Magnetic field amplification associated with the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability

Abstract

The amplification of a magnetic field due to the Richtmyer-Meshkov instability (RMI) is investigated by two-dimensional MHD simulations. Single-mode analysis is adopted to reveal definite relation between the nonlinear evolution of RMI and the field enhancement. It is found that an ambient magnetic field is stretched by fluid motions associated with the RMI, and the strength is amplified significantly by more than two orders of magnitude. The saturation level of the field is determined by a balance between the amplified magnetic pressure and the thermal pressure after shock passage. This effective amplification can be achieved in a wide range of the conditions for the RMI such as the Mach number of an incident shock and the density ratio at a contact discontinuity. The results suggest that the RMI could be a robust mechanism of the amplification of interstellar magnetic fields and cause the origin of localized strong fields observed at the shock of supernova remnants. © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.