Dielectric tensor elements for the description of waves in rotating inhomogeneous magnetized plasma spheroids

The dielectric permittivity tensor elements of a rotating cold collisionless plasma spheroid in an external magnetic field with toroidal and axial components are obtained. The effects of inhomogeneity in the densities of charged particles and the initial toroidal velocity on the dielectric permittivity tensor and field equations are investigated. The field components in terms of their toroidal components are calculated and it is shown that the toroidal components of the electric and magnetic fields are coupled by two differential equations. The influence of thermal and collisional effects on the dielectric tensor and field equations in the rotating plasma spheroid are also investigated. In the limiting spherical case, the dielectric tensor of a stationary magnetized collisionless cold plasma sphere is presented.     

Enhancement of soft X-ray emission from a pinch plasma using a rotating plasma for pre-ionization

An experimental study on the enhancement of soft X-ray emission from a pinch plasma has been carried out by using a rotating plasma for pre-ionization. The rotating plasma is produced by a pulsed J×B cross-field discharge between coaxial electrodes, and subjected to a pinch discharge. Under an optimized discharge condition, it has been observed that UV emission of 251.6 nm (Ar III) soft X-ray intensity increases with increasing applied axial magnetic field B. At 400 G, the X-ray intensity is enhanced by a factor of 3 compared to that without the rotating plasma. It is considered that this result is due to the improved characteristics of the pre-ionization rotating plasma, which influences the uniformity and stability of subsequent pinch plasma.     

Supersonic radiatively cooled rotating flows and jets in the laboratory

The first laboratory astrophysics experiments to produce a radiatively cooled plasma jet with dynamically significant angular momentum are discussed. A new configuration of wire array z pinch, the twisted conical wire array, is used to produce convergent plasma flows each rotating about the central axis. Collision of the flows produces a standing shock and jet that each have supersonic azimuthal velocities. By varying the twist angle of the array, the rotation velocity of the system can be controlled, with jet rotation velocities reaching approximately 18% of the propagation velocity.     

Stationary collisionless shock waves in an initial plasma with high ion temperature

Stationary collisonless shock waves propagating perpendicularly to an initial magnetic field are produced by the fast-rising magnetic field \((\dot B = 7 \cdot 10^{10} G/sec)\) of a theta pinch (coil diameter 16 cm, coil length 60 cm). The initial plasma is produced by a fast theta pinch discharge (810 kHz). At filling pressures between 5 and 15 mtorr H₂ or D₂ the degree of ionization is about 50%. By choosing the filling pressure properly it is possible to trap a homogeneous magnetic field. The ions of this plasma have a temperature of a few 10 eV. This value is much higher than the electron temperature and results in a local plasmaβ between 0.3 and 5. In this initial plasma stationary collisionless shock waves with Mach numbers between 1.5 and 5 are observed. The snow-plough model is used to derive conditions for the stationary state, attainable Mach number, and velocity of the front which relate the external magnetic field and the parameters of the initial plasma. Strong collisionless dissipation can be demonstrated by measuring the profiles of magnetic field, density, and electron temperature of the shock waves. For the electrons this dissipation mechanism can be described by an effective collison frequency. This phenomenologically introduced frequency determines the width of the shock front at least for subcritical shock waves. It exceeds the classical electron-ion collision frequency by 1–2 orders of magnitude and is roughly equal to one-third of the ion plasma frequency. The ion temperature can be estimated from the steady state conservation relations. The ions are heated in the two degrees of freedom perpendicular to the magnetic field. For shock waves with Mach numbers below the critical one the ions seem to be heated merely adiabatically. In strong shock waves this heating is considerably exceeded, and for high Mach numbers it yields ion temperatures up to about 500 eV. Finally, semi-empirical formulas are derived to estimate the possible temperatures of electrons and ions behind the shock front.     

Rotating spin-1 bose clusters

We propose a simple scheme for generating rotating atomic clusters in an optical lattice which produces states with quantum Hall and spin liquid properties. As the rotation frequencies increase, the ground state of a rotating cluster of spin-1 Bose atoms undergoes a sequence of (spin and orbit) transitions, which terminates at an angular momentum L(*) substantially lower than that of the boson Laughlin state. The spin-orbit correlations reflect "fermionization" of bosons facilitated by their spin degrees of freedom. We also show that the density of an expanding group of clusters has a scaling form which reveals the quantum Hall and spin structure of a single cluster.     

