TY - THES A1 - Alawashra, Mahmoud T1 - Plasma instabilities of TeV pair beams induced by blazars T1 - Plasma Instabilitäten von TeV-Paar Strahlen durch Blazare induziert N2 - Relativistic pair beams produced in the cosmic voids by TeV gamma rays from blazars are expected to produce a detectable GeV-scale cascade emission missing in the observations. The suppression of this secondary cascade implies either the deflection of the pair beam by intergalactic magnetic fields (IGMFs) or an energy loss of the beam due to the electrostatic beam-plasma instability. IGMF of femto-Gauss strength is sufficient to significantly deflect the pair beams reducing the flux of secondary cascade below the observational limits. A similar flux reduction may result in the absence of the IGMF from the beam energy loss by the instability before the inverse Compton cooling. This dissertation consists of two studies about the instability role in the evolution of blazar-induced beams. Firstly, we investigated the effect of sub-fG level IGMF on the beam energy loss by the instability. Considering IGMF with correlation lengths smaller than a few kpc, we found that such fields increase the transverse momentum of the pair beam particles, dramatically reducing the linear growth rate of the electrostatic instability and hence the energy-loss rate of the pair beam. Our results show that the IGMF eliminates beam plasma instability as an effective energy-loss agent at a field strength three orders of magnitude below that needed to suppress the secondary cascade emission by magnetic deflection. For intermediate-strength IGMF, we do not know a viable process to explain the observed absence of GeV-scale cascade emission and hence can be excluded. Secondly, we probed how the beam-plasma instability feeds back on the beam, using a realistic two-dimensional beam distribution. We found that the instability broadens the beam opening angles significantly without any significant energy loss, thus confirming a recent feedback study on a simplified one-dimensional beam distribution. However, narrowing diffusion feedback of the beam particles with Lorentz factors less than 1e6 might become relevant even though initially it is negligible. Finally, when considering the continuous creation of TeV pairs, we found that the beam distribution and the wave spectrum reach a new quasi-steady state, in which the scattering of beam particles persists and the beam opening angle may increase by a factor of hundreds. This new intrinsic scattering of the cascade can result in time delays of around ten years, thus potentially mimicking the IGMF deflection. Understanding the implications on the GeV cascade emission requires accounting for inverse Compton cooling and simulating the beam-plasma system at different points in the IGM. N2 - Relativistische Teilchenstrahlen, erzeugt in den Weiten des Weltraums durch TeV- Gammastrahlen von Blazaren, sollen eine Art von Emission im GeV-Bereich erzeugen. Diese Emission wurde jedoch bisher nicht beobachtet. Der Grund für diese fehlende Emission könnte eine von zwei Ursachen sein: Entweder werden die Teilchenstrahlen von den Magnetfeldern im Weltraum (den sogenannten intergalaktischen Magnetfeldern oder IGMFs) umgeleitet, oder die Strahlen verlieren ihre Energie aufgrund einer Art von Instabilität namens Strahlungs-Plasma-Instabilität. Wenn die IGMFs extrem schwach sind (im Femto-Gauss-Bereich gemessen), können sie dennoch eine große Wirkung auf die Teilchenstrahlen haben, indem sie diese von ihrem Kurs abbringen und die Menge der fehlenden Emission verringern. Andererseits kann die Strahlungs-Plasma-Instabilität die Energieverluste der Strahlen verursachen, wenn es keine IGMFs gibt. Diese Forschung besteht aus zwei Studien. In der ersten Studie haben Wissenschaftler erforscht, wie schwache IGMFs den Energieverlust der Strahlen aufgrund von Instabilität beeinflussen. Sie stellten fest, dass diese schwachen Felder den Impuls der Teilchenstrahlen erheblich verändern können, was den Energieverlust aufgrund der Instabilität erheblich verlangsamt. Dies bedeutet, dass selbst extrem schwache IGMFs die Strahlungs Plasma-Instabilität unwirksam machen können, wenn es darum geht, Energieverluste zu verursachen. In der zweiten Studie haben sie untersucht, wie die Strahlungs-Plasma-Instabilität die Teilchenstrahlen beeinflusst. Sie entdeckten, dass die Instabilität den Winkel der Strahlen erweitert, ohne signifikante Energieverluste zu verursachen. Im Laufe der Zeit könnten jedoch Partikel mit niedrigeren Energien anfangen, Energie zu verlieren. Wenn man die kontinuierliche Erzeugung von hochenergetischen Teilchen berücksichtigt, stellten sie fest, dass die Verteilung der Strahlen und das Wellenspektrum schließlich einen stabilen Zustand erreichen, in dem die Partikel weiterhin gestreut werden und der Strahlenwinkel sich erheblich vergrößern kann. Diese intrinsische Streuung der Emission kann Zeitspannen verursachen, die es so aussehen lassen, als ob die IGMFs die Emission umlenken. Um die Auswirkungen auf die fehlende GeV-Emission vollständig zu verstehen, müssen Wissenschaftler Faktoren wie inverse-Compton-Kühlung berücksichtigen und die Wechselwirkung zwischen den Teilchenstrahlen und dem umgebenden Plasma an verschiedenen Stellen im Weltraum simulieren. KW - gamma rays: general KW - instabilities KW - blazar KW - relativistic processes KW - waves KW - Blazar KW - Gammastrahlen: allgemein KW - Instabilitäten KW - relativistische Prozesse KW - Wellen Y1 - 2024 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-630131 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krtička, Jiří A1 - Feldmeier, Achim T1 - Stochastic light variations in hot stars from wind instability BT - finding photometric signatures and testing against the TESS data JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal / European Southern Observatory (ESO) N2 - Context Line-driven wind instability is expected to cause small-scale wind inhomogeneities, X-ray emission, and wind line profile variability. The instability can already develop around the sonic point if it is initiated close to the photosphere due to stochastic turbulent motions. In such cases, it may leave its imprint on the light curve as a result of wind blanketing. Aims We study the photometric signatures of the line-driven wind instability. Methods We used line-driven wind instability simulations to determine the wind variability close to the star. We applied two types of boundary perturbations: a sinusoidal one that enables us to study in detail the development of the instability and a stochastic one given by a Langevin process that provides a more realistic boundary perturbation. We estimated the photometric variability from the resulting mass-flux variations. The variability was simulated assuming that the wind consists of a large number of independent conical wind sectors. We compared the simulated light curves with TESS light curves of OB stars that show stochastic variability. Results We find two typical signatures of line-driven wind instability in photometric data: a knee in the power spectrum of magnitude fluctuations, which appears due to engulfment of small-scale structure by larger structures, and a negative skewness of the distribution of fluctuations, which is the result of spatial dominance of rarefied regions. These features endure even when combining the light curves from independent wind sectors. Conclusions The stochastic photometric variability of OB stars bears certain signatures of the line-driven wind instability. The distribution function of observed photometric data shows negative skewness and the power spectra of a fraction of light curves exhibit a knee. This can be explained as a result of the line-driven wind instability triggered by stochastic base perturbations. KW - stars: winds KW - outflows KW - stars: mass-loss KW - stars: early-type KW - hydrodynamics KW - instabilities KW - stars: variables: general Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202040148 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 648 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kliem, Bernhard A1 - Seehafer, Norbert T1 - Helicity shedding by flux rope ejection JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - We quantitatively address the conjecture that magnetic helicity must be shed from the Sun by eruptions launching coronal mass ejections in order to limit its accumulation in each hemisphere. By varying the ratio of guide and strapping field and the flux rope twist in a parametric simulation study of flux rope ejection from approximately marginally stable force-free equilibria, different ratios of self- and mutual helicity are set and the onset of the torus or helical kink instability is obtained. The helicity shed is found to vary over a broad range from a minor to a major part of the initial helicity, with self helicity being largely or completely shed and mutual helicity, which makes up the larger part of the initial helicity, being shed only partly. Torus-unstable configurations with subcritical twist and without a guide field shed up to about two-thirds of the initial helicity, while a highly twisted, kink-unstable configuration sheds only about one-quarter. The parametric study also yields stable force-free flux rope equilibria up to a total flux-normalized helicity of 0.25, with a ratio of self- to total helicity of 0.32 and a ratio of flux rope to external poloidal flux of 0.94. These results numerically demonstrate the conjecture of helicity shedding by coronal mass ejections and provide a first account of its parametric dependence. Both self- and mutual helicity are shed significantly; this reduces the total initial helicity by a fraction of ∼0.4--0.65 for typical source region parameters. KW - instabilities KW - magnetic fields KW - magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) KW - Sun KW - corona KW - coronal mass ejections (CMEs) KW - flares Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202142422 SN - 0004-6361 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 659 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rüdiger, Günther A1 - Schultz, Manfred T1 - Large-scale dynamo action of magnetized Taylor-Couette flows JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - A conducting Taylor-Couette flow with quasi-Keplerian rotation law containing a toroidal magnetic field serves as a mean-field dynamo model of the Tayler-Spruit type. The flows are unstable against non-axisymmetric perturbations which form electromotive forces defining a effect