Physics of the Plasma Universe (Book)

By Anthony L. Peratt

1st Ed. publ. 1992 Springer-Verlag, ISBN 0-387-97575-6 and ISBN 3-540-97575-6 (Out of print. Second-hand copies @ addall.com)

2nd Ed. publ. Sept. 2014. ISBN 978-1-4614-7818-8. Springer.[1]

The content below refers to the first edition.

Extract

“The purpose of this book is to address the growing recognition of the need for plasma physics in astrophysics. In fact, astrophysics has contributed to the growth of plasma physics, especially in the field of plasma waves . During the last decade, plasma physics, or more appropriately, plasma science, has witnessed an explosive growth in two areas : pulsed-power technology and space physics. Both have led to knowledge that is mutual and complementary, and the material in this book largely derives from these new discoveries and their application to astrophysics. [..]

“Today plasma is recognized as the key element to understanding the generation of magnetic fields in planets, stars, and galaxies; phenomena occurring in stellar atmospheres, in the interstellar and intergalactic media, in radio galaxies, in quasars, and in active galactic nuclei ; and the acceleration and transport of cosmic rays . There are convincing arguments for the view that the clouds out of which galaxies form and stars condense are ionized : The problem of the formation and structure of these clouds and bodies, therefore, naturally belongs to the field of cosmic plasmas as well as astrophysics. [..]

“Together these problems form what is called The Plasma Universe, the basis for this book . The material presented dwells basically on the known properties of matter in the plasma state. Some of the interesting topics in contemporary astrophysics such
as discordant redshifts and other cosmological issues are not discussed here . The interested reader will be referred to the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Special Issues on Space and Cosmic Plasmas (December 1986, April 1989, and February 1990), and Laser and Particle Beams (August 1988). [..]

“This book is organized into eight chapters. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the fundamental physics of cosmic plasmas . An attempt is made to review the known properties of plasmas from the laboratory scale to the Hubble distance. Chapter 2 starts the application of basic plasma theory to astrophysical plasmas in the study of magnetic-field-aligned (Birkeland) currents and charged particle beams . Chapter 3 covers magnetism in plasma and the Biot-Savart force law, while Chapter 4 concentrates on electric fields in space and cosmic plasmas . Chapters 5, 6, and 7 survey double layers, synchrotron radiation, and energy transport in plasmas, respectively. Chapter 8 covers the particle-in-cell simulation of astrophysical plasmas. Found throughout the book are examples that apply the material of the chapter or section to specific problems.”

Reviews

“The plasma principles, equations and cosmic applications are well described and clearly described for use by the student and the researcher as a reference.” — B. H. Foing, ^[1]

“There is thus a great need for such books .. this is an exciting book which contains a lot of interesting material. It makes educational reading for any astrophysicist or space scientist” –Browning, P. K.^[2]

“this is a refreshing approach to space plasma physics which deserves to be studied by practising solar–terrestrial physicists.” — M.J. Rycrof, ^[3]

“The material in this book addresses the known properties of matter in the plasma state and addresses topics in contemporary astrophysics such as magnetism in plasma; electric fields in space plasmas; double layers, synchrotron radiation and energy transport in plasmas; and particle-in-cell simulation of astrophysical plasmas.”^[4]

Science and Sky & Telescope, merely mention the book without significant comment.^[5][6]

On the Second Edition:

“This book is encyclopedic in its coverage, in terms of its sheer variety and breadth of plasma phenomena it deals with. [..] The reader should be prepared for a somewhat quixotic adventure. The author appears intent on covering just about everything plasma, as his title suggests, and succeeds, after a fashion, in touching on nearly everything one could think of in the plasma universe.”^[7]

“Anthony L. Perrat is a noted physicist specialized in plasma physics, which should be a sufficient recommendation to read his book entitled “Physics of the Plasma Universe”. The book is an excellent manual for young and experienced scientists interested in plasma physics.”^[8]

Review on zbMath.^[9]

Table of Contents (First Edition)

• Contents
• Preface
• 1. Cosmic Plasma Fundamentals Ι

• 1.1 Plasma : 1
• 1.2 The Physical Sizes and Characteristics of Plasmas in the Universe 2

