Quench Time Scale Research Articles

Resistive wall tearing mode disruptions

Abstract This paper deals with resistive wall tearing mode (RWTM) disruptions. RWTMs are closely related to resistive wall modes. RWTMs are tearing modes whose linear and nonlinear behavior is strongly dependent on the resistive wall outside the plasma. The consequence for ITER, is that the thermal quench timescale could be much longer than previously conjectured. Active feedback stabilization is another possible way to mitigate or prevent RWTM disruptions. Simulations of RWTM disruptions are reviewed for DIII-D and MST. MST has a longer resistive wall time than ITER, and disruptions are not observed experimentally when MST is operated as a standard tokamak. Simulations indicate that the RWTM disruption time scale is longer than the experimental shot time. Edge cooling causes contraction of the current profile, which can destabilize RWTMs. The equilibria studied here have the q = 2 rational surface close to the edge of the plasma, and low current density between the q = 2 surface and the wall. A sequence of low edge current model equilibria has major disruptions only for a resistive, not ideal, wall, and edge q ⩽ 3.4 . This is consistent with regimes of tokamak disruptivity, suggesting that tokamak disruptions caused by edge cooling at low edge q could be RWTMs.

A physics-informed deep learning model of the hot tail runaway electron seed

A challenging aspect of the description of a tokamak disruption is evaluating the hot tail runaway electron seed that emerges during the thermal quench. This problem is made challenging due to the requirement of describing a strongly non-thermal electron distribution, together with the need to incorporate a diverse range of multiphysics processes, including magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, impurity transport, and radiative losses. This work develops a physics-informed neural network (PINN) tailored to the solution of the hot tail seed during an axisymmetric thermal quench. Here, a PINN is developed to identify solutions to the adjoint relativistic Fokker–Planck equation in the presence of a rapid quench of the plasma's thermal energy. It is shown that the PINN is able to accurately predict the hot tail seed across a range of parameters, including the thermal quench timescale, initial plasma temperature, and local current density, in the absence of experimental or simulation data. The hot tail PINN is verified by comparison with direct Monte Carlo simulations, with excellent agreement found across a broad range of thermal quench conditions.

Femtosecond Upconversion Study of Interfacial Electron Transfer from Photoexcited CsPbBr3 Perovskite Nanocrystal to Rhodamine 6G.

Photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from an excited-state CsPbBr3 nanocrystal (NC) to rhodamine 6G (r6G) is studied in toluene using different fluorescence-based techniques. Because of weak solubility of r6G in toluene, excess r6G molecules adsorb at NC surface which result in a much slower rotational diffusion time scale of r6G in the presence of NCs. Study of intrinsic PET benefits from the soft molecular interactions leading to donor (NC)-acceptor (r6G) complex formation, where solvent diffusion parameters would not play any role in the PET kinetics. Femtosecond transients of NCs are nicely fit to a Poisson expression originally proposed by Tachiya. Conclusive fittings to the temperature dependence quenching data reveal two interesting observations: (1) Even though the average number of surface trap state in a NC does not change with temperature (5-60 °C), the trap-state-induced quenching time scale is accelerated with increase in temperature, pointing toward a more efficient trapping at higher temperature. (ii) In the presence of r6G, a fast (∼150 ps per r6G molecule) interfacial PET time scale is observed, which remains unaffected by temperature (5-60 °C). Our findings demonstrate that even a simple "perovskite NC-electron acceptor" composite like that in the present study can ensure a rapid interfacial charge separation. Such information will help us to realize the actual potential of perovskites NCs in their real applications.

Universal scaling of work statistics in conformal field theory models

In this paper, we systematically study the work statistics for quantum phase transition. For a quantum system approached by an anisotropic conformal field theory near the critical point, the driving protocols is divided into three different regimes for different quench rates, which reflects the competition between the frozen time and the quench time scale. In each regime, we find universal scaling behaviors in work statistics (after renormalization). It is shown that the critical exponents are determined by the space-time dimension $d$, the dynamical critical exponent $z$, the correlation-length exponent $\nu$, and the power-law protocols. These universal scalings in nonequilibrium process may be found in quantum phase transition by measuring the Loschmidt echo or the Ramsey interferometry.

Quantum formation of topological defects

We consider quantum phase transitions with global symmetry breakings that result in the formation of topological defects. We evaluate the number densities of kinks, vortices, and monopoles that are produced in $d=1,2,3$ spatial dimensions respectively and find that they scale as $t^{-d/2}$ and evolve towards attractor solutions that are independent of the quench timescale. For $d=1$ our results apply in the region of parameters $\lambda \tau/m \ll 1$ where $\lambda$ is the quartic self-interaction of the order parameter, $\tau$ is the quench timescale, and $m$ the mass parameter.

Emergence of classical structures from the quantum vacuum

After a quantum phase transition the quantum vacuum can break up to form classical topological defects. We examine this process for scalar field models with $Z_2$ symmetry for different quench rates for the phase transition. We find that the number density of kinks at late times universally scales as $C m^{1/2} t^{-1/2}$ where $m$ is a mass scale in the model and $C\approx 0.22$; it does not depend on the quench timescale in contrast to the Kibble-Zurek scaling for thermal phase transitions. A subleading correction $\propto t^{-3/2}$ to the kink density depends on the details of the phase transition.

The Evolution of Environmental Quenching Timescales to z ∼ 1.6: Evidence for Dynamically Driven Quenching of the Cluster Galaxy Population

Abstract Using a sample of four galaxy clusters at 1.35 < z < 1.65 and 10 galaxy clusters at 0.85 < z < 1.35, we measure the environmental quenching timescale, t Q, corresponding to the time required after a galaxy is accreted by a cluster for it to fully cease star formation. Cluster members are selected by a photometric-redshift criterion, and categorized as star-forming, quiescent, or intermediate according to their dust-corrected rest-frame colors and magnitudes. We employ a “delayed-then-rapid” quenching model that relates a simulated cluster mass accretion rate to the observed numbers of each type of galaxy in the cluster to constrain t Q. For galaxies of mass M * ≳ 1010.5 M ⊙, we find a quenching timescale of t Q = Gyr in the z ∼ 1.5 cluster sample, and Gyr at z ∼ 1. Using values drawn from the literature, we compare the redshift evolution of t Q to timescales predicted for different physical quenching mechanisms. We find t Q to depend on host halo mass such that quenching occurs over faster timescales in clusters relative to groups, suggesting that properties of the host halo are responsible for quenching high-mass galaxies. Between z = 0 and z = 1.5, we find that t Q evolves faster than the molecular gas depletion timescale and slower than an estimated star formation rate-outflow timescale, but is consistent with the evolution of the dynamical time. This suggests that environmental quenching in these galaxies is driven by the motion of satellites relative to the cluster environment, although due to uncertainties in the atomic gas budget at high redshift, we cannot rule out quenching due to simple gas depletion.

Force-free motion of a cold plasma during the current quench

Cold disruptive plasma tends to move during the current quench. Its motion is essentially force-free since the current quench timescale is resistive rather than Alfvénic. In contrast to the hot vertical displacement events, the frozen-in condition is violated in the cold plasma case, and the plasma motion is not governed by magnetic flux conservation but rather by its dissipation. We present a numerical model of the cold plasma dynamics. This model predicts electromagnetic loads on the vacuum vessel, the plasma flow and density evolution, and the plasma centroid evolution. Our calculations include poloidal wall currents. We demonstrate their significant contribution to the force acting on the vacuum vessel.

