Hybrid-kinetic numerical simulations of firehose and mirror instabilities in a collisionless plasma are performed in which pressure anisotropy is driven as the magnetic field is changed by a persistent linear shear $S$. For a decreasing field, it is found that mostly oblique firehose fluctuations grow at ion Larmor scales and saturate with energies $\sim$$S^{1/2}$; the pressure anisotropy is pinned at the stability threshold by particle scattering off microscale fluctuations. In contrast, nonlinear mirror fluctuations are large compared to the ion Larmor scale and grow secularly in time; marginality is maintained by an increasing population of resonant particles trapped in magnetic mirrors. After one shear time, saturated order-unity magnetic mirrors are formed and particles scatter off their sharp edges. Both instabilities drive sub-ion-Larmor--scale fluctuations, which appear to be kinetic-Alfv\'{e}n-wave turbulence. Our results impact theories of momentum and heat transport in astrophysical and space plasmas, in which the stretching of a magnetic field by shear is a generic process.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Protoplanetary discs are poorly ionised due to their low temperatures and high column densities and are therefore subject to three "non-ideal" magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects: Ohmic dissipation, ambipolar diffusion, and the Hall effect. The existence of magnetically driven turbulence in these discs has been a central question since the discovery of the magnetorotational instability (MRI). Early models considered Ohmic diffusion only and led to a scenario of layered accretion, in which a magnetically "dead" zone in the disc midplane is embedded within magnetically "active" surface layers at distances of about 1-10 au from the central protostellar object. Recent work has suggested that a combination of Ohmic dissipation and ambipolar diffusion can render both the midplane and surface layers of the disc inactive and that torques due to magnetically driven outflows are required to explain the observed accretion rates. We reassess this picture by performing three-dimensional numerical simulations that include all three non-ideal MHD effects for the first time. We find that the Hall effect can generically "revive" dead zones by producing a dominant azimuthal magnetic field and a large-scale Maxwell stress throughout the midplane, provided that the angular velocity and magnetic field satisfy Ω · B > 0. The attendant large magnetic pressure modifies the vertical density profile and substantially increases the disc scale height beyond its hydrostatic value. Outflows are produced but are not necessary to explain accretion rates 10 −7 M yr −1 . The flow in the disc midplane is essentially laminar, suggesting that dust sedimentation may be efficient. These results demonstrate that if the MRI is relevant for driving mass accretion in protoplanetary discs, one must include the Hall effect to obtain even qualitatively correct results.

We present multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array imaging of the 28 SiO v = 1 and v = 2, J = 1-0 maser emission toward the massive young stellar object (YSO) Orion Source I. Both SiO transitions were observed simultaneously with an angular resolution of ∼0.5 mas (∼0.2 AU for d = 414 pc) and a spectral resolution of ∼0.2 km s −1 . Here we explore the global properties and kinematics of the emission through two 19-epoch animated movies spanning 21 months (from 2001 March 19 to 2002 December 10). These movies provide the most detailed view to date of the dynamics and temporal evolution of molecular material within ∼20-100 AU of a massive ( 8 M ) YSO. As in previous studies, we find that the bulk of the SiO masers surrounding Source I lie in an X-shaped locus; the emission in the south and east arms is predominantly blueshifted, and emission in the north and west is predominantly redshifted. In addition, bridges of intermediate-velocity emission are observed connecting the red and blue sides of the emission distribution. We have measured proper motions of over 1000 individual maser features and found that these motions are characterized by a combination of radially outward migrations along the four main maser-emitting arms and motions tangent to the intermediate-velocity bridges. We interpret the SiO masers as arising from a wide-angle bipolar wind emanating from a rotating, edge-on disk. The detection of maser features along extended, curved filaments suggests that magnetic fields may play a role in launching and/or shaping the wind. Our observations appear to support a picture in which stars with masses as high as at least 8 M form via disk-mediated accretion. However, we cannot yet rule out that the Source I disk may have been formed or altered following a recent close encounter.

We characterize magnetically driven accretion at radii between 1 au and 100 au in protoplanetary discs, using a series of local non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations. The simulations assume a Minimum Mass Solar Nebula (MMSN) disc that is threaded by a net vertical magnetic field of specified strength. Confirming previous results, we find that the Hall effect has only a modest impact on accretion at 30 au, and essentially none at 100 au. At 1-10 au the Hall effect introduces a pronounced bi-modality in the accretion process, with vertical magnetic fields aligned to the disc rotation supporting a strong laminar Maxwell stress that is absent if the field is anti-aligned. In the anti-aligned case, we instead find evidence for bursts of turbulent stress at 5-10 au, which we tentatively identify with the non-axisymmetric Hall-shear instability. The presence or absence of these bursts depends upon the details of the adopted chemical model, which suggests that appreciable regions of actual protoplanetary discs might lie close to the borderline between laminar and turbulent behaviour. Given the number of important control parameters that have already been identified in MHD models, quantitative predictions for disc structure in terms of only radius and accretion rate appear to be difficult. Instead, we identify robust qualitative tests of magnetically driven accretion. These include the presence of turbulence in the outer disc, independent of the orientation of the vertical magnetic fields, and a Hallmediated bi-modality in turbulent properties extending from the region of thermal ionization to 10 au.

