Synchronization in power-law networks

We consider realistic power-law graphs, for which the power-law holds only for a certain range of degrees. We show that synchronizability of such networks depends on the expected average and expected maximum degree. In particular, we find that networks with realistic power-law graphs are less synchronizable than classical random networks. Finally, we consider hybrid graphs, which consist of two parts: a global graph and a local graph. We show that hybrid networks, for which the number of global edges is proportional to the number of total edges, almost surely synchronize.     

Investigation of Galilean invariance of multi-phase lattice Boltzmann methods

We examine the Galilean invariance of standard lattice Boltzmann methods for two-phase fluids. We show that the known Galilean invariant term that is cubic in the velocities, and is usually neglected, is a major source of Galilean invariance violations. We show that incorporating a correction term can improve the Galilean invariance of the method by up to two orders of magnitude for large velocities. We found that this is true in particular for methods in which the interactions are incorporated through a forcing term. Methods in which interactions are incorporated through a non-ideal pressure tensor only benefit for large velocities.     

Collections of heteroclinic cycles in the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation

We study the Kuramoto-Sivashinky equation with periodic boundary conditions in the case of low-dimensional behavior. We analyze the bifurcations that occur in a six-dimensional (6D) approximation of its inertial manifold. We mainly focus on the attracting and structurally stable heteroclinic connections that arise for these parameter values. We reanalyze the ones that were previously described via a 4D reduction to the center-unstable manifold (Ambruster et al., 1988, 1989). We also find a parameter region for which a manifold of structurally stable heteroclinic cycles exist. The existence of such a manifold is responsible for an intermittent behavior which has some features of unpredictability.     

The velocity-dependent source function in radiative transfer theory

We consider the effect of velocity fields upon the transfer of line radiation by two-level atoms. We show that a simultaneous solution of the radiation transfer equation and the time-dependent rate equations leads to an equation for the source function which contains the Lagrangian derivative. We discuss a physical interpretation of the derivative term and present a method for solving this type of problem.We exhibit calculations which show that, for quite reasonable velocity fields, large errors can be produced if the derivative terms in the rate equations are neglected.     

Consistent treatment of charm evolution in deep inelastic scattering

We present a formulation which allows heavy quark mass effects to be explicitly incorporated in both the coefficient functions and the splitting functions in the parton evolution equations. We obtain a consistent procedure for evolution through the threshold regions for and production in deep inelastic scattering, which allows the prediction of the charm and bottom quark densities. We use the new formulation to perform a next-to-leading order global parton analysis of deep inelastic and related hard scattering data. We find that the optimum fit has . We give predictions for the charm components of the proton structure functions and as functions of and and, in particular, find that is in good agreement with the existing measurements. We examine the range of validity of the photon-gluon fusion model for electroproduction. We emphasize the value of a precision measurement of the charm component at HERA. Received: 12 May 1997 / Revised version: 12 June 1997     

Statistical properties of laser-induced fluorescence signals

We point out the influence of the different noise sources which occur in the detection of the fluorescence signal induced by a laser in an atomic beam. We have developed a theoretical model which takes account of the atomic shot noise, photon noise, laser-frequency noise and a partition noise linked to the imperfect detection of the fluorescence photons. The calculations have been performed for two- and three-level atomic systems. We detail the own contribution of each noise source and give some predictions concerning the value of the fluorescence signal to noise ratio. We determine predominance domains of each noise source which depend on the values of key parameters such as the atomic flux intensity and the laser spectral linewidth. We particularly show that the laser-frequency noise, which induces a coupling between the emission of fluorescence photons by various atoms, leads to a saturation of the S/N ratio for intense atomic fluxes. Moreover, we point out that the optical pumping process associated with a three level atomic system leads to an interesting laser-noise filtering effect.     

Exact wave functions of two-electron quantum rings

We demonstrate that the Schr?dinger equation for two electrons on a ring, which is the usual paradigm to model quantum rings, is solvable in closed form for particular values of the radius. We show that both polynomial and irrational solutions can be found for any value of the angular momentum and that the singlet and triplet manifolds, which are degenerate, have distinct geometric phases. We also study the nodal structure associated with these two-electron states.     

An analog model for quantum lightcone fluctuations in nonlinear optics

We propose an analog model for quantum gravity effects using nonlinear dielectrics. Fluctuations of the spacetime lightcone are expected in quantum gravity, leading to variations in the flight times of pulses. This effect can also arise in a nonlinear material. We propose a model in which fluctuations of a background electric field, such as that produced by a squeezed photon state, can cause fluctuations in the effective lightcone for probe pulses. This leads to a variation in flight times analogous to that in quantum gravity. We make some numerical estimates which suggest that the effect might be large enough to be observable.     

Wulff Shape for Nonperiodic Arrangements

We define an analogue of the Gibbs–Curie energy for quasi-crystals. We show that there exists a Wulff-type shape optimizing this energy, which is always a convex polytope. This way we can model the triacontahedron and the dodecahedron as shapes of quasi-crystals, according to reality. We also provide a shorter proof for the well-known formula for the number of points of a non-periodic set in a large convex domain, which also yields a non-trivial error term in the cases connected to real quasi-crystals.     

The Two-Body Interaction with a Circle in Time

We complete our previous^{(1, 2)} demonstration that there is a family of new solutions to the photon and Dirac equations using spatial and temporal circles and four-vector behaviour of the Dirac bispinor. We analyse one solution for a bound state, which is equivalent to the attractive two-body interaction between a charged point particle and a second, which remains at rest. We show this yields energy and angular momentum eigenvalues that are identical to those found by the usual method of solving of the Dirac equation,⁽⁴⁾ including fine structure. We complete our previous derivation⁽²⁾ of QED from a set of rules for the two-body interaction and generalise these. We show that QED may be decomposed into a two-body interaction at every point in spacetime.     

