Part Of Phase Space Research Articles

The Einasto model for dark matter haloes

Context. The Einasto model has become one of the most popular models for describing the density profile of dark matter haloes. There have been relatively few comprehensive studies on the dynamical structure of the Einasto model, mainly because only a limited number of properties can be calculated analytically. Aims. We want to systematically investigate the photometric and dynamical structure of the family of Einasto models over the entire model parameter space. Methods. We used the SpheCow code to explore the properties of the Einasto model. We systematically investigated how the most important properties change as a function of the Einasto index n. We considered both isotropic models and radially anisotropic models with an Osipkov-Merritt orbital structure. Results. We find that all Einasto models with n < 1/2 have a formal isotropic or Osipkov-Merritt distribution function that is negative in parts of phase space, and hence cannot be supported by such orbital structures. On the other hand, all models with larger values of n can be supported by an isotropic orbital structure, or by an Osipkov-Merritt anisotropy, as long as the anisotropy radius is larger than a critical value. This critical anisotropy radius is a decreasing function of n, indicating that less centrally concentrated models allow for a larger degree of radial anisotropy. Conclusions. Studies of the structure and dynamics of models for galaxies and dark matter haloes should not be restricted to completely analytical models. Numerical codes such as SpheCow can help open up the range of models that are systematically investigated. This applies to the Einasto model discussed here, but also to other proposed models for dark matter haloes, including different extensions to the Einasto model.

Noise-Induced Aggregation of Swimmers in the Kolmogorov Flow

We investigate a model for the dynamics of ellipsoidal microswimmers in an externally imposed, laminar Kolmogorov flow. Through a phase-space analysis of the dynamics without noise, we find that swimmers favor either cross-stream or rotational drift, depending on their swimming speed and aspect ratio. When including noise, i.e., rotational diffusion, we find that swimmers are driven into certain parts of phase space, leading to a nonuniform steady-state distribution. This distribution exhibits a transition from swimmer aggregation in low-shear regions of the flow to aggregation in high-shear regions as the swimmer’s speed, aspect ratio, and rotational diffusivity are varied. To explain the nonuniform phase-space distribution of swimmers, we apply a weak-noise averaging principle that produces a reduced description of the stochastic swimmer dynamics. Using this technique, we find that certain swimmer trajectories are more favorable than others in the presence of weak rotational diffusion. By combining this information with the phase-space speed of swimmers along each trajectory, we predict the regions of phase space where swimmers tend to accumulate. The results of the averaging technique are in good agreement with direct calculations of the steady-state distributions of swimmers. In particular, our analysis explains the transition from low-shear to high-shear aggregation.

Ambipolar Electric Field and Potential in the Solar Wind Estimated from Electron Velocity Distribution Functions

Abstract The solar wind escapes from the solar corona and is accelerated, over a short distance, to its terminal velocity. The energy balance associated with this acceleration remains poorly understood. To quantify the global electrostatic contribution to the solar wind dynamics, we empirically estimate the ambipolar electric field (E ∥) and potential (Φr,∞). We analyze electron velocity distribution functions (VDFs) measured in the near-Sun solar wind between 20.3 R S and 85.3 R S by the Parker Solar Probe. We test the predictions of two different solar wind models. Close to the Sun, the VDFs exhibit a suprathermal electron deficit in the sunward, magnetic-field-aligned part of phase space. We argue that the sunward deficit is a remnant of the electron cutoff predicted by collisionless exospheric models. This cutoff energy is directly linked to Φr,∞. Competing effects of E ∥ and Coulomb collisions in the solar wind are addressed by the Steady Electron Runaway Model (SERM). In this model, electron phase space is separated into collisionally overdamped and underdamped regions. We assume that this boundary velocity at small pitch angles coincides with the strahl break-point energy, which allows us to calculate E ∥. The obtained Φr,∞ and E ∥ agree well with theoretical expectations. They decrease with radial distance as power-law functions with indices α Φ = −0.66 and α E = −1.69. We finally estimate the velocity gained by protons from electrostatic acceleration, which equals 77% calculated from the exospheric models, and 44% from the SERM model.