The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is the most promising mechanism by which angular momentum is efficiently transported outwards in astrophysical discs. However, its application to protoplanetary discs remains problematic. These discs are so poorly ionised that they may not support magnetorotational turbulence in regions referred to as 'dead zones'. It has recently been suggested that the Hall effect, a non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effect, could revive these dead zones by enhancing the magnetically active column density by an order of magnitude or more. We investigate this idea by performing local, three-dimensional, resistive Hall-MHD simulations of the MRI in situations where the Hall effect dominates over Ohmic dissipation. As expected from linear stability analysis, we find an exponentially growing instability in regimes otherwise linearly stable in resistive MHD. However, instead of vigorous and sustained magnetorotational turbulence, we find that the MRI saturates by producing largescale, long-lived, axisymmetric structures in the magnetic and velocity fields. We refer to these structures as zonal fields and zonal flows, respectively. Their emergence causes a steep reduction in turbulent transport by at least two orders of magnitude from extrapolations based upon resistive MHD, a result that calls into question contemporary models of layered accretion. We construct a rigorous mean-field theory to explain this new behaviour and to predict when it should occur. Implications for protoplanetary disc structure and evolution, as well as for theories of planet formation, are briefly discussed.

Context. Ideal magnetohydrodynamical (MHD) simulations have revealed catastrophic magnetic braking in the protostellar phase, which prevents the formation of a centrifugal disk around a nascent protostar. Aims. We determine if non-ideal MHD, including the effects of ambipolar diffusion and Ohmic dissipation determined from a detailed chemical network model, will allow for disk formation at the earliest stages of star formation. Methods. We employ the axisymmetric thin-disk approximation in order to resolve a dynamic range of 9 orders of magnitude in length and 16 orders of magnitude in density, while also calculating partial ionization using up to 19 species in a detailed chemical equilibrium model. Magnetic braking is applied to the rotation using a steady-state approximation, and a barotropic relation is used to capture the thermal evolution. Results. We resolve the formation of the first and second cores, with expansion waves at the periphery of each, a magnetic diffusion shock, and prestellar infall profiles at larger radii. Power-law profiles in each region can be understood analytically. After the formation of the second core, the centrifugal support rises rapidly and a low-mass disk of radius ≈10 R is formed at the earliest stage of star formation, when the second core has mass ∼10 −3 M . The mass-to-flux ratio is ∼10 4 times the critical value in the central region. Conclusions. A small centrifugal disk can form in the earliest stage of star formation, due to a shut-off of magnetic braking caused by magnetic field dissipation in the first core region. There is enough angular momentum loss to allow the second collapse to occur directly, and a low-mass stellar core to form with a surrounding disk. The disk mass and size will depend upon how the angular momentum transport mechanisms within the disk can keep up with mass infall onto the disk. Accounting only for direct infall, we estimate that the disk will remain 10 AU, undetectable even by ALMA, for ≈4 × 10 4 yr, representing the early Class 0 phase.

We consider the problem of self-regulated heating and cooling in galaxy clusters and the implications for cluster magnetic fields and turbulence. Viscous heating of a weakly collisional magnetised plasma is regulated by the pressure anisotropy with respect to the local direction of the magnetic field. The intracluster medium is a high-beta plasma, where pressure anisotropies caused by the turbulent stresses and the consequent local changes in the magnetic field will trigger very fast microscale instabilities. We argue that the net effect of these instabilities will be to pin the pressure anisotropies at a marginal level, controlled by the plasma beta parameter. This gives rise to local heating rates that turn out to be comparable to the radiative cooling rates. Furthermore, we show that a balance between this heating and Bremsstrahlung cooling is thermally stable, unlike the often conjectured balance between cooling and thermal conduction. Given a sufficient (and probably self-regulating) supply of turbulent power, this provides a physical mechanism for mitigating cooling flows and preventing cluster core collapse. For observed density and temperature profiles, the assumed balance of viscous heating and radiative cooling allows us to predict magnetic-field strengths, turbulent velocities and turbulence scales as functions of distance from the centre. Specific predictions and comparisons with observations are given for several different clusters. Our predictions can be further tested by future observations of cluster magnetic fields and turbulent velocities.

We revisit the problem of the star formation timescale and the ages of molecular clouds. The apparent overabundance of star-forming molecular clouds over clouds without active star formation has been thought to indicate that molecular clouds are "short-lived" and that star formation is "rapid". We show that this statistical argument lacks self-consistency and, even within the rapid star-formation scenario, implies cloud lifetimes ≈ 10 Myr. We discuss additional observational evidence from external galaxies that indicate lifetimes of molecular clouds and a timescale of star formation of ≈ 10 7 yr. These long cloud lifetimes in conjunction with the rapid (≈ 1 Myr) decay of supersonic turbulence present severe difficulties for the scenario of turbulence-controlled star formation. By contrast, we show that all 31 existing observations of objects for which the linewidth, the size, and the magnetic field strength have been reliably measured are in excellent quantitative agreement with the predictions of the ambipolar-diffusion theory. Within the ambipolar-diffusion-controlled star formation theory the linewidths may be attributed to large-scale non-radial cloud oscillations (essentially standing largeamplitude, long-wavelength Alfvén waves), and the predicted relation between the linewidth, the size, and the magnetic field is a natural consequence of magnetic support of self-gravitating clouds.