Sample records for accretion shock instability

  1. STANDING SHOCK INSTABILITY IN ADVECTION-DOMINATED ACCRETION FLOWS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Le, Truong; Wood, Kent S.; Wolff, Michael T.

    2016-03-10

    Depending on the values of the energy and angular momentum per unit mass in the gas supplied at large radii, inviscid advection-dominated accretion flows can display velocity profiles with either preshock deceleration or preshock acceleration. Nakayama has shown that these two types of flow configurations are expected to have different stability properties. By employing the Chevalier and Imamura linearization method and the Nakayama instability boundary conditions, we discover that there are regions of parameter space where disks/shocks with outflows can be stable or unstable. In regions of instability, we find that preshock deceleration is always unstable to the zeroth mode withmore » zero frequency of oscillation, but is always stable to the fundamental mode and overtones. Furthermore, we also find that preshock acceleration is always unstable to the zeroth mode and that the fundamental mode and overtones become increasingly less stable as the shock location moves away from the horizon when the disk half-height expands above ∼12 gravitational radii at the shock radius. In regions of stability, we demonstrate the zeroth mode to be stable for the velocity profiles that exhibit preshock acceleration and deceleration. Moreover, for models that are linearly unstable, our model suggests the possible existence of quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) with ratios 2:3 and 3:5. These ratios are believed to occur in stellar and supermassive black hole candidates, for example, in GRS 1915+105 and Sgr A*, respectively. We expect that similar QPO ratios also exist in regions of stable shocks.« less

  2. On the 'flip-flop' instability of Bondi-Hoyle accretion flows

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Livio, Mario; Soker, Noam; Matsuda, Takuya; Anzer, Ulrich

    1991-01-01

    A simple physical interpretation is advanced by means of an analysis of the shock cone in the accretion flows past a compact object and with an examination of the accretion-line stability analyses. The stability of the conical shock is examined against small angular deflections with attention given to several simplifying assumptions. A line instability is identified in the Bondi-Hoyle accretion flows that leads to the formation of a large opening-angle shock. When the opening angle becomes large the instability becomes irregular oscillation. The analytical methodology is compared to previous numerical configurations that demonstrate different shock morphologies. The Bondi-Hoyle accretion onto a compact object is concluded to generate a range of nonlinear instabilities in both homogeneous and inhomogeneous cases with a quasiperiodic oscillation in the linear regime.

  3. A New Gravitational-wave Signature from Standing Accretion Shock Instability in Supernovae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuroda, Takami; Kotake, Kei; Takiwaki, Tomoya

    2016-09-01

    We present results from fully relativistic three-dimensional core-collapse supernova simulations of a non-rotating 15{M}⊙ star using three different nuclear equations of state (EoSs). From our simulations covering up to ˜350 ms after bounce, we show that the development of the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) differs significantly depending on the stiffness of nuclear EoS. Generally, the SASI activity occurs more vigorously in models with softer EoS. By evaluating the gravitational-wave (GW) emission, we find a new GW signature on top of the previously identified one, in which the typical GW frequency increases with time due to an accumulating accretion to the proto-neutron star (PNS). The newly observed quasi-periodic signal appears in the frequency range from ˜100 to 200 Hz and persists for ˜150 ms before neutrino-driven convection dominates over the SASI. By analyzing the cycle frequency of the SASI sloshing and spiral modes as well as the mass accretion rate to the emission region, we show that the SASI frequency is correlated with the GW frequency. This is because the SASI-induced temporary perturbed mass accretion strikes the PNS surface, leading to the quasi-periodic GW emission. Our results show that the GW signal, which could be a smoking-gun signature of the SASI, is within the detection limits of LIGO, advanced Virgo, and KAGRA for Galactic events.

  4. Delayed Neutrino-Driven Supernova Explosions Aided by the Standing Accretion-Shock Instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marek, A.; Janka, H.-Th.

    2009-03-01

    We present two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of stellar core collapse and develop the framework for a detailed analysis of the energetic aspects of neutrino-powered supernova explosions. Our results confirm that the neutrino-heating mechanism remains a viable explanation of the explosion of a wider mass range of supernova progenitors with iron cores, but the explosion sets in later and develops differently than thought so far. The calculations were performed with an energy-dependent treatment of the neutrino transport based on the "ray-by-ray plus" approximation, in which the neutrino number, energy, and momentum equations are closed with a variable Eddington factor obtained by iteratively solving a model Boltzmann equation. We focus here on the evolution of a 15 M sun progenitor and provide evidence that shock revival and an explosion are initiated at about 600 ms after core bounce, powered by neutrino energy deposition. This is significantly later than previously found for an 11.2 M sun star, for which we also present a continuation of the explosion model published by Buras et al. The onset of the blast is fostered in both cases by the standing accretion-shock instability. This instability exhibits highest growth rates for the dipole and quadrupole modes, which lead to large-amplitude bipolar shock oscillations and push the shock to larger radii, thus increasing the time accreted matter is exposed to neutrino heating in the gain layer. As a consequence, also convective overturn behind the shock is strengthened, which otherwise is suppressed or damped because of the small shock stagnation radius. When the explosion sets in, the shock reveals a pronounced global deformation with a dominant dipolar component. In both the 11.2 M sun and 15 M sun explosions long-lasting equatorial downflows supply the gain layer with fresh gas, of which a sizable fraction is heated by neutrinos and leads to the build-up of the explosion energy of the ejecta over possibly

  5. Parametric Study of Flow Patterns behind the Standing Accretion Shock Wave for Core-Collapse Supernovae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Iwakami, Wakana; Nagakura, Hiroki; Yamada, Shoichi

    2014-05-01

    In this study, we conduct three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations systematically to investigate the flow patterns behind the accretion shock waves that are commonly formed in the post-bounce phase of core-collapse supernovae. Adding small perturbations to spherically symmetric, steady, shocked accretion flows, we compute the subsequent evolutions to find what flow pattern emerges as a consequence of hydrodynamical instabilities such as convection and standing accretion shock instability for different neutrino luminosities and mass accretion rates. Depending on these two controlling parameters, various flow patterns are indeed realized. We classify them into three basic patterns and two intermediate ones; the former includes sloshing motion (SL), spiral motion (SP), and multiple buoyant bubble formation (BB); the latter consists of spiral motion with buoyant-bubble formation (SPB) and spiral motion with pulsationally changing rotational velocities (SPP). Although the post-shock flow is highly chaotic, there is a clear trend in the pattern realization. The sloshing and spiral motions tend to be dominant for high accretion rates and low neutrino luminosities, and multiple buoyant bubbles prevail for low accretion rates and high neutrino luminosities. It is interesting that the dominant pattern is not always identical between the semi-nonlinear and nonlinear phases near the critical luminosity; the intermediate cases are realized in the latter case. Running several simulations with different random perturbations, we confirm that the realization of flow pattern is robust in most cases.

  6. Parametric study of flow patterns behind the standing accretion shock wave for core-collapse supernovae

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Iwakami, Wakana; Nagakura, Hiroki; Yamada, Shoichi, E-mail: wakana@heap.phys.waseda.ac.jp

    2014-05-10

    In this study, we conduct three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations systematically to investigate the flow patterns behind the accretion shock waves that are commonly formed in the post-bounce phase of core-collapse supernovae. Adding small perturbations to spherically symmetric, steady, shocked accretion flows, we compute the subsequent evolutions to find what flow pattern emerges as a consequence of hydrodynamical instabilities such as convection and standing accretion shock instability for different neutrino luminosities and mass accretion rates. Depending on these two controlling parameters, various flow patterns are indeed realized. We classify them into three basic patterns and two intermediate ones; the former includes sloshingmore » motion (SL), spiral motion (SP), and multiple buoyant bubble formation (BB); the latter consists of spiral motion with buoyant-bubble formation (SPB) and spiral motion with pulsationally changing rotational velocities (SPP). Although the post-shock flow is highly chaotic, there is a clear trend in the pattern realization. The sloshing and spiral motions tend to be dominant for high accretion rates and low neutrino luminosities, and multiple buoyant bubbles prevail for low accretion rates and high neutrino luminosities. It is interesting that the dominant pattern is not always identical between the semi-nonlinear and nonlinear phases near the critical luminosity; the intermediate cases are realized in the latter case. Running several simulations with different random perturbations, we confirm that the realization of flow pattern is robust in most cases.« less

  7. X-ray emitting MHD accretion shocks in classical T Tauri stars. Case for moderate to high plasma-β values

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Orlando, S.; Sacco, G. G.; Argiroffi, C.; Reale, F.; Peres, G.; Maggio, A.

    2010-02-01

    Context. Plasma accreting onto classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) is believed to impact the stellar surface at free-fall velocities, generating a shock. Current time-dependent models describing accretion shocks in CTTSs are one-dimensional, assuming that the plasma moves and transports energy only along magnetic field lines (β ≪ 1). Aims: We investigate the stability and dynamics of accretion shocks in CTTSs, considering the case of β ⪆ 1 in the post-shock region. In these cases the 1D approximation is not valid and a multi-dimensional MHD approach is necessary. Methods: We model an accretion stream propagating through the atmosphere of a CTTS and impacting onto its chromosphere by performing 2D axisymmetric MHD simulations. The model takes into account the stellar magnetic field, the gravity, the radiative cooling, and the thermal conduction (including the effects of heat flux saturation). Results: The dynamics and stability of the accretion shock strongly depend on the plasma β. In the case of shocks with β > 10, violent outflows of shock-heated material (and possibly MHD waves) are generated at the base of the accretion column and intensely perturb the surrounding stellar atmosphere and the accretion column itself (therefore modifying the dynamics of the shock). In shocks with β ≈ 1, the post-shock region is efficiently confined by the magnetic field. The shock oscillations induced by cooling instability are strongly influenced by β: for β > 10, the oscillations may be rapidly dumped by the magnetic field, approaching a quasi-stationary state, or may be chaotic with no obvious periodicity due to perturbation of the stream induced by the post-shock plasma itself; for β≈ 1 the oscillations are quasi-periodic, although their amplitude is smaller and the frequency higher than those predicted by 1D models. Three movies are only available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

  8. A numerical study of the stability of radiative shocks. [in accretion flows onto white dwarf stars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Imamura, J. N.; Wolff, M. T.; Durisen, R. H.

    1984-01-01

    Attention is given to the oscillatory instability of optically thin radiative shocks in time-dependent numerical calculations of accretion flows onto degenerate dwarfs. The present nonlinear calculations yield good quantitative agreement with the linear results obtained for oscillation frequencies, damping rates, and critical alpha-values. The fundamental mode and the first overtone in the shock radius and luminosity variations can be clearly identified, and evidence is sometimes seen for the second overtone. Time-dependent calculations are also performed which include additional physics relevant to degenerate dwarf accretion, such as electron thermal conduction, unequal electron and ion temperatures, Compton cooling, and relativistic corrections to the bremsstrahlung cooling law. All oscillatory modes are found to be damped, and hence stable, in the case of a 1-solar mass white dwarf accreting in spherical symmetry.

  9. Accretion shock geometries in the magnetic variables

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stockman, H. S.

    1988-01-01

    The first self consistent shock models for the AM Herculis-type systems successfully identified the dominant physical processes and their signatures. These homogenous shock models predict unpolarized, Rayleigh-Jeans optical spectra with sharp cutoffs and rising polarizations as the shocks become optically thin in the ultraviolet. However, the observed energy distributions are generally flat with intermediate polarizations over a broad optical band. These and other observational evidence support a non-homogenous accretion profile which may extend over a considerable fraction of the stellar surface. Both the fundamental assumptions underlying the canonical 1-D shock model and the extension of this model to inhomogenous accretion shocks were identified, for both radial and linear structures. The observational evidence was also examined for tall shocks and little evidence was found for relative shock heights in excess of h/R(1) greater than or equal to 0.1. For several systems, upper limits to the shock height can be obtained from either x ray or optical data. These lie in the region h/R(1) is approximately 0.01 and are in general agreement with the current physical picture for these systems. The quasi-periodic optical variations observed in several magnetic variables may eventually prove to be a major aid in further understanding their accretion shock geometries.

  10. ACCRETION OF SUPERSONIC WINDS ONTO BLACK HOLES IN 3D: STABILITY OF THE SHOCK CONE

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Gracia-Linares, M.; Guzmán, F. S.

    Using numerical simulations we present the accretion of supersonic winds onto a rotating black hole in three dimensions. We study five representative directions of the wind with respect to the axis of rotation of the black hole and focus on the evolution and stability of the high-density shock cone that is formed during the process. We explore both the regime in which the shock cone is expected to be stable in order to confirm previous results obtained with two-dimensional simulations, and the regime in which the shock cone is expected to show a flip–flop (FF) type of instability. The methodsmore » used to attempt a triggering of the instability were (i) the accumulation of numerical errors and (ii) the explicit application of a perturbation on the velocity field after the shock cone was formed. The result is negative, that is, we did not find the FF instability within the parameter space we explored, including cases that are expected to be unstable.« less

  11. Standing shocks in magnetized dissipative accretion flow around black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sarkar, Biplob; Das, Santabrata

    2018-02-01

    We explore the global structure of the accretion flow around a Schwarzschild black hole where the accretion disc is threaded by toroidal magnetic fields. The accretion flow is optically thin and advection dominated. The synchrotron radiation is considered to be the active cooling mechanism in the flow. With this, we obtain the global transonic accretion solutions and show that centrifugal barrier in the rotating magnetized accretion flow causes a discontinuous transition of the flow variables in the form of shock waves. The shock properties and the dynamics of the post-shock corona are affected by the flow parameters such as viscosity, cooling rate and strength of the magnetic fields. The shock properties are investigated against these flow parameters. We further show that for a given set of boundary parameters at the outer edge of the disc, accretion flow around a black hole admits shock when the flow parameters are tuned for a considerable range.

  12. NEUTRINO-DRIVEN TURBULENT CONVECTION AND STANDING ACCRETION SHOCK INSTABILITY IN THREE-DIMENSIONAL CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Abdikamalov, Ernazar; Ott, Christian D.; Radice, David

    2015-07-20

    We conduct a series of numerical experiments into the nature of three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamics in the postbounce stalled-shock phase of core-collapse supernovae using 3D general-relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of a 27 M{sub ⊙} progenitor star with a neutrino leakage/heating scheme. We vary the strength of neutrino heating and find three cases of 3D dynamics: (1) neutrino-driven convection, (2) initially neutrino-driven convection and subsequent development of the standing accretion shock instability (SASI), and (3) SASI-dominated evolution. This confirms previous 3D results of Hanke et al. and Couch and Connor. We carry out simulations with resolutions differing by up to a factor ofmore » ∼4 and demonstrate that low resolution is artificially favorable for explosion in the 3D convection-dominated case since it decreases the efficiency of energy transport to small scales. Low resolution results in higher radial convective fluxes of energy and enthalpy, more fully buoyant mass, and stronger neutrino heating. In the SASI-dominated case, lower resolution damps SASI oscillations. In the convection-dominated case, a quasi-stationary angular kinetic energy spectrum E(ℓ) develops in the heating layer. Like other 3D studies, we find E(ℓ) ∝ℓ{sup −1} in the “inertial range,” while theory and local simulations argue for E(ℓ) ∝ ℓ{sup −5/3}. We argue that current 3D simulations do not resolve the inertial range of turbulence and are affected by numerical viscosity up to the energy-containing scale, creating a “bottleneck” that prevents an efficient turbulent cascade.« less

  13. Upper Limit of the Viscosity Parameter in Accretion Flows around a Black Hole with Shock Waves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagarkoti, Shreeram; Chakrabarti, Sandip K.

    2016-01-01

    Black hole accretion is necessarily transonic; thus, flows must become supersonic and, therefore, sub-Keplerian before they enter into the black hole. The viscous timescale is much longer than the infall timescale close to a black hole. Hence, the angular momentum remains almost constant and the centrifugal force ˜ {l}2/{r}3 becomes increasingly dominant over the gravitational force ˜ 1/{r}2. The slowed down matter piles creating an accretion shock. The flow between shock and inner sonic point is puffed up and behaves like a boundary layer. This so-called Comptonizing cloud/corona produces hard X-rays and jets/outflows and, therefore, is an important component of black hole astrophysics. In this paper, we study steady state viscous, axisymmetric, transonic accretion flows around a Schwarzschild black hole. We adopt a viscosity parameter α and compute the highest possible value of α (namely, {α }{cr}) for each pair of two inner boundary parameters (namely, specific angular momentum carried to horizon, lin and specific energy at inner sonic point, E({x}{in})) which is still capable of producing a standing or oscillating shock. We find that while such possibilities exist for α as high as {α }{cr}=0.3 in very small regions of the flow parameter space, typical {α }{cr} appears to be about ˜0.05-0.1. Coincidentally, this also happens to be the typical viscosity parameter achieved by simulations of magnetorotational instabilities in accretion flows. We therefore believe that all realistic accretion flows are likely to have centrifugal pressure supported shocks unless the viscosity parameter everywhere is higher than {α }{cr}.

  14. Episodic accretion: the interplay of infall and disc instabilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kuffmeier, Michael; Frimann, Søren; Jensen, Sigurd S.; Haugbølle, Troels

    2018-04-01

    Using zoom-simulations carried out with the adaptive mesh-refinement code RAMSES with a dynamic range of up to 227 ≈ 1.34 × 108 we investigate the accretion profiles around six stars embedded in different environments inside a (40 pc)3 giant molecular cloud, the role of mass infall and disc instabilities on the accretion profile, and thus on the luminosity of the forming protostar. Our results show that the environment in which the protostar is embedded determines the overall accretion profile of the protostar. Infall on to the circumstellar disc may trigger gravitational disc instabilities in the disc at distances of around ˜10 to ˜50 au leading to rapid transport of angular momentum and strong accretion bursts. These bursts typically last for about ˜10 to a ˜100 yr, consistent with typical orbital times at the location of the instability, and enhance the luminosity of the protostar. Calculations with the stellar evolution code MESA show that the accretion bursts induce significant changes in the protostellar properties, such as the stellar temperature and radius. We apply the obtained protostellar properties to produce synthetic observables with RADMC3D and predict that accretion bursts lead to observable enhancements around 20 to 200 μm in the spectral energy distribution of Class 0 type young stellar objects.

  15. Shocks in the relativistic transonic accretion with low angular momentum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suková, P.; Charzyński, S.; Janiuk, A.

    2017-12-01

    We perform 1D/2D/3D relativistic hydrodynamical simulations of accretion flows with low angular momentum, filling the gap between spherically symmetric Bondi accretion and disc-like accretion flows. Scenarios with different directional distributions of angular momentum of falling matter and varying values of key parameters such as spin of central black hole, energy and angular momentum of matter are considered. In some of the scenarios the shock front is formed. We identify ranges of parameters for which the shock after formation moves towards or outwards the central black hole or the long-lasting oscillating shock is observed. The frequencies of oscillations of shock positions which can cause flaring in mass accretion rate are extracted. The results are scalable with mass of central black hole and can be compared to the quasi-periodic oscillations of selected microquasars (such as GRS 1915+105, XTE J1550-564 or IGR J17091-3624), as well as to the supermassive black holes in the centres of weakly active galaxies, such as Sgr A*.

  16. Surface instabilities in shock loaded granular media

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kandan, K.; Khaderi, S. N.; Wadley, H. N. G.; Deshpande, V. S.

    2017-12-01

    The initiation and growth of instabilities in granular materials loaded by air shock waves are investigated via shock-tube experiments and numerical calculations. Three types of granular media, dry sand, water-saturated sand and a granular solid comprising PTFE spheres were experimentally investigated by air shock loading slugs of these materials in a transparent shock tube. Under all shock pressures considered here, the free-standing dry sand slugs remained stable while the shock loaded surface of the water-saturated sand slug became unstable resulting in mixing of the shocked air and the granular material. By contrast, the PTFE slugs were stable at low pressures but displayed instabilities similar to the water-saturated sand slugs at higher shock pressures. The distal surfaces of the slugs remained stable under all conditions considered here. Eulerian fluid/solid interaction calculations, with the granular material modelled as a Drucker-Prager solid, reproduced the onset of the instabilities as seen in the experiments to a high level of accuracy. These calculations showed that the shock pressures to initiate instabilities increased with increasing material friction and decreasing yield strain. Moreover, the high Atwood number for this problem implied that fluid/solid interaction effects were small, and the initiation of the instability is adequately captured by directly applying a pressure on the slug surface. Lagrangian calculations with the directly applied pressures demonstrated that the instability was caused by spatial pressure gradients created by initial surface perturbations. Surface instabilities are also shown to exist in shock loaded rear-supported granular slugs: these experiments and calculations are used to infer the velocity that free-standing slugs need to acquire to initiate instabilities on their front surfaces. The results presented here, while in an idealised one-dimensional setting, provide physical understanding of the conditions required to

  17. DIFFUSIVE PARTICLE ACCELERATION IN SHOCKED, VISCOUS ACCRETION DISKS: GREEN'S FUNCTION ENERGY DISTRIBUTION

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Becker, Peter A.; Das, Santabrata; Le, Truong, E-mail: pbecker@gmu.edu, E-mail: sbdas@iitg.ernet.in, E-mail: truong.le@nhrec.org

    2011-12-10

    The acceleration of relativistic particles in a viscous accretion disk containing a standing shock is investigated as a possible explanation for the energetic outflows observed around radio-loud black holes. The energy/space distribution of the accelerated particles is computed by solving a transport equation that includes the effects of first-order Fermi acceleration, bulk advection, spatial diffusion, and particle escape. The velocity profile of the accreting gas is described using a model for shocked viscous disks recently developed by the authors, and the corresponding Green's function distribution for the accelerated particles in the disk and the outflow is obtained using a classicalmore » method based on eigenfunction analysis. The accretion-driven, diffusive shock acceleration scenario explored here is conceptually similar to the standard model for the acceleration of cosmic rays at supernova-driven shocks. However, in the disk application, the distribution of the accelerated particles is much harder than would be expected for a plane-parallel shock with the same compression ratio. Hence the disk environment plays a key role in enhancing the efficiency of the shock acceleration process. The presence of the shock helps to stabilize the disk by reducing the Bernoulli parameter, while channeling the excess binding energy into the escaping relativistic particles. In applications to M87 and Sgr A*, we find that the kinetic power in the jet is {approx}0.01 M-dot c{sup 2}, and the outflowing relativistic particles have a mean energy {approx}300 times larger than that of the thermal gas in the disk at the shock radius. Our results suggest that a standing shock may be an essential ingredient in accretion onto underfed black holes, helping to resolve the long-standing problem of the stability of advection-dominated accretion disks.« less

  18. Black Hole Accretion and Feedback Driven by Thermal Instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gaspari, M.; Ruszkowski, M.; Oh, S. P.; Churazov, E.; Brighenti, F.; Ettori, S.; Sharma, P.; Temi, P.

    2013-03-01

    Multiwavelength data indicate that the cores of several galaxy clusters are moderately cooling, though not catastrophically, showing signs of filamentary extended multiphase gas. Through 3D AMR hydrodynamic simulations, we study the impact of thermal instability in the evolution of the intracluster medium. Common moderate turbulence of just over 100 km/s leads to the growth of nonlinear thermal instability within the central few tens kpc. In the presence of a global counterbalancing heating, the condensation of extended filamentary cold gas is violent, occurring when the cooling time falls below 10 times the free-fall time. The frequent stochastic collisions, fragmentations and shearing motions between the cold clouds, filaments and the central torus, efficiently reduce angular momentum. Tracking the accreting gas with a dynamical range of 10 million, we find that the accretion rate is boosted up to 100 times with respect to the Bondi rate. In a commonly turbulent and quasi-stable atmosphere, the mode of black accretion is cold and chaotic, substantially different from the classic idealized scenario. Only in the transonic regime, turbulent dissipation starts to inhibit thermal instability. On sub-parsec scales the cold phase is channeled via a funnel, triggering the black hole feedback likely linked to mechanical jets/outflows. As shown by long-term self-regulated simulations, the interplay of chaotic cold accretion and AGN feedback is crucial in order to avoid the cooling catastrophe and to reproduce the key thermodynamical features of observed clusters.

  19. Influence of matter geometry on shocked flows-I: Accretion in the Schwarzschild metric

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tarafdar, Pratik; Das, Tapas K.

    2018-07-01

    This work presents a comprehensive and extensive study to illustrate how the geometrical configurations of low angular momentum axially symmetric general relativistic matter flow in the Schwarzschild metric may influence the formation of energy-preserving shocks for adiabatic/polytropic accretion as well as of temperature-preserving dissipative shocks for the isothermal accretion onto non-rotating astrophysical black holes. The dynamical and thermodynamic states of post-shock polytropic and isothermal flow have been studied extensively for three possible matter geometries, and it has been thoroughly discussed about how such states depend on the flow structure, even when the self gravity and the back reaction on the metric are not taken into account. Main purpose of this paper is thus to mathematically demonstrate that for non-self gravitating accretion, various matter geometries, in addition to the corresponding space-time geometry, control the shock induced phenomena as observed within the black hole accretion discs. This work is expected to reveal how the shock generated phenomena (emergence of the outflows/flare in the associated light curves) observed at the close proximity of the horizon depend on the physical environment of the source harbouring a supermassive black hole.

  20. Accretion shocks in the laboratory: Design of an experiment to study star formation

    DOE PAGES

    Young, Rachel P.; Kuranz, C. C.; Drake, R. P.; ...

    2017-02-13

    Here, we present the design of a laboratory-astrophysics experiment to study magnetospheric accretion relevant to young, pre-main-sequence stars. Spectra of young stars show evidence of hotspots created when streams of accreting material impact the surface of the star and create shocks. The structures that form during this process are poorly understood, as the surfaces of young stars cannot be spatially resolved. Our experiment would create a scaled "accretion shock" at a major (several kJ) laser facility. The experiment drives a plasma jet (the "accretion stream") into a solid block (the "stellar surface"), in the presence of a parallel magnetic fieldmore » analogous to the star's local field.« less

  1. Instability in strongly magnetized accretion discs: a global perspective

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Das, Upasana; Begelman, Mitchell C.; Lesur, Geoffroy

    2018-01-01

    We examine the properties of strongly magnetized accretion discs in a global framework, with particular focus on the evolution of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities such as the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Work by Pessah & Psaltis showed that MRI is stabilized beyond a critical toroidal field in compressible, differentially rotating flows and, also, reported the appearance of two new instabilities beyond this field. Their results stemmed from considering geometric curvature effects due to the suprathermal background toroidal field, which had been previously ignored in weak-field studies. However, their calculations were performed under the local approximation, which poses the danger of introducing spurious behaviour due to the introduction of global geometric terms in an otherwise local framework. In order to avoid this, we perform a global eigenvalue analysis of the linearized MHD equations in cylindrical geometry. We confirm that MRI indeed tends to be highly suppressed when the background toroidal field attains the Pessah-Psaltis limit. We also observe the appearance of two new instabilities that emerge in the presence of highly suprathermal toroidal fields. These results were additionally verified using numerical simulations in PLUTO. There are, however, certain differences between the the local and global results, especially in the vertical wavenumber occupancies of the various instabilities, which we discuss in detail. We also study the global eigenfunctions of the most unstable modes in the suprathermal regime, which are inaccessible in the local analysis. Overall, our findings emphasize the necessity of a global treatment for accurately modelling strongly magnetized accretion discs.

  2. On numerical instabilities of Godunov-type schemes for strong shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xie, Wenjia; Li, Wei; Li, Hua; Tian, Zhengyu; Pan, Sha

    2017-12-01

    It is well known that low diffusion Riemann solvers with minimal smearing on contact and shear waves are vulnerable to shock instability problems, including the carbuncle phenomenon. In the present study, we concentrate on exploring where the instability grows out and how the dissipation inherent in Riemann solvers affects the unstable behaviors. With the help of numerical experiments and a linearized analysis method, it has been found that the shock instability is strongly related to the unstable modes of intermediate states inside the shock structure. The consistency of mass flux across the normal shock is needed for a Riemann solver to capture strong shocks stably. The famous carbuncle phenomenon is interpreted as the consequence of the inconsistency of mass flux across the normal shock for a low diffusion Riemann solver. Based on the results of numerical experiments and the linearized analysis, a robust Godunov-type scheme with a simple cure for the shock instability is suggested. With only the dissipation corresponding to shear waves introduced in the vicinity of strong shocks, the instability problem is circumvented. Numerical results of several carefully chosen strong shock wave problems are investigated to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed scheme.

  3. Radiative accretion shocks along nonuniform stellar magnetic fields in classical T Tauri stars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Orlando, S.; Bonito, R.; Argiroffi, C.; Reale, F.; Peres, G.; Miceli, M.; Matsakos, T.; Stehlé, C.; Ibgui, L.; de Sa, L.; Chièze, J. P.; Lanz, T.

    2013-11-01

    Context. According to the magnetospheric accretion model, hot spots form on the surface of classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) in regions where accreting disk material impacts the stellar surface at supersonic velocity, generating a shock. Aims: We investigate the dynamics and stability of postshock plasma that streams along nonuniform stellar magnetic fields at the impact region of accretion columns. We study how the magnetic field configuration and strength determine the structure, geometry, and location of the shock-heated plasma. Methods: We model the impact of an accretion stream onto the chromosphere of a CTTS by 2D axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Our model considers the gravity, the radiative cooling, and the magnetic-field-oriented thermal conduction (including the effects of heat flux saturation). We explore different configurations and strengths of the magnetic field. Results: The structure, stability, and location of the shocked plasma strongly depend on the configuration and strength of the magnetic field. In the case of weak magnetic fields (plasma β ≳ 1 in the postshock region), a large component of B may develop perpendicular to the stream at the base of the accretion column, which limits the sinking of the shocked plasma into the chromosphere and perturbs the overstable shock oscillations induced by radiative cooling. An envelope of dense and cold chromospheric material may also develop around the shocked column. For strong magnetic fields (β < 1 in the postshock region close to the chromosphere), the field configuration determines the position of the shock and its stand-off height. If the field is strongly tapered close to the chromosphere, an oblique shock may form well above the stellar surface at the height where the plasma β ≈ 1. In general, we find that a nonuniform magnetic field makes the distribution of emission measure vs. temperature of the postshock plasma at T > 106 K lower than when there is uniform magnetic field

  4. Simulations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability in a two-shock vertical shock tube

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferguson, Kevin; Olson, Britton; Jacobs, Jeffrey

    2017-11-01

    Simulations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability (RMI) in a new two-shock vertical shock tube configuration are presented. The simulations are performed using the ARES code at Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Two M=1.2 shock waves travel in opposing directions and impact an initially stationary interface formed by sulfur hexaflouride (SF6) and air. The delay between the two shocks is controlled to achieve a prescribed temporal separation in shock wave arrival time. Initial interface perturbations and diffusion profiles are generated in keeping with previously gathered experimental data. The effect of varying the inter-shock delay and initial perturbation structure on instability growth and mixing parameters is examined. Information on the design, construction, and testing of a new two-shock vertical shock tube are also presented.

  5. Radiative Reverse Shock Laser Experiments Relevant to Accretion Processes in Cataclysmic Variables

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krauland, Christine

    2012-10-01

    We present results from experiments that explore radiative reverse shock waves and their contribution to the evolving dynamics of the cataclysmic variable (CV) system in which they reside. CVs are close binary star systems containing a white dwarf (WD) that accretes matter from its late-type main sequence companion star. In the process of accretion, a reverse shock forms when the supersonic infalling plasma is impeded. It provides the main source of radiation in the binary systems. In the case of a non-magnetic CV, the impact on an accretion disk produces this ``hot spot,'' where the flow obliquely strikes the rotating accretion disk. This collision region has many ambiguities as a radiation hydrodynamic system, but shock development in the infalling flow can be modeled [1]. We discuss the production of radiative reverse shocks in experiments at the Omega-60 laser facility. The ability of this high-intensity laser to create large energy densities in targets having millimeter-scale volumes makes it feasible to create supersonic plasma flows. Obtaining a radiative reverse shock in the laboratory requires a sufficiently fast flow (> 60 km/s) within a material whose opacity is large enough to produce energetically significant emission from experimentally achievable layers. We will show the radiographic and emission data from three campaigns on Omega-60 with accompanying CRASH [2] simulations, and will discuss the implications in the context of the CV system. [4pt] [1] Armitage, P. J. and Livio, M., ApJ, 493, 898 (1998).[0pt] [2] van der Holst, B., Toth, G., Sokolov, I.V., et al., ApJS, 194, 23 (2011).

  6. Evaluation of Euler fluxes by a high-order CFD scheme: shock instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tu, Guohua; Zhao, Xiaohui; Mao, Meiliang; Chen, Jianqiang; Deng, Xiaogang; Liu, Huayong

    2014-05-01

    The construction of Euler fluxes is an important step in shock-capturing/upwind schemes. It is well known that unsuitable fluxes are responsible for many shock anomalies, such as the carbuncle phenomenon. Three kinds of flux vector splittings (FVSs) as well as three kinds of flux difference splittings (FDSs) are evaluated for the shock instability by a fifth-order weighted compact nonlinear scheme. The three FVSs are Steger-Warming splitting, van Leer splitting and kinetic flux vector splitting (KFVS). The three FDSs are Roe's splitting, advection upstream splitting method (AUSM) type splitting and Harten-Lax-van Leer (HLL) type splitting. Numerical results indicate that FVSs and high dissipative FDSs undergo a relative lower risk on the shock instability than that of low dissipative FDSs. However, none of the fluxes evaluated in the present study can entirely avoid the shock instability. Generally, the shock instability may be caused by any of the following factors: low dissipation, high Mach number, unsuitable grid distribution, large grid aspect ratio, and the relative shock-internal flow state (or position) between upstream and downstream shock waves. It comes out that the most important factor is the relative shock-internal state. If the shock-internal state is closer to the downstream state, the computation is at higher susceptibility to the shock instability. Wall-normal grid distribution has a greater influence on the shock instability than wall-azimuthal grid distribution because wall-normal grids directly impact on the shock-internal position. High shock intensity poses a high risk on the shock instability, but its influence is not as much as the shock-internal state. Large grid aspect ratio is also a source of the shock instability. Some results of a second-order scheme and a first-order scheme are also given. The comparison between the high-order scheme and the two low-order schemes indicates that high-order schemes are at a higher risk of the shock

  7. Hydrodynamic modelling of accretion impacts in classical T Tauri stars: radiative heating of the pre-shock plasma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Costa, G.; Orlando, S.; Peres, G.; Argiroffi, C.; Bonito, R.

    2017-01-01

    Context. It is generally accepted that, in classical T Tauri stars, the plasma from the circumstellar disc accretes onto the stellar surface with free-fall velocity and the impact generates a shock. The impact region is expected to contribute to emission in different spectral bands; many studies have confirmed that the X-rays arise from the post-shock plasma but, otherwise, there are no studies in the literature investigating the origin of the observed UV emission which is apparently correlated to accretion. Aims: We investigated the effect of radiative heating of the infalling material by the post-shock plasma at the base of the accretion stream, with the aim to identify in which region a significant part of the UV emission originates. Methods: We developed a one-dimensional hydrodynamic model describing the impact of an accretion stream onto the stellar surface; the model takes into account the gravity, the radiative cooling of an optically thin plasma, the thermal conduction, and the heating due to absorption of X-ray radiation. The latter term represents the heating of the infalling plasma due to the absorption of X-rays emitted from the post-shock region. Results: We found that the radiative heating of the pre-shock plasma plays a non-negligible role in the accretion phenomenon. In particular, the dense and cold plasma of the pre-shock accretion column is gradually heated up to a few 105K due to irradiation of X-rays arising from the shocked plasma at the impact region. This heating mechanism does not affect significantly the dynamics of the post-shock plasma. On the other hand, a region of radiatively heated gas (that we consider a precursor) forms in the unshocked accretion column and contributes significantly to UV emission. Our model naturally reproduces the luminosity of UV emission lines correlated to accretion and shows that most of the UV emission originates from the precursor.

  8. Numerical simulations of high-energy flows in accreting magnetic white dwarfs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Van Box Som, Lucile; Falize, É.; Bonnet-Bidaud, J.-M.; Mouchet, M.; Busschaert, C.; Ciardi, A.

    2018-01-01

    Some polars show quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in their optical light curves that have been interpreted as the result of shock oscillations driven by the cooling instability. Although numerical simulations can recover this physics, they wrongly predict QPOs in the X-ray luminosity and have also failed to reproduce the observed frequencies, at least for the limited range of parameters explored so far. Given the uncertainties on the observed polar parameters, it is still unclear whether simulations can reproduce the observations. The aim of this work is to study QPOs covering all relevant polars showing QPOs. We perform numerical simulations including gravity, cyclotron and bremsstrahlung radiative losses, for a wide range of polar parameters, and compare our results with the astronomical data using synthetic X-ray and optical luminosities. We show that shock oscillations are the result of complex shock dynamics triggered by the interplay of two radiative instabilities. The secondary shock forms at the acoustic horizon in the post-shock region in agreement with our estimates from steady-state solutions. We also demonstrate that the secondary shock is essential to sustain the accretion shock oscillations at the average height predicted by our steady-state accretion model. Finally, in spite of the large explored parameter space, matching the observed QPO parameters requires a combination of parameters inconsistent with the observed ones. This difficulty highlights the limits of one-dimensional simulations, suggesting that multi-dimensional effects are needed to understand the non-linear dynamics of accretion columns in polars and the origins of QPOs.

  9. Shock Driven Multiphase Instabilities in Scramjet Applications

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McFarland, Jacob

    2016-11-01

    Shock driven multiphase instabilities (SDMI) arise in many applications from dust production in supernovae to ejecta distribution in explosions. At the limit of small, fast reacting particles the instability evolves similar to the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability. However, as additional particle effects such as lag, phase change, and collisions become significant the required parameter space becomes much larger and the instability deviates significantly from the RM instability. In scramjet engines the SDMI arises during a cold start where liquid fuel droplets are injected and processed by shock and expansion waves. In this case the particle evaporation and mixing is important to starting and sustaining combustion, but the particles are large and slow to react, creating significant multiphase effects. This talk will examine multiphase mixing in scramjet relevant conditions in 3D multiphase hydrodynamic simulations using the FLASH code from the University of Chicago FLASH center.

  10. Design and Construction of a Shock Tube Experiment for Multiphase Instability Experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Middlebrooks, John; Black, Wolfgang; Avgoustopoulos, Constantine; Allen, Roy; Kathakapa, Raj; Guo, Qiwen; McFarland, Jacob

    2016-11-01

    Hydrodynamic instabilities are important phenomena that have a wide range of practical applications in engineering and physics. One such instability, the shock driven multiphase instability (SDMI), arises when a shockwave accelerates an interface between two particle-gas mixtures with differing multiphase properties. The SDMI is present in high energy explosives, scramjets, and supernovae. A practical way of studying shock wave driven instabilities is through experimentation in a shock tube laboratory. This poster presentation will cover the design and data acquisition process of the University of Missouri's Fluid Mixing Shock Tube Laboratory. In the shock tube, a pressure generated shockwave is passed through a multiphase interface, creating the SDMI instability. This can be photographed for observation using high speed cameras, lasers, and advance imaging techniques. Important experimental parameters such as internal pressure and temperature, and mass flow rates of gases can be set and recorded by remotely controlled devices. The experimental facility provides the University of Missouri's Fluid Mixing Shock Tube Laboratory with the ability to validate simulated experiments and to conduct further inquiry into the field of shock driven multiphase hydrodynamic instabilities. Advisor.

  11. An Accretion Model for the Growth of the Central Black Holes Associated with Ionization Instability in Quasars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lu, Y.; Cheng, K. S.; Zhang, S. N.

    2003-01-01

    A possible accretion model associated with the ionization instability of quasar disks is proposed to address the growth of the central black hole (BH) harbored in the host galaxy. The evolution of quasars in cosmic time is assumed to change from a highly active state to a quiescent state triggered by the S-shaped ionization instability of the quasar accretion disk. For a given external mass transfer rate supplied by the quasar host galaxy, ionization instability can modify the accretion rate in the disk and separate the accretion flows of the disk into three different phases, like an S-shape. We suggest that the bright quasars observed today are those quasars with disks in the upper branch of the S-shaped instability, and the faint or 'dormant' quasars are simply these systems in the lower branch. The middle branch is the transition state, which is unstable. We assume the quasar disk evolves according to the advection-dominated inflow-outflow solution (ADIOS) configuration in the stable lower branch of the S-shaped instability, and the Eddington accretion rate is used to constrain the accretion rate in the highly active phase. The mass ratio between a BH and its host galactic bulge is a natural consequence of an ADIOS. Our model also demonstrates that a seed BH approx. 2 x 10(exp 6) solar masses similar to those found in spiral galaxies today is needed to produce a BH with a final mass of approx. 2 x 10(exp 8) solar masses.

  12. Reduced modeling of the magnetorotational instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jamroz, Ben F.

    2009-06-01

    Accretion describes the process by which matter in an astrophysical disk falls onto a central massive object. Accretion disks are present in many astrophysical situations including binary star systems, young stellar objects, and near black holes at the center of galaxies. Measurements from observations of these disks have shown that viscous processes are unable to transport the necessary levels of angular momentum needed for accretion. Therefore, accretion requires an efficient mechanism of angular momentum transport. Mixing by turbulent processes greatly enhances the level of angular momentum transport in a turbulent fluid. Thus, the generation of turbulence in these disks may provide the mechanism needed for accretion. A classical result of hydrodynamic theory is that typical accretion disks are hydrodynamically stable to shear instabilities, since the specific angular momentum increases outwards. Other processes of generating hydrodynamic turbulence (barotropic instability, baroclinic instability, sound wave, shock waves, finite amplitude instabilities) may be present in these disks, however, none of these mechanisms has been shown to produce the level of angular momentum transport needed for accretion. Hydrodynamical turbulence does not produce enough angular momentum transport to produce the level of accretion observed in astrophysical accretion disks. The leading candidate for the source of turbulence leading to the transport of angular momentum is the magnetorotational instability, a linear axisymmetric instability of electrically conducting fluid in the presence of an imposed magnetic field and shear (or differential rotation). This instability is an efficient mechanism of angular momentum transport generating the level of transport needed for accretion. The level of effective angular momentum transport is determined by the saturated state of sustained turbulence generated by the instability. The mechanism of nonlinear saturation of this instability is not

  13. Circumplanetary discs around young giant planets: a comparison between core-accretion and disc instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szulágyi, J.; Mayer, L.; Quinn, T.

    2017-01-01

    Circumplanetary discs can be found around forming giant planets, regardless of whether core accretion or gravitational instability built the planet. We carried out state-of-the-art hydrodynamical simulations of the circumplanetary discs for both formation scenarios, using as similar initial conditions as possible to unveil possible intrinsic differences in the circumplanetary disc mass and temperature between the two formation mechanisms. We found that the circumplanetary discs' mass linearly scales with the circumstellar disc mass. Therefore, in an equally massive protoplanetary disc, the circumplanetary discs formed in the disc instability model can be only a factor of 8 more massive than their core-accretion counterparts. On the other hand, the bulk circumplanetary disc temperature differs by more than an order of magnitude between the two cases. The subdiscs around planets formed by gravitational instability have a characteristic temperature below 100 K, while the core-accretion circumplanetary discs are hot, with temperatures even greater than 1000 K when embedded in massive, optically thick protoplanetary discs. We explain how this difference can be understood as the natural result of the different formation mechanisms. We argue that the different temperatures should persist up to the point when a full-fledged gas giant forms via disc instability; hence, our result provides a convenient criterion for observations to distinguish between the two main formation scenarios by measuring the bulk temperature in the planet vicinity.

  14. Taylor instability in the shock layer on a Jovian atmosphere entry probe.

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Compton, D. L.

    1972-01-01

    Investigation of the Taylor instability relative to the dynamical instability whose presence in the shock layer on a spacecraft entering the Jovian atmosphere is to be expected because of the difference in velocity across the shear layer. Presented calculations show that the Taylor instability at the interface between shock-heated freestream gas and ablation products is inconsequential in comparison to the shear layer instability.

  15. The Wardle Instability in Interstellar Shocks. 2; Gas Temperture and Line Emission

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Neufeld, David A.; Stone, James M.

    1997-01-01

    We have modeled the gas temperature structure in unstable C-type shocks and obtained predictions for the resultant CO and H2 rotational line emissions, using numerical simulations of the Wardle instability. Our model for the thermal balance of the gas includes ion-neutral frictional heating; compressional heating; radiative cooling due to rotational and ro-vibrational transitions of the molecules CO, H2O, and H2; and gas-grain collisional cooling. We obtained results for the gas temperature distribution in-and H2 and CO line emission from-shocks of neutral Alfvenic Mach number 10 and velocity 20 or 40 km/ s in which the Wardle instability has saturated. Both two- and three-dimensional simulations were carried out for shocks in which the preshock magnetic field is perpendicular to the shock propagation direction, and a two-dimensional simulation was carried out for the case in which the magnetic field is obliquely oriented with respect to the shock propagation direction. Although the Wardle instability profoundly affects the density structure behind C-type shocks, most of the shock-excited molecular line emission is generated upstream of the region where the strongest effects of the instability are felt. Thus the Wardle instability has a relatively small effect on the overall gas temperature distribution in-and the emission-line spectrum from-C-type shocks, at least for the cases that we have considered. In none of the cases that we have considered thus far did any of the predicted emission-line luminosities change by more than a factor of 2.5, and in most cases the effects of instability were significantly smaller than that. Slightly larger changes in the line luminosities seem likely for three-dimensional simulations of oblique shocks, although such simulations have yet to be carried out and lie beyond the scope of this study. Given the typical uncertainties that are always present when model predictions are compared with real astronomical data, we conclude that

  16. The Planetary Accretion Shock. I. Framework for Radiation-hydrodynamical Simulations and First Results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marleau, Gabriel-Dominique; Klahr, Hubert; Kuiper, Rolf; Mordasini, Christoph

    2017-02-01

    The key aspect determining the postformation luminosity of gas giants has long been considered to be the energetics of the accretion shock at the surface of the planet. We use one-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamical simulations to study the radiative loss efficiency and to obtain postshock temperatures and pressures and thus entropies. The efficiency is defined as the fraction of the total incoming energy flux that escapes the system (roughly the Hill sphere), taking into account the energy recycling that occurs ahead of the shock in a radiative precursor. We focus in this paper on a constant equation of state (EOS) to isolate the shock physics but use constant and tabulated opacities. While robust quantitative results will have to await a self-consistent treatment including hydrogen dissociation and ionization, the results presented here show the correct qualitative behavior and can be understood from semianalytical calculations. The shock is found to be isothermal and supercritical for a range of conditions relevant to the core accretion formation scenario (CA), with Mach numbers { M }≳ 3. Across the shock, the entropy decreases significantly by a few times {k}{{B}}/{{baryon}}. While nearly 100% of the incoming kinetic energy is converted to radiation locally, the efficiencies are found to be as low as roughly 40%, implying that a significant fraction of the total accretion energy is brought into the planet. However, for realistic parameter combinations in the CA scenario, we find that a nonzero fraction of the luminosity always escapes the Hill sphere. This luminosity could explain, at least in part, recent observations in the young LkCa 15 and HD 100546 systems.

  17. Instability, Turbulence, and Enhanced Transport in Collisionless Black-Hole Accretion Flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kunz, Matthew

    Many astrophysical plasmas are so hot and diffuse that the collisional mean free path is larger than the system size. Perhaps the best examples of such systems are lowluminosity accretion flows onto black holes such as Sgr A* at the center of our own Galaxy, or M87 in the Virgo cluster. To date, theoretical models of these accretion flows are based on magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), a collisional fluid theory, sometimes (but rarely) extended with non-MHD features such as anisotropic (i.e. magnetic-field-aligned) viscosity and thermal conduction. While these extensions have been recognized as crucial, they require ad hoc assumptions about the role of microscopic kinetic instabilities (namely, firehose and mirror) in regulating the transport properties. These assumptions strongly affect the outcome of the calculations, and yet they have never been tested using more fundamental (i.e. kinetic) models. This proposal outlines a comprehensive first-principles study of the plasma physics of collisionless accretion flows using both analytic and state-of-the-art numerical models. The latter will utilize a new hybrid-kinetic particle-in-cell code, Pegasus, developed by the PI and Co-I specifically to study this problem. A comprehensive kinetic study of the 3D saturation of the magnetorotational instability in a collisionless plasma will be performed, in order to understand the interplay between turbulence, transport, and Larmor-scale kinetic instabilities such as firehose and mirror. Whether such instabilities alter the macroscopic saturated state, for example by limiting the transport of angular momentum by anisotropic pressure, will be addressed. Using these results, an appropriate "fluid" closure will be developed that can capture the multi-scale effects of plasma kinetics on magnetorotational turbulence, for use by the astrophysics community in building evolutionary models of accretion disks. The PI has already successfully performed the first three-dimensional kinetic

  18. Collisionless shock experiments with lasers and observation of Weibel instabilities

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Park, H.-S., E-mail: park1@llnl.gov; Huntington, C. M.; Fiuza, F.

    2015-05-15

    Astrophysical collisionless shocks are common in the universe, occurring in supernova remnants, gamma ray bursts, and protostellar jets. They appear in colliding plasma flows when the mean free path for ion-ion collisions is much larger than the system size. It is believed that such shocks could be mediated via the electromagnetic Weibel instability in astrophysical environments without pre-existing magnetic fields. Here, we present laboratory experiments using high-power lasers and investigate the dynamics of high-Mach-number collisionless shock formation in two interpenetrating plasma streams. Our recent proton-probe experiments on Omega show the characteristic filamentary structures of the Weibel instability that are electromagneticmore » in nature with an inferred magnetization level as high as ∼1% [C. M. Huntington et al., “Observation of magnetic field generation via the weibel instability in interpenetrating plasma flows,” Nat. Phys. 11, 173–176 (2015)]. These results imply that electromagnetic instabilities are significant in the interaction of astrophysical conditions.« less

  19. Collisionless shock experiments with lasers and observation of Weibel instabilities

    DOE PAGES

    Park, H. -S.; Huntington, C. M.; Fiuza, F.; ...

    2015-05-13

    Astrophysical collisionless shocks are common in the universe, occurring in supernova remnants, gamma ray bursts, and protostellar jets. They appear in colliding plasma flows when the mean free path for ion-ion collisions is much larger than the system size. It is believed that such shocks could be mediated via the electromagnetic Weibel instability in astrophysical environments without preexisting magnetic fields. Here, we present laboratory experiments using high-power lasers and investigate the dynamics of high-Mach-number collisionless shock formation in two interpenetrating plasma streams. Our recent proton-probe experiments on Omega show the characteristic filamentary structures of the Weibel instability that are electromagneticmore » in nature with an inferred magnetization level as high as ~1% These results imply that electromagnetic instabilities are significant in the interaction of astrophysical conditions.« less

  20. Small-Amplitude Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability at a Re-Shocked Material Interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Velikovich, A. L.; Zalesak, S. T.; Metzler, N.; Aglitskiy, Y.

    2008-11-01

    We report an exact small-amplitude theory of the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability developing at a re-shocked material interface and favorably compare it to our simulations. The re-shock is seen to restart the classical RM instability growth from a larger initial amplitude, at a higher rate, and change its direction from heavy-to-light to light-to heavy and vice versa. Similarly, if a Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) unstable interface is strongly re-shocked from either the heavy or light fluid side, the fast RM growth is triggered. If a RT-unstable ablation front is re-shocked, it exhibits the ablative RM-instability, that is, low-frequency decaying oscillations [V. N. Goncharov, PRL 82, 2091 (1998); Y. Aglitskiy et al., PRL 87, 265001 (2001)]. This is predicted for colliding foil experiments on the Nike laser, where a RT-unstable ablation front is re-shocked by the strong shock wave produced in the collision of the laser-driven plastic foil with a stationary foam layer. The re-shock stops the acceleration and switches the perturbation evolution from the ablative RT to the ablative RM regime.

  1. Electrostatic and magnetic instabilities in the transition layer of a collisionless weakly relativistic pair shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dieckmann, M. E.; Bret, A.

    2018-01-01

    Energetic electromagnetic emissions by astrophysical jets like those that are launched during the collapse of a massive star and trigger gamma-ray bursts are partially attributed to relativistic internal shocks. The shocks are mediated in the collisionless plasma of such jets by the filamentation instability of counterstreaming particle beams. The filamentation instability grows fastest only if the beams move at a relativistic relative speed. We model here with a particle-in-cell simulation, the collision of two cold pair clouds at the speed c/2 (c: speed of light). We demonstrate that the two-stream instability outgrows the filamentation instability for this speed and is thus responsible for the shock formation. The incomplete thermalization of the upstream plasma by its quasi-electrostatic waves allows other instabilities to grow. A shock transition layer forms, in which a filamentation instability modulates the plasma far upstream of the shock. The inflowing upstream plasma is progressively heated by a two-stream instability closer to the shock and compressed to the expected downstream density by the Weibel instability. The strong magnetic field due to the latter is confined to a layer 10 electron skin depths wide.

  2. Radio Observations as a Tool to Investigate Shocks and Asymmetries in Accreting White Dwarf Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weston, Jennifer Helen Seng; E-Nova Project

    2017-01-01

    In this dissertation, I use radio observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to reveal that colliding flows within the ejecta from nova explosions can lead to shocks that accelerate particles and produce radio synchrotron emission. In both novae V1723 Aql and V5589 Sgr, radio emission within the first one to two months deviated strongly from the classic thermal model for radio emission from novae. Three years of radio observations of V1723 Aql show that multiple outflows from the system collided to create non-thermal shocks with a brightness temperature of >106 K. After these shocks faded, the radio light curve became roughly consistent with an expanding thermal shell. However, resolved images of V1723 Aql show elongated material that apparently rotates its major axis over the course of 15 months. In the case of nova V5589 Sgr, I show that the early radio emission is dominated by a shock-powered non-thermal flare that produces strong (kTx > 33 keV) X-rays. These findings have important implications for understanding how normal novae generate GeV gamma-rays.Additionally, I present VLA observations of the symbiotic star CH Cyg and two small surveys of symbiotic binaries. Radio observations of CH Cyg tie the ejection of a collimated jet to a change of state in the accretion disk, strengthening the link between bipolar outflows from accreting white dwarfs and other types of accreting compact objects. Next, I use a survey of eleven accretion-driven symbiotic binaries to determine that the radio brightness of a symbiotic system could potentially be used as an indicator of whether it is powered predominantly by shell burning on the surface of the white dwarf or by accretion. This survey also produces the first radio detections of seven of the target systems. In the second survey of seventeen symbiotic binaries, I spatially resolve extended radio emission in several systems for the first time. The results from these surveys provide some support for the

  3. Reverse Radiative Shock Experiments Relevant to Accreting Stream-Disk Impact in Interacting Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krauland, Christine; Drake, R. P.; Kuranz, C. K.; Huntington, C. M.; Grosskopf, M. J.; Marion, D. C.; Young, R.; Plewa, T.

    2011-05-01

    In many Cataclysmic Binary systems, mass onto an accretion disk produces a `hot spot’ where the infalling supersonic flow obliquely strikes the rotating accretion disk. This collision region has many ambiguities as a radiation hydrodynamic system, but shock development in the infalling flow can be modeled. Depending upon conditions, it has been argued (Armitage & Livio, ApJ 493, 898) that the shocked region may be optically thin, thick, or intermediate, which has the potential to significantly alter the hot spot's structure and emissions. We report the first experimental attempt to produce colliding flows that create a radiative reverse shock at the Omega-60 laser facility. Obtaining a radiative reverse shock in the laboratory requires producing a sufficiently fast flow (> 100 km/s) within a material whose opacity is large enough to produce energetically significant emission from experimentally achievable layers. We will discuss the experimental design, the available data, and our astrophysical context. Funded by the NNSA-DS and SC-OFES Joint Prog. in High-Energy-Density Lab. Plasmas, by the Nat. Laser User Facility Prog. in NNSA-DS and by the Predictive Sci. Acad. Alliances Prog. in NNSA-ASC, under grant numbers are DE-FG52-09NA29548, DE-FG52-09NA29034, and DE-FC52-08NA28616.

  4. Papaloizou-Pringle instability suppression by the magnetorotational instability in relativistic accretion discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bugli, M.; Guilet, J.; Müller, E.; Del Zanna, L.; Bucciantini, N.; Montero, P. J.

    2018-03-01

    Geometrically thick tori with constant specific angular momentum have been widely used in the last decades to construct numerical models of accretion flows on to black holes. Such discs are prone to a global non-axisymmetric hydrodynamic instability, known as Papaloizou-Pringle instability (PPI), which can redistribute angular momentum and also lead to an emission of gravitational waves. It is, however, not clear yet how the development of the PPI is affected by the presence of a magnetic field and by the concurrent development of the magnetorotational instability (MRI). We present a numerical analysis using three-dimensional GRMHD simulations of the interplay between the PPI and the MRI considering, for the first time, an analytical magnetized equilibrium solution as initial condition. In the purely hydrodynamic case, the PPI selects as expected the large-scale m = 1 azimuthal mode as the fastest growing and non-linearly dominant mode. However, when the torus is threaded by a weak toroidal magnetic field, the development of the MRI leads to the suppression of large-scale modes and redistributes power across smaller scales. If the system starts with a significantly excited m = 1 mode, the PPI can be dominant in a transient phase, before being ultimately quenched by the MRI. Such dynamics may well be important in compact star mergers and tidal disruption events.

  5. Internal Shocks in the Magnetic Reconnection Jet in Solar Flares: Multiple Fast Shocks Created by the Secondary Tearing Instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tanuma, S.; Shibata, K.

    2005-07-01

    Space solar missions such as Yohkoh and RHESSI observe the hard X- and gamma-ray emission from energetic electrons in impulsive solar flares. Their energization mechanism, however, is unknown. In this Letter, we suggest that the internal shocks are created in the reconnection jet and that they are possible sites of particle acceleration. We examine how magnetic reconnection creates the multiple shocks by performing two-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations. In this Letter, we use a very small grid to resolve the diffusion region. As a result, we find that the current sheet becomes thin due to the tearing instability, and it collapses to a Sweet-Parker sheet. The thin sheet becomes unstable to the secondary tearing instability. Fast reconnection starts by the onset of anomalous resistivity immediately after the secondary tearing instability. During the bursty, time-dependent magnetic reconnection, the secondary tearing instability continues in the diffusion region where the anomalous resistivity is enhanced. As a result, many weak shocks are created in the reconnection jet. This situation produces turbulent reconnection. We suggest that multiple fast shocks are created in the jet and that the energetic electrons can be accelerated by these shocks.

  6. Nature of the wiggle instability of galactic spiral shocks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kim, Woong-Tae; Kim, Yonghwi; Kim, Jeong-Gyu, E-mail: wkim@astro.snu.ac.kr, E-mail: kimyh@astro.snu.ac.kr, E-mail: jgkim@astro.snu.ac.kr

    Gas in disk galaxies interacts nonlinearly with an underlying stellar spiral potential to form galactic spiral shocks. While numerical simulations typically show that spiral shocks are unstable to wiggle instability (WI) even in the absence of magnetic fields and self-gravity, its physical nature has remained uncertain. To clarify the mechanism behind the WI, we conduct a normal-mode linear stability analysis and nonlinear simulations assuming that the disk is isothermal and infinitesimally thin. We find that the WI is physical, originating from the generation of potential vorticity at a deformed shock front, rather than Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities as previously thought. Since gasmore » in galaxy rotation periodically passes through the shocks multiple times, the potential vorticity can accumulate successively, setting up a normal mode that grows exponentially with time. Eigenfunctions of the WI decay exponentially downstream from the shock front. Both shock compression of acoustic waves and a discontinuity of shear across the shock stabilize the WI. The wavelength and growth time of the WI depend on the arm strength quite sensitively. When the stellar-arm forcing is moderate at 5%, the wavelength of the most unstable mode is about 0.07 times the arm-to-arm spacing, with the growth rate comparable to the orbital angular frequency, which is found to be in good agreement with the results of numerical simulations.« less

  7. REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS: The nature of accretion disks of close binary stars: overreflection instability and developed turbulence

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fridman, A. M.; Bisikalo, D. V.

    2008-06-01

    The current status of the physics of accretion disks in close binary stars is reviewed, with an emphasis on the hydrodynamic overreflection instability, which is a factor leading to the accretion disk turbulence. The estimated turbulent viscosity coefficients are in good agreement with observations and explain the high angular momentum transfer rate and the measured accretion rate. Based on the observations, a power-law spectrum for the developed turbulence is obtained.

  8. Theory of the corrugation instability of a piston-driven shock wave.

    PubMed

    Bates, J W

    2015-01-01

    We analyze the two-dimensional stability of a shock wave driven by a steadily moving corrugated piston in an inviscid fluid with an arbitrary equation of state. For h≤-1 or h>h(c), where h is the D'yakov parameter and h(c) is the Kontorovich limit, we find that small perturbations on the shock front are unstable and grow--at first quadratically and later linearly--with time. Such instabilities are associated with nonequilibrium fluid states and imply a nonunique solution to the hydrodynamic equations. The above criteria are consistent with instability limits observed in shock-tube experiments involving ionizing and dissociating gases and may have important implications for driven shocks in laser-fusion, astrophysical, and/or detonation studies.

  9. Magnetic shear-flow instability in thin accretion discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rüdiger, G.; Primavera, L.; Arlt, R.; Elstner, D.

    1999-07-01

    The possibility that the magnetic shear-flow instability (also known as the `Balbus-Hawley' instability) might give rise to turbulence in a thin accretion disc is investigated through numerical simulations. The study is linear and the fluid disc is supposed to be incompressible and differentially rotating with a simple velocity profile with Omega~R^-q. The simplicity of the model is counterbalanced by the fact that the study is fully global in all three spatial directions with boundaries on each side; finite diffusivities are also allowed. The investigation is also carried out for several values of the azimuthal wavenumber of the perturbations in order to analyse whether non-axisymmetric modes might be preferred, which may produce, in a non-linear extension of the study, a self-sustained magnetic field. We find the final pattern steady, with similar kinetic and magnetic energies and the angular momentum always transported outwards. Despite the differential rotation, there are only small differences for the eigenvalues for various non-axisymmetric eigensolutions. Axisymmetric instabilities are by no means preferred; in fact for Prandtl numbers between 0.1 and 1, the azimuthal wavenumbers m=0,1,2(10^16gs^-1). All three quantities appear to be equally readily excited. The equatorial symmetry is quadrupolar for the magnetic field and dipolar for the flow field system. The maximal magnetic field strength required to cause the instability is almost independent of the magnetic Prandtl number. With typical white dwarf values, a magnetic amplitude of 10^5G is estimated.

  10. Weibel instability mediated collisionless shocks using intense laser-driven plasmas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Palaniyappan, Sasikumar; Fiuza, Federico; Huang, Chengkun; Gautier, Donald; Ma, Wenjun; Schreiber, Jorg; Raymer, Abel; Fernandez, Juan; Shimada, Tom; Johnson, Randall

    2017-10-01

    The origin of cosmic rays remains a long-standing challenge in astrophysics and continues to fascinate physicists. It is believed that ``collisionless shocks'' - where the particle Coulomb mean free path is much larger that the shock transition - are a dominant source of energetic cosmic rays. These shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysical environments such as gamma-ray bursts, supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebula and coronal mass ejections from the sun. A particular type of electromagnetic plasma instability known as Weibel instability is believed to be the dominant mechanism behind the formation of these collisionless shocks in the cosmos. The understanding of the microphysics behind collisionless shocks and their particle acceleration is tightly related with nonlinear basic plasma processes and remains a grand challenge. In this poster, we will present results from recent experiments at the LANL Trident laser facility studying collisionless shocks using intense ps laser (80J, 650 fs - peak intensity of 1020 W/cm2) driven near-critical plasmas using carbon nanotube foam targets. A second short pulse laser driven protons from few microns thick gold foil is used to radiograph the main laser-driven plasma. Work supported by the LDRD program at LANL.

  11. The structure and spectrum of the accretion shock in the atmospheres of young stars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dodin, Alexandr

    2018-04-01

    The structure and spectrum of the accretion shock have been self-consistently simulated for a wide range of parameters typical for Classical T Tauri Stars (CTTS). Radiative cooling of the shocked gas was calculated, taking into account the self-absorption and non-equilibrium (time-dependent) effects in the level populations. These effects modify the standard cooling curve for an optically thin plasma in coronal equilibrium, however the shape of high-temperature (T > 3 × 105 K) part of the curve remains unchanged. The applied methods allow us to smoothly describe the transition from the cooling flow to the hydrostatic stellar atmosphere. Thanks to this approach, it has been found that the narrow component of He II lines is formed predominantly in the irradiated stationary atmosphere (hotspot), i.e. at velocities of the settling gas <2 km s-1. The structure of the pre-shock region is calculated simultaneously with the heated atmosphere. The simulation shows that the pre-shock gas produces a noticeable emission component in He II lines and practically does not manifest itself in He I lines (λλ 5876, 10830 Å). The ultraviolet spectrum of the hotspot is distorted by the pre-shock gas, namely numerous red-shifted emission and absorption lines overlap each other forming a pseudo-continuum. The spectrum of the accretion region at high pre-shock densities ˜1014 cm-3 is fully formed in the in-falling gas and can be qualitatively described as a spectrum of a star with an effective temperature derived from the Stefan-Boltzmann law via the full energy flux.

  12. Collisionless shock formation, spontaneous electromagnetic fluctuations, and streaming instabilities

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bret, A.; Instituto de Investigaciones Energeticas y Aplicaciones Industriales, Campus Universitario de Ciudad Real, 13071 Ciudad Real; Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, MS-51 Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

    2013-04-15

    Collisionless shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysics and in the lab. Recent numerical simulations and experiments have shown how they can arise from the encounter of two collisionless plasma shells. When the shells interpenetrate, the overlapping region turns unstable, triggering the shock formation. As a first step towards a microscopic understanding of the process, we analyze here in detail the initial instability phase. On the one hand, 2D relativistic Particle-In-Cell simulations are performed where two symmetric initially cold pair plasmas collide. On the other hand, the instabilities at work are analyzed, as well as the field at saturation and the seedmore » field which gets amplified. For mildly relativistic motions and onward, Weibel modes govern the linear phase. We derive an expression for the duration of the linear phase in good agreement with the simulations. This saturation time constitutes indeed a lower-bound for the shock formation time.« less

  13. BOW SHOCK FRAGMENTATION DRIVEN BY A THERMAL INSTABILITY IN LABORATORY ASTROPHYSICS EXPERIMENTS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Suzuki-Vidal, F.; Lebedev, S. V.; Pickworth, L. A.

    The role of radiative cooling during the evolution of a bow shock was studied in laboratory-astrophysics experiments that are scalable to bow shocks present in jets from young stellar objects. The laboratory bow shock is formed during the collision of two counterstreaming, supersonic plasma jets produced by an opposing pair of radial foil Z-pinches driven by the current pulse from the MAGPIE pulsed-power generator. The jets have different flow velocities in the laboratory frame, and the experiments are driven over many times the characteristic cooling timescale. The initially smooth bow shock rapidly develops small-scale nonuniformities over temporal and spatial scalesmore » that are consistent with a thermal instability triggered by strong radiative cooling in the shock. The growth of these perturbations eventually results in a global fragmentation of the bow shock front. The formation of a thermal instability is supported by analysis of the plasma cooling function calculated for the experimental conditions with the radiative packages ABAKO/RAPCAL.« less

  14. Potential for the Vishniac instability in ionizing shock waves propagating into cold gases

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Robinson, A. P. L.; Pasley, J.

    2018-05-01

    The Vishniac instability was posited as an instability that could affect supernova remnants in their late stage of evolution when subject to strong radiative cooling, which can drive the effective ratio of specific heats below 1.3. The potential importance of this instability to these astrophysical objects has motivated a number of laser-driven laboratory studies. However, the Vishniac instability is essentially a dynamical instability that should operate independently of whatever physical processes happen to reduce the ratio of specific heats. In this paper, we examine the possibility that ionization and molecular dissociation processes can achieve this, and we show that this is possible for a certain range of shock wave Mach numbers for ionizing/dissociating shock waves propagating into cold atomic and molecular gases.

  15. Ablative stabilization of Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities resulting from a laser-driven radiative shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Huntington, C. M.; Shimony, A.; Trantham, M.; Kuranz, C. C.; Shvarts, D.; Di Stefano, C. A.; Doss, F. W.; Drake, R. P.; Flippo, K. A.; Kalantar, D. H.; Klein, S. R.; Kline, J. L.; MacLaren, S. A.; Malamud, G.; Miles, A. R.; Prisbrey, S. T.; Raman, K. S.; Remington, B. A.; Robey, H. F.; Wan, W. C.; Park, H.-S.

    2018-05-01

    The Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) instability is a common occurrence in nature, notably in astrophysical systems like supernovae, where it serves to mix the dense layers of the interior of an exploding star with the low-density stellar wind surrounding it, and in inertial confinement fusion experiments, where it mixes cooler materials with the central hot spot in an imploding capsule and stifles the desired nuclear reactions. In both of these examples, the radiative flux generated by strong shocks in the system may play a role in partially stabilizing RT instabilities. Here, we present experiments performed on the National Ignition Facility, designed to isolate and study the role of radiation and heat conduction from a shock front in the stabilization of hydrodynamic instabilities. By varying the laser power delivered to a shock-tube target with an embedded, unstable interface, the radiative fluxes generated at the shock front could be controlled. We observe decreased RT growth when the shock significantly heats the medium around it, in contrast to a system where the shock did not produce significant heating. Both systems are modeled with a modified set of buoyancy-drag equations accounting for ablative stabilization, and the experimental results are consistent with ablative stabilization when the shock is radiative. This result has important implications for our understanding of astrophysical radiative shocks and supernova radiative hydrodynamics [Kuranz et al., Nature Communications 9(1), 1564 (2018)].

  16. The formation and dissipation of electrostatic shock waves: the role of ion–ion acoustic instabilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zhang, Wen-shuai; Cai, Hong-bo; Zhu, Shao-ping

    2018-05-01

    The role of ion–ion acoustic instabilities in the formation and dissipation of collisionless electrostatic shock waves driven by counter-streaming supersonic plasma flows has been investigated via two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. The nonlinear evolution of unstable waves and ion velocity distributions has been analyzed in detail. It is found that for electrostatic shocks driven by moderate-velocity flows, longitudinal and oblique ion–ion acoustic instabilities can be excited in the downstream and upstream regions, which lead to thermalization of the transmitted and reflected ions, respectively. For high-velocity flows, oblique ion–ion acoustic instabilities can develop in the overlap layer during the shock formation process and impede the shock formation.

  17. Hard X-ray emission from accretion shocks around galaxy clusters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kushnir, Doron; Waxman, Eli

    2010-02-01

    We show that the hard X-ray (HXR) emission observed from several galaxy clusters is consistent with a simple model, in which the nonthermal emission is produced by inverse Compton scattering of cosmic microwave background photons by electrons accelerated in cluster accretion shocks: The dependence of HXR surface brightness on cluster temperature is consistent with that predicted by the model, and the observed HXR luminosity is consistent with the fraction of shock thermal energy deposited in relativistic electrons being lesssim0.1. Alternative models, where the HXR emission is predicted to be correlated with the cluster thermal emission, are disfavored by the data. The implications of our predictions to future HXR observations (e.g. by NuStar, Simbol-X) and to (space/ground based) γ-ray observations (e.g. by Fermi, HESS, MAGIC, VERITAS) are discussed.

  18. Electron Heating by the Ion Cyclotron Instability in Collisionless Accretion Flows. I. Compression-driven Instabilities and the Electron Heating Mechanism

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sironi, Lorenzo; Narayan, Ramesh

    2015-02-01

    In systems accreting well below the Eddington rate, such as the central black hole in the Milky Way (Sgr A*), the plasma in the innermost regions of the disk is believed to be collisionless and have two temperatures, with the ions substantially hotter than the electrons. However, whether a collisionless faster-than-Coulomb energy transfer mechanism exists in two-temperature accretion flows is still an open question. We study the physics of electron heating during the growth of ion velocity-space instabilities by means of multidimensional, fully kinetic, particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. A background large-scale compression—embedded in a novel form of the PIC equations—continuously amplifies the field. This constantly drives a pressure anisotropy P > P ∥ because of the adiabatic invariance of the particle magnetic moments. We find that, for ion plasma beta values β0i ~ 5-30 appropriate for the midplane of low-luminosity accretion flows (here, β0i is the ratio of ion thermal pressure to magnetic pressure), mirror modes dominate if the electron-to-proton temperature ratio is T 0e /T 0i >~ 0.2, whereas for T 0e /T 0i <~ 0.2 the ion cyclotron instability triggers the growth of strong Alfvén-like waves, which pitch-angle scatter the ions to maintain marginal stability. We develop an analytical model of electron heating during the growth of the ion cyclotron instability, which we validate with PIC simulations. We find that for cold electrons (β0e <~ 2 me /mi , where β0e is the ratio of electron thermal pressure to magnetic pressure), the electron energy gain is controlled by the magnitude of the E-cross-B velocity induced by the ion cyclotron waves. This term is independent of the initial electron temperature, so it provides a solid energy floor even for electrons starting with extremely low temperatures. On the other hand, the electron energy gain for β0e >~ 2 me /mi —governed by the conservation of the particle magnetic moment in the growing fields of

  19. Magnetically Controlled Spasmodic Accretion during Star Formation. II. Results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tassis, Konstantinos; Mouschovias, Telemachos Ch.

    2005-01-01

    The problem of the late accretion phase of the evolution of an axisymmetric, isothermal magnetic disk surrounding a forming star has been formulated in a companion paper. The ``central sink approximation'' is used to circumvent the problem of describing the evolution inside the opaque central region for densities greater than 1011 cm-3 and radii smaller than a few AU. Only the electrons are assumed to be attached to the magnetic field lines, and the effects of both negatively and positively charged grains are accounted for. After a mass of 0.1 Msolar accumulates in the central cell (forming star), a series of magnetically driven outflows and associated outward-propagating shocks form in a quasi-periodic fashion. As a result, mass accretion onto the protostar occurs in magnetically controlled bursts. We refer to this process as spasmodic accretion. The shocks propagate outward with supermagnetosonic speeds. The period of dissipation and revival of the outflow decreases in time, as the mass accumulated in the central sink increases. We evaluate the contribution of ambipolar diffusion to the resolution of the magnetic flux problem of star formation during the accretion phase, and we find it to be very significant albeit not sufficient to resolve the entire problem yet. Ohmic dissipation is completely negligible in the disk during this phase of the evolution. The protostellar disk is found to be stable against interchange-like instabilities, despite the fact that the mass-to-flux ratio has temporary local maxima.

  20. Kinetic effects on turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability in black hole accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sharma, Prateek

    Many astrophysical objects (e.g., spiral galaxies, the solar system, Saturn's rings, and luminous disks around compact objects) occur in the form of a disk. One of the important astrophysical problems is to understand how rotationally supported disks lose angular momentum, and accrete towards the bottom of the gravitational potential, converting gravitational energy into thermal (and radiation) energy. The magnetorotational instability (MRI), an instability causing turbulent transport in ionized accretion disks, is studied in the kinetic regime. Kinetic effects are important because radiatively inefficient accretion flows (RIAFs), like the one around the supermassive black hole in the center of our Galaxy, are collisionless. The ion Larmor radius is tiny compared to the scale of MHD turbulence so that the drift kinetic equation (DKE), obtained by averaging the Vlasov equation over the fast gyromotion, is appropriate for evolving the distribution function. The kinetic MHD formalism, based on the moments of the DKE, is used for linear and nonlinear studies. A Landau fluid closure for parallel heat flux, which models kinetic effects like collisionless damping, is used to close the moment hierarchy. We show, that the kinetic MHD and drift kinetic formalisms give the same set of linear modes for a Keplerian disk. The BGK collision operator is used to study the transition of the MRI from kinetic to the MHD regime. The ZEUS MHD code is modified to include the key kinetic MHD terms: anisotropy, pressure tensor and anisotropic thermal conduction. The modified code is used to simulate the collisionless MRI in a local shearing box. As magnetic field is amplified by the MRI, pressure anisotropy ( p [perpendicular] > p || ) is created because of the adiabatic invariance (m 0( p [perpendicular] / B ). Larmor radius scale instabilities---mirror, ion-cyclotron, and firehose---are excited even at small pressure anisotropies (D p/p ~ 1/b). Pressure isotropization due to pitch angle

  1. Stability of stagnation via an expanding accretion shock wave

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Velikovich, A. L.; Murakami, M.; Taylor, B. D.; Giuliani, J. L.; Zalesak, S. T.; Iwamoto, Y.

