Density Humps Research Articles

Nonlinear Coupling of Kinetic Alfvén Waves and Ion Acoustic Waves in the Inner Heliosphere

We study the nonlinear coupling of kinetic Alfvén waves with ion acoustic waves applicable to the Earth’s radiation belt and near-Sun streamer belt solar wind using dynamical equations in the form of modified Zakharov systems. Numerical simulations show the formation of magnetic field filamentary structures associated with density humps and dips which become turbulent at later times, redistributing the energy to higher wavenumbers. The magnetic power spectra exhibit an inertial range Kolmogorov-like spectral index value of −5/3 for k ⊥ ρ i < 1, followed by a steeper dissipation range spectra with indices ∼ −3 for the radiation belt case and ∼ −4 for the near-Sun streamer belt solar wind case, here k ⊥ and ρ i represent the wavevector component perpendicular to the background magnetic field and the ion thermal gyroradius, respectively. Applying quasilinear theory in terms of the Fokker–Planck equation in the region of wavenumber turbulent spectra, we find the particle distribution function flattening in the superthermal tail population which is the signature of particle energization and plasma heating.

Generation and Life Cycle of Solar Spicules

The physical mechanism for the creation of solar spicules is proposed with three stages of their life cycle. It is assumed that at stage I the density hump is formed locally in the x-y plane in the lower chromosphere in the presence of temperature gradients of electrons and ions along the z-axis (the vertical direction). In this region, the density structure of quasi-neutral (n i ≃ n e = n) plasma after taking birth is accelerated in the vertical direction owing to the thermal force F th ∝ ∇n(x, y, t) × (∇T e + ∇T i ). The exact time-dependent analytical solution of two-fluid plasma equations is presented assuming that density is maximum at the center of the density structure and decays away from it gradually. The 2D density structure is created as a step function H(t) in time at the bottom of the chromosphere, and consequently, the vertical plasma velocity turns out to be the ramp function of time R(t) = tH(t), whereas the source term S(x, y, t) for the density follows the delta function δ(t) form. The upward acceleration a=a(x,y)zˆ produced in this density structure is greater than the downward constant solar acceleration − g ⊙ in the chromosphere. In the transition region, the temperature gradients are steeper; therefore, the upward acceleration increases in magnitude g ⊙ ≪ a and the density hump spends less time there. This is stage II of its life cycle. In stage III, the density structure enters into the corona, where the gradients of temperatures vanish and the structure decelerates to zero velocity under the action of the solar gravitational force.

A Large Magnetic Hump in the VLISM Observed by Voyager 1 in 2020–2022

Voyager 1 has been moving through the very local interstellar medium (VLISM) for approximately one solar cycle, from 122.58 au on 2012/DOY 238 (August 25) to 158.5 au on 2023.0. Previously, an abrupt increase (“jump”) in the magnetic field strength B and proton density N by a factor of 1.35 and 1.36, respectively, was observed during an interval of ∼8 days in 2020.40. After the jump, B continued to increase to a maximum value ∼0.56 nT at ∼2021.4 and then declined until B returned to the postjump value of 0.5 nT on 2021.85, 1.45 yr after the jump. The magnetic field strength declined briefly from 0.5 nT on 2021.85 to 0.47 nT on 2021.95 and then increased sporadically to 0.52 nT at 2023.0. Thus, the magnetic field strength remained strong for at least 2.6 yr. The magnetic hump and the density hump were a compression wave propagating through the VLISM. The compression wave was generated by a region with large dynamic pressure in the solar wind that propagated through the inner heliosheath and collided with the heliopause. The magnetic field strength continued to remain strong, with slow variations, until the end of our observations at 2023.0. It is suggested that the magnetic hump evolved from the large dynamic pressure, high speeds, and density observed at 1 au between ∼2015 and ∼2017.

