Activated Random Walkers: Facts, Conjectures and Challenges

We study a particle system with hopping (random walk) dynamics on the integer lattice ? ^d . The particles can exist in two states, active or inactive (sleeping); only the former can hop. The dynamics conserves the number of particles; there is no limit on the number of particles at a given site. Isolated active particles fall asleep at rate λ>0, and then remain asleep until joined by another particle at the same site. The state in which all particles are inactive is absorbing. Whether activity continues at long times depends on the relation between the particle density ζ and the sleeping rate λ. We discuss the general case, and then, for the one-dimensional totally asymmetric case, study the phase transition between an active phase (for sufficiently large particle densities and/or small λ) and an absorbing one. We also present arguments regarding the asymptotic mean hopping velocity in the active phase, the rate of fixation in the absorbing phase, and survival of the infinite system at criticality. Using mean-field theory and Monte Carlo simulation, we locate the phase boundary. The phase transition appears to be continuous in both the symmetric and asymmetric versions of the process, but the critical behavior is very different. The former case is characterized by simple integer or rational values for critical exponents (β=1, for example), and the phase diagram is in accord with the prediction of mean-field theory. We present evidence that the symmetric version belongs to the universality class of conserved stochastic sandpiles, also known as conserved directed percolation. Simulations also reveal an interesting transient phenomenon of damped oscillations in the activity density.     

Frogs in Random Environment

We study the so-called frog model: Initially there are some sleeping particles and one active particle. A sleeping particle is activated when an active particle hits it, after that the activated particle starts to walk independently of everything and can activate other sleeping particles as well. The initial configuration of sleeping particles is random with density p(x). We identify the critical rate of decay of p(x) separating transience from recurrence, and study some other properties of the model.     

Velocity and velocity bounds in static spherically symmetric metrics

We find simple expressions for velocity of massless particles with dependence on the distance, r, in Schwarzschild coordinates. For massive particles these expressions give an upper bound for the velocity. Our results apply to static spherically symmetric metrics. We use these results to calculate the velocity for different cases: Schwarzschild, Schwarzschild-de Sitter and Reissner-Nordström with and without the cosmological constant. We emphasize the differences between the behavior of the velocity in the different metrics and find that in cases with naked singularity there always exists a region where the massless particle moves with a velocity greater than the velocity of light in vacuum. In the case of Reissner-Nordström-de Sitter we completely characterize the velocity and the metric in an algebraic way. We contrast the case of classical naked singularities with naked singularities emerging from metric inspired by noncommutative geometry where the radial velocity never exceeds one. Furthermore, we solve the Einstein equations for a constant and polytropic density profile and calculate the radial velocity of a photon moving in spaces with interior metric. The polytropic case of radial velocity displays an unexpected variation bounded by a local minimum and maximum.     

New Type of Brownian Motion

We consider an oscillator with a random mass for which the particles of the surrounding medium adhere to the oscillator for some random time after the collision (Brownian motion with adhesion for a harmonically bound particle). This is another form of a stochastic oscillator, different from oscillator usually studied that is subject to a random force or having random frequency or random damping. Calculation of the first two stationary moments shows that for white multiplicative noise of week strength the second moment coincides with that of usual Brownian motion, but for symmetric dichotomous noise, the second moment may appear the same type of the “energetic” instability, which exists for white noise random frequency or damping coefficient.     

Correlations for the circular Dyson brownian motion model with Poisson initial conditions

The circular Dyson brownian motion model refers to the stochastic dynamics of the log-gas on a circle. It also specifies the eigenvalues of certain parameter-dependent ensembles of unitary random matrices. This model is considered with the initial condition that the particles are non-interacting (Poisson statistics). Jack polynomial theory is used to derive a simple exact expression for the density-density correlation with the position of one particle specified in the initial state, and the position of one particle specified at time τ, valid for all β > 0. The same correlation with two particles specified in the initial state is also derived exactly, and some special cases of the theoretical correlations are illustrated by comparison with the empirical correlations calculated from the eigenvalues of certain parameter-dependent Gaussian random matrices. Application to fluctuation formulas for time-displaced linear statistics in made.     

