10,956 research outputs found
Non-equilibrium of Ionization and the Detection of Hot Plasma in Nanoflare-heated Coronal Loops
Impulsive nanoflares are expected to transiently heat the plasma confined in
coronal loops to temperatures of the order of 10 MK. Such hot plasma is hardly
detected in quiet and active regions, outside flares. During rapid and short
heat pulses in rarified loops the plasma can be highly out of equilibrium of
ionization. Here we investigate the effects of the non-equilibrium of
ionization (NEI) on the detection of hot plasma in coronal loops.
Time-dependent loop hydrodynamic simulations are specifically devoted to this
task, including saturated thermal conduction, and coupled to the detailed
solution of the equations of ionization rate for several abundant elements. In
our simulations, initially cool and rarified magnetic flux tubes are heated to
10 MK by nanoflares deposited either at the footpoints or at the loop apex. We
test for different pulse durations, and find that, due to NEI effects, the loop
plasma may never be detected at temperatures above ~5 MK for heat pulses
shorter than about 1 min. We discuss some implications in the framework of
multi-stranded nanoflare-heated coronal loops.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publicatio
Densest local packing diversity. II. Application to three dimensions
The densest local packings of N three-dimensional identical nonoverlapping
spheres within a radius Rmin(N) of a fixed central sphere of the same size are
obtained for selected values of N up to N = 1054. In the predecessor to this
paper [A.B. Hopkins, F.H. Stillinger and S. Torquato, Phys. Rev. E 81 041305
(2010)], we described our method for finding the putative densest packings of N
spheres in d-dimensional Euclidean space Rd and presented those packings in R2
for values of N up to N = 348. We analyze the properties and characteristics of
the densest local packings in R3 and employ knowledge of the Rmin(N), using
methods applicable in any d, to construct both a realizability condition for
pair correlation functions of sphere packings and an upper bound on the maximal
density of infinite sphere packings. In R3, we find wide variability in the
densest local packings, including a multitude of packing symmetries such as
perfect tetrahedral and imperfect icosahedral symmetry. We compare the densest
local packings of N spheres near a central sphere to minimal-energy
configurations of N+1 points interacting with short-range repulsive and
long-range attractive pair potentials, e.g., 12-6 Lennard-Jones, and find that
they are in general completely different, a result that has possible
implications for nucleation theory. We also compare the densest local packings
to finite subsets of stacking variants of the densest infinite packings in R3
(the Barlow packings) and find that the densest local packings are almost
always most similar, as measured by a similarity metric, to the subsets of
Barlow packings with the smallest number of coordination shells measured about
a single central sphere, e.g., a subset of the FCC Barlow packing. We
additionally observe that the densest local packings are dominated by the
spheres arranged with centers at precisely distance Rmin(N) from the fixed
sphere's center.Comment: 45 pages, 18 figures, 2 table
Self-assembly of the simple cubic lattice with an isotropic potential
Conventional wisdom presumes that low-coordinated crystal ground states
require directional interactions. Using our recently introduced optimization
procedure to achieve self-assembly of targeted structures (Phys. Rev. Lett. 95,
228301 (2005), Phys. Rev. E 73, 011406 (2006)), we present an isotropic pair
potential for a three-dimensional many-particle system whose classical
ground state is the low-coordinated simple cubic (SC) lattice. This result is
part of an ongoing pursuit by the authors to develop analytical and
computational tools to solve statistical-mechanical inverse problems for the
purpose of achieving targeted self-assembly. The purpose of these methods is to
design interparticle interactions that cause self-assembly of technologically
important target structures for applications in photonics, catalysis,
separation, sensors and electronics. We also show that standard approximate
integral-equation theories of the liquid state that utilize pair correlation
function information cannot be used in the reverse mode to predict the correct
simple cubic potential. We report in passing optimized isotropic potentials
that yield the body-centered cubic and simple hexagonal lattices, which provide
other examples of non-close-packed structures that can be assembled using
isotropic pair interactions.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in Physical Review
Tetratic Order in the Phase Behavior of a Hard-Rectangle System
Previous Monte Carlo investigations by Wojciechowski \emph{et al.} have found
two unusual phases in two-dimensional systems of anisotropic hard particles: a
