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MODELING THE HOT-DENSE PLASMA OF THE SOLAR INTERIOR IN AND OUT
OF THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM
Copyright 2012
by
Hsiao-Hsuan Lin
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(PHYSICS)
May 2012
Hsiao-Hsuan Lin
Object Description
| Title | Modeling the hot-dense plasma of the solar interior in and out of thermal equilibrium |
| Author | Lin, Hsiao-Hsuan |
| Author email | hsiaohsl@usc.edu;sanabel18@gmail.com |
| Degree | Doctor of Philosophy |
| Document type | Dissertation |
| Degree program | Physics |
| School | College of Letters, Arts And Sciences |
| Date defended/completed | 2012-03-22 |
| Date submitted | 2012-05-02 |
| Date approved | 2012-05-03 |
| Restricted until | 2012-05-03 |
| Date published | 2012-05-03 |
| Advisor (committee chair) | Däppen, Werner |
| Advisor (committee member) |
Haas, Stephan Nakano, Aiichiro Chang, Tu-nan Kunc, Joseph |
| Abstract | The developments in helioseismology ensure a wealth of studies in solar physics. In par- ticular, with the high precision of the observations of helioseismology, a high-quality solar model is mandated, since even the tiny deviations between a model and the real Sun can be detected. ❧ One crucial ingredient of any solar model is the thermodynamics of hot-dense plasmas, in particular the equation of state. This has motivated efforts to develop sophisticated theoretical equations of state (EOS). It is important to realize that for the conditions of solar-interior plasmas, there are no terrestrial laboratory experiments; the only observational constraints come from helioseismology. Among the most successful EOS is so called OPAL EOS, which is part of the Opacity Project at Livermore. It is based on an activity expansion of the quantum plasma, and realized in the so-called ”physical picture”. One of its main competitor is the so called MHD EOS, which is part of the international Opacity Project (OP), a non-classified multi-country consortium. The approach of MHD is via the so-called ”chemical picture”. Since OPAL is the most accurate equation of state so far, there has been a call for a public-domain version of it. However, the OPAL code remains proprietary, and its “emulation” makes sense. An additional reason for such a project is that the results form OPAL can only be accessed via tables generated by the OPAL team. Their users do not have the flexibility to change the chemical composition from their end. The earlier MHD-based OPAL emulator worked well with its modifica- tions of the MHD equation of state, which is the Planck-Larkin partition function and its corresponding scattering terms. With this modification, MHD can serve as a OPAL emula- tor with all the flexibility and accessibility. However, to build a really user-friendly OPAL emulator one should consider CEFF-based OPAL emulator. CEFF itself is already widely used practical EOS which can be easily implemented within any solar model code. ❧ In the present work we have carried the technique of the MHD-based OPAL emulator to the CEFF-based OPAL emulator and successfully accomplished this goal. At the same time, we went beyond the earlier work by adding more terms. In particular, the previous MHD-based OPAL emulator was restricted to the approximation of a hydrogen plasma; our work is extended to the more realistic H-He mixture. ❧ In a separate part of the present work, we have examined a non-equilibrium effect in the solar interior. The effect is located in the zone of the sharp transition between the differential rotation in the convection zone and the solid-sphere rotation in the radiation zone beneath it. This transition was discovered by helioseismology in the 1980s, and the transition zone is called the solar tachocline. The tachocline is subject to strong shear and in many theories of the solar dynamo it plays important role. Being inspired by the well-known Soret effect, which states the mass diffusion drive by a temperature gradient, we have examined if there could also be mass diffusion by a shear flow. If such an effect were to exist, it would have potential applications to the solar tachocline and dynamo. We have run a so-called reverse non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (RNEMD) simulation. As a test, we first confirmed the Soret effect by the simulation, then we tested for a shear- driven analogous effect. As a result, we did not see the shear-driven Soret effect in our simulation. We do observe the normal Soret effect due to the temperature gradient caused by the numerical scheme we used. |
| Keyword | solar physics; equation of state; plasma physics; stellar evolution; helioseismology |
| Language | English |
| Part of collection | University of Southern California dissertations and theses |
| Publisher (of the original version) | University of Southern California |
| Place of publication (of the original version) | Los Angeles, California |
| Publisher (of the digital version) | University of Southern California. Libraries |
| Provenance | Electronically uploaded by the author |
| Type | texts |
| Legacy record ID | usctheses-m |
| Rights | Lin, Hsiao-Hsuan |
| Access conditions | The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the author, as the original true and official version of the work, but does not grant the reader permission to use the work if the desired use is covered by copyright. It is the author, as rights holder, who must provide use permission if such use is covered by copyright. The original signature page accompanying the original submission of the work to the USC Libraries is retained by the USC Libraries and a copy of it may be obtained by authorized requesters contacting the repository e-mail address given. |
| Repository name | University of Southern California Digital Library |
| Repository address | USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 7002, 106 University Village, Los Angeles, California 90089-7002, USA |
| Repository email | cisadmin@usc.edu |
| Archival file | uscthesesreloadpub_Volume4/etd-LinHsiaoHs-734-1.pdf |
Description
| Title | Page 1 |
| Full text | MODELING THE HOT-DENSE PLASMA OF THE SOLAR INTERIOR IN AND OUT OF THERMAL EQUILIBRIUM Copyright 2012 by Hsiao-Hsuan Lin A Dissertation Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (PHYSICS) May 2012 Hsiao-Hsuan Lin |
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