No Arabic abstract
We present 3D, adaptive mesh refinement simulations of G2, a cloud of gas moving in a highly eccentric orbit towards the galactic center. We assume that G2 originates from a stellar wind interacting with the environment of the Sgr A* black hole. The stellar wind forms a cometary bubble which becomes increasingly elongated as the star approaches periastron. A few months after periastron passage, streams of material begin to accrete on the central black hole with accretion rates $dot{M} sim 10^{-8}$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$. Predicted Br$gamma$ emission maps and position-velocity diagrams show an elongated emission resembling recent observations of G2. A large increase in luminosity is predicted by the emission coming from the shocked wind region during periastron passage. The observations, showing a constant Br$gamma$ luminosity, remain puzzling, and are explained here assuming that the emission is dominated by the free-wind region. The observed Br$gamma$ luminosity ($sim 8 times 10^{30}$ erg s$^{-1}$) is reproduced by a model with a $v_w=50$ km s$^{-1}$ wind velocity and a $10^{-7}$ M$_odot$ yr$^{-1}$ mass loss rate if the emission comes from the shocked wind. A faster and less dense wind reproduces the Br$gamma$ luminosity if the emission comes from the inner, free wind region. The extended cometary wind bubble, largely destroyed by the tidal interaction with the black hole, reforms a few years after periastron passage. As a result, the Br$gamma$ emission is more compact after periastron passage.
We investigate the origin and fate of the recently discovered gas cloud G2 close to the Galactic Center. Our hydrodynamical simulations focussing on the dynamical evolution of the cloud in combination with currently available observations favor two scenarios: a Compact Cloud which started around the year 1995 and a Spherical Shell of gas, with an apocenter distance within the disk(s) of young stars and a radius of a few times the size of the Compact Cloud. The former is able to explain the detected signal of G2 in the position-velocity diagram of the Br gamma emission of the year 2008.5 and 2011.5 data. The latter can account for both, G2s signal as well as the fainter extended tail-like structure G2t seen at larger distances from the black hole and smaller velocities. In contrast, gas stripped from a compact cloud by hydrodynamical interactions is not able to explain the location of the detected G2t emission in the observed position-velocity diagrams. This favors the Spherical Shell Scenario and might be a severe problem for the Compact Cloud as well as the so-called Compact Source Scenario. From these first idealized simulations we expect a roughly constant feeding of the supermassive black hole through a nozzle-like structure over a long period, starting shortly after the closest approach in 2013.51 for the Compact Cloud. If the matter accretes in the hot accretion mode, we do not expect a significant boost of the current activity of Sgr A* for the Compact Cloud model, but a boost of the average infrared and X-ray luminosity by roughly a factor of 80 for the Spherical Shell scenario with order of magnitude variations on a timescale of a few months. The near-future evolution of the cloud will be a sensitive probe of the conditions of the gas distribution in the milli-parsec environment of the massive black hole in the Galactic Center.
Initial results are presented from 3D MHD modelling of stellar-wind bubbles around O stars moving supersonically through the ISM. We describe algorithm updates that enable high-resolution 3D MHD simulations at reasonable computational cost. We apply the methods to the simulation of the astrosphere of a rotating massive star moving with 30 km/s through the diffuse interstellar medium, for two different stellar magnetic field strengths, 10 G and 100 G. Features in the flow are described and compared with similar models for the Heliosphere. The shocked interstellar medium becomes asymmetric with the inclusion of a magnetic field misaligned with the stars direction of motion, with observable consequences. When the Alfvenic Mach number of the wind is $leq$10 then the stellar magnetic field begins to affect the structure of the wind bubble and features related to the magnetic axis of the star become visible at parsec scales. Prospects for predicting and measuring non-thermal radiation are discussed.
We present a long-term numerical three-dimensional simulation of a relativistic outflow designed to be compared with previous results from axisymmetric, two-dimensional simulations, with existing analytical models and state-of-art observations. We follow the jet evolution from 1~kpc to 200~kpc, using a relativistic gas equation of state and a galactic profile for the ambient medium. We also show results from smaller scale simulations aimed to test convergence and different three-dimensional effects. We conclude that jet propagation can be faster than expected from axisymmetric simulations, covering tens of kiloparsecs in a few million years, until the dentist drill effect produced by the growth of helical instabilities slows down the propagation speed of the jet head. A comparison of key physical parameters of the jet structure as obtained from the simulations with values derived from observations of FRII sources reveals good agreement. Our simulations show that shock heating can play a significant role in the feedback from active galaxies, confirming previous 2D results. A proper description of galactic jets as a relativistic scenario, both dynamical and thermodynamical, reveals an extremely fast and efficient feedback process reheating the ICM, and therefore, with dramatic consequences on the galactic evolution. Our results point towards FRII jets as the source of the energetic electrons observed in radio relics.
In the near future, Parker Solar Probe will put theories about the dynamics and nature of the transition between the solar corona and the solar wind to stringent tests. The most popular mechanism aimed to explain the dynamics of the nascent solar wind, including its heating and acceleration is magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence. Most of the previous models focus on nonlinear cascade induced by interactions of outgoing Alfven waves and their reflections, ignoring effects that might be related to perpendicular structuring of the solar coronal plasma, despite overwhelming evidence for it. In this paper, for the first time, we analyse through 3D MHD numerical simulations the dynamics of the perpendicularly structured solar corona and solar wind, from the low corona to 15 R_Sun. We find that background structuring has a strong effect on the evolution of MHD turbulence, on much faster time scales than in the perpendicularly homogeneous case. On time scales shorter than nonlinear times, linear effects related to phase mixing result in a 1/f perpendicular energy spectrum. As the turbulent cascade develops, we observe a perpendicular (parallel) energy spectrum with the power law index of -3/2 or -5/3 (-2), a steeper perpendicular magnetic field than velocity spectrum, and a strong build-up of negative residual energy. We conclude that the turbulence is most probably generated by the self-cascade of the driven transverse kink waves, referred to previously as `uniturbulence, which might represent the dominant nonlinear energy cascade channel in the pristine solar wind.
We present 3D hydrodynamic simulations of the adiabatic interaction of a shock with a dense, spherical cloud. We compare how the nature of the interaction changes with the Mach number of the shock, $M$, and the density contrast of the cloud, $chi$. We examine the differences with 2D axisymmetric calculations, perform detailed resolution tests, and compare inviscid results to those obtained with the inclusion of a $k$-$epsilon$ subgrid turbulence model. Resolutions of 32-64 cells per cloud radius are the minimum necessary to capture the dominant dynamical processes in 3D simulations, while the 3D inviscid and $k$-$epsilon$ simulations typically show very good agreement. Clouds accelerate and mix up to 5 times faster when they are poorly resolved. The interaction proceeds very similarly in 2D and 3D - although non-azimuthal modes lead to different behaviour, there is very little effect on key global quantities such as the lifetime of the cloud and its acceleration. In particular, we do not find significant differences in the hollowing or voiding of the cloud between 2D and 3D simulations with $M=10$ and $chi=10$, which contradicts previous work in the literature.