ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

Kinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection in presence of a background O+ population

356   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Stefano Markidis Dr.
 تاريخ النشر 2011
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

Particle-in-Cell simulations of magnetic reconnection with an H+ current sheet and a mixed background plasma of H+ and O+ ions are completed using physical mass ratios. Four main results are shown. First, the O+ presence slightly decreases the reconnection rate and the magnetic reconnection evolution depends mainly on the lighter H+ ion species in the presented simulations. Second, the Hall magnetic field is characterized by a two-scale structure in presence of O+ ions: it reaches sharp peak values in a small area in proximity of the neutral line, and then decreases slowly over a large region. Third, the two background species initially separate in the outflow region because H+ and O+ ions are accelerated by different mechanisms occurring on different time scales and with different strengths. Fourth, the effect of a guide field on the O+ dynamics is studied: the O+ presence does not change the reconnected flux and all the characteristic features of guide field magnetic reconnection are still present. Moreover, the guide field introduces an O+ circulation pattern between separatrices that enhances high O+ density areas and depletes low O+ density regions in proximity of the reconnection fronts. The importance and the validity of these results are finally discussed.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

Monte Carlo methods are often employed to numerically integrate kinetic equations, such as the particle-in-cell method for the plasma kinetic equation, but these methods suffer from the introduction of counting noise to the solution. We report on a c autionary tale of counting noise modifying the nonlinear saturation of kinetic instabilities driven by unstable beams of plasma. We find a saturated magnetic field in under-resolved particle-in-cell simulations due to the sampling error in the current density. The noise-induced magnetic field is anomalous, as the magnetic field damps away in continuum kinetic and increased particle count particle-in-cell simulations. This modification of the saturated state has implications for a broad array of astrophysical phenomena beyond the simple plasma system considered here, and it stresses the care that must be taken when using particle methods for kinetic equations.
We have performed fully-kinetic simulations of X-B and O-X-B mode conversion in one and two dimensional setups using the PIC code EPOCH. We have recovered the linear dispersion relation for electron Bernstein waves by employing relatively low amplitu de incoming waves. The setups presented here can be used to study non-linear regimes of X-B and O-X-B mode conversion.
We present the results of 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of relativistic magnetic reconnection (RMR) in electron-positron plasma, including the dynamical influence of the synchrotron radiation process, and integrating the observable emission s ignatures. The simulations are initiated with a single Harris current layer with a central gap that triggers the RMR process. We achieve a steady-state reconnection with unrestricted outflows by means of open boundary conditions. The radiative cooling efficiency is regulated by the choice of initial plasma temperature Theta. We explore different values of Theta and of the background magnetisation sigma_0. Throughout the simulations, plasmoids are generated in the central region of the layer, and they evolve at different rates, achieving a wide range of sizes. The gaps between plasmoids are filled by smooth relativistic outflows called minijets, whose contribution to the observed radiation is very limited due to their low particle densities. Small-sized plasmoids are rapidly accelerated, however, they have lower contributions to the observed emission, despite stronger relativistic beaming. Large-sized plasmoids are slow, but produce most of the observed synchrotron emission, with major part of their radiation produced within the central cores, the density of which is enhanced by radiative cooling. Synchrotron lightcurves show rapid bright flares that can be identified as originating from mergers between small/fast plasmoids and large/slow targets moving in the same direction. In the high-magnetisation case, the accelerated particles form a broken power-law energy distribution with a soft tail produced by particles accelerated in the minijets.
Magnetic reconnection can convert magnetic energy into kinetic energy of non-thermal electron beams. We have now characterized the EVDFs generated by 3D kinetic magnetic reconnection obtained by numerical simulations utilizing the ACRONYM particle-in -cell (PIC) code, and their consequences for plasma instabilities which differ from those of 2D kinetic magnetic reconnection, since in 3D unstable waves can propagate in all directions. We found that: (1) In both diffusion region and separatrices of reconnection, EVDFs with positive velocity-space gradients in the direction parallel to the local magnetic field are formed. These gradients can cause counter-streaming and bump-on-tail instabilities. (2) In regions with weak magnetic field strength, namely, regions near the current sheet midplane, EVDF with positive velocity space gradients are generated in the direction perpendicular to the local magnetic field. In particular crescent-shaped EVDFs in the velocity space perpendicular to local magnetic field are mainly formed in the diffusion region of reconnection. These perpendicular gradients in the EVDFs can cause electron cyclotron maser instabilities. (3) As guide-field strength increases, less regions in the current sheets feature perpendicular velocity-space gradients in the EVDFs. The formation of EVDFs with positive gradients in the parallel (magnetic field-aligned) direction is mainly due to magnetized and adiabatic electrons, while EVDFs with positive gradients in the direction perpendicular to the local magnetic field are attributed to unmagnetized, nonadiabatic electrons in the diffusion and outflow region near the reconnection midplane.
First results are presented from kinetic numerical simulations of relativistic collisionless magnetic reconnection in pair plasma that include radiation reaction from both synchrotron and inverse Compton (IC) processes, motivated by non-thermal high- energy astrophysical sources, including in particular blazars. These simulations are initiated from a configuration known as ABC fields that evolves due to coalescence instability and generates thin current layers in its linear phase. Global radiative efficiencies, instability growth rates, time-dependent radiation spectra, lightcurves, variability statistics and the structure of current layers are investigated for a broad range of initial parameters. We find that the IC radiative signatures are generally similar to the synchrotron signatures. The luminosity ratio of IC to synchrotron spectral components, the Compton dominance, can be modified by more than one order of magnitude with respect to its nominal value. For very short cooling lengths, we find evidence for modification of the temperature profile across the current layers, no systematic compression of plasma density, and very consistent profiles of E.B. We decompose the profiles of E.B with the use of the Vlasov momentum equation, demonstrating a contribution from radiation reaction at the thickness scale consistent with the temperature profile.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا