Refinement of the Proposed Gamma-Ray Burst Time Delay Model

This paper is the second instalment in our study of the observed time delay in the arrival times of radio photons emanating from Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs). The mundane assumption in contemporary physics as to the cause of these pondersome time delays is that they are a result of the photon being endowed with a non-zero mass. While we do not rule out the possibility of a non-zero mass for the photon, our working assumption is that the major cause of these time delays may very well be that these photons are travelling in a rarefied cosmic plasma in which the medium’s electrons interact with the electric component of the Photon, thus generating tiny currents that lead to dispersion, hence, a frequency-dependent speed of Light (FDSL). In the present instalment, we “improve” on the model presented in the first instalment by dropping the assumption that the resultant pairs of these radio photons leave the shock front simultaneously. The new assumption of a non-simultaneous— albeit systematic—emission of these photon pairs allows us to obtain a much more convincing and stronger correlation in the time delay. This new correlation allows us to build a unified model for the four GRBs in our sample using a relative distance correction mechanism. The new unified model allows us to obtain as our most significant result a value for the frequency equivalence of the interstellar medium (ISM)’s conductance ν* ~ 1.500 ± 0.009 Hzand also an independent distance measure to the GRBs where we obtain for our four GRB samples an average distance of: ~69.40 ± 0.10, 40.00 ± 0.00, 58.40 ± 0.40, and 86.00 ± 1.00 Mpc, for GRB 030329, 980425, 000418 and 021004 respectively.

Time-Dependent 2D Modeling of Magnetron Plasma Torch in Turbulent Flow

A theoretical model is presented to describe the electromagnetic, heat transfer and fluid flow phenomena within a magnetron plasma torch and in the resultant plume, by using a commercial computational fluid dynamics （CFD） code FLUENT. Specific calculations are pre- sented for a pure argon system （i.e., an argon plasma discharging into an argon environment）, operated in a turbulent mode. An important finding of this work is that the external axial magnetic field （AMF） may have a significant effect on the behavior of arc plasma and thus affects the resulting plume. The AMF impels the plasma to retract axially and expand radially. As a result, the plasma intensity distribution on the cross section of torch seems to be more uniform. Numerical results also show that with AMF, the highest plasma temperature decreases and the anode arc root moves upstream significantly, while the current density distribution at the anode is more concentrated with a higher peak value. In addition, the use of AMF then induces a strong backflow at the torch spout and its magnitude increases with the AMF strength but decreases with the inlet gas velocity.

Stability of the rarefaction wave for a two-fluid plasma model with diffusion

We study the large-time asymptotics of solutions toward the weak rarefaction wave of the quasineutral Euler system for a two-fluid plasma model in the presence of diffusions of velocity and temperature under small perturbations of initial data and also under an extra assumption θ_i,+/θ_e,+=θ_i,-/θ_e,-≥m_i/2m_e,namely, the ratio of the thermal speeds of ions and electrons at both far fields is not less than one half. Meanwhile,we obtain the global existence of solutions based on energy method.

Self-consistent three-dimensional modeling and simulation of large-scale rectangular surface-wave plasma source

A self-consistent and three-dimensional （3D） model of argon discharge in a large-scale rectangular surface-wave plasma （SWP） source is presented in this paper, which is based on the finite-difference time-domain （FDTD） approximation to Maxwell＇s equations self-consistently coupled with a fluid model for plasma evolution. The discharge characteristics at an input microwave power of 1200 W and a filling gas pressure of 50 Pa in the SWP source are analyzed. The simulation shows the time evolution of deposited power density at different stages, and the 3D distributions of electron density and temperature in the chamber at steady state. In addition, the results show that there is a peak of plasma density approximately at a vertical distance of 3 cm from the quartz window.

