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Full-Text Articles in Physics

Basic Astronomy Labs, Terry L. Smith, Michael D. Reynolds, Jay S. Huebner Jul 2014

Basic Astronomy Labs, Terry L. Smith, Michael D. Reynolds, Jay S. Huebner

Jay S Huebner

Providing the tools and know-how to apply the principles of astronomy first-hand, these 43 laboratory exercises each contain an introduction that clearly shows budding astronomers why the particular topic of that lab is of interest and relevant to astronomy. About one-third of the exercises are devoted solely to observation, and no mathematics is required beyond simple high school algebra and trigonometry.Organizes exercises into six major topics—sky, optics and spectroscopy, celestial mechanics, solar system, stellar properties, and exploration and other topics—providing clear outlines of what is involved in the exercise, its purpose, and what procedures and apparatus are to be used. …


Magnetic Fields In An Expanding Universe, David Kastor, Jennie Traschen Mar 2014

Magnetic Fields In An Expanding Universe, David Kastor, Jennie Traschen

David Kastor

We find a solution to 4D Einstein-Maxwell theory coupled to a massless dilaton field describing a Melvin magnetic field in an expanding universe with 'stiff matter' equation of state parameter w=+1. As the universe expands, magnetic flux becomes more concentrated around the symmetry axis for dilaton coupling a<1/3√ and more dispersed for a>1/3√. An electric field circulates around the symmetry axis in the direction determined by Lenz's law. For a=0 the magnetic flux through a disk of fixed comoving radius is proportional to the proper area of the disk. This result disagrees with the usual expectation based on a test magnetic field that this …


Low Mach Number Fluctuating Hydrodynamics Of Diffusively Mixing Fluids, Aleksandar Donev, Andy J. Nonaka, Yifei Sun, Thomas Fai, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell Jan 2014

Low Mach Number Fluctuating Hydrodynamics Of Diffusively Mixing Fluids, Aleksandar Donev, Andy J. Nonaka, Yifei Sun, Thomas Fai, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell

Alejandro Garcia

We formulate low Mach number fluctuating hydrodynamic equations appropriate for modeling diffusive mixing in isothermal mixtures of fluids with different density and transport coefficients. These equations eliminate the fast isentropic fluctuations in pressure associated with the propagation of sound waves by replacing the equation of state with a local thermodynamic constraint. We demonstrate that the low Mach number model preserves the spatio-temporal spectrum of the slower diffusive fluctuations. We develop a strictly conservative finite-volume spatial discretization of the low Mach number fluctuating equations in both two and three dimensions. We construct several explicit Runge-Kutta temporal integrators that strictly maintain the …


Essentials Of The Theory Of Abstraction - Lecture, Subhajit Kumar Ganguly Jan 2012

Essentials Of The Theory Of Abstraction - Lecture, Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

In not favouring solutions or sets of solutions, the principle of zero-postulation drives away any unwanted incompleteness from the description of the world. It is the interactions between the possible exhaustive set of solutions that creates the impression pointedness or directiveness in the universe, leading to the formation of clusters, as discussed earlier. These interactions may be chaotic in nature, giving rise to attractor points where the directiveness inside any given system asymptotically seem to approach. It is this directiveness, in turn, inside a given system or in the universe as a whole, that is the cause of all known …


Condensation States And Landscaping With The Theory Of Abstraction, Subhajit Kumar Ganguly Jan 2011

Condensation States And Landscaping With The Theory Of Abstraction, Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

Subhajit Kumar Ganguly

The Abstraction theory is applied in landscaping. A collection of objects may be made to be vast or meager depending upon the scale of observations. This idea may be developed to unite the worlds of the great vastness of the universe and the minuteness of the sub-atomic realm. Keeping constant a scaling ratio for both worlds, these may actually be converted into two self-same representatives with respect to scaling. The Laws of Physical Transactions are made use of to study Bose-Einstein condensation. As the packing density of concerned constituents increase to a certain critical value, there may be evolution of …


Diffusive Transport Enhanced By Thermal Velocity Fluctuations, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev, Anton De La Fuente, John B. Bell Jan 2011

Diffusive Transport Enhanced By Thermal Velocity Fluctuations, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev, Anton De La Fuente, John B. Bell

Alejandro Garcia

We study the contribution of advection by thermal velocity fluctuations to the effective diffusion coefficient in a mixture of two identical fluids. We find good agreement between a simple fluctuating hydrodynamics theory and particle and finite-volume simulations. The enhancement of the diffusive transport depends on the system size L and grows as ln⁡(L/L0) in quasi-two-dimensional systems, while in three dimensions it scales as L0-1-L-1, where L0 is a reference length. Our results demonstrate that fluctuations play an important role in the hydrodynamics of small-scale systems.


