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At least 451 records · Page 25

Exact analytical solutions to the master equation of quantum Brownian motion for a general environment

Research Highlights: > We study the model of a quantum oscillator linearly coupled to a bath of oscillators. > We derive the master equation and solutions for general spectra and temperatures. > We generalize to cases with an external force and arbitrary number of oscillators. > Other derivations have incorrect diffusion and force response for nonlocal damping. > We give exact results for ohmic, sub-ohmic and supra-ohmic environments. - Abstract: We revisit the model of a quantum Brownian oscillator linearly coupled to an environment of quantum oscillators at finite temperature. By introducing a compact and particularly well-suited formulation, we give a rather quick and direct derivation of the master equation and its solutions for general spectral functions and arbitrary temperatures. The flexibility of our approach allows for an immediate generalization to cases with an external force and with an arbitrary number of Brownian oscillators. More importantly, we point out an important mathematical subtlety concerning boundary-value problems for integro-differential equations which led to incorrect master equation coefficients and impacts on the description of nonlocal dissipation effects in all earlier derivations. Furthermore, we provide explicit, exact analytical results for the master equation coefficients and its solutions in a wide variety of cases, including ohmic, sub-ohmic and supra-ohmic environments with a finite cut-off.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Mode transition of a Hall thruster discharge plasma

A Hall thruster is a cross-field plasma device used for spacecraft propulsion. An important unresolved issue in the development of Hall thrusters concerns the effect of discharge oscillations in the range of 10–30 kHz on their performance. The use of a high speed Langmuir probe system and ultra-fast imaging of the discharge plasma of a Hall thruster suggests that the discharge oscillation mode, often called the breathing mode, is strongly correlated to an axial global ionization mode. Stabilization of the global oscillation mode is achieved as the magnetic field is increased and azimuthally rotating spokes are observed. A hybrid-direct kinetic simulation that takes into account the transport of electronically excited atoms is used to model the discharge plasma of a Hall thruster. The predicted mode transition agrees with experiments in terms of the mean discharge current, the amplitude of discharge current oscillation, and the breathing mode frequency. It is observed that the stabilization of the global oscillation mode is associated with reduced electron transport that suppresses the ionization process inside the channel. As the Joule heating balances the other loss terms including the effects of wall loss and inelastic collisions, the ionization oscillation is damped, and the discharge oscillation stabilizes. A wide range of the stable operation is supported by the formation of a space charge saturated sheath that stabilizes the electron axial drift and balances the Joule heating as the magnetic field increases. Finally, it is indicated from the numerical results that there is a strong correlation between the emitted light intensity and the discharge current.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Comparative determination of Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 /Pt interfacial spin mixing conductance by spin-Hall magnetoresistance and spin pumping

In this paper, we studied spin Hall magnetoresistance (SMR) in a Y 3 Fe 5 O 12 /Pt bilayer at room temperature. The SMR loops precisely follow the magnetization hysteresis loops in both the in-plane and out-of-plane configurations. SMR up to 0.09% is observed, from which an interfacial spin mixing conductance g ↑ ↓ = (9.0 ± 2.6) × 10 18 m -2 is extracted. In addition, we measured ferromagnetic resonance spin pumping induced damping enhancement in the bilayer, which gives g ↑ ↓ = (6.9 ± 0.6) × 10 18 m -2 . Finally, the agreement in the values of g ↑ ↓ obtained from two reciprocal processes within uncertainty demonstrates the validity of the model for analyzing interfacial spin transmission.

74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS↗

FORMATION OF SUPER-EARTH MASS PLANETS AT 125–250 AU FROM A SOLAR-TYPE STAR

We investigate pathways for the formation of icy super-Earth mass planets orbiting at 125–250 AU around a 1 M{sub ⊙} star. An extensive suite of coagulation calculations demonstrates that swarms of 1 cm–10 m planetesimals can form super-Earth mass planets on timescales of 1–3 Gyr. Collisional damping of 10{sup −2}−10{sup 2} cm particles during oligarchic growth is a highlight of these simulations. In some situations, damping initiates a second runaway growth phase where 1000–3000 km protoplanets grow to super-Earth sizes. Our results establish the initial conditions and physical processes required for in situ formation of super-Earth planets at large distances from the host star. For nearby dusty disks in HD 107146, HD 202628, and HD 207129, ongoing super-Earth formation at 80–150 AU could produce gaps and other structures in the debris. In the solar system, forming a putative planet X at a≲300 AU (a≳1000 AU) requires a modest (very massive) protosolar nebula.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