Acausality in superfluid dark matter and MOND-like theories

There has been much interest in novel models of dark matter that exhibit interesting behavior on galactic scales. A primary motivation is the observed Baryonic Tully-Fisher Relation in which the mass of galaxies increases as the quartic power of rotation speed. This scaling is not obviously accounted for by standard cold dark matter. This has prompted the development of dark matter models that exhibit some form of so-called MONDian phenomenology to account for this galactic scaling, while also recovering the success of cold dark matter on large scales. A beautiful example of this are the so-called superfluid dark matter models, in which a complex bosonic field undergoes spontaneous symmetry breaking on galactic scales, entering a superfluid phase with a 3/2 kinetic scaling in the low energy effective theory, that mediates a long-ranged MONDian force. In this work we examine the causality and locality properties of these and other related models. We show that the Lorentz invariant completions of the superfluid models exhibit high energy perturbations that violate global hyperbolicity of the equations of motion in the MOND regime and can be superluminal in other parts of phase space. We also examine a range of alternate models, finding that they also exhibit forms of non-locality.

Resonant Relaxation in Globular Clusters

Abstract Resonant relaxation has been discussed as an efficient process that changes the angular momenta of stars orbiting around a central supermassive black hole due to the fluctuating gravitational field of the stellar cluster. Other spherical stellar systems, such as globular clusters, exhibit a restricted form of this effect where enhanced relaxation rate only occurs in the directions of the angular momentum vectors, but not in their magnitudes; this is called vector resonant relaxation (VRR). To explore this effect, we performed a large set of direct N-body simulations, with up to 512k particles (where k =1024) and ∼500 dynamical times. Contrasting these simulations, which naturally include the collective effects, with Spitzer-style Monte Carlo simulations, which by design only exhibit two-body relaxation, we show that the temporal behavior of the angular momentum vectors in N-body simulations cannot be explained by two-body relaxation alone. VRR operates efficiently in globular clusters with N > 104. The fact that VRR operates in globular clusters may open a way to use powerful tools in statistical physics for their description. In particular, since the distribution of orbital planes relaxes much more rapidly than the distribution of the magnitude of angular momentum and the radial action, the relaxation process reaches an internal statistical equilibrium in the corresponding part of phase space while the whole cluster is generally out of equilibrium, in a state of quenched disorder. We point out the need to include effects of VRR in Monte Carlo simulations of globular clusters.

The phase-space dependence of fast-ion interaction with tearing modesaaIAEA Technical Meeting paper for submission to Nuclear Fusion

Modulation of various neutral beam sources probes the interaction of fast ions with tearing modes (TM) in the DIII-D tokamak. As measured by electron cyclotron emission, the tearing modes have an island width of ∼8 cm and change phase at the q = 2 surface. (Here, m is the poloidal mode number and n is the toroidal mode number.) Deuterium neutral beam injection by six sources with differing injection geometries produces the fast ions. To study the interaction in different parts of phase space, on successive discharges, one of the six sources is modulated at 20 Hz to populate different fast-ion orbits. The modulation only changes the island width by a few millimeters, implying that any fast-ion effect on mode stability is below detection limits. When compared to the expected signals in the absence of TM-induced transport, both the average and modulated neutron signals deviate, implying that fast-ion transport occurs in much of phase space. Fast-ion Dα (FIDA) measurements detect reductions in signal at wavelengths that are sensitive to counter-passing ions. Neutral particle analyzer data imply poor confinement of trapped fast ions. Calculations of the expected fast-ion transport that use measured TM properties successfully reproduce the data.

Mapping Isobaric Aging onto the Equilibrium Phase Diagram.

The linear volume relaxation and the nonlinear volume aging of a glass-forming liquid are measured, directly compared, and used to extract the out-of-equilibrium relaxation time. This opens a window to investigate how the relaxation time depends on temperature, structure, and volume in parts of phase space that are not accessed by the equilibrium liquid. It is found that the temperature dependence of relaxation time is non-Arrhenius even in the isostructural case-challenging the Adam-Gibbs entropy model. Based on the presented data and the idea that aging happens through quasiequilibrium states, we suggest a mapping of theout-of-equilibrium states during isobaric aging to the equilibrium phase diagram. This mapping implies the existence of isostructural lines in the equilibrium phase diagram. The relaxation time is found to depend on the bath temperature, density, and a just single structural parameter, referred to as an effective temperature.

A Dynamic Laplacian for Identifying Lagrangian Coherent Structures on Weighted Riemannian Manifolds

Transport and mixing in dynamical systems are important properties for many physical, chemical, biological, and engineering processes. The detection of transport barriers for dynamics with general time dependence is a difficult, but important problem, because such barriers control how rapidly different parts of phase space (which might correspond to different chemical or biological agents) interact. The key factor is the growth of interfaces that partition phase space into separate regions. The paper [Froyland, Nonlinearity 2015] introduced the notion of \textit{dynamic isoperimetry}: the study of sets with persistently small boundary size (the interface) relative to enclosed volume, when evolved by the dynamics. Sets with this minimal boundary size to volume ratio were identified as level sets of dominant eigenfunctions of a \textit{dynamic Laplace operator}. In this present work we extend the results of [Froyland, Nonlinearity 2015] to the situation where the dynamics (i) is not necessarily volume-preserving, (ii) acts on initial agent concentrations different from uniform concentrations, and (iii) occurs on a possibly curved phase space. Our main results include generalised versions of the dynamic isoperimetric problem, the dynamic Laplacian, Cheeger's inequality, and the Federer-Fleming theorem. We illustrate the computational approach with some simple numerical examples.

THE LOSS-CONE PROBLEM IN AXISYMMETRIC NUCLEI

We consider the problem of consumption of stars by a supermassive black hole (SBH) at the center of an axisymmetric galaxy. Inside the SBH sphere of influence, motion of stars in the mean field is regular and can be described analytically in terms of three integrals of motion: the energy E, the z-component of angular momentum L_z, and the secular Hamiltonian H. There exist two classes of orbits, tubes and saucers; saucers occupy the low-angular-momentum parts of phase space and their fraction is proportional to the degree of flattening of the nucleus. Perturbations due to gravitational encounters lead to diffusion of stars in integral space, which can be described using the Fokker-Planck equation. We calculate the diffusion coefficients and solve this equation in the two-dimensional phase space (L_z, H), for various values of the capture radius and the degree of flattening. Capture rates are found to be modestly higher than in the spherical case, up to a factor of a few, and most captures take place from saucer orbits. We also carry out a set of collisional N-body simulations to confirm the predictions of the Fokker-Planck models. We discuss the implications of our results for rates of tidal disruption and capture in the Milky Way and external galaxies.

RESONANT POST-NEWTONIAN ECCENTRICITY EXCITATION IN HIERARCHICAL THREE-BODY SYSTEMS

We study the secular, hierarchical three-body problem to first-order in a post-Newtonian expansion of General Relativity. We expand the first-order post-Newtonian Hamiltonian to leading-order in the ratio of the semi-major axis of the two orbits. In addition to the well-known terms that correspond to the GR precession of the inner and outer orbits, we find a new secular post-Newtonian interaction term that can affect the long-term evolution of the triple. We explore the parameter space for highly inclined and eccentric systems, where the Kozai-Lidov mechanism can produce large-amplitude oscillations in the eccentricities. The standard lore, i.e., that General Relativity effects suppress eccentricity, is only consistent with the parts of phase space where the General Relativity timescales are several orders of magnitude shorter than the secular Newtonian one. In other parts of phase space, however, post-Newtonian corrections combined with the three body ones, can excite eccentricities. In particular, for systems where the General Relativity timescale is comparable to the secular Newtonian timescales, the three-body interactions give rise to a resonant-like eccentricity excitation. Furthermore, for triples with a comparable-mass inner binary, where the eccentric Kozai-Lidov mechanism is suppressed, post-Newtonian corrections can further increase the eccentricity and lead to orbital flips even when the timescale of the former is much longer than the timescale of the secular Kozai-Lidov quadrupole perturbations.

