Suppressing Fermi acceleration in a two-dimensional non-integrable time-dependent oval-shaped billiard with inelastic collisions

Some dynamical properties of a classical particle confined inside a closed region with an oval-shaped boundary are studied. We have considered both the static and time-dependent boundaries. For the static case, the condition that destroys the invariant spanning curves in the phase space was obtained. For the time-dependent perturbation, two situations were considered: (i) non-dissipative and (ii) dissipative. For the non-dissipative case, our results show that Fermi acceleration is observed. When dissipation, via inelastic collisions, is introduced Fermi acceleration is suppressed. The behaviour of the average velocity for both the dissipative as well as the non-dissipative dynamics is described using the scaling approach.     

Mechanism of Fermi acceleration in dispersing billiards with time-dependent boundaries

The paper is devoted to the problem of Fermi acceleration in Lorentz-type dispersing billiards whose boundaries depend on time in a certain way. Two cases of boundary oscillations are considered: the stochastic case, when a boundary changes following a random function, and a regular case with a boundary varied according to a harmonic law. Analytic calculations show that the Fermi acceleration takes place in such systems. The first and second moments of the velocity increment of a billiard particle, alongside the mean velocity in a particle ensemble as a function of time and number of collisions, have been investigated. Velocity distributions of particles have been obtained. Analytic and numerical calculations have been compared. Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 116, 1781–1797 (November 1999)     

Boundary crisis and suppression of Fermi acceleration in a dissipative two-dimensional non-integrable time-dependent billiard

Some dynamical properties for a dissipative time-dependent oval-shaped billiard are studied. The system is described in terms of a four-dimensional nonlinear mapping. Dissipation is introduced via inelastic collisions of the particle with the boundary, thus implying that the particle has a fractional loss of energy upon collision. The dissipation causes profound modifications in the dynamics of the particle as well as in the phase space of the non-dissipative system. In particular, inelastic collisions can be assumed as an efficient mechanism to suppress Fermi acceleration of the particle. The dissipation also creates attractors in the system, including chaotic. We show that a slightly modification of the intensity of the damping coefficient yields a drastic and sudden destruction of the chaotic attractor, thus leading the system to experience a boundary crisis. We have characterized such a boundary crisis via a collision of the chaotic attractor with its own basin of attraction and confirmed that inelastic collisions do indeed suppress Fermi acceleration in two-dimensional time-dependent billiards.     

Electron distribution function in a weakly ionized He-Hg mixture

The electron energy distribution functions for He-Hg mixture in a uniform electric field are calculated for differentE/N and relative mercury concentration? from fundamental cross-section data. The Boltzmann equation is applied considering the elastic and inelastic collisions of electrons with neutrals of the both components. From these distributions and elastic collision cross-section (for He and Hg) drift velocity, diffusion coefficient and mean electron energy are computed. The electron energy losses in elastic and inelastic collisions over the considered region of the parameters are discussed.     

From single- to multiple-soliton solutions of the perturbed KdV equation

The solution of the perturbed KdV equation (PKDVE), when the zero-order approximation is a multiple-soliton wave, is constructed as a sum of two components: elastic and inelastic. The elastic component preserves the elastic nature of soliton collisions. Its perturbation series is identical in structure to the series-solution of the PKDVE when the zero-order approximation is a single soliton. The inelastic component exists only in the multiple-soliton case, and emerges from the first order and onwards. Depending on initial data or boundary conditions, it may contain, in every order, a plethora of inelastic processes. Examples are given of sign-exchange soliton-anti-soliton scattering, soliton-anti-soliton creation or annihilation, soliton decay or merging, and inelastic soliton deflection. The analysis has been carried out through third order in the expansion parameter, exploiting the freedom in the expansion to its fullest extent. Both elastic and inelastic components do not modify soliton parameters beyond their values in the zero-order approximation. When the PKDVE is not asymptotically integrable, the new expansion scheme transforms it into a system of two equations: The Normal Form for ordinary KdV solitons, and an auxiliary equation describing the contribution of obstacles to asymptotic integrability to the inelastic component. Through the orders studied, the solution of the latter is a conserved quantity, which contains the dispersive wave that has been observed in previous works.     

Scaling of dynamical properties of the Fermi-Ulam accelerator

We investigate numerically the chaotic sea of the complete Fermi-Ulam model (FUM) and of its simplified version (SFUM). We perform a scaling analysis near the integrable to non-integrable transition to describe the average energy as function of time t and as function of iteration (or collision) number n. When t is employed as independent variable, the exponents of FUM and SFUM are different. However, when n is used, the exponents are the same for both FUM and SFUM. In the collision number analysis, we present analytical arguments supporting the values of the exponents related to the control paramenter and to the initial velocity. We describe also how the scaling exponents obtained by using t as independent variable are related to the ones obtained with n. In contrast to SFUM, the average energy in FUM saturates for long times. We discuss the origin of the observed differences and similarities between FUM and its simplified version.     

Phase memory effects in probe-field spectroscopy of two-level systems at low collision frequencies

The absorption (amplification) spectrum of a weak probe field by two-level atoms located in a strong resonant laser field and colliding with buffer-gas atoms is analyzed theoretically. The analysis is performed for low collision frequencies compared to the Doppler absorption linewidth (low gas pressure) and with allowance made for an arbitrary change in the phase of the radiation-induced dipole moment at elastic collisions between gas particles. The phase memory effects have been found to lead to a strong qualitative and quantitative transformation of the probe-field spectrum even at rare collisions, when the well-known Dicke manifestation mechanism of the phase memory effects (the removal of Doppler broadening due to the restriction of the spatial particle motion by collisions) is inoperative. The strong influence of the phase memory effects on the spectral resonances at low gas pressures stems from the fact that the phase-conserving collisions change the velocity dependence of the partial refractive index n(v) (the refractive index for particles moving with velocity v).     

A family of crisis in a dissipative Fermi accelerator model

The Fermi accelerator model is studied in the framework of inelastic collisions. The dynamics of this problem is obtained by use of a two-dimensional nonlinear area-contracting map. We consider that the collisions of the particle with both periodically time varying and fixed walls are inelastic. We have shown that the dissipation destroys the mixed phase space structure of the nondissipative case and in special, we have obtained and characterized in this problem a family of two damping coefficients for which a boundary crisis occurs.     

Decay of energy and suppression of Fermi acceleration in a dissipative driven stadium-like billiard

The behavior of the average energy for an ensemble of non-interacting particles is studied using scaling arguments in a dissipative time-dependent stadium-like billiard. The dynamics of the system is described by a four dimensional nonlinear mapping. The dissipation is introduced via inelastic collisions between the particles and the moving boundary. For different combinations of initial velocities and damping coefficients, the long time dynamics of the particles leads them to reach different states of final energy and to visit different attractors, which change as the dissipation is varied. The decay of the average energy of the particles, which is observed for a large range of restitution coefficients and different initial velocities, is described using scaling arguments. Since this system exhibits unlimited energy growth in the absence of dissipation, our results for the dissipative case give support to the principle that Fermi acceleration seems not to be a robust phenomenon.     

Hydrodynamic model for particle size segregation in granular media

We present a hydrodynamic theoretical model for “Brazil nut” size segregation in granular materials. We give analytical solutions for the rise velocity of a large intruder particle immersed in a medium of monodisperse fluidized small particles. We propose a new mechanism for this particle size-segregation due to buoyant forces caused by density variations which come from differences in the local “granular temperature”. The mobility of the particles is modified by the energy dissipation due to inelastic collisions and this leads to a different behavior from what one would expect for an elastic system. Using our model we can explain the size ratio dependence of the upward velocity.     

Stochastic particle acceleration in multiple magnetic islands during reconnection

A nonthermal particle acceleration mechanism involving the interaction of a charged particle with multiple magnetic islands is proposed. The original Fermi acceleration model, which assumes randomly distributed magnetic clouds moving at random velocity V(c) in the interstellar medium, is known to be of second-order acceleration of O(V(c)/c)(2) owing to the combination of head-on and head-tail collisions. In this Letter, we reconsider the original Fermi model by introducing multiple magnetic islands during reconnection instead of magnetic clouds. We discuss that the energetic particles have a tendency to be distributed outside the magnetic islands, and they mainly interact with reconnection outflow jets. As a result, the acceleration efficiency becomes first order of O(V(A)/c), where V(A) and c are the Alfvén velocity and the speed of light, respectively.     

Two-component description of dynamical systems that can be approximated by solitons: The case of the ion acoustic wave equations of plasma physics

A new approach to the perturbative analysis of dynamical systems, which can be described approximately by soliton solutions of integrable non-linear wave equations, is employed in the case of small-amplitude solutions of the ion acoustic wave equations of plasma physics. Instead of pursuing the traditional derivation of a perturbed KdV equation, the ion velocity is written as a sum of two components: elastic and inelastic. In the single-soliton case, the elastic component is the full solution. In the multiple-soliton case, it is complemented by the inelastic component. The original system is transformed into two evolution equations: An asymptotically integrable Normal Form for ordinary KdV solitons, and an equation for the inelastic component. The zero-order term of the elastic component is a single-soliton or multiple-soliton solution of the Normal Form. The inelastic component asymptotes into a linear combination of single-soliton solutions of the Normal Form, with amplitudes determined by soliton interactions, plus a second-order decaying dispersive wave. Satisfaction of a conservation law by the inelastic component and of mass conservation by the disturbance to the ion density is determined solely by the initial data and/or boundary conditions imposed on the inelastic component. The electrostatic potential is a first-order quantity. It is affected by the inelastic component only in second order. The charge density displays a triple-layer structure. The analysis is carried out through the third order.     

Relative contribution of various factors to the formation of the energy spectrum of fast, medium-energy, charged particles and ions transmitted through a thin target with fluctuations of the target thickness

The characteristics of the energy spectra of kiloelectron-volt protons transmitted through a free-standing foil are investigated theoretically and experimentally as functions of the angle of incidence of the beam on the target. Analytical expressions for the average characteristics of the transmitted-particle energy spectrum are determined for the case of small-angle scattering. The combined influence of various factors affecting the formation of the energy spectra is taken into account: systematic stopping of particles in the medium, fluctuations of the particle energy losses in inelastic collisions, bending of the particle trajectories due to multiple elastic scattering, and fluctuations of the target thickness. It is shown that the contributions of these factors to the width of the transmitted-particle energy spectrum depend differently on the angle of incidence of the beam on the target surface. On the basis of this differentiation it is inferred from the experimental dependence of the width of the energy spectra of kiloelectron-volt protons transmitted through a free-standing foil on the angle of incidence of the beam that fluctuations of the particle energy losses in inelastic collisions are the predominant factor in the formation of the proton energy spectra. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 67, 81–93 (May 1997)     

Heated granular fluids: The random restitution coefficient approach

We introduce the model of inelastic hard spheres with random restitution coefficient α, in order to account for the fact that, in a vertically shaken granular system interacting elastically with the vibrating boundary, the energy injected vertically is transferred to the horizontal degrees of freedom through collisions only, which leads to heating through collisions, i.e. to inelastic horizontal collisions with an effective restitution coefficient that can be larger than 1. This allows the system to reach a non-equilibrium steady state, where we focus, in particular, on the single-particle velocity distribution f (v) in the horizontal plane, and on its deviation from a Maxwellian. Molecular Dynamics simulations and Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) show that, depending on the distribution of α, different shapes of f (v) can be obtained, with very different high-energy tails. Moreover, the fourth cumulant of the velocity distribution quantifying the deviations from Gaussian statistics is obtained analytically from the Boltzmann equation and successfully tested against the simulations. Received 24 November 2000 and Received in final form 8 February 2001     

Damage zone produced by the bombardment of stainless steel using Ti nitride PVD coatings

This paper presents the damage zone and defects produced by TiN thin film deposition on stainless steel using DC magnetron sputtering to produce collisions between the TiN ions and the substrate. The PVD process used a low operative pressure, reducing the bombardment damage on the substrate, in comparison with other methods.Internal friction (IF) and elastic modulus measurements were carried out in TiN-PVD coated AISI 304 stainless steel, using a sub-resonant torsion pendulum (f ≅ 1 Hz) and a vibrant-reed instrument (f ≅ 10³ Hz). Some experiments showed several internal friction peaks, which are attributed to dislocation relaxation and to martensitic transformation from γ to α′. The characterization was carried out with X-ray, AFM and SEM. Analysis of X-ray peaks indicates a residual deformation in the order of 0.0005-0.0009 for γ-phase and 0.0006-0.00204 for α′-phase. Two methods are presented to determine the adhesion energy by IF in coated materials: for the first the enthalpy is determined by means of isochronal IF measurements, while for the second it is determined using isothermal measurements. These produce an image of damage caused by the bombardment on the substrate, especially of the residual defects.     

Fluctuations of trading volume in a stock market

We consider the probability distribution function of the trading volume and the volume changes in the Korean stock market. The probability distribution function of the trading volume shows double peaks and follows a power law, P(V/〈V〉)∼(V/〈V〉)^−α at the tail part of the distribution with α=4.15(4) for the KOSPI (Korea composite Stock Price Index) and α=4.22(2) for the KOSDAQ (Korea Securities Dealers Automated Quotations), where V is the trading volume and 〈V〉 is the monthly average value of the trading volume. The second peaks originate from the increasing trends of the average volume. The probability distribution function of the volume changes also follows a power law, , where V_r=V(t)−V(t−T) and T is a time lag. The exponents β depend on the time lag T. We observe that the exponents β for the KOSDAQ are larger than those for the KOSPI.     

Mixture of ultracold lithium and cesium atoms in an optical dipole trap

We present the first simultaneous trapping of two different ultracold atomic species in a conservative trap. Lithium and cesium atoms are stored in an optical dipole trap formed by the focus of a CO₂ laser. Techniques for loading both species of atoms are discussed and observations of elastic and inelastic collisions between the two species are presented. A model for sympathetic cooling of two species with strongly different mass in the presence of slow evaporation is developed. From the observed Cs-induced evaporation of Li atoms we estimate a cross-section for cold elastic Li-Cs collisions. Received: 1 August 2001 / Published online: 23 November 2001     

Dynamic behavior of non-uniform granular gases system with the fractal characteristic in one dimension

A one-dimensional dynamic model of polydisperse granular mixture with a power-law size distribution is presented, in which the particles are subject to inelastic mutual collisions and driven by Gaussian white noise. The particle size distribution of the mixture has the fractal characteristic, and a fractal dimension D as a measurement of the inhomogeneity of the particle size distribution is introduced. We define the global granular temperature and the kinetic pressure of the mixture, and obtain their expressions. By molecular dynamics simulations, we have mainly investigated how the inhomogeneity of the particle size distribution and the inelasticity of collisions influence the steady-state dynamic properties of the system, focusing on the global granular temperature, kinetic pressure, velocity distribution and distribution of interparticle spacing. Some novel results are found that, with the increase of the fractal dimension D, the global granular temperature and the kinetic pressure decrease, the velocity distribution deviates more obviously from the Gaussian one and the particles cluster more pronouncedly at the same value of the restitution coefficient e (0<e<1). On the other hand, as the restitution coefficient e decreases, the dynamic behavior has the similar evolution as above at the fixed fractal dimension D. The dynamic behavior changing with e and D is, respectively, presented.     

On symmetric breather collisions in lattices with saturable nonlinearity

Symmetric collisions of two discrete breathers in the lattice with saturable nonlinearity are investigated. The strong correlation of the collision properties and the parameters of colliding breathers (power, velocity, and phase difference), lattice parameters and position of the collision point is found. This is related to the internal structure of the colliding breathers and energy exchange with the phonon background. The type of collision changes from elastic to the inelastic (the breathers merging, multi-bounce interactions, breather creation etc.) with the increasing of the colliding breather power. Collision of high power breathers always results in the breather fusion. The elastic and inelastic collisions are related to the periodic and quasi-periodic colliding breathers, respectively.     

Effect of shell structure on energy dissipation in heavy-ion collisions

The effect of shell structure on the distribution of the excitation energy between fragments of the deep inelastic collisions is analysed in the microscopic approach. It is shown that the density of the single-particle levels of the proton and neutron subsystems near the Fermi surface determines the ratio between the excitation energies of fragments at the initial stage of the collision. It is shown also that the shell structure strongly influences the correlations between the width of the charge distributions and the total kinetic energy losses. Calculations are performed for the ^40,48Ca+²⁴⁸Cm reactions. The results obtained suggest a possible interpretation for the observed concentration of the excitation energy in the light fragment in deep inelastic collisions for a wide range of the total kinetic energy losses. Received: 27 July 1999 / Accepted: 29 March 2000