Small-scale Magnetic Fields Research Articles

On exact wave propagation analysis of triclinic material using three-dimensional bi-Helmholtz gradient plate model

Rapid advances in the engineering applications can bring further areas to provide the opportunity to manipulate anisotropic structures for direct productivity in design of micro/nano-structures. For the first time, magnetic affected wave characteristics of nanosize plates made of anisotropic material is investigated via the three-dimensional bi-Helmholtz nonlocal strain gradient theory. Three small scale parameters are used to predict the size-dependent behavior of the nanoplates more accurately. After owing governing equations of wave motion, an analytical approach based harmonic series is utilized to fine the wave frequency as well as phase velocity. It is observed that the small scale parameters, magnetic field and wave number have considerable influence on the wave characteristics of anisotropic nanoplates. Due to the lack of any study on the mechanics of three-dimensional bi-Helmholtz gradient plates made of anisotropic materials, it is hoped that the present exact model may be used as a benchmark for future works of such nanostructures.

Stochastic entropy production in the quite Sun magnetic fields

ABSTRACT The second law of thermodynamics imposes an increase of macroscopic entropy with time in an isolated system. Microscopically, however, the entropy production can be negative for a single, microscopic realization of a thermodynamic process. The so-called fluctuation theorems provide exact relations between the stochastic entropy consumption and generation. Here, we analyse pixel-to-pixel fluctuations in time of small-scale magnetic fields (SSMF) in the quiet Sun observed with the SDO/HMI instrument. We demonstrate that entropy generated by SSMF obeys the fluctuation theorems. In particular, the SSMF entropy consumption probability is exactly exponentially smaller than the SSMF entropy generation probability. This may have fundamental implications for the magnetic energy budget of the Sun.

Evolution of galactic magnetic fields

ABSTRACTWe study the cosmic evolution of the magnetic fields of a large sample of spiral galaxies in a cosmologically representative volume by employing a semi-analytic galaxy formation model and numerical dynamo solver in tandem. We start by deriving time- and radius-dependent galaxy properties using the galform galaxy formation model, which are then fed into the non-linear mean-field dynamo equations. These are solved to give the large-scale (mean) field as a function of time and galactocentric radius for a thin disc, assuming axial symmetry. A simple prescription for the evolution of the small-scale (random) magnetic field component is also adopted. We find that, while most massive galaxies are predicted to have large-scale magnetic fields at redshift $z$ = 0, a significant fraction of them is expected to contain negligible large-scale field. Our model indicates that, for most of the galaxies containing large-scale magnetic fields today, the mean-field dynamo becomes active at $z$ < 3. Moreover, the typical magnetic field strength at any given galactic stellar mass is predicted to decline with time up until the present epoch, in agreement with our earlier results. We compute the radial profiles of pitch angle, and find broad agreement with observational data for nearby galaxies.

The Association of Filaments, Polarity Inversion Lines, and Coronal Hole Properties with the Sunspot Cycle: An Analysis of the McIntosh Database

Abstract Filaments and coronal holes, two principal features observed in the solar corona, are sources of space weather variations. Filament formation is closely associated with polarity inversion lines (PILs) on the solar photosphere which separate positive and negative polarities of the surface magnetic field. The origin of coronal holes is governed by large-scale unipolar magnetic patches on the photosphere from where open magnetic field lines extend to the heliosphere. We study the properties of filaments, PILs, and coronal holes in solar cycles 20, 21, 22, and 23 utilizing the McIntosh archive. We detect a prominent cyclic behavior of filament length, PIL length, and coronal hole area with significant correspondence with the solar magnetic cycle. The spatio-temporal evolution of the geometric centers of filaments shows a butterfly-like structure and distinguishable poleward migration of long filaments during cycle maxima. We identify this rush to the poles of filaments to be co-temporal with the initiation of polar field reversal as gleaned from Mount Wilson and Wilcox Solar Observatory polar field observations, and quantitatively establish their temporal correspondence. We analyze the filament tilt angle distribution to constrain their possible origins. The majority of the filaments exhibit negative and positive tilt angles in the northern and the southern hemispheres, respectively, strongly suggesting that their formation is governed by the overall large-scale magnetic field distribution on the solar photosphere and not by the small-scale intra-active region magnetic field configurations. We also investigate the hemispheric asymmetry in filaments, PILs, and coronal holes. We find that the hemispheric asymmetry in filaments and PILs is positively correlated with sunspot area asymmetry, whereas coronal hole asymmetry is uncorrelated.

