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Photoevaporation driven by hydrogen-ionizing extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) radiation profoundly shapes the lives of diverse astrophysical objects. We construct an analytical model accounting for the finite timescales of photoheating and photoionization and apply it to the dispersal of protoplanetary disks. The model yields improved estimates for the ionization, temperature, and velocity versus distance from the central source when compared to the classical picture of fully ionized and isothermal winds with temperatures ≈10 ^4 K and speeds ≈10 km s ^−1 . In contrast to the classical picture, the photoevaporative winds take on several distinct hydrodynamical and thermochemical states depending on the central star’s EUV emission rate and spectral hardness: T Tauri stars with EUV luminosities around 10 ^30 erg s ^−1 drive nonisothermal ionized disk winds at lower temperatures than the classical value if the spectrum is soft, with an average deposited energy per photoionization less than about 3.7 eV. If, however, the spectrum is hard, the winds tend to be atomic and isothermal at most disk radii. For lower EUV intensities, even with soft spectra, atomic winds can emerge beyond ∼10 au through advection. We show that these predictions are in general agreement with detailed radiation hydrodynamics calculations. The model furthermore illustrates how the energy efficiency of photoevaporation varies with the intensity and spectral hardness of the EUV illumination, as well as addressing discrepancies in the literature around the effectiveness of X-ray photoevaporation. The findings highlight the importance of the photoheating and photoionization timescales both for modeling and for understanding winds’ observed behavior.

We numerically construct a series of axisymmetric rotating magnetic wind solutions, aiming at exploring the observation properties of massive white dwarf (WD) merger remnants with a strong magnetic field, a fast spin, and an intense mass loss, as inferred for WD J005311. We investigate the magnetospheric structure and the resultant spin-down torque exerted to the merger remnant with respect to the surface magnetic flux Φ _* , spin angular frequency Ω _* and the mass-loss rate $\dot{M}$ . We confirm that the wind properties for $\sigma \equiv {{\rm{\Phi }}}_{* }^{2}{{\rm{\Omega }}}_{* }^{2}/\dot{M}{v}_{\mathrm{esc}}^{3}\gtrsim 1$ significantly deviate from those of the spherical Parker wind, where v _esc is the escape velocity at stellar surface. For such a rotating magnetic wind sequence, we find (i) a quasiperiodic mass eruption triggered by magnetic reconnection along with the equatorial plane and (ii) a scaling relation for the spin-down torque $T\approx (1/2)\times \dot{M}{{\rm{\Omega }}}_{* }{R}_{* }^{2}{\sigma }^{1/4}$ . We apply our results to discuss the spin-down evolution and wind anisotropy of massive WD merger remnants, the latter of which could be probed by a successive observation of WD J005311 using Chandra.

Accretion plays a central role in the physics that governs the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary disks. The primary goal of this paper is to analyze the stability over time of the mass accretion rate onto TW Hya, the nearest accreting solar-mass young star. We measure veiling across the optical spectrum in 1169 archival high-resolution spectra of TW Hya, obtained from 1998–2022. The veiling is then converted to accretion rate using 26 flux-calibrated spectra that cover the Balmer jump. The accretion rate measured from the excess continuum has an average of 2.51 × 10 ^−9 M _⊙ yr ^−1 and a Gaussian distribution with an FWHM of 0.22 dex. This accretion rate may be underestimated by a factor of up to 1.5 because of uncertainty in the bolometric correction and another factor of 1.7 because of excluding the fraction of accretion energy that escapes in lines, especially Ly α . The accretion luminosities are well correlated with He line luminosities but poorly correlated with H α and H β luminosity. The accretion rate is always flickering over hours but on longer timescales has been stable over 25 years. This level of variability is consistent with previous measurements for most, but not all, accreting young stars.

