等离子体标高,等离子体具有近似圆弧形的结构。通过求出强磁场区域中的磁场位形,可以得到孤立的等离子体拱的平衡状态。由于总压守恒的边界条件是高度非线性的,整个问题是一类非线性的自由边界问题。在近圆弧形近似下,其基态是一维的非线性问题,而相对于基态的偏离是二维的线性问题。这样,整个问题可以给出分析解。     

弱磁化等温薄吸积盘的轴对称脉动不稳定性

本在不考虑粘滞律的条件下，较详细地讨论了弱磁化等温薄吸积盘的轴对称脉动不稳定性，结果表明，对轴对称扰动，盘内存在４种轴对称振荡模式，仅当Ｂｚ和Ｂψ同时存在时磁场才能影响这些振荡模式的不稳定性。Ｂｚ和Ｂψ对其中２种角频率较高的振荡模式表现为非稳因素，而对其中２种角频率较低的振荡模式表现为致稳因素。     

对等温、有磁薄吸积盘脉动不稳定性的多因素影响

本文从磁流体动力学方程组出发，用微扰法得出等温有磁薄吸积盘径向脉动不稳定性的色散方程，详细讨论了磁场、径向粘滞力和因果性修正的α型粘滞对吸积盘不稳定性的影响．我们的结论是：磁场是一种在全盘区域起作用的非稳因素，它能影响粘滞模式的不稳定性和两种声波模式（O－mode和Ⅰ－mode）的增长率．径向粘滞力是一种在全盘区域起作用的致稳因素，它主要影响两种声波模式的不稳定性．α型粘滞的因果性修正主要在盘内区起作用，它对吸积盘的不稳定性影响较为复杂：对粘滞模式和无磁盘的Ⅰ-mode，它表现为致稳因素，而对O－mode和有磁盘的两种声波模式，则表现为非稳因素．     

哈雷彗星主尾流的研究

哈雷彗星在日彗距较大时出现长而直的主彗尾（尾流），这是很有趣的。尾流一般是指等离子体尾流；但是，当地球接近彗星轨道面时，尘埃尾流可能叠加到主彗尾上。在一般感光波段宽的彗星底片上很难区分这两种尾流。本文选取哈雷彗星在不同日彗距的5条主尾流，作了光度测量和比较分析。得出沿各尾轴及其垂直方向几个截面的亮度分布、亮度半极大全宽、尾轴的视风差角和真风差角及彗尾长度。在所分析的蓝敏底片上，过近日点前的2个尾流肯定是等离子体尾流，而5个尾流的相似性以及其他证据说明它们主要都是等离子体尾流，尘埃彗尾的污染是次要的。     

弱磁化等温薄吸积盘的轴对称脉动不稳定性

本文在不考虑粘滞律的条件下，较详细地讨论了弱磁化等温薄吸积盘的轴对称脉动不稳定性．结果表明，对轴对称扰动，盘内存在４种轴对称振荡模式．仅当Ｂｚ和Ｂφ同时存在时磁场才能影响这些振荡模式的不稳定性．Ｂｚ和Ｂφ对其中２种角频率较高的振荡模式（对应于ωＩ）表现为非稳因素，而对其中２种角频率较低的振荡模式（对应于ωＩ）表现为致稳因素．     

Breakout and Tether-Cutting Eruption Models Are Both Catastrophic (Sometimes)

We present a simplified analytic model of a quadrupolar magnetic field and flux rope to model coronal mass ejections. The model magnetic field is two-dimensional, force-free and has current only on the axis of the flux rope and within two current sheets. It is a generalization of previous models containing a single current sheet anchored to a bipolar flux distribution. Our new model can undergo quasi-static evolution either due to changes at the boundary or due to magnetic reconnection at either current sheet. We find that all three kinds of evolution can lead to a catastrophe, known as loss of equilibrium. Some equilibria can be driven to catastrophic instability either through reconnection at the lower current sheet, known as tether cutting, or through reconnection at the upper current sheet, known as breakout. Other equilibria can be destabilized through only one and not the other. Still others undergo no instability, but they evolve increasingly rapidly in response to slow steady driving (ideal or reconnective). One key feature of every case is a response to reconnection different from that found in simpler systems. In our two-current-sheet model a reconnection electric field in one current sheet causes the current in that sheet to increase rather than decrease. This suggests the possibility for the microscopic reconnection mechanism to run away.     

A short wavelength instability in the neutral sheet of the earth's geomagnetic tail

In an earlier paper, Bowers (1973), ion plasma oscillations were found to be unstable in the steady state developed by Cowley (1972) for the neutral sheet in the Earth's geomagnetic tail. In this paper a similar stability analysis is carried out but for a different steady state, suggested by Dungey, with the result that unstable waves with frequencies near the electron plasma frequency are found. In the Dungey steady state the current necessary for magnetic field reversal is carried by plasma originating from both the magnetosheath and the lobes of the tail. This modifies the steady state proposed by Alfvén and subsequently developed by Cowley in which all the current is carried by plasma from the lobes of the tail thereby fixing the cross-tail potential Φ. With magnetosheath plasma present the value of Φ is no longer fixed solely by parameters in the lobes of the tail but the cross-tail electric field is still assumed localised in the dusk region of the sheet as in the Cowley model due to the balance of charge required in the neutral sheet. The value of Φ can be expected to increase as magnetic flux is transported to the tail which inflates and causes flux annihilation because the magneto-sheath plasma in the neutral sheet has insufficient pressure to keep the two lobes of the tail apart. The Vlasov-Maxwell set of equations is perturbed and linearised enabling a critical condition for instability to be found for modes propagating across the tail. Typically, this condition requireseΦ≳KT _m whereT _m is the temperature of magnetosheath electrons. The instability occurs in the presence of cold plasma which hasE×B drifted into the neutral sheet from the lobes of the tail. This contrasts with the usual two stream instability which is stabilised by the cold plasma. Once precipitated the instability may be explosive provided current disruption occurs, for then a further increase in Φ will result which drives a greater range of wave numbers unstable thereby causing even more turbulence and an even larger cross-tail electric field. Because of this behaviour the instability may be a trigger for a substorm.     

On the analogy between the zebra patterns in radio emission from the sun and the crab pulsar

We investigate the close analogy between the solar radio emission with a quasi-harmonic spectrum structure and one of the microwave emission components of the Crab pulsar in the form of the so-called zebra pattern. The radio emission mechanism of this component can be provided by instability at double plasma resonance and can be realized in extraordinary (for a radio pulsar) conditions, namely in a nonrelativistic plasma with a relatively weak magnetic field. We point out possible models of the emission source in the form of a magnetic trap or a neutral current sheet with a transverse magnetic field localized in the corotating region of the pulsar magnetosphere far from the neutron star surface.     

Current sheet models of solar flares

Current sheets have been suggested as the site for flare energy release because they can convert magnetic energy very rapidly into both heat and directed plasma energy. Also they contain electric fields with the potential of accelerating particles to high energies.The basic properties of current sheets are first reviewed. For instance, magnetic flux may be carried into a current sheet and annihilated. An exact solution for such a process in an infinitely long sheet has been found; it describes the annihilation of fields which are inclined at any angle, not just 180°. Moreover, field lines which are expelled from the ends of a current sheet can be described as having been reconnected. The only workable model for fast reconnection in the solar atmosphere, namely Petschek's mechanism, has recently been put on a firm foundation; it gives a reconnection rate which depends on the electrical conductivity but is typically a tenth or a hundredth of the Alfvén speed. A current sheet may be formed when the sources of an initially potential field start to move; a simple analytic technique for finding the position and shape of such a sheet in two dimensions now exists. Finally, a sheet with no transverse magnetic field component is subject to the tearing-mode instability, which rapidly produces a series of loops in the field.The main ways in which current sheets have been used for solar flare models is described. Syrovatskii's mechanism relies on the increase of the electric current density during the formation of a sheet, to a value in excess of the critical value j ^* for the onset of microinstabilities. But Anzer has recently demonstrated that the critical value is most unlikely to be reached during the initial formation process. Sturrock, on the other hand, has advocated the occurrence of the tearing-mode instability in an open streamer-like configuration (which may result from the eruption of a force-free field). But recent observations do not point to that as the relevant configuration. Rather, they suggest that flares are triggered by the emergence of new magnetic flux from below the solar photosphere. This has led Heyvaerts, Priest, and Rust (1976) to propose a new emerging flux model, according to which, as more and more flux emerges, so reconnection occurs, producing some preflare heating. When the current sheet reaches such a height (around the transition region) that its current density exceeds j ^*, then the impulsive phase of the flare is triggered. The main phase is caused by an enhanced level of magnetic energy conversion in a turbulent current sheet. The type of flare depends on the magnetic environment in which the emerging flux finds itself. A surge flare results if the flux appears near a strong unipolar region such as a simple sunspot, whereas a two ribbon flare may be produced by flux emergence near an active region filament, in which case the main phase energy is released from the field that surrounds the filament.     

Magnetic Energy Release in Flux Pile-up Merging

The problem of pressure limitations on the rate of flux pile-up magnetic reconnection is studied. We first examine the recent suggestion of Jardine and Allen (1998) for moderating the build-up of magnetic pressure in the current sheet by considering inflows with nonzero vorticity. An analytic argument shows, however, that unbounded magnetic pressures in the limit of small resistivities can be avoided only at the cost of unphysical dynamic pressures in the plasma. Hence, the pressure limitation on the reconnection rate in a low-beta plasma cannot be avoided completely. Nevertheless, we demonstrate that reconnection can be more rapid in a new solution that balances the build-up in dynamic pressure against both the plasma and magnetic pressures. This exact MHD solution has the characteristics of merging driven by the coalescence instability. The maximum energy release rate of the model is capable of explaining a modest solar flare.     