Cycle-dependent and cycle-independent surface tracers of solar magnetic activity

AbstractWe consider several tracers of magnetic activity that separate cycle-dependent contributions to the background solar magnetic field from those that are independent of the cycle. The main message is that background fields include two relative separate populations. The background fields with a strength up to 100 Mx cm−2 are very poorly correlated with the sunspot numbers and vary little with the phase of the cycle. In contrast, stronger magnetic fields demonstrate pronounced cyclic behaviour. Small-scale solar magnetic fields demonstrate features of fractal intermittent behaviour, which requires quantification. We investigate how the observational estimate of the solar magnetic flux density B depends on resolution D in order to obtain the scaling In BD = −k In D + a in a reasonably wide range. The quantity k demonstrates cyclic variations typical of a solar activity cycle. k depends on the magnetic flux density, i.e. the ratio of the magnetic flux to the area over which the flux is calculated, at a given instant. The quantity a demonstrates some cyclic variation, but it is much weaker than in the case of k. The scaling is typical of fractal structures. The results obtained trace small-scale action in the solar convective zone and its coexistence with the conventional large-scale solar dynamo based on differential rotation and mirror-asymmetric convection. Here we discuss the message for solar dynamo studies hidden in the above results.

Revealing magnetic fields towards massive protostars: a multi-scale approach using masers and dust

AbstractMagnetic fields play a significant role during star formation processes, hindering the fragmentation and the collapse of the parental cloud, and affecting the accretion mechanisms and feedback phenomena. However, several questions still need to be addressed to clarify the importance of magnetic fields at the onset of high-mass star formation, such as how strong they are and at what evolutionary stage and spatial scales their action becomes relevant. Furthermore, the magnetic field parameters are still poorly constrained especially at small scales, i.e. few astronomical units from the central object, where the accretion disc and the base of the outflow are located. Thus we need to probe magnetic fields at different scales, at different evolutionary steps and possibly with different tracers. We show that the magnetic field morphology around high-mass protostars can be successfully traced at different scales by observing maser and dust polarised emission. A confirmation that they are effective tools is indeed provided by our recent results from 6.7 GHz MERLIN observations of the massive protostar IRAS 18089-1732, where we find that the small-scale magnetic field probed by methanol masers is consistent with the large-scale magnetic field probed by dust (Dall’Olio et al. 2017 A&A 607, A111). Moreover we present results obtained from our ALMA Band 7 polarisation observations of G9.62+0.20, which is a massive star-forming region with a sequence of cores at different evolutionary stages (Dall’Olio et al. submitted to A&A). In this region we resolve several protostellar cores embedded in a bright and dusty filamentary structure. The magnetic field morphology and strength in different cores is related to the evolutionary sequence of the star formation process which is occurring across the filament.

The supernova-regulated ISM

Context.Efforts to compare polarization measurements with synthetic observations from magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models have previously concentrated on the scale of molecular clouds.Aims.We extend the model comparisons to kiloparsec scales, taking into account hot shocked gas generated by supernovae and a non-uniform dynamo-generated magnetic field at both large and small scales down to 4 pc spatial resolution.Methods.We used radiative transfer calculations to model dust emission and polarization on top of MHD simulations. We computed synthetic maps of column densityNH, polarization fractionp, and polarization angle dispersionS, and studied their dependencies on important properties of MHD simulations. These include the large-scale magnetic field and its orientation, the small-scale magnetic field, and supernova-driven shocks.Results.Similar filament-like structures ofSas seen in thePlanckall-sky maps are visible in our synthetic results, although the smallest scale structures are absent from our maps. Supernova-driven shock fronts andSdo not show significant correlation. Instead,Scan clearly be attributed to the distribution of the small-scale magnetic field. We also find that the large-scale magnetic field influences the polarization properties, such that, for a given strength of magnetic fluctuation, a strong plane of the sky mean field weakens the observedS, while strengtheningp. The anticorrelation ofpandS, and decreasingpas a function ofNHare consistent across all synthetic observations. The magnetic fluctuations follow an exponential distribution, rather than Gaussian characteristic of flows with intermittent repetitive shocks.Conclusions.The observed polarization properties and column densities are sensitive to the line-of-sight distance over which the emission is integrated. Studying synthetic maps as the function of maximum integration length will further help with the interpretation of observations. The effects of the large-scale magnetic field orientation on the polarization properties are difficult to be quantified from observations solely, but MHD models might turn out to be useful for separating the effect of the large-scale mean field.