    2016-05-01

    Stagnation of a cold plasma streaming to the center or axis of symmetry via an expanding accretion shock wave is ubiquitous in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and high-energy-density plasma physics, the examples ranging from plasma flows in x-ray-generating Z pinches [Maron et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 035001 (2013)] to the experiments in support of the recently suggested concept of impact ignition in ICF [Azechi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 235002 (2009); Murakami et al., Nucl. Fusion 54, 054007 (2014)]. Some experimental evidence indicates that stagnation via an expanding shock wave is stable, but its stability has never been studied theoretically. We present such analysis for the stagnation that does not involve a rarefaction wave behind the expanding shock front and is described by the classic ideal-gas Noh solution in spherical and cylindrical geometry. In either case, the stagnated flow has been demonstrated to be stable, initial perturbations exhibiting a power-law, oscillatory or monotonic, decay with time for all the eigenmodes. This conclusion has been supported by our simulations done both on a Cartesian grid and on a curvilinear grid in spherical coordinates. Dispersion equation determining the eigenvalues of the problem and explicit formulas for the eigenfunction profiles corresponding to these eigenvalues are presented, making it possible to use the theory for hydrocode verification in two and three dimensions.

  2. Stability of stagnation via an expanding accretion shock wave

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Velikovich, A. L.; Giuliani, J. L.; Murakami, M.

    Stagnation of a cold plasma streaming to the center or axis of symmetry via an expanding accretion shock wave is ubiquitous in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and high-energy-density plasma physics, the examples ranging from plasma flows in x-ray-generating Z pinches [Maron et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 035001 (2013)] to the experiments in support of the recently suggested concept of impact ignition in ICF [Azechi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 235002 (2009); Murakami et al., Nucl. Fusion 54, 054007 (2014)]. Some experimental evidence indicates that stagnation via an expanding shock wave is stable, but its stability has never beenmore » studied theoretically. We present such analysis for the stagnation that does not involve a rarefaction wave behind the expanding shock front and is described by the classic ideal-gas Noh solution in spherical and cylindrical geometry. In either case, the stagnated flow has been demonstrated to be stable, initial perturbations exhibiting a power-law, oscillatory or monotonic, decay with time for all the eigenmodes. This conclusion has been supported by our simulations done both on a Cartesian grid and on a curvilinear grid in spherical coordinates. Dispersion equation determining the eigenvalues of the problem and explicit formulas for the eigenfunction profiles corresponding to these eigenvalues are presented, making it possible to use the theory for hydrocode verification in two and three dimensions.« less

  3. Photon Bubbles and the Vertical Structure of Accretion Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Begelman, Mitchell C.

    2006-06-01

    We consider the effects of ``photon bubble'' shock trains on the vertical structure of radiation pressure-dominated accretion disks. These density inhomogeneities are expected to develop spontaneously in radiation-dominated accretion disks where magnetic pressure exceeds gas pressure, even in the presence of magnetorotational instability (MRI). They increase the rate at which radiation escapes from the disk and may allow disks to exceed the Eddington limit by a substantial factor without blowing themselves apart. To refine our earlier analysis of photon bubble transport in accretion disks, we generalize the theory of photon bubbles to include the effects of finite optical depths and radiation damping. Modifications to the diffusion law at low τ tend to ``fill in'' the low-density regions of photon bubbles, while radiation damping inhibits the formation of photon bubbles at large radii, small accretion rates, and small heights above the equatorial plane. Accretion disks dominated by photon bubble transport may reach luminosities from 10 to >100 times the Eddington limit (LEdd), depending on the mass of the central object, while remaining geometrically thin. However, photon bubble-dominated disks with α-viscosity are subject to the same thermal and viscous instabilities that plague standard radiation pressure-dominated disks, suggesting that they may be intrinsically unsteady. Photon bubbles can lead to a ``core-halo'' vertical disk structure. In super-Eddington disks the halo forms the base of a wind, which carries away substantial energy and mass, but not enough to prevent the luminosity from exceeding LEdd. Photon bubble-dominated disks may have smaller color corrections than standard accretion disks of the same luminosity. They remain viable contenders for some ultraluminous X-ray sources and may play a role in the rapid growth of supermassive black holes at high redshift.

  4. Bondi or not Bondi: the impact of resolution on accretion and drag force modelling for supermassive black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beckmann, R. S.; Slyz, A.; Devriendt, J.

    2018-07-01

    Whilst in galaxy-size simulations, supermassive black holes (SMBHs) are entirely handled by sub-grid algorithms, computational power now allows the accretion radius of such objects to be resolved in smaller scale simulations. In this paper, we investigate the impact of resolution on two commonly used SMBH sub-grid algorithms; the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) formula for accretion on to a point mass, and the related estimate of the drag force exerted on to a point mass by a gaseous medium. We find that when the accretion region around the black hole scales with resolution, and the BHL formula is evaluated using local mass-averaged quantities, the accretion algorithm smoothly transitions from the analytic BHL formula (at low resolution) to a supply-limited accretion scheme (at high resolution). However, when a similar procedure is employed to estimate the drag force, it can lead to significant errors in its magnitude, and/or apply this force in the wrong direction in highly resolved simulations. At high Mach numbers and for small accretors, we also find evidence of the advective-acoustic instability operating in the adiabatic case, and of an instability developing around the wake's stagnation point in the quasi-isothermal case. Moreover, at very high resolution, and Mach numbers above M_∞ ≥ 3, the flow behind the accretion bow shock becomes entirely dominated by these instabilities. As a result, accretion rates on to the black hole drop by about an order of magnitude in the adiabatic case, compared to the analytic BHL formula.

  5. Bondi or not Bondi: the impact of resolution on accretion and drag force modelling for Supermassive Black Holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Beckmann, R. S.; Slyz, A.; Devriendt, J.

    2018-04-01

    Whilst in galaxy-size simulations, supermassive black holes (SMBH) are entirely handled by sub-grid algorithms, computational power now allows the accretion radius of such objects to be resolved in smaller scale simulations. In this paper, we investigate the impact of resolution on two commonly used SMBH sub-grid algorithms; the Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) formula for accretion onto a point mass, and the related estimate of the drag force exerted onto a point mass by a gaseous medium. We find that when the accretion region around the black hole scales with resolution, and the BHL formula is evaluated using local mass-averaged quantities, the accretion algorithm smoothly transitions from the analytic BHL formula (at low resolution) to a supply limited accretion (SLA) scheme (at high resolution). However, when a similar procedure is employed to estimate the drag force it can lead to significant errors in its magnitude, and/or apply this force in the wrong direction in highly resolved simulations. At high Mach numbers and for small accretors, we also find evidence of the advective-acoustic instability operating in the adiabatic case, and of an instability developing around the wake's stagnation point in the quasi-isothermal case. Moreover, at very high resolution, and Mach numbers above M_∞ ≥ 3, the flow behind the accretion bow shock becomes entirely dominated by these instabilities. As a result, accretion rates onto the black hole drop by about an order of magnitude in the adiabatic case, compared to the analytic BHL formula.

  6. shock driven instability of a multi-phase particle-gas system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McFarland, Jacob; Black, Wolfgang; Dahal, Jeevan; Morgan, Brandon

    2015-11-01

    A computational study of a shock driven instability of a multiphse particle-gas system is presented. This instability can evolve in a similar fashion to the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability, but has addition parameters to be considered. Particle relaxation times, and density differences of the gas and particle-gas system can be adjusted to produce results which are different from the classical RM instability. We will show simulation results from the Ares code, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which uses a particle-in-cell approach to study the effects of the particle-gas system parameters. Mixing parameters will be presented to highlight the suppression of circulation and gas mixing by the particle phase.

  7. Can the magnetic field in the Orion arm inhibit the growth of instabilities in the bow shock of Betelgeuse?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    van Marle, A. J.; Decin, L.; Meliani, Z.

    2014-01-01

    Context. Many evolved stars travel through space at supersonic velocities, which leads to the formation of bow shocks ahead of the star where the stellar wind collides with the interstellar medium (ISM). Herschel observations of the bow shock of α-Orionis show that the shock is almost free of instabilities, despite being, at least in theory, subject to both Kelvin-Helmholtz and Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities. Aims: A possible explanation for the lack of instabilities lies in the presence of an interstellar magnetic field. We wish to investigate whether the magnetic field of the ISM in the Orion arm can inhibit the growth of instabilities in the bow shock of α-Orionis. Methods: We used the code MPI-AMRVAC to make magneto-hydrodynamic simulations of a circumstellar bow shock, using the wind parameters derived for α-Orionis and interstellar magnetic field strengths of B = 1.4, 3.0, and 5.0 μG, which fall within the boundaries of the observed magnetic field strength in the Orion arm of the Milky Way. Results: Our results show that even a relatively weak magnetic field in the ISM can suppress the growth of Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, which occur along the contact discontinuity between the shocked wind and the shocked ISM. Conclusions: The presence of even a weak magnetic field in the ISM effectively inhibits the growth of instabilities in the bow shock. This may explain the absence of such instabilities in the Herschel observations of α-Orionis. Appendix A and associated movies are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

  8. Suppression of the multi-azimuthal-angle instability in dense neutrino gas during supernova accretion phase

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chakraborty, Sovan; Mirizzi, Alessandro; Saviano, Ninetta; Seixas, David de Sousa

    2014-05-01

    It has been recently pointed out that by removing the axial symmetry in the "multi-angle effects" associated with the neutrino-neutrino interactions for supernova (SN) neutrinos a new multi-azimuthal-angle (MAA) instability would arise. In particular, for a flux ordering Fνe>Fν ¯e>Fνx, as expected during the SN accretion phase, this instability occurs in the normal neutrino mass hierarchy. However, during this phase, the ordinary matter density can be larger than the neutrino one, suppressing the self-induced conversions. In this regard, we investigate the matter suppression of the MAA effects, performing a linearized stability analysis of the neutrino equations of motion, in the presence of realistic SN density profiles. We compare these results with the numerical solution of the SN neutrino nonlinear evolution equations. Assuming axially symmetric distributions of neutrino momenta, we find that the large matter term strongly inhibits the MAA effects. In particular, the hindrance becomes stronger including realistic forward-peaked neutrino angular distributions. As a result, in our model for a 10.8 M⊙ iron-core SNe, MAA instability does not trigger any flavor conversion during the accretion phase. Instead, for a 8.8 M⊙ O-Ne-Mg core SN model, with lower matter density profile and less forward-peaked angular distributions, flavor conversions are possible also at early times.

  9. INSTABILITY OF NON-UNIFORM TOROIDAL MAGNETIC FIELDS IN ACCRETION DISKS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hirabayashi, Kota; Hoshino, Masahiro, E-mail: hirabayashi-k@eps.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp

    We present a new type of instability that is expected to drive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence from a purely toroidal magnetic field in an accretion disk. It is already known that in a differentially rotating system, the uniform toroidal magnetic field is unstable due to magnetorotational instability (MRI) under a non-axisymmetric and vertical perturbation, while it is stable under a purely vertical perturbation. Contrary to the previous study, this paper proposes an unstable mode completely confined to the equatorial plane, driven by the expansive nature of the magnetic pressure gradient force under a non-uniform toroidal field. The basic nature of thismore » growing eigenmode, which we name “magneto-gradient driven instability,” is studied using linear analysis, and the corresponding nonlinear evolution is then investigated using two-dimensional ideal MHD simulations. Although a single localized magnetic field channel alone cannot provide sufficient Maxwell stress to contribute significantly to the angular momentum transport, we find that the mode coupling between neighboring toroidal fields under multiple localized magnetic field channels drastically generates a highly turbulent state and leads to the enhanced transport of angular momentum, which is comparable to the efficiency seen in previous studies on MRIs. This horizontally confined mode may play an important role in the saturation of an MRI through complementray growth with the toroidal MRIs and coupling with magnetic reconnection.« less

  10. Instability of Non-uniform Toroidal Magnetic Fields in Accretion Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hirabayashi, Kota; Hoshino, Masahiro

    2016-05-01

    We present a new type of instability that is expected to drive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence from a purely toroidal magnetic field in an accretion disk. It is already known that in a differentially rotating system, the uniform toroidal magnetic field is unstable due to magnetorotational instability (MRI) under a non-axisymmetric and vertical perturbation, while it is stable under a purely vertical perturbation. Contrary to the previous study, this paper proposes an unstable mode completely confined to the equatorial plane, driven by the expansive nature of the magnetic pressure gradient force under a non-uniform toroidal field. The basic nature of this growing eigenmode, which we name “magneto-gradient driven instability,” is studied using linear analysis, and the corresponding nonlinear evolution is then investigated using two-dimensional ideal MHD simulations. Although a single localized magnetic field channel alone cannot provide sufficient Maxwell stress to contribute significantly to the angular momentum transport, we find that the mode coupling between neighboring toroidal fields under multiple localized magnetic field channels drastically generates a highly turbulent state and leads to the enhanced transport of angular momentum, which is comparable to the efficiency seen in previous studies on MRIs. This horizontally confined mode may play an important role in the saturation of an MRI through complementray growth with the toroidal MRIs and coupling with magnetic reconnection.

  11. Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in shock-flame interactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Massa, Luca; Pallav Jha Collaboration

    2011-11-01

    Shock-flame interactions occur in supersonic mixing and detonation formation. Therefore, their analysis is important to explosion safety, internal combustion engine performance, and supersonic combustor design. The fundamental process at the basis of the interaction is the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability supported by the density difference between burnt and fresh mixtures. In the present study we analyze the effect of reactivity on the Richtmyer- Meshkov instability with particular emphasis on combustion lengths that typify the scaling between perturbation growth and induction. The results of the present linear analysis study show that reactivity changes the perturbation growth rate by developing a non-zero pressure gradient at the flame surface. The baroclinic torque based on the density gradient across the flame acts to slow down the instability growth for high wave numbers. A non-hydrodynamic flame representation leads to the definition of an additional scaling Peclet number, the effects of which are investigated. It is found that an increased flame-contact separation destabilizes the contact discontinuity by augmenting the tangential shear.

  12. Simulations of Rayleigh Taylor Instabilities in the presence of a Strong Radiative shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Trantham, Matthew; Kuranz, Carolyn; Shvarts, Dov; Drake, R. P.

    2016-10-01

    Recent Supernova Rayleigh Taylor experiments on the National Ignition Facility (NIF) are relevant to the evolution of core-collapse supernovae in which red supergiant stars explode. Here we report simulations of these experiments using the CRASH code. The CRASH code, developed at the University of Michigan to design and analyze high-energy-density experiments, is an Eulerian code with block-adaptive mesh refinement, multigroup diffusive radiation transport, and electron heat conduction. We explore two cases, one in which the shock is strongly radiative, and another with negligible radiation. The experiments in all cases produced structures at embedded interfaces by the Rayleigh Taylor instability. The weaker shocked environment is cooler and the instability grows classically. The strongly radiative shock produces a warm environment near the instability, ablates the interface, and alters the growth. We compare the simulated results with the experimental data and attempt to explain the differences. This work is funded by the NNSA-DS and SC-OFES Joint Program in High-Energy-Density Laboratory Plasmas, Grant Number DE-NA0002956.

  13. Gravitational Instabilities in Gaseous Protoplanetary Disks and Implications for Giant Planet Formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Durisen, R. H.; Boss, A. P.; Mayer, L.; Nelson, A. F.; Quinn, T.; Rice, W. K. M.

    Protoplanetary gas disks are likely to experience gravitational instabilities (GIs) during some phase of their evolution. Density perturbations in an unstable disk grow on a dynamic timescale into spiral arms that produce efficient outward transfer of angular momentum and inward transfer of mass through gravitational torques. In a cool disk with sufficiently rapid cooling, the spiral arms in an unstable disk form self-gravitating clumps. Whether gas giant protoplanets can form by such a disk instability process is the primary question addressed by this review. We discuss the wide range of calculations undertaken by ourselves and others using various numerical techniques, and we report preliminary results from a large multicode collaboration. Additional topics include triggering mechanisms for GIs, disk heating and cooling, orbital survival of dense clumps, interactions of solids with GI-driven waves and shocks, and hybrid scenarios where GIs facilitate core accretion. The review ends with a discussion of how well disk instability and core accretion fare in meeting observational constraints.

  14. Ion streaming instabilities with application to collisionless shock wave structure

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Golden, K. I.; Linson, L. M.; Mani, S. A.

    1973-01-01

    The electromagnetic dispersion relation for two counterstreaming ion beams of arbitrary relative strength flowing parallel to a dc magnetic field is derived. The beams flow through a stationary electron background and the dispersion relation in the fluid approximation is unaffected by the electron thermal pressure. The dispersion relation is solved with a zero net current condition applied and the regions of instability in the k-U space (U is the relative velocity between the two ion beams) are presented. The parameters are then chosen to be applicable for parallel shocks. It was found that unstable waves with zero group velocity in the shock frame can exist near the leading edge of the shock for upstream Alfven Mach numbers greater than 5.5. It is suggested that this mechanism could generate sufficient turbulence within the shock layer to scatter the incoming ions and create the required dissipation for intermediate strength shocks.

  15. Linear analysis on the growth of non-spherical perturbations in supersonic accretion flows

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Takahashi, Kazuya; Yamada, Shoichi, E-mail: ktakahashi@heap.phys.waseda.ac.jp

    We analyzed the growth of non-spherical perturbations in supersonic accretion flows. We have in mind an application to the post-bounce phase of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe). Such non-spherical perturbations have been suggested by a series of papers by Arnett, who has numerically investigated violent convections in the outer layers of pre-collapse stars. Moreover, Couch and Ott demonstrated in their numerical simulations that such perturbations may lead to a successful supernova even for a progenitor that fails to explode without fluctuations. This study investigated the linear growth of perturbations during the infall onto a stalled shock wave. The linearized equations are solvedmore » as an initial and boundary value problem with the use of a Laplace transform. The background is a Bondi accretion flow whose parameters are chosen to mimic the 15 M {sub ☉} progenitor model by Woosley and Heger, which is supposed to be a typical progenitor of CCSNe. We found that the perturbations that are given at a large radius grow as they flow down to the shock radius; the density perturbations can be amplified by a factor of 30, for example. We analytically show that the growth rate is proportional to l, the index of the spherical harmonics. We also found that the perturbations oscillate in time with frequencies that are similar to those of the standing accretion shock instability. This may have an implication for shock revival in CCSNe, which will be investigated in our forthcoming paper in more detail.« less

  16. On physical and numerical instabilities arising in simulations of non-stationary radiatively cooling shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Badjin, D. A.; Glazyrin, S. I.; Manukovskiy, K. V.; Blinnikov, S. I.

    2016-06-01

    We describe our modelling of the radiatively cooling shocks and their thin shells with various numerical tools in different physical and calculational setups. We inspect structure of the dense shell, its formation and evolution, pointing out physical and numerical factors that sustain its shape and also may lead to instabilities. We have found that under certain physical conditions, the circular shaped shells show a strong bending instability and successive fragmentation on Cartesian grids soon after their formation, while remain almost unperturbed when simulated on polar meshes. We explain this by physical Rayleigh-Taylor-like instabilities triggered by corrugation of the dense shell surfaces by numerical noise. Conditions for these instabilities follow from both the shell structure itself and from episodes of transient acceleration during re-establishing of dynamical pressure balance after sudden radiative cooling onset. They are also easily excited by physical perturbations of the ambient medium. The widely mentioned non-linear thin shell instability, in contrast, in tests with physical perturbations is shown to have only limited chances to develop in real radiative shocks, as it seems to require a special spatial arrangement of fluctuations to be excited efficiently. The described phenomena also set new requirements on further simulations of the radiatively cooling shocks in order to be physically correct and free of numerical artefacts.

  17. Modelling accretion disc and stellar wind interactions: the case of Sgr A.

    PubMed

    Christie, I M; Petropoulou, M; Mimica, P; Giannios, D

    2016-07-01

    Sgr A* is an ideal target to study low-luminosity accreting systems. It has been recently proposed that properties of the accretion flow around Sgr A* can be probed through its interactions with the stellar wind of nearby massive stars belonging to the S-cluster. When a star intercepts the accretion disc, the ram and thermal pressures of the disc terminate the stellar wind leading to the formation of a bow shock structure. Here, a semi-analytical model is constructed which describes the geometry of the termination shock formed in the wind. With the employment of numerical hydrodynamic simulations, this model is both verified and extended to a region prone to Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. Because the characteristic wind and stellar velocities are in ∼10 8  cm s -1 range, the shocked wind may produce detectable X-rays via thermal bremsstrahlung emission. The application of this model to the pericentre passage of S2, the brightest member of the S-cluster, shows that the shocked wind produces roughly a month long X-ray flare with a peak luminosity of L ≈ 4 × 10 33  erg s -1 for a stellar mass-loss rate, disc number density, and thermal pressure strength of [Formula: see text], n d  = 10 5  cm -3 , and α = 0.1, respectively. This peak luminosity is comparable to the quiescent X-ray emission detected from Sgr A* and is within the detection capabilities of current X-ray observatories. Its detection could constrain the density and thickness of the disc at a distance of ∼3000 gravitational radii from the supermassive black hole.

  18. DETECTION OF A COOL, ACCRETION-SHOCK-GENERATED X-RAY PLASMA IN EX LUPI DURING THE 2008 OPTICAL ERUPTION

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Teets, William K.; Weintraub, David A.; Kastner, Joel H.

    2012-11-20

    EX Lupi is the prototype for a class of young, pre-main-sequence stars which are observed to undergo irregular, presumably accretion-generated, optical outbursts that result in a several magnitude rise of the optical flux. EX Lupi was observed to optically erupt in 2008 January, triggering Chandra ACIS Target of Opportunity observations shortly thereafter. We find very strong evidence that most of the X-ray emission in the first few months after the optical outburst is generated by accretion of circumstellar material onto the stellar photosphere. Specifically, we find a strong correlation between the decreasing optical and X-ray fluxes following the peak ofmore » the outburst in the optical, which suggests that these observed declines in both the optical and X-ray fluxes are the result of declining accretion rate. In addition, in our models of the X-ray spectrum, we find strong evidence for a {approx}0.4 keV plasma component, as expected for accretion shocks on low-mass, pre-main-sequence stars. From 2008 March through October, this cool plasma component appeared to fade as EX Lupi returned to its quiescent level in the optical, consistent with a decrease in the overall emission measure of accretion-shock-generated plasma. The overall small increase of the X-ray flux during the optical outburst of EX Lupi is similar to what was observed in previous X-ray observations of the 2005 optical outburst of the EX Lupi-type star V1118 Ori but contrasts with the large increase of the X-ray flux from the erupting young star V1647 Ori during its 2003 and 2008 optical outbursts.« less

  19. Detection of a Cool, Accretion-Shock-Generated X-Ray Plasma in EX Lupi During the 2008 Optical Eruption

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Teets, William K.; Weintraub, David A.; Kastner, Joel H.; Grosso, Nicholas; Hamaguchi, Kenji; Richmond, Michael

    2012-01-01

    EX Lupi is the prototype for a class of young, pre-main-sequence stars which are observed to undergo irregular, presumably accretion-generated, optical outbursts that result in a several magnitude rise of the optical flux. EX Lupi was observed to optically erupt in 2008 January, triggering Chandra ACIS Target of Opportunity observations shortly thereafter. We find very strong evidence that most of the X-ray emission in the first few months after the optical outburst is generated by accretion of circumstellar material onto the stellar photosphere. Specifically, we find a strong correlation between the decreasing optical and X-ray fluxes following the peak of the outburst in the optical, which suggests that these observed declines in both the optical and X-ray fluxes are the result of declining accretion rate. In addition, in our models of the X-ray spectrum, we find strong evidence for an approx 0.4 keV plasma component, as expected for accretion shocks on low-mass, pre-main-sequence stars. From 2008 March through October, this cool plasma component appeared to fade as EX Lupi returned to its quiescent level in the optical, consistent with a decrease in the overall emission measure of accretion-shock-generated plasma. The overall small increase of the X-ray flux during the optical outburst of EX Lupi is similar to what was observed in previous X-ray observations of the 2005 optical outburst of the EX Lupi-type star V1118 Ori but contrasts with the large increase of the X-ray flux from the erupting young star V1647 Ori during its 2003 and 2008 optical outbursts.

  20. Are cosmological gas accretion streams multiphase and turbulent?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cornuault, Nicolas; Lehnert, Matthew D.; Boulanger, François; Guillard, Pierre

    2018-03-01

    Simulations of cosmological filamentary accretion reveal flows ("streams") of warm gas, T 104 K, which bring gas into galaxies efficiently. We present a phenomenological scenario in which gas in such flows, if it is shocked as it enters the halo as we assume and depending on the post-shock temperature, stream radius, its relative overdensity, and other factors, becomes biphasic and turbulent. We consider a collimated stream of warm gas that flows into a halo from an overdense filament of the cosmic web. The post-shock streaming gas expands because it has a higher pressure than the ambient halo gas and fragments as it cools. The fragmented stream forms a two phase medium: a warm cloudy phase embedded in hot post-shock gas. We argue that the hot phase sustains the accretion shock. During fragmentation, a fraction of the initial kinetic energy of the infalling gas is converted into turbulence among and within the warm clouds. The thermodynamic evolution of the post-shock gas is largely determined by the relative timescales of several processes. These competing timescales characterize the cooling, expansion of the post-shock gas, amount of turbulence in the clouds, and dynamical time of the halo. We expect the gas to become multiphase when the gas cooling and dynamical times are of the same order of magnitude. In this framework, we show that this mainly occurs in the mass range, Mhalo 1011 to 1013 M⊙, where the bulk of stars have formed in galaxies. Because of the expansion of the stream and turbulence, gas accreting along cosmic web filaments may eventually lose coherence and mix with the ambient halo gas. Through both the phase separation and "disruption" of the stream, the accretion efficiency onto a galaxy in a halo dynamical time is lowered. Decollimating flows make the direct interaction between galaxy feedback and accretion streams more likely, thereby further reducing the overall accretion efficiency. As we discuss in this work, moderating the gas accretion

  1. Local magnetohydrodynamic instabilities and the wave-driven dynamo in accretion disks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Vishniac, Ethan T.; Diamond, Patrick

    1992-01-01

    We consider the consequences of magnetic buoyancy and the magnetic shearing instability (MSI) on the strength and organization of the magnetic field in a thin accretion disk. We discuss a model in which the wave-driven dynamo growth rate is balanced by the dissipative effects of the MSI. As in earlier work, the net helicity is due to small advective motions driven by nonlinear interactions between internal waves. Assuming a simple model of the internal wave spectrum generated from the primary m = 1 internal waves, we find that the magnetic energy density saturates at about (H/r) exp 4/3 times the local pressure (where H is the disk thickness and r is its radius). On very small scales the shearing instability will produce an isotropic fluctuating field. For a stationary disk this is equivalent to a dimensionless 'viscosity' of about (H/r) exp 4/3. The vertical and radial diffusion coefficients will be comparable to each other. Magnetic buoyancy will be largely suppressed by the turbulence due to the MSI. We present a rough estimate of its effects and find that it removes magnetic flux from the disk at a rate comparable to that caused by turbulent diffusion.

  2. Computational study of the shock driven instability of a multiphase particle-gas system

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    None, None

    This paper considers the interaction of a shock wave with a multiphase particle-gas system which creates an instability somewhat similar to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability but with a larger parameter space. Because this parameter space is large, we only present an introductory survey of the effects of many of these parameters. We highlight the effects of particle-gas coupling, incident shock strength, particle size, effective system density differences, and multiple particle relaxation time effects. We focus on dilute flows with mass loading up to 40% and do not attempt to cover all parametric combinations. Instead, we vary one parameter at a timemore » leaving additional parametric combinations for future work. The simulations are run with the Ares code, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which uses a multiphase particulate transport method to model two-way momentum and energy coupling. A brief validation of these models is presented and coupling effects are explored. It is shown that even for small particles, on the order of 1μm, multi-phase coupling effects are important and diminish the circulation deposition on the interface by up to 25%. These coupling effects are shown to create large temperature deviations from the dusty gas approximation, up to 20% greater, especially at higher shock strengths. It is also found that for a multiphase instability, the vortex sheet deposited at the interface separates into two sheets. In conclusion, depending on the particle and particle-gas Atwood numbers, the instability may be suppressed or enhanced by the interactions of these two vortex sheets.« less

  3. Computational study of the shock driven instability of a multiphase particle-gas system

    DOE PAGES

    None, None

    2016-02-01

    This paper considers the interaction of a shock wave with a multiphase particle-gas system which creates an instability somewhat similar to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability but with a larger parameter space. Because this parameter space is large, we only present an introductory survey of the effects of many of these parameters. We highlight the effects of particle-gas coupling, incident shock strength, particle size, effective system density differences, and multiple particle relaxation time effects. We focus on dilute flows with mass loading up to 40% and do not attempt to cover all parametric combinations. Instead, we vary one parameter at a timemore » leaving additional parametric combinations for future work. The simulations are run with the Ares code, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which uses a multiphase particulate transport method to model two-way momentum and energy coupling. A brief validation of these models is presented and coupling effects are explored. It is shown that even for small particles, on the order of 1μm, multi-phase coupling effects are important and diminish the circulation deposition on the interface by up to 25%. These coupling effects are shown to create large temperature deviations from the dusty gas approximation, up to 20% greater, especially at higher shock strengths. It is also found that for a multiphase instability, the vortex sheet deposited at the interface separates into two sheets. In conclusion, depending on the particle and particle-gas Atwood numbers, the instability may be suppressed or enhanced by the interactions of these two vortex sheets.« less

  4. Computational study of the shock driven instability of a multiphase particle-gas system

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McFarland, Jacob A.; Black, Wolfgang J.; Dahal, Jeevan; Morgan, Brandon E.

    2016-02-01

    This paper considers the interaction of a shock wave with a multiphase particle-gas system which creates an instability similar in some ways to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability but with a larger parameter space. As this parameter space is large, we only present an introductory survey of the effects of many of these parameters. We highlight the effects of particle-gas coupling, incident shock strength, particle size, effective system density differences, and multiple particle relaxation time effects. We focus on dilute flows with mass loading up to 40% and do not attempt to cover all parametric combinations. Instead, we vary one parameter at a time leaving additional parametric combinations for future work. The simulations are run with the Ares code, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which uses a multiphase particulate transport method to model two-way momentum and energy coupling. A brief validation of these models is presented and coupling effects are explored. It is shown that even for small particles, on the order of 1 μm, multi-phase coupling effects are important and diminish the circulation deposition on the interface by up to 25%. These coupling effects are shown to create large temperature deviations from the dusty gas approximation, up to 20% greater, especially at higher shock strengths. It is also found that for a multiphase instability, the vortex sheet deposited at the interface separates into two sheets. Depending on the particle and particle-gas Atwood numbers, the instability may be suppressed or enhanced by the interactions of these two vortex sheets.

  5. Study of magnetized accretion flow with variable Γ equation of state

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Singh, Kuldeep; Chattopadhyay, Indranil

    2018-05-01

    We present here the solutions of magnetized accretion flow on to a compact object with hard surface such as neutron stars. The magnetic field of the central star is assumed dipolar and the magnetic axis is assumed to be aligned with the rotation axis of the star. We have used an equation of state for the accreting fluid in which the adiabatic index is dependent on temperature and composition of the flow. We have also included cooling processes like bremsstrahlung and cyclotron processes in the accretion flow. We found all possible accretion solutions. All accretion solutions terminate with a shock very near to the star surface and the height of this primary shock does not vary much with either the spin period or the Bernoulli parameter of the flow, although the strength of the shock may vary with the period. For moderately rotating central star, there is possible formation of multiple sonic points in the flow and therefore, a second shock far away from the star surface may also form. However, the second shock is much weaker than the primary one near the surface. We found that if rotation period is below a certain value (P*), then multiple critical points or multiple shocks are not possible and P* depends upon the composition of the flow. We also found that cooling effect dominates after the shock and that the cyclotron and the bremsstrahlung cooling processes should be considered to obtain a consistent accretion solution.

  6. Spherical accretion in giant elliptical galaxies: multi-transonicity, shocks, and implications on AGN feedback

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Raychaudhuri, Sananda; Ghosh, Shubhrangshu; Joarder, Partha S.

    2018-06-01

    Isolated massive elliptical galaxies, or that are present at the center of cool-core clusters, are believed to be powered by hot gas accretion directly from their surrounding hot X-ray emitting gaseous medium. This leads to a giant Bondi-type spherical/quasi-spherical accretion flow onto their host SMBHs, with the accretion flow region extending well beyond the Bondi radius. In this work, we present a detailed study of Bondi-type spherical flow in the context of these massive ellipticals by incorporating the effect of entire gravitational potential of the host galaxy in the presence of cosmological constant Λ, considering a five-component galactic system (SMBH + stellar + dark matter + hot gas + Λ). The current work is an extension of Ghosh & Banik (2015), who studied only the cosmological aspect of the problem. The galactic contribution to the potential renders the (adiabatic) spherical flow to become multi-transonic in nature, with the flow topology and flow structure significantly deviating from that of classical Bondi solution. More notably, corresponding to moderate to higher values of galactic mass-to-light ratios, we obtain Rankine-Hugoniot shocks in spherical wind flows. Galactic potential enhances the Bondi accretion rate. Our study reveals that there is a strict lower limit of ambient temperature below which no Bondi accretion can be triggered; which is as high as ˜9 × 106 K for flows from hot ISM-phase, indicating that the hot phase tightly regulates the fueling of host nucleus. Our findings may have wider implications, particularly in the context of outflow/jet dynamics, and radio-AGN feedback, associated with these massive galaxies in the contemporary Universe.

  7. Accretion Makes a Splash on TW Hydrae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Brickhouse, N. S.

    2011-12-01

    The Chandra Large Program on the Classical T Tauri star TW Hydrae (489 ksec, obtained over the course of one month) brings a wealth of spectral diagnostics to the study of X-ray emission from a young star. The emission measure distribution shows two components separated by a gap (i.e. no emission measure in between). Light curves for the two components can then be constructed from the summed light curves of the appropriate individual lines. The two light curves show uncorrelated variability, with one large flare occurring only in the hot component. We associate the hotter component with the corona, since its peak temperature is ˜10 MK. Ne IX line ratio diagnostics for temperature and density indicate that the source of the cooler component is indeed the accretion shock, as originally reported by Kastner et al. (2002). The temperature and density of the accretion shock are in excellent agreement with models using mass accretion rates derived from the optical. We require a third component, which we call the "post-shock region," from line ratio diagnostics of O VII. The density derived from O VII is lower than the density derived from Ne IX, contrary to standard one-dimensional model expectations and from hydrodynamics simulations to date. The column densities derived from the two ions are also significantly different, with the column density from O VII lower than that from Ne IX. This post-shock region cannot be the settling flow expected from the cooling of the shock column, since its mass is 30 times the mass of material that passes through the shock. Instead this region is the splash of stellar atmosphere that has been hit by the accretion stream and heated by the accretion process (Brickhouse et al. 2010).

  8. Dissipative advective accretion disc solutions with variable adiabatic index around black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, Rajiv; Chattopadhyay, Indranil

    2014-10-01

    We investigated accretion on to black holes in presence of viscosity and cooling, by employing an equation of state with variable adiabatic index and multispecies fluid. We obtained the expression of generalized Bernoulli parameter which is a constant of motion for an accretion flow in presence of viscosity and cooling. We obtained all possible transonic solutions for a variety of boundary conditions, viscosity parameters and accretion rates. We identified the solutions with their positions in the parameter space of generalized Bernoulli parameter and the angular momentum on the horizon. We showed that a shocked solution is more luminous than a shock-free one. For particular energies and viscosity parameters, we obtained accretion disc luminosities in the range of 10- 4 - 1.2 times Eddington luminosity, and the radiative efficiency seemed to increase with the mass accretion rate too. We found steady state shock solutions even for high-viscosity parameters, high accretion rates and for wide range of composition of the flow, starting from purely electron-proton to lepton-dominated accretion flow. However, similar to earlier studies of inviscid flow, accretion shock was not obtained for electron-positron pair plasma.

  9. Redshifted X-rays from the material accreting onto TW Hydrae: Evidence of a low-latitude accretion spot

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Argiroffi, C.; Drake, J. J.; Bonito, R.; Orlando, S.; Peres, G.; Miceli, M.

    2017-10-01

    Context. High resolution spectroscopy, providing constraints on plasma motions and temperatures, is a powerful means to investigate the structure of accretion streams in classical T Tauri stars (CTTS). In particular, the accretion shock region, where the accreting material is heated to temperatures of a few million degrees as it continues its inward bulk motion, can be probed by X-ray spectroscopy. Aims: In an attempt to detect for the first time the motion of this X-ray-emitting post-shock material, we searched for a Doppler shift in the deep Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating observation of the CTTS TW Hya. This test should unveil the nature of this X-ray emitting plasma component in CTTS and constrain the accretion stream geometry. Methods: We searched for a Doppler shift in the X-ray emission from TW Hya with two different methods: by measuring the position of a selected sample of emission lines and by fitting the whole TW Hya X-ray spectrum, allowing the line-of-sight velocity to vary. Results: We found that the plasma at T 2 - 4 MK has a line-of-sight velocity of 38.3 ± 5.1 km s-1 with respect to the stellar photosphere. This result definitively confirms that this X-ray-emitting material originates in the post-shock region, at the base of the accretion stream, and not in coronal structures. The comparison of the observed velocity along the line of sight, 38.3 ± 5.1 km s-1, with the inferred intrinsic velocity of the post shock of TW Hya, vpost ≈ 110 - 120 km s-1, indicates that the footpoints of the accretion streams on TW Hya are located at low latitudes on the stellar surface. Conclusions: Our results indicate that complex magnetic field geometries, such as those of TW Hya, permit low-latitude accretion spots. Moreover, since on TW Hya the redshift of the soft X-ray emission is very similar to that of the narrow component of the C iv resonance doublet at 1550 Å, then the plasma at 2 - 4 MK and that at 0.1 MK likely originate in the same post-shock

  10. Properties of two-temperature dissipative accretion flow around black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dihingia, Indu K.; Das, Santabrata; Mandal, Samir

    2018-04-01

    We study the properties of two-temperature accretion flow around a non-rotating black hole in presence of various dissipative processes where pseudo-Newtonian potential is adopted to mimic the effect of general relativity. The flow encounters energy loss by means of radiative processes acted on the electrons and at the same time, flow heats up as a consequence of viscous heating effective on ions. We assumed that the flow is exposed with the stochastic magnetic fields that leads to Synchrotron emission of electrons and these emissions are further strengthen by Compton scattering. We obtain the two-temperature global accretion solutions in terms of dissipation parameters, namely, viscosity (α) and accretion rate ({\\dot{m}}), and find for the first time in the literature that such solutions may contain standing shock waves. Solutions of this kind are multitransonic in nature, as they simultaneously pass through both inner critical point (xin) and outer critical point (xout) before crossing the black hole horizon. We calculate the properties of shock-induced global accretion solutions in terms of the flow parameters. We further show that two-temperature shocked accretion flow is not a discrete solution, instead such solution exists for wide range of flow parameters. We identify the effective domain of the parameter space for standing shock and observe that parameter space shrinks as the dissipation is increased. Since the post-shock region is hotter due to the effect of shock compression, it naturally emits hard X-rays, and therefore, the two-temperature shocked accretion solution has the potential to explain the spectral properties of the black hole sources.

  11. Droplet and multiphase effects in a shock-driven hydrodynamic instability with reshock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Middlebrooks, John B.; Avgoustopoulos, Constantine G.; Black, Wolfgang J.; Allen, Roy C.; McFarland, Jacob A.

    2018-06-01

    Shock-driven multiphase instabilities (SDMI) are unique physical phenomena that have far-reaching applications in engineering and science such as high energy explosions, scramjet combustors, and supernovae events. The SDMI arises when a multiphase field is impulsively accelerated by a shock wave and evolves as a result of gradients in particle-gas momentum transfer. A new shock tube facility has been constructed to study the SDMI. Experiments were conducted to investigate liquid particle and multiphase effects in the SDMI. A multiphase cylindrical interface was created with water droplet laden air in our horizontal shock tube facility. The interface was accelerated by a Mach 1.66 shock wave, and its reflection from the end wall. The interface development was captured using laser illumination and a high-resolution CCD camera. Laser interferometry was used to determine the droplet size distribution. A particle filtration technique was used to determine mass loading within an interface and verify particle size distribution. The effects of particle number density, particle size, and a secondary acceleration (reshock) of the interface were noted. Particle number density effects were found comparable to Atwood number effects in the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability for small (˜ 1.7 {μ }m) droplets. Evaporation was observed to alter droplet sizes and number density, markedly after reshock. For large diameter droplets (˜ 10.7 {μ }m), diminished development was observed with larger droplets lagging far behind the interface. These lagging droplets were also observed to breakup after reshock into structured clusters of smaller droplets. Mixing width values were reported to quantify mixing effects seen in images.

  12. Dynamical structure of magnetized dissipative accretion flow around black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sarkar, Biplob; Das, Santabrata

    2016-09-01

    We study the global structure of optically thin, advection dominated, magnetized accretion flow around black holes. We consider the magnetic field to be turbulent in nature and dominated by the toroidal component. With this, we obtain the complete set of accretion solutions for dissipative flows where bremsstrahlung process is regarded as the dominant cooling mechanism. We show that rotating magnetized accretion flow experiences virtual barrier around black hole due to centrifugal repulsion that can trigger the discontinuous transition of the flow variables in the form of shock waves. We examine the properties of the shock waves and find that the dynamics of the post-shock corona (PSC) is controlled by the flow parameters, namely viscosity, cooling rate and strength of the magnetic field, respectively. We separate the effective region of the parameter space for standing shock and observe that shock can form for wide range of flow parameters. We obtain the critical viscosity parameter that allows global accretion solutions including shocks. We estimate the energy dissipation at the PSC from where a part of the accreting matter can deflect as outflows and jets. We compare the maximum energy that could be extracted from the PSC and the observed radio luminosity values for several supermassive black hole sources and the observational implications of our present analysis are discussed.

  13. Numerical Modeling of Tidal Effects in Polytropic Accretion Disks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Godon, Patrick

    1997-01-01

    A two-dimensional time-dependent hybrid Fourier-Chebyshev method of collocation is developed and used for the study of tidal effects in accretion disks, under the assumptions of a polytropic equation of state and a standard alpha viscosity prescription. Under the influence of the m = 1 azimuthal component of the tidal potential, viscous oscillations in the outer disk excite an m = 1 eccentric instability in the disk. While the m = 2 azimuthal component of the tidal potential excites a Papaloizou-Pringle instability in the inner disk (a saturated m = 2 azimuthal mode), with an elliptic pattern rotating at about a fraction (approx. = 1/3) of the local Keplerian velocity in the inner disk. The period of the elliptic mode corresponds well to the periods of the short-period oscillations observed in cataclysmic variables. In cold disks (r(Omega)/c(sub s) = M approx. = 40) we also find a critical value of the viscosity parameter (alpha approx. = 0.01), below which shock dissipation dominates and is balanced by the wave amplification due to the wave action conservation. In this case the double spiral shock propagates all the way to the inner boundary with a Mach number M(sub s) approx. = 1.3.

  14. Accretion dynamics of EX Lupi in quiescence. The star, the spot, and the accretion column

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sicilia-Aguilar, Aurora; Fang, Min; Roccatagliata, Veronica; Collier Cameron, Andrew; Kóspál, Ágnes; Henning, Thomas; Ábrahám, Peter; Sipos, Nikoletta

    2015-08-01

    Context. EX Lupi is a young, accreting M0 star and the prototype of EXor variable stars. Its spectrum is very rich in emission lines, including many metallic lines with narrow and broad components. The presence of a close companion has also been proposed, based on radial velocity signatures. Aims: We use the metallic emission lines to study the accretion structures and to test the companion hypothesis. Methods: We analyse 54 spectra obtained during five years of quiescence time. We study the line profile variability and the radial velocity of the narrow and broad metallic emission lines. We use the velocity signatures of different species with various excitation conditions and their time dependency to track the dynamics associated with accretion. Results: We observe periodic velocity variations in the broad and the narrow line components, consistent with rotational modulation. The modulation is stronger for lines with higher excitation potentials (e.g. He II), which are likely produced in a confined area very close to the accretion shock. Conclusions: We propose that the narrow line components are produced in the post-shock region, while the broad components originate in the more extended, pre-shock material in the accretion column. All the emission lines suffer velocity modulation due to the rotation of the star. The broad components are responsible for the line-dependent veiling observed in EX Lupi. We demonstrate that a rotationally modulated line-dependent veiling can explain the radial velocity signature of the photospheric absorption lines, making the close-in companion hypothesis unnecessary. The accretion structure is locked to the star and very stable during the five years of observations. Not all stars with similar spectral types and accretion rates show the same metallic emission lines, which could be related to differences in temperature and density in their accretion structure(s). The contamination of photospheric signatures by accretion

  15. RADIO TRANSIENTS FROM ACCRETION-INDUCED COLLAPSE OF WHITE DWARFS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Moriya, Takashi J., E-mail: takashi.moriya@nao.ac.jp

    2016-10-20

    We investigate observational properties of accretion-induced collapse (AIC) of white dwarfs (WDs) in radio frequencies. If AIC is triggered by accretion from a companion star, a dense circumstellar medium can be formed around the progenitor system. Then, the ejecta from AIC collide with the dense circumstellar medium, creating a strong shock. The strong shock can produce synchrotron emission that can be observed in radio frequencies. Even if AIC occurs as a result of WD mergers, we argue that AIC may cause fast radio bursts (FRBs) if a certain condition is satisfied. If AIC forms neutron stars (NSs) that are somore » massive that rotation is required to support themselves (i.e., supramassive NSs), the supramassive NSs may immediately lose their rotational energy by the r-mode instability and collapse to black holes. If the collapsing supramassive NSs are strongly magnetized, they may emit FRBs, as previously proposed. The AIC radio transients from single-degenerate systems may be detected in future radio transient surveys like the Very Large Array Sky Survey or the Square Kilometer Array transient survey. Because AIC has been proposed as a source of gravitational waves (GWs), GWs from AIC may be accompanied by radio-bright transients that can be used to confirm the AIC origin of observed GWs.« less

  16. A PURE HYDRODYNAMIC INSTABILITY IN SHEAR FLOWS AND ITS APPLICATION TO ASTROPHYSICAL ACCRETION DISKS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Nath, Sujit Kumar; Mukhopadhyay, Banibrata, E-mail: sujitkumar@physics.iisc.ernet.in, E-mail: bm@physics.iisc.ernet.in

    2016-10-20

    We provide a possible resolution for the century-old problem of hydrodynamic shear flows, which are apparently stable in linear analysis but shown to be turbulent in astrophysically observed data and experiments. This mismatch is noticed in a variety of systems, from laboratory to astrophysical flows. There are so many uncountable attempts made so far to resolve this mismatch, beginning with the early work of Kelvin, Rayleigh, and Reynolds toward the end of the nineteenth century. Here we show that the presence of stochastic noise, whose inevitable presence should not be neglected in the stability analysis of shear flows, leads tomore » pure hydrodynamic linear instability therein. This explains the origin of turbulence, which has been observed/interpreted in astrophysical accretion disks, laboratory experiments, and direct numerical simulations. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first solution to the long-standing problem of hydrodynamic instability of Rayleigh-stable flows.« less

  17. Time-dependent Models of Magnetospheric Accretion onto Young Stars

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Robinson, C. E.; Espaillat, C. C.; Owen, J. E.

    Accretion onto Classical T Tauri stars is thought to take place through the action of magnetospheric processes, with gas in the inner disk being channeled onto the star’s surface by the stellar magnetic field lines. Young stars are known to accrete material in a time-variable manner, and the source of this variability remains an open problem, particularly on the shortest (∼day) timescales. Using one-dimensional time-dependent numerical simulations that follow the field line geometry, we find that for plausibly realistic young stars, steady-state transonic accretion occurs naturally in the absence of any other source of variability. However, we show that ifmore » the density in the inner disk varies smoothly in time with ∼day-long timescales (e.g., due to turbulence), this complication can lead to the development of shocks in the accretion column. These shocks propagate along the accretion column and ultimately hit the star, leading to rapid, large amplitude changes in the accretion rate. We argue that when these shocks hit the star, the observed time dependence will be a rapid increase in accretion luminosity, followed by a slower decline, and could be an explanation for some of the short-period variability observed in accreting young stars. Our one-dimensional approach bridges previous analytic work to more complicated multi-dimensional simulations and observations.« less

  18. Estimation of bipolar jets from accretion discs around Kerr black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kumar, Rajiv; Chattopadhyay, Indranil

    2017-08-01

    We analyse flows around a rotating black hole and obtain self-consistent accretion-ejection solutions in full general relativistic prescription. Entire energy-angular momentum parameter space is investigated in the advective regime to obtain shocked and shock-free accretion solutions. Jet equations of motion are solved along the von Zeipel surfaces computed from the post-shock disc, simultaneously with the equations of accretion disc along the equatorial plane. For a given spin parameter, the mass outflow rate increases as the shock moves closer to the black hole, but eventually decreases, maximizing at some intermediate value of shock location. Interestingly, we obtain all types of possible jet solutions, for example, steady shock solution with multiple critical points, bound solution with two critical points and smooth solution with single critical point. Multiple critical points may exist in jet solution for spin parameter as ≥ 0.5. The jet terminal speed generally increases if the accretion shock forms closer to the horizon and is higher for corotating black hole than the counter-rotating and the non-rotating one. Quantitatively speaking, shocks in jet may form for spin parameter as > 0.6 and jet shocks range between 6rg and 130rg above the equatorial plane, while the jet terminal speed vj∞ > 0.35 c if Bernoulli parameter E≥1.01 for as > 0.99.

  19. Robustness of the filamentation instability as shock mediator in arbitrarily oriented magnetic field

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bret, A.; Alvaro, E. Perez

    2011-08-15

    The filamentation instability (sometimes also referred to as ''Weibel'') is a key process in many astrophysical scenario. In the Fireball model for gamma ray bursts, this instability is believed to mediate collisionless shock formation from the collision of two plasma shells. It has been known for long that a flow aligned magnetic field can completely cancel this instability. We show here that in the general case where there is an angle between the field and the flow, the filamentation instability can never be stabilized, regardless of the field strength. The presented model analyzes the stability of two symmetric counter-streaming coldmore » electron/proton plasma shells. Relativistic effects are accounted for, and various exact analytical results are derived. This result guarantees the occurrence of the instability in realistic settings fulfilling the cold approximation.« less

  20. Growth rate of the linear Richtmyer-Meshkov instability when a shock is reflected

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wouchuk, J. G.

    2001-05-01

    An analytic model is presented to calculate the growth rate of the linear Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in the shock-reflected case. The model allows us to calculate the asymptotic contact surface perturbation velocity for any value of the incident shock intensity, arbitrary fluids compressibilities, and for any density ratio at the interface. The growth rate comes out as the solution of a system of two coupled functional equations and is expressed formally as an infinite series. The distinguishing feature of the procedure shown here is the high speed of convergence of the intermediate calculations. There is excellent agreement with previous linear simulations and experiments done in shock tubes.

  1. COULD COSMIC RAYS AFFECT INSTABILITIES IN THE TRANSITION LAYER OF NONRELATIVISTIC COLLISIONLESS SHOCKS?

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Stroman, Thomas; Pohl, Martin; Niemiec, Jacek

    2012-02-10

    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 themore » 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.« less

  2. N-BODY SIMULATION OF PLANETESIMAL FORMATION THROUGH GRAVITATIONAL INSTABILITY AND COAGULATION. II. ACCRETION MODEL

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Michikoshi, Shugo; Kokubo, Eiichiro; Inutsuka, Shu-ichiro, E-mail: michikoshi@cfca.j, E-mail: kokubo@th.nao.ac.j, E-mail: inutsuka@tap.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.j

    2009-10-01

    The gravitational instability of a dust layer is one of the scenarios for planetesimal formation. If the density of a dust layer becomes sufficiently high as a result of the sedimentation of dust grains toward the midplane of a protoplanetary disk, the layer becomes gravitationally unstable and spontaneously fragments into planetesimals. Using a shearing box method, we performed local N-body simulations of gravitational instability of a dust layer and subsequent coagulation without gas and investigated the basic formation process of planetesimals. In this paper, we adopted the accretion model as a collision model. A gravitationally bound pair of particles ismore » replaced by a single particle with the total mass of the pair. This accretion model enables us to perform long-term and large-scale calculations. We confirmed that the formation process of planetesimals is the same as that in the previous paper with the rubble pile models. The formation process is divided into three stages: the formation of nonaxisymmetric structures; the creation of planetesimal seeds; and their collisional growth. We investigated the dependence of the planetesimal mass on the simulation domain size. We found that the mean mass of planetesimals formed in simulations is proportional to L {sup 3/2} {sub y}, where L{sub y} is the size of the computational domain in the direction of rotation. However, the mean mass of planetesimals is independent of L{sub x} , where L{sub x} is the size of the computational domain in the radial direction if L{sub x} is sufficiently large. We presented the estimation formula of the planetesimal mass taking into account the simulation domain size.« less

  3. NIF laboratory astrophysics simulations investigating the effects of a radiative shock on hydrodynamic instabilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Angulo, A. A.; Kuranz, C. C.; Drake, R. P.; Huntington, C. M.; Park, H.-S.; Remington, B. A.; Kalantar, D.; MacLaren, S.; Raman, K.; Miles, A.; Trantham, Matthew; Kline, J. L.; Flippo, K.; Doss, F. W.; Shvarts, D.

    2016-10-01

    This poster will describe simulations based on results from ongoing laboratory astrophysics experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) relevant to the effects of radiative shock on hydrodynamically unstable surfaces. The experiments performed on NIF uniquely provide the necessary conditions required to emulate radiative shock that occurs in astrophysical systems. The core-collapse explosions of red supergiant stars is such an example wherein the interaction between the supernova ejecta and the circumstellar medium creates a region susceptible to Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instabilities. Radiative and nonradiative experiments were performed to show that R-T growth should be reduced by the effects of the radiative shocks that occur during this core-collapse. Simulations were performed using the radiation hydrodynamics code Hyades using the experimental conditions to find the mean interface acceleration of the instability and then further analyzed in the buoyancy drag model to observe how the material expansion contributes to the mix-layer growth. This work is funded by the NNSA-DS and SC-OFES Joint Program in High-Energy-Density Laboratory Plasmas under Grant Number DE-FG52-09NA29548.

  4. Viscous pulsational instability of the transonic region of isothermal geometrically thin accretion discs. I - Analytical results

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kato, Shoji; Honma, Fumio; Matsumoto, Ryoji

    1988-03-01

    Viscous instability of the transonic region of the conventional geometrically thin alpha-type accretion disks is examined analytically. For simplicity, isothermal disks and isothermal perturbations are assumed. It is found that when the value of alpha is larger than a critical value the disk is unstable against two types of perturbations. One is local propagating perturbations of inertial acoustic waves. Results suggest the possibility that unstable perturbations develop to overstable global oscillations which are restricted only in the innermost region of the disk. The other is standing growing perturbations localized just at the transonic point. The cause of these instabilities is that the azimuthal component of the Lagrangian velocity variation associated with the perturbations becomes in phase with the variation of the viscous stress force. Because of this phase matching work is done on perturbations, and they are amplified.

  5. Maximum initial growth-rate of strong-shock-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abarzhi, Snezhana I.; Bhowmich, Aklant K.; Dell, Zachary R.; Pandian, Arun; Stanic, Milos; Stellingwerf, Robert F.; Swisher, Nora C.

    2017-10-01

    We focus on classical problem of dependence on the initial conditions of the initial growth-rate of strong shocks driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) by developing a novel empirical model and by employing rigorous theories and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations to describe the simulations data with statistical confidence in a broad parameter regime. For given values of the shock strength, fluids' density ratio, and wavelength of the initial perturbation of the fluid interface, we find the maximum value of RMI initial growth-rate, the corresponding amplitude scale of the initial perturbation, and the maximum fraction of interfacial energy. This amplitude scale is independent of the shock strength and density ratio, and is characteristic quantity of RMI dynamics. We discover the exponential decay of the ratio of the initial and linear growth-rates of RMI with the initial perturbation amplitude that excellently agrees with available data. National Science Foundation, USA.

  6. Maximum initial growth-rate of strong-shock-driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abarzhi, Snezhana I.; Bhowmich, Aklant K.; Dell, Zachary R.; Pandian, Arun; Stanic, Milos; Stellingwerf, Robert F.; Swisher, Nora C.

    2017-11-01

    We focus on classical problem of dependence on the initial conditions of the initial growth-rate of strong shocks driven Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) by developing a novel empirical model and by employing rigorous theories and Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations to describe the simulations data with statistical confidence in a broad parameter regime. For given values of the shock strength, fluids' density ratio, and wavelength of the initial perturbation of the fluid interface, we find the maximum value of RMI initial growth-rate, the corresponding amplitude scale of the initial perturbation, and the maximum fraction of interfacial energy. This amplitude scale is independent of the shock strength and density ratio, and is characteristic quantity of RMI dynamics. We discover the exponential decay of the ratio of the initial and linear growth-rates of RMI with the initial perturbation amplitude that excellently agrees with available data. National Science Foundation, USA.

  7. Galactic Spiral Shocks with Thermal Instability in Vertically Stratified Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Chang-Goo; Kim, W.; Ostriker, E. C.

    2010-01-01

    Galactic spiral shocks are dominant morphological features and believed to be responsible for substructure formation of spiral arms in disk galaxies. They can also provide a large amount of kinetic energy for the interstellar gas by tapping the rotational energy. We use numerical hydrodynamic simulations to investigate dynamics and structure of spiral shocks with thermal instability in vertically stratified galactic disks. We initially consider an isothermal disk in vertical hydrostatic equilibrium and let it evolve under interstellar cooling and heating. Due to cooling and heating, the disk rapidly turns to a dense slab near the midplane surrounded by rarefied gas at high-altitude regions. The imposed stellar spiral potential develops a vertically curved shock that exhibits strong flapping motions along the direction perpendicular to the arm. The flows across the spiral shock are characterized by transitions from rarefied to dense phases at the shock and from dense to rarefied phases at the postshock expansion zone. The shock flapping motions stirs the disk, supplying the gas with random kinetic energy. For a model resembling the galactic disk near the solar neighborhood, the density-weighted vertical velocity dispersions are 2 km/s for the rarefied gas and 1 km/s for the dense gas. The shock compression in this model reduces an amount of the rarefied gas from 29% to 19% by mass. Despite the flapping motions, the time-averaged profiles of surface density are similar to those of the one-dimensional counterparts, and the vertical density distribution is overall consistent with effective hydrostatic equilibrium. When self-gravity is included, the shock compression forms large gravitationally bound condensations with virial ratio of about 2 and typical masses of 0.5 to one million solar masses, comparable to the Jeans mass.

  8. Estimation of mass outflow rates from viscous relativistic accretion discs around black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chattopadhyay, Indranil; Kumar, Rajiv

    2016-07-01

    We investigated flow in Schwarzschild metric, around a non-rotating black hole and obtained self-consistent accretion-ejection solution in full general relativity. We covered the whole of parameter space in the advective regime to obtain shocked, as well as, shock-free accretion solution. We computed the jet streamline using von Zeipel surfaces and projected the jet equations of motion on to the streamline and solved them simultaneously with the accretion disc equations of motion. We found that steady shock cannot exist beyond α ≳ 0.06 in the general relativistic prescription, but is lower if mass-loss is considered too. We showed that for fixed outer boundary, the shock moves closer to the horizon with increasing viscosity parameter. The mass outflow rate increases as the shock moves closer to the black hole, but eventually decreases, maximizing at some intermediate value of shock location. The jet terminal speed increases with stronger shocks; quantitatively speaking, the terminal speed of jets vj∞ > 0.1 if rsh < 20rg. The maximum of the outflow rate obtained in the general relativistic regime is less than 6 per cent of the mass accretion rate.

  9. Supermassive black hole formation by cold accretion shocks in the first galaxies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Inayoshi, Kohei; Omukai, Kazuyuki

    2012-05-01

    We propose a new scenario for supermassive star (SMS: >rsim 105 M⊙) formation in shocked regions of colliding cold accretion flows near the centres of the first galaxies. Recent numerical simulations indicate that assembly of a typical first galaxy with virial temperature Tvir≳104 K proceeds via cold and dense flows penetrating deep to the centre, where supersonic streams collide with each other to develop a hot (˜104 K) and dense (˜103 cm-3) shocked gas. The post-shock layer first cools by efficient Lyα emission and contracts isobarically until ≃8000 K. Whether the layer continues its isobaric contraction depends on the density at this moment: if the density is high enough to excite H2 rovibrational levels collisionally (>rsim 104 cm-3), enhanced H2 collisional dissociation suppresses the gas from cooling further. In this case, the layer fragments into massive (>rsim 105 M⊙) clouds, which collapse isothermally (˜8000 K) by Lyα cooling without subsequent fragmentation. As an outcome, SMSs are expected to form and eventually evolve into the seeds of supermassive black holes (SMBHs). By calculating the thermal evolution of the post-shock gas, we delimit the range of post-shock conditions for SMS formation, which can be expressed as T≳6000 K (nH/104 cm-3)-1 for ? and T>rsim 5000 -6000 K for nH≳104 cm-3, depending somewhat on the initial ionization degree. We found that metal enrichment does not affect the above condition for metallicity below ≃10-3 Z⊙ if metals are in the gas phase, while condensation of several per cent of metals into dust decreases this critical value of metallicity by an order of magnitude. Unlike the previously proposed scenario for SMS formation, which postulates extremely strong ultraviolet radiation to quench H2 cooling, our scenario here naturally explains SMBH seed formation in the assembly process of the first galaxies, even without such strong radiation.

  10. Variability of accretion disks surrounding black holes: The role of inertial-acoustic mode instabilities

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Chen, Xingming; Taam, Ronald E.

    1995-01-01

    The global nonlinear time-dependent evolution of the inertial-acoustic mode instability in accretion disks surrounding black holes has been investigated. The viscous stress is assumed to be proportional to the gas pressure only, i.e., tau = alphap(sub g). It is found that an oscillatory nonsteady behavior exists in the inner regions of disks (r is less than 10r(sub g) where r(sub g) is the Schwarzschild radius) for sufficiently large alpha(greater than or approximately equal to 0.2) and for mass accretion rates less than about 0.3 times the Eddington value. The variations of the integrated bolometric luminosity from the disk, Delta L/L, are less than 3%. A power spectrum analysis of these variations reveals a power spectrum which can be fitted to a power-law function of the frequency Pis proportional to f(exp -gamma), with index gamma = 1.4-2.3 and a low-frequency feature at about 4 Hz in one case. In addition, a narrow peak centered at a frequency corresponding to the maximum epicyclic frequency of the disk at approximately 100-130 Hz and its first harmonic is also seen. The low-frequency modulations are remarkably similar to those observed in black hole candidate systems. The possible existence of a scattering corona in the inner region of the disk and/or other processes contributing to the power at high frequencies in the inner region of the accretion disk may make the detection of the high-frequency component difficult.

  11. Cooling of the magma ocean due to accretional disruption of the surface insulating layer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sasaki, Sho

    1992-01-01

    Planetary accretion has been considered as a process to heat planets. Some fraction of the kinetic energy of incoming planetesimals is trapped to heat the planetary interior (Kaula, 1979; Davies, 1984). Moreover, blanketing effect of a primary atmosphere (Hayashi et al., 1979; Sasaki, 1990) or a degassed atmosphere (Abe and Matsui, 1986; Zahnle et al., 1988) would raise the surface temperature of the Earth-size planets to be higher than the melting temperature. The primordial magma ocean was likely to be formed during accretion of terrestrial planets. In the magma ocean, if crystallized fractions were heavier than melt, they would sink. But if solidified materials were lighter than the melt (like anorthosite of the lunar early crust) they would float to form a solid shell surrounding the planet. (In an icy satellite, solidified water ice should easily float on liquid water because of its small density.) The surface solid lid would prevent efficient convective heat transfer and slow the interior cooling. Consider that the accretion of planetesimals still continues in this cooling stage. Shock disruption at planetesimal impact events may destroy the solid insulating layer. Even if the layer survives impacts, the surface layer is finally overturned by Rayleigh-Taylor instability, since accreting materials containing metals are heavier than the surface solidified lid of silicates.

  12. Accretion in Radiative Equipartition (AiRE) Disks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Yazdi, Yasaman K.; Afshordi, Niayesh, E-mail: yyazdi@pitp.ca, E-mail: nafshordi@pitp.ca

    2017-07-01

    Standard accretion disk theory predicts that the total pressure in disks at typical (sub-)Eddington accretion rates becomes radiation pressure dominated. However, radiation pressure dominated disks are thermally unstable. Since these disks are observed in approximate steady state over the instability timescale, our accretion models in the radiation-pressure-dominated regime (i.e., inner disk) need to be modified. Here, we present a modification to the Shakura and Sunyaev model, where the radiation pressure is in equipartition with the gas pressure in the inner region. We call these flows accretion in radiative equipartition (AiRE) disks. We introduce the basic features of AiRE disks andmore » show how they modify disk properties such as the Toomre parameter and the central temperature. We then show that the accretion rate of AiRE disks is limited from above and below, by Toomre and nodal sonic point instabilities, respectively. The former leads to a strict upper limit on the mass of supermassive black holes as a function of cosmic time (and spin), while the latter could explain the transition between hard and soft states of X-ray binaries.« less

  13. Accretion in Radiative Equipartition (AiRE) Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yazdi, Yasaman K.; Afshordi, Niayesh

    2017-07-01

    Standard accretion disk theory predicts that the total pressure in disks at typical (sub-)Eddington accretion rates becomes radiation pressure dominated. However, radiation pressure dominated disks are thermally unstable. Since these disks are observed in approximate steady state over the instability timescale, our accretion models in the radiation-pressure-dominated regime (I.e., inner disk) need to be modified. Here, we present a modification to the Shakura & Sunyaev model, where the radiation pressure is in equipartition with the gas pressure in the inner region. We call these flows accretion in radiative equipartition (AiRE) disks. We introduce the basic features of AiRE disks and show how they modify disk properties such as the Toomre parameter and the central temperature. We then show that the accretion rate of AiRE disks is limited from above and below, by Toomre and nodal sonic point instabilities, respectively. The former leads to a strict upper limit on the mass of supermassive black holes as a function of cosmic time (and spin), while the latter could explain the transition between hard and soft states of X-ray binaries.

  14. Stellar explosions from accreting white dwarfs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moore, Kevin L.

    Unstable thermonuclear burning on accreting white dwarfs (WDs) can lead to a wide variety of outcomes, and induce shock waves in several contexts. In classical and recurrent novae, a WD accreting hydrogen-rich material from a binary companion can experience thermonuclear runaways, ejecting mass into the interstellar/circumbinary environment at ~1000 km/s. This highly supersonic ejecta drives shock waves into the interstellar gas which may be relevant for sweeping out gas from globular clusters or forming circumstellar absorption regions in interacting supernovae. While runaway nuclear burning in novae releases enough energy for these objects to brighten by a factor of ~10 4 over roughly a weeklong outburst, it does not become dynamically unstable. In contrast, certain helium accretion scenarios may allow for dynamical burning modes, in part due to the higher temperature sensitivity of helium burning reactions and larger accreted envelopes. The majority of this thesis involves such dynamical burning modes, specifically detonations - shock waves sustained by nuclear energy release behind the shock front. We investigate when steady-state detonations are realizable in accreted helium layers on WDs, and model their strength and burning products using both semi-analytic and numerical models. We find the minimum helium layer thickness that will sustain a steady laterally propagating detonation and show that it depends on the density and composition of the helium layer, specifically 12 C and 16O. Though gravitationally unbound, the ashes still have unburned helium (~80% in the thinnest cases) and only reach up to heavy elements such as 40Ca, 44Ti, 48Cr, and 52Fe. It is rare for these thin shells to generate large amounts of radioactive isotopes necessary to power light curves, such as 56Ni. This has important implications on whether the unbound helium burning ashes may create faint and fast peculiar supernovae or events with virtually no radioactivity, as well as on off

  15. Particle force model effects in a shock-driven multiphase instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Black, W. J.; Denissen, N.; McFarland, J. A.

    2018-05-01

    This work presents simulations on a shock-driven multiphase instability (SDMI) at an initial particle volume fraction of 1% with the addition of a suite of particle force models applicable in dense flows. These models include pressure-gradient, added-mass, and interparticle force terms in an effort to capture the effects neighboring particles have in non-dilute flow regimes. Two studies are presented here: the first seeks to investigate the individual contributions of the force models, while the second study focuses on examining the effect of these force models on the hydrodynamic evolution of a SDMI with various particle relaxation times (particle sizes). In the force study, it was found that the pressure gradient and interparticle forces have little effect on the instability under the conditions examined, while the added-mass force decreases the vorticity deposition and alters the morphology of the instability. The relaxation-time study likewise showed a decrease in metrics associated with the evolution of the SDMI for all sizes when the particle force models were included. The inclusion of these models showed significant morphological differences in both the particle and carrier species fields, which increased as particle relaxation times increased.

  16. The Evolution of Gas Giant Entropy During Formation by Runaway Accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Berardo, David; Cumming, Andrew; Marleau, Gabriel-Dominique

    2017-01-01

    We calculate the evolution of gas giant planets during the runaway gas accretion phase of formation, to understand how the luminosity of young giant planets depends on the accretion conditions. We construct steady-state envelope models, and run time-dependent simulations of accreting planets with the code Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics. We show that the evolution of the internal entropy depends on the contrast between the internal adiabat and the entropy of the accreted material, parametrized by the shock temperature T 0 and pressure P 0. At low temperatures ({T}0≲ 300-1000 {{K}}, depending on model parameters), the accreted material has a lower entropy than the interior. The convection zone extends to the surface and can drive a high luminosity, leading to rapid cooling and cold starts. For higher temperatures, the accreted material has a higher entropy than the interior, giving a radiative zone that stalls cooling. For {T}0≳ 2000 {{K}}, the surface-interior entropy contrast cannot be accommodated by the radiative envelope, and the accreted matter accumulates with high entropy, forming a hot start. The final state of the planet depends on the shock temperature, accretion rate, and starting entropy at the onset of runaway accretion. Cold starts with L≲ 5× {10}-6 {L}⊙ require low accretion rates and starting entropy, and the temperature of the accreting material needs to be maintained close to the nebula temperature. If instead the temperature is near the value required to radiate the accretion luminosity, 4π {R}2σ {T}04˜ ({GM}\\dot{M}/R), as suggested by previous work on radiative shocks in the context of star formation, gas giant planets form in a hot start with L˜ {10}-4 {L}⊙ .

  17. Shock induced Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in the presence of a wall boundary layer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jourdan, G.; Billiotte, M.; Houas, L.

    1996-06-01

    An experimental investigation on gaseous mixing zones originated from the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability has been undertaken in a square cross section shock tube. Mass concentration fields, of one of the two mixing constituents, have been determined within the mixing zone when the shock wave passes from the heavy gas to the light one, from one gas to an other of close density, and from the light gas to the heavy one. Results have been obtained before and after the coming back of the reflected shock wave. The diagnostic method is based on the infrared absorption of one of the two constituents of the mixing zone. It is shown that the mixing zone is strongly deformed by the wall boundary layer. The consequence is the presence of strong gradients of concentration in the direction perpendicular to the shock wave propagation. Finally, it is pointed out that the mixing goes more homogeneous when the Atwood number tends to zero.

  18. An Accretion Model for the Growth of Black Hole in Quasars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lu, Ye; Cheng, K. S.; Zhang, S. N.

    2003-01-01

    A possible accretion model associated with the ionization instability of quasar disks is proposed to address the growth of the central black hole harbored in the host galaxy. The evolution of quasars in cosmic time is assumed to change from a highly active state to a quiescent state triggered by the S-shaped ionization instability of the quasar accretion disk. For a given external mass transfer rate ionization instability can modify accretion rate in the disk and separates the accretion flows of the disk into three different phases like a S-shape. We suggest that the bright quasars observed today are those quasars with disks in the upper branch of S-shaped instability and the dormant quasars are the system in the lower branch. The disk is assumed to evolve as ADIOS configuration in the lower branch. The mass ratio between black hole and its host galactic bulge is a nature consequence of ADIOS. Our model also demonstrates that a seed black hole 2 x 10(exp 6) solar masses similar to those found in spiral galaxies today is needed to produce a black hole with a final mass 2 x 10(exp 8) solar masses.

  19. Sources of Shock Waves in the Protoplanetary Disk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boss, A. P.; Durisen, R. H.

    2005-12-01

    Finding an appropriate heat source for melting the chondrules that constitute the bulk of many primitive meteorites is perhaps the most important outstanding problem in all of meteoritics. Shock waves within the Solar Nebula are one possible means for accomplishing this provided that they move with respect to the precursor aggregates at speeds of ~ 6 to 9 km s-1 in environments with appropriate nebular pressures and densities. Here we briefly review the status of four different mechanisms which have been proposed as sources of such shock fronts. We argue that two of them, the accretion shock at the nebular surface and shocks propagating inside the nebula launched by the impact of gas clumps falling onto the disk, are unlikely to work. Bow shocks driven by 1000-km-size planetesimals show more promise, but require the presence of Jupiter to raise the eccentricities of the planetesimals. We then focus this chapter on the fourth mechanism, which may be the dominant source of shocks in the early nebula. Wood (1996) proposed that the chondrule-producing shocks were due to nebular spiral arms. This hypothesis is now strongly supported by recent calculations of the evolution of gravitationally unstable disks. In a gaseous disk capable of forming Jupiter, the disk gas must have been close to marginal gravitational instability near or beyond Jupiter's orbit. Massive clumps and spirals due to such instability can drive spiral shock fronts inward with shock speeds as large as ~ 10 km s-1 at asteroidal orbits, sufficient to account for chondrule formation. Once Jupiter forms, it may either continue to drive strong shock fronts at asteroidal distances, or it may pump up the eccentricity of planetesimals, leading to chondrule processing for as long as the inner disk gas survives, a few Myr or so. Mixing and transport of solids in an unstable disk results in a scenario that unifies chondrite formation from chondrules, refractory inclusions, and matrix grains with disk processes

  20. The fate or organic matter during planetary accretion - Preliminary studies of the organic chemistry of experimentally shocked Murchison meteorite

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tingle, Tracy N.; Tyburczy, James A.; Ahrens, Thomas J.; Becker, Christopher H.

    1992-01-01

    The fate of organic matter in carbonaceous meteorites during hypervelocity (1-2 km/sec) impacts is investigated using results of experiments in which three samples of the Murchison (CM2) carbonaceous chondrite were shocked to 19, 20, and 36 GPa and analyzed by highly sensitive thermal-desorption photoionization mass spectrometry (SALI). The thermal-desorptive SALI mass spectra of unshocked CM2 material revealed presence of indigenous aliphatic, aromatic, sulfur, and organosulfur compounds, and samples shocked to about 20 GPa showed little or no loss of organic matter. On the other hand, samples shocked to 36 GPa exhibited about 70 percent loss of organic material and a lower alkene/alkane ratio than did the starting material. The results suggest that it is unlikely that the indigenous organic matter in carbonaceous chondritelike planetesimals could have survived the impact on the earth in the later stages of earth's accretion.

  1. Simulations of Viscous Accretion Flow around Black Holes in a Two-dimensional Cylindrical Geometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lee, Seong-Jae; Chattopadhyay, Indranil; Kumar, Rajiv; Hyung, Siek; Ryu, Dongsu

    2016-11-01

    We simulate shock-free and shocked viscous accretion flows onto a black hole in a two-dimensional cylindrical geometry, where initial conditions were chosen from analytical solutions. The simulation code used the Lagrangian total variation diminishing plus remap routine, which enabled us to attain high accuracy in capturing shocks and to handle the angular momentum distribution correctly. The inviscid shock-free accretion disk solution produced a thick disk structure, while the viscous shock-free solution attained a Bondi-like structure, but in either case, no jet activity nor any quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO)-like activity developed. The steady-state shocked solution in the inviscid as well as in the viscous regime matched theoretical predictions well. However, increasing viscosity renders the accretion shock unstable. Large-amplitude shock oscillation is accompanied by intermittent, transient inner multiple shocks. This oscillation of the inner part of the disk is interpreted as the source of QPO in hard X-rays observed in micro-quasars. Strong shock oscillation induces strong episodic jet emission. The jets also show the existence of shocks, which are produced as one shell hits the preceding one. The periodicities of the jets and shock oscillation are similar; the jets for the higher viscosity parameter appear to be stronger and faster.