Invariant recurrent solutions embedded in a turbulent two-dimensional Kolmogorov flow

AbstractWe consider long-time simulations of two-dimensional turbulence body forced by $\sin 4y\hat {\boldsymbol{x}} $ on the torus $(x, y)\in \mathop{[0, 2\mathrm{\pi} ] }\nolimits ^{2} $ with the purpose of extracting simple invariant sets or ‘exact recurrent flows’ embedded in this turbulence. Each recurrent flow represents a sustained closed cycle of dynamical processes which underpins the turbulence. These are used to reconstruct the turbulence statistics using periodic orbit theory. The approach is found to be reasonably successful at a low value of the forcing where the flow is close to but not fully in its asymptotic (strongly) turbulent regime. Here, a total of 50 recurrent flows are found with the majority buried in the part of phase space most populated by the turbulence giving rise to a good reproduction of the energy and dissipation p.d.f. However, at higher forcing amplitudes now in the asymptotic turbulent regime, the generated turbulence data set proves insufficiently long to yield enough recurrent flows to make viable predictions. Despite this, the general approach seems promising providing enough simulation data is available since it is open to extensive automation and naturally generates dynamically important exact solutions for the flow.

Consequences of temperature fluctuations in observables measured in high-energy collisions

We review the consequences of intrinsic, nonstatistical temperature fluctuations as seen in observables measured in high energy collisions. We do this from the point of view of nonextensive statistics and Tsallis distributions. Particular attention is paid to multiplicity fluctuations as a first consequence of temperature fluctuations, to the equivalence of temperature and volume fluctuations, to the generalized thermodynamic fluctuations relations allowing us to compare fluctuations observed in different parts of phase space, and to the problem of the relation between Tsallis entropy and Tsallis distributions. We also discuss the possible influence of conservation laws on these distributions and provide some examples of how one can get them without considering temperature fluctuations.

CHAOS IN CYLINDRICAL STADIUM BILLIARDS VIA A GENERIC NONLINEAR MECHANISM

We describe conditions under which higher-dimensional billiard models in bounded, convex regions are fully chaotic, generalizing the Bunimovich stadium to dimensions above two. An example is a three-dimensional stadium bounded by a cylinder and several planes; the combination of these elements may give rise to defocusing, allowing large chaotic regions in phase space. By studying families of marginally-stable periodic orbits that populate the residual part of phase space, we identify conditions under which a nonlinear instability mechanism arises in their vicinity. For particular geometries, this mechanism rather induces stable nonlinear oscillations, including in the form of whispering-gallery modes.

Velocity-space studies of fast-ion transport at a sawtooth crash in neutral-beam heated plasmas

In tokamaks the crash phase of the sawtooth instability causes fast-ion transport. The DIII-D tokamak is equipped with a suite of core fast-ion diagnostics that can probe different parts of phase space. Over a variety of operating conditions, energetic passing ions are observed to undergo larger redistribution than their trapped counterparts. Passing ions of all energies are redistributed, but only low-energy (≲40 keV) trapped ions suffer redistribution. The transport process is modeled using a numerical approach to the drift-kinetic equation. The simulation reproduces the characteristic that circulating energetic ions experience the greatest levels of internal transport. An analytic treatment of particle drifts suggests that the difference in observed transport depends on the magnitude of toroidal drift.

Adiabatic and diabatic invariants in ion-molecule reactions

A point charge interacting with a dipole (either induced or permanent) constitutes a completely integrable dynamical subsystem characterized by three first integrals of the motion (E, p(phi), and either l(2) or a Hamilton-Jacobi separation constant beta). An ion-molecule reaction (capture or fragmentation) can be seen as an interaction between such a subsystem and a bath of oscillators. This interaction is a perturbation that destroys some of the first integrals. However, the perturbation depends on the separation between the fragments and the destruction is gradual. The mathematical simplicity of the long-range electrostatic interaction potential leads to useful simplifications. A first-order perturbation treatment based on the structured and regular nature of the multipole expansion is presented. The separating integrals valid in the asymptotic limit are found to subsist at intermediate distances, although in a weaker form. As the reaction coordinate decreases, i.e., as the fragments approach, the asymptotic range is followed by an outer region where (i) the azimuthal momentum p(phi) remains a constant of the motion; (ii) the square angular momentum l(2) or the separation constant beta transform into a diabatic invariant in regions of phase space characterized by a high value of the translational momentum p(r); (iii) for low values of p(r), it is advantageous to use the action integral contour integral(p(theta)d theta), which is an adiabatic invariant. The conditions under which an effective potential obtained by adding centrifugal repulsion to an electrostatic attractive term can be validly constructed are specified. In short, the dynamics of ion-molecule interactions is still regular in parts of phase space corresponding to a range of the reaction coordinate where the interaction potential deviates from its asymptotic shape.

