Small-scale magnetic fields in turbulence: Saffman's approximation revisited

1980 ◽  
Vol 99 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-493
Author(s):  
Ralph Baierlein

The subject is the small-scale structure of a magnetic field in a turbulent conducting fluid, ‘small scale’ meaning lengths much smaller than the characteristic dissipative length of the turbulence. Philip Saffman developed an approximation to describe this structure and its evolution in time. Its usefulness invites a closer examination of the approximation itself and an attempt to place sharper limits on the numerical parameters that appear in the approximate correlation functions, topics to which the present paper is addressed.A Lagrangian approach is taken, wherein one makes a Fourier decomposition of the magnetic field in a neighbourhood that follows a fluid element. If one construes the viscous-convective range narrowly, by ignoring magnetic dissipation entirely, then results for a magnetic field in two dimensions are consistent with Saffman's approximation, but in three dimensions no steady state could be found. Thus, in three dimensions, turbulent amplification seems to be more effective than Saffman's approximation implies. The cause seems to be a matter of geometry, not of correlation times or relative time scales.Strictly-outward spectral transfer is a characteristic of Saffman's approximation, and this may be an accurate description only when dissipation suppresses the contributions from inwardly directed spectral transfer. In the spectral region where dominance passes from convection to dissipation, one can generate expressions for the parameters that arise in Saffman's approximation. Their numerical evaluation by computer simulation may enable one to sharpen the limits that Saffman had already set for those parameters.

1995 ◽  
Vol 305 ◽  
pp. 281-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. C. Matthews ◽  
M. R. E. Proctor ◽  
N. O. Weiss

Convection in a compressible fiuid with an imposed vertical magnetic field is studied numerically in a three-dimensional Cartesian geometry with periodic lateral boundary conditions. Attention is restricted to the mildly nonlinear regime, with parameters chosen first so that convection at onset is steady, and then so that it is oscillatory.Steady convection occurs in the form of two-dimensional rolls when the magnetic field is weak. These rolls can become unstable to a mean horizontal shear flow, which in two dimensions leads to a pulsating wave in which the direction of the mean flow reverses. In three dimensions a new pattern is found in which the alignment of the rolls and the shear flow alternates.If the magnetic field is sufficiently strong, squares or hexagons are stable at the onset of convection. Both the squares and the hexagons have an asymmetrical topology, with upflow in plumes and downflow in sheets. For the squares this involves a resonance between rolls aligned with the box and rolls aligned digonally to the box. The preference for three-dimensional flow when the field is strong is a consequence of the compressibility of the layer- for Boussinesq magnetoconvection rolls are always preferred over squares at onset.In the regime where convection is oscillatory, the preferred planform for moderate fields is found to be alternating rolls - standing waves in both horizontal directions which are out of phase. For stronger fields, both alternating rolls and two-dimensional travelling rolls are stable. As the amplitude of convection is increased, either by dcereasing the magnetic field strength or by increasing the temperature contrast, the regular planform structure seen at onset is soon destroyed by secondary instabilities.


Author(s):  
D. E. Speliotis

The interaction of electron beams with a large variety of materials for information storage has been the subject of numerous proposals and studies in the recent literature. The materials range from photographic to thermoplastic and magnetic, and the interactions with the electron beam for writing and reading the information utilize the energy, or the current, or even the magnetic field associated with the electron beam.


Author(s):  
K. Sanchez ◽  
G. Bascoul ◽  
F. Infante ◽  
N. Courjault ◽  
T. Nakamura

Abstract Magnetic field imaging is a well-known technique which gives the possibility to study the internal activity of electronic components in a contactless and non-invasive way. Additional data processing can convert the magnetic field image into a current path and give the possibility to identify current flow anomalies in electronic devices. This technique can be applied at board level or device level and is particularly suitable for the failure analysis of complex packages (stacked device & 3D packaging). This approach can be combined with thermal imaging, X-ray observation and other failure analysis tool. This paper will present two different techniques which give the possibility to measure the magnetic field in two dimensions over an active device. Same device and same level of current is used for the two techniques to give the possibility to compare the performance.


2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (8) ◽  
pp. 1052-1059 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. V. Strekalova ◽  
Yu. A. Nagovitsyn ◽  
A. Riehokainen ◽  
V. V. Smirnova

Author(s):  
Xuanye Ma ◽  
Peter Delamere ◽  
Katariina Nykyri ◽  
Brandon Burkholder ◽  
Stefan Eriksson ◽  
...  

