Dynamo Effect in the Kraichnan Magnetohydrodynamic Turbulence

The existence of a dynamo effect in a simplified magnetohydrodynamic model of turbulence is considered when the magnetic Prandtl number approaches zero or infinity. The magnetic field is interacting with an incompressible Kraichnan-Kazantsev model velocity field which incorporates also a viscous cutoff scale. An approximate system of equations in the different scaling ranges can be formulated and solved, so that the solution tends to the exact one when the viscous and magnetic-diffusive cutoffs approach zero. In this approximation we are able to determine analytically the conditions for the existence of a dynamo effect and give an estimate of the dynamo growth rate. Among other things we show that in the large magnetic Prandtl number case the dynamo effect is always present. Our analytical estimates are in good agreement with previous numerical studies of the Kraichnan-Kazantsev dynamo by Vincenzi (J. Stat. Phys. 106:1073–1091, 2002).     

Exponentially small splittings in Hamiltonian systems

Families of area preserving analytical maps, depending on a small parameter epsilon, are considered, with the case epsilon=0 corresponding to an integrable map. The asymptotic formulas for the splittings of separatrices are derived by the method of analytical continuation of the separatrices to the complex domain. The main terms of the asymptotics are exponentially small with respect to the size of the perturbation. As epsilon tends to zero, the intersection angle of the separatrices can oscillate. The exponent and the oscillatory multiplier of the asymptotic formulas are determined by the position of poles of the homoclinic (heteroclinic) orbit of the limiting flow. Pre-exponential coefficients in the asymptotic formulas contain a multiplier obtained by the numerical study of separatrices of "model" maps in the complex domain.     

Unstable state dynamics: Treatment of colored noise

The diffusion of a particle set near an unstable point in a bistable potential is considered. The scaling theory of fluctuations proposed originally for onedimensional systems driven by Gaussian white noise is extended to arbitrary dimensions. The merits and drawbacks of the scaling theory are discussed by taking a model problem in one dimension. It is shown in passing that the saddle point approximation enables one to get analytic expressions for various moments of the stochastic process. The two different methods to include asymptotic fluctuations-which are absent in the usual scaling solution-are shown to be equivalent. An alternate way of including asymptotic fluctuations is attempted by solving the associated Fokker-Planck equation using the Fer formula. The reason for the failure of this method is traced. After this, it is argued that the unified scaling theory should be applicable for treatment of colored noise as well, for the scaling assumption is independent of the statistical property of the driving noise. Explicit Monte Carlo simulation of a model onedimensional system driven by exponentially correlated Gaussian noise is performed and compared with the scaling solution to bolster this point. The agreement is very good.     

Semiflexible polymers in straining flows

We introduce a model for semiflexible polymer chains based on the integral of an appropriate Gaussian process. The stiffness is characterized physically by adding a bending energy. The degree of stiffness in the polymer chain is quantified by means of a parameter and as this parameter tends to infinity, the limiting case reduces to the Brownian model of completely flexible chains studied in earlier work. The calculation of the partition function for the configuration statistical mechanics (i.e., the distribution of shapes) of such polymers in elongational flow or quadratic potentials is equivalent to the probabilistic problem of finding the law of a quadratic functional of the associated Gaussian process. An exact formula for the partition function is presented; however, in practice, this formula is too complicated for most computations. We therefore develop an asymptotic expansion for the partition function in terms of the stiffness parameter and obtain the first-order term which gives the first-order deviation from the completely flexible case. In addition to the partition function, the method presented here can also deal with other quadratic functionals such as the “stochastic area” associated with two polymer chains.     

The diffusion-control limit revisited

We consider nonequilibrium adsorption to a freshly formed surface. Owing to the initial lack of equilibrium, the common diffusion-control assumption is inconsistent at small times. A uniform small-time asymptotic approximation is constructed for a Langmuir-type system in terms of the small parameter epsilon representing the ratio of the respective kinetic and diffusive time scales of the problem. The diffusion-control approximation becomes valid only when t>epsilon. The adsorption results are applied to the calculation of the dynamic surface tension.     

