NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF Z-PINCH EXPERIMENTS TO CREATE SUPERSONIC DIFFERENTIALLY ROTATING PLASMA FLOWS

Journal Article · Wed Apr 10 00:00:00 EDT 2013 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/767/1/84· OSTI ID:22167372

Bocchi, M.; Ummels, B.; Chittenden, J. P.; Lebedev, S. V. ^[1]; Frank, A.

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1. Plasma Physics, Imperial College, London SW7 2BW (United Kingdom)

The physics of accretion disks is of fundamental importance for understanding of a wide variety of astrophysical sources that includes protostars, X-ray binaries, and active galactic nuclei. The interplay between hydrodynamic flows and magnetic fields and the potential for turbulence-producing instabilities is a topic of active research that would benefit from the support of dedicated experimental studies. Such efforts are in their infancy, but in an effort to push the enterprise forward we propose an experimental configuration which employs a modified cylindrical wire array Z-pinch to produce a rotating plasma flow relevant to accretion disks. We present three-dimensional resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations which show how this approach can be implemented. In the simulations, a rotating plasma cylinder or ring is formed, with typical rotation velocity {approx}30 km s{sup -1}, Mach number {approx}4, and Reynolds number in excess of 10{sup 7}. The plasma is also differentially rotating. Implementation of different external magnetic field configurations is discussed. It is found that a modest uniform vertical field of 1 T can affect the dynamics of the system and could be used to study magnetic field entrainment and amplification through differential rotation. A dipolar field potentially relevant to the study of accretion columns is also considered.

• OSTI ID: 22167372
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 767, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
ACCRETION DISKS
ASTROPHYSICS
BINARY STARS
COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION
CYLINDRICAL CONFIGURATION
GALAXY NUCLEI
INSTABILITY
LINEAR Z PINCH DEVICES
MACH NUMBER
MAGNETIC FIELD CONFIGURATIONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
PROTOSTARS
REYNOLDS NUMBER
ROTATING PLASMA
ROTATION
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TURBULENCE
WIRES
X RADIATION