Extreme-ultraviolet imaging spectroscopic observations often show an increase in line width around the loop-top or above-the-loop-top (ALT) region of solar flares, suggestive of turbulence. In addition, recent spectroscopic observations found the oscillation in the Doppler velocity around the ALT region. We performed 3D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations to investigate the dynamics in the ALT region, with a particular focus on the generation of turbulence and the excitation of the oscillatory motion. We found a rapid growth of MHD instabilities around the upper parts of the ALT region (arms of the magnetic tuning fork). The instabilities grow more rapidly than the magnetic Rayleigh–Taylor-type instabilities at the density interface beneath the reconnecting current sheet. Eventually, the ALT region is filled with turbulent flows. The arms of the magnetic tuning fork have bad-curvature and transonic flows. Therefore, we consider that the rapidly growing instabilities are combinations of pressure-driven and centrifugally driven Rayleigh–Taylor-type instabilities. Despite the presence of turbulent flows, the ALT region shows a coherent oscillation driven by the backflow of the reconnection jet. We examine the numerical results by reanalyzing the solar flare presented in Reeves et al. We find that the highest nonthermal velocity is always at the uppermost visible edge of the ALT region, where oscillations are present. This result is consistent with our models. We also argue that the turbulent magnetic field has a significant impact on the confinement of nonthermal electrons in the ALT region.

We investigate gamma-ray emission in the impulsive phase of solar flares and the detectability of nonthermal signatures from protostellar flares. Energetic solar flares emit high-energy gamma rays of GeV energies, but their production mechanism and emission site are still unknown. Young stellar objects, including protostars, also exhibit luminous X-ray flares, but the triggering mechanism of the flaring activity is still unclear owing to the strong obscuration. Nonthermal signatures in millimeter/submillimeter and gamma-ray bands are useful to probe protostellar flares owing to their strong penetration power. We develop a nonthermal emission model of the impulsive phase of solar flares, where cosmic-ray protons accelerated at the termination shock produce high-energy gamma rays via hadronuclear interaction with the evaporation plasma. This model can reproduce gamma-ray data in the impulsive phase of a solar flare. We apply our model to protostellar flares and show that the Cherenkov Telescope Array will be able to detect gamma rays of TeV energies if particle acceleration in protostellar flares is efficient. Nonthermal electrons accelerated together with protons can emit strong millimeter and submillimeter signals via synchrotron radiation, whose power is consistent with the energetic millimeter/submillimeter transients observed from young stars. Future gamma-ray and millimeter/submillimeter observations from protostars, coordinated with a hard X-ray observation, will unravel the nonthermal particle production and triggering mechanism of protostellar flares.

We perform three-dimensional (3D) magnetohydrodynamic simulations of magnetospheric accretion in a T Tauri star to study the accretion and wind structures in the close vicinity of the star. The gas accreting onto the star consists of the gas from the magnetospheric boundary and the failed disk winds. The accreting gas is commonly found as a multi-column accretion, which is consistent with observations. A significant fraction of the angular momentum of the accreting flows is removed by the magnetic fields of conical disk winds and turbulent failed winds inside and near the magnetosphere. As a result, the accretion torque is significantly reduced compared to the simple estimation based on the mass accretion rate. The stellar spin affects the time variability of the conical disk wind by changing the stability condition of the magnetospheric boundary. However, the time-averaged magnetospheric radius only weakly depends on the stellar spin, which is unlike the prediction of classical theories that the stellar spin controls the magnetospheric radius through the magnetic torque. The ratio of the toroidal to the poloidal field strengths at the magnetospheric boundary, which is a key parameter for the magnetic torque, is also insensitive to the spin; it is rather determined by the disk dynamics. Considering newly found 3D effects, we obtain a scaling relation of the magnetospheric radius very similar to the Ghosh & Lamb relation from the steady angular momentum transport equation.

