Statistical study of magnetic holes in the upstream region of Mercury’s bow shock

Magnetic holes are magnetic depression structures that exist widely in many plasma environments.The magnetic holes with durations of>1 s in the solar wind at Mercury’s orbit have drawn much attention,but the properties of the magnetic holes with shorter durations are still unclear.Here,we investigate the magnetic holes with durations of 0.1-100 s in the upstream region of Mercury’s bow shock based on observations by the MESSENGER(MErcury Surface,Space ENvironment,GEochemistry,and Ranging)spacecraft.They can be divided into two groups according to the distribution of their duration:small-duration magnetic holes(SDMHs,<0.6 s)and large-duration magnetic holes(LDMHs,>0.6 s).The duration of each group approximately obeys a log-normal distribution with a median of~0.25 s and 3 s,respectively.Approximately 1.7%(32.6%)of the SDMHs(LDMHs)reduce the magnetic field strength by more than 50%.For both groups,some structures have a linear or quasi-linear polarization,whereas others have an elliptical polarization.The magnetic hole events in both groups tend to have a higher rate of occurrence when the interplanetary magnetic field strength is weaker.Their occurrence rates are also affected by Mercury’s foreshock,which can increase(decrease)the occurrence rate of the SDMHs(LDMHs).This finding suggests that Mercury’s foreshock might be one source of the SDMHs and that the foreshock can destroy some LDMHs.These observations suggest that a new group of magnetic holes with durations of<0.6 s exist in the upstream region of Mercury’s bow shock.

Statistical properties of kinetic-scale magnetic holes in terrestrial space

Kinetic-scale magnetic holes(KSMHs)are structures characterized by a significant magnetic depression with a length scale on the order of the proton gyroradius.These structures have been investigated in recent studies in near-Earth space,and found to be closely related to energy conversion and particle acceleration,wave-particle interactions,magnetic reconnection,and turbulence at the kineticscale.However,there are still several major issues of the KSMHs that need further study—including(a)the source of these structures(locally generated in near-Earth space,or carried by the solar wind),(b)the environmental conditions leading to their generation,and(c)their spatio-temporal characteristics.In this study,KSMHs in near-Earth space are investigated statistically using data from the Magnetospheric Multiscale mission.Approximately 200,000 events were observed from September 2015 to March 2020.Occurrence rates of such structures in the solar wind,magnetosheath,and magnetotail were obtained.We find that KSMHs occur in the magnetosheath at rates far above their occurrence in the solar wind.This indicates that most of the structures are generated locally in the magnetosheath,rather than advected with the solar wind.Moreover,KSMHs occur in the downstream region of the quasi-parallel shock at rates significantly higher than in the downstream region of the quasi-perpendicular shock,indicating a relationship with the turbulent plasma environment.Close to the magnetopause,we find that the depths of KSMHs decrease as their temporal-scale increases.We also find that the spatial-scales of the KSMHs near the subsolar magnetosheath are smaller than those in the flanks.Furthermore,their global distribution shows a significant dawn-dusk asymmetry(duskside dominating)in the magnetotail.

Response of colloidal liquids containing magnetic holes of different volume densities to magnetic field characterized by transmission measurement

This paper systematically investigates the response of colloidal liquids containing magnetic holes of different volume densities to magnetic field by conventional transmission measurements. It finds that the enhancement in the transmission of such a colloidal liquid under a magnetic field exhibits a strong dependence on the volume density of magnetic holes. A linear increase in the maximum enhancement factor is observed when the volume density of magnetic holes is below a critical level at which a maximum enhancement factor of ~150 is achieved in the near infrared region. Once the volume density of magnetic holes exceeds the critical level, a sharp drop of the maximum enhancement factor to ~2 is observed. After that, the maximum enhancement factor increases gradually till a large volume density of ~9%. By monitoring the arrangement of magnetic holes under a magnetic field, it reveals that the colloidal liquids can be classified into three different phases, i.e., the gas-like, liquid-like and solid-like phases, depending on the volume density of magnetic holes. The response behaviour of colloidal liquids to magnetic field is determined by the interaction between magnetic holes which is governed mainly by their volume density. A phase transition, which is manifested in the dramatic reduction in the maximum enhancement factor, is clearly observed between the liquid-like and solid-like phases. The optical switching operations for colloidal liquids in different phases are compared and the underlying physical mechanisms are discussed.

