A mechanism for fermion mass generation

We present a mechanism for fermion mass generation, and apply it to the lepton sector of the Weinberg-Salam model. Extra fields, necessary to produce the large mass splittings of the observed fermions, form bound states more massive than the electroweak scale.     

Observation of pulsed fast electron precipitations and the cyclotron generation mechanism of burst activity in a decaying ECR discharge plasma

We have detected and investigated quasi-periodic series of pulsed energetic electron precipitations in the decaying plasma of a pulsed ECR discharge in a mirror axisymmetric magnetic trap. The observed particle ejections from the trap are interpreted as the result of resonant interaction between energetic electrons and a slow extraordinary wave propagating in the rarefied plasma across the external magnetic field. We have been able to explain the generation mechanism of the sequences of pulsed precipitations at the nonlinear instability growth phase in terms of a cyclotron maser model in which the instability threshold is exceeded through a reduction in electromagnetic energy losses characteristic of the plasma decay.     

Wear debris generation mechanism for polymers studied by nanoscratching

This paper investigates the debris generation mechanism for polymers due to the actions of the micro-asperities of a hard counterface. Nanoscratching tests were conducted on the surface of five commercially available polymers using a diamond conical tip indenter with three different scratching sequences namely unidirectional multipass, orthogonal multipass and orthogonal omnipass. The scratch damage surface was analysed using an atomic force microscope and a scanning electron microscope to investigate the material removal phenomenon for the selected polymers. The results show that debris generation in polymers is largely a phenomenon of low-cycle fatigue when asperities contribute to the localized plastic deformation of the surface. Hence the rate of material removal is reduced for a polymer which has higher toughness and a higher percentage of elongation before failure. The hardness of the polymer has a counter effect on wear as higher hardness tends to reduce the toughness property in polymers which leads to microcracking and further wear debris generation.     

Attosecond burst and high-harmonic generation in molecular ionization by ultrashort laser pulses

It is shown that the efficiency of attosecond pulse and high-harmonic generation in the ionization of excited molecular structures by a powerful femtosecond optical pulse can appreciably exceed the efficiency of analogous processes in atomic systems. This is due to the presence of a delocalized electron wave-packet component in the nonequilibrium molecular states, resulting in an increase of the number of particles that are effectively involved in the bremsstrahlung generation in the course of recollisions of laser-accelerated electrons with molecular core. Calculations suggest that, by optimizing the nonlinear response of molecular systems in the ionization process, one can develop compact sources of coherent vacuum ultraviolet and X-ray radiation with luminance at a level that is presently achieved only at large-scale accelerator facilities with free-electron lasers.     

Skeletal mechanism generation and analysis for n-heptane with CSP

We use a procedure based on the decomposition into fast and slow dynamical components offered by the Computational Singular Perturbation (CSP) method to generate automatically skeletal kinetic mechanisms for the simplification of the kinetics of n-heptane oxidation. The detailed mechanism of the n-heptane oxidation here considered has been proposed by Curran et al. and involves 561 species and 2538 reactions. After carrying out a critical assessment of important aspects of this procedure, we show that the comprehensive skeletal kinetic mechanisms so generated are able to reproduce the main features of n-heptane ignition at various initial pressures and temperatures and equivalence ratios. A by-product of the algorithm that generates the skeletal mechanisms is the identification of the network of important species and reactions at a given state of the kinetic system. The analysis of this network is carried out by resorting to a visual representation of the pathways at selected time instants of the ignition process. Visual inspection of the pathways enables the identification and comparison of the relevant kinetic processes as obtained at different ignition regimes. The graphs are generated by interfacing the model reduction procedure with the open-source package graphviz.     

A mechanism for generation of strong energy fluctuations in one-dimensional systems

A mechanism for the generation of strong energy fluctuations in a chain of harmonically and anharmonically coupled atoms in a state of thermodynamic equilibrium has been investigated by a molecular dynamics method. Energy fluctuations multiply exceeding the mean value were localized in a group of three to five atoms with lifetime on the order of an atomic vibrational period. They arise as a consequence of collisions of density waves propagating along the chain. A collision of waves of the same density sign leads to a fluctuation of the potential energy, while for differing signs a fluctuation in the kinetic energy occurs. In particular, collision of dilitatin waves leads to thermal breaking of the chain. The energy concentration at the moment of collision is 30% greater in a harmonic chain than in an anharmonic one.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 47–52, May, 1991.     

Structure and generation mechanism of blue whirls

Blue whirls are newly discovered blue rotating flames transitioned from fire whirls generated on liquid fuel surfaces. Compared with the traditional fire whirls, blue whirls have a distinct flame structure and are almost soot-free. Studies of the blue whirl are expected to promote the development of clean combustion theory and technology. In this paper, we numerically and theoretically investigate the lifting process of fire whirls and blue whirls, and then discuss their structure and transition mechanisms. In contrast to the explanations in the literature, it is found that blue whirls can be created without the occurrence of bubble-type vortex breakdown in the rotating flow. The blue whirl can be considered as a special form of lifted fire whirl with a considerable liftoff distance and without being blown out. According to the simulation, both blue whirls and fire whirls have the typical triple-flame structure. The unique structure of blue whirls is closely related to the thermal expansion of gas and the restriction of the radial flow by the axis. The theoretical solution of the unified lifting curve for fire whirls and blue whirls is obtained, which is qualitatively in agreement with the numerical result. There are 4 different branches in the lifting curve, two of which are stable, respectively representing fire whirls with small liftoff distances, and blue whirls with larger liftoff distances. The unstable branches between the stable branches lead to non-continuous transitions between fire whirls and blue whirls, as observed in the experiment. The current study explains the existing physical phenomenon and makes valuable predictions that may guide future experiments and simulations.     

Transverse wave generation mechanism in rotating detonation

Detonation engines are expected to be included in a number of aerospace thrusters in the future. Several types of detonation engines are currently under examination, including the rotating detonation engine (RDE). Although the RDE has been explored experimentally, its rotating detonation propagation mechanism is not well understood. This paper clarifies the detonation mechanism and dynamics of the RDE by 2D and 3D simulation using compressible Euler equations with a full chemical reaction mechanism of H₂/O₂ and H₂/Air, especially from the triple-point and transverse detonation points of view. A total variation diminishing (TVD) scheme is used for the mixture of H₂/Air, and an advection upwind splitting method difference vector (AUSMDV) scheme is used for the mixture of H₂/O₂. The use of an AUSMDV scheme provides a much clearer detonation structure than does the TVD scheme. We focus on the complex interaction mechanism of the detonation front and burned mixture gases. We found out that at this interaction point, an unreacted gas pocket appears and ignites periodically to generate transverse waves at the detonation front and maintain detonation propagation.     

Single attosecond burst generation during ionization of excited atoms by intense ultrashort laser pulses

We develop an analytical approach to describing the generation of a single attosecond burst during barrier-suppression ionization of a hydrogen atom by an intense laser pulse. We derive analytical expressions that describe the evolution of the electron wave packet in the time interval between the detachment from the atom and the collision with the parent ion for an arbitrary initial atomic state by assuming the atom to be fully ionized in one laser-field half-period. For various s-states, we derive expressions for the profile of the attosecond burst generated when the electron packet collides with the ion and analyze the dependence of its generation efficiency on the principal quantum number n of the initial atomic state. The results obtained are compared with the results of three-dimensional numerical calculations. We show that the attosecond pulse generation efficiency can be several orders of magnitude higher than that in the case of ionization from the ground state when pre-excited atomic states are used.     

A Lorentz-type mechanism for generation of small-scale irregularities in the heater-modified ionosphere

We consider Lorentz-type mechanism for growth of LF small-scale turbulence due to generation of local field-aligned electric fields (FAEF) in the ionospheric F-region modified by powerful radio waves. The FAEF are induced by Lorentz-type forces caused by the large-scale pressure structure of the heated volume. We found that small- scale structuring of the large-scale depleted region (the patch) is a function of altitude and that the cross-field scale of small-scale irregularities is definitely determined by the gradient scale length in plasma density. This mechanism allows us to explain the generation of irregularities with scale lengths of 6 m or longer and observations of aftereffects within 30 seconds or longer after the pump switch-off if they are defined by the lifetime of the induced local sources. The predictions of the Lorentz-type mechanism are shown to be consistent with the measurements of the significant growth of DSEE typical times, related to relaxation of heater-induced small-scale irregularities, under conditions of strong natural turbulence observed as F-spread in the ionograms.Published from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 318–328, March, 1996.     

A generation mechanism for discrete very low frequency emissions observed at Varanasi

A new type of discrete VLF emissions recorded at the low-latitude ground station Varanasi (geomag. lat. 14°55′ N, geomag. long. 154°E;L = 1.07) during the strong magnetic activity on 29–30 April 1990 have been reported. A generation mechanism for various temporal and spectral features of discrete VLF emissions recorded at Varanasi is presented on the basis of cyclotron resonance interaction between whistler mode wave and energetic electrons ejected by substorm electric fields. An attempt is also made to determine parallel energy and wave growth relevant to the generation process of discrete VLF emissions. Finally, our results are discussed with other published works     

A mechanism for hot-spot generation in a reactive two-dimensional sheared viscous layer

A two-dimensional model for the non-uniform melting of a thin sheared viscous layer is developed. An asymptotic solution is presented for both a non-reactive and a reactive material. It is shown that the melt front is linearly stable to small perturbations in the non-reactive case, but becomes linearly unstable upon introduction of an Arrhenius source term to model the chemical reaction. Results demonstrate that non-uniform melting acts as a mechanism to generate hot spots that are found to be sufficient to reduce the time to ignition when compared with the corresponding one-dimensional model of melting.     

Skeletal mechanism generation with CSP and validation for premixed n-heptane flames

An automated procedure has been previously developed to generate simplified skeletal reaction mechanisms for the combustion of n-heptane/air mixtures at equivalence ratios between 0.5 and 2.0 and different pressures. The algorithm is based on a Computational Singular Perturbation (CSP)-generated database of importance indices computed from homogeneous n-heptane/air ignition solutions. In this paper, we examine the accuracy of these simplified mechanisms when they are used for modeling laminar n-heptane/air premixed flames. The objective is to evaluate the accuracy of the simplified models when transport processes lead to local mixture compositions that are not necessarily part of the comprehensive homogeneous ignition databases. The detailed mechanism was developed by Curran et al. and involves 560 species and 2538 reactions. The smallest skeletal mechanism considered consists of 66 species and 326 reactions. We show that these skeletal mechanisms yield good agreement with the detailed model for premixed n-heptane flames, over a wide range of equivalence ratios and pressures, for global flame properties. They also exhibit good accuracy in predicting certain elements of internal flame structure, especially the profiles of temperature and major chemical species. On the other hand, we find larger errors in the concentrations of many minor/radical species, particularly in the region where low-temperature chemistry plays a significant role. We also observe that the low-temperature chemistry of n-heptane can play an important role at very lean or very rich mixtures, reaching these limits first at high pressure. This has implications to numerical simulations of non-premixed flames where these lean and rich regions occur naturally.     

A new burst assembly technique for supporting QoS in optical burst switching networks

This letter proposes a new burst assembly technique for supporting QoS in optical burst switching (OBS) networks. It consists of the adaptive-threshold burst assembly mechanism and QoS-based random offset-time scheme. The assembly mechanism, which is fit well to multi-class burst assembly, not only matches with IP QoS mechanism based on packet classification, and also utilizes fairly and efficiently assembly capacity. Based on token-bucket model and burst segment selective discard (BSSD), the offset-time scheme can smooth the traffic to support OBS QoS. The simulation results show that the technique can improve the performance in terms of packet loss probability (PLP).     

Resonance-parametric mechanism of optical rectification and high harmonic generation

The generation of zero and high-order harmonics in the spectrum of a laser pulse propagating through a medium containing quantum particles whose constant resonance transition dipole moment is nonzero is studied theoretically. The consideration is performed in the approximation of slowly varying envelopes modified for the case of the medium with the nonzero permanent dipole moment. It is shown that this modification requires consideration of antiresonance terms, in particular, the Bloch-Siegert shift in equations. The conditions are revealed for the efficient optical rectification and excitation of the second harmonic at a quasi-monochromatic signal applied to the medium.     

The gluon mass generation mechanism: A concise primer

We present a pedagogical overview of the nonperturbative mechanism that endows gluons with a dynamical mass. This analysis is performed based on pure Yang–Mills theories in the Landau gauge, within the theoretical framework that emerges from the combination of the pinch technique with the background field method. In particular, we concentrate on the Schwinger–Dyson equation satisfied by the gluon propagator and examine the necessary conditions for obtaining finite solutions within the infrared region. The role of seagull diagrams receives particular attention, as do the identities that enforce the cancellation of all potential quadratic divergences.We stress the necessity of introducing nonperturbative massless poles in the fully dressed vertices of the theory in order to trigger the Schwinger mechanism, and explain in detail the instrumental role of these poles in maintaining the Becchi–Rouet–Stora–Tyutin symmetry at every step of the mass-generating procedure. The dynamical equation governing the evolution of the gluon mass is derived, and its solutions are determined numerically following implementation of a set of simplifying assumptions. The obtained mass function is positive definite, and exhibits a power law running that is consistent with general arguments based on the operator product expansion in the ultraviolet region. A possible connection between confinement and the presence of an inflection point in the gluon propagator is briefly discussed.