64,796 research outputs found
Comparison between hybrid and fully kinetic models of asymmetric magnetic reconnection: coplanar and guide field configurations
Magnetic reconnection occurring in collisionless environments is a
multi-scale process involving both ion and electron kinetic processes. Because
of their small mass, the electron scales are difficult to resolve in numerical
and satellite data, it is therefore critical to know whether the overall
evolution of the reconnection process is influenced by the kinetic nature of
the electrons, or is unchanged when assuming a simpler, fluid, electron model.
This paper investigate this issue in the general context of an asymmetric
current sheet, where both the magnetic field amplitude and the density vary
through the discontinuity. A comparison is made between fully kinetic and
hybrid kinetic simulations of magnetic reconnection in coplanar and guide field
systems. The models share the initial condition but differ in their electron
modeling. It is found that the overall evolution of the system, including the
reconnection rate, is very similar between both models. The best agreement is
found in the guide field system, which confines particle better than the
coplanar one, where the locality of the moments is violated by the electron
bounce motion. It is also shown that, contrary to the common understanding,
reconnection is much faster in the guide field system than in the coplanar one.
Both models show this tendency, indicating that the phenomenon is driven by ion
kinetic effects and not electron ones.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted in Physics of Plasma
Advanced trajectory engineering of diffraction-resisting laser beams
We introduce an analytical technique for engineering the trajectory of diffraction-resisting laser beams. The generated beams have a Bessel-like transverse field distribution and can be navigated along rather arbitrary curved paths in free space, thus being an advanced hybrid between accelerating and non-accelerating diffraction-free optical waves. The method involves phase-modulating the wavefront of a Gaussian laser beam to create a continuum of conical ray bundles whose apexes define a prespecified focal curve, along which a nearly perfect circular intensity lobe propagates without diffracting. Through extensive numerical simulations, we demonstrate the great flexibility in the design of a gamut of different beam trajectories. Propagation around obstructions and self-healing scenarios are also investigated. The proposed wave entities can be used extensively for light trajectory control in applications such as laser microfabrication, optical tweezers and curved plasma filamentation spectroscopy
Hadronic transitions from the lattice
I discuss strategies to determine hadronic decay couplings from lattice
studies.
As a check of the methods, I explore the decay of a vector meson to two
pseudoscalar mesons with flavours of sea quark. Although we are working
with quark masses that do not allow a physical decay, I show how the transition
rate can be evaluated from the amplitude for and from the
annihilation component of . I explore the decay amplitude
for two different pion momenta and find consistent results. The coupling
strength found is in agreement with experiment. I also find evidence for a
shift in the mass caused by mixing with two pion states.
I also present results for the decay of a hybrid meson, for the case of heavy
valence quarks.Comment: 10 pages, 7 ps figures, proc LHP03, Cairn
Rules and mechanisms governing octahedral tilts in perovskites under pressure
The rotation of octahedra (octahedral tilting) is common in ABO3 perovskites
and relevant to many physical phenomena, ranging from electronic and magnetic
properties, metal-insulator transitions to improper ferroelectricity.
Hydrostatic pressure is an efficient way to tune and control octahedral
tiltings. However, the pressure behavior of such tiltings can dramatically
differ from one material to another, with the origins of such differences
remaining controversial. In this work, we discover several new mechanisms and
formulate a set of simple rules that allow to understand how pressure affects
oxygen octahedral tiltings, via the use and analysis of first-principles
results for a variety of compounds. Besides the known A-O interactions, we
reveal that the interactions between specific B-ions and oxygen ions contribute
to the tilting instability. We explain the previously reported trend that the
derivative of the oxygen octahedral tilting with respect to pressure (dR/dP)
usually decreases with both the tolerance factor and the ionization state of
the A-ion, by illustrating the key role of A-O interactions and their change
under pressure. Furthermore, three new mechanisms/rules are discovered. We
further predict that the polarization associated with the so-called hybrid
improper ferroelectricity could be manipulated by hydrostatic pressure, by
indirectly controlling the amplitude of octahedral rotations.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Re
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