The individual success of musicians, like that of physicists, follows a stretched exponential distribution

Over the last five years or so, a number of studies have focussed on the distribution of `success' in physics and other sciences; in these studies, `success' is measured by the number of times a paper, or an author, is cited. The distribution of citations of individual papers approximates to a power-law [S. Redner, Eur. Phys. J. B 4, 131 (1998)], while lifetime total citations of the 1120 most-cited physicists follows a stretched exponential [J. Laherrère, D. Sornette, Eur. Phys. J. B 2, 525 (1998)]. Here, I examine the distribution of success in popular music, a field of creativity that has social structures very different from those of physics, and which is generally held to be controlled primarily by fashion. For this study, the lifetime total success of bands was measured by the total number of weeks they were in the weekly `top 75' list of best-selling recordings. Like the lifetime success of physicists reported by Laherrere and Sornette, the success of the 6107 bands that appeared in the UK `top 75' from 1950 until 2000 follows a stretched exponential of the form P(x)dx = c(x ^{c - 1}/x ₀ ^c)exp[- (x/x ₀)^c]dx; for the music data, c = 0.5 and x ₀ = 9.37. Received 23 October 2001 Published online 25 June 2002     

An experimental confirmation of longitudinal electrodynamic forces by N. Graneau,T. Phipps Jr,and D. Roscoe

Eur. Phys. J. D 15, 87 (2001) Received 12 January 2001 Published online 10 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: aerobson@cstone.net     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Comment on</Emphasis>¶Low temperature specific heat of blue bronze K <Emphasis Type="Bold">0.30</Emphasis>MoO <Emphasis Type="Bold">3</Emphasis>, by J. Odin,J.C. Lasjaunias,K. Biljaković, K. Hasselbach,and P. Monceau

Eur. Phys. J. B 24, 315 (2001) Here we comment on a recently published paper on the presence of a phason contribution in the low temperature heat capacity data of the charge-density-wave compounds K_0.3MoO₃ and (TaSe₄)₂I. We have shown that the anomaly in the C _P / T ³ data reported by Odin et al. is straightforwardly interpreted in terms of low energy phonon modes resulting from the peculiar topology of these compounds. Received 21 February 2002 Published online 19 July 2002     

Comment on¶“On the relationship between the entropy and enthalpy of interfacial segregation” by L. Rubinovich and M. Polak

The paper of L. Rubinovich and M. Polak [Eur. Phys. J. B 22, 267 (2001)] contains some controversial items. The notation “excess” in connection with various thermodynamic quantities describing solute segregation on the basis of the Langmuir-McLean isotherm is used in a meaning contradictory to general thermodynamics. The approach used to interpret the linear relationship between segregation entropy and enthalpy results in rather strange conclusions. These items are discussed, and it is shown how a formulation with standard terms is in accordance with general thermodynamics. Received 14 January 2002 / Received in final form 27 September 2002 Published online 14 February 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: lejcekp@fzu.cz     

Electroweak form factors of non-strange baryons

We compute electroweak form factors of the nucleon and photon transition form factors of non-strange baryon resonances up to the third resonance region in a model with instanton-induced interaction. The calculation is based on the Bethe-Salpeter equation for three light constituent quarks and is fully relativistic (U. L?ring et al., Eur. Phys. J. A 10, 309 (2001)). Static nucleon properties and photon resonance couplings are in good agreement with experiment and the Q² behaviour of the experimentally known form factors up to large momentum transfer is accounted for. Received: 4 April 2002 / Accepted: 2 May 2002     

Low temperature properties of the random field Potts chain

The random field q-states Potts model is investigated using exact groundstates and finite-temperature transfer matrix calculations. It is found that the domain structure and the Zeeman energy of the domains resembles for general q the random field Ising case (q = 2). This is also the expected outcome based on a random-walk picture of the groundstate. The domain size distribution is exponential, and the scaling of the average domain size with the disorder strength is similar for q arbitrary. The zero-temperature properties are compared to the equilibrium spin states at small temperatures, to investigate the effect of local random field fluctuations that imply locally degenerate regions. The response to field perturbations (`chaos') and the susceptibility are investigated. In particular for the chaos exponent it is found to be 1 for q = 2,..., 5. Finally for q = 2 (Ising case) the domain length distribution is studied for correlated random fields. Received 27 August 2002 Published online 19 December 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: rieger@lusi-sb.de     

Why is nacre strong? II. Remaining mechanical weakness for cracks propagating along the sheets

