Presence Of Toroidal Magnetic Field Research Articles

Laboratory evidence of confinement and acceleration of wide-angle flows by toroidal magnetic fields

Astrophysical jets play crucial roles in star formation and transporting angular momentum away from accretion discs, however, their collimation mechanism is still a subject of much debate due to the limitations of astronomical observational techniques and facilities. Here, a quasi-static toroidal magnetic field is generated through the interaction between lasers and a four-post nickel target, and our all-optical laboratory experiments reveal that a wide-angle plasma plume can be collimated in the presence of toroidal magnetic fields. Besides the confinement effects, the experiments show the jet can also be accelerated by the enhanced thermal pressure due to the toroidal magnetic fields compressing the flow. These findings are verified by radiation magneto-hydrodynamic simulations. The experimental results suggest certain astrophysical narrow plasma flows may be produced by the confinement of wide-angle winds through toroidal fields.

Quasi-perpendicular Shock Acceleration and Tidal Disruption Event Radio Flares

Delayed radio flares of optical tidal disruption events (TDEs) indicate the existence of nonrelativistic outflows accompanying TDEs. The interaction of TDE outflows with the surrounding circumnuclear medium creates quasi-perpendicular shocks in the presence of toroidal magnetic fields. Because of the large shock obliquity and large outflow velocity, we find that the shock acceleration induced by TDE outflows generally leads to a steep particle energy spectrum, with the power-law index significantly larger than the “universal” index for a parallel shock. The measured synchrotron spectral indices of recently detected TDE radio flares are consistent with our theoretical expectation. It suggests that the particle acceleration at quasi-perpendicular shocks can be the general acceleration mechanism accounting for the delayed radio emission of TDEs.

18–22 cm VLBA Faraday rotation studies of six AGN jets

The formation of relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) is related to accretion on to their central supermassive black holes, and magnetic fields are believed to play a central role in launching, collimating and accelerating the jet streams from very compact regions out to kiloparsec or megaparsec scales. In the presence of helical or toroidal magnetic fields threading the AGN jets and their immediate vicinity, gradients in the observed Faraday rotation measures are expected due to the systematic change in the line-of-sight component of the magnetic field across the jet. We have analysed total intensity, linear polarization, fractional polarization and Faraday rotation maps based on Very Long Baseline Array data obtained at four wavelengths in the 18-22 cm range for six AGN (OJ 287, 3C 279, PKS 1510-089, 3C 345, BL Lac and 3C 454.3). These observations typically probe projected distances out to tens of parsecs from the observed core, and are well suited for Faraday rotation studies due to the relatively long wavelengths used and the similarity of the structures measured at the different wavelengths. We have identified statistically significant, monotonic, transverse Faraday rotation gradients across the jets of four of these six sources, as well as a tentative transverse Faraday rotation gradient across the jet of OJ 287, providing evidence for the presence of toroidal magnetic fields, which may be one component of helical magnetic fields associated with these AGN jets.

Hydrodynamical wind on vertically self-gravitating ADAFs in the presence of toroidal magnetic field

We present the effect of a hydrodynamical wind on the structure and the surface temperature of a vertically self-gravitating magnetized ADAFs using self-similar solutions. Also a model for an axisymmetric, steady-state, vertically self-gravitating hot accretion flow threaded by a toroidal magnetic field has been formulated. The model is based on $\alpha-$prescription for turbulence viscosity. It is found that the thickness and radial velocity of the disc are reduced significantly as wind gets stronger. In particular, the solutions indicated that the wind and advection have the same effects on the structure of the disc. We also find that in the optically thin ADAF becomes hotter by including the wind parameter and the self-gravity parameter.

Dynamics of multiple double layers in high pressure glow discharge in a simple torus

Parametric characterization of multiple double layers is done during high pressure glow discharge in a toroidal vessel of small aspect ratio. Although glow discharge (without magnetic field) is known to be independent of device geometry, but the toroidal boundary conditions are conducive to plasma growth and eventually the plasma occupy the toroidal volume partially. At higher anode potential, the visibly glowing spots on the body of spatially extended anode transform into multiple intensely luminous spherical plasma blob structures attached to the tip of the positive electrode. Dynamics of multiple double layers are observed in argon glow discharge plasma in presence of toroidal magnetic field. The radial profiles of plasma parameters measured at various toroidal locations show signatures of double layer formation in our system. Parametric dependence of double layer dynamics in presence of toroidal magnetic field is presented here.

Impact of ion cyclotron wall conditioning on fuel removal from plasma-facing components at TEXTOR

Ion cyclotron wall conditioning (ICWC) is based on low temperature and low density plasmas produced and sustained by ion cyclotron resonance (ICR) pulses in reactive or noble gases. The technique is being developed for ITER. It is tested in tokamaks in the presence of toroidal magnetic field (0.2–3.8 T) and heating power of the order of 105 W. ICWC with hydrogen, deuterium and oxygen–helium mixture was studied in the TEXTOR tokamak. The exposed samples were pre-characterized limiter tiles mounted on specially designed probes. The objectives were to assess the reduction of deuterium content, the uniformity of the reduction and the retention of seeded oxygen. For the last objective oxygen-18 was used as a marker. ICWC in hydrogen caused a drop of deuterium content in the tile by a factor of more than 2: from 4.5 × 1018 to 1.9 × 1018 D cm−2. A decrease of the fuel content by approximately 25% was achieved by the ICWC in oxygen, while no reduction of the fuel content was measured after exposure to discharges in deuterium. These are the first data ever obtained showing quantitatively the local decrease of deuterium in wall components treated by ICWC in a tokamak. The oxygen retention in the tiles exposed to ICWC with oxygen–helium was analyzed for different orientations and radial positions with respect to plasma. An average retention of 1.38 × 1016 18O cm−2 was measured. A maximum of the retention, 4.4 × 1016 18O cm−2, was identified on a sample surface near the plasma edge. The correlation with the gas inlet and antennae location has been studied.