Kinetic scale magnetic holes in the terrestrial magnetosheath:A review

Magnetic holes at the ion-to-electron kinetic scale(KSMHs)are one of the extremely small intermittent structures generated in turbulent magnetized plasmas.In recent years,the explorations of KSMHs have made substantial strides,driven by the ultra-high-precision observational data gathered from the Magnetospheric Multiscale(MMS)mission.This review paper summarizes the up-to-date characteristics of the KSMHs observed in Earth’s turbulent magnetosheath,as well as their potential impacts on space plasma.This review starts by introducing the fundamental properties of the KSMHs,including observational features,particle behaviors,scales,geometries,and distributions in terrestrial space.Researchers have discovered that KSMHs display a quasi-circular electron vortex-like structure attributed to electron diamagnetic drift.These electrons exhibit noticeable non-gyrotropy and undergo acceleration.The occurrence rate of KSMH in the Earth’s magnetosheath is significantly greater than in the solar wind and magnetotail,suggesting the turbulent magnetosheath is a primary source region.Additionally,KSMHs have also been generated in turbulence simulations and successfully reproduced by the kinetic equilibrium models.Furthermore,KSMHs have demonstrated their ability to accelerate electrons by a novel non-adiabatic electron acceleration mechanism,serve as an additional avenue for energy dissipation during magnetic reconnection,and generate diverse wave phenomena,including whistler waves,electrostatic solitary waves,and electron cyclotron waves in space plasma.These results highlight the magnetic hole’s impact such as wave-particle interaction,energy cascade/dissipation,and particle acceleration/heating in space plasma.We end this paper by summarizing these discoveries,discussing the generation mechanism,similar structures,and observations in the Earth’s magnetotail and solar wind,and presenting a future extension perspective in this active field.

Regular Magnetic Black Hole Gravitational Lensing

The Bronnikov regular magnetic black hole as a gravitational lens is studied. In nonlinear electrodynamics, photons do not follow null geodesics of background geometry, but move along null geodesics of a corresponding effective geometry. To study the Bronnikov regular magnetic black hole gravitational lensing in the strong deflection limit, the corresponding effective geometry should be obtained firstly. This is the most important and key step. We obtain the deflection angle in the strong deflection limit, and further calculate the angular positions and magnifications of relativistic images as well as the time delay between different relativistic images. The influence of the magnetic charge on the black hole gravitational tensing is also discussed.

Accretion onto the Magnetically Charged Regular Black Hole

We investigate the accretion process for static spherically symmetric geometry, i.e., magnetically charged regular black hole with isotropic fluid. W＇e obtain generalized expressions for the velocity （u（r））, speed of sound （cs2）, energy density （ρ（r） ） and accretion rate （M） at the critical point near the regular black hole during the accretion process. We also plot these physical parameters against fixed values of charge, mass and different values of equation of state parameter to study the process of accretion. We find that radial velocity and energy density of the fluid remain positive and negative as well as rate of change of mass is increased and decreased for dust, stiff, quintessence fluid and phantom-like fluid, respectively.

A magnetic model for low/hard state of black hole binaries

A magnetic model for the low/hard state （LHS） of two black hole X-ray binaries （BHXBs）, H1743-322 and GX 339-4, is proposed based on transport of the magnetic field from a companion into an accretion disk around a black hole （BH）. This model consists of a truncated thin disk with an inner advection-dominated accretion flow （ADAF）. The spectral profiles of the sources are fitted in agreement with the data observed at four different dates corresponding to the rising phase of the LHS. In addition, the association of the LHS with a quasi-steady jet is modeled based on transport of magnetic field, where the Blandford-Znajek （BZ） and Blandford-Payne （BP） processes are invoked to drive the jets from BH and inner ADAE It turns out that the steep radio/X-ray correlations observed in H 1743-322 and GX 339-4 can be interpreted based on our model.

