Rotation Regime Research Articles

Influence of hydroxyethyl and carboxymethyl celluloses on the rheology, water retention and surface tension of water-suspended microfibrillated cellulose

Water-soluble polymers have been shown to improve the flow rigidity and water retention ability of highly-branched (flocculated) and polydisperse water-suspended MFC, thereby also modifying and controlling their rheological behaviour. The addition of hydroxyethyl (HEC) and carboxymethyl (CMC) celluloses of different content (5–10–20 w/w%), molecular weights (MW, 90.000–1.300.000 g/mol) and degrees of substitutions (DS, 0.7–1.2) to 1.5 wt% MFC suspension, have thus been studied by evaluating their microstructure (SEM imaging), strength and rheological properties, i.e. the yield stress and flow under rotational (viscosity vs. shear rate) and oscillatory (viscoelastic) regime, using cone-plate measuring geometry at a rather low truncation gap. The pure MFC suspension showed high-viscosity at lower shear stress and shear-thinning behaviour at higher rates, with two yielding zones, indicating a secondary deflocculation of smaller and more stiffly packed fibril structures and their orientation/aligning in the direction of flow. This behaviour was reduced substantially by the addition of high-MW HEC, or almost eliminated completely by medium-MW CMCs with higher DS, yielding suspensions with higher and stability-prolonged zero-shear viscosity, as well as a more linearly decreased and irreversible viscosity profile after the shear load removal at higher shear stresses. The carboxylic groups at CMC additionally decreased the interactions between the fibrils, and subsequently reduced the fibrils’ flocks, or formed larger aggregates with their integrations, while increasing the MFC suspension gel-strength, improving its flow and viscoelastic behaviour through higher water retention ability and surface tension properties, and also its recovery after deformation.

Numerical methods for the detection of phase defect structures in excitable media.

Electrical waves that rotate in the heart organize dangerous cardiac arrhythmias. Finding the region around which such rotation occurs is one of the most important practical questions for arrhythmia management. For many years, the main method for finding such regions was so-called phase mapping, in which a continuous phase was assigned to points in the heart based on their excitation status and defining the rotation region as a point of phase singularity. Recent analysis, however, showed that in many rotation regimes there exist phase discontinuities and the region of rotation must be defined not as a point of phase singularity, but as a phase defect line. In this paper, we use this novel methodology and perform a comparative study of three different phase definitions applied to in silico data and to experimental data obtained from optical voltage mapping experiments on monolayers of human atrial myocytes. We introduce new phase defect detection algorithms and compare them with those that appeared in literature already. We find that the phase definition is more important than the algorithm to identify sudden spatial phase variations. Sharp phase defect lines can be obtained from a phase derived from local activation times observed during one cycle of arrhythmia. Alternatively, similar quality can be obtained from a reparameterization of the classical phase obtained from observation of a single timeframe of transmembrane potential. We found that the phase defect line length was (35.9 ± 6.2)mm in the Fenton-Karma model and (4.01 ± 0.55)mm in cardiac human atrial myocyte monolayers. As local activation times are obtained during standard clinical cardiac mapping, the methods are also suitable to be applied to clinical datasets. All studied methods are publicly available and can be downloaded from an institutional web-server.

Hydrodynamic Performances of Aeronautical Propeller for Drones

Currently, several countries already invest on the application of drones for different scopes. These purposes are mainly civilian and military and some of these include the presence of water as search and rescue, inspection of pipelines, getting a bird’s eyes view over oil spills or structural integrity monitoring of bridges. For this reason, an interesting feature for drones is their ability to maneuver in fluids with different density as air and water. This research topic, shows strong scientific potentiality but it also represents a great challenge from scientific and technical view point: i) aeronautical propeller for drones in water must generate reverse thrust or braking force through an off-design rotation in off-design condition (different fluid’s density); ii) the propeller rotational velocity in water is generally one order of magnitude lower than the one for air application requiring the motors to be properly desing to meet such a wide operational range. In this paper, an experimental campaign aimed at the performance quantification of a three-bladed propeller for drone propulsion in water has been carried out in a towing tank. In particular, the generated forces are acquired through a load cell for different advance ratios J provided by varying both rotational regime and free stream velocity. The results show expected losses in the performance for the off-design rotation in terms of both thrust and efficiency. At low rotational speeds, higher values of efficiency are presented for small advance ratio. The maximum efficiency increase for higher RPS and it’s slightly influenced by small variation of propeller disk angle.