Magnetized tori in the field of Kerr superspinars

We study the properties of axisymmetric and stationary toroidal structures of magnetized perfect fluid with the uniform distribution of specific angular momentum (l = const) orbiting Kerr superspinars whose existence is indicated by string theory. We demonstrate first the specific features of unmagnetized perfect fluid tori occurring in the deep potential well near the surface of the superspinars and enabling clear distinction between Kerr superspinars and Kerr black holes. Then, we investigate the effect of magnetization of the perfect fluid tori and describe the shift of their properties induced by the presence of toroidal magnetic fields.

Vertically self-gravitating ADAFs in the presence of toroidal magnetic field

Force due to the self-gravity of the disc in the vertical direction is considered to study its possible effects on the structure of a magnetized advection-dominated accretion disc. We present steady-sate self similar solutions for the dynamical structure of such a type of the accretion flows. Our solutions imply reduced thickness of the disc because of the self-gravity. It also imply that the thickness of the disc will increase by adding the magnetic field strength.

Rossby waves and polar spots in rapidly rotating stars: implications for stellar wind evolution

Rapidly rotating stars show short-period oscillations in magnetic activity and polar appearance of starspots. The aim of this paper is to study large-scale shallow water waves in the tachoclines of rapidly rotating stars and their connection to the periodicity and the formation of starspots at high latitudes. Shallow-water magnetohydrodynamic equations were used to study the dynamics of large-scale waves at the rapidly rotating stellar tachoclines in the presence of toroidal magnetic field. Dispersion relations and latitudinal distribution of wave modes were derived. We found that low-frequency magnetic Rossby waves tend to be located at poles, but high-frequency magnetic Poincare waves are concentrated near the equator in rapidly rotating stars. These results have important implications for the evolution of the stellar wind in young Sun-like stars. Unstable magnetic Rossby waves may lead to the local enhancement of magnetic flux at high latitudes of tachoclines in rapidly rotating stars. The enhanced magnetic flux may rise upwards owing to the magnetic buoyancy in the form of tubes and appear as starspots at polar regions. Magnetic Rossby waves may also cause observed short-term periodicity in the stellar magnetic activity.

Charged particle trajectories in the presence of a toroidal magnetic field on a Schwarzschild background

Trajectories of a single charged particle in the presence of toroidal magnetic fields superposed on the Schwarzschild background geometry have been obtained, and it is shown that the toroidal field repels the particles and in particular the incoming ones get ejected in jet-like trajectories.

The oscillations and the stability of rotating masses with magnetic fields

The existence of the point of bifurcation of rotating gaseous masses with toroidal magnetic fields is established from the first variations of the integral properties provided by the second-order virial relations. It is shown that the point of bifurcation, where the Jabcobi ellipsoids branch off from the Maclaurin spheroids, is unaffected by the presence of toroidal magnetic fields.

Adiabatic pulsations and convective instability of rotating gaseous masses

Third order virial equations have been used to investigate the oscillations and the stability of the sequence of differentially rotating, compressible Maclaurin spheroids in the presence of toroidal magnetic fields. It is shown that the neutral point occurring at eccentricitye=0.731 13, which is the analogue of the first point of bifurcation along the Dedekind sequence, remains unaffected by the presence of differential rotation or a toroidal magnetic field. The point of onset of dynamical instability corresponding to the third harmonic deformations does, however, depend upon the magnetic field. It is shifted to values higher thane=0.966 96, the value that obtains in the case of uniform rotation; and a sufficiently large magnetic field can suppress this point. Complete frequency spectra (‘Kelvin’ modes belonging to the harmonicsl=3 and compressible modes belonging tol=1) are obtained in two cases of interest: when the equilibrium state is one of equipartition, and when toroidal magnetic and velocity fields (vanishing at the surface) are present in a configuration rotating with a constant angular velocity.

The effect of a toroidal magnetic field on the non-radial oscillations of polytropes

Frequencies of non-radial oscillation of polytropic models of stars, belonging to spherical harmonics of ordersl=1, 2 and 3, are evaluated, in a ‘second approximation’, by a variational method. Equilibrium configurations in the presence of toroidal magnetic fields are obtained numerically without any restriction on the field strength. The value of the ratio of the specific heats, γ, is assumed to be equal to 5/3 and only two polytropic indeces,n=1.5 and 3.0, are considered. It is found that a polytropic star stays stable for magnetic fields considerably stronger than expected from the results obtained by the weak field perturbation methods.

Excitation of non-spherical waves in solar atmosphere in the presence of toroidal magnetic field

It has been shown that non-spherical waves could be excited in rotating stellar convective envelopes. In this paper, the manner of excitation of such waves is examined in the presence of toroidal magnetic field. The result shows that one of these waves might be considered to induce the formation of the observed magnetic unipolar regions of the sun.