In this thesis the nonlinear effects and heating are studied in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) in a regime of anomalous skin effect (nonlocal regime). In this regime the thermal motion of plasma electrons plays an important role, significantly influencing the processes associated with the penetration of electromagnetic field into plasma, such as the ponderomotive effect and heating of plasma by the field. We have developed a linear kinetic theory that describes the electron dynamics in ICP taking into account the electron thermal motion and collisions of electrons. This theory yields relatively simple expressions for the electron current in plasma, the ponderomotive force, and plasma heating. It describes correctly the thermal reduction of ponderomotive force in the nonlocal regime, which has been previously observed experimentally. It also describes the collisionless heating of plasma due to resonant interaction between the electromagnetic wave and plasma electrons. There is a good overall agreement of the results of our theory with the experimental data on ponderomotive force and plasma heating. Using our theory, we predicted a new effect of reduction of plasma heating compared to the purely collisional value, occurring at low frequencies. This effect has not been previously reported. The nonlinear effects of the electromagnetic field on the electron distribution function and on plasma heating, that are not accounted for in the linear kinetic theory, have been studied using a quasilinear kinetic theory, also developed in this thesis. Within the quasilinear approximation we have formulated the system of equations describing the slow response of plasma electrons to the fast oscillating electromagnetic field. As an example, these equations have been solved in the simplest case of cold plasma with collisions, and the nonlinear perturbation of the electron distribution function and its effect on the plasma heating have been found. It has been shown that the nonlinear modification of plasma heating occurs mainly due to the nonlinear effect of the magnetic component of the electromagnetic field. It has also been shown that at high frequencies the nonlinear effects vanish, and the heating is well described by the linear theory. To verify the predicted new effect of plasma heating reduction at low frequencies, as well as to investigate the nonlinear effect of the magnetic field on plasma heating for arbitrary amplitudes of electromagnetic field in plasma, we have developed a 1d3v Particle-In-Cell (PIC) numerical simulation code with collisions. The collisions were implemented into the PIC code using two different techniques: the direct Monte-Carlo technique for the electron-atom collisions, and the stochastic technique based on the Langevin equation for the electron-electron collisions. The series of numerical simulations by this code confirmed the results of our linear theory, particularly the effect of heating reduction at low frequencies that we predicted theoretically. Also, the nonlinear effects of electromagnetic field on plasma heating were studied using the PIC code in the cases of weak and strong electromagnetic fields. It has been shown that in the case of weak electromagnetic fields (corresponding to weak nonlinearity) the nonlinear effects lead to some enhancement of heating (compared to the linear theory) at low frequencies, followed by a small reduction of heating at higher frequencies. This observed nonlinear perturbation of heating in warm plasma with collisions is similar to that predicted by the quasilinear theory for the case of cold plasma with collisions. In the case of strong electromagnetic fields (corresponding to strong nonlinearity) the nonlinear effects lead to a further reduction of heating (compared to the linear theory) at low frequencies, as shown by the simulation, thus adding to the effect of reduction of heating predicted by the linear theory. The nonlinear effects are shown to vanish at high frequencies, as expected.

Thesis--University of Florida. / Description based on print version record. Typescript. Vita. Bibliography: leaves 187-190.

