The evolution of magnetic tower jets in the laboratory
Abstract
The evolution of laboratory produced magnetic jets is followed numerically through three-dimensional, non-ideal 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 which 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 re-arrangement of the field and currents. The top of the cavity breaks-up and a well collimated, radiatively cooled, 'clumpy' jet emerges from the system.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0611441,
title = {The evolution of magnetic tower jets in the laboratory},
author = {A. Ciardi and S. V. Lebedev and A. Frank and E. G. Blackman and J. P. Chittenden and C. J. Jennings and D. J. Ampleford and S. N. Bland and S. C. Bott and J. Rapley and G. N. Hall and F. A. Suzuki-Vidal and A. Marocchino and T. Lery and C. Stehle},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0611441},
year = {2008}
}
Comments
34 Pages, 10 Figure, Accepted for publication in Physics of Plasmas