On the Saturation (or Not) of Geomagnetic Indices

Most geomagnetic indices are associated with processes internal to the magnetosphere-ionosphere system: convection, magnetosphere-ionosphere current systems, particle pressure, ULF wave activity, etc. The saturation (or not) of various geomagnetic indices under various solar-wind driver functions (a.k.a. coupling functions) is explored by examining plots of the various indices as functions of the various driver functions. In comparing an index with a driver function, “saturation” of the index means that the trend of stronger geomagnetic activity with stronger driving weakens in going from mid-range driving to very strong driving. Issues explored are 1) whether the nature of the index matters (i.e., what the index measures and how the index measures it), 2) the relation of index saturation to cross-polar-cap potential saturation, and 3) the role of the choice of the solar-wind driver function. It is found that different geomagnetic indices exhibit different amounts of saturation. For example the SuperMAG auroral-electrojet indices SME, SML, and SMU saturate much less than do the auroral-electrojet indices AE, AL, and AU. Additionally it is found that different driver functions cause an index to show different degrees of saturation. Dividing a solar-wind driver function by the theoretical cross-polar-cap-potential correction (1+Q) often compensates for the saturation of an index, even though that index is associated with internal magnetospheric processes whereas Q is derived for solar-wind processes. There are composite geomagnetic indices E(1) that show no saturation when matched to their composite solar-wind driver functions S(1). When applied to other geomagnetic indices, the composite S(1) driver functions tend to compensate for index saturation at strong driving, but they also tend to introduce a nonlinearity at weak driving.

A microscopic study of spin-polarized neutron matter

In this work, the static fluctuation approximation (SFA) is used to investigate the thermodynamic properties of spin-polarized neutron matter. The energy per particle, pressure, entropy per particle, specific heat capacity, and effective magnetic field are studied as functions of density, temperature, and polarization fraction. The Argonne v18 nucleon–nucleon potential is used here. It is found that the energy per particle, pressure, entropy per particle, and effective magnetic field increase as the density or temperature increases. Also, the energy per particle and pressure are linearly dependent on the quadratic spin polarization δ2. The system becomes more ordered as δ increases. Our calculations are found to be in good agreement with previously published results obtained with different many-body techniques, such as the lowest order constrained variational (LOCV) method, the Brueckner–Hartree–Fock (BHF) approach, and the Dirac–Brueckner–Hartree–Fock (DBHF) technique.

Dependence of fishbone cycle on energetic particle intensity in EAST low-magnetic-shear plasmas

The dependence of fishbone cycle on energetic particle intensity has been investigated in EAST low-magnetic-shear plasmas. It is observed that the fishbone mode growth rate, saturation amplitude as well as fishbone cycle frequency clearly increase with increasing neutral beam injection (NBI) power. Moreover, enhanced electron density and temperature perturbations as well as energetic particle loss were observed with greater injected NBI power. Simulation results using M3D-K code show that as the NBI power increases, the resonant frequency and the energy of the resonant particles become higher, and the saturation amplitude of the mode also changes, due to the non-perturbative energetic particle contribution. The relationship between the calculated energetic particle pressure ratio and fishbone cycle frequency is obtained as ${f_{\textrm{FC}}} = 2.2{(1000{\beta _{\textrm{ep,calc}}} - 0.1)^{5.9 \pm 0.5}}$ . Results consistent with the experimental observations have been achieved based on a predator–prey model.

A two-fluid model for black-hole accretion flows: Particle acceleration, outflows, and TeV emission

ABSTRACT The multi-wavelength spectrum observed from M87 extends from radio wavelengths up to TeV γ-ray energies. The radio through GeV components have been interpreted successfully using SSC models based on misaligned blazar jets, but the origin of the intense TeV emission detected during flares in 2004, 2005, and 2010 remains puzzling. It has been previously suggested that the TeV flares are produced when a relativistic proton jet originating in the core of M87 collides with a molecular cloud (or stellar atmosphere) located less than one parsec from the central black hole. We explore this scenario in detail here using a self-consistent model for the acceleration of relativistic protons in a shocked, two-fluid ADAF accretion disc. The relativistic protons accelerated in the disc escape to power the observed jet outflows. The distribution function for the jet protons is used to compute the TeV emission produced when the jet collides with a cloud or stellar atmosphere. The simulated broadband radiation spectrum includes radio, X-ray, and GeV components generated via synchrotron, as well as TeV emission generated via the production and decay of muons, positrons, and electrons. The self-consistency of the model is verified by computing the relativistic particle pressure using the distribution function, and comparing it with the relativistic particle pressure obtained from the hydrodynamical model. We demonstrate that the model is able to reproduce the multi-wavelength spectrum from M87 observed by VERITAS and HESS during the high-energy flares in 2004, 2005, and 2010.

Expanding, shearing and accelerating isotropic plane symmetric universe with conformal Kasner geometry

We construct a model of a universe filled with a perfect fluid with isotropic particle pressure. The anisotropic plane symmetric Kasner spacetime is used as a seed metric and through a conformal mapping a perfect fluid is generated. The model is inhomogeneous, irrotational, shearing and accelerating. For negative time, the universe is expanding, while for positive time, it is collapsing. With the aid of graphical three-dimensional plots, it is established that the density and pressure hypersurfaces are smooth and singularity free. Additionally, the sound-speed index is computed and the fluid obeys the causality criterion. The non-static exact solution found may prove useful in the study of gravitational waves.