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SPACE PLASMA DYNAMICS

Erico L. Rempel,
Abraham C.-L. Chian, and
Felix A. Borotto
DGE/INPE
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OUTLINE
INTRODUCTION The Sun-Earth
connection
PLASMAS AND MHD WAVES
DYNAMICAL SYSTEMS
INTERMITTENT CHAOS IN THE DNLS
EQUATION
CONCLUSIONS
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PLASMAS
Quasineutral gas of charged and
neutral particles which exhibits
collective behavior, (Chen, 74).
Occurrence of plasmas in nature: Sun,
solar wind, magnetosphere, other stars, interstellar
space, flash of a lightning bolt, Auroras, conducting
gas inside a fluorescent tube, etc.

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SUN-EARTH CONNECTION
Source:www.cea.inpe.br/wiser (Image Credit: NASA/GSFC)
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THE SOLAR WIND
Fonte: NASA/ESA Solar & Heliospheric Observatory (LASCO (white light)/SOHO)
http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/
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SUN-EARTH CONNECTION
Source:www.cea.inpe.br/wiser (Image Credit: NASA/GSFC)
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SUN-EARTH CONNECTION
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MODELLING
Why do we study simple models?
They suggest how some real-world
processes might behave;
To capture some features of the
physical process;
Use of extremely realistic models can
prevent an in depth investigation of the
problem.
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PLASMAS AS FLUIDS
Compressible, nonviscous, perfectly conducting fluid in a magnetic field
(Ideal MHD eqs.: Continuity, motion, conservation of energy + Maxwell
eqs. for low-freq. phenomena):

m
mass density
u(r,t) fluid velocity
V
s
= (p/
m
)
1/2
sound speed
p - pressure
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MHD WAVES
Dispersion Relation for low-frequency, small-amplitude MHD waves
Consider small amplitude departures from equilibrium:
B(r, t) = B
0
+ B
1
(r, t)

m
(r, t) =
m0
+
m1
(r, t)
u(r, t) = u
1
(r, t)

Inserting into MHD eqs., linearizing and considering solutions for the
eq. of motion of the form:
u
1
(r, t) = u
1
exp(ik r - iet)
Define the Alfvn velocity:







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MHD WAVES

Consider perturbations propagating in an arbitrary direction, with the y
axis perpendicular to plane defined by B
0
and k:



k
x
y
z
B
0
, V
A

u
Three dispersion relations can be
obtained from (1):
If u
1x
and u
1z
= 0 (fast/slow MHD waves):

(1)
If u
1y
= 0 (shear Alfvn wave):
e = kcos(u)V
A
= k
||
V
A
We get:
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ALFVN WAVES
For B
1
(r,t) = B
1
exp(ikr et), the magnetic field associated with Alfvn
waves is given by:




Source: (Chen, 1974)

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ALFVN WAVES IN THE
SOLAR WIND
Source: Helios 2 spacecraft (Marsch & Liu, 1993)
V
z
= fluid (protons) velocity