• 1.2.1 Plasmas on Earth 2
• 1.2.2 Near-Earth Plasmas 4
• 1.2.3 Plasmas in the Solar System 8
• 1.2.4 Transition Regions in the Solar System 10
• 1.2.5 Solar, Stellar, and Interstellar Plasmas 10
• 1.2.6 Galactic and Extragalactic Plasmas 16

• 1.3 Regions of Applicability of Plasma Physics 17
• 1.4 Power Generation and Transmission 20
• 1.5 Electrical Discharges in Cosmic Plasma 22
• 1.6 Particle Acceleration in Cosmic Plasma 23

• 1.6.1 Acceleration of Electric Charges 23
• 1.6.2 Collective Ion Acceleration 23

• 1.7 Plasma Pinches and Instabilities 26

• 1.7.1 The Bennett Pinch 26
• 1.7.2 The Force-Free Configuration 28
• 1.7.3 The Diocotron Instability 29
• 1.7.4 Critical Ionization Velocity 30

• 1.8 Diagnosing Cosmic Plasmas 33

• 1.8.1 The Electromagnetic Spectrum 33
• 1.8.2 In Situ Space Probes 39

• 2. Birkeland Currents in Cosmic Plasma 43

• 2.1 History of Birkeland Currents 43
• 2.2 Field-Aligned Currents in Laboratory Plasma 47
• 2.3 Field-Aligned Currents in Astrophysical Plasmas 48
• 2.4 Basic Equations of Magnetohydrodynamics 49

• 2.4.1 General Plasma Fluid Equations 49
• 2.4.2 Magnetic Reynolds and Lundquist Numbers 51

• 2.5 The Generalized Bennett Relation 52

• 2.5.1 The Bennett Relation 55
• 2.5.2 Alfvén Limiting Current 55
• 2.5.3 Charge Neutralized Beam Propagation 56
• 2.5.4 Current Neutralized Beam Propagation 57
• 2.5.5 Discussion 57
• 2.5.6 Beam Propagation Along an External Magnetic Field 58
• 2.5.7 Schönherr Whirl Stabilization 58
• 2.5.8 The Carlqvist Relation 58
• 2.5.9 The Cylindrical Pinch 59
• 2.5.10 The Sheet Pinch 6 1

• 2.6 Application of the Carlqvist Relation 62

• 2.6.1 Birkeland Currents in Earth’s Magnetosphere 62
• 2.6.2 Currents in the Solar Atmosphere 63
• 2.6.3 Heliospheric Currents 64
• 2.6.4 Currents in the Interstellar Medium 65
• 2.6.5 Currents in the Galactic Medium 66
• 2.6.6 Currents in the Intergalactic Medium 66

• 2.7 Basic Fluid and Beam Instabilities 67

• 2.7.1 Jeans Condition for Gravitational Instability 67
• 2.7.2 Two-Stream (Buneman) Instability 68
• 2.7.3 Sausage and Kink Instabilities 70

• 2.8 Laboratory Simulation of Cosmic Plasma Processes 71

• 2.8.1 High-Current Plasma Pinches 72
• 2.8.2 Laboratory Aurora Simulations 74

• 2.9 The Particle-in-Cell Simulation of Beams and Birkeland Currents 76

• 2.9.1 Charge and Current Neutralized Beam Propagation in Plasma 77
• 2.9.2 Relativistic and Mildly Relativistic Beam Propagation in Plasma 78
• 2.9.3 Propagation of a Relativistic Beam Bunch Through Plasma 79
• 2.9.4 Beam Filamentation 79
• 2.9.5 Dynamical Evolution of a Narrow Birkeland Filament 80
• 2.9.6 Vortex Formation in Thin Cylindrical Electron Beams Propagating Along a Magnetic Field 84
• 2.9.7 Charge- Neutralized Relativistic Electron Beam Propagation Along a Magnetic Field 87
• 2.9.8 Numerical Aurora Simulations 89

• 3. Biot–Savart Law in Cosmic Plasma 93

• 3.1 History of Magnetism 93
• 3.2 The Magnetic Interaction of Steady Line Currents 94
• 3.3 The Magnetic Induction Field 95

• 3.3.1 Field from an Infinite Conductor of Finite Radius 96
• 3.3.2 Force Between Two Infinite Conductors 97

• 3.4 The Vector Potential 99

• 3.4.1 Field from a Circular Loop and Force Between Two Circular Loops 99
• 3.4.2 Force Between Two Circular Loops Lying in a Plane 101