THE QUENCHING TIMESCALE AND QUENCHING RATE OF GALAXIES

ABSTRACT The average star formation rate (SFR) in galaxies has been declining since the redshift of 2. A fraction of galaxies quench and become quiescent. We constrain two key properties of the quenching process: the quenching timescale and the quenching rate among galaxies. We achieve this by analyzing the galaxy number density profile in NUV−u color space and the distribution in NUV−u versus u − i color–color diagram with a simple toy-model framework. We focus on galaxies in three mass bins between 1010 and 1010.6 M ⊙. In the NUV−u versus u − i color–color diagram, the red u − i galaxies exhibit a different slope from the slope traced by the star-forming galaxies. This angled distribution and the number density profile of galaxies in NUV−u space strongly suggest that the decline of the SFR in galaxies has to accelerate before they turn quiescent. We model this color–color distribution with a two-phase exponential decline star formation history. The models with an e-folding time in the second phase (the quenching phase) of 0.5 Gyr best fit the data. We further use the NUV−u number density profile to constrain the quenching rate among star-forming galaxies as a function of mass. Adopting an e-folding time of 0.5 Gyr in the second phase (or the quenching phase), we found the quenching rate to be 19%/Gyr, 25%/Gyr and 33%/Gyr for the three mass bins. These are upper limits of the quenching rate as the transition zone could also be populated by rejuvenated red-sequence galaxies.

NoSOCS in SDSS – V. Red disc and blue bulge galaxies across different environments

We investigated the typical environment and physical properties of "red discs" and "blue bulges", comparing those to the "normal" objects in the blue cloud and red sequence. Our sample is composed of cluster members and field galaxies at $z \le 0.1$, so that we can assess the impact of the local and global environment. We find that disc galaxies display a strong dependence on environment, becoming redder for higher densities. This effect is more pronounced for objects within the virial radius, being also strong related to the stellar mass. We find that local and global environment affect galaxy properties, but the most effective parameter is stellar mass. We find evidence for a scenario where "blue discs" are transformed into "red discs" as they grow in mass and move to the inner parts of clusters. From the metallicity differences of red and blue discs, and the analysis of their star formation histories, we suggest the quenching process is slow. We estimate a quenching time scale of $\sim $ 2$-$3 Gyr. We also find from the sSFR$-$M$_*$ plane that "red discs" gradually change as they move into clusters. The "blue bulges" have many similar properties than "blue discs", but some of the former show strong signs of asymmetry. The high asymmetry "blue bulges" display enhanced recent star formation compared to their regular counterparts. That indicates some of these systems may have increased their star formation due to mergers. Nonetheless, there may not be a single evolutionary path for these blue early-type objects.

Smooth and fast versus instantaneous quenches in quantum field theory

We examine in detail the relationship between smooth fast quantum quenches, characterized by a time scale $\delta t$, and {\em instantaneous quenches}, within the framework of exactly solvable mass quenches in free scalar field theory. Our earlier studies \cite{dgm1,dgm2} highlighted that the two protocols remain distinct in the limit $\delta t \rightarrow 0$ because of the relation of the quench rate to the UV cut-off, i.e., $1/\delta t\ll\Lambda$ always holds in the fast smooth quenches while $1/\delta t\sim\Lambda$ for instantaneous quenches. Here we study UV finite quantities like correlators at finite spatial distances and the excess energy produced above the final ground state energy. We show that at late times and large distances (compared to the quench time scale) the smooth quench correlator approaches that for the instantaneous quench. At early times, we find that for small spatial separation and small $\delta t$, the correlator scales universally with $\delta t$, exactly as in the scaling of renormalized one point functions found in earlier work. At larger separation, the dependence on $\delta t$ drops out. The excess energy density is finite (for finite $m\delta t$) and scales in a universal fashion for all $d$. However, the scaling behaviour produces a divergent result in the limit $m\delta t \rightarrow 0$ for $d\ge4$, just as in an instantaneous quench, where it is UV divergent for $d \geq 4$. We argue that similar results hold for arbitrary interacting theories: the excess energy density produced is expected to diverge for scaling dimensions $\Delta > d/2$.

