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At least 883 records · Page 49

An analytical description for the elastic compression of metallic polyhedral nanoparticles

Metallic nanoparticles are usually polyhedrons instead of perfect spheres, which presents a challenge to characterize their elastic response. In the present paper, the elastic compression of truncated octahedral nanoparticles is investigated through finite element calculations and atomic simulations. An analytical expression of load is obtained for octahedral particles, which is linearly proportional to indent depth, instead of the 3/2 power law relation predicted by Hertzian model for elastic sphere. Comparisons with molecular dynamics simulations demonstrate that the obtained relation can predict the elastic response of polyhedral nanoparticles. This study is helpful to measure the elastic properties of polyhedral nanoparticles, and characterize their elastic response.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Flux-driven algebraic damping of m = 2 diocotron mode

Experiments with pure electron plasmas in a Malmberg–Penning trap have observed linear in time, algebraic damping of m = 2 diocotron modes. Transport due to small field asymmetries produces a low-density halo of electrons moving radially outward from the plasma core, and the mode damping begins when the halo reaches the resonant radius of the mode. The damping rate is proportional to the flux of halo particles through the resonant layer. The damping is related to, but distinct from spatial Landau damping in which a linear wave–particle resonance produces exponential damping. This paper reports an analytic theory that captures the main signatures reported for this novel damping, namely, that the damping begins when the halo particles reach the resonant radius and that the damping is algebraic in time with nearly constant damping rate. The model also predicts a nonlinear frequency shift. The model provides two ways to think about the damping. It results from a transfer of canonical angular momentum from the mode to halo particles being swept by the mode field through the nonlinear cat's eye orbits of the resonant region. More mechanistically, the electric field produced by the perturbed charge density of the resonant particles acts back on the plasma core causing E × B drift that gives rise to the damping and nonlinear frequency shift.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

EXTERNAL COMPTON EMISSION IN BLAZARS OF NONLINEAR SYNCHROTRON SELF-COMPTON-COOLED ELECTRONS

The origin of the high-energy component in spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of blazars is still something of a mystery. While BL Lac objects can be successfully modeled within the one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) scenario, the SED of low-peaked flat spectrum radio quasars is more difficult to reproduce. Their high-energy component needs the abundance of strong external photon sources, giving rise to stronger cooling via the inverse Compton (IC) channel, and thus to a powerful component in the SED. Recently, we have been able to show that such a powerful inverse Compton component can also be achieved within the SSC framework. This, however, is only possible if the electrons cool by SSC, which results in a nonlinear process, since the cooling depends on an energy integral over the electrons. In this paper, we aim to compare the nonlinear SSC framework with the external Compton (EC) output by calculating analytically the EC component with the underlying electron distribution being either linearly or nonlinearly cooled. Due to the additional linear cooling of the electrons with the external photons, higher number densities of electrons are required to achieve nonlinear cooling, resulting in more powerful IC components. If the electrons initially cool nonlinearly, the resulting SED can exhibit a dominant SSC over the EC component. However, this dominance depends strongly on the input parameters. We conclude that, with the correct time-dependent treatment, the SSC component should be taken into account in modeling blazar flares.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Magnetohydrodynamic slow mode with drifting He{sup ++}: Implications for coronal seismology and the solar wind

The MHD slow mode wave has application to coronal seismology, MHD turbulence, and the solar wind where it can be produced by parametric instabilities. We consider analytically how a drifting ion species (e.g. He{sup ++}) affects the linear slow mode wave in a mainly electron-proton plasma, with potential consequences for the aforementioned applications. Our main conclusions are as follows. 1. For wavevectors highly oblique to the magnetic field, we find solutions that are characterized by very small perturbations of total pressure. Thus, our results may help to distinguish the MHD slow mode from kinetic Alfvén waves and non-propagating pressure-balanced structures, which can also have very small total pressure perturbations. 2. For small ion concentrations, there are solutions that are similar to the usual slow mode in an electron-proton plasma, and solutions that are dominated by the drifting ions, but for small drifts the wave modes cannot be simply characterized. 3. Even with zero ion drift, the standard dispersion relation for the highly oblique slow mode cannot be used with the Alfvén speed computed using the summed proton and ion densities, and with the sound speed computed from the summed pressures and densities of all species. 4. The ions can drive a non-resonant instability under certain circumstances. For low plasma beta, the threshold drift can be less than that required to destabilize electromagnetic modes, but damping from the Landau resonance can eliminate this instability altogether, unless T{sub e} /T{sub p} >> 1.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Density wavenumber spectrum measurements, synthetic diagnostic development, and tests of quasilinear turbulence modeling in the core of electron-heated DIII-D H-mode plasmas

