Computational Study of Quenching Effects on Growth Processes and Size Distributions of Silicon Nanoparticles at a Thermal Plasma Tail

In this paper, quenching effects on silicon nanoparticle growth processes and size distributions at a typical range of cooling rates in a thermal plasma tail are investigated computationally. We used a nodal-type model that expresses a size distribution evolving temporally with simultaneous homogeneous nucleation, heterogeneous condensation, interparticle coagulation, and melting point depression. The numerically obtained size distributions exhibit similar size ranges and tendencies to those of experiment results obtained with and without quenching. In a highly supersaturated state, 40–50% of the vapor atoms are converted rapidly to nanoparticles. After most vapor atoms are consumed, the nanoparticles grow by coagulation, which occurs much more slowly than condensation. At higher cooling rates, one obtains greater total number density, smaller size, and smaller standard deviation. Quenching in thermal plasma fabrication is effectual, but it presents limitations for controlling nanoparticle characteristics.

Three Case Reports on the Cometary Plasma Tail in the Historical Documents

Cometary tails visually manifest the solar wind and became a first hint for its discovery. While the solar wind is being directly monitored with satellites, its time series before the space age has been controversially reconstructed with multiple proxies. Recently, cometary plasma tail observations have been subjected to consideration to indirectly measure the solar wind but brought conclusion that no plasma tail has been reported prior to 1769 probably due to their brightness. However, historical records have occasionally reported comets with two tails even before 1769 and these cases have been tentatively associated with visual reports of cometary plasma and dust tails. Therefore, we examined three such cases (C/1577 V1, 1P/837, and 1P/760), compared the descriptions in historical records with calculated direction of their plasma tails. Our comparisons show that the records and calculations agree in these cases and plasma tails were visually recorded corresponding to these three great comets. These cases certify the capability of plasma tail observations with the unaided eye even before 1769, qualitatively imply their extreme brightness, proximities with the Sun and the Earth, and relative enhancements of UV radiations and interaction of cometary neutral atmosphere with solar wind plasma and magnetic field, while the lack of their detailed length or kink hinders us from their quantitative measuring. Further investigations will probably lead to the re-discovery of even more visual evidence of cometary plasma tail and, hence, improve our understanding on past space climate.