and eddy diffusivity. If both degenerated modes with m = +/- 1 are excited with the same power then the global a effect vanishes and a dynamo cannot work. It is shown, however, that the Tayler instability produces finite alpha effects if only an isolated mode is considered but this intrinsic helicity of the single-mode is too low for an alpha(2) dynamo. Moreover, an alpha Omega dynamo model with quasi-Keplerian rotation requires a minimum magnetic Reynolds number of rotation of Rm similar or equal to 2000 to work. Whether it really works depends on assumptions about the turbulence energy. For a steeper-than-quadratic dependence of the turbulence intensity on the magnetic field, however, dynamos are only excited if the resulting magnetic eddy diffusivity approximates its microscopic value, eta(T) similar or equal to eta. By basically lower or larger eddy diffusivities the dynamo instability is suppressed. KW - dynamo KW - instabilities KW - MHD KW - magnetic fields Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staa293 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 493 IS - 1 SP - 1249 EP - 1260 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vafin, Sergei A1 - Rafighi, Iman A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Niemiec, Jacek T1 - The Electrostatic Instability for Realistic Pair Distributions in Blazar/EBL Cascades JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - This work revisits the electrostatic instability for blazar-induced pair beams propagating through the intergalactic medium (IGM) using linear analysis and PIC simulations. We study the impact of the realistic distribution function of pairs resulting from the interaction of high-energy gamma-rays with the extragalactic background light. We present analytical and numerical calculations of the linear growth rate of the instability for the arbitrary orientation of wave vectors. Our results explicitly demonstrate that the finite angular spread of the beam dramatically affects the growth rate of the waves, leading to the fastest growth for wave vectors quasi-parallel to the beam direction and a growth rate at oblique directions that is only a factor of 2-4 smaller compared to the maximum. To study the nonlinear beam relaxation, we performed PIC simulations that take into account a realistic wide-energy distribution of beam particles. The parameters of the simulated beam-plasma system provide an adequate physical picture that can be extrapolated to realistic blazar-induced pairs. In our simulations, the beam looses only 1% of its energy, and we analytically estimate that the beam would lose its total energy over about 100 simulation times. An analytical scaling is then used to extrapolate the parameters of realistic blazar-induced pair beams. We find that they can dissipate their energy slightly faster by the electrostatic instability than through inverse-Compton scattering. The uncertainties arising from, e.g., details of the primary gamma-ray spectrum are too large to make firm statements for individual blazars, and an analysis based on their specific properties is required. KW - gamma rays: general KW - instabilities KW - magnetic fields KW - relativistic processes KW - waves Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/aab552 SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 857 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vafin, Sergei A1 - Lazar, M. A1 - Fichtner, H. A1 - Schlickeiser, R. A1 - Drillisch, M. T1 - Solar wind temperature anisotropy constraints from streaming instabilities JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Due to the relatively low rate of particle-particle collisions in the solar wind, kinetic instabilities (e.g., the mirror and firehose) play an important role in regulating large deviations from temperature isotropy. These instabilities operate in the high beta(parallel to) > 1 plasmas, and cannot explain the other limits of the temperature anisotropy reported by observations in the low beta beta(parallel to) < 1 regimes. However, the instability conditions are drastically modified in the presence of streaming (or counterstreaming) components, which are ubiquitous in space plasmas. These effects have been analyzed for the solar wind conditions in a large interval of heliospheric distances, 0.3-2.5 AU. It was found that proton counter-streams are much more crucial for plasma stability than electron ones. Moreover, new instability thresholds can potentially explain all observed bounds on the temperature anisotropy, and also the level of differential streaming in the solar wind. KW - solar wind KW - instabilities KW - waves KW - turbulence Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201731852 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 613 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vafin, Sergei A1 - Riazantseva, Maria A1 - Pohl, Martin T1 - Coulomb collisions as a candidate for temperature anisotropy constraints in the solar wind JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics ; Part 2, Letters N2 - Many solar wind observations at 1 au indicate that the proton (as well as electron) temperature anisotropy is limited. The data distribution in the (A(a), beta(a),(parallel to))-plane have a rhombic-shaped form around beta(a),(parallel