Acceleration Regime Research Articles

Comparative analysis by simulation for behavior of a spark-ignition engine fueled with gasoline and LPG in the transient regimes

It is known that current vehicles must meet stringent demands on pollution limits but also must meet and the dynamical and economical performances. In this context the transient regimes are those affecting this performances, in this paper are presenting the results of the simulations for these regimes using a vehicle powered with two energy sources gasoline and LPG. Have been selected the transient regimes characteristic for NMVEG cycle (New Motor Vehicle Emissions Group). The simulation is performed using AMESim platform and the results have allowed meticulous interpretations for the 16 regimes of acceleration. The results obtained from the simulation will be validated experimentally.

Excitation of a nonlinear plasma ion wake by intense energy sources with applications to the crunch-in regime

A model for the excitation of a non-linear ion-wake mode by a train of plasma electron oscillations in the non-linear time-asymmetric regime is developed using analytical theory and particle-in-cell based computational solutions. The ion-wake is shown to be a driven non-linear ion-acoustic wave in the form of a cylindrical ion-soliton. The near-void and radially-outwards propagating ion-wake channel of a few plasma skin-depth radius, is explored for application to "Crunch-in" regime of positron acceleration. The coupling from the electron wakefield mode to the ion-mode dictates the long-term evolution of the plasma and the time for its relaxation back to an equilibrium, limiting the repetition-rate of a plasma accelerator. Using an analytical model it is shown that it is the time asymmetric phases of the oscillating radial electric fields of the nearly-stationary electron bubble that excite time-averaged inertial ion motion radially. The electron compression in the back of the bubble sucks-in the ions whereas the space-charge within the bubble cavity expels them, driving a cylindrical ion-soliton structure with on-axis and bubble-edge density-spikes. Once formed, the channel-edge density-spike is sustained over the length of the plasma and driven radially outwards by the thermal pressure of the wake energy in electrons. Its channel-like structure is independent of the energy-source, electromagnetic wave or particle beam, driving the bubble electron wake. Particle-In-Cell simulations are used to study the ion-wake soliton structure, its driven propagation and its use for positron acceleration in the "Crunch-in" regime.

Analysis of particle dynamics in a horizontal pneumatic conveying of the minimum pressure drop based on POD and wavelet transform

In order to study the characters of particle fluctuation velocity at the minimum pressure drop (MPD) velocity in the acceleration and fully developed regimes of a horizontal pneumatic conveying, the particle fluctuation velocities measured by the high-speed particle image velocimetry (PIV) are first analyzed by time-averaged particle velocity, fluctuating energy, power spectrum and autocorrelation. Then the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) and continuous wavelet transform are developed to reveal the particle fluctuation velocities in terms of the contributions to the particle fluctuation energy, time-frequency distribution, as well as probability density function from POD modes. The energy distributions of POD modes suggest that the first two POD modes are most energetic and dominate the particle motion, and the dominance increases from the acceleration regime to fully-developed regime. The time-frequency characteristics of POD modes reveal that small-scale particle fluctuations are suppressed in the fully-developed regime. It implies that the suppression of small-scale particle fluctuations may result in lower pressure drop at MPD velocity. The PDF distributions of POD modes exhibit that the particle fluctuation of first two POD modes follows the Gaussian distribution in the acceleration and fully developed regimes. However, the PDF distributions of POD modes gradually deviate from Gaussian distribution as increasing mode number.

Big Data of the Past

Big Data is not a new phenomenon. History is punctuated by regimes of data acceleration, characterized by feelings of information overload, social transformation and invention of new technologies. During these moments, private organizations, administrative powers and sometimes isolated individuals have produced important datasets organized following a - now often superseded but nevertheless - coherent logic. To be translated into relevant sources of information about our past, these document series need to be redocumented using contemporary paradigms. The intellectual, methodological and technological challenges linked with this translation process are the central subject of this article.

