Drop formation by thermal fluctuations at an ultralow surface tension

We present experimental evidence that drop breakup is caused by thermal noise in a system with a surface tension that is more than 10(6) times smaller than that of water. We observe that at very small scales classical hydrodynamics breaks down and the characteristic signatures of pinch-off due to thermal noise are observed. Surprisingly, the noise makes the drop size distribution more uniform, by suppressing the formation of satellite droplets of the smallest sizes. The crossover between deterministic hydrodynamic motion and stochastic thermally driven motion has repercussions for our understanding of small-scale hydrodynamics, important in many problems such as micro- or nanofluidics and interfacial singularities.     

Elastic wave thermal fluctuations,ultrasonic waveforms by correlation of thermal phonons

It is widely recognized that acoustic degrees of freedom coupled to a thermal bath have amplitudes which fluctuate with a mean square proportional to temperature; this is the basis for the Debye theory of the heat capacity of insulating solids. It is shown here that these elastic wave thermal phonons have correlation functions identical to the system's ultrasonic Green's function, and furthermore that thermal noise in ultrasonic detectors should have correlation functions equivalent to conventional waveforms obtained by active transmission and reception. This suggests the possibility of doing ultrasonics without a source. Theory for the identity is presented, and several room temperature laboratory confirmations are conducted in the frequency range 0.1-1.0 MHz. The thermal nature of the origin of these correlations is established by comparing their strength with theoretical expectations. Applications are discussed.     

Dynamics of thin fluid films controlled by thermal fluctuations

The European Physical Journal Special Topics - We consider the influence of thermal fluctuations on the dynamics of thin fluid films in two regimes. Working within the stochastic lubrication...     

Shear-excited sound in magnetic fluid

Perceptible sound is shown to be excited in ferrofluids by the shear motion of a rigid plate, if the fluid is exposed to a magnetic field oblique both to the plate and to the direction of propagation. This is in contrast to other fluids, including anisotropic ones such as nematic liquids.     

Collective effects accompanying magnetization of two-dimensional lattices of nanosize magnetic particles

Collective effects arising in a two-dimensional lattice of nanosize magnetic particles as a result of the dipole interparticle interaction are investigated by Hall magnetometry. The experimental system consists of 10⁵ permalloy particles having a diameter of ∼40 nm and a height of ∼40 nm and forming a lattice with a rectangular unit cell (90 nm×180 nm). We attribute the characteristic features observed in the magnetization curves to quasi-one-dimensionality of the experimental lattice of particles and to the formation of solitons in chains of dipoles. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 6, 475–479 (25 September 1998)     

Transient dipolar sound wave in a viscous compressible fluid

The dipolar sound wave generated by a sudden impulse in an unbounded viscous compressible fluid is studied on the basis of the linearized Navier-Stokes equations. Due to viscosity the spherical wavefront is diffuse with a width which grows with the square root of time. The wavefront is followed by a spherical shell of static potential flow. The shell itself surrounds an expanding spherical region of viscous flow. At long times the energy in each of the three regions is of comparable magnitude, and decays with a t^−3/2 power law.     

On the scattering of sound by a magnetic field in a MHD fluid

We investigate the effect of a localized magnetic field on the propagation of sound in an infinite fluid described by the magnetohydrodynamic equations (MHD). An externally imposed magnetic field will scatter an acoustic wave, and the scattered wave is related to the spatial structure of the magnetic field. Measuring it is thus a non-intrusive probe for the magnetic field. Simple examples likely to be encountered in practice are worked out, and estimates are given that suggest the practical feasability of this diagnostic tool in current MHD experiments.Received: 1 May 2003, Published online: 15 October 2003PACS: 42.25.Fx Diffraction and scattering - 47.65.+a Magnetohydrodynamics and electrohydrodynamics - 52.35.Dm Sound waves     

Medium-range fluctuations accompanying the metal-nonmetal transition in expanded fluid hg

We have carried out small angle x-ray scattering experiments of expanded fluid Hg in the metal-nonmetal (M-NM) transition region around 9.0 g cm(-3). Increase of small angle scattering intensity following the Ornstein-Zernike equation is clearly observed in the M-NM transition region as well as near the liquid-vapor critical point at 5.8 g cm(-3). The short-range correlation length, R, becomes twice as large in the M-NM transition region as in the critical region. The enhancement of R in expanded fluid Hg suggests a new type of fluctuations reflecting a first-order M-NM transition.     

Fast sound in expanded fluid Hg accompanying the metal-nonmetal transition

The dynamic structure factor S(Q,omega) of expanded fluid Hg has been measured up to the metal-nonmetal transition region at 9.0 g cm(-3) (1723 K and 1940 bars) using high-resolution inelastic x-ray scattering, at momentum transfers, Q, from 0.2 to 4.8 A(-1). Analysis in the framework of generalized hydrodynamics reveals that the frequencies of the collective excitations increase faster with Q than estimated from the macroscopic speed of sound. The effective sound velocity at 9.0 g cm(-3) estimated from the dispersion relation is triple the ultrasonic sound velocity. The present result suggests the existence of fast sound in expanded fluid Hg accompanying the metal-nonmetal transition.     

Spreading of viscous fluid drops on a solid substrate assisted by thermal fluctuations

We study the spreading of viscous drops on a solid substrate, taking into account the effects of thermal fluctuations in the fluid momentum. A nonlinear stochastic lubrication equation is derived and studied using numerical simulations and scaling analysis. We show that asymptotically spreading drops admit self-similar shapes, whose average radii can increase at rates much faster than these predicted by Tanner's law. We discuss the physical realizability of our results for thin molecular and complex fluid films, and predict that such phenomenon can in principal be observed in various flow geometries.     