• 3.5 Quasi-Stationary Magnetic Fields 101

• 3.5.1 Faraday’s Law 102
• 3.5.2 Motion Induced Εlectric Fields 103
• 3.5.3 Faraday Disk Dynamo 104

• 3.6 Inductance 104
• 3.7 Storage of Magnetic Energy 106

• 3.7.1 Energy in a System of Current Loops 106
• 3.7.2 In Situ Storage in Force Free Magnetic Field Configurations 107

• 3.8 Forces as Derivatives of Coefficients of Inductance 108
• 3.9 Measurement of Magnetic Fields in Laboratory Plasmas 108
• 3.10 Particle-in-Cell Simulation of Interacting Currents 110

• 3.10.1 Simulation Setup 111
• 3.10.2 Initial Moton of Current Filaments 111
• 3.10.3 Polarization Forces 113
• 3.10.4 Magnetic Energy Distribution and Magnetic Isobars 113
• 3.10.5 Net Motίon 119
• 3.10.6 “Doubleness” in Current-Conducting Plasmas 119

• 3.11 Magnetic Fields in Cosmic Dimensioned Plasma 119

• 3.11.1 Measurement of Galactic Magnetic F ίelds 119
• 3.11.2 Milky Way Galaxy 122
• 3.11.3 Spiral Galaxies 126
• 3.11.4 Rotational Velocities of Spiral Galaxies 128
• 3.11.5 Elliptical Galaxies 131
• 3.11.6 Intergalactic Magnetic Fίelds 135

• 4. Electric Fields in Cosmic Plasma 137

• 4.1 Electric Fields 137
• 4.2 Measurement of Electric Fields 138
• 4.3 Magnetic Field Aligned Electric Fields 143

• 4.3.1 Collisionless Thermoelectric Effect 143
• 4.3.2 Magnetic Mirror Effect 144
• 4.3.3 Electrostatic Shocks 145
• 4.3.4 Electric Double Layers 146

• 4.4 Magnetospheric Εlectric Fields 146

• 4.4.1 The Plasmasphere 146
• 4.4.2 The Plasmasheet 147
• 4.4.3 The Neutral Sheet 149
• 4.4.4 The Magnetotail 149
• 4.4.5 The Magnetopause 149
• 4.4.6 The Auroral Acceleration Region 149
• 4.4.7 Global Distributions of Auroral Electric Fίelds 153

• 4.5 Outstanding Questions 154
• 4.6 Phenomena Associated with Electric Fields 156

• 4.6.1 Surface Discharges 156
• 4.6.2 Plasma Gun Arc Discharges 15 6
• 4.6.3 Marklund Convection and Separation of Elements 165
• 4.6.4 Particle Acceleration and Runaway 168
• 4.6.5 Field-Aligned Electric Fields as the Source of Cosmic Rays 170

• 5. Double Layers in Astrophysics 171

• 5.1 General Description of Double Layers 171
• 5.2 The Time-Independent Double Layer

• 5.2.1 One-Dimensional Model
• 5.2.2 Ratio of the Current Densities
• 5.2.3 The Potential Drop
• 5.2.4 Structure of the Double Layer
• 5.2.5 Kinetic Description

• 5.3 Particle-in-Cell Simulation of Double Layers

• 5.3.1 Simulations of the Two-Stream Instability
• 5.3.2 Simulations of Double Layers

• 5.4 Double Layers in Current Filaments
• 5.5 Basic Properties of Double Layers

• 5.5.1 Double Layers as a Surface Phenomena
• 5.5.2 Noise and Fluctuations in Double Layers
• 5.5.3 Exploding Double Layers
• 5.5.4 Oblique Double Layers

• 5.6 Examples of Cosmic Double Layers

• 5.6.1 Double Layers in the Auroral Circuit 188
• 5.6.2 Solar Flares 191
• 5.6.3 Double Radio Galaxies and Quasars 194
• 5.6.4 Double Layers as a Source of Cosmic Radiation 195

• 6. Synchrotron Radiation 197

• 6.1 Theory of Radiation from an Accelerated Charge 198

• 6.1.1 The Induction Fields 199
• 6.1.2 The Radiation Fields 201

• 6.2 Radiation of an Accelerated Electron in a Magnetic Field 207

• 6.2.1 Angular Distribution of the Radiation 211
• 6.2.2 Frequency Distribution of the Radiation 213

