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At least 487 records · Page 27

Assumptions and ambiguities in nonplanar acoustic soliton theory

There have been many recent theoretical investigations of the nonlinear evolution of electrostatic modes with cylindrical or spherical symmetry. Through a reductive perturbation analysis based on a quasiplanar stretching, a modified form of the Korteweg-de Vries or related equation is derived, containing an additional term which is linear in the electrostatic potential and singular at time t = 0. Unfortunately, these analyses contain several restrictive assumptions and ambiguities which are normally neither properly explained nor discussed, and severely limit the applicability of the technique. Most glaring are the use of plane-wave stretchings, the assumption that shape-preserving cylindrical modes can exist and that, although time is homogeneous, the origin of time (which can be chosen arbitrarily) needs to be avoided. Hence, only in the domain where the nonlinear modes are quasiplanar, far from the axis of cylindrical or from the origin of spherical symmetry can acceptable but unexciting results be obtained. Nonplanar nonlinear modes are clearly an interesting topic of research, as some of these phenomena have been observed in experiments. However, it is argued that a proper study of such modes needs numerical simulations rather than ill-suited analytical approximations.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Synchronization and an application of a novel fractional order King Cobra chaotic system

In this paper, we design a new three dimensional King Cobra face shaped fractional order chaotic system. The multi-scale synchronization scheme of two fractional order chaotic systems is described. The necessary conditions for the multi-scale synchronization of two identical fractional order King Cobra chaotic systems are derived through feedback control. A new cryptosystem is proposed for an image encryption and decryption by using synchronized fractional order King Cobra chaotic systems with the supports of multiple cryptographic assumptions. The security of the proposed cryptosystem is analyzed by the well known algebraic attacks. Numerical simulations are given to show the effectiveness of the proposed theoretical results.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Circular dichroism in a three-dimensional semiconductor chiral photonic crystal

Circular dichroism covering the telecommunication band is experimentally demonstrated in a semiconductor-based three-dimensional chiral photonic crystal (PhC). We design a rotationally stacked woodpile PhC structure where neighboring layers are rotated by 60° and three layers construct a single helical unit. The mirror-asymmetric PhC made from GaAs with sub-micron periodicity is fabricated by a micro-manipulation technique. Due to the large contrast of refractive indices between GaAs and air, the experimentally obtained circular dichroism extends over a wide wavelength range, with the transmittance of right-handed circularly polarized incident light being 85% and that of left-handed light being 15% at a wavelength of 1.3 μm. The obtained results show good agreement with numerical simulations.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Nonlinear dynamics of mini-satellite respinup by weak internal controllable torques

Contemporary space engineering advanced new problem before theoretical mechanics and motion control theory: a spacecraft directed respinup by the weak restricted control internal forces. The paper presents some results on this problem, which is very actual for energy supply of information mini-satellites (for communication, geodesy, radio- and opto-electronic observation of the Earth et al.) with electro-reaction plasma thrusters and gyro moment cluster based on the reaction wheels or the control moment gyros. The solution achieved is based on the methods for synthesis of nonlinear robust control and on rigorous analytical proof for the required spacecraft rotation stability by Lyapunov function method. These results were verified by a computer simulation of strongly nonlinear oscillatory processes at respinuping of a flexible spacecraft.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Fidelity imaging for atomic force microscopy

Atomic force microscopy is widely employed for imaging material at the nanoscale. However, real-time measures on image reliability are lacking in contemporary atomic force microscopy literature. In this article, we present a real-time technique that provides an image of fidelity for a high bandwidth dynamic mode imaging scheme. The fidelity images define channels that allow the user to have additional authority over the choice of decision threshold that facilitates where the emphasis is desired, on discovering most true features on the sample with the possible detection of high number of false features, or emphasizing minimizing instances of false detections. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of fidelity imaging.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Designing of sparse 2D arrays for Lamb wave imaging using coarray concept

