Magnetic reconnection and related processes in collisional and collisionless astrophysical plasmas: from solar flares to extragalactic sources

• Grant number: 13/04073-2
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• Duration: July 01, 2013 - June 30, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Astronomy
• Principal Investigator: Grzegorz Kowal
• Grantee: Grzegorz Kowal
• Host Institution: Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades (EACH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Diego Antonio Falceta Gonçalves
• Associated grant(s): 21/06502-4 - Interlink between turbulence, magnetic reconnection, and cosmic-ray production in non-relativistic and relativistic astrophysical plasmas, AP.JP2; 17/04578-8 - Statistics of Reconnection-Driven Turbulence, PUB.ART
• Associated scholarship(s): 13/18815-0 - Magnetic reconnection and related processes in collisional and collisionless astrophysical plasmas: from solar flares to extragalactic sources, BP.JP

Abstract

Nowadays in the astrophysical community, the problem of magnetic reconnection is approached using two different points of view, from the micro-physical scale using collisionless kinetic numerical studies, and from macroscopic magnetohydrodynamical fluid approximation studies, describing well the collisional media. Both approximations have their strong points, but also significant limits, sometimes resulting in separate parameter spaces. There is no real afford taken to understand the bridge between those two approximations applied to the magnetic reconnection problem. The aim of this project is to fill this gap and perform studies which allow to understand the precess of reconnection in both regimes, collisional and collisionless. The collisionless studies, using the Chew-Goldberg-Low magnetohydrodynamics fluid approximation (CGL-MHD) allowing for the presence of the kinetic instabilities, can be directly compared with the Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations, using for example a hybrid kinetic-MHD models, which dominate the studies in this regime up to date. As a consequence, the second part of this project will cover the applications of the magnetic reconnection and related processes in both regimes. These applications in plasma physics cover turbulence generation and feedback on the reconnection process, magnetic field amplification mechanism, high energetic particle acceleration. The results have applications in the physics of solar flares, the importance of reconnection in space weather (e.g. interactions with magnetosphere and processes in magnetotail), the interactions of solar magnetic field with the interstellar field in the heliopause, going further up to the scales of active galaxy nuclei and gamma ray burst, where the process of reconnection together with turbulence is expected to be very important in the acceleration of TeV particles. Finally, the properties of turbulence and reconnection in collisionless environments, such intracluster medium, can benefit significantly from our studies. (AU)

Scientific publications

(11)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SANTOS-LIMA, R.; DAL PINO, E. M. DE GOUVEIA; FALCETA-GONCALVES, D. A.; NAKWACKI, M. S.; KOWAL, G.. Features of collisionless turbulence in the intracluster medium from simulated Faraday rotation maps - II. The effects of instabilities feedback. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 465, n. 4, p. 4866-4871, MAR 2017. (13/15115-8, 13/10559-5, 13/18815-0, 13/04073-2)

FALCETA-GONCALVES, D.; KOWAL, G.. FAST MAGNETIC FIELD AMPLIFICATION IN THE EARLY UNIVERSE: GROWTH OF COLLISIONLESS PLASMA INSTABILITIES IN TURBULENT MEDIA. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, v. 808, n. 1, JUL 20 2015. (13/10559-5, 13/18815-0, 13/04073-2)

LAZARIAN, A.; EYINK, G.; VISHNIAC, E.; KOWAL, G.. Turbulent reconnection and its implications. PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY A-MATHEMATICAL PHYSICAL AND, v. 373, n. 2041, MAY 13 2015. (13/18815-0, 13/04073-2)

KOWAL, GRZEGORZ; FALCETA-GONCALVES, DIEGO A.; LAZARIAN, ALEX; VISHNIAC, ETHAN T.. Statistics of Reconnection-driven Turbulence. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, v. 838, n. 2, APR 1 2017. (13/04073-2, 13/18815-0, 13/10559-5)

SANTOS-LIMA, R.; DE GOUVEIA DAL PINO, E. M.; KOWAL, G.; FALCETA-GONCALVES, D.; LAZARIAN, A.; NAKWACKI, M. S.. MAGNETIC FIELD AMPLIFICATION AND EVOLUTION IN TURBULENT COLLISIONLESS MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS: AN APPLICATION TO THE INTRACLUSTER MEDIUM. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, v. 781, n. 2, FEB 1 2014. (13/18815-0, 09/54006-4, 13/15115-8, 11/12909-8, 13/04073-2, 06/50654-3, 10/50298-8, 09/50053-8)

FALCETA-GONCALVES, D.; KOWAL, G.; FALGARONE, E.; CHIAN, A. C. -L.. Turbulence in the interstellar medium. Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics, v. 21, n. 3, p. 587-604, 2014. (11/12909-8, 13/04073-2)

DEL VALLE, MARIA V.; DE GOUVEIA DAL PINO, E. M.; KOWAL, G.. Properties of the first-order Fermi acceleration in fast magnetic reconnection driven by turbulence in collisional magnetohydrodynamical flows. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 463, n. 4, p. 4331-4343, DEC 2016. (13/10559-5, 09/54006-4, 13/04073-2, 13/18815-0)

NAKWACKI, M. S.; KOWAL, G.; SANTOS-LIMA, R.; DE GOUVEIA DAL PINO, E. M.; FALCETA-GONCALVES, D. A.. Features of collisionless turbulence in the intracluster medium from simulated Faraday Rotation maps. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 455, n. 4, p. 3702-3723, FEB 1 2016. (13/10559-5, 13/18815-0, 13/15115-8, 13/04073-2, 10/50298-8, 09/50053-8)

CAPRONI, ANDERSON; LANFRANCHI, GUSTAVO AMARAL; CAMPOS BAIO, GABRIEL HENRIQUE; KOWAL, GRZEGORZ; FALCETA-GONCALVES, DIEGO. Gas Removal in the Ursa Minor Galaxy: Linking Hydrodynamics and Chemical Evolution Models. ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL, v. 838, n. 2, APR 1 2017. (13/04073-2, 14/11156-4, 09/54006-4, 13/10559-5)

ROCHA DA SILVA, G.; FALCETA-GONCALVES, D.; KOWAL, G.; DE GOUVEIA DAL PINO, E. M.. Ambient magnetic field amplification in shock fronts of relativistic jets: an application to GRB afterglows. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 446, n. 1, p. 104-119, JAN 2015. (13/18815-0, 09/54006-4, 11/12909-8, 13/04073-2, 06/50654-3, 11/51275-4, 09/50053-8)

FALCETA-GONCALVES, D.; BONNELL, I.; KOWAL, G.; LEPINE, J. R. D.; BRAGA, C. A. S.. The onset of large-scale turbulence in the interstellar medium of spiral galaxies. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, v. 446, n. 1, p. 973-989, JAN 2015. (13/18815-0, 11/12909-8, 13/04073-2)