Generic two-phase coexistence, relaxation kinetics, and interface propagation in the quadratic contact process: Analytic studies

The quadratic contact process is implemented as an adsorption-desorption model on a two-dimensional square lattice. The model involves random adsorption at empty sites, and correlated desorption requiring diagonal pairs of empty neighbors. A simulation study of this model [D.-J. Liu, X. Guo, J.W. Evans, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 (2007) 050601] revealed the existence of generic two-phase coexistence between a low-coverage active steady-state and a completely covered absorbing state. Here, an analytic treatment of model behavior is developed based on truncation approximations to the exact master equations. Applying this approach for spatially homogeneous states, we characterize steady-state behavior as well as the kinetics of relaxation to the steady-states. Extending consideration to spatially inhomogeneous states, we obtain discrete reaction-diffusion type equations characterizing evolution. These are employed to analyze an orientation-dependence of the propagation of planar interfaces between active and absorbing states which underlies the generic two-phase coexistence. We also describe the dynamics and critical forms of planar perturbations of the active state and of droplets of one phase embedded in the other.     

Quadratic contact process: phase separation with interface-orientation-dependent equistability

The quadratic contact process is implemented on a square lattice as a model with random adsorption and correlated desorption requiring empty pairs of diagonal neighbors. The model exhibits a discontinuous phase transition between an active state and an absorbing state, but equistability between these states depends on the orientation of the separating interface. Correspondingly, for a generalized class of models, we find phase coexistence over a finite region of their two-dimensional parameter space. This is in stark contrast to behavior in equilibrium systems.     

Kinetic Phase Transition in A2 ＋ 2B2 → 2B2A Reaction System with Particle Diffusion

A lattice gas model is presented for the A2 ＋2B2 → 2B2A reaction system with particle diffusion in two dimensions. In the model, B2 dissociates in the random dimer-filling mechanism and A2 dissociates in the end-on dimer filling mechanism. A reactive window appears and the system exhibits a continuous phase transition from a reactive state to a ＂B ＋ vacancy＂ covered state with infinitely many absorbing states. When the diffusion of particle B is considered, there are only two absorbing states. It is found that the critical behavior of the continuous phase transition changes from the directed percolation （DP） class to the pair contact process with diffusion （PCPD） class.     

Time-dependent perturbation theory for nonequilibrium lattice models

We develop a time-dependent perturbation theory for nonequilibrium interacting particle systems. We focus on models such as the contact process which evolve via destruction and autocatalytic creation of particles. At a critical value of the destruction rate there is a continuous phase transition between an active steady state and the vacuum state, which is absorbing. We present several methods for deriving series for the evolution starting from a single seed particle, including expansions for the ultimate survival probability in the super- and subcritical regions, expansions for the average number of particles in the subcritical region, and short-time expansions. Algorithms for computer generation of the various expansions are presented. Rather long series (24 terms or more) and precise estimates of critical parameters are presented.     

Duality for Stochastic Models of Transport

We study three classes of continuous time Markov processes (inclusion process, exclusion process, independent walkers) and a family of interacting diffusions (Brownian energy process). For each model we define a boundary driven process which is obtained by placing the system in contact with proper reservoirs, working at different particle densities or different temperatures. We show that all the models are exactly solvable by duality, using a dual process with absorbing boundaries. The solution does also apply to the so-called thermalization limit in which particles or energy is instantaneously redistributed among sites. The results shows that duality is a versatile tool for analyzing stochastic models of transport, while the analysis in the literature has been so far limited to particular instances. Long-range correlations naturally emerge as a result of the interaction of dual particles at the microscopic level and the explicit computations of covariances match, in the scaling limit, the predictions of the macroscopic fluctuation theory.     

Boundary-induced nonequilibrium phase transition into an absorbing state

We demonstrate that absorbing phase transitions in one dimension may be induced by the dynamics of a single site. As an example, we consider a one-dimensional model of diffusing particles, where a single site at the boundary evolves according to the dynamics of a contact process. As the rate for offspring production at this site is varied, the model exhibits a phase transition from a fluctuating active phase into an absorbing state. The universal properties of the transition are analyzed by numerical simulations and approximation techniques.     

Branching exclusion process on a strip

We consider a model of stochastically interacting particles on an infinite strip of ²; in this model, known as a branching exclusion process, particles jump to each empty neighboring site with rate /4 and also can create a new particle with rate 1/4 at each one of these sites. The initial configuration is assumed to have a rightmost particle and we study the process as seen from the rightmost vertical line occupied. We prove that this process has exactly one invariant measure with the property thatH, the number of empty sites to the left of the rightmost particle, has an exponential moment. This refines a result presented by Bramson {eaet al.}, who proved that ford=1,H is finite with probability 1.     

Coexistence in the two-dimensional May-Leonard model with random rates

We employ Monte Carlo simulations to numerically study the temporal evolution and transient oscillations of the population densities, the associated frequency power spectra, and the spatial correlation functions in the (quasi-) steady state in two-dimensional stochastic May-Leonard models of mobile individuals, allowing for particle exchanges with nearest-neighbors and hopping onto empty sites. We therefore consider a class of four-state three-species cyclic predator-prey models whose total particle number is not conserved. We demonstrate that quenched disorder in either the reaction or in the mobility rates hardly impacts the dynamical evolution, the emergence and structure of spiral patterns, or the mean extinction time in this system. We also show that direct particle pair exchange processes promote the formation of regular spiral structures. Moreover, upon increasing the rates of mobility, we observe a remarkable change in the extinction properties in the May-Leonard system (for small system sizes): (1) as the mobility rate exceeds a threshold that separates a species coexistence (quasi-) steady state from an absorbing state, the mean extinction time as function of system size N crosses over from a functional form ∼ e ^cN /N (where c is a constant) to a linear dependence; (2) the measured histogram of extinction times displays a corresponding crossover from an (approximately) exponential to a Gaussian distribution. The latter results are found to hold true also when the mobility rates are randomly distributed.     

界面摩擦过程非连续能量耗散机理研究

结合无磨损界面摩擦微观能量耗散机理的复合振子模型,运用量子理论建立了微观能量耗散的量子力学模型.分析表明：在滑动过程中,当界面原子从一种平衡态跳跃至另一种平衡态时,摩擦功以离散形式耗散为界面原子热振子,且界面吸收能量的能力是离散的;高能态界面较低能态界面吸收能量的能力强,表现为易于吸收界面势能.界面原子吸收和释放能量的离散性在宏观上表现为摩擦功耗散的非连续性,为从微观角度解释无磨损界面摩擦状态周期性变化提供了理论基础. 关键词： 摩擦 非连续能量耗散 复合振子模型     

Optimal disorder for segregation in annealed small worlds

We study a model for microscopic segregation in a homogeneous system of particles moving on a one-dimensional lattice. Particles tend to separate from each other, and evolution ceases when at least one empty site is found between any two particles. Motion is a mixture of diffusion to nearest-neighbour sites and long-range jumps, known as annealed small-world propagation. The long-range jump probability plays the role of the small-world disorder. We show that there is an optimal value of this probability, for which the segregation process is fastest. Moreover, above a critical probability, the time needed to reach a fully segregated state diverges for asymptotically large systems. These special values of the long-range jump probability depend crucially on the particle density. Our system is a novel example of the rare dynamical processes with critical behaviour at a finite value of the small-world disorder.     

Analysis of a Drop-Push Model for Percolation and Coagulation

In this article, we study a type of a one dimensional percolation and coagulation model whose basic features include a sequential dropping of particles on a substrate followed by their transport via a pushing mechanism. Particles are dropped onto a one dimensional lattice and carry out a random walk until they encounter an empty site where they become stuck. In such a model, calculating the probability of coalescence of two arbitrary clusters of particles, we embed a certain coalescence process, called the additive Marcus-Lushnikov process, which converges to a particular solution of the Smoluchowski equation. Throughout, we study the asymptotic behavior of the arrangement of empty sites and of the total displacement of all particles as well as the partial displacement of some particles, when the number of sites and of the particles tend to infinite.     