Effects of Coronal Magnetic Field Structures on the Transport of Solar Energetic Particles

Abstract This Letter presents a model calculation of solar energetic particle (SEP) transport to test the sensitivity of the distribution of escaped SEPs in interplanetary space and dependence upon the details of the magnetic field structure in the corona. It is applied to a circumsolar event on 2011 November 3, in which SEPs are observed promptly after the solar event eruption by three spacecraft (the twin Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatories (STEREO-A and STEREO-B) and ACE) separated by more than 100° in longitude from each other. The corona magnetic field reconstructed from photosphseric field measurements using the PFSS method changes substantially before and after the solar eruption, especially around the active region. The locations of open field regions, separatrix surfaces including the heliospheric current sheet, and footpoints of magnetic field lines connected to the spacecraft location have shifted substantially. We inject 100 keV energetic electrons on the open field lines at 1.5 R s within the size of observed coronal mass ejections (CMEs) and follow their propagation in the corona and the interplanetary space. We find that with a perpendicular diffusion due to field line random walk equal to 10% of the supergranular diffusion rate, the overall distribution of escaped SEPs does not change much even though the region of open field lines from SEPs has changed. The result suggests that detailed small-scale coronal magnetic field structures and the exact magnetic field connection are not crucially important for observing SEPs in the interplanetary space.

Connecting the large- and the small-scale magnetic fields of solar-like stars

A key question in understanding the observed magnetic field topologies of cool stars is the link between the small- and the large-scale magnetic field and the influence of the stellar parameters on the magnetic field topology. We examine various simulated stars to connect the small-scale with the observable large-scale field. The highly resolved 3D simulations we used couple a flux transport model with a non-potential coronal model using a magnetofrictional technique. The surface magnetic field of these simulations is decomposed into spherical harmonics which enables us to analyse the magnetic field topologies on a wide range of length scales and to filter the large-scale magnetic field for a direct comparison with the observations. We show that the large-scale field of the self-consistent simulations fits the observed solar-like stars and is mainly set up by the global dipolar field and the large-scale properties of the flux pattern, e.g. the averaged latitudinal position of the emerging small-scale field and its global polarity pattern. The stellar parameters flux emergence rate, differential rotation and meridional flow affect the large-scale magnetic field topology. An increased flux emergence rate increases the magnetic flux in all field components and an increased differential rotation increases the toroidal field fraction by decreasing the poloidal field. The meridional flow affects the distribution of the magnetic energy across the spherical harmonic modes.

Growth and propagation of self-generated magnetic dipole vortices in collisionless shocks produced by interpenetrating plasmas

Collisionless shocks generated by colliding relativistic plasmas are studied using particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. The shock is produced due to the Weibel instabilities that generate current and density filaments and small-scale magnetic fields that are amplified from initial fluctuations. Localized regions of the strong magnetic field in the form of magnetic dipole vortices upstream of the shock are observed in the simulation developed during the nonlinear evolution of the electron and ion filaments. The vortices developing from the merger and subsequent pinching of the small-scale filaments are shown to be moving in the direction opposite to that of the shock. We also found an analytical estimate of the drift velocity of the vortices that are confirmed by the PIC simulations.

Magnetic fields in turbulent quark matter and magnetar bursts

We analyze the magnetic field evolution in dense quark matter with unbroken chiral symmetry, which can be found inside quark and hybrid stars. The magnetic field evolves owing to the chiral magnetic effect in the presence of the electroweak interaction between quarks. In our study, we also take into account the magnetohydrodynamic turbulence effects in dense quark matter. We derive the kinetic equations for the spectra of the magnetic helicity density and the magnetic energy density as well as for the chiral imbalances. On the basis of the numerical solution of these equations, we find that turbulence effects are important for the behavior of small scale magnetic fields. It is revealed that, under certain initial conditions, these magnetic fields behave similarly to the electromagnetic flashes of some magnetars. We suggest that fluctuations of magnetic fields, described in frames of our model, which are created in the central regions of a magnetized compact star, can initiate magnetar bursts.

