Performance of Wang-Landau algorithm in continuous spin models and a case study: Modified XY-model

Performance of Wang-Landau (WL) algorithm in two continuous spin models is tested by determining the fluctuations in energy histogram. Finite size scaling is performed on a modified XY-model using different WL sampling schemes. Difficulties faced in simulating relatively large continuous systems using WL algorithm are discussed.     

Pairwise Entanglement and Quantum Phase Transitions in Spin Systems

We examine several well-known quantum spin models and categorize the behaviour of pairwise entanglement at quantum phase transitions. A unitied picture on the connection between the entanglement and quantum phase transition in spin systems is presented.     

Self-organized criticality in 1D stochastic traffic flow model

Results of computer simulations of a 1D particle hopping model of traffic flow are presented. The model is characterized by parallel update and fully asymmetric stochastic hopping dynamics which allows unbounded series of jumps to empty neighbour sites on the right. The considered case of open boundary conditions can be used to model a “bottleneck” situation in traffic. Evidence for self-organized criticality is found in two aspects: the presence of long-range spatial correlations manifested in the shape of density profiles, and long-time temporal correlations showing up in the low-frequency behaviour of the spectral density of the total particle number and flow. A plausible conjecture is to interpret the observed qualitative changes in these features, as a function of the injection rate and the hopping probability, in terms of a nonequilibrium phase transition between a low-density phase and a maximal current phase. This conjecture is supported by the phase diagram obtained in mean-field approximation.     

The Korteweg-de Vries soliton in the lattice hydrodynamic model

The lattice hydrodynamic model is not only a simplified version of the macroscopic hydrodynamic model, but is also closely connected with the microscopic car following model. The modified Korteweg-de Vries (mKdV) equation about the density wave in congested traffic has been derived near the critical point since Nagatani first proposed it. But the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation near the neutral stability line has not been studied, which has been investigated in detail in the car following model. So we devote ourselves to obtaining the KdV equation from the lattice hydrodynamic model and obtaining the KdV soliton solution describing the traffic jam. Numerical simulation is conducted, to demonstrate the nonlinear analysis result.     

The “backward looking” effect in the lattice hydrodynamic model

The novel lattice hydrodynamic model is presented by incorporating the “backward looking” effect. The stability condition for the the model is obtained using the linear stability theory. The result shows that considering one following site in vehicle motion leads to the stabilization of the system compared with the original lattice hydrodynamic model and the cooperative driving lattice hydrodynamic model. The Korteweg-de Vries (KdV, for short) equation near the neutral stability line is derived by using the reductive perturbation method to show the traffic jam which is proved to be described by KdV soliton solution obtained from the KdV equation. The simulation result is consistent with the nonlinear analysis.     

Electron self-trapping at quantum and classical critical points

Using Feynman path integral technique estimations of the ground state energy have been found for a conduction electron interacting with order parameter fluctuations near quantum critical points. In some cases only singular perturbation theory in the coupling constant emerges for the electron ground state energy. It is shown that an autolocalized state (quantum fluctuon) can be formed and its characteristics have been calculated depending on critical exponents for both weak and strong coupling regimes. The concept of fluctuon is considered also for the classical critical point (at finite temperatures) and the difference between quantum and classical cases has been investigated. It is shown that, whereas the quantum fluctuon energy is connected with a true boundary of the energy spectrum, for classical fluctuon it is just a saddle-point solution for the chemical potential in the exponential density of states fluctuation tail.     

Berry phase and quantum criticality in Yang-Baxter systems

Spin interaction Hamiltonians are obtained from the unitary Yang-Baxter -matrix. Based on which, we study Berry phase and quantum criticality in the Yang-Baxter systems.     

θ renormalization, electron-electron interactions and super universality in the quantum Hall regime

The renormalization theory of the quantum Hall effect relies primarily on the non-perturbative concept of θ renormalization by instantons. Within the generalized non-linear σ model approach initiated by Finkelstein we obtain the physical observables of the interacting electron gas, formulate the general (topological) principles by which the Hall conductance is robustly quantized and derive—for the first time—explicit expressions for the non-perturbative (instanton) contributions to the renormalization group β and γ functions. Our results are in complete agreement with the recently proposed idea of super universality which says that the fundamental aspects of the quantum Hall effect are all generic features the instanton vacuum concept in asymptotically free field theory.     

Monte Carlo study of the change of critical temperature in a diluted Ising model due to configuration disorder

Monte Carlo simulations on a diluted Ising Hamiltonian were used to obtain the susceptibility of virtual binary samples (conformed by ferromagnetic atoms and non-magnetic atoms) on a bcc lattice. Samples size of L=10$L=10$ were constructed with different configuration order using random mixtures. The susceptibility curves illustrate that the critical temperature decreases when the disorder in the samples increase. From fittings of the exchange interaction versus the concentration of non-magnetic atoms it was possible to reasonably describe the magnetic phase diagram of the Fe_1−qAlq${\mathrm{Fe}}_{1-q}{\mathrm{Al}}_q$ alloys.     

Hahn echo and criticality in spin-chain systems

We present a theory to establish a relation between Hahn spin-echo of a spin-1/2 particle and quantum phase transitions in many-body systems. The Hahn echo is calculated and discussed at zero as well as at finite temperatures. On the example of XY model, we show that the critical points of the chain are marked by the extremal values in the Hahn echo, and can influence the Hahn echo in finite temperatures. An explanation for the relation between the echo and criticality is also presented.     