Abstract Measurements of the turbulent density wavenumber spectrum, δ n ˆ e ( k ⊥ ) , using the Doppler Back-Scattering (DBS) diagnostic are reported from DIII-D H-mode plasmas with electron cyclotron heating as the only auxiliary heating method. These electron-heated plasmas have low collisionality, ν e ∗ < 1 , T e / T i > 1 , and zero injected torque—a regime expected to be relevant for future fusion devices. We probe density fluctuations in the core ( ρ ≈ 0.7) over a broad wavenumber range, 0.5 ⩽ k ⊥ ⩽ 16 cm −1 ( 0.1 ⩽ k ⊥ ρ s ⩽ 5 ), to characterize plasma instabilities and compare with theoretical predictions. We present a novel synthetic DBS diagnostic to relate the back-scattered power spectrum, P s ( k ⊥ ) —which is directly measured by DBS—to the underlying electron density fluctuation spectrum, δ n ˆ e ( k ⊥ ) . The synthetic DBS P s ( k ⊥ ) spectrum is calculated by combining the SCOTTY beam-tracing code with a model δ n ˆ e ( k ⊥ ) predicted either analytically or numerically. In this work we use the quasi-linear code Trapped Gyro-Landau Fluid (TGLF) to approximate the δ n ˆ e ( k ⊥ ) spectrum. We find that TGLF, using the experimental profiles, is capable of closely reproducing the DBS measurements. Both the DBS measurements and the TGLF-DBS synthetic diagnostic show a wavenumber spectrum with variable decay. The measurements show weak decay ( k −0.6 ) for k < 3.5 cm −1 , with k −2.6 at intermediate- k ( 3.5 ⩽ k ⩽ 8.5 cm −1 ), and rapid decay ( k −9.4 ) for k > 8.5 cm −1 . Scans of physics parameters using TGLF suggest that the normalized ∇ T e scale-length, R / L T e , is an important factor for distinguishing microturbulence regimes in these plasmas. A combination of DBS observations and TGLF simulations indicate that fluctuations remain peaked at ITG-scales (low k ) while R / L T e -driven TEM/ETG-type modes (intermediate/high k ) are marginally sub-dominant.

synthetic diagnostics↗

Discrete solitons and vortices in anisotropic hexagonal and honeycomb lattices

We consider the self-focusing discrete nonlinear Schrödinger equation on hexagonal and honeycomb lattice geometries. Our emphasis is on the study of the effects of anisotropy, motivated by the tunability afforded in recent optical and atomic physics experiments. We find that multi-soliton and discrete vortex states undergo destabilizing bifurcations as the relevant anisotropy control parameter is varied. Furthermore, we quantify these bifurcations by means of explicit analytical calculations of the solutions, as well as of their spectral linearization eigenvalues. Finally, we corroborate the relevant stability picture through direct numerical computations. In the latter, we observe the prototypical manifestation of these instabilities to be the spontaneous rearrangement of the solution, for larger values of the coupling, into localized waveforms typically centered over fewer sites than the original unstable structure. In weak coupling, the instability appears to result in a robust breathing of the relevant waveforms.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Magnetic Richtmyer-Meshkov instability in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate

The magnetically induced Richtmyer-Meshkov (RM) instability in a two-component Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is investigated. We construct and study analytical models describing the development of the instability at both the linear and nonlinear stages. The models indicate interesting features of the instability: surface tension implies departure from the linear growth of modes and separation of droplets, which are qualitatively different from the traditional RM case of classical gases, and the trapping potential affects the later stages of the instability. We perform numerical simulations of the instability in a trapped BEC using the Gross-Pitaevskii equation and compare the simulation results to the model predictions.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Magnetic photocurrents in multifold Weyl fermions

Here, we examine the magneto-optical response of chiral multifold fermions. Specifically, we show that they are ideal candidates for observing the helical magnetic effect (HME) previously predicted for simple Weyl fermions. Unlike Weyl fermions, the HME is present in multifold fermions even in the simplest case where the low-energy dispersion is linear and spherically symmetric. In this ideal case, we derive an analytical expression for the HME and find it is proportional to the circular photogalvanic effect; for realistic parameters and accounting for the geometry of the setup, the HME photocurrent could be roughly the same order of magnitude as the circular photogalvanic effect observed in multifold fermions. Additional nonlinear and symmetry-breaking terms will ruin the quantization but not hurt the observation of the HME.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

k-essence in the DGP brane-world cosmology

We analyze a Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) brane filled with a k-essence field and assume the k field evolving linearly with the cosmic time of the brane. We then solve analytically the Friedmann equation and deduce the different behavior of the brane at the low- and the high-energy regimes. The asymptotic behavior can be quite different involving accelerating branes, big bangs, big crunches, big rips, or quiescent singularities. The latter correspond to a type of sudden singularity.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Nonlinear wave propagation in a strongly coupled collisional dusty plasma

