Alfven waves tagged posts

70-year-old mystery of how Magnetic Waves Heat the Sun cracked

A view of a sunspot on the solar surface, visible here as a dark collection of plasma with magnetic field strengths similar to those found in modern hospital MRI machines. However, it is the size of the sunspot, which is comparable to that of our own Earth (see the scale Earth depicted in the lower-right corner), that gives these structures immense power and energy. The recent work published in Nature Physics reveals first-time evidence for how a rare breed of magnetic waves, which originate within the centre of sunspots, can form shockwaves that heat the surrounding plasma by thousands of degrees. Credit: Image courtesy of Queen's University, Belfast

A view of a sunspot on the solar surface, visible here as a dark collection of plasma with magnetic field strengths similar to those found in modern hospital MRI machines. However, it is the size of the sunspot, which is comparable to that of our own Earth (see the scale Earth depicted in the lower-right corner), that gives these structures immense power and energy. The recent work published in Nature Physics reveals first-time evidence for how a rare breed of magnetic waves, which originate within the centre of sunspots, can form shockwaves that heat the surrounding plasma by thousands of degrees. Credit: Image courtesy of Queen’s University, Belfast

Scientists at Queen’s University Belfast have led an international team to the ground-breaking discovery that magnetic waves crashing throug...

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Distant Black Hole Wave Twists like Giant Whip

Fast-moving magnetic waves emanating from a distant supermassive black hole undulate like a whip whose handle is being shaken by a giant hand, according to a new study using National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Long Baseline Array. Scientists used this instrument to explore the galaxy/black hole system known as BL Lacertae (BL Lac) in high resolution.
The findings help researchers understand how black holes produce jets.

“The waves are excited by a shaking motion of the jet at its base,” said David Meier. It’s the 1st time Alfven waves have been identified in a black hole system. They are generated when magnetic field lines, such as those from the sun or a disk around a black hole, interact with ions, and become twisted or coiled into a helical shape...

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