  2. SIMULATIONS OF VISCOUS ACCRETION FLOW AROUND BLACK HOLES IN A TWO-DIMENSIONAL CYLINDRICAL GEOMETRY

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lee, Seong-Jae; Hyung, Siek; Chattopadhyay, Indranil

    2016-11-01

    We simulate shock-free and shocked viscous accretion flows onto a black hole in a two-dimensional cylindrical geometry, where initial conditions were chosen from analytical solutions. The simulation code used the Lagrangian total variation diminishing plus remap routine, which enabled us to attain high accuracy in capturing shocks and to handle the angular momentum distribution correctly. The inviscid shock-free accretion disk solution produced a thick disk structure, while the viscous shock-free solution attained a Bondi-like structure, but in either case, no jet activity nor any quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO)-like activity developed. The steady-state shocked solution in the inviscid as well as inmore » the viscous regime matched theoretical predictions well. However, increasing viscosity renders the accretion shock unstable. Large-amplitude shock oscillation is accompanied by intermittent, transient inner multiple shocks. This oscillation of the inner part of the disk is interpreted as the source of QPO in hard X-rays observed in micro-quasars. Strong shock oscillation induces strong episodic jet emission. The jets also show the existence of shocks, which are produced as one shell hits the preceding one. The periodicities of the jets and shock oscillation are similar; the jets for the higher viscosity parameter appear to be stronger and faster.« less

  3. Spatio-temporal evolution of the non-resonant instability in shock precursors of young supernova remnants

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kobzar, Oleh; Niemiec, Jacek; Pohl, Martin; Bohdan, Artem

    2017-08-01

    A non-resonant cosmic ray (CR) current-driven instability may operate in the shock precursors of young supernova remnants and be responsible for magnetic-field amplification, plasma heating and turbulence. Earlier simulations demonstrated magnetic-field amplification, and in kinetic studies a reduction of the relative drift between CRs and thermal plasma was observed as backreaction. However, all published simulations used periodic boundary conditions, which do not account for mass conservation in decelerating flows and only allow the temporal development to be studied. Here we report results of fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations with open boundaries that permit inflow of plasma on one side of the simulation box and outflow at the other end, hence allowing an investigation of both the temporal and the spatial development of the instability. Magnetic-field amplification proceeds as in studies with periodic boundaries and, observed here for the first time, the reduction of relative drifts causes the formation of a shock-like compression structure at which a fraction of the plasma ions are reflected. Turbulent electric field generated by the non-resonant instability inelastically scatters CRs, modifying and anisotropizing their energy distribution. Spatial CR scattering is compatible with Bohm diffusion. Electromagnetic turbulence leads to significant non-adiabatic heating of the background plasma maintaining bulk equipartition between ions and electrons. The highest temperatures are reached at sites of large-amplitude electrostatic fields. Ion spectra show supra-thermal tails resulting from stochastic scattering in the turbulent electric field. Together, these modifications in the plasma flow will affect the properties of the shock and particle acceleration there.

  4. Sound velocities in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite shocked to 18 GPa: Orientational order dependence and elastic instability

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lucas, Marcel; Winey, J. M.; Gupta, Y. M.

    Previous reports of rapid phase transformation above 18 GPa [Erskine and Nellis, Nature 349, 317 (1991)] and large elastic waves below 18 GPa [Lucas et al., J. Appl. Phys. 114, 093515 (2013)] for shock-compressed ZYB-grade highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), but not for less oriented ZYH-grade HOPG, indicated a link between the orientational order dependence of the HOPG response above and below the phase transformation stress. To gain insight into this link and into the mechanical response of HOPG shocked to peak stresses approaching the phase transformation onset, the compressibility of ZYB- and ZYH-grade HOPG in the shocked state was examinedmore » using front surface impact experiments. Particle velocity histories and sound velocities were measured for peak stresses reaching 18 GPa. Although the locus of the measured peak stress-particle velocity states is indistinguishable for the two grades of HOPG, the measured sound velocities in the peak state reveal significant differences between the two grades. Specifically, 1) The measured sound velocities are somewhat higher for ZYH-grade HOPG, compared to ZYB-grade HOPG. 2) The measured sound velocities for ZYH-grade HOPG increase smoothly with compression, whereas those for ZYB-2 grade HOPG exhibit a significant reduction in the compression dependence from 12 GPa to 17 GPa and an abrupt increase from 17 GPa to 18 GPa. 3) The longitudinal moduli, determined from the measured sound velocities, are smaller than the calculated bulk moduli for ZYB-grade HOPG shocked to peak stresses above 15 GPa, indicating the onset of an elastic instability. The present findings demonstrate that the softening of the longitudinal modulus (or elastic instability) presented here is linked to the large elastic waves and the rapid phase transformation reported previously – all observed only for shocked ZYB-grade HOPG. The elastic instability in shocked ZYB-grade HOPG is likely a precursor to the rapid phase transformation observed

  5. Sound velocities in highly oriented pyrolytic graphite shocked to 18 GPa: Orientational order dependence and elastic instability

    DOE PAGES

    Lucas, Marcel; Winey, J. M.; Gupta, Y. M.

    2015-12-28

    Previous reports of rapid phase transformation above 18 GPa [Erskine and Nellis, Nature 349, 317 (1991)] and large elastic waves below 18 GPa [Lucas et al., J. Appl. Phys. 114, 093515 (2013)] for shock-compressed ZYB-grade highly-oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), but not for less oriented ZYH-grade HOPG, indicated a link between the orientational order dependence of the HOPG response above and below the phase transformation stress. To gain insight into this link and into the mechanical response of HOPG shocked to peak stresses approaching the phase transformation onset, the compressibility of ZYB- and ZYH-grade HOPG in the shocked state was examinedmore » using front surface impact experiments. Particle velocity histories and sound velocities were measured for peak stresses reaching 18 GPa. Although the locus of the measured peak stress-particle velocity states is indistinguishable for the two grades of HOPG, the measured sound velocities in the peak state reveal significant differences between the two grades. Specifically, 1) The measured sound velocities are somewhat higher for ZYH-grade HOPG, compared to ZYB-grade HOPG. 2) The measured sound velocities for ZYH-grade HOPG increase smoothly with compression, whereas those for ZYB-2 grade HOPG exhibit a significant reduction in the compression dependence from 12 GPa to 17 GPa and an abrupt increase from 17 GPa to 18 GPa. 3) The longitudinal moduli, determined from the measured sound velocities, are smaller than the calculated bulk moduli for ZYB-grade HOPG shocked to peak stresses above 15 GPa, indicating the onset of an elastic instability. The present findings demonstrate that the softening of the longitudinal modulus (or elastic instability) presented here is linked to the large elastic waves and the rapid phase transformation reported previously – all observed only for shocked ZYB-grade HOPG. The elastic instability in shocked ZYB-grade HOPG is likely a precursor to the rapid phase transformation observed

  6. Equation-of-state dependent features in shock-oscillation modulated neutrino and gravitational-wave signals from supernovae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marek, A.; Janka, H.-T.; Müller, E.

    2009-03-01

    We present two-dimensional (axisymmetric) neutrino-hydrodynamic simulations of the long-time accretion phase of a 15 M_⊙ progenitor star after core bounce and before the launch of a supernova explosion, when non-radial hydrodynamic instabilities like convection occur in different regions of the collapsing stellar core and the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) leads to large-amplitude oscillations of the stalled shock with a period of tens of milliseconds. Our simulations were performed with the Prometheus-Vertex code, which includes a multi-flavor, energy-dependent neutrino transport scheme and employs an effective relativistic gravitational potential. Testing the influence of a stiff and a soft equation of state for hot neutron star matter, we find that the non-radial mass motions in the supernova core impose a time variability on the neutrino and gravitational-wave signals with larger amplitudes, as well as higher frequencies in the case of a more compact nascent neutron star. After the prompt shock-breakout burst of electron neutrinos, a more compact accreting remnant produces higher neutrino luminosities and higher mean neutrino energies. The observable neutrino emission in the SASI sloshing direction exhibits a modulation of several ten percent in the luminosities and around 1 MeV in the mean energies with most power at typical SASI frequencies between roughly 20 and 100 Hz. The modulation is caused by quasi-periodic variations in the mass accretion rate of the neutron star in each hemisphere. At times later than ~50-100 ms after bounce, the gravitational-wave amplitude is dominated by the growing low-frequency (⪉200 Hz) signal associated with anisotropic neutrino emission. A high-frequency wave signal results from nonradial gas flows in the outer layers of the anisotropically accreting neutron star. Right after bounce such nonradial mass motions occur due to prompt post-shock convection in both considered cases and contribute mostly to the early

  7. Gamma-burst emission from neutron-star accretion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Colgate, S. A.; Petschek, A. G.; Sarracino, R.

    1983-01-01

    A model for emission of the hard photons of gamma bursts is presented. The model assumes accretion at nearly the Eddington limited rate onto a neutron star without a magnetic field. Initially soft photons are heated as they are compressed between the accreting matter and the star. A large electric field due to relatively small charge separation is required to drag electrons into the star with the nuclei against the flux of photons leaking out through the accreting matter. The photon number is not increased substantially by Bremsstrahlung or any other process. It is suggested that instability in an accretion disc might provide the infalling matter required.

  8. Oscillations of Accretion Disks in Cataclysmic Variable Stars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Osaki, Y.

    2013-12-01

    The disk instability model for the outbursts of dwarf novae is reviewed, with particular attention given to the superoutburst of SU UMa stars. Two intrinsic instabilities in accretion disks of dwarf novae are known; the thermal instability and the tidal instability. The thermal-tidal instability model (abbreviated the TTI model), which combines these two instabilities, was first proposed in 1989 by Osaki (1989) to explain the superoutburst phenomenon of SU UMa stars. Recent Kepler observations of one SU UMa star, V1504 Cyg, have dramatically demonstrated that the superoutburst phenomenon of the SU UMa stars is explained by the thermal-tidal instability model.

  9. Linear analysis of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in shock-flame interactions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Massa, L.; Jha, P.

    2012-05-01

    Shock-flame interactions enhance supersonic mixing and detonation formation. Therefore, their analysis is important to explosion safety, internal combustion engine performance, and supersonic combustor design. The fundamental process at the basis of the interaction is the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability supported by the density difference between burnt and fresh mixtures. In the present study we analyze the effect of reactivity on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability with particular emphasis on combustion lengths that typify the scaling between perturbation growth and induction. The results of the present linear analysis study show that reactivity changes the perturbation growth rate by developing a pressure gradient at the flame surface. The baroclinic torque based on the density gradient across the flame acts to slow down the instability growth of high wave-number perturbations. A gasdynamic flame representation leads to the definition of a Peclet number representing the scaling between perturbation and thermal diffusion lengths within the flame. Peclet number effects on perturbation growth are observed to be marginal. The gasdynamic model also considers a finite flame Mach number that supports a separation between flame and contact discontinuity. Such a separation destabilizes the interface growth by augmenting the tangential shear.

  10. Minidisks in Binary Black Hole Accretion

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ryan, Geoffrey; MacFadyen, Andrew, E-mail: gsr257@nyu.edu

    Newtonian simulations have demonstrated that accretion onto binary black holes produces accretion disks around each black hole (“minidisks”), fed by gas streams flowing through the circumbinary cavity from the surrounding circumbinary disk. We study the dynamics and radiation of an individual black hole minidisk using 2D hydrodynamical simulations performed with a new general relativistic version of the moving-mesh code Disco. We introduce a comoving energy variable that enables highly accurate integration of these high Mach number flows. Tidally induced spiral shock waves are excited in the disk and propagate through the innermost stable circular orbit, providing a Reynolds stress thatmore » causes efficient accretion by purely hydrodynamic means and producing a radiative signature brighter in hard X-rays than the Novikov–Thorne model. Disk cooling is provided by a local blackbody prescription that allows the disk to evolve self-consistently to a temperature profile where hydrodynamic heating is balanced by radiative cooling. We find that the spiral shock structure is in agreement with the relativistic dispersion relation for tightly wound linear waves. We measure the shock-induced dissipation and find outward angular momentum transport corresponding to an effective alpha parameter of order 0.01. We perform ray-tracing image calculations from the simulations to produce theoretical minidisk spectra and viewing-angle-dependent images for comparison with observations.« less

  11. On the Maximum Mass of Accreting Primordial Supermassive Stars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Woods, T. E.; Heger, Alexander; Whalen, Daniel J.; Haemmerlé, Lionel; Klessen, Ralf S.

    2017-06-01

    Supermassive primordial stars are suspected to be the progenitors of the most massive quasars at z ˜ 6. Previous studies of such stars were either unable to resolve hydrodynamical timescales or considered stars in isolation, not in the extreme accretion flows in which they actually form. Therefore, they could not self-consistently predict their final masses at collapse, or those of the resulting supermassive black hole seeds, but rather invoked comparison to simple polytropic models. Here, we systematically examine the birth, evolution, and collapse of accreting, non-rotating supermassive stars under accretion rates of 0.01-10 M ⊙ yr-1 using the stellar evolution code Kepler. Our approach includes post-Newtonian corrections to the stellar structure and an adaptive nuclear network and can transition to following the hydrodynamic evolution of supermassive stars after they encounter the general relativistic instability. We find that this instability triggers the collapse of the star at masses of 150,000-330,000 M ⊙ for accretion rates of 0.1-10 M ⊙ yr-1, and that the final mass of the star scales roughly logarithmically with the rate. The structure of the star, and thus its stability against collapse, is sensitive to the treatment of convection and the heat content of the outer accreted envelope. Comparison with other codes suggests differences here may lead to small deviations in the evolutionary state of the star as a function of time, that worsen with accretion rate. Since the general relativistic instability leads to the immediate death of these stars, our models place an upper limit on the masses of the first quasars at birth.

  12. Grain orientation effects on dynamic strength of FCC multicrystals at low shock pressures: a hydrodynamic instability study

    DOE PAGES

    Peralta, P.; Loomis, E.; Chen, Y.; ...

    2015-04-09

    Variability in local dynamic plasticity due to material anisotropy in polycrystalline metals is likely to be important on damage nucleation and growth at low pressures. Hydrodynamic instabilities could be used to study these plasticity effects by correlating measured changes in perturbation amplitudes at free surfaces to local plastic behaviour and grain orientation, but amplitude changes are typically too small to be measured reliably at low pressures using conventional diagnostics. Correlations between strength at low shock pressures and grain orientation were studied in copper (grain size ≈ 800 μm) using the Richtmyer–Meshkov instability with a square-wave surface perturbation (wavelength = 150 μm, amplitude = 5 μm), shocked at 2.7 GPa using symmetric plate impacts. A Plexiglas window was pressed against the peaks of the perturbation, keeping valleys as free surfaces. This produced perturbation amplitude changes much larger than those predicted without the window. Amplitude reductions from 64 to 88% were measured in recovered samples and grains oriented close tomore » $$\\langle$$0 0 1$$\\rangle$$ parallel to the shock had the largest final amplitude, whereas grains with shocks directions close to $$\\langle$$1 0 1$$\\rangle$$ had the lowest. Finite element simulations were performed with elastic-perfectly plastic models to estimate yield strengths leading lead to those final amplitudes. Anisotropic elasticity and these yield strengths were used to calculate the resolved shear stresses at yielding for the two orientations. In conclusion, results are compared with reports on orientation dependence of dynamic yielding in Cu single crystals and the higher values obtained suggest that strength estimations via hydrodynamic instabilities are sensitive to strain hardening and strain rate effects.« less

  13. Radio Observations as a Tool to Investigate Shocks and Asymmetries in Accreting White Dwarf Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weston, Jennifer H. S.

    2016-07-01

    This dissertation uses radio observations with the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) to investigate the mechanisms that power and shape accreting white dwarfs (WD) and their ejecta. We test the predictions of both simple spherical and steady-state radio emission models by examining nova V1723 Aql, nova V5589 Sgr, symbiotic CH Cyg, and two small surveys of symbiotic binaries. First, we highlight classical nova V1723 Aql with three years of radio observations alongside optical and X-ray observations. We use these observations to show that multiple outflows from the system collided to create early non-thermal shocks with a brightness temperature of ≥106 K. While the late-time radio light curve is roughly consistent an expanding thermal shell of mass 2x10-4 M⊙ solar masses, resolved images of V1723 Aql show elongated material that apparently rotates its major axis over the course of 15 months, much like what is seen in gamma-ray producing nova V959 Mon, suggesting similar structures in the two systems. Next, we examine nova V5589 Sgr, where we find that the early radio emission is dominated by a shock-powered non-thermal flare that produces strong (kTx > 33 keV) X-rays. We additionally find roughly 10-5 M⊙ solar masses of thermal bremsstrahlung emitting material, all at a distance of ~4 kpc. The similarities in the evolution of both V1723 Aql and V5589 Sgr to that of nova V959 Mon suggest that these systems may all have dense equatorial tori shaping faster flows at their poles. Turning our focus to symbiotic binaries, we first use our radio observations of CH Cyg to link the ejection of a collimated jet to a change of state in the accretion disk. We additionally estimate the amount of mass ejected during this period (10-7 M⊙ masses), and improve measurements of the period of jet precession (P=12013 ± 74 days). We then use our survey of eleven accretion-driven symbiotic systems to determine that the radio brightness of a symbiotic system could potentially

  14. Accretion Discs Around Black Holes: Developement of Theory

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bisnovatyi-Kogan, G. S.

    Standard accretion disk theory is formulated which is based on the local heat balance. The energy produced by a turbulent viscous heating is supposed to be emitted to the sides of the disc. Sources of turbulence in the accretion disc are connected with nonlinear hydrodynamic instability, convection, and magnetic field. In standard theory there are two branches of solution, optically thick, and optically thin. Advection in accretion disks is described by the differential equations what makes the theory nonlocal. Low-luminous optically thin accretion disc model with advection at some suggestions may become advectively dominated, carrying almost all the energy inside the black hole. The proper account of magnetic filed in the process of accretion limits the energy advected into a black hole, efficiency of accretion should exceed ˜ 1/4 of the standard accretion disk model efficiency.

  15. Inclusion of TCAF model in XSPEC to study accretion flow dynamics around black hole candidates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Debnath, Dipak; Chakrabarti, Sandip Kumar; Mondal, Santanu

    Spectral and Temporal properties of black hole candidates can be well understood with the Chakrabarti-Titarchuk solution of two component advective flow (TCAF). This model requires two accretion rates, namely, the Keplerian disk accretion rate and the sub-Keplerian halo accretion rate, the latter being composed of a low angular momentum flow which may or may not develop a shock. In this solution, the relevant parameter is the relative importance of the halo (which creates the Compton cloud region) rate with respect to the Keplerian disk rate (soft photon source). Though this model has been used earlier to manually fit data of several black hole candidates quite satisfactorily, for the first time we are able to create a user friendly version by implementing additive Table model FITS file into GSFC/NASA's spectral analysis software package XSPEC. This enables any user to extract physical parameters of accretion flows, such as two accretion rates, shock location, shock strength etc. for any black hole candidate. Most importantly, unlike any other theoretical model, we show that TCAF is capable of predicting timing properties from spectral fits, since in TCAF, a shock is responsible for deciding spectral slopes as well as QPO frequencies.

  16. SPREADING LAYERS IN ACCRETING OBJECTS: ROLE OF ACOUSTIC WAVES FOR ANGULAR MOMENTUM TRANSPORT, MIXING, AND THERMODYNAMICS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Philippov, Alexander A.; Rafikov, Roman R.; Stone, James M., E-mail: sashaph@princeton.edu

    Disk accretion at a high rate onto a white dwarf (WD) or a neutron star has been suggested to result in the formation of a spreading layer (SL)—a belt-like structure on the object's surface, in which the accreted matter steadily spreads in the poleward (meridional) direction while spinning down. To assess its basic characteristics, we perform two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of supersonic SLs in the relevant morphology with a simple prescription for cooling. We demonstrate that supersonic shear naturally present at the base of the SL inevitably drives sonic instability that gives rise to large-scale acoustic modes governing the evolution ofmore » the SL. These modes dominate the transport of momentum and energy, which is intrinsically global and cannot be characterized via some form of local effective viscosity (e.g., α-viscosity). The global nature of the wave-driven transport should have important implications for triggering Type I X-ray bursts in low-mass X-ray binaries. The nonlinear evolution of waves into a system of shocks drives effective rearrangement (sensitively depending on thermodynamical properties of the flow) and deceleration of the SL, which ultimately becomes transonic and susceptible to regular Kelvin–Helmholtz instability. We interpret this evolution in terms of the global structure of the SL and suggest that mixing of the SL material with the underlying stellar fluid should become effective only at intermediate latitudes on the accreting object's surface, where the flow has decelerated appreciably. In the near-equatorial regions the transport is dominated by acoustic waves and mixing is less efficient. We speculate that this latitudinal nonuniformity of mixing in accreting WDs may be linked to the observed bipolar morphology of classical nova ejecta.« less

  17. Protostellar Collapse with a Shock

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tsai, John C.; Hsu, Juliana J.

    1995-01-01

    We reexamine both numerically and analytically the collapse of the singular isothermal sphere in the context of low-mass star formation. We consider the case where the onset of collapse is initiated by some arbitrary process which is accompanied by a central output of either heat or kinetic energy. We find two classes of numerical solutions describing this manner of collapse. The first approaches in time the expansion wave solution of Shu, while the second class is characterized by an ever-decreasing central accretion rate and the presence of an outwardly propagating weak shock. The collapse solution which represents the dividing case between these two classes is determined analytically by a similarity analysis. This solution shares with the expansion wave solution the properties that the gas remains stationary with an r(exp -2) density profile at large radius and that, at small radius, the gas free-falls onto a nascent core at a constant rate which depends only on the isothermal sound speed. This accretion rate is a factor of approx. 0.1 that predicted by the expansion wave solution. This reduction is due in part to the presence of a weak shock which propagates outward at 1.26 times the sound speed. Gas in the postshock region first moves out subsonically but is then decelerated and begins to collapse. The existence of two classes of numerical collapse solutions is explained in terms of the instability to radial perturbations of the analytic solution. Collapse occurring in the manner described by some of our solutions would eventually unbind a finite-sized core. However, this does not constitute a violation of the instability properties of the singular isothermal sphere which is unstable both to collapse and to expansion. To emphasize this, we consider a purely expanding solution for isothermal spheres. This solution is found to be self-similar and results in a uniform density core in the central regions of the gas. Our solutions may be relevant to the 'luminosity

  18. Protostellar Collapse with a Shock

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tsai, John C.; Hsu, Juliana J. L.

    1995-01-01

    We reexamine both numerically and analytically the collapse of the singular isothermal sphere in the context of low-mass star formation. We consider the case where the onset of collapse is initiated by some arbitrary process which is accompanied by a central output of either heat or kinetic energy. We find two classes of numerical solutions describing this manner of collapse. The first approaches in time the expansion wave solution of Shu, while the second class is characterized by an ever-decreasing central accretion rate and the presence of an outwardly propagating weak shock. The collapse solution which represents the dividing case between these two classes is determined analytically by a similarity analysis. This solution shares with the expansion wave solution the properties that the gas remains stationary with an r(sup -2) density profile at large radius and that, at small radius, the gas free-falls onto a nascent core at a constant rate which depends only on the isothermal sound speed. This accretion rate is a factor of approx. 0.1 that predicted by the expansion wave solution. This reduction is due in part to the presence of a weak shock which propagates outward at 1.26 times the sound speed. Gas in the postshock region first moves out subsonically but is then decelerated and begins to collapse. The existence of two classes of numerical collapse solutions is explained in terms of the instability to radial perturbations of the analytic solution. Collapse occurring in the manner described by some of our solutions would eventually unbind a finite-sized core. However, this does not constitute a violation of the instability properties of the singular isothermal sphere which is unstable both to collapse and to expansion. To emphasize this, we consider a purely expanding solution for isothermal spheres. This solution is found to be self-similar and results in a uniform density core in the central regions of the gas. Our solutions may be relevant to the 'luminosity

  19. Experiments and simulations of single shock Richtmeyer-Meshkov Instability with measured, volumetric initial conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sewell, Everest; Ferguson, Kevin; Greenough, Jeffrey; Jacobs, Jeffrey

    2014-11-01

    We describe new experiments of single shock Richtmeyer-Meshkov Instability (RMI) performed on the shock tube apparatus at the University of Arizona in which the initial conditions are volumetrically imaged prior to shock wave arrival. Initial perturbation plays a major role in the evolution of RMI, and previous experimental efforts only capture a narrow slice of the initial condition. The method presented uses a rastered laser sheet to capture additional images in the depth of the initial condition shortly before the experimental start time. These images are then used to reconstruct a volumetric approximation of the experimental perturbation, which is simulated using the hydrodynamics code ARES, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Comparison is made between the time evolution of the interface width and the mixedness ratio measured from the experiments against the predictions from the numerical simulations.

  20. Hard X-Ray-emitting Black Hole Fed by Accretion of Low Angular Momentum Matter

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Igumenshchev, Igor V.; Illarionov, Andrei F.; Abramowicz, Marek A.

    1999-05-01

    Observed spectra of active galactic nuclei and luminous X-ray binaries in our Galaxy suggest that both hot (~109 K) and cold (~106 K) plasma components exist close to the central accreting black hole. The hard X-ray component of the spectra is usually explained by Compton upscattering of optical/UV photons from optically thick cold plasma by hot electrons. Observations also indicate that some of these objects are quite efficient in converting gravitational energy of accretion matter into radiation. Existing theoretical models have difficulties in explaining the two plasma components and high intensity of hard X-rays. Most of the models assume that the hot component emerges from the cold one because of some kind of instability, but no one offers a satisfactory physical explanation for this. Here we propose a solution to these difficulties that reverses what was imagined previously: in our model, the hot component forms first and afterward it cools down to form the cold component. In our model, the accretion flow initially has a small angular momentum, and thus it has a quasi-spherical geometry at large radii. Close to the black hole, the accreting matter is heated up in shocks that form because of the action of the centrifugal force. The hot postshock matter is very efficiently cooled down by Comptonization of low-energy photons and condensates into a thin and cool accretion disk. The thin disk emits the low-energy photons which cool the hot component. All the properties of our model, in particular the existence of hot and cold components, follow from an exact numerical solution of standard hydrodynamical equations--we postulate no unknown processes operating in the flow. In contrast to the recently discussed advection-dominated accretion flow, the particular type of accretion flow considered in this Letter is both very hot and quite radiatively efficient.

  1. Incompressible Modes Excited by Supersonic Shear in Boundary Layers: Acoustic CFS Instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Belyaev, Mikhail A.

    2017-02-01

    We present an instability for exciting incompressible modes (e.g., gravity or Rossby modes) at the surface of a star accreting through a boundary layer. The instability excites a stellar mode by sourcing an acoustic wave in the disk at the boundary layer, which carries a flux of energy and angular momentum with the opposite sign as the energy and angular momentum density of the stellar mode. We call this instability the acoustic Chandrasekhar-Friedman-Schutz (CFS) instability, because of the direct analogy to the CFS instability for exciting modes on a rotating star by emission of energy in the form of gravitational waves. However, the acoustic CFS instability differs from its gravitational wave counterpart in that the fluid medium in which the acoustic wave propagates (I.e., the accretion disk) typically rotates faster than the star in which the incompressible mode is sourced. For this reason, the instability can operate even for a non-rotating star in the presence of an accretion disk. We discuss applications of our results to high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in accreting black hole and neutron star systems and dwarf nova oscillations in cataclysmic variables.

  2. Incompressible Modes Excited by Supersonic Shear in Boundary Layers: Acoustic CFS Instability

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Belyaev, Mikhail A., E-mail: mbelyaev@berkeley.edu

    We present an instability for exciting incompressible modes (e.g., gravity or Rossby modes) at the surface of a star accreting through a boundary layer. The instability excites a stellar mode by sourcing an acoustic wave in the disk at the boundary layer, which carries a flux of energy and angular momentum with the opposite sign as the energy and angular momentum density of the stellar mode. We call this instability the acoustic Chandrasekhar–Friedman–Schutz (CFS) instability, because of the direct analogy to the CFS instability for exciting modes on a rotating star by emission of energy in the form of gravitationalmore » waves. However, the acoustic CFS instability differs from its gravitational wave counterpart in that the fluid medium in which the acoustic wave propagates (i.e., the accretion disk) typically rotates faster than the star in which the incompressible mode is sourced. For this reason, the instability can operate even for a non-rotating star in the presence of an accretion disk. We discuss applications of our results to high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in accreting black hole and neutron star systems and dwarf nova oscillations in cataclysmic variables.« less

  3. SIMULATIONS OF THE SYMBIOTIC RECURRENT NOVA V407 CYG. I. ACCRETION AND SHOCK EVOLUTIONS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pan, Kuo-Chuan; Ricker, Paul M.; Taam, Ronald E., E-mail: kuo-chuan.pan@unibas.ch, E-mail: pmricker@illinois.edu, E-mail: r-taam@northwestern.edu, E-mail: taam@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw

    2015-06-10

    The shock interaction and evolution of nova ejecta with wind from a red giant (RG) star in a symbiotic binary system are investigated via three-dimensional hydrodynamics simulations. We specifically model the 2010 March outburst of the symbiotic recurrent nova V407 Cygni from its quiescent phase to its eruption phase. The circumstellar density enhancement due to wind–white-dwarf interaction is studied in detail. It is found that the density-enhancement efficiency depends on the ratio of the orbital speed to the RG wind speed. Unlike another recurrent nova, RS Ophiuchi, we do not observe a strong disk-like density enhancement, but instead observe anmore » aspherical density distribution with ∼20% higher density in the equatorial plane than at the poles. To model the 2010 outburst, we consider several physical parameters, including the RG mass-loss rate, nova eruption energy, and ejecta mass. A detailed study of the shock interaction and evolution reveals that the interaction of shocks with the RG wind generates strong Rayleigh–Taylor instabilities. In addition, the presence of the companion and circumstellar density enhancement greatly alter the shock evolution during the nova phase. Depending on the model, the ejecta speed after sweeping out most of the circumstellar medium decreases to ∼100–300 km s{sup −1}, which is consistent with the observed extended redward emission in [N ii] lines in 2011 April.« less

  4. On the Maximum Mass of Accreting Primordial Supermassive Stars

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Woods, T. E.; Heger, Alexander; Whalen, Daniel J.

    Supermassive primordial stars are suspected to be the progenitors of the most massive quasars at z ∼ 6. Previous studies of such stars were either unable to resolve hydrodynamical timescales or considered stars in isolation, not in the extreme accretion flows in which they actually form. Therefore, they could not self-consistently predict their final masses at collapse, or those of the resulting supermassive black hole seeds, but rather invoked comparison to simple polytropic models. Here, we systematically examine the birth, evolution, and collapse of accreting, non-rotating supermassive stars under accretion rates of 0.01–10 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1} using themore » stellar evolution code Kepler . Our approach includes post-Newtonian corrections to the stellar structure and an adaptive nuclear network and can transition to following the hydrodynamic evolution of supermassive stars after they encounter the general relativistic instability. We find that this instability triggers the collapse of the star at masses of 150,000–330,000 M {sub ⊙} for accretion rates of 0.1–10 M {sub ⊙} yr{sup −1}, and that the final mass of the star scales roughly logarithmically with the rate. The structure of the star, and thus its stability against collapse, is sensitive to the treatment of convection and the heat content of the outer accreted envelope. Comparison with other codes suggests differences here may lead to small deviations in the evolutionary state of the star as a function of time, that worsen with accretion rate. Since the general relativistic instability leads to the immediate death of these stars, our models place an upper limit on the masses of the first quasars at birth.« less

  5. Conservative GRMHD simulations of moderately thin, tilted accretion disks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Teixeira, Danilo Morales; Fragile, P. Chris; Zhuravlev, Viacheslav V.

    2014-12-01

    This paper presents our latest numerical simulations of accretion disks that are misaligned with respect to the rotation axis of a Kerr black hole. In this work, we use a new, fully conservative version of the Cosmos++ general relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) code, coupled with an ad hoc cooling function designed to control the thickness of the disk. Together these allow us to simulate the thinnest tilted accretion disks ever using a GRMHD code. In this way, we are able to probe the regime where the dimensionless stress and scale height of the disk become comparable. We present results for bothmore » prograde and retrograde cases. The simulated prograde tilted disk shows no sign of Bardeen-Petterson alignment even in the innermost parts of the disk. The simulated retrograde tilted disk, however, does show modest alignment. The implication of these results is that the parameter space associated with Bardeen-Petterson alignment for prograde disks may be rather small, only including very thin disks. Unlike our previous work, we find no evidence for standing shocks in our simulated tilted disks. We ascribe this to the black hole spin, tilt angle, and disk scale height all being small in these simulations. We also add to the growing body of literature pointing out that the turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability in global simulations of accretion disks is not isotropic. Finally, we provide a comparison between our moderately thin, untilted reference simulation and other numerical simulations of thin disks in the literature.« less

  6. Tori sequences as remnants of multiple accreting periods of Kerr SMBHs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pugliese, D.; Stuchlík, Z.

    2018-03-01

    Super-massive black holes (SMBHs) hosted in active galactic nuclei (AGNs) can be characterized by multi-accreting periods as the attractors interact with the environment during their life-time. These multi-accretion episodes should leave traces in the matter orbiting the attractor. Counterrotating and even misaligned structures orbiting around the SMBHs would be consequences of these episodes. Our task in this work is to consider situations where such accretions occur and to trace their remnants represented by several toroidal accreting fluids, corotating or counterrotating relative to the central Kerr attractor, and created in various regimes during the evolution of matter configurations around SMBHs. We focus particularly on the emergence of matter instabilities, i.e., tori collisions, accretion onto the central Kerr black hole, or creation of jet-like structures (proto-jets). Each orbiting configuration is governed by the general relativistic hydrodynamic Boyer condition of equilibrium configurations of rotating perfect fluid. We prove that sequences of configurations and hot points, where an instability occurs, characterize the Kerr SMBHs, depending mainly on their spin-mass ratios. The occurrence of tori accretion or collision are strongly constrained by the fluid rotation with respect to the central black hole and the relative rotation with respect to each other. Our investigation provides characteristic of attractors where traces of multi-accreting episodes can be found and observed.

  7. Properties of quasi-periodic oscillations in accreting magnetic white dwarfs

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wu, Kinwah; Chanmugam, G.; Shaviv, G.

    1992-01-01

    Previous studies of time-dependent accretion onto magnetic white dwarfs, in which the cooling was assumed to be due to bremsstrahlung emission, have shown that the accretion shock undergoes oscillations. However, when cyclotron cooling is also included, the oscillations are damped for sufficiently strong magnetic fields. Here we demonstrate that the oscillations can be sustained by accretion-fluctuation-induced excitations. The frequency of the QPOs are shown to increase quadratically with the magnetic field strength. We interpret the oscillations as a two-phase process in which bremsstrahlung cooling dominates in one half-cycle and cyclotron cooling in the other. Such a process may have very different consequences compared to a single-phase process where the functional form of the cooling is essentially the same throughout the cycle. If in the two-phase process damping occurs mainly in the cyclotron cooling half-cycle, there will be a universal effective damping factor which tends to suppress all oscillation modes indiscriminately. The oscillations of the accretion shock also could be a limit cycle process in which the system vacillates between two branches.

  8. Thermodynamics of giant planet formation: shocking hot surfaces on circumplanetary discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Szulágyi, J.; Mordasini, C.

    2017-02-01

    The luminosity of young giant planets can inform about their formation and accretion history. The directly imaged planets detected so far are consistent with the `hot-start' scenario of high entropy and luminosity. If nebular gas passes through a shock front before being accreted into a protoplanet, the entropy can be substantially altered. To investigate this, we present high-resolution, three-dimensional radiative hydrodynamic simulations of accreting giant planets. The accreted gas is found to fall with supersonic speed in the gap from the circumstellar disc's upper layers on to the surface of the circumplanetary disc and polar region of the protoplanet. There it shocks, creating an extended hot supercritical shock surface. This shock front is optically thick; therefore, it can conceal the planet's intrinsic luminosity beneath. The gas in the vertical influx has high entropy which when passing through the shock front decreases significantly while the gas becomes part of the disc and protoplanet. This shows that circumplanetary discs play a key role in regulating a planet's thermodynamic state. Our simulations furthermore indicate that around the shock surface extended regions of atomic - sometimes ionized - hydrogen develop. Therefore, circumplanetary disc shock surfaces could influence significantly the observational appearance of forming gas giants.

  9. A Three-dimensional Simulation of a Magnetized Accretion Disk: Fast Funnel Accretion onto a Weakly Magnetized Star

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Takasao, Shinsuke; Tomida, Kengo; Iwasaki, Kazunari; Suzuki, Takeru K.

    2018-04-01

    We present the results of a global, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulation of an accretion disk with a rotating, weakly magnetized central star. The disk is threaded by a weak, large-scale poloidal magnetic field, and the central star has no strong stellar magnetosphere initially. Our simulation investigates the structure of the accretion flows from a turbulent accretion disk onto the star. The simulation reveals that fast accretion onto the star at high latitudes occurs even without a stellar magnetosphere. We find that the failed disk wind becomes the fast, high-latitude accretion as a result of angular momentum exchange mediated by magnetic fields well above the disk, where the Lorentz force that decelerates the rotational motion of gas can be comparable to the centrifugal force. Unlike the classical magnetospheric accretion scenario, fast accretion streams are not guided by magnetic fields of the stellar magnetosphere. Nevertheless, the accretion velocity reaches the free-fall velocity at the stellar surface due to the efficient angular momentum loss at a distant place from the star. This study provides a possible explanation why Herbig Ae/Be stars whose magnetic fields are generally not strong enough to form magnetospheres also show indications of fast accretion. A magnetically driven jet is not formed from the disk in our model. The differential rotation cannot generate sufficiently strong magnetic fields for the jet acceleration because the Parker instability interrupts the field amplification.

  10. The Growth of Central Black Hole and the Ionization Instability of Quasar Disk

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lu, Ye; Cheng, K. S.; Zhang, S. N.

    2003-01-01

    A possible accretion model associated with the ionization instability of quasar disks is proposed to address the growth of the central black hole harbored in the host galaxy. The evolution of quasars in cosmic time is assumed to change from a highly active state to a quiescent state triggered by the S-shaped ionization instability of the quasar accretion disk. For a given external mass transfer rate supplied by the quasar host galaxy, ionization instability can modify accretion rate in the disk and separates the accretion flows of the disk into three different phases, like a S-shape. We suggest that the bright quasars observed today are those quasars with disks in the upper branch of S-shaped instability, and the faint or 'dormant' quasars are simply the system in the lower branch. The middle branch is the transition state which is unstable. We assume the quasar disk evolves according to the advection-dominated inflow-outflow solutions (ADIOS) configuration in the stable lower branch of S-shaped instability, and Eddington accretion rate is used to constrain the accretion rate in each phase. The mass ratio between black hole and its host galactic bulge is a nature consequence of ADIOS. Our model also demonstrates that a seed black hole (BH) similar to those found in spiral galaxies today is needed to produce a BH with a final mass 2 x 10(exp 8) solar mases.

  11. Possible Imprints of Cold-mode Accretion on the Present-day Properties of Disk Galaxies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Noguchi, Masafumi

    2018-01-01

    Recent theoretical studies suggest that a significant part of the primordial gas accretes onto forming galaxies as narrow filaments of cold gas without building a shock and experiencing heating. Using a simple model of disk galaxy evolution that combines the growth of dark matter halos predicted by cosmological simulations with a hypothetical form of cold-mode accretion, we investigate how this cold-accretion mode affects the formation process of disk galaxies. It is found that the shock-heating and cold-accretion models produce compatible results for low-mass galaxies owing to the short cooling timescale in such galaxies. However, cold accretion significantly alters the evolution of disk galaxies more massive than the Milky Way and puts observable fingerprints on their present properties. For a galaxy with a virial mass {M}{vir}=2.5× {10}12 {M}ȯ , the scale length of the stellar disk is larger by 41% in the cold-accretion model than in the shock-heating model, with the former model reproducing the steep rise in the size–mass relation observed at the high-mass end. Furthermore, the stellar component of massive galaxies becomes significantly redder (0.66 in u ‑ r at {M}{vir}=2.5× {10}12 {M}ȯ ), and the observed color–mass relation in nearby galaxies is qualitatively reproduced. These results suggest that large disk galaxies with red optical colors may be the product of cold-mode accretion. The essential role of cold accretion is to promote disk formation in the intermediate-evolution phase (0.5< z< 1.5) by providing the primordial gas having large angular momentum and to terminate late-epoch accretion, quenching star formation and making massive galaxies red.

  12. Interplanetary shocks, Plasma waves and turbulence, Kinetic waves and instabilities, STEREO spacecraft

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cohen, Z.; Breneman, A. W.; Cattell, C. A.; Davis, L.; Grul, P.; Kersten, K.; Wilson, L. B., III

    2017-12-01

    Determining the role of plasma waves in providing energy dissipation at shock waves is of long-standing interest. Interplanetary (IP) shocks serve as a large database of low Mach number shocks. We examine electric field waveforms captured by the Time Domain Sampler (TDS) on the STEREO spacecraft during the ramps of IP shocks, with emphasis on captures lasting 2.1 seconds. Previous work has used captures of shorter duration (66 and 131 ms on STEREO, and 17 ms on WIND), which allowed for observation of waves with maximum (minimum) frequencies of 125 kHz (15 Hz), 62.5 kHz (8 Hz), and 60 kHz (59 Hz), respectively. The maximum frequencies are comparable to 2-8 times the plasma frequency in the solar wind, enabling observation of Langmuir waves, ion acoustic, and some whistler-mode waves. The 2 second captures resolve lower frequencies ( few Hz), which allows us to analyze packet structure of the whistler-mode waves and some ion acoustic waves. The longer capture time also improves the resolvability of simultaneous wave modes and of waves with frequencies on the order of 10s of Hz. Langmuir waves, however, cannot be identified at this sampling rate, since the plasma frequency is usually higher than 3.9 kHz. IP shocks are identified from multiple databases (Helsinki heliospheric shock database at http://ipshocks.fi, and the STEREO level 3 shock database at ftp://stereoftp.nascom.nasa.gov/pub/ins_data/impact/level3/). Our analysis focuses on TDS captures in shock ramp regions, with ramp durations determined from magnetic field data taken at 8 Hz. Software is used to identify multiple wave modes in any given capture and classify waves as Langmuir, ion acoustic, whistler, lower hybrid, electron cyclotron drift instability, or electrostatic solitary waves. Relevant frequencies are determined from density and magnetic field data collected in situ. Preliminary results suggest that large amplitude (∼ 5 mV/m) ion acoustic waves are most prevalent in the ramp, in agreement with

  13. Increases to Inferred Rates of Planetesimal Accretion due to Thermohaline Mixing in Metal-accreting White Dwarfs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bauer, Evan B.; Bildsten, Lars

    2018-06-01

    Many isolated, old white dwarfs (WDs) show surprising evidence of metals in their photospheres. Given that the timescale for gravitational sedimentation is astronomically short, this is taken as evidence for ongoing accretion, likely of tidally disrupted planetesimals. The rate of such accretion, {\\dot{M}}acc}, is important to constrain, and most modeling of this process relies on assuming an equilibrium between diffusive sedimentation and metal accretion supplied to the WD’s surface convective envelope. Building on the earlier work of Deal and collaborators, we show that high {\\dot{M}}acc} models with only diffusive sedimentation are unstable to thermohaline mixing and that models that account for the enhanced mixing from the active thermohaline instability require larger accretion rates, sometimes reaching {\\dot{M}}acc}≈ {10}13 {{g}} {{{s}}}-1 to explain observed calcium abundances. We present results from a grid of MESA models that include both diffusion and thermohaline mixing. These results demonstrate that both mechanisms are essential for understanding metal pollution across the range of polluted WDs with hydrogen atmospheres. Another consequence of active thermohaline mixing is that the observed metal abundance ratios are identical to accreted material.

  14. Simulations of AGN jets: magnetic kink instability versus conical shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Barniol Duran, Rodolfo; Tchekhovskoy, Alexander; Giannios, Dimitrios

    2017-08-01

    Relativistic jets in active galactic nuclei (AGN) convert as much as half of their energy into radiation. To explore the poorly understood processes that are responsible for this conversion, we carry out fully 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of relativistic magnetized jets. Unlike the standard approach of injecting the jets at large radii, our simulated jets self-consistently form at the source and propagate and accelerate outwards for several orders of magnitude in distance before they interact with the ambient medium. We find that this interaction can trigger strong energy dissipation of two kinds inside the jets, depending on the properties of the ambient medium. Those jets that form in a new outburst and drill a fresh hole through the ambient medium fall victim to a 3D magnetic kink instability and dissipate their energy primarily through magnetic reconnection in the current sheets formed by the instability. On the other hand, those jets that form during repeated cycles of AGN activity and escape through a pre-existing hole in the ambient medium maintain their stability and dissipate their energy primarily at MHD recollimation shocks. In both cases, the dissipation region can be associated with a change in the density profile of the ambient gas. The Bondi radius in AGN jets serves as such a location.

  15. Precursor Wave Emission Enhanced by Weibel Instability in Relativistic Shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Iwamoto, Masanori; Amano, Takanobu; Hoshino, Masahiro; Matsumoto, Yosuke

    2018-05-01

    We investigated the precursor wave emission efficiency in magnetized purely perpendicular relativistic shocks in pair plasmas. We extended our previous study to include the dependence of upstream magnetic field orientations. We performed two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations and focused on two magnetic field orientations: the magnetic field in the simulation plane (i.e., in-plane configuration) and that perpendicular to the simulation plane (i.e., out-of-plane configuration). Our simulations in the in-plane configuration demonstrated that not only extraordinary but also ordinary mode waves are excited. We quantified the emission efficiency as a function of the magnetization parameter σ e and found that the large-amplitude precursor waves are emitted for a wide range of σ e . We found that especially at low σ e , the magnetic field generated by Weibel instability amplifies the ordinary mode wave power. The amplitude is large enough to perturb the upstream plasma, and transverse density filaments are generated as in the case of the out-of-plane configuration investigated in the previous study. We confirmed that our previous conclusion holds regardless of upstream magnetic field orientations with respect to the two-dimensional simulation plane. We discuss the precursor wave emission in three dimensions and the feasibility of wakefield acceleration in relativistic shocks based on our results.

  16. Analytical scalings of the linear Richtmyer-Meshkov instability when a shock is reflected.

    PubMed

    Campos, F Cobos; Wouchuk, J G

    2016-05-01

    When a planar shock hits a corrugated contact surface between two fluids, hydrodynamic perturbations are generated in both fluids that result in asymptotic normal and tangential velocity perturbations in the linear stage, the so called Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. In this work, explicit and exact analytical expansions of the asymptotic normal velocity (δv_{i}^{∞}) are presented for the general case in which a shock is reflected back. The expansions are derived from the conservation equations and take into account the whole perturbation history between the transmitted and reflected fronts. The important physical limits of weak and strong shocks and the high/low preshock density ratio at the contact surface are shown. An approximate expression for the normal velocity, valid even for high compression regimes, is given. A comparison with recent experimental data is done. The contact surface ripple growth is studied during the linear phase showing good agreement between theory and experiments done in a wide range of incident shock Mach numbers and preshock density ratios, for the cases in which the initial ripple amplitude is small enough. In particular, it is shown that in the linear asymptotic phase, the contact surface ripple (ψ_{i}) grows as ψ_{∞}+δv_{i}^{∞}t, where ψ_{∞} is an asymptotic ordinate different from the postshock ripple amplitude at t=0+. This work is a continuation of the calculations of F. Cobos Campos and J. G. Wouchuk, [Phys. Rev. E 90, 053007 (2014)PLEEE81539-375510.1103/PhysRevE.90.053007] for a single shock moving into one fluid.

  17. Black Hole Disk Accretion in Supernovae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nomura, H.; Mineshige, S.; Hirose, M.; Nomoto, K.; Suzuki, T.

    Hydrodynamical disk accretion flow onto a new-born black hole in a supernova is studied using the SPH (Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics) method. It has been suggested that a mass of ~0.1Modot falls back to a black hole by a reverse shock. If the progenitor was rotating before the explosion, the accreting material should have a certain amount of angular momentum, thus forming an accretion disk. Disk material will eventually accrete towards the central object via viscosity with a supercritical accretion rate, dotM / dotMc > 106, for first several tens of days. (Here, dotMc is the Eddington luminosity divided by c2.) We then expect that such an accretion disk is optically thick and advection-dominated; that is, the disk is so hot that produced energy and photons are advected inward rather than being radiated away. Thus, the disk luminosity is much less than the Eddington luminosity (~1038erg s-1). The disk becomes hot and dense; for dotM / dotMc ~106 and the viscosity parameter alphavis ~0.01, for example, T ~109K and rho ~103gcm-3 in the vicinity of the central object. Efficient nucleosynthesis is hence expected even for reasonable viscosity magnitudes, although produced elements may be swallowed by the black hole.

  18. Gravitational instabilities of superspinars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pani, Paolo; Barausse, Enrico; Berti, Emanuele; Cardoso, Vitor

    2010-08-01

    Superspinars are ultracompact objects whose mass M and angular momentum J violate the Kerr bound (cJ/GM2>1). Recent studies analyzed the observable consequences of gravitational lensing and accretion around superspinars in astrophysical scenarios. In this paper we investigate the dynamical stability of superspinars to gravitational perturbations, considering either purely reflecting or perfectly absorbing boundary conditions at the “surface” of the superspinar. We find that these objects are unstable independently of the boundary conditions, and that the instability is strongest for relatively small values of the spin. Also, we give a physical interpretation of the various instabilities that we find. Our results (together with the well-known fact that accretion tends to spin superspinars down) imply that superspinars are very unlikely astrophysical alternatives to black holes.

  19. Gravitational instabilities of superspinars

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Pani, Paolo; Barausse, Enrico; Berti, Emanuele

    2010-08-15

    Superspinars are ultracompact objects whose mass M and angular momentum J violate the Kerr bound (cJ/GM{sup 2}>1). Recent studies analyzed the observable consequences of gravitational lensing and accretion around superspinars in astrophysical scenarios. In this paper we investigate the dynamical stability of superspinars to gravitational perturbations, considering either purely reflecting or perfectly absorbing boundary conditions at the 'surface' of the superspinar. We find that these objects are unstable independently of the boundary conditions, and that the instability is strongest for relatively small values of the spin. Also, we give a physical interpretation of the various instabilities that we find. Ourmore » results (together with the well-known fact that accretion tends to spin superspinars down) imply that superspinars are very unlikely astrophysical alternatives to black holes.« less

  20. Quasi-spherical accretion in High Mass X-ray Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Postnov, Konstantin

    2016-07-01

    Quasi-spherical accreion onto magnetized neutron stars from stellar winds in high-mass X-ray binaries is discussed. Depending on the X-ray luminosity of the neutron star, the accretion can proceed in two regimes (modes): at L_x ≳ 4× 10^{36} erg/s, Compton cooling of accreting matter near magnetosphere leads to a supersonic (Bondi) accretion, while at smaller X-ray luminosity the Compton cooling is ineffective, and subsonic settling accretion regime sets in. In this regime, a hot convective shell is formed around the magnetosphere, and the plasma entry rate into magnetosphere is controlled by less effective radiative plasma cooling. The shell mediates the angular momentum transfer from/to the neutron star magnetosphere. Observational evidences for the different accretion regimes in slowly rotating X-ray pulsars with moderate and low X-ray luminosity, as well as possible manifestations of non-stationary quasi-spherical settling accretion due to the magnetospheric shell instability in Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients will be presented.

  1. Numerical Treatment of Thin Accretion Disk Dynamics around Rotating Black Holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yildiran, Deniz; Donmez, Orhan

    In the present study, we perform the numerical simulation of a relativistic thin accretion disk around the nonrotating and rapidly rotating black holes using the general relativistic hydrodynamic code with Kerr in Kerr-Schild coordinate that describes the central rotating black hole. Since the high energy X-rays are produced close to the event horizon resulting the black hole-disk interaction, this interaction should be modeled in the relativistic region. We have set up two different initial conditions depending on the values of thermodynamical variables around the black hole. In the first setup, the computational domain is filled with constant parameters without injecting gas from the outer boundary. In the second, the computational domain is filled with the matter which is then injected from the outer boundary. The matter is assumed to be at rest far from the black hole. Both cases are modeled over a wide range of initial parameters such as the black hole angular momentum, adiabatic index, Mach number and asymptotic velocity of the fluid. It has been found that initial values and setups play an important role in determining the types of the shock cone and in designating the events on the accretion disk. The continuing injection from the outer boundary presents a tail shock to the steady state accretion disk. The opening angle of shock cone grows as long as the rotation parameter becomes larger. A more compressible fluid (bigger adiabatic index) also presents a bigger opening angle, a spherical shock around the rotating black hole, and less accumulated gas in the computational domain. While results from [J. A. Font, J. M. A. Ibanez and P. Papadopoulos, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 305 (1999) 920] indicate that the tail shock is warped around for the rotating hole, our study shows that it is the case not only for the warped tail shock but also for the spherical and elliptical shocks around the rotating black hole. The warping around the rotating black hole in our case

  2. Studying Electromagnetic Beam Instabilities in Laser Plasmas for Alfvénic Parallel Shock Formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dorst, R. S.; Heuer, P. V.; Weidl, M. S.; Schaeffer, D. B.; Constantin, C. G.; Vincena, S.; Tripathi, S.; Gekelman, W.; Winske, D.; Niemann, C.

    2017-10-01

    We present measurements of the collisionless interaction between an exploding laser-produced plasma (LPP) and a large, magnetized ambient plasma. The LPP is created by focusing a high energy laser on a target embedded in the ambient Large Plasma Device (LAPD) plasma at the University of California, Los Angeles. The resulting super-Alfvénic (MA = 5) ablated material moves parallel to the background magnetic field (300 G) through 12m (80 δ i) of the LAPD, interacting with the ambient Helium plasma (ni = 9 ×1012 cm-3) through electromagnetic beam instabilities. The debris is characterized by Langmuir probes and a time-resolved fluorescence monochromator. Waves in the magnetic field produced by the instabilities are diagnosed by an array of 3-axis `bdot' magnetic field probes. Measurements are compared to hybrid simulations of both the experiment and of parallel shocks.

  3. Evaporation effects in a shock-driven multiphase instability with a spherical interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Paudel, Manoj; Dahal, Jeevan; McFarland, Jacob

    2017-11-01

    This talk presents results from 3D numerical simulations of a shock driven instability of a gas-particle system with a spherical interface. Two cases, one with an evaporating particle cloud and another with a gas only approximation of this particle cloud, were run in the hydrodynamics code FLASH, developed at University of Chicago. It is shown that the gas only approximation, a classical Richtmyer Meshkov instability, cannot replicate effects from particles like, lag, clustering, and evaporation. Instead, both gas hydrodynamics and particle properties influence one another and are coupled. Results are presented to highlight the coupling of interface evolution and particle evaporation. Qualitative and quantitative differences in the RMI and SDMI are presented by studying the change in gas properties like density and vorticity within the interface. Similarly, the effect of gas hydrodynamics on particles distribution and evaporation is studied. Particle evaporation rates are compared with 1D models and show poor agreement. The variation in evaporation rates for similar sized particles and the role of gas hydrodynamics in these variation is explored.

  4. How do accretion discs break?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dogan, Suzan

    2016-07-01

    Accretion discs are common in binary systems, and they are often found to be misaligned with respect to the binary orbit. The gravitational torque from a companion induces nodal precession in misaligned disc orbits. In this study, we first calculate whether this precession is strong enough to overcome the internal disc torques communicating angular momentum. We compare the disc precession torque with the disc viscous torque to determine whether the disc should warp or break. For typical parameters precession wins: the disc breaks into distinct planes that precess effectively independently. To check our analytical findings, we perform 3D hydrodynamical numerical simulations using the PHANTOM smoothed particle hydrodynamics code, and confirm that disc breaking is widespread and enhances accretion on to the central object. For some inclinations, the disc goes through strong Kozai cycles. Disc breaking promotes markedly enhanced and variable accretion and potentially produces high-energy particles or radiation through shocks. This would have significant implications for all binary systems: e.g. accretion outbursts in X-ray binaries and fuelling supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. The behaviour we have discussed in this work is relevant to a variety of astrophysical systems, for example X-ray binaries, where the disc plane may be tilted by radiation warping, SMBH binaries, where accretion of misaligned gas can create effectively random inclinations and protostellar binaries, where a disc may be misaligned by a variety of effects such as binary capture/exchange, accretion after binary formation.

  5. Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations of the Wiggle Instability in Spiral Galaxies

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tanaka, Minoru; Wada, Keiichi; Machida, Mami; Matsumoto, Ryoji; Miyaji, Shigeki

    2005-09-01

    We studied the stability of galactic spiral shocks through two dimensional global magnetohydrodynamic simulations. Recently, Wada & Koda (2003) showed, using global hydrodynamic simulations, that galactic gas flows behind a spiral shock becomes unstable against a perturbation parallel to the shock front and form spur-like density structures. They attributed the origin of this wiggle instability to the Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instability triggered by the acceleration of the gas behind the shock. We carried out global simulations including galactic magnetic fields. The initial magnetic field is assumed to be either uniform or purely toroidal. We found that although the magnetic field reduces the growth rate of the K-H instability, wiggle instability develops even in galaxies with μG magnetic fields. We also present the results of local simulations to demonstrate the dependence of the growth rate of the instability with the wavelength. The interval of spurs is determined by the most unstable wavelength of the wiggle instability.

  6. Fast saturation of the two-plasmon-decay instability for shock-ignition conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weber, S.; Riconda, C.; Klimo, O.; Héron, A.; Tikhonchuk, V. T.

    2012-01-01

    Two-plasmon-decay (TPD) instability is investigated for conditions relevant for the shock-ignition (SI) scheme of inertial confinement fusion. Two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations show that in a hot, large-scale plasma, TPD develops in concomitance with stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). It is active only during the first picosecond of interaction, and then it is rapidly saturated due to plasma cavitation. TPD-excited plasma waves extend to small wavelengths, above the standard Landau cutoff. The hot electron spectrum created by SRS and TPD is relatively soft, limited to energies below 100 keV, which should not be a danger for the fuel core preheat in the SI scenario.

  7. General relativistic hydrodynamics with Adaptive-Mesh Refinement (AMR) and modeling of accretion disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Donmez, Orhan

    We present a general procedure to solve the General Relativistic Hydrodynamical (GRH) equations with Adaptive-Mesh Refinement (AMR) and model of an accretion disk around a black hole. To do this, the GRH equations are written in a conservative form to exploit their hyperbolic character. The numerical solutions of the general relativistic hydrodynamic equations is done by High Resolution Shock Capturing schemes (HRSC), specifically designed to solve non-linear hyperbolic systems of conservation laws. These schemes depend on the characteristic information of the system. We use Marquina fluxes with MUSCL left and right states to solve GRH equations. First, we carry out different test problems with uniform and AMR grids on the special relativistic hydrodynamics equations to verify the second order convergence of the code in 1D, 2 D and 3D. Second, we solve the GRH equations and use the general relativistic test problems to compare the numerical solutions with analytic ones. In order to this, we couple the flux part of general relativistic hydrodynamic equation with a source part using Strang splitting. The coupling of the GRH equations is carried out in a treatment which gives second order accurate solutions in space and time. The test problems examined include shock tubes, geodesic flows, and circular motion of particle around the black hole. Finally, we apply this code to the accretion disk problems around the black hole using the Schwarzschild metric at the background of the computational domain. We find spiral shocks on the accretion disk. They are observationally expected results. We also examine the star-disk interaction near a massive black hole. We find that when stars are grounded down or a hole is punched on the accretion disk, they create shock waves which destroy the accretion disk.

  8. Pebble Accretion in Turbulent Protoplanetary Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xu, Ziyan; Bai, Xue-Ning; Murray-Clay, Ruth A.

    2017-09-01

    It has been realized in recent years that the accretion of pebble-sized dust particles onto planetary cores is an important mode of core growth, which enables the formation of giant planets at large distances and assists planet formation in general. The pebble accretion theory is built upon the orbit theory of dust particles in a laminar protoplanetary disk (PPD). For sufficiently large core mass (in the “Hill regime”), essentially all particles of appropriate sizes entering the Hill sphere can be captured. However, the outer regions of PPDs are expected to be weakly turbulent due to the magnetorotational instability (MRI), where turbulent stirring of particle orbits may affect the efficiency of pebble accretion. We conduct shearing-box simulations of pebble accretion with different levels of MRI turbulence (strongly turbulent assuming ideal magnetohydrodynamics, weakly turbulent in the presence of ambipolar diffusion, and laminar) and different core masses to test the efficiency of pebble accretion at a microphysical level. We find that accretion remains efficient for marginally coupled particles (dimensionless stopping time {τ }s˜ 0.1{--}1) even in the presence of strong MRI turbulence. Though more dust particles are brought toward the core by the turbulence, this effect is largely canceled by a reduction in accretion probability. As a result, the overall effect of turbulence on the accretion rate is mainly reflected in the changes in the thickness of the dust layer. On the other hand, we find that the efficiency of pebble accretion for strongly coupled particles (down to {τ }s˜ 0.01) can be modestly reduced by strong turbulence for low-mass cores.

  9. Shock tube Multiphase Experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Middlebrooks, John; Allen, Roy; Paudel, Manoj; Young, Calvin; Musick, Ben; McFarland, Jacob

    2017-11-01

    Shock driven multiphase instabilities (SDMI) are unique physical phenomena that have far-reaching practical applications in engineering and science. The instability is present in high energy explosions, scramjet combustors, and supernovae events. The SDMI arises when a multiphase interface is impulsively accelerated by the passage of a shockwave. It is similar in development to the Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability however, particle-to-gas coupling is the driving mechanism of the SDMI. As particle effects such as lag and phase change become more prominent, the SDMI's development begins to significantly deviate from the RM instability. We have developed an experiment for studying the SDMI in our shock tube facility. In our experiments, a multiphase interface is created using a laminar jet and flowed into the shock tube where it is accelerated by the passage of a planar shockwave. The interface development is captured using CCD cameras synchronized with planar laser illumination. This talk will give an overview of new experiments conducted to examine the development of a shocked cylindrical multiphase interface. The effects of Atwood number, particle size, and a second acceleration (reshock) of the interface will be discussed.

  10. Gas Accretion and Angular Momentum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stewart, Kyle R.

    In this chapter, we review the role of gas accretion to the acquisition of angular momentum, both in galaxies and in their gaseous halos. We begin by discussing angular momentum in dark matter halos, with a brief review of tidal torque theory and the importance of mergers, followed by a discussion of the canonical picture of galaxy formation within this framework, where halo gas is presumed to shock-eat to the virial temperature of the halo, following the same spin distribution as the dark matter halo before cooling to the center of the halo to form a galaxy there. In the context of recent observational evidence demonstrating the presence of high angular momentum gas in galaxy halos, we review recent cosmological hydrodynamic simulations that have begun to emphasize the role of "cold flow" accretion—anisotropic gas accretion along cosmic filaments that does not shock-heat before sinking to the central galaxy. We discuss the implications of these simulations, reviewing a number of recent developments in the literature, and suggest a revision to the canonical model as it relates to the expected angular momentum content of gaseous halos around galaxies.

  11. Modeling and Laboratory Investigations of Radiative Shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Grun, Jacob; Laming, J. Martin; Manka, Charles; Moore, Christopher; Jones, Ted; Tam, Daniel

    2001-10-01

    Supernova remnants are often inhomogeneous, with knots or clumps of material expanding in ambient plasma. This structure may be initiated by hydrodynamic instabilities occurring during the explosion, but it may plausibly be amplified by instabilities of the expanding shocks such as, for example, corrugation instabilities described by D’yakov in 1954, Vishniac in 1983, and observed in the laboratory by Grun et al. in 1991. Shock instability can occur when radiation lowers the effective adiabatic index of the gas. In view of the difficulty of modeling radiation in non-equilibrium plasmas, and the dependence of shock instabilities on such radiation, we are performing a laboratory experiment to study radiative shocks. The shocks are generated in a miniature, laser-driven shock tube. The gas density inside the tube at any instant in time is measured using time and space-resolved interferometry, and the emission spectrum of the gas is measured with time-resolved spectroscopy. We simulate the experiment with a 1D code that models time dependent post-shock ionization and non-equilibrium radiative cooling. S. P. D’yakov, Zhurnal Eksperimentalnoi Teoreticheskoi Fiziki 27, 288 (1954); see also section 90 in L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, Fluid Mechanics (Butterworth-Heinemann 1987); E.T. Vishniac, Astrophys. J. 236, 880 (1983); J. Grun, et al., Phys. Rev. Lett., 66, 2738 (1991)

  12. Bimodal gas accretion in the Horizon-MareNostrum galaxy formation simulation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ocvirk, P.; Pichon, C.; Teyssier, R.

    2008-11-01

    The physics of diffuse gas accretion and the properties of the cold and hot modes of accretion on to proto-galaxies between z = 2 and 5.4 is investigated using the large cosmological simulation performed with the RAMSES code on the MareNostrum supercomputing facility. Galactic winds, chemical enrichment, ultraviolet background heating and radiative cooling are taken into account in this very high resolution simulation. Using accretion-weighted temperature histograms, we have performed two different measurements of the thermal state of the gas accreted towards the central galaxy. The first measurement, performed using accretion-weighted histograms on a spherical surface of radius 0.2Rvir centred on the densest gas structure near the halo centre of mass, is a good indicator of the presence of an accretion shock in the vicinity of the galactic disc. We define the hot shock mass, Mshock, as the typical halo mass separating cold dominated from hot dominated accretion in the vicinity of the galaxy. The second measurement is performed by radially averaging histograms between 0.2Rvir and Rvir, in order to detect radially extended structures such as gas filaments: this is a good proxy for detecting cold streams feeding the central galaxy. We define Mstream as the transition mass separating cold dominated from hot dominated accretion in the outer halo, marking the disappearance of these cold streams. We find a hot shock transition mass of Mshock = 1011.6Msolar (dark matter), with no significant evolution with redshift. Conversely, we find that Mstream increases sharply with z. Our measurements are in agreement with the analytical predictions of Birnboim & Dekel and Dekel & Birnboim, if we correct their model by assuming low metallicity (<=10-3Zsolar) for the filaments, correspondingly to our measurements. Metal enrichment of the intergalactic medium is therefore a key ingredient in determining the transition mass from cold to hot dominated diffuse gas accretion. We find that

  13. A k-ɛ model for turbulent mixing in shock-tube flows induced by Rayleigh-Taylor instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gauthier, Serge; Bonnet, Michel

    1990-09-01

    A k-ɛ model for turbulent mixing induced by Rayleigh-Taylor instability is described. The classical linear closure relations are supplemented with algebraic relations in order to be valid under strong gradients. Calibrations were made against two shock-tube experiments (Andronov et al. [Sov. Phys. JETP 44, 424 (1976); Sov. Phys. Dokl. 27, 393 (1982)] and Houas et al. [Proceedings of the 15th International Symposium on Shock Waves and Shock Tubes (Stanford U.P., Stanford, CA, 1986)]) using the same set of constants. The new interpretation of the experimental data of Brouillette and Sturtevant [Physica D 37, 248 (1989)], where the mixing length is discriminated from the wall jet, requires a different numerical value for the Rayleigh-Taylor source term coefficient. A detailed physical study is given in both cases. It turns out that the spectrum is narrower in the Brouillette and Sturtevant case than in the Andronov et al. case but the small length scales are of the same magnitude.

  14. Galactic Spiral Shocks with Thermal Instability in Vertically Stratified Galactic Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kim, Chang-Goo; Kim, Woong-Tae; Ostriker, Eve C.

    2010-09-01

    Galactic spiral shocks are dominant morphological features and believed to be responsible for substructure formation within spiral arms in disk galaxies. They can also contribute a substantial amount of kinetic energy to the interstellar gas by tapping the (differential) rotational motion. We use numerical hydrodynamic simulations to investigate dynamics and structure of spiral shocks with thermal instability (TI) in vertically stratified galactic disks, focusing on environmental conditions (of heating and the galactic potential) similar to the Solar neighborhood. We initially consider an isothermal disk in vertical hydrostatic equilibrium and let it evolve subject to interstellar cooling and heating as well as a stellar spiral potential. Due to TI, a disk with surface density Σ0 >= 6.7 M sun pc-2 rapidly turns to a thin dense slab near the midplane sandwiched between layers of rarefied gas. The imposed spiral potential leads to a vertically curved shock that exhibits strong flapping motions in the plane perpendicular to the arm. The overall flow structure at saturation is comprised of the arm, postshock expansion zone, and interarm regions that occupy typically 10%, 20%, and 70% of the arm-to-arm distance, in which the gas resides for 15%, 30%, and 55% of the arm-to-arm crossing time, respectively. The flows are characterized by transitions from rarefied to dense phases at the shock and from dense to rarefied phases in the postshock expansion zone, although gas with too-large postshock-density does not undergo this return phase transition, instead forming dense condensations. If self-gravity is omitted, the shock flapping drives random motions in the gas, but only up to ~2-3 km s-1 in the in-plane direction and less than 2 km s-1 in the vertical direction. Time-averaged shock profiles show that the spiral arms in stratified disks are broader and less dense compared to those in unstratified models, and that the vertical density distribution is overall consistent

  15. Accretion Flows in Magnetic White Dwarf Systems

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Imamura, James N.

    2005-01-01

    We received Type A and B funding under the NASA Astrophysics Data Program for the analysis and interpretation of hard x-ray data obtained by the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and other NASA sponsored missions for Intermediate Polars (IPS) and Polars. For some targets, optical data was available. We reduced and analyzed the X-ray spectra and the X-ray and optical (obtained at the Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory) timing data using detailed shock models (which we constructed) to place constraints on the properties of the accreting white dwarfs, the high energy emission mechanisms of white dwarfs, and the large-scale accretion flows of Polars and IPS. IPS and Polars are white dwarf mass-transfer binaries, members of the larger class of cata,clysmic variables. They differ from the bulk of the cataclysmic variables in that they contain strongly magnetic white dwarfs; the white dwarfs in Polars have B, = 7 to 230 MG and those in IPS have B, less than 10 MG. The IPS and Polars are both examples of funneled accretion flows in strong magnetic field systems. The IPS are similar to x-ray pulsars in that accretion disks form in the systems which are disrupted by the strong stellar magnetic fields of the white dwarfs near the stellar surface from where the plasma is funneled to the surface of the white dwarf. The localized hot spots formed at the footpoints of the funnels coupled with the rotation of the white dwarf leads to coherent pulsed x-ray emission. The Polars offer an example of a different accretion topology; the magnetic field of the white dwarf controls the accretion flow from near the inner Lagrangian point of the system directly to the stellar surface. Accretion disks do not form. The strong magnetic coupling generally leads to synchronous orbital/rotational motion in the Polars. The physical system in this sense resembles the Io/Jupiter system. In both IPS and Polars, pulsed emission from the infrared to x-rays is produced as the funneled flows merge onto the

  16. Shock interaction with a two-gas interface in a novel dual-driver shock tube

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Labenski, John R.

    Fluid instabilities exist at the interface between two fluids having different densities if the flow velocity and density gradient are anti-parallel or if a shock wave crosses the boundary. The former case is called the Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) instability and the latter, the Richtmyer-Meshkov (R-M) instability. Small initial perturbations on the interface destabilize and grow into larger amplitude structures leading to turbulent mixing. Instabilities of this type are seen in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments, laser produced plasmas, supernova explosions, and detonations. A novel dual-driver shock tube was used to investigate the growth rate of the R-M instability. One driver is used to create an argon-refrigerant interface, and the other at the opposite end of the driven section generates a shock to force the interface with compressible flows behind the shock. The refrigerant gas in the first driver is seeded with sub-micron oil droplets for visualization of the interface. The interface travels down the driven section past the test section for a fixed amount of time. A stronger shock of Mach 1.1 to 1.3 drives the interface back past the test section where flow diagnostics are positioned. Two schlieren systems record the density fluctuations while light scattering detectors record the density of the refrigerant as a function of position over the interface. A pair of digital cameras take stereo images of the interface, as mapped out by the tracer particles under illumination by a Q-switched ruby laser. The amount of time that the interface is allowed to travel up the driven section determines the interaction time as a control. Comparisons made between the schlieren signals, light scattering detector outputs, and the images quantify the fingered characteristics of the interface and its growth due to shock forcing. The results show that the interface has a distribution of thickness and that the interaction with a shock further broadens the interface. The

  17. Rethinking Black Hole Accretion Discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Salvesen, Greg

    Accretion discs are staples of astrophysics. Tapping into the gravitational potential energy of the accreting material, these discs are highly efficient machines that produce copious radiation and extreme outflows. While interesting in their own right, accretion discs also act as tools to study black holes and directly influence the properties of the Universe. Black hole X-ray binaries are fantastic natural laboratories for studying accretion disc physics and black hole phenomena. Among many of the curious behaviors exhibited by these systems are black hole state transitions -- complicated cycles of dramatic brightening and dimming. Using X-ray observations with high temporal cadence, we show that the evolution of the accretion disc spectrum during black hole state transitions can be described by a variable disc atmospheric structure without invoking a radially truncated disc geometry. The accretion disc spectrum can be a powerful diagnostic for measuring black hole spin if the effects of the disc atmosphere on the emergent spectrum are well-understood; however, properties of the disc atmosphere are largely unconstrained. Using statistical methods, we decompose this black hole spin measurement technique and show that modest uncertainties regarding the disc atmosphere can lead to erroneous spin measurements. The vertical structure of the disc is difficult to constrain due to our ignorance of the contribution to hydrostatic balance by magnetic fields, which are fundamental to the accretion process. Observations of black hole X-ray binaries and the accretion environments near supermassive black holes provide mounting evidence for strong magnetization. Performing numerical simulations of accretion discs in the shearing box approximation, we impose a net vertical magnetic flux that allows us to effectively control the level of disc magnetization. We study how dynamo activity and the properties of turbulence driven by the magnetorotational instability depend on the

  18. Chaotic cold accretion on to black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gaspari, M.; Ruszkowski, M.; Oh, S. Peng

    2013-07-01

    Bondi theory is often assumed to adequately describe the mode of accretion in astrophysical environments. However, the Bondi flow must be adiabatic, spherically symmetric, steady, unperturbed, with constant boundary conditions. Using 3D adaptive mesh refinement simulations, linking the 50 kpc to the sub-parsec (sub-pc) scales over the course of 40 Myr, we systematically relax the classic assumptions in a typical galaxy hosting a supermassive black hole. In the more realistic scenario, where the hot gas is cooling, while heated and stirred on large scales, the accretion rate is boosted up to two orders of magnitude compared with the Bondi prediction. The cause is the non-linear growth of thermal instabilities, leading to the condensation of cold clouds and filaments when tcool/tff ≲ 10. The clouds decouple from the hot gas, `raining' on to the centre. Subsonic turbulence of just over 100 km s-1 (M > 0.2) induces the formation of thermal instabilities, even in the absence of heating, while in the transonic regime turbulent dissipation inhibits their growth (tturb/tcool ≲ 1). When heating restores global thermodynamic balance, the formation of the multiphase medium is violent, and the mode of accretion is fully cold and chaotic. The recurrent collisions and tidal forces between clouds, filaments and the central clumpy torus promote angular momentum cancellation, hence boosting accretion. On sub-pc scales the clouds are channelled to the very centre via a funnel. In this study, we do not inject a fixed initial angular momentum, though vorticity is later seeded by turbulence. A good approximation to the accretion rate is the cooling rate, which can be used as subgrid model, physically reproducing the boost factor of 100 required by cosmological simulations, while accounting for the frequent fluctuations. Since our modelling is fairly general (turbulence/heating due to AGN feedback, galaxy motions, mergers, stellar evolution), chaotic cold accretion may be common in

  19. Relativistic particle transport in hot accretion disks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Becker, Peter A.; Kafatos, Menas; Maisack, Michael

    1994-01-01

    Accretion disks around rapidly rotating black holes provide one of the few plausible models for the production of intense radiation in Acitve Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) above energies of several hundred MeV. The rapid rotation of the hole increases the binding energy per nucleon in the last stable orbit relative to the Schwarzschild case, and naturally leads to ion temperatures in the range 10(exp 12) - 10(exp 13) K for sub-Eddington accretion rates. The protons in the hot inner region of a steady, two-temperature disk form a reservoir of energy that is sufficient to power the observed Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) outbursts if the black hole mass is 10(exp 10) solar mass. Moreover, the accretion timescale for the inner region is comparable to the observed transient timescale of approximately 1 week. Hence EGRET outbursts may be driven by instabilities in hot, two-temperature disks around supermassive black holes. In this paper we discuss turbulent (stochastic) acceleration in hot disks as a possible source of GeV particles and radiation. We constrain the model by assuming the turbulence is powered by a collective instability that drains energy from the hot protons. We also provide some ideas concerning new, high-energy Penrose processes that produce GeV emission be directly tapping the rotational energy of Kerr black holes.