V
Az
= B
z
/(
0

m0
)
1/2

1AU = 1.5x10
8
km


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ALFVN WAVES IN THE
SOLAR WIND
Source: Helios spacecraft (Marsch & Tu, 1990)
Power spectra of outward
(solid lines) and inward
(dotted lines) propagating
Alfvnic fluctuations in high-
speed solar wind.
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NONLINER DYNAMICS
Linear analysis of MHD waves is valid only in the case of
small amplitude perturbations that can be represented by 1
Fourier component.
Instabilities caused by intrinsic properties of the plasma or
by external sources can produce the growth of the
perturbations.
Other Fourier modes can be excited and become linearly
unstable.
Linear theory can predict their initial growth rate, but there
must be a mechanism for saturation of the instability.
Nonlinear theory is an efficient way to explain the saturation
of the instabilities.
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NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
F = d(mv)/dt
Sir Isaac Newton brought the idea
of modeling the motion of physical
systems with differential equations
(Principia 1686)
Subsequent scientists extended the use of differential equations
(DEs) to describe how physical systems evolve. The problem: it was
frequently difficult to figure out the behaviour. When bounded
solutions to the DEs could be found in the form of simple algebraic
expressions with a finite number of terms, they described regular
motion: steady states, periodic or quasiperiodic oscillations.
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NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
James Clerk Maxwell, studying the
motion of gas molecules in about
1860, concluded that if two atoms
with equal mass and equal but
opposite velocities collide, all
directions of travel will be equally
likely after the collision.
Small changes in initial positions
can result in large changes in
outcomes
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NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
Henri Poincar, studying the three
bodies problem in 1890, created
the method of Poincar maps;
Discovered the idea of stable and
unstable manifolds;
Crossings of manifolds generate
incredibly complicated (chaotic)
motion near crossing (homoclinic)
points.
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POINCAR MAPS
Source: (Alligood et al., 1996)
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NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
Edward N. Lorenz, MIT meteorologist,
working with a truncated model of
convection in the atmosphere in the
late 1950s, detected irregular motion
and sensitivity to initial conditions;
Simply-formulated systems with only
a few variables can display highly
complicated behavior that is
unpredictable, (Lorenz, 1963)

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NONLINEAR DYNAMICS
x = 10.0 x = 10.5
y = 11.0 y = 11.0
z = 21.0 z = 21.0
Sensitivity to initial conditions
in the Lorenz Model:
dx/dt = -ox + oy
dy/dt = -xz + rx y
dz/dt = xy - bz
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LYAPUNOV EXPONENTS
Lyapunov exponents
Quantify the average rate of separation between
nearby orbits.

Consider an m-dimensional phase space formed by
the state variables of the system;
Consider a sphere of initial conditions at a distance
c
0
from a reference initial condition x
0
;
The flow of the ODEs will deform the phere into
an elipsoid with axis c
i
(t), i=1,2,...,m.

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LYAPUNOV EXPONENTS
Lyapunov exponents are defined by:
Quantify the average rate of separation between nearby orbits.

c
i
(t) ~ c
0
exp(
i
t)
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CHAOS
CHAOS:
Aperiodic behavior with one positive Lyapunov exponent.
If
i

i
< 0, volumes are contracted with time, and the
system is dissipative.
Dissipative systems are characterized by the presence of
attractors.

Atractors are subsets of the phase space that attract all the
initial conditions in a nonzero neighbourhood (its basin of
attraction).
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CHAOS

In systems of ODEs, 1 is always null.

Thus, in order to see a chaotic attractor, the systems phase
space must be at least three-dimensional:
One exponent must be positive;
One is always null;
One more negative exponent is needed in order to garantee
the dissipative condition
i

i
<0.
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FIXED POINTS
Attracting Fixed Point (sink) Saddle Point
Source: (Parker e Chua, 1989)
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PERIODIC ORBITS
Periodic orbit (limit cycle)
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CHAOTIC SETS
Chaotic sets (attractors
and non-attractors):
Closure of a chaotic
orbit;
Sensitive
dependence on
initial conditions;
Dense set of
unstable periodic
orbits.

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CHAOTIC TIME SERIES
Chaotic dynamics as a
succession of nearly
periodic (but unstable)
motions.

Turbulence as a sequence
of unstable recurrent
spatiotemporal patterns?
(Spiegel 1987,
Christiansen 1997)
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FRACTAL SETS
Fonte: (www.chaos.umd.edu)
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THE DNLS EQUATION
Eq. DNLS Large-amplitude Alfvn wave propagating along
the ambient magnetic field in the x direction:
( ) ( ) ), , , (
2
2
t x b S b i i b b b
x x t
= c + c + c q o
q = dissipation
b = b
y
+ib
z

o = 1/[4(1-|)], | = c
2
S
/ c
2
A
,
c
S
= accoustic velocity
c
A
= Alfvn velocity
= dispersion
S(b,x,t) = Aexp(ik|)
| = x - Vt
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STATIONARY SOLUTIONS OF
THE DNLS EQUATION
Stacionary solutions for the DNLS eq. In the driver frame b = b(|):
,
a b H b b
a b H b b
y y z
z z y
O =
+ c c = +
+ c c =

