The success of direct laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) relies critically on the efficient coupling of laser light to plasma. At ignition scale, the absolute stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) instability can severely inhibit this coupling by redirecting and strongly depleting laser light. This Letter describes a new dynamic saturation regime of the absolute SRS instability. The saturation occurs when spatiotemporal fluctuations in the ion-acoustic density detune the instability resonance. The dynamic saturation mitigates the strong depletion of laser light and enhances its transmission through the instability region, explaining the coupling of laser light to ICF targets at higher plasma densities.
Laser-plasma instability (LPI) is one of the main obstacles in laser-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) for achieving predictable and reproducible fusion at high gain. For the first time we have proved analytically and confirmed with three-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations that angular incoherence has additional and much stronger suppression of the instability growth rate than the well-known temporal incoherence and spatial incoherence usually used in ICF studies. For the model used in our calculations, the maximum field ratio between the stimulated Raman scattering and the drivin…
It is shown that electric current flowing along an axially non-uniform magnetic flux tube produces an associated non-linear, non-conservative axial MHD force which pumps plasma from regions where the flux tube diameter is small to regions where it is large. In particular, this force will ingest plasma into the ends of a fat, initially potential flux tube and then pump the ingested plasma towards the middle bulge, thereby causing mass accumulation at the bulge. The ingested plasma convects frozen-in toroidal magnetic flux which accumulates at the middle as well. Flux accumulation at the bulge h…
Three dimensional, particle-in-cell, fully electromagnetic simulations of electron plasma wake field acceleration applicable to solar atmosphere are presented. It is established that injecting driving and trailing electron bunches into solar coronal and chromospheric plasmas, results in electric fields ($-(20-5) \times 10^{6}$ V/m), leading to acceleration of the trailing bunch up to 52 MeV, starting from initial 36 MeV. The results provide one of potentially important mechanisms for the extreme energetic solar flare electrons, invoking plasma wake field acceleration.
A statistical model for forward stimulated Brillouin scattering (FSBS) is developed for a spatially incoherent, monochromatic, laser beam propagating in a plasma. A threshold for the average power in a speckle is found, well below the self-focusing one, above which the laser beam spatial incoherence can not prevent the coherent growth of FSBS. Three-dimensional simulations confirm its existence and reveal the onset of beam spray above it. From these results, we propose a new figure of merit for the control of the propagation through a plasma of a spatially incoherent laser beam.
Oscillatory reconnection (a relaxation mechanism with periodic changes in connectivity) has been proposed as a potential physical mechanism underpinning several periodic phenomena in the solar atmosphere including, but not limited to, quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs). Despite its importance, however, the mechanism has never been studied within a hot, coronal plasma. We investigate oscillatory reconnection in a one million Kelvin plasma by solving the fully-compressive, resistive MHD equations for a 2D magnetic X-point under coronal conditions using the PLUTO code. We report on the resulting os…
I propose a new paradigm for solar coronal heating viewed as a self-regulating process keeping the plasma marginally collisionless. The mechanism is based on the coupling between two effects. First, coronal density controls the plasma collisionality and hence the transition between the slow collisional Sweet-Parker and the fast collisionless reconnection regimes. In turn, coronal energy release leads to chromospheric evaporation, increasing the density and thus inhibiting subsequent reconnection of the newly-reconnected loops. As a result, statistically, the density fluctuates around some crit…
Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院云南天文台）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）；Yunnan Key Laboratory of Solar Physics and Space Science（云南太阳能物理与空间科学重点实验室）
We perform a time-dependent ionization analysis to constrain plasma heating requirements during a fast partial halo coronal mass ejection (CME) observed on 2000 June 28 by the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO). We use two methods to derive densities from the UVCS measurements, including a density sensitive O V line ratio at 1213.85 and 1218.35 Angstroms, and radiative pumping of the O VI 1032,1038 doublet by chromospheric emission lines. The most strongly constrained feature shows cumulative plasma heating comparable to or greater …
In this paper we present a numerical study of the dynamics of partially ionized coronal rain blobs. We use a two-fluid model to perform a high-resolution 2D simulation that takes into account the collisional interaction between the charged and neutral particles contained in the plasma. We follow the evolution of a cold plasma condensation as it falls through an isothermal vertically stratified atmosphere that represents the much hotter and lighter solar corona. We study the consequences of the different degrees of collisional coupling that are present in the system. On the one hand, we find th…