On the low-latitude NeQuick topside ionosphere mismodelling: The role of parameters H0, g, and r

This paper deals with the well-known mismodelling characterizing the NeQuick topside ionosphere at low latitudes, i.e., the fact that the model keeps the two electron density humps typical of the equatorial ionization anomaly as the altitude increases from the height of the F2-layer electron density peak, without merging them in a single peak above the geomagnetic equator as expected. This is because the NeQuick topside ionosphere modelling strongly depends on several bottomside ionosphere parameters, which causes an essential coupling between the topside and the bottomside that in many cases behave differently. This means that this kind of topside ionosphere modelling may lead to inaccurate results, as it is the maintenance at low latitudes of the electron density double hump structure in the topside as the altitude increases. On the base of some recently published results, this paper analyzes the role played by the three NeQuick scale height parameters H0, g and r in the description of the electron density above the F2 layer peak height. The results of this work pave the way for a possible solution of this low-latitude NeQuick topside ionosphere mismodelling.

Charge fractionalization beyond the Luttinger liquid paradigm: An analytical consideration

In this paper, we consider analytically the density evolution of a spinless Fermi liquid with a nonlinear dispersion relation into which one particle is injected. The interaction is point-like and the temperature is zero. We obtain a formula for the evolution of the density and discuss the picture it gives as well as the physics behind it. Compared to the case of a linear spectrum, we find further and more complex fractionalization of the initial density hump: it splits into three humps instead of two, moreover, all three change their shapes in a complicated manner. We analyze the mechanisms of these phenomena and calculate their main characteristics. We also show that the fractionalization can be illustrated from a semiclassical point of view.

Many-body quantum dynamics and induced correlations of Bose polarons

We study the ground state properties and non-equilibrium dynamics of two spinor bosonic impurities immersed in a one-dimensional bosonic gas upon applying an interspecies interaction quench. For the ground state of two non-interacting impurities we reveal signatures of attractive induced interactions in both cases of attractive or repulsive interspecies interactions, while a weak impurity–impurity repulsion forces the impurities to stay apart. Turning to the quench dynamics we inspect the time-evolution of the contrast unveiling the existence, dynamical deformation and the orthogonality catastrophe of Bose polarons. We find that for an increasing postquench repulsion the impurities reside in a superposition of two distinct two-body configurations while at strong repulsions their corresponding two-body correlation patterns show a spatially delocalized behavior evincing the involvement of higher excited states. For attractive interspecies couplings, the impurities exhibit a tendency to localize at the origin and remarkably for strong attractions they experience a mutual attraction on the two-body level that is imprinted as a density hump on the bosonic bath.

Interference properties of two-component matter wave solitons

Wave properties of solitons in a two-component Bose–Einstein condensate are investigated in detail. We demonstrate that dark solitons in one of components admit interference and tunneling behavior, in sharp contrast to the scalar dark solitons and vector dark solitons. Analytic analyses of interference properties show that spatial interference patterns are determined by the relative velocity of solitons, while temporal interference patterns depend on the velocities and widths of two solitons, differing from the interference properties of scalar bright solitons. Especially, for an attractive interactions system, we show that interference effects between the two dark solitons can induce some short-time density humps (whose densities are higher than background density). Moreover, the maximum hump value is remarkably sensitive to the variation of the solitons’ parameters. For a repulsive interactions system, the temporal-spatial interference periods of dark–bright solitons have lower limits. Numerical simulation results suggest that interference patterns for the dark–bright solitons are more robust against noises than bright–dark solitons. These explicit interference properties can be used to measure the velocities and widths of solitons. It is expected that these interference behaviors can be observed experimentally and can be used to design matter wave soliton interferometer in vector systems.

