52,524 research outputs found
Self-consistent simulations of a von K\'arm\'an type dynamo in a spherical domain with metallic walls
We have performed numerical simulations of boundary-driven dynamos using a
three-dimensional non-linear magnetohydrodynamical model in a spherical shell
geometry. A conducting fluid of magnetic Prandtl number Pm=0.01 is driven into
motion by the counter-rotation of the two hemispheric walls. The resulting flow
is of von K\'arm\'an type, consisting of a layer of zonal velocity close to the
outer wall and a secondary meridional circulation. Above a certain forcing
threshold, the mean flow is unstable to non-axisymmetric motions within an
equatorial belt. For fixed forcing above this threshold, we have studied the
dynamo properties of this flow. The presence of a conducting outer wall is
essential to the existence of a dynamo at these parameters. We have therefore
studied the effect of changing the material parameters of the wall (magnetic
permeability, electrical conductivity, and thickness) on the dynamo. In common
with previous studies, we find that dynamos are obtained only when either the
conductivity or the permeability is sufficiently large. However, we find that
the effect of these two parameters on the dynamo process are different and can
even compete to the detriment of the dynamo. Our self-consistent approach allow
us to analyze in detail the dynamo feedback loop. The dynamos we obtain are
typically dominated by an axisymmetric toroidal magnetic field and an axial
dipole component. We show that the ability of the outer shear layer to produce
a strong toroidal field depends critically on the presence of a conducting
outer wall, which shields the fluid from the vacuum outside. The generation of
the axisymmetric poloidal field, on the other hand, occurs in the equatorial
belt and does not depend on the wall properties.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review
Stark ladders as tunable far-infrared emitters
A superlattice of GaAs/Ga(1 – x)Al(x)As quantum wells forms a Stark ladder under the influence of a perpendicular electric field. A two level incoherent emitter system, formed by radiative intersubband transitions between adjacent wells, is investigated as a tunable far-infrared radiation source. Intersubband transition rates are calculated at 4, 77, and 300 K for applied fields from 0 to 40 kV cm(–1). It is shown that the quantum efficiency of the radiative emission reaches a maximum at low temperatures for a field of 32 kV cm(–1). Under these conditions the emission wavelength is 38 µm with an estimated power output of 1.1 mW. © 1998 American Institute of Physics
Mock Catalogs for UHECR Studies
We provide realistic mock-catalogs of cosmic rays above 40 EeV, for a pure
proton composition, assuming their sources are a random subset of ordinary
galaxies in a simulated, volume-limited survey, for various choices of source
density: 10^-3.5 Mpc^-3, 10^-4.0 Mpc^-3 and 10^-4.5 Mpc^-3. The spectrum at the
source is taken to be E^-2.3 and the effects of cosmological redshifting as
well as photo-pion and e^+ e^- energy losses are included.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Interactions of vortices with rarefaction solitary waves in a Bose-Einstein condensate and their role in the decay of superfluid turbulence
There are several ways to create the vorticity-free solitary waves --
rarefaction pulses -- in condensates: by the process of strongly nonequilibrium
condensate formation in a weakly interacting Bose gas, by creating local
depletion of the condensate density by a laser beam, and by moving a small
object with supercritical velocities. Perturbations created by such waves
colliding with vortices are studied in the context of the Gross-Pitaevskii
model. We find that the effect of the interactions consists of two competing
mechanisms: the creation of vortex line as rarefaction waves acquire
circulation in a vicinity of a vortex core and the loss of the vortex line to
sound due to Kelvin waves that are generated on vortex lines by rarefaction
pulses. When a vortex ring collides with a rarefaction wave, the ring either
stabilises to a smaller ring after emitting sound through Kelvin wave radiation
or the entire energy of the vortex ring is lost to sound if the radius of the
ring is of the order of the healing length. We show that during the time
evolution of a tangle of vortices, the interactions with rarefaction pulses
provide an important dissipation mechanism enhancing the decay of superfluid
turbulence.Comment: Revised paper accepted by Phys. Rev.
