437 research outputs found
Generation of mechanical squeezing via magnetic dipoles on cantilevers
A scheme to squeeze the center-of-mass motional quadratures of a quantum
mechanical oscillator below its standard quantum limit is proposed and analyzed
theoretically. It relies on the dipole-dipole coupling between a magnetic
dipole mounted on the tip of a cantilever to equally oriented dipoles located
on a mesoscopic tuning fork. We also investigate the influence of several
sources of noise on the achievable squeezing, including classical noise in the
driving fork and the clamping noise in the oscillator. A detection of the state
of the cantilever based on state transfer to a light field is considered. We
investigate possible limitations of that scheme.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figures, submitted to PR
Late-Time Convection in the Collapse of a 23 Solar Mass Star
The results of a 3-dimensional SNSPH simulation of the core collapse of a 23
solar mass star are presented. This simulation did not launch an explosion
until over 600ms after collapse, allowing an ideal opportunity to study the
evolution and structure of the convection below the accretion shock to late
times. This late-time convection allows us to study several of the recent
claims in the literature about the role of convection: is it dominated by an
l=1 mode driven by vortical-acoustic (or other) instability, does it produce
strong neutron star kicks, and, finally, is it the key to a new explosion
mechanism? The convective region buffets the neutron star, imparting a 150-200
km/s kick. Because the l=1 mode does not dominate the convection, the neutron
star does not achieve large (>450 km/s) velocities. Finally, the neutron star
in this simulation moves, but does not develop strong oscillations, the energy
source for a recently proposed supernova engine. We discuss the implications
these results have on supernovae, hypernovae (and gamma-ray bursts), and
stellar-massed black holes.Comment: 31 pages (including 13 figures), submitted to Ap
Electro-diffusion in a plasma with two ion species
Electric field is a thermodynamic force that can drive collisional
inter-ion-species transport in a multicomponent plasma. In an inertial
confinement fusion (ICF) capsule, such transport causes fuel ion separation
even with a target initially prepared to have equal number densities for the
two fuel ion species. Unlike the baro-diffusion driven by ion pressure gradient
and the thermo-diffusion driven by ion and electron temperature gradients,
electro-diffusion has a critical dependence on the charge-to-mass ratio of the
ion species. Specifically, it is shown here that electro-diffusion vanishes if
the ion species have the same charge-to-mass ratio. An explicit expression for
the electro-diffusion ratio is obtained and used to investigate the relative
importance of electro- and baro-diffusion mechanisms. In particular, it is
found that electro-diffusion reinforces baro-diffusion in the deuterium and
tritium mix, but tends to cancel it in the deuterium and helium-3 mix.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Plasmas on 2012-03-06 (revised version 05/13/2012
AGN heating and dissipative processes in galaxy clusters
Recent X-ray observations reveal growing evidence for heating by active
galactic nuclei (AGN) in clusters and groups of galaxies. AGN outflows play a
crucial role in explaining the riddle of cooling flows and the entropy problem
in clusters. Here we study the effect of AGN on the intra-cluster medium in a
cosmological simulation using the adaptive mesh refinement FLASH code. We pay
particular attention to the effects of conductivity and viscosity on the
dissipation of weak shocks generated by the AGN activity in a realistic galaxy
cluster. Our 3D simulations demonstrate that both viscous and conductive
dissipation play an important role in distributing the mechanical energy
injected by the AGN, offsetting radiative cooling and injecting entropy to the
gas. These processes are important even when the transport coefficients are at
a level of 10% of the Spitzer value. Provided that both conductivity and
viscosity are suppressed by a comparable amount, conductive dissipation is
likely to dominate over viscous dissipation. Nevertheless, viscous effects may
still affect the dynamics of the gas and contribute a significant amount of
dissipation compared to radiative cooling. We also present synthetic Chandra
observations. We show that the simulated buoyant bubbles inflated by the AGN,
and weak shocks associated with them, are detectable with the Chandra
observatory.Comment: accepted to ApJ, minor change
The Hall instability of weakly ionized, radially stratified, rotating disks
Cool weakly ionized gaseous rotating disk, are considered by many models as
the origin of the evolution of protoplanetary clouds. Instabilities against
perturbations in such disks play an important role in the theory of the
formation of stars and planets. Thus, a hierarchy of successive fragmentations
into smaller and smaller pieces as a part of the Kant-Laplace theory of
formation of the planetary system remains valid also for contemporary
cosmogony. Traditionally, axisymmetric magnetohydrodynamic (MHD), and recently
Hall-MHD instabilities have been thoroughly studied as providers of an
efficient mechanism for radial transfer of angular momentum, and of density
radial stratification. In the current work, the Hall instability against
nonaxisymmetric perturbations in compressible rotating fluids in external
magnetic field is proposed as a viable mechanism for the azimuthal
fragmentation of the protoplanetary disk and thus perhaps initiating the road
to planet formation. The Hall instability is excited due to the combined effect
of the radial stratification of the disk and the Hall electric field, and its
growth rate is of the order of the rotation period.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
Nonlinear theory of resonant slow waves in anisotropic and dispersive plasmas
The solar corona is a typical example of a plasma with strongly anisotropic transport processes. The main dissipative mechanisms in the solar corona acting on slow magnetoacoustic waves are the anisotropic thermal conductivity and viscosity [Ballai et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 252 (1998)] developed the nonlinear theory of driven slow resonant waves in such a regime. In the present paper the nonlinear behavior of driven magnetohydrodynamic waves in the slow dissipative layer in plasmas with strongly anisotropic viscosity and thermal conductivity is expanded by considering dispersive effects due to Hall currents. The nonlinear governing equation describing the dynamics of nonlinear resonant slow waves is supplemented by a term which describes nonlinear dispersion and is of the same order of magnitude as nonlinearity and dissipation. The connection formulas are found to be similar to their nondispersive counterparts
The Emission of Electromagnetic Radiation from Charges Accelerated by Gravitational Waves and its Astrophysical Implications
We provide calculations and theoretical arguments supporting the emission of
electromagnetic radiation from charged particles accelerated by gravitational
waves (GWs). These waves have significant indirect evidence to support their
existence, yet they interact weakly with ordinary matter. We show that the
induced oscillations of charged particles interacting with a GW, which lead to
the emission of electromagnetic radiation, will also result in wave
attenuation. These ideas are supported by a small body of literature, as well
as additional arguments for particle acceleration based on GW memory effects.
