459 research outputs found
Distinct turbulence saturation regimes in stellarators
In the complex 3D magnetic fields of stellarators, ion-temperature-gradient
turbulence is shown to have two distinct saturation regimes, as revealed by
petascale numerical simulations, and explained by a simple turbulence theory.
The first regime is marked by strong zonal flows, and matches previous
observations in tokamaks. The newly observed second regime, in contrast,
exhibits small- scale quasi-two-dimensional turbulence, negligible zonal flows,
and, surprisingly, a weaker heat flux scaling. Our findings suggest that key
details of the magnetic geometry control turbulence in stellarators.Comment: Erratum added to en
Signature of a universal statistical description for drift-wave plasma turbulence
This Letter provides a theoretical interpretation of numerically generated
probability density functions (PDFs) of intermittent plasma transport events.
Specifically, nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations of ion-temperature-gradient
turbulence produce time series of heat flux which exhibit manifestly
non-Gaussian PDFs with enhanced tails. It is demonstrated that, after the
removal of autocorrelations, the numerical PDFs can be matched with predictions
from a fluid theoretical setup, based on the instanton method. This result
points to a universality in the modeling of intermittent stochastic process,
offering predictive capability.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
A time-delay determination from VLA light curves of the CLASS gravitational lens B1600+434
We present Very Large Array (VLA) 8.5-GHz light curves of the two lens images
of the Cosmic Lens All Sky Survey (CLASS) gravitational lens B1600+434. We find
a nearly linear decrease of 18-19% in the flux densities of both lens images
over a period of eight months (February-October) in 1998. Additionally, the
brightest image A shows modulations up to 11% peak-to-peak on scales of days to
weeks over a large part of the observing period. Image B varies significantly
less on this time scale. We conclude that most of the short-term variability in
image A is not intrinsic source variability, but is most likely caused by
microlensing in the lens galaxy. The alternative, scintillation by the ionized
Galactic ISM, is shown to be implausible based on its strong opposite frequency
dependent behavior compared with results from multi-frequency WSRT monitoring
observations (Koopmans & de Bruyn 1999). From these VLA light curves we
determine a median time delay between the lens images of 47^{+5}_{-6} d (68%)
or 47^{+12}_{-9} d (95%). We use two different methods to derive the time
delay; both give the same result within the errors. We estimate an additional
systematic error between -8 and +7 d. If the mass distribution of lens galaxy
can be described by an isothermal model (Koopmans, de Bruyn & Jackson 1998),
this time delay would give a value for the Hubble parameter, H_0=57^{+14}_{-11}
(95% statistical) ^{+26}_{-15} (systematic) km/s/Mpc (Omega_m=1 and
Omega_Lambda=0). Similarly, the Modified-Hubble-Profile mass model would give
H_0=74^{+18}_{-15} (95% statistical) ^{+22}_{-22} (systematic) km/s/Mpc. For
Omega_m=0.3 and Omega_Lambda=0.7, these values increase by 5.4%. ... (ABRIDGED)Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics (Figs 1 and 3 with degraded resolution
Gyrokinetic studies of the effect of beta on drift-wave stability in NCSX
The gyrokinetic turbulence code GS2 was used to investigate the effects of
plasma beta on linear, collisionless ion temperature gradient (ITG) modes and
trapped electron modes (TEM) in National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX)
geometry. Plasma beta affects stability in two ways: through the equilibrium
and through magnetic fluctuations. The first was studied here by comparing ITG
and TEM stability in two NCSX equilibria of differing beta values, revealing
that the high beta equilibrium was marginally more stable than the low beta
equilibrium in the adiabatic-electron ITG mode case. However, the high beta
case had a lower kinetic-electron ITG mode critical gradient. Electrostatic and
electromagnetic ITG and TEM mode growth rate dependencies on temperature
gradient and density gradient were qualitatively similar. The second beta
effect is demonstrated via electromagnetic ITG growth rates' dependency on
GS2's beta input parameter. A linear benchmark with gyrokinetic codes GENE and
GKV-X is also presented.Comment: Submitted to Physics of Plasmas. 9 pages, 27 figure
