141 research outputs found
The various manifestations of collisionless dissipation in wave propagation
The propagation of an electrostatic wave packet inside a collisionless and
initially Maxwellian plasma is always dissipative because of the irreversible
acceleration of the electrons by the wave. Then, in the linear regime, the wave
packet is Landau damped, so that in the reference frame moving at the group
velocity, the wave amplitude decays exponentially with time. In the nonlinear
regime, once phase mixing has occurred and when the electron motion is nearly
adiabatic, the damping rate is strongly reduced compared to the Landau one, so
that the wave amplitude remains nearly constant along the characteristics. Yet,
we show here that the electrons are still globally accelerated by the wave
packet, and, in one dimension, this leads to a non local amplitude dependence
of the group velocity. As a result, a freely propagating wave packet would
shrink, and, therefore, so would its total energy. In more than one dimension,
not only does the magnitude of the group velocity nonlinearly vary, but also
its direction. In the weakly nonlinear regime, when the collisionless damping
rate is still significant compared to its linear value, this leads to an
effective defocussing effect which we quantify, and which we compare to the
self-focussing induced by wave front bowing.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figure
The telltale heart: a non-invasive method to determine the energy expenditure of incubating Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo carbo
We studied the energetics of incubating Great Cormorants Phalacrocorax carbo carbo via heart rate and respirometric measurements performed in captive and free-living animals. We applied a modified heart beat frequency (HR) monitor built for use in human athletics as well as respirometry for measurements in four captive-bred cormorants at Neumuenster Zoo, Germany. The obtained data were used to model the relationship between HR and metabolic rate (MR). The resulting correlations were MR (W kg-0.723) = 4.76 + 0.01HR (bpm) during daytime and MR (W kg-0.723) = 2.33 + 0.03HR (bpm) at night. Furthermore, the heart beat frequencies of 5 free-living, incubating cormorants at the Chausey Islands, France, were measured acoustically using artificial eggs while the activities at the nest were observed via video. HR-MR models established in the captive animals were used to determine the activity-dependent energy expenditure in these free-living cormorants. The Median MR was 5.08 W kg-0.723 at night, 6.06 W kg-0.723 while resting and sleeping during daytime, 6.20 W kg-0.723 during preening, gular flutter and unrest and 6.47 W kg-0.723 during nest building. In resting birds we found a nocturnal reduction in the energy expenditure of 16 %. Our method for measurement of heart beat frequency appears promising as a technique for determination of HR with minimal restraint to the anima
High-energy acceleration phenomena in extreme radiation-plasma interactions
We simulate, using a particle-in-cell code, the chain of acceleration
processes at work during the Compton-based interaction of a dilute electron-ion
plasma with an extreme-intensity, incoherent gamma-ray flux with a photon
density several orders of magnitude above the particle density. The plasma
electrons are initially accelerated in the radiative flux direction through
Compton scattering. In turn, the charge-separation field from the induced
current drives forward the plasma ions to near-relativistic speed and
accelerates backwards the non-scattered electrons to energies easily exceeding
those of the driving photons. The dynamics of those energized electrons is
determined by the interplay of electrostatic acceleration, bulk plasma motion,
inverse Compton scattering and deflections off the mobile magnetic fluctuations
generated by a Weibel-type instability. The latter Fermi-like effect notably
gives rise to a forward-directed suprathermal electron tail. We provide simple
analytical descriptions for most of those phenomena and examine numerically
their sensitivity to the parameters of the problem
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Breakdown of Electrostatic Predictions for the Nonlinear Dispersion Relation of a Stimulated Raman Scattering-Driven Plasma Wave
The kinetic nonlinear dispersion relation, and frequency shift {delta}{omega}{sub srs}, of a plasma wave driven by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) are presented. Our theoretical calculations are fully electromagnetic, and use an adiabatic expression for the electron susceptibility which accounts for the change in phase velocity as the wave grows. When k{lambda}{sub D} {approx}> 0.35 (k being the plasma wave number and {lambda}{sub D} the Debye length), {delta}{omega}{sub srs} is significantly larger than could be inferred by assuming that the wave is freely propagating. Our theory is in excellent agreement with 1-D Eulerian Vlasov-Maxwell simulations when 0.3 {le} k{lambda}{sub D} {le} 0.58, and allows discussion of previously proposed mechanisms for Raman saturation. In particular, we find that no 'loss of resonance' of the plasma wave would limit the Raman growth rate, and that saturation through a phase detuning between the plasma wave and the laser drive is mitigated by wave number shifts
Assessing the validity of the accelerometry technique for estimating the energy expenditure of diving double-crested cormorants Phalacrocorax auritus
Over the past few years, acceleration-data loggers have been used to provide calibrated proxies of energy expenditure: The accelerometry technique. Relationships between rate of oxygen consumption and a derivation of acceleration data termed "overall dynamic body acceleration" (ODBA) have now been generated for a range of species, including birds, mammals, and amphibians. In this study, we examine the utility of the accelerometry technique for estimating the energy expended by double-crested cormorants Phalacrocorax auritus to undertake a dive cycle (i.e., a dive and the subsequent pause at the surface before another dive). The results show that ODBA does not calibrate with energy expenditure in diving cormorants, where energy expenditure is calculated from measures of oxygen uptake during surface periods between dives. The possible explanations include reasons why energy expenditure may not relate to ODBA but also reasons why oxygen uptake between dives may not accurately represent energy expenditure during a dive cycle
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