Numerical study on the effect of tangential intake on vortex dropshaft assessment using pressure distributions

ABSTRACT Dropshafts with tangential intakes are common structures in urban water drainage systems. The plunging and vortex flowpatterns are the typical flow regimes, which are mainly affected by the tangential intake design and flood discharge. However, thehydraulic flow transition between vortex and plunging flow patterns has received little attention, which may affect the dropshaftoperation during extreme flood discharge events. In this study, the effects of the flow discharge and contraction ratio on the pressuredistributions of vortex dropshafts are analysed based on a series of numerical simulations. The pressure distributions of the plungingand vortex flow patterns are compared; two hydraulic factors are used to distinguish rotational and non-rotational dropshaftoperations. For appropriate vortex dropshaft designs, the minimum to maximum wall pressure ratio should be greater than 0.1 at theintake cross-section and greater than 0.2 during the falling process. Based on this principle, flows in the annular dropshaft areclassified into non-rotation, transition, and rotation regimes. The results agree with the theoretical rotation intensity of the vortex flow,and an empirical relation is proposed. The present study is easy to implement and practically useful to assess the vortex dropshaftdesign for local water drainage systems.

Risk Assessment and Area-Wide Crop Rotation to Keep Western Corn Rootworm below Damage Thresholds and Avoid Insecticide Use in European Maize Production.

Simple SummaryDiabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, the Western corn rootworm (WCR), is a maize-specific pest that has been a serious threat in Europe since the mid-1990s. To properly implement integrated pest management, it is necessary to identify the key factors associated with risks of crop damage from WCR and to evaluate the effectiveness of area-wide strategies based on agronomic measures, such as crop rotation, in reducing those risks. In Italy and Croatia, a survey of agronomic and cultural factors in fields damaged by WCR allowed us to determine that the beetle population size accounts for most of the risk of maize damage from WCR. Crop rotation (without insecticide use), both structural and flexible, was the most effective strategy for keeping WCR populations below the damage threshold. This indicates that WCR management can be carried out in accordance with European Union regulations to limit or avoid insecticide treatments and reduce environmental impacts.The Western corn rootworm (WCR), Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, has been a serious quarantine pest to maize in Europe since the mid-1990s. The integrated pest management of WCR requires an accurate knowledge of the factors that contribute most to risks of crop damage, as well as knowledge of effective area-wide strategies based on agronomic measures, such as crop rotation. In Italy and Croatia, agronomic and cultural factors in fields damaged by WCR were evaluated through a long-term survey. Based on the survey results, high-WCR densities contribute most to risks of damage to maize. Extensive field research in north-eastern Italy compared large areas of continuous maize production with areas under different crop rotation systems (i.e., a structural one with one-time maize planting in a three-year rotation and a flexible one with continuous maize planting interrupted when beetle populations exceed the threshold). The objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of different rotation regimes as possible best practices for WCR management. Captures of beetles in yellow sticky traps, root damage, larval densities, and damage to maize plants (e.g., lodging) were assessed at the center of each area. The results demonstrated the both structural and flexible crop rotation systems were effective strategies for maintaining WCR below damage threshold densities without the need for insecticides.

Water Yam (Dioscorea alata L.) Growth and Tuber Yield as Affected by Rotation and Fertilization Regimes across an Environmental Gradient in West Africa