Spin-torque influence on the high-frequency magnetization fluctuations in magnetic tunnel junctions

Voltage noise measurements were performed in the 3-7 GHz frequency range on magnetic tunnel junctions biased with a dc current. Magnetic noise associated with ferromagnetic resonance excitations is either amplified or reduced depending on the direction of the bias current. This effect is interpreted as the influence of spin transfer torque on the magnetization fluctuations and described using Gilbert dynamics equation including spin transfer torque and effective field terms.     

Reduction of thermal fluctuations in a cryogenic laser interferometric gravitational wave detector

The thermal fluctuation of mirror surfaces is the fundamental limitation for interferometric gravitational wave (GW) detectors. Here, we experimentally demonstrate for the first time a reduction in a mirror's thermal fluctuation in a GW detector with sapphire mirrors from the Cryogenic Laser Interferometer Observatory at 17 and 18 K. The detector sensitivity, which was limited by the mirror's thermal fluctuation at room temperature, was improved in the frequency range of 90 to 240 Hz by cooling the mirrors. The improved sensitivity reached a maximum of 2.2×10(-19) m/√Hz at 165 Hz.     

Scattering of a sound wave by a vibrating surface

We report an experimental study of the scattering of a sound wave of frequency f by a surface vibrating at frequency F. Both the Doppler shift at the vibrating surface and acoustic nonlinearities in the bulk of the fluid, generate the frequencies f±nF (n integer) in the spectrum of the scattered wave. We show that these two contributions can be separated because they scale differently with respect to the vibration frequency and to the distance between the vibrating scatterer and the detector. We determine the parameter ranges in which one or the other mechanism dominates and present quantitative studies of these two regimes. Received 2 December 2002 / Received in final form 27 March 2003 Published online 4 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: fauve@physique.ens.fr RID="b" ID="b"UMR 8550     

Suppression of slag foaming by a sound wave

The aim of this work was to study the effects of sound frequency, sound intensity and viscosity of slag on the slag foaming rate and the steady-state foam height. Experiments were carried out using two slags (BaO–B₂O₃) melted at a temperature of 1223 or 1273 K, as well as water–glycerin solutions at room temperature. Low frequency sound waves (<1.3 kHz) are found to be more effective in the slag foaming suppression than high frequency waves (1.3–12 kHz). The steady-state foam height decreases abruptly when the sound pressure reaches a threshold value that depends on sound frequency and liquid viscosity. The results can be explained in terms of enhancing the rates of liquid drainage and film rupture induced by sound.     

Study of demagnetizing field induced by a sound wave

The dynamic demagnetizing factor N _d used to describe perturbation of magnetization of a magnetic fluid by a sound wave has been studied. Experimental N _d values obtained according to the proposed methodology have been compared with the results of a model theory based on the approximating function for bodies of cylindrical shape and oblate ellipsoids of rotation.     

Effects of thermal fluctuations on non-minimal regular magnetic black hole

We analyze the effects of thermal fluctuations on a regular black hole (RBH) of the non-minimal Einstein–Yang–Mill theory with gauge field of magnetic Wu–Yang type and a cosmological constant. We consider the logarithmic corrected entropy in order to analyze the thermal fluctuations corresponding to non-minimal RBH thermodynamics. In this scenario, we develop various important thermodynamical quantities, such as entropy, pressure, specific heats, Gibb’s free energy and Helmholtz free energy. We investigate the first law of thermodynamics in the presence of logarithmic corrected entropy and non-minimal RBH. We also discuss the stability of this RBH using various frameworks such as the \(\gamma \) factor (the ratio of heat capacities), phase transition, grand canonical ensemble and canonical ensemble. It is observed that the non-minimal RBH becomes globally and locally more stable if we increase the value of the cosmological constant.     

Wave-function collapse induced by thermal fluctuations of detector variables. statistical collapse of wave functions

We present a simple example where the wave-function collapse is realized by thermal fluctuations of detector variables. This mechanism for the wave-function collapse is essentially due to the indeterminacy of the initial internal-states of detectors by the thermal fluctuation. Two types of the collapse are shown: One is the mechanism of the collapse arising from the phase ambiguity of the initial detector state and another is that derived from the fluctuation of the number of particles in the detector actively working in single measurement process.     

Primitive interactions between inclusions on a fluid membrane: The role of thermal fluctuations

Consider a fluid membrane decorated by moving hard or soft inclusions. The aim of this work is a quantitative study of the influence of thermal fluctuations on the three-dimensional primitive forces between these inclusions. Integrating over all membrane fluctuations, we obtain a general form giving the modified primitive interactions upon the transverse distance. The established formalism enables us to obtain the modified expression of some standard interaction potentials. In particular, for power-like potentials, we found a modified expression featuring the Whittaker function. The present formalism may be extended to other primitive interaction potentials. Finally, the main conclusion is that, decorated fluid membranes may be regarded as effective two-dimensional colloidal solutions where inclusions interact via the computed effective interactions.     

Depinning by thermal fluctuations of the charge density wave in Peierls Fröhlich state

It is shown that the thermal fluctuations depin the charge density wave of the Peierls Fröhlich state pinned by impurities at absolute zero temperature. The critical temperature, T_d, of this depinning is estimated as $\text{T}{}_{\mathrm{d}}\text{= 0.55√}\text{m}{}^1\text{mγ}{}_0$ where m¹ and γ₀ are the mass of the collective mode and the pinning frequency at T = 0.