Asymptotic silence of generic cosmological singularities

In this Letter we investigate the nature of generic cosmological singularities using the framework developed by Uggla et al. We study the past asymptotic dynamics of general vacuum G2 cosmologies, which are expected to capture the singular behavior of generic cosmologies with no symmetries at all. Our results indicate that asymptotic silence holds, i.e., particle horizons along all time lines shrink to zero for generic solutions. Moreover, we provide evidence that spatial derivatives become dynamically insignificant along generic time lines, and that the evolution into the past along such time lines is governed by an asymptotic dynamical system which is associated with an invariant set-the silent boundary. We identify an attracting subset on the silent boundary that organizes the oscillatory dynamics of generic time lines in the singular regime. Finally, we discuss the dynamics associated with recurring spike formation.     

Multi-agent coordination in directed moving neighbourhood random networks

This paper considers the consensus problem of dynamical multiple agents that communicate via a directed moving neighbourhood random network.Each agent performs random walk on a weighted directed network.Agents interact with each other through random unidirectional information flow when they coincide in the underlying network at a given instant.For such a framework,we present sufficient conditions for almost sure asymptotic consensus.Numerical examples are taken to show the effectiveness of the obtained results.     

Estimating statistics for detecting determinism using global dynamical models

Classification of time series using a dynamical system ansatz is potentially powerful, however assessing performance for noisy experimental data is problematic. Here, we develop a rigorous statistical framework for calculating classification probabilities using global dynamical models, and analytically derive some asymptotic properties. We illustrate the method numerically by attempting to detect “determinism” in a noisy data set.     

Quantum walks with an anisotropic coin II: scattering theory

We perform the scattering analysis of the evolution operator of quantum walks with an anisotropic coin, and we prove a weak limit theorem for their asymptotic velocity. The quantum walks that we consider include one-defect models, two-phase quantum walks, and topological phase quantum walks as special cases. Our analysis is based on an abstract framework for the scattering theory of unitary operators in a two-Hilbert spaces setting, which is of independent interest.

     

A Locust-Inspired Model of Collective Marching on Rings

We study the collective motion of autonomous mobile agents in a ringlike environment. The agents’ dynamics are inspired by known laboratory experiments on the dynamics of locust swarms. In these experiments, locusts placed at arbitrary locations and initial orientations on a ring-shaped arena are observed to eventually all march in the same direction. In this work we ask whether, and how fast, a similar phenomenon occurs in a stochastic swarm of simple locust-inspired agents. The agents are randomly initiated as marching either clockwise or counterclockwise on a discretized, wide ring-shaped region, which we subdivide into k concentric tracks of length n. Collisions cause agents to change their direction of motion. To avoid this, agents may decide to switch tracks to merge with platoons of agents marching in their direction. We prove that such agents must eventually converge to a local consensus about their direction of motion, meaning that all agents on each narrow track must eventually march in the same direction. We give asymptotic bounds for the expected time it takes for such convergence or “stabilization” to occur, which depends on the number of agents, the length of the tracks, and the number of tracks. We show that when agents also have a small probability of “erratic”, random track-jumping behavior, a global consensus on the direction of motion across all tracks will eventually be reached. Finally, we verify our theoretical findings in numerical simulations.     

Mathematics of gravitational lensing: multiple imaging and magnification

The mathematical theory of gravitational lensing has revealed many generic and global properties. Beginning with multiple imaging, we review Morse-theoretic image counting formulas and lower bound results, and complex-algebraic upper bounds in the case of single and multiple lens planes. We discuss recent advances in the mathematics of stochastic lensing, discussing a general formula for the global expected number of minimum lensed images as well as asymptotic formulas for the probability densities of the microlensing random time delay functions, random lensing maps, and random shear, and an asymptotic expression for the global expected number of micro-minima. Multiple imaging in optical geometry and a spacetime setting are treated. We review global magnification relation results for model-dependent scenarios and cover recent developments on universal local magnification relations for higher order caustics.     

