TY - JOUR A1 - Seiss, Martin A1 - Spahn, Frank T1 - Hydrodynamics of saturn's dense rings JF - Mathematical modelling of natural phenomena N2 - The space missions Voyager and Cassini together with earthbound observations revealed a wealth of structures in Saturn's rings. There are, for example, waves being excited at ring positions which are in orbital resonance with Saturn's moons. Other structures can be assigned to embedded moons like empty gaps, moon induced wakes or S-shaped propeller features. Furthermore, irregular radial structures are observed in the range from 10 meters until kilometers. Here some of these structures will be discussed in the frame of hydrodynamical modeling of Saturn's dense rings. For this purpose we will characterize the physical properties of the ring particle ensemble by mean field quantities and point to the special behavior of the transport coefficients. We show that unperturbed rings can become unstable and how diffusion acts in the rings. Additionally, the alternative streamline formalism is introduced to describe perturbed regions of dense rings with applications to the wake damping and the dispersion relation of the density waves. KW - granular gas KW - instabilities KW - hydrodynamics KW - planetary rings Y1 - 2011 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/mmnp/20116409 SN - 0973-5348 SN - 1760-6101 VL - 6 IS - 4 SP - 191 EP - 218 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Feldmeier, Achim A1 - Kretschmar, Peter T1 - Clumped stellar winds in supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries: X-ray variability and photoionization JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - The clumping of massive star winds is an established paradigm, which is confirmed by multiple lines of evidence and is supported by stellar wind theory. The purpose of this paper is to bridge the gap between detailed models of inhomogeneous stellar winds in single stars and the phenomenological description of donor winds in supergiant high-mass X-ray binaries (HMXBs). We use the results from time-dependent hydrodynamical models of the instability in the line-driven wind of a massive supergiant star to derive the time-dependent accretion rate on to a compact object in the BondiHoyleLyttleton approximation. The strong density and velocity fluctuations in the wind result in strong variability of the synthetic X-ray light curves. The model predicts a large-scale X-ray variability, up to eight orders of magnitude, on relatively short time-scales. The apparent lack of evidence for such strong variability in the observed HMXBs indicates that the details of the accretion process act to reduce the variability resulting from the stellar wind velocity and density jumps. KW - accretion, accretion discs KW - instabilities KW - stars: neutron KW - X-rays: binaries KW - X-rays: stars Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2012.20507.x SN - 0035-8711 VL - 421 IS - 4 SP - 2820 EP - 2831 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Malden ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Stroman, Thomas A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Bret, Antoine T1 - Could cosmic rays affect instabilities in the Transition layer of nonrealativistic collisionless shocks? JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - There is an observational correlation between astrophysical shocks and nonthermal particle distributions extending to high energies. As a first step toward investigating the possible feedback of these particles on the shock at the microscopic level, we perform particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of a simplified environment consisting of uniform, interpenetrating plasmas, both with and without an additional population of cosmic rays. We vary the relative density of the counterstreaming plasmas, the strength of a homogeneous parallel magnetic field, and the energy density in cosmic rays. We compare the early development of the unstable spectrum for selected configurations without cosmic rays to the growth rates predicted from linear theory, for assurance that the system is well represented by the PIC technique. Within the parameter space explored, we do not detect an unambiguous signature of any cosmic-ray-induced effects on the microscopic instabilities that govern the formation of a shock. We demonstrate that an overly coarse distribution of energetic particles can artificially alter the statistical noise that produces the perturbative seeds of instabilities, and that such effects can be mitigated by increasing the density of computational particles. KW - cosmic rays KW - instabilities KW - plasmas KW - shock waves Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/746/1/24 SN - 0004-637X VL - 746 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Bret, Antoine A1 - Wieland, Volkmar T1 - Nonrelativistic parallel shocks in unmagnetized and weakly magnetized plasmas JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We present results of 2D3V particle-in-cell simulations of nonrelativistic plasma collisions with absent or parallel large-scale magnetic field for parameters applicable to the conditions at young supernova remnants. We study the collision of plasma slabs of different density, leading to two different shocks and a contact discontinuity. Electron dynamics play an important role in the development of the system. While nonrelativistic shocks in both unmagnetized and magnetized plasmas can be mediated by Weibel-type instabilities, the efficiency of shock-formation processes is higher when a large-scale magnetic field is present. The electron distributions downstream of the forward and reverse shocks are generally isotropic, whereas that is not always the case for the ions. We do not see any