  20. Applying a physical continuum model to describe the broadband X-ray spectra of accreting pulsars at high luminosity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Pottschmidt, Katja; Hemphill, Paul B.; Wolff, Michael T.; Cheatham, Diana M.; Iwakiri, Wataru; Gottlieb, Amy M.; Falkner, Sebastian; Ballhausen, Ralf; Fuerst, Felix; Kuehnel, Matthias; Ferrigno, Carlo; Becker, Peter A.; Wood, Kent S.; Wilms, Joern

    2018-01-01

    A new window for better understanding the accretion onto strongly magnetized neutron stars in X-ray binaries is opening. In these systems the accreted material follows the magnetic field lines as it approaches the neutron star, forming accretion columns above the magnetic poles. The plasma falls toward the neutron star surface at near-relativistic speeds, losing energy by emitting X-rays. The X-ray spectral continua are commonly described using phenomenological models, i.e., power laws with different types of curved cut-offs at higher energies. Here we consider high luminosity pulsars. In these systems the mass transfer rate is high enough that the accreting plasma is thought to be decelerated in a radiation-dominated radiative shock in the accretion columns. While the theory of the emission from such shocks had already been developed by 2007, a model for direct comparison with X-ray continuum spectra in xspec or isis has only recently become available. Characteristic parameters of this model are the accretion column radius and the plasma temperature, among others. Here we analyze the broadband X-ray spectra of the accreting pulsars Centaurus X-3 and 4U 1626-67 obtained with NuSTAR. We present results from traditional empirical modeling as well as successfully apply the radiation-dominated radiative shock model. We also take the opportunity to compare to similar recent analyses of both sources using these and other observations.

  1. Chondrule Formation in Bow Shocks around Eccentric Planetary Embryos

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Morris, Melissa A.; Boley, Aaron C.; Desch, Steven J.; Athanassiadou, Themis

    2012-06-01

    Recent isotopic studies of Martian meteorites by Dauphas & Pourmand have established that large (~3000 km radius) planetary embryos existed in the solar nebula at the same time that chondrules—millimeter-sized igneous inclusions found in meteorites—were forming. We model the formation of chondrules by passage through bow shocks around such a planetary embryo on an eccentric orbit. We numerically model the hydrodynamics of the flow and find that such large bodies retain an atmosphere with Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities allowing mixing of this atmosphere with the gas and particles flowing past the embryo. We calculate the trajectories of chondrules flowing past the body and find that they are not accreted by the protoplanet, but may instead flow through volatiles outgassed from the planet's magma ocean. In contrast, chondrules are accreted onto smaller planetesimals. We calculate the thermal histories of chondrules passing through the bow shock. We find that peak temperatures and cooling rates are consistent with the formation of the dominant, porphyritic texture of most chondrules, assuming a modest enhancement above the likely solar nebula average value of chondrule densities (by a factor of 10), attributable to settling of chondrule precursors to the midplane of the disk or turbulent concentration. We calculate the rate at which a planetary embryo's eccentricity is damped and conclude that a single planetary embryo scattered into an eccentric orbit can, over ~105 years, produce ~1024 g of chondrules. In principle, a small number (1-10) of eccentric planetary embryos can melt the observed mass of chondrules in a manner consistent with all known constraints.

  2. Laboratory Study of Magnetorotational Instability and Hydrodynamic Stability at Large Reynolds Numbers

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ji, H.; Burin, M.; Schartman, E.; Goodman, J.; Liu, W.

    2006-01-01

    Two plausible mechanisms have been proposed to explain rapid angular momentum transport during accretion processes in astrophysical disks: nonlinear hydrodynamic instabilities and magnetorotational instability (MRI). A laboratory experiment in a short Taylor-Couette flow geometry has been constructed in Princeton to study both mechanisms, with novel features for better controls of the boundary-driven secondary flows (Ekman circulation). Initial results on hydrodynamic stability have shown negligible angular momentum transport in Keplerian-like flows with Reynolds numbers approaching one million, casting strong doubt on the viability of nonlinear hydrodynamic instability as a source for accretion disk turbulence.

  3. Time-dependent spherically symmetric accretion onto compact X-ray sources

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cowie, L. L.; Ostriker, J. P.; Stark, A. A.

    1978-01-01

    Analytical arguments and a numerical hydrodynamic code are used to investigate spherically symmetric accretion onto a compact object, in an attempt to provide some insight into gas flows heated by an outgoing X-ray flux. It is shown that preheating of spherically symmetric accretion flows by energetic radiation from an X-ray source results in time-dependent behavior for a much wider range of source parameters than was determined previously and that there are two distinct types of instability. The results are compared with observations of X-ray bursters and transients as well as with theories on quasars and active galactic nuclei that involve quasi-spherically symmetric accretion onto massive black holes. Models based on spherically symmetric accretion are found to be inconsistent with observations of bursters and transients.

  4. Accretion onto neutron stars with the presence of a double layer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Williams, A. C.; Weisskopf, M. C.; Elsner, R. F.; Darbro, W.; Sutherland, P. G.

    1986-01-01

    It is known from laboratory experiments that double layers can form in plasmas, usually in the presence of an electric current. It is argued that a double layer may be present in the accretion column of a neutron star in a binary system. It is suggested that the double layer may be the predominant deceleration mechanism for the accreting ions, especially for sources with X-ray luminosities of less than about 10 to the 37th erg/s. Previous models have involved either a collisionless shock or an assumed gradual deceleration of the accreting ions to thermalize the energy of the infalling matter.

  5. Accretion onto neutron stars with the presence of a double layer

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Williams, A. C.; Weisskopf, M. C.; Elsner, R. F.; Darbro, W.; Sutherland, P. G.

    1987-01-01

    It is known, from laboratory experiments, that double layers will form in plasmas, usually in the presence of an electric current. It is argued that a double layer may be present in the accretion column of a neutron star in a binary system. It is suggested that the double layer may be the predominant deceleration mechanism for the accreting ions, especially for sources with X-ray luminosities of less than about 10 to the 37th erg/s. Previous models have involved either a collisionless shock or an assumed gradual deceleration of the accreting ions to thermalize the energy of the infalling matter.

  6. Gas Evolution Dynamics in Godunov-Type Schemes and Analysis of Numerical Shock Instability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Xu, Kun

    1999-01-01

    In this paper we are going to study the gas evolution dynamics of the exact and approximate Riemann solvers, e.g., the Flux Vector Splitting (FVS) and the Flux Difference Splitting (FDS) schemes. Since the FVS scheme and the Kinetic Flux Vector Splitting (KFVS) scheme have the same physical mechanism and similar flux function, based on the analysis of the discretized KFVS scheme the weakness and advantage of the FVS scheme are closely observed. The subtle dissipative mechanism of the Godunov method in the 2D case is also analyzed, and the physical reason for shock instability, i.e., carbuncle phenomena and odd-even decoupling, is presented.

  7. INTEGRAL results on supergiant fast X-ray transients and accretion mechanism interpretation: ionization effect and formation of transient accretion discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ducci, L.; Sidoli, L.; Paizis, A.

    2010-11-01

    We performed a systematic analysis of all INTEGRAL observations from 2003 to 2009 of 14 supergiant fast X-ray transients (SFXTs), implying a net exposure time of about 30 Ms. For each source we obtained light curves and spectra (3-100 keV), discovering several new outbursts. We discuss the X-ray behaviour of SFXTs emerging from our analysis in the framework of the clumpy wind accretion mechanism we proposed. We discuss the effect of X-ray photoionization on accretion in close binary systems such as IGR J16479-4514 and IGR J17544-2619. We show that, because of X-ray photoionization, there is a high probability of an accretion disc forming from the capture of angular momentum in IGR J16479-4514, and we suggest that the formation of transient accretion discs could be partly responsible for the flaring activity in SFXTs with narrow orbits. We also propose an alternative way to explain the origin of flares with peculiar shapes observed in our analysis applying the model of Lamb et al., which is based on accretion via the Rayleigh-Taylor instability and was originally proposed to explain Type II bursts.

  8. Laboratory unraveling of matter accretion in young stars

    PubMed Central

    Revet, Guilhem; Chen, Sophia N.; Bonito, Rosaria; Khiar, Benjamin; Filippov, Evgeny; Argiroffi, Costanza; Higginson, Drew P.; Orlando, Salvatore; Béard, Jérôme; Blecher, Marius; Borghesi, Marco; Burdonov, Konstantin; Khaghani, Dimitri; Naughton, Kealan; Pépin, Henri; Portugall, Oliver; Riquier, Raphael; Rodriguez, Rafael; Ryazantsev, Sergei N.; Yu. Skobelev, Igor; Soloviev, Alexander; Willi, Oswald; Pikuz, Sergey; Ciardi, Andrea; Fuchs, Julien

    2017-01-01

    Accretion dynamics in the formation of young stars is still a matter of debate because of limitations in observations and modeling. Through scaled laboratory experiments of collimated plasma accretion onto a solid in the presence of a magnetic field, we open a first window on this phenomenon by tracking, with spatial and temporal resolution, the dynamics of the system and simultaneously measuring multiband emissions. We observe in these experiments that matter, upon impact, is ejected laterally from the solid surface and then refocused by the magnetic field toward the incoming stream. This ejected matter forms a plasma shell that envelops the shocked core, reducing escaped x-ray emission. This finding demonstrates one possible structure reconciling current discrepancies between mass accretion rates derived from x-ray and optical observations, respectively. PMID:29109974

  9. Laboratory unraveling of matter accretion in young stars

    DOE PAGES

    Revet, Guilhem; Chen, Sophia N.; Bonito, Rosaria; ...

    2017-11-01

    Accretion dynamics in the formation of young stars is still a matter of debate because of limitations in observations and modeling. Through scaled laboratory experiments of collimated plasma accretion onto a solid in the presence of a magnetic field, we open a first window on this phenomenon by tracking, with spatial and temporal resolution, the dynamics of the system and simultaneously measuring multiband emissions. Here, we observe in these experiments that matter, upon impact, is ejected laterally from the solid surface and then refocused by the magnetic field toward the incoming stream. This ejected matter forms a plasma shell thatmore » envelops the shocked core, reducing escaped x-ray emission. Our finding demonstrates one possible structure reconciling current discrepancies between mass accretion rates derived from x-ray and optical observations, respectively.« less

  10. Laboratory unraveling of matter accretion in young stars.

    PubMed

    Revet, Guilhem; Chen, Sophia N; Bonito, Rosaria; Khiar, Benjamin; Filippov, Evgeny; Argiroffi, Costanza; Higginson, Drew P; Orlando, Salvatore; Béard, Jérôme; Blecher, Marius; Borghesi, Marco; Burdonov, Konstantin; Khaghani, Dimitri; Naughton, Kealan; Pépin, Henri; Portugall, Oliver; Riquier, Raphael; Rodriguez, Rafael; Ryazantsev, Sergei N; Yu Skobelev, Igor; Soloviev, Alexander; Willi, Oswald; Pikuz, Sergey; Ciardi, Andrea; Fuchs, Julien

    2017-11-01

    Accretion dynamics in the formation of young stars is still a matter of debate because of limitations in observations and modeling. Through scaled laboratory experiments of collimated plasma accretion onto a solid in the presence of a magnetic field, we open a first window on this phenomenon by tracking, with spatial and temporal resolution, the dynamics of the system and simultaneously measuring multiband emissions. We observe in these experiments that matter, upon impact, is ejected laterally from the solid surface and then refocused by the magnetic field toward the incoming stream. This ejected matter forms a plasma shell that envelops the shocked core, reducing escaped x-ray emission. This finding demonstrates one possible structure reconciling current discrepancies between mass accretion rates derived from x-ray and optical observations, respectively.

  11. Laboratory unraveling of matter accretion in young stars

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Revet, Guilhem; Chen, Sophia N.; Bonito, Rosaria

    Accretion dynamics in the formation of young stars is still a matter of debate because of limitations in observations and modeling. Through scaled laboratory experiments of collimated plasma accretion onto a solid in the presence of a magnetic field, we open a first window on this phenomenon by tracking, with spatial and temporal resolution, the dynamics of the system and simultaneously measuring multiband emissions. Here, we observe in these experiments that matter, upon impact, is ejected laterally from the solid surface and then refocused by the magnetic field toward the incoming stream. This ejected matter forms a plasma shell thatmore » envelops the shocked core, reducing escaped x-ray emission. Our finding demonstrates one possible structure reconciling current discrepancies between mass accretion rates derived from x-ray and optical observations, respectively.« less

  12. Interface Instabilities in the Interstellar Medium

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hunter, J. H., Jr.; Siopis, C.; Whitaker, R. W.; Lovelace, R. V. E.

    1995-01-01

    In the present communication, we reexamine two limiting cases of star-forming mechanisms involving self-gravity, thermodynamics, and velocity fields, that we believe must be ubiquitous in the ISM -- the generally oblique collision of supersonic gas streams or turbulent eddies. The general case of oblique collisions has not yet been examined. However, two limiting cases have been studied in detail: (1) The head-on collision of two identical gas streams that form dense, cool accretion shocks that become unstable and may form Jeans mass clouds, which subsequently undergo collapse. (2) Linearly unstable tangential velocity discontinuities, which result in Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instabilities and related phenomena. The compressible K-H instabilities exhibit rich and unexpected behaviors. Moreover a new thermal-dynamic (T-D) mode was discovered that arises from the coupling of the perturbed thermal behavior and the unperturbed flow. The T-D mode has the curious characteristic that it may be strongly unstable to interface modes when the global modes in either medium are absolutely thermally stable. In the present communication additional models of case 1 are described and discussed, and self-gravity is added in the linear theory of tangential discontinuities, case 2. We prove that self-gravity fundamentally changes the behavior of interfacial modes -- density discontinuities (or steps) are inherently unstable on roughly the free-fall timescale of the denser medium to perturbations of all wavelengths.

  13. Lessons from accretion disks in cataclysmic variables

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Horne, Keith

    1998-04-01

    We survey recent progress in the interpretation of observations of cataclysmic variables, whose accretion disks are heated by viscous dissipation rather than irradiation. Many features of standard viscous accretion disk models are confirmed by tomographic imaging studies of dwarf novae. Eclipse maps indicate that steady disk temperature structures are established during outbursts. Doppler maps of double-peaked emission lines suggest disk chromospheres heated by magnetic activity. Gas streams impacting on the disk rim leave expected signatures both in the eclipses and emission lines. Doppler maps of dwarf nova IP Peg at the beginning of an outburst show evidence for tidally-induced spiral shocks. While enjoying these successes, we must still face up to the dreaded ``SW Sex syndrome'' which afflicts most if not all cataclysmic variables in high accretion states. The anomalies include single-peaked emission lines with skewed kinematics, flat temperature-radius profiles, shallow offset line eclipses, and narrow low-ionization absorption lines at phase 0.5. The enigmatic behavior of AE Aqr is now largely understood in terms of a magnetic propeller model in which the rapidly spinning white dwarf magnetosphere expels the gas stream out of the system before an accretion disk can form. A final piece in this puzzle is the realization that an internal shock zone occurs in the exit stream at just the right place to explain the anomalous kinematics and violent flaring of the single-peaked emission lines. Encouraged by this success, we propose that disk-anchored magnetic propellers operate in the high accretion rate systems afflicted by the SW Sex syndrome. Magnetic fields anchored in the Keplerian disk sweep forward and apply a boost that expels gas stream material flowing above the disk plane. This working hypothesis offers a framework on which we can hang all the SW Sex anomalies. The lesson for theorists is that magnetic links appear to be transporting energy and angular

  14. Mass-loss from advective accretion disc around rotating black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aktar, Ramiz; Das, Santabrata; Nandi, Anuj

    2015-11-01

    We examine the properties of the outflowing matter from an advective accretion disc around a spinning black hole. During accretion, rotating matter experiences centrifugal pressure-supported shock transition that effectively produces a virtual barrier around the black hole in the form of post-shock corona (hereafter PSC). Due to shock compression, PSC becomes hot and dense that eventually deflects a part of the inflowing matter as bipolar outflows because of the presence of extra thermal gradient force. In our approach, we study the outflow properties in terms of the inflow parameters, namely specific energy (E) and specific angular momentum (λ) considering the realistic outflow geometry around the rotating black holes. We find that spin of the black hole (ak) plays an important role in deciding the outflow rate R_{dot{m}} (ratio of mass flux of outflow to inflow); in particular, R_{dot{m}} is directly correlated with ak for the same set of inflow parameters. It is found that a large range of the inflow parameters allows global accretion-ejection solutions, and the effective area of the parameter space (E, λ) with and without outflow decreases with black hole spin (ak). We compute the maximum outflow rate (R^{max}_{dot{m}}) as a function of black hole spin (ak) and observe that R^{max}_{dot{m}} weakly depends on ak that lies in the range ˜10-18 per cent of the inflow rate for the adiabatic index (γ) with 1.5 ≥ γ ≥ 4/3. We present the observational implication of our approach while studying the steady/persistent jet activities based on the accretion states of black holes. We discuss that our formalism seems to have the potential to explain the observed jet kinetic power for several Galactic black hole sources and active galactic nuclei.

  15. The accretion and spreading of matter on white dwarfs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fisker, Jacob Lund; Balsara, Dinshaw S.; Burger, Tom

    2006-10-01

    For a slowly rotating non-magnetized white dwarf the accretion disk extends all the way to the star. At the interface between the accretion disk and the star, the matter moves through a boundary layer (BL) and then spreads toward the poles as new matter continuously piles up behind it. We have solved the 3d compressible Navier-Stokes equations on an axisymmetric grid to determine the structure of this BL for different accretion rates (states). The high states show a spreading BL which sets off a gravity wave in the surface matter. The accretion flow moves supersonically over the cusp making it susceptible to the rapid development of gravity wave and/or Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. This BL is optically thick and extends more than 30° to either side of the disk plane after 3/4 of a Keplerian rotation period (tK = 19 s). The low states also show a spreading BL, but here the accretion flow does not set off gravity waves and it is optically thin.

  16. Impacts of fragmented accretion streams onto classical T Tauri stars: UV and X-ray emission lines

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colombo, S.; Orlando, S.; Peres, G.; Argiroffi, C.; Reale, F.

    2016-10-01

    Context. The accretion process in classical T Tauri stars (CTTSs) can be studied through the analysis of some UV and X-ray emission lines which trace hot gas flows and act as diagnostics of the post-shock downfalling plasma. In the UV-band, where higher spectral resolution is available, these lines are characterized by rather complex profiles whose origin is still not clear. Aims: We investigate the origin of UV and X-ray emission at impact regions of density structured (fragmented) accretion streams. We study if and how the stream fragmentation and the resulting structure of the post-shock region determine the observed profiles of UV and X-ray emission lines. Methods: We modeled the impact of an accretion stream consisting of a series of dense blobs onto the chromosphere of a CTTS through two-dimensional (2D) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. We explored different levels of stream fragmentation and accretion rates. From the model results, we synthesize C IV (1550 Å) and O VIII (18.97 Å) line profiles. Results: The impacts of accreting blobs onto the stellar chromosphere produce reverse shocks propagating through the blobs and shocked upflows. These upflows, in turn, hit and shock the subsequent downfalling fragments. As a result, several plasma components differing for the downfalling velocity, density, and temperature are present altoghether. The profiles of C IV doublet are characterized by two main components: one narrow and redshifted to speed ≈ 50 km s-1 and the other broader and consisting of subcomponents with redshift to speed in the range 200-400 km s-1. The profiles of O VIII lines appear more symmetric than C IV and are redshifted to speed ≈ 150 km s-1. Conclusions: Our model predicts profiles of C IV line remarkably similar to those observed and explains their origin in a natural way as due to stream fragmentation. Movies are available at http://www.aanda.org

  17. Clumpy wind accretion in Supergiant X-ray Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    El Mellah, I.; Sundqvist, J. O.; Keppens, R.

    2017-12-01

    Supergiant X-ray binaries (\\sgx) contain a neutron star (NS) orbiting a Supergiant O/B star. The fraction of the dense and fast line-driven wind from the stellar companion which is accreted by the NS is responsible for most of the X-ray emission from those system. Classic \\sgx display photometric variability of their hard X-ray emission, typically from a few 10^{35} to a few 10^{37}erg\\cdots^{-1}. Inhomogeneities (\\aka clumps) in the wind from the star are expected to play a role in this time variability. We run 3D hydrodynamical (HD) finite volume simulations to follow the accretion of the inhomogeneous stellar wind by the NS over almost 3 orders of magnitude. To model the unperturbed wind far upstream the NS, we use recent simulations which managed to resolve its micro-structure. We observe the formation of a Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton (BHL) like bow shock around the accretor and follow the clumps as they cross it, down to the NS magnetosphere. Compared to previous estimations discarding the HD effects, we measure lower time variability due to both the damping effect of the shock and the necessity to evacuate angular momentum to enable accretion. We also compute the associated time-variable column density and compare it to recent observations in Vela X-1.

  18. Further Experimental Investigations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miller, P. L.; Peyser, T. A.; Stry, P. E.; Logory, L. M.; Farley, D. R.

    1996-11-01

    We report on further experimental investigations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability from an initially nonlinear perturbation, conducted on the Nova laser. The experiments use a Nova hohlraum as a driver source for a strong shock in a miniature shock tube attached to the hohlraum. The shock tube contains brominated plastic and low-density carbon foam as the two working fluids, with a micro-machined sawtooth interface between them serving as the perturbation. The shock, upon crossing the interface, instigates the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability from the perturbation. The resulting growth of the mixing layer is diagnosed radiographically. We have previously reported upon a results from a single wavelength and amplitude of perturbation (T. A. Peyser et al., Phys. Rev. Lett.) 75, 2332 (1996).. A study of the effect of variations in amplitude and wavelength on the nonlinear growth of the instability will be discussed.

  19. Instability of isolated planar shock waves

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2007-06-07

    Note that multi-mode perturbations can be treated by the inclusion of additional terms in Eq. (4), but owing to the linear independence of the... Volterra equation Figure 4 shows five examples of the evolution of the amplitude of a linear sinusoidal perturbation on a shock front obtained by...showing the evolution of the amplitude of a linear sinusoidal perturbation on a shock front obtained by numerically solving the Volterra equation in

  20. Waves and Instabilities in Collisionless Shocks

    DTIC Science & Technology

    1984-04-01

    occur in the electron foreshock and are driven by suprathermal electrons escaping into the region upstream of the shock. Both the ion-acoustic and...ULF waves occur in the ion foreshock and are associated with ions streaming into the region upstream of 11 the shock. The region downstream of the...the discussion of these waves it is useful to distinguish two regions, called the electron foreshock and the ion foreshock . Because the particles

  1. Radiation, Gas and Magnetic Fields: Understanding Accretion Disks with Real Physics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tao, Ted

    2011-01-01

    This dissertation studies some of the fundamental physics ingredients that underlie the theory of astrophysical accretion disks. We begin by focusing on local radiation magnetohydrodynamic instabilities in static, optically thick, vertically stratified media with constant flux mean opacity. Our analysis includes the effects of vertical gradients in a horizontal background magnetic field. Assuming rapid radiative diffusion, we use the zero gas pressure limit as an entry point for investigating the coupling between the photon bubble instability and the Parker instability. We find that the two instabilities transition smoothly into each other at a characteristic wavelength that is approximately equal to the magnetic pressure scale height times the ratio of radiation to magnetic pressure gradient forces. The Parker instability exists for longer wavelengths, while photon bubbles exist for wavelengths shorter than the transition wavelength. We also consider the effects of finite gas pressure on the coupled instabilities. Finite gas pressure introduces an additional short wavelength limit to the Parker-like behavior, and also limits the growth rate of the photon bubble instability to a constant value at high wave numbers. Finally, our analytic infinite wavenumber perturbation calculation strongly suggest that magnetic pressure gradients do not modify the photon bubble growth rate in the asymptotic regime. Our results may explain why photon bubbles have not yet been observed in recent stratified shearing box accretion disk simulations. Photon bubbles may physically exist in simulations with high radiation to gas pressure ratios, but higher spatial resolution will be needed to resolve the asymptotically growing unstable wavelengths. Next, we turn to the effects of local dissipation physics on the spectra and vertical structure of high luminosity stellar mass black hole X-ray binary accretion disks. More specifically, we present spectral calculations of non-LTE accretion

  2. Fundamentals of collisionless shocks for astrophysical application, 2. Relativistic shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bykov, A. M.; Treumann, R. A.

    2011-08-01

    In this concise review of the recent developments in relativistic shock theory in the Universe we restrict ourselves to shocks that do not exhibit quantum effects. On the other hand, emphasis is given to the formation of shocks under both non-magnetised and magnetised conditions. We only briefly discuss particle acceleration in relativistic shocks where much of the results are still preliminary. Analytical theory is rather limited in predicting the real shock structure. Kinetic instability theory is briefed including its predictions and limitations. A recent self-similar relativistic shock theory is described which predicts the average long-term shock behaviour to be magnetised and to cause reasonable power-law distributions for energetic particles. The main focus in this review is on numerical experiments on highly relativistic shocks in (i) pair and (ii) electron-nucleon plasmas and their limitations. These simulations do not validate all predictions of analytic and self-similar theory and so far they do not solve the injection problem and the self-modification by self-generated cosmic rays. The main results of the numerical experiments discussed in this review are: (i) a confirmation of shock evolution in non-magnetised relativistic plasma in 3D due to either the lepton-Weibel instability (in pair plasmas) or to the ion-Weibel instability; (ii) the sensitive dependence of shock formation on upstream magnetisation which causes suppression of Weibel modes for large upstream magnetisation ratios σ>10-3; (iii) the sensitive dependence of particle dynamics on the upstream magnetic inclination angle θ Bn , where particles of θ Bn >34° cannot escape upstream, leading to the distinction between `subluminal' and `superluminal' shocks; (iv) particles in ultra-relativistic shocks can hardly overturn the shock and escape to upstream; they may oscillate around the shock ramp for a long time, so to speak `surfing it' and thereby becoming accelerated by a kind of SDA; (v

  3. The Dynamics of Truncated Black Hole Accretion Disks. I. Viscous Hydrodynamic Case

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hogg, J. Drew; Reynolds, Christopher S.

    2017-07-01

    Truncated accretion disks are commonly invoked to explain the spectro-temporal variability in accreting black holes in both small systems, I.e., state transitions in galactic black hole binaries (GBHBs), and large systems, I.e., low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs). In the canonical truncated disk model of moderately low accretion rate systems, gas in the inner region of the accretion disk occupies a hot, radiatively inefficient phase, which leads to a geometrically thick disk, while the gas in the outer region occupies a cooler, radiatively efficient phase that resides in the standard geometrically thin disk. Observationally, there is strong empirical evidence to support this phenomenological model, but a detailed understanding of the dynamics of truncated disks is lacking. We present a well-resolved viscous, hydrodynamic simulation that uses an ad hoc cooling prescription to drive a thermal instability and, hence, produce the first sustained truncated accretion disk. With this simulation, we perform a study of the dynamics, angular momentum transport, and energetics of a truncated disk. We find that the time variability introduced by the quasi-periodic transition of gas from efficient cooling to inefficient cooling impacts the evolution of the simulated disk. A consequence of the thermal instability is that an outflow is launched from the hot/cold gas interface, which drives large, sub-Keplerian convective cells into the disk atmosphere. The convective cells introduce a viscous θ - ϕ stress that is less than the generic r - ϕ viscous stress component, but greatly influences the evolution of the disk. In the truncated disk, we find that the bulk of the accreted gas is in the hot phase.

  4. The Dynamics of Truncated Black Hole Accretion Disks. I. Viscous Hydrodynamic Case

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hogg, J. Drew; Reynolds, Christopher S.

    Truncated accretion disks are commonly invoked to explain the spectro-temporal variability in accreting black holes in both small systems, i.e., state transitions in galactic black hole binaries (GBHBs), and large systems, i.e., low-luminosity active galactic nuclei (LLAGNs). In the canonical truncated disk model of moderately low accretion rate systems, gas in the inner region of the accretion disk occupies a hot, radiatively inefficient phase, which leads to a geometrically thick disk, while the gas in the outer region occupies a cooler, radiatively efficient phase that resides in the standard geometrically thin disk. Observationally, there is strong empirical evidence to supportmore » this phenomenological model, but a detailed understanding of the dynamics of truncated disks is lacking. We present a well-resolved viscous, hydrodynamic simulation that uses an ad hoc cooling prescription to drive a thermal instability and, hence, produce the first sustained truncated accretion disk. With this simulation, we perform a study of the dynamics, angular momentum transport, and energetics of a truncated disk. We find that the time variability introduced by the quasi-periodic transition of gas from efficient cooling to inefficient cooling impacts the evolution of the simulated disk. A consequence of the thermal instability is that an outflow is launched from the hot/cold gas interface, which drives large, sub-Keplerian convective cells into the disk atmosphere. The convective cells introduce a viscous θ − ϕ stress that is less than the generic r − ϕ viscous stress component, but greatly influences the evolution of the disk. In the truncated disk, we find that the bulk of the accreted gas is in the hot phase.« less

  5. Active galactic nuclei. II - The acceleration of relativistic particles in a cluster of accreting black holes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Pacholczyk, A. G.; Stepinski, T. F.

    1988-01-01

    An accreting cluster of black holes in an active galactic nucleus is a natural site for a system of shock structures with a hierarchy of sizes, corresponding to the distribution of masses in the cluster. Accreted gas containing some magnetic fields and supersonically falling onto the core forms shocks on the outside of each hole and these shocks are capable of accelerating relativistic particles. The energies reached in a single shock are size rather than acceleration time limited and are proportional to the mass of the hole with a proportionality constant being a function of the position of the hole within a cluster and the model of the cluster and the shock formation. These energies are adequate to explain the observed properties of synchrotron and inverse-Compton radiation from these objects. The resulting energy spectrum of particles in the cluster in 'zeroth' approximation has the form of a doubly broken power law with indices of two and three on both extremes of the energy domain respectively, bridged by an index of about 2.5.

  6. Convection Enhances Magnetic Turbulence in AM CVn Accretion Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Coleman, Matthew S. B.; Blaes, Omer; Hirose, Shigenobu; Hauschildt, Peter H.

    2018-04-01

    We present the results of local, vertically stratified, radiation magnetohydrodynamic shearing-box simulations of magnetorotational instability (MRI) turbulence for a (hydrogen poor) composition applicable to accretion disks in AM CVn type systems. Many of these accreting white dwarf systems are helium analogs of dwarf novae (DNe). We utilize frequency-integrated opacity and equation-of-state tables appropriate for this regime to accurately portray the relevant thermodynamics. We find bistability of thermal equilibria in the effective-temperature, surface-mass-density plane typically associated with disk instabilities. Along this equilibrium curve (i.e., the S-curve), we find that the stress to thermal pressure ratio α varied with peak values of ∼0.15 near the tip of the upper branch. Similar to DNe, we found enhancement of α near the tip of the upper branch caused by convection; this increase in α occurred despite our choice of zero net vertical magnetic flux. Two notable differences we find between DN and AM CVn accretion disk simulations are that AM CVn disks are capable of exhibiting persistent convection in outburst, and ideal MHD is valid throughout quiescence for AM CVns. In contrast, DNe simulations only show intermittent convection, and nonideal MHD effects are likely important in quiescence. By combining our previous work with these new results, we also find that convective enhancement of the MRI is anticorrelated with mean molecular weight.

  7. Cosmic Rays and Non-thermal Emission Induced by Accretion of Cool Gas onto the Galactic Disk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Inoue, Susumu; Uchiyama, Yasunobu; Arakawa, Masanori; Renaud, Matthieu; Wada, Keiichi

    2017-11-01

    On both observational and theoretical grounds, the disk of our Galaxy should be accreting cool gas with temperature ≲ {10}5 K via the halo at a rate ˜1 {{M}⊙ {yr}}-1. At least some of this accretion is mediated by high-velocity clouds (HVCs), observed to be traveling in the halo with velocities of a few 100 km s-1 and occasionally impacting the disk at such velocities, especially in the outer regions of the Galaxy. We address the possibility of particle acceleration in shocks triggered by such HVC accretion events, and the detectability of consequent non-thermal emission in the radio to gamma-ray bands and high-energy neutrinos. For plausible shock velocities ˜ 300 {km} {{{s}}}-1 and magnetic field strengths ˜ 0.3{--}10 μ {{G}}, electrons and protons may be accelerated up to ˜1-10 TeV and ˜ 30{--}{10}3 TeV, respectively, in sufficiently strong adiabatic shocks during their lifetime of ˜ {10}6 {{yr}}. The resultant pion decay and inverse Compton gamma-rays may be the origin of some unidentified Galactic GeV-TeV sources, particularly the “dark” source HESS J1503-582 that is spatially coincident with the anomalous H I structure known as “forbidden-velocity wings.” Correlation of their locations with star-forming regions may be weak, absent, or even opposite. Non-thermal radio and X-ray emission from primary and/or secondary electrons may be detectable with deeper observations. The contribution of HVC accretion to Galactic cosmic rays is subdominant, but could be non-negligible in the outer Galaxy. As the thermal emission induced by HVC accretion is likely difficult to detect, observations of such phenomena may offer a unique perspective on probing gas accretion onto the Milky Way and other galaxies.

  8. General polytropic self-gravitating cylinder free-fall and accreting mass string with a chain of collapsed objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lou, Yu-Qing; Hu, Xu-Yao

    2016-06-01

    We present a theoretical model framework for general polytropic (GP) hydrodynamic cylinder under self-gravity of infinite length with axial uniformity and axisymmetry. For self-similar dynamic solutions, we derive valuable integrals, analytic asymptotic solutions, sonic critical curves, shock conditions, and global numerical solutions with or without expansion shocks. Among others, we investigate various dynamic solutions featured with central free-fall asymptotic behaviours, corresponding to a collapsed mass string with a sustained dynamic accretion from a surrounding mass reservoir. Depending on the allowed ranges of a scaling index a < -1, such cylindrical dynamic mass accretion rate could be steady, increasing with time and decreasing with time. Physically, such a collapsed mass string or filament would break up into a sequence of sub-clumps and segments as induced by gravitational Jeans instabilities. Depending on the scales involved, such sub-clumps would evolve into collapsed objects or gravitationally bound systems. In diverse astrophysical and cosmological contexts, such a scenario can be adapted on various temporal, spatial and mass scales to form a chain of collapsed clumps and/or compact objects. Examples include the formation of chains of proto-stars, brown dwarfs and gaseous planets along molecular filaments; the formation of luminous massive stars along magnetized spiral arms and circum-nuclear starburst rings in barred spiral galaxies; the formation of chains of compact stellar objects such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes along a highly condensed mass string. On cosmological scales, one can perceive the formation of chains of galaxies, chains of galaxy clusters or even chains of supermassive and hypermassive black holes in the Universe including the early Universe. All these chains referred to above include possible binaries.

  9. Flow morphologies after oblique shock acceelration of a cylindrical density interface

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wayne, Patrick; Simons, Dylan; Olmstead, Dell; Truman, C. Randall; Vorobieff, Peter; Kumar, Sanjay

    2015-11-01

    We present an experimental study of instabilities developing after an oblique shock interaction with a heavy gas column. The heavy gas in our experiments is sulfur hexafluoride infused with 11% acetone by mass. A misalignment of the pressure and density gradients results in three-dimensional vorticity deposition on the gaseous interface, dtriggering the onset of Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI). Shortly thereafter, other instabilities develop along the interface, including a shear-driven instability that presents itself on the leading (with respect to the shock) and trailing edges of the column. This leads to the development of rows of co-rotating ``cat's eye'' vortices, characteristic of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (KHI). Characteristics of the KHI, such as growth rate and wavelength, depend on several factors including the Mach number of the shock, the shock tube angle of inclination α (equal to the angle between the axis of the column and the plane of the shock), and the Atwood number. This work is supported by the US National Nuclear Security Agency (NNSA) via grant DE-NA0002913.

  10. Polarimetric Imaging of the Relativistic Accretion Flow in Sagittarius A*

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Siming; Huang, L.; Shen, Z.; Cai, M. J.; Li, H.; Fryer, C. L.

    2007-12-01

    We perform general relativistic ray-tracing calculations of the transfer of polarized synchrotron radiation through the relativistic accretion flow in Sagittarius A*. The birefringence effects are treated self-consistently. By fitting the spectrum and polarization of Sgr A* from the millimeter to the NIR band with the model, we are able to not only constrain the basic parameters related to the magneto-rotational instability and the electron heating rate, but also limit the orientation of the accretion torus. These constraints lead to unique images of the four Stokes parameters, which may be compared with future mm and sub-mm VLBI observations. In combination with general relativistic MHD simulations, the model can be used to test the theory of the magneto-rotational instability with observations of Sgr A*. This work was funded in part under the auspices of the US Department of Energy, and supported by its contract W-7405-ENG-36 to Los Alamos National Laboratory.

  11. Ablative Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov Instabilities in Laser-Accelerated Colliding Foils

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aglitskiy, Y.; Metzler, N.; Karasik, M.; Serlin, V.; Weaver, J.; Obenschain, S. P.; Oh, J.; Schmitt, A. J.; Velikovich, A. L.; Zalesak, S. T.; Gardner, J. H.; Harding, E. C.

    2008-11-01

    In our experiments done on the Nike KrF laser, we study instability growth at shock-decelerated interfaces in planar colliding-foil experiments. We use streaked monochromatic (1.86 keV) x-ray face-on imaging diagnostics to measure the areal mass modulation growth caused by the instability. Higher x-ray energies up to 5.25 keV are used to follow the shock propagation as well as the 1D dynamics of the collision. While a laser-driven foil is accelerated towards the stationary low-density foam layer, an ablative RT instability develops. Having reached a high velocity, the foil hits the foam layer. The impact generates strong shocks in the plastic and in the foam. The reflected shock wave re-shocks the ablation front, its acceleration stops, and so does the observed RT growth. This is followed by areal mass oscillations due to the ablative RM instability and feedout mechanisms, of which the latter dominates.

  12. A three-dimensional numerical study on instability of sinusoidal flame induced by multiple shock waves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Xiao; Dong, Gang; Jiang, Hua

    2017-04-01

    The instabilities of a three-dimensional sinusoidally premixed flame induced by an incident shock wave with Mach = 1.7 and its reshock waves were studied by using the Navier-Stokes (NS) equations with a single-step chemical reaction and a high resolution, 9th-order weighted essentially non-oscillatory scheme. The computational results were validated by the grid independence test and the experimental results in the literature. The computational results show that after the passage of incident shock wave the flame interface develops in symmetric structure accompanied by large-scale transverse vortex structures. After the interactions by successive reshock waves, the flame interface is gradually destabilized and broken up, and the large-scale vortex structures are gradually transformed into small-scale vortex structures. The small-scale vortices tend to be isotropic later. The results also reveal that the evolution of the flame interface is affected by both mixing process and chemical reaction. In order to identify the relationship between the mixing and the chemical reaction, a dimensionless parameter, η , that is defined as the ratio of mixing time scale to chemical reaction time scale, is introduced. It is found that at each interaction stage the effect of chemical reaction is enhanced with time. The enhanced effect of chemical reaction at the interaction stage by incident shock wave is greater than that at the interaction stages by reshock waves. The result suggests that the parameter η can reasonably character the features of flame interface development induced by the multiple shock waves.

  13. Quasispherical subsonic accretion in X-ray pulsars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shakura, Nikolai I.; Postnov, Konstantin A.; Kochetkova, A. Yu; Hjalmarsdotter, L.

    2013-04-01

    A theoretical model is considered for quasispherical subsonic accretion onto slowly rotating magnetized neutron stars. In this regime, the accreting matter settles down subsonically onto the rotating magnetosphere, forming an extended quasistatic shell. Angular momentum transfer in the shell occurs via large-scale convective motions resulting, for observed pulsars, in an almost iso-angular-momentum \\omega \\sim 1/R^2 rotation law inside the shell. The accretion rate through the shell is determined by the ability of the plasma to enter the magnetosphere due to Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities, with allowance for cooling. A settling accretion regime is possible for moderate accretion rates \\dot M \\lesssim \\dot M_* \\simeq 4\\times 10^{16} g s ^{-1}. At higher accretion rates, a free-fall gap above the neutron star magnetosphere appears due to rapid Compton cooling, and the accretion becomes highly nonstationary. Observations of spin-up/spin-down rates of quasispherically wind accreting equilibrium X-ray pulsars with known orbital periods (e.g., GX 301-2 and Vela X-1) enable us to determine the main dimensionless parameters of the model, as well as to estimate surface magnetic field of the neutron star. For equilibrium pulsars, the independent measurements of the neutron star magnetic field allow for an estimate of the stellar wind velocity of the optical companion without using complicated spectroscopic measurements. For nonequilibrium pulsars, a maximum value is shown to exist for the spin-down rate of the accreting neutron star. From observations of the spin-down rate and the X-ray luminosity in such pulsars (e.g., GX 1+4, SXP 1062, and 4U 2206+54), a lower limit can be put on the neutron star magnetic field, which in all cases turns out to be close to the standard value and which agrees with cyclotron line measurements. Furthermore, both explains the spin-up/spin-down of the pulsar frequency on large time-scales and also accounts for the irregular short

  14. Hysteresis and thermal limit cycles in MRI simulations of accretion discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Latter, H. N.; Papaloizou, J. C. B.

    2012-10-01

    The recurrentoutbursts that characterize low-mass binary systems reflect thermal state changes in their associated accretion discs. The observed outbursts are connected to the strong variation in disc opacity as hydrogen ionizes near 5000 K. This physics leads to accretion disc models that exhibit bistability and thermal limit cycles, whereby the disc jumps between a family of cool and low-accreting states and a family of hot and efficiently accreting states. Previous models have parametrized the disc turbulence via an alpha (or 'eddy') viscosity. In this paper we treat the turbulence more realistically via a suite of numerical simulations of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) in local geometry. Radiative cooling is included via a simple but physically motivated prescription. We show the existence of bistable equilibria and thus the prospect of thermal limit cycles, and in so doing demonstrate that MRI-induced turbulence is compatible with the classical theory. Our simulations also show that the turbulent stress and pressure perturbations are only weakly dependent on each other on orbital times; as a consequence, thermal instability connected to variations in turbulent heating (as opposed to radiative cooling) is unlikely to operate, in agreement with previous numerical results. Our work presents a first step towards unifying simulations of full magnetohydrodynamic turbulence with the correct thermal and radiative physics of the outbursting discs associated with dwarf novae, low-mass X-ray binaries and possibly young stellar objects.

  15. Saturation of the Magnetorotational Instability at Large Elssaser Number

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Julien, Keith; Jamroz, Benjamin; Knobloch, Edgar

    2009-11-01

    The MRI is believed to play an important role in accretion disk physics in extracting angular momentum from the disk and allowing accretion to take place. The instability is investigated within the shearing box approximation under conditions of fundamental importance to astrophysical accretion disk theory. The shear is taken to be the dominant source of energy, but the instability itself requires the presence of a weaker vertical magnetic field. Dissipative effects are suffiently weak that the Elsasser number is large. Thus dissipative forces do not play a role in the leading order linear instability mechanism. However, they are sufficiently large to permit a nonlinear feedback mechanism whereby the turbulent stresses generated by the MRI act on and modify the local background shear in the angular velocity profile. To date this response has been omitted in shearing box simulations and is captured by a reduced pde model derived from the global MHD fluid equations using multiscale asymptotic perturbation theory. Results from simulations of the model indicate a linear phase of exponential growth followed by a nonlinear adjustment to algebraic growth and decay in the fluctuating quantities. Remarkably, the velocity and magnetic field correlations associated with these growth and decay laws conspire to achieve saturation of angular momentum transport.

  16. Elliptical Accretion and Low Luminosity from High Accretion Rate Stellar Tidal Disruption Events

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Svirski, Gilad; Piran, Tsvi; Krolik, Julian

    2017-05-01

    Models for tidal disruption events (TDEs) in which a supermassive black hole disrupts a star commonly assume that the highly eccentric streams of bound stellar debris promptly form a circular accretion disc at the pericentre scale. However, the bolometric peak luminosity of most TDE candidates, ˜ 1044 erg s- 1, implies that we observe only ˜1 per cent of the energy expected from radiatively efficient accretion. Even the energy that must be lost to circularize the returning tidal flow is larger than the observed energy. Recently, Piran et al. suggested that the observed optical TDE emission is powered by shocks at the apocentre between freshly infalling material and earlier arriving matter. This model explains the small radiated energy, the low temperature and the large radius implied by the observations as well as the t-5/3 light curve. However the question of the system's low bolometric efficiency remains unanswered. We suggest that the high orbital energy and low angular momentum of the flow make it possible for magnetic stresses to reduce the matter's already small angular momentum to the point at which it can fall ballistically into the supermassive black hole before circularization. As a result, the efficiency is only ˜1-10 per cent of a standard accretion disc's efficiency. Thus, the intrinsically high eccentricity of the tidal debris naturally explains why most TDE candidates are fainter than expected.

  17. Stochastic events may lead to accretion in Saturn's rings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Esposito, Larry W.

    Stochastic events may lead to accretion in Saturn's rings Larry W. Esposito LASP, University of Colorado UVIS occultations indicate accretion is triggered at the B ring edge, in strong density waves in ring A and in the F ring. Moons may trigger accretion by streamline crowding (Lewis & Stewart); which enhances collisions, leading to accretion; increasing random velocities; leading to more collisions and more accretion. Cassini occultations of these strongly perturbed locations show not only accretion but also disaggregation, with time scales of hours to weeks. The collisions may lead to temporary aggregations via stochastic events: collisions can compress unconsolidated objects, trigger adhesion or bring small pieces into contact with larger or higher-density seeds. Disaggregation then can follow from disruptive collisions or tidal shedding. In the accretion/disruption balance, increased random motions could eventually give the upper hand to disruption. . . just as `irrational exuberance' can lead to financial panic in the economy; or the overpopulation of hares can lead to boom-and-bust in the population of foxes. I present a simple predator-prey model. This system's unstable equilibrium can similarly give rise to episodic cycles in accretion: explaining why the observable ring features that indicate embedded objects have been increasing since the beginning of Cassini's observations of Saturn in 2004. Unlike other interpretations of the peculiar events seen near Saturn Equinox, I emphasize the kinetic description of particle interactions rather than a fluid instability approach; and the dominance of stochastic events involving individual aggregates over free and/or driven modes in a flat disk.

  18. Influence of atomic kinetics in the simulation of plasma microscopic properties and thermal instabilities for radiative bow shock experiments.

    PubMed

    Espinosa, G; Rodríguez, R; Gil, J M; Suzuki-Vidal, F; Lebedev, S V; Ciardi, A; Rubiano, J G; Martel, P

    2017-03-01

    Numerical simulations of laboratory astrophysics experiments on plasma flows require plasma microscopic properties that are obtained by means of an atomic kinetic model. This fact implies a careful choice of the most suitable model for the experiment under analysis. Otherwise, the calculations could lead to inaccurate results and inappropriate conclusions. First, a study of the validity of the local thermodynamic equilibrium in the calculation of the average ionization, mean radiative properties, and cooling times of argon plasmas in a range of plasma conditions of interest in laboratory astrophysics experiments on radiative shocks is performed in this work. In the second part, we have made an analysis of the influence of the atomic kinetic model used to calculate plasma microscopic properties of experiments carried out on magpie on radiative bow shocks propagating in argon. The models considered were developed assuming both local and nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium and, for the latter situation, we have considered in the kinetic model different effects such as external radiation field and plasma mixture. The microscopic properties studied were the average ionization, the charge state distributions, the monochromatic opacities and emissivities, the Planck mean opacity, and the radiative power loss. The microscopic study was made as a postprocess of a radiative-hydrodynamic simulation of the experiment. We have also performed a theoretical analysis of the influence of these atomic kinetic models in the criteria for the onset possibility of thermal instabilities due to radiative cooling in those experiments in which small structures were experimentally observed in the bow shock that could be due to this kind of instability.

  19. Influence of atomic kinetics in the simulation of plasma microscopic properties and thermal instabilities for radiative bow shock experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Espinosa, G.; Rodríguez, R.; Gil, J. M.; Suzuki-Vidal, F.; Lebedev, S. V.; Ciardi, A.; Rubiano, J. G.; Martel, P.

    2017-03-01

    Numerical simulations of laboratory astrophysics experiments on plasma flows require plasma microscopic properties that are obtained by means of an atomic kinetic model. This fact implies a careful choice of the most suitable model for the experiment under analysis. Otherwise, the calculations could lead to inaccurate results and inappropriate conclusions. First, a study of the validity of the local thermodynamic equilibrium in the calculation of the average ionization, mean radiative properties, and cooling times of argon plasmas in a range of plasma conditions of interest in laboratory astrophysics experiments on radiative shocks is performed in this work. In the second part, we have made an analysis of the influence of the atomic kinetic model used to calculate plasma microscopic properties of experiments carried out on magpie on radiative bow shocks propagating in argon. The models considered were developed assuming both local and nonlocal thermodynamic equilibrium and, for the latter situation, we have considered in the kinetic model different effects such as external radiation field and plasma mixture. The microscopic properties studied were the average ionization, the charge state distributions, the monochromatic opacities and emissivities, the Planck mean opacity, and the radiative power loss. The microscopic study was made as a postprocess of a radiative-hydrodynamic simulation of the experiment. We have also performed a theoretical analysis of the influence of these atomic kinetic models in the criteria for the onset possibility of thermal instabilities due to radiative cooling in those experiments in which small structures were experimentally observed in the bow shock that could be due to this kind of instability.

  20. The Large-scale Magnetic Fields of Thin Accretion Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cao, Xinwu; Spruit, Hendrik C.

    2013-03-01

    Large-scale magnetic field threading an accretion disk is a key ingredient in the jet formation model. The most attractive scenario for the origin of such a large-scale field is the advection of the field by the gas in the accretion disk from the interstellar medium or a companion star. However, it is realized that outward diffusion of the accreted field is fast compared with the inward accretion velocity in a geometrically thin accretion disk if the value of the Prandtl number P m is around unity. In this work, we revisit this problem considering the angular momentum of the disk to be removed predominantly by the magnetically driven outflows. The radial velocity of the disk is significantly increased due to the presence of the outflows. Using a simplified model for the vertical disk structure, we find that even moderately weak fields can cause sufficient angular momentum loss via a magnetic wind to balance outward diffusion. There are two equilibrium points, one at low field strengths corresponding to a plasma-beta at the midplane of order several hundred, and one for strong accreted fields, β ~ 1. We surmise that the first is relevant for the accretion of weak, possibly external, fields through the outer parts of the disk, while the latter one could explain the tendency, observed in full three-dimensional numerical simulations, of strong flux bundles at the centers of disk to stay confined in spite of strong magnetororational instability turbulence surrounding them.

  1. Planetesimals Born Big by Clustering Instability?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.; Hartlep, Thomas; Simon, Justin I.; Estrada, Paul R.

    2017-01-01

    Roughly 100km diameter primitive bodies (today's asteroids and TNOs; [1]) are thought to be the end product of so-called "primary accretion". They dominated the initial mass function of planetesimals, and precipitated the onset of a subsequent stage, characterized by runaway gravitational effects, which proceeded onwards to planetary mass objects, some of which accreted massive gas envelopes. Asteroids are the parents of primitive meteorites; meteorite data suggest that asteroids initially formed directly from freelyfloating nebula particles in the mm-size range. Unfortunately, the process by which these primary 100km diameter planetesimals formed remains problematic. We review the most diagnostic primitive parent body observations, highlight critical aspects of the nebula context, and describe the issues facing various primary accretion models. We suggest a path forward that combines current scenarios of "turbulent concentration" (TC) and "streaming instabilities" (SI) into a triggered formation process we call clustering instability (CI). Under expected conditions of nebula turbulence, the success of these processes at forming terrestrial region (mostly silicate) planetesimals requires growth by sticking into aggregates in the several cm size range, at least, which is orders of magnitude more massive than allowed by current growth-by-sticking models using current experimental sticking parameters [2-4]. The situation is not as dire in the ice-rich outer solar system; however, growth outside of the snowline has important effects on growth inside of it [4] and at least one aspect of outer solar system planetesimals (high binary fraction) supports some kind of clustering instability.

  2. Planetesimals Born Big by Clustering Instability?

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cuzzi, Jeffrey N.; Hartlep, Thomas; Simon, Justin I.; Estrada, Paul R.

    2017-01-01

    Roughly 100km diameter primitive bodies (today's asteroids and TNOs; [1]) are thought to be the end product of so-called "primary accretion". They dominated the initial mass function of planetesimals, and precipitated the onset of a subsequent stage, characterized by runaway gravitational effects, which proceeded onwards to planetary mass objects, some of which accreted massive gas envelopes. Asteroids are the parents of primitive meteorites; meteorite data suggest that asteroids initially formed directly from freelyfloating nebula particles in the mm-size range. Unfortunately, the process by which these primary 100km diameter planetesimals formed remains problematic. We review the most diagnostic primitive parent body observations, highlight critical aspects of the nebula context, and describe the issues facing various primary accretion models. We suggest a path forward that combines current scenarios of "turbulent concentration" (TC) and "streaming instabilities" (SI) into a triggered formation process we call clustering instability (CI). Under expected conditions of nebula turbulence, the success of these processes at forming terrestrial region (mostly silicate) planetesimals requires growth by sticking into aggregates in the several cm size range, at least, which is orders of magnitude more massive than allowed by current growth-by-sticking models using current experimental sticking parameters [2-4]. The situation is not as dire in the ice-rich outer solar system; however, growth outside of the snowline has important effects on growth inside of it [4] and at least one aspect of outer solar system planetesimals (high binary fraction) supports some kind of clustering instability

  3. Hyper-Eddington accretion in GRB

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Janiuk, A.; Czerny, B.; Perna, R.; Di Matteo, T.

    2005-05-01

    Popular models of the GRB origin associate this event with a cosmic explosion, birth of a stellar mass black hole and jet ejection. Due to the shock collisions that happen in the jet, the gamma rays are produced and we detect a burst of duration up to several tens of seconds. This burst duration is determined by the lifetime of the central engine, which may be different in various scenarios. Characteristically, the observed bursts have a bimodal distribution and constitute the two classes: short (t < 2s) and long bursts. Theoretical models invoke the mergers of two neutron stars or a neutron star with a black hole, or, on the other hand, a massive star explosion (collapsar). In any of these models we have a phase of disc accretion onto a newly born black hole: the disc is formed from the disrupted neutron star or fed by the material fallback from the ejected collapsar envelope. The disc is extremely hot and dense, and the accretion rate is orders of magnitude higher than the Eddington rate. In such physical conditions the main cooling mechanism is neutrino emission, and one of possible ways of energy extraction from the accretion disc is the neutrino-antineutrino annihilation.

  4. Self-Consistent Models of Accretion Disks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Narayan, Ramesh

    1997-01-01

    The investigations of advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs), with emphasis on applications to X-ray binaries containing black holes and neutron stars is presented. This work is now being recognized as the standard paradigm for understanding the various spectral states of black hole X-ray Binaries (BHXBs). Topics discussed include: (1) Problem in BHXBS, namely that several of these binaries have unusually large concentrations of lithium in their companion stars; (2) A novel test to show that black holes have event horizons; (3) Application of the ADAF model to the puzzling X-ray delay in the recent outburst of the BHXB, GRO J1655-40; (4) Description of the various spectral states in BHXBS; (5) Application of the ADAF model to the famous supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy, Sgr A(*); (6) Writing down and solving equations describing steady-state, optically thin, advection-dominated accretion onto a Kerr black hole; (7) The effect of "photon bubble" instability on radiation dominated accretion disks; and (8) Dwarf nova disks in quiescence that have rather low magnetic Reynolds number, of order 10(exp 3).

  5. Accretion and differentiation of carbon in the early Earth.

    PubMed

    Tingle, T N

    1998-05-15

    The abundance of C in carbonaceous and ordinary chondrites decreases exponentially with increasing shock pressure as inferred from the petrologic shock classification of Scott et al. [Scott, E.R.D., Keil, K., Stoffler, D., 1992. Shock metamorphism of carbonaceous chondrites. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 56, 4281-4293] and Stoffler et al. [Stoffler, D., Keil, K., Scott, E.R.D., 1991. Shock metamorphism of ordinary chondrites. Geochim. Cosmochim. Acta 55, 3845-3867]. This confirms the experimental results of Tyburczy et al. [Tyburczy, J.A., Frisch, B., Ahrens, T.J., 1986. Shock-induced volatile loss from a carbonaceous chondrite: implications for planetary accretion. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 80, 201-207] on shock-induced devolatization of the Murchison meteorite showing that carbonaceous chondrites appear to be completely devolatilized at impact velocities greater than 2 km s-1. Both of these results suggest that C incorporation would have been most efficient in the early stages of accretion, and that the primordial C content of the Earth was between 10(24) and 10(25) g C (1-10% efficiency of incorporation). This estimate agrees well with the value of 3-7 x 10(24) g C based on the atmospheric abundance of 36Ar and the chondritic C/36Ar (Marty and Jambon, 1987). Several observations suggest that C likely was incorporated into the Earth's core during accretion. (1) Graphite and carbides are commonly present in iron meteorites, and those iron meteorites with Widmanstatten patterns reflecting the slowest cooling rates (mostly Group I and IIIb) contain the highest C abundances. The C abundance-cooling rate correlation is consistent with dissolution of C into Fe-Ni liquids that segregated to form the cores of the iron meteorite parent bodies. (2) The carbon isotopic composition of graphite in iron meteorites exhibits a uniform value of -5% [Deines, P., Wickman, F.E. 1973. The isotopic composition of 'graphitic' carbon from iron meteorites and some remarks on the troilitic

  6. The Benjamin Shock Tube Problem in KULL

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ulitsky, M

    2005-08-26

    The goal of the EZturb mix model in KULL is to predict the turbulent mixing process as it evolves from Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer-Meshkov, or Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. In this report we focus on a simple example of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (which occurs when a shock hits an interface between fluids of different densities) without the complication of reshock. The experiment by Benjamin et al. involving a Mach 1.21 incident shock striking an air / SF6 interface, is a good one to model and understand before moving onto shock tubes that follow the growth of the turbulent mixing zone from first shock throughmore » well after reshock.« less

  7. MHD Simulations of Magnetized Stars in the Propeller Regime of Accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lii, Patrick; Romanova, Marina; Lovelace, Richard

    2014-01-01

    Accreting magnetized stars may be in the propeller regime of disc accretion in which the angular velocity of the stellar magnetosphere exceeds that of the inner disc. In these systems, the stellar magnetosphere acts as a centrifugal barrier and inhibits matter accretion onto the rapidly rotating star. Instead, the matter accreting through the disc accumulates at the disc-magnetosphere interface where it picks up angular momentum and is ejected from the system as a wide-angled outflow which gradually collimates at larger distances from the star. If the ejection rate is lower than the accretion rate, the matter will accumulate at the boundary faster than it can be ejected; in this case, accretion onto the star proceeds through an episodic accretion instability in which the episodes of matter accumulation are followed by a brief episode of simultaneous ejection and accretion of matter onto the star. In addition to the matter dominated wind component, the propeller outflow also exhibits a well-collimated, magnetically-dominated Poynting jet which transports energy and angular momentum away from the star. The propeller mechanism may explain some of the weakly-collimated jets and winds observed around some T Tauri stars as well as the episodic variability present in their light curves. It may also explain some of the quasi-periodic variability observed in cataclysmic variables, millisecond pulsars and other magnetized stars.

  8. On the area of accretion curtains from fast aperiodic time variability of the intermediate polar EX Hya

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Semena, Andrey N.; Revnivtsev, Mikhail G.; Buckley, David A. H.; Kotze, Marissa M.; Khabibullin, Ildar I.; Breytenbach, Hannes; Gulbis, Amanda A. S.; Coppejans, Rocco; Potter, Stephen B.

    2014-08-01

    We present results of a study of the fast timing variability of the magnetic cataclysmic variable (mCV) EX Hya. It was previously shown that one may expect the rapid flux variability of mCVs to be smeared out at time-scales shorter than the cooling time of hot plasma in the post-shock region of the accretion curtain near the white dwarf (WD) surface. Estimates of the cooling time and the mass accretion rate, thus provide us with a tool to measure the density of the post-shock plasma and the cross-sectional area of the accretion funnel at the WD surface. We have probed the high frequencies in the aperiodic noise of one of the brightest mCV EX Hya with the help of optical telescopes, namely Southern African Large Telescope and the South African Astronomical Observatory 1.9 m telescope. We place upper limits on the plasma cooling time-scale τ < 0.3 s, on the fractional area of the accretion curtain footprint f < 1.6 × 10-4, and a lower limit on the specific mass accretion rate Ṁ/A>3 g s-1 cm-2. We show that measurements of accretion column footprints via eclipse mapping highly overestimate their areas. We deduce a value of Δr/r ≲ 10- 3 as an upper limit to the penetration depth of the accretion disc plasma at the boundary of the magnetosphere.

  9. Accretion, winds and jets: High-energy emission from young stellar objects

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Günther, Hans Moritz

    2009-03-01

    Stars form by gravitational collapse from giant molecular clouds. Due to the conservation of angular momentum this collapse does not happen radially, but the matter forms circumstellar disk first and is consequently accreted from the disk onto the star. This thesis deals with the high-energy emission from young stellar objects, which are on the one hand still actively accreting from their disk, and on the other hand are no longer deeply obscured by their natal cloud. Stars of spectral type B and A are called Herbig Ae/Be (HAeBe) stars in this stage, all stars of later spectral type are termed classical T Tauri stars (CTTS); strictly speaking both types are defined by spectroscopic signatures, which are equivalent to the evolutionary stage described above. In this thesis CTTS and HAeBes are studied through high-resolution X-ray and UV spectroscopy and through detailed physical simulations. Spectroscopic X-ray data is reduced and presented for two targets: The CTTS V4046 Sgr was observed with Chandra for 100 ks, using a high-resolution grating spectrometer. The lightcurve contains one flare and the He-like triplets of SiXIII, NeIX and OVII indicate high densities in the X-ray emitting regions. The second target is the HAeBe HD 163296, which was observed with XMM-Newton for 130 ks. The lightcurve shows only moderate variability, the elemental abundance follows a pattern, that is usual for active stars. The He-like triplet of OVII exhibits line ratios similar to coronal sources, indicating that neither a high density nor a strong UV-field is present in the region of the X-ray emission. Using these and similar observations, it can be concluded that at least three mechanisms contribute to the observed high-energy emission from CTTS: First, those stars have active coronae similar to main-sequence stars, second, the accreted material passes through a strong accretion shock at the stellar surface, which heats it to a few MK, and, third, some CTTS drive powerful outflows

  10. SUPERSONIC SHEAR INSTABILITIES IN ASTROPHYSICAL BOUNDARY LAYERS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Belyaev, Mikhail A.; Rafikov, Roman R., E-mail: rrr@astro.princeton.edu

    Disk accretion onto weakly magnetized astrophysical objects often proceeds via a boundary layer (BL) that forms near the object's surface, in which the rotation speed of the accreted gas changes rapidly. Here, we study the initial stages of formation for such a BL around a white dwarf or a young star by examining the hydrodynamical shear instabilities that may initiate mixing and momentum transport between the two fluids of different densities moving supersonically with respect to each other. We find that an initially laminar BL is unstable to two different kinds of instabilities. One is an instability of a supersonicmore » vortex sheet (implying a discontinuous initial profile of the angular speed of the gas) in the presence of gravity, which we find to have a growth rate of order (but less than) the orbital frequency. The other is a sonic instability of a finite width, supersonic shear layer, which is similar to the Papaloizou-Pringle instability. It has a growth rate proportional to the shear inside the transition layer, which is of order the orbital frequency times the ratio of stellar radius to the BL thickness. For a BL that is thin compared to the radius of the star, the shear rate is much larger than the orbital frequency. Thus, we conclude that sonic instabilities play a dominant role in the initial stages of nonmagnetic BL formation and give rise to very fast mixing between disk gas and stellar fluid in the supersonic regime.« less

  11. Radio emission from Sgr A*: pulsar transits through the accretion disc

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Christie, I. M.; Petropoulou, M.; Mimica, P.; Giannios, D.

    2017-06-01

    Radiatively inefficient accretion flow models have been shown to accurately account for the spectrum and luminosity observed from Sgr A* in the X-ray regime down to mm wavelengths. However, observations at a few GHz cannot be explained by thermal electrons alone but require the presence of an additional non-thermal particle population. Here, we propose a model for the origin of such a population in the accretion flow via means of a pulsar orbiting the supermassive black hole in our Galaxy. Interactions between the relativistic pulsar wind with the disc lead to the formation of a bow shock in the wind. During the pulsar's transit through the accretion disc, relativistic pairs, accelerated at the shock front, are injected into the disc. The radio-emitting particles are long lived and remain within the disc long after the pulsar's transit. Periodic pulsar transits through the disc result in regular injection episodes of non-thermal particles. We show that for a pulsar with spin-down luminosity Lsd ˜ 3 × 1035 erg s-1 and a wind Lorentz factor of γw ˜ 104 a quasi-steady synchrotron emission is established with luminosities in the 1-10 GHz range comparable to the observed one.

  12. On the thickness of accretion curtains on magnetized compact objects from analysis of their fast aperiodic time variability.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Semena, Andrey

    It is widely accepted that accretion onto magnetized compact objects is channelled to some areas close to magnetic poles of the star. Thickness of this channelled accretion flow intimately depends on details of penetration of highly conducting plasma of the flow to the compact object magnetosphere, i.e. on magnetic diffusivity etc. Until now our knowledge of these plasma properties is scarce. In our work we present our attempts to estimate the thickness of the plasma flow on top of the magnetosphere from observations of accreting intermediate polars (magnetized white dwarfs). We show that properties of aperiodic noise of accreting intermediate polars can be used to put constrains on cooling time of hot plasma, heated in the standing shock wave above the WD surface. Estimates of the cooling time and the mass accretion rate provide us a tool to measure the density of post-shock plasma and the cross-sectional area of the accretion funnel at the WD surface. We have studied aperiodic noise of emission of one of the brightest intermediate polar EX Hya with the help of data in optical and X-ray energy bands. We put an upper limit on the plasma cooling timescale tau <0.2-0.5 sec, on the fractional area of the accretion curtain footprint f < 1.6 × 10(-4) . We show that measurements of accretion column footprints, combined with results of the eclipse mapping, can be used to obtain an upper limit on the penetration depth of the accretion disc plasma at the boundary of the magnetosphere, Delta r / r ≈ 10(-3) If the magnetospheres of accreting neutron stars have similar plasma penetration depths at their boundaries, we predict that footprints of their accretion columns should be very small, with fractional areas < 10(-6) .

  13. Numerical Simulations of Wind Accretion in Symbiotic Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    de Val-Borro, M.; Karovska, M.; Sasselov, D.

    2009-08-01

    About half of the binary systems are close enough to each other for mass to be exchanged between them at some point in their evolution, yet the accretion mechanism in wind accreting binaries is not well understood. We study the dynamical effects of gravitational focusing by a binary companion on winds from late-type stars. In particular, we investigate the mass transfer and formation of accretion disks around the secondary in detached systems consisting of an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) mass-losing star and an accreting companion. The presence of mass outflows is studied as a function of mass-loss rate, wind temperature, and binary orbital parameters. A two-dimensional hydrodynamical model is used to study the stability of mass transfer in wind accreting symbiotic binary systems. In our simulations we use an adiabatic equation of state and a modified version of the isothermal approximation, where the temperature depends on the distance from the mass losing star and its companion. The code uses a block-structured adaptive mesh refinement method that allows us to have high resolution at the position of the secondary and resolve the formation of bow shocks and accretion disks. We explore the accretion flow between the components and formation of accretion disks for a range of orbital separations and wind parameters. Our results show the formation of stream flow between the stars and accretion disks of various sizes for certain orbital configurations. For a typical slow and massive wind from an AGB star the flow pattern is similar to a Roche lobe overflow with accretion rates of 10% of the mass loss from the primary. Stable disks with exponentially decreasing density profiles and masses of the order 10-4 solar masses are formed when wind acceleration occurs at several stellar radii. The disks are geometrically thin with eccentric streamlines and close to Keplerian velocity profiles. The formation of tidal streams and accretion disks is found to be weakly dependent on

  14. Optical veiling, disk accretion, and the evolution of T Tauri stars

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hartmann, L.W.; Kenyon, S.J.

    1990-01-01

    High-resolution spectra of 31 K7-M1 T Tauri stars (TTs) in the Taurus-Auriga molecular cloud demonstrate that most of these objects exhibit substantial excess emission at 5200 A. Extrapolations of these data consistent with low-resolution spectrophotometry indicate that the extra emission is comparable to the stellar luminosity in many cases. If this continuum emission arises in the boundary layers of accreting disks, more than about 30 percent of all TTs may be accreting material at a rate which is sufficiently rapid to alter their evolution from standard Hayashi tracks. It is estimated that roughly 10 percent of the final stellar massmore » is accreted in the TT phase. This amount of material is comparable to the minimum gravitationally unstable disk mass estimated by Larson and it is speculated that the TT phase represents the final stages of disk accretion driven by gravitational instabilities. 40 refs.« less

  15. Structure and Dynamics of the Accretion Process and Wind in TW Hya

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dupree, A. K.; Brickhouse, N. S.; Cranmer, S. R.; Berlind, P.; Strader, Jay; Smith, Graeme H.

    2014-07-01

    Time-domain spectroscopy of the classical accreting T Tauri star, TW Hya, covering a decade and spanning the far UV to the near-infrared spectral regions can identify the radiation sources, the atmospheric structure produced by accretion, and properties of the stellar wind. On timescales from days to years, substantial changes occur in emission line profiles and line strengths. Our extensive time-domain spectroscopy suggests that the broad near-IR, optical, and far-uv emission lines, centered on the star, originate in a turbulent post-shock region and can undergo scattering by the overlying stellar wind as well as some absorption from infalling material. Stable absorption features appear in Hα, apparently caused by an accreting column silhouetted in the stellar wind. Inflow of material onto the star is revealed by the near-IR He I 10830 Å line, and its free-fall velocity correlates inversely with the strength of the post-shock emission, consistent with a dipole accretion model. However, the predictions of hydrogen line profiles based on accretion stream models are not well-matched by these observations. Evidence of an accelerating warm to hot stellar wind is shown by the near-IR He I line, and emission profiles of C II, C III, C IV, N V, and O VI. The outflow of material changes substantially in both speed and opacity in the yearly sampling of the near-IR He I line over a decade. Terminal outflow velocities that range from 200 km s-1 to almost 400 km s-1 in He I appear to be directly related to the amount of post-shock emission, giving evidence for an accretion-driven stellar wind. Calculations of the emission from realistic post-shock regions are needed. Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support

  16. Boundary between stable and unstable regimes of accretion. Ordered and chaotic unstable regimes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blinova, A. A.; Romanova, M. M.; Lovelace, R. V. E.

    2016-07-01

    We present a new study of the Rayleigh-Taylor unstable regime of accretion on to rotating magnetized stars in a set of high grid resolution three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations performed in low-viscosity discs. We find that the boundary between the stable and unstable regimes is determined almost entirely by the fastness parameter ωs = Ω⋆/ΩK(rm), where Ω⋆ is the angular velocity of the star and ΩK(rm) is the angular velocity of the Keplerian disc at the disc-magnetosphere boundary r = rm. We found that accretion is unstable if ωs ≲ 0.6. Accretion through instabilities is present in stars with different magnetospheric sizes. However, only in stars with relatively small magnetospheres, rm/R⋆ ≲ 7, do the unstable tongues produce chaotic hotspots on the stellar surface and irregular light curves. At even smaller values of the fastness parameter, ωs ≲ 0.45, multiple irregular tongues merge, forming one or two ordered unstable tongues that rotate with the angular frequency of the inner disc. This transition occurs in stars with even smaller magnetospheres, rm/R⋆ ≲ 4.2. Most of our simulations were performed at a small tilt of the dipole magnetosphere, Θ = 5°, and a small viscosity parameter α = 0.02. Test simulations at higher α values show that many more cases become unstable, and the light curves become even more irregular. Test simulations at larger tilts of the dipole Θ show that instability is present, however, accretion in two funnel streams dominates if Θ ≳ 15°. The results of these simulations can be applied to accreting magnetized stars with relatively small magnetospheres: Classical T Tauri stars, accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars, and cataclysmic variables.

  17. Some topics in the magnetohydrodynamics of accreting magnetic compact objects

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Aly, J. J.

    1986-01-01

    Magnetic compact objects (neutron stars or white dwarfs) are currently thought to be present in many accreting systems that are releasing large amounts of energy. The magnetic field of the compact star may interact strongly with the accretion flow and play an essential role in the physics of these systems. Some magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) problems that are likely to be relevant in building up self-consistent models of the interaction between the accreting plasma and the star's magnetosphere are addressed in this series of lectures. The basic principles of MHD are first introduced and some important MHD mechanisms (Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities; reconnection) are discussed, with particular reference to their role in allowing the infalling matter to penetrate the magnetosphere and mix with the field. The structure of a force-free magnetosphere and the possibility of quasistatic momentum and energy transfer between regions linked by field-aligned currents are then studied in some detail. Finally, the structure of axisymmetric accretion flows onto magnetic compact objects is considered.

  18. Disk-accreting magnetic neutron stars as high-energy particle accelerators

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hamilton, Russell J.; Lamb, Frederick K.; Miller, M. Coleman

    1994-01-01

    Interaction of an accretion disk with the magnetic field of a neutron star produces large electromotive forces, which drive large conduction currents in the disk-magnetosphere-star circuit. Here we argue that such large conduction currents will cause microscopic and macroscopic instabilities in the magnetosphere. If the minimum plasma density in the magnetosphere is relatively low is less than or aproximately 10(exp 9)/cu cm, current-driven micro-instabilities may cause relativistic double layers to form, producing voltage differences in excess of 10(exp 12) V and accelerating charged particles to very high energies. If instead the plasma density is higher (is greater than or approximately = 10(exp 9)/cu cm, twisting of the stellar magnetic field is likely to cause magnetic field reconnection. This reconnection will be relativistic, accelerating plasma in the magnetosphere to relativistic speeds and a small fraction of particles to very high energies. Interaction of these high-energy particles with X-rays, gamma-rays, and accreting plasma may produce detectable high-energy radiation.

  19. UV And X-Ray Emission from Impacts of Fragmented Accretion Streams on Classical T Tauri Stars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Colombo, Salvatore; Orlando, Salvatore; Peres, Giovanni; Argiroffi, Costanza; Reale, Fabio

    2016-07-01

    According to the magnetoshperic accretion scenario, during their evo- lution, Classical T Tauri stars accrete material from their circumstellar disk. The accretion process is regulated by the stellar magnetic eld and produces hot and dense post-shocks on the stellar surface as a result of impacts of the downfalling material. The impact regions are expected to strongly radiate in UV and X-rays. Several lines of evidence support the magnetospheric accretion scenario, especially in optical and infrared bands. However several points still remain unclear as, for instance,where the complex-pro le UV lines originate, or whether and how UV and X-ray emission is produced in the same shock region. The analysis of a large solar eruption has shown that EUV excesses might be e ectively produced by the impact of dense fragments onto the stellar surface. Since a steady accretion stream does not reprouce observations, in this work we investi- gate the e ects of a fragmented accretion stream on the uxes and pro les of C IV and O VIII emission lines. To this end we model the impact of a fragmented accretion stream onto the chromosphere of a CTTS with 2D axysimmetric magneto-hydrodynamic simulations. Our model takes into account of the gravity, the stellar magnetic eld, the thermal conduction and the radiative cooling from an optically thin plasma. From the model results, we synthesize the UV and X-ray emission including the e ect of Doppler shift along the line of sight. We nd that a fragmented accretion stream produces complex pro les of UV emission lines which consists of multiple components with di erent Doppler shifts. Our model predicts line pro les that are consistent with those observed and explain their origin as due to the stream fragmentation.

  20. Shock vaporization and the accretion of the icy satellites of Jupiter and Saturn

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ahrens, T. J.; Okeefe, J. D.

    1984-01-01

    The role of impact vaporization acting during the formation of the Jovian and Saturnian satellites is examined in an attempt to explain the observed density in terms of composition of these rock and ice objects. A hypothesis is examined which states that the smaller satellites of Saturn having mean densities in the 1.1 to 1.4 Mg/cu m range represent primordial accreted planetesimal condensates formed in the proto-Jovian and Saturnian accretionary planetary discs. These densities are in the range expected for water-ice/silicate mixtures constrained in the solar values of O/Si and O/Mg atomic ratios. It is demonstrated that if the large satellites accreted from the same group of planetesimals which formed the small Saturnian satellites impact vaporization of water upon accretion in a porous regolith, at low H2O partial pressure, can account for the increase in mean planetesimal density from 1.6 Mg/cu m (43% H2O + 57% silicate) to a mean planetary density of 1.9 Mg/cu m for Ganymedean-sized water silicate objects. If impact volatilization of initially porous planetesimals is assumed, it can be demonstrated starting with planetesimals composed of 54% H2O and 40% silicate partial devolatilization upon accretion will yield a Ganymede-sized planet, having a radius of 2600 km and a density of 1.85 kg/cu m, similar to that of Ganymede, Callisto, and Titan.

