行星际结构与垂直无碰撞激波的相互作用

应用一维混合模拟方法数值研究了两种行星际结构──反向磁场和高密度等离子团与垂直无碰撞激波的相互作用．结果表明，随着激波上游区磁场的反向，下游区磁场将逐渐改变符号，且等离子体密度和速度分别呈现较强的湍动．激波上游和下游的物理量依然满足Rankine-Hugonoit关系．当高密度的等离子体团通过垂直无碰撞激波时，部分质子被激波反射，部分质子被加速并进入下游区域．由于质子速度分布为非Maxwell分布，在激波下游也激发出较强的湍动．     

准平行无碰撞激波的混合模拟

本文应用一维混合模拟方法数值研究了准平行无碰撞激波的结构.结果表明,激波上游的质子和准平行无碰撞激波相互作用后,有部分质子被激波反射,并向激波上游运动很长一段距离,从而激发起束流不稳定性,引起大振幅的共振右旋偏振的低频波动.这些波动在太阳风的带动下向激波下游运动,靠近激波后与激波合井,同时在激波的上游不断有新的波动产生.此过程能不断重复地进行.在平行无碰撞激波的情况下,在激波的下游还有大振幅的非共振右旋偏振的低频波动.激波上游的低频波动在向下游运动的过程中强度不断加强,最后超过原来激波的强度,形成新的激波.      

行星际结构与准平行无碰撞激波的相互作用

应用一维混合模拟方法数值研究了高密度等离子体团和行星际激波与准平行无碰撞激波的相互作用．结果表明，由于推平行无碰撞激波上游的大振幅低频波动的散射，除了在通过激波过渡区时稍有压缩外，等离子体团从激波的上游开始就一直是不断弥散的．行星际激波在向准平行无碰撞激波靠近的过程中，会在其上游产生大振幅的低频波动，同时行星际激波的强度不断增加，最后和准平行无碰撞激波会并成一个新的激波，在新激波前继续有大振幅的低频波动产生     

无碰撞激波的理想MHD模拟

采用了WENO格式数值求解一维理想MHD方程组，模拟了行星际无碰撞激波，研究了垂直无碰撞激波与行星际反向磁场结构和高密度等离子体团的相互作用过程，并与粒子模拟的结果进行比对，两者的结果非常类似．模拟结果表明，对涉及无碰撞激波的大部分现象中理想MHD模拟是准确且可行的，同时相对于粒子模拟又有很好的计算效率，便于扩展至二维或三维的情形．     

空间等离子体与垂直无碰撞激波相互作用的数值实验

应用混合模拟方法数值研究了高Ａｌｆｖｅｎ－Ｍａｃｈ数垂直无碰撞激波与等离子体间的相互作用。结果表明，激波上游的磁场非常稳定，粒子分布近似为Ｍａｘｗｅｌｌ分布。激波下游磁场存在不规则的湍动，质子分布有一个高能尾，且有些质子被激波反射。跟踪少量高速质子的计算结果表明，在ｔ＝４０Ωｉ＾－１时约有４０％的质子被激波反射，而７％质子可被加速，最大速度值可达到２０ＶＡ激波区的电场分布对质子的减速或加速起了主要     

各向异性等离子体中磁场重联的混合模拟研究

应用二维三分量混合模拟方法数值研究了各向异性等离子体中的磁场重联过程．计算结果表明，当等离子体垂直于磁场方向的压强大于平行方向的压强时(P⊥／P∥＝1．5)，等离子体不稳定性的增长率会大大增强，重联速度也会加快；当等离子体垂直方向的压强小于平行方向的压强时(P⊥／P∥＝0．6)，会出现火蛇管不稳定性，将抑制撕裂模不稳定性和磁场重联过程．     

准平行无碰撞激波上游能量粒子的观测研究

通过Cluster卫星在2005年3月16日观测到的一个准平行激波观测事例,研究了准平行激波上游低频等离子体波动与能量离子之间的关系.卫星观测结果表明,在准平行激波上游,离子微分能通量受到了非线性波动的调制.在磁场强度较小区域,离子微分能通量较高.产生这种现象的可能原因是准平行激波上游的非线性波动可以捕获离子,被捕获的离子在波动中来回弹跳并被电场加速,从而导致磁场强度较小区域离子微分能通量较高.这一观测结果与已有的混合模拟结果相吻合.      

