Physics and applications of dusty plasmas: The Perspectives 2023

Dusty plasmas are electrically quasi-neutral media that, along with electrons, ions, neutral gas, radiation, and electric and/or magnetic fields, also contain solid or liquid particles with sizes ranging from a few nanometers to a few micrometers. These media can be found in many natural environments as well as in various laboratory setups and industrial applications. As a separate branch of plasma physics, the field of dusty plasma physics was born in the beginning of 1990s at the intersection of the interests of the communities investigating astrophysical and technological plasmas. An additional boost to the development of the field was given by the discovery of plasma crystals leading to a series of microgravity experiments of which the purpose was to investigate generic phenomena in condensed matter physics using strongly coupled complex (dusty) plasmas as model systems. Finally, the field has gained an increasing amount of attention due to its inevitable connection to the development of novel applications ranging from the synthesis of functional nanoparticles to nuclear fusion and from particle sensing and diagnostics to nano-contamination control. The purpose of the present perspectives paper is to identify promising new developments and research directions for the field. As such, dusty plasmas are considered in their entire variety: from classical low-pressure noble-gas dusty discharges to atmospheric pressure plasmas with aerosols and from rarefied astrophysical plasmas to dense plasmas in nuclear fusion devices. Both fundamental and application aspects are covered

Loop and non-perturbative effects in the dark matter phenomenology

In this thesis we analyze the importance of the one-loop corrections and the non-perturbative Sommerfeld enhancement on the dark matter thermal relic density and indirect detection signals. We discuss general properties of these e ects and present a detailed study of their impact in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. For the Sommerfeld e ect (SE) we have developed a general formalism to compute the enhancement factors for a multi-state system of fermions, in all possible spin con gurations and with generic long-range interactions. We show how to include such SE e ects in an accurate calculation of the thermal relic density for WIMP dark matter candidates. We apply the method to the MSSM and perform a numerical study of the relic abundance of neutralinos with arbitrary composition and including the SE due to the exchange of the W and Z bosons, photons and Higgses. Additionally, we perform an analogous analysis in the case of large co-annihilation e ects with a scalar particle, presenting also the appropriate formulas for a general scenario of this kind, with a set of particles with arbitrary masses and (o -)diagonal interactions. We nd non-negligible corrections in whole sfermion co-annihilation regimes and a very strong e ect for the heavy Wino-like neutralino. We also provide a numerical package for computing the neutralino relic density including the Sommerfeld e ect in a general MSSM setup. We turn then to a speci c scenario, where the dark matter is made of Winolike particles, and study the indirect detection signals including both our full computation of one-loop level electroweak corrections and the Sommerfeld e ect. We discuss how to incorporate them simultaneously and present the results for the full present-day annihilation cross-section. Having well under control the particle physics properties of the model, we concentrate on what exclusion limits and detection prospects we can obtain for this model taking into account various astrophysical uncertainties. Our results on the indirect detection signals show a signi cant impact of higher order e ects and moreover the importance of cross correlation between various search channels

Cellulo: Tangible Haptic Swarm Robots for Learning

Robots are steadily becoming one of the significant 21st century learning technologies that aim to improve education within both formal and informal environments. Such robots, called Robots for Learning, have so far been utilized as constructionist tools or social agents that aided learning from distinct perspectives. This thesis presents a novel approach to Robots for Learning that aims to explore new added values by means of investigating uses for robots in educational scenarios beyond those that are commonly tackled: We develop a platform from scratch to be "as versatile as pen and paper", namely as composed of easy to use objects that feel like they belong in the learning ecosystem while being seamlessly usable across many activities that help teach a variety of subjects. Following this analogy, we design our platform as many low-cost, palm-sized tangible robots that operate on printed paper sheets, controlled by readily available mobile computers such as smartphones or tablets. From the learners' perspective, our robots are thus physical and manipulable points of hands-on interaction with learning activities where they play the role of both abstract and concrete objects that are otherwise not easily represented. We realize our novel platform in four incremental phases, each of which consists of a development stage and multiple subsequent validation stages. First, we develop accurately positioned tangibles, characterize their localization performance and test the learners' interaction with our tangibles in a playful activity. Second, we integrate mobility into our tangibles and make them full-blown robots, characterize their locomotion performance and test the emerging notion of moving vs. being moved in a learning activity. Third, we enable haptic feedback capability on our robots, measure their range of usability and test them within a complete lesson that highlights this newly developed affordance. Fourth, we develop the means of building swarms with our haptic-enabled tangible robots and test the final form of our platform in a lesson co-designed with a teacher. Our effort thus contains the participation of more than 370 child learners over the span of these phases, which leads to the initial insights into this novel Robots for Learning avenue. Besides its main contributions to education, this thesis further contributes to a range of research fields related to our technological developments, such as positioning systems, robotic mechanism design, haptic interfaces and swarm robotics

Intermittency and Self-Organisation in Turbulence and Statistical Mechanics

There is overwhelming evidence, from laboratory experiments, observations, and computational studies, that coherent structures can cause intermittent transport, dramatically enhancing transport. A proper description of this intermittent phenomenon, however, is extremely difficult, requiring a new non-perturbative theory, such as statistical description. Furthermore, multi-scale interactions are responsible for inevitably complex dynamics in strongly non-equilibrium systems, a proper understanding of which remains a main challenge in classical physics. As a remarkable consequence of multi-scale interaction, a quasi-equilibrium state (the so-called self-organisation) can however be maintained. This special issue aims to present different theories of statistical mechanics to understand this challenging multiscale problem in turbulence. The 14 contributions to this Special issue focus on the various aspects of intermittency, coherent structures, self-organisation, bifurcation and nonlocality. Given the ubiquity of turbulence, the contributions cover a broad range of systems covering laboratory fluids (channel flow, the Von Kármán flow), plasmas (magnetic fusion), laser cavity, wind turbine, air flow around a high-speed train, solar wind and industrial application

Transport phenomena and capacitance of open quantum semiconductor nanostructures

We consider semiconductor devices at very low temperatures, composed of a mesoscopic quantum structure (QS) constituting the active region contacted by ideal probes with infinite conductivity. The coherent transport through the QS is described in the Landauer-Büttiker formalism. We perform self-consistent calculations for the electron density in the QS. We present a capacitance model that takes into account the openness of the QS and the existence of finite contacts embedding the system. For single-barrier tunnelling structures, we present the implicit connection between the capacitance and the conductance. For a field induced two-dimensional electron gas in a special GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs heterostructure we present a detailed analysis of the coupling to the contact reservoir. Excellent quantitative agreement in the C-V characteristic is obtained. It is also analized the conductivity of systems with confinement in more dimensions.Wir betrachten Halbleiterbauelemente bei sehr tiefen Temperaturen, bestehend aus eine mesoskopische Quantenstruktur(QS), welche die aktive Region festlegt und Kontakte, die als ideale Metalle angesehen sind. Der Transport durch QS wird im Landauer-Büttiker Formalismus beschrieben. Wir führen selbstkonsistente Rechnungen für die Elektronendichte in QS durch. Wir stellen ein Kapazitätsmodell vor, das die Offenheit der QS und das Bestehen der begrenzten Kontakte, die das System einbetten, berücksichtigt. Für die Strukturen mit einer Tunnelbarriere stellen wir die implizite Verbindung zwischen der Kapazität und der Leitfähigkeit vor. Für das feldinduzierte zweidimensionale Elektronengas in einer speziellen GaAs/AlxGa1-xAs Heterostruktur, stellen wir eine ausführliche Analyse der Wechselwirkung zwischen der QS und dem Kontakt vor. Ausgezeichnete quantitative Übereinstimmung in der C-V Kurve wurde bekommen. Es wird auch die Leitfähigkeit für Systeme, die Beschränkungen in mehreren Dimensionen zeigen, beschrieben

Magnetic Hybrid-Materials

Externally tunable properties allow for new applications of suspensions of micro- and nanoparticles in sensors and actuators in technical and medical applications. By means of easy to generate and control magnetic fields, fluids inside of matrices are studied. This monnograph delivers the latest insigths into multi-scale modelling, manufacturing and application of those magnetic hybrid materials

Transforming Biodiversity Governance

This book outlines a governance approach that prioritizes ecocentric, compassionate and sustainable development, and stresses the importance of addressing the underlying causes of biodiversity loss. It is ideal for academics, policy makers and practitioners. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core

Haptics: Science, Technology, Applications

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Human Haptic Sensing and Touch Enabled Computer Applications, EuroHaptics 2020, held in Leiden, The Netherlands, in September 2020. The 60 papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 111 submissions. The were organized in topical sections on haptic science, haptic technology, and haptic applications. This year's focus is on accessibility

Magnetic Hybrid-Materials

Externally tunable properties allow for new applications of suspensions of micro- and nanoparticles in sensors and actuators in technical and medical applications. By means of easy to generate and control magnetic fields, fluids inside of matrices are studied. This monnograph delivers the latest insigths into multi-scale modelling, manufacturing and application of those magnetic hybrid materials