The ground state energy of Sdhrödinger operators

We studye()=inf spec(-+V) and examine whene()<0 for all 0. We prove thatc ²e()–d ² for suitableV and all small ||.Research partially funded under NSF grant number DMS-9101716.     

The asymmetric contact process on a finite set

The contact process onZ has one phase transition; let _c be the critical value at which the transition occurs. Let _N be the extinction time of the contact process on {0,...,N}. Durrett and Liu (1988), Durrett and Schonmann (1988), and Durrett, Schonmann, and Tanaka (1989) have respectively proved that the subcritical, supercritical, and critical phases can be characterized using a large finite system (instead ofZ) in the following way. There are constants ₁() and ₂() such that if < _c , lim _{N N} /logN = 1/₁(); if > _c , lim _N log _N /N = ₂(); if = _c , lim _{N N} /N= and lim _{N N} /N ⁴=0 in probability. In this paper we consider the asymmetric contact process onZ when it has two distinct critical values _c1< _c2. The arguments of Durrett and Liu and of Durrett and Schonmann hold for < _c1 and > _c2. We show that for [ _c1< _c2), lim _{N N} /N=-1/, (where _i is an edge speed) and for = _c2, lim _N log _N /logN=2 in probability.     

Soliton mass and surface tension in the (λ|Ø|4)2 quantum field model

The spectrum of the mass operator on the soliton sectors of the anisotropic (|ø|⁴)₂—and the (ø⁴)₂—quantum field models in the two phase region is analyzed. It is proven that, for small enough >0, the mass gapm _s() on the soliton sector is positive, andm _s()=0(^–1). This involves estimatingm _s() from below by a quantity () analogous to the surface tension in the statistical mechanics of two dimensional, classical spin systems and then estimating () by methods of Euclidean field theory. In principle, our methods apply to any two dimensional quantum field model with a spontaneously broken, internal symmetry group.A Sloan Foundation Fellow; Research supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation under Grant No. MPS 75-11864.Supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. PHY 76-17191     

Geometry and combinatorics of Julia sets of real quadratic maps

For real a correspondence is made between the Julia setB forz(z–)², in the hyperbolic case, and the set of-chains±(±(±..., with the aid of Cremer's theorem. It is shown how a number of features ofB can be understood in terms of-chains. The structure ofB is determined by certain equivalence classes of-chains, fixed by orders of visitation of certain real cycles; and the bifurcation history of a given cycle can be conveniently computed via the combinatorics of-chains. The functional equations obeyed by attractive cycles are investigated, and their relation to-chains is given. The first cascade of period-doubling bifurcations is described from the point of view of the associated Julia sets and-chains. Certain Julia sets associated with the Feigenbaum function and some theorems of Lanford are discussed.Supported by NSF grant No. MCS-8104862.Supported by NSF grant No. MCS-8203325.     

Fractal drums and then-dimensional modified Weyl-Berry conjecture

In this paper, we study the spectrum of the Dirichlet Laplacian in a bounded (or, more generally, of finite volume) open set R ⁿ (n1) with fractal boundary of interior Minkowski dimension (n–1,n]. By means of the technique of tessellation of domains, we give the exact second term of the asymptotic expansion of the counting functionN() (i.e. the number of positive eigenvalues less than ) as +, which is of the form ^/2 times a negative, bounded and left-continuous function of . This explains the reason why the modified Weyl-Berry conjecture does not hold generally forn2. In addition, we also obtain explicit upper and lower bounds on the second term ofN().     

One-dimensional random walk with self-interaction

A standard random walk on a one-dimensional integer lattice is considered where the probability ofk self-intersections of a path =(0, (1),..., (n) is proportional toe ^–k . It is proven that for <0,n ^–1/3(n) converges to a certain continuous random variable. For >0 the formulas are given for the asymptotic Westerwater velocity of a generic path and for the variance of the fluctuations about the asymptotic motion.     

Fractional noise

Fractional noiseN(t),t 0, is a stochastic process for every , and is defined as the fractional derivative or fractional integral of white noise. For = 1 we recover Brownian motion and for = 1/2 we findf ^–1-noise. For 1/2 1, a superposition of fractional noise is related to the fractional diffusion equation.     

