20,971 research outputs found
Thermodynamic entropy production fluctuation in a two dimensional shear flow model
We investigate fluctuations in the momentum flux across a surface
perpendicular to the velocity gradient in a stationary shear flow maintained by
either thermostated deterministic or by stochastic boundary conditions. In the
deterministic system the Gallavotti-Cohen (GC)relation for the probability of
large deviations, which holds for the phase space volume contraction giving the
Gibbs ensemble entropy production, never seems to hold for the flux which gives
the hydrodynamic entropy production. In the stochastic case the GC relation is
found to hold for the total flux, as predicted by extensions of the GC theorem
but not for the flux across part of the surface. The latter appear to satisfy a
modified GC relation. Similar results are obtained for the heat flux in a
steady state produced by stochastic boundaries at different temperatures.Comment: 9 postscript figure
Dimensional analysis and Rutherford Scattering
Dimensional analysis, and in particular the Buckingham theorem is
widely used in fluid mechanics. In this article we obtain an expression for the
impact parameter from Buckingham's theorem and we compare our result with
Rutherford's original discovery found in the early twentieth century
Bell-Type Quantum Field Theories
In [Phys. Rep. 137, 49 (1986)] John S. Bell proposed how to associate
particle trajectories with a lattice quantum field theory, yielding what can be
regarded as a |Psi|^2-distributed Markov process on the appropriate
configuration space. A similar process can be defined in the continuum, for
more or less any regularized quantum field theory; such processes we call
Bell-type quantum field theories. We describe methods for explicitly
constructing these processes. These concern, in addition to the definition of
the Markov processes, the efficient calculation of jump rates, how to obtain
the process from the processes corresponding to the free and interaction
Hamiltonian alone, and how to obtain the free process from the free Hamiltonian
or, alternatively, from the one-particle process by a construction analogous to
"second quantization." As an example, we consider the process for a second
quantized Dirac field in an external electromagnetic field.Comment: 53 pages LaTeX, no figure
Quench Dynamics in Randomly Generated Extended Quantum Models
We analyze the thermalization properties and the validity of the Eigenstate
Thermalization Hypothesis in a generic class of quantum Hamiltonians where the
quench parameter explicitly breaks a Z_2 symmetry. Natural realizations of such
systems are given by random matrices expressed in a block form where the terms
responsible for the quench dynamics are the off-diagonal blocks. Our analysis
examines both dense and sparse random matrix realizations of the Hamiltonians
and the observables. Sparse random matrices may be associated with local
quantum Hamiltonians and they show a different spread of the observables on the
energy eigenstates with respect to the dense ones. In particular, the numerical
data seems to support the existence of rare states, i.e. states where the
observables take expectation values which are different compared to the typical
ones sampled by the micro-canonical distribution. In the case of sparse random
matrices we also extract the finite size behavior of two different time scales
associated with the thermalization process.Comment: 30 pages, 44 figure
A BPS Interpretation of Shape Invariance
We show that shape invariance appears when a quantum mechanical model is
invariant under a centrally extended superalgebra endowed with an additional
symmetry generator, which we dub the shift operator. The familiar mathematical
and physical results of shape invariance then arise from the BPS structure
associated with this shift operator. The shift operator also ensures that there
is a one-to-one correspondence between the energy levels of such a model and
the energies of the BPS-saturating states. These findings thus provide a more
comprehensive algebraic setting for understanding shape invariance.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, LaTe
Coriolis force in Geophysics: an elementary introduction and examples
We show how Geophysics may illustrate and thus improve classical Mechanics
lectures concerning the study of Coriolis force effects. We are then interested
in atmospheric as well as oceanic phenomena we are familiar with, and are for
that reason of pedagogical and practical interest. Our aim is to model them in
a very simple way to bring out the physical phenomena that are involved.Comment: Accepted for publication in European Journal of Physic
Periodic Modulations in an X-ray Flare from Sagittarius A*
We present the highly significant detection of a quasi-periodic flux
modulation with a period of 22.2 min seen in the X-ray data of the Sgr A* flare
of 2004 August 31. This flaring event, which lasted a total of about three
hours, was detected simultaneously by EPIC on XMM-Newton and the NICMOS
near-infrared camera on the HST. Given the inherent difficulty in, and the lack
of readily available methods for quantifying the probability of a periodic
signal detected over only several cycles in a data set where red noise can be
important, we developed a general method for quantifying the likelihood that
such a modulation is indeed intrinsic to the source and does not arise from
background fluctuations. We here describe this Monte Carlo based method, and
discuss the results obtained by its application to a other XMM-Newton data
sets. Under the simplest hypothesis that we witnessed a transient event that
evolved, peaked and decayed near the marginally stable orbit of the
supermassive black hole, this result implies that for a mass of 3.5 x 10^{6}
Msun, the central object must have an angular momentum corresponding to a spin
parameter of a=0.22.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figures, submitted to ApJ
Intermittency and the passive nature of the magnitude of the magnetic field
It is shown that the statistical properties of the magnitude of the magnetic
field in turbulent electrically conducting media resemble, in the inertial
range, those of passive scalars in fully developed three-dimensional fluid
turbulence. This conclusion, suggested by the data from Advanced Composition
Explorer, is supported by a brief analysis of the appropriate
magnetohydrodynamic equations
The Formation of non-Keplerian Rings of Matter about Compact Stars
The formation of energetic rings of matter in a Kerr spacetime with an
outward pointing acceleration field does not appear to have previously been
noted as a relativistic effect. In this paper we show that such rings are a
gravimagneto effect with no Newtonian analog, and that they do not occur in the
static limit. The energy efficiency of these rings can, depending of the
strength of the acceleration field, be much greater than that of Keplerian
disks. The rings rotate in a direction opposite to that of compact star about
which they form. The size and energy efficiency of the rings depend on the
fundamental parameters of the spacetime as well as the strength the
acceleration field.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, 1 diagram. Figures are included in the text
using the "graphicx" package. If you do not have this package you can use
epsfig, or another package as long as you alter the tex file appropriately.
Alternatively you could print the figures out seperatel
On the zig-zag pilot-wave approach for fermions
We consider a pilot-wave approach for the Dirac theory that was recently
proposed by Colin and Wiseman. In this approach, the particles perform a
zig-zag motion, due to stochastic jumps of their velocity. We respectively
discuss the one-particle theory, the many-particle theory and possible
extensions to quantum field theory. We also discuss the non-relativistic limit
of the one-particle theory. For a single particle, the motion is always
luminal, a feature that persists in the non-relativistic limit. For more than
one particle the motion is in general subluminal.Comment: 23 pages, no figures, LaTe
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