27,694 research outputs found
A Laboratory Plasma Experiment for Studying Magnetic Dynamics of Accretion Discs and Jets
This work describes a laboratory plasma experiment and initial results which
should give insight into the magnetic dynamics of accretion discs and jets. A
high-speed multiple-frame CCD camera reveals images of the formation and
helical instability of a collimated plasma, similar to MHD models of disc jets,
and also plasma detachment associated with spheromak formation, which may have
relevance to disc winds and flares. The plasmas are produced by a planar
magnetized coaxial gun. The resulting magnetic topology is dependent on the
details of magnetic helicity injection, namely the force-free state eigenvalue
alpha_gun imposed by the coaxial gun.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRA
Study of magnetic helicity injection via plasma imaging using a high-speed digital camera
The evolution of a plasma generated by a novel planar coaxial gun is photographed using a state-of-the-art digital camera, which captures eight time-resolved images per discharge. This experiment is designed to study the fundamental physics of magnetic helicity injection, which is an important issue in fusion plasma confinement, as well as solar and astrophysical phenomena such as coronal mass ejections and accretion disk dynamics. The images presented in this paper are not only beautiful but provide a powerful way to understand the global dynamics of the plasma
Coal desulfurization process
A method for chlorinolysis of coal is an organic solvent at a moderate temperautre and atmospheric pressure has been proven to be effective in removing sulfur, particularly the organic sulfur, from coal. Chlorine gas is bubbled through a slurry of moist coal in chlorinated solvent. The chlorinated coal is separated, hydrolyzed and the dechlorinated. Preliminary results of treating a high sulfutr (4.77%S) bituminous coal show that up to 70% organic sulfur, 90% hyritic sulfur and 76% total sulfur can be removed. The treated coal is dechlorinated by heating at 500 C. The presence of moisture helps to remove organic sulfur
On the jets, kinks, and spheromaks formed by a planar magnetized coaxial gun
Measurements of the various plasma configurations produced by a planar
magnetized coaxial gun provide insight into the magnetic topology evolution
resulting from magnetic helicity injection. Important features of the
experiments are a very simple coaxial gun design so that all observed
geometrical complexity is due to the intrinsic physical dynamics rather than
the source shape and use of a fast multiple-frame digital camera which provides
direct imaging of topologically complex shapes and dynamics. Three key
experimental findings were obtained: (1) formation of an axial collimated jet
[Hsu and Bellan, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 334, 257 (2002)] that is consistent
with a magnetohydrodynamic description of astrophysical jets, (2)
identification of the kink instability when this jet satisfies the
Kruskal-Shafranov limit, and (3) the nonlinear properties of the kink
instability providing a conversion of toroidal to poloidal flux as required for
spheromak formation by a coaxial magnetized source [Hsu and Bellan, Phys. Rev.
Lett. 90, 215002 (2003)]. A new interpretation is proposed for how the n=1
central column instability provides flux amplification during spheromak
formation and sustainment, and it is shown that jet collimation can occur
within one rotation of the background poloidal field.Comment: Physics of Plasmas (accepted
Experimental Identification of the Kink Instability as a Poloidal Flux Amplification Mechanism for Coaxial Gun Spheromak Formation
The magnetohydrodynamic kink instability is observed and identified
experimentally as a poloidal flux amplification mechanism for coaxial gun
spheromak formation. Plasmas in this experiment fall into three distinct
regimes which depend on the peak gun current to magnetic flux ratio, with (I)
low values resulting in a straight plasma column with helical magnetic field,
(II) intermediate values leading to kinking of the column axis, and (III) high
values leading immediately to a detached plasma. Onset of column kinking agrees
quantitatively with the Kruskal-Shafranov limit, and the kink acts as a dynamo
which converts toroidal to poloidal flux. Regime II clearly leads to both
poloidal flux amplification and the development of a spheromak configuration.Comment: accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter
A deep level transient spectroscopy study of hole traps in GexSe1-x-based layers for ovonic threshold switching selectors
Multi-Throat Brane Inflation
We present a scenario where brane inflation arises more generically. We start
with D3 and anti-D3-branes at the infrared ends of two different throats. This
setup is a natural consequence of the assumption that in the beginning we have
a multi-throat string compactification with many wandering anti-D3-branes. A
long period of inflation is triggered when D3-branes slowly exit the highly
warped infrared region, under a potential generically arising from the moduli
stabilization. In this scenario, the usual slow-roll conditions are not
required, and a large warping is allowed to incorporate the Randall-Sundrum
model.Comment: 11 pages; v3: minor revision, PRD versio
Cosmological Rescaling through Warped Space
We discuss a scenario where at least part of the homogeneity on a brane world
can be directly related to the hierarchy problem through warped space. We study
the dynamics of an anti-D3-brane moving toward the infrared cut-off of a warped
background. After a region described by the DBI action, the self-energy of the
anti-D3-brane will dominate over the background. Then the world-volume scale of
the anti-D3-brane is no longer comoving with the background geometry. After it
settles down in the infrared end, the world-volume inhomogeneity will appear,
to a Poincare observer, to be stretched by an exponentially large ratio. This
ratio is close to that of the hierarchy problem between the gravitational and
electroweak scales.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures; v2, PRD version, comments and references adde
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