Stationary Waves for the Discrete Boltzmann Equation in the Half Space with Reflective Boundaries

The present paper is concerned with stationary solutions for discrete velocity models of the Boltzmann equation with reflective boundary condition in the first half space. We obtain a sufficient condition that guarantees the existence and the uniqueness of stationary solutions satisfying the reflective boundary condition as well as the spatially asymptotic condition given by a Maxwellian state. First, the sufficient condition is obtained for the linearized system. Then, this result is applied to prove the existence theorem for the nonlinear equation through the contraction mapping principle. Also, it is shown that the stationary solution approaches the asymptotic Maxwellian state exponentially as the spatial variable tends to infinity. Moreover, we show the time asymptotic stability of the stationary solutions. In the proof, we employ the standard energy method to obtain a priori estimates for nonstationary solutions. The exponential convergence at the spatial asymptotic state of the stationary solutions gives essential information to handle some error terms. Then we discuss some concrete models of the Boltzmann type as an application of our general theory. Received: 7 July 1999 / Accepted: 3 November 1999     

Consensus protocol for heterogeneous multi-agent systems: A Markov chain approach

This paper deals with the consensus problem for heterogeneous multi-agent systems. Different from most existing consensus protocols, we consider the consensus seeking of two types of agents, namely, active agents and passive agents. The objective is to directly control the active agents such that the states of all the agents would achieve consensus. In order to obtain a computational approach, we subtly introduce an appropriate Markov chain to cast the heterogeneous systems into a unified framework. Such a framework is helpful for tackling the constraints from passive agents. Furthermore, a sufficient and necessary condition is established to guarantee the consensus in heterogeneous multi-agent systems. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the theoretical analysis and the effectiveness of the proposed protocol.     

Radial asymptotics of Lemaître–Tolman–Bondi dust models

We examine the radial asymptotic behavior of spherically symmetric Lemaître–Tolman–Bondi dust models by looking at their covariant scalars along radial rays, which are spacelike geodesics parametrized by proper length ?, orthogonal to the 4-velocity and to the orbits of SO(3). By introducing quasi-local scalars defined as integral functions along the rays, we obtain a complete and covariant representation of the models, leading to an initial value parametrization in which all scalars can be given by scaling laws depending on two metric scale factors and two basic initial value functions. Considering regular “open” LTB models whose space slices allow for a diverging ?, we provide the conditions on the radial coordinate so that its asymptotic limit corresponds to the limit as ? → ∞. The “asymptotic state” is then defined as this limit, together with asymptotic series expansion around it, evaluated for all metric functions, covariant scalars (local and quasi-local) and their fluctuations. By looking at different sets of initial conditions, we examine and classify the asymptotic states of parabolic, hyperbolic and open elliptic models admitting a symmetry center. We show that in the radial direction the models can be asymptotic to any one of the following spacetimes: FLRW dust cosmologies with zero or negative spatial curvature, sections of Minkowski flat space (including Milne’s space), sections of the Schwarzschild–Kruskal manifold or self-similar dust solutions.     

Leader-following consensus of discrete-time fractional-order multi-agent systems

Leader-following consensus of fractional order multi-agent systems is investigated. The agents are considered as discrete-time fractional order integrators or fractional order double-integrators. Moreover, the interaction between the agents is described with an undirected communication graph with a fixed topology. It is shown that the leader-following consensus problem for the considered agents could be converted to the asymptotic stability analysis of a discrete-time fractional order system. Based on this idea, sufficient conditions to reach the leader-following consensus in terms of the controller parameters are extracted. This leads to an appropriate region in the controller parameters space. Numerical simulations are provided to show the performance of the proposed leader-following consensus approach.     

Slow relaxation in microcanonical warming of a Ising lattice

We study the warming process of a semi-infinite cylindrical Ising lattice initially ordered and coupled at the boundary to a heat reservoir. The adoption of a proper microcanonical dynamics allows a detailed study of the time evolution of the system. As expected, thermal propagation displays a diffusive character and the spatial correlations decay exponentially in the direction orthogonal to the heat flow. However, we show that the approach to equilibrium presents an unexpected slow behavior. In particular, when the thermostat is at infinite temperature, correlations decay to their asymptotic values by a power law. This can be rephrased in terms of a correlation length vanishing logarithmically with time. At finite temperature, the approach to equilibrium is also a power law, but the exponents depend on the temperature in a non-trivial way. This complex behavior could be explained in terms of two dynamical regimes characterizing finite and infinite temperatures, respectively. When finite sizes are considered, we evidence the emergence of a much more rapid equilibration, and this confirms that the microcanonical dynamics can be successfully applied on finite structures. Indeed, the slowness exhibited by correlations in approaching the asymptotic values are expected to be related to the presence of an unsteady heat flow in an infinite system.     