Energy level crossings in quantum mechanics

From the eigenvalue equationH \ _n () =E _n ()\ _n () withH H ₀ +V one can derive an autonomous system of first order differential equations for the eigenvaluesE _n () and the matrix elementsV _mn () where is the independent variable. To solve the dynamical system we need the initial valuesE _n ( = 0) and \ _n ( = 0). Thus one finds the motion of the energy levelsE _n (). We discuss the question of energy level crossing. Furthermore we describe the connection with the stationary state perturbation theory. The dependence of the survival probability as well as some thermodynamic quantities on is derived. This means we calculate the differential equations which these quantities obey. Finally we derive the equations of motion for the extended caseH =H ₀ +V ₁ + ² V ₂ and give an application to a supersymmetric Hamiltonian.     

On the invariant sets of a family of quadratic maps

The Julia setB for the mappingz (z–)² is considered, where is a complex parameter. For 2 a new upper bound for the Hausdorff dimension is given, and the monic polynomials orthogonal with respect to the equilibrium measure onB are introduced. A method for calculating all of the polynomials is provided, and certain identities which obtain among coefficients of the three-term recurrence relations are given. A unifying theme is the relationship betweenB and -chains ± (± (± ...), which is explored for –1/42 and for with ||1/4, with the aid of the Böttcher equation. ThenB is shown to be a Hölder continuous curve for ||<1/4.Supported by NSF Grant MCS-8104862Supported by NSF Grant MCS-8002731     

Mean-Field Critical Behavior for the Contact Process

The contact process is a model of spread of an infectious disease. Combining with the result of ref. 1, we prove that the critical exponents take on the mean-field values for sufficiently high dimensional nearest-neighbor models and for sufficiently spread-out models with d>4:()– _c as _c and ()( _c–)^–1 as _c, where () and () are the spread probability and the susceptibility of the infection respectively, and _c is the critical infection rate. Our results imply that the upper critical dimension for the contact process is at most 4.     

Ergodicité et limite semi-classique

Consider a self adjoint quantic hamiltonian:P(h)=p(x, hD _x) whereh>0 is the Planck's constant andp some smooth classical observable on the phase space R²ⁿ . When the classical flow on a compact energy shell {p=} is ergodic we prove that in the limith 0 almost all the eigenfunctions ofP(h) whose energy is near of are distributed according to the Liouville measure on {p=}.In the high energy case ( +) this sort of problem was considered by A. Schnirelman, S. Zelditch, and Y. Colin de Verdière.     

On the existence of invariant,absolutely continuous measures

Let (, , ) be a measure space with normalized measure,f: a nonsingular transformation. We prove: there exists anf-invariant normalized measure which is absolutely continuous with respect to if and only if there exist >0, and , 0<<1, such that (E)< implies (f ^–k(E))< for allk0.     

The central limit theorem for the spectrum of the random one-dimensional Schrödinger operator

Let H_L = –d²/dt²+q(t,) be an one-dimensional random Schrödinger operator in ²(–L, L) with the classical boundary conditions. The random potential q(t,) has a form q(t, )=F(x_t), where x_t is a Brownian motion on the Euclidean v-dimensional torus, FS^v R¹ is a smooth function with the nondegenerated critical points, min_s ^v F = 0. Let are the eigenvalues of H_L) be a spectral distribution function in the volume [– L,L] and N() = lim_L(1/2L)N_L() be a corresponding limit distribution function.Theorem 1. If L then the normalized difference N _L ^* ()=[N_L() -2L·N()]2L tends (in the sense of Levi-Prokhorov) to the limit Gaussian process N^*(); N^*()0, 0, and N^*() has nondegenerated finitedimensional distributions on the spectrum (i.e., > 0). Theorem 2. The limit process N^*() is a continuous process with the locally independent increments.     

Width and shift of coherent spontaneous radiation line of system of identical emitters

A study is made of the influence of the retarded electromagnetic interaction of a system of identical oscillators arranged in a cubic lattice on the form of the line of spontaneous radiation. All the cases of the mutual relation of the wave-length, the lattice constanta and the length of the crystalL = Na are solved in a unified manner. In the long-wave case (a) it is shown that the line is greatly broadened and shifted (Fig. 3). Especially in the micro-wave case (a< ) the broadening is of the order ofN ³ _e and the shift of the orderN ²(/a) _e , where _e is the natural line width of an isolated emitter. In the optical case (a) the broadening is of the order ofN(/a) ² _e and the shift of the order (/a)³ _e . In the directions satisfying Bragg's condition the line loses its Lorentz form and further broadening and also shifting of the line may occur. It is shown that the vibrations of the crystal lattice influence the coherent effects studied in the same way as they influence the Mössbauer effect.     