Letter: Slowly Rotating, Compact Fluid Sources Embedded in Kerr Empty Space-Time

Spherically symmetric static fluid sources are endowed with rotation and embedded in Kerr empty space-time up to and including quadratic terms in an angular velocity parameter using Darmois junction conditions. The boundary behaviour of the metric tensor and partial derivatives is used to develop a series solution of Einstein's equation's for the rotating fluid. The boundary of the rotating source is expressed explicitly in terms of sinusoidal functions of the polar angle. As an example of the analysis the Schwarzschild interior solution is endowed with rotation and the equation of the fluid boundary is generated together with surface behaviour of the fluid density and angular velocity.     

Kinetic theory of instabilities responsible for magnetic turbulence in laboratory rotating plasma

The problem of instabilities responsible for magnetic turbulence in collisionless laboratory rotating plasma is investigated. It is shown that the standard mechanism of driving the magnetorotational instability (MRI), due to negative rotation frequency gradient, disappears in such a plasma. Instead of it, a new driving mechanism due to plasma pressure gradient is predicted.     

Turbulent equipartition and homogenization of plasma angular momentum

A physical model of turbulent equipartition (TEP) of plasma angular momentum is developed. We show that using a simple, model insensitive ansatz of conservation of total angular momentum, a TEP pinch of angular momentum can be obtained. We note that this term corresponds to a part of the pinch velocity previously calculated using quasilinear gyrokinetic theory. We observe that the nondiffusive TEP flux is inward, and therefore may explain the peakedness of the rotation profiles observed in certain experiments. Similar expressions for linear toroidal momentum and flow are computed and it is noted that there is an additional effect due the radial profile of moment of inertia density.     

Measurement of the Hall dynamo effect during magnetic reconnection in a high-temperature plasma

The fluctuation-induced Hall electromotive force, [deltaJ x deltaB]/nee, is experimentally measured in the high-temperature interior of a reversed-field pinch plasma by a fast Faraday rotation diagnostic. It is found that the Hall dynamo effect is significant, redistributing (flattening) the equilibrium core current near the resonant surface during a reconnection event. These results imply that effects beyond single-fluid MHD are important for the dynamo and magnetic reconnection.     

Rigid and differential plasma crystal rotation induced by magnetic fields

Observations show that plasma crystals, suspended in the sheath of a radio-frequency discharge, rotate under the influence of a vertical magnetic field. Depending on the discharge conditions, two different cases are observed: a rigid-body rotation (all the particles move with a constant angular velocity) and sheared rotation (the angular velocity of particles has a radial distribution). When the discharge voltage is increased sufficiently, the particles may even reverse their direction of motion. A simple analytical model is used to explain qualitatively the mechanism of the observed particle motion and its dependence on the confining potential and discharge conditions. The model takes into account electrostatic, ion drag, neutral drag, and effective interparticle interaction forces. For the special case of rigid-body rotation, the confining potential is reconstructed. Using data for the radial dependence of particle rotation velocity, the shear stresses are estimated. The critical shear stress at which shear-induced melting occurs is used to roughly estimate the shear elastic modulus of the plasma crystal. The latter is also used to estimate the viscosity contribution due to elasticity in the plasma liquid. Further development is suggested in order to quantitatively implement these ideas.     

基于转镜跟踪目标的分析与计算

基于高速CCD相机主光轴的转镜弹道同步跟踪系统,研究了高速飞行弹丸飞行姿态和飞行速度的问题,利用转镜的反射原理和转镜运动规律,建立了转镜随弹丸运动的时空关系模型和转镜运动参数的数学模型,并推导转镜运动参数与弹丸飞行速度和弹道距转镜中心垂直高度之间的数学关系;在理论分析的基础上,用MATLAB分析了转镜视场内的弹道宽度随时间变化的规律以及转镜转角和角加速度随时间变化的规律,得到在某一时刻转镜视场的大小以及转镜参数的变化曲线;给出了转镜尺寸、扫描速率曲线和最大离散速度等主要参数的计算方法,分析了它们对整个跟踪系统的影响。针对系统设置参数为h=150 m, v=300 m/s时进行仿真,仿真结果表明本系统可实现对高速弹丸的同步跟踪。     

Forced magnetic reconnection and field penetration of an externally applied rotating helical magnetic field in the TEXTOR tokamak

The magnetic field penetration process into a magnetized plasma is of basic interest both for plasma physics and astrophysics. In this context special measurements on the field penetration and field amplification are performed by a Hall probe on the dynamic ergodic divertor (DED) on the TEXTOR tokamak and the data are interpreted by a two-fluid plasma model. It is observed that the growth of the forced magnetic reconnection by the rotating DED field is accompanied by a change of the plasma fluid rotation. The differential rotation frequency between the DED field and the plasma plays an important role in the process of the excitation of tearing modes. The momentum input from the rotating DED field to the plasma is interpreted by both a ponderomotive force at the rational surface and a radial electric field modified by an edge ergodization.     

An Approximated Solution of the Einstein Equations for a Rotating Body with Negligible Mass

The paper considers the problem of finding the metric of space time around a rotating, weakly gravitating body. Both external and internal metric tensors are consistently found, together with an appropriate source tensor. All tensors are calculated at the lowest meaningful approximation in a power series. The two physical parameters entering the equations (the mass and the angular momentum per unit mass) are assumed to be such that the mass effects are negligible with respect to the rotation effects. A non zero Riemann tensor is obtained. The order of magnitude of the physical effects is discussed.     

Similarity rules for collisionless hot‐filament discharges

The plasma parameters of a collisionless hot‐filament discharge are investigated theoretically and experimentally as functions of a dimensionless variable called the discharge efficiency, which is a product of several relevant external parameters. It is found that the main plasma parameters, as measured in plasma chambers that are either geometrically different or filled with different working gases, depend on this variable in approximately the same way. Consequently, the number of experimental data necessary for discharge characterization may be drastically reduced.     

The Velikhov and anti-Velikhov effects in the theory of magnetorotational instability

A theory of magnetorotational instability (MRI) allowing an equilibrium plasma pressure gradient and nonaxisymmetry of perturbations is developed. This approach reveals that in addition to the Velikhov effect driving the MRI due to negative rotation frequency profile, dΘ²/dr < 0, there is an opposite effect (the anti-Velikhov effect) weakening this driving (here, Θ is the rotation frequency and r is the radial coordinate). It is shown that in addition to the Velikhov mechanism, two new mechanisms of MRI driving are possible, one of which is due to the pressure gradient squared and the other is due to the product of the pressure and density gradients. The analysis includes both the one-fluid magnetohydrodynamic plasma model and the kinetics allowing collisionless effects. In addition to the pure plasma containing ions and electrons, the dusty plasma is considered. The charged dust effect on stability is analyzed using the approximation of immobile dust. In the presence of dust, a term with the electric field appears in the one-fluid equation of plasma motion. This electric field affects the equilibrium plasma rotation and also gives rise to a family of instabilities of the rotating plasma, called the dust-induced rotational instabilities. The article is published in the original.     

Soft-x-ray laser interferometry of a pinch discharge using a tabletop laser

We have used a tabletop soft-x-ray laser and a wave-front division interferometer to probe the plasma of a pinch discharge. A very compact capillary discharge-pumped Ne-like Ar laser emitting at 46.9 nm was combined with a wave division interferometer based on Lloyd's mirror and Sc-Si multilayer-coated optics to map the electron density in the cathode region of the discharge. This demonstration of the use of tabletop soft-x-ray laser in plasma interferometry could lead to the widespread use of these lasers in the diagnostics of dense plasmas.     

Dynamics of rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates and its efficient computation

In this paper, we investigate the dynamics of rotating two-component Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) based on the coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations (CGPEs) with an angular momentum rotation term and an external driving field, and propose an efficient and accurate method for numerical simulations. We prove the conservation of the angular momentum expectation, derive the dynamic laws for the density of each component and condensate widths, and analyze the dynamics of a stationary state with its center shifted from the trap center. By formulating the CGPEs in either 2D (two-dimensional) polar coordinate or 3D cylindrical coordinate system, the angular momentum rotation term becomes a term with constant coefficients. This allows us to develop an efficient time-splitting method which is time reversible, time transverse invariant, unconditionally stable, efficient and accurate for the problem. Moreover, it conserves the total position density in the discretized level. The numerical method is applied to verify our analytical results and study the dynamics of quantized vortex lattices in rotating two-component BEC with/without an external driving field.     

The tensor of time-averaged stresses for plasma with an oscillating field

The tensor of time-averaged stresses arising in a plasma under the effect of a magnetostatic and an oscillating field is derived. The plasma is assumed to be collisionless, quasineutral, the particle velocities being far smaller than the wave phase velocities. The case of cyclotron resonance is excluded. The resultant tensor is proved to be symmetric.     

Gravitational Instability of a Rotating Viscous Thermally Conducting Plasma

This paper deals with the gravitational instability of an infinite homogeneous viscous rotating plasma of finite electrical conductivity in the combined presence of effects of Hall currents, finite Larmor radius (FLR) and thermal conductivity. The ambient magnetic field is assumed to be uniform and acting along the vertical direction. Both longitudinal and transverse modes of wave propagation have been studied. It is shown that Jean's criterion determines the gravitational instability even in the presence of the effects of thermal conductivity, viscosity, finite electrical conductivity, FLR, rotation and Hall currents. Further it is found that while FLR, viscosity and rotation have a stabilizing influence, both the thermal and the electrical conductivities have a destabilizing influence on the gravitational instability of a plasma.