to) similar to 1. The boundaries of the temperature anisotropy at beta(a),(parallel to) > 1 can be well explained by the threshold conditions of the mirror (whistler) and oblique proton (electron) firehose instabilities in a bi-Maxwellian plasma, whereas the physical mechanism of the similar restriction at beta(a),(parallel to) < 1 is still under debate. One possible option is Coulomb collisions, which we revisit in the current work. We derive the relaxation rate nu(A)(aa) of the temperature anisotropy in a bi-Maxwellian plasma that we then study analytically and by observed proton data from WIND. We found that nu(A)(pp) increases toward small beta(p),(parallel to) < 1. We matched the data distribution in the (A(p), beta(p),(parallel to))-plane with the constant contour nu(A)(pp) = 2.8 . 10(-6) s(-1), corresponding to the minimum value for collisions to play a role. This contour fits rather well the left boundary of the rhombic-shaped data distribution in the (A(p), beta(p),(parallel to))-plane. Thus, Coulomb collisions are an interesting candidate for explaining the limitations of the temperature anisotropy in the solar wind with small beta(a),(parallel to) < 1 at 1 au. KW - instabilities KW - plasmas KW - scattering KW - solar wind KW - Sun: heliosphere Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/aafb11 SN - 2041-8205 SN - 2041-8213 VL - 871 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Vafin, Sergei A1 - Deka, Pranab Jyoti A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Bohdan, Artem T1 - Revisit of Nonlinear Landau Damping for Electrostatic Instability Driven by Blazar-induced Pair Beams JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - We revisit the effect of nonlinear Landau (NL) damping on the electrostatic instability of blazar-induced pair beams, using a realistic pair-beam distribution. We employ a simplified 2D model in k-space to study the evolution of the electric-field spectrum and to calculate the relaxation time of the beam. We demonstrate that the 2D model is an adequate representation of the 3D physics. We find that nonlinear Landau damping, once it operates efficiently, transports essentially the entire wave energy to small wave numbers where wave driving is weak or absent. The relaxation time also strongly depends on the intergalactic medium temperature, T-IGM, and for T-IGM << 10 eV, and in the absence of any other damping mechanism, the relaxation time of the pair beam is longer than the inverse Compton (IC) scattering time. The weak late-time beam energy losses arise from the accumulation of wave energy at small k, that nonlinearly drains the wave energy at the resonant k of the pair-beam instability. Any other dissipation process operating at small k would reduce that wave-energy drain and hence lead to stronger pair-beam energy losses. As an example, collisions reduce the relaxation time by an order of magnitude, although their rate is very small. Other nonlinear processes, such as the modulation instability, could provide additional damping of the nonresonant waves and dramatically reduce the relaxation time of the pair beam. An accurate description of the spectral evolution of the electrostatic waves is crucial for calculating the relaxation time of the pair beam. KW - gamma rays: general KW - instabilities KW - magnetic fields KW - relativistic processes KW - waves Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab017b SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 873 IS - 1 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bohdan, Artem A1 - Niemiec, Jacek A1 - Pohl, Martin A1 - Matsumoto, Yosuke A1 - Amano, Takanobu A1 - Hoshino, Masahiro T1 - Kinetic Simulations of Nonrelativistic Perpendicular Shocks of Young Supernova Remnants BT - I. Electron Shock-surfing Acceleration JF - The astrophysical journal : an international review of spectroscopy and astronomical physics N2 - Electron injection at high Mach number nonrelativistic perpendicular shocks is studied here for parameters that are applicable to young SNR shocks. Using high-resolution large-scale two-dimensional fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations and tracing individual particles, we in detail analyze the shock-surfing acceleration (SSA) of electrons at the leading edge of the shock foot. The central question is to what degree the process can be captured in 2D3V simulations. We find that the energy gain in SSA always arises from the electrostatic field of a Buneman wave. Electron energization is more efficient in the out-of-plane orientation of the large-scale magnetic field because both the phase speed and the amplitude of the waves are higher than for the in-plane scenario. Also, a larger number of electrons is trapped by the waves compared to the in-plane configuration. We conclude that significant modifications of the simulation parameters are needed to reach the same level of SSA efficiency as in simulations with out-of-plane magnetic field or 3D simulations. KW - acceleration of particles KW - instabilities KW - ISM: supernova remnants KW - methods: numerical KW - plasmas KW - shock waves Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ab1b6d SN - 0004-637X SN - 1538-4357 VL - 878 IS - 1 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 -