Rayleigh decay of a highly charged bubble in a dielectric liquid

Proceeding from the Onsager principle of minimum energy dissipation, we find the dimensions, charges, and total number of daughter bubbles emitted during an instability of a highly charged bubble in a dielectric liquid. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 11–15 (February 1999)     

Instability of a bubble in a liquid dielectric in an external electrostatic field

The sizes, charges, and number of daughter bubbles emitted during the development of instability with respect to the polarization charge in a uniform electrostatic field of a gas bubble in a liquid dielectric are found on the basis of the Onsager principle of minimum energy dissipation for nonequilibrium processes. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 10–13 (November 1999)     

Breakup of charged drops into droplets of comparable dimensions under strong spheroidal virtual deformations

On the basis of the principle of minimization of energy of a closed system in which spontaneous processes are occurring, we investigate the breakup of a highly charged drop into two and three droplets of comparable dimensions under conditions of virtual spheroidal deformations. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 31–38 (August 1998)     

Breakup of an uncharged droplet in an electrostatic field

The breakup of an uncharged electrically conducting liquid dropet placed in a uniform electrostatic field into two daughter droplets caused by strong nonspheroidal deformation is qualitatively analyzed by applying the principle of minimum potential energy under spontaneous virtual variations of the droplet’s state. It is shown that the breakup mechanism involves asymmetric mass distribution among the daughter droplets, which are found to be stable with respect to their respective intrinsic charges.     

Nonlinear electrohydrodynamic phenomena and droplet generation in charged jets of conducting liquid

Phenomena occurring at the tip of a charged conducting jet are analyzed in detail using numerical methods developed for axially symmetric flows. Universal mechanisms (independent of the method for producing the jet) for droplet formation with different ratios of the Laplace and electrical pressures on the lateral surface are identified. An explanatory analysis is given for all of the nonlinear stages of the classical Rayleigh instability of a charged conducting drop, beginning with the formation of a jet at the surface of the drop and culminating in the generation of a developed jet of secondary droplets. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 1–9 (November 1999)     

Stability of a charged drop having the form of a triaxial ellipsoid

The stability of a highly charged, isolated conductive drop is analyzed within the principle of minimum potential energy of a closed system. A treatment of the stability of drops of ellipsoidal shape shows that both spherical drops and drops having an oblate spheroidal shape experience instability at sufficiently large charges according to a single scheme, i.e., they deform to a prolate spheroid. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 48–51 (November 1998)     

Water droplets in a spherically confined nematic solvent: A numerical investigation

Recently, it was observed that water droplets suspended in a nematic liquid crystal form linear chains [Poulin et al., Science 275, 1770 (1997)]. The chaining occurs, e.g., in a large nematic drop with homeotropic boundary conditions at all the surfaces. Between each pair of water droplets a point defect in the liquid crystalline order was found in accordance with topological constraints. This point defect causes a repulsion between the water droplets. In our numerical investigation we limit ourselves to a chain of two droplets. For such a complex geometry we use the method of finite elements to minimize the Frank free energy. We confirm an experimental observation that the distance d of the point defect from the surface of a water droplet scales with the radius r of the droplet like .When the water droplets are moved apart, we find that the point defect does not stay in the middle between the droplets, but rather forms a dipole with one of them. This confirms a theoretical model for the chaining. Analogies to a second order phase transition are drawn. We also find the dipole when one water droplet is suspended in a bipolar nematic drop with two boojums, i.e., surface defects at the outer boundary. Finally, we present a configuration where two droplets repel each other without a defect between them. Received 11 December 1998     

Delayed coalescence of droplets with miscible liquids: Lubrication and phase field theories

Mixing of droplets with a body of different liquids shows an interesting behavior for small contact angles at solid substrate. The droplets interact with each other, a liquid exchange appears between the approaching drops owing to surface tension gradients at the droplets interface. But the drops remain separated for some seconds (up to minutes), until the merging into a single drop occurs (Langmuir 24, 6395 (2008)). We investigate this phenomenon using lubrication approximation and phase field approach. For both methods, 2D quantitative computer simulations for delayed fusion of perfectly miscible thin liquid films/droplets with low contact angles are reported.     

Ferromagnetic liquid droplets

Experimental evidence for ferromagnetic behavior of liquid droplets produced by laser ablation from amorphous alloys is presented for the first time. Thin films of amorphous magnetic materials are fabricated by a laser deposition technique in the presence and in the absence of magnetic field. The differences in the parameters of deposited films are attributed to the ferromagnetic properties of small liquid droplets. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 67, No. 9, 686–689 (10 May 1998) Published in English in the original Russian journal. Edited by Steve Torstveit.     

Possibility of the levitation of droplets in the atmosphere when they are charged by induction in an electric field under nonuniform evaporation conditions

The behavior of droplets in the atmosphere in an electric field has important bearing on the theory of thunderstorms. One of the possible mechanisms by which droplets become charged—the induction mechanism in the presence of nonuniform evaporation—is investigated in greater detail on the basis of recent experimental results (V. A. Saranin, Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 65(6), 21 (1995) [Tech. Phys. 40, 332 (1995)]). Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 16–21 (February 1998)     

"Positronic" effective charges of anions in polar substances

The "positronic" effective charges of anions in polar substances are investigated further on the basis of the optical — positron model proposed in 1966 by Gol’danskii and Prokop’ev [Fiz. Tverd. Tela,8, No. 2, 515 (1966)] and developed in 1990 by Aref’ev and Prokof’ev [Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, 52 (1990)] (modified optical model). High productivity of this model in determining anion effective charges in various polar substances (ionic crystals, semiconductors with ionic chemical bonds, etc.) is demonstrated. A. Yu. Malinin Scientific Research Institute for Materials Science. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 2, pp. 23–29, February, 1997.     

Some laws of polarization and dispersion of a drop in an electrostatic field

The laws of distribution among contributions in various interactions to the total polarization energy of a conductor in a uniform electrostatic field was analyzed. It is shown that in a closed system, spontaneous shape variations of a liquid conductor with a free surface in an external magnetic field are possible only if they are accompanied by an increase in the conductor dipole moment. Variations of the intrinsic energy of a conductor are studied by the example of a conductive liquid drop in the case where a drop affected by a polarization charge becomes unstable. Analytical expressions defining the sizes and charges of the droplets ejected out of the initial drop under the conditions of instability are derived.     

Calculation of the critical conditions of instability in an electric field of a hemispherical droplet on a hard substrate

The critical conditions of instability of a hemispherical drop of a conducting liquid lying on a hard, electrically conducting substrate in an electric field parallel to the symmetry axis of the drop are found. These critical instability conditions are found to be higher than those of an insulating drop of the same size. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 9–12 (September 1998)     

Critical conditions for instability of a highly charged oblate spheroidal drop

The spectrum of capillary oscillations of a charged oblate spheroidal drop is calculated in neglect of the interaction between modes by means of a perturbation expansion in the small deviation of the equilibrium shape of the drop from spherical. The critical conditions for instability of its nth mode with respect to the self-charge are calculated in the form of an analytical function describing how the dimensionless Rayleigh parameter characterizing the stability of the drop depends on the value of the spheroidal deformation. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 10–14 (July 1999)     

The effects of nonequilibrium charge distribution in scanning tunneling spectroscopy of semiconductors

Results are presented from a low-temperature scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) investigation of III-V semiconductor surfaces cleaved in situ along a (110) plane. The STM topographic images reveal the presence of surface charge structures. The possibility of their observation depends on the charge state of the apex of the STM tip. Peaks are also observed in the local tunneling conductivity spectra. The energy position of these peaks and the energy position of the edges of the band gap change with distance from the defect. A theoretical model is proposed which demonstrates that the experimental scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS) data can be explained by effects due to a nonequilibrium electron distribution in the contact area, which gives rise to localized charges. In this model the on-site Coulomb repulsion of localized charges and their interaction with semiconductor electrons are treated self-consistently. Pis’ma Zh. éksp. Teor. Fiz. 68, No. 4, 299–304 (25 August 1998)     

Morphologies of Fe-66.7 at.%Si alloy solidified in a drop tube

Solidification of 0.1–1.0 mm diameter droplets of Fe-66.7 at.%Si alloy was achieved in a 3 m drop tube. The XRD, EDS, and SEM measurements reveal that all the droplets are composed of the primary phase α and the α+ε eutectic. With decreasing droplet diameter, the growth mode of the primary phase α changes from faceted to nonfaceted growth and the eutectic changes from needle-like to anomalous eutectic. In addition, the width of the primary phase α decreases with decreasing droplet size. The different cooling rates and undercooling levels corresponding to the samples with different sizes are responsible for the morphology changes. The cooling rates of the samples with different diameters during free fall were calculated and their effects on the microstructure formation were discussed. This kind of transition is also found inside the same sample, which is due to the larger cooling rate on the surface than at the center.     

Critical equilibrium spheroidal deformation of a drop of dielectric liquid in a uniform electrostatic field

The stability of a dielectric drop, which in an external electrostatic field takes on the equilibrium shape of a prolate spheroid, is analyzed using the principle of minimum total potential energy of an isolated system. The values of the Taylor parameter and degree of spheroidal deformation at which the drop loses stability are determined for a wide range of dielectric constants of the substance of the drop. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 69, 23–28 (July 1999)     

A note on conserved charges of asymptotically flat and anti-de Sitter spaces in arbitrary dimensions

The calculation of conserved charges of black holes is a rich problem, for which many methods are known. Until recently, there was some controversy on the proper definition of conserved charges in asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS) spaces in arbitrary dimensions. This paper provides a systematic and explicit Hamiltonian derivation of the energy and the angular momenta of both asymptotically flat and asymptotically AdS spacetimes in any dimension D  ≥  4. This requires as a first step a precise determination of the asymptotic conditions of the metric and of its conjugate momentum. These conditions happen to be achieved in ellipsoidal coordinates adapted to the rotating solutions. The asymptotic symmetry algebra is found to be isomorphic either to the Poincaré algebra or to the so(D − 1,2) algebra, as expected. In the asymptotically flat case, the boundary conditions involve a generalization of the parity conditions, introduced by Regge and Teitelboim, which are necessary to make the angular momenta finite. The charges are explicitly computed for Kerr and Kerr–AdS black holes for arbitrary D and they are shown to be in agreement with thermodynamical arguments. The author is a FRIA-FNRS bursar (National Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium).     

Multidetector device for the detection of coincidences of charged particles and γ rays

A 4π position-sensitive, axisymmetrical assembly of Si-Au charged-particle detectors is proposed, implemented, and tested on a beam of heavy ions; the dimensions and structure of the device are conducive to the organization of coincidences of charged reaction products with discrete γ rays emitted by the daughter nucleus and registered by a system of ultrapure Ge detectors. First results are obtained from an investigation of the reaction ⁵⁸Ni(¹⁶O,α2pγ)⁶⁸Ge at E ₀=74.5 MeV. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 139–142 (April 1998)