Singularity criteria for perturbation series

This paper is concerned with some mathematical aspects of the Van Dyke method inperturbation theory, i.e. the singularity criteria of perturbation series. The author suggestsa sign criterion and a Domb-syke plot for the cases with complex conjugate singularities, thussucceeding in extending the conclusions of Van Dyke's. Subsequently. effects of singularitiesof the lower order upon the criteria are taken into account. In addition, a method of locat-ing singular points is developed by analysing the new perturbation series derived by the Eulertransformation.

Numerical-Value Perturbation Method with Application of Solving Convective-Diffusion Integral Equation

The convective--diffusion equation is of primary importance in such fields as fluid dynamics and heat transfer hi the numerical methods solving the convective-diffusion equation, the finite volume method can use conveniently diversified grids (structured and unstructured grids) and is suitable for very complex geometry The disadvantage of FV methods compared to the finite difference method is that FV-methods of order higher than second are more difficult to develop in three-dimensional cases. The second-order central scheme (2cs) offers a good compromise among accuracy, simplicity and efficiency, however, it will produce oscillatory solutions when the grid Reynolds numbers are large and then very fine grids are required to obtain accurate solution. The simplest first-order upwind (IUW) scheme satisfies the convective boundedness criteria, however. Its numerical diffusion is large. The power-law scheme, QMCK and second-order upwind (2UW) schemes are also often used in some commercial codes. Their numerical accurate are roughly consistent with that of ZCS. Therefore, it is meaningful to offer higher-accurate three point FV scheme. In this paper, the numerical-value perturbational method suggested by Zhi Gao is used to develop an upwind and mixed FV scheme using any higher-order interpolation and second-order integration approximations, which is called perturbational finite volume (PFV) scheme. The PFV scheme uses the least nodes similar to the standard three-point schemes, namely, the number of the nodes needed equals to unity plus the face-number of the control volume. For instanc6, in the two-dimensional (2-D) case, only four nodes for the triangle grids and five nodes for the Cartesian grids are utilized, respectively. The PFV scheme is applied on a number of 1-D problems, 2~Dand 3-D flow model equations. Comparing with other standard three-point schemes, The PFV scheme has much smaller numerical diffusion than the first-order upwind (IUW) scheme, its numerical accuracy are also higher than the second-order central scheme (2CS), the power-law scheme (PLS), the QUICK scheme and the second-order upwind(ZUW) scheme.

Pumped double quantum dot with spin-orbit coupling

We study driven by an external electric field quantum orbital and spin dynamics of electron in a one-dimensional double quantum dot with spin-orbit coupling. Two types of external perturbation are considered: a periodic field at the Zeeman frequency and a single half-period pulse. Spin-orbit coupling leads to a nontrivial evolution in the spin and orbital channels and to a strongly spin-dependent probability density distribution. Both the interdot tunneling and the driven motion contribute into the spin evolution. These results can be important for the design of the spin manipulation schemes in semiconductor nanostructures.

Nanoscale periodic corrugation to dimple transition due to "beat" in a bulk metallic glass

We report an intriguing observation that the interaction of brittle nanoscale periodic corrugations (NPCs) can lead to the formation of ductile dimples on the dynamic fracture surface of a tough Vit 1 bulk metallic glass (BMG) under high-velocity plate impact. A “beat” phenomenon due to superposition of simple harmonic vibrations, approximately characterizing NPCs, is proposed to explain this unusual brittle-to-ductile transition. The present results agree well with our previously revealed energy dissipation mechanism in the fracture of BMGs.

Nonexistence of looping trajectories in hydromagnetic waves of finite amplitude. Breaking of waves in a cold collision-free plasma in a magnetic field. On stabilities of periodic waves in a cold collision-free plasma in a magnetic field.

This dissertation consists of three parts. In Part I, it is shown that looping trajectories cannot exist in finite amplitude stationary hydromagnetic waves propagating across a magnetic field in a quasi-neutral cold collision-free plasma. In Part II, time-dependent solutions in series expansion are presented for the magnetic piston problem, which describes waves propagating into a quasi-neutral cold collision-free plasma, ensuing from magnetic disturbances on the boundary of the plasma. The expansion is equivalent to Picard's successive approximations. It is then shown that orbit crossings of plasma particles occur on the boundary for strong disturbances and inside the plasma for weak disturbances. In Part III, the existence of periodic waves propagating at an arbitrary angle to the magnetic field in a plasma is demonstrated by Stokes expansions in amplitude. Then stability analysis is made for such periodic waves with respect to side-band frequency disturbances. It is shown that waves of slow mode are unstable whereas waves of fast mode are stable if the frequency is below the cutoff frequency. The cutoff frequency depends on the propagation angle. For longitudinal propagation the cutoff frequency is equal to one-fourth of the electron's gyrofrequency. For transverse propagation the cutoff frequency is so high that waves of all frequencies are stable.

A perturbation procedure for nonlinear oscillations (The dynamics of two oscillators with weak nonlinear coupling)

This thesis considers in detail the dynamics of two oscillators with weak nonlinear coupling. There are three classes of such problems: non-resonant, where the Poincaré procedure is valid to the order considered; weakly resonant, where the Poincaré procedure breaks down because small divisors appear (but do not affect the O(1) term) and strongly resonant, where small divisors appear and lead to O(1) corrections. A perturbation method based on Cole's two-timing procedure is introduced. It avoids the small divisor problem in a straightforward manner, gives accurate answers which are valid for long times, and appears capable of handling all three types of problems with no change in the basic approach.

One example of each type is studied with the aid of this procedure: for the nonresonant case the answer is equivalent to the Poincaré result; for the weakly resonant case the analytic form of the answer is found to depend (smoothly) on the difference between the initial energies of the two oscillators; for the strongly resonant case we find that the amplitudes of the two oscillators vary slowly with time as elliptic functions of ϵ t, where ϵ is the (small) coupling parameter.

Our results suggest that, as one might expect, the dynamical behavior of such systems varies smoothly with changes in the ratio of the fundamental frequencies of the two oscillators. Thus the pathological behavior of Whittaker's adelphic integrals as the frequency ratio is varied appears to be due to the fact that Whittaker ignored the small divisor problem. The energy sharing properties of these systems appear to depend strongly on the initial conditions, so that the systems not ergodic.

The perturbation procedure appears to be applicable to a wide variety of other problems in addition to those considered here.

Topics in black hole perturbation theory and the visualization of curved spacetime

This thesis presents recent research into analytic topics in the classical theory of General Relativity. It is a thesis in two parts. The first part features investigations into the spectrum of perturbed, rotating black holes. These include the study of near horizon perturbations, leading to a new generic frequency mode for black hole ringdown; an treatment of high frequency waves using WKB methods for Kerr black holes; and the discovery of a bifurcation of the quasinormal mode spectrum of rapidly rotating black holes. These results represent new discoveries in the field of black hole perturbation theory, and rely on additional approximations to the linearized field equations around the background black hole. The second part of this thesis presents a recently developed method for the visualization of curved spacetimes, using field lines called the tendex and vortex lines of the spacetime. The works presented here both introduce these visualization techniques, and explore them in simple situations. These include the visualization of asymptotic gravitational radiation; weak gravity situations with and without radiation; stationary black hole spacetimes; and some preliminary study into numerically simulated black hole mergers. The second part of thesis culminates in the investigation of perturbed black holes using these field line methods, which have uncovered new insights into the dynamics of curved spacetime around black holes.

The electric field of a weakly electric fish

Freshwater fish of the genus Apteronotus (family Gymnotidae) generate a weak, high frequency electric field (< 100 mV/cm, 0.5-10 kHz) which permeates their local environment. These nocturnal fish are acutely sensitive to perturbations in their electric field caused by other electric fish, and nearby objects whose impedance is different from the surrounding water. This thesis presents high temporal and spatial resolution maps of the electric potential and field on and near Apteronotus. The fish's electric field is a complicated and highly stable function of space and time. Its characteristics, such as spectral composition, timing, and rate of attenuation, are examined in terms of physical constraints, and their possible functional roles in electroreception.

Temporal jitter of the periodic field is less than 1 µsec. However, electrocyte activity is not globally synchronous along the fish 's electric organ. The propagation of electrocyte activation down the fish's body produces a rotation of the electric field vector in the caudal part of the fish. This may assist the fish in identifying nonsymmetrical objects, and could also confuse electrosensory predators that try to locate Apteronotus by following its fieldlines. The propagation also results in a complex spatiotemporal pattern of the EOD potential near the fish. Visualizing the potential on the same and different fish over timescales of several months suggests that it is stable and could serve as a unique signature for individual fish.

Measurements of the electric field were used to calculate the effects of simple objects on the fish's electric field. The shape of the perturbation or "electric image" on the fish's skin is relatively independent of a simple object's size, conductivity, and rostrocaudal location, and therefore could unambiguously determine object distance. The range of electrolocation may depend on both the size of objects and their rostrocaudal location. Only objects with very large dielectric constants cause appreciable phase shifts, and these are strongly dependent on the water conductivity.

Earthquakes of the Nepal Himalaya : towards a physical model of the seismic cycle

Home to hundreds of millions of souls and land of excessiveness, the Himalaya is also the locus of a unique seismicity whose scope and peculiarities still remain to this day somewhat mysterious. Having claimed the lives of kings, or turned ancient timeworn cities into heaps of rubbles and ruins, earthquakes eerily inhabit Nepalese folk tales with the fatalistic message that nothing lasts forever. From a scientific point of view as much as from a human perspective, solving the mysteries of Himalayan seismicity thus represents a challenge of prime importance. Documenting geodetic strain across the Nepal Himalaya with various GPS and leveling data, we show that unlike other subduction zones that exhibit a heterogeneous and patchy coupling pattern along strike, the last hundred kilometers of the Main Himalayan Thrust fault, or MHT, appear to be uniformly locked, devoid of any of the “creeping barriers” that traditionally ward off the propagation of large events. The approximately 20 mm/yr of reckoned convergence across the Himalaya matching previously established estimates of the secular deformation at the front of the arc, the slip accumulated at depth has to somehow elastically propagate all the way to the surface at some point. And yet, neither large events from the past nor currently recorded microseismicity nearly compensate for the massive moment deficit that quietly builds up under the giant mountains. Along with this large unbalanced moment deficit, the uncommonly homogeneous coupling pattern on the MHT raises the question of whether or not the locked portion of the MHT can rupture all at once in a giant earthquake. Univocally answering this question appears contingent on the still elusive estimate of the magnitude of the largest possible earthquake in the Himalaya, and requires tight constraints on local fault properties. What makes the Himalaya enigmatic also makes it the potential source of an incredible wealth of information, and we exploit some of the oddities of Himalayan seismicity in an effort to improve the understanding of earthquake physics and cipher out the properties of the MHT. Thanks to the Himalaya, the Indo-Gangetic plain is deluged each year under a tremendous amount of water during the annual summer monsoon that collects and bears down on the Indian plate enough to pull it away from the Eurasian plate slightly, temporarily relieving a small portion of the stress mounting on the MHT. As the rainwater evaporates in the dry winter season, the plate rebounds and tension is increased back on the fault. Interestingly, the mild waggle of stress induced by the monsoon rains is about the same size as that from solid-Earth tides which gently tug at the planets solid layers, but whereas changes in earthquake frequency correspond with the annually occurring monsoon, there is no such correlation with Earth tides, which oscillate back-and-forth twice a day. We therefore investigate the general response of the creeping and seismogenic parts of MHT to periodic stresses in order to link these observations to physical parameters. First, the response of the creeping part of the MHT is analyzed with a simple spring-and-slider system bearing rate-strengthening rheology, and we show that at the transition with the locked zone, where the friction becomes near velocity neutral, the response of the slip rate may be amplified at some periods, which values are analytically related to the physical parameters of the problem. Such predictions therefore hold the potential of constraining fault properties on the MHT, but still await observational counterparts to be applied, as nothing indicates that the variations of seismicity rate on the locked part of the MHT are the direct expressions of variations of the slip rate on its creeping part, and no variations of the slip rate have been singled out from the GPS measurements to this day. When shifting to the locked seismogenic part of the MHT, spring-and-slider models with rate-weakening rheology are insufficient to explain the contrasted responses of the seismicity to the periodic loads that tides and monsoon both place on the MHT. Instead, we resort to numerical simulations using the Boundary Integral CYCLes of Earthquakes algorithm and examine the response of a 2D finite fault embedded with a rate-weakening patch to harmonic stress perturbations of various periods. We show that such simulations are able to reproduce results consistent with a gradual amplification of sensitivity as the perturbing period get larger, up to a critical period corresponding to the characteristic time of evolution of the seismicity in response to a step-like perturbation of stress. This increase of sensitivity was not reproduced by simple 1D-spring-slider systems, probably because of the complexity of the nucleation process, reproduced only by 2D-fault models. When the nucleation zone is close to its critical unstable size, its growth becomes highly sensitive to any external perturbations and the timings of produced events may therefore find themselves highly affected. A fully analytical framework has yet to be developed and further work is needed to fully describe the behavior of the fault in terms of physical parameters, which will likely provide the keys to deduce constitutive properties of the MHT from seismological observations.