General 3D Analytical Method for Eddy-Current Coupling with Halbach Magnet Arrays Based on Magnetic Scalar Potential and H-Functions

Rapid and accurate eddy-current calculation is necessary to analyze eddy-current couplings (ECCs). This paper presents a general 3D analytical method for calculating the magnetic field distributions, eddy currents, and torques of ECCs with different Halbach magnet arrays. By using Fourier decomposition, the magnetization components of Halbach magnet arrays are determined. Then, with a group of H-formulations in the conductor region and Laplacian equations with magnetic scalar potential in the others, analytical magnetic field distributions are predicted and verified by 3D finite element models. Based on Ohm’s law for moving conductors, eddy-current distributions and torques are obtained at different speeds. Finally, the Halbach magnet arrays with different segments are optimized to enhance the fundamental amplitude and reduce the harmonic contents of air-gap flux densities. The proposed method shows its correctness and validation in analyzing and optimizing ECCs with Halbach magnet arrays.

Firing Activities in Fractional-Order Hindmarsh-Rose Neuron with Multistable Memristor as Autapse

Compared with integer order neurons, fractional-order neuron model can more accurately describe the firing behavior of biological neurons. Considering the fact that memristors have the characteristics similar to biological synapses, a fractional-order multistable memristor is firstly proposed in this study. It is verified that the fractional-order memristor has multiple local active regions and multiple stable hysteresis loops, and the influence of fractional order on its nonvolatility is also revealed. Then by considering the fractional-order memristor as an autapse of HR neuron model, a fractional-order memristive neuron model is developed. The effects of the initial value, external excitation current, coupling strength and fractional order on the firing behavior are discussed by time series, phase diagrams, Lyapunov exponents and inter spike interval (ISI) bifurcation diagrams. Three coexisting firing patterns, including irregulate A-periodic bursting, A-periodic bursting and chaotic bursting, dependent on the memristor initial values are observed. It is also revealed that the fractional order can not only induce the transition of firing patterns, but also change the firing frequency of the neuron. Finally, a neuron circuit with variable fractional order is designed to verify the numerical simulations.

A novel squirrel cage eddy current coupling with adjustable radial air gap and its performance analysis

A novel squirrel cage eddy current coupling with adjustable radial air gap was presented, which can change the output speed by changing the air gap thickness in radial direction between the copper strips and the permanent magnet. It has the advantages of no axial force in speed regulation and less eccentric force in axisymmetric structure. The 2-D electromagnetic torque model of the rotor was established, and the influence of the air gap thickness on the electromagnetic torque was also studied by finite element method. Further, a novel method to solve the dynamic equation of the eddy current coupling was proposed based on the effect of air gap thickness and relative speed on torque characteristics, and was applied to the speed regulation performance analysis. In addition, the influence of the relative magnetic permeability of the permanent magnet back yoke and the internal rotor on the speed regulation performance was studied.

Hamiltonian kinetic-Hall magnetohydrodynamics with fluid and kinetic ions in the current and pressure coupling schemes

We present two generalized hybrid kinetic-Hall magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) models describing the interaction of a two-fluid bulk plasma, which consists of thermal ions and electrons, with energetic, suprathermal ion populations described by Vlasov dynamics. The dynamics of the thermal components are governed by standard fluid equations in the Hall MHD limit with the electron momentum equation providing an Ohm's law with Hall and electron pressure terms involving a gyrotropic electron pressure tensor. The coupling of the bulk, low-energy plasma with the energetic particle dynamics is accomplished through the current density (current coupling scheme; CCS) and the ion pressure tensor appearing in the momentum equation (pressure coupling scheme; PCS) in the first and the second model, respectively. The CCS is a generalization of two well-known models, because in the limit of vanishing energetic and thermal ion densities, we recover the standard Hall MHD and the hybrid kinetic-ions/fluid-electron model, respectively. This provides us with the capability to study in a continuous manner, the global impact of the energetic particles in a regime extending from vanishing to dominant energetic particle densities. The noncanonical Hamiltonian structures of the CCS and PCS, which can be exploited to study equilibrium and stability properties through the energy-Casimir variational principle, are identified. As a first application here, we derive a generalized Hall MHD Grad–Shafranov–Bernoulli system for translationally symmetric equilibria with anisotropic electron pressure and kinetic effects owing to the presence of energetic particles using the PCS.

The Stability of Linear Diffusion Acceleration Relative to CMFD

Coarse Mesh Finite Difference (CMFD) is a widely-used iterative acceleration method for neutron transport problems in which nonlinear terms are introduced in the derivation of the low-order CMFD diffusion equation. These terms, including the homogenized diffusion coefficient, the current coupling coefficients, and the multiplicative prolongation constant, are subject to numerical instability when a scalar flux estimate becomes sufficiently small or negative. In this paper, we use a suite of contrived problems to demonstrate the susceptibility of CMFD to failure for each of the vulnerable quantities of interest. Our results show that if a scalar flux estimate becomes negative in any portion of phase space, for any iterate, numerical instability can occur. Specifically, the number of outer iterations required for convergence of the CMFD-accelerated transport problem can increase dramatically, or worse, the iteration scheme can diverge. An alternative Linear Diffusion Acceleration (LDA) scheme addresses these issues by explicitly avoiding local nonlinearities. Our numerical results show that the rapid convergence of LDA is unaffected by the very small or negative scalar flux estimates that can adversely affect the performance of CMFD. Therefore, our results demonstrate that LDA is a robust alternative to CMFD for certain sensitive problems in which CMFD can exhibit reduced effectiveness or failure.

Multifarious Roles of Hidden Chiral-Scale Symmetry: “Quenching” gA in Nuclei

I discuss how the axial current coupling constant gA renormalized in scale symmetric chiral EFT defined at a chiral matching scale impacts on the axial current matrix elements on beta decays in nuclei with and without neutrinos. The “quenched” gA observed in nuclear superallowed Gamow–Teller transitions, a long-standing puzzle in nuclear physics, is shown to encode the emergence of chiral-scale symmetry hidden in QCD in the vacuum. This enables one to explore how trace-anomaly-induced scale symmetry breaking enters in the renormalized gA in nuclei applicable to certain non-unique forbidden processes involved in neutrinoless double beta decays. A parallel is made between the roles of chiral-scale symmetry in quenching gA in highly dense medium and in hadron–quark continuity in the EoS of dense matter in massive compact stars. A systematic chiral-scale EFT, presently lacking in nuclear theory and potentially crucial for the future progress, is suggested as a challenge in the field.