Physics – Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
Oct 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003aps..dppqi2003l&link_type=abstract
American Physical Society, 45th Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics, October 27-31, 2003, Albuquerque, New Mexico,
Physics
Plasma Physics
Scientific paper
The formation of supermassive black holes ( ˜ 10^8 M_&sun;) often leads to the release of a significant amount of energy, part of which comes out in magnetic fields mixed with highly energetic plasmas. Many astrophysical plasma environments, such as the radio lobes from extra-galactic radio galaxies, are likely to be low β and nearly force-free, with the magnetic free energy stored in the twists of the fields. Observations have strongly suggested that magnetic energy has been continuously dissipated to heat and accelerate plasmas. We will discuss the key processes that govern this dissipation, especially the role of magnetic reconnection in force-free fields. Given the typical radio lobe parameters, we argue that collisionless kinetic physics must play an important role. We will present 2D and 3D Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulation results of magnetic reconnection in a force-free plasma, which is modeled by a sheet pinch configuration. This configuration is unstable to the collisionless tearing instability at multiple resonant layers. We present both the linear growth and nonlinear evolution of this system. We show that, in 3D, layer-layer interaction plays a dominant role in determining the overall reconnection and particle energization rates. The system evolves from an initially homogeneous state to a state populated with highly anisotropic structures, such as current and vorticity filaments. We will discuss the role of these intermittent regions in the magnetic energy and helicity dissipation processes. One unique advantage of PIC, with enough scale separation, is that it captures both the energy cascade physics through scale-coupling as well as the energy dissipation at kinetic scale in detail. We will discuss the astrophysical implications of the magnetic energy dissipation in radio lobes as they expand and mixed with the general inter-galactic medium (IGM), especially their role in magnetizing and energizing the IGM.
No associations
LandOfFree
Magnetic Dissipation in Force-Free Astrophysical Plasmas does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with Magnetic Dissipation in Force-Free Astrophysical Plasmas, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Magnetic Dissipation in Force-Free Astrophysical Plasmas will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-914653