On the treatment of entropy mixing in numerical cosmology

For simulations of fluid dynamics in astrophysics, physical viscosity and diffusion are typically neglected. However, in this high Reynolds number regime, real fluids become highly turbulent and turbulent processes mediate substantial transport of momentum and heat that is diffusive in nature. In the absence of models for these processes, code-dependent numerical effects dominate how diffusion operates and may lead to physically incorrect simulation results. We highlight the qualitative difference in these numerical effects for smooth particle hydrodynamics (SPH) and grid-based Eulerian codes using two test problems: a buoyant gas bubble and gas in a galaxy cluster. Grid codes suffer from numerical diffusion in the absence of explicit terms, and small-scale diffusion of heat is completely absent in the Lagrangian SPH method. We find that SPH with heat diffusion added at a level similar to that expected from turbulence diffusion generates more physically appealing results. These results suggest, but do not confirm, that a flat entropy core is to be expected for gas in an idealized galaxy cluster (i.e. one without physics beyond that of a non-radiating gas). A goal of this work is thus to draw attention to the as yet unfulfilled need for models of turbulent diffusive processes in compressible gases in astrophysics.     

Interstellar holography

The dynamic spectrum of a radio pulsar is an in-line digital hologram of the ionized interstellar medium. It has previously been demonstrated that such holograms permit image reconstruction, in the sense that one can determine an approximation to the complex electric field values as a function of Doppler shift and delay, but to date the quality of the reconstructions has been poor. Here we report a substantial improvement in the method which we have achieved by simultaneous optimization of the thousands of coefficients that describe the electric field. For our test spectrum of PSR B0834+06 we find that the model provides an accurate representation of the data over the full 63 dB dynamic range of the observations: residual differences between model and data are noise like. The advent of interstellar holography enables detailed quantitative investigation of the interstellar radio-wave propagation paths for a given pulsar at each epoch of observation. We illustrate this using our test data which show the scattering material to be structured and highly anisotropic. The temporal response of the medium exhibits a scattering tail which extends to beyond  100 μs  , and the centroid of the pulse at this frequency and this epoch of observation is delayed by approximately  15 μs  as a result of multipath propagation in the interstellar medium.     

Measuring the non-thermal pressure in early-type galaxy atmospheres: a comparison of X-ray and optical potential profiles in M87 and NGC 1399

We compare the gravitational potential profiles of the elliptical galaxies NGC 4486 (M87) and NGC 1399 (the central galaxy in the Fornax cluster) derived from X-ray and optical data. This comparison suggests that the combined contribution of cosmic rays, magnetic fields and microturbulence to the pressure is ∼10 per cent of the gas thermal pressure in the cores of NGC 1399 and M87, although the uncertainties in our model assumptions (e.g. spherical symmetry) are sufficiently large that the contribution could be consistent with zero. In the absence of any other form of non-thermal pressure support, these upper bounds translate into upper limits on the magnetic field of ∼10–20 μG at a distance of 1–2 arcmin from the centers of NGC 1399 and M87. We show that these results are consistent with the current paradigm of cool cluster cores, based on the assumption that active galactic nuclei regulate the thermal state of the gas by injecting energy into the intracluster medium. The limit of ∼10–20 per cent on the energy density in the form of relativistic protons applies not only to the current state of the gas, but also essentially to the entire history of the intracluster medium, provided that cosmic ray protons evolve adiabatically and that their spatial diffusion is suppressed.     

基于网络法时序InSAR大气误差校正方法研究

将大气相位延迟对干涉图的影响分为3个主要分量,分别采用网络法进行解算和消除。以西藏崩错地区为实验区,利用2007~2010年期间20景ENVISAT ASAR数据对该方法进行验证,并采用一维协方差函数分别对校正前后的大气延迟误差进行估计。结果显示,协方差函数中平均方差从原来的3.1 mm²降到0.6mm²,降低了80%;e-folding波长从原来的1.5 km减低到0.21 km,减低了86%,说明网络法可以有效地校正干涉图中的大气相位延迟误差。     

塔克拉玛干沙漠湍流尺度

利用塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地塔中地区近地层32 m高度涡动相关系统2009年1、4、7、10月的湍流观测数据,对流动沙漠地区不同稳定度下的湍流特征进行了分析。结果表明:(1)流动沙漠区在不同季节、不同稳定度条件下的近地层湍流欧拉时间自相关系数R_u(t)、R_v(t)、R_w(t)衰减存在明显的时间差异。春季R_w(t)的衰减最快,夏季3个方向的欧拉时间自相关系数衰减时间相近;(2)欧拉时间自相关系数主要表现出强衰减、逐渐衰减和缓慢衰减3种类型,沙尘天气的欧拉时间自相关系数衰减总体上要强于晴天;(3)湍流的时间积分尺度L_t(z)最小,L_t(x)和L_t(y)大小相近,在沙尘暴发生时,水平风速占主导,而垂直气流很难发展;(4)湍流的空间尺度在不同季节和不同稳定度条件下明显不同:L(x)平均值6.02 m,L(y)平均值6.90 m,L(z)平均值0.73 m;湍流水平空间尺度大多数情况下呈扁平的椭球体,且水平方向呈明显的椭圆形状。     

Experimental investigation of the impacts of coherent flow structures upon turbulence properties in regions of crescentic scour

This study examines the spatial distributions of third‐order moments of velocity fluctuations, the turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) fluxes, and the conditional statistics of Reynolds shear stress across the equilibrium crescentic scour structures generated upstream of short horizontal static cylinders. Detailed velocity data were collected using three‐dimensional (3D) micro‐acoustic Doppler velocimeter (ADV) across and within the equilibrium scour marks. The analysis reveals that the positive and negative values of third‐order moments associated with the level bed surface and the scour holes are directly related to coherent structures. The components of TKE flux are discussed for the near‐bed region of the level bed surface and scour holes in relation to sweep–ejection events. A cumulant‐discard method is applied to the Gram‐Charlier probability distribution of two variables to describe the statistical properties of the term u′w′. The conditional statistics of the Reynolds shear stress show a good agreement with the experimental data. The distribution of the joint probability density function in the near‐bed region changes cyclically along the scour hole depending on the bottom fluid velocity, which implies a change from upward to downward flux of momentum and vice versa. Both the ejection and sweep events at near‐bed points on the level surface are more important than within the scour region; and in contrast, both events are stronger for the scour marks than the level bed surface at the outer layer. Sweeps dominate over ejections for the scour hole induced by smaller diameter and ejections dominate for larger diameter. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地湍流能量耗散率和结构函数参数特征

利用塔中气象站垂直探测系统的湍流观测资料,计算并分析了塔克拉玛干沙漠腹地不同稳定层结条件的湍涡特征长度尺度、能量耗散率及湍流结构函数参数特征。结果表明：湍涡特征长度尺度在弱不稳定或近中性条件时最大,随不稳定程度的增强有明显减小的趋势,随着稳定程度的增加有先迅速减小后又缓慢增加的趋势,且热量特征长度尺度比动量特征长度尺度总体要大一个数量级;无因次湍流热量耗散率的拟合函数形式与其他试验一致,但经验系数略有差异;利用Kaimal公式和湍流谱方法间接计算的稳定条件湍流能量耗散率及湍流结构函数参数具有较好的一致性。     

通风路基通风管管内空气流动特性研究

基于青藏高速公路试验工程的实测资料,利用数值模拟系统分析了通风路基通风管内的空气流动特性和变化规律.研究表明,当外界环境风速一定时,通风管内不同区域流动特征显著不同,表现为较为明显的三段性：在入口扰动区段,管内空气紊流强度最大;中部为完全湍流区,紊流强度最弱;出口射流影响区的紊流强度介于入口扰动区和完全湍流区之间.随着外界环境风速的增加,管内空气流速相对环境风速增加的量值随之增加,总体呈现非线性快速增加的趋势;入口扰动响应的长度和紊流强度增加最显著;尾部射流影响区由于受到空气流动惯性等因素影响,其长度以非线性加速减小,其空气运动轨迹的振动幅度以非线性加速提高.管内各区域空气流动特性的不同是造成通风管不同部位局部换热量差异的根本原因,这些流动特性的存在进一步叠加,或是导致通风管路基阴阳坡效应的重要因素之一.