For a better understanding of the magnetic field in the solar corona and dynamic activities such as flares and coronal mass ejections, it is crucial to measure the time-evolving coronal field and accurately estimate the magnetic energy. Recently, a new modeling technique called the data-driven coronal field model, in which the time evolution of magnetic field is driven by a sequence of photospheric magnetic and velocity field maps, has been developed and revealed the dynamics of flare-productive active regions. Here we report on the first qualitative and quantitative assessment of different data-driven models using a magnetic flux emergence simulation as a ground-truth (GT) data set. We compare the GT field with those reconstructed from the GT photospheric field by four data-driven algorithms. It is found that, at minimum, the flux rope structure is reproduced in all coronal field models. Quantitatively, however, the results show a certain degree of model dependence. In most cases, the magnetic energies and relative magnetic helicity are comparable to or at most twice of the GT values. The reproduced flux ropes have a sigmoidal shape (consistent with GT) of various sizes, a vertically standing magnetic torus, or a packed structure. The observed discrepancies can be attributed to the highly non-force-free input photospheric field, from which the coronal field is reconstructed, and to the modeling constraints such as the treatment of background atmosphere, the bottom boundary setting, and the spatial resolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new Riemann solver is presented for the ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations with the so-called Boris correction. The Boris correction is applied to reduce wave speeds, avoiding an extremely small timestep in MHD simulations. The proposed Riemann solver, Boris-HLLD, is based on the HLLD solver. As done by the original HLLD solver, (1) the Boris-HLLD solver has four intermediate states in the Riemann fan when left and right states are given, (2) it resolves the contact discontinuity, Alfvén waves, and fast waves, and (3) it satisfies all the jump conditions across shock waves and discontinuities except for slow shock waves. The results of a shock tube problem indicate that the scheme with the Boris-HLLD solver captures contact discontinuities sharply, and it exhibits shock waves without any overshoot when using the minmod limiter. The stability tests show that the scheme is stable when for a low Alfvén speed (), where u, c, and VA denote the gas velocity, speed of light, and Alfvén speed, respectively. For a high Alfvén speed (), where the plasma beta is relatively low in many cases, the stable region is large, . We discuss the effect of the Boris correction on physical quantities using several test problems. The Boris-HLLD scheme can be useful for problems with supersonic flows in which regions with a very low plasma beta appear in the computational domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the results of a global, three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics simulation of an accretion disk with a rotating, weakly magnetized central star. The disk is threaded by a weak, large-scale poloidal magnetic field, and the central star has no strong stellar magnetosphere initially. Our simulation investigates the structure of the accretion flows from a turbulent accretion disk onto the star. The simulation reveals that fast accretion onto the star at high latitudes occurs even without a stellar magnetosphere. We find that the failed disk wind becomes the fast, high-latitude accretion as a result of angular momentum exchange mediated by magnetic fields well above the disk, where the Lorentz force that decelerates the rotational motion of gas can be comparable to the centrifugal force. Unlike the classical magnetospheric accretion scenario, fast accretion streams are not guided by magnetic fields of the stellar magnetosphere. Nevertheless, the accretion velocity reaches the free-fall velocity at the stellar surface due to the efficient angular momentum loss at a distant place from the star. This study provides a possible explanation why Herbig Ae/Be stars whose magnetic fields are generally not strong enough to form magnetospheres also show indications of fast accretion. A magnetically driven jet is not formed from the disk in our model. The differential rotation cannot generate sufficiently strong magnetic fields for the jet acceleration because the Parker instability interrupts the field amplification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar active regions (ARs) that produce strong flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are known to have a relatively high non-potentiality and are characterized by δ-sunspots and sheared magnetic structures. In this study, we conduct a series of flux emergence simulations from the convection zone to the corona and model four types of active regions that have been observationally suggested to cause strong flares, namely the spot–spot, spot–satellite, quadrupole, and inter-AR cases. As a result, we confirm that δ-spot formation is due to the complex geometry and interaction of emerging magnetic fields, and we find that the strong-field, high-gradient, highly sheared