The influence of the environmental history on quenching star formation in a Λ cold dark matter universe

We present a detailed analysis of the influence of the environment and of the environmental history on quenching star formation in central and satellite galaxies in the local Universe. We take advantage of publicly available galaxy catalogues obtained from applying a galaxy formation model to the Millennium simulation. In addition to halo mass, we consider the local density of galaxies within various fixed scales. Comparing our model predictions to observational data (SDSS), we demonstrate that the models are failing to reproduce the observed density dependence of the quiescent galaxy fraction in several aspects: for most of the stellar mass ranges and densities explored, models cannot reproduce the observed similar behaviour of centrals and satellites, they slightly under-estimate the quiescent fraction of centrals and significantly over-estimate that of satellites. We show that in the models, the density dependence of the quiescent central galaxies is caused by a fraction of "backsplash" centrals which have been satellites in the past (and were thus suffering from environmental processes). Turning to satellite galaxies, the density dependence of their quiescent fractions reflects a dependence on the time spent orbiting within a parent halo of a particular mass, correlating strongly with halo mass and distance from the halo centre. Comparisons with observational estimates suggest relatively long gas consumption time scales of roughly 5 Gyr in low mass satellite galaxies. The quenching time scales decrease with increasing satellite stellar mass. Overall, a change in modelling both internal processes (star formation and feedback) and environmental processes (e.g. making them dependent on dynamical friction time-scales and preventing the re-accretion of gas onto backsplash galaxies) is required for improving currently used galaxy formation models.

Universal scaling in fast quantum quenches in conformal field theories.

We study the time evolution of a conformal field theory deformed by a relevant operator under a smooth but fast quantum quench which brings it to the conformal point. We argue that when the quench time scale δt is small compared to the scale set by the relevant coupling, the expectation value of the quenched operator scales universally as δλ/δt(2Δ-d), where δλ is the quench amplitude. This growth is further enhanced by a logarithmic factor in even dimensions. We present explicit results for free scalar and fermionic field theories, supported by an analytic understanding of the leading contribution for fast quenches. Our results suggest that this scaling result, first found in holography, is in fact quite general. Our considerations also show that this limit of fast smooth quenches is quite different from an instantaneous quench from one time-independent Hamiltonian to another, where the state at the time of the quench serves as an initial condition for subsequent evolution with the final Hamiltonian.

Role of Photoionization on the Dynamics and Mechanism of Photoinduced Electron Transfer Reaction of Coumarin 307 in Micelles

The dynamics and mechanism of the photoinduced electron transfer (PET) reaction between coumarin 307 (C307) and aromatic amines in micelles have been studied by using steady-state (S-S) and time-resolved (T-R) absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy. Based on the fluorescence quenching time scale, PET in micelles is grouped into two types: (i) ultrafast electron transfer (ET) due to the close contact of the donor and acceptor in micelles and (ii) diffusion averaged dynamic electron transfer (DADET) which is controlled by the diffusion of the reactants in micellar Stern layer and diffusion of the micelles. The DADET does not affect the photoionization and solvation processes whereas ultrafast ET competes with the photoionization and faster than the solvation process. Both ultrafast and DADET shows Marcus inversion in the ET rates at the similar exergonicity and indicates that the role of diffusion and solvent reorganization is negligible toward the activation barrier for the ET reaction in micelles. The activation barrier for the ET reactions in micelles is mainly due to intramolecular reorganization energy. The intramolecular reorganization energy must be higher in CTAB due to the photoionization and subsequent recombination and also involvement of triplet state in the PET. The ET reaction between coumarin radical cation and amine is reported for the first time in the C307-amine systems in micelles which are confirmed by the effect on amine concentration of the decay of coumarin radical cation and the dynamics of the ground-state recovery of C307. A mechanism for the PET reaction between C307-amine systems is proposed in micelles including photoionization, ultrafast and dynamic ET, and solvation dynamics.