Numerical simulations to study turbulent magnetic field amplification by nonlinear interaction of high-power laser and kinetic Alfvén waves in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas

The model contouring the dynamics of transient nonlinear interaction between the high-frequency extraordinary-elliptically polarized laser (HFXPL) and low-frequency kinetic Alfvén wave (LFKAW) dynamics in the magnetized plasma is the focal point of the present investigation. The quasistatic ponderomotive force driven by the HFXPL pump induces density cavitation and humps in the low-frequency kinetic Alfvén wave. In order to study the intricate localized structures of HFXPL pump waves that evolve with time, the requisite dimensionless equations of the coupled system (HFXPL and LFKAW) are evaluated by using numerical methods in the nonlinear stage. The typical scale sizes of these structures in the early phase are ∼9 μm, and the typical time to grow is ∼10 ps. The ensemble-averaged magnetic power spectra are also presented, indicating energy cascade. The rendered investigations follow direct relevance to the experimental observations [Chatterjee et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 85, 013505 (2014); Romagnani et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 122, 025001 (2019); Tzeferacos et al., Nat. Commun. 9, 591 (2018); Phys. Plasmas 24, 041404 (2017); Meinecke et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 112, 8211 (2015); Nat. Phys. 10, 520–524 (2014); Mondal et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 109, 8011 (2012); Chatterjee et al., Nat. Commun. 8, 15970 (2017)] and are imperative in understanding turbulence in astrophysical scenarios.

Generation of series of electron acoustic solitary wave pulses in plasma

One-dimensional fluid simulation is used to investigate the generation of electron-acoustic solitary waves (EASWs) in three-species plasma. We consider an unmagnetized collisionless plasma consisting of cold electrons, hot electrons, and ions. The Gaussian perturbations in the equilibrium electron and ion densities are used to excite the waves in the plasma. This simulation demonstrates the generation of a series of EASW pulses in this three-species plasma through the process of wave breaking. We investigate the behavior of the ponderomotive potential, frequency, and force associated with electrons and ions during the process of the wave breaking. We observed that the ponderomotive potential of the hot electron, which is the driving species for the electron acoustic waves, peaks at the time of wave breaking. The variation of the maximum ponderomotive force acting spatially on the leading and trailing edges of the hump in the cold and hot electron and ion fluid densities shows the maximum imbalance in the magnitude of the ponderomotive force acting on both sides of the hot electron density hump at the time of wave breaking. This reveals that the imbalanced ponderomotive force acting on the hot electron fluid is responsible for the breaking of the electron acoustic wave in plasma. Furthermore, it is observed that the wave breaking process occurs at an earlier time if the hot electron temperature is increased.

Correlated quantum dynamics of two quenched fermionic impurities immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate

We unravel the nonequilibrium dynamics of two fermionic impurities immersed in a one-dimensional bosonic gas following an interspecies interaction quench from weak to strong repulsions. Monitoring the temporal evolution of the single-particle density of each species we reveal the existence of four distinct dynamical regimes. For weak interspecies repulsions both species either perform a breathing motion or the impurity density splits into two parts which interact and disperse within the bosonic cloud. Turning to strong interactions we observe the formation of dark-bright states within the mean-field approximation. However, the correlated dynamics shows that the fermionic density splits into two repelling density peaks which either travel towards the edges of the bosonic cloud where they equilibrate or they approach an almost steady state propagating robustly within the bosonic gas which forms density dips at the same location. For these strong interspecies interactions an energy transfer process from the impurities to their environment occurs at the many-body level, while a periodic energy exchange from the bright states (impurities) to the bosonic species is identified in the absence of correlations. Finally, inspecting the one-body coherence function for strong interactions enables us to conclude on the spatial localization of the quench-induced fermionic density humps.

Kinetic Alfven waves in dense quantum plasmas with effect of spin magnetization

Using Sagdeev potential approach, propagation characteristics of kinetic Alfven waves (KAWs) are investigated in a collisionless low-β quantum plasma, taking into account the electrons spin magnetization effects. The numerical analysis illustrates that the dynamics of linear and nonlinear structures are significantly modified due to the change in spin magnetization effects. Moreover, It is found that only density hump structures are formed in the sub-Alfvenic region. Our study may offer a unique opportunity in understanding the structural and electrodynamical properties of astrophysical compact objects (i.e. neutron stars, pulsars, magnetars and interior of white dwarf etc.)