, sin /
, cos /
u v
u v
, ) y b )( 2 / ( 4 / ) 1 b (
2 2 2
= H
b = (b
y
, b
z
);
The driver amplitude parameter a = A/(ob
2
0
)
The dissipation parameter v = q/
The overdot denotes derivative w.r.t. the phase variable t = ob
2
0
|/
The driver phase variable u = O|, O = k/(ob
2
0
)
= -1 + V/(ob
2
0
)
= 1/4; O = -1; a = 0.3

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POINCAR MAP
t = t
p
+ nT (n = 1, 2, )
bz
t
by
T = 2t/O
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POINCAR MAP
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TIME SERIES & POWER
SPECTRA
e
F(e)
F(e)
e
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BIFURCATION DIAGRAM
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INTERIOR CRISIS
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INTERIOR CRISIS
v = 0.06211
v = 0.0632
v = 0.06212
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INTERIOR CRISIS
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INTERMITTENCY
Intermittent events are characterized by
time series that display time intervals
with low variabilities interrupted by
bursts of very high variabilities.
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INTERMITTENCY IN THE
SOLAR WIND
Time evolution of velocity fluctuations
oV(t) = V(t+t)-V(t) at four different scales.
Source: Helios 2 spacecraft (Carbone et al., 2002)
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CHAOTIC SADDLES
Non-attracting chaotic
sets;
Intersection of its stable
and unstable manifolds,
which are on fractal sets;
Most initial conditions are
repelled from its
neighbourhood.
Source: (Ott, 1993)
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HOW CAN CHAOTIC SADDLES INFLUENCE THE
OBSERVABLE DYNAMICS?
The drawings of Leonardo da Vinci
(1508-1513)
www.visi.com/~reuteler/leonardo.html
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CHAOTIC SADDLES IN OPEN
HIDRODYNAMIC FLOW
Fontes: (Plaschko et al., 1993; Ziemniak et al., 1994)
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BIFURCATION DIAGRAM
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SADLE-NODE BIFURCATION
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SNB
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SNB
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INTERIOR CRISIS
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IC
M
M
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POS-CRISIS SITUATION
M M
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COUPLING ORBITS
A
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CRISIS-INDUCED INTERMITTENCY
(Chian et al.,1998)
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CRISIS-INDUCED INTERMITTENCY
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CRISIS-INDUCED INTERMITTENCY
(Chian et al.,1998)
Fonte: Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) (http://sec.noaa.gov/ace)
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CHAOTIC SADDLES IN THE
KURAMOTO-SIVASHINSKY
,
2 4 2
u u u u
x x x t
c c c = c v
u(x,t) = u(x+2t,t)
Expanding u in a Fourier series:

=
=
k
ikx
k
e t a t x u , ) ( ) , (
We obtain a set of ODEs for the Fourier modes a
k
:
). ( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) (
4 2
t a t a ik t a k k t a
m k
m
m k k

= v
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Truncation used: N = 16 Fourier modes.


Poincar map:
a
1
= 0, com da
1
/dt > 0
POINCAR MAP
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CHAOS IN SPATIOTEMPORAL
SYSTEMS
v = 0.029919
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BIFURCATION DIAGRAM
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CONCLUSIONS
Chaos theory is a powerfull tool to explain the physics of
nonlinear systems, such as turbulence in space plasmas;
Nonlinear Alfvn waves can become strongly chaotic due to
interior crisis;
Chaotic saddles can induce intermittency in Alfvn chaotic
attractors;
Lyapunov exponents, fractal dimension and the Kolmogorov
entropy from solar wind data suggest the presence of chaotic
attractors (Pavlos, 1992; Macek et al. 1997,2000,2001);
Possibility of detection of chaotic saddles and UPOs from
observed time series encourage the experimental validation of
our theoretical results;
Opens the opportunity to use new control techniques.