康普顿化的计算-推广的Kompaneets方程与Monte Carlo方法比较

在X射线天文学以及辐射物理学中,当硬X射线穿过" 冷"的等离子体时所发生的Compton软化是一种重要的辐射转移过程.简要介绍推广的Kompaneets方程,该方程在hv〈mec2及kTe〈mec2较宽松的条件下广泛成立,因此不仅能处理Compton硬化过程,而且也适用于Compton软化过程,后者在目前快速发展的X射线和γ射线天文学中十分重要.基于此方程,我们对天体物理中4种常见辐射谱(Gauss型发射谱线、黑体辐射谱、幂律辐射谱和热轫致辐射谱)在Compton软化情况下的谱演化进行了数值求解,并同Monte Carlo模拟结果做比较,证实了推广的Kompaneets方程的正确性和有效性.最后指出此方程在X射线天文学和γ射线天文学中的重要意义和潜在应用.     

Proton and He^2＋ Temperature Anisotropies in the Solar Wind Driven by Ion Cyclotron Waves

We carried out one-dimensional hybrid simulations of resonant scattering of protons and He^2 ions by ion cyclotron waves in an initially homogeneous, collisionless and magnetized plasma. The initial ion cyclotron waves have a power spectrum and propagate both outward and inward. Due to the resonant interaction with the protons and He^2 ions, the wave power will be depleted in the resonance region. Both the protons and He^2 ions can be resonantly heated in the direction perpendicular to the ambient magnetic field and leading to anisotropic velocity distributions, with the anisotropy higher for the He^2 ions than for the protons. At the same time, the anisotropies of the protons and He^2 ions are inversely correlated with the plasma β‖p=8πnpkBT‖p/B0^2, consistent with the prediction of the quasilinear theory (QLT).     

Radiative Shock Experiments At Luli

We present the set-up and the results of a supercritical radiative shock experiment performed with the LULI nanosecond laser facility. Using specific designed targets filled with xenon gaz at low pressure, the propagation of a strong shock with a radiative precursor is evidenced. The main measured quantities related to the shock (electronic density, propagation velocities, temperature, radial dimension) are presented and compared with various numerical simulations.     

Laboratory Simulations of Bow Shocks and Magnetospheres

Laboratory experiments using a plasma wind generated by laser-target interaction are proposed and analyzed to investigate the creation of a shock in front of the magnetosphere and the dynamo mechanism. The proposed experiments and simulations are thought to be relevant to understanding the electron acceleration mechanisms at work in shock-driven magnetic dipole confined plasma in compact magnetized stars.     

Scale transformations, tree-level perturbation theory and the cosmological matter bispectrum

Soon after the discovery of radio pulsars in 1967, the pulsars are identified as strongly magnetic (typically 10¹² G) rapidly rotating (∼10²− 0.1 Hz) neutron stars. However, the mechanism of particle acceleration in the pulsar magnetosphere has been a longstanding problem. The central problem is why the rotation power manifests itself in both gamma-ray beams and a highly relativistic wind of electron–positron plasmas, which excites surrounding nebulae observed in X-ray. Here we show with a three-dimensional particle simulation for the global axisymmetric magnetosphere that a steady outflow of electron–positron pairs is formed with associated pair sources, which are the gamma-ray emitting regions within the light cylinder. The magnetic field is assumed to be a dipole, and to be consistent, the pair creation rate is taken to be small, so that the model might be applicable to old pulsars such as Geminga. The pair sources are charge-deficient regions around the null surface, and we identify them as the outer gap. The wind mechanism is the electromagnetic induction which brings about fast azimuthal motion and eventually trans-field drift by radiation drag in the close vicinity of the light cylinder and beyond. The wind causes loss of particles from the system. This maintains charge deficiency in the outer gap and pair creation. The model is thus in a steady state, balancing loss and supply of particles. Our simulation implies how the wind coexists with the gamma-ray emitting regions in the pulsar magnetosphere.     

Non-thermal shielding effects on the Compton scattering power in astrophysical plasmas

The non-thermal shielding effects on the inverse Compton scattering are investigated in astrophysical non-thermal Lorentzian plasmas. The inverse Compton power is obtained by the modified Compton scattering cross section in Lorentzian plasmas with the blackbody photon distribution. The total Compton power is also obtained by the Lorentzan distribution of plasmas. It is found that the influence of non-thermal character of the plasma suppresses the inverse Compton power in astrophysical Lorentzian plasmas. It is also found that the non-thermal effect on the inverse Compton power decreases with an increase of the temperature. In addition, the non-thermal effect on the total Compton power with Lorentzan plasmas increases in low-temperature photons and, however, decreases in intermediate-temperature photons with increasing Debye length. The variation of the total Compton power is also discussed.     

Connecting the very large and the very small: effective particle mass in curved-space cosmological models

We investigate the propagation of electromagnetic fields and potentials in the plasma of the early Universe, assuming a Friedmann–Robertson–Walker background with negative curvature. Taking over results from classical plasma physics, we show that charged particles will acquire an effective mass that has not only the expected thermal component but also a non-thermal component due to the influence of distant matter. Although this is a direct effect of the vector potential, we show the theory is nevertheless gauge invariant. This phenomenon is therefore in the same category as the Aharonov–Bohm effect. The non-thermal component becomes increasingly important with time, and in some cosmological models can prove to be of decisive importance in bringing about the phase transition that generates normal masses.