Nonsensitive Homotopy-Padé Approach: Anharmonic Oscillators

In order to investigate a complicated physical system, it is convenient to consider a simple, easy to solve model, which is chosen to reflect as much physics as possible of the original system, as an ideal approximation. Motivated by this fundamentalidea, we propose a novel asymptotic method, the nonsensitive homotopy-Padé approach. In this method, homotopy relations are constructed to link the original system with an ideal, solvable model. An artificial homotopy parameter is introduced to the homotopy relations as the normal perturbation parameter to generatethe perturbation series, and is used to implement the Padé approximation. Meanwhile, some other auxiliary nonperturbative parameters, which are used to control the convergence of the perturbation series, are inserted to the approximants, and are fixed via the principle of minimal sensitivity. The method is used to study the eigenvalue problem of the quantum anharmonic oscillators. Highly accurate numerical results show its validity. Possible further studies on this method are also briefly discussed.     

The Dynamics of the Autowave Front in a Model of Urban Ecosystems

A nonlinear singularly perturbed system of parabolic equations in a two-dimensional domain is considered. The system can be used to simulate the motion of an autowave front in a model of the evolution of urban ecosystems in the case of an inhomogeneous medium whose parameters vary with time. An asymptotic analysis of the problem is performed using methods of the theory of contrast structures. An asymptotic approximation of a front-type solution of the zero and first orders is obtained.     

Asymptotic analysis of the spatial discretization of radiation absorption and re-emission in Implicit Monte Carlo

We perform an asymptotic analysis of the spatial discretization of radiation absorption and re-emission in Implicit Monte Carlo (IMC), a Monte Carlo technique for simulating nonlinear radiative transfer. Specifically, we examine the approximation of absorption and re-emission by a spatially continuous artificial-scattering process and either a piecewise-constant or piecewise-linear emission source within each spatial cell. We consider three asymptotic scalings representing (i) a time step that resolves the mean-free time, (ii) a Courant limit on the time-step size, and (iii) a fixed time step that does not depend on any asymptotic scaling. For the piecewise-constant approximation, we show that only the third scaling results in a valid discretization of the proper diffusion equation, which implies that IMC may generate inaccurate solutions with optically large spatial cells if time steps are refined. However, we also demonstrate that, for a certain class of problems, the piecewise-linear approximation yields an appropriate discretized diffusion equation under all three scalings. We therefore expect IMC to produce accurate solutions for a wider range of time-step sizes when the piecewise-linear instead of piecewise-constant discretization is employed. We demonstrate the validity of our analysis with a set of numerical examples.     

A Numerical Study of Arnold Diffusion in a Priori Unstable Systems

This paper concerns the problem of the numerical detection of Arnold diffusion in a priori unstable systems. Specifically, we introduce a new definition of Arnold diffusion which is adapted to the numerical investigation of the problem, and is based on the numerical computation of the stable and unstable manifolds of the system. Examples of this Arnold diffusion are provided in a model system. In this model, we also find that Arnold diffusion behaves as an approximate Markovian process, thus it becomes possible to compute diffusion coefficients. The values of the diffusion coefficients satisfy the scaling . We also find that this law is correlated to the validity of the Melnikov approximation: in fact, the law is valid up to the same critical value of ε for which the error terms of Melnikov approximations have a sharp increment.     

Scaling behavior in a stochastic self-gravitating system

A system of stochastic differential equations for the velocity and density of classical self-gravitating matter is investigated by means of the field theoretic renormalization group. The existence of two types of large-scale scaling behavior, associated with physically admissible fixed points of the renormalization-group equations, is established. Their regions of stability are identified and the corresponding scaling dimensions are calculated in the one-loop approximation (first order of the epsilon expansion). The velocity and density fields have independent scaling dimensions. Our analysis supports the importance of the rotational (nonpotential) components of the velocity field in the formation of those scaling laws.     