太阳爆发过程中的大尺度磁重联电流片:理论和观测

从理论和观测两个方面来介绍和讨论出现在太阳爆发过程中的磁重联电流片及其物理本质和动力学特征。首先介绍在理论研究和理论模型中,磁重联电流片是如何在爆发磁结构当中形成并发展的,对观测研究有什么指导意义。然后介绍观测工作是从哪几个方面对理论模型预测的电流片进行证认和研究的。第三,将介绍观测研究给出了哪些过去所没有能够预期的结果,这些结果对深入研究耀斑一CME电流片以及其中的磁重联过程的理论工作有什么重要的、挑战性的意义。第四,讨论最新的与此有关的理论研究和数值实验。最后,对未来的研究方向和重要课题进行综述和展望。     

Flare-like energy release by flux pile-up reconnection

Flux pile-up magnetic merging solutions are discussed using the simple robust arguments of traditional steady-state reconnection theory. These arguments determine a unique scaling for the field strength and thickness of the current layer, namely B _s^–1/3, l^2/3, which are consistent with a variety of plasma inflow conditions. Next we demonstrate that flux pile-up merging can also be understood in terms of exact magnetic annihilation solutions. Although simple annihilation models cannot provide unique reconnection scalings, we show that the previous current sheet scalings derive from an optimized solution in which the peak dynamic and magnetic pressures balance in the reconnection region. The build-up of magnetic field in the current sheet implicit in flux pile-up solutions naturally leads to the idea of saturation. Hydromagnetic pressure effects limit the magnetic field in the sheet, yielding an upper limit on the reconnection rate for such solutions. This rate is still far superior to the Sweet–Parker merging rate, which can be derived by seeking solutions that avoid all forms of saturation. Finally we compare time dependent numerical simulations of the coalescence instability with the optimized flux pile-up models. This comparison suggests that merging driven by the relatively slow approach of large flux systems may be favored in practice.     

The Importance of Photospheric Intense Flux Tubes for Coronal Heating

Dissipation of magnetic energy in the corona requires the creation of very fine scale-lengths because of the high magnetic Reynolds number of the plasma. The formation of current sheets is a natural possible solution to this problem and it is now known that a magnetic field that is stressed by continous photospheric motions through a series of equilibria can easily form such sheets. Furthermore, in a large class of 3D magnetic fields without null points there are locations, called quasi-separatrix layers (QSLs), where the field-line linkage changes drastically. They are the relevant generalisation of normal separatrices to configurations without nulls: along them concentrated electric currents are formed by smooth boundary motions and 3D magnetic reconnection takes place when the layers are thin enough. With a homogenous normal magnetic field component at the boundaries, the existence of thin enough QSL to dissipate magnetic energy rapidly requires that the field is formed by flux tubes that are twisted by a few turns. However, the photospheric field is not homogeneous but is fragmented into a large number of thin flux tubes. We show that such thin tubes imply the presence of a large number of very thin QSLs in the corona. The main parameter on which their presence depends is the ratio between the magnetic flux located outside the flux tubes to the flux inside. The thickness of the QSLs is approximately given by the distance between neighbouring flux tubes multiplied by the ratio of fluxes to a power between two and three (depending on the density of flux tubes). Because most of the photospheric magnetic flux is confined in thin flux tubes, very thin QSLs are present in the corona with a thickness much smaller than the flux tube size. We suggest that a turbulent resistivity is triggered in a QSL, which then rapidly evolves into a dynamic current sheet that releases energy by fast reconnection at a rate that we estimate to be sufficient to heat the corona. We conclude that the fragmentation of the photospheric magnetic field stimulates the dissipation of magnetic energy in the corona.     

The formation of solar prominences by thermal instability in a current sheet

The energy balance equation for the upper chromosphere or lower corona contains a radiative loss term which is destabilizing, because a slight decrease in temperature from the equilibrium value causes more radiation and hence a cooling of the plasma; also a slight increase in temperature has the effect of heating the plasma. In spite of this tendency towards thermal instability, most of the solar atmosphere is remarkably stable, since thermal conduction is very efficient at equalizing any temperature irregularity which may arise. However, the effectiveness of thermal conduction in transporting heat is decreased considerably in a current sheet or a magnetic flux tube, since heat can be conducted quickly only along the magnetic field lines. This paper presents a simple model for the thermal equilibrium and stability of a current sheet. It is found that, when its length exceeds a certain maximum value, no equilibrium is possible and the plasma in the sheet cools. The results may be relevant for the formation of a quiescent prominence.     

Current-driven plasma turbulence in a magnetic flux tube

The behaviour of a multi-component anisotropic plasma in a magnetic flux tube is studied in the presence of current-driven electrostatic ion-cyclotron turbulence. The plasma transport is considered in both parallel and perpendicular directions with respect to the given tube. As one of the sources of the parallel electric field, the anomalous resistivityof the plasma caused by the turbulence is taken into account. The acceleration and heating processes of the plasma are simulated numerically. It is found that at the upper boundary of the nightside auroral ionosphere, the resonant wave-particle interactions are most effective in the case of upward field-aligned currents with densities of a few 10^—6 A/m². The occurring anomalous resistivity maycause differences of the electric potential along the magnetic field lines of some kV. Further it is shown that the thickness of the magnetic flux tube and the intensity of the convection strongly influence the turbulent plasma heating.