Aleksandr V. Gurevich

Bio: Aleksandr V. Gurevich is an academic researcher from Russian Academy of Sciences. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ionosphere & Runaway breakdown. The author has an hindex of 37, co-authored 156 publications receiving 6405 citations.

Nonlinear phenomena in the ionosphere

Abstract: 1. Introduction.- 1.1 Data on the Structure of the Ionosphere.- 1.2 Features of Nonlinear Phenomena in the Ionosphere.- 1.2.1. Nonlinearity Mechanisms.- 1.2.2. Qualitative Character of Nonlinear Phenomena.- 1.2.3. Brief Historical Review.- 2. Plasma Kinetics in an Alternating Electric Field.- 2.1. Homogeneous Alternating Field in a Plasma (Elementary Theory).- 2.1.1.Electron Current-Electronic Conductivity and Dielectric Constant.- 2.1.2.Electron Temperature.- 2.1.3.Ion Current-Heating of Electrons and Ions.- 2.2. The Kinetic Equation.- 2.2.1. Simplification of the Kinetic Equation for Electrons.- 2.2.2. Transformation of the Electron Collision Integral.- 2.2.3. Inelastic Collisions.- 2.3. Electron Distribution Function.- 2.3.1. Strongly Ionized Plasma.- 2.3.2. Weakly Ionized Plasma.- 2.3.3. Arbitrary Degree of lonization-Concerning the Elementary Theory.- 2.4. Ion Distribution Function.- 2.4.1. Simplification of the Kinetic Equation.- 2.4.2. Distribution Function.- 2.4.3. Ion Temperature, Ion Current.- 2.5. Action of Radio Waves on the Ionosphere.- 2.5.1. lonization Balance in the Ionosphere.- 2.5.2. Effective Frequency of Electron and Ion Collisions-Fraction of Lost Energy.- 2.5.3. Electron and Ion Temperatures in the Ionosphere.- 2.5.4. Heating of the Ionosphere in an Alternating Electric Field.- 2.5.5.Perturbations of the Electron and Ion Concentrations.- 2.5.6. Artificial lonization of the Ionosphere-Heating of Neutral Gas.- 3. Self-Action of Plane Radio Waves.- 3.1. Simplification of Initial Equations.- 3.1.1. Nonlinear Wave Equation.- 3.1.2. Nonlinear Geometrical Optics of a Plane Wave.- 3.2. Effect of Nonlinearity on the Amplitude and Phase of the Wave.- 3.2.1. Self-Action of a Weak Wave.- 3.2.2. Self-Action of a Strong Wave.- 3.2.3. Self-Action of Waves in the Case of Artificial lionization.- 3.3. Change of Wave Modulation.- 3.3.1. Weak Wave.- 3.3.2. Change of Amplitude Modulation of Strong Wave.- 3.3.3. Phase Modulation.- 3.3.4. Nonlinear Distortion of Pulse Waveform.- 3.4. Generation of Harmonic Waves and Nonlinear Detection.- 3.4.1. Frequency Tripling.- 3.4.2. Nonlinear Detection.- 3.5. Self-Action of Radio Waves in the Lower Ionosphere.- 4. Interaction of Plane Radio Waves.- 4.1. Cross Modulation.- 4.1.1. Weak Waves.- 4.1.2. Strong Perturbing Wave.- 4.1.3. Resonance Effects near the Electron Gyrofrequency.- 4.2. Interaction of Unmodulated Waves.- 4.2.1. Interaction of Short Pulses.- 4.2.2. Change in the Absorption of a Wave Propagating in a Perturbed Plasma Region.- 4.2.3. Generation of Waves with Combination Frequencies.- 4.3. Radio Wave Interaction in the Lower Ionosphere.- 4.3.1. Cross Modulation.- 4.3.2. Fejer's Method.- 4.3.3. Nonstationary Processes in the Interaction of Strong Radio Waves.- 5. Self-Action and Interaction of Radio Waves in an Inhomogeneous Plasma.- 5.1. Inhomogeneous Electric Field in a Plasma.- 5.1.1. Fundamental Equations.- 5.1.2. Distribution of Density and Temperatures in Plasma.- 5.2. Kinetics of Inhomogeneous Plasma.- 5.2.1. Kinetic Coefficients. Elementary Theory.- 5.2.2. Kinetic Theory.- 5.2.3. Fully Ionized Plasma.- 5.3. Modification of the F Region of the Ionosphere by Radio Waves.- 5.3.1. Modification of the Electron Temperature and of the Plasma Concentration.- 5.3.2. Radio Wave Reflection Region.- 5.3.3. Growth and Relaxation of the Perturbations.- 5.4. Focusing and Defocusing of Radio Wave Beams.- 5.4.1. Nonlinear Geometrical Optics.- 5.4.2. Defocusing of Narrow Beams.- 5.4.3. Mutual Defocusing.- 5.4.4. Thermal Focusing in the Lower Ionosphere.- 6. Excitation of Ionosphere Instability.- 6.1. Self-Focusing Instability.- 6.1.1. Spatial Instability of a Homogeneous Plasma.- 6.1.2. Instability in the Wave-Reflection Region.- 6.2. Resonant Absorption and Resonance Instability.- 6.2.1. Langmuir Oscillations in an Inhomogeneous Plasma.- 6.2.2. Excitation of Plasma Waves.- 6.2.3. Resonance Instability.- 6.2.4. Absorption of Ordinary Radio Waves.- 6.3. Parametric Instability.- 6.3.1. Langmuir Oscillations of a Plasma in an Alternating Field.- 6.3.2. Parametric Excitation of Langmuir Oscillations.- 6.3.3. Parametric Instability in the Ionosphere.- 6.3.4. Dissipative Parametric Instability.

