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The Shock-Wave Theory of Sonoluminescence

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Shock Focussing Effect in Medical Science and Sonoluminescence

Abstract

When driven into violent pulsation by a sufficiently strong source of sound, a bubble of air in water emits light, a phenomenon known as ‘sonoluminescence’. The reasons for this are not yet fully understood. The most popular explanation at this time is the shock-wave theory of sonoluminescence. This supposes that, because the bubble surface moves inwards supersonically with respect to the air in the bubble during the compressive parts of the acoustic cycle, it launches an imploding spherical shock wave that becomes so strong, as it focuses at the center of the bubble, that it ionizes the air, the observed light being emitted from the resulting plasma ball. We discuss here the structure and stability of spherical shocks in ideal and van der Waals gases, paying particular attention to similarity shocks of the Guderley type and their relevance to sonoluminescence. We discuss the status of the shock-wave theory of sonoluminescence and alternative explanations. We pose a number of theoretical challenges.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    P. H. Roberts

  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    C. C. Wu

Authors
  1. P. H. Roberts
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  2. C. C. Wu
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Gorakhpur University, 273009, Gorakhpur, India

    Ramesh C. Srivastava

  2. Fachbereich 6, Mechanik/Labor, Technische Universität Darmstadt, Hochschulstrasse 1, 64289, Darmstadt, Germany

    Dieter Leutloff

  3. Institute of Fluid Center, Tohoku University, 2-1-1, Katahira, Aoba, Sendai 980, Japan

    Kazuyoshi Takayama

  4. Stosswellenlabor, RWTH Aachen, Templergraben 55, 52056, Aachen, Germany

    Hans Grönig

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© 2003 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Roberts, P.H., Wu, C.C. (2003). The Shock-Wave Theory of Sonoluminescence. In: Srivastava, R.C., Leutloff, D., Takayama, K., Grönig, H. (eds) Shock Focussing Effect in Medical Science and Sonoluminescence. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05161-0_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-05161-0_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-07636-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-05161-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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