• 6.3 Field Polarization 219

• 6.3.1 Polarization in the Plane of Rotation 219
• 6.3.2 Polarization for Arbitrary Angles of Observation 220

• 6.4 Radiation from an Ensemble of Electrons 222

• 6.4.1 Velocity-Averaged Emissivity 222
• 6.4.2 Emission from an Ensemble of Electrons 227

• 6.5 Synchrotron Radiation from Ζ Pinches 229

• 6.5.1 Χ Ray Emission 229
• 6.5.2 Χ Ray Spectroscopy 230
• 6.5.3 Morphology of the Thermal Χ Ray Source 230

• 6.6 Particle-in-Cell Simulation of Synchrotron Processes 23 3

• 6.6.1 Sίmulated Ζ Pinches 23 3
• 6.6.2 Synchrotron Bursts from Simulated Ζ Pinches 23 4
• 6.6.3 Synchrotron Source Radiation Patterns 23 6

• 6.7 Synchrotron Radiation from Cosmic Sources 23 6

• 6.7.1 Gross Radio Properties of Galaxies 23 6
• 6.7.2 Double Radio Galaxies 240
• 6.7.3 “Jets” and Superluminosity 244
• 6.7.4 Quasars and Active Galaxy Nuclei 248
• 6.7.5 Χ Ray and Gamma-Ray Sources 251

• 7. Transport of Cosmic Radiation 253

• 7.1 Energy Transport in Plasma 254

• 7.1.1 Group Velocity 256
• 7.1.2 Time Rate of Decay of Wave Oscillations 262

• 7.2 Applications of Geometrical Optics 262

• 7.2.1 Basic Principle and Limitations of Geometrical Optics 262
• 7.2.2 Equation of Transfer 267

• 7.3 Black Body Radiation 270
• 7.4 The Source Function and Kirchoffs Law 272

• 7.4.1 Classical Limit of the Emission, Absorption, and Source Functions 273

• 7.5 Self Absorption by Plasma Filaments 275
• 7.6 Large-Scale, Random Magnetic Field Approximation

• 7.6.1 Plasma Effects 279
• 7.6.2 Monoenergetic Electrons 280

• 7.7 Anisotropic Distribution of Velocities 281

• 8. Particle-in-Cell Simulation of Cosmic Plasma 285

• 8.1 “In-Situ” Observation of Cosmic Plasmas via Computer Simulation 285
• 8.2 The History of Electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell Simulation 286
• 8.3 The Laws of Plasma Physics 287
• 8.4 Multidimensional Particle-in-Cell Simulation 288

• 8.4.1 Sampling Constraints in Multidimensional Particle Codes 288
• 8.4.2 Discretization in Time and Space 289
• 8.4.3 Spectral Methods and Interpolation 291

• 8.5 Techniques for Solution 292

• 8.5.1 Leap-Frogging Particles Against Fields 293
• 8.5.2 Particle Advance Algorithm 294
• 8.5.3 Field Advance Algorithm 295

• 8.6 Issues in Simulating Cosmic Phenomena 296

• 8.6.1 Boundary Conditions 296
• 8.6.2 Relativity 296
• 8.6.3 Compression of Time Scales 297
• 8.6.4 Collisions 297

• 8.7 Gravitation 299
• 8.8 Scaling Laws 300
• 8.9 Data Management 301
• 8.10 Further Developments in Plasma Simulation 302

• Appendix A. Transmission Line Fundamentals in Space and Cosmic Plasmas 305

• A.1 Transmission Lines 305
• A.2 Definition of the State of the Line at a Point 305
• A.3 Primary Parameters 306
• A.4 General Equations 307

• A.4.1 The General Case 307
• A.4.2 The Special Case of the Lossless Line 308

• Α.5 Heaviside’s Operational Calculus (The Laplace Transform) 309

• Α.5.1 The Propagation Function 309
• Α.5.2 Characteristic Impedance 311
• Α.5.3 Reflection Coefficients 312

• Α.6 Time-Domain Reflectometry 314

• Appendix B. Polarization of Electromagnetic Waves in Plasma 317
• Appendix C. Dusty and Grain Plasmas 325

• C.l Dusty Plasma 325
• C.2 Grain Plasma 326

• Appendix D. Some Useful Units and Constants 331
• Appendix E. TRISTAN 33 5
• References 34 5
• Index 363

Notes