Yam (Dioscorea spp.) is a staple food crop and a source of income for millions of people in West Africa. Traditionally, in West Africa, yams are grown without any external inputs, leading to low tuber yields. The rapid decrease of tuber yield observed after the first yam cropping season has been ascribed to nutrient depletion and/or to the accumulation of yam-specific pests and diseases. This has led farmers to grow yam on new surfaces under fallow each year. Using a transdisciplinary approach, we identified different yam-based rotations and fertilization regimes that could stabilize yam production in rotational cropping systems and improve water yam (D. alata) productivity. These innovations were tested in researcher-managed field trials established along an environmental gradient crossing four yam growing zones spanning from the Humid Forest (Liliyo in Côte d’Ivoire) to the Derived Savanna/Forest Transition (Tiéningboué in Côte d’Ivoire), the Southern Guinean Savanna (Midebdo in Burkina Faso), and the Northern Guinean Savanna (Léo in Burkina Faso) between 2016 and 2018. The fertilization factor implemented at each site included a control with no fertilization (NON), sole mineral fertilization as NPK (MIN), combined organic and mineral fertilization (MINORG) and sole organic fertilization as manure (ORG), while the rotation factor included water yam in rotation with cereal (YamCer), legume (YamLeg), and white yam (YamYam). The average water yam tuber yields were 32.8, 20.3, 2.7, and 2.5 t fresh matter ha−1 in 2016, and 16.4, 10.7, 8.9, and 5.2 t fresh matter ha−1 in 2018 in Liliyo, Tiéningboué, Midebdo, and Léo, respectively. The most important determinants of tuber yields were the total amount of rainfall recorded during the yam growing period and between tuber initiation and maximum canopy development, and the soil carbon stocks in the 0–30-cm layer. We confirmed in this study that soil surface coverage measured between 70 and 98 days after planting was an early indicator of tuber yield. Fertilization impacted positively the soil surface cover but had a weak impact on tuber yields. Rotation had no impact on either the soil surface cover or tuber yields. This lack of observable impacts was partly due to the very large variability of tuber yields, to the variable rainfall, and to an anthracnose attack in two sites in 2018. The impacts of fertilization and rotation on yam yields should be studied over longer periods. This is, to our knowledge, the first publication showing the relative impacts of site-specific properties (rainfall and soil carbon stocks) versus management practices on water yam yield along an environmental gradient going across the West African yam belt.

IDENTIFICATION OF WAVE DEFORMATION PROCESSES OF LANDSLIDES IN THE NORTHWESTERN BLACK SEA USING THE INSTRUMENTAL OBSERVATION DATA

Problem Statement and Purpose. At present, considering the conditions of slopes equilibrium, only the stresses caused by gravity, hydrodynamic and seismic effects are most often taken into account. As for tectonic stresses, their effect on landslide slopes has hardly been studied. At the same time, landslides and deformations ofslopes in a wide spatio-temporal range (with the frequency from several months to several dozens of years and the levels of massifs tectonic discreteness from first tensof meters to first kilometres) is also recorded in fact. Empirical data indicate that wave mechanism caused by rotational regime of the Earth can be one of the possible mechanisms explaining the high-frequency quasi-cyclic spatio-temporal variability of the rock mass stress-strain state. Purpose of the work has been to identify wave deformation processes in the Earth’s upper crust according to the data of instrumentalobservation of landslide slopes and relatively long line facilities deformation regime. In this work, we also intend to substantiate the thesis that wave exotectogenesis isone of the factors reducing the overall stability of landslide slopes. Data&Methods. The data of instrumental observations of structural components deformation in the underground drainage facilities of the landslide prevention works on Odesa coast that have accumulated during 50 years of operation, as well as the results of geodetic monitoring of landslide slope and the crest of plateau on the right bank of the Malyi Adzhalyk Liman within the territory of the Port Plant (ammonium plant) in 2000–2019 have been used to study the dynamics of deformation wave processes in the Earth’s upper crust. Statistical and cartographic analyses of the data sets mentioned above were carried out according to traditional methods using the Statistica, Matlab and Surfer software packages. Results. It has been found that modern dynamics of landslide slopes is significantly influenced by the periodic change of the stress-strainstate of rocks in space and time. The authors interpret the empirically revealed alternating in space zones of compression and extension, which cause the dynamics of vertical and horizontal reference benchmarks displacements in the inter-annual regime of marks displacement on the right bank of the Malyi Adzhalyk Liman and in the tunnels of Odesa coast as thereflection of wave geodynamics with periodic change of the stress-strainstate of rocks in space and time. Hierarchical layering of the tectonosphere in depth (the presence of layers with different elastic properties), tectonic discreteness and blockiness of rock massifs determine the spatial framework of the dynamically complex structure of the deformation field. Multiple cycles of compression-extensionof rocks lead to decrease in the rocks strength, accumulation of plastic deformations and activation of landslide displacements even on the coastal areas where anti-landslide measures have been implemented. To prepare design models correctly, it is important to take into account both the landslide formation mechanism and the factors that reduce the overall stability of the slope. The latter include the quasiperiodic variability of the rock mass stress-strain state controlled by rotational dynamics via wave mechanism.