The formation of correlated states and the increase in barrier transparency at a low particle energy in nonstationary systems with damping and fluctuations

We consider peculiarities in the formation of a coherent correlated state (CCS) of a particle in a periodically modulated harmonic oscillator with damping for various types of stochastic perturbation. It is shown that in the absence of stochastic perturbation, an optimal relation exists between the damping parameter (damping coefficient) and the modulation depth, for which the 'extrinsic' characteristics of the oscillator (amplitudes of 'classical' oscillation and the momentum of a particle) remain unchanged, while the correlation coefficient rapidly increases from |r| = 0 to |r|{sub max} Almost-Equal-To 1; this corresponds to a completely correlated coherent state. Under nonoptimal conditions, the formation of the CCS with a simultaneous increase in is accompanied by damping or excitation of the oscillator. It is shown that for a certain relation between the damping coefficient and the modulation depth, the presence of a stochastic external force acting on the nonstationary oscillator does not prevent the formation of a CCS with |r|{sub max} {yields} 1. A fundamentally different effect is observed under a stochastic influence on the nonstationary frequency of the oscillator; this effect always limits the value of vertical bar r vertical bar at a level |r|{sub max} < 1; a CCR cannot be formed with an unlimited increase in its intensity, and |r|{sub max} {yields} 0. The influence of the CCS formation on the averaged probability Left-Pointing-Angle-Bracket D Right-Pointing-Angle-Bracket of the tunnel effect (transparency of the potential barrier) is considered for a particle in an oscillator with damping both in the absence and in the presence of a stochastic force. It is shown using a specific example that complete clearing of the potential barrier and the increase in the barrier transparency from the initial value Left-Pointing-Angle-Bracket D{sub r=0} Right-Pointing-Angle-Bracket 10{sup -80} to Left-Pointing-Angle-Bracket D Right-Pointing-Angle-Bracket Almost-Equal-To 1 can occur over a comparatively short time interval in both these cases. These effects can be used to obtain highly efficient nuclear fusion at a low energy of interacting particles.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

SMART Wind Turbine Rotor: Data Analysis and Conclusions

The Wind Energy Technologies department at Sandia National Laboratories has developed and field tested a wind turbine rotor with integrated trailing-edge flaps designed for active control of the rotor aerodynamics. The SMART Rotor project was funded by the Wind and Water Power Technologies Office of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and was conducted to demonstrate active rotor control and evaluate simulation tools available for active control research. This report documents the data post-processing and analysis performed to date on the field test data. Results include the control capability of the trailing edge flaps, the combined structural and aerodynamic damping observed through application of step actuation with ensemble averaging, direct observation of time delays associated with aerodynamic response, and techniques for characterizing an operating turbine with active rotor control.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

SMART Wind Turbine Rotor: Data Analysis and Conclusions

This report documents the data post-processing and analysis performed to date on the field test data. Results include the control capability of the trailing edge flaps, the combined structural and aerodynamic damping observed through application of step actuation with ensemble averaging, direct observation of time delays associated with aerodynamic response, and techniques for characterizing an operating turbine with active rotor control.

17 WIND ENERGY↗

Physical aging and its influence on the reliability of network epoxies and epoxy-matrix composites

The matrix-dominated physical and mechanical properties of a carbon fiber reinforced epoxy composite and a neat epoxy resin were found to be affected by sub-Tg annealing in nitrogen and dark atmosphere. Postcured specimens of Thornel 300 carbon-fiber/Fiberite 934 epoxy as well as Fiberite 934 epoxy resin were quenched from above Tg and given annealing at 140 C, 110 C, or 80 C, for time up to one-hundred thousand minutes. No weight loss was observed during annealing at these temperatures. Significant variations were found in density, modulus, hardness, damping, moisture absorption ability, thermal expansivity. Moisture-epoxy interactious were also studied. The kinetics of aging as well as the molecular aggregation during this densification process were monitored by differential scanning calorimetry, dynamic mechanical analysis, density gradient column, microhardness tester, Instron, and solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Heinemann, K.↗

Inertia-Wheel Vibration-Damping System

Proposed electromechanical system would damp vibrations in large, flexible structure. In active vibration-damping system motors and reaction wheels at tips of appendages apply reaction torques in response to signals from accelerometers. Velocity signal for vibrations about one axis processes into control signal to oppose each of n vibrational modes. Various modes suppressed one at a time. Intended primarily for use in spacecraft that has large, flexible solar panels and science-instrument truss assembly, embodies principle of control interesting in its own right and adaptable to terrestrial structures, vehicles, and instrument platforms.

