3,259 research outputs found
Temperature Relaxation in Hot Dense Hydrogen
Temperature equilibration of hydrogen is studied for conditions relevant to
inertial confinement fusion. New molecular-dynamics simulations and results
from quantum many-body theory are compared with Landau-Spitzer (LS) predictions
for temperatures T from 50 eV to 5000 eV, and densities with Wigner-Seitz radii
r_s = 1.0 and 0.5. The relaxation is slower than the LS result, even for
temperatures in the keV range, but converges to agreement in the high-T limit.Comment: 4 pages PRL style, two figure
A Borel-Cantelli lemma for intermittent interval maps
We consider intermittent maps T of the interval, with an absolutely
continuous invariant probability measure \mu. Kim showed that there exists a
sequence of intervals A_n such that \sum \mu(A_n)=\infty, but \{A_n\} does not
satisfy the dynamical Borel-Cantelli lemma, i.e., for almost every x, the set
\{n : T^n(x)\in A_n\} is finite. If \sum \Leb(A_n)=\infty, we prove that
\{A_n\} satisfies the Borel-Cantelli lemma. Our results apply in particular to
some maps T whose correlations are not summable.Comment: 7 page
Heating mechanisms in radio frequency driven ultracold plasmas
Several mechanisms by which an external electromagnetic field influences the
temperature of a plasma are studied analytically and specialized to the system
of an ultracold plasma (UCP) driven by a uniform radio frequency (RF) field.
Heating through collisional absorption is reviewed and applied to UCPs.
Furthermore, it is shown that the RF field modifies the three body
recombination process by ionizing electrons from intermediate high-lying
Rydberg states and upshifting the continuum threshold, resulting in a
suppression of three body recombination. Heating through collisionless
absorption associated with the finite plasma size is calculated in detail,
revealing a temperature threshold below which collisionless absorption is
ineffective.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure
Rare-Event Sampling: Occupation-Based Performance Measures for Parallel Tempering and Infinite Swapping Monte Carlo Methods
In the present paper we identify a rigorous property of a number of
tempering-based Monte Carlo sampling methods, including parallel tempering as
well as partial and infinite swapping. Based on this property we develop a
variety of performance measures for such rare-event sampling methods that are
broadly applicable, informative, and straightforward to implement. We
illustrate the use of these performance measures with a series of applications
involving the equilibrium properties of simple Lennard-Jones clusters,
applications for which the performance levels of partial and infinite swapping
approaches are found to be higher than those of conventional parallel
tempering.Comment: 18 figure
Collisional cross sections and momentum distributions in astrophysical plasmas: dynamics and statistical mechanics link
We show that, in stellar core plasmas, the one-body momentum distribution
function is strongly dependent, at least in the high velocity regime, on the
microscopic dynamics of ion elastic collisions and therefore on the effective
collisional cross sections, if a random force field is present. We take into
account two cross sections describing ion-dipole and ion-ion screened
interactions. Furthermore we introduce a third unusual cross section, to link
statistical distributions and a quantum effect originated by the
energy-momentum uncertainty owing to many-body collisions, and propose a
possible physical interpretation in terms of a tidal-like force. We show that
each collisional cross section gives rise to a slight peculiar correction on
the Maxwellian momentum distribution function in a well defined velocity
interval. We also find a possible link between microscopical dynamics of ions
and statistical mechanics interpreting our results in the framework of
non-extensive statistical mechanics.Comment: 8 page
Distance-redshift from an optical metric that includes absorption
We show that it is possible to equate the intensity reduction of a light wave
caused by weak absorption with a geometrical reduction in intensity caused by a
"transverse" conformal transformation of the spacetime metric in which the wave
travels. We are consequently able to modify Gordon's optical metric to account
for electromagnetic properties of ponderable material whose properties include
both refraction and absorption. Unlike refraction alone however, including
absorption requires a modification of the optical metric that depends on the
eikonal of the wave itself. We derive the distance-redshift relation from the
modified optical metric for Friedman-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker spacetimes
whose cosmic fluid has associated refraction and absorption coefficients. We
then fit the current supernovae data and provide an alternate explanation
(other than dark energy) of the apparent acceleration of the universe.Comment: 2 figure
Star cluster dynamics
Dynamical evolution plays a key role in shaping the current properties of
star clusters and star cluster systems. A detailed understanding of the effects
of evolutionary processes is essential to be able to disentangle the properties
which result from dynamical evolution from those imprinted at the time of
cluster formation. In this review, we focus our attention on globular clusters
and review the main physical ingredients driving their early and long-term
evolution, describe the possible evolutionary routes and show how cluster
structure and stellar content are affected by dynamical evolution.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures. To appear as invited review article in a special
issue of the Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. A: Ch. 7 "Star clusters as tracers of
galactic star-formation histories" (ed. R. de Grijs). Fully peer reviewed.
LaTeX, requires rspublic.cls style fil
High-Precision Entropy Values for Spanning Trees in Lattices
Shrock and Wu have given numerical values for the exponential growth rate of
the number of spanning trees in Euclidean lattices. We give a new technique for
numerical evaluation that gives much more precise values, together with
rigorous bounds on the accuracy. In particular, the new values resolve one of
their questions.Comment: 7 pages. Revision mentions alternative approach. Title changed
slightly. 2nd revision corrects first displayed equatio
Parametric instabilities in magnetized multicomponent plasmas
This paper investigates the excitation of various natural modes in a
magnetized bi-ion or dusty plasma. The excitation is provided by parametrically
pumping the magnetic field. Here two ion-like species are allowed to be fully
mobile. This generalizes our previous work where the second heavy species was
taken to be stationary. Their collection of charge from the background neutral
plasma modifies the dispersion properties of the pump and excited waves. The
introduction of an extra mobile species adds extra modes to both these types of
waves. We firstly investigate the pump wave in detail, in the case where the
background magnetic field is perpendicular to the direction of propagation of
the pump wave. Then we derive the dispersion equation relating the pump to the
excited wave for modes propagating parallel to the background magnetic field.
It is found that there are a total of twelve resonant interactions allowed,
whose various growth rates are calculated and discussed.Comment: Published in May 2004; this is a late submission to the archive. 14
pages, 8 figure
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