垂直激波条件下能量粒子加速机制的模拟研究

在具有湍动的磁场和垂直激波条件下对大量测试粒子的轨迹进行了数值计算,研究了激波强度和粒子初始能量对于粒子穿越激波的平均能量变化的影响,分析了漂移加速(SDA)在不同条件下对粒子加速的贡献,并给出了一个与数值结果相符合的漂移加速理论公式△E=amvivup(1-1/s).结果表明,加入磁场湍流后,垂直激波条件下粒子仍主要受到漂移加速作用,而基于粒子引导中心的耗散漂移加速理论在此条件下失效.      

电子环束流对航天器表面电位和等离子体鞘层的影响

采用二维三分量静电粒子模拟程序研究了电子环束流对低轨道磁化等离子体中运行的航天器表面电位和等离子体鞘层结构的影响.当有电子束流平行磁场入射时,航天器表面所带负电位的绝对值将增大.电子束流的速度和密度的增加将使航天器表面负电位绝对值增加很快.与此同时等离子体鞘层的尺度也将增大,形状将由向尾部延伸的“泪滴”状变成向两侧展开的“机翼”状.当电子环束流以相对于磁场成一定角度斜入射时,由于磁场的约束作用,航天器表面负电位的绝对值将随入射角增大而减小.      

引导场对无碰撞电流片低频电磁不稳定性的影响

通过数值求解无碰撞电流片中可压缩磁流体力学模型下得到的一般形式的色散关系,讨论了无碰撞电流片中引导场对低频电磁波不稳定性的影响.结果表明,平衡态磁场中的引导场,对于三维扰动传播的波不稳定性有很强的影响.(1)在电流片中间平面上(z=0),无引导场时,没有不稳定性发生,但若存在引导场,不稳定性便发生,并随着引导场的增强,不稳定性明显增强,不稳定的波模可能是低混杂模.(2)在中间平面附近(z=0.2),电流片是不稳定的.随着引导场的增强,不稳定性增长率明显地增强,不稳定的波模从平行和反平行两个方向传播变为反平行方向一个方向传播,并且是斜传播的,具有低频哨声模或低混杂模的特征.(3)在电流片边缘附近(z=0.8),引导场对不稳定的波模和增长率没有明显影响,不稳定的波模都是准平行的哨声波.      

太阳风质子束流的演化

太阳神飞船观测表明，太阳风高速流中质子束分量相对于核分量的密度随日心距离增加而增加．提出解释这一观测现象的机理并给出二维数值模拟结果．由于阿尔芬波速随日心距离增加而减少，第二支左旋波将与更多的质子共振，把部分原来属于核分布的质子拉到束分布中来．用数值模拟方程方法求解回旋波共振导致的准线性扩散方程，数值结果与观测结果相符合．     

多离子空间等离子体中快磁声波与粒子的回旋共振特性

快磁声波是空间等离子体中一种接近垂直传播的右旋极化电磁波,能够在等离子体层内外传播.快磁声波与带电粒子的回旋共振相互作用能够导致高能电子随机加速和投掷角扩散、能量质子投掷角扩散等,从而影响辐射带高能带电粒子的动态过程.分别基于完整的色散关系和高密度近似的色散关系,在不同空间等离子体条件下研究多离子空间等离子体中不同传播角的快磁声波色散曲线,并计算了快磁声波与H+,He+和O+离子的最小共振能量.结果表明,当传播角较小时,采用高密度近似与采用完整色散关系计算的离子最小共振能量没有太大差别.在中低密度中强磁场空间等离子体中,传播角≥ 88°时高密度近似色散关系会带来很大的误差,因此应利用完整色散关系计算最小共振能量.      

