Hydrodynamics of an expanding fireball

A set of relativistic hydrodynamic equations is solved numerically on the basis of the flux-corrected SHASTA method for one-, two-, and three-dimensional geometries. The accuracy of the proposed method is demonstrated via a comparison with exact analytic solutions for the one-dimensional Riemann problem and a boost-invariant longitudinal expansion in the Bjorken model. The example of an expanding three-dimensional fireball for which initial conditions approximately correspond to PbPb collisions at an energy of about 160 GeV per nucleon is considered. This example indicates that the presumed dynamics of the expansion may affect substantially the results of an analysis of in-medium properties of hadrons that relies on data from experiments with leptons.     

Comparison of Lithium Divertor Options for the DEMO-FNS Tokamak

Technical Physics - The choice of an idea for a divertor with evaporating liquid lithium that meets the requirements for removing the thermal load from the edge plasma and provides an acceptable...     

Disintegration of flows of superheated liquid films and jets

This paper represents results on investigating the dynamics of boiling and disintegration of superheated liquid films and jets. The first part deals with experimental study of boiling liquid outflow through short cylindrical and slit channels. Evolution of disintegration of a hot water jet flow is observed both at low and moderate superheating and at high and limit superheating, and also for vaporization mechanisms corresponding to these superheatings. Peculiarities of disintegration of jets through slit and cylindrical channels are noticed. Results on measuring the reactive thrust of the jet through a slit channel under different geometrical conditions behind the channel outlet are represented. The 1/f fluctuations in transient regimes of superheated liquid boiling and in transient regimes of behavior of the jet shape are found. The second part of this article represents results on experimental investigation of nonsteady heat transfer and dynamics of the development of crisis phenomena at boiling of a falling subcooled liquid film in the conditions of stepwise heat release. The experimental data were obtained using synchronized high-speed infrared thermography and video. It is shown that with growth and condensation of vapor bubbles, on the liquid film interface appear large-amplitude waves that lead to considerably increasing local intensity of heat transfer. New data on the boiling incipience temperature in a subcooled liquid film, depending on the heat flux density, are obtained. It is found that the development of boiling crisis is a result of appearance of local dry patches and their subsequent growth by the mechanism of longitudinal thermal conductivity in the heat transfer wall as the equilibrium heat flux density is exceeded.     

Relaxation in establishing a steady-state stochastic process with 1/<Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis> spectrum and low-frequency spike statistics

According to theory, fluctuations with a power spectrum inversely proportional to frequency (1/f processes) may arise when dissimilar phase transitions simultaneously take place in physical systems with intense white noise. In this work, relaxation effects in establishing a steady-state stochastic process with non-equilibrium phase transitions are described in terms of two nonlinear stochastic differential equations. The results thus obtained carry information on the statistics of large-scale low-frequency spikes. Step “forgetting” of initial conditions is noted. It is numerically shown that the distributions of the durations and maximal values of extreme low-frequency spikes have a power-type form.     

Effect of hydrogenation on spin-reorientation phase transitions and magnetic anisotropy constants of RFe11Ti single crystals (R=Lu, Ho, and Er)

The magnetic anisotropy and spin-reorientation phase transitions in single crystals of the RFe₁₁Ti (R=Lu, Ho, and Er) compounds and their hydrides are investigated. Measurements are carried out on capacitance and torque magnetometers. The magnetic anisotropy constants K ₁ and K ₂ are determined by the mathematical processing of experimental magnetization curves in terms of the phenomenological theory of the anisotropic ferromagnet magnetization. It is demonstrated that the hydrogenation strongly affects the magnitude and the sign of magnetic anisotropy constants, as well as the spin-reorientation phase transitions. The hydrogenation of the HoFe₁₁Ti compound leads to the change in sign of the magnetic anisotropy constant K ₁. The inference is made that a change in the atomic volume and the axial ratio c/a cannot result in the observed effects. A change in the magnetic anisotropy constants upon hydrogenation is primarily due to the change in the interaction of the quadrupole moment of a 4f electron subshell of rare-earth ions with surrounding ions of the crystal lattice and also with valence and conduction electrons.     

Fluctuations as probe of the QCD phase transition and freeze-out in heavy ion collisions at LHC and RHIC

We discuss the relevance of higher order cumulants of net baryon number fluctuations for the analysis of freeze-out and critical conditions in heavy ion collisions at LHC and RHIC. Using properties of O(4) scaling functions, we discuss the generic structure of these higher cumulants at vanishing baryon chemical potential and apply chiral model calculations to explore their properties at non-zero baryon chemical potential. We show that the ratios of the sixth to second and eighth to second order cumulants of the net baryon number fluctuations change rapidly in the transition region of the QCD phase diagram. Already at vanishing baryon chemical potential they deviate considerably from the predictions of the hadron resonance gas model which reproduce the second and fourth order cumulants of the net proton number fluctuations at RHIC. We point out that the sixth order cumulants of baryon number and electric charge fluctuations remain negative at the chiral transition temperature. Thus, they offer the possibility to probe the proximity of the chemical freeze-out to the crossover line.     

Self-organized criticality and 1/f fluctuation under conditions of nonequilibrium phase transitions

The results are given of an experimental investigation of fluctuation phenomena under conditions of electric arc discharge. Fluctuations are observed whose spectral density is inversely proportional to frequency (1/f noise). Power dependences are revealed of the fluctuation distribution functions. The behavior of spectral density and of distribution functions is associated with the simultaneous occurrence of various nonequilibrium phase transitions. Within the framework of the mean field theory, a mathematical model is suggested of interacting nonequilibrium phase transitions in a distributed system, which predicts the self-organization of the critical state and the generation of fluctuations with diverging spectral characteristics. An adequate agreement is observed between the suggested model and experimental data.