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We present various instability mechanisms in the accreting black hole systems which might indicate at the connection between the accretion disk and jet. The jets observed in microquasars can have a peristent or blobby morphology. Correlated with the accretion luminosity, this might provide a link to the cyclic outbursts of the disk. Such duty-cycle type of behaviour on short timescales results from the thermal instability caused by the radiation pressure domination. The same type of instability may explain the cyclic radioactivity of the supermassive black hole systems. The somewhat longer timescales are characteristic for the instability caused by the partial hydrogen ionization. The distortions of the jet direction and complex morphology of the sources can be caused by precession of the disk-jet axis.
SN2007gr was an ordinary type Ic supernova, with a hint of asymmetric explosion seen in the optical polarization spectrum. This type of SNe is occasionally associated with long duration gamma-ray bursts which generate ultra-relativistic jets; no relativistic outflows have yet been found by direct imaging in SNe Ib/c explosions. High resolution very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) data and simultaneous total radio flux density measurements indicated that SN2007gr has expanded mildly relativistically. We performed late time Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) observations to measure the level of the underlying extended emission. Comparison of the VLBI and the background-subtracted WSRT and independent VLA data indicate an at least partially resolved source with an average expansion velocity of ≥0.4c, although the VLBI data could be consistent with a fainter source with an expansion velocity of ~0.2c as well.
In this work we propose the Bardeen-Petterson effect as the precession mechanism of the jet precession in NGC 1275. To check if this is true we have estimated the angular momentum ratio and the aligment timescale predict by the theory and compared with the numerical results presented in the literature. We were able to explain the precession period assuming an accretion disk with column surface density in the form of a power law with exponent 0.6 < s < 0.7 and a black hole rotation with a spin of 0.23 < a∗<0.4.
The X-ray transient source XTE J1818–245 went through an outburst in 2005 that was observed during a multi-wavelength campaign from radio to soft γ-rays. We performed new optical observations with the ESO/NTT telescope at La Silla. The broad-band spectral energy distribution revealed that the outer parts of the accretion disc had to be irradiated by its inner parts to explain the optical emission.
A reduction of total mean turbulent pressure due to the presence of magnetic fields was previously shown to be a measurable effect in direct numerical simulations. However, in the studied parameter regime the formation of large-scale structures, as anticipated from earlier mean-field simulations, was not found. An analysis of the relevant mean-field parameter dependency and the parameter domain of interest is conducted in order to clarify this apparent discrepancy.
We present a unified three-dimensional model of the convection zone and upper atmosphere of the Sun in spherical geometry. In this model, magnetic fields, generated by a helically forced dynamo in the convection zone, emerge without the assistance of magnetic buoyancy. We use an isothermal equation of state with gravity and density stratification. Recurrent plasmoid ejections, which rise through the outer atmosphere, is observed. In addition, the current helicity of the small–scale field is transported outwards and form large structures like magnetic clouds.
The interaction of plasma waves plays a crucial role in the dynamics of weakly turbulent plasmas. So far the interaction of non-dispersive waves has been studied. In this paper the theory is extended to dispersive waves. It is well known that dispersive waves may be found in the solar corona, where they contribute to the heating of the corona. Here the possible interactions in the solar corona are described and the interaction rates are derived in the framework of Hall MHD.
We provide a complete three-dimensional picture of the reconnecting dynamics of a current-sheet. Recently, a two-dimensional non-steady reconnection dynamics has been proved to occur without the presence of any anomalous effect (Lapenta, 2008, Skender & Lapenta, 2010, Bettarini & Lapenta, 2010) but such a picture must be confirmed in a full three-dimensional configuration wherein all instability modes are allowed to drive the evolution of the system, i.e. to sustain a reconnection dynamics or to push the system along a different instability path. Here we propose a full-space analysis allowing us to determine the longitudinal and, possibly, the transversal modes driving the different current-sheet disruption regimes, the corresponding characteristic time-scales and to study system's instability space- parameter (plasma beta, Lundquist and Reynolds numbers, system's aspect ratio). The conditions leading to an explosive evolution rather then to a diffusive dynamics as well as the details of the reconnection inflow/outflow regime at the disruption phase are determined. Such system embedded in a solar-like environment and undergoing a non-steady reconnection evolution may determine the formation both of jets and waves influencing the dynamics and energetic of the upper layers and of characteristic down-flows as observed in the low solar atmosphere.
The first detection of a diffuse radio source in a cluster of galaxies, dates back to the 1959 (Coma Cluster, Large et al. 1959). Since then, synchrotron radiating radio sources have been found in several clusters, and represent an important cluster component which is linked to the thermal gas. Such sources indicate the existence of large scale magnetic fields and of a population of relativistic electrons in the cluster volume. The observational results provide evidence that these phenomena are related to turbulence and shock-structures in the intergalactic medium, thus playing a major role in the evolution of the large scale structure in the Universe. The interaction between radio sources and cluster gas is well established in particular at the center of cooling core clusters, where feedback from AGN is a necessary ingredient to adequately describe the formation and evolution of galaxies and host clusters.
We are carrying out a search for all radio loud Active Galactic Nuclei observed with XMM-Newton, including targeted and field sources to perform a multi-wavelength study of these objects. We have cross-correlated the Verón-Cetty & Verón (2010) catalogue with the XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalogue (2XMMi) and found around 4000 sources. A literature search provided radio, optical, and X-ray data for 403 sources. This poster summarizes the first results of our study.
