Power Laws in Astrophysics: Self-Organized Criticality Systems

Markus Aschwanden

doi:10.1017/9781009562942

Research applications of complex systems and nonlinear physics are rapidly expanding across various scientific disciplines. A common theme among them is the concept of “self-organized criticality systems”, which this volume presents in detail for observed astrophysical phenomena, such as solar flares, coronal mass ejections, solar energetic particles, solar wind, stellar flares, magnetospheric events, planetary systems, galactic and black-hole systems. The author explores fundamental questions: Why do power laws, the hallmarks of self-organized criticality, exist? What power law index is predicted for each astrophysical phenomenon? Which size distributions have universality? What can waiting time distributions tell us about random processes? This is the first monograph that tests comprehensively astrophysical observations of self-organized criticality systems for students, post-docs, and researchers. A highlight is a paradigm shift from microscopic concepts, such as the traditional cellular automaton algorithms, to macroscopic concepts formulated in terms of physical scaling laws.

‘This book is a very detailed discussion of the concepts of power laws in astrophysics with comparison to observations both from space and ground-based. In the realm of solar physics, which is the main expertise of the author, power laws in size distributions are extremely common and are particularly well illustrated in this book.’

Ken Phillips Source: The Observatory

‘… a valuable survey of SOC astrophysics and will be a valuable addition to libraries serving a university astrophysics department. Recommended.’

A. Spero Source: CHOICE

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Contents

Frontmatter
pp i-iv
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Dedication
pp v-vi
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Contents
pp vii-xii
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Foreword
pp xiii-xvi
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Preface
pp xvii-xviii
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Abbreviations
pp xix-xxii
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Part I - Fundamentals of SOC
pp 1-2
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1 - Fundamentals
pp 3-24
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2 - Power Law Size Distributions
pp 25-43
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3 - Waiting Time Distributions
pp 44-58
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Part II - Astrophysical SOC Phenomena
pp 59-60
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4 - Solar Flare Hard X-Rays
pp 61-71
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5 - Solar Flare Soft X-Rays
pp 72-88
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6 - Solar EUV Nanoflares
pp 89-105
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7 - Solar Photospheric Events
pp 106-119
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8 - Solar Radio Bursts
pp 120-125
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9 - Coronal Mass Ejections
pp 126-132
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10 - Solar Energetic Particle Events
pp 133-138
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11 - Solar Wind
pp 139-146
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12 - Magnetospheric Phenomena
pp 147-158
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13 - Planetary Systems
pp 159-167
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14 - Stellar Systems
pp 168-183
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15 - Galactic and Black-Hole Systems
pp 184-204
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Part III - Conclusions
pp 205-206
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16 - Conclusions
pp 207-217
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References
pp 218-251
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Index
pp 252-264
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Power Laws in Astrophysics

Self-Organized Criticality Systems

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