Mixing across fluid interfaces compressed by convective flow in porous media

We study the mixing in the presence of convective flow in a porous medium. Convection is characterized by the formation of vortices and stagnation points, where the fluid interface is stretched and compressed enhancing mixing. We analyze the behavior of the mixing dynamics in different scenarios using an interface deformation model. We show that the scalar dissipation rate, which is related to the dissolution fluxes, is controlled by interfacial processes, specifically the equilibrium between interface compression and diffusion, which depends on the flow field configuration. We consider different scenarios of increasing complexity. First, we analyze a double-gyre synthetic velocity field. Second, a Rayleigh-B\'enard instability (the Horton-Rogers-Lapwood problem), in which stagnation points are located at a fixed interface. This system experiences a transition from a diffusion controlled mixing to a chaotic convection as the Rayleigh number increases. Finally, a Rayleigh-Taylor instability with a moving interface, in which mixing undergoes three different regimes: diffusive, convection dominated, and convection shutdown. The interface compression model correctly predicts the behavior of the systems. It shows how the dependency of the compression rate on diffusion explains the change in the scaling behavior of the scalar dissipation rate. The model indicates that the interaction between stagnation points and the correlation structure of the velocity field is also responsible for the transition between regimes. We also show the difference in behavior between the dissolution fluxes and the mixing state of the systems. We observe that while the dissolution flux decreases with the Rayleigh number, the system becomes more homogeneous. That is, mixing is enhanced by reducing diffusion. This observation is explained by the effect of the instability patterns

On the stability of field-theoretical regularizations of negative tension branes

Any attempt to regularize a negative tension brane through a bulk scalar requires that this field is a ghost. One can try to improve in this aspect in a number of ways. For instance, it has been suggested to employ a field whose kinetic term is not sign definite, in the hope that the background may be overall stable. We show that this is not the case; the physical perturbations (gravity included) of the system do not extend across the zeros of the kinetic term; hence, all the modes are entirely localized either where the kinetic term is positive, or where it is negative; this second type of modes are ghosts. We show that this conclusion does not depend on the specific choice for the kinetic and potential functions for the bulk scalar.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Improved entropic uncertainty relations and information exclusion relations

The uncertainty principle can be expressed in entropic terms, also taking into account the role of entanglement in reducing uncertainty. The information exclusion principle bounds instead the correlations that can exist between the outcomes of incompatible measurements on one physical system, and a second reference system. We provide a more stringent formulation of both the uncertainty principle and the information exclusion principle, with direct applications for, e.g., the security analysis of quantum key distribution, entanglement estimation, and quantum communication. We also highlight a fundamental distinction between the complementarity of observables in terms of uncertainty and in terms of information.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, v2: close to published versio

A numerical study of detonation diffraction

An investigation of detonation diffraction through an abrupt area change has been carried out via a set of two-dimensional numerical simulations parameterized by the activation energy of the reactant. Our analysis is specialized to a reactive mixture with a perfect gas equation of state and a single-step reaction in the Arrhenius form. Lagrangian particles are injected into the flow as a diagnostic tool for identifying the dominant terms in the equation that describes the temperature rate of change of a fluid element, expressed in the shock-based reference system. When simplified, this equation provides insight into the competition between the energy release rate and the expansion rate behind the diffracting front. The mechanism of spontaneous generation of transverse waves along the diffracting front is carefully analysed and related to the sensitivity of the reaction rate to temperature. We study in detail three highly resolved cases of detonation diffraction that illustrate different types of behaviour, super-, sub- and near-critical diffraction

Gravitational Rutherford scattering and Keplerian orbits for electrically charged bodies in heterotic string theory

Properties of the motion of electrically charged particles in the background of the Gibbons-Maeda-Garfinkle-Horowitz-Strominger (GMGHS) black hole is presented in this paper. Radial and angular motion are studied analytically for different values of the fundamental parameter. Therefore, gravitational Rutherford scattering and Keplerian orbits are analysed in detail. Finally, this paper complements previous work by Fernando for null geodesics (Phys. Rev. D 85: 024033, 2012), Olivares & Villanueva (Eur. Phys. J. C 73: 2659, 2013) and Blaga (Automat. Comp. Appl. Math. 22, 41 (2013); Serb. Astron. J. 190, 41 (2015)) for time-like geodesics.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

Massive neutral particles on heterotic string theory

The motion of massive particles in the background of a charged black hole in heterotic string theory, which is characterized by a parameter $\alpha$, is studied in detail in this paper. Since it is possible to write this space-time in the Einstein frame, we perform a quantitative analysis of the time-like geodesics by means of the standard Lagrange procedure. Thus, we obtain and solve a set of differential equations and then we describe the orbits in terms of the elliptic $\wp$-Weierstra{\ss} function. Also, by making an elementary derivation developed by Cornbleet (Am. J. Phys. \textbf{61} 7, (1993) 650 - 651) we obtain the correction to the angle of advance of perihelion to first order in $\alpha$, and thus, by comparing with Mercury's data we give an estimation for the value of this parameter, which yields an {\it heterotic solar charge} $Q_{\odot}\simeq 0.728\,[\textrm{Km}]= 0.493\, M_{\odot}$. Therefore, in addition to the study on null geodesics performed by Fernando (Phys. Rev. D {\bf 85}, (2012) 024033), this work completes the geodesic structure for this class of space-time.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication on EPJ