Bifurcations and loss of orbital stability in nonlinear viscoelastic beam arrays subject to parametric actuation

The collective dynamic response of microbeam arrays is governed by nonlinear effects, which have not yet been fully investigated and understood. This work employs a nonlinear continuum-based model in order to investigate the nonlinear dynamic behavior of an array of N nonlinearly coupled micro-electromechanical beams that are parametrically actuated. Investigations focus on the behavior of small size arrays in the one-to-one internal resonance regime, which is generated for low or zero DC voltages. The dynamic equations of motion of a two-element system are solved analytically using the asymptotic multiple-scales method for the weakly nonlinear system. Analytically obtained results are verified numerically and complemented by a numerical analysis of a three-beam array. The dynamic responses of the two- and three-beam systems reveal coexisting periodic and aperiodic solutions. The stability analysis enables construction of a detailed bifurcation structure, which reveals coexisting stable periodic and aperiodic solutions. For zero DC voltage only quasi-periodic and no evidence for the existence of chaotic solutions are observed. This study of small size microbeam arrays yields design criteria, complements the understanding of nonlinear nearest-neighbor interactions, and sheds light on the fundamental understanding of the collective behavior of finite-size arrays.     

Influence of helicity on scaling regimes in model of passive scalar advected by the turbulent velocity field with finite correlation time

The advection of a passive scalar quantity by incompressible helical turbulent flow has been investigated in the frame of an extended Kraichnan model. Statistical fluctuations of the velocity field are assumed to have the Gaussian distribution with zero mean and defined noise with finite time-correlation. Actual calculations have been done up to two-loop approximation in the frame of the field-theoretic renormalization group approach. It turned out that the space parity violation (helicity) of a stochastic environment does not affect anomalous scaling which is the peculiar attribute of corresponding model without helicity. However, stability of asymptotic regimes, where anomalous scaling takes place, and the effective diffusivity strongly depend on the amount of helicity.     

On Δβ and the search for asymptotic scaling in lattice gauge theory

An ansatz for the β-function of SU(3) lattice gauge theory in four dimensions whose parameters are determined by Monte Carlo data is used both to compare different sets of data for Δβ and to study systematic errors. The data for Δβ obtained from different values of the block-spin renormalization group scaling factor are shown to be compatible within statistical errors. However the data is easily consistent with sizeable deviations (ca. 30% or more) from the two-loop approximation to the renormalization group scaling formula for physical quantities in the region of coupling for which Δβ essentially takes on its asymptotic value.     

Crossover between a displacive and an order-disorder phase transition

The phase transition in a three-dimensional array of classical anharmonic oscillators with harmonic nearest-neighbor coupling (discrete straight phi(4) model) is studied by Monte Carlo (MC) simulations and by analytical methods. The model allows us to choose a single dimensionless parameter a determining completely the behavior of the system. Changing a from 0 to +infinity allows to go continuously from the displacive to the order-disorder limit. We calculate the transition temperature T(c) and the temperature dependence of the order parameter down to T=0 for a wide range of the parameter a. The T(c) from MC calculations shows an excellent agreement with the known asymptotic values for small and large a. The obtained MC results are further compared with predictions of the mean-field and independent-mode approximations as well as with predictions of our own approximation scheme. In this approximation, we introduce an auxiliary system, which yields approximately the same temperature behavior of the order parameter, but allows the decoupling of the phonon modes. Our approximation gives the value of T(c) within an error of 5% and satisfactorily describes the temperature dependence of the order parameter for all values of a.     

Exact solution and scaling theory of superradiance

The general scaling theory of transient phenomena near the instability point, which has been proposed by one of the present authors (M.S.), is applied to investigate the fluctuation and relaxation of superradiance near the complete inversion (or instability point). An exact solution for a simple model of superradiance has been obtained to study the relaxation and fluctuation of it near the complete inversion and to confirm the validity of the scaling theory. It is found that this asymptotic evaluation method yields very good results for a large system size Ω. The Ω-expansion method by van Kampen and by Kubo et al. is also discussed in this model in order to clarify the connection of it with the scaling theory.     

