This article is cited in 13 papers

REVIEWS OF TOPICAL PROBLEMS

Instabilities of a multicomponent plasma with accelerated particles and magnetic field generation in astrophysical objects

A. M. Bykov^a, I. N. Toptygin<sup>b

a</sup> A. F. Ioffe Institute of Physics and Technology, Russian Academy of Sciences
^b St. Petersburg State Polytechnical University

Abstract: A system of MHD equations for the description of a magnetized nonequilibrium astrophysical plasma with neutral atoms and suprathermal (in particular, relativistic) particles is formulated. The instabilities of such a plasma, which arise from the presence of neutral and relativistic components, are considered. It is shown that the presence of nonthermal particles interacting with the thermal plasma component via regular and fluctuating electromagnetic fields is responsible for the emergence of specific mechanisms of MHD wave generation. The main generation mechanisms of static and turbulent magnetic fields near shock wave fronts in the Galaxy and interplanetary space are analyzed. We discuss the application of the generation effects of long-wave magnetic fluctuations to the problems of magnetic field origin and relativistic particle acceleration in astrophysical objects of various natures.

PACS: 52.35.-g, 52.59.-f, 95.30.Qd

Received: July 18, 2006
Revised: September 20, 2006

DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.0177.200702b.0149

 English version: Physics–Uspekhi, 2007, 50:2, 141–174

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