Evolutionary conditions for shock waves in collisionless plasma and stability of the associated flow

1968 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 449-463 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeki Morioka ◽  
John R. Spreiter

The evolutionary condition for transverse and normal shock waves, and the fire- hose and mirror instability conditions for the associated flow, in a collisionless, anisotropic plasma having a strong magnetic field are determined using the theoretical representation of Chew, Goldberger & Low (1956) for such a medium. The results are expressed in terms of the Mach number, Alfvén Mach number, and the ratio of the temperatures parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field in the flow approaching the shock wave, and applied to ascertain in what range of these parameters various types of instabilities may occur. The effect of the heat flux, which does not vanish generally in a collisionless plasma, on the shock stability is discussed.

1966 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. C. Pack ◽  
G. W. Swan

The solution for the flow of a fully ionized gas over a wedge of finite angle is known for the case when the applied magnetic field is aligned with the incident stream. In this flow there are current sheets on the surfaces of the wedge. When the magnetic field is allowed to deviate slightly from the stream, the current sheets may move into the gas and become shock waves. The magnetic fields adjacent to the wedge above and below it have to be matched. A perturbation method is introduced by means of which expressions for the unknown quantities in the different regions may be determined when there are four shocks attached to the wedge. The results give insight into the manner in which the shock-wave pattern develops as the obliquity of the magnetic field to the stream increases. The question of the stability of the shock waves is also examined.


1971 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 467-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusuke Kato† ◽  
Masayoshi Tajiri ◽  
Tosiya Taniuti

This paper is concerned with existence conditions for steady hydromagnetic shock waves propagating in a collisionless plasma along an applied magnetic field. The electrostatic waves are excluded. The conditions are based on the requirement that solutions of the Vlasov-Maxwell equations deviate from a uniform state ahead of a wave. They are given as the conditions on the upstream flow velocity in the wave frame (i.e. in the form of inequalities among the upstream flow velocity and some critical velocities). The conditions crucially depend on the pressure anisotropy, and demonstrate possibilities of exacting collisionless shock waves for high β plasmas.


1968 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 681
Author(s):  
Narendra K Sinha

The propagation of a spherically developed shock wave in a poly trope with a poloida.l magnetic field has been studied using a generalization of Whitham's method. The effect of the magnetic field on the geometry of the front as well as on the effects brought about by the shock has been discussed.


1969 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 435-447 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Woods

Ions reflected from the sharp potential rise in a magneto-plasma, perpendicular shock wave result hi a broad, small-amplitude ‘foot’ in the magnetic field proffle. A theory is given for the structure of this foot, which shows its shape to be a rather flat parabolic curve commencing at about half a Larmor radius in front of the shock front proper. The theory also predicts the amplitude of the foot just in front of the sharp rise as a function of Alfvén—Mach number. Close agreement with experiment is found.


1967 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Lessen ◽  
Narayan V. Deshpande

The stability of oblique magnetohycirodynamic shock waves is studied with respect to a disturbance that excites magneto-acoustic waves. The problem is solved numerically by the normal mode analysis and it is shown that slow shocks are unstable in the sense that the disturbance grows exponentially with time. Growth rates are calculated for a particular Mach number and for different values of the magnetic field and obliqueness. The fast shock appears to be stable.


1967 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Cowley

Ionizing shocks for plane flows with the magnetic field lying in the flow plane are considered. The gas is assumed to be electrically conducting downstream, but non-conducting upstream. Shocks whose downstream state has a normal velocity component less than the slow magneto-acoustic-wave speed and whose upstream state is supersonic are found to be non-evolutionary in the face of plane magneto-acoustic disturbances, unless the upstream electric field in a frame of reference where the gas is at rest is arbitrary. Velocity conditions are also determined for shock stability with the electric field not arbitrary.Shock structures are found for the case of large ohmic diffusion, the initial temperature rise and ionization of the gas being caused by a thin transition having the properties of an ordinary gasdynamic shock. For the case where shocks are evolutionary when the upstream electric field is arbitrary, the shock structure requirements only restrict the electric field by limiting the range of possible values. When shocks are evolutionary with the electric field not arbitrary, they can only have a structure for a particular value of the electric field. Limits to the current carried by ionizing shocks and the effects of precursor ionization are discussed qualitatively.


2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1257-1262 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Pavlov ◽  
T. Abe ◽  
K.-I. Oyama

