Hannes Alfvén’s research while affiliated with KTH Royal Institute of Technology and other places

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Publications (104)


Cosmology in the Plasma Universe: An Introductory Exposition
  • Article

March 1990

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184 Reads

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47 Citations

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

Hannes O G Alfvén

Acceptance of the plasma universe model is now leading to drastically new views of the structure of the universe. The basic aspects of cosmological importance are: (a) the same basic laws of plasma physics hold everywhere; (b) mapping of electric fields and currents is necessary to understand cosmic plasma; (c) space is filled with a network of currents leading to the cellular and filamentary structure of matter; and (d) double layers, critical velocity, and pinch effects are of decisive importance in how cosmic evolves. A review is presented of a number of the outstanding questions of cosmology in the plasma universe


Cosmology in the Plasma Universe

August 1988

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20 Reads

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26 Citations

Laser and Particle Beams

Space observations have opened the spectral regions of X-rays and γ-rays, which are produced by plasma processes. The Plasma Universe derived from observations in these regions is drastically different from the now generally accepted ‘Visual Light Universe’ based on visual light observations alone. Historically this transition can be compared only to the transition from the the geocentric to the heliocentric cosmology. The purpose of this paper is to discuss what criteria a cosmological theory must satisfy in order to be acceptable in the Plasma Universe.


Double Layers and Circuits in Astrophysics

January 1987

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55 Reads

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77 Citations

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

As the rate of energy release in a double layer with voltage ¿V is P ¿ I¿V, a double layer must be treated as a part of a circuit which delivers the current I. As neither double layer nor circuit can be derived from magnetofluid models of a plasma, such models are useless for treating energy transfer by means of double layers. They must be replaced by particle models and circuit theory. A simple circuit is suggested which is applied to the energizing of auroral particles, to solar flares, and to intergalactic double radio sources. Application to the heliospheric current systems leads to the prediction of two double layers on the sun's axis which may give radiations detectable from Earth. Double layers in space should be classified as a new type of celestial object (one example is the double radio sources). It is tentatively suggested that X-ray and ¿-ray bursts may be due to exploding double layers (although annihilation is an alternative energy source). A study of how a number of the most used textbooks in astrophysics treat important concepts such as double layers, critical velocity, pinch effects, and circuits is made. It is found that students using these textbooks remain essentially ignorant of even the existence of these concepts, despite the fact that some of them have been well known for half a century (e.g., double layers, Langmuir, 1929; pinch effect, Bennet, 1934).


Model of the Plasma Universe

January 1987

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21 Reads

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37 Citations

IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science

This paper is a review of a number of publications during the last ten years about those changes in our views of the cosmic environment that are the result of advances in plasma physics. To a large extent, these originate from new observational material that space research has supplied. An attempt is made to construct a model of the "plasma universe" which is claimed to be an alternative to the traditional " visual universe" based mainly on observations in the visual octave. Besides the Hubble expansion there is also a "knowledge expansion," which means that knowledge originating from plasma experiments in the laboratory is spreading to the magnetospheres and, it is predicted, sooner or later will also penetrate astrophysics in general. As an example of the usefulness of this model, it is applied to cosmogony, and a review is given of new results from an analysis of the Saturnian rings. The recent reconstruction of certain cosmogonic events with an accuracy better than 1 percent is reviewed and developed.



Voyager Saturnian ring measurements and the early history of the solar system
  • Article
  • Full-text available

August 1985

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21 Reads

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5 Citations

Planetary and Space Science

The mass distribution in the Saturnian ring system is investigated and compared with predictions from plasma cosmogony. According to this theory, the matter in the rings was once a magnetized plasma, in which gravitation is balanced by the centrifugal and electromagnetic forces. As the plasma is neutralized, the electromagnetic forces disappear and the matter falls in to 2/3 of the original saturnocentric distance. This causes the cosmogonic shadow effect, demonstrated for the large scale structure of the Saturnian ring system. It is shown that many structures of the present ring system can be understood as shadows and antishadows of cosmogonic origin. These appear in the form of double rings centered around a position a factor 0.64 (slightly 2/3) closer to Saturn than the causing feature. Voyager data agree with an accuracy 1%.