  1. The microphysics of collisionless shock waves.

    PubMed

    Marcowith, A; Bret, A; Bykov, A; Dieckman, M E; Drury, L O'C; Lembège, B; Lemoine, M; Morlino, G; Murphy, G; Pelletier, G; Plotnikov, I; Reville, B; Riquelme, M; Sironi, L; Novo, A Stockem

    2016-04-01

    Collisionless shocks, that is shocks mediated by electromagnetic processes, are customary in space physics and in astrophysics. They are to be found in a great variety of objects and environments: magnetospheric and heliospheric shocks, supernova remnants, pulsar winds and their nebulæ, active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts and clusters of galaxies shock waves. Collisionless shock microphysics enters at different stages of shock formation, shock dynamics and particle energization and/or acceleration. It turns out that the shock phenomenon is a multi-scale non-linear problem in time and space. It is complexified by the impact due to high-energy cosmic rays in astrophysical environments. This review adresses the physics of shock formation, shock dynamics and particle acceleration based on a close examination of available multi-wavelength or in situ observations, analytical and numerical developments. A particular emphasis is made on the different instabilities triggered during the shock formation and in association with particle acceleration processes with regards to the properties of the background upstream medium. It appears that among the most important parameters the background magnetic field through the magnetization and its obliquity is the dominant one. The shock velocity that can reach relativistic speeds has also a strong impact over the development of the micro-instabilities and the fate of particle acceleration. Recent developments of laboratory shock experiments has started to bring some new insights in the physics of space plasma and astrophysical shock waves. A special section is dedicated to new laser plasma experiments probing shock physics.

  2. The microphysics of collisionless shock waves

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Marcowith, A.; Bret, A.; Bykov, A.; Dieckman, M. E.; O'C Drury, L.; Lembège, B.; Lemoine, M.; Morlino, G.; Murphy, G.; Pelletier, G.; Plotnikov, I.; Reville, B.; Riquelme, M.; Sironi, L.; Stockem Novo, A.

    2016-04-01

    Collisionless shocks, that is shocks mediated by electromagnetic processes, are customary in space physics and in astrophysics. They are to be found in a great variety of objects and environments: magnetospheric and heliospheric shocks, supernova remnants, pulsar winds and their nebulæ, active galactic nuclei, gamma-ray bursts and clusters of galaxies shock waves. Collisionless shock microphysics enters at different stages of shock formation, shock dynamics and particle energization and/or acceleration. It turns out that the shock phenomenon is a multi-scale non-linear problem in time and space. It is complexified by the impact due to high-energy cosmic rays in astrophysical environments. This review adresses the physics of shock formation, shock dynamics and particle acceleration based on a close examination of available multi-wavelength or in situ observations, analytical and numerical developments. A particular emphasis is made on the different instabilities triggered during the shock formation and in association with particle acceleration processes with regards to the properties of the background upstream medium. It appears that among the most important parameters the background magnetic field through the magnetization and its obliquity is the dominant one. The shock velocity that can reach relativistic speeds has also a strong impact over the development of the micro-instabilities and the fate of particle acceleration. Recent developments of laboratory shock experiments has started to bring some new insights in the physics of space plasma and astrophysical shock waves. A special section is dedicated to new laser plasma experiments probing shock physics.

  3. Accretion Disks and the Formation of Stellar Systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kratter, Kaitlin Michelle

    2011-02-01

    In this thesis, we examine the role of accretion disks in the formation of stellar systems, focusing on young massive disks which regulate the flow of material from the parent molecular core down to the star. We study the evolution of disks with high infall rates that develop strong gravitational instabilities. We begin in chapter 1 with a review of the observations and theory which underpin models for the earliest phases of star formation and provide a brief review of basic accretion disk physics, and the numerical methods that we employ. In chapter 2 we outline the current models of binary and multiple star formation, and review their successes and shortcomings from a theoretical and observational perspective. In chapter 3 we begin with a relatively simple analytic model for disks around young, high mass stars, showing that instability in these disks may be responsible for the higher multiplicity fraction of massive stars, and perhaps the upper mass to which they grow. We extend these models in chapter 4 to explore the properties of disks and the formation of binary companions across a broad range of stellar masses. In particular, we model the role of global and local mechanisms for angular momentum transport in regulating the relative masses of disks and stars. We follow the evolution of these disks throughout the main accretion phase of the system, and predict the trajectory of disks through parameter space. We follow up on the predictions made in our analytic models with a series of high resolution, global numerical experiments in chapter 5. Here we propose and test a new parameterization for describing rapidly accreting, gravitationally unstable disks. We find that disk properties and system multiplicity can be mapped out well in this parameter space. Finally, in chapter 6, we address whether our studies of unstable disks are relevant to recently detected massive planets on wide orbits around their central stars.

  4. Electron velocity distributions near the earth's bow shock

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Feldman, W. C.; Anderson, R. C.; Bame, S. J.; Gary, S. P.; Gosling, J. T.; Mccomas, D. J.; Thomsen, M. F.; Paschmann, G.; Hoppe, M. M.

    1983-01-01

    New information is presented on the general characteristics of electron distribution functions upstream, within, and downstream of the earth's bow shock, thereby providing new insights into the instabilities in collisionless shocks. The results presented are from a survey of electron velocity distributions measured near the earth's bow shock between October 1977 and December 1978 using the Los Alamos/Garching plasma instrumentation aboard ISEE 2. A wide variety of distribution shapes is found within the different plasma regions in close proximity to the bow shock. It is found that these shapes can be classified into general types that are characteristic of three different plasma regions, namely the upstream region or electron foreshock, the shock proper where most of the heating occurs, and the downstream region or the magnetosheath. Evidence is provided that field-aligned, rather than cross-field, instabilities are the major source of electron dissipation in the earth's bow shock.

  5. Influence of the geometric configuration of accretion flow on the black hole spin dependence of relativistic acoustic geometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tarafdar, Pratik; Das, Tapas K.

    Linear perturbation of general relativistic accretion of low angular momentum hydrodynamic fluid onto a Kerr black hole leads to the formation of curved acoustic geometry embedded within the background flow. Characteristic features of such sonic geometry depend on the black hole spin. Such dependence can be probed by studying the correlation of the acoustic surface gravity κ with the Kerr parameter a. The κ-a relationship further gets influenced by the geometric configuration of the accretion flow structure. In this work, such influence has been studied for multitransonic shocked accretion where linear perturbation of general relativistic flow profile leads to the formation of two analogue black hole-type horizons formed at the sonic points and one analogue white hole-type horizon which is formed at the shock location producing divergent acoustic surface gravity. Dependence of the κ-a relationship on the geometric configuration has also been studied for monotransonic accretion, over the entire span of the Kerr parameter including retrograde flow. For accreting astrophysical black holes, the present work thus investigates how the salient features of the embedded relativistic sonic geometry may be determined not only by the background spacetime, but also by the flow configuration of the embedding matter.

  6. Particle Acceleration, Magnetic Field Generation in Relativistic Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, Ken-Ichi; Hardee, P.; Hededal, C. B.; Richardson, G.; Sol, H.; Preece, R.; Fishman, G. J.

    2005-01-01

    Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Buneman instability, two-streaming instability, and the Weibel instability) created in the shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using a 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated particle acceleration associated with a relativistic jet front propagating through an ambient plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find only small differences in the results between no ambient and weak ambient parallel magnetic fields. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the collisionless shock front accelerates particles perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation direction. New simulations with an ambient perpendicular magnetic field show the strong interaction between the relativistic jet and the magnetic fields. The magnetic fields are piled up by the jet and the jet electrons are bent, which creates currents and displacement currents. At the nonlinear stage, the magnetic fields are reversed by the current and the reconnection may take place. Due to these dynamics the jet and ambient electron are strongly accelerated in both parallel and perpendicular directions.

  7. Relativistic sonic geometry for isothermal accretion in the Kerr metric

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arif Shaikh, Md

    2018-03-01

    We linearly perturb advective isothermal transonic accretion onto rotating astrophysical black holes to study the emergence of the relativistic acoustic spacetime and to investigate how the salient features of this spacetime is influenced by the spin angular momentum of the black hole. We have perturbed three different quantities—the velocity potential, the mass accretion rate and the relativistic Bernoulli’s constant to show that the acoustic metric obtained for these three cases are the same up to a conformal factor. By constructing the required causal structures, it has been demonstrated that the acoustic black holes are formed at the transonic points of the flow and the acoustic white holes are formed at the shock location. The corresponding acoustic surface gravity has been computed in terms of the relevant accretion variables and the background metric elements. We have performed a linear stability analysis of the background stationary flow.

  8. Stationary radiation hydrodynamics of accreting magnetic white dwarfs.

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Woelk, U.; Beuermann, K.

    1996-02-01

    Using an artificial viscosity, we solved the one-dimensional time-independent two-fluid hydrodynamic equations simultaneously to the fully frequency and angle dependent radiation transport in an accretion flow directed towards the surface of a magnetic white dwarf. We consider energy transfer from ions to electrons by Coulomb encounters and cooling by bremsstrahlung and by cyclotron radiation in fields between B=5 and 70MG. Electron and ion temperatures relax in the post-shock regime and the cooling flow settles onto the white dwarf surface. For high mass flow rates ˙(m) (in g/cm^2^/s), cooling takes place mainly by bremsstrahlung and the solutions approach the non-magnetic case. For low ˙(m) and high B, cooling is dominated by cyclotron radiation which causes the thickness of the cooling region to collapse by 1-2 orders of magnitude compared to the non-magnetic case. The electron temperature behind the shock drops from a few 10^8^ to a few 10^7^K and the ratio of cyclotron vs. total radiative flux approaches unity. For high ˙(m) and low B values, bremsstrahlung dominates, but cyclotron losses can never be neglected. We find a smooth transition from particle-heated to shock-heated atmospheres in the maximum electron temperature and also in the thickness of the heated layer. With these results, the stationary radiation-hydrodynamics of accreting magnetic white dwarfs with cyclotron and bremsstrahlung cooling has been solved for the whole range of observed mass flow rates and field strengths.

  9. On the maximum energy of shock-accelerated cosmic rays at ultra-relativistic shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reville, B.; Bell, A. R.

    2014-04-01

    The maximum energy to which cosmic rays can be accelerated at weakly magnetised ultra-relativistic shocks is investigated. We demonstrate that for such shocks, in which the scattering of energetic particles is mediated exclusively by ion skin-depth scale structures, as might be expected for a Weibel-mediated shock, there is an intrinsic limit on the maximum energy to which particles can be accelerated. This maximum energy is determined from the requirement that particles must be isotropized in the downstream plasma frame before the mean field transports them far downstream, and falls considerably short of what is required to produce ultra-high-energy cosmic rays. To circumvent this limit, a highly disorganized field is required on larger scales. The growth of cosmic ray-induced instabilities on wavelengths much longer than the ion-plasma skin depth, both upstream and downstream of the shock, is considered. While these instabilities may play an important role in magnetic field amplification at relativistic shocks, on scales comparable to the gyroradius of the most energetic particles, the calculated growth rates have insufficient time to modify the scattering. Since strong modification is a necessary condition for particles in the downstream region to re-cross the shock, in the absence of an alternative scattering mechanism, these results imply that acceleration to higher energies is ruled out. If weakly magnetized ultra-relativistic shocks are disfavoured as high-energy particle accelerators in general, the search for potential sources of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays can be narrowed.

  10. Hydrodynamical processes in planet-forming accretion disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Min-Kai

    Understanding the physics of accretion flows in circumstellar disk provides the foundation to any theory of planet formation. The last few years have witnessed dramatic a revision in the fundamental fluid dynamics of protoplanetary accretion disks. There is growing evidence that the key to answering some of the most pressing questions, such as the origin of disk turbulence, mass transport, and planetesimal formation, may lie within, and intimately linked to, purely hydrodynamical processes in protoplanetary disks. Recent studies, including those from the proposal team, have discovered and highlighted the significance of several new hydrodynamical instabilities in the planet-forming regions of these disks. These include, but not limited to: the vertical shear instability, active between 10 to 100 AU; the zombie vortex instability, operating in regions interior to about 1AU; and the convective over-stability at intermediate radii. Secondary Rossbywave and elliptic instabilities may also be triggered, feeding off the structures that emerge from the above primary instabilities. The result of these hydrodynamic processes range from small-scale turbulence that transports angular momentum, to large-scale vortices that concentrate dust particles and enhance planetesimal formation. Hydrodynamic processes pertain to a wide range of disk conditions, meaning that at least one of these processes are active at any given disk location and evolutionary epoch. This remains true even after planet formation, which affects their subsequent orbital evolution. Hydrodynamical processes also have direct observable consequences. For example, vortices have being invoked to explain recent ALMA images of asymmetric `dust-traps' in transition disks. Hydrodynamic activities thus play a crucial role at every stage of planet formation and disk evolution. We propose to develop theoretical models of the above hydrodynamic processes under physical disk conditions by properly accounting for disk

  11. Black Hole Disk Accretion in Supernovae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mineshige, Shin; Nomura, Hideko; Hirose, Masahito; Nomoto, Ken'ichi; Suzuki, Tomoharu

    1997-11-01

    Massive stars in a certain mass range may form low-mass black holes after supernova explosions. In such massive stars, fallback of ~0.1 M⊙ materials onto a black hole is expected because of a deep gravitational potential or a reverse shock propagating back from the outer composition interface. We study hydrodynamical disk accretion onto a newborn low-mass black hole in a supernova using the smoothed particle hydrodynamics method. If the progenitor was rotating before the explosion, the fallback material should have a certain amount of angular momentum with respect to the black hole, thus forming an accretion disk. The disk material will eventually accrete toward the central object because of viscosity at a supercritical accretion rate, Ṁ/Ṁcrit>106, for the first several tens of days. (Here, Ṁcrit is the Eddington luminosity divided by c2.) We then expect that such an accretion disk is optically thick and advection dominated; that is, the disk is so hot that the produced energy and photons are advected inward rather than being radiated away. Thus, the disk luminosity is much less than the Eddington luminosity. The disk becomes hot and dense; for Ṁ/Ṁcrit~106, for example, T ~ 109(αvis/0.01)-1/4 K and ρ ~ 103(αvis/0.01)-1 g cm-3 (with αvis being the viscosity parameter) in the vicinity of the black hole. Depending on the material mixing, some interesting nucleosynthesis processes via rapid proton and alpha-particle captures are expected even for reasonable viscosity magnitudes (αvis ~ 0.01), and some of them could be ejected in a disk wind or a jet without being swallowed by the black hole.

  12. MRI and Related Astrophysical Instabilities in the Lab

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Goodman, Jeremy

    2018-06-01

    The dynamics of accretion in astronomical disks is only partly understood. Magnetorotational instability (MRI) is surely important but has been studied largely through linear analysis and numerical simulations rather than experiments. Also, it is unclear whether MRI is effective in protostellar disks, which are likely poor electrical conductors. Shear-driven hydrodynamic turbulence is very familiar in terrestrial flows, but simulations indicate that it is inhibited in disks. I summarize experimental progress and challenges relevant to both types of instability.

  13. Massive star formation by accretion. I. Disc accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haemmerlé, L.; Eggenberger, P.; Meynet, G.; Maeder, A.; Charbonnel, C.

    2016-01-01

    Context. Massive stars likely form by accretion and the evolutionary track of an accreting forming star corresponds to what is called the birthline in the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram. The shape of this birthline is quite sensitive to the evolution of the entropy in the accreting star. Aims: We first study the reasons why some birthlines published in past years present different behaviours for a given accretion rate. We then revisit the question of the accretion rate, which allows us to understand the distribution of the observed pre-main-sequence (pre-MS) stars in the HR diagram. Finally, we identify the conditions needed to obtain a large inflation of the star along its pre-MS evolution that may push the birthline towards the Hayashi line in the upper part of the HR diagram. Methods: We present new pre-MS models including accretion at various rates and for different initial structures of the accreting core. We compare them with previously published equivalent models. From the observed upper envelope of pre-MS stars in the HR diagram, we deduce the accretion law that best matches the accretion history of most of the intermediate-mass stars. Results: In the numerical computation of the time derivative of the entropy, some treatment leads to an artificial loss of entropy and thus reduces the inflation that the accreting star undergoes along the birthline. In the case of cold disc accretion, the existence of a significant swelling during the accretion phase, which leads to radii ≳ 100 R⊙ and brings the star back to the red part of the HR diagram, depends sensitively on the initial conditions. For an accretion rate of 10-3M⊙ yr-1, only models starting from a core with a significant radiative region evolve back to the red part of the HR diagram. We also obtain that, in order to reproduce the observed upper envelope of pre-MS stars in the HR diagram with an accretion law deduced from the observed mass outflows in ultra-compact HII regions, the fraction of the

  14. High energy spectrum of spherically accreting black holes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Meszaros, P.; Ostriker, J. P.

    1983-01-01

    Spherically accreting black holes may sustain strong collisionless shocks, downstream of which the fluid approximation is not valid. The proton-electron Coulomb exchange provides for the downstream matter diffusion into the hole. Energy conversion efficiencies upward of 10-30 percent are obtained, with most of the luminosity in hard X-rays and gamma-rays. The whole spectrum and its application for radio-quiet QSO's and galactic X- and gamma-ray sources are discussed.

  15. Mars’ Growth Stunted by an Early Giant Planet Instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Clement, Matthew; Kaib, Nathan A.; Raymond, Sean N.; Walsh, Kevin J.

    2017-10-01

    Many dynamical aspects of the solar system can be explained by the outer planets experiencing a period of orbital instability. Though often correlated with a perceived delayed spike in the lunar cratering record known as the Late Heavy Bombardment (LHB), recent work suggests that this event may have occurred during the epoch of terrestrial planet formation. Though current simulations of terrestrial accretion can reproduce many observed qualities of the solar system, replicating the small mass of Mars requires modification to standard planet formation models. Here we use direct numerical simulations to show that an early instability in the outer solar system regularly yields properly sized Mars analogues. In 80% of simulations, we produce a Mars of the appropriate mass. Our most successful outcomes occur when the terrestrial planets evolve 10 million years (Myr), and accrete several Mars sized embryos in the Mars forming region before the instability takes place. Mars is left behind as a stranded embryo, while the remainder of these bodies are either ejected from the system or scattered towards the inner solar system where they deliver water to Earth. An early giant planet instability can thus replicate both the inner and outer solar system in a single model.

  16. Two-fluid dusty shocks: simple benchmarking problems and applications to protoplanetary discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lehmann, Andrew; Wardle, Mark

    2018-05-01

    The key role that dust plays in the interstellar medium has motivated the development of numerical codes designed to study the coupled evolution of dust and gas in systems such as turbulent molecular clouds and protoplanetary discs. Drift between dust and gas has proven to be important as well as numerically challenging. We provide simple benchmarking problems for dusty gas codes by numerically solving the two-fluid dust-gas equations for steady, plane-parallel shock waves. The two distinct shock solutions to these equations allow a numerical code to test different forms of drag between the two fluids, the strength of that drag and the dust to gas ratio. We also provide an astrophysical application of J-type dust-gas shocks to studying the structure of accretion shocks on to protoplanetary discs. We find that two-fluid effects are most important for grains larger than 1 μm, and that the peak dust temperature within an accretion shock provides a signature of the dust-to-gas ratio of the infalling material.

  17. Accretion Rates for T Tauri Stars Using Nearly Simultaneous Ultraviolet and Optical Spectra

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ingleby, Laura; Calvet, Nuria; Herczeg, Gregory; Blaty, Alex; Walter, Frederick; Ardila, David; Alexander, Richard; Edwards, Suzan; Espaillat, Catherine; Gregory, Scott G.; Hillenbrand, Lynne; Brown, Alexander

    2013-04-01

    We analyze the accretion properties of 21 low-mass T Tauri stars using a data set of contemporaneous near-UV (NUV) through optical observations obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the ground-based Small and Medium Aperture Research Telescope System, a unique data set because of the nearly simultaneous broad wavelength coverage. Our data set includes accreting T Tauri stars in Taurus, Chamaeleon I, η Chamaeleon, and the TW Hydra Association. For each source we calculate the accretion rate (\\dot{M}) by fitting the NUV and optical excesses above the photosphere, produced in the accretion shock, introducing multiple accretion components characterized by a range in energy flux (or density) for the first time. This treatment is motivated by models of the magnetospheric geometry and accretion footprints, which predict that high-density, low filling factor accretion spots coexist with low-density, high filling factor spots. By fitting the UV and optical spectra with multiple accretion components, we can explain excesses which have been observed in the near-IR. Comparing our estimates of \\dot{M} to previous estimates, we find some discrepancies; however, they may be accounted for when considering assumptions for the amount of extinction and variability in optical spectra. Therefore, we confirm many previous estimates of the accretion rate. Finally, we measure emission line luminosities from the same spectra used for the \\dot{M} estimates, to produce correlations between accretion indicators (Hβ, Ca II K, C II], and Mg II) and accretion properties obtained simultaneously.

  18. Effect of electron thermal anisotropy on the kinetic cross-field streaming instability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tsai, S. T.; Tanaka, M.; Gaffey, J. D., Jr.; Wu, C. S.; Da Jornada, E. H.; Ziebell, L. F.

    1984-01-01

    The investigation of the kinetic cross-field streaming instability, motivated by the research of collisionless shock waves and previously studied by Wu et al. (1983), is discussed more fully. Since in the ramp region of a quasi-perpendicular shock electrons can be preferentially heated in the direction transverse to the ambient magnetic field, it is both desirable and necessary to include the effect of the thermal anisotropy on the instability associated with a shock. It is found that Te-perpendicular greater than Te-parallel can significantly enhance the peak growth rate of the cross-field streaming instability when the electron beta is sufficiently high. Furthermore, the present analysis also improves the analytical and numerical solutions previously obtained.

  19. Instability Coupling Experiments*

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chrien, R. E.; Hoffman, N. M.; Magelssen, G. R.; Schappert, G. T.; Smitherman, D. P.

    1996-11-01

    The coupling of Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) and ablative Rayleigh-Taylor (ART) instabilities is being studied with indirectly-driven planar foil experiments on the Nova laser at Livermore. The foil is attached to a 1.6-mm-diameter, 2.75-mm-long Au hohlraum driven by a 2.2-ns long, 1:5-contrast-ratio shaped laser pulse. A shock is generated in 35-μm or 86-μm thick Al foils with a 50-μm-wavelength, 4-μm-amplitude sinusoidal perturbation on its rear surface. In some experiments, the perturbation is applied to a 10-μm Be layer on the Al. A RM instability develops when the shock encounters the perturbed surface. The flow field of the RM instability can ``feed out'' to the ablation surface of the foil and provide the seed for ART perturbation growth. Face-on and side-on x-radiography are used to observe areal density perturbations in the foil. For the 86-μm foil, the perturbation arrives at the ablation surface while the hohlraum drive is dropping and the data are consistent with RM instability alone. For the 35-μm foil, the perturbation feeds out while the hohlraum drive is close to its peak and the data appear to show strong ART perturbation growth. Comparisons with LASNEX simulations will be presented. *This work supported under USDOE contract W-7405-ENG-36.

  20. The effects of magnetic fields on the growth of thermal instabilities in cooling flows

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    David, Laurence P.; Bregman, Joel N.

    1989-01-01

    The effects of heat conduction and magnetic fields on the growth of thermal instabilities in cooling flows are examined using a time-dependent hydrodynamics code. It is found that, for magnetic field strengths of roughly 1 micro-Gauss, magnetic pressure forces can completely suppress shocks from forming in thermally unstable entropy perturbations with initial length scales as large as 20 kpc, even for initial amplitudes as great as 60 percent. Perturbations with initial amplitudes of 50 percent and initial magnetic field strengths of 1 micro-Gauss cool to 10,000 K on a time scale which is only 22 percent of the initial instantaneous cooling time. Nonlinear perturbations can thus condense out of cooling flows on a time scale substantially less than the time required for linear perturbations and produce significant mass deposition of cold gas while the accreting intracluster gas is still at large radii.

  1. Dehydration kinetics of shocked serpentine

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tyburczy, James A.; Ahrens, Thomas J.

    1988-01-01

    Experimental rates of dehydration of shocked and unshocked serpentine were determined using a differential scanning calorimetric technique. Dehydration rates in shocked serpentine are enhanced by orders of magnitude over corresponding rates in unshocked material, even though the impact experiments were carried out under conditions that inhibited direct impact-induced devolatilization. Extrapolation to temperatures of the Martian surface indicates that dehydration of shocked material would occur 20 to 30 orders of magnitude more rapidly than for unshocked serpentine. The results indicate that impacted planetary surfaces and associated atmospheres would reach chemical equilibrium much more quickly than calculations based on unshocked material would indicate, even during the earliest, coldest stages of accretion. Furthermore, it is suggested that chemical weathering of shocked planetary surfaces by solid-gas reactions would be sufficiently rapid that true equilibrium mineral assemblages should form.

  2. Constraining the Accretion Geometry of the Intermediate Polar EX Hya Using NuSTAR, Swift, and Chandra Observations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Luna, G. J. M.; Mukai, K.; Orio, M.; Zemko, P.

    2018-01-01

    In magnetically accreting white dwarfs, the height above the white dwarf surface where the standing shock is formed is intimately related with the accretion rate and the white dwarf mass. However, it is difficult to measure. We obtained new data with NuSTAR and Swift that, together with archival Chandra data, allow us to constrain the height of the shock in the intermediate polar EX Hya. We conclude that the shock has to form at least at a distance of about one white dwarf radius from the surface in order to explain the weak Fe Kα 6.4 keV line, the absence of a reflection hump in the high-energy continuum, and the energy dependence of the white dwarf spin pulsed fraction. Additionally, the NuSTAR data allowed us to measure the true, uncontaminated hard X-ray (12-40 keV) flux, whose measurement was contaminated by the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 3528 in non-imaging X-ray instruments.

  3. X-ray and gamma-ray emission of Sagittarius A* as a wind-accreting black hole

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mastichiadis, A.; Ozernoy, L. M.

    1994-01-01

    If, as many believe, Sgr A* is a massive black hole at the Galactic center, one should expect it to be a source of X-ray and gamma-ray activity, behaving basically as a scaled-down active galactic nucleus. An unavoidable source of accretion is the wind from IRS 16, a nearby group of hot, massive stars. Since the density and velocity of the accreting matter are known from observations, the accretion rate is basically a function of the putative black hole mass, M(sub h), only; this value represents a reliable lower limit to a real rate, given the other possible sources of accreting matter. Based on this and on the theories about shock acceleration in active galactic nuclei, we have estimated the expected production of relativistic particles and their hard radiation. These values turn out to be a function of M(sub h) as well. Comparing our results with available X-ray and gamma-ray observations which show Sgr A* to have a relatively low activity level, we conclude tentatively that the putative black hole in the Galactic center cannot have a mass greater than approximately 6 x 10(exp 3) solar mass. This conclusion is consistent with the upper limits to the black hole mass found by different methods earlier, although much more work is needed to make calculations of shock acceleration around black holes more reliable.

  4. Numerical Study of Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability with Re-Shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wong, Man Long; Livescu, Daniel; Lele, Sanjiva

    2017-11-01

    The interaction of a Mach 1.45 shock wave with a perturbed planar interface between two gases with an Atwood number 0.68 is studied through 2D and 3D shock-capturing adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) simulations with physical diffusive and viscous terms. The simulations have initial conditions similar to those in the actual experiment conducted by Poggi et al. [1998]. The development of the flow and evolution of mixing due to the interactions with the first shock and the re-shock are studied together with the sensitivity of various global parameters to the properties of the initial perturbation. Grid resolutions needed for fully resolved and 2D and 3D simulations are also evaluated. Simulations are conducted with an in-house AMR solver HAMeRS built on the SAMRAI library. The code utilizes the high-order localized dissipation weighted compact nonlinear scheme [Wong and Lele, 2017] for shock-capturing and different sensors including the wavelet sensor [Wong and Lele, 2016] to identify regions for grid refinement. First and third authors acknowledge the project sponsor LANL.

  5. Unsteady Plasma Ejections from Hollow Accretion Columns of Galactic Neutron Stars as a Trigger for Gamma-Ray Bursts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Gvaramadze, V. V.

    1995-09-01

    We propose a model of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) based on close Galactic neutron stars with accretion disks. We outline a simple mechanism of unsteady plasma ejections during episodic accretion events. The relative kinetic energy of ejected blobs can be converted into gamma-rays by internal shocks. The beaming of gamma-ray emission can be responsible for the observed isotropic angular distribution of GRBs.

  6. Elemental Fractionation During Rapid Accretion of the Moon Triggered by a Giant Impact

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Abe, Y.; Zahnle, K. J.; Hashimoto, A.

    1998-01-01

    . Viewed globally, the accretional energy is about half the energy required to vaporize the entire Moon. Thus to first approximation, half of the Moon-forming material can be vaporized and lost during accretion. During this process, we would expect preferential loss of relatively volatile elements. Escape will retard the rate of accretion. To test these ideas, we computed detailed models of the thermal state of the Moon during accretion. We pay special attention to the structure of the silicate atmosphere and its loss rate by calculating the chemical species at equilibrium. We used the PHEQ program which includes 12 elements (H,O,C,Mg,Si,Fe,Ca, Al, Na,Ti, and N.) and 272 compounds (including ionic compounds). Because of the large heats of vaporization and ionization, the adiabatic atmosphere is nearly isothermal and massive escape is expected. The pressure of the atmosphere is determined by the balance between vaporization of a accreting material and escape. If the accretion time is one month, a 0.3 bar atmosphere is expected. Elemental fractionation depends strongly on the temperature of the accreting material. The initial temperature of the material can be estimated from the condition of gravitational instability in the protolunar disk. As shown by Ida et al, accretion starts when gravitational instability occurs when more than 99% of the material condenses. At this point, all of Ca, Al, Si, Mg, and Fe, and 95% of Na (probably K also), are in condensed phases. If the moon is formed from the accretion of such material, volatile elements such as Na, and K are retained by the moon only early in accretion. At later times, K and Na are lost and a fraction of the MG, Si and Fe is lost. However, refractory elements such as Ca and Al are retained and so achieve a mild degree (factor 2) of superabundance.

  7. Evolution of a steam atmosphere during earth's accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Zahnle, K. J.; Kasting, J. F.; Pollack, J. B.

    1988-04-01

    The evolution of an impact-generated steam atmosphere around an accreting earth is presently modeled under the assumption of Safronov (1978) accretion, in a scheme that encompasses the degassing of planetesimals on impact, thermal blanketing by the steam atmosphere, surface-to-interior water exchange, the shock heating and convective cooling of the earth's interior, and hydrogen escape due both to solar EUV-powered planetary wind and impact erosion. The model yields four distinct classes of impact-generated atmospheres: the first, on which emphasis is placed, has as its salient feature a molten surface that is maintained by the opacity of a massive water vapor atmosphere; the second occurs when the EUV-limited escape exceeds the impact degassing rate, while the third is dominated by impact erosion and the fourth is characterized by an atmosphere more massive than any thus far encountered.

  8. Evolution of a steam atmosphere during earth's accretion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Zahnle, Kevin J.; Kasting, James F.; Pollack, James B.

    1988-01-01

    The evolution of an impact-generated steam atmosphere around an accreting earth is presently modeled under the assumption of Safronov (1978) accretion, in a scheme that encompasses the degassing of planetesimals on impact, thermal blanketing by the steam atmosphere, surface-to-interior water exchange, the shock heating and convective cooling of the earth's interior, and hydrogen escape due both to solar EUV-powered planetary wind and impact erosion. The model yields four distinct classes of impact-generated atmospheres: the first, on which emphasis is placed, has as its salient feature a molten surface that is maintained by the opacity of a massive water vapor atmosphere; the second occurs when the EUV-limited escape exceeds the impact degassing rate, while the third is dominated by impact erosion and the fourth is characterized by an atmosphere more massive than any thus far encountered.

  9. Effects of Shocks on Emission from Central Engines of Active Galactic Nuclei. I

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sivron, R.; Caditz, D.; Tsuruta, S.

    1996-01-01

    In this paper we show that perturbations of the accretion flow within the central engines of some active galactic nuclei (AGNS) are likely to form shock waves in the accreting plasma. Such shocks, which may be either collisional or collisionless, can contribute to the observed high-energy temporal and spectral variability. Our rationale is the following: Observations show that the continuum emission probably originates in an optically thin, hot plasma in the AGN central engine. The flux and spectrum from this hot plasma varies significantly over light crossing timescales. Several authors have suggested that macroscopic perturbations contained within this plasma are the sources of this variability. In order to produce the observed emission the perturbations must be radiatively coupled with the optically thin hot matter and must also move with high velocities. We suggest that shocks, which can be very effective in randomizing the bulk motion of the perturbations, are responsible for this coupling. Shocks should form in the central engine, because the temperatures and magnetic fields are probably reduced below their virial values by radiative dissipation. Perturbations moving at Keplerian speeds, or strong non-linear excitations, result in supersonic and super-Alfvenic velocities leading to shock waves within the hot plasma. We show that even a perturbation smaller than the emitting region can form a shock that significantly modifies the continuum emission in an AGN, and that the spectral and temporal variability from such a shock generally resembles those of radio-quiet AGNS. As an example, the shock inducing perturbation in our model is a small main-sequence star, the capturing and eventual accretion of which are known to be a plausible process. We argue that shocks in the central engine may also provide a natural triggering mechanism for the "cold" component of Guilbert & Rees two-phase medium and an efficient mecha- nism for angular momentum transfer. Current and

  10. Magnetically-Driven Radiative Shock Experiments for Laboratory Astrophysics

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Clayson, Thomas; Lebedev, Sergey; Suzuki-Vidal, Francisco; Burdiak, Guy; Halliday, Jonathon; Hare, Jack; Suttle, Lee; Tubman, Ellie

    2017-10-01

    We present results from new experiments, aimed at producing radiative shocks, using an ``inverse liner'' configuration on the MAGPIE pulsed power facility (1.4 MA in 240 ns) at Imperial College London in the UK. In these experiments current passes through a thin walled metal tube and is returned through a central rod on the axis, generating a strong (40 Tesla) toroidal magnetic field. This drives a shock through the tube which launches a cylindrically symmetric, radially expanding radiative shock in to gas surrounding the tube. Unlike previous converging shock experiments, where the shock is located within the imploding liner and thus only permits end on probing, this experimental setup is much more open for diagnostic access and allows shocks to propagate further instead of colliding of axis. Multi-frame self-emission imaging, laser interferometry, emission spectrometry and magnetic probes were used to provide a better understanding of the shock dynamics. Results are shown from experiments performed in a variety of gases (Ne, Ar, Kr, Xe 1-50 mbar). In addition, methods for seeding perturbations are discussed which may allow for the study of several shock instabilities such as the Vishniac instability.

  11. Kinetic Properties of an Interplanetary Shock Propagating inside a Coronal Mass Ejection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, Mingzhe; Liu, Ying D.; Yang, Zhongwei; Wilson, L. B., III; Hu, Huidong

    2018-05-01

    We investigate the kinetic properties of a typical fast-mode shock inside an interplanetary coronal mass ejection (ICME) observed on 1998 August 6 at 1 au, including particle distributions and wave analysis with the in situ measurements from Wind. Key results are obtained concerning the shock and the shock–ICME interaction at kinetic scales: (1) gyrating ions, which may provide energy dissipation at the shock in addition to wave-particle interactions, are observed around the shock ramp; (2) despite the enhanced proton temperature anisotropy of the shocked plasma, the low plasma β inside the ICME constrains the shocked plasma under the thresholds of the ion cyclotron and mirror-mode instabilities; (3) whistler heat flux instabilities, which can pitch-angle scatter halo electrons through a cyclotron resonance, are observed around the shock, and can explain the disappearance of bi-directional electrons (BDEs) inside the ICME together with normal betatron acceleration; (4) whistler waves near the shock are likely associated with the whistler heat flux instabilities excited at the shock ramp, which is consistent with the result that the waves may originate from the shock ramp; (5) the whistlers share a similar characteristic with the shocklet whistlers observed by Wilson et al., providing possible evidence that the shock is decaying because of the strong magnetic field inside the ICME.

  12. FeO and H-2O and the homogeneous accretion of the earth

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lange, M. A.; Ahrens, T. J.

    1983-01-01

    Shock devolatilization recovery data for brunite (Mg(OH)2) shocked to 13 and 23 GPa are presented. These data combined with previous data for serpentine (Mg3Si2O5(OH)4) are used to constrain the minimum size terrestrial planet for which planetesimal infall will result in an impact generated water atmosphere. Assuming, in hydrous phyllosilicates, model calculations simulating the interaction of metallic iron with impact released free water on the surface of the accreting Earth were carried out. It is assumed that the reaction of water with iron in the presence of enstatite is the prime source of the terrestrial FeO component of silicates and oxides. Lower and upper bounds on the terrestrial FeO budget are based on mantle FeO content and possible incorporation of FeO in the outer core. We demonstrate that the iron water reaction would result in the absence of atmospheric/hydrospheric water, if homogeneous accretion is assumed.

  13. FeO and H2O and the homogeneous accretion of the earth

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lange, M. A.; Ahrens, T. J.

    1984-01-01

    Shock devolatilization recovery data for brunite (Mg(OH)2) shocked to 13 and 23 GPa are presented. These data combined with previous data for serpentine (Mg3Si2O5(OH)4) are used to constrain the minimum size terrestrial planet for which planetesimal infall will result in an impact generated water atmosphere. Assuming, in hydrous phyllosilicates, model calculations simulating the interaction of metallic iron with impact released free water on the surface of the accreting earth were carried out. It is assumed that the reaction of water with iron in the presence of enstatite is the prime source of the terrestrial FeO component of silicates and oxides. Lower and upper bounds on the terrestrial FeO budget are based on mantle FeO content and possible incorporation of FeO in the outer core. We demonstrate that the iron water reaction would resuit in the absence of atmospheric/hydrospheric water, if homogeneous accretion is assumed.

  14. Weibel instability mediated collisionless shocks using intense laser-driven plasmas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Palaniyappan, Sasi; Huang, Chengkun; Gautier, Donald; Fernandez, Juan; Ma, Wenjun; Schreiber, Jorg; LANL Collaboration; LMU Team

    2016-10-01

    The origin of cosmic rays remains a long-standing challenge in astrophysics and continues to fascinate physicists. It is believed that ``collisionless shocks'' - where the particle Coulomb mean free path is much larger that the shock transition - are a dominant source of energetic cosmic rays. These shocks are ubiquitous in astrophysical environments such as gamma-ray bursts, supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebula and coronal mass ejections from the sun. Several spacecraft observations have revealed acceleration of charged particles, mostly electrons, to very high energies with in the shock front. There is now also clear observational evidence that supernova remnant shocks accelerate both protons and electrons. The understanding of the microphysics behind collisionless shocks and their particle acceleration is tightly related with nonlinear basic plasma processes and remains a grand challenge. In this poster, we will present results from recent experiments at the LANL Trident laser facility studying collisionless shocks using intense ps laser (80J, 650 fs - peak intensity of 1020 W/cm2) driven near-critical plasmas using carbon nanotube foam targets. A second short pulse laser driven protons from few microns thick aluminum foil is used to image the laser-driven plasma.

  15. Wave Excitation in Accretion Disks by Protoplanets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Koller, J.; Li, H.

    2002-05-01

    The ongoing discoveries of extrasolar planets in the recent years revealed remarkable properties and unexpected results concerning the formation process. We studied the perturbation of a protostellar accretion disk by a companion utilizing APOLLO, a fast hydro disk code well tested in the case of accretion disks without a companion (Li et al. 2001, ApJ, 551, 874). We consider limiting cases where the companion's mass is much smaller than the central protostar and resides in a circular keplerian orbit. The gravitational field of the protoplanet, embedded in a numerically thin disk, generates spiral density waves and Rossby instabilities resulting in a non-axisymmetric density distribution. We present nonlinear hydro simulations to investigate those non-axisymmetric density distribution with different disk and planet parameters in order to understand how disks respond to a fixed companion in orbit. This work has been supported by IGPP at LANL (award # 1109) and NASA (grant # NAG5-9223).

  16. Accretion from a clumpy massive-star wind in supergiant X-ray binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    El Mellah, I.; Sundqvist, J. O.; Keppens, R.

    2018-04-01

    Supergiant X-ray binaries (SgXB) host a compact object, often a neutron star (NS), orbiting an evolved O/B star. Mass transfer proceeds through the intense line-driven wind of the stellar donor, a fraction of which is captured by the gravitational field of the NS. The subsequent accretion process on to the NS is responsible for the abundant X-ray emission from SgXB. They also display peak-to-peak variability of the X-ray flux by a factor of a few 10-100, along with changes in the hardness ratios possibly due to varying absorption along the line of sight. We use recent radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of inhomogeneities (a.k.a. clumps) in the non-stationary wind of massive hot stars to evaluate their impact on the time-variable accretion process. For this, we run 3D hydrodynamic simulations of the wind in the vicinity of the accretor to investigate the formation of the bow shock and follow the inhomogeneous flow over several spatial orders of magnitude, down to the NS magnetosphere. In particular, we show that the impact of the wind clumps on the time variability of the intrinsic mass accretion rate is severely tempered by the crossing of the shock, compared to the purely ballistic Bondi-Hoyle-Lyttleton estimation. We also account for the variable absorption due to clumps passing by the line of sight and estimate the final effective variability of the column density and mass accretion rate for different orbital separations. Finally, we compare our results to the most recent analysis of the X-ray flux and the hardness ratio in Vela X-1.

  17. Particle acceleration and magnetic field generation in SNR shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Suslov, M.; Diamond, P. H.; Malkov, M. A.

    2006-04-01

    We discuss the diffusive acceleration mechanism in SNR shocks in terms of its potential to accelerate CRs to 10^18 eV, as observations imply. One possibility, currently discussed in the literature, is to resonantly generate a turbulent magnetic field via accelerated particles in excess of the background field. We analyze some problems of this scenario and suggest a different mechanism, which is based on the generation of Alfven waves at the gyroradius scale at the background field level, with a subsequent transfer to longer scales via interaction with strong acoustic turbulence in the shock precursor. The acoustic turbulence in turn, may be generated by Drury instability or by parametric instability of the Alfven (A) waves. The essential idea is an A->A+S decay instability process, where one of the interacting scatterers (i.e. the sound, or S-waves) are driven by the Drury instability process. This rapidly generates longer wavelength Alfven waves, which in turn resonate with high energy CRs thus binding them to the shock and enabling their further acceleration.

  18. Kelvin-Helmholtz instability of counter-rotating discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quach, Dan; Dyda, Sergei; Lovelace, Richard V. E.

    2015-01-01

    Observations of galaxies and models of accreting systems point to the occurrence of counter-rotating discs where the inner part of the disc (r < r0) is corotating and the outer part is counter-rotating. This work analyses the linear stability of radially separated co- and counter-rotating thin discs. The strong instability found is the supersonic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. The growth rates are of the order of or larger than the angular rotation rate at the interface. The instability is absent if there is no vertical dependence of the perturbation. That is, the instability is essentially three dimensional. The non-linear evolution of the instability is predicted to lead to a mixing of the two components, strong heating of the mixed gas, and vertical expansion of the gas, and annihilation of the angular momenta of the two components. As a result, the heated gas will free-fall towards the disc's centre over the surface of the inner disc.

  19. Gas Accretion onto a Supermassive Black Hole: A Step to Model AGN Feedback

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagamine, K.; Barai, P.; Proga, D.

    2012-08-01

    We study gas accretion onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH) using the 3D SPH code GADGET-3 on scales of 0.1-200 pc. First we test our code with the spherically symmetric, adiabatic Bondi accretion problem. We find that our simulation can reproduce the expected Bondi accretion flow very well for a limited amount of time until the effect of the outer boundary starts to be visible. We also find artificial heating of gas near the inner accretion boundary due to the artificial viscosity of SPH. Second, we implement radiative cooling and heating due to X-rays, and examine the impact of thermal feedback by the central X-ray source. The accretion flow roughly follows the Bondi solution for low central X-ray luminosities; however, the flow starts to exhibit non-spherical fragmentation due to the thermal instability for a certain range of central LX, and a strong overall outflow develops for greater LX. The cold gas develops filamentary structures that fall into the central SMBH, whereas the hot gas tries to escape through the channels in between the cold filaments. Such fragmentation of accreting gas can assist in the formation of clouds around AGN, induce star-formation, and contribute to the observed variability of narrow-line regions.

  20. An impact-induced terrestrial atmosphere and iron-water reactions during accretion of the Earth

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lange, M. A.; Ahrens, T. J.

    1985-01-01

    Shock wave data and theoretical calculations were used to derive models of an impact-generated terrestrial atmosphere during accretion of the Earth. The models showed that impacts of infalling planetesimals not only provided the entire budget of terrestrial water but also led to a continuous depletion of near-surface layers of water-bearing minerals of their structural water. This resulted in a final atmospheric water reservoir comparable to the present day total water budget of the Earth. The interaction of metallic iron with free water at the surface of the accreting Earth is considered. We carried out model calcualtions simulating these processes during accretion. It is assumed that these processes are the prime source of the terrestrial FeO component of silicates and oxides. It is demonstrated that the iron-water reaction would result in the absence of atmospheric/hydrospheric water, if homogeneous accretion is assumed. In order to obtain the necessary amount of terrestrial water, slightly heterogeneous accretion with initially 36 wt% iron planetesimals, as compared with a homogeneous value of 34 wt% is required.

  1. Atypical Particle Heating at a Supercritical Interplanetary Shock

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, Lynn B., III

    2010-01-01

    We present the first observations at an interplanetary shock of large amplitude (> 100 mV/m pk-pk) solitary waves and large amplitude (approx.30 mV/m pk-pk) waves exhibiting characteristics consistent with electron Bernstein waves. The Bernstein-like waves show enhanced power at integer and half-integer harmonics of the cyclotron frequency with a broadened power spectrum at higher frequencies, consistent with the electron cyclotron drift instability. The Bernstein-like waves are obliquely polarized with respect to the magnetic field but parallel to the shock normal direction. Strong particle heating is observed in both the electrons and ions. The observed heating and waveforms are likely due to instabilities driven by the free energy provided by reflected ions at this supercritical interplanetary shock. These results offer new insights into collisionless shock dissipation and wave-particle interactions in the solar wind.

  2. Prolonged electron accelerations at a high-Mach-number, quasi-perpendicular shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Matsumoto, Y.; Amano, T.; Kato, T.; Hoshino, M.

    2016-12-01

    Elucidating acceleration mechanisms of charged particles have been of great interests in laboratory, space, and astrophysical plasmas. Among other mechanisms, a collision-less shock is thought as an efficient particle accelerator. The idea has been strengthened by radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray observations of astrophysical objects such as supernova remnant shocks, where it has been indicated that protons and electrons are efficiently accelerated to TeV energies at such very strong shock waves. Efficient electron accelerations at high-Mach-number shocks was also suggested recently by in-situ measurements at the Saturn's bow shock. Motivated by these circumstances, laboratory experiments using high-power laser facilities emerge to provide a new platform to tackle these problems.Numerical simulations have revealed that electrons can be efficiently heated and accelerated via so-called the shock surfing acceleration mechanism in which electron-scale Buneman instability played key roles. Recently, Matsumoto et al. [2015] proposed a stochastic acceleration mechanism by turbulent reconnection in the shock transition region through excitation of the ion Weibel instability. In order to deal with the two different acceleration mechanisms in a self-consistent system, we examined 3D PIC simulations of a quasi-perpendicular, high-Mach-number shock. We successfully followed a long term evolution in which two different acceleration mechanisms coexist in the 3D shock structure. The Buneman instability is strongly excited ahead of the shock front in the same manner as have been found in 2D simulations. The surfing acceleration is found to be very effective in the present 3D system. In the transition region, the ion-beam Weibel instability generated strong magnetic field turbulence in 3D space. Energetic electrons, which initially experienced the surfing acceleration, undergo pitch-angle diffusion by interacting with the turbulent fields and thus stay in the upstream regions. The ion

  3. Particle Acceleration, Magnetic Field Generation, and Emission in Relativistic Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, Ken-IchiI.; Hededal, C.; Hardee, P.; Richardson, G.; Preece, R.; Sol, H.; Fishman, G.

    2004-01-01

    Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Buneman instability, two-streaming instability, and the Weibel instability) created in the shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using a 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (m) code, we have investigated particle acceleration associated with a relativistic jet front propagating through an ambient plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find only small differences in the results between no ambient and weak ambient parallel magnetic fields. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the collisionless shock front accelerates particles perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation direction. New simulations with an ambient perpendicular magnetic field show the strong interaction between the relativistic jet and the magnetic fields. The magnetic fields are piled up by the jet and the jet electrons are bent, which creates currents and displacement currents. At the nonlinear stage, the magnetic fields are reversed by the current and the reconnection may take place. Due to these dynamics the jet and ambient electron are strongly accelerated in both parallel and perpendicular directions.

  4. Magnetized SASI: its mechanism and possible connection to some QPOs in XRBs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dhang, Prasun; Sharma, Prateek; Mukhopadhyay, Banibrata

    2018-05-01

    The presence of a surface at the inner boundary, such as in a neutron star or a white dwarf, allows the existence of a standing shock in steady spherical accretion. The standing shock can become unstable in 2D or 3D; this is called the standing accretion shock instability (SASI). Two mechanisms - advective-acoustic and purely acoustic - have been proposed to explain SASI. Using axisymmetric hydrodynamic and magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we find that the advective-acoustic mechanism better matches the observed oscillation time-scales in our simulations. The global shock oscillations present in the accretion flow can explain many observed high frequency (≳100 Hz) quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) in X-ray binaries. The presence of a moderately strong magnetic field adds more features to the shock oscillation pattern, giving rise to low frequency modulation in the computed light curve. This low frequency modulation can be responsible for ˜100 Hz QPOs (known as hHz QPOs). We propose that the appearance of hHz QPO determines the separation of twin peak QPOs of higher frequencies.

  5. Massive star formation by accretion. II. Rotation: how to circumvent the angular momentum barrier?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haemmerlé, L.; Eggenberger, P.; Meynet, G.; Maeder, A.; Charbonnel, C.; Klessen, R. S.

    2017-06-01

    Context. Rotation plays a key role in the star-formation process, from pre-stellar cores to pre-main-sequence (PMS) objects. Understanding the formation of massive stars requires taking into account the accretion of angular momentum during their PMS phase. Aims: We study the PMS evolution of objects destined to become massive stars by accretion, focusing on the links between the physical conditions of the environment and the rotational properties of young stars. In particular, we look at the physical conditions that allow the production of massive stars by accretion. Methods: We present PMS models computed with a new version of the Geneva Stellar Evolution code self-consistently including accretion and rotation according to various accretion scenarios for mass and angular momentum. We describe the internal distribution of angular momentum in PMS stars accreting at high rates and we show how the various physical conditions impact their internal structures, evolutionary tracks, and rotation velocities during the PMS and the early main sequence. Results: We find that the smooth angular momentum accretion considered in previous studies leads to an angular momentum barrier and does not allow the formation of massive stars by accretion. A braking mechanism is needed in order to circumvent this angular momentum barrier. This mechanism has to be efficient enough to remove more than two thirds of the angular momentum from the inner accretion disc. Due to the weak efficiency of angular momentum transport by shear instability and meridional circulation during the accretion phase, the internal rotation profiles of accreting stars reflect essentially the angular momentum accretion history. As a consequence, careful choice of the angular momentum accretion history allows circumvention of any limitation in mass and velocity, and production of stars of any mass and velocity compatible with structure equations.

  6. Hydrodynamic instability of elastic-plastic solid plates at the early stage of acceleration.

    PubMed

    Piriz, A R; Sun, Y B; Tahir, N A

    2015-03-01

    A model is presented for the linear Rayleigh-Taylor instability taking place at the early stage of acceleration of an elastic-plastic solid, when the shock wave is still running into the solid and is driven by a time varying pressure on the interface. When the the shock is formed sufficiently close to the interface, this stage is considered to follow a previous initial phase controlled by the Ritchmyer-Meshkov instability that settles new initial conditions. The model reproduces the behavior of the instability observed in former numerical simulation results and provides a relatively simpler physical picture than the currently existing one for this stage of the instability evolution.

  7. p-Process Nucleosynthesis inside Supernova-driven Supercritical Accretion Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fujimoto, Shin-ichirou; Hashimoto, Masa-aki; Koike, Osamu; Arai, Kenzo; Matsuba, Ryuichi

    2003-03-01

    We investigate p-process nucleosynthesis in a supercritical accretion disk around a compact object of 1.4 Msolar, using the self-similar solution of an optically thick advection-dominated flow. Supercritical accretion is expected to occur in a supernova with fallback material accreting onto a newborn compact object. It is found that an appreciable number of p-nuclei are synthesized via the p-process in supernova-driven supercritical accretion disks (SSADs) when the accretion rate m=Mc2/(16LEdd)>105, where LEdd is the Eddington luminosity. Abundance profiles of p-nuclei ejected from SSADs have features similar to those of the oxygen/neon layers in Type II supernovae when the abundance of the fallback gas far from the compact object is that of the oxygen/neon layers in the progenitor. The overall abundance profile is in agreement with that of the solar system. Some p-nuclei, such as Mo, Ru, Sn, and La, are underproduced in the SSADs as in Type II supernovae. If the fallback gas is mixed with a small fraction of protons through Rayleigh-Taylor instability during the explosion, significant amounts of 92Mo are produced inside the SSADs. Isotopes 96Ru and 138La are also produced when the fallback gas contains abundant protons, although the overall abundance profile of p-nuclei is rather different from that of the solar system. The p-process nucleosynthesis in SSADs contributes to the chemical evolution of p-nuclei, in particular 92Mo, if several percent of the fallback matter are ejected via jets and/or winds.

  8. Cold, clumpy accretion onto an active supermassive black hole

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tremblay, Grant R.; Oonk, J. B. Raymond; Combes, Françoise; Salomé, Philippe; O'Dea, Christopher P.; Baum, Stefi A.; Voit, G. Mark; Donahue, Megan; McNamara, Brian R.; Davis, Timothy A.; McDonald, Michael A.; Edge, Alastair C.; Clarke, Tracy E.; Galván-Madrid, Roberto; Bremer, Malcolm N.; Edwards, Louise O. V.; Fabian, Andrew C.; Hamer, Stephen; Li, Yuan; Maury, Anaëlle; Russell, Helen R.; Quillen, Alice C.; Urry, C. Megan; Sanders, Jeremy S.; Wise, Michael W.

    2016-06-01

    Supermassive black holes in galaxy centres can grow by the accretion of gas, liberating energy that might regulate star formation on galaxy-wide scales. The nature of the gaseous fuel reservoirs that power black hole growth is nevertheless largely unconstrained by observations, and is instead routinely simplified as a smooth, spherical inflow of very hot gas. Recent theory and simulations instead predict that accretion can be dominated by a stochastic, clumpy distribution of very cold molecular clouds—a departure from the ‘hot mode’ accretion model—although unambiguous observational support for this prediction remains elusive. Here we report observations that reveal a cold, clumpy accretion flow towards a supermassive black hole fuel reservoir in the nucleus of the Abell 2597 Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG), a nearby (redshift z = 0.0821) giant elliptical galaxy surrounded by a dense halo of hot plasma. Under the right conditions, thermal instabilities produce a rain of cold clouds that fall towards the galaxy’s centre, sustaining star formation amid a kiloparsec-scale molecular nebula that is found at its core. The observations show that these cold clouds also fuel black hole accretion, revealing ‘shadows’ cast by the molecular clouds as they move inward at about 300 kilometres per second towards the active supermassive black hole, which serves as a bright backlight. Corroborating evidence from prior observations of warmer atomic gas at extremely high spatial resolution, along with simple arguments based on geometry and probability, indicate that these clouds are within the innermost hundred parsecs of the black hole, and falling closer towards it.

  9. Cold, clumpy accretion onto an active supermassive black hole.

    PubMed

    Tremblay, Grant R; Oonk, J B Raymond; Combes, Françoise; Salomé, Philippe; O'Dea, Christopher P; Baum, Stefi A; Voit, G Mark; Donahue, Megan; McNamara, Brian R; Davis, Timothy A; McDonald, Michael A; Edge, Alastair C; Clarke, Tracy E; Galván-Madrid, Roberto; Bremer, Malcolm N; Edwards, Louise O V; Fabian, Andrew C; Hamer, Stephen; Li, Yuan; Maury, Anaëlle; Russell, Helen R; Quillen, Alice C; Urry, C Megan; Sanders, Jeremy S; Wise, Michael W

    2016-06-09

    Supermassive black holes in galaxy centres can grow by the accretion of gas, liberating energy that might regulate star formation on galaxy-wide scales. The nature of the gaseous fuel reservoirs that power black hole growth is nevertheless largely unconstrained by observations, and is instead routinely simplified as a smooth, spherical inflow of very hot gas. Recent theory and simulations instead predict that accretion can be dominated by a stochastic, clumpy distribution of very cold molecular clouds--a departure from the 'hot mode' accretion model--although unambiguous observational support for this prediction remains elusive. Here we report observations that reveal a cold, clumpy accretion flow towards a supermassive black hole fuel reservoir in the nucleus of the Abell 2597 Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG), a nearby (redshift z = 0.0821) giant elliptical galaxy surrounded by a dense halo of hot plasma. Under the right conditions, thermal instabilities produce a rain of cold clouds that fall towards the galaxy's centre, sustaining star formation amid a kiloparsec-scale molecular nebula that is found at its core. The observations show that these cold clouds also fuel black hole accretion, revealing 'shadows' cast by the molecular clouds as they move inward at about 300 kilometres per second towards the active supermassive black hole, which serves as a bright backlight. Corroborating evidence from prior observations of warmer atomic gas at extremely high spatial resolution, along with simple arguments based on geometry and probability, indicate that these clouds are within the innermost hundred parsecs of the black hole, and falling closer towards it.

  10. Numerical simulations of the Cosmic Battery in accretion flows around astrophysical black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Contopoulos, I.; Nathanail, A.; Sądowski, A.; Kazanas, D.; Narayan, R.

    2018-01-01

    We implement the KORAL code to perform two sets of very long general relativistic radiation magnetohydrodynamic simulations of an axisymmetric optically thin magnetized flow around a non-rotating black hole: one with a new term in the electromagnetic field tensor due to the radiation pressure felt by the plasma electrons on the comoving frame of the electron-proton plasma, and one without. The source of the radiation is the accretion flow itself. Without the new term, the system evolves to a standard accretion flow due to the development of the magneto-rotational instability. With the new term, however, the system eventually evolves to a magnetically arrested disc state in which a large-scale jet-like magnetic field threads the black hole horizon. Our results confirm the secular action of the Cosmic Battery in accretion flows around astrophysical black holes.

  11. Design of Experiments Relevant to Accreting Stream-Disk Impact in Interacting Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krauland, Christine; Drake, R. P.; Kuranz, C. C.; Grosskopf, M. J.; Young, R.; Plewa, T.

    2010-05-01

    In many Cataclysmic Binary systems, mass transfer via Roche lobe overflow onto an accretion disk occurs. This produces a hot spot from the heating created by the supersonic impact of the infalling flow with the rotating accretion disk, which can produce a radiative reverse shock in the infalling flow. This collision region has many ambiguities as a radiation hydrodynamic system. Depending upon conditions, it has been argued (Armitgae & Livio, ApJ 493, 898) that the shocked region may be optically thin, thick, or intermediate, which has the potential to significantly alter its structure and emissions. Laboratory experiments have yet to produce colliding flows that create a radiative reverse shock or to produce obliquely incident colliding flows, both of which are aspects of these Binary systems. We have undertaken the design of such an experiment, aimed at the Omega-60 laser facility. The design elements include the production of postshock flows within a dense material layer or ejecta flows by release of material from a shocked layer. Obtaining a radiative reverse shock in the laboratory requires producing a sufficiently fast flow (> 100 km/s) within a material whose opacity is large enough to produce energetically significant emission from experimentally achievable layers. In this poster we will discuss the astrophysical context, the experimental design work we have done, and the challenges of implementing and diagnosing an actual experiment. This work is funded by the NNSA-DS and SC-OFES Joint Program in High-Energy-Density Laboratory Plasmas, by the National Laser User Facility Program in NNSA-DS and by the Predictive Sciences Academic Alliances Program in NNSA-ASC. The corresponding grant numbers are DE-FG52-09NA29548, DE-FG52-09NA29034, and DE-FC52-08NA28616.

  12. Accretion onto stellar mass black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Deegan, Patrick

    2009-12-01

    I present work on the accretion onto stellar mass black holes in several scenarios. Due to dynamical friction stellar mass black holes are expected to form high density cusps in the inner parsec of our Galaxy. These compact remnants may be accreting cold dense gas present there, and give rise to potentially observable X-ray emission. I build a simple but detailed time-dependent model of such emission. Future observations of the distribution and orbits of the gas in the inner parsec of Sgr A* will put tighter constraints on the cusp of compact remnants. GRS 1915+105 is an LMXB, whose large orbital period implies a very large accretion disc and explains the extraordinary duration of its current outburst. I present smoothed particle hydrodynamic simulations of the accretion disc. The models includes the thermo-viscous instability, irradiation from the central object and wind loss. I find that the outburst of GRS 1915+105 should last a minimum of 20 years and up to ˜ 100 years if the irradiation is playing a significant role in this system. The predicted recurrence times are of the order of 104 years, making the duty cycle of GRS 1915+105 to be a few 0.1%. I present a simple analytical method to describe the observable behaviour of long period black hole LMXBs, similar to GRS 1915+105. Constructing two simple models for the surface density in the disc, outburst and quiescence times are calculated as a function of orbital period. LMXBs are an important constituent of the X-ray light function (XLF) of giant elliptical galaxies. I find that the duty cycle can vary considerably with orbital period, with implications for modelling the XLF.

  13. Parallel collisionless shocks forming in simulations of the LAPD experiment

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Weidl, Martin S.; Jenko, Frank; Niemann, Chris; Winske, Dan

    2016-10-01

    Research on parallel collisionless shocks, most prominently occurring in the Earth's bow shock region, has so far been limited to satellite measurements and simulations. However, the formation of collisionless shocks depends on a wide range of parameters and scales, which can be accessed more easily in a laboratory experiment. Using a kJ-class laser, an ongoing experimental campaign at the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) at UCLA is expected to produce the first laboratory measurements of the formation of a parallel collisionless shock. We present hybrid kinetic/MHD simulations that show how beam instabilities in the background plasma can be driven by ablating carbon ions from a target, causing non-linear density oscillations which develop into a propagating shock front. The free-streaming carbon ions can excite both the resonant right-hand instability and the non-resonant firehose mode. We analyze their respective roles and discuss optimizing their growth rates to speed up the process of shock formation.

  14. High-pressure mechanical instability in rocks

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    Byerlee, J.D.; Brace, W.F.

    1969-01-01

    At a confining pressure of a few kilobars, deformation of many sedimentary rocks, altered mafic rocks, porous volcanic rocks, and sand is ductile, in that instabilities leading to audible elastic shocks are absent. At pressures of 7 to 10 kilobars, however, unstable faulting and stick-slip in certain of these rocks was observed. This high pressure-low temperature instability might be responsible for earthquakes in deeply buried sedimentary or volcanic sequences.

  15. High-pressure mechanical instability in rocks.

    PubMed

    Byerlee, J D; Brace, W F

    1969-05-09

    At a confining pressure of a few kilobars, deformation of many sedimentary rocks, altered mafic rocks, porous volcanic rocks, and sand is ductile, in that instabilities leading to audible elastic shocks are absent. At pressures of 7 to 10 kilobars, however, unstable faulting and stick-slip in certain of these rocks was observed. This high pressure-low temperature instability might be responsible for earthquakes in deeply buried sedimentary or volcanic sequences.

  16. Calibration of PCB-132 Sensors in a Shock Tube

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Berridge, Dennis C.; Schneider, Steven P.

    2012-01-01

    While PCB-132 sensors have proven useful for measuring second-mode instability waves in many hypersonic wind tunnels, they are currently limited by their calibration. Until now, the factory calibration has been all that was available, which is a single-point calibration at an amplitude three orders of magnitude higher than a second-mode wave. In addition, little information has been available about the frequency response or spatial resolution of the sensors, which is important for measuring high-frequency instability waves. These shortcomings make it difficult to compare measurements at different conditions and between different sensors. If accurate quantitative measurements could be performed, comparisons of the growth and breakdown of instability waves could be made in different facilities, possibly leading to a method of predicting the amplitude at which the waves break down into turbulence, improving transition prediction. A method for calibrating the sensors is proposed using a newly-built shock tube at Purdue University. This shock tube, essentially a half-scale version of the 6-Inch shock tube at the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at Caltech, has been designed to attain a moderate vacuum in the driven section. Low driven pressures should allow the creation of very weak, yet still relatively thin shock waves. It is expected that static pressure rises within the range of second-mode amplitudes should be possible. The shock tube has been designed to create clean, planar shock waves with a laminar boundary layer to allow for accurate calibrations. Stronger shock waves can be used to identify the frequency response of the sensors out to hundreds of kilohertz.

  17. Evolution and stability of shock waves in dissipative gases characterized by activated inelastic collisions.

    PubMed

    Sirmas, N; Radulescu, M I

    2015-02-01

    Previous experiments have revealed that shock waves driven through dissipative gases may become unstable, for example, in granular gases and in molecular gases undergoing strong relaxation effects. The mechanisms controlling these instabilities are not well understood. We successfully isolated and investigated this instability in the canonical problem of piston-driven shock waves propagating into a medium characterized by inelastic collision processes. We treat the standard model of granular gases, where particle collisions are taken as inelastic, with a constant coefficient of restitution. The inelasticity is activated for sufficiently strong collisions. Molecular dynamic simulations were performed for 30,000 particles. We find that all shock waves investigated become unstable, with density nonuniformities forming in the relaxation region. The wavelength of these fingers is found to be comparable to the characteristic relaxation thickness. Shock Hugoniot curves for both elastic and inelastic collisions were obtained analytically and numerically. Analysis of these curves indicates that the instability is not of the Bethe-Zeldovich-Thompson or D'yakov-Kontorovich type. Analysis of the shock relaxation rates and rates for clustering in a convected fluid element with the same thermodynamic history ruled out the clustering instability of a homogeneous granular gas. Instead, wave reconstruction of the early transient evolution indicates that the onset of instability occurs during repressurization of the gas following the initial relaxation of the medium behind the lead shock. This repressurization gives rise to internal pressure waves in the presence of strong density gradients. This indicates that the mechanism of instability is more likely of the vorticity-generating Richtmyer-Meshkov type, relying on the action of the inner pressure wave development during the transient relaxation.

  18. The thermo magnetic instability in hot viscose plasmas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Haghani, A.; Khosravi, A.; Khesali, A.

    2017-10-01

    Magnetic Rotational Instability (MRI) can not performed well in accretion disks with strong magnetic field. Studies have indicated a new type of instability called thermomagnetic instability (TMI) in systems where Nernst coefficient and gradient temperature were considered. Nernst coefficient would appear if Boltzman equation could be expanded through ω_{Be} (cyclotron frequency). However, the growth rate of this instability was two magnitude orders below MRI growth (Ωk), which could not act the same as MRI. Therefor, a higher growth rate of unstable modes was needed. In this paper, rotating viscid hot plasma with strong magnetic filed was studied. Firstly, a constant alpha viscosity was studied and then a temperature sensitive viscosity. The results showed that the temperature sensitive viscosity would be able to increase the growth rate of TMI modes significantly, hence capable of acting similar to MRI.

  19. Kinetic Simulations of Particle Acceleration at Shocks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Caprioli, Damiano; Guo, Fan

    2015-07-16

    Collisionless shocks are mediated by collective electromagnetic interactions and are sources of non-thermal particles and emission. The full particle-in-cell approach and a hybrid approach are sketched, simulations of collisionless shocks are shown using a multicolor presentation. Results for SN 1006, a case involving ion acceleration and B field amplification where the shock is parallel, are shown. Electron acceleration takes place in planetary bow shocks and galaxy clusters. It is concluded that acceleration at shocks can be efficient: >15%; CRs amplify B field via streaming instability; ion DSA is efficient at parallel, strong shocks; ions are injected via reflection and shockmore » drift acceleration; and electron DSA is efficient at oblique shocks.« less

  20. Kinetic theory and turbulent discontinuities. [shock tube flow

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Johnson, J. A., III; I, L.; Li, Y.; Ramaian, R.; Santigo, J. P.

    1981-01-01

    Shock tube discontinuities were used to test and extend a kinetic theory of turbulence. In shock wave and contact surface fluctuations, coherent phenomena were found which provide new support for the microscopic nonempirical approach to turbulent systems, especially those with boundary layer-like instabilities.

  1. The Vetter-Sturtevant Shock Tube Problem in KULL

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ulitsky, M S

    2005-10-06

    The goal of the EZturb mix model in KULL is to predict the turbulent mixing process as it evolves from Rayleigh-Taylor, Richtmyer-Meshkov, or Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. In this report we focus on an example of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (which occurs when a shock hits an interface between fluids of different densities) with the additional complication of reshock. The experiment by Vetter & Sturtevant (VS) [1], involving a Mach 1.50 incident shock striking an air/SF{sub 6} interface, is a good one to model, now that we understand how the model performs for the Benjamin shock tube [2] and a prototypical incompressible Rayleigh-Taylormore » problem [3]. The x-t diagram for the VS shock tube is quite complicated, since the transmitted shock hits the far wall at {approx}2 millisec, reshocks the mixing zone slightly after 3 millisec (which sets up a release wave that hits the wall at {approx}4 millisec), and then the interface is hit with this expansion wave around 5 millisec. Needless to say, this problem is much more difficult to model than the Bejamin shock tube.« less

  2. Boundary Between Stable and Unstable Regimes of Accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Blinova, A. A.; Lovelace, R. V. E.; Romanova, M. M.

    2014-01-01

    We investigated the boundary between stable and unstable regimes of accretion and its dependence on different parameters. Simulations were performed using a "cubed sphere" code with high grid resolution (244 grid points in the azimuthal direction), which is twice as high as that used in our earlier studies. We chose a very low viscosity value, with alpha-parameter α=0.02. We observed from the simulations that the boundary strongly depends on the ratio between magnetospheric radius rm (where the magnetic stress in the magnetosphere matches the matter stress in the disk) and corotation radius rcor (where the Keplerian velocity in the disk is equal to the angular velocity of the star). For a small misalignment angle of the dipole field, Θ = 5°, accretion is unstable if rcor/rm> 1.35, and is stable otherwise. In cases of a larger misalignment angle of the dipole, Θ = 20°, instability occurs at slightly larger values, rcor/rm> 1.41

  3. The disappearance and reformation of the accretion disc during a low state of FO Aquarii

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hameury, J.-M.; Lasota, J.-P.

    2017-09-01

    Context. FO Aquarii, an asynchronous magnetic cataclysmic variable (intermediate polar) went into a low state in 2016, from which it slowly and steadily recovered without showing dwarf nova outbursts. This requires explanation since in a low state, the mass-transfer rate is in principle too low for the disc to be fully ionised and the disc should be subject to the standard thermal and viscous instability observed in dwarf novae. Aims: We investigate the conditions under which an accretion disc in an intermediate polar could exhibit a luminosity drop of two magnitudes in the optical band without showing outbursts. Methods: We use our numerical code for the time evolution of accretion discs, including other light sources from the system (primary, secondary, hot spot). Results: We show that although it is marginally possible for the accretion disc in the low state to stay on the hot stable branch, the required mass-transfer rate in the normal state would then have to be extremely high, of the order of 1019 g s-1 or even larger. This would make the system so intrinsically bright that its distance should be much larger than allowed by all estimates. We show that observations of FO Aqr are well accounted for by the same mechanism that we have suggested as explaining the absence of outbursts during low states of VY Scl stars: during the decay, the magnetospheric radius exceeds the circularisation radius, so that the disc disappears before it enters the instability strip for dwarf nova outbursts. Conclusions: Our results are unaffected, and even reinforced, if accretion proceeds both via the accretion disc and directly via the stream during some intermediate stages; the detailed process through which the disc disappears still requires investigation.

  4. Relativistic low angular momentum accretion: long time evolution of hydrodynamical inviscid flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mach, Patryk; Piróg, Michał; Font, José A.

    2018-05-01

    We investigate relativistic low angular momentum accretion of inviscid perfect fluid onto a Schwarzschild black hole. The simulations are performed with a general-relativistic, high-resolution (second-order), shock-capturing, hydrodynamical numerical code. We use horizon-penetrating Eddington–Finkelstein coordinates to remove inaccuracies in regions of strong gravity near the black hole horizon and show the expected convergence of the code with the Michel solution and stationary Fishbone–Moncrief toroids. We recover, in the framework of relativistic hydrodynamics, the qualitative behavior known from previous Newtonian studies that used a Bondi background flow in a pseudo-relativistic gravitational potential with a latitude-dependent angular momentum at the outer boundary. Our models exhibit characteristic ‘turbulent’ behavior and the attained accretion rates are lower than those of the Bondi–Michel radial flow. For sufficiently low values of the asymptotic sound speed, geometrically thick tori form in the equatorial plane surrounding the black hole horizon while accretion takes place mainly through the poles.

  5. Magnetospheric Accretion in Close Pre-main-sequence Binaries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ardila, David R.; Jonhs-Krull, Christopher; Herczeg, Gregory J.; Mathieu, Robert D.; Quijano-Vodniza, Alberto

    2015-10-01

    The transfer of matter between a circumbinary disk and a young binary system remains poorly understood, obscuring the interpretation of accretion indicators. To explore the behavior of these indicators in multiple systems, we have performed the first systematic time-domain study of young binaries in the ultraviolet. We obtained far- and near-ultraviolet HST/COS spectra of the young spectroscopic binaries DQ Tau and UZ Tau E. Here we focus on the continuum from 2800 to 3200 Å and on the C iv doublet (λλ1548.19, 1550.77 Å) as accretion diagnostics. Each system was observed over three or four consecutive binary orbits, at phases ∼0, 0.2, 0.5, and 0.7. Those observations are complemented by ground-based U-band measurements. Contrary to model predictions, we do not detect any clear correlation between accretion luminosity and phase. Further, we do not detect any correlation between C iv flux and phase. For both stars the appearance of the C iv line is similar to that of single Classical T Tauri Stars (CTTSs), despite the lack of stable long-lived circumstellar disks. However, unlike the case in single CTTSs, the narrow and broad components of the C iv lines are uncorrelated, and we argue that the narrow component is powered by processes other than accretion, such as flares in the stellar magnetospheres and/or enhanced activity in the upper atmosphere. We find that both stars contribute equally to the narrow component C iv flux in DQ Tau, but the primary dominates the narrow component C iv emission in UZ Tau E. The C iv broad component flux is correlated with other accretion indicators, suggesting an accretion origin. However, the line is blueshifted, which is inconsistent with its origin in an infall flow close to the star. It is possible that the complicated geometry of the region, as well as turbulence in the shock region, are responsible for the blueshifted line profiles.

  6. Analyzing the Spectra of Accreting X-Ray Pulsars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wolff, Michael

    This proposal seeks funding for the analysis of accretion-powered X-ray pulsar spectra from NASA/ HEASARC archived X-ray data. Spectral modeling of accreting X-ray pulsars can tell us a great deal about the physical conditions in and near high mass X-ray binary systems. Such systems have accretion flows where plasma is initially channeled from an accretion disk by the strong neutron star magnetic field, eventually falling onto the magnetic polar cap of the neutron star compact object. Many of these accreting X-ray pulsars have X-ray spectra that consist of broad power-law continua with superposed cyclotron resonant scattering features indicating magnetic field strengths above 10^12 G. The energies of these cyclotron line features have recently been shown to vary with X-ray luminosity in a number of sources such as Her X-1 and V 0332+53, a phenomenon not well understood. Another recent development is the relatively new analytic model for the spectral continuum formation in accretion-powered pulsar systems developed by Becker & Wolff. In their formalism the accretion flows are assumed to go through radiation- dominated radiative shocks and settle onto the neutron star surface. The radiation field consists of strongly Comptonized bremsstrahlung emission from the entire plasma, Comptonized cyclotron emission from the de-excitations of Landau-excited electrons in the neutron star magnetic field, and Comptonized black-body emission from a thermal mound near the neutron star surface. We seek to develop the data analysis tools to apply this model framework to the X-ray data from a wide set of sources to make progress characterizing the basic accretion properties (e.g., magnetic field strength, plasma temperatures, polar cap size, accretion rate per unit area, dominance of bulk vs. thermal Comptonization) as well as understanding the variations of the cyclotron line energies with X-ray luminosity. The three major goals of our proposed work are as follows: In the first year

  7. The Dynamics of Truncated Black Hole Accretion Disks. II. Magnetohydrodynamic Case

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hogg, J. Drew; Reynolds, Christopher S.

