scholarly journals Numerical determination of the magnetic field line Hamiltonian

1986 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Kuo-Petravic ◽  
A.H. Boozer
2000 ◽  
Vol 18 (10) ◽  
pp. 1257-1262 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Pavlov ◽  
T. Abe ◽  
K.-I. Oyama

Abstract. We present a comparison of the electron density and temperature behaviour in the ionosphere and plasmasphere measured by the Millstone Hill incoherent-scatter radar and the instruments on board of the EXOS-D satellite with numerical model calculations from a time-dependent mathematical model of the Earth's ionosphere and plasmasphere during the geomagnetically quiet and storm period on 20–30 January, 1993. We have evaluated the value of the additional heating rate that should be added to the normal photoelectron heating in the electron energy equation in the daytime plasmasphere region above 5000 km along the magnetic field line to explain the high electron temperature measured by the instruments on board of the EXOS-D satellite within the Millstone Hill magnetic field flux tube in the Northern Hemisphere. The additional heating brings the measured and modelled electron temperatures into agreement in the plasmasphere and into very large disagreement in the ionosphere if the classical electron heat flux along magnetic field line is used in the model. A new approach, based on a new effective electron thermal conductivity coefficient along the magnetic field line, is presented to model the electron temperature in the ionosphere and plasmasphere. This new approach leads to a heat flux which is less than that given by the classical Spitzer-Harm theory. The evaluated additional heating of electrons in the plasmasphere and the decrease of the thermal conductivity in the topside ionosphere and the greater part of the plasmasphere found for the first time here allow the model to accurately reproduce the electron temperatures observed by the instruments on board the EXOS-D satellite in the plasmasphere and the Millstone Hill incoherent-scatter radar in the ionosphere. The effects of the daytime additional plasmaspheric heating of electrons on the electron temperature and density are small at the F-region altitudes if the modified electron heat flux is used. The deviations from the Boltzmann distribution for the first five vibrational levels of N2(v) and O2(v) were calculated. The present study suggests that these deviations are not significant at the first vibrational levels of N2 and O2 and the second level of O2, and the calculated distributions of N2(v) and O2(v) are highly non-Boltzmann at vibrational levels v > 2. The resulting effect of N2(v > 0) and O2(v > 0) on NmF2 is the decrease of the calculated daytime NmF2 up to a factor of 1.5. The modelled electron temperature is very sensitive to the electron density, and this decrease in electron density results in the increase of the calculated daytime electron temperature up to about 580 K at the F2 peak altitude giving closer agreement between the measured and modelled electron temperatures. Both the daytime and night-time densities are not reproduced by the model without N2(v > 0) and O2(v > 0), and inclusion of vibrationally excited N2 and O2 brings the model and data into better agreement.Key words: Ionosphere (ionospheric disturbances; ionosphere-magnetosphere interactions; plasma temperature and density)  


2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory G. Howes ◽  
Sofiane Bourouaine

Plasma turbulence occurs ubiquitously in space and astrophysical plasmas, mediating the nonlinear transfer of energy from large-scale electromagnetic fields and plasma flows to small scales at which the energy may be ultimately converted to plasma heat. But plasma turbulence also generically leads to a tangling of the magnetic field that threads through the plasma. The resulting wander of the magnetic field lines may significantly impact a number of important physical processes, including the propagation of cosmic rays and energetic particles, confinement in magnetic fusion devices and the fundamental processes of turbulence, magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration. The various potential impacts of magnetic field line wander are reviewed in detail, and a number of important theoretical considerations are identified that may influence the development and saturation of magnetic field line wander in astrophysical plasma turbulence. The results of nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of kinetic Alfvén wave turbulence of sub-ion length scales are evaluated to understand the development and saturation of the turbulent magnetic energy spectrum and of the magnetic field line wander. It is found that turbulent space and astrophysical plasmas are generally expected to contain a stochastic magnetic field due to the tangling of the field by strong plasma turbulence. Future work will explore how the saturated magnetic field line wander varies as a function of the amplitude of the plasma turbulence and the ratio of the thermal to magnetic pressure, known as the plasma beta.