Computational Fluctuating Fluid Dynamics, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell, Sarah Williams Jan 2010

Computational Fluctuating Fluid Dynamics, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell, Sarah Williams

Alejandro Garcia

This paper describes the extension of a recently developed numerical solver for the Landau-Lifshitz Navier-Stokes (LLNS) equations to binary mixtures in three dimensions. The LLNS equations incorporate thermal fluctuations into macroscopic hydrodynamics by using white-noise fluxes. These stochastic PDEs are more complicated in three dimensions due to the tensorial form of the correlations for the stochastic fluxes and in mixtures due to couplings of energy and concentration fluxes (e.g., Soret effect). We present various numerical tests of systems in and out of equilibrium, including time-dependent systems, and demonstrate good agreement with theoretical results and molecular simulation


On The Accuracy Of Explicit Finite-Volume Schemes For Fluctuating Hydrodynamics, Aleksandar Donev, Eric Vanden-Eijnden, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell Jan 2010

On The Accuracy Of Explicit Finite-Volume Schemes For Fluctuating Hydrodynamics, Aleksandar Donev, Eric Vanden-Eijnden, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell

Alejandro Garcia

This paper describes the development and analysis of finite-volume methods for the Landau–Lifshitz Navier–Stokes (LLNS) equations and related stochastic partial differential equations in fluid dynamics. The LLNS equations incorporate thermal fluctuations into macroscopic hydrodynamics by the addition of white noise fluxes whose magnitudes are set by a fluctuation-dissipation relation. Originally derived for equilibrium fluctuations, the LLNS equations have also been shown to be accurate for nonequilibrium systems. Previous studies of numerical methods for the LLNS equations focused primarily on measuring variances and correlations computed at equilibrium and for selected nonequilibrium flows. In this paper, we introduce a more systematic approach …


A Hybrid Particle-Continuum Method For Hydrodynamics Of Complex Fluids, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev, John B. Bell, Berni Alder Jan 2010

A Hybrid Particle-Continuum Method For Hydrodynamics Of Complex Fluids, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev, John B. Bell, Berni Alder

Alejandro Garcia

A previously developed hybrid particle-continuum method [J. B. Bell, A. Garcia, and S. A. Williams, Multiscale Model. Simul., 6 (2008), pp. 1256–1280] is generalized to dense fluids and two- and three-dimensional flows. The scheme couples an explicit fluctuating compressible Navier–Stokes solver with the isotropic direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) particle method [A. Donev, A. L. Garcia, and B. J. Alder, J. Stat. Mech. Theory Exp., 2009 (2009), article P11008]. To achieve bidirectional dynamic coupling between the particle (microscale) and continuum (macroscale) regions, the continuum solver provides state-based boundary conditions to the particle subdomain, while the particle solver provides flux-based boundary …


Stochastic Hard-Sphere Dynamics For Hydrodynamics Of Non-Ideal Fluids, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev, Berni J. Alder Jan 2008

Stochastic Hard-Sphere Dynamics For Hydrodynamics Of Non-Ideal Fluids, Alejandro Garcia, Aleksandar Donev, Berni J. Alder

Alejandro Garcia

A novel stochastic fluid model is proposed with a nonideal structure factor consistent with compressibility, and adjustable transport coefficients. This stochastic hard sphere dynamics (SHSD) algorithm is a modification of the direct simulation Monte Carlo algorithm and has several computational advantages over event-driven hard-sphere molecular dynamics. Surprisingly, SHSD results in an equation of state and a pair correlation function identical to that of a deterministic Hamiltonian system of penetrable spheres interacting with linear core pair potentials. The fluctuating hydrodynamic behavior of the SHSD fluid is verified for the Brownian motion of a nanoparticle suspended in a compressible solvent.