Convective Velocity Suppression via the Enhancement of the Subadiabatic Layer: Role of the Effective Prandtl Number

Abstract It has recently been recognized that the convective velocities achieved in current solar convection simulations might be overestimated. The newly revealed effects of the prevailing small-scale magnetic field within the convection zone may offer possible solutions to this problem. The small-scale magnetic fields can reduce the convective amplitude of small-scale motions through the Lorentz-force feedback, which concurrently inhibits the turbulent mixing of entropy between upflows and downflows. As a result, the effective Prandtl number may exceed unity inside the solar convection zone. In this paper, we propose and numerically confirm a possible suppression mechanism of convective velocity in the effectively high-Prandtl number regime. If the effective horizontal thermal diffusivity decreases (the Prandtl number accordingly increases), the subadiabatic layer which is formed near the base of the convection zone by continuous depositions of low entropy transported by adiabatically downflowing plumes is enhanced and extended. The global convective amplitude in the high-Prandtl thermal convection is thus reduced, especially in the lower part of the convection zone via the change in the mean entropy profile, which becomes more subadiabatic near the base and less superadiabatic in the bulk.

The influence of the positronium photoionization rate on the polar cap X-ray luminosity of radio pulsars

The influence of the positronium photoionization rate on the polar cap X-ray luminosity of old radio pulsars is considered. It is assumed that the polar cap is heated only by reverse positrons accelerated in the pulsar diode. It is supposed that the pulsar diode is in a stationary state with the lower plate located near the star surface (polar cap model) occupies all the pulsar tube cross section and operates in the regime of steady space charge by the limited electron flow. The influence of a small-scale magnetic field on the electric field inside the pulsar diode is taken into account. The reverse positron current is calculated in the framework of two models: rapid and gradual screening. To calculate the production rate of electron-positron pairs we take into account only the curvature radiation of primary electrons and its absorption in the magnetic field. It is assumed that some fraction of electron-positron pairs is created in a bound state (positronium). Later, such positroniums are photoionized by thermal photons from the polar cap.

Temporal relations between magnetic bright points and the solar sunspot cycle

Abstract The Sun shows a global magnetic field cycle traditionally best visible in the photosphere as a changing sunspot cycle featuring roughly an 11-year period. In addition we know that our host star also harbours small-scale magnetic fields often seen as strong concentrations of magnetic flux reaching kG field strengths. These features are situated in inter-granular lanes, where they show up bright as so-called magnetic bright points (MBPs). In this short paper we wish to analyse an homogenous, nearly 10-year-long synoptic Hinode image data set recorded from 2006 November up to 2016 February in the G-band to inspect the relationship between the number of MBPs at the solar disc centre and the relative sunspot number. Our findings suggest that the number of MBPs at the solar disc centre is indeed correlated to the relative sunspot number, but with the particular feature of showing two different temporal shifts between the decreasing phase of cycle 23 including the minimum and the increasing phase of cycle 24 including the maximum. While the former is shifted by about 22 months, the latter is only shifted by less than 12 months. Moreover, we introduce and discuss an analytical model to predict the number of MBPs at the solar disc centre purely depending on the evolution of the relative sunspot number as well as the temporal change of the relative sunspot number and two background parameters describing a possibly acting surface dynamo as well as the strength of the magnetic field diffusion. Finally, we are able to confirm the plausibility of the temporal shifts by a simplistic random walk model. The main conclusion to be drawn from this work is that the injection of magnetic flux, coming from active regions as represented by sunspots, happens on faster time scales than the removal of small-scale magnetic flux elements later on.

Small-Scale Magnetic Helicity and Nonlinear Stabilization of the Dynamo

According to present-day ideas, nonlinear saturation of the astrophysical dynamo and, in particular, the solar dynamo, are based on the consideration of the magnetic helicity balance, to which the helicities of the large-scale magnetic field and small-scale field related to it contributed. We show that, in a mirrorasymmetric medium, the small-scale magnetic field generated by the small-scale dynamo also has a nonzero magnetic helicity, which also should be taken into account in the magnetic helicity balance.

Astrophysical haloscopes

We compute the fluxes of radio photons from conversion of axion-like particle dark matter in cosmic magnetic fields. We find that for axion-like particle masses around $10^{-6}\,$eV and effective coupling constants to photons $g_{a\gamma}\gtrsim10^{-13}\,{\rm GeV}^{-1}$ strongly magnetized nearby stellar winds may give detectable line-like radio photon signals, although predicted fluxes are highly uncertain due to the poorly known structure of the magnetic fields. Nevertheless, it may be worth while to conduct a dedicated search in the direction of such sources. When combined with a possible future laboratory detection of axion-like dark matter such observations may in turn provide information on the small scale magnetic field structure in such objects.

