28 research outputs found
Electrically Enhanced Free Dendrite Growth in Polar and Non-polar Systems
We describe the electrically enhanced growth of needle crystals from the
vapor phase, for which there exists a morphological instability above a
threshold applied potential. Our improved theoretical treatment of this
phenomenon shows that the instability is present in both polar and non-polar
systems, and we provide an extension of solvability theory to include
electrical effects. We present extensive experimental data for ice needle
growth above the electrical threshold, where at C high-velocity
shape-preserving growth is observed. These data indicate that the needle tip
assumes an effective radius} which is nearly independent of both
supersaturation and the applied potential. The small scale of and
its response to chemical additives suggest that the needle growth rate is being
limited primarily by structural instabilities, possibly related to surface
melting. We also demonstrate experimentally that non-polar systems exhibit this
same electrically induced morphological instability
Fourier Analysis of Gapped Time Series: Improved Estimates of Solar and Stellar Oscillation Parameters
Quantitative helio- and asteroseismology require very precise measurements of
the frequencies, amplitudes, and lifetimes of the global modes of stellar
oscillation. It is common knowledge that the precision of these measurements
depends on the total length (T), quality, and completeness of the observations.
Except in a few simple cases, the effect of gaps in the data on measurement
precision is poorly understood, in particular in Fourier space where the
convolution of the observable with the observation window introduces
correlations between different frequencies. Here we describe and implement a
rather general method to retrieve maximum likelihood estimates of the
oscillation parameters, taking into account the proper statistics of the
observations. Our fitting method applies in complex Fourier space and exploits
the phase information. We consider both solar-like stochastic oscillations and
long-lived harmonic oscillations, plus random noise. Using numerical
simulations, we demonstrate the existence of cases for which our improved
fitting method is less biased and has a greater precision than when the
frequency correlations are ignored. This is especially true of low
signal-to-noise solar-like oscillations. For example, we discuss a case where
the precision on the mode frequency estimate is increased by a factor of five,
for a duty cycle of 15%. In the case of long-lived sinusoidal oscillations, a
proper treatment of the frequency correlations does not provide any significant
improvement; nevertheless we confirm that the mode frequency can be measured
from gapped data at a much better precision than the 1/T Rayleigh resolution.Comment: Accepted for publication in Solar Physics Topical Issue
"Helioseismology, Asteroseismology, and MHD Connections
Coulomb Effect: A Possible Probe for the Evolution of Hadronic Matter
Electromagnetic field produced in high-energy heavy-ion collisions contains
much useful information, because the field can be directly related to the
motion of the matter in the whole stage of the reaction. One can divide the
total electromagnetic field into three parts, i.e., the contributions from the
incident nuclei, non-participating nucleons and charged fluid, the latter
consisting of strongly interacting hadrons or quarks. Parametrizing the
space-time evolution of the charged fluid based on hydrodynamic model, we study
the development of the electromagnetic field which accompanies the high-energy
heavy-ion collisions. We found that the incident nuclei bring a rather strong
electromagnetic field to the interaction region of hadrons or quarks over a few
fm after the collision. On the other hand, the observed charged hadrons'
spectra are mostly affected (Coulomb effect) by the field of the charged fluid.
We compare the result of our model with experimental data and found that the
model reproduces them well. The pion yield ratio pi^-/pi+ at a RHIC energy,
Au+Au 100+100 GeV/nucleon, is also predicted.Comment: 23 pages, RevTex, 19 eps figures, revised versio
Seismology of the Sun : Inference of Thermal, Dynamic and Magnetic Field Structures of the Interior
Recent overwhelming evidences show that the sun strongly influences the
Earth's climate and environment. Moreover existence of life on this Earth
mainly depends upon the sun's energy. Hence, understanding of physics of the
sun, especially the thermal, dynamic and magnetic field structures of its
interior, is very important. Recently, from the ground and space based
observations, it is discovered that sun oscillates near 5 min periodicity in
millions of modes. This discovery heralded a new era in solar physics and a
separate branch called helioseismology or seismology of the sun has started.
Before the advent of helioseismology, sun's thermal structure of the interior
was understood from the evolutionary solution of stellar structure equations
that mimicked the present age, mass and radius of the sun. Whereas solution of
MHD equations yielded internal dynamics and magnetic field structure of the
sun's interior. In this presentation, I review the thermal, dynamic and
magnetic field structures of the sun's interior as inferred by the
helioseismology.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the meeting "3rd International
Conference on Current Developments in Atomic, Molecular, Optical and Nano
Physics with Applications", December 14-16, 2011, New Delhi, Indi
Stochastic excitation of acoustic modes in stars
For more than ten years, solar-like oscillations have been detected and
frequencies measured for a growing number of stars with various characteristics
(e.g. different evolutionary stages, effective temperatures, gravities, metal
abundances ...).
Excitation of such oscillations is attributed to turbulent convection and
takes place in the uppermost part of the convective envelope. Since the
pioneering work of Goldreich & Keely (1977), more sophisticated theoretical
models of stochastic excitation were developed, which differ from each other
both by the way turbulent convection is modeled and by the assumed sources of
excitation. We review here these different models and their underlying
approximations and assumptions.
We emphasize how the computed mode excitation rates crucially depend on the
way turbulent convection is described but also on the stratification and the
metal abundance of the upper layers of the star. In turn we will show how the
seismic measurements collected so far allow us to infer properties of turbulent
convection in stars.Comment: Notes associated with a lecture given during the fall school
organized by the CNRS and held in St-Flour (France) 20-24 October 2008 ; 39
pages ; 11 figure
Perspectives in Global Helioseismology, and the Road Ahead
We review the impact of global helioseismology on key questions concerning
the internal structure and dynamics of the Sun, and consider the exciting
challenges the field faces as it enters a fourth decade of science
exploitation. We do so with an eye on the past, looking at the perspectives
global helioseismology offered in its earlier phases, in particular the
mid-to-late 1970s and the 1980s. We look at how modern, higher-quality, longer
datasets coupled with new developments in analysis, have altered, refined, and
changed some of those perspectives, and opened others that were not previously
available for study. We finish by discussing outstanding challenges and
questions for the field.Comment: Invited review; to appear in Solar Physics (24 pages, 6 figures