30,169 research outputs found
Experimental study of ion heating and acceleration during magnetic reconnection
Ion heating and acceleration has been studied in the well-characterized reconnection layer of the Magnetic Reconnection Experiment [M. Yamada , Phys. Plasmas 4, 1936 (1997)]. Ion temperature in the layer rises substantially during null-helicity reconnection in which reconnecting field lines are anti-parallel. The plasma outflow is sub-Alfvenic due to a downstream back pressure. An ion energy balance calculation based on the data and including classical viscous heating indicates that ions are heated largely via nonclassical mechanisms. The T-i rise is much smaller during co-helicity reconnection in which field lines reconnect obliquely. This is consistent with a slower reconnection rate and a smaller resistivity enhancement over the Spitzer value. These observations show that nonclassical dissipation mechanisms can play an important role both in heating the ions and in facilitating the reconnection process
Recent developments in Vorton Theory
This article provides a concise overview of recent theoretical results
concerning the theory of vortons, which are defined to be (centrifugally
supported) equilibrium configurations of (current carrying) cosmic string
loops. Following a presentation of the results of work on the dynamical
evolution of small circular string loops, whose minimum energy states are the
simplest examples of vortons, recent order of magnitude estimates of the
cosmological density of vortons produced in various kinds of theoretical
scenario are briefly summarised.Comment: 6 pages Latex. Contribution to 1996 Cosmology Meeting, Peyresq,
Franc
Corrections to the Nuclear Axial Vector Coupling in a Nuclear Medium
We examine further corrections to the time component of the axial vector
coupling constant in a nuclear medium. The dominant correction is that of
exchange currents. The corrections we examine make the remaining discrepancy
worse.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Domesticating the Geopolitical: Rethinking Popular Geopolitics through Play
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available on open access from Taylor & Francis via the DOI in this recordIn this paper, we take the emergence of the Her Majesty’s Armed Forces toy range in 2009 as a starting point for thinking through the domestication of geopolitics through practices of play. Empirically, the paper draws upon substantive, innovative and original research undertaken with children in their homes, via a series of play ethnographies; conceptually, the paper draws upon the notion of ‘domestication’ and argues that ideas from these literatures might be usefully adopted as a means of reconfiguring popular geopolitics. In so doing, we argue not only that toys, games and play warrant much greater attention as forms of popular geopolitics, but also that the idea of domestication has much to offer wider conceptions and framings around popular geopolitics itself. The paper thus advances claims for a significant reformulation of popular geopolitics as an encounter between texts, objects, bodies and practices. More specifically, the rich ambiguity of the observed practices emerging from our play-centred ethnographic approach speaks clearly to the need to avoid prioritising the public over the private, cultural producers over audience, and the discursive over the affective in our theorisations of domestication. While we should be attentive to the highly orchestrated practices of anticipating domesticity and the multiple sites of geographical production assembled though these practices, we should not ignore the excess inherent within the incomplete, experimental process of domestication.Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC
Chiral Vortons and Cosmological Constraints on Particle Physics
We investigate the cosmological consequences of particle physics theories
that admit stable loops of current-carrying string - vortons. In particular, we
consider chiral theories where a single fermion zero mode is excited in the
string core, such as those arising in supersymmetric theories with a D-term.
The resulting vortons formed in such theories are expected to be more stable
than their non-chiral cousins. General symmetry breaking schemes are considered
in which strings formed at one symmetry breaking scale become current-carrying
at a subsequent phase transition. The vorton abundance is estimated and
constraints placed on the underlying particle physics theories from
cosmological observations. Our constraints on the chiral theory are
considerably more stringent than the previous estimates for more general
theories.Comment: minor corrections made. This version will appear in PR
The Relativistically Spinning Charged Sphere
When the equatorial spin velocity, , of a charged conducting sphere
approaches , the Lorentz force causes a remarkable rearrangement of the
total charge .
Charge of that sign is confined to a narrow equatorial belt at latitudes while charge of the opposite sign
occupies most of the sphere's surface. The change in field structure is shown
to be a growing contribution of the `magic' electromagnetic field of the
charged Kerr-Newman black hole with Newton's G set to zero. The total charge
within the narrow equatorial belt grows as and tends to
infinity as approaches . The electromagnetic field, Poynting vector,
field angular momentum and field energy are calculated for these
configurations.
Gyromagnetic ratio, g-factor and electromagnetic mass are illustrated in
terms of a 19th Century electron model. Classical models with no spin had the
small classical electron radius a hundredth of the Compton
wavelength, but models with spin take that larger size but are so
relativistically concentrated to the equator that most of their mass is
electromagnetic.
The method of images at inverse points of the sphere is shown to extend to
charges at points with imaginary co-ordinates.Comment: 15 pages, 1figur
The GEMS Approach to Stationary Motions in the Spherically Symmetric Spacetimes
We generalize the work of Deser and Levin on the unified description of
Hawking radiation and Unruh effect to general stationary motions in spherically
symmetric black holes. We have also matched the chemical potential term of the
thermal spectrum of the two sides for uncharged black holes.Comment: Latex file, 12 pages, no figure; v2: typos fixed; v3: minor
corrections, final version published in JHE
Control of gradient-driven instabilities using shear Alfv\'en beat waves
A new technique for manipulation and control of gradient-driven instabilities
through nonlinear interaction with Alfv\'en waves in a laboratory plasma is
presented. A narrow field-aligned density depletion is created in the Large
Plasma Device (LAPD), resulting in coherent unstable fluctuations on the
periphery of the depletion. Two independent kinetic Alfv\'en waves are launched
along the depletion at separate frequencies, creating a nonlinear beat-wave
response at or near the frequency of the original instability. When the
beat-wave has sufficient amplitude, the original unstable mode is suppressed,
leaving only the beat-wave response at a different frequency, generally at
lower amplitude.Comment: Submitted for Publication in Physical Review Letters. Revision 2
reflects changes suggested by referees for PRL submission. One figure
removed, several major changes to another figure, and a number of major and
minor changes to the tex
Unknotting numbers and triple point cancelling numbers of torus-covering knots
It is known that any surface knot can be transformed to an unknotted surface
knot or a surface knot which has a diagram with no triple points by a finite
number of 1-handle additions. The minimum number of such 1-handles is called
the unknotting number or the triple point cancelling number, respectively. In
this paper, we give upper bounds and lower bounds of unknotting numbers and
triple point cancelling numbers of torus-covering knots, which are surface
knots in the form of coverings over the standard torus . Upper bounds are
given by using -charts on presenting torus-covering knots, and lower
bounds are given by using quandle colorings and quandle cocycle invariants.Comment: 26 pages, 14 figures, added Corollary 1.7, to appear in J. Knot
Theory Ramification
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