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[Reply to ``On magnetospheric research''] On the number of ringlets in the Saturnian rings

June 1985

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3 Reads

Eos Transactions American Geophysical Union

G. L. Tyler claims ( Eos , January 29, 1985, p. 41) that there are 22 ringlets in the Saturnian ring and criticizes me be‐cause I have given numbers which are or‐ders of magnitude larger. The controversy is largely semantic. It is theoretically expected that the rings should have a “fine structure” [ Alfvén , 1984; Alfvén and Cech , 1984] from which we can derive important processes at the formation of the rings and, in a wider context, gain essential information about the evolutionary history of the solar system. A recent study demonstrates that a detailed analysis of the C ring, as well as of the A and B rings, makes it possible to reconstruct certain events which probably occurred 4–5 billion years ago with an accuracy of 1% [ Alfvén et al. , 1985]. In some regions, e.g., the Holberg minimum, this fine structure is superimposed on a continuous background so that the opacity does not go down to zero; in others, e.g., the Cassini division, it does. Still, similar cosmogonically relevant information can be extracted from both regions. For example, in both regions there is a double peak, which can very well be called a double ringlet.


Cosmogonic scenario

May 1985

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50 Reads

A cosmogonic scenario, based on the fact that the Saturnian C ring and essential features of the B and A rings agree with the plasma cosmogony approach with an accuracy of 1% or better, and on the likely evolution of the solar system is proposed. This outlines the evolution of an interstellar cloud and the formation of stars surrounded by solar nebulae under the combined action of gravitational and electromagnetic forces. Matter falling in from the solar nebula towards the Sun is processed by electromagnetic processes and a plasma-planetesimal transition occurs. Planetesimals accrete to planets, and around planets the same process in miniature leads to the formation of satellites. The origin of comets is discussed.


Further explorations of cosmogonic shadow effects in the Saturnian rings

February 1985

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12 Reads

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1 Citation

The mass distribution in the Saturnian ring system is compared with predictions from the cosmogonic theory of Alfven and Arrhenius (1975) in which matter in the rings was once a magnetized plasma, with gravitation balanced by centrifugal force and by the magnetic field. As the plasma is neutralized, the magnetic force disappears and the matter can be shown to fall in to a distance 2/3 of the original. This supports the cosmogonic shadow effect, also demonstrated for the astroidal belt and in the large scale structure of the Saturnian ring system. The relevance of the comogonic shadow effect for parts of the finer structures of the Saturnian ring system is investigated. It is shown that many structures of the present ring system can be understood as shadows and antishadows of cosmogonic origin. These appear in the form of double rings centered around a position a factor 0.64 (slightly 2/3) closer to Saturn than the causing feature.


Space research and the new approach to the mechanics of fluid media in cosmos

October 1984

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2 Reads

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4 Citations

The use of in situ magnetospheric results in cosmology is discussed. Extrapolation of magnetospheric results makes it necessary to revise the evolutionary history of interstellar dust clouds and the formation of stars, including the Sun and the solar nebula, out of which our planetary system derived. The formation of planets and satellites can also be approached by an extrapolation backwards in time of magnetospheric results. A combination of these methods makes it possible to reconstruct events 4 to 5 billion years ago with an accuracy of a few percent. This reconstruction is based on the Pioneer and Voyager measurements of the highly structurized Saturnian rings. These can be regarded as a time capsule which registered decisive processes leading to the formation of our solar system.


Citations (53)


... The properties of the plasma universe inferred from laboratory and magnetosphere phenomena in the study are summarized in the literature [12] and are roughly as follows: First of all, this universe has microporous structures, possibly antimatter, and is not made up of the traditional Big Bang. The plasma universe is penetrated by a network of currents, transmitting energy over long distances, creating a double electrolayer that accelerates particles to very high energies. ...