Intermittency in branching processes

We study the intermittency properties of two branching processes, one with a uniform and another with a singular splitting kernel. The asymptotic intermittency indices, as well as the leading corrections to the asymptotic linear regime are explicitly computed in an analytic framework. Both models are found to possess a monofractal spectrum with ? _q =q ? 1 and inverse logarithmic corrections. Relations with previous results are discussed.     

Perturbative approach to the Bak-Sneppen model

We study the Bak-Sneppen model in the probabilistic framework of the run time statistics (RTS). This model has attracted a large interest for its simplicity being a prototype for the whole class of models showing self-organized criticality. The dynamics is characterized by a self-organization of almost all the species fitnesses above a nontrivial threshold value, and by a lack of spatial and temporal characteristic scales. This results in avalanches of activity power law distributed. In this Letter we use the RTS approach to compute the value of x(c), the value of the avalanche exponent tau, and the asymptotic distribution of minimal fitnesses.     

Kinetics of Diffusing Polymer Encounter in Confined Cellular Microdomains

We study the mean first time that two monomers, located on the same polymer, encounter in a confined microdomain. Approximating the confined geometry by a harmonic potential well, we obtain an asymptotic expression for the mean first encounter time (MFETC) as a function of the radius ε around one monomer. By studying the end-to-end distance of the polymer in a ball using the Edwards’ formalism, we derive an other estimation of the MFETC. We validate the asymptotic formulas using Brownian simulations and derive their range of validity in terms of the polymer length. We apply the present models to compute the mean time for a gene located far away from a promoter site to be activated during looping in confined genomic territories.     

Exact solutions of some urn models of relaxation in glassy dynamics

We consider two simple models, called "urn models," for a general N-ball, M-urn problem. These models find applications in the study of relaxation in glassy dynamics. We obtain exact analytical results in these two cases for the average relaxation time tau to reach the ground state. In model I we also obtain the functional dependence of tau for large N, and in model II we obtain an asymptotic (N-->infinity) dependence of tau as a function of the number of urns M.     

Lectures on renormalization and asymptotic safety

A short introduction is given on the functional renormalization group method, putting emphasis on its nonperturbative aspects. The method enables to find nontrivial fixed points in quantum field theoretic models which make them free from divergences and leads to the concept of asymptotic safety. It can be considered as a generalization of the asymptotic freedom which plays a key role in the perturbative renormalization. We summarize and give a short discussion of some important models, which are asymptotically safe such as the Gross–Neveu model, the nonlinear σ$\sigma$ model, the sine–Gordon model, and we consider the model of quantum Einstein gravity which seems to show asymptotic safety, too. We also give a detailed analysis of infrared behavior of such scalar models where a spontaneous symmetry breaking takes place. The deep infrared behavior of the broken phase cannot be treated within the framework of perturbative calculations. We demonstrate that there exists an infrared fixed point in the broken phase which creates a new scaling regime there, however its structure is hidden by the singularity of the renormalization group equations. The theory spaces of these models show several similar properties, namely the models have the same phase and fixed point structure. The quantum Einstein gravity also exhibits similarities when considering the global aspects of its theory space since the appearing two phases there show analogies with the symmetric and the broken phases of the scalar models. These results be nicely uncovered by the functional renormalization group method.     

New Models for the Solution of Intermediate Regimes in Transport Theory and Radiative Transfer: Existence Theory, Positivity, Asymptotic Analysis, and Approximations

In this paper we propose, derive, and establish the mathematical foundations of new models for the solution of intermediate regimes in transport theory and radiative transfer. These new models consist of coupling the transport equations with their diffusion approximations. Our mathematical theory includes the existence theory, the positivity of the solutions, and the asymptotic analysis. We also give the rate of the asymptotic decay. In order to solve the new coupled problem we propose to use the transmission time marching algorithm introduced and studied in refs. 10, 13–15. We then study the convergence of the resulting algorithm. These studies are based in an essential way on the methods we introduced in refs. 14, 15.     

Asymptotic Completeness in Quantum Field Theory: Translation Invariant Nelson Type Models Restricted to the Vacuum and One-Particle Sectors

Time-dependent scattering theory for a large class of translation invariant models, including the Nelson and Polaron models, restricted to the vacuum and one-particle sectors is studied. We formulate and prove asymptotic completeness for these models. The translation invariance imply that the Hamiltonians considered are fibered with respect to the total momentum. On the way to asymptotic completeness we determine the spectral structure of the fiber Hamiltonians, establish a Mourre estimate and derive a geometric asymptotic completeness statement as an intermediate step.