Bibcode
Franqueira, M.; Tagger, M.; Gómez de Castro, A. I.
Referencia bibliográfica
Astrophysics and Space Science, v. 272, Issue 1/3, p. 307-310 (2000).
Fecha de publicación:
0
2000
Revista
Número de citas
0
Número de citas referidas
0
Descripción
Magnetic fields play an important role in astrophysics and they often
dominate the behavior of magnetized media. We simulate the mechanism
(Tagger et al., 1995) by which turbulence in a weakly ionized plasma, as
it cascades to the ambipolar scale (where the neutrals are imperfectly
coupled to the ions) leads to a filamentation of the magnetic flux
tubes: the turbulent velocity of the neutrals is higher in the more
ionized regions, because they are better coupled to the ions. This
results in a non-linear ponderomotive () force
driving them out of the ionized regions, so that the initial ionization
inhomogeneities are strongly amplified. This effect causes the ions and
magnetic field to condense and separate from the neutrals, resulting in
a filamentary structure. We present the first results of a 2-D, 2-fluid
(ions and neutrals) simulation, where a magnetized, weakly ionized
plasma is submitted to turbulence in the ambipolar frequency range. We
discuss the efficiency of this mechanism, the filamentary structure it
should produce, and its relevance to the astrophysical context.