914 research outputs found
Non-equilibrium ionization around clouds evaporating in the interstellar medium
It is of prime importance for global models of the interstellar medium to know whether dense clouds do or do not evaporate in the hot coronal gas. The rate of mass exchanges between phases depends very much on that. McKee and Ostriker's model, for instance, assumes that evaporation is important enough to control the expansion of supernova remnants, and that mass loss obeys the law derived by Cowie and McKee. In fact, the geometry of the magnetic field is nearly unknown, and it might totally inhibit evaporation, if the clouds are not regularly connected to the hot gas. Up to now, the only test of the theory is the U.V. observation (by the Copernicus and IUE satellites) of absorption lines of ions such as OVI or NV, that exist at temperatures of a few 100,000 K typical of transition layers around evaporating clouds. Other means of testing the theory are discussed
Can be gravitational waves markers for an extra-dimension?
The main issue of the present letter is to fix specific features (which turn
out being independent of extradimension size) of gravitational waves generated
before a dimensional compactification process. Valuable is the possibility to
detect our prediction from gravitational wave experiment without high energy
laboratory investigation. In particular we show how gravitational waves can
bring information on the number of Universe dimensions. Within the framework of
Kaluza-Klein hypotheses, a different morphology arises between waves generated
before than the compactification process settled down and ordinary
4-dimensional waves. In the former case the scalar and tensor degrees of
freedom can not be resolved. As a consequence if were detected gravitational
waves having the feature here predicted (anomalous polarization amplitudes),
then they would be reliable markers for the existence of an extra dimension.Comment: 5 pages, two figure, to appear on Int. Journ. Mod. Phys.
A novel approach to ion-ion Langevin self-collisions in particle-in-cell modules applied to hybrid MHD codes
In order to have a better closure for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations,
a common approach is to obtain the ion fluid pressure tensor by directly computing the moments of an ion distribution function, obtained by a Particle-in-cell (PIC) solver of the Vlasov or Boltzmann equation. This is the so-called hybrid approach. Long MHD simulations are required for problems such as investigating the properties of the sawtooth cycle. In such long hybrid simulations, collisions are required to relax the distribution function after violent MHD events, and to obtain the self-consistent neoclassical transport. In this paper, we present a new approach to ion self-collisions, based on temperature- and velocity-shifted Maxwellian distributions. It is shown that the approach emulates the effect of the background reaction, without the need to explicitly implement it. arbitrariness in the choice of the closest Maxwellian is removed. The model compares very well with binary collision Monte-Carlo simulations. The practical implementation as a Fokker-Planck module in a hybrid kinetic/MHD simulation code is discussed. This requires an additional manipulation in order to conserve energy and momentum
First principles fluid modelling of magnetic island stabilization by ECCD
International audienceTearing modes are MHD instabilities that reduce the performances of fusion devices. They can however be controlled and suppressed using Electron Cyclotron Current Drive (ECCD) as demonstrated in various tokamaks. In this work, simulations of islands stabilization by ECCD-driven current have been carried out using the toroidal nonlinear 3D full MHD code XTOR-2F, in which a current-source term modeling the ECCD has been implemented. The efficiency parameter is computed and its variations with respect to source width and location are computed. The influence of parameters such as current intensity, source width and position with respect to the island is evaluated and compared to the Modified Rutherford Equation. We retrieve a good agreement between the simulations and the analytical predictions concerning the variations of control efficiency with source width and position. We also show that the 3D nature of the current source term can lead to the onset of an island if the source term is precisely applied on a rational surface. We report the observation of a flip phenomenon in which the O-and X-Points of the island rapidly switch their position in order for the island to take advantage of the current drive to grow
MHD in von Kármán swirling flows, development and first run of the sodium experiment
URL: http://www-spht.cea.fr/articles/s01/004 MHD dans les écoulements de von Kármán | Collaboration VKSNATO Science Series II 26, 35-50 (2001). NATO Advanced Research Workshop, Dynamo and Dynamics, A Mathematical ChallengeWe describe the motivations, development and first run of the Von Kármán Sodium (VKS) experiment built to study high Reynolds number magnetohydrodynamics and applications to the dynamo effect. The flow is optimized using water experiments at scale 1/2 and kinematic dynamo simulations. In VKS run1, induction measurements are made in the presence of an externally applied field. Results are reported concerning the geometry of the induced field and its fluctuations in time
