The role of total wind in the vertical dynamics of ions in the E-region at high latitudes

International audienceA seasonally dependent total neutral wind model obtained from experimental data is used to evaluate the diurnal variation of the vertical ion velocity in the E-region at a high-latitude location (Tromsø), for each season, in the presence of an electric field with a typical diurnal variation for quiet auroral days. The diurnal variation and spatial locations of the vertical convergence of ions are analyzed and the effect of the total wind on the occurrence of sporadic E-layers is inferred. The results show that the structure of the wind is an important factor in controlling the vertical velocities of ions, favoring or hindering the sporadic E-layer formation. The ion convergence conditions are improved when the permanent wind is removed, which suggests that sporadic E-layers occur when the mean wind has small values, thus allowing the electric field and/or the semidiurnal tide to control the ion dynamics. We conclude that for quiet days the formation of the sporadic layers is initiated by the electric field, while their evolution and dynamics is controlled by the wind. We also find that the seasonal variation of the Es layers cannot be related to the seasonally dependent wind shear. Although we focus on sporadic E-layers, our results can be used in the analysis of other processes involving the vertical dynamics of ions in the E-region at high latitudes

Dispersion for the Schr\"odinger Equation on Networks

In this paper we consider the Schr\"odinger equation on a network formed by a tree with the last generation of edges formed by infinite strips. We give an explicit description of the solution of the linear Schr\"odinger equation with constant coefficients. This allows us to prove dispersive estimates, which in turn are useful for solving the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. The proof extends also to the laminar case of positive step-function coefficients having a finite number of discontinuities.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure

Uniqueness results for an ODE related to a generalized Ginzburg-Landau model for liquid crystals

We study a singular nonlinear ordinary differential equation on intervals {[}0, R) with R <= +infinity, motivated by the Ginzburg-Landau models in superconductivity and Landau-de Gennes models in liquid crystals. We prove existence and uniqueness of positive solutions under general assumptions on the nonlinearity. Further uniqueness results for sign-changing solutions are obtained for a physically relevant class of nonlinearities. Moreover, we prove a number of fine qualitative properties of the solution that are important for the study of energetic stability

Vortex Rings in Fast Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensates

When Bose-Eintein condensates are rotated sufficiently fast, a giant vortex phase appears, that is the condensate becomes annular with no vortices in the bulk but a macroscopic phase circulation around the central hole. In a former paper [M. Correggi, N. Rougerie, J. Yngvason, {\it arXiv:1005.0686}] we have studied this phenomenon by minimizing the two dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii energy on the unit disc. In particular we computed an upper bound to the critical speed for the transition to the giant vortex phase. In this paper we confirm that this upper bound is optimal by proving that if the rotation speed is taken slightly below the threshold there are vortices in the condensate. We prove that they gather along a particular circle on which they are evenly distributed. This is done by providing new upper and lower bounds to the GP energy.Comment: to appear in Archive of Rational Mechanics and Analysi

The Transition to a Giant Vortex Phase in a Fast Rotating Bose-Einstein Condensate

We study the Gross-Pitaevskii (GP) energy functional for a fast rotating Bose-Einstein condensate on the unit disc in two dimensions. Writing the coupling parameter as 1 / \eps^2 we consider the asymptotic regime \eps \to 0 with the angular velocity $\Omega$ proportional to (\eps^2|\log\eps|)^{-1} . We prove that if \Omega = \Omega_0 (\eps^2|\log\eps|)^{-1} and $\Omega_0 > 2(3\pi)^{-1}$ then a minimizer of the GP energy functional has no zeros in an annulus at the boundary of the disc that contains the bulk of the mass. The vorticity resides in a complementary `hole' around the center where the density is vanishingly small. Moreover, we prove a lower bound to the ground state energy that matches, up to small errors, the upper bound obtained from an optimal giant vortex trial function, and also that the winding number of a GP minimizer around the disc is in accord with the phase of this trial function.Comment: 52 pages, PDFLaTex. Minor corrections, sign convention modified. To be published in Commun. Math. Phy