10 research outputs found
Multicomponent theory of buoyancy instabilities in magnetized plasmas: The case of magnetic field parallel to gravity
We investigate electromagnetic buoyancy instabilities of the electron-ion
plasma with the heat flux based on not the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equations,
but using the multicomponent plasma approach when the momentum equations are
solved for each species. We consider a geometry in which the background
magnetic field, gravity, and stratification are directed along one axis. The
nonzero background electron thermal flux is taken into account. Collisions
between electrons and ions are included in the momentum equations. No
simplifications usual for the one-fluid MHD-approach in studying these
instabilities are used. We derive a simple dispersion relation, which shows
that the thermal flux perturbation generally stabilizes an instability for the
geometry under consideration. This result contradicts to conclusion obtained in
the MHD-approach. We show that the reason of this contradiction is the
simplified assumptions used in the MHD analysis of buoyancy instabilities and
the role of the longitudinal electric field perturbation which is not captured
by the ideal MHD equations. Our dispersion relation also shows that the medium
with the electron thermal flux can be unstable, if the temperature gradients of
ions and electrons have the opposite signs. The results obtained can be applied
to the weakly collisional magnetized plasma objects in laboratory and
astrophysics.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc
High-precision molecular dynamics simulation of UO2-PuO2: Anion self-diffusion in UO2
Our series of articles is devoted to high-precision molecular dynamics
simulation of mixed actinide-oxide (MOX) fuel in the approximation of rigid
ions and pair interactions (RIPI) using high-performance graphics processors
(GPU). In this article we study self-diffusion mechanisms of oxygen anions in
uranium dioxide (UO2) with the ten recent and widely used sets of interatomic
pair potentials (SPP) under periodic (PBC) and isolated (IBC) boundary
conditions. Wide range of measured diffusion coefficients (from 10^-3 cm^2/s at
melting point down to 10^-12 cm^2/s at 1400 K) made possible a direct
comparison (without extrapolation) of the simulation results with the
experimental data, which have been known only at low temperatures (T < 1500 K).
A highly detailed (with the temperature step of 1 K) calculation of the
diffusion coefficient allowed us to plot temperature dependences of the
diffusion activation energy and its derivative, both of which show a wide
(~1000 K) superionic transition region confirming the broad lambda-peaks of
heat capacity obtained by us earlier. It is shown that regardless of SPP the
anion self-diffusion in model crystals without surface or artificially embedded
defects goes on via exchange mechanism, rather than interstitial or vacancy
mechanisms suggested by the previous works. The activation energy of exchange
diffusion turned out to coincide with the anti-Frenkel defect formation energy
calculated by the lattice statics.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, 5 table
Top quark physics at hadron colliders
The top quark, discovered at the FERMILAB TEVATRON collider in 1995, is the heaviest known elementary particle. Today, ten years later, still relatively little is known about its properties. The strong and weak interactions of the top quark are not nearly as well studied as those of the other quarks and leptons. The strong interaction is most directly measured in top quark pair production. The weak interaction is measured in top quark decay and single top quark production, which remains thus far unobserved. The large top-quark mass of about 175 GeV/c2 suggests that it may play a special role in nature. It behaves differently from all other quarks due to its large mass and its correspondingly short lifetime. The top quark decays before it hadronises, passing its spin information on to its decay products. Therefore, it is possible to measure observables that depend on the top quark spin, providing a unique environment for tests of the Standard Model and for searches for physics beyond the Standard Model. This report summarises the latest measurements and studies of top quark properties and rare decays from the TEVATRON in Run II. With more than 1 fb-1 of luminosity delivered to each experiment, CDF and DO, top quark physics at the TEVATRON is at a turning point from first studies to precision measurements with sensitivity to new physics. An outlook onto top quark physics at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, planned to begin operation in the year 2007, is also given