Nekhoroshev theorem for the periodic Toda lattice

The periodic Toda lattice with N sites is globally symplectomorphic to a two parameter family of N−1 coupled harmonic oscillators. The action variables fill out the whole positive quadrant of RN−1. We prove that in the interior of the positive quadrant as well as in a neighborhood of the origin, the Toda Hamiltonian is strictly convex and therefore Nekhoroshev’s theorem applies on (almost) all parts of phase space (2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: 37J35, 37J40, 70H06).

Molecular quantum wave-packet splitting and revivals in shared phase space

The evolution of a molecular wave packet created by an ultrashort laser pulse in a system of two coupled bound states is investigated by quantum dynamics calculations and semiclassical theory. Under suitable dynamical quantum interference conditions, the wave packet may be split into two separable fractions that move in different but partially overlapping regions of the energetically available phase space. Each wave-packet part can be individually addressed in the divided parts of the molecular phase space, and they are shown to go through separate long-term collapse-revival cycles analogous to those of wave packets moving in single anharmonic potentials. In a pump-probe scheme, the dynamics of the system would look very different depending on what internuclear distances are probed. The regular dynamics observable in the separated parts of the phase space takes on a quite irregular appearance in the regions that are shared by the wave-packet components. The wave-packet regularity is shown to depend sensitively on the pump pulse wavelength, which is a reflection of the energy range over which the quantum interference conditions are maintained. These conditions, as well as the wave-packet fraction revival times, are well reproduced by semiclassical theory.

Dynamical Constraints and Adiabatic Invariants in Chemical Reactions

For long-range electrostatic potentials and, more generally, when the topography of the potential energy surface is locally simple, the reaction path coordinate is adiabatically separable from the perpendicular degrees of freedom. For the ion-permanent dipole and ion-quadrupole interactions, the Poisson bracket of the adiabatic invariant decreases with the interfragment distance more rapidly than the electrostatic potential. The smaller the translational momentum, the moment of inertia of the neutral fragment, and the dipole or quadrupole moments are, the more reliable the adiabatic approximation is, as expected from the usual argumentation. Closed-form expressions for an effective one-dimensional potential in an adiabatic Hamiltonian are given. Connection with a model where the decoupling is exact is obtained in the limit of an infinitely heavy dipole. The dynamics is also constrained by adiabatic invariance for a harmonic valley about a curved reaction path, as shown by the reaction path Hamiltonian method. The maximum entropy method reveals that, as a result of the invariance properties of the entropy, constraints whose validity has been demonstrated locally only subsist in all parts of phase space. However, their form varies continuously, and they are not necessarily expressed in simple terms as they are in the asymptotic region. Therefore, although the influence of adiabatic invariance has been demonstrated at asymptotically large values of the reaction coordinate only, it persists in more interesting ranges.

Localized control for non-resonant Hamiltonian systems

We present a method of localized control of chaos in Hamiltonian systems. The aim is to modify the perturbation locally using a small control term which makes the controlled Hamiltonian more regular. We provide an explicit expression for the control term which is able to recreate invariant (KAM) tori without modifying other parts of phase space. We apply this method of localized control to a forced pendulum model, to the delta-kicked rotor (standard map) and to a non-twist Hamiltonian.

Resummation of non-global QCD observables

We discuss issues related to the resummation of non-global observables in QCD, those that are sensitive to radiation in only a part of phase space. Examples of such observables are certain single-hemisphere event shapes in e+e- and DIS. Compared to global observables (those sensitive to all emissions, e.g. the e+e- thrust) a new class of single-logarithmic terms arises. These have been neglected in recent calculations in the literature. For a whole set of single hemisphere e+e- and DIS event shapes, we analytically evaluate the first such term, at order alpha_s^2, and give numerical results for the resummation of these terms in the large-Nc limit.