    2018-02-01

    We study a truncated accretion disk using a well-resolved, semi-global magnetohydrodynamic simulation that is evolved for many dynamical times (6096 inner disk orbits). The spectral properties of hard-state black hole binary systems and low-luminosity active galactic nuclei are regularly attributed to truncated accretion disks, but a detailed understanding of the flow dynamics is lacking. In these systems the truncation is expected to arise through thermal instability driven by sharp changes in the radiative efficiency. We emulate this behavior using a simple bistable cooling function with efficient and inefficient branches. The accretion flow takes on an arrangement where a “transition zone” exists in between hot gas in the innermost regions and a cold, Shakura & Sunyaev thin disk at larger radii. The thin disk is embedded in an atmosphere of hot gas that is fed by a gentle outflow originating from the transition zone. Despite the presence of hot gas in the inner disk, accretion is efficient. Our analysis focuses on the details of the angular momentum transport, energetics, and magnetic field properties. We find that the magnetic dynamo is suppressed in the hot, truncated inner region of the disk which lowers the effective α-parameter by 65%.

  8. Oscillations of a standing shock wave generated by the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mikaelian, Karnig O.

    2016-07-01

    In a typical Richtmyer-Meshkov experiment a fast moving flat shock strikes a stationary perturbed interface between fluids A and B creating a transmitted and a reflected shock, both of which are perturbed. We propose shock tube experiments in which the reflected shock is stationary in the laboratory. Such a standing perturbed shock undergoes well-known damped oscillations. We present the conditions required for producing such a standing shock wave, which greatly facilitates the measurement of the oscillations and their rate of damping. We define a critical density ratio Rcritical, in terms of the adiabatic indices of the two fluids, and a critical Mach number Mscritical of the incident shock wave, which produces a standing reflected wave. If the initial density ratio R of the two fluids is less than Rcritical then a standing shock wave is possible at Ms=Mscritical . Otherwise a standing shock is not possible and the reflected wave always moves in the direction opposite the incident shock. Examples are given for present-day operating shock tubes with sinusoidal or inclined interfaces. We consider the effect of viscosity, which affects the damping rate of the oscillations. We point out that nonlinear bubble and spike amplitudes depend relatively weakly on the viscosity of the fluids and that the interface area is a better diagnostic.

  9. Oscillations of a standing shock wave generated by the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    DOE PAGES

    Mikaelian, Karnig O.

    2016-07-13

    In a typical Richtmyer-Meshkov experiment a fast moving flat shock strikes a stationary perturbed interface between fluids A and B creating a transmitted and a reflected shock, both of which are perturbed. We propose shock tube experiments in which the reflected shock is stationary in the laboratory. Such a standing perturbed shock undergoes well-known damped oscillations. We present the conditions required for producing such a standing shock wave, which greatly facilitates the measurement of the oscillations and their rate of damping. We define a critical density ratio R critical, in terms of the adiabatic indices of the two fluids, andmore » a critical Mach number M critical s of the incident shock wave, which produces a standing reflected wave. If the initial density ratio R of the two fluids is less than R critical then a standing shock wave is possible at M s=M critical s. Otherwise a standing shock is not possible and the reflected wave always moves in the direction opposite the incident shock. Examples are given for present-day operating shock tubes with sinusoidal or inclined interfaces. We consider the effect of viscosity, which affects the damping rate of the oscillations. Furthermore, we point out that nonlinear bubble and spike amplitudes depend relatively weakly on the viscosity of the fluids and that the interface area is a better diagnostic.« less

  10. Evolution of an accretion disc in binary black hole systems

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kimura, Shigeo S.; Takahashi, Sanemichi Z.; Toma, Kenji

    2017-03-01

    We investigate evolution of an accretion disc in binary black hole (BBH) systems and possible electromagnetic counterparts of the gravitational waves from mergers of BBHs. Perna et al. proposed a novel evolutionary scenario of an accretion disc in BBHs in which a disc eventually becomes 'dead', I.e. the magnetorotational instability (MRI) becomes inactive. In their scenario, the dead disc survives until a few seconds before the merger event. We improve the dead disc model and propose another scenario, taking account of effects of the tidal torque from the companion and the critical ionization degree for MRI activation more carefully. We find that the mass of the dead disc is much lower than that in the Perna's scenario. When the binary separation sufficiently becomes small, the mass inflow induced by the tidal torque reactivates MRI, restarting mass accretion on to the black hole. We also find that this disc 'revival' happens more than thousands of years before the merger. The mass accretion induced by the tidal torque increases as the separation decreases, and a relativistic jet could be launched before the merger. The emissions from these jets are too faint compared to gamma-ray bursts, but detectable if the merger events happen within ≲10 Mpc or if the masses of the black holes are as massive as ˜105 M⊙.

  11. Dynamics of Mesoscale Magnetic Field in Diffusive Shock Acceleration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Diamond, P. H.; Malkov, M. A.

    2007-01-01

    We present a theory for the generation of mesoscale (krg<<1, where rg is the cosmic-ray gyroradius) magnetic fields during diffusive shock acceleration. The decay or modulational instability of resonantly excited Alfvén waves scattering off ambient density perturbations in the shock environment naturally generates larger scale fields. For a broad spectrum of perturbations, the physical mechanism of energy transfer is random refraction, represented by the diffusion of Alfvén wave packets in k-space. The scattering field can be produced directly by the decay instability or by the Drury instability, a hydrodynamic instability driven by the cosmic-ray pressure gradient. This process is of interest to acceleration since it generates waves of longer wavelength, and so enables the confinement and acceleration of higher energy particles. This process also limits the intensity of resonantly generated turbulent magnetic fields on rg scales.

  12. The Physics of Molecular Shocks in Star-Forming Regions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hollenbach, David; Cuzzi, Jeffrey (Technical Monitor)

    1996-01-01

    Molecular shocks are produced by the impact of the supersonic infall of gas and dust onto protostars and by the interaction of the supersonic outflow from the protostar with the circumstellar material. Infalling gas creates an accretion shock around the circumstellar disk which emits a unique infrared spectrum and which processes the interstellar dust as it enters the disk. The winds and jets from protostars also impact the disk, the infalling material, and the ambient molecular cloud core creating shocks whose spectrum and morphology diagnose the mass loss processes of the protostar and the orientation and structure of the star forming system. We discuss the physics of these shocks, the model spectra derived from theoretical models, and comparisons with observations of H2O masers, H2 emission, as well as other shocks tracers. We show the strong effect of magnetic fields on molecular shock structure, and elucidate the chemical changes induced by the shock heating and compression.

  13. Subcritical saturation of the magnetorotational instability through mean magnetic field generation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Xie, Jin-Han; Julien, Keith; Knobloch, Edgar

    2018-03-01

    The magnetorotational instability is widely believed to be responsible for outward angular momentum transport in astrophysical accretion discs. The efficiency of this transport depends on the amplitude of this instability in the saturated state. We employ an asymptotic expansion based on an explicit, astrophysically motivated time-scale separation between the orbital period, Alfvén crossing time and viscous or resistive dissipation time-scales, originally proposed by Knobloch and Julien, to formulate a semi-analytical description of the saturated state in an incompressible disc. In our approach a Keplerian shear flow is maintained by the central mass but the instability saturates via the generation of a mean vertical magnetic field. The theory assumes that the time-averaged angular momentum flux and the radial magnetic flux are constant and determines both self-consistently. The results predict that, depending on parameters, steady saturation may be supercritical or subcritical, and in the latter case that the upper (lower) solution branch is always stable (unstable). The angular momentum flux is always outward, consistent with the presence of accretion, and for fixed wavenumber peaks in the subcritical regime. The limit of infinite Reynolds number at large but finite magnetic Reynolds number is also discussed.

  14. Planetesimal Growth through the Accretion of Small Solids: Hydrodynamics Simulations with Gas-Particle Coupling

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hughes, Anna; Boley, Aaron C.

    2016-10-01

    The growth and migration of planetesimals in young protoplanetary disks are fundamental to the planet formation process. A number of mechanisms seemingly inhibit small grains from growing to sizes much larger than a centimeter, limiting planetesimal growth. In spite of this, the meteoritic record, abundance of exoplanets, and the lifetimes of disks considered altogether indicate that growth must be rapid and common. If a small number of 100-km sized planetesimals do form by some method such as the streaming instability, then gas drag effects could enable those objects to accrete small solids efficiently. In particular, accretion rates for such planetesimals could be higher or lower than rates based on the geometric cross-section and gravitational focusing alone. The local gas conditions and properties of accreting bodies select a locally optimal accretion size for the pebbles. As planetesimals accrete pebbles, they feel an additional angular momentum exchange - causing the planetesimal to slowly drift inward, which becomes significant at short orbital periods. We present self-consistent hydrodynamic simulations with direct particle integration and gas-drag coupling to evaluate the rate of planetesimal growth due to pebble accretion. We explore a range of particle sizes, planetesimal properties, and disk conditions using wind tunnel simulations. These results are followed by numerical analysis of planetesimal drift rates at a variety of stellar distances.

  15. Particle Acceleration and Magnetic Field Generation in Electron-Positron Relativistic Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, K.-I.; Hardee, P.; Richardson, G.; Preece, R.; Sol, H.; Fishman, G. J.

    2004-01-01

    Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., Buneman, Weibel and other two-stream instabilities) created in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using a 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated particle acceleration associated with a relativistic electron-positron jet front propagating into an ambient electron-positron plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find small differences in the results for no ambient and modest ambient magnetic fields. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the collisionless shock front accelerates jet and ambient particles both perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation direction. The non-linear fluctuation amplitudes of densities, currents, electric, and magnetic fields in the electron-positron shock are larger than those found in the electron-ion shock studied in a previous paper. This comes from the fact that both electrons and positrons contribute to generation of the Weibel instability. Additionally, we have performed simulations with different electron skin depths. We find that growth times scale inversely with the plasma frequency, and the sizes of structures created by the Weibel instability scale proportional to the electron skin depth. This is the expected result and indicates that the simulations have sufficient grid resolution. While some Fermi acceleration may occur at the jet front, the majority of electron and positron acceleration takes place behind the jet front and cannot be characterized as Fermi acceleration. The simulation results show that the Weibel instability is responsible for generating and amplifying nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields which contribute to the electron's (positron's) transverse deflection behind the jet head. This small scale magnetic field structure is appropriate to the generation

  16. Particle Acceleration and Magnetic Field Generation in Electron-Positron Relativistic Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, K.-L.; Hardee, P.; Richardson, G.; Preece, R.; Sol, H.; Fishman, G. J.

    2004-01-01

    Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., Buneman, Weibel and other two-stream instabilities) created in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using a 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated particle acceleration associated with a relativistic electron-positron jet front propagating into an ambient electron-positron plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find small differences in the results for no ambient and modest ambient magnetic fields. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the collisionless shock front accelerates jet and ambient particles both perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation direction. The non-linear fluctuation amplitudes of densities, currents, electric, and magnetic fields in the electron-positron shock are larger than those found in the electron-ion shock studied in a previous paper at the comparable simulation time. This comes from the fact that both electrons and positrons contribute to generation of the Weibel instability. Additionally, we have performed simulations with different electron skin depths. We find that growth times scale inversely with the plasma frequency, and the sizes of structures created by the Weibel instability scale proportional to the electron skin depth. This is the expected result and indicates that the simulations have sufficient grid resolution. While some Fermi acceleration may occur at the jet front, the majority of electron and positron acceleration takes place behind the jet front and cannot be characterized as Fermi acceleration. The simulation results show that the Weibel instability is responsible for generating and amplifying nonuniform: small-scale magnetic fields which contribute to the electron's (positron's) transverse deflection behind the jet head. This small scale magnetic field structure

  17. Particle Acceleration and Magnetic Field Generation in Electron-Positron Relativistic Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, K.-I.; Hardee, P.; Richardson, G.; Preece, R.; Sol, H.; Fishman, G. J.

    2005-01-01

    Shock acceleration is a ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., Buneman, Weibel, and other two-stream instabilities) created in collisionless shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using a three-dimensional relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated particle acceleration associated with a relativistic electron-positron jet front propagating into an ambient electron-positron plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find small differences in the results for no ambient and modest ambient magnetic fields. New simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the collisionless shock front accelerates jet and ambient particles both perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation direction. Furthermore, the nonlinear fluctuation amplitudes of densities, currents, and electric and magnetic fields in the electron-positron shock are larger than those found in the electron-ion shock studied in a previous paper at a comparable simulation time. This comes from the fact that both electrons and positrons contribute to generation of the Weibel instability. In addition, we have performed simulations with different electron skin depths. We find that growth times scale inversely with the plasma frequency, and the sizes of structures created by tine Weibel instability scale proportionally to the electron skin depth. This is the expected result and indicates that the simulations have sufficient grid resolution. While some Fermi acceleration may occur at the jet front, the majority of electron and positron acceleration takes place behind the jet front and cannot be characterized as Fermi acceleration. The simulation results show that the Weibel instability is responsible for generating and amplifying nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields, which contribute to the electron s (positron s) transverse deflection behind the jet head. This

  18. Large-Amplitude Electrostatic Waves Observed at a Supercritical Interplanetary Shock

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Wilson, L. B., III; Cattell, C. A.; Kellogg, P. J.; Goetz, K.; Kersten, K.; Kasper, J. C.; Szabo, A.; Wilber, M.

    2010-01-01

    We present the first observations at an interplanetary shock of large-amplitude (> 100 mV/m pk-pk) solitary waves and large-amplitude (approx.30 mV/m pk-pk) waves exhibiting characteristics consistent with electron Bernstein waves. The Bernstein-like waves show enhanced power at integer and half-integer harmonics of the cyclotron frequency with a broadened power spectrum at higher frequencies, consistent with the electron cyclotron drift instability. The Bernstein-like waves are obliquely polarized with respect to the magnetic field but parallel to the shock normal direction. Strong particle heating is observed in both the electrons and ions. The observed heating and waveforms are likely due to instabilities driven by the free energy provided by reflected ions at this supercritical interplanetary shock. These results offer new insights into collisionless shock dissipation and wave-particle interactions in the solar wind.

  19. Nonlinear analysis of generalized cross-field current instability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Yoon, Peter H.; Lui, Anthony T. Y.

    1993-01-01

    Analysis of the generalized cross-field current instability is carried out in which cross-field drift of both the ions and electrons and their temperatures are permitted to vary in time. The unstable mode under consideration is the electromagnetic generalization of the classical modified-two-stream instability. The generalized instability is made of the modified-two-stream and ion-Weibel modes. The relative importance of the features associated with the ion-Weibel mode and those of the modified-two-stream mode is assessed. Specific applications are made to the Earth's neutral sheet prior to substorm onset and to the Earth's bow shock. The numerical solution indicates that the ion-Weibel mode dominates in the Earth's neutral sheet environment. In contrast, the situation for the bow shock is dominated by the modified-two-stream mode. Notable differences are found between the present calculation and previous results on ion-Weibel mode which restrict the analysis to only parallel propagating waves. However, in the case of Earth's bow shock for which the ion-Weibel mode plays no important role, the inclusion of the electromagnetic ion response is found to differ little from the previous results which treats ions responding only to the electrostatic component of the excited waves.

  20. Shock Wave Propagation in Layered Planetary Interiors: Revisited

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Arkani-Hamed, J.; Monteux, J.

    2017-12-01

    The end of the terrestrial planet accretion is characterized by numerous large impacts. About 90% of the mass of a large planet is accreted while the core mantle separation is occurring, because of the accretionary and the short-lived radio-isotope heating. The characteristics of the shockwave propagation, hence the existing scaling laws are poorly known within the layered planets. Here, we use iSALE-2D hydrocode simulations to calculate shock pressure in a differentiated Mars type body for impact velocities of 5-20 km/s, and impactor sizes of 100-400 km. We use two different rheologies for the target interior, an inviscid model ("no-stress model") and a pressure and damage-dependent strength model ("elaborated model"). To better characterize the shock pressure within the whole mantle as a function of distance from the impact site, we propose the following distribution: (1) a near field zone larger than the isobaric core that extends to 7-15 times the projectile radius into the target, where the peak shock pressure decays exponentially with increasing distance, (2) a far field zone where the pressure decays with distance following a power law. The shock pressure decreases more rapidly with distance in the near field for the elaborated model than for the no-stress model because of the influence of acoustic fluidization and damage. However to better illustrate the influence of the rheology on the shock propagation, we use the same expressions to fit the shock pressure with distance for both models. At the core-mantle boundary, CMB, the peak shock pressure jumps as the shock wave enters the core. We derived the boundary condition at CMB for the peak shock pressure. It is less sensitive to the impact velocity or the impactor size, but strongly depends on the rheology of the planet's mantle. Because of the lower shock wave velocity in the core compared to that in the mantle, the refracted shockwave propagates toward the symmetry axis of the planet, and the shock

  1. Vortex survival in 3D self-gravitating accretion discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Min-Kai; Pierens, Arnaud

    2018-07-01

    Large-scale, dust-trapping vortices may account for observations of asymmetric protoplanetary discs. Disc vortices are also potential sites for accelerated planetesimal formation by concentrating dust grains. However, in 3D discs vortices are subject to destructive `elliptic instabilities', which reduces their viability as dust traps. The survival of vortices in 3D accretion discs is thus an important issue to address. In this work, we perform shearing box simulations to show that disc self-gravity enhances the survival of 3D vortices, even when self-gravity is weak in the classic sense (e.g. with a Toomre Q ≃ 5). We find a 3D self-gravitating vortex can grow on secular time-scales in spite of the elliptic instability. The vortex aspect ratio decreases as it strengthens, which feeds the elliptic instability. The result is a 3D vortex with a turbulent core that persists for ˜103 orbits. We find when gravitational and hydrodynamic stresses become comparable, the vortex may undergo episodic bursts, which we interpret as an interaction between elliptic and gravitational instabilities. We estimate the distribution of dust particles in self-gravitating, turbulent vortices. Our results suggest large-scale vortices in protoplanetary discs are more easily observed at large radii.

  2. Vortex survival in 3D self-gravitating accretion discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lin, Min-Kai; Pierens, Arnaud

    2018-04-01

    Large-scale, dust-trapping vortices may account for observations of asymmetric protoplanetary discs. Disc vortices are also potential sites for accelerated planetesimal formation by concentrating dust grains. However, in 3D discs vortices are subject to destructive `elliptic instabilities', which reduces their viability as dust traps. The survival of vortices in 3D accretion discs is thus an important issue to address. In this work, we perform shearing box simulations to show that disc self-gravity enhances the survival of 3D vortices, even when self-gravity is weak in the classic sense (e.g. with a Toomre Q ≃ 5). We find a 3D, self-gravitating vortex can grow on secular timescales in spite of the elliptic instability. The vortex aspect-ratio decreases as it strengthens, which feeds the elliptic instability. The result is a 3D vortex with a turbulent core that persists for ˜103 orbits. We find when gravitational and hydrodynamic stresses become comparable, the vortex may undergo episodic bursts, which we interpret as interaction between elliptic and gravitational instabilities. We estimate the distribution of dust particles in self-gravitating, turbulent vortices. Our results suggest large-scale vortices in protoplanetary discs are more easily observed at large radii.

  3. Shock-driven Rayleigh-Taylor / Richtmyer-Meshkov 2D multimode ripple evolution before and after re-shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Nagel, Sabrina; Huntington, Channing; Bender, Jason; Raman, Kumar; Baumann, Ted; MacLaren, Stephan; Prisbrey, Shon; Zhou, Ye

    2017-10-01

    Laser-driven hydrodynamic experiments allow for the precise control over several important experimental parameters, including the timing of the laser irradiation delivered and the initial conditions of the laser-driven target. Our experimental platform at the National Ignition Facility enables the investigation of the physics of instability growth after the passage of a second shock (``reshock''). This is done by varying the laser to change the strength and timing of the secondary shock. Here we present x-ray images capturing the rapid post-reshock instability growth for a set of reshock strengths. The radiation hydrodynamics simulations used to design these experiments are also introduced. This work was performed under the auspices of the Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, (LLNS) under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-734509.

  4. Simulations of the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability with experimentally measured volumetric initial conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ferguson, Kevin; Sewell, Everest; Krivets, Vitaliy; Greenough, Jeffrey; Jacobs, Jeffrey

    2016-11-01

    Initial conditions for the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) are measured in three dimensions in the University of Arizona Vertical Shock Tube using a moving magnet galvanometer system. The resulting volumetric data is used as initial conditions for the simulation of the RMI using ARES at Lawrence-Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). The heavy gas is sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), and the light gas is air. The perturbations are generated by harmonically oscillating the gasses vertically using two loudspeakers mounted to the shock tube which cause Faraday resonance, producing a random short wavelength perturbation on the interface. Planar Mie scattering is used to illuminate the flow field through the addition of propylene glycol particles seeded in the heavy gas. An M=1.2 shock impulsively accelerates the interface, initiating instability growth. Images of the initial condition and instability growth are captured at a rate of 6 kHz using high speed cameras. Comparisons between experimental and simulation results, mixing diagnostics, and mixing zone growth are presented.

  5. Computational investigation of reshock strength in hydrodynamic instability growth at the National Ignition Facility

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bender, Jason; Raman, Kumar; Huntington, Channing; Nagel, Sabrina; Morgan, Brandon; Prisbrey, Shon; MacLaren, Stephan

    2017-10-01

    Experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) are studying Richtmyer-Meshkov and Rayleigh-Taylor hydrodynamic instabilities in multiply-shocked plasmas. Targets feature two different-density fluids with a multimode initial perturbation at the interface, which is struck by two X-ray-driven shock waves. Here we discuss computational hydrodynamics simulations investigating the effect of second-shock (``reshock'') strength on instability growth, and how these simulations are informing target design for the ongoing experimental campaign. A Reynolds-Averaged Navier Stokes (RANS) model was used to predict motion of the spike and bubble fronts and the mixing-layer width. In addition to reshock strength, the reshock ablator thickness and the total length of the target were varied; all three parameters were found to be important for target design, particularly for ameliorating undesirable reflected shocks. The RANS data are compared to theoretical models that predict multimode instability growth proportional to the shock-induced change in interface velocity, and to currently-available data from the NIF experiments. Work performed under the auspices of the U.S. D.O.E. by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344. LLNL-ABS-734611.

  6. Hydrodynamic simulations of viscous accretion flows around black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Giri, Kinsuk; Chakrabarti, Sandip K.

    2012-03-01

    We study the time evolution of a rotating, axisymmetric, viscous accretion flow around black holes using a grid-based finite difference method. We use the Shakura-Sunyaev viscosity prescription. However, we compare with the results obtained when all the three independent components of the viscous stress are kept. We show that the centrifugal pressure supported shocks became weaker with the inclusion of viscosity. The shock is formed farther out when the viscosity is increased. When the viscosity is above a critical value, the shock disappears altogether and the flow becomes subsonic and Keplerian everywhere except in a region close to the horizon, where it remains supersonic. We also find that as the viscosity is increased, the amount of outflowing matter in the wind is decreased to less than a percentage of the inflow matter. Since the post-shock region could act as a reservoir of hot electrons or the so-called 'Compton cloud', the size of which changes with viscosity, the spectral properties are expected to depend on viscosity strongly: the harder states are dominated by low angular momentum and the low-viscosity flow with significant outflows while the softer states are dominated by the high-viscosity Keplerian flow having very few outflows.

  7. Persistence of Precursor Waves in Two-dimensional Relativistic Shocks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Iwamoto, Masanori; Amano, Takanobu; Hoshino, Masahiro

    2017-05-01

    We investigated the efficiency of coherent upstream large-amplitude electromagnetic wave emission via synchrotron maser instability in relativistic magnetized shocks using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We considered a purely perpendicular shock in an electron–positron plasma. The coherent wave emission efficiency was measured as a function of the magnetization parameter σ , which is defined as the ratio of the Poynting flux to the kinetic energy flux. The wave amplitude was systematically smaller than that observed in one-dimensional simulations. However, it continued to persist, even at a considerably low magnetization rate, where the Weibel instability dominated the shock transition. The emitted electromagnetic wavesmore » were sufficiently strong to disturb the upstream medium, and transverse filamentary density structures of substantial amplitude were produced. Based on this result, we discuss the possibility of the wakefield acceleration model to produce nonthermal electrons in a relativistic magnetized ion–electron shock.« less

  8. Magnetically gated accretion in an accreting 'non-magnetic' white dwarf.

    PubMed

    Scaringi, S; Maccarone, T J; D'Angelo, C; Knigge, C; Groot, P J

    2017-12-13

    White dwarfs are often found in binary systems with orbital periods ranging from tens of minutes to hours in which they can accrete gas from their companion stars. In about 15 per cent of these binaries, the magnetic field of the white dwarf is strong enough (at 10 6 gauss or more) to channel the accreted matter along field lines onto the magnetic poles. The remaining systems are referred to as 'non-magnetic', because until now there has been no evidence that they have a magnetic field that is strong enough to affect the accretion dynamics. Here we report an analysis of archival optical observations of the 'non-magnetic' accreting white dwarf in the binary system MV Lyrae, whose light curve displays quasi-periodic bursts of about 30 minutes duration roughly every 2 hours. The timescale and amplitude of these bursts indicate the presence of an unstable, magnetically regulated accretion mode, which in turn implies the existence of magnetically gated accretion, in which disk material builds up around the magnetospheric boundary (at the co-rotation radius) and then accretes onto the white dwarf, producing bursts powered by the release of gravitational potential energy. We infer a surface magnetic field strength for the white dwarf in MV Lyrae of between 2 × 10 4 gauss and 1 × 10 5 gauss, too low to be detectable by other current methods. Our discovery provides a new way of studying the strength and evolution of magnetic fields in accreting white dwarfs and extends the connections between accretion onto white dwarfs, young stellar objects and neutron stars, for which similar magnetically gated accretion cycles have been identified.

  9. Particle Acceleration and Radiation associated with Magnetic Field Generation from Relativistic Collisionless Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, K.; Hardee, P. E.; Richardson, G. A.; Preece, R. D.; Sol, H.; Fishman, G. J.

    2003-01-01

    Shock acceleration is an ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysical plasmas. Plasma waves and their associated instabilities (e.g., the Buneman instability, two-streaming instability, and the Weibel instability) created in the shocks are responsible for particle (electron, positron, and ion) acceleration. Using a 3-D relativistic electromagnetic particle (REMP) code, we have investigated particle acceleration associated with a relativistic jet front propagating through an ambient plasma with and without initial magnetic fields. We find only small differences in the results between no ambient and weak ambient magnetic fields. Simulations show that the Weibel instability created in the collisionless shock front accelerates particles perpendicular and parallel to the jet propagation direction. While some Fermi acceleration may occur at the jet front, the majority of electron acceleration takes place behind the jet front and cannot be characterized as Fermi acceleration. The simulation results show that this instability is responsible for generating and amplifying highly nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields, which contribute to the electron s transverse deflection behind the jet head. The "jitter" radiation from deflected electrons has different properties than synchrotron radiation which is calculated in a uniform magnetic field. This jitter radiation may be important to understanding the complex time evolution and/or spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets, and supernova remnants.

  10. 2-Shock layered tuning campaign

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Masse, Laurent; Dittrich, T.; Khan, S.; Kyrala, G.; Ma, T.; MacLaren, S.; Ralph, J.; Salmonson, J.; Tipton, R.; Los Alamos Natl Lab Team; Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab Team

    2016-10-01

    The 2-Shock platform has been developed to maintain shell sphericity throughout the compression phase of an indirect-drive target implosion and produce a stagnating hot spot in a quasi 1D-like manner. A sub-scale, 1700 _m outer diameter, and thick, 200 _m, uniformly Silicon doped, gas-filled plastic capsule is driven inside a nominal size 5750 _m diameter ignition hohlraum. The hohlraum fill is near vacuum to reduce back-scatter and improve laser/drive coupling. A two-shock pulse of about 1 MJ of laser energy drives the capsule. The thick capsule prevents ablation front feed-through to the imploded core. This platform has demonstrated its efficiency to tune a predictable and reproducible 1-D implosion with a nearly round shape. It has been shown that the high foot performance was dominated by the local defect growth due to the ablation front instability and by the hohlraum radiation asymmetries. The idea here is to take advantage of this 2-Shock platform to design a 1D-like layered implosion and eliminates the deleterious effects of radiation asymmetries and ablation front instability growth. We present the design work and our first experimental results of this near one-dimensional 2-Shock layered design. This work was performed under the auspices of the Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC, (LLNS) under Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344.

  11. Importance of fingering convection for accreting white dwarfs in the framework of full evolutionary calculations: the case of the hydrogen-rich white dwarfs GD 133 and G 29-38

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wachlin, F. C.; Vauclair, G.; Vauclair, S.; Althaus, L. G.

    2017-05-01

    Context. A large fraction of white dwarfs show photospheric chemical composition that is polluted by heavy elements accreted from a debris disk. Such debris disks result from the tidal disruption of rocky planetesimals that have survived to whole stellar evolution from the main sequence to the final white dwarf stage. Determining the accretion rate of this material is an important step toward estimating the mass of the planetesimals and understanding the ultimate fate of the planetary systems. Aims: The accretion of heavy material with a mean molecular weight, μ, higher than the mean molecular weight of the white dwarf outer layers, induces a double-diffusive instability producing the fingering convection and an extra-mixing. As a result, the accreted material is diluted deep into the star. We explore the effect of this extra-mixing on the abundance evolution of Mg, O, Ca, Fe and Si in the cases of the two well-studied polluted DAZ white dwarfs: GD 133 and G 29-38. Methods: We performed numerical simulations of the accretion of material that has a chemical composition similar to the bulk Earth composition. We assumed a continuous and uniform accretion and considered a range of accretion rates from 104 g/s to 1010 g/s. Two cases are simulated, one using the standard mixing length theory (MLT) and one including the double-diffusive instability (fingering convection). Results: The double-diffusive instability develops on a very short timescale. The surface abundance rapidly reaches a stationary value while the depth of the zone mixed by the fingering convection increases. In the case of GD 133, the accretion rate needed to reproduce the observed abundances exceeds by more than two orders of magnitude the rate estimated by neglecting the fingering convection. In the case of G 29-38 the needed accretion rate is increased by approximately 1.7 dex. Conclusions: Our numerical simulations of the accretion of heavy elements on the hydrogen-rich white dwarf GD 133 and G 29

  12. Interaction of Energetic Particles with Discontinuities Upstream of Strong Shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Malkov, Mikhail; Diamond, Patrick

    2008-11-01

    Acceleration of particles in strong astrophysical shocks is known to be accompanied and promoted by a number of instabilities which are driven by the particles themselves. One of them is an acoustic (also known as Drury's) instability driven by the pressure gradient of accelerated particles upstream. The generated sound waves naturally steepen into shocks thus forming a shocktrain. Similar magnetoacoustic or Alfven type structures may be driven by pick-up ions, for example. We consider the solutions of kinetic equation for accelerated particles within the shocktrain. The accelerated particles are assumed to be coupled to the flow by an intensive pitch-angle scattering on the self-generated Alfven waves. The implications for acceleration and confinement of cosmic rays in this shock environment will be discussed.

  13. Observation of astrophysical Weibel instability in counterstreaming laser-produced plasmas

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fox, W.; Fiksel, G.; Bhattacharjee, A.; Germaschewski, K.; Chang, P.-Y.; Hu, S. X.; Nilson, P. M.

    2013-10-01

    Astrophysical shocks are typically collisionless and require collective electromagnetic fields to couple the upstream and downstream plasmas. The Weibel instability has been proposed to be one of such collective mechanism. Here we present laboratory tests of this process through observations of the Weibel instability generated between two counterstreaming, supersonic plasma flows, generated on the OMEGA EP laser facility by irradiating of a pair of opposing parallel CH targets by UV laser pulses (0.351 μm, 1.8 kJ, 2 ns). The Weibel-generated electromagnetic fields were probed with an ultrafast proton beam, generated with a high-intensity laser pulse (1.053 μm, 800 J, 10 ps) focused to >1018 W/cm2 onto a thin Cu disk. Growth of a striated, transverse instability is observed at the midplane as the two plasmas interpenetrate, which is identified as the Weibel instability through agreement with analytic theory and particle-in-cell simulations. These laboratory observations directly demonstrate the existence of this astrophysical process, and pave the way for further detailed laboratory study of this instability and its consequences for particle energization and shock formation. This work was supported by DOE grant DE-SC0007168.

  14. Thermal instability in gravitationally stratified plasmas: implications for multiphase structure in clusters and galaxy haloes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    McCourt, Michael; Sharma, Prateek; Quataert, Eliot; Parrish, Ian J.

    2012-02-01

    We study the interplay among cooling, heating, conduction and magnetic fields in gravitationally stratified plasmas using simplified, plane-parallel numerical simulations. Since the physical heating mechanism remains uncertain in massive haloes such as groups or clusters, we adopt a simple, phenomenological prescription which enforces global thermal equilibrium and prevents a cooling flow. The plasma remains susceptible to local thermal instability, however, and cooling drives an inward flow of material. For physically plausible heating mechanisms in clusters, the thermal stability of the plasma is independent of its convective stability. We find that the ratio of the cooling time-scale to the dynamical time-scale tcool/tff controls the non-linear evolution and saturation of the thermal instability: when tcool/tff≲ 1, the plasma develops extended multiphase structure, whereas when tcool/tff≳ 1 it does not. (In a companion paper, we show that the criterion for thermal instability in a more realistic, spherical potential is somewhat less stringent, tcool/tff≲ 10.) When thermal conduction is anisotropic with respect to the magnetic field, the criterion for multiphase gas is essentially independent of the thermal conductivity of the plasma. Our criterion for local thermal instability to produce multiphase structure is an extension of the cold versus hot accretion modes in galaxy formation that applies at all radii in hot haloes, not just to the virial shock. We show that this criterion is consistent with data on multiphase gas in galaxy groups and clusters; in addition, when tcool/tff≳ 1, the net cooling rate to low temperatures and the mass flux to small radii are suppressed enough relative to models without heating to be qualitatively consistent with star formation rates and X-ray line emission in groups and clusters.

  15. Laboratory analogue of a supersonic accretion column in a binary star system.

    PubMed

    Cross, J E; Gregori, G; Foster, J M; Graham, P; Bonnet-Bidaud, J-M; Busschaert, C; Charpentier, N; Danson, C N; Doyle, H W; Drake, R P; Fyrth, J; Gumbrell, E T; Koenig, M; Krauland, C; Kuranz, C C; Loupias, B; Michaut, C; Mouchet, M; Patankar, S; Skidmore, J; Spindloe, C; Tubman, E R; Woolsey, N; Yurchak, R; Falize, É

    2016-06-13

    Astrophysical flows exhibit rich behaviour resulting from the interplay of different forms of energy-gravitational, thermal, magnetic and radiative. For magnetic cataclysmic variable stars, material from a late, main sequence star is pulled onto a highly magnetized (B>10 MG) white dwarf. The magnetic field is sufficiently large to direct the flow as an accretion column onto the poles of the white dwarf, a star subclass known as AM Herculis. A stationary radiative shock is expected to form 100-1,000 km above the surface of the white dwarf, far too small to be resolved with current telescopes. Here we report the results of a laboratory experiment showing the evolution of a reverse shock when both ionization and radiative losses are important. We find that the stand-off position of the shock agrees with radiation hydrodynamic simulations and is consistent, when scaled to AM Herculis star systems, with theoretical predictions.

  16. The Magnetorotational Instability in a Collisionless Plasma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Quataert, Eliot; Dorland, William; Hammett, Gregory W.

    2002-09-01

    We consider the linear axisymmetric stability of a differentially rotating collisionless plasma in the presence of a weak magnetic field; we restrict our analysis to wavelengths much larger than the proton Larmor radius. This is the kinetic version of the magnetorotational instability explored extensively as a mechanism for magnetic field amplification and angular momentum transport in accretion disks. The kinetic calculation is appropriate for hot accretion flows onto compact objects and for the growth of very weak magnetic fields, where the collisional mean free path is larger than the wavelength of the unstable modes. We show that the kinetic instability criterion is the same as in MHD, namely that the angular velocity decrease outward. However, nearly every mode has a linear kinetic growth rate that differs from its MHD counterpart. The kinetic growth rates also depend explicitly on β, i.e., on the ratio of the gas pressure to the pressure of the seed magnetic field. For β~1 the kinetic growth rates are similar to the MHD growth rates, while for β>>1 they differ significantly. For β>>1, the fastest growing mode has a growth rate ~sqrt(3)Ω for a Keplerian disk, larger than its MHD counterpart; there are also many modes whose growth rates are negligible, <~β-1/2Ω<<Ω. We provide a detailed physical interpretation of these results and show that gas pressure forces, rather than just magnetic forces, are central to the behavior of the magnetorotational instability in a collisionless plasma. We also discuss the astrophysical implications of our analysis.

  17. EVAPORATION OF ICY PLANETESIMALS DUE TO BOW SHOCKS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Tanaka, Kyoko K.; Yamamoto, Tetsuo; Tanaka, Hidekazu

    2013-02-20

    We present the novel concept of evaporation of planetesimals as a result of bow shocks associated with planetesimals orbiting with supersonic velocities relative to the gas in a protoplanetary disk. We evaluate the evaporation rates of the planetesimals based on a simple model describing planetesimal heating and evaporation by the bow shock. We find that icy planetesimals with radius {approx}>100 km evaporate efficiently even outside the snow line in the stage of planetary oligarchic growth, where strong bow shocks are produced by gravitational perturbations from protoplanets. The obtained results suggest that the formation of gas giant planets is suppressed owingmore » to insufficient accretion of icy planetesimals onto the protoplanet within the {approx}<5 AU disk region.« less

  18. The Progenitor Dependence of Core-collapse Supernovae from Three-dimensional Simulations with Progenitor Models of 12–40 M ⊙

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ott, Christian D.; Roberts, Luke F.; da Silva Schneider, André; Fedrow, Joseph M.; Haas, Roland; Schnetter, Erik

    2018-03-01

    We present a first study of the progenitor star dependence of the three-dimensional (3D) neutrino mechanism of core-collapse supernovae. We employ full 3D general-relativistic multi-group neutrino radiation-hydrodynamics and simulate the postbounce evolutions of progenitors with zero-age main sequence masses of 12, 15, 20, 27, and 40 M ⊙. All progenitors, with the exception of the 12 M ⊙ star, experience shock runaway by the end of their simulations. In most cases, a strongly asymmetric explosion will result. We find three qualitatively distinct evolutions that suggest a complex dependence of explosion dynamics on progenitor density structure, neutrino heating, and 3D flow. (1) Progenitors with massive cores, shallow density profiles, and high post-core-bounce accretion rates experience very strong neutrino heating and neutrino-driven turbulent convection, leading to early shock runaway. Accretion continues at a high rate, likely leading to black hole formation. (2) Intermediate progenitors experience neutrino-driven, turbulence-aided explosions triggered by the arrival of density discontinuities at the shock. These occur typically at the silicon/silicon–oxygen shell boundary. (3) Progenitors with small cores and density profiles without strong discontinuities experience shock recession and develop the 3D standing-accretion shock instability (SASI). Shock runaway ensues late, once declining accretion rate, SASI, and neutrino-driven convection create favorable conditions. These differences in explosion times and dynamics result in a non-monotonic relationship between progenitor and compact remnant mass.

  19. ACCRETION DISK DYNAMO AS THE TRIGGER FOR X-RAY BINARY STATE TRANSITIONS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Begelman, Mitchell C.; Armitage, Philip J.; Reynolds, Christopher S., E-mail: mitch@jila.colorado.edu

    2015-08-20

    Magnetohydrodynamic accretion disk simulations suggest that much of the energy liberated by the magnetorotational instability (MRI) can be channeled into large-scale toroidal magnetic fields through dynamo action. Under certain conditions, this field can dominate over gas and radiation pressure in providing vertical support against gravity, even close to the midplane. Using a simple model for the creation of this field, its buoyant rise, and its coupling to the gas, we show how disks could be driven into this magnetically dominated state and deduce the resulting vertical pressure and density profiles. Applying an established criterion for MRI to operate in themore » presence of a toroidal field, we show that magnetically supported disks can have two distinct MRI-active regions, separated by a “dead zone” where local MRI is suppressed, but where magnetic energy continues to flow upward from the dynamo region below. We suggest that the relative strengths of the MRI zones, and the local poloidal flux, determine the spectral states of X-ray binaries. Specifically, “intermediate” and “hard” accretion states occur when MRI is triggered in the hot, upper zone of the corona, while disks in “soft” states do not develop the upper MRI zone. We discuss the conditions under which various transitions should take place and speculate on the relationship of dynamo activity to the various types of quasi-periodic oscillations that sometimes appear in the hard spectral components. The model also explains why luminous accretion disks in the “soft” state show no signs of the thermal/viscous instability predicted by standard α-models.« less

  20. THE NuSTAR X-RAY SPECTRUM OF HERCULES X-1: A RADIATION-DOMINATED RADIATIVE SHOCK

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Wolff, Michael T.; Wood, Kent S.; Becker, Peter A.

    2016-11-10

    We report on new spectral modeling of the accreting X-ray pulsar Hercules X-1. Our radiation-dominated radiative shock model is an implementation of the analytic work of Becker and Wolff on Comptonized accretion flows onto magnetic neutron stars. We obtain a good fit to the spin-phase-averaged 4–78 keV X-ray spectrum observed by the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array during a main-on phase of the Her X-1 35 day accretion disk precession period. This model allows us to estimate the accretion rate, the Comptonizing temperature of the radiating plasma, the radius of the magnetic polar cap, and the average scattering opacity parameters inmore » the accretion column. This is in contrast to previous phenomenological models that characterized the shape of the X-ray spectrum, but could not determine the physical parameters of the accretion flow. We describe the spectral fitting details and discuss the interpretation of the accretion flow physical parameters.« less

  1. Multi-scale simulations of black hole accretion in barred galaxies. Self-gravitating disk models

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Jung, M.; Illenseer, T. F.; Duschl, W. J.

    2018-06-01

    Due to the non-axisymmetric potential of the central bar, in addition to their characteristic arms and bar, barred spiral galaxies form a variety of structures within the thin gas disk, such as nuclear rings, inner spirals, and dust lanes. These structures in the inner kiloparsec are extremely important in order to explain and understand the rate of black hole feeding. The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of stellar bars in spiral galaxies on the thin self-gravitating gas disk. We focus on the accretion of gas onto the central supermassive black hole and its time-dependent evolution. We conducted multi-scale simulations simultaneously resolving the galactic disk and the accretion disk around the central black hole. In all the simulations we varied the initial gas disk mass. As an additional parameter we chose either the gas temperature for isothermal simulations or the cooling timescale for non-isothermal simulations. Accretion was either driven by a gravitationally unstable or clumpy accretion disk or by energy dissipation in strong shocks. Most of the simulations show a strong dependence of the accretion rate at the outer boundary of the central accretion disk (r < 300 pc) on the gas flow at kiloparsec scales. The final black hole masses reach up to 109 M⊙ after 1.6 Gyr. Our models show the expected influence of the Eddington limit and a decline in growth rate at the corresponding sub-Eddington limit.

  2. Simulation of Relativistic Shocks and Associated Self-Consistent Radiation

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, K.-I.; Niemiec, J.; Medvedev, M.; Zhang, B.; Hardee, P.; Mizuno, Y.; Nordlund, A.; Frederiksen, J.; Sol, H.; Pohl, M.; hide

    2010-01-01

    Recent PIC simulations of relativistic electron-positron (electron-ion) jets injected into a stationary medium show that particle acceleration occurs at shocked regions. Simulations show that the Weibel instability is responsible for generating and amplifying highly nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields and particle acceleration. These magnetic fields contribute to the electron's transverse deflection behind the shock. The "jitter" radiation from deflected electrons in turbulent magnetic fields has different properties than synchrotron radiation, which is calculated in a uniform magnetic field. This jitter radiation may be important for understanding the complex time evolution and/or spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets in general, and supernova remnants. We will present detailed spectra for conditions relevant of various astrophysical sites of shock formation via the Weibel instability. In particular we will discuss the application to GRBs and SNRs.

  3. The effect of accretion environment at large radius on hot accretion flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Yang, Xiao-Hong; Bu, De-Fu

    2018-05-01

    We study the effects of accretion environment (gas density, temperature, and angular momentum) at large radii (˜10 pc) on luminosity of hot accretion flows. The radiative feedback effects from the accretion flow on the accretion environment are also self-consistently taken into account. We find that the slowly rotating flows at large radii can significantly deviate from Bondi accretion when radiation heating and cooling are considered. We further find that when the temperature of environment gas is low (e.g. T = 2 × 107 K), the luminosity of hot accretion flows is high. When the temperature of gas is high (e.g. T ≥ 4 × 107 K), the luminosity of hot accretion flow significantly deceases. The environment gas density can also significantly influence the luminosity of accretion flows. When density is higher than ˜4 × 10-22 g cm-3 and temperature is lower than 2 × 107 K, hot accretion flow with luminosity lower than 2 per cent LEdd is not present. Therefore, the parsec-scale environment density and temperature are two important parameters to determine the luminosity. The results are also useful for the subgrid models adopted by the cosmological simulations.

  4. The shock sensitivity of nitromethane/methanol mixtures

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bartram, Brian; Dattelbaum, Dana; Sheffield, Steve; Gibson, Lee

    2013-06-01

    The dilution of liquid explosives has multiple effects on detonation properties including an increase in critical diameter, spatiotemporal lengthening of the chemical reaction zone, and the development of propagating wave instabilities. Earlier detonation studies of NM/methanol mixtures have shown several effects of increasing dilution, including: 1) a continual increase in the critical diameter, 2) lowering of the Chapman-Jouguet detonation pressure, and 3) slowing of the steady detonation velocity (Koldunov et al., Comb. Expl. Shock Waves). Here, we present the results of a series of gas gun-driven plate-impact experiments to study the shock-to-detonation transition in NM/methanol mixtures. Embedded electromagnetic gauges were used to obtain in situ particle velocity wave profiles at multiple Lagrangian positions in the initiating explosive mixture. From the wave profiles obtained in each experiment, an unreacted Hugoniot locus, the initiation mechanism, and the overtake-time-to-detonation were obtained as a function of shock input condition for mixture concentrations from 100% NM to 50 wt%/50 wt% NM/methanol. Desensitization with dilution is less than expected. For example, little change in overtake time occurs in 80 wt%/20 wt% NM/methanol when compared with neat NM. Furthermore, the shock wave profiles from the gauges indicate that wave instabilities grow in as the overdriven detonation wave settles down following the shock-to-detonation transition.

  5. To accrete or not accrete, that is the question

    USGS Publications Warehouse

    von Huene, Roland E.

    1986-01-01

    Along modern convergent margins tectonic processes span a spectrum from accretion to erosion. The process of accretion is generally recognized because it leaves a geologic record, whereas the process of erosion is generally hypothetical because it produces a geologic hiatus. Major conditions that determine the dominance of accretion or erosion at modern convergent margins are: 1) rate and direction of plate convergence, 2) sediment supply and type in the trench, and 3) topography of the subducting ocean floor. Most change in structure has been ascribed to plate motion, but both erosion and accretion are observed along the same convergence margin. Thus sediment supply and topography are probably of equivalent importance to plate motion because both erosion and accretion are observed under constant conditions of plate convergence. The dominance of accretion or erosion at a margin varies with the thickness of trench sediment. In a sediment flooded trench, the proportions of subducted and accreted sediment are commonly established by the position of a decollement along a weak horizon in the sediment section. Thus, the vertical variation of sediment strength and the distribution of horizontal stress are important factors. Once deformation begins, the original sediment strength is decreased by sediment remolding and where sediment thickens rapidly, increases in pore fluid pressure can be pronounced. In sediment-starved trenches, where the relief of the subducting ocean floor is not smoothed over, the front of the margin must respond to the topography subducted as well as that accreted. The hypothesized erosion by the drag of positive features against the underside of the upper plate (a high stress environment) may alternate with erosion due to the collapse of a margin front into voids such as graben (a low stress environment). ?? 1986 Ferdinand Enke Verlag Stuttgart.

  6. Magnetically gated accretion in an accreting ‘non-magnetic’ white dwarf

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Scaringi, S.; Maccarone, T. J.; D’Angelo, C.; Knigge, C.; Groot, P. J.

    2017-12-01

    White dwarfs are often found in binary systems with orbital periods ranging from tens of minutes to hours in which they can accrete gas from their companion stars. In about 15 per cent of these binaries, the magnetic field of the white dwarf is strong enough (at 106 gauss or more) to channel the accreted matter along field lines onto the magnetic poles. The remaining systems are referred to as ‘non-magnetic’, because until now there has been no evidence that they have a magnetic field that is strong enough to affect the accretion dynamics. Here we report an analysis of archival optical observations of the ‘non-magnetic’ accreting white dwarf in the binary system MV Lyrae, whose light curve displays quasi-periodic bursts of about 30 minutes duration roughly every 2 hours. The timescale and amplitude of these bursts indicate the presence of an unstable, magnetically regulated accretion mode, which in turn implies the existence of magnetically gated accretion, in which disk material builds up around the magnetospheric boundary (at the co-rotation radius) and then accretes onto the white dwarf, producing bursts powered by the release of gravitational potential energy. We infer a surface magnetic field strength for the white dwarf in MV Lyrae of between 2 × 104 gauss and 1 × 105 gauss, too low to be detectable by other current methods. Our discovery provides a new way of studying the strength and evolution of magnetic fields in accreting white dwarfs and extends the connections between accretion onto white dwarfs, young stellar objects and neutron stars, for which similar magnetically gated accretion cycles have been identified.

  7. Accreting CO material onto ONe white dwarfs towards accretion-induced collapse

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wu, Cheng-Yuan; Wang, Bo

    2018-03-01

    The final outcomes of accreting ONe white dwarfs (ONe WDs) have been studied for several decades, but there are still some issues that are not resolved. Recently, some studies suggested that the deflagration of oxygen would occur for accreting ONe WDs with Chandrasekhar masses. In this paper, we aim to investigate whether ONe WDs can experience accretion-induced collapse (AIC) or explosions when their masses approach the Chandrasekhar limit. Employing the stellar evolution code Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA), we simulate the long-term evolution of ONe WDs with accreting CO material. The ONe WDs undergo weak multicycle carbon flashes during the mass-accretion process, leading to mass increase of the WDs. We found that different initial WD masses and mass-accretion rates influence the evolution of central density and temperature. However, the central temperature cannot reach the explosive oxygen ignition temperature due to neutrino cooling. This work implies that the final outcome of accreting ONe WDs is electron-capture induced collapse rather than thermonuclear explosion.

  8. Magnetic field production via the Weibel instability in interpenetrating plasma flows

    DOE PAGES

    Huntington, C. M.; Manuel, M. J. -E.; Ross, J. S.; ...

    2017-04-26

    Here, many astrophysical systems are effectively “collisionless,” that is, the mean free path for collisions between particles is much longer than the size of the system. The absence of particle collisions does not preclude shock formation, however, as shocks can be the result of plasma instabilities that generate and amplify electromagnetic fields. The magnetic fields required for shock formation may either be initially present, for example, in supernova remnants or young galaxies, or they may be self-generated in systems such as gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). In the case of GRB outflows, the Weibel instability is a candidate mechanism for the generationmore » of sufficiently strong magnetic fields to produce shocks. In experiments on the OMEGA Laser, we have demonstrated a quasi-collisionless system that is optimized for the study of the non-linear phase of Weibel instability growth. Using a proton probe to directly image electromagnetic fields, we measure Weibel-generated magnetic fields that grow in opposing, initially unmagnetized plasma flows. The collisionality of the system is determined from coherent Thomson scattering measurements, and the data are compared to similar measurements of a fully collisionless system. The strong, persistent Weibel growth observed here serves as a diagnostic for exploring large-scale magnetic field amplification and the microphysics present in the collisional–collisionless transition.« less

  9. Inefficient Angular Momentum Transport in Accretion Disk Boundary Layers: Angular Momentum Belt in the Boundary Layer

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Belyaev, Mikhail A.; Quataert, Eliot

    2018-04-01

    We present unstratified 3D MHD simulations of an accretion disk with a boundary layer (BL) that have a duration ˜1000 orbital periods at the inner radius of the accretion disk. We find the surprising result that angular momentum piles up in the boundary layer, which results in a rapidly rotating belt of accreted material at the surface of the star. The angular momentum stored in this belt increases monotonically in time, which implies that angular momentum transport mechanisms in the BL are inefficient and do not couple the accretion disk to the star. This is in spite of the fact that magnetic fields are advected into the BL from the disk and supersonic shear instabilities in the BL excite acoustic waves. In our simulations, these waves only carry a small fraction (˜10%) of the angular momentum required for steady state accretion. Using analytical theory and 2D viscous simulations in the R - ϕ plane, we derive an analytical criterion for belt formation to occur in the BL in terms of the ratio of the viscosity in the accretion disk to the viscosity in the BL. Our MHD simulations have a dimensionless viscosity (α) in the BL that is at least a factor of ˜100 smaller than that in the disk. We discuss the implications of these results for BL dynamics and emission.

  10. Experimental study of z-pinch driven radiative shocks in low density gases

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Skidmore, Jonathan; Lebedev, S. V.; Suzuki-Vidal, F.; Swadling, G.; Bland, S. N.; Burdiak, G.; Chittenden, J. P.; de Grouchy, P.; Hall, G. N.; Pickworth, L.; Suttle, L.; Bennett, M.; Ciardi, A.

    2012-10-01

    Results of experiments performed on MAGPIE pulsed power facility (1.4MA, 250ns) will be presented. Shocks with velocities of 50-70km/s are driven in Ar, Xe and He gases at density ˜10-5g/cc using radial foil z-pinch configuration [1]. Measurements of the structure of the shocks obtained with laser probing will be presented and observations of the development of instabilities will be discussed. It was found that the structure of the shocks and the development of instabilities strongly depend on the rate of radiative cooling, increasing for gases with higher atomic numbers.[4pt] [1] F. Suzuki-Vidal et al., PoP 19, 022708 (2012)

  11. Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of a sinusoidal interface driven by a cylindrical shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Liu, L.; Ding, J.; Zhai, Z.; Luo, X.

    2018-04-01

    Evolution of a single-mode interface triggered by a cylindrically converging shock in a V-shaped geometry is investigated numerically using an adaptive multi-phase solver. Several physical mechanisms, including the Bell-Plesset (BP) effect, the Rayleigh-Taylor (RT) effect, the nonlinearity, and the compressibility are found to be pronounced in the converging environment. Generally, the BP and nonlinear effects play an important role at early stages, while the RT effect and the compressibility dominate the late-stage evolution. Four sinusoidal interfaces with different initial amplitudes (a_0 ) and wavelengths (λ ) are found to evolve differently in the converging geometry. For the very small a_0 /λ interfaces, nonlinearity is negligible at the early stages and the sole presence of the BP effect results in an increasing growth rate, confining the linear growth of the instability to a relatively small amount of time. For the moderately small a_0 /λ cases, the BP and nonlinear effects, which, respectively, promote and inhibit the perturbation development, coexist in the early stage. The counterbalancing effects between them produce a very long period of growth that is linear in time, even to a moment when the amplitude over wavelength ratio approaches 0.6. The RT stabilization effect at late stages due to the interface deceleration significantly inhibits the perturbation growth, which can be reasonably predicted by a modified Bell model.

  12. Simulations of the Boundary Layer Between a White Dwarf and Its Accretion Disk

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Balsara, Dinshaw S.; Fisker, Jacob Lund; Godon, Patrick; Sion, Edward M.

    2009-09-01

    Using a 2.5D time-dependent numerical code we recently developed, we solve the full compressible Navier-Stokes equations to determine the structure of the boundary layer (BL) between the white dwarf (WD) and the accretion disk in nonmagnetic cataclysmic variable systems. In this preliminary work, our numerical approach does not include radiation. In the energy equation, we either take the dissipation function (Φ) into account or we assume that the energy dissipated by viscous processes is instantly radiated away (Φ = 0). For a slowly rotating nonmagnetized accreting WD, the accretion disk extends all the way to the stellar surface. There, the matter impacts and spreads toward the poles as new matter continuously piles up behind it. We carry out numerical simulations for different values of the alpha-viscosity parameter (α), corresponding to different mass accretion rates. In the high viscosity cases (α = 0.1), the spreading BL sets off a gravity wave in the surface matter. The accretion flow moves supersonically over the cusp making it susceptible to the rapid development of gravity wave and/or Kelvin-Helmholtz shearing instabilities. This BL is optically thick and extends more than 30° to either side of the disk plane after only 3/4 of a Keplerian rotation period (tK = 19 s). In the low viscosity cases (α = 0.001), the spreading BL does not set off gravity waves and it is optically thin.

  13. Progenitor-dependent Explosion Dynamics in Self-consistent, Axisymmetric Simulations of Neutrino-driven Core-collapse Supernovae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Summa, Alexander; Hanke, Florian; Janka, Hans-Thomas; Melson, Tobias; Marek, Andreas; Müller, Bernhard

    2016-07-01

    We present self-consistent, axisymmetric core-collapse supernova simulations performed with the Prometheus-Vertex code for 18 pre-supernova models in the range of 11-28 M ⊙, including progenitors recently investigated by other groups. All models develop explosions, but depending on the progenitor structure, they can be divided into two classes. With a steep density decline at the Si/Si-O interface, the arrival of this interface at the shock front leads to a sudden drop of the mass-accretion rate, triggering a rapid approach to explosion. With a more gradually decreasing accretion rate, it takes longer for the neutrino heating to overcome the accretion ram pressure and explosions set in later. Early explosions are facilitated by high mass-accretion rates after bounce and correspondingly high neutrino luminosities combined with a pronounced drop of the accretion rate and ram pressure at the Si/Si-O interface. Because of rapidly shrinking neutron star radii and receding shock fronts after the passage through their maxima, our models exhibit short advection timescales, which favor the efficient growth of the standing accretion-shock instability. The latter plays a supportive role at least for the initiation of the re-expansion of the stalled shock before runaway. Taking into account the effects of turbulent pressure in the gain layer, we derive a generalized condition for the critical neutrino luminosity that captures the explosion behavior of all models very well. We validate the robustness of our findings by testing the influence of stochasticity, numerical resolution, and approximations in some aspects of the microphysics.

  14. An ultra-relativistic outflow from a neutron star accreting gas from a companion.

    PubMed

    Fender, Rob; Wu, Kinwah; Johnston, Helen; Tzioumis, Tasso; Jonker, Peter; Spencer, Ralph; Van Der Klis, Michiel

    2004-01-15

    Collimated relativistic outflows-also known as jets-are amongst the most energetic phenomena in the Universe. They are associated with supermassive black holes in distant active galactic nuclei, accreting stellar-mass black holes and neutron stars in binary systems and are believed to be responsible for gamma-ray bursts. The physics of these jets, however, remains something of a mystery in that their bulk velocities, compositions and energetics remain poorly determined. Here we report the discovery of an ultra-relativistic outflow from a neutron star accreting gas within a binary stellar system. The velocity of the outflow is comparable to the fastest-moving flows observed from active galactic nuclei, and its strength is modulated by the rate of accretion of material onto the neutron star. Shocks are energized further downstream in the flow, which are themselves moving at mildly relativistic bulk velocities and are the sites of the observed synchrotron emission from the jet. We conclude that the generation of highly relativistic outflows does not require properties that are unique to black holes, such as an event horizon.

  15. Experimental growth of inertial forced Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities for different Atwood numbers

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Redondo, J. M.; Castilla, R.

    2009-04-01

    Richtmyer-Meshkov instability occurs when a shock wave impinges on an interface separating two fluids having different densities [1,2]. The instability causes perturbations on the interface to grow, bubbles and spikes, producing vortical structures which potentially result in a turbulent mixing layer. In addition to shock tube experiments, the incompressible Richtmyer-Meshkov instability has also been studied by impulsively accelerating containers of incompressible fluids. Castilla and Redondo (1994) [3] first exploited this technique by dropping tanks containing a liquid and air or two liquids onto a cushioned surface. This technique was improved upon by Niederhaus and Jacobs (2003)[4] by mounting the tank onto a rail system and then allowing it to bounce off of a fixed spring. A range of both miscible and inmiscible liquids were used, giving a wide range of Atwood numbers using the combinations of air, water, alcohol, oil and mercury. Experimental results show the different pattern selection of both the bubbles and spikes for the different Atwood numbers. Visual analysis of the marked interfaces allows to distinguish the regions of strong mixing and compare self-similarity growth of the mixing region. [1] Meshkov, E. E. 1969 Instability of the interface of two gases accelerated by a shock wave. Fluid Dynamics 4, 101-104. [2] Brouillette, M. & Sturtevant, B. 1994 Experiments on the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability: single-scale perturbations on a continuous interface. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 263, 271-292. [3] Castilla, R. & Redondo, J. M. 1994 Mixing Front Growth in RT and RM Instabilities. Proceedings of the Fourth International Workshop on the Physics of Compressible Turbulent Mixing, Cambridge, United Kingdom, edited by P. F. Linden, D. L. Youngs, and S. B. Dalziel, 11-31. [4] Niederhaus, C. E. & Jacobs, J. W. 2003 Experimental study of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability of incompressible fluids. Journal of Fluid Mechanics 485, 243-277.

  16. Development of solar wind shock models with tensor plasma pressure for data analysis

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Abraham-Shrauner, B.

    1975-01-01

    The development of solar wind shock models with tensor plasma pressure and the comparison of some of the shock models with the satellite data from Pioneer 6 through Pioneer 9 are reported. Theoretically, difficulties were found in non-turbulent fluid shock models for tensor pressure plasmas. For microscopic shock theories nonlinear growth caused by plasma instabilities was frequently not clearly demonstrated to lead to the formation of a shock. As a result no clear choice for a shock model for the bow shock or interplanetary tensor pressure shocks emerged.

  17. Robustness of the filamentation instability for asymmetric plasma shells collision in arbitrarily oriented magnetic field

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Bret, A.

    2013-10-15

    The filamentation instability triggered when two counter streaming plasma shells overlap appears to be the main mechanism by which collisionless shocks are generated. It has been known for long that a flow aligned magnetic field can completely suppress this instability. In a recent paper [Phys. Plasmas 18, 080706 (2011)], it was demonstrated in two dimensions that for the case of two cold, symmetric, relativistically colliding shells, such cancellation cannot occur if the field is not perfectly aligned. Here, this result is extended to the case of two asymmetric shells. The filamentation instability appears therefore as an increasingly robust mechanism tomore » generate shocks.« less

  18. Performance of Low Dissipative High Order Shock-Capturing Schemes for Shock-Turbulence Interactions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Sandham, N. D.; Yee, H. C.

    1998-01-01

    Accurate and efficient direct numerical simulation of turbulence in the presence of shock waves represents a significant challenge for numerical methods. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the performance of high order compact and non-compact central spatial differencing employing total variation diminishing (TVD) shock-capturing dissipations as characteristic based filters for two model problems combining shock wave and shear layer phenomena. A vortex pairing model evaluates the ability of the schemes to cope with shear layer instability and eddy shock waves, while a shock wave impingement on a spatially-evolving mixing layer model studies the accuracy of computation of vortices passing through a sequence of shock and expansion waves. A drastic increase in accuracy is observed if a suitable artificial compression formulation is applied to the TVD dissipations. With this modification to the filter step the fourth-order non-compact scheme shows improved results in comparison to second-order methods, while retaining the good shock resolution of the basic TVD scheme. For this characteristic based filter approach, however, the benefits of compact schemes or schemes with higher than fourth order are not sufficient to justify the higher complexity near the boundary and/or the additional computational cost.

  19. Non-radial instabilities and progenitor asphericities in core-collapse supernovae

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Müller, B.; Janka, H.-Th.

    2015-04-01

    Since core-collapse supernova simulations still struggle to produce robust neutrino-driven explosions in 3D, it has been proposed that asphericities caused by convection in the progenitor might facilitate shock revival by boosting the activity of non-radial hydrodynamic instabilities in the post-shock region. We investigate this scenario in depth using 42 relativistic 2D simulations with multigroup neutrino transport to examine the effects of velocity and density perturbations in the progenitor for different perturbation geometries that obey fundamental physical constraints (like the anelastic condition). As a framework for analysing our results, we introduce semi-empirical scaling laws relating neutrino heating, average turbulent velocities in the gain region, and the shock deformation in the saturation limit of non-radial instabilities. The squared turbulent Mach number, , reflects the violence of aspherical motions in the gain layer, and explosive runaway occurs for ≳ 0.3, corresponding to a reduction of the critical neutrino luminosity by ˜ 25 per cent compared to 1D. In the light of this theory, progenitor asphericities aid shock revival mainly by creating anisotropic mass flux on to the shock: differential infall efficiently converts velocity perturbations in the progenitor into density perturbations δρ/ρ at the shock of the order of the initial convective Mach number Maprog. The anisotropic mass flux and ram pressure deform the shock and thereby amplify post-shock turbulence. Large-scale (ℓ = 2, ℓ = 1) modes prove most conducive to shock revival, whereas small-scale perturbations require unrealistically high convective Mach numbers. Initial density perturbations in the progenitor are only of the order of Ma_prog^2 and therefore play a subdominant role.

  20. Dependence of the aftershock flow on the main shock magnitude

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guglielmi, A. V.; Zavyalov, A. D.; Zotov, O. D.; Lavrov, I. P.

    2017-01-01

    Previously, we predicted and then observed in practice the property of aftershocks which consists in the statistically regular clustering of events in time during the first hours after the main shock. The characteristic quasi-period of clustering is three hours. This property is associated with the cumulative action of the surface waves converging to the epicenter, whereas the quasi-period is mainly determined by the time delay of the round-the-world seismic echo. The quasi-period varies from case to case. In the attempt to find the cause of this variability, we have statistically explored the probable dependence of quasi-period on the magnitude of the main shock. In this paper, we present the corresponding result of analyzing global seismicity from the USGS/NEIC earthquake catalog. We succeeded in finding a significant reduction in the quasiperiod of the strong earthquakes clustering with growth in the magnitude of the main shock. We suggest the interpretation of this regularity from the standpoint of the phenomenological theory of explosive instability. It is noted that the phenomenon of explosive instability is fairly common in the geophysical media. The examples of explosive instability in the radiation belt and magnetospheric tail are presented. The search for the parallels in the evolution of explosive instability in the lithosphere and magnetosphere of the Earth will enrich both the physics of the earthquakes and physics of the magnetospheric pulsations.

  1. Structure in Radiative Shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Drake, R. Paul; Visco, A.; Doss, F.; Reighard, A.; Froula, D.; Glenzer, S.; Knauer, J.

    2008-05-01

    Radiative shocks are shock waves fast enough that radiation from the shock-heated matter alters the structure of the shock. They are of fundamental interest to high-energy-density physics and also have applications throughout astrophysics. This poster will review the dimensionless parameters that determine structure in these shocks and will discuss recent experiments to measure such structure for strongly radiative shocks that are optically thin upstream and optically thick downstream. The shock transition itself heats mainly the ions. Immediately downstream of the shock, the ions heat the electrons and the electrons radiate, producing an optically thin cooling layer, followed by the downstream layer of warm, shocked material. The axial structure of these systems is of interest, because the transition from precursor through the cooling layer to the final state is complex and difficult to calculate. Their lateral structure is also of interest, as they seem likely to be subject to some variation on the Vishniac instability of thin layers. In our experiments to produce such shocks, laser ablation launches a Be plasma into a tube of Xe or Ar gas, at a velocity above 100 km/s. This drives a shock down the tube. Radiography provides fundamental information about the structure and evolution of the shocked material in Xe. Thomson scattering and pyrometry have provided data in Ar. We will summarize the available evidence regarding the properties of these shocks, and will discuss their connections to astrophysical cases. This research was sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances program through DOE Research Grants DE-FG52-07NA28058, DE-FG52-04NA00064, and other grants and contracts.

  2. Terminal shock position and restart control of a Mach 2.7, two-dimensional, twin duct mixed compression inlet

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cole, G. L.; Neiner, G. H.; Baumbick, R. J.

    1973-01-01

    Experimental results of terminal shock and restart control system tests of a two-dimensional, twin-duct mixed compression inlet are presented. High-response (110-Hz bandwidth) overboard bypass doors were used, both as the variable to control shock position and as the means of disturbing the inlet airflow. An inherent instability in inlet shock position resulted in noisy feedback signals and thus restricted the terminal shock position control performance that was achieved. Proportional-plus-integral type controllers using either throat exit static pressure or shock position sensor feedback gave adequate low-frequency control. The inlet restart control system kept the terminal shock control loop closed throughout the unstart-restart transient. The capability to restart the inlet was non limited by the inlet instability.

  3. Astrophysical Connections to Collapsing Radiative Shock Experiments

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Reighard, A. B.; Hansen, J. F.; Bouquet, S.; Koenig, M.

    2005-10-01

    Radiative shocks occur in many high-energy density explosions, but prove difficult to create in laboratory experiments or to fully model with astrophysical codes. Low astrophysical densities combined with powerful explosions provide ideal conditions for producing radiative shocks. Here we describe an experiment significant to astrophysical shocks, which produces a driven, planar radiative shock in low density Xe gas. Including radiation effects precludes scaling experiments directly to astrophysical conditions via Euler equations, as can be done in purely hydrodynamic experiments. We use optical depth considerations to make comparisons between the driven shock in xenon and specific astrophysical phenomena. This planar shock may be subject to thin shell instabilities similar to those affecting the evolution of astrophysical shocks. This research was sponsored by the National Nuclear Security Administration under the Stewardship Science Academic Alliances program through DOE Research Grants DE-FG52-03NA00064, DE-FG53-2005-NA26014, and other grants and contracts.

  4. Richtmyer-Meshkov instability for elastic-plastic solids in converging geometries

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    López Ortega, A.; Lombardini, M.; Barton, P. T.; Pullin, D. I.; Meiron, D. I.

    2015-03-01

    We present a detailed study of the interface instability that develops at the boundary between a shell of elastic-plastic material and a cylindrical core of confined gas during the inbound implosive motion generated by a shock-wave. The main instability in this configuration is the so-called Richtmyer-Meshkov instability that arises when the shock wave crosses the material interface. Secondary instabilities, such as Rayleigh-Taylor, due to the acceleration of the interface, and Kelvin-Helmholtz, due to slip between solid and fluid, arise as the motion progresses. The reflection of the shock wave at the axis and its second interaction with the material interface as the shock moves outbound, commonly known as re-shock, results in a second Richtmyer-Meshkov instability that potentially increases the growth rate of interface perturbations, resulting in the formation of a mixing zone typical of fluid-fluid configurations and the loss of the initial perturbation length scales. The study of this problem is of interest for achieving stable inertial confinement fusion reactions but its complexity and the material conditions produced by the implosion close to the axis prove to be challenging for both experimental and numerical approaches. In this paper, we attempt to circumvent some of the difficulties associated with a classical numerical treatment of this problem, such as element inversion in Lagrangian methods or failure to maintain the relationship between the determinant of the deformation tensor and the density in Eulerian approaches, and to provide a description of the different events that occur during the motion of the interface. For this purpose, a multi-material numerical solver for evolving in time the equations of motion for solid and fluid media in an Eulerian formalism has been implemented in a Cartesian grid. Equations of state are derived using thermodynamically consistent hyperelastic relations between internal energy and stresses. The resolution required

  5. Are pulsars spun up or down by SASI spiral modes?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kazeroni, Rémi; Guilet, Jérôme; Foglizzo, Thierry

    2017-10-01

    Pulsars may either be spun up or down by hydrodynamic instabilities during the supernova explosion of massive stars. Besides rapidly rotating cases related to bipolar explosions, stellar rotation may affect the explosion of massive stars in the more common situations where the centrifugal force is minor. Using 2D simulations of a simplified set-up in cylindrical geometry, we examine the impact of rotation on the standing accretion shock instability (SASI) and the corotation instability, also known as low-T/|W|. The influence of rotation on the saturation amplitude of these instabilities depends on the specific angular momentum in the accretion flow and the ratio of the shock to the neutron star radii. The spiral mode of SASI becomes more vigorous with faster rotation only if this ratio is large enough. A corotation instability develops at large rotation rates and impacts the dynamics more dramatically, leading to a strong one-armed spiral wave. Non-axisymmetric instabilities are able to redistribute angular momentum radially and affect the pulsar spin at birth. A systematic study of the relationship between the core rotation period of the progenitor and the initial pulsar spin is performed. Stellar rotation rates for which pulsars are spun up or down by SASI are estimated. Rapidly spinning progenitors are modestly spun down by spiral modes, less than ˜30 per cent, when a corotation instability develops. Given the observational constraints on pulsar spin periods at birth, this suggests that rapid rotation might not play a significant hydrodynamic role in most core-collapse supernovae.

  6. Particle rings and astrophysical accretion discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lovelace, R. V. E.; Romanova, M. M.

    2016-03-01

    Norman Rostoker had a wide range of interests and significant impact on the plasma physics research at Cornell during the time he was a Cornell professor. His interests ranged from the theory of energetic electron and ion beams and strong particle rings to the related topics of astrophysical accretion discs. We outline some of the topics related to rings and discs including the Rossby wave instability which leads to formation of anticyclonic vortices in astrophysical discs. These vorticies are regions of high pressure and act to trap dust particles which in turn may facilitate planetesimals growth in proto-planetary disks and could be important for planet formation. Analytical methods and global 3D magneto-hydrodynamic simulations have led to rapid advances in our understanding of discs in recent years.

  7. Particle rings and astrophysical accretion discs

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lovelace, R. V. E., E-mail: RVL1@cornell.edu; Romanova, M. M., E-mail: romanova@astro.cornell.edu

    Norman Rostoker had a wide range of interests and significant impact on the plasma physics research at Cornell during the time he was a Cornell professor. His interests ranged from the theory of energetic electron and ion beams and strong particle rings to the related topics of astrophysical accretion discs. We outline some of the topics related to rings and discs including the Rossby wave instability which leads to formation of anticyclonic vortices in astrophysical discs. These vorticies are regions of high pressure and act to trap dust particles which in turn may facilitate planetesimals growth in proto-planetary disks andmore » could be important for planet formation. Analytical methods and global 3D magneto-hydrodynamic simulations have led to rapid advances in our understanding of discs in recent years.« less

  8. Electromagnetic ion/ion cyclotron instability - Theory and simulations

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Winske, D.; Omidi, N.

    1992-01-01

    Linear theory and 1D and 2D hybrid simulations are employed to study electromagnetic ion/ion cyclotron (EMIIC) instability driven by the relative streaming of two field-aligned ion beams. The characteristics of the instability are studied as a function of beam density, propagation angle, electron-ion temperature ratios, and ion beta. When the propagation angle is near 90 deg the EMIIC instability has the characteristics of an electrostatic instability, while at smaller angles electromagnetic effects play a significant role as does strong beam coupling. The 2D simulations point to a narrowing of the wave spectrum and accompanying coherent effects during the linear growth stage of development. The EMIIC instability is an important effect where ion beta is low such as in the plasma-sheet boundary layer and upstream of slow shocks in the magnetotail.

  9. A comparative study of Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities in 2D and 3D in tantalum

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sternberger, Z.; Maddox, B. R.; Opachich, Y. P.; Wehrenberg, C. E.; Kraus, R. G.; Remington, B. A.; Randall, G. C.; Farrell, M.; Ravichandran, G.

    2017-01-01

    Driving a shock wave through the interface between two materials with different densities can result in the Richtmyer-Meshkov or Rayleigh-Taylor instability and initial perturbations at the interface will grow. If the shock wave is sufficiently strong, the instability will lead to plastic flow at the interface. Material strength will reduce the amount of plastic flow and suppress growth. While such instabilities have been investigated in 2D, no studies of this phenomena have been performed in 3D on materials with strength. Initial perturbations to seed the hydrodynamic instability were coined into tantalum recovery targets. Two types of perturbations were used, two dimensional (2D) perturbations (hill and valley) and three-dimensional (3D) perturbations (egg crate pattern). The targets were subjected to dynamic loading using the Janus laser at the Jupiter Laser Facility. Shock pressures ranged from 50 GPa up to 150 GPa and were calibrated using VISAR drive targets.

  10. Reduction of shock induced noise in imperfectly expanded supersonic jets using convex optimization

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Adhikari, Sam

    2007-11-01

    Imperfectly expanded jets generate screech noise. The imbalance between the backpressure and the exit pressure of the imperfectly expanded jets produce shock cells and expansion or compression waves from the nozzle. The instability waves and the shock cells interact to generate the screech sound. The mathematical model consists of cylindrical coordinate based full Navier-Stokes equations and large-eddy-simulation turbulence modeling. Analytical and computational analysis of the three-dimensional helical effects provide a model that relates several parameters with shock cell patterns, screech frequency and distribution of shock generation locations. Convex optimization techniques minimize the shock cell patterns and the instability waves. The objective functions are (convex) quadratic and the constraint functions are affine. In the quadratic optimization programs, minimization of the quadratic functions over a set of polyhedrons provides the optimal result. Various industry standard methods like regression analysis, distance between polyhedra, bounding variance, Markowitz optimization, and second order cone programming is used for Quadratic Optimization.

  11. Stratified Simulations of Collisionless Accretion Disks

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Hirabayashi, Kota; Hoshino, Masahiro, E-mail: hirabayashi-k@eps.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp

    This paper presents a series of stratified-shearing-box simulations of collisionless accretion disks in the recently developed framework of kinetic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which can handle finite non-gyrotropy of a pressure tensor. Although a fully kinetic simulation predicted a more efficient angular-momentum transport in collisionless disks than in the standard MHD regime, the enhanced transport has not been observed in past kinetic-MHD approaches to gyrotropic pressure anisotropy. For the purpose of investigating this missing link between the fully kinetic and MHD treatments, this paper explores the role of non-gyrotropic pressure and makes the first attempt to incorporate certain collisionless effects into disk-scale,more » stratified disk simulations. When the timescale of gyrotropization was longer than, or comparable to, the disk-rotation frequency of the orbit, we found that the finite non-gyrotropy selectively remaining in the vicinity of current sheets contributes to suppressing magnetic reconnection in the shearing-box system. This leads to increases both in the saturated amplitude of the MHD turbulence driven by magnetorotational instabilities and in the resultant efficiency of angular-momentum transport. Our results seem to favor the fast advection of magnetic fields toward the rotation axis of a central object, which is required to launch an ultra-relativistic jet from a black hole accretion system in, for example, a magnetically arrested disk state.« less

  12. Stratified Simulations of Collisionless Accretion Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hirabayashi, Kota; Hoshino, Masahiro

    2017-06-01

    This paper presents a series of stratified-shearing-box simulations of collisionless accretion disks in the recently developed framework of kinetic magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), which can handle finite non-gyrotropy of a pressure tensor. Although a fully kinetic simulation predicted a more efficient angular-momentum transport in collisionless disks than in the standard MHD regime, the enhanced transport has not been observed in past kinetic-MHD approaches to gyrotropic pressure anisotropy. For the purpose of investigating this missing link between the fully kinetic and MHD treatments, this paper explores the role of non-gyrotropic pressure and makes the first attempt to incorporate certain collisionless effects into disk-scale, stratified disk simulations. When the timescale of gyrotropization was longer than, or comparable to, the disk-rotation frequency of the orbit, we found that the finite non-gyrotropy selectively remaining in the vicinity of current sheets contributes to suppressing magnetic reconnection in the shearing-box system. This leads to increases both in the saturated amplitude of the MHD turbulence driven by magnetorotational instabilities and in the resultant efficiency of angular-momentum transport. Our results seem to favor the fast advection of magnetic fields toward the rotation axis of a central object, which is required to launch an ultra-relativistic jet from a black hole accretion system in, for example, a magnetically arrested disk state.

  13. TIME EVOLUTION OF KELVIN–HELMHOLTZ VORTICES ASSOCIATED WITH COLLISIONLESS SHOCKS IN LASER-PRODUCED PLASMAS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kuramitsu, Y.; Moritaka, T.; Mizuta, A.

    2016-09-10

    We report experimental results on Kelvin–Helmholtz (KH) instability and resultant vortices in laser-produced plasmas. By irradiating a double plane target with a laser beam, asymmetric counterstreaming plasmas are created. The interaction of the plasmas with different velocities and densities results in the formation of asymmetric shocks, where the shear flow exists along the contact surface and the KH instability is excited. We observe the spatial and temporal evolution of plasmas and shocks with time-resolved diagnostics over several shots. Our results clearly show the evolution of transverse fluctuations, wavelike structures, and circular features, which are interpreted as the KH instability andmore » resultant vortices. The relevant numerical simulations demonstrate the time evolution of KH vortices and show qualitative agreement with experimental results. Shocks, and thus the contact surfaces, are ubiquitous in the universe; our experimental results show general consequences where two plasmas interact.« less

  14. Life Shocks and Homelessness

    PubMed Central

    Corman, Hope; Noonan, Kelly; Reichman, Nancy E.

    2014-01-01

    We exploited an exogenous health shock—namely, the birth of a child with a severe health condition—to investigate the effect of a life shock on homelessness in large cities in the United States as well as the interactive effects of the shock with housing market characteristics. We considered a traditional measure of homelessness, two measures of housing instability thought to be precursors to homelessness, and a combined measure that approximates the broadened conceptualization of homelessness under the 2009 Homeless Emergency Assistance and Rapid Transition to Housing Act (2010). We found that the shock substantially increases the likelihood of family homelessness, particularly in cities with high housing costs. The findings are consistent with the economic theory of homelessness, which posits that homelessness results from a conjunction of adverse circumstances in which housing markets and individual characteristics collide. PMID:23868747

  15. Evolution of newborn rapidly rotating magnetars: Effects of R-mode and fall-back accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Wang, Jie-Shuang; Dai, Zi-Gao

    2017-06-01

    In this paper we investigate effects of the r-mode instability on a newborn rapidly-rotating magnetar with fall-back accretion. Such a magnetar could usually occur in core-collapse supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. We find that the magnetar's spin and r-mode evolution are influenced by accretion. If the magnetar is sufficiently spun up to a few milliseconds, gravitational radiation leads to the growth of the r-mode amplitude significantly. The maximum r-mode amplitude reaches an order of 0.001 when the damping due to the growth of a toroidal magnetic field balances the growth of the r-mode amplitude. If such a sufficiently spun-up magnetar was located at a distance less than 1 Mpc, then gravitational waves would be detectable by the Einstein Telescope but would have an extremely low event rate. However, if the spin-up is insufficient, the growth of the r-mode amplitude is mainly due to the accretion torque. In this case, the maximum r-mode amplitude is of the order of 10-6-10-5.

  16. Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov Instabilities in Turbulent Regime

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Dimonte, G.

    1998-11-01

    The Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) and its shock driven analog, the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI), affect a wide variety of important phenomena from sub-terrainian to astrophysical environments. The ``fluids" are equally varied from plasmas and magnetic fields to elastic-plastic solids. In most applications, the instabilities occur with a complex acceleration history and evolve to a highly nonlinear state, making the theoretical description formidable. We will link the fluid and plasma regimes while describing the theoretical issues and basic experiments in different venues to isolate key physics issues. RMI experiments on the Nova laser investigate the affects of compressibility with strong radiatively driven shocks (Mach > 10) in near solid density plasmas of sub-millimeter scale. The growth of single sinusoidal and random 3-D perturbations are measured using backlit radiography. RTI experiments with the Linear Electric Motor (LEM) are conducted with a variety of acceleration (<< 10^4 m/s^2) histories and fluids of 10 cm scale. Turbulent RTI experiments with high Reynolds number liquids show self-similar growth which is characterized with laser induced fluorescence. LEM experiments with an elastic-plastic material (yogurt) exhibit a critical wavelength and amplitude for instability. The experimental results will be compared with linear and nonlinear theories and hydrodynamic simulations.

  17. Accretion dynamics and polarized X-ray emission of magnetized neutron stars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Arons, Jonathan

    1991-01-01

    The basic ideas of accretion onto magnetized neutron stars are outlined. These are applied to a simple model of the structure of the plasma mound sitting at the magnetic poles of such a star, in which upward diffusion of photons is balanced by their downward advection. This steady flow model of the plasma's dynamical state is used to compute the emission of polarized X-raysfrom the optically thick, birefringent medium. The linear polarization of the continuum radiation emerging from the quasi-static mound is found to be as much as 40 percent at some rotation phases, but is insensitive to the geometry of the accretion flow. The role of the accretion shock, whose detailed polarimetric and spectral characteristics have yet to be calculated, is emphasized as the final determinant of the properties of the emerging X-rays. Some results describing the fully time dependent dynamics of the flow are also presented. In particular, steady flow onto a neutron star is shown to exhibit formation of 'photon bubbles', regions of greatly reduced plasma density filled with radiation which form and rise on millisecond time scale. The possible role of these complex structures in the flow for the formation of the emergent spectrum is briefly outlined.

  18. Pair-instability supernovae of fast rotating stars

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, Ke-Jung

    2015-01-01

    We present 2D simulations of pair-instability supernovae considering rapid rotation during their explosion phases. Recent studies of the Population III (Pop III) star formation suggested that these stars could be born with a mass scale about 100 M⊙ and with a strong rotation. Based on stellar evolution models, these massive Pop III stars might have died as highly energetic pair-instability supernovae. We perform 2D calculations to investigate the impact of rotation on pair-instability supernovae. Our results suggest that rotation leads to an aspherical explosion due to an anisotropic collapse. If the first stars have a 50% of keplerian rotational rate of the oxygen core before their pair-instability explosions, the overall 56Ni production can be significantly reduced by about two orders of magnitude. An extreme case of 100% keplerian rotational rate shows an interesting feature of fluid instabilities along the equatorial plane caused by non-synchronized and non-isotropic ignitions of explosions, so that the shocks run into the in-falling gas and generate the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability.

  19. AGN Accretion Physics in the Time Domain: Survey Cadences, Stochastic Analysis, and Physical Interpretations

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Moreno, Jackeline; Vogeley, Michael S.; Richards, Gordon; O'Brien, John T.; Kasliwal, Vishal

    2018-01-01

    We present rigorous testing of survey cadences (K2, SDSS, CRTS, & Pan-STARRS) for quasar variability science using a magnetohydrodynamics synthetic lightcurve and the canonical lightcurve from Kepler, Zw 229.15. We explain where the state of the art is in regards to physical interpretations of stochastic models (CARMA) applied to AGN variability. Quasar variability offers a time domain approach of probing accretion physics at the SMBH scale. Evidence shows that the strongest amplitude changes in the brightness of AGN occur on long timescales ranging from months to hundreds of days. These global behaviors can be constrained by survey data despite low sampling resolution. CARMA processes provide a flexible family of models used to interpolate between data points, predict future observations and describe behaviors in a lightcurve. This is accomplished by decomposing a signal into rise and decay timescales, frequencies for cyclic behavior and shock amplitudes. Characteristic timescales may point to length-scales over which a physical process operates such as turbulent eddies, warping or hotspots due to local thermal instabilities. We present the distribution of SDSS Stripe 82 quasars in CARMA parameters space that pass our cadence tests and also explain how the Damped Harmonic Oscillator model, CARMA(2,1), reduces to the Damped Random Walk, CARMA(1,0), given the data in a specific region of the parameter space.

  20. Scaling Law of Impact Induced Shock Pressure in Planetary Mantle

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Monteux, Julien; Arkani-Hamed, Jafar

    2015-04-01

    While hydrocode simulation of impact induced shock pressure inside planetary mantle is more accurate, it is not suitable for studying several hundreds of impacts occurring during the accretion of a planet. Not only simulation of each impact takes over two orders of magnitude longer computer time than that of a scaling law simulation [1], but also it is cumbersome to apply for growing proto-planets where size of a proto-planet and impact velocities of the accreting bodies increase significantly. This is compounded by the formation of the iron core during the accretion with increasing size. Major impacting bodies during accretion of a Mars type planet have very low velocities. We use iSale hydrocode simulations and adopt physical properties of dunite for the mantle to calculate shock pressure and particle velocity in a Mars type body for 11 impact velocities ranging from 4 to 60 km/s. Large impactors of 100 to 1000 km in diameter, comparable to those impacted on Mars and created giant impact basins, are examined. The results are in good agreement with those of Pierazzo et al. [2] which were calculated for impact velocities higher than 10 km/s and impactor of 0.2 to 10 km in diameter. The internal consistency of our models indicates that our scaling laws are also accurate for lower impact velocities. We found no distinct isobaric region, rather the peak shock pressure changes relatively slowly versus distance from the impact site in the near field zone, within ~ 3 times the impactor radius, compare to that in the far field zone as also suggested by Ahrens and O'Keefe [3]. Hence we propose two distinct scaling laws, the power law distribution of shock pressure P as a function of distance R from the impact site at the surface, one for the near field zone and the other for the far field zone: Log P = a + n Log (R/Rimp) With n = 1.72 - 2.44 Log(Vimp) for R < ~3 Rimp, and n = -0.84 -0.51 Log(Vimp) for R > ~3 Rimp where a is a constant, Rimp is the impactor radius, and Vimp

  1. Mass inflation followed by Belinskii-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz collapse inside accreting, rotating black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hamilton, Andrew J. S.

    2017-10-01

    Numerical evidence is presented that the Poisson-Israel mass inflation instability at the inner horizon of an accreting, rotating black hole is generically followed by Belinskii-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz oscillatory collapse to a spacelike singularity. The computation involves following all 6 degrees of freedom of the gravitational field. To simplify the problem, the computation takes as initial conditions the conformally separable solutions of Andrew J. S. Hamilton and Gavin Polhemus [Interior structure of rotating black holes. I. Concise derivation, Phys. Rev. D 84, 124055 (2011), 10.1103/PhysRevD.84.124055] and Andrew J. S. Hamilton [Interior structure of rotating black holes. II. Uncharged black holes, Phys. Rev. D 84, 124056 (2011), 10.1103/PhysRevD.84.124056] just above the inner horizon of a slowly accreting, rotating black hole and integrates the equations inward along single latitudes.

  2. Shock-induced CO2 loss from CaCO3: Implications for early planetary atmospheres

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Lange, M. A.; Ahrens, T. J.

    1984-01-01

    Recovered samples from shock recovery experiments on single crystal calcite were subjected to thermogravimetric analysis to determine the amount of post-shock CO2, the decarbonization interval and the activation energy, for the removal of remaining CO2 in shock-loaded calcite. Comparison of post-shock CO2 with that initially present determines shock-induced CO2 loss as a function of shock pressure. Incipient to complete CO2 loss occurs over a pressure range of approximately 10 to approximately 70 GPa. Optical and scanning electron microscopy reveal structural changes, which are related to the shock-loading. The occurrence of dark, diffuse areas, which can be resolved as highly vesicular areas as observed with a scanning electron microscope are interpreted as representing quenched partial melts, into which shock-released CO2 was injected. The experimental results are used to constrain models of shock-produced, primary CO2 atmospheres on the accreting terrestrial planets.

  3. External front instabilities induced by a shocked particle ring.

    PubMed

    Rodriguez, V; Saurel, R; Jourdan, G; Houas, L

    2014-10-01

    The dispersion of a cylindrical particle ring by a blast or shock wave induces the formation of coherent structures which take the form of particle jets. A blast wave, issuing from the discharge of a planar shock wave at the exit of a conventional shock tube, is generated in the center of a granular medium ring initially confined inside a Hele-Shaw cell. With the present experimental setup, under impulsive acceleration, a solid particle-jet formation is observed in a quasi-two-dimensional configuration. The aim of the present investigation is to observe in detail the formation of very thin perturbations created around the external surface of the dispersed particle layer. By means of fast flow visualization with an appropriate recording window, we focus solely on the first instants during which the external particle ring becomes unstable. We find that the critical area of the destabilization of the external ring surface is constant regardless of the acceleration of the initial layer. Moreover, we observe in detail the external front perturbation wavelength, rendered dimensionless by the initial ring perimeter, and follow its evolution with the initial particle layer acceleration. We report this quantity to be constant regardless of the evolution of the initial particle layer acceleration. Finally, we can reasonably assert that external front perturbations depend solely on the material of the particles.

  4. Plasma and energetic particle structure of a collisionless quasi-parallel shock

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Kennel, C. F.; Scarf, F. L.; Coroniti, F. V.; Russell, C. T.; Smith, E. J.; Wenzel, K. P.; Reinhard, R.; Sanderson, T. R.; Feldman, W. C.; Parks, G. K.

    1983-01-01

    The quasi-parallel interplanetary shock of November 11-12, 1978 from both the collisionless shock and energetic particle points of view were studied using measurements of the interplanetary magnetic and electric fields, solar wind electrons, plasma and MHD waves, and intermediate and high energy ions obtained on ISEE-1, -2, and -3. The interplanetary environment through which the shock was propagating when it encountered the three spacecraft was characterized; the observations of this shock are documented and current theories of quasi-parallel shock structure and particle acceleration are tested. These observations tend to confirm present self consistent theories of first order Fermi acceleration by shocks and of collisionless shock dissipation involving firehouse instability.

  5. Strongly Magnetized Accretion Disks in Active Galactic Nuclei

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Begelman, Mitchell

    Accretion disks likely provide the conduit for fueling active galactic nuclei (AGN), linking the black hole's immediate surroundings to the host galaxy's nuclear star cluster, and possibly beyond. Yet detailed AGN disk models fail to explain several of the most basic observational features of AGN: How do the outer regions of the disk avoid stalling as a result of wholesale gravitational fragmentation? What regulates the amount of star formation that is inferred to accompany accretion in some AGN? Why is the broad emission line region a ubiquitous feature of luminous AGN? What processes create and maintain the so-called "dusty torus"? Analytic work suggests that vertical pressure support of the disk primarily by a toroidal magnetic field, rather than by gas or radiation pressure, can readily resolve these problems. And recent numerical simulations have indicated that such a strong toroidal field is the inevitable consequence of the magnetorotational instability (MRI) when a disk accumulates a modest amount of net magnetic flux, thus providing a sound theoretical basis for strongly magnetized disks. We propose an analytic and computational study of such disks in the AGN context, focusing on: (1) The basic physical properties of strongly magnetized AGN disks. We will focus on the competition between field generation and buoyancy, improving on previous work by considering realistic equations of state, dissipative processes and radiative losses. We will use global simulations to test the limiting magnetic fields that can be produced by MRIdriven accretion disk dynamos and explore the driving mechanisms of disk winds and the resulting levels of mass, angular momentum and energy loss. (2) Gravitational fragmentation and star formation in strongly magnetized disks. We will determine how a strong field reduces and regulates gravitational fragmentation, by both lowering the disk density and creating a stratified structure in which star formation near the equator can co

  6. A study of planar Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in fluids with Mie-Grüneisen equations of state

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ward, G. M.; Pullin, D. I.

    2011-07-01

    We present a numerical comparison study of planar Richtmyer-Meshkov instability with the intention of exposing the role of the equation of state. Results for Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in fluids with Mie-Grüneisen equations of state derived from a linear shock-particle speed Hugoniot relationship (Jeanloz, J. Geophys. Res. 94, 5873, 1989; McQueen et al., High Velocity Impact Phenomena (1970), pp. 294-417; Menikoff and Plohr, Rev. Mod. Phys. 61(1), 75 1989) are compared to those from perfect gases under nondimensionally matched initial conditions at room temperature and pressure. The study was performed using Caltech's Adaptive Mesh Refinement, Object-oriented C++ (AMROC) (Deiterding, Adaptive Mesh Refinement: Theory and Applications (2005), Vol. 41, pp. 361-372; Deiterding, "Parallel adaptive simulation of multi-dimensional detonation structures," Ph.D. thesis (Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus, September 2003)) framework with a low-dissipation, hybrid, center-difference, limiter patch solver (Ward and Pullin, J. Comput. Phys. 229, 2999 (2010)). Results for single and triple mode planar Richtmyer-Meshkov instability when a reflected shock wave occurs are first examined for mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) and molybdenum modeled by Mie-Grüneisen equations of state. The single mode case is examined for incident shock Mach numbers of 1.5 and 2.5. The planar triple mode case is studied using a single incident Mach number of 2.5 with initial corrugation wavenumbers related by k1=k2+k3. Comparison is then drawn to Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in perfect gases with matched nondimensional pressure jump across the incident shock, post-shock Atwood ratio, post-shock amplitude-to-wavelength ratio, and time nondimensionalized by Richtmyer's linear growth time constant prediction. Differences in start-up time and growth rate oscillations are observed across equations of state. Growth rate oscillation frequency is seen to correlate directly to the oscillation

  7. [Phaeochromocytoma as an unusual aetiology of cardiogenic shock].

    PubMed

    Ouchikhe, A; Lehoux, P; Gringore, A; Renouf, P; Deredec, R; Tasle, M; Massetti, M; Khayat, A; Saloux, E; Grollier, G; Samama, G; Gérard, J-L

    2006-01-01

    The authors reported a case involving a young patient with a cardiogenic shock associated to an acute pulmonary oedema. According to the seriousness of the shock, an external ventricular assist device (VAD) was initially inserted and replaced thereafter because of the cardiovascular instability, by an external pneumatic biventricular assist device. A cardiogenic shock induced by an acute adrenergic myocarditis due to a phaeochromocytoma was diagnosed. The patient was weaned from the VAD on day 84 and was scheduled for elective surgery of the phaeochromocytoma on day 93. The authors discussed the time of the surgery according to the anticoagulation therapy necessary to the VAD and the necessary caution taken if a cardiogenic shock appeared around surgery.

  8. Ordinary mode instability associated with thermal ring distribution

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hadi, F.; Yoon, P. H.; Qamar, A.

    2015-02-01

    The purely growing ordinary (O) mode instability driven by excessive parallel temperature anisotropy has recently received renewed attention owing to its potential applicability to the solar wind plasma. Previous studies of O mode instability have assumed either bi-Maxwellian or counter-streaming velocity distributions. For solar wind plasma trapped in magnetic mirror-like geometry such as magnetic clouds or in the vicinity of the Earth's collisionless bow shock environment, however, the velocity distribution function may possess a loss-cone feature. The O-mode instability in such a case may be excited for cyclotron harmonics as well as the purely growing branch. The present paper investigates the O-mode instability for plasmas characterized by the parallel Maxwellian distribution and perpendicular thermal ring velocity distribution in order to understand the general stability characteristics.

  9. The radial-azimuthal stability of accretion disks - Gas pressure contributions

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Mckee, M. R.

    1991-01-01

    A radial-azimuthal stability analysis of a thin, alpha disk accretion flow is presented. The proportion of radiation pressure, Pr, of the unperturbed flow is allowed to vary according to the parameter beta = Pr/P, where P is the total pressure. As is the case for a purely radial analysis, the disk is stable for beta equal to or less than 0.6. However, the coupling of radial and azimuthal perturbations eliminates the viscous instability for such nonradial modes for all values of beta. The group velocity of the retrograde thermal mode is calculated as a function of beta.

  10. Simulation of Relativistic Shocks and Associated Radiation from Turbulent Magnetic Fields

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, K.-I.; Mizuno, Y.; Niemiec, J.; Medvedev, M.; Zhang, B.; Hardee, P.; Frederiksen, J.; Sol, H.; Pohl, M.; Hartmann, D. H.; hide

    2010-01-01

    Recent PIC simulations of relativistic electron-positron (electron-ion) jets injected into a stationary medium show that particle acceleration occurs at shocked regions. Simulations show that the Weibel instability is responsible for generating and amplifying highly nonuniform, small-scale magnetic fields and particle acceleration. These magnetic fields contribute to the electron's transverse deflection behind the shock. The jitter'' radiation from deflected electrons in turbulent magnetic fields has different properties than synchrotron radiation, which is calculated in a uniform magnetic field. This jitter radiation may be important for understanding the complex time evolution and/or spectral structure in gamma-ray bursts, relativistic jets in general, and supernova remnants. We will present detailed spectra for conditions relevant of various astrophysical sites of shock formation via the Weibel instability. In particular we will discuss the application to GRBs and SNRs

  11. Instabilities in large economies: aggregate volatility without idiosyncratic shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bonart, Julius; Bouchaud, Jean-Philippe; Landier, Augustin; Thesmar, David

    2014-10-01

    We study a dynamical model of interconnected firms which allows for certain market imperfections and frictions, restricted here to be myopic price forecasts and slow adjustment of production. Whereas the standard rational equilibrium is still formally a stationary solution of the dynamics, we show that this equilibrium becomes linearly unstable in a whole region of parameter space. When agents attempt to reach the optimal production target too quickly, coordination breaks down and the dynamics becomes chaotic. In the unstable, ‘turbulent’ phase, the aggregate volatility of the total output remains substantial even when the amplitude of idiosyncratic shocks goes to zero or when the size of the economy becomes large. In other words, crises become endogenous. This suggests an interesting resolution of the ‘small shocks, large business cycles’ puzzle.

  12. Spectral formation in a radiative shock: application to anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma-ray repeaters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kylafis, N. D.; Trümper, J. E.; Ertan, Ü.

    2014-02-01

    Context. In the fallback disk model for the persistent emission of anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) and soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs), the hard X-ray emission arises from bulk- and thermal Comptonization of bremsstrahlung photons, which are generated in the accretion column. The relatively low X-ray luminosity of these sources implies a moderate transverse optical depth to electron scattering, with photons executing a small number of shock crossings before escaping sideways. Aims: We explore the range of spectral shapes that can be obtained with this model and characterize the most important parameter dependencies. Methods: We use a Monte Carlo code to study the crisscrossing of photons in a radiative shock in an accretion column and compute the resulting spectrum. Results: As expected, high-energy power-law X-ray spectra are produced in radiative shocks with photon-number spectral index Γ ≳ 0.5. We find that the required transverse optical depth is 1 ≲ τ⊥ ≲ 7. Such spectra are observed in low-luminosity X-ray pulsars. Conclusions: We demonstrate here with a simple model that Compton upscattering in the radiative shock in the accretion column can produce hard X-ray spectra similar to those seen in the persistent and transient emission of AXPs and SGRs. In particular, one can obtain a high-energy power-law spectrum, with photon-number spectral-index Γ ~ 1 and a cutoff at 100 - 200 keV, with a transverse Thomson optical depth of ~5, which is shown to be typical in AXPs/SGRs.

  13. Simulation Study of Magnetic Fields Generated by the Electromagnetic Filamentation Instability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Nishikawa, K.-I.; Ramirez-Ruiz, E.; Hardee, P.; Hededal, C. B.; Mizuno, Y.; Fishman, G. J.

    2007-01-01

    We have investigated the effects of plasma instabilities driven by rapid e(sup plus or minus) pair cascades, which arise in the environment of GRB sources as a result of back-scattering of a seed fraction of the original spectrum. The injection of e(sup plus or minus) pairs induces strong streaming motions in the ambient medium. One therefore expects the pair-enriched medium ahead of the forward shock to be strongly sheared on length scales comparable to the radiation front thickness. Using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show that plasma instabilities driven by these streaming e(sup plus or minus) pairs are responsible for the excitation of near-equipartition, turbulent magnetic fields. Our results reveal the importance of the electromagnetic filamentation instability in ensuring an effective coupling between e(sup plus or minus) pairs and ions, and may help explain the origin of large upstream fields in GRB shocks.

  14. Magnetostructural Transition Kinetics in Shocked Iron

    DOE PAGES

    Surh, Michael P.; Benedict, Lorin X.; Sadigh, Babak

    2016-08-15

    Here, a generalized Heisenberg model is implemented to study the effect of thermal magnetic disorder on kinetics of the Fe α–ε transition. The barrier to bulk martensitic displacement remains large in α-Fe shocked well past the phase line but is much reduced in the [001] α–ε boundary. The first result is consistent with observed overdriving to metastable α, while the second suggests structural instability, as implied by observation of a [001] shock transformation front without plastic relaxation. Reconciling both behaviors may require concurrent treatment of magnetic and structural order.

  15. PROGENITOR-DEPENDENT EXPLOSION DYNAMICS IN SELF-CONSISTENT, AXISYMMETRIC SIMULATIONS OF NEUTRINO-DRIVEN CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVAE

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Summa, Alexander; Hanke, Florian; Janka, Hans-Thomas

    We present self-consistent, axisymmetric core-collapse supernova simulations performed with the Prometheus-Vertex code for 18 pre-supernova models in the range of 11–28 M {sub ⊙}, including progenitors recently investigated by other groups. All models develop explosions, but depending on the progenitor structure, they can be divided into two classes. With a steep density decline at the Si/Si–O interface, the arrival of this interface at the shock front leads to a sudden drop of the mass-accretion rate, triggering a rapid approach to explosion. With a more gradually decreasing accretion rate, it takes longer for the neutrino heating to overcome the accretion rammore » pressure and explosions set in later. Early explosions are facilitated by high mass-accretion rates after bounce and correspondingly high neutrino luminosities combined with a pronounced drop of the accretion rate and ram pressure at the Si/Si–O interface. Because of rapidly shrinking neutron star radii and receding shock fronts after the passage through their maxima, our models exhibit short advection timescales, which favor the efficient growth of the standing accretion-shock instability. The latter plays a supportive role at least for the initiation of the re-expansion of the stalled shock before runaway. Taking into account the effects of turbulent pressure in the gain layer, we derive a generalized condition for the critical neutrino luminosity that captures the explosion behavior of all models very well. We validate the robustness of our findings by testing the influence of stochasticity, numerical resolution, and approximations in some aspects of the microphysics.« less

  16. Emergence of power-law scalings in shock-driven mixing transition

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vorobieff, Peter; Wayne, Patrick; Olmstead, Dell; Simons, Dylan; Truman, C. Randall; Kumar, Sanjay

    2016-11-01

    We present an experimental study of transition to turbulence due to shock-driven instability evolving on an initially cylindrical, diffuse density interface between air and a mixture of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and acetone. The plane of the shock is at an initial angle θ with the axis of the heavy-gas cylinder. We present the cases of planar normal (θ = 0) and oblique (θ =20°) shock interaction with the initial conditions. Flow is visualized in two perpendicular planes with planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) triggered in acetone with a pulsed ultraviolet laser. Statistics of the flow are characterized in terms of the second-order structure function of the PLIF intensity. As instabilities in the flow evolve, the structure functions begin to develop power-law scalings, at late times manifesting over a range of scales spanning more than two orders of magnitude. We discuss the effects of the initial conditions on the emergence of these scalings, comparing the fully three-dimensional case (oblique shock interaction) with the quasi-two-dimensional case (planar normal shock interaction). We also discuss the flow anisotropy apparent in statistical differences in data from the two visualization planes. This work is funded by NNSA Grant DE-NA0002913.

  17. On the wind production from hot accretion flows with different accretion rates

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bu, De-Fu; Gan, Zhao-Ming

    2018-02-01

    We perform two-dimensional simulations to study how the wind strength changes with accretion rate. We take into account bremsstrahlung, synchrotron radiation and the Comptonization. We find that when the accretion rate is low, radiative cooling is not important, and the accretion flow is hot. For the hot accretion flow, wind is very strong. The mass flux of wind can be ˜ 50 per cent of the mass inflow rate. When the accretion rate increases to a value at which radiative cooling rate is roughly equal to or slightly larger than viscous heating rate, cold clumps can form around the equatorial plane. In this case, the gas pressure gradient force is small and wind is very weak. Our results may be useful for the sub-grid model of active galactic nuclear feedback study.

  18. Simulation of Interaction of Strong Shocks with Gas Bubbles using the Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Puranik, Bhalchandra; Watvisave, Deepak; Bhandarkar, Upendra

    2016-11-01

    The interaction of a shock with a density interface is observed in several technological applications such as supersonic combustion, inertial confinement fusion, and shock-induced fragmentation of kidney and gall-stones. The central physical process in this interaction is the mechanism of the Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability (RMI). The specific situation where the density interface is initially an isolated spherical or cylindrical gas bubble presents a relatively simple geometry that exhibits all the essential RMI processes such as reflected and refracted shocks, secondary instabilities, turbulence and mixing of the species. If the incident shocks are strong, the calorically imperfect nature needs to be modelled. In the present work, we have carried out simulations of the shock-bubble interaction using the DSMC method for such situations. Specifically, an investigation of the shock-bubble interaction with diatomic gases involving rotational and vibrational excitations at high temperatures is performed, and the effects of such high temperature phenomena will be presented.

  19. On the instability of hypersonic flow past a wedge

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Cowley, Stephen; Hall, Philip

    1988-01-01

    The instability of a compressible flow past a wedge is investigated in the hypersonic limit. Particular attention is given to the Tollmien-Schlichting waves governed by triple-deck theory though some discussion of inviscid modes is given. It is shown that the attached shock has a significant effect on the growth rates of Tollmien-Schlichting waves. Moreover, the presence of the shock allows for more than one unstable Tollmien-Schlichting wave. Indeed, an infinite discrete spectrum of unstable waves is induced by the shock, but these modes are unstable over relatively small but high frequency ranges. The shock is shown to have little effect on the inviscid modes considered by previous authors and an asymptotic description of inviscid modes in the hypersonic limit is given.

  20. On the role of disks in the formation of stellar systems: A numerical parameter study of rapid accretion

    DOE PAGES

    Kratter, Kaitlin M.; Matzner, Christopher D.; Krumholz, Mark R.; ...

    2009-12-23

    We study rapidly accreting, gravitationally unstable disks with a series of idealized global, numerical experiments using the code ORION. Our numerical parameter study focuses on protostellar disks, showing that one can predict disk behavior and the multiplicity of the accreting star system as a function of two dimensionless parameters which compare the infall rate to the disk sound speed and orbital period. Although gravitational instabilities become strong, we find that fragmentation into binary or multiple systems occurs only when material falls in several times more rapidly than the canonical isothermal limit. The disk-to-star accretion rate is proportional to the infallmore » rate and governed by gravitational torques generated by low-m spiral modes. Furthermore, we also confirm the existence of a maximum stable disk mass: disks that exceed ~50% of the total system mass are subject to fragmentation and the subsequent formation of binary companions.« less

  1. CSI 2264: Characterizing Accretion-burst Dominated Light Curves for Young Stars in NGC 2264

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stauffer, John; Cody, Ann Marie; Baglin, Annie; Alencar, Silvia; Rebull, Luisa; Hillenbrand, Lynne A.; Venuti, Laura; Turner, Neal J.; Carpenter, John; Plavchan, Peter; Findeisen, Krzysztof; Carey, Sean; Terebey, Susan; Morales-Calderón, María; Bouvier, Jerome; Micela, Giusi; Flaccomio, Ettore; Song, Inseok; Gutermuth, Rob; Hartmann, Lee; Calvet, Nuria; Whitney, Barbara; Barrado, David; Vrba, Frederick J.; Covey, Kevin; Herbst, William; Furesz, Gabor; Aigrain, Suzanne; Favata, Fabio

    2014-04-01

    Based on more than four weeks of continuous high-cadence photometric monitoring of several hundred members of the young cluster NGC 2264 with two space telescopes, NASA's Spitzer and the CNES CoRoT (Convection, Rotation, and planetary Transits), we provide high-quality, multi-wavelength light curves for young stellar objects whose optical variability is dominated by short-duration flux bursts, which we infer are due to enhanced mass accretion rates. These light curves show many brief—several hours to one day—brightenings at optical and near-infrared wavelengths with amplitudes generally in the range of 5%-50% of the quiescent value. Typically, a dozen or more of these bursts occur in a 30 day period. We demonstrate that stars exhibiting this type of variability have large ultraviolet (UV) excesses and dominate the portion of the u - g versus g - r color-color diagram with the largest UV excesses. These stars also have large Hα equivalent widths, and either centrally peaked, lumpy Hα emission profiles or profiles with blueshifted absorption dips associated with disk or stellar winds. Light curves of this type have been predicted for stars whose accretion is dominated by Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities at the boundary between their magnetosphere and inner circumstellar disk, or where magneto-rotational instabilities modulate the accretion rate from the inner disk. Among the stars with the largest UV excesses or largest Hα equivalent widths, light curves with this type of variability greatly outnumber light curves with relatively smooth sinusoidal variations associated with long-lived hot spots. We provide quantitative statistics for the average duration and strength of the accretion bursts and for the fraction of the accretion luminosity associated with these bursts. Based on data from the Spitzer and CoRoT missions, as well as the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) MegaCam CCD, and the European Southern Observatory Very Large Telescope, Paranal Chile, under

  2. New Occurrence of Shocked Graphite Aggregates at Barringer Crater

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Miura, Y.; Noma, Y.; Iancu, O. G.

    1993-07-01

    High-pressure carbon minera]s are considered to be formed by solid-solid transformation under static or impact high-pressure condition, but shocked quartz aggregates of impact craters are considered to be formed by quenched accretion of various aggregates by dynamic impact process [1-3]. The main purpose of this study is to elucidate new findings and occurrences of shocked graphite (SG) aggregates [2,3] at the Barringer meteorite crater. The graphite nodule block of Barringer Crater used in this study is collected near the rim. The sample is compared with standard graphite samples of Korea, Madagascar, and artificial impact graphites. There are four different mineral aggregates of the Barringer graphite nodule sample: (1) shocked graphite-1, (2) shocked graphite-2 and hexagonal diamond in the vein, (3) shocked quartz-1 (with kamacite) in the rim, and (4) calcite in the rim (Table 1). X-ray diffraction peaks of shocked graphite reveal low X-ray intensity, high Bragg-angle shift of X-ray diffraction peak, and multiple splitting of X-ray diffraction peaks. X-ray calculated density (rho) has been determined by X-ray diffractometer by the equation of density deviation Delta rho (%) = 100 x {(rho-rho(sub)0)/rho(sub)0}, where standard density rho(sub)0 is 2.255 g/cm^3 in Korean graphite [2,3]. The high-density value of shocked graphite grain obtained in Barringer is Delta rho = +0.6 +/- 0.1%. Shocked hexagonal diamonds (chaoite) show a high value of Delta rho = +0.6 +/- 0.9%. Analytical electron microscopy data reveal three different aggregates in the graphite nodule samples (Table 1): (1) shocked graphite-1 in the matrix, which contains uniformly Fe and Ca elements formed under gas state; (2) shocked graphite-2 in the vein, where crystallized shocked graphites and hexagonal diamonds are surrounded by kamacite-rich metals formed under gas-melt states of mixed compositions from iron meteorite and target rocks; and (3) shocked quartz-1 and kamacite in the rim, where

  3. Compressible instability of rapidly expanding spherical material interfaces

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mankbadi, Mina Reda

    The focus herein is on the instability of a material interface formed during an abrupt release of concentrated energy as in detonative combustion, explosive dispersals, and inertial-confinement fusion. These applications are modeled as a spherical shock-tube in which high-pressure gas initially contained in a small spherical shell is suddenly released. A forward-moving shock and an inward-moving secondary shock are formed, and between them a material interface develops that separates high-density fluid from the low-density one. The wrinkling of this interface controls mixing and energy release. The interface's stability is studied with and without the inclusion of metalized particulates. A numerical scheme is developed to discretize the full nonlinear equations of the base flow, and the 3D linearized perturbed flow equations. Linearization is followed by spherical harmonic decomposition of the disturbances, thereby reducing the 3D computational domain to one-dimensional radial domain. The 3D physical nature of the disturbances is maintained throughout the procedure. An extended Roe-Pike scheme coupled with a WENO scheme is developed to capture the discontinuities and accurately predict the disturbances. In Chapter 2, the contact interface's stability is analyzed in the inviscid single-phase. The disturbances grow exponentially and the growth rate is insensitive to the radial initial-disturbance profile. For wave numbers less than 100, the results are in accordance with previous theories but clarify that compressibility reduces the growth rate. Unlike the classical RTI, the growth rate reaches saturation at high wavenumbers. The parametric studies show that for specific ratios of initial pressure and temperature, the instability can be eliminated altogether. Chapter 3 discusses the full effects of viscosity and thermal diffusivity. Although Prandtl number effects are minimal, viscous effects dampen the high-wave numbers. For a given Reynolds number there is a peak

  4. Chondrule-forming Shock Fronts in the Solar Nebula: A Possible Unified Scenario for Planet and Chondrite Formation

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boss, A. P.; Durisen, R. H.

    2005-03-01

    Chondrules are millimeter-sized spherules found throughout primitive chondritic meteorites. Flash heating by a shock front is the leading explanation of their formation. However, identifying a mechanism for creating shock fronts inside the solar nebula has been difficult. In a gaseous disk capable of forming Jupiter, the disk must have been marginally gravitationally unstable at and beyond Jupiter's orbit. We show that this instability can drive inward spiral shock fronts with shock speeds of up to ~10 km s-1 at asteroidal orbits, sufficient to account for chondrule formation. The mixing and transport of solids in such a disk, combined with the planet-forming tendencies of gravitational instabilities, results in a unified scenario linking chondrite production with gas giant planet formation.

  5. Shock effects in particle beam fusion targets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sweeney, M. A.; Perry, F. C.; Asay, J. R.; Widner, M. M.

    1982-04-01

    At Sandia National Laboratorics we are assessing the response of fusion target materials to shock loading with the particle beam accelerators HYDRA and PROTO I and the gas gun facility. Nonlinear shock-accelerated unstable growth of fabriction irregularities has been demonstrated, and jetting is found to occur in imploding targets because of asymmetric beam deposition. Cylindrical ion targets display an instability due either to beam or target nonuniformity. However, the data suggest targets with aspect ratios of 30 may implode stably. The first time- and space-resolved measurements of shock-induced vaporization have been made. A homogeneous mixed phase EOS model cannot adequately explain the results because of the kinetic effects of vapor formation and expansion.

  6. Instability of a planar expansion wave.

    PubMed

    Velikovich, A L; Zalesak, S T; Metzler, N; Wouchuk, J G

    2005-10-01

    An expansion wave is produced when an incident shock wave interacts with a surface separating a fluid from a vacuum. Such an interaction starts the feedout process that transfers perturbations from the rippled inner (rear) to the outer (front) surface of a target in inertial confinement fusion. Being essentially a standing sonic wave superimposed on a centered expansion wave, a rippled expansion wave in an ideal gas, like a rippled shock wave, typically produces decaying oscillations of all fluid variables. Its behavior, however, is different at large and small values of the adiabatic exponent gamma. At gamma > 3, the mass modulation amplitude delta(m) in a rippled expansion wave exhibits a power-law growth with time alpha(t)beta, where beta = (gamma - 3)/(gamma - 1). This is the only example of a hydrodynamic instability whose law of growth, dependent on the equation of state, is expressed in a closed analytical form. The growth is shown to be driven by a physical mechanism similar to that of a classical Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. In the opposite extreme gamma - 1 < 1, delta(m) exhibits oscillatory growth, approximately linear with time, until it reaches its peak value approximately (gamma - 1)(-1/2), and then starts to decrease. The mechanism driving the growth is the same as that of Vishniac's instability of a blast wave in a gas with low . Exact analytical expressions for the growth rates are derived for both cases and favorably compared to hydrodynamic simulation results.

  7. Contribution to study of interfaces instabilities in plane, cylindrical and spherical geometry

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Toque, Nathalie

    1996-12-01

    This thesis proposes several experiments of hydrodynamical instabilities which are studied, numerically and theoretically. The experiments are in plane and cylindrical geometry. Their X-ray radiographies show the evolution of an interface between two solid media crossed by a detonation wave. These materials are initially solid. They become liquide under shock wave or stay between two phases, solid and liquid. The numerical study aims at simulating with the codes EAD and Ouranos, the interfaces instabilities which appear in the experiments. The experimental radiographies and the numerical pictures are in quite good agreement. The theoretical study suggests to modelise a spatio-temporal part of the experiments to obtain the quantitative development of perturbations at the interfaces and in the flows. The models are linear and in plane, cylindrical and spherical geometry. They preceed the inoming study of transition between linear and non linear development of instabilities in multifluids flows crossed by shock waves.

  8. Feathering instability of spiral arms. II. Parameter study

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Lee, Wing-Kit, E-mail: wklee@asiaa.sinica.edu.tw; Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica, Taipei 115, Taiwan

    2014-09-10

    We report the results of a parameter study of the feathering stability in the galactic spiral arms. A two-dimensional, razor-thin magnetized self-gravitating gas disk with an imposed two-armed stellar spiral structure is considered. Using the formulation developed previously by Lee and Shu, a linear stability analysis of the spiral shock is performed in a localized Cartesian geometry. Results of the parameter study of the base state with a spiral shock are also presented. The single-mode feathering instability that leads to growing perturbations may explain the feathering phenomenon found in nearby spiral galaxies. The self-gravity of the gas, characterized by itsmore » average surface density, is an important parameter that (1) shifts the spiral shock farther downstream and (2) increases the growth rate and decreases the characteristic spacing of the feathering structure due to the instability. On the other hand, while the magnetic field suppresses the velocity fluctuation associated with the feathers, it does not strongly affect their growth rate. Using a set of typical parameters of the grand-design spiral galaxy M51 at 2 kpc from the center, the spacing of the feathers with the maximum growth rate is found to be 530 pc, which agrees with the previous observational studies.« less

  9. The Spiral Wave Instability Induced by a Giant Planet. I. Particle Stirring in the Inner Regions of Protoplanetary Disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Bae, Jaehan; Nelson, Richard P.; Hartmann, Lee

    2016-12-01

    We have recently shown that spiral density waves propagating in accretion disks can undergo a parametric instability by resonantly coupling with and transferring energy into pairs of inertial waves (or inertial-gravity waves when buoyancy is important). In this paper, we perform inviscid three-dimensional global hydrodynamic simulations to examine the growth and consequence of this instability operating on the spiral waves driven by a Jupiter-mass planet in a protoplanetary disk. We find that the spiral waves are destabilized via the spiral wave instability (SWI), generating hydrodynamic turbulence and sustained radially alternating vertical flows that appear to be associated with long wavelength inertial modes. In the interval 0.3 {R}{{p}}≤slant R≤slant 0.7{R}{{p}}, where R p denotes the semimajor axis of the planetary orbit (assumed to be 5 au), the estimated vertical diffusion rate associated with the turbulence is characterized by {α }{diff}∼ (0.2{--}1.2)× {10}-2. For the disk model considered here, the diffusion rate is such that particles with sizes up to several centimeters are vertically mixed within the first pressure scale height. This suggests that the instability of spiral waves launched by a giant planet can significantly disperse solid particles and trace chemical species from the midplane. In planet formation models where the continuous local production of chondrules/pebbles occurs over Myr timescales to provide a feedstock for pebble accretion onto these bodies, this stirring of solid particles may add a time constraint: planetary embryos and large asteroids have to form before a gas giant forms in the outer disk, otherwise the SWI will significantly decrease the chondrule/pebble accretion efficiency.

  10. Simulations of Instabilities in Tidal Tails

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Comparetta, Justin N.; Quillen, A. C.

    2010-05-01

    We use graphics cards to run a hybrid test particle/N-body simulation to integrate 4 million massless particle trajectories within fully self-consistent N-body simulations of 128,000 - 256,000 particles. The number of massless particles allows us to resolve fine structure in the spatial distribution and phase space of a dwarf galaxy that is disrupted in the tidal field of a Milky Way type galaxy. The tidal tails exhibit clumping or a smoke-like appearance. By running simulations with different satellite particle mass, number of massive vs massless particles and with and without a galaxy disk, we have determined that the instabilities are not due to numerical noise or shocking as the satellite passes through the disk of the Galaxy. The instability is possibly a result of self-gravity which indicates it may be due to Jeans instabilities. Simulations involving different halo particle mass may suggest limitations on dark matter halo substructure. We find that the instabilities are visible in velocity space as well as real space and thus could be identified from velocity surveys as well as number counts.

  11. Simulating Shock Triggered Star Formation with AstroBEAR2.0

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Li, Shule; Frank, Adam; Blackman, Eric

    2013-07-01

    Star formation can be triggered by the compression from shocks running over stable clouds. Triggered star formation is a favored explanation for the traces of SLRI's in our solar system. Previous research has shown that when parameters such as shock speed are within a certain range, the gravitational collapse of otherwise stable, dense cloud cores is possible. However, these studies usually focus on the precursors of star formation, and the conditions for the triggering. We use AstroBEAR2.0 code to simulate the collapse and subsequent evolution of a stable Bonnor-Ebert cloud by an incoming shock. Through our simulations, we show that interesting physics happens when the newly formed star interacts with the cloud residue and the post-shock flow. We identify these interactions as controlled by the initial conditions of the triggering and study the flow pattern as well as the evolution of important physics quantities such as accretion rate and angular momentum.

  12. Effects of Alfvénic Drift on Diffusive Shock Acceleration at Weak Cluster Shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kang, Hyesung; Ryu, Dongsu

    2018-03-01

    Non-detection of γ-ray emission from galaxy clusters has challenged diffusive shock acceleration (DSA) of cosmic-ray (CR) protons at weak collisionless shocks that are expected to form in the intracluster medium. As an effort to address this problem, we here explore possible roles of Alfvén waves self-excited via resonant streaming instability during the CR acceleration at parallel shocks. The mean drift of Alfvén waves may either increase or decrease the scattering center compression ratio, depending on the postshock cross-helicity, leading to either flatter or steeper CR spectra. We first examine such effects at planar shocks, based on the transport of Alfvén waves in the small amplitude limit. For the shock parameters relevant to cluster shocks, Alfvénic drift flattens the CR spectrum slightly, resulting in a small increase of the CR acceleration efficiency, η. We then consider two additional, physically motivated cases: (1) postshock waves are isotropized via MHD and plasma processes across the shock transition, and (2) postshock waves contain only forward waves propagating along with the flow due to a possible gradient of CR pressure behind the shock. In these cases, Alfvénic drift could reduce η by as much as a factor of five for weak cluster shocks. For the canonical parameters adopted here, we suggest η ∼ 10‑4–10‑2 for shocks with sonic Mach number M s ≈ 2–3. The possible reduction of η may help ease the tension between non-detection of γ-rays from galaxy clusters and DSA predictions.

  13. Incompressible Wind Accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Tejeda, E.

    2018-04-01

    We present a simple, analytic model of an incompressible fluid accreting onto a moving gravitating object. This solution allows us to probe the highly subsonic regime of wind accretion. Moreover, it corresponds to the Newtonian limit of a previously known relativistic model of a stiff fluid accreting onto a black hole. Besides filling this blank in the literature, the new solution should be useful as a benchmark test for numerical hydrodynamics codes. Given its simplicity, it can also be used as an illustrative example in a gas dynamics course.

  14. General relativistic study of astrophysical jets with internal shocks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vyas, Mukesh K.; Chattopadhyay, Indranil

    2017-08-01

    We explore the possibility of the formation of steady internal shocks in jets around black holes. We consider a fluid described by a relativistic equation of state, flowing about the axis of symmetry (θ = 0) in a Schwarzschild metric. We use two models for the jet geometry: (I) a conical geometry and (II) a geometry with non-conical cross-section. A jet with conical geometry has a smooth flow, while the jet with non-conical cross-section undergoes multiple sonic points and even standing shock. The jet shock becomes stronger, as the shock location is situated farther from the central black hole. Jets with very high energy and very low energy do not harbour shocks, but jets with intermediate energies do harbour shocks. One advantage of these shocks, as opposed to shocks mediated by external medium, is that these shocks have no effect on the jet terminal speed, but may act as possible sites for particle acceleration. Typically, a jet with specific energy 1.8c2 will achieve a terminal speed of v∞ = 0.813c for jet with any geometry, where, c is the speed of light in vacuum. But for a jet of non-conical cross-section for which the length scale of the inner torus of the accretion disc is 40rg, then, in addition, a steady shock will form at rsh ˜ 7.5rg and compression ratio of R ˜ 2.7. Moreover, electron-proton jet seems to harbour the strongest shock. We will discuss possible consequences of such a scenario.

  15. Shock Corrugation by Rayleigh-Taylor Instability in Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglow Jets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Duffell, Paul C.; MacFadyen, Andrew I.

    2014-08-01

    Afterglow jets are Rayleigh-Taylor unstable and therefore turbulent during the early part of their deceleration. There are also several processes which actively cool the jet. In this Letter, we demonstrate that if cooling significantly increases the compressibility of the flow, the turbulence collides with the forward shock, destabilizing and corrugating it. In this case, the forward shock is turbulent enough to produce the magnetic fields responsible for synchrotron emission via small-scale turbulent dynamo. We calculate light curves assuming the magnetic field is in energy equipartition with the turbulent kinetic energy and discover that dynamic magnetic fields are well approximated by a constant magnetic-to-thermal energy ratio of 1%, though there is a sizeable delay in the time of peak flux as the magnetic field turns on only after the turbulence has activated. The reverse shock is found to be significantly more magnetized than the forward shock, with a magnetic-to-thermal energy ratio of the order of 10%. This work motivates future Rayleigh-Taylor calculations using more physical cooling models.

  16. Observations of accreting pulsars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Prince, Thomas A.; Bildsten, Lars; Chakrabarty, Deepto; Wilson, Robert B.; Finger, Mark H.

    1994-01-01

    We discuss recent observations of accreting binary pulsars with the all-sky BATSE instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. BATSE has detected and studied nearly half of the known accreting pulsar systems. Continuous timing studies over a two-year period have yielded accurate orbital parameters for 9 of these systems, as well as new insights into long-term accretion torque histories.

  17. Accretion Processes in Cosmic Sources

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    2016-10-01

    Accretion is a universal phenomenon that takes place in the vast majority of astrophysical objects. The progress of ground-based and space-borne observational facilities has resulted in the great amount of information on various accreting astrophysical objects, collected within the last decades. The accretion is accompanied by the process of extensive energy release that takes place on the surface of an accreting object and in various gaseous envelopes, accretion disk, jets and other elements of the flow pattern. The results of observations inspired the intensive development of accretion theory, which, in turn, enabled us to study unique properties of accreting objects and physical conditions in the surrounding environment. One of the most interesting outcomes of this intensive study is the fact that accretion processes are, in a sense, self-similar on various spatial scales from planetary systems to galaxies. This fact gives us new opportunities to investigate objects that, by various reasons, are not available for direct study. Cataclysmic variable stars are unique natural laboratories where one can conduct the detailed observational study of accretion processes and accretion disks. This is the main reason why several participants and a few members of the Organizing Committee of the conference "The Golden Age of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects - III" (September 7-12, 2015, Palermo, Italy) have decided to hold a special conference, focused on accretion processes, as a branch of that series. Main topics: Young Stellar Objects, protoplanetary discs, exoplanets in binary stars Accretion on white dwarfs (Cataclysmic variables and related objects) Accretion on neutron stars (X-ray Binary Systems and related objects) Accretion on black holes (stellar BH and AGN) The workshop will include a few 35-minute general review talks to introduce the current problems, and 20-minute talks to discuss new experimental and theoretical results. A series of 15-minute talks

  18. Simultaneous density-field visualization and PIV of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prestridge, Katherine; Rightley, Paul; Benjamin, Robert; Kurnit, Norman; Boxx, Isaac; Vorobieff, Peter

    1999-11-01

    We describe a highly-detailed experimental characterization of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. A vertical curtain of heavy gas (SF_6) flows into the test section of an air-filled, horizontal shock tube, and the instability evolves after the passage of a Mach 1.2 shock past the curtain. The evolution of the curtain is visualized by seeding the SF6 with small (d ≈ 0.5 μm) glycol/water droplets using a modified theatrical fog generator. Because the event lasts only 1 ms and the initial conditions vary from test to test, rapid and high-resolution (both spatial and temporal) data acquisition is required in order to characterize the initial and dynamic conditions for each experimental event. A customized, frequency-doubled, burst mode Nd:YAG laser and a commercial single-pulse laser are used for the implementation of simultaneous density-field imaging and PIV diagnostics. We have provided data about flow scaling and mixing through image analysis, and PIV data gives us further quantitative physical insight into the evolution of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability.

  19. High-Speed Unsteady Flows around Concave Axisymmetric Bodies: Flow Instabilities and their Suppression

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Panaras, A.; Drikakis, D.

    2009-01-01

    The axisymmetric concave body, i.e. a body in which the normals to its surface intersect, is a typical configuration about which shock/shock interactions appear. Various shapes of axisymmetric concave bodies are used in a variety of applications in aeronautics. For exampe: axisymmetric jet inlets with conical centerbody, ballistic missiles drag reduction by spike, plasma or hot gas injection, parachutes for pilot-ejection capsules. However, it is well known that two distinct modes of instability appear around a concave body in the high-speed flow regime, for a certain range of geometric parameters. These instabilities can cause undesirable effects such as severe vibration of the structure, heating and pressure loads. According to the experimental evidence, the unsteady flow is characterized by periodic radial inflation and collapse of the conical separation bubble formed around the forebody (pulsation). Various explanations have been given for the driving mechanism of the instabilities. They are based on interpretation of experimental results or on numerical simulation of the related flows. A merging of the leading explanations is done, and basic rules for the passive suppression of the instabilities are applied, in order to enforce the proposed driving mechanism of the instabilities. Most of the analysis is based on numerical simulations.

  20. A New Mechanism of Magnetic Field Generation in Supernova Shock Waves and its Implication for Cosmic Ray Acceleration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Diamond, Patrick

    2005-10-01

    SNR shocks are the most probable source of galactic cosmic rays. We discuss the diffusive acceleration mechanism in terms of its potential to accelerate CRs to 10^18 eV, as observations imply. One possibility, currently discussed in the literature, is to resonantly generate a turbulent magnetic field via accelerated particles in excess of the background field. We indicate some difficulties of this scenario and suggest a different possibility, which is based on the generation of Alfven waves at the gyroradius scale at the background field level, with a subsequent transfer to longer scales via interaction with strong acoustic turbulence in the shock precursor. The acoustic turbulence in turn, may be generated by Drury instability or by parametric instability of the Alfven (A) waves. The essential idea is an A-->A+S decay instability process, where one of the interacting scatterers (i.e. the sound, or S-waves) are driven by the Drury instability process. This rapidly generates longer wavelength Alfven waves, which in turn resonate with high energy CRs thus binding them to the shock and enabling their further acceleration.

  1. Gas-grain energy transfer in solar nebula shock waves: Implications for the origin of chondrules

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Hood, L. L.; Horanyi, M.

    1993-01-01

    Meteoritic chondrules provide evidence for the occurrence of rapid transient heating events in the protoplanetary nebula. Astronomical evidence suggests that gas dynamic shock waves are likely to be excited in protostellar accretion disks by processes such as protosolar mass ejections, nonaxisymmetric structures in an evolving disk, and impact on the nebula surface of infalling 'clumps' of circumstellar gas. Previous detailed calculations of gas-grain energy and momentum transfer have supported the possibility that such shock waves could have melted pre-existing chondrule-sized grains. The main requirement for grains to reach melting temperatures in shock waves with plausibly low Mach numbers is that grains existed in dust-rich zones (optical depth greater than 1) where radiative cooling of a given grain can be nearly balanced by radiation from surrounding grains. Localized dust-rich zones also provide a means of explaining the apparent small spatial scale of heating events. For example, the scale size of at least some optically thick dust-rich zones must have been relatively small (less than 10 kilometers) to be consistent with petrologic evidence for accretion of hot material onto cold chondrules. The implied number density of mm-sized grains for these zones would be greater than 30 m(exp -3). In this paper, we make several improvements of our earlier calculations to include radiation self-consistently in the shock jump conditions, and we include heating of grains due to radiation from the shocked gas. In addition, we estimate the importance of momentum feedback of dust concentrations onto the shocked gas which would tend to reduce the efficiency of gas dynamic heating of grains in the center of the dust cloud.

  2. Oblique Alfvén instabilities driven by compensated currents

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Malovichko, P.; Voitenko, Y.; De Keyser, J., E-mail: voitenko@oma.be

    2014-01-10

    Compensated-current systems created by energetic ion beams are widespread in space and astrophysical plasmas. The well-known examples are foreshock regions in the solar wind and around supernova remnants. We found a new oblique Alfvénic instability driven by compensated currents flowing along the background magnetic field. Because of the vastly different electron and ion gyroradii, oblique Alfvénic perturbations react differently on the currents carried by the hot ion beams and the return electron currents. Ultimately, this difference leads to a non-resonant aperiodic instability at perpendicular wavelengths close to the beam ion gyroradius. The instability growth rate increases with increasing beam currentmore » and temperature. In the solar wind upstream of Earth's bow shock, the instability growth time can drop below 10 proton cyclotron periods. Our results suggest that this instability can contribute to the turbulence and ion acceleration in space and astrophysical foreshocks.« less

  3. Using growth and arrest of Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities and Lagrangian simulations to study high-rate material strength

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Prime, M. B.; Vaughan, D. E.; Preston, D. L.; Buttler, W. T.; Chen, S. R.; Oró, D. M.; Pack, C.

    2014-05-01

    Experiments applying a supported shock through mating surfaces (Atwood number = 1) with geometrical perturbations have been proposed for studying strength at strain rates up to 107/s using Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instabilities. Buttler et al. recently reported experimental results for RM instability growth in copper but with an unsupported shock applied by high explosives and the geometrical perturbations on the opposite free surface (Atwood number = -1). This novel configuration allowed detailed experimental observation of the instability growth and arrest. We present results and interpretation from numerical simulations of the Buttler RM instability experiments. Highly-resolved, two-dimensional simulations were performed using a Lagrangian hydrocode and the Preston-Tonks-Wallace (PTW) strength model. The model predictions show good agreement with the data. The numerical simulations are used to examine various assumptions previously made in an analytical model and to estimate the sensitivity of such experiments to material strength.

  4. The Emerging Paradigm of Pebble Accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ormel, Chris W.

    Pebble accretion is the mechanism in which small particles ("pebbles") accrete onto big bodies big (planetesimals or planetary embryos) in gas-rich environments. In pebble accretion accretion , accretion occurs by settling and depends only on the mass of the gravitating body gravitating , not its radius. I give the conditions under which pebble accretion operates and show that the collisional cross section can become much larger than in the gas-free, ballistic, limit. In particular, pebble accretion requires the pre-existence of a massive planetesimal seed. When pebbles experience strong orbital decay by drift motions or are stirred by turbulence, the accretion efficiency is low and a great number of pebbles are needed to form Earth-mass cores. Pebble accretion is in many ways a more natural and versatile process than the classical, planetesimal-driven paradigm, opening up avenues to understand planet formation in solar and exoplanetary systems.

  5. Three-dimensional hydrodynamic Bondi-Hoyle accretion. 2: Homogeneous medium at Mach 3 with gamma = 5/3

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ruffert, Maximilian; Arnett, David

    1994-01-01

    We investigate the hydrodynamics of three-dimensional classical Bondi-Hoyle accretion. Totally absorbing spheres of varying sizes (from 10 down to 0.01 accretion radii) move at Mach 3 relative to a homogeneous and slightly perturbed medium, which is taken to be an ideal gas (gamma = 5/3). To accommodate the long-range gravitational forces, the extent of the computational volume is 32(exp 3) accretion radii. We examine the influence of numerical procedure on physical behavior. The hydrodynamics is modeled by the 'piecewise parabolic method.' No energy sources (nuclear burning) or sinks (radiation, conduction) are included. The resolution in the vicinity of the accretor is increased by multiply nesting several (5-10) grids around the sphere, each finer grid being a factor of 2 smaller in zone dimension that the next coarser grid. The largest dynamic range (ratio of size of the largest grid to size of the finest zone) is 16,384. This allows us to include a coarse model for the surface of the accretor (vacuum sphere) on the finest grid, while at the same time evolving the gas on the coarser grids. Initially (at time t = 0-10), a shock front is set up, a Mach cone develops, and the accretion column is observable. Eventually the flow becomes unstable, destroying axisymmetry. This happens approximately when the mass accretion rate reaches the values (+/- 10%) predicted by the Bondi-Hoyle accretion formula (factor of 2 included). However, our three-dimensional models do not show the highly dynamic flip-flop flow so prominent in two-dimensional calculations performed by other authors. The flow, and thus the accretion rate of all quantities, shows quasi-periodic (P approximately equals 5) cycles between quiescent and active states. The interpolation formula proposed in an accompanying paper is found to follow the collected numerical data to within approximately 30%. The specific angular momentum accreted is of the same order of magnitude as the values previously found for

  6. Observations of Accreting Pulsars

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Bildsten, Lars; Chakrabarty, Deepto; Chiu, John; Finger, Mark H.; Koh, Danny T.; Nelson, Robert W.; Prince, Thomas A.; Rubin, Bradley C.; Scott, D. Matthew; Stollberg, Mark; hide

    1997-01-01

    We summarize 5 years of continuous monitoring of accretion-powered pulsars with the Burst and Transient Source Experiment (BATSE) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory. Our 20-70 keV observations have determined or refined the orbital parameters of 13 binaries, discovered five new transient accreting pulsars, measured the pulsed flux history during outbursts of 12 transients (GRO J1744-28, 4U 0115+634, GRO J1750-27, GS 0834-430, 2S 1417-624, GRO J1948+32, EXO 2030+375, GRO J1008-57, A0535+26, GRO J2058+42, 4U 1145-619, and A1118-616), and also measured the accretion torque history during outbursts of six of those transients whose orbital param- eters were also known. We have also continuously measured the pulsed flux and spin frequency for eiaht persistently accreting pulsars (Her X-1, Cen X-3, Vela X-1, OAO 1657-415, GX 301-2, 4U 1626-67, 4U 1538-52, and GX 1+4). Because of their continuity and uniformity over a long baseline, BATSE observations have provided new insights into the long-term behavior of accreting magnetic neutron stars. We have found that all accreting pulsars show stochastic variations in their spin frequencies and luminosities, including those displaying secular spin-up or spin-down on long timescales, which blurs the con- ventional distinction between disk-fed and wind-fed binaries. Pulsed flux and accretion torque are strongly correlated in outbursts of transient accreting pulsars but are uncorrelated, or even anti- correlated, in persistent sources. We describe daily folded pulse profiles, frequency, and flux measurements that are available through the Compton Observatory Science Support Center at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.

  7. Annealing of Silicate Dust by Nebular Shocks at 10 AU

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Harker, David E.; Desch, Steven J.; DeVincenzi, D. (Technical Monitor)

    2001-01-01

    Silicate dust grains in the interstellar medium are known to be mostly amorphous, yet crystalline silicate grains have been observed in many long-period comets and in protoplanetary disks. Annealing of amorphous silicate grains into crystalline grains requires temperatures greater than or approximately equal to 1000 K, but exposure of dust grains in comets to such high temperatures is apparently incompatible with the generally low temperatures experienced by comets. This has led to the proposal of models in which dust grains were thermally processed near the protoSun, then underwent considerable radial transport until they reached the gas giant planet region where the long-period comets originated. We hypothesize instead that silicate dust grains were annealed in situ, by shock waves triggered by gravitational instabilities. We assume a shock speed of 5 km/s, a plausible value for shocks driven by gravitational instabilities. We calculate the peak temperatures of pyroxene grains under conditions typical in protoplanetary disks at 5-10 AU. We show that in situ annealing of micron-sized dust grains can occur, obviating the need for large-scale radial transport.

  8. ECCENTRICITY EVOLUTION THROUGH ACCRETION OF PROTOPLANETS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Matsumoto, Yuji; Nagasawa, Makiko; Ida, Shigeru, E-mail: yuji.matsumoto@nao.ac.jp, E-mail: nagasawa.m.ad@m.titech.ac.jp, E-mail: ida@elsi.jp

    2015-09-10

    Most super-Earths detected by the radial velocity (RV) method have significantly smaller eccentricities than the eccentricities corresponding to velocity dispersion equal to their surface escape velocity (“escape eccentricities”). If orbital instability followed by giant impacts among protoplanets that have migrated from outer regions is considered, it is usually considered that eccentricities of the merged bodies become comparable to those of orbital crossing bodies, which are excited up to their escape eccentricities by close scattering. However, the eccentricity evolution in the in situ accretion model has not been studied in detail. Here, we investigate the eccentricity evolution through N-body simulations. Wemore » have found that the merged planets tend to have much smaller eccentricities than escape eccentricities due to very efficient collision damping. If the protoplanet orbits are initially well separated and their eccentricities are securely increased, an inner protoplanet collides at its apocenter with an outer protoplanet at its pericenter. The eccentricity of the merged body is the smallest for such configurations. Orbital inclinations are also damped by this mechanism and planets tend to share a same orbital plane, which is consistent with Kepler data. Such efficient collision damping is not found when we start calculations from densely packed orbits of the protoplanets. If the protoplanets are initially in the mean-motion resonances, which corresponds to well separated orbits, the in situ accretion model well reproduces the features of eccentricities and inclinations of multiple super-Earths/Earth systems discovered by RV and Kepler surveys.« less

  9. Highly Resolved Measurements of a Developing Strong Collisional Plasma Shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Rinderknecht, Hans G.; Park, H.-S.; Ross, J. S.; Amendt, P. A.; Higginson, D. P.; Wilks, S. C.; Haberberger, D.; Katz, J.; Froula, D. H.; Hoffman, N. M.; Kagan, G.; Keenan, B. D.; Vold, E. L.

    2018-03-01

    The structure of a strong collisional shock front forming in a plasma is directly probed for the first time in laser-driven gas-jet experiments. Thomson scattering of a 526.5 nm probe beam was used to diagnose temperature and ion velocity distribution in a strong shock (M ˜11 ) propagating through a low-density (ρ ˜0.01 mg /cc ) plasma composed of hydrogen. A forward-streaming population of ions traveling in excess of the shock velocity was observed to heat and slow down on an unmoving, unshocked population of cold protons, until ultimately the populations merge and begin to thermalize. Instabilities are observed during the merging, indicating a uniquely plasma-phase process in shock front formation.

  10. The properties and causes of rippling in quasi-perpendicular collisionless shock fronts

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Lowe, R. E.; Burgess, D.

    2003-03-01

    The overall structure of quasi-perpendicular, high Mach number collisionless shocks is controlled to a large extent by ion reflection at the shock ramp. Departure from a strictly one-dimensional structure is indicated by simulation results showing that the surface of such shocks is rippled, with variations in the density and all field components. We present a detailed analysis of these shock ripples, using results from a two-dimensional hybrid (particle ions, electron fluid) simulation. The process that generates the ripples is poorly understood, because the large gradients at the shock ramp make it difficult to identify instabilities. Our analysis reveals new features of the shock ripples, which suggest the presence of a surface wave mode dominating the shock normal magnetic field component of the ripples, as well as whistler waves excited by reflected ions.

  11. Rayleigh-Taylor instability experiments in cryogenic deuterium

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hansen, J. F.; Smalyuk, V. A.

    2005-10-01

    We report on experiments under way at the Omega laser, using cryogenic deuterium to study Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities in laser targets. These instabilities are important in astrophysical situations (e.g., mixing of the different shells during a supernova explosion) and in inertial fusion (during the compression stage of a fusion target). They can be studied in small (˜1 mm) shock tubes filled with one heavy and one light material, with an interface between the two materials that is machined to seed the instability. A high-energy laser (˜5 kJ) drives a shock from the heavy to the light material. The evolution of the interface is studied using gated x-ray cameras, where x-ray illumination is obtained from additional laser beams focused on metal backlighter foils. Traditionally the heavy material is CH (1 g/cm^3) doped with I or Br for improved contrast, while the light material is a low-density (˜0.1 g/cm^3) C foam. The goal of the current experiments is to determine if contrast can be improved even further by replacing the foam with cryogenic deuterium, which has a density similar to the foam, but a lower x-ray opacity allowing clearer images, including images taken at late times in the evolution. Work performed under the auspices of the Department of Energy by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under contract number W-7405-ENG-48.

  12. Simulation and stability analysis of oblique shock-wave/boundary-layer interactions at Mach 5.92

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hildebrand, Nathaniel; Dwivedi, Anubhav; Nichols, Joseph W.; Jovanović, Mihailo R.; Candler, Graham V.

    2018-01-01

    We investigate flow instability created by an oblique shock wave impinging on a Mach 5.92 laminar boundary layer at a transitional Reynolds number. The adverse pressure gradient of the oblique shock causes the boundary layer to separate from the wall, resulting in the formation of a recirculation bubble. For sufficiently large oblique shock angles, the recirculation bubble is unstable to three-dimensional perturbations and the flow bifurcates from its original laminar state. We utilize direct numerical simulation (DNS) and global stability analysis to show that this first occurs at a critical shock angle of θ =12 .9∘ . At bifurcation, the least-stable global mode is nonoscillatory and it takes place at a spanwise wave number β =0.25 , in good agreement with DNS results. Examination of the critical global mode reveals that it originates from an interaction between small spanwise corrugations at the base of the incident shock, streamwise vortices inside the recirculation bubble, and spanwise modulation of the bubble strength. The global mode drives the formation of long streamwise streaks downstream of the bubble. While the streaks may be amplified by either the lift-up effect or by Görtler instability, we show that centrifugal instability plays no role in the upstream self-sustaining mechanism of the global mode. We employ an adjoint solver to corroborate our physical interpretation by showing that the critical global mode is most sensitive to base flow modifications that are entirely contained inside the recirculation bubble.

  13. Tension pneumocephalus mimicking septic shock: a case report.

    PubMed

    Miranda, Caroline; Mahta, Ali; Wheeler, Lee Adam; Tsiouris, A John; Kamel, Hooman

    2018-02-01

    Tension pneumocephalus can lead to rapid neurologic deterioration. We report for the first time its association with aseptic systemic inflammatory response syndrome mimicking septic shock and the efficacy of prompt neurosurgical intervention and critical care support in treating this condition. A 64-year-old man underwent 2-stage olfactory groove meningioma resection. The patient developed altered mental status and gait instability on postoperative day 6. Imaging showed significant pneumocephalus. The patient subsequently developed worsening mental status, respiratory failure, and profound shock requiring multiple vasopressors. Bedside needle decompression, identification and repair of the cranial fossa defect, and critical care support led to improved mental status and reversal of shock and multiorgan dysfunction. Thorough evaluation revealed no evidence of an underlying infection. In this case, tension pneumocephalus incited an aseptic systemic inflammatory response syndrome mimicking septic shock. Prompt neurosurgical correction of pneumocephalus and critical care support not only improved neurologic status, but also reversed shock. Such a complication indicates the importance of close monitoring of patients with progressive pneumocephalus.

  14. Langmuir waveforms at interplanetary shocks: STEREO statistical analysis

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Briand, C.

    2016-12-01

    Wave-particle interactions and particle acceleration are the two main processes allowing energy dissipation at non collisional shocks. Ion acceleration has been deeply studied for many years, also for their central role in the shock front reformation. Electron dynamics is also important in the shock dynamics through the instabilities they can generate which may impact the ion dynamics.Particle measurements can be efficiently completed by wave measurements to determine the characteristics of the electron beams and study the turbulence of the medium. Electric waveforms obtained from the S/WAVES instrument of the STEREO mission between 2007 to 2014 are analyzed. Thus, clear signature of Langmuir waves are observed on 41 interplanetary shocks. These data enable a statistical analysis and to deduce some characteristics of the electron dynamics on different shocks sources (SIR or ICME) and types (quasi-perpendicular or quasi-parallel). The conversion process between electrostatic to electromagnetic waves has also been tested in several cases.

  15. Constraining the initial conditions and final outcomes of accretion processes around young stars and supermassive black holes

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Stone, Jordan M.

    2015-04-01

    In this thesis I discuss probes of small spatial scales around young stars and protostars and around the supermassive black hole at the galactic center. I begin by describing adaptive optics-fed infrared spectroscopic studies of nascent and newborn binary systems. Binary star formation is a significant mode of star formation that could be responsible for the production of a majority of the galactic stellar population. Better characterization of the binary formation mechanism is important for better understanding many facets of astronomy, from proper estimates of the content of unresolved populations, to stellar evolution and feedback, to planet formation. My work revealed episodic accretion onto the more massive component of the pre-main sequence binary system UY Aur. I also showed changes in the accretion onto the less massive component, revealing contradictory indications of the change in accretion rate when considering disk-based and shock-based tracers. I suggested two scenarios to explain the inconsistency. First, increased accretion should alter the disk structure, puffing it up. This change could obscure the accretion shock onto the central star if the disk is highly inclined. Second, if accretion through the disk is impeded before it makes it all the way onto the central star, then increased disk tracers of accretion would not be accompanied by increased shock tracers. In this case mass must be piling up at some radius in the disk, possibly supplying the material for planet formation or a future burst of accretion. My next project focused on characterizing the atmospheres of very low-mass companions to nearby young stars. Whether these objects form in an extension of the binary-star formation mechanism to very low masses or they form via a different process is an open question. Different accretion histories should result in different atmospheric composition, which can be constrained with spectroscopy. I showed that 3--4mum spectra of a sample of these

  16. Nonlinear calculations of the time evolution of black hole accretion disks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Luo, C.

    1994-01-01

    Based on previous works on black hole accretion disks, I continue to explore the disk dynamics using the finite difference method to solve the highly nonlinear problem of time-dependent alpha disk equations. Here a radially zoned model is used to develop a computational scheme in order to accommodate functional dependence of the viscosity parameter alpha on the disk scale height and/or surface density. This work is based on the author's previous work on the steady disk structure and the linear analysis of disk dynamics to try to apply to x-ray emissions from black candidates (i.e., multiple-state spectra, instabilities, QPO's, etc.).

  17. Radio outburst from a massive (proto)star. When accretion turns into ejection

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cesaroni, R.; Moscadelli, L.; Neri, R.; Sanna, A.; Caratti o Garatti, A.; Eisloffel, J.; Stecklum, B.; Ray, T.; Walmsley, C. M.

