The Solar Wind - Inner Heliosphere

The solar wind in the inner heliosphere, inside ~ 5 AU, has been almost fully characterized by the addition of the high heliographic latitude Ulysses mission to the many low latitude inner heliosphere missions that preceded it. The two major omissions are the high latitude solar wind at solar maximum, which will be measured during the second Ulysses polar passages, and the solar wind near the Sun, which could be analyzed by a Solar Probe mission. Here, existing knowledge of the global solar wind in the inner heliosphere is summarized in the context of the new results from Ulysses.     

一种微米级粒子的静电发射加速装置

为了研究空间微小碎片碰撞对航天器的影响,国内外研制了各种类型的微小碎片加速器。文章简要介绍了一种很有前景的静电式微小碎片加速器及其关键部件的工作原理、结构特点及适用范围等。     

一种新的用于MHD方程逆风格式的Jacobian矩阵分裂方法

针对理想MHD方程,提出了一种新的基于MacCormack算法的雅可比矩阵分裂方法,克服了原有方法稳定性差的问题,并成功地应用于理想MHD方程的求解.控制方程在非结构混合网格上进行空间离散,其中对流项采用本文发展的逆风向量分裂格式,并引入了双曲型磁场散度清除技术,时间推进为显式5步龙格-库塔方法.对MHD激波管流动和带均匀磁场干扰的二维高超声速钝头体绕流流场进行了数值模拟,得到了与参考文献相吻合的数值结果,表明本文发展的数值分裂方法可以有效地捕捉MHD流场的流动特征,并且具有比MacCormack方法更高的稳定性和计算精度.     

乘波构型飞行器磁流体进气道一体化概念设计

采用准一维的磁流体方程组对设计状态下内磁流体发生器进行参数设计,利用斜激波理论设计磁流体进气道一体化的外形.以该外形为基点,对安装五对电极的内磁流体发生器采用五方程模型进行三维数值模拟,并通过调节其磁作用数以满足准一维假设下设计的进气道外形.研究表明,磁流体进气道最小出口流动均匀参数可以作为判别内发生器最优磁作用数的准则,在该磁作用数下内磁流体发生器可以有效地提高进气道的性能.      

Three Dimensional Simulation of the Steady Solar Wind in Carrington Rotation 1935

A three-dimensional MHD simulation is conducted to study the steady solar wind in Carrington Rotation (CR) 1935 by using the three-dimensional numerical magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model introduced by Feng et al. The numerical results demonstrate that the neutral current sheet has two peaks and two valleys, which is consistent with the result of PFSS model at Wilcox Solar Observatory (WSO). The obtained proton number density at 2.5 Rs is of the same order of magnitude as the result estimated from K-coronal brightness during the CRs 1733-1742 in 1983made by Wei et al. The radial velocity profile along heliocentric distance is consistent with that of low solar wind speed deduced by Sheeley and Wang et al. However, it is not able to reproduce the fast-speed flow in coronal holes and slow solar wind in streamers because of oversimplified energy equation adopted in our model. Future efforts must be made to remedy this deficiency.      

嵌套闭磁场结构内CME产生和传播的数值模拟

给出了特殊类型的日冕物质抛射(CME)数值模拟定性结果,这种CME核心闭磁场结构前半部分磁力线的方向与太阳整体偶极场磁力线的方向相反．计算结果表明,这种CME核心闭磁场结构磁力线与太阳整体偶极场反向磁力线之间存在过渡磁场结构,在向外传播时过渡磁场结构所占的面积逐渐增大．这一结果可以用来解释飞船为什么能够观测到一类双极磁云,这类磁云前半部分磁场方向与太阳整体偶极场方向相反．为了模拟这一数值结果,强调需要采用包含嵌套闭磁场的冕流背景结构,并在合适的位置触发CME．     

三维等离子体MHD气动热环境数值模拟

电磁流动控制技术是一个多学科交叉融合的重要研究方向,在高超声速飞行器气动特性优化、气动热环境减缓、边界层转捩和等离子体分布等流动控制方面显示出广阔的应用前景。考虑高超声速飞行器绕流流场中发生的离解、复合、电离和置换等化学反应,气体分子振动能激发以及化学非平衡效应,耦合电磁场作用并基于低磁雷诺数假设,通过数值模拟求解三维非平衡Navier-Stokes流场控制方程和Maxwell电磁场控制方程,建立磁场与三维等离子体流场耦合数值模拟方法及程序,采用典型算例进行考核。在此基础上,开展不同条件下磁场对再入三维等离子体流场以及气动热环境影响分析。研究表明:建立的高超声速飞行器的等离子体流场与磁场耦合计算方法及程序,其数值模拟结果与文献符合,外加磁场使飞行器头部弓形激波外推,磁场强度越强,激波面外推距离越大;不同磁场强度环境下,流场中温度峰值大小略有变化,变化幅度较小;磁场对绝大部分区域的热流有减缓作用,作用的大小与飞行高度、马赫数以及磁场的配置紧密相关;当前的计算条件下,飞行的高度越高,磁场的作用越明显。     

