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Magnetic relaxation, current sheets, and structure formation in an extremely tenuous fluid medium


Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Bajer, K 
Moffatt, HK 

Abstract

The process of relaxation of a unidirectional magnetic field in a highly conducting tenuous fluid medium is considered. Null points of the field play a critical role in this process. During an initial stage of relaxation, variations in magnetic pressure are eliminated, and current sheets build up in the immediate neighborhood of null points. This initial phase is followed by a long diffusive phase of slow algebraic decay of the field, during which fluid is continuously sucked into the current sheets, leading to exponential growth of fluid density and concentration of mass around the null points, which show a tendency to cluster. Ultimately, this second phase of algebraic decay gives way to a final period of exponential decay of the field. The peaks of density at the null points survive as a fossil relic of the decay process. Numerical solution of the governing equations provides convincing confirmation of this three-stage scenario. Generalizations to two- and three-dimensional fields are briefly considered.

Description

Keywords

intergalactic medium, ISM: kinematics and dynamics, ISM: structure, large-scale structure of universe, magnetic fields, magnetic reconnection

Journal Title

Astrophysical Journal

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0004-637X
1538-4357

Volume Title

779

Publisher

American Astronomical Society
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/I036060/1)
We thank the Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences (Cambridge, UK) for hospitality during the Programme Topological Dynamics in Physical and Biological Sciences, July-December 2012 and the International Centre for Mathematical Sciences (Edinburgh) for hosting the workshop on Tangled Magnetic Fields in Astro- and Plasma Physics. One of us (KB) is grateful to Trinity College (Cambridge, UK) for the Visiting Fellowship he enjoyed while this work was completed. We acknowledge financial support from EPSRC under grant number EP/1036060/1.