One-dimensional transport with dynamic disorder.

We study the mean quenching time distribution and its moments in a one-dimensional N-site donor-bridge-acceptor system where all sites are coupled to a two-state jump bath for arbitrary disorder and an arbitrary ratio kappa identical with <k>/R of the bath jump rate R and the average hopping rate <k>. When kappaN approximately 1, the quenching time distribution has long power-law tails even when the waiting times are exponentially distributed. These disappear for kappaN<<1 where the hopping rate self-averages on the bath relaxation time scale. In the absence of disorder or for small kappa, the mean quenching time scales linearly with N. Otherwise, we observe a power law, approximately N1+gamma, with a crossover to linear scaling (gamma=0) for large N. Distributions of particle position, its second moment, velocity and diffusion coefficient are computed in the infinite N limit. For times longer than R-1, the dynamic disorder self-averages and the average position, velocity, and diffusion coefficient scale linearly in time.

Unraveling critical dynamics: The formation and evolution of textures

We study the formation of topological textures in a nonequilibrium phase transition of an overdamped classical O(3) model in 2+1 dimensions. The phase transition is triggered through an external, time-dependent effective mass, parameterized by quench timescale \tau. When measured near the end of the transition the texture separation and the texture width scale respectively as \tau^(0.39 \pm 0.02) and \tau^(0.46 \pm 0.04), significantly larger than \tau^(0.25) predicted from the Kibble-Zurek mechanism. We show that Kibble-Zurek scaling is recovered at very early times but that by the end of the transition the power-laws result instead from a competition between the length scale determined at freeze-out and the ordering dynamics of a textured system. In the context of phase ordering these results suggest that the multiple length scales characteristic of the late-time ordering of a textured system derive from the critical dynamics of a single nonequilibrium correlation length. In the context of defect formation these results imply that significant evolution of the defect network can occur before the end of the phase transition. Therefore a quantitative understanding of the defect network at the end of the phase transition generally requires an understanding of both critical dynamics and the interactions among topological defects.

Critical dynamics of symmetry breaking: Quenches, dissipation, and cosmology

Symmetry-breaking phase transitions may leave behind topological defects \cite{Kibble} with a density dependent on the quench rate \cite{Zurek}. We investigate the dynamics of such quenches for the one-dimensional, Landau-Ginzburg case and show that the density of kinks, $n$, scales differently with the quench timescale, $\tau_Q$, depending on whether the dynamics in the vicinity of the critical point is overdamped ($n \propto \tau_Q^{-1/4}$) or underdamped ($n \propto \tau_Q^{-1/3}$). Either of these cases may be relevant to the early Universe, and we derive bounds on the initial density of topological defects in cosmological phase transitions.

Vortex Formation in Two Dimensions: When Symmetry Breaks, How Big Are the Pieces?

We investigate the dynamics of second-order phase transitions in two dimensions, breaking a gauged U(1) symmetry. Using numerical simulations, we show that the density of the topological defects formed scales with the quench time scale ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{Q}$ as $n\ensuremath{\sim}{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{Q}^{\ensuremath{-}1/2}$ when the dynamics is overdamped at the instant when the freeze-out of thermal fluctuations takes place, and $n\ensuremath{\sim}{\ensuremath{\tau}}_{Q}^{\ensuremath{-}2/3}$ in the underdamped case. This is predicted by the scenario proposed by one of us (W. H. Z.).

Density of Kinks after a Quench: When Symmetry Breaks, How Big are the Pieces?

Numerical study of order parameter dynamics in the course of second order (Landau-Ginzburg) symmetry breaking transitions shows that the density of topological defects, kinks, is proportional to the fourth root of the rate of the quench. This confirms the more general theory of domain-size evolution in the course of symmetry breaking transformations proposed by one of us \cite{Zurek85}. Using these ideas, it is possible to compute the density of topological defects from the quench timescale and from the equilibrium scaling of the correlation length and relaxation time near the critical point.