We derive order of magnitude power calculations for various initial charge
distributions accelerated by GWs. The resulting power emission is extremely
small for all but very strong GWs interacting with large quantities of charge.
If the results here are confirmed and supplemented, significant consequences
such as attenuation of early universe GWs could result. Additionally, this
effect could extend GW detection techniques into the electromagnetic regime.
These explorations are worthy of study to determine the presence of such
radiation, as it is extremely important to refine our theoretical framework in
an era of active GW astrophysics.Comment: Appears in Gravitational Wave Astrophysics, Editor C.F. Sopuerta,
Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, Volume 40. ISBN
978-3-319-10487-4. Springer International Publishing Switzerland, 2015, p.
30
Magnetic Reconnection with Radiative Cooling. I. Optically-Thin Regime
Magnetic reconnection, a fundamental plasma process associated with a rapid
dissipation of magnetic energy, is believed to power many disruptive phenomena
in laboratory plasma devices, the Earth magnetosphere, and the solar corona.
Traditional reconnection research, geared towards these rather tenuous
environments, has justifiably ignored the effects of radiation on the
reconnection process. However, in many reconnecting systems in high-energy
astrophysics (e.g., accretion-disk coronae, relativistic jets, magnetar flares)
and, potentially, in powerful laser plasma and z-pinch experiments, the energy
density is so high that radiation, in particular radiative cooling, may start
to play an important role. This observation motivates the development of a
theory of high-energy-density radiative magnetic reconnection. As a first step
towards this goal, we present in this paper a simple Sweet--Parker-like theory
of non-relativistic resistive-MHD reconnection with strong radiative cooling.
First, we show how, in the absence of a guide magnetic field, intense cooling
leads to a strong compression of the plasma in the reconnection layer,
resulting in a higher reconnection rate. The compression ratio and the layer
temperature are determined by the balance between ohmic heating and radiative
cooling. The lower temperature in the radiatively-cooled layer leads to a
higher Spitzer resistivity and hence to an extra enhancement of the
reconnection rate. We then apply our general theory to several specific
astrophysically important radiative processes (bremsstrahlung, cyclotron, and
inverse-Compton) in the optically thin regime, for both the zero- and
strong-guide-field cases. We derive specific expressions for key reconnection
parameters, including the reconnection rate. We also discuss the limitations
and conditions for applicability of our theory.Comment: 31 pages, 1 figur
Magnetic reconnection with anomalous resistivity in two-and-a-half dimensions I: Quasi-stationary case
In this paper quasi-stationary, two-and-a-half-dimensional magnetic
reconnection is studied in the framework of incompressible resistive
magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). A new theoretical approach for calculation of the
reconnection rate is presented. This approach is based on local analytical
derivations in a thin reconnection layer, and it is applicable to the case when
resistivity is anomalous and is an arbitrary function of the electric current
and the spatial coordinates. It is found that a quasi-stationary reconnection
rate is fully determined by a particular functional form of the anomalous
resistivity and by the local configuration of the magnetic field just outside
the reconnection layer. It is also found that in the special case of constant
resistivity reconnection is Sweet-Parker and not Petschek.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, minor changes as compared to the 1st versio
Properties of 1D two-barrier quantum pump with harmonically oscillating barriers
We study a one-dimensional quantum pump composed of two oscillating
delta-functional barriers. The linear and non-linear regimes are considered.
The harmonic signal applied to any or both barriers causes the stationary
current. The direction and value of the current depend on the frequency,
distance between barriers, value of stationary and oscillating parts of barrier
potential and the phase shift between alternating voltages.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figure
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