Biomedical subjects

Thomas M Antonsen

Publications and source records attributed to Thomas M Antonsen.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Universal properties of two-port scattering, impedance, and admittance matrices of wave-chaotic systems.

Statistical fluctuations in the eigenvalues of the scattering, impedance, and admittance matrices of two-port wave-chaotic systems are studied experimentally using a chaotic microwave cavity. These fluctuations are universal in that their properties are dependent only upon the degree of loss in the cavity. We remove the direct processes introduced by the nonideally coupled driving ports through a matrix normalization process that involves the radiation-impedance matrix of the two driving ports. We find good agreement between the experimentally obtained marginal probability density functions (PDFs) of the eigenvalues of the normalized impedance, admittance, and scattering matrix and those from random matrix theory (RMT). We also experimentally study the evolution of the joint PDF of the eigenphases of the normalized scattering matrix as a function of loss. Experimental agreement with the theory by Brouwer and Beenakker for the joint PDF of the magnitude of the eigenvalues of the normalized scattering matrix is also shown.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2006

Characterization of fluctuations of impedance and scattering matrices in wave chaotic scattering.

In wave chaotic scattering, statistical fluctuations of the scattering matrix S and the impedance matrix Z depend both on universal properties and on nonuniversal details of how the scatterer is coupled to external channels. This paper considers the impedance and scattering variance ratios, Xi(z) and Xi(s), where Xi(z) = Var[Z(ij)]/{Var[Z(ii)]Var[Z(jj)]}1/2, Xi(s) = Var[S(ij)]/{Var[S(ii)]Var[S(jj)]}1/2, and Var[.] denotes variance. Xi(z) is shown to be a universal function of distributed losses within the scatterer. That is, Xi(z) is independent of nonuniversal coupling details. This contrasts with s for which universality applies only in the large loss limit. Explicit results are given for Xi(z) for time reversal symmetric and broken time reversal symmetric systems. Experimental tests of the theory are presented using data taken from scattering measurements on a chaotic microwave cavity.

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PubMed2005

Intermittency in two-dimensional turbulence with drag.

We consider the enstrophy cascade in forced two-dimensional turbulence with a linear drag force. In the presence of linear drag, the energy wave-number spectrum drops with a power law faster than in the case without drag, and the vorticity field becomes intermittent, as shown by the anomalous scaling of the vorticity structure functions. Using previous theory, we compare numerical simulation results with predictions for the power law exponent of the energy wave-number spectrum and the scaling exponents of the vorticity structure functions zeta(2q). We also study, both by numerical experiment and theoretical analysis, the multifractal structure of the viscous enstrophy dissipation in terms of its Rényi dimension spectrum D(q). We derive a relation between D(q) and zeta(2q), and discuss its relevance to a version of the refined similarity hypothesis. In addition, we obtain and compare theoretically and numerically derived results for the dependence on separation r of the probability distribution of delta(r)omega, the difference between the vorticity at two points separated by a distance r. Our numerical simulations are done on a 4096 x 4096 grid.

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PubMed2005

Exponential decay of chaotically advected passive scalars in the zero diffusivity limit.

The time asymptotic decay of the variance of a passive scalar in a chaotic flow is studied. Two mechanisms for this decay, which involve processes at short and long length scales, respectively, are considered. The validity of the short length scale mechanism, which is based on Lagrangian stretching theory, is discussed. We also investigate the regimes of applicability and observable signatures of the two mechanisms. Supporting evidence is provided by high resolution numerical experiments.

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PubMed2005

Universal statistics of the scattering coefficient of chaotic microwave cavities.

We consider the statistics of the scattering coefficient S of a chaotic microwave cavity coupled to a single port. We remove the nonuniversal effects of the coupling from the experimental S data using the radiation impedance obtained directly from the experiments. We thus obtain the normalized scattering coefficient whose probability density function (PDF) is predicted to be universal in that it depends only on the loss (quality factor) of the cavity. We compare experimental PDFs of the normalized scattering coefficients with those obtained from random matrix theory (RMT), and find excellent agreement. The results apply to scattering measurements on any wave chaotic system.

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PubMed2005

Universal impedance fluctuations in wave chaotic systems.

We experimentally investigate theoretical predictions of universal impedance fluctuations in wave chaotic systems using a microwave analog of a quantum chaotic infinite square well potential. We emphasize the use of the radiation impedance to remove the nonuniversal effects of the particular coupling between the outside world and the scatterer. Specific predictions that we test include the probability density functions (PDFs) of the real and imaginary parts of the universal impedance, the equality of the variances of these PDFs, and the dependence of these PDFs on a single loss parameter.

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PubMed2004

Experimental observation and characterization of the magnetorotational instability.

Differential rotation occurs in conducting flows in accretion disks and planetary cores. In such systems, the magnetorotational instability can arise from coupling Lorentz and centrifugal forces to cause large radial angular momentum fluxes. We present the first experimental observation of the magnetorotational instability. Our system consists of liquid sodium between differentially rotating spheres, with an imposed coaxial magnetic field. We characterize the observed patterns, dynamics, and torque increases, and establish that this instability can occur from a hydrodynamic turbulent background.

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PubMed2004

Resonant heating of a cluster plasma by intense laser light.

The heating of a single argon (Ar) cluster by a strong laser field is studied using an electrostatic particle-in-cell code for a range of intensities and cluster sizes. Heating is dominated by a nonlinear resonant absorption process involving energetic electrons transiting through the cluster. This process gives rise to a threshold in field strength for strong absorption and controls the dielectric properties of the cluster.

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PubMed2004

Communication with a chaotic traveling wave tube microwave generator.

Traveling wave tubes (TWTs) are vacuum electronic amplifiers (see Beck, Gittins, and Pierce) that are commonly used for communication in the centimeter wavelength range. Increasing demand for high data flow in wireless communication systems (satellite communication systems are a good example) raises needs for making TWT's more compact and efficient. Motivated by this we suggest a scheme in which a TWT with feedback is operated in a highly nonlinear regime where the device behaves chaotically. The chaos is controlled using small controls. Then, at the receiving end a receiving TWT synchronizes to the chaotic transmitter and amplifies the received signal with nearly no distortion. Results on numerical simulations of the proposed scheme are reported and used to evaluate its effectiveness.

Communication↗