Long Term Influence of Fertility and Rotation on Soil Nitrification Potential and Nitrifier Communities

The agricultural imprints on soil microbial processes manifest at various timescales, leaving many temporal patterns to present slowly. Unfortunately, the lack of long-term continuous agricultural field sites in North America has left gaps in our understanding of agricultural management on biogeochemical processes and their controlling microbiota. Nitrification, ammonium oxidation by bacteria and archaea, is a critical control point in terrestrial nitrogen fluxes by oxidizing cationic ammonium to anionic nitrate, promoting nitrate leaching. Moreover, nitrous oxide is produced during nitrification, contributing to massive nitrous oxide emissions from fertilized agroecosystems. Nitrification is sensitive to many macro and micro-ecological filters, as nitrifiers are obligate aerobes and are sensitive to numerous non-growth substrates and metal ions. This study sought to understand the long-term implications of various rotation and fertilizer regimes on nitrification potential and nitrifying bacterial communities in the Morrow Plots (Urbana, IL). The Morrow Plots was established in 1876 and are the longest continuous field experiments in North America, making it the only site in America capable of assessing the impact of over 140 years of agricultural management on nitrification. The Morrow Plots contrasts fertilizer (manure, inorganic, unfertilized) and rotation (continuous corn, corn-soy, corn-oat alfalfa), allowing us to explore how conventional vs. regenerative agriculture practices impact nitrifier communities. The results of this study suggest that fertilizer and rotation interact to promote distinct bacterial nitrifier communities. Nitrification potential is highest in manure corn-oat-alfalfa plots, suggesting ammonium availability is not solely responsible for active nitrifier communities. Various soil chemical variables, like CEC, Mg, and Ca, significantly influenced nitrifier community beta-diversity, using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing, suggesting long-term accumulation of specific cations diverge microbial community assembly. While this study only uses nitrification potential enzyme activity instead of isotope analyses, it sheds light on the importance of various physiochemical drivers on nitrification potential and communities. The results support the need for a more precise exploration of the mechanisms controlling field-scale nitrification rates over large temporal scales. Put together, this study supports the importance of long-term field sites for understanding agricultural manipulations of microbial biogeochemical cycling and sheds light on the micronutrients influencing nitrifier communities and potential activity.

Chemical fertilizer reduction with organic material amendments alters co-occurrence network patterns of bacterium-fungus-nematode communities under the wheat–maize rotation regime

Chemical fertilizer reduction with organic material amendments alters co-occurrence network patterns of bacterium-fungus-nematode communities under the wheat–maize rotation regime

Impact of anti-solar differential rotation in mean-field solar-type dynamos

Context. Over the course of their lifetimes, the rotation of solar-type stars goes through different phases. Once they reach the zero-age main sequence, their global rotation rate decreases during the main sequence until at least the solar age, approximately following the empirical Skumanich’s law and enabling gyrochronology. Older solar-type stars might then reach a point of transition when they stop braking, according to recent results of asteroseismology. Additionally, recent 3D numerical simulations of solar-type stars show that different regimes of differential rotation can be characterized with the Rossby number. In particular, anti-solar differential rotation (fast poles, slow equator) may exist for high Rossby number (slow rotators). If this regime occurs during the main sequence and, in general, for slow rotators, we may consider how magnetic generation through the dynamo process might be impacted. In particular, we consider whether slowly rotating stars are indeed subject to magnetic cycles. Aims. We aim to understand the magnetic field generation of solar-type stars possessing an anti-solar differential rotation and we focus on the possible existence of magnetic cycles in such stars. Methods. We modeled mean-field kinematic dynamos in solar (fast equator, slow poles) and anti-solar (slow equator, fast poles) differential rotation, using the STELEM code. We consider two types of mean field dynamo mechanisms along with the Ω-effect: the standard α-effect distributed at various locations in the convective envelope and the Babcock-Leighton effect. Results. We find that kinematic αΩ dynamos allow for the presence of magnetic cycles and global polarity reversals for both rotation regimes, but only if the α-effect is saddled on the tachocline. If it is distributed in the convection zone, solar-type cases still possess a cycle and anti-solar cases do not. Conversely, we have not found any possibility for sustaining a magnetic cycle with the traditional Babcock-Leighton flux-transport dynamos in the anti-solar differential rotation regime due to flux addition. Graphic interpretations are proposed in order to illustrate these cases. However, we find that hybrid models containing both prescriptions can still sustain local polarity reversals at some latitudes. Conclusions. We conclude that stars in the anti-solar differential rotation regime can sustain magnetic cycles only for very specific dynamo processes. The detection of a magnetic cycle for such a star would therefore be a particularly interesting constraint in working to decipher what type of dynamo is actually at work in solar-type stars.