An exponential upper bound for the survival probability in a dynamic random trap model

We consider a symmetric translation-invariant random walk on thed-dimensional lattice ? ^d . The walker moves in an environment of moving traps. When the walker hits a trap, he is killed. The configuration of traps in the course of time is a reversible Markov process satisfying a level-2 large-deviation principle. Under some restrictions on the entropy function, we prove an exponential upper bound for the survival probability, i.e., $$\mathop {lim sup}\limits_{t \to \infty } \frac{1}{t}\log \mathbb{P}(T \geqslant t)< 0$$ whereT is the survival time of the walker. As an example, our results apply to a random walk in an environment of traps that perform a simple symmetric exclusion process.     

Can particle shape information be retrieved from light-scattering observations using spheroidal model particles?

We address the question if and how observations of scattered intensity and polarisation can be employed for retrieving particle shape information beyond a simple classification into spherical and nonspherical particles. To this end, we perform several numerical experiments, in which we attempt to retrieve shape information of complex particles with a simple nonspherical particle model based on homogeneous spheroids. The discrete dipole approximation is used to compute reference phase matrices for a cube, a Gaussian random sphere, and a porous oblate and prolate spheroid as a function of size parameter. Phase matrices for the model particles, homogeneous spheroids, are computed with the T-matrix method. By assuming that the refractive index and the size distribution is known, an optimal shape distribution of model particles is sought that best matches the reference phase matrix. Both the goodness of fit and the optimal shape distribution are analysed. It is found that the phase matrices of cubes and Gaussian random spheres are well reproduced by the spheroidal particle model, while the porous spheroids prove to be challenging. The “retrieved” shape distributions, however, do not correlate well with the shape of the target particle even when the phase matrix is closely reproduced. Rather, they tend to exaggerate the aspect ratio and always include multiple spheroids. A most likely explanation why spheroids succeed in mimicking phase matrices of more irregularly shaped particles, even if their shape distributions display little similarity to those of the target particles, is that by varying the spheroids’ aspect ratio one covers a large range of different phase matrices. This often makes it possible to find a shape distribution of spheroids that matches the phase matrix of more complex particles.     

Non-anomalous discrete R-symmetry, extra matters, and enhancement of the lightest SUSY Higgs mass

We consider low-energy supersymmetric model with non-anomalous discrete R-symmetry. To make the R-symmetry non-anomalous, we add new particles to the particle content of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM). Those new particles may couple to the Higgs boson, resulting in a significant enhancement of the lightest Higgs mass. We show that, in such a model, the lightest Higgs mass can be much larger than the MSSM upper bound; the lightest Higgs mass as large as 140 GeV (or larger) becomes possible.     

The Replica Symmetric Solution for Potts Models on d-Regular Graphs

We establish an explicit formula for the limiting free energy density (log-partition function divided by the number of vertices) for ferromagnetic Potts models on uniformly sparse graph sequences converging locally to the d-regular tree for d even, covering all temperature regimes. This formula coincides with the Bethe free energy functional evaluated at a suitable fixed point of the belief propagation recursion on the d-regular tree, the so-called replica symmetric solution. For uniformly random d-regular graphs we further show that the replica symmetric Bethe formula is an upper bound for the asymptotic free energy for any model with permissive interactions.     

Classical elementary particles in general relativity

Elementary particles, regarded as the constituents of quarks and leptons, are described classically in the framework of the general relativity theory. There are neutral particles and particles having charges±1/3e. They are taken to be spherically symmetric and to have mass density, pressure, and (if charged) charge density. They are characterized by an equation of state P=– suggested by earlier work on cosmology. The neutral particle has a very simple structure. In the case of the charged particle there is one outstanding model described by a simple analytic solution of the field equations.     

Three-species reaction-diffusion processes on scale-free networks

We study the novel three-species reaction-diffusion processes of scale-free networks that are significantly different from numerical calculations manipulated on regular and small-world lattices. The inverse particle density for the three-species process scales according to the power-law with a scaling exponent α=1.5 for γ>3. It is, however, found from numerical results that the inverse particle density scales in a different way depending on time t when γ<3. In the early time regime, α?1.5, but the inverse particle density increases exponentially over time. We also discuss the possible relationship with the dynamical properties of random walks. In particular, we measure the ratio between the number of inactive and active bonds which shows the segregation of the particles.     

Composite system in noncommutative space and the equivalence principle

The motion of a composite system made of N particles is examined in a space with a canonical noncommutative algebra of coordinates. It is found that the coordinates of the center-of-mass position satisfy noncommutative algebra with effective parameter. Therefore, the upper bound of the parameter of noncommutativity is re-examined. We conclude that the weak equivalence principle is violated in the case of a non-uniform gravitational field and propose the condition for the recovery of this principle in noncommutative space. Furthermore, the same condition is derived from the independence of kinetic energy on the composition.     

