Solar and lunar hydromagnetic tides in the earth's magnetosphere
Solar and lunar hydromagnetic tides in earth magnetosphere obtained from electrostatic fields in dynamo region
Maeda, H.↗
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Magnetism and thermal evolution of the terrestrial planets
The absence in the cases of Venus and Mars of the substantial intrinsic magnetic fields of the earth and Mercury is considered, in light of thermal history calculations which suggest that, while the cores of Mercury and the earth are continuing to freeze, the cores of Venus and Mars may still be completely liquid. It is noted that completely fluid cores, lacking intrinsic heat sources, are not likely to sustain thermal convection for the age of the solar system, but cool to a subadiabatic, conductive state that cannot maintain a dynamo because of the gravitational energy release and the chemically driven convection that accompany inner core growth. The models presented include realistic pressure- and composition-dependent freezing curves for the core, and material parameters are chosen so that correct present-day values of heat outflow, upper mantle temperature and viscosity, and inner core radius, are obtained for the earth.
Stevenson, D. J.↗
Magnetospheric Structures: Uranus and Neptune
Magnetospheric structures that might be encountered at Uranus and Neptune are described. Statistics indicate a sufficiently high probability to warrant consideration of their likely properties in advance of the Voyager encounters. Because the spin axis of Uranus lies nearly in the ecliptic and presently points approximately sunward, Voyager is likely to encounter the unique pole on configuration that has special theoretical significance. Corotation in the magnetospheres of Uranus and Neptune would probably exclude solar wind drive convection as an important driver of global magnetospheric dynamics, as it does at Jupiter and Saturn. The magnetospheres of Uranus and Neptune probably lack sufficient internal sources of plasma to produce significant levels of rotationally driven convection. The reported observation of auroral emission from Uranus has therefore motivated the development of an alternative model in which solar wind motion is coupled directly to the rotation of the ionosphere to establish a dynamo circuit which generates Birkeland currents and polar cap aurora. This model predicts the strength and configuration of the aurora as functions of the magnitude and polarity, respectively, of the planetary magnetic moment.
T W Hill↗
Magnetic fields in astrophysics
Terrestrial, solar and galactic magnetic fields, discussing generation by combined nonuniform rotation and cyclonic turbulence based on dynamo equation
Parker, E. N.↗
The Stellar Imager (SI) Mission Concept
The Stellar Imager (SI) is envisioned as a space-based, UV-optical interferometer composed of 10 or more one-meter class elements distributed with a maximum baseline of 0.5 approximately km. It will image stars and binaries with one hundred to one thousand resolution elements on their surface and enable long-term studies of stellar magnetic activity patterns and their evolution with time, for comparison with those on the sun. It will also sound their interiors through asteroseismology to image internal structure, differential rotation, and large-scale circulations. SI will enable us to understand the various effects of magnetic fields of stars, the dynamos that generate these fields, and the internal structure and dynamics of the stars in which these dynamos operate. The ultimate goal of the mission is to achieve the best possible forecasting of solar activity as a driver of climate and space weather on times scales ranging from months to decades, and an understanding of the impact of stellar magnetic activity on astrobiology and life in the Universe. The road to that goal will revolutionize our understanding of stars and stellar systems, the building blocks of the Universe. Fitting naturally within the NASA and ESA long-term time lines, SI complements defined missions, and with them will show us entire other solar systems, from the central star to their orbiting planets. In this paper we will describe the scientific goals of the mission, the performance requirements needed to address those goals, and the design concepts now under study.
Carpenter, Kenneth S.↗
Magnetically controlled solar nebula
It is widely believed that a primordial solar nebula, the precursor of the Sun and its planetary system, could be best described in terms of an accretion disk. Such an accretion disk is though to be turbulent, and it is usually imagined that turbulent viscosity alone provides the torque responsible for the structure and the evolution of the nebula. However, it was found that an MHD dynamo operating in a turbulent nebula can contemporaneously produce magnetic fields capable of significantly altering or even dominating the total torque. Thus, it seems that no model of a viscous solar nebula is complete without taking magnetic fields into consideration. It was demonstrated that there are usually two distinct regions of nebular disk where a dynamo can operate: the inner region, where the magnetic field coupled to gas due to relatively high thermal ionization; and the outer region, where this coupling is achieved due to nonthermal ionization. Most models also show the existence of an intermediate region, 'the magnetic gap,' where neither thermal nor nonthermal sources can produce enough ionization to provide the necessary coupling between the magnetic field and the gas. The location and width of the gap change substantially from one model to another. At present, we can only estimate the strength of a generated magnetic field. It seems that a large-scale magnetic field is likely to be in the equipartition with the turbulent kinetic energy; however, the intense magnetic fluctuations may greatly exceed this equipartition strength on short time and length scales. To show how a dynamo-generated magnetic field changes the structure of a viscous nebula, we consider four nebula models extensively.