2D ultrasonic arrays have considerable application potential in Lamb wave based SHM systems, since they enable equivocal damage imaging and even in some cases wave-mode selection. Recently, it has been shown that the 2D arrays can be used in SHM applications in a synthetic focusing (SF) mode, which is much more effective than the classical phase array mode commonly used in NDT. The SF mode assumes a single element excitation of subsequent transmitters and off-line processing the acquired data. In the simplest implementation of the technique, only single multiplexed input and output channels are required, which results in significant hardware simplification. Application of the SF mode for 2D arrays creates additional degrees of freedom during the design of the array topology, which complicates the array design process, however, it enables sparse array designs with performance similar to that of the fully populated dense arrays. In this paper we present the coarray concept to facilitate synthesis process of an array’s aperture used in the multistatic synthetic focusing approach in Lamb waves-based imaging systems. In the coherent imaging, performed in the transmit/receive mode, the sum coarray is a morphological convolution of the transmit/receive sub-arrays. It can be calculated as the set of sums of the individual sub-arrays’ elements locations. The coarray framework will be presented here using a an example of a star-shaped array. The approach will be discussed in terms of beampatterns of the resulting imaging systems. Both simulated and experimental results will be included.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Electromagnetic wave attenuation measurements in a ring-shaped inductively coupled air plasma

An aerocraft with the surface, inlet and radome covered large-area inductive coupled plasma (ICP) can attenuate its radar echo effectively. The shape, thickness, and electron density (N{sub e}) distribution of ICP are critical to electromagnetic wave attenuation. In the paper, an air all-quartz ICP generator in size of 20 × 20 × 7 cm{sup 3} without magnetic confinement is designed. The discharge results show that the ICP is amorphous in E-mode and ring-shaped in H-mode. The structure of ICP stratifies into core region and edge halo in H-mode, and its width and thickness changes from power and pressure. Such phenomena are explained by the distribution of RF magnetic field, the diffusion of negative ions plasma and the variation of skin depth. In addition, the theoretical analysis shows that the N{sub e} achieves nearly uniform within the electronegative core and sharply steepens in the edge. The N{sub e} of core region is diagnosed by microwave interferometer under varied conditions (pressure in range of 10–50 Pa, power in 300–700 W). Furthermore, the electromagnetic wave attenuation measurements were carried out with the air ICP in the frequencies of 4–5 GHz. The results show that the interspaced ICP is still effective to wave attenuation, and the wave attenuation increases with the power and pressure. The measured attenuation is approximately in accordance with the calculation data of finite-different time-domain simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Simulation of the dissipated and stored energy under deformation and failure of metallic materials

This work is devoted to the development of the statistical model of the structural defect evolution which was developed at the Institute of continuous media mechanics UB RAS. This model takes into account stochastic properties of the defect evolution process, nonlinear interaction of defects, and connection between microplasticity and damage accumulation. The obtained constitutive equations allow us to propose a model of the energy storage and dissipation in the process of plastic deformation and failure of metallic materials. The obtained relations were adapted for standard finite-element package. Applicability of this model was demonstrated in three-dimensional simulation of the strain localization and crack propagation in metals.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Field emission from optimized structure of carbon nanotube field emitter array

The authors report a detail study on the emission properties of field emitter array (FEA) of micro-circular emitters of multiwall carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The FEAs were fabricated on patterned substrates prepared with an array of circular titanium (Ti) islands on titanium nitride coated tantalum substrates. CNTs were rooted into these Ti islands to prepare an array of circular emitters. The circular emitters were prepared in different diameters and pitches in order to optimize their structure for acquiring a high emission current. The pitch was varied from 0 to 600 μm, while a diameter of circular emitters was kept constant to be 50 μm in order to optimize a pitch. For diameter optimization, a diameter was changed from 50 to 200 μm while keeping a constant edge-to-edge distance of 150 μm between the circular emitters. The FEA with a diameter of 50 μm and a pitch of 120 μm was found to be the best to achieve an emission current of 47 mA corresponding to an effective current density of 30.5 A/cm{sup 2} at 7 V/μm. The excellent emission current was attributed to good quality of CNT rooting into the substrate and optimized FEA structure, which provided a high electric field on a whole circular emitter of 50 μm and the best combination of the strong edge effect and CNT coverage. The experimental results were confirmed with computer simulation.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Laser pulse self-compression in an active fibre with a finite gain bandwidth under conditions of a nonstationary nonlinear response

We study the influence of a nonstationary nonlinear response of a medium on self-compression of soliton-like laser pulses in active fibres with a finite gain bandwidth. Based on the variational approach, we qualitatively analyse the self-action of the wave packet in the system under consideration in order to classify the main evolution regimes and to determine the minimum achievable laser pulse duration during self-compression. The existence of stable soliton-type structures is shown in the framework of the parabolic approximation of the gain profile (in the approximation of the Gnizburg – Landau equation). An analysis of the self-action of laser pulses in the framework of the nonlinear Schrödinger equation with a sign-constant gain profile demonstrate a qualitative change in the dynamics of the wave field in the case of a nonstationary nonlinear response that shifts the laser pulse spectrum from the amplification region and stops the pulse compression. Expressions for a minimum duration of a soliton-like laser pulse are obtained as a function of the problem parameters, which are in good agreement with the results of numerical simulation. (paper)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Line-driven disk winds in active galactic nuclei: The critical importance of ionization and radiative transfer

Accretion disk winds are thought to produce many of the characteristic features seen in the spectra of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) and quasi-stellar objects (QSOs). These outflows also represent a natural form of feedback between the central supermassive black hole and its host galaxy. The mechanism for driving this mass loss remains unknown, although radiation pressure mediated by spectral lines is a leading candidate. Here, we calculate the ionization state of, and emergent spectra for, the hydrodynamic simulation of a line-driven disk wind previously presented by Proga and Kallman. To achieve this, we carry out a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation of the radiative transfer through, and energy exchange within, the predicted outflow. We find that the wind is much more ionized than originally estimated. This is in part because it is much more difficult to shield any wind regions effectively when the outflow itself is allowed to reprocess and redirect ionizing photons. As a result, the calculated spectrum that would be observed from this particular outflow solution would not contain the ultraviolet spectral lines that are observed in many AGN/QSOs. Furthermore, the wind is so highly ionized that line driving would not actually be efficient. This does not necessarily mean that line-driven winds are not viable. However, our work does illustrate that in order to arrive at a self-consistent model of line-driven disk winds in AGN/QSO, it will be critical to include a more detailed treatment of radiative transfer and ionization in the next generation of hydrodynamic simulations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS OF HELICITY CONDENSATION IN THE SOLAR CORONA

The helicity condensation model has been proposed by Antiochos to explain the observed smoothness of coronal loops and the observed buildup of magnetic shear at filament channels. The basic hypothesis of the model is that magnetic reconnection in the corona causes the magnetic stress injected by photospheric motions to collect only at those special locations where prominences are observed to form. In this work we present the first detailed quantitative MHD simulations of the reconnection evolution proposed by the helicity condensation model. We use the well-known ansatz of modeling the closed corona as an initially uniform field between two horizontal photospheric plates. The system is driven by applying photospheric rotational flows that inject magnetic helicity into the corona. The flows are confined to a finite region on the photosphere so as to mimic the finite flux system of a bipolar active region, for example. The calculations demonstrate that, contrary to common belief, opposite helicity twists do not lead to significant reconnection in such a coronal system, whereas twists with the same sense of helicity do produce substantial reconnection. Furthermore, we find that for a given amount of helicity injected into the corona, the evolution of the magnetic shear is insensitive to whether the pattern of driving photospheric motions is fixed or quasi-random. In all cases, the shear propagates via reconnection to the boundary of the flow region while the total magnetic helicity is conserved, as predicted by the model. We discuss the implications of our results for solar observations and for future, more realistic simulations of the helicity condensation process.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Cool core cycles: cold gas and AGN jet feedback in cluster cores