    2018-05-01

    Context. Recent observations of the massive young stellar object S255 NIRS 3 have revealed a large increase in both methanol maser flux density and IR emission, which have been interpreted as the result of an accretion outburst, possibly due to instabilities in a circumstellar disk. This indicates that this type of accretion event could be common in young/forming early-type stars and in their lower mass siblings, and supports the idea that accretion onto the star may occur in a non-continuous way. Aims: As accretion and ejection are believed to be tightly associated phenomena, we wanted to confirm the accretion interpretation of the outburst in S255 NIRS 3 by detecting the corresponding burst of the associated thermal jet. Methods: We monitored the radio continuum emission from S255 NIRS 3 at four bands using the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array. The millimetre continuum emission was also observed with both the Northern Extended Millimeter Array of IRAM and the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array. Results: We have detected an exponential increase in the radio flux density from 6 to 45 GHz starting right after July 10, 2016, namely 13 months after the estimated onset of the IR outburst. This is the first ever detection of a radio burst associated with an IR accretion outburst from a young stellar object. The flux density at all observed centimetre bands can be reproduced with a simple expanding jet model. At millimetre wavelengths we infer a marginal flux increase with respect to the literature values and we show this is due to free-free emission from the radio jet. Conclusions: Our model fits indicate a significant increase in the jet opening angle and ionized mass loss rate with time. For the first time, we can estimate the ionization fraction in the jet and conclude that this must be low (<14%), lending strong support to the idea that the neutral component is dominant in thermal jets. Our findings strongly suggest that recurrent accretion + ejection

  18. Is an Accreting Binary Black Hole Precursor Driving the Ionisation Structure and its Kinematics in the Carafe?

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Shastri, Prajval

    2017-09-01

    We seek to test the hypothesis that radiatively efficient accretion onto the central supermassive black holes (SMBHs) of two merging galaxies drive the emission-line structure and kinematics that we see in the ROSAT-detected Carafe. We have confirmed the presence of two compact sources with LINER-type spectra, which coincide with two compact radio sources that we detect. We have obtained the emission-line structure and kinematics of the Carafe with an optical IFU mosaic. We demonstrate that the proposed 35ksec ACIS imaging will yield both the soft and hard X-ray photons that we need to definitively distinguish between the following hypotheses: that the driver of the system is a pair of accreting SMBH, or that the hot extended gas in the Carafe is shock-excited by two compact star bursts.

  19. Magnetohydrodynamic stability of stochastically driven accretion flows.

    PubMed

    Nath, Sujit Kumar; Mukhopadhyay, Banibrata; Chattopadhyay, Amit K

    2013-07-01

    We investigate the evolution of magnetohydrodynamic (or hydromagnetic as coined by Chandrasekhar) perturbations in the presence of stochastic noise in rotating shear flows. The particular emphasis is the flows whose angular velocity decreases but specific angular momentum increases with increasing radial coordinate. Such flows, however, are Rayleigh stable but must be turbulent in order to explain astrophysical observed data and, hence, reveal a mismatch between the linear theory and observations and experiments. The mismatch seems to have been resolved, at least in certain regimes, in the presence of a weak magnetic field, revealing magnetorotational instability. The present work explores the effects of stochastic noise on such magnetohydrodynamic flows, in order to resolve the above mismatch generically for the hot flows. We essentially concentrate on a small section of such a flow which is nothing but a plane shear flow supplemented by the Coriolis effect, mimicking a small section of an astrophysical accretion disk around a compact object. It is found that such stochastically driven flows exhibit large temporal and spatial autocorrelations and cross-correlations of perturbation and, hence, large energy dissipations of perturbation, which generate instability. Interestingly, autocorrelations and cross-correlations appear independent of background angular velocity profiles, which are Rayleigh stable, indicating their universality. This work initiates our attempt to understand the evolution of three-dimensional hydromagnetic perturbations in rotating shear flows in the presence of stochastic noise.

  20. Accretion-driven turbulence in filaments - I. Non-gravitational accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Heigl, S.; Burkert, A.; Gritschneder, M.

    2018-03-01

    We study accretion-driven turbulence for different inflow velocities in star-forming filaments using the code RAMSES. Filaments are rarely isolated objects and their gravitational potential will lead to radially dominated accretion. In the non-gravitational case, accretion by itself can already provoke non-isotropic, radially dominated turbulent motions responsible for the complex structure and non-thermal line widths observed in filaments. We find that there is a direct linear relation between the absolute value of the total density-weighted velocity dispersion and the infall velocity. The turbulent velocity dispersion in the filaments is independent of sound speed or any net flow along the filament. We show that the density-weighted velocity dispersion acts as an additional pressure term, supporting the filament in hydrostatic equilibrium. Comparing to observations, we find that the projected non-thermal line width variation is generally subsonic independent of inflow velocity.

  1. Perpendicular relativistic shocks in magnetized pair plasma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Plotnikov, Illya; Grassi, Anna; Grech, Mickael

    2018-07-01

    Perpendicular relativistic (γ0= 10) shocks in magnetized pair plasmas are investigated using two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations. A systematic survey, from unmagnetized to strongly magnetized shocks, is presented accurately capturing the transition from Weibel-mediated to magnetic-reflection-shaped shocks. This transition is found to occur for upstream flow magnetizations 10-3 < σ < 10-2 at which a strong perpendicular net current is observed in the precursor, driving the so-called current-filamentation instability. The global structure of the shock and shock formation time are discussed. The magnetohydrodynamics shock jump conditions are found in good agreement with the numerical results, except for 10-4 < σ < 10-2 where a deviation up to 10 per cent is observed. The particle precursor length converges towards the Larmor radius of particles injected in the upstream magnetic field at intermediate magnetizations. For σ > 10-2, it leaves place to a purely electromagnetic precursor following from the strong emission of electromagnetic waves at the shock front. Particle acceleration is found to be efficient in weakly magnetized perpendicular shocks in agreement with previous works, and is fully suppressed for σ > 10-2. Diffusive shock acceleration is observed only in weakly magnetized shocks, while a dominant contribution of shock drift acceleration is evidenced at intermediate magnetizations. The spatial diffusion coefficients are extracted from the simulations allowing for a deeper insight into the self-consistent particle kinematics and scale with the square of the particle energy in weakly magnetized shocks. These results have implications for particle acceleration in the internal shocks of active galactic nucleus jets and in the termination shocks of pulsar wind nebulae.

  2. Perpendicular relativistic shocks in magnetized pair plasma

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Plotnikov, Illya; Grassi, Anna; Grech, Mickael

    2018-04-01

    Perpendicular relativistic (γ0 = 10) shocks in magnetized pair plasmas are investigated using two dimensional Particle-in-Cell simulations. A systematic survey, from unmagnetized to strongly magnetized shocks, is presented accurately capturing the transition from Weibel-mediated to magnetic-reflection-shaped shocks. This transition is found to occur for upstream flow magnetizations 10-3 < σ < 10-2 at which a strong perpendicular net current is observed in the precursor, driving the so-called current-filamentation instability. The global structure of the shock and shock formation time are discussed. The MHD shock jump conditions are found in good agreement with the numerical results, except for 10-4 < σ < 10-2 where a deviation up to 10% is observed. The particle precursor length converges toward the Larmor radius of particles injected in the upstream magnetic field at intermediate magnetizations. For σ > 10-2, it leaves place to a purely electromagnetic precursor following from the strong emission of electromagnetic waves at the shock front. Particle acceleration is found to be efficient in weakly magnetized perpendicular shocks in agreement with previous works, and is fully suppressed for σ > 10-2. Diffusive Shock Acceleration is observed only in weakly magnetized shocks, while a dominant contribution of Shock Drift Acceleration is evidenced at intermediate magnetizations. The spatial diffusion coefficients are extracted from the simulations allowing for a deeper insight into the self-consistent particle kinematics and scale with the square of the particle energy in weakly magnetized shocks. These results have implications for particle acceleration in the internal shocks of AGN jets and in the termination shocks of Pulsar Wind Nebulae.

  3. Theory and High-Energy-Density Laser Experiments Relevant to Accretion Processes in Cataclysmic Variables

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krauland, Christine; Drake, R.; Loupias, B.; Falize, E.; Busschaert, C.; Ravasio, A.; Yurchak, R.; Pelka, A.; Koenig, M.; Kuranz, C. C.; Plewa, T.; Huntington, C. M.; Kaczala, D. N.; Klein, S.; Sweeney, R.; Villete, B.; Young, R.; Keiter, P. A.

    2012-05-01

    We present results from high-energy-density (HED) laboratory experiments that explore the contribution of radiative shock waves to the evolving dynamics of the cataclysmic variable (CV) systems in which they reside. CVs can be classified under two main categories, non-magnetic and magnetic. In the process of accretion, both types involve strongly radiating shocks that provide the main source of radiation in the binary systems. This radiation can cause varying structure to develop depending on the optical properties of the material on either side of the shock. The ability of high-intensity lasers to create large energy densities in targets of millimeter-scale volume makes it feasible to create similar radiative shocks in the laboratory. We provide an overview of both CV systems and their connection to the designed and executed laboratory experiments preformed on two laser facilities. Available data and accompanying simulations will likewise be shown. Funded by the NNSA-DS and SC-OFES Joint Prog. in High-Energy-Density Lab. Plasmas, by the Nat. Laser User Facility Prog. in NNSA-DS and by the Predictive Sci. Acad. Alliances Prog. in NNSA-ASC, under grant numbers are DE-FG52-09NA29548, DE-FG52-09NA29034, and DE-FC52-08NA28616.

  4. Accretion rates of protoplanets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Greenzweig, Yuval

    The giant planets' solid cores must have formed prior to the dispersal of the primordial solar nebula, to allow the capture of their massive, gaseous envelopes from the nebula. Recent observations of disks of dust surrounding nearby solar-like stars lead to estimates of nebula lifetimes at 106 to 107 years. Thus, theories of solid particle accretion must explain how the solid cores of the giant planets may have formed within comparable timescales. Calculations are presented which support the sole currently hypothesized mechanism of planetary accretion in which the duration of the stage of growth from planetesimals (1 to 10 km size bodies) to moon- or planet-size bodies lies within the widely accepted time constraint mentioned above. It has been shown that under certain conditions a growth advantage is given to the larger bodies of a swarm of Sun-orbiting planetesimals, resulting in runaway growth of the largest body (or bodies) in the swarm. The gravitational cross section of the protoplanet (the largest body in the swarm) increases with its size, eventually requiring the inclusion of the effect of the solar tidal force on the interaction between it and a passing planetesimal. Thus, numerical integrations of the three-body problem (Sun, protoplanet and planetesimal) are needed to determine the accretion rates of protoplanets. Existing analytical formulas are refined for the two-body (no solar tidal force) accretion rates of planetesimals or small protoplanets, and numerically derives the three-body accretion rates of large protoplanets. The three-body accretion rates calculated span a wide range of protoplanetary orbital radii, masses, and densities, and a wide range of planetesimal orbital eccentricities and inclinations. The most useful numerical results are approximated by algebraic expressions, to facilitate their use in accretion calculations, particularly by numerical codes. Since planetary accretion rates depend strongly on planetesimal random velocities

  5. Instability of counter-rotating stellar disks

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hohlfeld, R. G.; Lovelace, R. V. E.

    2015-09-01

    We use an N-body simulation, constructed using GADGET-2, to investigate an accretion flow onto an astrophysical disk that is in the opposite sense to the disk's rotation. In order to separate dynamics intrinsic to the counter-rotating flow from the impact of the flow onto the disk, we consider an initial condition in which the counter-rotating flow is in an annular region immediately exterior the main portion of the astrophysical disk. Such counter-rotating flows are seen in systems such as NGC 4826 (known as the "Evil Eye Galaxy"). Interaction between the rotating and counter-rotating components is due to two-stream instability in the boundary region. A multi-armed spiral density wave is excited in the astrophysical disk and a density distribution with high azimuthal mode number is excited in the counter-rotating flow. Density fluctuations in the counter-rotating flow aggregate into larger clumps and some of the material in the counter-rotating flow is scattered to large radii. Accretion flow processes such as this are increasingly seen to be of importance in the evolution of multi-component galactic disks.

  6. A cosmic ray driven instability

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Dorfi, E. A.; Drury, L. O.

    1985-01-01

    The interaction between energetic charged particles and thermal plasma which forms the basis of diffusive shock acceleration leads also to interesting dynamical phenomena. For a compressional mode propagating in a system with homogeneous energetic particle pressure it is well known that friction with the energetic particles leads to damping. The linear theory of this effect has been analyzed in detail by Ptuskin. Not so obvious is that a non-uniform energetic particle pressure can addition amplify compressional disturbances. If the pressure gradient is sufficiently steep this growth can dominate the frictional damping and lead to an instability. It is important to not that this effect results from the collective nature of the interaction between the energetic particles and the gas and is not connected with the Parker instability, nor with the resonant amplification of Alfven waves.

  7. Shock-induced perturbation evolution in planar laser targets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aglitskiy, Y.; Karasik, M.; Velikovich, A. L.; Serlin, V.; Weaver, J. L.; Kessler, T. J.; Schmitt, A. J.; Obenschain, S. P.; Metzler, N.; Oh, J.

    2013-10-01

    Experimental studies of hydrodynamic perturbation evolution triggered by a laser-driven shock wave in a planar target done on the KrF Nike laser facility are reported. The targets were made of solid plastic and/or plastic foam with single mode sinusoidal perturbation on the front or back surface or plastic/foam interface. Two specific cases are discussed. When a planar solid plastic target rippled at the front side is irradiated with a 350 ps long laser pulse, ablative Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) oscillation of its areal mass modulation amplitude is detected while the laser is on, followed by observed strong oscillations of the areal mass in the unsupported shock flow after the laser pulse ends. When the target is rippled at the rear side, the nature of the perturbation evolution after the shock breakout is determined by the strength of the laser-driven shock wave. At pressure below 1 Mbar shock interaction with rear-surface ripples produces planar collimated jets manifesting the development of a classical RM instability in a weakly compressible shocked fluid. At shock pressure ~ 8 Mbar sufficient for vaporizing the shocked target material we observed instead the strong areal mass oscillations characteristic of a rippled centered rarefaction wave. Work supported by US DOE, Defense Programs.

  8. Effects of initial condition spectral content on shock-driven turbulent mixing.

    PubMed

    Nelson, Nicholas J; Grinstein, Fernando F

    2015-07-01

    The mixing of materials due to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and the ensuing turbulent behavior is of intense interest in a variety of physical systems including inertial confinement fusion, combustion, and the final stages of stellar evolution. Extensive numerical and laboratory studies of shock-driven mixing have demonstrated the rich behavior associated with the onset of turbulence due to the shocks. Here we report on progress in understanding shock-driven mixing at interfaces between fluids of differing densities through three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations using the rage code in the implicit large eddy simulation context. We consider a shock-tube configuration with a band of high density gas (SF(6)) embedded in low density gas (air). Shocks with a Mach number of 1.26 are passed through SF(6) bands, resulting in transition to turbulence driven by the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. The system is followed as a rarefaction wave and a reflected secondary shock from the back wall pass through the SF(6) band. We apply a variety of initial perturbations to the interfaces between the two fluids in which the physical standard deviation, wave number range, and the spectral slope of the perturbations are held constant, but the number of modes initially present is varied. By thus decreasing the density of initial spectral modes of the interface, we find that we can achieve as much as 25% less total mixing at late times. This has potential direct implications for the treatment of initial conditions applied to material interfaces in both 3D and reduced dimensionality simulation models.

  9. Evidence of Collisionless Shocks in a Hall Thruster Plume

    DTIC Science & Technology

    2003-04-25

    Triple Langmuir probes and emissive probes are used to measure the electron number density, electron temperature, and plasma potential downstream of a low-power Hall thruster . The results show a high density plasma core with elevated electron temperature and plasma potential along the thruster centerline. These properties are believed to be due to collisionless shocks formed as a result of the ion/ion acoustic instability. A simple model is presented that shows the existence of a collisionless shock to be consistent with the observed phenomena.

  10. Accretion onto CO White Dwarfs using MESA

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Feng, Wanda; Starrfield, Sumner

    2018-06-01

    The nature of type Ia Supernovae (SNe Ia) progenitor systems and their underlying mechanism are not well understood. There are two competing progenitor scenarios: the single-degenerate scenario wherein a white dwarf (WD) star accretes material from a companion star, reaching the Chandrasekhar mass limit; and, the double-degenerate scenario wherein two WDs merge. In this study, we investigate the single-degenerate scenario by accretion onto carbon-oxygen (CO) WDs using the Modules for Experiments in Stellar Astrophysics (MESA). We vary the WD mass, composition of the accreting material, and accretion rate in our models. Mixing between the accreted material and the WD core is informed by multidimensional studies that suggest occurance after thermonuclear runaway (TNR) ensues. We compare the accretion of solar composition material onto CO WDs with the accretion of mixed solar and core material after TNR. As many of our models eject less material than accreted, our study supports that accretion onto CO WDs is a feasible channel for SNe I progenitors.

  11. The role of hot electrons in the dynamics of a laser-driven strong converging shock

    DOE PAGES

    Llor Aisa, E.; Ribeyre, X.; Duchateau, G.; ...

    2017-11-30

    Experiments on strong shock excitation in spherical plastic targets conducted at the Omega Laser Facility are interpreted with the radiation–hydrodynamics code CHIC to account for parametric instabilities excitation and hot-electron generation. The effects of hot electrons on the shock-pressure amplification and upstream preheat are analyzed. In this study, it is demonstrated that both effects contribute to an increase in shock velocity. Comparison of the measured laser reflectivity and shock flash time with numerical simulations make it possible to reconstitute the time history of the ablation and shock pressures. Finally, consequences of this analysis for the shock-ignition target design are discussed.

  12. The role of hot electrons in the dynamics of a laser-driven strong converging shock

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Llor Aisa, E.; Ribeyre, X.; Duchateau, G.

    Experiments on strong shock excitation in spherical plastic targets conducted at the Omega Laser Facility are interpreted with the radiation–hydrodynamics code CHIC to account for parametric instabilities excitation and hot-electron generation. The effects of hot electrons on the shock-pressure amplification and upstream preheat are analyzed. In this study, it is demonstrated that both effects contribute to an increase in shock velocity. Comparison of the measured laser reflectivity and shock flash time with numerical simulations make it possible to reconstitute the time history of the ablation and shock pressures. Finally, consequences of this analysis for the shock-ignition target design are discussed.

  13. Instability of warped discs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Doǧan, S.; Nixon, C. J.; King, A. R.; Pringle, J. E.

    2018-05-01

    Accretion discs are generally warped. If a warp in a disc is too large, the disc can `break' apart into two or more distinct planes, with only tenuous connections between them. Further, if an initially planar disc is subject to a strong differential precession, then it can be torn apart into discrete annuli that precess effectively independently. In previous investigations, torque-balance formulae have been used to predict where and when the disc breaks into distinct parts. In this work, focusing on discs with Keplerian rotation and where the shearing motions driving the radial communication of the warp are damped locally by turbulence (the `diffusive' regime), we investigate the stability of warped discs to determine the precise criterion for an isolated warped disc to break. We find and solve the dispersion relation, which, in general, yields three roots. We provide a comprehensive analysis of this viscous-warp instability and the emergent growth rates and their dependence on disc parameters. The physics of the instability can be understood as a combination of (1) a term that would generally encapsulate the classical Lightman-Eardley instability in planar discs (given by ∂(νΣ)/∂Σ < 0) but is here modified by the warp to include ∂(ν1|ψ|)/∂|ψ| < 0, and (2) a similar condition acting on the diffusion of the warp amplitude given in simplified form by ∂(ν2|ψ|)/∂|ψ| < 0. We discuss our findings in the context of discs with an imposed precession, and comment on the implications for different astrophysical systems.

  14. e+/- Pair Loading and the Origin of the Upstream Field in GRB Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico; Nishikawa, Ken-Ichi; Hededal, Christian B.

    2006-01-01

    We investigate here the effects of plasma instabilities driven by rapid e(sup plus or minus) pair cascades, which arise in the environment of GRB sources as a result of back-scattering of a seed fraction of their original spectrum. The injection of e(sup plus or minus) pairs induces strong streaming motions in the ambient medium. One therefore expects the pair-enriched medium ahead of the forward shock to be strongly sheared on length scales comparable to the radiation front thickness. Using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show that plasma instabilities driven by these streaming e(sup plus or minus) pairs are responsible for the excitation of near-equipartition, turbulent magnetic fields. Our results reveal the importance of the electromagnetic filamentation instability in ensuring an effective coupling between e(sup plus or minus) pairs and ions, and may help explain the origin of large upstream fields in GRB shocks.

  15. e(sup +/-) Pair Loading and the Origin of the Upstream Magnetic Field in GRB Shocks

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Ramirez-Ruiz, Enrico; Nishikawa, Ken-Ichi; Hededal, Christian B.

    2006-01-01

    We investigate here the effects of plasma instabilities driven by rapid e(sup +/-) pair cascades, which arise in the environment of GRB sources as a result of back-scattering of a seed fraction of their original spectrum. The injection of e(sup +/-) pairs induces strong streaming motions in the ambient medium. One therefore expects the pair-enriched medium ahead of the forward shock to be strongly sheared on length scales comparable to the radiation front thickness. Using three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show that plasma instabilities driven by these streaming e(sup +/-) pairs are responsible for the excitation of near-equipartition, turbulent magnetic fields. Our results reveal the importance of the electromagnetic filamentation instability in ensuring an effective coupling between e(sup +/-) pairs and ions, and may help explain the origin of large upstream fields in GRB shocks.

  16. Lessons Learned from Numerical Simulations of Interfacial Instabilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Cook, Andrew

    2015-11-01

    Rayleigh-Taylor (RT), Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) and Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instabilities serve as efficient mixing mechanisms in a wide variety of flows, from supernovae to jet engines. Over the past decade, we have used the Miranda code to temporally integrate the multi-component Navier-Stokes equations at spatial resolutions up to 29 billion grid points. The code employs 10th-order compact schemes for spatial derivatives, combined with 4th-order Runge-Kutta time advancement. Some of our major findings are as follows: The rate of growth of a mixing layer is equivalent to the net mass flux through the equi-molar plane. RT growth rates can be significantly reduced by adding shear. RT instability can produce shock waves. The growth rate of RM instability can be predicted from known interfacial perturbations. RM vortex projectiles can far outrun the mixing region. Thermal fluctuations in molecular dynamics simulations can seed instabilities along the braids in KH instability. And finally, enthalpy diffusion is essential in preserving the second law of thermodynamics. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344.

  17. Flares, Magnetic Reconnections and Accretion Disk Viscosity

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Welsh, William

    2001-07-01

    Accretion disks are invoked to explain a host of astrophysical phenomena, from protostellar objects to AGN. And yet the mechanism allowing accretion disks to operate are completely unknown. This proposal seeks to observe the ``smoking gun'' signature of magnetically-driven viscosity in accretion disks. Magnetically-induced viscosity is a plausible and generally accepted hypothesis {for esthetic reasons}, but it is completely untested. Determining the cause of accretion disk viscosity is of major significance to all accretion-disk powered systems {e.g. CVs, X-ray binaries, AGN and protostellar disks}. These data will also firmly establish the importance of magnetic fields in accretion disks. Because of its known flaring properites, we will observe the accretion disk in EM Cyg simulataneously with STIS/FUV and CHANDRA. The simultaneous X-rays are absolutely necessary for the unambiguous detection of accretion disk magnetic reconnection flares.

  18. Accretion onto a charged Kiselev black hole

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Abbas, G.; Ditta, A.

    2018-04-01

    Accretion of matter onto a compact is one of the interesting astrophysical processes. Here, we study the accretion of matter onto a charged Kiselev black hole. The problem of static and spherically symmetric accretion of a polytropic fluid is explored for the analytic solution of equations of motion. We have investigated the necessary conditions for existence of the critical flow points and the mass accretion rate. Finally, we discuss the polytropic gas accretion in detail. It has been found that in the accretion process the quintessence and charge parameters play a dominant role.

  19. Shock heating in numerical simulations of kink-unstable coronal loops

    PubMed Central

    Bareford, M. R.; Hood, A. W.

    2015-01-01

    An analysis of the importance of shock heating within coronal magnetic fields has hitherto been a neglected area of study. We present new results obtained from nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic simulations of straight coronal loops. This work shows how the energy released from the magnetic field, following an ideal instability, can be converted into thermal energy, thereby heating the solar corona. Fast dissipation of magnetic energy is necessary for coronal heating and this requirement is compatible with the time scales associated with ideal instabilities. Therefore, we choose an initial loop configuration that is susceptible to the fast-growing kink, an instability that is likely to be created by convectively driven vortices, occurring where the loop field intersects the photosphere (i.e. the loop footpoints). The large-scale deformation of the field caused by the kinking creates the conditions for the formation of strong current sheets and magnetic reconnection, which have previously been considered as sites of heating, under the assumption of an enhanced resistivity. However, our simulations indicate that slow mode shocks are the primary heating mechanism, since, as well as creating current sheets, magnetic reconnection also generates plasma flows that are faster than the slow magnetoacoustic wave speed. PMID:25897092

  20. On the X-ray spectra of luminous, inhomogeneous accretion flows

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Merloni, A.; Malzac, J.; Fabian, A. C.; Ross, R. R.

    2006-08-01

    We discuss the expected X-ray spectral and variability properties of black hole accretion discs at high luminosity, under the hypothesis that radiation-pressure-dominated discs are subject to violent clumping instabilities and, as a result, have a highly inhomogeneous two-phase structure. After deriving the full accretion disc solutions explicitly in terms of the parameters of the model, we study their radiative properties both with a simple two-zone model, treatable analytically, and with radiative transfer simulations which account simultaneously for energy balance and Comptonization in the hot phase, together with reflection, reprocessing, ionization and thermal balance in the cold phase. We show that, if not only the density, but also the heating rate within these flows is inhomogeneous, then complex reflection-dominated spectra can be obtained for a high enough covering fraction of the cold phase. In general, large reflection components in the observed X-ray spectra should be associated with strong soft excesses, resulting from the combined emission of ionized atomic emission lines. The variability properties of such systems are such that, even when contributing to a large fraction of the hard X-ray spectrum, the reflection component is less variable than the power-law-like emission originating from the hot Comptonizing phase, in agreement with what is observed in many Narrow Line Seyfert 1 galaxies and bright Seyfert 1. Our model falls within the family of those trying to explain the complex X-ray spectra of bright AGN with ionized reflection, but presents an alternative, specific, physically motivated, geometrical set-up for the complex multiphase structure of the inner regions of near-Eddington accretion flows.

  1. Shear dynamo, turbulence, and the magnetorotational instability

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Squire, Jonathan

    The formation, evolution, and detailed structure of accretion disks remain poorly understood, with wide implications across a variety of astrophysical disciplines. While the most pressing question – what causes the high angular momentum fluxes that are necessary to explain observations? – is nicely answered by the idea that the disk is turbulent, a more complete grasp of the fundamental processes is necessary to capture the wide variety of behaviors observed in the night sky. This thesis studies the turbulence in ionized accretion disks from a theoretical standpoint, in particular focusing on the generation of magnetic fields in these processes, knownmore » as dynamo. Such fields are expected to be enormously important, both by enabling the magnetorotational instability (which evolves into virulent turbulence), and through large-scale structure formation, which may transport angular momentum in different ways and be fundamental for the formation of jets. The central result of this thesis is the suggestion of a new large-scale dynamo mechanism in shear flows – the “magnetic shear-current effect” – which relies on a positive feedback from smallscale magnetic fields. As well as being a very promising candidate for driving field generation in the central regions of accretion disks, this effect is interesting because small-scale magnetic fields have historically been considered to have a negative effect on the large-scale dynamo, damping growth and leading to dire predictions for final saturation amplitudes. Given that small-scale fields are ubiquitous in plasma turbulence above moderate Reynolds numbers, the finding that they could instead have a positive effect in some situations is interesting from a theoretical and practical standpoint. The effect is studied using direct numerical simulation, analytic techniques, and novel statistical simulation methods. In addition to the dynamo, much attention is given to the linear physics of disks and its relevance

  2. Investigation of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Riccardo Bonazza; Mark Anderson; Jason Oakley

    2008-12-22

    The present program is centered on the experimental study of shock-induced interfacial fluid instabilities. Both 2-D (near-sinusoids) and 3-D (spheres) initial conditions are studied in a large, vertical square shock tube facility. The evolution of the interface shape, its distortion, the modal growth rates and the mixing of the fluids at the interface are all objectives of the investigation. In parallel to the experiments, calculations are performed using the Raptor code, on platforms made available by LLNL. These flows are of great relevance to both ICF and stockpile stewardship. The involvement of three graduate students is in line with themore » national laboratories' interest in the education of scientists and engineers in disciplines and technologies consistent with the labs' missions and activities.« less

  3. Modeling magnetic field amplification in nonlinear diffusive shock acceleration

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Vladimirov, Andrey

    2009-02-01

    This research was motivated by the recent observations indicating very strong magnetic fields at some supernova remnant shocks, which suggests in-situ generation of magnetic turbulence. The dissertation presents a numerical model of collisionless shocks with strong amplification of stochastic magnetic fields, self-consistently coupled to efficient shock acceleration of charged particles. Based on a Monte Carlo simulation of particle transport and acceleration in nonlinear shocks, the model describes magnetic field amplification using the state-of-the-art analytic models of instabilities in magnetized plasmas in the presence of non-thermal particle streaming. The results help one understand the complex nonlinear connections between the thermal plasma, the accelerated particles and the stochastic magnetic fields in strong collisionless shocks. Also, predictions regarding the efficiency of particle acceleration and magnetic field amplification, the impact of magnetic field amplification on the maximum energy of accelerated particles, and the compression and heating of the thermal plasma by the shocks are presented. Particle distribution functions and turbulence spectra derived with this model can be used to calculate the emission of observable nonthermal radiation.

  4. [Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in protostellar jets

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Stone, James; Hardee, Philip

    1996-01-01

    NASA grant NAG 5 2866, funded by the Astrophysics Theory Program, enabled the study the Kelvin-Helmholtz instability in protostellar jets. In collaboration with co-investigator Philip Hardee, the PI derived the analytic dispersion relation for the instability in including a cooling term in the energy equation which was modeled as one of two different power laws. Numerical solutions to this dispersion relation over a wide range of perturbation frequencies, and for a variety of parameter values characterizing the jet (such as Mach number, and density ratio) were found It was found that the growth rates and wavelengths associated with unstable roots of the dispersion relation in cooling jets are significantly different than those associated with adiabatic jets, which have been studied previously. In collaboration with graduate student Jianjun Xu (funded as a research associate under this grant), hydrodynamical simulations were used to follow the growth of the instability into the nonlinear regime. It was found that asymmetric surface waves lead to large amplitude, sinusoidal distortions of the jet, and ultimately to disruption Asymmetric body waves, on the other hand, result in the formation of shocks in the jet beam in the nonlinear regime. In cooling jets, these shocks lead to the formation of dense knots and filaments of gas within the jet. For sufficiently high perturbation frequencies, however, the jet cannot respond and it remains symmetric. Applying these results to observed systems, such as the Herbig-Haro jets HH34, HH111 and HH47 which have been observed with the Hubble Space Telescope, we predicted that some of the asymmetric structures observed in these systems could be attributed to the K-H modes, but that perturbations on timescales associated with the inner disk (about 1 year) would be too rapid to cause disruption. Moreover, it was discovered that weak shock 'spurs' in the ambient gas produced by ripples in the jet surface due to nonlinear, modes of

  5. Gravity signatures of terrane accretion

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Franco, Heather; Abbott, Dallas

    1999-01-01

    In modern collisional environments, accreted terranes are bracketed by forearc gravity lows, a gravitational feature which results from the abandonment of the original trench and the initiation of a new trench seaward of the accreted terrane. The size and shape of the gravity low depends on the type of accreted feature and the strength of the formerly subducting plate. Along the Central American trench, the accretion of Gorgona Island caused a seaward trench jump of 48 to 66 km. The relict trench axes show up as gravity lows behind the trench with minimum values of -78 mgal (N of Gorgona) and -49 mgal (S of Gorgona) respectively. These forearc gravity lows have little or no topographic expression. The active trench immediately seaward of these forearc gravity lows has minimum gravity values of -59 mgal (N of Gorgona) and -58 mgal (S of Gorgona), respectively. In the north, the active trench has a less pronounced gravity low than the sediment covered forearc. In the Mariana arc, two Cretaceous seamounts have been accreted to the Eocene arc. The northern seamount is most likely a large block, the southern seamount may be a thrust slice. These more recent accretion events have produced modest forearc topographic and gravity lows in comparison with the topographic and gravity lows within the active trench. However, the minimum values of the Mariana forearc gravity lows are modest only by comparison to the Mariana Trench (-216 mgal); their absolute values are more negative than at Gorgona Island (-145 to -146 mgal). We speculate that the forearc gravity lows and seaward trench jumps near Gorgona Island were produced by the accretion of a hotspot island from a strong plate. The Mariana gravity lows and seaward trench jumps (or thrust slices) were the result of breaking a relatively weak plate close to the seamount edifice. These gravity lows resulting from accretion events should be preserved in older accreted terranes.

  6. A powerful local shear instability in weakly magnetized disks. I - Linear analysis. II - Nonlinear evolution

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Balbus, Steven A.; Hawley, John F.

    1991-01-01

    A broad class of astronomical accretion disks is presently shown to be dynamically unstable to axisymmetric disturbances in the presence of a weak magnetic field, an insight with consequently broad applicability to gaseous, differentially-rotating systems. In the first part of this work, a linear analysis is presented of the instability, which is local and extremely powerful; the maximum growth rate, which is of the order of the angular rotation velocity, is independent of the strength of the magnetic field. Fluid motions associated with the instability directly generate both poloidal and toroidal field components. In the second part of this investigation, the scaling relation between the instability's wavenumber and the Alfven velocity is demonstrated, and the independence of the maximum growth rate from magnetic field strength is confirmed.

  7. OXIDIZING PROTO-ATMOSPHERE ON TITAN: CONSTRAINT FROM N{sub 2} FORMATION BY IMPACT SHOCK

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Ishimaru, Ryo; Matsui, Takafumi; Sekine, Yasuhito

    2011-11-01

    Titan is the only satellite that possesses a thick atmosphere, composed mainly of N{sub 2} and CH{sub 4}. However, its origin and evolution remain largely unknown. Knowledge of the acquirement of a N{sub 2} atmosphere on Titan would provide insights into nitrogen evolution in planetary atmospheres as well as the formation of satellite systems around gas giants. Previous studies have proposed that the atmospheric N{sub 2} would have been converted from NH{sub 3} via shock heating by accreting satellitesimals in the highly reducing proto-atmosphere composed of NH{sub 3} and CH{sub 4}. Nevertheless, the validity of this mechanism strongly depends onmore » both the composition of the proto-atmosphere and kinetics of shock chemistry. Here, we show that a CO{sub 2}-rich oxidizing proto-atmosphere is necessary to form N{sub 2} from NH{sub 3} efficiently by atmospheric shock heating. Efficient shock production of N{sub 2} is inhibited in a reducing proto-atmosphere composed of NH{sub 3} and CH{sub 4}, because CH{sub 4} plays as the coolant gas owing to its large heat capacity. Our calculations show that the amount of N{sub 2} produced in a CO{sub 2}-rich proto-atmosphere could have reached {approx}20 times that on the present Titan. Although further quantitative analysis are required (especially, the occurrence of catalytic reactions), our results imply that the chemical composition of satellitesimals that formed the Saturnian system is required to be oxidizing if the current atmospheric N{sub 2} is derived from the shock heating in the proto-atmosphere during accretion. This supports the formation of regular satellites in an actively supplied circumplanetary disk using CO{sub 2}-rich materials originated from the solar nebula at the final stage of gas giant formation.« less

  8. Electron Heating in Low Mach Number Perpendicular Shocks. II. Dependence on the Pre-shock Conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Guo, Xinyi; Sironi, Lorenzo; Narayan, Ramesh

    2018-05-01

    Recent X-ray observations of merger shocks in galaxy clusters have shown that the post-shock plasma is two-temperature, with the protons being hotter than the electrons. In this work, the second of a series, we investigate the efficiency of irreversible electron heating in perpendicular low Mach number shocks, by means of two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. We consider values of plasma beta (the ratio of thermal and magnetic pressures) in the range 4 ≲ β p0 ≲ 32, and sonic Mach number (the ratio of shock speed to pre-shock sound speed) in the range 2 ≲ M s ≲ 5, as appropriate for galaxy cluster shocks. As shown in Paper I, magnetic field amplification—induced by shock compression of the pre-shock field, or by strong proton cyclotron and mirror modes accompanying the relaxation of proton temperature anisotropy—can drive the electron temperature anisotropy beyond the threshold of the electron whistler instability. The growth of whistler waves breaks the electron adiabatic invariance, and allows for efficient entropy production. We find that the post-shock electron temperature T e2 exceeds the adiabatic expectation {T}e2,{ad} by an amount ({T}e2-{T}e2,{ad})/{T}e0≃ 0.044 {M}s({M}s-1) (here, T e0 is the pre-shock temperature), which depends only weakly on the plasma beta over the range 4 ≲ β p0 ≲ 32 that we have explored, as well as on the proton-to-electron mass ratio (the coefficient of ≃0.044 is measured for our fiducial {m}i/{m}e=49, and we estimate that it will decrease to ≃0.03 for the realistic mass ratio). Our results have important implications for current and future observations of galaxy cluster shocks in the radio band (synchrotron emission and Sunyaev–Zel’dovich effect) and at X-ray frequencies.

  9. Optical diagnostics on the Magnetized Shock Experiment (MSX)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Boguski, J. C.; Weber, T. E.; Intrator, T. P.; Smith, R. J.; Dunn, J. P.; Hutchinson, T. M.; Gao, K. W.

    2013-10-01

    The Magnetized Shock Experiment (MSX) at Los Alamos National Laboratory was built to investigate the physics of high Alfvén Mach number, supercritical, magnetized shocks through the acceleration and subsequent stagnation of a Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) plasmoid against a magnetic mirror and/or plasma target. A suite of optical diagnostics has recently been fielded on MSX to characterize plasma conditions during the formation, acceleration, and stagnation phases of the experiment. CCD-backed streak and framing cameras, and a fiber-based visible light array, provide information regarding FRC shape, velocity, and instability growth. Time-resolved narrow and broadband spectroscopy provides information on pre-shock plasma temperature, impurity levels, shock location, and non-thermal ion distributions within the shock region. Details of the diagnostic design, configuration, and characterization will be presented along with initial results. This work is supported by the Center for Magnetic Self Organization, DoE OFES and NNSA under LANS contract DE-AC52-06NA25369. Approved for public release: LA-UR- 13-25190.

  10. Self-similar hot accretion flow onto a neutron star

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Medvedev, Mikhail V.

    2001-10-01

    We present analytical and numerical solutions which describe a hot, viscous, two-temperature accretion flow onto a neutron star or any other compact star with a surface. We assume Coulomb coupling between the protons and electrons, and free-free cooling from the electrons. Outside a thin boundary layer, where the accretion flow meets the star, we show that there is an extended settling region which is well-described by two self-similar solutions: (1) a two-temperature solution which is valid in an inner zone r<=102.5 (r is in Schwarzchild units), and (2) a one-temperature solution at larger radii. In both zones, ρ~r-2, Ω~r-3/2, v~r0, Tp~r-1 in the two-temperature zone, Te~r-1/2. The luminosity of the settling zone arises from the rotational energy of the star as the star is braked by viscosity; hence the luminosity is independent of Ṁ. The settling solution is convectively and viscously stable and is unlikely to have strong winds or outflows. The flow is thermally unstable, but the instability may be stabilized by thermal conduction. The settling solution described here is not advection-dominated, and is thus different from the self-similar ADAF found around black holes. When the spin of the star is small enough, however, the present solution transforms smoothly to a (settling) ADAF. .

  11. Relationships among physical properties as indicators of high temperature deformation or post-shock thermal annealing in ordinary chondrites

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Friedrich, Jon M.; Ruzicka, Alex; Macke, Robert J.

    Collisions and attendant shock compaction must have been important for the accretion and lithification of planetesimals, including the parent bodies of chondrites, but the conditions under which these occurred are not well constrained. A simple model for the compaction of chondrites predicts that shock intensity as recorded by shock stage should be related to porosity and grain fabric. To test this model, we studied sixteen ordinary chondrites of different groups (H, L, LL) using X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) to measure porosity and metal fabric, ideal gas pycnometry and 3D laser scanning to determine porosity, and optical microscopy (OM) to determinemore » shock stage. These included a subsample of six chondrites previously studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to characterize microstructures in olivine. Combining with previous data, results support the simple model in general, but not for chondrites with low shock-porosity-foliation (low-SPF chondrites). These include Kernouvé (H6), Portales Valley (H6/7), Butsura (H6), Park (L6), GRO 85209 (L6), Estacado (H6), MIL 99301 (LL6), Spade (H6), and Queen’s Mercy (H6), among others. The data for these meteorites are best explained by high ambient heat during or after shock. Low-SPF chondrites tend to have older 40Ar/39Ar ages (~4435–4526 Ma) than other, non-low-SPF type 6 chondrites in this study. We conclude that the H, L, and LL asteroids all were shock-compacted at an early stage while warm, with collisions occurring during metamorphic heating of the parent bodies. Results ultimately bear on whether chondrite parent bodies have internal structures more akin to a metamorphosed onion shell or metamorphosed rubble pile, and on the nature of accretion and lithification processes for planetesimals.« less

  12. Relationships among physical properties as indicators of high temperature deformation or post-shock thermal annealing in ordinary chondrites

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Friedrich, Jon M.; Ruzicka, Alex; Macke, Robert J.; Thostenson, James O.; Rudolph, Rebecca A.; Rivers, Mark L.; Ebel, Denton S.

    2017-04-01

    Collisions and attendant shock compaction must have been important for the accretion and lithification of planetesimals, including the parent bodies of chondrites, but the conditions under which these occurred are not well constrained. A simple model for the compaction of chondrites predicts that shock intensity as recorded by shock stage should be related to porosity and grain fabric. To test this model, we studied sixteen ordinary chondrites of different groups (H, L, LL) using X-ray computed microtomography (μCT) to measure porosity and metal fabric, ideal gas pycnometry and 3D laser scanning to determine porosity, and optical microscopy (OM) to determine shock stage. These included a subsample of six chondrites previously studied using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to characterize microstructures in olivine. Combining with previous data, results support the simple model in general, but not for chondrites with low shock-porosity-foliation (low-SPF chondrites). These include Kernouvé (H6), Portales Valley (H6/7), Butsura (H6), Park (L6), GRO 85209 (L6), Estacado (H6), MIL 99301 (LL6), Spade (H6), and Queen's Mercy (H6), among others. The data for these meteorites are best explained by high ambient heat during or after shock. Low-SPF chondrites tend to have older 40Ar/39Ar ages (∼4435-4526 Ma) than other, non-low-SPF type 6 chondrites in this study. We conclude that the H, L, and LL asteroids all were shock-compacted at an early stage while warm, with collisions occurring during metamorphic heating of the parent bodies. Results ultimately bear on whether chondrite parent bodies have internal structures more akin to a metamorphosed onion shell or metamorphosed rubble pile, and on the nature of accretion and lithification processes for planetesimals.

  13. Electron Bulk Acceleration and Thermalization at Earth's Quasiperpendicular Bow Shock.

    PubMed

    Chen, L-J; Wang, S; Wilson, L B; Schwartz, S; Bessho, N; Moore, T; Gershman, D; Giles, B; Malaspina, D; Wilder, F D; Ergun, R E; Hesse, M; Lai, H; Russell, C; Strangeway, R; Torbert, R B; F-Vinas, A; Burch, J; Lee, S; Pollock, C; Dorelli, J; Paterson, W; Ahmadi, N; Goodrich, K; Lavraud, B; Le Contel, O; Khotyaintsev, Yu V; Lindqvist, P-A; Boardsen, S; Wei, H; Le, A; Avanov, L

    2018-06-01

    Electron heating at Earth's quasiperpendicular bow shock has been surmised to be due to the combined effects of a quasistatic electric potential and scattering through wave-particle interaction. Here we report the observation of electron distribution functions indicating a new electron heating process occurring at the leading edge of the shock front. Incident solar wind electrons are accelerated parallel to the magnetic field toward downstream, reaching an electron-ion relative drift speed exceeding the electron thermal speed. The bulk acceleration is associated with an electric field pulse embedded in a whistler-mode wave. The high electron-ion relative drift is relaxed primarily through a nonlinear current-driven instability. The relaxed distributions contain a beam traveling toward the shock as a remnant of the accelerated electrons. Similar distribution functions prevail throughout the shock transition layer, suggesting that the observed acceleration and thermalization is essential to the cross-shock electron heating.

  14. Electron Bulk Acceleration and Thermalization at Earth's Quasiperpendicular Bow Shock

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Chen, L.-J.; Wang, S.; Wilson, L. B.; Schwartz, S.; Bessho, N.; Moore, T.; Gershman, D.; Giles, B.; Malaspina, D.; Wilder, F. D.; Ergun, R. E.; Hesse, M.; Lai, H.; Russell, C.; Strangeway, R.; Torbert, R. B.; F.-Vinas, A.; Burch, J.; Lee, S.; Pollock, C.; Dorelli, J.; Paterson, W.; Ahmadi, N.; Goodrich, K.; Lavraud, B.; Le Contel, O.; Khotyaintsev, Yu. V.; Lindqvist, P.-A.; Boardsen, S.; Wei, H.; Le, A.; Avanov, L.

    2018-06-01

    Electron heating at Earth's quasiperpendicular bow shock has been surmised to be due to the combined effects of a quasistatic electric potential and scattering through wave-particle interaction. Here we report the observation of electron distribution functions indicating a new electron heating process occurring at the leading edge of the shock front. Incident solar wind electrons are accelerated parallel to the magnetic field toward downstream, reaching an electron-ion relative drift speed exceeding the electron thermal speed. The bulk acceleration is associated with an electric field pulse embedded in a whistler-mode wave. The high electron-ion relative drift is relaxed primarily through a nonlinear current-driven instability. The relaxed distributions contain a beam traveling toward the shock as a remnant of the accelerated electrons. Similar distribution functions prevail throughout the shock transition layer, suggesting that the observed acceleration and thermalization is essential to the cross-shock electron heating.

  15. Highly Resolved Measurements of a Developing Strong Collisional Plasma Shock

    DOE PAGES

    Rinderknecht, Hans G.; Park, H. -S.; Ross, J. S.; ...

    2018-03-02

    In this paper, the structure of a strong collisional shock front forming in a plasma is directly probed for the first time in laser-driven gas-jet experiments. Thomson scattering of a 526.5 nm probe beam was used to diagnose temperature and ion velocity distribution in a strong shock (more » $$M{\\sim}11$$) propagating through a low-density ($${\\rho}{\\sim}0.01\\text{ }\\text{ }\\mathrm{mg}/\\mathrm{cc}$$) plasma composed of hydrogen. A forward-streaming population of ions traveling in excess of the shock velocity was observed to heat and slow down on an unmoving, unshocked population of cold protons, until ultimately the populations merge and begin to thermalize. Finally, instabilities are observed during the merging, indicating a uniquely plasma-phase process in shock front formation.« less

  16. Highly Resolved Measurements of a Developing Strong Collisional Plasma Shock

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Rinderknecht, Hans G.; Park, H. -S.; Ross, J. S.

    In this paper, the structure of a strong collisional shock front forming in a plasma is directly probed for the first time in laser-driven gas-jet experiments. Thomson scattering of a 526.5 nm probe beam was used to diagnose temperature and ion velocity distribution in a strong shock (more » $$M{\\sim}11$$) propagating through a low-density ($${\\rho}{\\sim}0.01\\text{ }\\text{ }\\mathrm{mg}/\\mathrm{cc}$$) plasma composed of hydrogen. A forward-streaming population of ions traveling in excess of the shock velocity was observed to heat and slow down on an unmoving, unshocked population of cold protons, until ultimately the populations merge and begin to thermalize. Finally, instabilities are observed during the merging, indicating a uniquely plasma-phase process in shock front formation.« less

  17. Nuclear Spiral Shocks and Induced Gas Inflows in Weak Oval Potentials

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Kim, Woong-Tae; Elmegreen, Bruce G., E-mail: wkim@astro.snu.ac.kr, E-mail: bge@us.ibm.com

    Nuclear spirals are ubiquitous in galaxy centers. They exist not only in strong barred galaxies but also in galaxies without noticeable bars. We use high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations to study the properties of nuclear gas spirals driven by weak bar-like and oval potentials. The amplitude of the spirals increases toward the center by a geometric effect, readily developing into shocks at small radii even for very weak potentials. The shape of the spirals and shocks depends rather sensitively on the background shear. When shear is low, the nuclear spirals are loosely wound and the shocks are almost straight, resulting in largemore » mass inflows toward the center. When shear is high, on the other hand, the spirals are tightly wound and the shocks are oblique, forming a circumnuclear disk through which gas flows inward at a relatively lower rate. The induced mass inflow rates are enough to power black hole accretion in various types of Seyfert galaxies as well as to drive supersonic turbulence at small radii.« less

  18. Relativistic, Viscous, Radiation Hydrodynamic Simulations of Geometrically Thin Disks. I. Thermal and Other Instabilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fragile, P. Chris; Etheridge, Sarina M.; Anninos, Peter; Mishra, Bhupendra; Kluźniak, Włodek

    2018-04-01

    We present results from two-dimensional, general relativistic, viscous, radiation hydrodynamic numerical simulations of Shakura–Sunyaev thin disks accreting onto stellar-mass Schwarzschild black holes. We consider cases on both the gas- and radiation-pressure-dominated branches of the thermal equilibrium curve, with mass accretion rates spanning the range from \\dot{M}=0.01{L}Edd}/{c}2 to 10L Edd/c 2. The simulations directly test the stability of this standard disk model on the different branches. We find clear evidence of thermal instability for all radiation-pressure-dominated disks, resulting universally in the vertical collapse of the disks, which in some cases then settle onto the stable, gas-pressure-dominated branch. Although these results are consistent with decades-old theoretical predictions, they appear to be in conflict with available observational data from black hole X-ray binaries. We also find evidence for a radiation-pressure-driven instability that breaks the unstable disks up into alternating rings of high and low surface density on a timescale comparable to the thermal collapse. Since radiation is included self-consistently in the simulations, we are able to calculate light curves and power density spectra (PDS). For the most part, we measure radiative efficiencies (ratio of luminosity to mass accretion rate) close to 6%, as expected for a nonrotating black hole. The PDS appear as broken power laws, with a break typically around 100 Hz. There is no evidence of significant excess power at any frequencies, i.e., no quasi-periodic oscillations are observed.

  19. A Computational Study of a Circular Interface Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability in MHD

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Maxon, William; Black, Wolfgang; Denissen, Nicholas; McFarland, Jacob; Los Alamos National Laboratory Collaboration; University of Missouri Shock Tube Laboratory Team

    2017-11-01

    The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) is a hydrodynamic instability that appears in several high energy density applications such as inertial confinement fusion (ICF). In ICF, as the thermonuclear fuel is being compressed it begins to mix due to fluid instabilities including the RMI. This mixing greatly decreases the energy output. The RMI occurs when two fluids of different densities are impulsively accelerated and the pressure and density gradients are misaligned. In magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), the RMI may be suppressed by introducing a magnetic field in an electrically conducting fluid, such as a plasma. This suppression has been studied as a possible mechanism for improving confinement in ICF targets. In this study,ideal MHD simulations are performed with a circular interface impulsively accelerated by a shock wave in the presence of a magnetic field. These simulations are executed with the research code FLAG, a multiphysics, arbitrary Lagrangian/Eulerian, hydrocode developed and utilized at Los Alamos National Laboratory. The simulation results will be assessed both quantitatively and qualitatively to examine the stabilization mechanism. These simulations will guide ongoing MHD experiments at the University of Missouri Shock Tube Facility.

  20. Mixed ice accretion on aircraft wings

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Janjua, Zaid A.; Turnbull, Barbara; Hibberd, Stephen; Choi, Kwing-So

    2018-02-01

    Ice accretion is a problematic natural phenomenon that affects a wide range of engineering applications including power cables, radio masts, and wind turbines. Accretion on aircraft wings occurs when supercooled water droplets freeze instantaneously on impact to form rime ice or runback as water along the wing to form glaze ice. Most models to date have ignored the accretion of mixed ice, which is a combination of rime and glaze. A parameter we term the "freezing fraction" is defined as the fraction of a supercooled droplet that freezes on impact with the top surface of the accretion ice to explore the concept of mixed ice accretion. Additionally we consider different "packing densities" of rime ice, mimicking the different bulk rime densities observed in nature. Ice accretion is considered in four stages: rime, primary mixed, secondary mixed, and glaze ice. Predictions match with existing models and experimental data in the limiting rime and glaze cases. The mixed ice formulation however provides additional insight into the composition of the overall ice structure, which ultimately influences adhesion and ice thickness, and shows that for similar atmospheric parameter ranges, this simple mixed ice description leads to very different accretion rates. A simple one-dimensional energy balance was solved to show how this freezing fraction parameter increases with decrease in atmospheric temperature, with lower freezing fraction promoting glaze ice accretion.

  1. Turbulent mixing induced by Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Krivets, V. V.; Ferguson, K. J.; Jacobs, J. W.

    2017-01-01

    Richtmyer-Meshkov instability is studied in shock tube experiments with an Atwood number of 0.7. The interface is formed in a vertical shock tube using opposed gas flows, and three-dimensional random initial interface perturbations are generated by the vertical oscillation of gas column producing Faraday waves. Planar Laser Mie scattering is used for flow visualization and for measurements of the mixing process. Experimental image sequences are recorded at 6 kHz frequency and processed to obtain the time dependent variation of the integral mixing layer width. Measurements of the mixing layer width are compared with Mikaelian's [1] model in order to extract the growth exponent θ where a fairly wide range of values is found varying from θ ≈ 0.2 to 0.6.

  2. Magnetic Diagnostics on the Magnetized Shock Experiment (MSX)

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Hutchinson, T. M.; Weber, T. E.; Boguski, J. C.; Intrator, T. P.; Smith, R. J.; Dunn, J. P.

    2013-10-01

    The Magnetized Shock Experiment (MSX) at Los Alamos National Laboratory was built to investigate the physics of high-Alfvénic, supercritical, magnetized shocks through the acceleration and subsequent stagnation of a Field Reversed Configuration (FRC) plasmoid against a magnetic mirror and/or plasma target. An array of high-bandwidth, multi-axis, robust, internal magnetic probes has been constructed to characterize flux compression ratios, instability formation, and turbulent macro-scale features of the post-shock plasma. The mirror magnet is mounted on a linear translation stage, providing a capability to axially move the shock layer through the probe field of view. An independent, external probe array also provides conventional information on the FRC shape, velocity, and total pressure during the formation and acceleration phases. Probe design, characterization, configuration, and initial results are presented. This work is supported by the DOE OFES and NNSA under LANS contract DE-AC52-06NA25369. LA-UR-13-25189.

  3. Numerical techniques for solving nonlinear instability problems in smokeless tactical solid rocket motors. [finite difference technique

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Baum, J. D.; Levine, J. N.

    1980-01-01

    The selection of a satisfactory numerical method for calculating the propagation of steep fronted shock life waveforms in a solid rocket motor combustion chamber is discussed. A number of different numerical schemes were evaluated by comparing the results obtained for three problems: the shock tube problems; the linear wave equation, and nonlinear wave propagation in a closed tube. The most promising method--a combination of the Lax-Wendroff, Hybrid and Artificial Compression techniques, was incorporated into an existing nonlinear instability program. The capability of the modified program to treat steep fronted wave instabilities in low smoke tactical motors was verified by solving a number of motor test cases with disturbance amplitudes as high as 80% of the mean pressure.

  4. Migration of accreting giant planets

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Crida, A.; Bitsch, B.; Raibaldi, A.

    2016-12-01

    We present the results of 2D hydro simulations of giant planets in proto-planetary discs, which accrete gas at a more or less high rate. First, starting from a solid core of 20 Earth masses, we show that as soon as the runaway accretion of gas turns on, the planet is saved from type I migration : the gap opening mass is reached before the planet is lost into its host star. Furthermore, gas accretion helps opening the gap in low mass discs. Consequently, if the accretion rate is limited to the disc supply, then the planet is already inside a gap and in type II migration. We further show that the type II migration of a Jupiter mass planet actually depends on its accretion rate. Only when the accretion is high do we retrieve the classical picture where no gas crosses the gap and the planet follows the disc spreading. These results impact our understanding of planet migration and planet population synthesis models. The e-poster presenting these results in French can be found here: L'e-poster présentant ces résultats en français est disponible à cette adresse: http://sf2a.eu/semaine-sf2a/2016/posterpdfs/156_179_49.pdf.

  5. GRB 091208B: FIRST DETECTION OF THE OPTICAL POLARIZATION IN EARLY FORWARD SHOCK EMISSION OF A GAMMA-RAY BURST AFTERGLOW

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Uehara, T.; Chiyonobu, S.; Fukazawa, Y.

    We report that the optical polarization in the afterglow of GRB 091208B is measured at t = 149-706 s after the burst trigger, and the polarization degree is P = 10.4( {+-} 2.5%. The optical light curve at this time shows a power-law decay with index -0.75 {+-} 0.02, which is interpreted as the forward shock synchrotron emission, and thus this is the first detection of the early-time optical polarization in the forward shock (rather than that in the reverse shock reported by Steele et al.). This detection disfavors the afterglow model in which the magnetic fields in the emissionmore » region are random on the plasma skin depth scales, such as those amplified by the plasma instabilities, e.g., Weibel instability. We suggest that the fields are amplified by the magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, which would be tested by future observations of the temporal changes of the polarization degrees and angles for other bursts.« less

  6. Observed transition from Richtmyer-Meshkov jet formation through feedout oscillations to Rayleigh-Taylor instability in a laser target

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Aglitskiy, Y.; Karasik, M.; Velikovich, A. L.; Serlin, V.; Weaver, J. L.; Kessler, T. J.; Schmitt, A. J.; Obenschain, S. P.; Nikitin, S. P.; Metzler, N.; Oh, J.

    2012-10-01

    Experimental study of hydrodynamic perturbation evolution triggered by a laser-driven shock wave breakout at the free rippled rear surface of a plastic target is reported. We observed a transition between two qualitatively distinct types of perturbation evolution: jet formation at low shock pressure and areal mass oscillations at high shock pressure, which correspond respectively to high and low values of effective adiabatic index. The experiments were done on the KrF Nike laser facility with laser wavelength 248 nm and a 4 ns pulse. We varied the number of beams overlapped on the plastic target to change the ablative pressure driving the shock wave through the target: 36 beams produce pressure of ˜8 Mbar, whereas a single beam irradiation reduces the pressure to ˜0.7 Mbar. With the help of side-on monochromatic x-ray imaging, planar jets manifesting the development of the Richtmyer-Meshkov-type instability in a non-accelerated target are observed at sub-megabar shock pressure. As the shock pressure exceeds 1 Mbar, instead of jet formation an oscillatory rippled expansion wave is observed, followed by the ``feedout'' of the rear-surface perturbations to the ablation front and the development of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability, which breaks up the accelerated target.

  7. Effects of Initial Condition Spectral Content on Shock Driven-Turbulent Mixing

    DOE PAGES

    Nelson, Nicholas James; Grinstein, Fernando F.

    2015-07-15

    The mixing of materials due to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability and the ensuing turbulent behavior is of intense interest in a variety of physical systems including inertial confinement fusion, combustion, and the final stages of stellar evolution. Extensive numerical and laboratory studies of shock-driven mixing have demonstrated the rich behavior associated with the onset of turbulence due to the shocks. Here we report on progress in understanding shock-driven mixing at interfaces between fluids of differing densities through three-dimensional (3D) numerical simulations using the RAGE code in the implicit large eddy simulation context. We consider a shock-tube configuration with a band ofmore » high density gas (SF 6) embedded in low density gas (air). Shocks with a Mach number of 1.26 are passed through SF 6 bands, resulting in transition to turbulence driven by the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability. The system is followed as a rarefaction wave and a reflected secondary shock from the back wall pass through the SF 6 band. We apply a variety of initial perturbations to the interfaces between the two fluids in which the physical standard deviation, wave number range, and the spectral slope of the perturbations are held constant, but the number of modes initially present is varied. By thus decreasing the density of initial spectral modes of the interface, we find that we can achieve as much as 25% less total mixing at late times. This has potential direct implications for the treatment of initial conditions applied to material interfaces in both 3D and reduced dimensionality simulation models.« less

  8. STOCHASTICITY AND EFFICIENCY IN SIMPLIFIED MODELS OF CORE-COLLAPSE SUPERNOVA EXPLOSIONS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cardall, Christian Y.; Budiardja, Reuben D., E-mail: cardallcy@ornl.gov, E-mail: reubendb@utk.edu

    2015-11-01

    We present an initial report on 160 simulations of a highly simplified model of the post-bounce core-collapse supernova environment in three spatial dimensions (3D). We set different values of a parameter characterizing the impact of nuclear dissociation at the stalled shock in order to regulate the post-shock fluid velocity, thereby determining the relative importance of convection and the stationary accretion shock instability (SASI). While our convection-dominated runs comport with the paradigmatic notion of a “critical neutrino luminosity” for explosion at a given mass accretion rate (albeit with a nontrivial spread in explosion times just above threshold), the outcomes of ourmore » SASI-dominated runs are much more stochastic: a sharp threshold critical luminosity is “smeared out” into a rising probability of explosion over a ∼20% range of luminosity. We also find that the SASI-dominated models are able to explode with 3–4 times less efficient neutrino heating, indicating that progenitor properties, and fluid and neutrino microphysics, conducive to the SASI would make the neutrino-driven explosion mechanism more robust.« less

  9. Stochasticity and efficiency of convection-dominated vs. SASI-dominated supernova explosions

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Cardall, Christian Y.; Budiardja, Reuben D.

    2015-10-22

    We present an initial report on 160 simulations of a highly simplified model of the post-bounce supernova environment in three position space dimensions (3D). We set different values of a parameter characterizing the impact of nuclear dissociation at the stalled shock in order to regulate the post-shock fluid velocity, thereby determining the relative importance of convection and the stationary accretion shock instability (SASI). While our convection-dominated runs comport with the paradigmatic notion of a `critical neutrino luminosity' for explosion at a given mass accretion rate (albeit with a nontrivial spread in explosion times just above threshold), the outcomes of our SASI-dominated runs are more stochastic: a sharp threshold critical luminosity is `smeared out' into a rising probability of explosion over amore » $$\\sim 20\\%$$ range of luminosity. We also find that the SASI-dominated models are able to explode with 3 to 4 times less efficient neutrino heating, indicating that progenitor properties, and fluid and neutrino microphysics, conducive to the SASI would make the neutrino-driven explosion mechanism more robust.« less

  10. Foundations of Black Hole Accretion Disk Theory.

    PubMed

    Abramowicz, Marek A; Fragile, P Chris

    2013-01-01

    This review covers the main aspects of black hole accretion disk theory. We begin with the view that one of the main goals of the theory is to better understand the nature of black holes themselves. In this light we discuss how accretion disks might reveal some of the unique signatures of strong gravity: the event horizon, the innermost stable circular orbit, and the ergosphere. We then review, from a first-principles perspective, the physical processes at play in accretion disks. This leads us to the four primary accretion disk models that we review: Polish doughnuts (thick disks), Shakura-Sunyaev (thin) disks, slim disks, and advection-dominated accretion flows (ADAFs). After presenting the models we discuss issues of stability, oscillations, and jets. Following our review of the analytic work, we take a parallel approach in reviewing numerical studies of black hole accretion disks. We finish with a few select applications that highlight particular astrophysical applications: measurements of black hole mass and spin, black hole vs. neutron star accretion disks, black hole accretion disk spectral states, and quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs).

  11. Experiments and simulations of Richtmyer-Meshkov Instability with measured,volumetric initial conditions

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Sewell, Everest; Ferguson, Kevin; Jacobs, Jeffrey; Greenough, Jeff; Krivets, Vitaliy

    2016-11-01

    We describe experiments of single-shock Richtmyer-Meskhov Instability (RMI) performed on the shock tube apparatus at the University of Arizona in which the initial conditions are volumetrically imaged prior to shock wave arrival. Initial perturbations play a major role in the evolution of RMI, and previous experimental efforts only capture a single plane of the initial condition. The method presented uses a rastered laser sheet to capture additional images throughout the depth of the initial condition immediately before the shock arrival time. These images are then used to reconstruct a volumetric approximation of the experimental perturbation. Analysis of the initial perturbations is performed, and then used as initial conditions in simulations using the hydrodynamics code ARES, developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL). Experiments are presented and comparisons are made with simulation results.

  12. Accretion flows onto supermassive black holes

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Begelman, Mitchell C.

    1988-01-01

    The radiative and hydrodynamic properties of an angular momentum-dominated accretion flow onto a supermassive black hole depend largely on the ratio of the accretion rate to the Eddington accretion rate. High values of this ratio favor optically thick flows which produce largely thermal radiation, while optically thin 'two-temperature' flows may be present in systems with small values of this ratio. Observations of some AGN suggest that thermal and nonthermal sources of radiation may be of comparable importance in the 'central engine'. Consideration is given to the possibilities for coexistence of different modes of accretion in a single flow. One intriguing possibility is that runaway pair production may cause an optically thick 'accretion annulus' to form at the center of a two-temperature inflow.

  13. TRIGGERING COLLAPSE OF THE PRESOLAR DENSE CLOUD CORE AND INJECTING SHORT-LIVED RADIOISOTOPES WITH A SHOCK WAVE. II. VARIED SHOCK WAVE AND CLOUD CORE PARAMETERS

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Boss, Alan P.; Keiser, Sandra A., E-mail: boss@dtm.ciw.edu, E-mail: keiser@dtm.ciw.edu

    2013-06-10

    A variety of stellar sources have been proposed for the origin of the short-lived radioisotopes that existed at the time of the formation of the earliest solar system solids, including Type II supernovae (SNe), asymptotic giant branch (AGB) and super-AGB stars, and Wolf-Rayet star winds. Our previous adaptive mesh hydrodynamics models with the FLASH2.5 code have shown which combinations of shock wave parameters are able to simultaneously trigger the gravitational collapse of a target dense cloud core and inject significant amounts of shock wave gas and dust, showing that thin SN shocks may be uniquely suited for the task. However,more » recent meteoritical studies have weakened the case for a direct SN injection to the presolar cloud, motivating us to re-examine a wider range of shock wave and cloud core parameters, including rotation, in order to better estimate the injection efficiencies for a variety of stellar sources. We find that SN shocks remain as the most promising stellar source, though planetary nebulae resulting from AGB star evolution cannot be conclusively ruled out. Wolf-Rayet (WR) star winds, however, are likely to lead to cloud core shredding, rather than to collapse. Injection efficiencies can be increased when the cloud is rotating about an axis aligned with the direction of the shock wave, by as much as a factor of {approx}10. The amount of gas and dust accreted from the post-shock wind can exceed that injected from the shock wave, with implications for the isotopic abundances expected for a SN source.« less

  14. Reshocks, rarefactions, and the generalized Layzer model for hydrodynamic instabilities

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Mikaelian, Karnig O.

    2009-02-01

    We report numerical simulations and analytic modeling of shock tube experiments on Rayleigh-Taylor and Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities. We examine single interfaces of the type A /B where the incident shock is initiated in A and the transmitted shock proceeds into B. Examples are He/air and air/He. In addition, we study finite-thickness or double-interface A /B/A configurations such as air/SF6/air gas-curtain experiments. We first consider conventional shock tubes that have a "fixed" boundary: A solid endwall which reflects the transmitted shock and reshocks the interface(s). Then we focus on new experiments with a "free" boundary—a membrane disrupted mechanically or by the transmitted shock, sending back a rarefaction toward the interface(s). Complex acceleration histories are achieved, relevant for inertial confinement fusion implosions. We compare our simulation results with a generalized Layzer model for two fluids with time-dependent densities and derive a new freeze-out condition whereby accelerating and compressive forces cancel each other out. Except for the recently reported failures of the Layzer model, the generalized Layzer model and hydrocode simulations for reshocks and rarefactions agree well with each other and remain to be verified experimentally.

  15. Shock front distortion and Richtmyer-Meshkov-type growth caused by a small preshock nonuniformity

    DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

    Velikovich, A. L.; Wouchuk, J. G.; Huete Ruiz de Lira, C.

    The response of a shock front to small preshock nonuniformities of density, pressure, and velocity is studied theoretically and numerically. These preshock nonuniformities emulate imperfections of a laser target, due either to its manufacturing, like joints or feeding tubes, or to preshock perturbation seeding/growth, as well as density fluctuations in foam targets, ''thermal layers'' near heated surfaces, etc. Similarly to the shock-wave interaction with a small nonuniformity localized at a material interface, which triggers a classical Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability, interaction of a shock wave with periodic or localized preshock perturbations distributed in the volume distorts the shape of the shockmore » front and can cause a RM-type instability growth. Explicit asymptotic formulas describing distortion of the shock front and the rate of RM-type growth are presented. These formulas are favorably compared both to the exact solutions of the corresponding initial-boundary-value problem and to numerical simulations. It is demonstrated that a small density modulation localized sufficiently close to a flat target surface produces the same perturbation growth as an 'equivalent' ripple on the surface of a uniform target, characterized by the same initial areal mass modulation amplitude.« less

  16. A simple framework for modelling the dependence of bulk Comptonization by turbulence on accretion disc parameters

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Kaufman, J.; Blaes, O. M.; Hirose, S.

    2018-06-01

    Warm Comptonization models for the soft X-ray excess in active galactic nuclei (AGN) do not self-consistently explain the relationship between the Comptonizing medium and the underlying accretion disc. Because of this, they cannot directly connect the fitted Comptonization temperatures and optical depths to accretion disc parameters. Since bulk velocities exceed thermal velocities in highly radiation pressure dominated discs, in these systems bulk Comptonization by turbulence may provide a physical basis in the disc itself for warm Comptonization models. We model the dependence of bulk Comptonization on fundamental accretion disc parameters, such as mass, luminosity, radius, spin, inner boundary condition, and α. In addition to constraining warm Comptonization models, our model can help distinguish contributions from bulk Comptonization to the soft X-ray excess from those due to other physical mechanisms, such as absorption and reflection. By linking the time variability of bulk Comptonization to fluctuations in the disc vertical structure due to magnetorotational instability (MRI) turbulence, our results show that observations of the soft X-ray excess can be used to study disc turbulence in the radiation pressure dominated regime. Because our model connects bulk Comptonization to 1D vertical structure temperature profiles in a physically intuitive way, it will be useful for understanding this effect in future simulations run in new regimes.

  17. Impact-induced devolatilization and hydrogen isotopic fractionation of serpentine: Implications for planetary accretion

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Tyburczy, James A.; Krishnamurthy, R. V.; Epstein, Samuel; Ahrens, Thomas J.

    1988-01-01

    Impact-induced devolatilization of porous serpentine was investigated using two independent experimental methods, the gas recovery and the solid recovery method, each yielding nearly identical results. For shock pressures near incipient devolatilization, the hydrogen isotopic composition of the evolved H2O is very close to that of the starting material. For shock pressures at which up to 12 percent impact-induced devolatilization occurs, the bulk evolved gas is significantly lower in deuterium than the starting material. There is also significant reduction of H2O to H2 in gases recovered at these higher shock pressures, probably caused by reaction of evolved H2O with the metal gas recovery fixture. Gaseous H2O-H2 isotopic fractionation suggests high temperature isotopic equilibrium between the gaseous species, indicating initiation of devolatilization at sites of greater than average energy deposition. Bulk gas-residual solid isotopic fractionations indicate nonequilibrium, kinetic control of gas-solid isotopic ratios. Impact-induced hydrogen isotopic fractionation of hydrous silicates during accretion can strongly affect the long-term planetary isotopic ratios of planetary bodies, leaving the interiors enriched in deuterium. Depending on the model used for extrapolation of the isotopic fractionation to devolatilization fractions greater than those investigated experimentally can result from this process.

  18. Modeling Soft Excess with GRMHD Accretion for XMM-Newton Spectra of Bright AGNs

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Fukumura, K.; Haba, Y.; Takahashi, M.; Tombesi, F.

    2017-10-01

    Despite a number of well-studied X-ray observations of the so called soft excess (SE) from a certain class of AGNs in the past decades, its physical identification has remained to be elusive to date. With the absence of a single leading model, a few competing scenarios have been proposed. In this presentation, we show that the innermost plasma accretion under strong gravity can develop into an MHD shock front at r < 5 r_{g} where incoming thermal disk photons (of ˜ 10 eV) are efficiently Compton up-scattered by shock-accelerated electrons in its downstream region to produce the observed SE feature. Considering all the relativistic effects in our treatment, our GRMHD Comptonization model, consisting of (1) disk photon temperature (kT_{bb}), electron energy (Θ_{e}) and inclination (θ_{obs}) for a given black hole spin (a/m), can naturally provide the SE spectra for a fiducial parameter set by solving GRMHD flows. Our calculations indicate that the Comptonizing region is very compact just outside the black hole event horizon resembling a putative 'coronae' with a characteristic electron energy on the order of ˜ 100 keV determined by shock strength. We also show preliminary spectral analysis results for some stereotypical PG and NLS1 AGNs.

  19. The simulation of shock- and impact-driven flows with Mie-Gruneisen equations of state

    NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

    Ward, Geoffrey M.

    An investigation of shock- and impact-driven flows with Mie-Gruneisen equation of state derived from a linear shock-particle speed Hugoniot relationship is presented. Cartesian mesh methods using structured adaptive refinement are applied to simulate several flows of interest in an Eulerian frame of reference. The flows central to the investigation include planar Richtmyer-Meshkov instability, the impact of a sphere with a plate, and an impact-driven Mach stem. First, for multicomponent shock-driven flows, a dimensionally unsplit, spatially high-order, hybrid, center-difference, limiter methodology is developed. Effective switching between center-difference and upwinding schemes is achieved by a set of robust tolerance and Lax-entropy-based criteria [49]. Oscillations that result from such a mixed stencil scheme are minimized by requiring that the upwinding method approaches the center-difference method in smooth regions. The solver is then applied to investigate planar Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in the context of an equation of state comparison. Comparisons of simulations with materials modeled by isotropic stress Mie-Gruneisen equations of state derived from a linear shock-particle speed Hugoniot relationship [36,52] to those of perfect gases are made with the intention of exposing the role of the equation of state. First, results for single- and triple-mode planar Richtmyer-Meshkov instability between mid-ocean ridge basalt (MORB) and molybdenum modeled by Mie-Gruneisen equations of state are presented for the case of a reflected shock. The single-mode case is explored for incident shock Mach numbers of 1.5 and 2.5. Additionally, examined is single-mode Richtmyer-Meshkov instability when a reflected expansion wave is present for incident Mach numbers of 1.5 and 2.5. Comparison to perfect gas solutions in such cases yields a higher degree of similarity in start-up time and growth rate oscillations. Vorticity distribution and corrugation centerline shortly

  20. Accretion Disks Around Binary Black Holes of Unequal Mass: GRMHD Simulations Near Decoupling

    NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

    Gold, Roman; Paschalidis, Vasileios; Etienne, Zachariah B.; Shapiro, Stuart L.; Pfeiffer, Harald, P.

    2013-01-01

    We report on simulations in general relativity of magnetized disks onto black hole binaries. We vary the binary mass ratio from 1:1 to 1:10 and evolve the systems when they orbit near the binary disk decoupling radius. We compare (surface) density profiles, accretion rates (relative to a single, non-spinning black hole), variability, effective alpha-stress levels and luminosities as functions of the mass ratio. We treat the disks in two limiting regimes: rapid radiative cooling and no radiative cooling. The magnetic field lines clearly reveal jets emerging from both black hole horizons and merging into one common jet at large distances. The magnetic fields give rise to much stronger shock heating than the pure hydrodynamic flows, completely alter the disk structure, and boost accretion rates and luminosities. Accretion streams near the horizons are among the densest structures; in fact, the 1:10 no-cooling evolution results in a refilling of the cavity. The typical effective temperature in the bulk of the disk is approx. 10(exp5) (M / 10(exp 8)M solar mass (exp -1/4(L/L(sub edd) (exp 1/4K) yielding characteristic thermal frequencies approx. 10 (exp 15) (M /10(exp 8)M solar mass) (exp -1/4(L/L (sub edd) (1+z) (exp -1)Hz. These systems are thus promising targets for many extragalactic optical surveys, such as LSST, WFIRST, and PanSTARRS.