Magnetic reconnection from a multiscale instability cascade

Magnetic reconnection, the process whereby magnetic field lines break and then reconnect to form a different topology, underlies critical dynamics of magnetically confined plasmas in both nature and the laboratory. Magnetic reconnection involves localized diffusion of the magnetic field across plasma, yet observed reconnection rates are typically much higher than can be accounted for using classical electrical resistivity. It is generally proposed that the field diffusion underlying fast reconnection results instead from some combination of non-magnetohydrodynamic processes that become important on the ‘microscopic’ scale of the ion Larmor radius or the ion skin depth. A recent laboratory experiment demonstrated a transition from slow to fast magnetic reconnection when a current channel narrowed to a microscopic scale, but did not address how a macroscopic magnetohydrodynamic system accesses the microscale. Recent theoretical models and numerical simulations suggest that a macroscopic, two-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic current sheet might do this through a sequence of repetitive tearing and thinning into two-dimensional magnetized plasma structures having successively finer scales. Here we report observations demonstrating a cascade of instabilities from a distinct, macroscopic-scale magnetohydrodynamic instability to a distinct, microscopic-scale (ion skin depth) instability associated with fast magnetic reconnection. These observations resolve the full three-dimensional dynamics and give insight into the frequently impulsive nature of reconnection in space and laboratory plasmas

Energy Efficiency Analysis of the Discharge Circuit of Caltech Spheromak Experiment

The Caltech spheromak experiment uses a size A ignitron in switching a 59-μF capacitor bank (charged up to 8 kV) across an inductive plasma load. Typical power levels in the discharge circuit are ~200 MW for a duration of ~10 μs. This paper describes the setup of the circuit and the measurements of various impedances in the circuit. The combined impedance of the size A ignitron and the cables was found to be significantly larger than the plasma impedance. This causes the circuit to behave like a current source with low energy transfer efficiency. This behavior is expected to be common with other pulsed plasma experiments of similar size that employ an ignitron switch

A 2Cat-inspired model structure for double categories

We construct a model structure on the category $\mathrm{DblCat}$ of double categories and double functors. Unlike previous model structures for double categories, it recovers the homotopy theory of 2-categories through the horizontal embedding $\mathbb{H}\colon2\mathrm{Cat}\to\mathrm{DblCat}$, which is both left and right Quillen, and homotopically fully faithful. Furthermore, we show that Lack's model structure on $2\mathrm{Cat}$ is both left- and right-induced along $\mathbb{H}$ from our model structure on $\mathrm{DblCat}$. In addition, we obtain a $2\mathrm{Cat}$-enrichment of our model structure on $\mathrm{DblCat}$, by using a variant of the Gray tensor product. Under certain conditions, we prove a Whitehead theorem, characterizing our weak equivalences as the double functors which admit an inverse pseudo double functor up to horizontal pseudo natural equivalence. This retrieves the Whitehead theorem for 2-categories. Analogous statements hold for the category $\mathrm{wkDblCat}_s$ of weak double categories and strict double functors, whose homotopy theory recovers that of bicategories. Moreover, we show that the full embedding $\mathrm{DblCat}\to\mathrm{wkDblCat}_s$ is a Quillen equivalence

A model structure for weakly horizontally invariant double categories

We construct a model structure on the category $\mathrm{DblCat}$ of double categories and double functors, whose trivial fibrations are the double functors that are surjective on objects, full on horizontal and vertical morphisms, and fully faithful on squares; and whose fibrant objects are the weakly horizontally invariant double categories. We show that the functor $\mathbb H^{\simeq}\colon \mathrm{2Cat}\to \mathrm{DblCat}$, a more homotopical version of the usual horizontal embedding $\mathbb H$, is right Quillen and homotopically fully faithful when considering Lack's model structure on $\mathrm{2Cat}$. In particular, $\mathbb H^{\simeq}$ exhibits a levelwise fibrant replacement of $\mathbb H$. Moreover, Lack's model structure on $\mathrm{2Cat}$ is right-induced along $\mathbb H^{\simeq}$ from the model structure for weakly horizontally invariant double categories. We also show that this model structure is monoidal with respect to B\"ohm's Gray tensor product. Finally, we prove a Whitehead Theorem characterizing the weak equivalences with fibrant source as the double functors which admit a pseudo inverse up to horizontal pseudo natural equivalence

Effects of noise on hysteresis and resonance width in graphene and nanotubes resonators

We investigate the role that noise plays in the hysteretic dynamics of a suspended nanotube or a graphene sheet subject to an oscillating force. We find that not only the size but also the position of the hysteresis region in these systems can be controlled by noise. We also find that nano-resonators act as noise rectifiers: by increasing the noise in the setup, the resonance width of the characteristic peak in these systems is reduced and, as a result, the quality factor is increased.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures. Sent to PRB (in revision