Effects of Three Typical Resistivity Models on Pulsed Inductive Plasma Acceleration Modeling

The effects of three different typical resistivity models（Spitzer, Z＆L and M＆G） on the performance of pulsed inductive acceleration plasma are studied. Numerical results show that their influences decrease with the increase of the plasma temperature. The significant discriminations among them appear at the plasma temperature lower than 2.5 eV, and the maximum gap of the pulsed inductive plasma accelerated efficiency is approximately 2.5%.Moreover, the pulsed inductive plasma accelerated efficiency is absolutely related to the dynamic impedance parameters, such as voltage, inductance, capacitance and flow rate. However, the distribution of the efficiency as a function of plasma temperature with three resistivity models has nothing to do with the dynamic impedance parameter.

Diagnostic of capacitively coupled radio frequency plasma from electrical discharge characteristics：comparison with optical emission spectroscopy and fluid model simulation

The capacitively coupled radio frequency（CCRF）plasma has been widely used in various fields.In some cases,it requires us to estimate the range of key plasma parameters simpler and quicker in order to understand the behavior in plasma.In this paper,a glass vacuum chamber and a pair of plate electrodes were designed and fabricated,using 13.56 MHz radio frequency（RF）discharge technology to ionize the working gas of Ar.This discharge was mathematically described with equivalent circuit model.The discharge voltage and current of the plasma were measured atdifferent pressures and different powers.Based on the capacitively coupled homogeneous discharge model,the equivalent circuit and the analytical formula were established.The plasma density and temperature were calculated by using the equivalent impedance principle and energy balance equation.The experimental results show that when RF discharge power is 50–300 W and pressure is 25–250 Pa,the average electron temperature is about 1.7–2.1 e V and the average electron density is about 0.5？×10^17–3.6？×10^17m^-3.Agreement was found when the results were compared to those given by optical emission spectroscopy and COMSOL simulation.

Three-Dimensional Numerical Modeling of an Ar-N_2 Plasma Arc Inside a Non-Transferred Torch

A three-dimensional numerical model is developed to study the behaviour of an argon-nitrogen plasma arc inside a non-transferred torch. In this model, both the entire cathode and anode nozzle are considered to simulate the plasma arc. The argon-nitrogen plasma arc is simulated for different arc currents and gas flow rates of argon. Various combinations of arc core radius and arc length, which correspond to a given torch power, are predicted. A most feasible combination of the same, which corresponds to an actual physical situation of the arc inside the torch, is identified using the thermodynamic principle of minimum entropy production for a particular torch power. The effect of the arc current and gas flow rate on the plasma arc characteristics and torch efficiency is explained. The effect of the nitrogen content in the plasma gas on the torch power and efficiency is clearly detected. Predicted torch efficiencies are comparable to the measured ones and the effect of the arc current and gas flow rate on predicted and measured efficiencies is almost similar. The efficiency of the torch, cathode and anode losses and core temperature and velocity at the nozzle exit are reported for five different cases.

Modeling the keyhole shape and dimension in plasma arc welding

It is of great significance to model the keyhole shape and dimensions to optimize the plasma arc welding process parameters. In this study, through employing a combined volumetric heat source mode, the weld pool in keyhole plasma arc welding is determined firstly, and then the dynamic force-balance condition on the interface between the plasma jet and the molten metal is dealt with in describing the keyhole formation inside the weld pool. The effects of welding current on the shape and size of keyhole are numerically analyzed. The sharp transformation from a partial keyhole to a full-penetration keyhole is quantitatively demonstrated.

Statistical Modeling Studies of Iron Recovery from Red Mud Using Thermal Plasma

Optimization studies of plasma smelting of red mud were carried out. Reduction of the dried red mud fines was done in an extended arc plasma reactor to recover the pig iron. Lime grit and low ash metallurgical （LAM） coke were used as the flux and reductant, respectively. 2level factorial design was used to study the influence of all parameters on the responses. Response surface modeling was done with the data obtained from statistically designed experiments. Metal recovery at optimum parameters was found to be 79.52%.

