Engineering topics

Otto, Frank

Publications and source records attributed to Otto, Frank.

3 records

DOE OSTI2017

Velocity Anisotropy in Self-gravitating Molecular Clouds. I. Simulation

The complex interplay between turbulence, magnetic fields, and self-gravity leads to the formation of molecular clouds out of the diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). One avenue of studying this interplay is by analyzing statistical features derived from observations, where the interpretation of these features is greatly facilitated by comparisons with numerical simulations. Here we focus on the statistical anisotropy present in synthetic maps of velocity centroid data, which we derive from three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of a turbulent, magnetized, self-gravitating patch of ISM. We study how the orientation and magnitude of the velocity anisotropy correlate with the magnetic field and with the structures generated by gravitational collapse. Motivated by recent observational constraints, our simulations focus on the supersonic (sonic Mach number M≈2--17) but sub- to trans-alfvénic (alfvénic Mach number M{sub A}≈0.2--1.2) turbulence regime, and we consider clouds that are barely to mildly magnetically supercritical (mass-to-flux ratio equal to once or twice the critical value). Additionally we explore the impact of the turbulence driving mechanism (solenoidal or compressive) on the velocity anisotropy. While we confirm previous findings that the velocity anisotropy generally aligns well with the plane-of-sky magnetic field, our inclusion of the effects of self-gravity reveals that in regions of higher column density, the velocity anisotropy may be destroyed or even reoriented to align with the gravitationally formed structures. We provide evidence that this effect is not necessarily due to the increase of M{sub A} inside the high-density regions.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2014

The exact wavefunction factorization of a vibronic coupling system

We investigate the exact wavefunction as a single product of electronic and nuclear wavefunction for a model conical intersection system. Exact factorized spiky potentials and nodeless nuclear wavefunctions are found. The exact factorized potential preserves the symmetry breaking effect when the coupling mode is present. Additionally nodeless wavefunctions are found to be closely related to the adiabatic nuclear eigenfunctions. This phenomenon holds even for the regime where the non-adiabatic coupling is relevant, and sheds light on the relation between the exact wavefunction factorization and the adiabatic approximation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2014

Multi-layer Potfit: An accurate potential representation for efficient high-dimensional quantum dynamics

The multi-layer multi-configuration time-dependent Hartree method (ML-MCTDH) is a highly efficient scheme for studying the dynamics of high-dimensional quantum systems. Its use is greatly facilitated if the Hamiltonian of the system possesses a particular structure through which the multi-dimensional matrix elements can be computed efficiently. In the field of quantum molecular dynamics, the effective interaction between the atoms is often described by potential energy surfaces (PES), and it is necessary to fit such PES into the desired structure. For high-dimensional systems, the current approaches for this fitting process either lead to fits that are too large to be practical, or their accuracy is difficult to predict and control. This article introduces multi-layer Potfit (MLPF), a novel fitting scheme that results in a PES representation in the hierarchical tensor (HT) format. The scheme is based on the hierarchical singular value decomposition, which can yield a near-optimal fit and give strict bounds for the obtained accuracy. Here, a recursive scheme for using the HT-format PES within ML-MCTDH is derived, and theoretical estimates as well as a computational example show that the use of MLPF can reduce the numerical effort for ML-MCTDH by orders of magnitude, compared to the traditionally used POTFIT representation of the PES. Moreover, it is shown that MLPF is especially beneficial for high-accuracy PES representations, and it turns out that MLPF leads to computational savings already for comparatively small systems with just four modes.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