Over three decades of in-situ observations illustrate that the Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability driven by the sheared flow between the magnetosheath and magnetospheric plasma often occurs on the magnetopause of Earth and other planets under various interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) conditions. It has been well demonstrated that the KH instability plays an important role for energy, momentum, and mass transport during the solar-wind-magnetosphere coupling process. Particularly, the KH instability is an important mechanism to trigger secondary small scale (i.e., often kinetic-scale) physical processes, such as magnetic reconnection, kinetic Alfvén waves, ion-acoustic waves, and turbulence, providing the bridge for the coupling of cross scale physical processes. From the simulation perspective, to fully investigate the role of the KH instability on the cross-scale process requires a numerical modeling that can describe the physical scales from a few Earth radii to a few ion (even electron) inertial lengths in three dimensions, which is often computationally expensive. Thus, different simulation methods are required to explore physical processes on different length scales, and cross validate the physical processes which occur on the overlapping length scales. Test particle simulation provides such a bridge to connect the MHD scale to the kinetic scale. This study applies different test particle approaches and cross validates the different results against one another to investigate the behavior of different ion species (i.e., H+ and O+), which include particle distributions, mixing and heating. It shows that the ion transport rate is about 1025 particles/s, and mixing diffusion coefficient is about 1010 m2 s−1 regardless of the ion species. Magnetic field lines change their topology via the magnetic reconnection process driven by the three-dimensional KH instability, connecting two flux tubes with different temperature, which eventually causes anisotropic temperature in the newly reconnected flux.


1976 ◽  
Vol 71 ◽  
pp. 323-344 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.-H. Rädler

One of the most striking features of both the magnetic field and the motions observed at the Sun is their highly irregular or random character which indicates the presence of rather complicated magnetohydrodynamic processes. Of great importance in this context is a comprehension of the behaviour of the large scale components of the magnetic field; large scales are understood here as length scales in the order of the solar radius and time scales of a few years. Since there is a strong relationship between these components and the solar 22-years cycle, an insight into the mechanism controlling these components also provides for an insight into the mechanism of the cycle. The large scale components of the magnetic field are determined not only by their interaction with the large scale components of motion. On the contrary, a very important part is played also by an interaction between the large and the small scale components of magnetic field and motion so that a very complicated situation has to be considered.


2004 ◽  
Vol 11 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 535-543 ◽  
Author(s):  
Y. Voitenko ◽  
M. Goossens

Abstract. There is abundant observational evidence that the energization of plasma particles in space is correlated with an enhanced activity of large-scale MHD waves. Since these waves cannot interact with particles, we need to find ways for these MHD waves to transport energy in the dissipation range formed by small-scale or high-frequency waves, which are able to interact with particles. In this paper we consider the dissipation range formed by the kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs) which are very short- wavelengths across the magnetic field irrespectively of their frequency. We study a nonlocal nonlinear mechanism for the excitation of KAWs by MHD waves via resonant decay AW(FW)→KAW1+KAW2, where the MHD wave can be either an Alfvén wave (AW), or a fast magneto-acoustic wave (FW). The resonant decay thus provides a non-local energy transport from large scales directly in the dissipation range. The decay is efficient at low amplitudes of the magnetic field in the MHD waves, B/B0~10-2. In turn, KAWs are very efficient in the energy exchange with plasma particles, providing plasma heating and acceleration in a variety of space plasmas. An anisotropic energy deposition in the field-aligned degree of freedom for the electrons, and in the cross-field degrees of freedom for the ions, is typical for KAWs. A few relevant examples are discussed concerning nonlinear excitation of KAWs by the MHD wave flux and consequent plasma energization in the solar corona and terrestrial magnetosphere.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (7) ◽  
pp. S517-S520 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Tsuchimoto ◽  
S Osanai ◽  
M Morita

1981 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 373-391
Author(s):  
Gerhard Haerendel

Two processes are discussed which violate the frozen-in condition in a highly conducting plasma, reconnection and the auroral acceleration process. The first applies to situations in which . It plays an important role in the interaction of the solar wind with the Earth's magnetic field and controls energy input into as well as energetic particle release from the magnetosphere. Detailed in situ studies of the process on the dayside magnetopause reveal its transient and small-scale nature. The auroral acceleration process occurs in the low magnetosphere (β « 1) and accompanies sudden releases of magnetic shear stresses which exist in large-scale magnetospheric-ionospheric current circuits. The process is interpreted as a kind of breaking. The movements of the magnetospheric plasma which lead to a relief of the magnetic tensions occur in thin sheets and are decoupled along the magnetic field lines by parallel electric potential drops. It is this voltage that accelerates the primary auroral particles. The visible arcs are then traces of the magnetic breaking process at several 1000 km altitude.


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