Astrophysics Consolidated Grant
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Applied Mathematics
Abstract
Many astrophysical phenomena involve complex interactions between magnetic fields and fluid flows, often at parameter values far beyond any terrestrial laboratory experiments. We intend to undertake a systematic programme of research to investigate some of these interactions in several astrophysical objects. We shall utilise a combination of analytical and numerical techniques (including the application of state-of-the-art numerical algorithms optimised for use on massively parallel machines) to gain an understanding of such phenomena. Our unifying philosophy is to investigate the fundamental physical interactions in these astrophysical objects and to use expertise gained in one area in order to make progress in other situations with similar underlying dynamics. In all cases we also intend to connect our theoretical/numerical results with astronomically observable quantities. The specific phenomena that we shall address in this proposal are:
(1) Relativistic jets emanating from active galactic nuclei, and the physics governing instabilities that eventually develop over sufficiently large distances from their origin.
(2) Tidal flows in stars and planets, and how the energy dissipated by them affects the evolution of extra-solar planetary systems and binary stars.
(3) Magnetic and thermal evolution of highly magnetised neutron stars, and how this relates to the bursts and flares observed in such stars.
(4) The atmospheres of extra-solar planets, and how they respond to extremely asymmetric heating from their parent stars.
(1) Relativistic jets emanating from active galactic nuclei, and the physics governing instabilities that eventually develop over sufficiently large distances from their origin.
(2) Tidal flows in stars and planets, and how the energy dissipated by them affects the evolution of extra-solar planetary systems and binary stars.
(3) Magnetic and thermal evolution of highly magnetised neutron stars, and how this relates to the bursts and flares observed in such stars.
(4) The atmospheres of extra-solar planets, and how they respond to extremely asymmetric heating from their parent stars.
Planned Impact
The British public has a great deal of interest in astronomy, as evidenced by the more than 200 amateur astronomical societies. We have already been involved in giving talks to such societies, and will expand our impact in this direction. We further intend to describe some of our most interesting results in articles for popular science and astronomy magazines. We believe there is considerable scope for explaining the astrophysical theories believed to be behind some of the astronomical observations.
Regarding more technical items, STFC recognizes three ways of maximizing the impact of its investment for the benefit of the United Kingdom and its people - world-class research, world-class innovation and world-class skills. We believe our work qualifies on all three counts, in terms of the astrophysical research itself, the innovation of fundamentally new numerical methods (which may also be useful in areas outside astrophysics), and the training of Postdocs and PhD students in utilizing high-performance computing skills (which again are enormously useful in many areas outside astrophysics).
Regarding more technical items, STFC recognizes three ways of maximizing the impact of its investment for the benefit of the United Kingdom and its people - world-class research, world-class innovation and world-class skills. We believe our work qualifies on all three counts, in terms of the astrophysical research itself, the innovation of fundamentally new numerical methods (which may also be useful in areas outside astrophysics), and the training of Postdocs and PhD students in utilizing high-performance computing skills (which again are enormously useful in many areas outside astrophysics).
Organisations
Publications
Igoshev A
(2021)
Magnetic field decay in young radio pulsars
in Astronomische Nachrichten
Dhouib H
(2024)
Hydrodynamic modelling of dynamical tide dissipation in Jupiter's interior as revealed by Juno
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Dandoy V
(2023)
How tidal waves interact with convective vortices in rapidly rotating planets and stars
in Astronomy & Astrophysics
Igoshev A
(2022)
Initial periods and magnetic fields of neutron stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Michaely E
(2020)
Inferred time-scales for common envelope ejection using wide astrometric companions
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Guo Z
(2023)
Tidally excited gravity waves in the cores of solar-type stars: resonances and critical-layer formation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Tobias S
(2020)
Angular momentum transport, layering, and zonal jet formation by the GSF instability: non-linear simulations at a general latitude
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Lazovik Y
(2024)
Tidal dissipation in rotating and evolving giant planets with application to exoplanet systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Vidal J
(2020)
Efficiency of tidal dissipation in slowly rotating fully convective stars or planets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Mathis S
(2020)
Wave propagation in semiconvective regions of giant planets
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Duguid C
(2019)
Tidal flows with convection: frequency-dependence of the effective viscosity and evidence for anti-dissipation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Currie L
(2020)
Convection with misaligned gravity and rotation: simulations and rotating mixing length theory
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Southworth J
(2022)
A search for transit timing variations in the HATS-18 planetary system
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Astoul A
(2022)
The effects of non-linearities on tidal flows in the convective envelopes of rotating stars and planets in exoplanetary systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Ivanov P
(2022)
Non-linear tidal excitation of superharmonic gravity waves in main-sequence stars in binary and exoplanetary systems
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Duguid C
(2020)
Convective turbulent viscosity acting on equilibrium tidal flows: new frequency scaling of the effective viscosity
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
De Vries N
(2023)
Tidal dissipation due to the elliptical instability and turbulent viscosity in convection zones in rotating giant planets and stars
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Igoshev A
(2020)
Powering central compact objects with a tangled crustal magnetic field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Igoshev A
(2023)
Hyper-runaway and hypervelocity white dwarf candidates in Gaia Data Release 3: Possible remnants from Ia/Iax supernova explosions or dynamical encounters
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Igoshev A
(2021)
Combined analysis of neutron star natal kicks using proper motions and parallax measurements for radio pulsars and Be X-ray binaries
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Igoshev A
(2020)
Braking indices of young radio pulsars: theoretical perspective
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barker A
(2020)
Tidal dissipation in evolving low-mass and solar-type stars with predictions for planetary orbital decay
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Dymott R
(2023)
Linear and non-linear properties of the Goldreich-Schubert-Fricke instability in stellar interiors with arbitrary local radial and latitudinal differential rotation
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Igoshev A
(2020)
The observed velocity distribution of young pulsars - II. Analysis of complete PSRp
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barker A
(2024)
On the orbital decay of the gas giant Kepler-1658b
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Igoshev A
(2023)
Three-dimensional numerical simulations of ambipolar diffusion in NS cores in the one-fluid approximation: instability of poloidal magnetic field
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Makarenko E
(2021)
Testing the fossil field hypothesis: could strongly magnetized OB stars produce all known magnetars?
