Shocks and cold fronts in galaxy clusters

The currently operating X-ray imaging observatories provide us with an exquisitely detailed view of the Megaparsec-scale plasma atmospheres in nearby galaxy clusters. At z<0.05$z<0.05$, the Chandra  's 1^″$1^{″}$ angular resolution corresponds to linear resolution of less than a kiloparsec, which is smaller than some interesting linear scales in the intracluster plasma. This enables us to study the previously unseen hydrodynamic phenomena in clusters: classic bow shocks driven by the infalling subclusters, and the unanticipated “cold fronts,” or sharp contact discontinuities between regions of gas with different entropies. The ubiquitous cold fronts are found in mergers as well as around the central density peaks in “relaxed” clusters. They are caused by motion of cool, dense gas clouds in the ambient higher-entropy gas. These clouds are either remnants of the infalling subclusters, or the displaced gas from the cluster's own cool cores.     

Ion acoustic solitary waves with adiabatic ions in magnetized electron-positron-ion plasmas

Linear and nonlinear ion acoustic waves in the presence of adiabatically heated ions in magnetized electron-positron-ion plasmas are studied. The Sagdeev potential approach is employed to obtain the energy integral equation in such a mulitcomponent plasma using fluid theory. It is found that electron density humps are formed in the subsonic region in magnetized electron-positron-ion plasmas. The amplitude of electron density hump is decreased with the increase of hot ion temperature in electron-positron-ion plasmas. However, the increase in positron concentration and obliqueness of the wave increases the amplitude of nonlinear structure. The increase in positron concentration also reduces the width of the nonlinear structure in a magnetized multicomponent plasma. The numerical solutions in the form of solitary pulses are also presented for different plasma cases. The results may be applicable to astrophysical plasma situations, where magnetized electron-positron-ion plasma with hot ions can exist.     

Variational method for the nonlinear dynamics of an elliptic magnetic stagnation line

The nonlinear evolution of the kink instability of a plasma with an elliptic magnetic stagnation line is studied by means of an amplitude expansion of the ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations. Wahlberg et al. [12] have shown that, near marginal stability, the nonlinear evolution of the stability can be described in terms of a two-dimensional potential U(X,Y), where X and Y represent the amplitudes of the perturbations with positive and negative helical polarization. The potential U(X,Y) is found to be nonlinearly stabilizing for all values of the polarization. In our paper a Lagrangian and an invariant variational principle for two coupled nonlinear ordinal differential equations describing the nonlinear evolution of the stagnation line instability with arbitrary polarization are given. Using a trial function in a rectangular box we find the functional integral. The general case for the two box potential can be obtained on the basis of a different ansatz where we approximate the Jost function by polynomials of order n instead of a piecewise linear function. An example for the second order is given to illustrate the general case. Some considerations concerning solar filaments and filament bands (circular or straight) are indicated as possible applications besides laboratory experiments with cusp geometry corresponding to quadripolar cusp geometries for some clouds and thunderstorms.     

Laser induced self-phase modulation in nematic liquid crystals and effects of applied dc electric field

We investigated the ring-pattern characteristic of self-phase modulation in a homeotropic nematic liquid crystal cell induced by a focused Ar-ion laser beam. Laser induced self-phase retardation versus incident angle was experimentally studied, and good agreement with theory was found. Effects of applied dc electric field on the ring-pattern were studied, to our knowledge, for the first time. When the electric field was below a critical value, laser induced self-phase retardation could be varied by changing the electric field strength. Above this value, irregular shaped diffraction pattern accompanied by intense light scattering was observed, which is attributable to honeycomb-like domain formation.     

Deduction of the temperature-dependent structure of the four-layer intermediate smectic phase using resonant X-ray scattering

A binary mixture of an antiferroelectric liquid-crystal material containing a selenium atom and a highly chiral dopant is investigated using resonant X-ray scattering. This mixture exhibits a remarkably wide four-layer intermediate smectic phase, the structure of which is investigated over a temperature range of 16K. Analysis of the resonant X-ray scattering data allows accurate measurement of both the helicoidal pitch and the distortion angle as a function of temperature. The former decreases rapidly as the SmC ^* phase is approached, whilst the latter remains constant over the temperature range studied at 8^°±3^° . We also observe that the senses of the helicoidal pitch and the unit cell of the repeating four-layer structure are opposite in this mixture and that there is no pitch inversion over the temperature range studied.     