A filter or oscillator by a simple density hump for an intense laser propagating in a preformed plasma channel

Considering the relativistic self-focusing, the ponderomotive self-channel, and the preformed channel focusing, the effect of a density hump on the laser propagation in a preformed plasma channel is studied. The evolution equation of the laser spot size is derived by using the source-dependent expansion technique. It is found that the laser behavior after the hump strongly depends on the hump position and width and is also related to the hump altitude. For the incident laser with a constant spot size, the laser after the hump may oscillate or not change, only depending on the hump width under a certain hump altitude. For the incident laser with oscillation, the laser oscillation can be enlarged, decreased, unchanged, according to the hump width, position, and altitude. So, the density hump can play the role like a filter, or like an oscillator, or be ineffective by adjusting its width, position, and altitude. These results are well confirmed by the final numerical simulations.

Double layers in an inhomogeneous magnetized bi‐ion plasma

A simpler analytical approach is employed to obtain energy integral equation for a pseudo‐particle in a pseudo‐potential, which admits double layer (DL) solutions for the non‐linear low‐frequency electrostatic perturbations in non‐uniform plasma consisting of electrons and two kinds of ions. One of the ion species has field‐aligned shear flow and electrons are superthermal kappa distributed. This theoretical model is applied to the upper ionospheric oxygen‐dominated plasma that has small concentration of protons along with upward flow of oxygen ions. Under suitable boundary conditions, both rarefactive (density dip) and compressive (density hump) DLs are obtained solving energy integral equation using the plasma parameters of ionosphere around altitude of 800 km. The amplitude and width of the DLs depend upon the scale lengths of density and temperature gradients as well as on the ratio of equilibrium densities of oxygen and hydrogen.

Linear and nonlinear analysis of kinetic Alfven waves in quantum magneto-plasmas with arbitrary temperature degeneracy

Linear and nonlinear kinetic Alfven waves (KAWs) are studied in collisionless, non-relativistic two fluid quantum magneto-plasmas by considering arbitrary temperature degeneracy. A general coupling parameter is applied to discuss the range of validity of the proposed model in nearly degenerate and nearly non-degenerate plasma limits. Linear analysis of KAWs shows an increase (decrease) in frequency with the increase in parameter ζ(δ) for the nearly non-degenerate (nearly degenerate) plasma limit. The energy integral equation in the form of Sagdeev potential is obtained by using the approach of the Lorentz transformation. The analysis reveals that the amplitude of the Sagdeev potential curves and soliton structures remains the same, but the potential depth and width of soliton structure change for both the limiting cases. It is further observed that only density hump structures are formed in the sub-alfvenic region for value Kz2&amp;gt;1. The effects of parameters ζ, δ on the nonlinear properties of KAWs are shown in graphical plots. New results for comparison with earlier work have also been highlighted. The significance of this work to astrophysical plasmas is also emphasized.

The successive formation and disappearance of density structures in simple expanding systems

The Lagrangian fluid description is employed to solve the initial value problem for one-dimensional, compressible fluid flows represented by the Euler–Poisson system. Exact nonlinear and time-dependent solutions are obtained, which exhibit a variety of transient phenomena such as a density collapse in finite space–time or the appearance and, for the first time, a successive dissolution of wavelet structures during the same event. The latter are superimposed on the gross density pattern in the course of the uni-directional expansion of an initially localized density hump. Whereas self-gravitating fluids will always experience collapse, neutral fluids and fluids with repulsive forces, such as a non-neutral, pure electron fluid, can exhibit an evolution of the second type, being determined by the initial conditions. For an electron fluid, being embedded in a neutralizing ion background, these nonlinearities are, however, strongly diminished due to the omnipresent plasma oscillations, which weaken and alternatively change the sign of the collective force.