Jets are one of the more dramatic and visible manifestations of black hole accretion. It is becoming increasingly accepted that magnetic fields underlie the mechanism behind the launching of relativistic jets. At the same time it is now appreciated that the fundamental driving mechanism behind accretion is due to magnetohydrodynamical processes and the stresses they engender. Global disk simulations in full general relativity have begun to reveal the radial dependence of disk stresses and the intimate connections between accretion and jet-launching. This talk will review the issues involved, the recent progress that has been made, and the challenges that remain.
The Sun is a plasma laboratory for astrophysics, which allows us to investigate many important phenomena in turbulent magnetized plasma in detail. Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) launched in February 2010 provides unique information about plasma processes from the interior to the corona. The primary processes of magnetic field generation and formation of magnetic structures are hidden beneath the visible surface. Helioseismic diagnostics, based on observations and analysis of solar oscillations and waves, give insights into the physical processes in the solar interior and mechanisms of solar magnetic activity. In addition, simultaneous high-resolution multi-wavelength observations of the solar corona provide opportunity to investigate in unprecedented detail the coronal dynamics and links to the interior processes. These capabilities are illustrated by initial results on the large-scale dynamics of the Sun, the subsurface structure and dynamics of a sunspot and observations of a X-class solar flare.
Our numerical simulations show that the reconnection of magnetic field becomes fast in the presence of weak turbulence in the way consistent with the Lazarian & Vishniac (1999) model of fast reconnection. This process in not only important for understanding of the origin and evolution of the large-scale magnetic field, but is seen as a possibly efficient particle accelerator producing cosmic rays through the first order Fermi process. In this work we study the properties of particle acceleration in the reconnection zones in our numerical simulations and show that the particles can be efficiently accelerated via the first order Fermi acceleration.
Recently it has become apparent that proto-stellar-like outflow activity extends to the brown dwarf (BD) mass regime. While the presence of accretion appears to be the common ingredient in all objects known to drive jets fundamental questions remain unanswered. The more prominent being the exact mechanism by which jets are launched, and whether this mechanism remains universal among such a diversity of sources and scales. To address these questions we have been investigating outflow activity in a sample of protostellar objects that differ considerably in mass and mass accretion rate. Central to this is our study of brown dwarf jets. To date Classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) have offered us the best touchstone for decoding the launching mechanism. Here we shall summarise what is understood so far of BD jets and the important constraints observations can place on models. We will focus on the comparison between jets driven by objects with central mass <0.1M⊙ and those driven by CTTSs. In particular we wish to understand how the the ratio of the mass outflow to accretion rate compares to what has been measured for CTTSs.
Solar prominences can be viewed as pre-eruptive states of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). Eruptive prominences are the phenomena most related to CMEs observed in the lower layers of the solar atmosphere. We have made a comprehensive statistical study on the CMEs associated with prominence eruptions. We have examined the distribution of CMEs speed and acceleration for prominence eruptions associated CMEs. We also examine the speed-acceleration correlation for these events and there is no correlation between speed and acceleration. The mean angular width is almost similar to normal CMEs. The number variation during solar cycle of prominence activities is similar to the sunspot cycle.
We propose a modeling study on the formation and evolution of the Circumstellar Envelopes (CSEs) of a sample of selected radio-loud objects, based on an innovative interaction between two codes widely used by the scientific community, but in different fields. CLOUDY (Ferland et al. 1998) is a widely used code to model the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the several objects characterized by clouds of gas heated and ionized by a central object. CosmoMC (Lewis & Bridle 2002) instead is usually used for exploring cosmological parameter space. We investigate here on the exploitation of the sampling performance of the Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) engine of CosmoMC to search for a best fit model of the considered objects through the spectral synthesis capacity of CLOUDY.
Acceleration processes at astrophysical collisionless shocks are reviewed with a special emphasis on the importance of in situ observations of heliospheric shocks. Topics to be included are nonlinear reaction of shock acceleration process, effect of neutral particles, and electron acceleration.
We test the stability of a magnetic equilibrium configuration using numerical simulations and semi-analytical tools. The tested configuration is, as described by Duez & Mathis (2010), the lowest energy state for a given helicity in a stellar radiation zone. We show using 3D magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) simulations that the present configuration is stable with respect to all submitted perturbations, that would lead to the development of kink-type instabilities in the case of purely poloidal or toroidal fields, both well known to be unstable. We also discuss, using semi-analytic work, the stabilizing influence of one component on the other and show that the found configuration actually lies in the stability domain predicted by a linear analysis of resonant modes.
We studied numerically electron acceleration by a perpendicular wavy shock. Distribution function of accelerated electrons is highly anisotropic, with many sharp peaks. The peaks are caused by (usually single) reflections of electrons by the shock and subsequent transmission.
In the present investigation, radial diffusion of equatorially trapped electrons in the magnetospheres of Jupiter and Rotating Radio Transients (RRATs) are examined and compared. It is assumed that electrons lose energy through synchrotron radiation and the wave-particle interaction. The phase space density of the electrons, which go through gradB drift in Jupiter's and RRATs magnetospheres and thus resonate with the plasma waves, changes and this change predicted by the model seems to be consistent with the Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 data for Jupiter's case and a similar result obtained for RRATs.