significant evidence of pre-acceleration, neither in the electron population nor in the ion distribution. KW - acceleration of particles KW - instabilities KW - ISM: supernova remnants KW - methods: numerical KW - plasmas KW - shock waves Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/759/1/73 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 759 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kliem, Bernhard A1 - Toeroek, Tibor A1 - Titov, Viacheslav S. A1 - Lionello, Roberto A1 - Linker, Jon A. A1 - Liu, Rui A1 - Liu, Chang A1 - Wang, Haimin T1 - Slow rise and partial eruption of a double-decker filament. II. A double flux rope model JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - Force-free equilibria containing two vertically arranged magnetic flux ropes of like chirality and current direction are considered as a model for split filaments/prominences and filament-sigmoid systems. Such equilibria are constructed analytically through an extension of the methods developed in Titov & Demoulin and numerically through an evolutionary sequence including shear flows, flux emergence, and flux cancellation in the photospheric boundary. It is demonstrated that the analytical equilibria are stable if an external toroidal (shear) field component exceeding a threshold value is included. If this component decreases sufficiently, then both flux ropes turn unstable for conditions typical of solar active regions, with the lower rope typically becoming unstable first. Either both flux ropes erupt upward, or only the upper rope erupts while the lower rope reconnects with the ambient flux low in the corona and is destroyed. However, for shear field strengths staying somewhat above the threshold value, the configuration also admits evolutions which lead to partial eruptions with only the upper flux rope becoming unstable and the lower one remaining in place. This can be triggered by a transfer of flux and current from the lower to the upper rope, as suggested by the observations of a split filament in Paper I. It can also result from tether-cutting reconnection with the ambient flux at the X-type structure between the flux ropes, which similarly influences their stability properties in opposite ways. This is demonstrated for the numerically constructed equilibrium. KW - instabilities KW - magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) KW - Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs) KW - Sun: filaments, prominences KW - Sun: flares Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/792/2/107 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 792 IS - 2 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Aldoretta, E. J. A1 - St-Louis, N. A1 - Richardson, N. D. A1 - Moffat, Anthony F. J. A1 - Eversberg, T. A1 - Hill, G. M. A1 - Shenar, Tomer A1 - Artigau, E. A1 - Gauza, B. A1 - Knapen, J. H. A1 - Kubat, Jiří A1 - Kubatova, Brankica A1 - Maltais-Tariant, R. A1 - Munoz, M. A1 - Pablo, H. A1 - Ramiaramanantsoa, T. A1 - Richard-Laferriere, A. A1 - Sablowski, D. P. A1 - Simon-Diaz, S. A1 - St-Jean, L. A1 - Bolduan, F. A1 - Dias, F. M. A1 - Dubreuil, P. A1 - Fuchs, D. A1 - Garrel, T. A1 - Grutzeck, G. A1 - Hunger, T. A1 - Kuesters, D. A1 - Langenbrink, M. A1 - Leadbeater, R. A1 - Li, D. A1 - Lopez, A. A1 - Mauclaire, B. A1 - Moldenhawer, T. A1 - Potter, M. A1 - dos Santos, E. M. A1 - Schanne, L. A1 - Schmidt, J. A1 - Sieske, H. A1 - Strachan, J. A1 - Stinner, E. A1 - Stinner, P. A1 - Stober, B. A1 - Strandbaek, K. A1 - Syder, T. A1 - Verilhac, D. A1 - Waldschlaeger, U. A1 - Weiss, D. A1 - Wendt, A. T1 - An extensive spectroscopic time series of three Wolf-Rayet stars - I. The lifetime of large-scale structures in the wind of WR 134 JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - During the summer of 2013, a 4-month spectroscopic campaign took place to observe the variabilities in three Wolf-Rayet stars. The spectroscopic data have been analysed for WR 134 (WN6b), to better understand its behaviour and long-term periodicity, which we interpret as arising from corotating interaction regions (CIRs) in the wind. By analysing the variability of the He ii lambda 5411 emission line, the previously identified period was refined to P = 2.255 +/- 0.008 (s.d.) d. The coherency time of the variability, which we associate with the lifetime of the CIRs in the wind, was deduced to be 40 +/- 6 d, or similar to 18 cycles, by cross-correlating the variability patterns as a function of time. When comparing the phased observational grey-scale difference images with theoretical grey-scales previously calculated from models including CIRs in an optically thin stellar wind, we find that two CIRs were likely present. A separation in longitude of Delta I center dot a parts per thousand integral 90A degrees was determined between the two CIRs and we suggest that the different maximum velocities that they reach indicate that they emerge from different latitudes. We have also been able to detect observational signatures of the CIRs in other spectral lines (C iv lambda lambda 5802,5812 and He i lambda 5876). Furthermore, a DAC was found to be present simultaneously with the CIR signatures detected in the He i lambda 5876 emission line which is consistent with the proposed geometry of the large-scale structures in the wind. Small-scale structures also show a presence in the wind, simultaneously with the larger scale structures, showing that they do in fact co-exist. KW - instabilities KW - methods: data analysis KW - techniques: spectroscopic KW - stars: individual: WR 134 KW - stars: massive KW - stars: Wolf-Rayet Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw1188 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 460 SP - 3407 EP - 3417 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vafin, Sergei