Collisionless microinstabilities in stellarators. III. The ion-temperature-gradient mode
We investigate the linear theory of the ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) mode,
with the goal of developing a general understanding that may be applied to
stellarators. We highlight the Wendelstein 7X (W7-X) device. Simple fluid and
kinetic models that follow closely from existing literature are reviewed and
two new first-principle models are presented and compared with results from
direct numerical simulation. One model investigates the effect of regions of
strong localized shear, which are generic to stellarator equilibria. These
"shear spikes" are found to have a potentially significant stabilizing affect
on the mode; however, the effect is strongest at short wavelengths
perpendicular to the magnetic field, and it is found to be significant only for
the fastest growing modes in W7-X. A second model investigates the
long-wavelength limit for the case of negligible global magnetic shear. The
analytic calculation reveals that the effect of the curvature drive enters at
second order in the drift frequency, confirming conventional wisdom that the
ITG mode is slab-like at long wavelengths. Using flux tube simulations of a
zero-shear W7-X configuration, we observe a close relationship to an
axisymmetric configuration at a similar parameter point. It is concluded that
scale lengths of the equilibrium gradients constitute a good parameter space to
characterize the ITG mode. Thus, to optimize the magnetic geometry for ITG mode
stability, it may be fruitful to focus on local parameters, such as the
magnitude of bad curvature, connection length, and local shear at locations of
bad curvature (where the ITG mode amplitude peaks).Comment: v3: final version for journa
Global gyrokinetic simulations of ITG turbulence in the configuration space of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator
We study the effect of turbulent transport in different magnetic
configurations of the Weldenstein 7-X stellarator. In particular, we performed
direct numerical simulations with the global gyrokinetic code GENE-3D, modeling
the behavior of Ion Temperature Gradient turbulence in the Standard,
High-Mirror, and Low-Mirror configurations of W7-X. We found that the
Low-Mirror configuration produces more transport than both the High-Mirror and
the Standard configurations. By comparison with radially local simulations, we
have demonstrated the importance of performing global nonlinear simulations to
predict the turbulent fluxes quantitatively
Matching of analytical and numerical solutions for neutron stars of arbitrary rotation
We demonstrate the results of an attempt to match the two-soliton analytical
solution with the numerically produced solutions of the Einstein field
equations, that describe the spacetime exterior of rotating neutron stars, for
arbitrary rotation. The matching procedure is performed by equating the first
four multipole moments of the analytical solution to the multipole moments of
the numerical one. We then argue that in order to check the effectiveness of
the matching of the analytical with the numerical solution we should compare
the metric components, the radius of the innermost stable circular orbit
(), the rotation frequency and the
epicyclic frequencies . Finally we present some
results of the comparison.Comment: Contribution at the 13th Conference on Recent Developments in Gravity
(NEB XIII), corrected typo in of eq. 5 of the published versio
Insect immunity: cDNA clones coding for the precursor forms of cecropins A and D, antibacterial proteins from Hyalophora cecropia
AbstractUsing synthetic probes cDNA clones were isolated correponding to the precursor forms of cecropins A and D. The sequences obtained were compared to earlier data for preprocecropin B. A processing scheme in three or four steps is discussed
Simulating Gyrokinetic Microinstabilities in Stellarator Geometry with GS2
The nonlinear gyrokinetic code GS2 has been extended to treat
non-axisymmetric stellarator geometry. Electromagnetic perturbations and
multiple trapped particle regions are allowed. Here, linear, collisionless,
electrostatic simulations of the quasi-axisymmetric, three-field period
National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) design QAS3-C82 have been
successfully benchmarked against the eigenvalue code FULL. Quantitatively, the
linear stability calculations of GS2 and FULL agree to within ~10%.Comment: Submitted to Physics of Plasmas. 9 pages, 14 figure
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