Heavy ion acceleration in the radiation pressure acceleration and breakout afterburner regimes

We present a theoretical study of heavy ion acceleration from ultrathin (20 nm) gold foil irradiated by high-intensity sub-picosecond lasers. Using two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, three laser systems are modeled that cover the range between femtosecond and picosecond pulses. By varying the laser pulse duration we observe a transition from radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) to the relativistic induced transparency (RIT) regime for heavy ions akin to light ions. The underlying physics of beam formation and acceleration is similar for light and heavy ions, however, nuances of the acceleration process make the heavy ions more challenging. A more detailed study involving variation of peak laser intensity I0 and pulse duration τFWHM revealed that the transition point from RPA to RIT regime depends on the peak laser intensity on target and occurs for pulse duration The most abundant gold ion and charge-to-mass ratio are Au51+ and q/M ≈ 1/4, respectively, half that of light ions. For ultrathin foils, on the order of one skin depth, we established a linear scaling of the maximum energy per nucleon (E/M)max with (q/M)max, which is more favorable than the quadratic one found previously. The numerical simulations predict heavy ion beams with very attractive properties for applications: high directionality (<10° half-angle), high fluxes (>1011 ions sr−1) and energy (>20 MeV/nucleon) from laser systems delivering >20 J of energy on target.

Effects of dimensionality on kinetic simulations of laser-ion acceleration in the transparency regime

A particle-in-cell study of laser-ion acceleration mechanisms in the transparency regime illustrates how two-dimensional (2D) S and P simulations (laser polarization in and out of the simulation plane, respectively) capture different physics characterizing these systems, visible in their entirety often in cost-prohibitive three-dimensional (3D) simulations. The electron momentum anisotropy induced in the target by a laser pulse is dramatically different in the two 2D cases, manifested in differences in target expansion timescales, electric field strengths, and density thresholds for the onset of relativistically induced transparency. In particular, 2D-P simulations exhibit dramatically greater electron heating in the simulation plane, whereas 2D-S ones show a much more isotropic energy distribution, similar to 3D. An ion trajectory analysis allows one to isolate the fields responsible for ion acceleration and to characterize the acceleration regimes in time and space. The artificial longitudinal electron heating in 2D-P exaggerates the effectiveness of target-normal sheath acceleration into its dominant acceleration mechanism throughout the laser-plasma interaction, whereas 2D-S and 3D both have sizable populations accelerated preferentially during transparency.

Relativistic laser hosing instability suppression and electron acceleration in a preformed plasma channel

The hosing processes of a relativistic laser pulse, electron acceleration, and betatron radiation in a parabolic plasma channel are investigated in the direct laser acceleration regime. It is shown that the laser hosing instability would result in the generation of a randomly directed off-axis electron beam and radiation source with a large divergence angle. While employing a preformed parabolic plasma channel, the restoring force provided by the plasma channel would correct the perturbed laser wave front and thus suppress the hosing instability. As a result, the accelerated electron beam and the emitted photons are well guided and concentrated along the channel axis. The employment of a proper plasma density channel can stably guide the relativistically intense laser pulse and greatly improve the properties of the electron beam and radiation source. This scheme is of great interest for the generation of high quality electron beams and radiation sources.

Ultra-intense laser pulses in near-critical underdense plasmas – radiation reaction and energy partitioning

Although, for current laser pulse energies, the weakly nonlinear regime of laser wakefield acceleration is known to be the optimal for reaching the highest possible electron energies, the capabilities of upcoming large laser systems will provide the possibility of running highly nonlinear regimes of laser pulse propagation in underdense or near-critical plasmas. Using an extended particle-in-cell (PIC) model that takes into account all the relevant physics, we show that such regimes can be implemented with external guiding for a relatively long distance of propagation and allow for the stable transformation of laser energy into other types of energy, including the kinetic energy of a large number of high energy electrons and their incoherent emission of photons. This is despite the fact that the high intensity of the laser pulse triggers a number of new mechanisms of energy depletion, which we investigate systematically.

