Table of contents

Transport equations are studied for two types of media exhibiting properties of local nonequilibrium: media with thermal memory and media with a discrete structure. A hyperbolic transport equation that is a special case of these local-nonequilibrium equations is used for the analysis of traveling waves having high velocities. These waves have certain important properties: there can be a temperature discontinuity at the wave front; there exist thermal shock waves; the temperature at the wave front exceeds the equilibrium adiabatic value; there exist stationary autowave regimes in addition to those corresponding to the classical local-equilibrium case, and the velocities of these regimes are bounded by the velocity of propagation of a thermal signal. The approach developed here may be useful for the study of transport processes for short times or high fluxes in systems near critical points, in heterogeneous systems, and in other extremal situations.

Seismic radiation released during the planar rupture of a glass plate is studied. It is found that this process is complicated: the rupture plane is formed from a sequence of quasilinear cracks running parallel to the initial groove cut in the plate. A quasilinear crack forms with high (seismic) velocity (10⁴–10⁵ cm/s); the rupture plane, which is built up from a sequence of linear cracks, grows with a low velocity of the order of 10²–10³ cm/s. Signals corresponding to the formation of a planar rupture built up from a sequence of linear cracks were found in the spatial and temporal structure of the aftershocks of an Alaskan earthquake. After the signals are interpreted, the earthquake process can be represented as the stagewise formation of several planar ruptures. Each rupture is formed in two phases: During the first phase (lasting 15 min) a leader crack is formed and during the second phase (lasting about one hour) a planar rupture is formed with the leader crack acting as the generatrix. The relationship between the characteristics of the process of successive formation of rupture planes and the parameters of tsunamis generated by the earthquake is analyzed. The relationship between the tsunami focus and the parameters—the coordinates and propagating velocity of the leader crack at the first phase—is established. It is found that the generation time of the high-frequency component is related with the formation of the rupture plane while the generation time of the low-frequency component is related with the successive stages during which successive rupture planes are formed. The possibilities for improving tsunami and earthquake warnings on the basis of the new possibilities for interpretation of seismic signals are discussed.

Standard invariant perturbative methods are used to derive an expression for the radiationreaction force acting on a charged particle in quantum electrodynamics. When the average change in the particle's momentum is found by taking an average over the states closest to the classical state, the result is an expression whose classical limit is the same as the classical expression for the radiation-reaction force.

It turns out that the cutoff frequency of a waveguide, multiplied by Planck's constant, and the rest mass of a photon in the waveguide, multiplied by the velocity of light squared, are equal to the work performed in opposition to the radiation-pressure forces of zero-point vacuum fluctuations during the formation of the waveguide from free space.

The contribution of the Dutch scientist, pedagogue, and maker of scientific instruments Pieter van Musschenbroek (1692–1761) to the science of electricity is presented. Biographical information is given. Special attention is paid to the associations of Musschenbroek with Russia.