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University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

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MHD

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

A Mechanical Model For Magnetized Relativistic Blastwaves, Shunke Ai, Bing Zhang Jul 2021

A Mechanical Model For Magnetized Relativistic Blastwaves, Shunke Ai, Bing Zhang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

The evolution of a relativistic blastwave is usually delineated under the assumption of pressure balance between forward- and reverse-shocked regions. However, such a treatment usually violates the energy conservation law, and is inconsistent with existing magnetohydrodynamic numerical simulation results. A mechanical model of non-magnetized blastwaves was proposed in previous work to solve the problem. In this paper, we generalize the mechanical model to the case of a blastwave driven by an ejecta with an arbitrary magnetization parameter $\sigma_{\rm ej}$. We test our modified mechanical model by considering a long-lasting magnetized ejecta and found that it is much better than the …


Constraining Protoplanetary Disc Accretion And Young Planets Using Alma Kinematic Observations, Ian Rabago, Zhaohuan Zhu Feb 2021

Constraining Protoplanetary Disc Accretion And Young Planets Using Alma Kinematic Observations, Ian Rabago, Zhaohuan Zhu

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Recent ALMA molecular line observations have revealed 3D gas velocity structure in protoplanetary discs, shedding light on mechanisms of disc accretion and structure formation. (1) By carrying out viscous simulations, we confirm that the disc's velocity structure differs dramatically using vertical stress profiles from different accretion mechanisms. Thus, kinematic observations tracing flows at different disc heights can potentially distinguish different accretion mechanisms. On the other hand, the disc surface density evolution is mostly determined by the vertically integrated stress. The sharp disc outer edge constrained by recent kinematic observations can be caused by a radially varying alpha in the disc. …


Global 3d Radiation Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations For Fu Ori's Accretion Disc And Observational Signatures Of Magnetic Fields, Zhaohuan Zhu, Yan-Fei Jiang, James M. Stone Apr 2020

Global 3d Radiation Magnetohydrodynamic Simulations For Fu Ori's Accretion Disc And Observational Signatures Of Magnetic Fields, Zhaohuan Zhu, Yan-Fei Jiang, James M. Stone

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

FU Ori is the prototype of FU Orionis systems that are outbursting protoplanetary discs. Magnetic fields in FU Ori’s accretion discs have previously been detected using spectropolarimetry observations for Zeeman effects. We carry out global radiation ideal MHD simulations to study FU Ori’s inner accretion disc. We find that (1) when the disc is threaded by vertical magnetic fields, most accretion occurs in the magnetically dominated atmosphere at z ∼ R, similar to the ‘surface accretion’ mechanism in previous locally isothermal MHD simulations. (2) A moderate disc wind is launched in the vertical field simulations with a terminal speed of …


Magnetothermal Disc Winds In X-Ray Binaries: Poloidal Magnetic Fields Suppress Thermal Winds, Tim Waters, Daniel Proga Sep 2018

Magnetothermal Disc Winds In X-Ray Binaries: Poloidal Magnetic Fields Suppress Thermal Winds, Tim Waters, Daniel Proga

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

Magnetic, radiation pressure, and thermal driving are the three mechanisms capable of launching accretion disc winds. In X-ray binaries, radiation pressure is often not significant, as in many systems the luminosity is too low for driving due to continuum transitions yet too high for driving due to line transitions. This leaves thermal and magnetic driving as the contender launching mechanisms in these systems. Using ATHENA++, we perform axisymmetric ideal MHD simulations that include radiative heating and cooling processes appropriate for Compton heated winds to show that the inclusion of magnetic fields into a thermally driven wind has the opposite effect …


Rossby Vortices In Thin Magnetized Accretion Discs, L. Matilsky, Sergei Dyda, R. V. E. Lovelace, P. S. Lii Aug 2018

Rossby Vortices In Thin Magnetized Accretion Discs, L. Matilsky, Sergei Dyda, R. V. E. Lovelace, P. S. Lii

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Research

We study the Rossby wave instability (RWI) in a thin accretion disc threaded by an initially toroidal magnetic field using the magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) code PLUTO... See full text for full abstract.