Stepinski, T. F.↗
Papers presented to the Conference on Origins of Planetary Magnetism
Abstracts of 63 papers accepted for publication are presented. Topics cover geomagnetism in the context of planetary magnetism, lunar magnetism, the dynamo theory and nondynamo processes, comparative planetary magnetism (terrestrial and outer planets), meteoritic magnetism, and the early solar magnetic field. Author and subject indexes are provided.
Source record↗
The Stellar Imager (SI): An Ultra-High Angular Resolution UV/Optical Observatory
The Stellar Imager (SI) is envisioned as a space-based, UV-optical interferometer composed of 10 or more one-meter class elements distributed with a maximum baseline of 0.5-km and providing a resolution of 60 micro-arcseconds at 1550 A. It will image stars and binaries with one hundred to one thousand resolution elements on their surface and enable long-term studies of stellar magnetic activity patterns and their evolution with time, for comparison with those on the sun. It will also sound their interiors through asteroseismology to image internal structure, differential rotation, and large-scale circulations. SI will enable us to understand the various effects of magnetic fields of stars, the dynamos that generate these fields, and the internal structure and dynamics of the stars in which these dynamos operate. The ultimate goal of the mission is to achieve the best-possible forecasting of solar activity as a driver of climate and space weather on times scales ranging from months up to decades, and an understanding of the impact of stellar magnetic activity on life in the Universe. The road to that goal will revolutionize our understanding of stars and stellar systems, the building blocks of the Universe. Fitting naturally within the NASA and ESA long-term time lines, SI complements defined missions, and with them will show us entire other solar systems, from the central star to their orbiting planets. In this paper we will describe the scientific goals of the mission, the performance requirements needed to address those goals, and the design concepts now under study.
Carpenter, Kenneth G.↗
The Stellar Imager (SI) Mission Concept: Imaging the Surfaces and Interiors of Other Stars
The Stellar Imager (SI) is envisioned as a space-based, uv-optical interferometer composed of 10 or more one-meter class elements distributed with a maximum. baseline of 0.5-km and providing a resolution of 60 micro-arcseconds at 1550 A. It will image stars and binaries with one hundred to one thousand resolution elements on their surface and enable long-term studies of stellar magnetic activity patterns and their evolution with time, for comparison with those on the sun. It will also sound their interiors through asteroseismology to image internal structure, differential rotation, and large-scale circulations. SI will enable us to understand the various effects of magnetic fields of stars, the dynamos that generate these fields, and the internal structure and dynamic the stars in which these dynamos operate. The ultimate goal of the mission is to achieve the best-possible forecasting of solar activity as a driver of climate and space weather on times scales ranging from months up to decades, and an understanding of the impact of stellar magnetic activity on life in the universe. The road to that goal will revolutionize our understanding of stars and stellar systems, the building blocks of the universe. Fitting naturally within the NASA and ESA long-term time lines, SI complements defined missions, and with them will show us entire other solar systems, from the central star to their orbiting planets. in this paper we describe the scientific goals of the mission, the performance requirements needed to address those goals, and the design concepts now under study.
Carpenter, Kenneth G.↗
Dynamo magnetic field-induced angular momentum transport in protostellar nebulae - The 'minimum mass' protosolar nebula
Magnetic torques can produce angular momentum redistribution in protostellar nebulas. Dynamo magnetic fields can be generated in differentially rotating and turbulent nebulas and can be the source of magnetic torques that transfer angular momentum from a protostar to a disk, as well as redistribute angular momentum within a disk. A magnetic field strength of 100-1000 G is needed to transport the major part of a protostar's angular momentum into a surrounding disk in a time characteristic of star formation, thus allowing formation of a solar-system size protoplanetary nebula in the usual 'minimum-mass' model of the protosolar nebula. This paper examines the possibility that a dynamo magnetic field could have induced the needed angular momentum transport from the proto-Sun to the protoplanetary nebula.