Nonlinear phenomena in the ionosphere

Abstract: 1. Introduction.- 1.1 Data on the Structure of the Ionosphere.- 1.2 Features of Nonlinear Phenomena in the Ionosphere.- 1.2.1. Nonlinearity Mechanisms.- 1.2.2. Qualitative Character of Nonlinear Phenomena.- 1.2.3. Brief Historical Review.- 2. Plasma Kinetics in an Alternating Electric Field.- 2.1. Homogeneous Alternating Field in a Plasma (Elementary Theory).- 2.1.1.Electron Current-Electronic Conductivity and Dielectric Constant.- 2.1.2.Electron Temperature.- 2.1.3.Ion Current-Heating of Electrons and Ions.- 2.2. The Kinetic Equation.- 2.2.1. Simplification of the Kinetic Equation for Electrons.- 2.2.2. Transformation of the Electron Collision Integral.- 2.2.3. Inelastic Collisions.- 2.3. Electron Distribution Function.- 2.3.1. Strongly Ionized Plasma.- 2.3.2. Weakly Ionized Plasma.- 2.3.3. Arbitrary Degree of lonization-Concerning the Elementary Theory.- 2.4. Ion Distribution Function.- 2.4.1. Simplification of the Kinetic Equation.- 2.4.2. Distribution Function.- 2.4.3. Ion Temperature, Ion Current.- 2.5. Action of Radio Waves on the Ionosphere.- 2.5.1. lonization Balance in the Ionosphere.- 2.5.2. Effective Frequency of Electron and Ion Collisions-Fraction of Lost Energy.- 2.5.3. Electron and Ion Temperatures in the Ionosphere.- 2.5.4. Heating of the Ionosphere in an Alternating Electric Field.- 2.5.5.Perturbations of the Electron and Ion Concentrations.- 2.5.6. Artificial lonization of the Ionosphere-Heating of Neutral Gas.- 3. Self-Action of Plane Radio Waves.- 3.1. Simplification of Initial Equations.- 3.1.1. Nonlinear Wave Equation.- 3.1.2. Nonlinear Geometrical Optics of a Plane Wave.- 3.2. Effect of Nonlinearity on the Amplitude and Phase of the Wave.- 3.2.1. Self-Action of a Weak Wave.- 3.2.2. Self-Action of a Strong Wave.- 3.2.3. Self-Action of Waves in the Case of Artificial lionization.- 3.3. Change of Wave Modulation.- 3.3.1. Weak Wave.- 3.3.2. Change of Amplitude Modulation of Strong Wave.- 3.3.3. Phase Modulation.- 3.3.4. Nonlinear Distortion of Pulse Waveform.- 3.4. Generation of Harmonic Waves and Nonlinear Detection.- 3.4.1. Frequency Tripling.- 3.4.2. Nonlinear Detection.- 3.5. Self-Action of Radio Waves in the Lower Ionosphere.- 4. Interaction of Plane Radio Waves.- 4.1. Cross Modulation.- 4.1.1. Weak Waves.- 4.1.2. Strong Perturbing Wave.- 4.1.3. Resonance Effects near the Electron Gyrofrequency.- 4.2. Interaction of Unmodulated Waves.- 4.2.1. Interaction of Short Pulses.- 4.2.2. Change in the Absorption of a Wave Propagating in a Perturbed Plasma Region.- 4.2.3. Generation of Waves with Combination Frequencies.- 4.3. Radio Wave Interaction in the Lower Ionosphere.- 4.3.1. Cross Modulation.- 4.3.2. Fejer's Method.