Ordered and disordered dynamics in monolayers of rolling particles

We consider the ordered and disordered dynamics for monolayers of rolling self-interacting particles modeling water molecules. The rolling constraint represents a simplified model of a strong, but rapidly decaying bond with the surface. We show the existence and nonlinear stability of ordered lattice states, as well as disturbance propagation through and chaotic vibrations of these states. We study the dynamics of disordered gas states and show that there is a surprising and universal linear connection between distributions of angular and linear velocity, allowing definition of temperature.     

Dynamics of Anderson localization in open 3D media

We develop a self-consistent theoretical approach to the dynamics of Anderson localization in open three-dimensional (3D) disordered media. The approach allows us to study time-dependent transmission and reflection, and the distribution of decay rates of quasimodes of 3D disordered slabs near the Anderson mobility edge.     

Flux front penetration in disordered superconductors

We investigate flux front penetration in a disordered type-II superconductor by molecular dynamics simulations of interacting vortices and find scaling laws for the front position and the density profile. The scaling can be understood by performing a coarse graining of the system and writing a disordered nonlinear diffusion equation. Integrating numerically the equation, we observe a crossover from flat to fractal front penetration as the system parameters are varied. The value of the fractal dimension indicates that the invasion process is described by gradient percolation.     

A review of the dynamical susceptibility in different complex systems

The dynamical susceptibility has been introduced to characterize the dynamical heterogeneities in glass forming liquids. We have used it as a tool to investigate the slow dynamics of other disordered systems such as gels, granular media and spin glasses. We review here the results obtained via numerical simulations of different model systems. The comparative study of the behaviour of the dynamical susceptibility sheds some light on the significant differences in the complex slow dynamics of glasses, spin glasses, granular media, irreversible gels, and colloidal gels.     

Scaling of dynamics with the range of interaction in short-range attractive colloids

We numerically study the dependence of the dynamics on the range of interaction Delta for the short-range square well potential. We find that, for small Delta, dynamics scale exactly in the same way as thermodynamics, both for Newtonian and Brownian microscopic dynamics. For interaction ranges from a few percent down to the Baxter limit, the relative location of the attractive-glass line and the liquid-gas line does not depend on Delta. This proves that, in this class of potentials, disordered arrested states (gels) can be generated only as a result of a kinetically arrested phase separation.     

Inhomogeneous ferromagnetism and unconventional charge dynamics in disordered double exchange magnets

We solve the double exchange model in the presence of arbitrary substitutional disorder by using a self-consistently generated effective Hamiltonian for the spin degrees of freedom. The magnetic properties are studied through classical Monte Carlo while the effective exchange, D(ij), is calculated by solving the disordered fermion problem, and renormalized self-consistently with increasing temperature. We present results on the conductivity, magnetoresistance, optical response, and "real space" structure of the inhomogeneous ferromagnetic state, and compare our results with charge dynamics in disordered La1-xSrxMnO3. The large sizes, O(10(3)), accessible within our method allows a complete, controlled calculation on the disordered strongly interacting problem.     

Dynamics below the depinning threshold in disordered elastic systems

We study the steady-state low-temperature dynamics of an elastic line in a disordered medium below the depinning threshold. Analogously to the equilibrium dynamics, in the limit T-->0, the steady state is dominated by a single configuration which is occupied with probability 1. We develop an exact algorithm to target this dominant configuration and to analyze its geometrical properties as a function of the driving force. The roughness exponent of the line at large scales is identical to the one at depinning. No length scale diverges in the steady-state regime as the depinning threshold is approached from below. We do find a divergent length, but it is associated only with the transient relaxation between metastable states.     

Charge current driven by spin dynamics in disordered Rashba spin-orbit system

Pumping of charge current by spin dynamics in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit interaction is theoretically studied. Considering a disordered electron, the exchange coupling and spin-orbit interactions are treated perturbatively. It is found that the dominant current induced by spin dynamics is interpreted as a consequence of the conversion from spin current via the inverse spin Hall effect. We also find that the current has an additional component from a fictitious conservative field. The results are applied to the case of a moving domain wall.     

Theory of plastic vortex creep

We develop a theory for plastic vortex creep in a topologically disordered (dislocated) vortex solid phase in type-II superconductors in terms of driven thermally activated dislocation dynamics. Plastic barriers for dislocations show a power-law divergence at small driving currents j, U(pl)( j) approximately j(-&mgr;), with &mgr; = 1 for a single dislocation and &mgr; = 2/5 for creep of dislocation bundles. This implies a suppression of the creep rate at the transition from the ordered vortex phase ( &mgr; = 2/11) to the dislocated glass and can manifest itself as an observed increase of the apparent critical current (second peak). Our approach applies to general dynamics of disordered elastic media on a random substrate.     

Phase dynamics of a Josephson junction ladder driven by modulated currents

Phase dynamics of disordered Josephson junction ladders (JJLs) driven by external currents which are spatially and temporally modulated is studied using a numerical simulation based on a random field XY model. This model is considered theoretically as an effective model of JJLs with structural disorder in a magnetic field. The spatiotemporal modulation of external currents causes peculiar dynamical effects of phases in the system under certain conditions, such as the directed motion of phases and the mode-locking in the absence of dc currents. We clarify the details of effects of the spatiotemporal modulation on the phase dynamics.     

Self-organized dynamics on a curved growth interface

We experimentally address long-time dynamics of an artificially curved growth interface in directional solidification. Repetitive cell nucleations are found to appear in a disordered way, but to eventually organize themselves in a coherent way, for long times. This behavior is recovered by simulation of a nonlinear advection-diffusion model for phase dynamics. The existence of a periodic attractor is supported by the derivation of a Lyapunov functional for this model.     

Ab initio molecular dynamics with a classical pressure reservoir: simulation of pressure-induced amorphization in a Si35H36 cluster

We present a new constant-pressure ab initio molecular dynamics method suitable for studying, e.g., pressure-induced structural transformations in finite nonperiodic systems such as clusters. We immerse an ab initio treated cluster into a model classical liquid, described by a soft-sphere potential, which acts as a pressure reservoir. The pressure is varied by tuning the parameter of the liquid potential. We apply the method to a Si35H36 cluster, which undergoes a pressure-induced amorphization at approximately 35 GPa, and remains in a disordered state even upon pressure release.     

On the Stochastic Dynamics of Disordered Spin Models

In this article we discuss several aspects of the stochastic dynamics of spin models. The paper has two independent parts. Firstly, we explore a few properties of the multi-point correlations and responses of generic systems evolving in equilibrium with a thermal bath. We propose a fluctuation principle that allows us to derive fluctuation–dissipation relations for many-time correlations and linear responses. We also speculate on how these features will be modified in systems evolving slowly out of equilibrium, such as finite-dimensional or dilute spin-glasses. Secondly, we present a formalism that allows one to derive a series of approximated equations that determine the dynamics of disordered spin models on random (hyper) graphs.     

Scaling properties of the growing monolayer on the disordered substrate

We present results of theoretical and numerical studies the pattern formation processes in adsorptive system with the disordered substrate, representing high-entropy alloy. The lateral diffusivity of adatoms on the substrate is represented as a quenched spatial disorder. By taking into account a transference of adsorbate between first two layers we construct the reaction-diffusion model, describing evolution of adsorbate concentration on the disordered substrate. It will be shown, that at elevated values of the pressure inside a chamber the quenched spatial disorder will induce pattern formation in the system. We will show that the strength of the spatial disorder can control dynamics of nanostructured film growth, type of surface structures and scaling properties of the growing layer. This study provides an insight into details of self-organization of adatoms on the high-entropy alloys in adsorptive systems.     

Curvature induced periodic attractor on growth interface

We experimentally address the long-time dynamics of an artificially curved growth interface in directional solidification. Repetitive cell nucleations are found to appear in a disordered way but to eventually organize themselves coherently, at long times. This behavior is recovered by simulation of a nonlinear advection-diffusion model for the phase dynamics. The existence of a periodic attractor is shown by deriving a Liapunov functional for the cellular pattern organization on time ranges that include the singular events of cell nucleation.     

Classical diffusion in random environments: A new numerical method

We present a numerical method for classical lattice diffusion processes in a random environment. The special merits of the presented procedure in comparison with Monte Carlo methods are in the economy of computer time and storage. As an example for the potential of the method we present results for excitation dynamics in disordered polymer chains.     

Frustration and glassiness in spin models with cavity-mediated interactions

We show that the effective spin-spin interaction between three-level atoms confined in a multimode optical cavity is long-ranged and sign changing, like the RKKY interaction; therefore, ensembles of such atoms subject to frozen-in positional randomness can realize spin systems having disordered and frustrated interactions. We argue that, whenever the atoms couple to sufficiently many cavity modes, the cavity-mediated interactions give rise to a spin glass. In addition, we show that the quantum dynamics of cavity-confined spin systems is that of a Bose-Hubbard model with strongly disordered hopping but no on-site disorder; this model exhibits a random-singlet glass phase, absent in conventional optical-lattice realizations. We briefly discuss experimental signatures of the realizable phases.     

Static and dynamic coupling transitions of vortex lattices in disordered anisotropic superconductors

We use three-dimensional molecular dynamics simulations of magnetically interacting pancake vortices to study vortex matter in disordered, highly anisotropic materials such as BSCCO. We observe a sharp 3D-2D transition from vortex lines to decoupled pancakes as a function of relative interlayer coupling strength, with an accompanying large increase in the critical current reminiscent of a second peak effect. We find that decoupled pancakes, when driven, simultaneously recouple and order into a crystalline-like state at high drives. We construct a dynamic phase diagram and show that the dynamic recoupling transition is associated with a double peak in dV/dI.     

Ionic motion in materials with disordered structures

The dynamics of mobile ions in materials with disordered structures constitute a challengingly complicated many-particle process. Time-resolved information on the dynamics is obtained from spectra of the complex ionic conductivity, which span more than 17 decades on the frequency scale. Ionic crystals with structural disorder as well as ion-conducting glasses, melts and polymers are found to display similar characteristics of their complex conductivity spectra. The features observed in the spectra led us to formulate a set of simple rules for the ion dynamics. The rules may be written as rate equations, forming the so-called MIGRATION concept. The acronym stands for MIsmatch Generated Relaxation for the Accommodation and Transport of IONs. Ionic movements that remain localised are described by a modified version of the MIGRATION concept, which accounts for the NCL (Nearly Constant Loss) behaviour. In general, all aspects of the experimental conductivity spectra of disordered ionic materials are well reproduced by model spectra comprising MIGRATION-type, NCL-type and vibrational components.