Collective modes and correlations in one-component plasmas

The static and time-dependent potential and surface charge correlations in a plasma with a boundary are computed for different shapes of the boundary. The case of a spheroidal or spherical one-component plasma is studied in detail because experimental results are available for such systems. Also, since there is some knowlegde both experimental and theoretical about the electrostatic collective modes of these plasmas, the time-dependent correlations are computed using a method involving these modes.Comment: 20 pages, plain TeX, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Degenerate mixing of plasma waves on cold, magnetized single-species plasmas

In the cold-fluid dispersion relation ω = ω_p/[1+(k_⊥/k_z)^(2]1/2) for Trivelpiece-Gould waves on an infinitely long magnetized plasma cylinder, the transverse and axial wavenumbers appear only in the combination k_⊥/k_z. As a result, for any frequency ω<ω_p, there are infinitely many degenerate waves, all having the same value of k_⊥/k_z. On a cold finite-length plasma column, these degenerate waves reflect into one another at the ends; thus, each standing-wave normal mode of the bounded plasma is a mixture of many degenerate waves, not a single standing wave as is often assumed. A striking feature of the many-wave modes is that the short-wavelength waves often add constructively along resonance cones given by dz/dr = ±(ω_p^2/ω^2-1)^(1/2). Also, the presence of short wavelengths in the admixture for a predominantly long-wavelength mode enhances the viscous damping beyond what the single-wave approximation would predict. Here, numerical solutions are obtained for modes of a cylindrical plasma column with rounded ends. Exploiting the fact that the modes of a spheroidal plasma are known analytically (the Dubin modes), a perturbation analysis is used to investigate the mixing of low-order, nearly degenerate Dubin modes caused by small deformations of a plasma spheroid

Thermally excited fluctuations as a pure electron plasma temperature diagnostic

Thermally excited charge fluctuations in pure electron plasma columns provide a diagnostic for the plasma temperature over a range of 0.05 0.2, so that Landau damping is dominant and well modeled by theory. The third method compares the total (frequency-integrated) number delta N of fluctuating image charges on the wall antenna to a simple thermodynamic calculation. This method works when lambda(D)/R-p > 0.2

Thermally excited Trivelpiece–Gould modes as a pure electron plasma temperature diagnostic

Thermally excited plasma modes are observed in trapped, near-thermal-equilibrium pure electron plasmas over a temperature range of 0.05<kT<5 eV. The modes are excited and damped by thermal fluctuations in both the plasma and the receiver electronics. The thermal emission spectra together with a plasma-antenna coupling coefficient calibration uniquely determine the plasma (and load) temperature. This calibration is obtained from the mode spectra themselves when the receiver-generated noise absorption is measurable; or from separate wave reflection/absorption measurements; or from kinetic theory. This nondestructive temperature diagnostic agrees well with standard diagnostics, and may be useful for expensive species such as antimatter

Phase diagram of Yukawa systems near the one‐component‐plasma limit revisited

Transition inverse temperatures (or Γ values) at the fluid–solid phase boundary of Yukawa systems near the one‐component‐plasma (OCP) limit have been evaluated by molecular dynamics simulations. These values are systematically smaller than those obtained in an earlier study by Farouki and Hamaguchi [J. Chem. Phys. 101, 9885 (1994)]. The discrepancy is attributed to the fact that, in the earlier study, the harmonic entropy constants were approximated by that of the OCP, whereas the new results are based on more accurate harmonic entropy constants obtained from lattice‐dynamics calculations. The new molecular dynamics simulations also confirm that the bcc–fcc phase transition curve is in good agreement with that of the quasiharmonic theory in the regime κ≤1.4, where κ is the ratio of the Wigner–Seitz radius to the Debye length. Examples of Yukawa systems include dusty plasmas and colloidal suspensions. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/69874/2/JCPSA6-105-17-7641-1.pd

Decoherence in Ion Trap Quantum Computers

The {\it intrinsic} decoherence from vibrational coupling of the ions in the Cirac-Zoller quantum computer [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 74}, 4091 (1995)] is considered. Starting from a state in which the vibrational modes are at a temperature $T$, and each ion is in a superposition of an excited and a ground state, an adiabatic approximation is used to find the inclusive probability $P(t)$ for the ions to evolve as they would without the vibrations, and for the vibrational modes to evolve into any final state. An analytic form is found for $P(t)$ at $T=0$, and the decoherence time is found for all $T$. The decoherence is found to be quite small, even for 1000 ions.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, uses revte

Slow relaxation in the two dimensional electron plasma under the strong magnetic field

We study slow relaxation processes in the point vortex model for the two-dimensional pure electron plasma under the strong magnetic field. By numerical simulations, it is shown that, from an initial state, the system undergoes the fast relaxation to a quasi-stationary state, and then goes through the slow relaxation to reach a final state. From analysis of simulation data, we find (i) the time scale of the slow relaxation increases linearly to the number of electrons if it is measured by the unit of the bulk rotation time, (ii) during the slow relaxation process, each electron undergoes an superdiffusive motion, and (iii) the superdiffusive motion can be regarded as the Levy flight, whose step size distribution is of the power law. The time scale that each electron diffuses over the system size turns out to be much shorter than that of the slow relaxation, which suggests that the correlation among the superdiffusive trajectories is important in the slow relaxation process.Comment: 11pages, 19 figures. Submitted to J. Phys. Soc. Jp

Perfectly Translating Lattices on a Cylinder

We perform molecular dynamics simulations on an interacting electron gas confined to a cylindrical surface and subject to a radial magnetic field and the field of the positive background. In order to study the system at lowest energy states that still carry a current, initial configurations are obtained by a special quenching procedure. We observe the formation of a steady state in which the entire electron-lattice cycles with a common uniform velocity. Certain runs show an intermediate instability leading to lattice rearrangements. A Hall resistance can be defined and depends linearly on the magnetic field with an anomalous coefficient reflecting the manybody contributions peculiar to two dimensions.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure

Evolution of Ultracold, Neutral Plasmas

We present the first large-scale simulations of an ultracold, neutral plasma, produced by photoionization of laser-cooled xenon atoms, from creation to initial expansion, using classical molecular dynamics methods with open boundary conditions. We reproduce many of the experimental findings such as the trapping efficiency of electrons with increased ion number, a minimum electron temperature achieved on approach to the photoionization threshold, and recombination into Rydberg states of anomalously-low principal quantum number. In addition, many of these effects establish themselves very early in the plasma evolution ($\sim$ ns) before present experimental observations begin.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR