Magnetohydrodynamics, magnetogenesis, and magnetorotational instabilities with adaptive mesh refinement
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- While the presence of magnetic fields seems ubiquitous in cosmic structures of all scales, the mechanisms of their formation are still debated. Using the adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) code Enzo, we touch on three major topics in the study of magnetic fields in computational astrophysics. We first describe the features of magnetohydrodynamic algorithms, and develop a technique to computationally maintain the divergence free nature of the magnetic field in an AMR hierarchy. Second, we analyze the generation of magnetic seed fields in protogalaxy formation via a plasma physics phenomenon called the Biermann Battery, and discuss its dependence on turbulence during large scale structure formation in the early universe. Finally, we discuss the magnetorotational instability that causes the saturation of magnetic field generation in differentially rotating objects such as accretion disks. We adapt the shearing box, a local 3D simulation of differentially rotating disks, to the AMR formalism and analyze the resolution and simulation box size dependence of these instabilities.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Form | electronic; electronic resource; remote |
| Extent | 1 online resource. |
| Publication date | 2010 |
| Issuance | monographic |
| Language | English |
Creators/Contributors
| Associated with | Zhao, Fen |
|---|---|
| Associated with | Stanford University, Department of Applied Physics |
| Primary advisor | Abel, Tom G, 1970- |
| Primary advisor | Petrosian, Vahe |
| Thesis advisor | Petrosian, Vahe |
| Thesis advisor | Blandford, Roger D |
| Advisor | Blandford, Roger D |
Subjects
| Genre | Theses |
|---|
Bibliographic information
| Statement of responsibility | Fen Zhao. |
|---|---|
| Note | Submitted to the Department of Applied Physics. |
| Thesis | Thesis (Ph. D.)--Stanford University, 2010. |
| Location | electronic resource |
Access conditions
- Copyright
- © 2010 by Fen Zhao
- License
- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Also listed in
Loading usage metrics...