Rise time of proton cut-off energy in 2D and 3D PIC simulations

The Target Normal Sheath Acceleration regime for proton acceleration by laser pulses is experimentally consolidated and fairly well understood. However, uncertainties remain in the analysis of particle-in-cell simulation results. The energy spectrum is exponential with a cut-off, but the maximum energy depends on the simulation time, following different laws in two and three dimensional (2D, 3D) PIC simulations so that the determination of an asymptotic value has some arbitrariness. We propose two empirical laws for the rise time of the cut-off energy in 2D and 3D PIC simulations, suggested by a model in which the proton acceleration is due to a surface charge distribution on the target rear side. The kinetic energy of the protons that we obtain follows two distinct laws, which appear to be nicely satisfied by PIC simulations, for a model target given by a uniform foil plus a contaminant layer that is hydrogen-rich. The laws depend on two parameters: the scaling time, at which the energy starts to rise, and the asymptotic cut-off energy. The values of the cut-off energy, obtained by fitting 2D and 3D simulations for the same target and laser pulse configuration, are comparable. This suggests that parametric scans can be performed with 2D simulations since 3D ones are computationally very expensive, delegating their role only to a correspondence check. In this paper, the simulations are carried out with the PIC code ALaDyn by changing the target thickness L and the incidence angle α, with a fixed a0 = 3. A monotonic dependence, on L for normal incidence and on α for fixed L, is found, as in the experimental results for high temporal contrast pulses.

Laser-Driven Ion Acceleration from Plasma Micro-Channel Targets

Efficient energy boost of the laser-accelerated ions is critical for their applications in biomedical and hadron research. Achiev-able energies continue to rise, with currently highest energies, allowing access to medical therapy energy windows. Here, a new regime of simultaneous acceleration of ~100 MeV protons and multi-100 MeV carbon-ions from plasma micro-channel targets is proposed by using a ~1020 W/cm2 modest intensity laser pulse. It is found that two trains of overdense electron bunches are dragged out from the micro-channel and effectively accelerated by the longitudinal electric-field excited in the plasma channel. With the optimized channel size, these “superponderomotive” energetic electrons can be focused on the front surface of the attached plastic substrate. The much intense sheath electric-field is formed on the rear side, leading to up to ~10-fold ionic energy increase compared to the simple planar geometry. The analytical prediction of the optimal channel size and ion maximum energies is derived, which shows good agreement with the particle-in-cell simulations.

Advanced polymer targets for TNSA regime producing 6 MeV protons at 1016 W/cm2 laser intensity

High intensity laser pulses, at an intensity of the order of 1016 W/cm2, are employed to irradiate in vacuum polyethylene terephthalate thin foils in the target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) regime. The plasma obtained in the forward emission is investigated using ion collectors and semiconductor detectors connected in a time-of-flight configuration, Thomson parabola spectrometer, and X-ray streak camera. The results indicate that the foil thickness of 1 micron is optimal to accelerate protons of up to 6.5 MeV. The high ion acceleration can be due to different effects such as the high absorption in the advanced semicrystalline polymer containing spherulite centers, the high resonant absorption in gold nanoparticles embedded in the polymer, the optimal thickness of the used polymer to enhance the electron density in the forward plasma, and the self-focusing effect induced by preplasma created in front of the irradiated target.

Dynamics of wide binary stars: A case study for testing Newtonian dynamics in the low acceleration regime

Extremely wide binary stars represent ideal systems to probe Newtonian dynamics in the low acceleration regimes ([Formula: see text][Formula: see text]ms[Formula: see text]) typical of the external regions of galaxies. Here, we present a study of 60 alleged wide binary stars with projected separation ranging from 0.004[Formula: see text]pc to 1[Formula: see text]pc, probing gravitational accelerations well below the limit where dark matter or modified dynamics theories set in. Radial velocities with accuracy [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]m/s were obtained for each star, in order to constrain their orbital velocity, that, together with proper motion data, can distinguish bound from unbound systems. It was found that about half of the observed pairs do have velocity in the expected range for bound systems, out of the largest separations probed here. In particular, we identified five pairs with projected separation [Formula: see text][Formula: see text]pc that are useful for the proposed test. While it would be premature to draw any conclusion about the validity of Newtonian dynamics at these low accelerations, our main result is that very wide binary stars seem to exist in the harsh environment of the solar neighborhood. This could provide a tool to test Newtonian dynamics versus modified dynamics theories in the low acceleration conditions typical of galaxies. In the near future the GAIA satellite will provide data to increase significantly the number of wide pairs that, with the appropriate follow-up spectroscopic observations, will allow the implementation of this experiment with unprecedented accuracy.

