Disk Planet Interactions And Early Evolution in Young Planetary Systems

We study and review disk protoplanet interactions using local shearing box simulations. These suffer the disadvantage of having potential artefacts arising from periodic boundary conditions but the advantage, when compared to global simulations, of being able to capture much of the dynamics close to the protoplanet at high resolution for low computational cost. Cases with and without self sustained MHD turbulence are considered. The conditions for gap formation and the transition from type I migration are investigated and found to depend on whether the single parameter M _p R ³/(M_* H ³), with M _p, M_*, R, and H being the protoplanet mass, the central mass, the orbital radius and the disk semi-thickness, respectively, exceeds a number of order unity. We also investigate the coorbital torques experienced by a moving protoplanet in an inviscid disk. This is done by demonstrating the equivalence of the problem for a moving protoplanet to one where the protoplanet is in a fixed orbit which the disk material flows through radially as a result of the action of an appropriate external torque. For sustainable coorbital torques to be realized a quasi steady state must be realized in which the planet migrates through the disk without accreting significant mass. In that case, although there is sensitivity to computational parameters, in agreement with earlier work by Masset and Papaloizou [2003, ApJ, 588, 494] based on global simulations, the coorbital torques are proportional to the migration speed and result in a positive feedback on the migration, enhancing it and potentially leading to a runaway. This could lead to fast migration for protoplanets in the Saturn mass range in massive disks and may be relevant to the mass period correlation for extrasolar planets which gives a preponderance of sub Jovian masses at short orbital periods.     

耀变体在射电波段的偏振研究

利用UMRAO数据库22个耀变体源的偏振数据,根据Lazarian&Pogosyan理论模型分析研究了耀变体射电波段的偏振随波长的变化,得出不同类的耀变体偏振随波长变化的原因。结果表明,与Lazarian&Pogosyan理论模型吻合较好。由此得出如下结论:(1)反常去偏振耀变体源中反常法拉第旋光起主导作用,反常去偏振相对较少;(2)热辐射与同步辐射混合作用,高频波段的偏振度小于低频波段的偏振度(反常去偏振);(3)当被观测波段波长小于吸积盘热辐射对应的维恩波长时,高频波段的偏振度大于低频波段的偏振度(常规去偏振)。     

Transition-region explosive events produced by plasmoid instability

Magnetic reconnection is thought to be a key process in most solar eruptions. Thanks to highresolution observations and simulations, the studied scale of the reconnection process has become smaller and smaller. Spectroscopic observations show that the reconnection site can be very small, which always exhibits a bright core and two extended wings with fast speeds, i.e., transition-region explosive events.In this paper, using the PLUTO code, we perform a 2-D magnetohydrodynamic simulation to investigate small-scale reconnection in double current sheets. Based on our simulation results, such as the line-of-sight velocity, number density and plasma temperature, we can synthesize the line profile of SiIV 1402.77? which is a well known emission line used to study transition-region explosive events on the Sun. The synthetic line profile of Si IV 1402.77? is complex with a bright core and two broad wings which can extend to nearly 200 km s^-1. Our simulation results suggest that the transition-region explosive events on the Sun are produced by plasmoid instability during small-scale magnetic reconnection.     

The heating of the solar corona

The heating of the solar corona has been a fundamental astrophysical issue for over sixty years. Over the last decade in particular, space-based solar observatories (Yohkoh, SOHO and TRACE) have revealed the complex and often subtle magnetic-field and plasma interactions throughout the solar atmosphere in unprecedented detail. It is now established that any energy release mechanism is magnetic in origin - the challenge posed is to determine what specific heat input is dominating in a given coronal feature throughout the solar cycle. This review outlines a range of possible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) coronal heating theories, including MHD wave dissipation and MHD reconnection as well as the accumulating observational evidence for quasi-periodic oscillations and small-scale energy bursts occurring in the corona. Also, we describe current attempts to interpret plasma temperature, density and velocity diagnostics in the light of specific localised energy release. The progress in these investigations expected from future solar missions (Solar-B, STEREO, SDO and Solar Orbiter) is also assessed.Received: 6 February 2003, Published online: 14 November 2003 Correspondence to: R. W. Walsh     

黑子磁流体静力学的一个模型

本文对Ｏｓｈｅｒｏｖｉｃｈ的黑子返回磁通量模型作了适当的修改，使用黑子中心作为边界条件，用五种观测结果，导出了理论模型所需的五个主要参量，用半经验方法求得了黑子静力学模型的磁场、压力和温度等物理量．将此模型应用于一个中等大小的圆形对称黑子，可得到一个特解，结果发现我们的模型既能满足黑子的磁性质，同时又能满足合理的热力学量分布．     

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。     

Modulation and symmetry changes in stellar dynamos

Stellar dynamos are governed by non-linear partial differential equations (PDEs) which admit solutions with dipole, quadrupole or mixed symmetry (i.e. with different parities). These PDEs possess periodic solutions that describe magnetic cycles, and numerical studies reveal two different types of modulation. For modulations of Type 1 there are parity changes without significant changes of amplitude, while for Type 2 there are amplitude changes without significant changes in parity. In stars like the Sun, cyclic magnetic activity is interrupted by grand minima that correspond to Type 2 modulation. Although the Sun's magnetic field has maintained dipole symmetry for almost 300 yr, there was a significant parity change at the end of the Maunder Minimum. We infer that the solar field may have flipped from dipole to quadrupole polarity (and back) after deep minima in the past and may do so again in the future. Other stars, with different masses or rotation rates, may exhibit cyclic activity with dipole, quadrupole or mixed parity. The origins of such behaviour can be understood by relating the PDE results to solutions of appropriate low-order systems of ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Type 1 modulation is reproduced in a fourth-order system while Type 2 modulation occurs in a third-order system. Here we construct a new sixth-order system that describes both types of modulation and clarifies the interactions between symmetry-breaking and modulation of activity. Solutions of these non-linear ODEs reproduce the qualitative behaviour found for the PDEs, including flipping of polarity after a prolonged grand minimum. Thus we can be confident that these patterns of behaviour are robust, and will apply to stars that are similar to the Sun.     

Superbubbles in magnetized interstellar media: blowout or confinement?

The importance of the interstellar magnetic field is studied in relation to the evolution of superbubbles with a three-dimensional (3D) numerical magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulation. A superbubble is a large supernova remnant driven by sequential supernova explosions in an OB association. Its evolution is affected by the density stratification in the galactic disc. After the superbubble size reaches 2–3 times the density scaleheight, it expands preferentially in the z -direction, until finally it can punch out a hole in the gas disc (blowout). On the other hand, the magnetic field running parallel to the galactic disc has the effect of preventing it from expanding in the direction perpendicular to the field. The density stratification and the magnetic fields have completely opposite effects on the evolution of the superbubble. We present results of a 3D MHD simulation in which both effects are included. As a result, it is concluded that when the magnetic field has a much larger scaleheight than the density, even for a model in which the bubble would blow out from the disc if the magnetic field were absent, a magnetic field with a strength of 5 μG can confine the bubble in | z |≲300 pc for ≃ 20 Myr (confinement). In a model in which the field strength decreases in the halo as B  ∝ ρ^1/2, the superbubble eventually blows out like a model with B  = 0 even if the magnetic field in the mid-plane is as strong as B  = 5 μG.