Laboratory disruption of scaled astrophysical outflows by a misaligned magnetic field

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; p. 762
• Main Authors: Revet, G., Khiar, B., Filippov, E., Argiroffi, C., Béard, J., Bonito, R., Cerchez, M., Chen, S. N., Gangolf, T., Higginson, D. P., Mignone, A., Olmi, B., Ouillé, M., Ryazantsev, S. N., Skobelev, I. Yu, Safronova, M. I., Starodubtsev, M., Vinci, T., Willi, O., Pikuz, S., Orlando, S., Ciardi, A., Fuchs, J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03.02.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/33/34/4125; 639/766/1960/1135; 70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; Collimation; Disruption; Humanities and Social Sciences; Jets; Laboratories; laboratory astrophysics; laser-produced plasmas; Magnetic fields; Magnetic nozzles; Misalignment; multidisciplinary; Outflow; Physics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary)
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-20917-x

The shaping of astrophysical outflows into bright, dense, and collimated jets due to magnetic pressure is here investigated using laboratory experiments. Here we look at the impact on jet collimation of a misalignment between the outflow, as it stems from the source, and the magnetic field. For small misalignments, a magnetic nozzle forms and redirects the outflow in a collimated jet. For growing misalignments, this nozzle becomes increasingly asymmetric, disrupting jet formation. Our results thus suggest outflow/magnetic field misalignment to be a plausible key process regulating jet collimation in a variety of objects from our Sun’s outflows to extragalatic jets. Furthermore, they provide a possible interpretation for the observed structuring of astrophysical jets. Jet modulation could be interpreted as the signature of changes over time in the outflow/ambient field angle, and the change in the direction of the jet could be the signature of changes in the direction of the ambient field. Mass outflow is a common process in astrophysical objects. Here the authors investigate in which conditions an astrophysically-scaled laser-produced plasma flow can be collimated and evolves in the presence of a misaligned external magnetic field.