Apostolos Kuiroukidis

Magnetohydrodynamics and Plasma Cosmology

Abstract We study the linear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations, both in the Newtonian and the general-relativistic limit, as regards a viscous magnetized fluid of finite conductivity and discuss instability criteria. In addition, we explore the excitation of cosmological perturbations in anisotropic spacetimes, in the presence of an ambient magnetic field. Acoustic, electromagnetic (e/m) and fast-magnetosonic modes, propagating normal to the magnetic field, can be excited, resulting in several implications of cosmological significance.

Excitation of MHD waves in magnetized anisotropic cosmologies

The excitation of cosmological perturbations in an anisotropic cosmological model and in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field was studied, using the resistive magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. We have shown that fast-magnetosonic modes, propagating normal to the magnetic field, grow exponentially and saturate at high values, due to the resistivity. We also demonstrate that Jeans-like instabilities can be enhanced inside a resistive fluid and that the formation of condensations influence the growing magnetosonic waves.

DYNAMO EFFECTS IN MAGNETIZED IDEAL PLASMA COSMOLOGIES

The excitation of cosmological perturbations in an anisotropic cosmological model and in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field has been studied, using the ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations. In this case, the system of partial differential equations which governs the evolution of the magnetized cosmological perturbations can be solved analytically. Our results verify that fast-magnetosonic modes propagating normal to the magnetic field, are excited. But, what is most important, is that, at late times, the magnetic-induction contrast(δB/B) grows, resulting in the enhancement of the ambient magnetic field. This process can be particularly favored by condensations, formed within the plasma fluid due to gravitational instabilities.

PRE-INFLATION IN THE PRESENCE OF CONFORMAL COUPLING

We consider a massless scalar field, conformally coupled to the Ricci scalar curvature, in the pre-inflation era of a closed FLRW Universe. The scalar field potential can be of the form of the Coleman–Weinberg one-loop potential, which is flat at the origin and drives the inflationary evolution. For positive values of the conformal parameter ξ, less than the critical value ξc=(1/6), the model admits exact solutions with nonzero minimum scale factor and zero initial Hubble parameter. Thus these solutions can be matched smoothly to the so-called Pre-Big-Bang models. At the end of this pre-inflation era one can match inflationary solutions by specifying the form of the potential and the whole solution is of the class C(1).

Strings in Kerr–Newman Black Holes

We study the evolution of strings in the equatorial plane of a Kerr–Newman black hole. Writing the equations of motion and the constraints resulting from Hamiltons principle, three classes of exact solutions are presented, for a closed string, encircling the black hole. They all depend on two arbitrary integration functions and two constants. A process for extracting energy is examined for the case of one of the three families of solutions. This is the analogue of the Penrose process for the case of a particle.

Higher-dimensional models in gravitational theories of quartic Lagrangians

Ten-dimensional models, arising from a gravitational action which includes terms up to the fourth order in curvature tensor, are discussed. The space–time consists of one time direction and two maximally symmetric subspaces, filled with matter in the form of an anisotropic fluid. Numerical integration of the cosmological field equations indicates that exponential, as well as power law, solutions are possible. We carry out a dynamical study of the results in the Hext−Hint plane and confirm the existence of attractors in the evolution of the Universe. Those attracting points correspond to “extended” De Sitter space–times in which the external space exhibits inflationary expansion, while the internal one contracts.

Graviton production in the scaling of a long-cosmic-string network

In a previous paper [1] we considered the possibility that (within the early-radiation epoch) there has been (also) a short period of a significant presence of cosmic strings. During this radiation-plus-strings stage the Universe matter-energy content can be modelled by a two-component fluid, consisting of radiation (dominant) and a cosmic-string fluid (subdominant). It was found that, during this stage, the cosmological gravitational waves (CGWs) - that had been produced in an earlier (inflationary) epoch - with comoving wave-numbers below a critical value (which depends on the physics of the cosmic-string network) were filtered, leading to a distorsion in the expected (scale-invariant) CGW power spectrum. In any case, the cosmological evolution gradually results in the scaling of any long-cosmic-string network and, hence, after a short time-interval, the Universe enters into the late-radiation era. However, along the transition from an early-radiation epoch to the late-radiation era through the radiation-plus-strings stage, the time-dependence of the cosmological scale factor is modified, something that leads to a discontinuous change of the corresponding scalar curvature, which, in turn, triggers the quantum-mechanical creation of gravitons. In this paper we discuss several aspects of such a process, and, in particular, the observational consequences on the expected gravitational-wave (GW) power spectrum.

ALFVEN MODES DRIVEN NONLINEARLY BY METRIC PERTURBATIONS IN ANISOTROPIC MAGNETIZED COSMOLOGIES

We consider anisotropic magnetized cosmologies filled with conductive plasma fluid and study the implications of metric perturbations that propagate parallel to the ambient magnetic field. It is known that in the first-order (linear) approximation with respect to the amplitude of the perturbations no electric field and density perturbations arise. However when we consider the nonlinear coupling of the metric perturbations with their temporal derivatives, certain classes of solutions can induce steeply increasing in time, electric field perturbations. This is verified both numerically and analytically. The source of these perturbations can be either high-frequency quantum vacuum fluctuations, driven by the cosmological pump field, in the early stages of the evolution of the Universe, or astrophysical processes, or a nonlinear isotropization process, of an initially anisotropic cosmological space–time.

Brane Cosmology From Heterotic String Theory

We consider brane cosmologies within the context of five-dimensional effective actions with