Fedor, Joseph V.↗

Robust Control Methodology Via Loop Shaping, Root Locus, and Model Reference Control

The paper describes the development of a robust control methodology that can tolerate large uncertainties in plant dynamics in terms of proportional gain variations as well as frequencies and damping. For this to be accomplished, the methodology starts by designing a feedback controller based on a loop shaping technique. The design is then improved by employing a root locus control design approach. Finally, the response of the feedback system is further improved by augmenting the control design using model reference control. The design approach also takes into consideration the speed of the process actuator for a fast response and for high disturbance rejection. Results from two control design examples covered in the paper show that this control approach can tolerate plant proportional gain uncertainty of approximately ± two orders of magnitude with relatively large variations in plant frequencies and damping.

Control Systems↗

Predicting the time-temperature dependent axial failure of B/Al composites

Theoretical and experimental studies are reviewed whose objective was to gain insight into and predict the effects of time, temperature, and stress on the axial failure modes of boron fibers and B/Al composites. Owing to the inelastic nature of boron fiber deformation, it proved possible to develop simple creep functions which can be used to describe accurately the creep and fracture stress of as-produced fibers. Analysis of damping and stress data for B/6061 Al composites indicates that fiber creep and the effects of creep of fiber fracture are measurably reduced by the composite fabrication process.

Dicarlo, J. A.↗

Measurement and characterization of force dynamics in high T(sub c) superconductors

Magnetic bearing implementations using more exotic superconducting phenomena have been proliferating in recent years because they have important advantages over conventional implementations. For example, the stable suspension of a six degrees-of-freedom object by superconducting means can be achieved without a control system and with the use of only a single superconductor. It follows that the construction becomes much simpler with decreased need for position sensors and stabilizers. However, it is recognized that the design of superconducting systems can be difficult because important characteristics relating to the 6 degree-of-freedom dynamics of an object suspended magnetically are not readily available and the underlying principles of superconducting phenomena are not yet completely understood. To eliminate some of the guesswork in the design process, this paper proposes a system which can resolve the mechanical properties of suspension by superconductivity and provide position and orientation dependent data about the system's damping, stiffness, and frequency response characteristics. This system employs an actively-controlled magnetically-suspended fine-motion device that can also be used as a six degree-of-freedom force sensor. By attaching the force sensor to a permanent magnet that is being levitated above a superconducting magnet, mechanical characteristics of the superconductor levitation can be extracted. Such information would prove useful for checking the validity of theoretical models and may even give insights into superconducting phenomena.

Higuchi, Toshiro↗

Processes For Cleaning a Cathode Tube and Assemblies In A Hollow Cathode Assembly

The present invention is a process for cleaning a cathode tube and other subassemblies in a hollow cathode assembly. In the disclosed process, hand covering elastomer gloves are used for handling all cathode assembly parts. The cathode tube and other subassemblies are cleaned with a lint-free cloth damped with acetone, then wiped with alcohol, immersed in ethyl alcohol or acetone, and ultrasonic agitation is applied, heating to 60 C. for ethyl alcohol or 56 C. for acetone. The cathode tube and other subassemblies are dried by blowing with nitrogen gas.

Patterson, Michael J.↗

In-plane current-driven spin-orbit torque switching in perpendicularly magnetized films with enhanced thermal tolerance

Here, we study spin-orbit-torque (SOT)-driven magnetization switching in perpendicularly magnetized Ta/Mo/Co 40 Fe 40 B 20 (CoFeB)/MgO films. The thermal tolerance of the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is enhanced, and the films sustain the PMA at annealing temperatures of up to 430 C, due to the ultra-thin Mo layer inserted between the Ta and CoFeB layers. More importantly, the Mo insertion layer also allows for the transmission of the spin current generated in the Ta layer due to spin Hall effect, which generates a damping-like SOT and is able to switch the perpendicular magnetization. When the Ta layer is replaced by a Pt layer, i.e., in a Pt/Mo/CoFeB/MgO multilayer, the direction of the SOT-induced damping-like effective field becomes opposite because of the opposite sign of spin Hall angle in Pt, which indicates that the SOT-driven switching is dominated by the spin current generated in the Ta or Pt layer rather than the Mo layer. Quantitative characterization through harmonic measurements reveals that the large SOT effective field is preserved for high annealing temperatures. This work provides a route to applying SOT in devices requiring high temperature processing steps during the back-end-of-line processes.