First order phase transitions in the canonical and the microcanonical ensemble

In the canonical ensemble any singularity of a thermodynamic function at a temperatureT _c is smeared over a temperature range of orderT _T /N. Therefore it is rather difficult to distinguish between a discontinuous and a continuous phase transition on the basis of numerical data obtained for finite systems in the canonical ensemble. It is demonstrated for four model systems that this problem cannot be circumvented by considering higher cumulants of the energy distribution or cumulant ratios. On the other hand, the distinction between first and a second order phase transition is rather direct if based on the microcanonical density of states which is readily obtainable in the dynamical ensemble.     

Intermittent criticality in the long-range connective sandpile (LRCS) model

We here propose a long-range connective sandpile model with variable connection probability Pc which has an important impact on the slope of the power-law frequency-size distribution of avalanches. The long-range connection probability Pc is changed according to an explicit function of the size of the latest event, although the evolution rule of Pc may be different in various physical systems. Such version of the sandpile model demonstrates large fluctuations in the dynamical variable 〈Z〉(t) (the spatially averaged amount of grains retained within the grid at each time step), indicating the state of intermittent criticality in the system. Many researches have suggested that the earthquake fault system is an intermittent criticality system, which would imply some level of statistical predictability of great events. Our modified sandpile model thus provides a testing ground for many proposed precursory measures related to great earthquakes.     

A decomposed equation for local entropy and entropy production in volume-preserving coarse-grained systems

In this study an equation for the local entropy is derived based on the formulation of a master equation and is applied to volume-preserving maps. The equation consists of the following terms: unsteady, convection, diffusion, probability-weighted phase space volume expansion rate, nonnegative entropy production, and residuals. The decomposition makes it possible to evaluate entropy production in terms of microscopic dynamics and is expected to be applicable to many coarse-grained systems on the phase space. When it is applied to two volume-preserving multibaker chain systems it is confirmed that the summation of the nonnegative entropy production on each site numerically coincides with the entropy production introduced by Gilbert et al. [T. Gilbert, J.R. Dorfman, P. Gaspard, Entropy production, fractals, and relaxation to equilibrium, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85 (2000) 1606-1609] and the phenomenological expression both in nonequilibrium steady and unsteady states. The coincidence is brought about by the fact that the residual terms vanish in the thermodynamic limit when they are integrated on each site. It follows that the entropy production is dominated by the nonnegative entropy production term and becomes positive in nonequilibrium states.     

A lattice gas coupled to two thermal reservoirs: Monte Carlo and field theoretic studies

We investigate the collective behavior of an Ising lattice gas, driven to non-equilibrium steady states by being coupled to two thermal baths. Monte Carlo methods are applied to a two-dimensional system in which one of the baths is fixed at infinite temperature. Both generic long range correlations in the disordered state and critical properties near the second order transition are measured. Anisotropic scaling, a key feature near criticality, is used to extract and some critical exponents. On the theoretical front, a continuum theory, in the spirit of Landau-Ginzburg, is presented. Being a renormalizable theory, its predictions can be computed by standard methods of -expansions and found to be consistent with simulation data. In particular, the critical behavior of this system belongs to a universality class which is quite different from the uniformly driven Ising model. Received 4 October 2000     

Partition function zeros of the antiferromagnetic Ising model on triangular lattice in the complex temperature plane for nonzero magnetic field

The grand partition functions Z(T,B)$Z(T,B)$ of the Ising model on L×L$L\times L$ triangular lattices with fully periodic boundary conditions, as a function of temperature T and magnetic field B  , are evaluated exactly for L<12$L<12$ (using microcanonical transfer matrix) and approximately for L?12$L?12$ (using Wang–Landau Monte Carlo algorithm). From Z(T,B)$Z(T,B)$, the distributions of the partition function zeros of the triangular-lattice Ising model in the complex temperature plane for real B≠0$B\ne 0$ are obtained and discussed for the first time. The critical points aN(x)$a_N(x)$ and the thermal scaling exponents yt(x)$y_t(x)$ of the triangular-lattice Ising antiferromagnet, for various values of x=e−2βB$x=e^{-2\beta B}$, are estimated using the partition function zeros.     

Effect of looking backward on traffic flow in a cooperative driving car following model

An extended car following model is proposed by incorporating intelligent transportation system and the backward looking effect under certain condition in traffic flow. The neutral stability condition of this model is obtained by using the linear stability theory. The results show that anticipating the behavior of vehicles preceding and following one vehicle could lead to appreciable stabilization of traffic system. From the simulation of space-time evolution of the vehicle headways, it is shown that the traffic jam could be suppressed efficiently via taking into account the information about the motion of two preceding vehicles and one following vehicle, and the analytical result is consistent with the simulation one.     

Nonmonotonic external field dependence of the magnetization in a finite Ising model: Theory and MC simulation

Using field theory and Monte Carlo (MC) simulation we investigate the finite-size effects of the magnetization M for the three-dimensional Ising model in a finite cubic geometry with periodic boundary conditions. The field theory with infinite cutoff gives a scaling form of the equation of state where is the reduced temperature, h is the external field and L is the size of system. Below and at the theory predicts a nonmonotonic dependence of f(x,y) with respect to at fixed and a crossover from nonmonotonic to monotonic behaviour when y is further increased. These results are confirmed by MC simulation. The scaling function f(x,y) obtained from the field theory is in good quantitative agreement with the finite-size MC data. Good agreement is also found for the bulk value at . Received 20 July 1999 and Received in final form 11 November 1999     

Classical two-site fidelity and quantum phase transitions in the Ising model and the extended Hubbard model

In this Letter, the classical two-site-ground-state fidelity (CTGF) is exploited to identify quantum phase transitions (QPTs) for the transverse field Ising model (TFIM) and the one-dimensional extended Hubbard model (EHM). Our results show that the CTGF exhibits an abrupt change around the regions of criticality and can be used to identify QPTs in spin and fermionic systems. The method is especially convenient when it is connected with the density-matrix renormalization group (DMRG) algorithm.