Chandrasekhar-Kendall function

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Chandrasekhar-Kendall functions are the axisymmetric eigenfunctions of the curl operator, derived by Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar and P.C. Kendall in 1957 [1] [2] , in attempting to solve the force-free magnetic fields. The results were independently derived by both, but were agreed to publish the paper together.

In vector calculus, the curl is a vector operator that describes the infinitesimal rotation of a vector field in three-dimensional Euclidean space. At every point in the field, the curl of that point is represented by a vector. The attributes of this vector characterize the rotation at that point.

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar American physicist

Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar was an Indian American astrophysicist who spent his professional life in the United States. He was awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize for Physics with William A. Fowler for "...theoretical studies of the physical processes of importance to the structure and evolution of the stars". His mathematical treatment of stellar evolution yielded many of the current theoretical models of the later evolutionary stages of massive stars and black holes. The Chandrasekhar limit is named after him.

Contents

If the force-free magnetic field equation is written as with the assumption of divergence free field (), then the most general solution for axisymmetric case is

where is a unit vector and the scalar function satisfies the Helmholtz equation, i.e.,

Helmholtz equation

In mathematics and physics, the Helmholtz equation, named for Hermann von Helmholtz, is the linear partial differential equation

.

The same equation also appears in fluid dynamics in Beltrami flows where, vorticity vector is parallel to the velocity vector, i.e., .

In fluid dynamics, Beltrami flows are flows in which the vorticity vector and the velocity vector are parallel to each other. In other words, Beltrami flow is a flow where Lamb vector is zero. It is named after the Italian mathematician Eugenio Beltrami due to his derivation of the Beltrami vector field, while initial developments in fluid dynamics were done by the Russian scientist Ippolit S. Gromeka in 1881.

Derivation

Taking curl of the equation and using this same equation, we get

.

In the vector identity , we can set since it is solenoidal, which leads to a vector Helmholtz equation,

.

Every solution of above equation is not the solution of original equation, but the converse is true. If is a scalar function which satisfies the equation , then the three linearly independent solutions of the vector Helmholtz equation are given by

where is a fixed unit vector. Since , it can be found that . But this is same as the original equation, therefore , where is the poloidal field and is the toroidal field. Thus, substituting in , we get the most general solution as

Cylindrical polar coordinates

Taking the unit vector in the direction, i.e., , with a periodicity in the direction with vanishing boundary conditions at , the solution is given by [3] [4]

where is the Bessel function, , the integers and is determined by the boundary condition The eigenvalues for has to be dealt separately. Since here , we can think of direction to be toroidal and direction to be poloidal, consistent with the convention.

See also

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References

  1. Chandrasekhar, S. (1956). On force-free magnetic fields. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 42(1), 1-5.
  2. Chandrasekhar, S., & Kendall, P. C. (1957). On force-free magnetic fields. The Astrophysical Journal, 126, 457.
  3. Montgomery, D., Turner, L., & Vahala, G. (1978). Three‐dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in cylindrical geometry. The Physics of Fluids, 21(5), 757-764.
  4. Yoshida, Z. (1991). Discrete eigenstates of plasmas described by the Chandrasekhar-Kendall functions. Progress of theoretical physics, 86(1), 45-55.