9,392 research outputs found
Transmitted sound field due to an impulsive line acoustic source bounded by a plate followed by a vortex sheet
The propagation of sound due to a line acoustic source in the moving stream across a semiinfinite vortex sheet which trails from a rigid plate is examined in a linear theory for the subsonic case. A solution for the transmitted sound field is obtained with the aid of multiple integral transforms and the Wiener-Hopf technique for both the steady state (time harmonic) and initial value (impulsive source) situations. The contour of inverse transform and hence the decomposition of the functions are determined through causality and radiation conditions. The solution obtained satisfies causality and the full Kutta conditions. The transmitted sound field is composed of two waves in both the stady state and initial value problems. One is the wave scattered from the edge of the plate which is associated with the bow wave and the instability wave. These waves exist in the downstream sectors. The other is the wave transmitted through the vortex sheet which is also associated with the instability wave. Regional divisions of the transmitted sound field are identified
The MHD Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability III: The Role of Sheared Magnetic Field in Planar Flows
We have carried out simulations of the nonlinear evolution of the
magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) Kelvin-Helmholtz (KH) instability for compressible
fluids in -dimensions, extending our previous work by Frank et al
(1996) and Jones \etal (1997). In the present work we have simulated flows in
the x-y plane in which a ``sheared'' magnetic field of uniform strength
``smoothly'' rotates across a thin velocity shear layer from the z direction to
the x direction, aligned with the flow field. We focus on dynamical evolution
of fluid features, kinetic energy dissipation, and mixing of the fluid between
the two layers, considering their dependence on magnetic field strength for
this geometry. The introduction of magnetic shear can allow a Cat's Eye-like
vortex to form, even when the field is stronger than the nominal linear
instability limit given above. For strong fields that vortex is asymmetric with
respect to the preliminary shear layer, however, so the subsequent dissipation
is enhanced over the uniform field cases of comparable field strength. In fact,
so long as the magnetic field achieves some level of dynamical importance
during an eddy turnover time, the asymmetries introduced through the magnetic
shear will increase flow complexity, and, with that, dissipation and mixing.
The degree of the fluid mixing between the two layers is strongly influenced by
the magnetic field strength. Mixing of the fluid is most effective when the
vortex is disrupted by magnetic tension during transient reconnection, through
local chaotic behavior that follows.Comment: 14 pages including 9 figures (4 figures in degraded jpg format), full
paper with original quality figures available via anonymous ftp at
ftp://canopus.chungnam.ac.kr/ryu/mhdkh2d.uu, to appear in The Astrophysical
Journa
The Magnetohydrodynamic Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability: A Three-Dimensional Study of Nonlinear Evolution
We investigate through high resolution 3D simulations the nonlinear evolution
of compressible magnetohydrodynamic flows subject to the Kelvin-Helmholtz
instability. We confirm in 3D flows the conclusion from our 2D work that even
apparently weak magnetic fields embedded in Kelvin-Helmholtz unstable plasma
flows can be fundamentally important to nonlinear evolution of the instability.
In fact, that statement is strengthened in 3D by this work, because it shows
how field line bundles can be stretched and twisted in 3D as the quasi-2D Cat's
Eye vortex forms out of the hydrodynamical motions. In our simulations twisting
of the field may increase the maximum field strength by more than a factor of
two over the 2D effect. If, by these developments, the Alfv\'en Mach number of
flows around the Cat's Eye drops to unity or less, our simulations suggest
magnetic stresses will eventually destroy the Cat's Eye and cause the plasma
flow to self-organize into a relatively smooth and apparently stable flow that
retains memory of the original shear. For our flow configurations the regime in
3D for such reorganization is , expressed in
terms of the Alfv\'en Mach number of the original velocity transition and the
initial Alfv\'en speed projected to the flow plan. For weaker fields the
instability remains essentially hydrodynamic in early stages, and the Cat's Eye
is destroyed by the hydrodynamic secondary instabilities of a 3D nature. Then,
the flows evolve into chaotic structures that approach decaying isotropic
turbulence. In this stage, there is considerable enhancement to the magnetic
energy due to stretching, twisting, and turbulent amplification, which is
retained long afterwards. The magnetic energy eventually catches up to the
kinetic energy, and the nature of flows become magnetohydrodynamic.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figures in degraded jpg format (2 in color), paper with
original quality figures available via ftp at
ftp://ftp.msi.umn.edu/pub/users/twj/mhdkh3dd.ps.gz or
ftp://canopus.chungnam.ac.kr/ryu/mhdkh3dd.ps.gz, to appear in The
Astrophysical Journa
Slowly modulated oscillations in nonlinear diffusion processes
It is shown here that certain systems of nonlinear (parabolic) reaction-diffusion equations have solutions which are approximated by oscillatory functions in the form R(Ο - cÏ)P(t^*) where P(t^*) represents a sinusoidal oscillation on a fast time scale t* and R(Ο - cÏ) represents a slowly-varying modulating amplitude on slow space (Ο) and slow time (Ï) scales. Such solutions describe phenomena in chemical reactors, chemical and biological reactions, and in other media where a stable oscillation at each point (or site) undergoes a slow amplitude change due to diffusion
Discovery and Assessment of New Target Sites for Anti-HIV Therapies
Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infects cells by endocytosis and takes over parts of the cellâs reaction pathways in order to reproduce itself and spread the infection. One such pathway taken over by HIV becomes the inflammatory pathway which uses Nuclear Factor ÎșB (NF-ÎșB) as the principal transcription factor. Therefore, knocking out the NF-ÎșB pathway would prevent HIV from reproducing itself. In this report, our goal is to produce a simple model for this pathway with which we can identify potential targets for anti-HIV therapies and test out various hypotheses. We present a very simple model with four coupled first-order ODEs and see what happens if we treat IÎșK concentration as a parameter that can be controlled (by some unspecified means). In Section 3, we augment this model to account for activation and deactivation of IÎșK, which is controlled (again, by some unspecified means) by TNF
On the multispacecraft determination of periodic surface wave phase speeds and wavelengths
Observations of surface waves on the magnetopause indicate a wide range of phase velocities and wavelengths. Their multispacecraft analysis allows a more precise determination of wave characteristics than ever before and reveal shortcomings of approximations to the phase speed that take a predetermined fraction of the magnetosheath speed or the average flow velocity in the boundary layer. We show that time lags between two or more spacecraft can give a qualitative upper estimate, and we confirm the unreliability of flow approximations often used by analyzing a few cases. Using twoâpoint distant magnetic field observations and spectral analysis of the tailward magnetic field component, we propose an alternative method to estimate the wavelength and phase speed at a single spacecraft from a statistical fit to the data at the other site
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