# Enhanced Cloud Disruption by Magnetic Field InteractionAnimations and color images from this work have been posted at URL http://www.msi.umn.edu/Projects/twj/mhd3d/

## 1 Introduction

This letter focuses on the results of the first three-dimensional (3-D) study of the ballistic interaction of a moderately supersonic dense cloud with a warmer magnetized tenuous medium. Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in astrophysical environments and cannot be neglected in any realistic ISM related study. Mac Low et al. (1994) and Jones et al. (1996) have studied the two-dimensional (2-D) magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) of cosmic bullets, extending earlier gasdynamical simulations and addressing the importance of magnetic field in preventing the cloud disruption due to fluid instabilities. In particular Jones et al. (1996) found that a region of strong magnetic pressure (or magnetic bumper) develops at the nose of the cloud during its motion through a magnetized medium, whenever its velocity is perpendicular to the initial unperturbed background field (transverse case). This enhancement was attributed to a strong stretching of the magnetic field lines. Miniati et al. (1999b) further investigated the problem pointing out that the behavior observed in the transverse case was typical, except in the case of a very small angle ($`<30^o`$) between the cloud velocity and the initial magnetic field. In addition, the development of this magnetic shield in front of the cloud was recognized to play a crucial role in the outcome of cloud collisions (Miniati et al. 1999a), because it dramatically reduced the degree of cloud disruption. Further, it was important in terms of exchange of magnetic and kinetic energy between different phases in the ISM (Miniati et al. 1999b) and to highlight cosmic ray electrons (Jones et al. 1994).

While supersonic motion of an individual cloud is obviously idealized, there are numerous astronomical contexts which can be illuminated by its example. For example, MHD wind-cloud interaction may be important for the evolution of synchrotron emission processes from planetary nebulae (Dgani & Soker 1998). Recently a multi-phase structure has been proposed for the dynamical state of the cosmic intra cluster medium (Fabian 1997), in order to explain EUV radiation in excess to what expected from the hot gas there (e.g., Bowyer, Lieu & Mittaz 1998). Although the issue has not been settled yet, this suggestion reinforces the necessity to understand the proper evolution of clouds in a multi-phase medium.

All the previous MHD cloud-motion results were based on 2-D numerical simulations, so the importance of following them up with more realistic 3-D calculations is clear. Stone and collaborators (Stone & Norman 1992; Xu & Stone 1995) have reported 3-D hydrodynamical simulations of shocked gas clouds. They found qualitative agreement with analogous 2-D gasdynamical simulations. However, as we shall see, introduction of nonisotropic Maxwell stresses produces very significant effects that differ in 3-D from what has been seen in previous, 2-D MHD simulations.

## 2 Numerics & Problem Setup

The numerical computation is based on a total variation diminishing (TVD) scheme for ideal MHD (Ryu & Jones 1995; Ryu, Jones & Frank 1995; Ryu et al. 1998). The cloud, initially spherical, is set in motion with respect to the uniform ambient medium with a velocity aligned along the $`x`$-axis. Its velocity is $`u_c=Mc_s`$, where $`c_s`$ is the sound speed in the ambient medium and the Mach number is $`M=1.5`$. The initial cloud density is $`\rho _c=\chi \rho _i`$, with $`\rho _i`$ the intercloud density and $`\chi =100`$. The direction of the magnetic field is chosen along the $`y`$-axis. Its intensity is conveniently expressed in terms of the familiar parameter $`\beta =p/p_B`$, where $`p`$ is the hydrodynamic pressure and $`p_B=B^2/(8\pi )`$ is the magnetic pressure. In these numerical simulations we have considered both the cases of a strong field ($`\beta =4`$) and a weak field ($`\beta =100`$). To be able to compare with pure hydrodynamic effects, a case with $`\beta =\mathrm{}`$ (no magnetic field) has also been computed. The calculations have been performed using a $`416\times 208\times 416`$ zone box containing one quarter of the physical space with radial symmetry applied in the $`y`$-$`z`$ plane around the $`x`$ axis. The initial cloud radius spanned 26 zones. Additional details on the numerical setup can be found in a companion paper describing quantitative results (Gregori et al. 1999). Since the cloud motion is supersonic, its motion leads to the formation of a forward, bow shock and a reverse, crushing shock propagating through the cloud. The approximate time for the latter to cross the cloud is referred to as the “crushing time”<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>1 This form of the crushing time differs from the one of Klein et al. (1994) by a factor of 2 since our definition is based on the cloud diameter instead of the cloud radius. We use this definition since it more closely measures the actual time before the crushing shock emerges. (e.g., Jones et al. 1994): $`\tau _{cr}=2R_c\chi ^{1/2}/Mc_s`$, where $`R_c`$ is the initial cloud radius. As we will see, the crushing time is a relevant dynamical quantity since it is proportional to the time over which disruptive instabilities develop.

## 3 Cloud Disruption

As the cloud moves through the ISM, its surface is subjected to several instability mechanisms: namely, Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H), Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T) and, at start-up, the Richtmyer-Meshkov (R-M) instability. These instabilities, but especially the R-T instability, will ultimately disrupt the entire cloud. Grid-scale noise provides the seed for initial development of such instabilities (Kane et al. 1999 and references therein). At the same time, finite numerical resolution may suppress the large wavenumber (small scale) mode components that have the fastest initial growth rate (Chandrasekhar 1961). The K-H instability is related with the shearing motion at the separation between two fluids. Typically, we should expect such an instability to develop on the lateral boundaries of the cloud. From our simulations we can see that its effects are generally limited, especially considering that, in the MHD case, the development of the instability tends to be suppressed by the magnetic field for wave vectors in the $`x`$-$`y`$ plane (Chandrasekhar 1961; Jones et al. 1996). The most disruptive instability for a supersonic cloud is the R-T. It develops at the interface between two fluids when the lighter accelerates the heavier one. In the limiting case of an impulsive acceleration, as at the beginning of our simulations where the clouds are set into instantaneous motion, the R-M instability applies. However, the linear growth of the R-M instability and the presence of a thin boundary layer on the initial cloud makes the R-M instability relatively unimportant. Before a time $`\tau _{cr}`$ the cloud interface remains R-T stable, since there is no ongoing acceleration of the cloud body to drive this instability. When the crushing shock exits the cloud, however, a pressure gradient between the front and the rear is established. The cloud body is then decelerated, and this induces the R-T growth at its front interface (e.g., Mac Low et al. 1994; Jones et al. 1994; Kane et al. 1999).

In the general hydrodynamic case a R-T perturbation of wavenumber $`k`$ grows with a characteristic time $`\tau _{RT}(gk)^{1/2}`$, where $`g`$ is the cloud deceleration (Chandrasekhar 1961). Following Klein et al. (1994), we can estimate the deceleration as

$$g\frac{\rho _iu_c^2}{\rho _cR_c},$$
(1)   
with the cloud velocity $`u_c`$ and the intercloud medium assumed at rest. It is easy to show that the most destructive modes, those with the largest wavelength, $`k2\pi /R_c`$, develop on a timescale $`\tau _{RT}\tau _{cr}`$. Thus, in the absence of magnetic field influences, the cloud will be disrupted only on a time scale of several $`\tau _{cr}`$ (Jones et al. 1996; Xu & Stone 1995).

## 4 Results

It is usually pointed out in the literature that in the interaction of a cloud-like object with a magnetized wind, the stretching of magnetic field lines draping around the body of the cloud is limited by their ability to escape by slipping around it (e.g., Mac Low et al. 1994; Dgani & Soker 1998). On the contrary, our results show that the magnetic field influences the development of the cloud deformations produced by instabilities so that the field lines become trapped in such deformations. This trapping of the field lines is indeed the most important physical process that has been revealed from our 3-D simulations. Its main consequence is then the development of a region of strong magnetic pressure at the leading edge of the cloud. This is clearly visible in Fig. Enhanced Cloud Disruption by Magnetic Field Interaction<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>affiliation: Animations and color images from this work have been posted at URL http://www.msi.umn.edu/Projects/twj/mhd3d/, which shows that even at simulation end most of the “overrun” field lines are indeed kept within the R-T fingers without slipping away.

This behavior is different from what is seen at the earth’s magnetopause or as predicted for the magnetopause of comets (e.g., Yi et al. 1996). There, field lines do seem to slip past the object, so that it behaves somewhat like a rigid body. Indeed, for both of those cases the impacted body is stiff, because compression produces an increasingly greater restoring force.

In Fig. Enhanced Cloud Disruption by Magnetic Field Interaction<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>affiliation: Animations and color images from this work have been posted at URL http://www.msi.umn.edu/Projects/twj/mhd3d/ we compare the cloud evolution for the three studied cases of the field intensity through 3-D volume rendering images of gas density. The four pictures in the (first, second, third) columns correspond to different evolutionary times for the progression of cases: $`\beta =(\mathrm{},100,4)`$ respectively. The most significant conclusion is that the presence of a strong background magnetic field ($`\beta =4`$) dramatically modifies the dynamical evolution of the cloud. For the hydrodynamic simulation the cloud is initially uniformly crushed in the direction aligned with its motion and the disruptive instabilities, which are radially symmetric because of the imposed symmetry, become evident only by the end of the simulation ($`t=2.25\tau _{cr}`$). Our resolution is not sufficient to allow really fine K-H instabilities to develop on the cloud perimeter such as those evident in the hydrodynamical shocked-cloud results of Xu & Stone (1995), but the global evolutions in our hydrodynamic simulations are comparable. By contrast with this behavior, the presence of a strong field ($`\beta =4`$ case) causes the cloud to be additionally compressed along the $`y`$-axis by the draping magnetic field lines. As a result the cloud is “extruded” in a direction orthogonal to the plane containing its motion and the initial field. This behavior is already well visible after one crushing time.