Algorithm Refinement For Fluctuating Hydrodynamics, Alejandro Garcia, Sarah Williams, John B. Bell Jan 2007

Algorithm Refinement For Fluctuating Hydrodynamics, Alejandro Garcia, Sarah Williams, John B. Bell

Alejandro Garcia

This paper introduces an adaptive mesh and algorithm refinement method for fluctuating hydrodynamics. This particle-continuum hybrid simulates the dynamics of a compressible fluid with thermal fluctuations. The particle algorithm is direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC), a molecular-level scheme based on the Boltzmann equation. The continuum algorithm is based on the Landau–Lifshitz Navier–Stokes (LLNS) equations, which incorporate thermal fluctuations into macroscopic hydrodynamics by using stochastic fluxes. It uses a recently developed solver for the LLNS equations based on third-order Runge–Kutta. We present numerical tests of systems in and out of equilibrium, including time-dependent systems, and demonstrate dynamic adaptive refinement by the …


Numerical Methods For The Stochastic Landau-Lifshitz Navier-Stokes Equations, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell, Sarah Williams Jan 2007

Numerical Methods For The Stochastic Landau-Lifshitz Navier-Stokes Equations, Alejandro Garcia, John B. Bell, Sarah Williams

Alejandro Garcia

The Landau-Lifshitz Navier-Stokes (LLNS) equations incorporate thermal fluctuations into macroscopic hydrodynamics by using stochastic fluxes. This paper examines explicit Eulerian discretizations of the full LLNS equations. Several computational fluid dynamics approaches are considered (including MacCormack’s two-step Lax-Wendroff scheme and the piecewise parabolic method) and are found to give good results for the variance of momentum fluctuations. However, neither of these schemes accurately reproduces the fluctuations in energy or density. We introduce a conservative centered scheme with a third-order Runge-Kutta temporal integrator that does accurately produce fluctuations in density, energy, and momentum. A variety of numerical tests, including the random walk …


Estimating Hydrodynamic Quantities In The Presence Of Microscopic Fluctuations, Alejandro Garcia Jan 2006

Estimating Hydrodynamic Quantities In The Presence Of Microscopic Fluctuations, Alejandro Garcia

Alejandro Garcia

This paper discusses the evaluation of hydrodynamic variables in the presence of spontaneous fluctuations, such as in molecular simulations of fluid flows. The principal point is that hydrodynamic variables such as fluid velocity and temperature must be defined in terms of mechanical variables such as momentum and energy density). Because these relations are nonlinear and because fluctuations of mechanical variables are correlated, care must be taken to avoid introducing a bias when evaluating means, variances, and correlations of hydrodynamic variables. The unbiased estimates are formulated; some alternative, incorrect approaches are presented as cautionary warnings. The expressions are verified by numerical …


Hydrodynamic Description Of The Adiabatic Piston, Alejandro Garcia, Malek M. Mansour Jan 2006

Hydrodynamic Description Of The Adiabatic Piston, Alejandro Garcia, Malek M. Mansour

Alejandro Garcia

A closed macroscopic equation for the motion of the two-dimensional adiabatic piston is derived from standard hydrodynamics. It predicts a damped oscillatory motion of the piston towards a final rest position, which depends on the initial state. In the limit of large piston mass, the solution of this equation is in quantitative agreement with the results obtained from both hard disk molecular dynamics and hydrodynamics. The explicit forms of the basic characteristics of the piston’s dynamics, such as the period of oscillations and the relaxation time, are derived. The limitations of the theory’s validity, in terms of the main system …


Rectification Of Thermal Fluctuations In Ideal Gases, Alejandro Garcia, P. Meurs, C. Van De Broeck Jan 2004

Rectification Of Thermal Fluctuations In Ideal Gases, Alejandro Garcia, P. Meurs, C. Van De Broeck

Alejandro Garcia

We calculate the systematic average speed of the adiabatic piston and a thermal Brownian motor, introduced by C. Van den Broeck, R. Kawai and P. Meurs [Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 090601 (2004)], by an expansion of the Boltzmann equation and compare with the exact numerical solution.


A Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method For The Uehling-Uhlenbeck-Boltzmann Equation, Alejandro Garcia, Wolfgang Wagner Jan 2003

A Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method For The Uehling-Uhlenbeck-Boltzmann Equation, Alejandro Garcia, Wolfgang Wagner

Alejandro Garcia

In this paper we describe a direct simulation Monte Carlo algorithm for the Uehling-Uhlenbeck-Boltzmann equation in terms of Markov processes. This provides a unifying framework for both the classical Boltzmann case as well as the Fermi-Dirac and Bose-Einstein cases. We establish the foundation of the algorithm by demonstrating its link to the kinetic equation. By numerical experiments we study its sensitivity to the number of simulation particles and to the discretization of the velocity space, when approximating the steady-state distribution.


