Metastability and exponential approach to equilibrium for low-temperature stochastic Ising models

We present a proof of the exponential convergence to equilibrium of single-spin-flip stochastic dynamics for the two-dimensional Ising ferromagnet in the low-temperature case with not too small external magnetic fieldh uniformly in the volume and in the boundary conditions.     

Small random perturbations of finite- and infinite-dimensional dynamical systems: Unpredictability of exit times

We apply previous results on the pathwise exponential loss of memory of the initial condition for stochastic differential equations with small diffusion to the problem of the asymptotic distribution of the first exit times from an attracted domain. We show under general hypotheses that the suitably rescaled exit time converges in the zero-noise limit to an exponential random variable. Then we extend the results to an infinite-dimensional case obtained by adding a small random perturbation to a nonlinear heat equation.     

One-dimensional random Ising systems with interaction decayr −(1+ɛ): A convergent cluster expansion

WE consider a one-dimensional random Ising model with Hamiltonian $$H = \sum\limits_{i\ddag j} {\frac{{J_{ij} }}{{\left| {i - j} \right|^{1 + \varepsilon } }}S_i S_j } + h\sum\limits_i {S_i } $$ , where ε>0 andJ _ij are independent, identically distributed random variables with distributiondF(x) such that i) $$\int {xdF\left( x \right) = 0} $$ , ii) $$\int {e^{tx} dF\left( x \right)< \infty \forall t \in \mathbb{R}} $$ . We construct a cluster expansion for the free energy and the Gibbs expectations of local observables. This expansion is convergent almost surely at every temperature. In this way we obtain that the free energy and the Gibbs expectations of local observables areC ^∞ functions of the temperature and of the magnetic fieldh. Moreover we can estimate the decay of truncated correlation functions. In particular for every ε′>0 there exists a random variablec(ω)m, finite almost everywhere, such that $$\left| {\left\langle {s_0 s_j } \right\rangle _H - \left\langle {s_0 } \right\rangle _H \left\langle {s_j } \right\rangle _H } \right| \leqq \frac{{c\left( \omega \right)}}{{\left| j \right|^{1 + \varepsilon - \varepsilon '} }}$$ , where 〈 〉 _H denotes the Gibbs average with respect to the HamiltonianH.     

First- and second-order multivariate calibration applied to biological samples: determination of anti-inflammatories in serum and urine

First- and second-order multivariate calibration of fluorescence data have been compared as regards the determination of anti-inflammatories and metabolites in the biological fluids serum and urine. The simultaneous resolution of naproxen-salicylic acid mixtures in serum and naproxen-salicylic acid-salicyluric acid mixtures in urine was accomplished and employed for a discussion of the relative advantages of the applied chemometric tools. The analysis of second-order fluorescence excitation-emission matrices was performed using iteratively reweighted generalized rank annihilation method (IRGRAM), parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC), and self-weighted alternating trilinear decomposition (SWATLD). The results were compared with first-order fluorescence emission data analyzed with partial least-squares regression (PLS). In all cases, the performance of the methods was improved through the formation of inclusion complexes of the analytes with beta-cyclodextrin. The concentration ranges in which the analytes could be determined were as follows: naproxen, 0-250 ng mL(-1) in serum and 0-200 ng mL(-1) in urine; salicylic acid, 0-500 ng mL(-1) in serum and 0-300 ng mL(-1) in urine, and salicyluric acid, 0-300 ng mL(-1) in urine.     

Droplet dynamics for asymmetric Ising model

Nucleation from a metastable state is studied for an anisotropic Ising model at very low temperatures. It turns out that the critical nucleus as well as configurations on a typical path to it differ from the Wulff shape of an equilibrium droplet.     

On the existence of thermodynamics for the random energy model

Derrida's random energy model is considered. Almost sure andL ^P convergence of the free energy at any inverse temperature are proven. Rigorous upper and lower bounds to the finite size corrections to the free energy are given.