[en] The propagation of acoustic and thermal waves in a heat conducting, hydrogen plasma, in which photoionization and photorecombination [H⁺+e^-<-->H+hν(χ)] processes are progressing, is re-examined here using linear analysis. The resulting dispersion equation is solved analytically and the results are compared with previous solutions for the same plasma model. In particular, it is found that wave propagation in a slightly and highly ionized hydrogen plasma is affected by crossing between acoustic and thermal modes. At temperatures where the plasma is partially ionized, waves of all frequencies propagate without the occurrence of mode crossing. These results disagree with those reported in previous work, thereby leading to a different physical interpretation of the propagation of small linear disturbances in a conducting, ionizing-recombining, hydrogen plasma

[en] The idea of complex time, as first proposed by El Naschie in 1995, not only provided a very important mathematical utility in clarifying the nature of nowness, but also opened a definite possibility for the instantaneous transmission of information through the theoretical prediction of massless particles travelling at velocities larger than the speed of light. Based on a very simple thought experiment, here we show that the complex nature of time arises when two independent inertial observers, in relative uniform motion, communicate via a light signal in order to compare their own proper time measurements for the same event. The observation that the time employed by the signal to go from one observer to the other is calculable, but not measurable, permits to build up a general expression for the complex time, which not only complies with the possibility of time decomposition into two dimensions, but also conciliates with the idea of a complex space. In particular, we find that El Naschie's complex time can be interpreted as an asymptotic limit when the velocity of the moving observer equals that of light. Within this new formulation, the inverse Lorentz transformations of special relativity follow as a direct consequence of the complex time

[en] A working Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) formalism for solving the equations of motion of a viscous fluid is presented. The method is based on a standard symmetrized SPH expression for the viscous forces, which involves only first-order derivatives of the kernel through a direct evaluation of the viscous stress tensor. Therefore, the interpolation can be performed using low-order kernels of compact support without compromising the accuracy and stability of the results. In principle, the scheme is suitable for treating compressible fluids with arbitrary shear and bulk viscosities. Here, we demonstrate that when it is combined with the pressure-gradient correction proposed by Morris et al., the method is also suitable for solving the Navier-Stokes equations for incompressible flows without any further assumptions. Simulations using the method show close agreement with the analytic series solutions for plane Poiseuille and Hagen-Poiseuille flows at very low Reynolds numbers. At least for these specific tests, the results obtained are essentially independent of employing either a cubic or a quintic spline kernel

[en] In this letter we generalize the thermal lens model to account for the Soret effect in binary liquid mixtures. This formalism permits the precise determination of the Soret coefficient in a steady-state situation. The theory is experimentally verified using the measured values in the ethanol/water mixtures. The time evolution of the Soret signal has been used to derive mass-diffusion times from which mass-diffusion coefficients were calculated. (Author)

[en] The propagation of thermal and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves in a heat-conducting, hydrogen plasma, threaded by an external uniform magnetic field (B) and in which photoionization and photorecombination [H⁺+e^-<-->H+hν(χ)] processes are progressing, is investigated here using linear analysis. The resulting dispersion equation is solved analytically for varied strength (β<<1 and ∼1) and orientation of the magnetic field, where β denotes the ratio of plasma to magnetic pressures. Application of this model to the interstellar medium shows that heat conduction governs the propagation of thermal waves only at relatively high frequencies regardless of the plasma temperature, strength, and orientation of the magnetic field. When the direction of wave propagation is held perpendicular to B (i.e., k perpendicular B), the magnetosonic phase velocity is closely Alfvenic for β<<1, while for β∼1 both the hydrostatic and magnetic pressures determine the wave velocity. As long as k parallel B, the fast (transverse) magnetosonic wave becomes an Alfven wave for all frequencies independent of the plasma temperature and field strength, while the slow (longitudinal) magnetosonic wave becomes a pure sound wave. Amplification of thermal and MHD waves always occur at low frequencies and preferentially at temperatures for which the plasma is either weakly or partially ionized. Compared to previous analysis for the same hydrogen plasma model with B=0, the presence of the magnetic field makes the functional dependence of the physical quantities span a longer range of frequencies, which becomes progressively longer as the field strength is increased