Gravitational theory without the cosmological constant problem, symmetries of space-filling branes and higher dimensions
We showed that the principle of nongravitating vacuum energy, when formulated
in the first order formalism, solves the cosmological constant problem. The
most appealing formulation of the theory displays a local symmetry associated
with the arbitrariness of the measure of integration. This can be motivated by
thinking of this theory as a direct coupling of physical degrees of freedom
with a "space - filling brane" and in this case such local symmetry is related
to space-filling brane gauge invariance. The model is formulated in the first
order formalism using the metric and the connection as independent dynamical
variables. An additional symmetry (Einstein - Kaufman symmetry) allows to
eliminate the torsion which appears due to the introduction of the new measure
of integration. The most successful model that implements these ideas is
realized in a six or higher dimensional space-time. The compactification of
extra dimensions into a sphere gives the possibility of generating scalar
masses and potentials, gauge fields and fermionic masses. It turns out that
remaining four dimensional space-time must have effective zero cosmological
constant.Comment: 26 page
Gauge theories as a geometrical issue of a Kaluza-Klein framework
We present a geometrical unification theory in a Kaluza-Klein approach that
achieve the geometrization of a generic gauge theory bosonic component.
We show how it is possible to derive the gauge charge conservation from the
invariance of the model under extra-dimensional translations and to geometrize
gauge connections for spinors, thus we can introduce the matter just by free
spinorial fields. Then, we present the applications to i)a pentadimensional
manifold , so reproducing the original Kaluza-Klein theory,
unless some extensions related to the rule of the scalar field contained in the
metric and the introduction of matter by spinors with a phase dependence from
the fifth coordinate, ii)a seven-dimensional manifold , in which we geometrize the electro-weak model by
introducing two spinors for any leptonic family and quark generation and a
scalar field with two components with opposite hypercharge, responsible of
spontaneous symmetry breaking.Comment: 37 pages, no figure
Exact expression for the diffusion propagator in a family of time-dependent anharmonic potentials
We have obtained the exact expression of the diffusion propagator in the
time-dependent anharmonic potential . The
underlying Euclidean metric of the problem allows us to obtain analytical
solutions for a whole family of the elastic parameter a(t), exploiting the
relation between the path integral representation of the short time propagator
and the modified Bessel functions. We have also analyzed the conditions for the
appearance of a non-zero flow of particles through the infinite barrier located
at the origin (b<0).Comment: RevTex, 19 pgs. Accepted in Physical Review
Oval Domes: History, Geometry and Mechanics
An oval dome may be defined as a dome whose plan or profile (or both) has an oval form. The word Aoval@ comes from the latin Aovum@, egg. Then, an oval dome has an egg-shaped geometry. The first buildings with oval plans were built without a predetermined form, just trying to close an space in the most economical form. Eventually, the geometry was defined by using arcs of circle with common tangents in the points of change of curvature. Later the oval acquired a more regular form with two axis of symmetry. Therefore, an “oval” may be defined as an egg-shaped form, doubly symmetric, constructed with arcs of circle; an oval needs a minimum of four centres, but it is possible also to build polycentric ovals.
The above definition corresponds with the origin and the use of oval forms in building and may be applied without problem until, say, the XVIIIth century. Since then, the teaching of conics in the elementary courses of geometry made the cultivated people to define the oval as an approximation to the ellipse, an “imperfect ellipse”: an oval was, then, a curve formed with arcs of circles which tries to approximate to the ellipse of the same axes. As we shall see, the ellipse has very rarely been used in building.
Finally, in modern geometrical textbooks an oval is defined as a smooth closed convex curve, a more general definition which embraces the two previous, but which is of no particular use in the study of the employment of oval forms in building.
The present paper contains the following parts: 1) an outline the origin and application of the oval in historical architecture; 2) a discussion of the spatial geometry of oval domes, i. e., the different methods employed to trace them; 3) a brief exposition of the mechanics of oval arches and domes; and 4) a final discussion of the role of Geometry in oval arch and dome design
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