tetratic phase of four-fold symmetry for hard squares [Comp. Methods in Science
and Tech., 10: 235-255, 2004], and a nonperiodic degenerate solid phase for
hard-disk dimers [Phys. Rev. Lett., 66: 3168-3171, 1991]. In this work, we
study a system of hard rectangles of aspect ratio two, i.e., hard-square dimers
(or dominos), and demonstrate that it exhibits a solid phase with both of these
unusual properties. The solid shows tetratic, but not nematic, order, and it is
nonperiodic having the structure of a random tiling of the square lattice with
dominos. We obtain similar results with both a classical Monte Carlo method
using true rectangles and a novel molecular dynamics algorithm employing
rectangles with rounded corners. It is remarkable that such simple convex
two-dimensional shapes can produce such rich phase behavior. Although we have
not performed exact free-energy calculations, we expect that the random domino
tiling is thermodynamically stabilized by its degeneracy entropy, well-known to
be per particle from previous studies of the dimer problem on the
square lattice. Our observations are consistent with a KTHNY two-stage phase
transition scenario with two continuous phase transitions, the first from
isotropic to tetratic liquid, and the second from tetratic liquid to solid.Comment: Submitted for publicatio
Classical Disordered Ground States: Super-Ideal Gases, and Stealth and Equi-Luminous Materials
Using a collective coordinate numerical optimization procedure, we construct
ground-state configurations of interacting particle systems in various space
dimensions so that the scattering of radiation exactly matches a prescribed
pattern for a set of wave vectors. We show that the constructed ground states
are, counterintuitively, disordered (i.e., possess no long-range order) in the
infinite-volume limit. We focus on three classes of configurations with unique
radiation scattering characteristics: (i)``stealth'' materials, which are
transparent to incident radiation at certain wavelengths; (ii)``super-ideal''
gases, which scatter radiation identically to that of an ensemble of ideal gas
configurations for a selected set of wave vectors; and (iii)``equi-luminous''
materials, which scatter radiation equally intensely for a selected set of wave
vectors. We find that ground-state configurations have an increased tendency to
contain clusters of particles as one increases the prescribed luminosity.
Limitations and consequences of this procedure are detailed.Comment: 44 pages, 16 figures, revtek
Flavour-conserving oscillations of Dirac-Majorana neutrinos
We analyze both chirality-changing and chirality-preserving transitions of
Dirac-Majorana neutrinos. In vacuum, the first ones are suppressed with respect
to the others due to helicity conservation and the interactions with a
(``normal'') medium practically does not affect the expressions of the
probabilities for these transitions, even if the amplitudes of oscillations
slightly change. For usual situations involving relativistic neutrinos we find
no resonant enhancement for all flavour-conserving transitions. However, for
very light neutrinos propagating in superdense media, the pattern of
oscillations is dramatically altered with respect to the
vacuum case, the transition probability practically vanishing. An application
of this result is envisaged.Comment: 14 pages, latex 2E, no figure
Measurement of the Blackbody Radiation Shift of the 133Cs Hyperfine Transition in an Atomic Fountain
We used a Cs atomic fountain frequency standard to measure the Stark shift on
the ground state hyperfine transiton frequency in cesium (9.2 GHz) due to the
electric field generated by the blackbody radiation. The measures relative
shift at 300 K is -1.43(11)e-14 and agrees with our theoretical evaluation
-1.49(07)e-14. This value differs from the currently accepted one
-1.69(04)e-14. The difference has a significant implication on the accuracy of
frequency standards, in clocks comparison, and in a variety of high precision
physics tests such as the time stability of fundamental constants.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, 2 table
Emergent non-consumptive predator effects alter habitat colonization by mosquitoes
Top-down consumptive control (suppression) is an important driver of populations and communities of prey organisms. Diverse predator assemblages often yield non-linear suppression with respect to constituent species’ effects (emergence); most often diversity enhances suppression. Predators also affect prey organisms non-consumptively through changes in prey physiological, physical, spatial, temporal, and behavioral responses to predators. Role of predator diversity in non-consumptive response by prey is relatively un-studied. Role of predator diversity in shaping prey populations and communities through habitat colonization is a novel question
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