421 research outputs found
Onset of cavity deformation upon subsonic motion of a projectile in a fluid complex plasma
We study deformation of a cavity around a large projectile moving with
subsonic velocity in the cloud of small dust particles. To solve this problem,
we employ the Navier--Stokes equation for a compressible fluid with due regard
for friction between dust particles and atoms of neutral gas. The solutions
shows that due to friction, the pressure of dust cloud at the boundary of the
cavity behind the projectile can become negative, which entails formation of a
microscopic void free from dust particles -- the cavity deformation.
Corresponding threshold velocity is calculated, which is found to decrease with
increasing cavity size. Measurement of such velocity makes it possible to
estimate the static pressure inside the dust cloud.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure
Current-voltage characteristic of narrow superconducting wires: bifurcation phenomena
The current-voltage characteristics of long and narrow superconducting
channels are investigated using the time-dependent Ginzburg-Landau equations
for complex order parameter. We found out that the steps in the current voltage
characteristic can be associated with bifurcations of either steady or
oscillatory solution. We revealed typical instabilities which induced the
singularities in current-voltage characteristics, and analytically estimated
period of oscillations and average voltage in the vicinity of the critical
currents. Our results show that these bifurcations can substantially complicate
dynamics of the order parameter and eventually lead to appearance of such
phenomena as multistability and chaos. The discussed bifurcation phenomena
sheds a light on some recent experimental findings
Josephson junction between anisotropic superconductors
The sin-Gordon equation for Josephson junctions with arbitrary misaligned
anisotropic banks is derived. As an application, the problem of Josephson
vortices at twin planes of a YBCO-like material is considered. It is shown that
for an arbitrary orientation of these vortices relative to the crystal axes of
the banks, the junctions should experience a mechanical torque which is
evaluated. This torque and its angular dependence may, in principle, be
measured in small fields, since the flux penetration into twinned crystals
begins with nucleation of Josephson vortices at twin planes.Comment: 6 page
Measurement of the speed of sound by observation of the Mach cones in a complex plasma under microgravity conditions
We report the first observation of the Mach cones excited by a larger
microparticle (projectile) moving through a cloud of smaller microparticles
(dust) in a complex plasma with neon as a buffer gas under microgravity
conditions. A collective motion of the dust particles occurs as propagation of
the contact discontinuity. The corresponding speed of sound was measured by a
special method of the Mach cone visualization. The measurement results are
incompatible with the theory of ion acoustic waves. The estimate for the
pressure in a strongly coupled Coulomb system and a scaling law for the complex
plasma make it possible to derive an evaluation for the speed of sound, which
is in a reasonable agreement with the experiments in complex plasmas.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl
Metastability of (d+n)-dimensional elastic manifolds
We investigate the depinning of a massive elastic manifold with internal
dimensions, embedded in a -dimensional space, and subject to an
isotropic pinning potential The tunneling process is
driven by a small external force We find the zero temperature and
high temperature instantons and show that for the case the
problem exhibits a sharp transition from quantum to classical behavior: At low
temperatures the Euclidean action is constant up to exponentially
small corrections, while for The results are universal and do not depend on the detailed shape
of the trapping potential . Possible applications of the problem to
the depinning of vortices in high- superconductors and nucleation in
-dimensional phase transitions are discussed. In addition, we determine the
high-temperature asymptotics of the preexponential factor for the
-dimensional problem.Comment: RevTeX, 10 pages, 3 figures inserte
Vertical pairing of identical particles suspended in the plasma sheath
It is shown experimentally that vertical pairing of two identical
microspheres suspended in the sheath of a radio-frequency (rf) discharge at low
gas pressures (a few Pa), appears at a well defined instability threshold of
the rf power. The transition is reversible, but with significant hysteresis on
the second stage. A simple model, which uses measured microsphere resonance
frequencies and takes into account besides Coulomb interaction between
negatively charged microspheres also their interaction with positive ion wake
charges, seems to explain the instability threshold quite well.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures. to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, May 14th (2001
Low-energy fusion caused by an interference
Fusion of two deuterons of room temperature energy is studied. The nuclei are
in vacuum with no connection to any external source (electric or magnetic
field, illumination, surrounding matter, traps, etc.) which may accelerate
them. The energy of the two nuclei is conserved and remains small during the
motion through the Coulomb barrier. The penetration through this barrier, which
is the main obstacle for low-energy fusion, strongly depends on a form of the
incident flux on the Coulomb center at large distances from it. In contrast to
the usual scattering, the incident wave is not a single plane wave but the
certain superposition of plane waves of the same energy and various directions,
for example, a convergent conical wave. As a result of interference, the wave
function close to the Coulomb center is determined by a cusp caustic which is
probed by de Broglie waves. The particle flux gets away from the cusp and moves
to the Coulomb center providing a not small probability of fusion (cusp driven
tunneling). Getting away from a caustic cusp also occurs in optics and
acoustics
Euclidean resonance in a magnetic field
An analogy between Wigner resonant tunneling and tunneling across a static
potential barrier in a static magnetic field is found. Whereas in the process
of Wigner tunneling an electron encounters a classically allowed regions, where
a discrete energy level coincides with its energy, in the magnetic field a
potential barrier is a constant in the direction of tunneling. Along the
tunneling path the certain regions are formed, where, in the classical
language, the kinetic energy of the motion perpendicular to tunneling is
negative. These regions play a role of potential wells, where a discrete energy
level can coincide with the electron energy. Such phenomenon, which occurs at
the certain magnetic field, is called Euclidean resonance and substantially
depends on a shape of potential forces in the direction perpendicular to
tunneling. Under conditions of Euclidean resonance a long distance underbarrier
motion is possible.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Tunneling in a magnetic field
Quantum tunneling between two potential wells in a magnetic field can be
strongly increased when the potential barrier varies in the direction
perpendicular to the line connecting the two wells and remains constant along
this line. An oscillatory structure of the wave function is formed in the
direction joining the wells. The resulting motion can be coherent like motion
in a conventional narrow band periodic structure. A particle penetrates the
barrier over a long distance which strongly contrasts to WKB-like tunneling.
The whole problem is stationary. A not very small tunneling transparency can be
set between two quantum wires with real physical parameters and separated by a
long potential barrier. The phenomenon is connected to Euclidean resonance.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Fluctuations and Intrinsic Pinning in Layered Superconductors
A flux liquid can condense into a smectic crystal in a pure layered
superconductors with the magnetic field oriented nearly parallel to the layers.
If the smectic order is commensurate with the layering, this crystal is {\sl
stable} to point disorder. By tilting and adjusting the magnitude of the
applied field, both incommensurate and tilted smectic and crystalline phases
are found. We discuss transport near the second order smectic freezing
transition, and show that permeation modes lead to a small non--zero
resistivity and large but finite tilt modulus in the smectic crystal.Comment: 4 pages + 1 style file + 1 figure (as uufile) appended, REVTEX 3.
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