- 4.3.3. Nonstationary Processes in the Interaction of Strong Radio Waves.- 5. Self-Action and Interaction of Radio Waves in an Inhomogeneous Plasma.- 5.1. Inhomogeneous Electric Field in a Plasma.- 5.1.1. Fundamental Equations.- 5.1.2. Distribution of Density and Temperatures in Plasma.- 5.2. Kinetics of Inhomogeneous Plasma.- 5.2.1. Kinetic Coefficients. Elementary Theory.- 5.2.2. Kinetic Theory.- 5.2.3. Fully Ionized Plasma.- 5.3. Modification of the F Region of the Ionosphere by Radio Waves.- 5.3.1. Modification of the Electron Temperature and of the Plasma Concentration.- 5.3.2. Radio Wave Reflection Region.- 5.3.3. Growth and Relaxation of the Perturbations.- 5.4. Focusing and Defocusing of Radio Wave Beams.- 5.4.1. Nonlinear Geometrical Optics.- 5.4.2. Defocusing of Narrow Beams.- 5.4.3. Mutual Defocusing.- 5.4.4. Thermal Focusing in the Lower Ionosphere.- 6. Excitation of Ionosphere Instability.- 6.1. Self-Focusing Instability.- 6.1.1. Spatial Instability of a Homogeneous Plasma.- 6.1.2. Instability in the Wave-Reflection Region.- 6.2. Resonant Absorption and Resonance Instability.- 6.2.1. Langmuir Oscillations in an Inhomogeneous Plasma.- 6.2.2. Excitation of Plasma Waves.- 6.2.3. Resonance Instability.- 6.2.4. Absorption of Ordinary Radio Waves.- 6.3. Parametric Instability.- 6.3.1. Langmuir Oscillations of a Plasma in an Alternating Field.- 6.3.2. Parametric Excitation of Langmuir Oscillations.- 6.3.3. Parametric Instability in the Ionosphere.- 6.3.4. Dissipative Parametric Instability.

Runaway breakdown and electric discharges in thunderstorms

Abstract: This review concerns the theory of the avalanche multiplication of high-energy (0.1 – 10 MeV) electrons in a neutral material, a newly discovered phenomenon known as runaway breakdown (RB). In atmospheric conditions RB takes place at electric fields an order of magnitude weaker than those needed for normal breakdown in air. Experimental work of the past few years has shown that RB determines the maximum electric field strength in thunderclouds and is behind a variety of phenomena newly observed in thunderstorm atmosphere, such as giant high-altitude discharges between thunderclouds and the ionosphere, anomalous amplifications of X-ray emission, intense bursts of gamma radiation, etc. These phenomena are becoming increasingly active areas of study. A necessary condition for the occurrence of runaway avalanche is the presence of high energy seed electrons. In the atmosphere, these are cosmic ray secondary electrons. Therefore, the observed effects reflect the close relationship between cosmic rays and electrodynamic processes in the thunderstorm atmosphere. The first laboratory results on RB are also presented. Further studies in this area may be of interest for high-current electronics.