2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (S327) ◽  
pp. 77-81
Author(s):  
S. Candelaresi ◽  
D. I. Pontin ◽  
G. Hornig

AbstractUsing a magnetic carpet as model for the near surface solar magnetic field we study its effects on the propagation of energy injectected by photospheric footpoint motions. Such a magnetic carpet structure is topologically highly non-trivial and with its magnetic nulls exhibits qualitatively different behavior than simpler magnetic fields. We show that the presence of magnetic fields connecting back to the photosphere inhibits the propagation of energy into higher layers of the solar atmosphere, like the solar corona. By applying certain types of footpoint motions the magnetic field topology is is greatly reduced through magnetic field reconnection which facilitates the propagation of energy and disturbances from the photosphere.


2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 339-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Longmore ◽  
S. J. Schwartz ◽  
E. A. Lucek

Abstract. Orientations of the observed magnetic field in Earth's dayside magnetosheath are compared with the predicted field line-draping pattern from the Kobel and Flückiger static magnetic field model. A rotation of the overall magnetosheath draping pattern with respect to the model prediction is observed. For an earthward Parker spiral, the sense of the rotation is typically clockwise for northward IMF and anticlockwise for southward IMF. The rotation is consistent with an interpretation which considers the twisting of the magnetic field lines by the bulk plasma flow in the magnetosheath. Histogram distributions describing the differences between the observed and model magnetic field clock angles in the magnetosheath confirm the existence and sense of the rotation. A statistically significant mean value of the IMF rotation in the range 5°-30° is observed in all regions of the magnetosheath, for all IMF directions, although the associated standard deviation implies large uncertainty in the determination of an accurate value for the rotation. We discuss the role of field-flow coupling effects and dayside merging on field line draping in the magnetosheath in view of the evidence presented here and that which has previously been reported by Kaymaz et al. (1992).


1980 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-162 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. P. Sheerin ◽  
R. S. B. Ong

A nonlinear Alfvén wave structure with axial symmetry about the line of force of an ambient magnetic field is presented. The solitary wave forms a ‘ring’ shaped waveguide along the magnetic field line.


2014 ◽  
Vol 21 (8) ◽  
pp. 082506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline G. L. Martins ◽  
M. Roberto ◽  
I. L. Caldas

1996 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. R. Hudson ◽  
R. L. Dewar

Two approaches to defining almost-invariant surfaces for magnetic fields with imperfect magnetic surfaces are compared. Both methods are based on treating magnetic field-line flow as a 1½-dimensional Hamiltonian (or Lagrangian) dynamical system. In thequadratic-flux minimizing surfaceapproach, the integral of the square of the action gradient over the toroidal and poloidal angles is minimized, while in theghost surfaceapproach a gradient flow between a minimax and an action-minimizing orbit is used. In both cases the almost-invariant surface is constructed as a family of periodic pseudo-orbits, and consequently it has a rational rotational transform. The construction of quadratic-flux minimizing surfaces is simple, and easily implemented using a new magnetic field-line tracing method. The construction of ghost surfaces requires the representation of a pseudo field line as an (in principle) infinite-dimensional vector and also is inherently slow for systems near integrability. As a test problem the magnetic field-line Hamiltonian is constructed analytically for a topologically toroidal, non-integrable ABC-flow model, and both types of almost-invariant surface are constructed numerically.


2007 ◽  
Vol 17 (05) ◽  
pp. 1589-1598 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. E. PORTELA ◽  
I. L. CALDAS ◽  
R. L. VIANA ◽  
P. J. MORRISON

The magnetic field line structure of tokamaks with reversed magnetic shear is analyzed by means of a nontwist map model that takes into account non-integrable perturbations that describe ergodic magnetic limiters. The map studied possess behavior expected of the standard nontwist map, a well-studied map, despite the different symmetries and the existence of coupled perturbations. A distinguising feature of nontwist maps is the presence of good surfaces in the reveresed shear region, and consequently the appearance of a transport barrier inside the plasma. Such barriers are observed in the present model and are seen to be very robust. Very strong perturbations are required to destroy them, and even after breaking, the transport turns out to be diffusive. Poloidal diffusion is found to be two orders of magnitude higher than radial diffusion.


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