Granular materials exist in many forms in nature ranging from space debris to sand dunes and from breakfast cereals to pharmaceutical tablets. They can behave like a solid or a viscous fluid or a gas. The gas-like nature of granular materials in rapid flows allows the use of models based on kinetic theory thus revealing in depth complex physics and phenomena. However unlike conventional fluids here the energy balance requires additional dissipation terms as a consequence of inelasticity. The complexity of their interaction and diversity in application has led to numerous studies using experimental methods and numerical simulations in order to determine the most appropriate constitutive relationships for granular gases. With large dissipation the form of the constitutive relationship becomes particularly important, especially in the presence of non-equipartition and anisotropy. This thesis is focused on constitutive models of simple granular flows. A vibrated bed is often used as an idealisation of granular flows, providing a convenient approximation to the simplest type of flow: binary and instantaneous collisions with no rotations. Using finite element method (FE) based COMSOL modules we solve conservation of mass, momentum and energy resulting from granular kinetic theory in axi-symmetric form to generate time and spatial resolved solutions of packing fraction, velocity and granular temperature and compare the predictions to numerical simulation and experiment. At first we show the comparison for two closure sets, one based on a simple near elastic approach while the second based on revised Enskog theory for dense inelastic flows. The results for the second approach show good agreement with the results of previously validated near elastic models and experimental results. The observed differences between the two closure sets are small except for the observation of temperature upturn in a dilute region of the cell away from base. One cause of this is the presence of additional constitutive terms in the balance equations and are a consequence of inelasticity. The models also consider time varying effects at low frequency of excitation. These solutions show existence of wave-like effects in the cell with associated temperature upturn within the hydrodynamic applicability region. Presence of instantaneous cyclic rolling is also seen in both approaches. Evidence from MD simulations and experiments qualitatively support the findings of hydrodynamic models in phase resolved as well as time average behaviour. Subsequently, the frequency of vibration was varied to unlink the wave motion from the bulk temperature. Lack of agreement between experiment and the model predictions are shown to be due to lack of separation of time scale between the grain-base interaction and the base frequency. A sharp decrease of heat flux is measured showing that the energy input is frequency dependent. Analysis of the bulk behaviour shows that at high frequency, hard sphere based models are able to capture the steady state behaviour reasonably well. Further investigations that modulate the driving with a low frequency amplitude change revealed the dynamic nature of flow with the low frequency component. No significant influence of high frequency signal is noted except the reduction of base heat flux. Independent analysis of bulk behaviour for modulated wave excitation using MD simulations and hydrodynamic models showed wave motion in a pattern similar to non-modulated low frequency vibration. A one-dimensional inviscid model was used to determine the underlying scaling relationships for near elastic granular flows. A form of non-dimensionalisation predicts scaling behaviour for the granular flow. The predictions show good results for the dilute flows using hard sphere MD simulations. Results from MD simulations confirm dilute limit scaling of base temperature, packing fractions and heat flux coefficients. At higher inelasticity and loading condition the model fails to capture the real physics suggesting the need for a more accurate model. This simplified model does, however, set the basis for describing the main scalings for vibrofluidized granular beds, and in the future we anticipate that effects of further inelasticity and enhanced density could be incorporated.

The work in this thesis focuses primarily on equilibrium and stability properties of collisionless current sheet models, in particular of the force-free Harris sheet model. A detailed investigation is carried out into the properties of the distribution function found by Harrison and Neukirch (Physical Review Letters 102, 135003, 2009) for the force-free Harris sheet, which is so far the only known nonlinear force-free Vlasov-Maxwell equilibrium. Exact conditions on the parameters of the distribution function are found, which show when it can be single or multi-peaked in two of the velocity space directions. This is important because it may have implications for the stability of the equilibrium. One major aim of this thesis is to find new force-free equilibrium distribution functions. By using a new method which is different from that of Harrison and Neukirch, it is possible to find a complete family of distribution functions for the force-free Harris sheet, which includes the Harrison and Neukirch distribution function (Physical Review Letters 102, 135003, 2009). Each member of this family has a different dependence on the particle energy, although the dependence on the canonical momenta remains the same. Three detailed analytical examples are presented. Other possibilities for finding further collisionless force-free equilibrium distribution functions have been explored, but were unsuccessful. The first linear stability analysis of the Harrison and Neukirch equilibrium distribution function is then carried out, concentrating on macroscopic instabilities, and considering two-dimensional perturbations only. The analysis is based on the technique of integration over unperturbed orbits. Similarly to the Harris sheet case (Nuovo Cimento, 23:115, 1962), this is only possible by using approximations to the exact orbits, which are unknown. Furthermore, the approximations for the Harris sheet case cannot be used for the force-free Harris sheet, and so new techniques have to be developed in order to make analytical progress. Full analytical expressions for the perturbed current density are derived but, for the sake of simplicity, only the long wavelength limit is investigated. The dependence of the stability on various equilibrium parameters is investigated.

In this thesis a kinetic theory for spin-1/2 particles is given a brief overview, focusing on the derivation of an evolution equation for the quasiprobability distribution function used in the theory to describe certain types of quantum plasma. The current theory is expanded upon by exploring conservation laws. A local conservation law for momentum is derived using two different expressions for electromagnetic momentum, given by Abraham and Minkowski respectively. There has been some controversy over which of these expressions should be used; in the case considered here the expression given by Minkowski seems to be more suitable. Based on the conservation law for momentum, a conservation law for angular momentum is also derived.

In this dissertation, we study the evolution and properties of the relic (or cosmic) neutrino distribution from neutrino freeze-out at T=O(1) MeV through the free-streaming era up to today, focusing on the deviation of the neutrino spectrum from equilibrium and in particular we demonstrate the presence of chemical non-equilibrium that continues to the present day. The work naturally separates into two parts. The first focuses on aspects of the relic neutrinos that can be explored using conservation laws. The second part studies the neutrino distribution using the full general relativistic Boltzmann equation. Part one begins with an overview of the history of the Universe, from just prior to neutrino freeze-out up through the present day, placing the history of cosmic neutrino evolution in its proper context. Motivated by the Planck CMB measurements of the effective number of neutrinos, we derive those properties of neutrino freeze-out that depend only on conservation laws and are independent of the details of the scattering processes. Part one ends with a characterization of the present day neutrino spectrum as seen from Earth. The second part of this dissertation focuses on the properties of cosmic neutrinos that depend on the details of the neutrino reactions, as is necessary for modeling the non-thermal distortions from equilibrium and computing freeze-out temperatures. We first develop some geometry background concerning volume forms and integration on submanifolds that is helpful in computations. We then detail a new spectral method for solving the Boltzmann equation, based on a dynamical basis of orthogonal polynomials. Next, we detail an improved procedure for analytically simplifying the corresponding scattering integrals for subsequent numerical computation. Using this, along with the spectral method mentioned above, we solve the Boltzmann equation through the neutrino freeze-out period. Finally, we conclude by using our novel solution methods to perform parametric studies of the dependence of the neutrino freeze-out standard model parameters. This exploration is performed with the aim of recognizing mechanisms in the neutrino freeze-out process that are capable of leading to the measured value of the effective number of neutrinos.

The thesis is divided in two parts, corresponding to the two main subjects on which I have worked during my PhD. In the first Part, we introduce many-body long-range interacting systems, such as plasma and self-gravitating systems. We first review the well known properties of isolated systems, which show peculiar behaviors both for what concern the equilibrium and the relaxation to equilibrium. We then consider long-range systems driven away from equilibrium and we show how the techniques developed for isolated systems can be extended to describe these situations. Generalizations to describe simplified models relevant for geophysical flows and two-dimensional turbulence are also discussed. Our work stands at the edge between the study of long-range interacting systems and the study of non-equilibrium systems.The second part of the thesis is devoted to the study of equilibrium properties of Hamiltonian systems with energy landscape techniques. A number of recent results is reviewed and applied to long and short-range interacting systems. One of the scope of my work was to study models whose energy landscape is much more complicated than what previously done. In the case of ferromagnetic short-range O(n) models on hypercubic lattices, our analysis unveiled a striking similarity between the critical energies of the Ising model and the O(n) models defined on the same lattice with the same interaction matrix. Generalizations of the Stillinger and Weber formalism are discussed as preliminary results and future perspectives.

This thesis aimed at developing multi-scale models and computational methods for aerother-modynamics applications. The research on multi-scale models has focused on internal energy excitation and dissociation of molecular gases in atmospheric entry flows. The scope was two-fold: to gain insight into the dynamics of internal energy excitation and dissociation in the hydrodynamic regime and to develop reduced models for Computational Fluid Dynamics applications. The reduced models have been constructed by coarsening the resolution of a detailed rovibrational collisional model developed based on ab-initio data for the N2 (1Σ+g)-N (4Su) system provided by the Computational Quantum Chemistry Group at NASA Ames Research Center. Different mechanism reduction techniques have been proposed. Their appli-cation led to the formulation of conventional macroscopic multi-temperature models and vi-brational collisional models, and innovative energy bin models. The accuracy of the reduced models has been assessed by means of a systematic comparison with the predictions of the detailed rovibrational collisional model. Applications considered are inviscid flows behind normal shock waves, within converging-diverging nozzles and around axisymmetric bodies, and viscous flows along the stagnation-line of blunt bodies. The detailed rovibrational colli-sional model and the reduced models have been coupled to two flow solvers developed from scratch in FORTRAN 90 programming language (SHOCKING_F90 and SOLV-ER_FVMCC_F90). The results obtained have shown that the innovative energy bin models are able to reproduce the flow dynamics predicted by the detailed rovibrational collisional model with a noticeable benefit in terms of computing time. The energy bin models are also more accurate than the conventional multi-temperature and vibrational collisional models. The research on computational methods has focused on rarefied flows. The scope was to formu-late a deterministic numerical method for solving the Boltzmann equation in the case of multi-component gases with internal energy by accounting for both elastic and inelastic collisions. The numerical method, based on the weighted convolution structure of the Fourier trans-formed Boltzmann equation, is an extension of an existing spectral-Lagrangian method, valid for a mono-component gas without internal energy. During the development of the method, particular attention has been devoted to ensure the conservation of mass, momentum and en-ergy while evaluating the collision operators. Conservation is enforced through the solution of constrained optimization problems, formulated in a consistent manner with the collisional in-variants. The extended spectral-Lagrangian method has been implemented in a parallel com-putational tool (best; Boltzmann Equation Spectral Solver) written in C programming lan-guage. Applications considered are the time-evolution of an isochoric gaseous system initially set in a non-equilibrium state and the steady flow across a normal shock wave. The accuracy of the proposed numerical method has been assessed by comparing the moments extracted from the velocity distribution function with Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method predictions. In all the cases, an excellent agreement has been found. The computational results obtained for both space homogeneous and space inhomogeneous problems have also shown that the enforcement of conservation is mandatory for obtaining accurate numerical solutions.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Chemical Engineering, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 89-95).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-130). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.