Two dimensional simulation of amplitude modulated electron plasma waves

Highly modulated waves near electron plasma frequency with both parallel and perpendicular polarization have been observed near diffusion region at dayside and in the tail region. In this paper, two dimensional Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulation was performed to study the possible generation mechanism of these modulated electron plasma waves. It is shown that weak beam instability could generate the modulated Langmuir wave and the ambient magnetic field plays an important role in the formation of modulation. When the weak beam has loss cone distribution, highly modulated upper hybrid waves are generated and propagate with large angle to the ambient magnetic field. The properties of these modulated waves are discussed and compared with observations.     

Energetic positive ions in the cometary “foreshock” region

Ions produced by ionization of the cometary neutrals interact with the solar wind protons to produce large amplitude oscillations of the ambient magnetic field. Such oscillations are convected towards the comet at the unperturbed solar wind speed far from the shock and at a lower speed closer to the shock (due to the solar wind mass loading); hence, they can energize the incoming ions by Fermi acceleration. The spatial extension of the acceleration region is of the order of 10⁶ km and the resulting energy spectrum is harder than in the Earth's bow shock case. The energization of cometary ions produces an additional deceleration of the solar wind. It is suggested that Comet Halley may be the most efficient “cosmic ray shock” in the solar system.     

Proton versus electron heating in solar flares

Proton and electron heating of a flaring atmosphere is compared in a kinetic approach for the particles ejected from a non-neutral reconnecting current sheet (RCS) located above the top of reconnected flaring loops in a two-ribbon flare. Two kinds of high-energy particles are considered: particles accelerated by a super-Dreicer electric field and those ejected from the reconnection region as neutral outflows, or separatrix jets. The beam electrons are assumed to deposit their energy in Coulomb collisions and Ohmic heating of the ambient plasma particles by the electric field induced by the precipitating beams. The protons are assumed to deposit their energy in generation of kinetic Alfvén waves (KAWs), which, in turn, dissipate due to Cherenkov resonant scattering on the ambient plasma electrons. The beam electrons are found to provide a fast (within a few tenth of a second) heating of the atmosphere that is well spread in depth from the corona to the lower chromosphere. The protons are shown to precipitate to the lower atmosphere much slower (up to few seconds for beam and up to 10–20 s for slow jets). Slow jet protons provide heating of the two compact regions: the first located at the top of a flaring loop just below the RCS, and the second one appearing at the transition region (TR) and upper chromosphere; fast beam protons deposit their energy in the TR and chromosphere only.     

Solar flare proton release from coronal magnetic traps and strong Alfvén turbulence in the corona

Drift instabilities arising when accelerated protons are trapped by coronal magnetic fields of active regions are investigated theoretically. If β, the ratio of total (plasma + energetic particles) pressure and magnetic field pressure is larger than some value, $\text{β?0.1}\text{to}\text{0.3}$, the magnetic trap is destructed and protons are released into interplanetary space. If $\text{β < β}{}^1$, the trapped protons excite gradient instability due to magnetic drift resonance. This “universal” instability results in rapid development of strong Alfvén wave turbulence with small wavelengths transverse to the magnetic field. Particle diffusion due to the waves has a rather complicated character and appears to be weak as compared to quasilinear diffusion. The role of Alfvén waves may consist in additional heating of the corona in the regions of closed magnetic field lines.     

Dynamic trapping of electrons in the porcupine ionospheric ion beam experiment

Electrons are needed to maintain quasineutrality in a case where positive ions are injected across the magnetic field into a limited volume in a magnetized plasma. In the absence of collisions, a positive potential builds up and traps the electrons which enter the region along the magnetic field. If the added density of ions exceeds the ambient density, large potential differences along the magnetic field can be maintained this way. The process explains several features of the Porcupine xenon ion beam injection experiment, where strong magnetic-field-aligned electric fields were measured in the vicinity of a xenon ion beam which was injected into the ambient ionosphere from a spinning subpayload.