Electromagnetic envelope solitons in magnetized plasma

A multiple scales technique is employed to solve the fluid-Maxwell equations describing a weakly nonlinear circularly polarized electromagnetic pulse in magnetized plasma. A nonlinear Schrödinger-type (NLS) equation is shown to govern the amplitude of the vector potential. The conditions for modulational instability and for the existence of various types of localized envelope modes are investigated in terms of relevant parameters. Right-hand circularly polarized (RCP) waves are shown to be modulationally unstable regardless of the value of the ambient magnetic field and propagate as bright-type solitons. The same is true for left-hand circularly polarized (LCP) waves in a weakly to moderately magnetized plasma. In other parameter regions, LCP waves are stable in strongly magnetized plasmas and may propagate as dark-type solitons (electric field holes). The evolution of envelope solitons is analyzed numerically, and it is shown that solitons propagate in magnetized plasma without any essential change in amplitude and shape.     

Pre-sheath formation in an oblique magnetic field: fluid model and PIC simulation

We present some results of a one-dimensional fluid model with a floating electrode immersed in plasma with magnetic field applied at an oblique angle. The model equations are integrated numerically in order to find the space profiles of the ion velocities and electrostatic potential for various strenghts and angles of the magnetic field. We assume a collisionless magnetized pre-sheath with isothermal ions. The results are then compared with the spatial profiles obtained by a computer simulation. We use a BIT1 particle-in-cell code. The simulations input parameters are chosen in the way, that they resemble the fluid model as much as possible. Because the results of the simulation are given in the absolute SI units, they have to be normalized correctly. We evaluate the model results and compare them with the computer simulation results. Special attention is brought on formation of the pre-sheath with magnetic field applied at intermediate angles. The results of the simulation are in good qualitative agreement with the model.     

Spin magnetosonic shock-like waves in quantum plasmas

The propagation of one-dimensional shock-like waves (SLWs) in a dissipative quantum magnetoplasma medium is studied. A quantum magnetohydrodynamic (QMHD) model is used to take into account the effects of quantum force associated with the Bohm potential and the pressure-like spin force for electrons. It is shown that the nonlinear evolution equation [Korteweg-de-Vries-Burger (KdVB)], which describes the dynamics of small but finite amplitude magnetosonic waves (MSWs) (where the dissipation is provided by the plasma resistivity) exhibits both oscillatory and monotonic shock-like perturbations (SLPs) by the effects of collective tunneling and spin alignment. Both the quantum and spin force significantly modify the shock-like structures and the strength of SLPs. The theoretical results could be of important for strongly magnetized astrophysical (e.g., pulsars, magnetars) plasmas.     

Transport and crystallization of colloidal particles in a thin nematic cell

In a thin planar nematic cell, the application of an AC electric field induces a macroscopic transport of micrometer-sized colloidal particles along the nematic director. We have analyzed the dependence of particle velocities on the electric-field amplitude and frequency and found that it decreases exponentially with increasing frequency. Using specially designed electrodes we have observed that colloidal particles could be pumped and accelerated across the field-no-field interface, and measured the structural force and the corresponding potential, which is of the order of 10000 k_BT for 4μm particles. We demonstrate that spatially periodic close-packed crystalline colloidal structures can be obtained, which are thermodinamically metastable for many days after turning off the electric field and slowly decay into linear chains. Above the nematic-isotropic phase transition, such crystalline structures are non-stable and decay in few minutes.     

Nonlinear generation of zonal flows by ion-acoustic waves in a uniform magnetoplasma

It is shown that large-scale zonal flows (ZFs) can be excited by Reynolds stress of nonlinearly interacting random phase ion-acoustic waves (EIAWs) in a uniform magnetoplasma. Since ZFs are associated with poloidal sheared flows, they can tear apart short scale EIAW turbulence eddies, and hence contribute to the reduction of the cross-field turbulent transport in a magnetized plasma.