Kinetic model for sheared granular flows in the high Knudsen number limit

The sheared granular flow of rough inelastic granular disks is analyzed in the high Knudsen number limit, where the frequency of particle-wall collisions is large compared with particle-particle collisions, using a kinetic theory approach. An asymptotic expansion is used in the small parameter epsilon =(nsigmaL), which is the ratio of the frequencies of particle-particle and particle-wall collisions, where n is the number of disks per unit area, sigma is the disk diameter, and L is the channel width. The collisions are specified using a normal coefficient of restitution e(n) and a tangential coefficient of restitution e(t). The analysis identifies two regions in the e(t) - e(n) parameter space, one where the final steady state is a static one in which the translational velocities of all particles decrease to zero, and the second where the final steady state is a dynamic one in which the mean square velocities scale as a power of epsilon in the limit epsilon --> 0. Both of these predictions are shown to be in quantitative agreement with computer simulations.     

A concrete realization of specific heat-phonon spectrum inversion for YBCO

In this Letter, a phonon spectrum of YBCO is obtained from its experimental specific heat data by an exact inversion formula with eliminating divergence parameter [Dai Xianxi, Xu Xinwen and Dai Jiqiong, Proceedings of Beijing International Conference on High T_c Superconductivity, Sept. 4–8 Beijing, China, (1989) 521], [Dai Xianxi, Xu Xinwen and Dai Jiqiong, Phys. Lett. A 147 (1990) 445]. The results are comparable to that from neutron inelastic scattering. Some key points of specific heat-phonon spectrum inversion (SPI) theory as well as a method of asymptotic behavior control are discussed. An improved unique existence theorem is presented. A universal function set for the numerical calculation in SPI is obtained, which will make the inversion method applicable and convenient in practice. This is the first time to realize the specific heat-phonon spectrum inversion in a concrete system.     

The effective gauge field action of a system of non-relativistic electrons

We consider a system of free, non-relativistic electrons at zero temperature and positive density, coupled to an arbitrary, external electromagnetic vector potential,A. By integrating out the electron degrees of freedom we obtain the effective action forA. We show that, in the scaling limit, this effective action is quadratic inA and can be viewed as an integral over the Fermi sphere of effective actions of (1+1)-dimensional, chiral schwinger models. We use this result to elucidate Luther-Haldane bosonization of systems of non-relativistic electrons. We also study systems of weakly coupled interacting electrons for which the BCS channel is turned off. Using the quadratic dependence of the effective action onA, we show that, in the scaling limit, the RPA yields the dominant contribution.     

Quartic oscillator potential in the γ-rigid regime of the collective geometrical model

A prolate γ-rigid version of the Bohr-Mottelson Hamiltonian with a quartic anharmonic oscillator potential in β collective shape variable is used to describe the spectra for a variety of vibrational-like nuclei. Speculating the exact separation between the two Euler angles and the β variable, one arrives at a differential Schrödinger equation with a quartic anharmonic oscillator potential and a centrifugal-like barrier. The corresponding eigenvalue is approximated by an analytical formula depending only on a single parameter up to an overall scaling factor. The applicability of the model is discussed in connection to the existence interval of the free parameter, which is limited by the accuracy of the approximation, and by comparison with the predictions of the related X(3) and X(3)-β ² models. The model is applied to qualitatively describe the spectra for nine nuclei which exhibit near-vibrational features.     

A JWKB analysis of the sextic anharmonic oscillator in d dimensions

On the basis of a radial generalization of the JWKB quantization rule, which incorporates higher orders of the approximation, an explicit analytical formula is derived for the energy levels of the three-dimensional sextic anharmonic oscillator. The formula exhibits the scaling property of the exact eigenvalues, and is readily generalized to any dimension. The predicted results are in good agreement with known numerical values.