Inverted Velocity Profile In The Cylindrical Couette Flow Of A Rarefied Gas, Alejandro Garcia, K. Aoki, H. Yoshida, T. Nakanishi Jan 2003

Inverted Velocity Profile In The Cylindrical Couette Flow Of A Rarefied Gas, Alejandro Garcia, K. Aoki, H. Yoshida, T. Nakanishi

Alejandro Garcia

The cylindrical Couette flow of a rarefied gas is investigated, under the diffuse-specular reflection condition of Maxwell’s type on the cylinders, in the case where the inner cylinder is rotating whereas the outer cylinder is at rest. The inverted velocity profile for small accommodation coefficients, pointed out by Tibbs, Baras, and Garcia [Phys. Rev. E 56, 2282 (1997)] on the basis of a Monte Carlo simulation, is investigated extensively by means of a systematic asymptotic analysis for small Knudsen numbers as well as the direct numerical analysis of the Boltzmann equation, and the parameter range in which the phenomenon appears …


Comment On ‘‘Stress-Density Ratio Slip-Corrected Reynolds Equation For Ultra-Thin Film Gas Bearing Lubrication’’, Alejandro Garcia Jan 2002

Comment On ‘‘Stress-Density Ratio Slip-Corrected Reynolds Equation For Ultra-Thin Film Gas Bearing Lubrication’’, Alejandro Garcia

Alejandro Garcia

No abstract provided.


Molecular Simulations Of Sound Wave Propagation In Simple Gases, Alejandro Garcia, N. Hadjiconstantinou Jan 2001

Molecular Simulations Of Sound Wave Propagation In Simple Gases, Alejandro Garcia, N. Hadjiconstantinou

Alejandro Garcia

Molecular simulations of sound waves propagating in a dilute hard sphere gas have been performed using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method. A wide range of frequencies is investigated, including very high frequencies for which the period is much shorter than the mean collision time. The simulation results are compared to experimental data and approximate solutions of the Boltzmann equation. It is shown that free molecular flow is important at distances smaller than one mean free path from the excitation point.


Time Step Truncation Error In Direct Simulation Monte Carlo, Alejandro Garcia, W. Wagner Jan 2000

Time Step Truncation Error In Direct Simulation Monte Carlo, Alejandro Garcia, W. Wagner

Alejandro Garcia

No abstract provided.


Erratum: "Cell Size Dependence Of Transport Coefficients In Stochastic Particle Algorithms", Alejandro Garcia, Francis Alexander, Berni Alder Jan 2000

Erratum: "Cell Size Dependence Of Transport Coefficients In Stochastic Particle Algorithms", Alejandro Garcia, Francis Alexander, Berni Alder

Alejandro Garcia

No abstract provided.


Burnett Description For Plane Poiseuille Flow, Alejandro Garcia, F. Uribe Jan 1999

Burnett Description For Plane Poiseuille Flow, Alejandro Garcia, F. Uribe

Alejandro Garcia

Two recent works have shown that at small Knudsen number ~K! the pressure and temperature profiles in plane Poiseuille flow exhibit a different qualitative behavior from the profiles obtained by the Navier-Stokes equations. Tij and Santos [J. Stat. Phys. 76, 1399 (1994)] used the Bhatnagar-Gross-Kook model to show that the temperature profile is bimodal and the pressure profile is nonconstant. Malek-Mansour, Baras, and Garcia [Physica A 240, 255 (1997)] qualitatively confirmed these predictions in computer experiments using the direct simulation Monte Carlo method (DSMC). In this paper we compare the DSMC measurements of hydrodynamic variables and non-equilibrium fluxes with numerical …


Cell Size Dependence Of Transport Coefficients In Stochastic Particle Algorithms, Alejandro Garcia, F. Alexander, B. Alder Jan 1998

Cell Size Dependence Of Transport Coefficients In Stochastic Particle Algorithms, Alejandro Garcia, F. Alexander, B. Alder

Alejandro Garcia

Using the Green–Kubo theory, the dependence of the viscosity and thermal conductivity on cell size is obtained explicitly for stochastic particle methods such as direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) and its generalization, the consistent Boltzmann algorithm (CBA). These analytical results confirm empirical observations that significant errors occur when the cell dimensions are larger than a mean free path.