I propose that solar coronal heating is a self-regulating process that keeps the coronal plasma roughly marginally collisionless. The self-regulating mechanism is based on the interplay of two effects. First, plasma density controls coronal energy release via the transition between the slow collisional Sweet-Parker regime and the fast collisionless reconnection regime. This transition takes place when the Sweet--Parker layer becomes thinner than the characteristic collisionless reconnection scale. I present a simple criterion for this transition in terms of the upstream plasma density (n_e), t…
We present a detailed analysis of a reflecting intensity perturbation in a large coronal loop that appeared as sloshing oscillation and lasted for at least one and a half periods. The perturbation is initiated by a microflare at one footpoint of the loop, propagates along the loop and is eventually reflected at the remote footpoint where significant brightenings are observed in all the AIA extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) channels. This unique observation provides us with the opportunity to better understand not only the thermal properties and damping mechanisms of the sloshing oscillation, but also …
Evidence of energy conversion in weakly collisional plasma during an interplanetary coronal mass ejection
National Institute for Astrophysics, Institute for Space Astrophysics and Planetology（国家天体物理研究所，空间天体物理学与行星级学研究所）；Department of Physics, University of Mumbai（孟买大学物理系）；Istituto per la Scienza e Tecnologia dei Plasmi, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (ISTP-CNR)（等离子体科学与技术研究所，意大利国家研究委员会）；Center of Excellence in Space Sciences India, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata（印度空间科学卓越中心，印度科学教育与研究学院加尔各答分校）；Center for Space Plasma and Aeronomic Research (CSPAR), The University of Alabama in Huntsville（空间等离子体与大气学研究中心，阿拉巴马大学亨茨维尔分校）；Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG)（印度地磁研究所）
A three-dimensional numerical experiment of the launching of a hot and fast coronal jet followed by several violent eruptions is analyzed in detail. These events are initiated through the emergence of a magnetic flux rope from the solar interior into a coronal hole. We explore the evolution of the emerging magnetically-dominated plasma dome surmounted by a current sheet and the ensuing pattern of reconnection. A hot and fast coronal jet with inverted-Y shape is produced that shows properties comparable to those frequently observed with EUV and X-Ray detectors. We analyze its 3D shape, its inho…
The motivation for this study is to include the effect of plasma flow in Alfvén wave (AW) damping via phase mixing and to explore the observational implications. Our magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations and analytical calculations show that, when a background flow is present, mathematical expressions for the AW damping via phase mixing are modified by the following substitution: $C_A^\prime(x) \to C_A^\prime(x)+V_0^\prime(x)$, where $C_A$ and $V_0$ are AW phase and the flow speeds, and the prime denotes a derivative in the direction across the background magnetic field. In uniform magnetic fi…
Torsional Alfven Oscillation in the Regime of Firehose Instability as a Mechanism of Plasma Stratification in a Laboratory Experiment on Modeling a Coronal Arch
A. V. Gaponov-Grekhov Institute of Applied Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences（俄罗斯科学院阿·瓦·加蓬诺夫-格列霍夫应用物理研究所）；Lobachevsky University（罗巴切夫斯基大学）
We present an observational study of the plasma dynamics at the base of a solar coronal jet, using high resolution extreme ultraviolet imaging data taken by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board Solar Orbiter, and by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board Solar Dynamics Observatory. We observed multiple plasma ejection events over a period of $\sim$1 hour from a dome-like base that is ca.~4 Mm wide and is embedded in a polar coronal hole. Within the dome below the jet spire, multiple plasma blobs with sizes around 1--2 Mm propagate upwards to dome apex with speeds of the order of the soun…
Coronal plasma in the cores of solar active regions is impulsively heated to more than 5 MK. The nature and location of the magnetic energy source responsible for such impulsive heating is poorly understood. Using observations of seven active regions from the Solar Dynamics Observatory, we found that a majority of coronal loops hosting hot plasma have at least one footpoint rooted in regions of interacting mixed magnetic polarity at the solar surface. In cases when co-temporal observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph space mission are available, we found spectroscopic eviden…
The polytropic process characterizes the thermodynamics of space plasma particle populations. The polytropic index, $γ$, is particularly important as it describes the thermodynamic behavior of the system by quantifying the changes in temperature as the system is compressed or expanded. Using Wind spacecraft plasma and magnetic field data during $01/1995 - 12/2018$, we investigate the thermodynamic evolution in 336 Interplanetary Coronal Mass Ejection (ICME) events. For each event, we derive the index $γ$ in the sheath and magnetic ejecta structures, along with the pre- and post- event regions.…