Effect of ion temperature on arbitrary amplitude Kinetic Alfvén solitons in a plasma with a q-nonextensive electron velocity distribution

Taking into account of ion temperature effect, existence conditions of arbitrary amplitude solitary Kinetic Alfven Waves (KAWs) in a plasma with q-nonextensive electrons are investigated by the conventional Sagdeev pseudo potential method. It is found that only solitons with density hump can exist, the amplitude of which depends sensitively on the parameter q, ion temperature ( $\sigma= \frac{T_{i}}{T_{e}}$ ) and plasma β. There is an upper limit of solitary wave amplitude which decreases with increase of q, σ and β. The amplitude of solitary KAWs is found to increase with increase in ion temperature. The results obtained in the framework of Maxwellian distribution are reproduced when q→1.

Cluster observations of whistler waves correlated with ion‐scale magnetic structures during the 17 August 2003 substorm event

We provide evidence of the simultaneous occurrence of large‐amplitude, quasi‐parallel whistler mode waves and ion‐scale magnetic structures, which have been observed by the Cluster spacecraft in the plasma sheet at 17 Earth radii, during a substorm event. It is shown that the magnetic structures are characterized by both a magnetic field strength minimum and a density hump and that they propagate in a direction quasi‐perpendicular to the average magnetic field. The observed whistler mode waves are efficiently ducted by the inhomogeneity associated with such ion‐scale magnetic structures. The large amplitude of the confined whistler waves suggests that electron precipitations could be enhanced locally via strong pitch angle scattering. Furthermore, electron distribution functions indicate that a strong parallel heating of electrons occurs within these ion‐scale structures. This study provides new insights on the possible multiscale coupling of plasma dynamics during the substorm expansion, on the basis of the whistler mode wave trapping by coherent ion‐scale structures.

The Mechanism of Interacting Stellar Winds beyond Red Giant Branch

The dynamical processes of the interaction of slow wind beyond Red Giant phase with fast wind of central star of nebula are evaluated. The mechanism of interaction stellar wind model (ISW) is found to be responsible for producing a relatively dense shell of gas which increases in mass and radius at a constant rate. Both slow wind and superwind are assumed to be time independent and radial density is calculated at initial time to ~ 60 yrs with the fast wind velocity (v ≈ 1000 km/s). The results showed that, at the outer rim of super wind region, a small density hump appears due to the relative velocity between slow winds and central star winds, in a good agreement with the previous models. The dynamical requirements of the observed expansion of planetary nebulae can be satisfied by the mechanism of interacting stellar wind model with reasonable mass loss rate from central star.

Coupling Between Whistler Waves and Ion-Scale Solitary Waves: Cluster Measurements in the Magnetotail During a Substorm

We present a new model of self-consistent coupling between low frequency, ion-scale coherent structures with high frequency whistler waves in order to interpret Cluster data. The idea relies on the possibility of trapping whistler waves by inhomogeneous external fields where they can be spatially confined and propagate for times much longer than their characteristic electronic time scale. Here we take the example of a slow magnetosonic soliton acting as a wave guide in analogy with the ducting properties of an inhomogeneous plasma. The soliton is characterized by a magnetic dip and density hump that traps and advects high frequency waves over many ion times. The model represents a new possible way of explaining space measurements often detecting the presence of whistler waves in correspondence to magnetic depressions and density humps. This approach, here given by means of slow solitons, but more general than that, is alternative to the standard approach of considering whistler wave packets as associated with nonpropagating magnetic holes resulting from a mirror-type instability.

Dissipative ion-cyclotron oscillitons in a form of solitons with chirp in Earth's low-altitude ionosphere

In this paper, we consider theoretically nonlinear ion-cyclotron gradient-drift dissipative structures (oscillitons) in low ionospheric plasmas. Similar to Nonlinear Optics and Condensed Matter Physics, the Ginzburg-Landau equation for the envelope of electric wave fields is derived, and solutions for oscillitons in the form of solitons with chirp are examined. The whole dissipative structure constitutes a soliton with a moving charge-neutral density hump. Conditions for excitation and properties of the structures are considered.