Abstract. We present a comparison of the electron density and temperature behaviour in the ionosphere and plasmasphere measured by the Millstone Hill incoherent-scatter radar and the instruments on board of the EXOS-D satellite with numerical model calculations from a time-dependent mathematical model of the Earth's ionosphere and plasmasphere during the geomagnetically quiet and storm period on 20–30 January, 1993. We have evaluated the value of the additional heating rate that should be added to the normal photoelectron heating in the electron energy equation in the daytime plasmasphere region above 5000 km along the magnetic field line to explain the high electron temperature measured by the instruments on board of the EXOS-D satellite within the Millstone Hill magnetic field flux tube in the Northern Hemisphere. The additional heating brings the measured and modelled electron temperatures into agreement in the plasmasphere and into very large disagreement in the ionosphere if the classical electron heat flux along magnetic field line is used in the model. A new approach, based on a new effective electron thermal conductivity coefficient along the magnetic field line, is presented to model the electron temperature in the ionosphere and plasmasphere. This new approach leads to a heat flux which is less than that given by the classical Spitzer-Harm theory. The evaluated additional heating of electrons in the plasmasphere and the decrease of the thermal conductivity in the topside ionosphere and the greater part of the plasmasphere found for the first time here allow the model to accurately reproduce the electron temperatures observed by the instruments on board the EXOS-D satellite in the plasmasphere and the Millstone Hill incoherent-scatter radar in the ionosphere. The effects of the daytime additional plasmaspheric heating of electrons on the electron temperature and density are small at the F-region altitudes if the modified electron heat flux is used. The deviations from the Boltzmann distribution for the first five vibrational levels of N2(v) and O2(v) were calculated. The present study suggests that these deviations are not significant at the first vibrational levels of N2 and O2 and the second level of O2, and the calculated distributions of N2(v) and O2(v) are highly non-Boltzmann at vibrational levels v > 2. The resulting effect of N2(v > 0) and O2(v > 0) on NmF2 is the decrease of the calculated daytime NmF2 up to a factor of 1.5. The modelled electron temperature is very sensitive to the electron density, and this decrease in electron density results in the increase of the calculated daytime electron temperature up to about 580 K at the F2 peak altitude giving closer agreement between the measured and modelled electron temperatures. Both the daytime and night-time densities are not reproduced by the model without N2(v > 0) and O2(v > 0), and inclusion of vibrationally excited N2 and O2 brings the model and data into better agreement.Key words: Ionosphere (ionospheric disturbances; ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions; plasma temperature and density)  


Author(s):  
P. M. Ligrani ◽  
C. Saumweber ◽  
A. Schulz ◽  
S. Wittig

Interactions between shock waves and film cooling are described as they affect magnitudes of local and spanwise-averaged adiabatic film cooling effectiveness distributions. A row of three cylindrical holes is employed. Spanwise spacing of holes is 4 diameters, and inclination angle is 30 degrees. Freestream Mach numbers of 0.8 and 1.10–1.12 are used, with coolant to freestream density ratios of 1.5–1.6. Shadowgraph images show different shock structures as the blowing ratio is changed, and as the condition employed for injection of film into the cooling holes is altered. Investigated are film plenum conditions, as well as perpendicular film injection cross-flow Mach numbers of 0.15, 0.3, and 0.6. Dramatic changes to local and spanwise-averaged adiabatic film effectiveness distributions are then observed as different shock wave structures develop in the immediate vicinity of the film-cooling holes. Variations are especially evident as the data obtained with a supersonic Mach number are compared to the data obtained with a freestream Mach number of 0.8. Local and spanwise-averaged effectiveness magnitudes are generally higher when shock waves are present when a film plenum condition (with zero cross-flow Mach number) is utilized. Effectiveness values measured with a supersonic approaching freestream and shock waves then decrease as the injection cross-flow Mach number increases. Such changes are due to altered flow separation regions in film holes, different injection velocity distributions at hole exits, and alterations of static pressures at film hole exits produced by different types of shock wave events.


2018 ◽  
Vol 84 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
K. V. Lezhnin ◽  
F. F. Kamenets ◽  
T. Zh. Esirkepov ◽  
S. V. Bulanov

In contrast to hydrodynamic vortices, vortices in a plasma contain an electric current circulating around the centre of the vortex, which generates a magnetic field localized inside. Using computer simulations, we demonstrate that the magnetic field associated with the vortex gives rise to a mechanism of dissipation of the vortex pair in a collisionless plasma, leading to fast annihilation of the magnetic field with its energy transforming into the energy of fast electrons, secondary vortices and plasma waves. Two major contributors to the energy damping of a double vortex system, namely, magnetic field annihilation and secondary vortex formation, are regulated by the size of the vortex with respect to the electron skin depth, which scales with the electron$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}$factor,$\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{e}$, as$R/d_{e}\propto \unicode[STIX]{x1D6FE}_{e}^{1/2}$. Magnetic field annihilation appears to be dominant in mildly relativistic vortices, while for the ultrarelativistic case, secondary vortex formation is the main channel for damping of the initial double vortex system.


2021 ◽  
Vol 81 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Villalba-Chávez ◽  
A. E. Shabad ◽  
C. Müller

AbstractFor magnetic fields larger than the characteristic scale linked to axion-electrodynamics, quantum vacuum fluctuations due to axion-like fields can dominate over those associated with the electron-positron fields. This conjecture is explored by investigating both the axion-modified photon capture by a strong magnetic field and the Coulomb potential of a static pointlike charge. We show that in magnetic fields characteristic of neutron stars $$\sim 10^{13}$$ ∼ 10 13 –$$10^{15}\;\mathrm{G}$$ 10 15 G , the capture of gamma photons prior to the production of a pair can prevent the existence of an electron-positron plasma, essential for explaining the pulsar radiation mechanism. This incompatibility is used to limit the axion parameter space. Our bounds improve existing outcomes in the region of mass $$m\sim 10^{-10}$$ m ∼ 10 - 10 –$$10^{-5}\;{\mathrm{eV}}$$ 10 - 5 eV . The effect of capture, known in QED as relating to gamma-quanta, is extended in axion electrodynamics to include X-ray photons with the result that a specially polarized part of the heat radiation from the surface is canalized along the magnetic field. Besides, we find that in the regime in which the dominance takes place, the running QED coupling depends on the field strength and the modified Coulomb potential is of Yukawa-type in the direction perpendicular to the magnetic field at distances much smaller than the axion Compton wavelength, while along the field it follows approximately the Coulomb law at any length scale. Despite the Coulomb singularity manifested in the latter case, we argue that the ground-state energy of a non-relativistic hydrogen atom placed in a strong magnetic field turns out to be bounded due to the nonrenormalizable feature of axion-electrodynamics.


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