2,816 research outputs found
A comparison of incompressible limits for resistive plasmas
The constraint of incompressibility is often used to simplify the
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) description of linearized plasma dynamics because it
does not affect the ideal MHD marginal stability point. In this paper two
methods for introducing incompressibility are compared in a cylindrical plasma
model: In the first method, the limit is taken, where
is the ratio of specific heats; in the second, an anisotropic mass
tensor is used, with the component parallel to the magnetic
field taken to vanish, . Use of resistive MHD reveals
the nature of these two limits because the Alfv\'en and slow magnetosonic
continua of ideal MHD are converted to point spectra and moved into the complex
plane. Both limits profoundly change the slow-magnetosonic spectrum, but only
the second limit faithfully reproduces the resistive Alfv\'en spectrum and its
wavemodes. In ideal MHD, the slow magnetosonic continuum degenerates to the
Alfv\'en continuum in the first method, while it is moved to infinity by the
second. The degeneracy in the first is broken by finite resistivity. For
numerical and semi-analytical study of these models, we choose plasma
equilibria which cast light on puzzling aspects of results found in earlier
literature.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
Strong "quantum" chaos in the global ballooning mode spectrum of three-dimensional plasmas
The spectrum of ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) pressure-driven (ballooning)
modes in strongly nonaxisymmetric toroidal systems is difficult to analyze
numerically owing to the singular nature of ideal MHD caused by lack of an
inherent scale length. In this paper, ideal MHD is regularized by using a
-space cutoff, making the ray tracing for the WKB ballooning formalism a
chaotic Hamiltonian billiard problem. The minimum width of the toroidal Fourier
spectrum needed for resolving toroidally localized ballooning modes with a
global eigenvalue code is estimated from the Weyl formula. This
phase-space-volume estimation method is applied to two stellarator cases.Comment: 4 pages typeset, including 2 figures. Paper accepted for publication
in Phys. Rev. Letter
Predictive use of the Maximum Entropy Production principle for Past and Present Climates
In this paper, we show how the MEP hypothesis may be used to build simple
climate models without representing explicitly the energy transport by the
atmosphere. The purpose is twofold. First, we assess the performance of the MEP
hypothesis by comparing a simple model with minimal input data to a complex,
state-of-the-art General Circulation Model. Next, we show how to improve the
realism of MEP climate models by including climate feedbacks, focusing on the
case of the water-vapour feedback. We also discuss the dependence of the
entropy production rate and predicted surface temperature on the resolution of
the model
Wakeful rest alleviates interference-based forgetting
Retroactive interference (RI)—the disruptive influence of events occurring after the formation of a new memory—is one of the primary causes of forgetting. Placing individuals within an environment that postpones interference should, therefore, greatly reduce the likelihood of information being lost from memory. For example, a short period of wakeful rest should diminish interference-based forgetting. To test this hypothesis, participants took part in a foreign language learning activity and were shown English translations of 20 Icelandic words for immediate recall. Half of the participants were then given an 8-min rest before completing a similar or dissimilar interfering distractor task. The other half did not receive a rest until after the distractor task, at which point interference had already taken place. All participants were then asked to translate the Icelandic words for a second time. Results revealed that retention was significantly worse at the second recall test, but being allowed a brief rest before completing the distractor task helped reduce the amount of forgetting. Taking a short, passive break can shield new memories from RI and alleviate forgetting.ERAS Scheme, University of Wolverhampto
Charge density wave and quantum fluctuations in a molecular crystal
We consider an electron-phonon system in two and three dimensions on square,
hexagonal and cubic lattices. The model is a modification of the standard
Holstein model where the optical branch is appropriately curved in order to
have a reflection positive Hamiltonian. Using infrared bounds together with a
recent result on the coexistence of long-range order for electron and phonon
fields, we prove that, at sufficiently low temperatures and sufficiently strong
electron-phonon coupling, there is a Peierls instability towards a period two
charge-density wave at half-filling. Our results take into account the quantum
fluctuations of the elastic field in a rigorous way and are therefore
independent of any adiabatic approximation. The strong coupling and low
temperature regime found here is independent of the strength of the quantum
fluctuations of the elastic field.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figur
Information theory explanation of the fluctuation theorem, maximum entropy production and self-organized criticality in non-equilibrium stationary states
Jaynes' information theory formalism of statistical mechanics is applied to
the stationary states of open, non-equilibrium systems. The key result is the
construction of the probability distribution for the underlying microscopic
phase space trajectories. Three consequences of this result are then derived :
the fluctuation theorem, the principle of maximum entropy production, and the
emergence of self-organized criticality for flux-driven systems in the
slowly-driven limit. The accumulating empirical evidence for these results
lends support to Jaynes' formalism as a common predictive framework for
equilibrium and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics.Comment: 21 pages, 0 figures, minor modifications, version to appear in J.
Phys. A. (2003
Metamorphosis of plasma turbulence-shear flow dynamics through a transcritical bifurcation
The structural properties of an economical model for a confined plasma
turbulence governor are investigated through bifurcation and stability
analyses. A close relationship is demonstrated between the underlying
bifurcation framework of the model and typical behavior associated with low- to
high-confinement transitions such as shear flow stabilization of turbulence and
oscillatory collective action. In particular, the analysis evinces two types of
discontinuous transition that are qualitatively distinct. One involves
classical hysteresis, governed by viscous dissipation. The other is
intrinsically oscillatory and non-hysteretic, and thus provides a model for the
so-called dithering transitions that are frequently observed. This
metamorphosis, or transformation, of the system dynamics is an important late
side-effect of symmetry-breaking, which manifests as an unusual non-symmetric
transcritical bifurcation induced by a significant shear flow drive.Comment: 17 pages, revtex text, 9 figures comprised of 16 postscript files.
Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Impact and detectability of hypothetical CCS offshore seep scenarios as an aid to storage assurance and risk assessment
Carbon Capture and Storage has the potential to make a significant contribution to the mitigation of climate change, however there is a regulatory and societal obligation to demonstrate storage robustness and minimal local environmental impact. This requires an understanding of environmental impact potential and detectability of a range of hypothetical leak scenarios. In the absence of a significant body of real-world release experiments this study collates the results of 86 modelled scenarios of offshore marine releases derived from five different model systems. This synthesis demonstrates a consistent generalised relationship between leak rate, detectability and impact potential of a wide range of hypothetical releases from CO2 storage, which can be described by a power law. For example a leak of the order of 1 T per day should be detectable at, at least, 60 m distance with an environmental impact restricted to less than a 15 m radius of the release point. Small releases are likely to require bottom mounted (lander) monitoring to ensure detection. In summary this work, when coupled with a quantification of leakage risk can deliver a first order environmental impact assessment as an aid to the consenting process. Further this work demonstrates that non-catastrophic release events can be detected at thresholds well below levels which would undermine storage performance or significantly impact the environment, given an appropriate monitoring strategy
Kirchhoff's Loop Law and the maximum entropy production principle
In contrast to the standard derivation of Kirchhoff's loop law, which invokes
electric potential, we show, for the linear planar electric network in a
stationary state at the fixed temperature,that loop law can be derived from the
maximum entropy production principle. This means that the currents in network
branches are distributed in such a way as to achieve the state of maximum
entropy production.Comment: revtex4, 5 pages, 2 figure
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