Topological and statistical properties of nonlinear force-free fields

We use our semi-analytic solution of the nonlinear force-free field equation to construct three-dimensional magnetic fields that are applicable to the solar corona and study their statistical properties for estimating the degree of braiding exhibited by these fields. We present a new formula for calculating the winding number and compare it with the formula for the crossing number. The comparison is shown for a toy model of two helices and for realistic cases of nonlinear force-free fields; conceptually the formulae are nearly the same but the resulting distributions calculated for a given topology can be different. We also calculate linkages, which are useful topological quantities that are independent measures of the contribution of magnetic braiding to the total free energy and relative helicity of the field. Finally, we derive new analytical bounds for the free energy and relative helicity for the field configurations in terms of the linking number. These bounds will be of utility in estimating the braided energy available for nano-flares or for eruptions.     

Excitation of flare-induced waves in coronal loops and the effects of radiative cooling

EUV imaging observations from several space missions (SOHO/EIT, TRACE, and SDO/AIA) have revealed a presence of propagating intensity disturbances in solar coronal loops. These disturbances are typically interpreted as slow magnetoacoustic waves. However, recent spectroscopic observations with Hinode/EIS of active region loops revealed that the propagating intensity disturbances are associated with intermittent plasma upflows (or jets) at the footpoints which are presumably generated by magnetic reconnection. For this reason, whether these disturbances are waves or periodic flows is still being studied. This study is aimed at understanding the physical properties of observed disturbances by investigating the excitation of waves by hot plasma injections from below and the evolution of flows and wave propagation along the loop. We expand our previous studies based on isothermal 3D MHD models of an active region to a more realistic model that includes full energy equation accounting for the effects of radiative losses. Computations are initialized with an equilibrium state of a model active region using potential (dipole) magnetic field, gravitationally stratified density and temperature obtained from the polytropic equation of state. We model an impulsive injection of hot plasma into the steady plasma outflow along the loops of different temperatures, warm (～1 MK) and hot (～6 MK). The simulations show that hot jets launched at the coronal base excite slow magnetoacoustic waves that propagate to high altitudes along the loops, while the injected hot flows decelerate rapidly with heights. Our results support that propagating disturbances observed in EUV are mainly the wave features. We also find that the effect of radiative cooling on the damping of slow-mode waves in 1–6 MK coronal loops is small, in agreement with the previous conclusion based on 1D MHD models.     

Stability and waves of transonic laboratory and space plasmas

The properties of magnetohydrodynamic waves and instabilities of laboratory and space plasmas are determined by the overall magnetic confinement geometry and by the detailed distributions of the density, pressure, magnetic field, and background velocity of the plasma. Consequently, measurement of the spectrum of MHD waves (MHD spectroscopy) gives direct information on the internal state of the plasma, provided a theoretical model is available to solve the forward as well as the inverse spectral problems. This terminology entails a program, viz. to improve the accuracy of our knowledge of plasmas, both in the laboratory and in space. Here, helioseismology (which could be considered as one of the forms of MHD spectroscopy) may serve as a luminous example. The required study of magnetohydrodynamic waves and instabilities of both laboratory and space plasmas has been conducted for many years starting from the assumption of static equilibrium. Recently, there is a outburst of interest for plasma states where this assumption is violated. In fusion research, this interest is due to the importance of neutral beam heating and pumped divertor action for the extraction of heat and exhaust needed in future tokamak reactors. Both result in rotation of the plasma with speeds that do not permit the assumption of static equilibrium anymore. In astrophysics, observations in the full range of electromagnetic radiation has revealed the primary importance of plasma flows in such diverse situations as coronal flux tubes, stellar winds, rotating accretion disks, and jets emitted from radio galaxies. These flows have speeds which substantially influence the background stationary equilibrium state, if such a state exists at all. Consequently, it is important to study both the stationary states of magnetized plasmas with flow and the waves and instabilities they exhibit. We will present new results along these lines, extending from the discovery of gaps in the continuous spectrum and low-frequency Alfvén waves driven by rotation to the nonlinear flow patterns that occur when the background speed traverses the full range from sub-slow to super-fast. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.