A Turbulent Heliosheath Driven by Rayleigh Taylor Instability

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merav Opher ◽  
James Drake ◽  
Gary Zank ◽  
Gabor Toth ◽  
Erick Powell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Neutral Atom ◽  
Solar Magnetic Field ◽  
Characteristic Time Scale ◽  
Rayleigh Taylor Instability ◽  
Scale Turbulence ◽  
Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations ◽  
Rt Instability

Abstract The heliosphere is the bubble formed by the solar wind as it interacts with the interstellar medium (ISM). Studies show that the solar magnetic field funnels the heliosheath solar wind (the shocked solar wind at the edge of the heliosphere) into two jet-like structures1-2. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations show that these heliospheric jets become unstable as they move down the heliotail1,3 and drive large-scale turbulence. However, the mechanism that produces of this turbulence had not been identified. Here we show that the driver of the turbulence is the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability caused by the interaction of neutral H atoms streaming from the ISM with the ionized matter in the heliosheath (HS). The drag between the neutral and ionized matter acts as an effective gravity which causes a RT instability to develop along the axis of the HS magnetic field. A density gradient exists perpendicular to this axis due to the confinement of the solar wind by the solar magnetic field. The characteristic time scale of the instability depends on the neutral H density in the ISM and for typical values the growth rate is ~ 3 years. The instability destroys the coherence of the heliospheric jets and magnetic reconnection ensues, allowing ISM material to penetrate the heliospheric tail. Signatures of this instability should be observable in Energetic Neutral Atom (ENA) maps from future missions such as IMAP4. The turbulence driven by the instability is macroscopic and potentially has important implications for particle acceleration.

scholarly journals A Turbulent Heliosheath Driven by the Rayleigh–Taylor Instability

2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (2) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
M. Opher ◽  
J. F. Drake ◽  
G. Zank ◽  
E. Powell ◽  
W. Shelley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Neutral Atom ◽  
Solar Magnetic Field ◽  
Rayleigh Taylor Instability ◽  
Scale Turbulence ◽  
Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations ◽  
North And South ◽  
Rt Instability

Abstract The heliosphere is the bubble formed by the solar wind as it interacts with the interstellar medium (ISM). The collimation of the heliosheath (HS) flows by the solar magnetic field in the heliotail into distinct north and south columns (jets) is seen in recent global simulations of the heliosphere. However, there is disagreement between the models about how far downtail the two-lobe feature persists and whether the ambient ISM penetrates into the region between the two lobes. Magnetohydrodynamic simulations show that these heliospheric jets become unstable as they move down the heliotail and drive large-scale turbulence. However, the mechanism that produces this turbulence had not been identified. Here we show that the driver of the turbulence is the Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability produced by the interaction of neutral H atoms streaming from the ISM with the ionized matter in the HS. The drag between the neutral and ionized matter acts as an effective gravity, which causes an RT instability to develop along the axis of the HS magnetic field. A density gradient exists perpendicular to this axis due to the confinement of the solar wind by the solar magnetic field. The characteristic timescale of the instability depends on the neutral H density in the ISM and for typical values the growth rate is ∼3 years. The instability destroys the coherence of the heliospheric jets and magnetic reconnection ensues, allowing ISM material to penetrate the heliospheric tail. Signatures of this instability should be observable in Energetic Neutral Atom maps from future missions such as the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP). The turbulence driven by the instability is macroscopic and potentially has important implications for particle acceleration.

scholarly journals Nature of Large-Scale Solar Magnetic Field and Complexity of HCS as Observed in Interplanetary Plasma

1990 ◽  
Vol 142 ◽  
pp. 343-344
Author(s):  
T E Girish ◽  
S R Prabhakaran Nayar
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Solar Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Rotation ◽  
Solar Wind Plasma ◽  
Heliospheric Current Sheet ◽  
The North ◽  
Interplanetary Plasma ◽  
South Asymmetry

The properties of the interplanetary plasma and magnetic field near 1 AU is determined by the nature of large-scale solar magnetic field and the associated structure of the heliospheric current sheet (HCS). Magnetic multipoles often present near the solar equator affect the solar wind plasma and magnetic field (IMF) near earth's orbit. The observation of four or more IMF sectors per solar rotation and the north-south asymmetry in the HCS are observational manifestations of the influence of solar magnetic multipoles, especially the quadrupole on the interplanetary medium (Schultz, 1973; Girish and Nayar, 1988). The solar wind plasma is known to be organised around the HCS. In this work, we have investigated the possibility of inferring i) the relative dipolar and quadrupolar heliomagnetic contributions to the HCS geometry from the observation of four sector IMF structure near earth and ii) the properties of the north-south asymmetry in HCS geometry about the heliographic equator from IMF and solar wind observations near 1 AU.

scholarly journals Magnetic-field generation by the ablative nonlinear Rayleigh–Taylor instability

2014 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M. Nilson ◽  
L. Gao ◽  
I. V. Igumenshchev ◽  
G. Fiksel ◽  
R. Yan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Magnetic Fields ◽  
Atmospheric Pressure ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Taylor Instability ◽  
Magnetic Field Generation ◽  
Field Generation ◽  
Rayleigh Taylor Instability ◽  
Astrophysical Flows ◽  
Rt Instability

Experiments reporting magnetic-field generation by the ablative nonlinear Rayleigh–Taylor (RT) instability are reviewed. The experiments show how large-scale magnetic fields can, under certain circumstances, emerge and persist in strongly driven laboratory and astrophysical flows at drive pressures exceeding one million times atmospheric pressure.