Reference:

Theoretical Progress and the state-of-art models for Plasma Quantization
Paradigm transition in cosmic plasma physics
  • Citing Article
  • January 1982

Physica Scripta

... 2) The occurrence of explosive events such as solar flares, magnetic substorms, possibly also "internal ionization" phenomena in comets (Wurm, 1963;Mendis, 1978) and stellar flares. 3) Double layer violation of the Ferraro corotation. Establishing "partial corotation" is essential for the understanding of some cosmogonic processes (H. G. Arrhenius, 1975 and1976). 4) Formation of filaments in the solar atmosphere, in the ionosphere of Venus and in the tails of comets and in interstellar nebulae. 5) Formation of current sheets which may give space a "cellular structure". ...

Structure and Evolutionary History of the Solar System
  • Citing Book
  • January 1975

... When the FAC becomes less than the new threshold, then the anomalous resistivity and potential drop turn off, the FAC starts to increase again, and the on/off process becomes quasi-periodic. Earlier, the idea of excitation of periodic events in a circuit with a double layer was suggested by Alfven (1981). Later, quasi-periodic oscillation of anomalous resistivity was discussed by Pilipenko et al. (1999) as an additional possible mechanism for the generation of geomagnetic pulsations in the few Hz range. ...

Electric Currents in Space Plasmas
  • Citing Chapter
  • January 1981

... He also concluded that consumption should continue to increase as it does now". He also concluded that this would lead to an increase in the temperature of Earth's atmosphere [5,6]. Since then, a huge amount of evidence correlating both air CO2 concentration and global warming has accumulated [2,7]. ...

Accretion of Celestial Bodies
  • Citing Chapter
  • January 1975

... Salvador et al. (2023), Gillmann et al. (2022, this collection) contain a detailed discussion on Venus' primordial and basal magma oceans. Briefly stated, historical models assumed that Earth and Venus had primordial magma oceans that were overlain by an outgassed, dense atmosphere mostly consisting of H 2 O and CO 2 (Arrhenius et al. 1974;Jakosky and Ahrens 1979). As reviewed in Massol et al. (2016), the idea of a steam & CO 2 magma ocean atmosphere continued to be the dominant hypothesis, although recent work has begun to question the simplicity of this formulation Bower et al. 2022;Gaillard et al. 2022). ...

Origin of the ocean
  • Citing Article
  • January 1974

... Since current gravitational waves typically have astrophysical sources below 1 kHz, it is of interest to consider gravitational unit-cell candidates at various scales. Table 1 shows computed gravitomagnetic dipole moment for a range of meta-atom scales from 1 m to the solar system, along with the periods, mass, and angular momentum of the gravitational meta-atoms [9,10]. The gravitomagnetic dipole moment in Table 1 was calculated from the angular momentum m g = L g , in accordance with (7), using values of L g from [9,10]. ...

Solar system evolution.
  • Citing Article
  • January 1979

... It is interesting to note that Earth magnetospheric research of the 1970s established the importance of global charge and strong potentials ($60 C, À100 kV) and strong electric fields (0.5 V/m). 38,39 Models routinely invoke "double layers" 49 and definitely include the MHDcontentious "E parallel to B" even in the "conducting plasma," 19 causing strong acceleration of aurora particles. By comparison, the electrical effects in the Sun are relatively weak, especially for such a massive structure. ...

On the significance of magnetospheric research for progress in astrophysics
  • Citing Article
  • April 1978

Nature

... Early studies of electric currents in the magnetosphere and laboratory plasmas identified the importance of magnetic null regions within magnetized plasmas, which were originally known as neutral surfaces 16 . These neutral surfaces may separate regions of oppositely directed magnetic fields (thus supporting planar current sheets or X-points) or may be found at the center of currentcarrying filaments (for cylindrical current pinches). ...

Some Properties of Magnetospheric Neutral Surfaces
  • Citing Article
  • July 1968

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres

... c. 2.725K/-270⁰C). Alfvén and Arrhenius (1976) suggested that the Earth's primordial daily spin rate may have been as fast as 5-6 hours. Thus, centrifugal radial segregation, with respect to density, size, shape, and other particle properties (Cooke et al., 1976;Donald and Roseman, 1962;Fan et al., 1990;Hill et al., 1997) is likely to have occurred in such a fast-rotating gas-particle cloud. ...

Evolution of the Solar System
  • Citing Book
  • January 1976