Effective transport barriers in nontwist systems

In fluids and plasmas with zonal flow reversed shear, a peculiar kind of transport barrier appears in the shearless region, one that is associated with a proper route of transition to chaos. These barriers have been identified in symplectic nontwist maps that model such zonal flows. We use the so-called standard nontwist map, a paradigmatic example of nontwist systems, to analyze the parameter dependence of the transport through a broken shearless barrier. On varying a proper control parameter, we identify the onset of structures with high stickiness that give rise to an effective barrier near the broken shearless curve. Moreover, we show how these stickiness structures, and the concomitant transport reduction in the shearless region, are determined by a homoclinic tangle of the remaining dominant twin island chains. We use the finite-time rotation number, a recently proposed diagnostic, to identify transport barriers that separate different regions of stickiness. The identified barriers are comparable to those obtained by using finite-time Lyapunov exponents.FAPESPCNPqCAPESMCT/CNEN (Rede Nacional de Fusao)Fundacao AraucariaUS Department of Energy DE-FG05-80ET-53088Physic

Torsion-Adding and Asymptotic Winding Number for Periodic Window Sequences

In parameter space of nonlinear dynamical systems, windows of periodic states are aligned following routes of period-adding configuring periodic window sequences. In state space of driven nonlinear oscillators, we determine the torsion associated with the periodic states and identify regions of uniform torsion in the window sequences. Moreover, we find that the measured of torsion differs by a constant between successive windows in periodic window sequences. We call this phenomenon as torsion-adding. Finally, combining the torsion and the period adding rules, we deduce a general rule to obtain the asymptotic winding number in the accumulation limit of such periodic window sequences

Alternate islands of multiple isochronous chains in wave-particle interactions

We analyze the dynamics of a relativistic particle moving in a uniform magnetic field and perturbed by a standing electrostatic wave. We show that a pulsed wave produces an infinite number of perturbative terms with the same winding number, which may generate islands in the same region of phase space. As a consequence, the number of isochronous island chains varies as a function of the wave parameters. We observe that in all the resonances, the number of chains is related to the amplitude of the various resonant terms. We determine analytically the position of the periodic points and the number of island chains as a function of the wave number and wave period. Such information is very important when one is concerned with regular particle acceleration, since it is necessary to adjust the initial conditions of the particle to obtain the maximum acceleration.Comment: Submitte

Alterations in brain connectivity due to plasticity and synaptic delay

Brain plasticity refers to brain's ability to change neuronal connections, as a result of environmental stimuli, new experiences, or damage. In this work, we study the effects of the synaptic delay on both the coupling strengths and synchronisation in a neuronal network with synaptic plasticity. We build a network of Hodgkin-Huxley neurons, where the plasticity is given by the Hebbian rules. We verify that without time delay the excitatory synapses became stronger from the high frequency to low frequency neurons and the inhibitory synapses increases in the opposite way, when the delay is increased the network presents a non-trivial topology. Regarding the synchronisation, only for small values of the synaptic delay this phenomenon is observed

Knowledge and attitude towards the gradual reduction of salt in bread – an online survey

Aim: Assess knowledge and attitude towards the gradual reduction of salt in bread and the potential impact on eating habits of children (6-18 years) and their families, as part as a Health Impact Assessment pilot study.N/

Finite Temperature Phase Diagram of Quasi-Two-Dimensional Imbalanced Fermi Gases Beyond Mean-Field

We investigate the superfluid transition temperature of quasi-two-dimensional imbalanced Fermi gases beyond the mean-field approximation, through the second-order (or induced) interaction effects. For a balanced Fermi system the transition temperature is suppressed by a factor $\approx 2.72$. For imbalanced Fermi systems, the polarization and transition temperature of the tricritical point are significantly reduced as the two-body binding energy $|\epsilon_B|$ increases.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Shearless bifurcations in particle transport for reversed shear tokamaks

Some internal transport barriers in tokamaks have been related to the vicinity of extrema of the plasma equilibrium profiles. This effect is numerically investigated by considering the guiding-center trajectories of plasma particles undergoing ExB drift motion, considering that the electric field has a stationary nonmonotonic radial profile and an electrostatic fluctuation. In addition, the equilibrium configuration has a nonmonotonic safety factor profile. The numerical integration of the equations of motion yields a symplectic map with shearless barriers. By changing the parameters of the safety factor profile, the appearance, and breakup of these shearless curves are observed. The successive shearless curves breakup and recovering is explained using concepts from bifurcation theory. We also present bifurcation sequences associated to the creation of multiple shearless curves. Physical consequences of scenarios with multiple shearless curves are discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures. Replacement improved the tex