3,910 research outputs found
Evolution of the Dark Matter Distribution at the Galactic Center
Annihilation radiation from neutralino dark matter at the Galactic center
(GC) would be greatly enhanced if the dark matter were strongly clustered
around the supermassive black hole (SBH). The existence of a dark-matter
"spike" is made plausible by the observed, steeply-rising stellar density near
the GC SBH. Here the time-dependent equations describing gravitational
interaction of the dark matter particles with the stars are solved. Scattering
of dark matter particles by stars would substantially lower the dark matter
density near the GC SBH over 10^10 yr, due both to kinetic heating, and to
capture of dark matter particles by the SBH. This result suggests that
enhancements in the dark matter density around a SBH would be modest whether or
not the host galaxy had experienced the scouring effects of a binary SBH.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letter
First exit times and residence times for discrete random walks on finite lattices
In this paper, we derive explicit formulas for the surface averaged first
exit time of a discrete random walk on a finite lattice. We consider a wide
class of random walks and lattices, including random walks in a non-trivial
potential landscape. We also compute quantities of interest for modelling
surface reactions and other dynamic processes, such as the residence time in a
subvolume, the joint residence time of several particles and the number of hits
on a reflecting surface.Comment: 19 pages, 2 figure
Information-theoretic determination of ponderomotive forces
From the equilibrium condition applied to an isolated
thermodynamic system of electrically charged particles and the fundamental
equation of thermodynamics () subject
to a new procedure, it is obtained the Lorentz's force together with
non-inertial terms of mechanical nature. Other well known ponderomotive forces,
like the Stern-Gerlach's force and a force term related to the Einstein-de
Haas's effect are also obtained. In addition, a new force term appears,
possibly related to a change in weight when a system of charged particles is
accelerated.Comment: 10 page
Nonlinear theory of resonant slow waves in anisotropic and dispersive plasmas
The solar corona is a typical example of a plasma with strongly anisotropic transport processes. The main dissipative mechanisms in the solar corona acting on slow magnetoacoustic waves are the anisotropic thermal conductivity and viscosity [Ballai et al., Phys. Plasmas 5, 252 (1998)] developed the nonlinear theory of driven slow resonant waves in such a regime. In the present paper the nonlinear behavior of driven magnetohydrodynamic waves in the slow dissipative layer in plasmas with strongly anisotropic viscosity and thermal conductivity is expanded by considering dispersive effects due to Hall currents. The nonlinear governing equation describing the dynamics of nonlinear resonant slow waves is supplemented by a term which describes nonlinear dispersion and is of the same order of magnitude as nonlinearity and dissipation. The connection formulas are found to be similar to their nondispersive counterparts
Temperature Relaxation in Hot Dense Hydrogen
Temperature equilibration of hydrogen is studied for conditions relevant to
inertial confinement fusion. New molecular-dynamics simulations and results
from quantum many-body theory are compared with Landau-Spitzer (LS) predictions
for temperatures T from 50 eV to 5000 eV, and densities with Wigner-Seitz radii
r_s = 1.0 and 0.5. The relaxation is slower than the LS result, even for
temperatures in the keV range, but converges to agreement in the high-T limit.Comment: 4 pages PRL style, two figure
Stochastic Analysis of Dimerization Systems
The process of dimerization, in which two monomers bind to each other and
form a dimer, is common in nature. This process can be modeled using rate
equations, from which the average copy numbers of the reacting monomers and of
the product dimers can then be obtained. However, the rate equations apply only
when these copy numbers are large. In the limit of small copy numbers the
system becomes dominated by fluctuations, which are not accounted for by the
rate equations. In this limit one must use stochastic methods such as direct
integration of the master equation or Monte Carlo simulations. These methods
are computationally intensive and rarely succumb to analytical solutions. Here
we use the recently introduced moment equations which provide a highly
simplified stochastic treatment of the dimerization process. Using this
approach, we obtain an analytical solution for the copy numbers and reaction
rates both under steady state conditions and in the time-dependent case. We
analyze three different dimerization processes: dimerization without
dissociation, dimerization with dissociation and hetero-dimer formation. To
validate the results we compare them with the results obtained from the master
equation in the stochastic limit and with those obtained from the rate
equations in the deterministic limit. Potential applications of the results in
different physical contexts are discussed.Comment: 10 figure
Efficient Stochastic Simulations of Complex Reaction Networks on Surfaces
Surfaces serve as highly efficient catalysts for a vast variety of chemical
reactions. Typically, such surface reactions involve billions of molecules
which diffuse and react over macroscopic areas. Therefore, stochastic
fluctuations are negligible and the reaction rates can be evaluated using rate
equations, which are based on the mean-field approximation. However, in case
that the surface is partitioned into a large number of disconnected microscopic
domains, the number of reactants in each domain becomes small and it strongly
fluctuates. This is, in fact, the situation in the interstellar medium, where
some crucial reactions take place on the surfaces of microscopic dust grains.
In this case rate equations fail and the simulation of surface reactions
requires stochastic methods such as the master equation. However, in the case
of complex reaction networks, the master equation becomes infeasible because
the number of equations proliferates exponentially. To solve this problem, we
introduce a stochastic method based on moment equations. In this method the
number of equations is dramatically reduced to just one equation for each
reactive species and one equation for each reaction. Moreover, the equations
can be easily constructed using a diagrammatic approach. We demonstrate the
method for a set of astrophysically relevant networks of increasing complexity.
It is expected to be applicable in many other contexts in which problems that
exhibit analogous structure appear, such as surface catalysis in nanoscale
systems, aerosol chemistry in stratospheric clouds and genetic networks in
cells
Thermal instability of an expanding dusty plasma with equilibrium cooling
We present an analysis of radiation induced instabilities in an expanding
plasma with considerable presence of dust particles and equilibrium cooling. We
have shown that the equilibrium expansion and cooling destabilize the radiation
condensation modes and the presence of dust particles enhances this effect. We
have examined our results in the context of ionized, dusty-plasma environments
such as those found in planetary nebulae (PNe). We show that due to the
non-static equilibrium and finite equilibrium cooling, small-scale localized
structures formed out of thermal instability, become transient, which agrees
with the observational results. The dust-charge fluctuation is found to heavily
suppress these instabilities, though in view of non-availability of convincing
experimental data, a definitive conclusion could not be made.Comment: 23 pages, 14 figure
- …