Stepinski, T. F.↗
Ionospheric Storm Effects and Equatorial Plasma Irregularities During the 17-18 March 2015 Event
The intense magnetic storm on 17-18 March 2015 caused large disturbances of the ionosphere. Based on the plasma density (Ni) observations performed by the Swarm fleet of satellites, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment mission, and the Communications/Navigation Outage Forecasting System satellite, we characterize the storm-related perturbations at low latitudes. All these satellites sampled the ionosphere in morning and evening time sectors where large modifications occurred. Modifications of plasma density are closely related to changes of the solar wind merging electric field (E (sub m)). We consider two mechanisms, prompt penetration electric field (PPEF) and disturbance dynamo electric field (DDEF), as the main cause for the Ni redistribution, but effects of meridional wind are also taken into account. At the start of the storm main phase, the PPEF is enhancing plasma density on the dayside and reducing it on the nightside. Later, DDEF takes over and causes the opposite reaction. Unexpectedly, there appears during the recovery phase a strong density enhancement in the morning/pre-noon sector and a severe Ni reduction in the afternoon/evening sector, and we suggest a combined effect of vertical plasma drift, and meridional wind is responsible for these ionospheric storm effects. Different from earlier studies about this storm, we also investigate the influence of storm dynamics on the initiation of equatorial plasma irregularities (EPIs). Shortly after the start of the storm main phase, EPIs appear in the post-sunset sector. As a response to a short-lived decline of E (sub m), EPI activity appears in the early morning sector. Following the second start of the main phase, EPIs are generated for a few hours in the late evening sector. However, for the rest of the storm main phase, no more EPIs are initiated for more than 12 hours. Only after the onset of recovery phase does EPI activity start again in the post-midnight sector, lasting more than 7 hours.This comprehensive view of ionospheric storm effects and plasma irregularities adds to our understanding of conditions that lead to ionospheric instabilities.
Zhou, Yun-Liang↗
A solar origin for the large lunar magnetic field at 4.0 billion yr ago
A new method (Shaw, 1974) for paleointensity determination has been applied to three subsamples of one polymict breccia, 72215 (of age 4.0 billion yr) to yield an average paleointensity of 0.41 Oe at the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon around the time of breccia formation. Of the present models for lunar magnetism, only the Sonett and Runcorn (1974) model of a central iron core dynamo can explain the presence of such a large field in early lunar history. However, because of the similarity in size of this field and that for the early solar system deduced from carbonaceous chondrites, we draw attention to an apparently little-considered possibility: that the large magnetic field in early lunar history was external and solar in origin, and emanated from a pre-main sequence T-Tauri stage sun. Therefore, there should be no record of such a large magnetic field in lunar rocks younger than approximately 4.0 billion yr.
Banerjee, S. K.↗
Lunar perturbations in columnar electron content and their interpretation in terms of dynamo electrostatic fields
Both the sun and the moon exert influences on the ionosphere, causing fluctuations in its electron content. The small lunar effects, though not negligible, are difficult to analyze because their periodicities differ little from the periodicity of the dominant solar effects. A finite duration impulse response filter was perfected, permitting the efficient splitting of our columnar electron content data into a solar, a lunar, and a residual component. The solar component plus the lunar component and the solar component alone were processed by a dynamic ionospheric simulation program that yields values of vertical plasma drifts when electron content data are used as input. The difference between the two plasma drifts so obtained was taken as being the plasma drift caused by the electric field generated by the lunar tides in the dynamo region. This technique appears to be the first to allow a direct estimation of the lunar-induced electric fields in the ionosphere.
Bernhardt, P. A.↗
Recent Progress in Understanding the Sun's Magnetic Dynamo
100 years ago we thought that the Sun and stars shone as a result of slow gravitational contraction over a few tens of millions of years - putting astronomers at odds with geologists who claimed that the Earth was much, much older. That mystery was solved in the 1920s and 30s with the discovery of nuclear energy (proving that the geologists had it right all along). Other scientific mysteries concerning the Sun have come and gone but three major mysteries remain: 1) How does the Sun produce sunspots with an 11-year cycle? 2) What produces the huge explosions that result in solar flares, prominence eruptions, and coronal mass ejections? and 3) Why is the Sun's outer atmosphere, the corona, so darned hot? Recent progress in solar astronomy reveals a single key to understanding all three of these mysteries.The 11-year time scale for the sunspot cycle indicates the presence of a magnetic dynamo within the Sun. For decades this dynamo was though to operate within the Sun's convection zone - the outmost 30% of the Sun where convective currents transport heat and advect magnetic lines of force. The two leading theories for the dynamo had very different models for the dynamics of the convection zone. Actual measurements of the dynamics using the techniques of helioseismology showed that both of these models had to be wrong some 20 years ago. A thin layer of strongly sheared flow at the base of the convection zone (now called the tachocline) was then taken to be the seat of the dynamo. Over the last 10 years it has become apparent that a weak meridional circulation within the convection zone also plays a key role in the dynamo. This meridional circulation has plasma rising up from the tachocline in the equatorial regions, spreading out toward the poles at a top speed of about 10-20 m/s at the surface, sinking back down to the tachocline in the polar regions, and then flowing back toward the equator at a top speed of about 1-2 m/s in the tachocline itself. Recent dynamo models that include this meridional flow now appear to have some power for predicting the size of future sunspot cycles.