In our previous paper (Eur. Phys. J. E 4, 121 (2001)) we proposed a coarse-grained elastic energy for nacre, or stratified structure of hard and soft layers found in certain seashells . We then analyzed a crack running perpendicular to the layers and suggested one possible reason for the enhanced toughness of this substance. In the present paper, we consider a crack running parallel to the layers. We propose a new term added to the previous elastic energy, which is associated with the bending of layers. We show that there are two regimes for the parallel-fracture solution of this elastic energy; near the fracture tip the deformation field is governed by a parabolic differential equation while the field away from the tip follows the usual elliptic equation. Analytical results show that the fracture tip is lenticular, as suggested in a paper on a smectic liquid crystal (P.G. de Gennes, Europhys. Lett. 13, 709 (1990)). On the contrary, away from the tip, the stress and deformation distribution recover the usual singular behaviors ( and 1/, respectively, where x is the distance from the tip). This indicates there is no enhancement in toughness in the case of parallel fracture. Received 16 November 2001     

Three-body decays of light nuclei: 6Be, 8Li, 9Be, 12O, 16Ne, and 17Ne

The theoretical approach to the two-proton radioactivity and three-body decays developed in (L.V. Grigorenko, R.C. Johnson, I.G. Mukha, I.J. Thompson, M.V. Zhukov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 22 (2000) and to be published in Phys. Rev. C) is applied to the range of light nuclear systems. We study nuclear structures, widths, and momentum correlations for the decay fragments. Strong contradictions with experiment, as well as effects of special interest, are found in ¹²O and ¹⁶Ne nuclei. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: l.grigorenko@surrey.ac.uk     

Instabilities in foam clusters related to the pressures in the bubbles

We reinterpret an instability in a two-dimensional free foam cluster previously discussed by Weaire et al. (Eur. Phys. J. E 7, 123 (2002)) in terms of the excess pressure in the bubbles. We conclude that in a free foam cluster no bubble can have a pressure below that of the surrounding gas. Received: 20 September 2002 / Accepted: 5 May 2003 / Published online: 27 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: fatima.vaz@ist.utl.pt     

The light-baryon spectrum in a relativistic quark model with instanton-induced quark forces

This is the second of a series of three papers treating light-baryon resonances up to 3 GeV within a relativistically covariant quark model based on the three-fermion Bethe-Salpeter equation with instantaneous two- and three-body forces. In this paper we apply the covariant Salpeter framework (which we developed in the first paper, U. L?ring, K. Kretzschmar, B.Ch. Metsch, H.R. Petry, Eur. Phys. J. A 10, 309 (2001)) to specific quark model calculations. Quark confinement is realized by a linearly rising three-body string potential with appropriate spinorial structures in Dirac space. To describe the hyperfine structure of the baryon spectrum we adopt 't Hooft's residual interaction based on QCD-instanton effects and demonstrate that the alternative one-gluon exchange is disfavored on phenomenological grounds. Our fully relativistic framework allows to investigate the effects of the full Dirac structures of residual and confinement forces on the structure of the mass spectrum. In the present paper we present a detailed analysis of the complete non-strange-baryon spectrum and show that several prominent features of the nucleon spectrum such as, e.g., the Roper resonance and approximate “parity doublets” can be uniformly explained due to a specific interplay of relativistic effects, the confinement potential and 't Hooft's force. The results for the spectrum of strange baryons will be discussed in a subsequent paper, see U. L?ring, B.Ch. Metsch, H.R. Petry, this issue, p. 447. Received: 27 March 2001 / Accepted: 17 April 2001     

Anomalous dynamical light scattering in soft glassy gels

We compute the dynamical structure factor S(q,τ) of an elastic medium where force dipoles appear at random in space and in time, due to “micro-collapses” of the structure. Various regimes are found, depending on the wave vector q and the collapse time θ. In an early time regime, the logarithm of the structure factor behaves as (qτ)^3/2, as predicted in (L. Cipelletti et al., Phys. Rev Lett. 84, 2275 (2000)) using heuristic arguments. However, in an intermediate-time regime we rather obtain a (qτ)^5/4 behaviour. Finally, the asymptotic long-time regime is found to behave as q ^3/2τ. We also give a plausible scenario for aging, in terms of a strain-dependent energy barrier for micro-collapses. The relaxation time is found to grow with the age t_w, quasi-exponentially at first, and then as t _w ^4/5 with logarithmic corrections. Received 15 April 2002     

Nonlinear diffusion under a time dependent external force: q-maximum entropy solutions

Nonlinear diffusion equations provide useful models for a number of interesting phenomena, such as diffusion processes in porous media. We study here a family of nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations endowed both with a power-law nonlinear diffusion term and a drift term with a time dependent force linear in the spatial variable. We show that these partial differential equations exhibit exact time dependent particular solutions of the Tsallis maximum entropy (q-MaxEnt) form. These results constitute generalizations of previous ones recently discussed in the literature [C. Tsallis, D.J. Bukman, Phys. Rev. E 54, R2197 (1996)], concerning q-MaxEnt solutions to nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations with linear, time independent drift forces. We also show that the present formalism can be used to generate approximate q-MaxEnt solutions for nonlinear Fokker-Planck equations with time independent drift forces characterized by a general spatial dependence. Received 25 April 2001 and Received in final form 6 June 2001     

Defects in a TGBA phase: A theoretical approach

Following our experimental observations of disclination lines in freely suspended droplets and free-standing films (Yu.A. Nastishin et al., Eur. Phys. J. E 5 353 (2001)), topological defects of the twist grain boundary (TGBA) phase are considered according to two aspects: topological and energetical. There are two classes of line defects, disclinations (as in the cholesteric (N*) phase and the liquid vortices phase (NL*), relating to the directors tripod symmetries) and dispirations (relating to the translation-rotation symmetries); there are no topological point defects. Differences between N*, NL* and TGBA disclinations are physical, not topological. The absence of focal conic domains in the TGBA phase is an immediate consequence of the materialization of the helical axis (along the χ-director); the same feature, coupled to the trend to parallelism of the smectic layers, accounts for the predominance of λ-lines. Finally, the presence of defects akin to developable domains is explained in the frame of the leastcurvaturemodel, that requires the introduction of a third type of defects: the densitiesofedgedislocations of the smectic layers. Received 20 February 2002     

Are citations of scientific papers a case of nonextensivity?

The distribution N(x) of citations of scientific papers has recently been illustrated (on ISI and PRE data sets) and analyzed by Redner (Eur. Phys. J. B 4, 131 (1998)). To fit the data, a stretched exponential () has been used with only partial success. The success is not complete because the data exhibit, for large citation count x, a power law (roughly for the ISI data), which, clearly, the stretched exponential does not reproduce. This fact is then attributed to a possibly different nature of rarely cited and largely cited papers. We show here that, within a nonextensive thermostatistical formalism, the same data can be quite satisfactorily fitted with a single curve (namely, [0pt] for the available values of x. This is consistent with the connection recently established by Denisov (Phys. Lett. A 235, 447 (1997)) between this nonextensive formalism and the Zipf-Mandelbrot law. What the present analysis ultimately suggests is that, in contrast to Redner's conclusion, the phenomenon might essentially be one and the same along the entire range of the citation number x. Received 13 April 1999     

On polarization of strange baryons in reactions p + p↦p + Λ0 + K+ and p + p↦p + Σ0 + K+ near thresholds

Polarization properties of strange baryons produced in pp reactions, p + p↦p + Λ⁰ + K⁺ and p + p↦p + Σ⁰ + K⁺, near thresholds of the final states pΛ⁰K⁺ and pΣ⁰K⁺ are analysed relative to polarizations of colliding protons. The cross-sections for pp reactions are calculated within the effective Lagrangian approach accounting for strong pp rescattering in the initial state of colliding protons with a dominant contribution of the one-pion exchange and strong final-state interaction of daughter hadrons (Eur. Phys. J. A 9, 425 (2000)). Received: 22 October 2001 / Accepted: 14 November 2001     

Dynamical properties of the slithering-snake algorithm: A numerical test of the activated-reptation hypothesis

Correlations in the motion of reptating polymers in a melt are investigated by means of Monte Carlo simulations of the three-dimensional slithering-snake version of the bond-fluctuation model. Surprisingly, the slithering-snake dynamics becomes inconsistent with classical reptation predictions at high chain overlap (created either by chain length N or by the volume fraction φ of occupied lattice sites), where the relaxation times increase much faster than expected. This is due to the anomalous curvilinear diffusion in a finite time window whose upper bound (N) is set by the density of chain ends φ/N. Density fluctuations created by passing chain ends allow a reference polymer to break out of the local cage of immobile obstacles created by neighboring chains. The dynamics of dense solutions of “snakes” at t ≪ is identical to that of a benchmark system where all chains but one are frozen. We demonstrate that the subdiffusive dynamical regime is caused by the slow creeping of a chain out of its correlation hole. Our results are in good qualitative agreement with the activated-reptation scheme proposed recently by Semenov and Rubinstein (Eur. Phys. J. B, 1 (1998) 87). Additionally, we briefly comment on the relevance of local relaxation pathways within a slithering-snake scheme. Our preliminary results suggest that a judicious choice of the ratio of local to slithering-snake moves is crucial to equilibrate a melt of long chains efficiently. Received: 18 December 2002 / Accepted: 3 April 2003 / Published online: 12 May 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: jwittmer@dpm.univ-lyon1.fr RID="b" ID="b"Current address: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.