39,456 research outputs found
Nonhyperbolic step skew-products: Ergodic approximation
We study transitive step skew-product maps modeled over a complete shift of
, , symbols whose fiber maps are defined on the circle and have
intermingled contracting and expanding regions. These dynamics are genuinely
nonhyperbolic and exhibit simultaneously ergodic measures with positive,
negative, and zero exponents.
We introduce a set of axioms for the fiber maps and study the dynamics of the
resulting skew-product. These axioms turn out to capture the key mechanisms of
the dynamics of nonhyperbolic robustly transitive maps with compact central
leaves.
Focusing on the nonhyperbolic ergodic measures (with zero fiber exponent) of
these systems, we prove that such measures are approximated in the weak
topology and in entropy by hyperbolic ones. We also prove that they are in the
intersection of the convex hulls of the measures with positive fiber exponent
and with negative fiber exponent. Our methods also allow us to perturb
hyperbolic measures. We can perturb a measure with negative exponent directly
to a measure with positive exponent (and vice-versa), however we lose some
amount of entropy in this process. The loss of entropy is determined by the
difference between the Lyapunov exponents of the measures.Comment: 43 pages, 5 figure
Rayleigh-Taylor instability in partially ionized compressible plasmas: one fluid approach
We study the modification of the classical criterion for the linear onset and
growth rate of the Rayleigh-Taylor instability (RTI) in a partially ionized
(PI) plasma in the one-fluid description, considering a generalized induction
equation. The governing linear equations and appropriate boundary conditions,
including gravitational terms, are derived and applied to the case of the RTI
in a single interface between two partially ionized plasmas. The boundary
conditions lead to an equation for the frequencies in which some of them have
positive complex parts, marking the appearance of the RTI. We study the
ambipolar term alone first, extending the result to the full induction equation
later. We find that the configuration is always unstable because of the
presence of a neutral species. In the classical stability regime the growth
rate is small, since the collisions prevent the neutral fluid to fully develop
the RTI. For parameters in the classical instability regime the growth rate is
lowered, but for the considered theoretical values of the collision frequencies
and diffusion coefficients for solar prominences the differences with the
compressible MHD case are small. We conclude that PI modifies some aspects of
the linear RTI instability, since it takes into account that neutrals do not
feel the stabilizing effect of the magnetic field. For the set of parameters
representative for solar prominences, our model gives the resulting timescale
comparable with observed lifetimes of RTI plumes.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Effect of partial ionization on wave propagation in solar magnetic flux tubes
Observations show that waves are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere and may
play an important role for plasma heating. The study of waves in the solar
corona is usually based on linear ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) for a fully
ionized plasma. However, the plasma in the photosphere and the chromosphere is
only partially ionized. Here we investigate theoretically the impact of partial
ionization on MHD wave propagation in cylindrical flux tubes in the two-fluid
model. We derive the general dispersion relation that takes into account the
effects of neutral-ion collisions and the neutral gas pressure. We take the
neutral-ion collision frequency as an arbitrary parameter. Particular results
for transverse kink modes and slow magnetoacoustic modes are shown. We find
that the wave frequencies only depend on the properties of the ionized fluid
when the neutral-ion collision frequency is much lower that the wave frequency.
For high collision frequencies realistic of the solar atmosphere ions and
neutrals behave as a single fluid with an effective density corresponding to
the sum of densities of both fluids and an effective sound velocity computed as
the average of the sound velocities of ions and neutrals. The MHD wave
frequencies are modified accordingly. The neutral gas pressure can be neglected
when studying transverse kink waves but it has to be taken into account for a
consistent description of slow magnetoacoustic waves. The MHD waves are damped
due to neutral-ion collisions. The damping is most efficient when the wave
frequency and the collision frequency are of the same order of magnitude. For
high collision frequencies slow magnetoacoustic waves are more efficiently
damped than transverse kink waves. In addition, we find the presence of
cut-offs for certain combinations of parameters that cause the waves to become
non-propagating.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Nuclear Activity in Circumnuclear Ring Galaxies
We have analyzed the frequency and properties of the nuclear activity in a
sample of galaxies with circumnuclear rings and spirals (CNRs). This sample was
compared with a control sample of galaxies with very similar global properties
but without circumnuclear rings. We discuss the relevance of the results in
regard to the AGN feeding processes and present the following results: (i)
bright companion galaxies seem not to be important for the appearance of CNRs,
which appear to be more related to intrinsic properties of the host galaxies or
to minor merger processes; (ii) the proportion of strong bars in galaxies with
an AGN and a CNR is somewhat higher than the expected ratio of strongly barred
AGN galaxies from the results of Ho and co-workers; (iii) the incidence of
Seyfert activity coeval with CNRs is clearly larger than the rate expected from
the morphological distribution of the host galaxies; (iv) the rate of Sy 2 to
Sy 1 type galaxies with CNRs is about three times larger than the expected
ratio for galaxies without CNRs and is opposite to that predicted by the
geometric paradigm of the classical unified model for AGNs, although it does
support the hy-pothesis that Sy 2 activity is linked to circumnuclear star
formation. The possible selection effects of the sample are discussed, and we
conclude that the detected trends are strong enough to justify high quality
observations of as large as possible sets of galaxies with circumnuclear rings
and their matched control samples.Comment: Submitted to International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysic
The effects of magnetic-field geometry on longitudinal oscillations of solar prominences: Cross-sectional area variation for thin tubes
Solar prominences are subject to both field-aligned (longitudinal) and
transverse oscillatory motions, as evidenced by an increasing number of
observations. Large-amplitude longitudinal motions provide valuable information
on the geometry of the filament-channel magnetic structure that supports the
cool prominence plasma against gravity. Our pendulum model, in which the
restoring force is the gravity projected along the dipped field lines of the
magnetic structure, best explains these oscillations. However, several factors
can influence the longitudinal oscillations, potentially invalidating the
pendulum model. The aim of this work is to study the influence of large-scale
variations in the magnetic field strength along the field lines, i.e.,
variations of the cross-sectional area along the flux tubes supporting
prominence threads. We studied the normal modes of several flux tube
configurations, using linear perturbation analysis, to assess the influence of
different geometrical parameters on the oscillation properties. We found that
the influence of the symmetric and asymmetric expansion factors on longitudinal
oscillations is small.}{We conclude that the longitudinal oscillations are not
significantly influenced by variations of the cross-section of the flux tubes,
validating the pendulum model in this context.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
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