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Barker A
(2021)
On the interaction between fast tides and convection
in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Igoshev A
(2020)
Strong toroidal magnetic fields required by quiescent X-ray emission of magnetars
in Nature Astronomy
Kumar V
(2024)
Dynamo action driven by precessional turbulence
in Physical Review E
Mamatsashvili G
(2019)
Two types of axisymmetric helical magnetorotational instability in rotating flows with positive shear
in Physical Review Fluids
Pizzi F
(2022)
Interplay between geostrophic vortices and inertial waves in precession-driven turbulence
in Physics of Fluids
Lin Y
(2023)
Resonant and non-resonant flows in longitudinally and latitudinally librating spheres
in Physics of Fluids
De Vries N
(2023)
The interactions of the elliptical instability and convection
in Physics of Fluids
Gourgouliatos K
(2022)
Magnetic Field Evolution in Neutron Star Crusts: Beyond the Hall Effect
in Symmetry
Igoshev A
(2021)
3D Magnetothermal Simulations of Tangled Crustal Magnetic Field in Central Compact Objects
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pontin C
(2023)
Tidal Dissipation in Stably Stratified and Semiconvective Regions of Rotating Giant Planets: Incorporating Coriolis Forces
in The Astrophysical Journal
Pontin C
(2023)
Tidal Dissipation in Stratified and Semi-convective Regions of Giant Planets
in The Astrophysical Journal
Mandel I
(2023)
The Impact of Spin-kick Alignment on the Inferred Velocity Distribution of Isolated Pulsars
in The Astrophysical Journal
Tripathi B
(2024)
Predicting the Slowing of Stellar Differential Rotation by Instability-driven Turbulence
in The Astrophysical Journal
Astoul A
(2023)
Tidally Excited Inertial Waves in Stars and Planets: Exploring the Frequency-dependent and Averaged Dissipation with Nonlinear Simulations
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Vidal J
(2020)
Turbulent Viscosity Acting on the Equilibrium Tidal Flow in Convective Stars
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Barker A
(2022)
Tidal Dissipation Due to Inertial Waves Can Explain the Circularization Periods of Solar-type Binaries
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Duguid C
(2024)
An Efficient Tidal Dissipation Mechanism via Stellar Magnetic Fields
in The Astrophysical Journal Letters
Igoshev A
(2021)
Evolution of Neutron Star Magnetic Fields
in Universe
| Description | We conducted the first three-dimensional numerical modelling of the evolution of magnetic fields and temperature in the crusts of neutron stars, incorporating the effects that astrophysicists believe to be most important. Previously astrophysicists had considered the underlying physical processes, and were (reasonably) confident that they had correctly identified the most important effects (in particular the Hall effect and Ohmic diffusion for the evolution of the magnetic field, and Ohmic heating and anisotropic diffusion for the temperature). It was therefore possible to formulate equations governing the evolution of these quantities, but before our work nobody had successfully implemented a numerical code to actually solve these equations. With our new code in place, we were further able to make comparisons with astronomical data, and showed that our numerically computed solutions are in good agreement with X-ray emissions from a number of magnetars (neutron stars with ultra-powerful magnetic fields). |
| Exploitation Route | Neutron star astronomers will be interested to compare their observations against some of our numerically computed models. To properly interpret any astronomical observations, it is always best to have detailed theoretical models of what such astrophysical processes might be expected to look like. |
| Sectors | Education |
| URL | https://eps.leeds.ac.uk/maths-research-innovation/news/article/5670/modelling-temperature-variation-on-distant-stars |