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. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.
The evolution of magnetic tower jets in the laboratory / A., Ciardi; S. V., Lebedev; Frank A., Blackman Eg; J. P., Chittenden; C. J., Jennings; D. J., Ampleford; S. N., Bland; S. C., Bott; J., Rapley; G. N., Hall; F. A., Suzuki Vidal; Marocchino, Alberto; T., Lery; C., Stehle. - In: PHYSICS OF PLASMAS. - ISSN 1070-664X. - STAMPA. - 14:5(2007), p. 056501. [10.1063/1.2436479]
The evolution of magnetic tower jets in the laboratory
MAROCCHINO, ALBERTO;
2007
Abstract
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. © 2007 American Institute of Physics.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