A1 - Schlickeiser, R. A1 - Yoon, P. H. T1 - AMPLIFICATION OF COLLECTIVE MAGNETIC FLUCTUATIONS IN MAGNETIZED BI-MAXWELLIAN PLASMAS FOR PARALLEL WAVE VECTORS. I. ELECTRON-PROTON PLASMA JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - The general electromagnetic fluctuation theory is a powerful tool to analyze the magnetic fluctuation spectrum of a plasma. Recent works utilizing this theory for a magnetized non-relativistic isotropic Maxwellian electron-proton plasma have demonstrated that the equilibrium ratio of vertical bar delta B vertical bar/B-0 can be as high as 10(-12). This value results from the balance between spontaneous emission of fluctuations and their damping, and it is considerably smaller than the observed value vertical bar delta B vertical bar/B-0 in the solar wind at 1 au, where 10(-3) less than or similar to vertical bar delta B vertical bar/B-0 less than or similar to 10(-1). In the present manuscript, we consider an anisotropic bi-Maxwellian distribution function to investigate the effect of plasma instabilities on the magnetic field fluctuations. We demonstrate that these instabilities strongly amplify the magnetic field fluctuations and provide a sufficient mechanism to explain the observed value of vertical bar delta B vertical bar/B-0 in the solar wind at 1 au. KW - instabilities KW - magnetic fields KW - solar wind KW - turbulence KW - waves Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/0004-637X/829/1/41 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 829 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hassanin, Alshaimaa A1 - Kliem, Bernhard A1 - Seehafer, Norbert T1 - Helical kink instability in the confined solar eruption on 2002 May 27 JF - Astronomische Nachrichten = Astronomical notes KW - instabilities KW - magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) KW - Sun: corona KW - Sun: coronal mass ejections (CMEs) KW - Sun: flares Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/asna.201612446 SN - 0004-6337 SN - 1521-3994 VL - 337 SP - 1082 EP - 1089 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vafin, Sergei A1 - Riazantseva, M. A1 - Yoon, P. H. T1 - Kinetic Features in the Ion Flux Spectrum JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - An interesting feature of solar wind fluctuations is the occasional presence of a well-pronounced peak near the spectral knee. These peaks are well investigated in the context of magnetic field fluctuations in the magnetosheath and they are typically related to kinetic plasma instabilities. Recently, similar peaks were observed in the spectrum of ion flux fluctuations of the solar wind and magnetosheath. In this paper, we propose a simple analytical model to describe such peaks in the ion flux spectrum based on the linear theory of plasma fluctuations. We compare our predictions with a sample observation in the solar wind. For the given observation, the peak requires similar to 10 minutes to grow up to the observed level that agrees with the quasi-linear relaxation time. Moreover, our model well reproduces the form of the measured peak in the ion flux spectrum. The observed lifetime of the peak is about 50 minutes, which is relatively close to the nonlinear Landau damping time of 30-40 minutes. Overall, our model proposes a plausible scenario explaining the observation. KW - instabilities KW - solar wind KW - turbulence KW - waves Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa9519 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 850 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bohdan, Artem A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Kobzar, Oleh A1 - Pohl, Martin T1 - Electron Pre-acceleration at Nonrelativistic High-Mach-number Perpendicular Shocks JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We perform particle-in-cell simulations of perpendicular nonrelativistic collisionless shocks to study electron heating and pre-acceleration for parameters that permit the extrapolation to the conditions at young supernova remnants. Our high-resolution large-scale numerical experiments sample a representative portion of the shock surface and demonstrate that the efficiency of electron injection is strongly modulated with the phase of the shock reformation. For plasmas with low and moderate temperature (plasma beta beta p =5.10(-4) and 0.5 beta p =), we explore the nonlinear shock structure and electron pre-acceleration for various orientations of the large-scale magnetic field with respect to the simulation plane, while keeping it at 90 degrees to the shock normal. Ion reflection off of the shock leads to the formation of magnetic filaments in the shock ramp, resulting from Weibel-type instabilities, and electrostatic Buneman modes in the shock foot. In all of the cases under study, the latter provides first-stage electron energization through the shock-surfing acceleration mechanism. The subsequent energization strongly depends on the field orientation and proceeds through adiabatic or second-order Fermi acceleration processes for configurations with the out-of-plane and in-plane field components, respectively. For strictly out-of-plane field, the fraction of suprathermal electrons is much higher than for other configurations, because only in this case are the Buneman modes fully captured by the 2D simulation grid. Shocks in plasma with moderate bp provide more efficient pre-acceleration. The relevance of our results to the physics of fully 3D systems is discussed. KW - acceleration of particles KW - instabilities KW - ISM: supernova remnants KW - methods: numerical KW - plasmas KW - shock Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aa872a SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 847 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER -