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Plasma Equilibria And Stability
The stability of a plasma is an important consideration in the study of plasma physics. When a system containing a plasma is at equilibrium, it is possible for certain parts of the plasma to be disturbed by small perturbative forces acting on it. The stability of the system determines if the perturbations will grow, oscillate, or be damped out. In many cases, a plasma can be treated as a fluid and its stability analyzed with magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). MHD theory is the simplest representation of a plasma, so MHD stability is a necessity for stable devices to be used for nuclear fusion, specifically magnetic fusion energy. There are, however, other types of instabilities, such as velocity-space instabilities in magnetic mirrors and systems with beams. There are also rare cases of systems, e.g. the field-reversed configuration, predicted by MHD to be unstable, but which are observed to be stable, probably due to kinetic effects. Plasma instabilities Plasma instabilities can b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unstable , Neutral, And Stable Equilibrium
In numerous fields of study, the component of instability within a system is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds. Not all systems that are not stable are unstable; systems can also be marginally stable or exhibit limit cycle behavior. In structural engineering, a structure can become unstable when excessive load is applied. Beyond a certain threshold, structural deflections magnify stresses, which in turn increases deflections. This can take the form of buckling or crippling. The general field of study is called structural stability. Atmospheric instability is a major component of all weather systems on Earth. Instability in control systems In the theory of dynamical systems, a state variable in a system is said to be unstable if it evolves without bounds. A system itself is said to be unstable if at least one of its state variables is unstable. In continuous time control theory, a system is unstable if any of th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drift Instability
In plasma physics, a drift wave is a type of collective excitation that is driven by a pressure gradient within a magnetised plasma, which can be destabilised by differences between ion and electron motion (then known as drift-wave instability or drift instability). The drift wave typically propagates across the pressure gradient and is perpendicular to the magnetic field. It can occur in relatively simple configurations such as in a column of plasma with a non-uniform density but a straight magnetic field. Drift wave turbulence is responsible for the transport of particles, energy and momentum across magnetic field lines. The characteristic frequency associated with drift waves involving electron flow is given by \omega^* = k_\perp \left(-\frac\nabla n_0\right) , where k_\perp is the wavenumber perpendicular to the pressure gradient of the plasma, k_B is the Boltzmann constant, T_e is the electron temperature, e is the elementary charge, B_0 is the background magnetic field and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rayleigh–Taylor Instability
The Rayleigh–Taylor instability, or RT instability (after Lord Rayleigh and G. I. Taylor), is an instability of an interface between two fluids of different densities which occurs when the lighter fluid is pushing the heavier fluid. Drazin (2002) pp. 50–51. Examples include the behavior of water suspended above oil in the gravity of Earth, mushroom clouds like those from volcanic eruptions and atmospheric nuclear explosions, supernova explosions in which expanding core gas is accelerated into denser shell gas, instabilities in plasma fusion reactors and inertial confinement fusion. Water suspended atop oil is an everyday example of Rayleigh–Taylor instability, and it may be modeled by two completely plane-parallel layers of immiscible fluid, the denser fluid on top of the less dense one and both subject to the Earth's gravity. The equilibrium here is unstable to any perturbations or disturbances of the interface: if a parcel of heavier fluid is displaced downward with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kink Instability
A kink instability (also kink oscillation or kink mode), is a current-driven plasma instability characterized by transverse displacements of a plasma column's cross-section from its center of mass without any change in the characteristics of the plasma. It typically develops in a thin plasma column carrying a strong axial current which exceeds the Kruskal–Shafranov limit and is sometimes known as the Kruskal–Shafranov (kink) instability. The kink instability was first widely explored in fusion power machines with Z-pinch configurations in the 1950s. It is one of the common magnetohydrodynamic Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD; also called magneto-fluid dynamics or hydromagnetics) is the study of the magnetic properties and behaviour of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such magnetofluids include plasmas, liquid metals, ... instability modes which can develop in a pinch plasma and is sometimes referred to as the m=1 mode. (The other is the m=0 mode known as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toroid
In mathematics, a toroid is a surface of revolution with a hole in the middle. The axis of revolution passes through the hole and so does not intersect the surface. For example, when a rectangle is rotated around an axis parallel to one of its edges, then a hollow rectangle-section ring is produced. If the revolved figure is a circle, then the object is called a torus. The term ''toroid'' is also used to describe a toroidal polyhedron. In this context a toroid need not be circular and may have any number of holes. A ''g''-holed ''toroid'' can be seen as approximating the surface of a torus having a topological genus, ''g'', of 1 or greater. The Euler characteristic χ of a ''g'' holed toroid is 2(1-''g'').Stewart, B.; "Adventures Among the Toroids:A Study of Orientable Polyhedra with Regular Faces", 2nd Edition, Stewart (1980). The torus is an example of a toroid, which is the surface of a doughnut. Doughnuts are an example of a solid torus created by rotating a disk, and s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Peratt
Anthony L. Peratt is an American physicist whose most notable achievements have been in plasma discharge petroglyphs, plasma physics, nuclear fusion and the monitoring of nuclear weapons. Education Peratt was a graduate student of Nobel Prize winning Hannes Alfvén. He received a Ph.D in electrical engineering / plasma physics in 1971 from the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles. He was awarded a Master of Science in electrical engineering in 1967, also from USC. Addendum tClass Of 2009: The Newly Elected Members Of AdCom in the same issue of the newsletter. Scientific career He worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory between 1972 and 1979, during which time he held the position of a Guest Physicist at the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Astrophysics at Garching, near Munich, from 1975 to 1977. From 1981 to the present he has worked at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, serving in the Applied Theoretical Physics Division. He had a sabbati ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetic Buoyancy
Magnetism is the class of physical attributes that are mediated by a magnetic field, which refers to the capacity to induce attractive and repulsive phenomena in other entities. Electric currents and the magnetic moments of elementary particles give rise to a magnetic field, which acts on other currents and magnetic moments. Magnetism is one aspect of the combined phenomena of electromagnetism. The most familiar effects occur in ferromagnetic materials, which are strongly attracted by magnetic fields and can be magnetized to become permanent magnets, producing magnetic fields themselves. Demagnetizing a magnet is also possible. Only a few substances are ferromagnetic; the most common ones are iron, cobalt, and nickel and their alloys. The rare-earth metals neodymium and samarium are less common examples. The prefix ' refers to iron because permanent magnetism was first observed in lodestone, a form of natural iron ore called magnetite, Fe3O4. All substances exhibit some type ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pair-instability Supernova
A pair-instability supernova is a type of supernova predicted to occur when pair production, the production of free electrons and positrons in the collision between atomic nuclei and energetic gamma rays, temporarily reduces the internal radiation pressure supporting a supermassive star's core against gravitational collapse. This pressure drop leads to a partial collapse, which in turn causes greatly accelerated burning in a runaway thermonuclear explosion, resulting in the star being blown completely apart without leaving a stellar remnant behind. Pair-instability supernovae can only happen in stars with a mass range from around 130 to 250 solar masses and low to moderate metallicity (low abundance of elements other than hydrogen and helium – a situation common in Population III stars). Physics Photon emission Photons given off by a body in thermal equilibrium have a black-body spectrum with an energy density proportional to the fourth power of the temperature, as described ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Modulational Instability
In the fields of nonlinear optics and fluid dynamics, modulational instability or sideband instability is a phenomenon whereby deviations from a periodic waveform are reinforced by nonlinearity, leading to the generation of spectral-sidebands and the eventual breakup of the waveform into a train of pulses. It is widely believed that the phenomenon was first discovered − and modeled − for periodic surface gravity waves (Stokes waves) on deep water by T. Brooke Benjamin and Jim E. Feir, in 1967. Therefore, it is also known as the Benjamin−Feir instability. However, spatial modulation instability of high-power lasers in organic solvents was observed by Russian scientists N. F. Piliptetskii and A. R. Rustamov in 1965, and the mathematical derivation of modulation instability was published by V. I. Bespalov and V. I. Talanov in 1966. Modulation instability is a possible mechanism for the generation of rogue waves. Initial instability and gain Modulation instability only happens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Accretion Disks
An accretion disk is a structure (often a circumstellar disk) formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a massive central body. The central body is typically a star. Friction, uneven irradiance, magnetohydrodynamic effects, and other forces induce instabilities causing orbiting material in the disk to spiral inward towards the central body. Gravitational and frictional forces compress and raise the temperature of the material, causing the emission of electromagnetic radiation. The frequency range of that radiation depends on the central object's mass. Accretion disks of young stars and protostars radiate in the infrared; those around neutron stars and black holes in the X-ray part of the spectrum. The study of oscillation modes in accretion disks is referred to as diskoseismology. Manifestations Accretion disks are a ubiquitous phenomenon in astrophysics; active galactic nuclei, protoplanetary disks, and gamma ray bursts all involve accretion disks. These disks very ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magnetorotational Instability
The magnetorotational instability (MRI) is a fluid instability that causes an accretion disk orbiting a massive central object to become turbulent. It arises when the angular velocity of a conducting fluid in a magnetic field decreases as the distance from the rotation center increases. It is also known as the Velikhov–Chandrasekhar instability or Balbus–Hawley instability in the literature, not to be confused with the electrothermal Velikhov instability. The MRI is of particular relevance in astrophysics where it is an important part of the dynamics in accretion disks. Gases or liquids containing mobile electrical charges are subject to the influence of a magnetic field. In addition to hydrodynamical forces such as pressure and gravity, an element of magnetized fluid also feels the Lorentz force \boldsymbol J\times\boldsymbol B\ , where \boldsymbol J is the current density and \boldsymbol B is the magnetic field vector. If the fluid is in a state of differential rotatio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeans Instability
In stellar physics, the Jeans instability causes the collapse of interstellar gas clouds and subsequent star formation, named after James Jeans. It occurs when the internal gas pressure is not strong enough to prevent gravitational collapse of a region filled with matter. For stability, the cloud must be in hydrostatic equilibrium, which in case of a spherical cloud translates to: :\frac = -\frac, where M_\text(r) is the enclosed mass, p is the pressure, \rho(r) is the density of the gas (at radius r), G is the gravitational constant, and r is the radius. The equilibrium is stable if small perturbations are damped and unstable if they are amplified. In general, the cloud is unstable if it is either very massive at a given temperature or very cool at a given mass; under these circumstances, the gas pressure cannot overcome gravity, and the cloud will collapse. The Jeans instability likely determines when star formation occurs in molecular clouds. Jeans mass The Jeans mass is na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
