The Evolution of Magnetic Tower Jets in the Laboratory and in Astrophysics

By Andrea Ciardi, S. Lebedev, A. Frank, Eric G. Blackman, J. Chittenden, C. Jennings, D.J.Ampleford, S. Bland, S. Bott, J. Rapley and 15 more. 2006

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The evolution of laboratory produced magnetic jets is followed numerically through three-dimensional, nonideal magnetohydrodynamic simulations. The experiments are designed to study the interaction of a purely toroidal field with an extended plasma background medium. The system is observed to evolve into a structure consisting of an approximately cylindrical magnetic cavity with an embedded magnetically confined jet on its axis. The supersonic expansion produces a shell of swept-up shocked plasma that surrounds and partially confines the magnetic tower. Currents initially flow along the walls of the cavity and in the jet but the development of current-driven instabilities leads to the disruption of the jet and a rearrangement of the field and currents. The top of the cavity breaks up, and a well-collimated, radiatively cooled, “clumpy” jet emerges from the system.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Nuclear and High Energy Physics

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a6d16bfa235854c65a9173d5764f9e7cbd848437