Modelling of the plasma-MIG welding temperature field

A three-dimensional simulation model for the plasma-MIG welding process, which takes the interaction between the plasma arc and MIG arc into account, is presented and the quasi-steady temperature fields on the workpiece are calculated with the model. The 10 mm-5A06 aluminum alloy is welded and the temperature fields are measured with the thermoelectric couple. The simulation results and measured results show that the biggest deviation of peak temperature between them is below 20 ℃, which indicates good coincidence between the simulation and measurement.

APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK MODELING TO PLASMA ARC WELDING OF ALUMINUM ALLOYS

By using alternating current plasma arc welding,the influences were studied of such parameters as welding curent,arc voltage,welding speed,wire feed rate,and magnitude of ion gas flow on front melting width,wdle reinforcement,and back melting width of LF6 aluminum alloy.Model of the formation of welding seam in alternating current plasma arc welding of aluminum was set up with the method of artificial neural neural network - BP algorithm. Qyakuty of formation was consequently predicted and evaluated.The experimental result shows that,compared with other modeling methods,artificial network model can be used to more accurately predict formation of weld,and to guide the production practice.

Modeling Approach and Analysis of the Structural Parameters of an Inductively Coupled Plasma Etcher Based on a Regression Orthogonal Design

The geometry of an inductively coupled plasma （ICP） etcher is usually considered to be an important factor for determining both plasma and process uniformity over a large wafer. During the past few decades, these parameters were determined by the ＂trial and error＂ method, resulting in wastes of time and funds. In this paper, a new approach of regression orthogonal design with plasma simulation experiments is proposed to investigate the sensitivity of the structural parameters on the uniformity of plasma characteristics. The tool for simulating plasma is CFD-ACE＋, which is commercial multi-physical modeling software that has been proven to be accurate for plasma simulation. The simulated experimental results are analyzed to get a regression equation on three structural parameters. Through this equation, engineers can compute the uniformity of the electron number density rapidly without modeling by CFD-ACE＋. An optimization performed at the end produces good results.

Numerical Simulation for One Dimensional Steady Quasineutral Hybrid Model of Stationary Plasma Thruster

Based on the analysis of the physical mechanism of the Stationary Plasma Thruster （SPT）, an integral equation describing the ion density of the steady SPT and the ion velocity distribution function at an arbitrary axial position of the steady SPT channel are derived. The integral equation is equivalent to the Vlasov equation, but the former is simpler than the latter. A one dimensional steady quasineutral hybrid model is established. In this model, ions are described by the above integral equation, and neutrals and electrons are described by hydrodynamic equations. The transferred equivalency to the differential equation and the integral equation, together with other equations, are solved by an ordinary differential equation （ODE） solver in the Matlab. The numerical simulation results show that under various circumstances, the ion average velocity would be different and needs to be deduced separately.

Different Ablation Models for the Wall-plasma Interaction Process in Pulsed Plasma Thruster

Ablation excited by current pulses is a very critical physical process in pulse plasma thrusters(PPT).Its effects on wall-plasma interaction directly determine the PPT performances.In order to reveal the process of the ablated wall interaction with the discharge plasma in PPT,ablation models formulated by three different boundary conditions at the wall-plasma interface are studied.These are the two widely used high-speed evaporation models(Model-L and Model-M),and the recently developed Keida-Zaghloul model(Model-K)of the Knudsen layer that takes into account the internal degrees of freedom on the energy flux conservation.First,fundamental mechanisms of the three ablation models are clarified by comparative analysis in order to gain a comprehensive understanding of the wall-plasma interaction.Then,the applicability of different ablation models with the numerical solutions of LES-6 PPT is investigated in detail using magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)modeling.Results show that Model-L and Model-M are actually special cases of Model-K when a simplified jump conditions limited by high velocity at the vapor/plasma interface is used;A ratio of ablation rate in Model-L to that in Model-M is about 0.8at the same wall surface temperature,while it rises to 1 at different surface temperature determined by Model-L and Model-M in PPT.Even though Model-K solution requires significant computational time,it shows more accurate ablation feature for the wall-plasma interaction and possesses better computing precision of impulse bit during post-pulse which is useful for future studies of the late time ablation.