Multi-scale analysis on particle dynamics of a horizontal self-excited pneumatic conveying at the minimum pressure drop

High-speed PIV is first used to measure the fluctuating particle velocities of a horizontal self-excited pneumatic conveying at low air velocity of minimum pressure drop in the acceleration and fully-developed regimes. Then, an orthogonal wavelet multi-resolution analysis and power spectrum are employed to reveal multi-scale characteristics of particle fluctuation velocity. It is found that the pronounced peaks of the spectra of axial and vertical fluctuation velocities appear in the low frequency range near the bottom of the pipe, and the peaks of the spectra become larger by using fins. In the range of low frequencies (3–25Hz), the wavelet components of the fluctuating energy of axial particle velocity are the main contributions, accounting for 35% and 91% for non-fin and using fins, respectively, near the bottom of the pipe. However, in the range of relatively high frequencies (50–400Hz), the wavelet components of using fins, accounting for approximately 57%, become smaller than that of non-fin, accounting for approximately 66%, in the fully-developed regime near the top of the pipe. The auto-correlation with fins displays large quasi-periodical waves in the low frequency regime as τ increases.

Coulomb explosion of the hot spot of micropinches

It has been shown that the generation of hard X-ray radiation, electron beam, and high energy ions that have been detected in experiments on compressing pinches can be related to the Coulomb explosion of a micropinch hot spot, which is formed due to the outflow of the material. In the outflow process, the plasma temperature in the hot spot increases and conditions appear for the transition of electrons to the regime of continuous acceleration. The exit of runaway electrons from the hot spot region leads to the creation of a positive bulk charge, then to a Coulomb explosion. Conditions under which electrons pass to the continuous acceleration regime have been determined and estimates of the ion kinetic energy upon a Coulomb explosion have been obtained.

Scale invariance and scaling law of Thomson backscatter spectra of electrons moving in the resonance regime in combined laser and magnetic fields

The Thomson scattering spectra by an electron moving in the laser-magnetic resonance acceleration regime are computed numerically and analytically. The dependence of fundamental frequency on the laser intensity and magnetic resonance parameter is examined carefully. By calculating the emission of a single electron in a circularly polarized plane-wave laser field and constant external magnetic field, the scale invariance of the radiation spectra is evident in terms of harmonic orders. The scaling law of backscattered spectra are exhibited remarkably for the laser intensity as well for the initial axial momentum of the electron when the cyclotron frequency of the electron approaches the laser frequency. The results indicate that the magnetic resonance parameter plays an important role on the strength of emission. And the rich features of scattering spectra found may be applicable to the radiation source tunability.

Acceleration of high charge-state target ions in high-intensity laser interactions with sub-micron targets

We have studied laser acceleration of ions from Si3N4 and Al foils ranging in thickness from 1800 to 8 nm with particular interest in acceleration of ions from the bulk of the target. The study includes results of experiments conducted with the HERCULES laser with pulse duration 40 fs and intensity 3 × 1020 W cm−2 and corresponding two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations. When the target thickness was reduced the distribution of ion species heavier than protons transitioned from being dominated by carbon contaminant ions of low ionization states to being dominated by high ionization states of bulk ions (such as Si12+) and carbon. Targets in the range 50–150 nm yielded dramatically greater particle number and higher ion maximum energy for these high ionization states compared to thicker targets typifying the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) regime. The high charge states persisted for the thinnest targets, but the accelerated particle numbers decreased for targets 35 nm and thinner. This transition to an enhanced ion TNSA regime, which more efficiently generates ion beams from the bulk target material, is also seen in the simulations.

Hybrid CPU + Xeon Phi implementation of the Particle-in-Cell method for plasma simulation

This paper presents experimental results of Particle-in-Cell plasma simulation on a hybrid system with CPUs and Intel Xeon Phi coprocessors. We consider simulation of two relevant laserdriven particle acceleration regimes using the Particle-in-Cell code PICADOR. On a node of a cluster with 2 CPUs and 2 Xeon Phi coprocessors the hybrid CPU + Xeon Phi configuration allows to fully utilize the computational resources of the node. It outperforms both CPU-only and Xeon Phi-only configurations with the speedups between 1.36 x and 1.68 x.