Using high-resolution 3D and 2D (axisymmetric) hydrodynamic simulations in spherical geometry, we study the evolution of cool cluster cores heated by feedback-driven bipolar active galactic nuclei (AGNs) jets. Condensation of cold gas, and the consequent enhanced accretion, is required for AGN feedback to balance radiative cooling with reasonable efficiencies, and to match the observed cool core properties. A feedback efficiency (mechanical luminosity ≈ ϵ M-dot {sub acc}c{sup 2}; where M-dot {sub acc} is the mass accretion rate at 1 kpc) as small as 6 × 10{sup −5} is sufficient to reduce the cooling/accretion rate by ∼10 compared to a pure cooling flow in clusters (with M{sub 200}≲7×10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙}). This value is much smaller compared to the ones considered earlier, and is consistent with the jet efficiency and the fact that only a small fraction of gas at 1 kpc is accreted onto the supermassive black hole (SMBH). The feedback efficiency in earlier works was so high that the cluster core reached equilibrium in a hot state without much precipitation, unlike what is observed in cool-core clusters. We find hysteresis cycles in all our simulations with cold mode feedback: condensation of cold gas when the ratio of the cooling-time to the free-fall time (t{sub cool}/t{sub ff}) is ≲10 leads to a sudden enhancement in the accretion rate; a large accretion rate causes strong jets and overheating of the hot intracluster medium such that t{sub cool}/t{sub ff}>10; further condensation of cold gas is suppressed and the accretion rate falls, leading to slow cooling of the core and condensation of cold gas, restarting the cycle. Therefore, there is a spread in core properties, such as the jet power, accretion rate, for the same value of core entropy or t{sub cool}/t{sub ff}. A smaller number of cycles is observed for higher efficiencies and for lower mass halos because the core is overheated to a longer cooling time. The 3D simulations show the formation of a few-kpc scale, rotationally supported, massive (∼10{sup 11} M{sub ⊙}) cold gas torus. Since the torus gas is not accreted onto the SMBH, it is largely decoupled from the feedback cycle. The radially dominant cold gas (T < 5 × 10{sup 4} K; |v{sub r}|>|v{sub ϕ}|) consists of fast cold gas uplifted by AGN jets and freely infalling cold gas condensing out of the core. The radially dominant cold gas extends out to 25 kpc for the fiducial run (halo mass 7×10{sup 14} M{sub ⊙} and feedback efficiency 6 × 10{sup −5}), with the average mass inflow rate dominating the outflow rate by a factor of ≈2. We compare our simulation results with recent observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Effects of uncertainties in simulations of extragalactic UHECR propagation, using CRPropa and SimProp

The results of simulations of extragalactic propagation of ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) have intrinsic uncertainties due to poorly known physical quantities and approximations used in the codes. We quantify the uncertainties in the simulated UHECR spectrum and composition due to different models of extragalactic background light (EBL), different photodisintegration setups, approximations concerning photopion production and the use of different simulation codes. We discuss the results for several representative source scenarios with proton, nitrogen or iron at injection. For this purpose we used SimProp and CRPropa, two publicly available codes for Monte Carlo simulations of UHECR propagation. CRPropa is a detailed and extensive simulation code, while SimProp aims to achieve acceptable results using a simpler code. We show that especially the choices for the EBL model and the photodisintegration setup can have a considerable impact on the simulated UHECR spectrum and composition.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

COUNTER-ROTATION IN RELATIVISTIC MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC JETS