Three-Dimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method For Slider Air Bearings, Alejandro Garcia, W. Huang, D. B. Bogy Jan 1997

Three-Dimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method For Slider Air Bearings, Alejandro Garcia, W. Huang, D. B. Bogy

Alejandro Garcia

The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method is used to solve the three-dimensional nano-scale gas film lubrication problem between a gas bearing slider and a rotating disk, and this solution is compared to the numerical solution of the compressible Reynolds equations with the slip flow correction based on the linearized Boltzmann equation as presented by Fukui and Kaneko [molecular gas film lubrication (MGL) method] [ASME J. Tribol. 110, 253 (1988)]. In the DSMC method, hundreds of thousands of simulated particles are used and their three velocity components and three spatial coordinates are calculated and recorded by using a hard-sphere collision …


Anomalous Flow Profile Due To The Curvature Effect On Slip Length, Alejandro Garcia, K. Tibbs, F. Baras Jan 1997

Anomalous Flow Profile Due To The Curvature Effect On Slip Length, Alejandro Garcia, K. Tibbs, F. Baras

Alejandro Garcia

No abstract provided.


A Simple Model For Nonequilibrium Fluctuations In A Fluid, Alejandro Garcia, F. Baras, M. Malek Mansour Jan 1996

A Simple Model For Nonequilibrium Fluctuations In A Fluid, Alejandro Garcia, F. Baras, M. Malek Mansour

Alejandro Garcia

Presents a train model that shows the long-range spatial correlations of fluctuations in nonequilibrium fluid systems. Illustration of model through analysis of flat-car trains running on parallel tracks; Simulation of train model in computers; Theoretical analysis for fluctuations in the train model; Relationship between train model and the fluctuating hydrodynamic theory of fluids.


Comment On 'Simulation Of A Two-Dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard System Using The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method, Alejandro Garcia, F. Baras, M. Malek Mansour Jan 1995

Comment On 'Simulation Of A Two-Dimensional Rayleigh-Bénard System Using The Direct Simulation Monte Carlo Method, Alejandro Garcia, F. Baras, M. Malek Mansour

Alejandro Garcia

No abstract provided.


A Consistent Boltzmann Algorithm, Alejandro Garcia, F. Alexander, B. Alder Jan 1995

A Consistent Boltzmann Algorithm, Alejandro Garcia, F. Alexander, B. Alder

Alejandro Garcia

The direct simulation Monte Carlo method for the Boltzmann equation is modified by an additional displacement in the advection process and an enhanced collision rate in order to obtain the exact hard sphere equation of state at all densities. This leads to consistent thermodynamic and transport properties in the low density (Boltzmann) regime. At higher densities transport properties are comparable to the predictions of the Enskog model. The algorithm is faster than molecular dynamics at low and moderate densities and readily run on a parallel architecture


Direct Simulation Monte Carlo For Thin Film Bearings, Alejandro Garcia, B. Alder, F. J. Alexander Jan 1994

Direct Simulation Monte Carlo For Thin Film Bearings, Alejandro Garcia, B. Alder, F. J. Alexander

Alejandro Garcia

The direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) scheme is used to study the gas flow under a read/write head positioned nanometers above a moving disk drive platter (the slider bearing problem). In most cases, impressive agreement is found between the particle-based simulation and numerical solutions of the continuum hydrodynamic Reynolds equation which has been corrected for slip. However, at very high platter speeds the gas is far from equilibrium, and the load capacity for the slider bearing cannot be accurately computed from the hydrodynamic pressure.


Microscopic Simulation Of Dilute Gases With Adjustable Transport Coefficients, Alejandro Garcia, F. Baras, M. Malek Mansour Jan 1994

Microscopic Simulation Of Dilute Gases With Adjustable Transport Coefficients, Alejandro Garcia, F. Baras, M. Malek Mansour

Alejandro Garcia

The Bird algorithm is a computationally efficient method for simulating dilute gas flows. However, due to the relatively large transport coefficients at low densities, high Rayleigh or Reynolds numbers are difficult to achieve by this technique. We present a modified version of the Bird algorithm in which the relaxation processes are enhanced and the transport coefficients reduced, while preserving the correct equilibrium and nonequilibrium fluid properties. The present algorithm is found to be two to three orders of magnitude faster than molecular dynamics for simulating complex hydrodynamical flows.