Time-like geodesic structure of a spherically symmetric black hole in the brane-world

Recently Malihe Heydari-Fard obtained a spherically symmetric exterior black hole solution in the brane-world scenario, which can be used to explain the galaxy rotation curves without postulating dark matter. By analysing the particle effective potential, we have investigated the time-like geodesic structure of the spherically symmetric black hole in the brane-world. We mainly take account of how the cosmological constant α and the stellar pressure β affect the time-like geodesic structure of the black hole. We find that the radial particle falls to the singularity from a finite distance or plunges into the singularity, depending on its initial conditions. But the non-radial time-like geodesic structure is more complex than the radial case. We find that the particle moves on the bound orbit or stable (unstable) circle orbit or plunges into the singularity, or reflects to infinity, depending on its energy and initial conditions. By comparing the particle effective potential curves for different values of the stellar pressure β and the cosmological constant α, we find that the stellar pressure parameter β does not affect the time-like geodesic structure of the black hole, but the cosmological constant α has an impact on its time-like geodesic structure.     

Two models of quantum random walk

We present an overview of two models of quantum random walk. In the first model, the discrete quantum random walk, we present the explicit solution for the recurring amplitude of the quantum random walk on a one-dimensional lattice. We also introduce a new method of solving the problem of random walk in the most general case and use it to derive the hitting amplitude for quantum random walk on the hypercube. The second is a special model based on a local interaction between neighboring spin-1/2 particles on a one-dimensional lattice. We present explicit results for the relevant quantities and obtain an upper bound on the speed of convergence to limiting probability distribution.     

An invariance principle for reversible Markov processes. Applications to random motions in random environments

We present an invariance principle for antisymmetric functions of a reversible Markov process which immediately implies convergence to Brownian motion for a wide class of random motions in random environments. We apply it to establish convergence to Brownian motion (i) for a walker moving in the infinite cluster of the two-dimensional bond percolation model, (ii) for ad-dimensional walker moving in a symmetric random environment under very mild assumptions on the distribution of the environment, (iii) for a tagged particle in ad-dimensional symmetric lattice gas which allows interchanges, (iv) for a tagged particle in ad-dimensional system of interacting Brownian particles. Our formulation also leads naturally to bounds on the diffusion constant.     

Relaxation of the Probability Characteristics of Brownian Motion under the Action of a Non-Delta-Correlated Random Force

We consider the relaxation of the moments of the coordinates of one-dimensional Brownian motion of particles in a symmetric potential profile under the action of a Gaussian, exponentially correlated random force. An analytical-numerical method of analysis based on obtaining and numerically solving a chain of differential equations for joint cumulants of some functions of particle coordinates and a random force is used. A priori constraints on the intensity and correlation time of noise are not imposed. Numerical procedure is checked by comparison with analytical results, which can be found in the limiting cases of delta-correlated and quasistatic random force. The dependence of the relaxation of the average value and variance on the intensity and spectrum of a random force and the character of the initial distribution of particles is elucidated. In particular, the presence of a variance minimum during distribution relaxation is established. The evolution of the model probability distribution of particle coordinates is constructed on the basis of the moment relaxation.     

A New Upper Bound for the Critical Probability of the Frog Model on Homogeneous Trees

Journal of Statistical Physics - We consider the interacting particle system on the homogeneous tree of degree $$(d + 1)$$ , known as frog model. In this model, active particles perform independent...     

Inertial capture in flow through porous media

We investigate through numerical calculation of non-Brownian particles transported by a fluid in a porous medium, the influence of geometry and inertial effects on the capture efficiency of the solid matrix. In the case of a periodic array of cylinders and under the action of gravity, our results reveal that δ ～ St, where δ is the particle capture efficiency, and St is the Stokes number. In the absence of gravity, we observe a typical second order transition between non-trapping and trapping of particles that can be expressed as δ ～ (St ? St _c ) ^α , with an exponent α ≈ 0.5, where St _c is the critical Stokes number. We also perform simulations for flow through a random porous structure and confirm that its capture behavior is consistent with the simple periodic model.     

Upper bound to the spin correlation function of the n-vector model with random anisotropic interactions

We obtain an upper bound to the spin correlation function in the thermodynamic limit of the zero external field limit for the n-vector model with random anisotropic interactions. We find a sufficient condition for disappearance of the spontaneous long-range order.