Young stellar object observations suggest that some jets rotate in the opposite direction with respect to their disk. In a recent study, Sauty et al. showed that this does not contradict the magnetocentrifugal mechanism that is believed to launch such outflows. Motion signatures that are transverse to the jet axis, in two opposite directions, have recently been measured in M87. One possible interpretation of this motion is that of counter-rotating knots. Here, we extend our previous analytical derivation of counter-rotation to relativistic jets, demonstrating that counter-rotation can indeed take place under rather general conditions. We show that both the magnetic field and a non-negligible enthalpy are necessary at the origin of counter-rotating outflows, and that the effect is associated with a transfer of energy flux from the matter to the electromagnetic field. This can be realized in three cases: if a decreasing enthalpy causes an increase of the Poynting flux, if the flow decelerates, or if strong gradients of the magnetic field are present. An illustration of the involved mechanism is given by an example of a relativistic magnetohydrodynamic jet simulation.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

EVIDENCE OF FAST PEBBLE GROWTH NEAR CONDENSATION FRONTS IN THE HL TAU PROTOPLANETARY DISK

Water and simple organic molecular ices dominate the mass of solid materials available for planetesimal and planet formation beyond the water snow line. Here we analyze ALMA long baseline 2.9, 1.3 and 0.87 mm continuum images of the young star HL Tau, and suggest that the emission dips observed are due to rapid pebble growth around the condensation fronts of abundant volatile species. Specifically, we show that the prominent innermost dip at 13 AU is spatially resolved in the 0.87 mm image, and its center radius is coincident with the expected mid-plane condensation front of water ice. In addition, two other prominent dips, at distances of 32 and 63 AU, cover the mid-plane condensation fronts of pure ammonia or ammonia hydrates and clathrate hydrates (especially with CO and N{sub 2}) formed from amorphous water ice. The spectral index map of HL Tau between 1.3 and 0.87 mm shows that the flux ratios inside the dips are statistically larger than those of nearby regions in the disk. This variation can be explained by a model with two dust populations, where most of the solid mass resides in a component that has grown to decimeter size scales inside the dips. Such growth is in accord with recent numerical simulations of volatile condensation, dust coagulation, and settling.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Atomic bonding effects in annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy. I. Computational predictions

Annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM) image simulations were performed for zone-axis-oriented light-element single crystals, using a multislice method adapted to include charge redistribution due to chemical bonding. Examination of these image simulations alongside calculations of the propagation of the focused electron probe reveal that the evolution of the probe intensity with thickness exhibits significant sensitivity to interatomic charge transfer, accounting for observed thickness-dependent bonding sensitivity of contrast in all ADF-STEM imaging conditions. Because changes in image contrast relative to conventional neutral atom simulations scale directly with the net interatomic charge transfer, the strongest effects are seen in crystals with highly polar bonding, while no effects are seen for nonpolar bonding. Although the bonding dependence of ADF-STEM image contrast varies with detector geometry, imaging parameters, and material temperature, these simulations predict the bonding effects to be experimentally measureable.

42 ENGINEERING↗

GPU-based prompt gamma ray imaging from boron neutron capture therapy

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to perform the fast reconstruction of a prompt gamma ray image using a graphics processing unit (GPU) computation from boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) simulations. Methods: To evaluate the accuracy of the reconstructed image, a phantom including four boron uptake regions (BURs) was used in the simulation. After the Monte Carlo simulation of the BNCT, the modified ordered subset expectation maximization reconstruction algorithm using the GPU computation was used to reconstruct the images with fewer projections. The computation times for image reconstruction were compared between the GPU and the central processing unit (CPU). Also, the accuracy of the reconstructed image was evaluated by a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. Results: The image reconstruction time using the GPU was 196 times faster than the conventional reconstruction time using the CPU. For the four BURs, the area under curve values from the ROC curve were 0.6726 (A-region), 0.6890 (B-region), 0.7384 (C-region), and 0.8009 (D-region). Conclusions: The tomographic image using the prompt gamma ray event from the BNCT simulation was acquired using the GPU computation in order to perform a fast reconstruction during treatment. The authors verified the feasibility of the prompt gamma ray image reconstruction using the GPU computation for BNCT simulations.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