scholarly journals Magnetic Field in a Turbulent Galactic Disk

1990 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 157-158
Author(s):  
K. Otmianowska-Mazur

A numerical model of magnetic field structure in the presence of turbulent motions of the interstellar gas has been made. We solved the kinematic equation of magnetic field transport in a limited volume of ISM. Diffusion effects smoothing out small-scale structure are allowed as well. A permanent helical configuration of field lines has been found. This justifies, at least partly, searching solutions in the dynamo theory in the form of field modes. The presence of diffusion appears essential for the time evolution of magnetic field and magnetic energy density.

2012 ◽  
Vol 08 ◽  
pp. 364-367
Author(s):  
YOSUKE MIZUNO ◽  
MARTIN POHL ◽  
JACEK NIEMIEC ◽  
BING ZHANG ◽  
KEN-ICHI NISHIKAWA ◽  
...  

We perform two-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a mildly relativistic shock propagating through an inhomogeneous medium. We show that the postshock region becomes turbulent owing to preshock density inhomogeneity, and the magnetic field is strongly amplified due to the stretching and folding of field lines in the turbulent velocity field. The amplified magnetic field evolves into a filamentary structure in two-dimensional simulations. The magnetic energy spectrum is flatter than the Kolmogorov spectrum and indicates that the so-called small-scale dynamo is occurring in the postshock region. We also find that the amplitude of magnetic-field amplification depends on the direction of the mean preshock magnetic field.


1979 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 49 ◽  
Author(s):  
VV Zheleznyakov ◽  
VE Shaposhnikov

The reabsorption of curvature radiation, i.e. radiation from relativistic electrons moving along curved magnetic field lines, is discussed. The optical depth for the ray path is calculated by use of the Einstein coefficients. It is shown that the optical depth becomes negative (maser effect) if transitions between Landau levels are absent. However, maser action is ineffective if the energy density of the relativistic particles is less than that of the magnetic field. For pulsar radio emission the magnetic energy density is assumed to exceed the particle energy density, so the observed emission cannot be coherent curvature radiation.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S273) ◽  
pp. 233-241 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillaume Aulanier

AbstractQuasi-Separatrix Layers (QSLs) are 3D geometrical objects that define narrow volumes across which magnetic field lines have strong, but finite, gradients of connectivity from one footpoint to another. QSLs extend the concept of separatrices, that are topological objects across which the connectivity is discontinuous. Based on analytical arguments, and on magnetic field extrapolations of the Sun's coronal force-free field above observed active regions, it has long since been conjectured that QSLs are favorable locations for current sheet (CS) formation, as well as for magnetic reconnection, and therefore are good predictors for the locations of magnetic energy release in flares and coronal heating. It is only up to recently that numerical MHD simulations and solar observations, as well as a laboratory experiment, have started to address the validity of these conjectures. When put all together, they suggest that QSL reconnection is involved in the displacement of EUV and SXR brightenings along chromospheric flare ribbons, that it is related with the heating of EUV coronal loops, and that the dissipation of QSL related CS may be the cause of coronal heating in initially homogeneous, braided and turbulent flux tubes, as well as in coronal arcades rooted in the slowly moving and numerous small-scale photospheric flux concentrations, both in active region faculae and in the quiet Sun. The apparent ubiquity of QSL-related CS in the Sun's corona, which will need to be quantified with new generation solar instruments, also suggests that QSLs play an important role in stellar's atmospheres, when their surface radial magnetic fields display complex patterns.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (S274) ◽  
pp. 445-448
Author(s):  
Yosuke Mizuno ◽  
Martin Pohl ◽  
Jacek Niemiec ◽  
Bing Zhang ◽  
Ken-Ichi Nishikawa ◽  
...  

AbstractWe perform two-dimensional relativistic magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a mildly relativistic shock propagating through an inhomogeneous medium. We show that the postshock region becomes turbulent owing to preshock density inhomogeneities, and the magnetic field is strongly amplified due to the stretching and folding of field lines in the turbulent velocity field. The amplified magnetic field evolves into a filamentary structure in our two-dimensional simulations. The magnetic energy spectrum is flatter than Kolmogorov and indicates that a so-called small-scale dynamo is operating in the postshock region. We also find that the amount of magnetic-field amplification depends on the direction of the mean preshock magnetic field.


