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Register a new userCosmic-ray driven dynamo in galactic disks
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Authors
M. Hanasz
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We present new developments on the Cosmic--Ray driven, galactic dynamo, modeled by means of direct, resistive CR--MHD simulations, performed with ZEUS and PIERNIK codes. The dynamo action, leading to the amplification of large--scale galactic magnetic fields on galactic rotation timescales, appears as a result of galactic differential rotation, buoyancy of the cosmic ray component and resistive dissipation of small--scale turbulent magnetic fields. Our new results include demonstration of the global--galactic dynamo action driven by Cosmic Rays supplied in supernova remnants. An essential outcome of the new series of global galactic dynamo models is the equipartition of the gas turbulent energy with magnetic field energy and cosmic ray energy, in saturated states of the dynamo on large galactic scales.
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We present a parameter study of the magnetohydrodynamical dynamo driven by cosmic rays in the interstellar medium (ISM) focusing on the efficiency of magnetic field amplification and the issue of energy equipartition between magnetic, kinetic and cosmic ray (CR) energies. We perform numerical CR-MHD simulations of the ISM using the extended version of ZEUS-3D code in the shearing box approximation and taking into account the presence of Ohmic resistivity, tidal forces and vertical disk gravity. CRs are supplied in randomly distributed supernova (SN) remnants and are described by the diffusion-advection equation, which incorporates an anisotropic diffusion tensor. The azimuthal magnetic flux and total magnetic energy are amplified depending on a particular choice of model parameters. We find that the most favorable conditions for magnetic field amplification correspond to magnetic diffusivity of the order of $3times 10^{25} cm^2s^{-1}$, SN rates close to those observed in the Milky Way, periodic SN activity corresponding to spiral arms, and highly anisotropic and field-aligned CR diffusion. The rate of magnetic field amplification is relatively insensitive to the magnitude of SN rates in a rage of spanning 10% up to 100% of realistic values. The timescale of magnetic field amplification in the most favorable conditions is 150 Myr, at galactocentric radius equal to 5 kpc. The final magnetic field energies fluctuate near equipartition with the gas kinetic energy. In all models CR energy exceeds the equipartition values by a least an order of magnitude, in contrary to the expected equipartition. We suggest that the excess of cosmic rays can be attributed to the fact that the shearing-box does not permit cosmic rays to leave the system along the horizontal magnetic field.
Cosmic rays (CRs) are thought to be an important feedback mechanism in star-forming galaxies. They can provide an important source of pressure support and possibly drive outflows. We perform multidimensional CR-magnetohydrodynamic simulations including transport by streaming and diffusion to investigate wind launching from an initially hydrostatic atmosphere by CRs. We estimate a characteristic Eddington limit on the CR flux for which the CR force exceeds gravity and compare it to simulated systems. Scaling our results to conditions in star-forming galaxies, we find that CRs are likely to contribute to driving outflows for a broad range of star formation environments. We quantify the momentum and energy transfer between CRs and gas, along with the associated mass outflow rates under different assumptions about the relative importance of streaming and diffusion for transport. In simulations with streaming, we observe the growth and saturation of the CR acoustic instability, but the CRs and gas remain well coupled, with CR momentum transferred efficiently to the gas even when this instability is present. Higher CR fluxes transferr more energy to the gas and drive stronger outflows. When streaming is present, most of the transferred energy takes the form of Alfv{e}n wave heating of the gas, raising its pressure and internal energy, with a lower fractional contribution to the kinetic energy of the outflow. We also consider runs with radiative cooling, which modifies gas temperature and pressure profiles but does not seem to have a large impact on the mass outflow for super-Eddington CR fluxes.
We present results from high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of isolated SMC- and Milky Way-sized galaxies that include a model for feedback from galactic cosmic rays (CRs). We find that CRs are naturally able to drive winds with mass loading factors of up to ~10 in dwarf systems. The scaling of the mass loading factor with circular velocity between the two simulated systems is consistent with propto v_c^{1-2} required to reproduce the faint end of the galaxy luminosity function. In addition, simulations with CR feedback reproduce both the normalization and the slope of the observed trend of wind velocity with galaxy circular velocity. We find that winds in simulations with CR feedback exhibit qualitatively different properties compared to SN driven winds, where most of the acceleration happens violently in situ near star forming sites. In contrast, the CR-driven winds are accelerated gently by the large-scale pressure gradient established by CRs diffusing from the star-forming galaxy disk out into the halo. The CR-driven winds also exhibit much cooler temperatures and, in the SMC-sized system, warm (T~10^4 K) gas dominates the outflow. The prevalence of warm gas in such outflows may provide a clue as to the origin of ubiquitous warm gas in the gaseous halos of galaxies detected via absorption lines in quasar spectra.
The escape of cosmic rays from the Galaxy leads to a gradient in the cosmic ray pressure that acts as a force on the background plasma, in the direction opposite to the gravitational pull. If this force is large enough to win against gravity, a wind can be launched that removes gas from the Galaxy, thereby regulating several physical processes, including star formation. The dynamics of these cosmic ray driven winds is intrinsically non-linear in that the spectrum of cosmic rays determines the characteristics of the wind (velocity, pressure, magnetic field) and in turn the wind dynamics affects the cosmic ray spectrum. Moreover, the gradient of the cosmic ray distribution function causes excitation of Alfven waves, that in turn determine the scattering properties of cosmic rays, namely their diffusive transport. These effects all feed into each other so that what we see at the Earth is the result of these non-linear effects. Here we investigate the launch and evolution of such winds, and we determine the implications for the spectrum of cosmic rays by solving together the hydrodynamical equations for the wind and the transport equation for cosmic rays under the action of self-generated diffusion and advection with the wind and the self-excited Alfven waves.
Recent results from multi-wavelength observations of the inner few hundred pc of the Galactic center have added two new characteristics to the ISM in this unique region. One is the cosmic ray ionization rate derived from H$_3^+$ measurements is at least two orders of magnitudes higher than in the disk of the Galaxy. The other is the bipolar thermal X-ray and synchrotron emission from this region, suggesting a relic of past activity. We propose that the high cosmic ray pressure drives a large-scale wind away from the Galactic plane and produces the bipolar emission as well as highly blue-shifted diffuse gas detected in H$_3^+$ absorption studies. We then discuss the interaction of large-scale winds with a number of objects, such as cloudlets and stellar wind bubbles, to explain the unusual characteristics of the ISM in this region including the nonthermal radio filaments. One of the implications of this scenario is the removal of gas driven by outflowing winds may regulate star formation or black hole accretion.
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