HelioSwarm: The Nature of Turbulence in Space Plasmas

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harlan Spence ◽  
Kristopher Klein ◽  
HelioSwarm Science Team
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Solar Wind Plasma ◽  
Turbulent Energy ◽  
Space Plasmas ◽  
Plasma Parameters ◽  
Astrophysical Plasmas ◽  
Ion Distributions ◽  
Background Magnetic Field

<p>Recently selected for phase A study for NASA’s Heliophysics MidEx Announcement of Opportunity, the HelioSwarm Observatory proposes to transform our understanding of the physics of turbulence in space and astrophysical plasmas by deploying nine spacecraft to measure the local plasma and magnetic field conditions at many points, with separations between the spacecraft spanning MHD and ion scales.  HelioSwarm resolves the transfer and dissipation of turbulent energy in weakly-collisional magnetized plasmas with a novel configuration of spacecraft in the solar wind. These simultaneous multi-point, multi-scale measurements of space plasmas allow us to reach closure on two science goals comprised of six science objectives: (1) reveal how turbulent energy is transferred in the most probable, undisturbed solar wind plasma and distributed as a function of scale and time; (2) reveal how this turbulent cascade of energy varies with the background magnetic field and plasma parameters in more extreme solar wind environments; (3) quantify the transfer of turbulent energy between fields, flows, and ion heat; (4) identify thermodynamic impacts of intermittent structures on ion distributions; (5) determine how solar wind turbulence affects and is affected by large-scale solar wind structures; and (6) determine how strongly driven turbulence differs from that in the undisturbed solar wind. </p>

Power spectral density of magnetic field and ion velocity fluctuations from inertial to kinetic ranges

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jana Šafránková ◽  
Zdeněk Němeček ◽  
František Němec ◽  
Luca Franci ◽  
Alexander Pitňa
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Solar Wind ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Collisionless Plasma ◽  
Power Spectra ◽  
Physical Parameters ◽  
Particle In Cell ◽  
High Reynolds ◽  
Experimental Findings ◽  
Turbulent Cascade

<p>The solar wind is a unique laboratory to study the turbulent processes occurring in a collisionless plasma with high Reynolds numbers. A turbulent cascade—the process that transfers the free energy contained within the large scale fluctuations into the smaller ones—is believed to be one of the most important mechanisms responsible for heating of the solar corona and solar wind. The paper analyzes power spectra of solar wind velocity, density and magnetic field fluctuations that are computed in the frequency range around the break between inertial and kinetic scales. The study uses measurements of the Bright Monitor of the Solar Wind (BMSW) on board the Spektr-R spacecraft with a time resolution of 32 ms complemented with 10 Hz magnetic field observations from the Wind spacecraft propagated to the Spektr-R location. The statistics based on more than 42,000 individual spectra show that: (1) the spectra of both quantities can be fitted by two (three in the case of the density) power-law segments; (2) the median slopes of parallel and perpendicular fluctuation velocity and magnetic field components are different; (3) the break between MHD and kinetic scales as well as the slopes are mainly controlled by the ion beta parameter. These experimental results are compared with high-resolution 2D hybrid particle-in-cell simulations, where the electrons are considered to be a massless, charge-neutralizing fluid with a constant temperature, whereas the ions are described as macroparticles representing portions of their distribution function. In spite of several limitations (lack of the electron kinetics, lower dimensionality), the model results agree well with the experimental findings. Finally, we discuss differences between observations and simulations in relation to the role of important physical parameters in determining the properties of the turbulent cascade.</p>

scholarly journals Time Evolution of the Large-Scale Solar Magnetic Field

1971 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 588-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin D. Altschuler ◽  
Gordon Newkirk ◽  
Dorothy E. Trotter ◽  
Robert Howard
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Field ◽  
Time Evolution ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Solar Magnetic Field ◽  
Magnetic Polarity ◽  
Zonal Harmonic ◽  
The North

The six years of data from the Mt. Wilson Magnetic Atlas were analyzed in terms of surface harmonics. Between 1959 and 1962 the dominant harmonic corresponded to a dipole lying in the plane of the equator (2 sectors). There was also a significant zonal harmonic in which both solar poles had the same magnetic polarity, opposite to that at the equator. From the end of 1962 through 1964, the harmonic corresponding to 4 sectors was dominant. In 1965 and 1966, the harmonic of the north-south dipole became significant.

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