Kac-Moody symmetry of generalized non-linear Schrödinger equations

The classical non-linear Schrödinger equation associated with a symmetric Lie algebra =km is known to possess a class of conserved quantities which from a realization of the algebrak []. The construction is now extended to provide a realization of the Kac-Moody algebrak[, ^–1] (with central extension). One can then define auxiliary quantities to obtain the full algebra [, ^–1]. This leads to the formal linearization of the system.     

Schrödinger Operators with Empty Singularly Continuous Spectra

Let H be a semibounded perturbation of the Laplacian H ₀ in L ²( ^d ). For an admissible function sufficient conditions are given for the completeness of the scattering system (H), (H ₀). If is the exponential function and if e^{– H} is an integral operator we denote the kernel of the difference D = e^{– H} – e^{– H} ₀ by D (x, y), > 0. The singularly continuous spectrum of H is empty if^d dx ^d dy |D(x,y)| (1 + |y|²)< for some > 1. This result is applied to potential perturbations and to perturbations by imposing Dirichlet boundary conditions.     

Estimates of general Mayer graphs. II. Long-range behavior of graphs with two root points occurring in the theory of ionized systems

We find the asymptotic behavior of general Mayer 2-graphs (Mayer graphs with two root points), which occur in the theory of ionized systems. This problem arises when one wants to compute corrections to the Debye length for large values of the plasma parameter. For a given 2-graph (r) with Debye-Hückel linese ^– /r, we prove the inequalitiesC _m r ^– e ^– (r) (r ₀)C_Mr^3k–l e ^– , for anyrr ₀, and whereC _m andC _M are positive and finite constants which depend only on . These bounds are finite whenever (r) is not infinite everywhere. The integersl, k, and denote, respectively, the number of lines of the graph , its number of field points, and its local line connectivity (the maximum number of chains linking the root points, which have no line in common). From this result, we deduce that the simple irreducible 2-graphs dominant at large distances decay exponentially likee ^– and have an isthmus between the root points (an isthmus is a line whose deletion separates the graph into two disjoint components, each one containing a root point). We prove also that 2-graphs that have a number of linesl > 3k+ are infinite. We exhibit simple, irreducible prototypes satisfying this condition, for anyk 6. This implies that the Abe-Meeron theory of ionized gases as applied to a classical plasma is not free from divergences. Finally, we extend the preceding results to 2-graphs with lines F_L=(e ^– /r)^k L, withk _L real positive. We prove that they still decay exponentially likee ^– , where is now the maximal flow in a network associated to by assigning the capacityk _L to each lineL.     

Absolutely continuous invariant measures for one-parameter families of one-dimensional maps

Given a one-parameter familyf (x) of maps of the interval [0, 1], we consider the set of parameter values for whichf has an invariant measure absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure. We show that this set has positive measure, for two classes of maps: i)f (x)=f(x) where 0<4 andf(x) is a functionC ³-near the quadratic mapx(1–x), and ii)f (x)=f(x) (mod 1) wheref isC ³,f(0)=f(1)=0 andf has a unique nondegenerate critical point in [0, 1].     

Calculation and optimization of parameters of radiating distributed feedback structures

A simple method is suggested for calculation of reflection, radiation and transmission coefficients for the distributed feedback structure in the second diffraction order. The method is based on a slight difference between coefficients of reflectionR and radiationI of the surface wave for = (where is the light wavelength corresponding to a precise resonance for the grating length I) and those for =_l (where _l is the light wavelength corresponding to the resonance for the finite grating length). The simplicity of the method makes it possible to use it for optimization of the distributed feedback structure by a number of parameters. The technique can be used in the case of thin-film and diffused waveguides for both TE and TM modes.     

Analysis of the order parameter for uniform nearest particle system

The uniform nearest particle system (UNPS) is studied, which is a continuoustime Markov process with state space . The rigorous upper bound ^(mf) = ( – 1)/ for the order parameter ₂, is given by the correlation identity and the FKG inequality. Then an improvement of this bound ^(mf) is shown in a similar fashion; C( – 1)/|log( – 1) for >1. Recently, Mountford proved that the critical value _c=1. Combining his result and our improved bound implies that if the critical exponent exists, it is strictly greater than the mean-field value 1 in the weak sense.