The Maximum Entropy Limit of Small-scale Magnetic Field Fluctuations in the Quiet Sun

Abstract The observed magnetic field on the solar surface is characterized by a very complex spatial and temporal behavior. Although feature-tracking algorithms have allowed us to deepen our understanding of this behavior, subjectivity plays an important role in the identification and tracking of such features. In this paper, we continue studies of the temporal stochasticity of the magnetic field on the solar surface without relying either on the concept of magnetic features or on subjective assumptions about their identification and interaction. We propose a data analysis method to quantify fluctuations of the line-of-sight magnetic field by means of reducing the temporal field’s evolution to the regular Markov process. We build a representative model of fluctuations converging to the unique stationary (equilibrium) distribution in the long time limit with maximum entropy. We obtained different rates of convergence to the equilibrium at fixed noise cutoff for two sets of data. This indicates a strong influence of the data spatial resolution and mixing-polarity fluctuations on the relaxation process. The analysis is applied to observations of magnetic fields of the relatively quiet areas around an active region carried out during the second flight of the Sunrise/IMaX and quiet Sun areas at the disk center from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite.

Glitches and precession damping in the framework of 3-component model of neutron star

The evolution of the inclination angle and precession damping is considered. It is assumed that the neutron star consists of 3 freely rotating components: the crust and two core components, one of them contains pinned superfluid vortices. We suppose that each component rotates as a rigid body. Also the influence of the small-scale magnetic field on the star’s breaking process is examined. Within the framework of this model the star simultaneously can have glitch-like events combined with long-period precession (with periods 10 – 104 years). It is shown that the case of the small quantity of pinned superfluid vortices seems to be more consistent with observations.

Amplification of large scale magnetic fields in a decaying MHD system

Dynamo theory explains the amplification of magnetic fields in the conducting fluids (plasmas) driven by the continuous external energy. It is known that the nonhelical continuous kinetic or magnetic energy amplifies the small scale magnetic field; and the helical energy, the instability, or the shear with rotation effect amplifies the large scale magnetic field. However, recently it was reported that the decaying magnetic energy independent of helicity or instability could generate the large scale magnetic field. This phenomenon may look somewhat contradictory to the conventional dynamo theory. But it gives us some clues to the fundamental mechanism of energy transfer in the magnetized conducting fluids. It also implies that an ephemeral astrophysical event emitting the magnetic and kinetic energy can be a direct cause of the large scale magnetic field observed in space. As of now the exact physical mechanism is not yet understood in spite of several numerical results. The plasma motion coupled with a nearly conserved vector potential in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) system may transfer magnetic energy to the large scale. Also the intrinsic property of the scaling invariant MHD equation may decide the direction of energy transfer. In this paper we present the simulation results of inversely transferred helical and nonhelical energy in a decaying MHD system. We introduce a field structure model based on the MHD equation to show that the transfer of magnetic energy is essentially bidirectional depending on the plasma motion and initial energy distribution. And then we derive $\ensuremath{\alpha}$ coefficient algebraically in line with the field structure model to explain how the large scale magnetic field is induced by the helical energy in the system regardless of an external forcing source. And for the algebraic analysis of nonhelical magnetic energy, we use the eddy damped quasinormalized Markovian approximation to show the inverse transfer of magnetic energy.

First Spectropolarimetric Measurement of a Brown Dwarf Magnetic Field in Molecular Bands

Abstract We present the first measurements of the surface magnetic field of a late-M dwarf, LSR J1835+3259, with the help of the full-Stokes spectropolarimetry in the bands of diatomic molecules. Our measurements at different rotational phases of a dwarf yielded one 5σ and two 3σ magnetic field detections. The observational data have been obtained with the LRISp polarimeter at the Keck observatory on 2012 August 22 and 23. These data have been compared against synthetic full-Stokes spectra in the bands of the molecules CrH, FeH, and TiO, which have been calculated for a range of the stellar parameters and magnetic field strengths. Making use of χ 2-minimization and maximum likelihood estimation, we determine the net magnetic field strength B (and not flux Bf) of LSR J1835+3259 to ∼5 kG with the help of the Paschen–Back effect in the CrH lines. Our measurements at different rotational phases suggest that the dwarf’s surface might be covered with strong small-scale magnetic fields. In addition, recent findings of the dwarf’s hydrogen emission and the Stokes V signal from the lower chromosphere indicate that its surface magnetic field might be changing rapidly giving rise to flare activity, similar to young dMe dwarfs. We substantiate the substellar origin of LSR J1835+3259 by making use of our own data as well as the photometric data from the all-sky surveys 2MASS and WISE.