42 ENGINEERING↗

Study of the Alfven eigenmodes stability in CFQS plasma using a Landau closure model

The aim of this study is to analyze the stability of the Alfven eigenmodes (AE) in the Chinese First Quasi-axisymmetric Stellarator (CFQS). The AE stability is calculated using the code FAR3d that solves the reduced MHD equations to describe the linear evolution of the poloidal flux and the toroidal component of the vorticity in a full 3D system, coupled with equations of density and parallel velocity moment for the energetic particles (EP) species including the effect of the helical couplings and acoustic modes. The Landau damping and resonant destabilization effects are added in the model by a given closure relation. The simulation results indicate the destabilization of n = 1 to 4 AEs by EP during the slowing down process, particularly n = 1 and n = 2 toroidal AEs (TAE), n = 3 elliptical AE (EAE) and n = 4 non circular AE (NAE). If the resonance is caused by EPs with an energy above 17 keV (weakly thermalized EP), n = 2 EAEs and n = 3 NAEs are unstable. On the other hand, EPs with an energy below 17 keV (late thermalization stage) lead to the destabilization of n = 3 and n = 4 TAEs. The simulations for an off-axis NBI injection indicate the further destabilization of n = 2 to 4 AEs although the growth rate of the n = 1 AEs slightly decreases, so no clear optimization trend with respect to the NBI deposition region is identified. In addition, n = 2, 4 helical AE (HAE) are unstable above an EP β threshold. Also, if the thermal β of the simulation increases (higher thermal plasma density) the AE stability of the plasma improves. Overall, the simulations including the effect of the finite Larmor radius and electron-ion Landau damping show the stabilization of the n = 1 to 4 EAE/NAEs as well as a decrease of the growth rate and frequency of the n = 1 to 4 BAE/TAEs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Resonant activation in a colored multiplicative thermal noise driven closed system

In this paper, we have demonstrated that resonant activation (RA) is possible even in a thermodynamically closed system where the particle experiences a random force and a spatio-temporal frictional coefficient from the thermal bath. For this stochastic process, we have observed a hallmark of RA phenomena in terms of a turnover behavior of the barrier-crossing rate as a function of noise correlation time at a fixed noise variance. Variance can be fixed either by changing temperature or damping strength as a function of noise correlation time. Our another observation is that the barrier crossing rate passes through a maximum with increase in coupling strength of the multiplicative noise. If the damping strength is appreciably large, then the maximum may disappear. Finally, we compare simulation results with the analytical calculation. It shows that there is a good agreement between analytical and numerical results.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗

Environmental damping and vibrational coupling of confined fluids within isolated carbon nanotubes

Abstract Because of their large surface areas, nanotubes and nanowires demonstrate exquisite mechanical coupling to their surroundings, promising advanced sensors and nanomechanical devices. However, this environmental sensitivity has resulted in several ambiguous observations of vibrational coupling across various experiments. Herein, we demonstrate a temperature-dependent Radial Breathing Mode (RBM) frequency in free-standing, electron-diffraction-assigned Double-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (DWNTs) that shows an unexpected and thermally reversible frequency downshift of 10 to 15%, for systems isolated in vacuum. An analysis based on a harmonic oscillator model assigns the distinctive frequency cusp, produced over 93 scans of 3 distinct DWNTs, along with the hyperbolic trajectory, to a reversible increase in damping from graphitic ribbons on the exterior surface. Strain-dependent coupling from self-tensioned, suspended DWNTs maintains the ratio of spring-to-damping frequencies, producing a stable saturation of RBM in the low-tension limit. In contrast, when the interior of DWNTs is subjected to a water-filling process, the RBM thermal trajectory is altered to that of a Langmuir isobar and elliptical trajectories, allowing measurement of the enthalpy of confined fluid phase change. These mechanisms and quantitative theory provide new insights into the environmental coupling of nanomechanical systems and the implications for devices and nanofluidic conduits.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗

Spacecraft control/flexible structures interaction study

An initial study to begin development of a flight experiment to measure spacecraft control/flexible structure interactions was completed. The approach consisted of developing the equations of motion for a vehicle possessing a flexible solar array, then linearizing about some nominal motion of the craft. A set of solutions is assumed for array deflection using a continuous normal mode method and important parameters are identified. Interrelationships between these parameters, measurement techniques, and input requirements are discussed which assure minimization of special vehicle maneuvers and optimization of data to be obtained during the normal flight sequence. Limited consideration is given to flight data retrieval and processing techniques as correlated with the requirements imposed by the measurement system. Results indicate that inflight measurement of the bending and torsional mode shapes and respective frequencies, and damping ratios, is necessary. Other parameters may be measured from design data.

Kaplan, M. H.↗