PPPC 4 DM ID: a poor particle physicist cookbook for dark matter indirect detection

Abstract: We provide ingredients and recipes for computing signals of TeV-scale Dark Matter annihilations and decays in the Galaxy and beyond. For each DM channel, we present the energy spectra of electrons and positrons, antiprotons, antideuterons, gamma rays, neutrinos and antineutrinos e, mu, tau at production, computed by high-statistics simulations. We estimate the Monte Carlo uncertainty by comparing the results yielded by the Pythia and Herwig event generators. We then provide the propagation functions for charged particles in the Galaxy, for several DM distribution profiles and sets of propagation parameters. Propagation of electrons and positrons is performed with an improved semi-analytic method that takes into account position-dependent energy losses in the Milky Way. Using such propagation functions, we compute the energy spectra of electrons and positrons, antiprotons and antideuterons at the location of the Earth. We then present the gamma ray fluxes, both from prompt emission and from Inverse Compton scattering in the galactic halo. Finally, we provide the spectra of extragalactic gamma rays. All results are available in numerical form and ready to be consumed.

Nonlinear collective effects in photon-photon and photon-plasma interactions

Abstract: Strong-field effects in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas and high intensity laser and cavity systems are considered, related to quantum electrodynamical (QED) photon-photon scattering. Current state-of-the-art laser facilities are close to reaching energy scales at which laboratory astrophysics will become possible. In such high energy density laboratory astrophysical systems, quantum electrodynamics will play a crucial role in the dynamics of plasmas and indeed the vacuum itself. Developments such as the free-electron laser may also give a means for exploring remote violent events such as supernovae in a laboratory environment. At the same time, superconducting cavities have steadily increased their quality factors, and quantum nondemolition measurements are capable of retrieving information from systems consisting of a few photons. Thus, not only will QED effects such as elastic photon-photon scattering be important in laboratory experiments, it may also be directly measurable in cavity experiments. Here implications of collective interactions between photons and photon-plasma systems are described. An overview of strong field vacuum effects is given, as formulated through the Heisenberg-Euler Lagrangian. Based on the dispersion relation for a single test photon traveling in a slowly varying background electromagnetic field, a set of equations describing the nonlinear propagation of an electromagnetic pulse on a radiation plasma is derived. The stability of the governing equations is discussed, and it is shown using numerical methods that electromagnetic pulses may collapse and split into pulse trains, as well as be trapped in a relativistic electron hole. Effects, such as the generation of novel electromagnetic modes, introduced by QED in pair plasmas is described. Applications to laser-plasma systems and astrophysical environments are also discussed.

Review of laser-driven ion sources and their applications.

Abstract: For many years, laser-driven ion acceleration, mainly proton acceleration, has been proposed and a number of proof-of-principle experiments have been carried out with lasers whose pulse duration was in the nanosecond range. In the 1990s, ion acceleration in a relativistic plasma was demonstrated with ultra-short pulse lasers based on the chirped pulse amplification technique which can provide not only picosecond or femtosecond laser pulse duration, but simultaneously ultra-high peak power of terawatt to petawatt levels. Starting from the year 2000, several groups demonstrated low transverse emittance, tens of MeV proton beams with a conversion efficiency of up to several percent. The laser-accelerated particle beams have a duration of the order of a few picoseconds at the source, an ultra-high peak current and a broad energy spectrum, which make them suitable for many, including several unique, applications. This paper reviews, firstly, the historical background including the early laser-matter interaction studies on energetic ion acceleration relevant to inertial confinement fusion. Secondly, we describe several implemented and proposed mechanisms of proton and/or ion acceleration driven by ultra-short high-intensity lasers. We pay special attention to relatively simple models of several acceleration regimes. The models connect the laser, plasma and proton/ion beam parameters, predicting important features, such as energy spectral shape, optimum conditions and scalings under these conditions for maximum ion energy, conversion efficiency, etc. The models also suggest possible ways to manipulate the proton/ion beams by tailoring the target and irradiation conditions. Thirdly, we review experimental results on proton/ion acceleration, starting with the description of driving lasers. We list experimental results and show general trends of parameter dependences and compare them with the theoretical predictions and simulations. The fourth topic includes a review of scientific, industrial and medical applications of laser-driven proton or ion sources, some of which have already been established, while the others are yet to be demonstrated. In most applications, the laser-driven ion sources are complementary to the conventional accelerators, exhibiting significantly different properties. Finally, we summarize the paper.