2021 ◽  
Vol 502 (2) ◽  
pp. 2807-2814
Author(s):  
Martin G H Krause ◽  
Martin J Hardcastle

ABSTRACT The ARCADE 2 balloon bolometer along with a number of other instruments have detected what appears to be a radio synchrotron background at frequencies below about 3 GHz. Neither extragalactic radio sources nor diffuse Galactic emission can currently account for this finding. We use the locally measured cosmic ray electron population, demodulated for effects of the Solar wind, and other observational constraints combined with a turbulent magnetic field model to predict the radio synchrotron emission for the Local Bubble. We find that the spectral index of the modelled radio emission is roughly consistent with the radio background. Our model can approximately reproduce the observed antenna temperatures for a mean magnetic field strength B between 3 and 5 nT. We argue that this would not violate observational constraints from pulsar measurements. However, the curvature in the predicted spectrum would mean that other, so far unknown sources would have to contribute below 100 MHz. Also, the magnetic energy density would then dominate over thermal and cosmic ray electron energy density, likely causing an inverse magnetic cascade with large variations of the radio emission in different sky directions as well as high polarization. We argue that this disagrees with several observations and thus that the magnetic field is probably much lower, quite possibly limited by equipartition with the energy density in relativistic or thermal particles (B = 0.2−0.6 nT). In the latter case, we predict a contribution of the Local Bubble to the unexplained radio background at most at the per cent level.


1970 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 435-452 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. K. Moffatt

The effect of turbulence on a magnetic field whose length-scale L is initially large compared with the scale l of the turbulence is considered. There are no external sources for the field, and in the absence of turbulence it decays by ohmic dissipation. It is assumed that the magnetic Reynolds number Rm = u0l/λ (where u0 is the root-mean-square velocity and λ the magnetic diffusivity) is small. It is shown that to lowest order in the small quantities l/L and Rm, isotropic turbulence has no effect on the large-scale field; but that turbulence that lacks reflexional symmetry is capable of amplifying Fourier components of the field on length scales of order Rm−2l and greater. In the case of turbulence whose statistical properties are invariant under rotation of the axes of reference, but not under reflexions in a point, it is shown that the magnetic energy density of a magnetic field which is initially a homogeneous random function of position with a particularly simple spectrum ultimately increases as t−½exp (α2t/2λ3) where α(= O(u02l)) is a certain linear functional of the spectrum tensor of the turbulence. An analogous result is obtained for an initially localized field.


2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory G. Howes ◽  
Sofiane Bourouaine

Plasma turbulence occurs ubiquitously in space and astrophysical plasmas, mediating the nonlinear transfer of energy from large-scale electromagnetic fields and plasma flows to small scales at which the energy may be ultimately converted to plasma heat. But plasma turbulence also generically leads to a tangling of the magnetic field that threads through the plasma. The resulting wander of the magnetic field lines may significantly impact a number of important physical processes, including the propagation of cosmic rays and energetic particles, confinement in magnetic fusion devices and the fundamental processes of turbulence, magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration. The various potential impacts of magnetic field line wander are reviewed in detail, and a number of important theoretical considerations are identified that may influence the development and saturation of magnetic field line wander in astrophysical plasma turbulence. The results of nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence of sub-ion length scales are evaluated to understand the development and saturation of the turbulent magnetic energy spectrum and of the magnetic field line wander. It is found that turbulent space and astrophysical plasmas are generally expected to contain a stochastic magnetic field due to the tangling of the field by strong plasma turbulence. Future work will explore how the saturated magnetic field line wander varies as a function of the amplitude of the plasma turbulence and the ratio of the thermal to magnetic pressure, known as the plasma beta.


1993 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 143-146
Author(s):  
K. Petrovay ◽  
G. Szakály

AbstractThe presently widely accepted view that the solar dynamo operates near the base of the convective zone makes it difficult to relate the magnetic fields observed in the solar atmosphere to the fields in the dynamo layer. The large amount of observational data concerning photospheric magnetic fields could in principle be used to impose constraints on dynamo theory, but in order to infer these constraints the above mentioned “missing link” between the dynamo and surface fields should be found. This paper proposes such a link by modeling the passive vertical transport of thin magnetic flux tubes through the convective zone.


1993 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 283-297
Author(s):  
Rainer Beck

Results of linear αΩ-dynamo models are confronted with radio polarization observations of spiral galaxies. The general distribution of polarized emission and the magnetic field pitch angle can be described with sufficient accuracy. The occurrance of systematic large-scale variations in Faraday rotation (RM) is the strongest argument in favour of dynamo theory. However, the predominance of axisymmetric SO modes could not be confirmed by observations; S1 modes are about equally frequent. The azimuthal variations of field pitch angles and, in two cases, the phases of the RM variations are inconsistent with a classical αΩ-dynamo. Locally deviating RM values indicate field lines bending out of the plane. There is increasing evidence that galactic fields cannot be described by simple dynamo modes. This calls for more realistic dynamo models, taking into account non-axisymmetric velocity fields and galactic winds.Interpretation of radio observations is difficult because Faraday depolarization can seriously affect the data. Observations of small-scale field structures are summarized which show the path for future research. Instrumental needs for such investigations are discussed.


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.


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