As noted earlier, magnetic fields inhibit the R-T instabilities in the $`x`$-$`y`$ plane (Jones et al. 1996). The development of this instability only along the $`z`$-axis, then produces the C-shaped structure of the cloud (last panel in Fig. Enhanced Cloud Disruption by Magnetic Field Interaction<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>affiliation: Animations and color images from this work have been posted at URL http://www.msi.umn.edu/Projects/twj/mhd3d/), as opposed to the symmetrical “sombrero” surface of the hydrodynamical case. In addition, the presence of the magnetic field enhances the growth of the R-T instability. In the strong field case ($`\beta =4`$), this can be assessed by replacing the ram pressure $`\rho _iu_c^2`$ with an effective pressure $`\rho _iu_c^2+p_B`$ in eq. (1). This is motivated by the fact that, for small $`\beta `$, $`p_B`$ becomes comparable to or larger than the ram pressure $`\rho _iu_c^2`$ during times $`t\tau _{cr}\tau _{RT}`$ (see also Miniati et al. 1999b). Taking into account this additional magnetic term then shortens the time scale for the development of the instability by a factor $`2`$. The instability enters the nonlinear stage sooner and its exponential growth determines the dramatic differences from the hydrodynamical case as shown in Fig. Enhanced Cloud Disruption by Magnetic Field Interaction<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>affiliation: Animations and color images from this work have been posted at URL http://www.msi.umn.edu/Projects/twj/mhd3d/. In this sense, our results describe the cloud disruption by a magnetically enhanced R-T like instability.

A weak field ($`\beta =100`$) changes the cloud dynamics in a similar way, but more slowly and less dramatically. With a limited growth of a C-shaped structures, the development of the R-T instability in front of the cloud looks typical, although it still shows evidence of the asymmetric Maxwell stresses. Also at $`t\tau _{cr}`$ the magnetic pressure is still a small fraction of the ram pressure in front of the cloud. Therefore, although the shape of the cloud undergoes some deformation compared to the hydrodynamical case, the growth rate of the instability has not been enhanced significantly. Further discussions on the magnetic energy evolution and its effect on the cloud morphology are given by Gregori et al. (1999).

## 5 Summary

In this paper we have presented the first results of a series of 3-D MHD numerical simulations of cloud motion in a multi-phase interstellar medium. We have considered a spherical cloud that moves transverse to the magnetic field, with two different cases for its initial strength; namely $`\beta =4`$ and $`\beta =100`$.

Both the weak ($`\beta =100`$) and strong field ($`\beta =4`$) simulations showed a comparable behavior with a substantial enhancement of the magnetic pressure at the leading edge of the cloud as a result of field line stretching there. This confirms and extends previous 2-D results (Jones et al. 1996; Miniati et al. 1999b). The importance of field line stretching to field amplification and cloud motion can now be fully appreciated, since the slipping of the field lines around the cloud (which was prevented in 2-D simulations by their geometry) turned out to be a minor effect in our 3-D simulations. In general moving clouds are reshaped by the field lines draping around their bodies, generating elongated structures oriented perpendicular to both the background magnetic field and the flow velocity. This is also important in terms of cloud collisions because it means that if two clouds are approaching each other moving through the same large scale magnetic field, their elongated, cylindrical bodies will tend to collide with the longer axis aligned. This helps validate previous 2-D MHD cloud collision calculations (Miniati et al. 1999a) and sets important constraints for future work on that subject.

The main result of this study is that contrary to 2-D geometry where fluid instabilities were prevented by the growth of a strong magnetic field, in 3-D they are instead considerably hastened by it. This was clearly shown in Fig. Enhanced Cloud Disruption by Magnetic Field Interaction<sup>1</sup><sup>1</sup>affiliation: Animations and color images from this work have been posted at URL http://www.msi.umn.edu/Projects/twj/mhd3d/ where the dramatic difference between the purely hydrodynamic and the $`\beta =4`$ MHD case is attributed to the accelerated development of a R-T instability in the latter. It was also shown that for $`\beta =4`$ the timescale for the cloud disruption is reduced by a factor $`2`$.

This work is supported at the University of Minnesota by the NSF through grants AST 96-19438 and INT95-11654, by NASA grant NAG5-5055, and by the Minnesota Supercomputing Institute. Work by DR is supported in part by KOSEF through grant 981-0203-011-2.    

FIGURE CAPTIONS