Modeling of Inner Surface Modification of a Cylindrical Tube by Plasma-Based Low-Energy Ion Implantation

The inner surface modification process by plasma-based low-energy ion implantation（PBLEII）with an electron cyclotron resonance（ECR）microwave plasma source located at the central axis of a cylindrical tube is modeled to optimize the low-energy ion implantation parameters for industrial applications.In this paper,a magnetized plasma diffusion fluid model has been established to describe the plasma nonuniformity caused by plasma diffusion under an axial magnetic field during the pulse-off time of low pulsed negative bias.Using this plasma density distribution as the initial condition,a sheath collisional fluid model is built up to describe the sheath evolution and ion implantation during the pulse-on time.The plasma nonuniformity at the end of the pulse-off time is more apparent along the radial direction compared with that in the axial direction due to the geometry of the linear plasma source in the center and the difference between perpendicular and parallel plasma diffusion coefficients with respect to the magnetic field.The normalized nitrogen plasma densities on the inner and outer surfaces of the tube are observed to be about 0.39 and 0.24,respectively,of which the value is 1 at the central plasma source.After a 5μs pulse-on time,in the area less than 2 cm from the end of the tube,the nitrogen ion implantation energy decreases from 1.5 keV to 1.3 keV and the ion implantation angle increases from several degrees to more than 40°;both variations reduce the nitrogen ion implantation depth.However,the nitrogen ion implantation dose peaks of about 2×10^（10）-7×10^（10）ions/cm^2 in this area are 2-4 times higher than that of 1.18×10^（10）ions/cm^2 and 1.63×10^（10）ions/cm^2 on the inner and outer surfaces of the tube.The sufficient ion implantation dose ensures an acceptable modification effect near the end of the tube under the low energy and large angle conditions for nitrogen ion implantation,because the modification effect is mainly determined by the ion implantation dose,just as the mass transfer process in PBLEII is dominated by low-energy ion implantation and thermal diffusion.Therefore,a comparatively uniform surface modification by the low-energy nitrogen ion implantation is achieved along the cylindrical tube on both the inner and outer surfaces.

System Design of a Reference Model Adaptive Control for Radial Plasma Position on HL-2A Tokamak

The design of the control system for radial plasma position on HL-2A based on model reference adaptive control (MRAC) principle is presented in this paper. The simulated results show that it can be used to improve the performance of the system greatly. Compared with the classical PID control system, it has obvious advantages in the better dynamic response, the smaller quantity of calculation and the better robustness.

Modelling Study on the Plasma Flow and Heat Transfer in a Laminar Arc Plasma Torch Operating at Atmospheric and Reduced Pressure

A modelling study is performed to investigate the characteristics of both plasma flow and heat transfer of a laminar non-transferred arc argon plasma torch operated at atmospheric and reduced pressure. It is found that the calculated flow fields and temperature distributions are quite similar for both cases at a chamber pressure of 1.0 atm and 0.1 atm. A fully developed flow regime could be achieved in the arc constrictor-tube between the cathode and the anode of the plasma torch at 1.0 atm for all the flow rates covered in this study. However the flow field could not reach the fully developed regime at 0.1 atm with a higher flow rate. The arc-root is always attached to the torch anode surface near the upstream end of the anode, i.e. the abruptly expanded part of the torch channel, which is in consistence with experimental observation. The surrounding gas would be entrained from the torch exit into the torch interior due to a comparatively large inner diameter of the anode channel compared to that of the arc constrictor-tube.