Model for mutation in bacterial populations

We describe the evolution of E. coli populations through a Bak-Sneppen-type model which incorporates random mutations. We show that, for a value of the mutation level which coincides with the one estimated from experiments, this model reproduces the measures of mean fitness relative to that of a common ancestor, performed for over 10,000 bacterial generations.     

The emergence of leadership in social networks

We study a networked version of the minority game in which agents can choose to follow the choices made by a neighbouring agent in a social network. We show that for a wide variety of networks a leadership structure always emerges, with most agents following the choice made by a few agents. We find a suitable parameterisation which highlights the universal aspects of the behaviour and which also indicates where results depend on the type of social network.     

Enhanced transmission and reflection of few-cycle pulses by a single slit

We show that a physical mechanism responsible for the enhanced transmission and reflection of ultrashort (few-cycle) pulses by a single subwavelength slit in a thick metallic film is the Fabry-Perot-like resonant excitation of stationary, quasistationary, and nonstationary waves inside the slit, which leads to the field enhancement inside and around the slit. The mechanism is universal for any pulse-scatter system, which supports the stationary resonances. We point out that there is a pulse duration limit below which the slit does not support the intraslit resonance.     

On the Generalized Langevin Equation for a Rouse Bead in a Nonequilibrium Bath

We present the reduced dynamics of a bead in a Rouse chain which is submerged in a bath containing a driving agent that renders it out-of-equilibrium. We first review the generalized Langevin equation of the middle bead in an equilibrated bath. Thereafter, we introduce two driving forces. Firstly, we add a constant force that is applied to the first bead of the chain. We investigate how the generalized Langevin equation changes due to this perturbation for which the system evolves towards a steady state after some time. Secondly, we consider the case of stochastic active forces which will drive the system to a nonequilibrium state. Including these active forces results in an extra contribution to the second fluctuation–dissipation relation. The form of this active contribution is analysed for the specific case of Gaussian, exponentially correlated active forces. We also discuss the resulting rich dynamics of the middle bead in which various regimes of normal diffusion, subdiffusion and superdiffusion can be present.     

Habitat fragmentation effects on biodiversity patterns

We study the effects of habitat fragmentation on biodiversity patterns by means of a simple spatial model which considers selective geographic colonization, diffusion and mutation. In our model, regions of the lattice are characterized by the amount of resources available to populations of species which are going to colonize that regions. We simulate the fragmentation of the habitat by assuming that a proportion p of the sites is not available for colonization, that is, there is no resource availability in those sites. We analyse the patterns of the species-area relationship and the abundance distribution considering two sample methods, in order to simulate the cases in which the habitats are distributed in islands and continents. We have observed that the pattern of the species-area curve is changed when different sample methods are considered. We have also verified that the abundance distribution is bimodal when small mutation probabilities are considered.     

Gaussian Amplitude Amplification for Quantum Pathfinding

We study an oracle operation, along with its circuit design, which combined with the Grover diffusion operator boosts the probability of finding the minimum or maximum solutions on a weighted directed graph. We focus on the geometry of sequentially connected bipartite graphs, which naturally gives rise to solution spaces describable by Gaussian distributions. We then demonstrate how an oracle that encodes these distributions can be used to solve for the optimal path via amplitude amplification. And finally, we explore the degree to which this algorithm is capable of solving cases that are generated using randomized weights, as well as a theoretical application for solving the Traveling Salesman problem.     

Explosive condensation in a mass transport model

We study a far-from-equilibrium system of interacting particles, hopping between sites of a 1D lattice with a rate which increases with the number of particles at interacting sites. We find that clusters of particles, which initially spontaneously form in the system, begin to move at increasing speed as they gain particles. Ultimately, they produce a moving condensate which comprises a finite fraction of the mass in the system. We show that, in contrast with previously studied models of condensation, the relaxation time to steady state decreases as an inverse power of lnL with system size L and that condensation is instantaneous for L→∞.     

Self-propelled particles with fluctuating speed and direction of motion in two dimensions

We study general aspects of active motion with fluctuations in the speed and the direction of motion in two dimensions. We consider the case in which fluctuations in the speed are not correlated to fluctuations in the direction of motion, and assume that both processes can be described by independent characteristic time scales. We show the occurrence of a complex transient that can exhibit a series of alternating regimes of motion, for two different angular dynamics which correspond to persistent and directed random walks. We also show additive corrections to the diffusion coefficient. The characteristic time scales are also exposed in the velocity autocorrelation, which is a sum of exponential forms.     

Interaction-driven real-space condensation

We study real-space condensation in a broad class of stochastic mass transport models. We show that the steady state of such models has a pair-factorized form which generalizes the standard factorized steady states. The condensation in this class of models is driven by interactions which give rise to a spatially extended condensate that differs fundamentally from the previously studied examples. We present numerical results as well as a theoretical analysis of the condensation transition and show that the criterion for condensation is related to the binding-unbinding transition of solid-on-solid interfaces.     

Creating kinks from particles

We study the creation of solitons from particles, using the lambdaphi(4) model as a prototype. We consider the scattering of small, identical, wave pulses, which are equivalent to a sequence of particles, and find that kink-antikink pairs are created for a large region in parameter space. We also find that scattering at low velocities is favorable for creating solitons that have large energy compared to the mass of a particle.