In this work we report a numerical study of the cosmic magnetic field amplification due to collisionless plasma instabilities. The collisionless magnetohydrodynamic equations derived account for the pressure anisotropy that leads, in specific conditi
ons, to the firehose and mirror instabilities. We study the time evolution of seed fields in turbulence under the influence of such instabilities. An approximate analytical time evolution of magnetic field is provided. The numerical simulations and the analytical predictions are compared. We found that i) amplification of magnetic field was efficient in firehose unstable turbulent regimes, but not in the mirror unstable models, ii) the growth rate of the magnetic energy density is much faster than the turbulent dynamo, iii) the efficient amplification occurs at small scales. The analytical prediction for the correlation between the growth timescales with pressure anisotropy ratio is confirmed by the numerical simulations. These results reinforce the idea that pressure anisotropies - driven naturally in a turbulent collisionless medium, e.g. the intergalactic medium -, could efficiently amplify the magnetic field in the early Universe (post-recombination era), previous to the collapse of the first large-scale gravitational structures. This mechanism, though fast for the small scale fields ($sim$kpc scales), is however unable to provide relatively strong magnetic fields at large scales. Other mechanisms that were not accounted here (e.g., collisional turbulence once instabilities are quenched, velocity shear, or gravitationally induced inflows of gas into galaxies and clusters) could operate afterwards to build up large scale coherent field structures in the long time evolution.
Strong downstream magnetic fields of order of $sim 1$G, with large correlation lengths, are believed to cause the large synchrotron emission at the afterglow phase of gamma ray bursts (GRBs). Despite of the recent theoretical efforts, models have fai
led to fully explain the amplification of the magnetic field, particularly in a matter dominated scenario. We revisit the problem by considering the synchrotron emission to occur at the expanding shock front of a weakly magnetized relativistic jet over a magnetized surrounding medium. Analytical estimates and a number of high resolution 2D relativistic magneto-hydrodynamical (RMHD) simulations are provided. Jet opening angles of $theta = 0^{circ} - 20^{circ}$, and ambient to jet density ratios of $10^{-4} - 10^2$ were considered. We found that most of the amplification is due to compression of the ambient magnetic field at the contact discontinuity between the reverse and forward shocks at the jet head, with substantial pile-up of the magnetic field lines as the jet propagates sweeping the ambient field lines. The pile-up is maximum for $theta rightarrow 0$, decreasing with $theta$, but larger than in the spherical blast problem. Values obtained for certain models are able to explain the observed intensities. The maximum correlation lengths found for such strong fields is of $l_{rm corr} leq 10^{14}$ cm, $2 - 6$ orders of magnitude larger than the found in previous works.
Turbulence is ubiquitous in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Milky Way and other spiral galaxies. The energy source for this turbulence has been much debated with many possible origins proposed. The universality of turbulence, its reported large-
scale driving, and that it occurs also in starless molecular clouds, challenges models invoking any stellar source. A more general process is needed to explain the observations. In this work we study the role of galactic spiral arms. This is accomplished by means of three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations which follow the dynamical evolution of interstellar diffuse clouds (100cm-3) interacting with the gravitational potential field of the spiral pattern. We find that the tidal effects of the arms potential on the cloud result in internal vorticity, fragmentation and hydrodynamical instabilities. The triggered turbulence result in large-scale driving, on sizes of the ISM inhomogeneities, i.e. as large as 100pc, and efficiencies in converting potential energy into turbulence in the range 10 to 25 percent per arm crossing. This efficiency is much higher than those found in previous models. The statistics of the turbulence in our simulations are strikingly similar to the observed power spectrum and Larson scaling relations of molecular clouds and the general ISM. The dependency found from different models indicate that the ISM turbulence is mainly related to local spiral arm properties, such as its mass density and width. This correlation seems in agreement with recent high angular resolution observations of spiral galaxies, e.g. M51 and M33.
Turbulence is ubiquitous in the insterstellar medium and plays a major role in several processes such as the formation of dense structures and stars, the stability of molecular clouds, the amplification of magnetic fields, and the re-acceleration and
diffusion of cosmic rays. Despite its importance, interstellar turbulence, alike turbulence in general, is far from being fully understood. In this review we present the basics of turbulence physics, focusing on the statistics of its structure and energy cascade. We explore the physics of compressible and incompressible turbulent flows, as well as magnetized cases. The most relevant observational techniques that provide quantitative insights of interstellar turbulence are also presented. We also discuss the main difficulties in developing a three-dimensional view of interstellar turbulence from these observations. Finally, we briefly present what could be the the main sources of turbulence in the interstellar medium.
Polarimeric maps have been used on the characterization of the magnetic field in molecular clouds. However, it is difficult to determine the 3-dimensional properties of these regions from the projected maps. In that case, numerical simulations can be
used as benchmarks for polarimetric measurements, and evetually reveal more about the interplay of turbulence and the magnetic field lines. In this work we provide a number of MHD numerical simulations of turbulent molecular clouds and created their synthetic dust emission polarization maps, varying the direction of the observer. We determined the correlation of emission intensity and polarization degree for the simulated models. We were able to reproduce the decay on polarization degree at denser regions without any assumption regarding the properties of the dusty component. The anti-correlation arises from the simple cancelation of the polarization vectors along the line of sight. This effect is amplified within denser regions as the magnetic field configuration becomes more complex. We studied the probability distribution, the power spectrum and the structure function of the polarization angles. These statistical analysis revealed strong defferences depending on the turbulent regime (i.e. sub/supersonic and sub/super-Alfvenic). Therefore, these methods can be used on polarimetric observations to characterize the dynamics of molecular clouds. We also presented a modified Chandrashekhar-Fermi method to obtain the intensity of the local magnetic field. The proposed formulation showed no limitations regarding orientation or turbulent regime.
