arXiv subjects

Mircea Sanduloviciu

Publications and source records attributed to Mircea Sanduloviciu.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2007

Ball Lightning as a Self-organized Complexity

The ball lightning phenomenon is explained in the frame of a self-organization scenario suggested by experiments performed on the spontaneously generated complex spherical space charge configuration in plasma. Originated in a hot plasma, suddenly created in a point where a lightning flash strikes the Earth surface, the ball lightning appearance proves the ability of nature to generate, by self-organization, complex structures able to ensure their own existence by exchange of matter and energy with the surroundings. Their subsequent evolution depends on the environment where they are born. Under contemporary Earth conditions the lifetime of such complexities is relatively short. A similar self-organization mechanism, produced by simple sparks in the earl Earth's atmosphere (chemically reactive plasma) is suggested to explain the genesis of complexities able to evolve into prebiotic structures.

nlin.PS↗

arXiv2007

On the "mystery" of differential negative resistance

Investigating the causes of the nonlinear behavior of a gaseous conductor we identified the presence of two states of the complex space charge configuration self-assembled in front of the anode. These states correspond to two levels of self-organization from which the first one is related to spatial pattern whereas the second one to spatiotemporal pattern. Their emergence through two kinds of instabilities produced for two critical distances from thermodynamic equilibrium is emphasized in the current voltage characteristic as an S-shaped, respectively Z-shaped bistability. Their presence attributes to the gaseous conductor the ability to work as an S-shaped, respectively an N-shaped negative differential resistance.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2007

Cell-like space charge configurations formed by selforganization in laboratory

A phenomenological model of self-organization explaining the emergence of a complexity with features that apparently satisfy the specific criteria usually required for recognizing the appearance of life in laboratory is presented. The described phenomenology, justified by laboratory experiments, is essentially based on local self-enhancement and long-range inhibition. The complexity represents a primitive organism self-assembled in a gaseous medium revealing, immediately after its "birth", many of the prerequisite features that attribute them the quality to evolve, under suitable conditions, into a living cell.

nlin.AO↗

arXiv2004

Similarities between the generation and dynamics of concentric and non- concentric multiple double layers

We report new experimental results on the generation and dynamics of multiple double layers in front of a positively biased electrode immersed in a DP-machine plasma. Depending on the geometry or the dimensions of the electrode, this complex space charge configuration can appear in two different modes. If the electrode is small with respect to the plasma size, the phenomenon appears as a set of concentric luminous shells with different intensities. If the electrode has large dimensions, or a one-dimensional geometry, the spherical double layers appear adjacent to each other, as equally separated luminous plasma blobs. Our experimental investigations prove that in both of cases we deal with almost the same phenomenon. The same elementary processes, namely electron-neutral impact excitations and ionizations, play the key role in the generation and dynamics of each structure. This is emphasized in the static current-voltage characteristic of the electrode, which shows similar jumps of the current, associated with hysteresis.

physics.plasm-ph↗