A parity conserving dimer model with infinitely many absorbing states

We propose and study a model where two aspects are present: parity conservation and infinitely many absorbing states. Whereas steady-state simulations show that the static critical behaviour is not affected by the presence of multiple absorbing configurations, the influence of the initial state associated with the presence of slowly decaying memory effects is clearly displayed in time dependent simulations. We report results of a detailed investigation of the dependence of critical spreading exponents on the initial particle density. Received 13 January 1999 and Received in final form 7 April 1999     

Relativistically covariant Bohm-Bub hidden-variable theory for spin measurement of a single particle

We present a simple first step toward a relativistically covariant generalization of the Bohm-Bub hidden-variable theory. The model is applicable to spin measurement on a single Dirac particle and describes the collapse of the state vector to a spin-up or spin-down state. The essential postulate is that the hidden-variable vector transforms in the same way as the state vector under a Lorentz transformation. This yields a covariant collapse equation, which reduces to the ordinary Bohm-Bub equation for an observer stationary with respect to the particle and shows a time dilated collapse for a moving observer. The model yields the correct quantum transition probabilities for all observers.Deceased.     

An “exact” geometric-optics approach for computing the optical properties of large absorbing particles

Based on the principles of geometric optics, the ray-tracing technique has been extensively used to compute the single-scattering properties of particles whose sizes are much larger than the wavelength of the incident wave. However, the inhomogeneity characteristics of internal waves within an absorbing particle, which stem from a complex index of refraction, have not been fully taken into consideration in the geometric ray-tracing approaches reported in the literature for computing the scattering properties of absorbing particles. In this paper, we first demonstrate that electromagnetic fields associated with an absorbing particle can be decomposed into the TE and TM modes. Subsequently, on the basis of Maxwell's equations and electromagnetic boundary conditions for the TE-mode electric field and the TM-mode magnetic field, we derive generalized Fresnel reflection and refraction coefficients, which differ from conventional formulae and do not involve complex angles. Additionally, a recurrence formulism is developed for the computation of the scattering phase matrix of an absorbing particle within the framework of the conventional geometric ray-tracing method. We further present pertinent numerical examples for the phase function and the degree of linear polarization in conjunction with light scattering by individual absorbing spheres, and discuss the deviation of the geometric optics solutions from the exact Lorenz-Mie results with respect to size parameter and complex refractive index.     

A stochastic model of deposition processes with nucleation

We study an interacting particle system on a one-dimensional infinite lattice and one-dimensional lattices with a periodic boundary. In this system, each site of the lattice may be either empty or occupied and initially all the lattice sites are empty. The evolution of the system is defined as follows: an empty site waits an exponential time with mean 1 and becomes occupied, and an occupied site becomes empty at a time which is distributed exponentially with mean _k, wherek is the number of occupied neighboring sites of this site in the current state of the system. We show that the mean number of the occupied sites of the lattice, considered as a function of time, may possess a convex part. A sufficient condition for this is that ₀ is large and _k,k1, are small. The studied system has been proposed recently as a mathematical model of certain deposition processes, in particular those which exhibit nucleation caused by lateral attractive interaction between the deposited molecules. Our research was motivated by the observation that the density of deposited molecules contains a convex part, over some time interval, if the attractive forces are strong, while this density is a concave function of time if these forces are weak or absent. Our result agrees with this observation.     

Realization of the Open-Boundary Totally Asymmetric Simple Exclusion Process on a Ring

We propose a misanthrope process, defined on a ring, which realizes the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process with open boundaries. In the misanthrope process, particles have no exclusion interaction in contrast to those in the simple exclusion process, while the hop rates depend on both numbers of particles at departure and arrival sites. Arranging the hop rates, we can recover the simple exclusion property and moreover have condensation if the number of particles exceeds that of sites. One condensate grows at an arbitrary single site and then behaves as an external reservoir providing and absorbing particles. It is known that, under some condition, the misanthrope process has an exact solution for the steady-state probability distribution. We exploit this to investigate the present model in an analytical manner.     

Event-driven simulations of insulating grains in an external electric field

In this work we employ event-driven particle dynamics simulations for a system of spherical insulating grains interacting with an external electric field. This system resembles the electrostatic particle separation present on some industrial processes. Here, the particles collide inelastically with each other and with the container walls, for a constant normal and tangential restitution coefficients. During the collisions, the grains can acquire electric charge due to triboelectric contact charging, since two different species of insulating particles are mixed. Particle-particle electric interactions are not considered. Grains are also subjected to the gravitational field and rotation, and are confined in a cubic box with thermal walls in order to prevent the static equilibrium state. We calculate the mass and charge density profile, and the particle charge distribution for different values of the electric field and temperature of the walls. The particle charge distribution and the effect of particle sizes on the separation process were also investigated.