Strong Shock Waves and Nonequilibrium Response in a One-dimensional Gas: a Boltzmann Equation Approach

We investigate the nonequilibrium behavior of a one-dimensional binary fluid on the basis of Boltzmann equation, using an infinitely strong shock wave as probe. Density, velocity and temperature profiles are obtained as a function of the mixture mass ratio \mu. We show that temperature overshoots near the shock layer, and that heavy particles are denser, slower and cooler than light particles in the strong nonequilibrium region around the shock. The shock width w(\mu), which characterizes the size of this region, decreases as w(\mu) ~ \mu^{1/3} for \mu-->0. In this limit, two very different length scales control the fluid structure, with heavy particles equilibrating much faster than light ones. Hydrodynamic fields relax exponentially toward equilibrium, \phi(x) ~ exp[-x/\lambda]. The scale separation is also apparent here, with two typical scales, \lambda_1 and \lambda_2, such that \lambda_1 ~ \mu^{1/2} as \mu-->0$, while \lambda_2, which is the slow scale controlling the fluid's asymptotic relaxation, increases to a constant value in this limit. These results are discussed at the light of recent numerical studies on the nonequilibrium behavior of similar 1d binary fluids.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figs, published versio

On a family of solutions of the KP equation which also satisfy the Toda lattice hierarchy

We describe the interaction pattern in the $x$-$y$ plane for a family of soliton solutions of the Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (KP) equation, $(-4u_{t}+u_{xxx}+6uu_x)_{x}+3u_{yy}=0$. Those solutions also satisfy the finite Toda lattice hierarchy. We determine completely their asymptotic patterns for $y\to \pm\infty$, and we show that all the solutions (except the one-soliton solution) are of {\it resonant} type, consisting of arbitrary numbers of line solitons in both aymptotics; that is, arbitrary $N_-$ incoming solitons for $y\to -\infty$ interact to form arbitrary $N_+$ outgoing solitons for $y\to\infty$. We also discuss the interaction process of those solitons, and show that the resonant interaction creates a {\it web-like} structure having $(N_--1)(N_+-1)$ holes.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, submitted to JPA; Math. Ge

Two scenarios for avalanche dynamics in inclined granular layers

We report experimental measurements of avalanche behavior of thin granular layers on an inclined plane for low volume flow rate. The dynamical properties of avalanches were quantitatively and qualitatively different for smooth glass beads compared to irregular granular materials such as sand. Two scenarios for granular avalanches on an incline are identified and a theoretical explanation for these different scenarios is developed based on a depth-averaged approach that takes into account the differing rheologies of the granular materials.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted to Phys. Rev. Let

High Repetition-Rate Wakefield Electron Source Generated by Few-millijoule, 30 femtosecond Laser Pulses on a Density Downramp

We report on an experimental demonstration of laser wakefield electron acceleration using a sub-TW power laser by tightly focusing 30-fs laser pulses with only 8 mJ pulse energy on a 100 \mu m scale gas target. The experiments are carried out at an unprecedented 0.5 kHz repetition rate, allowing "real time" optimization of accelerator parameters. Well-collimated and stable electron beams with a quasi-monoenergetic peak in excess of 100 keV are measured. Particle-in-cell simulations show excellent agreement with the experimental results and suggest an acceleration mechanism based on electron trapping on the density downramp, due to the time varying phase velocity of the plasma waves.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Embedding initial data for black hole collisions

We discuss isometric embedding diagrams for the visualization of initial data for the problem of the head-on collision of two black holes. The problem of constructing the embedding diagrams is explicitly presented for the best studied initial data, the Misner geometry. We present a partial solution of the embedding diagrams and discuss issues related to completing the solution.Comment: (27pp text, 11 figures

Hydrodynamic singularities and clustering in a freely cooling inelastic gas

We employ hydrodynamic equations to follow the clustering instability of a freely cooling dilute gas of inelastically colliding spheres into a well-developed nonlinear regime. We simplify the problem by dealing with a one-dimensional coarse-grained flow. We observe that at a late stage of the instability the shear stress becomes negligibly small, and the gas flows solely by inertia. As a result the flow formally develops a finite time singularity, as the velocity gradient and the gas density diverge at some location. We argue that flow by inertia represents a generic intermediate asymptotic of unstable free cooling of dilute inelastic gases.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Supersymmetric version of a hydrodynamic system in Riemann invariants and its solutions

In this paper, a supersymmetric extension of a system of hydrodynamic type equations involving Riemann invariants is formulated in terms of a superspace and superfield formalism. The symmetry properties of both the classical and supersymmetric versions of this hydrodynamical model are analyzed through the use of group-theoretical methods applied to partial differential equations involving both bosonic and fermionic variables. More specifically, we compute the Lie superalgebras of both models and perform classifications of their respective subalgebras. A systematic use of the subalgebra structures allow us to construct several classes of invariant solutions, including travelling waves, centered waves and solutions involving monomials, exponentials and radicals.Comment: 30 page

Asymptotic dynamics of short-waves in nonlinear dispersive models

The multiple-scale perturbation theory, well known for long-waves, is extended to the study of the far-field behaviour of short-waves, commonly called ripples. It is proved that the Benjamin-Bona-Mahony- Peregrine equation can propagates short-waves. This result contradict the Benjamin hypothesis that short-waves tends not to propagate in this model and close a part of the old controversy between Korteweg-de Vries and Benjamin-Bona-Mahony-Peregrine equations. We shown that a nonlinear (quadratic) Klein-Gordon type equation substitutes in a short-wave analysis the ubiquitous Korteweg-de Vries equation of long-wave approach. Moreover the kink solutions of phi-4 and sine-Gordon equations are understood as an all orders asymptotic behaviour of short-waves. It is proved that the antikink solution of phi-4 model which was never obtained perturbatively can be obtained by perturbation expansion in the wave-number k in the short-wave limit.Comment: to appears in Physical Review E. 4 pages, revtex file

Conditioning bounds for traveltime tomography in layered media

This paper revisits the problem of recovering a smooth, isotropic, layered wave speed profile from surface traveltime information. While it is classic knowledge that the diving (refracted) rays classically determine the wave speed in a weakly well-posed fashion via the Abel transform, we show in this paper that traveltimes of reflected rays do not contain enough information to recover the medium in a well-posed manner, regardless of the discretization. The counterpart of the Abel transform in the case of reflected rays is a Fredholm kernel of the first kind which is shown to have singular values that decay at least root-exponentially. Kinematically equivalent media are characterized in terms of a sequence of matching moments. This severe conditioning issue comes on top of the well-known rearrangement ambiguity due to low velocity zones. Numerical experiments in an ideal scenario show that a waveform-based model inversion code fits data accurately while converging to the wrong wave speed profile

Can Naked Singularities Yield Gamma Ray Bursts?

Gamma-ray bursts are believed to be the most luminous objects in the Universe. There has been some suggestion that these arise from quantum processes around naked singularities. The main problem with this suggestion is that all known examples of naked singularities are massless and hence there is effectively no source of energy. It is argued that a globally naked singularity coupled with quantum processes operating within a distance of the order of Planck length of the singularity will probably yield energy burst of the order of M_pc^2\approx2\times 10^{16} ergs, where M_p is the Planck mass.Comment: 4 pages, TeX, no figure