The propagation of a nonlinear low-frequency mode in a strongly coupled dusty plasma is investigated using a generalized hydrodynamical model. For the well-known longitudinal dust acoustic mode a standard perturbative approach leads to a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) soliton. The strong viscoelastic effect, however, introduced a nonlinear forcing and a linear damping in the KdV equation. This novel equation is solved analytically to show a competition between nonlinear forcing and dissipative damping. The physical consequence of such a solution is also sketched.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Femtosecond X-Ray Free Electron Laser Pulse Duration Measurement from Spectral Correlation Function

We present a novel method for measuring the duration of femtosecond x-ray pulses from self-amplified spontaneous emission free electron lasers by performing statistical analysis in the spectral domain. Analytical expressions of the spectral correlation function were derived in the linear regime to extract both the pulse duration and the spectrometer resolution. Numerical simulations confirmed that the method can be also used in the nonlinear regime. The method was demonstrated experimentally at the Linac Coherent Light Source by measuring pulse durations down to 13 fs FWHM.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

Selective laser pumping of magnetic sublevels in the hyperfine structure of the cesium atom

The evolution of the populations of the magnetic sublevels of the cesium atom ({sup 133}Cs isotope) in resonant laser fields with linear polarization is analyzed using the equations for the density matrix. Analytic expressions are derived for stationary populations resulting from laser-induced optical transitions on the hyperfine structure components F{sub g} = 3 ↔ F{sub e} = 2, 3 and F{sub f} = 4 ↔ F{sub e} = 3, 4 of lines D{sub 1} (6{sup 2}S{sub 1/2} → 6{sup 2}P{sub 1/2}) and D{sub 2} (6{sup 2}S{sub 1/2} → 6{sup 2}P{sub 3/2}) depending on the initial values of the populations. The numerical solution of the evolution equations gives the characteristic times of stabilization of the steady regime as functions of laser field intensities and detuning from optical resonance. We determine the sequences of optical transitions increasing (by more than an order of magnitude) the population of the lower sublevel 6{sup 2}S{sub 1/2}F{sub g} = 3 M = 0 of the “clock” microwave transition F{sub g} = 3 M = 0 ↔ F{sub f} = 4 M = 0 in the cesium frequency standard, which increases the signal intensity in the recording system by the same proportion.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Probing interfacial momentum closures in two-phase bubbly flow with machine learning-aided methods

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) approach has already reached a high level of maturity for single-phase flows, however the development of closure models for two-phase flow requires additional attention. Multiphase CFD (M-CFD) methods resolve the conservation equations for mass, momentum and energy while differing in the approaches and strategies adopted in the physical closure models. The most widely adopted framework for M-CFD is the Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid approach which assumes that all phases are co-existing inside each computational cell. For each fluid, the full set of conservation equations is solved; therefore, each fluid has a different velocity field. For adiabatic two-phase flow, the mechanisms of the interfacial momentum transfer are modeled by the interfacial forces representing different physical mechanisms. One of the crucial issues in the development and application of two-fluid model is the understanding of the interfacial momentum closures which determines the bubble distribution and migration behaviors. Dedicated experiments are performed to support the physical understanding and drive the closures’ development. However, limitations exist due to the uncertainties in the experimental measurement and the simplified analytical assumptions which have difficulties on representing the complex non-linear flow fields. In this paper, a data-driven approach, Feature Similarity Measurement (FSM), is developed and proposed to resolve the challenges of modeling the interfacial forces closures. Case study is performed with two-phase flow scenarios where the high-fidelity experimental data is available. Within the Eulerian-Eulerian two-fluid framework, only momentum equations for gas and liquid phases are solved and reduced-order interfacial momentum closures are aided with FSM. Predictions of void fraction and velocity fields are analyzed and demonstrate the potential of machine learning-driven interfacial forces closures.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Final Technical Report: Testing the robustness of CMB-S4 inflation measurements to foreground models