Magnetron deposition of chromium nitride coatings using a hot chromium target: Influence of magnetron power on the deposition rate and elemental composition

The article focuses on some formation peculiarities of chromium nitride coatings in an argon and nitrogen atmosphere during the magnetron sputtering of a hot chromium target enhanced by a radio-frequency source of inductively-coupled plasma. In the work, the dependence of the deposition rate of coatings on the magnetron power density has been defined, and the contribution of sublimation to deposition rate enhancement has been examined in comparison with conventional sputtering of a cooled target. It has been shown that the dependence of the deposition rate on the magnetron power density is a nonlinearly increasing function of over 18 W/cm2. By experiments and calculations, it has been proven that in the range from 18 to 28 W/cm2 the target sublimation enables an increase in the deposition productivity by a factor from 2 to 12 compared with the cooled target sputtering under the same experimental conditions. For example, in the regime of planetary rotation of the substrates, the deposition rate reaches 5.2 nm/s at 28 W/cm2. The elemental and structural-phase composition of the coatings deposited using the planetary rotation of substrates has been studied depending on a magnetron power density. It has been found that with an intense sublimation on the chromium target surface, the coatings have an inhomogeneous elemental and structural-phase composition. In addition, an alternation of chromium layers with a low content of chromium nitride and layers that mainly consist of chromium nitride has been determined.

The impact of different rotation regime on the soil bacterial and fungal communities in an intensively managed agricultural region.

The continuous wheat-maize planting has led to the increase in epidemic frequency of wheat diseases under climate change. Analyzation of the soil microbial composition in different rotation crops is essential to select alternative rotation regime. This study investigated the bacterial and fungal community abundance and composition, and potential microbe-microbe interactions in three rotations, including wheat-maize → spring maize (WMFS), wheat-soybean (WS) and continuous wheat-maize (WM) planting. The results revealed that there were 110, 156, and 195 bacterial, and 17, 8, and 15 fungal operational taxonomic units respectively enriched by WMFS, WS, and WM. WM increased the relative abundance of Actinobacteria and α-Proteobacteria in wheat, and the relative abundance and copy number of genus Fusarium in maize. WMFS and WS could decrease the abundance of Fusarium in summer-crop across the growth stages and in wheat at elongation. WS also increased the copy number of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria in wheat at flowering and harvest. Network analysis revealed that WM resulted in simple and isolated wheat network with small modules dominating and none Nitrospirae and β-Proteobacteria in the main modules. WS formed interconnected and intricate wheat network with the maximum number of large modules and module connectors. Under WS, positive correlation between antagonistic Streptomyces (Actinobacteria) and genus Fusarium was found in wheat. Soil physicochemical properties explained the majority of the variation in bacterial and fungal β-diversity in wheat (P < 0.01). Rotation regime switching from WM to WMFS and WS may effectively damp the risk of wheat disease and maintain the wheat yield in intensive cereal production.

Effect of Permittivity on the Electric-Field-Driven Rotation Dynamics in a Liquid Film

Applying a constant electric field on a suspended film of liquid that carries an electric current, either by the transport of ions or surface charges, induces a rotation in the film. This system is known as “liquid film motor”. So far, the effect of permittivity of the liquid on its rotation has been ignored. We showed that the permittivity of the liquid can significantly affect the dynamics of rotation. Using an experimental approach, we studied the liquid film rotation for a broad range of pure liquids with diverse permittivities and surface tensions. We observed two different regimes of rotation depending on the permittivity of the liquids. We also found that there is no correlation between the surface tension of the liquid and the angular velocity of the rotation. We considered a theoretical framework and suggested scenarios to explain our experimental observations. These results help in better understanding the physics of liquid film motors and suggest opportunities for new flow manipulation techniques at small scales.