Diagnosis of a low pressure capacitively coupled argon plasma by using a simple collisional-radiative model

This paper proposes a simple collisional-radiative model to characterise capacitively coupled argon plasmas driven by conventional radio frequency in combination with optical emission spectroscopy and Langmuir probe measurements. Two major processes are considered in this model, electron-impact excitation and the spontaneous radiative decay. The diffusion loss term, which is found to be important for the two metastable states （4s[3/2]2, 4s＇[1/2]0）, is also taken into account. Behaviours of representative metastable and radiative states are discussed. Two emission lines （located at 696.5 nm and 750.4 nm） are selected and intensities are measured to obtain populated densities of the corresponding radiative states in the argon plasma. The calculated results agree well with that measured by Langmuir probe, indicating that the current model combined with optical emission spectroscopy is a candidate tool for electron density and temperature measurement in radio frequency capacitively coupled discharges.

Global simulation of plasma series resonance effect in radio frequency capacitively coupled Ar/O_(2) plasma

Radio frequency capacitively coupled plasmas(RF CCPs)play a pivotal role in various applications in etching and deposition processes on a microscopic scale in semiconductor manufacturing.In the discharge process,the plasma series resonance(PSR)effect is easily observed in electrically asymmetric and geometrically asymmetric discharges,which could largely influence the power absorption,ionization rate,etc.In this work,the PSR effect arising from geometrically and electrically asymmetric discharge in argon-oxygen mixture gas is mainly investigated by using a plasma equivalent circuit model coupled with a global model.At relatively low pressures,as Ar content(α)increases,the inductance of the bulk is weakened,which leads to a more obvious PSR phenomenon and a higher resonance frequency(ω_(psr)).When the Ar content is fixed,varying the pressure and gap distance could also have different effects on the PSR effect.With the increase of the pressure,the PSR frequency shifts towards the higher order,but in the case of much higher pressure,the PSR oscillation would be strongly damped by frequent electron-neutral collisions.With the increase of the gap distance,the PSR frequency becomes lower.In addition,electrically asymmetric waveforms applied to a geometrically asymmetric chamber may weaken or enhance the asymmetry of the discharge and regulate the PSR effect.In this work,the Ar/O_(2) electronegative mixture gas is introduced in a capacitive discharge to study the PSR effect under geometric asymmetry effect and electrical asymmetry effect,which can provide necessary guidance in laboratory research and current applications.

深振荡磁控溅射放电等离子体脉冲特性

深振荡脉冲磁控溅射(deep oscillation magnetron sputtering,DOMS)以一系列微脉冲振荡波形的形式向靶提供能量,提供高密度等离子体的同时能够实现完全消除电弧放电和提高靶材原子离化率,实现高质量薄膜的沉积制备.针对DOMS微脉冲放电形式拓宽放电参数空间,提高工艺灵活性的特点,建立脉冲等离子体整体模型,测量充电电压DCint=300-380 V和微脉冲开启时间τon=2-6μs的Cr靶放电电压电流,将电压电流波形作为模型输入条件,获得DOMS放电等离子体参数随时间变化规律.充电电压300 V,等离子体峰值密度由τon=2μs的1.34×10^(18) m^(-3)增至τon=3μs的2.64×10^(18) m^(-3),τon由3μs增至6μs时,等离子体峰值密度基本不变.靶材离化率随τon变化趋呈现相近趋势,由τon=2μs的12%增至τon=3μs的20%,τon进一步增至6μs,离化率基本保持不变.固定τon=6μs,DCint由300 V升高至380 V,等离子体峰值密度由2.67×10^(18) m^(-3)增至3.90×10^(18) m^(-3),金属离化率由21%增至28%.DOMS放电具有高功率脉冲磁控溅射典型的金属自溅射现象,峰值自溅射参数Πpeak随功率密度线性增大,表明峰值功率密度是调控DOMS放电中金属自溅射的主要参数.Πpeak最高达到0.20,金属自溅射程度远高于常规脉冲直流磁控溅射,等离子体密度和沉积通量中金属离化率提高,原子沉积带来的阴影效应减轻,是DOMS沉积薄膜质量提高的原因.