Poisson finite difference boundary equations for the magnetic potentials

Magnetostatic solutions may be obtained by using Laplace's equation in finite difference form. The boundary equations are of primary importance and even these have been put forward as special forms of Laplace's equation. They can be derived in what appears to be a simpler and more flexible manner by assuming that Poisson's equation applies at the interface for both scalar and vector potentials.     

Reduction of radiative transfer problems in semi-infinite media to linear Fredholm integral equations

Linear Fredholm integral equations are derived for the Stokes vector of polarized radiation, emergent from a scattering plane parallel semi-infinite medium, by means of the full range orthogonality and completeness properties of Case's eigensolutions. A renormalization concerning the eigenmode with the greatest discrete eigenvalue is applied, which permits us to obtain a new integral equation for the zeroth Fourier component of the radiation field. The kernel of the integral equations is given in terms of Case's eigenfunctions or of the Green's function matrix for an infinite medium. For isotropic scattering, it is shown that the integral equation can be solved by means of a very rapidly convergent Neumann series. Physical arguments lead to the conclusion that the renormalized Fredholm integral equations are well suited also for arbitrary phase matrices.     

Wave propagation according to higher order field equations I

A detailed study is made of wave propagation according to a sixth-order partial differential equation with complex masses proposed by Swieca and Marques, which presents a kind of generalized Klein-Gordon equation. The choice of definite Green's functions in the corresponding Yang-Feldman integral equation corresponds to a certain choice of boundary conditions for the allowed solutions of the corresponding partial differential equation. The advanced and retarded Green's functions used possess the anomalous feature of having non-zero values in the neighbourhoods of those, past or future parts of the light cone, for which traditional advanced and retarded Green's functions are zero. However, it is shown that a suitable averaging procedure provides the possibility of defining sets of functions, such that solutions of the Yang-Feldman equations belonging to this set possess the property that the future behaviour of the solution is determined by its asymptotic initial conditions. Certain features of the wave propagation, according to the equations considered, can be usefully compared with the properties of the solutions of the ordinary differential equation - and corresponding integral equation - which represents the equation of motion of a charged particle including the force for radiation reaction. The particle then has a certain “size”. Analogously the “non-local field equations” have solutions characterized by a certain “fundamental length” indicating the space-time distances for which averaging occurs. The admitted solutions of the field equations seem to represent a relativistic field with a “finite a number of degrees of freedom” within a finite volume.     

Separation of variables in the two-point BBGKY equations

Under two particular closure conditions, the two-point BBGKY equation is shown to be separable into equations for one- point turbulent fluctuations, yielding, respectively, a linear equation anda nonlinear integro-differential equation of convolution type. Analogy with Schrödinger's equation is discussed.     

Difficulties for the evolution of pure states into mixed states

Motivated by Hawking's proposal that the quantum-mechanical density matrix ? obeys an equation more general than the Schrödinger equation, we study the general properties of evolution equations for ?. We argue that any more general equation for ? violates either locality or energy-momentum conservation.     

Dynamic stability of thin walled beams under traveling follower load systems

It is found that the perturbation equation of motion of a thin walled beam under a traveling follower load system becomes Hill's equation and that parametrically excited unstable coupled vibration occurs. The boundary frequency equations of the simple parametric resonance, from which the unstable regions are estimated, are obtained by Bolotin's method. Stability maps of a simply supported beam are shown, with account taken of the effects of load mass and damping.     

Separable solutions of nonlinear wave equations

It is shown how to obtain separable solutions, which include travelling-wave solutions as a special case, of a large class of nonlinear wave equations, including the Korteweg-de Vries-Burgers equation and Fisher's equation.     

Field equations for gravity and matter

The possibility is explored that Einstein's equation straightforwardly generalized to include Fermi-type coordinates and torsion can serve as the field equation for some other fields besides the gravitational field. We find that (i) the electromagnetic field and (ii) the instanton solution of the Yang-Mills gauge field equation satisfy the generalized field equations.     

Infinite number of local conservation laws for the self-dual SU(2) Yang-Mills system within 't Hooft's ansatz

We derive infinite sets of local continuity equations for the four-dimensional classical self-dual SU(2) Yang-Mills fields subjected to 't Hooft's ansatz. In striking analogy to the two-dimensional CP(n) non-linear sigma model where local conservation laws obtain either from complex Cauchy-Riemann analyticity or from a matrix Riccati equation, our local sets derive from quaternionic Fueter analyticity or a Riccati equation associated with the geometric prolongation structure implied by the Belavin-Zakharov linear spectral problem for the self-dual Yang-Mills system. Our analysis underlines the close connection between local and non-local conservation laws and suggests that infinite sets of local continuity equations should be present in the general self-(antiself-)dual gauge field case.     

Extensivity and the Gibbs-Duhem equation

It is shown that the Gibbs-Duhem equation does not remain valid for system having inhomogeneous entropies. Some consequences of this are discussed, as are the generalised Gibbs-Duhem equations introduced in Weinhold's metric geometry of equilibrium thermodynamics.     

Justification of the local space charge neutrality hypothesis in metal oxidation

The important local charge neutrality hypothesis in metal oxidation theory is shown numerically to be self-consistent with Poisson's equation and the coupled transport equations for diffusion of oppositely-charged ionic and electronic defect species deep within very thick growing oxides.     

Biorthogonality and radiative transfer in finite slab atmospheres

It is shown that the exact solution of transfer problems of polarized light in finite slab atmospheres can be obtained from an eigenmode expansion, if there is a known set of adjoints defined appropriately to treat two-point, half-range boundary-value problems. The adjoints must obey a half-range biorthogonality relation.The adjoints are obtained in terms of Case's eigenvectors and the reflection or the transmission matrices. Half-range characteristic equations for the eigenvectors and their adjoints are derived, where the kernel functions of the integral operators are given by the boundary values of the source function matrix of the slab albedo problem. Spectral formulae are obtained for the surface Green's functions. A relationship is noted between the biorthogonality concept and some half-range forms of the transfer equation for the surface Green's functions and their adjoints. Linear and non-linear functional equations that are well known from an invariance approach, are derived from a new point of view. The biorthogonality concept offers the opportunity for a better understanding of mathematical structures and the nonuniqueness problem for solutions of such functional equations.     

Impact-induced vibrations of a simple viscoelastic column model

A two-degree-of-freedom model for an almost-axially impacted viscoelastic cantilever column is analyzed. The impact load is produced by a mass striking the free end of the column. Under the assumption of small displacements two second-order non-linear ordinary differential equations for the coupled longitudinal and transverse vibrations of the column are derived. In the absence of damping these equations of motion are reduced to Mathieu's equation through the use of a perturbation method. The excitation parameters are (i) the natural frequency of small amplitude transverse vibrations of the undamped column and (ii) the initial velocity of the end of the column. The boundaries of two unstable regions are obtained. In the stable regions the solution of Mathieu's equation for the transverse displacement is close to that of the original non-linear equations of motion. In the first unstable region there is agreement only for early time. With increasing damping the peak of the maximum transverse displacement in the first unstable region decreases or even vanishes.     

On the filamentation instability in degenerate relativistic plasmas

The filamentation instability of the electromagnetic (EM) beam in an underdense plasma with high level of degeneracy is examined by means of the momentum equation, continuity equation and Maxwell's equations. It has been demonstrated that the instability develops for weakly as well as strongly relativistic degenerate plasma and arbitrary strong amplitude of EM beams.     

Electromagnetic fields in general relativity: A constructive procedure

A new procedure for obtaining explicit solutions to Maxwell's equations in curved spaces is presented. The problem is reduced to solving one linear scalar wave equation. The formulation includes astrophysically important cosmological models, neutron star and black hole space-times.     

Quadratic identities for Ising model correlations

Quadratic identities for Ising model correlations on a general planar lattice are derived. For the ordinary Ising model, they imply the nonlinear partial difference equations of McCoy and Wu. At the critical temperature Hirota's discrete-time Toda equation is found.     

A comment on fermionic tachyons and poincaré representations

We extend Wigner's work on the wave equations for integer-spin particles to the spinorial case. A recent suggestion that the neutrino might be a fermionic tachyon is examined. We point out that a four-component Dirac equation cannot describe a fermionic tachyon.     

On radially symmetric vibrations of orthotropic non-uniform disks including shear deformation

This paper deals with the free axisymmetric vibrations of orthotropic circular plates with linear variation in thickness. The analysis is based on a set of two differential equations derived by an extension of Mindlin's shear theory for plates. On simplification and algebraic manipulation, one of the dependent variables is eliminated from the governing equations of motion, giving rise to a fourth order linear differential equation with variable coefficients. The resulting differential equation is solved numerically by the Chebyshev collocation technique. Frequencies and mode shapes for the first five modes of vibration are computed for different plates.     

The covariant form of the Klein-Kramers equation and the associated moment equations

We provide a covariant, coordinate-free formulation of the many-dimensional Klein-Kramers equation for the phase space distribution of a Brownian particle. We construct a complete set of eigenfunctions of the collision operator adapted to the coordinate system, which involve covariant tensorial Hermite polynomials. The Klein-Kramers equation can then be reformulated as a system of coupled equations for the expansion coefficients with respect to this system. Truncation of this system of moment equations and application of a subsidiary condition yields a covariant generalization of Grad's thirteen-moment equations. As an application we give the explicit form of these equations for spherically symmetric, stationary solutions in spherical coordinates. We briefly comment on possible extensions of our treatment to slightly more complicated cases.