Rotational Activity around an Obstacle in 2D Cardiac Tissue in Presence of Cellular Heterogeneity

Waves of electrical excitation rotating around an obstacle is one of the important mechanisms of dangerous cardiac arrhythmias occurring in the heart damaged by a post-infarction scar. Such a scar is also surrounded by the region of heterogeneity called a gray zone. In this paper, we perform the first comprehensive numerical study of various regimes of wave rotation around an obstacle surrounded by a gray zone. We use the TP06 cellular ionic model for human cardiomyocytes and study how the period and the pattern of wave rotation depend on the radius of a circular obstacle and the width of a circular gray zone. Our main conclusions are the following. The wave rotation regimes can be subdivided into three main classes: (1) functional rotation, (2) scar rotation and the newly found (3) gray zone rotation regimes. In the scar rotation regime, the wave rotates around the obstacle, while in the gray zone regime, the wave rotates around the gray zone. As a result, the period of rotation is determined by the perimeter of the scar, or gray zone perimeter correspondingly. The transition from the scar to the gray rotation regimes can be determined from the minimal period principle, formulated in this paper. We have also observed additional regimes associated with two types of dynamical instabilities which may affect or not affect the period of rotation. The results of this study can help to identify the factors determining the period of arrhythmias in post-infarction patients.

Enhancing the ecological services of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau’s grasslands through sustainable restoration and management in era of global change

Massive grasslands on the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau(QTP) provide vital ecosystems services, which have been decreased by land degradation associated with global change. Effective efforts and actions of restoration and management are required to promote the sustainable development of these grassland ecosystems with global importance. This special issue collected numerous papers to address share the innovative theoretical foundations and practical approaches for restoring and protecting QTP’s grassland ecosystems in the era of global change. The findings from the collected papers of this special issue stated that the ecosystems services of the QTP’s grasslands are declining due to weakened interfaces among soil, plant and grazing animals in the QTP’s grassland ecosystems by climate and land use changes. Applicable actions such as climate change mitigation and adaptation, close-to-nature restoration, rotational grazing regime with moderate grazing intensity should be taken to enhance the ecosystem services through rebuilding rational soil-plant-animal interfaces.

Rapid PCR-based method for herbivore dietary evaluation using plant-specific primers.

Polyphagous pests cause significant economic loss worldwide through feeding damage on various cash crops. However, their diets in agricultural landscapes remain largely unexplored. Pest dietary evaluation in agricultural fields is a challenging task currently approached through visual observation of plant feeding and microscopic identification of semi-digested plant material in pest’s guts. While molecular gut content analysis using metabarcoding approaches using universal primers (e.g., rbcl and trnL) have been successful in evaluating polyphagous pest diet, this method is relatively costly and time-consuming. Hence, there is a need for a rapid, specific, sensitive, and cost-effective method to screen for crops in the gut of pests. This is the first study to develop plant-specific primers that target various regions of their genomes, designed using a whole plant genome sequence. We selected Verticillium wilt disease resistance protein (VE-1) and pathogenesis related protein-coding genes 1–5 (PR-1-5) as our targets and designed species-specific primers for 14 important crops in the agroecosystems. Using amplicon sizes ranging from 115 to 407 bp, we developed two multiplex primer mixes that can separate nine and five plant species per PCR reaction, respectively. These two designed primer mixes provide a rapid, sensitive and specific route for polyphagous pest dietary evaluation in agroecosystems. This work will enable future research to rapidly expand our knowledge on the diet preference and range of crops that pests consume in various agroecosystems, which will help in the redesign and development of new crop rotation regimes to minimize polyphagous pest pressure and damage on crops.

Gravitational wave signature of proto-neutron star convection: I. MHD numerical simulations

ABSTRACT Gravitational waves provide a unique and powerful opportunity to constrain the dynamics in the interior of proto-neutron stars during core collapse supernovae. Convective motions play an important role in generating neutron stars magnetic fields, which could explain magnetar formation in the presence of fast rotation. We compute the gravitational wave emission from proto-neutron star convection and its associated dynamo, by post-processing three-dimensional MHD simulations of a model restricted to the convective zone in the anelastic approximation. We consider two different proto-neutron star structures representative of early times (with a convective layer) and late times (when the star is almost entirely convective). In the slow rotation regime, the gravitational wave emission follows a broad spectrum peaking at about three times the turnover frequency. In this regime, the inclusion of magnetic fields slightly decreases the amplitude without changing the spectrum significantly compared to a non-magnetized simulation. Fast rotation changes both the amplitude and spectrum dramatically. The amplitude is increased by a factor of up to a few thousands. The spectrum is characterized by several peaks associated with inertial modes, whose frequency scales with the rotation frequency. Using simple physical arguments, we derive scalings that reproduce quantitatively several aspects of these numerical results. We also observe an excess of low-frequency gravitational waves, which appears at the transition to a strong field dynamo characterized by a strong axisymmetric toroidal magnetic field. This signature of dynamo action could be used to constrain the dynamo efficiency in a proto-neutron star with future gravitational wave detections.