This report summarizes the research activities for DOE award SC0024462, which focused on enhancing the robustness of CMB-S4 inflation measurements by characterizing and mitigating Galactic foreground interference. The project grounded foreground models in the physical processes of the Interstellar Medium with MHD and semi-analytic filament models, and developed analysis pipelines, such as Needlet Internal Linear Combination (NILC) techniques, to isolate faint cosmological signals.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

A Semi-analytic Criterion for the Spontaneous Initiation of Carbon Detonations in White Dwarfs

Despite over 40 years of active research, the nature of the white dwarf progenitors of SNe Ia remains unclear. However, in the last decade, various progenitor scenarios have highlighted the need for detonations to be the primary mechanism by which these white dwarfs are consumed, but it is unclear how these detonations are triggered. In this paper we study how detonations are spontaneously initiated due to temperature inhomogeneities, e.g., hotspots, in burning nuclear fuel in a simplified physical scenario. Following the earlier work by Zel’Dovich, we describe the physics of detonation initiation in terms of the comparison between the spontaneous wave speed and the Chapman–Jouguet speed. We develop an analytic expression for the spontaneous wave speed and utilize it to determine a semi-analytic criterion for the minimum size of a hotspot with a linear temperature gradient between a peak and base temperature for which detonations in burning carbon–oxygen material can occur. Our results suggest that spontaneous detonations may easily form under a diverse range of conditions, likely allowing a number of progenitor scenarios to initiate detonations that burn up the star.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Core States of Neutron Stars from Anatomizing Their Scaled Structure Equations

Given an Equation of State (EOS) for neutron star (NS) matter, there is a unique mass–radius sequence characterized by a maximum mass ${M}_{\mathrm{NS}}^{\max}$ at radius $R$ max . We first show analytically that the ${M}_{\mathrm{NS}}^{\max}$ and $R$ max scale linearly with two different combinations of the NS central pressure $P$ $c$ and energy density $ε$ $c$ , by dissecting perturbatively the dimensionless Tolman–Oppenheimer–Volkoff (TOV) equations governing NS internal variables. The scaling relations are then verified via 87 widely used and rather diverse phenomenological as well as 17 microscopic NS EOSs with/without considering hadron–quark phase transitions and hyperons, by solving numerically the original TOV equations. The EOS of the densest NS matter allowed before it collapses into a black hole is then obtained. Using the universal ${M}_{\mathrm{NS}}^{\max}$ and $R$ max scalings and Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer and XMM-Newton mass–radius observational data for PSR J0740+6620, a very narrow constraining band on the NS central EOS is extracted directly from the data for the first time, without using any specific input EOS model.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The time evolution of gaps in tidal streams

We model the time evolution of gaps in tidal streams that are caused by the impact of a dark matter subhalo, while these orbit a spherical gravitational potential. To this end, we make use of the simple behavior of orbits in action-angle space. A gap effectively results from the divergence of two nearby orbits whose initial phase-space separation is, for very cold thin streams, largely given by the impulse induced by the subhalo. We find that in a spherical potential, the size of a gap increases linearly with time for sufficiently long timescales. We have derived an analytic expression that shows how the growth rate depends on the mass of the perturbing subhalo, its scale, and its relative velocity with respect to the stream. We have verified these scalings using N-body simulations and find excellent agreement. For example, a subhalo of mass 10{sup 8} M{sub ⊙} directly impacting a very cold thin stream on an inclined orbit can induce a gap that may reach a size of several tens of kiloparsecs after a few gigayears. The gap size fluctuates importantly with phase on the orbit, and it is largest close to pericenter. This indicates that it may not be fully straightforward to invert the spectrum of gaps present in a stream to recover the mass spectrum of the subhalos.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Experimental and theoretical investigation of stress wave attenuation in fiber reinforced composites.

The propagation of an initialrcidrical pressure pulse through a linear elastic fiber reinforced composite medium is analysed, both experimentally and analytically. In the experiment, tests were performed on plates with single and multiple circular inclusions embedded in a matrix of lower characteristic impedance. Sharp compression pulses were generated at an edge of the plate. Strain gages were mounted on various positions of the plate to determine the attenuation of the transient stress in the fiber reinforced composite. The qualitative analytical treatment is based on the methods of propagating stress discontinuities. Computer programs were written to numerically determine the changes in the shape of the leading wave front and the stresses immediately behind it. Experimental results for the attenuation of stress wave on steel-aluminum and steel-brass fiber-matrix composites compared very well with the computed analytical results when the applied pressure is generated by small explosive charges. The results did not compare well when the applied pressure is generated by projectile impact.

Yang, J. C. S.↗