Plasma heating due to X-B mode conversion in a cylindrical ECR plasma system

Extra Ordinary (X) mode conversion to Bernstein wave near Upper Hybrid Resonance (UHR) layer plays an important role in plasma heating through cyclotron resonance. Wave generation at UHR and parametric decay at high power has been observed during Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) heating experiments in toroidal magnetic fusion devices. A small linear system with ECR and UHR layer within the system has been used to conduct experiments on X-B conversion and parametric decay process as a function of system parameters. Direct probing {\em in situ} is conducted and plasma heating is evidenced by soft x-ray emission measurement. Experiments are performed with hydrogen plasma produced with 160-800 W microwave power at 2.45 GHz of operating frequency at $10^{-3}$ mbar pressure. The axial magnetic field required for ECR is such that the resonant surface (B = 875 G) is situated at the geometrical axis of the plasma system. Experimental results will be presented in the paper.Comment: 12th International Congress on Plasma Physics, 25-29 October 2004, Nice (France

Primordial Non-Gaussianity in the Cosmic Microwave Background

In the last few decades, advances in observational cosmology have given us a standard model of cosmology. We know the content of the universe to within a few percent. With more ambitious experiments on the way, we hope to move beyond the knowledge of what the universe is made of, to why the universe is the way it is. In this review paper we focus on primordial non-Gaussianity as a probe of the physics of the dynamics of the universe at the very earliest moments. We discuss 1) theoretical predictions from inflationary models and their observational consequences in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies; 2) CMB--based estimators for constraining primordial non-Gaussianity with an emphasis on bispectrum templates; 3) current constraints on non-Gaussianity and what we can hope to achieve in the near future; and 4) non-primordial sources of non-Gaussianities in the CMB such as bispectrum due to second order effects, three way cross-correlation between primary-lensing-secondary CMB, and possible instrumental effects.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures; Invited Review for the Journal "Advances in Astronomy"; references adde

Optimal error estimates of a mixed finite element method for\ud parabolic integro-differential equations with non smooth initial data

In this article, a new mixed method is proposed and analyzed for parabolic integro-differential equations (PIDE) with nonsmooth initial data. Compared to mixed methods for PIDE, the present method does not bank on a reformulation using a resolvent operator. Based on energy arguments and without using parabolic type duality technique, optimal L2-error estimates are derived for semidiscrete approximations, when the initial data is in L2. Due to the presence of the integral term, it is, further, observed that estimate in dual of H(div)-space plays a role in our error analysis. Moreover, the proposed analysis follows the spirit of the proof technique used for deriving optimal error estimates of finite element approximations to PIDE with smooth data and therefore, it unifies both the theories, i.e., one for smooth data and other for nonsmooth data. Finally, the proposed analysis can be easily extended to other mixed method for PIDE with rough initial data and provides an improved result

Interaction of Ising-Bloch fronts with Dirichlet Boundaries

We study the Ising-Bloch bifurcation in two systems, the Complex Ginzburg Landau equation (CGLE) and a FitzHugh Nagumo (FN) model in the presence of spatial inhomogeneity introduced by Dirichlet boundary conditions. It is seen that the interaction of fronts with boundaries is similar in both systems, establishing the generality of the Ising-Bloch bifurcation. We derive reduced dynamical equations for the FN model that explain front dynamics close to the boundary. We find that front dynamics in a highly non-adiabatic (slow front) limit is controlled by fixed points of the reduced dynamical equations, that occur close to the boundary.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Orthogonal Ramanujan Sums, its properties and Applications in Multiresolution Analysis

Signal processing community has recently shown interest in Ramanujan sums which was defined by S.Ramanujan in 1918. In this paper we have proposed Orthog- onal Ramanujan Sums (ORS) based on Ramanujan sums. In this paper we present two novel application of ORS. Firstly a new representation of a finite length signal is given using ORS which is defined as Orthogonal Ramanujan Periodic Transform.Secondly ORS has been applied to multiresolution analysis and it is shown that Haar transform is a spe- cial case

Growth, Characterization, Vortex Pinning and Vortex Flow Properties of Single Crystals of Iron Chalcogenide Superconductor FeCr0.02_{0.02}Se

We report the growth and characterization of single crystals of iron chalcogenide superconductor FeCr$_{0.02}$Se. There is an enhancement of the superconducting transition temperature (T$_{\rm c}$) as compared to the T$_{\rm c}$ of the single crystals of the parent compound Fe$_{1+x}$Se by about 25%. The superconducting parameters such as the critical fields, coherence length, penetration depth and the Ginzburg-Landau parameter have been estimated for these single crystals. Analysis of the critical current data suggests a fluctuation in electronic mean free path induced ($\delta l$) pinning mechanism in this material. Thermally activated transport across the superconducting transition in the presence of external magnetic fields suggests a crossover from a single vortex pinning regime at low fields to a collective flux creep regime at higher magnetic fields. The nature of charge carriers in the normal state estimated from the Hall effect and thermal transport measurements could provide crucial information on the mechanism of superconductivity in Fe-based materials.Comment: 2 additional figures, additional discussion on nature of charge carrier