Thermodynamics and kinetics of boundary friction

A deterministic theory describing the behavior of an ultrathin lubricant film between two atomically-smooth solid surfaces is proposed. For the description of lubricant state the parameter of excess volume arising due to chaotization of solid medium structure in the course of melting is introduced. Thermodynamic and shear melting is described consistently. Dependences of friction force on temperature of lubricant, shear velocity of rubbing surfaces, and pressure upon surfaces are analyzed. Within the framework of a simple tribological model the stick-slip mode of friction, when the lubricant periodically melts and solidifies, is described. The obtained results are qualitatively compared with the experimental data.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 33 reference

Three-dimensional numerical simulations of fast-to-Alfven conversion in sunspots

The conversion of fast waves to the Alfven mode in a realistic sunspot atmosphere is studied through three-dimensional numerical simulations. An upward propagating fast acoustic wave is excited in the high-beta region of the model. The new wave modes generated at the conversion layer are analyzed from the projections of the velocity and magnetic field in their characteristic directions, and the computation of their wave energy and fluxes. The analysis reveals that the maximum efficiency of the conversion to the slow mode is obtained for inclinations of 25 degrees and low azimuths, while the Alfven wave conversions peaks at high inclinations and azimuths between 50 and 120 degrees. Downward propagating Alfven waves appear at the regions of the sunspot where the orientation of the magnetic field is in the direction opposite to the wave propagation, since at these locations the Alfven wave couples better with the downgoing fast magnetic wave which are reflected due to the gradients of the Alfven speed. The simulations shows that the Alfven energy at the chromosphere is comparable to the acoustic energy of the slow mode, being even higher at high inclined magnetic fields.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa

Simulations of magneto-hydrodynamic waves in atmospheres of roAp stars

We report 2D time-dependent non-linear magneto-hydrodynamical simulations of waves in the atmospheres of roAp stars. We explore a grid of simulations in a wide parameter space. The aim of our study is to understand the influence of the atmosphere and the magnetic field on the propagation and reflection properties of magneto-acoustic waves, formation of shocks and node layers.Comment: 2 pages, Proceedings of the IAU Symposium 259, "Cosmic Magnetic Fields: From Planets, to Stars and Galaxies", November 200

Numerical simulations of conversion to Alfven waves in sunspots

We study the conversion of fast magneto-acoustic waves to Alfven waves by means of 2.5D numerical simulations in a sunspot-like magnetic configuration. A fast, essentially acoustic, wave of a given frequency and wave number is generated below the surface and propagates upward though the Alfven/acoustic equipartition layer where it splits into upgoing slow (acoustic) and fast (magnetic) waves. The fast wave quickly reflects off the steep Alfven speed gradient, but around and above this reflection height it partially converts to Alfven waves, depending on the local relative inclinations of the background magnetic field and the wavevector. To measure the efficiency of this conversion to Alfven waves we calculate acoustic and magnetic energy fluxes. The particular amplitude and phase relations between the magnetic field and velocity oscillations help us to demonstrate that the waves produced are indeed Alfven waves. We find that the conversion to Alfven waves is particularly important for strongly inclined fields like those existing in sunspot penumbrae. Equally important is the magnetic field orientation with respect to the vertical plane of wave propagation, which we refer to as "field azimuth". For field azimuth less than 90 degrees the generated Alfven waves continue upwards, but above 90 degrees downgoing Alfven waves are preferentially produced. This yields negative Alfven energy flux for azimuths between 90 and 180 degrees. Alfven energy fluxes may be comparable to or exceed acoustic fluxes, depending upon geometry, though computational exigencies limit their magnitude in our simulations.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

THE STUDY OF THE INFLUENCE OF PERIODIC LATERAL VELOCITY VARIATIONS ON THE TIME-DISTANCE GRAPH IN THE REFLECTION METHOD

To study the effect of insufficient consideration of lateral and sinusoidal velocity variations on the obtained features of the reflecting boundary behaviour under the standard interpretation scheme in the CMP method

Magneto-acoustic waves in sunspots: first results from a new 3D nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic code

Waves observed in the photosphere and chromosphere of sunspots show complex dynamics and spatial patterns. The interpretation of high-resolution sunspot wave observations requires modeling of three-dimensional non-linear wave propagation and mode transformation in the sunspot upper layers in realistic spot model atmospheres. Here we present the first results of such modeling. We have developed a 3D non-linear numerical code specially designed to calculate the response of magnetic structures in equilibrium to an arbitrary perturbation. The code solves the 3D nonlinear MHD equations for perturbations; it is stabilized by hyper-diffusivity terms and is fully parallelized. The robustness of the code is demonstrated by a number of standard tests. We analyze several simulations of a sunspot perturbed by pulses of different periods at subphotospheric level, from short periods, introduced for academic purposes, to longer and realistic periods of three and five minutes. We present a detailed description of the three-dimensional mode transformation in a non-trivial sunspot-like magnetic field configuration, including the conversion between fast and slow magneto-acoustic waves and the Alfv\'en wave, by calculation of the wave energy fluxes. Our main findings are the following: (1) the conversion from acoustic to the Alfv\'en mode is only observed if the the driving pulse is located out of the sunspot axis, but this conversion is energetically inefficient; (2) as a consequence of the cut-off effects and refraction of the fast magneto-acoustic mode, the energy of the evanescent waves with periods around 5 minutes remains almost completely below the level beta=1; (3) waves with frequencies above the cut-off propagate field-aligned to the chromosphere and their power becomes dominating over that of evanescent 5-minute oscillations, in agreement with observations

Self-organization of adatom adsorption structure at interaction with tip of dynamic force microscope

The formation of an adatom adsorption structure in dynamic force microscopy experiment is shown as a result of the spontaneous appearance of shear strain caused by external supercritical heating. This transition is described by the Kelvin-Voigt equation for a viscoelastic medium, the relaxation Landau-Khalatnikov equation for shear stress, and the relaxation equation for temperature. It is shown that these equations formally coincide with the synergetic Lorenz system, where the shear strain acts as the order parameter, the conjugate field is reduced to the stress, and the temperature is the control parameter. Within the adiabatic approximation, the steady-state values of these quantities are found. Taking into account the sample shear modulus vs strain dependence, the formation of the adatom adsorption configuration is described as the first-order transition. The critical temperature of the tip linearly increases with the growth of the effective value of the sample shear modulus and decreases with the growth of its typical value.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure