Baxter's Solution for the Free Energy of the Chiral Potts Model

In honor of Baxter's sixtieth birthday, we would like to review some of his work on the free energy of the chiral Potts model. In spite of the enormous complexity and difficulty of the problem, Baxter, using functional relations was able to calculate not only the free energy, but also the interfacial tension. We here show that the integral for the free energy simplifies in the superintegrable case and is identical to his earlier results using entirely different approaches. His calculations are extended to include other regions. We also attempt to clarify some of his reasoning as several steps may be mysterious at first glance.     

The Riemann Surface of the Chiral Potts Model Free Energy Function

In a recent paper we derived the free energy or partition function of the N-state chiral Potts model by using the infinite lattice inversion relation method, together with a non-obvious extra symmetry. This gave us three recursion relations for the partition function per site T _pq of the infinite lattice. Here we use these recursion relations to obtain the full Riemann surface of T _pq . In terms of the t _p ,t _q variables, it consists of an infinite number of Riemann sheets, each sheet corresponding to a point on a (2N–1)-dimensional lattice (for N>2). The function T _pq is meromorphic on this surface: we obtain the orders of all the zeros and poles. For N odd, we show that these orders are determined by the usual inversion and rotation relations (without the extra symmetry), together with a simple linearity ansatz. For N even, this method does not give the orders uniquely, but leaves only [(N+4)/4] parameters to be determined.     

Energy model for the Zr-based metallic glass alloy melt with clusters

An energy model for the melt of bulk metallic glass (BMG) with clusters was established, the Gibbs free energy and interfacial energy for the Zr-Al-Ni ternary alloy melt with Zr2Ni clusters were calculated, and the effects of the clusters on the Gibbs free energy, interfacial energy and nucleation rate were analyzed. The results showed that the existence of the clusters in the Zr-Al-Ni ternary alloy melt enables the Gibbs free energy to decrease in the composition range where bulk metallic glass forms easily, makes the interfacial energy increase and changes the distribution of the interfacial energy with the alloy composition. Because of the clusters in the melt, the Gibbs free energy of the Zr66Al8Ni26 alloy melt decreases about 0.3-1 kJ/mol and the interfacial energy between the melt and crystal nucleus increases about 0.016 J/m2. The nucleation rate of the undercooled Zr66Al8Ni26 alloy melt decreases evidently under the influence of the clusters on Gibbs free energy and the interfacial energy, and the maximum of the nucleation rate in the melt with the Zr2Ni clusters is only about 107 mol-1·s-1.     

Multiscale Free Energy Analysis of Human Ecosystem Engineering

Unlike ecosystem engineering by other living things, which brings a relatively limited range of sensations that are connected to a few enduring survival preferences, human ecosystem engineering brings an increasing variety and frequency of novel sensations. Many of these novel sensations can quickly become preferences as they indicate that human life will be less strenuous and more stimulating. Furthermore, they can soon become addictive. By contrast, unwanted surprise from these novel sensations may become apparent decades later. This recognition can come after the survival of millions of humans and other species has been undermined. In this paper, it is explained that, while multiscale free energy provides a useful hypothesis for framing human ecosystem engineering, disconnects between preferences and survival from human ecosystem engineering limit the application of current assumptions that underlie continuous state-space and discrete state-space modelling of active inference.     

Free energy loss analysis of heterojunction solar cells

For the first time we present a free energy loss analysis (FELA) of heterojunction silicon solar cells (HSSC) to study the influence of the intrinsic buffer layer thickness (t_buffer) on the solar cell efficiency (η). The main advantage of the FELA is that the impact of various loss mechanisms can be directly expressed in absolute percentage of η. Furthermore, it is possible to extract the magnitude of every loss for each region of the solar cell. All quantities required to perform the FELA are obtained by the simulation software AFORS‐HET. The FELA yields an optimum efficiency of 21.24% for t_buffer ≈ 5 nm. The efficiency drop for t_buffer £ 5 nm is ascribed to a lower maximum usable generated power Φ_G(22.84% @ 2 nm, 23.98% @ 5 nm). Lower efficiencies for t_buffer ³ 5 nm are attributed to the increased transport loss of holes in the intrinsic buffer layer (0.05% @ 2 nm, 0.65% 8 nm). The η values yielded by the FELA are in agreement with the ones calculated by AFORS‐HET, demonstrating the applicability of the FELA to the HSSC concept. Therewith, we demonstrate that the FELA can be employed to obtain a deeper understanding of the HSSC concept. (© 2013 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Some Interesting Observations on the Free Energy Principle

Biehl et al. (2021) present some interesting observations on an early formulation of the free energy principle. We use these observations to scaffold a discussion of the technical arguments that underwrite the free energy principle. This discussion focuses on solenoidal coupling between various (subsets of) states in sparsely coupled systems that possess a Markov blanket—and the distinction between exact and approximate Bayesian inference, implied by the ensuing Bayesian mechanics.     

On Epistemics in Expected Free Energy for Linear Gaussian State Space Models

Active Inference (AIF) is a framework that can be used both to describe information processing in naturally intelligent systems, such as the human brain, and to design synthetic intelligent systems (agents). In this paper we show that Expected Free Energy (EFE) minimisation, a core feature of the framework, does not lead to purposeful explorative behaviour in linear Gaussian dynamical systems. We provide a simple proof that, due to the specific construction used for the EFE, the terms responsible for the exploratory (epistemic) drive become constant in the case of linear Gaussian systems. This renders AIF equivalent to KL control. From a theoretical point of view this is an interesting result since it is generally assumed that EFE minimisation will always introduce an exploratory drive in AIF agents. While the full EFE objective does not lead to exploration in linear Gaussian dynamical systems, the principles of its construction can still be used to design objectives that include an epistemic drive. We provide an in-depth analysis of the mechanics behind the epistemic drive of AIF agents and show how to design objectives for linear Gaussian dynamical systems that do include an epistemic drive. Concretely, we show that focusing solely on epistemics and dispensing with goal-directed terms leads to a form of maximum entropy exploration that is heavily dependent on the type of control signals driving the system. Additive controls do not permit such exploration. From a practical point of view this is an important result since linear Gaussian dynamical systems with additive controls are an extensively used model class, encompassing for instance Linear Quadratic Gaussian controllers. On the other hand, linear Gaussian dynamical systems driven by multiplicative controls such as switching transition matrices do permit an exploratory drive.     

A Technical Critique of Some Parts of the Free Energy Principle

We summarize the original formulation of the free energy principle and highlight some technical issues. We discuss how these issues affect related results involving generalised coordinates and, where appropriate, mention consequences for and reveal, up to now unacknowledged, differences from newer formulations of the free energy principle. In particular, we reveal that various definitions of the “Markov blanket” proposed in different works are not equivalent. We show that crucial steps in the free energy argument, which involve rewriting the equations of motion of systems with Markov blankets, are not generally correct without additional (previously unstated) assumptions. We prove by counterexamples that the original free energy lemma, when taken at face value, is wrong. We show further that this free energy lemma, when it does hold, implies the equality of variational density and ergodic conditional density. The interpretation in terms of Bayesian inference hinges on this point, and we hence conclude that it is not sufficiently justified. Additionally, we highlight that the variational densities presented in newer formulations of the free energy principle and lemma are parametrised by different variables than in older works, leading to a substantially different interpretation of the theory. Note that we only highlight some specific problems in the discussed publications. These problems do not rule out conclusively that the general ideas behind the free energy principle are worth pursuing.     

Functional Integrals and Free Energy in sine-Gordon-Thirring Model with Impurity Coupling

The free energy at low temperature in 1D sine-Gordon-Thirring model with impurity coupling is studied by means of functional integrals method. For massive free sine-Gordon-Thirring model, free energy is obtained from perturbation expansion of functional determinant. Moreover, the free energy of massive model is calculated by use of an auxiliary Bose field method.     

水在氢气、氧气转变时的自由能的变化及水的汽化潜热分析

水和氢气、氧气在同等条件下(一个大气压,温度为25度)互相转变时自由能是相同的;同等条件下水变水蒸气时的汽化潜热和水蒸气变为水时的凝结热是相同的。利用一个刚性的绝热的容器,在海拔零米处电解水,利用氢气和氧气的混合密度小于空气密度的特点,携带一定质量的物体到数千米的高空。点燃混合气体,生成高温水蒸气。通过这个过程分析,将发现两部分能量多出。     

Ising Field Theory in a Magnetic Field: Analytic Properties of the Free Energy

We study the analytic properties of the scaling function associated with the 2D Ising model free energy in the critical domain TT _c , H0. The analysis is based on numerical data obtained through the Truncated Free Fermion Space Approach. We determine the discontinuities across the Yang–Lee and Langer branch cuts. We confirm the standard analyticity assumptions and propose extended analyticity; roughly speaking, the latter states that the Yang–Lee branching point is the nearest singularity under Langer's branch cut. We support the extended analyticity by evaluating numerically the associated extended dispersion relation.     

C36团簇生长动力学及自由能

在2300 K的气相条件下,采用经典分子动力学方法对C₃₆团簇的生长过程进行模拟,并计算生长过程中出现的势能最低的20个异构体的相对概率.计算结果表明:团簇系统在100 ns左右达到动态平衡,出现概率最大的异构体是_2d而不是势能最低的D_6h.对于某些势能和自由能均较高的碗状异构体,在生长过程中以一定概率出现,其出现概率甚至高于某些经典构型.     

模拟退火算法在化学自由能模型中的应用

对化学自由能模型进行系统性的研究，着重分析化学反应动态平衡条件下粒子组分的求解方案，提出应用模拟退火算法寻找自由能密度函数极小值点的求解方案.该方案同时解决了两个难题：1）在一级相变区化学势平衡方程组可能遇到多个解而无法甄别其物理意义.通过模拟退火算法定位到自由能密度函数曲面的最低点，因而可从多个解中甄别出稳定的热力学平衡态.2）模拟退火算法用随机的"热涨落"消除初值敏感性，因而可采用同一套初值计算不同的温度密度点，为实现宽区域上大量温度密度点的连续快速计算奠定基础.作为该平衡态求解方案的应用，计算氦流体在"等离子相变"区的物态方程，揭示了丰富的"等离子相变"现象，并与第一性原理计算揭示的氢流体"液液相变"现象进行类比.     

Equivalence of the Two Results for the Free Energy of the Chiral Potts Model

The free energy of the chiral Potts model has been obtained in two ways. The first used only the star-triangle relation, symmetries, and invariances, and led to a system of equations that implicitly define the free energy, and from which the critical behavior can be obtained The second used the functional relations derived by Bazhanov and Stroganov, solving them to obtain the free energy explicitly as a double integral. Here we obtain, for the first time, a direct verification that the two results are identical at all temperatures.     

Cancer Niches and Their Kikuchi Free Energy

Biological forms depend on a progressive specialization of pluripotent stem cells. The differentiation of these cells in their spatial and functional environment defines the organism itself; however, cellular mutations may disrupt the mutual balance between a cell and its niche, where cell proliferation and specialization are released from their autopoietic homeostasis. This induces the construction of cancer niches and maintains their survival. In this paper, we characterise cancer niche construction as a direct consequence of interactions between clusters of cancer and healthy cells. Explicitly, we evaluate these higher-order interactions between niches of cancer and healthy cells using Kikuchi approximations to the free energy. Kikuchi’s free energy is measured in terms of changes to the sum of energies of baseline clusters of cells (or nodes) minus the energies of overcounted cluster intersections (and interactions of interactions, etc.). We posit that these changes in energy node clusters correspond to a long-term reduction in the complexity of the system conducive to cancer niche survival. We validate this formulation through numerical simulations of apoptosis, local cancer growth, and metastasis, and highlight its implications for a computational understanding of the etiopathology of cancer.     

Contribution of Disclination Lines to Free Energy of Liquid Crystals in Single-Elastic Constant Approximation

In the light of φ-mapping method and topological current theory, the contribution of disclination lines to free energy density of liquid crystals is studied in the single-elastic constant approximation. It is pointed out that the total free energy density can be divided into two parts. One is the usual distorted energy density of director field around the disclination lines. The other is the free energy density of disclination lines themselves, which is shown to be centralized at the disclination lines and to be topologically quantized in the unit of kπ /2. The topological quantum numbers are determined by the Hopf indices and Brouwer degrees of the director field at the disclination lines, i.e. the disclination strengths. From the Lagrange‘s method of multipliers, the equilibrium equation and the molecular field of liquid crystals are also obtained. The physical meaning of the Lagrangian multiplier is just the distorted energy density.     

Effect of Disclination Lines on Free Energy of Nematic Liquid Crystals

In the light of φ-mapping method and topological current theory, the effect of disclination lines on the free energy density of nematic liquid crystals is studied. It is pointed out that the total Frank free energy density can be divided into two parts. One is the distorted energy density of director field around the disclination lines. The other is the saddle-splay energy density, which is shown to be centralized at the disclination lines and to be topologically quantized in the unit of kπ /2 when the Jacobian determinant of the director field does not vanish at the singularities of the director field. The topological quantum numbers are determined by the Hopf indices and Brouwer degrees of the director field at the disclination lines, i.e., the disclination strengthes. When the Jacobian determinant vanishes, the generation, annihilation, intersection, splitting and merging processes of the saddle-splay energy density are detailed in the neighborhoods of the limit points and bifurcation points, respectively. It is shown that the disclination line with high topological quantum number is unstable and will evolve to the low topological quantum number states through the splitting process.     

Effect of Disclination Lines on Free Energy of Nematic Liquid Crystals

In the light of φ-mapping method-and topological current theory, the effect of disclination lines on the free energy density of nematic liquid crystals is studied. It is pointed out that the total Frank free energy density can be divided into two parts. One is the distorted energy density of director field around the disclination lines. The other is the saddle-splay energy density, which is shown to be centralized at the disclination lines and to he topologically quantized in the unit of kπ/2 when the Jacobian determinant of the director field does not vanish at the singularities of the director field. The topological quantum numbers are determined by the Hopf indices and Brouwer degrees of the director field at the disclination lines, i.e., the disclination strengthes. When the Jacobian determinant vanishes, the generation, annihilation, intersection, splitting and merging processes of the saddle-splay energy density are detailed in the neighborhoods of the limit points and bifurcation points, respectively. It is shown that the disclination line with high topological quantum number is unstable and will evolve to the low topological quantum number states through the splitting process.     

Direction-Dependent Free Energy Singularity of the Antiferroelectric Asymmetric Six-Vertex Model

The transition from the ordered commensurate phase to the incommensurate Gaussian phase of the antiferroelectric asymmetric six-vertex model is investigated by keeping the temperature constant below the roughening point and varying the external fields (h, v). In the (h, v) plane, the phase boundary is approached along straight lines v = k h, where (h, v) measures the displacement from the phase boundary. It is found that the free energy singularity displays the exponent 3/2 typical of the Pokrovski–Talapov transition f const(h)^3/2 for any direction other than the tangential one. In the latter case f shows a discontinuity in the third derivative.