A magnetic reconnection model for quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole systems

The quasi-periodic oscillations （QPOs） in black hole （BH） systems with different scales are interpreted based on the magnetic reconnection of large-scale mag- netic fields generated by toroidal electric currents flowing in the inner region of the accretion disk, where the current density is assumed to be proportional to the mass density of the accreting plasma. The magnetic connection （MC） is taken into account in resolving dynamic equations describing the accretion disk, in which the MC be- tween the inner and outer disk regions, between the plunging region and the disk, and between the BH horizon and the disk are involved. It turns out that a single QPO frequency associated with several BH systems with different scales can be fitted by in- voking the magnetic reconnection due to the MC between the inner and outer regions of the disk, including the BH binaries XTE J1859＋226, XTE J1650-500 and GRS 1915＋105 and the massive BHs in NGC 5408 X-1 and RE J1034＋396. In addition, the X-ray spectra corresponding to the QPOs for these sources are fitted based on the typical disk-corona model.

A disk-corona model for the low/hard state of black hole X-ray binaries

A disk-corona model for fitting the low/hard（LH）state of the associated steady jet in black hole X-ray binaries（BHXBs）is proposed based on the large-scale magnetic field configuration that arises from the coexistence of the Blandford-Znajek（BZ）and Blandford-Payne（BP）processes,where the magnetic field configuration for the BP process is determined by the requirement of energy conversion from Poynting energy flux into kinetic energy flux in the jet.It is found that corona current is crucial to guarantee the consistency of the jet launching from the accretion disk.The relative importance of the BZ and BP processes in powering jets from black hole accretion disks is discussed,and the LH state of several BHXBs is fitted based on our model.In addition,we suggest that magnetic field configuration can be regarded as the second parameter for governing the state transition of BHXBs.

A model of low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in black hole X-ray binaries

A model of low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations （LFQPOs） of black hole X-ray binaries （BHXBs） is proposed based on the perturbed magnetohydrody- namic equations of an accretion disk. It turns out that the LFQPO frequencies of some BHXBs can be fitted by the frequencies of the toroidal Alfv6n wave oscillation cor- responding to the maximal radiation flux. In addition, the positive correlation of the LFQPO frequencies with the radiation flux from an accretion disk is well interpreted.

Hyperaccretion after the Blandford-Znajek Process:A New Model for GRBs with X-Ray Flares Observed in Early Afterglows

We propose a three-stage model with Blandford-Znajek （BZ） and hyperaccretion process to interpret the recent observations of early afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts （GRBs）. In the first stage, the prompt GRB is powered by a rotating black hole （BH） invoking the BZ process. The second stage is a quiet stage, in which the BZ process is shut off, and the accretion onto the BH is depressed by the torque exerted by the magnetic coupling （MC） process. Part of the rotational energy transported by the MC process from the BH is stored in the disk as magnetic energy. In the third stage, the MC process is shut off when the magnetic energy in the disk accumulates and triggers magnetic instability. At this moment, the hyperaccretion process may set in, and the jet launched in this restarted central engine generates the observed X-ray flares. This model can account for the energies and timescales of GRBs with X-ray flares observed in early afterglows.

Quasinormal modes and absorption of a massless scalar field for the magnetic Gauss-Bonnet black hole

We study the massless scalar quasinormal frequencies of an asymptotically flat static and spherically symmetric black hole with a nonzero magnetic charge in four-dimensional extended scalar-tensor-Gauss-Bonnet theory. The results show that the real part of the quasinormal frequency becomes larger and the imaginary part becomes smaller with increasing the magnetic charge or the angular harmonic index. The existence of magnetic charges will reduce the damping of scalar perturbation, but increase the frequency. We also study the absorption crosssection of the scalar field in this black hole. We find that its curve will become lower as the magnetic charge increases, i.e. the magnetic charge will weaken the absorption capacity of the black hole. Meanwhile, the high-frequency limit of the total absorption cross-section is just the area of black hole shadow.

Shadows of magnetically charged rotating black holes surrounded by quintessence

In this work,we study the optical properties of a class of magnetically charged rotating black hole spacetimes.The black holes in question are assumed to be immersed in the quintessence field,and subsequently,the resulting black hole shadows are expected to be modified by the presence of dark energy.We investigate the photon region and the black hole shadow,especially their dependence on the relevant physical conditions,such as the quintessence state parameter,angular momentum,and magnetic charge magnitude.The photon regions depend sensitively on the horizon structure and possess intricate features.Moreover,from the viewpoint of a static observer,we explore a few observables,especially those associated with the distortion of the observed black hole shadows.