Kinematics of the jet in M 87 on scales of 100–1000 Schwarzschild radii

Very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) imaging of radio emission from extragalactic jets provides a unique probe of physical mechanisms governing the launching, acceleration, and collimation of relativistic outflows. The two-dimensional structure and kinematics of the jet in M\,87 (NGC\,4486) have been studied by applying the Wavelet-based Image Segmentation and Evaluation (WISE) method to 11 images obtained from multi-epoch Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) observations made in January-August 2007 at 43 GHz ($\lambda = 7$ mm). The WISE analysis recovers a detailed two-dimensional velocity field in the jet in M\,87 at sub-parsec scales. The observed evolution of the flow velocity with distance from the jet base can be explained in the framework of MHD jet acceleration and Poynting flux conversion. A linear acceleration regime is observed up to $z_{obs} \sim 2$\,mas. The acceleration is reduced at larger scales, which is consistent with saturation of Poynting flux conversion. Stacked cross correlation analysis of the images reveals a pronounced stratification of the flow. The flow consists of a slow, mildly relativistic layer (moving at $\beta \sim 0.5\,c$), associated either with instability pattern speed or an outer wind, and a fast, accelerating stream line (with $\beta \sim 0.92$, corresponding to a bulk Lorentz factor $\gamma \sim 2.5$). A systematic difference of the apparent speeds in the northern and southern limbs of the jet is detected, providing evidence for jet rotation. The angular velocity of the magnetic field line associated with this rotation suggests that the jet in M87 is launched in the inner part of the disk, at a distance $r_0 \sim 5\, R_\mathrm{s}$ from the central engine. The combined results of the analysis imply that MHD acceleration and conversion of Poynting flux to kinetic energy play the dominant roles in collimation and acceleration of the flow in M\,87.

Rayleigh–Taylor Instability and Excitation of Super-Dreicer Electric Fields in the Solar Chromosphere

Within the framework of the long-standing so-called “number problem” in the physics of solar flares, we consider the excitation of a super-Dreicer electric field at the leading edge of the electric current pulse that occurs at the chromospheric legs of a coronal magnetic loop as a result of the magnetic Rayleigh–Taylor instability. It is shown that for a sufficiently strong electric current, \(I_{0} \ge 10^{10}~\mbox{A}\), the current pulse propagates in the non-linear mode and generates a strong longitudinal electric field \(E_{z}\), which strongly depends on the current (\(E_{z} \propto I_{0}^{3}\)) and can exceed the Dreicer field (\(E_{z} > E_{\mathrm{D}}\)). In this case, the bulk of electrons in the site of the current pulse is in a runaway mode, and the energy release rate in the chromosphere increases significantly. Super-Dreicer electric fields also provide injection of protons into the regime of acceleration by Langmuir turbulence generated by fast electrons at the leading edge of the electric current pulse. The electric field at the pulse edge can exceed the Dreicer field starting from the chromosphere level with the number density \(n \approx 10^{13}~\mbox{cm}^{-3}\). At a lower current \(I_{0} < 10^{10}~\mbox{A}\), a super-Dreicer mode at the higher levels of the chromosphere with \(n < 10^{12}~\mbox{cm}^{-3}\) occurs.

Star formation triggered by galaxy interactions in modified gravity

Together with interstellar turbulence, gravitation is one key player in star formation. It acts both at galactic scales in the assembly of gas into dense clouds, and inside those structures for their collapse and the formation of pre-stellar cores. To understand to what extent the large scale dynamics govern the star formation activity of galaxies, we present hydrodynamical simulations in which we generalise the behaviour of gravity to make it differ from Newtonian dynamics in the low acceleration regime. We focus on the extreme cases of interacting galaxies, and compare the evolution of galaxy pairs in the dark matter paradigm to that in the Milgromian Dynamics (MOND) framework. Following up on the seminal work by Tiret & Combes, this paper documents the first simulations of galaxy encounters in MOND with a detailed Eulerian hydrodynamical treatment of baryonic physics, including star formation and stellar feedback. We show that similar morphologies of the interacting systems can be produced by both the dark matter and MOND formalisms, but require a much slower orbital velocity in the MOND case. Furthermore, we find that the star formation activity and history are significantly more extended in space and time in MOND interactions, in particular in the tidal debris. Such differences could be used as observational diagnostics and make interacting galaxies prime objects in the study of the nature of gravitation at galactic scales.