polarity inversion line (PIL) is created by the combined effect of the advection, stretching, and compression of magnetic fields. We show that free magnetic energy builds up in the form of a current sheet above the PIL. It is also revealed that photospheric magnetic parameters that predict flare eruptions reflect the stored free energy with high accuracy, while CME-predicting parameters indicate the magnetic relationship between flaring zones and entire ARs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a subclass of X-ray jets from young stellar objects that are heated very close to the footpoint of the jets, particularly DG Tau jets. Previous models have attributed the strong heating to shocks in the jets. However, the mechanism that localizes the heating at the footpoint remains puzzling. We presented a different model of such X-ray jets, in which the disk atmosphere is magnetically heated. Our disk corona model is based on the so-called nanoflare model for the solar corona. We show that the magnetic heating near the disks can result in the formation of a hot corona with a temperature of ≳106 K, even if the average field strength in the disk is moderately weak, ≳1 G. We determine the density and the temperature at the jet base by considering the energy balance between the heating and cooling. We derive the scaling relations of the mass-loss rate and terminal velocity of jets. Our model is applied to the DG Tau jets. The observed temperature and estimated mass-loss rate are consistent with the prediction of our model in the case of a disk magnetic field strength of ∼20 G and a heating region of <0.1 au. The derived scaling relation of the temperature of X-ray jets could be a useful tool for estimating the magnetic field strength. We also find that the jet X-ray can have a significant impact on the ionization degree near the disk surface and the dead zone size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coronal disturbances associated with solar flares, such as Hα Moreton waves, X-ray waves, and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) coronal waves, are discussed herein in relation to magnetohydrodynamic fast-mode waves or shocks in the corona. To understand the mechanism of coronal disturbances, full-disk solar observations with high spatial and temporal resolution over multiple wavelengths are of crucial importance. We observed a filament eruption, whose shape is like a “dandelion,” associated with the M1.6 flare that occurred on 2011 February 16 in Hα images taken by the Flare Monitoring Telescope at Ica University, Peru. We derive the three-dimensional velocity field of the erupting filament. We also identify winking filaments that are located far from the flare site in the Hα images, whereas no Moreton wave is observed. By comparing the temporal evolution of the winking filaments with those of the coronal wave seen in the EUV images data taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory and by the Extreme Ultraviolet Imager on board the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory-Ahead, we confirm that the winking filaments were activated by the EUV coronal wave. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report a strong association between the particle acceleration and plasma motions found in the 2010 August 18 solar flare. The plasma motions are tracked in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV) images taken by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory and the Extreme UltraViolet Imager (EUVI) on the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory spacecraft Ahead, and the signature of particle acceleration was investigated by using Nobeyama Radioheliograph data. In our previous paper, we reported that in EUV images many plasma blobs appeared in the current sheet above the flare arcade. They were ejected bidirectionally along the current sheet, and the blobs that were ejected sunward collided with the flare arcade. Some of them collided or merged with each other before they were ejected from the current sheet. We discovered impulsive radio bursts associated with such plasma motions (ejection, coalescence, and collision with the post flare loops). The radio bursts are considered to be the gyrosynchrotron radiation by nonthermal high energy electrons. In addition, the stereoscopic observation by AIA and EUVI suggests that plasma blobs had a three-dimensionally elongated structure. We consider that the plasma blobs were three-dimensional plasmoids (i.e., flux ropes) moving in a current sheet. We believe that our observation provides clear evidence of particle acceleration associated with the plasmoid motions. We discuss possible acceleration mechanisms on the basis of our results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Observations revealed that various kinds of oscillations are excited in solar flare regions. Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) in flare emissions are commonly observed in a wide range of wavelengths. Recent observations have found that fast-mode magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves are quasi-periodically emitted from some flaring sites (quasi-periodic propagating fast-mode magnetoacoustic waves; QPFs). Both QPPs and QPFs imply a cyclic disturbance originating from the flaring sites. However, the physical mechanisms remain puzzling. By performing a set of two-dimensional MHD simulations of a solar flare, we discovered the local oscillation above the loops filled with evaporated plasma (above-the-loop-top region) and the generation of QPFs from such oscillating regions. Unlike all previous models for QPFs, our model includes essential physics for solar flares such as magnetic reconnection, heat conduction, and chromospheric evaporation. We revealed that QPFs can be spontaneously excited by the above-the-loop-top oscillation. We found that this oscillation is controlled by the backflow of the reconnection outflow. The new model revealed that flare loops and the above-the-loop-top region are full of shocks and waves, which is different from the previous expectations based on a standard flare model and previous simulations. In this paper, we show the QPF generation process based on our new picture of flare loops and will briefly discuss a possible relationship between QPFs and QPPs. Our findings will change the current view of solar flares to a new view in which they are a very dynamic phenomenon full of shocks and waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We carried out an magnetohydrodynamic simulation where a subsurface twisted kink-unstable flux tube emerges from the solar interior to the corona. Unlike the previous expectations based on the bodily emergence of a knotted tube, we found that the kinked tube can spontaneously form a complex quadrupole structure at the photosphere. Due to the development of the kink instability before the emergence, the magnetic twist at the kinked apex of the tube is greatly reduced, although the other parts of the tube are still strongly twisted. This leads to the formation of a complex quadrupole structure: a pair of the coherent, strongly twisted spots and a narrow complex bipolar pair between it. The quadrupole is formed by the submergence of a portion of emerged magnetic fields. This result is relevant for understanding the origin of the complex multipolar δ-spot regions that have a strong magnetic shear and emerge with polarity orientations not following Hale-Nicholson and Joy Laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic reconnection is an important physical process in various explosive phenomena in the universe. In previous studies, it was found that fast reconnection takes place when the thickness of a current sheet becomes on the order of a microscopic length such as the ion Larmor radius or the ion inertial length. In this study, we investigated the pinching process of a current sheet by the Lorentz force in a low-β plasma using one-dimensional magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations. It is known that there is an exact self-similar solution for this problem that neglects gas pressure. We compared the non-linear MHD dynamics with the analytic self-similar solution. From the MHD simulations, we found that with the gas pressure included the implosion process deviates from the analytic self-similar solution as , where t0 is the explosion time when the thickness of a current sheet of the analytic solution becomes 0. We also found that a pair of MHD fast-mode shocks is generated and propagates after the formation of the pinched current sheet as . On the basis of the Rankine–Hugoniot relations, we derived the scaling law of the physical quantities with respect to the initial plasma beta in the pinched current sheet. Our study could help us estimate the physical quantities in the pinched current sheet formed in a low-β plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solar flares are an explosive phenomenon where super-sonic flows and shocks are expected in and above the post-flare loops. To understand the dynamics of post-flare loops, a two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic (2D MHD) simulation of a solar flare has been carried out. We found new shock structures in and above the post-flare loops, which were not resolved in the previous work by Yokoyama & Shibata. To study the dynamics of flows along the reconnected magnetic field, the kinematics and energetics of the plasma are investigated along selected field lines. It is found that shocks are crucial to determine the thermal and flow structures in the post-flare loops. On the basis of the 2D MHD simulation, we developed a new post-flare loop model, which we defined as the pseudo-2D MHD model. The model is based on the one-dimensional (1D) MHD equations, where all variables depend on one space dimension, and all the three components of the magnetic and velocity fields are considered. Our pseudo-2D model includes many features of the multi-dimensional MHD processes related to magnetic reconnection (particularly MHD shocks), which the previous 1D hydrodynamic models are not able to include. We compared the shock formation and energetics of a specific field line in the 2D calculation with those in our pseudo-2D MHD model, and found that they give similar results. This model will allow us to study the evolution of the post-flare loops in a wide parameter space without expensive computational cost or neglecting important physics associated with magnetic reconnection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]