Hathaway, David. H.↗
Fast pulsars with disks
The observed properties of the pulsar PSR1937+214 are compared with predictions of the disk model. It is assumed that an isolated magnetized rotating neutron star is ringed by a fluid disk with a 0.00001 solar mass, and relative rotations of the star and the disk produce potential differences across the disk. A Faraday disk dynamo is also formed between the disk and the star, and allows the polar cap current to return from the disk to the star through auroral arcing. Preferential regions of the star are recipients of a return current controlled by the surface magnetic field structure, which configures the pulsing emissions. The disk model predicts the average luminosity to be 10 to the 31st erg/sec, and an emission of 3 x 10 to the 30th erg/sec was detected. Only one-millionth of the output of the emissions is in the radio region, and the X and gamma ray emissions are in the normal range for pulsars. It is concluded that PSR1937+214 behaves within the predictions of the disk model and is not a new kind of object.
Michel, F. C.↗
Comparison of dayside current layers in Venus' ionosphere and earth's equatorial electrojet
The major physical aspects of the equatorial electrojet of Earth and the dayside ionospheric current layers of Venus are compared, viz., the electric current intensity and total current, roles of electric field, pressure and gravity, diffusion time scales, and the Bernouille effect. The largest potential differences, of the order of 10 volts, horizontally across the dayside ionosphere of Venus, have important implications for possible dynamo action in the Venus ionosphere and the application of an electric field from the lower atmosphere or from the solar wind. An upper limit to the horizontal scale of vertical magnetic fields in the Venus ionosphere is estimated thereby for the first time. New upper limits on the velocity in, and thickness of, a possible S layer at Venus are presented. If an S layer exists, it is only for extreme conditions of the solar wind. A mechanism for formation of magnetic ropes in the Venus ionosphere is also proposed.
Cole, Keith D.↗
Evolution of magnetized protoplanetary disks
We investigate the global evolution of a turbulent protoplanetary disk in its viscous stage, incorporating the effects of Maxwell stress due to a large-scale magnetic field permeating disk. We assume that the viscous stress is given by an alpha model. A magnetic field is produced contemporaneously by an alpha omega dynamo mechanism and the resultant Maxwell stress assists the viscous stress in providing the means for disk evolution. The aim of this work is to compare the evolution of magnetized and nonmagnetized disks driven by turbulent viscosity of the same magnitude and thus assess the effects of a self-generated magnetic field on the structure and dynamical evolution of protoplanetary disks. Two illustrative examples corresponding to two different initial conditions are considered: a high-mass case that starts with a disk of 0.245 solar mass and angular momentum of 5.6 x 10(exp 52)g sq cm/s, and a low-mass that case starts with a disk of 0.11 solar mass and angular momentum of 1.8 x 10(exp 52)g sq cm/s. For each of these two cases the radial development of a disk is calculated numerically assuming a fiducial value of the dimensionless viscosity parameter alpha(sub ss) = 0.01, as well as alpha(sub ss) = 2 x 10(exp -3). In all cases the central star has a mass equal to 1 solar mass. The most striking feature of magnetized disk evolution is the presence of the surface density bulge located in the region of the disk where the dynamo mechanism cannot support a magnetic field. The bulge persists for a time of the order of 10(exp 5)-10(exp 6) yr. The presence and persistence of the surface density bulge may have important implications for the process of planet formation and the overall characteristics of resultant planetary systems.
Reyes-Ruiz, Mauricio↗
Physics-Based Approach to Predict the Solar Activity Cycles
Observations of the complex highly non-linear dynamics of global turbulent flows and magnetic fields are currently available only from Earth-side observations. Recent progress in helioseismology has provided us some additional information about the subsurface dynamics, but its relation to the magnetic field evolution is not yet understood. These limitations cause uncertainties that are difficult take into account, and perform proper calibration of dynamo models. The current dynamo models have also uncertainties due to the complicated turbulent physics of magnetic field generation, transport and dissipation. Because of the uncertainties in both observations and theory, the data assimilation approach is natural way for the solar cycle prediction and estimating uncertainties of this prediction. I will discuss the prediction results for the upcoming Solar Cycle 25 and their uncertainties and affect of Ensemble Kalman Filter parameters to resulting predictions.
Physics-Based↗