Enhancing Bayesian risk prediction for epidemics using contact tracing
Contact tracing data collected from disease outbreaks has received relatively
little attention in the epidemic modelling literature because it is thought to
be unreliable: infection sources might be wrongly attributed, or data might be
missing due to resource contraints in the questionnaire exercise. Nevertheless,
these data might provide a rich source of information on disease transmission
rate. This paper presents novel methodology for combining contact tracing data
with rate-based contact network data to improve posterior precision, and
therefore predictive accuracy. We present an advancement in Bayesian inference
for epidemics that assimilates these data, and is robust to partial contact
tracing. Using a simulation study based on the British poultry industry, we
show how the presence of contact tracing data improves posterior predictive
accuracy, and can directly inform a more effective control strategy.Comment: 40 pages, 9 figures. Submitted to Biostatistic
MEXIT: Maximal un-coupling times for stochastic processes
Classical coupling constructions arrange for copies of the \emph{same} Markov
process started at two \emph{different} initial states to become equal as soon
as possible. In this paper, we consider an alternative coupling framework in
which one seeks to arrange for two \emph{different} Markov (or other
stochastic) processes to remain equal for as long as possible, when started in
the \emph{same} state. We refer to this "un-coupling" or "maximal agreement"
construction as \emph{MEXIT}, standing for "maximal exit". After highlighting
the importance of un-coupling arguments in a few key statistical and
probabilistic settings, we develop an explicit \MEXIT construction for
stochastic processes in discrete time with countable state-space. This
construction is generalized to random processes on general state-space running
in continuous time, and then exemplified by discussion of \MEXIT for Brownian
motions with two different constant drifts.Comment: 28 page
Vortex Splitting in Subcritical Nonlinear Schrodinger Equation
Vortices and axisymmetric vortex rings are considered in the framework of the
subcritical nonlinear Schrodinger equations. The higher order nonlinearity
present in such systems models many-body interactions in superfluid systems and
allows one to study the effects of negative pressure on vortex dynamics. We
find the critical pressure for which the straight-line vortex becomes unstable
to radial expansion of the core. The energy of the straight-line vortices and
energy, impulse and velocity of vortex rings are calculated. The effect of a
varying pressure on the vortex core is studied. It is shown that under the
action of the periodically varying pressure field a vortex ring may split into
many vortex rings and the conditions for which this happens are elucidated.
These processes are also relevant to experiments in Bose-Einstein condensates
where the strength and the sign of two-body interactions can be changed via
Feshbach resonance.Comment: Invited submission to the special issue on Vortex Rings, Journal of
Fluid Dynamics Researc
Kinematic dynamo action in a sphere. I. Effects of differential rotation and meridional circulation on solutions with axial dipole symmetry
A sphere containing electrically conducting fluid can generate a magnetic field by dynamo action, provided the flow is sufficiently complicated and vigorous. The dynamo mechanism is thought to sustain magnetic fields in planets and stars. The kinematic dynamo problem tests steady flows for magnetic instability, but rather few dynamos have been found so far because of severe numerical difficulties. Dynamo action might, therefore, be quite unusual, at least for large-scale steady flows. We address this question by testing a two-parameter class of flows for dynamo generation of magnetic fields containing an axial dipole. The class of flows includes two completely different types of known dynamos, one dominated by differential rotation (D) and one with none. We find that 36% of the flows in seven distinct zones in parameter space act as dynamos, while the remaining 64% either fail to generate this type of magnetic field or generate fields that are too small in scale to be resolved by our numerical method. The two previously known dynamo types lie in the same zone, and it is therefore possible to change the flow continuously from one to the other without losing dynamo action. Differential rotation is found to promote large-scale axisymmetric toroidal magnetic fields, while meridional circulation (M) promotes large-scale axisymmetric poloidal fields concentrated at high latitudes near the axis. Magnetic fields resembling that of the Earth are generated by D > 0, corresponding to westward flow at the surface, and M of either sign but not zero. Very few oscillatory solutions are found
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