Effect of heating on topology of vortex breakdown in Vogel–Escudier flow

This paper examines the effect of unstable thermal stratification on vortex breakdown in Vogel–Escudier flow. A three-dimensional direct numerical simulation of Navier–Stokes and energy equations are used to simulate a flow inside a cylindrical container generated by rotating the top lid. The top and bottom are kept at two constant temperatures such that unstable stratification is maintained. The rotation speed is related to the Reynolds number (Re), and buoyancy is linked to the Rayleigh number (Ra). The streamline and vertical velocity contour plots indicate different regimes of the flow depending on the Re and Ra. The convection dominated (CD) regime has a characteristic large-scale circulation similar to the Rayleigh–Bénard convection, and the rotation dominated (RD) regime has a central axial vortex and breakdowns. A transitional regime between RD and CD regimes is also identified from energy consideration. The influence of Ra on a vortex breakdown bubble and its relation to azimuthal vorticity is investigated in detail. Consistent with the literature on Vogel–Escudier flow, the azimuthal vorticity is shown to be essential for the breakdown in the presence of buoyancy as well. In the low Re limits, the energy of flow tends to be associated with the r–z plane velocity field, while at large Re, the energy is associated with the out-of-the-plane velocity field. Thermal plumes align along the axis for large rotations and are affected by the vortex breakdown bubble. The velocity perturbation structures and plumes show a remarkable distinction between rotation and convection-dominated regimes in the topology.

Solar differential rotation reproduced with high-resolution simulation

The Sun rotates differentially with a fast equator and slow pole. Convection in the solar interior is thought to maintain the differential rotation. However, although many numerical simulations have been conducted to reproduce the solar differential rotation, previous high-resolution calculations with solar parameters fall into the anti-solar (fast pole) differential rotation regime. Consequently, we still do not know the true reason why the Sun has a fast-rotating equator. While the construction of the fast equator requires a strong rotational influence on the convection, the previous calculations have not been able to achieve the situation without any manipulations. The problem is called convective conundrum. The convection and the differential rotation in numerical simulations were different from the observations. Here, we show that a high-resolution calculation succeeds in reproducing the solar-like differential rotation. Our calculations indicate that the strong magnetic field generated by a small-scale dynamo has a significant impact on thermal convection. The successful reproduction of the differential rotation, convection, and magnetic field achieved in our calculation is an essential step to understanding the cause of the most basic nature of solar activity, specifically, the 11-year cycle of sunspot activity.

No-hair theorem in the wake of Event Horizon Telescope

Thanks to the release of the extraordinary EHT image of shadow attributed to the M87* supermassive black hole (SMBH), we have a novel window to assess the validity of fundamental physics in the strong-field regime. Motivated by this, we consider Johannsen & Psaltis metric parameterized by mass, spin, and an additional dimensionless hair parameter ϵ. This parametric framework in the high rotation regimes provides a well-behaved bed to the strong-gravity test of the no-hair theorem (NHT) using the EHT data. Incorporating the ϵ into the standard Kerr spacetime enrich it in the sense that, depending on setting the positive and negative values for that, we deal with alternative compact objects: deformed Kerr naked singularity and Kerr BH solutions, respectively. Shadows associated with these two possible solutions indicate that the deformation parameter ϵ affects the geometry shape of standard shadow such that it becomes more oblate and prolate with ϵ<0 and ϵ>0, respectively. By scanning the window associated with three shadow observables oblateness, deviation from circularity, and shadow diameter, we perform a numerical analysis within the range a*=0.9∓0.1 of the dimensionless rotation parameter, to find the constraints on the hair parameter ϵ in both possible solutions. For both possible signs of ϵ, we extract a variety of upper bounds that are in interplay with a*. Although by approaching the rotation parameters to the extreme limit, the allowable range of both hair parameters becomes narrower, the hairy Kerr BH solution is a more promising candidate to play the role of the alternative compact object instead of the standard Kerr BH. The lack of tension between hairy Kerr BH with the current observation of the EHT shadow of the M87* SMBH carries this message that there is the possibility of NHT violation.